Preview from last chapter:

"I've got it," Miroku said, clinking his staff against the floor as he pulled out a small vile from his robes, "and it doesn't even need to sit over night."

Lunia stared at the little vile, "Please tell me that's…"

"I was saving it for…. someone else, but I believe Lady Kagome and Inu-Yasha need it more than I do." Miroku nodded, risking a glance over in Sango's direction before handing the small bottle to Lunia.

Holding the bottle as though it were as precious as a newborn child, Lunia's face broke into a cynical grin, "Now all we need is a miko, a dog hanyou, and a few more cups of tea…"

Chapter Twenty-Two:
Plan of Patience

Back at the lake...

Ever have one of those times where you're the odd man out? You want to watch what the people around you are doing, but there are two reasons why you can't:

Reason One: the people you're watching may think you wish to join them.

Reason Two: you don't understand exactly what they're doing.

This was Inu-Yasha's position at the moment. The day was warm, so he'd taken off his haori and gi, choosing the safety of a tree branch to do his routine 'Kagome checks', as Leota often teased him whenever she passed his tree. Currently, aforementioned wolf-turned-human and Kagome had begun their water game again, this time having more room to work with than with previous games.

Acting as 'referee with benefits', Tora had a permanent smile attached to his face. He was sure Miroku would agree that his spot was the best for hentai gazing. No one paid him any attention: Leota and Kagome were too involved in their game, Inu-Yasha was trying hard not to look, so Tora looked away whenever the hanyou did sneak a peak, and there was no Kouga to rip his eyes out.

Life was being so good to him...

And then Leota was under the water, something that was to be expected since it was Kagome that pushed her down there.

But then she didn't come up.

Frantic, Tora dove in after her, glad that it was water he swam in rather than blood.

"Only someone with a bloodlust like Ookami-sama's could ever see through something like that," he thought, finding said woman on the bottom, "shit! What the hell is going on up in Heaven? 'See how many ways we can make Usu-Venita's life go wrong month?' That would explain why she's so… needy at the moment…"

Head breaking the surface, Tora headed to the shore. Pulling her completely out of the water, Tora didn't even notice when Inu-Yasha and Kagome bounded over, he was more focused on the red crescent moon on her forehead, something that only appeared when…

Cold steel blue eyes snapped open as Leota sat up, her right leg bending at the knee while her left remained straight. Tora had barely had enough time to move out of the way, a good move on his part if his guess about the sudden appearance of the South's symbol was correct.

Turning her head to him, Tora saw that she was struggling between this hardened version and herself, "Mate?"

Blinking, Tora didn't think Xavier had allowed for her to remember that she had a Mate. He cocked his head at her, a puzzled look on his face.

"Uh no. No, sorry."

"Kouga. Where?" Leota asked, the roots of her hair becoming white.

Especially confused, Tora had to assume that all was normal... for some odd unexplainable reason, "He left. Probably went back to the Feudal Era."

"Thanks. Needed to know." She mumbled, turning over and racing on all fours for a moment while she changed into her wolf form, for no one would notice her if she followed the trail they'd taken earlier from Kagome's house straight to the lake.

It was Kagome's turn to blink, "What was that all about?"

"Two things," Tora said, looking at the confused miko and hanyou, "first, the red crescent moon of the Southern Inside only appears on Sama-sama's forehead when she craves blood, among other related things. Second, Sama-sama seems to be unable to communicate properly when she's horny."

Blushing at the tiger's straightforward approach, neither Kagome nor Inu-Yasha saw the glint of mischievousness that flashed in the tiger's eyes. With Kouga and Venita out of the way, he could finally put into action a plan he'd had since they arrived.

"You kids have fun." Tora said, getting up from his kneeling position.

Walking over to a tree, he sat down against the trunk, changed into his tiger form, and a moment later was sound asleep.

At a loss for what to do, Inu-Yasha turned to Kagome, "Did you wanna stay here a little longer? Maybe wait for Venita-san to come back?"

"No, we can go home if you like, Tora-san'll catch up with us later I'm sure," Kagome said, an idea popping into her head that she would never have proposed if it weren't for Venita's constant reminding her about 'Cloud Nine', "unless, of course, you'd like to come swim with me?"

Startled by Kagome's question, Inu-Yasha couldn't resist her pleading brown eyes, being able to read just how desperately she wanted to stay at the lake for some relaxation, something she didn't get very often.

All because of him.

"I'll fix that," he vowed, having just the thing in mind, "I won't push her to go find jewel shards so often. And I'll try not yell at her for doing or saying something stupid."

"Uh, Inu-Yasha?"

"Hm?"

"Are you okay? You look depressed, is there anything you want to tell me?"

"If you only knew..." The hanyou thought sadly, shaking his head as he stood and offered her his hand, "Nah. C'mon, I wanna take you somewhere."

Kagome looked up at him questioningly, "Nani? Doko ni?"

"What's the matter? Don't trust me to take you somewhere?"

"No! That's not it at all!" Kagome exclaimed, allowing him to help her up, "I just want to know where you want to take me."

"Not tellin'. You comin' or not?"

Kagome thought for a moment. Where could he possibly want to take her? But, more importantly, why? Was there something he wanted to tell her? Maybe he was going to tell her he'd chosen Kikyo. Yes, that had to be it. His face had that... 'look' to it. It was the same look he had whenever she caught him meeting with her incarnation, the resurrected priestess Kikyo.

"But why would he take me anywhere? Couldn't he tell me here? Unless there's something he has to say that he doesn't want Tora to hear?" Kagome thought, looking at Inu-Yasha, who was being uncharacteristically patient.

He looked at her expectantly, "So?"

"Hai, I'll come."

A small smile brightened the hanyou's features as he allowed the young miko to climb on his back. Racing into the woods and taking the same path Venita had taken just a few moments before, Inu-Yasha silently hoped that all would go as he had planned just five minutes ago. Quickly opening the door to the well house, Inu-Yasha jumped down the stairs and into the well.

At the lake, Tora was grinning, "Hn, Lunia-san and Ookami-sama make things way too difficult for their own good. Sure they come up with devilish plans and say that mine will never work, only because they don't believe in it. Hehe, 'good things come to those who wait', and if I wait long enough, those two'll be together before Christmas. All one has to do is manipulate a few dreams."

((March 13, 2005)) A/N: Woohoo! I am working on Chapter 23 as I write this note, & my goal was to post the two of them together, but I decided against it just so you wouldn't have to be kept longer than was absolutely necessary… aren't I nice? Hehe… enjoy! Oh, by the way… "doko ni" means "where"…