NOTE: Inuyasha isn't mine. I'll leave him to Kikyo and I will be happy to make Sesshoumaru MINE!

UNEXPECTED

The Captain of the West stepped out of the guest room followed by two servant women. The captain lingered just outside the room as the women left bearing barely touched food trays. Rin nodded to two other female attendants waiting outside and they led the miko into the bathing chamber. She followed the women as they disrobed the unresisting woman and began to bathe her.

It had been a week from their return to the fortress and since that time Kagome had regressed into this state of melancholy. Kagome never goes out of her room, never talks to anybody but Rin. Kagome would answer Rin's inquiry in polite soft monosyllables and then lapse into staring into space once more.

Rin had been taken to task by her father to remain at the castle to keep the miko company and make sure that she eat and was bathed regularly. After securing the Son's of Wrath in the dungeons the lord had been returning to the two villages the trio had laid waste to supervise its reconstruction and repopulation. The Western Lord had also been in regular conference with the other three cardinals of the North, South and East regarding the Son's of Wrath.

If he just wasn't thoroughly occupied Rin knew her father would be right beside the miko and doing everything he can to get her out of this stupor even to the point of angering the woman just to get any reaction from her.

Rin sighed to relieve a constriction in her chest. The miko is a kind-hearted soul. Always trying to help and relieve any hurt and never the one causing it if she can help it.

She remembered how she always looked forward to a visit to the miko and Inuyasha-sama's friends. Lord Sesshoumaru seemed to be confident that his ward would be accepted and cared for while he attends to matters regarding his lands. Rin loved the miko's bubbly nature and endless supply of games and stories as well as their regular bathing trips to the hot springs.

There was also Shippo, the miko's adopted kitsune son and Rin's friend. They had hours and hours of fun getting their knees and elbows scraped as they run with wild abandon all over the flower fields. The young girl smiled at the fond memory. Rin was so thrilled when her father agreed to travel along with the miko's pack from time to time.

There was no question that she loved following the great lord as he patrols the borders and the interior territories. This experience helped her in getting to know the land intimately and ultimately made her job easy when she joined his army and took over the patrolling so her father could attend to the growing demand for his time in the fortress. But she was a child and she needed other children to play with. She had long suspected that her father had just used the ruse of taking care of bureaucratic problems to leave her to the miko to alleviate any shortcomings his guardianship lacks.

A polite tap on the door interrupted the young woman's thoughts and she left the miko and her attendants to see Jiro standing at attention outside. After Rin closed the door the kitsune lieutenant whispered something to the young captain. Rin nodded and waited. When Jiro left she slid open the shoji doors a crack in time to see that the miko had been dressed and combed and was being led to her receiving room.

Rin left some orders for the attendants and left the women's wing for the reception area of the castle. She was a little confused when she entered the elegant room to see a tall well-built and well-dressed youkai standing with his back to her facing the courtyard. The youkai felt her presence and turned. Rin felt her jaw drop at the sight of the handsome face smiling at her.

He is back in the Western lands. He never thought he'd feel such intense nostalgia at the familiar places he had once trudged during their pursuit of the Shikon shards. Those were the days, he sighed, closing his eyes. But he felt such loneliness in his heart after he lost the second most important person in his life. He was inconsolable afterwards, but they were all powerless to do anything for it was the will of the Kami. His grief evolved from anger into rebellion and his friends became worried that he would get himself killed or catch the attention of the Four Cardinals. Fortunately the Lord of the West agreed to take him in and found him members of his own kind to begin his training for his ascension into the title left by his father.

Lord Sesshoumaru's parting words before he embarked on his long intensive training almost made him wet his pants and with a shaking voice he promised the imposing demon lord that he would not let him down.

"It is not this Sesshoumaru that will be disappointed if you fail, kit, but someone of higher importance to you and your friends. Do not besmirch her memory for you shall answer to this Sesshoumaru." And then the Great Lord lifted an elegant brow to nail the point in while giving him the 'eye'.

He shook his head, smiling at the memory but he frowned when he remembered his purpose for being summoned so suddenly from the training. He was fetched by Jaken with a missive for his sensei and without much ado he was told to pack lightly and before he knew it he and Jaken were riding on Ah-Un. His inquiries from the toad youkai was met with 'Your questions will be answered at the fortress, my lord.'

He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he belatedly felt her aura only when she opened the door. His thought when he saw the young woman was that he was in error. This young woman wearing a short but loose kosode bearing the Western Lord's sigil under an all black taiji-ya outfit couldn't be Rin. He noted the retractable handle of a battleaxe peeking from behind her right shoulders as well as the katana on her side. Her presence looked unassailable and intimidating. But when she looked at him with those wide brown eyes he had no doubts.

He stopped before her. Her heart was suddenly beating a little fast for her liking when he took her hands in his, his bright green eyes gazing down into her upturned ones.

"Hello Rin, it's been a long time." His voice has gotten much deeper since then but his reddish orange hair has remained the same.

"Yes, it has been a long time, Shippo."

~O~O~O~

The captain and the kitsune stopped to talk at the courtyard of the main castle. When Shippo heard of his adopted mother's return he hollered so loudly that Rin was glad they were far away from the women's quarters.

"I must tell you Shippo…Kagome has changed." The young woman tried her best to break the surprise to her friend.

"Well, eight years has that way of changing people, Rin. Of course, Kagome is a little older right now. But I hope she can still remember me." The kitsune looked back at the young woman who has been his childhood playmate.

"Of course she would, Shippo, but that's not what I mean." The kitsune looked at her intently. "Uh…I believe you need to see it to believe it."

"Is Kagome okay?" A concerned look took on Shippo's eyes. "Is she hurt?"

The captain of the West took a deep breath and gripped the hilt of her katana wondering how she could explain in plain terms but decided against it.

"Come." She said and turned, not even looking back to see if he followed. Shippo was amused but impressed because his friend is no ordinary girl anymore. Her tone bespeaks of someone used to commanding and being obeyed without question….much like the Lord of the West.

~O~O~O~

The heat vapor coming from the delicate teacup lazily made its way up in the cool morning air. Its fragrant aroma enticing to the senses; beside the cup, on a red lacquered raised table, an equally delicate dish held a variety of dainty sweets, each one beautifully done like miniature flowers or leaves. Topping the artfully done table was a simple white vase with a sprig of sakura blossoms. Just beyond the table the wide open doors of the receiving room beheld an enclosed garden and pond teeming with colorful koi. The sakura trees in bloom lend the air with its fragrance. It was a serene and idyllic scene that would delight and calm anyone wishing to recharge their flagging spirit even for a few hours.

But all of this was lost to the woman sitting on a padded cushion. Her dark eyes have been focused on a spot at the garden wall, the eyes not even taking in the colorful blooms that lined the garden's pathways or the butterflies that flit from one flower head to another.

It's happening again, dear gods. I'm so tired of this…I was finally getting over it all. I've done my duty! The jewel is back inside my body. Why do I have to go through it all again? Is it my destiny to only see death and destruction? Why am I always a pawn in someone else's mad scheme? No more! Will this follow me for the rest of my life? No! I don't want this anymore! I wanna get out of here! I wanna go back home…to my family…to my work…to a career! I wanna be back to my old self…not in this…appearance…not in this form… not in this stranger's face and body. I don't even know myself….

This temperamental stranger has been in constant war within her. It's like she has two people inside her mind. She can't even understand who she is anymore…who is this?

Who are you? What are you? She screamed in her mind.

It's all a lie…a big lie! I fee so used…so stupid… I'm such an idiot!

She felt cheated.

She would sometimes hold Kanna's mirror and look into it's smooth surface hoping that the mirror would at least acknowledge her presence or perhaps get it out of its dormancy.

She tried to use her blood but the mirror was still quiescent. When she did that an alarmed Sesshoumaru barged into her room drawn by her blood dripping on the mirror. He thought that she was badly hurt or something. The taiyoukai glared at her recklessness.

"Miko, you certainly have no sense of self-preservation in your body. Do not tempt the fates."

He surprised her when he took her bleeding palms and licked it until the wound healed. The action was so sexy and sent thrills up and down Kagome's body and she knew her cheeks were burning up it was then that Kagome forgot how to breathe. When the taiyoukai looked up he raised an eyebrow at her and left. Kagome was so glad she was sitting on the floor or else he would have heard her knees knocking together or worse still, she would have been reduced to a lump of quivering miko goo.

The jerk! The tease!

A corner of Kagome's lips pulled back slightly from the memory, it made the morose visage of the miko lighten a bit by the pleasant memory…but only for a short moment, and then the mask came back in place once more.

One word broke through the haze of her dark and deep thoughts…

"Oka-san?"

~}O{~