Her arms hurt. She was sore all over, but by far her left arm was the worst. She'd been awake for an hour, trying to get back to sleep. She adjusted her limbs uncomfortably and further tangled the blankets. The afternoon sun poked through the slats in her blinds and irritated the girl splayed haphazardly across pink covers. Kagome thought of Sesshomaru for the thousandth time that morning. She'd peeked out her window upon awakening to see him sitting with his back to a tree. He had looked calm—perhaps he was meditating. For the millionth time she cursed the well for allowing him through. She hadn't quite figured out why he was able to follow her. Anyways, he could wait a while longer while she slept in.

Unfortunately that wasn't going well. She winced in pain after applying too much pressure to a bruise. Finally she threw back her blankets in a frustration huff and rushed downstairs to greet her family.

Her mother was cooking lunch with leveled, steady hands. Her grandpa sat at the table impatiently, muttering under his breath. Souta dropped his backpack and rushed over to her. The scene was so normal that she wanted to laugh. The sounds and smells of food sizzling brought her back to years before, when she didn't have on foot on deaths doorway and the other planted knee-deep in her dreams. Souta's age—god she envied him. He embraced her enthusiastically. "Kagome!"

She gasped at the pressure on her injuries, drawing her mother's attention. She swooped around Kagome with little sympathetic noises, then took her hand and yanked up her sleeves. She frowned and ripped Kagome's sweater clean of her body. The girl was left wearing in a thin undershirt.

"Mamma, I'm f—"

"—Kagome! My baby what happened? I'm going to close that well, I swear. It's going to be boarded up. You poor arms! What happened?"

A thousand 'I told you so's' ran through Kagome's mind. A gun… god, she was so stupid! "I fell." She hated to worry her mother, but it was a lame lie.

"Don't you lie to me Kagome!" Her mother placed her hands on her slim hips. For a small woman she could be very domineering.

Kagome snuck a peek out the kitchen window. Sesshomaru couldn't be seen from that angle. She sat down beside her grandfather, who was acting suspiciously quiet. He alternated between frowning at her arms and picking angrily at a ball of rice. Souta glanced at the clock and hopped from foot to foot.

"Mom? Do I have to go back to school?"

His mother took a break from fawning over Kagome to reply, "Yes."

"But why? Kagome's never home."

Guilt stabbed at Kagome's heart. She wished that her little brother knew her better. She really hadn't been home that often in the past few years. The race for the shards was more intense than ever before; she simply couldn't risk leaving Inuyasha's side.

"Souta, go!" Kagome knew what her mother was doing: trying to maintain a sense of normality. School, cooking, routine: few things could distract the family from Kagome's adventures. Returning home with dreadful injuries over the years had revealed to them how dangerous her life was.

"Bye Kagome." Souta rushed out the door.

Kagome ran after him. "Be right back mom! I just have to get my pack—I left it in the shrine." She ran away from her mother's protestations and towards the demon resting in her front yard. It was too dangerous having Sesshomaru here with her family. Souta's silhouette was winding down the path.

Sesshomaru was like a statue beneath the fan of copper leaves. He sat cross-legged, with his broad back leaning against the gnarled trunk. Dappled, golden sunlight wove its way in between tree branches and over curled blades of grass. A few red leaves spiraled like crippled birds around Kagome's form. She stopped a few yards ahead of him, unsure as of how to treat the demon.

"Good morning, Higurashi." His eyes matched the sun's yellow shadow staining his perfect skin.

Kagome tentatively sat down in front of him and wrapped her arms around her knees. Wispy swirls of frozen smoke curled out from under her breath. Sesshomaru looked over her arms, laced heavily with bruises.

"Humans are fragile." He mused.

Kagome overlooked his obvious lack of remorse. She was very aware that he was perfectly capable of killing her.

"Sesshomaru?" He didn't respond. He only stared evenly at her, devoid of expression. "Why don't we decide what we're going to do here?"

"You will teach me of this place."

Kagome huffed in annoyance. "I mean—am I a prisoner?"

Sesshomaru wrinkled his nose. "No. I would not imprison you. You will be a guide."

Kagome stood up angrily. She was sick of his arrogance! She looked down at his still form: a mass of creamy silk piled at her feet topped long, pale hair wrapping itself around the wind. "One should not insult his host." She lectured.

Sesshomaru paused. He always seemed slow and measured in his movements; Kagome stood the complete opposite. He rose up, as if it was an effortless action and the air itself moved his form. "It was not an insult. It is fact. Learn the difference."

Kagome stomped her foot. "Now that was an insult!"

"Yes. It was."

A frustrated noise escaped her pursed lips and hung in the air between them. "Why?" she ground out.

"Why what?"

Kagome suspected that he knew very well what, and simply found enjoyment in aggravating her. "Why should I be your damn guide?"

Sesshomaru felt another wave of nausea take hold of him again, though it weren't nearly as bad as they were a few hours ago. He'd learned—in all his years of training—that if something irritates you, eliminate it. If that is not an option, learn to accept it. The smell of this place (wherever it was) was beyond description. No, he could describe it: worse than an unwashed servant, yet not as harsh as the aftermath of a battle. He'd spent all night sitting down taking deep breaths of foul air and filtering its information away. There was water nearby. Metal as well. People—hundreds, if not thousands. A human city, the largest he'd ever encountered. The girl was true to her word.

"Hello? Earth to Sesshomaru?" Kagome waved her hands in his face.

"I am aware that you exist." She didn't detect the sarcasm in his tone.

"Good. Now, since you're here I'd better start from the beginning." She shivered again. "Can we go inside?"

Sesshomaru's nod was barely perceptible, but she latched onto it and dragged him into her heated, comfortable home.

Her mother hovered anxiously near the doorway. "Kagome, you've brought a friend! Why, I thought that you were Inuyasha at first. You two certainly bear a striking resemblance. Come inside and have some tea—but first I must talk to my daughter, if you'll excuse us. Or do you know how she got those dreadful bruises?"

Sesshomaru stood stiffly in the foyer, uncomfortable with the woman's intrusiveness.

The two women gazed up at him with big, brown eyes, and waited for his response. Kagome was trying to discreetly mouth "no" to him, which he found quite confusing. Unless…

"She fell, Ms. Higurashi."

Kagome stifled a giggle. Her mother sighed and led them both into the kitchen. An old man popped up in front of his vision with a cry of "Demon!" The woman apologetically led the man away, not before shooting Kagome a 'we'll-talk-about-this-later' look and smiling politely to Sesshomaru. They were left alone.

Kagome momentarily pitied the demon standing perplexed before her. 'Now, what would be the easiest way to teach him?'

"I assume you can read," she stated. Sesshomaru nodded.

Kagome flew upstairs and back in a matter of seconds. She dumped an armful of glossy textbooks on the kitchen table. Sesshomaru picked one up and idly flipped through it.

"You have a high status, then." He squinted aristocratically at the pages. "Some sort of royalty?"

Kagome blushed and shook her head. "No. We're middle-class." She read his confused face. "Peasants." She simplified.

His eyebrows furrowed and he took in the rich furnishings. "You own books. I am not stupid—you are no peasant." He closed the book with a snap and set it on the table warily. He suspected sorcery.

"You'll understand once I explain everything. Do you understand this?" She shoved another open book under his nose.

He recognized most of the words. Still, the sentences seemed off somehow, as if the words were forced together and ended up piled in too-short sentences. It was awkward to read, but bearable. There were many new words too: 'democracy', 'globalization', 'anthropology'. "Yes. I can read this. World history from the sixteenth century: a brief summary of events."

It was anything but brief. Sesshomaru read for five and a half hours. Kagome discovered that (in addition to the definitions she had to supply for his history lesson) he badly required a crash-course in science. 'No, the Earth is not flat.' 'You are made up of atoms.' 'Electricity is not magic.' He had so many questions! She spent hours fidgeting across from him. Occasionally she'd down a glass of water or put the kettle on. Sesshomaru, it turned out, was an avid tea drinker. Throughout those pauses he was absolutely silent. Any attempts at small-talk on Kagome's part were met with a raised eyebrow or sarcastic response. By early evening Sesshomaru had his royal elbows on the table and was focusing all of his attention on the last few pages of the book. He'd gotten the hang of the sentence structure and turned out to be a very fast reader. If the future shocked him, he didn't show it. Perhaps he didn't fully believe her.

"That is all?" Sesshomaru shut the book and placed it gently on the tabletop.

"Not nearly. It's the basic outline, though, of why things are the way they are. So do you get it? The well transports people back and forth in time. I don't know how, or why; I've always suspected it's because fate's chosen us to carry out missions. Like, if there's a mistake in the past someone from now is elected to go back and fix it. But—" Kagome realized that she was rambling and cut herself off, blushing in embarrassment. She fingered the tablecloth absentmindedly while thinking of the Demon seated across from her, memorizing every nook and cranny of her kitchen with observant eyes. It was unnerving. "Any questions?"

Sesshomaru dragged his eyes away from a clock and focused them on the books piled haphazardly in between abandoned teacups and empty water glasses. The future. He hadn't really thought about it before. What good would supposing do when you'd live it? But his knowledge was still murky, and it irritated him to no end. This girl was more educated than he! Insulting, really. He did have one question tugging at him, though. "Where are all of the demons?"

Kagome blinked and though about how to phrase the painful answer. She decided not to sugar-coat the truth. "I suspect that they're either in hiding, or dead."

Sesshomaru's aura flared in anger, then forcibly calmed. Kagome was used to it by now. She used to feel his energy constantly pressing against her; it now seemed more of a background buzz. He stood up and silently walked out of the kitchen, straight through the front door.

"Hey!" Kagome was through playing meek. That was downright rude! She scurried after him, fully intending to give him a piece of her mind.

She caught him standing still a few paces from her front step, long arms clasped behind his back. The shimmering sun hung low in the sky, brushing the busy Tokyo skyline. It was bright yellow against a crimson background, and seemed to waver and shifts like a mirage. His head was tilted up, towards the clouds that hung bloated with colour over their heads. They inched across the scorching sky, so slowly that at first glance they would seem still. If someone looked long enough, though, they would be ably to detect their sad, slow march towards the ends of the earth. Kagome paused at the scene: an albino demon framed in scarlet, pondering time's carelessness. 'Where are all the demons?' She respectfully disappeared inside to clean the kitchen.

Two minutes later Sesshomaru wandered back into her home as if he had never walked out. Kagome was sprawled on a couch in the sitting room, looking utterly exhausted. Sesshomaru stopped at her side and hovered over her like a storm cloud.

"Sesshomaru, what do you want?"

He floated over to the adjunct couch and seated himself, arranging his voluminous clothing into a manageable heap at his side. He said nothing.

Kagome sighed in frustration, deflating until he thought the gaudy pillows would absorb her. "Why are you here?" She scratched out. "I've done all I can for you. The least you could return is an explanation." Her bruises ached.

Sesshomaru gazed evenly at the young woman beside him. Her feet flopped over the arm of the couch. Every once and a while she'd kick the air sitting above her toes. Her neck was tilted at an uncomfortable angle on top of the scratchy cushions. Her arms though—god they would be painful, especially for a human female. He could see the outlines of his hands superimposed on one another to form a black-and-blue collage. She was strong. That quality in her had earned a bit of respect from him. He concluded that she had been hospitable. An explanation wasn't an outrageous request. "I'm here because I followed you."

Kagome groaned. "No—I mean why, not how. Why were you so curious about me? What do you want me to do for you? What are your thoughts on these times?"

He answered in his straightforward, businesslike manner. "Your weapon obviously captured my attention, and your hair and clothing is different. I was curious about your position in my brother's party, as well as your origin. I wanted to learn more."

That was the longest string of word's she'd ever heard escape his lips. She pushed her luck. "Why do you want to know everything?"

Sesshomaru's still face lent no emotion to his next words. "I can't die. My life is dull."

Kagome nearly choked in surprise. What did that have to do with anything? "Of course you can die!" It wasn't the smartest thing to say, but then again Kagome wasn't well known for thinking before she spoke.

"I can't. I have duties." He took in her confused expression and abruptly decided that this conversation had gone deep enough. "You will never understand, human."

Kagome burned with anger at being classified as 'human' and nothing else. How could such an intelligent being hold such a shallow view of the world? "Well then, what do you want me to do now demon?"

Sesshomaru ignored her insult and didn't skip a beat. "Assist me. We are returning to my time."

"Why? For god sakes!" She was on the verge of frustrated tears. Her life always seemed to spin into chaos, and she was left alone watching threads of control slip through her fingers. How did she get herself into these messes?

"I'm going to stay here for a while. I wish to collect some personal assets."

Kagome's shocked silence gave way to a choked, "Stay where?"

Sesshomaru smiled, or perhaps it was just the evening light playing tricks on her eyes. "With you, of course."

Kagome started crying. Sesshomaru ignored her until she'd progressed into harsh, irregular sniffles.

"Are you finished?" He stood up and stared at her. His head nearly brushed the ceiling. Kagome nodded sulkily. He narrowed his eyes at her before stilling for a second and cocking his head slightly to the side. He then stretched out an arm towards her, palm up and heavy fingers unfurled. Kagome hesitantly placed her hand in his. His skin was warm and soft; her fingers were calloused and coated in slick sweat. She internally thanked him for not flinching.

"Do I have a choice?"

Sesshomaru said nothing: instead he pressed his palm against the small of her back and prodded her ahead.

Kagome crossed her arms reflexively before twitching in pain and quickly untangling her limbs. "I could find another guide for you. Someone more cooperative? I know some people would be honoured to—"

"Cease your rambling. You will accompany me." He pushed her forwards. She ground her heels into the floor.

"But why do I have to go with you now? Couldn't you get your stuff then come back?"

"I want you to accompany me." They were almost at the front door.

"Why?"

They were through the front door, hobbling down the steps. Her eyes darted around the landscape. Sesshomaru pushed her to stumble faster. "I do. There is still more to know."

Kagome's voice rose in panic. "You could borrow a book you know? Do you know what a library is? Or course you do. Well—"

Sesshomaru's withdrew his hand. Kagome sighed in relief—for all of two seconds. Before she could blink two white appendages shot towards her form and held her still by the waist. Sesshomaru swung around, bent down, and looked her in the eye.

He was perfect. He had skin like paper: all white and smooth and flawless. Every one of his thick, black eyelashes was an equal distance from the next. Red-rimmed eyelids dipped down to brush against his skin and then opened wide, revealing the most interesting eyes she'd ever seen. They were yellow, like Inuyasha's. Inuyasha's, though, held lines and flecks and layers of colour. They were yellow, yet human. Sesshomaru's irises were a pure, solid gold. They looked too smooth, too painted on, and too bright. It was eerie.

Sesshomaru searched Higurashi's face. Her pores were visible, her neatly groomed eyebrow hairs grew in uneven patterns, and a small crack lined a dry section of her bottom lip. She was pretty, with her bright red-rimmed eyes and rosy skin; yet she was human. Pretty and human: a rare combination. He wondered--just for a second--what it would be like to be flawed. Then, remembering what he intended to do, he schooled his face into an angry expression and tightened his formerly gentle grip. "I am returning to my home. I have paperwork to finish. You will come with me."

He waited for waves of fear to slide off of her. And waited. He tightened his grip a little further. Not enough to bruise, but enough. Still no fear came from Kagome. In fact, she looked more confused than frightened. Her face was all scrunched up, as if a math equation stood in front of her instead of an irritated demon. Finally she spoke. "You do paperwork?"

Sesshomaru did something he hadn't done in a long, long, time. He rolled his eyes. "How else does one govern? My power extends beyond brute strength."

Kagome shrugged, all too aware of his hands resting on her sides and locking her in place. "I don't know. I've never thought of you as a leader. More of a wanderer."

His hands fell away as he straightened his stance, again a head taller than her. "You do not know Inuyasha's history?"

Kagome shivered in the evening chill. "Of course I know it!" She could feel Inuyasha's head in her lap, warm in firelight; she could feel his breath tickle her ear as he told her everything. He'd be in a hut right now, restrained by Miroku's insistence that he rest and heal. He'd worry for her. Kagome swelled with the urge to jog ahead to the well and find him.

Sesshomaru drew himself up and gathered his arms to his side, seeming somehow taller. His armor clinked as he squared his broad shoulders. "You know my history then, and you dare to believe that I would act like my brother and abandon my father's lands? You think that I would shame his memory with an empty throne?" Red ink bled into his eyes. He gave Kagome a disgusted look, as if she were nothing more than a fat worm wriggling under his boot. "I have duties besides running off on wild adventures, searching for cheap thrills with human females. I am the eldest: a lord--more than a mere wanderer. You misjudge me greatly, human."

Kagome advanced angrily a step towards his stiff body. "Pardon me? Cheap thrills with human females? And you say I know nothing!"

She had only enough time to draw one angry breath before it was knocked out of her. She had enough time to register Sesshomaru's arms encircling her waist in a crushing grip; enough time to realize that that was the wind whipping through her hair. Before she could beat her arms against him in protest they were beside the well. His warm limbs withdrew abruptly.

She really, really hated that well. When all of this ends--years from now when she'll have a family and a little house with peach walls--she'll return with a canister of gasoline. A video camera too, so that she'll watch the evil thing burn to death over and over again.

Sesshomaru's arm nudged the small of her back. He was standing too close to her, gazing towards the well with an excited expression on his face. It was the look he'd held right before striking at Inuyasha. Kagome shivered and tried to discreetly back away. Sesshomaru's head snapped around so fast it didn't seem attached. He stared at her, his face again blank. His fingers snaked around her side and dragged her to him, so tightly his amour pressed against her ribcage. At least he hadn't laid a finger on her arms.

"So, Higurashi, I simply jump in? No incantations?" His deep tones were controlled again.

Kagome took in a deep breath. The air smelled of old wood, dirt, decomposing foliage, and Sesshomaru. In the back of her mind she noted that she'd assigned him his own scent: a sort of dark, musky smell layered with fresh cloth. She glanced around the rickety shack, following swirling wooden pattern to the doorway. She pictured Souta standing there with a childish smile on his face. A few of his hairs would glow in the sunbeams as he'd lean his lanky frame against the doorway, and wait. She chided herself for not saying goodbye.

Sesshomaru tightened his grip. Kagome spoke in a choked whisper. "No incantations." She promised herself that she'd survive.

The demon dragged her through the dark and down, deep into the well.


The midnight breeze was blacker than usual. Gnarled tree branches scratched her face and shoulders as she wearily marched behind the white figure pushing away the darkness. There were no clouds or moon, only the navy air pressing against her heels. Above the musical swish of swaying leaves, Kagome's noisy bumbling over roots and dry twigs rang throughout the woods. Sesshomaru glided over the cold earth without sound.

Just for fun, Kagome pictured Inuyasha as a red blur dropping like a stone from the sky and killing Sesshomaru with one, swift blow. Only now Sesshomaru had Inuyasha's sword, didn't he? Was the gun still nestled in his robes? A flicker of relief warmed Kagome when she remembered that they didn't manufacture bullets in the feudal era. Then again, Sesshomaru didn't need guns to kill.

"Walk faster, human." The command drifted behind his long, elegant strides.

Kagome remembered that brief moment of equality they shared in her sitting room. It seemed a world away, as she struggled to increase her pace. He hadn't called her anything but 'human' since kidnapping her. He had, however, lent her a shirt. He'd seen her shivering earlier in her thin undershirt and had wordlessly removed his armor, stripped off a layer of clothing, then silently put his armor back on. When she looked at him confused he'd said, "You may die, and I would be without a guide. Cold kills humans. Put it on." His behavior was so perplexing…

"Did you not hear me? Walk faster."

Kagome's breathing progressed into harsh gulps of air. Her lungs seemed too small to function, yet too big for her aching chest. She could feel her heartbeat throb in her temples. Her arms were still numb with cold as she swung them in her clumsy march.

Sesshomaru halted. "Are you too tired to proceed?" He didn't even turn around to face her.

"I can proceed… just not very well. You're going too fast."

He pivoted around and leaned against a tree trunk. Kagome wondered why she noticed that his posture was excellent. "I am not going too fast. You are walking too slowly."

Kagome flailed her arms and made what could best be described as a 'frustrated grunt', much to Sesshomaru's amusement. "Why does everything have to be a contest? I get it. You're strong. Whoop-dee-doo. I'm human, okay? Deal with it!"

He dealt with it. Kagome was airborne within a nanosecond. She was chest-to-chest with Sesshomaru, with his strong arm crushing her lower back. She wrapped her long legs around his torso, her nervousness over gliding above the treetops overcoming her shyness. Her arms locked around his neck as she nestled her head into his shirt, right underneath his collarbone. She could feel the gun poking her thigh.

Sesshomaru felt the need to rationalize out loud their intimate position. "You're too weak to walk. A struggling human is easy prey, and I don't wish to kill some low-level demon over you. This method is much faster." He could feel Kagome nod in agreement. She must be exhausted if she didn't mind latching onto him. He absent-mindedly shifted his arm in order to make her more comfortable.

They flew for hours: past lakes, valleys, towns, and meadows. They cut through the cold air until birds chirped under their feet and the crest of day stained the far horizon pale blue. Kagome was asleep by then, but Sesshomaru watched watery red tones leak through the veil of night and light up the awakening world. He thought, as he did every morning, that this sunrise was like thousands he'd witnessed before it, and thousands yet to come. A day would come when he'd grow bored of them, much like everything else in his life. What would he live for then? He hoped that day would take it's time.

Kagome shifted in his arms. She was very light for her size. Perhaps that was common in all humans. She certainly wasn't as compact and muscular as the female demons he'd held. Her bones were probably weaker as well, riddled with holes. He pitied—just for a moment—the girl nestled in his hold, and all of her flaws.

By the time they landed the morning was in full bloom. His feet touched down on the brown grass softly. He wondered what would be the best way to wake Kagome up. Talk to her? Prod her? He should be professional about it. He grew frustrated at his own indecisiveness, all too aware that the girl in his arms seemed the source of uncomfortable feelings….

He dropped her. He was not going to go all poetic over a human.

"Ow!" Kagome's morning didn't get off to a good start. "What was that for?" She scrambled up and let out a wide yawn. She then alternated between massaging her sore back awkwardly with one arm and rubbing sleep out of her eyes. It was way too early to think about manners.

"We have arrived."

That caught Kagome's attention almost as much as her rude awakening. She twirled around with wide eyes and tried to take in as much of her surroundings as she could. They were on a hill, with a blue river winding around the base. The shortly cut grass swirled around the base of a tall, stone building atop the small mountain. Its structure was rounded, with no balconies and only a few small, square windows. Turrets poked the clear sky. Sesshomaru started walking toward heavy, metal doors. Kagome scrambled to catch up. The doors sung open with a slow creak once they arrived before the giant building. She swallowed her nervousness and followed Sesshomaru inside.

Stone floors clicked beneath her heels. The cold walls were occasionally covered with a skillfully woven tapestry, or decorated with a painting of one of the surrounding valleys. Way up high in the rafters birds shuffled and watched the two people below with beady eyes. As they moved down the narrowly twisting corridors torchlight flickered over Sesshomaru's fine features. He really was beautiful. Kagome forced her attention off of his face and onto the closed doors lining the walkway. She wondered what—if anything—lurked behind them. The castle seemed like a barren, lonely building. At one time it was filled with life; now it sat sadly on the hilltop like a great, abandoned church. Sesshomaru stopped before one of the doors and knocked heavily. The sound echoed throughout the empty hallways. Something noisily approached the door and swung it open.

The squat, green, bug-eyed toad wasn't the ugliest demon kagome'd ever seen, but it sure ranked in the top twenty. The bloated thing smiled up at Sesshomaru with pure adoration. "Sesshomaru!" Its voice was as rough as its pockmarked skin.

Sesshomaru nodded in acknowledgement. "Jaken. I trust you've kept my affairs in order." He pushed past the toad.

Jaken didn't respond to Sesshomaru. He was too occupied with the human female trailing in his lord's wake. A female smelling suspiciously of him. And wearing his outer shirt? The last time his master brought a female companion home, it hadn't ended well.

Kagome had learned long ago not to judge a book by its cover (or a demon by its face, for that matter). She bent down and smiled gently at the creature. "Hello Jaken! I'm Kagome, Sesshomaru's… guide." Jaken snorted at her friendly gesture and whisked into the room without an introduction. Kagome pursed her lips and followed him.

A fireplace stuck to one of the four walls lent warmth to the plush carpet. Rich red curtains with woven gold patterns were artfully arranged to frame a large, open window overlooking a courtyard. The few pieces of furniture were polished and adorned with carvings running along the dark wood. A desk and chair occupied a corner, next to stacks and stacked of yellowed parchment. Sesshomaru sat on before one such paper with a quill in one hand and bottle of ink in the other. He frowned at the document and shot an irritated glance at Jaken, who stood obediently by his side.

"Human food costs that much?"

Jaken fumbled in his rush to please his master. "Yes, yes! Prices are rising, you know—"

"—inflation." Sesshomaru interrupted. Kagome shot him a proud look from across the room.

"Well, whatever you call it, a pig doesn't cost what it used to. But it's good that your soldiers eat. They're strong men! Won't you reconsider hiring some demons though? They cost much less to take care of."

Sesshomaru tensed. Kagome felt his angry energy fill the room. "Jaken, what happened the last time a demon climbed too far up the ranks?"

Jaken swelled with pride at being able to supply an answer to Sesshomaru's sarcastic inquiry. "You dealt with the assassin well, my lord."

Sesshomaru shook his head and continued pawning over his papers. A few peaceful seconds passed, before Jaken's curiosity broke through his obedience. "Why is there a human girl here? Surely there are demon females to satisfy you! Much more beautiful, graceful women!"

Sesshomaru reacted before Kagome even had time to process the words. Jaken was dangling out the window by a withered foot, his bloated body bursting with fear. "If I need satisfaction, you are not to pass judgments on my bedmates. This human, however, is not one of them." With those words Sesshomaru released his grip. Jaken disappeared from view, leaving behind a high-pitched squawk of terror. A belated moment passed, and then an audible 'thump' shook the floor. Sesshomaru calmly returned to his seat.

Kagome (although angered at the toad's insults) couldn't help but feel sorry for Jaken. "That wasn't necessary." She reprimanded.

Sesshomaru brushed off her words with a slight raise and shrug of his shoulders. She was growing better at reading his body language. "He will survive."

A few peaceful seconds passed. Then Kagome opened her big mouth. "Before we leave can I see Inuyasha?"

Sesshomaru formulated a sarcastic response.

Kagome clarified: "Just to tell him I'm alright. Alive, I mean."

Sesshomaru honestly didn't care whether or not his idiot half-brother worried over a girl. What was the last one that got him into trouble? Kikyo, that was her name. Awful lot like Higurashi, actually. Anyway, he didn't really care about Inuyasha's feelings. What he did care about was the competence of his guide. Emotional distress injured humans, did it not? "You may speak to him briefly, but you will not leave my line of vision."

"And you won't kill him? He'll still be injured, you know. You hurt his ankle pretty badly."

"Why should I not kill him?" Sesshomaru's question wasn't lined with sarcasm. It held the genuine curiosity he'd displayed before.

"Why should you?" Kagome was sensitive about this topic. Her first impression of Sesshomaru hadn't exactly been a good one, and she always held the picture of a ferocious four-legged giant warily in her mind when her thoughts strayed to his beautiful body. She needed to remind herself of what that body was capable of.

Sesshomaru slammed the quill on the desk and snatched up the message he was unsuccessfully trying to respond to (the Southern had lord requested a loan). "Inuyasha disgraced my family name. I have full rights to his life."

Kagome put her hands on her hips, unconsciously mimicking her mother. "And how did he disgrace your family? Oh yeah—he had the audacity to be born!"

"That hanyou ran off and left his duties to me!" Sesshomaru picked up a piece of paper thrust it stiffly towards her for emphasis. "That half-wit doesn't know how to collect taxes, or construct roads! And while he romps around trying to fulfill an impossible wish I'm left buried underneath our father's memory." Sesshomaru visibly calmed and forced himself to rifle through the papers, occasionally picking out an important piece to lay atop a new pile. "Your vision of Inuyasha is clouded by pity. Don't presume to lecture me on what you know little of."

"Of course I pity him." Kagome talked softly, attempting to calm the angered demon. "His mother died. He was all alone."

Sesshomaru clenched his jaw while deftly picking up the newly-constructed pile of parchment. "And mine didn't?"

Kagome faltered mouth-open at Sesshomaru's words. He'd never revealed so much of himself before.

Sesshomaru cut off the conversation then and there. He poked his white head out the window, papers in hand. "Jaken! I am departing. I will be gone for a month at the least." Kagome cringed. "I trust you to handle any minor disputes."

A weak, "Thank you Lord Sesshomaru" floated up to the window.

Sesshomaru walked past Kagome with a stiff, "Follow me."

They exited the castle. Once outside Sesshomaru carefully folded the papers and tucked them into his shirt, next to the gun. He stood in front of Kagome, then hesitated for a moment. He growled quietly at his own indecisiveness before scooping her up and gracefully and leaping into the wind.

Kagome swallowed nervously. "I'm sorry your mother died."

Sesshomaru's hair shone golden in the air, intermingling with hers in a sky lit dance. "I am sorry as well." He ground out. And then a softer, "Thank you for your condolences."

A few minutes passed. Their mode of transportation was markedly less awkward than in the beginning. "Where are we headed?" Kagome asked.

"You are going to visit my brother. I will not interfere." His tones rumbled in his chest; she could feel his voice against her cheek.

"Thank you."

They glided over patchy red and yellow treetops. Sesshomaru noticed that overtop rotting leaves and the approaching frost, Kagome smelled of salty oils, sweet blood, and magic. It wasn't an unpleasant scent, for a human. A corner of his mind thought of his perfect, ivory mother. She'd smelled of spring flowers. He wondered why he still remembered.

The girl in his arms fluttered her eyelashes and smiled contentedly, eyes closed against the wind. They were traveling fast. Far up ahead Sesshomaru's excellent vision picked up a small red figure limping around a human village. He planned to let the girl go earlier and allow her to walk part of the way. He'd sit in the treetops and not interfere, but observe. Perhaps his brother would deserve a beating after all.