"My heart

is a wolf

ruled by

two moons;

one which

beckons me

back into

the night,

the other

is calling

me home." – Maza-Dohta

Chapter 11

Kagome's eyes fluttered open and held on to the dark empty air above her. It was the middle of the night and something had awoken her, but now that she was awake she was almost positive something was watching her. She gathered her elbows beneath her and pushed herself up into a sitting position and studied the door to her room. Suddenly, the door behind her leading out into the courtyard shut with an effective CLACK. Kagome gasped and jumped out of bed, clutching the fur to her chest and whipping around to face the other door.

"Shippo? Is that you?" she hissed into the darkness. Nobody answered. "Misuzu?" she tried again, "Misuzu this isn't funny." She scolded, every hair on her body still standing on end.

When nobody answered Kagome stepped toward the door and pulled it back slowly to peek outside. The low-hanging moon in the sky illuminated everything in the courtyard so brightly that it nearly looked like daylight. The ice crystals in the snow twinkled like a thousand earth-bound stars just waiting to take off. Kagome exhaled shakily and rested her forehead against the sliding door – Misuzu must have not shut it all the way when she brought her dinner that night. Everyone in the palace was on edge while Inuyasha was gone, almost 3 days now, and their frayed nerves must be rubbing off on her.

Kagome decided she needed some fresh air so she tugged her thick work boots on and wrapped the fur around her tightly over her sleeping gown before stepping out onto the deck. The cold winter air bit at her exposed shins but the fur kept her upper torso warm and the cold out. Fat snowflakes lazily fell from the cloudy night sky and Kagome couldn't resist the urge to step out from under the roof and catch a few in her hand. She dragged her heavy boots through the white drift further in the courtyard and stood silently. It was so dark, and so quiet, and so still, save for the snow still slowly tumbling from the clouds – tranquil is the word that came to mind. She'd remember this moment and peace it brought her. She'd also remember how selfish she was for feeling happy that nobody else was around to interrupt or steal this moment away. As if on cue, she sensed a powerful demon presence approaching quickly from above.

Kagome squinted up at the moon and saw a dark figure looming in front of it. Kagome bit her lip in anticipation as the dark silhouette of a demon grew larger as it approached impossibly fast - soaring through the night sky on star dust and cosmic matter. Soundlessly, Inuyasha touched down only a few feet in front of her, his pony tail, fluttering obi, and heavy cape falling into place picture-perfectly. She'd be a liar if she said a small part of her wasn't happy to see him finally return.

"You're back." Kagome peered up at him, the moonlight at his back creating a halo of light around his figure.

"I am, and you're out here alone in the middle of the night." He observed inspecting her choice of wardrobe, "You're not exactly dressed for a midnight winter stroll."

"It wasn't meant to be a long one. I just…" Kagome trailed off, "It's beautiful tonight. Do you want to walk the gardens with me?" she quickly changed gears and gave him what she hoped was her most convincing smile.

The two walked in silence while Kagome grappled with a conversation starter. What she really wanted to talk about was what had been on her mind for the last several days – the curse. But talking about falling in love first thing was a little heavy for the appetizer so she thought hard about something small to start off with.

"I wanted to thank you for taking me to see Sango, Miroku, and Shippo. Things have been better for me here." Kagome spoke earnestly.

"It needed to be done – now we can all rest easier. Although, we still don't have answers about why you're here." Inuyasha grunted while folding his arms into his sleeves.

"Well, one could speculate…" she paused, fumbling with the fur draped over her shoulders and swaddled around her body, "that maybe my purpose here is to break the… curse?" she tested the words out loud and peeked up at him. He didn't look at her and stared straight ahead but upon closer inspection, his jaw was clenched and his gait was too rigid. "Inuyasha?" she wanted his thoughts, regardless of how uncomfortable the thought of falling in love made him feel.

"Uh, well one could speculate that." He said awkwardly looking wayside and scratching the side of his face.

They continued walking in silence before Kagome grabbed his haori sleeve and tugged him to a stop. "We need to talk about the curse. We both know how to break it, but what else do we need to know about it? How do we know when it's broken? Is there a ritual or a cleansing that needs to happen? How much time do you have left before…"

"I don't know the answer to any of those questions. I didn't think to ask when Ubanaki was trying to kill me." He retorted moodily.

Kagome chose to ignore his comment and continue, "Well I've been thinking… maybe we need to visit Ubanaki's village to get answers. You said she was trained her whole life for this so somebody there knows about dark magic, right? We could travel there and –"

"No. I'm not going there and you aren't either. Why would they help us anyways?" Inuyasha scoffed. He had a point, but she was one step ahead of him.

"If we promise to return Ubanaki's remains they might be willing to help us. She's a revered priestess, they'll want her ashes returned to her home." Kagome reasoned. Inuyasha curled his lip into a scowl and Kagome's voice fell to a whisper, "Plus, her body still expels a lot of dark energy. It makes me ill any time I go near her."

"Unless you're planning on spending time in my bedroom, that last part doesn't matter." Inuyasha pointed out plainly and Kagome's cheeks heated up, "If you'd like I'll send for some subject-matter experts on curses, but Ubanaki and we stay here. It's not safe for either of us to go there." Kagome looked down at her feet and fumed for a minute before conceding. He was right – she couldn't ask him to walk into the belly of the beast like that and demand the secrets of the curse. First, they should see what the curse experts have to say about their situation. If that failed, then maybe she could try again with a better thought out plan…

A heavy hand fell on the top of her head and rested there for a moment before she heard him speak, his voice husky with black smoke and honey, "I'm not in any hurry to break the curse, Kagome. Now that you're here… I don't mind living a bit longer." His hand fell away and she looked up to find him bathed in moonlight, shimmering so brightly that she had to blink away. A corner of his lips tugged upward in his trademark half-smirk before he turned away and began to walk back toward the palace. The moment was over.

"You should get back and go to sleep." He called back to her over his shoulder languidly.

How is it, she thought to herself, frozen in place and rooted in the snow, that even in the blinding moonlight I cannot see him clearly?

Kagome stood in the middle of her room, bent at the waist, stretching her lower back when Misuzu arrived with her dinner. Misuzu looked appreciatively at Kagome and closed the door behind her before plopping down on the chest.

"It's good to see you with some color in your cheeks. You enjoyed your time at the dojo, I presume?" she beamed while sneaking a piece of food from Kagome's plate and popping it into her mouth.

"It was fantastic." Kagome sighed contentedly before folding her legs and falling to the ground in front of her meal. She'd be sore in the morning, but it was the best kind of sore.

The following days after Kagome and Inuyasha's midnight garden romp had passed by without much excitement. Inuyasha had locked himself away in his study with his remaining council members (including Shippo and Hachi) in order to devise a strategy for replacing the troops, cleaning up the massacre, finding Tsunekane "The Deserter", and keeping the humans in line. An investigation was launched to determine exactly what had happened to the slaughtered troops and track down Tsunekane, but it was a failed mission and the cavalry returned with no new findings.

After the third day of deliberation Koji was healthy enough to return home and Shippo was itching to leave. They stood in the front court by the gates where Hachi sat impatiently in the snow ready for transport.

"It's not that I don't like being here with you and Inuyasha – it's just too stuffy for a fox like myself." He proclaimed, crossing his arms over his puffed-out chest, Koji copying him.

"We don't like all the formalities – we're men of the land!" Koji decreed, his face still black and swollen.

Shippo shot the tiny boar a sideways glance and chuckled while shaking his head. He stepped forward and tightly grasped Kagome's shoulders before speaking:

"Will you be okay here?" he asked earnestly. She could feel the concern in the joints of his hands and the way he held her.

Kagome returned the gesture and put a hand on his shoulder and smiled, "I'll be okay. Things are much better now, I promise."

With one last tight hug from Shippo, a curt nod from Koji, and the promise that it was "see you soon" and not "good bye", they were gone. Kagome watched them until they disappeared behind the clouds.

"You're not going to cry, are you?" a voice teased from somewhere behind her. Kagome turned around to see Inuyasha leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed.

Kagome scowled at him and retorted, "No. I'll just miss seeing him every day – that's all. It gets lonely here."

Inuyasha thought for a moment before speaking again. "I've got something you'll like. Come with me." He said jerking his chin over his shoulder and walking into the palace. Without much choice, Kagome followed behind him. He led her to a large building toward the back of the compound that she hadn't seen yet. Inuyasha stood in front of two large doors and paused before entering.

"I think you'll like this." He said with a smirk before throwing the doors open.

A dojo. He brought her to a dojo. But instead of weapons lined up on the walls or sparring partners tumbling across the floors, there were dozens of targets, large and small, placed on the ground and hanging from the ceiling at varying heights, just begging Kagome to sink an arrow into each one. Kagome took in the sight and felt her heart begin to beat steadily faster with excitement.

"I'll take it that you like this?" he asked nonchalantly.

"You did this?" she asked incredulously, turning to look at him with bright eyes.

"You looked a little rusty the other night with a bow and arrow. I didn't expect you to be fighting if and when you came back – that was never my intention - but if you're going to fight you might as well be at your best."

Kagome ignored the backhanded compliment, "Thank you." She breathed.

"Go ahead. Your bow is over there." He thrust his chin toward a wall where the Bow of Mount Azusa lay in a mount. Kagome approached the bow and ran a single finger over the glossy wood – it felt like glass.

"Are you sure this is the same bow? It's in way better condition than how I left it…" Kagome noted.

"I may have had it restrung… and polished a hundred times." Inuyasha mumbled.

Kagome removed the bow from the wall and fished an arrow from the barrel in the corner and stood at one end of the long room. She nocked the arrow, took a breath, and then quickly lifted the bow and in a split second chose a target and let the arrow go. To her horror, she missed and the tip of the arrow buried itself into a support column.

"Do another." Inuyasha called out. Kagome finished another arrow from the barrel and this time, spent a second aiming before she fired, hitting the edge of a target. "It'll take some time before you're as good as you were, but you have lots of time on your hands these days. I'm leaving within the hour to track down a lead we received on Tsunekane - I should be back by tomorrow morning. In the meantime, keep practicing."

Kagome turned to him and smiled wide, "Thank you, Lord Inuyasha."

"I'll arrange a bath for you tomorrow morning before The Lord returns, if you'd like." Misuzu shot a sly grin at Kagome but she was too busy scarfing down her meal to see it. It might be the blood pumping through her veins from her afternoon activities, but Kagome was feeling stronger every day. In fact, Kagome couldn't recall feeling so alive in years; maybe it was the crisp, unpolluted air, or the fresh food, or the lack of school and work stress? Maybe it's because this is where she truly belongs? Kagome stopped herself before delving too deep down the "what is my purpose?" rabbit-hole and quickly thanked Misuzu. For once, she found herself excited for sleep, only if that meant she could get to the dojo that much sooner.

The next morning Kagome awoke smelling particularly pungent. She wrinkled her nose and chastised herself for exerting herself so much the day before. Back at home, she could sweat all she wanted but in the past baths were limited so she needed to be a bit more careful. Impatient, Kagome opened the door of her room and peered out in the hallway just in time to see an older woman rounding the corner with a basket.

"I'm here to take you to the bathhouse." The woman said while dipping her head in Kagome's direction quickly.

"Where's Misuzu?" Kagome asked suspiciously.

"Misuzu is receiving the Lord at the moment. She asked me if I would take you to the baths in her place. She said it's of utmost importance you are presentable for the Lord." The woman recited plainly. Kagome sighed loudly – affirmative – this was Misuzu's doing. "If you'll follow me." The new staff woman said before continuing down the hallway.

Kagome followed the woman down the corridors, who turned out to be a demon of little words compared to her usual accomplice. Curiously, this demon didn't seem to despise her, but seemed rather bored in her presence. Kagome would chalk this up as a positive interaction in her book compared to the others.

The bored woman escorted Kagome out of the palace and across the courtyard to the empty bathhouse. She had been here one other time with Misuzu, specifically, the night that she arrived back at the palace with Shippo and Hachi. She wondered if there were certain times the staff bathed, or the bathhouse was cleared when Kagome was scheduled for a bath in order to keep the two species separate. The last thing she wanted was a clique of female staff whispering about her in the baths while she was trying to clean herself, so she supposed she was grateful.

Kagome approached the large communal pool while her attendant placed her basket on a table and began to rifle through her things. Kagome stripped out of her nightly undergarments and let them pile on the floor around her feet before stepping into the steaming hot water. She soaked her hair for several minutes before the woman approached the edge of the baths and placed a small vial at the edge.

"Misuzu said you'd want this." She stated plainly before retreating back to her corner and watching from a distance.

"Thank you." Kagome rushed to thank the woman before she walked too far away. It didn't seem to matter – she was just doing her job. Kagome grabbed the vial and poured the sweet-smelling Camellia oil into her hands before fingering it through her hair.

Kagome was deposited back in her room after her bath and began to finger comb her wet hair. Misuzu came bustling in soon after with her meal and full of nervous energy.

"Are you alright? I'm sorry I couldn't make it in time to take you to the baths. The Lord arrived so much earlier than expected and I was asked to receive him in the court."

"It's okay. Do you normally tend to Lord Inuyasha? I mean, if I weren't here." Kagome asked as she padded over to her breakfast.

Misuzu fanned herself off with her hand as she slouched into her usual spot ontop of the chest, "No, not always. Apparently, the Lord is very irate today so I was on standby in case…" Misuzu trailed off.

"Did he… transform?" Kagome paused her eating to study the demon.

"He seems to be alright. "It's just best to be overprepared than under prepared", Harue always says." Misuzu reassured the woman. Kagome nodded in agreement. She'd like the chance to get to know Harue more and maybe learn a thing or two about healing remedies from the old woman. Kagome planned to ask if she ever caught Harue in a good mood, but those didn't seem to come often.

"Do you ever think I could get to know Harue? Maybe shadow her for a day instead of cleaning the floors?" Kagome asked while studying her remaining food. She waited for a response from Misuzu but heard nothing. "Misuzu?" she asked before looking up.

Misuzu was turned to the door and staring at it intently, a finger up indicating Kagome should stop talking. Several moments passed before Misuzu stood up and straightened out her yukata.

"I need to go – there's some commotion in the court." She chose her words carefully, her eyebrows furrowed. "I'll be back to collect your dishes." She said before sweeping out of the room and quickly closing the door behind her. Kagome listened to her feet pad away from the room quickly and towards the court. Kagome sat in the middle of her room, chopsticks frozen against her lips, confused yet intrigued. Suddenly, a cacophony of doors sliding open and slamming closed filled the hallway around her room and countless pairs of feet pounding up and down the halls shook the floor. Curiosity got the better of her.

Kagome quickly finished her meal and cracked her door open just enough to look around. The halls were entirely deserted, which meant nobody was around to yell at Kagome if she decided to take a quick unmonitored stroll. She opened her door more and craned her neck left and right and confirmed that she was alone. She slipped out of her room and quietly slid her door closed before creeping down the hallway.

The trick to it, she told herself, was to act like I belong here and nobody will question it. Just as she finished the thought, she heard two voices approaching her direction from around a corner. Panicked, Kagome slid open the door to her right, found that it was a storage closet, and crammed herself into it before sliding the door closed and listening intently.

"I've never seen the Lord so angry before – not at one of his own council members!" the first voice whimpered as they rounded the corner.

"Tsunekane is a fool. He should know better than to desert the battlefield and his men. He's a disgrace." The second voice spat with contempt.

"Do you think Lord Inuyasha went too far?" the first voice was passing the room Kagome was hiding in now.

"Do not question our Lord!" Kagome gathered the sense that this demon was much older and had spent more time in the palace under Inuyasha's protection than the other one, "But I personally wouldn't have stopped at the arm."

Kagome's eyes widened and pressed her ear to the door, but the two voices had already rounded another corner and were gone. Before, she was curious, but now she needed to know what happened. Kagome was hoping that the creepy general was a thing of the past now that he was missing, but maybe she was asking for too much. With great care, Kagome quietly slid the door open once again, slipped out of the room, and down the hall.

She approached the court and fell into a large crowd standing at the edges of the large room. A low, rumbling murmur rose from the group but Kagome struggled to decipher any of it. She casually strolled around hoping to hear some gossip or details but everybody purposefully kept their voices inaudible. Kagome stood on her toes hoping she could see over the crowd, who seemed to pay her no mind, but it was no use. With a huff, she broke away from the crowd and slinked off down the hall hoping to see or hear better from the other side of the court.

Kagome was just about to round the corner when she heard pounding footsteps coming up the hall. She pressed herself against the wall and froze, only to see Misuzu rush by, "Get Harue! And somebody clean the court for Gods' sake!" she shouted in a frenzy. Kagome watched her disappear down the hall and around a corner before she herself turned into that same hall and continued in the opposite direction around the backside of the court.

Kagome's imagination was running wild now:

There was a fight? Did Inuyasha finally find Tsunekane?

Kagome was rounding the last corner when she thought back fondly on a time when Inuyasha would accept a fight from anyone as a means to prove his strength and his worth. Back then, he was just an arrogant and cocky adolescent who had the whole world against him. Funnily enough, Kagome couldn't picture Inuyasha scrapping with anyone these days, in the same way she couldn't imagine Sesshomaru rolling up his sleeves and dirtying his hands to fight with anyone, either. Inuyasha was still himself, but without the anger and his life purpose to prove he was enough. A kingdom, royalty, and immortality fell in his lap, and now it's like Inuyasha is just a husk of who he once was. Kagome would love to see his temper flare at Shippo, or watch him duke it out with Kouga, just to once again see some fire behind his eyes.

Kagome was on the far edge of the court now and there were far less people on this side. While she still couldn't hear anything, she would be able to see. She sidled up against the wall and peeked into the court. The court was empty, to her surprise. She expected to see Inuyasha perched on his throne now that he was back from his most recent excursion but the throne remained empty. Something in front of the throne, caught her eyes though. Upon closer inspection Kagome gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth.

In front of the throne lay an arm in a pool of deep red blood. Dark red sticky fluid was still pumping out of the appendage and the ligaments and connective tissues lay draped across the floor. Blood drops sprayed across the glossy wood floors in an arc showing the exact trajectory at which the arm was torn from the body. Kagome hid behind the wall and pressed her back against it, hoping to ground herself quickly.

"Hey! It's the human! You shouldn't be here. Where's that damned Misuzu?" Kagome looked over to her right and a throng of demons were staring at her – some warily, some in amusement, some angrily. The woman who had given her a bath this morning was the one that had addressed her.

"I'm... I'm sorry I need to go." Kagome trembled and she stumbled away from the court. She turned down one hall, then another, looking for a linen or storage closet she could empty the contents of her stomach into if she needed to.

Inuyasha ripped his fucking arm off! Her brain relayed the grotesque image once again to her stomach. Kagome groaned and leaned against a wall. She had tended to wounds before, but not dismemberment. The sound of more pounding footsteps came up the wooden floors and she quickly ducked down a few more halls and around a couple corners before she felt safe enough to rest her forehead on the cool wooden frame of a door.

Just five minutes ago had she not been fantasizing about the days that Inuyasha fought with others? Back when he had a "spark"? She had compared him to the likes of Sesshomaru now – and she was spot on with that assessment. Sesshomaru wouldn't throw a right or left hook, he'd rip your damn arm off. Since when had Inuyasha become so unapologetically violent? Had he transformed? Was he roaming the palace grounds right now as a demon who couldn't determine friend from foe? She needed to get back to her room or face the wrath of an angry Misuzu when she caught her roaming out and about.

Kagome pushed herself off of the wall and began walking in the direction that she thought would take her back to her room – although she wasn't entirely sure where she was. She looked down at her feet and was shaken when she found blood splattered on her socks. She looked down the hall she'd just come from and noticed blood smeared on the floor where she had walked – how long had she been traipsing around in blood? Kagome's gut wrenched in disgust, but then jumped into her throat in panic:

Was this blood from Inuyasha's hand?

The last thing Kagome wanted to do was to run into a furious, possibly transformed, Inuyasha. She gathered her wits and quickly shuffled down the corridor, peeking down intersecting halls and poking her head into rooms, hoping she could gather her bearings. Unfortunately, she had no idea where she was, and the blood drop trail never seemed to end. Kagome began to run, not caring if Misuzu or Harue or any other staff found her, as long as she could get out of this horror maze and back into her room to safety.

UMPH!

Kagome, not paying attention to what was in front of her, ran head first into something hard and fell backwards onto her butt. She heard his ragged breathing first, then looked up and realized she'd collided into the backside of a man and bounced right off of him. "I – I'm sorry!" she rushed, quickly bowing her head.

Kagome's stomach sank when the man turned around; one red eye and one crystalline, icy blue eye bore into her.

"Tsunekane" she gasped. His other hand grasped the bloody stump where his arm used to be in a failed effort to stop the bleeding. Dark red blood seeped from between his fingers and poured down his arms, soaking his armor and haori. His face was pale, his forehead covered in a sheen of sweat, and his eyes were wild. Alarms wailed in Kagome's head as she began to scoot backwards away from the demon, not wanting to be anywhere near him, either. She'd assumed he'd be in a dungeon, maybe warming her old cell. She was so sorry to see that she was wrong.

Tsunekane staggered toward her, his eyes unfocused, and Kagome scrambled to her feet to run. He lunged forward and grabbed her by the front of her yukata, smearing his warm thick blood across her front. Kagome wrapped her hands around his wrist and tried to tear his hand from her, but even wounded and with one arm he was still too strong. The injured general lifted her to eye level hissed, his face inches from hers.

"You!" he seethed venomously.

Kagome woke up with a start gasping for breath. She sat up in bed and allowed her hands to fly to her chest and roam freely, chasing away the feeling of a phantom hand knotted in her clothing. She inspected her front and found there was no blood, only her crisp white kosode. Kagome wicked away the sweat that beaded on her brow with the back of her arm – what an awful dream. Something had awoken her though…

Like clockwork, her door slid open and a woman appeared in the doorway.

"Are you awake now? I've been knocking at your door. I've been instructed by Misuzu to take you to the baths before Inuyasha arrives this morning." The woman stated impatiently tapping the basket in her arm.

Kagome's mouth ran dry: it was the same woman in her dream. It had been a dream, right?

"Today? You mean yesterday, right? Inuyasha arrived yesterday, correct?" Kagome choked out, brushing the feeling of the phantom hand away from the collar of her kosode once more.

The woman counted on her fingers for a moment before turning back to Kagome, "No, he's come back this morning. Misuzu is receiving him. That's why I'm here, but I don't have all day so let's hurry up." She insisted. Kagome nodded dumbly and scrambled out of bed. "If you'll follow me." The woman said before curtly turning on her heel and disappearing from the door frame.

Kagome hurried through her bath under the harsh watchful eye of this new woman and returned to her room where she waited for Misuzu to arrive with her meal. She sat on top of her clothing chest twiddling her thumbs, attempting to reconcile her bizarre case of déjà vu she was having. Like all dreams, unfortunately, she was already beginning to forget what had happened in her dream the longer she stayed awake. Still, she remained deeply troubled because, whatever it was, it felt so real. Kagome stared at her socks and brooded – something she seemed to do often now. With finality, she stood and slid her door open – she wanted to go to the court. She couldn't exactly remember why, she remembered something jarring, but her gut was telling her to go. So, she did.

Kagome slipped down the hall and fell in line with staff navigating the corridors until she reached the court. The court was busy and bustling with staff and noble folks as usual – she wasn't exactly sure what was pulling her here. She poked her head into the court and did a quick scan and when she was certain everything seemed normal she circled around the outside of the court and settled against a wall. Kagome looked around the wall and, without warning, her temples began to pulse and throb. She quickly ducked behind the wall and dug the palms of her hands into the sides of her head in an attempt to quell the pressure to no avail. The pain was sudden and relentless, building on itself and collapsing over and over again.

"What the hell?" she grumbled to herself screwing her eyes shut, "A migraine? Now?"

Kagome opened her eyes again and tried once more to look at the court to find whatever it was she was looking for, but her skull felt like It was splitting in two. Her eyes became too sensitive to the light pouring in from the winter morning sun that she was forced to abandon her mission. She began to turn away but something out of place caught her eye. That's when she saw it: a static overlay of something that wasn't there, but was. A mangled arm lay in the middle of the court in front of the throne in a pool of blood. Kagome blinked and the arm was gone. She rubbed her eyes furiously and gaped at the court but there were no stray body parts to be found. Mysteriously enough, Kagome's headache had evaporated entirely and the fog in her brain had lifted – she could remember everything. Tsunekane's arm was ripped off by Inuyasha and she had been attacked by Tsunekane. Seeing it once was already traumatizing enough, why was she being forced to see it again?

As if on cue, Kagome's head began to pound once more and she cradled her face in her hands with a whimper.

"Hey! It's the human! You shouldn't be here. Where's that damned Misuzu?" sounding hauntingly familiar, the bathhouse woman was nowhere to be seen, but her voice echoed all around Kagome. She looked up just in time to watch herself run by and turn down the wrong hall. The headache subsided momentarily and Kagome scrambled to her feet and chased after her ghostly form. She knew what came next, but it was like watching a car crash – you don't not look.

Kagome's skidded around a corner just to catch a glimpse of her transparent kimono disappearing down a far hall. Kagome sprinted to catch up to herself in the most insane race she'd ever taken part of. Whether she had acquired the gift of seeing visions or she was just going stir-crazy in this palace, she needed to investigate. Kagome's head began to pound again just as blood drops started to fade in and out of view on the floor below her. Ghostly visions of herself, limbs, and blood: crazy. The answer was that she was going crazy.

Kagome used the smeared blood on the ground as her guide in order to follow her erratic path through the maze-like halls. Pain began to crawl up the back of her neck with searing hot fingers and she knew he was nearby. She swung around a corner just in time to see Tsunekane grab her by the front of her yukata and lift her from the ground. Kagome's head splintered in the center blossoming with red-hot pain. She fell to her hands and knees heaving her empty stomach into her ribcage.

"You!" he seethed at her through gritted teeth as he lifted her pale form to eye-level. Tsunekane drove her body with his fist into the ground; with a yelp and wheeze the air evacuated her lungs. Kagome fought through the pain and waves of nausea and pulled herself toward the scuffle.

"No! Stop it!" she cried throwing her shoulder into him, but she went careening right through him effortlessly and crashed to the floor on the other side. "No!" she pushed herself off of the ground and threw herself at him again "No!". Was this really just a vision? Had this happened? Was this happening? Was it going to happen?

"Look at me… Look at me!" he snarled. He roughly pinned her legs down with his knees and dug his elbow into one of her arms and held her fast. She sobbed and screamed out but he quickly clapped a hand over her mouth. Kagome knew it was useless but she couldn't sit by and watch this man violate her so she threw herself once more at him and tore at his body with her hands, her nails passing through his ghostly form.

"Get off of me! Stop it!" she screeched animalistically at him.

Tsunekane removed his hand from her mouth and used two clawed fingers to pry her right eye open. He stared intently into her eye and suddenly all of the light was sucked from the narrow hall and they were all plunged into darkness – the only light was the warm red glow from Tsunekane's eye. The gravity of pain that blossomed behind Kagome's right eye was untold -unmeasurable even. She cupped a hand over her eye and howled in pain, her fingers twitching with the urge to pluck the ball from its socket. With her other eye, she watched the life leave her body under Tsunekane's vicious assault; her arms and legs fell limp and her jaw went slack – she gave up.

"No, don't let him do this to you! Fight back! You have to fight back!" Kagome sobbed to herself, pulling her face right next to her own. But she didn't even know what she was supposed to be fighting – she had no idea what Tsunekane was doing to her. Twice now, Kagome couldn't help herself, then and now. All she could do then/when Tsunekane attacks her is take the attack head on, and all she could do now is watch. Kagome sucked in a painful breath when the light left her own eyes and dulled over. Then, it was over. The vision before her disappeared and she was left lying in the hall by herself.

Unable to breathe, Kagome waited, but the vision did not return. Instead, a heavy hand fell on her shoulder and she screamed and fought with her remaining strength until she fell into darkness.

Kagome had never touched a cloud, or for that matter slept on a cloud, but she was almost certain that she was experiencing the phenomenon now. The low murmur of voices somewhere nearby brought her to consciousness but she protested by stroking her cheek against the soft material underneath her. Slowly, she began to float back down to Earth.

"Has she been sleeping?"

"Yes, My Lord"

"Eating? How many meals is she eating?"

"2-3 meals a day, My Lord. She eats well"

A frustrated growl.

Kagome cracked her eyes open and groggily assessed the situation. Inuyasha was in the far corner pacing back and forth with Misuzu standing at attention nearby. She was lying in a pool of furs so lush and soft she was convinced they could swallow her whole and not leave a trace. She absently ran her hand through the fur, lolled her head to the side, and lazily took in her surroundings. Eerily familiar yet far less foreboding in the daylight: she was in Inuyasha's room. She drew an agonizingly slow breath and blinked up to the wall at the foot of the bed, expecting to see a corpse looking down over her. To her relief and mild concern, Ubanaki's body was gone and all that was left was the dark outline where she had been mounted.

"How are you feeling?" Inuyasha's voice startled her and Kagome's head snapped toward the direction of his voice. He had stopped his pacing and was now standing near a worry-faced Misuzu.

"I'm…. I'm okay." She mumbled half-heartedly as she sat up and pulled the furs into her lap.

"I'll go get Harue." Misuzu quipped but Inuyasha stopped her.

"That won't be necessary. Kagome – were you injured?" he asked her.

Kagome fumbled with the furs between her fingers. She was going to sound like a mad woman recounting what had happened, "I'm not sure."

"What do you mean—" he ran a hand down his tired looking face and sighed before continuing, "Misuzu, you're dismissed."

"I'll wait outside in case you need me, My Lord." she bowed quickly and hurried down the stairs. Once the door slid shut on the floor below Inuyasha turned to Kagome, his tone softening marginally.

"Kagome, what's going on? I found you having a damn fit and you attacked me." He stepped into the light of day streaming in through the window next to the bed. The intense rays from the sun caused him to nearly glisten in the dark room.

Kagome fumbled with exactly how to explain what she experienced, "Well," she started hesitantly, "I think something happened to me, and when I couldn't remember it happening to me, I saw a vision of it." She said slowly as she searched his face for any indication of understanding – there were none.

"What?" is all he said, his lip curling up and eyebrows threading together in confusion, "Did you hit your head while I was gone?"

"No! I mean – not really. I was attacked. I woke up the next morning and I couldn't remember a thing. Then, I saw a vision of myself being attacked and that's how I know what happened." She hurried to explain.

"By who?" He asked incredulously.

"Tsunekane."

Only the first syllable of this name had fallen from her lips and Inuyasha was already blowing hot air from his nostrils. He flexed his hands several times, unsure what to do with them, before he turned and sunk his fist into the wall nearest to him.

"That BASTARD!" Inuyasha snarled as he punched the wall again, the rock face cracking beneath his fist, "What did he do to you?" his lips were pulled back exposing his fangs.

Kagome knew she wasn't in trouble but for some reason felt like it, "Um, he slammed me into the ground and pinned me down… and I don't know what happened after that."She watched the color drain from his face and worry set in his brow. She hurried to continue, "He made me look at him, and there was a light. That's all I remember."

Inuyasha approached her and inhaled the air around her deeply, "I don't smell him on you."

"So, you think I'm lying?" Kagome asked in bewilderment.

"No, I don't." Inuyasha said, stopped in the middle of the room once again inspecting her.

"This happened yesterday and I've had a bath since then so his scent is gone by now." She explained.

"Yesterday?" he stressed, "Where was Misuzu? How did he even get near you?"

"Misuzu was busy yesterday and I was out wandering on my own." She supplied sheepishly.

Inuyasha gripped the hilt of Tessaiga and ran a hand through his hair, disshelving his once neat pony tail, "That no-good traitor leads me on a rat race yesterday all over the country side after deserting his men on the battle field and he comes back to the palace to attack you? I'll kill him." He swore retreating back to another wall and cracking his knuckles.

"You were here though." She retorted.

Inuyasha stopped in his tracks and turned to her, "What?"

"Yesterday you returned to the palace and Tsunekane showed up." Kagome explained. Inuyasha regarded her carefully and waited for her to continue, "… and then you ripped his arm off." She finished quietly.

"Kagome," he said her name like it was a question, "I arrived just today – only a few hours ago. And I haven't torn anyone's arm off. I haven't seen Tsunekane since the day of the human attack."

"What are you talking about? You came back yesterday. Tsunekane showed up, you tore his arm off for being a deserter, I got lost in the palace, Tsunekane found me and attacked me. I woke up today and saw a vision of it happening with my own eyes!" she argued.

Inuyasha looked at her hard, likely picking apart her words in his head. "Misuzu, go get Harue." He finally called down the stairs.

"You don't believe me." She scowled at him.

"I do."

"You don't." she bit back just as Harue began to ascend the stairs – she must have been on standby outside of his quarters just in case she was needed.

Harue held the sides of Kagome's face firmly as her long snake-like tongue flicked out and touched her head. A few minutes passed before Harue sighed in resignation and let her hands fall away, "There are no injuries, I cannot gain access to her pain."

"So, you're not able to see what happened?" she already knew the answer. Harue shook her head.

"I need an injury to see what happened. Injuries act as a window that allow me to see pain." The healer clarified. Kagome let her fingers explore the back of her head and her legs – there had to be a bump, scratch, or bruise somewhere. To her disbelief, she was totally unscathed and felt fine.

Kagome sagged, "I know what I saw - He was here."

"Tsunekane has mysterious abilities that we don't know the full extent of." Harue croaked.

"He's able to be in one place, and in a second be in another." Inuyasha stepped forward, "that we do know of."

"So, he's… fast?" she asked. Harue shook her head.

"No, he'll completely disappear and reappear somewhere else." He said gravely.

"Teleportation. He can teleport." She whispered.

"Tsunekane is extremely dangerous – you never know where or when he'll appear." Harue shot a knowing look toward Inuyasha, who nodded silently in agreement. Kagome recalled every instance Tsunekane had seemingly appeared in thin air in front of her or behind her. She fought to unfurl the savage knot in her stomach as she thought back to the other night when she woke to the feeling of someone watching her in her sleep.

"That doesn't explain the timeline of events that Kagome is recalling. I don't know if it really happened or it's a warning of what's to come. Regardless, it's no longer safe for her to stay here."

"I need to leave the palace?" Kagome asked.

"Tsunekane can only go to a location, not a person. You're easy prey if you stay here. If he doesn't know where you are, he can't hurt you."

"Where will I go?" Kagome asked.

Inuyasha sighed loudly in defeat, "We'll go to Ubanaki's village and return her ashes to get information about the curse. The journey will take us a few weeks at least – enough time to throw Tsunekane off of your trail if he is planning to attack. When we return you'll have somebody watching you 24/7 or you'll be with me until we find Tsunekane. For now, let's just throw him off your trail. I'm not taking risks." He said with finality, "I'm assuming you haven't said anything about this to anyone else?" He asked. Kagome shook her head. "Then we leave immediately. Misuzu will help you pack some things."

Hey all - sorry for the slow update! I've moved *twice* in the last 3 weeks and I'm about to move *AGAIN*. I've been busy, busy, busy. I'll be flying out of the country in a few days so hopefully that'll give me some nice writing time on the plane :-). Also, what a tough chapter to write. This might be one of those chapters I go back over and make minor corrections to sometime in the future. As always: Please follow, favorite, and review!