Disclaimer: I, GinKitsune, do Not own Inuyasha or any of the other characters. All Rights to that title go to Rumiko Takahashi-san. This fanfic is solely for fan entertainment only.

A/N: Hi everyone, or anyone...Hm, I had such a problem getting this chapter up, I don't know why it wouldn't allow me to edit it but half the whole chapter was coming out italic and just all shoved together. I know it's been a while since I updated, but lately I just haven't been motivated at all! This chapter took quite a bit of time as I only felt like writing little pieces only here and there or not at all. So, I'm sorry that it wasn't out sooner, and I do hope it's worth the wait instead of a total waste of time. At any rate, a new chappy is here and I won't waste your time reading my rambling.

Please Review guys it really strives me to keep writing, and update faster- which is what you guys want right? So lets help each other out eh? ;)


Chapter 4: Setting Off

"Kagome-san," came a bright sing song voice from down hall.

Kagome raised her head at the sound of small footsteps, slowly she rose to her feet and shuffled over to the doorway to wait for the little ball of energy to reach her door, without even a second thought she slid the door open just in time for the young girl to jump up at her and hug her around the waist. Kagome wasn't exactly sure how the girl knew she'd open the door right at that moment but let it go as she looked down at the girl, without a word she laid her hand on top of Rin's messy raven hair and put on a smile for her, she couldn't just show how miserable she was in front of someone so young and innocent.

Rin had started to come by for little visits two days after she had agreed to Sesshomaru's offer of assistance, she found it odd that the little girl seemed to enjoy spending time with her. She didn't speak much, but Rin did enough talking for the both of them, often speaking of the latest thing Jaken did to upset her and her pranks on him. It was funny really, and sometimes she felt the smile that would briefly form on her lips without effort. She could picture the little toad demon sprawled out on the floor in a result of Rin's wire booby-trap, Rin had told her about it in prideful detail, along with many other stories.

Silently she listened to Rin's latest escapade while the girl pulled her to the garden to pick some flowers, sheepishly the smiling girl handed her a blue flower she deemed as pretty as her and went well with her eyes, the young priestess tried to convince her that she was giving her too much credit but couldn't sway the girls mind. Kagome couldn't really deny the content feeling Rin's company provided, it somehow eased her pain, even if it was only temporarily. Rin was so full of life and energy, the little girl brought on a warmth that Kagome longed to have in her life once more. Every time the little girl smiled it felt as if the simple gesture was fighting off the shadows that loomed around Kagome, the girl was like a little sun.

She was going to miss her, miss all that she was, Kagome knew she was still capable of feeling that much.


Today they set out on their journey.

"My Lord, Ah-Un has been saddled and prepared as you commanded, you are set to leave at any moment you wish," Jaken bowed and waited for further instruction.

"Go and inform the girl that we're leaving, and for her to not leave this Sesshomaru waiting long." Sesshomaru said as he prepared to leave.

"Yes Sesshomaru-sama," Jaken quickly left the room, hurrying through the long halls to the girls room, once there he was about to knock on the door but Rin slid it open before he got a chance- nearly colliding with him. Rin quickly righted herself before falling and stammered an apology, and frowned immediately, if Jaken were here it could only mean that it was time for Sesshomaru-sama and Kagome-san to leave. Quickly she turned around and ran back over to Kagome and stood behind her legs, it was needless to say Rin wasn't happy with the idea of losing them both and being left with Jaken.

Kagome looked over at Jaken then down at Rin, the little girl nearly entangled herself into her hakama, she placed her hand on the little girls head in an attempt to comfort and waited for Jaken to speak. After a few moments of hesitation, which she had no idea why he would stall, but finally he gathered his wits and spoke.

"Lord Sesshomaru is ready to depart, come along with me Miko," he sternly said as he looked at her oddly as though she had grew a second head.

What was with him, Kagome wondered, the usual preserved glare he held for her was missing. Was the clothes really that big a difference in her? Or was there something wrong? She brushed the thoughts off as she gently untangled Rin from her and moved forward, Rin in toe, she fallowed the little toad demon outside and into the open where Sesshomaru must be waiting for her. As she approached him she could've sworn she saw something flicker in his eyes for a split second but ignored it as her attention was pulled to the large two headed dragon demon behind Sesshomaru: Ah-Un. So massive, she had forgotten how big he was. Her attention was pulled away as the sound of sniffling reached her ears.

Turning around Kagome reached out and brushed a small tear away from Rin's face, before she could speak the girl leapt forward and hugged her as tight as her little arms would allow. It still amazed Kagome that the little girl could possibly be so full of emotion, to cry over her absence was something she just didn't understand, was Rin really that attached to her over such a short time? It didn't really make sense. Kagome lightly brushed her fingers through the little girls hair and murmured to her that it would be alright and they'd be back in no time, Rin nodded silently and wiped her tears away, "Come back soon Kagome-san," she then untangled herself and walked over to Sesshomaru.

Rin didn't run over and hug him, but the feelings that showed in her eyes were the same, Kagome suspected at times like this that Rin was wiser than some adults, she didn't test her limits with what was ok with the demon lord. Rin said her farewells to him, her blurry eyes a wordless testament that she was going to miss him, Kagome was completely taken off guard as she witnessed with her own eyes as Sesshomaru reached out to place his palm on the little girls head, as she had done a few times herself, and told Rin to behave herself with Jaken, and to stay out of trouble. Kagome couldn't believe what she just witnessed, the cold demon lord was…was….she blinked rapidly as her mind tried to comprehend his actions.

But before her mind could catch up she found Sesshomaru to be standing right in front of her, looking as impassive as always, his eyes still as cold as stone. She stared at him blankly as he reached out his hand to her, her mind tried to put together a reason for the gesture but apparently she wasn't fast enough as the next thing she knew he had picked her up by the waist and placed her on Ah-Un. Damn was he always so inpatient? She felt so very odd sitting on the saddle of the large two headed dragon, a moment later and without a sound she sensed the weight shift as he settled himself down onto the saddle as well, but there was still plenty of space in between them.

Rin was patting both Ah-Un's heads and softly whispered to him, "Now you take care of Kagome-san for me, okay? She's my friend." Giving Ah-Un one last pat she stepped away and walked back to where Jaken stood. The little demon had a look of pure unease on his face, no doubt thinking of all the pranks the young girl would likely try to pull on him without Lord Sesshomaru being around to scold her. Maybe he would get lucky and she wouldn't try anything after Sesshomaru-sama's warning, well only time would really tell he sighed.

Ah-Un leapt off the ground suddenly and Kagome could only clamp herself down against him as he took off high into the skies. Kagome squeezed her eyes shut tight as the wind whipped at her face and through her hair, she shivered against the tension of muscles and waited for her stomach to go back down where it belonged. After what seemed like forever the wind eased up and her muscles started to relax a bit against the new sensation, cautiously she cracked one eye open to look around her. They were so very high up, she tightened her grip as she looked at the landscape below them, biting her lower lip in apprehension. This was much higher than she was used to.

Sesshomaru watched her as her body tensed and un tensed, so she was afraid of heights? She hadn't need to worry, it wasn't as if he'd allow her to fall, silently he wished she'd stop biting her lower lip before she could cut herself- if they were to hit a large wind current even those dull teeth of hers could pierce her skin. Well not that it mattered really, he nudged his foot into Ah-Un's side lightly to direct the beast to fly lower to the ground, he suspected that being so high up might hinder her ability to sense the shards. Neither of them spoke, both were fine with the silence, and so the day started to trickle by with only the sound of the wind against their ears.

As the minutes ticked by into hours Kagome's body finally relented and relaxed again, the sound of the wind like a lullaby to her senses, she gave into the familiar numbness that came to her rescue when she was alone. Even with Sesshomaru there it was as if he wasn't, his silence was something she was grateful for now, she had never thought of him as one that would want to speak to a human at any rate. Her unseeing eyes stared down at her pale green hakama as her mind blissfully started to go blank of all thoughts, Kagome knew she'd sense any shards without actual need to focus, another thing to count her luck on. No, she only needed to focus on the battle and where the exact location of the shard was, closing her eyes she welcomed the blackness that promised solitude.


As they started to descend Kagome is suddenly pulled out of her reverie by the shift of their flight, the sky was painted in hues of pink and purple as she realized the day had already slipped by without luck of any shards near by, though it wasn't something unusual. At times it could be two weeks to a month or sometimes longer before they would finally sense a shard reasonably close by, Kagome closed her eyes as she waited for the thud of Ah-Un's touch down but surprisingly there wasn't one, the mount landed so gently Kagome took a few moments to open her eyes and realize they had already landed. Slowly she shifted her stiff joints and hopped down, her ankles stinging for a moment from the height and stiffness.

"We will rest here for the night, I will return shortly," Sesshomaru curtly stated as he started to walk off into the tree line.

Kagome was left staring at his retreating back, where was he going? She sighed and decided she should gather some fire wood before it grew too dark, after all even if he didn't need a fire, she was human and did need to stay warm. Being alone as she was Kagome kept her senses on high alert for anything that was out of place as she scavenged the tree line for loose branches to build the fire with, a small branch rustled somewhere near by causing her to jerk her head around fast enough to see the little fluffy tail of a rabbit leap off into the bushes. Relief slowly eased back to her as she made her way back to the tiny clearing with the branches held away from her to avoid getting her clothes dirty, just because she was on a mission didn't mean she had to run around filthy and stinky.

The sun began to set as Kagome stacked the wood like a teepee and dug the flint out of the pocket hidden in the bottom of the quiver that was given to her just earlier that day, a few moments ticked by as she attempted to strike a flame, finally a small spark caught onto the dead matsu needles, leaning down she blew just a little air to the flame and fed it more dead needles to be sure there was enough to keep it going until the branches could catch flame. After a few minutes and feeling safe without worry that the fire would die out now, Kagome got up to gather the sleeping matt off Ah-Un's back and unrolled it on the ground fairly close to the warm fire. A sigh escaped her lips as she leaned back against a sturdy young tree and stared into the bright flames.

"Trying to scare me, Sesshomaru," Kagome silently said into what appeared to be nothing more than the air, she pulled her eyes away from the flames and shifted her position to look back behind her at the treeline, without a sound he appeared out of the darkness. She had sensed him there for at least two minutes before speaking.

"Do you want to be afraid, girl? I assure you I am very capable of doing so before killing you." Came his cool reply drifting across the area, as he got closer she noticed that he was holding something, raising an eyebrow she silently stared at the object. As he got closer she recognized it as the corpse of a rabbit, already skinned and drained, though not a drop of blood was seen anywhere on him.

Without a word he raised his hand and tossed it to her, Kagome caught it out of reflex, both her eyebrows shooting up in confusion as she stared down at the rabbit then back up at him. Surely he didn't expect her to cook his food for him? As she was just about to question him he cut her off before the words could escape her lips.

"Eat," He simply stated in a tone that implied she didn't have a right to refuse. Without another word he walked over to a tree and sat down under it, not giving her another moment of his attention, his eyes slipped up to stare into the sky. Kagome stared at him closely, it was obvious he had no intentions of speaking with her any further, she glanced down at the rabbit and slowly stood, she needed to find a long thin stick she could spear it with for cooking. After a couple minutes she found two sticks suitable to hold a single stick that could be placed in the middle above the fire, she quietly made short work of the task and once finished, sat back down and watched the rabbit roast over the fire.

A small sigh escaped Kagome's lips as her mind reeled with thoughts, why did he hunt for her? She had assumed that he'd require her to find food on her own, the thought of him hunting for her just seemed like too generous a thing for him to be capable of. Well that's not really fair Kagome, you don't even know him, she mentally chided herself. But she'd never seen kindness from him before, not before today, but really how much time had she ever actually been in his company for that matter. Still her mind questioned his actions, did he think her incapable of hunting for herself? Or that she would refuse to eat again?

Kagome wasn't sure if she should thank him or feel insulted, her blue eyes traveled over to his figure as she got up to check on the food, finding it ready she removed it from over the fire and pulled the small knife from her pocket and cut a chunk of meat loose. Staring down at the meat she hovered there debating, with a sigh she resigned to just thanking him, his motives still unknown but the gesture still stood.

"Thank you, for this," she motioned to the food, "would you like some," she thought it was only polite to ask, though she highly suspected that he would refuse.

"I'm fine," was the only response she got, and really all she had expected. Slightly nodding her head she cut more of the meat off to save for breakfast, she had grown used to being on the road over the last two years, going through it routinely without thought anymore. The swish of her hakama the only sound between them as she walked back over to her spot and ate her food without another word, chewing thoughtfully as her mind went back to his actions around Rin, so he really did have an attachment to the little girl. Not so very long ago she wouldn't have believed him even capable of emotions, he really was a puzzle to her now, she didn't know what to make of it.

As the sun completely set behind the horizon Sesshomaru watched Kagome through hooded eyes, he watched her settle down onto the mat laid out and pull the wool blanket up to her shoulders, she stared into the low flames. She was fighting sleep, he had no doubt why, a small yawn escaped her lips, a brief flash of her white teeth against the darkness, as the minutes ticked by he knew her battle would be soon over. He could hear the steady beat of her heart, her steady breathes, as she succumbed to sleep he took the moment to openly watch her. Sesshomaru didn't think that he'd get so lucky to have someone as quiet as himself to travel with, but it also irked at him for reasons he didn't understand, he knew it was unnatural for this girl to be so silent. Though the silence wasn't so bad at the moment, it gave him time to just take in the sounds around him.


Kagome stifled back a scream as her eyes shot open, heart pounding against her chest like a hammer, her hand clutched tightly at her chest. Taking deep breathes in she quickly began to get herself under control. Everything was alright she wasn't dying, she wasn't in any physical pain, she was awake and safe. She kept her focus on taking breathes as was her usual routine by this time, her eyes slowly scanning the area for dangers as a precaution. Deep blue eyes caught on the white that was Sesshomaru, she focused on him as her heart began to steady itself once more, unwilling to close her eyes for even a moment.

Her eyes scanned over the sharp lines of his form in the moonlight, he knew she was awake she was sure, but still he didn't turn around or even move. His perfect posture didn't waver as he stood guard over them, a white knight against the black sky, Kagome nearly smiled at the very thought, she pulled the blanket closer as the cool night air sent small shivers up along her spine. She nestled deeper into the warmth, her gaze never wavering from him even as her lids slowly closed on her once more, too tired to fight off the sleep anymore for the night.


A/N: I do hope you enjoyed this chapter and I promise the next chapter will have some badassness from Kagome and Sesshomaru in all their demon slaying glory, least I hope I can pull it off well haha. I just wanted to also add that I'm still looking for a beta reader to correct any mistakes I may make and offer advice to produce a better chapter all together, also saves me time to have to reread what I write lol. Please contact me if you're interested and Review please!