A/N: I know it's short, but it's supposed to be!

Chapter 17Lady Kimi's Spellwork

Kimi was holed up in her workroom, desperately searching for Inuyasha. She wasn't about to let the hanyou get away, not after all of her hard work to bind him there. What she couldn't understand was how he had allowed himself to be carried off! That spell should have made him completely loyal to her, and that included not wishing to leave! How could he have left? She had already talked to Sesshomaru, but she had a feeling that she had learned all that she could from him. He wasn't garrulous by any means.

Shaking off a feeling of disappointment and anger, Kimi turned back to her work. Perhaps if she learned a bit more about the brothers, then she would understand why her spell had failed to hold Inuyasha. She twined a strand of Sesshomaru's hair and a strand of Inuyasha's together and dropped both into a pan of a potion she had made. It would tell her anything she wished to know about the brothers' pasts…

The potion glowed white and showed her an image, something they both had in common. She gasped, unwilling to believe it, but began to smile. This was interesting. Perhaps she could use this to her advantage. Perhaps it would be a way to gain more power from the both of them. Smiling, she began to set another spell in motion. . .