Sesshomaru watched Inuyasha's interesting pack as they cared for each other. Their little mouths moved in laughter as they shared ramen. Something about this scene made his chest feel a light pressure and the corners of his lips draw down into a minute frown.

Today marked the first full moon since he had been watching them. Rin insisted that he was stalking them.

"This Sesshomaru does not stalk anything or anyone."

Rin had given him a knowing look and Sesshomaru stared at her with an impassive expression. The green imp started hopping in happiness and he started to rain blessings and praises onto Sesshomaru.

"Lord Sesshomaru knows everything! Yes, m'lord, stalking is only for the lower class! You see here, little ningen, he does not-"

A whack on his head shut the irritating green imp up.

The silver-haired daiyoukai growled lowly in his chest as he replayed the scene over and over again in his head. he ignored Rin's nagging voice in the back of his head and chose to instead watch the monk and the demon slayer.

Their relationship was so different from a normal demon couple. He had to keep scenting them in order to tell if they held affections for each other or not. The demon slayer would often attack the monk when he tried to display his affection by touching. However, she did not have the scent of anger, only the spicy honey scent of love and something else.

To their left, the fox child and feline demon always chased each other's tails. After a while, the kit would always tire out and sleep on the miko's lap. The feline would return to its master to rest.

"This Sesshomaru does not understand these weaklings and their affection for each other." He mused.

Shippo, the little fox, would grow up to be powerful. His aura combined with that of the miko's would turn him into something else.

His weak half-brother was currently looking at the miko with something in his eyes.

The said miko, however, was a mystery. She was full of unlocked power and untapped potential. He could not imagine the damage and destruction she would cause if she had her other half of her soul back from the clay pot his half-brother insisted on keeping alive.

"Kagome."

His hearing picked up on his brother trying to gain her attention.

Her name was achingly familiar.

"LORD SESSHOMARU!"

A scream right next to his elfin ear.

The imbecile imp had the nerve to scream into his ear.

He growled lowly and felt his rage snap. His incompetent servant's behavior and the weird feelings he felt at the pit of his stomach caused him to lose reins on his Inner Demon.

At the split second that his enragement had gotten to him, he accidentally leaked out his aura and youki for those weaklings to feel and smell. He lost his footing and fell hard on the ground. Unfortunately, the pack was right below the tree he was currently on. He had landed right in the middle of their circle, and next to the fire. His beast burned with embarrassment.

"Stay back. I smell my half-assed brother."

The pack looked at Inuyasha with exasperation. His "half-assed brother" had landed in front of them and Inuyasha had the nerve to tell them that he smelled him. Sesshomaru sighed, how could Inuyasha, a dog demon, not hear Jaken's loud screeching?

"It's alright, Inuyasha, he's been here for a moon cycle now."

Shocked eyes swerved to Kagome's lowered honey brown eyes. She poked her stick into the fire and continued to cook her mystery meat. Everyone else looked at her in confusion and shock.

"Greetings, Lord Sesshomaru. I was wondering when you were going to make your dramatic entrance."

The monk was the first one to recover.

"Why did you not inform us sooner, Lady Kagome?" Miroku asked.

"I saw no reason to. It wasn't like he was trying to lop off our heads or anything." She said.

A moment of quiet stretched over the tense humans. The fox kit was watching him with caution and awe.

"Shikon Miko," Sesshomaru gave a quiet nod of acknowledgment in her direction.

Without invitation, he seated himself by the fire. The others were astounded.

The fire crackled.

The group looked from Kagome back to Sesshomaru.

The fire sizzled.

Sesshomaru finally opened his sinful mouth to speak.

"Why do you not take back your soul?"

It was the question of the century. The pack openly gaped at him and Kagome shrugged. It was a rude question, but it was one that they all had wanted the answer to.

"This Sesshomaru asked you a question, Miko. Ignore and you will die."

"I don't know."

"This Sesshomaru does not understand. The soul will make you powerful. Are you being held back by your pack?"

"That is not the reason. Do not underestimate them, Lord Sesshomaru, they are strong, loyal, and passionate. I would never leave them for anything else."

She pet the fox kit with her slim and delicate hands. Sesshomaru watched with golden pupils as the kit curled under her hand and purred with contentment. The monk and demon slayer were in each other's embrace and watched him with cautious eyes over the crackling heath. However, his little brother was glowering at them, with ears flattened against his skull.

"Feh, why do you care, bro?" He spat out, "We don't need your help! You can't tell us what to do."

"This Lord Sesshomaru has come because he needs this Miko's help." The inu-youkai growled.

Truthfully, he didn't need help. But he didn't have an excuse.

"Then why come here? Can't you just take care of it yourself? Besides... If ya really needed help, I can always lend a hand," Inuyasha gave a toothy grin.

"Rin cannot be helped and tutored by the likes of you."

Inuyasha gasped at the insult. Sesshomaru was saying that he, was not qualified to be a high and mighty snotty demon like him? He growled unsightly.

"Listen here, Fluffy," Sesshomaru stiffened immediately at the nickname, "I am a perfect tutor! I can teach kids and stuff. Feh, I'm probably a better father than you. If you didn't force Rin to be adopted by you, then she would've come running to me!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, the Lord of the West had thrown the hanyou into the ground in anger. Another fight had presumed with colorful words leaving Inuyasha's mouth and taunts out of Sesshomaru.

"No use separating them again, eh?" Miroku sighed.

His hand fell down from Sango's back to her bottom.

One... Two... Three...

"HENTAI!"

A crash was heard when the slayer brought her powerful weapon down on the houshi, effectively knocking him out.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Miroku, to not touch me there! Keep your lecher hands out of that area and we'll have no problems!"

Suddenly, Shippo's green eyes snapped wide open and he yelled loudly at the sounds of steel crashing against steel. Sango's shouting combined with Miroku's moaning made the fox kit even more on edge.

Everyone stopped what they were doing at the sound of Shippo's yelling.

"Sh... Shippo, go back to sleep..."

Kagome gently wrapped her arms around the kitsune's small body and rocked him. She sang a quiet lullaby and kissed his forehead until he fell into a deep slumber again.

She turned her furious brown eyes towards the group.

Inuyasha gulped, "Oh shit! We're in deep trouble!"

The miko got up with an angry grunt. Her bracelet snapped and caught on the wood of the trunk. It caught on fire and burned the branch a bright, fluorescent green. Because of her anger, she was unaware of her bracelet coming off and breaking.

A fang poked out of her mouth as she growled in frustration. The group suddenly dropped their weapons and stared at her with surprise as faint traces of markings appeared on her arms.

Stop this, Kami-sama, it burns!

Kagome felt the familiar burning, tingling senses and gaped in horror when she rubbed her wrist. Her bracelet had fallen off, and along with it, had taken away her humanoid features.

"Oh no..."

She spun around and ran as fast as she could. With each bound, her speed kept increasing until her feet were a blur. Her eyes were slowly turning from a chocolate brown to an azure color.

"Kagome!"

Her ears burned like hell as they tapered into elf like shapes. It was by far the worst transformation Kagome had ever experienced. There was something about the feudal era that made it hurt more than ever.

The markings felt like a hundred needles trying to imprint themselves into her skin.

"Kagome!"

Oh.

Her markings were burning themselves onto her skin permanently. A howl broke loose from her scorching throat when a sakura was scarred into her forehead. It was a blessing, she remembered her mother saying, a blessing of Princess Warrior. The pain made it seem more like a curse instead of what it was supposed to be.

"Oh, there you are-"

In front of him, was a demoness who smelled like someone he used to know. With one look, he knew that everything had changed. She wasn't like Kikyo anymore, she seemed more alien. She was more than beautiful.

Maybe he had died and gone to heaven?

And then he met a goddess.

Who looked just like Kagome.

Yeah, fat chance.

Inuyasha struggled to pick up his jaw.

"Don't look at me," She spat out.

Inuyasha folded his ears and jumped back, whimpering, "Sorry."

Kagome whimpered as her body started to change again. Ripples across her skin showed her obvious torture and hurt. A screech tore at her throat when a tail pushed itself out of her bottom.

hey. i'm back. and this is revised. so i advise you to reread this if you haven't already. thanks for everyone's patience during my long hiatus. xoxo.