THREE

"We must hang together, or surely we shall hang separately" -- Benjamin Franklin

It was a perfect night. Perfect nights were hard to come by, and Kagome couldn't help see the entire affair as ironic. The air was mellow, and the sky was clear. The night creatures lowered their night noises to mere taps in the wind. The humans said their good nights early in the evening. It was a perfect night…a perfectly ironic night.

Had it been a normal night, Kagome would have visited her momma's grave, and sat quietly next to the packed earth, pretending it was momma sitting beside her. Then, after a sufficient amount of time, Kagome would have strolled home, where she would enjoy a meager yet all the same pleasing meal. Afterwards, she would have said her nightly prayers then went to sleep. A perfect yet uneventful night it would have been for Kagome. That is, if it had been a normal night.

In the bleak reality of things, Kagome was not enjoying a peaceful night, she was actually sporting a quite rowdy one, and she had not even reached home. She was arguing with Mr. Naraku, over where they both should sleep that night. Kagome refused to have him staying in her hut, terribly afraid that one of the other villagers would see them and have all sorts of nastiness come about. How could Kagome explain having a dead man sleeping in her room? Not only was it scandalous, it was almost a contradiction. Or, it would be if Mr. Naraku were actually dead.

"Well, I suppose we will have to go to my home, Xanadu. I refuse to let you out of my sight, until you have proven yourself worthy. I don't trust that you aren't waiting to open that pretty little mouth of yours and sing like a little bird directly into the Judge's ear."

Kagome turned red at the thought. She was being made a fool of. She had made him promise that he would let her alone after she saved him, and here he was trespassing on her kindness. "Mr. Naraku, you gave your word that you would not turn my kindness against me, if I assisted you. I have helped you once, which was our deal, and now it is your turn to uphold you end, by not manipulating me into helping you a second time. You are trespassing on my kindness, sir."

Naraku chuckled at the infuriated young woman. She was so amusing. "I never promised you anything. A deal cannot be made if the other party never actually agreed to the terms. If I remember correctly, you made the proposition, and I evaded it with a proposition of my own." The man smirked at Kagome as she remembered the kiss that they had shared only a few days earlier.

"So you tricked me?" she yelled, after she forced down her blush.

"What else would expect from a gentleman with my reputation?"

Kagome scoffs at the haughty Naraku, while clenching her fists. "What gentleman? There is not a gentleman around for miles!"

"Perhaps…perhaps…I suppose you will have to sleep with dogs then my girl, because that is the only thing you will find… As a matter of fact, I do believe that sleeping with dogs, myself in particular, may just do you some good. You are much to frigid to be so young, that should only come with age or bad appearance."

"How dare you insult me? I saved you!"

"Will you be holding that over my head for the next fifty years?" He asked with a sigh.

"No." Kagome answered while biting her lip.

"Glad that we have come to an understanding. Now if we could agree on our sleeping arrangements, then I do believe this will have been a successful day."

Kagome realized that there was truly no point in arguing with Mr. Naraku; he wanted to sleep at her home, then chances are he would find away to make sure that happened. "Fine. We can go to my hut, and hope that no one sees you. Although, I don't understand why you can't go to your own home. Or do as I suggested and go some place else. There's nothing left for you here."

Naraku glared at the girl, and she could have sworn that his burnt crimson eyes were blood red for a moment. "Everything is here. I made this town, and I refuse to abandon it, because the townspeople believe anything Sesshomaru says. Sesshomaru…the man with the silver spoon shoved so far up his noble ass that he can feel it in his throat." Kagome's eyes widened, she had never heard such language and could not believe that the words had passed an elite's lips.

Naraku noticed her discomfort and smirked, "Too blunt for you my dear? I said it in the most delicate way I could."

"I should hate to think what you would have said if you were being perfectly blunt." She answered.

"You shall learn to deal with my language or learn to close your ears. I am who I must be and I will not change."

"Such a comfort… If you will not leave, then what do you intend to do? You cannot remain a spirit forever. I certainly cannot have you living in my hut until you die."

"I assure you that I will vacate your residence as soon as you help me prove my innocence."

"I remember nothing." Kagome answered instantly.

"Something will spark your memory. Until then, you will spy on Sesshomaru and find out what is going in his house. He wanted me gone, and I want to know why."

"I have a job to do! I cannot not go poking about! Besides, who said I was going to assist you?" Kagome's mouth ran without her brain stopping to think. Mr. Naraku was a dangerous man when he was alive, but now that he was dead there were no limits…no restrictions on what he could do. Perhaps, it would be smart to keep her mouth shut for a time.

"Well, now you have to jobs." He replied evenly, before grabbing her arm, and forcing her to lead the way to her hut. The walk to her house on Sesshomaru's property was a long one, at least half of an hour, but Naraku did not complain and Kagome did not comment. It was a silent walk as well; both travelers were locked in their own memories and refused to be sociable, which was fine by Kagome. She found that the more time she spent with Naraku, the more she grew annoyed by him…He was no gentleman to be sure, and he argued with her at every turn and won. It infuriated her, and yet secretly enticed her, although she would never admit it to a soul.

Kagome also hated to admit that she was somewhat anticipating having another beating heart pounding in her one room shack. It had been a lonely four years, since her mother died. And, because father was a foreign term, Kagome grew up alone. Although it was very lonely, Kagome found that she enjoyed the peace that came with the quite loneliness. It was a rather bitter- sweet peacefulness that was only brought with extreme solitude. The nights were quiet, and they cradled the tired Kagome, partly because the days had been so rough. Working in another's needs did very little for your own, and Kagome knew the envy that came with that very well. Living on another man's land did not do much for Kagome either, at any moment Judge Sesshomaru could snatch her little house of sticks and mud away from her, and that was certainly no way to live. And yet, Kagome knew no other way.

The journey was soon coming to a close, and Kagome and Mr. Naraku were at the edge of Sesshomaru's Wood, where all of his servants lived. In the pitch-blackness, over fifty lit candles could be seen fighting off the darkness with a burning force. It looked, from afar, that hundreds of tiny fireflies had scattered themselves all over the large area, and could almost be considered beautiful. So much vibrant, wasted life was accounted for, and it nearly made Kagome sad, but she was used to seeing this beautifully depressing sight. She doubted Mr. Naraku cared either way.

She steered him down the dirt path that led to her house. She reached the end of the path, and steered off into the unpaved forest, far from the other huts. About fifteen meters west of the dirt road there sat a small hut.

"Why do you live separately from the other servants?" Mr. Naraku sliced through the silence.

Kagome took her time answering his question. She pushed open the door, and fumbled around the dark hut, until she managed to find a candle, which she lit. The sudden light spread out over the room, revealing a very modest setting with a large trunk in the middle of the room. "It was given to us by Sesshomaru's uncle." Kagome finally answered his question, not revealing anymore than she had to. She did not feeling going over her tangled past with a man she barely knew at such a time of night.

"I have a spare mat that you can sleep on tonight. It's a bit dusty but it will have to do." Kagome said while slamming a dusty mat into his chest, sending the dirt flying.

"Well don't go out of your way for little old me." He replied with a glare.

Xanadu is not mine…it's Orson Welles.

Yes that was a long absence, and I'm sorry. I won't even pretend that we don't all have tons of work to do, so I'm sure most of you understand. I have not dropped the story, to the reveiewer who seemed to think so.

You all proved me wrong when you said NK wasn't popular...who knew?

I want to thank all of my reviewers...and to

Elementsofmine : THANK YOU for putting me in your C2 group. I feel so loved...although I don't know what C2 actually is...but i know it has alot of NK fanfiction which is very cool.

Also to Profiler120: I never would have taken up NK If i hadn't read Blind Stitch My Heart....