I made it through the wilderness! Somehow I made it through! And I'm going to stop quoting Madonna songs before I hurt myself. Okay.

Leftover Halloween candy for Merith. A new power supply for Kat, whose computer is apparently ill. And therapy for Teles, because Niamh's writer's block likes to kill off various characters in unpublished AUs to see what happens. This time around it's Sess.

***

Send me an angel to love
I need to feel a little piece of heaven
Send me an angel to love
I'm afraid I'll never get to heaven

***

Inuyasha stirred slowly, cracking an eye open. He frowned and opened his other eye, puzzled. We made camp to grab a couple hours' sleep. But that was after sunset, and we weren't anywhere near the fuckin' village. So how come I'm in my tree? And why's it day? The hell's goin' on? He pushed himself up, despite the warm lethargy that suffused him. Don't care how damn tired I am. I gotta find out what's goin' on.

"Inuyasha?"

He froze and turned slowly to look down. It can't be. It can't. Please, gods, let it....

Kagome stood at the foot of the tree, shading her eyes to look up at him. "You okay?" Inuyasha nodded, throat frozen shut. She grinned suddenly. "Well, get down here, and let's go!"

He leaped down and grabbed her wrist. "Kagome--"

She shook her head and took off, running towards the woods, towing him after her. "C'mon, it's getting late."

Inuyasha dug in his heels. "No, wait."

Kagome stopped. Her shoulders slumped. "I didn't think you'd go for it."

He put his other hand on her shoulder. "...You're sick. We're tryin' to help you." He forced the words out, half surprised his throat worked.

"I know," she said softly. She looked back at him, her smile turning sad. "I knew you would. I always did. Even when I didn't want to."

"This ain't real, is it? Is... that even you?"

Kagome turned and touched his face lightly. "Yeah." A frown crossed her face and she tipped her head from side to side. "Mostly, anyway. I'm sorry. I meant to get here sooner, but the threads bound me."

Inuyasha blinked. "Threads?" Kagome bit her lip, visibly struggling for the words as her throat seemed to tighten around them. Alarmed, Inuyasha tightened his grasp on her hand. "Kagome?"

"I can't," she blurted finally before sucking in a ragged breath. "I can't tell you. It won't let me."

"What won't?"

She shot him a look of pure annoyance that almost made him smile. "If I could tell you," she said very patiently, "I would. But the threads are tight" -- she rubbed her throat -- "so I can't."

He nodded. "So... what can you tell me?"

Kagome looked thoughtful and started walking with him again, leading him deeper into the woods. "Have you seen how a tapestry gets made?"

Inuyasha snorted. "Girl shit."

Kagome laughed. "Oh, come on."

He shrugged elaborately. "Maybe a couple."

"Do you know that the colors in them are mostly made by combining different colors of threads?"

"Uh, okay...." Inuyasha frowned. "What's your point?"

"Sometimes... we see colors in them that aren't really there. That are only created by the combinations of threads." She shook her head. "You're looking at the weave so closely, you're not seeing what the shape of the picture is."

"Kagome, what the hell are you talkin' about?"

She sighed again. "I can't tell you more clearly." Her shoulders sagged.

He tugged her to a stop. "Hey. You're tellin' me as much as you can, right?" Kagome nodded. Inuyasha reached up and combed her hair behind her ear with gentle fingers. "Then you're doin' fine."

She bit her lip sharply. "There's one thing I can tell you." She closed her eyes, and said, as if quoting, "Just because the spell is broken doesn't mean the witch is dead."

He frowned. "....That don't make any sense." He put his fingers over her mouth, unable to repress his grin as her eyes snapped fire at him. "I know, I know, you can't tell me."

"You're so annoying," Kagome mumbled against his hand.

Inuyasha swallowed, fingers traveling back across her cheek to linger in her hair. "Yeah." Unable to bear it any longer, he pulled her into a hug. "You can't fuckin' die, d'you hear me?" he whispered. "We'll do whatever we gotta to save you, but you have to hold on."

"I know," Kagome whispered against his haori. "I'm trying. Believe me."

"I can't lose you." She drew back to answer, but at that moment, a heavy bell began to toll solemnly. Inuyasha jumped. "The hell? There aren't any temples around...."

Kagome shook her head. "No, that means it's midnight."

"Midnight?"

She nodded. "The ball's over. It's time to wake up."

Inuyasha tightened his grasp on her reflexively. "No...."

Kagome smiled sadly. "I'm sorry." She leaned up and kissed him softly.

Inuyasha clung to her, desperately memorizing the texture of her mouth, her hair, her skin, even as she began to dissolve in his grasp. "Kagome," he whispered. "Please."

Inuyasha jerked awake violently, shuddering. The quiet, inert weight of Kagome's body rested in his lap, and he wrapped his arms around her tightly, breathing in her scent. Had it grown fainter? He frowned. The clearing they'd stopped in for a few hours of sleep certainly seemed quieter. Quieter. Shit. Kagome's heartbeat had subsided to a faint, sluggish beat. The blanket shredded in his claws as he jerked it from her head. Her lips had darkened to purple, and as he lifted a shaking hand to brush her bangs back, the touch of her skin was icy. No. No! Inuyasha leapt off his branch and strode over to Miroku, prodding him sharply with a foot. "Wake up."

Miroku blinked fuzzily up at him. "Huh?"

"She's worse," Inuyasha snapped. "We need to move. Now."

***

The moon's fitful light seeped through the heavy clouds shielding it, filtering down through the shady canopy of leaves. It lit Inuyasha's path erratically, sometimes revealing the way through the tangled growth of brush, sometimes concealing it. In a distant corner of his mind, he was grateful he'd never relied on his eyes for running; if he had, he surely would have become hopelessly entangled or lost in the shadowed grey branches. But that small voice was a mere echo, lost in the chorus of determination that urged him onward. As he ran, he ignored the twigs that snarled themselves in his hair or lashed him across the face. He ignored the rocks that bruised the soles of his feet, and the roots that snagged his ankles. His eyes were turned forward, but his entire being was focused behind him. Every step he took was a beat he willed for Kagome's laboring heart. Every rasping breath was one he wished to force into her lungs.

"Inuyasha!" Sango called. He didn't recognize her voice for a moment. "Inuyasha!"

He skidded to a halt, trying not to begrudge her this moment lost. "What?"

"Houshi-sama says he can feel powerful jaki up ahead. Even I can feel it. Be careful!"

"Can he tell if it's Kanna?" Inuyasha yelled back.

There was a brief silence before Sango replied. "No, only that it's powerful. And that it fades in and out. It's elusive, he says."

Inuyasha nodded curtly, forgetting his human companions couldn't see it in the chiaroscuro of moonlight and shadow. He began to run again, crashing more heedlessly through the thickets. Kagome. Hold on. Abruptly the shrubs parted before him and he stumbled into a clearing. He stumbled to a halt, bewildered.

The bushes and trees here were decorated with dozens of elegantly woven but colorless tapestries, each depicting a happily embracing couple. The tapestries seemed to glow with a dim light that illuminated the clearing, but leached all color from everything within it. A woman sat at a loom in the center of the clearing, as severely monochromatic as the weavings. She was well dressed in grey, and her hair fell in glossy black spirals to the mossy forest floor. Her hands flickered over the loom, weaving steadily, although she had no shuttle. The thread in her fingers gleamed a brilliant red as if in defiance. It almost hurt to look at it.

"Who the hell are you?" Inuyasha snarled.

The woman looked up, dark lips parted in surprise. The thread vanished from between her fingers. As Kirara touched down lightly behind him, the woman rose from the loom and took a few steps forward. "Kagome?" she breathed, looking beyond Inuyasha to the girl who lay limp in Miroku's arms.

"She can't fuckin' answer you, on account of bein' asleep," he snapped. Inwardly, his mind was spinning. This was obviously not Kanna. Nor did she smell anything like Naraku. Was it possible they'd been wrong this whole time? You're looking too closely at the weave, Kagome had said.

The woman smiled. "Of course. How silly of me. It's only that I rarely get to meet my actors." She sat down at her loom again, perfectly at ease. "You're Inuyasha."

Inuyasha's ears flattened back. "How the hell d'you know that?"

"Kagome... told me, you could say." She began to weave again.

"Told you?" Sango said from behind Inuyasha.

"Mmmm. In her dreams."

"And what do you know about Kagome-sama's dreams?" Miroku said.

Her hands stilled on the fabric. "I've been helping her with them."

"You?" Inuyasha said, feeling nauseated. "Then... Naraku don't have anything to do with this?"

She frowned. "Naraku? I don't know who that is."

"What are you?" Shippo squeaked.

"My brethren and I live off the emotions of the dreaming," the woman answered. "Some prefer the sour tang of guilt, others like the salt of fear, or the bitterness of hatred." She patted the loom. "But I think of myself as a connoisseur. I prefer the sweetness of love. Especially love that holds its tongue in silent yearning." She smiled genially at Miroku, a malicious spark in her eyes. "It was so kind of you to bring dessert."

"I've heard of you," Sango said slowly. "You weave people's souls into dreams."

"You travel in educated company, Inuyasha. Yes. My name is Ai."

"Naming yourself after the thing you feed on," Miroku drawled. "I suppose you think that's clever." He slid off Kirara's back and laid Kagome gently on the grass at his feet, before moving to stand between her and Ai. Sango joined him. Shippo crouched behind them, one tiny hand fisted in Kagome's shirt.

"Clever? I preferred to think of it as a token of my esteem." Ai gestured at the tapestries ringing the clearing. "After all, I've savored so very many over the centuries." She sighed with a twinge of regret. "But your Kagome.... She's truly special."

"Shut up," Inuyasha snarled.

Ai lifted a hand. "I beg your pardon. It's only that I've never had an opportunity to relish a miko before. Especially not one with the purest of souls and a broken heart."

Inuyasha winced. Sango hefted Hiraikotsu as Kirara let out a low snarl. "Leave him alone."

Ai's smile turned poisonous. "Don't threaten me, little huntress. At least not until you've heard my offer."

"Offer?" Sango echoed.

"Consider," Ai said. "All of you. My craft lies in the weaving of dreamscapes that grant the heart's desire. You could rest from the weary pursuit that drives you." She drifted over to one of the tapestries and caressed it gently. The picture on it shifted and reformed to show a small hut, with a young boy sitting on the porch outside, practicing with a kusarigama. Sango sucked in her breath. "Your village, alive once more." Sango herself stepped into the image, smiling and saying something to the boy. She sat down next to him and Kirara leapt onto her lap, kneading gently with her paws. The door flap behind them lifted, and an older man looked out.

"Stop," Sango whispered.

"You do not wish this?" Ai asked. "Your father and brother restored?"

"I believe the lady said no," Miroku said lightly.

"Well, then, what about you?" Ai replied. The figures on the tapestry faded and blurred, then reformed. Miroku appeared, sitting quietly in a clearing, apparently meditating. Sango frowned, glancing sideways at the monk, whose face had gone still. The woven figure opened his eyes and smiled as three little girls hurtled into the image, throwing themselves on his knees. He tumbled over sideways, hands coming up to support the children. Sango gasped. Both of the monk's hands were bare. He wrestled amiably with the girls for a few moments, ending up pinned as one of them sat on his knees and one on each arm. One of the little girls glanced towards the watchers with wide violet eyes.

Miroku folded his arms and tilted his head. "I think you got the ages of the girls wrong," he observed in a neutral voice.

Ai smiled acidly. "Did I?" The man in the image lifted his head and the three girls looked off towards the side. The girls scrambled off him and he plucked one of them up as he stood, smiling warmly at someone who was evidently approaching. The other two girls threw themselves at the person. The image of Miroku reached out his bare, uncursed hand, and a slender feminine hand took it.

"Very well," Miroku said, sounding a little more strained. "I've gotten the idea."

The image froze moments before the woman stepped into the image. "You could tell her," Ai murmured. "You could tell her everything that's buried in your heart. Live the life you're afraid to hope for."

Miroku shook his head slowly. "I'm a coward, but I know better than to live in illusions."

"And so does Kagome," growled Inuyasha. "There's no way in hell she wants to die in your damn dream world."

"But you don't know what I offered her," Ai purred. "You don't know what she dreams of, yearns for. Wouldn't you like to know what could possibly make your loyal, steadfast, responsible Kagome turn her back on you?"

Inuyasha swallowed, Kagome's hushed whisper -- was it only days ago she'd said it? -- drifting through his mind. You're not him.

"Don't," Miroku said suddenly from behind him. "It's not worth it."

Inuyasha shook his head. "I wanna know." He jerked his chin at Ai. "Show me."

Ai turned back to the tapestry she'd been working on when they'd entered the clearing. "It's not quite finished, but I think you'll get the idea." She tilted the loom towards them. Miroku swore in a low, vicious stream of words, and Sango choked back a gasp. Kagome sat curled up in Inuyasha's lap, cuddled against his chest, eyes closed. He ran his claws slowly through her hair. She spoke, smiling, and he paused. She laughed and tilted her face up, eyes fluttering open. He leaned down and kissed her, fingers searching through her hair for the nape of her neck. Kagome reached up and cupped his face with a gentle hand as the kiss slowly deepened.

Inuyasha stood, paralyzed. Me. It was me. Ai watched him with dark eyes, mouth curved. "She fought me so very hard," she murmured, stroking the loom fondly. "Kept clinging to her ideas about the loyalty she owes you and your friends. Part of her fights me still. But in the end, she craved being held more. And now I think she prefers it there."

He drew Tetsusaiga slowly, eyes bleak and dark. "Give her back," Inuyasha said quietly. "And maybe I won't fuckin' kill you as slowly as I'd like to."

Ai raised an eyebrow. "But you don't understand," she said. "I can put you in the dream with her. That can be you. Think of it, Inuyasha. The two of you together, alone, free from all that haunts you."

"I want her here, alive, with me," he snarled. "Now give her back."

"I can't do that," Ai said, smiling. "I told you, she doesn't want to leave."

Inuyasha charged forward with a roar. Ai ducked to the side, splaying her hands out. Threads shot forth, but parted as they met the blade of Tetsusaiga. "Duck!" Sango yelled and Inuyasha dropped and rolled as Hiraikotsu flew over his head. Ai screamed as the boomerang slammed into her, but she staggered to her feet, unhurt. Hiraikotsu dug into the dirt several feet away from Sango, deflected. Inuyasha frowned briefly as a memory teased him. Kagome, chipping at a skull with an arrow, breaking the comb inside.

"Get the loom!" he yelled.

"No!" screamed Ai. More threads burst from her fingers, wrapping around him. Sango ran to retrieve Hiraikotsu from where it had fallen. Kirara leapt into the fray, snarling and slashing at Ai with her fangs, driving the weaver away from the loom. Miroku dashed forward and flung an ofuda at the loom, striking the weaving. It tore from top to bottom. Ai flung back her head and shrieked. The threads binding Inuyasha went slack. Without bothering to brush them off, he lifted Tetsusaiga and swung, cleaving through Ai's body crosswise.

Ai collapsed to the ground, coughing. Dark blood streamed from her lips. She lifted her head and spat. "It's... not over." Her eyes closed, and her body unraveled into a heap of thread. Around the clearing, the tapestries fell to ash.

Inuyasha straightened, then walked carefully over to Kagome and knelt next to her. She was still unconscious. "C'mon," he said softly, brushing her bangs back. "You can wake up now." Shippo nodded in agreement, patting her cheeks.

Miroku knelt across from Inuyasha, checking Kagome's pulse, a small frown on his face. "Her heartbeat's a little stronger, but...."

Just because the spell is broken doesn't mean the witch is dead. Inuyasha lifted his head. "It's not over yet."

***

The storm lashed Kagome and Inuyasha with a furious howl. They'd tried running back to the village to take shelter, but the dreamscape no longer extended to the village. Their entire world had shrunk to the storm and the tree where they clung to each other. Kagome tried to hide under Inuyasha's haori, but it provided poor shelter from the rain that drummed on her head and stung her skin. Slowly, the sting ceased and she lifted her head.

"The storm's gone," Inuyasha said hoarsely.

"Everything's gone," Kagome breathed, looking around. Where the tree and the storm clouds had been was only a black expanse of space. She looked back at Inuyasha, confused.

"It's over," he said softly.

"What?"

He shook his head. "I don't know what happened, but..." He sighed. "I can't stay."

"No," Kagome cried softly, clinging to him more tightly. "Don't leave me."

Inuyasha sighed, rocking her. "You don't wanna be here anyway, remember? This ain't where you belong."

She bit her lip, looking up at him. "But...."

"I'll never leave you, okay?" he said, tracing her face gently. "I'm gonna give you my strength and it's gonna get you through this."

Kagome closed her eyes and felt the tears spill down her face. Inuyasha caught them on his fingers. "I'll miss you," she said.

"I'm never gone," he said. Inuyasha leaned down and kissed her softly. Kagome kept her eyes closed, feeling his mouth on hers growing lighter and softer until it faded away altogether.

"I love you," she whispered to the darkness. And then, since there was nothing else to be done, she sat down and drew her knees up to her chest, waiting for what was going to happen next.

***

"How do you know it's not over yet?" Miroku said.

Inuyasha shook his head, looking around the clearing. "Don't matter. Sango? What else do you know about soul-stealing youkai?

"Um...." Sango shifted from foot to foot, frowning. "Just... about the spells getting stronger the closer they are." She stopped and her frown deepened. "I think.... The only way to make sure that the victim survives is to kill the recipient. That usually means the caster, but...."

"Obviously not," Miroku said. He sat back with a sigh. "Damn it. We went through all that, and we're not any closer to saving Kagome-sama. How the hell are we going to find the person who's got her soul?"

"How, indeed?" a cool voice said.

Inuyasha stiffened, a prickle of dread trickling down his spine. Oh, fuck. No. No.

A shadowy figure detached itself from the perimeter and walked slowly towards the center of the clearing, pausing by the pile of burnt, blackened threads that had been Ai. "I was prepared to kill her, but this works just as well. Thank you for doing that." Shippo lifted a shaking hand, blue foxfire burning on his palm. Kikyo inclined her head. "Inuyasha."

Inuyasha closed his eyes, his sick feeling of premonition confirmed. "Kikyo."

***

Between these walls
And darkened halls
I've done my time
If I should die
Before I wake
Then you'll know why