Joe: Back…again…with…another…chapter. You know? This 'back again' thing can get really boring so I'll just skip to my fights with Shindo from now on. Fighting with him is fun. Except for the fact that he is now filing a lawsuit against me for making him do this…nobody heard it. Okay? Okay. Now. Ahem Shindo? Where are you? I need to have that fight. Shindo? sees note on table What's this? Reading Dear Joe. I have decided to leave on vacation for a while. I'm guessing that you will have finished several chapters by the time I get back. I have gotten some friends to do the disclaimers while I'm gone. They will be doing different chapters so it will be different every time. I'll be going to the World of the Unknown to visit my dear cousin Death. She's been broken up about you making her let us win in the war in Apocalyptic Prophecy. The part you haven't finished. She says that those kinds of things have never been in her script… talking Ah. The rest is boring. Wait a minute. Hold the phone. Death never had a script before I created her character! Um…what other mistakes are in here…wait. What is he doing going to a place that, as far as we're concerned, is pure fiction? How is that possible? Going to the World of the Unknown. Feh. He's a waste of my time. So who do we have today? looks at attached list of shifts Oshiguru? Oshi? This isn't possible. I'm supposed to let a cat say my disclaimers?

Oshi: Leopard. Thank you very much. And you like me. You favor me. You know you do.

Joe: So? I still say that in this fic you are a cat. Okay?

Oshi: Fine. I'll cooperate and I won't file a lawsuit. I did this willingly. Joe doesn't own Inuyasha. You know it. I know it. You do know that…right?

Chapter 7 – Jealousy? Or Sympathy?

"Get out of my house you filthy half-breed!" Sesshomaru glared at Inuyasha and his company as Shinta looked through a 'fake' diary as she called it. It was Jakken's. The one Monty had when she tripped over him. She was reading something about some bobcat demon when she heard the obnoxious shouting coming from the half-breed (I love the character Inuyasha...though Sesshomaru is one my favs. So no offense to Inu fans out there. Shinta is just full-demon and that kinda person.).

"What if I don't feel like it?"

"Then I'll simply have to kick you out."

"Okay then. Try me." Sesshomaru started for Inuyasha but stopped when Shinta placed a gentle hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Why don't we let them stay? It shouldn't be too hard for you to have a filthy halfling living in your household for a few days. I mean, why not? I could use some new friends…and I could…" She whispered in his ear some torture methods she could use on Inuyasha and his group. Sesshomaru smirked. "Fine for you? They could use the rooms next to mine too." Sesshomaru nodded. "Perfect."

"But only for a week. That's my limit." Sesshomaru glared at Inuyasha from the corner of his eye as he looked at Shinta.

"But I don't want to live in this bastards house!" Inuyasha made for Sesshomaru but Kagome did the same as Shinta had done to Sesshomaru.

"I do." She gave him puppy dog eyes. "I weely, weely want to." Her puppy dog eyes got bigger.

"Not the eyes. I'm a dog and trust me. We don't do the eyes." Kagome's eyes, if possible, just got even bigger. "Okay! Fine! We'll stay at his house. But only for a week." Kagome's eyes returned to normal. Shinta smirked. Inuyasha was just too soft. Sure he didn't give the image, but Kagome obviously knew better.

"Okay then. Lemme show you to your rooms. I know just where to put you." Shinta grabbed Kagome and Inuyasha's hands and started dragging them up the stairs. "Sesshomaru, they'll be staying by my room! Which is by yours! Which is down the hall! Which is over here! Which is in this wing! Which is…" Shinta's shouts became more distant as she continued dragging Inuyasha and Kagome, who were consequently dragging Sango and Miroku, who was, as a result of the chain, dragging Shippo, who was pulling Kilala along to end the train of people. "Good night!" She shoved the people into their rooms one after the other. Miroku was in the farthest room possible, Sango was in the second farthest with Kilala, Kagome was in the third with Shippo, and lastly, Inuyasha was in the room next to hers. Her bedroom was next to Sesshomaru's, whose room was next to Rin. Jakken's room was right next to hers. "And wake up early tomorrow. I want to show you around the grounds, talk to you; get to know you. That kinda thing." Shinta made sure that all of them heard her. Smiling devilishly, she stepped into Sesshomaru's room. "Oh, Sesshy…" She opened the door a crack, making the door creak. "Where are you?" She opened the door more. The room was dark. The only light was a small oil lamp, lit in the far corner of the room. She stepped into the room. "Answer me or I'll turn this room inside out." There was a small snicker heard in the confines of the room, the farther area of the room. "You just gave yourself away." She stalked towards the more evident snickers. "Now I know you're in here." The small flame in the lamp flickered slightly, alerting Shinta to light breathing. The light became brighter and the room was filled with the shadows of the furniture. "Now which shadow belongs to – " She was grabbed from behind and placed into a headlock before she could finish her statement-like question. She could hear the snickering more as she recovered from her surprise. "What was that for?" Sesshomaru tousled Shinta's hair with his free hand.

"Felt like it." His voice seemed less cold as it was in public. Something Shinta was used to when she was the only one around Sesshomaru. He released her before climbing into his king-sized bed. She didn't like seeing him in his bed, with nothing but pants on, alone. She was in Sesshomaru's room, with Sesshomaru, alone. Alone. She didn't like the word in this case. She'd rather it be Naraku in Sesshomaru's place. "What did you come here for?" Sesshomaru turned on a lamp beside his bed. "I know it wasn't to see me." He lay down and turned to stare at her, trying to read her thoughts through her eyes, her expression. "I sensed you here before you came down. In Jakken's room. What do you want?" Shinta sat at the foot of his bed.

"I want dirt."

"Dirt? You can find your dirt off of my lands. In my half-brother's wench's era maybe. But if by 'dirt' you mean evidence or proof of something, 'dirt' being an idiom (I think), you shall find none here." Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at Shinta's sudden change in expression. "Naraku wants evidence for blackmail. Yes?" Shinta nodded, surprised that Sesshomaru could read her mind through all of the barriers she put up around her thoughts. "You shall find none worth finding here. Jakken writes idiotic poems and love songs. Him being the wooer and I being the recipient of these foolish dreams."

"So you know then."

"Of course I know. I can enter Jakken's room whenever I see fit." He paused. "Rin writes about the weather, what we do that day, where we go, how many times I tread over Jakken, stupid toad. She hardly writes anything personal. If she does, she writes about sickness, stomach problems, cramps, injuries, hardly anything worth blackmailing someone."

"What does she write worth blackmail?"

"Pardon?"

"You said hardly anything. That means that there is something. What?"

"The sicknesses are the only personal things in her journal." Shinta cocked her head to the side; Sesshomaru was protecting Rin's dignity. There was something that Rin wrote about that she wasn't supposed to know. "Leave her be. She must be left out of this."

"Getting a little protective aren't – " Before she could finish, Sesshomaru had gotten out of bed, came up to her, and raised her off the floor by means of her neck. Shinta made gagging noises and Sesshomaru's grip became tighter.

"If you lay a hand on her, I'll be sure to kill you." He released her outside of his room. When Shinta looked up, her eyes filled with tears, the door was already slammed shut and locked. The Sesshomaru she knew had never been so cold. But this Rin…could she be his woman? Had she missed a lie when she spoke with him? She needed to meet this Rin. She might come to good use to her beloved – on her part at least – Naraku. She heard one of the doors open. It was Inuyasha's. Not wanting to be embarrassed by her position on the floor, she jumped up and wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. Seeing Inuyasha, she put on a fake smile.

"Whatcha doing in front of Sesshomaru's door?" Inuyasha peered at her, unable to read her emotions. "He won't talk to you. You kinda hit a sensitive spot there." Inuyasha, with his hypersensitive ears, had heard every word spoken in Sesshomaru's room. He could smell her tears and knew that it hadn't gone so well on her side of the argument and or conversation. Shinta, a little shocked that someone had heard her talk with Sesshomaru, just nodded slightly. "So, you read Jakken's diary?" Shinta hesitated before giving another nod. "Read any others?" Shinta, trusting Inuyasha more, almost nodded before she caught herself, remembering that Inuyasha was one of the victims in this assignment. She shook her head. "So, you want to know about Rin don't you?" Shinta paused and thought for a moment before nodding.

"I want to know her place in Sesshomaru's life." Inuyasha inclined his head, studying her.

"You never loved Sesshomaru, did you?" He smirked at Shinta's look of regret. "I sensed it the moment you started talking to him. Your voice and your words seemed forced." He chuckled. "But now that you know that there is another girl in his life, you're gonna do whatever you need to get her back out." He looked at her with a smile on his face. "You're jealous."

"I am not!" Shinta seemed outraged, but gave herself away with the tinge of pink on her face.

"Yes you are! I can tell! You're blushing, and you're getting defensive. And you sounded pretty offended when you heard him defending Rin. There's no way you cannot be jealous. It's almost impossible, on your side anyway. So, tell me, how long have you been working for Naraku?" Inuyasha's voice was now stern. After dropping the less important subject or Shinta's jealousy of Rin, Inuyasha wanted to move to the more important facts.

Shinta studied him for a moment, trying to fond his reason for wanting to know this information. After a slight hesitation, she answered, "Ever since before I met Sesshomaru. Sixty years ago."

"So, what made you decide to work for him?"

"Charm I suppose. He tricked me; I started to fall for him. Then he said he would like it very much if I could gain Sesshomaru's trust, so I did. I did it only to please him. I decided to join him to get close to him…and to be a little more…evil I guess you could call it." Shinta chose her words carefully, making sure not to give away any information that could be used against her. "How long have you been protecting humans? Wasn't your main goal in life to become a full-demon using the Shikon no Tama and kill just about anyone? Who, may I ask, spoiled the core of your rotten heart?"

"Kikyo." Inuyasha looked down and said her name very quietly; he didn't want Shinta to hear the answer.

"Kikyo? Hmm. I suppose you would have been of good use to the wench. She – how do I say this? – failed miserably in protecting the Shikon no Tama and her village. You never saw her going into combat with the male villagers against the demons. You fell in love. Feh. It's like me and Sesshomaru. There was never any real bond between the two of you. There never was. Kagome on the other hand…"

"You won't dare say things like that about Kikyo!" Inuyasha looked up and started glaring at her.

"I'm only speaking the truth, Mr. Yasha." Shinta put her hands up in truce. Inuyasha's glare switched to a puzzled stare. "You do understand that it was Naraku who took the Shikon no Tama right? He took the jewel in your form to make it look like you did it. But you wouldn't know that. And it was I who killed her. I killed Kikyo. Neither of you ever really did anything wrong. It was all mine and Naraku's doing that split the two of you. But it was for your own good. Kikyo was using you, trying to gain your trust so you would protect her and her village. The wench." Inuyasha's eyes glinted red. "She never loved you, Inuyasha. Never. She thought she could trust you. You thought she trusted you. She tried to gain your trust and she trusted you. But when she heard of that little scandal, she set the trust she would've valued so much and pinned you to a tree for fifty years. Fifty years, Inuyasha. You most likely would've been stuck to that forsaken tree if Kagome hadn't come up. You should be grateful that you have her Inuyasha. You have her. A woman who loves you and wants to be with you. You have a beautiful woman with you. She's kind, compassionate, and she doesn't pretend to like you for the sake of your own protection. She thinks of other people first. She places herself behind others. Haven't you realized that yet? Those countless times that Kagome was found in the forest alone, that time she disappeared in the well during the fight with Minomaru, those numerous times she was wounded, or crying, or looked sad, but insisted that nothing was wrong, all of those incidents were because of Kikyo. Kikyo. Kagome never wanted you to lose faith in Kikyo. She didn't want you to think she couldn't protect herself. She didn't want you to set Kikyo aside. Kagome cares for even her greatest enemy Inuyasha. You just don't know because Kagome doesn't want to hurt you. Kagome doesn't want to hurt you. Kikyo, she joined forces with Naraku. Did you know that? Yes. She joined to kill Kagome. Her own reincarnation she wants dead. Don't take Kagome for granted. You don't know what you have until you lose it, Inuyasha. You just have no idea." Shinta gave a weak, pitiful smile. "Talk to her. She wants to talk to you." Her smile faded and she looked at him. "Goodnight, Inuyasha. Tell me what Kagome tells you." She turned around in the middle of that last sentence and went into her room, bolting the door behind her.

Inuyasha stared at her door for a moment, turned to his room, and hesitated before turning to Kagome's door. He stared at it for a moment. Lifting his fist up to knock, he stared at the door. He started to knock but then brought his hand down. He wasn't ready for it. Giving one last sad look at Kagome's door, he went into his room and closed the door.

Kagome leaned on her door and sank to the ground crying. She had heard everything Inuyasha and Shinta had said. It was all true. A person who had known her for almost two years knew less about her than a person who just met her. She sobbed. She had desperately wanted to talk to Inuyasha tonight, and Shinta had told him to. She had heard him go to his room, then saw his shadow through the crack under her door. She knew he was right there, about to knock. But then his shadow moved away. And she heard him close his bedroom door. Kagome cried even more. Maybe Inuyasha doesn't want to talk to me. Maybe I should just go. I'll leave tomorrow after lunch. I'll go somewhere. I'll find my way back to Kaede's village and from there I'll go to the well and go back to my era. Kagome got up and went to her bed slowly. Tomorrow, she planned to leave the feudal era. But not for three days, or four days like before. She planned to leave forever. Forever.

End. At least, until next chapter. I plan to have a little Inu/kag problem in it. No journal reading…maybe some snooping though…we'll see. But until then….until next chapter! And next chapter…disclaimer will be…Rhydo I guess…Shindo's dad…Oshi's uncle-in-law…yeah…