"Okay, let's try this one more time." Kagome said, pointing to Sesshomaru.

"Right." Rolland nodded.

"His name is Sesshomaru."

"Sheshomanru" Rolland repeated.

"No. Ses-sho-ma-ru."

"That's what I said, She-sho-man-ru."

Sesshomaru stared straight ahead, trying to ignore the two sitting behind
him. For the last half hour, Kagome had been attempting to teach Rolland how
to pronounce their names. He had gotten fairly close to pronouncing Kagome's
name, settling on Kagami, but it almost seemed that he was trying to mess
Sesshomaru's name up.

"Repeat after me." Kagome told Rolland.

Rolland nodded.

"Sess."

"She."

"No. Sess."

"She!" Rolland replied quickly.

Kagome put a finger on her lips in thought.

"Hmmmmm. I like it!" Kagome thought out loud.

"What do you like?" Rolland asked, confused.

"Well, if you say 'Sess' and 'She' really quickly, you get Sesshy!" She
said, proud of herself.

"So?" Rolland asked, still confused.

"Miko." Sesshomaru said without looking back at her "You will under no
circumstances call me by that name."

"Come on! Sesshomaru is such a long name and Rolland can't pronounce it!"
Kagome said.

"Woman, I am not as stupid as that idiot sitting next to you."

"Well at least that idiot knows how to pronounce my name!" Kagome yelled up
at him.

"That idiot is sitting right here." Rolland said; getting annoyed that they
were talking about him like he wasn't there.

"Sorry." Kagome said to Rolland. "Some people have no manners at all." She
said, looking at Sesshomaru.

"Man Sesshy, you need to be nicer to others." Rolland said smirking at him.

Sesshomaru turned to Rolland with his eyes narrowed. "Unlike the Miko, you
are expendable and I will not hesitate to kill you."

Rolland glared back at him. "You just try."

"Guys!" Kagome exclaimed, standing up. "We shouldn't be-"Kagome stopped
suddenly and looked to the right.

Rolland looked away from Sesshomaru and over to Kagome. "What is it?"

"I don't know for sure." Kagome told him "It's almost like the pull I feel
from the jewel shards, but this is different somehow. I can't quite explain
it."

"That's probably one of the bells." Sesshomaru stated and directed his cloud
in the direction Kagome was pointing.

Kagome smiled "We've finally found one!"

"It's only been two days." Rolland pointed out.

Kagome shrugged and sat down. She gasped.

"What now woman?" Sesshomaru asked her.

She glared up at him and said "Not that you care, but I can't sense the bell
anymore."

Sesshomaru paused for a second before saying "Stand up."

Kagome looked up at him questioningly, staying where she was.

Sesshomaru sighed and, reaching down, grabbed Kagome, making her stand.

"Wh-What are you doing?" She asked embarrassed.

"Tell me what you feel." He told her.

'Other then embarrassed and confused?' Kagome felt like saying. She paused
for a moment, concentrating, and then smiled. "I can feel the bell again!"

"So you can only sense them when you're standing up." Rolland said.

The smile practically flew off Kagome's face and she glared at the air in
front of her. "I'm going to have to stand the whole time aren't I?" She said
to herself. Kagome shook her head and smiled again. "Well, standing is
better for me then sitting anyways! So this is a good thing!"

Sesshomaru stared at her with amusement flashing briefly in his eyes before
removing the hand that had been holding Kagome up, making her fall back onto
the cloud with a thump.

Kagome stood back up "What did you do that for?" She asked Sesshomaru.

"I just assumed that you could stand on your own."

Rolland looked up at the two before lying down on the cloud. "Well standing
may be fun for the two of you, but I like to lie down."

After another three hours, or something close to that, of flying Kagome
thought it was time to ask the others a very important question.

"Am I the only one who's noticed how unbearably warm it's gotten?" She asked
wiping sweat from her forehead.

Rolland poked his head around a pile of discarded furs. "Now that you
mention it, it is getting a little hotter."

"Just a little." She agreed.

Kagome looked over at Sesshomaru. "Can you not feel how hot it is?" She
asked.

Sesshomaru didn't answer.

"Fine then." She panted.

"There's land ahead." Sesshomaru stated.

"Where?" Kagome asked looking around.

Rolland sat up and began looking. "Right there." He said pointing into the
distance.

Kagome turned to Rolland and at the sight of his bare chest, turned quickly
around blushing.

Sesshomaru looked at her and pointed towards the approaching landmass.

"Oh! I see it now." She said looking towards what seemed like an endless
beach. As they got closer, Kagome could see small trees and bushes.

Sesshomaru slowly lowered the cloud into the water near the shore and let it
disappear.

"Why did you drop us off in the water?" Rolland asked, watching as his fur
lined pants slowly absorbed water.

Sesshomaru slowly began to take off his armor and the top part of his kimono
and slung them over his shoulder, leaving only his pants and his shoes as he
walked out of the water. "It's going to get hotter as we go in further, so
you should remove any clothes that are not necessary."

Kagome blushed and nodded as she looked down at her school uniform. 'There
isn't anything I can remove and still be decent' she thought. She looked
around and saw the bag of supplies. She went over to it and removed three
hair ties and handed them to Sesshomaru and Rolland, who took them without
question.

When she looked over at Rolland and saw that he was looking at his hair tie
questioningly she said "Our hair is too long to be left down in this heat."
She saw him staring at her blankly so she walked over and pulled his hair
into a high ponytail before doing hers. Rolland nodded his thanks and picked
up the supplies bag.

"Come." Sesshomaru said, walking over to them.

"Okay." Kagome answered. "You ready Rolland?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then!" Kagome said, clapping her hands together. "Let's go find
that bell!" Kagome then began to walk in the direction that she thought the
bell was in.

"Hey Sesshomaru," Rolland said glancing over at him "How about a race?"

"Why would I race you?"

"Okay, if you want to be a coward, that's fine with me!" Rolland said
running off in the direction Kagome was in, preparing to pick her up.

'No one calls this Sesshomaru a coward.' He thought with a frown. Sesshomaru
quickly grabbed his discarded clothes with his tail and raced after Rolland,
picking up Kagome as he passed him.

Kagome froze in a shocked silence before she realized who she was with and
how fast she was going. There was a moment of silence before Kagome uttered
an ear piercing scream that could be heard for miles and miles