I do not own Inuyasha. Please read and review. This one is all drama, no humor, sorry. Still please review.

Melissa was sitting in a corner next to Rin who was laying on a futon. Sango was still sitting with Kagome and she and Keade were crushing herbs. Both Sango's daughters were using Melissa's lap as a pillow and she had the baby in her arms. He had no idea what song she was singing, or what the words meant, but the melody had soothed the children to sleep.

Inuyasha and Miroku entered with Sesshomaru and went directly to their wives. "How's your head?" Inuyasha asked Kagome taking a seat beside her while Miroku sat next to Sango. Sesshomaru spared them a glance then went to where his girls were and sat near Melissa.

She poked him in the shoulder then pointed to Kagome. "Mama!" She whispered excitedly.

"Yes, I know. I could smell that she was with child last time I was here but felt it was not my place to say anything when my brother had not yet realized it." He told her softly. She turned her head to look at him, tilting it to the side as she listened. After a moment she grinned, she needed a moment to work through what he had said but she understood.

He turned his head to look directly at her just as she was starting to look away. His eyes narrowed. He took her chin in a clawed hand and turned her face back to him. He had seen earlier that she had a black eye, but by the light of the lamps Kagome had lit he could now tell that her black eye was half healed. This had not happened during the attack tonight.

"Explain this!" Sesshomaru barked at his brother pointing at her face. One of the children in her lap stirred at his raised voice but then stuck her thumb in her mouth and fell back into a deep sleep.

"She got in a brawl with some of the village men the other day. Most of the people understand she's foreign, but we have one guy here who's been stirring up trouble as long as I've been here. They've been at each other's throats since day one. Apparently in America it's ok for women to help do men's work, and he gets offended when she does. I've told her not to help him since he's an asshole about it but..."

"I no help Kojo." Melissa interrupted pointing at her eye. "This I no help."

"What do you mean?" Inuyasha asked, frowning. "He hit you for not helping or something?"

"Inuyasha, I do not care why he hit her. If your man ever lays another finger on her I will kill him."

"Sesshomaru, I won't stop you. I've talked to him. Kagome, Keade, and Miroku have all talked to him. I've even roughed him up. It's not sinking in and we are seriously talking about running him out of town for all the trouble he's caused. If he hits her again feel free to kill him, but you might have to find him first."

Sesshomaru turned his back on Inuyasha, focusing solely on Melissa. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"I no help Kojo." She replied emphatically, shaking her head. "He bad. He touch me..."

"What!?"

"Why am I just hearing about this?!" Both dogs barked at the same time and the baby started crying. Sango took her baby from Melissa and started shushing him. Melissa looked from one to the other in confusion, she hadn't been able to understand them both at once.

"He touch me. I hit. He hit. His friend hit."

"There were two?"

"Three when I broke it up." Inuyasha replied raising to his feet. "Sesshomaru, I'm sorry, I didn't have all the facts before. I'll go have another 'talk' with him. I'll be back in a little bit."

"Being a bit of a hypocrite aren't you?" Sango asked her husband as he rose to his feet as well.

Miroku turned and looked at his wife, "What do you mean?"

"Why are you going? You touch me all the time and did it long before we were married."

Miroku smiled. "Yes, and what would happen when I touched you before we were married?"

"I'd hit you." She replied.

"And then?" Miroku asked

"Then what?"

"What happened after you hit me?"

"Nothing, that would be the end of it. At least until you grabbed me again."

"Sango, I don't believe, I never believed I had any right to grab you, and I knew you'd hit me for it. But I felt the crime was worth the punishment. You had every right to hit me and I would never have even thought of retaliating. I wouldn't blame any man for grabbing Merissa, she is an attractive woman, but he hit her back." Miroku explained. Then he and Inuyasha left.

Sesshomaru began to rise to his feet, whatever his brother and the monk had planned it wasn't enough. But he stopped when he felt a soft touch on his arm. He looked down at Melissa and she gave him a brilliant smile.

"Sesshomaru, no go."

"I will return momentarily, once I have killed Kojo."

"No." She gripped his arm, "No, no kill." She replied shaking her head.

"Merissa, he does not deserve to live."

"No deserve kill!"

He stared at her for a long time then he sat back down. "I will spare him this once. If he touches you again this Sesshomaru will kill him."

Sango smiled at them then told Kagome if she was sure she was ok it was time to get the girls home. Kagome and Keade offered to help. Keade took the baby and Sango and Kagome each took a toddler from Melissa's lap. Sango bid Melissa and Sesshomaru goodnight and then they were alone except for a sleeping Rin.

Now that her movement was no longer impeded by sleeping babies Melissa leaned toward Sesshomaru and wrapped her arms around him. He was about to reprimand her but she mumbled "Missed you."

He stared down at her for a moment. "You missed this Sesshomaru?" She released him and nodded, still beaming. "Why?"

She blinked in surprise, as though it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. She paused, struggling to think of the right word then said "Friend."

That simple word took him completely by surprise. He'd been many things in recent years. A few short years ago he'd been a ruthless killer and a master to his servant. Just recently he'd become a guardian and a protector. He felt as though he were a father and was starting to truly be a brother. But he'd never been called a friend.

She stared up at him then frowned at the dumbfounded look on his face. "Friend?"

His eyes softened as he looked down at her. "Yes, Merissa, I believe we are friends."

A moment later Kagome returned and the way she smiled at them made him wonder if she'd just been listening at the door. He then excused himself, promising to return the next day and insisting Melissa rest. He walked just outside of town, close enough to hear if she yelled and allowed himself to drift into a light sleep.

When he returned the next morning Kagome told him Melissa and a handful of men were already on the far edge of the cemetery. There were two groups working on graves. Kojo and his idiot friends were working at the one he approached first and they didn't see him as he had remained in the tree line. He frowned at their crude conversation.

"... Can't work a paddy, fuck, I hear she didn't even know how to cook rice until That weird miko showed her how. Worthless, completely."

"Well fuck, maybe women don't need useful skills where she comes from. An ass like that, I am not sure I'd mind starving if I was putting my cock in that every night."

"You think Inuyasha's hitting that?"

"She belongs to his brother, doesn't she?"

"That wouldn't stop me. I'd fuck that cunt raw then flip her over."

"I trust you men are not discussing Merissa." Sesshomaru stated coldly as he walked from the tree line. They froze and turned white. He glared at them then walked over to the other group which included his brother and Melissa. She was working just as hard as the men and was filthy, but she looked over at him with that smile of hers.

In the bright sun he could see the faint yellow of almost healed bruises. How often had she been beaten? She wasn't safe here. His friend was not safe in this village.