- CHAPTER FOURTEEN – NIGHTMARES -


The room smelled of incense. Kagome sat on a plush pillow, her legs tucked awkwardly under her, surrounded by women affecting servile postures. They worked to hold back trembles, wordless and braced. Gaudy blue, orange, and purple fabric filled the space, draped over walls and piled in heaps meant to look comfortable and inviting, full of intricate designs to showcase its cost. Kagome glanced around, taking it in, and thought the whole display crass and grasping. The person who had selected each bolt must have wanted visitors to think them refined, but it all looked like a clashing waste of money to her.

A door opened, and she lifted her chin, glaring at the figure who entered – the man who'd undoubtedly paid a considerable sum for someone to poorly advise him on taste and décor. Maybe the nervous women around her knew something she didn't, but she wouldn't let her worry show. Father would change his mind. He wasn't this horrible. He would come for her, begging to be let out of the contract. She was his only daughter.

The stranger advanced slowly. He was handsome at first glance, with thick, long hair and a fine line to his nose and jaw, and approached with a smile of perfect teeth.

"Ladies. Welcome to my estate," he gave a slight bow. "I'm Naraku."

Two women on Kagome's right gave into the fear she wasn't privy to and began to shake. Another started to cry, dropping her face into her hands.

Naraku's smile fell as he watched. "It appears…," a chill crept into his easy droll. "As if this new station of power and influence is an imposition to some," his beauty faded as his stare hardened.

Raised under her father's roof, Kagome recognized someone quick to anger. "My lord," she bore without thinking, having long protected Souta from the man who'd claimed to love them. "They're overwhelmed. Your name proceeds you."

Red eyes fixed on her. "Apparently its one that warrants quaking and hysterics."

Kagome had managed a drunk her entire life. Though this one was entirely sober, she could already tell he required the same finesse. Ducking her head, she spoke with a strength she couldn't hide. "I come from a remote province, full of rice paddies and ox carts, and don't know the ways of this city," she flicked a glance up. "But it seems like you're an important figure in its daily function. My new sisters are only awed by this opportunity and unable to express themselves."

The man gauged her. Though her words were docile, her tone was not. Was she mocking him? "Then why aren't you so similarly affected?" He asked sharply.

Kagome heard the edge in his voice and worked to soften hers, letting her gaze roam the meticulously set-up room. "I must admit, the cost of this parlor alone is enough to bring me close," she forced herself to sound admiring. "But I don't want to seem like a simple, country girl in the presence of such a city official."

Naraku weighed her response, rolling it around before him like a good glass of wine. There had been just enough flattery to appease and still sound genuine, and the insolence he thought he'd heard was gone. "What's your name?" He finally asked, his attention now solely on her. The other women had become invisible.

Kagome swallowed. "Kagome Higurashi."

Naraku tasted her name as he had her compliments. "Kagome," his smile returned. "Welcome again. I think you and I will get along nicely."

Kagome woke, thrashing against the sheets over her as if she were fighting back reaching arms. Stone walls swam into focus, and she blinked in the dim light of her banked fire. It took her a moment to figure out where she was – not in the receiving hall of Naraku's estate, but deep among the Ouja's mountain range.

Her bed was covered in sweat and her own solitude. Ai, Moegi, and Asagi had stayed away at her repeated insistence; she wouldn't let them lose sleep on her behalf. Kagome sat up, still tasting her first conversation with Naraku. How little she'd known then of the monster who lurked behind those flashing teeth.

She shuddered and palmed her forehead; there was no way she'd fall back asleep and risk returning to that day. Her knees slid up to her chest as she tried to remain in the present, but red eyes full of anger seemed to stare from the shadows. She couldn't stay here.

Kagome shifted her legs to the side of the bed, letting her feet find the floor and toe its cold face a moment before rising from the mattress. She crossed the room and opened the door on automatic, moving out into the hall. No guard greeted her now.

She knew who she wanted to see and started down the tunnel with determined steps, Naraku's gaze following her from the darkness.

Only one person would drive him from her mind.


Inu-Yasha lay with his arm behind his head, unable to fall asleep; it had been hard since Kagome's absence.

"As if you haven't slept alone all your life," he growled, squeezing his eyes shut and trying not to think of the girl who had completely consumed him.

Their relationship was new, but he had fallen hard – harder than she. Every day he fought not to stare too deeply, lest he reveal feelings he knew shone there.

It was late, and everyone but the sentries patrolling the mountain's cold exterior had retired for the night. There had been no word of a wolf retaliation, and after so much time, Inu-Yasha was daring to hope none was coming.

A knock rapped against his door – loud in the pensive silence of his thoughts.

Inu-Yasha glared balefully at the wooden frame. "What?" He let annoyance flood his tone. Who but Shippo, or another just-graduated teen, would bother him at this hour? Such impertinence. He rose from the bed, not acknowledging that he was hardly older than they.

Claws clasped the brass ring and drew it back swiftly, revealing the passage and a tired girl who greeted him with a sheepish wave.

"Hi," Kagome forced a tight smile. "I couldn't sleep. I was wondering if I—?"

Inu-Yasha's eyes widened. "Kagome!" He rushed. "Of course," he swung the door wide. "Come in."

She entered and crossed her arms, rubbing them in the chilly air. Without her presence, the hanyou's hearth had returned to its unlit status. "Sorry. You were right," she shifted in discomfort, letting her smile fall in the dim torchlight. "My nightmares are pretty bad."

Inu-Yasha pushed the door closed and reached for her, his mind a jumble of elation and concern. "Are you alright?"

A trembled started in her chin, and she managed to shake her head.

The emotion he had desperately tried to guard from his gaze welled up, and he took the step to her side, circling arms around her shoulders and waist. His touch caused the tremble to spread, flooding her body and scent.

"I've got you," his voice hitched as he pulled her tight, realizing her shake came from a terror she'd never shown before. Inu-Yasha experienced a rare feeling of helplessness and spread his palms over her back and hip, as if the expanse of his claws could cleave away her fear. "They're over now."

Kagome pressed her face into his collar, squeezing her eyes shut and grabbing up handfuls of haori at his back.

They stood in the cold shadows, and Inu-Yasha's worry began to overwhelm any vestige pleasure at her nightly visit; her distress was increasing. Quick breaths grew erratic at his chest, and he realized she was starting to hyperventilate.

"Tell me about them," he kept his voice calm, wondering how he could defeat her unseen foe. "About the one you just had."

She gave a strangled sound, unable to form words, and the Ouja leader fought down a flare of panic.

"Kagome?" He drew back and took the side of her face. "Look at me."

She swallowed and tried to slow her breathing. Inu-Yasha watched her wrestle for a minute, seeing more of the unfamiliar fear darken her features. This was the reaction he had expected in the alley.

"I-I dreamed of…," her words were hiccups as her chest heaved against his. "The night I first met Naraku," the name caught in her throat. "It was one of my worst," though their faces were only inches from each other, the girl's gaze grew unfocused.

Inu-Yasha kept hold of her cheek. "Why?"

Kagome inhaled deeply, fighting her fast heart.

He waited for her to continue, but she stared wordlessly at the far wall, reliving a scene he couldn't see.

His worry doubled. "Tell me," he thumbed her temple. "Please."

Her lips moved mutely for a moment, murmuring breathless phrases that stiffened his spine.

"Please," she mouthed, echoing him. "Please, have mercy. Don't do this. I won't. You can't make me."

Inu-Yasha felt sudden tears spring to his eyes and blinked back their sting. "Kagome?"

Her soundless whispers ceased, and she took a long, slow inhale, reclaiming the spiraled part of herself lost in memory. "I hadn't known what a horrible excuse for a human being he was then," she said evenly, her voice small. "I'd even considered him kind of good-looking," a seize ripped up her spine at the thought, stiffening her entire frame.

Inu-Yasha blinked again, swallowing thickly as another realization hit. Kagome was dealing with her trauma for the first time, facing it head on, instead of burying it as she had in Jinenji's tunnel.

Not in the streets of Kanaka. Not among his clansmen.

Here. Tonight. With him.

He held her, bringing a hand to her head and smoothing back her hair. "It's okay," he soothed, not needing pre-planned practice with the affection this time.

If Kagome felt his touch, she gave no notice. "I tried to help the other girls," she started. "But they wanted nothing to do with me," sad eyes finally shifted to his. Woe left them big and vulnerable. "Like I had asked for the special attention or something," her own tears started to grow.

"You didn't," he assured, stroking dark waves stiff with earlier sweat.

"Didn't I though? Kagome countered. "He took interest in me from the beginning. I must have asked for it when I stood up to him."

"No!" Inu-Yasha's voice shook, and the force of the word rumbled against her temple.

She barely heard. "At first Naraku pretended to be rational, like if you appeased his ego enough, surely he'd show you kindness," the tears made her gaze glisten. "But that wasn't true," wetness welled over and spilled down her cheeks. "He was sadistic," her voice broke, heavy and choked in pain. "His sexual appetites were perverse. It didn't matter how witty you were; in the end, he wanted everything that made you whole. Made you who you were," Kagome gulped down an inhale, rebelling against the sobs rising in her throat. "Inu-Yasha," his name quivered in the air as she stared up at him, returning fully to the room. "Don't let him take me again."

He clung tighter, wishing the strength of his hold could convey just far he would go to prevent such a thing. "I won't! I promise!"

Kagome let go of her last thread of control and crumpled into his arms, crying as she hadn't allowed herself to since arriving in Kanaka. She couldn't temper the misery that wracked her frame now, and didn't try, weeping for all that had been taken without her consent. Inu-Yasha held her, standing tall as she curled weakly against him, unleashing the sorrow a year of abuse had wrought. He might not have known all the horrors she had suffered, but adversity and hatred were nothing new to him, and his grip was tense with compassion and simmering rage.

Inu-Yasha stood in the middle of his chamber, cradling the sobbing human girl he had grown to love more than his limbs. All he wanted to do was take her trauma away, willing himself to have been part of her life a year ago. He would never have let anyone hurt her as Naraku had.

"I've got you," his lips grazed her ear. "You're safe," he knew Kagome had no idea of her effect on him, too consumed with the dark shadows of her past. She had little room for the bursting emotions he felt for her, but it didn't stop the growing wrath that rattled his frame, or the clawing urge for revenge he struggled to swallow down.

"No," tears streaked her face and sobs wracked her frame, bucking her shoulders in his embrace. "I'm not. I'll never be."

"You are," he said resolutely. "I won't let anything happen to you."

A mirthless smile lifted her mouth. "You know nothing"

"I know me," Inu-Yasha countered, dropping his gaze as she sniffled against him. "And I know how I get around those I care about."

Kagome's sorrow subsided enough for her to glance up.

"I've worked my whole life to save those who're forgotten and lost," he said. "I fold them into this clan and keep them safe," kindness filled his voice, softening it to a pitch he rarely let slip. "We're all here to support each other."

She stilled. "Even me?"

Inu-Yasha smiled. "Especially you," he loosened the circle of his arms. "Let's go to bed – just to sleep. You won't have any more nightmares," he guided her forward, gesturing to the room's only piece of furniture.

"How do you know?" She asked, letting herself be led.

His grin strengthened. "Because you're in love with me."

Kagome wiped the wetness from her eyes, processing his words. "Am not," she managed, giving him a lackluster glare.

"Oh fine. Maybe it's the other way around," he shrugged. "I could have it backwards."

She sniffled, slow after her tears. "Backwards?"

"Come lay down," Inu-Yasha released his hold. "You look tired."

Kagome sighed heavily, climbing atop the mattress. "I am."

He watched her head for pillows, glad his latest admission hadn't registered. She didn't need to hear it now. "Do you want a fire?"

"Yes," she mumbled, pulling up the comforter he hadn't been using.

He darted over to the fireplace and crouched down, placing kindling and logs quickly.

Kagome fluffed both pillows, testing which one she wanted. No red eyes watched her from the room's corners, banished by the creak in Inu-Yasha's heel as he leaned forward. Her cheeks felt puffy and hot, and she was sure she looked a mess, but the energy to care had left her. Fatigue was making her mind slow and heavy.

Orange light began to flicker, adding to the wavering torches along the walls, and Kagome laid down, closing her eyes as the smell of smoke rose into the air. "Thank you," she murmured, drawing the blankets up to her ear.

Bare feet padded across the room, and cloth rustled and shifted as Inu-Yasha untied his haori. The mattress creaked from his weight, and she lifted her head without being asked, letting him slide an arm under her neck.

The hanyou repositioned the blankets with a mutter of 'quit hogging them all', and Kagome found her face full of warm chest. Naraku receded further, not back into the cage she held within herself, but far outside the stone, across the fields and forests separating them from Kanaka.

She smiled, palming the impressive display before her. "This is much nicer without oozing puss," she mustered.

Inu-Yasha put his other arm over her waist. "You sure know how to compliment a guy."

Kagome shrugged. "You're welcome."

He planted a kiss into her bangs and spoke against her skin. "Watch me be right. You won't have another nightmare tonight."

"What if I've just reached my quota, and it has nothing to do with you?"

She felt him smile against her forehead.

"Another compliment?" He asked.

"Don't you like how I build you up?"

"Mm-hm."

Kagome lifted her face, meeting his gaze. It was gentle and amused, and she wondered how she had ever thought it hard or hateful. "Inu-Yasha?"

"Yeah?"

She curled up against him, staring with a gratitude that made his stomach flip-flop. It almost seemed as if she were about to utter an intimate phrase he desperately hoped she'd say, but instead, she simply whispered, "Goodnight."

Inu-Yasha felt her watch his adam's apple move as he swallowed. "Night."


Morning came to Kagome's inner clock, and waking was very different than the last time she'd spent the night in Inu-Yasha's room. She made no move to extract herself from the arms encircling her, savoring their weight and warmth as she blinked herself to consciousness. One of the hanyou's hands had ventured up the back of her shirt, lifting the fabric to expose her stomach, and the other lay against the pillows under her hair. Loud exhales, almost hinting at a snore, hit her cheeks and ear, and she smiled up at him, taking the rare moment to study.

Fangs poked from Inu-Yasha's open mouth, and a lock of white hair had sandwiched itself between them. She brushed it back, trailing her fingers along the definition in his torso as she did so. There was no trace of his old wound, no scar to hint at what he'd overcome, and she wondered how many vanished marks he had endured.

Kagome felt suddenly self-conscious about her own scars, numerous and ugly, and reached behind to pluck his hand out.

Her squirm brought Inu-Yasha from sleep, making his ears perk and his eyes flutter open. "No," he yawned, flattening his palm against her shoulder blades in refusal. "It stays."

"It's my back."

"My hand," he countered.

She frowned in embarrassment. "Inu-Yasha, please."

He gauged her, drifting his claws down her spine. "You don't like it?"

"I do, but—."

"But nothing.

Kagome sighed, looking up. "I'm repulsive."

Amber stared back in disbelief. "There is nothing repulsive about you," his fangs reappeared as he smiled. "Quite the opposite."

She rolled her eyes. "You're biased. I remember your number. You don't have a lot of ladies to compare me to"

Inu-Yasha scoffed. "First off, I've lived three times as long as you, so I have plenty of females for comparison, and second, I'm not biased, I'm picky."

Kagome quirked her brow. "You go for mouthy, human girls with unsightly scars?"

"No," he ran his hand along her skin, tingling her insides. "I like mouthy, human girls who've known hardship like I have. They get me every time."

"Psh," she waved him away, feeling a blush start in her cheeks.

He trailed his palm below her back without warning, cupping the roundness clothed in sleeping shorts. "I also like your butt."

"Yes," she smiled in spite of herself. "We've established this."

Inu-Yasha drew her close, and she bent a leg up between his, making the space between them disappear

"I like this too," he patted in approval. "Very nice."

"Easy," Kagome warned. "You're edging toward pervert."

"If I do, it's your fault."

Her blush grew. "Quit it."

Inu-Yasha grinned. "Am I being charming? 'Cause I sure sound it. Don't lie."

She laughed. "I wouldn't call it that."

His gaze glinted with knowing. "Yes, you would," he pulled the arm in her hair free and propped himself up. "Come here. I want a kiss."

The confidence was as surprising as it was pleasing. "You do?"

He nodded. "Several."