A/N: Whoa, dang! 75 reviews! I am so grateful, and so excited that you guys are really expressing interest in the story (even if you don't like it—heh, heh..)! Also.. just to let y'all know, I'm going on vacation to see my brother and sis-in-law, and my kawaii chibi 2-year old niece! It's from the 9th to the 17th. So I might not be updating for a little while. I'll try to get out the next chapter before I go, but… I can't guarantee you anything.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha, and haha, I think some of you are glad about that…

Previously:

"It shouldn't be long now, Inu Yasha," were Sesshoumaru's last words before flying off in the direction of his castle. Just after he left, the sun began to peek over the trees. Inu Yasha's youkai blood awakened, and in the next moment, he was back to his old self.

'Something seemed… different about Sesshoumaru,' he thought, as he headed for the castle. When he first took Kagome, he was less-than-gentle, and said little more than 'I'll be taking your woman.' The youkai was now allowing Inu Yasha to say his goodbyes. Besides, for Kagome to speak well of him, she had to have noticed something more in his brother than she had before. Scratching his head, Inu Yasha tried to figure out what could have made his brother change. Little did he know that although Sesshoumaru had changed because of Kagome's presence, Inu Yasha himself was also beginning to mature because of her absence.

CHAPTER 10: unexpected visitor

In the morning, Kagome woke to the same surroundings as she had been for the past three mornings. It was now the fourth day she would be in Sesshoumaru's company. She blushed, thinking of what happened last night. It all seemed like a dream- did Inu Yasha really say what he did? Kagome was a little suspicious, remembering that his human form was much more highly susceptible to emotions. But, if he had been wanting to ask her to be his mate for awhile now, then that meant that he was thinking of telling her even in his more powerful hanyou form. She laid in bed for a little longer than usual, bringing her hands up and crossing them over her chest to hug herself, remembering what it felt like to be in Inu Yasha's arms.

Suddenly, she also remembered what it was like to be in Sesshoumaru's embrace- although she had been denying it as much as she could, the taiyoukai was actually pretty hot… but Kagome did what she could to repress that memory and focus on the one with Inu Yasha. Should she- could she ever tell him what had happened between herself and Sesshoumaru? Although she acknowledged Sesshoumaru's beauty, grace, power... she could never forget her feelings for Inu Yasha. She smiled at the thought of the hanyou. Being held by Inu Yasha as a human was something that she had secretly wanted for a long time. She would never admit it to him, seeing as Kikyou also desired him to be in his human form. Actually, Kagome liked him better with his silver hair and soft, perky little ears- but she couldn't deny her attraction to his human form as well. The miko let out a sigh, sat up, and prepared for the day. Today she would begin teaching Rin how to read the kanji involved with the sacred scrolls. And best of all, she would give Rin some archery lessons.

Kagome walked down the halls of the castle to the back patio, following the aroma of the morning meal. When she arrived, she saw Sesshoumaru sitting at the table, watching Rin chase butterflies out in the field. He looked at her as she took a seat near him. "Good morning, Sesshoumaru," she told him.

"Good morning."

"Ne, Sesshoumaru… when did I get back here?" He returned his gaze to Rin.

"I took you back before sunrise." He paused a short while before continuing, "You must have said something to Inu Yasha for him to allow me to repossess you so easily." Kagome shook her head.

"I just told him that I promised I'd come back." Again, Sesshoumaru looked at her, and closed his eyes halfway, as if he was trying to see into her thoughts. She had promised him no such thing- it was merely understood that Kagome would come back with him if she didn't want Inu Yasha to smell his mark on her. Reading this in the look he was giving her, Kagome looked down at her plate, toying with the food using her chopsticks. "I just don't know how to tell him--if I should tell him about what happened." Kagome looked up at the youkai lord. "What do you think, Sesshoumaru?" She surprised herself. Who would've thought she'd be asking Sesshoumaru for advice? Still, he had been involved in the act, so whatever they decided to do, it would have to be agreed on by the both of them.

"Do what you want," he told her plainly. Kagome practically fell over- she had expected something a little more- well, helpful. Regaining her composure, she began to push for a better answer.

"But--"

"What you tell my brother is none of my concern."

"Are you going to say anything?" she asked quickly. Sesshoumaru appeared to be surprised; his lips parted slightly and his eyes opened a little wider. Just as quickly as he had shown his shocked expression, it faded away.

"It is not a matter of real importance," he told her. "You were under the influence of my blood, and I was under the influence of your scent." Kagome understood. Sesshoumaru was not going to tell Inu Yasha about what had happened.

'Besides, it could all be construed as his fault,' Kagome reminded herself. She did agree with him, though- at that time, she was definitely under the influence of his blood. Kagome slowly shoveled food into her mouth as she thought about her predicament.

After breakfast, Kagome reviewed the phonetic alphabets with Rin, and taught her a new kanji. The poor young girl, not accustomed to such focused work, sighed frequently as she repeated the brushstrokes of the new kanji character over and over again. "Kagome, when can we take a break?" she asked, obviously drained of energy. Kagome smiled at the girl, and remembered what it was like when she would yearn for a break between her classes at junior high. Luckily, junior high was all that Japanese children were required to complete, and although her friends went on to high school, Kagome decided to live in Feudal Japan for the most part. Trading the worries about bills and the problems of her society for a life in clean air and with the hanyou she loved along with frequent visits home-- it seemed like a good exchange to the girl. But with only having a junior high school education, Kagome wondered if she really was a good candidate to be Rin's teacher.

"As soon as you're finished with this character, Rin-chan.."

"Did you ask Sesshoumaru-sama about teaching me archery?" she asked, stopping in the middle of writing the character to look up at her teacher. Kagome nodded her head.

"He said that we could start today." At this, Rin smiled widely, and she quickly finished the last few strokes of the character. Kagome looked down at her work and nodded again.

"Looks good. Let's take a break." Rin clapped her hands together and stood up from the table.

"So, Sesshoumaru took Kagome back," Miroku observed when Inu Yasha arrived at the castle, alone.

"Ah. She said she promised to go back."

"Did you do what you needed to do?" he asked, semi-mysteriously. Inu Yasha nodded.

"I'll make the action complete when she returns; I have to be in this form to mark her. Besides, had I been in this form and marked her, there's no way I would have let Sesshoumaru take her back, if we had just completed the ritual," Inu Yasha explained vaguely. Miroku looked at him questioningly. Inu Yasha sighed, and looked away from Miroku. "Once my blood runs through her veins, I won't be able to control my instincts concerning her protection as easily as I do now." Miroku smiled inwardly.

'Is he saying he controls himself now?' the houshi asked himself. Inu Yasha seemed to know what Miroku was thinking, and continued.

"Even though I was human, I let Sesshoumaru take Kagome last night. But if she had been mine- if I had already marked her, I most likely would have fought him to the death." Miroku looked at Inu Yasha. He had no doubt that the hanyou would already do such a thing for Kagome. "Us members of the inu clan… and those of the wolf tribes… we mate for life. There is nothing more important to us than the preservation of our family." The priest had never heard Inu Yasha talk about his own clan or his heritage before.

"I understand your feelings," Miroku stated, nodding slightly. "I have the same ones. But what else do you know about your heritage, Inu Yasha?"

"Not much. Kagome suggested I use the library here to read up about it."

"Hm, that sounds like a good idea," he said, nodding. "Did she say when she would return?" Inu Yasha shook his head.

"No. But both her and Sesshoumaru said it wouldn't be much longer. All we can do is wait," Inu Yasha said, half-annoyed. Miroku gave him a nod. Although surprised by the hanyou's newfound complacency, he was also glad that Inu Yasha seemed to be attempting civility toward his half-brother.

"Okay, Rin-chan.." Kagome said, a bow and arrow in hand, pointing it toward the target, which stood in front of the castle wall. Sesshoumaru was nowhere to be found, which to be honest, completely surprised Kagome. Her spiritual powers had increased greatly since her travels and fights against Naraku, and were now quite on par with Kikyou when she was at her strongest. Although at first she had no doubt he would kill her in a second if she tried to break the barrier, she felt that things were now different between herself and Sesshoumaru. He seemed to… trust her more. "The bow is held this way, and here is how you place the arrow," she began to show Rin proper loading procedure. The next step was posture. 'I highly doubt Sesshoumaru would kill me if I broke the barrier now,' she said to herself. 'But somehow, breaking it doesn't matter that much to me anymore.' This last thought surprised her.

"Kagome? Hey, Kagome, did you hear me?" Kagome turned her head to stare at the girl standing next to her. "Is this right?"

"Ah, yes.. good job. Now, for your stance. First, you put one foot behind you like this." She made the motion, stepping back with her right foot. "This gives you stability and, believe it or not, strength." Rin nodded.

"I can feel it," she said.

"Now, you draw back the arrow, keeping it in line with your fingers. Point at the target, and… release!" Kagome released her arrow, and her shot made the very center of the bullseye. "Alright!" Kagome jumped up, fist of victory in the air. The girl never ceased to be excited when she hit her mark. She remembered the time Inu Yasha dumped her off of his back when she couldn't hit the crow youkai. That was just a few days after she had first met the hanyou. 'Why didn't he wake me last night to say goodbye?' she asked herself. She would've gone on to remember other incidents of the past, but she was snapped out of her reverie by a scream.

"OoOoOOoWWWWW!" Rin yelled. Dropping her bow, she fell to her knees and grabbed her arm. Kagome knelt beside her and looked at the red mark on her leftforearm.

'Whoops.. I forgot to tell her to bend her arm slightly….' Kagome scolded herself mentally. The bow had snapped around from the force of the arrow leaving the taut wire, and slapped Rin on her arm. 'This isn't good. Rin-chan's first time shooting an arrow, and she gets hurt! I hope she doesn't want to quit…' "I'm sorry, Rin-chan.. do you want to take a break?" Rin shook her head and stood up.

"I'll try again," she said, determinedly. Kagome looked up at her. A gentle breeze passed through, stirring her black tresses slightly. Kagome nearly gasped- she wondered why she hadn't noticed before.

Rin looked remarkably like Kikyou and herself.

"O-okay," Kagome stammered, getting to her feet. "This time, bend your arm slightly. This will absorb some of the force the arrow exerts on the bow, and that way when it swings around, the bow shouldn't hit you very hard, if it hits you at all." Rin nodded, and tried again. "I did it!" she said, happily showing Kagome that the bow hadn't hurt her arm. Kagome smiled, and then looked toward the target. What she saw made her jaw drop. Rin's arrow was about seven yards off the mark.. no, wait… eight…now it was nine..

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Jaken screamed, looking behind him. He had just been passing by the area, minding his own business, when Rin's arrow landed directly on his toady green behind. He held his butt where the arrow had penetrated him, and ran away from the site as though he was on fire. Rin and Kagome blinked in surprise and amazement that a sound so incredibly loud and shrill could come from such a small little thing. Then of course, they fell to the ground laughing too hard to be able to speak.

After a few minutes, the miko stood up and let out a sigh. "We've got some work to do…"

"Huh?" Rin sat up on the grass and looked up at Kagome, clueless that her tutor's work was cut out for her.

It had been a long time, and Inu Yasha was bored out of his mind. All the scrolls he could find to read were boooo-riiiiiing..

"Keh, this sucks," he said, tossing a history scroll to the side. "There has to be something more interesting than this." He stood up from his seat on the floor, and looked around some more. He found some useful recipes for antidotes against poisons, and filed one away that had to do with shouki and poison from claws or fangs. This would be good to use against Sesshoumaru if he had to face him in another fight again. As he looked for more scrolls containing potions and antidotes, Inu Yasha spotted a small red scroll out of the corner of his eye. It was placed in a corner bookshelf, on the top shelf- the first scroll in the row. "Well, this looks like it might be important," he muttered, semi-sarcastically. Pulling the book off of the shelf, he unfurled it to display its contents. Finding it much more interesting than he had initially supposed, he sat down and began to read.

"Marriage rites involving marks? Marking thoroughly or temporarily?" Inu Yasha was surprised; he had previously thought that there was only one way of marking a mate. He began to read.

A temporary mark is a ritual specifically meant for youkai-human bonds. By ingesting the blood of a youkai, the human mate will acquire physical attributes of the youkai, and their scent will be altered. Sensory perception and physical stamina will be temporarily heightened to permit compatibility between the two species. Because of the limited amount of time that the youkai blood from a temporary mark will remain within the human, immediate mating is necessary. The average human will revert to their original form within one day, but the scent of youkai blood will remain with the mate until two days after the marking. The dissipation of the youkai scent is a protection mechanism, saving the human mate from possible enemies of the youkai mate. However, with thorough marks, unlike temporary marks, immediate mating is unnecessary. The scent of the youkai blood within the mate who has been thoroughly marked will never disappear. This also means that in youkai-human bonds, the human's life will last as long as is typical for those with youkai blood. Not only that, but the human's sensory perceptions and physical stamina will be heightened, while their appearance as well as any spiritual abilities possessed will remain unaltered…

Inu Yasha was more than happy to read those words. They answered some questions that had been weighing heavily on his mind. He put the scroll down on the floor next to him. Folding his hands behind his head, Inu Yasha laid on his back to think about what he had just read.

'The only kind of marking that I knew of was this 'thorough' marking… but if my clan only marks thoroughly, then why didn't my mother live longer?' Inu Yasha puzzled over this for a short while before he realized what had actually happened with his father and mother. His father had already mated for life with Sesshoumaru's mother. What happened to her, Inu Yasha had no knowledge of. But because his father had already mated for life, then his mother… 'It can't be.. mother was only marked temporarily?' he asked himself. "Tch, no wonder Sesshoumaru hated us- there we were, living in his house, and not even an actual part of the bloodline," he said, vocalizing his thoughts.

Finally, Inu Yasha began to understand- even though it was only in part- the kind of embarrassment that Sesshoumaru had faced each day when he saw Inu Yasha and his mother living in the castle. It was like a living testament to the fact that their father had shared a bed with two women. And as if that weren't bad enough, the illegitimate woman and child were living under the same roof as he was. 'But why were we allowed to live in the castle in the first place?' Inu Yasha asked himself. At that moment, as if on cue, the Tetsusaiga pulsed at his side. He unlocked his fingers, and put one hand on Tetsusaiga's hilt. 'That's right… if father didn't think of us as family, then he wouldn't have given me this sword..' Feeling a bit better, and understanding a little more about his brother, Inu Yasha sat up, and reached for the little red scroll once more.

After a few more minutes of reading, he exclaimed, "so THAT'S why we couldn't use the scrolls, and why I couldn't touch them!" Apparently, the scrolls were only to be used by human mates of their clan; the barrier kept the scrolls safe from youkai who wanted to steal the secret knowledge. It seemed like all the questions Inu Yasha had been asking were answered in this single little scroll. Then Inu Yasha had an idea- he would visit his father's study. Why he hadn't done this before was a good question. The hanyou, for some reason, never cared to learn anything about his family. Maybe it was because he felt that his brother, although powerful, was such a brat that his father couldn't be any better. Not only that, but his mother, although given all the material things a human woman could possibly want, was not taken care of emotionally. She had no friends, and no family besides himself. The few of her relatives who had survived the fire at her own family castle had all disowned her, blaming the tragedy on her beloved youkai mate. And once they had moved into the castle with Sesshoumaru, all she and Inu Yasha knew was the feeling of resentment from others. All in all, his mother's life and his own childhood were pretty tragic, and Inu Yasha most likely grew up harboring bitterness toward his brother and his father, as well as humans and youkai alike. After all, wasn't that the fate of a hanyou?

But now, things were different. He hated to admit it, but because Sesshoumaru kidnapped Kagome, Inu Yasha was now learning things that he had never wanted to learn before, and understanding the reasons for so many of Sesshoumaru's actions. He thought on these things- on his family history, the duties he had forsaken, his family territory- as he walked toward his father's study.

Entering the study, Inu Yasha found many books- mainly on treaties and agreements with the lords of the other three provinces- the Northern, Eastern, and Southern lands. He was just about to give up on finding anything of interest when he thought to check his father's desk. Opening one of the lowest drawers, Inu Yasha came across a small wooden chest, with the family seal- a hexagon with a six-petal flower in the center- carved on the top panel. Inu Yasha pulled it out of the drawer and set it on the desk. Within the velvet-lined box, he found a small letter, addressed to himself. Surprised, he pulled out the letter and gently broke the seal, wondering what his father, who never knew him while he was alive, had to say specifically to him.

Inu Yasha, my son. No doubt you have gone through so much. I fear that you may never meet me, as I am going to battle while your mother lays in bed, preparing for your birth. Your brother has no respect for anything but power- something that I anxiously and fervently hope will change. But you, my son- Inu Yasha- my hope for you is that you treasure all of the life that surrounds you. Although you will not be accepted by all, I pray that you will find your place among the humans as well as among the youkai of our clan. Inu Yasha- your name means "Dog, who transforms at night"- do not consider your human transformation to be a moment of weakness.

"Keh.. I know this already," he said coolly, not wanting to admit that it really meant a lot to him to have a letter from his father. Inu Yasha read on.

Consider it a blessing, through which you might be able to fully understand the courage, love, strength, and heart of humankind. These are attributes more readily found in humans than in youkai, but it has been my lifelong wish to integrate these values into our clan as well asall ofthe youkai in our territory.

Enclosed in this chest, should you desire it, is something your mother gave to me as a token of our love and commitment to each other. I give it to you now, as a token of my love for you. This lanyard is also my gift to you for Tetsusaiga, and my consent in admitting you into the inu taiyoukai heritage. Should Sesshoumaru see you with this item, he will understand its significance. If nothing else, remember my love for you and your mother, and for your brother Sesshoumaru. It is my will that you brothers rule this kingdom together in peace. Should you and Sesshoumaru take up arms together, any opponent you face will not succeed. I love you, my son. My Inu Yasha.

Underneath the words of this letter was his father's seal, used as his signature. He ran his fingers lightly over the letter. Turning, Inu Yasha looked at what remained in the chest. There was a small haircomb, made of jade, and inlaid with beautiful pearl and gold leaf in the shape of a flower. Inu Yasha removed it from the chest, treating it with extreme delicacy. Maybe he would give this to Kagome as a wedding present. Putting it next to the letter, he reached into the box once more to find a lanyard for the Tetsusaiga. This was good; the leather lanyard wrapped around the hilt of Tetsusaiga was worn away with age and use. It had already been two hundred years since its making when Inu Yasha first laid his hands on it. He held the lanyard up to the light that was streaming in through the window. It was spun with gold and black thread, forming an extremely durable and comfortable material. The pattern on the lanyard was similar to that on Sesshoumaru's haori- the same hexagon with the flower in the center was repeated from beginning to end. The hexagon and the flower were gold, while the spaces between the flower and hexagon edges were black. It was a beautiful piece, and would definitely look beautiful on Tetsusaiga. Inu Yasha smiled as he coiled it up using his finger. Placing all the items back onto the red velvet inside the cherry wood box, he closed the lid and carried it outside. He would re-lace the lanyard on Tetsusaiga right away.

After lunch, Kagome and Rin studied a bit more- learning the history of the inu youkai clan and of Sesshoumaru's heritage. Kagome was actually interested in learning about Inu Yasha's family history. Although her grandpa shoved their family history down her throat, she knew absolutely nothing about Inu Yasha or his family. All she knew was that he was a prince, like Sesshoumaru, even if he wasn't accepted by the family. After history, Kagome taught Rin a new kanji pertinent to the flying scroll, and then reviewed the other one she had learned earlier that day.

"Kagome, can we try archery again?" Rin asked, eagerly. Kagome smiled. She was surprised that Rin really was taking to it. She had expected the girl to want to learn sword skills or something more similar to the attacks Sesshoumaru used.

"Sure, Rin-chan," Kagome said, seeing as Rin was being very diligent in her studies. Besides, Kagome could only take so much of studying- even if she wasn't the one doing the studying, herself. Now that Rin was able to shoot an arrow, Kagome decided she would teach her how to shoot the infamous 'hama no ya' - the purification arrow.

"Wow, that's really beautiful," Sango remarked when she saw Inu Yasha lacing up the Tetsusaiga. He leaned up against the castle wall, beaming proudly. She took another bite of her rabbit-on-a-stick, and took a deep breath of fresh air. Although the food smelled really good, Inu Yasha wanted to finish Tetsusaiga first. "Come have something to eat when you're done," she called, walking back to where the group was sitting. Well, more like where Miroku was sitting. Kohaku and Shippou were playing something like 'cops and robbers,' but of course, their tactics and maneuvers were much more sophisticated than those of mere village children. Sango laughed when she saw Kohaku nearly drown in a pile of screaming mushrooms.

"I haaate mushrooms!" the boy yelled, slashing through them with his sickle, creating a blur of red and white, followed by white smoke. He jumped, making several backflips in midair before landing on a branch of a nearby tree. Shippou, who had been beaming proudly at his victory, was rudely awakened from his reverie by a swift kick to the head. His face landed flat in the soft dirt, while Kohaku practically danced on the kitsune youkai's back. Just as quickly, Kohaku was back up in the tree, dangling the last lollipop (which they had found in Kagome's bag) in front of him. "IIIIII got it!" he called triumphantly, just before he was blasted with Shippou's foxfire. He dropped the lollipop, which landed in Shippou's hot little hand. Kohaku looked completely charred, his face and clothes black from the playful burns of kitsunebi. His mouth opened slightly, and he coughed up a little puff of smoke. Sango chuckled, amused the most at his new hairstyle. The material holding up his ponytail had been burned off, and now his hair stood up on end directly behind his face. Kohaku fell backwards off of the trees, landing flat on his back on a mound of mushrooms Shippou cast to catch his friend's fall.

"I… hate… mushrooms…" he said, in a voice which conceded defeat. Shippou laughed triumphantly, and popped the candy into his mouth.

"When it comes to candy, I'll never lose!" he said, his fighting spirit showing up as flames in his eyes, as he hunched over aggressively and held his fist out in front of him. His determined face quickly changed to one of sheer childish victory, and out of his fist popped two fingers to form the "V" sign for victory. The kitsune youkai pulled out the lollipop with his free hand, and began to dance in a circle. "I wo-n, I wo-n!" he chanted, before popping the sucker back into his mouth.

"He always was possessive of Kagome's sweets," Miroku said, chuckling. Sango still was laughing from Kohaku's expression. Inu Yasha, further off, was paying no attention. He had just finished lacing up Tetsusaiga.

"OooOh," Miroku said, eyeing the fang sword, once Inu Yasha had come over for something to eat. Inu Yasha patted Tetsusaiga's hilt proudly.

"A gift from my father," he said, before biting into his lunch. It really was a tasty catch.

"Did you find anything else of interest?" the houshi asked his comrade. Inu Yasha shook his head.

"Just a bunch of junk about the family history." Miroku looked at Inu Yasha, knowing that whatever it was he had found, at least some of it was interesting to the hanyou. "I think," Inu Yasha said between bites, "that I'll go look for Kagome." Sango and Miroku looked at him worriedly, wondering if he really was okay with letting Kagome go with Sesshoumaru again, like he said he was. Inu Yasha looked at the two of them. "Don't worry," he said, swallowing the last bite. "I'm not going to take her back- I just want to know where she is…" Miroku and Sango let out a sigh. Ignoring this, Inu Yasha laid down his stick (now void of any trace of the roasted rabbit), and stood up. "Don't worry!" he called as he leapt away.

Kagome and Rin returned to the archery range. Purification shots weren't hard, but the miko was trying everything she could to get Rin to aim straight. There was just no helping it. The girl seemed to be a hopeless cause. 'Was this how Inu Yasha felt with me?' she asked herself curiously. Rin sighed.

"I just want to see how far I can shoot it," she said. "Maybe if I turn around, and aim it into the field…" she trailed off, beginning to do what she had just suggested. Kagome became slightly worried. Rin's power didn't seem to be extensive, but she might have enough to break the barrier Sesshoumaru had erected. Kagome suspected that Sesshoumaru's barrier was primarily to disguise the castle and the scent of those protected by it, and wasn't necessarily meant to be a real prison. That would explain his close watch of her upon their initial arrival at the castle.

"Wait a second Rin-chan," she said, causing the young girl to stop and look at her mentor. "Don't you think we should ask Sesshoumaru if you can shoot it that way?" Rin blinked a few times, not quite understanding what Kagome was getting at. 'Of course Rin-chan doesn't know about the barrier-- why should she?' Kagome hoped that asking Sesshoumaru's permission would be a good enough reason for Rin to turn around.

"Why? It doesn't matter, there's nothing over there," she said. "It'll be fine!" And with that, the young trainee shot the arrow. Honestly, Kagome was very, very surprised at how far Rin's arrow traveled. Not only that, but it definitely hada very strongaura of a purity arrow. After a few moments of hanging in the air, the arrow landed. Outside the barrier. A small ripple began to emanate from where the purifying arrow hit the barrier, and the barrier slowly began to fall. Within seconds of its rupture, Sesshoumaru was at Kagome's side.

"What happened?" he asked, calmly. Kagome stared up at him in surprise, and partial concern that he might think she had anything to do with trying to run away.

"I'm sorry, Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin said, dropping her bow and bowing to Sesshoumaru.

"Kagome told me not to, but… I did it anyway. I'm sorry!" she pleaded. But now, Sesshoumaru's attention was elsewhere. He was staring beyond the barrier. Kagome followed his line of sight. Beyond the barrier- where Sesshoumaru's full attention was now concentrated- stood Inu Yasha.

A/N: How did you like it? Good, I hope! Sorry if it was too long- I couldn't find a good place to end it! Oh, by the way, I am now wondering if Kagome should really tell Inu Yasha what happened between her and Sesshoumaru- when you review, please tell me what you think, yeah?

Jessica L: Hehe! Loved your idea! Especially the Rin chopping off his hair part… hehehe…

toxiclollipop: Yeah, sorry to disappoint.. I think a lot of people are mad I didn't stick Kagome with Sesshoumaru for the entire fic.. Honestly, I think I really didn't know what it would end up as, so I put both sess/kag and sess/inu in my summary... In fact, this story really has been writing itself.. I'll have to put tight reigns on it to keep it from running away... But please keep reading!

destinyheart15: thanks so much for your support, it really means a lot to me! haha, and I'm glad you liked my other stuff... hehe, I had a blast writing that Shan-Yu song, too..

WriterOfDragons: thank you! I've really been trying to keep everyone in character and still develop them a little... I'm so glad that you say it's working! Thanks also for checking out my other stuff.. 'mind games' was my first fanfic for Inu Yasha, and heh, also my shortest one...

last vampire: you know what? I was reading my original summary for the story, like, before I started writing it, and haha, nowhere did it say anything about Sesshoumaru wanting Rin to become his mate! Anyway, I just thought it was funny, because somehow it ended up in there, and I really had no intention for that to happen originally. I also didn't mean for this to be specifically in the Sess/Kag category.. on my summary I mentioned both Sess/Kag and Inu/Kag stuff would be in it... And when I was registering the story, I put Sesshoumaru and Kagome as the main characters, because... well... they are the main characters, whether or not they end up romantically entangled. (hehe, and yeeess, I've been in love! It never goes away, even when you aren't dating anymore! It changes, but real, true love never goes away.) By the way, thanks a lot for recommending this story to your friends... yay!

Also, thanks to kari konoko, chii576, whimsy(keep sending me your comments, yo!), Sally&Shelly(you girls are so nice! Thanks for your support!), RinCutie7244, kmkoolj2010, Corie (sorry you thought it was boring.. but I guess I'm a boring person, anyway...), hermonine, and pinkpreppypunk! Without you guys, I'd feel extremely under appreciated… so, thanks!

Don't forget, I'll be on vacation next week- the 9th-17th, so it might be awhile before I post another chapter. Aba-yo!