Disclaimer: I do not own this series, no matter how much I'd like to.

I just realized I did not put the answer to the riddle on the last chapter. Heheh...Well, the answer is:

SHORT

I would've updated sooner, but my mom got really sick and had to go to the hospital, when she came back, she had antibiotics that were like one of the strongest you could get, and we had to keep checking back on her to see if she was still breathing. Then, on Christmas Eve, I was baking almost the entire day and when that was done, I really didn't feel like writing. Then, on Christmas day, star wars came on!:D I love those movies and so I watched all of them. Then it was one of my friend's birthday and then I just wanted a small break from writing. That's all...

And I have another riddle!

What word changes gender by only adding an "S"

Answer at the end of chapter (If I can remember).

Sesshomaru awoke, but couldn't get up, seeing as Kagome had a surprisingly strong grip on him, if he had moved, he'd be waking her up, so he ended up staying like how he was for who knows how long. He thought about trying to get information about the Shikon no Tama, though he still did not have a way to communicate yet. Besides, he had only spent a day here, though it seemed like so much longer.

Quite a while later, Kagome stirred and opened her eyes. A few seconds of nothing passed, then Kagome stiffened and her face turned bright red. More minutes later, she looked at him straight in the eye.

"Heh...Um...Good Morning?"

Sesshomaru only stared at her, it was funny how she changed so quickly.

The red on her face became brighter and she suddenly buried her face in the mattress and began shaking her head. What was she doing? He held himself back from laughing, though a small smile appeared on his lips.

Kagome froze from shaking her head and lifted her head up again and stared at Sesshomaru, her lips parting as she stared.

A few moments later, the corners of her lips twitched and a full smile lighted up her face and she started giggling. Over what? She was kind of strange...

When she was done giggling, she cleared her throat and began to speak "Er...we need to, uh, go to town today to, ummm...get you some clothing from the market soon"

Sesshomaru nodded in silent reply.

Kagome sat up and hopped off the bed, just a pink flush on her cheeks that actually made her look quite pretty.

"See you later" She said, not turning around as she opened the door and exited the room.

Sesshomaru then started to dress himself in one of the loose fitting kimono's that were placed inside the guestroom. When he finished, he heard Kagome's voice shout faintly:

"FATHER!"

A little while later, Rin's voice was heard:

"DADDY!"

So their father was back again. He wondered what kind of person Kagome's father was.

A few minutes later, Sesshomaru was walking through the hall, he heard the voices of Kagome's other two siblings greeting their father, but he did not pay much attention to them and found the long staircase, and begun to walk down normally with his eyes on the floor.

When he was down, he looked up to see the family looking at him.

"Oh, you must be the strange man Rin was telling me about. A pleasure to meet you" he held out his hand and waited.

Sesshomaru stared at the hand. What was he supposed to do? What was the hand supposed to mean? He looked up and stared right into the eyes of the lord. His eyes looked almost...dead?

Sesshomaru's gaze became curious 'How odd'

"Hnn..." Kagome's father brought his hand back to his side and turned around "Won't you come join us for breakfast, young man?" his eyes found Kagome's "Does he have a name?"

"Sesshomaru"

"Sesshomaru. Alright then, Sesshomaru, come join us"

Sesshomaru faked a smile, not that they would know since they barely even knew him. Truth be told, he was only following because it was polite, he really was not looking forward to eating more human food.

And now they were back at the table, eating human food.

Kikyo was the first to speak up "So, are you going to tell us about your meeting with Lord Naraku?"

"Ah, yes..." Their father cleared his throat "Kagome...?"

"Um...yes?"

"Kagome, when I had asked to call it truce with Lord Naraku, he agreed, but only if..." His voice trailed off.

'If?'

"If...?" Kagome whispered anxiously.

"If you become his queen"

Sesshomaru's eyes widened. What? The room was filled with silence.

"WHAT?" Kagome cried out "Why can't he marry Kikyo? She's older, stronger, and more...ugh...more prettier!"

Yes, why couldn't this Naraku person marry Kikyo? Sesshomaru was thinking something along those lines. Not that he agreed that Kikyo was prettier than Kagome, but still, Kikyo was older, and wasn't the eldest supposed to be married first? Something was definitely wrong...Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at Kagome's father. Something was wrong with that man as well...but before he could really place it down, Lord Higurashi began to speak again.

"Because...For reasons he chose to keep to himself, he had wanted to marry you instead of Kikyo. Now, we need this alliance, did you not see what happened last time Naraku attacked? The castle had almost been overthrown. The place was overwhelmed with demons, Naraku is too strong. I fear if we reject this now, he would only attack even more"

Sesshomaru frowned. Somehow...Kagome's father just didn't seem that worried or sad. Something was off here...Why didn't anyone else notice this?

...Maybe because Kagome was so very shocked by the extremely sudden news and everyone else was watching Kagome's shocked expressions while their father continued eating, suddenly paying extra attention to his meal...or maybe this was how their father always acted.

Sesshomaru stared at Kagome as the news continued to sink in on her. A few moment later, she lifted her eyes, glancing at each of her siblings, then her eyes locked with Sesshomaru's.

Something else about this whole marriage thing made Sesshomaru more upset than he thought he'd be. He even felt anger towards Lord Higurashi. Why wouldn't he? The man didn't seem so worried about his daughter and just didn't seem to be noticing the deep sadness in Kagome's eyes.

Kagome looked back at her food and sighed deeply "May I be excused?" they were polite words, but her voice sounded monotoned.

"You may" Her father answered without looking up. Sesshomaru shot the lord a glare, though it went unnoticed by everyone.

Kagome left the table, out of the dining room.

Minutes after she left, Sesshomaru sat up off the cushion.

Lord Higurashi looked up and opened his mouth to say something, but Sesshomaru sent him such a fierce glare that went totally noticed by everyone, his piercing golden gaze shut the lord's mouth immediately.

After that, he simply left the dining room and entered the room where the high staircase was, he began to ascent the stairs.

When that was done, he remembered the way to Kagome's room and soon found himself standing right outside her double doors. A faint singing was heard from beyond them, but it was far too silent to hear what she was saying.

Sesshomaru then knocked on the door.

"Enter" Came the quiet response in her soft voice.

The door creaked open and Sesshomaru stepped inside. He made his way over to her beside, thinking about what to do here. It wasn't as if he could give her any comfort, maybe it was just the odd want to be near her.

Kagome was laying flat on the bed, then sat up and looked at him.

"Oh hello, Sesshomaru" She sounded cheerful, but Sesshomaru could tell it was faked "We still need to go to town to get you some clothing. I mean you can't always stay walking around the house in that" she motioned to his current clothing.

"Hm"

"Say...would you like to go now? I mean, there's nothing better to do, so..."

"Hn" His head tipped down without really thinking about anything except the lingering sadness in her eyes that stayed even as she forced a so obviously fake smile.

"Alright, let's go then"

The walk was very silent. Sesshomaru often stole glances at Kagome to watch her changing expressions. She looked confused on moment, then angry, then a smile touched her lips, but soon turned angry again.

"So..." She began to talk, and he turned his attention to her voice without looking at her "What do you think of Naraku so far, Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru didn't think too well of Naraku before, but now the thought of him marrying and touching Kagome in any way made him really angry. He was certain that Kagome would be able to read his expression now if he looked at her so he kept his eyes off her for now.

"No comment, huh?" She sighed, her gaze left him and looked back at the road at the same moment that Sesshomaru clenched his fist, getting carried away in his thoughts.

And so another silence came again...

"Do you want to play a game?" Kagome spoke up all of a sudden.

'Nothing better to do...' "Hmm..."

"Okay!" She exclaimed, understanding his tone "Let's play...Onigokko!"

That sounded like something to do with a demon. Sesshomaru blinked a couple times "Huh?"

Kagome seemed shocked "You don't know Onigokko?"

'If I did, wouldn't we be playing it?'

"Alright then...Onigokko is a game where...uh, let's just say I have to chase you, if I catch you, you're tagged, then you have to chase me and tag me, and it just goes on and on...So, you get it?"

That was simple enough. He nodded, substituting the nod for a yes.

Kagome smiled truly and then tapped his shoulder "You're it!" she exclaimed, then ran away, probably as fast as she could. Her laughter was heard, echoing throughout the area.

He stopped to listen to it. It was real, she seemed to have already gotten her mind off everything.

Sesshomaru easily caught up with her and casually walked behind her, though she didn't seem to notice, though she was running really slow now and breathing quickly. Her cheeks and nose were flushed from the cold and running, but she kept going, completely unaware that her companion wasn't even trying to catch her and rather just watching her try to run away.

Finally she stopped, then looked around, but just didn't look behind her where Sesshomaru was standing.

"Hello? Sesshomaru? Where-"

At that moment, he only clamped his hand over her mouth from behind. Her eyes widened and her face turned pale white as a ghost, and she stiffly froze. He smirked at her terrified look.

Her eyes darted behind her, and then color returned to the princess's face. He took his hand off her mouth and she glared.

"You don't have to scare me like that. So, I guess I'm tagged now..." Her eyes shut closed and an innocent smile fell in place on her lips, she took in a deep breath, though Sesshomaru was already moving at top speed to a large tree that seemed like a good stopping place which was where a forest opened.

Even with the distance, Sesshomaru could see the poor girl's surprised face.

She eventually caught up with him.

"You're...good...at this..." She weakly complimented as she began to breathe in and out "Let's stop now..."

'Yes' "Hn"

"Well, we're almost there" She touched the tree that Sesshomaru was waiting by "This is the Tree of Ages, by the way. It's five hundred years old...This tree usually helps me find my way to the village, come on!"

He was surprised a little when she unexpectedly grabbed his hand and pulled him along. When they broke through the snowy forest, a lighted village was seen down the hill. Kagome led him by the hand.

Kagome was picking out many different kimonos, along with some other stuff like perfumes for herself, though she only handed Sesshomaru the kimonos.

The last one she picked out was white with a hexagon and sakura pattern. And to be honest, Sesshomaru liked this one more than the rest.

"Do you think this is enough?" She asked, then answered her own question "I guess it's enough for now"

Sesshomaru only nodded, almost instinctively.

"Kagome-chan!" The voice was a female's, deeper than Kagome's own, but she sounded young.

Kagome was suddenly enveloped in a hug.

"Sango-chan!" Kagome exclaimed, hugging the other female back.

They started up a short conversation then. Although Sesshomaru watched, he wasn't really paying much attention, he occasionally drifted in and out of it, thinking about the Shikon no Tama. Kagome didn't seem like she knew much about it, she never mentioned it, and just didn't seem like the kind of person with that information.

"Hey, who's this?"

"This is Sesshomaru. Sango, Sesshomaru, Sesshomaru, Sango"

"Um...Nice to meet you?"

Sesshomaru looked at her blankly. He wasn't going to talk, if he didn't talk to Kagome, he wasn't going to talk with this Sango person.

"Nice to meet you?"

"He doesn't speak" Kagome said, and Sesshomaru mentally thanked her.

"Oh...oh, my apologies" She didn't sound all that sincere, but Sesshomaru did not really care so much.

"So where's Miroku?" Kagome asked then, and Sesshomaru once again drifted out of the conversation.

Where would the Shikon be at? Maybe one of Kagome's sister Kikyo knew, or her father...Maybe a servant? The father seemed like the most reasonable one, considering how strange the lord seemed. Sesshomaru continued pondering over this, barely aware of everything even as he followed Kagome when she told him to "come on".

They were in a hut, Sesshomaru knew that, whatever was going on, he wasn't paying attention, all he knew was that Kagome kept constantly introducing him to many different people who were Sango's mother, Sango's brothers, and then they were suddenly going to spend the night here.

But he still hadn't had a single clue on where the Shikon no Tama could be. A hint would've been nice, except he only knew to stay with Kagome and all the questions would be answered, though he was only getting more questions.

I'm stopping there now. I hope things didn't pass by too fast.

The riddle's answer is: Princes (Yay! I remembered!)

Oh, and I a question that I still need to be answered: Is there a way to save those documents after they automatically delete when their life-span runs out?

And another thing: I am not going to update until I get at least ten reviews. I don't want them quickly, and that's the reason I'm saying this so I can think up the next chapter because I've no clue where to go from there...Unless someone wants to give me ideas? And to be honest, I rarely check my email, by the way...

Okay that's all.

By now!

- Peter Pan