Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha. Insert witty qualification here.

A/N: Yo! Got nothing to do at the moment (seeing as how it's 5:30 a.m. and all), so let's get to it, shall we?

…After a few reviewer responses, of course. I'm in a bit of a hurry, so the usual disclaimer about loving everyone equally whether I reply to you personally or not applies even more than usual.

random person: Bingo! ;D

Bijoux no Miko: I actually didn't remember what you were talking about for a minute. :'D Why can I not remember my own writing??

encarna: Ooooh! Chocolate chips! Sweet! Danke.

reenas-as: 700 pages in Word?! Well, somehow I'm not surprised…and I do plan to write actual books someday. Thank'ee.

Palmtree: No, nuh-uh and nope. No lemons. …On ff dot net, anyway, or else I'd be deleted. (snerk) Seriously, though, that's not a lemon you smell.

heykyra13: A toast, to anyone else who recognizes "Valse de la Lune"'s lyrics.

daniel-gudman: Ahhh. Gotcha. I'm afraid the relationship stuff's really not going anywhere, though; we've still got a bit of a ways to go. Fairly warned be thee, says I.

I'll also reiterate, once again, that the spelling mistakes are very much not my fault. The site mashes words together at random, and when I use the new features to go back and fix it, new mistakes are made in other places. It's very annoying, trust me…and just a general note: death threats are counterproductive. I have yet to read a death threat, joking or otherwise, and chuckle to myself: "How cute! I should update sooner!" Please don't.

Cookies to purplepeopleeater, fardreamer86, minaosu, and everyone else who knew the quote was Raenef from Demon Diary and didn't say so in a review. Whee. Chapter time now.

Beast

Chapter 31

Kagome awoke slowly, gradually, and very lazily, in the way she'd always preferred but rarely got to indulge. It took a good five minutes for her to stop yawning and focus on her surroundings, which were unfamiliar at first. Oh. Right. Miroku's room. Switched last night, cried all over Inuyasha, fell asleep. She yawned again, unperturbed. A kind ofsleepy contentment had seeped into her, and she was still enjoying the effects.He's probably back to normal again. Mornings tend to do that. Man, I need to wash my hair…wonder if he's up yet?

If he was up, she saw immediately, he hadn't fixed the shoji yet; as such, Kagome was not surprised to find that, despite the golden light patterned across the futon from his small window, Inuyasha was still heavily asleep. She smiled despite herself and came up closer, as quietly as she could. She'd only gotten the chance to watch him sleep once…her smile faded. And that had been because Kikyou had been messing with them. Kagome glanced around: no dead priestess in the vicinity—that she could see, anyway.

"Hey," she said softly, crouching next to his head and patting the floor to get his attention. To her amusement, he had thrown off the cover and was sprawled half off the futon on his stomach, white hair strewn carelessly all over the place. Kagome glanced out the window: yep, late enough to justify waking him. She knew she should probably slip out before any of the servants caught wind of her presence in here – assuming none of them already had, of course – but her curiosity was already getting the best of her as to how he'd act after last night. "Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha grunted and turned over, rolling onto his side and then falling onto his back, yawning slowly. If he was awake, he wasn't opening his eyes. "Inuyasha?"

His leg twitched. "Don't want any more," he mumbled, barely intelligible.

Kagome bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. "Don't want any more what?" His profile was turned slightly away, and without thinking, she leaned over and tapped his stripe very gently. "C'mon, Inuyasha, wakey wake…huh?"

Blink. "What the…?" Kagome withdrew her hand, then rested her fingertip on his cheek again. Sure enough, there it went, fading slowly till his skin was all golden tan, no purple to be seen anywhere. Mindful now of what had happened last time, she held her breath, braced herself and leaned over precariously, catching a glimpse of the other cheek before another mumble brought her back with a start. Nothing there, either. What the hell…

To her further bewilderment, as soon as she sat back on her heels and replaced her hands on her knees, the stripe facing her slowly seeped back into his skin, as solid-looking as ever. She scratched her head, wrinkling her nose in sudden inspiration: where had she seen him before like that…? The mirror! Kouga stole the sushi, so I wasn't paying attention, but Inuyasha didn't look like he had anything on his face…I think… The image had been small and blurry. It could've been her imagination, but…

Holding her breath again, Kagome reached over to touch the stripe's base—and Inuyasha suddenly rolled back over, trapping her hand before she could finish yanking it back.

Oh, crap! Kagome tried to ease it free, but the scrape of his fangs on her forearm brought her to a standstill. Crap, crap…ah ha! In a moment of desperate creativity, she extended her other arm as far over his head as she could reach and snapped her fingers loud.

Inuyasha shot upright, nearly braining her but freeing her hand in the process. "I didn't do it!"

"Didn't do what?" Kagome scooted back as he looked around blankly, hoping he couldn't hear her pulse racing. She met his bleary gaze as innocently as she could. "Time to get up, Inuyasha."

He screwed up his eyes, grinding the heel of his hand into them in turn. "Why the hell'd you wake me up so damn early?"

"It's not that early, Inuyasha, and I want to see how Sango's doing. C'mon." She tugged his hair gently. "Besides, I'm hungry, and I don't wanna eat without you."

"Feh." Inuyasha reminded himself sternly that she just didn't want to get poisoned – hard to maintain with the way she was smiling at him…and why was she breathing so hard when she didn't smell scared or aroused? – and groggily climbed to his feet. "Fine, whatever. You go first so the servants don't—"

"Good morning, Kagome-sama, Inuyasha-sama!" An older woman dodged through the tangled mess of rice paper and wood separating rooms and bowed deeply, face etched with smile lines. She set down a small stack of clothes and bowed again. "We've received word that Shimoko-sama will be returning today for an extended visit. Would you care to change, Kagome-sama? The baths are ready, but we have fresher clothing should you choose to eat beforehand."

"Uh…I think I'll take a bath first, actually." Kagome tried to be gracious, but she knew just as well as Inuyasha did that if one servant knew she was in here, then it was safe to deduce that the whole castle knew she had slept in the other room last night, and neither wanted to know what conclusions had been drawn. Inuyasha's discomfort increased sharply at the thought of his niece dropping in to harass him again, and Kagome wondered if she would have time to wash her hair first.

Thus it was that they entered Kagome's room an hour later a great deal more self-consciously than they had the day before, and Miroku deduced as much almost instantly. "Good morning, Kagome-sama, Inuyasha," he said courteously, rising from the bed and indicating that Kagome could sit next to Sango. The slayer was propped up on the pillow and a folded blanket, looking better but definitely not fully well. "Breakfast should be here soon…"

Though the topic was dodged assiduously, none of them could ignore the speculative looks sent Kagome's way as two women laden with dishes came in and served breakfast, followed closely by Kohaku and Shippou. Kagome let the kit play with the wet ends of her hair and mentally sighed. Nothing to be done for it now. "So, Shimoko's coming?"

"Yes, Jaken came and told us to prepare for her arrival." Miroku didn't bother to hide his distaste. "We'll have to invite her to one of the meeting rooms. There's not enough room in here."

"What's wrong with outside?" Shippou asked. "It's really pretty out today." There was a round of covert glances at Inuyasha, whose face was obscured by his rice bowl.

Miroku shook his head, but Sango forestalled him with a hand on his arm. "I'd like the fresh air. Besides, if the baby is with her, I think she'd prefer to stay out in the open."

"Really? I would've thought it would be the other way," Kagome remarked, interest piqued. "Isn't she part dog demon, too?"

Sango nodded. "Her powers seem to lean towards air, though, and if she was threatened, she could get away easier that way. One of the first lessons Father drilled into us was never to corner females with young unless we wanted our heads taken off, no matter how badly we might have wounded them."

"Lovely." Kagome let Shippou finish the rest of her miso.

Once breakfast was cleaned up and Kagome had assisted Sango in doing the same for herself – both repeatedly refusing Miroku's offers of help till Inuyasha lost patience and dragged the monk out in a headlock – they assembled outside, Miroku and Kagome each taking one of the slayer's arms and supporting her to the little niche where they'd met Shimoko before.

Sure enough, the demoness was waiting for them, kneeling on the ground in an expensive cobalt silk kimono, Tadako tucked securely into her arms. She rose and bowed gracefully, coming forward to nod and smile at Kagome. "Auntie. You look well today."

"Thank you, Shimoko-san. That kimono is gorgeous." Kagome leaned in to smile at the baby, who was chewing absently on her wrist and looking at them with mild interest. "How're you doing?"

"We're doing perfectly well," Shimoko said complacently, settling back down with a little sigh. She raised an eyebrow at Sango. "Is something amiss, slayer?"

"Just a little stomach trouble, Shimoko-sama," Sango said ruefully, offering a polite smile. "It's good to see you again."

"Indeed." The demoness' nostrils twitched. Then she scratched under the braid coiled at the back of her head and sighed. "I do apologize for coming on such short notice. My husband's damn company called him in to a seminar again, and Sesshoumaru went to join my mother in Hokkaido, so I thought I'd take advantage."

"Weren't you with her the other day?" Inuyasha demanded. "The wolf said something weird like that."

"Yes, I did join her for a short time." Shimoko held her free hand out to the side and made a come-hither gesture; a large duffel bag materialized, falling to the ground with a soft plop. She held Tadako out carefully. "Hold her for a moment, would you, Auntie?"

"Sure." Wish I could do that. Kagome settled the baby on her lap, and Tadako twisted around, watching her uncertainly as Shimoko rummaged through the bag for a shoulder cloth and a bottle. "Um…is there any chance we might get to meet her?"

"My lady?" A pack of cigarettes landed on the grass next to Miroku's hand, and he picked it up curiously. Shimoko snorted. "Sesshoumaru's head would implode if his mate came here without his permission, and she doesn't care enough to fight him about it, so I wouldn't bet on it. We usually don't spend much time together, either. We disagree with each other in general."

Miroku frowned at the pack. "What is this, Shimoko-sama?"

"Herbal cigarettes. You light the ends and inhale the smoke…" She took the baby back with a smile of thanks. "Most of them are made with poisons and chemicals that ensnare the body and mind, plus they make you smell funny and turn your teeth odd colors, and neither Sesshoumaru nor Mother can stand them. I can't stomach the smell of the real things, so I use herbal substitutes whenever I want an excuse to get away from them."

Inuyasha snatched the plastic pack away from Miroku and examined it with something akin to respect. "So you have it just to piss Fluffy off?"

"More or less." The old towel looked very, very strange against stunning deep-blue silk, but Shimoko draped it over her shoulder with no trace of self-consciousness, speaking conversationally as she fed Tadako. "It's partly for his sake, too. He's no more fond of my company than I am of his."

"Why's that?" Shippou asked innocently.

Kagome coughed. "Shippou-chan, that's not very—"

"Yeah, why is that?" Inuyasha tossed the pack back onto the bag. Kagome rolled her eyes.

"It's quite all right, Auntie," the demoness said calmly. "I partly came here because I wanted to tell you about it."

No one said anything, but the loose circle tightened as they leaned in. Shimoko chuckled dryly. "It is indeed an interesting story. I suppose you especially want to know exactly how I was permitted to marry a mere human without being disowned and possibly murdered, oji-chan."

"Hell yes," he said bluntly.

"Just as well that it's a nice day. This will take a while…" Shimoko sighed and shifted the baby.

"I was born not long after the fall of the Shogunate, in the Meiji era…ask Auntie for a history lesson later, but the gist of it is that I grew up just as Japan was making the transition from rigid isolation to rigid isolation with a few more foreigners and a lot of foreign technology allowed in. If I speak oddly, it's because my upbringing has been filled with conflicting…well, everything, if you've wondered about that.

"I've picked up this story in bits and pieces, especially since I didn't see much of either of my parents growing up. Sesshoumaru was busy making sure that the demons on his lands – yes, oji-chan, he has his own lands now, I'll get to that sooner or later – didn't do anything stupid or overly divisive, as the demons were as torn as the humans in debating whether the changes were for the better or not. Many believed that the humans would grow too powerful and numerous with their new weapons, and then some hoped that demon politicians would be able to gain a foothold in the human government by posing as foreigner ambassadors andmuddying the waters politically. Sesshoumaru wouldn't support any of it, though."

"I'm surprised that he didn't take the opportunity to destroy as many humans as he could," Miroku said quietly, folding his arms in deep thought. "His contempt for us runs very deep, does it not?"

"Contempt is a conscious state of mind, houshi," Shimoko replied, moving Tadako up to her shoulder and patting the baby's back till she burped up. Inuyasha had to look away, and hisniece raised an impeccably shaped eyebrow at him. "Sesshoumaru cannot be bothered to waste time hating humans any more than you would dedicate any thought to despising insects. They're there, and they may irritate you from time to time, but otherwise they have nothing to do with you. He dealt with them when he had to and ignored them otherwise.

"As to why I was permitted to marry Shiro…well, the reason goes back further than my birth." The dirty cloth came off the shoulder and was laid aside in case it was needed again. "I believe it came not very long after Sesshoumaru left this castle to wait for Grandfather's second mate to die." They all glanced at Inuyasha. His jaw was set, but he glared back defiantly, and Shimoko continued, "The various wolf packs were already beginning to feel pressure from encroaching human villages, and they often attacked them to drive them off their territory. Of course, Sesshoumaru couldn't have cared less what happened to wolves or humans so long as they stayed out of his way, but I've gathered from what Jaken once said when he was drunk that there was…an exception."

"Exception?" Kagome and Sango repeated simultaneously.

"Mmm. I don't know the full story, of course…" Shimoko restlessly pulled her braid from its coil and began tugging at it, letting Tadako grab the ends and evading the baby's attempts to put the hair in her mouth. "He and Jaken came upon a slaughtered village one day, nothing unusual, and found a little girl's fresh corpse on the outskirts. On a whim, Sesshoumaru used his Tenseiga and brought her back to life."

Kagome didn't know what was more impressive. "Back to life? A human girl? Why? Did he need something?"

"Absolutely, and no, he didn't. As I said, a whim." Shimoko sighed deeply. "The child was naturally very grateful and attached herself to him. I think he was amused with her, almost like a pet, and he even let her follow him and Jaken around for several years."

Something clattered on the ground nearby, and they all jumped. Shimoko stood slowly, quieting Tadako, and looked up at a young girl who had dropped a piece of firewood from a higher walkway. "Don't do that again," the demoness said with menacing softness, and the girl squeaked an apology, nearly shrieking with surprise as the wood popped back into the air in front of her.

"Idiot. Now…" She settled back down. The sun came back out from behind several clouds, and Shimoko sighed again. "Where was I?"

"Fluffy saved the brat for no reason?" Inuyasha supplied.

"Right. Well, the girl – I believe her name was Rin – stayed with him for many years, almost nine or ten. When Naraku was killed and this place sealed, he figured out that the castle was lost to him, possibly forever, and he was so angry that he killed everything in his path except Jaken and Rin for the next several days.

"That was how he encountered my mother, as well. Naraku had used trickery and brute strength in equal measure to gain sway over large parts of the countryside; when he died, all his offspring were hunted down and eliminated so that the threat would be extinguished and the land available for whoever else wanted to take control of it. Mother was and still is very powerful in her own right, but she was most annoyed at having to defend herself against a neverending stream of challengers and assassins, especially in light of her own hatred for Naraku. Even if she had wanted to acknowledge herself as Naraku's heir, she values her freedom above all else, and becoming Lady of the South was the last thing she would have asked for.

"Sesshoumaru happened upon her as she was slaughtering several lizard demons, and by that time, he had naturally heard of her already. I've never gotten the full details of the encounter, of course…" The demoness shrugged nonchalantly, smiling a little at her audience's rapt attention. "It is a good story, but I'm afraid all I know is the result. By all laws, the land was Mother's, but she didn't want it, and no one wanted her to have it. Sesshoumaru was deprived of his castle and people, with nowhere else to go. So…" She brought her hands together sharply. "They mated, Sesshoumaru took control, and Mother was left to do almost as she pleased under his protection."

"But she smells like Naraku!" Inuyasha's tone made it clear that not even huge tracts of fertile land and all the humans and demons within were necessarily worth mating with someone who smelled bad, and Shimoko inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement of the point: to many canine demons, it wouldn't be.

"True, oji-chan, but you know Sesshoumaru well enough. Think about it for a moment." Tadako began fussing, and Kagome silently requested to hold her. The demoness waited till the baby was quiet and then handed her over. "If he had truly despised the notion, would he have bothered to make such an arrangement?"

"Nope. He woulda killed her instead," Inuyasha conceded, ears moving back thoughtfully. "He always did have weird taste."

Shimoko chuckled. "As for Mother…well, little though I like him, I can't say I wouldn't be swayed by Sesshoumaru's looks if I were an unmated female. I wouldn't be surprised if she was the one who introduced the idea. And for a 500-year-old marriage, it does work fairly well, I'll admit…the fact that they go years without seeing each other probably helps, but she does love him in her own way, and he's more fond of her than he'd ever admit."

"That doesn't explain you getting married to a human." Inuyasha cast a cynical eye at the baby in Kagome's arms. "And a human with a kid from another marriage, too."

"Yep. I was getting to that part." Shimoko swiftly cracked her knuckles, dropping her formality just as suddenly. "I think Rin was…eh, not too old by then. Maybe her early teens. So Sesshoumaru starts looking for a husband, or a human family that'll take her in…"

Sango was already shaking her head sadly. The demoness nodded. "You got it. No one wanted a demon's whore, and neither of them pushed that hard to find somewhere to leave her. She was pretty stuck on him by that point, and after she hit puberty, like I said, I don't blame her for not wanting to leave." She cracked her knuckles again. "He kept her till she was…sixteen or seventeen, I think, something along that age, and his retainers were starting to talk by then. Mother didn't give half a crap if Sesshoumaru wanted to keep a human girl as a pet, but everyone else thought it was embarrassing for a big, powerful demon lord to have a human follow him around everywhere."

Inuyasha snorted. "So Fluffy fell for a human, eh? The next time I see him…"

"Officially, nope." Inuyasha's face fell. Shimoko smirked. "I said officially. I happen to know that his advisers finally bugged him into getting rid of her, but he was pissed about it for years afterwards. Aaaaand…" Her voice dropped to a whisper, and she glanced around. "Is anyone eavesdropping? This part's kind of confidential."

Inuyasha did a cursory inspection of the area, ordered two lurking boys away and plopped back down as they streaked off. "And? What's so important?"

"Well, he finally paid a powerful human lord to marry her and take care of her. He kept watch on her for the rest of her life…" Shimoko was speaking so quietly that they had to lean in to hear. "He almost had to take her back when her first child was born—a hanyou."

Silence. Then…

"Holy shit!"

"Shhhhhhh!" Shimoko waved her hands irritably, and Inuyasha ducked his head, ears flattened. Kagome glared at him, rocking Tadako to soothe her from the scare. "Dammit, oji-chan!"

"You said…" Inuyasha was almost beside himself. "That frogfaced asshole hypocrite! Do you have any idea how much shit he gave me for having a human mom?!"

"I got some ideas listening to him talk about how worthless humans are, yeah." Shimoko's face was set tightly with anger. "So when I asked around to find out why he gave the land with this castle on it to a half-breed, his enemies were more than happy to tell me what had happened. Rin's son was more protected than you were, thanks to his father being alive, but the only acknowledgement he ever got was the land, and Sesshoumaru made it pretty damn clear that if he even thought about ever trying to ask whether he could sell it or give it away, he was dead. He did die of old age not too long ago, I think."

Kagome worried her bottom lip between her teeth. That explained how the land had passed out of Sesshoumaru's control, at least…

Shimoko waited a moment longer, then continued when no one spoke up. "I don't even know my half-brother's name. I never saw him or talked to him, either. I do know he never married, and even if he did…" She caught Kagome's eye, and her expression was pained. "You wouldn't know this, Auntie, but on the very rare occasions that hanyou lived long enough to have children and actually got to have them, the children were hunted down even more zealously than the hanyou themselves. Humans didn't like the idea of having quarter-breeds around to blend into the human population. There's a slight difference in attitude nowadays with so many demon bloodlines thinning out, but not nearly enough." Kagome went pale, and Shimoko nodded slowly.

"So…your husband?" Sango asked delicately.

The demoness shook herself. "Right. Well, by pretty much all accounts, Rin was a very sweet girl, and the situation must've broken her heart, because before she died, Sesshoumaru actually came to visit her, and without her asking, he promised to watch over her human children to the best of his ability. This is Sesshoumaru we're talking about, too, so 'the best of his ability' means that if anyone touches one of Rin's descendants, he crushes them like a bug." Shimoko popped her knuckles, twice on each hand. "To make a very long story short, my husband is a Nakayama, and he's one of her last descendants. As naïve as he is, the best way to protect him is to keep as close an eye on him as I can, and if it means living with him…"

"I see," Kagome said slowly. She frowned. Why did that name seem familiar? "So Sesshoumaru couldn't kill you for doing your family duty, and he couldn't kill your husband 'cause he's…"

"Yep, yep and right. The only real stipulation is that we don't have children—that's fairly common even now in intermarriage, by the way, Auntie." Kagome looked down at the sleeping infant in her arms. "The fewer who know of it, the better, otherwise everyone would be trying to kill them just to spite us. Bastards."

Kagome was rather inclined to agree. "So, does your husband know about any of this?"

Shimoko laughed outright, leaning over to pat her hand to soften the impression. "No, no, dear, he does not," she said kindly, giggling despite herself. "Sorry, but if my Shiro even vaguely got the idea that demons existed, his brain would wither like a sponge in the sun. He's not stupid, but he's a little hardheaded about what's what and what isn't. I might be able to convince Tadako when she's a little older, but Shiro doesn't know anything about me other than my family is rich and I spend most of my day shopping or taking care of his daughter."

Responding to the unspoken request, Kagome gently handed Tadako back. "She's beautiful, Shimoko-san, and I wish you both the best of luck." She bowed deeply from the waist, and the other three humans swiftly followed.

"Thank you," the demoness said quietly, a sweet smile curving her lips. She tilted her head. "Forgive me for asking, Auntie, but have you taken any suppressant yet this month? You're getting fairly close."

"Oh! I forgot!" Kagome hopped to her feet, smoothing the front of her soft, long black skirt. "I'll be back, Shimoko-san…"

"There's no need to go right this moment," Shimoko said mildly, but Kagome was already hurrying away.

"Your nose must be very good," Sango remarked.

"With Sesshoumaru's blood stuck in my veins, I'm afraid so. It is useful, though." Shimoko rocked Tadako absently. "I have degrees – those are certification that you're an expert in a certain subject or field – in English, pediatric medicine, and gynecology, and if I ever decide to use them, I'd probably go with the latter." She cracked her knuckles yet again at their uncomprehending looks. "Gynecology is the study and care of women's bodies. It's a very specialized kind of medicine. I'm an expert in human women's anatomy."

"We're not really that different, are we, Shimoko-sama?" Sango asked.

"A bit. The basic plumbing is the same, and so is the process of childbirth…" The demoness grabbed the soiled towel and wiped drool and snot from the baby's face. "The biggest differences are the lengths of pregnancy and fertility, really. Did you know that human women can conceive at any time, even during their blood?"

Shippou looked blank, but Kohaku's face went redder than Inuyasha's haori, and neither of the two men was much better. Even Miroku was uncomfortable hearing it so matter-of-factly—and besides, he hadn't known that. "Don't human women have a period of fertility, just as demons do?"

"Yes and no, houshi-sama." Shimoko was too well-bred to enjoy their embarrassment openly, but, as interested as Sango was, she knew that the demoness had to be loving it. Not too long ago, she would've wanted totalk about something else as well…but now, she listened closely as Shimoko warmed to her subject. "Without boring you with too many details, a female becomes pregnant when her body releases an egg and the male catches her before the egg dies. In demons, the period where the egg is ready and they're most fertile coincides with the release of pheromones that puts her in heat; humans are most likely to get pregnant about two weeks after their period ends, give or take several days. The only problem is that human females are very inconsistent, and thus it can happen at any time.

"There are a lot of theories as to why some humans release pheromones a few days before they start bleeding, especially when human men can barely sense it anymore, but I agree with the idea of it being an evolutionary holdover designed to ensure that women will mate sooner or later. Or perhaps it was supposed to coincide with ovulation and fell out of sync as you evolved?" She shrugged gracefully, smiling to acknowledge that she had mostly lost them. "Fascinating stuff. All you really need to know is that you can never be sure, no matter when it happens."

"Why are we talking about this again?!" Inuyasha hissed.

"For my own amusement and for your edification, oji-chan." Shimoko sighed and got to her feet. "The sun loses its charm when one starts to bake in it. As soon as Auntie comes back, I must get going."

Inuyasha grunted. Something came to him, and he grimaced at Miroku. "Hey, bouzu. Go get some more medicine for Sango or something."

"Well, Kaede should be in the shrine now," Miroku agreed dubiously, rising with a curious look in his direction. "Perhaps you could go get it faster?"

"He's trying to get rid of you, houshi-sama," Shimoko informed them, and inclined her head towards the woods as Inuyasha sputtered. "Whatever it is you wish to ask or tell me, oji-chan, we can talk in here. We'll be right back."

Inuyasha was less than pleased, but he followed anyway, and as soon as Shimoko heard what he had wanted to ask, she understood why. He was profoundly grateful for a lack of pointed remarks about possible relationships or his relative intelligence; all he received this time was a gracious smile, required information and a promise to do as he wished, and they went back to where Kagome was now standing and making faces with no further damage.

"It's not very pleasant, is it, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked sympathetically. She had stopped taking it herself already, as neither of the full-grown demon males of her acquaintance were even remotely interested in her and Kaede's supplies were running low.

"What kind of stuff does she put in there?" Kagome had never tasted anything so foul in her life. It made chalky, astringent modern medicines taste like sugar.

Mmmm. Sugar. That reminded her of some of her mom's recipes. Kagome almost drooled thinking of some of them. If I just had the ingredients, I could…hey, wait a—!

"Auntie?"

Kagome blinked. "I'm sorry, Shimoko-san, what'd you say?"

"I asked if there was anything you'd like me to get for you—some food, perhaps, or books, that you can't get yourself living here." Shimoko winked. "You must be almost out of batteries at the very least."

"I am, actually." Trust a modern woman to know that a teenager would need more batteries. Kagome accepted a pen and a pad of paper the demoness had fished out of her bag. "Thanks so much, Shimoko-san." She scrawled down several things in English – batteries, sugar, brown sugar, syrup, and other odds and ends – and handed it back with a bow. "I really appreciate it."

"Not at all, Auntie." Shimoko hefted Tadako higher and waved her hand over the bag, which blinked out of sight. "I'll try to bring everything soon, perhaps by tomorrow. Till then, I hope I was able to help a bit—and you boys will remember our other discussion, won't you?"

That was the first time Kagome had ever seen Miroku blush. She wished she had a camera for his and Inuyasha's faces—

"OH!" She clapped a hand to her mouth. "Also, please, please bring a few disposable cameras, Shimoko-san."

Shimoko grinned broadly, exposing small but sharp fangs. "What an excellent idea, Auntie. I'll be sure to do that." She bowed again. "Till then…" Gone.

The rest of the day passed peacefully. The weather was so gentle, with the breeze balancing out the sun's light warmth in stark contrast to yesterday's blazing heat, that they remained in the shade and talked about nothing in particular for the rest of the morning, then returned after lunch and idled away the rest of the day. Kohaku and Shippou played tag briefly, but Kagome was too comfortable to join in, and so they flopped down and joined in the general lazing about till it was time for dinner. Then, in the general spirit of things, they sent Kohaku in for the food and ate outside once again.

"I can't believe that about Sesshoumaru," Kagome said as they were finishing up, and she nodded impatiently at their warning looks. "I know, I'm not gonna say anything else, but still…"

"I'd like to get a look at that Rin." Inuyasha set his bowl down and burped quietly. "Any human wench that could reel Fluffy in had to've been pretty impressive."

"We'll ask Shimoko if her mom ever saw her next time." Kagome yawned and stretched out on the soft grass. "Hey, Sango-chan, you never finished your part of the game last night."

Sango sighed and lay back against a huge tree trunk, stroking Kirara as the little fire-cat nestled on her lap. "If you insist."

"I do," Kagome said lazily, letting her eyes drift shut.

"Hmmm…" Sango let Miroku sit close next to her and leaned against his shoulder in a rare display of semi-public affection. Inuyasha snorted quietly, but sat against another tree without comment. "My first…hmmm…well, I suppose my first is that the first time I saw Kirara change, I was terrified." She cast a warning look at her brother, but he kept his face blankly innocuous. "Second, I didn't have many friends when I was growing up." She sighed. "Last, I…" Her eyelids almost closed. "I'm glad things ended up this way, curse and all."

Inuyasha nearly swallowed his tongue. "That's gotta be a lie!"

"Well…" Kagome opened her eyes and picked at a blade of grass. "If things hadn't turned out like this, she and Miroku-sama might not have been together, and Sesshoumaru would have attacked the castle, and we would never have met, and—"

"Tell me she's not right." Inuyasha rapped his claws impatiently on the dry ground. "You can't be serious!"

"I've gathered that the second must be true," Miroku said quietly. "As for the first…" He smiled suddenly and stroked the little cat under the chin. "Was she frightened the first time she saw you full-grown?"

Kirara raised her head and mewed, tails swishing in what definitely looked like an emphatic denial. Miroku chuckled, patting her with his left hand. "There you have it. That was the lie, not the third."

"You people are insane," Inuyasha grumbled, crossing his arms. He shot a glance at Kagome, almost accusingly. "What about you? Don't tell me you're glad you got caught here."

"It's not like I had anything better to do," she pointed out, and he gaped at her. Kagome shrugged. "Seriously, at least something happened to me at last. Besides…" She let her head rest on her arms, eyes closing again. "I'm glad I met you guys."

Inuyasha muttered a few choice words and looked at Kohaku, but the boy had anticipated him and was gazing at the sky. Shippou climbed onto Kagome's back and curled up, and Inuyasha decided not to bother in that case. "You're all nuts."

"Maybe. But at least we're in good company, right?" Kagome opened her eyes long enough to wink at him.

More than anything, that pointless little movement gnawed at the back of Inuyasha's mind as it grew darker and they were forced to go inside. Sango declared herself ready for a real bath, and Miroku, seeing that Inuyasha was in fairly deep thought, left him alone as they went back to Kagome's room.

When he judged that the women were almost done with their bath, Miroku cleared his throat. "So…" The monk spoke casually—too casually. "Shall we keep room arrangements intact tonight?"

"You mean the usual ones, where Kagome sleeps in her room and you sleep in yours, bouzu?" Inuyasha cracked his knuckles meaningfully.

"As usual, you mistake me." Miroku ignored the huge canines bared in his direction. "I presume you and Kagome-sama did nothing that would make proximity embarrassing for one more night—" He easily blocked a swipe at his head. "And Sango is still feeling the poison's effects and needs a bit more care. Last night worked out very well for us, and if it's not too much trouble…"

"It is." Inuyasha folded his arms stubbornly. "No way. I didn't get to sleep for way too long last night 'cause of her."

Silence.

"NO! That's not what I meant! She's just a pain in the…" Inuyasha bit the sentence off at the sound of footsteps in the hall. They passed, and Miroku took the opportunity to get out ofa light headlock. Inuyasha folded his arms again. "Just no."

"Now you're simply being spiteful." Miroku rapped him on the head lightly. "The servants can't do any more damage to your reputation or enhance hers any more as it is, so—"

"Enhance?! What the hell are you talking about?"

Sango and Kagome approached the room very slowly, and Shippou nearly crawled on his belly to escape detection as they got close enough to listen outside the shoji.

"Simple, Inuyasha. Whatever happens, it's because you are evil and Kagome-sama is not. According to the latest among the laundry maids, she's figured out how to ward you off and thus doesn't mind giving in to your demands that she sleep in the room next to yours."

Kagome didn't know whether to laugh, or laugh and then go hit someone. She exchanged a long look with Sango: she had told her friend all about last night, sans a few details, and the slayer was just as bemused as she was.

"But…" Miroku's voice rose lightly above what would probably soon coalesce into a black cloud of profanity around Inuyasha's head. "But the menfolk, for what it's worth, have agreed that you wouldn't do such a thing. The women think the men are getting naïve because we all worked together on the treehouse, but…"

Kagome chose that moment to go inside, and as there was a small knot of women coming down the corridor, she raised her voice. "So, Inuyasha, same arrangement? Switch ofmyownfreewill so Miroku-sama can take care of Sango-chan for the night?"

Not surprisingly, the descent of full dark and the rising edge of waxing moon saw Inuyasha sitting on his futon, ears trained behind him to follow Kagome's movements as she settled in. Why he was paying attention now and not the other times they'd spent the night in the same vicinity, he didn't know. He blamed the end of that stupid lie game. Can't believe they're glad all this shit happened. Yeah, all our lives were kinda screwed up, but they weren't that bad, were they?

The dark paintings on his wall didn't answer. He grunted and stretched out on his back, folding his arms behind his head. Well, whatever. If it keeps 'em happy and I don't have to hear about it, good enough for me. His ears fluttered as Kagome coughed sharply. "You dying or something?"

"Not yet," she muttered, turning onto her side. "What about you? You've been quiet for a while."

"Feh. Just thinking."

"What did I tell you about thinking?"

"Right, right. Gotta sit and drool instead."

"Good boy."

Thick silence.

"Inuyasha?"

Grunt.

"…Never mind."

"If you insist."

"I do."

"Good."

Awkward silence.

"That was a really interesting talk this morning. I hope Shimoko comes back soon."

"Yeah, she's bringing a lot of crap, too. Did you ask for anything edible this time?"

"You can always chew on the batteries if you want."

Beat.

"So you finally started taking that crap today?"

"Yeah, and I've discovered one more reason why being a girl sucks. That stuff is nasty."

Inuyasha deemed it wise not to bring up the alternative. "…Not that I care or anything, just outta morbid curiosity—did you really mean it when you agreed with Sango?"

"Yep." Kagome stretched out, angling her arms up and out like Buyo's full-body contortions, and lay back with a sigh. "Whatever happens, it'll happen. Till then, I like being here, even if you won't let me pitch in." Not to say that she never experienced any horrible angst, of course, but at least it wasn't a lie.

"Weirdo." Inuyasha yawned. "Maybe once everything's over, you can take a coupla things and sell 'em so your family'll stop bitching at you."

"What?" Kagome sat up. He'd said it so carelessly that she wasn't sure she'd heard right. "Take what?"

"Paintings, some old armor, maybe a katana or two. Shimoko said people pay out the ass for that kinda thing now."

Kagome had difficulty swallowing. "You'd let me have some of your family heirlooms?"

"Family?" He made a rude noise. "I never got anything but crap from my family, 'cept Mom, and there's plenty of stuff here that ain't hers. If havin' money'll keep that damn wolf and my jerkoff brother from harassing you, getting rid of some of this shit is the least I can do."

The newly restored shoji scraped open, and rapid footsteps brought Inuyasha around and to his feet warily. "What? What's wrong now?"

His eyes adjusted instantly, just in time to watch Kagome walk straight into him and fling her arms around his shoulders blindly. "Whoa!" Mindful of the bandaged bruise on her own shoulder, Inuyasha patted her back lightly to get her attention. "Oi! What's wrong with you? If it hurts your pride that much, you can always go back to eating squirrels, y'know…"

Kagome shook her head rapidly. "No, no, that's not it. I'm just…" She swallowed and squeezed as hard as she could. "Thanks for thinking of me."

Not only had he evidently consulted with Sango about it, but he'd also asked Shimoko: considering that managing financial matters was and still is left to women, it must have taken a lot of thought and a bit of tongue-biting for him to have reached that conclusion on his own. If circumstances had been different, she would have…

Kagome flushed. Better not think of that. Things are not different—besides, I'm not a hooker or something.

"S'not like I'm gonna need any of this crap," he grumbled, glad for the darkness. To him, the offer seemed perfectly logical, nothing to make such a big damn deal about, and certainly no reason to plaster herself on him like this. "So, yes or no?"

"We'll see." Kagome hated the idea of having nothing left of him except a few dusty paintings or weapons, and then having to sell those, and so she elected not to think of it. "I'll think about it. Thanks."

"Don't thank me. Fluffy, Jaken and a whole lot of other morons got you into this, 'specially me. It's the least I can do." Inuyasha nuzzled the top of her head before he could think about what he was doing, then nudged her away gently—not out of guilt, but because his face was getting a little too warm. Stupid Shimoko talk. "Plus, anything I can do to screw them over is a bonus."

Wrong thing to say. Kagome's scent shifted from soft pleasantness to spiky irritation as she stiffened and pulled away. "Right. Screwing Kouga and Fluffy over is good." She bobbed her head and stalked back to Miroku's room, leaving him with his mouth hanging open. "Good night, Inuyasha. See you in the morning."

"Wha…?" He blinked stupidly at the shoji as she groped for it, went in and screeched it shut. "What'd I do?"

"It's not you, just my imagination playing tricks on me again," she spat. "Good night."

"Uh…good—oh, right, will you marry me?"

"No chance in hell. Good night."

Inuyasha mistook bitterness for simple anger and bristled. "Look, yes or—"

"NO."

"…Oh. G'night."

No answer. Inuyasha lay back down on his futon, glaring uneasily at the other room. What in all the hells is her problem now?!

Kagome regretted snapping at him almost instantly; after all, it wasn't his fault she'd let herself read anything into his offer. Stupid stupid stupid. Sigh… "Good night, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha's ears swiveled back in unison. Whatever he'd done, he was forgiven already. That much he understood, at least. "G'night, Kagome."

A/N: Seems a bit on the short side to me…but that's because I'm a rambling psycho masochist when it comes to length, so pay no attention to that authoress behind (in front of?) the monitor. She decided to switch her routine around, sleep till 5 a.m. and then start writing for once. Hmmm…carry the one…yeah, this chapter took about six hours. I'll have to split this from the next one thanks to Shimoko's talk scene…oh, yes, and re: biological stuff, as I've mentioned, there actually is quite a bit of evidence regarding female pheromones during ovulation, but some of the research I looked up conflicts (and one never knows whether to trust research paid for by perfume companies that tout human pheromones despite the near-uselessness of the organ that senses it in the male nasal lining), so if you spotted any biological factual errors, I plead "fiction!" and apologize preemptively.

…Point is, I'm discombobulated, but I should have the next one up soon anyway. (has "Everything You Know Is Wrong" stuck in brain) Cheers till then.