"Priestess."

Turning towards him once they all had left the room, Kagome looked down for a moment, thinking how to say what she was going to say. It was easy to find the words, but with it being him, it was surprising that she'd ever say such words to him. Taking a deep breath she looked up into his amber gaze once again and smiled softly, "Sesshomaru….thank you for saving me, for bringing me back. I know you went through so much just to help me and I'm sorry for having caused you so much trouble," she whispered.

"Hn. You do not need to apologize, I had my reasons for doing so." He stated coolly.

"I know, you've told me that before, I owe you my life but-"

"You are correct. And I intend to collect on that. From this point on you will remain with me."

"Wh…What?! I can't just leave my friends behind and stay here and what could I possibly do to even pay you back by staying here?" she asked in confusion.

"Rin. Jaken is incompetent and unable to keep her occupied, he cannot even keep her safe should we be venturing after Naraku, you are quite suitable for such a task," he stated, his gaze never leaving hers.

"I…but…I'm not that much stronger than that stupid toad I'm sure," she argued.

"Really?" it wasn't really a question as he raised his left hand and brushed a few strands from her face as if to make a point. Suddenly she gasped and looked at his arm, without realizing what she was doing, she placed her hand over his and stared in shock that he did indeed have his left arm back. Taking his hand in hers she seemed to have been examining him and he couldn't help but smirk at her surprise, "But I….I mean how…I tried to….I…" she was definitely confused.

"You succeeded, quite well I might add. It would seem as if I never lost my arm. Priestess, you are much stronger than you realize."

"Yes but Inuyasha-"

"My idiotic fool of a half brother is not that smart, you and I both know that. Now then, do you refuse to repay me as I have ordered?"

"…." She had no idea how to answer that, if she said no, she'd seem like she was ungrateful for all he had done for her and if she had said yes….well she wouldn't be seeing her friends for quite some time. Then again, would he even allow her to see them at all? Would she be able to return home?

"I don't want to seem ungrateful Sesshomaru, I do owe you my life and appreciate what you've done, but how can I possibly stay here? How long will it take before you find I have paid you back? What about my friends, what about my family? Will I never see them again?" she asked, her tears came forth, threatening to spill from her dark brown eyes.

He hadn't realized what he had done, when he moved his hands to dry the tears as they finally rolled down her cheeks, "You will see them when we journey to find Naraku, I was unaware however, that you had family."

She blushed slightly from his touch and sniffled, "Well yea I do….I just…I'd have to go back to the village near Inuyasha's forest….." she didn't wish to tell him the truth, yes she wanted to see her family but to tell him she was from the future? He might think her odd and even if he believed her, she couldn't let him know about the existence of the future…could she? Kagome shook her head and sighed, she did owe him, she couldn't deny that and so she found her only choice was to accept the deal, he carried out his end and brought her back from death, she should do her part now and accept to stay with him for the time being and take care of Rin, besides, being away from Inuyasha after that entire ordeal would be best for the time being. "Alright Sesshomaru….I will repay you and stay to take care of Rin," she stated.

That was all he needed to here before he began to walk out of the room right past her and headed towards the garden where her friends and his idiot brother would be. Kagome turned to watch him then quickly followed after him.

When they got out there, Shippo jumped right back into her arms the moment he saw her. "Kagome!" he smiled and hugged her again tightly as he cried.

"Shippo…what's wrong?" she asked.

"I thought you were gone forever!"

"Oh…no I'm here, everything is alright now," she smiled and snuggled him.

Inuyasha growled, impatient as always and cut into their little reunion, "alright bout time ya fucking got here, now let's go Kagome," he said grabbing her right wrist to pull her, but that hadn't lasted long as Sesshomaru grabbed his wrist that had a hold on her. "She is not going anywhere little brother," he said coldly.

"Who the hell made you boss of her?" he growled refusing to release her.

"Inuyasha…you're hurting me," she said trying to get her wrist out of his grip.

"She would not be here if it were not for me, release her or I will remove you by force," he threatened.

"You can't do shit! Now stay the fuck out of my business," he used his free hand and swung a punch towards Sesshomaru but the older male blocked it, catching his fist and squeezing to crush Inuyasha's hand. "I see we will do this the hard way," his other hand that had Inuyasha by the wrist began to burn him with poison, much like their encounter over Tetsusaiga before.

He hissed in pain and gripped Kagome's wrist tighter causing tears to come to her eyes, Shippo began to try and get Inuyasha to let her go but Inuyasha swung him off. "Stupid brat, who's side are you on?!" he growled.

"Inuyasha, you are hurting Lady Kagome," Miroku commented and walked over to his friend placing a hand on his shoulder. "It is best you release her before you break her wrist."

"Back off Monk!" he shouted, still being ignorant to what he was doing to her.

Sango had had enough of this and stalked over to Inuyasha, using the boomerang, she smashed it into Inuyasha's head hard, causing the half demon to drop to the ground. "Inuyasha you idiot!" she shouted at him, "when will you learn to listen for once in your damn life?!" the slayer growled at him before sighing. "Sometimes I swear you are so stupid that even that toad is smarter," she said pointing at Jaken and walked over to a nearby bench to sit down.

"Hey watch what you say wench! I should-" Jaken however was stopped from his ranting as Kagome turned a very dark glare on him and he gulped, shrinking back. He knew if she wanted too, she could purify him with the snap of a finger and his lord, he knew quite well, wouldn't lift a finger to even stop her.

Kagome sighed and looked at her wrist, rubbing it in relief, but it was burning and seeming to have been bruised from Inuyasha's grip. His ignorance had indeed hurt her again. Sesshomaru watched in amusement that the slayer had smashed her weapon into his brother's skull, not expecting that, but that amusement remained hidden behind his mask. Clearing his throat, he looked at the priestess and gave her a nod.

She took that as a push for her to say what she had to say and so nodded in response and turned to look at her friends. Once Inuyasha recovered, Kagome took a seat beside Sango, Shippo now in her lap after his own recovery from behind flung from her thanks to Inuyasha. Miroku took a seat on a bench across from the two females and looked at Inuyasha who stubbornly sat on the ground with his legs folded and rested his elbow on his leg, chin resting in his palm. "What the hell are we still waiting around here for?" Inuyasha grumbled.

"I for one would like to know what happened with Kagome, was it true Lady Kikyo had done this to you?" Miroku asked. He had heard it all already, but was unaware just how things had gone.

"Yea…." She whispered and looked down at the ground, silent for a moment as the memories of that day flooded back to her.

"What exactly happened that day, Lady Kagome?"

"…..when Sango and I saw them…I ran off, I had no idea where I was going but just kept running, the last thing I remember was tripping and falling and the person standing before me was Kikyo, she was smug about having me see what took place between her and Inuyasha, I ignored her, stood and shoved her off but as I was walking away she shot me with an arrow in my back, from then on it got dark and that was it," she explained.

"Lord Sesshomaru went to a lot of trouble it seems to help you Kagome," Sango said softly, "you won't be coming back with us…will you?" she said a bit sad.

Kagome turned to her best friend and smiled, "I'm afraid not…I owe him my life, if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be here right now…." She said softly. "I can't refuse to stay; I am indebted to him…"

"But Kagome…we'll miss you," Shippo said as tears formed again in his eyes and he tried to keep from crying.

"Feh, I don't give a fuck that he saved you, you're coming with us and that's that, I've heard enough of this blaming Kikyo shit, what's done is done and we have to go after Naraku. Kikyo wouldn't have been that way if it wasn't for him anyway," he growled.

Everyone there, including Sesshomaru was quite surprised at his defensiveness of anything negative spoken of Kikyo. Shippo immediately jumped off of Kagome's lap and onto Sango's, sensing Kagome's rising anger.

She stood up and glared down at the half demon, fire in her eyes as her anger only grew with the thought of him being stupid enough to defend her. "Are you kidding me?! You still sit there and defend her like she's some kind of a saint?!"

"She's done nothing wrong," Inuyasha argued, standing up and facing her.

"You are such a stupid idiot! SHE KILLED ME YOU DIMWITTED HALF DEMON!" she yelled, more and more her anger was spiking and as it did, Sesshomaru grew quite intrigued with her. He had never witnessed such anger before, not from a mere mortal and at that, a priestess. It seemed there were many surprises to Kagome, things that priestesses weren't supposed to do or say, she did and said.

"I said stop talking about Kikyo like that! Naraku-"

"Naraku did this, Naraku did that, Naraku is the reason for her acting this way, no Naraku made her do it, I am so sick and tired of hearing the blame go back to Naraku! Yes he did curse Miroku with the wind tunnel, yes he did slaughter Sango's village and has her brother on a leash to do his bidding, yes he killed a bunch of Koga's pack, yes he's tried to kill Rin and Sesshomaru as well and yes he ruined your relationship with Kikyo by making you both think you betrayed one another, but her actions after coming back from the dead are held accountable by her and only her, Naraku is not to blame for that. She stole my jewel and threw me into a crater leaving me to die before and this time the damn woman killed me! What more does it take before you realizes she's not the once so saintly woman you had fallen in love with over 50 years ago?!" Kagome was riled up now and her aura was growing stronger and stronger the worse her anger got. She had practically lost it this time, sick and tired of Inuyasha's constant reasoning as to why Kikyo wasn't accountable for her decisions made now. She wasn't going to take it anymore.

"Look Kagome, I'm sorry you died, but you're back now, that's all that matters, Kikyo just wanted to live again, how can you blame her?" he had lowered his tone now, missing the dead priestess and remembering her last words to him. He refused to believe she belonged in hell; she was so pure and kind, that didn't seem right to him at all. "We have to get going and now you're the only one who can see the sacred jewels, I'm sorry for whatever pain you felt but it was all because of Naraku."

She really snapped this time when her voice became deadly calm. "No Inuyasha. No more excuses for her, she killed me, she was never good when she came back, she took my soul and was after my body. Yes I remember, I remember Naraku's manipulation of my body, having Kagura control me, she wanted to be alive again by destroying me. I can forgive but I can't forget and I won't allow you to make these senseless excuses any longer. Face it Inuyasha, Kikyo died before and she deserved death again for all her crimes, she deserve what she got and I don't feel the least bit sorry fo-" she was stopped from continuing any longer, a loud smack echoed in the gardens and everyone became quiet, even the breeze had stopped, silence.

The group stood there, all eyes were on Inuyasha, either glaring at him in anger and shock or staring at him with a surprised expression for what he had just done. Sesshomaru arched an eyebrow at his younger brother, in that instance he lost what little respect he had for the half breed.

Kagome stood there, eyes wide in shock for a few moments then anger overtook her. She looked at him, that fire returning in her eyes again. How could he do that? How could he have even dared to lay a hand on her like that? What was he even thinking? She knew for certain, if any part of her had wanted to go and be with her friends, she no longer wanted to see Inuyasha now, not after that. "I've had enough of this, this time you've gone too far. Go find the jewel shards on your own, I won't be your precious shard detector in fact….I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN! SIT BOY," she shouted and ran off into the castle, she had held back tears as she screamed at him, but now she let it go, she couldn't contain the pain and hurt any longer. Standing in the hallway, she slid down the wall and brought her knees to her chest as she cried.

When Inuyasha stood up and made to go after her, Sesshomaru stood in his path. "Move aside Sesshomaru," Inuyasha ordered.

Sesshomaru ignored the feeble attempt at ordering him around he simply raised his hand and back handed Inuyasha in the face, sending him flying backwards 10 feet and into a tree, his back had hit it and he groaned, sliding down against it. The demon lord ran forward and gripped Inuyasha by the throat, lifting him off the ground, "Leave. If you dare set foot again on castle grounds, I will kill you," his eyes flashed red in warning as he threw his brother as far as he could, which essentially was throwing him out of the garden and past the gates of the castle.

The group watched in shock but no one said a word for a moment. When Inuyasha had been somewhat escorted out of the castle, Miroku stood and walked over to the other male, "Lord Sesshomaru, may we say our goodbyes to Lady Kagome?" he asked.

"You may," Sesshomaru said and turned towards the castle, entering it as he located her, waiting as her friends walked in to see her. Sango ran over to her carrying Shippo and kneeled down beside her, wrapping her arms around her, "Oh Kagome…." She whispered softly.

Shippo shifted into her lap and Kagome raised her head, dropping her knees so she could hug him better. Miroku had walked over to the trio and offered her a hand to help her up. Kagome sniffled and took his hand, standing slowly and drying her eyes as best as she could with her sleeve. Looking at them all she sighed, "I'm sorry guys…you don't deserve to be punished because of him…"

"No, no, do not apologize Lady Kagome, Inuyasha did indeed cross the line, he knew not where he should stop and so has paid for his stupidity," Miroku explained.

Kagome looked at him in confusion, "What? What do you-" she was cut off as Sango hugged her again and whispered, "Sesshomaru back handed him and then threw him out of the castle…literally, I'm going to miss you Kagome," she said with a sigh, holding back tears of her own as she pulled back and smiled. "Take care of yourself alright?"

The priestess nodded and then looked at Miroku, he too took his moment and hugged her, his hand sliding a little more south than it should have, causing Kagome to squeak and slap him. Sesshomaru watched that display and inwardly growled at the monk for touching her like that, he had wanted to intervene but much to his relief and approval, both Kagome and the slayer had made their opinions known, on the matter, a sudden bump on his head was the new look Miroku was sporting for having stroked Kagome's bottom, courtesy of Sango. Shippo sighed and shook his head, "he'll never learn…." Turning to Kagome his goodbye was the most painful as he clung to his mother figure.

"Do you really have to stay? Are you sure you can't come with us Kagome?" he asked sniffling once more.

"I'm sorry Shippo…I can't see Inuyasha again after that…and I do owe Sesshomaru…" she whispered hugging him super tight but didn't wish to let go just as much as he didn't want to either.

Sesshomaru noticed this and began thinking. 'What more could one more child hurt in the castle? Rin would have someone to play with and it may give Kagome a bit of a break from always having to be occupied with Rin,' his inner demon voiced. Somehow that thought, as horrid as it would have been a few weeks ago, seemed quite fitting considering the circumstance. "The kitsune may stay with you if you wish priestess," he had voiced his thoughts before even allowing himself to think of the reasons why that may have not have been a great idea after all.

Looking up at him, Kagome was surprised by the sudden suggestion. She looked at Shippo then back at Sesshomaru, "Really? A…Are you sure it's alright if he stays?"

He gave a simple nod and Kagome beamed. She looked at the fox in her arms and smiled, "how about it Shippo? Want to stay here with me?"

Without hesitation he nodded, "Yea!" he then hopped down and walked over to Sesshomaru, looking up at the very tall demon lord, he puffed out his chest, trying to appear brave as he took a deep breath and bowed, "thank you Lord Sesshomaru," then ran back and jumped into Kagome's arms.

Kagome smiled at him, pleased with him being so polite, just as she had taught him. Sango and Miroku smiled, Miroku patting him on the head, "Well then, we'll be seeing you both around sometime."

"And you take care now Shippo, be sure and watch out for Kagome," Sango smiled.

"You got it! I won't let anything happen to Kagome!" he said posing as if he were strong despite him being so small. The three of them laughed and finished up their goodbyes and Kagome walked with them towards the gates, Sesshomaru following to ensure that Inuyasha didn't attempt to re-enter. Much to his approval, the half demon was unconscious from his throw as he had hit a tree outside the gate and would seemingly be out for awhile, meaning Sango and Miroku would have to carry him off somehow, thankfully they had Kirara to help with that.

As the group departed, Kagome and Shippo waved to them and turned around to head back inside.

A/N: Hey hey! So I'm guessing you're either wondering why I'm updating now or just pleased to pieces that I have. Well in case you do wonder why another update so soon, its because I want to set a schedule, hoping to get into the habit of updating on Fridays so this is the start of that hopefully continuing schedule. Also I apologize, I know this chapter wasn't major fun but it was definitely needed, I couldn't possibly skip it. Well I could have but then it'd be one hell of a flashback and you'd get two chapters shoved into one. Anyways, I wanted to say one more little thing, if by chance you guys have checked out my newest story, liked it but haven't reviewed, please do so -cries- not a single review on it, I'm beginning to think the idea is a flop ;~; so some feedback would be much appreciated, but that doesn't mean I want this one to lack reviews either. Your reviews are to me like what the batteries are to the energizer bunny! So keep them coming :3 And thank you all for the lovely reviews, especially those guests that I can't respond too ^_^