20,12,04- christmas break is finally here!!! woohoo!!! I'm hoping to update this twice over break . . . but don't hold me too it. I leave for florida on the 27th- no computer! well, enjoy!

SILVER MOONSHADOW

CHAPTER THREE

Kagome stared into space, feeling the swell of magic thrumming in her blood. This . . . this was absolute bliss, to feel her magic changing, glowing inside her. She felt the little tendrils of demon magic, with Sesshoumaru's own . . . his own feel to them, take root in the core of her self that housed her powers. A little thrill went through her body as the very nature of her magic changed. It stopped stretching out towards Sesshoumaru, instead curling around him like a warm blanket, enveloping them both. Kagome sighed as she finally relaxed a part of the mental muscle that she had to keep constantly tense in the presence of demons, especially Sesshoumaru.

As the magic swirled and fluctuated around her, Kagome contemplated the deal she'd just made with the demon lord. She hadn't forgotten Inuyasha and her duty to collect the shards. She just felt that that mission could take the back seat for a while as she did this. Kagome really wanted to help Sesshoumaru save his little human, whom he obviously was attached to. It was healthy for Sesshoumaru to have a way to realize that not all humans were disgusting and stupid, and it seemed that this Rin was doing a good job of moderating those emotions. Plus, Kagome knew she was in need of some serious training. She didn't want to rely on Inuyasha whenever trouble came her way. Someday there'd come a time when he wouldn't be able t help her, and if Sesshoumaru was offering her a chance to be prepared for that day, then Kagome wasn't going to say no.

The other thing on her mind was that necklace. She didn't know what she'd been thinking when she decided to put it on him. Maybe she just wanted to get back at him for his saucy remark, but she'd forgotten for a moment that he wasn't Inuyasha. She was actually surprised to see it still around his neck. Kagome had assumed he would just take it off as soon as he got the chance, because she fully didn't expect it to hold under his power. It did match nicely with his kimono, though.

Kagome's eyes slowly came back into focus on the demon lord as the whirl of magic inside her body ebbed away. Sesshoumaru looked like he was about to speak, but before anyone could do anything, a demon appeared in the clearing, startling Kagome and Akiran, who both stepped back as the young man prostrated himself before the silver-haired taiyoukai.

"My Lord . . ." the demon panted heavily, bowing at Sesshoumaru's feet, "thank the stars you're back. Please . . ."

"What is the issue, Daketo?" Sesshoumaru asked. The demon, who looked about twenty by human standards, knelt at Sesshoumaru's feet, breathing heavily to get his breath back. He didn't possess the silver hair or markings of the demon lord lines, but he was obviously a dog demon, with long bluish-gray hair, pointed ears, and fangs and claws. Kagome guessed that he was probably a soldier of some sort.

"My father Hakkai . . . a demon from the south has . . . challenged him . . . our lands burned . . . the human tenants have been . . . been taken, or run off, and we don't have the authority . . . they claimed you had died . . . please . . ." Daketo begged. Kagome walked swiftly and silently to the well, drawing up a bucket and ladling some into a bowl which had survived the destruction. She set the bowl in Shippou's hands and sent the boy off carefully to the panting messenger. Shippou eyed Sesshoumaru for permission, then carefully set the bowl beside Daketo, who scooped it up and drank the whole bowl off like lightning.

Sesshoumaru nodded once to Kagome, then turned to Daketo once more. "Rise, Daketo, and get back your breath," he commanded. Daketo obeyed, looking around for the first time at the destruction of the once-beautiful palace with wide eyes. "As you can see," Sesshoumaru said, "this Sesshoumaru is in something of a dilemma as well, but this Sesshoumaru will return with you to your father's steading at once."

Daketo bowed low. "Arigatou gozaimasu, Sesshoumaru-sama," he said gratefully.

"Jaken!" Sesshoumaru snapped. The toad appeared, but before he could speak the demon lord snapped out an order to bring An-Un out. Then Sesshoumaru turned to Akiran and Kagome. "Akiran, take your daughter and the kitsune to the nearest village for the night. Kagome, you'll come along to Hakkai's lands."

"Hai," they both said, and Kagome remembered at the last minute to bow. Daketo didn't glance at them as they scurried off, Akiran to gather up Shippou and Kotoko, and Kagome to be ready by An-Un when Sesshoumaru decided it was time to go. Shortly, the demon lord and his subject approached. An-Un lowered his An head for Sesshoumaru to leap gracefully on, allowing Daketo to jump up to the Un head. Jaken was already seated behind, at the base of the necks, and Kagome assumed that she was to sit there as well and began scrambling up, but Sesshoumaru's biting voice stopped her.

"Kagome," the demon lord snapped, "you'll fall from back there." Kagome turned to see An's head low to the ground, and watched as Sesshoumaru twitched, then held out his healed left hand. "Get up behind me."

"Arigatou, Sesshoumaru-sama," Kagome said, taking his hand. He pulled her up behind him and gave an order to the dragons. They raised their heads, causing Kagome to gasp and grab Sesshoumaru's kimono to keep from falling off. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Daketo watching her with awe.

They took off, and the wind blew Sesshoumaru's silver hair around her, whipping it back like a curtain around her. His tail curled around her waist to keep her from falling, and she carefully loosened her grip on the back of Sesshoumaru's armor. behind him in the wind, she thought for a moment that she could smell a distinctive scent . . . it was beyond the comforting smell she'd come to associate with him over the past week, it felt more . . . detailed. Confused, Kagome shook her head, turning her thoughts to the issue at hand.

She'd never really considered before what duties a demon lord might have, especially one in such a predicament as Sesshoumaru, who had probably lost a lot because of his father's actions. She supposed it made sense that he would have subjects to protect and lands to patrol, but she'd never really thought about such things in context with the formidable half-brother of Inuyasha. Apparently she was about to gain first-hand experience of the duties required of a demon lord to his people.

It was only a short flight to Daketo's father's land, which made Kagome wonder just how much territory Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha's father had lost. When they landed Sesshoumaru didn't bother to warn Kagome before turning, scooping her up, and leaping to the ground, which, needless to say, scared Kagome silly. As soon as her feet touched soil, Kagome proceeded to freak out at him.

"Jeez, Sesshoumaru, warn me next time, okay?!" she cried, not quite screeching because she didn't want to hurt his ears. "You just about gave me a heart attack!" Sesshoumaru just smirked at her, and Kagome bowed her head a bit, added uncertainly, "And, uh, thanks for not letting me fall, Sesshoumaru-sama." The demon lord simply nodded, still smirking, but as he passed her he said softy, "I will warn you in the future."

"A- Arigatou," Kagome said back, moving to walk behind Sesshoumaru. They followed Daketo, who was studiously not looking at them, to the outskirts of the village Kagome had seen in the woods just before they landed.

The buildings of the village were of a similar style as what Sesshoumaru's castle had been, though simpler and on a smaller scale. Kagome figured that the demons of the Western lands all pitched in to build their lord's residence, which made sense. Sesshoumaru couldn't very well build it himself, now could he? Still, the demons' homes were simple, yet elegant in their own way, and far less crude than the houses built by humans. Kagome looked about, impressed.

A dog-demon with midnight-blue hair was waiting for them in front of the largest of the homes, and Kagome immediately caught the resemblance between Daketo and the older demon. Hakkai, she thought it was, stood covered in blood, bearing a sword that gleamed, obviously having just been cleaned, and Kagome gathered that he'd just won his duel. But the other demons Kagome saw in the doorways of the houses looked very worried, and Kagome wondered what the problem was.

As soon as Sesshoumaru was near, the other demon, obviously older than Sesshoumaru, bowed low. "Thank you for coming to our rescue, my Lord Sesshoumaru-sama," Hakkai said. The other demons bowed from the doorways and windows of homes and from the streets where they stood worrying. Sesshoumaru did nothing for a moment, simply observing all of them, then grunted.

"You have won your duel, then," Sesshoumaru began, and it wasn't a question. "That is well."

"Thank you, my Lord," Hakkai said gladly, rising from his bow. After a moment the other villagers stood also. "And I am glad to see you well, and have one fear disproven. But the situation is still grim. Did my son explain everything?"

"Not everything, but enough to expose the severity of the situation. Have any further developments occurred?" Sesshoumaru asked.

Kagome watched them converse, trying to listen closely and understand what was going on. It appeared that another steadholder from the Southern lands had heard that Sesshoumaru had been killed and decided to move in on Hakkai's lands. Without proof that his lord was alive and the Southern demon in the wrong, Hakkai had no authority to attack the other demon, though defense was allowed. Unfortunately, Hakkai's steading was smaller than the southern demon's, with fewer fighters among the demon population, and the Southerner had run off Hakkai's human tenants and put the torch to their fields as well. This left Hakkai in a bad spot, especially if Sesshoumaru was unable to come. And on top of that, the Southern steadholder had challenged Hakkai to a duel of honor, to defend his liege lord's land. Hakkai accepted, of course, and won, which raised Hakkai's honor and would make things harder on the Southerner when Sesshoumaru caught him. In the short term, however, it pushed the Southern steadholder to be more aggressive so that he could quickly regain his honor by overtaking Hakkai's steading.

Kagome was concerned especially when she heard that the Southerner was using his humans, who by living on his steading were his to do with as he pleased, as cannon fodder. He broke their minds with fear, brainwashed them, and sent them out on kamikaze missions to kill any of Hakkai's people that they found. Few got very far before they were slaughtered, but it kept Hakkai's people on their toes and prevented them from resting. Without rest the demons couldn't heal the minor wounds they had received in the light fighting exchanged between them and the Southern steading's fighters. Kagome also wanted to help the humans, who weren't under their own control. It was horrible of the demon to use them that way.

When Hakkai finished explaining, Sesshoumaru silently contemplated for a moment. "Kagome," he said, and she stepped forward, surprised that he wanted her to do anything besides watch, "go out into the forest and intercept the humans that this thief is sending out. Convince them to disobey the orders the Southerner has given and bring them back here for safekeeping. I also want you to tend to the wounds that the villagers, human and demon, have received. Wakata?"

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama," Kagome replied, glad to help, "wakata. Demo, I need a bow and arrows . . ." Hakkai and the other demons looked at her for the first time, and she heard them muttering and wondering to themselves. "I don't want to be mistaken for a demon."

"Hakkai," Sesshoumaru called, turning back to the steadholder. "Provide her with a good bow and a quiver of arrows."

"Arigatou, Sesshoumaru-sama," Kagome said quietly, waiting for her weapons. A young demon girl, who looked about Kagome's own age by human standards, rushed away and returned with a bow and a full quiver. Kagome took them and ran her hands over the fine wood, then pulled out an arrow and charged it experimentally. It glowed brightly, taking on her magic with ease, and Kagome smiled in surprise. "Sugoi," she muttered, "these are wonderful." She bowed to the girl who had gotten them for her. "Arigatou!" happy, Kagome walked quickly into the surrounding forest, trusting Sesshoumaru to know what he was doing.

Sesshoumaru's POV

What did he think he was doing? Sesshoumaru inwardly berated himself for sending the miko off so quickly, without knowing the situation fully. Oh, he trusted Kagome well enough with her chosen weapon, and he knew she had good control over her powers, but he still didn't know his enemy well enough to be trusting his miko out in the woods. He shifted his stance, trying not to worry. Kagome was his only chance to get Rin back, and if anything happened to her during this petty land war . . .well, he'd just have to work harder and faster than normal and make sure nothing went wrong.

Decided, he turned back to Hakkai, watching the demon steadholder process his thoughts. He'd heard the whispered comments of human and miko, but by showing his approval of her actions and granting her request for a weapon, he had in a roundabout way warned them that she was his servant and not to be touched. The demons would leave her alone for now, but he'd probably have to intervene when Kagome returned in a few hours and wanted to start healing the villagers. He could just picture her face, worried and distressed as she watched wounded youkai refusing to accept her healing magic.

Sesshoumaru snapped out at Hakkai, not really angry but sharply, reminding his steadholder of the most important matter at hand, and the dark-haired dog-demon and his thirty-odd villagers gathered around Sesshoumaru to discuss their options.

Inuyasha's POV

The silver-haired hanyou sighed, wondering what had become of Kagome. The annoying girl and the kitsune brat had just up and disappeared, and Inuyasha wasn't stupid enough to think it was a coincidence that his half-brother had run off the same night. At first he'd been worried that the demon they'd killed had somehow gotten to her, but there'd been no smell of Kagome's blood anywhere along the demon's trail, only a little of Sesshoumaru's, before Inuyasha lost his half-brother's scent entirely.

Inuyasha was saddened to see what his half-brother had come to. There was so much hurt inside the demon lord, buried so deep that Sesshoumaru didn't even know it was there. Inuyasha could tell, though, because he'd felt the same thing nearly all his life. Sesshoumaru had felt betrayed by their father when he'd taken a human wife after the death of Sesshoumaru's own mother, and he took out that betrayal as anger against all humans. Inuyasha had felt betrayed when Sesshoumaru kicked him out, and he'd taken that anger out on the whole world before he'd met Kikyou. If only Sesshoumaru had someone to bring all the hurt to the surface and heal his wounded heart, things would be better. Inuyasha could remember a time when he and his half-brother had been at peace, when their father had been alive and given his love to them both, and Inuyasha had looked up to his older half-brother like an idol. The sadness he'd felt when Sesshoumaru had banished him . . .

He sighed again, worried about Kagome still, and shook away his impossible hopes. He was genuinely fond of the young woman who looked so much like Kikyou, though he'd never love her like he'd loved Kikyou. Even now that his beloved miko was dead, he was still loyal to Kikyou as she was in life. Dog demons were notorious for their loyalty. The dirt-and-bones Kikyou construction that haunted him now, that wasn't the woman he'd loved. No, Naraku had killed Kikyou, and for that Inuyasha would destroy the evil hanyou. He would help Kagome find and gather the Shikon shards out of loyalty to Kikyou's life-long task and his promise to her, to become a human, and out of loyalty to Kikyou's soul, reincarnated in Kagome. Then he would become a human, live out his life and die, and finally join Kikyou in hell.

But in the mean time he had a task to do, and he needed Kagome to do it. Fingering the red beads around his neck, he stared out at the forest, thinking.

Kagome's POV

As the sun finally set, the forest darkened, and Kagome worried that she wouldn't be able to find her way back to the village. She'd only been out for about half an hour, and in that time she'd carefully made a circle of the little youkai village. On the spur of the moment, she'd improvised a shield spell- well, it wasn't really a shield spell, more like an alarm spell. She'd never heard of such a thing before and didn't know if it was possible, but the idea was that if any human or demon crossed the circle that she'd walked, she would be able to feel it. Hopefully, it would work. Hopefully, she could also use the alarm shield bubble as a homing device if she got lost out in the forest.

That finished, Kagome set off towards what she thought was the south, judging from the way the sun had set. She was determined to waylay any humans she saw, hoping that none of them would get by her to be killed by the youkai, who had no choice but to kill the humans to protect themselves. A rusty knife wielded by an eleven-year old half-starved human boy would kill just as quickly as a katana in Sesshoumaru's elegant hands if no one did anything about it. Well, Kagome intended to do something about it.

Sesshoumaru's POV

Sesshoumaru stood immobile in the center of the clearing, feeling out the link the beads had on his magical core as he waited for the next demon attack. Until a demon appeared for him to capture and get information out of, he could do little, so he spent the time contemplating the miko and the spelled beads she'd put around his neck.

It was a simple but powerful spell, and if Sesshoumaru had anticipated it he might have stood a chance of breaking out of it on his own. As things were now, it had woven itself too deeply into his magical core, and only Kagome would be able to take it off.

Sesshoumaru's thoughts shifted to the young miko. Well, she wasn't really young by human standards, probably seven or eight years older than Rin. She'd be . . . about nineteen or twenty years old, now. That was nearly an adult, for a human. And she was very powerful for a miko. He'd never heard of a miko with so much control over her magic, and apparently she had a lot of power as well, as miko went. Kagome needed only to gain more skill, but she was on that road already, if the necklace was anything to go by. Sesshoumaru would probably be teaching her how to fight more than he would be teaching her how to use her magic. But . . . if she'd never received any formal training, would she know the history of the miko? Sesshoumaru would have to ask her. If necessary he would take her to the Great Library in the demon capitol to teach her the histories. He'd made one trip there already with Rin, and he intended to make several more ventures to the City of Souls and the Library to fill out Rin's education. Rin would probably enjoy a trip with Kagome immensely.

Sesshoumaru looked up at the starry sky, tinged purple and blue at the Western horizon, carefully brushing the green beads resting on his kimono, and contemplated the young miko. The moon rose behind him, casting a shadow on the glistening grass, and the dew on the dark green blades glowed and sparkled like silver.

END CHAPTER THREE

A/N: holy crap . . . i can't believe I just wrote all that. whew. my poor fingers. well, it's done for the moment. originally i had in mind for this to be just eight chpaters, but i think it's going to be longer than that . . . well, anyways. thanks to all my lovely reviewers from past chapters, and I hope to see you again!!!

yuya2, Krysta, Meilin H, Saphira-Dragon-Rider, moo, Caitlin M, Megan Consoer, Wolf-Dog-Demoness, LionHeart823, sataness-ov-desire, Pixy-Misa-Misao-Amano, RoguesHeart, jerry, personwithnoname, Bubblesbb03, hentaiyaoilover, Becky

and a big thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter two!!!

Dagorwen of Ithilien (it wasn't really as soon as possible . . . but I got it out!)

yuya2 (I like sess/kag pretty well, but when I first started this I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it.)

ptbear (oh, poo, you're starting to catch on to me . . . hmm. I'll have to work on my confusion factor.)

Megan Consoer (I'll try to get another out over christmas break. reviews like yours are so inspiring!)

Irvin ( only three months . . . that's soon, isn't it?)

aska19 (well, I aim to please. thanks for your review!!!)

shadows-insanity (I'm so glad you like it!)

lyn (I think she's trying to get me to do something, but . . . I just can't figure out what! laughs I shall indeed write more.)

hissori tenshi (I have done as you cammand!!! ohm, uhm!!! glad you reviewed!!!)

NightOwl360 (thanks for the tip! I hope it works this time . . .)