Disclaimer (which I almost forgot to put in!) I dont own the characters of Inuyasha, and I am not creative enough to even come up with an interesting disclaimer.


Kagome looked over the numbers she had scratched in the dirt. 'Math sucks," she thought as she continued with her problem.

Sesshoumaru eyed the girl from where he was resting. What was she doing? Scratching gibberish in the dirt? He became increasingly curious as she sighed annoyingly.

Kagome, frustrated, threw her stick down in the dirt. "I hate geometry," She mumbled, scratching out her failed math problem with her foot. Kagome crossed her arms and turned on her heel to face Sesshoumaru. She was surprised that he was looking directly at her; she's suspected that he would ignore her like he usually did, making snide comments every now and then.

"Idiot human, why were you defacing this land with your stupid chicken-scratch?" Kagome sighed. There went the snide comment…

"It wasn't chicken-scratch," she explained. "It was Geometry…math. Do you even have that?" Kagome picked up the stick again and scratched a simple math problem into the dirt, pointing.

"We use that for practical purposes. Whatever you were doing was far too ridiculous for my uses, so it is little more that idiocy to me."

"Tell that to my math teachers," Kagome mumbled, reaching for her balled up bunny pajamas that she now used as a pillow. Her nimble fingers folded them flat and she tucked them inside her kimono. She didn't quite know why she kept them, but they sure did make a good pillow.

Naraku sneered, deep in thought. His leg itched from sitting in the same position for hours on end, but he was too concentrated to move. There were problems to attend to. 'Perhaps I will have to use Kojiki's witch doctor talents again…' Naraku thought. 'To fix the problem of the girl and the taiyoukai. However, it is not time to tend to that problem yet. Neither is it time to deal with the other problem…the boy. I shall just have to bide my time for now, before I start to formulate a plan…'

Kagome rubbed her thumb against the rough bark of the stick she held in her hand. She absently wondered if she could make things levitate with her magic. She didn't care enough at that time to try, but surely later she would begin experimenting. The girl had a strong desire to increase her miko energy, for self defense in case anything bad were to happen in a confrontation with Naraku. She had thought about that often. How was she going to get her brother back? She was not a battle strategist, nor a very sneaky person, as Naraku was. She was, however, clever. That's what she relied on most, she thought. Being clever. The only thing her clever little mind could think of to help Souta, however, was to increase her miko powers (which were steadily growing) as much as she could.

Sesshoumaru smelled it. His home. His castle. Although he traveled very often, he was always somewhat pleased to come back home. When he was small, home always meant 'mother,' until she died. The quality of the scent always reminded him of his mother, no matter how much he let on. He was eager, and in a somewhat good mood, he stopped and turned to the girl.

Kagome halted as well, curious. "Are we stopping already?" She asked without thinking. Soon after she flinched, as she knew an insinuating comment would soon come her way.

"Yes, human, I decided that you need a rest for your small tired legs." He was dripping with sarcasm. 'Well, for Sesshoumaru…' Kagome thought.

"Here." He walked towards her. "I tire of this slow pace. Because we are nearly to my castle, I will carry you. But not of goodwill." He added

Kagome grinned. "Neat-o! Are we gonna fly?!"

Sesshoumaru turned away, and really did roll his eyes this time.

"Should I just climb on your back?" Kagome took an unsure step forward.

"Yes, girl, hurry up." Sesshoumaru's face didn't change as he felt her warm hands on his shoulders first, then her soft torso on his back.

"Kay. I'm on." Kagome felt awkward. She had done this dozens of times with Inuyasha, but with someone as stiff as Sesshoumaru…It just felt weird.

Sesshoumaru launched off with speed twice that of Inuyasha's. Kagome yelped, struggling for a better hold as the wind whooshed past her body.

"What are you screaming about, idiot?"

"I'm not used to this speed."

Sesshoumaru smirked slightly. "This isn't even half my true speed."

Kagome's eyes widened as she held on tighter. His hair was whipping in the wind, sending strands to strike her across the face. It stung like no other at this speed. Kagome hesitated, shifted her weight so she could hold on with one hand, then swept all of his hair behind her, as if it were a protective curtain. She rested her head at the base of the back of his neck, as it was the only sensible place for it to go. Sesshoumaru sneered at the contact.

"What are you doing?" He snapped.

"Oh, suck it up." She gruumbled. "I'm just trying to find a comfortable position."

Sesshoumaru said nothing. He kept his eyes on the horizon, attempting to focus on his destination, but his thoughts were on the girl. She smelled, weird. Not bad, but funny. Something wasn't right, because she smelled familiar, and he couldn't place it. Like his mother, he thought suddenly, and this puzzled him more. How could this girl possibly smell like his mother? It was a wonderful smell to him, and peaceful scenes of time spent with his mother and himself trailed through his memory. Although, this girl had her own individual scent…it was like the smell wasn't radiating from her, but from around her. He couldn't understand.

As he cut through the wind he thought about her. Kagome, she had said her name was. She was unlike any other human he had ever met, except perhaps Rin. No…she wasn't even like Rin; she was way more defiant. Maybe it had to do with her age? She was not afraid to stand up for anyone, she wasn't afraid of anything. She held such a strong personality that he couldn't understand. Humans were weak, they were cowards and afraid of anything that might hurt them. They had stupid emotions: they cried. He had only cried once. Once in his long, long life. And that had been when he was a child. Sesshoumaru, on one hand, wanted to throw this girl off of him and let her fall to her death so he would never see her again. But on the other hand, he wanted desperately to know more about her, so he could understand.

He hated not understanding.

"Woa!" Kagome piped up from behind Sesshoumaru. "Is that your castle! It's so cool!"

"Be quiet human, for once?"

He landed on his grounds, his castle sinking below the horizon so that only the tallest parts peeked above.

"Why are we landing this far away?" Kagome asked.

"So I don't have to face the embarrassment of arriving at the castle with you riding me so." Sesshoumaru snapped, striding forward with his long legs.

Kagome's face soured. She was no longer afraid of him killing her…she was plain mad at this point. "So I'm just an embarrassment?" she spat.

"You're human."

"So what?!"

"Humans are weak. Youkai are strong. I wouldn't want to be doubted by my advisors."

Kagome had a feeling that Sesshoumaru didn't give a care as to what his advisors thought. She changed the topic. "So what are you going to do to help me find my brother."

"The first step is to locate him. I will use a network of spies to go all across the four corners of this land."

"All that for me?"

"Don't you remember your promise, girl?"

"Promise?"

"I will bind you to it." He stopped to study her.

"You mean the arm? But I cant heal an…" Kagome stopped suddenly.

"If you cannot, then I will keep you as a slave in my castle. Or perhaps, if I am up to it, kill you."

"That wasn't part of the deal!"

"The deal, human," he said the word with distaste, "was that you would heal my arm, if I found your brother. If you do not fulfill the end of the deal, I am not going to let you leave my sight. You will belong to me."

"I don't remember agreeing to that." Kagome was unsure now.

"It wasn't, and is not an option."

Kagome looked down as he walked forward. She was in serious trouble now. It was a matter of life and death. She knew she couldn't heal something as big as an arm. Kagome realized that her feet were moving without her asking them to. She was automatically following Sesshoumaru, her eyes hypnotized by his hair in front of her. The girl pushed all of her thoughts into the farthest corner of her mind, saving them for later.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! You have brought home Rin a present! A girl?" Sesshoumaru patted Rin's head looking past her into his castle. "Yes Rin, a girl. You may play with her." That would leave them both occupied for a while so he could go rest and think.

Kagome's eyes narrowed at the departing figure. She hated it when Sesshoumaru talked about her like a possession; a new toy for this girl who he called Rin. As much as she wanted to hate the small girl in front of her, her bad moods lifted immediately as Rin grabbed her hand, chattering about picking some flowers. Kagome wondered to herself who this girl was, why she was here living in Sesshoumaru's castle.

"I know a great field of flowers, its over there." Rin stopped her talking for a second to point. "And we can pick lots of them! And then later we can catch fireflies! By the way, what is your name?"

"Kagome." The miko smiled.

"That's a neat name. Rin wishes she had a cooler name instead o- plain ol Rin, but then again, that's the name Rin's mommy and daddy gave her!"

Kagome became instantly alarmed. "Where are your mommy and daddy now?"

"Oh…they died a long time ago." Rin said idly. "Now Rin travels with Sesshoumaru-sama! Rin likes it here."

"Why do you travel with Sesshoumaru?" Kagome asked.

As the small child recited her story, Kagome became more and more surprised at Sesshoumaru's level of compassion. He had saved a young girl with his sword? She had never known he possessed any compassion, let alone seen it. As her brain threatened to explode from too many things to think about, she bent down and plucked a flower for Rin. The small girl's fingers wrapped around it, smile widening. "C'mon, lets go pick more!" Rin said.

"Actually Rin, I was hoping if you could show me where I could get some food around here…I'm starving." Kagome put extra emphasis on the word 'starving'.

"Okay!" Rin shouted, just happy to have something to do. "This way!" She grabbed Kagome's hand and started running towards the castle.

After Kagome had eaten, a servant took her to a room. It was normal, not overly furnished or expensive. After saying her goodnights to Rin, and her promises that they would play in the morning, Kagome shut the door and faced the room. It was at that time that all the things she had pushed aside to think about later came back. Kagome closed her eyes and sank to the floor, trying to piece apart the chaos inside her head. So many thoughts bombarded her at once, that she became short of breath. What was she doing? Would she die here? Would she be able to save her brother? Would Sesshoumaru kill her? What about Inuyasha? And her mother? Kagome moved to the bed and attempted to sleep amidst all these thoughts, but despite her tired and weak body crying out for sleep, she wasn't able to. She felt tears leaking out of her eyes, even though she had tried many times to convince them to stop. Everything was a mess. She needed someone to talk to.

Kagome stood up, straightening out her kimono and wiping her face clear of tears. Her skin burned from the salty droplets and probably, Kagome thought, was all pink and ugly. She opened the door quietly, peeking out for signs of life. She didn't care who it was, she just wanted to find someone to confide in. If it was a servant, that was fine. Just someone…anyone. The miko wandered down the halls, going whichever way she felt. She soon realized she was lost, but she didn't mind. Anything to get her mind away from negative thoughts. At the end of the dark hallway she was going down, she saw a light around the corner. Kagome walked swiftly to the end and observed a door, slightly open and displaying a dimly lit room. The miko's face brightened. Someone to talk to! Anyone! She peeked in, careful to be as silent as she could.

Anyone!

She looked at the silhouette of the figure inside, sitting at a desk, then her face visually dropped.

Anyone. Anyone but him.


Wheweee! That chapter was a beast for sure! I spent so much time on it. I had a REALLY busy couple of weeks, plus I was working on a one-shot at the same time. Thats why it took so long. Please forgive me and review!