Chapter 3 - Shared Dreams

When Kagome awoke it was shortly after dawn. She noticed that Sesshoumaru was gone and only she and Inuyasha were awake. During the time before the children woke up, Kagome got all of her things together except what she would need during their trip. Soon everything was finished and Kagome decided to start breakfast. She had no idea when Sesshoumaru had left to go to the den but she wanted everything ready when he returned. By the time breakfast was finished, everyone was awake and becoming alert enough to eat. Except for the children, they woke up alert and ready to go. It wasn't until everyone had finished eating and everything was packed up that Kagome saw Sesshoumaru walking at his slow pace towards the group.

"How did it go?" Kagome questioned.

"He refused to wait, he is taking is group to find them now." Sesshoumaru answered.

"I can only hope that we get to him before they do." Kagome commented, a little worried about them.

"Is everyone ready to leave?" He questioned.

"Yes." She answered.

It had been decided that they would go to Sango's village first since it came before the Western estate. They would have to camp one time before reaching the old village, and one more time before arriving at the western mansion. Kagome placed the children on the dragon, deciding that she should walk. The sword she had forged in the future was tucked into her belt and she carried her bow in her hand. As they began to walk, Kagome considered all of the lessons of meditation and power control that she had been taught in the past.

She decided to practice a lesson that she had received a long time ago. She drew all of her energy into her chest and focused on condensing the energy. She formed the energy into the smallest ball that she could manage and then allowed it to redistribute throughout her body. With every attempt, Kagome pulled more energy into the ball and began to make it smaller. She continued her exercise for half the day, knowing that if she did not stop now she would drain herself and not make it the rest of the trip before falling asleep. Another lesson she had learned came to mind, and she decided that it should be practiced as well. She focused on allowing her energy to be felt and let her appearance change slightly. She knew that if they were going to be staying in a demon populated area she would need to look less human. The silver tinting came into her hair and her fangs and claws extended. Looking different enough, Kagome decided to lock her appearance the way that it was, allowing no more and no less to come out. She did not look like Netali, which was one of the reasons she needed to practice. Instead she simply looked like a tenshi Kagome, and decided that she liked this appearance.

It was two hours before dark when they arrived at the abandoned village. Sesshoumaru sat down at the edge of the buildings and watched over the children as they played. Everyone else helped Sango straighten up a few things in the buildings they would be staying in during their time here. Before the work was finished, Kagome decided to work on getting dinner ready. She knew that by the time the work was done everyone would be ready to eat, and then go to sleep. If Kagome had been a psychic she could not have been more correct. As soon as the children had finished their food they had taken their plates to Sango and had immediately laid out their pallet and gone to sleep. Once the dishes were done everyone else made their way to the hut that they would be sleeping in, except for Kagome. Sesshoumaru refused to stay within the buildings and so she and the children would remain outside with him. Kagome knew Sesshoumaru well enough to know that he did not want to be alone, but he wouldn't ask for them to stay with him either. The high wall around the village made him uncomfortable. He liked to know what was around him at all times and there was no place within the village that he could look over the walls. Before going to sleep, Kagome sat beside the children and altered their appearance as she had done their own. Once it was locked in place, she laid out her blanket and fell asleep quickly.

Sesshoumaru looked towards the sleeping figures not far from his location. Kagome had known that one of the huts were being prepared for them to stay in and yet she had decided to sleep out here. He knew that it was cold to them out here and he did not understand why she had rejected the warmer location. He would have liked to believe that she had simply decided to remain so that he would not be alone, but he could not have guessed her motive. He knew that she understood her behavior, but he also knew that she was adjusting to the new instincts and could very well act on them without conscious thought. She had changed their appearance to look more demon. He knew that she would do so before going into the western lands, but do have done it while still in the company of the humans in the group surprised him. Her actions made him believe that she was leaving the human side of her behind, at least the appearance. She had chosen to follow him instead of remaining here. She had refused to let him give her the old forge that was in the village outside the estate walls. She was lining everything out for after the battle with Naraku, and she was preparing that place to be near him. He knew that she had promised not to take Rin away from him, but in the back of his mind he knew that was not the only reason. He stared at Kagome's sleeping form for some time, the warning he received running through his mind. 'she never knew what you felt…' His older self had decided to say as much as he could in a very short time. Knowing that his mind was running in circles, Sesshoumaru decided to pause his thoughts for the time being and resume them at another time, and soon he too had fallen asleep.

--

Sesshoumaru drifted into sleep and dreamt of the time he had seen Netali's home land. 'come on, Taisho' Netali called, grabbing his hand and beginning to run down the hallway. They had just left he company of her uncle and she wished to show him her favorite place in the palace. He had felt like a child running through the palace with her and couldn't help but join her in laughing as they ran down the hallways. The hall ended and they were standing in an open room. There were several stone columns scattered around the room. A set of stairs lead down to a lower area of stone floor only to drop off and be meet by a river. He could see reeds growing at the edge of the cove that was cut into the palace to offer privacy. His attention turned back to Netali, his arm was around her waist, his hand resting just beneath her belly button. He lent into her a little and brushed his lips on her neck, and earned a purr from her. She turned in his grasp and after a smile, they immediately began to kiss deeply.

This had happened several times in the dream world since they had began sharing their sleeping hours together. There was no awkwardness between them any longer, each knew what the other liked and what they wanted. As soon as they had began to kiss, Sesshoumaru gripped her side. He walked her backwards as the kiss continued, and guided her towards a stone bench that was curved upward on one end. With material laid over it and pillows around it he knew that it was designed to be lain on, even without having seen such furniture before. Once they were near the bench, his hand moved towards the clasp on her skirt and it dropped to the floor. He had long ago mastered the mechanics of he clothing. She slid her hand between them as she untied his hakamas in the front. Her hand slid around his hip and soon the hakamas fell to the floor, followed shortly by her shirt. He stepped forward, placing a foot in-between her legs, causing her to step back towards the bench. He lent into her and supported her weight with one arm as he bent backwards to move herself onto the bench. Within a moment he was kneeling over her on the bench, her legs wrapped around his. He brushed her hair away from her face and knelt down to her and their lips and tongues made contact again. He placed an arm in between them to position himself, and gently slid into her. Sesshoumaru fell into dreamless sleep, unaware that someone else had felt the memory of this dream.

--

Kagome woke with a jolt, 'so that's how it feels to be loved by him.' She thought, realizing that Netali had blocked a lot of that nights dream. She felt hot and cold at the same time, and there was a pain between her legs. She wanted him. She pulled her legs towards her in an attempt to relieve the pain. Kagome knew that it was her that wanted him and not Netali. Netali had separated the dream world so well from the waking world that she had not even surfaced the dreams they'd had together when she had given Kagome her memories. Sesshoumaru slipping into that dream had pulled her. She knew that Sesshoumaru had relived the dream, that's why it had surfaced. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and it took everything she had not to look up.

"Kagome." Sesshoumaru's voice whispered with concern. He didn't know what she'd just seen. He didn't know what was wrong. "Kagome." He stated louder.

Kagome couldn't help it, she looked up at him and when she did she pushed herself forward and captured his lips. The memory was far to fresh in his mind, the lines of dream and reality crossed, and he returned the kiss as though he was still reliving his memories. His hand, which had been on her shoulder moved to the side of her face while the other had slipped beneath her outer robe and gripped her side. The cold throughout Kagome's body died down, but the heat increased immensely. She knew that she needed to remind him of reality, but she was losing the fight in her mind that was deciding weather she should or should not do something to stop this. There was a pause in the kiss, and Kagome took her chance.

"Not here." She whispered, hoping that he would realize this was not the dream world.

She felt his hands let go of her and move away suddenly, reality seemed to be setting in. In a flash he was gone. Kagome knew exactly where he was though, she could smell him. She had turned him on and now she had to deal with the fact that she could still smell him. It hadn't been the dream that had done it, she hadn't smelt it when she woke up. No, Kagome had done it when she had leaned up to him. Now she knew that he had not been lying in the future. He had feelings for her now, they had not developed when he had thought her dead. Only a moment after his retreat, Kagome rolled onto her side and gripped her blanket, pulling it to her face in an attempt to cover his scent.

"So much for keeping us separate." She whispered to herself, reminded of her statement to keep the memories of Netali and her own separated.

Kagome needed to do something to get his scent out of her mind. She struggled to think of something, anything, that would take the scent away. She struggled to sit up and she looked over at the children. She stood up on shaky legs and walked over to them and knelt down. They were sleeping peacefully, unaware of anything that had happened. She lent over them and placed her forehead near them and took a deep breath. After about the third breath, his scent had left her mind. She moved back to her blanket and thankfully she had cleared her mind enough that she fell asleep within a few minutes.

Sesshoumaru had watched her display after he had backed away. Her nose lifted into the air slightly as she began to track him. He had thought that she would follow after him when she picked up his scent, but she hadn't. Instead she had rolled onto her side and covered her face. Her words told him much as she spoke to herself. She had been fighting an internal battle with the memories in her mind, and she was losing though she had not given up the fight yet. She had not learned the lessons that Netali had gone through on keeping dream and reality separated. Sesshoumaru knew how she had been taught, but was unsure weather or not he should try to attempt it since it was treading on dangerous grounds for him as well. He had never been near Netali when she had woken from such a shared dream before and did not know what effects they had on her. One thing he did know was that he always woke up in need of a very cold water source.

Morning began with relative normalness, when Kagome woke the children were still asleep, but she could see lights coming from Sango's hut. After checking on the children, she decided to see what had woken Sango up so early in the morning. As she opened the door, Sango turned around to see who was entering. Kagome found her already starting breakfast.

"You're up early." Kagome stated.

"Yea, we all went to sleep so early, I normally wake up early when we do that. Didn't know what to do that wouldn't disturb everyone so I decided to start breakfast, the smell of food is going to wake everyone up soon." Sango stated.

"Anything I can do?" Kagome questioned.

"You could grab the plates over there." Sango stated, pointing across the room. Once Kagome returned to the fire, plates in hand, Sango decided to speak again. "Are you sure you want to go with Sesshoumaru? You're going to be surrounded by demons even though you'll be in the mansion."

"You say that like you don't think I'm safe with him, Sango." Kagome commented, and Sango replied by giving her a sad look. "He's not going to hurt me, and he's not going to allow anyone to hurt me while I'm there. It will be alright Sango. I'm not staying in the mansion anyway, I'm staying in the city. I'm going to buy an old forge house. I figure I need to do something, have somewhere to go back to once the fight is over. So, I'm going to work on getting it all set up now." Kagome elaborated.

"I had hoped that you would come back with us and live here." Sango stated sadly.

"I promised Sesshoumaru that I wouldn't take Rin away from him. Besides, since I made that promise I started feeling…" Kagome paused for a moment. "Well, like something would be missing if I didn't get to see him very much."

"I can understand that, Kagome-chan. I do hope that you will come to visit us." Sango stated hopefully.

"Of course I will, and if I remember right, the house I'm buying is a little outside town so you guys would be able to come see me too." Kagome stated.

"I'm not entirely sure how that would work, but I can't say yes or no, we'll have to see if it would work out." Sango stated.

"As my allies, you would be welcome there. No one would lift a hand to harm you for what you are. Though if you do come, I would advise you not wear your slayer clothing nor he wear his monk's clothing." Sesshoumaru stated, making his presence known to the two women. "The children are awake." He stated, looking down at Kagome before leaving the hut.

The two women looked at each other once he had left, unsure exactly how much of the conversation he had heard. They couldn't help but laugh at each other. Kagome stood up and looked out the doorway to see the children running around playing. She looked over to see Sesshoumaru sitting where he had been last night, looking as calm as ever. 'If he's not going to say anything, I'm not going to either.' Kagome decided in her mind as she turned back to Sango who was just finishing up dinner.

Soon everyone was awake and breakfast had come and gone. After a not so long good-bye, Kagome was placing the children upon Ah Uh so that they could leave. As they began to walk away she turned around and lifted up an arm to wave at them. The children joined her as she bid a farewell to the rest of their group.