Author: Hey, how have ya guys been? I feel like working on the next chap. So now I leave ya with the next chapter.

It had been a week since Ame met Naraku, and since she had eaten. She was too depressed to eat; her mind was filled with nothing but negative thoughts. She knew there was no chance of escape. She would go out rarely now and basically just stayed in her room. Naraku would check up on her every once and awhile, but other than that, there was no contact. Ame, on one random day, decided to take a walk, so of course, she had to get permission from Naraku.

She walked slowly and gracefully to her 'mates' room looking at all of the details in the bare wooden wall. She ran her fingers along it feeling every smoothed detail which had been carved and cut to perfection. The trees in the forest were nothing like this, but she wished that she could feel them again.

She walked inside Naraku's room which had a lit candle emitting a dim light throughout the whole room. Naraku was sitting in a corner writing on a piece of parchment with a quill (all right, maybe they didn't use quills but oh well.) Naraku slowly looked up at her and stopped writing.

"Yes?" his voice was soft,

"Naraku-san, would it be all right if I took a walk inside the castle walls?"

"I suppose, if its inside the walls I don't think you need me to follow." She starts to leave.

"Ame," She stops and turns to him, "Have a seat first." He gestures his hand towards a cushion in front of him. She makes a puzzled look but sits on the cushion. He turns to her his face remains vacant.

"I noticed you haven't eaten in the last week." He looked outside the window the whole time. She just looks at him, her eyes widened a bit; she was surprised he was mentioning something like that. A Hanyou and Youkai would have seen the slight concern in his eyes but Ame didn't notice.

"You really should eat; it's not good for you to not eat."

"Uh... well I..."

"I'll let you go to your village and get something there if you wish."

"You would do that? ...Thank you." She was starting to think he had a decent side,

"Well, I wouldn't want my 'breeding object' to starve to death." He chuckled. Ame frowned but didn't lose her temper. Of course, that was the whole reason she was there.

-

Ame walked along the castle walls looking at the trees outside of them; she wished she could just be let go.

But Naraku, I see loneliness and hatred in his eyes. In a sense I feel sorry for him as strange as it may be...

Droplets of rain started to fall, Ame looked up at the sky and then headed back into the castle.

"...Naraku...what could be troubling you?"

The next day, Naraku told Ame he would keep an eye on her while she was at the village. Ame nodded and walked out of the castle, glad about the opportunity. She looked at all the trees and flowers, capturing every image into her mind as she approached the village. Suzume was happy to see her again, as was she. Ame said she would be able to visit the village again tomorrow; Suzume was ecstatic.

"Whatever happened to that warlord?" Ame asked

"Oh, he ran away like a coward right after the incident." Suzume said while sitting next to Ame, "But enough about that, how do you plan on dealing with that demon?"

"...Well, I am not quite sure, but I don't want you to get into it, besides, he'll just punish me more if you do. I am grateful that he at least let me come to the village to eat, so I'll deal with it when I can."

After she ate, she said her goodbyes and left the village and met up with Naraku.

"I hope you had your fill because you won't be going back for the rest of the day."

"I know." She smiled at him in a joking manner. He just blew it off (non- literally) and started walking back to the castle; Ame giggled and followed suit.

The next few days that followed, Ame didn't think about escaping. Seeing her only friend and village each day was enough, she had no life to live by anyway, after all, she was an orphan. She also started to like Naraku more and would talk to him about random things at times. Which he, most of the time, didn't mind.

She didn't like it when he would just sit in his room all day so she asked him to join her in a walk. Of course he came; he said that if she was going for a walk outside the castle walls he had to accompany her. So they walked for a while, Naraku usually wore his pelt but he didn't this time because even he grew tired of wearing it at times.

Ame, like always, was happy to get out and get some fresh air while Naraku, like always, was silent. She was sick of his silence and started to ask a question.

"Hey, did you ever take walks on a normal basis?" she smiles at him.

"Not for fun, just to get somewhere." Then Naraku turned his head and heard a crash and someone saying, "Whoops."

He looked to see that Ame fell down in a ditch and ... she was laughing. Naraku, however, wasn't and saw a big gash on her leg with blood slowly seeping out.

"I'm ... such a klutz." She laughed. Naraku came into the ditch and examined the wound, he tore off a piece of his vest and held it on the wound, dabbing it every once and a while.

"I think you had too much excitement for one day, let's go home." He picked her up and he carried her back to the castle.

Naraku sat Ame down on her bed/mat soon he sat next to her. She started to laugh again.

"I'm fine, Naraku, it's just a cut."

He smiles.

"I know, but I want to be here with you anyway." She blushes and smiles. He meant to say that to see what her reaction would be but really he just wanted to make sure she wouldn't die on him. He did need her to fulfill his desire.

Naraku moved his face closer to hers, his expression was gentle. Ame just looked at him, her mind half vacant, she moved in closer too. Then there faces are only centimeters away and Naraku gently greets her lips with his. Ame was surprised how soft and warm his lips were thinking that had to be impossible for a half-demon.

He savored her sweet taste. Then, Naraku slowly parted after a couple of seconds. Ame smiled at him while his face remained expressionless. He sat there a little while longer looking at his mate in secret yearning.

Ame woke up the next morning, still remembering the kiss from the day before. When she tried to sit up, she felt a sharp pain on her leg. She took of the covers and saw that the wound had red in it still but there was black on it as well. She tried to stand up but it hurt too much.

"Dammit..." she whispered, "It's infected." She tried many times to stand up but she kept falling down, Naraku finally entered.

"What are you doing?" he questioned

"My leg..." she replied, "It's infected." Naraku looked at it not saying anything.

"I think if I just wash it and keep it clean it should get better."

"Rubbing alcohol on it might help; I believe there is some old Sake in the cellar." Naraku went down to the cellar and got the bottle of Sake and a small hand towel and came back up in the room. He poured a little bit of Sake on the towel and dabbed the towel on the wound.

"Thanks." She said; he just nodded "It should be fine now." She smiled in answer and looked deep into his crimson eyes.

Author: yeah, I know I right short chaps I'm sorry but what did you think? Remember R&R!!