The sun beat down on the already worn and tired group as the demon appeared. The demon looked green and slimy, more like a frog than anything. A snippy Inuyasha was on his last nerve. "Give me the jewel shard....." he glared at the small demon as if willing it to give him the jewel shard. The demon may have been small, but it wasn't about to give up the jewel shard. It jumped away from Inuyasha. Inuyasha lunged forward.

     "Inuyasha, quit fooling around and hurry up." Miroku said, snippily. "I'm trying! It won't stand still! If you think you can do better than how about you try!" Inuyasha barked, lunging for the tenth time. Miroku sighed, "I wish he would just stab the demon or something." "Well, he is trying..... and failing miserably..." Sango replied. "I do wish he would hurry up though. It's getting late and I would like to make it to the village." Kagome complained. "You know what? Let me do something."

     Kagome got her bow ready as she yelled, "Sit boy!" A thud was heard as Inuyasha hit the ground. Then Kagome aimed, and released the bow. The purrified arrow instantly killed the demon and he disappeared. "What was that for?!" Inuyasha yelled as he whirled around to face Kagome. "That was getting the job done." Kagome snapped back. The heat was getting on everyone's last nerve. "Next time I'll finish it!" the hanyou snapped. "Usually you're barking at us to hurry up and say that we are taking to long, but it's ok for you to take your sweet time? Well you'll just have to get over it now wont you?!"

     Kagome glared, spun on her heel and stormed off toward the village, leaving the others behind. "You know Inuyasha... she does have a point..." Sango said, walking past him to catch up with Kagome. "Yeah you usually snap at us to hurry up, and the one time Kagome does make it quick, you yell at her." Miroku agreed, also walking past him to catch up with Kagome and Sango.

     Inuyasha glared after the rest of the group. 'I don't do that.... do I?' Inuyasha asked himself. He started walking after them, thinking about what they had said. Finally, he realized it was true. He did always yell at them and tell them to hurry up. Now he had bigger problems though, he had to find a way to apologize to Kagome.

     Kagome let out a sigh as they neared the village and started feeling bad about snapping at Inuyasha. She couldn't stay mad at him for long, she knew, but tried to denied. She threw a glance over her should to see Inuyasha at the back of the group, his face deep with concentration. Turning her look from the concentrated hanyou, she looked up at the sky. It had just started to get dark and she could still hear some frogs. "What are you thinking about?" Shippo asked, jumping to her shoulder. "Oh, nothing much Shippo." Kagome said, still thinking. "Well it mush be something important," Shippo said, "for having to think about it for this long." "Yeah.... it sorta is." Kagome said to Shippo, dropping her voice. "Wanna talk about it?" asked the curious fox. "How do you apologize to someone when it was their fault you snapped?" Kagome asked, her voice still low.

     Shippo seemed to sit back, "Well, I don't know, shouldn't they apologize if it was their fault?" "Well.... I guess, but it's complicated." Kagome said. "Sorry Kagome, I can't help you..." Shippo said. "Oh, it's fine Shippo." Kagome answered just as they stepped into the village.

     "Hey, there is a house not to far from here that we could stay at." Miroku said, taking the lead and stearing them to the east side of the village. Miroku stepped through the gates of a wealthy house. "You actually know the people who live here?" Sango asked, seeming impressed. "Yes, I do." Miroku said. They walked along the path that led from the gates, through the courtyard, and to the stairs that led to the entrance. Kagome amired the small pond to their left as the walked. A few lilies were floating across it and the water was reflecting a small amount of the moonlight the was just starting to come out. Kagome breathed in deep, knowing how much cleaner the air was in the past than in her present. Fresh cool air filled her lungs.

     It was a big change from the hot day they had been walking through. Kagome looked around as she felt eyes watching her. Finally, she found the source. Two, seemingly glowing, amber eyes stared at her, but seemed to be too much in their own world to notice her looking back. Feeling alittle uneasy with the staring hanyou she looked back to the front as they stopped in front of the door. Miroku knocked.

     A few minutes had passed when the door finallly opened to reveal a beautiful young lady. "Oh, Miroku, how nice to see you!" the graceful young lady swept forward and gave him a hug. Sango seemed to seeth with anger behind him. "Hello Akina, how is your husband doing?" Miroku asked. Sango's face went from rage to confusion. "Oh, he's much better, it's all thanks you from telling us we had a family demon lurking around. If you hadn't caught and killed the demon he would probably be getting sicker." the woman said. She had straight black hair and pale soft blue eyes and a thin figure. Her graceful clothing fit her body as if the clothing were meant for a princess and the soft blue color added to the affect of her eyes.

     "So what did you need Miroku?" the lady know as Akina asked. "Well, you see, me and my friends we in the village and we have nowhere to stay-" Miroku was cut of by Akina. "Oh, c'mon in, I'll make some tea, don't worry about a thing you can stay here tonight." Akina said, stepping out of the doorway to allow everyone to enter.

     The group stepped into the small entrance part of the house and were led into a bigger room. It had two chairs in it and Akina explained that they were imported from the mainland. In one of the chairs sat a man of maybe 30 years old. He had a broad figure with a thick crop of brown hair on his head. His deep green eyes looked at them as they entered. "Akina dear? Are you going to introduce me to your guests?" he asked kindly, yet he was studying them. "Oh, you remember Miroku don't you?" Akina said, pushing Miroku foward. "Ah yes, Miroku, I once again thank you for your services." the man said, tilting his head in a very slight bow.

     "It was my pleasure, Lord Rafu." the monk said, bowing back. "Honey, they need a place to stay for the night, and we have two guest rooms, why don't they stay here?" Akina asked her husband warmly. "Of course, they can stay here." Lord Rafu said, kindly. "I'll get them some blankets." Akina said thoughtfully, walking out of the room.

     "Thank you for letting us stay here." Sango and Kagome said together. The man laughed a deep heartfelt laugh, "It's no problem my dears." Everyone was interupted as a little girl who stood in the doorway of the room, with one arm she was tiredly wiping her eyes, the other held a baby blanket. "...Daddy?... I couldn't sleep..." she said childishly, she could have only been three or four years old. "Oh, c'mere Rei, why don't you meet our guests while you are awake?" Lord Rafu said. The girl nodded and walked over to her father. He then picked her up and sat her in his lap. "..Hi everyone.... I'm Rei...." she said sleepily. "Hi Rei." Kagome said kindly as Kilala went over to the girl.

     "Kitty Kitty!" she said, slightly more awake. Kilala jumped up to her, allowing Rei to pet her. "I'm Shippo!" the fox said, jealous at how much attention Kilala was getting.

     An hour had passed and in that hour they had been shown their rooms and had taken a tour of the huge house. Now, however, Kagome sat in the grass by the pond watching the moon through the water. She still hadn't thought of a good way to apologize to Inuyasha. Hearing a slight russle of grass behind her she turned around. Inuyasha stood there, looking at her. "Yes?" she asked. "Why are you out here?" he asked, seeming to have to force himself to look casual. "Just came to think." Kagome said, turning to look back at the water. "Oh, about what?" Inuyasha asked, going over and sitting next to her. "Nothin' much." Kagome said, covering up for the fact she was thinking about apologizing to him.

     "Oh." Inuyasha said, then it grew silent. "Uh... Inuyasha? What are you doing out here?" Kagome asked. "Uh." Inuyasha said, quickly thinking of a cover-up. "Nothing." he said, turning away from her, a slight blush on his cheeks. Still facing away from her he got up and left. "What was that about?" Kagome asked herself, watching his retreating back.

     A half hour passed and Kagome had gotten nowhere with apologizing to Inuyasha. She sighed and stood, walking back to the house. Stepping through the door she went to the room she, Sango, and Kilala were sharing. She covered herself up and went to sleep, her dreams also trying to sort things out for her.