Naraku leered at Kagome as she hung from the ceiling by her wrists, gravity stretching her body out for him to see. Kagome wasn't entirely sure of her state of dress, but she was sure that she was sick and tired of having him watching her like that. She was cold, and the room was damp, and she was fed up. Why couldn't the universe have just let her have that nice little moment where she finally realized what she wanted? If there was a god out there, he/she had a fucked up sense of humor.

On the upside, the fact that Naraku had been silent thus far, gave Kagome a chance to run back through what she had learned and process it all. What she realized was that, basically, her life might have turned out just fine, had this asshole and his weird spiritual groupies not decided to screw with nature. If they had just let the universe balance itself back out like it always did, none of what screwed her over in high school would have happened. At least not the way it had. And Kagome. Was. Pissed.

Naraku hadn't done much more than stare at, and taunt, her in the last couple of hours since Kikyo had left, and Kagome was seriously getting bored. She had expected torture, or something equally horrible and mentally scarring, but no. He just stared at her like a slimy creep. This man, this creature, had terrified her when she was 13 and hadn't known any better, but looking at him now, as creepy and grotesque as he was, the fact that he had spent hundreds of years pining after the powers of some priestess who obviously didn't care for spiders back then either, kind of just made him... pathetic really. That was the best word for it. As much as she hated having him there, undressing her with his freaky red eyes, some part of her knew that she would be fine.

She had spent years being afraid of her best friend, and to find out that this aforementioned best friend was little more of a cheap copy of herself. Kagome almost laughed. Sure, Kikyo had ruined her life, but to some degree, Kikyo was only a puppet for the pathetic creepy demon in front of her, and somehow that made her feel much less terrified.

In the back of her mind, Kagome realized that this demon had an unimaginable amount of power and SHOULD be feared, but the part of her that was that ancient, powerful, Miko knew that she had defeated demons far more powerful than this. It was with this thought that Kagome realized that SHE had power too. Her mind hadn't registered that fact until just then, but, logically, if those old Shinto priests had cloned Kikyo in an attempt to bring back the Miko power of old, and Kagome was a reincarnation of that same priestess, then Kagome held the power they were trying to recreate. Or a sizeable part of it, at least.

Holy shit! Kagome was suddenly reeling. If she could dig deep and find even a spark of that ancient power, maybe she had a chance of getting herself out of this. All she needed to do wa-

'Kagome'

Kagome closed her eyes and listened, stopping herself mid-thought. After a moment, Kagome wasn't sure she had heard correctly until-

'Mate'

She tried to hide her smile as she replied to him.

'I'm here.'

'Thank Kami. Where are you?'

'A basement. I think. I'm being held by Kikyo and some demon who calls himself Naraku. That's all I know. How are you doing this?'

'The Mate bond. I wasn't sure it would be strong enough for this yet. Most Mates have the ability to know exactly where their mate is at all times, but that only comes after consummation of the bond.'

'Wow... so much for privacy.'

'Scoff all you like. That particular ability would be really nice right about now. Do you know how many Basements are in Tokyo?'

'You're right. I'm sorry. That would be really nice right about now.' Kagome reached inside herself looking for the source of the bond. Finding that warm little spark, she grabbed hold and gave it a sharp tug. 'did you feel that?'

'Yes. What did you do?'

'I pulled on the bond. Is it enough for you to follow the direction to me?'

'I don't know... Keep doing that.'

Kagome reached deeper and pulled harder as long as she could. It took so much of her concentration that she didn't notice when Naraku had started talking again. Something about how helpless her situation was. She wasn't really listening though, and all she heard was snatched words, which out of context, really didn't have any bearing on her current situation.

'It's working Kagome. My sense of you is getting stronger. Keep doing that.'

Kagome did laugh then.

Naraku frowned at her, stopping mid-monologue. "What are you laughing at?"

Kagome grinned at him maniacally. She was almost hysterical with relief. Knowing you have power, and knowing how to use it are two very different beasts. Knowing you are mated to a man who not only has huge amounts of power, but also knows how to use it, and is moments away from finding you, however, is incredibly reassuring no matter which way you slice it.

That obviously unnerved the little creepy crawly, because he took an uncertain step back from her and eyed her warily. "What?" He demanded.

"You really didn't think this through very well, did you?" She asked condescendingly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you tried to make a clone of a woman with great power, not realizing that she had already been reincarnated. And now you're holding that reincarnation in your basement with chains."

"So?"

Kagome shook her head at him then. "Oh, nothing..." She was quiet for a moment before asking "Exactly how far from Taisho tower did you take me?"

Naraku smirked at her then. "Not that it matters, but the best hiding places are always right under the nose of the person your hiding from."

"You've never been Mated, have you?"

Naraku grimaced then. "I tend to avoid any romantic entanglements with my own... species..."

Kagome almost laughed again. "Why? Been burned before?"

"We are much more similar to our non-demonic counterparts than we like to admit..."

Kagome arched a brow at him. "How's that?"

"The females like to... eat the male's they... sleep... with..." He winced as he said it.

Kagome had to laugh then. The little spider just didn't want to get eaten. Poor guy. Too bad Kagome just really didn't give a fuck after what he'd done to her.

"Why do you ask?"

Kagome smirked again. "Because if you had, then you might have known better than hiding me so close to my Mate, who just so happens to be a Taiyoukai, and the heir to the West."

And then the ceiling of their little "holding cell" was suddenly being broken through by a ginormous white paw.

AN Hey guys! Here is the next chapter. It's way overdue, I know. Sorry. Unfortunately, this isn't an automatic happy ending for Kags and Sesshomaru, Tune in for my next chapter where we get to see Sesshomaru and Naraku facing off. And maybe some awakening powers from our favorite Miko... hmmmm...