Summary: Imagine a world dominated by demons, where all humans are slaves with few exceptions. Such was the way Inuyasha was brought up. Kagome, as we all know, comes from the future. However, this future is much different compared to the world we live in. The demons' power and control of the world has never been stronger. The most incredible detail about the situation is that through out all these thousands of years, there has only been one demon king. To imagine, all this could have been avoided had one person met another. That is what Kagome had to learn, whether she liked it or not. For you see, though this was a time unfit for true love and happiness, those are the very things that were needed to change the world for the better.

Disclaimer: If I did own Inuyasha would I be wasting my time here on this crappy, crappy computer? (Systems begin to freeze) … I mean good, great… computer… mutters: stupid…

A/N: I'm late on my updates again so I would like to make things better by updating two chapters at once. I think that's how I'm going to do it, by having slower updates but multiple chapters at a time… I'm not too sure though, so bare with me. Previous reviews' responses should be in the next chapter if I remember to do so… So, without any further delay, here are the next two chapters.

Faces Of The Heart

Chapter Seven:

Sacrifices Of A Leader Part One: Home

Kagome lay wide-awake that night, thinking about the recent events. The fact that her futon wasn't exactly comfortable didn't help ease her to sleep any more than the thought of this Naroku character. He seemed oddly familiar but she knew that she's never seen him before.

What really bothered her though, was the fact that through this entire night, she had not been able to see this Naroku's face. She really could only blame herself though. When they first caught sight of the campgrounds of what was obviously supposed to be the headquarters of a rebel group against Naraku, she stared agape at the fact that this rebel camp seemed like a castle even compared to some of the most beautiful places she had seen in her history book back at the temple.

She remembered that she had to restrain herself with a lot of effort from running ahead of Naroku. Times of war could make people very untrusting and without Naroku, Kagome wondered if she would have made it out alive at all. Just when there had been enough light for Kagome to try and make out Naroku's face, he had already gone far in front of them, apparently talking to some of the guards in front of the great wooden gates.

The fort was about twice the size of the temple that Kagome grew up in. All the gigantic outer walls were made of wood, but her limited Miko training told her that these walls are more than hundreds of times stronger than they appear to be due to the demonic aura around it. Along these great walls were walkways for guards and other patrols in various towers and turrets that dotted the wall. There were even occasional slots around the wall for anti-siege weapons such as grounded catapults, trebuchets, and other ballistics weapons. Forests covered the South and East side of the fort and the West side bordered a mountain. This offered a secure feeling to the camp as they are hidden quite well from wondering eyes except from the Northern side, where most of the patrols seem to be guarding.

It was just about when Kagome was about to enter did Kouga decide to make himself known again as her mate only to be "handled with" easily by one of the guards that Naroku was talking to a while before. He wasn't very broad or tall, Kagome had even thought of them as scrawny, but it only took him one move to have Kouga… "Dealt with".

Kouga might not have been the greatest warrior in her time, Kagome realized, but he was still one of the better fighters and now there are these low ranked demons that took care of Kouga like he was nothing more than a chew toy. 'Theses demons from the past definitely were stronger than the ones in my time…' Kagome remembered herself thinking.

While through a tour of the encampment, Kagome was so awe-struck by the place that she had forgotten that Naroku was right beside her, giving her the tour. Apparently, there were around six sections to the camp. Sight A was located in the middle of the encampment with half of its space in development or planning for residential purposes. These buildings, unlike the fort itself, were made out of stone as Kagome could sense there would be much less demonic energy protecting them. At various parts in this sector were parks, wells, markets (no money was actually used to buy, but rather a ration/credit card kind of system was used among all the people, women and children getting more, of course), and anything else needed for normal living. It was then that Kagome realized there were more than soldiers here; there were refugees and families as well.

Sector B is more scattered around the place into small portions mainly governmental-style service buildings for things such as a premature version of the court and fire station. In the main part of sector B, right next to sector A, was a giant tent that served as the meeting hall for battles that are about to be waged and other matters that concern the entire camp. These oddities made Kagome feel that this was more than a city than a camp made during war.

A great portion of the land near the outer walls were lumber and mining camps that are located well within reach of the nearby forest and mountain to obtain timber and ores that would then be used in various ways. There were even farmers and foragers too that worked on this sight and help make the fort independent and able to get their own supplies. This is area C, a major lifeline of the camp.

Section D of the camp was more of what Kagome had expected. It was in this part that military exercises were run. Building up human forces and teaching them to fight while the hanyous and demons attended to perfect their respective crafts, skills, and power. This area was on the Northern Side of the camp, and extended to the Eastern side as well. However, on the Eastern area, that was where siege engines were constructed and the many armories and charm smiths rooted there. There were also areas in this sector for field tests of new weapons and charms.

Section E was actually where the captains and the officers stayed, this was their living quarters to the South. Among the middle of them, was a giant wooden building that was meant to be the prison for the hostages and prisoners of war that were caught. They were treated with enough respect though, as they were properly fed and clothed. Many of them had changed sides after seeing the splendor of this place, even for just a rebel camp and after swearing on a warrior's oath, they were accepted humbly into the camp.

The last section was probably Kagome's favourite. This was the most peaceful and beautiful of the areas in the camp, though it is located on the Western mountainside. There were plenty of trees and many buildings here were kept for children whose parents do not want seeing the war or whose parents are dead. It was a kind of day care as the adults went to work in their respective sections. The thing that Kagome loved the most about this place was the public hot springs in this area. There were as many as 20 of them and more are being found each week, as it seemed. There were enough smaller springs that anyone who wanted a private session was able to do so without wait.

It was after the tour that a messenger came for Naroku and asked for him to meet some of the other commanders in the Meeting Tent. Naroku specifically then asked for the same soldier to summon a girl around her age, named Sango, to spend some time with Kagome and help her adjust for her stay here.

Kagome had a pleasant surprise when Sango suggested that they go to the hot springs first to relax before doing anything else. During their walk there, she was abruptly stopped by who appeared to be a monk and asked her straight out to bare his children, to receive a painful knock on his head from Sango, who lead her to the hot springs with a renewed strength.

She soon figured out that the monk was named Miroku and Sango briefly described their past together but seeming very careful about her words and tried hard to not say some of the points in their past.

After that, there wasn't much of any talk but rather, just them going back into town to get some food to eat. A small smile dazzled Kagome's lips as she remembered the delicious food that was offered to her. This place even had assigned cooks! That was definitely a pleasant surprise. During the end of the day (after Miroku had joined them for a while and Kagome learned to watch out for her behind when the monk was around) Sango led her to an area of Sector A that she didn't remember seeing before, where there were a lot of tents.

Sango explained that there was not enough progress for every family to have their own stone shelter so many of the newer members had to live in these tents. Sango was about to show Kagome an open tent that wasn't used when she learned that there weren't enough tents as there is. Some smaller families were already sharing one of the bigger tents.

Within a second, Sango had made the decision to let Kagome stay in her quarters with her for the time being. Before Kagome could protest a little bit, she was dragged into a luxurious building in Sector E. It would seem that Sango was someone of great importance in the camp if she was to sleep here. For some strange reason, Kagome wasn't surprised. She could tell that Sango was really strong, perhaps even more so than the guards that were at the gates who took care of Kouga so easily. She wondered for a moment where Kouga was and shrugged it off as Sango pulled out a makeshift futon and blankets for Kagome to sleep on.

That pretty much brings us to where we are about now. Kagome still couldn't sleep after going through the day's events over and over again. With a sigh of defeat, Kagome exited Sango's quarters making sure that she didn't wake up. All the commanders and officers of the camp had pretty luxurious homes of great architectural design (just like the civilian houses, to some degree) and Kagome could see that everyone here was pretty content with where they are. Sango had told her that Naroku was the leader of the camp, but she didn't really believe her. Sure, it seemed that Naroku was strong and wise to a certain degree (haha!), he just didn't seem to be the kind that so many people who follow, entrusting him with their lives.

Kagome had this urge to see Naroku before she could actually get to sleep. But she didn't know where he was. If what Sango had said was right, then he should be in one of the more elegant homes around here. In fact, there was only one of these and it was about the same as Sango's. Did that mean that Sango was held in just as much respect as the camp leader was?

She wanted these answers, so before she knew it, she had knocked three times on the only other building that matched the grandeur of Sango's home. To her surprise, it was Miroku who answered. "Oh! Lady Kagome, have you come to tell me that you have accepted to bare my children?" was the first thing he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. After a slap to the face, Miroku sobered up a little.

"I'm looking for Naroku." She said, keeping her eyes on the monk's hands. Strange, there was always that cloth that's on his right hand (it is right hand right? Or left?). "I heard that he's the leader of this camp."

Miroku looked at her quizzically as if confused before he seemed to have remembered something and smiled sheepishly at her. "You heard right, but he would not be found in any of these buildings," he said, not surprised to see Kagome's surprised look. Kagome wanted to ask why, but before she could do so, Miroku continued. "You'll find him in area F, don't ask me why he's there, ask him yourself. Good night." He finished and closed the door. Kagome could have sworn she heard a noise behind Miroku when they were talking. Was that what, or rather, whom she thought it was?

Making her way to Section F under the guide of starlight, moonlight, and torchlight, she managed to spot a lone figure sitting on a tree…

I think I'll end it here for now, going to get some rest before I continue to the next chapter. I bet all of you know who's in that tree. But I might make the next chapter on a different focus point. I'm not sure yet. See you guys later, for now.

U-T signing off…