Okay everyone, breathe with me now. In with the pink, out with the blue.... Ahh, now we feel better. Are we all calm? Very good. I'm sorry for being so evil, but hopefully the next chapter will begin to clarify the situation.

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Kagome felt as if her brain was about to short out, as if it were made of delicate electronic components and had just been doused with a bucket of water. After an impossibly long moment of staring about in bewilderment, she hauled herself to her feet.

I must be losing my mind, she thought, and had to fight back tears. A pounding headache suddenly assaulted her, and her hand went instinctively to her head. She felt a bandage there, wrapped tightly around her head. What is going on!?

"Kagome...?" Sango peered over at her friend from beneath droopy eyelids. "You're awake! Ah... What's the matter?" she asked, her tone excited.

"I wasn't here! I was... somewhere else," Kagome said. With someone else.

"What?" Sango stared at her, confused. "Was it a dream? A nightmare?" she asked, becoming concerned. Confusion was being replaced by panic on Kagome's face, and at the word nightmare, she felt a horrible chill pass through her body, and she visibly paled.

By now, the rest of the group was stirring, and Inuyasha made his way down from the tree and laded easily upon the ground. Kagome's eyes widened when she saw him, and she could not meet his gaze. She sat back down and covered her face with her hands, completely at a loss.

"Kagome! What is it?" Inuyasha demanded, hurrying toward her. Sango put a hand out and stopped him.

"Something's happened to her, while she was unconscious. Just give her a minute, Inuyasha," Sango pleaded in a soft whisper. Inuyasha frowned slightly, then nodded.

"We were fighting," Kagome finally managed to say, and began her story. She told them of her fall from the cliff, and her rescue from the river by Sesshoumaru and Rin. She briefly described the events after that, leading to her falling asleep in the cave and waking here. She left out the more personal moments between her and Sesshoumaru, blushing at the memories. She also did not mention the emotional fight that had occurred between herself and Inuyasha.

"It wasn't a dream. I know the difference between a dream and reality," she said, her voice urgent. A tear finally slipped down her cheek, and she brushed it away with irritation.

Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku all exchanged a glance, and finally Sango kneeled in front of Kagome. There was worry in her soft brown eyes, and her expression showed that she was going to say something Kagome would not like.

"You did fall from the cliff, Kagome, and you did hurt your head," Sango said softly, and gently touched the bandage wrapped about Kagome's head. "But you didn't get lost in the river. We found you down there, unconscious. You've been out for a day and a half. We were beginning to think that you would never wake up," she said. Kagome just stared at her.

"It's the truth," Sango said. "You must have had some crazy dreams while you were out, especially with the hit you took to your head."

"No!" Kagome yelled, climbing back to her feet, pushing Sango away.

"Kagome..." Inuyasha reached a hand toward her, and she pushed it away.

Sango backed away, a hurt expression on her face. "Maybe you should go home for a while, until your wound heals," Sango said.

"I need to find Sesshoumaru," Kagome said, and shock registered on the faces of the people around her.

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The sleeping form of Kagome rested on the ground, far away from any of her friends. Her dreams were displayed in the mist that surrounded her, images flashing erratically. The demon smiled and drank in the despair and confusion within Kagome's mind and soul.

You are mine, now... I hope you are enjoying the dreams I am giving you. You wanted it to all go away, didn't you? The demon cackled. Now you will never escape the web I have cast around you. Continue to dream, until I drink away every bit of your sweet life force...

Kagome continued to dream, of a place where she had never discovered Sesshoumaru, a person she had begun to care deeply for. Occasionally she would whimper, as the dream filled her with despair.

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Sesshoumaru had left the cave and the human woman he had embraced, the note he had received crumpled in one hand. It was a calling for him to return to his lands, where a few upstart demons were disrupting and invading his territory. He put aside his thoughts of the woman in the cave... The woman he had barely tolerated at the beginning, and had slowly become more and more intrigued with.

He moved with inhuman speed, a blur of white hair that easily passed through forest and meadow and across rivers and valleys. He arrived at his destination by morning, and was quick to locate one of his servants.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" The younger demon bowed respectfully.

"What is the status of the invasion?" Sesshoumaru asked, peering into the distance.

"The lands are quiet, my lord. I have received no word of an invasion," was the reply.

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed, and he brought out the note he had read just hours ago. As he looked at it, there was a flash of sapphire light, and it dissolved in a puff of smoke. The sound of laughter reached his ears.

"It was to lure me here..." he growled, angered that it had been successful.

Kagome,  he thought, and without another word, turned and ran back the way he had come.

His servant blinked, then shrugged with indifference. It wasn't up to him to question the will of the Lord of the Western Lands, after all.

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Hopefully we're all a little less confused now. ^_^