They had been walking for about an hour on their way back to the rest of the pack and Kagome was starting to get worried because the little girl hadn't said anything yet, she didn't even know the name of the girl that was going to be joining them. Kagome looked at Sesshomaru trying to portray her worry for the girl but when her eyes made contact with him, she remembered that he had been missing for days and even though he looked as pristine as always, some part of her just knew that wasn't the case a few hours ago.

It was the same part of her that knew she had to find him when he'd been gone so long. It was normal and comfortable for both of them when she slipped her hand into his and she felt her shoulders lose the tightness that they acquired during their absence from each other. She knew some of that tension was because she missed him and she was worried for him but she also knew part of that was their souls reaching out for each other. The pull she'd felt to him since she'd met him had been steadily growing stronger even though it calmed when they decided to be together, it seemed to be growing stronger again and it was getting harder and harder not to just throw caution to the wind and bind their souls like almost every part of her body was telling her to. Thankfully, her brain was loud enough to convince her to use caution and take it slow.

She looked over at him again and asked, "Sesshomaru, where were you? I was so worried, I knew I had to find you."

"I was injured," He replied though it was clear even admitting that much was difficult for him.

"I think I'm going to need a little more information than that." She said as she stopped walking and started running her hands and eyes over his chest and body trying to see any damage that he might have taken. She internally cursed that she left her backpack full of her first aid supplies when she ran away with Ah-Un to find him.

Sesshomaru gently grabbed her hands with his own to stop her search. "All is well, dear one. I am healed now."

"Well, what happened?"

"I was ambushed by dragons."

Kagome felt a moment of insanity at that sentence. She knew by now that she wasn't crazy like she first thought she might be when coming to the past but that didn't change the fact that if someone said that to her less than two months ago she would have had them committed. She was also exasperated, it was like pulling teeth and getting this man, no male, to talk enough to get the information she needed. Especially because this specific information was about him getting hurt, which would mean him admitting he wasn't perfect. She held back a sigh that would have shown her exasperation. "Why would demons want to hurt you?"

"Revenge for what my father did to one of theirs."

"And you're okay? You're sure?"

Sesshomaru leaned down and gave her a soft kiss, "Yes, I am well now that I've had time to rest and I've fed."

"Okay but how did you meet…" She turned to the girl, who was watching them as they spoke. "What's your name, sweetie?"

Kagome's shoulders slumped after she didn't get a reply, she turned her attention back to Sesshomaru when he spoke, "She came upon me as I was healing and tried to bring me human food and water. She hasn't said a word to me. I was on my way back to you when I smelt her blood. You already know what happened from there. She was not treated well in that village, she'd come to me dirty and with bruises."

"Poor girl, she must be traumatized and her mutism must be a symptom." Kagome clapped her hands and turned forward to start walking again with a smile on her face, "Alright, that's just fine, she can talk whenever she feels comfortable to. It's good she's with us now, she'll never have to worry about being mistreated like that again." Kagome couldn't help but smile when she saw the tension in the girl's shoulders ease and a small smile flit over her face.

"Oh hell no, come on, wench, you better not be picking up another stray!"

Kagome's anger flared when she saw the girl flinch at Inuyasha's words and tone. "Inuyasha, be quiet! Plus, it wasn't me who made friends this time."

Sesshomaru became a little angry with himself when all eyes turned to him because he felt a slight blush come over his cheeks. So he decided to call the kit over to introduce the children and get the attention off of himself. "Shippo."

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama?" He asked as he scurried over to the group of arrivals.

Sesshomaru looked at Kagome and then between the two children so that she'd get the hint to introduce them. "Oh! Right, okay, Shippo, this is our new friend. Why don't you show her the coloring books and crayons I brought."

"I have to share?"

"Yes, Shippo. I'm sure she'd enjoy them too." She bent down and spoke quietly so that only Shippo would hear. However, once Kagome thought about it, she was sure Sesshomaru and probably Inuyasha could too. "She has been through a lot, Shippo, be nice to her, and don't force her to talk, she will when she's ready. I'm counting on you to make her feel comfortable."

Shippo felt his shoulders straighten in self-importance and he gave Kagome a serious nod. Kagome smiled softly at him before making her way over to the girl and helping her off Ah-Un. "This is Shippo, he's one of my best friends and I'm sure he could become one of yours too. Why don't you let him show you my crayons and papers to color?"

She looked weary but nodded her head anyway. It wasn't long before the two were sitting happily coloring away.

"What are you doing, wench? We've already stopped our search for days waiting for the bastard to get back and now you just want to stay here so the kids can color? There's still a good two hours before we lose daylight!"

Kagome had absolutely no problem ignoring him and walking over to Sesshomaru who was resting against a tree close enough to the children to keep an eye on them. She noticed Inuyasha's slumped shoulders and couldn't help but smile in victory when he jumped up into a tree nearby.

They had been traveling for another few weeks and Kagome was happy because they'd gotten a lot of shards, almost more than they had gotten the whole two months before. She didn't think she was being dramatic but she's positive they've walked every inch of Japan three times over at least. Her feet hurt, she was pretty sure her blisters had blisters and it was making her cranky and the worst part was that even though they'd been getting a lot of jewel shards over the last few weeks, they still were only about ten percent of the way to completing the jewel.

Sesshomaru could see his miko's mood souring more and more as the days went by. His first thought was that maybe he should bring her back to her time so that she could have some time to refresh herself but he wasn't sure if that'd work. Plus, he was of the opinion that she'd have to get used to her working and fixing her problems here. This is where she'd stay, after all. At least until the years passed and they made it to her time. Even though he wholeheartedly believed he was correct in that thinking he subconsciously turned their pack in the direction of Edo and the well.

After they stopped one night, not far out from the village Sesshomaru walked over to Kagome, held his hand out to her, and waited for her to take it. It only took a second before Kagome put her hand in his with a small smile on her face. She didn't say anything for a while and just enjoyed the moonlight stroll it seemed they were taking but eventually, her patients ran out.

"Where are we going, Sesshomaru?"

"It seemed you needed some quiet, you've seemed stressed, dear one."

Kagome felt a warm tingly feeling go through her body at the term of endearment and the feeling strengthened when she realized that not only did he notice that she'd been in a bad mood but he cared about what was wrong. "I'm okay, Sesshomaru. Sorry I've been such a Debbie downer, I've just been stressed. It just feels like this shard hunt will never end! We've been working so hard and it feels like we never get a break but the jewel is nowhere near being done, I feel like no matter what we do, it's not getting any closer to being done even though we're adding shards to it."

Sesshomaru was confused, he had no idea who this Debby was but he did know that Kagome was not her. He shook his head and chalked it up to another future thing that he was not privy to. Sesshomaru thought over what Kagome said but did not really understand where she was coming from. Yes, they still had a lot of work to do in order to complete the jewel but it was not as if there was any rush. Was she still planning on going back to the future when the quest was complete? What about the fact that they were soul bound? Sesshomaru was at the point that he was ready to tie himself to her, he didn't want to wait much longer but he was starting to get the impression that his little miko wasn't on the same page as he was. What would come of them if she left? It is not as if their tie to each other would just disappear being in

different times than each other. Did she expect him to wait all that time? He had no intentions of doing so.

He mentally shook his head, that line of thought was getting him angry and there was no need to think about that right now. Whether she wanted it to hurry up or not, there were still many more shards of the jewel that needed to be found and if leaving still was her intention, he had time to talk her out of that foolish notion. In fact, what better time to start than now? And one way he was going to do that was by showing her the pleasure she'd be missing if she left him.

He stopped walking and she only noticed when she had to stop because her hand was held back in his. She turned to look at him with her eyebrow quirked in a way reminiscent of him. Instead of speaking, he used their connected hands to pull her close and into his arms. She 'eeped' at the pull and he took advantage of her making that sound to bend down and kiss her passionately.

Kagome let out another sound that was a mix between a groan and a moan when his tongue entered her mouth. It was easy for her to get swept up in the kiss. Though Sesshomaru was the only man she kissed like this, they'd done it often enough that she felt pretty experienced in the practice. She felt sure of herself so she felt confident when she took the lead and started letting her hands roam over his body.

She wasn't sure what came over her when her hands moved south and she felt his member under his hakama. They'd fooled around before, or more like he fooled around with her. She'd never been the one to explore, he'd always been the one to take the initiative and bring her the pleasure. With the little brain power, she had that wasn't focused on the kiss and what she felt she realized now how unfair that was. She felt her cheeks grow hot at just the thought of it but went for it before she could talk herself out of it. She felt he was excited and wanted to untie his obie and touch him there but his armor was in the way so she did the next best thing she could think of. She started rubbing him over his hakama, she could tell he was enjoying it by the hitch in his breath. Kagome decided it wasn't enough and moved her hand up to his armor and tried to find the straps to take it off. Sesshomaru chuckled huskily when she broke the kiss and started making sounds of annoyance for not being able to figure out how to open the buckles to get them off him.

She felt her cheeks grow brighter because she felt like he was laughing at him but when she looked up into his eyes she saw the heat and want in them but along with that, she saw something she hadn't seen often from him, he looked playful so her frown turned into a slightly embarrassed smile and she laughed at herself.

"Impatient, are we?"

"Humph. Are you going to talk or are you going to take off your armor?"

He didn't have to think about that for more than a second before he reached to his side and almost quicker than she could see, the armor hit the ground. Now that they spoke and slowed down a little bit, Kagome was feeling nervous and shy again, her boldness from earlier was gone and so she just looked at him, not knowing where to go from there.

"Kagome, there is no need to feel shy around me, ever. Come here." He asked more than said as he held his hand out to her. She took it willingly and sank into his hold when he pulled her into his arms. He pulled his head back enough to be able to look at her, used his hand to grasp her chin, and moved her head up so that she was looking at him. He slowly leaned down for a kiss and it didn't take long for the passion to take over again. Now that Kagome could roam her hands much more freely, her boldness was starting to return. This time she was able to move her hands around without anything stopping her so she was able to explore and wowza she could tell this man has the body of a God. She hadn't actually seen it yet but from what she could feel, she was very excited to get intimately acquainted with all of him.

Kagome didn't realize how it happened but the top half of Sesshomaru was completely undressed and she realized she was right, he was like a walking Adonis statue, she couldn't help but take a second to appreciate him before she realized she had lost almost just as much clothing as he had. She still had her bra on but other than that, her top half was undressed as well. Not only that but they were no longer standing, she was lying on the grass and Sesshomaru was on top of her, looking down at her with dark lustful eyes. She saw there was a red tint to them as well. He was staying still for the moment though, waiting to see what she would do. Kagome took a deep breath before slowly reaching down to his hakama and untying them. Sesshomaru let out a growl that made her shiver when she wrapped her hand around his member. She pumped him once experimentally and he thrust once instinctually.

Sesshomaru was doing his best to stay still and let her experiment. He knew she was new to the ways of pleasure, she was inexperienced but eager and he wanted her to be comfortable but staying still was no easy task. He wanted nothing more than to rip the rest of her clothes off, throw her into her back, and rutt with her until they were both sated, which he knew wouldn't happen anytime soon. He knew he couldn't for more than one reason though, she wasn't ready, he didn't want to hurt her and he couldn't trust his beast not to mate her, he wanted it too much.

So he used all of his hard-earned control to stay still while she tentatively stroked his cock from the base to the tip slowly. At first, she was fascinated by watching her hand and then she started flicking her eyes between his cock and his face, watching his expressions trying to figure out what he liked. He wrapped his hand around hers with a firmer grip to show her how he liked it and it wasn't long before Sesshomaru started to make sounds of pleasure. His eyes widened when Kagome leaned down, slowly stuck her tongue out, and licked the precum that was now leaking from his tip. He couldn't help but thrust into her hand again at the sensation. Kagome's smile turned sultry at his reaction and she bent down again to take him into her mouth.

Though this was new for Kagome, she'd learned a lot from her friends and from the media. She knew she could pleasure him, she remembered tricks and tips she'd heard from her friend's stories. Sesshomaru growled lustfully. He'd never experienced any sensation like that before. Though he was not inexperienced, he'd never been with a human before and yokai females have sharp fangs. He'd not trust any woman enough to let their fangs get this close to him.

Sesshomaru felt like a whelp when it wasn't two minutes later before he had to stop her lest he spill into her mouth. "Kagome, stop."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, when males finish they…"

She cut him off with an eye roll, "I know that Sesshomaru, I'm not a child."

Sesshomaru couldn't stop the growl of anger and jealousy at the thought of where she learned such things. Especially considering how good she was at pleasuring him with her mouth, he did not think there was a way that she was as inexperienced as he first thought. He knew she was pure, he could smell the innocence on her but as he knew, there were more ways to find pleasure than just the act of rutting. He knew it was irrational, he was no virgin but the thought of anyone else touching his miko had him seeing red. Before he thought better of it he pounced so that she was lying flat again in the grass and he was on top of her growling softly. Kagome was surprised when she noticed his eyes were slightly red. "And where did you learn such things, miko? You are mine."

She rolled her eyes again, "Oh stop it. I've never done it before or anything, where I'm from there's classes that teach you about it, teach you how to stay safe during sex. Plus, stop being all grouchy and territorial, it's not like you've never been with anyone before." She was trying not to get mad, she knew times were different now, it was okay to go around and have as many women as they wanted, sometimes even after marriage and it was expected for women to stay pure. She'd even heard of doctors doing tests before a marriage could actually happen to make sure a woman's maidenhead was still attached. Who was she kidding, it was still a problem in her time too.

Sesshomaru was able to see more clearly now that he realized it wasn't from her time with another. His growl became softer, almost purr-like when he calmed down enough to realize she was the one becoming angry now. He decided a distraction was in order. So while still growling softly, he moved his head down starting at her neck, and showed the spot where he'd one day mark her the proper attention, before bringing his lips to her breasts and showing them the attention he felt they deserved even though they were hidden under her shirt. It wasn't long before her anger was gone.

They stayed that way teasing, exploring, and pleasuring each other for a long time. Long after the children and everyone else fell asleep at the camp, so long that when they finally stopped Kagome was worn out and Sesshomaru was surprised to find he wasn't doing much better. They both lay in the grass with Kagome cuddled up to his side still panting heavily calming down.

Sesshomaru smugly felt he did a good job in getting his miko out of her terrible mood. They lay there like that for a while just enjoying being close to each other. The pull that was constantly tugging on them was quite currently happy with how things were.

Kagome made them stop in the village before they started back on the next leg of their journey. She wanted to make sure that Kaede and everyone were well. Though she never thought they'd be best friends after how the older miko treated her and Sesshomaru, she'd grown a soft spot for her. She was surprised when she didn't even have to go into the village, Kaede was sitting near some alter that she'd never noticed before.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, you're back. I hope ye shard hunt is going well."

"It is, we've found a lot since we've last been here and picked up another traveling companion. Now, what's wrong?"

"Someone stole my sister's ashes."

"Oh, Kaede, that's terrible!"

"My sister had unusually strong powers, even for a priestess as she was. Her remains have fallen into the hands of evil. Who knows to what end Kikyo's powers will be exploited?"

Inuyasha started to walk away and that's when Kagome remembered that Kaede's sister was the woman Inuyasha loved, her own pre-incarnation.

It seemed Kaede realized too because she called out to him, "Inuyasha!"

"You're on your own, are you forgetting that Kikyo betrayed me? I'm not so lucky, I can still remember the pain from the arrow she used to pierce my chest."

"Hmm, forgive me," Kaede said sadly and didn't try to stop him when he started to walk away again.

We'll help you get her ashes back, Kaede. Right, Sesshomaru?"

"Yeah!" Shippo chimed in before Sesshomaru had a chance to say anything. When Sesshomaru's eyes cut to Shippo he looked sheepish, "Haha, right Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru really didn't want to waste the time doing this but he knew that look on Kagome's face, she wasn't going to give up, and if he said no, she'd try to do it without him. "Hn."

Kaede looked like she wasn't sure what his answer was but Kagome smiled and ran over to him to give him a big hug, "Thanks Sesshomaru, you're the best!"

He wrapped one of his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "Hn." Kaede was so surprised at his actions that she almost fell over. It was then that Kagome remembered that Kaede did not know about them. She decided she didn't need to tell her right now. Heck, she probably didn't have to, that interaction probably gave her all the information she needed.

"Okay, we'll leave soon, gather what you must, Kaede, I just want to check on Inuyasha before we leave, I'm sure he's sad right now, I couldn't imagine what he's going through because it's clear he still loves Kikyo, even if he's hurt by here."

Kaede nodded and made her slow way back to her hut without saying anything else. Kagome looked up at Sesshomaru and then down to the kids, "Stay here, okay? I'd like to talk to Inuyasha alone." Kagome started talking faster when she noticed Sesshomaru's angry growl started again. "I want to make sure he's okay and I know he won't actually talk to me if everyone is listening.

Sesshomaru stared at her for a long time before nodding, he wasn't a fan of letting her out of his sight but he saw the Marrit in it. Kagome smiled then ran off in the direction she'd seen Inuyasha go. When she finally found him, he was sitting with his back to a tree looking off into the distance.

"Hey, what happened back there?"

"None of your business."

"Come on, Inuyasha, don't act like that, I think I already know what's wrong anyway."

"Oh yeah? And what's that, wench?"

"Duh, you're obviously upset about Kikyo, you love her and want to help but you also hate her and never want to see her again because she betrayed you, it's not that difficult to figure out."

Inuyasha looked at her with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open in clear surprise, he didn't think he was that obvious. "Keh, you don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh yeah? Then why can't you look at me in the face? You haven't been able to since Kikyo's name was said. It's because I look like her, isn't it?" Kagome said trying not to get mad but her voice was getting heated all the same. She couldn't help that she had a small complex about Kikyo.

It seemed that Kagome calling Inuyasha on not being able to look at her was all he needed to get the strength to stare at her in her eyes. Kagome was confused when his eyes softened and he slowly started leaning closer while talking softly to her, "I'm not avoiding you Kagome, you're one of the only people on this planet who are important to me. I'd never mean to do anything to push you away."

He kept leaning closer as he was talking and when he got only a few inches away from her Kagome realized what he was doing, he was trying to kiss her. She felt a moment of panic at the realization, that she didn't want to hurt him but it wasn't like she could actually let him kiss her. Even if she wanted to and she was interested in him that way, which she wasn't, Sesshomaru would kill him. Those two were finally getting along enough that they weren't fighting every day, she didn't want to get in between that. Knowing that she didn't want to kiss him didn't help her though, she realized he was very sensitive and she didn't want to hurt him. Especially because he didn't seem the type to put himself out there like this very often. She had to stop him but didn't know how without making him feel bad. She came to the realization that she was out of time when his lips were less than an inch from her and she panicked again. Instead of letting him down softly she used all her strength to push him away. Unfortunately for her, and him really, she was too panicky at the moment so her aim was off, and pushing him away as hard as she can turn more into slapping him in the face as hard as she could.

"What are you doing? Get away from me, will you?" Kagome regretted she sounded so harsh but she couldn't change it after the words came out of her mouth.

"What are you doing, you wench? What was that for?!"

"You were about to kiss me!"

"Was not!"

"Were too! You can't deny it, Inuyasha. Your lips were right here!" She demonstrated. By putting her hand right in front of her face. "There's no way you can convince me you weren't trying to kiss me." Even though she didn't like Inuyasha like that she couldn't help the flush of femonly pride she got. Any man getting lost in your eyes and lips must really be enchanted by you. That's when she feels her shoulders slump because she realizes why he was trying to kiss her. She stands up angrily and yells down at him. "You were imagining I was Kikyo. I. Am. Kagome. Say it with me, Ka-go-me! I'm not your precious Kikiyo and I won't stand for you using me as a stand-in. You're not allowed to kiss me and I won't stand for you trying!"

Inuyasha was angry at her words and he had all intentions of giving her a piece of his mind before his shoulders slumped and he accepted she was right. "You're right, Kagome. I got lost in my memories, I shouldn't have brought you into it. Don't worry, I won't try kissing you again."

Kagome opened her mouth to respond before she heard an angry growling coming from behind her. This time her shoulders slumped because she knew those growls. Those were the growls of a Yokai that heard what he shouldn't have and now he's beyond angry. Kagome turned to Sesshomaru and ran right over to him, when she made it to him she did everything she could think of to calm him down, trying to tell him but even as she was trying to calm him, she knew it was useless. Sesshomaru was angry and there was no stopping him.