Well it's monday in canada again and I've spent the last three days writing and feeling horrible thanks to the flu, but I wanted to keep my promise and update today despite me not really wanting to do anything else.

Anyway a thank you goes out to everyone who added me to alerts and favorites and a special thank you goes to my reviewers:

Osuwari13 (anonymous reviewer 1): Thank you for the review and here's the next chapter, obviously, and i hope you like it.

xXAngelAlliXx: THanks! I delt with the problem I was having so up until chapter 18 there will be continuous up dates, and hopefully after then too.

Cent (anonymous reviewer 2): Thanks so much! I'm glad you like it so far.

Animefollower101: Thanks for your review I have great problems with that kind of thing and it takes me six or seven re-reads to actually get it perfect which I will do I promise but at the moment I'm focused more on the story but I will edit. Thanks and I hope you like the rest of my fanfic.

Disclaimer: Like the millions of people who write fanfictions and read them I do not own the actual show characters (OCs I own) but I am waiting for the day where there will be a fanfiction written by the author (not necessarily Inuyasha) and when that happens I'll go and dance around in a monkey suit with my friend 'cause I doubt such thing will ever happen. To clarify my rambling I don't own Inuyasha.

Enjoy chapter 15.

Chapter 15:

"What is that?" Susuki asked from her spot beside the river the two females had happened to find as they were searching for a camp.

"Some of the jewel shards that I shattered, they were supposed to be purified upon gaining them. The miko with Inuyasha though has a tainted heart and soul and therefore no longer possess the power to sense them or purify them." As she spoke her concentrated on the jewel shards and slowly one by one the shards lifted until they were turning in the air above her palm, then she added her miko powers to those that were suspending the shards and slowly each turned a bright pink.

They had travelled quickly for the rest of the day making sure to cover their tracks so that when the half-demon was released they couldn't be traced. Seeing her old love had brought back all her anger and while she would have loved to sit him, she saw the advantage to being 'dead' in this era. So instead she took the sword her had dishonoured, he was meant to protect her and his other human companions but he had hurt her with it and threatened her with it.

It was a much greater blow then just sitting him and yelling at him until she made his cute ears bleed, he was used to that but taking away his main source of power would wound him more than physically. Another blow was her taking back the jewels and besting him in a fight, it was small but his pride had been injured.

She had hope that the slight smell of burnt flesh would alert him to Kikyo, but it was unlikely since he had failed to notice her evil deeds before. Like the attempts on her life, the stealing of the jewel shards, protecting Naraku.

Kagome sighed her friend was not the smartest person she knew and she doubted anyone she knew would be able to top him off.

"I smell wolf."

Kagome didn't have a chance to ask what she meant by that since only a moment later she was pinned to the tree by Kouga. She mentally doubled checked that her aura and sent were concealed and her cloak was still over her head.

"Where are the jewel shards?"

"You cannot have them," that was the wrong answer considering that the wolf prince didn't know who he was pinning. She felt his claws dig into her arms drawing blood and heard his dangerous growl; she sighed and released a string of her power that lashed at him making him step back and glare. She decided then that it would be best for him to realise who he was attacking, so she quickly drew back the hood and glared.

"My beloved!" he cheered happily before grasping her hands in his and as if he seemed to remember something he instantly dropped her hands, "I am sorry but I must retract my claim on you."

"Not that I'm not happy about this development, but this is rather sudden. What has happened while I was gone?"

"My pack was attacked by Kagura and I sought you for help, but you were gone and your friends offered to help. I was upset and grew angry when Miroku said there was nothing he could do, and I bound him to my injured companion. If he died I would take his life as payment, and I knew it was wrong somewhere in my mind but I was lost to my beast and could not act in reason.

"Sango tried to get to Miroku, but the armour she was wearing was a threat to my pack and so in my mind to insure no other injuries of my pack I attacked her, almost killed her. It was then that Hakku breathed his last and I began to kill Miroku. Your Alpha, the great Sesshomaru saved them and Hakku and spared out lives.

"It was surprising, but not so much as him claiming you all as pack. However such disgrace on my part proved not only to my pack and myself but to your pack. Your-"

"I understand. Since it is up to Sesshomaru to choose my mate he would see you as unfit, and while I would love to purify you for almost killing my pack and friends it is not my decision in this era," she wasn't sure when she was going to use the information that Itoe-sama taught her but he seemed to know exactly what she needed to know in this era, and she feared what other knowledge she was going to have to use.

"Ah. I see you have learned demon ways," that was all he said before taking off, but where he had been standing there were two pink little jewels. Kagome looked at them curiously, she thought that a demon would automatically be tainted but here were two that had been in the possession of a demon for four years and they were as pink as the shards she held now.

"The wolf is confusing."

Kagome nodded her head and scooped up the shards and added them to her collection, she glanced around the clearing and then up at the sky. She may as well start a fire and cook something for dinner, and so she set out and found some sticks and stones enough to keep a fire blazing.

She could think now, obviously a lot had happened since her last day in this era and she'd have to find out from people other than Sesshomaru for he failed to mention a few important detail. Yes he explained how we are pack but he failed to mention more of his heroic deeds concerning her friends. Obviously now Sango and Miroku are well taken care of since they're being guarded by the wolf tribe, which means they can't be too far from here. Tomorrow then she'd find them and maybe they can travel together like old times, except for of course the demanding hanyou making them walk at a gruelling pace.

She liked the idea, especially now that Kouga had retracted his claim. She didn't know how much power a verbal claim actually had and when he held her hands he was scent marking her in a way and now that she did know more details into the demon courting and mating she was exceedingly glad that he had pulled back his claim. If he didn't there would be a fight between him and her next possible suitor to the death and she didn't want that, and even worse would be if instead of fighting another suitor he would have to fight Sesshomaru to prove he could take better care of Kagome. This one wouldn't be to the death unless Sesshomaru found him to pathetic for life, but she didn't want to watch someone she considered a friend fight for something she didn't want with him.

It was Sesshomaru's job to make sure that she found a competent mate that wouldn't put her in more danger then her own position as Shikon Miko. Especially if she was forced into a mating or marriage where she didn't love the demon or human, the mating experience is a completely different thing when you're a miko.

Most believe that as a miko you are meant to remain pure and untainted by sex and marriage, but it's not the entire truth. A miko can keep and even gain more power if she was to mate with someone she loved with her whole heart, as long as the love is pure on both sides. So if a miko such as herself fell in love with a demon and he with her they could mate and she could grow in power as well as adapt to bearing the demon's child. She would be able to take care of her and her family then, but if she was forced into a marriage she would lose her powers and position.

The mating rules are easy enough to follow, your Alpha finds a strong mate for you and you mate them. There are special circumstances that the rules change and that become complicated, the Alpha for example when looking for a female has to search for someone that he finds compatible and who will care for his pack in his absence. In a way he has to search for love in order to produce a successful pack.

Her own circumstance has never really been dealt with, yes there have been one or two demons that mate mikos but they don't generally survive the ceremonies either because their bodies react negatively or because someone thinks it's a disgraceful union. There has never been a miko who was part of a demon pack so the situation is strange especially since she is a miko from the future where woman can choose who they want to be with. However she wasn't too worried Sesshomaru was sure to notice the special circumstances and make an exception.

Their odd group was now stranger then before with the addition of the lord of the western lands his prior pack and Kouga's pack. If things kept going like this Narkau would never be able to stand up to their combined force.

There was a prickling at the back of Kagome's neck as a demon aura entered her range of senses and she had kept it deliberately low to know whether or not something was going to be a threat.

"Milord!"

Kagome groaned mentally just as Sesshomaru walked out of the tree line, she sent her best smile in his direction and he sent his best glare as he pointed to the transformed Susuki.

The glare didn't work and so he spoke, "Susuki is needed at the castle of the west."

"Whatever for?" her tone was leading but Sesshomaru didn't notice the difference.

"She is my general."

Kagome blinked at him owlishly, almost innocently and the dog demon was put on edge, "Is there to be a battle?"

"No."

"Then what better purpose will she have then to guard a pack member on a dangerous journey?"

Sesshomaru froze instantly although no one would have noticed it since he hadn't been moving all that much. He realised that the miko was right, the search for the jewel shards was dangerous far too dangerous for her to go alone. He instantly thought of travelling with her himself if it hadn't been for the fact that he had a mountain of work to do before he continued with his travels. His eyes narrowed in thought and the miko sent a brighter smile in his direction her innocent look forgotten.

"Until I can travel again myself Susuki will stay with you," he knew the miko had planned that entire interaction in a moment and he felt weak for falling for it, however he wouldn't be a weak leader and allow her to be put into danger. She had not lied that it was dangerous and he knew that no matter how strong one was if you're greatly outnumbered you're as good as dead, and Naraku would stop at nothing to bring her down.

He filed away this moment for he would find some way to use it to his advantage.

0_o

"Let's stop here tonight; we can continue to find that wench in the morning." Inuyasha said as he settled down on a small grassy section that separated the two paths. In the morning they would take the right path that would lead them away from the stream and in the direction of a village. That was the way the other miko would be heading.

"Yes," she wouldn't argue she knew better then to argue, "but shouldn't we go somewhere more private," she tried to say the last word like an invitation, but she wasn't entirely sure how to 'seduce' someone. She had never needed to before now, she was very good at manipulating them with words and spells.

However Naraku made it clear that for what they had in mind it wouldn't work that way and she needed to gain his trust the old fashioned way or at least through lust. A miko she had been in life, and as such she was ignorant in the fineries of human interaction and lust. She would have never thought of even touching Inuyasha or Naraku before, but the dark hanyou soon changed that.

"That would be better," Inuyasha consented and Kikyo led him to a hidden clearing that was hard to get through for anyone that was human. Thus she was sure they'd have privacy, had she been alive she was sure she'd have been nervous but such feelings were beneath her. The longer she lived in this state between life and death the more she lost her humanity and feelings, and it allowed her to exact her revenge coldly. She didn't even feel the heat of anger as she once had, and the lack of feelings had been helpful considering she could lie, manipulate, and cheat without her emotions leaking through her actions. That's why Naraku decided to use her, she was perfect.

She moved into the clearing and positioned herself in a way she hoped was 'inviting', she even attempted to make her eyes look dark with lust and passion. It was had to fake arousal and desire and exceedingly harder when you have no emotions or experience. Her eyes remained on his form as he entered into the clearing, but he didn't notice her and she muttered a spell that would make the air around someone smell a certain way.

It was no good, even if she had been fully naked and rubbing her body against him he wouldn't have noticed. He was too preoccupied as he set up their camp and she growled as best as a human could, the idiot was almost as naïve as her reincarnation.

"Inuyasha," it was meant to be a seductive beckoning but it came out monotonous and flat like everything. She sounded, looked, and acted like one would imagine a dead woman to when they were brought back to life. Her eyes were dull and dead looking, her face looked completely void of emotion, and her voice was flat and rough as if she hadn't used it in a while, and fifty years was a long time. She was no longer the woman Inuyasha and Naraku had fallen in love with, and while her new, dead, self pleased and worked greatly to Naraku's advantaged there was nothing that the other foolish half-breed should be clinging to.

Yet he couldn't see beyond her lies, he couldn't let go of what they had once been, what she had once been. The dead priestess understood that the hanyou held no affections for her and only chose her due to the duty he felt since she was his first love, and had she had a sense of humour she would have laughed at the pathetic display of honour. If she had actually cared about anyone, especially the red clad half-demon, she would have told him to stop chasing her ghost and move on. She didn't laugh and she didn't tell him these things.

He was looking at her now, but he didn't see what she wanted him to he was far too naïve and innocent which was surprising `considering most of the male population. She just couldn't believe it, being pinned to a tree for fifty years had sheltered him completely to the world of desires and wanton women. Not that she planned on coming back and working for a half-demon she didn't know was evil or expecting him to live, but the event of fifty years ago had great complications and not just their shattered relationship and the loss of her life.

He cocked his head to the right his left ear twitching slightly as he heard things no human ever would, his nose subconsciously twitched but he didn't notice the scent that Kikyo's spell was giving off. Kikyo bit back a sigh and raised gracefully off of the ground, she walked towards him swaying her hips back and forth like she had seen some whores do. She looked as contrived as they did, unlike Kagome who's hips naturally swayed in an attention grabbing manner. The stupid mutt still didn't see it and the dark priestess fumed silently.

She smirked which promised so much, and yet so little. There was no under lying emotions behind the sensual smile and even her desire was absent. She ran her hands up his chest over the red material of the fire rat and then back down teasing slightly at Inuyasha's waist line hoping it would 'cause a reaction. To further the reaction along she moved closer allowing their bodies to brush slightly.

It had a reaction, just not one Kikyo had wanted. Inuyasha blushed and stammered and drew away from her, and she refrained from glaring. He had rejected her! The woman he had proclaimed to love! She huffed and turned quickly on her heel, she was going to report to Naraku about the delay in his plans. He'd be angry, but she didn't care.

"Kikyo! Wait!" Inuyasha yelled, but the dark miko was already out of hearing range and so he took off after her.

End chapter.

Rejoice for bad things are about to happen! Bad things leads to more Sesshomaru and Kagome-ness so REJOICE!

I'm sorry I'm tired and not in my right mind, see ya next week!