"KYAHHHHH!" The young dog demon snapped his writing brush as the human child finger painting in the corner screeched. Before the panicked girl could come to him and stain his hair with ink, he dodged and glared.

"Maru-chan! There's a spider! A HUGE spider!" Her finger shook as she pointed to the wall where a thumbnail-sized brown arachnid attached itself. The thing barely twitched but elicited another high pitched scream, this time coupled with welled tears.

"If you don't like it, you can leave."

"Noooo! Mama said I need to stay with Maru-chan until she comes back!" Kagome almost reached for him but finally realized if she touched him now, her "friend" would more likely throw the spider at her than offer comfort.

The spider dropped to the floor at a leisurely pace, ignorant to the waterfall of tears that accompanied its journey.

"Seriously?" The dog demon half stalked, half stomped over to the bug and with his final step, squashed the spider under his foot.

"There. It is dead. Now stop making my ears bleed and let me practice my calligraphy!"

The child sniffled and wiped away tears, smudging ink on her face. She looked at him with wide, thankful eyes. "Maru-chan….Shoumaru-chan really is the killing perfection."

Sesshoumaru's eyes twitched before he closed them and took a deep breath.