Aaannnnnndddd I'm back everyone! :D Hmmm. . . I wonder if you guys actually read these author's notes or do you guys just skip over these?. . . . . . . Onward my soldiers! The time for battle grows near, thou shalt be brave for victory is within our grasp! Do not fear what lies ahead, one mustn't be swayed by such pitiful emotions that deceive hearts! Know that fortune favors the loyal and honest, ones of pure heart that shine brightly like gold. Those who are faint of heart hold no place among the battlefields and bloodshed, retreat now before it is too late!

Warnings: Possible swearing, characters may or may not be out of character, possible fluff, and... I don't know really, I have yet to start typing the chapter up so I don't know what the possibilities are. I write the warnings first then the rest of the chapter.

Ciel's point of view.

"So you've returned," a male voice stated from inside the room as the wind sorceress slid the wooden door open. "I thought you would take longer than this, I assume you have the boy?" The dark haired man turned his attention towards us though he did not move from his spot to in front of the window.

"See for yourself," Kagura replied, harshly gripping my upper arm as she shoved me into the room in front of us.

"Watch it, demon!" I snapped bitterly, yanking my arm from her hold before looking over at the man by the window. "Naraku," I said, his name was like poison that rolled off my tongue. Silence engulfed the room for only a moment as I just stood there, glaring daggers at the man in front of me before he finally spoke up.

"You have quite the temper for someone who has been captured," Naraku smiled wickedly.

"You must be quite the imbecile to assume I would act otherwise," I retorted, a sardonic grin adorning my face.

"On top of that you seem to have a sharp tongue, impressive for someone so young," he said, standing up. "But that hardly matters, the plan will go as is."

"Plan?" Smirking, I placed a hand on my hip and tilted my chin up slightly. "I assume you have a backup plan ready, if not, I suggest you make one. I have no intention of doing business with such a disagreeable man nor do I have any intentions of aiding in your psychotic schemes, I refuse to go along with anything you have to say," I turned my back towards that vile creature. "I will take no part of it, now, take me back."

"I do believe you don't have a say in this."

"Like hell I don't!" I shouted, turning to face Naraku once more, I let out a soft gasp in surprise as Naraku stood only a foot away from me.

"Think what you must but you still have no choice in whether or not you're part of my plan," He stated calmly, grabbing my chin and tilting my head up towards his.

"Get your hands off me!" I replied angrily, smacking his hand away from my face.

"Feisty little demon, aren't you?" Flashing an evil grin at me, he grabbed my face roughly.

"Naraku," A voice said from the shadows on the other side of the room, it was calm, graceful, and collected but it was cold as steel. "Having a bit of trouble, are we?"

"I wouldn't say that," He turned his head towards the shadow while I tried to pry his hand off.

"Come now, Naraku, don't say that when I can see that your struggling to control that child," The voice snickered. "I guess I shouldn't offer you my help in this situation. . ."

"I don't recall asking for your help, Nem-"

"That's because you haven't," The voice laughed in a mocking way, interrupting Naraku's sentence before the voice was laced with sarcasm as it continued. "I can see that you've got this situation under control seeing as though that boy is resisting you."

"He won't be for long," Naraku gave a sly grin, turning his head back towards mine.

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"With this," He answered, reaching into his kimono and pulled out a black shard of some kind that shone darkly.

"You plan on using a tainted jewel shard on the boy?" Kagura's eyes narrowed in disapproval as she caught sight of the dark colored gem, knowing all too well what the consequences of doing so would be.

"Do tell me, are you planning to use that on the child?" The voice questioned, not leaving any room for Kagura to receive an answer.

"Yes, with this he will be under my control."

"Naraku," Kagura said, her voice harsh. "Have you forgotten about that priestess? Kagome has the power to sense the jewel shard as well as the power to purify it. This plan will fail."

"Oh, so that's how it is," the voice commented, it sounded as if they were smirking. "It seems like you do need my help considering your plan is flawed."

"And what makes you think I'll accept your help? Need I remind you that you came to me?"

"On contrary, I do remember a certain demon finding his way into my lair, disturbing me from my precious slumber," I looked over towards the shadows for a second to see bright green, cat like eyes peering over at us. "You had asked me to lend you some of my power and in return," Suddenly, those green eyes met mine. "You'd help me."

"You had refused my offer."

"Yes, I did but that was before I found what I wanted."

"I said let go!" I yelled angrily, finally managing to rip his hand away from my face. "Have you forgotten that I'm still here!?"

"Oh no, I'd never forget you," the creature said, its green eyes vanishing in the shadows. It was like my own eyes were playing tricks on me as I watched the room get darker while I felt something draw closer. I flinched slightly as a clawed hand that was covered in scales was placed upon my cheek, softly moving against my skin. "So soft, so smooth, so . . ." I felt the breath of the creature brush up against my ear as it leaned in close. "Undamaged," Hearing that predatory tone in their voice was enough to make me forcibly push them away and place a hand on the hilt of my sword.

"Who are you?" I asked threateningly, only to be met with bitter laughter.

"It looks like I hit a nerve, you are quite the feisty little one, aren't you? I like that," I repressed a shudder at its words, they reminded me of a certain blonde who was clad in white. "And what's this? You managed to hurt your eye," I watched as the hand that was on my cheek draw closer to my right eye, I quickly slapped the hand away.

"Don't touch me, vile demon," I spat harshly.

"Such big words for someone so small, but I do believe I've just been insulted," The voice laughed. "I am certainly not a demon, do not mistake me for one of those repulsive, dreadful, sorry creatures called demons. It's a disgrace to be even mentioned in the same breath as those vile things."

"And here I thought you were," I smirked. "If you're not a demon, what are you?"

"I am a creature that you have yet to see with your own eyes, I assure you," Pulling its hand back, it took a step back as if to give me space.

"And that is... What?"

"All in good time, little one," I could practically hear the smirk appear on their face. "It would seem as though your methods won't work as you would hope, considering the facts that female demon had so graciously provided us. And here I thought you didn't need my help, Naraku," the mocking tone in their voice was impossible to miss and I would have laughed if not for the fact that I might make my situation worse.

"I have made myself clear that I do not need your help," Naraku stated calmly.

"Yes, but given the circumstances of the present situation, I would have to say you don't have the option to refuse my help seeing as you're out of ideas," the scaly creature said in a serious tone and the room fell silent for a second before the scaly thing spoke once more. "Oh, did I hit the nail on the head for it seems my words have silenced the room," the creature let out a cynical laugh. "Oh dear, what an awkward situation this must be for you."

"May I ask what it is you plan to do?" Kagura asked suddenly.

"Well for one, you should put that vile, impure thing away for it has no use to us," I watched as Naraku placed the shard back inside his kimono. "Now, I shall use this," the same clawed hand from earlier once again reached out from the shadows, though this time a crystal lotus flower rested on the palm of the hand. It was relatively the same size as the hand that held it.

"And what exactly does that do?"

"Oh this doesn't do anything yet," fingers curled around the crystal as the hand returned to the darkness.

"That sounds quite pointless," I said nonchalantly.

"For this crystal to work, you need to preform step one," I let out a short yelp as I was shoved roughly up against the nearby wall by some kind of force. "You must first use this," I watched as a hand came closer and closer to my face, a blue, marble sized crystal between the forefinger and thumb. There was a slight coldness from the surface of the crystal as it was pressed against my forehead before there was an intense burning. I yelled out in pain as the crystal was pressed further against my skin and even though the hand moved away, the pain was still there. I soon lost consciousness, collapsing on to the floor beneath me.

"I see," Naraku smiled evilly, looking at my limp body.

"When he wakes up he won't remember anything from this moment."

"Good," He said, turning to Kagura. "Kagura, take the boy back to his mate, but when they near the bridge to the mountain, make sure Inuyasha and his friends aren't with him. Also, do not let your presence be known right away. I don't want my plan to fail because of your inability to follow orders correctly, I will be watching."

"Yes," she nodded before picking me up and leaving.

"Now comes the fun part," the creature gave a sly grin. "This will be quite entertaining."

"I have out stayed my time here, I must take my leave," Shinko said, turning to Sebastian who placed her child back in her arms.

"Is something wrong?" Kagome asked.

"Have I given the impression that something is off?" Shinko watched as Kagome shook her head. "I assure you nothing is wrong, please do not worry yourself over such meaningless matters, young one. The role I must now play is fast approaching, if I am to arrive on schedule I must leave right now without further delay."

"I see..." Sango said softly, casting her gaze upon the green grass.

"Demon slayer."

"Yes?" Sango's head shot up at hearing her title, her eyes soon met multicolored ones.

"You're worrying for that boy's safety, am I correct?" Sango nodded slowly. "Do not fret, my child, that boy is safe though he is within the enemy's grasp, I can assure you that no harm will come his way."

"How can you be so sure?"

"If he had been harmed in any way during his imprisonment, I would not be speaking to you at the moment for I would have been on my way to Naraku. The blame falls solely on my motherly instincts since, for some reason, I see that boy as if he were my own," Shinko smiled softly. "And I do believe that his mate would have known if he was in such a life threatening situation, am I wrong?"

"No, you are correct, my lady," Sebastian smirked. "It is as you say, I would know if my master's life was in danger just as I am always aware of my master's location no matter how great the distance that separates us may seem. All this is made possible by the contract between the young lord and I, the demon serves and in turn the prey can never escape."

"Put your nerves at ease, that boy is a strong demon despite his young age and lack of training, he knows how to handle himself," Shinko said calmly, placing her hand on Sango's cheek. "He would not do anything that would put himself in danger for it would put his child in danger as well, you must have faith in him."

"I have faith in him but it's Naraku I'm concerned about, he is untrustworthy and there's no way to tell what he will do to Ciel," Sango replied as Shinko hummed in agreement.

"Yes, he is quite untrustworthy, but young Ciel will be fine on his own. You have quite a mother's heart, you know, worrying so much for the boy," she smiled before moving away. "Now, it's time I left. Sebastian," Shinko turned towards the raven haired demon. "We will see each other again in the future, quite soon I must say."

"Till then, milady," Sebastian said bowing at demoness.

"Till then," Shinko bowed slightly before turning around and walking into the distance.

"What did you guys talk about?" Shippo asked, jumping up on to Sebastian's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I was told to tell no one," Sebastian smirked. "Lady Shinko's and my conversation must remain a secret between us."

"Figures," Inuyasha mumbled.

"Shall we?" Sebastian gestured to the direction where Shinko had disappeared.

"... Alright," Kagome hesitantly, exchanging questioning looks with Sango before they headed off.

So there we have it, the next chapter is surprisingly longer than what I had originally wrote but okay! To be honest, I actually thought I had posted this chapter already and it really confused me when I looked at the last chapter that was posted. Good thing I checked huh? But dude! I'm getting so nervous whenever I'm about to post a new chapter. I know what will happen later on, what if I don't do a good job writing it? What if you guys are annoyed by all these OC's? Annoyed by Shinko? The next chapter will have her mostly in it, what if you guys hate that? UGH! I hate feeling like this. . .

Also, I want to apologize for the year long wait, I've been super busy with school lately and haven't had time to actually update this story on Fanfiction, part of the problem is that my school blocks this site on their Wifi. I have, however, found time to type up some of this story on my iPad. Fun fact: I actually write my stories on paper first then transfer them on one of my electronic devices, that way I can continue stories during class without getting into trouble. If everything goes well, I might post the following chapter sometime next week but with the way things are looking it might be awhile before I update again. Finals are just around the corner and I've had so much homework, I'm surprised that I even had time to post this chapter.