AN: Thank you all for your understanding. I will try to post at least once a week, probably at the weekend. Enjoy!

English

'thoughts'

'thoughts of Sesshomaru's beast'

"You mean Kagome is pregnant?" Hermione asked, her voice being a bit too high, and at the same time the priestess whispered: "I'm pregnant?"

Inuyasha came running inside, almost running into the sitting Lord Sesshomaru, while shouting: "What do you mean, Kagome is with pups? How do you fucking know that?!"

The demon lord growled at him and refused to respond, turning his head away and looking at Hermione instead. 'How is he able to tell, if someone is pregnant or not? She isn't showing yet.' She studied him, looking for an answer in his features but came up with nothing.

"Lord Sesshomaru, how are you able to tell that she is pregnant?"

"Through smell."

"Oh so, that's the weird smell on Kagome I could not place!" yelled Inuyasha.

Kagome looked mortified at him, then she narrowed her eyes.

"What do you mean by weird smell? Why did you not tell me? Inuyasha, you better run."

"Feh, I knew how you would react… Why do you want me to run…?" he asked oblivious, then turned his head to look her in the face.

He gulped, inched slowly away from her and then ran out of the hut, Kagome hot on his heels, yelling: "Come back here!"

"You told me to run! I'm not stupid!"

She could hear Lord Sesshomaru murmur: "That is debatable."

"Inuyasha, sit!"

There was a loud crash and a slight tremor, and then they continued to bicker. Hermione turned her attention back to the dog demon in front of her.

"So, you can really smell if someone is pregnant? What else can you tell by smell?"

She thought about the possibilities in medicine, but then a thought came to her. 'Can he also smell … that?'

"Wait, does that mean that you can smell when I … someone has … is in… the…?" she stammered uncontrollably and blushed red.

He smirked at her. He smirked!

"Do you mean if I can smell a female's cycle?"

She just nodded. His smirk grew even wider as she blushed even more.

"Yes, I can. But This Sesshomaru can smell a lot more, sometimes even if someone is healthy or not," he became serious again with his last sentence.

Trying to fight her blush down, she thought about the new information, which did not help her to stop blushing. So, he could smell if someone had their period. She thought back to his visits. Did she have hers when he was here? No, at least she thought not. But could he smell it before or after? How long? How did it smell to him?

Sesshomaru cleared his throat: "Now back to my request. Are you going to help this… me?"

She was still torn. Now she also did not want to miss the baby's birth. She would be gone for probably half a year, so it could be born before her return.

"I… I will help you. But I have some requests as well. Can Kagome's and Sango's families come as well? And I would like a room for my potions and one for my plants. And also, would I be able to send food to the village? I don't want them to starve and…" she was stopped in her rambling by the hand Lord Sesshomaru held up.

"It will be done. About your friends, they would have to travel without us at a later date since we have not much time to prepare you, and that is only if they agree."

She was a bit surprised. She had expected to have to fight him on her requests, but he consented.

"I… Thank you," she said softly, not really knowing what else to say.

"It is I who has to thank you. You are willing to come live at my palace, learn about the customs there and translate for me. It is the least I can do to make you feel comfortable at my house. Even if the half-breed has to come as well."

Hermione frowned. Again… that derogatory term. Was it just for his brother, or did he not like half-demons? And if that was the case, did he hate humans?

"What is bothering you?" Lord Sesshomaru asked her.

"Do you hate half demons? Or why do you call Inuyasha half-breed?"

"This Sesshomaru is not against human and demon relationships, at least not anymore. I do not hate half demons. I do not like my half-brother, for he is not very intelligent and has no manners. He is a disgrace to our name."

Hermione thought for a bit. She was glad that he wasn't prejudiced against half demons. But at the same time, she was saddened that he bore a grudge towards his brother.

"Do you have an idea, why that could be the case?"

"No. Why?" he asked, seeming a bit curious about what her point was.

"I don't know, but maybe Inuyasha never had the opportunity to learn these things."

Silence reined as they finished their cold tea and Sesshomaru thought about her words.

"If that should be the case, this Sesshomaru would be partially to blame, and I will try and rectify the lack of his education. Now go, ask your friends and pack your things. I will go look for Rin."

HxS

Harry was worried. He had been very happy for the last two days. He had proposed to Ginny, and she had said yes. However, now he was worried. The proposal to Ginny had been a day after he had spoken with Hermione on the phone. He had written to her a day later to let her know. When no answer came the day after, he tried calling her, but it said that the number was unavailable. Now it was a week later and there was still no sign of Hermione. It had happened over the years that she was so absorbed with her research that she forgot everything else, but never for this long.

He had talked to Ginny about his worry that something had happened to Hermione, and she had helped him calm down and think rationally. He had also informed the Weasleys and Hermione's other friends. Most of them were worried too, but some thought it was nothing. To be precise Ron and his wife Lavender thought she was lost in research and told him not to worry so soon. If Death Eaters had gotten her, they would have heard by now. This was a popular argument against his worrying.

Draco Malfoy's concern for Hermione's lack of response was the most surprising reaction for Harry. Yes, they were friends, but he did not think that it would go that deep. Malfoy had even offered his assistance to find Hermione.

So now they were at Harry's home and were thinking about how to proceed.

"To be clear, you last heard from her a week ago on the phone," Malfoy said and Harry nodded, "What did you talk about?"

"I told her about some of the people here, she said she would visit soon and that she missed us. I told her about my plan to ask Ginny to marry me."

"What else did she tell you?"

"I had written to her earlier that day, and she had written back that she was visiting a shrine. She also talked to me about it on the phone."

He frowned and tried to remember what she had said about the shrine.

"She told me about a shrine in Tokyo with a well called something with bones and a big holy tree. Oh, she also said she wanted to go there the next day. What was the name of the shrine again? It was something with 'H'. Hirushi? No. Higashi? No. Hi… Higu… Ah it was Higurashi!"

"Okay, that could be a lead. Do you know where she stayed?"

"No, but I think she wrote the name of the hotel to me once. I hope she stayed there."

"That is good. I will book us a flight to Tokyo for Friday. We should be able to have our affairs in order by then. Now, Potter, do you speak Japanese?"

"No."

"I thought so. Fortunately, I do, since my family has some business partners there. If that was not the case, we would have some difficulty asking around."

Harry groaned: "I didn't think about that."

"I always wonder, how you and Weasley were able to survive your school years and the war. Then I remember Granger was with you and I have my answer."

Harry did something very immature – he stuck out his tongue at Malfoy, who just rolled his eyes and made his way to the floo. He disappeared without another word, which wasn't a new occurrence.

Harry hoped they would find Hermione soon and that it would turn out that she just was absorbed with a research. She had to be fine. He could not bear to lose someone else, not his sister in all but blood.

AN: Thank you so much for your support! I hope you continue liking the story! I am always thankful for your feedback.

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

Thanks, and enjoy!