Disclaimer: I still don't own Inuyasha. Imagine that!

After a quick check for Inuyasha in his room, Kagome headed for the kitchen. As she walked down the hallway, she noticed Sesshomaru heading in the opposite direction, most likely going to his room, with a hand full of books.

"Good morning," Kagome greeted giving a small wave.

Sesshomaru glanced in her direction, but kept walking without making a comment.

Right before Kagome slid open the door to the kitchen, Sesshomaru finally replied, "Morning human."

Once in the kitchen Kagome saw Inuyasha cooking some eggs as usual.

"Extra hungry this morning?" Kagome questioned.

"Huh?" Inuyasha asked.

"You're cooking a lot more eggs than usual," she pointed out.

"They're your eggs," Inuyasha answered.

"Thanks," Kagome said with a smile.

"It's just because it's stupid to not cook all the eggs at once, that's all," Inuyasha quickly defended as he stared intently at the sizzling eggs, a faint blush dusting his features.

"Still, I appreciate it," Kagome maintained.

Inuyasha's face reddened further, but Kagome didn't notice on account of Sango and Miroku's entrance.

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"How many more books are left?" Inuyasha whined as he shut the book he just finished skimming.

"Just one shelf full," Kagome replied absently.

"Ugh, none of these books are even helping," Inuyasha groaned as he put the book back in and grabbed another off the shelf.

"I know, but we can't give up hope," Kagome agreed in a saddened tone as she went for another book as well, "Besides, I think we can skip the rest of the books on the shelf."

"We can?" Sango asked confused.

"Yeah, the rest of the books look like they are just about psychology," Kagome explained.

"Cool," Miroku commented smiling cheerfully, "One step closer to finding a way out."

"We went through only one room with no luck whatsoever," Inuyasha deadpanned, "We're not closer to anything unless it's dying of boredom."

"Seriously Inuyasha, you need to stop being so pessimistic already," Kagome complained.

Seconds later, a beeping noise seemed to emit from Sango. Quickly grabbing her cell phone, she flipped it open. After a minute, she clipped the phone back onto her pants and got up, stretching her muscles once she had done so.

"Mom wants me to help cook dinner," Sango told them, "I'll see you guys tomorrow and don't worry Kagome, you'll get out of here soon, I promise."

"Thanks Sango," Kagome said giving her a smile.

After a quick smile back, Sango was out the door with Miroku right behind her waving goodbye with one hand and reaching forward with the other. The inevitable sound of someone being slapped radiated into the room the two just left.

"He held out pretty long today," Inuyasha commented glancing at Kagome.

"I'm surprised. I didn't think he could go almost a whole day without groping Sango," Kagome agreed before continuing, "He better lose his perverted ways in the future though, or else he's going to be some old guy going around and touching the bottoms of young girls and that's just gross!"

At this Kagome scrunched up her nose, unintentionally visualizing it. She shuddered before looking up to see Inuyasha staring at her.

"What?" she questioned, tilting her head slightly in confusion.

"Eh?" Inuyasha snapped out of his daze.

"Why were you staring at me?" Kagome asked.

The blood rushed to Inuyasha's face as he realized that he had been openly staring at her and just got caught. He hadn't meant to, but the way she looked when she scrunched her nose caught his attention. It looked so cute. Realizing what he just thought, the light sheen of red that had come to his face intensified.

"Feh, I wasn't looking at you. My mind wandered and I just happened to be looking in your direction," Inuyasha lied hoping that she wouldn't see through it.

"Okay," Kagome dragged out the word, not sure if he was telling the truth or not.

"I bet I can beat you to the kitchen," Inuyasha challenged, swiftly changing the topic as he jumped up and started heading for the door.

Kagome immediately jumped up and raced after him already formulating a plan. She was a pretty good runner and if she won, she could get Inuyasha to owe her a favor. Forcing her muscles to work harder, she sprinted up to Inuyasha who, upon noticing how fast she was approaching, sped up. Up ahead the hallway formed a T in which the two would have to take a right. Inuyasha spotted this and slowed down slightly so that he wouldn't ram into the wall while trying to turn. Kagome took advantage of his slower pace as she darted in front of him. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to turn the corner and instead slammed into the wall, but instead of Kagome bouncing back off the wall, the portion of the wall that she hit swung open to reveal a dark passageway in which you could barely make out a set of stairs leading downward, a set of stairs that Kagome was about to fall down!

Inuyasha instinctively reached forward wrapping one arm around Kagome's waist and the other around her shoulders before pulling her forward into a hug, restoring Kagome's balance. Kagome was clutching Inuyasha's shirt and resting her head on his chest. They were panting from the exertion and both of their hearts were beating frantically. However, their heartbeats increased even more once they realized the position that they were in.

"Are you okay?" Inuyasha questioned as he slowly released her small frame.

"Yeah," Kagome let out a shaky breath, a light sheen of red still dusting her face. "So, um, what's down there?"

Inuyasha followed her pointing finger to the ominous looking doorway leading into the black abyss.

"I have no idea, but I'm going to find out," Inuyasha's face grew serious as he peered down the stairwell, eyes straining to pick out any detail that would clue him to what the pathway held.

Padding forward, he placed one foot delicately on the stairwell, exerting pressure after a moment to test the stair's durability. Satisfied that it would hold their weight, he started forward into the pathway, pausing when Kagome yelled out.

"Can't we get a flashlight before we go down there?" Kagome shifted nervously, still standing before the doorway.

"Flashlight? Keh, whatever that is, we don't have one here. So, are you coming or what?" Inuyasha asked, one eyebrow raised.

Kagome was about to ask if they could wait for Sango and Miroku to get one tomorrow, but held back. Inuyasha didn't look like he was going to want to wait to see what this staircase led to. Nodding in defeat, Kagome tentatively stepped onto the first step, then the next. The hallway they had come from offered little light and Kagome could barely make out the outline of Inuyasha a mere step in front of her. As if sensing her dilemma, she felt a calloused hand reach back and grab her hand. Her blush came back full force, but she was content to know that he wouldn't be able to see it. A small smile formed on her lips and she couldn't help but feel safe even though they were wandering down this dark staircase that could lead to anywhere.

It didn't take long before they reached the bottom of the staircase and as they walked the first step forward, a wick burst into flame on either side of them, illuminating a small area. Kagome, after getting over the initial shock of the sudden combustion, recognized the light fixtures as similar ones that had lit on their own the first time she had entered this manner. Kagome glanced at Inuyasha, his face was serious and she could feel that he was tense. It gave her goose bumps. If Inuyasha was this on edge then this hallway they now stood in couldn't lead to anything good. They continued forward, their footsteps much slower as the hallway became more lit up with each set of fixtures that spontaneously combusted upon their approach. They stopped when they reached a thick wooden door, it's whole frame covered in wisps of cobwebs.

"There's no doorknob," Kagome stated with shock, eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

"We don't need a doorknob," Inuyasha sounded smug and before she could wonder what he meant by that, he had kicked the door.

The door broke off it's hinges easily as the wood had become so rotted it was not able to handle much pressure. The room beyond the door lit up in response to their entrance. Their eyes widened at what they saw. Strange markings marred the walls and the floor, covering every inch of space available while papers and sutras littered the floor. Kagome turned to Inuyasha, her eyes questioning.

"Dark magic," Inuyasha muttered, his voice thick with disgust, "and some extremely foul stuff at that."

Releasing his hold on Kagome's hand, she watched as Inuyasha walked to the other side of the room, squatting down to examine some of the discarded papers scattered around. She walked forward uncertainly, studying the strange markings on the ground. There were mainly symbols that she couldn't understand, but she could swear there were also kanji characters mixed in, yet for some odd reason she couldn't seem to read those either. The markings seemed to get closer together and more abundant the closer she got to the middle of the room, but before she could mention her finding to Inuyasha, she felt her breath knocked out her. Kagome's body began pulsing in response and she began to panic. Sucking in a lungful of oxygen, she attempted to shout out Inuyasha's name, but her breath became stuck in her throat. With each pulse she could feel her heartbeat, a more pronounced feeling than normal. Suddenly she felt a searing pain in her right side and she gasped as she saw a small red stain seep through the white dress she'd been stuck in since Halloween. A glow began to shine through her dress and soon her dress began to tear right above the wound. As the pain rolled through her body, she saw a small, pink sphere pop out from between the tear in her dress. She tried to maintain consciousness as the pulses began to fade, but her mind felt so fuzzy. As her world slowly faded to black, Kagome managed to see a shocked Inuyasha running towards her, worry written all over his face, and she could've sworn she vaguely heard him calling out her name.

But then the world was gone and she was left in a pitch-black void.

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Pain. Pain scorched once more in her side and she squirmed in discomfort against the hands that held her in place before falling back into the void that promised her a sense of numbness.

XXXXXXXXXX

Gentle hands placed something on her forehead that had a cool, yet damp feeling. It comforted her somewhat and she faded back into the darkness.

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A calloused hand was placed on her forehead, the coolness against her hot skin was welcomed and she almost whined when she felt it disappear. But only a moment later she felt a thumb, gently stroking her cheek calming her instantly.

XXXXXXXXXX

Her world faded in and out of consciousness so often that she couldn't tell if she was dreaming of the golden eyes that seemed to appear so frequently.

XXXXXXXXXX

As everything came in focus, Kagome noted she was lying on the mat in the room she had been staying in. Rolling her head to the side, she was shocked to find Inuyasha's face mere inches away from her own. Holding in her gasp of surprise, she noticed that he was sleeping. His face was smooth and held a gentleness that she hadn't thought he had. She saw a strand of hair that had fallen over his face and resisted pushing it out of the way. What if he woke up? Biting her lip, she contemplated whether to do it or not. But the hair lying in his face seemed to bother her so she gave in and reached out to brush the strand back. Her hand paused on his cheek, brushing the hair away slowly. Her movements halted once more, froze actually, as his eyelids slowly opened revealing the golden depths beneath. They stayed like that for a second, each trying to process what was happening, before Kagome yanked her hand back, trying to look anywhere but at him. He saw her face turn a shade of red he hadn't thought possible and idly wondered if that was how red his face was right now.

Clearing his throat, he attempted to ignore what he just awoken to for a topic that was much easier for him to handle, "So, feeling better then?"

"I think so," Kagome managed to squeak, half surprised he hadn't said anything to her about her hand being on his cheek, "Wha…what exactly happened? My mind still feels a little fuzzy so I can't quite remember anything from that room earlier except for this feeling of pain."

"Three days ago," Inuyasha muttered as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

"What?" Kagome asked, "What are you talking about?"

"When we went into that room; it was three days ago," Inuyasha's head was tilted down but she could see him peering up through his bangs at her, worry evident in his eyes.

"Oh," Kagome felt like the breath was knocked out of her

Had she really been that out of it?

"I don't really know what it was that happened, all I know is that all of a sudden you were bleeding and this shining jewel popped out of your body. You had fallen unconscious so I brought you back to your room, but then I had to…uh…take care of your…uh…wound," Inuyasha's face grew redder as each word came out.

Kagome understood perfectly and she was sure the color of her face mirrored his.

"I didn't see anything!" Inuyasha exclaimed before rushing the rest of his explanation in an attempt to finish as quickly as possible, "I knew I couldn't lift your dress to get to your wound so I did the best I could through the tear in your dress. I was able to patch up the wound, but I couldn't clean around it. It looked really deep, your wound that is, that's why I think you were so out of it. Your body was working so hard to heal all the muscles and skin the stupid jewel ripped through causing you to have a fever for the past three days."

Kagome soaked in all that Inuyasha had just told her, "Where's the jewel now?"

"Right here," Inuyasha picked up the jewel from the floor on the other side of him, holding it out to Kagome.

She took the jewel from him, eyes peering into its depth. She felt this pull from it, as if it was pulling her towards it, almost into it. A shiver ran up her spine as she wrenched her eyes away from the orb. The feeling she got from the jewel made her believe that this orb was powerful, more powerful than she could ever imagine. The question was, why was it inside of her body?

Please please please review. I will love you forever if you do! (This is sad. I'm starting to sound desperate...)