AN: Just like to clarify, Inuyasha's situation has nothing to do with ghosts, haunting, Kikyo or Naraku. Absolutely nothing. They're not gonna be involved in this story at all (Big cheer all round!) ^_^

Life Exchange

Chapter 3

Bath Time Interludes

Kagome slammed the trap door shut after her, heaving a sigh of shaky relief as she crumpled to the floor and tried to catch her breath. He wasn't following her up here, he didn't seem to like heights.

But where was 'here' exactly? She looked up and narrowed her eyes as she slowly stood up again to take in what her senses fed her. She was on the roof of the palace, the highest point in all the palace. Thankfully it was flat and she didn't have to worry about sliding off… what an unusual style of roof though…

To both sides of the palace swamped the hills covered in evergreen trees, dark green and murky… no bright or beautiful colours to lighten the landscape. Not like the South. Behind her were the cliffs to the sea and dull beaches… and ahead was just barren land, filled with sparse trees and brown, cracked earth. When was the last time it rained around there?

"They won't stop talking."

Kagome stifled a cry as she spun and locked her eyes on the man standing a few metres away at the edge of the roof. He had his back turned to her, giving her only the view of his hair and his clothes. Surprisingly, in the natural light she discovered his clothes weren't black at all… but such a deep blood red that it only showed in true light.

She half reckoned that perhaps his clothes weren't meant to be blood red in colour… but only seemed that way now for the countless lives he took…their blood.

Kagome swallowed hard past the lump in her throat. Who was he? She'd left him behind in the palace below… but he was here with her now. If only he'd turn around.

"You can tell them to shut up and they go away… but they always come back, louder than ever. It hurts sometime." She saw him sigh and fold his arms over his chest. There was something familiar about that stance…

"It hurts?" she edged back, looking for some form of escape. But found none.

"And it's frightening too." He told her earnestly. "You hear voices that you know only you can hear… you know that you're going crazy, but you can't stop it. And then you just stop caring."

"Y-You don't care…?" Kagome tried to find the trapdoor she'd come through. But it was gone.

"I thought about it… long and hard…" he turned to face her and she snapped her gaze back to him. He faced her, but she couldn't determine his face. It seemed distorted, even though she could find nothing about him to be distorted. Maybe she didn't know him…? "Do you think there's something wrong with me?"

Kagome didn't think she could answer that without making this situation worse. She lowered her head and prayed a miracle would strike.

After a moment of silence he cocked his head. "Come here."

Against her will, her feet obeyed his command. But she wasn't completely against his order… she half wanted to reach out and comfort him. Tell him it was ok…

She stopped before him, her head still bowed to stare at his chest. She saw his hand reach out but didn't flinch when he smoothed her hair back from her cheek, to tuck it behind her ear. His touch was cold as he returned his thumb to tracing her jaw. "Do you think there's something wrong with me?"

"You're insane…" she told him in barely a whisper. "Please let me go…?"

"I don't feel insane. I feel perfectly fine, actually." For a moment confusion seemed to enter his care-free eyes, and Kagome looked up past his chin to see it. A semblance of sanity maybe? He noticed her concerned gaze and suddenly smirked, his hand moving down from her jaw to fist in the front of her kimono. "I hate pity, bitch."

He lifted her clean into the air and spun to dangle her over the edge of the roof. "No!" she struggled with his grip on her clothes… she seemed to be slipping out of them as her sashes and ties loosened with his hold. She was going to fall no matter what he did. "Please-"

"Fall's coming." He released her.

She screamed as an almost euphoric weightlessness feeling wrapped around her. There was no roar of wind… only below her she could hear the roar of hungry flames.

Before she disappeared into the fire she heard his voice yell out above her. "What does this mean?!"

Her bed caught her fall and she jerked awake with a half cry. At once she felt a hand tensed on her shoulder and she reacted without thinking, clawing at his hand… she didn't want him to throw her off the roof again.

"Kagome – relax!" she heard Inuyasha's familiar voice snap at her as he removed his hand.

For a moment she sat stiffly, trying to catch her breath and remember who she was along with where she was. She blinked slowly at Inuyasha who was sat on the bed before her, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and ears. "What are you doing in my room?"

"Waking you up." He grumbled.

"Why?"

"Because you woke me up." He replied. "I came in and you were all twitching and murmuring 'no' so I figured you were having a nightmare."

"How smart of you." Kagome closed her eyes and rubbed her hands slowly over her face to chase away the visions of her dream.

"So what happened in the nightmare?" he asked.

"Dunno… maniac threw me off a roof and into a pit of fire." She sighed and looked up at him. "I wish you'd been there. Maybe you could have ripped him a new hole."

"Anyone I know?"

"No one I knew, at least." She shrugged and smiled apologetically. "Sorry I woke you."

"Doesn't matter, no pleasant dreams for me either." He said grimly. He suddenly turned to her with a strange expression. "Kagome…?"

"Yeah?" she asked reproachfully.

He stared at her a moment before shaking his head. "Doesn't matter, I gotta get dressed. See ya later." He left her room with a scowl on his face.

"Not a bad morning person after all…" she yawned and slipped out of bed to get ready for breakfast.

^_^

Inuyasha drummed his hands against the breakfast table in a manner that even he found annoying, but he had to make the noise to distract himself. When it was too quiet, the only thing he could hear was what his mind whispered to him.

'She won't do it…'

He coughed loudly and the voice faded quickly, but Kagome looked up expectantly. "What, am I eating too loud for you, majesty?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

"No, just coughing." He patted his chest and went back to eating, as did Kagome.

They were the only two people up that morning since it was still too early for everyone else. He watched her as she ate, forgetting his own food as he let his mind wonder. Despite the bags under her eyes, the unkempt, tussled appearance of her hair, she still outshone every woman in the castle. She didn't bother keeping her clothes straight, she never ironed them or fastened them properly. Some people thought that was lazy, but he found it endearing at how un-vain she was.

She was beautiful, but best not tell her that. At least, not until the excitement of being new King wore down. Yes, he was still a relatively new King. Three years was nothing compared to the seventy eight years his father had ruled.

Soft feminine laughter rung in his head and he shut his eyes tightly.

'He thinks her nose is sweet!'

Wonderful… now the voices were beginning to make sense. They were becoming less random… and more like observing his thoughts and actions, then commenting on them.

"Kagome?" he suddenly found himself asking, mostly just to create noise to drown out the stupid woman giggling in his head.

"Mm?" she glanced up at him as she liked her spoon.

"You can sense things right?"

"How'd you mean?" she asked, popping the spoon out of her mouth.

"Like… supernatural stuff. Stuff that Inu Youkai can't sense." Inuyasha reclined on the floor, watching her.

"Yeah." She smiled. "I can sense stuff. Like I sense right now that your sense of style went out the window this morning when you thought it would be a good idea to wear that white shirt."

"What's wrong with it?" he picked at it.

"Hardly royal is it?" she smiled, her eyes laughing at him.

"If I wear any more of those stupid high collared, tight fitting clothes then I will pass out when they cut off my blood circulation." He grouched.

"Like that time you were at that meeting and you fainted on the table?" Kagome grinned.

"I didn't faint!" he growled. "I was bored and tired, so I faked a medical emergency to get out of there!"

"Sure." Kagome rolled her eyes, obviously not believing a word of it. She went back to eating but Inuyasha's gaze didn't budge from her face.

"Kagome?"

"Yeah?" she didn't look up.

"Can you sense anything now?" he looked around the private dining room. "Like ghosts, or… spirits… or some kind of invisible demon?"

She frowned as she looked around and shook her head. "The only presence I sense around here is dog demon. I don't sense any other demons."

"Are you sure?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Well… there's a few demon fish I can sense in the lakes outside." She waved a hand in the vague Northern direction. "A few wild Youkai horse… did you know the one named Entei? He's a right old… cranky mustang…"

"Nothing within the palace?" he asked.

"There's nothing supernatural in the palace." She told him. "Why?"

"No reason."

"Oh." She went back to eating. Before she'd managed to put the spoon in her mouth he called her again.

"Kagome?"

"Yes?" she glanced up at him.

He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself before he started. He was going to tell her about what he was hearing… but… for some reason he didn't want to. Why should he? She'd only think he was crazy too…

'You're a coward' the female voice whispered.

He almost told the voice to 'shut up' aloud… but caught himself just in time. That wouldn't sit well with Kagome. He glanced up at her, trying to see if she could hear the same things he could at all.

'Don't look at her… she's an angel…'

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes as the masculine voice spoke up.

'You look at an angel, you'll kill them.' The female whispered.

He almost looked away from her. Shut up, he told himself mentally.

'You'll kill her'

'Perhaps you'll kill her anyway. She's not meant for this world.'

'Kill her'

Inuyasha clenched a fist against the floor. Kagome looked up at him, noticing his stare, she blinked in surprise. "You want something?"

'Kill the angel… look at the angel… kill her…' the woman breathed.

Inuyasha's gaze faltered to the table. Don't look at her, he told himself. Don't look, or you'll kill her. "I… I have to go…" he told Kagome lamely and got to his feet to leave the room. He could feel Kagome's eyes on his back until he shut the door and found himself in the much cooler corridor.

^_^

"Do you hear that?" Sango raised a finger to the ceiling and observed.

"Hear what?" Miroku frowned inquisitively.

"I think I hear Fushi jumping out the window – you must excuse me but I-" she tried to get off the bed but Miroku cut her off and pushed her back down.

"Nice try, but you're getting strict bed rest today." He told her, placing a hand against her forehead. "You overexerted yourself last night, not good for a woman in your condition in such heat."

"What would you know?" She hissed vehemently. "You're not a woman – you don't know what I can and can't do!"

"You carry on like that and you'll just hurt yourself again." He patted her belly gently with a smile and stood up. "I'm sure Kagome will be willing to baby-sit Fushi for today. I'll look after Reiko."

"I'll be fine, if you'd just let me up." She tried again to sit up but Miroku only pushed her back down yet again.

"You'll be fine, if you'd just let me do everything today." He told her gently but firmly.

"Fine." She folded her arms over her chest. "If you're so capable, go to the seamstress and tell her Fushi needs more clothes, he's shooting up like a weed. She'll probably still be asleep so you better knock on her door and wake her up."

"Are you sure?" Miroku suddenly looked a little uneasy. "I just spoke to the old crone yesterday… I've had my fill of insults and abuse for the rest of the week from that woman."

"Oh, don't worry." Sango waved a hand. "She won't mind if you wake her up."

She would mind. She would mind a lot. Sango smiled cheerfully as he husband left her side and went to do as she asked. She rolled over and face the window with an evil smile on her face. What an evil, evil wife she was…

Somehow lying on her side didn't help her aching back and she rolled back the other way to face the door, and had the scare of her life. "What the-!" she almost fell off the bed in surprise to see Inuyasha sitting on a simple chair beside the bed. She sat up at once, immediately regretting the action as pain laced up her spine. She flopped back down. "How the hell did you get in here?!" she'd only turned her back for a few moments…

"Through the door?" he shrugged. "Didn't you hear me?"

"No." Sango ran a hand over her damp forehead and pushed her bangs aside.

"I need to ask you something." He leaned forward to rest his elbows on his thighs. "Um… I don't know how to say it…"

Sango raised a sly eyebrow at him. "Not about Kagome is it? Because she asked about you too."

"This has nothing to do with her." He said with a roll of his eyes. She turned a sour look on him and sniffed.

"Well then spit it out already."

"Do you ever… hear things…?" he asked slowly.

"I hear things all the time. Quite annoying things like the sound of your voice right now." She said dryly.

"No… I mean… do you ever hear voices… in your head?" he was wringing his hands together. Sango noticed the gesture and frowned… it wasn't like him to be nervous.

"I sometimes hear things…" she shrugged absently. "In the mornings when I'm half asleep I once could have sworn I heard Miroku shouting my name… but he hadn't said a thing. Though I bet he was just winding me up… why do you ask?"

"Well…" he scratched behind an ear with a slightly vacant expression. "I have this friend…" he started slowly.

"Yes…" she replied in an equally slow tone.

"Who thinks he can hear voices talking to him. In his head. Telling him to do things." He looked at her quickly. "What does it mean?"

"It means your friend is going insane." Sango smiled. "Please tell me it's Bankotsu."

"No… not Bankotsu…" he stood up and headed for the door. "Nevermind, I was just curious."

She shrugged as she shut the door behind him and settled back on the bed, planning to get a few extra hours sleep that morning.

^_^

Why did Fushi always like to play near the dirtiest puddles? And why, if there was a mud puddle within a mile of the palace, did the boy always managed to find it and fall into it? And why for the love of god and all things holy, did he always manage to make Kagome fall in along side him.

"Two times in two days…" she hissed as she sat in the hot water of the bath tub, scrubbing at the dirt dried onto her arms. "Unbelievable…"

Actually what she was sitting in was more like a small swimming pool rather than a bath tub. But who was she to complain? It wasn't like she was getting the royal treatment for free. She'd had to put her effort in to help Inuyasha by hunting down Sesshomaru's spies one by one. Out of hundreds of staff and servants in the palace, there had been fifteen spies overall… and it had taken the good part of three years to find them all. The last had only been cornered a few days ago, and was now serving his time out in the dungeons till his usefulness as a spy for Sesshomaru wore out. He'd be set free when his information was too old to be used by Inuyasha's brother… but that could be a while…

She sank down in the water to relax and close her eyes. When she opened her eyes lazily, she suddenly shrieked and thrashed about in the water as she drew her legs up and clamped her arms over her chest. She glared heatedly at Inuyasha who sat on the edge of the bath tub, seemingly more interested in the wooden boards of the floor than her nudity.

"Stop sneaking around!" she yelled hotly, thrashing a leg at him to kick his back and half soak him with soapy water in the process.

"Hey!" he looked down at her angrily, his eyes firmly fixed on her face. "I only came to ask you a question!"

She spluttered in outrage, knowing her face much have been as red as a cherry. "Couldn't it have waited?!"

"No."

"You've lost it." She hugged herself tighter and looked down to check she was hiding everything important… thankfully she was.

Something about what she said made Inuyasha flinch and he crouched down beside the marble tub and rested his arms on the side, his chin propped on his hands. "Do you know of any demon, spell, incantation or enchantment that could create hallucinations or delusions?"

"Uh…" she could think of a few things. But only the things he'd taught her and he already knew. "Why?"

"Just – please – tell me." A hint of desperation in his voice.

"This isn't the kind of thing I'd normally discuss with you in a bathroom whilst I'm naked." She told him hotly, ignoring the plea she heard. "You better leave before I… I… do a miko thing on you!"

"Kagome!" he grabbed her elbow and jerked her forward to put his point across. She gasped and struggled to hide her chest with just one arm. She failed somewhat, but he didn't seem to be interested in looking down there… Should she be disappointed? "Just tell me what you know!"

"I only know the things you taught me!" she cried back, trying to pry his hand off her elbow. He'd caught her in an awkward position, she couldn't really cover herself with her body half twisted towards him. If he stood up to look down over the edge of the tub he'd see all. She desperately tried to think of something to help her. "Why do you want to know? Do you want to enchant somebody or something?"

"You did this didn't you!" he narrowed his eyes at her. "You're the one doing all these weird things!"

"What?" Kagome scoffed at him. "I think I missed the beginning of this conversation – I have no idea what you're talking about here! Is something the matter?"

"No!"

"Obviously there is otherwise you wouldn't be bursting in on me whilst I'm taking a bath – just to yell at me!" she snapped, not bothering to cover herself any more, it was just a waste of effort. "How do you want me to help you? I'm just clumsy old me, Inuyasha! All I can do is make plants grow fast and look into the past with these little visions! Has someone done a spell on you? Because that's all I'm getting from your insane babble!"

His grip loosened on her elbow, but he still didn't let go. His expression softened, but he still looked angry and lost… still pleading. His gaze slid to her chest for a moment, but before she had time to blush and slap him, he pulled her forward, half out of the tub to hold her in a tight, but gentle embrace. She was too shocked to react for a moment.

Was he being perverted? Was he going to take advantage of her? Wait… this was Inuyasha… he'd never try to be that way with her would he? Kagome blushed to think that she might want him to at least try and take advantage of her… at least then she'd know that she was wanted.

But he wouldn't do that. He was getting comfort from her… or giving it to her… he just didn't care what she wore when he did so, even her birthday suit. With a sigh she slid her arms about his shoulders, as she felt his hands flex against her ribs. "What's wrong?" she said softly, close to his ear.

"Nothing…"

Inuyasha half didn't want to let her go. When he held Kagome like this, the voices were silent, and he felt that shred of normality reach him again, and he welcomed it. It was almost as if he'd shocked them into silence… but he knew they'd be back soon enough.

And along with the sense of relief that his head was quiet, his sense of inhibition came flooding back. Only when his hand moved slightly across the wet skin of her side, he felt her shiver under his touch and received the sledgehammer blow of what the real situation was. He'd just burst in on a naked Kagome, grabbed her, accused her of making him hear things only crazy people heard, and then crushed her against him. What could be running through her head right then…?

He suddenly pulled back, forcing her to release him as well. She was still a little flustered and red in the face… and his gaze momentarily jerked to her chest. Well, he was only human… ish. She gasped and clamped her arms over her breasts, causing her to redden even more. He started stand, mouth opening to mutter his apology, when his gaze only slid lower than her belly button under the water. Damn… if the water wasn't so soapy maybe he could-

Kagome's hand connected with his cheek in a smarting slap, made to sound even louder by the fact her hand was wet. "Inuyasha!" she yelled. "You're as bad as Miroku!"

Unreasonable anger surged through him at her slap. His hand rubbed his stinging cheek as he couldn't prevent himself from glowering angrily down at her. How dare she slap him? Everything in the Kingdom was officially his property – including any pretty little human girls! She had no right to stop him from looking at whatever he wanted! She didn't have the strength or the real will to stop him… he knew she wanted him to look… he knew that she wanted him to do more than just look…

'Get angry… don't let the bitch disrespect your authority…' the woman whispered in his head.

'Show her who's really in charge… make her submit…' the man joined in.

His own anger faltered at that moment. Why was he angry? He had no right to be angry at Kagome for slapping him for his wondering eyes. He'd do the same… if he was in her place… probably… He noticed her gaze getting suspicious as she saw the conflict spread across his expression. He forced a gruff retort to her earlier comment. "Miroku doesn't do that kind of thing anymore, bitch. I can't see anything anyway!"

"Why aren't you gone yet!" Kagome yelled. "You've probably just seen more of me than my own mother has seen! Get out already!"

"Jeez," he threw up his hands in a defensive gesture and he turned to stomp out. "I'm not interested in anything you have anyway!"

He slammed the door shut behind him and rubbed his temples as he began to storm down the corridor. The voices had shut up again… but for how long…

All he'd wanted back there was for Kagome to give him some excuse… some reason… just something that proved he wasn't going insane. But she'd done nothing but stoke a dark anger he hadn't been aware he'd possessed.

He spotted his mother coming down the opposite way of the corridor and frowned when he saw her slowing down, obviously intending to say something to him. He stopped as they crossed paths. "What?"

"Inuyasha." Her gaze was fixed to his chest. "Were you aware that you have wet breast marks on your front?"

He stared at her a moment, before looking down at the fairly obvious wet mark of a female recently pressed against him. He scowled and folded his arms, much in the same way Kagome had done to hide her chest. "Leave me alone!" he snapped and stormed past her.

She turned and called after him "It's about time too! Do you want me to tell the seamstress to start making new baby clothes?!" Just loud enough for everyone else in the corridor to hear and turn to blink at their wet King.

"Shut up!" he yelled over his shoulder, desperate to get out of there as soon as possible.

AN: And I'm gonna start giving you the next chapter titles again ^_^ - next chapter – 'My Dream Man'