"The emptiness in my soul,
The sorrow in my heart,
Suddenly dissipates as I look into your eyes.
The eyes that had once brought about fear,
Now warm my broken soul."

--AnimeLady Noriko

Puppy Love

I turned and took off running into the trees. Tears made their way down my face and a sob of sorrow escaped my lips. Damn you Koga, you traitor…how could you do this to me? How could you?

I blundered on blindly through the thickening forest, vision blurred by the steady stream of tears falling down my cheeks. I could not control myself any longer, so I let the sorrow inside my heart echo throughout the night in heart-breaking sobs.

But soon the silent shock of this situation was enough to make them cease, and as I found myself in the thicket of the forest I thought myself safe and settled down, resting my head on the vast trunk of a large oak. I didn't know what to do, so I simply stared off into the distance, and my mind became blank.

It was as if I had slipped into a dream, where my sorrow could not affect me, my pain could not hurt me, where I was alone in the world and no one was there to make me feel dead anymore.

Was this reality? Did I just imagine Koga and Ayame? I wished desperately that I had. That way my broken heart wouldn't suffocate my soul any longer. Koga, I thought you loved me. Did I do something wrong?

Was this how Noriko felt? Is this the emotion that is still lurking deep within her heart, which she must fend off every minute of every day to stay sane? Was this the secret pain that she would feel until we got Inuyasha back?

If so, what am I to do now? There will be no quick-fix, Koga will never be able to enter my heart again but his memory will be there forever, tormenting me until the end of time. I have no hope.

I know soon, I will be ripped from this place of solitude and nothingness and will be thrown back into my the real world where nothing but pain and sorrow await me, and then...what? Will I live for eternity in darkness and hatred? Will I slip into insanity? What can I do? How can I continue living?

Do not fear Kagome, a voice echoed throughout my head. Stop your tears.

"Who is that?" I called into the darkness. "Who is there?"

Who am I you ask? the voice sounded. Why does that matter. I am here to help you work things out.

"Work things out?" I said, letting out a laugh that held no humor within it. "How exactly am I supposed to do that? I simply want to stay here forever, where I can't feel pain and will not have to face the sorrow of reality."

Is that what you truly want?

"Of course it is! I want to stay here away from the pain and agony I will have no choice but to face when I go back." I replied indignantly.

Let her stay here. She will not be affected by any painful feelings while she is in the safety of the dark, another voice echoed throughout my head.

No! Kagome do not listen to her! She is trying to keep you here! If you stay you will have lost the battle!

"What battle!" I yelled, frustration. "What are you talking about!"

You want to abandon your friends and stay here forever right? I am here to help you do that.

"Abandon my friends?" I said incredulously. "I would never do such a thing!"

Do not kid yourself. You want to stay here forever, away from the pain you will find back in reality, even though they need you to continue their journey, and to be their friend.

"That's not how it is!" I yelled. "They don't need me! No one needs me!"

Kagome! What happened to you? said the first voice. You were such a strong-willed individual! Now you are pitiful. Every single one of them need you. Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Sayoko, Minako, and Noriko. They need your companionship. Are you going to deprive them of their good friend?"

I did not reply. I knew she was right, that I was being selfish, but I couldn't help myself. I feared the pain I would feel when I awoke. I had never been in love before, Koga was my first boyfriend, and I loved him unconditionally. But he didn't love me back. He chose Ayame and left me with nothing.

Kagome, forget all about your so called friends. You don't need them. They probably knew about Koga and Ayame from the beginning and chose to let you suffer. They don't care about you, they wished this pain upon you.

Kagome, you know that's not true! Your friends would never do anything to hurt you, you know that.

"You're right." I said softly. "My friends would never do anything to hurt me. They would never intentionally do anything to cause me pain."

That's right. Because they love you.

I smiled. It was true. I am loved. I am needed. I'm not worthless.

Kagome, do you really want to face your pain?

I continued to smile. I knew what I was about to do and I wasn't sure if it was a good move on my part, but I didn't care. I had made up my mind.

"I want to leave this place!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. My voice echoed throughout the silence. A rush of wind caught me by surprise and caused me to fall backwards but I found that the ground beneath me had disappeared and left me to fall down through the darkness. I struggled to find something to grab on to but there was nothing there.

No fear came to my heart. I felt completely at peace, even though I was falling through darkness and I thought it very unlikely for me to survive. It was better off this way...


My eyes slowly opened, and I glanced up into the once blue sky. The sun was setting, so the farther east I looked the darker the sky became. The sky was alight with reds and oranges, the sight made me forget where I was and what was happening.

I slowly sat up rubbing the side of my face which had hit the ground as I had fallen over. Was that all a dream? Had I imagined it? What was going on?

I stood, brushing dead leaves and dirt off of my school uniform. I couldn't remember what happened. But somehow I felt that was a good thing. I didn't want to know. But...what was wrong?

And then, out of nowhere the truth hit me like a hammer. I could see them, Koga and Ayame, sitting in the bushes, kissing each other. Koga's face had shown shock and regret when his sapphire eyes met mine. The hopeless feeling returned, as did the tears.

"Kagome?" a voice called from the distance, a voice whom I recognized immediately as Koga's. No, I couldn't face him. Not after what he did. I slowly turned and took off at a run.

I muffled my sobs and sprinted through the bushes, ignoring the branches and leaves that scraped my face and arms as I did so. The cool wind whipped my face and I continued on blindly the darkness.

I lifted my arm to wipe the tears from my eyes, but hit something quite solid and was sent flying backwards. I rubbed the back of my head which had hit a tree truck as I fell and slowly stood.

"I'm sorry." I muttered regretfully, realizing the thing that I had hit was a person, even though that was about all I knew, my tears were blinding me.

I turned to walk away when a little green thing blocked my way. I couldn't make out what it was but it seemed familiar. But then an toad-like voice called to me and I recognized it immediately.

"How dare you walk into the great Lord Sesshomaru and not beg for forgiveness!" Jaken's yell shocked me. I wiped the remainder of tears from my eyes and cheeks and turned to face Inuyasha's older brother, Sesshomaru.

He looked down at me with an odd look upon his face. I then realized how horrible I must have looked. My school uniform was covered in mud and my eyes were red from the salty tears that had made their way down my cheeks.

What shocked me the most was that the look glued to Sesshomaru's face was not a look of hatred or disgust, it was a look of pity. Was that just my imagination? It had to be, I never thought Sesshomaru had heart enough to show pity.

"Kagome, why are you not with Inuyasha and the others?" he asked, his gaze baring into me, my mind loosing itself within those amber depths. Had he just called me Kagome? He never used my name in any previous occasions.

"Inuyasha has been captured by a demon named Jaaku." I said.

Sesshomaru began to laugh. Nothing seemed to amuse him more then the thought of his younger brother being tortured to death. Anger bottled up inside me, how could he be so heartless? Glaring at him once more I turned to stalk away.

I felt his fingers fasten themselves around my wrist and struggled to free myself. Rage filled me and I struggled harder and harder but Sesshomaru's grasp was like iron and he did not seem to want to let go.

"Let go of me!" I said through gritted teeth. "Let me go!"

"Kagome," he said again. "Why were you crying?"

I looked at him dumbfounded. What was up with him? "What business is it of yours?" I asked angrily pulling away once again.

Sesshomaru neither let go or changed his expression. "Why were you crying? Was it because of that Koga?"

I tried to look away, the mere mention of his name brought back to tears. They flowed down my cheeks and settled into the earth at my feet.

Sesshomaru turned my body to face him. He lifted a finger and caught one of my tears on it. He stared at it for a moment and began wiping the remaining tears from my cheeks. I looked up at him. What was this feeling? I no longer felt sorrow or pain. I felt as if I were floating on a cloud.

"Wha..." I started the interrogation again but something stopped me. Sesshomaru leaned forward and pulled me into a warm embrace. And then his lips met mine. All curiosity disappeared, for now everything felt so right.

We stayed that way for what seemed like an eternity, the shortest eternity I had ever experienced before we had to break apart. We stood and stared into each other's eyes, I lost in his amber depths and he, in mine.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" yelled Jaken. "What on earth are you doing? She is a human remember! You hate humans!"

He looked over to the toad-like demon and back to me. A smile spread across his face as he replied, "I've changed my mind."

He put his hand on my shoulders and stared into me once more. "You must return to the others and rescue Inuyasha. I will be waiting for you when the deed is done." He kissed me once more and turned away. Jaken threw one last hateful glance my way and followed.

When I returned to the camp I saw that everyone lay awake and they all jumped up as I entered the clearing. Had they been waiting up for me?Did theywant to make sure I was okay before they went to sleep?

"Kagome!" Noriko said as she made her way over to me. "Koga told us what happened. Are you okay."

I smiled at her. "I am absolutely fine."

She looked at me questioningly. "How can you be fine after what happened?"

I leaned in so only she could hear me. I didn't want anyone else to know about it. Not just yet anyway. "I've found someone new."


What a nice, fluffy, sorrowful chapter that was, wasn't it? I think if Kagome isn't paired with Inuyasha the only other one she belongs with is Sesshomaru. Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to my good friend SBird, more commonly known, in this story anyway, as Sayoko. All Sesshomaru/Kagome fluff and Sayoko/Kei fluff belong to you SBird. And I would also like to dedicate this chapter to the song, "November Rain" from Ranma ½. I would have never been able to finish it without it. And one more thing. I still think Inuyasha is a big cutie!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or Jaken. Well, I suppose it's all for the best, Sesshomaru would probably try to kill me and Jaken would watch. You know I really dislike Jaken but...whatever.