Disclaimer: I do no own Inuyasha or its character and plot. I do however own my OC Natsuko Suzume and her plot line thing.

Learned A-Un's name is actually… A-Un and not Ah'Un.

Thank you every who reviews

The next morning Natsuko woke up with Hiroshi hugging her arm. He was awake and staring at her.

"M-Morning." He said with a growing smile.

"Good morning." Natsuko said smiling back. The two sat up and Natsuko saw Rin was sitting on the ground and looking up at the sky. Natsuko looked over to see A-Un resting by a tree and Jaken sitting near him. "Where's Sesshomaru?" She asked seeing the dog demon was missing.

"Lord Sesshomaru's business is not yours to know!" Jaken shouted.

"You don't know either." Natsuko said. Jaken frowned but didn't say anything. "Does the guy leave without cause often?"

"Lord Sesshomaru normally meets up with us after a few days." Rin said walking over. "We fly on A-Un and he finds us."

"He leaves me behind simply because Rin cannot defend herself." Jaken said crossing his arms.

"Yeah but I'm here now."

"You would not last one second against a demon, let alone another human!" Jaken snapped jumping up to stand. "Obviously Lord Sesshomaru does not think so as well. Why else would he leave me behind?"

"Probably cause you're annoying and you can't run as fast as he can… and or fly." Natsuko said. Jaken glared. Natsuko rolled her eyes. "So when do we leave?" Natsuko asked as she stood.

"We would normally leave after breakfast." Rin said.

"Alright, so we'll eat and then we'll go." Natsuko said with a nod.

After the three humans had had their breakfast they climbed up onto Ah-Un. Jaken climbed on behind Natsuko and held onto the back of her Kimono. Rin sat in front and Hiroshi sat in front of Natsuko.

"A-Un shouldn't carry so many people." Jaken said.

"He'll be fine." Natsuko said before reaching up to pat one of the heads. "Right?" A-Un made a noise before taking off. "See? If he gets tired we'll take a break."

"We must meet up with Lord Sesshomaru in three days! We cannot stop whenever he gets tired just because he was to carry your weight!" Jaken shouted. Natsuko's eye twitched and she slowly turned to look back at Jaken.

"Are you calling me fat?" She asked with a dark glare. Jaken jumped, his eyes going wide. He sweat dropped.

"No!" He said quickly.

"I think you were." Natsuko said calmly.

"I-I was just- there's two extra people on his back! It's a heavier- ah bigger-!"

"Do you want me to push you?" Natsuko asked with a cold glare. Jaken put his hands over his mouth. Natsuko nodded and looked forward. "Thought so." She said with a smirk.

Sometime the third night, A-Un landed in a small open area in the forest. The two children were able to sleep on A-Un with Natsuko making sure they didn't fall. Jaken insisted they keep moving, or else Sesshomaru would get upset with Jaken, but Natsuko hadn't slept in two days.

"We should keep going." Jaken said as Natsuko helped the kids off A-Uh. "If we go for a few more hours Lord Sesshomaru will meet up with us."

"Jaken." Natsuko said in an almost growl. "I haven't slept for, oh let's see- two days." She said. Jaken gulped. The girl could be a bit frightening when she was angry. "I also haven't bathed. I'm going to go to the river and get some fish then take a bath and you're going to start a fire and watch the kids."

"But-"

"If you get in trouble with Sesshomaru just tell him it was all my idea, which it is. I really don't care." Natsuko said before sighing. She crouched in front of Hiroshi. "Be a good boy while I'm gone okay? I won't be long." He nodded his little head and walked over to where Rin was sitting on the ground. Natsuko grabbed her bag and started walking towards the river. The group had been heading west along the river so she was as close to is now as she was in the last camp area.

After catching enough fish for dinner Natsuko stripped and entered the water. She'd just finished washing her hair when she heard rustling in the woods nearby. She stopped and grabbed her bag that was a few feet from the edge. She grabbed her knife and suck lower into the water. She heard the rustling again more to the left and swallowed. Suddenly a tall, lanky, purple, goblin like demon came out of the woods. It sniffed the air and looked over at Natsuko's clothes that were hanging on a tree branch. Its head snapped in her direction and her eyes widened as it laughed.

"I thought I smelled a human." It giggled. "I've found my dinner."

"I'm not on the menu, buddy." Natsuko said moving back and getting a firmer grip on her knife that she still held in the water. The demon only laughed and started to enter the water. It went to grab Natsuko and she slashed at its arm. It yelped in pain and held its arm to its chest with a hand over the long cut.

"You're going to pay for that." It growled before coming at her. She let out a small scream and moved out of the way. The water flow slowed both of them and made movement awkward. The creature took a swing to grab Natsuko but she put her knife between her teeth and dove under the water and out of the way. It yelled in frustration before grabbing Natsuko by the back of the neck. It pulled her out of the water and held her up. Her mouth opened to scream and her knife sliced a small cut on the side of her jaw. The creature gripped her neck tighter to cut off her air and her hands flew her neck to try and pry the creatures hand away. The creature suddenly pushed her back under the water and held her there. It eased up on her neck and she automatically tried to gasp but ended up filling her lungs with water. It pulled her out, laughing as she coughed and sputtered out water. She did her best to let out some kind of yell or scream between coughs. The creature pushed her back under the water. Natsuko tried to fight against the creatures grip but couldn't and her lungs were burning as they filled with the cold water. She forced her eyes open and tried to grab her knife that was just out of reach. Right before she lost consciousness the creatures grip seemed to vanish. Natsuko's vision faded to black.

Sesshomaru picked up on Natsuko's scent; hers was stronger and easier to follow than Jaken, Rin, Hiroshi or A-Un's. Her scent was also more pleasant though he wouldn't ever admit it. The group was a few miles from where he had predicted they would be in three days. He figured Natsuko had them stop for the night.

Sesshomaru walked through the wood, following Natsuko's scent. The sun was still in the process of going down so it was fairly light. Sesshomaru stopped suddenly went the scent changed. It smelt different but the same. She was bleeding. He frowned and kept walking. That didn't mean anything; she probably just cut herself while descaling a fish. Suddenly he heard water splashing, coughing and then a choked out scream. He took off towards the river without hesitation.

Sesshomaru found a lower/weaker demon holding a naked Natsuko under the water by her neck. Sesshomaru glared and hit the demon with his poison whip. It disintegrated on impact and Natsuko's motionless body floated to the surface of the water, face down. Sesshomaru lifted her from the water and laid her on the ground. He moved her hair from her face, ignoring the fact that she was completely naked in front of him, and started to give her mouth to mouth. After a moment Natsuko's eyes flew open and she started sputtering out water. Sesshomaru helped her turn onto her side and she threw up the river water. She coughed and gasped for a few minutes before calming her breathing the best she could. Sesshomaru could hear her heart beating rapidly. She turned and looked up at him, her chest raising and falling quickly. He stared back at her. She crossed her arms over her chest to cover herself. Sesshomaru stood and walked to the river. He reached down and picked something out of the water. He dropped Natsuko's knife onto her bag. He turned his head to look at her and saw she had pulled her knees to her chest and was blushing heavily as she tried to cover herself.

"This is why I send Jaken with you." Sesshomaru said. He walked over to her and she watched him. He reached her and grabbed her arm. He pulled her up making her gasp as she covered her chest with her other arm. "That demon was weak." He said holding her wrist up. "Imagine if a stronger demon had found you." He snapped. "If I hadn't been in the area you would be dead, you foolish girl." He hissed. Natsuko flinched back. "If you can't protect yourself you're going to die." He said leaning in towards her face. "That pathetic blade didn't save you." He said in a low voice. He gripped her chin with his other hand and pressed his thumb on the cut on her jaw. She flinched and hiss slightly in pain. Tears were welling up in her eyes and she jerked her head out of his grip. She tried to pull her wrist free and his grip tightened. He pulled her arm closer causing her to have to take a step towards him and look up at him.

"I don't need your protection." Natsuko said. Sesshomaru scoffed. Suddenly Natsuko was pushed roughly against a tree with a loud gasp. Sesshomaru grabbed her other wrist and pinned them to the tree. Natsuko stared up at him with wide and confused eyes. Sesshomaru leaned down and ran his tongue up the side of Natsuko's neck then along the cut on her jaw. She stiffened and blushed deep red. He pulled back and looked down at her.

"If you're strong enough to protect yourself, free yourself." He said. Natsuko struggled to free her wrist and bit her bottom lip in pain at the tree against her back. "You can't." He said. "You wouldn't stand a minute against the weakest of demons. You're going to get killed; I'm not here to protect you." Natsuko swallowed.

"…But you did say you would." Natsuko said in almost a whisper. Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed. He had said that. "If you don't want to protect me then you should give me a better weapon."

"You don't need a weapon."

"Because I'm supposed to pretend you'll protect me when you won't?" Natsuko asked. Sesshomaru growled.

"I did protect you."

"But you don't want to. You'd rather I was dead." Natsuko said. Sesshomaru's eyes stared into hers and narrowed slightly. "You would've left me in that river. The only reason you keep my around is for Rin. If she didn't like me you probably would have killed me already." Natsuko said with a bitter smile. "I'm worth nothing to you. I know. Give me a weapon and I'll protect myself." Sesshomaru released her and turned around before taking two steps away.

"Stupid girl." He muttered. "Get dressed." He said to her. He didn't move and Natsuko walked over to the tree where her clothes were. She quickly got dressed and put her bag over her shoulder. She let out a loud gasp as Sesshomaru picked her up suddenly. She looked up at him as he held her bridal style. She swallowed when he started walking without looking down at her. Natsuko put a hand on her cut and noticed it was almost gone. She blushed slightly looking up at Sesshomaru. After a few minutes she rested her head against his fur thing.

Sesshomaru walked into the camp area, carrying a sleeping Natsuko. Little Hiroshi saw them and gasped before running over to them. He looked at Natsuko, worried, before looking up at Sesshomaru.

"She's fine." Sesshomaru said before walking to a tree. He sat down against it with Natsuko in his lap, resting against his chest. Hiroshi frowned and walked over to them. Sesshomaru glared at him as he kneeled next to him. Hiroshi looked from Natsuko to Sesshomaru and glared boldly. Sesshomaru scoffed and looked away. Rin walked over and convinced Hiroshi to go to sleep before leading him away from the two. Sesshomaru closed his eyes for a brief second but looked down at Natsuko when she moved closer to him. He swallowed before leaning his head back against the tree.

What did you think of that? please review ^_^