NA: Thank you Dawnfirejazz for your Review. I am very happy you like it so far. And yes, maybe I like to torture Kagome a little bit too much...

CHAPTER 4 - Yokai and Miko

Kagome woke up alone lying on the grass. Every inch of her body was in pain and she smelled of blood. Her clothes were torn, dirty and wet. Sitting up against her tree she was relieved to see that she was not injured. She could barely remember what happened to her and how ended up in the forest. Her friends were nowhere to be seen. She yelled their names but not even the birds answered her. She was truly alone. She got up, her body protesting at the effort it took her, and started to walk towards the rising sun. She wanted to find a road and a village before nightfall. Surely if her friends were near they would do the same.

Walking alone in the dense forest, she noticed that some trees were lying down. Probably a fight between demons. That thought did nothing to reassure her. She obviously did not want to find herself in front of a yokai; especially without her bow.

After a few hours of walking in the forest she grew extremely tired and hungry. Something was leeching off her energy but she did not know what. She could hear a waterfall, it has been hours since she first noticed the lovely sound it made and at this point she started to doubt its existence. Maybe she was imaging things she thought. I heard it hours ago and haven't reach it yet. It is impossible that I heard it from that far away.

The sun was setting down when she finally reached it. Happy to be able to wash up she began to undress. Entering slowly the river she proceeded to clean her hair; mud and leaves were tangled all over in it. Kagome wished she had her bag with her so that she could use some shampoo and soap to smooth out the knots of her locks. Once she was cleaned she tried to clean her clothes. Once she was sure nothing more could be done about the torn fabric she got out of the water and proceed to light a fire to dry off. She was not cold even though the sun was not there to warm her up anymore. Tired from the recent events she fell soundly asleep against a tree, fire cracking beside her.

Sesshomaru looked at the horizon. He could feel a new spark of power in his land. One that caught his attention more than the other. It was sporadic but had a good size to it. Finally a worthy opponent. It had been days since he had a good fight and he was itching to get some exercise. Afterall a lord as himself had a duty to stay the best in his own kingdom.

- Rin you'll stay here while I'm away. Jaken, you too.

He did not want the little girl to be in danger during his fight. Rin was his ward and he would not have someone that belonged to him hurt. Best for her to stay in the little meadow they made camp for the night. As for Jaken; the toad was just annoying and he could not bother with him today. Hearing the complain of the latter he started to summon his demonic aura under his feet, overing over the old toad and the human who could only watch him be on his way.

It took him less than an hour to get to his destination. Sesshomaru brandished his sword Tokijin and summoned his demonic aura. His opponent did not move to Sesshomaru's surprised. Any demon with a shred of common sense would have feel his aura and bloodlust. Not liking to be underestimated, Seeshomaru sliced the air in front of him, sending a wave of deadly aura right where his opponent was. An explosion soon impacted the ground. Not big enough to kill a powerful yokai, however he wanted to show how serious he was about killing anyone who invaded his land.

Kagome woke up in a frenzy. The explosion crashed on her; sending her back to the river where she previously bathed. Looking out to the sky she recognized her assailant. His long silver hair and smug face made it pretty clear who was standing above her.

- What's the idea Sesshomaru? What do you want with me?

The powerful yokai was surprised to see who he just attacked. Sword still in hand, Sesshomaru descended to the ground. Looking around he could see she was alone in the forest. Still the yokai smell still lingered.

- This Sesshomaru is tracking a powerful yokai. How interesting you go attacked instead.

- If a yokai was nearby I'd know about it now wouldn't I? As you can see I am alone.

As she got out of you water Sesshomaru's eyes widen. The closer she got the more powerful her sent got. She did not smelled like her usual human self. She had a pleasant aroma, lavender and raw power. Her power was omnipresent in the area as if she did nothing to restrained herself. Sesshomaru was surprised she would let it go freely, it was either foolish or she was simply unaware it can from her. Kagome walked up to the demon lord with every intention to give him a piece of her mind. Waking her up like this, for no reason on top of that. She was angry with the daiyokai and she want him to know it. She opened her mouth to pester him but she was rendered speechless when an arm grabbed her by the waist and pulled her forward. Sesshomaru must have pulled her to hard and the little women's face collided with his chest armour with a OUMF. He smelled her deeply trying to understand why she had the smell of his kind. He released her as quickly as he grabbed her, leaving Kagome perplex. What was that about.

- Miko… this Sesshomaru wants to know, what happened to you recently? Answer my question.

- Anything out of the ordinary I guess… well yesterday we got a sent of Naraku in the mountain… Kagome tried to recollect the past events as best as she could. I got ambushed and separated from my friends. I wont up in a tub… Kikyo was there… someone else was there too, her name is Tsubaki, she is a dark miko. She gave me my soul back… after that I don't remember. Kagome lied, not wanting to think about her unreciprocated love affairs.

- Don't lie. This Sesshomaru can see it in your aura. Sesshomaru threaten her with a deep growl.

Kagome sight, she really did not want to talk about it more than what she already told him. She really did not know how she got there and was worried about the rest of the group. She wanted to go back to them as soon as she could.

- I'll tell you the rest of my story on one condition. I want to go back there. I want to find where my friends are and well, I do have some blank in my memory that I want to fill in.

Sesshomaru looked at her for a moment. He was intrigued by the woman. Her change could not have been brought by simply having part of her soul back. Something else was at play, and if that person was able to give human yokai like powers, he needed to deal with them. He could not have dumb human running around with power in his land, especially if they were all as powerful as the miko seemed to be.

- Agreed. Where is Naraku's castle?

- Mont Hotaka.

Sesshomaru took a sit against the nearest tree and simply said that they would leave at first light. Kagome sat at her initial spot in the forest thinking about the embrace the two of them had. She pushed deep down the thought of Inu Yasha embracing her and concentrated on getting as much rest she could. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.