Third POV

"So I'm asking about Fragments of the Shikon no Tama, know of any?" Inuyasha asked two water imps who he'd found as Kagome bathed.

"About the Shikon no Tama…" one of them said.

"It's rumored that obtaining it will increase one's spiritual power…" another said.

"Then you know of it?" Inuyasha asked them.

"He's asking if you know of it…" the first one told the second.

"Know of what?" the second asked.

"These guys are morons. Let's go, Inuyasha-sama…" Myoga told his master.

"So… what about the Shikon no Tama?" one of the imps asked.

"Oooh… that's quite handy, isn't it?" the other asked.

"Aah… It's rumored that obtaining it will increase one's spiritual power…" the first said.

"The Shikon no Tama." The second said making Inuyasha growl at them before jumping out of the area towards Kagome.

"Inuyasha-sama, it's been three days since we left the village and we have yet to find any clues." Myoga pointed out to him.

"Yeah, there might not be any in the Musashi area." Inuyasha said before looking down at the water to see Kagome splashing around in the water.

"Aah… this feels soooo nice…" she said happily before sitting down and thinking of recent events.

FLASHBACK

"This is the end for you Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha shouted attacking him once more. Inuyasha swung his sword and sliced into Sesshomaru's chest, pushing him back into the ribcage of their father.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Jaken called out for him. One thing we'd forgotten was that Amane was behind Sesshomaru… When Sesshomaru fell it pushed her out of the body cavity and she fell with the large Youkai, screaming.

"Amane!" Kagome called to her friend as she and Inuyasha went to the large hole only to see a white light flying away from them.

PRESENT

We weren't able to try and find her before the portal closed and we had to leave. Kagome thought to herself as she picked up some water to wash her face. She heard something off to the side. She looked and screamed at what she saw making Inuyasha fall to the ground in surprise.

"Wha… what the hell? You're the one who took your clothes off!" he reminded her.

"Idiot! It's not that!" she told him. "My clothes! Get them back!" she said pointing to a monkey bounding away from them.

"Monkey?" Inuyasha asked. They both followed the Monkey to a man who was now looking through Kagome's clothes. "Hey, you!"

"Give me back my clothes!" Kagome ordered.

"Who… who are you?!" the man asked pulling out his sword. "You're a suspicious lot!"

"That's my line." Inuyasha told him placing his foot on the side of the man's head and pushing him down slightly.

Amane POV

I sat in a hot spring washing the dirt and grime of travel from my body as I assumed Sesshomaru or Jaken (under Sesshomaru's order) was standing watch. It was kinda weird, knowing I was being watched out for. Weird, but nice. I'd laid my armor out to dry as I bathed and now all I had to do was wait. Should I go back to the village somehow? I had a mission I had to complete, but was it better traveling with Sesshomaru or on my own? If I made my way back to the village, would Kagome still be there or would she be traveling with Inuyasha? What should I do? I sighed at all the questions surrounding me as I got out of the hot spring and dried myself off quickly before changing back into my now dry armor. I made my way back to camp to find Sesshomaru gone, as he was at times and Jaken cooking some fish he'd caught for dinner. I went to my pack and pulled out some simple things I'd bought back in a village we'd past some time ago and some berries I'd found earlier in the day. I figured Jaken wouldn't eat the food from the village so I just separated the berries into two even groups deciding to still offer some of the human food to the toad.

"Jaken, do you want something that I brought over from that village?" I asked him.

"Why would I want that when I have this right here?" he asked me rudely.

"Fine, more for me then." I said sitting across from him next to the fire.

Third POV

After getting dressed Kagome offered the strange man some food and tea which he ate greedily.

"Inuyasha, did you want to eat, too?" she asked him offering him a bag of potato chips.

"Don't need it." He told her.

"If you eat something I'll have less to carry." She told him.

"Well, then, why do you brings so much stuff every time you come back through the well?!" he asked her.

"Well, there's a change of clothes, my homework…" she listed off.

"These dried potatoes were delicious…" the man said slamming the bag closed between his hands. "You have my thanks, young lady."

"Umm… I… I'm Kagome. And this is Inuyasha. And…" the man slapped his face as Myoga drank some of his blood. "That's Myoga-jii-chan, the flea." She said with a smile.

Who are these people? He questioned curiously.

"So you've been in trouble since you were separated from your attendants?" Kagome asked him remembering what he'd told them before they ate. "You from a rich family or something?"

"Though I cannot reveal my full identity I can tell you I am the one called Nobunaga." He told her making her gasp.

No… Nobunaga!? Wait till I tell Ama… her face fell slightly at her thoughts but she perked back up quickly.

"Uh… umm… please shake my hand! It's a pleasure to meet you!" she told him shaking his hand like a mad woman.

"Hey you, what's with the change of attitude?" Inuyasha asked her.

"He's Oda Nobunaga.. don't you know?! He's a super famous person!" she told him before pulling out her textbook. "When he was young, Oda Nobunaga was known as the fool of Owari, but then, in the year 1560, he defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto at the Battle of Okefhazama and…"

"What's that you're reading from?" Inuyasha asked her.

"Umm… I'm sorry, but… I'm not that Oda person…" Nobunaga told Kagome.

"Eh? You're not?" she asked him confused.

"Thank you for the food." He said standing up. "I must be going now. I come from Takeda. I'm not to be mistaken with that fool of Owari. Farewell then. I have an important mission, you see." He said walking away from them.

Ah… Inuyasha was about to warn him of something, but he didn't really need to? Did he?

He's not Oda Nobunaga… Kagome thought.

"There's a cliff right there…" Inuyasha said after the man had already fallen down the short cliff.

But he is a fool though.

Amane POV

I walked through a small village with Jaken by my side so these people would trust me more. A lot of human villages don't trust that not all Youkai mean them harm so if anyone was seen with one they would trade or sell to them. Sesshomaru had given me some money when he'd left us alone the first time so I'd be able to buy what I needed that the forest couldn't supply. While the forest supplied much for our travels there were other things we would need later on our travels that we may not be able to provide ourselves. If I bought meet I could keep it cold myself for quite some time before we would need to cook it. So that's what I'd decided to do.

"Listen, you better not go hiding those girls…" I heard a man say. I followed the voice to see a man on a horse leading a train of women away from the village. "They're all to be presented to the Lord without exception."

"What on earth is he doing with all those girls from all over the country?" one of the village men asked. All over the country?

"It is said that none of the girls who enter that castle ever return…" another man said. I thought about their words before going back to Jaken at the edge of the forest. Looks like I wouldn't be buying anything from here after all. I thought back to those women being led away. None of them ever leave the castle again, hmm? Most likely a Youkai possessing the Lord of the castle to get what he wants from them. But what could he want? Women, obviously. But what is it that only women can provide a Youkai? Sex? Food? Oh well, not my problem.

Third POV

Inuyasha and Kagome followed Nobunaga to a village as women were being led away by a man on a horse.

"Hey, Kagome, why do we have to hang around this guy still?" Inuyasha asked her confused.

"Do you really think its okay to leave him on his own?" she asked him.

"Just between us," a villager said loud enough so they could hear. "I've heard that the Lord of the castle has been possessed by a Mono No Ke…" Inuyasha stepped on Nobunaga's back pushing his head down into the bushes so he and Kagome could hear more. That night they chose to go to the castle to help Nobunaga find his princess. Once found Myoga woke her by sucking her blood and they made to leave the castle, but not before revealing the young Lord was a Toad Demon.

Amane POV

Jaken was sleeping close to the fire as I put my things away in my bag before laying down on the ground and staring up at the clear sky. It was weird. The sky is the same as it is in the future but here you could actually see the stars. I'd always loved astrology ever since I was a kid and getting the chance to see them like this was a dream come true. Of course in this dream I wasn't in the past with two demons and my grandfather was still alive, but still living quite a dream.

I heard someone getting closer and quickly sat up only to see Sesshomaru coming closer to us before sitting in front of a tree and leaning against it.

"Welcome back, I guess." I said before laying back down on my bag staring at the stars. "Where were you?" he didn't answer, which was normal. It'd only been a few days since he'd saved me from falling to my death, but we've all developed a routine. Jaken would annoy me by talking down to me, which I would yell at him and threaten to kill him a few times to get him to shut up. Sesshomaru would stay silent the entire time even when I tried to pull him into conversations. Sesshomaru was always at the head of our little group while Jaken and I followed him except when I tried to talk to him then I would walk next to him. And that of course would cause Jaken to screech some more and I would threaten to kill or maim him again. Sesshomaru didn't say much to me though so I'd go back to my place behind him and walk quietly for a while. Then we'd start the whole thing over again. Cruddy routine but a routine none the less.

"Why are you staring at the stars?" Sesshomaru asked me suddenly. I looked to him slightly shocked he spoke to me finally since I'd helped him.

"The stars are beautiful here." I told him simply.

"There are no stars where you come from?" he asked me.

"It's the same stars, but we can't see them as easily. Over many years we've polluted our world and we can't see the stars as well as we used to even 20 years earlier." I explained to him. He just stared at me thinking about my words, I guessed, before looking up at the stars. "My grandfather taught me all about astrology when he was still alive and after he died I still taught myself everything I could about the subject."

"Astrology?" he asked me.

"The study of the stars and planets. Pretty much anything to do with space and things like that." I told him.

"Explain." He ordered me. I smiled and started telling him everything about astrology. He asked for more information on the planets when I started telling him more about them until I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open.

The next morning I woke to the sun in my eyes. I squinted up at the sun before sitting up and stretching my limbs. I'd forgotten how nice it was to just talk to someone most the night. I gathered my things and got up, placed my pack on my back, and joined the two Youkai before we started walking again. We walked for hours in silence before we came across a Youkai who challenged Sesshomaru. The Youkai Lord didn't even need to do much in the fight before killing him. I think the fight took all of 5 seconds, and that's giving the other Youkai a lot of credit.

"Once again, My Lord, you have proven none can match you!" Jaken said to Sesshomaru.

"Could you be more of a kiss ass?" I asked the little toad who glared at me. "That Youkai was nowhere even close to Sesshomaru's level and we all know it."

"That's Lord Sesshomaru to you woman!" he shouted at me.

"Oh, shut up you little toad." I told him irritated. He opened his mouth to say something but was silenced by Sesshomaru's foot his face. "I suppose that means you agree." I said to Sesshomaru who was holding an arm in his hand. "What are you doing with that?"

"Come." He told us before turning and walking away. I opened my mouth to say something to him but closed it before following him with Jaken close behind us. We walked for most the day before getting to a clearing. Jaken set up camp and I knelt next to Sesshomaru with a bottle of water and a bowl. This was also a bit of a routine. He'd take an arm and I'd attach it. He'd test it and it'd fail a few days or weeks later. I poured the water into the bowl as he removed his arm from his sleeve and held the other arm having flesh meet flesh. I placed my hand in the bowl getting it good and wet before placing it where the two different skins met and focused. The two skins melded at that one point and I felt everything meld underneath.

"Okay. I'm all done." I told him before I grabbed a rag and wiped off the remaining water from my hand. He lifted the three fingered arm over his head. I could feel the arm failing little by little but it would last for a while. I'd hoped.