The pair must have dosed off because the next thing Saramaru knew, Kagome was shaking her awake.
"It's lunch time." she told her, "Do you and Kita want some?"
"Hmmm... Let me wake up Kita and see if she's up to it." Saramaru nudged Kita a little. "Kita. Kita wake up." Kita opened an eye sleepily.
"Do you want some lunch?" Saramaru asked. Kita nodded. She hadn't had a bite to eat in over a day.
"Alright then. I think we'll join you guys for lunch then." Saramaru said to Kagome.
Kita rolled off Saramaru and onto the soft grass. She attempted to get up, but her legs, which hadn't been used in over a day too, protested and she landed on her butt. Saramaru got up, and reached out her hand to Kita. With her help Kita pulled herself up and they walked into Kaede's hut where lunch was.
Saramaru sat down in between Kaede and Inuyasha. "What side do you want to sit on Kita?" After thinking it over for a second she sat down between Inuyasha and Saramaru.
Saramaru got herself some venison stew, and continued to pass it on. "This smells very good. Who made it?"
"Kaede did." Kagome replied, "But I helped a bit too. Inuyasha got the deer. I tried a little before. It was good!"
"Very good." Miroku agreed, "But it would have been so much better if Sango's effort had gone into it too."
Saramaru grinned. "Thank you, Kaede. Do you like it Kita?" Kita nodded grinning, being so hungry she had already finished her bowl.
The demoness raised an eyebrow at the empty. "I guess so... Do you want more?"
Kita nodding again, holding her bowl out to Saramaru. "Please." she said quietly.
Saramaru smiled. The stew had ended up back at her. She picked it up and re-filled Kita's bowl. "Is that good?" Kita nodded for a third time and began to eat her food.
"Do you want to have an eating contest?" Shippo asked her.
"No Shippo." Kagome said, "It's not good to race through eating food. It's not healthy." Shippo sighed.
"And it's not very fun when you get a stomach ache." Saramaru added.
"I don't get stomach aches!" the kitsune said proudly.
"Shut up and listen to everyone." Inuyasha said, "I bet you'd get a stomach ache if you ate your food in a race.
"Wanna bet?" Shippo asked.
"Yeah!" Inuyasha said, "I'll race you!"
"Inuyasha!" Kagome said, "Stop it!"
Saramaru smiled. "Hey, does anybody know where Niiro-ichi is?"
"He went off to find the deer he left at the camp site earlier." Sango said, "But I haven't seen him since."
Saramaru looked thoughtful for a moment. "Oh, that's where he is," Saramaru smiled, "He should be coming soon then."
"Where'd Niiro-ichi go?" Kita asked quietly, looking up at her.
"He went to go visit his mother's grave. He'll be back shortly. At most half an hour." Saramaru answered.
"Oh." came the reply. The room lapsed back into silence as the people in it finished their lunch.
"So Kagome, I heard you, Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo are searching for the Shikon no Tama." Saramaru decided to start a conversation.
"Yeah." Kagome said, "It sort of... shattered so we're collecting the shards."
"And who's fault is that?" Inuyasha asked.
"Be quiet or I'll you know what you." she warned. Inuyasha scowled, but said no more.
"It's too bad that the jewel was shattered." Miroku said, "So many very bad people have shards. It's hard to get them back."
"But we've almost have half the jewel back!" Kagome said pulling the necklace out from under her shirt.
"I know where you can get ten shards in one day." Saramaru said.
"Where?" Inuyasha demanded, looking up sharply.
"I knew you would be interested. And you won't even have to work hard for them. I had been finding them on the ground as I walked. I believe it was the same day it got shattered, and I was walking fast. After two days, I had found ten shards. Then one night, I had a dream, and it told me they would be useful to a family member of mine, and that I had to hide them using the strongest barrier I could conjure. So I found a rock, split it in half, dug out a hole, placed the shards in there, took two days to make a barrier around them, then sealed the rock. I also took ten days to place a barrier on that. The only one who can break it, is a family member of mine. And Inuyasha, you and Sesshoumaru are my only family members. And fortunately, he doesn't know of it. Kagome would be the only one powerful enough to find them. They are right at the border to Sesshoumaru's land." Saramaru finished her recollection of what she had done with the shards.
"Damn it." Inuyasha said, "Of course you have to put it near Sesshoumaru. How the hell am I going to get them without running into the bastard now?"
Saramaru growled. "Do NOT curse in front of Kita, and you can avoid him, because he is going to a meeting with the Lord of the Southern Lands."
"How do you know that?" Miroku asked, "I assumed you two weren't on speaking terms"
"I can read thoughts, even from this distance." Saramaru answered simply. "And we are in no way on speaking terms, you are right about that."
"I don't know why anyone would be in speaking terms with that damn bastard I'm unfortunate enough to call my brother." Inuyasha mumbled.
"INUYASHA, WHAT DID I SAY?" Saramaru growled out.
"What did I do?" Inuyasha demanded.
Kita noted that the two were leaning in towards each other and that a fight was about to start. She scootched herself out from between them and took a seat next to Kagome and Sango.
"YOU CURSED, AND I TOLD YOU NOT TO IN FRONT OF KITA. SHE DOESN'T NEED TO LEARN BAD WORDS FROM YOU." Saramaru yelled
"Why shouldn't I curse." Inuyasha asked, "I always curse."
Saramaru stood up and looked down on her cousin. "Because there is a child present and her guardian does not wish for you to teach her curse words." Saramaru said in an eerily calm voice.
"Shippo's here and he's a kid." Inuyasha said, also standing up.
"Well the way I see it, Kagome is his guardian and isn't finding a problem with your cursing in front of him, I on the other hand, find a very BIG problem with it." Saramaru said and she emphasized big with a poke to Inuyasha's stomach.
"Well I'm his guardian too-" Inuyasha realized what he said and immediately sat down again.
Saramaru stayed standing. "Don't curse, understood?"
Inuyasha nodded, glaring up as his cousin. "Feh." he said, "Whatever."
"Thank you." Saramaru nodded in satisfaction that she had won. She frowned when she noticed Kita was no longer there, and pouted. Seeing this, Kita stood up and walked back over to Saramaru.
Lunch was finished and Saramaru, Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, and Kaede were all sitting outside the hut. Kita and Shippo playing a little ways away.
"So how'd you find Kita?" Sango asked, striking up a conversation.
"And how'd you meet up with Sesshoumaru?" Miroku added.
"Well, I was walking," Saramaru began, "And I smelled human blood. I got curious because I had not heard of any wars, and went to investigate. There was a small magical aura under a bush, so I moved the bush, and found Kita. We stayed there that night, because I knew she had no where to go... It was stupid of me to ignore Sesshoumaru's scent getting closer. In the morning, I woke up and his scent was VERY close by. I left and went to battle him. I'm guessing that's when Niiro-ichi woke up and tried to take Kita away. I wounded Sesshoumaru, but only minorly, and tried following them. When we thought he was gone, he attacked us, and used Kita against me. I got her back eventually, but not before he had done the damage."
"Sound's exactly like what Sesshoumaru would do." Inuyasha said rolling his eyes, "I wish I could get something against him besides his missing arm."
"I used that against him in one of our verbal battles that day," Saramaru smirked, "Thank you for giving me something to use against him." She smiled at the memory.
"No problem." he replied, "I'd love to chop the other one off too."
"Isn't she just so innocent?" Saramaru asked, watching Kita and Shippo chase each other around.
"Yeah." Kagome agreed, "She's so cute! I wonder why she was under the bush. Did you try to bring her back to her village?"
"I wouldn't dare!" Saramaru said shuddering. "Even though Kita had somehow kept me from reading her thoughts, I could still tell that the village was the cause of her distress."
"That's awful." Sango exclaimed, "I bet they kicked her out because of her looks. Sure, she looks different from other humans, but that's no reason to segregate her. She is still part of the race. I actually think Kita's cuter than other children I've seen. Blond hair and blue eyes is a very pretty combination."
"She does look more like a demon than a human." Inuyasha commented.
"Yes she does, but I think it fits her." Saramaru said softly. Tears welled up in her eyes. "Inuyasha probably knows how that feels." The demoness wished everything would be better in the world. She wished everything would be the same. "This is the first time I've broken down since you were tied up to the tree, Inuyasha." Saramaru admitted.
"You CRIED for me!" Inuyasha asked raising an eyebrow.
"You were the best little cousin! Of COURSE I DID! What did you think I did, spit on you! Well guess what? I CRIED." Saramaru was quickly becoming stressed... it was almost like he thought she'd laugh when she thought he was dead. "I... I thought my little cousin was dead..." A single tear rolled down Saramaru's cheek.
Inuyasha looked at her. "Are you crying NOW?" he asked, "Don't cry! I don't like it when you cry!"
"Inuyasha really wasn't dead." Kagome said, trying to make the demoness feel better, "He was more like... in a deep sleep. I think I broke the spell. Somehow. And I got him off the tree too!"
"Well I didn't know that!" The demoness was still extremely distressed. She didn't truly know why she was so distressed, but it was really eating her that her cousin hadn't thought she had cried when she heard he had been pinned to a tree.
From a distance away Kita looked over towards the older people to see Saramaru wiping away tears. Frowning, she began to run towards her.
"Hey where're you going?" Shippo asked, upset that their game had been interrupted. Kita stopped, and motioned for him to follow. The two kids ran towards the adults.
Saramaru was trying so hard not to break down. 'My cousin... thought I didn't care? I... I can't believe it...' She tried wiping away her tears, but they were being quickly replaced.
"Why are you crying?" Kita asked crawling onto Saramaru's lap. Shippo took a seat on the ground next to Kagome.
Saramaru looked down at Kita, then wrapped her in a hug. She whispered quietly into her ear why she was crying.
"Then Inuyasha-sama's just a big, stupid person with cat ears." Kita whispered back. Unfortunately for her, it was loud enough for Inuyasha to hear.
Saramaru looked up to see Inuyasha fuming. "Ummm, I think he heard you." She whispered.
"So?" Kita whispered back.
Inuyasha wanted to pound the girl to pulp like he would have done with Shippo, but he thought of what Saramaru would do to him if he did and restrained himself. Saramaru in a temper was worse than Sesshoumaru in a temper any day. Sesshoumaru got bored with the fight, Saramaru didn't. And anyway, Kita was a human. If he treated her like Shippo, it would become a whole lot more than a big bump on the head.
"I suppose your right," Saramaru said, "There wouldn't be much he could do, would there?" Kita shook her head, grinning.
Niiro-ichi walked up behind Saramaru, trying to be stealthy. "Hello, Niiro-ichi." Saramaru said right before he was going to pounce.
"Hi." Kita said in her usual quiet voice.
"Ah man! I was so close..." Niiro-ichi whined, as he went around and sat next to them.
"So close to what?" Kagome asked.
"So close to actually getting her without her noticing me..." Niiro-ichi answered. I've been trying for fifty five years."
"Wow." Miroku commented, "That's a long time. Longer than I've been alive in fact."
"Yes it is, and not once have I succeeded." Niiro-ichi whined.
Kita laughed. "That's funny." she said.
"I suppose..." Niiro-ichi said sighing.
"Niiro-ichi, don't be so dramatic. I mean, would you rather have me LET you get me?" Saramaru asked, laughing a little.
Niiro-ichi sighed, again. "No, not really."
"It wouldn't be any fun if Saramaru let you win." Shippo pointed out to him, "You'll just have to try more. Have you ever tried sneaking up on her from behind?"
"All the time... it's depressing..." Niiro-ichi replied.
"Well then all you can hope to do is to keep on trying." the kitsune said shrugging.
"Thank you for your help." Niiro-ichi said dramatically.
"Really, Niiro-ichi, lighten up! It's nice out here, the sun is on us, and we don't want your dramatics ruining it." Saramaru said.
Kita tugged on Saramaru's shirt getting her attention. "Yes, Kita?"
"Will you play with me?" the girl asked hopefully.
"Sure. What game?" Saramaru asked, looking at Kita's cute little face.
"A hand game?" she suggested.
"Oh!" Kagome exclaimed grinning, "I know a good one! It's called Patty Cake! Miss Mary Mack is good too. Do you know them?" Kita and Saramaru shook their heads. "Then I'll teach you them!" Kagome said.
"Alright." Saramaru grinned a little. It was nice not to be closed up inside yourself all the time.
Kagome began to teach them how to play the two games. Shippo joined the group and in no time the three students knew how to do the two games. Saramaru smiled. 'Yep, definitely different.' She shook her head, amazed at how creative some people were.
"Let's play Miss Mary Mack!" Kita said happily, choosing the harder of the two to begin with.
"Alright." Saramaru said, getting ready to play. They played the game. Kita started to enjoy herself more than she had ever before in her short life. Saramaru smiled. She could tell Kita was enjoying herself, and this made her happy. But personally, she thought the game was quite childish.