Disclaimer: I do not own in any way, shape or form, Inuyasha or any of the other characters.

Chapter Eight: Lian Qiao!

"Inuyasha! Wait for us!" Shippo called.

"Well, if Kagome didn't go so slow, we could make better time!" Inuyasha retorted.

The group looked at Inuyasha in shock, and then to Kagome, expecting a word, then, a face-plant. But all that came was a cam response.

"Why, Inuyasha, do you make everything my fault?" Kagome asked.

"Because it is your fault! If you hadn't interfered, the Shikon Jewel would still be whole!" Inuyasha shouted, but quickly sobered, as the words rang through the group, and hit Kagome like a knife's edge.

"Oh, really! Well, if it weren't for me, you would still be stuck to that tree!" Kagome shot back.

"Well…." Inuyasha sputtered for a come-back.

While he stood dumb-founded, Kagome stomped past, head held high. "Is this fast enough?" she muttered sarcastically.

"Yeah…"

"Inuyasha…oswari." Kagome stated simply.

The hanyou kissed the ground, with a hard, THUD!

"Inuyasha, when will you learn?" Miroku said sadly, shaking his head.

The rest of the group jogged briefly to catch up with a very disturbed Kagome.

"Kagome…I…uh…." Inuyasha wanted to apologize, but his pride wouldn't let him.

"No wonder May Lee left. I don't know how people can stand that guy," Shippo commented, perched on Miroku's shoulder.

"May Lee…?" Sango said, remembering the new girl, who she had met nearly two days ago. "What happened to her?"

Kagome stopped. Did we really all forget about her? Then Kagome thought back, this morning, the girl was gone, she assumed that she and Inuyasha were killing each other, but when Inuyasha showed up later, was she that relieved that she completely forgot about her friend? "Where, did she go?" Kagome asked, worry filled her voice.

"Who cares? She probably went back to that old hag's house, Kimar…something like that…" Inuyasha said in his normal 'I don't care' tone.

"How could we have left without her?" Sango asked, and stood by Kagome, where all of the group stood, in a semi-circle, except Inuyasha, who stood outside of the circle, arms folded.

"Well, she said she was gonna go look for that phantom horse…" the half youkai said.

"Why didn't you go after her!" Miroku, Kagome, Sango and Shippo asked in unison.

"Wh-what? It's not my fault she ran off."

"Inuyasha, May Lee doesn't know these lands, remember? What if she's lost?" Sango said, worry began to fill her voice as well.

The group stood in silence for a while and each thought about what they should do.

"Shouldn't we go find her?" Miroku asked, he would have much liked it if there were three girls he could grope.

"I guess we should," Sango agreed.

"Feh," was all Inuyasha said.

"Don't you think so, Kagome?" Miroku asked. She had been silent for a long while.

"Hmm?" Kagome asked, brought beack to reality, she had been thinking about May Lee and the phantom horse. Was there really a phantom horse to find? "Oh, yes. We should." Kagome said, and began to walk back to Kaeade's village.

"What!" Inuyasha was clearly disappointed.

"Inuyasha, she's our responsibility now. It's still early, and we're close enough to the village to find out where she is," Kagome explained.

"Fine," was all Inuyasha said, and folded his arms, pouting.

Later…far away…

May Lee followed Kouga to the pool of water where they had talked earlier. May Lee stood, unsure of what to do, or why he brought her here. Since she wanted to help, she figured he was going to show her herbs or something to use, but why not let a nursemaid do that?

"You," as Kouga spoke, May Lee was jolted back to the conversation, away from her wandering mind. "You risked your life, to save the boy by the name of Mynoaru."

"Um, I…." May Lee didn't know how to respond to the wolf demon's statement.

"Why?" Kouga asked, ignoring May Lee's confusion.

"I, uh, I don't know. I felt sorry for his mother, she was so worried, and I guess…well, I don't know really." May Lee sought the right words.

"Well, I'm glad you did, over months past, I have become rather fond of the boy."

"Oh, you're his father then?" May Lee wondered.

"No. I have no mate, I rule this tribe alone, though many times I have asked Kagome to rule by my side."

"You're…in love with Kagome?" May Lee was shocked. She didn't take this demon for a human-loving one.

"Hardly," were the only words muttered by the wolf demon.

There was a long, strained silence between the human girl and the youkai.

"I…uh, I'll go get some herbs, to help the wounded soldiers," May Lee suggested.

"I should come with you, to make sure nothing happens, there still might be soldiers lurking around here."

"Okay, do you know any of the plants around here?" May Lee asked, hoping to start a light conversation.

"No, why would I? That's what the nursemaids and women are for."

"Well, what do you do then, if you leave all the work to the women? Besides get in fights?" May Lee disputed.

"What! What's that supposed to mean? I protect the whole tribe, isn't that enough?"

"Sure it is, but you don't do that all by yourself, do you?"

"Well, no, I mean, my soldiers help me…" Kouga sputtered for an excuse.

There was another silence. Both of them thought separately, until Kouga spoke up.

"What is your name?"

"Huh?" May Lee thought a minute, then realized that she had never told the man her name. "My name is May Lee."

"Oh, uh, I'm Kouga," the wolf prince replied.

"Why do all the women at the cave call you 'Lord Kouga'?" May Lee asked.

"Well, because. I'm their leader, so they treat me with respect."

May Lee decided to change the subject, and recognized a fern-like plant. "Look! Here's some Lian Qiao! This will help the men who have infected wounds…We should get a lot of this."

"How do you know that?"

"Well, back, where I came from, I studied plants a lot, so I know a lot about them," May Lee explained.

"Oh."

As May Lee plucked some healthy looking Bayberry leaves, Kouga thought. Where does she want to go? I know her wounds are practically healed now, and I don't need her as a source of information anymore, so, won't she want to go home? Where exactly is she from? She was kidnapped by the northern wolf tribe, but where will she return to?

"May Lee?"

"Hmmm?"

"Where… I mean….Don't you want to go home?" Kouga asked, trying to tread carefully.

"I…don't know, I don't really have much of a home to go home to, unless I want to go back," May Lee thought. Where will I go? Kouga obviously doesn't want me to hang around more than I need to.

"Where did you come from?"

Over the next half hour, May Lee explained, about how she had fallen into the well, wound up in the feudal era, inherited Etlanshina's powers, found Conan, gotten kidnapped, and found Kouga.

"Wow," was all Kouga could say. Then a thought entered his mind. "Won't Inuyasha and the others come looking for you?"

"I don't think they know where I am," May Lee answered.

"Inuyasha could find you though, with his disgusting puppy scent ability."

"You don't like Inuyasha?" May Lee inquired.

"Hell no."

"Why not? I mean, I know when I first met him, I didn't like him either, but he seems like an okay guy." May Lee resoned.

"Because Kagome is in love with him." Kouga said, but instantly regretted in doing so.

May Lee was silent. She didn't say anything, for fear of hurting Kouga's feelings. She knew he was going to pretend to be tough, so she didn't want to bother with the emotional balance.

As a gentle breeze blew, Kouga caught some of May Lee's sweet scent. For some reason, he found comfort in it, and it consoled him. Kouga too, remained silent, and as if they read each other's minds, both got up, and began to walk back to the cave, since it was getting dark. May Lee carried the Lian Qiao and Bayberry, and Kouga walked by her side.

When they arrived back at the cave, it was dark, and no moon shone in the sky. Before they entered the cave, May Lee stole a glance at the sky, where the bright stars were scattered about.

Noticing her hesitation, Kouga turned to May Lee. "Is something wrong?"

Snapping out of her gaze, May Lee also turned to Kouga. "Oh, no, I was just admiring the stars."

"Oh."

"Don't you think they're beautiful?" she asked him.

"No. How can a star be beautiful?"

Shocked momentarily, May Lee looked a Kouga like he was crazy. How can he not think that a moonless night is beautiful? Just look at the stars….probably a dysfunctional childhood. "Well, it's not like other things…Stars. They're unique. Look at that one, see?" May Lee pointed. "It's bigger, and brighter than this one" May Lee pointed again. "But that little one is going to get bigger and brighter too. Sometimes, I just lay down and watch the stars. When you look at them long enough, they really do twinkle."

"Huh?" Kouga wasn't sure he understood, but decided to try to stare at a star. He picked out one star, to focus his sight on. After about ten seconds, it began to contract and expand. They are kinda pretty… he thought.

"Kinda cool, huh?" May Lee asked.

"Yeah…"

After staring at the stars for a few more seconds, Kouga spoke again. "You need to get some sleep. You're probably pretty tired."

"Yeah," May Lee agreed, and yawned to make her point. "Where exactly will I sleep?" May Lee questioned.

"Uh, follow me."

Kouga lead May Lee to a spot in the cave close to the entrance, but it had a nice, cozy little nook, carved in the wall. May Lee sat down on the floor, and looked up, expecting to see Kouga standing above her. Instead, he was no where to be seen. She heard muffled footsteps from the back of the cave, and some muttering voices, that she couldn't make out, though, she thought for sure one was Kouga's. Moments later, Kouga returned.

"Here." He said and tossed her a blanket. "I thought you might get cold."

"Thanks," May Lee said gratefully.

"No problem." Kouga replied, then, said, "Well, g'night."

"Good night. Sweet dreams Kouga."

Kouga paused at her words, but continued to walk out of the cave, where he was going to sit with the other warriors and talk. She called me Kouga…only the other men call me that…and Kagome, but she doesn't count. Hmm… he thought as he walked towards his comrades.

Meanwhile…

"Inuyasha, we should stop, since tonight's the night of thenew moon," Kagome called to Inuyasha, who had continued to walk, after Sango and Miroku had finally settled on a campsite.

"Feh." Inuyasha returned to where his friends stood. "I thought you wanted to find the wench."

"We do, but it's your time of the month, so take it easy," Kagome articulated.

"Hmph."

"Sango, let's go get some firewood," Miroku suggested.

"Okay, that sounds like a good idea, it's getting dark," Sango agreed.

After their friends left, Inuyasha and Kagome say down by the plave where the fire soon would be.

"I hope she's okay," Kagome said.

"Who? Sango?" Inuyasha asked.

"May Lee."

"Oh." Inuyasha hesitated a moment and then said, "She'll be fine," trying his best to sound supportive and reassuring.

"I just, I feel like it's my fault." Kagome said, her voice cracked a little, indicating that she was beginning to get upset. That was the last thing Inuyasha wanted. He hated it when Kagome was down, which wasn't very often.

Inuyasha slid a little closer to where Kagome sat, her legs pulled to her chest and her chin resting on her knees. "It's not your fault, okay?"

Kagome nodded, but said nothing.

Back with Kouga and May Lee…

Kouga sat down with his comrades, who were talking about the battle earlier.

"Oh, yeah, well, I knocked out this massive one, must've been 10 feet tall!" a warrior lied. No one ever told the truth after a battle… all lies about how many were killed, how big, how strong they were. All lies.

"Hey Kouga!" Ginta greeted him.

"Hey, what was the deal with that girl, in the battle?" Hakkaku asked, having heard about the human girl, who fended off a demon and saved a young boy.

"Huh? Oh, you mean May Lee." Kouga realized what his companions were talking about.

"Is that her name?" Ginta and Hakkaku asked, interested.

"Yeah, what about her?" Kouga replied.

"Well, we were talking with the healers, after visiting some of the wounded, and we asked where you were, she said that you took that human girl and ran off, so, we got curious…" Hakkaku explained.

"So, Kouga, what exactly happened with you two, hmm?" Ginta questioned.

"Nothing like that, so you two can drop it, we collected herbs, and that's all," Kouga said, offensively.

"Well, then, I guess you wouldn't mind if I made her my woman, then?" Hakkaku inquired, smirking.

"Don't even think about it," Kouga said, more protective of the mortal girl than he thought.

"Ha! I knew it!" Ginta rejoiced, with a smug look on his face.

"You don't know anything, so shut your mouth," Kouga warned him, and continued, "Anyway, I'm taking her back to wherever she came from tomorrow."

"Why?" Ginta and Hakkaku, again, said in unison.

"She doesn't belong here, with us."

"She saved Mynoaru, though, don't you think she deserves a courtesy stay? I mean, I know that you favor that kid, if it weren't for her, he'd be dead…" Ginta trailed off.

"So, what's your point?"

"My point, is that she shouldn't have to leave if she doesn't want to, you owe her," Ginta rationalized, which was very out of character.

"I owe her? I saved her life, on numerous occasions, she should owe me." Kouga defended himself.

"Whatever, but if she does stay, can I make her my woman?" Hakkaku asked again.

Thunk! was the only answer he got. Hakkaku rubbed his head, where there was a rising lump.

From somewhere near the mouth of the cave, May Lee's heart ached. 'She doesn't belong here, with us…' rang through her head, over and over.

Why should I be offended? It's not like I was planning to stay or anything…It's not like I wanted to stay, right? No, I didn't. I was going to go help Inuyasha and Kagome find the sacred jewel shards, from the Shikon no Tama. But, if they've forgotten about me, what's the point? 'She doesn't belong here, with us'… May Lee's head swirled with thoughts. She felt some moisture, on her cheek, and lifted her hand to wipe the tear from her face.

Alright, guys, I know, I updated before I got 20 reviews, but I just had to write the next chapter, it was killing me. So, yeah. But I won't write chapter 9 until I get 21 reviews. Co'mon! Reviews make me write faster, and better. So, REVIEW! And you better want Chapter 9, cuz that's when I add a little bit of fluff, and a little bit of Sesshy. So, review. I'm trying to think of a way to fit Kikyou into all of this, I've got a couple ideas, but, that's gonna be on like, chapter 20…lol jk. Assuming you guys review enough to get me to chapter 20.

Special thanks to:

Demonic Devils: My faithful reviewer, after every chapter…huggles

Liz-chan: Another faithful reviewer. glomps