Enchanted Orbs

Chapter 40 Remnants of a Dream

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His muscles had been completely washed away, he just knew it. Well, that wasn't entirely true, if he was still in this much pain, that had to mean that his body was still present. He just wished it wasn't currently. But Shouron was one of Lord Sesshoumaru's highest ranking generals, and he would show no discomfort because of his ignorance of who surrounded him.

He sensed several around him, but whether they were friend or foe, he was still too disoriented to tell. Someone came near to him, and he felt something moist against his forehead. A rustling was heard above his head, and he wondered what could be happening. Cracking one eye open against the pain searing through his body, he popped both eyes open upon realization of what he was looking at. Shouron blushed slightly at the female's chest that was inches above his nose.

Shouron coughed slightly and tried to turn his head, only to be racked with the ache of his body.

The female above him stiffened when she realized he was awake, and exactly where his eyes were. Quickly she grabbed all the herbs she could fit in her hands from the shelf above his head, no longer searching for the right one, and backed away from him. A blush was clearly spread across the features of her face and neck.

The general tried to apologize, but all that emerged from his throat was a hoarse exhale. He could see how uncomfortable the girl was as she shifted from one foot to the other, trying to find the words to address him. Whether she was shy, or embarrassed, or mad, he couldn't discern properly right now.

He had barely registered her appearance. She had short black hair with bangs that framed her face. Her eyes were downcast inspecting the various leaves and bottles held in her hands, and her face seemed so innocent at that moment in the midst of the awkwardness of the previous seconds. Her garb was strange to him. From the waist up, it appeared to be a regular black kimono with a blue underlayer, but below the waist was not traditional at all. The black oversilk peeled to the sides, covering her hips which exposed the blue layer upfront. And both layers stopped halfway down her thigh.

It was indecent; it was immoral, and it was very flattering to the apparently modest girl. He almost smiled at the image, but it hurt too much to coordinate his face to do so.

Not able to bare the silence anymore, the girl looked off to the side. Her voice rang out across the room. "He's awake. You may see him now, if you wish." Shouron heard her say, before she made a quick exit.

He wanted to stop her, but he couldn't. His voice was still inoperative at the moment. Before he could make another move, Kinzi, Kento, Kikyou, and Inuyasha made their way to his side to ensure his health and comfort.

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Their talk had been very informative and productive. Strategies had been exchanged, and it seemed everything had come to order in regards to the upcoming battle. And now, now was time to rest. Kagome was looking forward to a restful night minus arrogant demons and rocks digging into her side.

Lord Dachi stood with Kagome and Kariudo and escorted them down the hallways. Both of the Western House were surprised to have the lord of the manor offer to personally show them to their rooms, but they would not insult him by declining his offer.

The three turned down a hallway with many rooms, and Dachi turned to them in front of one of the doors. "Lady Kagome, this will be your room for the extent of your stay." He spoke gently with a slight bow.

Before the males could turn to continue down the hallway, Kagome called out to stop them. "Lord Dachi." The addressed turned to face her, and she continued. "What about the rest of our companions? Where will they be staying?" She didn't want to accept such comfort without knowing that Kikyou, Inuyasha, Kento, Kinzi, and Shouron would receive comfortable beds as well.

Dachi's slender face soon held a smile with her concern. "They will be residing in the same hallway, Lady. They are still in the infirmary tending to General Shouron." His tone was that of a loving parent.

Kagome chewed on her lip at his statement. "May I see Shouron?" She asked with newly bloomed worry. She figured the strength of the general would return quickly, but if he was still in the infirmary…worry overcame her.

The lord's smile faded. "You need rest, Lady. I assure you, your general is in capable hands." He reprimanded her. He knew the journey was exhausting, and with her expended energy, she desperately needed the rest, though she did not know this as of yet.

She dropped her head a bit, and nodded. Dachi realized she wouldn't be able to rest anyways because of her worry. He sighed, and called to halt her entrance into the room. "Lady Kagome, wait."

The miko turned to him and gasped as her eyes connected with his. She was spellbound, unable to move. His golden eyes began to swirl and gradually took on a darker shade. The swirling vortex of his eyes projected before his face, and Kagome was looking into a picture. The image in front of her was Shouron. He lay upon a mattress, sleeping solidly. Kinzi and Kento were only feet from him actively watching over him.

Kikyou and Inuyasha were sitting against the wall on pillows off to the side. Her incarnation was leaning on the former hanyou's shoulder sleeping soundly, and snuggled against Inuyasha's other side was Kirara taking a much needed cat nap.

Just as quickly as it had appeared, the image was gone, and Kagome was left breathless and disoriented until the lord's voice broke through her trance. "See, Lady Kagome? There is no need to worry; Shouron is in need of nothing. Now rest, you will need your strength with the impending battle." Dachi motioned towards the door with a slender hand emblazoned with short black talons.

Kagome smiled at him in thanks and turned to enter her room. Dachi walked past a curious Kariudo, and stopped at the room next to Kagome's, gesturing to the soldier.

Kariudo reached to open the door, but the lord stopped him by laying his hand across the soldier's wrist. Kariudo looked up at the lord as he was addressed.

"Kariudo, these two rooms were not given to you without reason. A door connecting the two rooms is present, and you may have need to use it." Dachi took a breath before explaining, and Kariudo was casting him an indignant glance. "During the solitude of night, one has the time to truly think and reflect upon things. Her existence very nearly ended this day, and because of this, many unpleasant perceptions may revisit her." Lord Dachi was stern in his declaration.

Kariudo was shocked, and he stuttered slightly over his words. "I…What does this have to do with connected rooms?" He questioned baffled and fearful of what the lord was insinuating.

Dachi smiled regretfully. "I have knowledge of what took place, and I will explain everything in the morning. It is her responsibility to make it through this night with her sanity intact. It is my sincere hope that she will not harm herself, but if she does make the attempt…that is why your rooms are connected, Kariudo." The lord's face clearly showed his concern before he turned and retreated to his own chambers for the evening.

The soldier's eyes widened as the full impact of those words registered. He sent furtive glances down the hallway, and quickly entered his assigned room. This night he would get very little sleep, anxiety wouldn't allow that luxury.

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Sesshoumaru and Aishi had come far in their journey, but the distance they traveled held nothing in comparison to the bond that had been created between them. Aishi had been exposed to his lord's deepest thoughts, turmoil, and memories, yet Sesshoumaru knew no fear of being exposed by his general.

Why? Because Aishi had learned offensive maneuvers as well. The general perfected projecting things through Sesshoumaru's barriers to strengthen both his lord and himself by throwing his own experiences into his lord's calculating mind.

A trust had been found and shared between them greater than anything either had ever partaken in before. But that still didn't help boost Aishi's courage any in confronting him on the topic he was about to breach.

Taking a deep breath, the general began. "She is a very powerful woman, stronger than most female youkai. There is no shame in your feelings." Aishi spoke quickly in an uncharacteristic rush of breath.

Sesshoumaru was silent for the briefest pause before his statement. "It is not to be discussed, Aishi. You may share my thoughts at times, but my life and its choices are my own." He spoke decidedly, trying to end the conversation before it began. He kept his body turned away from his general as if hiding.

But Aishi was not satisfied with his words. "She is human, my lord, but with her fighting at your side, you will not fall as your father before you." He knew the reaction he would get; he knew of the rage Sesshoumaru held about the topic of his father and his shameful downfall.

The taiyoukai spun, eyes flashing red briefly. His voice was whisper soft, but the threat it held was more powerful than holding a blade to the general's throat. "But I have already fallen, Aishi. Someone else is head of my palace; another spends his evenings in my chambers while we are here in this forest. Tell me how I will not fall again, general."

Aishi raised his head to cast an arrogant look to his lord. "And it is by her grace that we stand amongst the living. It is by her strategy and distraction in the east that we may be able to tear the throat from the one in your chambers. Remember that, milord."

With an uncharacteristic snarl, Sesshoumaru turned from his subordinate. "You should learn your place, Aishi." His voice was still harsh, but the threat was no longer present.

The general's voice dropped. "I have always provided my counsel to you when I thought it relevant, Lord Sesshoumaru." Aishi began to move towards the Western Estate once again, but he stopped and spoke to his lord. "A human lifetime is insignificant to us, milord. I don't see why you won't indulge yourself for such a brief expanse of time." This time, his voice was the one holding to a whisper, but the tone held no threat, only the sorrow of loss, as if the sorrow of his lord's loss was reflected within his own voice.

Sesshoumaru heard every nuance of his whisper, and knew exactly what Aishi was thinking. He could not hold his voice even when he replied to the words spoken. "Perhaps that is the very reason I do not act, Aishi."

Hearing those words, Aishi turned to him again, but he could not think of a reply. His confusion was so evident on his face that his lord chose to clarify his statement.

"Could you withhold your sanity watching the scout whither away with age while you remain forever? And when she was gone, could you move on as if never affected?" His voice was sturdy, barely restraining the tension of his vocal chords. He began sprinting once again towards his former and future home.

Aishi couldn't contain the gasp that tore from his throat at Sesshoumaru's declaration. He hadn't thought of it the way it was presented, and now his saw the logic of his lord's inaction.

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Darkness. It surrounded her on every side; it was both comforting and threatening. Confusing. The shadows wrapped around her, hiding her from everything, saving her from the monsters she felt creeping through the room. But that same darkness that hide her hid other things as well.

It covered any threat, any creeping thing which might want her for evil reasons.

Kagome shivered. She was never really afraid of the dark, but at this moment, every ounce of confidence she had gathered over time slipped away. She felt helpless. The miko always hated feeling helpless, but huddled into her covers, she couldn't help but feel like a child scared of what lay under the bed or in the closet.

She hated this, but with her nerves as raw as they were, she couldn't calm herself down. Kagome was almost hysterical with the invisible threats that were looming around her. The sound of something heavy hitting the floor caused Kagome to jump and yelp from under the covers.

Her scream alerted Kariudo next door, and he burst into the room claws bared on one hand, and the other gripping a knife. The light from his room blazed behind him, shadowing his face from the miko's sight.

Kagome shrieked at the silhouette of a stranger holding a knife only paces from her. The screams continued until Kariudo called out her name, struggling to calm her. Her voice stilled in her throat, but the rise and fall of her breathing was too quick. Kagome struggled to get her body under control.

The soldier stood immobile, unwilling to move lest he scare her into hysterics again. The terror which had just animated Kagome now fled, allowing her to think upon her actions just moments ago.

Fear turned to humor, and she couldn't stop the laughter that spilled from her throat. Kariudo was relieved at the loss of her fear, but her sudden change urged him to worry still. "Kagome, are you alright?"

Silence; the laughter stopped abruptly. Everything fled from her, no adrenaline, no fear, no humor, only confusion. She looked into his shadowed face. "Kariudo, what's happening to me?" True sorrow showed in her eyes.

He sheathed his knife, and took a step closer to her. He honestly had no clue of what was going on, and he was not someone who was comfortable with such displays of emotion. But Dachi's words still rang in his head. Her sanity was at stake; he could not physically help her keep it, but emotionally, maybe there was something he could do.

"Trauma such as you experienced today often has abnormal reactions. Do not worry so, Kagome. Be calm, and let sleep heal you." His voice was as soothing as he could consciously make it, and he took another step towards her.

Kagome watched him step closer to her, and she was suddenly aware that he was no longer wearing his outer layer. With that layer gone, Kagome was left staring at his bare chest. His obi was gone, and without that sash, the soldier was left with only his hips and legs covered before her. Her in a bed, dressed inappropriately for bed, in her bedroom for the evening.

She tensed. Kariudo followed her eyes, saw the tension fill her muscles, watched her clutched the sheet closer to her body. Realizing her reasoning, he took a step backwards. "Forgive me for the intrusion, Lady. I thought only of your safety. I meant no embarrassment. I will return to my chambers now." He backed up slowly.

As he left, Kagome's fear began to crawl over her again. "Kariudo, wait."

He stopped, and turned towards her. "Yes, Lady?" He held the formalities between them, hoping to put distance between them. He thought this might ease her more.

Kagome's face dropped. "I'm scared." Her eyes pierced his as she looked up. "I've never been this terrified of anything, and I can't sense a single thing around me. What is happening to me?" Her breathing picked up again.

Holding her gaze, he spoke. "I do not know, Lady Kagome."

The soldier watched her cringe as she spoke, not able to look him in the eyes. "Will you stay?"

Shock ran through him at her words. He hesitated a moment. "I do not think that wise milady. Inappropriate rumors may spread."

Kagome visibly swallowed. "I will sleep on the floor; I don't care. Please don't leave." Tears slipped down her cheeks.

Kariudo still held Dachi's words in his memory, but he was a soldier of Lord Sesshoumaru. His lord allowed no relations among his troops while they were on duty, and rumors of such would have him severely punished. But her eyes pleaded with him.

His head dropped. "I will stay until you fall asleep. After that, I must leave." Kagome started to crawl out from under the covers to the floor, but Kariudo stopped her. "Stay where you are, Lady. I will sit on the floor until you find rest." Kagome nodded and burrowed back under her blankets.

Kariudo couldn't believe the scene that was just played out. The miko who effortlessly defeated one of Lord Sesshoumaru's trained warriors was reduced to a child before him. Her strength challenged his brothers and him; her confidence allowed her to give orders to those who should be her superiors. And now? Now he could practically smell her weakness. What was happening within her?

Dachi's warning caused him anxiety earlier, but now, now he feared he might fail. Failure to protect her was not an option. General Shouron would be frightfully upset, and Lord Sesshoumaru would be cross at losing such a valuable weapon. But more than that, Kariudo didn't want to fail because of himself. A sense of loss hollowed out an area inside of him. He didn't know her well; it was hard to call her a friend, but he knew he could if he wished. Despite all that, a niggling feeling told him he would miss her if she left.

The realization left him unsettled, but he didn't have to think on it more because he could hear Kagome's slow, even breathing. She was asleep, and he could make his escape.

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Darkness surrounded her again, but there was light. Small sources of light above her, the calming sound of waves rushing to the shore, flooding her being. Kagome opened her eyes and looked around her.

But the scenery wasn't the first thing she saw. Eyes, golden eyes, Sesshoumaru's cold, emotionless eyes stared back at her, but they weren't real. She could focus past them, see through them. They lay over the scene before her like a dying illusion; she focused past them, and they faded.

Tides rushed to the shore on which she stood, but there was something wrong. The waves never reached the sand. White caps of waves rose to invade the land, but they were stopped short. As they ceased moving, they faded, disappeared as if they were never there. But the sound, the sound continued for their partners. The sound rushed forward for the waves and crashed against the sand.

Kagome shivered at the incomplete image. Her gaze rose to the sky above her, and a gasp tore from her throat. The stars, they were broken. Broken? The thought sounded wrong to all logic, but looking at the heavenly bodies above her…broken was the right term. The stars were cracked or partial as if someone had taken a hammer to them. Pieces were missing on some of them; the edges of others were uneven as if the two halves were slipping away from each other.

Her attention to the star's sorrow let her miss other things. Other things like the crack that was shifting across the very sky that held the broken stars. But her attention was drawn to the sky as the metallic sound of stress grew louder as the crack spread across the sky. The very heavens shattered at that moment. Kagome gasped and covered her head with her arms. Pieces of the sky fell like shattered fragments of a mirror, falling around her. She was forced to duck to avoid getting cut.

But how can you avoid the sky falling around you? A gash ripped through her forearm. A crimson trail of blood flowed down her arm, and Kagome had to watch, was forced to watch her own body bleed. The scarlet trail glowed, not the glow of her healing power…but other. No longer scarlet, her blood glowed the neon red of modern signs. What was happening to her?

But her blood was not the only thing that glowed. Her attention was attracted to radiant object in the distance. White, the radiant white light of an angel reflected off the now broken black mirror of the sky.

She walked as if driven to the light. As Kagome neared the light, it was no longer an object, but Sesshoumaru. His hair, his clothes, his skin everything about him glowed with the light, but it wasn't only illumination now. It was power. She glanced at her arm again, the wound had closed, but the blood remained on her skin, still glowing, still powerful.

Frightened eyes turned to Sesshoumaru before her, but the cold, emotionless eyes she had stared through only moments ago were no longer so. His eyes held the passion she had seen on only one occasion. Passion, but nothing else? Or was there more in his depths?

'Is he capable? Does he love? His armies? His land? Me? Could he love me? Or did he release only a passion he held for any woman who came to his arms?' Kagome's silent thoughts rushed through her jumbled mind.

Doubt overcame her staring into his eyes, and she dropped her gaze. A single clawed finger raised her chin to stare into his eyes again, and she was lost. Pulled into the depths of his eyes. He leaned forward, his eyes focused on her lips, but before he could close the distance a bell sounded.

A deep, resonate tone sounded through the scene causing everything but Kagome to ripple as a lake catching a stone. Even Sesshoumaru's finger, face, body, everything rippled and vanished.

Nothing remained except the invisible bell. It rang again and sent its deep tones shuddering through her. It sounded like a death knell. A dirge.

Death? The thought echoed across the vast darkness like the words unleashed on the cold, emptiness of space. It rang out across her mind like thunder across a still lake.

She died, didn't she? She had felt the claws sever her flesh. Felt the blood rushing down her chest, felt the increased heart rate caused by her fear, sending her life's blood rushing from her body from the severed arteries, and the life draining from her...sapping her strength. Then she felt nothing, the severed nerves in her neck saved her some pain before her life was snuffed out like a candle.

Kagome woke with a gasp, breathing like she had been submerged in water for far too long. Her dream, if you could call it a dream, was fresh in her memory. But she didn't want to remember. It was too confusing, too real, but not real. It was so unrealistic, so surreal, but the feelings, the emotions that drove it were so true.

Kagome was so frustrated she almost screamed. What was happening to her?

A light flashed in her room, sharp like the sun across a blade. Her eyes whipped across the room to a mirror. A full length mirror stood in the corner of the room reflecting the light of the moon from a window, but then the moon vanished behind a cloud leaving the room in darkness again.

She didn't remember crawling towards the mirror, but now she kneeled before it, staring into its reflection. But she saw nothing, her eyes were too focused inward on other things, remnant thoughts of the dream.

When she woke up this afternoon, no one was around her...completely alone, save for the servant cleaning the pooled blood from the floor. No one healed her, or did they? Wouldn't she have seen them upon her awakening? Wouldn't they have stayed to ensure her health? But no one was there...does that mean she healed herself? Even in the hands of Death, she healed herself? She consciously tried to heal herself in the final seconds of her life...but it had proved too late. There were too many things her power was trying to heal from such a deep wound in too short a span, arteries, windpipe, nerves, spinal cord, with only seconds before her life fled; the pain from her wounds and the lack of blood caused her vision to cloud as she fainted.

How could she have healed herself...she was scared of the answer. Did her power follow her command even after she could no longer carry it out herself? Or worse...did her power have its own will, will her strength not allow her death?

It caused Kagome to tremble. She didn't want immortality. She liked her mortal lifespan. She would grow old and die...her children would bury her as she would eventually bury her grandfather and mother. That was the order of things...nothing should sever that. But immortality would. She would be forced to live through her family and friends dying around her, and she...she would remain. Alone.

She shook her head convincing herself that it wasn't true. That she was just imagining things. That she would live a normal life when her time under Sesshoumaru had ended.

Normal. What is normal? Normal is not what she was. Normal is never what she was...well, after her fifteenth birthday. Time travel and epic battles with demons and a hanyou is not normal. And even despite that...even if she could convince herself to relinquish those memories and forget everything to blend into her era, being able to manifest power such as she was capable of...was not normal.

Her eyes fell to the ground as her shoulders slumped. She was anything but normal. She would never be able to fit anywhere. Even in the Sengoku Jidai where demons roamed the land in constant battle for power, she was not normal. She was a human with power to rival the strongest demons. She was not normal.

She belonged no where.

She had escaped death, but maybe she would have been better there. She violently shook her head, what was wrong with her? Life is something to be cherished, why had she suddenly had a change in her thoughts?

Life. She had taken countless lives under Sesshoumaru's roof. All those soldiers, those traitors...she had killed many of them. Purified their demonic souls...their screams of agony echoed through her head with that thought. And she winced.

Only yesterday...she had taunted, manipulated...mocked a youkai, reveling in her power to destroy him.

Her hands started shaking. What had happened to her? She shook her head violently, trying to expel her disturbing thoughts; then she raised her head and came face to face with haunted blue eyes.

Her own reflection stared back at her.

It was like two halves of a whole, her eyes were haunted, but in the same breath she could say there was confidence reflected within her posture. Kagome had never really had true confidence, not before her power came to her. She was two different people now. One was confident, a warrior, someone who had gained the power no mortal could boast. But there was still that haunted teenager hidden in the depths of her eyes. The clumsy girl who had the talent to evade her enemies claws with her lack of grace, tripping at the perfect time. The unsteady archer who could infuse the power of ancient miko's into her arrows. The loving girl who hated to kill anything even the most evil of creatures.

But which image did Sesshoumaru care for, love? She grew angry at the thought that slipped to the surface. Kagome kneeled before a mirror facing her own identity crisis, and the first thought out of her head was about Sesshoumaru. Why?

The remnants of her dream? No. Kagome was not that naïve. She knew why her thoughts turned to him, but she didn't want them to have anything to do with the stoic lord. Kagome didn't want to love him, didn't want to read the emotions in his eyes, didn't want to be the one to make his stone mask crack with a smile. She wanted to set her life right first.

She was falling apart in front of the mirror before her, and she was worried what would please her lord. Anger filled her, and she held onto that anger like a lifeline, for she wished to feel nothing else. No confusion over the one she hated to love, no sorrow that she fell in love with someone incapable of loving her, no ignorance for not realizing she was falling until is was too late to retreat; she wanted to feel none of those. So she became angry, angry at his arrogance, angry at her stupidity, angry at her reflection. The reflection that forced her to look deeper into herself than she had ever wanted to see.

Before she realized what she was doing, her fist connected with the mirror, and it shattered as the sky had shattered in her dream.

Her eyes widened as she realized what she had done. Cracks spread across the mirror, distorting her image. At this time, the moon escaped its cloudy prison, and cast its light into the room. Kagome's pale skin was caught in the lunar rays, and what was fair in sunlight glowed, shimmered in the moonlight. Glancing back to the mirror, she gasped. Her illuminated face bared a strong resemblance to the broken stars in her dream. She pulled her gaze from the mirror and stared down at her hand. Rivulets of blood ran from her knuckles.

Blood fled from its prison beneath her skin, and she just watched. Helplessly, she watched her life's fluid begin to pool on the floor around her outstretched hand. Tiny sparkles of glass reflected from her hand where shards had embedded themselves within her skin. Stretching her fingers, she felt the glass pierce her skin deeper. She gasped, still staring at her bloodied hand.

Foreign fingers wrapped around her wrist, and another hand gently pressed against her elbow helping her to stand. Kagome turned her hand to see Kariudo staring down at the hand he had pulled before his face.

"We need to get this cleaned. There is still glass clinging to the wounds." He spoke with the detachment of a doctor as he pulled her towards the wash basin near the mirror.

Kagome slowly began to grasp everything around her as the sharp pains of the glass in her hand helped to clear her confused mind. She watched the battle callused hands of Kariudo gently pull the shards from her skin with his claws. And she was grateful, glad he was here despite the obvious weakness she was showing to such a warrior.

His voice pierced the final bit of haze surrounding her. "Forgive me, Lady. I should not have left you alone. This is my fault." His last words were but a whisper.

Kagome's voice rang out clear through the oppressing silence. "No, Kariudo. This was something you couldn't have stopped. It needed to be done." Kagome was solemn with her thoughts returning to the realizations the mirror held for her.

Kariudo did not like the tone she held, so he spoke to her as if it was one of his brothers who had done this as a child. "Yes, the treacherous mirror needed to be punished for its crimes, but in the end you ended up with more pain for yourself." His tone was solid, and his face was even.

Kagome was silent for a second, contemplating his words, searching his face. Her eyes widened. "Kariudo, did you just make a joke?" Her shock was evident before she began laughing.

His lips raised slightly, the shadow of a smile. He let her joy fade before he spoke again. "Are you alright, Kagome?" His face was still towards her wounded hand, and his eyes were focused, but his words were sincere.

Kagome smiled; it was smile and didn't reach her eyes, but she tried. "Let us hope so, Kariudo, but I am better than I was."

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Sesshoumaru and Aishi covered their presence and closed in on the Western Fortress. There was a secret passageway that the lord planned to use to enter unnoticed. It was located towards the back of the wall surrounding his ancestral home. The passage did not lead to anywhere of great importance, but it would do for a discreet entrance. Once they breached the wall and entered the estate, there were other passages to get anywhere within his home…anywhere except his chambers.

No true lord would have a passageway that lead into their private quarters. It was an unwritten invitation to assassins, for if anyone found it, death would be harder to avoid. Only those who wished a quick escape may have a hidden tunnel from their chambers out of the estate, but Sesshoumaru was no coward. If someone wished to attack his home, he would stand with his soldiers and fight. He would not run.

Or that had been the reasoning behind the layout of his ancestral home; however, Kagome's defiance had complicated things. It was no matter now. Aishi and Sesshoumaru would have to directly enter the lord's chambers. Neither had a problem with that plan. Neither would cower before Rokoshi, but they couldn't just rush into things either.

Sesshoumaru was hard pressed not to storm through his home and make the traitors pay, but he was more intelligent than that. He knew someone was behind the coordinated attacks, and he also knew that he would not be secure in his power until the magistrate was broken and bleeding before him.

A smile fought to the surface at that thought. Rokoshi's new master had a truly heinous death to which he should look forward.

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I know I've been promising action for quite a while now…and its coming. Yippee! I'm so much more comfortable with pain and gore than writing the emotional stuff, which means the vulnerability that I've provided my characters with was a bitch to write! I loved every second of re-reading it…but still…writing it almost hurt.

Some of you may be wondering why I disappeared for so long...well, I could not sit up for about a month. Bed rest SUCKS, especially if you're as active as I usually am. A word of advice to anyone who will listen…

If you catch a dismissible virus that all your friends get over within 2 days, and you still have it after a week and a half…Something is wrong. Be smarter than I, and GO TO THE DOCTOR! If my mom hadn't dragged my (un)happy ass out of bed, and threw me (almost literally) into the doctors office…I might not be here right now. There's something about this time of year that always gets me REALLY sick…two years ago it was pneumonia, last year: mononucleuosis…well, at least next year I'll be prepared, right?

I'll answer reviews throughout the rest of the week, and hopefully I'll get another chapter posted by Sunday to apologize for my extended leave. No promises, though, I'm still pretty weak. I'm just now getting my appetite back; liquid diets just don't give you a whole lot of energy. Sigh.

Oh, also...quick note/disclaimer: inspiration for the dream scene came from the song "Wonder" by Megan McCauley, and since that's not my name...I don't own the song!