Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha!

Chapter 5: Just My Luck!
Kagome's POV

For the past week, Spirit seems to be warming up to me. Every night I would sit underneath the tree near the river and he'd be there just thinking I presume. I would always talk to him about my life, how I ended up in this time, about our quest, and the people and demons I've met on our journey. It's good to talk about all my problems and have someone just listen quietly. Of course that's the reason I never shared my problems with others because I don't want them to worry, especially when everyone has their own problems. Although Spirit comes to the nightly meeting, he keeps one yard distance between us, but the fact that he comes is enough to make me happy. Well, at least I know he had to have trusted me somewhat to meet me. I haven't seen Kagura, Naraku's bees or any demonic zombies for weeks. Naraku is definitely planning something, but that's what I'm worried about. Inuyasha can't seem to sense him either. The crescent moon tonight is beautifully bright.

Sesshoumaru's POV

That filthy hanyou, Naraku, will pay for underestimating me. That human girl, traveling with my insignificant half-brother had been informing me about her journey. It is not my concern, but she mentioned that she came from a different time period. The future…it sounds ridiculous, but not illogical. Her wardrobe, speech, and actions are completely different from the traditional human woman. This Tokyo she speaks of is a place where no demons exist. Her village has aroused my interest, and to think that someone is powerful enough to annihilate all demon race. I must confront this being, and confirm for myself. This wretched puppy form is not in my best interest. I will learn more about this Tokyo from listening to the girl's rambling. The moon is up, and our meeting is inevitable.

I had arrived at our usual meeting place and noticed the girl, sitting by the river. I sat down, making sure to keep my distance lest she dares attempt to stroke my fur again.

"Are you afraid of getting close to people?" The girl asked.

I stayed still, ignoring her question, but fear was far from the reason.

"You know, Inuyasha was distant at first too."

A growl rumbled within my throat. 'Don't compare me with that hanyou.'

"You are similar to Inuyasha in some ways, but your eyes remind me of…of Sesshoumaru."

At the sound of my name, I rose my head, but did nothing more.

"I told you about Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Land, who attempted to kill me on so many occasions, right? Yep, you remind me of that Sesshoumaru."

I looked toward the girl and glared at her.

"Haha…yep…I've seen that glare way too many times that it's carved into my memory by now. That's exactly what reminds me of him."

"Grrr…" 'How dare her take me as a joke.'

"Calm down, I didn't imply that you are ruthless. It's just that cold glare could match Sesshoumaru's, but you're much cuter than him."

"Grrr…." 'Insolent girl, you dare insult my appearance by comparing me to this mutt.'

"Okay, I give up; I won't compare you to him anymore. After all, everyone has their own good qualities, and it isn't fair to you or anyone else to be compared to another."

My growling subsided, but my glare was still directed at the girl, who didn't notice because her attention was directed toward the crescent moon.

"To be honest Spirit, I do fear Sesshoumaru, if I said I didn't I'd be lying, but he's also a mystery to me. Besides from the fact that he refuses to express himself openly, there are the little things he does that tells me that he isn't as cold as everyone believes he is."

I raised an eyebrow at her assumption, but her claims had sparked my interest. Her thoughts of me are beyond my concern, but which action of mine led her to believe that my character could be read or understood by a mere human girl.

"If Sesshoumaru was a heartless inuyoukai, then why does he care so much about a human child? If he was cold, then why didn't he kill Inuyasha on our many encounters, when he claimed that he despises him? Funny how can I see so much when every time I encounter him I could smell the burnt stench of acid eating away some tree, and see the oozing liquid launched at me? However, I learned true evil from meeting Naraku; therefore, Sesshoumaru can not be called evil. At least Sesshoumaru is honorable in his actions."

'Your intellect may have surpassed that hanyou, who is unworthy of being labeled as my half-brother, but don't think you can understand me, girl.'

"I must be crazy to praise a demon, who tried to kill me. However, Sesshoumaru is like an incomplete puzzle that's missing several important pieces, which makes the picture on the puzzle unreadable. This certain puzzle had struck my curiosity, and lured me to try and finish it. Well, they say that curiosity killed the cat, so I wouldn't be surprised if by attempting to complete this puzzle that I would never live to see the picture that lay hidden within it."

I heard some rustling of the grass, and knew that the girl has moved from her current position.

"It's getting late so I better get going. I don't want to hear Inuyasha's endless bickering about where I've been, and such."

The girl took two steps and turned around.

"How is it that you can always bring out the secrets I would never tell even my best friends?"

She tilted her head to the side, and smiled at me.

"But I'm glad I've met you."

'Hmmm...'

Kagome's POV

I had a very weird conversation with Spirit last night, which made me wonder why I had brought up Sesshoumaru in the first place. Sure I admit that he isn't, in my view, evil. He could, maybe even, be called nice, for Sesshoumaru that is, but I had no intention of voicing that out loud. Never the less have an audience present to hear my thoughts about him, but what had been said can not be changed. Well, at least Spirit won't be able to tell anyone about it, especially Sesshoumaru.

I felt a pull and instantly knew that a jewel shard was near.

"Inuyasha, I sensed a jewel shard northeast from here."

"About time! We've wasted weeks doing nothing."

I hopped on Inuyasha's back and he raced toward the jewel shard. As we got close enough, I saw what looked like a tiger youkai, standing on his two hind legs. He was twenty feet tall with yellow fangs, so huge that it could slice anyone in half with just one slash. He didn't have any weapon, but his claws are enough to shatter Tokyo to rubbles.

"The jewel shard is in his left shoulder," I told Inuyasha.

"Feh, give me the jewel shard or I'll just dig them from a pile of your rotting flesh, tiger."

"Hahaha…" The youkai roared in a deep voice. "What can a useless hanyou do to me, the great tiger youkai?"

"Grrr…shut the crap! Wind scar!"

The tiger youkai leapt out of the way and swung his claws at Inuyasha, who successfully dodged it. I took that time to aim my arrow at the youkai's left shoulder, and shot at him. Unfortunately, I had missed, but my arrow had hit his arm, which only managed to anger him.

"Foolish human, die!"

He charged at me, but Inuyasha grabbed me and jumped out of the way. Inuyasha took the opportunity to strike.

"Wind Scar!"

With his back turned, the youkai didn't react in time, and he dropped into clumps of bloody flesh. I held in my urge to puke, and dug out the jewel shard from the disgustingly, icky substance that was once a tiger youkai. Upon my touch, the shard was instantly purified. I walked up to Inuyasha and was about to thank him for saving me, but…

"Geez, couldn't you have been more helpful than standing there like a piece of meat, waiting to be chewed."

Sure he saved me, but does he have to be a jerk about it. It's not like I had been fighting my whole life like he was, so I can't help if my reaction is slower. Why can't he just give me a break, and be nice for once. I mean I did help him find the jewel shards. Sure I was the one that shattered it, but that's beyond the point.

"Next time just stay out of my way, and save me the trouble of saving your ass."

That is it.

"Sit! Could you have found the jewel shards without me? Sooorrry for being slow. I'm not a demon like you so I can't react quickly enough, and if you didn't want to save me, you could have just left me there to die. Arrgg…Sit! Sit! Sit!"

I was fuming, and if it was possible, my ears would be blowing steam right now. I had turned around and stomped away from Inuyasha. 'Urgh…that insensitive jerk!' Sometime I wished that feudal Japan was only a story I had written based on my imagination, but unfortunately this had to be reality. I was so angry that I didn't even noticed where I was going until I hit something rock solid and fell backward on my butt.

"Ouch! What did I just run into?" I rubbed my soar bottom and looked up. 'Kagome, you have the best luck in the world. You walked away from a jerk only to bump into a bigger, more dangerous jerk. I cursed Kami-sama for toying with my life.'

There standing in front of me was Sesshoumaru in all his armored glory. He glared dangerously at me, but I was too furious to cower in fear. I stood my ground, and gave him an equally intimidating glare. Thus started our silent glaring contest, but the silence was broken by him.

"Girl" Sesshoumaru said with a deep, warning voice.

"Youkai" I replied with a mocked voice.

Suddenly, I was thrown toward a tree with a clawed hand, gripping my throat. Why am I not surprised?

"You will not disrespect me."

"Unfortunately, I only respect those that has earned my respect," came my sharp reply.

"You are implying that the Lord of the Western Lands doesn't deserve respect from a mere human girl when he has earned respect from countless beings, humans and demons."

"You might be a lord, but that doesn't mean you've earned my respect. You can only earn respect after you've shown respect." I coughed out, but his grip was not tight enough to suffocate me right there. I suspected that he wanted me to talk or he could just be torturing me. I rather hope that the earlier statement be true. "What the humans and demons show you is not respect. They never cross your path because they fear you. They fear what you can, and will do to them if they anger you, but that is not respect. Respect is an honor gained by how you treat other beings in or out of your rank. If you can gain other's submission without the use of violence, only then will you truly receive respect."

I felt his grip loosen a millimeter. "Explain" he had demanded.

"For example, Rin respects you because you, a stranger, had shown compassion toward a child, who had been shunned by her village. You have saved her life, and respected her decision to stay with you. In return, Rin recognized you as her guardian, and never disobeyed or disrespected you. You have earned her respect without the use of force."

"You are foolish to suggest that a human's reasoning could be applied to the world of demons. Compassion is a weakness; only display of strength can ward off enemies as well as those humans with the intentions of exterminating demons. Demons and humans are of different nature."

"You can't place all humans in the same category. Even if demons and humans share different nature, they can still live together. If all humans were the same, then why isn't Rin afraid of you, instead she trusts you? If all humans are the same, then why did I not submit to your threats as the others? If all humans are the same, then why am I friends with a hanyou, when he's shunned by both humans and demons? We might be humans, but we are still individuals with different mindsets." Sesshoumaru still had his hand around my neck, but I could no longer feel the pressure. 'When had a life threat turned into a civil conversation? Wait! I'm actually having a conversation with…with Sesshoumaru! I must be dreaming.'

"Sesshoumaru-sama, where are you?" I heard a voice call in the distance.

Sesshoumaru released his hold on me, and I fell none too gently on my butt again.

"Don't expect me to be as tolerant of your behavior on our next encounter, girl." With that said he disappeared. Okay after all I've been through, now my heart starts pounding. My brain had registered danger way too late, no wonder I could never dodge attacks fast enough. 'On second thought, I just escaped death after angering Sesshoumaru, so I should be glad. Wait! Why was I here again?'

I stood up and rewind the events in my head. 'Duh! I was mad at Inuyasha.' As if on cue, Inuyasha showed up. "Where is that bastard?"

"Who?"

"Sesshoumaru" As he said that, he started sniffing me. "His scent is all over you, did he do anything to you?"

"No, we talked for a while, but he left." My simple answered earned me a surprised look from Inuyasha. I walked away before Inuyasha could question any further. However, as I walked further away, I couldn't help but remembered what Sesshoumaru said before he left. 'What did he mean…on our next encounter?'

I'm sorry I lost track of my story and didn't update for a long time. I had intended to stop updating this story because I went brain dead and didn't know how to continue it, but with my cousin's constant convincing, I decided to finally update. However, as the author of this story, I ask for you, the reviewer, to tell me if I should continue this story. Please review and tell me if you think I should continue this story, and if no reviews are sent my way, then I'll assume that you want me to discontinue the story. Thanks for those who have read and/or reviewed my story.

MiaHime