Chapter 20: Thank you

Inu-yasha looked away, hiding the scowl on his face. It wasn't right. Why should Sesshoumaru take official claim over her? Why should he allow it? Because it was an Inu royalty tradition that the older brother must pick his mate first.

The older brother was always first. He was first to the throne, first to the lands and first to take a mate. The younger brothers must wait for the older brother to be mated for them to have a mate themselves. The oldest would be the next lord of the land and he will only be replaced by the younger if he dies. It was an old treasured tradition which he chose to break a long time ago by trying to take the throne from his brother.

He failed though and that resulted into Sesshoumaru banishing him from the Western Lands, never to return. But that was almost eighty years ago. The past was past. Now was the most important. And now, Kagome was in Sesshoumaru's arms. He had planned to take Kagome as his mate after everything with Naraku was finally over and Sesshoumaru finally chose one as well. Though he did have hesitations, his mind being plagued by his past love, Kikyou, he really did love Kagome. He never expected Sesshoumaru would do something completely not him.

He never thought Sesshoumaru would choose Kagome. She was his complete opposite. She had the biggest, kindest heart he'd ever known. And Sesshoumaru had, as far as he knew, no heart at all. So why choose Kagome? Was Sesshoumaru simply doing this to hurt him? Would Sesshoumaru really go that low just to exact his revenge?

"Sesshoumaru, look!" he heard Kagome shout. He turned to them and found her pointing dead ahead. Inu-yasha looked and there he saw smoke! There was a village on fire! "We have to help them!" she finished.

"We need not involve ourselves in others' business." Sesshoumaru icily stated.

"Sesshoumaru, they could know something about Haruko!" That was the only excuse Kagome could give Sesshoumaru to have him agree to help the possibly burning villagers.

Sesshoumaru looked at her. He knew it wasn't her true reason for wishing to entangle the whole group with the problems of that nameless village. But she did have a point. These villagers might have seen Haruko or maybe even know where to find Naraku. He couldn't let that possibility simply slip away.

He turned his head to Inu-yasha and said, "We go to the village." Then he sped up and so did Kirara, following his lead. Inu-yasha felt anger inside of him. Since when was he the leader of the group? Who gave him the right to order everyone around? This wasn't right. But he sped up anyway, not wanting to be left eating everyone's dust.

They came to the village and saw a gang of Amazon-like women youkai attacking the villagers and setting their homes on fire. Miroku took sight of one who was just about to stab an old man. She had brown dry hair in a high ponytail with a scar across her pretty face. They wore armor like those of a man's under short skirted, blood stained white Kimonos.

Before the antagonist could drive the sharp, glimmering knife through the old man's body, an oversized boomerang collided with her hand, knocking the knife far out of her grasp. They all stopped and followed the boomerang with their dull purple eyes. The boomerang came back to a strong grip, Sango held it firmly as if it was a flag.

They didn't even have a second thought at seeing the group of intruders standing in their way. Quickly they jumped from the ground and attacked. They circled the group and cackled in a terrifyingly wicked fashion. Sango said something to Sesshoumaru who simply happened to be pressed behind her, in a defensive position much like hers. "When youkais pillage a village in groups, they're bound to have someone leading them."

"I understand." Sesshoumaru quickly said. "I will take Kagome and Inu-yasha. Will you and the monk be able to fend for yourselves?" It was strange to hear such a thing from Sesshoumaru. They were talking as if they were actually comrades.

Sango nodded with determination. Sesshoumaru nodded as well then jumped, landing beside Kagome. "Sesshoumaru!" Kagome said out of surprise.

"Come with me." He said, grabbing her arm gently then lifting her up bridal style. "Inu-yasha!" he called. Inu-yasha turned to him, his sword unsheathed and ready to taste blood. "Come with me." With that he started running from the erupting battle.

Inu-yasha caught up with his sprint and said, "Oi! Where are we going! The battle's over there!"

"We will look for the leader of these sorry excuses for youkais. She is most likely in the chief's hut." Sesshoumaru explained, turning his gaze from left to right, looking for a hut that wasn't burning into ashes.

Inu-yasha slashed at the youkai woman who dared to stand in their way. "So all we have to do is look for the Chief's hut?" Kagome clarified. Sesshoumaru nodded his response. Inu-yasha slashed another youkai in their way and heard a scream near a blood-splattered hut.

"There!" Inu-yasha yelled, pointing his tetsusaiga towards the unharmed hut.

Sesshoumaru turned to it then said to Inu-yasha sternly, "Make haste." He sprinted towards the hut with Inu-yasha at his tail and Kagome anticipated their discovery. She hoped no one else would be hurt.

Sango hit another youkai woman with her boomerang right at the midsection, making her jump away. Miroku was fending them off fairly well, apologizing to the many beautiful women when he used his staff to hit them at the back of their neck, successfully knocking them out in the process. Shippou was quite good too; it seemed the short time they'd been training the kit served to be quite helpful.

Sango punched an attacker right at her jaw, successfully knocking her away. She heard the battle cry of another enemy behind her so she jumped and sent a spinning kick her way, hitting the side of her head. After the last one fell, there came another one with a dagger. Sango bent to the ground and used her boomerang to make her enemy loose her footing and fall on her back.

The enemy quickly got back to her feet and attacked her again. She used her boomerang to defend herself from the slashes of the knife then spun, kicking her enemy's stomach then her head when she bent over, then she attacked her stomach again, successfully pushing her away. She ran forward, punching her opponent's chest and stomach then spinning her boomerang over her head to knock the enemy out, sending the youkai woman spinning towards the ground.

A youkai was just about to kick Shippou when he blocked it with his arms, pushing it away. He pressed his palms and forehead to the ground, pushing himself into the air and hitting the youkai's chest with his outstretched legs. He knocked her to a tree bark and actually felt his pride grow. He was fighting. He wasn't just cowering over a corner, he was actually helping them. He no longer felt hopeless and defenseless. He felt stronger now.

He became alert when he heard a swift sound behind him and rolled forward to avoid the knife that flew his way. It imbedded itself into the root of the tree in front of him. Shippou looked at it with wide eyes then steadied his heart beat quickly. He ran towards the knife, taking it out of its wooden sheath then turned to throw the knife at his opponent. But then he saw another knife coming his way, he quickly jumped; the knife missed him by merely an inch.

Shippou didn't wait to land before throwing the knife at his enemy. It hit her right at the heart. Shippou's eyes widened at the sight of the blood spurring out of her wound. Fear. He was afraid. Of what? Death. Death was right in front of him, taking away his enemy and turning to him with those gloomy empty eyes. He felt fear at the sight of death. He finally met the infamous death and he feared for his life. Would he be next? Would he some day see those gloomy empty eyes laughing at him triumphantly, emptying him of his soul? And at the thought of death only one thought, strange as it may be, came to his mind.

Haruko

That was his first kill. And the only thought that comforted him was Haruko's lonely face, turning to him and smiling genuinely. He wanted to keep the loneliness from consuming her. He wished to keep her safe forever. And if he was going to protect Haruko, he'd have to kill a few people.

Arashi nodded to himself, feeling the heat from her forehead slowly weakening. "It seems that your fever is starting to go away." Haruko simply stared down at her blanketed lap, doing her best to ignore the fact that another wolf was touching her, despite the fact that the doctor was indeed quite handsome. "I advice that you eat some food to give your body the strength it needs." He said, trying to get her to eat. Kouga seemed very troubled when he said that Haruko wouldn't eat. So, Arashi took it upon himself to help him out.

"Thank you for your advice." Haruko said. But then she thought, but that doesn't mean I'll do it. Arashi smiled at her charmingly then went out of the hut. Haruko sighed then went back to bed, being comforted by the scent of autumn. His scent. She won't eat anything stolen. It will be like poison to her soul, she just knew it. And yet…gurgle, gurgle, gurgle. She could practically hear her stomach eating itself out of desperation. She was sooo hungry! She held onto her stomach, lying on her side and curling into a ball. Ouch, ouch, ouch! I'm straved!

Kouga watched her struggle from the doorway with an apathetic expression. "You wouldn't be in pain right now if you had eaten the food I gave you earlier." But then he ducked, avoiding another random item she just managed to pick up and throw at him. He straightened his back, and swore he heard an indistinct cry of pain from behind him.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you were hungry. I didn't know you were P.M.S'ing." he teased.

She quickly jolted to sit up straight and stare at him with a blush of indignation. "I am not P.M.S'ing!" she grabbed another miscellaneous item but Kouga was fast to grab her wrist and stop her from throwing it at him.

"Can you not throw stuff at me whenever you can't take a joke? I went through a lot of trouble to get these things, you know?" Kouga said, taking the item out of her grasp and placing it as far away a possible. Haruko frowned and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Seeing that she was behaving, he sat down on the floor and said, "So, tell me something about yourself, inu-hime." She looked at him suspiciously then looked out the window.

"What do you want to know?" she owed it to him to at least be polite. He helped her and she shouldn't be ungrateful.

"Hm? What about why you were being chased by Kagura?"

"Naraku kidnapped me and I ran away. He sent her after me." She answered plainly. "Kanna helped me…"

"Kanna? The kid with the mirror?"

"Hai."

"Okaaay… why did Naraku kidnap you?"

Haruko furrowed her eyebrows at him. Why should he know? She closed her eyes then opened them again slowly, revealing lonely blue eyes. "He wanted me to help him conquer the Western Lands."

"But you didn't agree?" he stared curiously at her expression. She looked really lonesome. Somehow it was dampening his mood too.

"Of course, not. Naraku…he's not even good enough to try and conquer the Western Lands. No one else is. My—" she stopped before saying 'my father' then continued, "Sesshoumaru-sama is the only one who should rule the Western Lands."

Oh yeah, she looked a lot like Sesshoumaru. Therefore she must be somehow related to him. "So, speaking of 'Sesshoumaru-sama', what are you to him anyway?"

Haruko looked at him with a small tender smile, a lonely smile, the first smile he's seen from her ever since they met. "Nothing. Yet." That was half true. In this time, she wasn't born yet. She was nothing yet. "I'm non-existent for now."

Kouga looked at her with a raised brow. Strange. She was so strange. "What is that? Some depressed person thing?" he asked. Sesshoumaru must've broken her heart or something. Why else should she be so depressed? Maybe she was his little sister? No, she couldn't be. Inu Taisho only had two sons, and then he died. So what was her relation to Sesshoumaru then?

She simply smiled at him that lonely smile again then closed her eyes and lay back to the bed. "I'm tired."

It was obvious that she avoided the question. He was curious but he decided to wait for her to tell him. If she wasn't ready to talk about it, he won't force her to. He shrugged to himself, "Alright, you need your rest anyway." He stood and walked towards her. She opened her eyes to watch him suspiciously, only to watch him pull the blanket up to her chin. He smiled boyishly down at her, "Sweet dreams, Inu-hime."

He gave her forehead a tender pat then walked out of the hut. She slowly, carefully brought a finger to her forehead. Was that what people call tenderness? Was that a way to show tenderness? It wasn't hostile. It wasn't perverted either. It didn't have an underlying intention. At least it didn't feel that way. What was that just then?

The old man struggled out of his captor's mental chains, trying to move his arms. But then there was a pain on his chest and he could practically feel her hand squeezing his heart inside his chest.

She smiled coyly at him when he screamed. "Tsk, tsk, tsk." She said. "I told you not to piss me off, didn't I, grandpa?" she leaned forward, spreading her legs and resting her arm on her left lap, looking down at him lying on the ground. "I told you I wanted every food in your village for my troops. I always get what I want, grandpa. Remember that." She said, smiling wickedly down at him. Her eyes darkened for a moment and the old man suddenly felt his chest getting crushed as if a large weight was put into it.

"Omoi." She released the old man from her mental bonds when she heard her name being called by a low velvety voice. The brunet with purple eyes looked up at who called him and was pleasantly surprised by the sight of the great Taiyoukai, Sesshoumaru. They didn't know each other personally but it seems that they've heard of each other.

"Sesshoumaru-sama." She acknowledged, standing up from her chair and bowing humbly to him as if mocking him. "What an honor it is to be graced by your majesty." She smiled at him cockily and put her hand on her hips. "To what do I owe the honor?"

"Gather your women and evacuate this village." Sesshoumaru said, glaring at the contentious woman. Simply her disrespectful attitude made him detest her already. She wore the same kimono as her comrades but didn't wear armor, revealing her cleavage and long creamy legs.

"Heh," she scoffed. "Gomen, Sesshoumaru-sama, demo I won't leave unless I get what I want." She looked at a piece of sharp wood, fallen from a broken piece of chair from earlier, and her eyes darkened. The piece of wood started floating and shot off towards Sesshoumaru's heart. But then an arrow intercepted that rather large piece of wood. Omoi turned sharply to the door and found a girl there with a bow and an arrow aimed at her.

"Wow, I'm really getting better at this." Kagome said, never taking her eyes from her target.

"You know, I don't like it when people intrude in my affairs." Omoi said, looking at the whole broken chair from where the earlier piece came from. Her eyes darkened and it started flying towards Kagome. Inu-yasha was outside, fending off the many more youkais trying to help their master. Sesshoumaru easily flicked it away with his whip. It didn't even get close enough to threaten Kagome for she stood strong and kept her aim at Omoi.

"Oooh, a man with a whip." Omoi smirked coyly then licked her lips. "Sexy."

Sesshoumaru ignored her, turning to Kagome instead. "Kagome, take the old man and have Inu-yasha escort you back to the taijiya and the monk."

Kagome glanced at him with doubtful eyes, "What about you?"

"I am perfectly capable of conquering this battle." When Kagome still looked at him doubtfully, he sternly said, "Go." Kagome was hesitant to leave him but he ordered her to. She quickly went to the old man, gently comforting him and picking him up, winding his arm over her shoulders and holding onto his side to support him.

"You don't leave with my prey, onna!" she yelled, looking at her and darkening her eyes. Sesshoumaru sensed that Kagome was in trouble so he came in front of her and accepted the invisible blow; it was as if he was hit by a marble boulder but he was graceful enough to stand his ground and merely flinch though his armor had already cracked and fallen to the ground.

Sesshoumaru glared at her, "Your battle is with me, Omoi, lady of the minds."

Kagome turned back to him with worried eyes and said before leaving, "Please take care, Sesshoumaru." That warmed his heart. She really knew how to strengthen her hold over him. He turned his head to her, shadowing his eyes with his bangs so that the enemy would not see his eyes.

"Thank…you." He said softly and quietly. He wanted only her to hear and fortunately, Omoi was not an inu youkai which means she has no sensitive hearing.

Miroku hit another one on the head. Another lunged at him and he blocked the attack with his staff. He was really getting tired of these women. Yes, they were beautiful. Yes, their bodies were like those of goddesses. But they were as annoying as heck! One managed to grab him from behind but Miroku was strong enough to flip the female youkai over to fall on her back. Unfortunately, the skirt the Amazon was wearing flew and showed Miroku that…

"YOU'RE NOT A WOMAN!" The enemy stood up slowly, blushing at the discovery of his secret. But he stood tall nonetheless.

"Even if I'm not a woman, I am still one of them!" he boldly said. Miroku looked at him with disgust. To think that a cross-dresser put his arms around him was so disgusting! "I won't forgive you for looking under my skirt! No matter how handsome you are!" he attacked. Miroku shivered.

Miroku punched him square in the face. Now he had no regrets on hurting the youkai in front of him. He wasn't one to hurt women but seeing as he wasn't really a woman; it gave him a freedom to do as he wished. The youkai held his nose then glared at him, attacking again. He stopped the youkai from attacking by punching his face again, then his stomach, then back to the face, and then kicked his knee, making him fall on one knee.

Miroku used his staff to hit the youkai cross dresser up-side his head. The youkai somersaulted backwards then pushed himself from the ground and hit Miroku on the face with the heels of his hands. The staff flew out of Miroku's grasp but he was quick to jump away. The youkai somersaulted forward but Miroku had already punched him. He quickly ran to get his staff and hit the youkai on the head.

The youkai fell back on a tree bark. Miroku felt disgust running throughout his body. To think that a cross dresser would take interest in him… hhhhh…the horror. The youkai struggled to open his eyes and look at the disgusted monk. "Y-You're s-s-sooo s-s-strong…" He couldn't help himself, he took off his sandal and threw it at the cross dresser's head, knocking him out. He grimaced and shivered at the thought of him and a cross dresser together. The horror.

Review Responses:

Riyo Sohma: thanks for the info! Cool!

Sand: hehehe…thanks for reviewing!

Sesshoumaru's Miko: Oh, I'm glad you liked it! Thanks!

Sukuri 99: arigatou!

Nakamura Ayumi: thank you! I'll do my best!

hipkid727: oh thank you! That makes me so happy! I'd love to read your story some time!

Love of Blue Crescent Moon: Depends on how good the Inu-tachi will be! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! I'M SO EVIL! Thanks for reviewing!

Silverstar871: thanks! I'm glad it touched you!

Ryu: hehehehe! Thanks for waiting!

psycogirl234: yes, it seems I'm quite the evil one. Thanks!

Golden-Eyed-Girl: hahaha! Oh, I see! Thanks for waiting!

Rose of the F.I.C.: gomen if I offended you with Kouga's depiction. But please don't fret. He won't be a minute character here! Believe it or not, he actually plays a very important role! Thanks for telling me!

RedButterfly-1216: oh, that is so sweet! Thank you for everything!

destinyheart15: thanks for your undying support! I really appreciate it! Tantalizing? Thanks!

Trinity of Dreams: thanks! I'll consider it! Thank you again!

Dra Gan the Dragoniodian King: oh, thank you! blush I do what I can.

darkpriestressofhell: thanks for waiting!

smurf87: thanks for waiting! I hope you liked it!

black-cat-on-the-wall: hahahaha! Thanks for waiting! I hope you liked it!

Mitsukai13: thank you!

lil mutt face grl: it's alright! Thanks!

Hikaritenshi2000: thank you! I'm glad you liked it!

sesshyholic: thanks! I'll do my best!

sheenachi: yes, sadly. I'll do my best! Thanks!

Bloom Flower: thanks!

Inuyasha's Girl and Kikyou hater: thank you!

1kenshinlover: hehehe… I'm glad to know you don't skip Haruko's parts. Thanks for everything!

Priestess of Nottingham: thanks!

Niaka1: yes, Fate can be quite the evil biotch. Hehehe…thanks for waiting!

Kaiyou87: oh, thank you! I'm so happy you were enlightened!

sessyqueen9205: thanks! I'm glad you liked it!

sesshyslove4ever234: thank you!