A/N: Enjoy the new chapter and like always let me know what you think!

o.O.o

Chapter Forty-Three, Travels

"You're sure the arsehole will come, won't you?" Inuyasha demanded irritatedly the next morning, hands tucked deeply into his sleeves. His silvery-white hair was once again messily framing his face and his fluffy ears twitched. The sun was creeping further up the horizon with every minute and Chiharu sighed, rubbing her hands together.

"Yes, he will come. He said he would."

"Sesshōmaru says a lot. Doesn't mean shit." Inuyasha gruffly responded and kicked at a stone and she blew a lock of dark hair out of her face. The first snow had fallen and made the world look so pure and innocent. So in contrast to how Sengoku jidai normally was.

"He—" Chiharu started, left arm propped up on the handle of her sword when suddenly she felt his aura fan out over her. "He's coming."

Mirōku and Sango both stiffened slightly and she heard Kagome gasp nervously. He looked as elegant as ever, golden eyes unreadable and the sun glinted off of his pale face. Beside him Jaken the Kappa, wooden staff swirling in his small hands, and his great dragon strutting out of the forest edge after him. His young human ward Ran was perched on its back and looked as bubbly and happy as ever.

Sesshōmaru's gaze cut through the air and met hers and she awkwardly curled her fingers into the material of her haori. Rin squealed in delight when she noticed her a moment later and Chiharu averted her eyes as the eight-year-old threw herself off her dragon and raced across the clearing, throwing herself at Chiharu with a cry.

"Chiharu-Sama!"

"Hello, Rin-chan. How have you been fairing?"

"R— I have been good, Chiharu-Sama."

"I'm so glad." Chiharu smiled and she the small child pulled up, until she was held against her hip. "Has Jaken been nice to you?"

"Master Jaken has attempted to teach Rin— to teach me to speak the right way."

"An insufferable if not impossible job—" Jaken whispered irritatedly and Chiharu glared at him.

"You are an insufferable if not impossible idiot." She snapped back and Kagome stared at her with furrowed eyebrows.

"Miko,"

She smiled up at him even if Inuyasha grumbled about the unfairness of it all and ran her fingers through her hair. He stoically met her eyes, youki washing over her in what she assumed was familiarity.

"Just know you ain't the boss of me, arsehole!" Inuyasha snapped and she sighed.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome snapped but Sesshōmaru ignored him flicked a lock of silver hair over his shoulder. Jaken however, did. He flailed his staff at Inuyasha and threw a string of impressive insults at his face. The scuffle that followed and quickly won by Inuyasha was not surprising. The punch to his face Sesshomaru delivered, however, was a bit sudden but put an end to Inuyasha's and Jaken's scuffle. It did, however, revive another round of petty sibling insults and Chiharu nervously ran her fingers through Rin's hair.

"Guys!" She hissed, blocking Inuyasha's next blow, and yanking him out of Sesshōmaru's way. Blocking Inuyasha was relatively easy, but blocking Sesshōmaru who knew how she fought and more importantly who was faster and stronger than her or Inuyasha, was another story. "Let's not do this now. We need each other."

"That arsehole—"

"Shut up, Inuyasha!" She snapped and held up placating hands to try to mediate the situation. "I— I know this might be difficult at first, but—"

—but, fuck what was she supposed to say?

Kagome cleared her throat delicately: "None of us pretends they know your history," she started slowly, carefully, hoping she wouldn't insult Inuyasha but mostly Sesshōmaru. "This, however, is only going to work if we manage to work together. That means, Inuyasha, no insults. And Sesshōmaru," — 'Sama' Chiharu mouthed and Kagome's face turned a deep pink before she squeaked — "Sama, I would be really grateful if you could share your plan with us."

"Yes," Chiharu agreed and amber eyes regarded her with a slight interest, "You've been tracking Naraku for just as long— He's been after you for different reasons, but for important reasons just the same."

In reality, Chiharu had no idea why Naraku was after Sesshōmaru, but at least he didn't react angrily at their obvious attempt at peace-making. Without another word, he turned on his heel and moved North, towards the mountains. Chiharu supposed it was the direction Sesshōmaru thought Naraku was at, holding something that looked like a stone. Inuyasha grumbled under his breath that sounded a lot like 'fuck my life' but in the end just threw his hands in the air and stomped after his older brother with a grimace. The rest of the group followed after him without a word. They reached the base of the mountain lands late that afternoon and started the trek upwards until twilight turned into darkness. The breeze was chilly and the pace Sesshōmaru had set was hard (or so she was to believe from Mirōku's mutterings and Kagome's complaints about her feet). With her strengthened endurance little faced her anymore. Rin seemed unfazed as well, trudging along happily and she smiled as the girl grinned and caught one of Shippō's magical toys. They got on like a house of fire.

I-I. ⌡. Γ┐

After a few days of travelling together, life started to regain some sort of routine and shape. Chiharu's friends and sister seemed to have grown accustomed to Sesshōmaru's presence and even Inuyasha managed to keep the insults to a minimum, although one evening he did follow after Sesshōmaru. They'd stayed away that evening several hours and Chiharu had never been more afraid for Inuyasha's safety than that evening, but he returned relatively unharmed (his face did look a bit purple). At least, whatever it was they'd discussed it hadn't ended it bloodshed and murder.

The group rose at dawn (under Jaken's loud wailing for them to get moving) and made camp late the afternoon when twilight fell. It was almost a week later when the first signs of trouble presented itself. Or that was what Chiharu had first assumed was the first sign of trouble. It had been Kagome's turn to take care of breakfast that morning and after a horrible bowl of what looked like oatmeal (it made even Inuyasha gag and he ate everything), they had an easy morning. An accident (Chiharu doubted it had been an accident) had left Mirōku in a bit of a bad shape.

Ah-and-Un was roped to a log, standing placidly while Sesshōmaru was out on official Daiyōkai business. Chiharu was seated near the bend of a small creek where they'd made camp and Mirōku, his injured arm tucked in his lap, staring at his reflection, his eyes occasionally but fearfully wandering to Sangō.

"You tried to grope Sangō again, didn't you?" She asked slowly when he felt her eyes on him and Mirōku smiled his I-can't-help-it-I'm-cursed-smile and Chiharu sighed aggravated. "You, Mirōku-kun are an idiot."

"That's what Sango-sama said too," Mirōku replied wistfully too and Chiharu pushed herself up her feet.

"You really are a massive idiot." She muttered carefully glancing at Sango who sat in the other side of the clearing, sharpening her boomerang-bone. Shippō and Rin were sprawled out next to her, a large range of colourful crayons littering the forest floor next to them, while Jaken watched them glumly, perched upon a massive rock.

"Well," she tried gently, "I'll go pick some herbs. Try not to kill him, Sango-chan."

Looking up from her work, Sangō wrinkled her nose slightly: "I make no promises. See if you can find Kagome-chan? She's been gone for ages."

"Perhaps she and Inuyasha—" Mirōku started lecherously and she kicked a stone at his face, grinning in satisfaction when it made a warm clinking-noise on impact.

"See you later, Mirōku." She replied lightly and tucked her thumb behind her obi, leaning her elbow on the handle of her katana. The branches of the trees ruffled in the slight breeze and she slid off down the hill, straying off the path, hoping to find spices and herbs they could use. With the cold weather, Chiharu was sure colds would follow quickly and having some ginger roots, garlic, onion and thyme would be wonderful even though not everything grew at this time of year. Chiharu came to greatly enjoy taking a morning stroll through the cool mist. With practised ease, her fingers trailing through the damp leaves of the under-bushes, plucking several and dropping them into her basket.

She'd worked contently through the morning, happy with the pace she was digging out ginger roots. It had begun to rain lightly, pattering down on the fallen leaves. Chiharu had just found scarlet caps, growing in tiny clumps beneath the thick roots of an oak tree, when the footsteps of her sister were rapidly approaching. Kagome stumbled over the roots of a tree, flushed from what looked like quite the exertion and fell flat on her face, sending arrows flailing over the forest floor. Also, her eyes were reddish and puffed which made it look like she'd cried recently — really recently and the scent of soil gave her a good indicator of what had happened.

"Nee-san?" She greeted slowly, squatting lowly and settling the basket at her feet. "Are you all right?"

Kagome lifted her red-face up to Chiharu and opened and closed her mouth several times: "I—"

"Is this about Kikyō?"

Cheeks still unusually flushed she shook her head, stammering as she spoke: "No— Yes, at first, but— You weren't lying!"

"You make zero sense, Onee-san."

"He really does really meditate every morning!" She shrieked.

"You mean Sesshōmaru?"

"Yes," she shrieked, face growing so red it matched Chiharu's hakama, "And he was really wearing— only his Hakama!"

"Ah, and that's why you're upset?"

"Yes!" She shrieked again and Chiharu winched.

"Well," she tried gently, "he does have nice abs."

With a face that bordered on purple, Kagome nodded, a subtle tension still lingering in her stiff frame: "Well, yes—"

"Did you stare?" Chiharu teased lightly, going for an easy grin. "I stared the first few mornings."

"Y-yes," she admitted, "he caught me."

"Really? You've had to vie really unsubtle for him to catch someone staring. Normally he doesn't' notice things like that— Well, because he doesn't care."

"He did, okay. Even asked me if I saw something I liked." Kagome snapped back.

"He did?" She asked and bails of laughter escaped her throat.

The whack she received from her elder sister had been expected yet, it did not deter her laughing. Kagome whacked her another time, using her math notebook (so she had been trying to do her homework) and Chiharu kicked her feet out from under her. She fell back with a yelp and grumbled from deep in her throat, looking as petulant as she'd had many times before when they'd fought.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," Kagome whispered, "I saw Kikyō too."

"I figured."

Tension melted from her features and she sat back, crossing her legs in front of her. Drawing her quiver close she started to collect her arrows. "I hate him!"

"You sat him, didn't you?"

"Yes,"

The rain was coming on a little stronger and Chiharu got to her feet, basket tucked beneath one arm and helped Kagome up with the other. "Say, was he half-naked when you left him?"

"Yes, why?"

"I do enjoy his abs."

"You are horrible," Kagome whispered, turning red again and Chiharu laughed loudly again.

"Honestly, I wish I could have seen your face—"

"Probably the exact same expression you wore when you stumbled in on me bathing, Miko." Sesshōmaru's voice rumbled coldly and although Chiharu felt her face flush, she sniggered embarrassedly anyway.

Kagome turned even redder (and Chiharu was rather surprised she could turn that colour) and bolted. Chiharu watched her form disappear and she exhaled out noisily. "I sometimes think you live to annoy me."

As much as she liked to tease her sister about it, Chiharu was secretly glad he was fully dressed. Hair damp from the rain, sticking to his form he was dressed in hakama and kosode. She could only imagine his haori, thrown across the branch of oak or sprawled out on a large rock like he usually did. Chiharu cocked her head to the side. It was hard to believe he enjoyed irritating her sister, or if he'd just been annoyed, and she leant against the rough bark of a tree.

"Your sister is—"

"Prudish?" Chiharu asked rhetorically.

"And are you?" He took a step closer to her and she felt her cheeks heat up slightly.

"Not necessarily."

"You know Miko, I have been wondering." He whispered before he ducked his head and his mouth slanted over hers, cutting short any reply she might have given. He explored her mouth with a bold sort of familiarity and her face grew hot.

She pushed herself up on her tiptoes to compensate for the difference in height and he tangled one hand into her hair and crushed her to him with the other. His grip on her was bruising and as the absurdity of the situation hit her, he pushed her none-to-gently up against the large oak tree she'd been digging beneath for roots. She wondered what had brought this on, yet as his mouth clamped down onto her neck, she forgot her cataloguing mind and moaned. His lips were evoking a rather pleasant sensation running down her spine. A very difficult sensation had settled below her bellybutton and she didn't even fight when he pushed her haori of her shoulder, nibbling his way down to where her neck smoothly turned into her shoulder.

She was quite certain he was sucking a hickey on her neck, which would be healed before the hour was gone and she sighed, rather contently, as he pressed his hips against hers. She wasn't even sure what had happened to his haori, but suddenly her fingers were running over his chest, curving a path across his ribcage, tracing purple markings curl around his hipbones. He shuddered, pressing her into the tree harder and—

His heat was suddenly gone, off of her and she squeaked when she slipped and fell into the little spring, dunking her head under the freezing water. When she got up for air and swatted her long dark hair out of her face, he was crouched down in front of her, long hair tousling in the breeze.

Breathing in sharply she ignored the urge to splash water in his direction and pulled herself up on the shore: "What did you that for? You kiss me and then—"

"You kissed me back," he told her coldly and pressed his index finger beneath her chin, his breath fanning out over her cheek. "Tell me, Miko, do you love me?"

Her face paled slightly, eyes widening: "What?"

"Do you love me? That human notion— Love. Is that what you feel for me?"

"I— I'm not sure what you mean."

He yanked her chin closer, their noses bumping: "I think you do."

And still flustered from their previous activity, Chiharu could only stare.

To be continued…

A/N: And that was chapter forty-three. The next chapter will actually be on time for once, but I have been quite busy with rereading my story, correcting typo's and grammatical errors but most of all, going over my original plan with this story and I realised we were reaching the end much faster than I'd expected. Either way, let me know what you all think, because ladies and gentleman, we're reaching the end.

Inuyasha does not belong to me but to Rumiko Takahashi