Chapter 14

[Sengoku Jidai]

"….."

It had been 2 days since she last seen Inuyasha. Inuyasha was taking longer and longer to catch up. With the distance left to travel and the speed they are at, Kagome would not be surprised if the daiyoukai decide to finally leave the hanyou altogether.

"….."

In the last 9 hours, from what little Kagome managed to piece together from the random passerbys, Utomura's modern time name should be Aomori, which is all the way up the Northern of Honshu.

"….."

It could have been worse, but fortunately for Kagome and Inuyasha, Sesshomaru always take a break at least 2 times a day, something she suspected he had learned traveling with Rin. Even his flying cloud was comfortable, and one could get used to being carried like a sack rather quickly. Really, it could have been worse…

"….."

"….."

But the silence is killing her!

Give her another week of mutual silence and she could just go roll herself away down the hill. Forget all her preciously cultivated preservation instinct. She now developed newly-found appreciation for Rin, bless her sweet soul. She was human too! She require her daily dose of social interaction, it's only her basic human rights.

"Sesshomaru?"

"….."

"Hey, Sesshomaru"

"….."

"Sesshomaru-san"

"…."

"Onii-san!"

"….What?" Sesshomaru grouched.

"Who is Chiha? Can she really undo this mating?"

It would be great if she can, because honestly, the daiyoukai was running out of ideas. He did not share his thought to the human miko.

"Hey, how do you know Chiha?"

"She helped this Sesshomaru's sire before"

"Help? Help how? Wait, isn't Chiha human? How come she is still alive?"

"…"

"…onii-san?"

For some unknown reason, the nickname really annoyed the inu. Reluctantly, he answered "Chiha received a blessing of divine life from Amaterasu"

"Blessing? How does that happen? Hey, you haven't answered my previous questions yet"

"Hey."

"He—y."

"Oni-san"

"…."

"…."

—

"We need a better mode of transport" Kagome decided one morning, days of one-sided conversations and being carried like a sack of potatoes finally took its toll. Inuyasha looked worse for the wear, having to catch up to his older brother's speed everyday but was too prideful to admit his struggle.

As much as Sesshomaru hated his hanyou brother and the human miko, he had to agree. Now knowing that he couldn't kill the woman, he had no use of spending time alone with her and listen to her chatter. His pelt was beginning to smell of the miko, but loathe as he was to have a human female mark him, his beast would not have another male, least of all his brother, touch the woman.

The woman is right. They do need a better mode of transport.

"Yikes!" Kagome sputtered involuntarily when a blast of Sesshomaru's pure energy pressed heavily on her. Just as sudden as it came, it was soon gone.

Kagome sensed a respond seconds before a flit of shadow made itself known, subtler than most youkais she had encountered. Despite her polished battle instinct, she misjudged her distance from the enemy; her hands did not reach her arrows fast enough. In a flight of panic, she nearly burst out her reiki in self defense, before remembering that her traveling companion were also youkai and would be hurt by her reiki.

"Sesshomaru-sama. Inuyasha-sama." the shadow bowed in greeting.

The shadow knew Sesshomaru and Inuyasha!

"Ibuki" the daiyoukai acknowledged the shadow. Inuyasha ignored the shadow… almost as if, he knew of its existence from the very beginning.

The shadow called Ibuki walked closer, and Kagome could see the faint shadows of a male.

"Summon Ah-Un to deliver the scrolls."

"At your service." 'Ibuki' disappeared in a snap of fingers.

"Who is he?" Kagome whispered to Inuyasha.

The hanyou deadpanned at her attempt of propriety, useless as it is considering the daiyoukai could hear her words just fine.

"Ibuki's Ibuki. He's always around for information. He's as harmless as Myouga-jiji"

"He—e.."

—

On the next day, as Kagome was cooking yet another bowl of ramen, a monster flew low, casting a dark shadow over their camp. The two headed shadow was a dead giveaway.

"Ah-un!"

The dragon landed on an empty grassland next to their camp gracefully. The miko's first thought was Rin and Jaken, but on a closer look, the dragon's body was strapped with a wooden chest as its lone passenger, nearly as large as its own body.

Kagome watched one of the dragonhead used its jaw to snap the binding while the other head kept the luggage in place. The chest was quickly unloaded using a strange yet efficient two heads coordination. The dragon gingerly nudged the chest closer toward Sesshomaru as if sending it as an offering.

So it's sengoku jidai style postal office, Kagome curiously thought as she served the ramen to two bowls, one for Inuyasha, and one for herself. The last time she had offered the daiyoukai ramen, he had nearly killed her. She was not so suicidal as to make another offering.

Kagome was surprised to hear the daiyoukai sigh as he headed toward the package to open it.

As it was, Kagome was not the only one who's curious. Inuyasha's ears twitched as he picked up the noise. He casually moved closer to the daiyoukai, his bowl of ramen forgotten.

Kagome too, couldn't help herself. Seeing that the daiyoukai did't mind the hanyou, she joined him.

It was scrolls. Mountains of them. The way the scrolls were stored and bundled together were neat and deliberate; the large wooden box consisted of compartments which were marked at the edges with dots that were evenly spaced apart, some scrolls were bundled together and each one tied using cord of the same color.

The daiyoukai took out one scroll tied with blue cord, located at the compartment with the most dots, and unfurled it on his lap.

Kagome squinted, filled with curiosity. The parchment was littered with numbers, evenly spaced apart. Is it statistics? a report? Inuyasha lost his interest half way, leaving Kagome by herself half leaning toward the parchment.

Sesshomaru glanced at the miko in disinterest, before focusing back on the parchment.

"…a stock card?" Kagome muttered, finally making sense of the upside down report. "So they do this kind of things too here"

For the slighest moment the daiyoukai's gaze flickered to her, but almost as soon, his attention snapped back to the report.

Kagome's knowledge of Sengoku Jidai was up to high-school level, as such, it can't be helped that a modern girl like her previously looked down on the education level of people in Sengoku Jidai era. But seeing the report, she really had re-evaluate her thoughts. Ruling over lands and trades were not simple matters after all, and apparently business reports already existed even from way back.

Fascinated, Kagome sat within what she considered to be a safe distance next to the daiyoukai, all the while glimpsing toward the parchment. Seeing that the inu-daiyoukai ignored her, she scooted closer for a better view.

The silver-haired daiyoukai took out a box of brush from his kimono, and began to make a mark here and there. Is he.. auditing the inventory movements? The blue-eyed miko tried to find a pattern in all of the marks, as if trying to piece together a puzzle.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha had long finished his ramen. He gaped as he realized that the two were still looking at the parchment. What's so interesting about that piece of chicken scratch anyways?

"Oy, bastard, we need to get going!"

"A moment!"

It was Kagome who replied.

The daiyoukai, on the other hand, ignored him altogether.