1In another world at another time, the brilliant light faded and he could see her. Through the green trees her form walked along others, and she was smiling. He hadn't known the girl could smile like that . . .

She seemed so very different, though her scent and her aura were the same. He knew something had taken place . . . something he couldn't even begin to explain. He began to step forward out of the treeline, but something stopped him, and he decided just to watch for now.

They were stopping to make camp, and they were wise, for the sun was falling low on the horizon and the long shadowed fingers of dusk had begun to wisp over the Earth silently, ready to grab whatever they found in the coming night.

There were six of them: The miko, Kagome, and a hanyou who looked a little too familiar for his liking, a taijiya and what seemed to be her pet, a fire-neko, as well as a decidedly amorous monk who seemed to touch the taijiya whenever he could, and finally, a small kitsune, who could have not been older than seven years, attached to the miko's side.

When camp had been set and food had been served, the two women had asked to be excused and they followed an untrodden and winding path to a nearby spring. He wasn't as low as to follow them there and watch as they bathed, but he did listen to them . . .

Cloth rustled and there was a rippling of water . . . then,

"Sango-chan?"

"Ne, Kagome-chan?"

"Have you ever . . . had a dream that seemed so real, and you couldn't tell whether you were awake or dreaming when it ended?"

"Uhm . . . no, I don't think so. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason really," Kagome laughed, waving her hand as if to dismiss the idea entirely. She continued,

"It feels so nice to slow down after such a hard fight." She slid further into the water and caused more ripples to weave through her hair and around her cheeks.

"I still don't think it's too healthy for you to bathe every day Kagome-chan, or sometimes even more than that!" Sango joked.

The two girls laughed and soon settled into a relaxed silence as they let their muscles unwind and their sore feet soak in the mineral-rich pool. Their journey had taken an obvious toll on them and this was their much needed downtime.

After a while, one of them sighed and decided it was probably time to return to camp. The others would surely worry . . . And he waited until he was sure they were decent, until he heard their footsteps returning to the beginning of the path back, before he stepped straight into their heading.

Sango reacted instantly, deftly pulling her hiraikotsu from her back and offering the dangerously sharp end to his person.

"Sesshomaru!" she bit out, taking a protective stance in front of Kagome, who was frozen to her spot, with wide and scared eyes . . . But there was something deeper in them, something that told him that she somehow understood something that only they knew of, something she recognized.

Sesshomaru lost himself in her eyes and his mind's eye played scenes, memories, back to him. Memories slowly flooded his brain and suddenly Sesshomaru remembered himself and who he was, and who they were, and the implications that would arise at his behavior and entrance. His brow knitted together and he took a step forward, holding his hand out at the taijiya. A sickly green miasma seeped from his fingertips and into Sango's unprotected lungs. She fainted.

Two more steps and he was in front of the miko, another step, and half another more, and he was too close. She had to tilt her head up just to meet his eyes. From so close he could see her trembling, and he could taste her fear, her curiosity.

"You . . . you know, don't you . . . " Her voice was a whisper.

"What happened, Kagome," his was equally silent.

She looked as if she were just as lost as he.

"It wasn't just a dream, was it?"

Sesshomaru did not speak for some minutes.

"I. . . do not know what happened . . . but I also do not believe it was a mere dream . . . "

A far away voice yelled, sounding impatient.

"Kagome! Sango! Aren't you two done yet?!"

Sesshomaru turned sharply and he blocked her view of the road she was supposed to be taking back to camp.

He paused,

"I will come for you again, do not fear me . . . We have much to discuss, Kagome."

And only then did he turn his head to look at her one last time before he fled.

Sango stirred, as if the lack of his presence were the exact cure to the poison in her blood. She got back to her feet, holding her head.

"What . . . happened? Kagome?"

A quick lie was all she needed, but she hated doing it.

"Oh! You fainted, I guess the water was a little too hot, ne?"

Kagome smiled as if nothing other than that had happened and hooked Sango's arm over her own shoulder and helped her friend back to camp . . .

But not before glancing back at the spot where Sesshomaru had stood just seconds before. She tried to forget about the odd, butterfly emotions that his eyes burned into her chest when he gave her one last look goodbye, and made her way back to the group.