It was dark, and it was cold. She shivered despite the warmth of the blanket that enveloped her in a cloud of reassurance and safety. Still, unease tugged at her mind. Chills danced down her spine, and she couldn't shake the nauseating feeling that something was watching her.

Her imagination provided a slideshow of demons and creatures that could be stalking the darkness, monsters that existed only in fairy tales. She pulled the comforter tighter around herself and lay still, listening for any form of movement. The soft crackle of a burning fire slowly soothed her frayed nerves.

"Look at this, you're being ridiculous." Willing herself to feel annoyed at her own immaturity, she opened her eyes and looked around. The darkness was almost complete, the moon barely a sliver and casting hardly any light on her camp, but the shapes and the familiar outlines of the trees all seemed to be in order. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her head on her hands.

The dancing of the fire sent the shadows twitching and reeling in an awful demonic frenzy. She watched them, horrified as they took on a new dimension of reality. They looked alive. Clawed hands grasped at nothingness and their gaping mouths locked in silent screams. Kagome sat frozen, her entire body trembling with the silent tears that poured down her face.

The shadows shrieked as they danced with the fire, surging forward as it waned and drawing back when the tongues of flame leapt upwards.

She could hear them. She could hear them screaming.

The agony as they were burned into nothingness by the firelight and the hiss as they slowly crawled back, reclaiming the darkness as their own; she could hear it all. Her flesh grew cold, and goose bumps erupted on her arms and legs as an angry wind rustled the branches of the trees above her. She pulled the blanket over her head and held completely still, trying to calm herself down. The shadows hissed and the trees still seemed to whisper. She froze, listening hard, praying it was her mind playing tricks on her. She silenced her sobbing and her shaking in the effort to hear, though her heart pounded wildly in her ears.

"Kagome," a frighteningly familiar voice whispered softly, as if someone was calling her from a distance. Her blood ran cold, and she couldn't hold back a desperate sob.

"Kagome," the raspy growl called again, louder this time and more insistent. The shadows cackled in agonized humor with a hundred voices that all sounded familiar. Her heart ached with the effort of maintaining its desperate sprint, feeling as if it would surely explode. The revolting smell of rotting flesh reached her nose and she choked on her breathe. She gagged, and threw the comforter off her head and gasped in a breath, but the air was far more potent without the filter of the blanket.

She retched and fumbled blindly for an escape away from the campsite. To her horror, a horribly disfigured, grinning face stared back at her from the darkness. Its flesh was rotting off its very bones and jagged yellow claws scraped at the air in front of it, as if it was trying to find her skin. She threw off the blanket and sprinted in the opposite direction. If she could escape the campsite, she could escape from the face looming in the darkness.

In a split second, just before she reached the safety of the darkness on the other side of camp, the deep rumble of laughter she'd heard in her head so many times made heart skip a beat and stop dead in her tracks. Nearly frozen with fear, she turned towards the creature, and screamed when she saw it take a few shuttering steps towards her. She sprinted for the edge of camp and crashed headlong into a barrier of seething black power. She clawed at it, desperately trying to find a weak point, but quickly recoiled. A slimy substance was oozing down across the barrier that did not yield no matter where she pushed. There was no way out.

The shadows screaming had died down to low moans, and it took all her will power to look over and watch them slide over to the barrier and reach upward. It took her a minute to realize it was the gooey substance that they wanted. She glanced down at her hands and found they were dark with the liquid.

Blood.

She doubled over and vomited. She heard the creature's deep stutter of laughter again between its heavy, labored breathing.

She knew it was watching her, stalking her, waiting to strike. She felt nauseous, but there was no hope of escape. Back against the barrier, she turned to face the creature, but defense was not an option. When she tried to summon her power to protect her, nothing happened. It sprang into action and a scream pierced her ears as her legs buckled under the combined forces of the creature's weight and agony that ripped through her body. A burning pain in her shoulders spread through her as the creature sunk its claws into her skin and dragged them down her chest. She felt warm streams of blood drip down her body and seep into the grass as the creature sank its claws deeper into her shoulders.

"You thought you could control me? Foolish girl. I will rip. I will tear. I will break you and then be free." Its rancid breath was ice cold, chilling her to the bone.

Her world went white as agony seared through her. It leaned closer, yellowing bloody fangs dripping saliva onto her as it whispered, "It's time to die, miko wench." and all ability to struggle left her limbs and the cold was complete. She could feel her bones breaking beneath its seething, venomous grip, but all she could do was scream again and again, but the louder she cried out, the tighter it held her.

With a forceful lunge, it clamped its jaws on her throat and she heard the tearing of her own flesh. She couldn't scream. It came out as a pathetic gurgle, as blood flooded her lungs. The creature backed off of its bite and let out a chilling and triumphant screech. It dropped her and let her collapse on the floor, but it continued watching her.

Blood gushed from her wounds, but her pain was silenced by the cold that crept up from her toes and spread through her. The shadows gathered around her limp body, tearing at her wounds and drinking her blood. Kagome fought against unconsciousness, and brought her eyes up to meet the creatures burning black gaze, filled with pure hatred and sadistic amusement at the agony of the girl before it. She opened her mouth to speak, but her trachea collapsed and she gagged against a mouthful of blood. With an insidious grin, it turned and vanished, as the shadows closed in on her and her minds eye slipped closed.

In reality, her eyes opened, but there was no trace of the girl within them. There was nothing left but darkness.

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SO PISSED ABOUT?

'YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID!'

I COMFORTED HER!

'YOU NUZZLED HER. WHY THE HELL DID YOU THINK THAT WOULD BE AN APPROPRIATE THING TO DO?'

His demon whimpered a little, backing down.

I don't know. She just looked so sad. I just wanted her to be happy again, that's all.

'AND YOU DECIDE TO DO SO BY NUZZLING HER?'

She looked a little happier.

'She looked TERRIFIED.'

BECAUSE YOU'RE ALWAYS AN ASSHOLE. She probably thought you were going to EAT her.

Sesshomaru bit back an infuriated snarl and took a deep breathe. He sat leaned against a magnificent willow tree where they had made camp, the young girl sleeping a few meters away buried in a blanket.

They had traveled in silence for the rest of the day after their 'moment', stopping only when Sesshomaru snatched a rabbit from its hiding place among the shrubbery they were passing. She made a fire and roasted it, scarfing the entire thing down and picking the bones clean. Food made her look remarkably healthier, some of the color returning to her face as they put the fire out and moved on.

They camp early that evening. The girl was exhausted thought she hadn't complained, and when he sat down in the first spot he deemed fit for a camp, she did not say a word. She merely grabbed her blanket and collapsed under it in a heap. Soon after, he heard her breathing settle into a rhythmic sleeping pattern, and he turned his absolutely livid attention to his demon.

'I have no words for you, pup. This will cost us dearly.'

What could possibly be so horrible about one simple nuzzle?

Sesshomaru growled low in response as the chains of subduing power once again began to wind around his demon.

Sometimes demons need hugs too you know.

The demon yipped huffily before being silenced once again. Sesshomaru stood, needing desperately to kill something, but no demons were within the surrounding area. He settled on deciding to slaughter whatever grazing animal he happened to chance upon first to feed his companion when she woke the next morning. His silver hair stirred in the breeze as he sniffed the air for the musky scent of animal flesh, and then disappeared in a soundless blur of white.

Hunting for carnivores was more fun. They at least had claws. The deer he took down was dead before she even processed the danger. The others scattered in a flurry of white tails and bounding legs. He watched them, considering ripping each one apart while they tried so desperately to escape from him, but there would be no point. It was his demon he wanted to strangle, or something with more fight in it. Eliminating the panicked deer would not even be considered exercise in his mind.

He snarled at their retreating tails, and turned back to his kill. The blood seeping from her neck smelled grassy and thin.

'Carnivores taste better too.' He though irritably. His ears twitched, searching for sound, but he couldn't hear anything. The usual hums and rustles of the woods around him had abruptly been hushed, putting him instantly on edge. He picked up the deer and slung it over his shoulder, cautiously heading back towards the camp. His golden eyes searched the trees for any disturbances, but nothing seemed amiss.

Then a catastrophic wave of immensely menacing power smashed into him, assaulting his every sense amplified by an ear-shattering scream.

Something was extremely wrong.