The first afternoon that she had come to start learning about the Western Lands, Nova had managed to organize Sesshomaru's study instead and he found himself silently surprised. Learning the way she organized everything, he realized that the way he worked must not have changed at all for he was pleased with the changes. She truly knew the best way he worked to complete it efficiently and in a timely manner.

After that, she was a quick study with both her tutors and his own teachings. He started to increase her knowledge of fighting as well so that she could properly defend herself. She adapted quickly to dual Sai blades once he started teaching her sword play after the morning meals. When his ward started to complain that he wasn't allowing her anytime with Nova, he quickly caved to those pleading brown eyes, freeing her mornings and moved her training to before the morning meals.

He had expected conflict between Nova and the females in the castle but still had heard nothing, and when he had gone to silently observe on the third day, he found them all in the gardens. The female were all sitting on blankets in a loose circle while Nova danced for them, singing while she did so. It had taken everything in him to remain in control of his raging beast that screamed for her while she entertained the females.

When she had come for her studies that day after the midday meal, his beast broke loose, bending her over his desk and took her over and over. The wounds on her legs so deep that she struggled to stay standing and even with the added healing from his blood, it took two days in bed while Healer Tsumi came multiple times each day with ointments, bandages, and medicine for the pain before she showed no discomfort.

Sesshomaru could detect a hint of cinnamon mixed in with her scent of peaches as the days passed, but could not figure out why. He knew she had not been pupped because his beast had not infused their energy with their seed when he would take her. Her behavior had not changed either so he ordered Tsumi to keep a close eye on her.

It wasn't until a week had passed that something changed. The arrival of several felines entering the dining hall during the midday meal caused the cinnamon scent from Nova to spike. He glanced down at the woman beside him and saw that she was pale as her eyes were locked on the two panther Youkai, one from the south and the other from the north.

He curled his finger under her chin and turned her head to look at him and noticed that tears threatened to spill over. A deeper fear than he had seen before was visible in her watery eyes. She took a shaky breath as her scent of peaches was completely taken over by cinnamon.

"I need to go..." Nova whispered, her voice shaky as she spoke.

He used his energy to summon her personal servant, Mikasuki. She was quickly escorted out of the dining hall as the two panther Youkai found seats, their energy flaring in silent greetings. He nodded their way as he acknowledged them. He had summoned them as an inquiry to the scars in Nova's hairline, but seeing her reaction, he was going to need to talk to her before introducing them.

"My lord?" Tsumi came in from a side door and bent over so she could whisper in his ear. "Your intended has collapsed. Her servant had gotten her to the fourth floor before it happened. She is very pale and has erratic breathing and did not respond to anything I tried once we got her to your rooms. Nor can I detect her usual scent now as that other has seemed to take over completely."

He got to his feet and left the dining hall, Tsumi following as he headed up to his rooms to check on the woman who held his courting energy. He heard a scream as he entered the common area of his rooms and heard a crash before he entered the bedroom. Nova sat on the bed, her knees pulled to her chest and she was gripping her head as he could only detect her scent of peaches once more. He noticed her servant on her knees with her brow against the ground while her hands protected her head surrounded by broken shards of a teapot.

"Get her out," Sesshomaru ordered as he walked over to Nova and Tsumi silently obeyed, pulling Mikasuki out of the room.

"Don't touch me!" Nova screamed as he gripped her wrists.

"It is just this Sesshomaru," he spoke calmly as he pulled her wrists away from her head, despite her struggling, but once she heard his voice she stopped fighting. "Which one did you recognize?"

"Both..." she whispered as her eyes stared at her restrained wrists.

"Which one triggered the episode?"

"I don't know. There's more fear from the male... who are they?"

"Touran of the Northern Panther Tribe and Cayto of the South. This Sesshomaru summoned both to confirm where or not those scars are just that or more."

"Cay...to..." He felt her body tense and a gasp escaped her before her eyes finally lifted to his. "Keep... him away from me..."

"A memory?"

"Maybe...?" Her brow furrowed as her eyes lowered back to where he still held her hands. "I have the vague memory of injuries before waking in that well... but there's no scars... it wasn't much..."

"What did you see?"

"I was restrained with my hands tied above me... the injuries I remember, fresh... it was raining... Cayto was there... and you..."

"Will you allow this one into your mind?" He inquired as her breathing quickened.

"You... can do that...?"

"It is a benefit of the courting energy within you. This way would show more than what you are able to say."

Nova nodded and he moved to sit on the bed, not letting go of her wrists and pulled her to him. She didn't fight and he pulled her into his lap, making her straddle him before bringing her hands up to the sides of his neck. His hands mirrored hers before sliding his hand into the edge of her hair and rested his forehead against hers. Her hands slid into his hair and let out a whine as he pressed his energy into her, a wall around her mind.

"Open yourself, this one will not harm you," he spoke quietly as he closed his eyes as he felt her wall waver before fading.

As he entered her mind, he could feel the bite of cold rain along his skin as he stood in the woods. He could see Nova hanging several feet off the ground, wearing nothing but her undergarments. She had been impaled by a dagger from behind that went all the way through and another wound on the other side of her abdomen that went through both sides that bleed. He could see Cayto, wearing strange only pants surrounded panther Youkai that stood on two legs and stood a foot taller than himself. The image of himself looked no different than looking in a mirror apart from the odd clothing.

There was no sound other than the rain that poured before Nova managed to swing herself and kicked Cayto in the back. He stumbled forward and he watched as his future self plunge his hand, glowing in poison, into the feline's chest before quickly killing the rest. Once they were dead, he watched as his future self quickly went to Nova and pressed her bleeding stomach to his chest as he removed the blade from her and cut her restraints before cradling her against him gently while putting pressure against her wounds before the image faded.

The woods disappeared and he found himself standing in a dark home, in what looked to be a dining area. A woman came into view, dragging a child with a vibrant red bow in her hair. The woman opened a false wall and pushed the child inside.

"Don't come out, don't make a sound," the woman whispered urgently before closing the false door.

"Amelia," a man spoke as he quickly came into view, his eyes the exact same as Nova's, but the markings of a blue rhombus on his brow and blue lines across his eyelids and silver strips on his cheeks, proved that he was Youkai. "He's come for her."

"How?"

"I don't know. The seals are still there... unless someone has betrayed us..."

Sesshomaru heard a loud crash before dozens of men stormed into the house. The female was restrained by four men while eight restrained the male before Sesshomaru saw Cayto enter the room. He drew a blade and pressed it under the female's neck, drawing a line of blood.

"Where is she, Dimitri?" Cayto snarled.

"You will not find her. She is not the one who cut off your tail," the male snarled.

"Not yet, but I will find and kill her before she finds the past. We know she's in this house, she won't escape," Cayto grinned.

Cayto sheathed his blade and snapped his fingers. Sesshomaru watched as the men restraining the female started to pull on her limbs and she started to scream before her arms were ripped away. The female started speaking in another language before her head was ripped away.

"Last chance dog."

"Go to hell, cat!" The male snarled before the same was done to him.

"Find the girl! She's here somewhere!"

The panthers that had just torn the two apart transformed slowly that he could see their skin tearing apart and bones popping in and out as they moved. He glanced down at the fake wall and saw stormy eyes, watching unblinking and could see her hands pressed to her mouth. The panthers started calling out as they spread out, their voices gravelly in these forms before this memory faded.

He opened his eyes and a single tear escape as her hands were in fists in his hair. He pulled back a couple inches as he used his right hand to wipe away the tear and her eyes opened partway. Her eyes never lifted to look into his as she pulled her hands out of his hair and let them fall into her lap as she processed the full memories he was able draw forward.

"So it was revenge... for something I didn't yet do... it was my fault they died..." her voice barely above a whisper.

"They died to protect you."

"Why was there sound with the second but not the first?"

"He spoke of seals... there must be seals over your recent memories that are not over those of your childhood."

"So these scars are not just scars?"

"It is possible," he spoke as she pulled herself out of his lap and got off the bed. "There is a three day grace period, but this one will send the southern panther away."

"Then can I request guards to keep him away from me. I don't know what would cause another version of myself to fight him and take his tail but if I can, I will do what I can to not have it happen in the first place."

"Do you believe that if you manage to avoid it that your family would be alive if you managed to return?"

"No I don't believe that I could change my past, but I hope to change another's future. I should head over for my studies..." she sighed as she fixed the gemmed hair piece, pulling the two combs out to let all her hair fall down.

"They were given the day off."

"Because of the episode?" Nova frowned and he nodded. "Then may I assist you? I'd rather not just sit around after seeing the entirety of those memories."

"That is acceptable," he spoke as he got off the bed and she took his arm as they headed out of the room and towards the study.