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Hush now dear children
It must be this way

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Humming happily, Inuyasha closed his eyes as he listened to Kagome's heartbeat even out. The steady rhythm calmed him in a nostalgic way. A sound he didn't realize he missed and relied upon until he heard it again. During the quest, there came a point where he couldn't sleep without hearing it – which admittedly probably had more to do with the fact that he matched his breathing with hers and drowned out the world to focus on this exact sound. It had never been in this close of proximity however and the warmth of her body against his made his drowsiness arrive much sooner than expected. Sure it wasn't the body he hoped he would be cuddling and the heart rate was different but knowing that it was Kagome in there made those details unimportant. Snuggling closer to her sleeping form and gently flexing his arm to pull her closer still, Inuyasha felt an unwanted lump form in his throat that had nothing to do with his general state of ill being. Three years of stress and anxiety melting away had opened the floodgates allowing other emotions to crash down like a waterfall. While these emotions were primarily positive, the realization of how miserable and numb he'd been still made him want to cry. Three years (or hours) ago he would've killed anyone who told him his future self would be shedding tears almost every night. Men didn't cry. Demons especially didn't cry. Well except Shippo. That brat was like one of those faucets from Kagome's era. Anyway, he, Inuyasha, did not cry. Hadn't cried since he left this stupid place all those decades ago. Maybe it was just the fact that he was here again that triggered the waterworks. A lot of things only seemed to happen here.

Like stupid colds. God his head was killing him and the desire to cry was not helping.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome suddenly mumbled tiredly as she tried to glance over her shoulder – one hand reaching up to touch his face before a sad little hum escaped her, "Why are you crying?"

Ah hell, was he crying? He hadn't realized any traitorous tears had broken free. Quickly releasing her Inuyasha very reluctantly rolled over before letting out a shuddering sigh when she rolled over to spoon him – her arm curling around his torso so her hand rested just over his pounding heart.

"There's no reason to be embarrassed," Kagome began softly as she nuzzled his shoulder earning a barely audible whimper and a freshly renewed desire to cry, "Everyone cries sometimes."

"I'm not crying," he protested stubbornly – his voice cracking slightly betraying the fact that he was, in fact, crying or – at a minimum – very close to doing so.

"Okay," she cooed as she gave him a light squeeze that only served to bring on the urge to sob which he barely suppressed. What on earth was wrong with him?

"My head just hurts," he offered thickly like that would explain what was happening and by doing so, he avoided talking about emotions. Three years had loosened his tongue a lot but not enough to make him an open book. When Kagome pulled away a few more tears fell while he valiantly fought against the almost overwhelming desire to beg her not to move. Two somewhat cold hands gently guided his head onto her lap and those soft fingers trailed his jaw until they came to the soft spots on either side of his temple. Pressing gently, those talented digits began rubbing small circles in an attempt to lessen the tension threating to break his skull in two.

"Does that help?" she asked quietly and Inuyasha nodded weakly. Strangely it did – though not by much. Kagome always seemed to know what to do. In the few hours since they'd been reunited, she'd managed to do a lot to calm him down and reassure him that he wasn't crazy or dead. That the possibility existed for escape and that if he really couldn't leave, she would stay. No matter what happened he would never be alone again. There were options to keep Kagome by his side or so Myoga said – even though his Mother had refused to undergo such a thing. As much as Inuyasha had loved his mother, even he would admit that she had faults. Like being unable to cope well with change. She liked structure. To do the same thing all day every day in a predictable pattern. Mother had always said his father was constantly on the move in new and exotic places but her argument against joining him in his endless wanderings was that if she was going to raise her son, she might as well stay somewhere familiar which she wouldn't be able to do if she was transformed into something less than human. And she had a point. Traveling with an infant was not something most people did. Not only was it unsafe but it would give away their position and endanger them needlessly.

Her decision had been her downfall though. By staying here, she ended up getting murdered which wasn't great. Maybe if she'd said to hell with it and gone with his father, Inuyasha's life would've been very different. Normal even. Then again in that circumstance, he probably would've grown up to be an emotionless uptight bastard like Sesshomaru. That alone was the silver lining. At least he had a distinct personality instead of consisting of bland angry mush.

The back of one of her hands suddenly caressed his cheek and Inuyasha almost melted on the spot. Back in the normal world, she only really touched him out of necessity. Travel. Heal wounds. Although on occasion she hugged him or held his hand, this token of affection was something else entirely. Usually those types of gestures were reserved to comfort him because of some traumatic thing that had occurred. The only purpose this act had was to show affection for the hell of it.

Okay maybe also to comfort him but it felt different dammit.

Pressing his cheek into her touch, Inuyasha smiled softly and rolled onto his side – his cheek now pressed onto her thigh as she took the hint and gently began stroking his hair, his face, his ears. With each gentle motion, Inuyasha loved her more without really knowing why or how. It also made his exhaustion begin to wash upon him like waves upon sand. The relaxation and calm her touch was invoking rendered a death sentence to his consciousness.

"Love you," he mumbled tiredly before whining when she gently lifted his head to move away. The loss was quickly remedied though when she lay down and guided his head onto her chest. Draping one arm across her waist and resting the other against his chest just over his heart, Inuyasha quickly drifted soft into the deepest sleep he'd probably ever had.

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Pinching the bridge of his nose, General Yasumori tried and failed to stifle the groan that wanted to break free at the latest bout of unfortunate information being fed to him.

"And you're certain this was added to his meal this evening," the general asked as he glared at the contents of the small glass vial and the young mousy woman nodded as she wrung her hands.

"The cook said she'd been adding it to his food for flavor," she whispered in a nervous tone, "I'm so, sosorry for failing to notice sooner. I only thought it was odd when she emptied an entire vial into his soup this evening. She has a whole case of them."

The general set his jaw as he closed his first around the small fragile object. Poison. Why hadn't he thought of that sooner? That seemed like a major oversight and explained the near constant illnesses the lord suffered almost all his life. Demon Inuyasha may be but slowly being poisoned would most certainly have some negative side effects. Wear down his immunity for one and now they were escalating their tactics. A good match and children would most certainly put a damper on a coup but then why advance the selection? To draw attention away from their plot? Everyone knew an arranged marriage wasn't Inuyasha's idea.

There was that girl he'd now taken into his bed who knew things she shouldn't.

"Anything else?" the general sighed as he glanced up at the girl who looked even more nervous.

"One of the new servants has been acting strangely since this early this afternoon. The one Elder Shingen placed," she croaked, "They had to sedate her."

"I already know of this," the general sighed as he set the vial down and the girl scoffed.

"Ah but did they tell you why they had to sedate her? What she was saying?"

The general sighed in anticipation of something horribly unpleasant. Tonight was supposed to be a good night. With the selection delayed his overwhelmingly burdensome duties had been lessened considerably.

But no, of course he wouldn't have a pleasant night at home with his wife. That woman had the gift of sight though or she knew him far too well.

Always paranoid about his health, she'd packed him lunch, supper and a snack despite his promise to be in their quarters by sundown or his protests that the food he was served was adequate. It was nearly midnight now and someone was poisoning the food. His wife was apparently far wiser than he would ever be.

"Apparently she now claims to be Lady Hana," the little servant girl whispered as a sly smile, "Became a berserker when she saw the lord leading the woman you claimed to be Lady Hana to his bedroom."

The general pursed his lips for a moment.

"What was her name prior to this?" the general asked quietly after a moment.

"The Elder said her name was Kagome but she did never respond to it," the servant girl sighed as she knocked a few wrinkles out of her skirt, "Stranger things have happened than someone swapping out a candidate for an imposter."

"The Lord knew her. Almost instantly," the general murmured as he furrowed his brow in thought, "Appeared to trust her immediately. Perhaps..."

"Maybe it's that girl he's been looking for," the servant girl opined thoughtfully, "It sounds impossible but perhaps someone switched their bodies."

Shaking his head, the general snickered softly at the idea.

"It sounds impossible because it is impossible," the general sighed heavily, "The young woman is just confused."

"Well you need to check on the Lord in any case. Maybe just ask if she is this Kagome and put the matter to bed," the young woman sighed as she leaned to the side to crick her back, "I'll prepare the lord's breakfast in the morning to make sure no more vials are added. I'll let the others know to keep a sharp eye out but for now, I must away."

Nodding once, the general waved his hand in clear dismissal as he glanced down at the vial. Poison. This was something foreseeable. Lady Izayoi had been done away with in a similar manner. Even though the vassals and elders had loathed her, many of the servants believed she walked on water. After Inuyasha had been born, a few of the servants volunteered to help the young mother when her own household refused. When she was murdered, they were furious. Even more furious when one of them was made a scapegoat and executed. As a result, the now general - a mere foot solider back then - gained a network of spies. It did not matter to them whether Inuyasha was a half-demon. All that mattered was that he was Lady Izayoi's son. As for the general, it was his job to protect the lord and Inuyasha was kind as far as shoguns could be. Never laying a hand on the staff although he often had a temper but he was all bark with no bite. Unless you attempted to kill him or the people under his dominion in which case you would most certainly die - quickly and efficiently. Even in that Inuyasha showed mercy - death was never drawn out or cruel. Over time the general came to respect the boy and especially over the last few years, his contractual obligation morphed into true loyalty.

Even when Inuyasha was a complete fool.

"I cannot believe he brought that girl into his bed," the general breathed as he ran one hand across his face and got to his feet, "That pompous impulsive ass. He's going to get himself killed."

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A little boy ran through the list of places that the girls yellow backpack could be. In all honesty it was probably with that stupid girl Inuyasha had come here with. Probably abandoned him or something. Or maybe she went looking for help when she couldn't get through.

He'd already searched retraced his steps through the palace and although he was rushing so that years didn't pass by with Inuyasha slipping slowly into madness, how hard could it be to find something that hideous shade of yellow?

But he couldn't give up just yet. That poor guy he'd inadvertently trapped was losing his marbles. Being driven mad. Which the boy got. He completely understood the shock to the system as he'd experienced it himself when he first realized what was happening himself.

"I never should have brought them there," the boy hissed as he kicked a nearby rock, "That was stupid. So stupid."

Then again they were pretty stupid for thinking 'hiding' was a good explanation for leading them through a proverbial graveyard. And if Inuyasha knew that place, if he really had been connected, then how did he not notice? Sure it'd been a hundred years or probably more but given what the boy did remember, it'd be hard for Inuyasha to justify forgetting the place where his mother died.

Unless Inuyasha didn't remember much about that day. To be fair, the boy barely remembered the day he'd died. Mother and him had been hiding in the garden house. He'd been crying and then his mother had given him a small piece of candy to keep him placated. The gradual silence slowly filling the palace had been terrifying but not quite as terrifying as being the only person who know something wasn't quite right or that they'd all been attacked.

"What was in that stupid bag anyway?" the boy mutterEd as he glared at he lightly kicked one the many bones,"Gold? Jewels? Silk? Someone probably gnabbed it. That's why it's gone."

Maybe she'd stashed it somewhere she thought it'd be safe which made sense but too much time had assed already. He'd been gone, what? Five minutes. Maybe more. A week at most. Maybe two.

Wrinkling his nose, the boy thought bitterly of his mother who could win so many awards for either acting or apathy. How could he be gone for years at a time and his mother never say anything? It was obvious she didn't care about him. She never asked questions and for the longest time, the boy had chalked it up to the spell. But things were moving forward now and her attitude hadn't changed. Sometimes he wondered whether there was something other than sugar in the candy she fed him that day but then again murdering her only son would mean she felt enough towards him to be worthy of the effort.

"I just need to go back," the boy sighed heavily as he ran one hand through his hair, "I just need to go back."