"Kazumi-san!"

"Yes, Rin?"

"Catch me!"

I turned around in time to see RIn jumping off of a tree branch. What the hell was that kappa doing?! He obviously wasn't watching Rin! I adjusted myself to catch her. Once I placed her on the ground, I gave her a stern scolding.

"Don't do that again, you scared me half to death!"

"But it was so fun!"

"Take this advice from me. A lot of the things that look fun will either get you seriously hurt, or make Sesshomaru angry at you. I know because I've made the similar mistakes."

"Really? Like when?"

"Let me think… There was once that I went exploring in the manor and Sesshomaru got angry at me. Another time I talked back in a bad tone and that didn't end well. I hurt myself another time and he wasn't happy about that either. Oh, and there was this one time that-"

"Do you plan on filling her head with ideas?" Sesshomaru asked me coolly.

"No. I'm giving her examples of what not to do. Now before I forget, where's the little imp?"

Rin pointed to behind a tree, and I went. Just as she said, the kappa was there. After letting him speak to the heel of my shoe, I got Rin and went to take a bath. There was a hot spring right around the corner from where we had set up camp. After bathing Rin, I took her back to the camp before going back to take my own bath. With all the danger now-a-days, there was no such thing as being too careful.

Once I was in the water, my body relaxed beyond expectation. After scrubbing, I sat in the water and closed my eyes. Having a shard of the sacred jewel around my neck made me feel as though everything was after me, but nothing calms the nerves like a nice bath. As I soaked, I kept an ear out for anything that seemed out of place.

Just as I was about to get out the water, I heard the crunching of twigs. I quickly swung the jewel around so it was on my back before I looked up and noticed Sesshomaru looking at me from the edge of the hot spring. Heat crept up to my face as I stared into his eyes. After some seconds, my arms flailed into the water to cover my chest and I cowered behind a rock.

"Wh-what are you doing here?!"

"You were taking too long." He said as he held out a kimono to me. "You have two minutes to get dressed."

I carefully went over to him and took the kimono. He turned around and I got out the water. I managed to get dressed for the most part. I was tying my obi when Sesshomaru faced me again. When I finished, we walked back to where Rin, Ah-Un, and Jaken were.

"That reminded me of the first time we met." I admitted out loud. "I was sick and you only kept me alive because you needed me to answer your questions."

Sesshomaru didn't say anything in reply, but I knew he was listening.

"It's kind of amazing how far we've come. It's actually a little surprising."

Sesshomaru stopped walking. I looked at him for a reason, but he instead drew his poison whip and struck at the air. A Saimyosho fell to the ground, cut in half. Now that I think about it…

"How many of those have you killed?" I asked Sesshomaru.

He was silent again. This was a different type of silence. This was a 'I don't want to answer that question' silence.

"Have you been taking care of these things all this time? Well, I'm not much help when it comes to those things, and somebody has to I guess."

We continued to walk in silence. Just a few more episodes and then the final act, then everything's over. Now that I've been here for so long, I don't want to go back to my normal, day to day life. I want to stay with Sesshomaru.

"Do you regret ever meeting me the way you did?" I asked aloud.

Sesshomaru's eyebrow arched, asking why I suddenly popped the question.

"We didn't exactly meet in the best way possible, so I was wondering if you would have liked to meet me in a more pleasant way."

"It does not matter how we met, so long as we did."

"Well aren't you romantic."

"And you?" Sesshomaru asked back.

"I'm glad we met the way that we did. I was introduced to your mean side before I met your perverted side, so I'm glad." I kidded.

"I have yet to meet the intelligent side of you." Sesshomaru stated.

"Would you like to see now? Ask any question you'd like, and I'll answer to the best of my ability." I told him.

"…What is the emotion humans call love?"

I tripped on my feet. I was not expecting that. I was expecting something like, "Explain the stars" or "how do I defeat Naraku" heck, I'd expect "what are emotions" before that. I managed to catch myself before falling. Sesshomaru stopped walking and was staring at me. He seriously wanted me to answer this question. Didn't we already talk about this?

"Well, uh, love isn't a good thing to ask about." I explained.

"Why not?"

"Well, there are several different answers as to what love is. It depends on the person who is answering."

"Then tell me what love is to you."

"Okay, to start out, love is the strongest of all emotions. It gives people the ability to do things they usually couldn't do and can make them do some crazy things." I said. "It's what makes the world worth-while... Love appears in different way to different people though. Some become easily embarrassed, others won't be able to stop talking, sometimes a person is left silent. Heck, some people get confused and act out of ordinary because of it."

"How do you feel towards this Sesshomaru?"

I blushed and looked down. "…Love is extremely hard to confess for some people, and lead them to avoid answering questions directly."

"Then you love this Sesshomaru."

"…you shouldn't speak in third person. It will confuse Rin."

"Is another sign of love the ability to change topic without difficulty?"

"…We should get back, Rin must be-"

Sesshomaru had me in his grip and had his lips pressed against mine in a matter of seconds. He held onto me tightly and pressed himself against me. We hadn't shared a kiss in the longest time... When we separated from each other, I wasn't surprised by my yearning for more. Love sure is a crazy thing.