A/N: Thank you all for your love of the story and your amazing reviews. I truly treasure them, they keep me going.

"So let's talk about the weekend we spent together last time," Naraku was sitting in the office chair that Kagome had once been in. He was using his feet to make it sway back and forth.

In his hand was a small pair of silver keys that he lightly tossed and caught. The keys to her handcuffs taunted her in his grip.

Kagome, her arms long ago tired and numb, turned her head to the side, looking at nothing.

"I particularly want to focus on why that weekend happened in the first place," he said, "Do you know Jinya Takagi?"

There was a flash of interest in her eyes but it was gone as soon as it came.

"I saw that," Naraku smiled, "I think he's a snake, don't you? Well anyway, the day you and your sister came to visit me-"

"Kidnapped," Kagome enforced.

"Get over it already," he replied. "The day we met, is that better? Okay, the day we met, I called your mother but she was in the air at the time. However, the next morning she and I spoke and when I told her that the four of us could escape her life of sadness, she was more than willing to come meet me when she learned I had safely secured you both."

"Liar," Kagome murmured.

"That is, until she spoke to Takagi, who told her that there was something else she could do to stay rich yet miserable," he continued, unfazed. "I was pretty pissed when I learned that I was meeting with him instead of your mother. Do you know what he had to say?"

Kagome simply blinked.

"Conversing really isn't your strongpoint," Naraku commented as he swayed, "He gave me a briefcase full of money, a letter, and assured me that if I left quietly, I'd never be caught by the police. Your mother said I could keep you if I wanted to. Full custody."

There was another flash of interest and Kagome slowly looked up at him.

"Liar," she said again.

"Not at all," Naraku said. "Your mother bribed me and then covered for me. Actually she covered for herself. As a matter of fact, she's going to do it again. I'm supposed to meet Takagi for another gift in a few hours. Renge doesn't even know it. This is all hush-hush."

Kagome hesitated… "She's not…going got help?"

"Nope," he said. "I even offered to let you go right now if she did one simple thing. Actually," he fished out his phone and scrolled through it. "I recorded it…," he hit the play button.

-It's just a broken finger, not the end of the world. You should be proud-

"Hold on, let me fast forward a little bit," he said and pressed a button.

-I never meant to hurt you- her mother's unmistakable voice said, -I loved you, but what I had to do-

"Little more," he smiled at Kagome's curious expression, pressing the button.

-That's a lot of money in a short amount of time- her mother's voice said desperately.

"Ah, here we go," Naraku said quickly as the conversation played.

-I'll have to do it discreetly so I don't set off any alarms.-

-Ah yes, the cover up- Naraku's voice said. -Good job training Kagome to never tell my name. You needed to save face after all. What would your poor husband and the world think of you if they knew?-

-Renge can't know…-

-Tell you what. If you tell the press that it was your lover who abducted your daughters the first and the second time, I'll leave without a penny. Seeing you air your own secrets would be all the payment I need. With pull like yours, it'll be on the Tokyo news in an hour.-

"Check this out," Naraku said gleefully, as the long pause ensued. Kagome narrowed her eyes, listening hard.

She heard Naraku chuckle. -Well then, I suggest you and Takagi start planning. I'll call you back in a few hours with a drop sight.-

-Okay…-

"Are you fucking serious!" Kagome screamed immediately, fighting against her bonds, kicking her legs.

Her face turned red as she pulled and pushed and fought against herself, letting the rage ride through her entire body. She screwed her eyes and screamed at the top of her lungs. "No-no-no-no-no! God damn it!"

Naraku sat back and watched, not as bothered by her noise this time.

Deep down, the unbearable hurt began doing its damage…

It set off a reaction in Kagome because she knew how to deal with this pain; she knew what to do with it.

It took a few moments but eventually the screaming stopped and her body sagged. Her heavy shallow breathing became slower and deeper as she calmed. Her transition was complete when she sagged into her bonds and let her hands droop.

"Now," Naraku said patiently, "We know why Kikyo never told anyone my name but I really want to know what she did to you to make you never say it either."

Kagome looked away with a scowl.

"Don't be like that," he said sweetly, "I just revealed your traitor. The least you could do is tell me what did she did."

She closed her eyes.

Naraku reached over and grabbed four of her fingers, broken digit included, and twisted until she screamed.

"Okay!" she shouted as he released her. She sucked in several breaths at once, not trying to get rid of the pain for that was impossible, but simply trying to bear it. "She came to get me at the station just as the policemen were talking to me," she half said, half whimpered.

"Go on," he said, resuming his seat.

Kagome's lip was giving a small pout as she searched her mind for that day, "They let her take me aside for a few minutes. She was hugging me…and crying because I was crying too."

"I'm not so sure that's the reason…"Naraku looked confused. "Your mother doesn't really get the definition of empathy. What did she say?"

"…She said…," Kagome let two or three tears fall, "That if I said your name to anyone, you'd definitely find me and kill me."

Naraku tsk'd three times.

"What a traumatizing thing to say to a little girl who had had such a bad day," Naraku nodded in sympathy, "Kind of brilliant, actually."

"I was so scared. I never told a soul," Kagome leaned her head back against the wall; letting three of four more tears streak her cheeks, "And look where that got me."

"Exactly!" he agreed. "She was wrong. She buried your pain for her own selfish reasons." He walked over and rustled her messy hair and she opened her eyes to meet his.

Kagome looked heartbroken.

"She only told you that because if the world found out about us, she would look bad and lose everything. She didn't expect to get you back so when she did, she had to quickly take care of you, understand?"

Kagome, with a mother she had to make appointments to see, with a mother she had to call back a few hours after being hung up on, and a mother who used to lock her in the house to get away from her cries and screams, found herself nodding at Naraku's words.

His smile…became so kind.

"Now you see," he said gently, "Right there is another example of why your parents don't love you. Your father didn't care to know you were missing and your mother knew and was more concerned about herself than about you. I'm the only one who cares but you've crossed me too many times, Kagome."

He leaned down so they could be at eye level.

"Nobody's cared enough to come looking. No one care's that you're missing, here with me. I may care but I don't love you anymore. Your parents don't love you. And if they don't love you, who can?"

Kagome closed her eyes again, swallowing back a small sob.

"Who can, Kagome?" he asked again.

She was quiet for a moment longer.

"Nobody," she eventually whispered.

"Good girl."

Kagome took a large huff, rattling her arms dully. Long ago she had learned how to retreat so deeply into herself that she could leave behind a shell of a person to take her place.

It was helpful when her parents found the time to scream at her or the horde of therapists tried to fix her without caring what was wrong with her.

But this time…it was different…

In her head she was laughing with the precious friends she had finally made. No one had betrayed her for she had no secrets to be exposed.

Souta was visiting, relieved that she wasn't lonely without him. Sango and Miroku had finally gotten over their stupidity and became a couple. Inuyasha was able to come down from his anger problems by-

-Kagome's mind had a small smile-

Petting puppies. He especially liked their ears.

And Sesshomaru…from the outside of her safe place, she could feel her heart squeeze painfully but she embraced that because it meant she was still alive, that she could still feel for now.

Sesshomaru held her hand. Nothing more. He was next to her and snapping grumpy comments and acting like he didn't care. But under the table they shared the precious secret of entwined fingers.

And because it was her mind and she was the only one who had complete control of that, Kikyo was there too.

The best thing about having a twin was that she could see so clearly how a seventeen year old Kikyo would look like.

By remembering the little details about her, it made it so much more believable. Her long straight hair, perfectly trimmed bangs, her love for anything red.

Kikyo had always had the sense of humor of a stick but…the kindness of a priestess.

Souta would have idolized her.

Sesshomaru would have liked her.

Inuyasha would have been put in his place by her.

Kagome sighed wistfully as the pain of her recent betrayals locked themselves into a box of suppression.

Is this what her stockpile of child-therapists called it? The place you could go whenever you wanted to?

She has never been able to do it before because she was always alone and on the rare occasions when she had Souta, that was all she needed.

But now she'd experienced so many new things…So many faces she could add to the lonely little place in her mind. There were no nightmares here, no hiding from the very same man in front of her, no tears and suffering.

It was so different, this feeling. The name eluded her until…

Sesshomaru gave her hand a little comforting squeeze.

Immediately, Kagome knew without a doubt that this is what they called,

Your happy place.

"It's ten," Naraku leaned in to check his watch. He'd long ago lost Kagome's attention but that didn't matter right now.

He'd cracked her and in a few hours, he could send her back to her parents as a shattered mess.

They'd forgotten about Kikyo but they wouldn't be able to escape the daughter that lived through hell twice and went mad.

Maybe then they would learn to appreciate what they had before someone came and mercilessly took it away from them. After all, they still had little Souta.

And if Kagome didn't teach them…

Naraku smiled, feeling a sense of purpose rise within him. For the past ten years since he'd found out about his son, he'd been a wandering ghost lost in the fog of Yuzuru's betrayal and hurt.

Who knew his hidden talent was inflicting pain on other people?

There was a difference between crazy and cruel, Naraku knew.

But when combined by a product of lies, hurt, and loss, there was no way to separate the two.

He hadn't been able to do that in a very long time.

In the darkness of a room somewhere, there were seven men that didn't exist.

For the right price the band could temporarily exist and do things that weren't exactly lawful if your definition of law was justice, morality, truthfulness, and goodness.

Technically there were six because one was sitting in through a webcam program.

"I know him," Renkotsu the brain said. "He's good for it."

"He's a standup kid," Mukotsu the mole agreed, "Paid cash and everything."

Bankotsu the boss looked skeptical. "But Renkotsu said his bank accounts are frozen."

"His father has…control issues," Renkotsu admitted, "I think he saw the massive withdrawals and got curious."

"And he barely has enough as it is," Bankotsu continued, "How can we be sure we get our money?"

"I say we do it anyway," voted Jakotsu the depraved, named for his love of rushing in head first. "And if push comes to shove and he's broke, we give him to Suikotsu until he sees the errors of his ways."

Suikostu the sadist said nothing but his small smile said it all for him.

"What do you think?" Bankotsu turned to the other members.

"I've got some new toys to play with," Ginkotsu the weapons master shrugged, "I say let's bring the fire."

"But we don't even know if that kid's girl is in that building in the first place," Bankotsu was truly doubtful, "I don't want to run around the city loaded up because a little kid has it in his head that his flight-risk girlfriend is being held captive. It's a little farfetched for me."

"We've gone outside and played for less logic," Jakostu reminded him.

"Yeah but that was backed by hard cold cash," their leaded enforced, "This is backed by a kid's I.O.U."

"What if it's real?" Mutkotsu asked. "He was putting together some serious pieces of a puzzle. He might really need help."

He shifted his eye to the last member who was very soft when it came to women and children. Technically, Kagome was both. "That girl was tortured as a kid. She might be being tortured by the same person right now. She could die."

Kyokotsu the muscle slowly looked up from his book of 19th century poetry and said with candor and grace, "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. Abraham Lincoln. I want to go."

"Yippe!" Jakotsu cried happily with a jump, "The yeses have it! I think I have the perfect outfit already. Mukotsu, what color are Sesshomaru's eyes?"

He was answered by a room full of silence.

"That right there," Ginkotsu sighed. "Is exactly why we call you Jakotsu the fairy behind your back."

"Bankotsu!" Jakotsu immediately whined.

"Leave him alone," Bankotsu said automatically with a tired wave of his hand. He turned his head to the computer screen of Renkotsu.

"Unfreeze that account and clean it out. Consider it our deposit. You do that, we'll load up."

"That's not my mainframe so it's a little tricky," Renkotsu said, "A few hours at most."

"Then I guess this Sesshomaru kid has a few hours to wait," Bankotsu decided. "I'm taking a nap," he began walking into the murkiness, "Call me when something good happens."

And with their leader's instructions, the six men disappeared, never being there in the first place.

It was time to call Yuzuru back and decide on a spot where he would meet Jinya the snake for their business transaction.

Naraku searched the gloom of the office. While the windows gave plenty of light from the Tokyo skyline, the deeper parts of the office where Kagome and Naraku sat were shrouded in darkness.

He spotted his phone on a far off desk and placed the handcuff key he was playing with down on the nearest surface.

Naraku attempted to walk to the far desk where he put his cellphone but tripped and stumbled on the leg of a desk.

"Son of a!" he cradled his injured foot, hopping up and down in misery.

The damn building had no electricity and going down the stairs earlier had practically killed him as he stumbled, but even his own office was a death trap.

"Now I know how a broken finger feels," he joked but when Kagome gave no response he shrugged it off.

She was no fun.

He reached the phone, unplugging it from its battery-fueled charger, and walked over to the window, looking for a meeting place that would suffice.

One where he could see Jinya's arrival clearly without him being too close or too far.

He stood by the window and dialed, the glow of his cellular dull compared to the skyline of Tokyo.

But outside, a young man who had been wandering the cold and dark for hours, immediately noticed the little green light that suddenly illuminated in the darkness of an abandoned building.

Sesshomaru took off in its direction.

Naraku and Yuzuru spoke briefly and she texted him a phone number which he promptly dialed.

"Jinya," he said pleasantly when the line picked up, "How are you?"

"You know, you're a real sick bastard," Jinya snapped back. "Did you hurt that girl?"

"What can I say?" Naraku asked. "I'm a jealous man. If I can't have what I want, why does anybody else get to?"

"Unbelievable," the lawyer continued. "Your reasons are simply depraved."

"Does depravity need a reason?" Naraku asked. "Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose? Anyway, enough with the pleasantries. You act as if you're just the pawn in this situation. Like everyone else, I've kept tabs on you too. What a flourishing career you've had these past ten years. Staying close to the Higurashis' has been really beneficial to you, hasn't it?"

"I'm not susceptible to your petty mind games," Jinya said. "So don't waste my time. Let's talk business."

Naraku laughed, "As you wish."

It was pale but he could make out SunTech on the plaque on the side of the building. The front doors had long ago been boarded up but Sesshomaru saw car tracks and with inflating hope in his chest, he followed them around back where he found an old parked automobile.

Sesshomaru checked the windows, finding the car empty. The doors were open so he sat inside, rustling through the glove compartment and middle console for information or clues.

Recovering nothing with interest or Naraku's name, he decided to pop the trunk to be safe.

Sesshomaru couldn't help himself. He walked a tad bit slowly to the back of the car, afraid of what he'd find.

But when the trunk was devoid of a body, the sigh of relief was unshakable. It was empty save for a tire iron and a…

No.

Sesshomaru reached down and picked up the little cold locket with a broken chain.

No.

He flicked it open with one hand, seeing a blue stone on one side and two smiling girls on the other.

No.

Looking around frantically, he found a small back entrance that had been pried open, its handle broken and unable to close.

He ran over, swinging it open. The light from outside revealed the start of a staircase but as he cautiously peeked inside, it became lost in the rising darkness.

Sesshomaru cursed and reached into his pocket, turning on the phone that had died long ago.

When fully revived, it warned him that it only had 3% left so he better make good use of it.

He could call 911 and maybe get them just as his phone shut off completely…or he could use it for a makeshift flashlight to cut through the darkness with...

Gun in the other hand, Sesshomaru began climbing to the nineteenth floor.

More and more, deeper and deeper, until there is nothing else.

Kagome kept building her inner world, pulling back from a reality she just didn't want anymore.

There was nothing there for her.

Her mind worked frantically, spinning trees and fluffy clouds in blue skies, erecting buildings and malls for her and Sango and Kikyo to explore.

The boys, Souta included, got an arcade and a burger shop and every day the girls would meet them there for milkshakes and fries.

There were no flying cars because that was only in movies.

But there was love.

Because apparently that was only in Kagome's head.

Her mental world almost complete, she looked back at the doorway that appeared behind her, letting her know that beyond it lay everything she knew to be real and true.

Naraku, her mother, her scars, her loneliness. All of it, ready for her if she wanted to go to it.

'Kagome!'

She turned away from it and saw her loved ones. They called for her, waving at her from a distance, beckoning her to asylum.

She looked at the door where the real world lay and back at the image of her friends, happily waiting for her.

Kagome shut the door...

'Kagome!'

..And went running for milkshakes.

Sesshomaru was clearing flights in three bounds or less, rising up and up and up. His battery beeped in unhappiness but he flashed it around him so he wouldn't miss a step.

If he had been cold now, he was missing the feeling. He was burning sweat as he climbed, fueled with determination to find her.

Pushed with fear that he wouldn't find her alive.

The numbers on the wall told him he was getting closer and it powered him to move faster and faster.

16th floor.

She better be okay

17th floor.

She has to be okay

18th floor.

Please be okay

19th floor.

He kicked open the stairwell door, running down the hall of abandoned offices, led by his dimming phone.

The light he'd seen in the window had shone from the east side of the building and Sesshomaru had entered from the west, meaning that the light had probably came from the furthest door from the stairwell, the one at the end of the hallway.

Closer.

Where are you?

Closer.

Please, Kagome.

Closer.

Don't break me like this!

At the end of the hall there was only one door. Sesshomaru grabbed the locked handle and rattled it. He tucked the gun and began slamming into the door with his shoulder, trying to weaken the deadbolt.

"Kagome!" He yelled as he banged, making the door tremble from his weight.

There was no sound coming from within and it scared him more than a pained scream would have.

At least pain meant she was alive.

"Kagome!" he shouted and sent the door flying back into the wall.

Sesshomaru rushed in, scanning amongst the scattered desks and boxes in the office suite. There was too much darkness and he used his cellphone as a beacon to see what he could.

He reached for his gun again in case there were other things than Kagome in the room.

"Kagome!"

He walked briskly, because running would send him into a panic, and he frantically searched for her.

There was a moan not too far. It was low and weak but Sesshomaru's eagerness to hear anything at all picked up on it and he went running in its direction.

He saw the tip of feet, protruding from between two desks.

He ran so fast, he flew.

When he saw her there, in that crucified position, he felt his heart seize inside his chest.

"Kagome…"

He dropped to his knees in front of her, forgetting the gun and light. His eyes became accustomed to her already.

"Kagome," he held her face in his hands, wiping her cheeks, scanning her over for bruises. "Kagome!" he shouted because she wasn't responding.

It was scaring him until she let out a small breath. Amidst the panic, relief tingled up his spine, assuring him that she was alive.

He called her name again and she stirred, her eyes opening up with a look of listlessness.

Sesshomaru looked around her, seeing the cuffs that chained her arms and gave each one a tug to see if they would come loose.

Secure in their position, he searched the gloom from what he could make out. He grabbed his phone and used the dying light.

There was an empty chair not too far off but he ignored it, looking around until something glinted on the desk near him. Reaching for it, he was met with a small set of keys and immediately went to work.

It unlocked one cuff but not the other. Her right hand dropped to her side and she groaned, feeling the numbness complain as it shifted position.

"Kagome!" he shook her hard, squeezing her cheeks. "Damn it!"

Feeling it was necessary, he gave her a slight slap across the face.

The listless eyes faded away as she slightly came stumbling out from her retreat.

She looked up at him as if seeing him for the first time, her eyes squinting in confusion. "Sesshomaru?" she whispered.

"Yes," He grabbed her free hand and placed it upon his face, letting her feel him, nodding in her hand. "I'm here," he said.

Tears fell from her perplexed face, small and swift, as if she couldn't believe something so wonderful could be true. "Sesshomaru," she said again to be sure.

"I'm going to bring you home," he promised.

"I dreamed about you," Kagome whispered, out of it.

"And I came for you," he said, "I'm going to find the other key and…"

He saw it in the dark. The very small moment where her eyes widened in fear and horror.

Sesshomaru turned just as Naraku brought the gun down against the side of his head.

He flinched but before he could react, another one rocked his vision and he tried as hard as he could to fight against it but eventually the blackness greeted him warmly.

"Well," Naraku said, palming the butt of his gun. "That was unexpected."