Yay~! So much inspiration! I feel so… so… enthralled! Yes!

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

Kouga was rather irritated. After no more than two hours, Kagome's, along with the Band of Seven's, scent suddenly had suddenly vanished. The group had wandered blindly around the forest for a while, before realizing that it would get them nowhere, and deciding to give up for the day. They had set up camp in a small clearing.

Now, Kouga sat, unable to sleep, against a tree. It wasn't that he was uncomfortable; he'd slept in much more uncomfortable places before. It was worry.

Kouga stared into the slowly dieing fire and imagined he could see Kagome's smiling face in it.

Oh, Kagome, he thought. Are you okay?

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

Kagome stared at the food that had been brought to her. She was rather reluctant to eat it. After the sleeping potion before, she felt she couldn't trust the Band of Seven's food- not that she could trust them at all in the first place.

"I'm telling you," Suikotsu insisted. "It's not poisoned, or anything like that."

Kagome said nothing. She was attempting to convince herself that she was not hungry.

Her growling stomach argued otherwise.

"Just eat. Please? Bankotsu won't be too happy if I let you starve to death."

"I don't give a damn whether Bankotsu's happy or not," Kagome snapped.

"At least you're talking," Suikotsu said. "But I'm not sure if that's a good thing."

"Just let her starve," Jakotsu said rather dramatically from the other side of the room. "It'll be punishment for being so ingrateful."

"That's a bit extreme."

"Not by my standards."

"Your standards aren't standards anyone would go by."

Kagome listened to them bicker, and smiled. It quickly faded, however, when she thought of Inuyasha and Shippo.

"Just shut up, Jakotsu," Suikotsu ordered, turning back to Kagome. "Now please, eat, Miss Kagome. I promise you on my own grave that there's nothing in this food."

Kagome couldn't fight her hunger any longer. She hesitantly picked up her chopsticks and took a bite of food.

Suikotsu smiled. "There, that wasn't so bad, now was it?"

The food wasn't. Kagome found it to be quite tasty, and soon began to devour it all. She hadn't realized that she'd been so hungry.

As she finished, Kagome let out an impressively yet small burp, followed by a polite, "Excuse me."

"She's got manners," Jakotsu sneered.

"I feel sleepy," Kagome announced accusingly. "There was something in that food wasn't there?"

"Actually, that's natural," Suikotsu said. "It's common for one to feel sleepy after downing a large meal, especially one as large as you just finished."

Knowing this was true, Kagome turned away and mumbled profanities.

"Now go to sleep," Suikotsu said. "You'll feel better in the morning."

He'd said the same thing the night before, and been correct. Kagome grumbled even louder, but crawled into the bedding that she'd woken up in before.

"Goodnight!" Suikotsu said cheerfully. "And, oh, Jakotsu- you can go. I'll watch her."

"Thank God!" Jakotsu cried, and was gone.

Suikotsu sat in the spot Jakotsu had occupied before, and Kagome felt his eyes on her as she drifted into a deep, dreamless.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

Kagome awoke feeling energized and ready for whatever life threw at her.

That made her quite upset. And not in the sad way, either.

"Good morning, Miss Kagome," Sikotsu said- just as cheerfully as he'd said goodnight the night before. Kagome's mood darkened.

Before anything else could be said, however, Suikotsu stood and left the room. Kagome stared after him long after he had left.

What am I supposed to do? She wondered. He just left me here. Do I just sit here? Am I allowed…

Kagome grinned.

to roam the castle?

Standing up and quickly stretching, Kagome ran over to the door Suikotsu had exited through and opened it a little. After checking to make sure that no-one was coming, she slid it opened it wide and stepped out into a dark hallway…

… and was immediately confused by it's difference from the room she'd been in.

Kagome's room had actually been quite bright in colour; a shiny gold and green. The hallway (and, Kagome suspected, the rest of the castle) was a dull dark brown.

How boring.

Kagome had been excited at the thought of freedom from her room, but that excitement vanished. Why get worked up over something so… bland?

But it wouldn't do to just stand in the hallway. Kagome decided that wandering a bland castle was better than wandering no castle at all.

But wasn't that a lose-lose situation?

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

"I can't smell her scent anywhere!" Kouga cried in annoyance.

"Me, neither!" Inuyasha added. "This is hopeless!"

"We can't give up now!" Shippo scolded. "We can't give up at all! If we do, we'll never find…" Shippo stopped and began to sniffle. "… never find… nev… Kagome! Waaaah!!"

The poor little fox demon disintegrated into a bundle of fur and a bag of tear, and, scooping him up, Sango said, "Shippo's right. Do you know realize how much danger Kagome's in just by being with the Band of seven? We have to find her at all costs!"

"Why bother?" Inuyasha snorted. "She wanted to help them. Remember? 'Oh, Inuyasha, you're so mean! I'd rather aid the enemy!' Damn wench might be better off with them."

A very, very angry silence fell over the group. Kouga felt his fur begin to stand on end. Kirara hid behind Miroku.

"Alright then, Inuyasha," Sango said calmly. "Since you obviously don't care about Kagome anymore, we'll look for her ourselves. You can go find Kikyou and look for your precious damn jewel shards on your own."

"You're going to go look for the Band of Seven?" Inuyasha scoffed. "You're just a couple of humans and two weak demons. You don't stand a chance!"

"We've got Kouga, and Kirara is strong enough," Sango said, "and even Shippo is a bigger help than you are. And you forget, Inuyasha- you're half a human." She turned on her heel and started walking. "Let's go, guys."

Kirara needed no more urging; she followed after her mistress as everyone knew she indefinitely would. Miroku hesitated, as did Kouga, but after one glance at the sour look on Inuyasha's face, the trotted after the demon slayer.

Shippo glared fiercely at Inuyasha, and then bounder after the others.

(Quite obviously), Inuyasha was left to his own devices.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

While rather boring in design, the Band of Seven's was doing well in the size department.

Either that, or Kagome had been wandering around in circles.

As the jewel-sensing priestess-in-training had suspected, the entire castle was one big, boring mass of brown. Every now and then, Kagome had stumbled upon a few empty rooms that were as brightly coloured as her room had been, but otherwise there had hardly a change in scenery.

At the moment, Kagome stood in a large, golden small acloves had been carved out in the wall, and candles had been placed inside.

The bright colouring and the massive amount of candles did not make the room any brighter.

"Hey, you."

Without turning around, Kagome knew who it was. " I have a name, you know."

"Fine, then. Kagome, is it?" Bankotsu smirked at her. Even though she hadn't turned around, Kagome knew. She could feel his smirk on her back.

"Can I help you?" she asked rather sarcastically.

"Actually, you can," Bankotsu said. " I wanted to know if you'd give me your jewel shards."

Kagome whirled around. "No!" she yelled before she could stop herself. She clapped a hand over her mouth.

"I thought you'd say that," Bankotsu said. The smirk never dropped from his face, and he began to walk (menacingly, Kagome thought) towards her. Kagome was too frightened to move.

Bankotsu grabbed the sides of her face in his hand. Up close, his smirk (or maniacal grin, whatever you want to call it) was even scarier. "But know that before this is all over, I will have those jewel shards."

And then he released her and left the room. Kagome just stood there, knees knocking against each other.

Not long after Bankotsu's departure, Jakotsu ran in, looking very annoyed. Catching sight of Kagome, he cried, "There you are! Suikotsu's been looking all over for you!"

Kagome said nothing, and Jakotsu noticed the look on her unnaturally pale skin. "Hey… are you alright?"

Kagome still didn't have an answer, because she fainted.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

That's over! Sheesh!

You know, for some reason (I think I know why), I always think of Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist when I see Jakotsu.

Hmm.

And, er, when I say castle, you guys do know I mean like a Japanese castle, not Disney princesses castles? Think Naraku's castle.