DM: Yay. Second chapter.

Kagome: Why am I always kidnapped in these fics?

Sesshoumaru: I did not kidnap you.

Kagome: Yes you did.

DM: Actually he didn't.

Kagome: Huh?

DM: You fainted after saving Rin remember?

Kagome: Oh yeah…

DM: #shakes head#

DISCLAIMER: As usual, the damn lawyers want me to say that I don't own Inuyasha.

Lawyers: Speak about us with respect or we burn your Inuyasha manga. AND your Rurouni Kenshin DVDs.

DM: AAAAA! NOOO! OK! I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA AND LAWYERS ARE WONDERFUL PEOPLE.

Lawyers: Better.

DM: Sheesh. Scary.

Previously: As Night Falls; Taken.

Inuyasha sighed and told them everything.

How he had smelt Kikyo and gone running after her without thinking again.

How Kagome had looked so betrayed, because she loved him.

How he had sat there and panicked when he heard a scream, thinking it was her.

How he had kept telling himself that if she was hurt it was all his fault…

How his brother had kidnapped one of the people he cared for the most.

As Night Falls: Revelations

Sango, Miroku and Shippo stared at Inuyasha with a mixture of emotions - anger, confusion, hurt.

But they didn't do anything.

He stared back. 'Ok, not quite the reactions I have imagined. But this works.'

"So…" he began.

"INUYASHA!" Sango yelled, whacking him on the head. "How could you? After everything she's done for you!"

"After everything she's done for ME!?" he retorted, regretting he'd said them but not saying so.

"Yes Inuyasha. After everything she's done and given up for YOU." Miroku looked at him sternly.

"What are you-YOW!" Inuyasha yelped as Shippo latched onto his arm, biting and scratching with every bit of energy he had.

"Get off twerp!"

"Nnnn!" (no!) "Nnn nnnn nnnnnou!" (you stupid hanyou!)

Inuyasha sighed and removed the fox from his arm. Holding Shippo away from him by his tail, Inuyasha proceeded to allow him to struggle.

"Ok. What were you saying Miroku?" Inuyasha said pointedly. Sango took Shippo from Inuyasha, so any harm to be inflicted on the hanyou would happen later.

"Well think about it Inuyasha." Miroku began. "If we look at it logically, she's sacrificed a lot more things for you than you seem to realise."

"Yeah? Like what?" Inuyasha crossed his arms as Miroku glanced at Sango, who nodded.

"She risks death by travelling with you, even though she had no reason to hoard feelings of hatred towards Naraku." Sango said.

"She's given up her entire normal life to be with you: she spends more time here than she does with her own family, and judging by what she's said about these 'test' things," Miroku started again.

"By the way, you've never listened to her explaining about them," Sango interrupted.

"Apparently, she has to pass these tests in order to prove she's smart. Without passing these tests, she has no future."

"That means, no career, no future financial security, no future at all."

"Because she chose to stay with you, even though it means she may never lead a normal life again."

"Even if it means she barely sees her family."

"Barely sees her brother, mother, grandfather. Heck, even her cat! She might come back one day and her cat might be gone."

"She might come back one day and her grandfather might be gone, her brother all grown up and her mother an old woman."

"She chose to sacrifice her family, future and life for you."

"And you chose a woman who was easily fooled by Naraku, even when she was a priestess."

"A woman who, even after learning the truth about the deception, still wanted to kill you."

"How do you know she still wants to kill me!?" Inuyasha cried out. His neck was getting sore from looking at Sango, then Miroku, then Sango, back to Miroku, Sango, Miroku, Sango, Miroku, Sango, Miroku, Sango then Miroku once again.

"How do you know she doesn't?" Sango said smugly.

"But…I didn't mean to make her upset. Kagome's like my sister! But…"

"Oh please. You love her you dipwad. It's as plain as the curse on my hand…No Sango, the real one." (Sango had started edging away.)

Sango gave Miroku a wary look. "And even if you can't see it, Kagome loves you too. You love KIKYO as the sister. You're getting them confused, aren't you?"

Inuyasha buried his face in his hands. "Maybe…I…I don't know!…I need to…"

"Think?" Miroku asked. Inuyasha nodded.

"Then think. But think along the way. We need to get Kagome back. Not just for you. Not just for us. For Shippo and for Kagome as well."

Kagome swallowed while Sesshoumaru stood blocking her only path of escape. She forced herself not to make any noises.

Sesshoumaru could feel fear starting to lace the girl's scent, and could hear her heartbeat speed up slightly. But he was impressed, although he'd never admit it, by the manner in which she conducted herself.

Kagome looked out the window, to where she could see Jaken being goaded by Rin.

"Wench." Sesshoumaru said coldly. He felt a flare of mild indignation from Kagome before she turned to look at him.

"…"

"Wench, I would like to ask you some questions."

'My name is Kagome you cold-hearted demon…'

'Show no fear! Show no fear.'

'He can smell it though.'

'But don't make it easier for him to tell.'

Kagome obeyed her inner voice. She lowered her head in a sign of submission. The taiyoukai was mildly surprised.

'Isn't this girl usually running around yelling? Why is she being so co-operative?'

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes. "Why were you not with my brother, what happened to Rin, and why are you being co-operative?"

Kagome was about to remain silent, when she remembered that this wasn't Souta or Rin she was talking to.

"I don't want to talk about him, Rin was attacked by an owl youkai and I don't know." she softly replied in one breath.

Sesshoumaru moved towards her. "I am aware Rin was attacked." he said coolly, "but I wish to know what you did."

"…Um…I killed the demon?"

Sesshoumaru sighed. "Very well, I shall rephrase my question. Why?"

"Because…I wouldn't leave a little girl to die like that."

Sesshoumaru observed her with emotionless eyes. His voice was equally void of emotion. But then again, so was hers.

Her eyes showed hints of sadness, but her voice was steady, even and gave no hints as to what she was feeling, although he could sense her fear and slight depression.

"And what of my half-brother? Why were you not travelling with him as usual?"

Kagome looked down. "I don't want to talk about it."

"I don't care what you want."

"Well neither do I."

Sesshoumaru stopped, taken aback by her comment. "And just what do you mean by that?"

"I mean I really don't care what happens to me. Kill me, throw me into a river, throw me off a cliff. I don't care."

"I might just do that." Sesshoumaru said dangerously. Kagome didn't need to look up to know he wasn't joking.

"Then why don't you?" she countered, equally serious. After knowing that Inuyasha didn't return her feelings, that her exam marks were dropping and that her friends were growing distant, she couldn't care less what happened to her. Except Shippo.

'But he'll move on. He has Sango and Miroku.'

Sesshoumaru sighed. "Because fortunately for you, Rin may not like the idea…of course if I kill you now she won't get attached, but I'll be pestered with too many questions. Plus, she needs someone to baby-sit her. I doubt Jaken will last long."

"So basically I'm the baby-sitter/maid for Rin?"

"Yes."

Kagome shrugged. "Whatever."

Sesshoumaru glared at her. "Do not be lax when taking care of her, wench."

"Why do you have a daughter?" Kagome asked nonchalantly.

"She is not my daughter. She is my ward. For reasons I shall withhold."

Kagome shrugged again. 'None of my business anyway.'

"Now. I will ask you once more. I do not like to be unaware of details. Where is the half-breed?"

"I told you, I don't want to talk about him." Kagome began. She found herself pinned against the wall with Sesshoumaru's hand around her neck.

Red bled through Sesshoumaru's amber eyes. Kagome's fear increased momentarily, but she calmed herself down by telling herself that it wouldn't matter if she was dead or alive.

"I do not approve of your refusal to answer my question."

"He's probably with Kikyo." Kagome managed to say. She wasn't just choking because she was being held by the neck. She was holding back tears of rage.

"His dead miko lover?"

"Yeah her." Kagome spat.

"Are you not his woman?"

"Never call me that again!" Kagome said angrily. "Never. I am not 'his' anything."

"I see." Sesshoumaru released her. She stood there, rubbing her neck. "Wait here miko. I will fetch Rin."

'Great.' she thought bitterly. Moments later, Rin came running in.

"Sesshoumaru-sama says you'll play with Rin!"

"Yeah. That's right."

"Do you want Rin to show you around the castle?"

"If you want."

Rin gleefully led Kagome out of the large dining room, and proceeded to take Kagome on a tour.

"See Kagome-chan? That's Rin's room! And over there is where Sesshoumaru-sama stays most of the time. There are lots of books in that room…and that's Sesshoumaru-sama's room!"

Kagome noted that Rin's room was right across the hall from the room she had been given, and that Sesshoumaru's room was only five doors away from Rin's.

'The 'book room' must be Sesshoumaru's study…right next to his room I see.'

"And over there is-"

Kagome listened to Rin as she walked. 'She's cute…I wonder if she gets education. I'll ask later...'

When Rin had finished showing Kagome around, she took her out to the garden and showed Kagome her favourite tree. Soon both girls were sitting on a solid branch, looking at the view from a thin curtain of swaying leaves.

"Rin. How did you end up staying with Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Rin cocked her head. "Jaken-sama says Rin was dead, and Sesshoumaru-sama saved her. The wolves got Rin…" the young girl shuddered at the memory. "Rin doesn't like wolves…"

"I have some good friends who are wolves Rin. They're not all bad."

Rin looked horrified. "But don't they try to eat Kagome-chan?"

Kagome almost laughed. "No, they don't." Rin seemed to think about this for a while.

A comfortable silence passed before Kagome spoke again.

"Does Sesshoumaru-sama teach you anything?"

"Huh?"

"Like…reading. Writing?"

"No…Sesshoumaru-sama told Rin what reading and writing are…with words…but Sesshoumaru-sama hasn't taught Rin how. Sesshoumaru-sama is busy."

'Hmm. Maybe if I can get him to let me go home, I can bring back some stuff for Rin and she can learn…'

"Do you know how to count?"

"Rin knows how to count to 20! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve…um….thirteen?" Kagome nodded. "Fourteen…fifteen…um…sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen…twenty!"

Kagome congratulated her. "Not bad Rin."

Rin grinned. Kagome enjoyed her company, but still, she couldn't help but think about her friends. 'I wonder what the others are doing right now…'

Little did Kagome know, but the others were thinking the exact same thing about her.

Shippo stayed on Sango's shoulder the entire 2 hours they had been walking. Every now and then, Inuyasha, who was in front, would glance at him, and he'd shoot a dirty look back.

Miroku and Kirara were walking alongside Sango. After another 10 minutes, Miroku called Inuyasha and told him to stop.

"What? Don't tell me you're tired already!?"

"Inuyasha. This is your fault. If you hadn't gone to see Kikyo, we wouldn't be here, and we wouldn't have to stop and prolong your suffering." Miroku told him sternly.

Inuyasha's only reaction was to turn away and mutter darkly to himself. Miroku did, however, catch the phrase "stupid pervert monk", and Inuyasha earned a nice lump on the head from Miroku's staff.

Miroku turned to Sango and gave her a meaningful look. She got the hint.

"Shippo, why don't you go play with Kirara. Just don't go too far."

Shippo nodded sadly and took the kitten with him, staying a good distance away from Inuyasha.

"What is it?" Sango asked Miroku.

"Something has been troubling me…"

"No shit. What?"

Miroku made a face at her. "Calm down. I'm just wondering…maybe we should leave Inuyasha here…"

"What? He's the only one who can find her though!"

"No, he's not."

"Yeah, but we don't know where…" Sango gasped. "Yes, we do know where she is. Sesshoumaru took her…but where does he live?"

"Obviously somewhere further west. It's where Inuyasha's been taking us, and I do have to say that we CAN trust him on this."

"What about Shippo?"

"I think he'll come Sango."

"So how do we tell Inuyasha?"

"Who says we have to tell him?"

"Miroku, he'll be either even more pissed or even more hysterically worried if we just disappear…"

Miroku thought this over. "You're right. So do we stick with him? Either way we will end up finding her."

"We have no choice. Plus, Inuyasha knows EXACTLY where Sesshoumaru's castle is. We don't…I'm just worried what Sesshoumaru will do to Kagome."

"And vice versa." Miroku grinned.

Kagome suddenly became aware of a demon aura nearby. Turning and looking down, she saw that Sesshoumaru was walking towards them.

"Rin, I think we should get down." Kagome said nervously.

"Why?"

"Sesshoumaru-sama is coming."

"Oh. Don't worry, Rin climbs trees all the time."

"No, it's not that. He may want to talk to us."

"Ok!" Rin said brightly.

Rin and Kagome climbed down just as Sesshoumaru reached the tree. Rin hugged his leg and he patted her head in what could only be an affectionate gesture. [For him]

He glanced at Kagome.

"Yes?" Kagome said uncertainly.

"It is getting late."

"Hai. Rin, time for a bath." Kagome guessed, giving Sesshoumaru a quick sideways glance. .

Sesshoumaru nodded very slightly in approval.

"Ok Kagome-chan." Rin said with another smile. Kagome let Rin hold onto her hand as they went back to the castle. Sesshoumaru walked beside Rin as well, and Rin took his hand too.

Kagome might have actually been amused, if not for her now withdrawn state. Instead, she found herself more confused. 'Does this girl even know who he is? Always…smiling and running up to him and hugging him…'

As if Sesshoumaru had read her thoughts, he told Rin, "I'm going to be a bit more busy for a while. You will be staying with the miko more often. I have some youkai business to attend to."

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama…what's a miko?" Rin was puzzled.

"She is a miko."

Kagome felt a bit of indignation that he still didn't use her name. It occurred to her he may not know it, but she decided not to tell him anyway.

"Kagome-chan is a miko?" Rin stared up at her. "…what's that?"

Kagome sighed. "I'll explain later ok Rin?"

"Ok Kagome-chan."

When Rin and Kagome got to Rin's room, Sesshoumaru excused himself, and disappeared into his study. Kagome helped Rin to pick out a nice pink sleeping yukata, then went into her room and found a cream one.

On the way on, they ran into Asumi. Kagome invited her to join them, and Asumi gladly accepted.

Rin grabbed Kagome and Asumi's hands and started pulling them towards the larger bath-house.

"Rin-sama, I cannot go there." Asumi said quietly.

"Why not? You're Kagome-chan's friend, and Kagome-chan is Rin's friend. Please?" Rin looked at the older girls hopefully.

Asumi looked pleadingly at Kagome.

Kagome just shrugged. "He can't get mad at you if Rin told you to come." And that settled it.

Asumi and Kagome gaped at the hot spring that was almost the size of a pool. Rin happily splashed around and played with bubbles while Asumi talked quietly with Kagome.

"So why aren't you scared of demons."

"I…used to travel with a hanyou, a cat demon and a kitsune." Asumi saw a trace of sadness in Kagome's eyes that was quickly forced away.

"A hanyou?"

"Yeah…Inuyasha." Asumi heard pain in Kagome's voice but didn't want to push the subject too much.

"Sesshoumaru-sama's brother?"

"Yeah him…why do you ask?"

"Well all my life, humans have either ran away from me or tried to kill me…well except Rin-sama."

"Well I'm not going to do either, so don't worry."

Asumi smiled. "So what about you? How'd you end up with Inuyasha?"

Kagome's face fell. "I'd rather not-"

"Talk about it? That's ok." Asumi waved it away.

"Thanks."

Asumi was getting used to the fact Kagome never smiled, and somehow she found that, like Sesshoumaru, her emotion was in her eyes. Unlike Sesshoumaru though, Kagome allowed emotion to extend to her voice.

'I wonder what happened to make her so withdrawn.'

Kagome sighed. "Come on Rin, time to get you to bed."

Inuyasha looked up at the sky. He had been sitting there ever since pink and orange had started tinting the clouds, and now he gazed up at the stars.

'Kagome…'

Shippo dragged out a pillowcase Kagome had in her backpack. Some time after he had joined up with them, he had started to see Kagome as a motherly figure. Now all he had was a piece of cloth to remind him of her.

He curled up into a ball bitterly. He felt Sango come and sit next to him. He appreciated it, but it just wasn't the same.

Kagome tucked Rin into her soft covers.

"Can Kagome-chan sing Rin a lullaby?"

"Well Rin, I don't really know any, but I'll sing you the closest thing to a lullaby I know."

Rin settled back as Kagome began to sing.

Hold on to me love.

You know I can't stay long.

All I wanted to say was I love you and I'm not afraid.

Can you hear me?

Can you feel me in your arms?

Holding my last breath.

Safe inside myself.

Are all my thoughts of you.

Sweet raptured light.

It ends here tonight.

Kagome didn't get very far along before Rin was asleep. [By the way, I'm very aware that the song I just used is an Evanescence song. But seriously, if you take out the guitars and drum stuff, it comes pretty close.]

Kagome walked quietly out of Rin's room and across the hall to 'hers'.

She didn't notice that the pair of amber eyes that had been watching from Rin's door were now in the shadows of the deserted corridor, and followed her until she shut her door.

Sesshoumaru sighed to himself and retraced his steps to his study. He had gone to Rin's room with the intention of trying to find something wrong with the way the miko was caring for her, in order to be able to get rid of her.

But no.

To his surprise and irritation, he found Rin in bed 10 minutes early and not complaining.

'I could have left her to die. Both of them. Damn. Damn Rin. Damn miko.'

He sat down, then stood again and paced.

'What has transpired between her and my brother. It cannot be a trap. Stupid idiot already knows where this castle is located…'

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes. Something told him bringing the miko home could either be the best or the worst thing he had done since Rin's arrival.

Review Replies:

Keira: glad you like it.

Sesshomaru13: Thanks, and I will.

Sleeping Child: Thank you.

lady sakura: Well here you go. Third chapter's already in the making too.

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