Kitty-chan: Well, at least this one didn't take as long as the last one. For all you Sesshy fans out there, this one has him here. XD I'm not a fan of Sesshomaru, but at my sister's request, I have him play a pretty major role in this story. I hope I did him justice. I tried to use an unbiased perspective of him. But in a completely honest way I say; I think Sesshomaru is rather arrogant. He thinks the world of himself. That is hinted at in the story, but I gave him the same subtlety in this that he has in the anime (full of himself, but hides it most of the time).

Anyway... here you get plenty of OC-ness and Sesshy goodness. Enjoy all you peoples!

Stuff with (#) next to it is translated at the end of the chapter.

"Well?" Sesshomaru pushed, seating himself comfortably in a chair. Kagome was sitting in the chair opposite him, though she sat rather rigidly. "You said you wanted to talk. Talk."

Kagome gave a deep respiration, debating on what to say. Now that she thought about it, she had clung to Sesshomaru simply because he was familiar to her. She hadn't really thought about what she'd say if he gave her audience. She twirled a bit of hair on her finger for a moment before looking around the few times, keeping her eyes from meeting the look of increasing impatience on Sesshomaru's face. She looked down to Dev and whispered, "What did I want to talk to him about?"

Dev groaned and began to bordely pick at her nails. "Why are you asking me? You're the priestess. You're supposed to know how to deal with demons. I don't know anything about this guy." She paused, looking up at her. "You could tell him the truth." She smiled.

Kagome glared at her. "Yeah right. He'd think I'm crazy."

Dev chuckled and looked to Sesshomaru's angered expression. "Considering that he sees you to be conversing with the arm of a chair, I think he already thinks you're crazy."

Kagome growled at her for a moment before Sesshomaru's voice pulled her attention to him. "You know… I'm not enduring the humiliation of having a mortal in my house to hear you babble like an idiot. Hurry up and say what you're going to say."

Kagome breathed deeply and set her jaw, grinding her teeth a few times as she mulled over possible conversations in her mind. Maybe explaining things to Sesshomaru wasn't the best idea. To be honest she needed to keep him in the dark as much as she could. She couldn't figure out what his reaction would be and, knowing Sesshomaru, he could do far worse than deny her a listening ear. She sighed. "Listen… you and I are both enemies of Naraku, aren't we?" She didn't even wait for a response. "I have a bit of a deal for you… all it requires on your part is an explination."

"Oh really?" Sesshomaru ran a hand through his hair. "An explination of what?"

"I need you to tell me what has happened to the world since the beginning of Naraku's reign." Kagome leaned foreward in her seat in what she considered to be a buisiness-like manner.

Sesshomaru stared at her for a long moment. "Let me get this straight. You left the protection of your holy Goshin Boku and came this far northwest… for a history lesson?" Kagome said nothing, yet rolled her eyes.

I should've known he'd be difficult. But he's my only chance now.

Sesshomaru leaned lazily back in his chair, resting his chin on his fist. "And why didn't you ask your village posse for this information sans the long journey and trouble of fending off a group of demons?"

Kagome closed her eyes and took a few calming breaths, clenching her fists about her knees in familiar frustration. "I ask you this as a fellow enemy of Naraku… please, Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru motioned to her with an open hand, his orange eyes remaining uninterested. "And in return…?"

Kagome smirked a bit. "I'll give you all the information I have on Naraku."

This seemed to pique his interest a bit and his cheek left his fist. For a moment he allowed himself to believe her. No… that's impossible… how could a priestess from the South know more than me, a Lord of the West, about a tyrant from the North? His mind then drifted to her status. Even when dealing with demons, Priestesses were known for their honesty. Not to mention the fact that she had somehow known about his sword Tenseiga (which no one but he himself and Jaken had known about), and she had known about his toad-demon companion who had died over a century before she was even born. He really had no choice but to believe her. That and the possibility of gaining more information on Naraku lead him to scoff, then speak. "Naraku appeared around 500 years ago. No one really knows for certain where he came from. There are several rumors, but even demons like myself who have been around that long can't recall his origin. Some people even say that he was even human at one point. But anyway, soon after his emergance, there was a great war in the South between two feudal Lords. After the battle, the victor, a Lord from the Southwest, and his army were heading back home when they came upon a lone man. The man was no mortal, but in fact Naraku. They say that he immediately set upon them and devoured every one of them. Later on, he began going after demons. It was discovered that Naraku coulddraw inthe energy and life force of those he absorbed and could add their power to his own.

"It wsn't long before his ambitions grew to encompass the entirety of the South. His ambition was almost realized, but he couldn't overcome the Goshin Boku and the surrounding area, actually being injured in the process of trying. He fled to the East. He raised an army there, and the East was soon overtaken. After the East, he came after the West. I was able to fend him off, but much of my lands were destroyed, and still to this day remain uninhabitable. Naraku seemed to, for a while, leave me alone. I wasn't openly attacking him, so he was fine with my presence. Finally, he moved North, and after it was overcome, he made that area his headquarters. The humans, for the most part stay in the South around the Goshin Boku, and here in my territory. I'm fine with them as long as they leave me alone. There are rumors that there could be humans in the North, but I highly doubt it. Not too many humans can survive in his miasma."

Kagome nodded slowly. "Odd… I naturally assumed you'd be an enemy of Naraku."

"I am." Sesshomaru grunted.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "I figured out that much, since you seem interested in my information on him. Why the change of heart?"

"Many of Naraku's demons began attacking my territory, trying to take it over. He seems to think that by destroying the human villages, he'll weaken my power. I've always been able to fend them off before, but today there was a legion of them."

Kagome shrugged. "He must be considering you to be a threat if you were to side with the humans."

"He gains more power all the time. I'm guessing he got some more power, and thought a bit too much of it." Sesshomaru faintly chuckled at Naraku's mistake, and his orange eyes sparkled with the arrogance that Kagome resented him for.

She heaved an exasperated sigh. "Oh, get over yourself. The only reason you even survived today's attack was because I helped you out."

Sesshomaru's eyes turned from arrogant to enraged in an instant. "I would not speak so, Priestess. Remember… you are in my territory." Kagome said nothing, but leaned back in her chair, letting him know he could continue. "And now for your part. Tell me something I don't know about Naraku."

Kagome sighed again. "Well… I suppose the main thing is that the rumors about Naraku once being human… those are true. Naraku was once a human named Onigumo. He was badly burned from fire, and both his legs were broken. To heal his body, he allowed hundreds of demons to devoure him, and it gave him his absorption powers, and shape-shifting powers."

Sessomaru's eyes narrowed. "He can change his form?"

Kagome nodded, her eyes questioning. "You didn't know that?" Sesshomaru shook his head. "His shape-shifting abilities are actually what got your brother killed." She paused before continuing. "And considering his human heart still beats within him, what does that say about his true form?"

Sesshomaru smirked. "Hanyou ga.(1)" He snarled. Kagome nodded.

"Exactly. Naraku is only half demon. The other half is the human heart of the bandit, Onigumo."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"'Over the hill to the North,' he says…" Kagome groaned, trudging up a rather large hill. She glanced back at the way they had come from in the direction of Sesshomaru's long since vanished castle. "We've been walking for six hours. How far away is this place?"

"Quit complaining." Dev commanded. "Sesshomaru's dog form is pretty fast. We traveled a long way away from the center of Japan in a short amount of time. You should expect it to take a long time to get anywhere."

Kagome waved to the sky. "Why don't you scout around a bit? I'll rest here." Dev huffed and shot higher to examine the surrounding area.

After a moment, she called down to Kagome, "Why are we headed for this forsaken village, again? Why don't we head back to the Goshin Boku villages?"

Kagome shrugged a bit. "Well... I figure we might as well sum up our strengths, ne? I mean... we've gotta do something about Naraku. If we don't... who will? And we're not going to take him down with a pack of humans. We've gotta find out how much strength we have available to us. So we might as well go looking for information."

Dev sighed, shaking her head. "Well, that's fine, but I don't suppose next time we could take some security with us? We don't know what's out here."

Kagome plopped back onto her butt and placed her elbow on her knee. "What are you worried about? Enemies can't see you. Unless they're some kind of freakish evil priest, I don't think you have anything to worry about."

Dev rolled her eyes and said nothing, her eyes still scanning the area. They soon lit up and she pointed to the east. "There! There's a little village up ahead!" Kagome stood and followed Dev as the latter took off in the indicated direction. As she came over the hill, she saw what Dev had identified as a village. It wasn't much of a village at all. There was perhaps one building standing, and even the side of that one had caved in, leaving a slanted structure. The rest of the village seemed to be one heaping pile of stone and cloth, the buildings having collapsed and run into each other, as if to make one great hulking pile. Most of the roads that she could see were clear, only a few of them had been cut off completely due to collapsed buildings.

Cleared roads...? Does someone live here? She inquired to herself as she set foot on one of the largest roads she had seen in the village. She glanced around at the collapsed shops and blushed as her stomach growled. Oog... I wonger if there's any food around here... She then blanched as she thought about what kind of food would be here if any.

Dev and Kagome kept silent, as if sneaking around enemy territory even though... theoretically... Sesshomaru's land was allied with the South if only to defeat Naraku.An oddpoke in the back of her mind caused her to stop walking. Is someone following me? She was about to turn around when a bright flash blinded her, causing her to stumble backwards a few paces.An intangible force suddenly pulled her arms to her sides and her legs together, and she soon toppled over onto her back, cringing as the impact jarred her shoulder. Dev was lying beside her, cursing quietly, attempting to move her frozen wings. Kagome tried to look up to the area that had been behind her, with litle luck. It seemed like her entire body was frozen. There were heavy footsteps approaching.

"Well well... what have we here..?" A male voice inquired slowly. "Ah... a bow and some arrows. Nice." His footsteps suddenly halted. "Wait..." He was suddenly in front of her, kneeling down to get a closer look at her face. Kagome raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you...?" Kagome blinked at him a few times before he answered his half-spoken question. "Priestess Kikyo-sama!" His green eyes went wide. He snapped his fingers and the spell holding Kagome frozen lifted, allowing her to sit up. "Oh god... I'm sorry.I only saw you from behind, so I didn't know it was you." He offered his right hand to her. "Need a hand?"

Kagome took this moment to look him over as he pulled her to her feet. His kimono's design was typical for one of the Edo period, the long baggy pants and the wrap-over top. The top, however, was rather odd. It was left open, not tucked into his pants, like it would be traditionally. Not only did it hang open to allow one to see his built chest, but it was also sleeveless, allowing his arms to be seen as well. His hair was long and black, reaching almost to his hips, caught in a simple ponytail at the base of his skull. Her eyes ran along the arm that had been offered to her. His forearm and hand wore a purple fingerless glove, held to his hand by his thumb and pinki.An extra piece of cloth was attatched to his middle finger and hung down to be tucked into the rest of the glove. His left hand wore the same glove, but lacked the extra piece of cloth and the pearl bracelet that hung from the right wrist. Along his exposed arm and chest her eyes lingered. They were covered in laceration scars. At least fifty percent of the scars visible were on his right arm, the rest spread out across his torso and left arm. She blushed, realizing she was staring and her eyes flew to his face. His eyes were a pretty forest green, and struck her as faintly familiar, but she brushed it off.

"I'm Okuri." He said finally. He seemed to be fully aware of her staring and held up his right arm. "These?" He twisted his arm a bit as if examining the scars himself.

"I didn't mean to stare." Kagome looked down.

Okuri shook his head. "Don't worry about it. They are pretty obvious."

Kagome glanced back to his right arm. "Why are there so many?" she breathed.

Okuri shrugged and didn't answer for a bit. "Let's just say I'm not too popular around here." He chuckled ruefully. "You can't expect a human to live unscathed in a world where demons reign." He paused, and his face turned slightly serious. "One has to wonder what Kikyo-sama is doing so far away from the Goshin Boku villages. This is way out of your territory. It's dangerous out here, and humanity can't stand to lose its most powerful priestess.

Kagome smiled. "Well... I'm trying to..." She stopped, rethinking her answer. The truth was pretty rediculous. She wasn't quite sure she understood the whole issue of the changing realities herself. She shook her head, causing Okuri to raise an eyebrow at her. "I'm trying to gather information. I'm trying to find out if we can gather the strength to launch an attack on Naraku." She held up her index finger. "And you can call me Kagome."

"Kagome...?" Okuri rolled the new name over his tongue.

"Yeah. Kagome is my real name."

"Hel-lo!" Kagome and Okuri looked down to see the still-frozen form of Dev wriggling about on the ground. "Intros are great, but could you please let me go!"

Okuri's eyes widened. "Wow... what the heck is that?"

Kagome giggled lightly. "That's Dev. She's a... time sprite." She emphacized the last two words as Okuri snapped his fingers and the sprite was released. Kagome stopped. "Wait... you can see her?"

Okuri raised an eyebrow at her again. "Of course. Why?"

"Kagome-san..." Dev whispered, pointing at his right arm. Kagome waved her off.

"Well... only those with unusually strong spiritual powers can see her... that's all."

"Well, of course I have strong spiritual power." Okuri chuckled and pointed at himself. "I was able to freeze you in place, wasn't I? I come from a long like of priests and monks." He informed her proudly.

"I see..." Kagome nodded.

"Kagome-san..." Dev repeated, still pointing at his right arm. Kagome waved at her again.

"Okuri... I hope you don't mind me asking, but... why is it that your right arm is scarred so badly?"

Okuri paused, then opened his mouth to speak, but a shriek from Dev cut him off. "Hey! What the hell are you doing!" Dev suddenly screamed, forcing the others' attention to a young man who was about to pick up Kagome's fallen bow.

Okuri was the first to act, jumping after the thief and catching him before he could take a full step away. Okuri smirked. "Ah. A Katsu lackey, eh? I haven't seen one of you guys around here since I kicked your leader's butt."

"You haven't changed, Okuri." A voice commented dryly. Attention was pulled this time to a larger group of humans standing not ten yards away. The one whom had spoken stood a few feet in front of the group. He was a tall, dark-skinned man with a baggy kimono and a rolled ciggarette in his mouth. "And that's about to be fixed. There are a lot of changes about to happen in this little area. See... Naraku-sama's been trying to take over this are for a while, and well... the villages are the only thing he can reach. That damned Dog-General has been rather persistant. So... this town is gonna have to go. And you're gonna go with it."

Okuri put his hands on his hips. "Sorry, but I'm gonna have to ask you to leave. My village has a strict rule agianst baboons. This is not a zoo, so get your freak show out of here."

"It's not your village anymore. This place belongs to Naraku-sama, and it now has a strict rule against foolish humans."

"Then I suppose you guys should get outta here, huh?"

The leader growled. "Listen. You don't own this place any more, so you should leave, right now."

"Another challenge, Katsu?" Okuri growled, his smile vanishing and his legs spreading to form a fighting stance. "You remember what happened last time, don't you?"

Katsu gave a lazy shrug. "Of course I remember. But I've changed, and my friends here have given me some interesting information on you that could possibly tilt the scale in my favor." He motioned to the group standing behind him. "Spies are a good advantage to having a popular side. You should try it sometime."

Okuri shook his head. "I don't need anyone to help me. And popular side? I don't care if it is popular. I'm not going to work with bastards trying to worm their way into Naraku's ranks. I am going to kill Naraku, and I'll only accept those with that same goal to my side." Katsu's smile wilted and Okuri's reappeared. "You realize one thing that hasn't changed...?" He held out his right hand, as if taunting them.

"You wouldn't use that on humans. That is a law your ancestors made generations ago. Even I know that." Katsu informed him arrogantly.

Okuri chuckled. "That's a big risk to take... Times have changed. Humans are not as harmless and innocent as they were when that law was created. I have no higher opinion of humans that work for Naraku than I have for demons." Okuri growled.

"I can't say I have a very high opinion of lone wolf demons who can't seem to get it through their heads that defying Naraku-sama will result in nothing. Those who have power make the rules. Your opinion is worthless!" Katsu cried, his face full of only rage now. Kagome could tell he was losing his cool.

"Just try me, Katsu... I dare you..." Okuri muttered dangerously. Kagome picked up her abandoned bow and quiver.

Katsu gave a sigh as if to calm himself. "I'll give you one more chance, kid. Give up this little village of yours, and you can live. I'll even add you to our little family. It would be a shame to waste a person like you with such... talents."

"Keep on dreaming, Katsu. I don't work for Naraku. I never have, and I never will. I would be a fool to join him after all the effort my family has put into defying him over the years."

"Yeah... I think even Naraku-sama has admitted that your family is quite the pain in the ass. A pain, but nothing more. He could squash you like a bug any time he wants."

"Then why hasn't he?" Okuri challenged. Katsu growled at him, his eyes flickering with hate. "Kill him..." Katsu ordered simply. Several of the humans behind him nodded and began moving foreward, brandishing weapons, and plastering smirks to faces. Okuri did not allow himself to retreat even a step.

Kagome growled at them and slowly pulled an arrow into her bowstring, aiming it at the nearest humans. Her face was confident, but her arm shook. Not only from pain, but at the realization of what she was about to do. Killing demons was one thing, but killing humans? She had never before taken a human's life, and it certainly did seem different, though she had always thought all murder was the same. Killing a bloodthirsty demon had to be in some way different than killing a human thug. But... killing her own kind gave her a cold chill. If she did that, what separated her from the ruthless demons that ate their own every day? She relaxed the string and slipped the arrow back into her quiver, silently apologizing to Okuri. She couldn't fight at her best like this, but it would have to do. She didn't have the spirit in her to kill other humans. She was armed now simply with her bow, charged with energy in case one got too close.

Okuri sighed and held out his right hand again. "I don't want to have to do this, but you know I'm really tired and I'm just not interested in fighting right now."

"My heart bleeds..." Katsu sighed. "Go!"

Kagome, without full awareness of what she was doing, rushed foreward, holding her bow out before her. "Stop!" The group seemed to do what she asked and halted their charge. Whispers of her title were sent throughout the small crowd until Katsu gave a hearty laugh.

"This is a fortuitous day indeed. The infamous Okuri and the all-powerful Priestess Kikyo-sama. If I take you both down at once, Naraku will reward me quite handsomely, I would say," he smiled. "Kill them both!" The group hesitated and Katsu looked around. "What's wrong with you?"

One of the women stepped up, brushing a few locks of ebony hair from her eyes. "Katsu-sama… I don't mean to intrude upon your commands, but you do understand who you are dealing with, right? This is Miroku Okuri, decended from the most powerful Monk in history." She pointed at Okuri.

Kagome froze.Miroku Okuri?She looked at Okuri. Is he a decendant of Miroku perhaps? I thought there might be a connection beacuse of that right hand... but... could he be...?

Okuri said nothing, only smirked at them. The woman continued. "And that's Miko (2)Kikyo-sama. She's the most powerful human in existance. You can't expect our men to go against them both and survive."

Katsu waved her away. "You've gone against Okuri before. And as for the priestess…" He smiled at her. "I overheard the report from the cat demons that were sent to attack your village priestess. And it seems as though they discovered that you had changed. Number one, you have a severe wound in your left shoulder. Second, you seemed to be struggling greatly in the last battle. You have weakened considerably, Priestess."

Kagome gave a smirk she hoped was confident. "You think so, do you?" She held up her bow. "Care to test me on that?"

Katsu scoffed and pointed at her. "Go, now!" Again, there was hesitance, but then the group seemed to decide that death at the hands of the two holy ones would be more pleasant than death at the hands of Katsu, or even Naraku. Kagome grunted as a few of them came at her. She knew she would not have to kill them, only deter them. But still… it was rare that she had to fight against humans. Usually, her power was only deployed in situations involving demons, and using retraint was a handicap.

Her eyes went wide as a firm grip was established on the back of her kimono and she was roughly pulled backward, away from the advancing group. Okuri growled at the oncoming enemies and stopped them with a motion from his right hand. "Okuri-sama…" Kagome whispered. "You can't take them all on. There's too many. I can take care of myself. My wound is almost healed."

Okuri shook his head. "No. I can't take them all on, and you can't take them all on. Not like this." His eyes remained focused on the frozen humans before him. "Kikyo-sama is trained to deal with demons in order to protect humans. Kikyo-sama would be going against her duty and her code to attack humans, no matter what type of human they are. You cannot fight in this."

Kagome sat up straight. "But Okuri-sama.!"

Okuri smiled down at her. "Don't worry, Kagome-sama… we will not submit to them either." He grabbed hold of the small pearl bracelet around his wrist. "Now I will show you why my family is so infamous!" He tore the bracelet from his wrist and already, men and women alike were scrambling to get out of the way. "Kazaana!" The black hole revealed itself from beneath his glove, showing its familiar howl and glorious danger to the girl at his side. Kagome smiled.

"A direct decendant of Miroku-sama… His line is still in this world… I'm glad." She watched as the men that once clung proudly to Katsu now turned tail and ran in the opposite direction, thanking the gods that they had survived. Kagome watched in renewed awe at the cursed black hole. The curse had apparently been passed through 500 years of lineage. And yet… despite how many lives that it undoubtedly took, they still saw it as a weapon just as much as they saw it a curse… turning their fear into courage and their pain into strength. Maybe it was hereditary, this odd strength of theirs.

"Houshi-kun! Look out!" Dev screeched a warning a second too late as one of the many lackeys appeared next to him and with a grunt flung a schythe downward at his arm. Though his arm was not severed, he cried out at the deep gash he received. He quickly sealed his Kazaana as his hand dropped weakly to his side.

"Chikuso…" He muttered. The man seemed to wind up to finish his job, but Kagome leapt into the way, throwing her bow outward to touch the tip to the man's neck, as if she held him at sword point.

"Get away." She commanded. The man immediately backed down and scurried back over to where Katsu sat, gaining his equilibrium back after the viscious winds had taken it. She turned on her heel and in a second, had launched an arrow directly at Katsu's feet, allowing it to explode with purple light. Katsu stared at it for a moment. "Get out, now!" She cried again. The group seemed to consider it for a moment, then turned around, gathering up their leader, and took off. Kaomge took a second to wonder at how much power her own eyes seemed to hold since they had been sucessful in driving off humans and demons alike.

Okuri stood slightly, his arm held tight against his body, blood spilling onto his kimono. "Why that lousy son of a…!" He cut himself off with a hiss through clenched teeth.

Kagome collapsed beside him, taking a deep breath before turning back to him. "Now calm down." She gingerly took his arm and set it on her lep, never minding the blood that spilled onto her kimono. "Let's see." She looked his arm over and covered the newest gash with her hand in an effort to halt the bloodflow. He hissed again and squirmed. "Hold still." She chuckled weakly. He relaxed as she tore a strip of cloth from her sleeve and began to gently wrap the wound. "You have someplace you usually stay, don't you? One of these houses, maybe?" Kagome looked up.

"Uhhh… yeah. Why?" Okuri watched the wound vanish under the wrap.

"You mind if we head there? We need to wash that." Kagome requested, tying the make-shift bandage off and standing. Okuri stood as well, leading her down the street.

Kitty-chan: Once again, having stopping point problems. XD As I wrote this, I never separated it into chapters, so I'm hoping that these chapters seem good length and cut off at good points. Well... I'm having fun with the next chapter. I think you'll like it. I'll even put a preview down here. Oh! But first, Translations!

1 Hanyou ga : Half demon (ga is a particle, identifying hanyou as the subject)
2 Miko: Priestess

Okay... here's a little preview for you!

"Listen... you wouldn't believe me if I told you why, but trust me when I say, 'I knew Miroku-sama personally'."

Okuri smiled. "You have my assistance, My Lady."
"Inuyasha!" Kagome suddenly yelled, causing Okuri to leap in his chair and Dev to tumble down the bandit's arm.
Sesshomaru yawned and lay back down, throwing a forearm across his eyes. "Why should I?" he demanded again.

"You owe her! She saved your life, you ungrateful dog!" she answered angrily.

Sesshomaru sat up again, an exasperated expression on his face. "Damn her..."

Kitty-chan: That's all I'll give you for now, but review and tell me what you think! Flames accepted.