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Kagome arrived in the great hall, chest heaving and Sesshoumaru's voice still ringing in her head.

'What did I do wrong? Why is he so mad at me? I don't understand. All I wanted to do was talk, why'd he get so furious? Why does he hate me so much? I'm really trying my hardest to be friendly—'

"KAGOME-CHAN!" Rin cried, Kagome turned her head to the left; despite the situation, the sight she saw just made her want to cry from laughter. Rin, who was a good foot taller than Jaken was getting a piggy-back ride from the panting toad demon. Jaken was facing away from Kagome and Rin was looking back at her with a delighted expression on her cute young face.

"Come on Jaken!" Rin grunted as she pulled his left pointed ear to try and make him turn around. He cringed and gradually turned on his shaky, unstable knees. Kagome thought for sure Jaken was going to collapse after a few more steps, and sure enough in a couple seconds the impish toad demon was getting a splendid and probably painful view of the cold, hard marble floor. He looked very much like Inuyasha after getting sat.

"Aw, Jaken. C'mon, get up. Pleeeeasse?" Rin bounced up and down on the poor youkai's back.

"Gerrof, Frin!" Jaken's muffled voice yelled. The small child grudgingly hopped off the youkai pancake of a Jaken. He unpeeled his face from the ground in time to see Rin jump into the awaiting arms of Kagome, and to see Sesshoumaru walk into the great hall. He was frowning, had his fists clenched, and was resolutely looking forward. He walked determinedly to the stairs which led to his chambers.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! Good evening!" Rin greeted her distracted lord. He didn't even turn his head in her direction; his only acknowledgement of her being a quick ruffle of her hair as he passed. After a few more strides he was climbing the magnificent marble stairs to the upper floors of the immense castle.

Kagome watched him ascend the steps, eyebrows knitted together.

'What's wrong with him?' Kagome's eyes couldn't hide her concern as she watched the lord disappear from view. Before she could think anymore on the matter, Miroku walked into the great hall, chatting and laughing with a woman. He looked up and spotted Kagome.

"Kagome, there you are! Have you met Akina? She lives here with Sesshoumaru."

"No, it's good to meet you," Kagome said, bowing cordially, her mind still spinning, echoing with the lord's outburst.

"You as well!" Akina replied with a bright smile, making Kagome's head calm a bit.

The miko looked at her; she had fair, unblemished skin, wavy, pale golden hair that fell to the middle of her back, and illuminating, light violet eyes. The soft curves of her face made her look like a very peaceful woman. She had slender legs and slim hips, the light purple kimono she wore, apart from perfectly matching her eyes, hugged every curve of her body. For some reason, to Kagome, Akina looked almost exactly like Midoriko, except her hair and eye color.

"How long have you lived with Sesshoumaru?" Kagome asked politely.

"Oh…hmm," she scratched her chin, appearing to think hard, "Well probably around 900 years."

Kagome choked, her eyes rounding, "900 years?!"

"Just about," she laughed. "I'm curious to know how you came to be here. Do you know Sesshoumaru well?"

"Uhh…well I don't really know him at all. And I don't know how I'll do that, he's so distant." Kagome confessed.

"Oh well its no wonder you think he's cold and emotionless, don't worry, that's just the image he wants others to see." Akina winked and laughed warmly.

Kagome had a sudden thought. "Are you Sesshoumaru's sister?!" The math was about right. But if Sesshoumaru had an additional full-demon sibling, why did he never talk about her to Inuyasha? Surely he would have rubbed it in his face.

"Oh heavens, no! I'm an old family friend! Our families go way back," the demoness informed her.

"Oh, so you're a dog demon too?" She asked, intrigued since she hadn't known there were any others. Kagome liked Akina very much; she could feel that they would be great friends.

"Nope. Unicorn." She said as bluntly and easily as chatting about tomorrow's weather.

"A-a what now?" Kagome was shocked, a unicorn? "But you look positively human!" She couldn't grasp that the woman standing in front of her was a unicorn! The ideal characters of fairytale books spanning her timeline, and one was standing right in front of her! By the expression on Miroku's face he hadn't known either, apparently he was too distracted by her beauty to ask otherwise important questions.

"A unicorn! My lady, that's absolutely amazing!" Miroku exclaimed. He suddenly grasped her hand in his and, then and there, asked his infamous question. "Will you bear my children?"

He bowed his head, closed his eyes and braced himself for the usual slap that followed…when nothing happened he cracked an eye open and tilted his head up slightly. Akina was laughing.

"I'll think about it, okay?" she laughed in a joking voice. Miroku looked positively delighted.

Akina turned toward Kagome who was still chuckling at the monk's reaction and said,

"I look human because, our clans were hunted in ancient times. Our blood can remedy the deadliest of sicknesses, the hair of our manes and our coats are stronger than any material of this earth, and our horns can slay any demon, no matter how powerful. We had to adapt a safe form so we could walk the earth out of harm's way."

"That's terrible," Kagome breathed. "But you haven't lost the ability to transform, right? How come you don't have any demon markings?" She inquired.

"I do." The beautiful demoness said simply. She swept aside her pale golden bangs to reveal a light violet circle that also matched her eyes, marked on her forehead, where her horn presumably would be. "And I can still transform to my true figure, yes." She answered.

"So how did yours and Sesshoumaru's families meet?" Kagome asked, she had been wondering for a while.

"Didn't you know? Dog demons where created by a cross-breeding between unicorns and wolf demons. Unicorns have always been close to dog demons since we share ancient blood relatives. Sesshoumaru and I are the same age and were in the same position to inherit land so we very quickly became friends," the unicorn woman explained.

"Wow, now that's interesting." Kagome pondered on it for a second, then she heard light footsteps and turned to see Sesshoumaru descending the cold, marble stairs. He looked normal now, his usual impassive features back in place. He waltzed passed Kagome, while holding his breath, careful as to not breathe in her scent.

"Good evening, Akina." He said indifferently, in his deep, rich voice.

"Same to you, Sesshy-kun!" She replied in a bubbly voice, using his pet name. He gracefully walked out of the Entrance Hall doors and into the gardens…

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A/N: Oh man, sorry for such a late update, my comp crashed and I had to get it fixed up, luckily my files were backed up.

So here, we meet Akina again (yes, again. Read 'In His Footsteps', please). She is an important OC in my stories. Nexy chapter will be soon for realz. Give me a review, and

JA NE