Kagome smiled as she began heading towards the campsite that she had set up a few days prior. [He really does seem to have changed somewhat for the better… Before, he would have just left her lying there, defenseless. I’m glad that he’s changing his ways…]

Sesshoumaru leaned forward so that his face was next to Kagome’s. "Were you going to get her now, or wait for wild animals to savage her?"

Kagome giggled, knowing that Sesshoumaru was merely teasing her, but she also knew that he expected an answer. "I’m going to take you back to the camp and then I’m going to go back for her."

Sesshoumaru nodded, pleased with her answer. Whether or not he would openly admit it, he had become fond of having Kagome as a friend. She seemed as though she was truly what he had been needing in his life, whether as only a friend or as a permanent companion. Sesshoumaru often found himself contemplating asking her of her opinion on the possibility, but every time he did, he managed to recall her meeting with Inu Yasha and knew that he could not. He knew that just being away from her friends bothered her every day, even though she did not say so any more. The mere thought of trying to tear apart the relationship that she had with Inu Yasha was something that Sesshoumaru had decided that he could not do.

Kagome sighed as she saw the bright light from the campfire ahead, glad that she was nearly there. She was not too surprised when she heard Aun stand up and come towards her as soon as he caught scent of his master’s blood. Kagome continued on the final few feet to the campfire and set Sesshoumaru on the ground. She smiled at him as she turned back towards where she had left Sayaka.

"I’ll be right back," she said as she mounted onto Aun’s back and directed the dragon to begin flying away from the camp.

It had only taken a swift few moments later to return to where the hanyou woman had been left, unconscious. Kagome dismounted the dragon and approached the still form of the woman who had previously attacked Sesshoumaru. Kagome sighed as she remembered the angry look in the woman’s eyes when Kagome stood against her in defense of Sesshoumaru. [This woman… she must have had a lot of hatred for Sesshoumaru to have done what she did… I just can’t believe that she actually injured him like she did… She’s strong, I know, but I don’t think it was strength that injured Sesshoumaru…]

Kagome knelt down, picked the hanyou woman up, and placed her over Aun’s back. Seeing that Sayaka had been secured, Kagome carefully mounted the two-headed dragon and urged him to return to their camping area for the night.

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ Several hours later ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

Kagome sighed as she pulled Sesshoumaru’s kimono down for the second time that night. He had not said anything the first time she had to dress his wound, but his body language was more than enough to tell her that he disliked having to have help. She was fairly sure that he at least appreciated the help, but she also knew that it was a blow to his pride that he had been injured by another hanyou. During the time that Kagome was cleaning the wound, he frequently glared at the remainder of his left arm and then down at the gash in his abdomen, both painful reminders of failure to overcome a lesser foe.

But for some reason, this woman, this Sayaka—she was different from Inu Yasha. When he had fought his brother, it had been Sesshoumaru that instigated the battle. However, this time, the woman attacked him. He had not been doing anything that would have bothered her, so he was confused when she came from nearly nowhere and began attacking. The ferocity in her eyes, he admitted, did seem familiar, but never would he have guessed that she was Aki’s hanyou daughter. In a way, he was relieved to know that the child had lived, but he had long since figured her as dead.

Shortly after Aki’s passing, Sesshoumaru searched the entirety of his territory and some of the surrounding borders in search of the girl. He had felt somewhat guilty about what had happened to his betrothed, even though it hadn’t really been his fault. He felt that in order to atone for Aki’s death, he should at least care for her daughter, even though the child was not his own. [But here she is… she had come to kill me… someone had told her that I had killed Aki… The thought of ever hurting a woman… I would never be able to do so. No matter how angry I am, I could never bring harm to any woman.]

~

Sayaka shifted uneasily as she began to wake from her forced slumber. She could smell Sesshoumaru’s blood, but she knew that he was not dead. Her mission seemed in vain. She had wanted to bring justice for her mother’s passing, but now was not the time. She could not carry this out now—she was unarmed and outnumbered. She hesitated as she sat upright and then took in all of the scents around her as her eyes focused from their sleepy haze. She was rather surprised by the scents that were all so close, not only were Sesshoumaru and the other hanyou’s scents there, but also the smell of a human girl!

Kagome tensed as she heard Sayaka awaken, but turned to look at the other hanyou with a smile on her face. "Sayaka, we don’t want to hurt you… Sesshoumaru-sama just wanted to speak with you about something…" Kagome maintained her innocent smile as she turned to Sesshoumaru, but the look in her eyes reflected her determination to make everything work out peacefully. "… isn’t that right, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Sesshoumaru nodded as he felt Kagome tighten the bandage as she tied it around his abdomen. His eyes softened slightly as his gaze shifted to Sayaka’s fierce navy orbs. "Sayaka… who told you that I… that I killed your mother?"

Sayaka growled as she looked at Sesshoumaru, acting so innocently. "I don’t know who you think you are, but you cannot lie to me. My father told me all about it…"

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "Was your father there? Did he actually see her death?"

Sayaka hesitated and then shook her head. "Otou-san never said that he was there…"

Sesshoumaru nodded as he turned his gaze to the stars above, though he seemed to be in a daze. "Then apparently he missed the fact that she was killed by a human’s arrow. I held her in my arms as she took her last breath…"

Sayaka gasped as she looked at Sesshoumaru’s face, saw the pained flicker in his eyes and what may have been a tear fighting to escape from his eye. She leaned back and crossed her arms. "Don’t think this changes anything… All my life I have known my mother’s killer… don’t think that just because you can get all sad looking and tell me that she was killed by a human and that she died in your arms that I’ll believe you."

Kagome stood, arms crossed, an angered expression on her face. "Just how bull-headed can you be?! He just told you that he wasn’t the one to kill your mother! He has no reason to lie to you and I have no reason to lie, either!"

Sayaka scoffed as she also stood, her eyes flared with defiance. "Listen, you, I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but I can see that you only speak in his defense because such is your duty. However, it is my duty to avenge my mother’s murder."

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "I have already done that. The man who killed her—he died before she did. She saw that she had been avenged before she passed."

Sayaka narrowed her eyes in disbelief. A low growl rose from her throat as she spat, "You only say these words as pleas for your life…"

Before either Sesshoumaru or Kagome were able to properly refute Sayaka’s words, she turned and ran away. Sesshoumaru stood to follow after her, but he stopped as he felt Kagome’s hand on his shoulder. Kagome sighed as she stepped nearer to Sesshoumaru. "That poor girl… she’s lived her whole life thinking that you killed her mother… She won’t believe us too easily. When you’re told something for so long and someone contradicts that which you have been told, you won’t take it too well… Something tells me that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Sayaka."

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

Sayaka growled to herself as she leapt from tree branch to tree branch, her only light was the very dim moonlight that managed to peek through the dense leaves of the higher branches. [All this time… I’ve spent so much time training for an encounter with that bastard, yet he wasn’t who I thought he would be… He couldn’t have been a human-hating, hanyou-despising, cold-blooded killer… he travels with a hanyou woman and a human girl… but father told me… Father told me that he would ruthlessly murder humans and hanyou alike. Father said that the taiyokai killed mother because she had slept with a human man and bore a hanyou child… No one can change that much… It doesn’t make any sense… Before that hanyou woman arrived, he had many openings to kill me… and after the hanyou woman made me unconscious, he could have easily killed me then, too…]

Sayaka stopped and shook her head as she glared back at the forest behind her. [No… This is all just a trick… They were just mocking me… He is a master of trickery… father told me that, too.]

Sayaka sighed as she settled down on a large branch of the tree and leaned against the trunk. [Though… it isn’t as though father was trusted by all of the rest of the village… He hid me as though it was a shame to raise me… perhaps father was the one to lie… It isn’t as though I can ask him… he passed on over fifty years ago.]

Sayaka’s face became troubled as she positioned herself to sleep. [All of these years have left so many scars on my heart… I cannot tell who to believe anymore…]