Now without the fear of being hunted out in the open by Naraku's demons Akiko could finally focus on her new sight understanding that to those around the estate she probably almost appeared childlike seeing everything for the first time. And Rin was more than excited to show her the garden and could be found every evening in the library with her asking for a new book to be read every night. It was hard work because Akiko was used to reading brail, not physical words, but the child was more than excited to help now learning herself from one of the maids. Sesshomaru would even find himself wandering the palace looking for the young woman after Rin was put to bed when she disappeared for hours finding her pouring over scrolls back in the library. The demon didn't realize how invested she was in knowledge and now there were no restrictions. In a way he found himself admiring that quality of the young woman. She took nothing for granted.

One morning, while training with the pack outside on the grounds with Rin sitting close by and observing they had guests, Akiko halting mid attack and turning to see a group of people making their way towards them. And she smiled wildly, feeling the frost melting from her arms. "Kagome!" Taking off in a dead run towards her cousin, the teen was rather surprised that the young woman didn't run off course in the process without Tobi by her side the entire time, but for the moment it was forgotten as they embraced each other tightly.

"Thank god you're alright," Kagome spoke. As the two pulled apart from the corner of Akiko's eyes she watched as Sesshomaru exited the estate and made his way towards them. She hardly believed the demon invited them and was a little on edge that the brothers would get into an all out war with each other on the front lawn. "Did he hurt you?"

"Yes... but I'm fine now." Tobi pressed into her side joining them with the pack close behind as Rin rode on one of her subordinates. Her hand immediately shout out and gripped Inuyasha's arm as he went to move towards the dog demon with bared teeth and a hand on his sword, halting him completely. Their eyes locked. "Behave," she ordered with so much authority it was startling. "Or I will freeze the both of you in place so the rest of us can have a civil conversation while you two cool down."

The group stared in wonder. "Akiko..." Kagome whispered, drawing her attention back. And the young woman was staring directly at her. "You can see?"

She explained to them what had occurred in the manor and Naraku's new objective for her as Sesshomaru joined them standing beside Aisu. Rin was beaming at the lord and began talking about what new techniques Akiko had been learning as his eyes studied each of them. They weren't welcome on his land, but for Akiko's sake... he would tolerate it for now. Unless Inuyasha provoked him.

"I didn't even know that was possible," the high school student breathed.

"Neither did I."

"Did it hurt?"

"A bit. I'm growing used to it."

Before another word could be said an unwelcoming presence filled the air around them, causing the pack to growl, along with Inuyasha and Kirara as they stared off towards the far end of the field where the forest line sat. "I can sense the jewel shards," Kagome said and they prepared for battle.

"He just doesn't know when to give up," Akiko muttered as frost began crawling over the exposed skin and around the hairline.

"Let him come," Tobi snarled, standing protectively in front of his master growing in height. "I have yet to rip him limb from limb for what he did to you."

"Take Rin back inside and protect her with Jaken," Aisu ordered two wolves as they ran off to safety.

He came from the shadows in his baboon pelt with a handful of demons at his disposal and with a sadistic laugh Naraku ordered them to attack. But they weren't alone as tentacles stretched across the space towards them. The group raced forward with weapons drawn and clashed without hesitation cutting through the front line. "Now that you can see, Akiko, I'm rather intrigued to witness how you can fight now," the half-demon taunted.

Her jaw was tense in irritation, hand throwing out and freezing two lunging demons on the spot as ice flew from the palm. And the young woman was deadly, twisting and turning through swiping claws, poisoned darts, and razor sharp teeth with her blade poised in hand fighting along side the brothers without missing a beat. "Miroku, behind you!" Sango shouted. Poisonous insects had joined the fray, preventing the monk from using his wind tunnel, but they were managing, as Naraku had noticed and that did not sit well with him. "Let's take this up a notch," he muttered.

The ground began to tremble, it growing more violent as the seconds ticked by. Tobi inhaled deeply before catching a scent and growled lowly. "Wild boar!" he shouted, jaws clamping around a demon and ripping him apart.

"It's a stampede!" Aisu barked as the animals came ripping through the under brush. They were going to be trampled from their size alone, nearly at the same level as the wolves, if they didn't gain higher ground, but these animals were savage and would reach the estate and trample everything in their path.

"Wind Scar!" Inuyasha shouted, only sweeping away half of the herd. Sesshomaru's poisonous whip cracked through the air as the others handled ones that attempted to stray from the danger and continue on. But this was too easy, Akiko mused, looking to Naraku still standing on the edge. He was just sitting there, waiting, which wasn't out of the ordinary to have others do his dirty work. The man wasn't giving orders though. And she noticed his sadistic grin spread across his lips further.

Akiko whirled around and watched in horror as across the field the forest on the opposite side became disturbed as another stampede broke through the trees. "It was a decoy!" the young woman shouted and began sprinting towards the front entrance where the boars were heading. This group was much larger in numbers than the first. They were going to break down the front door, which meant the servants inside and Rin would be injured or worse killed. The pack followed swiftly after her running at full speed.

"Damn it!" Inuyasha shouted, blade slicing through a demon. And Sesshomaru rushed off to protect his home.

But Akiko wasn't going to make a dent in the stampede before the rest of them reached her. So the young woman sheathed her blade before slamming a foot down in front of her and thrust both hands out, fingers splayed and emitted a cloud of ice particles that shot towards the wild boars. Her features began to alter with the amount of power put into the offensive the temperature around her dropping considerably as the grass below her feet frosted over. And the pigs squealed in pain when hitting the ice, some whithering in pain and crashing to the ground as other attempted to continue on. But it was useless as they slowed before Akiko slammed both palms against the ground. It exploded into multiple spikes of ice as they protruded out of the grass impaling those drawing too close before the mist of frost covered the herd and froze them on the spot. Forty wild boars had been stopped feet from the entrance.

"That's new..." Shippo squeaked.

The young woman was breathing heavily from the strain, but stood tall in the end to look out over the grounds to notice no more were coming. Once again, Naraku had been held at bay for the time being as he retreated into the shadows with a lot to contemplate over what had transpired. He did not regret giving back her sight. It made the future Queen all that more powerful and the half-demon was looking forward to devouring her, body and soul. Naraku chuckled. He didn't see this as a loss.

"I look forward to our next meeting..." the man muttered.

The pack disappeared into the forest after Aisu to be sure that they were indeed alone once more as Tobi came up beside Akiko. There was blood on his coat and dripping from his jaw, but none of it belonged to the animal. "How close did you get to him?" she asked lowly.

"Not close enough," he muttered. The half-demon was only feet from the tree line Akiko had addressed the bluff they had fallen into and was forced to pull away, but not without snarling threateningly in Naraku's direction before taking off.

"We'll have more chances, I'm sure." And their attention turned towards Sesshomaru, standing at their side. The dog demon stared down at her for a moment before saying,

"You protected this manor though it isn't your own."

"I spend enough time here that I could consider it to be a second home," Akiko answered truthfully. "And I wouldn't leave Rin and the others inside to try and protect themselves. Besides... it's the least I could do after you rescued me. I know he wants to kill all of you because it complicates his plans with the shards, but at the moment Naraku has his sights set on me. I just keep causing trouble for you and I don't deserve your hospitality."

No, but Aisu and him had made a deal in the past to keep her protected until Akiko was ready to ascend to the throne. Even if his father and grandfather didn't exactly like the leader in the north, her role was essential to keep it out of the half-demon's hands. At least this time the young woman had not been captured, and that was a step forward. Looking over the ice covered boars before them he had to admit she was growing stronger.

"We're going to try and pick up his trail," Kagome said, coming up to them. "See if he's still in the area. Will you be all right here?"

Akiko smiled. "I'll be fine. Besides, I'll be returning home in a few weeks." That was news to the dog demon, turning to look at her. "Classes are going to start up again for me and I need to be there." The cousins hugged before the high school student ran off with Inuyasha and the others.

"You could have gone with them," Sesshomaru suddenly spoke up. "Why didn't you?"

Her shoulder shrugged. "I'm content here... Unless that's your way of telling me you're kicking me out." He said nothing, so Akiko took it as his way of saying, that wasn't the case at all. "I don't need to travel, not for a while. I need to keep training with the pack. Besides, when was the last time the two of us spared? You're not keeping up your end of the bargain." He raised a brow at the statement. Watching the young woman smirk and walk back inside the estate to find Rin most likely, Jaken came running out squawking and crying his eyes out, happy to see his lord unharmed. But he completely ignored his servant and made his way inside once more.