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: I'm trying to salvage whatever dignity I have left on so I'm not going to try any corny disclaimers, but I still do not own Inuyasha

A/N: All right! I'm ready to write the next chapter. This one might not be as long as the other one because I should be stopping at the end to respond to the… gracious reviews that I got from my last update. Truth be told I didn't expect even one. I'm not sure if this story is worth continuing though, what do you guys think? Oh! Do you guys want lemons? It's not really my style but what do you guys think?

Faces Of The Heart

Chapter Eight:

Sacrifices Of A Leader Part Two: Swapping Stories

It wasn't until that Kagome was at the foot of the tree did she realize just how tall the tree was in comparison to those around them. It was easily 25 feet tall (is that possible? Is that even tall for a tree?). From the angle that Kagome had from here, she couldn't see Naroku at all. 'Wonder what he's doing up there…' Kagome thought, without realizing that she had voiced out her question quietly.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Came the reply, startling Kagome and causing her to turn 180 degrees instantly. Though Kagome had never seen Naroku, she still recognized his voice. Naroku was in front of her, upside down, clinging his legs onto a branch that was near.

After catching her breath, Naroku decided to start up the conversation again. "Why are you here?" He asked, voice soft, but commanding. Maybe she had been wrong in assuming that he was not fit to lead. Kagome felt herself stutter before finding her voice and meekly replied, "I was looking for you."

It was truthful, that much Kagome knew. But she had no reason to look for him, and there's nothing that she could think of to get her out of this one. Naroku raised his eyebrows before allowing a small smirk to show on his lips. "And why, may I ask, were you looking for me?" The smirk was still firmly in place and Kagome realized that she still couldn't make out much of Naroku's facial features under all the shade of this tree. Ironically, the only thing that she could see was his smirk.

"I… I… the thing is… well I thought… maybe…" Kagome stuttered, he head filled with ideas on how to handle this but each scenario was more bizarre than the next. Naroku seemed to notice this as he came to the rescue to show that she didn't have to talk. "It's all right, if you don't want to say it, or don't know what to say, then don't say anything (try saying that really fast, might not work too good though lol)."

Kagome, relieved and somehow feeling disappointed, began to restart what she had intended before. "So what were you doing up there?" She asked again, hoping that she wasn't annoying him. If she was, then Naroku definitely wasn't showing that he was annoyed. If anything, he seemed even more amused than before.

As if in response to Kagome's question, Naroku held out his hand to Kagome in a friendly gesture. "That would have to depend, do you trust me?" (I know, I got this line from Aladdin, disclaimer?) He asked seriously, breaking out into a full smile when Kagome put her hand onto his. In an instant, before Kagome knew what happened, she found herself traveling faster than she had ever before. It was as if she was flying, rising higher and higher.

The most wonderful thing about this was that she wasn't scared at all. She felt safe, safe in those arms that radiated so much power… safe in those arms that… belonged to Naroku! It was only the fact that Kagome caught a glimpse of the ground from high elevation did she not struggle to get free. Maybe the fact that she didn't want him to let go played a small part in this too.

Soon, before she knew it, she was beneath the most beautiful and wondrous scene she had ever seen. Because of the lesser amount of pollution in this time ear, Kagome could see to the full extent of the light of each star. To her surprise, some stars Kagome had never seen before even appeared. (On the day of the new moon there isn't a moon right?)

It was now that finally, she was able to see Naroku fully, or as fully as she would be able to. His raven coloured hair's depth and silkiness rivaled that of her own. His skin seemed unnaturally smooth. There was not a trace of scars, wrinkles or anything of the sort. Then, as Naroku turned to look at her, starlight reflected in his mysteriously black orbs. It seemed as if those eyes burned through every mental barrier that she had ever thrown up in her lifetime, to protect herself form the harshness of the world.

She had expected then, that she would cry, and she almost would have, had she kept on staring into those pitch black eyes. They showed her comfort and privacy that only darkness could provide. It was as if after the demolition of her defenses, he healed all the wounds that the walls fought so hard to protect, he strengthened every fiber of her being, and comforted them in every way that was needed. All that was done with just an exchange of looks.

A few seconds later, while still gazing into her eyes, it seemed that Naroku was beginning to lean in. Anticipation and excitement defeated all emotions of protest and common sense as he leaned in closer and closer, but all of a sudden, Naroku jerked his head away, as if scared about what was about to happen.

Kagome, somewhat relieved, but more so disheartened as she wondered what would have happened had that scene played out fully. However, Kagome was comforted quite rapidly as Naroku shifted so that he was leaning against the tree trunk and she was leaned against him, with his arms around her. "So what were you doing up here?" Kagome asked a little while later, drinking in all the intimacy there was between Naroku and herself.

Kagome turned around to look at Naroku's face to see him staring at the grounds outside the fortifications. Then Kagome realized what Naroku was doing. He was up here to personally look after security so that at least one more person would be able to sleep soundly at night. She looked Naroku with a sense of awe that Naroku would do this. "What?" Naroku asked, obviously just turning his attention back to the girl in front of him.

"Never mind," Kagome said before another question arouse in her mind. "Do you not have a home or shelter to sleep in?" Naroku only shook his head and didn't respond for a while. Just when Kagome was about to ask about the silence, Naroku decided to answer her question fully, as if only thinking the entire time. "The people shouldn't fuss over me. They need the rest more than I do. I'll get a place maybe when everyone else gets proper accommodations first."

He said it as if it was nothing. But Kagome knew the significance of this. Few leaders in history that she knew of ever cared about his or her followers as much as this Naroku did right here and now. Thinking back to her lessons, she never really knew about any Outlaws or Naroku. There was only one significant rebellion that ever had a decent chance of success (which was still very low compared to some of the wars before Naraku was made king).

Shrugging off any thoughts of further questioning, Kagome relaxed and looked back up at the stars again. They were definitely more enjoyable than the stars back at her time. Speaking of her time, she wondered where the others were now, and what about the people back at her time. How was the war going?

She was snapped out of her thoughts when surprisingly; this time it was Naroku who asked the question. "Why do you stare at the stars like so?" He asked, no reproach or judgment in it, just innocent curiosity. Kagome didn't think that he would believe her if she was to tell the truth, so she lied. "I guess I never really noticed them from this high an elevation before."

Naroku didn't seem convinced. "Do not lie, I can tell." Kagome stiffened at this, but Naroku's hands rubbed her arms gently and encouragingly and once more asked her to tell him. That is, if she trusted him. Seeing that this was a dead end, Kagome began to tell Naroku of all that she knew of this situation, noticing him stiffen at the name of Naraku, but not so much Kagura, which Kagome thought was weird. It occurred to her then that maybe Kagura wasn't born at this time yet.

When she finished, she half expected Naroku to laugh at her and half expected him to push her away form him, thinking that she lied to him again. To her surprise, Naroku merely nodded before going into some deep thoughts. It seemed to take a while, before Naroku made a decision.

"I guess that now, it is only fair that I tell you of my origins. I promise to tell the truth." So that was the start of the second story that night, telling Kagome about his own past (mainly the earlier chapters, but the parts not mentioned will be shown in future chapters) leaving out the names of course, explaining that he didn't feel comfortable naming them.

"Inuyasha," Kagome whispered, she liked the way it sounded, but whose parents would name their son that? It didn't take her too long to remember than Naroku, now known to her as Inuyasha, was a hanyou. He had seemed ashamed of this, but it was then that Kagome lifted his face to meet hers with her hand on his chin. She was honoured and awed that he would tell this to her. She had never felt such passion for anyone as she did for him that moment, as her eyes closed and they shared their first kiss…

I know, I'm evil, but I'm ending it here for now. Sorry! The next update would be around March break with 2-3 chapters being the update. I don't have much to say other than hoping that you guys enjoyed reading this chapter. Here are the responses to the newer reviews…

To InuKagluver91:

Wow, I never really expected such an… enthusiastic review like from yours. I wasn't able to update as early as I had planned so I hope this will do. I hope it's worth the wait though because I don't want to keep you waiting for something that isn't good at all. If you really are dead then I would like these two chapters to be in the memory of you… who I knew only for a few seconds through review and author relationship. Why do the good die so young? Well I appreciate your review and hope you would continue to do so and read my later stories and chapters.

To inu-yasha and snago luver:

I think I responded to your review did I not? Or was that maybe for another story? Oh well, glad to hear you like it and I'm going to do my best to make it better. But there's a question on my mind. Your name kind of implies to me that you are more of a Inuyasha and Sango fan, I'm not too sure if that's what you think is going on here, but it isn't. Hope there's no harsh feelings and thank you for your review. If I respond to your review again, well… that'll prove how bad this story is huh?

To StaryKegome:

Same thing I suppose, I thought I already responded to your review, either that, or I'm really have a bad case of déjà vu. Well I'm very glad to hear that you like my story as much as you do. I can't promise to make sure that Kagome and Inuyasha would be able to end up happily together, but I'll try my best. I despise Kouga as much as others may despise Kikyo. Don't take things personally, but I just don't like wolves in comparison to dogs… ok bad analogy. Well the point is that I appreciate your warm compliments and hope this chapter finds you well…

U-T signing off…