May 08 2007: Author's Notes: Moving my work to fiddle with this fiction and get it reposted for those interested in it. This is a combination of the previous chapters of eleven and twelve. I am both working out more plot points than the original had as well as fleshing things out that I liked and getting rid of things I didn't.

Summary of chapter 7: The strange pair continued their long trek and avoided dwelling too much on what had happened to them while they were being controlled somewhat. After a day of moving they settled to rest and Kagome woke to find that her travels with the demon lord had been nothing more than a strange and vivid dream. Hearing instead from Inuyasha that she had shot and killed his brother that she had so recently believed was carrying her around subterranean tunnels.

Chapter Eight: Elaborate Webs or Refusal to Believe

Kagome felt light headed and could hear the blood in her body rushing at the nauseating news that she'd just received, she wanted to feint and allow herself a short moment away from that somber information. More crestfallen than she might expect and confused completely as to how to react to it, fairly numb as she took it in.

"I killed him…" she repeated dispiritedly.

"Yeah." Inuyasha nodded in annoyance at her. "If you could just butt out like you are told and let me handle things then I would have killed him myself and you wouldn't have to worry about it. It's not like he was a nice guy or anything Kagome- no different than any other demon you might slay with that bow of yours. Can we go now?"

She nodded in quiet agreement to him and started gathering her things. "I couldn't have really killed him could I? I remember twisting the arrow but what about…falling and the pain in my back…and the intensity of when we…we were together. The warmth of sleeping on his tail or the fear when I thought he might leave me in that pitch blackness…it couldn't have just been a dream could it?"

She finally fell into step next to her other crush…glancing to the clueless half-demon while she tried to separate where reality ended and her dream had begun.

"Inuyasha…I don't remember Sesshomaru dying…or anything else until now, this morning." she said with a frown. "Isn't that a little strange to you?"

The half-demon turned to speak to her when a tangle of branches fell on her from the trees above, making her gasp as she tried to fight at getting free. The half-demon was there with her, cutting some free with his claws as he growled at them. "Let go of Kagome."

"Inuyasha?" she asked curiously when she heard his voice, it didn't sound right.

Then all of a sudden she felt her cheek stinging as if she'd been slapped and she blinked as the powerful dream cleared from her eyes and she heard her name as she tried to refocus them on a silver haired…Sesshomaru. She instantly blushed as she figured out that she'd been having a dream about having a dream and that she was still here in the underground caves with the demon lord.

She glanced around and realized they were in a hallway where she definitely hadn't fallen asleep, there was enough light that she could see the simplistic brown cave rather well and she blinked in confusion.

"What happened?" she asked as she also noted that they were both standing.

"You wandered off in your sleep, I just now caught up with you and managed to wake you. I'd imagine you were having a dream with my useless brother." Sesshomaru answered with a bit more frigid of a tone than usual.

"I had a dream where I woke up and things were like they were before I fell down here. It was so real that I thought…well…that it was real. He yelled at me a little and we argued some like we used to do before he told me…" she hesitated, not wanting to say it aloud. "…I can't really remember. Nothing I would think was really important."

"That I killed you." her mind provided where the demon lord couldn't hear her. "I can't believe that I would actually kill Sesshomaru. I wasn't trying to kill him…just to get him to stop. But everything is okay now…he's not dead…"

She suddenly wrapped her arms around the taller male to embrace him in relief for his safety after how his 'death' had so managed to effect her before, near tears as she squeezed him. He didn't just shove her away for his own credit, instead settling his hand on the small of her back and watching her strange behavior without much of a reaction.

"You are disturbed for no good reason." he said coolly. "We should keep on our way. I assume that you want to take the path where I will be forced to carry you from lack of sight?"

"I think it's a better idea." she agreed with a nod and drew back, managing to keep the moisture inside her eyes as she did. "Something is just telling me to follow those paths."

He watched her for a long moment. "Something about that dream of hers really managed to get to her. Memories of the absent Inuyasha? Perhaps he'd been injured somehow in her visions? Nothing for me to worry about - she's my brother's half-human not mine."

He picked her up and started down the next path in a rush, trying to figure out just what the hell was happening here, the girl seemed lost in her own thoughts and still heavily bothered by whatever she had seen while sleep walking.

"I should have been relieved to see Inuyasha after I thought this was a dream…instead I was more worried about Sesshomaru. I love Inuyasha don't I? I'm not sure of anything anymore. Sesshomaru saved me again, is he changing too?" She stared up toward where she assumed his face had to be in the darkness, wishing she could see him more. "Even if he's rude sometimes usually he's nicer to me even than Inuyasha was, he holds me closer when he carries me…"

He had slowed as the picking of his way was more difficult while carrying the girl in his only hand, he glanced back to where she was staring at him, a moment of astonishment given he knew she couldn't see and then more curiosity for what she could be thinking as she watched him. Trusting him completely to keep her safe while they moved which was a compliment and he enjoyed it more than he cared to admit.

"I like her more than I care to admit." he thought grimly. "There is more to this spell than something simple, it's rewriting my personality when it comes to this partial human but just killing her could be more detrimental than not. I don't really want to kill her but this rare magic isn't the only thing holding me back - it's seemed to grasp my mind less than it has hers."

The two left each other in troubled silence while they moved, reaching another cave sort of opening with more fresh water though not quite as large of a display, having a small stream and a small pool of water before it continued off into another cave way. The air seemed fresher here so that was a sign they were moving toward areas closer to a surface opening.

"Finally." Kagome breathed as she was released to walk on her own in the pale illumination, moving toward the clear pool and bending down to cup her hands for several drinks, much thirstier than she had realized over her day of having nearly nothing to drink.

Sesshomaru took the time to check the perimeter and seemed content that there were no unexpected guests and only the one other exit this time, eventually moving to bend and get himself a little water as well.

"Not much to use for a fire again." He observed. "Do you think you can last another day without cooked food?"

"Yeah." she nodded in quick answer to that. "I don't mind that nearly as much as not being able to bathe. Would you mind if I went ahead and did that?"

He shook his head to her question. "No, go ahead, I'll be close. Scream if anything happens."

She nodded with a small smile toward that request, waiting until he was away to pull out all of her things for a bath, settling her blanket over the root of some sort of plant that was hanging from the ceiling, using the makeshift curtain as a wall to get undressed behind. Then she moved to the water with her soaps and things…getting in.

The warmth of the hot spring like water washing over her sore muscles and helping to cleanse her spirit as much as her body as she took the time to enjoy the relaxing feeling. She didn't take as long as she normally might, her stomach rumbling at her hunger from not eating throughout the day while they were running. She dried herself off with the blanket as she was without a towel and left it to hang and dry itself while she redressed, by the time she walked back around Sesshomaru was back - likely his hearing and other better scenes telling him when she was done before she had to let him know.

"Would you like one of my bars? You haven't eaten for days, you have to be hungry." Kagome offered a granola bar toward him as she pointed out the obvious. "Even demons have to eat right?"

"I don't need to eat human food." He shook his head at her, pulling free the belt of his outfit before moving behind the sort of shade she'd hung up. "Don't concern yourself, I can last much longer before I'll need to seek sustenance."

"Right…" she answered, noticing that the blanket just make a silhouette of the person behind it, so she could particularly see him undressing while her face practiced it's best impression of turning into the color of a tomato.

"My god, I hope he isn't going to just sit around without clothes today…I had an extra outfit so I washed mine but…his clothes he doesn't have more than the single set." She did her best to concentrate on chewing her food instead of thinking about Sesshomaru naked. "We need to be more careful. It seems safe here but that just makes it worse on us…I didn't start making out with him last night but I still don't want that to happen again."

He noted her extreme embarrassment as he floated into the water, letting himself soak as he watched her fidget. A mischievous grin coming to his face for a split second before clearing back into emotionless ness.

"Kagome," he asked coolly, "Could you retrieve the soap for me? I left it by the blanket there."

"Shouldn't demon lords have better memories?" she asked herself bitterly at being forced to move closer, quite sure despite his tone that he was doing this to her on purpose. She didn't look at him and found the aforementioned soap without doing so.

"Just toss it to me." he commented calmly, waiting a little and then blinking when she just threw it over a shoulder. He caught it but kept up with his small game by letting out a grunt as if she'd hit him with it.

He was rubbing his forehead when she gave him the glance he expected out of the little act, not sure why he was playing such games but still amused by them.

"Oh god." she thought to herself, more embarrassed as she dug for something else she could eat. "I hit him in the head. Real smooth Kagome."

"I'm sorry." she apologized while her face took an even deeper shade of red. "I didn't meant to hit you."

"Don't concern yourself." he replied with his usual devoid tone. Giving up the games to concentrate on his own bath while he let the girl eat in as much peace as she would allow herself to have.

She seemed ready to jump out of her skin when he sat down next to her, letting out a sigh of relief when she noted that he'd dried himself off enough to at least put on his pants, she was still staring more than she should at his muscular chest but at least he wasn't showing her more than was appropriate - he was on the line but not crossing it.

"So, how much further do you think it will be to the surface?" she asked, forcing herself to look up at his golden eyes and watch them instead of his chest, resisting a strange urge to reach out and trace the magenta lines on his regal face.

"A day or two from where we are now at the very most I'd think." he replied with a shrug, he was watching the cave they would be leaving from the next day. "Will you have enough food? I would think you are getting short."

"I still have a few days worth of stuff if we find a place where I can cook. Otherwise it'll get a little thin yeah." she answered honestly. "But I'll make it if it's just a couple days. What happens once we get out of here?"

"I'd imagine we would return to our lives, if we are separated the spell they cast will lose effect and eventually fall apart." he answered her calmly. "It would likely be best for both of us."

"Oh…" she hadn't expected that answer from him. "but what if that doesn't work? Shouldn't we find someone that knows about this sort of magic and get what information we can on it?"

"I wouldn't figure you'd want to linger in my company given your relationship with Inuyasha." he commented, glancing back toward her to fully watch her responses to his comments.

"I do what needs to be done." she replied "Inuyasha would understand why it was needed. It's a search for answers that could involve my well being and he wouldn't argue with that."

Sesshomaru was skeptical but didn't make another insult toward his brother. "I suppose it could end up that way. I have scented some other creatures in these caves though so I figure that we'll run across one of them before long and hopefully we'll be able to get an answer out of them. I still think Naraku had something to do with this bizarre attempt to control us."

"I agree." Kagome nodded to emphasize it. "Thank you for agreeing to stick with me through this. I know that I'm probably a large bother for you."

The comment sort of surprised him. He didn't really consider her as much of an inconvenience as he probably would have before this whole strange encounter started. He found himself shaking his head at her and didn't mind as much, something about her had touched him in a way similar to how Rin had but to a much more intimate level. It might have been caused by this strange magic but he wasn't willing to just completely fight it just yet, the girl had been a victim as well.

"You aren't a burden Kagome." he said to her seriously. "Just because things have been strange doesn't mean your company hasn't helped."

"I'm getting myself trapped in this damned web the more I let this happen." he told himself with a mental sigh. Then she smiled brightly at the kind words he'd given. "but what a creature to get myself entangled with…"

He had to admit that this was a very new form of travel and he figured that it was the spell affecting even his thoughts and reactions when it came to the half-human girl but as she was the only thing that was earning such a place he was more willing to live with it. He couldn't manage to hold the optimism that she often exuded…this seemed to just be the beginning of this elaborate web.

End Chapter.

Mmm, I like this better than the original but I'm still sorta questionable as to if this isn't another chapter I might rewrite again at a later date. Anyway, I need to hop into bed soon. Stayed up late working on this again. Heh, I gotta stop doing that.

-Aura

To my reviewers:

Sesshoumarukagomeforever23 - Here you go.

Kzb637 - I'd say I'd fixed that but now you have to wait a bit again.

Shae - Yeah so he wasn't dead, but I thought it was a dramatic detail to add. I couldn't kill my romantic male lead after all.

Amber001 - Glad to hear you liked the story then, hope you continue to enjoy it now.