A/N: Idk if I ever said this, but I gave Takeshi his name solely for the reason that I was eating takis while writing his intro chapter. Just a funny side note I guess! Enjoy ya'll

-sploosh

She was floating in darkness again, she could feel it before opening her eyes. A familiar dark chuckle creeped from behind her, chilling her spine.

Naraku.

Kagome blinked hard, attempting to see past the darkness. Fear left her trembling. Holding herself, she tried to keep it together. She was okay.

It's just a dream, she told herself. Naraku isn't here. This isn't the inside of the jewel. It's your mind playing tricks on you.

There it was again, that satisfied, cynical laughter. It crept over her skin in vibration. This was too close for comfort. A hand to her back startled her, and she screamed, terrified. Shutting her eyes again, she wrapped her arms over her head.

"Do you wish to not be afraid?"

The jewel. Always taunting her. She refused to speak to it.

"Do you wish to be saved?"

"Make a wish, Kagome!" Her mother's voice rang in her ears, and her eyes shot open to the flash of a camera and bright candle light on a birthday cake.

She was inside herself, maybe five years old. Kagome remembered this birthday party well. It was the last one her father attended. Sota was just under a year old, sitting up in a high chair next to her.

The edge of her vision was blurry, and she searched the scene for her father.

"Atta girl, Kagome!" His voice came from behind her, but when she turned to see his smiling face, ready to help her blow out the birthday candles, she came face to face with Midoriko. The smell of decaying flesh hit her all at once, and she was back inside the Shikon jewel.

"What do you wish, Kagome?" Midoriko's stern voice shook her to the core.

Pulling away from the deceased priestess, Kagome fell back into cold arms. The grasp was familiar, but the lack of body heat was not, and she scrambled away from dead hands to see her beloved Inuyasha.

"Kagome," He sounded hurt, wounded by her escape, "I-" His face melded into his brother's. Within a blink of her eyes, he had transformed into Sesshomaru, long hair and princely attire, as the last time she had seen him five hundred years prior.

"We say goodbye, for now." Sesshomaru was as stoic as ever, except his eyes. They pleaded with her to stay.

Stay there.

"Wait, please!" Kagome reached for him, clinging to his breastplate, but he was fading in her hands. "Sesshomaru, wait!"

His clawed hands wrapped around her waist, pulling her into his embrace. She calmed at the feel of his arms around her, and her earlier terror was forgotten so long as he was near.

"Kagome," Sesshomaru pulled her face to his, their lips just an inch apart when he rested his forehead to hers, "I am yours."

Their lips brushed together, and she felt peace sear her soul with his touch. When they pulled back, she opened her eyes to see familiar red irises.

"And you're mine." Naraku breathed into her face.

Kagome woke abruptly, dripping in sweat. She was panting heavily, trying her best to calm down quietly.

What the hell kind of nightmare was that?

She kicked off her covers and rose from the futon on the floor. Ever since she had come to stay at the temple, she was assigned to a room with Masami as her female bodyguard. As if anything was getting past the barriers that protected these lands.

Pacing by the door, she ran her fingers through her hair over and over. This was getting ridiculous. She was tired of waiting around. It was past the New Year now, and snow had blanketed the earth practically overnight the week prior. Then there were these nightmares, coming more frequently, and becoming more intense.

Kagome shivered at the thought of Naraku so close to her once more. Few times had he actually had his hands on her. Inuyasha always managed to prevent them from having direct contact. That, and Naraku had been afraid of her.

She had to remind herself of that. He was scared of her.

Breathing easier now, she wiped sweaty palms on her sleeping yukata. She couldn't take it anymore. She had to do something.

If someone was hunting her, then she wasn't going to hide anymore.

Kagome had never snuck out from her house like Yuka and Eri had, but she imagined this was similar. Sesshou would kill her if he knew she was planning on using herself as live bait to goad her stalker.

She dressed in her warrior priestess clothing, careful not to disturb Masami across the room in her own futon. Preparing her backpack with the few belongings she brought with her, her hands shook with nerves. Leaving the temple felt a lot like escaping the Western palace in the middle of the night. She remembered it well, knowing it was the last time she would see Sesshou's face for a while. He had been so wrought with guilt, and so affectionate, knowing this hunt would take time.

Sesshou had disclosed the plan. He suspected someone in the castle visiting was the true villain, and that she needed to slip away in the earliest hours of the morning to avoid being followed and the temple's location known. With everyone understanding her close ties to himself, she would have to be entrusted to Takeshi at a midway point, who had originally planned on returning to the temple the day after the gala anyway. From there, with Takeshi and Jiyu as her guides, Kagome would make it straight to the temple before morning light.

The hours leading up the escape were tense for their pack. Takeshi and Jiyu left to make preparations for both her arrival and her escape, leaving Shippou and Sesshou's mother to prepare personal escorts upon departure of each visiting party. No one was to leave the Western castle without being signed out. Unbeknownst to them, every clan, pack, and party was given a fox charm, disguised as a party gift. This allowed Genko to occasionally observe the surroundings of each charm through a looking glass.

Daisuke accompanied Sesshou for a brief amount of time, in which Ami was instructed to perfect her transformation of Kagome. After a successful get away, Kagome would need to be seen leaving the castle in daylight, under the pretense that she was heading home early for school. All of this meant that Kagome, for the better part of her last day with Sesshou, was alone, and alone with her thoughts.

"Stay here, in my rooms, until I personally come to retrieve you." Sesshou had dealt out his orders to everyone in the pack, and everyone had dispersed upon being assigned a task. Now it was just them two, with Daisuke out in the hall waiting for his lord, "Do not trust anyone, not even my mother."

"You were right about her." Kagome's heart broke, realizing in that moment that she had always had ulterior motives. Sesshou remained quiet, allowing her to process her feelings. Finally, she added, "I just wanted her to like me."

"Foolish girl," His warm, half turnt grin was soft. The insult was spoken so lovingly, Kagome perked up at his tone, curious. "She does like you."

"She drugged us." Her heart ached knowing their night together amounted to nothing between them. Tears threatened to blur her vision, and she made herself breathe evenly to prevent a lump from forming in her throat.

"My mother wanted us to mate." He reached for her shoulder when she wouldn't look up at him. "She may have gone about it the wrong way, but she never meant to harm us." Kagome's watery midnight sky eyes pulled at his will. Sesshou wanted to give her space, give her time to consider their situation, but he had already felt what could be. So he confessed, "I may have resisted the wine," His palm followed her arm down to her closed fist, taking her hand in his. "But had the outcome been different," His golden eyes pierced hers, reminding her of the heat they could hold, "I would have no remorse."

"Sesshou," Kagome could feel her stomach flutter and her heart jumped to her throat. She leaned towards his tall frame, "I-"

"Lord Sesshomaru," Daisuke had circled back, "Are you ready?" Realizing he had intruded on a private moment, the much taller demon awkwardly shifted his weight as if he was going to leave, but held his ground instead. There would be time for romance later.

"Yes." He dropped her hand, opting to bend and kiss her forehead. "I will return later for you."

"Okay." Kagome could barely bring herself to say much more, too stunned by his admission.

Kagome shouldered her backpack and crept out the door and into the halls of the dormitory. She would need to make a stop at the dojo to gather weapons. Takeshi had branched out her training some and she was determined to get her hands on a couple short tanto blades in addition to her bow and arrows.

Once outside, she realized a small error in her get away plan. The heavy snow sat mostly untouched as it had been coming down all night, covering existing tracks made by their daily foot traffic. She would have to hope the snow continued to fall and cover her own footsteps. Time would not be on her side, though, with only maybe two hours at most to spare before anyone at the temple realized she was missing.

She made it to the dojo with no interference, and stepped inside with socked feet. Snowflakes melted in her hair as she entered the warmth of the building. Her cheeks and nose were already rosy from the cold, but she felt none of the chill. Adrenaline flowed through her, making her temporarily resilient to the cold.

The tanto blades she had in mind were displayed on the back wall next to the storage room, and she retrieved them easily. Something told her to peruse, though, and she caved to the urge, opening the storage closet to find an armory.

Guns were everywhere, and she wouldn't know how to fire any of them. Eyeing the smaller sets on the lower shelves, she found the one Takeshi had been using to train her with. It was a small pistol, with nine rounds in it. Extra magazines sat on the shelf below, and without much consideration, Kagome grabbed a handful as well as a gartered holster. It couldn't hurt to have something extra, she thought. In a pinch, she might need it.

Exiting the dojo, Kagome zipped up her ankle boots and strapped the holster to her right thigh. Shouldering her backpack again, she was finally ready to leave. It was going to be a feat in itself. The high wall around the temple and school resembled the old slayer village's fence, and she had become familiar with their continuous guard on the posts. Even at this hour, they always had a pair of slayers perched in the watchtower.

Thankfully, with a little help from a furry friend, Kagome didn't need to consider the front gate as her only option.

Jiyu could feel a weight leave his chest. The fire cat hopped off in a soft huff, and he dismissed his companion's movements as a midnight bathroom break. Mama, as he had named her, was the youngest of the most recent litter, born when he was just a toddler. She was the runt and thus not allowed to be trained for combat, making Jiyu the first monk to have a slayer's companion.

Mama nosed her way through the sliding doors, following a set of repetitive taps she could hear from outside. It was her duty to protect her humans, but she could smell no one unfamiliar.

Kagome sat outside the dormitory on her knees, tapping the floor with her fingernails purposefully. She knew morse code was hundreds of years off from being invented, but a steady pattern of tapping was sure to rouse any demon from sleep.

After ten minutes, she nearly gave up, thinking she might have to trick the guards into investigating a trap to turn their attention away from the gate. Then a pur from behind the front door, and some rustling was heard. Kagome slid the door open enough to reveal the tiny fire cat, wiggling through the doorway.

"Mama," Kagome crouched down to the fire cat, petting down her fluffy tan fur, "Could you do me a favor?" The kitten meowed in return.

Sesshou shot out of bed. His senses had been on high alert for weeks now. Every now and then he would feel something, movement, change, but he could never catch a scent or direction. No, all he could sense was intent.

Now, he could smell bark and sea salt.

The East.