Disclaimer: I do not own any part of InuYasha, only my own character Kakiya.

Chapter 8

"Miroku, we should go back now," Sango told him after she gently placed Kagome's unconscious body on the ground.

Miroku glanced at InuYasha's body, which was next to Kagome, before looking back to the cave, "Looks like we don't need to." He said, pointing to the entrance.

Sango looked at the entrance to find Sesshomaru carrying Kakiya. She watched him carry her towards the forest and disappear. "I guess we can leave her with him for now, but we'll have to tell InuYasha about this when he wakes up."

He thought for a moment, "Or we can tell him that she just left on her own accord."

"We'll see."

In the forest, Rin finally saw Lord Sesshomaru and excitedly ran over to him. She then noticed Kakiya in his arms, all tattered up, "What happened to Lady Kakiya? Can't we bring her with us? You can't just leave her here!"

"Rin, if I wanted to leave her here, I would have left her in the cave." He carried Kakiya to Ah-Un and carefully sat her upon him.

Rin giggled at her own foolishness, "Oh. That makes sense." Rin climbed up on top of Ah-Un and stared at her unconscious form and wondered if she was going to be alright.

Sesshomaru looked at the unconscious girl and wrapped all of them in his blue light and teleported them to where Jaken. Jaken was surprised at his sudden appearance, but it was cut short because Sesshomaru teleported them all once again to one of his nearby castles.

Only a few hours later, the poison was finally wearing off and InuYasha regained his conscious. "Kagome...?" he whispered and looked around for her.

"Sango, I think he's awake now." Miroku went over to where InuYasha and sat down beside him, "How do you feel? Do you need water or anything?"

InuYasha quickly regained his composer and quickly unsheathed his Tessaiga, but then realized he wasn't in a cave anymore. He quietly put his sword away and studied his surroundings. He spotted Kagome resting beside him, but failed to find Kakiya anywhere. "Did Kakiya go off somewhere?" he asked.

Sango looked at Miroku, who sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Ah... about her..."

Miroku scratched his head, "You see... we kinda left her in the cave..."

"You what?"

"Wait, InuYasha, calm down. We only left her there because we couldn't carry both you and Kagome. Besides, Kakiya's not there anymore." Sango told him reassuringly.

InuYasha sat down, "That's good you scared me..."

"Yea... she's with Sesshomaru now." Miroku said quietly.

InuYasha stood up and was bewildered, "Sesshomaru? You left her with him?"

Sango shyly smiled, "I didn't think Sesshomaru would save her either, but he was carrying her out of the cave in his arms. I don't think he would do anything to her."

Miroku nodded in agreement, "But you've got to admit, they look good together."

InuYasha snapped at Miroku's statement, "Sesshomaru hates half-breeds as much was he does humans." He said bitterly though his teeth, "You guys stay here with Kagome, I'm going to go get Kakiya." He quickly jumped away before the two of them could say anything more.

Miroku face palmed himself, "Maybe we should have just told him that she left to go somewhere."

"Too late for that now."

At Sesshomaru's castle, Kakiya was resting on a futon on the floor. The moon's pale lights came in through the rice-paper door and hit Kakiya's sleeping face, waking her up.

'Where am I?' she thought to herself.

She looked beside her and saw Rin sleeping on the edge of her futon with her head resting on Kakiya's leg. She smiled and took her blanket and pulled it over Rin, being careful not to wake her. Kakiya got out of bed and looked herself and saw that she was cleaned up and now wore a plain, white robe. She left the bed and slid opened the paper doors, quietly closing it behind her. Kakiya noticed that she was on the second floor of the building. She looked down at the grass below her and thought of going down to lay upon it, but decided against it as she turned her attention to the beautiful waxing crescent. Kakiya tried to remember what happened earlier that day.

"Are you coming or not?" Kagura demanded.

Kakiya and Kagome just nodded and followed her into the mountain. They kept on walking behind her until Kakiya stopped.

"What's wrong?" Kagome whispered.

"Kagura, why are you leading us to Naraku so easily?" Kakiya questioned her suspiciously.

"You will find out when you meet him." Kagura said bitterly and continued to walk further into the tunnel.

Kakiya said nothing and continued to walk on beside Kagome. They kept on walking for a while until Kagura stopped. Kakiya looked ahead and saw the interior of the large cave, also taking note of the large plant roots and vines that here hanging all over the place. The plant body had a giant red flower that had something that looked like a mouth positioned in the center of it.

"We are here." Kagura told them in a monotone voice.

Kakiya looked around, 'What a strange demonic aura that's coming from this cave... perhaps it is from Naraku...?'she thought.

"Where is," Kagome indicated with her hands, "here?"

Suddenly a vine broke away from the wall and flew towards Kagome's throat, but Kakiya immediately formed a sword in her hand and pinned the vine to the ground before it touched Kagome. Kagome quickly drew an arrow and pointed it at Kagura.

"What was that?" Kagome yelled at her.

Kagura smirked, "Just a friendly welcome."

More vines shot at them. Kagome shot some of them down while Kakiya sliced the rest down. Kagura watched them with amusement. A large root came beside her and she sat on it and the root started to move back to the plant; out of the danger of the vines trying to whip the other two. Kakiya heard Kagome scream and saw that the vines had caught her. The more she struggled, the deeper the vines were digging into her flesh. Kagome could only stand there helplessly while her blood trickled down her body. Kakiya hurried over to her and tried to cut away the vines, but these vines were too thick and it was hard to cut. Frustrated, Kakiya formed a ball of fire in her hand and was about to burn away the vines, but then a large root come and smacked her hand making the flame die.

"Don't you know plants hate fire Kakiya?" Kagura laughed.

Kakiya ignored the wind witch and made another fire ball. She lit the vines that held Kagome and freed her.

Kagome looked at herself and noticed that she was not burnt "How did you do that?" Kagome asked.

"I can control the direction of my flame." Kakiya looked around and saw Kagome's broken bow and arrows. She quickly formed a red bow and arrows in the air and indicated to Kagome to take them.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, if these thorns pierce your skin, its special poison will enter your blood stream and will make you unconscious for a few hours." Kagura told them with another laugh.

Kagome shot an arrow at Kagura, who protected herself with the plant's many vines. The vine she shot lit up into a blaze as the plant demon screeched out with fury. Kagome glanced at Kakiya who merely grinned back. Kagome smiled and kept on firing more arrows at the vines, watching them all burst into flames. Soon, fatigue took over her and she found her eyes dropping. The plant wrapped its thorny vines around her once more as she fell unconscious. The bow and arrows dropped from her body and disappeared before they hit the ground.

"Looks like the priestess has already fallen." Kagura laughed.

"What?" Kakiya looked over and saw Kagome's limp body wrapped around in vines.

The plant demon took Kakiya by surprise by grabbing her foot and dragging it underneath the rocky stone. With one foot firmly lodged into the ground, Kakiya struggled to get footing and a proper flame gathered in her hand. The vine quickly slapped the flame away and wrapped Kakiya hands to her back. The demon dug its vein into her leg; Kakiya could already feel its foreign poison flowing through her blood stream. She tried to light herself on fire, but sleepiness was quickly taking over.

"It's useless Kakiya! I have you now, the poison's got to you!" Kagura laughed again.

'That laugh...' Kakiya thought, 'is dreadfully annoying.'

Kakiya fell over onto the rocky ground. She felt new vines tighten around her as its thorns dug into her flesh. She looked at Kagome in front of her, who was now being carried towards the plant's main body. Kakiya fell unconscious, but not before seeing Kagome being moved closer to the plant's mouth which opened to reveal its large sharp teeth.

The cool night wind blew through her hair, brining her back from her thoughts. Kakiya noticed a waterfall in the distant, not too far away from the castle that she was staying in. Deciding to go bathe in its water, she flew over to the waterfall and jumped into the deep spring. Everything was illuminated by the moon's white light and the roaring sounds of the fall filled the area. As she was swimming around, she noticed that she had left her night gown on and laughed at her own mistake. Kakiya floated on her back as she watched the fireflies dance around her.

Meanwhile, Sesshomaru was talking a walk; something he normally does when he has no need for rest. He was headed towards the waterfall. Sesshomaru knew about it, of course, whenever he returned to his castle he always took time to visit the small falls to watch the fireflies; his guilty pleasure. When he neared the falls, he noticed strange movements in the water. Wondering what it was, he quietly crept closer to the water's edge, staying hidden within the shadows. He found Kakiya there, lying in the water, smiling while the fireflies circled around her. In that moment, she looked like a beautiful water nymph who decided to come out and play with the fireflies.

Kakiya suddenly sat up, noticing the new scent that the breeze brought to her. She looked over to the place where the scent came from in time to see Sesshomaru step out from the shadows. "I didn't think that I'd met you here."

He stepped out towards the water's edge and the fireflies came to his side as if he was their master, "Likewise."

Kakiya slowly got out of the water, drying herself as she reached dry land. She stood in front of Sesshomaru and did a small curtsy, greeting him properly. "I am assuming that it was you who saved me from that demon. Thank you."

He looked towards the group of rocks beside them and they both sat down, "That demon was weak."

"And I was careless." She leaned back on her arms and looked up moon. "But it seems that you are always the one to rescue me." She whispered.

Sesshomaru only turned to watch her, staying silent.

Kakiya turned back to look at him, "You know, after you scared away that Onigumo, I snuck out of the castle frequently... to look for you." She said quietly.

"Why?" he simply asked, locking on to her amethyst eyes with his own golden gaze.

His gaze held hers for a moment before she could answer him, "I... When I saw you for the first time I was..." she paused, looking for the right worlds to use, "captivated; enchanted. I just couldn't stop thinking about..." she drifted off, not wanting to finish. "I wanted to see you again, even if it was only for a moment, but I never did."

Many memories of his younger days flashed in his head. He remembered watching the same girl he had saved crawling out of the hole in the wall and began searching. He knew who she was searching for, but he didn't want to let her see him; only watching her from afar. The girl also allured him; he had felt a strange attraction to her since the day he met her. He decided to keep an eye her, and to his delight, whenever he returned to the castle that his detested younger brother stayed at, he always found the same girl coming out to look for him. Sesshomaru's face slightly twisted when the bitter memory of the day he arrived at the castle and the girl no longer came out, no matter how long he waited.

Drifting back to reality, Sesshomaru realized that the older version of the young girl in his memory was intently staring at him, "What?"

His sudden question surprised her; Kakiya quickly looked away, "Nothing." After a moment of silence, she spoke again "I should go back now," then she made a small gasping sound, "That castle belongs to you!" Kakiya turned to the lord, "I'm sorry that-"

Sesshomaru cut her off, "I brought you there. You do not need to apologize."

He got up and headed towards the castle. Kakiya quickly stood up and followed him. The two enjoyed each other's silent company, as they walked back to the castle.

When they reached the castle, Sesshomaru stopped and turned back to look at Kakiya, "Tomorrow at noon, come to the castle's back yard, you will find me there. I wish to fight you."

A puzzled look grew on her face, but she shook it away, "You will find me there, Lord Sesshomaru."

He was walking towards the door before he paused and stopped again, "You may call me Sesshomaru." Then entered his castle and disappeared into the darkness.

Kakiya watched him go, and then flew up towards the second floor to enter her room. She found Rin standing there outside her room, staring out at the forest.

"You are still awake?" Kakiya asked softly as she walked towards her.

Rin jumped in surprise when she heard the voice. She looked at Kakiya who was now giggling, trying to work out an apology while doing so. "I woke up and saw that you were gone. I was worried..."

Kakiya kneeled down and looked at the girl at eye level; she put a hand on Rin's head, "I'm sorry to have worried you, I was just out... exploring."

Rin frowned, "Why? You won't be able to see anything at night."

Kakiya was brought to a laugh again, "Then, will you join me tomorrow morning? We shall go and then you can show me what I missed." She smiled.

A large grin grew on the younger girl's face, "Of course!"

Standing up, she took Rin's hand in her own, "Let's go back to bed now. You can sleep with me tonight."

"Okay!"

Sliding open the rice doors, the two entered the room. Kakiya quickly tucked the girl in and slid in beside her. She pulled Rin into a hug to find that Rin was cold, 'How long was she standing there, waiting for me?' she wondered.

"Hey..." Rin quietly said(1).

"Hmm?"

Rin clenched at the blankets, "May I call you..." she stuttered.

Kakiya could feel her heating up. She smiled to herself and gently pried the blanket from Rin's small hands, "What is it?" she softly asked her.

"I know I haven't been with you for a long time, but... may I call you 'Mommy'?" she was red now, from embarrassment, "I mean, if you don't like that I-"

Kakiya put a finger to her lips, "If that is what you wish to call me, I will allow you to call me 'Mommy'."

Rin smiled and cuddled in closer to Kakiya, "Mommy," she whispered.

Kakiya couldn't help but smile herself, "Yes?"

The little girl yawned, "Mommy..." she repeated, sleepily.

"Yes?"

"Good night, Mommy."

"Good night to you too, Rin."

Rin fell asleep right after she heard her new mommy say her name. From that moment on, she decided that she needed to make her say her name for often; she looked the sound of Kakiya's voice when she said her name.

XXX

(1) I kinda stole this idea from Gakuen Alice, the Mikan and Narumi part from the anime. -.-'

I like purple and pine cones.