Chapter 24: Trickery

She was there when the sunset climaxed. The only one she had ever seen that encompassed the whole sky rather than just the west. Towards the direction of the setting sun, the last rays of day still peaked over the trees of the rolling hills. So bright it was like finding one's way, one's very own religion. Above this god-like yellow there was a halo of pink, followed by the gray bottom of clouds, which in this light, hued a soft purple. Covering the rest of the sky, the purple and pink manifested itself over every cloud and crevice. To the north, nature still gave way to the beauty. Kagome could see the unusual color just below the purple. It looked like the valley had been filled with cream, slightly kissed by strawberries at the bottom. At first glance, she never would have guessed that it could be the sky. After all, when did the sky ever look like this? And the shadow beneath the tiny cloud above look like the peak of a mountain reaching just over the white lake.

It truly was a fantasy land as she knew it. Where else could her eyes convince her that there was magic in the works? When she first came to the past, her instincts protested that this was all an illusion, some dream meant to soothe the chaotic life of a fragile teenager. But now, if this was a dream, she didn't want to wake up. To lose her reality, become one with the illusion, it was all she could ever hope for. How many times had fate proven to her that insanity was to be envied?

Inuyasha was gone. Not as withdrawn as he was before, but he definitely remembered himself as she knew he would. Of course, he was always close enough to keep an eye on her. She knew because she had sensed his keen presence perched above her time and time again. He was afraid, she knew more than him. He was ashamed, perhaps, of his actions. Though she really couldn't want anything more than for him to let loose his inhibitions just once more.

The summer was late, to the point were she could see leaves browning over with the beginnings of autumn. It had been months since she had seen her family. The memory of the kiss that wasn't hers reminded her that there was much to be lost in her chosen path. She had already lost her family; she would soon lose her hanyou too. It was inevitable in Inuyasha's kiss that his passion would never die. How unfortunate that she remembered the urgency in his lips. It was primal, but beautifully so. Like without it he would die. Kikyo… she was luckier than she could ever know. Inuyasha… was more loved than he could ever know. She sighed. At least back home, she was assuredly loved. She counted in the world of millions. She mattered. Here, she felt so insignificant to the battle against the world. Even with her powers, she was a weakness, some burden bestowed on Inuyasha. However, she would not feel sorry for this. He would leave soon enough. Too soon.

There it was again. That ache in her back whispering of his watchful gaze. Studious, sharp, interrogating. What was he seeking? Certainly he could find no answers by just staring at her. But as soon as she turned around, he was gone. Her eyes scanned the trees for his fleeting form, but found nothing. His stealth deceived her. Kagome soon gave up, and chose to concentrate on this sunset. The last remnant of love that she could see for herself.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Her back arched, and her muscles pushed against the fabric of her shirt. In the process, her hair fell back to reveal her pale skin, now tainted orange by the setting sun. He suppressed the sigh pushing within his chest. Her downcast eyes looked black in the soon-to-be night. He didn't want to admit he had seen it. After all, she had told him that she was happy when with him. He knew that he had succeeded in that which he strove for. If she was sad, it couldn't be for long. And when she turned her head to seek him out, those eyes looked so hopeful, so full of life. He leapt out of the way, and behind the cover of the forest. Still, he was far too proud to let his devotion show.

Did it even matter, now that Kagome was happy? If he wanted to, he could go to her now, couldn't he? The others weren't around. Sango had wanted to go visit her village, so as to pay her ritualistic respects to her fallen friends. Miroku, still lecherous as ever, insisted that he accompany her so that she would be protected. Shippou ended up providing as the protection she needed from that monk. Kaede was off to parts unknown. The only other who remained was Kirara, and being a cat, she wouldn't care for what he wanted to do. His muscles insisted that he go to her, so why did he stop? If it meant he got to see her face again, what did he have to fear? Not Kagome.

Perhaps Kikyo, or more likely, himself. He wondered if he could even control himself if he was alone with Kagome. Now that her happiness was confirmed, he hadn't wished for anything else. But he did. He wished for her, the untouchable Kagome. Her many sighs made him realize that he was only human when there was her. The weakling he had always feared and pushed away. Now he embraced this part of him.

But the human in him, the fear, still threatened his well-being. He thought back constantly to the night he had kissed her, in more ways than one. Mostly he thought about the nightmare he had had, how Kagome had disappeared into nothing. Certainly, it had to be getting to him, because now and then he could swear he saw her vanishing in his waking hours. But as soon as he would start to panic, the illusion would fade. Either when she shot him a questioning look, or when he grabbed onto her solid form did he realize that she was still there. Had he been losing his mind?

Not to mention that which he already knew was certain: Kikyo.

"Inuyasha?"

Her call broke him of his thoughts, and he couldn't contain himself from going to her. She called again, and his speed picked up. It happened countless times without him even knowing it. When had she become the master? He only realized now what he had done just as he emerged in front of her. He crossed his arms and glared, "Don't call me like I'm a freakin' dog."

She wrinkled her brow and shook her head, "You didn't have to come, you know, if you didn't want to."

He had to ponder that one for a second. After a few moments he turned his cheek, "Keh! Who knows what might happen if I didn't come? You might have been youkai bait if I didn't."

She giggled, already knowing she had him cornered. "Gee, Inuyasha. Thank you for being so concerned."

His breath caught in his throat, and his pupils dilated slightly. "Er… Who says I was? Keh, stupid wench. I'm just saying, is all."

"Whatever you say," she sighed with a smile on her face.

His heart leapt at the child-like joy on her face. When she just giggled, it sounded so much more powerful than simple words. He believed water to be falling, but he could see full well that it wasn't raining. Cruel, beautiful trickery in that voice of hers. Her mischievous brown eyes specked with the gold of the sunset made the sky fall down. And why didn't the world come to an end right there? Because she was there? No way could the fates be willing to break the world that she inhabited. No, it couldn't end. His poetic thoughts made him realize just how crazy he was. Then, he knew full well she was playing games with him, trying to make him uncomfortable. He sneered, "Stop smiling! It isn't something to smile about!"

Kagome eyed his fighting pose. Whenever it was aimed at her, it seemed almost comical. Like he could never hurt a fly, yet trying in earnest to prove his strength. And his angry face was just too adorable. His firey eyes, how she wanted them. They seemed hopeful somehow. But she had not the means to know what he was really hoping for. 'Don't stop smiling, wench!'

Her head was bowed, but she peered at him through her eyelashes. The look of death, in his mind. Slow… torturous… beautiful… She stepped closer towards him, and he backed up. Hell hath no fire like that look about her. Pointed, crisp… as he had never seen them, the rainbows in the wine. The flower blooming orgasmic until the world pales, and so dies.

He backed into a tree, and hence had nowhere to run as her face stopped just inches from his own. His wide eyes caused wrinkles on his face to form, all over his face. His claws gripped the tree behind her, 'Damnit! What does she want?'

At times he could have read her, reached her voice. But now her eyes had lost their tongue. And he was too bombarded with his own troubles to discover her thoughts. 'And why the fuck does she have to smell so good?'

"Inuyasha?" the smile reverberated in her voice, "I need you to do something for me."

He gulped, "Er… I…"

"Good," she turned away immediately and started heading back to the hut, "Can you go get some food for me to cook?"

"Huh?" His shoulders slumped forward as his mouth popped slightly open.

That girl sure had a lot of nerve, casting her big eyes at him like that. All for some damn food? "No way!"

She turned her head to one side to call back to him, "Let me rephrase, then. You will get some food for me to cook."

When she turned her head back, she stopped herself once Inuyasha appeared right in front of her. His arms were crossed and his glare hard. "Like hell. You really think I'm stupid enough to leave you here alone with Naraku still on the loose?"

She crossed her arms as well and learned forward to emphasize her grumble, "Never stopped you before, baka."

"Yeah… well… It ain't happening again, wench. Starve, for all I care. I ain't leaving."

Her annoyance changed to frustrated pleas, "Come on, Inuyasha. I'm not really alone. I have Kirara here. If anything happens, she can manage before you come back."

"Keh, well I still don't like it," he huffed.

There it was again. It seemed so misplaced, the look about her. It belonged elsewhere. Perhaps in the stars. Kagome, the greatest of thieves, already had enough leverage to steal everything from him. To leave him powerless so like to murder him. The flutter on her voice filled any void within him, "Please, Inuyasha…"

She continued with her pleas, but he didn't even hear a word of it. Wretched word, hateful word: please. And the way she said it never managed to tame him. Shit. She just had to use that word and that voice, didn't she. His mouth curled into a snarl, and he turned on his heal, mumbling obscenities as he leapt into the darkness of the forest. Before he got too far, he called out, "You'd better be in one piece when I come back, wench!"

Kagome shook her head and smiled to herself. Leave it to Inuyasha to leave on a sweet note. Though he was a lot easier to convince as of late. Just a flutter of the eyes and he was mush. Perhaps he was just sick of trying to argue.

Strolling into the hut, she made her way to the huge pile of stuff that belonged to her. Now that most of her stuff was here, she had barely needed anything else. And she giggled to herself as she pulled out yet another cup of ramen. It wasn't so much that she had nothing to eat, but no way could she live off of ramen like that hanyou. If she didn't have some actual food soon, she was sure she would waste away. And she had Inuyasha convinced that she was out of ramen too. When he got back, she would just have to make some to appease him.

"What would you do?"

She let out a scream of surprise, turning around at the same time as she sprung to her feet. The cup flew out of her hands along with various other items she had dug through. They scattered over the wood floor, and the cup rolled towards the open door way. His feet stopped it, crushed it easily beneath his weight as he stepped forward.

She whimpered, cowered back across the room towards the window. Her trembling hands gripped the wall, as though it would hold her up. As if reaching for some weapon to use. His callous gaze rolled through the air like water onto her face. The eyes she could never read, no matter how hard she tried. She ended at the corner, with no where else to go. He pursued her, coming far too close for comfort, then quickly lifted his sword to her neck, just above the collarbone.

"Sesshoumaru…"

"You seem more than surprised, miko. I'd think you would have called for help by now."

She clenched her teeth and let her head fall back slightly. Her wide eyes glared at him, practically daring him to strike. Though she was really afraid to breathe too loudly. He continued, "What would you do, miko?"

"I'll scream," she whispered.

He raised the tip level with her vocal folds, making her gulp silently, "Puh, then what's stopping you? After all, we both know full well that you could call out for him, and he'd come to your rescue before I could even strike. And I know that cat is around to help. What are you waiting for?"

But she held her tongue and her head remained high. For a good long while, they stood there in silence. Part of his face was blackened by shadow naturally, though it appeared now as though it had been burned off. But his eyes remained strong, and sickeningly beautiful in their coldness. This youkai she had known always like a silent fire, never crackling, nor growing in size. Never giving off smoke, nor consuming in one breath. Silently, hidden even in its light, his soul destroyed.

No answer, and no swing. He lowered the weapon, and sheathed it once again. Kagome was taken aback, though she would never show it, for fear that he would change his mind. He spoke as he walked to the other corner of the room, finally giving her her space, but leaving her uncomfortably alone. "You can not go back, can you?"

"How…?"

"I saw the well. I have seen you go through. And now I sense that it has closed. I am right, aren't I?"

She bowed her head. Agreeing might make it true, wouldn't it? She dare not utter. He merely continued since he already knew the truth, "And you wanted to leave it behind, didn't you?"

"No!" she yelled to the floor, "I never wanted…"

She couldn't mention her family. Not for anything in the world could she soil their memory with her worry.

"Miko, you don't belong her," said Sesshoumaru.

She looked up at him again. He couldn't be serious. Even if she wanted to… if she wanted to… "Don't be stupid. I can't go back. There's no way to reopen the well."

"Don't speak of what you do not know, woman."

"And what? I suppose you're telling me it can be opened again?" she asked sarcastically.

His silence spoke words. Her face fell, her chest quivered beneath her breaths. Incongruous forces bid her hear more and also run away; scream for Inuyasha or anyone who could help her and also hold her tongue. Silence gave way to fizzing air, tickling her unmercifully, until she could bear no more. Her hands wrapped around herself and her eyes asked him.

He turned towards the bead curtain door, though didn't leave. "If you wish it, you may follow me."

"And what would you do with me? Where would you take me?"

"To someone who can help you. An old priestess who has taken refuge in my castle. She told me of your troubles, and I knew I had to step in since my idiot brother would not."

"You mean Kaede-bachan?"

"I speak not of anyone you know. This miko you have not met face to face."

She cocked her eyebrow suspiciously, "If I have never met her before, then how does she know me?"

His eyes glanced at the full moon outside, partially hidden by the dead curtain, "Are you going to ask questions all night? I know not of why."

She would feel her eyes fluttering, shaking, demandingly. Were she to go with him, could she be with her family again? Could this priestess he spoke of tell her what her destiny could be? No, she had not the wits to refuse. "I'll go get Inuyasha."

As soon as she took a step towards the door, his voice escalated ever so slightly, taking her aback, "You and you alone may come."

"What?"

"The priestess requested you, and no one else. She has told me that Inuyasha must not see her."

"Huh?" she countered, "But why doesn't she want to see him?"

He did not answer, and her guard came up again. "You really think I'll leave without him? How do I know this just isn't one of your traps?"

He turned so she could see his profile, "Miko, moments ago, I had my sword at your neck. Whether you had called for my brother or not, in the end, I would have killed you both. I have no reason to hold off killing you, but I do keep my promises to deliver the requests of the guests of my house."

The wind came through the curtain, blowing back the fur on his right shoulder. His broad shoulders were clearly twilight. This man was dangerous. Experience told her he was not to be reckoned with. Common sense told her it would be foolish to follow him without Inuyasha. Fear told her she never would be quite so vulnerable in her entire life. And the memory of her family that she missed so much, that drove her.

"What is your answer, miko?"

Her stars were dark tonight, more so than the black sky. No light of a fire, but the light of the moon was all she had to keep her company. In the wind, some wordless question hovered above her. She feared the answer, refused to speak of it. Yet it was there, prodding her mind. Asked the simple crazy thing singing in the crisp night. What choice did she have but to give way to the voices? Wondering of wondering, hope of hoping, the world resurfaced as she had always known it. The faces of her family stretched out over the horizon, calling out to her. Wondering of wondering, hope of hoping, could she see her family again?

The pirouetting world performed for her the promise within its dance. The meaning of time and how it was a mere toy to be played with, a rule to be broken. In entered the one who played God with this world and the next, the sweet nectar of power at her fingertips, and she would rule it gently, but never faltering. All for love… all for love.

She clenched her fists, spoke through slightly chattering teeth, "I will."

To be continued…

Heeheeheeheeeee… so fun! I keep anticipating what's gonna happen, and I just wanna write it now. Haha! Oh and btw, for those of you who were wondering, the moment you're waiting for will definitely be within the next ten chapters. And I'll try to get the chapters out on schedule so as to appease you. Okay, hope you all respond like good readers. Haha! Toodles, poodles!

Lacey Beans: Happily, no one has killed me yet, so I guess that's a good sign. And thank you for being so patient. Here's to hoping I meet no more conflicts for a while. (hugs)

Kamira: I fought back the urge to jump into the story out of nowhere and yell, "Damnit, Kagome! He loves you!" I love how she always comes back, even though she's so oblivious to his feelings. (hugs)

fanficluv7Inu: Haha! Omg, I could totally see that happening. Inu, you're so silly. But we all love you anyway. (hugs)

-Key of Minds-: Oh, she'll find out about the well soon enough. And wow, won't that be an awkward moment. And as for him telling her he loves her, refer to my penname for the obvious answer. Haha! (hugs)

NeuroticallyDignified: Just call me Kelly Cuteness, and get me some fluffy pillows and an Inuyasha doll. Hurray, cuteness! Thank you for being so full of surprises. Haha. (hugs)

Squidy: For the record, I do normally limit the songs I put in the stories, though what seems to be happening a lot in this story is that I find a song that inspires an entire new narrative, so I'm like, "I can't leave this alone, can I?" Oh well. At least I haven't frightened people away with it… I think. Thank you for your support. (hugs)

InuyashaGal: Not so soon as three chapters, but definitely less than ten. Still have a lot of fun stuff to deal with. Annoying, I know, but I think it'll be worth it. (hugs)

HelikaAkileh: Thanks for being so cool about the delay. And wow, best writer ever? That's saying something. Thanks oodles! I just hope I can live up to that reputation. (hugs)

kawaiibritt: Stitch voice: "Cute and fluffy!" Haha! I try. Thanks. (hugs)

RobinRox13: Hugs me back? Sweet! (hugs)

MoonKitii: Ya know, I was wondering if I should have labeled this story as romance/drama or romance/angst. Grr, went with drama, but now I don't know. Glad it's kinda angsty though. I love those. (hugs)

Kawaii-CherryWolf: Oh yeah, I'm totally high with it too. We should found an organization. FA: Fluff Anonymous. The first step is confession, and I guess we're already there. Haha! (hugs)

KOalaPaNda: I have like story outlines for three other fics, so I'll definitely be writing more. (hugs)

srg1: Just to clarify if you don't know after this chapter, he thinks he won the battle to keep Kagome happy, to keep her wanting to stay with him. I'll probably elaborate on that a little more next chapter, so thanks for bringing that confusion to my attention. (hugs)

trekker4life: I'm actually only a third of the way through the story, at least. This is going to be my longest fic ever. At least 70 chapters, minimum. And I still have to make them fall in love and defeat Naraku and Kokuei. Stay tuned for it all, please. (hugs)

Reina no Taisho: Haha, it's okay. No rush. I'm just thrilled that you actually want to give me one. Haha, that's never happened before. Hehe, so giddy now. (hugs)