The day at the village had been very quiet for Kagome. Miroku and Sango had gone to her village for supplies to repair her weapons and Inuyasha had taken Shippou with him to help some of the farmers in the fields. Her school was on break so there were no tests to study for and she didn't want to go home just to sit around. Inuyasha would have a fit if she did that. For the first part of the day she had assisted Kaede in gathering herbs to make ointments for the villagers, but now that the task was out of the way she was bored out of her wits.

"Demon! Demon!" She jolted up at the villager's cries. Instinctively grabbing for her bow and quiver, she jumped up and ran outside. She already had an arrow notched and ready to fly when she saw a flash of silver, white, and red. With a sigh she dropped her weapon and waited for the demon to appear in front of her.

"Miko," he addressed her in his normal cool tone.

"Sesshoumaru," she replied, mocking him and using the same tone.

He snorted at her attempt. "I require something of you."

Immediately she stiffened. "Is Rin sick again?"

"My ward is in perfect health. I require more of those boxes with the fruit nectar inside."

She cocked her head to the side a moment to figure out what on earth he was talking about. Then it hit her. "Oh! Juice boxes!"

"Yes. Rin enjoys them and I require more."

Kagome narrowed her eyes at him. "There is no way that a child can go through two cases of juice boxes three days."

"Hn." He looked back down at her in his normal holier than thou way.

"You have been drinking them haven't you?" she said suspiciously.

He shrugged his shoulders, an action Kagome had never seen from the cold emotionless demon. "I will neither confirm nor deny that."

In her mind she pictured him sitting under a tree with Rin, both of them sipping juice out of the little boxes. Laughing quietly she looked back up at him. "What kind would you like?"

"Who should I do next?" Shippou asked, grinning so broadly his face ached.

Rin bounced with excitement. "Ooh! Ooh! Do Jaken!"

Shippou scrunched his face in concentration. There was a soft pop and a cloud of dust hovered where the little fox child had stood a moment before.

Rin's eyes widened in amazement as the dust cleared. In front of her stood a perfect replica of Jaken, complete with his staff.

"Stupid human child!" the doppelganger muttered. "I'm so in love with Lord Sesshoumaru! I will do anything for him!" He made kissy faces at Rin, causing the girl to explode with laughter.

With another soft pop and some more dust, Shippou transformed back. Both children fell to the ground giggling. "What next?"

"How about Kagome?"

Shippou stood up. *Pop!*

The Kagome double smiled down at Rin. "I love Inuyasha even though he's such a jerk." The double looked off to her left. "Sit boy!" she yelled, pointing her finger toward a pretend Inuyasha.

Both Rin and Shippou turned when there was loud crash and an 'oof' sounded in the distance. Immediately Shippou transformed back to his normal self and looked at Rin. "Oops?" he said, laughing to cover up his nervousness. Rin joined in on the giggles and all was well once more.

"I've got an idea!" Shippou announced. Once again he stood up, only this time he took a few steps away from Rin. *Pop!*

"Lord Sesshoumaru?" Rin asked in wonder. Everything from the stripes on his face down to the smallest of needle work details on his sash were perfect.

"This Sesshoumaru hates humans!" The Sesshoumaru double struck a pose that was supposed to be intimidating. "Yet I allow a girl to follow me! And I steal Shippou's juice boxes!"

Shippou jumped when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Excellent attempt, child." Sesshoumaru walked around his double and eyed it appraisingly. "Though curiously, this Sesshoumaru does not recall having a fox tail."

Shippou looked behind him, at the fuzzy tail poking through the garments. He blushed and transformed back. "I'm sorry, Lord Sesshoumaru." He looked down in shame.

"Practice your skills," Sesshoumaru said in his normal hard voice, though Shippou knew it was as close as he was going to get to kindness and approval. "And," he said with a slight grin, "this Sesshoumaru does not steal your fruit nectar. The miko is kind enough to give it to me."

Just as silently as he came, the older demon left the children to play once more.

She knew she should have felt awful. Not just awful. Horribly awful; crawl under a rock and die awful. Kagome held his hair back as the poor youkai wretched and hacked, carefully dabbing his forehead and cleaning his face with a damp cloth between dry heaves. If it hadn't been for her, the normally pristine and perfect youkai Sesshoumaru wouldn't be sitting on all fours vomiting and, as they said in her time, 'sick as a dog'. Instead, she wanted to laugh at him. Not because he was retching and she was caring for him, but for the fact that he didn't listen to her and was now learning his lesson.

"Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you?" he croaked. Kagome watched as he tried to sit up but was stopped by another round of stomach turning dry heaves.

"Because I didn't force you to eat that," she said gently, wiping his face again. "I told you it was bad for you and would make you sick."

"The kitsune eats it."

"Shippou is not a dog."

"This Sesshoumaru is not a dog." He managed to crawl back and roll over onto his back. He clearly showed his displeasure of her caring for him, it showed in his eyes, but Kagome highly doubted that he was in any condition to harm her.

"You are an inuyoukai. You may look human, but you are still a dog underneath it all." She wiped his face one last time before moving to his bare chest. He was sweating buckets and she was doing everything in her power to keep him cool to avoid another wave of nausea. In a way, she thought it was strange that he was able to sweat while in humanoid form, but was still unable to digest certain foods.

"I should still hurt you when I am able." He sighed deeply, and for the first time, Kagome saw him look almost desperate. "Completely slaughter you. Possibly use Tensaiga so you can be torn to shreds a second time. Then this Sesshoumaru will be at peace."

Kagome smiled. "You wouldn't do that."

"If you give me more of that brown confection, I will." The desperate look was gone, replaced by a gleam that said he would completely live up to his threat if given the chance.

"I didn't force you to eat it. I caught you stealing it from my bag and let you eat it as a lesson after you didn't believe it would make you sick." She brushed his bangs out of his face, ignoring the light growl he gave her.

"You said dogs could not consume the confection, not inuyoukai."

"Sorry, my mistake." Kagome was pleased that he had stopped growling. "For future reference, inuyoukai should not consume chocolate."

"Thank you for the clarification."

It was times like these that made Kagome regret following through with her 'destiny' and going on that blasted adventure with Inuyasha. She would never regret meeting the wonderful people that she met, or what she learned of herself. Those were some of the most precious gifts she could have ever asked for. She just regretted that she didn't take more time for her schooling, that she didn't get better grades. If she would have actually concentrated on her time as well as the past, she wouldn't be stuck in this lousy supermarket stocking shelves because she didn't get a good education like she could have gotten.

It was better that she didn't think about it in a bad light; she was working at the market during the day so she could go to school at night. There were only three more semesters to go for her before she got her degree in education. It had been hard, but it had been worth it. Next semester she would start working at a school part time as well, to get training in an actual classroom environment.

She stopped her stocking when a pair of black polished shoes came into her line of vision, stopping right in front of her. She put down the case of juice boxes she was holding and looked up.

"May I help you, sir?"

The man looked like any other man in Tokyo, his dark hair cropped and dressed in a smart business suit, though he looked at her rather strangely. The strange look gave way to a small smirk.

"This Sesshoumaru requires more of those boxes with the fruit nectar inside."

Kagome wasn't sure what to think at first. After a moment she smiled. "Juice boxes?"

"Yes. This Sesshoumaru requires more."

She picked up a pack of the apple juice boxes. "You've been drinking them again, haven't you?"

He shrugged his shoulders, an action that didn't look so unusual from the now modern demon standing in front of her. "I will neither confirm nor deny that."

"What kind would you like?"

Sesshoumaru leaned down and scanned the different varieties of juice boxes that sat on the shelf. "The kind that comes with a miko for a dinner date."

Kagome laughed. "The miko usually brings wine for dinner dates."

He pulled a pack of apple juice boxes off of the shelf and handed them to her. "For old time's sake." Then he turned and walked back up the isle. Before he turned the corner he turned to her. "Hina. Seven o'clock. Bring the boxes."