Far north, situated in the uninhabitable mountainous wasteland that formed the upper edge of the border between the settled northern land and the unknown world, sat bleak looking manor. Centuries ago, in the early days of Japan, it had been used to house traveling lords on their way through the peaks. Lavish furnishings had adorned the halls and warm, welcoming fires had filled the stone hearths. Feasts had been held in the great dinning hall and the sounds of dance and merriment rand through the quarters. Now, in its decaying state, it had been chosen by a certain evil hanyou as his next make-shift fortress. With him, this man brought an even greater depression to fall upon the once joyous halls of the decrepit manor.

Instead of amiable lords and ravishing ladies, the stone walls now housed Naraku, the most feared creature in the whole of the four territories. Said hanyou was presently sitting in the darkest room of the western most corridors, brooding over the next strategic move to his carefully executed plot. For some time now he had been pondering the matter of how to recruit the help from the most revered demon, Sesshomaru the western lord. The man would make a perfect pawn, a secret weapon if you will to help him gather the shards. Of course he had the wind witch, but she was unfaithful and could most certainly not be trusted. He sensed her desire for freedom, her need to taste the concept. He had gone so far as to follow her, only to see her pleading with various demons for their help to overthrow him. Besides that she was obviously attracted to the demon prince which most certainly not go unnoticed by the man, therefore defeating his impartial facade. His other spawn, Kanna, was much more devoted to his obscure whims but also much less useful in actual combat. Her mirror, though, had led him unto his latest dilemma.

He had witnessed the goings on between the odd little priestess and the so-called prince of dogs. This very much complicated things, seeing as his two most powerful opponents were now joined in some manner. His original plan had been to use the lord's ward, that bothersome human girl, as bait to lure him into service. Yes, he had plotted to barter the girl's freedom for his help in collecting the remaining shards. Now, he was sure that the man's intended would create a much more convincing situation. The girl, however, was trouble. He had made the nearly fatal mistake of underestimating her before and did not plan on repeating the past. Time had only made her stronger, not to mention more beautiful.

His human side had an infatuation with Kikyo, the now dead miko, but he had grown out of it. His mind drifted back to the day he bargained his own charred flesh for the power he now held. All of it, every single second of searing pain had been endured only by the thought that he would be able to spend the rest of his days with her. After completing the transformation and obtaining a suitable host body from a rather attractive minor lord, he found out about her relations with that lowly mutt, Inuyasha. That was the day he decided love was nothing in the long run, eternal power would be much more self gratifying. And to this very day he still held that same motto.

The problem was that his demon self saw the little woman, that Kagome, as his intended. All and all he could not say that he totally disagreed. After all, she was breath-taking and held more power in her little finger than Kikyo had in her entire body. Years of crossing paths and battling had only fueled his infatuation to flown blown obsession. Each time he saw the woman it became harder and harder for him to see her as anything but his own, anything but his mate.

For months he argued with his more primitive self, telling himself she was the enemy. He reassured himself half-heartedly that it was not worth it. His beast reminded him that he would eventually need an heir to take his place as the all-powerful lord of all Japan. The best quickly shot down his idea of simply creating another child as ludicrous; the pup he impregnated the woman with would be ten times more powerful than anything he could ever create. Besides, the girl was the keeper of the sacred jewel; certainly she would be useful in his future ventures.

If he could capture the girl the lord would be forced to collect the shard of the scattered treasure in order to gain her safe return. Hm, if the lord was away he would have time to mate the girl. Not being an honorable man, the hanyou had no plans on completing any kind of courtship first; he would simply take her at the first opportune moment that arose. Though, if he mated the girl how would he get the idiotic dog to actually give the shards to him? There was always the option of creating a puppet of the girl, an art he had perfected over the period of the last few years in part due to his own cowardice, or as he liked to think of it, his superior sense of self-preservation. But it was more than likely that the lord would be able to tell the difference, leaving him back at square one. Well, he could always plainly refuse to let him see the girl until the shards were in his hand, but the lord was much too smart a man for that.

It struck him that he could simply set a trap to kill the man during the shard exchange, but he doubted he could come up with anything powerful enough. False promises of power also held no weight with Sesshomaru, his sense of honor was much too great to even consider such possibilities. Ah, but he had not doubt he could wound him and maybe that would be enough. If one of his minions slipped a shard into the wound the all powerful demon would be simply another puppet to use as he pleased. That was it! He was still as brilliant as ever, an evil genius if there had been one.

Satisfied with the plan, Naraku walked to the window and gazed out upon the moon. Even as a human he had been fascinated by the thing, the light source illuminating the inky blackness. That was his goal, to control all things dark and evil, yes, he wished to be as the moon. Though, little did he know he was already very much like the moon, the moon who stole its brilliance from the sun as he stole his power from others. What each of them had was not true power; it was simply a dangerous façade they manipulated into their lives.

Miles away in the house of the moon, a little girl woke from her sleep. The room was filled with all the finest toys, clothes and everything a small girl could ever dream of, yet she was worried. Rin had seen her Sesshomaru-sama come back to the castle that night before she retired and had viewed the state of her Kagome-mama. Honestly the child did already think of the woman as her mother, not that she could very much remember her real mother.

Flashback:

Rin turned over on the small futon her father had gotten for her a number of months ago. The little girl was full from her mother's delicious rice cakes that they had had for dinner and tired from playing in the fields while her father worked. On the verge of falling back to sleep, she saw an odd flickering light outside the window of her family's shack. It was almost as if the sun was playing hide and seek with the darkness, one appearing right after the other quite rapidly.

Standing on her small feet, the girl looked out of the uncovered window to see huts burning, people fleeing in panic and wild looking wolves running about. Thick black smoke filled her nose and mouth, gagging her and stung her chocolate brown eyes as she watched. Running out of the hut she saw her mama and papa, lying on the blood-spattered earth, motionless. What was wrong, she didn't understand. Hearing an old villager telling her to run, she instinctively took off into the thick forest she knew so well.

Not getting far she spotted a man. He had long silver hair, the prettiest Rin had ever seen, and was wearing silky white clothes. She watched his chest heave up and down in a rugged rhythm. Her small eyes caught the sight of a large slash across his chest with blood pouring out in copious amounts. Many times she had seen people enter her village with such wounds and be treated. Maybe she could help the man.

As she stepped closer his amber eyes opened slightly, looking into her own. Captivated by their beauty she simply stood there looking at him, until the man looked away. Getting water from a nearby stream, she washed the wound as she had seen the older women of her village do. Noticing the wincing breath he took, she shied away for a moment wondering if she was doing it wrong. She didn't think so and quickly continued her job, wrapping it as best as her little hands could before she heard noise from the nearby underbrush.

Going to look, she spotted the same wolves that attacked her village and took off, running in the direction away from the strange man. Behind her she could hear the footfall of her pursuer, seemingly getting closer with each passing second. Moments later she felt a pain in her side, then remembered nothing. The next thing she knew she opened her eyes to see the strange man standing over her with an odd looking sword.

End Flashback:

From that day until this very moment she had been with her Sesshomaru-sama. Each moment she spent with the cold, stoic man she grew more attached until soon she saw him as her second father, barely remembering anything about her other father. In fact, she had even grown to love Jaken-sama as a girl would lover her overly grumpy, complaining grandfather.

Now she had the chance to get a new mama! Kagome was perfect! She could sing and make flower crowns and told really good stories. Sometimes she even got to play with the little fox kit. Maybe she could have a big brother! Without any more thought, Rin yawned, turned over and pulled the covers up over her tired little head.

Down the hall, in his study, Sesshomaru sat at his oaken desk. He had bathed Kagome, taking great pains not to wake her, which had not been an easy task, dressed her in a clean robe and tucked her into their bed. He had even made the maid bring him extra blankets so he could stop her shivering. Never in all of his life had he felt so horrible. The woman he loved, yes he knew he loved her and he'd be damned if he didn't let the whole world know it, if only to gain her attentions, was nearly raped. His promise to keep her safe was shattered, he was no better than his father.

It was a different kind of pain he had brought to his mate, but pain none the less. How could she ever forgive him, part of him insisted that she shouldn't, that she deserved better. He knew it was the truth, but still selfishly hoped that she would forgive him. In the morning he planned to take her to his mother's secret garden that no other knew of. It seemed that it was the only place he could be at peace lately. There he planned to give her his gift. It had taken him nearly an hour to find where in the world he had hidden it since the last time he had gazed upon it.

As the sun began to overlook the land once more, like it had done for so many years past since the beginning of time, his sensitive ears heard his mate stir. Now, was the time, now he had to face her, look her in the eyes and see her hatred and disappointment. He took a deep breath and swung the door open, nearly falling over at what he saw.

Well, that's it for now. I don't know how much longer this story is going to be or if anybody actually wants me to finish it but oh well. I'm planning on having a new character come into play, please vote and tell me whether you would rather see Hiten, Bankatsu or Yoko Kuruma (different series I know). Also, would you rather have them go to the future so Sesshomaru can meet Kagome's family, or should I just not bother with that? Lastly, did you like it? Thanks guys, XXemzyXX