Summary: A grim fairytale of love and hate. Two people find one another in the dead of night, knowing that this chance meeting was the beginning of an extraordinarily… deadly game. Sess/Kag; AU

Author's Note: I've always wanted to write a story like this… I hope you guys will like it. Try to guess which fairy tale it's based off! This is my first fic, so please be honest about it in your reviews.

Happily Never After

Chapter Two: Life goes on…

Kagura panicked as she searched the area near the lake she had met Sesshoumaru, but her heart was nowhere in sight. She had not realized that the headhunter had actually intimidated her so much that she forgot her only treasure. Kagura cursed under her breathe, angry that such a man could easily get under her skin. She hated the thought of being afraid or intimidated by any man. Kagura glanced around; fear and anxiety filled her eyes as she found that her heart was not there. Then, a thought came to mind. Someone must have found it. Someone must be taking care of it because if not, she would have felt the pain carelessness would inflict upon it. Now, the only question remaining was who had her heart? Kagura had no idea where to search first, she had no idea who could have taken the heart and actually care for it.

And then Sesshoumaru came to mind. He was after her and he could probably use her heart as bait. Kagura groaned at the thought, but deep down she knew that this was the most plausible possibility. The problem now was that she had no idea where to search for Sesshoumaru. Ruing her fate, Kagura plucked a feather from her hair and soared into the sky, determined to find a new place to live and let life continue on. If she was destined to have her heart, the moment would present itself when she would once again have the opportunity to steal it.

Sesshoumaru looked down at the heart in the glass case. It was Kagura's heart and, for an unknown reason to even himself, he watched over it. It seemed so impossible that the beating organ was actually hers. From their first meeting, Sesshoumaru knew that she would be a formidable foe in both battle and conversation. She was strong; she had a passion, a fire burning behind those blood red eyes. She was unlike the heart that was stowed behind glass, fragile and weak.

Sesshoumaru smirked slightly to himself, his tilting lips marring the porcelain mask that had been present moments before. He felt that this chase, this hunt would be rather amusing, exciting, and interesting. His prey was very unusual, she was impulsive and arrogant. She was everything that he would not expect a woman to be, or at least one that he would mate with. His mates were generally characterized as beautiful in a gentle, tender way, elegant, lovely, and almost angelic. His mates were unlike this plain, strong, and almost demanding woman. They were unlike her in attitude, looks, and mentality. He preferred women with no mind or wit, making it easier for him to dispose of them without remorse.

Sesshoumaru was the powerful, self-appointed guardian of the far west of Naraku's nation, often referred to by the people as the "Lord of the West." Sesshoumaru took it upon himself to protect these people, but in exchange he had full control of their village. His activity and the activity of the village was not unknown to Naraku, whose only reason for not suppressing the growing leader was the fear of the west villages' desire to break with his nation.

"Sesshoumaru-sama…" a little voice squeaked into the silence of the room. It was Rin, the little slave girl whom he had chosen as his personal servant. She was cute, petite girl of seven years. Her auburn, bowl shaped hair was gathered into two pigtails at the sides of her head and her brilliant eyes shone in two large sockets of her face. She was an adorable, little thing, but her looks didn't seem to faze Sesshoumaru at all. He nodded stiffly to acknowledge her presence, an action that the emotional child soon grew accustomed to. "The farmers said that their crops are being attacked by the miasma again… and that the… the… King is putting maximum effort into finding his sister. His army is actually searching the whole nation for her and his next destination is here…"

Rin shivered involuntary at the thought of having her homeland filled with dirty, grimy soldiers. Her pert lips smacked together as she shook her head in disapproval. Sesshoumaru's eyes never left the beating heart as he processed this information. Naraku probably felt the life being emitted from this heart; Sesshoumaru knew that the dark king was, in some way, connected to the living organ.

Kagura sneezed. Her head recoiled back and forth as the powerful sneeze assailed her body. It was getting colder, she knew that winter was fast approaching and she didn't have a place to stay. She would have to find shelter before the snow would start pouring down, knowing that it would be harder to travel in the snow. It's been a week since Kagura's encounter with the strange headhunter and she felt the same disappointment she had when she had lost her heart. She was disappointed with herself, with him, and with the world. Why did it seem that everything just went out of its way to destroy her already miserable life?

Kagura sneezed again. Her nose glowing red as she rubbed it furiously, frustrated that such a human cold could even affect her. Again, sneezes wrecked her body, causing her to pull back and fling her body forwards. Kagura was beyond human and yet she was subjected to their illnesses? The thought infuriated Kagura; she was much, much stronger than that. Suddenly, she fell into a fit of sneezes, her nose running slightly and her eyes tearing. The feather beneath her swerved out of control as she was unable to keep her eyes open and her mind focused. The sneezing suddenly turned to a kind of coughing, her throat growing sore at the constant rush of air out of her lungs. Kagura's hands went to her throat, gently rubbing it as if to soothe the coughing. Her feather was falling now, it limply spiraled downward.

Finally, her cold had taken over her body. She was no longer able to move because of the growing numbness that assailed her arms and legs. Her body tingled with an unpleasant sensation and pained at the slightest touch. She had a fever. Her feather cushioned her fall from the air, but the impact still did some damage, causing her back to ark in pain and causing her to cry out. Her head hurt. Her body hurt. She might as well die now if only to stop the pain. She felt the cold wind brush against her body and sighed at how much pain that slight brush could actually cause.

The air was so cold. Kagura tried to wrap her limp limbs around her, but was unable to do so. She tried to lick her extremely dry lips, but she did not have the energy. Kagura felt as if life was slowly seeping out of her… and she gave in. The fever, the fall, her stolen heart, everything seemed to make her life miserable, so why not just escape?

"No…" Kagura whispered against the howling, the screeching of the winter wind. I'm much stronger than that…

Her thoughts trailed off as darkness suddenly took over.

"Is she dead?"

"I don't think so…"

"How do you think she ended up this way?"

"…"

"Onii-chan! Why are you touching her?"

"Hey, look! She's moving!"

"I'm scared… she looks all bloody."

Kagura slowly stirred from her dark, dreamless sleep. Her eyes slowly cracked open, lazily glancing about for the sources of the two voices. Kagura caught two small boys looking at her with wide eyes. It was obvious that one was older than the other; the older child was about a head taller than the other one. Kagura guessed their ages were probably five and eleven. She slowly shifted on the ground, moving so that she could fully face them.

Her red eyes examined them and then she suddenly smiled.

Kagura's body once again went limp. Apparently, she hadn't fully recovered and was still unfit to move.

Kagura awoke to a warm crackling fire. She was laid under a pile of blankets and her clothes were settled (nice and clean) on a nearby chair. Kagura tried to sit up, but her body was still weak. Finally, after minutes of trial and errors, she was able to get up. The sudden movement, however, caused her to get slightly dizzy as the blood rushed downwards. Kagura held out one hand (instinctively) and gripped her head with the other. When she finally recovered, Kagura glanced about the room, looking for anything or anyone.

The room was empty. Kagura slowly slipped out of the bed, wincing at her own weakness. She grabbed her clothes and got dressed. The room was lovely and homey in a unique way. Unlike the stone cold palace that she's lived in her whole life, the room was obviously part of a wooden house. The dark oak wood gave off such an appealing smell and the crackling fire completed the comfortable atmosphere. Kagura sighed, when she gained her freedom, she would definitely want a home such as this.

Kagura took one more glance around the room and found a mirror looking back at her. Her face looked so different, so bruised and battered with a large patch across her right cheek. Her hair was no longer in its traditional bun and hung limply down her slender shoulders. The only thing that seemed to remain the same were her demonic, pointed ears and scarlet red eyes.

Kagura slowly made her way to the door. She cautiously pushed it open and was greeted with the sight of two small boys (the ones she had seen in the forest) standing side by side staring at her. It was as if they knew she was coming out and was waiting for her. The children were adorable. The youngest was a short boy with jet black hair. The older had some similarity to the younger, but there was also a great difference. The older had bright amber eyes, whereas the younger's was dark brown.

"Onii-chan… she's not scary looking anymore."

The younger boys thumb hindered his speech, but it was easy to understand what the kid was saying. His other hand tugged at his brother's shirt. His brother gently swatted his brother's hand away from his clothes and glared at Kagura.

"I know who you are." The boy said directly before curtly turning away and leaving in a "huff."

The younger boy stayed a little while longer, giving her a sympathetic look, almost as if he didn't want to leave her, and followed his brother. Kagura was left speechless in the narrow hallway, contemplating what the boy had said to her.

Shrugging away the thought, Kagura traveled down the hallway. It wasn't long before she started hearing voices in the distance. Realizing that these were the people who had saved her, Kagura pressed on, not really sure as how to greet them. She finally made it into the room and upon her entrance, four heads shot up. Kagura opened her mouth to say something, but quickly shut it. She suddenly opened it again, determined to greet them politely, but closed it. She was like a gasping fish, opening and closing her mouth.

"Oh, you're up? Are you hungry?" The woman Kagura noticed in the corner intervened, quickly dissipating the growing tenseness and awkwardness.

"Who…" Kagura's sore voice cracked as she tried to voice her question, "W-who are you?"

"Oh…" The younger girl grinned sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head, "I'm—"

"Wench, what's there to be embarrassed about? Just say your name and get dinner ready…"

"Inu-Yasha…" The girl seemed to tense up, her fists clenching at her sides, "INU-YASHA! Don't call me that!" The sweet girl that had been present moments before seemed to have disappeared as she quickly approached the white haired man that caught Kagura's attention. The girl seemed to be on the verge of attacking the cowering man, when suddenly Kagura gasped.

The couple seemed to have broken from a trance and faced Kagura, who was currently looking at "Inu-Yasha" with a strange look in her eyes.

"What!"

"What's wrong?"

The two asked simultaneously. They, then, took a moment to glare at each other before facing Kagura.

Finally seeing her mistake, Kagura looked back at them, recovering quickly from her sudden outburst.

"It's nothing. You just remind me of someone…"

Inu-Yasha suddenly seemed offended by this comment. Not really seeing something wrong with what she said, Kagura pursued the topic.

"He has long, white hair just like yours."

Suddenly, Inu-Yasha stood up, glared at Kagura, and then left. Kagura looked at his retreating back, fuming inwardly at his rudeness. If she had said something wrong, he could have told her or mentioned something, not just walk out like she wasn't someone important. He walked out just like she was just an object, not really worth his attention. That stupid…

Kagura was about to continue on with her mental tirade of insults, but she caught sight of the girl next to her. Her eyes were wide open, her eyebrows were raised in concern, and there was a deep sadness within them that even rendered Kagura speechless. Feeling a bit tense because of the situation, Kagura turned to the girl next to her.

"Did I say something wrong?"

The girl seemed to break out of her trance, "Well, you didn't know what you said… It's just that, the man that you mentioned… was his name Sesshoumaru?"

Kagura nodded slightly.

"He is Inu-Yasha's half-brother."

Kagura tilted her head, unsure of what to think of that comment.

"Well, it's really a personal story, but to make sense, Inu-Yasha hates his brother because of something he had done to his mother."

Kagura nodded.

"Oh… I forgot to tell you! My name is Kagome. Nice to meet you…"

Kagura kept silent, observing the naïve looking girl before her. She really had the face of a child, but her body told otherwise. Also, in the younger girl's eyes, Kagura saw some semblance of intelligence and wisdom that appeared with age.

Kagura, not really wanting to give her name, sighed to herself and suddenly gripped her head.

"I can't remember…" Kagura whispered, feigning amnesia.

TBC…

Well, this chapter was a bit rushed and short, but I did stay true to my promise in updating within a months time. Actually, I think I'm ahead of schedule! Hope you liked this chapter and review please.

Toejora