~ That afternoon ~

Sesshoumaru strode from his quarters and into the main hall. He stared at the floor as he walked, somehow expecting that he would find an answer to that question that seemed to plague his mind: ‘What is it that makes her like that?’. He stopped abruptly at the door to Kagome’s room and knocked lightly. "Woman, I need to speak with you."

Sounds of rustling came from the room, followed by Kagome’s soft voice, as though she were speaking to Rin. After a few moments, she cleared her throat and replied, "I have a name, you know."

Sesshoumaru scowled as he knocked again. "Name or not, I need to speak with you."

"What is my name? I won’t come until you address me by my name."

Sesshoumaru growled lowly, but not loud enough for her to hear as he leaned against the door. "I tire of your games, woman. Come out now, or I’ll drag you out."

Kagome sighed as she stood and approached the door. She quietly turned the knob and then flung the door open, causing Sesshoumaru to lose balance and fall forward, knocking her down as well. Kagome felt her face redden and her heart pound as she saw the taiyokai as he was, flat out on top of her, his face between her breasts. Her voice was quiet and shaky as she said, "Ano… Sesshoumaru… could you please get up?"

Sesshoumaru glared at Kagome as he pushed himself upward and stood. "You know, that would not have happened if you had not been playing your stupid games, woman."

Kagome crossed her arms as she sat upright, returning Sesshoumaru’s glare. "If you would call me by my name, I wouldn’t have had to do that."

Sesshoumaru began to open his mouth, but decided that this was an argument better left lost than continued. He brushed himself off and gestured for Kagome to follow as he exited the room and continued down the hall and down the stairs. He turned to the left when he reached the bottom of the stairs and headed down another hall that was directly below the second story hall, shortly followed by Kagome. He stopped and opened a door to the right, then once again gestured for Kagome to follow. He was quick to shut the door behind them and to take his place in a chair behind a large study table, then gestured for Kagome to sit in a chair facing him. He rested his chin on his right hand, staring at Kagome. "Tell me, why is it that, even though you are a hanyou, you still are able to purify your arrows?"

Kagome cocked her head to one side, confused. "You mean that arrow I shot last night? The one that hit you?"

"Yes, that. Why were you able to use your miko abilities while you are in a hanyou body?"

Kagome shrugged as she looked dully down at her lengthened claws. "I don’t know the ‘why’ or ‘how’ about anything right now. I just know that I’m here to get ready to fight Naraku, and that until then, I cannot see anyone or anything I’ve ever loved."

Sesshoumaru nodded stoically, taking a long look at Kagome’s face, noticing that something seemed different… "Didn’t you originally have two stripes per cheek?"

Kagome nodded, brushing her hand over her cheek. "Why? Did they change?"

"Yes, now you only have one per cheek…" Sesshoumaru continued staring at Kagome’s features, trying to solve the puzzle behind this seeming mystery. "I wonder… perhaps your miko blood is purifying the yokai blood that I placed on the shard… you’re turning human, even though you still have the shard in you."

Kagome stared at Sesshoumaru thoughtfully. "You know, the shard you gave me—after you paired it with your blood—it was still pure. If that makes any sense, perhaps the initial change that took place was not ‘pure’. The blood you gave me and my own blood… neither had any dark or evil aura."

"What do you mean?"

"As for the initial change part… I think that what had happened was that initially, the hanyou form I took was of a larger percent yokai. The form I will take will be exactly half-human and half-yokai. As for the fact that your blood contained no evil aura—that just means that you are without false intentions."

Sesshoumaru took in the information, thought it over a few minutes, and then stood from the chair behind his desk. He paced to the door of the room and then turned around to look Kagome in the eyes. "We’re going elsewhere. You cannot possibly learn the skills that you require here. Besides… we need to maintain current information upon Naraku’s whereabouts."

Kagome drew in a deep breath at the mention of Naraku. [This is it. When this is over, I can go back to having a normal life. I can go home, I can see Inu Yasha again, I can do anything I want… just as soon as we’ve succeeded in destroying Naraku.] Kagome ran her fingers through her thick, bluish locks. "Ano… Sesshoumaru… how much longer do you think this shall take?"

Sesshoumaru’s gaze bore into Kagome’s eyes, though his expression remained void as he shrugged and exited the room. [Hopefully, only a few more weeks… but in reality, we will probably have several months ahead of us.]

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

A.N. Okies folks, as for the question I posted back in chapter seven, about where I got the name ‘Kana’… This is the nickname used for Kaname Chidori in the anime series ‘Full Metal Panic’. I noticed that Kana-chan had Kagome’s voice when I changed the audio on my DVD and noticed the familiar voice ^_^. Yukino-san seems to have a rather distinctive voice, and also excels when playing the role of a Japanese school-girl caught up in something unbelievable and still manage a normal life. If for any reason you haven’t seen the anime or read the manga for ‘Full Metal Panic’, I highly advise it—I was hooked when I read the first few chapters of the manga in one of my friend’s anime magazines. There aren’t any people from the feudal era in this nor are there blade-swinging yokai, but the same brand of humor seems to be present. Have fun, for those of you ‘Full Metal Panic’-to be fans! ^_^

^_^;; Long note, ne?

Ja ne!