Ok, so I finally managed to write another chapter. Recovering from getting my wisdom teeth out has been horrible. Basically lived on the couch for a week because I couldn't stay awake and standing up made me dizzy. Took me about two weeks to get any where close to normal again. For the past two weeks I've been taking an intensensive back ground painting class that left all my waking moments to painting which left no time to write,

I had a relapse yesterday which carried on to today with my wisdom teeth. I was just sitting in class when my bottom right jaw started to really hurt, enough to make my eyes water. This morning I woke up and the right side of my face was swollen. My dentist isn't open so I just have to deal with the pain till monday. I don't know how i even managed to write this yesterday but i did. For someone in pain I'm feeling very productive.

I thought i was done with the wisdom teeth after four weeks but I guess I was wrong.

Chained: In More Ways Than One

Untouchable

...

Uh Un stood from it's resting place, alerting the others to the presence of someone else entering the area. They all stood and waited for the person to reveal themselves. All of them were surprised when Sesshoumaru stepped from the shadows of the trees with Kagome standing complaisantly beside him. Like she was with him by choice and hadn't been kidnapped by the demon lord against her will, very curious.

Shippo had to force himself not to run to his mother figure, to afraid of the demon lord beside her.

Rin had no such reservations.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" She yelled, dropping the flowers she'd been picking, running in his direction and latching onto his leg. " I told them no matter where I was, that you'd return for me. I don't think they believed me."

Sesshoumaru put a hand on Rin's head to let her know that he'd heard her. He crouched to be at the child's level. He looked at her with a critical eye, taking both her hands in his and spreading them, rolling up her sleeves so that he could see her arms properly.

"What are you doing?" Inuyasha questioned behind him as he entered the clearing. Seeing that the demon lord's presence was known to the half demon put the other's nerves at ease; especially since there didn't seem to be any murderous attempt in either figures.

"Making sure my ward is in the same condition I left her before she came into your possession, dearest brother." Sesshoumaru exclaimed with the last part as a threat that he would pay if there was anything wrong with her. Rolling up her kimono so that he could see her knees; one of them had a giant scrape on it. He glared at his half brother.

"That wasn't my fault!" Inuyasha defended himself. "Miroku was going to sit on a flower and she dived to save it."

The monk grumbled to himself about girls and flowers, the demon slayer whacked him in the back of the head for what she deemed as a sexist comment.

Shippo, once seeing that Inuyasha was there and didn't deem his half brother a threat, decided to take a chance and run to his mother figure who welcomed him with open arms. "Kagome! I'm so glad you're finally back. We were so worried when we realized that one of the ogres had chased after you, and even more worried once we managed to track down your scent trail and discovered that you'd been taken by Sesshoumaru."

"Slow down Shippo, you'll suffocate if you don't stop to breath. I missed you too." Kagome emphasized he comment by giving a tight embrace to the fox cub. She placed him back on the ground so that she could take her backpack off. The trip had severly depleted her supplies yet the yellow monstrosity was still heavy enough to be uncomfortable.

-Uh-Un nudged his master. Making the demon lord remember about the other members of his party, he looked around. "Where's Jaken?" Sesshoumaru asked Rin, though the others took it as an open question.

"Tied him to a tree with a gag in his mouth. The toad just wouldn't shut up." Inuyasha responded instead, before the little girl could even get her mouth open.

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, he knew that his retainer was annoying at the best of times but he managed to deal with it in his own way; kicking was very therapeutic. He was amazed that within a week of being with his brother's companions he'd driven them to such extremes.

" He was giving me a head ache." The demon slayer grumbled to her self probably thinking that he couldn't hear, the monk nodded in agreement.

"Master Jaken didn't want me to come with Uncle Inuyasha, he voiced his objections very loudly once he'd regain consciousness again." Rin stated, enthusiastically informing her lord what happened.

"Uncle Inuyasha?" Sesshoumaru question his ward with his eyebrows raised high so that they disappeared behind his bangs.

"Since Rin sees Lord Sesshoumaru as a father figure, she thought that since Inuyasha was his brother, that would make him Rin's uncle." His ward explained her logic.

"Hence, Uncle Inuyasha." Kagome smiled at the little girl before turning to the demon lord, grabbing his sleeve to gain his attention. " Isn't that just the cutest thing?"

"Heh, half brother." Sesshoumaru made his trademark noise, crossing his arms in indignation. He knew what rin said was true in a way and he couldn't correct her if she was right.

Kagome rolled her eyes at the demon lord's typical response to his ward and hugged his arm to her self in fondness.

Sango gasped at the display.

Kagome turned her attention back to her friends at the noise and was surprised at the looks they were giving her. "What she asked?" They just looked even more confused. She had to think what could cause this response but then realized the factor. "Is it because I'm touching Sesshoumaru?" She more asked to confirm than to actually get an answer because she was pretty sure she had guessed right.

"Why are you hugging the bastard?" Inuyasha questioned with his mouth gaped open.

Kagome rolled her eyes at their responses. "He's not going to hurt me or anything." Letting go of the demons arm, she then started to poke Sesshoumaru in random spots. They were all surprised that she hadn't been maimed yet. " Look I'm touching the untouchable." She poked him twice in the cheek to prove her point.

"Miko, are you done now?" Sesshoumaru questioned.

"Yes." Kagome answered. Retracting her finger only after the demon lord had glared at her half-heartedly in exasperation. "Sorry."

-"What happened between you two?" Sango couldn't help but comment after observing how comfortable her friend was with the demon lord.

Kagome looked at the demon slayer and had to hide a blush from her. That was a very complicated question, one that she didn't even know the answer to. With all the excitement going on she hadn't had a chance yet to sit down with Sesshoumaru and discuss the feelings she'd let slip when he was in dog form.

"We're so glad to see you safe and sound Lady Kagome. We should discuss your adventure over dinner." Miroku welcomed her back, cutting off Sango's question.

Kagome was glad for the subject change. "Maybe we should head back to Lady Keida's, and talk about what happened. We don't want to leave her out of the original conversation only to have to explain it all again to her later."

"I don't want to wait for an explanation, I want this explained now!" Inuyasha yelled. "How is it that you went from being kidnapped by this bastard to traveling with him willingly? Why'd he even take you in the first place? Did he team up with Naraku again? When…"

Inuyasha was surprised when his throat was grabbed by his half-brother, but not for the reason you'd think. "You have your left arm back." The half demon rasped out.

"Yes, I do. Now if you'd just shut up, you'd be able to hear all about how it came to be." Sesshoumaru spat out, tightening his left arm around his half brothers throat to prove that the appendage was just as strong as it was before he'd severed it with tensaiga. He was now, back to being the 'killing perfection', without any physical flaws.

"Put him down Sesshoumaru, leave dealing with Inuyasha to me." Kagome tried to physically remove the demon lord's arm from her friend's throat but it would budge. "You'll end up killing him by accident in frustration. Remember we need him for later on."

Sesshoumaru released his half brother from his grip and let him fall to the ground with a thud. "Just try and keep him out of my way." He told the miko in jest, knowing it was an impossible task. 'Inuyasha was always in the way', he thought to himself.

"Sure, whatever. We should head to the village now." Kagome reminded everyone to get a moving if they wanted to cure their curiosity and hear her story. They nodded in agreement and pack their stuff up before heading out.

Kagome walked beside Sesshoumaru comfortably, leaving her friends further confused as they observed their interaction together.