Chapter Two

Rainbow Valley Psychiatric Facility

Tokyo, Japan

Red eyes watched her from the bushes, waiting for her to emerge from the Sacred Tree and Kagome squeezed her eyes shut tight, putting a hand to her ears to block out the sounds of her own screams as tears cascaded down her pudgy cheeks.

"Why are you screaming?"

That halted her and she looked up, gasping for breath from the exertion. Her hands slowly fell and she continued to whimper, pulling herself tighter into a ball.

"I said, why are you screaming?"

She looked around again, but saw no one that could have possibly asked the question...she wasn't even sure she understood it...how long had it been now since she'd heard another voice? Since she'd spoken herself...since that person had intruded in her woods...since that person had said she'd brought him there...how long ago was that? There was no sense of time in the tree, no concept of night or day..."I heard you the first time." She paused and whimpered a little more. "The monster is outside."

"Are you safe?"

"As long as I'm in the Goshinboku. I can never leave the Goshinboku." She laid her cheek on her knees and rocked back and forth, crying softly. "The Goshinboku will protect me from the monster...Where are you?"

There was no answer and she was about to repeat the question when there was a soft grunt. "It's a cave. My cavern's deep inside...I can't see the light anymore, but I know there's water nearby because I can still hear it..."

This time it was her turn to sound concerned. "Are you safe"

"No."

"Kagome?" She was shook gently once more and her eyes cracked open to see who had woken her. "Kagome-chan? It's time for your appointment...Dr. Ten'nou is waiting for you in her office." She focused on a girl a few years older than herself with a head full of long reddish brown hair. "D'you have a long night last night?"

Kagome stretched and smiled. "Yeah, I was on instant messenger pretty late discussing the topic of the day with Sango-chan." She'd been at the University a full week now and had quickly become close friends with Sango and Miroku. She was glowing with the after glow of friendship, something she hadn't ever really had in high school...

"And what was that?"

"Why Miroku-kun can't keep his hands off girl's rumps."

The other girl laughed as she went back to her desk. "Simple enough explanation there...he's male." She sighed as the phone started to ring again. "You can go on back."

Kagome waved to the receptionist - she'd been coming to Dr. Ten'nou's office once a week for so long now that she knew all the staff personally. She'd even volunteered at Kaede's facility, Rainbow Valley, the summer before. Like the Western styled home that housed the patients who needed in hospital treatment, this office was decorated in a homey style that made one feel instantly comfortable and she smiled, realizing the decor matched the personality of the doctor.

At Kaede's door, she paused, hearing voices, and hesitated slightly before knocking to announce her arrival. The door opened with a jolt and a boy with long white hair looked over his shoulder as the aging woman spoke. "Don't forget next week, same time. And try to be a bit more enthusiastic about school...talk to someone, make friends."

He muttered a short 'keh' under his breath and turned, practically shoving Kagome into the wall as he pushed passed her and hurried away. Kagome stared after him, face first flushed with anger and then settled into a more curious expression. The boy was handsome, had his features not been twisted into such a sour expression. The white hair was a definite turn on, but the strangest thing about him was that poking from that hair, right atop his head, were two small triangles...dog ears. Now, Kagome was no stranger to the society around her. Nearly 43 percent of the population on campus was youkai, but never had she seen a youkai with ears like that...

All too soon, however, the curiosity was replaced with anger once more and she huffed into Kaede's office, barely managing to shut the door without slamming it. "Ugh, rude much?" She rolled her eyes and looked at Kaede before practically falling into the overstuffed black leather chair next to her desk. "He didn't even say excuse me or apologize for nearly knocking me over. I swear, no one exhibits manners anymore, Kaede-san."

Kaede only chuckled. "You have to excuse, Inuyasha. He's been like that for as long as I've known him," she shifted some papers on her desk and was about to say something more when there was a knock on the door and it opened slightly to reveal a lovely woman dressed in blue. Had it not been for the few lines of gray that streaked her long black mane, people would have sworn she was still young, but time had caught up with her as it did with most people.

Kagome was out of the chair before either woman could speak. The door had been flung open and then young girl attached herself to the new comer. "Kikyo-san!" This was her savior and her hero. The woman who had chased the murderer away and who had been there to greet her when she finally left the Goshinboku. "I tried calling you last week, but the receptionist said you were swamped. Where have you been?"

"Buried under a mountain of paperwork." The elder woman made a face. "Kaede said you were coming by this afternoon so I figured you wouldn't mind if I popped in for a minute." In the thirteen years since Kagome had rejoined their world, she and Kikyo had become acquaintances and what had started off as a childish infatuation on the younger girl's part had quickly bloomed into a mother/daughter relationship on both parts. To Kagome, Kikyo was an embodiment of all she wanted to be. The policewoman turned social worker was smart, pretty, kind, and strong. She was her hero, her friend, her role model. "Kaede says you started University this week. How is it?"

Backing off and going to sit back on the chair, Kagome grinned. "Great. I've already made two new friends. Sango and Miroku are both studying to become doctors. Sango wants to be a pediatrician and Miroku is going to go into radiology...that is if he lives through med school which won't happen if he doesn't learn to keep his hands a safe distance from Sango's bottom."

"Sounds interesting," Kikyo said, shaking her head with a slight laugh. "Well, I only had a minute. I'll call you next week and we can meet for lunch. Ciao, Kaede, Kagome-chan."

"Good-bye, Nee-chan."

Kaede waited until the door was closed and then turned her attention back to the young woman in her office. Happy as she seemed, she'd known the girl long enough to be able to read what was going on behind those steel-blue eyes and something was worrying the child. "Are you having problems with this new life?"

Kagome sighed, a long, tired sigh. "Not so much the living part...it's the sleeping part that's giving me trouble." She rested her head against the thick cushion of the chair. "I've been having these dreams lately. Dreams about the Goshinboku...it's like...like something is preparing me for the safety net...I have this feeling in the pit of my stomach that somehow, something is going to go wrong."

"What is going to happen?"

Kagome fidgeted in her seat. "I wish I knew..."

The hotel room was dark as a shadowed figure huddled over the computer screen, skimming through digital pictures and then settled on one in particular. It was a close up of a young girl with dark hair and a black sweater with a blue jacket over it. She was smiling at someone across from her, but the main focus of the picture was the large pearl pendant hanging from a gold chain. The figure stared at the picture for a minute before moving on to the next picture, a long shot view of the same dark haired girl with a young man and another girl at a cafe. The man leaned over and wrote something on a pad of paper before finally moving on to the next picture. It went on like that for a while, the same girl in different places, doing various activities. Every once in a while he would lean over and write something on a pad. Finally he switched the machine off and lay back on the bed, the only thing visible in the room now was his red, glowing eyes.

Goshinboku - Sacred Tree...it seemed only right to use the tree in this way.

Youkai - daemon