Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Takahashi Rumiko et al., not me. I just borrow them to have some fun. As for the Kagome, Kagome-song, I understand it is a children's game and a rhyme that goes with it. It also doesn't belong to me.

Chapter III – Bird In The Cage

As morning came, the rain stopped. Slowly, night retreated to give room to the light of dawn. In the hut, Kagome slept still. Kaede, the old miko, had gone to sleep some time ago. Her sister had wandered off into the forest, to do what, I did not know. So for some time I was alone with sleeping Kagome and my thoughts for company, waiting for my half brother to return.

Is it possible to accumulate sorrow? Suffer so long until nothing else mattered? And then pass on suffering to everybody in one's path?

The rain had cleansed the air, and I took a deep breath. When I was small and my family only consisted of my mother and I, and sometimes my father, who often was busy, my mother would send me off into the still wet garden after rain, simply to breathe fresh air. "Go love," she would say "The world is clean now. You will enjoy it." And I did.

The voice of my mother still sounds in my ears after rain. Sometimes, when I look into a mirror, I see her in my features.

But when I mentioned suffering, I did not mean my mother or myself. I meant my half brother.

Nothing good, so it seems, has ever happened to Inuyasha. Since his birth, he was followed by misery. First our father died, and then his human mother left Earth as well. Since we never did get along well, he left the Western Lands – and discovered that outside the walls of my castle neither demons nor humans liked half breeds. I had given him a hint during our time together, but he had probably thought that it was only me taunting him. When he discovered that he would never be free to be himself, he ran wild.

During this time, he was after the Shikon no Tama, hoping it would grant him one wish – make him a full demon. But there was she, standing between him and his wishes. I have seen Kikyo while she was still alive. A beautiful, quiet human, quite unlike Kagome, who cannot hold still for a second. The way she looked then, Kagome will look when she is a little older.

Kikyo made my half brother halt for a while. In fact, although he would never admit it now, I believe that he considered abandoning his demon heritage for her. For a very short period of time, he had the privilege to feel peace and love. So, when misery finally caught up with him, it struck him all the harder.

And the rest? Betrayal, death of her, fifty years of being stuck to a tree, in nightmarish dreams, all alone. I wonder what he was dreaming of?

When Kagome came along, there was nothing left of Inuyasha's softness. He was there to bring misery upon the world, the world being represented by Higurashi Kagome. She gave him attention, support, friendship and love, but he was not able to return it. I could see that he cared for her. Deep down, I guess he wanted to be cared for also, but after so many times he had been abandoned by the ones who should have cared for him, after being rejected so often, he did not dare... truly, a sad story.

Even sadder, perhaps, since I, his own half brother, have been the first one in the line of many to come who have rejected Inuyasha.

Am I sad? Do I feel guilty? I still do not like him, or the likes of him. Even if I said that I was sorry and that I pitied him, he would not believe me. He would hate me more than he does already. I did not come to apologise.

I came to take something from him that was more worth than the Shikon no Tama. Too bad he was too blind to realise that before it was too late to claim it back.

'Kagome, Kagome, bird in the cage...'

Kagome had been a source of my displeasure for quite a while.

When I noticed her, I could not stop looking her way. She was an interesting girl.

She was talkative. She was always backing up my half brother, regardless of how wrong he was to deny me our father's sword, always loyally standing by his side. She did not hold me in high regard until she learned of Rin. She was indecently clad. Annoying. On the wrong side in every conflict. Human.

One day, she made Rin's acquaintance. From that day on – I do not know exactly why – she changed her attitude towards me. At least I rose from my status that was probably lower than that of a worm to the status of a real person.

I think Kagome does not see a great difference between demons and humans. To her, we are all just 'people'. Otherwise, she would not waste her time with Inuyasha, I guess. She would not have adopted a demon child. But with Rin in tow, I apparently became more real to her, not just someone who threatened to kill her once in a while. I myself think that Rin is a special girl. I will freely admit that I am somewhat attached to her and would be most annoyed if something happened to her. But Kagome, then, she adores Rin.

The first conversation that took place between us without weapons and threats was about Rin.

"Lord Sesshoumaru," Kagome said and bowed.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I am sorry for trespassing on your property, my lord," she said. "I think I wandered off without noticing..." She looked uncomfortable. "I hope you will not hold it against me."

"I will not waste my time on killing you, if that is what you mean," I said.

She sighed. "If you please, Lord Sesshoumaru."

"Yes?"

"About Rin..."

"What about the girl?"

"I was thinking... since you are always wandering, Rin may not have many friends..."

"So?" I guess my tone of voice was less than encouraging.

"So I thought," she pulled a rag doll from behind her back "I thought Rin may like to have this. I made it myself."

Rin loved the doll. It was dressed all in white, with white hair and yellow eyes and stripes in its face. Kagome had not even forgotten the half moon. Rin named the doll 'Fluffy' and I am still pretending I do not know why she did it.

I have been interested in Kagome for quite a while. She has been interested in me, too. We talked to each other on a few occasions. Sometimes, I would bring Rin over to play with the fox boy and Kagome and her friends. Sometimes I would meet her at the well and exchange a few words with her. She would look at me, always surprised to see me, half- covered by shadows of trees. Sometimes she would tell me things she could or would not say to my half brother, things concerning her family or school or how she feared that, when the Shikon no Tama was complete, she would not be able to travel through the well anymore. Sometimes she would just look at me and say nothing, and we would sit together in silence for a short while.

There was this moment when she fell out of love with my half brother. There was a moment when she graduated from school and told my brother that she could spend more time with him and he reacted less than sensitive. There was the moment when she decided to give up a huge part of her large soul to the dying shell of Inuyasha's former lover. There was the moment where she was nearly ready to change sides, the moment in which I was able to lure her into shadow, closer to me.

Then she was close enough for me to put a chain on her skin, close enough for me to come near her and close the lock, using one hand and my teeth, my lips barely touching her flushed, warm, bare human skin.

Kagome, Kagome, bird in the cage,
When will you come out?
In the evening of the dawn,
The crane and turtle slipped.
Who stands right behind you now?

It was me standing behind Kagome. I have decided that she was worthy. That, given time, care and education, she would make a person truly worthy of my attention. In a hundred years or so, she could fly free with all her talents developed to the fullest and I could... use her for my own ends.

Alas, she was human, and a hundred years was not a span of time given to her. In a case such as this, a demon has to do what a demon has to do.