NOTE: Inuyasha isn't mine, okay? I'm doing this for Sesshoumaru's sake.

Thank you for the reviews. Glad you liked it! Here's one more.

UNKNOWN

Previously on Possession:

Sesshoumaru noticed a distinct smell when Kagome moved the covers from her feet. When the miko stood he spied a dark smudge at the hem of her gown and her feet. The same smudge was also on the bedding. The taiyoukai frowned in bewilderment.

"Kagome." He grabbed the woman's wrist.

"Huh? What?" Kagome looked down at a pair of glowing golden eyes.

"Did you go outside?"

"What? Why? What do you mean?" She looked confused as Sesshoumaru picked something on the bedding and sniffed it. "What is it?"

"Dirt."

~O~O~O~

What is he talking about?

The taiyoukai is still looking at her. "Kagome, do you remember going out tonight?"

"No, I don't think so." She sounded confused. Then she noticed that Sesshoumaru was looking down at the tatami mat, she followed where his eyes fell….

The hem of her nightclothes and as well as her feet were filthy. Kagome's breath hitched in her chest.

"What the hell….! What is this?" She lifted her feet and wiggled her toes she felt some of the encrusted substance fall to the mat.

"Stay where you are, miko." Sesshoumaru stood up and lit the lamps while walking carefully around the room.

They were both speechless at the sight that greeted them. A path bearing her dirty prints made a track where it entered the room ending at the futon.

Kagome felt goose bumps all over her body. Her hands felt so cold and her heart did a skip in her ribcage. It was like watching a particularly terrifying horror movie but she was the one in it. She covered her mouth with both her hands not believing what she was seeing.

She started when she felt arms hold her from behind. "Forgive me, I did not mean to startle you." Sesshoumaru's warm voice assured her.

"I don't understand. I don't remember going out. You have to believe me! I didn't go out…!" She started hyperventilating.

"Kagome! Listen to me!" He tightened his hold on her as if fearing she would bolt like a scared deer. "I believe you."

The taiyoukai realized that when he entered the room he was assaulted by the pungent odor of her fear so the unusual and faint smell of soil didn't quickly register on his senses.

"This is so scary. How could I not remember going out and back in again? I don't walk in my sleep!" Her hands were gesturing at the dirty tracks. Looking at it again gave her goose bumps and she shivered.

What's freaking her out was the fact that she had gone far away from the castle without anyone noticing. How long was she out? Where did she go? Or worse, what did she do? Kagome felt a heavy feeling of dread down in her stomach.

The Lord of the West was on one knee and examining the muddy prints. He would occasionally pick and sniff the dirt. He stood and reverse followed the prints down the hall.

"It was obvious someone or something is controlling you." Kagome was startled at Sesshoumaru's words, she didn't even notice he left her side.

"What?" A new batch of goose bumps graced her arms. Gods, not again! It happened to her before when Tsubaki tainted the Shards and she went after Inuyasha and again when they encountered that butterfly demon. They controlled her body while her mind screamed at her helplessness as she ruthlessly went after Inuyasha almost killing the hanyou in the process.

"No, not again…" She whispered and felt his arms hold her tenderly.

"Stay here, miko."

"Whe…where are you going?" She frantically held his sleeves.

"I am going to call Rin."

"No! Don't leave me here! Let me go with you! Please!" She couldn't stay in this room and look at her footsteps like they were malevolent creatures that would animate and come after her.

Sesshoumaru picked her up and in a blink they were in front of Rin's quarters. The taiyoukai knocked and called her name. Light from a lamp quickly came alive and shortly after the young woman slid open her door. Her eyes bugged at the sight of her father and the miko outside her door at this hour.

"Father? Kagome-neechan! What is it?" She slid the door wider to let the two in. Her brows crunched up in consternation.

Kagome stood in the middle of Rin's room as Sesshoumaru explained to his daughter what happened a few minutes ago. She was hugging herself not from the cold but she was shivering from the shock. She didn't even notice Rin leave the room, when her teeth began chattering she felt something warm and soft land on her shoulders and then she was being carried out of Rin's room and into another.

She was made to sit down and her feet were lowered in warm water. Gentle hands removed the now dried mud from her feet and ankles and when they were clean they were dried with soft cloth.

After drying her feet Sesshoumaru stood and looked at the woman in front of him. She looked so vulnerable and something tugged at his heart at the sight. He debated whether she should sleep in her soiled nightclothes. That won't do. He quickly took a sleeping yukata from a shelf and before he changed his mind he pulled her up from the chair and lifted the hem of her gown up and was glad that she didn't protest when the dirty garment was removed.

He sighed. If the miko were in her right mind he knew she would give him a tongue-lashing as she would do when Miroku did something perverted. Or perhaps she would instead purify him right where he's standing. The thought made him smirk.

It was when after he removed the garment that he belatedly thought that she might be naked under the flimsy clothes. He was glad (and a little disappointed) that she was not. But it was probably not a good idea that he looked because her undergarments though they preserved her modesty accentuated her curves. The purple undergarment made the miko's skin look ethereal. The miko has lost her girlish shape and has filled up in the right places. He fought the desire to let out his breath in one big 'Whoo!' for fear it might startle the miko out of her shock-induced paralysis.

The red-blooded taiyoukai decided to hasten dressing the compliant miko and end his self-imposed torture. He carried the now covered woman out of the bathing chamber and strode to the freshly laid futon in the middle of the room. He took the thick cover and wrapped the miko in its warmth. He sat down with the quiet miko in the middle of the futon. She still has that lost look in her eyes. He ran his free hand through her hair to comfort her and she responded by closing her eyes.

He made a move to set the miko on the futon but he was stopped with her words. "Please…please stay." The Western Lord looked down at the fragile woman he held and in spite of his better judgment he nodded. His eyes widened when she reached up and pulled his head down for a kiss.

"Thank you, Sesshoumaru." And before long the woman was slumbering leaving a stunned taiyoukai. His thumb traced the delicate bow of her lips as his own lips curved into a ghost of a smile.

"You're welcome, Kagome."

~O~O~O~

When Rin finally tracked her father to the guest room right beside his own chambers both miko and the Western Lord were fast sleep on the futon. The taiyoukai kept his arm wrapped around the woman and the miko's head was nestled in the crook of her father's neck.

The young woman can't help but crack a big smile. As quietly as possible she backed out and closed the shoji doors. She managed to walk about ten steps before she pumped her fist in the air and hissed a triumphant 'Yes!'"

~}O{~