Untitled Inuyasha Fanfiction

I know, It's untitled. I couldn't come up with a title. (I feel so pathetic. :' -( ) If anyone can offer a good suggestion or two please let me know, I would be VERY grateful for any and all suggestions. (In short, please rate and review! Pretty please with sugar on top?)


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Oh, by the way,
If you're a Koga, Naraku, or Kagura fan, don't worry, they're in here too.

I let Koga make a cameo apperance in chapter seven. He said he just HAD to get in there somewhere.

Naraku makes just one apperance in chapter three (Since I have another OC as the main villian and I'm sure Naraku would have killed me otherwise.) so don't expect much of him.

Kagura though shows up in a few chapters. She even gets a fight scene.

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Anywayz,
I spent practically all day trying to prepare this one for posting. Grammatically speaking it's my best so far. (I think.) But I went over it for the millonth time (I'm sure there's STILL some typos.) and I caved and completely (Well almost completely.) Re-wrote the fourteenth chapter the way I had orginally wanted it to be.


I truly hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Sincerly,
TigerFan















Chapter I: A Mysterious Spy



“Oh! Lord Sesshomaru is usually quiet but he has been all too quiet lately; what could be bothering him?” Jaken thought to himself as he sat behind a bush watching Sesshomaru. “Master Jaken?” Jaken jumped at the sound of Rin’s voice. “What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?” Jaken snapped. “I’m sorry, but didn’t lord Sesshomaru say that he wanted to be left alone?” “Yes, but I-I’m just worried about him.” Jaken said defensively. “I am too, but I’m sure it’s nothing serious.” Rin said reassuringly. “Come on, Master Jaken. Let’s go and find some food. I’m sure lord Sesshomaru will be in a better mood when we return.” And with that, Rin and Jaken walked into the woods.



Sesshomaru was deep in thought. 'Someone had been watching us, watching the fight between Inuyasha and myself, but the question is why? It hadn’t been Naraku; I’m sure Inuyasha and I would have easily recognized him one way or another. Who was it? Why had that person watched?'



Sesshomaru had been pondering those questions since the last time he and Inuyasha had fought. Sesshomaru knew that Inuyasha had probably picked up on the fact that someone had watched them and Sesshomaru knew that he wouldn’t be the only one trying to figure out why.



“Inuyasha’s been really quiet since his last fight with Sesshomaru. I’m worried about him.” Shippo said staring at Inuyasha who was sitting several feet from everyone. “I’m worried too Shippo, but I’ve tried to talk to him and he won’t listen to me.” Kagome said worriedly. “I wouldn’t think much of it, I’m sure Inuyasha is just in one of his moods.” Miroku said looking up from his food. “And just what do you mean by that Miroku!” Inuyasha snapped turning to face the others who were sitting on Kagome’s picnic blanket eating lunch. “I merely meant that you might be upset that your last battle with Sesshomaru was inconclusive.” Miroku said returning to his food.



“I’m not upset about the fight! It’s not my fault that Sesshomaru chickened out and took off with his tail between his legs! I know he did that hoping that whoever was out there would come after me. The jerk.” Inuyasha fumed. “What do you mean ‘whoever was out there’ Inuyasha?” Sango asked. “I sensed it and I’m sure Sesshomaru did too, someone was watching us, I couldn’t tell if it was a human or a demon, though.” Inuyasha explained.



“So you’re saying that someone was spying on you and Sesshomaru, Inuyasha?” Shippo asked concerned. “Yeah, it looks that way Shippo, the question is who and why?” Inuyasha said. “Well perhaps we ought to look into this further Inuyasha.” Miroku said. “I agree with Miroku, it could have been someone in league with Naraku.” Kagome said. “Yeah, it could have been…but I know that it wasn‘t Kanna or Kagura, that‘s just not Kagura‘s style, to sit and watch without attacking. It isn’t Kanna’s either, she’s always with Kagura. And both of them have the same scent as Naraku so I‘m positive that I would picked up on it.”



“That’s true, but that still doesn’t eliminate the possibility.” Kagome said. “Well are we just going to sit here or are we going to find the person who was spying on you?” Sango asked getting up from her spot on the blanket. As everyone else started getting up Kagome began packing the blanket, leftovers, and putting them in her backpack.



Jaken had been walking with Rin for a while and they had not found anything that looked remotely edible. Jaken’s stomach began to rumble. “Ohhh, are we ever going to find food? I’m starving!” Jaken whined. “Oh, Master Jaken I’m sure we’ll find something soon.” Rin said. “You said that over half an hour ago!” “Jaken…we’ve only been out here for fifteen minutes.” “Well…that’s completely beside the point Rin!” Jaken crossed his arms. Rin just sighed and rolled her eyes as Jaken’s stomach began to growl again. Suddenly Jaken heard voices and told Rin to hide as he watched from behind a tree. The voices came closer.



“Inuyasha?” “Yeah?” “Do you think it’s possible that the person who was watching you fight Sesshomaru was a half-demon?” Jaken heard the voices of that strange human girl Kagome and Inuyasha talking.



'So Inuyasha and his companions are searching for another half-demon? Why? Could it have anything to do with why lord Sesshomaru has been so much quieter than usual?' Jaken wondered.



As Jaken watched Inuyasha and his friends walk past his hiding place an annoying leaf from a nearby bush kept tickling his nose. Jaken tried his best to keep from sneezing but the bush won the battle and just as Inuyasha and his friends started to walk off Jaken sneezed and fell flat on his face. “AAAH-CHOOOO!”



Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango and Shippo stopped and turned when they heard someone sneeze and saw Jaken fall from behind a tree. “Jaken! If he’s here then Sesshomaru must here! Come on out Sesshomaru!!” Inuyasha yelled to his older brother only to get no response. Kagome, Sango and Miroku looked at Jaken and began to question him. “Why are you following us?” Miroku asked. “Is Sesshomaru looking for a rematch or something?” Sango asked. “Is Sesshomaru trying to find the person who spied on him and Inuyasha?” Kagome asked.



The little green demon scrambled to his feet and backed up until his back was pressed against the tree. “I-I‘m not following you! And I don’t know if lord Sesshomaru wants to find a spy! I don’t even know anything about a spy spying on Inuyasha and lord Sesshomaru!” Jaken said defending himself. “I think he’s lying Inuyasha.” Shippo said giving Jaken suspicious glare.“I’m not lying!” Jaken snapped in his own defense. “And just how can we be sure of that?” Miroku asked, sounding just a bit too calm in Jaken’s opinion.



Inuyasha walked over to Jaken and picked him up by the front of his shirt. “I know Sesshomaru’s around here somewhere, now tell me where he is, or else!” Inuyasha demanded, folding his free hand into a fist. “Put him down! Lord Sesshomaru isn’t here and we didn’t do anything to you so put Master Jaken down right now!” Rin cried running over to Inuyasha and stomping on his left foot causing him to drop Jaken with a thud. “Ooof! Thank you Rin but I told you to stay out of sight!” Jaken said in a very stern tone. Inuyasha rubbed his sore left foot then made a grab for Jaken and Rin only to fall flat on his face despite Kagome’s “Sit Boy!” which she didn’t have to say because he would have fallen anyway!



Kagome looked at Rin while Inuyasha tried to recover from effects of the spell. “Rin, if you two aren’t following us then what are you doing here?” Kagome asked. Before Rin could answer Jaken’s stomach growled again. “I think that kind of answers your question Kagome, we were looking for food.” Rin said giggling. “We don’t have to explain ourselves to them Rin!” Jaken snapped. “I know we don’t have to, but I wanted to Master Jaken, there’s a difference.”



“I know the difference, they like you, but they’ll kill me if given half the chance! Therefore you can explain yourself only if you want to but I, on the other hand, have no choice, I have to explain.” Inuyasha, who by this time had recovered, was back on his feet. “What’d ya do that for Kagome?” He asked angrily. “I wasn’t going to let you pounce on poor Rin, that’s all.” Kagome said turning away from Inuyasha. “Okay you two don’t start fighting!” Sango said before Inuyasha could say anything more.



It was nearing sunset and Sesshomaru, beginning to wonder where Jaken and Rin were, decided to go and find them. He got up from the spot where he was sitting, lost in deep thought and walked off into the woods in the direction that he’d seen Rin go off in.



She sat silently and watched as he walked through the woods. ‘The little toad is actually doing this part for me; soon they’ll be right where I want them.’ She thought to herself. She quickly and quietly jumped from branch to branch through the trees to the clearing where the half-dog and his friends were questioning the little toad demon.



As Sesshomaru walked, he began to hear voices, all-too familiar voices. “Not again, I don’t really want to deal with that pest and his annoying friends.” Sesshomaru muttered under his breath. He then heard Inuyasha’s voice call his name. “Sesshomaru I know you’re out there so show yourself now! Before I come after you myself you coward!!” He heard Inuyasha call. Sesshomaru stepped out of the dense woods and faced his brother. “Inuyasha I’m not a coward, but if you so much as open your mouth again I’ll shut it myself.” He threatened.












Chapter II: Friends Reunited



“I’ll call you what I want Sesshomaru!” Inuyasha snapped. “I suppose you want to fight me now, am I right Inuyasha?” Sesshomaru asked. “Don’t you want to fight Inuyasha Sesshomaru?” Miroku asked confused. “I really don’t think it would be a fair fight, two against one.” Sesshomaru said. “What the heck are you talking about Sesshomaru? It’ll just be me and you, a one on one fight no one else.” Inuyasha said very confused by his brother’s words. “No it’ll most likely be two against one, the question is, who is the ’one’ isn’t that right? Yes, I know you’re here again so why don’t you just show yourself and state your business with us.” Sesshomaru called out.



“My, my, my, how direct you are. If you’re THAT anxious to meet your fate then I suppose I’ll have to come out, now won’t I?” A very lovely sounding female voice said. “Huh? What the-” Before Inuyasha could finish his sentence a demon jumped from the treetops and landed right in front of him and Sesshomaru.



The demon was a female, a very lovely female. She was dressed in an outfit similar to what Koga, the leader of the wolf-demon tribe, wore except her armor was different and her fur garments, unlike Koga’s were striped black and white, like tiger stripes. She also wore armored armbands.



“Alright, you don’t smell much like one but I guess you’re a wolf demon. So what do ya want?” Inuyasha asked. “Are you blind Inuyasha?” Sesshomaru asked. “She is not a wolf demon, she is a tiger demon you idiot.” “What did you just call me?!” “Although, I had though that white tiger demons were all but extinct. I guess they aren’t after all.” Sesshomaru said flatly, ignoring Inuyasha.



“How very observant Sesshomaru and here I thought dogs had no intelligence what-so-ever. I guess they do have some brains after all.” The tiger demoness said mockingly. “How dare you speak to lord Sesshomaru that way! I should teach you some manners you stupid cat!” Jaken yelled, obviously not happy with disrespect she’d shown his master.



Jaken tried to use his staff of the two heads against her but to no avail, she grabbed it, picked it up and flung it, as well as Jaken who was still clinging to it, across the clearing and smack into a tree. “Owwwww!” Jaken moaned. “That’s what you get for calling me a stupid cat! Hmph!” She said, crossing her arms, then turning to Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. “Well, now to answer your question Sesshomaru, it’s not going to be two against one, I’m going to fight and kill you both, you two can fight me together or it’ll just be one on one on one.” She said with a little chuckle.



“You know you don’t stand a chance against me so why even bother? Why not just take down Inuyasha?” Sesshomaru asked. “Sesshomaru!!! You coward!!! Just stand up and fight her yourself if you‘re so tough!!” Inuyasha snapped angrily at Sesshomaru. “Yes, what’s the matter Sesshomaru? Scared you’re gonna get beat up by a girl or are you too much of a ‘gentleman’ to hit a lady?” She asked. “If you insist on fighting both Inuyasha and myself just know that you’ll be biting off more than you can chew, half-breed.” Sesshomaru said coolly.



“So, you’ve figured that out too have you? How did you know? Have you seen full-fledged tiger demons before?” She asked. “No. I could tell from your scent. You smell much like Inuyasha, you have the stench of a half breed.” He explained. “You’re a HALF-DEMON?” Inuyasha asked. “Yes, I am. But I’m just as strong as any full-fledged demon so don’t you DARE take me lightly!” she snapped. “You sound just like Inuyasha, Arrogant!” Sesshomaru said attempting to strike the first blow.



With quick feline agility, the half-demoness evaded the attack and with lightning speed reached behind her back, and pulled out two weapons known as Sais, one in each hand, and struck Sesshomaru in the back. “Windscar!” Inuyasha yelled pulling out and swinging his Tetsusaiga.



Once again, she moved quickly and barely avoided the attack leaving Sesshomaru in the Windscar’s path. “Ha! Is that the best you lousy mutts can do!” she said swinging one of her Sais and cutting Inuyasha across the chest; then dodged the swing of his sword. “Stay still why don’t ya!” Inuyasha said furiously. “As if!” She replied. “Darn it! At this rate I’ll never be able to even land a single blow!” Inuyasha muttered under his breath.



The battle raged on and soon she had Inuyasha against a tree. “Now, you’re history mutt!” She said, as she was just about to shish-ka-bob him. Sesshomaru got up off the ground where he fell when she sliced his left shoulder with one of her Sais. He drew his sword and ran towards the demoness. She barely dodged his attack, being grazed by the blade however and he ran his sword through the right shoulder of Inuyasha’s kimono instead of through her; pinning him to the tree. She shoved Sesshomaru away from the tree to keep him from retrieving his sword. “Thanks so very much Sesshomaru, now I can finish you off and not have to worry about Inuyasha escaping.” She said, pinning Inuyasha’s left sleeve to the tree with a Sai then tackling, shoving and pinning Sesshomaru to the ground. She drew her katana from its sheath and pointed it to his throat.



“Any last words before I run you through, mutt?” She asked. “Just that I would like to know why you’re doing this, I’ve never seen you before and I highly doubt Inuyasha has so why are you trying to kill us?” Sesshomaru asked her. “Well I guess I could tell you, I used to live with my mother’s tribe but that all changed, a pack of dog demons, like you two, showed up one night, they destroyed our homes and killed all of the tribe. To my knowledge I was the only one to escape and now I’m seeking my revenge for what your kind has done.” She said sadly. “Isn’t that rather pointless?” Sesshomaru asked. “What do you mean?” She asked. Miroku decided to intervene at this point while Kagome and Sango tried to free Inuyasha, which was easier said than done.



“Revenge is nothing more than a pointless act that’s more selfish than noble no matter what the reason. If you killed Inuyasha and Sesshomaru it wouldn’t make a difference, it wouldn’t ease your pain or bring back your friends and family, it would only cause more pain and suffering." Miroku looked at Tiana for a moment to be sure she was listening to his words then he continued.



"I understand that you‘re angry, that you want to bring justice to your loved ones, but that‘s no excuse to attack Inuyasha and Sesshomaru just because they‘re the same kind of demons who are responsible for the death of your tribe.” He said. 'I can’t believe I’m defending Sesshomaru,' Miroku thought to himself. She stood there, letting Miroku’s words sink in, Could she really just back off?



Sesshomaru noticed the confused look her face as he was trying to maneuver himself into a better position to push her off him. ‘She seems to be off guard right now so I should do something before she kills me…’ his thoughts trailed off, then a new thought invaded his mind. ‘For a half-breed she has decent fighting skills-wait why am I impressed at all by her fighting skills or lack there of?’ Sesshomaru chided himself for nearly being distracted the beautiful but deadly demoness. “So, do you still intend to kill me or have you changed your mind?” He asked.



“I don’t really care what you or anyone else has to say dog. Now prepare to meet your maker.” She said, sounding a little unsure of her actions as she raised her sword so she could shish-ka-bob Sesshomaru. “Wait! Stop! Don’t do it! Don’t hurt lord Sesshomaru!” Rin cried running from behind the tree she had ducked behind when the fight began. She stood in front of Sesshomaru.



“Please! I beg you! Don’t hurt lord Sesshomaru! If anything happens to him, Master Jaken and I will be left with no one to protect us from danger!” She pleaded with her. The half-demon dropped her sword and looked at Rin as if she’d seen a ghost of some kind.



“R-Rin, is that really you? Tell me I’m not dreaming…” She trailed off, still looking at Rin as if she was staring at a ghost. “Huh? What are you talking abo-” Rin looked at the half demon for a moment, concentrating on her face until a look of utter astonishment came over her own face. “Tiana?…Tiana it is you! Where have you been? Why were you gone for so long?” Rin ran into Tiana’s arms and Tiana held her tightly.



“I’m sorry Rin, I shouldn’t have left, I thought I‘d lost you forever. I’m so sorry.” Tiana apologized. “Wait a second! You two know each other?” Inuyasha asked in disbelieve as he tried pull Sesshomaru’s sword from his shoulder with his left hand, which Kagome and Sango managed to free for him.



“Yes, after my tribe was wiped out by those terrible dogs I wandered for a long time until I came to a village. The humans from the village let me stay because they thought I was a full-fledged demon and feared me. Some years later Rin came to the village and none of the villagers liked her at all but soon we became as close as sisters and the villagers didn’t dare pick on her for fear of the wrath of a demon."



"However, one day a traveler came to the village and spoke of demons, it sounded as if he had encountered more tiger demons so I left to see if they might have been from my tribe but it was only a tall-tale so I returned."



"I had been gone for several months and when I returned the whole village was a mess, wolf demons had devoured all the villagers and Rin was nowhere to be seen or found. I had feared that she had been dragged away for some demon’s dinner.” Tiana explained.



“But I wasn’t, I was hurt though, but lord Sesshomaru came and saved me and I’ve been traveling with him ever since.” Rin said. Tiana looked at Sesshomaru who, by this time, had gotten up off the ground and was now standing up and looking down at her.



Tiana stood up. “So… you’ve been taking care of Rin all this time?” She asked as if unable to believe that he could actually take care of Rin. “She’s just been accompanying me, if that’s what you mean. Weren‘t you going to run me through a second ago?” Sesshomaru asked. “Yes…but I think I won’t do that after all, if you’re responsible for Rin’s being here right now, safe and sound, then I am in your debt so to repay my debt I’ll spare you your life.” Tiana said. “What about me? Are you still willing to fight me?” Inuyasha inquired curiously. “No, I am not. In fact Miroku’s words have begun to sink in, neither of you have done me any harm so why should I do you harm?” “It’s a little late for that!“ Inuyasha said finally getting himself freed from the tree.



Sesshomaru looked at Tiana; her eyes were a beautiful shade of green somewhere between jade and aqua green. Her beautiful silver-white hair was pulled back in a high braid and with a streak of black emerging from either side and down her braid it looked as if she had tiger stripes in her hair. Because it was in a braid, it was hard to tell for sure how long her hair really was. Suddenly Sesshomaru realized that he didn’t usually pay that much attention to females, but for some unknown reason Tiana captured his attention and he wasn’t sure he liked that.



“So does that mean you’ve given up your ideas of revenge, because that might just be what you need to save yourself.” A cold voice suddenly said.













Chapter III: Enter Naraku



A mysterious cloaked figure approached Naraku’s castle, intent on speaking with the demon. Inside the castle, Naraku sensed the presence of the stranger. “Naraku? Is something wrong?” Kagura asked. “There’s someone outside, a demon…” Naraku trailed off as he stood up. “Do you want me to go and take care of the ‘visitor’?” Kagura asked.



“No need to show me in, I found my own way in.” The figure said. “I had suspected as much, what business do you have with me?” Naraku asked. “My name is Seduharu and I have a proposition for you Naraku.” “I’m listening.” “As I’m sure you’re aware I have three shards of the sacred jewel with me and I’ll gladly give them to you if you do something for me first.” “And exactly what might that ‘something’ be?”



“There’s a half-demon by the name of Tiana that I need to have…well I think you understand what I’m trying to say.” “You’re saying that you want me to kill her is that right?” “Yes.” “And what makes you think I’ll do this for you?” “I just told you, I have three jewel shards that will serve as payment-Oh! I almost forgot, I’m also fairly certain that Tiana herself has two shards of her own that you can take from her if you wish.” “Hmmm…Intriguing but I think I’ll just take your shards now.” Naraku said striking down Seduharu and killing him in a single blow.



“What about that half-demon he mentioned, he said she had two shards of her own.” Kagura asked. “Yes, that is interesting, you go and find this “Tiana” and retrieve her jewel shards Kagura.” Naraku ordered. “Ok, fine. Have it your way.” Kagura said as she left.












Chapter IV: The Battle With Kotaru
(Chapter 4)



Everyone turned in the direction of the voice and saw another dog demon standing there, his gaze directed at Tiana. “Who are you and what are you talking about?” She asked him. He walked toward her. “You don’t remember me do you? I am not too surprised at that, I am surprised though at how much you changed since we first met. You know, if I didn’t have to kill you, I might just be attracted to you.” He said attempting to stroke her cheek. Tiana slapped his hand away.



“I see it’s more than your looks that have changed, you have more bite than you did when you were just a little thing, frightened and running for your life from my father and his fellow dog demons.” He said rather amused at the reaction he got from Tiana. “You…you were that little brat with the others who slaughtered my tribe!” She exclaimed. “So you do remember me, how I tried to chase you down for my father and his men but couldn’t catch you and you escaped from us.” He said. “So what? You’ve come to finish the job or something?” Tiana asked.



“As a matter of fact yes. My father may no longer be around to do it himself but I can.” He said. “Your father…Raidon they called him right?” Tiana asked. “Yes and I don’t think you know my name yet so I’ll tell you, my name is Kotaru and now I’m going to finish what my father started and claim what’s right fully mine.” Kotaru said and before Tiana could do or say anything Kotaru drew his sword and attacked her.



“Ack!” Tiana exclaimed, just barely able to dodge Kotaru’s attack. Kotaru swung his sword again with expert precision and cut Tiana’s left arm. “Ow, you… it’ll take more than a little scratch like that to finish me off.” Tiana said looking at the cut, which was dripping blood down her arm. “Looks like more than a scratch to me, but rest assured I can do much more than that!” Kotaru said thrusting his sword toward Tiana.



Tiana agilely jumped out of harm’s way and pulled out her katana with her right hand and fought with Kotaru, the fight raged on until Kotaru knocked Tiana’s katana out of her hand. She jumped back on to the ground and attempted to pick up the katana but Kotaru stepped on the hilt of the katana and kept her from retrieving it. Tiana tried to reach behind her with her right hand to get her Sai but Kotaru wouldn’t let her do that either. He sheathed his sword and grabbed her right arm. “I don’t think so.” He said pinning Tiana down.



“Let me go right now!” Tiana snarled. “I don’t care what you say. This is it for you. It’s too bad though, you are very beautiful, and I might be tempted by you if not for the fact that I have to finish you off now.” Kotaru said as he took a dagger from his belt and raised it in front of Tiana. She managed to push back long enough to maneuver into an upright position to fight, but even on her knees, she was still in trouble. She tried her best to push Kotaru away but her left arm hurt too much to even try to use her left hand and without the use of her left hand, she was at a severe disadvantage. “Oh, Crud! I’m in big trouble. I’ve gotta do something and fast! But what CAN I do?”



Inuyasha and the others watched the fight and they wanted to help Tiana but neither Kagome, Sango nor Miroku could do anything. Kotaru was too close to Tiana and the chance of Kagome or Sango hitting her with either an arrow or Sango’s Hiraikotsu or Miroku sucking her into his wind tunnel as well as Kotaru was too great a chance for them to take and poor Shippo was too scared of Kotaru to help. Inuyasha was the only one who could do anything to help Tiana and just as he was about to help her suddenly a sword was thrust between Tiana and Kotaru. The sword was thrust into the ground at a slightly diagonal angle.



Tiana looked up, Sesshomaru was standing there. It was his sword that was in the ground between her and Kotaru. Kotaru was startled and moved back, away from Tiana. Tiana got to her feet and looked at Sesshomaru. “Why did you do that?” “Would you have preferred that I let him use that dagger?” Sesshomaru asked. “Oh, now this is cute, the dog defends the cat; it’s so cute it almost makes want to gag.” Kotaru said coldly. “Put a sock in it you creep!” Tiana snapped. Kotaru put his dagger away, drew his sword and attempted to run Sesshomaru through with it. Sesshomaru dodged the attack, drew his Tokijin and fought back, landing several blows, until he injured Kotaru and forced him to retreat. “You may have won this battle but I’ll be back and I’m going to get all three of you!” He said glaring at Tiana, Sesshomaru and Inuyasha.














Chapter V: Tiana Joins Sesshomaru
(Chapter 5)



“Tiana are you okay?” Rin asked, concerned about her friend’s injury. “Yes, I’m fine Rin; don’t worry about me.” Tiana said. “But you’re bleeding!” Rin protested. “Rin! She obviously doesn’t want your attention so leave her alone before she hurts you!” Jaken snapped at Rin, attempting to take her by the hand and lead her away from Tiana. “Tiana would never hurt me!” Rin snapped back at Jaken. “How dare you even insinuate that I would harm Rin you little hob goblin!” Tiana snarled at Jaken.



Jaken just gave Tiana a dirty look and began to lead Rin away. “You tried to kill lord Sesshomaru so why should I believe that you won’t hurt Rin, you…you…scoundrel!” Jaken snapped at Tiana. Tiana tried to grab Jaken to shake him up but in her irritation, she forgot about her injury and almost made it worse! “Why you! Ow! Ow! Ow! My arm…” Tiana moaned clutching her arm, which had started to bleed even more because of the sudden movement she had made.



Sesshomaru, who, by this time was obviously getting very annoyed with Jaken and Tiana pulled the Tensaiga out of the ground and sheathed it. “Here, let me help you with that arm.” Kagome said kneeling beside Tiana. Sesshomaru looked at Rin, who had jerked away from Jaken and was now standing beside Tiana trying to help Kagome dress her wound. He had never seen Rin so cross with Jaken before; in fact, he had never seen her so cross before at all, obviously she and Tiana were, as Tiana had said, very close.



Tiana looked to be in a great deal of pain. 'Not as much pain as if her arm had actually been cut off like mine I’m sure.' Sesshomaru thought. Sesshomaru suddenly found himself hoping that the blade Kotaru had used to do that was not poisoned.



'Wait, why should I be concerned about her injuries? Maybe it’s just that it reminds me of when Inuyasha had cut off my own arm…Rin had attended to me then, even though I’d told her to go and let me be, just like Tiana had said not more than a few moments ago…Put it out of your mind, there’s nothing to it. Or is there?' Sesshomaru’s thoughts ran through his mind in a continuous loop. What was it about Tiana that had him so…captivated?



Inuyasha watched the scene between Jaken and Tiana and was not too thrilled with Kagome deciding to help Tiana. “Kagome! What are you doing?” Inuyasha demanded. “I’m helping her Inuyasha. What does it look like?” “Kagome! She tried to kill me and you’re helping her?!” Inuyasha asked, rather irritated, to put it mildly. “It’s the right thing to do Inuyasha! Besides, she didn’t hurt you!” “You call pinning me to a tree not hurting me?!” Inuyasha snapped. “Stop it Inuyasha, if you despise her so much then just leave.” Sesshomaru said, getting rather fed up with all the arguing. “You know, For once I agree with Sesshomaru, If you’re that put off with Tiana then let’s just get out of here Inuyasha.” Miroku said. “I agree with them too! Let’s just get out of here if you really don’t like her that much Inuyasha.” Shippo added.



“Since when do either of you agree with Sesshomaru? And since when do you defend someone who just tried to kill you Sesshomaru?” Inuyasha asked, unable to believe what he was hearing. “Inuyasha I don’t have to explain myself to you.” Sesshomaru said realizing the position he had just put himself in. There was no explaining why he was defending Tiana and he knew it too. Tiana spoke up just as Inuyasha was about to reply.



“Both of you zip it!” Tiana said jerking away from Kagome. “Don’t you tell me to ’zip it’!” Inuyasha snapped. “What exactly do you mean by ’zip it’?” Sesshomaru asked calmly. “I said that because you’re both getting on my nerves.” Tiana replied coolly.



“I’ve had it, come on Kagome.” Inuyasha said. “But I haven’t finished with Tiana’s arm yet Inuyasha.” Kagome protested. “It’s okay Kagome, I’ll finish it.” “But-” “It’s okay Kagome, Rin will help me; won’t you Rin?” Tiana asked looking at Rin. “Of course I will Tiana! See? You have nothing to worry about Kagome.” Rin said. “Okay then…if you’re sure.” Kagome said. “Come on already Kagome!” Inuyasha snapped. “Inuyasha quit hounding Kagome! She’s coming!” Sango said. Inuyasha and his friends started to walk off when Kagome turned to Tiana. “Tiana, are you going to stay with Sesshomaru?” She asked. “Yes, I am. For a little while anyway, Just to keep an eye on Rin.” Tiana replied. “Okay then… Good-bye!” Kagome said running to catch up with the others.



“Whew! Would you guys mind waiting up next time?” Kagome said with a chuckle as she fell into step with the others. “We’re sorry Kagome.” Sango apologized. “I said we should wait up but Inuyasha wouldn’t listen!” Shippo said. “All right already! I’ll wait up you for next time! Geez…” Inuyasha said. “I’m not mad Inuyasha, there’s no need to get so uptight.” Kagome said trying to preserve the good mood that the little group was in. “Okay, okay…Let’s just go and find a jewel shard or two now, huh?” Inuyasha said, his mood picking up a little now.



They traveled until dark, and then they made camp for the night and set out again the next morning, hearing about some strange activity in a nearby village from a traveler whom they had met as he was passing through to next village over the mountains. “Do you think that demons with jewel shards are to blame for the town’s troubles Inuyasha?” Miroku asked as they walked along the path the traveler told them to take. “I don’t know, but if that’s the case then I’m gonna get those shards.” Inuyasha said. “I finally found you!” A voice said from above the group.



They all looked up to see Kagura hovering above them on her giant feather. “Kagura! What do you want?” Inuyasha asked suspiciously. “Tell me where the half demon called Tiana is and I might let you go this time.” Kagura said flatly. “How the heck should I know where she is?” Inuyasha exclaimed. “We don’t know where she is so why don’t you just leave us be.” Miroku said. “If you have business with her then go and find her yourself.” Sango added.



“So you don’t know her whereabouts then? Oh, well. I’ll just kill you and take your jewel shards instead.” Kagura said jumping off the feather and whipping out her fans. Inuyasha and the others fought against her dance of blades, dance of the dragon and other attacks until finally, they had forced her to retreat. “I’ll be back for your shards and your life another day Inuyasha!” Kagura called as she flew away on her feather. “Coward.” Inuyasha muttered. “Come on let’s go. If we don’t get a move on it’ll be dark before we get there.” Miroku said. The group continued on the path, knowing full well that they would undoubtedly see Kagura again, soon.












Chapter VI: First Kiss (Almost)
(Chapter 6)



Sesshomaru had decided to take a little walk to gather his thoughts and try to put Tiana out of them. It wasn’t working though. He just couldn’t seem to get her out of his mind; he kept wondering how her arm was and how long she intended to stay with him. ‘Why can’t I stop thinking about her? Why?’ Sesshomaru kept thinking to himself. Unable to put Tiana out of his mind Sesshomaru walked back to the spot where they had made camp.



“Get back here you little imp!” Sesshomaru heard Tiana snap as he walked into camp. “You leave Rin alone you-you vile pussy-cat!” He heard Jaken snap. “’Vile pussy-cat’? Is that the best you could come up with? You ARE pathetic.” Tiana said mockingly. Before Jaken could reply, they saw Sesshomaru. “Lord Sesshomaru! Thank goodness, you’re back! They’ve been at it for almost an hour now!” Rin said, greeting Sesshomaru. “Obviously I can’t leave you two for a minute can I?” Sesshomaru said.



“You make it sound as if we’re children Sesshomaru. Rin just wanted to play a game with Jaken and she tripped, skinning her knee-” “I see that.” Sesshomaru said looking at Rin’s knee, which Tiana had bandaged. “Well, like I was saying, I went to help her and Jaken hit me with his staff!” Tiana explained. “I did not! How dare accuse me, you-you mangy cat!” Jaken snapped.



“Mangy cat! I’ll show you who’s a mangy cat you little hob goblin!” Tiana said attempting to tackle Jaken but he knocked her away with his staff. Sesshomaru intervened at this point. “All right, Jaken, you and Rin go look for something to eat.” He said. Jaken wouldn’t dare argue with Sesshomaru and despite his misgivings about leaving him alone with Tiana he and Rin left just as Sesshomaru had told them to do.



When Sesshomaru was sure they were out of earshot He spoke to Tiana. “Alright. Jaken is gone, for now. Happy?” Sesshomaru asked, obviously annoyed with Jaken and Tiana’s bickering. “I’m telling you, Jaken has it out for me. I have no idea why but he seems to hate my guts.” Tiana said walking towards the riverbank. “Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that you tried to kill me?” Sesshomaru said rather sarcastically.



He followed Tiana. “Okay, I guess I asked for that sarcasm. But still, I just wish that Jaken would cool it, you’d think I was some kind of psychopath or something the way he acts.” “He’ll leave you alone…eventually.” “Oh yeah, Sesshomaru, you’re a BIG help.” Tiana said sarcastically. Sesshomaru just remained silent and there was nothing but silence for a few moments.



As they stood in silence they thought about the previous night.



*************************************************************************************************


After settling on making camp at this spot Jaken, thankful to have finally found a place to sleep after all that fighting with Inuyasha, Tiana and Kotaru, laid down and fell immediately into a sound slumber.



Sesshomaru had started to dress his wounds when the sound of Tiana’s beautiful voice singing a lullaby to Rin came to his ears and he walked back toward the spot where they were, listening and watching from behind a tree. Tiana softly hummed most of the song, occasionally Singing just a little, but not any lyrics in particular, just a couple of la la’s.



After Rin fell asleep Tiana laid her down and walked to Sesshomaru, acknowledging that she knew he was there the entire time but didn’t mind having an audience. After that, He walked back to the riverbank and began to dress his wounds. Just as he finished with his shoulder, Tiana walked up. “I’m sorry.” She said.



He looked over at her. “I’m sorry about your shoulder, I’ve been thinking about it and I was wrong to take out my anger at Kotaru’s father on you and Inuyasha. I could have cut your arm off, I’m sorry, I shouldn‘t have done that to you.” “You wouldn’t have cut off my arm, Inuyasha did that already.” He said, lowering his sleeve, revealing that most of his arm was not there. “Your own brother did that to you?” “Yes, my half brother did.” Sesshomaru had said pulling his sleeve back into place and walking off, ending that conversation.



*************************************************************************************************



Now, here they were again at that same spot by the riverbank, only this time it was Tiana who was dressing a wound. Tiana took the old bandage off her arm, which still looked sore and tender, and washed the cut, wincing slightly when the water touched her arm. She carefully dried the cut and wrapped a new bandage around her arm to cover the wound.



Sesshomaru found himself wanting to ask how her arm was feeling and being unable to keep from asking he finally did. “How is it?” He asked. Why do I care how her arm is doing? Sesshomaru asked himself. “It’s better today.” Tiana replied. She started to walk back. “I think I’m going to see if there‘s anything left over to eat from last night.” She said as she walked past Sesshomaru.



“Tiana?” “Yes?” Tiana turned to him when she heard Sesshomaru say her name. Sesshomaru had no idea why he had spoken her name but now he had to think of something to say. “Rin aided me after I lost my arm…she might know of something you can put on that cut.” Sesshomaru said. “Thank you for the advice Sesshomaru, I had almost forgotten that she is somewhat familiar with types of herbs and medicinal plants.” She said.



They stood there; in silence for a few moments then Tiana again said that she was going to see about something to eat when Sesshomaru spoke again. “What was that song you sang to Rin last night?” He asked, realizing how desperate to make conversation with her he sounded and wondering why he was so desperate to make conversation with her. “Well…to be completely honest it was a song my mother would sing to me but I don’t really remember the words.” She said sadly. “Does it mean that much to you, even though you can‘t remember the words?” He asked. “Yes! Of course it does! That song is very special to me, I want to remember all the words but I can’t, it’s just been to long since… she sang it to me.” Tiana said, feeling the warm tears welling up in her eyes.



“Are you crying?” Sesshomaru asked, unable to understand why he was feeling bad about what he said. “No…don’t be stupid, I’m not crying.” She said starting to take a step back but as she did, she stepped on a stone and it slid under her foot causing her to lose her balance and fall forward into Sesshomaru! “Oh!” She exclaimed as she fell into Sesshomaru. He winced slightly as she put her hand on his injured shoulder. “Sorry.” She said. He looked at her. “Yes I’m fine, thank you so much for asking.” She said rather sarcastically. They locked gazes. Sesshomaru could see that she was close to tears.



Tiana wiped her eyes and looked up at Sesshomaru; she could see something in his eyes that told her he felt bad about what he’d said. She took that as an apology since she knew he’d never say it aloud, but somehow just seeing it in his eyes was more meaningful, she knew he meant it and he didn’t have to say it. “I’m not crying you know, but you did owe me an apology.” Tiana said as she started to pull away from Sesshomaru, breaking her gaze from his. He couldn’t figure out what she meant or why he didn‘t want her to pull away. “Tiana…” Sesshomaru trailed off and Tiana looked at him, they locked gazes again and as they looked into each other’s eyes, they began to lean in to kiss.



Rin and Jaken returned from their quest for food with some wild boar meat and as Rin set to work starting up another fire where last night’s campfire had been Jaken decided to see where Sesshomaru and Tiana had gotten to since they were nowhere in sight. Jaken figured he’d start by looking by the riverbank because it was the closest place and he knew that if he left Rin alone and something were to happen to her Sesshomaru would kill him. As the riverbank came into sight, he saw Tiana and Sesshomaru and when they started to lean in close as if to kiss Jaken realized he had to intervene so he did what he thought he had to do.



Thwack! Suddenly something hit Tiana in the head as she leaned close to Sesshomaru. “Ouch! What was that for!” Tiana demanded as she turned around and saw Jaken standing there, his staff raised in the air. “You stay away from Lord Sesshomaru!” Jaken snapped at Tiana. “Why you little-” “Jaken, where is Rin?” Sesshomaru asked, interrupting Tiana. “She’s preparing the food that we found.” Jaken said. Sesshomaru walked away to find Rin. As Sesshomaru walked away, Tiana looked at Jaken rather angrily. “Exactly what do you think you were doing?” Jaken asked suspiciously. “What are you talking about? You hit me on the head for no reason at all!” Tiana snapped, realizing that she was actually going to kiss Sesshomaru.



“I don’t trust you. At all. You’re probably just trying to charm Sesshomaru so you can get close enough to… (Gulp) I don’t even want to think about it!” Jaken said putting his hand to his throat. “I’m not trying to do anything of the sort Jaken so just…just-just leave me alone! You got that!” Tiana said walking away, and fully aware that her face was very red. 'Am I actually falling for Sesshomaru? No that can’t be, but I think…No. Absolutely not. I am not in love with Sesshomaru.' Those thoughts kept running through Tiana’s mind as she wondered what her feelings for Sesshomaru really were.



'If I didn’t know any better I would think that she’s already charmed Lord Sesshomaru. I hope that’s not the case, she’s not worth Lord Sesshomaru’s time. She’s not even worthy of Lord Sesshomaru’s attention! Yet somehow, she seems to have his undivided attention. No. I refuse to believe that someone like her could even come close to winning his affections. It’s not even remotely possible. At least… I don’t think it is.' Jaken thought to himself as he watched Tiana walk toward Sesshomaru and Rin.



Jaken stood there for a few moments, pondering the situation. What could he do to protect Sesshomaru from Tiana? She couldn’t be trusted and he knew it but for some reason Sesshomaru was blind to that and seemed to be falling right into her hands.



Sesshomaru walked over to Rin to see what she and Jaken had found, as well as to get away from Tiana. He had no idea why he felt the way he did around her or why he had almost kissed her. He just could not understand it at all but he now decided that it might be better not to let the strange feelings he had get to him like that again.



“Rin, what did you find?” He asked Rin. “We couldn’t find much but we did find these berries and we brought this too.” She said showing Sesshomaru some meat. “Where did this come from?” He asked. “It’s wild boar meat, we were attacked by one and master Jaken used his staff of two heads to kill it. I‘m sure it will make a good dinner.” “Jaken? He killed a wild boar? Maybe I’ve underestimated him.” Sesshomaru said. “Don’t be that surprised Lord Sesshomaru, the Boar looked to be injured already and probably couldn’t have gone on for much longer anyway. Oh look! Here comes Tiana, maybe she‘ll help me with the meat. She‘s a real good cook.” Rin said as she started a fire to cook the meat.



Sesshomaru looked over and saw Tiana coming towards him and Rin. “Hey there Rin. What do you have?” Tiana asked as she knelt down beside Rin. Sesshomaru walked away and Jaken took off after him. “What’s with him?” Tiana asked. “I don’t know, it’s hard to tell with Lord Sesshomaru. Maybe he’ll be in a better mood after we eat.” Rin said.



As Tiana helped Rin prepare the meat she looked off in the direction Sesshomaru had gone in but didn’t see him. What’s his problem? Is he trying to avoid me or something? Could it have something to do with that little scene a while ago? It does. I know it does, but what does it mean? Tiana was lost in thought, wondering what the reason for Sesshomaru’s behavior was.



Jaken followed Sesshomaru and tried to talk to him but he just ignored him. Jaken finally gave up trying to talk to Sesshomaru and just settled for watching over, or rather, spying on Sesshomaru as he sat under a tree apparently lost in his own thoughts.



'What was I thinking? I don’t what I was thinking; I don’t really seem to know anymore lately. She does something to me but I have no idea what. When I’m around her lately I feel strange, it’s a completely new and unknown feeling. When she put her hands on my shoulders trying to regain her balance the feeling grew stronger for an instant. What is the matter with me? Am I suffering from some kind of Illness? I don’t know, but I don’t think I like this.' “What am I going to do about this?” Sesshomaru asked himself aloud. He sighed and leaned back against the tree.



What is he talking about? What is he thinking? I wish I knew… If he’s thinking about her that’s not good. Jaken thought as he watched his master. He decided that if worst came to worst he’d have to intervene again.















Chapter VII: Tiana and Rin leave
(Chapter 7)



Kagura had been searching for the half-demon Tiana for two days but was coming up empty handed and getting nowhere fast. “How long must I continue this pointless chase?” Kagura sighed. “I guess I’ll keep looking, for a little longer anyway. But if I can’t find her Naraku will just have to do it himself because I’d rather be going after Inuyasha than wasting my time with this wild goose chase.”



Inuyasha and his friends had spent the night in the town the traveler had spoken of but the only trouble they had found was pair of practical jokers pulling everyone’s leg. “Well, that was nothing but a big waste of time.” Inuyasha said as they walked along the path leading away from town. “Oh come on Inuyasha, at least we helped those people out. That’s not a waste of time.” Shippo said as he skipped along in front.



“He does have a point Inuyasha. Helping someone out is never a waste of time. Especially if that someone is a very beautiful young lady like the ones in that town, it’s only too bad that we couldn’t have stayed longer…” Miroku trailed off lost in thoughts of the young ladies he had met in the town. “Miroku I know what you’re thinking and hanging around just so you could hit on those women would have been an even bigger waste of time.” Inuyasha said, sounding rather annoyed with Miroku. “I wouldn’t ‘hit’ on them Inuyasha, I would just do exactly as I had promised.”



“And what exactly did you promise to do Miroku?” Sango asked with a sneaking suspicion of where Miroku was going with this. “Why, nothing at all my dear Sango except giving them some good luck charms they had asked me to get for them, that’s all.” Miroku said innocently. “If you say so…Hey!” Sango realized that the monk was at it again when she felt his hand on her. Smack! “Pervert!” Sango said slapping Miroku. “Why do you always do that Miroku? You know she’s just going to hit you when you do.” Shippo asked Miroku. “You’ll understand when you’re older Shippo. You’re too young to understand the reasons now.” Miroku said. “Or in other words you just don’t want to say.” Shippo said.



“Okay… Miroku’s opinions aside, it really isn’t a waste of time doing a good deed like helping those people.” Kagome pointed out. “Besides we did get some interesting information in that town anyway.” Sango added. “What, that someone saw a weird guy walking around in forest?” Inuyasha asked. “Yes, one of the townspeople said he saw a strange person wandering through the forest mumbling something some thing about some shards of the sacred jewel a couple of days ago.” Kagome said.



“Oh yeah, jewel shards. Well I guess we have to try to track this guy down then huh?” Inuyasha said. “If only you could track him with your dog nose Inuyasha.” Shippo said thoughtfully. “Dog nose!? What’s that supposed to mean Shippo!” Inuyasha snapped. “I just meant that your sense of smell was go good that it was too bad that we couldn’t use it to track that guy down that’s all Inuyasha.” Shippo said nervously trying to defend himself.



“Hmph, fine then, as long as you’re not calling me a dog or anything…*Sniff* *Sniff* I smell a scrawny wolf.” Inuyasha said looking around as Koga, leader of the wolf demon tribe, suddenly ran up.



“Hey Kagome, did you miss me?” He asked Kagome. “Hi Koga. What are you doing here?” Kagome asked. “Yeah, what ARE you doing here?” Inuyasha asked. “Oh, well I sensed a demon around these parts the other day and decided to check it out, I couldn’t before because I was busy helping another member of my tribe who had been attacked and injured, no doubt by the same demon.” Koga explained. “So you’re looking for that guy too huh?” Shippo asked. “Yeah, so what’s it to you pip-squeak?” Koga asked. “Well the guy is supposed to have jewel shards so we’re going to see if we can find him.” Shippo explained. “Well, then here’s some advice for you be on the look out for a tiger.” Koga said. “A tiger?” Miroku asked. “Yeah, when I found my injured friend the distinct scent of tiger demon was everywhere.” Koga explained.



“You don’t think Tiana did it do you?” Shippo asked. “That’s not possible Shippo, I didn’t sense any jewel shards when we were around Tiana so it couldn’t have been her, the culprit is supposed to have jewel shards.” Kagome said. “That’s right, don’t be so stupid Shippo.” Inuyasha added. “Inuyasha don’t snap at him, he didn’t know!” Kagome snapped at Inuyasha. “Yeah, I didn’t know so leave me alone Inuyasha, you big jerk!” Shippo said. “I’m not a jerk Shippo!” Inuyasha snapped, hitting poor little Shippo on the head. “OW!!! That hurt Inuyasha!!” Shippo began to tear up a little as he rubbed the bump on his head. “Inuyasha! SIT!” Kagome commanded and Inuyasha instantly hit the ground face first!



“Ha! Sooo… Are you enjoying your dirt sandwich Inuyasha?” Koga asked chuckling. Inuyasha mumbled something incoherent and got back on his feet. “Well, as fun as this has been I’ve got to go. Bye Kagome. Oh, and you better take care of her mutt.” Koga said as he ran off just before Inuyasha could challenge him. “That scrawny wolf is so full of himself.” Inuyasha muttered to himself. “Let’s not worry about him and get on with the current task at hand.” Miroku said. And with that Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, Miroku and Shippo continued on with their search.



Jaken knew something had to be done, Tiana had to go, there was no question. Sesshomaru was troubled about something and Jaken was sure that Tiana was the source of it. She has got to go, but how can I get rid of her? Jaken wondered. Then something had occurred to him. Maybe if I told her that Sesshomaru wanted her to leave and wouldn’t take no for an answer maybe she’d leave. No that wouldn’t work at all she’d probably just fight with him or take Rin away and, wait a minute why not? So what if she took Rin because she thought Sesshomaru didn’t want either of them around? It might just work. And if she tried to fight with Sesshomaru he’d probably send her on her way anyway. Jaken knew that Sesshomaru probably wouldn’t be happy if Tiana took Rin and they both left but it would be for his own good. After all, Tiana couldn’t be trusted; she’d tried to kill Sesshomaru once before, what was to stop her from trying again?



Rin and Tiana were skipping rocks on the river when Jaken walked up. “Oh, hi master Jaken!” Rin said. Tiana just glared at Jaken. “Hello Rin.” Jaken replied and glared back at Tiana. “What do you want?” Tiana asked. “I am not here to argue with you if that’s what you’re thinking.” Jaken said. “That’s exactly what I was thinking you little goblin.” Tiana said. “No need for harsh words and name calling, I’m merely here to ask you some questions that Lord Sesshomaru asked me to ask you.” “What does Sesshomaru want to know?” “Only that he was wondering how much longer you intend to plague him with your presence and if you intend to take Rin with you when finally decide to leave. Sesshomaru is getting tired of both of you.” Jaken explained. “What do you mean master Jaken?” Rin asked sounding a little hurt.



“Just what I said, Lord Sesshomaru is getting tired of the both of you, he wants to be rid of you! He doesn’t want to be burdened with you two anymore!” Jaken snapped. Rin started to tear up a bit. “Jaken, how could you say that?” Rin asked trying her best not to cry. “Because it’s true Rin, Lord Sesshomaru has simply gotten tired of you and your friend here.” Jaken said. “But I don’t understand, how could Lord Sesshomaru say such things?” Rin asked, still fighting back tears. “Why should we believe you Jaken?” Tiana asked.



“Because I’m simply telling you what Lord Sesshomaru told me, he doesn’t like you and he doesn’t want you around.” Jaken said matter-of-factly. Tiana was mad that Sesshomaru could be so cold and heartless towards Rin and although she wanted to go and give him a piece of her mind she could plainly see that Rin was upset so to be more considerate of Rin’s feelings she decided to just do as Sesshomaru wished and leave. She’d smack him later.



“Well then, if that’s how Sesshomaru feels then fine. Come on Rin let’s go.” Tiana said Taking Rin by the hand and walking away from Jaken. Ha! Ha! It worked! Tiana will bother Sesshomaru no more! And as an added bonus Lord Sesshomaru won’t have to worry about Rin anymore, Tiana likes her so I’m sure she’ll take care of her. Jaken thought to himself with a very satisfied grin. Jaken decided to take a nap so he made himself comfortable on the grass.



Sesshomaru had been asleep under the tree and was still trying to figure out what the feelings he felt when he was around Tiana were and what they meant. Finally Sesshomaru decided to just head back and make sure that Tiana and Jaken weren’t at it again, and he was also rather hungry and figured Rin might have fixed something for their breakfast. Sesshomaru walked back to the location of the campfire and didn’t see anyone so he walked down to the riverbank and saw Jaken sprawled out on the grass taking a nap. “Jaken where are Rin and Tiana?” Sesshomaru asked, finding it rather strange that they weren’t present.



“Uhhh…” Jaken wasn’t exactly sure how to explain it to Sesshomaru. There goes my plan, I never thought about explaining to Sesshomaru and he will surely kill me if he finds out that I chased Rin and Tiana away, He’ll be mad that Rin is gone. What am I going to do? Jaken wondered panicking. “They left.” Jaken said. “What do you mean ‘They left’ Jaken?” Sesshomaru asked suspiciously. “Well…Ummm…Tiana said that she got tired of being around a… mutt like you Sesshomaru and so she left, and took Rin with her.” Jaken lied to Sesshomaru.



'Why that… I’ve got to find them and get Rin back I suppose. I wonder if Tiana would come back or fight me again? Why am I even asking myself that? Do I want Tiana to come back?' Sesshomaru wondered. Pushing his thoughts aside Sesshomaru turned and started to walk away. “Lord Sesshomaru where are you going?” Jaken asked. “I’m going to find Rin.” Sesshomaru replied and continued walking. Jaken ran after him thinking. This isn’t good; if he finds them I’ll be in big trouble.



Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango and Shippo were walking through the forest, trying to find the tiger demon that had attacked Koga’s friend since it seemed that he must have been the same guy they’d heard about in town. “Kagome I’m hungry, can we stop for lunch now?” Shippo asked as his little tummy growled. “I guess we could, I’m getting a little hungry myself.” Kagome said. “Why do we need to stop now? If we sit here stuffing our faces for too long we’ll lose time and there will less chance of us finding that guy, the trail is pretty cold as it is already.” Inuyasha complained.



“Now Inuyasha, a warrior who fights on an empty stomach won’t get very far in his fight. Besides, it doesn’t hurt to take five once in a while.” Miroku said as he set about helping Kagome set up a picnic lunch. “Seems to me that’s all you guys ever wanna do is take five. Or fifteen.” Inuyasha continued to complain. “Oh Inuyasha, why don’t just sit down here with-oops!” Kagome said as she realized she’d just accidentally made Inuyasha fall face first into the ground by saying, “sit”. Inuyasha mumbled a few things that were made incoherent by the fact that his face was, at the moment, implanted in the ground.



When Inuyasha could finally get up he looked up to see Sesshomaru standing in front of him. “Sesshomaru what are YOU doing here?” “We don’t have to explain ourselves to you Inuyasha!” Jaken Snapped. “Where are Rin and Tiana?” Kagome asked. “I told you, we don’t-” Sesshomaru silenced Jaken with an irritated glare. “I don’t know.” He said. “What do you mean Sesshomaru?” Sango asked. “Tiana took Rin and just…just left!” Jaken said trying his best to sound concerned. “What? Why?” Kagome asked. “I don’t know but I intend to find out.” Sesshomaru said. “Well hopefully you get to them before Kagura does.” Miroku said. “What do you mean ‘before Kagura does’?” Jaken asked. “Kagura was looking for Tiana.” Inuyasha explained.












Chapter VIII: Tiana vs. Kagura
(Chapter 8)



“Why is Kagura looking for Tiana?” Jaken asked. “I don’t know but I hope Tiana can hold her own against Kagura.” Kagome said worriedly. The more he heard the more worried Jaken got, if Kagura killed Tiana and/or Rin not only would Sesshomaru be upset but Jaken himself would a bit guilty about it. “I wouldn’t worry about Tiana, don’t forget, she held her own against both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru at the same time.” Miroku pointed out. “That was just because she kept making us attack each other instead of her.” Inuyasha said.



Sesshomaru didn’t know why but for some reason he felt like he needed to find Tiana and Rin ASAP. “Come Jaken. We’re going to find Tiana.” Sesshomaru said. “We’ll help you Sesshomaru.” Kagome said. “What? Why are we going to help him?” Inuyasha asked unable to believe what he was hearing. “Because Inuyasha, it’s the right thing to do, if Kagura finds them first Tiana may not be able to protect Rin, especially if Kanna is with Kagura.” Kagome said. “She’s right Inuyasha, Tiana may need out help if that’s the case.” Sango said. Shippo and Miroku agreed. “Oh, fine. We’ll help Sesshomaru.” Inuyasha said, knowing he couldn’t argue with all four of them.



“I don’t need your help, but do as you wish.” Sesshomaru said as he turned and began to walk away. “And try not to get in lord Sesshomaru’s way.” Jaken said rather snobbishly as he hurried to catch up to Sesshomaru.



Tiana and Rin had walked along a path lined with trees and various plants and flowers on either side admiring the scenery in silence for several hours. Finally Tiana couldn’t stand it any longer and just had to break the silence. “Rin? Are you okay?” She asked. “Yes I’m okay. I just can’t believe that lord Sesshomaru would say such mean things.” Rin said, tearing up a little.



Tiana’s heart ached to see Rin so upset, it urged her to go back and knock some sense into Sesshomaru; but she couldn‘t do that just yet not in front of Rin, that would just upset her more. Tiana decided to change the subject. “Rin? Do you want to stop and find a few berries or something and have a picnic lunch?” Tiana asked. “Sure, that sounds fun! Oh! Tiana, I saw some really pretty flowers back there, do you think we could pick some and make some flower crowns like we did before?” Rin asked, wiping her eyes and sounding as though she was feeling much better. “Sure we can. Do you remember how?” “I think so.”



Rin and Tiana found several berries and flowers to use and even found a small pond a little ways beyond the trees to one side of the path and managed to catch two small fish. Tiana also found a few sticks and started a small fire once she and Rin settled themselves in a nice little patch of grass beside the path, and cooked the two fish. Once the fish were done Tiana and Rin sorted the berries and picked out any questionable looking ones.



“How’s this?” Rin asked holding up her flower crown. “Looks good. What do you think of mine?” Tiana asked. Showing Rin her flower crown. “It looks so much better than mine, Oh no!” Rin cried as a flower fell off of the crown. “Here let me see, I think I know how to fix this.” Tiana said as she took the loose flower and crown and set to work. “Pull this here…tighten that there…weave these a little here and…Viola! Here it is, good as new.” Tiana said placing the flower crown on Rin’s head.



“Thanks Tiana! Now put yours on.” Rin said. Tiana put hers on. “It looks so pretty on you Tiana.” Rin said. Just then they heard someone shout “Dance of blades!!” and in an instant a flurry of blades made of wind rushed at them, shredding several nearby trees as Tiana scooped up Rin and used her feline speed to quickly move to a safe spot.



Tiana told Rin to hide as the dust that was stirred started to clear. “So, you managed to avoid my attack, Impressive.” A voice said. Tiana looked around, she could make out a lone figure through the dust and as it settled she could see the figure more clearly. It was a woman; she was holding a fan and had deep red eyes. She had a small white feather in her hair. “Who are you and what do you want?” Tiana asked, ready to grab her Sais in case the strange demon tried to attack her again.



“My name is Kagura and I’m going to take your shards of the Sacred Jewel. Now hand them over.” Kagura demanded. “I don’t have any jewel shards so just back off, unless you want me knock you silly.” Tiana threatened. “Do you think you can actually defeat me?” Kagura asked skeptically. “I could probably knock you into the next century.” Tiana replied, not the slightest bit intimidated by Kagura. “Oh really? We’ll see about that. Dance of blades!!” Kagura shouted as she swung her fan and launched another attack. “Whoa!!” Tiana exclaimed as she managed to avoid the attack… just barely.



Kagura lost sight of Tiana as the dust flew up again and was looking around. “You can’t hide in the dust forever! You’ll be revealed when the dust settles!” And I’ll be waiting for that moment so I can attack. Kagura thought to herself. Just then she heard Tiana’s voice. “Just how stupid do you think I am? I’m not hiding I’m right here!” Suddenly Kagura felt Tiana’s Sai cut her across the back. “Ack! Why you!” Kagura snapped and swung her fan and hit Tiana.



“Tiana!” Rin cried running to her friend’s aid. “Well, what do we have here?” Kagura asked as she picked up Rin. “Aren’t you the kid who hangs around with Sesshomaru?” She asked. “Put me down! Put me down!” Rin cried. “Put her down right now Kagura!!” Tiana snarled. “And if I don’t?” Kagura asked. “You put her down or I’ll-” “You’ll what? You wouldn’t dare attack me while I have the girl.” Kagura said realizing that Tiana was very much attached to Rin.



Sesshomaru ran through the forest with Jaken struggling to keep up and Inuyasha right on his heels. I don’t know why but I feel as though I should find them immediately. Sesshomaru couldn’t shake the feeling that Tiana and Rin needed to be found as soon as possible even though he was positive that Tiana could handle Kagura if she should find them first. “Lord Sesshomaru please slow down! I can’t keep up with you!” Jaken pleaded panting and practically gasping for air as he desperately tried to keep up.



'Lord Sesshomaru seems very concerned about Rin and Tiana. Why? Why would lord Sesshomaru be worried about Tiana? She tried to kill him for heaven sakes!! Why would he be concerned about that stupid cat!' Jaken couldn’t fathom why Sesshomaru would concern himself with Tiana. Now being concerned about Rin was one thing, she was just a child and incapable of half things Tiana could do. And Although Jaken was confused about Sesshomaru’s concerning himself with Rin from the very beginning he had to admit that he had become somewhat attached to her himself but Tiana was a different matter altogether.



Sesshomaru ran through forest looking for Rin and Tiana with Inuyasha and the others on his heels beginning to think that he was getting no where when Tiana came into sight. Sesshomaru had no idea why he felt relived when he saw her and couldn’t really care at the moment either because he caught sight of Kagura holding Rin. “Sesshomaru, I figured you’d show up sooner or later.” Kagura said. Tiana turned and saw Sesshomaru. 'Well he’s got some nerve, showing up after he said he didn’t want us around. Well, I have more important things to be worrying about right now so I’ll deal with him later.'



“What are you doing here?” Tiana asked. “We’re here to help ya so be grateful.” Inuyasha said. “I can handle this myself thank you very much.” Tiana said turning to face Kagura again. “You can’t even lay a finger on me as long as I have her.” Kagura said holding up Rin. “Let me go! Put me down!” Rin cried as she struggled to free herself from Kagura’s grasp. “Put her down.” Sesshomaru said. “Why should I? I know what will happen if I do. And I’m not leaving until I get what I came for.” Kagura said. “I told you I have no Jewel shards so put Rin down and beat it!” Tiana snapped. “Before Naraku killed him, Seduharu had told him that you have two Jewel shards so hand them over or I wouldn’t bet on getting this kid back in one piece!” Kagura snapped.



“If you don’t put her down I’ll knock you silly!” Jaken snapped trying to help Rin hoping that he would be in less trouble later on if he did. “Sesshomaru, what would you do if I had both this kid and your little lackey?” Kagura asked as she grabbed Jaken with her other hand. “Ahhhhh!!! Put me down! Put me down! Put me down!!!!!” Jaken practically screamed as Kagura lifted him up off the ground. “Jaken knock it off!” Tiana snapped coving her ears.



“Put them down Kagura.” Sesshomaru demanded. “I don’t think so Sesshomaru. I’ll let these two go as soon as she gives me her shards.” “What part of ‘I don’t have any shards’ don’t you understand!!” Tiana snapped getting pretty ticked off with Kagura. “You heard her, she has no shards now let them go.” Sesshomaru demanded. Tiana was tired of getting nowhere so she tried to attack Kagura only to have her shove Rin in her face as shield and use Jaken as a weapon. “Ouch!” Jaken said as Kagura used him to smack Tiana.



“Oww, why is it I’m forever getting hit by Jaken?” Tiana asked hypothetically, rubbing her head. Sesshomaru stepped in front of Tiana. “Kagura put them down.” Sesshomaru said again. “Why are you standing in front of her? Are you trying to protect her from me or something?” Kagura asked in a slightly hurt but irritated sounding tone. “Would you just put them down already?” Inuyasha asked irritated. “I have an idea, since I have to do away with this half demon anyway why don’t you do it for me Sesshomaru.” Kagura said. “What do you mean?” Sesshomaru asked. “Just what I said. You kill Tiana for me and I’ll release these two.” Kagura said. “Don’t do it lord Sesshomaru!!” Rin cried. “You wouldn’t dare try it, Would you?” Tiana asked.



“Sesshomaru don’t do it.” Kagome said. “This low Kagura, even for you.” Miroku said. Sesshomaru stood there mulling over the situation, should he just get it over with or was there something else he could do? “Well, what are you going to do?” Kagura asked. Sesshomaru came to a decision and knew what he was going to do. Sesshomaru went up to Tiana. “What are you do-” Tiana suddenly felt Sesshomaru’s hand on her throat, squeezing it so tightly she couldn’t breath. She gasped for air but to no avail, and then it all went dark.



Tiana collapsed in a heap on the ground as everyone stared at Sesshomaru in utter shock and disbelieve. “Tiana!!” Rin cried as Kagura dropped her as well as Jaken. “Ooof! Could you have been rougher?” Jaken snapped at Kagura as he hit the ground. “Well, now let’s see if she has any jewel shards.” Kagura said walking over to Tiana. “Kagura you know that I can sense jewel shards right?” Kagome asked. “Yes, I know you have that ability.” Kagura replied cautiously.
“Well I don’t sense any on her so leave her alone.” Kagome said. Kagura looked at Tiana for a moment. “Alright, I see there’s no point in dragging this out any longer than necessary and I don’t feel like fighting with you right now so I’ll leave.” Kagura said and with that she flew away on her feather.



“Sesshomaru why? Why did you do that?” Shippo asked staring at Tiana. “How could you Sesshomaru? How could you do that to Tiana?” Kagome asked angrily. “Surely there could have been another way, something else you could have done.” Miroku said accusingly. “Sesshomaru this is a new low for you.” Inuyasha said disgustedly. “Why? Lord Sesshomaru why did you have to do that?” Rin asked with tears in her eyes.



Sesshomaru looked at Tiana and then at everyone else. “Well? Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” Sango asked angrily. “She’s not dead, just unconscious.” Sesshomaru said. “What do you mean? We saw what you did, we all saw you kill her.” Miroku said confused. “He’s right, she’s still breathing.” Kagome said examining Tiana. “She’s just unconscious.” “That’s what I said. I merely rendered her unconscious.” Sesshomaru said. “I guess all she needs is to be left to rest and will wake up soon.” Shippo said. “Yeah I guess so.” Kagome agreed. “So, shall we just set up camp here for tonight?” Miroku asked. “Sure, why not.” Kagome said.













Chapter IX: In The Light Of The Full Moon
(Chapter 9)



“Can we stay too lord Sesshomaru? Please?” Rin asked. Sesshomaru just nodded. “L-Lord Sesshomaru! Why?” Jaken asked, knowing full well that Tiana would be very upset with him and then he would be in really hot water. “Why does it bother you Jaken?” Sesshomaru asked. “Well I…Uh…” Jaken was at a loss for words, what could he say? Jaken knew that there was really nothing he could say that wouldn’t get him in trouble. “Well?” Sesshomaru asked. “I…Just don’t think that…uh…well…I just don’t want to stay that’s all.” Jaken said then walked off.



'What was I thinking? I never should have lied to lord Sesshomaru, now I’m going to get it no matter what I do.' Jaken was panicking at this point, there was nothing he could do to stay out of trouble. He was, in a manner of speaking, dead and buried; and he knew it.



'Jaken is hiding something, I suspected it when Tiana and Rin left but now I’m certain there’s something he’s not telling me.' Sesshomaru knew that Jaken wasn’t being totally honest with him but he also knew that it was only a matter of time till he admitted to whatever it was. Sesshomaru also knew it had to have something to do with Tiana so as soon as she woke up Jaken would fess up. Sesshomaru decided to just wait till Tiana woke up. After all, she’d wake up soon enough and then he’d find out what Jaken was hiding so there was no need to question him further. Sesshomaru settled himself under a tree and sat there watching everyone doing this and that.



Kagome was sitting beside Tiana and preparing some rather strange looking food that she pulled from her bag. Sesshomaru watched as Miroku and Sango set about helping Kagome. He looked over when Kagome asked if Inuyasha or Shippo would go and find some more wood for the fire and watched Inuyasha and Shippo begin to argue over who was going to do it. “You go do it Shippo I gotta stay here.” Inuyasha said. “Why Inuyasha? You’re bigger and stronger than me so if you got attacked out there you could fight back. I’m just a little guy so I’d get beat up really easy.” Shippo said folding his little arms. “Shippo, I can’t go cause I’ve got to stay here and keep an eye on Sesshomaru.” Inuyasha said looking at Sesshomaru, who was giving him a ’And what is THAT supposed to mean?’ kind of look.



“Um, Inuyasha I don’t think Sesshomaru liked what you said.” Shippo said seeing the look on Sesshomaru’s face. “Well he should be doing something instead of just sitting there.” Inuyasha said crossing his arms. Sesshomaru heard what Inuyasha had said and just shot him this look that said ‘I don’t take orders from anyone and especially not from you.’



“Would somebody just go and get me some more wood for this fire? Unless everyone wants to eat food that hasn’t been cooked!” Kagome snapped, irritated with Inuyasha and Shippo’s arguing. Sesshomaru got up. “I’ll be back.” And walked off. “I guess Sesshomaru decided to go.” Sango said. “I suppose he just got tired of listening to Inuyasha and Shippo arguing about doing it so he just went to get away from them.” Miroku said with a chuckle. “You’re probably right Miroku.” Kagome said going back to her bag to see how much food there was to go around.



A little while later Sesshomaru returned. He walked back towards the tree he was sitting under before and as he passed by Kagome he dropped some large sticks in front of her. “Thank you Sesshomaru.” Kagome said as she added the sticks to the little fire she had already started and in no time she had the fire burning brightly and started cooking some ramen noodles.



As Kagome cooked the noodles Tiana began to stir. “Ohhh, my neck hurts.” Tiana said slowly as she sat up rubbing her neck. “So, you finally decided to wake up huh?” Jaken said masking his fear with annoyance. “I am in no mood to deal with you right now Jaken so don’t push it.” Tiana said shooting him a silencing glare. Miroku got up and asked Tiana if she was alright and helped her to her feet.



“Thank you Miroku. I’m okay, a little sore but fine.” She said as he let go of her hand. “Well Since we’re on friendlier terms now I would like to ask you an important question.” Miroku said. “What?” Tiana asked. Sango knew exactly where Miroku was going with this and didn’t like it one bit. “Would you bear my children?” Miroku asked Tiana who suddenly felt his hand where it shouldn’t be. Sango looked at Miroku like she was going to kill him when he asked that and as she got up she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. “Calm down Sango.” Kagome whispered. Sango sat back down. Sesshomaru noticed Miroku’s hand on Tiana and felt a wave of jealousy come over him and did his best to resist the temptation to ‘get after’ Miroku.



“Miroku.” “Yes?” “You have exactly three seconds to get your hand off of me before I snap it of at the elbow!” Tiana snapped. At the utterance of those words Miroku quickly yanked his hand away from Tiana. “Thank you. And by the way, don’t you ever touch me again or you don’t even want to know what I’m gonna do to you.” Tiana said, mostly to scare Miroku, as she held up her sharp, cat’s claw-like nails. “Sorry I asked.” Miroku said sort of sheepishly as he sat down beside Sango who promptly hit him in the back of the head with her Hiraikotsu. “Ouch!” Miroku said rubbing the new bump on his head. “Serves you right. Pervert.” Sango said.



He’d never admit it, but Sesshomaru agreed with Sango. Miroku deserved a good bump on the head.



Tiana turned her attention to Sesshomaru. “You know it’s funny, the last thing I remember before passing out was you grabbing my throat.” Tiana said, and she didn’t sound very happy either. “What exactly did you think you were doing? You could’ve killed me you psycho!” Tiana snapped at Sesshomaru. “How dare you call lord Sesshomaru a psycho!” Jaken snapped. “Be quiet Jaken!” Tiana snapped at Jaken. Jaken got up and began to sneak up behind Tiana so he could wack her with his staff. Sesshomaru stood up. “Where do you think you’re going? I want an answer. Why did you do that?” Tiana asked unaware that Jaken was creeping ever closer to her.



Sesshomaru wasn’t going to sit there and let Tiana snap at him but he wasn’t about to try to explain his actions either. Jaken was in position right behind Tiana where no one could see him and he raised his staff and was about to swing it when Tiana stepped aside because Sesshomaru had begun to walk forward and as Jaken closed his eyes and swung with all his might he had no idea that his intended target was not the one he hit.



Jaken stood there with a very satisfied and proud grin as he said. “Take that you lousy cat!” then he heard Inuyasha break into hysterical laughter so he opened his eyes and looked up to see who he had hit. Jaken’s eyes widened in horror and shock as he realized that he had just slammed his staff into Sesshomaru’s face instead of Tiana’s head. “I’m so sorry!!!!! I beg you for forgiveness lord Sesshomaru!!!!!!!” Jaken begged Sesshomaru to forgive him.



Sesshomaru just gave Jaken a withering look and reached for his sword. Jaken wouldn’t have been much more terrified than he already was except he noticed that Sesshomaru had begun to draw the Tokijin not the Tensaiga. When he saw that, Jaken took off into the forest in a sprint that would have made the coach of any track team proud; shouting over his shoulder the entire time: “I’m so sorry lord Sesshomaru!!!! Please forgive me!!! Please don’t kill me!!!”



Sesshomaru looked at everyone, they were all trying to keep from laughing, except for Inuyasha, who was still laughing hysterically. Sesshomaru looked at him. “Inuyasha, I’m going to hurt you if don’t stop laughing.” Sesshomaru growled. Then he turned to look at Tiana and Rin who were also trying not to laugh. “It’s not funny.” Sesshomaru said. “Well now you know how it feels. It hurts!” Tiana snapped back. Sesshomaru just glared at her. “Um…Should we go find Jaken?” Rin inquired curiously. “Don’t bother.” Sesshomaru replied. “What? You don’t care about him either?” Tiana asked angrily.



Sesshomaru looked at her, puzzled. “What do you mean?” “Don’t try to fool me. I don’t know why you showed up when Kagura attacked Rin and I but I do know that you didn’t want us around so we left.” Tiana said. Sesshomaru had no idea what Tiana was talking about and just looked at her as though she had a third arm or something. “Why are you looking at me like that Sesshomaru?” Tiana asked, somewhat surprised at his apparent confusion. “I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about.” He said.



“What? But Jaken told us that you felt ‘plagued’ by our presence.” Tiana said, realizing that Jaken hadn‘t been totally honest with her. Sesshomaru realized what Jaken had been up to. “Since when do you listen to Jaken?” He asked. “Since…well he upset Rin and…Okay I’m an idiot, I‘m a stupid, gullible, idiot. There. Are you happy?” Tiana said realizing how stupid she sounded. “I knew you wouldn’t have said the mean things Jaken said you did lord Sesshomaru.” Rin said, giving Sesshomaru a hug. “That’s so sweet.” Kagome said.



“So Jaken lied to us, all three of us. I told you he had it out for me! He tricked me into leaving; that little creep!” Tiana said angrily. “Then I think that he deserved the scare he got from Sesshomaru.” Shippo said. Inuyasha, who by this time had finally regained his composure, could not resist the opportunity to give Sesshomaru a hard time. “You know, I always wanted to knock you silly Sesshomaru; But who knew Jaken would beat me to it!” Inuyasha said with a chuckle. Sesshomaru just shot Inuyasha a silencing glare. “Inuyasha please don’t start a fight.” Kagome whispered in Inuyasha’s ear. “Fine. I’m too tired to fight right now anyway.” Inuyasha said reluctantly.



Sesshomaru, Tiana and Rin sat back down and Kagome passed around some food and everyone ate hungrily. “Wow, isn’t the moon beautiful tonight?” Kagome asked as she saw the full moon come out from behind some clouds. “Yes, the full moon is a beautiful sight to see, but there are times when I look at the moon, so beautiful and bright, that I wish it didn’t shine on me.” Tiana said poetically looking at the moon. “What do you mean?” Sango asked just as Tiana began to transform.















Chapter X: The Truth Of Their Feelings
(Chapter 10)



Everyone looked on as Tiana’s beautiful silverish-white and black hair turned solid black, her cat-like pupils became more like those of a human and her claw-like nails receded to a normal length, for a human. When her transformation was complete Tiana was human. “You’re human.” a dumb-founded Miroku said staring at Tiana. “I may be human for now but I can still knock you silly if you try anything monk; So watch it.” Tiana said sounding a little threatening. “ I assure you, I only wish to tell you that you’re very beautiful as a human; and a half-demon of course I’m not trying to say that you aren’t beautiful as a half-demon.” Miroku said nervously. Tiana just chuckled. “Okay, Miroku I have to tell you, I wasn’t serious when I threatened you earlier. I just said that to scare you into leaving me alone.” She explained.



Miroku looked very relived to hear that. “So, you transform into a human on the night of the full moon huh?” Inuyasha said looking at Tiana. “Yes, I do. What about you Inuyasha?” Tiana asked looking back at Inuyasha. “That’s none of your business.” He replied. “Inuyasha will become human on the night of the new moon.” Shippo explained. “Shippo!” Inuyasha snapped, holding a menacing fist out. “Inuyasha don’t!” Kagome snapped defending Shippo. “Oh, forget I asked Inuyasha.” Tiana said.



Tiana decided that she may as well take her hair down for a little while, without her natural silver-white hair coloring it wouldn’t look too bad down; so she reached behind her back and undid her braid and let her hair down. As she pulled out the ties holding her braid together her hair fell down over her shoulders and her back, down to her hips. “Wow Tiana, your hair is really pretty.” Shippo said. “Yeah, it’s so beautiful.” Rin added. “You really think so?” Tiana asked running her fingers through her hair and blushing a little. “Yes, It’s as beautiful as Sango’s.” Kagome said admiringly. “My hair isn’t nearly as pretty as yours, is it?” Sango asked, blushing from embarrassment. “Actually, I think it is Sango. If not more so.” Tiana said.



Sesshomaru sat beside Tiana looking at her beautiful long hair and couldn’t help but wonder why he wanted to reach out and touch it. He felt those feelings again, the same ones he felt when he almost kissed her; He kept trying to ignore them but they wouldn’t go away. He knew he couldn’t let them get the better of him again but they were stronger than before and he was having trouble keeping them in check. Sesshomaru decided that perhaps putting some distance between himself and Tiana might help so he got up and walked over to a tree and sat beneath it. “Sesshomaru what are you doing?” Tiana asked when she noticed him under the tree. Sesshomaru just looked away and tried to get some sleep. “Ugh. He can be so weird sometimes.” Tiana said. “Tiana? I’m curious about something.” Miroku said thoughtfully.



“Don’t even go there Miroku!” Sango snapped. Tiana glimpsed Sesshomaru in the corner of her eye and noticed that when Miroku spoke he looked over and seemed more aware of the conversation. “I assure you Sango I’ve learned my lesson, I’ll never go there with Tiana again.” Miroku said. “Well then what are you curious about Miroku?” Kagome asked. “Well, Kagura mentioned someone named Seduharu, what is his connection to Tiana? He obviously tried to get Naraku to help him kill her off but why?” Miroku asked. “Good questions Miroku.” Shippo agreed.



“Seduharu… That name sounds familiar, Let me think…Seduharu, Seduharu…” Tiana said trailing off in deep thought. “Wait a minute, I remember now… That dirty rat!” Tiana exclaimed striking her fist to her palm. “You know who Seduharu is?” Inuyasha asked. “Yes, that unbelievable creep! He was a member of my mother’s tribe, he found out about my mother Satzunara of the White Tiger demons and my father the demon slayer Takitamaru.” Tiana explained.



“Whoa, wait a minute, you’re father was a DEMON SLAYER??” Inuyasha asked in disbelief. “Yes.” Tiana said. “Wow, that’s something new.” Sango said still trying to wrap her mind around the idea. “That’s really different, I’ve never heard of a demon slayer and a demon getting married.” Shippo said. “So, your mom was the demon and your dad was the demon slayer, it’s kind of a romantic irony isn’t? The two were meant to be enemies but instead they fell in love with each other.” Kagome said. Tiana looked over at Sesshomaru to see what his reaction to what she had said was.



Sesshomaru had a thoughtful look on his face, as though he was trying to fathom how something like that was possible.



“Tiana told me all about her mom, she said she was really pretty, but Tiana didn’t tell me much about her dad though.” Rin said hoping that she would learn more about him. “Well, the truth is there’s not much more to tell, I never met him.” Tiana said.



“How sad.” Kagome said. “It’s okay. But like I was saying, when Seduharu found out about my mom and dad he threatened my mother and then he found out by spying on my mother that she was pregnant with me and threatened me as well, all because she was the leader of the tribe, and she was betrothed to him years earlier, and she wanted to break it off. So she had him kicked out of the tribe and told him never to come back..” Tiana explained.



“How terrible.” Sango said. “What happened to your father?” Miroku asked. “Well he and my mother decided to separate, in order to keep the other Demon slayers and demons from finding out, to keep the fact that I was a half demon from being discovered so that I wouldn’t be treated badly or even worse.” She explained. “My mother ended up marrying another demon from the tribe and he was a wonderful father to me. He knew the truth but kept it secret. You know, thinking about it now I wonder if Seduharu had something to with Kotaru’s father’s attack?” Tiana wondered aloud. “That’s a real possibility.” Miroku said. “Yes, if he wanted to marry your mother to gain power over the tribe and was kicked out of the tribe then it could be he was looking for revenge.” Sango said. “And he was trying to get Naraku to help him finish the job that Raidon couldn’t.” Inuyasha said disgustedly.



“Yes, it all fits. That must have been what happened. Naraku must have sent Kagura to track Tiana down for Seduharu.” Kagome said. “I guess, but that doesn’t sound like something Naraku would do though, especially since Kagura said he killed Seduharu.” Shippo said. “He’s right, Naraku wouldn’t steal jewel shards for someone else, he’d take them for himself, I bet he had no interest in Seduharu, just the jewel shards.” Sango said.



“Yeah, Naraku’s a real piece of work alright. He‘s the most evil yet cowardly demon I‘ve ever met” Inuyasha said disgustedly. “For once, I can agree with you Inuyasha.” Sesshomaru said rolling over as if he was going go to sleep, tired of listening to the conversation. “So…he was listening to us then?” Tiana asked no one in particular. “I guess.” Kagome answered her.



“I think he’s got the right idea though, I’m exhausted. Goodnight everyone.” Miroku said as he walked a couple of feet away and settled himself under a nearby tree just as Sesshomaru had. “Miroku’s right, let’s get some sleep.” Kagome said with a yawn. “Okay then. Goodnight everyone.” Sango said as she got up and found a comfortable spot not too far from where Miroku was and laid down with Kirara. Inuyasha said his goodnights and jumped up into the tree Miroku was under and made himself comfortable. Shippo said his goodnights too, and snuggled up next to Miroku. Kagome said goodnight to Tiana and Rin and made herself comfortable next to Sango. “I guess we should get some sleep too huh?” Tiana asked Rin with a yawn as she stretched. “Yeah, besides I’m pretty tired too.” Rin said yawning. Tiana gently picked up Rin and she walked over to another tree not too far away from Sesshomaru and sat down beneath it. As she put Rin down beside her Tiana saw that she was fast asleep.



Tiana tried to get some sleep but the thought of Seduharu being in league with Naraku was weighing heavily on her mind, as were thoughts of Sesshomaru and what had almost happened before. After a couple of sleepless hours she looked over at Sesshomaru, expecting him to be asleep; but she noticed that he wasn’t asleep, just staring into space as though he was deep in thought. ‘I wonder what’s with him? He seems troubled about something.’ Tiana thought as she looked at Sesshomaru. ’I wonder what he’s thinking about.’ Tiana decided to ask Sesshomaru what was on his mind.



Sesshomaru sat under the tree trying to get some sleep when he noticed Tiana walking toward him. “Sesshomaru?” She whispered, trying not to wake anyone. He didn’t acknowledge her presence. “Sesshomaru, I know you can hear me.” Tiana whispered in an annoyed tone. Sesshomaru continued to ignore her. “Sesshomaru stop ignoring me.” Tiana whispered harshly, trying not to snap too loud. Sesshomaru looked at her, and tried to keep his feelings in check. “What do you want?” He asked. “Well…it seems like something is bothering you.” She whispered in concern. Sesshomaru was somewhat surprised at her concern for him, she almost sounded like Rin. Sesshomaru looked at Tiana, she looked beautiful in the moonlight and even though he knew should look away he couldn’t.



Tiana looked at Sesshomaru, she felt the same feeling she had felt when she had almost kissed him. She wanted to try again but at the same time she wished she had just left him alone and avoided this feeling altogether. Sesshomaru could see from the look in Tiana’s eyes that she had conflicted feelings too. “I’m going to go back to Rin and get some sleep.” Tiana whispered turning to leave. “Now you’re the one who seems bothered.” Sesshomaru said in a whisper as he got to his feet. “I’m not bothered, I’m just… sleepy.” Tiana whispered trying avoid the subject altogether.



Tiana wanted to walk back to where she had been laying and just go to sleep and forget about this whole conversation but her feet just wouldn’t listen to her and she felt glued to the spot she was standing on. She looked at Sesshomaru, he was looking intently at her; he knew that her feelings were eating away at her and she could tell that the same was true of him, he was going crazy too.



Tiana looked at Sesshomaru, who tried to avoid her gaze. Tiana again felt as though she wanted to attempt to kiss him again. She tried to fight the urge but in the end her heart won out over her head. She moved closer to Sesshomaru and before either of them knew what was happening she kissed him.



Sesshomaru stood there, those strange feelings or emotions or whatever they were, were driving him crazy, but as Tiana leaned in and kissed him, it started to make some sense at last. As much as he refused to admit it, he was falling in love with her; and he realized that he had been falling for her little by little from the moment that he had first laid eyes on her, never mind that she had tried to run him through.



In the instant she kissed him Sesshomaru’s feelings began to make some sense again. Just as he started to put his arm around her, she broke it off. Tiana didn’t say a word, she just looked at him with a confused and almost frightened kind of look, then made her way back to the tree she had been laying beneath. Sesshomaru couldn’t think of anything to say, so he just watched her walk away from him and lay down under the tree where she had been before.



'What in the world was THAT!' Sesshomaru wondered as looked at Tiana. The kiss had lasted only a second but he could still feel the sensation of her lips against his and realized that she obviously felt strongly for him, but if so why did she kiss him for no more than two seconds and then act as though she done something terribly wrong? Sesshomaru looked at Tiana again, she was facing away from him. He struggled a bit with the urge to ask her what exactly had transpired, but decided against it and just tried his best to get some sleep; which was even harder to do now than it already was.



'I can’t believe I just did that, what was I thinking? Why did I kiss Sesshomaru?' Tiana kept asking herself, feeling even more uncertain than before. She knew she was falling in love with Sesshomaru but in her tribe it was a forbidden romance, even if Sesshomaru felt the same way she did. Yet she had confessed her feelings for him with that kiss, the feelings that she felt she wasn’t supposed to have.



“Tiana?” Rin whispered softly and sleepily. “Yes Rin? What is it?” Tiana whispered back. “What were you and Sesshomaru talking about?” She asked groggily. “What? You must have been dreaming Rin, I wasn’t talking to Sesshomaru.” Tiana said nervously.



“Yes you were, I saw you over there Tiana. You like him don’t you?” Rin asked looking up at Tiana. “Did she see me kiss him?” Tiana wondered. “What? That’s silly Rin, I don’t like Sesshomaru.” Tiana said looking at Rin. “You DO like lord Sesshomaru, I can tell.” Rin said. “I, okay I admit it. I do like him, just a little. But, I can’t. I shouldn’t.” Tiana admitted. “Why not?” Rin asked. “Well, you see the rules of the tribe of demons I lived with as far as liking someone were that you couldn’t unless they were like you. For example, if you liked a boy it would have to be a human boy, otherwise it was against the rules to like him.” Tiana said, explaining it as simply as possible. “That doesn’t make sense Tiana.” Rin said. “I didn’t think you would understand, now why don’t you just go to sleep, okay?” Tiana said laying down. “No, I understand what you mean but, your mom liked your dad and he was a human right? So then doesn’t that mean that that rule doesn’t count?” Rin asked puzzled.



Tiana thought about it for a moment. Rin was right, her mother broke that rule when she fell in love with her father so, if her mother didn’t have to honor that rule she shouldn’t have to either. “You’re right Rin, it doesn’t count.” Tiana said as she drifted off to sleep.

















Chapter XI: A Terrifying Encounter
(Chapter 11)



Jaken was wandering through the forest, trying to find his way back to where everyone else was, but he jumped at every little noise that he heard. “Ohhh, what am I going to do? I can’t go back to lord Sesshomaru now. I only wanted to help but instead I made him angry with me and now he wants to kill me!” Jaken said with a gulp to himself. As Jaken walked around hopelessly lost another thought entered his mind, along with an image he didn’t particularly care for. ‘Now that I’m not there to keep an eye on her, Tiana might be trying to get lord Sesshomaru alone like before… I can just see it happening and she might…oh poor lord Sesshomaru, she’ll probably do away with him before anyone even finds out what she’s up to. Jaken thought to himself with another gulp.



"But wait, I tried my best to warn him, to keep her away from him and what did it get me? So what if she kills him, at least I won’t have him breathing down my neck anymore, Come think of it I won’t have listen to Rin’s absurd questions anymore. That’s right, I don’t have to put up with any of that anymore, I’m on my own and it feels good. Besides I tried to help lord Sesshomaru and he wasn’t even grateful for my attempts. I don’t know what I was so concerned about, I’m better off without the ingrate!!!" Jaken said loudly. No sooner had Jaken finished his conversation with himself then he suddenly heard a loud noise and when he peeked around a tree he saw Kotaru standing there fuming about not being able to find Tiana or Sesshomaru or Inuyasha.



Jaken watched nervously as Kotaru continued to yell obscenities at no one until he drew his sword and started slashing the trees, including the one which Jaken concealed himself behind. Jaken ducked down behind what little stump was left and as soon as he saw Kotaru turn away he broke into the same sprint he’d used to escape Sesshomaru. ‘Oh, who am I kidding! I’m nothing without lord Sesshomaru! And that guy is insane, I’d rather take my chances with lord Sesshomaru!!’ Jaken thought to himself as made a mad dash to anywhere but where Kotaru was.



It didn’t seem like it had been very long since she had fallen asleep when Tiana felt something on top of her moving around. Tiana started to move around a bit and then realized something or someone really was on top of her! Tiana shot up off the ground throwing off whatever or whoever was on her. “What the- Who or what was on top of me!!!” She screamed angrily and, needless to say, she woke everyone up by doing so. “Tiana why are you screaming?” Kagome and Sango asked sleepily. “Okay, what the heck is going on!” Inuyasha snapped, not too happy about being awakened by Tiana’s screams. “Could someone kindly explain what on earth is going on?” Miroku asked, not sounding very thrilled himself.



Sesshomaru sat up and just gave Tiana a ‘You had better have a good explanation’ kind of look, obviously not happy about being so rudely, and loudly, awakened. “Tiana are you okay?” Rin and Shippo both asked rubbing their eyes. “Something or someone was crawling around on top of me! And I want to know who or what it was.” Tiana said irritated. As everyone just looked around suddenly there was a small noise followed by rustling leaves from a bush. Tiana looked at the bush the noise had come from and as she examined it suddenly she heard a familiar voice.



“Please, don’t hurt me! Don’t kill me I beg of you! I can tell you where to find the half demon Tiana if you let me live, Please!!” Jaken groveled from under the bush. “Why you- I’m gonna skewer you, you little toad!!” Tiana yelled at Jaken, angry that he was gonna sell her out just to save his own skin. Even though she would expect as much from him. Jaken looked up and saw Tiana giving him a withering look. “I-I-I’m sorry!!!! Please don’t kill me!!! I beg of you, spare me!” Jaken begged. “Oh, alright already Jaken, quit your whining.” Tiana said taking a step back.



Jaken got up and walked over to Sesshomaru. “Uhh…Milord are you still angry with me?” He asked. Sesshomaru sighed a tiny sigh. “No.” he said. “So you forgive me? Oh, thank you lord Sesshomaru!!” Jaken exclaimed joyfully. “Okay Jaken, spill it. Obviously you ran into someone who wants my head on a platter so start talking.” Tiana said. “Well I, that is um…I saw that Kotaru fellow out there and he nearly cut me down! Along with half the forest!! Jaken said shuddering a little at the thought. “So you came back here to get away from him huh?” Inuyasha asked. “He’s insane!! Of course I came back here! He would’ve killed me!” Jaken snapped. “I think we already know that he’s out of his mind.” Tiana said. “You didn’t see him in the forest, he was ranting and going on like a lunatic!” Jaken said still quivering a little.



“Well, it seems he’s getting pretty impatient. Don’t worry about it Jaken. If he’s looking for me then I’m sure he’ll find me soon enough and when he does, I’ll take care of him myself.” Tiana said sounding both confidant and, to Jaken’s surprise, somewhat comforting. “Tiana are you sure you could handle him by yourself?” Rin asked worriedly. “Yes, I can handle him just fine. I’m pretty tough you know.” Tiana said. “Yeah? Well I don’t care what you say, there’s no way I’m gonna let you do all the fighting.” Inuyasha said.



Tiana chuckled. “Inuyasha, I don’t care what you say either. Kotaru is my enemy not yours so I’ll be the one to take care of him. Now why don’t we try to get some rest for the remainder of the night.” And with that Tiana went back to her spot under the tree. “I think Tiana’s right. I’m going back to sleep now.” Rin said going back to her spot next to Tiana. “Yeah, I’m sure that Kotaru won’t be any trouble to deal with at all, no matter who defeats him.” Sango said. Kagome agreed with a yawn. “Yeah, that’s totally true. Now let’s follow Tiana and Rin’s example and get some sleep.” With that said everyone went back to where they had been and fell asleep again.



Jaken couldn’t understand why Tiana had sounded comforting when she spoke to him. Why would she want to try to comfort me at all? After everything I’ve said, done and caused why would even care about me? Jaken wondered. After he’d been such a thorn in her side she actually sounded comforting when she told him not to worry about Kotaru. It didn’t make sense that even though they had done nothing but fight she might actually like him or want to try to call a truce or something.



The next morning Tiana woke to find that no one else was awake yet, so after re-braiding her hair she decided to take a short walk and think about things. Okay, so I know that Seduharu was trying to enlist the aid of this Naraku guy and ended up causing him to send Kagura out to get me and that’s just wonderful because I’ve also got Kotaru on my tail too. Tiana sighed heavily. “Oh, brother do I have a lot of people after me for one reason or another.” And then on another note I kissed Sesshomaru last night so I’ve got to figure that out too. What am I going to say to him now? Tiana was just all around confused. After the way she’d handled things last night what was Sesshomaru thinking? Was he as confused as she was or did he think she was strange now? Tiana didn’t know but she knew that he would probably bring it up later and she’d have to say something.



Sesshomaru had laid there watching Tiana get up and leave, did she even realize that he was awake? He’d been laying there awake for about an hour or so just thinking about what had happened that night. 'She kissed me then took off back to where she’d been laying.'



'Why? Why did she kiss me then take off like that? I don’t understand it.' Sesshomaru couldn’t figure it out, had he somehow offended her or did she think she had offended him? Sesshomaru didn’t know but he decided that he would just keep this to himself for awhile, see how she acts around him and try to see if her manner gave anything away and go from there once he had a better idea of what she was thinking.



Kagome woke up and stretched her arms with a yawn then pulled her backpack to her and started to rummage through it. “Hmmm…what is there? Ah, this should do. I haven’t had one of these in ages. Mom must have packed them in here and I think there’s enough to go around.” She said almost to herself as she pulled some items in colorful wrappers out of her backpack. “What are those Kagome?” Sango asked through a yawn as she looked the rectangular items in Kagome’s hands.



“Breakfast.” Kagome replied as she walked over to Miroku and nudged him a bit. “Miroku wake up.” “Hmmm…?” Miroku rubbed his eyes a bit and sat up. “Oh, good morning Kagome.” He said. “Okay, now for Inuyasha.” Kagome said looking up the tree and at Inuyasha who was still asleep. “Hopefully he won’t be in a bad mood if you wake him.” Miroku said as he walked over to Sango.



Kagome began to yell at Inuyasha. “Inuyasha! Wake up!” Inuyasha grumbled a little started to move a bit. “Inuyasha be careful!” Kagome shouted up to him, startling him and he fell off the branch! “Ouch!” He exclaimed as he landed with a thud. “Inuyasha! Are you okay?” Kagome asked worriedly. “What the heck are trying to do Kagome, make me break my neck or something?” Inuyasha asked a bit irritated. “I’m sorry Inuyasha, I didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted to tell you that it’s time for breakfast.” Kagome said. “It’s okay. Now what about breakfast?” Inuyasha asked. “It’s over here Inuyasha.” Kagome said walking over to her backpack as Tiana returned from her walk.



She looked over at Rin and Shippo who had already awakened and were playing with Shippo’s top. “They’re cute playing together.” She said. “Yeah, they are.” Kagome agreed. “Oh, are you hungry Tiana?” Kagome asked. “Actually, yes I am.” Tiana said. “Well, I’ve got something for us to eat so come here.” Kagome said as she and Inuyasha, as well as Miroku and Sango sat down by the backpack. Tiana sat down with them and Rin and Shippo came over too. Jaken, who was just sitting around watching everyone came over as well. “Hey Sesshomaru, don’t you want something to eat?” Kagome asked Sesshomaru who was still sitting under the tree he’d slept under. Sesshomaru just continued to sit there. “Oh come on Sesshomaru, you must be just a little hungry?” Sango asked.



Sesshomaru just sat there not moving. “No. I‘m not.” He said. Then his stomach growled just a bit, giving him away. “Sesshomaru, your stomach growled.” Inuyasha said, sounding rather annoyed with his brother. “I heard it too Sesshomaru, so just get over here already or I’m just gonna have to drag you over here myself.” Tiana said teasingly. Sesshomaru sighed a slightly annoyed sigh and walked over. “Okay, Kagome…what do you have there?” Tiana asked as Sesshomaru sat down beside her. “Well, I have these.” Kagome said happily as she showed them the rectangular things in colorful wrappers.



“What is it?” Inuyasha asked. Kagome opened one. It looked like some kind of bread or pastry. “It’s called a Pop-tart.” She said as she split it in half to show them the filling in the middle. “What is that stuff?” Sango asked. “It’s the filling.” She said as she took a bite of one half. “Mmmm…This one is strawberry. Yum!” She said. “There’s different flavors?” Miroku asked. “Yes, let me see…It looks like there’s Strawberry, cherry and chocolate. Which flavor do you want? There’s two in a package and there’s six packages so that means there’s twelve all together.” Kagome said.



“I guess I’ll try cherry.” Sango said. “Me too.” Inuyasha agreed. “I guess I’ll have strawberry.” Miroku said. “I want chocolate!” Shippo said. “Okay.” Kagome said as she opened a package of cherry and handed Inuyasha and Sango the pop-tarts inside, then gave Miroku the other strawberry pop-tart from her package, then gave Shippo a chocolate pop-tart. “Okay, what about you guys?” Kagome asked Tiana, Sesshomaru, Rin and Jaken. “Hmm…I guess…chocolate?” Tiana said, not too sure what to think of the odd pastries. “Can I have a cherry one too please?” Rin asked politely. “Sure you can. Here.” Kagome said handing them their pop-tarts.



Jaken wasn’t at all sure about this strange food. “I don’t want any of this curious food.” Jaken said turning away. “But master Jaken, it’s really good.” Rin said as she took a bite of her pop-tart. Jaken looked at her pop-tart, it looked weird. Rin giggled a little at the look on Jaken’s face and took a piece of her pop-tart and gave it to Jaken. “Try it.” She said. Jaken looked at it as though it was poison but despite his misgivings he ate it then requested his own pop-tart so Kagome gave him the other pop-tart from the package Rin’s came from. “What about you Sesshomaru? What flavor do you want? I still have a package of each flavor.” Kagome said showing Sesshomaru the packages.















Chapter XII: Centipedes, Pop-Tarts and Taunts
(Chapter 12)



Sesshomaru just looked at the packages, not sure if he wanted one. However his stomach was starting to growl again so he just grabbed a package, not caring what flavor it was. He opened the package, took a pop-tart and gave the other one back to Kagome. The pop-tart had a very appetizing scent, Sesshomaru looked at Tiana’s pop-tart. It was brown just like his meaning he chose the same flavor she did. He looked back at his.



Tiana looked at him. “Don’t be such a scaredy-cat Sesshomaru. Try it.” Tiana said taking a bit of his pop-tart and shoving it in his mouth. Sesshomaru chewed and swallowed the bite of pop-tart before shooting Tiana a ’don’t do that again’ look.



Tiana looked at him, then took a bite of her pop-tart. “Wow, this IS good Kagome…what the-” Tiana felt something crawling on her leg. She looked down and saw a centipede crawling around on her leg and screamed. “Aaaaahhhhh!!! Get it off! Get it off of me!!!!!” Tiana screamed at the top of her lungs. Everyone looked to see what it was. “It’s just a common, run-of-the-mill centipede.” Sango said calmly. “I don’t care!!! Just get it off me!!!!!” Tiana screamed. Sesshomaru reached over and picked it up then flicked it in to the woods. “Oh, thank you Sesshomaru.” Tiana said sounding very relieved.



Tiana looked up and saw Inuyasha looking at her in disbelief. Sesshomaru just looked at her as if to say ‘You were afraid of that little thing?’. “Well, I…alright, I’m deathly afraid of centipedes okay! And I don‘t like millipedes either.” Tiana admitted, blushing of embarrassment. “You’re kidding. You weren’t the least bit afraid of Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, Kagura or Kotaru when you had to fight them but you’re afraid a of a little centipede?” Kagome asked in disbelief. Tiana just nodded. “That little thing couldn’t have hurt you.” Miroku said “He’s right, it was just a little insect.” Sango added. “I can’t believe you freaked out over that bug.” Inuyasha said. “Yeah, well it wasn’t crawling on your leg!” Tiana snapped in her own defense, shuddering a little at the thought of that centipede on her leg.



Jaken just laughed. “You’re afraid of centipedes! How silly!” Jaken said. “It’s not silly, It’s perfectly natural, everyone‘s afraid of something. Like you for example, you’re afraid of Sesshomaru.” Tiana said mockingly. “You…I should go find your multi-legged friend again.” Jaken threatened. “You wouldn’t dare!” Tiana said, unable mask her fear of a second encounter of the creepy-crawly kind. “Jaken that’s enough.” Sesshomaru said. “O-okay lord Sesshomaru.” Jaken said meekly.



Sesshomaru looked at Tiana and realized that she really was afraid of centipedes. She has a fear of centipedes. Interesting, I wouldn’t have imagined that she could be afraid of something like that. Sesshomaru was surprised that Tiana could be afraid of something so insignificant as a simple centipede. it must be because she is a half demon. Sesshomaru figured.



“I agree with you Tiana, centipedes are creepy. I wouldn’t want one crawling on me either. Ewww!!” Rin said. “Thank you Rin. At least someone agrees with me.” Tiana said, sounding just a little irritated. “I agree with you too Tiana, centipedes are disgusting. But I’m not scared of them.” Kagome said. “Would you please just drop it. I can tell that now you all think I’m pathetic because I’m afraid of centipedes, so don’t bother acting like you don’t.” Tiana said, rather irritated. “That’s not true! We don’t think you’re pathetic. In fact I agree with you too, centipedes can be yucky and a bit scary.” Shippo said in everyone’s defense.



“You think just about everything is scary Shippo.” Inuyasha said. “Do not Inuyasha!” Shippo shot back. “You’d jump at the sight of your own shadow.” Inuyasha said mockingly. “Shut up Inuyasha!” Shippo snapped. Inuyasha, not very happy with being told to shut up, hit Shippo in the head. “Inuyasha you big jerk!” Shippo cried, rubbing the bump on his head. “Inuyasha!” Kagome snapped. “Kagome, don’t do it! Not in front of Sesshomaru!” Inuyasha begged, but it was too late, Kagome uttered the dreaded command. “SIT!!!” Instantaneously Inuyasha’s face made contact with the ground in front of him. “Serves you right.” Shippo said crossly, finishing the last of his pop-tart. Inuyasha mumbled incoherently. “Well Inuyasha? What do you expect?” Miroku said as he too, finished the last of his pop-tart. “He’s right you know.” Sango added. Sesshomaru sat and stared at Inuyasha silently. Thinking however, that he was glad that he didn’t have that kind of problem, unlike Inuyasha.



When Inuyasha could finally get up again he sat up and noticed everyone looking at him strangely. “What?” He asked Irritably. Everyone, expect Sesshomaru began to chuckle and giggle. “What?” He asked again. “I hate to tell you this Inuyasha, but I think when Kagome told you to sit, you planted your face in your pop-tart.” Tiana said giggling like crazy. “What? Are you saying I’ve got pop-tart all over my face!” Inuyasha asked. “I’m afraid so Inuyasha.” Kagome said, taking a mirror from her backpack and handing it to Inuyasha.



Inuyasha looked at his reflection. He had pieces of pop-tart and blobs of cherry filling on his chin, cheeks and forehead; As well as a big blob of cherry filling on his nose. Inuyasha grunted and tossed the mirror aside. As he wiped the pop-tart off his face Kagome handed him her handkerchief and he wiped his hands with it. “You looked better with the pop-tart on your face.” Sesshomaru said matter-of-factly, a small grin on his face. Tiana started to chuckle again. “I guess Sesshomaru thought it was funny too.” She said. Inuyasha just glared at Sesshomaru. “Okay, that’s enough let’s leave Inuyasha alone now.” Kagome said in Inuyasha’s defense. “Yeah, I agree with Kagome, We should leave Inuyasha alone before he gets mad again.” Shippo said.



“Why should I be afraid of a half-breed. They‘re all weak and pathetic.” Sesshomaru calmly remarked. “I can give ya a few reasons Sesshomaru.” Inuyasha threatened. “You must have forgotten Sesshomaru.” Tiana said, suddenly sounding a lot like Sesshomaru; very calm and almost cold. “Forgotten what?” Sesshomaru asked. “That a ‘Half-breed’ could very well have run you through.” Tiana said as she bared her claws. Sesshomaru just remained silent. “Okay fine, be like that. But I warn you, watch what you say or I’ll sharpen my claws on you.” Tiana told Sesshomaru.



“Foolish cat! lord Sesshomaru could take you on with one hand behind his back!” Jaken snapped. Sesshomaru glared at Jaken from the corner of his eye and growled lightly. “Er…um… That is… I meant that…” Jaken began, stuttering.



Sesshomaru smacked Jaken in the head. “What he means to say is that you are the one who should watch what you say.” He said. “I’m not the least bit afraid of you, Sesshomaru. Your threats don’t scare me at all. Tiana said. Sesshomaru just returned to eating his pop-tart, popping a little piece into his mouth. Secretly however, he was amused by the fact he couldn’t scare Tiana one bit unless he had a centipede in his hand. He resisted the urge to chuckle a little at thought because although it was funny Tiana probably wouldn’t think so and might slap him or hit him or something if she knew what he was thinking about and he decided that it was a confrontation best avoided, after all, he was still trying to figure her out, fighting with her any more wouldn’t help.



When everyone finished their pop-tarts Kagome took care of the wrappers. “Okay everyone done?” Kagome asked, just to be certain that everyone had finished. “Yes we’re done. I don’t know about Sesshomaru and the scaredy-cat over there but I know we’re done.” Inuyasha said getting rather impatient that Kagome just had to make sure the pop-tart wrappers were properly taken care of. “Inuyasha watch it! Another remark like that and I’ll pop you one!!” Tiana snapped as she handed Kagome her wrapper.



Sesshomaru was silent as he walked over to Kagome and gave her his wrapper too. “It’s not my fault you’re afraid of bugs.” Inuyasha said turning to walk away. “I am NOT afraid of bugs!…Just centipedes.” Tiana said realizing just how pathetic she sounded. “Ignore him.” Sesshomaru said quietly as he walked past Tiana. Tiana just chuckled a little bit. “Okay, enough bickering everyone let’s go.” Kagome said she threw her backpack over her shoulder. “Finally!!” Inuyasha said as he walked past everyone to take lead of the group.



Kagome, Sango, Miroku and Shippo fell into step with Inuyasha as Sesshomaru, Tiana, Rin and Jaken passed him. “Hey I’m leading here go to the back of the line where you belong!!” Inuyasha snapped mainly at Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru was about to turn around and say something to Inuyasha when he saw Tiana turn to him, pull down one lower eye lid a little and stick her tongue out at Inuyasha in a taunt that obviously worked. “Neener!, neener!, neener!” she chanted for a second.



Sesshomaru was amused at the look on Inuyasha’s face. He was clearly irritated and at a loss for words. “What’s the matter Inuyasha? Cat got your tongue?” Sesshomaru asked, unable to resist the temptation to poke a little fun at Inuyasha. “Shut up Sesshomaru.” Inuyasha said rather irritated. “And don’t you say anything either!” He snapped at Tiana. “Who? Me? I wasn’t going to say a word.” She said innocently. Inuyasha just grumbled.



“Tiana clearly enjoys getting on Inuyasha’s nerves, I suppose that’s a good thing, although at times it’s obvious she enjoys getting on mine too. I wonder if she’s even thought about… whatever that was last night? Maybe I should question her about it. I’ll wait a little longer, maybe.” Sesshomaru pondered asking Tiana about the little escapade that night because her manner didn’t seem to give anything away, yet. There was still a chance he’d pick up on something though.



Let’s try not to start any fights please?” Shippo said. “Yeah, if Kotaru shows up you should fight him, not each other.” Rin pointed out. “She does have a point.” Tiana said agreeing with Rin. She looked at Sesshomaru. He didn’t like the way she was looking at him, that look in her eyes told him she was going to pull something and he didn’t want to know what but knew he’d find out anyway. “Maybe you guys should call truce or something.” She said. “I knew it.” Sesshomaru said to himself. “No way!!” Inuyasha snapped. Sesshomaru just glared at Inuyasha, then Tiana. She could tell just by the look on his face how he felt. “When pigs sprout wings and fly.” Somehow she could just hear him saying it just by the way he was looking at her. Tiana realized that it was… utterly pointless to try to get them to call truce. For ANY reason.



“You two are so stubborn.” Kagome said sounding just a bit irritated. “Well we know for sure now that you two are related. There’s the family resemblance and you’re both stubborn.” Tiana said watching Sesshomaru’s facial expression change to an irritated ’Don’t compare me to him’ kind of look. Tiana chuckled a little. “What do you find amusing?” Sesshomaru asked still somewhat irritated. “You. You’re so easy and at times so fun to irritate.” Tiana said.



Sesshomaru just looked at her with a blank kind of stare. 'I will never understand her at all so why am I even trying? Once again I’m uncertain and confused by her. This is exhausting.' Sesshomaru thought to himself. Tiana saw the look on his face change from rather blank to confused for an instant. “He’s kinda cute when he’s got that confused look on his face.” Tiana inwardly giggled just a bit.
















Chapter XIII: The Final Battle with Kotaru
(Chapter 13)



Tiana and Rin walked ahead of everyone as Sesshomaru continued to just stare at Tiana thinking about how infuriating she could be, yet for some reason he was still fascinated with her. Sesshomaru was flat-out confused. He liked Tiana even though he couldn’t figure out why, yet at times it seemed she irritated him more that any other person he knew, except Inuyasha that is. 'I know that I‘m attracted to her, that much has become obvious to me. But she’s so impossible at times I have no idea why I’m so attracted to her.'



Sesshomaru so was lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t realized his pace was becoming slower as he just stared ahead at Tiana. Inuyasha brushed past Sesshomaru. “Hey Sesshomaru, what’s the matter with you? Haven‘t you ever seen somebody walk before?” Inuyasha asked rudely when saw the way Sesshomaru was kind of blankly staring ahead at Tiana. “Not like she does.” Sesshomaru said to himself as he watched Tiana walking ahead of him. The slight sway of hips was, for some unknown reason, Hypnotic.



Inuyasha had caught up to Tiana and Rin. “What‘s the big idea? I said I was going to lead, not you, so stay back here.” He said, passing them. “Jerk.” Tiana muttered under her breath. “I’m not a jerk!” Inuyasha snapped. “It doesn’t matter who’s in the lead Inuyasha.” Tiana said calmly. There was just silence after that. Tiana stopped suddenly. “What is it Tiana?” Rin asked. “I heard something. Over there.” Tiana said pointing to the right. Towards thick clumps of trees. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru stopped and listened and sniffed the air. “Something’s there all right.” Inuyasha said. Sesshomaru nodded in agreement then looked in the direction Tiana had pointed in.



“Rin, stay with Sesshomaru. I’m going to check this out.” Tiana said drawing her Sais, making sure they were ready. Rin looked at Tiana and was about to say something when Sesshomaru gave her a look that told her to stay quiet. Tiana carefully approached the trees, then she heard a small sound from behind her, behind everyone actually. She glanced over her shoulder, no one seemed to notice the noise, they were too focused on what she was doing and that sound had been too quiet.



Tiana suddenly whirled around and charged in the opposite direction. “There you are you creep!” She snapped as she attacked the trees behind everyone. “So you found me, and here I thought I could catch you off guard and finish this quickly. Oh, well. It’ll be much more entertaining this way.” Kotaru said in that icy voice of his. He jumped just in time to avoid Tiana’s attack. Tiana whipped around again and swung her Sais expertly through the air. The Sais whizzed past Kotaru, grazing him as he tried to avoid each swing.



Tiana swung one Sai to the right and the other to the left. Kotaru tried to avoid them but her Sais cut into his arms anyway. “Ahh… You’re better than I thought. After our first encounter I had thought you were just as pathetic as every other half-breed I’ve met. Looks like I was wrong. You can actually fight after all.” He said, just as he raised his sword and swung with expert precision and she just barely avoided the swing. Tiana looked at her left arm, the one he’d aimed for again, her bandage had been cut and was now coming off. “Oh, forget this.” Tiana said as she jerked off the rest of the bandage. She moved her arm a bit, letting the air hit it. “Much better, that bandage was getting a little annoying anyway.” She said. Kotaru glared at Tiana. “I can see I did indeed do some damage to your arm, too bad I couldn’t have just hacked it off.” He said raising his sword for another attack.



Tiana had managed to avoid the attack, taking the brunt of it with her arm bands. Kotaru looked disappointed. “I wish you’d just let me do what I came to do. Then Seduharu can give me my reward and that’ll be that.” He said, getting poised for another attack. “You know, that’s really stupid. Seduharu is dead. He couldn’t pay you anything, even if you did manage to kill me.” Tiana said, watching Kotaru’s reaction to what she’d said. “He couldn’t possibly be dead, you lying little pest.” Kotaru said, with a little bit of a snarl.



“It’s true, if you believe me or not, that’s your choice. Now tell me something Kotaru. What exactly did he offer you?” Tiana asked, curious as to what he could possibly be so desperate to obtain. “Seduharu had approached my father, and told him that if he could slay all the White tigers in your pathetic little tribe he’d give him something that could ensure he would be come the leader of the tribe of dog demons he came from, he offered my father the scared jewel of the four souls, the Shikon Jewel.” Kotaru said.



Tiana couldn’t help but laugh. “You and your father were idiots. Neither of you realized he was just using you two to take out his revenge against my mother. He never had the Shikon Jewel, and even if he at one time did possess it, you would never have gotten it from him. There was no way either of you could have killed the entire tribe because he was a member too. He tricked your father and you just continued to believe he was telling the truth. As idiots go you two take the cake. You two were so blinded by you lust for power and strength you didn’t even realize he was the same as the ones he wanted you to kill. You’re the biggest idiot I’ve ever met.” Tiana said, still chuckling.



Kotaru glared at Tiana, clearly ticked off. “You’re the idiot, thinking you could beat me, I’ll still kill you, cause you’re a pain!” “Kotaru snapped, launching an attack. Tiana agilely jumped out of his path and slashed his right shoulder with her Sai. Kotaru cursed under his breath as he examined his shoulder. Tiana kept her eyes on him, watching his movements, trying to guess his next move, just as she’d been doing the entire fight so far.



Kotaru realized what she was doing, she was watching him in an attempt to predict his movements. 'Yeah right, I’m not gonna make it that easy for you, you stupid, pathetic little cat.' Kotaru said to himself.



Tiana watched as he just stood there, not moving a muscle. “He’s going to try something, I have to be on my guard.” Tiana continued to focus on Kotaru-he didn’t move. Then, suddenly he lurched towards the others, sword in hand. Inuyasha saw him coming and drew his Tetsusaiga, swung towards Kotaru. “Ha! So, you really are his son aren’t you? You wield his fang well…for a half breed.” Kotaru sneered.



“What do you mean? What do you know about my old man?” Inuyasha asked. “Just who do you think my father was going to replace as leader huh? Your father, Inutaishou, the great dog demon, who fell in love with a human woman. He was weak, he wasn’t fit to be our leader if he could so easily fall for the charms of a human. My father challenged him for the right to be the leader and lost. He was forced to leave the tribe, as were any others who agreed with him about how pitifully pathetic your father was!” Kotaru said, swinging his sword expertly at Inuyasha.



“Silence!” Sesshomaru snapped as he took a swing at Kotaru with his Tokijin. Tiana joined in the fight as Kagome and Shippo took Rin and moved away from the fighting. Miroku and Sango knew they’d get in the way if they tried to help so they stayed back as well, ready to jump in if they were needed. Jaken stood with Rin, watching the fight. Jaken hoped that Sesshomaru wouldn’t do something stupid on account of Tiana. Here he was again, thinking that Tiana was trouble. 'I really shouldn’t think like that anymore. All it’s done is get me into trouble.' Jaken told himself. The battle raged on, blow after blow, hit after hit.



Kotaru was badly beaten and he knew he had to end the fight soon. He wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer. Inuyasha, Sesshomaru and Tiana could tell Kotaru was getting tired of fighting, and they all knew they would have him down soon. Tiana was the second most beaten and she knew that Kotaru would kill her if she didn’t keep fighting, and she wasn’t about to let Inuyasha and Sesshomaru finish him off for her. Kotaru could tell Tiana too, was getting tired.



He’d focused on her more than the other two, so naturally she’d be the first to weaken. 'It’s almost over little kitty, just be a good pussy cat and give me an opening to finish you.' Kotaru watched Tiana as she fought, her strength dying down a little more with each movement, then he saw it, his opening. Kotaru took the opening.



Just as Tiana let down her arms for second while Inuyasha and Sesshomaru shoved one another out of the other’s way to tackle Kotaru, he attacked. With one swift movement Kotaru had rushed behind Tiana and slashed at her back diagonally with his sword. Tiana cried out in pain as she swung around and sliced him back, across the chest, with her Sai. Kotaru stepped back, looked at his chest and fell on his back. Tiana looked at him for a moment before she too, collapsed.



“Tiana!!!” Rin screamed as she jerked away from Kagome and ran to Tiana. “Tiana no, wake up! please! Tiana please!” Rin sobbed, certain Tiana was dead. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru walked over to her. Kagome walked over and knelt beside Tiana and Rin. Tiana wasn‘t breathing. “S-She’s not breathing.” Kagome said.



Rin looked up, unable to force out the words caught in her throat. “No that can’t be, Tiana no, please don’t die…Please.” Rin couldn’t force herself to say it out loud, she was sobbing too hard. Sesshomaru looked down at Rin, seeing her sobbing like that was hurting him, He had to admit, to himself at least, that he couldn’t stand to see her like that. As he looked at Tiana he realized that he hated seeing her sprawled on the ground, not moving, her back covered in blood.



Rin looked up at Sesshomaru, her eyes pleading, sobs still catching in her throat till she choked them down long enough to speak. “Please.” Rin said, her voice practically a whisper. “Please lord Sesshomaru, help Tiana. I know you can, Please.” She pleaded with Sesshomaru. Kagome stood up and looked at Sesshomaru. “She’s right Sesshomaru, Your Tensaiga has the power to revive the dead, you can save Tiana. Please Sesshomaru.” Kagome also pleaded with him. Sesshomaru looked at Rin, tears still streaming down her face. Sesshomaru looked at Tiana and realized he wanted to revive her too, just as much as Rin wanted him to, so he drew his Tensaiga and held it over Tiana.



'What is this? I cannot see the pallbearers of the netherworld, I cannot do anything, cannot revive her. Why? Why will you not do my will Tensaiga?' Sesshomaru could not see the pallbearers of the netherworld that should have been surrounding Tiana, he couldn’t revive her and he didn’t know why. Sesshomaru sheathed his Tensaiga. “Sesshomaru why didn’t she wake up or something? Didn’t you revive her?” Shippo asked as he came up next to Kagome. “I couldn’t. I don’t know why but I couldn’t.” He said, realizing his own emotions were almost perfectly clear in his voice. Why had he not been able to do something? Why couldn’t he see the pallbearers? It didn’t make any sense. Sesshomaru looked at Rin, she was still crying.



“lord Sesshomaru why couldn’t you help Tiana?” Rin asked through more sobs. “I don’t know Rin.” He said. Sesshomaru knew that if Tensaiga wouldn’t work then there was nothing that could be done. And he felt terrible about it, He felt as though he had tried to protect Tiana, prevent Kotaru from killing her and yet he had succeeded. Sesshomaru picked up Rin. “No, Tiana…” Rin started to sob into Sesshomaru’s shoulder. Inuyasha, Shippo and Kagome had already walked over to Miroku and Sango to tell them it was over and Tiana, although she had defeated Kotaru had been killed anyway.



Sesshomaru, Rin in tow, walked toward them, intending to leave, not just for Rin’s sake but for his own as well, he knew that if they stayed any longer it would be harder for Rin to heal from it and harder for him too, if he stayed much longer his own emotions would likely get to him, and his pride wouldn‘t allow it.



As Sesshomaru walked past him, Kotaru started to stir. Kagome looked over towards Sesshomaru, and at Tiana behind him. Kagome saw Kotaru, he wasn’t dead! Kotaru had gotten to his feet and drawn his sword and he started to lunge at Sesshomaru!



Kagome shouted “Sesshomaru watch out!” and Sesshomaru whirled around to see Kotaru standing behind him, his sword pointed at his chest. Any move Sesshomaru could make wouldn’t be fast enough, most likely Sesshomaru wouldn’t die but Rin would, one false move and she’d be gone too. Kotaru looked satisfied. “Well now, I finished off that annoying little pussy cat and now I have you, your back against the wall, as it were.” Kotaru said chuckling. “If any one of you so much as moves an inch I’ll skewer the kid.” He said, pointing his sword at Rin. Rin screamed as he poked at her a little. “I don‘t think so mongrel! You even twitch and I‘ll mess you up so badly no one‘s even going want to know what happened to you!” They heard a voice snarling behind Kotaru.



“And here I’d thought I’d killed you.” Kotaru said as he turned around to see Tiana standing behind him, breathing deep, ragged breaths, barely able to keep on her feet. “Tiana!” Rin cried, relief in her voice. Sesshomaru saw Tiana standing there, looking like she’d fall again anytime but standing there, alive. 'That’s why.' Sesshomaru thought. 'That’s why I couldn’t revive her, she wasn’t dead after all.' Sesshomaru couldn’t figure out what had happened but he didn’t really care either to tell the truth. He was just as glad as Rin was that Tiana was still alive. Although, with Kotaru standing in front of her it didn’t look too good.



“You just won’t die will you?” Kotaru asked impatiently. “No, Didn‘t I tell you? It‘ll take more a few cheap shots from someone like you to finish me off.” Tiana said, not feeling like she could keep on her feet for much longer. “Well it certainly looks like you’ve take one heck of a beating already so I doubt you’ll be saying that much longer.” Kotaru said as he swung his sword at her. “Yeah, you’ve taken a pretty gook licking yourself so I wouldn’t be talking.” Tiana replied as she agilely jumped away from the blade of Kotaru’s sword.



Sesshomaru had moved away with Rin in tow and when Kotaru saw that he lunged at them, sword in hand, ready to skewer either one. “Sesshomaru get Rin out of the way!” Tiana yelled as she chased after Kotaru. Sesshomaru, still holding Rin, who was clinging tightly to him, did as he was told. Tiana chased Kotaru, catching up to him and, as soon as she was close enough, despite the fact that she was badly hurt, jumped up in the air and flipped onto a tree branch over head, then, launched herself off the branch and landed a several feet in front of Kotaru and with her lightning speed, pulled out her Katana and charged Kotaru. Tiana and Kotaru charged each other, swords extended. Within seconds they met, blades still extended and Tiana, at the last possible second ducked and Kotaru’s sword whizzed past the top of her head as her sword became lodged in Kotaru. He looked at her then down at his gut where he’d run right into her sword. Blood dripped from his injury. Kotaru dropped his sword and fell to the ground, this time he truly was dead.













Chapter XIV: One Last Night Together
(Chapter 14)



“Ouch! What are you doing to me?” Tiana asked as Kagome cleaned the wound on her back. Kagome dipped her wash cloth into the hot spring water and gently rubbed Tiana’s back. They had left Kotaru’s body buried just off the path and continued down the path until they found the hot spring just a ways off the path along with a clearing where everyone else was waiting. Camp set up, a fire ready and probably cooking dinner. Tiana had decided that she needed to wash off the blood from her wounds so she and Kagome went to the hot spring to take a bath and now they were in the water and Kagome was cleaning Tiana’s back. “Owww! Kagome!” Tiana snapped, moving away from Kagome a bit. “Stay still Tiana, it’s not too bad, so just let me clean it and put some medicine and bandages on it and you’ll be fine.” Kagome said as she picked up some things from her first aid kit at the edge of the spring.



“I still can’t believe you actually did that flip and launched yourself from that tree with this injury.” Kagome said trying to get Tiana’s mind off her stinging back. “Kagome I know you’re trying to keep mind off my back but, it’s not working.” Tiana said wincing as Kagome put some medicine on her back. “Sorry, but I just need these bandages and I’m done, I promise.” Kagome said reaching for the gauze in her first aid kit. Tiana’s back had been cut, but not very badly at all, it didn’t even look to Kagome like it would need stitches or anything like that. “ There. You’re done.” Kagome said as she let go of Tiana.



After getting dressed Tiana and Kagome came back from their bath and sat by the fire. It was dark again, the moonlight was bright again tonight. I wasn’t a full-moon though but it sure looked like it. Everyone was sitting around the fire. Rin looked up and saw Tiana and Kagome walk over. “Tiana are you okay?” Rin asked running to Tiana and latching on to her leg. “Yes Rin, I’m fine. What about you? You look a little shaken up.” Tiana asked, her voice soft and soothing, as she knelt down and picked up Rin. “I was scared, I thought he killed you.” Rin said, cuddling up in Tiana’s arms. “It’s okay now Rin, I’m fine. Besides, you know I won’t go down that easily.” Tiana said, Laughing a little. Rin giggled. “I’m glad about that. Like lord Sesshomaru, you cat get beat very easily.”



Tiana and Rin sat down and watched as Kagome helped Miroku, who was trying to figure out some of the food in her back pack. Dinner was soon ready and Kagome passed everyone a water bottle and a cup of instant ramen noodle soup. Sesshomaru, Tiana, Rin and Jaken weren’t sure what to think of the plastic bottles and styrofoam cups but upon smelling the delicious aroma coming from the cups, as well as seeing the ramen inside, they ate their noodles.



Kagome took care of the cups and bottles after everyone was done, and after talking some more about what had happened Shippo asked, “Tiana, since Kotaru’s been beaten what’re you going to do now?” “I guess I’ll continue my search.” She replied. “For what?” Shippo asked. “My tribe. I know there’s not much hope but, if there’s even the slightest chance that some of them survived I’m going to find out.” Tiana said. “Well, hopefully you’ll find them.” Miroku said.



Sango yawned. “I’m exhausted, I think I’ll get some sleep.” She said finding a spot under a tree and settling down with Kirara. “I think Sango’s right. I’m going to turn in for the night too.” Kagome said as she found her own spot and drifted off to sleep. Inuyasha and Miroku followed their lead and Inuyasha got up on a tree branch again while Miroku sat beneath another tree and Shippo nestled himself next to him. Tiana stayed up with Rin a few more minutes, till she finally calmed down and fell asleep.



Tiana looked around, Jaken had zonked out nearby and she was amazed, no surprised, that he hadn’t tried to be a nuisance at all since the fight with Kotaru. Sesshomaru looked to be out cold so Tiana decided to take a walk and think about things. She wound up at the hot spring. She sat down and tried to think. She wasn’t sure about a lot of things. She had gotten Kotaru out of her hair and she doubted she’d see anything of that Naraku guy and Kagura for a while so that was an immense relief. However, there was still the matter of Sesshomaru, he hadn’t said a word about that kiss and she was wondering why not. What was he thinking about that? And of course there was the issue of Rin.



Sesshomaru was obviously attached to her too, and that meant that taking her away from him wouldn’t be easy, yet Tiana wasn’t sure if Rin shouldn’t just stay with Sesshomaru. Tiana didn’t know what to do. Had Sesshomaru even thought about the kiss? Would Rin want go with her and leave Sesshomaru? Tiana asked herself those questions repeatedly but couldn’t find any answers. Suddenly heard a noise behind her. Tiana whirled around and saw Sesshomaru standing behind her. “What are you doing here? I thought you were asleep.” Tiana asked, surprised to see him standing there.



Sesshomaru had been awake, he’d marveled at how good Tiana was with Rin and at how she’d finally gotten her to calm down and fall asleep. He’d seen Tiana walk away and figured this would be as good a time as any to ask her about what had happened the previous night, as well as ask what her intentions were about Rin. “I couldn’t sleep.” He said, sitting down beside Tiana. Again admiring how lovely she was in the moon light.



“Oh.” Tiana said, feeling a little awkward and not too sure of what to say to him. “What do you intend to do?” He suddenly asked. “What?” Tiana asked, wondering what he meant. “Rin, what do want to do about her?” He asked again. “I don’t know, You’re very attached to her yourself aren’t you?” Tiana asked looking at Sesshomaru. He didn’t say anything, but Tiana could tell the answer was ‘yes’ from the look on his face.



“I was thinking about it, but I couldn’t come up with an answer. She’s grown really attached to you Sesshomaru and I don’t know how she’d handle a decision like that. Asking her to choose between us would be asking for trouble.” Tiana said thoughtfully. “It would seem that way. I suppose that’s what we’ll have to do though.” Sesshomaru said. “Hmn? Ask her to make that decision for us? I still think it would be asking for trouble but, I guess you’re right. We’ll just have to ask her tomorrow.” Tiana said.



'Well, she doesn’t seem to anxious to deal with that. Does that mean something? I suppose I’ll just have to ask her.' Sesshomaru said to himself. “Would you mind explaining what that little…encounter last night was about?” He finally asked aloud. “What? Oh, I was wondering when you were going to ask about that.” Tiana said looking away from him. “Why isn’t she looking at me any more? What does that mean?” He asked himself as he tried to figure out what to say next.



Tiana looked at the water. “There’s too much to say and not enough words to use.” She thought looking at Sesshomaru, seemingly focused on the water. Tiana caught the scent of rain in the air. She breathed it in heavily, fully enjoying the wonderfully refreshing scent.



Sesshomaru looked at Tiana, still not sure of what to say to her and noticed that she had picked up on a scent. Tiana sniffed the air again as Sesshomaru asked, “What is it?” Tiana just looked at him and smiled. “Can’t you smell it?” She asked. He sniffed the air, nothing. Nothing but the scent of rain. What was she talking about? Sesshomaru looked at her with confusion. “I don’t smell anything but the trees and the scent of rain on the air.” He said. “That’s it, the rain. It smells so wonderfully refreshing. It smells fairly strong so I bet it’s going to rain soon.” Tiana said still sniffing the scent in the air.



No sooner had she finished her sentence then they suddenly felt the tiny droplets of rain coming down on them. Sesshomaru watched as Tiana held out her hand and tried to catch some rain drops as though they were snowflakes. More rain began to fall. Tiana sat there inhaling the scent of the rain. “I love the smell of the rain, it’s so refreshing and calming. Don’t you think so?” She asked. Sesshomaru just remained silent. He watched as Tiana opened her mouth and let a few rain drops land on her tongue. “Mmmm. Rain water tastes really sweet too. At least I think so.” She said. The rain began to come down harder.



The water felt cold to Sesshomaru but Tiana didn’t seem to care if it was cold or not. She seemed to like the rain pouring down on her. Sesshomaru thought it a bit odd since he had yet to meet anyone who liked the rain this much before, but then, Tiana had proven to be something of an odd ball of sorts anyway. It seemed she was not afraid of anything, but a centipede, whether it was a demon or not obviously did not matter.



Now this revelation about rain. Sesshomaru wasn’t sure what to make of it, yet, the strangeness, no, uniqueness, he found rather attractive. He and Tiana were soon soaking wet from the rain, which had started to let up. “Oh, the rain is letting up now. I guess it had to sooner or later. Mmmm, The scent is still in the air though. It always lingers for hours after the rain has stopped and everything is wet and refreshed.” Tiana said breathing in the scent through the rain drops falling on her.



Sesshomaru looked at Tiana as she continued to be fascinated with the rain, obviously so as to avoid the conversation that they had abandoned when the rain began. Her hair was totally drenched it seemed, yet in the brilliant moonlight her hair seemed to glow with a crystalline look about it just like the droplets of rain making that in the moonlight seemed to glow like small crystals falling from the heavens. He felt the same urge to kiss her again, he’d felt it before, when they’d almost kissed. He realized that he wanted to feel her lips against his again, just like the night before, except this time he wouldn’t let her go. He fought back the urge and tried not to let it show.



Tiana looked at Sesshomaru, he’d been sitting there watching her as she enjoyed the rain. His hair and clothes were wet as could be from the rain but the scent of the rain mixed with his own scent was a very intriguing mixture, she liked it. She say it aloud though. As she looked at Sesshomaru she could tell that he wasn’t very happy being cold and wet from the rain, which had now stopped completely, but somehow since she was here it seemed he was trying to deal with it, just so he could sit there with her. For a moment, looking at him, with his fluffy pelt thing and hair completely soaked, despite the dampness and the cold, this was a truly romantic moment and she wished he would kiss her, but of course that wouldn’t happen.



Sesshomaru fought the urge but when he saw the look in Tiana’s eyes, as she gazed at him for that brief moment before looking away, he knew that she wanted it too, she wanted him to give in and kiss her. He couldn’t fight back any longer, especially when he knew she felt the same, so he moved closer to her and before she could say anything he gently pressed his lips to hers. Tiana was surprised at first but then after a few seconds began to softly return his kiss as he wrapped his one arm around her.



His hand rested, not intentionally, on her injury and she flinched slightly as she let out a small cry. He pulled away for a moment, realizing what he had done, and she looked up at him. “It’s okay, I’m fine, really.” She said almost in a whisper. Sesshomaru looked at her apologetically, at least she could see the apology in his eyes. As if to say ’I accept your apology’ she wrapped her arms around his neck and softly kissed him again. He gently returned her kiss and put his hand on her shoulder rather than on her back again, so as not to hurt her again.



They stayed that way for a while, just staying with each other, holding each other, and with the kiss they shared, confess their feelings for one another that had been, for the most, concealed from each other. In that moment, He realized he wanted her to stay with him, he didn’t want to ever let her go. But he would have to, just not yet, not now. Now all he wanted was to stay like this for a little while, just a little while before he had to let go. She wanted that little bit of time too.













Chapter XV: Tiana’s farewell
(Chapter 15)



When they finally broke off the kiss they realized they had been gone for a few hours now and if they weren’t there when everyone woke up they’d have to explain where they had been and they knew where that would go and didn’t really want to deal with that. “We should go back now.” Tiana said, looking towards the trees as though she expected someone to appear. “I agree.” Sesshomaru said. Unsure if she’d heard the reluctance in his voice. They got up and walked back to where everyone was sleeping. They found their spots again and after whispering ‘goodnight’ to each other they fell asleep.



The next morning came too quickly for Sesshomaru as he heard Kagome waking the others for some breakfast. Tiana was going to go soon, on her quest for her tribe and what of Rin? Would she accompany her or stay with him? Sesshomaru wished he could just go back to sleep but Rin had come over and was trying to tell him to come and see what Kagome had to eat this time. Sesshomaru got to his feet and walked with Rin toward everyone else. They were all sitting on Kagome’s picnic blanket again waiting for her to finish with breakfast.



She’d had Inuyasha climb up a tree and get the eggs from the nest above and after inspecting them Kagome used a small frying pan to fry the eggs over the campfire she’d re-kindled. “Okay everyone, scrambled eggs are done. She said handing them each a small plate and the plastic water bottles again, and shoveled some eggs onto each one. After they’d all finished, she took care of the dishes and put everything away. “Well I guess this is it, this is where we part ways.” Kagome said looking at Tiana. “Yeah, but don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll see each other again.” Tiana said. Tiana looked at Rin. “Rin, I need to ask you something.” She said. Rin looked up at Tiana. “What?” “I’m not going with Sesshomaru and I need to know what you want to do. Do you want to go with me or Sesshomaru?” Tiana asked. Rin looked from her to Sesshomaru then back at Tiana.



Rin may not have been old enough to understand it completely, but she wasn’t stupid, she could see it just as plain as day. Tiana and Sesshomaru had gotten to like each other and she could tell. She had woken up in the middle of the night and had noticed that both Tiana and Sesshomaru where gone, they were alone somewhere for a while in the night. She didn’t know what they had been doing but Rin knew that they liked each other, in fact she’d rather suspected that it would happen, maybe even hoped for it a little, but it was still too soon to tell for sure how much they liked each other. Since Sesshomaru hadn’t asked her to marry him or anything Rin knew they had to think about it some more so she decided to help them out.



“I’ll stay with lord Sesshomaru.” She said after thinking about it for several minutes. “Are you sure Rin?” Tiana asked. “Yes, I’m sure. He needs someone to help keep master Jaken out of trouble.” She said. “If that’s what you want to do, I guess there’s no arguing with it.” Tiana said. “So it’s settled then?” Sesshomaru asked. “I guess.” Tiana answered. Rin looked at Tiana and Sesshomaru. “They look really good together.” She thought.



Tiana looked at Rin then Sesshomaru. “Well then I guess it’s only fair to say that I’ll be checking up on her from time to time, don’t worry about me finding you. It won’t that hard to track you down, trust me.” She said with a rather sly and knowing smile. Tiana turned to Jaken. “You know, as big a pain as you are I think I’m actually going to miss you. A little.” She said giving him a teasing look. “Well I won’t miss you at all! Good riddance is what I say!” He shot back.
Tiana just chuckled, knowing full well he didn’t really mean it. “So finally leaving huh?” Inuyasha asked. “Yep. Let me guess you’re happy too huh?” She asked him. “Not really. Actually you’re not so bad, for a cat.” He said. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” She said.



“Will we see you again?” Shippo asked. “You can count on it.” Tiana replied. “I know we really haven’t known each other that long but I still feel as though we’ve become good friends.” Sango said. “Yeah, I feel the same.” Kagome added. “Uh-uh. I know what you mean. Well I’m positive we’ll see each other again and then we can get to know each other even better.” Tiana said. “Well this is it. This is good-bye I guess.” Miroku said. “Just for now. Good-bye for now.” Tiana said.



Sesshomaru looked at Tiana. Still wishing she would stay with him, but knowing that she wouldn’t. “Well, I guess I’ll be seeing you around Sesshomaru. Like I told Shippo, you can count on seeing me again.” She said. Tiana hugged Rin then turned and leapt up onto a tree branch and called out a farewell as she leapt off and took off into the forest. Inuyasha and his comrades walked off down the path and Sesshomaru, Rin and Jaken walked the direction opposite the one that Tiana had gone in. Things were returning to normal for the time being.










As they walked down the path they all reflected on what had happened over that last few days.



“You know, I wonder…” Kagome said trailing off. “What is it Kagome?” Miroku asked. “The more I think about it the more I get the feeling that Tiana and Sesshomaru kind of liked each other.” She said thoughtfully. “That’s ridiculous Kagome. Sesshomaru doesn’t even know the meaning of the word ‘love’, and besides, Tiana is a cat. His pride would never allow it.” Inuyasha said bluntly. “I agree with Inuyasha. It’s pretty unlikely.” Sango said, agreeing with
Inuyasha.

“Yeah, Sesshomaru’s too much of a jerk to have girl like him.” Shippo added. “Yes, I’m inclined to agree with Inuyasha as well Kagome. There’s about as much chance of Sesshomaru falling in love with anyone as there is of Naraku just giving up his jewel shards and flat-out surrendering to us.” Miroku said in total agreement with the others. “Yeah, I guess you guys are right, it is pretty unlikely.” Kagome said, realizing they had a point. They decided to go ahead and focus on finding some more shards of the scared jewel and continued their journey.



Sesshomaru, Rin and Jaken where walking through the forest, still thinking about everything that had happened. “I hope we’ll see Tiana again soon, Don‘t you lord Sesshomaru?” Rin asked as they walked. “Don’t bother lord Sesshomaru about that half-breed Rin! He could careless when we see her again or if we ever see her again!” Jaken snapped. “Master Jaken! I think lord Sesshomaru will happy when we see Tiana again.” Rin said defensively. They both looked at Sesshomaru for an answer. He just looked at them for a moment and looked ahead again. “It doesn’t matter.” He said. Secretly though, he agreed with Rin. He too hoped it wouldn’t be very long before they crossed paths with Tiana again.



As she walked through the forest, Tiana thought about Inuyasha and his friends, About Sesshomaru and Jaken and Rin. She thought about how just, what? Three days ago, she’d been determined to kill Inuyasha and Sesshomaru and now she was still daydreaming about Sesshomaru’s kiss and wondering how much time would pass before she’d see him again. In the span three days she’d discovered Rin was still alive, made more new friends that she could count and fallen in love with Sesshomaru, a dog demon no less. It amazed her that all that had happened so fast. She hadn’t found her tribe, but she knew it didn’t matter anymore whether she found them or not. She smiled to herself. “I guess miracles really do happen.” She said aloud, still smiling as continued her own journey.