Hi everyone! I am so very incredibly sorry. My computer wouldn't connect to the internet and life has been...well. Difficult to say the least. But I have been working on this, and some other stories, so hopefully it makes up for it at least a little bit.

Thank you for your patience.

USUAL DISCLAIMER

III

The next morning found Sesshomaru following the young Miko and her pack. Her Pack his Beast purred with satisfaction. Now that his moron half-brother was out of the way, he was free to slake his curiosity. Silently, stealthily, he followed her, listening to everything.

The hairs on Kagome's neck had been standing since last night. She couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched, and she had a feeling her companions- at least the adults, Shippo seemed completely emmersed in practicing his fox magic- were starting to feel it too. Slowly, so as not to seem obvious, she slowed to walk beside the two adults.

"Do you feel it, Miroku?" she asked, quietly, barely moving her lips. Miroku nodded minutely.

"I feel it, too. Whoever, or whatever it is has been behind us all day." Sango said quietly. Both Kagome and Miroku hummed in agreement.

Kagome made a show of shielding her eyes as she looked up towards the sun. Stopping, she motioned towards a small clearing just beyond the treeline, where she could hear running water. Kagome instructed Shippo to gather water in the stream running through the trees just a few feet off to their left through the trees.

Nodding to Sango and Miroku, Kagome pulled out her bow and notched an arrow. The other two followed suit, donning their own weapons. Sango held her Boomerang Bone, Hiraikotsu, high ready to throw it when Kagome gives the word.

"Your weapons are not needed, Miko." A deep baritone voice rumbled from just beyond the trees. But Kagome held firm.

"What is it you require, Lord Sesshomaru?" she asked, only lowering her bow a few inches. He walked out into the small clearing, regally clad as always and not a hair out of place.

"I wish only to speak with you, one Alpha to another." he said, before walking over and sitting beneath a tree, right next to Kagome's yellow pack.

Dumbfounded, Kagome and her friends looked at each other then the demon Lord casually sitting there, watching them. Shippo walked up then, the small sack of water bottles in hand. He almost dropped them upon seeing Sesshomaru, but looked to the adults, muscles tight and ready to pounce.

Slowly, so as not to startle the adults who have been his family the past five years, Shippo walked to the tree with Sesshomaru, sat down, eyes on the adults the whole time and proceeded to pull out a water bottle and take a drink. Then, shocking them all, he handed it to Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru looked to the kit who dared sit beside him, then to the strange thing in his hand. Shippo smiled at him, all childish innocence and Sesshomaru had a sudden vision of Rin, the human child who began to thaw his seemingly frozen heart. With a grateful nod, he took the bottle from the kit and took a drink. The adults seemed to relax and sat down as well, their attention on the demon lord.

"I have come to offer my services in your hunt for the shards of the Shikon No Tama." he said. Simple as that. Kagome almost scoffed.

"Why would a respected demon lord such as yourself with such an obvious distaste for your half brother want to band up with his old pack?" Kagome asked, eyes focused on his looking for any signs of anything. Sesshomaru stared right back, seeing everything he needed to yet letting her see nothing.

"You have never been that idiot's pack. You, Miko have always been Alpha. They are loyal to you, are they not?" he asked, his eyes moving to Miroku Sango and Shippo, then back to herself. She looked at them and smiled, nodding.

"You are all strong, for humans, in your own ways." he said. "There is no reason I should not join you on this mission."

"Thanks for the backhanded compliment." Kagome muttered. Before looking towards her friends. They both looked at her warily but shrugged. She looked to her kit, who had been quietly observing everything and he smiled at her, nodding. "Alright, fine. We'll join up. But we go at our pace, where I say we go, when I sense shards." Kagome said. Sesshomaru's eyes stayed focused on hers, watching her every emotion flit across her face in a span of a few seconds.

"Then I will return with Rin and Jaken." he said before standing and walking away. Silence ensued for a few minutes as they all worked through the events that just occured.

"Did uh...did that really just happen?" Miroku asked, obviously perplexed. "He, Lord Sesshomaru, the Killing Perfection, just requested to join our pack?"

"I think it was more that he accepted our pack into his, but either way...yes it did." Sango answered, eyes still wide in shock and confusion. Shippo sat up from where he was slouching in the grass.

"What's so shocking? He's been following us since we split off from Inuyasha." Shippo said then lay back down to watch the clouds. Might as well get comfortable if they have to wait for Sesshomaru to return with his companions.

"What!?" the three adults practically shrieked. Shippo sat up again and looked to Kilala who just shook her head.

"Hey, Kilala sensed him, too!" the little fix defended. Kagome put a hand on her cocked hip and looked at him sternly.

"That may be, but Kilala can't communicate with us quite like you can, can she?" she asked, motherly voice making the boy think twice about how he approached this.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, mama. But he was just watching us. I think he's curious, more than anything. And there was nothing hostile about him at that point. I figured, when he was ready, he'd approach." Shippo said, eyes on his hands in his lap. Kagome squatted in front of him, her fingers gently lifting his face to look at her, and her eyes caught his.

"Shippo honey, next time you sense someone watching us, no matter who it is, I don't care if it's even Inuyasha, you tell me immediately do you understand?" Kagome demanded, softly but firm. Shippo looked into her eyes and nodded, properly chastined.

"Yes, mama, I promise next time I'll let you know. Shippo said, keeping his eyes on Kagomes and grabbing her hands. Kagome smiled and kissed him on his forehead.

"Thank you, Shippo." she said, standing and turning to the last place they saw Sesshomaru.