Kagome sighed. She'd been doing that a lot lately. Her room had become bland, and she didn't want to be in it anymore; it was stuffy and it felt smaller than it had before. InuYasha had been posted outside, and just recently she'd found out that she had a night guard, Jinenji. She was a little shocked when she first saw him, but she refused to let herself scream at him.

She let her mind wander back to its own time, and she stood up. She'd been outfitted with the flowiest robe she could have imagined, and they annoyed her to no end. Until recently she'd thought that flowy was better in every regard.

She gripped the door handle and yanked it open. The sleeping form of InuYasha tumbled slowly to her feet, white-silver hair flowing lazily around his dog-ears. After a moment without him waking he seemed to remember something, then his eyes opened.

"What do you want?" He asked irritably, getting to his feet. Kagome thought about this. What did she want…?

"Well, to start with, a home all to myself with a nice yard and prince charming. But for now I'm bored, so tell me your deepest, darkest secret, and I'll be content till breakfast, which happened an hour ago..." She said, putting her foot down on his bare chest, restricting him from getting up without harming her. He glared up at her, clearly not amused.

"Look," He said, then after a moment gritted his teeth and added, "M'lady, you don't have any power over my personal life, nor memories or secrets. So fuck the hell off. Your tutor is on her way, so get ready." With that he rolled out of her hold and walked back out, shutting the door. Kagome sighed again. What was there to do to get ready?

Kagome slow thought about her journal, wondering if she should make an entry. She chewed on her pencil for a little while, then put it down to write.

--

Deer diray, Miroku mad mee leern too reed tooday. Becus uv it iy need too rite in mai jernel.

Kagome.

--

Though she knew her script was untidy, she didn't care, and she put her pencil down, closing the book and putting it away.

She sighed, and didn't want to write anymore for today. She'd only learned to read today after all. She thought back over her day. Her tutors had not been what she was expecting.

Sango, her manors teacher, had brought her son, Shippo, because she didn't trust him in her brother's hands, though she loved Kohaku dearly. Kagome looked at the scorch marks on her bed. Well, at least there'd be something for her to do, if the maids didn't get there first.

Her other tutor, Miroku, was of high status, and a very wealthy man, though with this wealth he'd become – or maybe he was born – slimy. Kagome didn't really like his hand always retracing its steps to her butt. However, she had to admit, he was a good teacher, and he was a holy man, supposedly…

Life could be so cruel, Kagome thought. She sighed, and looked back at her journal.

--

Wel iy thinc iy need too gow too bed now. Slepe wil help mee. It alwais dos.

Kagome.

--

Kagome looked around. She was sitting at her writing desk, pencil in hand, and she was writing. The only strange thing about this scene was that she wasn't meaning to write anything. Her pencil moved of it's own free will; spelling out words that Kagome didn't know how to read. The one word she knew it was writing was 'prophesy'. Kagome didn't know how she knew that, though, since this script was in a different language.

She attempted to let go of the pencil, but pain shot through her body.

Help! She tried to cry out, but she couldn't. Her voice was absorbed into the darkness around her. There was nothing in the world but her, the paper, pencil and desk. Even the desk was fading.

Help! She tried again, screaming out, but this time her body didn't even move; it ignored her fear, her eyelids slid to halfway open, and she'd lost control.

Kagome heard herself scream.

She was asleep, and terrified, but she didn't know how to wake up.

What if I can't wake up? I… I don't know how! She could feel tears rolling down her cheeks. There was blood all around her, and she was drowning in it. She could feel herself loosing touch with her body; dying, very slowly, but painlessly. She choked on her tears… Or was that the blood? She didn't know anymore. She was lost in deep shades of red. Somehow she saw, even in the infinite pool of blood, and untouched, fluttering golden dress, binding her to this lifeless existence, trapped in her own blood.

The world shook, and there was a low rumbling. These weren't important, though, Kagome only had a little air left, and she needed to get out of the dress quickly.

As she watched it slide down her legs the beautiful golden dress was stained with her blood, a deep maroon. Her favorite colors…

Suddenly her pencil broke, lacerating her hand. The low rumble seemed to speed up and get higher, sounding worried.

She heard herself scream again, and her eyes opened. She was all wet, and clinging to something warm. After a moment of heavy breathing she found out that she could move her arm. So she did. She also opened her eyes to see her maroon and gold room, and silver. She moved her head back so far that the rest of her body followed, and she saw, for the first time, what she was clinging to.

"I…InuYasha?" She asked, though she was to frightened to blush. InuYasha's golden eyes glowed with worry, though Kagome, even in the best of times, might not have seen it.

"It's all right…" He said, his voice coming out choppy, as if he wasn't sure it was.

Kagome was expecting a '…It was just a dream, nothing to worry about,' but it never came. Her whole body was covered in cold sweat, and her skimpy sleeping robe stuck to her skin, which was clammy. Kagome coughed into her hand, and looked up at InuYasha with an expression that said '…And?'

"Lets get you to another room, okay?" He said, lifting her up as if she weighed a feather. Kagome coughed again. "Why? I've… I've lived through bad dreams before," She said. She was a pain in her shoulders that she noticed just then, but it had been there for a while. InuYasha motioned to the walls of her room.

There were large fonts, small fonts, and words in other languages written all over Kagome's walls, and there was a snapped pencil where she had woken.

One small segment Kagome could almost read. InuYasha must have seen her staring at it, because he spoke next.

"'And so the maiden will clutch her destiny, and then the story will be written,'" He read aloud. "And that segment over there, written in Kloshi says 'Some terms will end the deal before it starts,'" He translated.

Kagome stared at the walls a little more, and coughed again. She looked at her hand, which had cuts on it. However that wasn't the most interesting thing on her hand.

She was coughing blood.

"I need…" But even finishing that sentence was too much effort, and Kagome collapsed, not dreaming.

Kagome opened her eyes.

Then she woke up. By the time she woke up, in fact, she was standing in the middle of the room, and she had a lingering feeling that her name was Kikyo.

The girl blinked, and looked around. InuYasha was standing inside her room, in the corner by the door. Guess higher security was in order.

Kirara mewed. Kagome hadn't named Kirara, Kirara had named herself through Kagome, she felt. Buyo, however, she had no idea what to call Buyo other than 'fat', so she had InuYasha name Buyo for her. No one had told her what was wrong with her, but she didn't press. Kirara was unfathomably light, and sweet, and cute, and smart, and…

Buyo was fat, and fur, and Kagome had no idea how a demon cat like that would stay alive if Kirara wasn't nice to him. Buyo had a good disguise; so few people realized he was a demon. Kirara, on the other paw, was clearly a demon. And she made it clear that she was more powerful than humans, but it was just plain easier this way, so she wouldn't bother attacking. After all, if she could get cuddles and food without blood stains, yay!

Kagome was sitting bolt upright, her mouth was opened in a blood-curdeling scream, and she was covered in cold sweat, yet she was still asleep.

InuYasha was in the corner, knocked off his feet and immobilized with the loud noise. There was a small choking noise as Kagome laid back with a snap and stopped screaming. InuYasha slowly got up, his ears ringing so loudly it was hard to think straight, and walked over to Kagome. Her eyes weren't open, but she was choking on something. InuYasha, with no medical training, had only a vague idea how to help, but he had the feeling that it wouldn't work this time. He gripped her shoulder so tightly that he saw his knuckles turn white just before…

InuYasha opened his eyes. He was in a colorless place that had no ground to speak of, yet he was standing on something. He tried to speak, but the sound of his voice was drained away and absorbed into the background. He turned around and saw two women, caught in a single frame of motionlessness. One of the women was wearing a red dress with strips of fabric flowing away from her in all directions except ahead of her, and her hair was long, spead out behind her as if she'd just leaped onto the other woman. She also had skin so fare, so white, that InuYasha later would have sworn she was some beautiful snowman.

The other woman looked younger, and not quite as well developed, but otherwise much the same. She had the same cute and perfectly shaped nose, the same full, yet not obtrusive lips, and the same large, almond shaped eyes, but the color was different; frozen blue. Kagome sat there, with hands around her neck. InuYasha could barely make out the third figure that was strangling her before he was stretched and thrown out of this little realm.

…InuYasha sat bolt upright and had to remember who he was for a moment, and what he was doing. He looked down at Kagome's face and saw that her dream, whatever it was, had ended, and she was resting peacefully. InuYasha put his hand on his mouth and took a deep breath, letting it out in a long sigh, then removed his hand to wipe the sweat away.

He walked over to the door and opened it.

"Jinenji," He said quietly to the Hanyou sitting by the door.

"Yes?" Jinenji answered after a moment of his ears sending signals, and is brain sending them back.

"Watch Kagome for a little while for me, would you? I need to check something…" He said. Jinenji would have been shocked at InuYasha politeness there, if Jinenji had been spoken to by InuYasha any time before that. InuYasha, however, was shocked at his own sincerity of being polite, and he had spoken to InuYasha before.

He found himself at Kagome's old room, which had been untouched for study. He looked for another piece of writing that he'd seen before.

"'And the lovers will look into each other's minds, one by one, two will be one,'" He read aloud.