"I was thinking that I would get a job at the lab. And I did. I’m on board as their dog-whisperer," Aryana explained.

She pretty much tuned Kagome’s scolding out until she said, "And how on earth could you be in love with Sesshomaru? It doesn’t make any sense! Have you just lost your mind?!"

"Now you wait a minute. You love that stupid, hard-headed, possessive, inconsiderate half-breed, who loves a walking clay pot more than he loves you! And then you have the nerve to criticize who I’m in love with!!!! You have no right!" Aryana fumed. Then she stomped out of the house. She decided to sleep in a tree.

The next morning she was at work early. She walked in the front door to be greeted by a woman that was a little too friendly.

"My name is Lonla. We met yesterday. And the man that threw you into the snake pit was Ponell. What is your name?" Lonla asked.

"Aryana,"she didn’t bother saying anything else. She heard Sesshomaru roar in protest to something. Then she realized that he had to be in his humanoid form for some reason. She shot down the hall and through the door that led to the place he was being held.

She came thought the door to see Sesshomaru fall to the ground with the effects of a tranquilizer. He looked horrible. They had cut off his long silver hair. It hardly even reached his shoulders. There were the marks of a whip on his back.

"What time do you come in the morning?" Aryana asked Ponell who was now standing beside her.

"Five," he said.

"I’ll be coming at five from now on," she said as she walked towards the gate to the enclosure. Sesshomaru was trying to push himself up on his hands, but fell to the ground. She ran the last distance. She dropped down on her knees, and softly touched his shoulder. He jerked away from her touch.

"Sesshomaru," she whispered. He looked up at her from the ground. He didn’t try to raise up again. His eyes were bloodshot and his lip was bleeding. "I’ll get you something to eat. Then I’m going to try to convince them to stop hurting you," she said softly.

"Everything hurts," he said. His voice cracked.

"I’ll be right back," she promised before she ran out of the enclosure. "He needs some food. And I want to give him something for his pain. He sais he is in pain. What have you been doing to him?"

"What does he eat?" Lonla asked.

"Sushi, gyoza, udon? It isn’t all that hard to figure out. He eats the same stuff we do. Have you got any asprin? Or morphine? Something?" Aryana almost snapped.

Lonla called to a different scientist, "Bring me a dose of morphine for the demon!"

"The demon’s name is Sesshomaru," Aryana corrected her.

"How do you know his name?" Lonla asked.

"He told me. Duh!" she said before taking the syringe of morphine from a scientist and marching back into the enclosure. "Stupid bunch of humans. Can you turn over?" she asked him.

"Don’t want to move," he mumbled into the dirt.

"Come on. I’ve got some morphine. It’ll make the pain go away," she said as she turned him over onto his back.

"More needles?" she eyed it suspiciously.

"You poor thing. You don’t deserve to be in this place," she said as she injected the liquid into his arm. He winced slightly.

"How are you doing?" she asked a few moments later.

"It doesn’t hurt as much. Why are you here?" he asked as he failed at another attempt to sit up.

"I want to help you," she smiled slightly at him. It didn’t touch her eyes.

"Why? You travel with Inuyasha. Why don’t you hate me?" he asked.

"I. . . well. I couldn’t very well leave you here to die. Now could I? You shouldn’t even be here in this Hell," she pushed some of his hair out of his face.

"I want to go home," they spoke so softly that only they could hear each other. In this place, with her, he dropped his normal mask and let his emotions show on his face. And in his eyes.

"I know. I just need a plan," she said as she observed what was left of his clothes. His shirt was almost gone, and the pants hung to his knees. All of it had blood on parts of it.

"I’m going to get you some more clothes. But fist, I’m going to get you some food. Even if I have to cook it myself," Aryana stood and walked back to Lonla. "What do you have for him to eat?" she demanded.

"All we have is animal food. Can’t he eat that?" Lonla inquired.

"He won’t eat dog food! Forget it!" Aryana walked out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Lonla followed her.

"I’m going to the grocery store. You do have a kitchen?" Aryana asked as she grabbed her purse off of a table.

"Yes, we do," Lonla said before Aryana walked out of the door.

"What a strange girl. Where is she off to in the middle of her shift?" Ponell walked up behind Lonla and watched Aryana walked down the street.

"Buy him some food. Why does she even care? It’s just a demon. Like they’ve got feelings," Lonla shook her head. And the sick thing is, Ponell agreed.

"Those stupid people don’t have anything for him to eat. I’m sorry about what I said last night. I didn’t mean it, really," Aryana apologized.

"It’s fine. I think I needed to hear it. Now what are you looking for? And how can I help?" Kagome offered.

Soon the two girls were walking back to the lab, with a bag of food. A piece of a plan forming in their heads, for Sesshomaru’s escape.

"Lonla, this is my friend, Kagome. She will be cooking Sesshomaru’s meals from now on. I’m paying her out of my own paycheck. Where is the kitchen?" Aryana greeted Lonla as she walked back through the doors.

"Third room on the left," the dumbstruck Lonla pointed it out to them. After Aryana had Kagome settled in the kitchen, she hurried back to the enclosure. Sesshomaru had managed to sit up against a wall, somehow.

"How’s he doing?" Aryana asked a random scientist, as she looked at him through the glass.

"Who are you?" the woman asked. Aryana turned to see that the woman wore glasses. She thought back to what Rin had said, about a woman with glasses had taken Sesshomaru.

"I’m Aryana. Are you the one who brought Sesshomaru back to this Hell?" she narrowed her eyes at the woman before her.

"I didn’t know they would do this to him," the woman hung her head.

"Well I’m here to take care of him. They can run their awful tests. But they aren’t causing him any non-scientific pain while I’m around!" Aryana declared.

"Well you’ve got a friend in me. What did you say his name was?" the woman asked.

"Sesshomaru. If you really want to get on his good side, call him Lord Sesshomaru. He was the lord of the Western Lands back in the feudal era. I didn’t believe it when he told me, but I did some research. He really was the lord of the west. He belongs back in the feudal era. Not here in this cage," Aryana shook her head.

"I think I know a way. My name’s Rena, and I think the two of us could get him out," she whispered.

"That makes a team of three. Kagome is his cook now. I think you should come over to the Higurashi shrine for dinner tonight," Aryana gave her a sly smile.