Glad I found the time to read this! Good update! Man, you weren't kidding when you said there was a surprise twist at the end, LOL. Starting from the beginning, though, it only took me a second of WTF to realize that opening sequence was Sesshoumaru's nightmare, duh on me, LOL. Spooky dream. Poor Inuyasha, getting weaker and weaker from lack of sleep, and probably also his approaching human night before too much longer. At least Sesshoumaru doesn't seem to be too angry with him, like he was just being an insolent pup disobeying for no other reason than being disobedient. It's not his fault, it's the forest, and Sesshoumaru knows that. Doesn't mean he can't tease him, though. LOL, I liked how Sesshoumaru made him sweat thinking he might be on display half naked for all to see, but I'm also glad you showed us Sesshoumaru's inner thoughts, and that he has no intention of doing that. After all, that would only tempt someone into wanting to touch Inuyasha, which would force Sesshoumaru to remove their hand, and thus start a war, so really, better to keep Inuyasha fully clothed and prevent war, yeah? LOL. 

Wasn't expecting Inuyasha to get all hot and bothered by the leash, but that was a good scene, and a good lesson for him, too. He got some of his faith in Sesshoumaru back, realizing he'd been foolish for disobeying him before, or for even having any doubts or fears. Just trust in and obey Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha. Nothing else matters. 

Witch Miko FTW! And here I'd just thought Sesshoumaru figured he could kill two birds with one stone by keeping Inuyasha's human time a secret from the other people who are traveling to the castle, assuming they don't know, and use the forest as an opportunity to train Inuyasha in various things, and have the privacy needed to sate his lust. So turns out it's all of the above, but also because he wanted to go see Mafuyu, and she's the main reason and the training they did was just the killing of the two birds with one stone because really, if they must travel through the forest to see Mafuyu, then may as well take advantage to train Inuyasha while they're at it. Makes perfect sense. But I had forgotten all about him extracting that vial of liquid from Inuyasha's wound! I just hadn't thought about it anymore. I actually reread that scene super quick. It's obvious Sesshoumaru was just poking and prodding the wound trying to extract that liquid, and he wasn't just hurting Inuyasha for no reason. Well I knew that back then, on the first read through, but after his saliva seemed to heal it and Miroku's grandson went "So it was your poison" I'd kind of thought that yeah, it really was his poison, and he had just lost control even though he refused to accept that fact. Hell maybe that'll still turn out to be true, LOL, and Mafuyu will be all this is just your poison, why did you have me double check that? LOL. But let's assume for a moment that it wasn't his poison, or at least, not his typical poison, because if it wasn't his doing at all then the only explanation is that somebody else smuggled poison into his bite mark on Inuyasha's shoulder, and yeah right, no. So then the choices become something Inuyasha's own body did, just refusing to heal for whatever stupid ass reason, which also doesn't make sense, or...it was Sesshoumaru's doing, and it just wasn't his weapon poison. So...incomplete mating bond? His inner beast started a bonding process that began to fester when it wasn't finished? But that doesn't really make sense either because surely they would have recognized it for what it was if that was the case. Hmmm...  Well, maybe not, if they just thought there was no way in hell Sesshoumaru would start to mate his pet, and since he has regular poison they all just assumed it was a trace amount of his regular poison. Guess I'll find out in the next chapter or two, huh? Oh you trickster you! I was not expecting this twist! But I'm loving your new character. Mafuyu seems awesome. Might be teetering a wee bit on the evil side, but that's okay. I like her, LOL. 

Good update! That forest is freaky, and it's even freakier to know that Sesshoumaru's not entirely immune to its effects, but he seems to be perfectly capable of ignoring whatever nightmares it's giving him, and he sensed all those youkai in time to dispatch them. Plus Inuyasha's getting great survival training. It's definitely no good that he didn't know how to prepare a catch for eating, so that was really cool that Sesshoumaru didn't scold him for his lack of knowledge (not that he would have, Sesshoumaru has never treated him that way) and patiently taught him how to go about it. It's definitely a little disconcerting to know that Inuyasha could wind up getting in trouble for being basically the person Sesshoumaru wanted him to be, but I'm not too worried. I think with the warning, Inuyasha will definitely be on his best slave behavior and not get cocky with anyone, but what if another lord thinks to have his way with him and Inuyasha would, of course, try to tell the other youkai 'no', because he belongs to Sesshoumaru? Would that be considered a bad thing, that he told the other youkai no? But he can't just roll over for someone else when he DOES belong to Sesshoumaru and Sesshoumaru alone, per Sesshoumaru. So we'll have to see how that goes down. And if the Thunder Brothers do end up having a captured Shippou and something bad is about to happen to the little fox I can't imagine Inuyasha not intervening. Uh-oh. Please don't cause a war, Inuyasha, LOL. But he can't just let Shippou die, either! Oh well, guess I'm just gonna have to wait and see what happens. Looks like there should be a few more chapters of forest travel before it even gets to that point, anyway. Looking forward to seeing what might or might not go down during the moonless night. Keep up the awesome work! 

So glad to see this story updated as well! At first I thought Sesshoumaru might've had something naughty planned for why he and Inuyasha were traveling alone through the forest instead of with the rest of everybody else on their way to the castle, but as the talk of the forest being dangerous continued I realized that probably wasn't the case. This makes perfect sense. Inuyasha's already had training with his sword, but it makes sense that someone like Sesshoumaru would want to make sure his pet could properly defend himself should the need arise and there comes a time when practicing in the ring just won't cut it anymore. Going through the evil forest, since obviously Sesshoumaru's youki is strong enough to scare the monsters off when need be, is the perfect opportunity for Inuyasha to not only get over his inherent fear of forests, but to get some very real kills under his belt. You also mentioned a crescent moon in the sky, besides also stating it takes an entire moon cycle to get where they're going, so obviously Inuyasha will be turning human at some point and that's another reason for the two of them to be traveling alone, presuming not everyone in the entourage is even aware he turns human, and even if they are, Sesshoumaru probably doesn't want to share that side of his pet with anyone else. Human Inuyasha obviously won't be in any real danger in the forest; not so long as Sesshoumaru is with him, and Sesshoumaru would never dare leave him alone. He learned that lesson back when Inuyasha had still been a little boy. Speaking of little boys, I'm much more worried about Shippou, since the lot of them are off to meet with the Thunder Brothers for whatever reason. A runaway Shippou followed by a diplomatic conference on the Thunder Brothers' mountain does not, in typical Inuyasha story universe rules, bode well for Shippou. Looking forward to seeing what happens next!

Yay!! I'm so glad you updated your story!! I love your style of writing!! Keep up the great work and I hope you still continue the story.

Heya,

I've been reading your fiction for a few years and it's really good. You are one of the few authors I always return to. I have a lot of respect for your creative writing abilities.

Giving Inuyasha's demon side the ability to speak was such an interesting twist. Now Inuyasha's demon side has more of a personality and much more depth. I think I like the relationship between demon Inuyasha and demon Sesshomaru best now as a result - it's raw and unreserved.

The scenes when Sesshomaru looks after Inuyasha and worries about him are the best - it's just soo intense. Well, your Sesshomaru is just intense - it's great. I'm really hoping in this story, Inuyasha will have another moment where he shows the world that he isn't weak either. Also, are you going to write about Inuyasha's human side in this story too? I love the fact that you've created three distinct sides of the same character. It also gives their relationship three different sides too. 

Anyway please keep up the good work and don't give up on this story it's going really well so far :)

Happy birthday! It was your birthday and you gave us a present, LOL. Well, thank you! 

Looks like I was right, Sesshoumaru had just snapped. Fighting against his instincts is only going to work for so long. I started to worry for only a brief moment when he brought out the whip, but at least he avoided any sensitive areas and it looks like the whipping didn't last as long as it would have because his inner youkai didn't like it. No, his inner youkai has fallen head over heels sadistically 'in love' (sort of) with Inuyasha, as his sexual possession. Definitely not an equal. Poor Shippou can't understand that. And sure, we can argue that it's stockholm syndrome or whatever, that Inuyasha is brainwashed, but that's not necessarily true. Maybe he's just realized growing up that he likes it. He's a sub, an uke, through and through. It's funny seeing him interact with other people, and suddenly he's got his classic Inuyasha attitude, and he knows he's not weak, that his senses are stronger than most people even realize, and he knows he's got his own beast living inside of himself and if he needed to kill an attacking enemy to survive he definitely could, but Sesshoumaru is his master and that's all there is to it. And sure, one can argue that Inuyasha might've had a much better life if he'd wound up in a different situation, but he could also just as easily be dead! He might've been killed by some other heartless master, or the slavers themselves when no new master would take him. I would ordinarily be the first to advocate for Inuyasha, but considering he doesn't object to his position, doesn't hate his life and long for escape, then what's there to argue about? I'm just glad Sesshoumaru lost the internal battle he'd been fighting with his own beast and has moved Inuyasha back into his chambers. I'm happy for Inuyasha, LOL. And I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what happens next! 

I can't wait for the next chapter to come out! So looking forward to it! I have so many suspicions about where this story is headed and I really want to see if I'm right. Absolutely love it and the last one, please keep up the great work!

So...I'm guessing Sesshoumaru probably didn't mean to poison Inuyasha, otherwise he would've given him the antidote. He'll probably be pissed at Inuyasha for ignoring his pain once it got so bad, although from the hanyou's perspective, I completely understand why he did. He probably didn't realize it was truly serious, either. But hopefully a part of Sesshoumaru, even if it's just a secret part he thinks to himself but doesn't express out loud, feels guilt and remorse for almost accidentally killing his favorite pet. I still remember the fiasco with child Inuyasha's first new moon night, during a thunder storm no less, and Sesshoumaru's reaction when he realized the human boy was still his same little puppy, and how he had so easily and stupidly forsaken him. Sesshoumaru is definitely capable of feeling remorse for his heartless and/or careless actions when the moment truly calls for it. This situation is a little different, of course, because Inuyasha did not feel hated or cast out by his master. He thought it was only a stupid bite and was being harsh on himself for being too 'weak' because it was hurting him. Hopefully Sesshoumaru also feels some pride in Inuyasha for being able to endure it for so long. It was carelessness on his part because his own inner beast got riled up at Inuyasha's possessiveness. Clearly the reason Sesshoumaru is so against finding a mate, and is not being too bothered by his seasonal heats as an unmated male, is because both he and his beast are content with their current "situation" LOL. Not that I can really see him making Inuyasha his official mate. Like you said when you were contemplating mpreg, it wouldn't change their relationship all that much. This Sesshoumaru will never truly love this Inuyasha. But I definitely love this story! So glad to see you back and writing again. Keep it up!
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