Kitty-chan: Finally! Another chapter! I haven't had a lot of time to do things lately, but I'm getting there. I think there's going to be a bit of an influx of story updates for me since I'm on break for a bit. Anyway, sorry this chapter took so long to submit. It's kinda long, but whatever. I hope the next chapter won't take as long.

Just some notes about this chapter:

In here I attempt to explain the issue of Kagome's mentality while she's in this world. Poor little Dev does her best to explain how much (or little) the alteration caused by the wish has affected her. Hopefully you will understand it. Read it slowly when you get to it if need be. As Houshi-kun said, "Time is a dangerous thing to mess with." Well, not only is is dangerous, it's freakin messy and hard to explain! So... I apologize deeply to those of you who don't really get it. If you don't understand it, it's alright. It's not vital to the storyline, it's just to clarify for you, the reader. Don't drive yourself crazy trying to understand it if you don.t XD Alright. I'll stop.

Anyway, just to let you know, I do not own any of the Inuyasha characters. They are copyrighted by VIZ and Takahashi Rumiko-sama. I only own Miidori, Dev, and Kawaru. Enjoy!

Kagome's legs screamed and burned, and her shoulder ached like nothing she'd ever felt from the motion of running. "Dev! I can't keep this up anymore! We've gotta do something!" She glanced behind her at the seemingly tireless cat demons, each one grinning madly as they gained ground on the fleeing priestess.

"You're a priestess! Use your powers!" Dev cried back. Her wings were completely invisible to the naked eye as they beated to keep her propelled through the air. She glanced down at the bow that Kagome held in her hands, then to the quiver on her back. "Use your weapon! Even before the wish was granted you were a pretty good shot, weren't you? Shoot them!"

Kagome glanced down at her bow before drawing an arrow from her quiver and fitting it loosely to her bowstring. The problem is, I don't have enough time to turn and shoot. By the time I stop running and shoot, they'll be cooking me up for dinner tonight. She glanced behind her once more, and felt the feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach increase. Inuyasha wasn't going to save her this time. He couldn't help.

She shook her head. I have to think of something. The thought of shooting the arrow blindly at them without stopping was dangerous. If she turned her body to aim, it would slow her running and if she aimed for them blindly she was sure to miss. She closed her eyes for a moment, attempting to block out her surroundings to think. But in the instant that she closed her eyes, she felt something warm glowing in the back of her mind. What's that? Slowly, she began to see a picture. White figures running for her in a pitch-black atmosphere. Are those… are those the cat demons? She opened her eyes and looked behind her to see the exact image she had seen before, only with proper color. Am I seeing their energies in my mind when I close my eyes? She closed them again and saw the same image. With her eyes squeezed shut, she swung her bow around her back and let the strung arrow fly. Nothing happened. With her eyes still closed, she loaded another arrow and released it. One of the white energies disappeared and the ones around it began to fade.

"Kagome-san! Watch out!"

Kagome opened her eyes and veered to the left as she dodged a tree. She shook her head. Luckily, there were very few things standing in the way in the barren area, otherwise, she would have hit a dozen things by now.

"Kagome-san, wait. Look."

Kagome stopped and looked up to find that Dev had stopped flying, and was now hovering back by the tree that Kagome had just missed. She was staring at the cat demons, who were approaching carefully, their mad grins gone, replaced with scowls. "What happened?" Kagome breathed, her voice heavy with panting.

"You tell me. You blindly shot at the demons, and one of the arrows hit the cat in the lead square in the chest!" Dev answered, not taking her eyes from the slowly approaching demons.

Kagome shook her head. It had worked? "How did I…?"

Dev smirked. "I think you have the instincts of the Kikyo-sama that you were before the wish was granted."

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "I'll ask you about that later." She quickly pulled another arrow from her quiver, and aimed it at the approaching cat demons. Her injured shoulder screamed at her, worse than it had before, but she kept the bow and arrow steady. The cat demons stopped, but did not retreat; rather, they seemed content with a standoff. For a few agonizing minutes, there was little movement between the two sides. Finally, the largest cat demon began to pace back and forth in front of them, like a caged beast.

"We can wait here for a long time, Priestess." He snarled.

"So can I." Kagome growled back.

"Really? I don't think you can." He stopped pacing, and sat down directly across from her, picking at his claws carelessly. "I may not have the sense of smell a dog does, but I can sure smell your blood. You are injured, Kikyo-sama, and you can't hold that bow forever. Sooner or later, you're gonna have to give it up." Kagome said nothing. "That's the problem with you humans. You're so stubborn. Never willing to admit when you're-!" The cat demon cut off as the arrow Kagome had held aloft impaled its chest, and exploded in purple light. What was left of the demon's body after the explosion dropped to the ground. Kagome strung another arrow.

"That's what I hate about demons." Dev scoffed. "Their so proud. He didn't even notice the fact that Kagome could change this stalemate into a fight just by shooting him. He was too busy yakking."

A female cat yowled and launched herself at her, jumping into the air to come down on the priestess. Kagome screamed, and aimed the arrow at the cat's flying figure. She closed her eyes, and released the arrow. The battle cry was cut off, and demon's body hit the ground in front of her. The five remaining youkai rushed into an attack, surrounding her and then jumping in at her. Kagome didn't bother stringing another arrow, and simply held up her bow. On an impulse, she pumped energy into the bow, causing it to glow a bright purple. As the demons closed in, the weapon released the energy blowing all the demons a good ten feet away. Kagome lowered the bow and gave an uncharacteristically fierce glare to the ones closest to her as they struggled to stand. Once they had gotten to their feet, they took their beating as a warning and disappeared.

Kagome stood in awe of what had just happened, dropping her bow, and heaving huge breaths to replenish her suddenly starved lungs. She chuckled a bit and gave a huge sigh to calm her breathing. "Wow… never knew I could do that." Her next breath was a sharp hiss through clenched teeth as her shoulder fell into a wave of pain, and she covered it with her hand. "Ah!"

Dev dropped down to hover by the offending joint. "Your shoulder bothering you?" She nodded.

"Wasn't hurting before." She answered through her teeth.

"I think your mind was focused on other things." Dev answered bobbing her head in the direction that the cat demons had just retreated. "I think you may have opened up the wound." Kagome slid the collar of her kimono top down to reveal the bandage that had only just begun to leak with blood. "Well, not all that bad." Kagome looked up at her.

"I'll be alright." She answered, swinging her quiver onto her good shoulder, grabbing her bow, and standing. She lifted the bow over her head and let it rest across her chest to allow her to hold her shoulder with one hand. "Let's keep moving."

Dev stayed where she was. "Moving where?"

"West. I want to check out the west to see if anyone up there is interested in doing something about the state of Japan." She answered evenly, continuing foreword. Dev sighed and followed. There was silence for a bit before Kagome spoke again, her strength beginning to return. "I hope Jii-chan, Mama, and Souta are alright."

"The Goshin Boku will protect them, Kagome-san." Dev assured her, smiling.

Kagome chuckled quietly. "It's odd entrusting my family's protection to a tree."

"It's not exactly a normal tree, though." Dev landed on her good shoulder and sat down. "You should know that pretty well if you ask me."

"That's true. That's where Inuyasha was sealed." Kagome remarked thoughtfully.

Dev paused for a moment, crossing her arms. "Your use of the past tense has been noted."

Kagome stopped walking and craned her neck to see the sprite on her shoulder. "Yeah. He's not sealed anymore. I freed him." Kagome reminded her obviously.

Dev sighed and put her head in her hands. "You really don't get this whole wish issue, do you?"

Kagome raised an eyebrow at her as Dev flew off her shoulder to float in front of her. "What don't I get?"

Dev growled and ground her fists as if she were to explode before she spoke. "Kagome-san! Don't you understand what has happened!" Dev yelled.

"I don't really understand anything right now! All I know is that I have to find Inuyasha and get all this ordeal straightened out!"

Dev rubbed her eyes in exasperation. "You can't find him! He's dead!"

Kagome stared at her for a long moment. Her lips curved in a less-than-sincere smile. "Dev… as if you hadn't noticed, I'm stressed enough. I don't really need a joke."

"I don't play jokes, Kagome-san!" Dev shouted back. "Inuyasha is dead!" She flew up close to her face and slammed her hands down on the bridge of Kagome's nose.

Kagome's eyebrows came to a point, going cross-eyed to look at Dev. "What's that supposed to mean?" Her worry was fading away to annoyance with her outbursts.

Dev sighed and rolled her eyes. "Am I speaking in code? I'll say it a third time; Inuyasha is dead! Technically, when Kikyo sealed him to the tree, he was dead!"

"But I broke the seal and set him free!" Kagome argued.

"Not in this world, Priestess. That's what you have failed to understand from the beginning. When you took the Sacred Jewel out of its activity, you removed your involvement in the Edo Period!"

"What do you mean?" Kagome inquired quietly. She was not stupid, she just was failing to accept Dev's words.

"Listen, what made it possible for you to get through the well in the first place?"

Kagome blinked at her for a moment before breathing, "Well, the Sacred jewel in my body, I suppose."

"And it only carried you through because it had become active again. And you wished that it had never come out of its dormancy. So that means…" Dev motioned to Kagome to continue.

"… then…" Kagome paused for a moment, afraid that if the words came out of her mouth, they would suddenly become true. "Then… I never would have gone back there." Dev nodded, waiting for her to continue. After a moment, she did. " And I never would have met Inuyasha-tachi."

"Exactly." Dev sighed.

Kagome shrugged. "So what? They're not stupid. They could've handled themselves without my help."

"Don't underestimate Naraku, Kagome. You've helped them more than you realize. The strength that you all had was your teamwork. You all worked as one powerful unit. Naraku couldn't stand up to that. But you weren't there to bring everyone together." Dev made a poignant pause. "They're all dead."

Kagome's voice caught in her throat. Her mind was not willing to accept the words, and so scrambled the dreaded sentence in her mind that she asked, "What?"

"Once again, am I speaking code? They're dead! Houshi-kun, Shippo! Sango-san! Inuyasha! They're all dead!" When Dev read in Kagome's eyes unmoving disbelief, she elaborated. "Without your medication, the first encounter Houshi-kun had with the Saimyoshou would've been his last! He was poisoned to death! And even if he hadn't been, he would've died of old age or something.

"If you all had not found Sango, she would've eventually died as well, either by Naraku's lackeys or by old age! And Shippo and his father would not have lasted long against Naraku's power. Don't you get it? The Sacred Jewel may have a cycle of carnage, but apparently it had something to do with Naraku's defeat and without it, your world is dying."

Kagome sank to her knees, drawing dirt into her hands and crushing it in her fists to release some of her frustration. "How did I… not know…?" Tears splashed to the ground around her hands. "Inuyasha… Miroku-sama… why didn't I listen to you?" She fell silent, her shoulders hunching with soft sobs now and then. Dev hovered around her, not sure what to say. She knew that even though Kagome was tortured by the information, she had not felt the full force of what she had done, and the torturous feeling inside the priestess would only get worse over time. After a long pause, Kagome spoke, her voice grief-laden, but firm.

"How do I fix it?"

"Excuse me?" Dev asked, backing up a bit.

"How do I get the world back to the way it was?" Kagome still did not look up. "I can't live with that many lives on my shoulders. And I can't live without Inuyasha. How can I fix it?"

Dev shrugged a bit, but could not muster a vocal response before a worn and weak male voice interrupted. "My Lady…"

Kagome turned to look at a middle-aged man staggering toward her. His middle and halfway down his legs was saturated with a stick red substance that dribbled to the ground as he walked, leaving a trail of red droplets. There were cuts and gashes all over his arms and face, and blood was trickling from his mouth and left eye.

Upon seeing her, a weak smile broke out on his face, and his good eye sparkled bravely with joy. "Oh, Lady Kikyo. Truly, is it you?"

Kagome leapt to her feet and dashed toward him. "Yes, it's me." Satisfied that he had accomplished his mission, the man fell to the ground, coughing blood across the dirt before him. "What happened to you?" Kagome rolled him onto his back and gingerly placed his head in her lap.

The man took a few deep breaths before speaking, his voice strained as if something were trying to pull the words back into his throat. "Naraku has been trying to take over the western lands, and by doing so has been attacking those of us that live under the great Dog-General."

Dog-General? Inuyasha's father! But… he's dead! Kagome turned back to the man, prepared to ask another question, but he spoke first.

"My Lady, you must not let the Dog-General fall. If Naraku takes over the west, he will surely have enough power to overpower the holy Goshin Boku!" He paused for a few labored breaths. "Then he will move onto other lands." He sighed and Kagome could feel death embrace him.

Shaking, Kagome set his head on the ground and gently pulled his eyelids shut with her fingers. She continued to stare at the still form as she stood, lost in thought. Dev sighed and took note of Kagome's thoughtful expression. "What is it, Kagome-san?"

"The Dog-General… the only one I've ever heard called that is Inuyasha's father. Did my wish prevent his death?"

Dev shook her head. "No."

"Why?"

"Inuyasha's father's death had nothing to do with you or the Sacred Jewel. The only thing that your wish did was take you and the Sacred Jewel out of the Edo Period. Therefore, Inuyasha's father died the same way in this world as he did in the unaltered world."

Kagome nodded. "So how could Inuyasha's father still be alive?

Dev shrugged. "I don't know."

Kagome sighed and bent her steps west. "Shall we go find out, then?"

"Huh?" Dev shook her head. "Why? Judging by the looks of that guy," Dev motioned to the dead man. "it's quite dangerous to head west right now. And you're really not in any condition to protect yourself."

Kagome shook her head and adjusted the weight of her quiver. "It doesn't matter. I was headed west before, and I knew there were dangers when I left the Goshin Boku villages. No reason to stop here. Besides, if Inuyasha's father is out there, he can certainly help us. We at least know he's friendly to humans."

Dev sighed. "Fine. But what about your shoulder?"

"I'll be fine. And even if I wasn't, sitting around here isn't going to help anything, is it?"

Dev rubbed her temples as Kagome began walking. "You sure are persistent."

Kagome chuckled softly. "I have to match Inuyasha's stubbornness. It's an acquired trait."

"Whatever." Dev flitted after her.

They traveled in silence for a long while until Kagome looked to Dev. "Dev… I've been wondering; how on earth do you know all this. I mean about Inuyasha-tachi's deaths and Inuyasha's father? How do you know all that?"

Dev shrugged, the look on her face less-than-modest. "I am a time sprite, after all. I can go through time and check out anything I want." Her face solemned. "After you made the wish, I sped through time to see what the results would be and followed each person's story."

"What about Inuyasha's father? How'd you know about that?"

"Who doesn't? The Dog-General was an amazing ruler, whose presence was felt all over. Of course I know how he died."

"I see… so how is it that he's still alive?"

"Well, it is possible that someone brought him back to life. That is, after all, what happened with the Priestess Kikyo in the unaltered world, right?"

"True." Kagome sighed and allowed her mind to focus on the world before her wish. But the more she thought of it, the less she could remember. Inuyasha's face was still very poignant in her mind, but other things were beginning to fade. A certain wolf demon had already faded from her memory, as had the incarnations born from Naraku. She knew that all she had to do to hold onto the memory of her goal was to keep the faces of Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo in her mind. She sighed. She thought back to the battle with the cats. She hadn't realized how dependant on Inuyasha she was. She knew she could do things herself, but when things got serious, she always relied on him to bail them out. That time… he hadn't come. And she knew that in this world-he never would. Something from the former battle came to mind and she looked once again to Dev.

"Dev? What did you mean before when you said that I have Kikyo-sama's instincts from before the wish, or something like that? What's that mean?"

(A/N: Here we go...)

Dev paused, then waved her hands around a bit. "Well… it's hard to explain. You see, when you made that wish, you undid a bit of history, so that empty space in history had to be filled again. Meaning, a new reality had to be created to fill that hole. You see, before you woke up after your wish, you had a life. You were Priestess Kikyo. You were a different person, because you had grown up differently. When you made that wish, you changed Priestess Kikyo's mentality into your own. Following me?" Dev raised a cautious eyebrow.

Kagome looked off to the side, thinking. "I think so."

Dev continued. "The wish recreated history, not because of Kawaru's power, but because of the nature of your wish. When the wish was made, the world was altered, and so were you. You were born into the same family, but in a different setting. Meaning, you grew up and lived the life of Kagome, the new Priestess Kikyo, until your mentality changed."

"How did my mentality change?" Kagome raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well, you made the wish when the time in the present was 2005, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Well, right now is 2005. It's just a different 2005 than the one that occurred before the wish, you see? You made the wish on July 18, 2005. This is still July 18, 2005. When you made that wish, your mentality was transported from the pre-wish Kagome into the altered Kagome. At that moment, the pre-wish Kagome's mentality took over the altered Kagome's mind." Dev stared at Kagome, hoping that she understood. After a moment of silence, she added. "Basically, you have instincts bored into you from the altered Kagome's childhood."

"I see." Kagome shook her head and pressed on, keeping her eyes on the horizon. "Well, then… moving on." She paused again, but continued walking. "Because I am the pre-wish Kagome, I remember what the unaltered world was like, but if I were to meet any of the others… if I were to meet Inuyasha, would he remember me?" There was a sparkled of hope behind Kagome's eyes that made Dev hesitant to answer.

"No, he wouldn't. But like I said, you won't meet him, or any of the others. He's-!"

"- dead. I know." Kagome muttered weakly. "I was just…" Kagome trailed off, looking into the distance. After a few moments, she distractedly finished her sentence, her attention held to that faraway mystery. "… clarifying."

Dev looked in the direction of Kagome's focus, then back at her. "Kagome-san? What's wrong?"

"Can you sense that, Dev?" Kagome asked distractedly. Dev was silent, squinting toward the area of Kagome's stare. "Can you sense that demonic aura?"

Dev raised an eyebrow and stopped her attempts to find out the source of Kagome's interest. "Demonic aura? I'm a time sprite, not a demon. I can't sense anything."

"It's… familiar." Kagome muttered. "I've felt this before."

"From where?" Dev wondered, floating down to rest on her shoulder.

"I… can't remember for some reason. It's like a voice that I can't put with a face." Her fading memories of the unaltered world seemed to block out the face that came along with the familiar energy it put out, and frustrated Kagome deeply. She suddenly gasped and backed up a few steps. "It's getting closer, fast. And there are more… hundreds of them! Hundreds of different auras!"

"What?"

"The aura I recognize is mixed in with hundreds of unfamiliar ones, and they're coming this way!" Kagome continued, her head tipped back as if sniffing for a scent.

Dev raised an eyebrow and looked at the ruins of a destroyed hut, scrutinizing it as potential shelter. "Shouldn't we hide? Or at least get out of the way."

Kagome nodded distractedly and began to slowly head for the makeshift shelter, as a clash of lights was seen shooting out of the horizon and toward them. The battling creatures only numbered four at the time, but Kagome could sense that the others were catching up. Apparently the familiar aura's owner was battling all three of the others and Kagome didn't suppose that the rest of the approaching demons were coming to support the demon on his own team.

As the battle raged on- the lone demon clearly losing energy- Kagome persistently tried to determine where she had felt the aura before. Her eyes took on a glazed quality as she began to pair the feeling with images in her mind. Silver hair, and a pair of piercing orange eyes.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome stood, and Dev panicked, worried that one of the battling crew might see her. "This aura is similar to Inuyasha's!"

Dev flew up to hover by her ear. "Kagome-san! Haven't we been over this? Inuyasha is dead!"

Kagome motioned to the clash. "Then how could that aura in there feel so much like Inuyasha's?"

Dev shook her head. "Inuyasha's father would have a similar aura simply because they're related. We've already stated that the villager was talking about Inuyasha's father."

"He said Dog-General! Maybe Inuyasha has become a dog-general in the altered world." Kagome suggested, fighting to hold onto the hope that had built up.

A loud grunt was heard and Kagome felt a large amount of energy leave the familiar aura. The owner of the aura hit the ground with a dull thud and a grunt followed immediately. Kagome looked down at the demon, who was in the process of failing to get up. Kagome stared at him for a long moment before breathing his name, "Sesshomaru…"

Sesshomaru's face snapped up to look at her for a moment before turning back to the demons, who were mounting another attack. Kagome looked at Sesshomaru, then at the demons. No matter how much she disliked Sesshomaru, his land was one of the only two uncontrolled by Naraku. She couldn't let him fall.

Kagome pulled her bow off her shoulder and yanked an arrow out, fitting it to the string as she leapt from her vantage point and stood firmly between Sesshomaru and the nameless demons. Ignoring the pain in her shoulder, she fired the arrow at them. The arrow hit nothing, landing in the earth before them, and exploding in a flash of purple light. The demons halted their approach and looked up at her, wary looks on their faces. Kagome drew another arrow to her string and aimed at them, a challenging expression on her face.

"Get away." She commanded evenly, fake venom in her voice. Her insides were writhing. The demons looked ready to attack for a moment, but Kagome made a quick and threatening movement with her bow that made them rethink their advance. They turned around and retreated into the distance, and after a few more moments, the legion nearby seemed to vanish as well. Kagome relaxed the string of her bow and slipped her arrow back into her quiver, turning to look at Sesshomaru, who glared up at her through pain-filled eyes.

"Priestess Kikyo from the south." He growled. Kagome smiled weakly before gripping her shoulder and dropping to her knees. Sesshomaru looked her over, his eyes lingering on her shoulder. "You bluff, Priestess. That is most unfitting of Kikyo-sama."

Kagome chuckled ruefully and slowly made her way over to where he lay. "Getting beaten by measly demons like that doesn't quite fit the Dog-General Sesshomaru, either."

Sesshomaru snorted at her. "I'm fine. These are nothing." To prove his point, he attempted to stand, but immediately fell onto his side.

Kagome regained her feet and put her right hand on her hip. "Oh yeah. Sure. You're fine."

"Shut up, human." Sesshomaru snapped, still attempting to at least get to his knees. "What is Priestess Kikyo from the south doing this far northwest?" he demanded.

"Looking for you, actually." Kagome answered, stooping to grab his arm. Sesshomaru yanked it out of her grasp and continued to try and get up.

"What could you possibly want with me?"

Kagome persisted in helping him to his feet as he got to his knees and continued. "I… I need to talk to you about some things."

Sesshomaru growled at her as he got fully to his feet. "I have not fallen so low as to be assisted by a mortal woman." He yanked his arm from her grasp again. "Nor to be caught conversing with one; priestess or not. I can take care of myself." As he turned and began to walk away, Kagome allowed a growl of frustration to carry after him.

"Oh, you are so much like Inuyasha it's pathetic!" She stomped her foot and Sesshomaru stopped his footsteps/ "You are so stubborn and too prideful to accept help when you really need it!" She stopped when she noticed the odd stare he was giving her. "What?"

"How do you know of Inuyasha? He was before your time."

"I know him very well. I only know you because you're his brother." Dev clapped a hand over her eyes. Kagome didn't seem to understand the absurdity of what she was saying. As soon as Kagome was finished speaking, she regretted her remark. The glare she was getting from Sesshomaru chilled her down to the pit of her stomach.

"I have no relation to that pathetic dog." Sesshomaru growled angrily. "But I must admit I'm curious to know how you know him. He has been dead for over 500 years. I know for a fact that you've only been around a fraction of that."

Kagome was about to respond, but paused. "If you want to know, promise me we can talk."

Sesshomaru growled. "Your knowledge of Inuyasha is really of no consequence and certainly not worth a conversation."

"Sesshomaru, listen." Kagome retrieved her bow and slung it across her chest. "To be honest, it doesn't really matter why and how I know Inuyasha. What does matter is that I even know he exists. But by whatever method I know of Inuyasha has allowed me to also know a great deal about other inhabitants of this world as well, including Naraku, and even you." Kagome shrugged. "Even you should not be as ignorant to pass up an opportunity for so much information as that."

Sesshomaru seemed to consider her words for a moment, his scowl unmoving. He then scoffed and began to turn. "Why should I believe that a mortal woman like you even has such information?"

In a last effort, Kagome blurted out, "I know you have a servant, called Jaken!"

Again, Sesshomaru stopped. After a pause, he said, "Jaken has been dead for over 100 years."

"Dead…?" Kagome stared at the back of his head. "How did he die?"

"There was an ambush on my castle and he was killed. Why does it matter to you how he died?" Sesshomaru was deeply trying to seem as if he didn't care, but the uncharacteristically soft tone in his voice told Kagome that he did.

"It just seems odd that you wouldn't revive him with your Tenseiga." Kagome took a few steps foreword.

Dev chuckled almost silently. Kagome had no idea that in her ignorance to the full extent of the changes in the world, she was slowly convincing Sesshomaru that she knew something that he should listen to.

Sesshomaru was quiet for a long moment. "The demons that killed him left nothing of his body. Even Tenseiga can revive a soul without a body to house it." There was a long uncomfortable pause as neither one moved, nor spoke. Sesshomaru opened his mouth, but Kagome beat him to it.

"What about Rin?" She inquired quietly. "Is she alright?"

Sesshomaru stared at her for a long moment as she eagerly awaited an answer to the well being of the small girl. Finally, he said, "Who the hell is Rin?"

Dev poked Kagome in the temple. "Rin and Sesshomaru never met. Inuyasha allowed them to meet because Rin trying to help Sesshomaru heal after a battle with Inuyasha. And even if they did, by chance, meet, Rin would be dead now."

Kagome blinked a few times before shaking her head. "Oh. Sorry. Rin's no one."

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes and reconsidered his decision for a moment before speaking. "Fine, then."

Kagome looked up. "Huh?"

Sesshomaru let out something akin to a runt and turned his head to look at her. "You wanted to speak to me, didn't you?" Kagome nodded. In a whirlwind of brilliant light, Sesshomaru had taken on his true form. The dog gave a typical wail, and stared down at her, its furry tongue, hanging limply out of its mouth. After a moment, he lay down, letting his loose fur touch the ground beside her. He bobbed his head at it, motioning to grab on. Kagome hesitantly made her way into the large fluffy fur and took a clump of it in each hand as reigns. As soon as she had a firm grip, Sesshomaru stood and took off west, heading for his own castle.

Kitty-chan: Well, I hope the time-talk didn't confuse you too much. If it did, I'm very sorry. Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter and stay tuned for more! Love ya'll! Bye! Review! (flames accepted)