Reviews make me happy.

I own no doggy demons nor animes about them, just a spoiled rotten rescue mutt. Wouldn't mind rescuing Lord Fluffy though...

Melissa hummed a happy little song and picked wild flowers as they walked through the forest of Inuyasha. Sesshomaru watched her but tried not to stare. She looked up from a bunch of little blue flowers and seeing him watch her gave him a beautiful smile. He looked away, focusing on the woods ahead.

She skipped up to his side and he paused when he felt her fingers behind his ears. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation as she gently stroked him there then felt her soft lips on his cheek. He opened his eyes and looked over but she was already walking ahead of him.

Inuyasha smelled them coming and met them at the edge of the forest. He blinked once in surprise when he spotted them then grinned. He continued to walk towards them with his arms folded, grinning broadly.

As he came closer he looked confused. He leaned forward and sniffed Melissa. "She smells like a lot of youkai." He informed them.

"She was recently a guest in my mother's home. Mother has many servants."

He sniffed her again. "One of them smells familiar. Kagome and Rin are setting up a picnic in the field, I told them I picked up your scent." Inuyasha told Melissa.

As they approached Kagome and Rin started giggling about something. Had they been gone so long? Sesshomaru wondered as they approached. Kagome had popped since they had last seen her. Where she had been just a little thicker through the middle she now had a big, round belly.

She held her belly as she pushed herself to her feet and embraced Melissa and invited the little pack to join them. As they sat down Kagome spoke to Melissa in English "How you do that without him noticing?"

"I'll tell you later." She replied with a grin.

Sesshomaru looked from one to the other suspiciously, he had a feeling they were talking about him. But then they spoke in Japanese as they enjoyed the meal. Sesshomaru and Jaken refused to try Kagome's food, of course, but Sesshomaru participated in the conversation.

"Oh Rin, I have something for you, Sesshomaru mother make. She ask give to you." Melissa remembered a few minutes into lunch. She pulled the ball out of her sleeve and handed it to the girl.

"It's beautiful! Will you tell her 'thank you' for me the next time you see her?" Rin asked accepting the toy with both hands.

Inuyasha sniffed the air twice as Melissa handed it to the child, "Hey, Rin, can I see that?"

Rin handed it over and Inuyasha sniffed it then returned it. "You said it was made By Sesshomaru's mother?" He turned to his brother, "Why does your mother smell so familiar, have I met her?"

"As a matter of fact you have. My mother visited your mother on at least one occasion that I know of, but you were just a puppy. I am surprised you remember her scent."

Near the end of the meal Kagome winced and placed a hand over her rounded belly.

"Is he kicking again?" Inuyasha asked excitedly. Kagome smiled and nodded then took his hand and placed it over her stomach. Inuyasha beamed with pride as he felt their child moving within her.

She then let Shippo, Rin, and Melissa feel the baby kicking the hell out of her. She hesitated then asked "Would you like to feel your nephew, big brother?"

"No." He replied, but Melissa had already grabbed his hand and placed it on Kagome's tummy. He shot her an annoyed look then looked in surprise at his hand as he felt the baby press against it through Kagome's belly.

"He's strong!" Inuyasha declared proudly.

Retracting his hand Sesshomaru had to agree, "Yes, he is. He may be a decent swordsman someday. He has not yet left his mother's womb and he has better footwork than his father."

Inuyasha smirked, "At least I'm not the one sitting here with flowers in his hair."

Sesshomaru's hand shot up to the ear Melissa had been stroking earlier and he indeed felt a blossom that she had tucked behind it. He pulled it out of his hair and glared at the pretty, bright Black-eyed Susan, then glared at Melissa. She simply smiled at him.

A short while later the kids ran off to play together and the men left the women for a little sparring . "Play nice!" Kagome called after them as they left, exchanging brotherly insults.

"So how did you manage tuck flower behind Lord Fluffy ear with him not notice?" Kagome asked once the men were out of earshot, beginning to pack up the dishes.

Melissa helped her as she explained "He likes having his ears stroked. I discovered it when I was combing his hair one night."

"He let you comb hair?" Kagome asked in surprise. "Melissa, are you two... are you lover?"

"No, we are just good friends." Kagome looked skeptical. "Kagome, I'm just a human. Even in my time I was a nobody. I am a broke, divorced woman who can't even carry a child. He's a powerful, youkai prince. I've seen his childhood home, I've met his mother, he is a god damned prince! I'm... I'm just me."

"You are wonderful person, Melissa. You are funny, kind, and beautiful. He would be lucky to have you as wife." Kagome replied.

"I'm a human."

"His father married human."

"But... He's a prince, Kagome. He needs an heir, a baby. I can't give him that."

"Melissa, he love you. Anyone can give him baby later. He can afford to have bunch of concubines, and he live for hundreds of years. But he love you."

Melissa was quiet for a long time. "Do you really think he likes me?"

"No, I think he love you" Kagome replied, smiling at her friend. Melissa smiled, blushing.

They carried the dishes down to the river to wash them rather than carrying water to the house. As they walked to the river they passed a withered toothless old man who thought Kagome was Kikyo. Kagome smiled sweetly and greeted the old man then asked some children playing nearby to take him home.

"Who is Kikyo?" Melissa asked as they knelt by the river to wash the dishes.

"She was Keade sister. She die years ago, but I look much like her. He get confused."

"Well everyone has a doppelganger, a person who looks like them." Melissa replied with a shrug.

"You believe so?" Kagome asked.

"I met mine. At a truck stop in Arizona. I lived with my grandparents in an R.V. from the time I was 15. Grandpa had a small pension and Grandma and I earned extra money by telling fortunes for tourist and travelers.

Anyway one of the people who asked me to read her palm looked just like me, even Grandma said it. Well, she was prettier than me. I was going through a goth phase at the time, I had tried to dye my hair bluish black but it's so pale it didn't work. I had dark, flat, purple hair. And my black clothing made me look washed out and sickly.

But she had the same face as me. And her hair was the same shade of blonde. The only difference was she was dressed in expensive clothes and was older, about 20. And her eyes...

She wasn't human! I didn't know about youkai at the time so I didn't know it, but she wasn't human. I've only seen gold eyes on youkai."

"Was she youkai or hanyou?" Kagome asked.

"She didn't have dog ears like Inuyasha. Her ears were hidden under her hair but I have to assume they were elfin. Do all hanyou have dog ears? How else can you tell?" Melissa asked. Kagome shrugged, she hadn't met that many hanyou, but not all of them even had ears.

"She was a happy person though. Bubbly and talkative, I've never met anyone so excited to get their palm read. She chattered the whole time, I could barely tell her her fortune because she wanted to tell me all about her brothers and sisters. She told me her name was Ray, easy enough to remember as that was Grandpa's name too."

They packed up the clean dishes and carried them to Kagome's house. Once the dishes were put away they went to visit a family with a sick baby before grabbing a couple of baskets and heading toward the forest. On the way they met the men coming back from sparring. Inuyasha was hold one of his arms and sporting a busted lip. Sesshomaru was limping slightly, that is until he spotted the women, then he made an effort to walk like he was uninjured.

"Who are you showing off for?" Inuyasha asked his older brother, grinning first at him then at Melissa.

"This Sesshomaru does not show off." Sesshomaru replied arrogantly.

"He was limping a minute ago." Inuyasha informed the women.

"This Sesshomaru does not limp." He replied, ignoring the ranting or his little servant.

"Yeah, ok." Inuyasha replied.

After that Inuyasha took the basket from Melissa and went to help his wife in the forest. Melissa and Sesshomaru found Rin and the three spent a few hours catching up. Rin kept trying to put flowers in Sesshomaru's hair without him noticing, but she didn't know the secret to it. Then she and Melissa had a tickle fight.

Later that night Melissa and Sesshomaru were sitting in Inuyasha's house with him and Kagome, Rin had gone home and was probably getting ready for bed. Shippo was already asleep and Jaken had been sent to set up camp. Kagome and Melissa were chatting happily away. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha were content to just listen to the women.

It was so odd for Sesshomaru to see his little brother as a helpless mortal. And Inuyasha didn't seem completely comfortable with him there on the moonless night, though he couldn't blame him. It would take a long time for them to trust each other completely.

He heard a distant crack of thunder and turned his head just slightly. Inuyasha couldn't hear it but saw his brother react to a noise.

"What do you hear."

"Thunder, a storm is approaching.

"The two of you are welcome to stay the night." Kagome offered.

Sesshomaru mulled it over. His brother wasn't entirely comfortable with him there. And he would not sleep in a human town. But it would be nice for Melissa to sleep inside. He could protect her from the rain, but she'd still be sleeping on the ground. She never complained, but he wanted her to be comfortable whenever possible.

"Rain does not bother me, I would be more comfortable at camp, however I think you should accept their hospitality." She looked like she wanted to argue but finally just nodded in agreement and he bid them all good night.

Later Melissa lay on her futon wide awake. Though it was still fairly early she was the only one in the house awake. Inuyasha had once always stayed up on his human night because he was frightened of his vulnerability, but now he felt safe in his town. Safe enough to sleep. He was curled up to Kagome's back with his arms protectively around her and shippo curled against her chest. A perfect, cute little family, with another member on the way.

looking over at them Melissa felt very alone. But she really wasn't, she had Sesshomaru. Did he really love her? Everyone said he did. Everyone but the dog himself.

The rain had stopped a little bit ago and it was still kind of early. She decided to go out and get some air. Perhaps it wasn't as early as she thought the streets were empty and most of the houses were dark, but the moon shone bright enough for her to see clearly. She looked down the road and saw a light was lit in Kojo's house. She walked the other way.

However the light in Kojo's house was mearly his wife waiting up for him, hoping he wasn't drunk again. He was. His buddy had the door open to allow a cooling breeze as they drank and so they saw Melissa walk by aways down the road, lost in thought.

They watched her walk out of sight and waited to see if she was alone. She was. Draining the sake gourd Kojo stood and walked out the door, followed closely by his two friends.

A.N. hehe, cliffie 'cause I'm evil. Things aren't heating up just yet. When they do should I leave the rating T and leave a few things to the imagination OR should I raise it to M and add a few details. You can vote in the comments, or if you'd rather not tell the world what a perv/prude you are you can P.M. me.