He considered the body for a long moment before moving toward it, nearly trembling with the first step, but steadying with the second as he approached one puzzle he had no interest in putting together. The more squeamish part of him wanted to look away from the still oozing flesh, the pungent blood that had become thick yet hadn't dried yet. He forced his eyes to stay on it, to take in every detail of the grisly scene, from the strokes that had taken the things life, the uneven pieces that it had become, the pattern the blood had taken when it splattered across the ground and walls, and finally…

The demon's hand rested near the wall, the fingers curled together toward the palm, but the claws not fully closed. Even in the dim light he could see it, the strands of black hair resting across its palm, his heart gave a lurch and he breathed in deeply, sifting through the overwhelming scent until he found…

The world spun sideways suddenly as it forced his eyes wide and his mind blank. He felt himself tremble slightly, felt the air stolen from his lungs by invisible specters. How had he not immediately noticed, even through the layers of vile smelling blood and already decomposing flesh he should have known this scent, her scent the instant he came across the disassembled body resting in the alleyway. He'd always known the soft smell with just the faintest traces of it presence somehow, but he missed it this time.

"Hey, Kurama, you all right man?" Yusuke moved forward slightly, pausing not far from him as he tried to look at the expression the redhead was trying to hide behind curtains of his hair. "Yo, earth to Kurama, you in there buddy?"

"I'm sorry Yusuke, it seems that we were wrong." He moved forward to gather the strands of hair and an abandoned shopping bag that had hidden out of view, heard Keiko gasp and begin stuttering, "Kagome was here."

XXXXX

Finding her shouldn't have been a difficult task in the least. It wasn't as if she knew how to manipulate her energy, she couldn't even use it properly most of the time or she would have been able to saver herself in that clearing with it rather than having to wait until she perceived others in danger. Someone should have taught her to use that unique energy of hers it had the potential to be very effective. However despite all of that he had yet to pinpoint her location, all he had been able to do was discover that she was still in the city. That should have been a comforting idea, not that he needed comforted of course, but the knowledge was more bothersome than anything else he had considered. If she had left town it would make not being able to find her more bearable, but knowing that she was still within the city limits he had been haunting all this time and he was still unable to find her was almost infuriating.

He concentrated harder, the eye on his forehead glowing with the effort as he continued to search. It should have taken him moments at the most, yet after at least fifteen minutes he didn't seem to be making any progress. Even searching for that damnable jewel, the aura of which he had begun to separate from hers after learning of it had yielded no results. Growling to himself Hiei focused, forcing himself to look harder, demanding of himself that he find her quickly. If she, or anything else, thought that they would hide something from him he would show them the impossibility of that action. It wouldn't be allowed to continue.

XXXXX

"What do you mean she was here?" Yusuke glared at the red head for a moment, "Then where did she go?" His heart was pounding painfully, stabs of the guilt knife twisting in his side and stomach. This was his fault.

"I'm afraid I cannot answer that question. Kagome was in this alley and for the moment that is all that I know." He considered the strands of hair he'd claimed from the dead demon's hand for a long moment before letting them flutter back to the ground, landing on bloodstained concrete beside his feet.

"That's all! Can't you tell what did this at least, or if she was here when it happened?" Yusuke's eyes had narrowed dangerously as he gestured to the small chunks of demon flesh littering the ground, "Maybe she just saw this mess and ran off somewhere or something?"

"It does not appear that that is the case." Kurama handed the bag to Keiko who was still stammering at them both, seeming to have slipped into a slight case of shock, "There is blood on the bag, and the demons was holding what appear to be several strands of her hair. I can say with some certainty that Kagome was near the demon when it was killed, though in what condition I can only assume at."

"Well then give me your assumptions." Yusuke crossed his arms to glare at him.

"While I cannot tell you her precise state of well being I can tell that none of this blood is hers, so at the very least we know that she was not bleeding."

"Then whatever killed this demon… it might have taken her?" Keiko swallowed, "What do you think it was? Is there any way you can tell?"

"No Keiko, there isn't much else I can do." He looked down, "My nose isn't quite sensitive enough to pick through all of the smells hidden beneath this blood, all I can do is distinguish between it, Kagome and hints of possibly two others I cannot identify and sadly I cannot follow them from this place."

"Two? There are two of them now?" Kuwabara grabbed his hair with his fists, "This is bad Urameshi, what if something bad happens to her?"

"Nothing bad is gonna happen to her." Yusuke turned out of the alley, "We're gonna find her and then I'm gonna kick the ass of whatever took her. Then we're all going to go home and have a party to celebrate a stupid test score damn it." He stormed off away from the alley, Kuwabara nodding in agreement as he followed him away.

"Um… guys…" Keiko looked down when they turned back to her, "Do… do you even have a plan?"

XXXXX

Waking up. It should have been such a simple thing to do, the world should have just pressed in on her, that switch in her brain turning from darkness to the conscious world and forcing her along with it. But Kagome didn't wake that way, things couldn't be that simple for her.

Instead the world was as blurry when she found it as it had been when she'd left, leaving Kagome to wonder if perhaps it wasn't something wrong with her eyes, but if the world had just become a blurry place. For a moment she wondered how she would manage to walk around if things no longer had definite edges, this could have become seriously hazardous to her health, she was already clumsy enough when things were in perfect clarity.

For only a second the dim lighting made her think she might have been in the alley still, the fuzzy shapes she could make out further distorted by the darkness a thin band of light falling out of a partially open door couldn't banish. Panic set in then. If she'd woken up in the alley she could have handled it she was sure, but this… Kagome had been kidnapped enough times that she should have been used to being in strange places by now, but it always sent a jolt of alarm through her to be somewhere she didn't know, with no idea of how she'd gotten there or just what might be waiting for her. It almost seemed like a better idea to just curl back into the warm bed she was resting in, go back to sleep and hope that the next time she woke up she was back at home.

But Kagome didn't have that option, she had to find out what sort of situation she was in, what had happened to her and the demon in the alley, how long she had been unconscious, and very importantly where she was and if she'd be allowed to leave or if that thing had taken her and planned to eat her still. She needed to know what had happened to the jewel.

Her head was spinning as she forced herself to sit up, her throat protesting with a wave of pain as she tried to swallow. Ignoring those problems Kagome twisted to the side, her legs trembling slightly as she inched forward until her feet found the ground. With a surprising amount of effort she pushed herself off of the bed, nearly worried that her knees would give out when they shuddered under her weight. They held firm though, and after a second she was comfortable with removing the steadying hand she had thrown out to grab the bed she'd just vacated. With the aid of a few deep breaths she steadied herself completely and fixed her resolve in place. She was going to find out what was going on, get her cursed jewel back and go home, where she would curse Yusuke for not showing up before falling into her bed. It was a beautiful plan, one Kagome knew wouldn't work out, at least not so simply, she just didn't have that kind of luck.

The floor was silent beneath her feet as she took a few steps, not a single part creaking in protest as she slipped across thick carpeting toward the open door, preparing herself for some horrible thing to be waiting on the other side. She hid behind the barrier, twisting to peak through the crack in an effort to see what was beyond the dimly lit room she'd found herself in before walking directly into it. Holding her breath Kagome opened her eyes as they neared the opening and screamed, or rather attempted to, much to the annoyance of her dry and swollen throat that burned with pain in protest.

The air whistled past her ears, dragging the dark curtain of her hair up to cover her face and leaving the world hidden behind the strands as she landed on carpet that should have been thick enough to cushion her fall far more than it did. Kagome battled the urge to swallow nervously as she pushed her hair away from her face and looked up as the band of yellow light widened over her.

"Are you all right miss?"

Kagome jumped slightly as her eyes met another set of brown eyes, it took her a moment to realize they were the same brown eyes that had sent her screaming away from the door only moments earlier. "Oh… I…" her voice was harsh, scratchy and she instinctively reached up to touch her painful throat, the muscles of her neck protesting at the contact.

"I must apologize for startling you, I just thought I heard something and was looking in to see. I must have given you quite a scare." He was kneeling beside her, watching her with clearly human brown eyes as he rubbed at the back of his neck, ruffling the back of his black hair with an embarrassed grin. "Here, let me help you up." Without waiting for an answer he caught her arm and pulled her gently to her feet.

"Oh that's… um…" She was surprised when he held on until she was standing steadily before letting her go, and found herself staring at his hand until it withdrew. If she had been kidnapped, he was at least the nicest captor that she had ever had, but that didn't set Kagome very much at ease. She needed to find out what had happened to her, "Um… how did I…?"

"Don't worry all of your questions will be answered eventually, but for now, let's just make sure you're all right, you have been unconscious for several hours."

"Hours?" Kagome swallowed and cringed. By now they would have noticed that she was gone, and she would be in some serious trouble when she got home.

"Yes, nearly four and a half now." He cringed away as she cried out and spun to him, "Is something wrong?"

Kagome felt herself staggering backward, but stopped before falling back onto the bed again, staring at the floor with wide eyes. She'd been gone for more than four hours now, they had to have noticed, and that meant that there was a lot of explaining to be done when she got home. She would have to start thinking up an excuse now if she was going to come up with a good one. "It's nothing," Kagome fixed a smile in place as she forced her voice to work properly, "Thank you, but could I have my things? I have to get home."

His smiled turned sad, "I'm sorry, but I can't let you leave just yet."

"What?" The verdict was in, kidnapped it was. But she couldn't understand it, she'd only ever been kidnapped by people that wanted something from her, or wanted to kill her, what could this guy possibly want?

"I would have gladly let you go, but the decision isn't mine you see? I'm just supposed to keep an eye on you until you're up and around."

"Then who makes the decision?" She didn't have time to stand around waiting, her coat was missing, the jewel wasn't in any pocket she currently had access to, and for some reason she couldn't seem to sense it anywhere.

He shook his head at her, "Not just yet, first we have to make sure you aren't going to collapse in a moment and finish getting you patched up." He gave her another small smile in an attempt to reassure her.

"I don't have time for that." Kagome wanted to glare at him, but she was certain her look came off as more pleading than demanding, but she hoped it was effective enough. "Just give me my stuff and I'll get out of your hair okay?"

"I can't do that miss."

"My name is Kagome, and you can't hold me here. Kidnapping is against law you know."

"I didn't kidnap you mi… Kagome, but I can't let you leave just yet."

"Oh, and why is that?" She was almost shouting, wishing there was something she could do about it. Nice captor or not, she wasn't happy about being told she couldn't leave, who was this guy to try and keep her from going home? She could feel herself shaking now, her body heat rising with the anger that was inspired when he only continued to smile nicely at her. "Well? Why can't I go?" For a moment she was glad he wasn't a demon as her powers began to spike, feeding off of panic and fear and searching for the threat that must have been causing it. However angry she might have been she didn't want to hurt anyone, and the pink glow that was building around her hands was stronger than she'd ever seen it. Not for the first time Kagome wished that she had been able to control the power that would rise occasionally when she got upset like this, that it was more reliable.

"Enough."

The voice sent an invisible ice cube down her spine and sent her powers retreating into her body as she stiffened and turned with stunned eyes to the door the man had moved away from. Frozen suns held her eyes in place for a long moment, sent a shudder through her body, "It's… you… Sesshomaru…"

To all of you who figured out my clues before this, congrats, I considered putting someone else in just to annoy you, or catch you off guard, but how can I have a fic without my favorite Inuyasha character in it right?