Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha, it's characters, or anything associated to the franchise. The copyrigth strictly goes to VIZ, Rumiko Takahashi, and their associates.

Chapter 4

Nozomi Arc
Sleepover

I'm spending the night at Sesshomaru's home today.

Mommy is finally letting me! I don't know why she's so mad at Sesshomaru, but she didn't want me spending too much time with him. So I would only eat lunch with him and he would pick me up from school.

When I asked to spend a day to play with Sesshomaru, Mommy would always say 'no,' because he was very busy. He's never busy when he eats lunch with me, though, so I don't see what Mom is talking about.

Mommy said 'yes' only after a lot of yelling between her and Sesshomaru. They used a lot of big, grown-up words so I don't know what they said, but Sesshomaru convinced Mommy to let me stay with him Friday and Saturday! It's my first sleep over!

"Be good, honey, okay?" Mommy said as she kissed my cheek. I giggled and nodded, picking up my pink backpack. "Do whatever Sesshomaru says, and be nice to his guests."

Sesshomaru always has people over at his house. Mommy says they work for him and they help make his work easier.

"Yes, ma'am!" I said as Sesshomaru handed me my yellow raincoat. She gave him a weird look before kissing my cheek again and waving goodbye to me and Sesshomaru. I waved back as Sesshomaru and I walked to his car.

I climbed in the front seat—my first time, too!—and put on my seatbelt. Sesshomaru got into the seat for the driver and started the car. I reached in the backseat and pulled out my Hello Kitty blanket and wrapped myself in it. Sesshomaru bought it for me on a really cold day. It's my favorite, but I leave it in his car so I won't be cold when I first get in.

I looked up at Sesshomaru and smiled. We met two weeks ago and he has come to visit me every day! Mommy says it's because he's curious, but I think he really wants to be my daddy. But when I tell Mommy that, she gets the sad look in her eyes so I change the subject.

"Will there be other kids, Mister Sesshomaru?" I asked as I snuggled into my blanket more.

He looked at me quickly before turning back to the road. "Possibly." I smiled at the thought. "An employee of mine has a few…children, as well."

I wiggled in my seat to turn to him—the seatbelt is too big!—and squealed, "really? Are they my age?"

"Roughly." His eye twitched. I frowned; his eye twitched whenever he was nervous or hiding something. He did the same thing when I asked him what 'sex' meant. He told me that it was what 'mothers and fathers do.' Mommy laughed and said that it was a fancy word for asking if I'm a boy or girl. I still can't believe Sesshomaru lied to me! He tried to confuse me! Thankfully, Mommy told me the truth.

"Welcome home, Mister Taisho," a lady said as Sesshomaru drove up to his house. The lady held an umbrella over my door as she opened it for me. "And welcome, Miss Higurashi." I blinked and looked around. I didn't see Mommy, so why was the lady welcoming her?

"Just refer to her as 'Nozomi,'" Sesshomaru said as he opened his umbrella and began to walk to his house. I pulled up the hood of my raincoat and followed him and the lady followed me. I think she was one of Sesshomaru's workers, like Mommy said.

"WOW!" I said as I looked at Sesshomaru's home. It was so big, probably as big as my school! Maybe even bigger! I had to run to catch up to Sesshomaru as he ignored me and walked inside. The lady from before took my raincoat and backpack, and Sesshomaru's umbrella and walked off.

Sesshomaru pointed to the room to my left, saying it was the 'common room' for his workers and the room to the right was the 'entertainment room' for watching movies and playing games. He pointed upstairs and said the bedrooms were up there.

Sesshomaru made a funny face before picking me up and kicking something behind me. I turned in his arms to see a little boy under Sesshomaru's raised foot. The boy had short brown hair and green eyes. "Hi!" I said. Sesshomaru gave me a look to be quiet.

"What is the meaning of this, Kyoji?" He said to the boy. The boy glared up at us, and I saw he had a brown poufy tail! Do all boys have tails?

"She smells yummy, Lord Sesshomaru!" Kyoji said. I hugged Sesshomaru around his neck. I didn't like what the boy said. "Did you bring her for me and Yuri?"

"Absurd." Sesshomaru snorted at the boy. He made funny face again—it looks like he's sniffing the air—and said, "Call for your sibling." The boy frowned before making a weird noise like a whistle. I looked up at Sesshomaru, wondering what was going on.

"What have you done now, Kyoji, you insufferable pup?" A woman yelled as she walked into the hall. She was pretty, long brown hair and blue eyes. My eyes widened a bit when I saw her ears; they were pointed like Sesshomaru's. The lady bowed when she saw me and Sesshomaru. "I apologize, my lord, for my pup's behavior. He is known to get into trouble quite often."

"As is any other pup of our kind, Natsume." Sesshomaru said, bored. "Where is your other one?" The lady pulled a child off her back, then.

"My youngest one, my lord," Miss Natsume said. The girl she held was like the boy, but with long red hair and blue eyes.

Sesshomaru pulled me from him and placed me on the floor in front of him. "This is Nozomi." I looked up to see him talking to the two kids. "She is not to be harmed for she is staying under my protection."

Miss Natsume nudged the boy and glared at the girl. "Yes, Lord Sesshomaru," they said together. Miss Natsume put the girl down and she walked up to me and sniffed me. It was weird! She smiled at me, "you smell like Lord Sesshomaru." She looked up at her mommy. "She smells like milord, mom. How can she, if she is human?" I frowned. Human? Was it weird that I was human? Wasn't she?

Miss Natsume looked at Sesshomaru with a scared face. I didn't understand why. Sesshomaru placed his hand on my head and I looked up at him. "Stay in the entertainment room. I will come retrieve you later." I nodded as he gave Miss Natsume a scary look and they walked into the common room.

"I'm Yuri," The girl said as she pulled me into the entertainment room. "That's my brother, Kyoji. He has no manners." Kyoji glared at Yuri and I laughed.

Kyoji walked up to me and sniffed me like Yuri did earlier. "You do smell like milord. Why?" I blinked. I smelled like Sesshomaru?

"Because she's his pup," Yuri said as she climbed onto the couch in front of the big TV. "Don't you know anything, Kyoji?"

He stuck his tongue out at her and she laughed. He grabbed my hand—he has sharp nails like Sesshomaru, too—and pulled me over to the couch and TV. "Lord Sesshomaru lets us play videogames in here. Do you play Smash Brothers?" I shook my head when he handed me a game remote. He smiled, "I'm gonna teach you."

-

I opened my eyes to see Sesshomaru above me. I rubbed my eyes and sat up, yawning. "Sesshomaru…?"

"You fell asleep in the entertainment room." He said quietly. I remember lying on the couch with Yuri and Kyoji. We must have fallen asleep.

I felt him pick me up and I gripped his shirt and yawned again. I don't remember him walking up the stairs, but I remember the pillow I hugged when he put me in bed. I heard the door beginning to close and I yawned, "Nighty night."

"Goodnight," he said and closed the door. I fell asleep after that.

-

A/N: I apologize for the wait. ^^; The school term just ended for me, so I had a crazy amount of projects/homework/tests to do. But now I have a full week off from school! So I'll try to get a couple updates out of it before the chaos ensues once more.

Hint for the next chapter: Sesshomaru's Arc begins! Get inside the mind of the infamous demon lord on his take of this...situation. :3 Until next time!