"Inside my skin there is this space. It twists and turns, it bleeds and aches…"

-Jewel "Absence of Fear"

Chapter Two:Pain and Skepticism

Pain was the first thing that she felt upon waking, though instead of the emotional torture one might consider after her betrayal, in this instance the agony was physical alone. Her head, her arms, her legs, every part of her body seemed to ache at once, from her toes to her fingertips she was aware of the presence of parts of her body she never knew she had before. She wasn't even certain she wanted to open her eyes to see where she was. "What on earth could have happened? Have I been in some sort of terrible accident."

The last thing she remembered was falling down the well in the broken down shack on the shrine's grounds…was she at the bottom? "It couldn't have hurt this badly, could it?"

She fought with herself and finally opened her eyes before snapping them shut again right after…it was brighter than expected in the large room she was in, or at least she was still so disoriented that she was a tad looking at anything might just send her back into unconsciousness. "Maybe that wouldn't be so bad though…man…I've never hurt like this."

"Am I at some sort of care facility?" she thought as she squinted at the large room. Thoughts of passing back out weren't something that would keep her from trying to look around. "A canopy bed? Mom and Grandpa can't possibly afford this…what on earth could have happened to me? Did I get into some sort of other accident?"

The room where she was resting was one of the largest she'd ever seen, double doors with glass panes were allowing the sun to shine inside. They held detailed red, white, and silver cherry blossom styled patterns in the edges. Though thankfully the skies cloud cover had made it not as bright as moments before, there were plush crimson curtains pulled to either side of the doors to allow the light in. The grand king-sized canopy bed held matching deep red sheets and blankets, though the separating cloth that was able to be released as an extra screen was a brilliant ivory white in color. The mahogany posts and frame were etched to appear as if they had ivy curling up and overgrowing it's surface. Other than the expensive bed - though it was grand enough on it's own, there was a vanity and dresser both framed with some sort of onyx stone though without the detail of the other pieces of furniture. There were two other doors, one was open and she could see a bathtub but not much else from her vantage point. The second door was closed leaving her with little clues as to where she could be other than the large mountains in the distance beyond the connecting balcony.

"I'm in the country then?" She wondered curiously as she forced her arms to move a little, wincing but pushing herself to the side of the bed. "I need to find out what happened. Where Mom, Souta, and Grandpa are…even if I fell down the well I shouldn't have been this hurt."

She slowly scooted to the edge of the bed, glad for the stand table and the pitcher of water she found there. She poured herself a glass and sipped at it appreciatively, realizing how dry her throat had been for the first time. She settled the glass back down and stared at her feet off the side of the bed, also considering the expensive silk kimono working as her pajamas. Ignoring those odd details to instead gather the will and energy to stand without falling over. She moved slow in case she found herself in sudden further pain or couldn't support her weight, putting pressure on her feet slowly.

It was pins and needles for a while, getting some feeling back and wincing at the pain involved, it was much work than a simple kink in her neck…she was sore from a long period of inactivity. It was a few minutes of basic movements and forced -if small- exercise before she was content enough with her shaky legs to move away from the safety promised by being near the bed. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror on the vanity and gasped at the ugly brown and yellow bruise covering the right side of her face from her jaw to her forehead and from her ear to her nose. She stared for a while in disbelief, the edges of her mouth sinking into a frown.

"Exactly how long was I unconscious?" She swallowed nervously and stepped toward the closed door, it took her a minute or two to reach it but she did and she paused to catch her breath. "I'm really out of shape, I must have been out for a while."

She finally opened the door and then was shocked again to find a grand hallway filled with other doors and a set of steps much further on leading up. She was daunted by the fact that she saw no people around and avoided the idea of needing to go up steps yet, instead using the wall as extra support she started to make her way to the next door. Someone had to be inside this huge facility somewhere.

It took her just as long to reach her destination and she knocked on the door as hard as her sore bones would allow - which wasn't very loud consequently. When she didn't receive an answer she tried the knob but found it locked.

"I'm starting to think it would have been a better idea to stay in bed." she glanced back toward the room she came from. "I already started looking so I might as well keep at it. If it didn't hurt so much I'd say this was some sort of bizarre dream."

She turned when a door opened, looking hopeful for answers when she had to blink and rub her eyes in wonder if the hit she'd taken to her head hadn't left her hallucinating.

Sesshomaru had left his office, pursuing after the little noise she'd caused knocking on the armory door and he was watching her in all his glory. His fluff, seeming to be the softest most silver fur she'd ever seen - even if it seemed like he was wearing a boa. His kimono clean with his usual spiked armor, the symbol of his own painted in red at his shoulder and on the opposite leg, sword tucked safely into his sash. Golden eyes as cold and unreadable as ever they were, the midnight blue quarter moon mark on his forehead and scarlet lines on his cheeks a stark contrast to his pale, wrinkle-free skin. He didn't appear very inhuman but something about his aura told her there was something odd about him - though his sharp claw-like nails and other strange choice of attire helped with her nervousness.

"She doesn't recognize me." he noted to himself after a few moments as she continued to stare at him without calling his name as she often had in the past when they'd crossed paths. "Curious."

"You shouldn't be out of bed." He observed aloud, his voice demanding her attention even in it's dead tone, "You nearly died from all the injuries you sustained. I'm surprised you can walk at all, and while that is vaguely impressive for a human, you should return to resting so you will recover."

"Um…what happened? Where am I?" She asked, steadying herself on the wall so she wouldn't fall over from some dizziness that was bothering her still. "For a human? What else is there?"

He raised an angelic platinum brow just a bit, though otherwise seemed more annoyed than inquisitive as he answered. "You fell off of a cliff several miles from here. This is my estate, I brought you here after I found you. I'm sure you can return to your friends once your state of health has improved."

"I fell off a cliff?!" she was louder than she meant to be as she repeated the frightening news. "Where are Mom, Souta, and Grandpa? Do they know I'm okay? Do my friends and family know I'm here? Are you a doctor then?"

"What sort of doctor dresses like this? Have I been kidnapped by some odd rich guy? I've heard about things like that…how on earth did I fall off a cliff? What was I even doing out here?" Her mind was reeling, and while her body was still screaming at her the frightening surprise was enough to distract her from it for a few moments.

He let out a small sigh and she easily picked up that he was somehow irritated by the conversation. Though he replied, glancing along the hall as if he'd heard something that she hadn't, making her note that his ears seemed to be pointed a little. "I do not know where any of your companions or family might be. As far as I do know, no one is aware of your location or the status of your health. I am not a doctor, I simply employ some good healers."

"Good healers? They aren't doctors? Why did you bring me here then instead of taking me to Tokyo or another city with a hospital that has actual monitors and such things?" She was frowning now, the attitude wasn't making her feel any better and the dizziness was making her lose her patience. "Does he really have pointed ears? Could he be some sort of manga or anime fan?"

"Demon healers are better than human doctors." He glanced back to her at the insolence but didn't give away any emotion but boredom or perhaps some mild annoyance. "What do you mean by having monitors?"

"Demon healers?" she blinked and frowned more. "Are you crazy? What's a demon healer? Is this one of those crazy cult things out in the woods that people read about?"

That was when it all added up for the demon lord, he had read about things like this in some of the few medical books he'd been forced to study during his youth.

"You've lost your memory then." He as much thought aloud as told her. "I suppose such a heavy hit to your head explains such an occurrence. I'm not certain of some of the things you are babbling about but you were unconscious for almost a month before you woke up today. I am Lord Sesshomaru of the Western Lands. You used to travel with the useless half-breed that unfortunately shares my father's blood and a group of other humans with various skills for your race that made them less weak than most. I can take you to the village where you all tended to stay often after you are well if you haven't remembered where it is by then."

"Lord of the Western Lands? People really should make their kids have a better grasp on reality growing up." She was staring at him like he was a madman. As far as she was concerned he was and he might have helped her but if that was the case then he'd accidentally kidnapped her in the process. "Look, can I just use your phone and call home so my Mom and family will know I'm okay? I can give them the address and they can pick me up sooner."

"You are still suffering from the blow to the head. You are mumbling gibberish again." He started to walk toward her with the intent of escorting her back to her room. Though a wave of her priestess senses washed over her, giving her a silent warning as to Sesshomaru's demonic nature…all it did was make her feel suddenly afraid and she backed away from the approaching man as she saw dark circles dance in front of her vision.

She was falling before she even realized she had feinted. There was nothing in the hall to trip over but the tax on her body and mind followed by the spiritual assault of the approaching power of a demon as strong as Sesshomaru was too much for the poor girl. A moment later it had passed though and she found herself blinking at the sensation of a warm arm around her back as her eyes began to clear. "The crazy man, he caught me…but he was almost ten feet away…how could he have gotten close enough to catch me before I hit the ground?"

"How did you…?" she blinked, then blushed as she noticed she enjoyed how nice and warm it felt to be held. The body needs contact even if it isn't awake, it helps to feed the soul…she'd had such little contact and even if she didn't remember her emotionally crippling experience with Inuyasha her soul yearned for the comfort of a kind touch. "…I mean you were all the way…"

"This grows tiresome." He announced calmly, picking her up completely before she could offer a word of protest - though she wasn't sure she would have argued with it. Carrying her back to her room with a swift step that made her eyes see stars for a bit before she was settled back on the bed. He seemed to move faster than was possible. "Is it just my imagination because of the injuries?"

"Rest for now, I'll send in someone to help tend your wounds and feed you. I'll see what I can find out about this bothersome memory issue." He was slightly annoyed that she couldn't remember who he was, how on earth was he going to be considered a fearsome lord if a weak human girl didn't fear him other than out of reaction to her priestly powers. He narrowed his eyes on the slight burn already healing on his palm, unfortunately it seemed her subconscious at least hadn't forgotten her abilities to purify.

End Chapter

Author's Notes: At the moment I'm mostly doing a lot of clean up of the opening chapters of the original Shattered. I wanted to toss in a little more skepticism on Kagome's part given she was suppose to completely lose her memories of the feudal era.

-Aura

P.S. Thank you for the few reviews I got in support of my wanting to put together Kagome and Rimida - finally.