Chapter Three:

. . .

"We have a wide variety of selection for meals so you can choose what you would like. I'm sure there will be something delectable for you," Miroku told Kagome as they continued to walk along.

"Oh, all right," she answered, her chocolate eyes darting around the old fashioned art of the dark castle in wonder.

Something tightened in the cursed hanyou's chest as he watched the intriguing raven-haired girl follow his old friend to the kitchen. Such untainted innocence, he thought, his amber orbs going to the ground. This is not a place for her, he finished, a soft sigh escaping his lips.

"You can not hide forever, Inuyasha," Sango stated, her feminine voice somewhat firm, yet understanding at the same time. The Lord of the castle whirled his head upward to find Sango standing at the foot of the stairs, her body half in the darkness and half in the light, her dark eyes scrutinizing him. His eyes fell away from her gaze and pined forward, watching with interest how the girl was adjusting to Miroku's lecherous ways.

Inuyasha heard the rustling of clothing and then smelled Sango's pine wood scent as she came closer to him. "Do you not want to become yourself again?" She asked him, her voice holding an all-knowing edge. "Do you want to continue to take the serum that the miko leaves you every day? Do you want those awful scars to open up, burning and bleeding painfully until you claw your eyes out?" She finished, her voice somewhat steely as she tried to break through the stubborn wall that he had built around himself over the years.

The hanyou glared down at her and let out an unpleased and impatient growl. "Of course I want to become normal again!" He barked at her, his elongated canines glowing in the murky depths of the blackness. He then calmed and a frustrated growl escaped his lips as he absently rubbed at the scars along his face. "These damned scabs almost opened upstairs. The burning sensation hasn't stopped yet either," Inuyasha added, encompassing his hand completely over his face in shame.

"Just wait until the serum takes its full effect," The young woman told him gently, resting a hand lightly on his shoulder. "Where is your mask?" she asked him, seeing that he was still holding his face.

"I... I ripped it off upstairs," The hanyou answered, his voice thick and muffled by his hand.

"I suppose I should make you a new one, even though sewing hurts my wrists," Sango said, sighing to spite herself.

Inuyasha winced internally as a bit of guilt wormed into his chest. His eyes were apologetic as he removed his hand. "Who needs a mask?" he snapped at her, his voice harsh but the young woman could tell that there was no real fire of emphasis behind his words. He really did want the mask.

"All right," she replied, nodding to him, knowing that he would not be coming out of the dark any time soon without a mask. There would be too much more at risk if Kagome would see him again. Her face had been terrified when she had been exposed to the mutilated visage of scars. "But I'm going to the kitchen now to accompany Miroku and Lady Kagome," she added, entering into the light again, striding meaningfully towards the kitchen.

Inuyasha turned his path towards his chambers, the furthest room down the pitch-black corridor. He swallowed deeply when he felt some nervous bile rise up from his stomach. This is really hopeless. I'm too much of a coward to go and talk to her again... He thought in dismay, closing the door behind him when he entered his room.

. . .

"Kami-sama!" Kagome exclaimed, her chocolate eyes wide with excitement. "You have everything!"

"We don't entertain much around here so we are left with bountiful foods and riches," Miroku explained, encouraging her to go and select her choices of food. He smirked at the way the young woman was scurrying around, buzzing with activity as she filled a bowl with noodles and then poured a spicy sauce on them that went with the chicken. He stared at her oddly for a moment, leaning over to smell the contents of her bowl, leaping back a step like he had been burned.

Seeing his bewildered look, Kagome's eyebrows fixated together in confusion. "What?"

"Well... I've never seen someone put that kind of sauce on noodles that were all ready flavored, that's all," He replied, stepping away from the highly spice covered noodles that had made his eyes water from just one whiff.

"I like trying different things. You can't always judge everything by how it looks and smells," she answered, the cute little smile still apparent on her face.

The young man thought about this a moment, wondering if he could somehow catch her in her words now for saying something so wise. "Then you must use the same principle with Inuyasha," Miroku told her, watching her as she dropped her bowl, her face unfazed when it cracked and broke on the floor, the noodles and spicy sauce splattering all over the place.

"I beg your pardon?" she stammered, bending down to clean up the mess she had just made from her general alarm and shock. She stopped when Miroku cleared his throat, her eyes traveling up his body to his face where he was looking at her expectantly.

"You just said that you can't always judge things by how they look and how they smell. Were you just talking about food or were you talking about all things in general?" The young man asked her, waiting for her reply.

Kagome had fallen silent, her heart beating in her ears. Images of Inuyasha's mangled face, his crimson eyes and his cruel laughter ran through her mind, a shiver running down her back from the thoughts. He had truly been frightening. "I..." she started, swallowing before she went to continue. "I meant all things," she finished, sighing before her long raven hair slid over her shoulder to hide her guilty face.

"Then I believe you have just made a hypocrisy," Miroku said to her, bringing a broom out of the corner of the kitchen and started to sweep up the broken pieces of her bowl while Kagome cleaned the noodles and sauce up.

"Yes. I did," the young woman nodded to him, her cheeks slightly red from embarrassment at being caught in her own words. She sighed again when she had finished wiping up the last remains of the sauce, her mind elsewhere. I wonder how 'Lord Inuyasha' feels about all of this anyway. She got up to go and serve herself more of the dish she had been about to eat earlier as she thought things through. I know that if I were in his place that I would be frustrated, cold, angry, aloof and scared to come out of hiding at all... And I imagine I worsened the situation earlier... she closed her eyes and rested her head on the table beside her new bowl of noodles. "Miroku- sama?" she asked, tilting her head in the young man's direction while her head continued to rest on the table.

His violet eyes met her chocolate ones as he took a bite out of a large red apple, the juice flying everywhere. Kagome squealed and cupped her eye for some of the fruity liquid had splashed into her eye. "So sorry," the young man apologized sheepishly, winking at her before he shifted his weight to the other foot. "Was there something that you wanted?"

I judged him before I got to know him... He might not be all bad... Maybe I can learn to look past those frightening scars on his face and the monster he becomes if he doesn't take that... serum stuff, Kagome thought before she answered Miroku's question. "I think... I think I'm going to try," she told him, watching as his head tilted to the side in slight confusion.

"Going to try what?" The young man asked, taking another juicy bite out of the apple, watching as Kagome hid her face to keep from getting juice all over her.

"I think I'm going to try... and get to know him. To become his friend..." The young woman replied, watching as Miroku nodded with a soft smile on his face with a perverse, leering look in his eyes.

"What if you become more than a friend?" The young man questioned her, winking at her, his mouth curving into a hentai grin with many fantasies. Kagome let out a sound of exasperation and threw the closest thing at him. It just so happened to be a long wooden spoon. Miroku was expecting the attack and he dodged out of the way quickly, his face feigning innocence. "Did I do something to provoke your ire, Lady Kagome?"

The young woman groaned and ignored him, brushing past him towards the door of the kitchen, nearly knocking into Sango. "Oh! I'm sorry!" she apologized, bowing quickly for her rudeness.

"You don't have to show such formality, Kagome. In fact, you may call me Sango-chan if you like," The ebony haired woman told the slightly young woman before her. Kagome nodded and thanked her, telling her the same. "Did you enjoy dinner?" she asked.

"Yes, very much but now I think I need some fresh air," Kagome excused herself, walking swiftly towards the exit to the castle to go and sit on the old, dark patio. Sango and Miroku watched her until she was out of sight before they began to converse in low voices.

"She says she's going to try," Miroku whispered, closing the distance a bit between himself and the pretty woman beside him.

"Going to try what? Not get touched by you even though I think that feat is entirely unavoidable," Sango replied, humor alight in her sweet sounding feminine voice. The young man sighed and shrugged, his eyes going towards the floor in what looked to be shame.

"Am I really that bad?" He asked her sincerely, all hints of the hentai he was being a little while ago vanished. Sango looked him over for signs of deceit but found none. She then sighed and took one of his hands into her own, holding it with a light touch.

"No, Miroku. You can really be quite good sometimes... When you're being sincere," she finished, leaning forward to kiss him on the cheek. The handsome young man's violet eyes were as wide as watermelons and his cheeks as pink as the insides of the fruit when she pulled away.

"Why, Sango..." he stuttered, his hand now tightening around hers. "Well... I wouldn't have expected something like that coming from you..." He finished, his gaze meeting hers before she smiled kindly at him, not saying a word.

"Weren't you saying something about Kagome trying something earlier?" she asked, changing the subject, pulling her hand out of his grasp. Miroku cleared his throat, getting a damper on the blush in his cheeks and ran a hand over his hair briskly.

"She says that she is going to try and befriend Inuyasha," He replied, nodding to her when she gasped in disbelief.

"Really? Are you certain?" She questioned him, not buying what he was saying at all.

"Yes, I am. Earlier she said that one could not always judge things by the way they looked and smelled... and I caught her in her own words and made her make a hypocrisy out of the statement," He elaborated, chuckling to himself. "I am such a con artist."

"Yes, you are. I wonder... I wonder if she could ever fall in love with him," Sango wondered aloud, starting towards the door of the kitchen. Miroku broke out in a light sheet of sweat, his thoughts going back to the kiss on the cheek and the holding of her hand. I can't let this moment go by! He thought anxiously, wondering how he could get her to stop without frightening her away.

"You are always thinking about Inuyasha's heart... but you have never considered what I feel in mine, Sango," the young man called to her, observing her as her form went rigid and her head whirled back to where he was standing, her dark eyes belying confusion... and... was that... hope?

"What are you talking about, Miroku?" The young woman with ebony hair asked in slight impatience, walking to the doorway of the kitchen to send him a clean-cut glare.

This is your chance... You've got her full attention, Miroku said to himself in his head, approaching her slowly, reaching out his hand to touch her face lightly, feeling the soft warmth of her skin beneath his fingertips. "Sango..." He whispered, his eyes speaking for themselves.

"What?" she answered, her voice just as thick and husky as his, her eyes expectant as they darkened a bit from passion and desire.

"Don't you know?" He asked her his head coming closer to hers as his hot breath started to beat against her face. Sango felt an adrenaline rush and broke out into a cold sweat, her lips trembling with anxiety as he began to close the distance between them. She did not know what to do... and she did not know if she was entirely ready.

"No..." she said softly, watching with a heavy heart as Miroku's eyes widened and looked at her in genuine hurt and confusion. He licked his lips and pulled back slightly, his hand cupping her cheek still. "No I don't know," she finished, swallowing deeply when the young man took his hand back and brushed past her out of the kitchen, looking back to her, his eyes sad and remorseful.

"I see," he told her, nodding as a melancholy smile brushed across his lips. It's my own fault she resists, Miroku thought as he strolled along the halls of the castle. I have not shown her true loyalty. He sighed, feeling the heaviness in his chest that could only be disappointment and rejection but squashed it down, deciding he should go and tell his good friend the news about Kagome's decision.

As he went down the corridor, the blackness consumed him. He shivered a bit. He didn't mind that Inuyasha stayed down this hall, the darkest one in the castle, but pitch-blackness had never been his ally. He arrived at the end of the hall and knocked on the door softly before he opened it a crack and peered inside.

"Inuyasha?" he called, searching around the chamber, finding it empty. The hanyou was nowhere to be found. Shrugging, Miroku decided that he would find him another time and continue to sort out his feelings for Sango and how he should have approached them properly until then.

. . .

Kami-sama... At this place you would think it is winter! She shivered a bit to herself, pulling her cloak and kimono closer to her body to keep out the chill. Her eyes drifted around as she continued to observe the surrounding area. Dark forests, dark skies... A dark castle... I believe I am trapped in a gothic nightmare, she thought, sighing, watching her breath, as it became a cloud in the wind.

Kagome was so caught up in her observations that she did not notice the shadow that loomed overhead before the owner of it landed a few steps to her right. She heard the sound of something landing beside her and her eyes were instantly drawn to it. Her breath quickened in fear when she saw nothing. She let out a sigh of relief but then stiffened when someone spoke behind her.

"How's your neck?" came a gruff, irritated voice that Kagome could only guess belonged to the Lord of the castle. Inuyasha winced when he smelled a spike of fear in her scent and bit back the urge to growl at his own carelessness.

It's all right... Just breathe... It's only... she swallowed, thinking back to the scars and the eyes. Brrrrr... she finished, punching herself in the head mentally. She was supposed to be trying to get to know him! Not label him off as some sort of monster... even though technically, he was one.

"Um... It's still kind of stiff but it's all right," Kagome replied, attempting to keep her voice cheerful. She was attempting to look behind at him, gathering her own courage, praying that he was now wearing a mask again. She gulped and turned quickly to see him perched on all fours on the banister of the patio with a cloth that had eyeholes torn into it on his face. "Do you not have another mask?" she asked softly, hoping to form some more 'pleasant' conversation.

"No. And Sango has bad wrists so she can't make me a new one," came the spoiled, annoyed reply. Kagome was becoming rather rigid at his tone of voice but decided that she would try her best to put up with it. It probably wasn't easy for him to just come out to talk to me anyway but he's here and he's trying... That has got to count for something, the young woman thought, nodding in reply to the hanyou's response.

"Well... If Sango is unable to sew... I could make you one," she offered gently, watching as his eyes and face snapped up to meet hers. Ah, she remembered those eyes. They were peaceful, confused, reckless amber that almost stole her breath away. "Or... you could go without it..."

"And have you run off?" Inuyasha snapped impatiently, his ears flattening against his head at his retort. He made a low sound in his throat and looked ready to leap away until he felt a light touch on his sleeve. He turned slightly and out of the corner of his eyes saw her face... looking at him with kind and sad eyes.

"I... I'm sorry for my reaction earlier..." Kagome apologized, releasing the hold she had on his sleeve, drawing back to bow down her head. "Your face... it just frightened me, that's all... I..." she didn't know how she wanted to word what she had to say.

"Of course it frightens you..." he snapped, his voice not as hard as it had been moments ago. He let out a defeated sigh and sat his bottom down on the banister, his legs dangling from it now. "It should frighten you. That's the curse," the hanyou added, resting his chin on his hand.

"But... you shouldn't let the curse control your life... I... I want to stay here," Kagome said to his statement, swallowing when his amber gaze was pined on her again in shock and perplexity. "I... I'd like to get to know you... Now that I know your story..."

"You... You would want to stay..." Inuyasha repeated, his voice sounding uncharacteristically soft. His eyes darted around in thought for a few moments before he sneered, "You're staying because you pity me, aren't you?"

Kagome stepped back a bit, wondering what to say next. Just tell him the truth. If he can't handle the truth, then he really is hopeless. "Yes... I do, in a sense... but--"she stopped, reaching out again to hold his shirt sleeve before he could run off. "Hey!" she snapped, watching as he turned an angry, defiant gaze towards her. "I also think that you can overcome this, ok? That's why I want to stay!" she finished in a yell, hoping that her words could convince him.

"Would you?" He asked, his voice sounding like she was going to betray him. "Would you stay here with a monster like me?" He barked at him, grabbing the hand that was holding his sleeve desperately and gripped it firmly. Kagome winced at the pain that shot through her hand at his strength but nodded to him, letting out a sound of relief when he released her hand. "Promise me you'll stay. You have to promise me," the hanyou ordered, crossing his arms as he scrutinized her intensely under his eyes.

"I promise that I'll stay here with you, Lord Inuyasha," she stated with the utmost sincerity, her voice sounding a bit tremulous. The hanyou looked her over, seeing that she was being true and got off the banister and opened the door to the castle. Kagome stared at him for a moment in confusion before he let out an impatient sound. He was being a gentleman and holding the door open for her!

Kagome sent him an appreciative smile as she walked into the castle, her stomach feeling slightly odd with what she had just agreed to. Well, I did promise. And I am an honest girl and I keep my word. I suppose that I'm staying here until... he releases me... she thought, her eyes going back to look at the Lord of the castle who was watching her with the same curiosity.

She's actually going to stay, Inuyasha thought with disbelief, his cheeks still flushing underneath the cloth he was wearing from the soft smile she had sent him. He swallowed as she went up the stairs to her room. When she was out of site, he fled to his own chambers to escape the fluttery feeling that he had just gotten in his chest just from the looks she had been sending him.

. . .

"Kagome-chan," Sango called from behind the door, knocking a few times. Kagome sat up on her bed, stretching a bit as she got up to answer the door. "Would you like to escape to the hot spring and take a bath?"

"You have a hot spring?" Kagome gasped, a smile evident on her lips.

"Hurry! Before Miroku discovers where we are going!" The slightly older young woman added quietly, shoving a towel into Kagome's arms as they scurried down the stairs and went to rush off towards the hot spring.

They are going to bathe, are they? Very well... Miroku thought mischievously, slinking after them, out of site and undetected.

. . .

Writer's Corner:

Dun dun dun...

Oh yes! A couple of things!

Thank you for all the support I have been given and thank you for nominating me for this story! The only problem is is that now I have to write like two more chapters to meet the deadline! AAAAAAAAAAH! That's ok though because it will keep me on my toes and force me to write well! Well, the next chapter should be up in about a day so until later! R and R please!

Luv, RayJay