May 10 2007: Author's Notes: I'm combining a couple more chapters into this one. The previous 13 and 14 because they were far to short separately last time and I wanted the time to mess with what I did.

Summary of chapter 8: After finding out that she'd only dreamed that she'd killed Sesshomaru and thought she was dreaming about reality - (confusing huh?) Kagome continued her travel with the demon lord in the tunnels they'd fallen into and both of the two noticed that something or someone was affecting their feelings toward one another.

Chapter 9: Caught in the Web or Love Triangles

"Sesshomaru?" she finally asked softly while they were sitting at the small camp they had made.

"Yes?" he glanced toward her at his name and waited.

"W…what will you do when this is all over?" she broke eye contact and looked at the small pool instead.

"Didn't we just talk about that?" he replied, a little confused at her sudden odd behavior.

"I mean…when we figure out what's wrong and everything else. What will you do then?" she explained, her voice having grown much softer in her bashfulness.

"Return to my lands." he said matter-of-factly. "Why?"

"Oh…just curious…I guess it seems like we've been down her longer than we have." she rambled a little.

"She's disappointed." he realized, then said aloud. "What would you have me do?"

She glanced back over to him but whatever her answer would be it seemed to fade when she met his eyes, as if suddenly afraid of whatever she'd thought to say.

"What?" he prodded gently, shifting a little closer to where she was sitting so it would be easier to pick up the scents she was giving off.

She watched him move, wetting her lips but then biting her lip and remaining quiet. "How can I ask him to stay with me? He only left me alive because it would be incontinent to kill me, we're only like this because someone else is playing with our hearts."

He leaned closer, but paused before he got to her, watching her as he waited for some sort of answer. Kagome's eyes softened at the gesture and she reached up a hand to touch his cheek, freezing him in place as her hand stroked the side of his face softly, absently tracing the magenta lines along his cheeks.

"I…I was going to say…'stay with me'." she finally told him nervously.

Amber eyes widened a little, one of a few rare times his face betrayed emotion. He didn't pull away from her but nor did he move, trapped in her gorgeous blue eyes.

"Circles within circles." he thought mildly as his attention remained on the partially human girl.

"He should move away…wait? Should I move away instead? He shouldn't just sit close like that…especially with his shirt off."

She hovered near him on the edge of a desire she couldn't completely comprehend, knowing it wasn't completely her and afraid of the want that she felt for him. Perhaps because of what had happened before, her control already on a thread again as she watched him.

"We should…" Sesshomaru's comment was barely a whisper and he cursed himself as he couldn't manage to think of anything else that they could do around the small camp as an excuse to move away from this infuriatingly enticing woman.

"…get some rest." Kagome finished for him.

Yet despite the comments neither of them made a move, there was nothing to interrupt them or really endanger them here. Still, fear kept them from moving forward, longing keeping them from moving back.

"Someone has weaved this web a little too well. We need to stop this before they get whatever they are after." He thought to himself idly with his other thoughts, his body not so willing to listen to his brain. "She's the innocent one…shouldn't she back away?"

But being innocent meant doing naïve things.

She leaned in to close the distance and brush her lips against his…she figured just a kiss couldn't hurt. He shuddered a little at the teasing and resisted the urge to pull her close even as she scooted a little nearer, the feeling on his lips lingering with a soft but vibrant passion. He was losing the battle as she continued to press against him, his hands rising to trace her hips and move slowly up her sides.

Though when he did touch her waist she pulled back a little with a squeak of shock, realizing that she'd made a mistake by closing the short distance between them. She didn't mind his hands on her nearly as much as she should and she found that when she went to lay down in what she thought was a clever escape that he'd followed along with her, effectively 'pinning' her to the ground.

She blinked and knew she needed to stop it before it went further, but then he started to kiss her behind the ear and along the neck, making her body react how she never thought was possible by something that simple, she moaned underneath him and both of them were quickly losing to whatever spell had been put on them.

"Kagome…" he managed to whisper, his brain foggy from her alluring scent.

He was asking for permission for something. Her own mind not complying to her demands in the circumstances…what was he asking permission for again? Did it matter? She never managed to compute the question he'd pressed her with.

"May I mark you as my mate?"

She didn't really care, she just nodded to whatever the question had been, craning her head back to give him more access to her skin there. He was getting ready to go through with it when they both were drug back to reality by the sound of splashing getting closer to them. Sesshomaru instantly turned defensive and pulled her close to his side protectively as he jumped up to see whatever threat was before him.

"Inuyasha…" he muttered angrily. "You never can stay out of my business."

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" the half-demon screamed at his brother, drawing the Tessaiga as his eyes burned in hatred.

The full demon just growled in return, his eyes starting to tint with crimson as he watched the enemy, pressing the miko close to him as opposed to letting her go.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome finally caught up to what she was seeing. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like idiot. I'm rescuing you." He yelled back. "What the hell were you doing with Sesshomaru?"

That question made her turn a brighter red as she realized what it must of looked like, what it was.
"She's not in need of rescue." the demon lord announced coolly. "Get out of here."

"Let go of her." Inuyasha snapped back. "How dare you touch Kagome like that!"

"What do I say?" Kagome thought frantically. "They're fighting over me…but…Sesshomaru didn't do anything…I'm glad Inuyasha stopped us and all but how could I possibly explain it?"

"You are mistaken as ever. This is not a time to press your luck." the deep voice promised, his eyes still growing a deeper red in his anger at the interruption and perceived threat to Kagome.

"STOP IT!" Kagome's outburst managing to gain their attention before either attacked the other.

"Inuyasha." she said softly. "Sesshomaru didn't do anything."

"He was all over you." the half-demon snapped back. "Or weren't you paying attention. He was about to mark you as his mate by the looks of things…god you are a dense woman."

She glanced to Sesshomaru when she felt his grip tighten on her protectively again and for the first time made note of what seemed to be blood leaking into the gold of his eyes.

"He's angry…he's defending me." Kagome thought with surprise. "Yet…I feel so safe with him…I'm sorry Inuyasha."

"Seshsomaru…" she whispered softly until she managed to get him to glance at her. "…please calm down…"

At the request and her voice the lord of the west's eyes returned to their normal sheen but he regarded his brother with no kindness. She gently started to pull herself away and then he looked at her fully for the first time since Inuyasha had interrupted their intimate scene.

"It's all right." she assured him with a nod.

He hesitantly put her back on her feet then, watching her animatedly and nearly missing the dodge out of the reach of Inuyasha's sword a moment after they'd let go of one another. His claws immediately began to glow an eerie green, he was losing his patience.

"Sit boy!"

There was a crash as Inuyasha slammed into the floor, stopping the fight as the demon lord stared at the face-planted half-demon in front of him, a lip threatening to quick upward.

"What the hell did you do that for!?" Inuyasha snapped as he jumped up, yelling at Kagome.

"Cause you don't know how to listen!" Kagome yelled back. "Nothing happened that I didn't either initiate or allow!"

That statement had all eyes on her yet again and she blushed a little as she realized the implications of what she'd just said.

"What do you mean?" the half demon asked in half-shock/half-hurt. "You wanted him to mark you? Have you completely lost your mind?"

A warning growl came from his brother at the insult.

"You are such a jerk!" she argued with him. "That isn't what I meant."

"Sure…okay…anyway, where the hell have you been?"

"Sesshomaru helped me after we woke up down here." she answered, smiling a little toward the full demon. "I would have died if he hadn't helped me."

"You do realize I've been looking for you!" He wanted to cry but chose to scream instead. "Though apparently I'm not needed. I woke up with the shards near me and I've been searching for you ever since then. I picked up your scent a day ago in a large room like this one…but I guess you've been more concerned with making out with Sesshomaru!"

He was very angry himself.

"I…I'm glad you are all right." she answered, still feeling horrible for what was happening. She should be happy to see Inuyasha but a lot of her feelings for him seemed to be gone.

He paused a little then scoffed at her. "Yeah, that's why you've got his scent all over you. Just what else has happened in the past few days?"

Sesshomaru moved closer to Kagome, narrowing his eyes when Inuyasha yelled at him again. "I told you to stay away from her!"

"Listen Inuyasha." she demanded. "Something is controlling us…some sort of strange spell. It keeps making us do things we wouldn't do. Someone carved spells onto our bodies and it's making us go a little crazy sometimes."

Inuyasha eyed her but knew she wouldn't lie about something like that. "Fine…then now I'll be here and you two can part ways. Then nothing like this will happen again."

"No…we need to work together until we find out what's wrong." Kagome shook her head.

"We need to speak human." Sesshomaru addressed her harshly enough that she wanted to scream at the situation but nodded a little. The full demon wandered down a path and she hugged Inuyasha before heading after him.

"Don't you two start anything!" he called after them crudely.

"Sit boy!" was the reply for his trouble.

He slammed into the ground and started cursing while she caught up with the full demon, staring at him with a little sadness in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

He glanced to her and let his eyes melt a little from their usual icy stare. "The half-breed is right. This is a dangerous game we are playing staying together like this. Return to the dog where you belong."

She winced when he put it like that. "I didn't mean…I…"

She started to run off but as she turned he caught her arm.

"You didn't mean?" he was back to his unreadable self so she wasn't sure what to think of it.

"What else could I have said to stop the fighting? I…I don't want you to leave until we at least figure this out…" she bit her lip and he noted that she was on the verge of tears.

He finally nodded a little, pulling her closer and smelling her hair as he nuzzled into it. She smiled and kissed his cheek before whispering. "Play along."

She slapped him a moment later and screamed. "You are a jerk too, you both are horrible."

She winked at him before storming off.

He blinked in shock after her, it hadn't hurt but he wasn't sure if he should be insulted or not as she walked off on him. "What if my brother hadn't interrupted us? A half-human mate? No…Kagome as a mate. That is not a disagreeable thought and I know that it probably should be. What is this strange sort of feeling? We need to get this spell removed so I can get these foreign thoughts removed from my mind."

End Chapter

Whee, I liked the remake of these chapters much much more than the originals. I'm pretty proud of them so I'm glad to add this chapter to my re-write of the story. So far so good. Thanks for the support folks.

-Aura

To my reviewers:

Kzb637 - Glad you enjoy it so much. Hope you continue to like it.

Shae - Yes he was alive and now he has to deal with a little love triangle…gotta love drama.

Angel Maiden - Here you go, more story for ya.

Sesshomarukagomeforever23 - Continued.