Hahahaha! Well, I know all of you have been jumping on me for not updating quick enough, sorry about that, but I've been a touch busy; between teasing inuyashafan13 and helping my sister with her dog walking job, I just haven't found time! As for you, inuyashafan13, well, I don't know if I'll tell you if I'm a kid or not, I'll probably just keep you guessing, but I will tell you why I refer to my audience as children most of the time: a good majority of them ACT like kids. Think about it, we're all insane here. Oh, and before we begin, "osuwari" has been replaced with, "sit" because it works nicely with what I have written. Also, my spell checker is kind of out a whack, so if it has screwed anything up, ignore it. So here we go, another fun-filled chapter!

***

Reflection

Chapter 10-Bargains

***

Her feet landed heavily on the floor. In the east, the sun had barely peeked over the horizon. Kagome released a slow breath, and tried to whistle something comforting as she walked solemnly towards the entrance of the castle.

A voice from her side stopped her, "Kagome-sama?"

She turned around slowly, "oh, hi, Miroku." She smiled weakly. Kagome had hoped not to encounter any of her friends on the way to the door.

Miroku stepped towards her, closing the door to his room behind him, "Kagome-sama, you look as if you're going to be executed."

"Yeah, well, sort of. I guess you could say that," she stared at the ground gloomily.

Miroku looked her over for a moment, "Why do you have your bag?"

That was right, he probably hadn't heard about her little trip yet. She locked eyes with him, "I'm going away for a bit."

"To your time?"

"No." Although she wished she was.

"May I ask where then?"

She scowled, "Why don't you talk to Sango about it."

"Talk to me about what Kagome-chan?" Kagome straightened, and turned around. Sango was smiling brightly at her with Kirara purring on her shoulder. She craned her neck and looked over the exterminator. Inu-Yasha was standing behind her, and Shippou. Sango was dressed over in battle costume, with her boomerang-weapon swung over her shoulder. At Inu-Yasha's side, the Tetsusaiga hung readily. They looked ready to depart for something.

She hesitated, "Why are you all here?"

"Feh, we're coming with you, of course," Inu-Yasha spat. Romantic illusions apparently gone for the moment, he had returned to his typical sulky attitude.

Kagome gawked, "What?"

"Indeed," Miroku said from behind her.

Inu-Yasha gave Sango a stern look, "Did you forget to tell the monk?" He asked accusingly.

Sango touched her mouth with her hand lightly in surprise, sinking into a blushing face of shame, "I suppose I did..." She mumbled.

"Tell me what?" Miroku asked innocently.

Sango looked ready to explain, but Inu-Yasha held her back, "We're going to go visit the dead girl's grave." He pointed a thumb at Kagome.

Kagome's eyes narrowed, Miroku's mouth formed an "O."

"Will you quit saying that!" Sango barked.

"Saying what?!"

"You know what!"

"Alright, stop, stop, stop," Kagome waved her hands in a halting signal, and their voices became silent. "Okay now," she continued, "First off, Inu-Yasha, you can sit now."

There was a loud crash and Inu-Yasha began to curse. Kagome ignored it. "Second, just who said you were coming with me?"

"W-well, don't you want us to come, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked softly.

"Of course I do! I just thought that, when you said 'Sesshomaru's taking you to Tenshik's grave,' well, I just assumed..."

"And I meant it," a smooth voice said from beyond the next corner, and Sesshomaru emerged, looking irritated.

Shippou hid behind Sango's leg, while Inu-Yasha wrenched his head from the floor and began to protest. "I'm not leaving you alone with...Kagome!"

Kagome sighed, for a moment it had seemed like Inu-Yasha was going to say, "my Kagome," and that would have been too much. Sesshomaru obviously had other things in mind, though. He observed his brother quietly, and said in a dangerous voice, "and what do you think I would do with her?" With particular emphasis on the word "her," like it was some sort of germ.

She jumped, thinking, 'hey!'

The hanyou's face scrunched up, and he paused in hard thought, "Well..." he finally concluded, "I'm not taking the risk! So I'm coming with you!"

"I forbid it."

He leapt to his feet, Inu-Yasha had had it now. Sango gently put a hand on her forehead and looked at the floor, while Inu-Yasha began fuming. "Sesshomaru!" He shouted, "You have no control over me! Now read my lips! I-am-coming-with-you-because-she-is-my-"

Kagome perked up and stared fixedly at him, 'Don't say it!'

"WOMAN!!!"

Shippou gaped, and gave Inu-Yasha an unbelieving stare. Miroku smiled oddly and looked ready to clap. Sango merely turned around and stared at the opposite wall. Sesshomaru didn't bat an eye, but Kagome went berserk.

"INU-YASHA!" She stomped over to him and he turned sharply around.

"WHAT?"

She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and wrenched him forward so that their noses were inches apart.

"YOU ARE SUCH A KOUGA!"

"Huh?"

"SIT!"

He slammed to the floor, and a roll of thunder echoed through the halls. Servants who were busy doing false tasks around the gathering immediately stopped eavesdropping and scuttled away. A few birds in the nearby forest hurried into flight.

Kagome panted with anger where she stood. She sniffed, and spun on her heel, bag hanging off one shoulder. Sesshomaru followed her with cold eyes as she approached. "We are leaving NOW," She huffed. He nodded, eyes narrowing with possible amusement, and followed her as she stalked off towards the exit.

As they were leaving, Sango peeked over her shoulder, while a chuckling Miroku crossed over to Inu-Yasha's twitching form and began hoisting him up to his feet. "Shut the hell up Miroku," the half-demon muttered.

"That was brilliant Inu-Yasha. Not even I have had the honor to be treated thus by a lady."

"I said shut up."

"You're in no position to talk right now Inu-Yasha! Now hurry, both of you, or we'll miss them!" Sango snapped.

She walked away in the direction Kagome and Sesshomaru had left in, Miroku following with Inu-Yasha.

The monk continued to laugh quietly.

"You, know, you always could have asked for advice Inu-Yasha."

"Do you WANT to die?"

***

The doors of the entrance loomed closer as they walked in silence. Sesshomaru stopped inches from them. "I assume you would not like me to carry you myself."

"What?" Kagome gasped, "No! Why? Is it very far away?"

"Yes. I expected such an answer," he shoved the odd, double doors back easily, "And therefore I arranged a different transport." Early sunlight flooded into the dark hall, and revealed a pale world, and the stone steps, where to the right, a very large beast was standing proudly on the balcony she had made her transformation on.

"WHAT IS THAT?" She had seen it before, but it was a frighteningly unusual creature nonetheless.

He didn't dignify her with an answer, but comfortably walked towards it, and even extended a hand to give it time to recognize his scent. "Rin refers to it as Aun."

She didn't move. The two heads of the dragon thing wavered in the air as they regarded her, sniffing and making low bleats. Their heavy breaths rasped out in great clouds of hot air. Kagome couldn't help but wonder what kind of teeth were hidden inside it's massive jaws. "Come here," Sesshomaru said stiffly.

She stumbled hesitantly towards it, never removing her eyes from it's twin heads as they never removed their gaze from her. Kagome got within a foot of Sesshomaru, and it puffed an exceptionally large breath and moaned loudly. She yelped, and jumped to his side, hiding behind his back while clutching his shirt with small hands. "A-are you sure it's safe?" She whispered.

Once again, Sesshomaru didn't answer. He stepped out of her grasp and slid onto Aun's saddle. Kagome was rooted to the spot, but one head moved towards her, and she snapped to attention, crying out again and scrambling up.

She sat, shivering, while Sesshomaru grasped the reins tightly. "Hold on."

Kagome blushed, "what?" But she wasn't given time to think about "where." There was a snap, and Aun took off into the air. She rocked backwards, and would certainly have slipped off had she not wrapped her arms around his waist at just the right moment, wrenching herself forward and slamming her face into his hair.

She blushed even deeper. Long strands of silvery white hair drifted into her vision, and streamed around her, swaying gently; Kagome was enveloped.

Clouds parted as they rocketed forward into the air. Eventually, their speed slowed, and they were left to cruise smoothly above a milky sea. She gasped, "this is beautiful... But, why are we so high?"

"We should not risk being seen by Naraku at this time," he said shortly.

"Oh..."

She sighed deeply, remembering that she hadn't gotten much sleep. It was strangely comfortable up here. Kagome observed her surroundings for a few minutes. Her hair band snapped loose, and a rippling expanse of golden hair flew around her.

Kagome yawned, "Sesshomaru... If I fall asleep, don't let me fall off, okay?"

For the third time that morning, he met her question with silence. But she was suddenly too tired to pursue him about it. However, as she began drifting into sleep, Kagome could have sworn she felt him lean backward into her a bit, almost, protectively.

Her eyelids drooped, and the last image her mind captured before she fell out of consciousness was their hair, flowing together like a single mane.

'Silver and gold...'

***

"It's this stone wall again." She stared up at it. "I...don't...want to go...up...there..."

A voice echoed in her mind, a silent command. She heard it muffled, as if it were coming to her through water, "You have to."

"Please," she began to cry, and her tears drifted upward and disappeared. "Don't make me."

Her hair was cast in the current, and the ground suddenly faded beneath her feet. She began to drift downward into the dark abyss. Her hands extended towards the stone wall, but she didn't move. Not at all. She was like a doll, suddenly struck frozen.

Not even her eyes moved; she looked lifeless, as she stared without seeing at the receding surface before her. A light was shining faintly through the dark water, illuminating her form.

"Please don't let me fall."

"Then climb..."

***

Kagome's eyes burst open, and she found herself pressed hard into Sesshomaru's back. She lifted her head slowly, and looked around. Aun was still sailing over the clouds.

She turned around, and saw Kirara flying behind them, Sango at the front, with Miroku, and Inu-Yasha sandwiched between them. Shippou was on Miroku's shoulder. Sango waved and shouted at her, "hello Kagome-chan!"

Kagome waved back with a small smile, saying softly, "hi...!"

She shifted back to her original position, "Sesshomaru, are we anywhere close?"

"Yes."

"I must have been out for a long time, the sun's setting."

"Several hours."

Kagome sighed, and glanced back at her friends. Inu-Yasha was staring at her. She flipped back around again.

"You talk in your sleep." Sesshomaru said quietly.

A wave of embarrassment washed over her. "W-what did I say."

"You told me not to let you fall."

Relief replaced her embarrassment, "and you didn't, thank you."

"Tenshik talked in her sleep often, before her death." His voice adopted a distant tone again.

"She did?"

He nodded, "she didn't sleep much then, and was more and more often by my side. I think that she was afraid for me."

There was a moment of silence.

"But...What does it mean now?"

He was stiff, "I don't know. We shall see."

"Um...Sesshomaru, what do you think will happen when we reach her grave?" It was the question that had been tearing at her mind for a while now.

"I shall explain it to you when we reach it."

"Alright..." She sank down in disappointment.

***

Kanna was standing still, on the hill that overlooked Sesshomaru's mountain palace. The wind blew, but neither her hair, nor her clothing stirred with it. She was like a ghost, a lone pale figure with a fathomless and empty heart that existed only as an element that could control her. Kagura had no doubt that Kanna wouldn't have hesitated to destroy her heart if she still had it. It was dangerous to her as it was, and she really had no use for it. A heart was an accessory for a soul, and that was something that Kanna had never known, and would never know, even as she absorbed countless numbers of them with her mirror.

It was odd, and disputable that Kanna was an offspring of Naraku's. She could act like him, resemble him, and copy him in every gesture and thought, but she could never feel like him, and that was the major flaw in her being. Kanna could never understand Naraku, and he could never understand her. They didn't share a common ground in that respect, and so she was more like an alien thing that he had expelled from his body, like a dead and cold mass that he had gotten rid of, and in the process, discovered her usefulness. Kanna didn't actually match any part of Naraku.

Kagura watched her from the shadows. She was leaning against a tree while her sister studied what had happened when she had been attacked by the Kagome witch. Kanna had far finer spiritual abilities than Kagura could hope for, and could easily test and probe for certain energies and determine their owners. Right now, she was searching for the aura of the force that had wounded her sister. She wasn't sure if it was Kagome or not, nor did she have an opinion, but it was important to discover who it belonged to all the same.

It was a challenge this time. A great mystery lay before her, invisible to the naked eye. Inu-Yasha experienced something of the like as he watched the clashing forces in preparation for his Kaze no Kizu attack, but Kanna recognized them differently, she felt them and saw them at the same time. Inu-Yasha smelled them and saw them at the same time. Scent was wonderful for a half-dog demon. Kanna didn't have his powerful nose, she had to seek her answers with her mind and body.

"There are two..." she said in her same, droning tone, "and one."

"Three?" Kagura said from her post in the darkness.

"No." There was a long silence, "There are two in one. It is the same force, and yet it is two at battle. It is combat and it is peace."

Kagura had never know her emotionless sister to speak so poetically, "do not speak in riddles, Kanna."

"I do not, Kagura. You do not understand."

Kagura flinched at the finality of Kanna's voice. Kanna did not lie, and this of course insulted her, "Hold your tongue Kanna, I understand perfectly."

"Do not presume to talk to me like that. I may not look it, but I am still your elder, Kagura."

Kagura was silent for a moment, and then snapped back to attention, "explain to me what is going on."

"Kagome holds an alien power inside of her. It is very strong."

"What?"

"Kagura, what attacked you was not Kagome. It was something else, that Kagome keeps."

"Could it have been the sacred jewel?"

"It does not respond to Kagome like that. The sacred jewel resonates with no one."



"What then?"

"I do not know."



"Possession?"

"Possibly."

All was still. "What do we do then?" Kagura asked quietly.

"It is obvious."

Kanna had inflamed Kagura's temper once again, and she spat back bitterly, "tell me."

Kanna gestured to her mirror. "Possession is a very real answer, Kagura."

"And?"

"Possession is most often the control of a soul, with a soul. You of all people should know that."

Kagura ignored the last part of her sister's comment, and probed further, "so what's that got to do with it?"

"A soul Kagura."

Kagura straightened suddenly, realization striking, "you would absorb that power? The soul?"

"It is the only way."

"It is too powerful! You'll never be able to capture it!"

"I can try."

"Kanna! Even if you manage to 'try' and seal it, what if the girl's soul is tied to it! You're mirror will shatter!"

"That is not important."

"It is important! You shall be defenseless if your mirror breaks!"

"I have many other defenses Kagura."

"I will not-" Kagura faltered and stumbled, panting and clutching her breast in pain. She gasped and heaved, suddenly weak and lame. Her feud with Kanna was forgotten.

"Are you dying, Kagura?" Kanna watched her sister out of the corner of her eye.

"There, there is pain...Why doesn't it fade? I should have healed myself by now, even without your help," she wheezed.

"I do not know why it does not fade Kagura."

"Kanna..." Kagura's vision began to blur, "How."

Kagura watched the little figure sharply. Kanna didn't lie, but it was obvious when she was hiding something. In this case, Kagura could see that her sister knew something of the origin of her pain, or how to relieve it.

"The Shikon-no-Tama." Her voice dribbled form her lips in the whiny high it always came in. It was a buzzing wasp to Kagura. She hated it, and she hated Kanna, and she hated it when she missed something so clear.

"You have a shard."

"Yes."

The childlike demon crossed over to her sister. Kanna's right had left the mirror, and reached into her robe for a moment, leaving in a fist surrounded by soft purple-pink light. She extended it to Kagura, and her fingers unfolded, revealing a brilliant piece of crystal, the Shikon Jewel.

"Why are you doing this." It was a statement more than a question.

"You need it to survive, I agreed to accompany you. How can I do that if you are dead."

Kagura smiled wickedly, "You think I will help you. You don't need it."

"I need it Kagura, and I know you will."

"I'm not that predictable!" Kagura turned away from the shard and began fighting to stand properly again.

"What are you willing to do to survive?"

"Anything that I must."

"You need this shard. If you will not accept it willingly, then I shall explain it to you differently. If you help me, I will give it to you, if you refuse to help me, then I will not."

Kagura smiled even wider, eyes flashing, "You healed my wounds only partially when we left the castle. You planned this! You lured me away enough to put me in this position!"

"Yes."

"What do you want to accomplish?"

"Naraku controls me Kagura. I obey because I have no choice. So do you."

Kagura went still. He had done this! He had manipulated Kanna who had in turn manipulated her! Why? She glanced at the shard. But she had no choice now, she would die. Her hand reached to the shard, and her fingers shifted around it. It burned in her palm.

"Place it in you deepest wound," Kanna said.

Kagura held her breath for a moment, and shoved the shard deeply into her chest, where a long gash extended from her left shoulder to the tip of her right rib. It took effect immediately. A warmth spread through her flesh, and she felt renewed strength course through her.

"Now, we must depart. They have already left."

***

Naraku smiled. It was all in order. Kagura was definitely more useful as a free spirit. She had to have taken the Shikon shard of her own will, or her body would not have accepted it. Had he offered it to her himself, she would never have followed through, no matter what the circumstances. Kanna had been his only option. Kagura stilled half-trusted Kanna.

Yes, all was set up now. Kagura had the will to continue to pursue Kagome's group because of her still-present blinding need to eliminate Inu-Yasha. Now, she had a surging strength, and while she removed the hanyou, she would ensure that Kanna would not fail in her task of eliminating the girl. It was perfect. They could not fail.

Thunder clashed overhead. Absently, he thought of Kikyo as he stared distantly through his window. It was strange, if Kagura had truly seen such a terrible power in the girl Kagome, surely her soul would have been touched as well. Why hadn't she acted yet?

***

Well shoot, you know I really wanted to add more, but I don't think it'll let me. Oh well. Eleven pages will work. Bye now dewdrops! Next chapter will be out some time in the next week or so!