Complete Summary: Behind these rotting wooden walls and corroded and warped ceilings lay individuals who are tortured and tormented down to their very souls. Inescapable fates went unabashed, unhealable scars and wounds that ran so deep marred once beautifully creamy skin. Blemishes of the earth, nay- lower than the dirt they walked on and scorned for their association, they await an ultimatum, for an absolution that they all knew would one day come. It was all a matter of when.

NOTES:
This is a DARK fic. It will more than likely have controversial topics and extensive dark scenes. This is a challenging fic for me and written for personal reasons.
Please, if you are underage or too immature to handle dark themes and adult situations, please leave.

No major notes for this chapter.

A loud bang reverberated down the hall and across the iron bars of her cell. She jumped, startled awake. A woman's scream echoed, sharp and continuous, for several moments. Then there was silence.

Kagome huddled herself up in the corner of her cell, farthest away from the entrance. She covered her ears, hoping to silence the voices she could hear that haunted her mind. She supposed going mad with hunger was a way to go as well. She whispered to herself of denial, of betrayal. She muttered false assurances in an attempt to make herself feel better, even if it was all for naught. She uttered nonsense that was entirely reasonable in her disorderly mind.

She ran both hands across her scalp, tugging at her already-thinned hair to bring herself back to reality. The effort was lost, however, for she was lost. Misplaced. She didn't belong here, and she knew it.

But what else could she do but to sit on the floor and wait for her death?

"She will not eat," he stated as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "She does not even wish to leave her room. I would have thought..." His voice trailed off as the worry for the little girl seeped further into his nerves.

Kagome bit her lip in apprehension. It didn't bode well for Rin if she kept this up. She was hesitant to ask if she could see her considering it was improper for anyone aside from the family to be allowed in that wing. "I could... I could look in on her if you'd like," she said, twiddling her thumbs. "I mean, I'm no expert, but I can see what I can do."

"You may," he said as he leaned back in his chair. "Rin barely speaks to anyone these days."

"Well, let's see what I can do for her," Kagome replied as she stood. The two of them exchanged a look before she nodded her head, giving him a hopeful smile. "Don't worry, we'll snap her out of this soon enough."

She left and immediately sought out Yumi to escort her to the West Wing. If anything, she figured that having an escort would be seen better than just waltzing over there by herself. If anything, people would think she was up to no good if she did that.

As they were walking, she caught the tail-end of a conversation by two maids. "Oh, honey, I know," one of them said as the two were coming up around the corner. Their voices echoed fairly loudly down the hall, even if they were trying to speak in hushed tones. "I met the human Lord once, and he was a crass man. But you know what? I say he got what he deserved."

"Yes, but his daughter didn't deserve such a fate," another woman's voice joined in just as they turned the corner. "I hear the lady was fair and just and didn't inherit any of that man's qualities." Three women were standing in the hall, but it seemed that one was relatively silent, letting the other two talk as they wont to do. The three bowed in respect as Yumi and Kagome passed by quietly. When the two turned down another corridor, the whispers were ignited again.

"That's her, the priestess that was seen with the Lord that one night," one of the girls said.

"Ooooo, I heard she dared to grace his lord's private chambers," one of the other two said.

"Really? I heard they traipsed around in the Lord's personal garden, with her in her nightgown," another whispered.

Of course, at that point, Kagome stopped listening. They had come to Rin's door. Giving herself a mental pep talk, she knocked on the door, sturdy and loud, and then entered the room. Rin's room was massive, probably even more so than her own. It was decorated similarly to hers as well, just without the large mural and decked out fabulously in pinks and oranges. She saw the little girl hugging a stuffed animal near the window sill, staring out onto her own personal balcony.

"Yumi," she said to the woman behind her. Rin turned immediately upon hearing Kagome's voice, surprise etched clearly across her features.

"Yes, M'Lady?" she replied.

"Will you mind terribly if I asked you to bring us some warm tea and honey? And perhaps some biscuits," Kagome said as she walked further into the room, not bothering to look at her.

"Yes, M'Lady, they will be delivered shortly," she said with a bow and left the room.

"You seem surprised to see me," Kagome commented when the door had shut behind Yumi's exit.

Rin watched as Kagome took a seat next to her. Rin had a window seat, one of those window sills that stretched wide with cushions thrown over them for an extensive reading nook. "I was expecting Lord Sesshomaru to send one of the maids again..." she said after a short pause.

Kagome watched her from the corner of her eye. Rin hugged her knees with a stuffed rabbit between her frame and knees and sat further into her propped cushion, attempting to comfort herself. "You want him here himself, don't you?" She asked with a smile. Rin nodded as she locked her eyes on something outside of her window. "Sometimes boys don't understand what a girl wants," Kagome said, placing a hand on her knee, "that's why we have to tell them straight forward." Kagome paused for a few moments. "That isn't all there is, though, is it?"

Rin bit her lip in contemplation, as though trying to decide whether or not to tell her. "The rabbit was all my fault. Yuki and Yumi gave it to us as an early birthday present, and all I had to do was take care of it." Her eyes watered, and her bottom lip began to tremble. Her body became tense as she attempted to hold herself in check. "I couldn't even take care of a rabbit right and-and now look what's happened! The rabbit should never have died, I should have taken her back inside, I should've watched her better."

Kagome watched as the little girl came undone and cried into her knees. For a moment, she tried to think of the words to say, but really, what could you say in these types of situations? "Rin," Kagome said, reaching over to pull the little girl into her arms, "the rabbit's death is no one's fault. It was the rabbit's time to go."

"It wouldn't have been if I was just more careful," Rin sniffed, rubbing her nose.

"The truth is," Kagome said, rubbing small circles into her back, "you could spend hours, even days, thinking about the 'what-ifs' and the 'what-could-have-been's,' but the fact of the matter is that it happened, and there is no going back. You realized your mistake, and that was good." Kagome lifted the girl's chin up as she began hiccuping, "What's important now is if you learned from that mistake."

"It-it won't ever happen again! I promise! I'll pay more attention from now on," she cried.

"And that's good enough for me," Kagome said. "You want to know what the scariest thing was for both Lord Sesshomaru and me?"

"What?" she sniffled as she wiped at her face.

"It was the fact of knowing that both you and Shippou had come very close to danger, and we weren't here to protect you," Kagome said, "that is our mistake- for not protecting you better. Can you ever forgive us?"

"I forgive you," Rin said, wiping the last few tears away from her eyes. "I'm sorry we messed up our responsibility."

"I forgive you, both of you," Kagome said, and Rin twisted herself into a hug. Kagome knew that she had to change tactics for the little girl. She had explained to Shippou that it wasn't his fault the rabbit was dead, and she knew with Rin it would be harder to convince. With Rin being older than Shippou, Kagome knew she wouldn't just take the 'it's not your fault' deal. She could only imagine how much this had been weighing on her mind, as well.

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Yumi entered with a tray of tea and biscuits. "Perfect timing," Kagome said, "want to give the biscuits a go? They're fresh and absolutely delicious."

Kagome reached for a biscuit as the tray was set down in front of them, and Rin reached for one, in turn, sniffing. Yumi bowed and left the room to allow the girls to eat in peace. Rin ended up eating three large biscuits, and Kagome was glad for it.

"You wanna go see Lord Sesshomaru after this?" She asked in between bites.

"If that's okay," Rin said with a nod, finishing off her last bite. "I kind of just want to stay here for a little while."

"That is perfectly fine," Kagome said with a smile as she finished her second biscuit, "just remember, everybody misses you at the dining table."

After the tea and biscuits, Kagome gave Rin one last squeeze and decided to be on her way. She bid her goodbye and allowed Yumi to escort her straight back to Sesshomaru's study. However, he was no longer there. Instead, she went back to her room and was greeted with a brand new priestess kimono. "What's this for?"

"The Lords and Lady from the other estates should be arriving shortly," Yuki said, holding up the kimono. The kimono was embroidered with the house's famous sakura blossoms on the left shoulder. "As a highly esteemed -permanent- guest of the Lord, you should be dressed your best to greet the other guests at the front entrance of the palace."

So with that, she was dressed.

It didn't take long for the horns to announce the arrival of the first lord. Kouga, being from the East as well as the fastest among the three, arrived first. Kagome had been surprised but pleased to see Kouga there, and he in turn.

"What're you doing here?" Kouga asked as he shot straight forward and lifted her in a twirl. Kagome laughed as she hugged him back, much to the chagrin of Sesshomaru and Inuyasha. The brothers had also joined her out front to greet the guests, and it suddenly made sense why Inuyasha was so sour a few days prior.

"Well," Kagome said as he set her back on her feet, "I live here now."

"Couldn't you have found a closer place to settle?" Kouga said responded with a scratch at the back of his head, "I mean, getting here is no problem, but my woman shouldn't have to live so far away from the pack. If you needed a place to go..."

"Kouga," Kagome laughed, "it was sort of a last-minute decision. Besides, I don't think any of the wolves would've been able to handle me." She jokingly laughed, elbowing him in his side.

Kouga laughed at the joke, put his hands on his hips to greet Sesshomaru at last. "For a festival that's suppose to start tomorrow evening, it sure is dead around here."

"I assure you," Sesshomaru said, "those who reside within the palace have it all taken care of."

For some reason, it was nice to hear that Sesshomaru didn't refer to them as 'servants.' It was a term that Kagome never liked to use either. There was something just so... demeaning about the word.

Lady Sachiko arrived shortly after the pleasantries with Kouga, though she wasn't anything that Kagome had been expecting. "Welcome to our home, Lady Sachiko." The woman was a phoenix, dressed head to toe in burning red, orange, and yellow feathers. She had a boa that reminded her of Sesshomaru's mokomoko but was made of feathers rather than fur. The most surprising thing about her, though...

"Oh, it is an absolute pleasure, darling!"

...was the fact that her voice was that of a man's.

Kagome blinked, a smile spreading wide across her face at the crossdresser. Gay or not, this person would probably become one of her friends. She had no doubt about it. She watched as Sachiko greeted the others with fervor, idly wondering if Sachiko was even his given name. Sesshomaru was clearly uncomfortable with his affections toward him, but she made no comment about it. Both Sachiko and Kouga were escorted into the palace, and it was another thirty or so minutes that Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, and herself stood out. Just when she was growing bored, and about to ask when the third would arrive, a dragon touched down just outside the gate. Loud winds blew past the entrance, threatening to knock her from her feet had it not been for Sesshomaru's careful arm keeping her in place. Her hair was utterly frazzled when the winds died down and sticking up in random places behind her.

Ryu was intense. He had a sharp face with black hair and blue eyes. He didn't seem to like to smile at all and reminded Kagome of Sesshomaru. A lot. His hair was long, much like Sesshomaru's, but braided and hung over his shoulder. Kagome bowed in respect, attempting to speak to greet him, only for him to walk right past her and greet Sesshomaru. The two of them gripped each other's forearms in greeting but didn't say anything further before being escorted inside.

Kagome, Sesshomaru, and Inuyasha all exchanged a look with each other before making their own way inside. Behind them, the gate screeched to a close.

After some time, Kagome was escorted back to her room for the night and fell asleep rather quickly with Shippou tucked into her side. She figured she had been pretty tired anyway, what with such an active day. For some reason, the days she spent here in the palace always seemed more eventful than those she used to spend with Inuyasha in Kaede's village. Who would've thought?

The following morning was busy. The entire palace felt as if it were vibrating with energy. All of the palace folk were running to and fro. So much so, both Kagome and Shippou were left alone without their nannies. Which, of course, gave them ideas of what to do with their day. They would not act on those... ideas, but it certainly felt nice not to have an escort for once. She still felt like it she and Shippou were being babied, perhaps not quite as much as when they first moved in, but certainly enough for them to notice.

With nothing to do, Kagome and Shippou made their way to the kitchen. The dining hall seemed to be even busier than everything happening outside. Food was laid out, but not a soul was eating. "I see my son has yet to release the animals that run around in our home."

"Don't you have a palace of your own?" Kagome asked as she took a seat, the Lady following right behind her. "Sesshomaru once told me of the floating palace his mother owns."

Shippou took the seat next to Kagome, as was proper. Shortly after they piled food on their plates, Rin made an appearance. Without an escort. "I waited for a long time," Rin said, "but no one came to my room, so I just came on my own." She took a seat next to Shippou, giving everyone a big smile of her own.

"And so the human population increases," the Lady drolled, rolling her eyes and taking a bite.

"My Lady! I haven't seen you in days!" Rin said with barely contained excitement as she walked up to her side and took a seat.

The Lady made no comments as she began shoveling food onto a plate and set it in front of Rin. Kagome was surprised she did that much for the little girl. With as much malice as the woman portrayed for humans in general, you would think she'd ignore them entirely. The fact that the gesture caught Kagome's eye made her believe there was more to the woman than previously assumed.

"My Lady, will you go with me to the gardens? You haven't taken a walk with me in a very long time," Rin said as she took small bites off her plate.

Before the Lady could even answer, Shippou spoke up, "Mama, is it okay if I go with Rin and the Lady?"

Kagome eyeballed her son before looking across the table at the woman. "I don't see why not, but that's not up to me to decide. You have to ask the Lady."

"May I join you?" Shippou asked, hopeful.

The woman eyed the children, their eyes wide with hope. The woman sighed, setting her chopsticks down on the table. "I suppose a stroll through the gardens is a reasonable request."

The rest of breakfast went by without a hitch, and, soon enough, Kagome was left in the dining hall by herself. With nothing to do and nowhere to go, she decided to wander the halls on her own, when she remembered that there was a library. There would be scrolls or books in there that would catch her interest, right? And even if there weren't, she could always relax near the massive windows in peace.

As she approached the library doors, however, she could hear voices discussing something in quiet tones. She could barely make out what they were saying and decided to press her ear up to the door to eavesdrop out of curiosity.

"There have been demons of high ruling disappearing all of the countryside, and you desire to wait?" She could hear the distress in Sachiko's voice.

"The festival is taking place over a few days," Sesshomaru's smooth baritone reached her ears. Her brows furrowed. Was it possible that the festival was just a cover-up to allow the lords a secret meeting? "The festival itself has already underway."

"Lord and Lady Duval have already turned up missing just on the outskirts of your territory," Sachiko rebutted, "by the time the festival ends, it may be too late."

"And you would have me leave the palace un-protected to go traverse the land to investigate?" Sesshomaru said.

Kagome decided that enough eavesdropping had been done. She walked in without a moment's more hesitation, catching each individual's eye.

"Kagome," Sesshomaru greeted, "what brings you the library?"

"I was looking for a quiet place to read," Kagome said, which was mostly right. She mostly wanted to just find something to do. Guess she found it.

Then, she heard a voice in her head. "Let us ask the Lady Priestess what she thinks."

Startled, she looked at Ryu with wide eyes. "That's a neat ability you have there. Please tell me you can't read minds because I've got some pretty embarrassing things locked up tight in the back of my head." A chuckle was heard that coursed through her mind.

"No, Priestess, only the ability to transmit my thoughts to you."

Kagome smiled as she walked closer. "Alright, so what's going on?"

A/N:
I only just realized that my follow-up was never posted! Oof!
There will be another chapter posted tomorrow! X3