Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Inuyasha; they belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 13: On the Road Again

Sayuri and Inunobu's Bedchamber

Sayuri awoke first. The sun shone through the curtains onto her face and gently pulled her from her sleep. She opened her eyes and smiled. The entire night came back to her in a flash as she lay against Inunobu, his arms wrapped around her. By her estimates it had to be at least ten in the morning, which meant they would be leaving soon, but she didn't want to get out of bed. The moment was just too perfect. Sleeping against Inunobu left her warm and comfortable, even though she was wearing no clothes. Sayuri took Inunobu's hand that was closest to her and put her own hand on it. He stirred.

'Morning, Sayuri,' Inunobu said sleepily as he kissed the side of neck and held her tighter.

Sayuri laughed softly and kissed his lips playfully. Inunobu decided to return the playfulness and took one clawed finger and traced the line of her body from the arch of her back to her hips and finally on the back of her leg. She shuddered; it worked.

'You know something Inunobu; I was beginning to think I was never going to find a mate.'

'I never had any intention of having one either. None of that matters.'

'We have to leave today, in about and hour or two I think. Couldn't we just stay in bed for a few more days and catch up with them later?'

'And travel with Sesshomaru? I think I'll pass.'

Sayuri laughed at this. She had turned around so that she was facing Inunobu instead of having her back to him. It was almost too much for Inunobu to bear. He was lying in bed with the most beautiful demoness in the entire kingdom, neither of them had any clothes on they were laying up against each other. The only problem was the group was leaving soon. Inunobu decided against his better judgment and went with instinct, kissing her lips lovingly and maneuvering on top of her. Before going any further he stared into her eyes. Sayuri began to feel very hot, the initial blush in her cheeks was gone and she felt the call of her demon instincts as well. Her lips lingered centimeters from Inunobu's.

She began to argue with herself. You can't do this right now, what if Kagome or Inuyasha walks in. We have to leave. But…oh what the hell. She pushed her lips against Inunobu's and whispered in his ear.

'Inunobu, I'm going to take a bath,' she said quietly and seductively. 'Come join me, no one will walk in on us there.' Inunobu began to wonder exactly how innocent she really was. The time for thinking was later, and Inunobu took her in his arms and carried her to her bath.

With the rest of the Travel Party

'Inuyasha, stop unpacking my bag I just zipped it up.'

'Aw but Kagome come on I need a box of ramen.'

'You already ate four of them THIS morning. Pack now, ramen later.'

Inuyasha pouted in the corner, beating up on a poor helpless Shippo who was eating something he had gotten out of Kagome's bag when she hadn't noticed. Inuyasha decided to try again and crawled along the floor until he came to the bag. Inuyasha sat up and reached towards it.

'Sit.'

Inuyasha's face plummeted at unbelievable speed into the overstuffed back that was already ripping at the seams. The bag exploded all over the room when Inuyasha hit it. Kagome was about to explode in anger herself until she saw Inuyasha not getting up. She lifted up his head to see that it had smashed right into the metal heater she kept for heating up the water for the ramen. Kagome nudged Inuyasha with her foot.

'Uh…Inu..yasha? You ok?'

'Sohmewhon helpf meh I an't breef!' said a panicked, muffled voice coming from underneath Inuyasha.

Kagome looked like she was going crazy. One of her eyebrows was arched, and she was still prodding Inuyasha with her toe. She looked around the room to see if anyone was trying to play a trick on her.

'Hmm well let's see there's Sango and Miroku and….where's Shippo.'

'Kagohmef helpf!'

'Oh god Shippo!' Kagome yelled as she kicked Inuyasha over to reveal a very squashed looking fox demon. Kagome picked him up and cradled him.

'Shippo what happened?'

'Inuyasha got mad at you so he took it out on me and stuffed me inside his shirt. Then he moved and all of a sudden you sat him and…'

'Oh is that so…Inuyasha was beating on you again huh?'

'Mmm hmm,' Shippo whined.

'Well in that case,' she looked over to the still unconscious Inuyasha, 'SIT!'

The floor below Inuyasha's head cracked loudly, and Inuyasha still didn't move.'

Inunobu and Sayuri

Sayuri rested against the corner of one of the walls of the bath breathing heavily. Inunobu was exhausted as well. It had been an hour since he had taken Sayuri into the bath an hour ago. She half crawled half floated in the water over to Inunobu who was resting his head on the ledge of the ornate tub and sank into his arms, throwing her own arms around him. She sighed. Her hair was wet and clung to her face.

'Ok Inunobu, let's go meet the others, there's no way I can go at that another time. I'm too tired.'

'Alright Sayuri,' Inunobu said into her ear, 'just one more thing.' Inunobu put his face into the base of her neck and shoulder and bared his teeth. He bit into the muscled part of her neck and she gasped, hugging him closer. Her heart beat wildly as she realized he had just given her the mating mark.

'Wow…that felt incredible. How often…do you bite me like that?' Sayuri asked, trying to give Inunobu small bites on his neck but failing in her incredibly relaxed state.

'It takes about a day for the mark to go away I would imagine, so once a day, or anytime you ask.'

'Inunobu I would get up but I don't think I can,' Sayuri said very softly. She felt like she was almost asleep. Inunobu kissed her forehead and lifted her out of the water and over to her dressing room.

Inuyasha and Kagome

'Inuyasha I told you I was sorry!' Kagome said with a hurt expression on her face. 'Besides it was your head that blew up the bag!'

Inuyasha was glaring at Kagome. Part of it was that he was annoyed at being denied more ramen but mostly it was the subjugation beads. His pride hurt thinking of all the times he had been sat.

'Whatever,' Inuyasha said angrily as he turned his back to Kagome.

Sango had been watching and decided that this was a great time for Kagome to come help her find food in the palace kitchen that Kirara would eat. 'Kagome, can you help me over here a minute?'

'Yeah sure Sango,' she replied, glaring at Inuyasha once more, 'be right there.'

Kagome and Sango walked into the kitchen to find Sayuri talking to herself asking where she could find something edible that didn't take too long to prepare. Kagome said hello to her but was still too angry at Inuyasha to get a conversation going. Sango leaned against the wall and waited for Kagome to work off some more steam. She decided to observe Sayuri instead of risk annoying Kagome more by staring at her. Sayuri was dressed in white today and not her usual light blue. She was trying to see if some meat she had found was still edible by gnawing on it. Once deciding that it wasn't any good she reached up to put it away and the fabric of her clothes covering her shoulder moved to reveal the mating mark. Sango started to blush furiously, understanding what must have happened the night before.

Kagome started to ask Sango for some help and turned to face her. She stopped when she saw Sango's reddened face.

'Sango….what's gotten into you?'

Sango absent mindedly took Kagome by the shoulders and turned her towards Sayuri. Kagome was still confused until she also saw what Sango was blushing at. It turned out that Sango was a bit more modest than Kagome, because Kagome ran up and gave Sayuri a huge hug, all bad feelings towards Inuyasha forgotten.

'Kagome….what are you….I can't breathe,' Sayuri managed to say.

'Congratulations Sayuri! Alright I thought this wasn't ever going to happen anytime soon.'

'Kagome, what are you talking about,' Sayuri asked innocently.

Kagome smiled all-knowingly. She had listened to Miroku's lesson on dog demon mating marks and remembered how sensitive the bite spot can be to pressure. She took two fingers and carefully pressed them over Inunobu's fang markings in Sayuri's neck. Sayuri shuddered and placed her hand on a counter for support.

'Oh,' Sayuri said, 'that's what you're talking about.'

'So,' Kagome asked mischievously, 'how was it?'

'Kagome I am not going to answer that question! It's not proper at all to discuss that with you, or anyone else for that matter,' Sayuri turned to walk away but spun around and grabbed both of Kagome's shoulders. 'It was wonderful!' she said with a giant smile on her face. Then she turned and casually walked away.

'Sango,' Kagome said dreamily, 'aren't you so happy for her.'

'Kagome, sometimes you scare me.'

Sesshomaru's Office

There was a knock at Sesshomaru's door. Sesshomaru told the knocker to enter and a servant came through the doorway.

'My Lord, your brother, the Lord Inunobu would like to see…' the servant stopped talking because Inunobu had already walked past him.

'How polite of you to barge in Inunobu,' Sesshomaru said bored. He gestured to the servant to leave. 'What is it, little brother?'

'Do you really intend to follow us? Are you going to try to go through that strange well Kagome lives in.'

'Yes.'

'Then I suggest you leave now because Inuyasha would do everything in his power to prevent you from getting into the well if he has a chance. Perhaps if you journey with him and don't get him angry he will not whine.'

'A warning. Hmm…does this mean you prefer me to Inuyasha? I find that hard to believe since I cannot stand you.'

'Barely.'

Inunobu walked out of the office hurriedly. Sesshomaru stood so that he could prepare to leave. He would take Rin with him, but Jaken could handle himself.

With Sayuri

Sayuri was getting restless. She wanted to leave the palace already. Lately it had given her bad memories every time she walked past the spot where Inunobu almost died. She had stayed completely out of the room where she had stayed with him while he recovered. She liked the idea of going on an adventure again. She didn't get too many of them because her father sheltered her so much. She hoped maybe her father would loosen his hold now that she had a mate to look after her.

Inunobu was walking towards Sayuri and the others. Rin walked with him because Sesshomaru had told her to go explain that she and Sesshomaru were coming with everyone. Sesshomaru needed to take care of political matters since he most likely would only come back to retrieve Jaken and Ah and Un before leaving the Western Lands for another long period of time.

'Lord Inunobu,' Rin said, 'why doesn't Lord Sesshomaru have fuzzy dog ears like you?'

'Rin if you keep asking so many questions there is no way I will be able to answer them all in time to—'

'Lord Inunobu, why do you and Lord Sesshomaru not get along?'

'Rin—'

'And why does Lord Sesshomaru always step on Lord Jaken?'

Inunobu put a hand over his face and sighed. He picked Rin up and placed her in front of Inuyasha so she could do as Sesshomaru had told her to. She reluctantly stopped her relentless questioning and told Inuyasha.

'Lord Inuyasha, Lord Sesshomaru told me to follow Lord Inunobu so that I could find you and tell you something.'

Inuyasha gave a bored look. 'What?'

'Lord Sesshomaru and I are coming with you!'

'WHAT!'

Kagome smiled at Rin. 'That's wonderful Rin. Isn't that wonderful Inuyasha?' she glared at him.

'Yeah….wonderful.'

Inunobu made his way over to Sayuri who smiled. Kagome caught Inunobu's attention and she put two of her fingers on her own neck in the same place Sayuri had her mating mark and winked. Inunobu's eyes widened a little before he regained his normal composure and acted like nothing had happened.

On the Road Again

To put it lightly, Inuyasha wasn't too happy. The group was traveling again, away from the Western Lands, which was good, but they had taken Inunobu, Sayuri, Sesshomaru, and Rin with them. He already didn't get along with Inunobu, and he flat out hated Sesshomaru. The thought of having another little kid around didn't agree with him at all. Kagome seemed happy to have everyone together, and she couldn't help smiling at Sayuri mischievously when she thought of the mating mark, which made Sayuri blush and look away. Miroku was thrilled to have the gorgeous demoness back among them, and Sango didn't mind, although she thought having Sesshomaru here would be a problem. Shippo was playing with Rin.

In reality the group was divided into three parts. Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo for the most part stayed together. Behind them were Inunobu and Sayuri, and much farther back were Sesshomaru and Rin. It was awkward having an old enemy traveling with them, and it didn't help that Kaede's village was very far away, maybe four to five days of walking.

Inunobu still had a cold personality when in the presence of others. He didn't have any other image to project. He was quiet for the most part, and Sayuri just enjoyed talking to him, even if he responded with nods or short sentences.

The problem that hung on everyone's mind was what they were actually going to find when they got to the future. What if they really discovered what happened to all of the demons? Sesshomaru and Inunobu would live long enough to try to go back into the past and change it so that the demons still existed. But how would they go about looking for an answer? Kagome had mentioned something about museums maybe having clues, or even something about a library.

'Kagome, I'm hungry,' Shippo whined. His stomach was grumbling. He hadn't eaten since they left the kingdom in the morning.

'Oh, sorry Shippo but you ate all of the food in my pack weeks ago, remember? I haven't been home in a month and a half.' My mom must be getting so worried. Hold on a bit longer mom I'm coming home. Kagome realized that Mrs. Higurashi would probably not like Inunobu hanging around again or Sesshomaru for that matter. She was absolutely certain Souta would be terrified of Sesshomaru when he discovered who he was.

Inunobu muttered something to Sayuri before tearing off in the direction of the forest.

'What was that about?' Kagome asked.

Sayuri responded. 'He heard Shippo say he was hungry and also said he smelled some food that way.'

'Well,' Sango sighed, 'I guess that means we're stopping here.'

'Hey! I'm the leader of this group I decide when we rest,' Inuyasha said, impatient. He frowned when he heard his own stomach growl.

Inunobu, meanwhile, raced through the trees. This was the first time he had really run through the forest in a long time. There were no forests like these back in the Western Lands. He smelled a couple of pigs, which were much tastier than a wild boar. It should be plenty to feed everyone. The pigs were within sight now, grazing in a clearing. Inunobu crouched from his position in the tree and readied himself for a strike when he felt someone behind him. The only person capable of sneaking up on me is Sesshomaru. Inunobu spun himself around and couldn't believe what he saw. A specter. Sightings are so rare; it is said that these beings only appear once every few centuries. Why would it choose to appear before me?

'You….' The specter began speaking in a chilling voice. 'You must not discover…'

'I do not understand,' Inunobu replied.

'The secret…you must not discover it…'

'What secret, who are you?'

The specter was paler than white. She was transparent, and dressed in very outdated human clothes. She appeared to have once been human with jet-black hair and brown eyes. She bore a strange resemblance to both Kagome and Kikyo. Inunobu noticed she wore a sword on her back.

'Inunobu….son of the great dog demon….you cannot disrupt the flow of time.'

Inunobu noticed now that he could not move. He was slumped against the branch of the tree he was perched in. He was not paralyzed; it felt more like his limbs were asleep. The specter floated its way closer to him, so that only a foot separated them. She held up her hand, which materialized into real substance, and placed it on Inunobu's forehead. It was freezing cold. Inunobu's vision blurred.

'At least tell me…,' Inunobu barely spoke audibly, 'your….name.'

'It is Midoriko.'

Inunobu heard her name and gave into the darkness. It was the same type of power as Kikyo's, but much more potent. His head flipped backwards and he plummeted from the tree for fifty feet until he hit the ground. The back of his neck burned in his sleep.

It seemed like forever that he was dreaming. He floated in an empty void until finally he felt himself being drawn back to reality. A pair of hands was trying to shake him awake. He vaguely heard a voice.

'Guys! Over here I found him! Come on Inunobu wake up,' Kagome was saying.

'Ka…gome.'

'You're ok…what happened?'

Before he could say anything else the rest of the group had caught up. Sayuri knelt down and put her hands on his face and neck, trying to see if there were any injuries. When she discovered that nothing was wrong with him she sighed with relief.

'Inunobu don't scare us like that,' Sayuri said to the half-conscious demon.

The last effects of the sleep spell wore off and Inunobu bolted upright, trying to recall everything that had happened. The warrior human woman with the priestess powers, the name Midoriko, something about disrupting time, a secret; everything came back in a flood. The only one who could possibly tell me what happened to me is Sesshomaru. He is old enough to perhaps have seen a specter himself.

'Sayuri?'

'Yes what is it….are you hurt at all?'

'No I am fine; I need you to get Sesshomaru here.'

'Ok,' Sayuri replied as she started back to the road where they had started looking for Inunobu. Sesshomaru had declined to help find him.

'Shippo,' Inunobu started, 'your food is right there,' he said pointing to the two pigs.

Sesshomaru and Sayuri

'So you found him?'

'Yes Lord Sesshomaru, he asked me to go get you.'

'He did not say what for?'

'No my Lord.'

Sesshomaru wondered what could have gotten to Inunobu. He could overpower his brother, but other than Sesshomaru, no one else could really harm him. Sayuri also said he was asleep when he was found, not hurt at all. Sesshomaru did not like where this was going.

'Oh, and Sayuri?'

'Yes Lord?'

'Since you are now technically part of the royal family, you do not have to call me Lord.'

'Ok…Sesshomaru, but how did you…'

'I can tell, your scent is different.'

Sayuri guided Sesshomaru over to where they found Inunobu. Inunobu looked up as his older brother approached. Rin followed close behind.

'Inunobu, what do you want with me?' Sesshomaru asked ill-tempered. 'Sayuri tells me you are not hurt in the least. Nothing pains you?'

'The back of my neck burns, but I suspect it was from the fall from that tree,' he said pointing at the highest branch where he fell from. Kagome, who was standing near where Inunobu was sitting, leaned over and shifted Inunobu's hair.'

'Wow that is so weird.'

'What is it?' Inunobu demanded, annoyed that Kagome was digging through his hair.

'The back of your neck, it has a purple crescent moon, just like the one on Sesshomaru's forehead.'

Sesshomaru's eyes widened. 'You saw a specter? Specters will mark those whom they choose to appear before with that symbol. What did it say?'

'It said do not discover the secret; do not interrupt the flow of time.'

Sesshomaru was deep in thought. This specter must know that we are trying to discover the fate of the demons in the future. It must have known their fate. It was a human specter then.

'It was once human I assume.'

'Yes.'

'And what was its name?' Sesshomaru pressed on with the questioning.

'She called herself Midoriko.'

'What?' Kagome burst out. 'We have seen her before, or at least her remains. She was the priestess who created the Shikon Jewel.'

'This changes nothing,' Sesshomaru said emotionlessly, 'we continue forwards.'

A/N: Me like reviews.