At a muffled "Enter" from within, the doctor patted her shoulder reassuringly and Kagome stepped forward, the door opening as she neared it.

The commander was standing behind a desk in a mostly-grey office. Turning to greet her, he gestured to the chair on the far side of his desk, and she sat warily.

"Tea? Coffee?" he asked pleasantly, walking over to a small alcove carved into the wall.

"Green tea would be lovely, thank you," Kagome replied with all the courtesy she could muster.

He repeated her request to the replicator, then there was a buzzing sound and a steaming cup flickered into view. He ordered a drink with a name she didn't recognize for himself, set the mug of fragrant tea in front of her, and settled himself opposite her, a cup of what smelled like coffee and chicory in his own hands. She looked at the cup for a moment, belatedly thinking that she should be careful about what she ingested – but then again, they could have killed her several times over. They had no real reason to poison or drug her. Hoping her host would take her action as a gesture of trust, she met his eyes and took a deliberate sip of the steaming liquid.

"Now, then," he started, a thin veneer of friendliness not undermining the quiet authority in his voice. "My name is Benjamin Sisko, and I'm the commander of Deep Space Nine. Remind me – what is your name?"

"Higurashi Kagome." That strange hollowness hadn't left her voice; she almost didn't recognize the sound.

He nodded. "Kagome – forgive me; would you prefer I called you Higurashi, or Ms.—?" He trailed off, leaving an open invitation for her to correct him.

She was somehow touched that he cared. "Kagome's fine. It's my given name."

He nodded again, seeming satisfied. "Very well, then, Kagome. Why don't you start from the beginning, and tell me how it was that you came to be on an exploding Jem'Hadar warship in the Alpha Quadrant?"

"Half of what you just said is gibberish to me," she murmured, wrapping both hands around her mug of tea as though to warm them, though the room wasn't cold. She looked up at the ceiling for a long moment before drawing a deep breath and letting it out slowly. The emptiness in her heart was consuming her. Now that Sesshoumaru was gone, what difference did it make what they knew?

"All right," she started, coming to her decision. "I'm going to tell you the truth."

Though her opening words were halting and shaky, Kagome soon settled into her story.

Perhaps a week before, she and Sesshoumaru were kidnapped from their home outside Tokyo. A swarm of strange beings with scaly grey faces and spiny jaws had come to their home while Sesshoumaru and the eldest children were away; while Kagome was inside, these strangers captured their youngest child, Seiichi, who had been playing outside. Kagome ran outside to fight them, killing several; Sesshoumaru returned almost immediately, and the two of them faced off against the intruders. Before they could as strike a single blow, though, they were beamed onto a foreign ship into holding cells, without their child. Days and nights merged together; there was no telling how long they'd been imprisoned. Perhaps a week? Perhaps two? Not long before she found herself on Deep Space Nine, though, there was an explosion somewhere on the ship. From what Kagome could tell, it wasn't an attack; it didn't feel like a weapon firing on them, but rather like something in the inner core of the ship had malfunctioned. Other things soon began to spark and explode, and their cell filled with smoke. Almost immediately, a dark-haired male with purple eyes and large ridged ears joined to his head had burst into their cell and made as if to grab Kagome. Sesshoumaru had tried to protect her – but it was a set-up. As he stepped in front of her, he was shocked with a strong beam of some kind of energy, incapacitated (though left conscious), and dragged away. Kagome was locked away again, and moments later was beamed onto the station where she was currently being held.

When she'd finished speaking, the commander let out a long, slow exhale and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he said finally, his voice low and sincere. "The beings who kidnapped you are an enemy we've only just begun to fight. They're called Jem'Hadar, and they are the henchmen for the greatest threat the Alpha Quadrant has faced since the Borg – the Dominion. It's extremely disturbing to hear that they have gone so far as to raid Earth."

Kagome nodded. The emptiness in her chest had abated a bit while she was telling the story, reliving the time when she and Sesshoumaru had faced their adversaries side by side; now that the story was over, the reality of her situation had brought that gnawing ache back in full force.

"Why," she started, clearing her throat when she heard how her voice was trembling. "Why would they want me and Sesshoumaru?"

He shook his head. "I can't say," he said quietly, squinting out the window. After a moment's silence, he turned to meet her eyes again.

"Perhaps, though, I could begin to speculate on that question when you answer another one for me. Doctor Bashir mentioned in his report that while you appear to be human, the rate at which your cells age and the speed with which you heal is – extraordinary, to say the least. Are you human?" Kagome's eyes widened; the question had taken her by surprise, but she felt foolish for not having expected it. Of course they didn't know about youkai; few did.

"Mostly," she answered. "I was born human, and aged like a human until I was twenty-three. When I mated Sesshoumaru, I was given some of youki ... er, his spiritual energy, and I began to age like him. I'm nearly nine hundred years old." She paused for a moment to do some quick internal math, ignoring the shock on the commander's face, then nodded absently. "That's right, I'm ... 887. Give or take a couple years; it's easy to get confused. Anyway, as you see, haven't noticeably aged more than five or ten years since I mated. I'm still in my prime, as was my mate."

"Your ... mate was not human."

"No. He was youkai; inuyoukai, to be precise. Demon is the conventional translation, though we prefer the Japanese term since it has less Christian baggage. Sesshoumaru is—was a dog demon. He was nearing a millennium of age when we mated, over 850 years ago."

"But you said you were both from Earth?" The commander's eyes were sharp, his tone demanding. Kagome almost smiled – almost. He reminded her of Inuyasha, who hated not knowing what was going on. And near-immortal non-extraterrestrials were a pretty big shock to most people who were raised on Earth.

"That's right. My mate's people have kept themselves mostly hidden since humans began to take over; we keep ourselves more or less separate from human politics and events, though of course we are frequently affected by them." She paused for a moment, wondering whether or not she was stepping on a mine. Taking a deep breath, she asked the question that she hoped wouldn't get her thrown back into a holding cell.

"Are you allies of the Federation?"

The commander blinked at her for a moment, then burst into laughter. She was still staring, utterly perplexed, when he regained control of his features. A corner of his mouth twitching, he asked, "You don't recognize my uniform?"

She shook her head, still confused.

"This is the uniform of Starfleet. You're on a Federation base."

Kagome's shoulders sagged in relief, and she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "We have had an alliance with the Federation for nearly two hundred years," she said softly, giving him her best approximation of a smile. "It's mostly mutual non-interference; youkai are strongly territorial, and don't have much interest in the goings-on outside their own borders. But if Earth were in danger, we would help to protect it. My mate was the strongest warrior in several millennia, of any species. He could defeat an army on his own – and has, on a number of occasions. Human and youkai both. The people who captured us – they must have known, that's why they used me and our pups – our children, rather – to trap him." Her voice cracked. She shut her jaw resolutely and turned unseeing eyes on the wall. His face. His anger. His love. Sesshoumaru.

Something snapped inside her chest. Her eyes hard, her mouth set in a grim line, she turned to face the commander again. "If you will allow me to, I will stay and fight the Dominion with you."

For a moment, Sisko eyed her appraisingly. Kagome could feel the weight of his skepticism, and had to concentrate hard to keep from clenching her jaw in desperation.

"While I freely admit to knowing little about the political situation, I have a number of things I can offer you," she started, hoping to pique his interest before he outright refused her. It seemed to work; he was listening. She held up one finger. "One: despite my appearance, I am a warrior, and I've spent nearly a millennium honing my combat skills against enemies much stronger and faster than humans." She brought up another finger. "Two: I am a miko; I was born with holy powers. The Jem'Hadar have spiritual energy much like youki, the energy that youkai are born with – and unlike youkai, they can't cloak it. Even when they are invisible to the eye, I can see them, and I have the power to destroy them." His eyes had narrowed; he was definitely listening. She brought up a third finger. "Three. They killed my mate." There was nothing more to be said on that point; her resolve was absolute.

Sisko steepled his fingers and closed his eyes, considering her words. Her jaw set defiantly, Kagome waited.

Finally, Sisko nodded, though not without some hesitation. "Very well," he said slowly. "I'm sure you'll understand that I can't immediately trust you with sensitive missions—" He waited until she nodded, then continued, "—but I believe that you are telling the truth, and will welcome your assistance in the upcoming war." He met her eyes, and said with careful deliberation, "Welcome to Deep Space Nine, ally."

She inclined her head regally, though smiling seemed far too difficult to consider at the moment. "Thank you for your welcome. If there is any way I can support your efforts against the Dominion, you have but to ask."

Kagome hesitated, but decided that she couldn't put off asking any longer. "Now that we each know where the other stands," she started, watching as Sisko's expression went wary again, "I wonder if I can ask a favor." The commander inclined his head, indicating that she should continue. "My children only know that my mate and I were abducted. If I may use your communication system, I would like to contact them; they should be informed both that I am safe and that their father has been killed." Her heart filled with dread at the thought of breaking the news to them; they would be heartbroken. And she wouldn't be there to comfort them.

Sisko's expression cleared, and he nodded. "Of course. I will contact the Federation base in Tokyo; they will get in touch with your children and arrange a time for the meeting. I or another officer will need to be present for security reasons; is that acceptable?" Kagome nodded; she had expected something like that. He pulled up a schedule on the low screen that protruded from his desk. "How is ... 14:00 tomorrow?"

Kagome nodded, idly wondering how in the world she could have any conflicts in her schedule when she was practically a captive on a foreign star base; she kept those thoughts to herself, though, as he tapped at the schedule, reserving a viewscreen for her. That finished, Sisko rose and escorted her to the door of his office.

Just as she was about to leave, Kagome turned, determination glittering in her blue eyes. "Thank you," she whispered, startling him with her vehemence.

He blinked, then his expression settled back into an understanding calm. "His death will be avenged," he promised in a low voice. Kagome nodded fiercely and strode out of his office with her head high, leaving him to stare after her in bemusement.