Disclaimer: Well, I'm sure your all just itchin' to know what that man was talking about! Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough. Anywho, on with the story!

He had been gone for only an hour, yet it felt like days to her. Yet, she could still remember the look she had seen in his eyes when that man had said 'Mate'. She could still see that almost distant look in his eyes as he told them about his decision.

Flashback

"Inu-Yasha, will you go to the west?" Miroku asked him, while thinking to himself that it was just a trick to lure him away from them.

He stood for a long time, simply silent. When he turned, that's when she couldn't move. Right then was when she saw that look in his eyes for the first time. It was so distant that she almost didn't catch it. It was like a sadness, but it held something of a fear in it as well. It scared her so badly that she averted her eyes just as quickly as he had his. They couldn't look at each other right then, not with that new knowledge out in the open. She wasn't sure what had happened after that, but knew deep inside that they wouldn't be able to act the same around each other anymore.

Flashback

He had left without so much as a goodbye to her, and she didn't regret it or even notice till he had been long gone. Now it was too late for any words to be spoken, and she didn't have any she wanted to say.

'Why do I even think of him now? He had been hiding a very important secret from me and I'm feeling guilt? Why should I, when he was the one cheating on so many woman!' she thought, not even trying to hide the anger that swept across her face right then.

"Are you alright Kagome? Your not feeling sick are you?" Jii-chan asked her, becoming worried. He had seen her come back through the well, and he knew that something big had happened back in time.

"Huh, oh no, not really. Um… Actually, I think I'll go to bed early, I'm really tired," Kagome responded, not looking any of them in the eyes, afraid they would know how sick she really did feel. As she headed upstairs, Kagome noticed something she hadn't before.

'Wait, that letter was addressed to him from his brother. Why would his brother know anything about his mate? This makes no sense,' she couldn't help but wonder how it could have happened like it did. It confused her to no end. 'Why would Sesshou-Maru send him a message like that, and out in the open. I thought he was supposed to hate Inu-Yasha. Nothing makes sense.' Then something clicked. 'Wait, that messanger said that it was a "letter of great urgency", so maybe there's more to this than I thought,' she thought, letting them drone on from there. After settling herself into bed and closing her eyes, her last thought before sleep was,' Inu-Yasha, I wonder what you're doing right now…'

"Damnit! Let me through! I need to talk to Sesshou-maru!" Inu-Yasha yelled at the guards, as they once again blocked his path inside.

"No, we cannot allow that!" one of the gruffer looking guards retorted.

"And why the hell not!" Inu-Yasha once again yelled out, angrier still when the man frowned, as if thinking him stupider than any other he'd seen before.

"Because, No one gets in without the consent of his Lordship!" the same guard nearly yelled at him, just as Inu-Yasha was pushed back onto the ground, and immediately shot the man a death glare, before jumping back up to try it again.

"Inu-Yasha! Be still!" a cold voice shouted out, and Inu-Yasha instantly lowered his claws. His eyes shot up to his one and only half-brother, just as he was sent a death glare for acting rasher than usual.

"Well, sorry, but I couldn't help it! These fucking bastards wouldn't let me through!"

"And that is for good reason…"

"The hell is that suppose'ta mean?"

"sigh, I don't have time to squander, I must be getting back," Sesshou-Maru replied, walking back inside, a determined look set upon his face. Inu-Yasha just shrugged his shoulders and walked past the guards and into the castle, following his brother. He was led through many darkened hallways, places he had never been allowed to enter when he used to live here. It brought back many terrible memories, which he'd rather not remember.

He almost lost his brother in the many vast hallways as Sesshou-Maru led him deeper and deeper into the castle. Inu-Yasha stopped dead in his tracks as a smell wafted into his nose, one that he was quite familiar with.

"Bara…" was all he heard before his brother began to sprint down the hall only to disappear around a corner, away from his sight. Inu-Yasha ran to catch up with his brother, worry etched upon his face, a kind of worry he hadn't felt in nearly two centuries.

As he rounded the third corner, he stopped in front of an open door, in which he knew his brother and whomever it was that was bleeding were. The scent of roses and fresh wind assaulted his senses, making his knees weak and rigid at the same time. However, the scent of blood also filled his nose, almost covering the wonderful scent completely. But he had no more time to simply bask in his thoughts, for the sounds of tearing flesh and the clank of metal filled his ears and he rushed in to see what it was. The sight before made him want to throw up.