DISCLAIMER: Still don't own!


Chapter Three


The Lord of the Western Lands was definitely not in a good mood.

As he stalked nearer, Kagome continued to backpedal, her mind racing as she tried to think of a way to defuse the situation.

"Sesshoumaru…sama," she began, hastily tacking on the honorific as she raised her hands in supplication, "I'm—really—sorry for showing up late again. I, uh…oomph!"

Kagome smacked the ground hard, her legs flying out from under her after she'd tripped over something solid lurking in the undergrowth. Wincing slightly, she rubbed her screaming backside, momentarily forgetting the enraged daiyoukai who was closing in on her, radiating certain death.

A startled gasp escaped her as Sesshoumaru hauled her up by the front of her jacket. Kagome's hands flew to his wrist, blue eyes wide with panic as they met his furious stare.

"Se-Sesshoumaru—" she tried again, before his voice cut hers off in a deadly whisper.

"Who," the daiyoukai demanded, pulling her closer, "is he?"

Kagome gaped. "What…?"

"Answer me."

Mere inches separated his face from hers. Kagome could see the crimson leaching steadily into his gaze, his features twisted in an expression of pure rage. The only other time she'd seen him look this unhinged had been several days ago, when he'd flung her roughly to the ground at the end of one of their sessions. She'd been almost as clueless then as she was now.

Almost.

"Please," she choked, looking up at him desperately, "I…I have no idea what you're talking about!"

His eyes bore into hers like hot knives. Yet the skin beneath her clammy fingers was surprisingly cool.

It took every ounce of courage Kagome possessed not to look away. Ill-equipped as she felt for a staring contest with Sesshoumaru of all people, some instinct told her to keep staring back at him like her life depended on it.

Maybe, she thought a tad bit hysterically, it does.

Just as her eyes began to water beneath the strain, she saw the redness in his own start to fade. His grip on her, however, didn't relax in the slightest.

"The human who covered you in his scent," Sesshoumaru rephrased tersely. His golden eyes lowered, lingering on her lips. "What is he to you?"

Kagome squirmed, unnerved by the force and focus of his gaze. Her mouth ran dry as she struggled to formulate a coherent thought—let alone an answer to his unfathomable question.

Why is he acting this way? she wondered wildly. Is he…is he talking about Hojo…?

"He…" Kagome said, the word coming out somewhat strangled, "he's just a boy I know from back home."

It was a vague answer, but she prayed it would suffice. As always, though, Kagome's prayers seemed to fall on deaf ears.

"Is that so," he stated, his words an icy whisper on her lips.

Kagome stumbled back as he suddenly released her.

His tone wasn't questioning. In fact, he sounded almost bored—but Kagome wasn't fooled. She'd spent enough time in the daiyoukai's company to learn the subtle shades of his displeasure. An almost imperceptible tightening of the jaw. A lightning flash in the mirrored surface of his eyes. A pale shadow darkening his features, throwing their razor sharpness into stark relief.

Intimidating as it was, this was nonetheless familiar territory. Before her was the Sesshoumaru she'd known for months. Cold and unreachable, calculating and perfectly controlled. In all things, including his anger.

A mask, a small voice whispered knowingly. If Kagome looked hard enough, she could see the cracks in it even now.

Yet she suppressed that knowledge along with the shiver that accompanied it and allowed herself to pretend that he was still the same. Wasn't there some saying about 'the devil you know…'?

"And where, exactly, is your home, miko?"

The question carried with it the faintest hint of accusation. Deep yellow eyes swept over her form, taking in the sight of her loafers and blue jeans, the cut of her white cotton blouse and brown leather jacket—both of which she now attempted to straighten, her fingers a little fidgety under the scrutiny of his eerily reflective gaze.

"I've often wondered." There was a distinct edge to his seemingly quiet speculation.

Still, Kagome felt more confident before him now than she had earlier this evening. She crossed her arms over her chest, looking at him stubbornly.

"My home," she answered, "is very far away from here."

And that's all you need to know, she thought warily.

Revealing the secret of her time travels to her friends in Sengoku Jidai was one thing. They were her trusted companions, and most of them were human, besides. Morbid as it was, the fact remained that they'd all be dead long before her time. Sesshoumaru, on the other hand, was an immortal youkai, and far from friendly. He could very well live to see the Modern Era, and if she let it slip now that she was from the future, who knew what kind of havoc that could wreak on the order of the universe?

This secret was more important than satisfying the curiosity of one powerful demon. It was more important the stab of fear that pierced Kagome at Sesshoumaru's measured approach. It was more important than her very life, than all the lives of her friends put together.

More important, even, than seeing to the end of the Shikon Jewel.

The lines of her face betrayed this importance, and though Kagome could not possibly know it, she bore a stronger resemblance to Midoriko in that one look than Kikyou ever had.

And so when Sesshoumaru stepped up to her, gold eyes glaring as he towered over her by almost a foot, Kagome held her ground.

"Take me there," he said. It was clearly not a request.

Yet Kagome boldly raised her chin.

"No," she replied, blue eyes glinting like chips of glass, "it's not a place where you can go."

At least, Kagome mused, thinking suddenly of his brother' s ability to traverse the well, I hope not.

Apparently, this had been the wrong thing to say.

Clawed fingers shot out, clamping around her upper arm like iron bands. Kagome flinched, gritting her teeth against the pain. Futilely, she attempted to wrench her arm away, Sesshoumaru's grip merely tightening in response. Kagome stilled as she felt the tips of his claws biting through the supple leather of her jacket.

"This Sesshoumaru," he stated, a low, threatening rumble in his voice, "goes wherever he pleases, human."

Maybe it was bravery. Maybe it was stubborn pride or reckless abandon or the outcome of almost a solid year of disappointment and frustration. Maybe it was simply the loathing in the word "human."

Whatever it was, it gave Kagome the wherewithal to crane back her neck, look him squarely in the eye, and say, with as much steel as she could muster:

"I said, no."


It was rare that the daiyoukai of the Western Lands found himself at a loss.

He could count on one hand the number of humans before her who had dared to so openly defy him.

All of them, of course, were dead.

Yet this girl had defied him at every turn. Since the day he'd first encountered her, glaring up at him from Inuyasha's side, she had been nothing but insolent. In her words, in her actions—as if she lacked the basic sense of self-preservation that kept all other humans in check in his presence.

He thought of Rin, a mere child, and how quick she was to acquiesce to his slightest command. She behaved waywardly on occasion, but such acts, he knew, were never an attempt to flout his authority. They were borne from Rin's youthful curiosity and, more often than not, from her deep affection for Sesshoumaru himself. As such, he found her disobedience amusing rather than insulting.

But the miko was no child. He was unpleasantly reminded of this fact every time he laid eyes on her. The lack of respect she showed him could not be attributed to the ignorance of youth or, he thought acidly, to any sort of misguided affection on her part. There was nothing amusing about her willfulness, and nothing to excuse it.

It was insane, preposterous even, the way she behaved toward him. Perhaps the only thing more absurd than her defiance was his tolerance of it. And yet, here they stood.

"I should kill you," he said to her in a low voice, the words tasting bitter in his mouth.

I should have killed you long ago.

He could smell her apprehension, feel the rush of her blood in her veins. He heard the hitch in her breath, the waver in her voice even as she curled her hand into an unsteady fist at her side.

"Go ahead, then, if that's what you want," she responded, the air around them stirring faintly, stinging like the magic buried in his wasted arm. "I won't reveal anything else to you about my home."

It was there again, in the gleam of her eyes. That same, inscrutable look which had sealed his fate months ago in the resting place of his father. How often had he summoned it to mind in the days thereafter? An image which had festered, blossoming into obsession. A relentless torment. A dark and secret pleasure.

Dangerous—yet somehow those large expressive eyes of hers had failed to perceive it. She was as oblivious to her effect on him as she was to her own spiritual power, humming in the stillness around them. His gaze fell, dwelling on the creamy stretch of skin below her jaw. How easy it would be, to accept her challenge, to wrap his fingers around her delicate throat and squeeze until the light faded from her infuriating eyes. Then he thought of how she'd managed to survive the deluge of his poison in the demon graveyard, to emerge relatively unscathed from every attack he'd thrown at her and Inuyasha ever since, and suddenly, Sesshoumaru wasn't so sure.

It seemed there was little he could be sure of, wherever this wretched girl was concerned.

"Very well," he said with no particular inflection, golden eyes flicking to blue as his fingers relinquished their hold. "You may keep your precious secrets, priestess."

Clutching at her freed arm, the miko blinked at him in surprise. "Huh?"

She regarded him inquisitively, dark glossy hair flowing down her left shoulder as she tilted her head to the side. Her look was far more appraising than Sesshoumaru liked. The corner of his jaw lifted as he stepped back, somewhat more at ease with those few extra inches of space between them.

"After all," he began again smoothly, smirking a little as he started to turn away, "I doubt you have anything of interest to hide."

He could almost feel the heat of her glare. His smirk deepened as he took a few steps toward the edge of the forest.

"Wait a second!"

Sesshoumaru paused, glancing back at her coolly. One brow arched in question.

She had been glaring at him, but his cold regard effectively damped the fire in her gaze. He watched as she deflated, her cheeks still flushed in a manner he found entirely too appealing.

"Um…" she said hesitantly, her eyes flitting to his empty sleeve, "what about your arm? Didn't you want me to work on the seal tonight?"

"Tomorrow, perhaps," Sesshoumaru answered in a bored tone, running his claws idly through the long silky strands of his hair. "See to it that you bathe in the meantime, miko. The smell of that human offends me."

Flicking his hair over his shoulder, Sesshoumaru continued on his way, leaving the girl there to seethe. The sun would rise soon. Most of the youkai who preyed upon human flesh would be returning to their lairs to slumber. He trusted the priestess had enough sense to reach the village now without incident.

Sesshoumaru frowned as he moved through the trees. On a whim, he doubled back in a sweeping circle, following the miko's fading scent to the edge of a small clearing. To his right stood Goshinboku, the tree to which Inuyasha had been confined for almost half a century. A small gash remained where the dead priestess's arrow had pierced the aged bark.

The miko's trail continued ahead of him, ending at an old, dried-up well in the center of the clearing. The Bone-Eater's Well, he seemed to recall. Indeed, as he peered past the mass of vines covering the ledge, he discerned a collection of bones—both human and youkai—littering the dusty bottom.

Sesshoumaru vaulted the ledge, landing lightly amidst the scattered remains. He trailed his claws over the banked dirt and stone as his senses extended outward. There was an echo of magic in this place, a blend of reiki and youki alike. Instantly, the daiyoukai was reminded of the Shikon no Tama.

Perhaps the magic of this well is linked to that of the Jewel, he considered, eyes narrowing. But what is the nature of its power?

The girl's scent vanished inexplicably beneath his feet. If this well was in fact a portal, as Sesshoumaru suspected, it showed no sign of granting him passage. The magic remained dormant; the way forward, steadfastly barred.

Poisoned fingertips tips curled, carving trenches in a hunk of solid stone. How irritating.

Sesshoumaru crouched, leaping to the top in a single spring. Shaking the dust from his pelt, he eyed the wooden ledge, contemplating the well and its traveler. That girl was as much a mystery to him now as she had ever been. The Bone-Eater's Well was yet another infuriating riddle of hers, another tantalizing unknown.

Three days had not been enough time for him to come to terms with her. Reluctantly, Sesshoumaru conceded that he may never understand what she was or why her effect on him was so profound.

How effortlessly she brought him to the edge of reason. When he'd seen that bull-faced youkai pin her to the ground, stinking of blood and arousal, he had lashed out instinctively, whips of pure energy materializing at his fingertips, slicing through bone and sinew as easily as air—impotent, in comparison with the white-hot fury that had flared within him when he'd detected another male scent beneath that of the dead youkai.

If she had confirmed his suspicions, if she had looked away even once…

Sesshoumaru's gaze hardened, his hand clenching into a fist. He could not say what he might have done in that moment. So much seemed uncertain. Yet one thing he knew.

This, he vowed.

Golden eyes lifted, glaring up at the cold, pitiless moon.

I will not become my father.


Hair still damp from her trip to the stream, Kagome plopped down on Granny Kaede's porch step and basked in the warmth of the sun. Deft fingers sifted through the dark, heavy strands, loosening tangles, while Kagome watched the villagers go about their morning activities. Seeing her, a few of them bowed briefly, though she had to wonder if those bows were really intended for her.

With her own clothes drying on a rack, Kaede had lent Kagome her old miko's garb to wear in the meantime. Kagome had brought a few extra outfits, but she knew her modern clothes made the villagers uncomfortable. Besides, she kind of liked the white kimono shirt, with its long flowing furisode, and the bright red hakama. The only things she wasn't too keen on were the comparisons such an outfit inevitably drew.

Decked out in the traditional attire of a Shinto priestess, Kagome was a dead-ringer for Kikyou. Of course, her eyes were grayish blue instead of brown, her hair a little thicker and wavier than Kikyou's sleek, straight tresses, but even from a short distance, these differences were easily overlooked.

Kagome sighed. She stretched out her legs, toes peeping out from under the hem of her hakama. They wiggled, shiny pink nail polish reflecting the rays of the sun.

Way cuter than Kikyou's, Kagome thought smugly.

There was a rustle behind her. Kagome turned to see Granny Kaede emerging from her hut, the heavy noren curtain swinging shut in the doorway. In her hands was a wooden short bow, identical to the one Kagome had unwittingly abandoned yesterday.

"Thought I heard ye return," the old lady greeted gruffly. Most people said 'hello', but not Kaede. She nodded brusquely toward the woods in the distance. "At the edge of yon forest, demon crows have come to roost." The bow dropped into Kagome's lap. "A fine opportunity, methinks, to test thy skill."

Bow in hand, Kagome donned her wooden sandals and followed Kaede to the outskirts of the village, where the trees of Inuyasha's Forest began to thicken. Just as the old priestess had described it, a flock of crow youkai had taken up residence among the heavy boughs of an ancient oak. The tree presided over a small vegetable garden, the owners of which stood a good distance back, eyeing the demons warily. The young wife in particular had a forbidding expression on her face as she clasped her toddler's pudgy fingers in her own.

Unlike the birds they resembled, these crows had a taste for human flesh.

"Miko-sama!" the husband cried in relief as he saw them approach. He ran over, almost falling on his face when he dropped into a bow. "Thank you for coming!"

"No thanks needed," Kaede grunted, not unkindly. "Take ye and the others inside, now, Akito. We shall rid ye of these accursed crows."

The young man nodded, topknot bobbing enthusiastically. "Of course, Kaede-sama. Right away!"

Akito hurried over to his wife and daughter and led them to a hut near the garden's edge. When they were safely inside, Kaede fixed Kagome with a grave look.

"Prepare thyself, child." The old woman shifted, leaning a bit more heavily on her walking stick. "They sense the presence of the Jewel."

But Kagome didn't need Granny Kaede to clue her in on that. Twenty or so triplets of blood red eyes were riveted on the spot just below her neck, where a small chunk of the Shikon no Tama hung suspended from a fine silver chain. During her visit home, Kagome had stored their small cache of Jewel fragments in a pouch in her backpack, but here in the youkai-filled past, she had learned to be more careful, and the shards scarcely left her person.

After all, hadn't it been a demon crow just like these, whose theft of the Jewel had started all this trouble in the first place?

"Yeah," Kagome said, a determined glint in her eye as she nocked an arrow and drew the bowstring back past her cheek, "I'm ready."

It's payback time, birdbrains.

Kagome took careful aim, the tip of her arrow glowing faintly pink. Eyes narrowed in concentration, she loosed her fingers and let the arrow fly—

—straight into a tree branch above her target's head.

"Oops…" she muttered, fumbling for another arrow. At her side, Kaede gave a weary sigh.

All along the ancient boughs, dark wings began to ruffle. As one, the flock of demons took to sky, temporarily eclipsing the sun. Kagome's next arrow met its mark, but the bird youkai were on them an instant later, swooping and screeching—a swirling confusion of sharp talons and serrated beaks.

Kaede had driven her stick into the ground to create a barrier, and the demons seared as they crashed against the dome of light, the smell of charred feathers soon choking the air. Coughing a little, Kagome readied her bow, struggling to find a decent shot. The demons were moving almost too fast for her eyes to follow, let alone her hands.

Focus, miko, a stern voice echoed in her mind. It took Kagome a moment to realize that it wasn't her own.

She closed her eyes, and suddenly, she was there again, in that familiar place of calm. Within her, reiki ebbed and flowed like an ocean tide, and she drew upon it, using her magic to guide the blazing arrowhead straight into her enemy's tiny black heart. Kagome's eyes flew open as the crow fell with a bloodcurdling shriek, the lower half of its body blasted away.

"Aye, that's it!" Kaede shouted, sweat beginning to bead on her wrinkled brow. "Now, see ye to the rest!"

Kagome tapped into the well of her power again, felling a demon with every shot. She'd dispatched about half the crows when the remaining ones began to whirl away. Yet before Kagome could smile in triumph, a high-pitched scream pierced the air.

"Kimiko!"

Kagome spun around, taking in the whole scene behind her in one panicked glance. There was the husband, standing frozen in the doorway, an expression of mute terror on his face; the young woman, stumbling through the muddy field, arms outstretched and wailing hysterically; the little girl, stranded just beyond reach, her eyes wide with wonder as she approached the shining bubble of Kaede's barrier on toddling footsteps. And there were the crows—not retreating as Kagome had thought, but circling around, careening toward this newer, easier target.

There was no time to fire ten arrows—there was barely time to fire one. Kagome drew back so fast she thought the string might snap, flinging open the floodgates of her psyche as she never had before. The arrow flared like a miniature sun, a swathe of brilliant light streaking behind it as it intercepted the vicious crows, obliterating the entire flock in a single, fiery sweep.

Kagome collapsed to her knees in the damp earth, the bow sliding weakly from her grasp. Kaede let her rest there for a few minutes before helping her to her feet.

"Ye did well, child," the old priestess said, wrapping Kagome's arm around her shoulders, a thoughtful frown creasing her weathered face. "Well, indeed…"

Together, they walked over to the middle of the garden, where the young woman knelt sobbing as she clutched her daughter Kimiko to her chest. Blank-faced and pale, Akito stood off to the side, apparently still recovering from his shock. Kagome figured that witnessing your daughter almost get torn apart by a flock of bloodthirsty demons could have that effect on a man.

"I only turned my back on Kimi for a moment, and she was gone," Akito's wife said, raising her tearstained face. A few dark strands of hair had escaped from the red kerchief covering her head. "But you… " She gazed at Kagome in something like awe. "I had not believed the tales were true, but after seeing such power firsthand…" She trailed off, biting her lip as she bowed her head over Kimiko's dark pigtails. "…Thank you, Kikyou-sama. We are forever in your debt."

Kaede stiffened, but Kagome was too tired to take offense. She just sighed.

"No problem."

Having her abilities mistaken for Kikyou's legendary strength hardly seemed like something to complain about, anyway.

As the pair of priestesses slowly made their way back to the village, a strained silence hung between them. Kagome kept feeling like Kaede was glancing at her out of the corner of her eye, although judging by the patch that covered it, this seemed pretty unlikely.

"Thy skills have improved," the elderly miko finally commented as they sat down to eat lunch in her hut. "That last arrow ye fired was some sight."

"…thanks," Kagome mumbled past a mouthful of stew.

There seemed to something on Kaede's mind, something that had been bothering her since the end of their excursion to the edge of town. Kagome wished she'd just spit it out already, but the words that left the old miko's mouth moments later had her quickly regretting that wish.

"Has my sister been instructing ye?"

Kagome set her wooden bowl down with a clatter.

"No," she bit out, blue eyes staring sullenly at her lap.

The idea of training with Kikyou galled Kagome to the core. She spent as little time around the dead priestess as she possibly could. That woman had nearly stolen her soul! Not to mention the damage she'd done to her self-esteem…

But Kagome had no right to take this out on Kaede. It only made sense that she'd be curious about what had prompted Kagome's sudden turnabout in skill. However, admitting the truth—that she'd been guided by the words of her inner Sesshoumaru—would just sound weird. And, probably, insane.

"No, it's just that, well…" She looked up at Kaede, a crooked smile pulling at her lips. "I guess I finally took your advice to heart and learned how to change my perspective."

"Perspective, ye say…" Kaede muttered. Her aged brows drew together in consternation.

Kagome's smile faltered. "You know, all that stuff you told me about 'becoming the arrow'…?"

"Aye, that," her elder remembered with a wave. "'Twas just some fancy talk I picked up from a traveling monk. Nothing else seemed to be getting through to ye, so I thought I'd give it a try."

"Oh," Kagome said, her shoulders falling slack. "I see."

So much for sage advice, she lamented inwardly, shooting an appraising glance at Kaede over the hearth. Maybe Baa-chan just has really awesome aim…?

Her one-eyed mentor's inexplicable archery prowess aside, Kagome knew that there was more Kaede could teach her. Before, Kagome hadn't thought much about honing her spiritual strength. With Inuyasha there to protect her, it had seemed almost like a waste of time. All he had ever required of her were her abilities to locate and purify Jewel Shards, and those skills were second-nature.

She had never considered the possibility that he might abandon her. But he had. If Sesshoumaru hadn't shown up to intervene, last night's episode with that bull-faced youkai could have turned out quite differently. To survive the rest of her stay in Sengoku Jidai, she was going to have to learn how to protect herself. Working to lift the seal these past few months had given her hope that her miko powers were not as wild and unpredictable as she'd previously thought. The events that had happened earlier today had only served to reassure her on that point. Through her own will, she had shaped her reiki into a deadly blast of pure energy. It hadn't been a mere reaction, or an instinctual response—but an intentional, targeted attack. It made her wonder what else she was capable of. What were the limits of her power? Given enough practice, could she even become as strong as Kikyou?

Kagome wasn't sure, but regardless, it was high time she took some initiative for a change and worked on building her own strength—instead of always relying on others'.

"Kaede-baa-chan," she asked suddenly, "could you teach me how to make a barrier like the one you made today?"

Kaede's visible eye widened briefly in surprise.

"Don't see why not," she responded curtly a moment later, but to Kagome she seemed rather pleased by the request. Her joints cracked as she rose to her feet, fixing the young priestess with a stern look. "But for now ye should rest and recover thy strength."

"But I'm not—"

"If ye do not feel like sleeping," Kaede interrupted stubbornly, "then perhaps ye could help a poor old miko gather herbs."

Kagome watched as Kaede made a show of hobbling about her hut, clearing away the lunch dishes with exaggerated slowness. The young miko sighed in defeat.

"Of course I'll help you, Baa-chan. Which herbs do you need?"

"Wild mint," Kaede replied without missing a beat. "And shiso leaves, if ye see any."

Kagome's brow twitched. Well, it certainly didn't take her long to consider.

Grabbing a woven basket from a corner of the hut, Kagome walked outside, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the afternoon sun. The air was warm and humid, and it wasn't long before Kagome began to sweat, dust from the dirt path turning to mud between her toes. She almost regretted forgoing the stuffy white tabi socks that were a traditional part of her uniform.

As she made her way toward the forest, the sight of something familiar in the distance gave her pause. Azure eyes glimmered in recognition, a smile spreading across her face. She sprinted forward at full speed, waving wildly.

"Miroku-san! Sango-chan!" she yelled happily, slamming a hand down on the lid of the basket as it attempted to fly away. "Shippou-chan! Over here!"

Unable to possibly miss her with all the commotion she was making, the approaching figures waved back, Shippou jumping up and down excitedly at Sango's side. Kagome reached them in less than a minute, a few nearby villagers startled by her impropriety as she barreled past them. The basket fell to the ground as she swept Shippou up in a breathless hug, peppering his cute round cheeks with kisses.

"Kagome-chaaaan," he whined, struggling half-heartedly in her grasp. "You're embarrassing me!"

Kagome pulled back a little, grinning at him sheepishly. "Sorry, Shippou-chan. I just couldn't help myself. It feels like I've been away from you guys for two years instead of two days."

She straightened, catching Sango in a quick, tight embrace before giving the firecat on her shoulder an affectionate ear ruffle. "Thanks again for taking me home so quickly, Kirara-chan! Because of you, I made it back just in time."

As she stepped back to beam at Miroku, she finally noticed that something was off. Neither the monk nor the taijiya were quite meeting her gaze, and both of them had remained uncharacteristically silent throughout her greeting. Now that she glanced back at him, even Shippou seemed unusually reserved.

"What's wrong?" she asked slowly, looking around at her group of friends. Her unease grew as she realized something else she had missed. "…Where are Inuyasha and Kikyou?"

She watched Miroku and Sango exchange an uncertain glance before the taijiya's chocolate brown eyes met Kagome's. The corners of her lips descended in a frown.

"Kagome-chan," Sango began softly, hesitantly—before a crisp, cool voice cut her off like a steel blade.

"I take it you've told her, then?"

Sango's expression darkened as Kagome spun around to face an approaching Kikyou, her hand rising unintentionally to the Jewel Shards at the base of her throat. The powerful priestess regarded her reincarnation impassively, her eyes as dark as onyx and twice as cold. Just behind her, Inuyasha stood, ever the faithful watchdog, his arms crossed stiffly over his chest.

Kagome turned her eyes away from him, meeting the stony gaze of her predecessor.

"Told me what?" she questioned warily.

A slight smile formed on Kikyou's lips. Strangely, the gesture made her white face seem even more like an emotionless mask.

"Inuyasha and I are to be married."


AN: As always, thanks a million to all those who've fav'd, followed, and reviewed since the last update! I especially appreciate the feedback - it's so great to hear what you guys think! Sorry this chapter came later than promised. I ended up having to travel AGAIN this month... (grumbles) All I can say is I'll try to do better next time. :)

Anyway, it looks like things are about to get even more complicated for Kagome, doesn't it? ;) Till next time...