English

'thoughts'

'thoughts of Sesshomaru's beast'

It was a month after the incident, and Hermione was out in the woods again. She wasn't near the village anymore, but she would be able to return with apparition even if she did not know where exactly she was any longer. The village was having a small shortage of food, so Inuyasha and Miroku had decided to go hunting the next day. She had asked them if she could come along, but they had told her no because she was still too unexperienced. So now, she was out in her Animagus form, hunting for the first time in this form. Harry, Ron and she had had to hunt a few times while they were on the run in their seventh year. They didn't catch much, but it had helped against the hunger.

Today she wanted to hunt something big. Well, big but not too dangerous for her first time; she had reasoned with herself. After a long debate she decided on a deer. The debate had taken so long because she felt bad for killing the spirit animal of Harry, his parents and Snape. But it was good meat, and it would be good for the village too. Therefore, she was now sniffing out a deer while her scent was masked and her power signal in check. She picked up a trail and began to follow it on silent paws. The smell became stronger, and she run faster. Seeing her prey had stopped in the middle of a clearing she slowed down until she came to the edge of the clearing and crouched down behind a large bush. The deer was sniffing the air, looking around and moving its ears in all directions, making sure that it was safe.

After a while it seemed to be satisfied and it began to graze. She decided this was the perfect moment and readied herself for the attack. She jumped and as she was in the air, she saw something else jump from the other side of the clearing, something very big. There was no time to correct her curse, and it seemed neither could the other one. She had managed to tear the deer's jugular with her claws, so did the other predator, but they also collided head first into each other.

From the power of the impact they both flew back a few meters. She landed on the ground and had to wait a few moments for her dizziness to weaken. Shaking her head softly, she stood up and faced the other predator. Her Animagus form wasn't small, not in the least. She was very surprised that it was as big as double of her human height and had wondered many times how it was possible. But the other animal, or more correctly demon, was at least two times as big as her present self. It was a silver giant dog demon with a purple crescent moon on its forehead and magenta markings on his cheeks. Red eyes with blue pupils stared at her. The markings looked kind of familiar, but she couldn't remember from where.

The dog showed her his sharp teeth and she laid back her ears, cowering slightly and taking a few steps back. To her astonishment it then began to shrink and transform until Lord Sesshomaru stood before her.

HxS

After a long day of even longer and frustrating meetings, Sesshomaru had decided to go hunting and relive some build-up tension by killing things without anybody stopping him. He had already killed two boars and a few deer and was now searching for his next prey. On top of the meetings with other demons he also had to deal with human nobles today. However, the worst of all was the fact that his mother and retainers hadn't given up on a particular idea. They had started to pester him with it a few decades ago, but fortunately had stopped while Naraku was at large. Now they had started to harass him again with the idea of marriage. They wanted an heir for the Western Lands, and his mother wanted grand pups. They had been showing him drawings of females of all sorts. He had to admit they were beautiful, but they were not marriage material. He wanted to have a strong mate to bear him strong pups. And he had also a few other requirements like intelligence. Until now, none of the ones he had been shown were good enough. He also wasn't in a hurry to be married. So, he refused to meet any of the women and tried to ignore their badgering.

After a while he came to a clearing and saw a deer standing in the middle of it. It was making sure it was safe before it started grazing. He readied himself and jumped. While in the air, he saw another animal jumping out behind a large bush on the other side of the small clearing. They collided, after having killed the deer, and the force of the impact pushed him back a few meters.

He shook of the slight dizziness and looked at the animal who had collided with him. It seemed to be a cougar, but it was too large to be an ordinary animal. 'It has no smell, we cannot sense it.'

The cougar stood up shaking its head as well an looked at him. It was half his size, had brown fur and unusual brown eyes that he had seen somewhere before. He fletched his teeth, and when he saw that it backed away slightly and probably wouldn't attack him soon, he transformed. It was now bigger than him and it starred at him with wide surprised eyes, frozen to the spot. A few moments passed before it moved, and to his utter astonishment it started to shrink and transform until a woman stood before him. And it was a familiar woman – it was the foreigner that plagued his mind ever since she had disappeared.

She bowed to him in greeting and said: "Good evening, Lord Sesshomaru. I did not expect to meet you here at this hour and in these circumstances."

"Neither did this Sesshomaru."

He observed her closely.

"Why is this Sesshomaru not able to smell you? And how are you able to change forms? You are not a demon but neither an ordinary human."

She looked at him strangely and also a little surprised.

"I assumed Rin had told you. I am a witch from where Kagome is from, you could say. I am able to transform because of magic and hard training. The form is called 'Animagus form' in my world. As for my smell, I masked it with my magic as well to be able to hunt better."

As she said that she lifted the spell and her scent drifted to his nose. 'So, she disappeared with magic as well.'

Curios he asked her: "What are you doing here so far away from the village in the middle of the night?"

"I…" she hesitated, "I was hunting. The village is a bit short on food and could use some meat. Inuyasha and Miroku would not allow me to accompany them tomorrow, so I decided to go hunting alone. And forgive me for saying that, but if you had not attacked the deer as well, I would have been successful in my first hunt."

She held her head high and looked at him stubbornly. He lifted an eyebrow. He could tell there was more to it, but did not press her yet.

"Your first hunt?"

"As a cougar, yes. And my biggest prey as well."

"Hn. Since it was your first hunt, this Sesshomaru will leave the deer to you."

"Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru. May I ask, why you are out this late?"

"You may. This Sesshomaru was obviously hunting as well, but to relive some tensions."

She nodded understandingly.

"Have you done as this Sesshomaru demanded? Are you teaching Rin?"

She frowned slightly, but answered him: "Yes, I am teaching Rin. She has made great improvements, and we have already finished the book you gave to her. We are reading some of mine now."

He was surprised by that. She possessed books? In this time books were very valuable and only wealthy people could afford them or read them since teachers normally were costly as well. 'She said she loves reading.' 'Yes, but how can she afford them?' 'She said she is from where the young priestess is from, maybe books are more affordable there?' 'Hn.'

"Very well then. This Sesshomaru will bring more books tomorrow when Inuyasha and the monk have gone hunting."

She nodded and fidgeted for a moment, before she decided to speak and said: "Well, I probably should return to the village soon. Thank you again for letting me have the deer. I wish you a good night."

With these words she bowed, went to the dead deer and grabbed it by leg. Then, with a soft crack, she was gone.

'An interesting woman.' 'Indeed.'

AN: Thank you for your support! I hope you continue liking the story! I am always thankful for your feedback. If everything works as planed I will post another chapter tomorrow. So, look forward to it!

This story is now betaed by Pyo-Kiyo, I am very grateful for her help.

Thanks, and enjoy.