A/N SORRY THIS TOOK ME SO LONG TO GET OUT! I moved into a new place and through all the packing, moving, and unpacking, I completely spaced! Sorry! Hope you enjoy this!

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"Inuyasha!" She strode forward quickly, following the white head of hair that seemed intent upon eluding her. "Inuyasha, wait! Where are we going?"

She was confused, he had never acted like this before and she wondered if something terrible had happened. She had been sitting at camp, staring into the fire while the others slept when she looked up to see Inuyasha staring in at her from the edge of the forest. He had told her to follow him, and while no explanation had been given she trusted that it was important and offered no protest as she rose to follow.

But now she was becoming wary, they were much too far from camp and the hanyou showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. As she looked around she saw that the trees were too thick to see a clear path to where he was taking her, which only caused her worries to increase.

Abruptly he stopped though he did not turn to face her.

She waited for a few moments hoping that some explanation would be given for their quick departure from the others. But no answers were forthcoming, instead he started to laugh.

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Kagome awoke, startled and disoriented, knowing nothing about where she was and how she got there. She felt that she was on something soft, maybe a blanket or grass, but her pounding heart distracted her from looking around her to figure out where she was. Instead she rolled over and buried her face into the overly large kimono she was wrapped in and curled up into the tightest ball she could manage. The position brought her some comfort, closing in the world around her until all she knew was the dark space between her ribcage and her knees.

She always had this dream and always she woke up in the same manner. It terrified her to think of what happened next and still she couldn't figure out exactly what had occurred. She knew it was terrible. That it led to where she was now, but the thought of looking back and figuring it out caused her to mentally run in fear.

It wasn't until she had calmed somewhat that she realized the soft silk of the garment she was laying on was not the same as the tattered cloth she had covered herself with for months. She opened her eyes slowly, warily, before lifting her head from its cradle and looking around at the bright green grass and the thick dark brown trunks of the trees surrounding her.

This was not the same place.

She was free.

But how?

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Sesshomaru stared straight ahead and out into the forest surrounding the clearing where he was guarding the miko. He had placed himself in a spot where she would have to fully turn in order to see him as he didn't wish to completely startle her when she awoke. The last time he had seen her and her group they were on better terms, but they weren't exactly friendly. He assumed that her first reaction to his presence would be one of fear as he figured that she would be extremely disoriented when she woke.

Unfortunately his resting place had put her form in his direct eyesight and every few seconds his gaze would travel back to her slumbering form. He was still trying to figure out how she had ended up at the mercy of the Northern Lord. While the panther demon was not particularly clever, his capture of the miko indicated some deviousness on his part.

Either the capture had been by coincidence or it had been planned.

Neither option sat well with the Daiyoukai.

His theories ranged from the miko being stupid enough to wander off on her own or she was lured from her group by either friend or foe. He could not be sure of any of his guesses until the girl awoke and was able to account for her condition personally.

Even as he was thinking about these possibilities his instincts were screaming that there was something more going on behind this whole affair. He could not say what but he had learned that his instincts were rarely wrong and that they should be heeded in all conditions.

His gaze quickly shifted to the miko as he heard her stir from her sleep. She was muttering nonsense about Inuyasha and trees when she awoke and did the most peculiar thing. She huddled in on herself, curling up as a child would after a terrible nightmare and whether the motion was for protection or comfort the Lord could not tell. He watched her form tremble and decided it would be best for her to relax on her own as his presence would probably terrify her more in her current state.

He waited patiently until her muscles relaxed and she moved her head to gaze out at the vegetation covering the land they were currently using. He stayed silent as she sat up and gazed around in wonder, slowly turning her head from side to side as if in disbelief.

He figured this would be the best time to announce his presence. Standing, he quietly made his way until he was a few feet behind her. He waited for her to settle before speaking.

"Miko." She whirled around so fast that she toppled over in her attempts to see who was speaking. Straightening, she gazed at him in the same wonder that he had seen only moments before but said nothing. "Miko, this Sesshomaru released you from your imprisonment." He watched the emotions flow across her face openly; curiosity, fear, terror, relief, and once again hope.

But still she did not speak.

"Miko, tell this Sesshomaru how you came to be in such a state." He leveled his gaze at her, taking in her too thin frame and taught skin where there had once been a healthy amount of flesh. She shrugged but still did not say anything. He hid his surprise and merely blinked at her, waiting for some sort of explanation beyond the physical motion.

Seeing that none was forthcoming he motioned with his hand toward the food that he had placed beside her. He had hunted and prepared the rabbit so that she would have food when she woke in order to correct that malnourishment that her body had been subjected to for obviously quite some time.

She turned her head towards the meal and quickly turned her gaze back to him and once again giving him that smile that had him wondering about her sanity. She nodded her head once and picked up the spitted rabbit before delicately tearing off a piece of the meat and bringing it to her mouth. She sucked the juices from the cooked meat before popping the object into her mouth and chewing slowly.

He watched her swallow and then immediately roll to empty her stomach onto the cool grass. Apparently her body had been without substantial food for such a long time that it was rejecting anything that she sought to eat. He mentally sighed; this was going to take more work than he had previously anticipated.

Making a quick decision that he refused to analyze he knelt beside her prone form and pulled her back into a sitting position. He tore a piece from the rabbit, smaller than the one that she had consumed, and held it to her lips. After a slight hesitation she opened her mouth and he placed the meat inside and watched her chew slowly and then swallow. Waiting a few moments until he was sure she would not again reject the food, he tore another piece from the carcass and waited for her to accept the morcel. He continued this process until he decided that she had had enough to eat without overdoing it.

Standing and moving away from the girl he still refused to analyze his actions as he understood they were severely out of character for him. Sesshomaru glanced back to the girl and watched as she slowly stood on shaky legs before looking up at him in question.

"Come, miko. We must depart." Gracefully he began to walk forward at a pace that the weakened girl could keep up with. She needed to regain her strength or she would never endure the trials that were to come, trials in which she must prevail if the world was to survive.

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A/N SO…..tell me what you think, I know it's super short but I'm getting there!