Disclaimer: I doughnut own Inuyasha... I only own a computer.. but I go to a smart people school, so think with enough hacking, I could own Inuyasha... if I did, I think it would become "Sesshoumaru, a Feudal Prince" Much catchier...

Recap: Angel woke up at Sesshoumaru's home. They had some fun conversations. It was a boring chapter... (this sounds like the cards on Adult Swim)

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"Ah, sugoi," Angel said, complimenting the food. "This is really good."

"Yes, it is one of my favorites," Sesshoumaru replied. Both sat, cross-legged on silk pillows at the small breakfast table, eating across from each other.

"I'm sorry. I'm not very good at small talk. I never attempt to pursue pointless fields," she explained.

"I agree. Why don't we discuss matter of greater importance?" he suggested. "Such as how long are you planning to stay, and what are you planning on doing in the mean time?"

"I'm only staying until I can find a way to get where I belong. As for what I'm planning on doing, I suppose I would be devoting most of my energy to finding a way to either create or find a portal back to my own world..." For a moment, her thoughts traveled back to the words Naraku had spoken in her dream. 'You are already back in your own world.'

"After we finish eating, I will show you my library. It has various tomes on mystical subjects. I think you will be able to find what you are looking for," he offered.

"You are being really generous, Sesshoumaru," she said sounding thankful, but then her tone became very suspicious. "What's the catch?"

"Do I look like Naraku? I have my own reasons," he shut off the subject. There was a period of silence following. During this time, Sesshoumaru noticed that, despite her high praise of the food, she didn't seem to be eating much. By the time he finished his, hers was not even half gone. "Are you finished?"

"Oh," she came out from inside her head. "Yes. It is very good, but can't really eat right now..." She placed a hand over her stomach, reminding him of her wound. "This isn't healing as fast as it should. It's very aggravating."

"I know the feeling..." he said, remembering many times after harsh battles (which he won, of course) wounds that took their sweet time healing. He was suppressing all memories to do with Inuyasha. "Well, if you are finished eating, I will show you the library."

"That sounds good to me, but there is something I've been meaning to ask you," she told him as they both got up and left the room together.

"What is it?"

"Well, when I fell asleep in the forest, I was a little muddy," she said, using a hand gesture to emphasize 'little'.

"That's an understatement," he scoffed.

"Oh, as if you're always impeccably clean," she scoffed right back. "Anyway, when I woke up, I was cleaned up..."

"And you were wondering who cleaned you?" Sesshoumaru ventured. "It was not I that cleaned you."

"Well, that was part of it. But there are also two other parts to the question. How long was I asleep? And how was I moved around and even bathed without being woken up? Normally, stress causes me to be a very light sleeper," Angel said. "Especially when I am injured."

"I can answer the first question," he informed her. "You slept through the night, to about an hour past dawn. As for why you did not wake up, I cannot be sure. Perhaps some herbs in the bathwater helped calm you, but as for before that, I cannot even venture a guess."

"Maybe... I suppose that could be some of it. I do feel less pressure around my spine... My classmates don't know how lucky that are to have me," she managed a small smile. She continued before he even asked what she meant, "I give them massages when we have big exams or projects coming up, when we are all under stress. But unfortunately, none of them can give a decent stress relieving anything."

"Class-mates?" Sesshoumaru asked, not understand that word, but getting the rest of what she said.

"No, not mate, in the sense that you understand it. My peers, people I got to school and learn with," she explained to him.

"I understand the majority of what you said, but you are from another world, another time, of course things are different," he said, trying to get her to stop talking. He found it discouraging that there were things this woman knew about that he had no comprehension of, probably a great many things. "We have arrived at my library." He was blessed to find her silent, caught in awe with her mouth agape for a good number of seconds before recovering herself.

"Oh my, this is enormous," she said quietly.

"This is my personal and family collection," he told her. "Passed down and added to through generations. If you need to find something, it is probably here."

"How will I ever know where to look?" The room really was enormous. Angel had a sneaking suspicion that, without the presence of the books, the room could hold Sesshoumaru's father fully transformed. "Is there a form of organization?"

"Only by year of collection, I believe," he sighed. "And even that has gotten a bit mixed up over time. But I know my father had a number of books on portals, and they would be in a more recent section."

"Thank you, Sesshoumaru," she bowed, surprising him. "I don't know how I can repay you for everything you've done, sharing your home, your food, this magnificent library..."

For some odd reason, Sesshoumaru found that it felt somehow wrong for her to so submissive. Probably just because he was used to seeing her be defiant and standoffish. He decided to try a little experiment... on her temper.

"You could begin by leaving as soon as you find what you are looking for," he said, sounding bored as per usual.

"That's what I was planning on doing anyway," Angel huffed. "Besides, I declined your original offer. I was doing just fine on my own."

"Really? I don't think I'd like to see what you deem as a bad situation... You were, after all, being successfully stalked by Naraku," he, oh so kindly, reminded her.

"Tetsusaiga..." She knew it probably wasn't the smartest move, a sharp kick in the pride, but her own pride refused to let her back off of the challenge, no matter how true his statements.

"I don't need it anymore, now that I have Toukijin," he informed her.

"Really you seemed pretty damn thankful when I gave it to you yesterday-"

"But did I actually thank you?"

"Inuyasha showed up."

"I dropped the Tetsusaiga."

"To catch me. But if you really don't want the Tetsusaiga anymore, then this is what I'd call an ironic situation."

"What do you mean? (I do still want to kill my brother by the way)."

"Now that you can finally hold it without being burned by the barrier, you don't want it. If that truly is the case. But you seem to be nearly as stubborn as I am, so you probably aren't as willing to give up your desire to get the Tetsusaiga as you are trying to make it seem," she paused but then continued, ignoring his gesture showing that he was about to speak. "I know that you do have a sword more powerful than it now, but you still want to prove that you are the rightful master of the Tetsusaiga, and that it was a momentary lapse in judgment that made your father leave it to Inuyasha."

"Stop trying to psychoanalyze me, woman!" he ordered, getting a slightly fierce tone in his voice. Then, he realized that the tables had been turned on him. He disliked it immensely. He had purposely sparked her temper to start an argument about her, but instead she made it about him and the Tetsusaiga, causing his control slip just a fraction but enough to lose focus of his own motives for a moment. He regained his composure and said in his driest, most bored voice, "The more recent books are over there." He pointed to stacks to the left of the door.

"Party pooper..." she grumped as she stalked off to the cases. She pulled out the first book she touched and sat in a chair nearby. Sesshoumaru did the same, sitting a good distance away (though still within book-throwing distance). Each sat and read quietly for a time until Angel jumped out of her seat as if she had been pricked and crossed over to Sesshoumaru. "Sesshoumaru, could you take a look at this? I'm sure I must have read it wrong..."

"Samuishi, second son of the Lord of the Southern Lands, and his daughter mysteriously disappeared after he claimed to have discovered a new way of creating portal to other worlds. Both are assumed to have been killed during a raid on their home. The body of his mate was... What is this to us? The Lord refused to give his son's research to anyone," Sesshoumaru commented.

"Samuishi is my father's name, and that portrait there," she pointed to the next page at what seemed to be an oil painting instead of block printing. "That's a picture of my father. Normally, I'd assume he was an ancestor, but I'm not from this world. When exactly did you get this?"

"This is one of the books I received more recently. Less than twenty years ago," he told her.

"My father told me he came from another world... Do you know exactly how many years ago this book was written?"

"Eighteen, I believe. Do you really think that he is your father?"

"I think it's very possible. I'm eighteen... This can't be possible." Her nightmare flashed through her mind once more. Why was Naraku telling her those things when she hadn't even known? Could it have been another premonition, she hadn't had one in a long time. She hoped that it wasn't a premonition, because that might mean the end of the dream...

"Is there something that you failed to mention? Whatever it is, it may help us find what we are looking for," Sesshoumaru asked, offering her a chance.

"Well, yes... in the dream that I had, Naraku said some things. I put it off as dreamworld nonsense, but now it seems like they may hold some truth..."

"What did he say?" he pressed.

"That this is my world, or rather that I am in my world, same thing..."

"Perhaps not. I believe I have a book somewhere that says something about using dreams as passageways to other worlds..."

"Perhaps... but then how would you explain this picture of my father? What if what Naraku said was the truth?"

"When has Naraku ever told the truth? He bends people to his will with lies and deceit, pitting them against each other using hate, doing whatever it takes to get what he wants," he listed off.

"I can't argue with the truth. Now, can I?" she quipped. "But I still can't help but wonder. Do you think Naraku would tell the truth if it was in his best interest, helped him get what he wanted?"

"There is always the possibility..." he mused. "But if he did, it would be an extremely warped and twisted version of the truth. Is there anything else? I don't think it would irk you so much if it were only this."

"Yes, there is one more thing, but I'd rather not say it just yet. I don't think it will matter for a portal," she nearly begged.

"For now, but I will hold you to your word," he promised.

"Thank you. And now, I think it's time I had a little chat with my father..."