Chapter 10

New Friends Old Enemies

The rest of the day was quiet. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru behaved but only because Kagome and Serena were around. They were all in Keade's house again and were having some stew that she made. After the meal, they all set out to find the Shikon jewel shards.

Kagome explained to Serena about the jewel shards and that a demon named Naraku was also after them. Sesshomaru was beside her as they walked along a path into the forest. They were headed in the direction of where he left Rin and Jaken though he wished that they would leave Jaken behind.

They come into a clearing and saw the tiny frog demon sitting on a rock and a little girl in an orange kimono picking flowers. When she saw Sesshomaru she said, "Lord Sesshomaru! You have returned!"

"Hello Rin." Said Kagome. "How are you?"

"Hello Miss Kagome. I'm very well thank you." Rin said bowing to Kagome.

"LORD SESSHOMARU!" Yelled a nervous frog demon. "What are you doing with these humans! I thought you despised humans?"

"Calm down, Jaken." Sesshomaru said calmly. "I have reluctantly decided to ally ourselves with Inuyasha."

"YOU WHAT!" It looked like Jaken was going to have a heart attack.

"Lord Sesshomaru. Are we truly going to be friends with them?" Asked Rin as she handed him a handful of flowers.

"Yes Rin." Mostly because this half demon girl fascinates me.

"Hooray!" Rin jumped for joy as Jaken froze up and fell off the rock. "I'll find Ah Un and tell them the good news."

"Ah Un?" asked Serena. Moments later, her question was answered. Ah Un the two headed dragon followed Rin from the other side of the clearing.

After Serena introduced her self to Rin, the group continued onward.

They made camp sometime after sundown but Serena couldn't sleep. She sat in a tree high above the others and looked at the starry night sky. She was thinking about Sesshomaru again.

Why do I keep thinking about him? She thought as she continued to look at the stars. Is he thinking about me? Ugh.. What am I thinking! He's a full demon. And I'm a half demon that looks like Inuyasha! There's no way he'd like me. She leaned against the trunk of the tree and drifted to sleep.

Down below, Sesshomaru couldn't sleep either. He was trying to figure out why he longed to be with her. Rin was sleeping on his fluffy boa as he looked up at where Serena was in the tree that he was sitting against. A low breeze blew through the trees and made her bangs fly. She looked so beautiful wearing both kimonos, the long sleeves floating in the breeze. Wait! What am I thinking?

As he shook his head clear, an unwanted scent filled the air. It smelled evil and demented. He carefully got up and laid Rin on Ah Un. He noticed that the monk also noticed the demonic ora.

"So you guys noticed the demonic ora too?" asked Inuyasha as he jumped down from his tree.

"It must be Naraku. He feels close." Said Miroku as he got up off the ground.

"But where is he coming from?" Sesshomaru looked around and, in the sky, noticed a black cloud forming right above…."Serena!"

Serena woke up to the sound of Sesshomaru's voice. "What is….that?"

The black cloud was right above. She was so sacred she could move. The demonic ora coming from it was overwhelming. The dark cloud morphed into a man with black hair, blue robes and large, strange, spiky armor. She knew who this was from Kagome's description of him. This was Naraku.

"Hello my dear." Naraku was gently hovering on the bench she was on. Serena slowly stood up but had to use the tree trunk to keep herself from falling over.

Somebody help me. She was too scared to use the Tetsusaiga. Mostly because Naraku looked like her ex-boyfriend back home. An ex-boyfriend who almost killed her.

"You're coming with me, Lady Inuyasha." He came closer to her.

Somebody save me. She wanted to jump and get away from him but her legs wouldn't move.

"You have the powers of the Great Dog Demon and Sesshomaru and I will make those powers mine." So was so close that he ran a finger down her face.

SESSHOMARU! She screamed in her mind, hoping he was coming to save her. She closed her eyes and prayed to god that he would save her.

All of a sudden, she felt somebody grab her. She wasn't standing on the branch anymore. She only felt one arm around her waist and it was holding her tightly against something soft and fluffy. She opened her eyes and saw that her face was buried in Sesshomaru's fluffy boa. "You came!" She put her arms around him as they flew through the trees. She was so glad that he saved her.

"I couldn't let that bastard hurt you." He said in a somewhat soft tone.

She looked into his eyes, and saw that he was totally serious. His eyes seemed somewhat softer from when she first saw him.

They softly landed on the ground, where the others were waiting for them away from the camp site.

"Serena! Are you okay?" asked Kagome when Sesshomaru released Serena.

"I'm okay. Naraku didn't hurt me." She said comforting her sister. "But I was so scared I couldn't move. I couldn't attack him because he looked like my ex-boyfriend from so long ago."

"You mean the one that almost killed you?" She pulled away from Serena and looked at her.

"Yes." Tears were running down her face. "I'm just glad Sesshomaru saved me in time before Naraku could take my powers. Whatever that means."

"It means he was going to absorb your body and powers into his body. That's how he gets stronger." Miroku said approaching her.

"So he was basically going to…kill me?" Serena couldn't believe her life was being threatened again.

"Sadly…yes." Sango put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Serena fell to her knees. She was shaking furiously at the fear that Naraku could have killed her. Sesshomaru knelt down next to her and held her against him. His heart was pounding rapidly in his chest and he knew why now. He loved her. Even though she was a half demon he loved her as much as he cared for Rin.

The others couldn't believe what Sesshomaru was doing. Especially Inuyasha, who knew him longer then the others did. He never showed emotion towards humans let alone half demons (including him). Kagome thought it was really sweet of Sesshomaru to comfort her sister. They looked like the perfect couple. Jaken, well, he just froze up again and Rin didn't see anything because she was still asleep on Ah Un.

They set up camp again and Serena stayed on the ground this time and with Sesshomaru. When no one was looking, he moved his lips closer to one of her little doggy ears and whispered. "I'm not going to let anything harm you again. Not even Naraku."

With that, Serena fell asleep, feeling safe with his promise.