" 'I only wish I had such eyes,' the King remarked in a fretful tone. 'To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance, too! Why, it's as much as I can do to see real people, by this light!' "

He would not let Amatsuichi near her. Inuyasha did not have the power to kill or banish the half god but he some how managed to keep him from touching jewel. Inuyasha's hands were clenched and Kagome could tell he was itching to strike Amatsuichi. The half god himself was grinning as if Inuyasha's attempts to protect Kagome were humorous.

"Kagome." She looked at Inuyasha. "Let me carry you."

Kagome blinked in surprise the shook her head. "No. You've been walking as long as I have. I can take care of myself."

"Of you could let me help." It was said without any malice at all. His voice would register any until the moment of death. Because that's what Amatsuichi lusted for. The blood and fear and pain of another creature. And looking at his perfect features Kagome though death had never seemed so alluring. Kagome looked away pointedly.

"Why are you here?"

Amatsuichi lifted an eyebrow at her. "Me? I was sealed away here long ago. The only prison in the entire world that can contain me. I'm too powerful to walk the Earth and my blood is too tainted for the heavens. So I was unjustly trapped."

Inuyasha snorted. "Unjustly? You probably slaughtered thousands of humans each day."

Amatsuichi smirked. "Do you think? Or maybe I was like you. Abused and berated in the village I had no choice but to grow up in. And the cruelty of humans towards a child who had no control of his birth turned me against them all together."

"Are you trying to talk like you know me bastard?" Inuyasha snarled with a dangerously angry tone Kagome had never heard him take before.

Amatsuichi however went on as if he hadn't heard. "But then you did have one friend didn't you Inuyasha." Kagome looked as Inuyasha when he fell silent. Amatsuichi grinned. "Yes. One friend. What was the girl's name? Mino wasn't it? And you left her behind, after all the times she stood up for you when you were a child. After she befriended you. You left her behind without saying a word to go on a futile hung for the sacred jewel."

Inuyasha was watching the half god warily now. "What does she have to do with anything?"

"Why she's here Inuyasha. Don't you ever wonder what happened to her?" Amatsuichi pointed to a bend in the path were it turned around a thick grove of trees. At the same moment a cry pierced the air.

"Mino!" Inuyasha screamed and then he ran.

"Inuyasha wait!" She remembered he couldn't see the path and cast a glare at Amatsuichi then turned to go after Inuyasha but something held her.

"Come little priestess. He has abandoned you. Come with me."

Kagome looked at him, caught in the spell he wove for no more then a second until she shook her head in sharp denial. "You offer a beautiful death."

"And he offers a brutal life."

"It's still life."

Amatsuichi smiled darkly. "Is it?" Kagome took a step back. Amatsuichi bowed. "Very well lovely priestess. I give you a warning however. In the game of hearts you play the Queen."

He gestured and a playing card appeared in his hands he turned it revealing the queen of hearts then let it flutter to the ground. Two more cards appeared in his out stretched hand, face down and he waited. Despite her better judgment Kagome reached out a hand to take a card and turned it to reveal the King of Hearts.

"The King of Hearts has no need for the Queen. He rules over her. Out ranks her. And pays no heed to her wants or wishes but he keeps her all the same." He grinned. "Will you make Inuyasha your King of Hearts Kagome? Think carefully on it." And then he was gone. Just like that. There one minute and gone the next.

Kagome stared for a long while then but then Inuyasha angry snarl split the silence and she gasped, drop the card and ran. Inuyasha was on the edge of the path when she reached him and she saw why instantly. Just of the path an angry group of people circled a young girl with short, blunt cut black hair and timid brown eyes.

"Renounce the half breed Mino." One of the men among the mob said warningly. "Renounce your vow to wait for his return and you will be released."

The girl shook her head angrily. "Never!"

Kagome blinked. Mino. Inuyasha's childhood friend. Had she been in love with Inuyasha? Had believed he might return and she could marry him one day? Had she pledged to wait for him to return?

"Very well." One of the men continued. "Bring the whip." And Kagome nearly ran to the girl herself when she saw the man produce a long black whip.

"No! Mino!" Inuyasha lunged forward.

"Inuyasha! No!" She tackled him slamming him backwards on to the path. He struggled beneath her but she hung on to him. "Inuyasha no! You'll leave the path if you try to save her."

Inuyasha growled. "I'll kill them!"

"It isn't real! Inuyasha it isn't real. They're trying to tempt you of the road." She loosened her hold slowly as Inuyasha's struggles stopped.

"I left her Kagome. What if...what if this is what really happened?"

Kagome sat back when she was sure Inuyasha was calmed try to block out the voice of another man offering the phantom Mino a last chance. "It can't be Inuyasha. No one would ever be cruel enough to do that to someone. It's just a lie. A ruthless lie."

Inuyasha remained sitting on the ground and Kagome stood slowly then reached out a hand to help him up. To her surprise he took it and lifted to his feet slowly. Eyes averted solemnly.

"She could be dead." Inuyasha said.

"I'm sure she's not Inuyasha."

After a moment he murmured. "I should have said goodbye."

And that Kagome couldn't argue with. Couldn't reassure him about because it was true. He should have so the only consolation left was to murmur,

"It's in the past now."

And she took firm hold of his hand as the resumed walking at a determinedly slow, easy pace while behind them they heard the sound of a whip striking and splitting flesh followed by the screams and crying of a girl. And once she called out Inuyasha's name. Inuyasha didn't turn back but with each sound of the whip hitting flesh he flinched violently as if it were his own back being struck.

" 'Why, it's as much as I can do to see real people, by this light!' "