Thanx so much for the reviews. I'm on chapter 15 now, and after my research project, I should be typing a lot faster and put up faster updates. But it's not easy to keep as many of my stories in check. So far, I've been working on this, Spirited Down, Dot Hack Inuyasha, Harry Potter and the Deadly Alliance,and The Battle for the Western Lands. That's without school work, so I'm sorry for the slow updates. Review anyway, would ya?

Oh, and also, I'm upping the rating, b-cuz there's something disturbing in the next chapter. I'm warning you now, if you do not like sexual references, don't read the next chapter.

The next morning, Sesshoumaru woke up, grateful to find that he had not rolled into his own puke-puddle, though he had rolled into the barrier. He was fortunate that he didn't roll around too much because he was a subconsciously light sleeper.

"Sesshoumaru! I'm back….what did they do to you!"

He looked up slowly and was rewarded by a blurred picture of Kagome swimming in his now weak vision.

"Kagome…"

"Oh, it's just like the villagers to do something like this!" Sango said. "No wonder Kirara was acting so urgent…"

The neko smiled at him.

&I've got your back, Sesshoumaru,& she mewed kindly.

Sesshoumaru nodded in return.

"Okay, Sesshoumaru, you're gonna have to sit up for me to bandage you," Kagome said. "Can you?"

"Hn. Yes."

Sesshoumaru painfully forced himself into a sitting position and allowed Kagome to disinfect and dress his many wounds. He couldn't help but wince as she put bandages over the tattered remains of his torso. The skin was still not healing over the exposed muscle, thanks to Zanmaru's poison, so she left the bandages loose. Otherwise, she knew they would fuse to his skin when it healed back.

After his chest, she disinfected his hand and foot perforations, which were infected and oozing yellow pus. While she did this, he had to bite back many yelps of pain.

She then attended to his gashed and burned appendages, which were not so bad. When Kagome was finished, Sesshoumaru looked slightly like a mummy, which would have been funny, if it didn't prove he was so injured.

What the taiyoukai did next scared all of them more than when he was angry.

"Arigato, Miko-sama," he said, bowing his head low.

Everyone gasped at his humility.

"Miko-sama!" Inuyasha repeated in awe. "Since when did this happen!"

"I am required to confer to others higher than my station in such a manner," Sesshoumaru said, looking at his brother as if he was stupid for thinking anything else.

"B-but Sesshoumaru," Kagome stammered. "I'm not higher in rank than you. You're a landowning lord! I'm a commoner!"

"Ah…I am sorry for displeasing you, Miko-sama," Sesshoumaru replied, looking as if he wanted no repercussions for his brashness. "I do not remember it all. Everything is unclear to me. I know I used to be something important, but I just don't consider it so anymore…"

"You mean you don't remember it all?"

"Not quite. I remember it. The memories are all there, yet…"

"I see," Miroku said. "Lord Sesshoumaru is in denial of what he knows is true because of the manner in which he has been treated."

"But if your mind is telling you you're a lord, how can you still not believe it?" Shippo wondered.

"It's just a matter of mental abuse. If he doesn't come to grips with his role, he will become maddened by the confusing situation," Miroku continued.

"What are you talking about?" Sesshoumaru said, a bit curtly. "I cannot be a lord."

"Sesshoumaru, don't you remember your pride? Your power?" Inuyasha asked.

"…umm…I do, but I do not quite see how it plays into my role…"

"You are a lord. Get used to it."

"Oh, I cannot be a lord. I am much too insignificant…"

"Okay," Inuyasha said with a shrug. "I give. He's over the edge."

"No," Sango said. "He's actually being sort of sweet. He's in denial, but sweet."

The taijiya bent down to his level.

"Sesshoumaru?" she said.

"Yes, Sango-sama?"

"Number one: just call me Sango."

"…Sango…"

"And try to remember this for me…do you remember Naraku?"

"Naraku…he tried to use me, did he not?"

"Yes," Kagome said, pressing a little harder, "And what do you want to do to him?"

"I…I want to kill him…because he used such a lord as myself for his own purposes. Filthy half-breed!"

Sesshoumaru caught himself.

"Did I say that?"

"Yeah," Shippo confirmed.

"Heh…that felt good. Stupid, stupid half-breed! Hah! Half-breeds are below me!"

Sesshoumaru laughed madly at this, then caught himself once more.

"And I call you wench!" he said to Kagome.

"Yes, although I don't like it…"

"Too bad! I care not for your feelings, mortal wench!"

Sesshoumaru sighed.

"Ahh, it is good to be me again!"

"Yeah," Kagome muttered, "A jerk…"

"Hold your tongue," Sesshoumaru growled curtly. "Or shall I remove it for you?"

"Oh, shove it!"

Kagome began to scratch a less injured part of his stomach and he growled in contentment.

"Ohh…wench, you know exactly where my spot is…"

As wrong as that sounded, Kagome knew what he meant as his leg began to thump against the ground rapidly. However, the leg thumps soon caused him to reopen his thinly covered chest and blood began to seep from the bandages.

"I'm sorry, Sesshoumaru…"

"Ah-Un…where is Ah-Un…" he groaned softly. A short, sharp bark left his throat and the two-headed dragon was at his side.

/Yes, Master Sesshoumaru/ Ah said.

'What do you need?'

:Can you… he murmured. I am in so much pain…:

/Of course/ Ah replied.

With a swipe of their clawed hand, Ah-Un removed the bandages, exposing Sesshoumaru's bleeding, vivisected chest.

Ah licked the wounds, then Un joined him and they soon started a steady pace of licking. Sesshoumaru groaned, half in pain, and half in relief. His wounds were no longer bleeding, and the skin was mending ever so slightly before the shard-hunters' eyes.

"Whoa! What is THAT!" Kagome shrieked.

"It's Ah-Un's dragontongue," Inuyasha explained. "Whenever Sesshoumaru is in horrible pain, they are allowed to use it to relieve him of it. However, it causes them to be weak for a while…"

Inuyasha was right. Ah-Un had stopped licking the wounds of their master and was now slumping to their knees.

/Take care of him/ Ah said.

Then the dragon fell into a deep torpor-like sleep.

"You heard the dragon. Let's take care of him," Inuyasha said roughly.

He picked his brother up and carried him into Kaede's hut.

"…Unh…Inuyasha…"

"Huh?"

"I…thank you, oto-chan…"

"Feh!"

R and R please!