"Well you should know this then woman, you're going in the wrong direction" Sesshomaru said smirking. That was a lie though. She was heading exactly in the right direction, as if guided by a mysterious force. But she believed him.

"Then point me in the right one" Reina whined. Her angry features were delightful, almost as much as her sleeping ones. Sesshomaru smiled inadvertently, his eyes became playful. It was so obvious where inspirations for cherub paintings came from at that moment.

"What a jerk!... what a handsome, jerk!" Reina quickly suppressed those thoughts. Where had that come from? Yes he was a handsome arrogant fool, but looks didn't affect her. Yet when he smiled, her knees became weak.

"Why should I?" Sesshomaru asked while walking away "I don't heed humans"

"That arrogant bastard" Reina thought while watching him slowly walk away. Sesshomaru was smirking, she wasn't going anywhere for the time being.

Reina looked around, why did she follow that hunch? She might have been days away from Kagome. She looked down at the small smoking huts bellow. The fires had died down but she couldn't risk being caught by those bandits nor could be seen by old folk that might remember her past life endeavors. She had to think of a plan. Sesshomaru looked back. Was she really not going to follow him? She was looking at the village sternly. Surely she wouldn't be stupid enough to go there.

Reina huffed and turned to meet his gaze. She seemed angry, fuming really. Sesshomaru turned around and began walking back to camp. Reina reluctantly followed, and yet something compelled her to at the same time.

Rin stirred from sleep, awakening to Jaken's whining voice.

"He left me again" Jaken whined "And with you, no less"

Rin looked around and saw that Reina was gone to.

"Perhaps they went somewhere together" Rin said thoughtfully.

"They?...Oh you mean that filthy girl, no I saw her leave last night" Jaken said coldly. "And she didn't even bother to stay long enough to hear the rest of my story"

"Maybe Sesshomaru-sama went after her" Rin said again guessing the truth.

"As if" Jaken replied.

Rin stretched out the sleep in her muscles. If Sesshomaru went after her, she would be back any second. Rin smiled to herself. This was great, she had a father and soon she would have a mother. Rin liked the idea of Reina as her mom. She was sweet and cheerful, and when she hummed the birds would flock to her. She was like a princess. Rin began plotting a way for them to like each other. Sesshomaru and Reina would be perfect together if they could just get past their differences. Now all she needed was an accomplice

"Jaken-sama, Reina seemed to really like your story. Wouldn't it be a waste if there was no one here to listen?" Rin mused

"Well…. I suppose" Jaken said. He smiled. His stories were really great weren't they?

"If only we could get Sesshomaru-sama to let her stay" Rin said coaxingly.

"What do you think we should do?" Jaken wondered out loud. Rin smiled and proceeded to whisper the plan to him.

Sesshomaru walked at a leisurely pace. Reina followed behind him dejectedly. She muttered a few things to herself which his sensitive ears picked up.

"Who does he think he is?" She murmured hatefully. Sesshomaru turned around, it wasn't too productive to have her angry at him. Perhaps he could present her with a choice. By the end, he was confident that she couldn't refuse him.

"You've been quite amusing" Sesshomaru said "Perhaps your debt to me is almost repaid"

"I'm not you're court jester" Reina said hatefully. He ignored her anger.

"I think sparing you're life is worth about a week" He mused. She scoffed, her life was worth more than a week but she wasn't going to argue.

"So you'll let me go after that?" She said "And tell me which way is home" she added.

"Fine" Sesshomaru said. He smirked. He could win her over in a week. She would be his soon enough.

"Now, jester, if you're ready to go back" He said, and then he offered his tail. How insulting!

Reina slapped his hand aside, she was not going to grab on his tail for the ride back. As if her life was worth nothing. What if she slipped and fell to her death? Sesshomaru could not suppress his shock at her actions. She grabbed his arm and wrapped it around herself, and pressed herself against his side. Sesshomaru's primal mind ripped forward. How he wanted to take her here and now. Still there was time for these things. He reasoned himself back into sanity.

"First of all, I'm not you're jester, and second I'm not going to grab on to that and risk falling" Reina said darkly "My life is worth more than that" She then looked up at him to gage his expression. She didn't care if he got angry with her anymore. She was fed up from today's events already.

But his expression was not angry…. It was more as if he was hungry. He looked at her intently for a moment, held her a little closer and became a ball of light. Before Reina could blush at his intense stare she was whizzed into the air. Reina hated the sensation of twisting through the air. She became woozy but at least there was no fear of dying. Her surroundings became normal again, rather than just streaks of color.

They were in a field of wild plants and random fruit trees. Rin was gathering berries into Ah Uh's saddle sack. She smiled and looked towards them. Reina freed herself from Sesshomaru's tight embrace. She didn't want Rin to get the wrong idea

"You're back" She said dropping her current fistful of berries. She ran towards Reina and gave her a hug. Jaken looked wide eyed at them. Rin was right after all, Sesshomaru had gone after her.

"Did have fun on your walk together?" Rin inquired. She was so innocent sometimes. Reina didn't feel like correcting her, even though she and Sesshomaru definitely weren't on a walk together.

"Plenty" Reina replied, though it was almost sarcastic. Sesshomaru expression became slightly hardened. Maybe winning her over would be harder than he thought.

"It's time to go now" Sesshomaru said. A week or not, Sesshomaru couldn't toss his mission aside, Naraku was still breathing somewhere.

"Where are we going?" Reina asked, reluctant to travel away from the village, where ever it was, there had to be a way home there. Sesshomaru didn't answer her. Every one began to follow him. They walked around for an hour silently. Reina looked at the distance villages as she passed them. She smiled, the air, the water, everything here was so clean and fresh. She began to hum absentmindedly, and birds began to flock to her. Her humming was so peaceful.

"What are you so happy about?" Jaken inquired looking at Reina's expression. Rin looked at her too.

"The air here is so fresh" Reina said inhaling deeply "Isn't it great"

"So the air isn't fresh, where you're from?" Jaken inquired. This was great, a chance to convince her to stay here. Someone needed to hear his stories lest they go unappreciated.

"Well not really, some people even get sick from it" Reina mused "But it's still a great place, plus I'm really famous back home" Jaken recoiled. This wasn't going the way he planned.

"You're a singer right" Rin said "Wow, people actually pay to hear you sing, you must be really good. Can you sing a song for us?"

"Sure, I'll sing you my first double platinum song" Reina said cheerfully.

"Double platinum?" Jaken inquired, how strange.

Reina began singing her famous "Sakura Spring" song, which was one of her best sellers. Her voice sailed through the air. The villagers working in the rice fields looked up at her in the distance.

"What is that, a demon?" The farmer said looking at them

"No, hear the song they sing, it must be good spirits" Another farmer said "Perhaps they are wishing us a good harvest, we are so lucky".

Reina continued to sing, and she instinctively closed her eyes at the ending. Unfortunately a small rock crossed her path and forced her to trip forward. Her ending notes were painfully cut short.

"What sign is this?" The farmer inquired

"The spirit is blessing the ground with a kiss" The other farmer replied "Good fortune indeed"

Reina slowly got into a sitting possition. She hit her forehead on said rock. There was a little bleeding scrape on it.

"Oww" She said pressing her palm against it. Jaken started laughing cruelly.

"Leave it to a human, to trip on even ground" Jaken said meanly. Sesshomaru silenced him with his glare.

He walked back and kneeled beside her. How did she manage to bruise herself in the safest of situations. She was really clumsy even for a human. Sesshomaru gently pulled her hand aside so that he could assess the wound. It was just a scrape. He wondered how he should deal with this, should he whip out Tensega? That would be a bit too much though. Instead he leaned forward and brushed his lips against the scrape. Jaken couldn't suppress his surprise either. His jaw dropped.

"What are you doing?" Reina said startled. Sesshomaru smirked into her skin. Her blood was rushing to her cheeks. He liked this control he had over her. He pulled back to see her reddened expression. She was looking to the side clearly embarrassed. It was exquisite.

"Don't flatter yourself" Sesshomaru said "I was only healing that mark"

Reina felt her forehead. Indeed it was gone. Reina was a bit surprised but then again it did make sense. Dogs licked their wounds to disinfect themselves. Traces of his saliva had healing properties. Reina got up off the ground. The group had already started to move forward. She skipped to catch up to them. Sesshomaru smirked. A week was no problem after all.

It was night and they were passing a field of sparkling flowers. The moon was slightly more than a sliver, it was waxing. The field had a majestic and romantic feel to it. Rin knew this would be a perfect place to set the mood. She yawned pretending to be tired, on with the plan! Sesshomaru looked back at Rin.

"Jaken, make camp here" He said demandingly. There was a small clearing in the field. Jaken gathered some fire wood and lit it with a spell scroll. Rin snuggled into the fire and began eating the berries she had picked before. She offered some to Reina who was starving. She ate them quickly.

Reina heard a flowing stream nearby. It was probably the sustenance to this field. She got up and dusted herself off.

"I'll be right back" Reina said. She wanted a quick wash, and a drink of water. Rin nodded. She disappeared towards the water. A while had passed. Rin proceeded to phase two.

"Oh I hope she didn't fall again" Rin said worriedly to Jaken. Jaken smirked he had forgotten about the plan, but luckily his naturally mean nature still helped with the cause

"That's probably what happened, she must have fallen into the stream nearby, that clumsy girl" Jaken said meanly. "That girl is a magnet for trouble, perhaps she managed to anger a bear on her way too"

Sesshomaru suddenly got up and began walking towards where Reina went.

"Where are you going milord?" Jaken said. Sesshomaru did not answer him. He disappeared into the field.

He spotted her by the stream. It seemed that she had just bathed. She was wading in the water, holding her kimono up. Fish swam by her feet. Her hands were too slow to catch them. He smirked at her. Feeling his gaze she instantly shot up. Sesshomaru heard rustling in the bushes. Rin and Jaken were spying on them. How odd.

"It's not like I'm going to run away every chance I get" Reina said "A girl needs her privacy"

"She also needs to learn how to fish" Sesshomaru said smirking. Reina scoffed.

"Shall I teach you?" He said tauntingly. Then he jumped across the stream, dipping his hand lighting fast into the water. He landed on the other side of the stream with a fish in his hands. His feet never hit the water. He smirked and then tossed the fish to Reina. She tried to get a firm hold of it. The fish slipped in her grasp and fell back into the water again. She sighed.

"Lesson one, don't drop the fish" Sesshomaru said. Reina scoffed.

"I'm not staying here to be insulted" She said and stalked off out of the water. Sesshomaru frowned. Her temper was shorter than usual. Then again human stomachs did control their feelings most of the time. Still this was certainly not the way to win her over. She stalked off. He jumped after her.

Rin watched from the concealment of the bushes. Even without audio, she could tell that this wasn't going well. She would have to help. She got up from the bushes and urged Jaken up as well. Sesshomaru looked over at them. Reina didn't seem to notice them, as her hunger was preoccupying her mind.

"Hand me that flower" Rin said pointing at a red flower. Jaken picked it up and handed it to her. From Sesshomaru's viewpoint Jaken had handed her a plant. Rin batted her eyelashes and smiled. She then looked at Sesshomaru silently egging him to follow that example. Was this something he was supposed to do? Humans were so strange.

Sesshomaru reached and pulled something from the ground. In a field of flowers he had managed to pick up a weed. He cleared his throat. Reina turned around still fuming but what she saw left her puzzled. Sesshomaru was handing her a weed from the ground. It took a few seconds for her to process what was happening. She smirked. He was trying to court her. Was all this just his way of showing affection? The feudal ages were a bitch.

The events of the day came into her mind and a new light was shed on it. Everything he did was now obvious, he liked her.

"Actually, girls like flowers not weeds" Reina said taking the weed from his hand. Sesshomaru didn't really know there was a difference. He raised his eyebrow slightly.

"So anyway, what's the second rule of fishing" She said smiling up at him. The joy in her face affected him deeply, though he didn't know exactly why. Sesshomaru smiled back, which made his angelic face even more divine.

_To be Continued_

And another Chapter well done… I should pat myself on the back for maintaining readers past the eight thousand word line. And should there be no one making it to this point, then who cares! You'll never KNOW BWAHAHAHAHAH,

V.T R