Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, but the story is my own in every aspect... Please, do not use any of my work without my consent- I give it easily, but I'd like to know when, where, and why it is being used. I must give credit to many things in this chapter: to the author of Driven to Ascent, Evanescence (as this was the band I primarily listened to whilst this was being written), my English teacher for his stictness, and FFX-2 (which I finally beat with 100 and achieved all neccesary feats to view the perfect ending) for a few scenes that ring in my head and beg to be used.

A/N: I have finally finished this chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Before you read, I have to say something to stop questions that are sure to arise from those who know a little Japanese and think they know everything about honorifics which I myself know I know nearly nothing about. There is a part where Sesshomaru refers to Kagome as Higurashi-kun. Many people think this is an ending solely used for males. However, after reading an Author's Note from Rozefire's newest story Zero-G, I have found this is false. Her is her explanation, as I find myself unable to state it better:

"It can sometimes be used for women – especially young professional women like Kikyo. In fact Tatewaki Kuno from Ranma ½ often referred to Akane as "Akane-kun". It's respectful but not as distant as 'san' and not as intimate as 'chan'. So this was the right choice for Inuyasha, considering their relationship." -Rozefire, Zero-G, FAQ section of chapter 5.

Now, please enjoy the latest installment of Come With Me.

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Come With Me

By Sakura-chan88

Chapter 3: Memories Worth Fighting For

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Kagura hummed softly to herself, scuttling about the kitchen as she stocked the cabinets and refrigderator with the food she had bought through the card Sesshomaru found stuffed in his jacket's inner pocket, leaving a select few items on the counter. She had decided that morning that she would, again, risk setting a kitchen aflame if it meant she could finally correctly cook a homemade lasanga.

Oh, how she missed Italy and that wondrous chef Jakotsu! It was truly a pity that his car's brake lines had been cut... Yet, she had found satisfaction in killing her former boyfriend and his playmate, Bankotsu. She heard it was a rather painful death.

And, for some reason, the food that reminded her so much of him planted itself in her mind and on her craving list.

Slicing up the fresh vegatables for the sauce, Kagura smirked. At least the man was good for something.

"Kagura."

"Yes?"

"You say you're a psychiatrist, correct?"

"Un," she replied, placing the needed ingrediants into the crockpot and setting the heat on high before cleaning the chopping board.

"Then, can you explain something to me?"

"Depending on the information I receive in order to answer your question as I would guess this has to do with Kagome."

Sesshomaru approached from the doorway, taking a seat at the counter. "Yes... What do you think her reasoning is for doing this? She said it was payback for what happened 14 years ago."

Kagura quirked an eyebrow, sitting opposite of the man. "And what happened 14 years ago that would warrant such payback?"

Running a hand distractedly through his hair, he retold the tale of the childhood memory. "I had thought, also, that with me out of the way, she would stay by my half-brother's side. Yet, she did not. Yura says they made their farewells, but they seem to have such deep feelings for each other that span far back into the past."

The woman smiled, tapping a delacate nail against the polished wooden counter top. "What kind of person is this Kagome woman?"

"I do not know, honestly, but she seems to be a... a mature, honest person, with a child's heart. She adopted a small bo when she went to the hospital, also, if that helps any."

"I believe, for as little information as I have, that she knows if she were to stay any longer with Inuyasha, that it will only cause more heartache. She probably thinks about the future- the future she may have with Inuyasha. He'd eventually leave her, forced or not, for his job. He'll have to travel, and she'd be left behind- or she'd have to leave those she loves behind," voiced Kagura. "I have a feeling, just by looking at her and how geniune her smile is, that she thinks of others before she thinks of herself. Sure, she knows it will hurt your brother-"

"Half-brother."

"An unimportant technicality at this point. But, I think she knows that he'll heal, and she hopes he'll move on and find another more fit for him." Kagura paused, then smiled. "And she thinks of her son... She can't put him through a life where they'd be constantly on the move. She wants a secure life for him. A life filled with love. How old is he?"

"He's nine, I believe."

Her smile brightened further. "See, she looks at him and thinks of the suffering he must have already been put through, being an orphan."

"Actually, his mother left him at the hospital, from what I hear," Sesshomaru corrected grimly.

"All the more reason for her to nurture him, make him feel like he means everything to her, and I wouldn't doubt that he means close to as much."

He nodded, his hair moving lightly about him. "Seems plausible enough."

"Well, thank you, but I don't think I have enough information to say that everything I meantioned is 100 percent correct," she muttered, standing to stir the boiling sauce. "As for the payback, it doesn't seem like she's one to do such a thing for something so long ago committed."

Sesshomaru stared at his hands atop the counter, thinking, calculating his words. There were some things better left unsaid, and others... Well, it was a chance to talk to a professional with no cost...

"Well, see, I made a promise to a man some time ago- a friend of mine..."

For the next two hours, Sesshomaru told all he knew of what conspired between Kagome, Sango, Ayame, and 'Demonic', deciding no details needed to be left out after all.

Kagura placed the prepared lasagna into the oven before turning to face the manager. "From what I hear, you care a lot about your brother... Why do you hide it, Sesshomaru?"

He glared, a low growl flowing from his lips. Eyes darkening, the man barked, "I have no love for that half-brother of mine. He has been a thorn in my side for years, holdng me down, draining my money accounts dry after that bitch Kikyou left him- foolish mutt fell for a gold digger, then fell to the influences around him! The only reason I kept his ass around was for Rin! He has never been worthy of being part of the Himitsu line! Kami-sama forbid he keeps it going!"

Kagura frowned. "Tell me of your father, Sesshomaru."

Banging his fists on the counter, he rose with enough force to send the stool across the room. "That fool has nothing to do with this!"

"Then why do you show so much anger toward him?"

"Because he left my mother for a slut he found cowering in the rain beside his car!" He bellowed, knocking over his drink. "One fucking night was all it took for her to snuggle up beside him and lead him away from my mother on a fucking silver leash! That money grubbing whore took my family from me, and my father had nothing to do with me until I was seven- just shows up on our front porch and demands I leave with him! Why! Because I have a fucking half-brother who needs a babysitter!

"What kind of father is that? Leaving his child behind him for years because he found a woman to warm his bed and pleasure and praise him so much better than my ailing mother could! And that half-brother of mine just giggled and wraps his little arms around me like I'm some kind of fucking pet! Like it was all a game!"

Kagura, daring a step closer, placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. Orbs of magenta darkened to an astounding hue of reddened pink. With a calm, gentle smile, she spoke, "and you hold him accountable for infantile innocence? Sesshomaru, everyone suffers from things like love- love is mysterious, and you can't stop it. Hating your father for loving another woman is understandable, and even warranted, but taking that anger out on the product of such a bond is wrong. It's as wrong as the hurt your father and Inuyasha's mother put you through. Yet, it can't justify your actions."

"But it satisfies me to see him suffer," he grinned, a devilish look entering his eyes. "And when he fell for that woman so much like that slut my father left with, I laughed and relished in the pain his heart took each time she kissed him after they seperated, each time she teased him when they met again, each time she looked in his eyes and said she hated him with every fiber of her being. I laughed so much I cried when he came to me for help, hoping a brother would be found behind my act- hoping I'd tell him I loved him as a brother."

Kagura glared, finding his words to be cold and cruel... and lies. "Then why did you help him through it by giving him music?"

Sesshomaru's eyes widened a fraction before he looked away and huffed. Brushing off her hand, and the question, he moved to find a new glass.

"Is it because, every time you looked in his eyes and saw the hurt," she began, approaching from behind him, "you saw a child so much like yourself?"

He spun, a hand moving to grasp her throat. "Bitch, listen now and listen well! I have no love for that brother of mine! That mutt can die for all I care, and not a single tear would be shed by this Sesshomaru!"

"Then... why?" she gasped, her hands still at her sides, chin tilted at a painful angle to make room for the tight grip he held. "Why do you help him so...?"

"..." He hesitantly unclenched his fingers, removing them from the soft flesh previously being abused, as he calmed himself. Sesshomaru gazed at the fearless, determined expression she displayed. Sighing, he spat, "I can't help looking in his eyes and seeing my father... and me as a child. I can't find a balance between hating him and feeling sorry for him... Now, leave it be."

She opened her mouth to shoot down his order, then stopped, rubbed her neck, and nodded. "Very well. I'll leave it be for now."

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The moon illuminated the small beach house in a manificent silvery glow, setting a lively mood to the area surrounded by the dead stillness of night. Stars, in uncountable abundance, danced about the sky, winking at the Earth from their posts high above as they listened to the beat from afar. The voice of the wind went up an octave as the trees swayed with the music of nature: the sound of rattling leaves, of scurrying animals, of wing beats and twig breaks, of the ocean lapping gently against the shore.

Two figures alone were unmoved by Earth's peaceful melody as they sat across from each other on the patio, finishing the last of their slightly overcooked meal. The remaining portion of homemade lasagna would be disposed of via trash recipticle, while the leftover bread was already being thrown to the forest animals.

The woman sighed sullenly, "so much for the first experiment."

"Experiment?" the man inquired, quirking an eyebrow.

"Un. It's been fully two years since I've attempted to cook since my last little..." She paused, waving her hands about, hoping to grasp a fitting word. With no luck, she finished lamely, "accident."

"It was a rather..." Sesshomaru followed suit in the search of an appropriate phrase, "interesting meal. An Italian dish, correct?"

She frowned. "Was it that bad?"

"Iie. I'm just having trouble placing its origins... and what it was," he finished with a slight twinkle in his eyes at the humorously dismayed expression his companion displayed.

"Yes, it's Italian. Lasagna- a recipe I acquired from a former boyfriend of mine when I was studying psychiatry in Rome."

"Well..." Sesshomaru chuckled, finding mirth in the statement that formed in his head. "When in Rome..."

"Was that a joke?" Kagura grinned. "One day, and you're laughing? I'd heard you were a more serious man that never cracked a smile, let alone show anything but solmness."

"Honto. Yet, the past few days have, shall we say, broken my image of myself. First, Higurashi-kun's statement about Inuyasha pressing charges for animal cruelty, then telling her about... my reasons for pushing music into Inuyasha's life..." He glowered at his glass of water, thinking back to said occurances. "Never did I ever think I'd speak so openly to a stranger... and, yet, here I am, commiting the same... offense to my personal beliefs of confidentiality."

Kagura coughed lightly. "Honestly, I know Kagome won't tell- did she not promise that- and I, as a professional psychiatrist, will also withhold all information from any other person. Not only because of my professional duty, but my moral beliefs as well. It's not well, it shows bad character, to confess secrets of a person to another. Merely gossip- and I've despised gossip all my life... Since there was so much surrounding me and my family after..." Her gaze fell from his, to the hands clasped in her lap. "After my brother's death..."

"Brother?"

Her head snapped up, eyes glowing in the moon light. "Musou." She smiled. "He was a rebelious boy, and no one betrays my father. It's unheard of because all that do so end up in horrible accidents with the same outcome. Death." Her smile stretched to a grin. "As you can see, I have yet to disobey him. And I don't plan to in the near future, either."

Narrowing his eyes, Sesshomaru licked his dry lips, trying to read further into her words. Was that, as well, a threat? Or, was it just a simple statement gone haywire in his mind? He could almost feel the neurotransmitters firing, and the chemical thoughts stop mid way through the synapses. Why did his mind torture him so?

'Figure it out yourself,' it mocked him. 'You need no help from me!'

He huffed, blowing the air from his cheeks in an irritated manner. 'Very well, then. I will credit my success to myself and myself alone.' Blinking, he noted his mental instability with a shiver of contempt.

"Are you cold?" she wondered aloud at his shutter, eyeing him with confusion. It was nearly 80 degrees out and here he sat, shivering as if he were in the center of a catastrophic blizzard.

"Iie... Just a sudden," he shivered once more, "unpleasant thought."

"About?"

He waved off the question. "So, where's your mother?"

Kagura's brow raised, before she let her shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. "Honestly, I never knew her. She died giving birth to me. Kanna and Musou say she was very beautiful, but held a wild look in her eyes- and she gave Musou, as he said, 'the dream of being free through her words of a better life, and a great world.'- and my father loved her for it, it would seem." She flashed an uneasy smile. "Perhaps she was too free, because Father spoke ill of her every time he noticed some type of defiance in one of us. 'You'll turn out to be just like that whoring mother of yours...'"

Sesshomaru had to wonder, was the sliminess of her qoute the same of her fathers, or her own twist. It seemed emotionless, a statement with no thought, with no hatred- just a plain, simple fact of the way the world ran.

Studying the dimness of color in her eyes, Sesshomaru decided that the tone she used was, indeed, from memory- nothing more, nothing less. He let her memories play through as he, too, let his past play bits and pieces of itself he had wished to never revisit.

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"Sesshomaru, darling," the woman at his side whispered, swishing her feet in the air to build momentum for the yard swing. "I know you have heard this before, but, being such a big boy now, I'll tell you again. You need to know, kawaii, that life is a struggle for even the best of people. You cannot judge a person so easily as you judge your father."

The small boy kept silent, watching his hair move about him. He listened to the cheerily chirping birds nesting in the gaint oak a bodies length away. They seemed so blissfully unaware to his inner torment, and that only made his anger at the world and its' ignorance grow. In his mind, the leaves burst in flame and the fire slowly consumed the screeching, franatic feathered pests. He grinned cruelly. They all deserved such a death for not listening to his heart's tears.

"Your father is a kind hearted man, Sesshomaru. He loves me, and you, even if you don't see it. Why do you think he has not visited, or called, kawaii?"

Sesshomaru growled, "because he doesn't care if we're alive or dead!"

"Iie, iie, kawaii," she chuckled, pulling the small boy close against her frame. "It is because he hates himself- he hurts, from the guilt of leaving us. Do you know how I know this?"

"... Iie," he answered truthfully, blinking up in question at his mother, watching as her thinning blonde hair swayed with the swing's motion. She looked so pale and sickly, her body so fragile, so easily breakable. He feared to hug her nowdays, thinking such a display of emotion would crush her tiny form. It had been four years since she had succumbed to the horrid sickness plaguing her, whatever it was, and two years since his father's dissappearance. He was turning seven in a month. Yet, he could not rejoice as other children did. His rejoicing meant he had to give his mind and heart a break from hating a man he could not bring himself to call father.

He just couldn't stop the throbbing hatred.

"I know because of his possessions still scattered about the house, and the letters he writes. He always inquires about our well being. He speaks of nothing but memories. Sesshomaru, his guilt is all that keeps him from speaking to us, from confronting us," she smiled patiently at his confused expression. He wrinkled his nose. "But, he doesn't forget about us... and the times we smiled and laughed together... And he never forgets to ask forgiveness and reassure us he loves and misses us."

"They're lies, though!" he shouted. "Those letters are lies!"

"Then why do they have tear stains? Why do they smell of regret?" She questioned. "Have you never noticed the smudges, the blotches of wrinkles where a tear once fell and evaporated from? Sesshomaru, honestly, you need to read between the lines. I know you are young, but one day you will see that love is a very powerful emotion, and no one can predict, nor control it. It hurts to love, and the ones you love will one day end up hurting you."

"You never hurt him, though!" he declared, thinking himself smart for the loophole he had found in her tale. "Never!"

"I hurt him every day he looks at his new wife. He feels a stab at his heart for the love I still feel, and the love he still has- that love which we still share. And," she spoke, lifting a single finger, "when I first met your father, I was with another man- a man who I left for your father, just as he left me. And I still speak with him. And that hurts your father, Sesshomaru, because he knows I still, in some small way in the very core of my heart, he knows I still love that other man."

The boys eyes teared slightly. His image of a perfect mother shattering right before his eyes. How could something so... horrendous as this happen? His mother was an angel! She never hurt anyone! Never... he wouldn't let it sink in, he couldn't.

"Ah, listen to it- isn't it beautiful!" she exclaimed with sparkling eyes, smiling brightly at the world around them. "The music of such innocence!"

Sesshomaru tuned his ears into the chattering birds, hearing the slight melody, feeling it calm his heart and the swing sway to the beat. It was so peaceful... so lovely... so unlike his life. Yet, his mother's words sank in- 'the ones you love will one day end up hurting you.'

"Mama," he whispered, snuggling into her side gently. "You said that everyone hurts those they love, right?"

"Hai, kawaii."

"... Have I hurt you?"

"Hai, kawaii, you have," she said softly, tightening her embrace. "Every time I look at you and I see you in pain, or I see the hatred you have so deeply planted in your heart, I want to cry because it hurts me that my own child, one so young, could possibly feel such a horrid emotion, such an unhealthy feeling. It hurts me to think that I am not enough to be the mother you need... And it hurts to know that, one day soon... I won't be here for you..."

"Mama!"

The elderly woman doubled over, coughing uncontrollably as her sickness carried her away into unconsciousness. The boy carefully moved her to a comfortable position on the ground and called for an ambulance. She was fine, of course, and was back home two days later. He spent the next month mulling over her words... Every word she said, down to the very last.

And it echoed hauntingly in his mind.

'And it hurts to know that, one day soon... I won't be here for you.'

Three months later, Sesshomaru's eyes fell to the infant that was thrust into his arms. The boy wrapped his plump arms about his neck, and giggled, cooing gently against his skin, his face buried upon his shoulder.

Inuyasha.

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Sesshomaru blinked rapidly, clearing the glossy film that covered his eyes and blurred his sight. He remembered his father crying that night when he held Sesshomaru tightly against his chest, whispering a soft, heartfelt apology; then again a week later, telling Sesshomaru, with a constricting throat, that his mother passed away in her sleep, smiling peacefully.

'Oh, how he missed her, how he loved her, how he wished he could have been with me and Mother.'

He cried as well, into his father's chest- cried for his mother, cried for hurting her, cried for his father's broken heart. Yet, Sesshomaru still felt hatred for the man- not in so great an ammount- but felt it all the same.

He looked to the woman sitting across from him, a tear trekking down her cheek as she gazed blearily at him. On instinct, he brushed at his own cheeks, surprised to find that, he, Sesshomaru, owner of Meisei Incorporated, business man extraordianiar, known for his calm exterior, had shed tears as well.

"Memories," she whispered, batting her lashes to ward off further watery trails, "are so hard to live with... Yet, we can never forget- and we even fight to preserve them- as hard as they are to view. Really... They are all we have, aren't they. This moment is nothing more than a memory... And the things to come, as well, are nothing more than a memory.

"I won't let them go."

Nodding in silent agreement, Sesshomaru stood and walked quietly away.

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Kagura sat, pondering her statement. Never before had she thought the words she spoke, but they wrung so painfully true.

And, in her mind's eye, she replayed the day she first fell in love.

In love with a man she could never have. A man she could no longer hold. A man who she, herself, had killed

'... Forgive me.'

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A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. And, in a few chapters, Kagura's words, and her final thought, will be explained. Ponder on what she has said. It may show many of you that, perhaps, their is more to life than the things that happen at any present moment.

Hold on to your memories, and look to them often. Look for hidden messages in the clouds you see, in the dreams you have, in the words you hear, say, write, think...

Perhaps your thoughts hold secrets as well... I know mine do.

I must apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but it has been done to a point where I can no longer write for it without breaking my own heart as well.

Love, to all of my readers, and a pleasant day as well,

Sakura-chan88