I felt like posting early because I have Wednesday off and not thursday. Maybe I should just start posting on Wednesday instead as I always seem to have it off.

Heehee,so what did you really think of that last chapter?

A lot happens in this chapter, mainly because Aki can't sit still like she's supposed to. Sesshoumaru certainly isn't happy about the situation, but he can't seem to get the best of Aki in an argument, let alone the rest of her life. Azusa and Rin have a bit of fun at Inuyasha's expense and Fred instigates another intense situation.

Fred has got to be one of the awesomest characters ever! I don't have to write him into every chapter, he's a fount of information when he wants to be and has absolutely no reason to fear anything thereby making him completely outrageous in the face of threat and danger. How many other characters are like that? I mean that aren't seriously crazy or delusional?

I'm certainly glad I can claim him, I'd hate to think how unreasonably rambuncious he'd be if he was one of Rumiko Takahashi's like the rest of those crazy characters that aren't mine.

Hot Springs and Tickle Fights

Sesshoumaru opened his eyes slowly.

There was the tree he'd come to associate with his dreams shared with Aki. It was always apparent, whatever their dream and he wondered if that was significant. He also wondered which of them it was that brought it and the sunshine, or if it took the both of them make it appear. Its branches framed the windows of memory from them both.

He supposed he could find out everything he'd ever wanted to know about his mate by simply watching what the tree depicted, but he would never do it that way. Not when she was present, and that was the only time the tree offered up its secret treasures of her. Speaking of which, Aki should be around here somewhere.

Sesshoumaru found Aki on the other side of the tree, curled into a ball with her arms wrapped around her legs and her head down hiding her face. As he watched, her shoulder shook silently as if she cried. The wind blew her hair softly, exposing her neck and he was reminded of a few issues that needed to be attended to. She was his mate, Damnit!

Sesshoumaru reached out a clawed hand to grasp her should firmly. Aki looked up quickly, tears streaming down her delicate face. "What have you done?" she cried. "What have you done, Sess?" She always called him that here. She never did it anywhere else. He wasn't sure if he liked that or not.

"What do you mean 'What have I done'? What have you done, my mate?" he growled, emphasizing the last two words. He was not in the wrong; she's the one who'd been trying to block him out, not the other way around. "You're the one who left, not I," he gave voice to his silent pain.

"Yes, and I'll leave again," she growled back impetuously. "I have promises to keep."

"Damnit, bitch! You're my mate!"

"Pfffftttt! Mate or not, I belong to myself first and foremost!"

"What about your promises to me…"

"Don't even try that, stupid! I don't ever remember being asked for any promises let alone making them!"

"You're my mate, woman! Forev-"

"Hah! Don't try to tell me I promised you forever!" she glowered at him, while he tried to hide his shock. Weren't females always the ones that demanded romantic notions like 'forever'? "I highly doubt I would ever promise something I don't believe in!"

What did she mean? How can one not believe in forever?

"Nothing lasts forever, Sess. Even I know that," she bowed her head again, hiding her face form him. He didn't like that she did that. Why should she hide her tears from him, for there was no one else here to hide them from? "Sess, how old are you?"

He blinked at her with surprise. How the hell did she jump subject like that? "Where on Earth did that question come from?"

She shrugged, "It's just a question."

"I'm not sure."

"You're not sure how old you are?" she stared at him in disbelief.

"No, I'm not sure that it's just a question," he smirked. No reason to let her know he really wasn't sure how old he was.

"Well what else could it be?" she demanded.

"A ploy, a distraction." He replied absently, brushing her hair away from her face tenderly.

She batted his hand away, "Seriously, how old are you?" she asked again.

He growled, both at the question and at being pushed away. "What is so important about my age that you won't let it go?"

"Just answer the question, Sesshoumaru."

"Age is unimportant," he declared in frustration.

"Then why are you avoiding the question?"

"I'm not avoiding the question."

"You still haven't answered either."

She wasn't going to let this go, he realized. Well he supposed he was older than Inuyasha and Inuyasha was about 200. And she didn't say he couldn't be vague. "Over 200 years old," he growled.

"I was right, you're too old."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You're too old for me," she declared cheerfully. This was not something he wanted to hear.

"I am not." She was not going to use something so flimsy as age to get out of being his mate. He wouldn't allow it.

"Sure you are," she retorted tartly.

"And how old are you?"

"Twenty." Dear god! She was just a baby. She shouldn't even be this tall yet. In the normal progress of youkai maturation she shouldn't have even learned how to defend herself yet.

"You have got to be kidding."

"I'm not."

"You're too tall to be twenty."

"That's what I thought, but Fred says my birth parents were tall. I was perfectly happy being as short as my adoptive family."

"What?" He blinked.

Aki laughed, "I was apparently human, up until a few months ago."

So she truly was that young. Fine, he decided, that obviously didn't mean much considering she was a fully matured adult female. That was enough for him, but he certainly was feeling older than he should be. He was still considered young by youkai standards.

"Aki," he growled. "You are my mate, and you will continue to be my mate regardless of our respective ages." And he grabbed her up to hold in his arms. He needed this closeness he needed all of his senses to reassure him that she was really there.

"Sess, what are you doing?" she whispered. Much as she tried to deny it, she had missed him greatly, and not just because of the nightmares. Her demon blood cried out for his warmth, and she was slowly losing the argument. A memory flashed behind her eyes, a memory of him talking to someone else, not knowing she could hear. A memory of him belittling his apparent attachment to her. Her eyes teared up and hardened, her armor back in place. Aki brushed him off and withdrew from his grasp.

Sesshoumaru was stunned. Just a moment ago it looked as though Aki was giving in, accepting her roll as his mate. In a flash, it was gone. To say he was frustrated would be an understatement. Now she stood outside his reach, not even facing him. "What's the matter?" he demanded.

"Nothing," she answered without bothering to turn.

"Aki, Damnit! Talk to me!" he demanded.

"I thought I was." She quipped.

That shut him up. Master of argument he wasn't. "Aki I missed you!" he admitted sadly.

She wanted to tell him how much she missed him too, how much she missed their dreams, but she had promises to keep. Promises that didn't leave her free to stay. Staying meant danger to those around her. Staying meant she would start to care. Staying meant her curse would rise up to destroy her again. None of them deserved that, and this one certainly wasn't worth her heart if she meant so little. She turned around to look at him. "You'll live," she said quietly.

Sesshoumaru stared at her, searching her face for any indication as to what she meant. He found nothing. No remorse or guilt. No love or hate. There was nothing, her usually expressive eyes were empty of emotion. She was hiding behind an empty mask, distancing herself from everything, including him.

If Aki was under the impression that she could block him out, she was sorely mistaken. And Sesshoumaru was more than willing to point out her misconception. A mischievous grin graced his sculpted features.

If Aki felt any shock or surprise at his sudden change in expression she hid it really well. Desperate times call for desperate measures… Sesshoumaru silently made a mental note to confront her about the other stuff at a later date, as further discussion now would simply allow her to slip farther inside her walls. Now what would be the best method to force her from her emotionless mask?

There was a certain game often played with children that almost always ended in fitful bursts of laughter, he'd always wanted to try it.

But first Sesshoumaru took a step towards Aki.

She took a step back. Sesshoumaru took another step forward and Aki reciprocated.

Sesshoumaru paused; this was getting him nowhere. This called for some strategical maneuvering. He stepped to the side. When no resulting movement answered this advance he solidified his plan of attack.

Sesshoumaru took two and a half careful steps to the side, placing his mate directly between him and the tree, careful not to betray anything of his confidence or planning. Aki watched him blankly; he was up to something. She wasn't sure how she knew it, his smirk certainly never changed. His eyes were almost always full of mischief when he glanced her way. But she was certain he was up to something.

Sesshoumaru took one huge step forward; varying his step size as if testing the limits of their game. Aki answered it in kind. His plan was working! It took all of his control not to grin those last few steps that would press Aki to the tree.

Aki kept backing up; absolutely certain he was trying something. She never let her blank face slip though, her face revealed nothing of her confusion or suspicion. It wasn't until she moved to step back and crashed into the tree that she realized her error. By then, Sesshoumaru had her pinned to the tree.

"Nowhere else to retreat, my mate," Sesshoumaru grinned, triumph shining in his eyes.

She growled in anger and frustration, "I am not a piece of property you jackass."

Sesshoumaru was in too good a mood to bother being upset by her outburst. Instead he initiated the game and laughter began to fill the space sheltered by the tree's branches. He soon found that the tables were frequently turned back and forth in…

…a tickle fight

Sesshoumaru woke up first, still lying over a much healthier looking Aki. He rubbed his cheek along the under side of her jaw. It'd been too long since he'd last awakened to his sleeping mate. He nuzzled her neck affectionately, taking deep soothing breaths.

He stilled as he detected a whiff of some faint scent. It was subtle and hardly detectable under the scent of dirt and blood, but it was there, tantalizing the very edge of his senses. It smelled of earth and trees, wilderness and freedom, of rain, wind and life. Aki sighed quietly in her sleep and Sesshoumaru finally realized just what the scent was. It was her scent! This incredibly elusive and subtle scent was that of his mate!

Aki's scent was a pleasant blend of all the scents one would normally find in most of the environments he had so far found her in. It easily got lost in the scents around her because it held no element that didn't belong in that environment. Sesshoumaru took a deep breath savoring and memorizing this valuable piece of sensory information. The inu youkai suddenly felt a hundred times better. Her scent would still be impossible to track, but at least he wouldn't feel like he was chasing a dream, a hallucination anymore.

Sesshoumaru heaved a contented sigh before moving to disentangle himself from Aki, a task made terribly difficult by her unconscious grip on his person. It almost made him smile, she may push him away constantly while she was awake, but in her sleep she clung to him rather satisfactorily.

Aki stirred under him, briefly tightening her hold on him. She nuzzled his neck and inhaled deeply of his scent before relaxing with a contented smile. His scent brought her comfort, for some reason, Sesshoumaru felt inordinately proud of himself.

The sun was making itself known in the tiny room, spilling its light across the floor. Judging by the slant of it, they'd slept a good portion of the day away. Aki cracked a lazy eye open and smiled sleepily at him. He always loved watching her wake up. Sesshoumaru never could resist answering her smile in kind.

Aki gave a huge yawn and stretched catlike as he watched in amusement. He could feel the muscles move under her skin where they touched. His mate flashed him a mischievous look under her lashes.

"Are you really that ticklish?" she asked him with a grin. They had discovered that while Aki was ticklish enough to excite the desired reaction in a tickle fest, Sesshoumaru was doubly so, much to his chagrin. And lo, if she turned her experienced fingers on him while they were awake.

"No!" Sesshoumaru's expression turned frantic. "I…Aki, no!" her grin widened. It was one thing to be licked utterly and completely by a girl barely a fraction of his age while they were alone in a shared dream; it was another thing completely for it to happen while they were awake. Evasive Maneuvers!

Too late! Suddenly her tired and weak fingers had found his sensitive and incredibly exposed side. Sesshoumaru bit his lip to stem the tide of uncontrollable laughter that bubbled up in his throat.

"Being stubborn are we?" Aki chuckled up at him.

It may not seem like it now, but Aki was an experienced tickle master. She'd grown up in a loving healthy family where tickling often occurred, often for no reason. There were ways to break the stubborn. And did she ever know how to do it.

Her knowledgeable fingers danced over his skin to new more sensitive areas recently left unguarded by his attempts to end her attack on his side. He bit down harder on his lip, actually drawing blood with one of his fangs.

"Aw," she smirked teasingly, "Looks like you hurt yourself."

Sesshoumaru tried to growl low in his throat, but it came out more of a whine. He wasn't getting enough air to growl properly. He'd had enough of this. He should be the one to have her at the disadvantage, not the other way around. After all, he did have her pinned to the ground.

In the blink of an eye, Sesshoumaru moved so that he had her attacking hands pinned under his knees while he pinned her down and attacked her sides with his own fingers. He flashed her a triumphant glance when her struggles to break free were proven useless.

Unlike Sesshoumaru, Aki did not try to bite back her laughter. It had been too long since she'd last had a tickle fight. She would not ruin it with the false pretenses of not feeling ticklish. She was tired of not feeling, not laughing. So now, at least for a little while, she would pretend to be a part of a family. In other words, she laughed.

Sesshoumaru allowed a joyous smile to slide over his features. Her laughter was a contagious thing, setting his senses dancing in giddy delight. It was carefree and breathy, as laughter should be. He tickled her until she was breathless and gasping for air.

His smile turned into a tender secret as she slowly caught her breath. Aki's face was flushed by even this small exertion, leaving her features aglow with unrestrained mirth. His eyes never left hers as her chest slowly stopped heaving.

A charged silence quickly enveloped them. Sesshoumaru leaned down slowly to claim the lips of his mate. The dog demon nipped at her lower lip demanding entrance. With a soft sigh from his partner, he found his way open.

Shifting slightly to taste Aki more deeply, the fabric of her shirt silently spilled open. His clawed hands caressed her skin almost reverently, stroking bruises that had formerly been cuts. He reached his arms under her back, reveling in the feel and texture of her skin as he raised her up to press against his chest. Never once did he break off that kiss, Sesshoumaru didn't want to hear her protests, didn't want to give her the chance to recollect her misguided notions and push him away.

Sesshoumaru needed this contact; he needed her scent wrapped around him. What's more, he was finding that just holding her wasn't proving to be enough.

"Kyaa!" a small feminine voice screamed out in fright, and Sesshoumaru found himself holding empty air. Aki had abandoned him once again.

He growled in frustration and upset. Aki shouldn't be up and about yet. He sighed, Time to track her down and see about getting her back to resting properly. Sesshoumaru was certain that if his hair wasn't already silver, he'd be going gray as time wore on. Aki's lack of any sense of self-preservation was proving more than a little troublesome.

Poor Azusa, the source of the scream, had been having a pretty okay day. She had gotten to sleep in quite awhile and waken to find two new playmates to befriend. She had been fed delicious food, washed up and gotten a fresh change of clothes and was feeling pretty pleased with the world around her, or as pleased as any little girl in her situation could be.

She'd quickly made friends with every member of Kagome and Inuyasha's group and Rin and Azusa quickly agreed that Inuyasha was just a big kid that needed to be prettified with flowers to improve his mood. In actuality, Azusa was fast coming to believe that the dog boy was her veriest favorite person in the world, regardless of Inuyasha's attempts to convince her otherwise.

Not that he was allowed to be all that convincing, every time he made a real effort to dissuade the good opinion of the little girl Kagome would quickly teach him that it was a very bad idea. And if Kagome's kind cool reason didn't suffice, the ground was always there to back her up.

Inuyasha found himself almost wishing Jaken would hurry up and return with the goat demon Sesshoumaru had sent him for. He was certain that once Tama showed up, the girls would no longer be his problem.

Sango and Miroku had eventually tired of watching Inuyasha lose to the children and set to the task of hunting through the village property in search of food and goods to either use or sell. Every so often they would return to the area in front of the shrine to pause and watch the children playing or deposit some new found stash of goods.

All of which would not seem conducive to causing a little girl to scream in fright. Unfortunately, Azusa had not met Fred yet, and the ghost still hadn't developed a less startling way to meet new people. He essentially popped out at her by accident and her fright left her faster than she could really think about what she was seeing. By then it was too late.

Before anyone could blink or the sound could even begin to fade from the air, Aki was there holding the small girl and growling at everyone that moved. Despite her apparent weakness and fatigue, the almost youkai could and would move mountains if that was required to protect Azusa.

Aki glared at the people she normally would've never considered a threat, her body too drained to react on more than feral instinct. Shippou and Rin stared at the usually quiet, levelheaded some time surrogate mother that stood growling at them for breathing unable to understand the situation.

Kagome was much too startled to move. Her brain couldn't understand how Aki had suddenly appeared, seemingly out of no where when she absolutely knew the woman was supposed to be resting.

"Damn! I really need to work on coming up to people," Fred grumbled as Aki started backing into the main part of the village.

A low growl of annoyance announced the emergence of a very unhappy taiyoukai. "What the hell happened?" No use beating around the bush. He wanted to know who was responsible for this disaster and now so he could kill them properly.

"Azusa screamed…" Shippou began timidly.

"I KNOW THAT!" the stressed youkai hissed causing Shippou to squeak before hiding behind Kagome's leg.

The ninth grader snapped out of her shock in anger. Nobody yelled at Shippou like that for no reason! "Don't yell at Shippou!" she yelled at the much taller pureblooded youkai without fear or much thought for that matter. "It's completely Fred's fault!"

Sesshoumaru was taken aback. A worthless human girl was bold enough to correct him, Lord of the western lands? Surely not.

Suddenly a rabid bark sounded from down the road in the village. Sango and Miroku had heard the commotion and had been heading towards the shrine only to find themselves on the receiving end of Aki's most lethal glare. Inuyasha and Kagome came running, afraid to leave the two humans alone with Aki in her state.

"Aki-sama," a slightly confused little girl called to her new guardian. "Aki-sama," she called again when the first recitation failed to have the desired effect.

Aki blinked slowly in silent recognition, she was so the hell not turning away from the others. They had scared Azusa and could not be trusted – for the moment.

It wasn't anything personal, in fact had Aki been stronger, less fatigued, she never would've been so suspicious of anyone, let alone people she knew desired only friendship from her. But Aki wasn't strong enough to override the autopilot of her body, and her body didn't recognize any of them as anything more than brief acquaintances because she hadn't identified anything of import with them. If she hadn't been so hesitant to become actual friends with them, they might not be in this situation, but even that was a big IF. Her instinct wasn't likely to identify with anyone who wasn't blood right now, with the sole exception of Azusa, who had triggered this reaction in the first place.

On some level, Azusa was just as confused as everybody else, but her confusion was completely drowned out by sheer embarrassment. There had been no reason to react the way she had. No one else had seemed alarmed by the ghost's sudden appearance. And now that she thought about it, Kagome had warned her about a ghost that hung out with Aki-sama most of the time. Why couldn't she have thought of all this before she'd opened her mouth and instigated all this?

"Aki-sama," Azusa called once again. "I'm alright." The protective arms holding her tightened slightly in response. "Nobody hurt me, I was just startled," the little girl flushed brightly. It felt strange for her to be pacifying a youkai older and stronger than herself. "None of them would ever hurt me, they're my friends." Aki's hold relaxed ever so slightly.

What was wrong with her! The tired woman wondered at herself. It wasn't like her to suspect everyone and everything. Aki closed her eyes and began to take huge steadying breaths, still not quite able to let go of Azusa completely.

The entire group of incredibly puzzled people held their collective breaths, each realizing on some level how easily this could've turned out badly. Of course, most of them realized it still could go thoroughly and violently painful in a matter of seconds if any of them so much as breathed wrong. Even Inuyasha had enough sense not to be offended that the only thing standing between him and imminent death was a little human girl scarcely half the size of Kagome.

The potent feeling of mortality was completely lost on the only full-blooded inu youkai of the group. Sesshoumaru's mind was much too occupied with his mate's overwhelming maternal instincts. For some reason, he was rather pleased with himself for finding such a rare motherly gem to mate. It was a thought that quickly lead to thoughts of fathering his own children on her and a deep desire to get started on that as soon as possible, meaning now.

Sesshoumaru absently took a step forward without really thinking about the consequences and suddenly found himself on the receiving end of a ferocious growl and a pair of drowning green pools of mistrust and anger. Apparently his thoughtless action had pushed her over the edge of conscious reason.

"Don't move moron!" Inuyasha growled softly and was rewarded with his own glare from the female. "Damn!"

"She almost had it too," Miroku lamented as he then received a sharp look quite similar to Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's.

Kagome shifted, unsure what to do. They were fast running out of options.

"Sango," Shippou called quietly breathing slightly easier when his short vocalization did not receive the same treatment as every word spoken before it. "I think she might let Azusa go to you."

"Why do you think that Shippou?" Azusa asked timidly.

"Because, unlike everyone else, Sango can be fully disarmed. Miroku can't be separated from his Kazaaana, Kagome can't be separated from her miko powers, Rin is too young to be any kind of protection, and the rest of us have youkai blood. Sango can protect and she can approach in an unthreatening manner, plus she also knows what it's like to lose a village," Shippou explained as everyone blinked at him in thought.

He was right; Sango was the only option open to Aki, who was quickly coming to realize that if she didn't end this situation soon she would no longer be any good to Azusa anyway.

Sango quickly removed every weapon on her person, even the ones that were hidden, hoping that this slight gesture of faith would instill just a slight amount of trust with Aki's feral side. She briefly had to silence Miroku's protests with a very speaking glance. This look alone engendered quite a bit of confidence from Aki all by itself.

With slow steady steps, Sango approached youkai and child, careful to keep her hands in full view at all times. Finally the warrior woman eased Azusa out of her youkai protector's grasp and slowly began to back away.

The moment Azusa stepped away from her, Aki's muscles seized up sending her falling to the ground quite painfully. Her body relaxed and seized yet again, causing her head to hit against something hard. Before she fell completely unconscious Aki saw the face of a familiar goat demon descending on the back of Sesshoumaru's two-headed dragon.

Sesshoumaru quickly grabbed Aki up off that ground terrified that her bump on the head had proved more dangerous than he would like. Kagome had to yank on his hair fiercely before he let her close enough to check the female over and then Tama shoved her out of the way to examine Aki herself.

"Foolish child has worn herself down to nothing so that her body has to protest it violently," Tama grumbled, disapproval thick in her voice. "If she treated her body with more care it would be strong enough to properly carry that formidably stubborn spirit of hers."

"I'm just glad the seizure is over," Kagome mumbled.

"Sure it's over, but I imagine her muscles will shake from the exertion," Tama pointed out. "And I don't even want to think about the headache that bump on the head will create for her." The goat demon sighed, "Her joints will stiffen up as well, if she doesn't either wake up and somehow find the energy to move around even briefly or we don't find some way to prevent it ourselves."

"We'll have to think of something, I think," Kagome murmured with worry. "But what?" The teenager brushed some hair from Aki's face absently. "If only we had a way to let her soak in warm water. My grandfather claims that a warm or hot bath helps to ease his aching joints when they hurt."

"That's not such a bad idea, but I don't have a bath with me," Tama muttered.

"What about a hot spring?" Azusa asked timidly.

"A hot spring would be a treat," Tama answered somewhat sarcastically.

"Is there one near here Azusa-chan?" Sango asked the little girl gently.

Azusa nodded and pointed in some vague direction. "Well, then," Kagome clapped her hands in decision. "We have our plan. Azusa will lead us to the hot spring and we'll let Aki rest in it."

"Alright then," Tama nodded, willing to follow the human's direction so long as it proved helpful. "Come then, my lord. Give us Aki. We'll see to her for now and return her to you soon."

Sesshoumaru growled unwilling to let go of his much damaged mate. Every time he let her out of his sight she wound up in worse shape than before.

Inuyasha crept up behind the stubborn youkai lord and bashed him on the head, subsequently causing Sesshoumaru's grip on Aki to loosen enough for Tama to steal her away. Inuyasha didn't expect any thanks for his service. In fact he rather expected a beat down of the most violent kind, but so long as it kept Sesshoumaru busy and helped Aki out, he was fine with that. Which is just as well because the inu youkai quickly knocked him out.

"Lead on Azusa," Sango encouraged the little girl. "Kagome could you retrieve Aki's bag before you join us? Aki might appreciate a bath while we're at it."

"Good idea," Fred nodded. "She always said she felt better when she's clean." Kagome just ignored him and headed into the shrine.

Sesshoumaru was determined that they would not leave him behind. Or at least he was until Kagome, Shippou, Rin, and Miroku convinced him he should stay.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, it would be best if you were to remain here," Miroku stated evenly. "Your instincts the way they are now, are liable to get her killed."

"She'll be fine, nothing will happen to her," Kagome offered in her best soothing voice. "Aki will be with Tama and Sango and I, and we'll protect her from harm."

"Besides, you need to stay here to keep Miroku from peeking," Shippou muttered smartly.

Miroku paled dramatically as Sesshoumaru turned a near lethal glare on him, "Shippou, I'm hurt that you would even think I would do such a thing."

The little kitsune snorted, "Not as hurt as you'll be if Sango finds you spying on us again."

Kagome sighed and offered Sesshoumaru one last reassuring look before turning to follow Shippou to the talked of hot spring. It probably wasn't a good idea to leave Inuyasha unconscious and the lecherous Miroku in the company of a high-strung Sesshoumaru, but like children learning to walk, they had to learn how to behave properly some time.