End of Last Chapter:

"Ishtar." I stated, coldly looking down on the goddess. I knew her presence anywhere, like a sick disease heavy in the air. It didn't matter what skin she wore, I'd never mistake the witch for someone else. "To what do I owe the extreme displeasure?"

Chapter Four: True Love

"In walks the villain of this tale, the door closing silent behind you. I smile and offer you something to drink in a hope that taste will remind you: that poison goes better with grenadine, that deceit's always lovely with lime. That bitterness can be so sweet when it's served in the right place and at the right time."

-Thoushaltnot Lyrics, True Love

Gilgamesh - September 1st Early Morning –

"No need to be so cross…" She purred, utterly unlike the personality of the body she'd chosen to overtake, leaning back on her elbows and remaining where she had fallen. "You are so angry for someone I just saved."

"You didn't do anything, your descendant did." I remarked, rubbing my hands on my jacket as if to wipe off the grime of having touched her. "I expect you would have been content if she hadn't helped."

"We couldn't have you going about destroying the world, could we?" Ishtar clicked her tongue at me and I bristled slightly at her disrespect, narrowing my eyes. "How wonderful that it was one of mine that came to save you from yourself. Poetic some would say…"

"Obviously there is something else you desire you dysfunctional derelict, out with it." I returned, unable to keep the revulsion from my features. If it wasn't for the body she'd picked I'd have enjoyed strangling her with Endiku while talking about her poetics.

"Tsk, tsk." She clucked her tongue, probably not aware how I planned to rip it out if she ever stood in front of me without possession of this mortal. She pushed herself up to her feet. "Years as the human's lackey has dulled your charm and wits. It is a wonder I ever offered myself to you."

A hand reached up to stroke my cheek but I caught her wrist before her fingers could make contact, resisting the urge to break it. I only continued to stare at her, knowing sooner or later she would grow bored of this little interlude.

"Yes, yes. Business before pleasure, men are quite horrible at mixing the two." She lamented.

"Wise words for someone not skilled in either." I smirked at the angry expression she gave me.

"You never did know when to be quiet. I'm only here as a messenger, you are to help the girl with this quest. Get the grail and let her have it." She explained finally the reason for her presence. "Humans lack the ability to control it properly, at least most of them. She can resolve the issue. Though if you can't behave yourself I can always use these seals on her hand as easily as she."

"Even assuming your high opinion of her is true, and coming from you certainly tarnishes any promises of a sterling reputation, if you and Anu desire me to do it, I have even more reason to decline." I retorted.

"Perhaps you enjoy rebelling but in this case, you lack other options. The girl's powers are why you are free of the grail's influence." She grinned wide at pointing out any flaw I might possess. "While she is impressive, her purification will only last while you are near her, that is…"

"…until the grail is destroyed…" I finished the thought, able to see where she was going. The witch was enjoying this, she clapped her hands together and she nodded in mock congratulations at my conclusion.

"See, you can teach an old dog new tricks. I'm glad it didn't destroy what little mental capacity you had to begin with. I can tell father you'll be a good little pup then?" Ishtar laughed when I stepped closer, not flinching and instead leaning up near my face so I paused instead of threatening her. "We'll have all the time for games later. You wouldn't want to break your only remedy until you finish your mission."

"I never agreed to anything." The words at least sounded confident. We both knew it was a hollow protest.

"Nevertheless, you'll comply. Perhaps not for us, but for yourself. What is it like, being the puppet of a tool crafted by the mongrels you so despise?" She ran her hands through her hair, frowning as she looked at it. It wasn't as she normally kept it and the color was slightly less dark than her own, hers was a colorless shade that matched her heart.

"If Anu can interfere this much in the war, why doesn't your father deal with this problem himself?" I asked, knowing it would get under her skin.

"You are aware that the gods cannot directly get involved any longer." She tried to stay calm but I could hear the slight hissing in her response. "Father can alter some of the way the magics work, but he cannot step down and smite the other Servants or he would have taken the grail from the mortals long ago."

"I wonder. If you are done with playing courier for your father then move along, your presence is tiresome." I announced, leaving my face in a scowl. It was as though I was being forced into an uncomfortable proximity with a leper that never bathed. I knocked her hand away when she reached up toward my face again.

"My new pet, none of that. It would be difficult to protect your new ward if I ordered you never to touch her without permission, now wouldn't it?" Ishtar let out a small giggle. "See, father may have sent me but I don't care if you succeed or not, I only want to see you suffer. You'll behave yourself and I won't have to make this more difficult for you."

She was quiet a moment then reached up again, I grit my teeth. When this game of hers was done I'd find a way to kill the witch once and for all…

"There's a good boy." She purred, reaching up to brush fingers through my hair and grinning at my silent revulsion. "I have to check in from time to time, make sure you don't have any accidents. I hope you'll miss me."

I was contemplating if there was a way to express how much that was an impossibility in any language when Kagome's body fell to the floor. When Ishtar's presence left the girl she was still unconscious, her physical form exhausted from her effort to purify the grail's influence. I pinched the bridge of my nose, closing my eyes. The war would end swiftly, but not because those fools wanted it, because I would see Ishtar unmade for this trespass…there was no where she could run to that my hands wouldn't find their way around her little throat…

Kagome - September 2nd Late Afternoon/Early Evening –

There was a strange ache that accompanied returning to consciousness, my side hurt and there was something pressing into my stomach that I must have laid on. My entire body felt sorer than the time I'd volunteered to run that 10k and didn't practice enough. I let out a gasp of pain as needles shot through my limbs and neck when I pushed myself up. This wasn't my futon, what the hell? Why was I crumpled up on the floor? I was laying half in the small living area and half in the small tiled part of the kitchen over one of my slippers. Ow.

One of my legs had been folded under me, it sent shots of pain from nerves coming back to awareness after being pressed on for who knows how long. What the hell happened? I…oh god…I'd summoned some sort of creature…and then I'd purified him. Was he dead? He'd seemed fine before I lost consciousness. I rubbed my neck and my face, trying to push away the pounding that echoed in my head. I really shouldn't do anymore purifications on tile…there was a line in my face from where I'd 'slept'. Ugh.

I rubbed my leg for a time to get some feeling back but even when I stood I still stumbled slightly, hissing at the discomfort of my limb trying to wake up. It was difficult to put weight on it without stumbling since it was fairly numb. This was the worst shape I'd woken up in, even that time the girls convinced me to have sake with them in the city.

"Finally, I wasn't sure you were going to wake up before the war ended." The deep voice prompted me to look up at Gilgamesh who had come out of my bathroom. His hair was still damp but at least he was dressed. He was using my shower?

"Why did you just leave me on the floor!?" I protested, anger bubbling up at the idea that he just left me laying here when he could have at least moved me to my bed. "What time is it? It's daylight, I'm late for school."

"It doesn't particularly matter. We couldn't get started until you woke and gave me leave to start destroying the other participants in the war." He stated, as though waiting for me to order him to 'go win, k thx'. I frowned at him as I struggled to get up, my body very unhappy with the way I'd 'slept'.

"What? No. I helped you and you just left me on the floor…" I remarked…

"Yes. You weren't conscious and I didn't want to touch you. You are fine." He stated with a tinge of aversion, as though picking me up and moving me would have been like asking him to clean up some gross mess left on the floor by a pet he didn't want. At least this answered my question of if he was just a jerk or if had been the corruption around him. Nope, he was just horrible apparently.

"I am not 'fine'." I hissed back, sinking onto the couch instead of trying to walk. "My leg is still half asleep, my head feels like it was being pounded into the floor, and I ache everywhere because you left me on the ground like a rag doll. People can't sleep like that and be okay."

"You aren't bleeding, you can move. As it is we've lost a lot of time due to your fragile constitution, if you aren't going to die presently best to get started." He stated with the same indifference for how he'd just walked by and left me like litter on a sidewalk.

"I'm not going anywhere right now." I returned, holding my head since yelling at him would just make it worse. "I've got to get ready and go to class."

"That seems unlikely, it's nearing evening." He replied.

Sure enough, my clock read it was after four. I'd missed all my classes. I sighed, hobbling over to get a bottle of water from the fridge before sitting back down. I wanted to whimper when my stomach growled. I'd been out almost twelve hours and I hadn't had much to eat yesterday other than the ramen. I certainly hadn't had time to go shopping.

"Dammit…I told you I had class…" I pressed the bottle to my face where it hurt, rolling it over my forehead too. "You couldn't have at least nudged me with your foot or something?"

"Your pedestrian lifestyle is not a viable option." He answered, not offering a moment of empathy for my painful return to consciousness or remarking on his ability to have helped. "If you want it to return to normal as quickly as possible, then order me to get to work and I'll be out of your hair."

"No way, not with your moral compass." I answered. "I'll get showed and dressed in a minute, then we'll go eat and…"

I got quiet when I noticed he'd leaned down and was looking at me closely again, there was a revulsion in his eyes that hadn't been there before. Certainly, he'd talked and looked down on me but this was new, it was uniquely directed at me in a way it hadn't been before. It was like I was some poisonous plant, an ivy he didn't want to touch for fear of a rash…yet I didn't sense the same malevolence as before. There was instead more of the light I'd first seen when I'd summoned him, the one I'd mistaken at first for angelic.

"Mongrel, my patience is wearing thin…perhaps I cannot kill you…but I can make your life difficult all the same. If you think I cannot force you to use those seals you use for protection so your shield disappears it is a mistake. Think very hard how many commands you can actually give to stop me before you run out." I swallowed at his measured threat. It wasn't the slightly manic tossed off promised pain that he'd used yesterday. No, somehow this new controlled mannerism was even more menacing…had I made him worse?

"What happened after I passed out?" I asked, flinching when he set his arms to either side of my head on the couch. This time he didn't seem pleased at my fear, or to feel much of anything about it. He wasn't quietly amused at his intimidation as he'd been yesterday…the somber indifference was more foreboding than the feeling of a cat playing with a mouse. I'd been the prey before but now? Once the feline lost interest the rodent usually didn't last…

"The puppet master came out to greet me while you were sleeping." I was surprised he answered me at all but the confusion on my face seemed to prompt him to continue. "Ishtar is able to speak through you, because you are descended from her. She had a message from the old gods. After she offered it you fell to the floor and I left you…if you wish to be cross with someone point your distaste at her. She knew the condition she was leaving you in."

"Huh? What? Really?" I frowned at this. I ignored his telling me my pains were the fault of this woman. I was more concerned with the idea that something possessed me. I'd had things take over my body before, so I knew it was possible. I could remember times I was forced to act against my friends when I didn't wish to, but I'd always at least seen what was happening in my own body. This time I wasn't aware of what he was talking about. Of course, I'd been unconscious but still… "Why? What did she say?"

"Enough to convince me to finish this war swiftly and destroy the grail. Other battles have already started in the city, last night there were Servant's clashing not far from from here." He replied, pushing away from me.

"Wait…you want to help me now?" I was getting dizzy with all the one-eighties this man-spirit-thing kept making. "Can this woman, er goddess I guess…just possess me whenever she wants to?"

"I could explain more along the way." He prompted, his irritation obvious at my not jumping to indulge his haste.

"I haven't even show…you know what, fine. I'll go along with you this time but let me change and put a brush my hair and teeth, can you wait outside?" I pushed myself back to my feet, though I had mixed feelings about being able to feel my leg beneath me again as I limped toward my closet.

"If you wish to prepare just do so." He answered, walking to my front and looking out the window. "You are perfectly sacred, I assure you."

His tone wasn't complimentary but I took my clothes into the bathroom instead of arguing with him. It wasn't a comfortable place to change since it was small but it worked well enough. A few minutes later I was walking next to him after locking my door. I rushed to keep up with him, not sure what was going on.

"Where are we going? You said you'd explain." I prompted as I tried to keep up with his swift pace, but my body was still sore so I had to limp a little. "Can you slow down?"

"We've wasted a lot of time." He returned, and I'm pretty sure moved a bit faster. "We're going to inspect where I felt energy last night. As for Ishtar, I expect you would need to be unconscious for her to take over your body, but it is a matter of your own will. You are just a mortal, so it likely would be possible if you are awake as well."

"You realize this mortal mongrel you keep being rude to saved you from some serious corruption, right?" I deadpanned. Did he talk to everyone like this? "I don't see why I should even believe you…you kept telling me you wanted to kill me. Why should I follow you anywhere?"

Gilgamesh turned around suddenly and I nearly ran into him before pausing. The smile he offered as I threw my hands in the air to stop short of bouncing off his chest was more the mischievous look I'd seen during his first visit, but now it was more playful than before. That faded when he spoke with a serious tone I rarely heard. "I am helping you because it is in my interest to aid in the destruction of an artifact capable of augmenting my mind, that already had done so as you saw. I would like to do this swiftly for my sake, but you have just as much reason to want the task finished quickly if you wish to return to your life as it usually is. You will survive this grail war intact, I swear to your safety as the King of Heroes. As long as our contract exists I will see myself perish before I allow you to. Does this suffice?"

End Chapter

Gilgamesh is a go-getter. He doesn't like this whole not being able to act on his many life threats, that's not cool. He's also now slightly less douche without the grail messing him up – but still a dick because he just let Kagome lay there on the floor for many hours since he didn't want to touch anything that Ishtar had been inside – I mean, ew. Poor Kagome…

-Aura

To my reviewers:

Thanks for all the love. I hope you continue to enjoy : )

Chai tea – I ship Rin and Gilgamesh though I don't see a lot of them. Rin only looks like Ishtar cause Ishtar is possessing her I believe…there was trash talking though.

Sillvog – Kagome isn't happy about the possession but there's not a lot she can do atm.