Disclaimer: Through the Looking Glass

Note about the title: Through the Looking Glass is a more traditional title of Alice in Wonderland. Alice travels through the looking glass into another world. I'm sure you're all familiar with the story. So, I'm kind of borrowing the title and idea for my story. I apologise for any confusion this is causing. Kagome hasn't figured this out yet.

So. On to the actual story….

Characters copy righted to Takahashi Rumiko.

Chapter Two

Kagome blinked. She was still there. She was standing in front of the mirror and Sesshoumaru was standing behind her. "Sesshoumaru?"

Sesshoumaru's hands were tucked into his sleeves and he was staring at her.

"Is something wrong?"

He simply stared at her, his head lifted proudly.

Kagome turned to face him. "Sesshoumaru. Is something wrong?"

"No."

Kagome stared at him. "Oh. Why were you staring?"

"No reason."

"Oh." There was something wrong. Something just happened, but Kagome couldn't tell what. "Well, um. When are we going to be eating? I am a little hungry."

Sesshoumaru arched one eyebrow. "Are you suggesting that this Sesshoumaru would eat with a human?"

"Well. Yes. Of course. Why wouldn't we? Well, it wouldn't be just us, of course. You know, it would be you, myself, Sango, Miroku, Inu Yas—" Kagome blinked. She was staring at the wall. Her cheek stung. Raising a tentative hand to her face, Kagome placed her hand on her cheek. She stared at Sesshoumaru in shock.

"Do not speak that name in this Sesshoumaru's presence," he hissed coldly, golden eyes sharp and frightening.

"W-what?" Kagome's voice came at barely a whisper. "S-sesshouma—"

"Do not speak. You know not to speak the name of the hannyou in this Sesshoumaru's presence."

Kagome's head spun. "But… we were just sitting with him and the others. We….we were drinking tea…."

Staring down at her haughtily, Sesshoumaru's voice sounded like slick oil, a match centimeters above the surface. "This Sesshoumaru would never drink tea in the presence of such a creature."

Kagome stared at him. What the heck was going on? Was he bi-polar? This was more like the old Sesshoumaru, but he was more violent. He wouldn't have hit her before. "I… I'm sorry then…"

"This Sesshoumaru hopes so. For your sake." He turned and swept to the door in a flutter of silver hair and cloth like a god floated on clouds. "Dinner shall be served in an hour. You shall be escorted to the room where you will be dining. This Sesshoumaru shall join you, if there is time for it."

Kagome nodded numbly, stunned by the complete one-eighty he had pulled on her. Exhaling the deep breath she didn't realize that she had been holding, Kagome sank to her knees. Staring at the closing doors, she watched the retreating shadow of the incredibly gorgeous, god-like inu yokai.

Shaking her head, Kagome got to her feet, smoothed out the kimono, and looked around the room. It was different too. It was mostly the same, but there were subtle differences. Like the candles on the wall, for example. There were two candles instead of one. Kagome opened the door and stepped into the hallway. There was no one around. She quietly walked back to the other room that Sesshoumaru had given her.

Sliding the door open, Kagome looked in. It was still her room, as far as she could tell. Her miko uniform was hanging there next to a yukata. Shrugging, Kagome sat, not knowing what to do with herself for an hour. She didn't want to stay here in this room with nothing to do. Standing agian, she pushed open the door on the other side of the room, finding it to open into a garden.

The sun was setting and there were clouds floating across the sky as the sakura petals drifted gently to the ground. Slipping on a pair of geta sandals, Kagome stepped into the garden, walking through the trees and flowers. It was a marvelous garden. Simple, but also elegant and tasteful. But then again, that was Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru... Why had he not wanted me to mention Inu Yasha...? And he'd slapped me... Kagome's hand went to her cheek. It still burned slightly. The air was crisp and pleasantly warm without being muggy and humid. It was quiet too. But Sesshoumaru's entire house was quiet. It seemed a lot quieter suddenly. Involuntarily, Kagome shivered. Something strange was going on, and she wasn't quite sure what it was. They must be playing tricks on her or something.

"What are you doing out here?"

Kagome whirled.

Sesshoumaru stood there, eyes cold and expression blank. He was expecting an answer.

"Um..."

"Yes? What are you doing."

"I was just taking a walk," Kagome said in a meek voice.

"Yes, obviously," Sesshoumaru replied coldly.

Staring at him, Kagome raised an eyebrow. "Well, if you knew that, then why did you ask, Sesshoumaru?"

His eyes narrowed. "Watch your tongue, ningen."

Kagome blinked at him. "'Ningen'? Excuse me?"

"You are a ningen," Sesshoumaru replied as if she were stupid. "A human."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Of course, Sesshoumaru. I know that. I am not stupid, despite what your opinion of humans may be."

Sesshoumaru stared at her, silent.

"So is that all you have to say to me?" Kagome folded her arms. She didn't want to deal with this.

"Watch what you say to this Sesshoumaru," he hissed, head tilted up proudly. "You are in no position to speak thus."

"No position? What do you mean?" Kagome asked, confused.

Sesshoumaru's lip curled in scorn. "You are in no position. You are my prisoner."

"Prisoner! You invited me here!"

"Invited?" Sesshoumaru scoffed. "I think not. You are my prisoner."

Kagome stared at him, utterly confused. It had been a confusing day. A very confusing day. And she had gotten up just expecting to go to work. That was it. She was going to go to work, not be invited to Sesshoumaru's house and have a party, only to have him go bi-polar on her and schizophrenic. It must not be her day. "Prisoner. Okay. I'm your prisoner." Kagome gave up. She wasn't going to argue with him, because that, obviously, was not going to get her anything other than a massive migrane which was already brewing behind her eyes. "Now what? What do you do with me, hm? Sesshoumaru? What now?"

"This Sesshoumaru will not be giving you a third warning, Kagome-san," he said lowly, eyes narrowing as he walked over to her. Stopping directly in front of her, he looked down at her. "You are my prisoner, but you shall be treated fairly, even though you are associated with the hannyou."

"So this is about Inu Yasha, is it?" Kagome asked.

"Do NOT say his name!" Sesshoumaru growled, one hand snapping out to grab a lock of her hair.

She flinched.

Sesshoumaru stared down at her. "I ask you not to say his name in my presence. That is one of the things that I require."

Looking up at him slowly, Kagome's eyes widened. "S-sesshoumaru?"

His golden eyes were locked on her.

"Why don't you want me to say his name?"

He gave her no reply, but his fingers were still wrapped in her hair.

"Sesshoumaru?" Kagome was becoming vaguely uncomfortable under his gaze. It was rather un-nerving. He was incredibly gorgeous close up, and realizing this, Kagome blushed and looked at the ground. "Are...are you going to answer my question?"

His face remained expressionless, but she could tell that he was thinking about whether or not she was worthy of an answer. He must have decided that she was because he was opening his mouth to speak. But he wasn't talking. He was moving. Kagome blinked at him, utterly confused by what was going on. "Sesshoum--" She was cut off by lips on hers. Her eyes widened and then slid shut, leaning into his kiss.

He pulled back all of a sudden. "This Sesshoumaru deems it not worthy to answer your question."

She blinked. "Anou..." Her hand hovered in the air, not sure what to do with itself, quite like the rest of Kagome. "Se--"

Sesshoumaru turned to leave.

"H-hey!" Her hand grabbed the sleeve of his kimono. "Where do you think you're going?"

He peered down at her hand like it was an offending insect. "Yes?" He raised an eyebrow imperiously.

"Y-you! You're just going to kiss me and then walk off!" Kagome flushed.

Sesshoumaru said, characteristically, nothing.

"GYAH!" She shrieked in frustration. "You are a lump, Sesshoumaru!" His eyebrow raised again. "A stupid, stiff, lump! I don't know what to do with you! I don't know why you're doing this, I've had a confusing day, and it's horribly, terribly disturbing! Don't do this to me!"

His nose twitched almost imperceptively. "What is it that you're asking for?"

"Answers! That's all I want! Is that too much to ask!" She was nearly hysterical, but Kagome didn't care.

"To which questions."

She growled. "Why did you just kiss me--one. Two: What am I doing here. Three: What do you have against your brother? Four: What's going on?"

At the mention of his brother, Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed slightly. "You are my prisoner here, and this Sesshoumaru may do whatever he likes with you. Thus this Sesshoumaru can kiss you if he would so wish. As for the hannyou... This Sesshoumaru has nothing to say."

Kagome sighed. "And you never even can give straight anwers, can you. But," she warned, her expression turning serious, "if you ever decide to kiss me again, you ask permission first, do you hear?"

Sesshoumaru was back in front of her quickly, his arm wrapping around her, lips on hers, kissing her deeply just to prove that he had to do no such thing.

Kagome pushed at him, but it was weak and she didn't really want to push him away. She couldn't figure out quite why just yet.

Turning from her, he began, for the second time, to walk away. Kagome gasped for air, and once again grabbed his sleeve, pulling him back to her. "Oh no you don't." This time, she kissed him.

This time, Sesshoumaru let her. After all, he rather liked it, as she was good at kissing. But he had other things to do. Sesshoumaru ended this kiss when he was reaching the limits of his air supply. "This Sesshoumaru will see you shortly for dinner."

Kagome was standing very close to him. He smelled good. She nodded, flushed. "Dinner..." She looked up at him. His golden eyes seemed to glow in the twilight. Blushing bright red at the emotion she read in them, she wondered vaguely which dinner they would be having and how much she would or would not mind if there was no differentiation between the two.

"Go back to your room; this Sesshoumaru will be seeing you shortly and he will fetch you himself," Sesshoumaru said, turning once again.

Kagome nodded. No doubt he would "fetch" her himself. She watched him leave and walk off, vanishing into the bushes and trees, before she, herself, turned and walked back to her room. Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru had just kissed her. And she had kissed him. And she had liked it. Kagome blushed.

She entered her room and left the door open to let in the cooling night air. She was warm. Tying her hair back, Kagome sat down on her futon, flopping onto her back. So now that absolutely nothing had been established, where did this leave her? Number one: Sesshoumaru is friendly and everyone is friends. Number two: Sesshoumaru flirts with her. Number three: Sesshoumaru pulls a complete 180 and is incredibly scary (and sexy). Number four: now what? Kagome sighed and flushed again. Why did she kiss him? That was stupid. What a stupid move, Kagome. What about Inu Yasha? There had to be some way of inquiring into that matter without getting slapped. Or interrupted. Or kissed. That was distracting. She shook her head and once again returned to the matter at hand. So, obviously, Sesshoumaru was still flirting with her. A game? If it were a game, it would be quite a twisted game. Granted, Kagome didn't know Sesshoumaru very well, but she knew that he wouldn't play this sort of game. Was it to cover something up? Could everyone else be in on this? No, that didn't make any sort of sense. The whole atmosphere of this Sesshoumaru was different from the one who had told her to put on the kimono. And there was the issue of the candles, two instead of one. So at the end of the day, nothing added up.

"Kagome."

She sat up quickly. Sesshoumaru. "Yes?"

He pushed the door open. "Dinner is ready. You are to come now."

Kagome stood. "What's for dinner?"

Sesshoumaru merely eyed her. "Your hair."

"Yes, what about it?"

"Take it down."

"I'm warm!"

"Take it down."

"I don't want to. I'm warm, and having it up makes me cooler."

His eyes narrowed. "This Sesshoumaru would have you take your hair down."

"Why," she challenged.

"This Sesshoumaru deigns not to answer."

"Then this Kagome deigns not to take her hair down," she retorted, folding her arms.

"If you are warm," Sesshoumaru said lowly "then perhaps you should remove some clothing."

Kagome gaped. "What?!"

"Then take your hair down."

"You're just being ridiculous. Sesshoumaru, what is wrong with you—" She was suddenly in very close proximity to his face. Oh, and she was on her back on the futon. Now when did that happen?

"If you will not comply with this Sesshoumaru's wishes, then I will have to force you to obey." He had loosened her obi and was pushing her kimono down around her shoulders.

"S-sesshoumaru! What are you doing…?" Kagome tried to push him away, but that was about as effective as pushing at a rock cliff and expecting it to move. She fumbled with her kimono, trying to restore its appearance of decency with little effect.

With a low growl, Sesshoumaru pinned her hands above her head. "Silly ningen," he hissed, flipping open the skirt of her kimono. "You are my prisoner. You are mine with which to do what I want."

Absently, she noticed that his armor was off. Excellent, Kagome, just what you need to be focusing on right now, she told herself as she strained against his hold. "Sesshoumaru! What are you doing?! This is completely inappropriate! You shouldn't be doing thi—"

He cut her off with a kiss, quite effectively silencing her. "You talk too much, miko."

Oh, great. He was calling her pet-names. Pet? Maybe that's what she was. How ironic. A pet to a dog-demon. Wonderful. "Am I your pet, Sesshoumaru?" She blurted.

This seemed to confuse him. He blinked at her. "Pet?"

"Yeah, am I your pet? You know; am I just something to keep you amused?" she babbled. When Sesshoumaru's grasp weakened, Kagome slipped her hands from him and used his confusion to flip him over and bolted for a door. Kagome was quite proud of herself that she had made it three steps into the garden before Sesshoumaru had caught her once again.

"You will not do that again," he growled, slapping her again.

Kagome fell back from the force, dazed. She staggered as she got to her feet, loosing her balance and tumbling into the lake. Not before, however, she was able to see Sesshoumaru lunge for her and the world spin.