~ Hey is anyone still reading this? I hope so. Anyways here's the next chapter-

After about an hour of wandering around the fortress I realized that the lanterns lining the halls were not oil flame but some sort of glowing flame and every time you entered a new hallway or room they light up almost as if they felt your presence like some sort of magic was being used. I finally found my way outside and into a garden. It was only lit by the light of the moon and the strange glowing purple flowers so I couldn't see much but I could hear that there must have been a small waterfall and or stream running through the whole thing. I decided to find my way back here once the sun had risen and headed back to my room. Once there I lay in the bed tossing and turning wondering how the flames worked; until I could no long keep my eyes open.

That night I had the same dream as the night before only this time the girl that was in the dream was about eight and the Sesshomaru boy looked to be about thirteen. It played out the same as the night before only a dragon demon attacked them and the girl fell from the roof of the fortress only to be caught by a giant black dog demon like the drawing on the I woke up I decided I needed to stop looking at the damn paintings and maybe even ask Sesshomaru if I could change rooms so that I might stop my imagination from running wild.

I went to visit Kagome and found Haruna sitting next to her bed she asked me to help her take Kagome to the baths and help redress her wounds. It took us most of the morning to get her there and back into bed as we had to move her slowly. I had asked Haruna why she didn't ask Inuyasha to help her. She replied that men should not be in the woman's bathing hut. Which made sense I guessed but he was her husband after all.

After we got Kagome back to her room it was time for lunch; I hadn't even noticed I was hungry until I smelt the lovely aroma wafting through the fortress. I sat down at a large table in the dining room with Inuyasha, Rin, Jaken and both of Haruna's sons. I decided to change into my skinny jeans and a t-shirt and ask Inuyasha if he'd like to spar with me. We spent the rest of the afternoon sparing and then went to supper before I decided to go get cleaned up and finish exploring that beautiful garden from last night. It took me several hours to find the garden in this giant fortress I hadn't realized how large this place was. The sun was starting to set as I finally walked through the door to the garden.

It was on the opposite side of the fortress from my room. Turns out the fortress was built against a mountain; the whole northern side of the fortress was a mountain wall, the garden was filled with fruit trees and beautiful flowers and bushes; some of which began to glow as the sun set. The small stream I heard actually came down the mountain like a waterfall; steam was rising from the left corner where the waterfall fell into what I guessed was a hot spring; the steam was too thick for me to see fully so I began making my way towards that end of the garden.

I had to cross a small wooden bridge and zig zag between the trees and soon came across the hot spring; only to find it occupied by a very naked Sesshomaru. He was leaning against the rocks; waist deep in the water with his white fluffy tail floating around him and his eyes were closed. I could see his beautifully scalped chest and ab muscled in the brief few seconds before he opened his eyes and looked directly at me. I quickly turned around; I could feel my face turning beet red.

"I'm…I'm sorry I…..I…..I didn't know anyone was in here." I took off running after that and just as I reached the door to pull it open I was grabbed by the arm and spun around to face Sesshomaru. He was only wearing a yukata that was loosely tied so that his chest was showing. He gently pushed me against the door; I looked up at his face to find his eyes a frightening red, just like that damn dream. He seemed like he was struggling with some internal demons (no pun intended) his eyebrows were scrunched up and his body and breathing were shaky. I placed my hand on his chest trying to push him away but he grabbed my hand and held it there before growling out a "Don't move."

"What?" I said before trying to squirm my way out of his grasp.

"Just don't." he said through clenched teeth while tightening his grip on my hand. He picked up a piece of my hair with his free hand and held it up to his face. He then buried his face against my neck; I could feel his hand tighten on mine and I started freaking out that that damn dream was going to actually happen. He was still nuzzling my neck when we heard the loud squeaky voice of Jaken from inside the fortress.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Lord Sesshomaru the cat demons have been spotted!"

Sesshomaru quickly disappeared from sight just as Jaken and two armored men came through the door opposite from where I was. He reappeared in front of them fully dressed and I wondered how the hell he had done that before slipping out the door behind me. As I walked back to my room I kept playing what had happened over and over again but it never made any sense.

"Just what the hell was that back there?" I thought to myself

The next day I began to notice that all the males in the fortress had disappeared except for Inuyasha and Haruna's sons. Haruna asked me to help her take Kagome to the baths again so while there I decided to ask her where all the men had run off too. I sat in the corner of the bath house as she washed Kagome's body and hair in a strange smelling herbal mixture.

"Um… Haruna?" I asked as she rinsed Kagome's hair.

"Yes what is it child?"

"I was wondering where all the male demons are. I mean they seemed to have disappeared over night."

She dropped the sponge into the water and turned towards me. "Oh right your human…" she mumbled to herself. "Um let's see how do I explain it."

"Explain what?"

"It's mating season dear girl, the males leave so that they do not in danger the unmated females."

"That might explain Sesshomaru's behavior the other evening." I thought out loud not thinking that she was a demon with excellent hearing.

She was looking over her shoulder at me with one eyebrow raised but I just shook my head and said "Never mind, let's get Kagome back to bed shall we."

The next few weeks were crazy busy in the fortress all the guards were on high alert due to the cat demons and we learned that because Kagome was a priestess and the babies were part demon her body kept trying to purify them; so Haruna created a herbal tea that she had to drink every day to prevent her body from harming the babies until they were born. Her fever was always jumping up and down and Haruna wouldn't let her out of her sight. I spent most of my time keeping Inuyasha distracted as Haruna would only allow him to see her for a few hours a day.

Most days we'd train in the back training area until lunch was ready the rest for the afternoon; I usually went to the bath house and then washed my clothes, before Haruna would have us help her make the herbal tea for Kagome or gather more medical herbs from the nearby forests. We'd all eat supper together in a giant dining hall, well everyone but Sesshomaru he'd usually just sit and listen to Rin's stories while the rest of us ate. On the off days I'd hang out with Rin and Inuyasha in the giant garden off the side of the fortress; Rin would pick flowers and make crowns out of them she'd make one for everyone and make us all wear them at dinner.

I had lost count of how may weeks had passed but if I had to guess then I'd say it was well into the middle or the end of summer the nights were getting cooler but fall was still a little ways away. I still couldn't keep up with Inuyasha in training; he always managed to knock the wooden sward from my hands and pin me to the ground. I realized then that he was going easy on me back at the village when we were training; which really pissed me off. How was I going to fight off real attacks if he was going easy on me? Inuyasha managed to knock the sward from my hand for the tenth time in only a few short minutes; I was about to give up for the day but Sesshomaru showed up and handed me a small metal rod.

I stared at it for several minutes before he grabbed my hand and flicked my wrist, the rod extended into a long staff. He then turned my hand and tapped the staff on the ground three times and a blade popped out of the ends turning it into double bladed spear. He then motioned for Inuyasha to attack; he then turned my hand to block Inuyasha. We continued sparing like that until I was able to keep up on my own and Sesshomaru went back to watching on the side lines along with a number of the guards and servants.

That night it poured rain and the thunder and lightning was unreal, I'm extremely frightened of lightning so I couldn't sleep. I climbed out of bed and wondered the halls looking for a spot that would make me feel safe. I was glad that this was the first lightning storm since I came to this era. I couldn't imagine being in Kaede's little hut right now. I slide open a door down the hall and found a windowless library type room filled with scrolls. There was a bright flash of lightning followed by a loud boom of thunder and I jumped and let out a small yelp before scurrying into the room and sliding the door behind me. As I stood there leaning against the door shaking; the chair on the opposite side of the room turned around to reveal Sesshomaru, he had his hair tied up into a ponytail and was reading a scroll he had his head cocked to the side and an eyebrow raised as he stared at me. The image of an older demon with a similar ponytail, soft golden eyes and blue streaks across his cheeks flashed through my mind. I shook my head and apologize for bursting in.

"Does the storm frighten you?" he asked with this eyebrow still raised.

I nodded and said "I've been afraid of thunder and lightning for as long as I can remember; well at least since I was eight years old, everything before that is foggy at best."

"Why eight?" he questioned

"That's when my mother died, I have no memories before hand other then being frightened by thunder, lighting and a pair of creepy reptilian eyes. I remember being cold and soaking wet as I laid on the ground under my mother's arm. Someone flashed a light in my face and pulled me out from under her, there was loud noises and people shouting to get help. I was then in a room with doctors or healers as you call them, they were checking me all over and asking tons of questions that I had no answers for. My grandma walked into the room and at first I had no idea who she was, but I recognized my grandfather right away. He was a kind old man who had given me sweets before."

I paused before saying "Sorry I'm probably boring you and I interrupted your reading; I was just looking for a spot to hide out until the lightning stops."

"You may do as you wish." He said before going back to reading his scroll.

I sat down in a comfortable looking spot and before I knew it I was fast asleep. When I finally wokd up it was morning and I was back in my own room. I guessed that Sesshomaru must have carried me back. That's when I remembered that today was the anniversary of when Inuyasha and Kagome first met and I knew Inuyasha would be in a rotten mood. Haruna had yet again banned anyone from Kagome's room due to her declining health. I tried distracting Inuyasha the best I could but he just wasn't into training I even managed to knock him to the ground a few times. By the third take down I could tell he was irritated; he jumped up into a nearby tree and shouted that he was done.

"What? Oh come on Inuyasha don't be a sourpuss!" I shouted up at him.

He turned his back to me and pretended to be asleep. I giggled and began to walk back towards the fortress only to have my way blocked by a guard.

"I wish to challenge you." He stated before pulling his sward from its sheath

"What? Wait I…." stuttered out before he started swinging. I ducked out of his way several times before I was able to flick my staff open and block his attacks. After several intense minutes I finally managed to lock my staff and his sward together and I knew I was minutes away from making him lose when he managed to lift his arm and elbow me right in the face.

I fell to the ground and cried out in pain. I wasn't sure which part of my face was hurt but I knew something was bleeding. I touched my face before sitting up and my hand came away covered in blood. I heard the guard scream out so I turned around to see that he was suspended in the air by none other than Sesshomaru. He had the poor guy by the throat and his eyes were leaking red into them. I watched as he squeezed his hand shut and the guard struggled to breathe before I jumped up and ran towards them.

"Sesshomaru… no…. don't!" I shouted as I grabbed his arm.

He turned to me and I could see the red slowly seeping back out of his eyes. He dropped the guard to the ground and the guys began to bow with his head on the ground "I'm sorry Lord Sesshomaru…..I was getting too carried away….Please forgive me My Lord….." The guard begged. He waved for the guard to get lost and turned towards me. He gently grabbed my chin and pulled my face towards him; he then bend down and licked my lip it kind of stung for a few seconds then the pain was gone.

"Hey what the hell are ya doing?!" shouted Inuyasha from his tree

"Hm." Sesshomaru replied before letting go of my chin and turning away.

"Hey asshole I'm talking to you!" he shouted as Sesshomaru continued to walk away. "Just what do you think you were doing with her?!"

I touched my lip and realized that it was now completely healed. I looked at Sesshomaru's retreating form in shock as Inuyasha jumped from the tree and continued to verbally assault his older brother.

"How did he…Why did he…Just what the hell…" I thought to myself unable to finish my own questions.

Shortly after that I returned to my room and on the way there I overheard the guards talking about cat demons again and how Sesshomaru left to fight them off.

"Gone again is he?" I thought to myself "Good I don't think I could face him right now." I thought as I touched my lip again.

I decided to go to the bathing house and get cleaned up before supper was served. After my bath and a quick change into a new kimono; I made my way to the dining hall only to be stopped by Rin and Taiki. The pair looked excited to be going wherever it was they were off to.

"Lady Miya we are going to pick some medical herbs for mother's tea, would you care to join us?" asked Taiki

"What about supper?" I asked

"Oh we're going to have a picnic." Said Rin as she pulled a basket from behind her back. "Please come with us."

(Sorry for stopping it here I just wanted to get this posted as so as possible)