Here is the next chapter and I will be posting Chapter 20 tomorrow with the thank you to the reviewers for now consider this last weeks, still thank you to everyone who read and is currently reading

Chapter 19:

"I'm better!" Kagome practically whined standing in front of Sesshomaru. She had healed in at a remarkable rate now that her miko powers were there to help mend her own body and she wanted to set out on her adventures again.

"You must show this Sesshomaru," Sesshomaru drawled not looking up from his papers, and nearly let a smirk slip when he heard the girl huff.

"It'll be hard to do that if your nose is stuck to a scroll," Kagome said congratulating herself on the re-arrangement of the saying.

"There are three things you must do in order to prove that you are fit to travel," Sesshomaru said and looked up when the miko failed to acknowledge what he had said, he found it quite amusing that she was standing there with her arms folded into her Yukta sleeves and on eyebrow raised in question, "The first is you must walk around the entire castle without getting tired and finding your way back to here before dinner is served."

"What are the others?"

"You must finish the first one first."

Kagome narrowed her eyes for a moment before she turned stiffly and walked back out of the study door. She could do this easily especially if she didn't get lost, so she started marking each wall she passed with a slight bit of her holy energy and walked around the maze that Sesshomaru called his home. It was easy enough to walk around the entire place and when she had finished she still had an hour before dinner would be served.

While heading towards Sesshomaru's study Kagome picked up on the sounds of a quite conversation, there were three participating in the conversation. Shippo was one and she could safely assume the higher voice belonged to Rin, however there was a much older voice she didn't recognise and she headed toward the voices.

The conversation was held behind a slightly open door and Kagome guessed it was either Shippo's or Rin's. She nudged the door open and peaked in, her presence was automatically noticed by her kit and three heads turned in her direction. Her eyes widened as she looked past Shippo to the owner of the third voice to find Kohaku shifting nervously under her gaze.

His eyes widened as she rushed forward and he froze in fear as he waited for her to attack. He was surprised when her arms wrapped around him in a tight hug and he looked between Shippo and Rin who were grinning from ear to ear. He had been nervous that she wouldn't take well to his presence being in the castle especially close to the kit she looked after, both of the children said that she'd be happy to see him despite him attempting to take her life before.

"Sango will be so happy to know that your back!" She exclaimed quietly and he was surprised.

"How do you know that I am 'back'?"

"There is no tainted jewel shard in your back so Naraku isn't controlling you, and you now share Sango's tinted skin colour now that you're alive again," Kagome pulled back and looked over the boy examining his body with her aura which was when she noticed the small trace of power left behind on his body, "If I had to guess Sesshomaru-sama was the one who took the shard out and brought you back to life."

All three children looked shocked but didn't say anything as the miko stood and motioned for them to follow her. They walked in silence for a while until Rin realised where they were headed.

"Why are we going to Sesshomaru-sama's study?" she asked skipping forward to walk with Kagome her hands behind her back swinging slightly and carefree.

"Because I had to prove something to him and I have to finish it before supper."

"You are late miko," Sesshomaru said suddenly appearing with a small smirk as he looked over the group his eyes landed on Kohaku for a moment before landing on the miko again, "However I see you have moved on to the second part, you handle surprise well."

Kagome cocked her head slightly to the side in acknowledgement of the lord's compliment; she had glanced at the sky and found that it was just slightly over sunset so she had just missed the deadline. She hadn't realised that talking and walking with the children had used up her hour, not that she cared it just meant that the demon lord would have his way for now.

They walked down the hall in a compatible silence and Kagome glanced behind her to see three happy children following her and the silent demon lord at her side. The children slowed to look at something and she looked over at Sesshomaru.

"Do I get to know what the third task is?" Sesshomaru turned his head slightly to look at her and raised an eyebrow, "Well I finished one task as you said and I had to finish the first to know the second but I finished the second without knowing so that should mean that I am allowed to know the third thing."

Sesshomaru thought on it for a moment and nodded his head, she did finish the requirement that granted her knowledge of the third task, "Change Susuki back, when you have enough energy to do so," Kagome was about to protest but he held up his hand, "She will be of no use in our travels if she cannot use her most effective abilities."

"Our travels?"

"Miko, you get into far too much trouble to travel alone," there was a slight smirk as he said the sentence and Kagome got the impression that for a moment he was teasing her.

She was stunned into silence and contemplation. How much didn't she know about Sesshomaru? She didn't know the answer to that but she could hazard a guess that it was a lot, and a perfect way to learn about him was to see him in different environments. She's seen him at his home and she's seen him in battle but she had yet to see him in a relaxed travel or to really interact with any of his pack. She smiled again as she thought about the interesting new situation, "That's easy," Kagome said and the rest of the trip to the dining hall was made in silence.

Kagome smiled as she walked into the room, which compared to the rest of the fortress a small dull room. Rin and Shippo quickly ran to their places and she bit back her laughter as Susuki tried to keep her dignity as the children cooed at and petted her small form.

Kohaku sat nervously next to Shippo and Kagome took her place on the other side. The prince of the northern lands sat at the far end watching the odd pack with interest. Sesshomaru took his own seat and the servants moved to serve the food, with a small wave of his hand the servants left.

He took a small sip of his tea and the others started to eat. He watched each and every one of the members at the table eat, noting that their manners said a lot about them. He didn't eat and neither did the northern prince. As mostly grown demons they didn't need to eat or sleep much and when they did it was never around people.

Rin despite her lessons eats with little manners and tends to get more of it on the table then her mouth. She doesn't eat at the castle and she isn't around for formal dinners anymore. The other lords didn't agree with him keeping her, but the only one who continuously complains about it is the Southern lord. He was the only one who had ever tried anything. Sesshomaru noted that the old demon tended to step on his toes far too often.

Shippo eats fast but not in a messy way, he had sufficient manners when he first got here and thy've steadily increased. He had assumed that Kagome had taught him some manners, but it had been hard for him to actually believe that since every time he had an encounter with her she had been rude and outspoken. She was willing to jump into anything and even attacked him, he had assumed that she was just a woman who didn't know her place in the world and was never taught any manners.

Watching her eat had he surprised him every time he watched it, she ate slowly and neatly. Unlike the two children and most humans he had seen eating she didn't stuff the food into her mouth. She took small bites and chewed without making loud obnoxious noises, and he was grateful for that. She had proved to him that it was the situation that they were in that caused her to act differently. She still wasn't a tame woman, but she wasn't disrespectful. She was interesting to watch and hear about, and his curiosity ran wild when it came to her.

Kohaku picked at his food, obviously uncomfortable with all of them still, especially now that Kagome had joined them. He understood that Kohaku had once tried to kill her, but she treated such things as something minor. That is his assumption based on what Shippo has said and the way she has acted towards him.

Susuki in her normal form ate peacefully if she ate at all, but at the moment she tore and clawed at her food growling as it occasionally slipped away from her. Sesshomaru wasn't a creature of pity, he detested the feeling but he did feel a stab of emotion as she struggled.

He wasn't the only one. He watched as the miko watched with regretful eyes, it apparently wasn't her goal to make Susuki this vulnerable. She bit her lip, which Sesshomaru found an interesting little habit.

"Shippo," she said suddenly drawing almost everyone's attention, "Did I ever tell you about the game my mother once taught me?"

"Which game?" Shippo asked his eyes getting bigger.

"Well it's not appropriate to play when you have guests over," she warned and Sesshomaru dreaded what she was going to have the children do, "and you should only play it if I say so and only if I'm around . . ."

"Okay!" the two children agreed in unison, "Tell us!"

"Well me and my brother have a cat, and we had bugged it constantly so my mom had suggested that we spend a day acting as he did. So how about we, for just today act like some animals," Sesshomaru groaned internally, "Sesshomaru-sama might even join," said demon glared and Kagome sent him what most would describe as a stunning smile. Sesshomaru groaned as he realised that the smile was going to be the end of him.

"I do not think Sesshomaru-sama would do that. He does not like to play with Rin," Sesshomaru's eyebrow shot up at his young ward and he turned it on Kagome as she made a 'tsking' sound.

"Well I'm sure Kohaku would like to play and Susuki," Susuki lifted eher head from her food at the mention of her name, "and maybe if we ask nicely Prince Ozu might join us," everyone looked at the demon at the far end of the table.

Kagome flashed her smile again and the demon sighed, it was hopeless if he didn't agree he was sure the strange miko would pout and he hated when females pouted. Especially ones that defy is normal sense of females. For example Susuki is more of a warrior then a normal girl who uses her looks and pouts to get what she wants. The miko can fight but that smile gave him the slight glimpse that she could pout, there was no way to deal with a pout. You couldn't yell because then they would cry, you couldn't glare or anything so when it came to those particular females it was best to either ignore them or just agree.

He couldn't ignore her so there was only one option, and as he nodded his head the miko smiled again. She then turned her attention to Sesshomaru and Ozu silently thanked whatever made him agree. Sesshomaru seemed to have the same weakness since he seemed to be losing the battle against whatever face the miko was making.

"Fine"

End chapter

Next chapter tomorrow and then it will continue to post on mondays