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It was night when I awoke. The stars overhead were being blocked out by dark clouds which rumbled warnings of a coming storm. The breezes blew strongly, rustling the leaves and bowing the branches of the trees surrounding the grove in which I lay.

I sat up, pulling away from the soft fur surrounding my body. When I looked down at my clothing, I saw that I was not dressed in the traditional miko garbs that I had started the day with; instead, I was covered in Sesshomaru's outer shirt which was tied together like a short dress. I shrugged at the arrangement and stood up. It's not like I haven't been in less decent apparel. My school uniform is probably shorter.

Speaking of my school uniform…I never did get it back from Miroku. I would hate to think what he is doing with it. Damnit! Why did I even bring that up? You know, whenever you don't want to think about something; that is always the first thing you think of. Now I don't even think I want it back to burn it. Let him have it. He sure seemed to be enjoying himself. Sigh. That's gotta be like the third lost uniform this month. I don't even want to know what kind of reason Gramps has come up with to explain why I am constantly in need of new uniforms.

Sorry bout that, I'm off topic. I was telling a story; my story.

I was telling you how my worst experiment turned into something more. I was telling you how it all happened, how I finally began to understand.

I made my way towards the fire set up in the clearing. As I gazed upon the glowing ambers, I couldn't help feeling the warmth washing over me and being reminded of how I had arrived at this place, how only a few hours ago he had been…

"Kagome."

I'm not sure if it was the fact that I was thinking about him in a way that I probably shouldn't have been, or the fact that he had come out of absolutely nowhere and spoke in that way that he must so enjoy, that scared the crap out of me; but I spun around so fast to face him that I tripped over my own feet (Yes, you heard right, my own feet. You know, one twists around the other and gets bent at an angle that doesn't have any support, and then in the process of trying to fix it you loose your balance? It does happen, people! I am not the only person capable of tripping over my own feet!) .

Anyways, as you can imagine given my, oh so supper, luck; I fell backwards right towards the fire. But of course I wouldn't get burned. Oh no, the fates had something much better in store for me. Instead of hitting the flames, I felt myself move without ever moving. In an instant I was standing several feet from the fire and felt a strong arm encircling my waist.

"You jerk!"

I have no idea what compelled me to do it, but I was so mad at the fact that he had scared me so much that I jumped and then decided to play hero and save me before I hit the flames as though that would make everything all better; that I spun around in his hold and slapped my hand against his chest, zapping him with a small jolt of miko powers.

He didn't let go of me, of course. In fact, he pulled me closer and leaned down to my shoulder…and…bit me…again…and again not hard enough to break the skin but still strong enough to feel the dangerous pinch of his fangs.

"Why." I was not happy with him. "Do." In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that his teeth were latched on to me I might have slapped him. "You." So what if I zapped him, he had almost made me fall in the fire. "Keep." I've done worse things to Inuyasha. "BITTING ME!"

He pulled back from my shoulder and I could see the smug little smile that had worked its way onto his face. I knew it wasn't a trick of the moon this time, because the clouds were blocking it out.

"Why do you keep attempting to purify me?"

"I don't! Well I do…but that's not the point!"

He just raised one of his damn perfect eyebrows and turned away from me and started walking in the opposite direction.

"It's not really purifying you know." I started walking behind him. I figured since he had brought me here, he may as well have to listen to me. "I would call it more of a zap. Besides, it's not like you would even feel it if I tried to hit you or something right?"

He came to a sudden stop. I gulped a little thinking he just might be thinking I was feeling up to challenging him again, which I totally wasn't. One battle with Sesshomaru is enough to tire you out for a month. I was grateful when instead of turning to face me; he lifted his nose slightly in the air.

"The rain is coming. It would be quicker," He turned to look at me, "If we flew."

"You mean, like, together?" Ok, I am well aware that that wasn't the brightest comment I have ever made, but I really don't think it deserved the look he gave me which said 'what did you think you were going to fly on, a purple elephant?'

I sighed and walked over to him, turning around so that he could pick me up.

"This had better be quick," I mumbled before we took off.

I have really got to stop saying things to him. He takes things far too seriously. When I said quick, I was thinking a few minutes not a few seconds. The G-force was so heavy that I felt as though my lungs would burst from the pressure. I bet they would have too, if it weren't for the powerful energy forming a brilliant barrier of light surrounding us.

When he set us down on the ground again and released me, I was so disoriented that I lost my balance and fell. He was, of course, not there to catch me. Sure he's all good with keeping me out of the fire, but when it comes to the ground; that's my own problem. I scowled and looked up to him, but he wasn't looking at me. I bet he knew that the look I was sending would turn him to stone and he was afraid to look. Well maybe afraid is not the right word, but he still knew and he still refused to look.

I gave up trying to solidify him with my eyes and took a look around. We were at a little house. Even though it seemed we were in the middle of nowhere with woods all around us, the house was well kept and lit up brightly from within.

"We're going in there?" I asked as I got up from the ground and brushed myself off.

"Hn," I would say that was his reply, but I refuse to count 'Hn' as a reply. I don't even think it is a word!

"But it looks like there's people in there."

He looked back to me almost as if saying 'and your point?', so I answered the question even though it may have been a figment of my imagination.

"There are people in there, right? Or there was? I mean it looks lived in and all, and people wouldn't just leave their house." Suddenly I became very anxious over the prospects of what he had done to procure for us this shelter. "There are people in there, aren't there?"

He started walking to the house, but still gave me an answer as he went.

"No."

"No?" No what? No, there weren't people there; no, there were people but now there isn't because the had been asked nicely to leave; or no, there are people in there but you can't really see them cause they are splattered all over the walls?

When the door opened as he approached I realized what he had meant. No, he didn't kill anyone for this shelter, and yes there are people living there. Would it have been so hard for him to just say that?

An elderly woman stood in the doorway. Her long white hair actually brushed against the ground as she bowed her head to Sesshomaru. After her greeting she straightened, well as straightened as she could get considering her posture was well eroded by time. Her spine was obviously crooked, and bent into a hump on her shoulder. But despite the obviousness of her age, her face was still warm and welcoming. Time had brushed its strokes there as well, but the heavy creases around her eyes and mouth told of a woman who had smiled often.

"Welcome young ones," she greeted in a deep raspy voice that somehow reminded me of the old ladies at the supermarket that smoke too many cigarettes. "Come, come in out the whether."

Either I have seen Snow White one too many times, or I just know a witch when I see them (I guess I should probably know a witch when I see one being that I am a miko and all, but they really are good at hiding themselves. Most of the time you can never see one until it is too late.). Anyways, this woman, despite the welcoming image she portrayed, was obviously a witch; and I was, for once, feeling glad that I was there with a Taiyoukai, even if it was Sesshomaru.

"Well, well, well," She had set her sights on me. "What do we have here? You have brought the Shikon Miko with you Sesshomaru? What a treat."

"Behave yourself old woman," He threatened as he stepped though the doorway.

"I always do," She called after him in a way that made me think the total opposite, before she turned back to me.

"So you're the bitch?" I was absolutely abhorred. Who comes out and says something like that? I mean, I might expect it from some young vixen who was after Sesshomaru's body or something, but not from an old woman!

"No, No!" She called out. "Forgive me. I did not mean that as it sounded. I meant that you are his pack's bitch. The Alpha, if I'm not mistaken. Oh, now dearie, don't look so baffled. I know much more about that one than you may think. Every Lord is in need of a good oracle now and then, and my only price is a little peek of what's inside. I have seen you many times girl, many times."

She trailed off in a way that I did not appreciate at all. I knew immediately the price she was talking about. I had heard it once from Kaede that some witches feed off of memories. They do not take them from a person, but more use them to live. Our memories are what make us the people we are. They give us our life; and this brand of witch has learned to make that life their own. She was probably hundreds, if not thousands of years older than she looked, filled with the borrowed life of others.

"Come in," she beckoned cheerfully when she came out of her reverie, "My home is your home."

She shuffled back from the doorway and I reluctantly followed. I knew I was not going to enjoy what was coming. I could just feel it. And I swear that the crack of thunder that echoed in the distance which served to drive me forward into the house, was one of the gods laughing at me.

The old woman led me to a room in the back of the house. She pushed open the screen and entered with a lit lantern which she set on a small table in the center of the room. She looked at me, and apparently seeing the confusion in may face, gave me an explanation.

"Tonight you sleep. You will have answers in the morning."

I didn't like the sound of that one bit, and I was about to tell her so; but she suddenly bowed a deep respectful bow, not towards me, but towards the one who had come to stand beside me.

"I shall leave the two of you for now my Lord. We shall speak in the morning."

And then she shuffled out of the little room, closing the screen behind her and leaving me alone with Sesshomaru, only a single small lantern for light, and only one bed. I gulped nervously and turned towards him.

"So…"

"Why did you attack me?"

Well…that wasn't what I was expecting. Sure, he cut me off and all, but I was too busy trying to come up with the right answer to be bothered by it. I knew saying that 'it really just seemed like a good idea at the time' wouldn't cut it.

"You're battles with Inuyasha are for dominance in the pack. It took me a while, but now I finally get that fact. When I attacked you, I was trying to show you that I would not be so passive with your dominance over me."

"And yet you would submit."

"I submit because I know I can not defeat you, but that doesn't mean I will be your bitch simply because you have suddenly deemed it so."

He raised an eyebrow at my comment, but I ignored it, took a deep breath, and continued.

"I am part of your pack. It may not have been intentional. In fact, I believe the mark you placed on me with the pheromones in your poison was meant as a kill mark; one so that, even after my death, Inuyasha would have a constant reminder of who had taken my life. But because I lived and continued to travel with Inuyasha, who is also a member of your pack, I became yours as well."

"I see you have done some more research. What else have you learned Kagome?"

He was circling me in a way that made me feel like a piece of meat to a vulture, but I pressed on anyways.

"You never gave me more than a passing glance. You knew I wasn't powerful enough to be a threat. Even if I had shot one of my arrows at you; that was not enough to make you need to engage me because your position would never have been threatened. But that arrow did do something. It told you that, though I was not a threat, I was powerful enough to suffer you a blow. That, I think, made you realize that I was the most powerful female in your pack."

"And your experiment?" He didn't stop me to make any corrections, only pushed me on as though testing my knowledge.

"The pheromone was the final touch. Through everything, you had been able to pass off my presence, to see me as only a lesser member of the pack not worthy of your time; but the pheromone drew you closer. It made you see, for perhaps the first time, my true position within the pack. Inuyasha only reacted to the pheromone when I presented him with Kikyo's scent, the scent of his intended, the scent of his mate. I believe that, because you reacted so strongly to the idea that I might be in heat, whether or not that would be a possibility given the fact that I am human, your instincts told you that I was in the position to be your mate. That knowledge is what led you to follow me to my time, to learn from me what you did not know before. You were testing me, as I had tested the pheromones."

"And what do you suppose I found?"

He was right behind me when he spoke. He was so close that I could feel his breath brushing against the skin of my neck. I didn't know how to answer his question because I didn't know what he was looking for. All I knew was what my research had told me, but that was not enough. Though youkai do have similar instincts to the animals I had done my research on, they are still very different. I had no idea what Sesshomaru was thinking, or if my analysis had been correct, and I told him as much.

"I don't know."

"You risked your life for these answers," he pulled me against him so that his voice could whisper in my ear. "Are you sure you want to know?"

I pushed away all of the doubts from my mind, and the strange sensations in my body produced by his touch; and answered his question.

"I must know."

"No more lies then, Kagome." He led me towards the bed in the room, stopping when we were right beside it. "Tonight we sleep. In dreams you will find the truth you seek."

I looked down nervously at the bed. Though it did look rather comfortable and had been piled high with pillows and soft blankets, I still had an uneasy feeling about it; mostly revolving around the fact that there was only one bed and that would mean I would have to share it with Sesshomaru.

I sighed. I really didn't have any other options, so I crawled across the bed and settled myself under the blankets. I turned onto my side so that I would not have to see Sesshomaru. At the time, I thought that waking up with him next to me would be enough to give me a heart attack. But, of course, he had other ideas for me.

I felt the bed shift as he too climbed in, but what I was not expecting was the arm that wound around my waist which pulled me tight against his body. I let out a squeak of surprise and started struggling against his hold. You would think that by now I would know better than to try and struggle against his hold, maybe I did, but that still didn't stop me. He was too close. There was no way I would be able to get any sleep when I could feel…well…him, pressed up against me.

"Keep still," He whispered in my ear. "We must be connected for the magic to work properly."

Ohhh, so there was magic involved. That just made things so much better.

"Isn't there any other way?" I whined.

"There are," his hot breath against my skin was sending involuntary shivers through my body, "But you are not ready for that."

I shivered again, but this time it had nothing to do with his breath and everything to do with the suggestive nature of his last statement. I didn't want to think about what other kinds of connections could allow whatever magic was at work to take hold; but because I didn't want to think about, of course, that was all I could think about. And thinking about such connections was not at all helped by the fact that I was currently pressed up against a very warm and very hard body of a very good looking Taiyoukai.

"Sleep."

He tightened his hold on me a fraction as he whispered his order to me, but then loosened his grip and allowed himself to relax. I soon found myself forgetting the strangeness and discomfort of the situation, and after a bit managed to relax enough to close my eyes.

Soon, I was asleep. And then, the dreams came to me.

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Longest chapter yet! Don't get used to it! I was at a loss as to how I should reveal Kagome's discoveries and Sesshomaru's intentions, but then I had this great idea (well technically this is only half of it, but that's not the point). Anyways, I hope some questions about the last experiment have been answered. If not, then I'm sorry but this story really didn't have a plan after the fourth experiment (chapter 7), so I think I'm doing ok considering I'm on chapter 18 and still working off of nothing but a vague idea ;)

Anyways, that's all for today

Later

ShadowsWeaver1

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters I am about to weave into my web of chaos. Any and all definitions have been taken directly from Wikipedia the online encyclopedia because I am far too lazy to do any further research to support my Inuyasha obsession.