CGV:

Naraku was sitting across from Kagome on her full sized bed as they both were flipping through the books Professor Kikyo had left for them. He couldn't help but look up and stare at the red marks marring her upper arms. They looked like scratches made from human fingernails, but how was that possible?

He flipped a few more pages in the Literature book. It was comprised mostly of Shakespearean works. As if he wasn't familiar with those works! He set aside the book when he noticed Kagome had fallen asleep with her book still propped up on her stomach.

Reaching over he gently removed the book. He smiled down at her. She looked a lot better now. She had become greatly disturbed at dinner when those claw marks had appeared. Seeing her confusion at the rising welts he took pity on the young maiden. A fierce protectiveness came over him, as he knew all that she had suffered through so recently. He probably understood more than anyone else for that matter.

He shook her shoulder gently. Sapphire orbs opened slowly and met his dark gaze. "Naraku?" Kagome asked confused.

He sat back away from her. "You fell asleep. I hope you weren't planning on learning by diffusion. It's a very impractical method."

Kagome offered a weak smile. "No I suppose that isn't a good way to learn." She turned to gaze out the window. Her thoughts mixed between her guardian who wasn't present and the mysterious blue eyed man who haunted her dreams.

"We don't really need to be looking over these now anyway. Kikyo won't even be coming to teach us until at least two weeks from now. Is there anything you'd like to talk about?" Naraku inquired, looking pointedly at her scratch marks.

Kagome followed his gaze. "Actually, I'd like to hear more about the master's son and the governor's daughter."

Naraku looked away and snorted slightly. "Would you now?" He asked, not entirely surprised.

Kagome sat up, drawing her good knee under her chin as she stared at him intently, hoping to silently encourage him.

Heaving an exasperated sigh Naraku looked at her with a rolling of his eyes. "Going to sit there staring at me until I tell you what you want?"

A smirk was his answer but Kagome remained silent. The two locked stares, neither willing to back down. Naraku really didn't want to tell her anymore. He didn't think he was prepared for such a thing neither was she.

"What do you want to know exactly?" Naraku broke the silence. Kagome grinned triumphantly at him.

"Well obviously the ending is tragic but I would like to know the beginning." Kagome started. "How did they meet? Were they in love really? Was it an arranged marriage? Were they friends?"

Naraku waved his hands in front of her face to stop her rapid-fire questions. "Woah, woah, woah, too many questions for my meager little male brain to handle."

Kagome frowned at him. "Yeah right, you're probably one of the smartest people I know."

Naraku tilted his head slightly before smiling confidently. "True, I do have a sort of criminal mastermind type quality about me. You asked how they met. They were both young. She was around 16 and he was around 17. They met when her father had recently began his reign as governor in this parish. It was at one of those formal parties where parents try to establish alliances through the marriages of their children."

"So he and she met at the dance and fell in love?" Kagome interrupted.

Naraku moved his position on the bed to sit beside her at the headboard. She watched him silently as he leaned back and shut his eyes. "Please don't interrupt. I do tend to lose my place and I hate repeating myself."

"Sorry," Kagome replied softly.

"It's okay, you didn't know. But now you do so don't do it again," he joked earning him a rueful glance from her. "So back to the young master and the governor's daughter. His father had hassled him the entire evening trying to pawn him off on various females who were the daughters of important dignitaries. He wasn't interested though and had escaped the insanity of the party as soon as he found the chance."

Naraku's eyes closed as if he were reliving the events himself. Kagome shut her eyes as well hoping to be able to picture the scenes better. "He wandered into the gardens and noticed a young woman there. Her dark obsidian tresses and sapphire eyes drew his attention when she happened to look in his direction, his heart practically melted."

"Wait, I'm sorry for interrupting, but how do you know his heart practically melted?" Kagome demanded opening her eyes and turning to interrogate the storyteller.

Naraku crossed his arms and looked at her annoyed before answering. "It makes the story better if I add in details like that. Now be quiet and let me finish." His voice had lost its normal soothing tones and his words were clipped in his aggravation.

"But how do I know what is truth and what you are fabricating if you embellish the story outside of the facts?" Kagome demanded, equally annoyed.

Naraku closed his eyes again and tried to relax his temper that was rising. "Do you want to hear the tale or not?" He asked calmly.

A few moments of silence passed before he felt her relax beside him against the headboard. "Sorry to disturb your concentration, do continue."

"Thank you. As I was saying his heart had melted and he approached her. Neither had any idea who the other was. They spent the remainder of the evening strolling in the gardens and sharing their dreams for adventure and laughing. Never before had he met someone he could completely relax around. It was as if they were meant for one another. He was about to ask where he might call on her when the competition entered the picture." Naraku paused, trying to decide where to take the tale from here.

"Oh come on! You can't stop there!" Kagome pleaded when the silence seemed to drag on.

Noting the annoyance she had for cliffhangers he decided to add some now but to continue the tale later on. "She already had a fiancé. Apparently the two had been childhood best friends. Her father wasn't too happy since the boy was the son of one of his bodyguards but after her mother had argued the case he had consented in allowing the engagement."

"What did he look like? What did the master's son look like? You've only described the girl, I could care less what she looks like." Kagome told him irritated; she already had a picture in her mind. She could see herself sitting on a bench in a garden Naraku sitting beside her and that blue eyed mysterious man approaching her. She shook her head of the images as she waited for Naraku to give some descriptions so she could picture that instead of what was already in her mind's eye.

"I'm not feeling very well. You'll have to excuse me." Naraku apologized as he rose from the bed. He leaned down before walking away and placed the back of his hand upon her forehead. "At least you don't have a fever. Would you like me to call Souta up here before I retire?"

Kagome nodded. "Yes, I'd love to see Souta. Tell him to bring some games up here with him."

"Of course, well good night Kagome," Naraku told her as he left her room to retrieve her little brother.

Kagome stared out the window into the night sky. Hopefully it wasn't too late, she still had yet to set up her alarm clock. Souta could always cheer her up. Perhaps they could plot a way for him to return home and live with Sango's family. She hated to think he'd be stuck at a boarding school.

She could feel a chill in the room and redirected her gaze to the foot of her bed. Her abusive guardian was there. His silver hair reflected the moonlight as he watched with soft golden eyes that seemed to harden the moment she stared back. "Haunting me some more? Are you some sort of poltergeist? Is that why you hurt me?"

"I did not intend on harming you." Sesshoumaru replied in a bored tone. He turned to watch as the door to the bedroom opened and the little boy from the dinner table scampered in practically jumping onto the bed and hugging Kagome tight.

She ignored Sesshoumaru, and that annoyed him slightly but he tried to ignore that sensation.

"Kagome! Naraku told me you wanted to see me. It's so miserable down in my room. It's so lonely and I miss my friends and I don't want to go to that boarding school." Souta paused to take a breath, leaving Kagome time to respond.

"Don't worry Souta. I think I'll talk to Sango's family and see if maybe they can help me convince Onigumo to let you go back to our old school. I don't understand why mother is going along with everything Onigumo says. It's like she's afraid to stand up to him." Kagome thought out loud as she looked over towards Sesshoumaru to see him sitting on her window seat, staring at the moon.

"Maybe. But either way I'll have to leave you here with them! I don't want to leave you here with him and Naraku." Souta confided in her, his chocolate eyes serious and determined.

Kagome ruffled his unruly hair. "Don't worry kid. I'll be fine. Naraku's harmless and I'll just avoid Onigumo."

Sesshoumaru made a noise that sounded oddly similar to a laugh from his position across the room. Kagome glared after his still form. Without turning to look at her he replied, "It will be hard to avoid the Master of the house."

His choice of words seemed to still her heart for a moment. 'The Master of this house?' she silently repeated to herself. She squeezed her eyes tight willing the thoughts that were willing to enter her mind to disappear. It was crazy for her to even entertain the idea that Naraku and his father were connected to that story he was telling her earlier about the previous inhabitants of this plantation.

"Did I say something wrong?" Sesshoumaru demanded as he now stood beside Kagome on the side away from Souta.

Souta yawned really wide and flashed Kagome an apologetic look. "Hey, Kagome, I'm really sorry, but I am too tired to play any games and just want to go to sleep. Is that okay? Do you need me to sleep up here with you in case you need anything?"

Kagome reached over and hugged her little brother close, kissing his cheek before replying. "Thanks Souta, I don't need anything though. You go on to bed and I'll see you in the morning."

Sesshoumaru watched the exchange silently as he stood still as a statue. After the door shut behind the little boy he moved to sit beside Kagome on the bed. She rolled her eyes. "You are the third male in a row that has sat on this bed. Is it really that inviting?"

She didn't catch the spark of humor that flashed briefly through Sesshoumaru's eyes at her innocently stated remark that could easily be misconstrued. He focused upon her upper arms, seeing the damage he caused. He reached out to touch the marred flesh and was surprised when his fingers actually made contact.

Kagome gasped at the feel of icy fingers brushing her skin. She looked down at Sesshoumaru's digits. "How is it that I can feel you?" She demanded, meeting his eyes to demand an answer.

Sesshoumaru simply stared at his fingers wondering what the answer to that quandary was himself.

"Well? Are you going to answer me or just sit there?" Kagome demanded ire evident in her tones at his rude behavior for disturbing her personal bubble.

Sesshoumaru retracted his fingers away from her and instead entwined those phalanges together as he placed his hands idly in his lap. "I do not need to answer such questions miko."

Kagome stared at him in complete confusion. How could he just sit there and be all abnormally calm and silent. Why couldn't he be haunting the hospital where is body was? "Why did you call me that? Do I look like some Japanese priestess to you?"

Sesshoumaru was feeling really bothered. He didn't understand why he called her that either. He didn't have any answers to the questions she was asking and it was bothering him profoundly.

"Are you just going to sit here all night then?" Kagome asked irritated. If only she could slap him or throw something at him. However, it would probably pass right through his body. He would probably slice her up again after her failed attempt too. For he didn't seem to have any problems becoming corporal enough to affront her person.

"I have no where else to be at the moment," Sesshoumaru answered simply as he allowed his golden eyes to be sealed behind his eyelids. He felt guilt, confusion, anger towards this woman, but he also felt an odd sort of contentment and over protectiveness when in her presence. He was still upset about having harmed her earlier that evening.

"I lost my diary in the move, I suppose your brick wall like personality could substitute to hear my thoughts, no?" Kagome asked, certain such a proposition would at least earn her a 'Hell no,' from the being sitting beside her.

His silence remained. Frowning, Kagome decided to talk about her dreams. Maybe if she talked about her fantasy about the blue eyed man that haunted her dream he'd get disgusted and leave. Grinning at her own cunning Kagome gathered her thoughts to begin.

"I've been having these dreams. I've had them for as long as I can remember." She watched him as she spoke, but he didn't make any sort of response to her words. Rolling her eyes at his stubbornness she continued. Maybe he would leave if she talked too much.

"In these dreams, I'm with a young man. He's gorgeous. His ice blue eyes, long brown hair, and lean build are the sort of thing to drive any woman on edge." She noticed with some satisfaction that he was now watching her intently.

"What is his name?" Sesshoumaru asked, the possibility of the man who threatened him in the void being her dream man causing curiosity to stir within him.

Kagome raised a finger to her pursed lips as she thought hard about the question. "I have no idea. But he calls me his love, so I know that we must be close. In the dreams, I've noticed that I wear Victorian type clothes that were popular in America after the revolution."

"Dreams of a past life perhaps?" Sesshoumaru suggested, his interest peeked. That would explain the blue eyed man's hostility if he was her lover in the past.

Kagome laughed softly at the idea. "Oh no, I think its just my wild imagination. I don't believe in that stuff."

Sesshoumaru merely stared at her, masking his disbelief behind well, a blank mask. If she didn't believe in that sort of stuff then what the hell was coursing through her mind to explain him?

"What do you consider this arrangement then?" Sesshoumaru demanded gesturing to himself.

"I think I'm going crazy. It's only natural after I've just experienced such a traumatic event." Kagome answered easily as she pulled her covers down and slipped inside them, turning her back to Sesshoumaru.

"How can you deny me? I am real enough. I have harmed you and I am talking to you." Sesshoumaru argued. This girl was truly dense.

Kagome shrugged. "I don't know. No one else can see or hear you. And the scratch marks, well I don't know. That's why I thought maybe you were a ghost haunting me."

"But if you believe in ghosts why wouldn't you believe in past lives?" Sesshoumaru asked, finding himself leaning over her form as she continued to ignore the proximity of his body to hers. Well, his sort of body, to hers that is.

He was surprised when she turned on her back intending to face the ceiling but instead met his face that was leering down over her. He moved back to place some more distance between them.

"I don't have all the answers Sesshoumaru. You tell me why you called me miko earlier and I'll try and figure out all the mysteries in my life. But to be honest, I'm of that mindset that if you ignore something it will go away." Kagome answered turning her front towards Sesshoumaru and closing her eyes. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to sleep now."

Sesshoumaru watched her, a twitch wanting to form in his eye when he saw her just fall asleep as if there wasn't some unexplained phenomenon sitting right beside her on her bed. Was she really so stubborn as to ignore him and her dreams for that matter? As he looked down at her he realized that she would be that stubborn.

Sesshoumaru could feel the mattress under him. He still didn't understand why it was that sometimes he could feel things around her and other times he couldn't. Perhaps it had to do with whether or not she was ignoring him. When she talked to him or recognized his presence he could feel a tingling sensation. When she ignored him or tried to that's when his fingers simply slipped through things.

Lying beside the one he had been charged to watch over he felt exhausted. He had felt incredibly drained ever since harming her. It was as if he had harmed himself in doing so. He allowed his eyelids to hide his golden irises once more. He felt himself relax and knew that dreams would soon flood his mind's eye instead of the intolerable misty void.

Before he lost all conscious thought the last riddle to plague his mind was why did he call her miko?

Sesshoumaru looked down at his dream self and noted his clothing. He was wearing a long white silk outfit, shirt and pants of some Oriental style, a pair of black boots covered his feet, and large fur pelt was wrapped over his right shoulder.

He happened to look down at his arms and hands and noticed purple stripes marred the perfection of his alabaster skin, but instead of taking away from the flawless nature it added a more exotic feel. His fingernails looked more akin to claws, he ran his fingers through his long hair and was relieved to find that at least that remained the silver he was familiar with, only the strands were much longer than what he was accustomed to.

Not far from him, sitting against a tree at the edge of the forest he was walking through did he spot a woman. She was familiar and he knew her well. He was only slightly surprised when she locked her sapphire orbs with his eyes. A part of him knew that it would be the same woman whose existence had altered his normal life.

She looked older here in his dream world. Her raven colored hair fell longer and pooled at her feet that were tucked under her in her sitting position. She wore the clothes of a miko, a priestess of ancient Japan. She smiled at him and he felt his heart skip a beat as he took a seat beside her.

She scooted next to him and he wrapped his arms around her frame, placing her head under his chin before she spoke. "I knew you would come."

"I would never disappoint you my precious miko," Sesshoumaru's dream self replied as he nuzzled against her neck before resting his chin back upon the crown of her raven head.

"Please tell me you have changed your mind my demon lord," The miko whispered as she pulled away slightly so that her sapphire eyes could gaze into his golden ones to find the answers she sought.

"I have no reason to change my mind. This is the only way." He answered resolutely, a painful stab in his gut at the way her face fell at his answer moments before she covered her face from his view by burying it within the white silk of his front shirt.

"But, I can not have you deny what you are. I love you, I could never ask you to change who you are just for me," her muffled voice rose to his sensitive ears.

Soothingly he ran his clawed fingers up and down her spine, trying to ease her pain. "I would do anything for you my precious miko. I would become human so that you and I could be together."

She pulled away again, reaching up both hands to cup his cheeks. She sat straighter so that the two were nose-to-nose. "But I don't want you to become human. You are a great demon lord. You would hate life as a human. It is beneath you."

He smirked at her as he pushed her to the ground and planted his hands on either side of her face. His arms supported him inches away from her body. "If my reward is to have you beneath me than that is enough," he answered before closing the distance and claiming her lips with his own. This is all he ever really wanted. He would give up his immortality just to spend a mortal life with this one. For he wouldn't be able to find the strength to live without her in his life now that it revolved around her.

He pulled back, allowing her to gasp for air. His demon lungs could continue the onslaught but he needed to be careful with her fragility. Once he became human, he would understand her limits and he wouldn't have to worry about hurting her.

Her sapphire orbs stared up at him with a conflict of emotions. "I love you as you are. I will not be the cause of your misery when all you do is bring me joy. It would be unfair."

"Kagome, your vow of guarding that damned sacred jewel until it can be destroyed is the only thing that prevents me from taking you right now and making you my mate. But even if that accursed jewel didn't exist, I couldn't stand to live without you. A brief mortal life with you where our souls could meet again is what I want. I deny my right by birth for near immortality. For when my life did expire, there would be no chance for our souls to reunite." He told her, his golden eyes pleading for her to understand.

Her hands remained cupping either side of his face as she leaned up to kiss him softly on the forehead, on the crescent moon that marked his heritage. "Sesshoumaru, you don't know that. What if we do meet again? You can live your life as you were born to. You are a great leader and without you innocents will suffer. I can not have you abandon your duties just as I can not abandon my own. I am the miko who is to guard the sacred jewel. You are the lord of the Western Lands. Find your demoness and sire your heirs so that the West may be protected forever. You will forget about me, I am nothing." She whispered looking away from him.

Sesshoumaru growled at her attitude and forced her to look at him. "Damn it Kagome! Do you not understand? Before you I had no heart! You are my heart! Without you I am but a shell, an empty vessel. I will wish to be human because I do not want to chance that our souls will never be reunited." Tears began to form in his golden eyes mirroring the tears swimming in the sapphire eyes that had him captivated.

Kagome wrapped her arms around her beloved's neck. She kissed him chastely on the lips before resting her chin on his shoulder, inhaling his aroma as her breath tickled the sensitive skin of his throat. "I love you more than life itself Sesshoumaru. If this is what you truly wish to do, I would be so happy."

Sesshoumaru smiled one of his rare smiles as his arms moved to snake around her and draw her even closer to him as he sat up. "Yes, my precious miko, for you my desire is to become human so that we can grow old together and have the opportunity for our souls to reunite again and again so that we can experience life together until the end of time. This is what I want. May the Western lands and the Shikon no Tama be damned."

Sessoumaru awoke, the images from that dream burning in his retina as he looked down at the woman beside him. He had never experienced such a dream before and frankly he didn't want to revisit that experience. He had a feeling of compassion and tenderness that he didn't realize he possessed nagging at his very spirit.

Observing that Kagome, the one he had dubbed miko earlier, fit with the image of the miko by the same name in his dream to a tee, only a younger version. His dream self in the visage of a demon lord held too many characteristics similar to his own to be ignored.

He would seek that Rin creature and demand some answers. Hell, even that blue eyed, over possessive man from earlier might be good. One thing was certain though, he would avoid dreaming while he was in this state of existence. He did not like the possible meanings that now seemed to haunt him. As if his life wasn't complicated enough right now it had to go and get more mysterious.

TBC

A/N: Thanks for your reviews, they are quite encouraging. Be sure to drop a line about what you think about this chapter. Belle