A/N: Hi guys. Nothing much to say except: REVIEWERS ROCK! and hope you enjoy.

XOX nanirain

Disclaimer: I wish i did own it. But i dont. Aint life just unfair?

Chapter 6: Wandering Through an Evil Man's Castle

"My Lord."

The young, pale prince turned around to find the little girl standing behind him. Her lost black eyes didn't seem to be quite looking at him or anything else. Her hair was as milky white as her skin. The mirror clutched in her hands showed no reflection. "Kanna?" He asked, slightly annoyed at her disturbance.

"The girl… she's awake…" Kanna said slowly.

At first he was surprised, but then he instantly started to plan. That was the reason he had been so successful. He knew how to plan. He knew how to deal with problems. And he needed a way to deal with the girl. Because she was definitely a big problem. The amber wasn't supposed to have cracked for two more months. She was stronger than she looked. But then again, Kikyo had been as well. "Where is she, Kanna?"

The little girl was quiet for a very long time. "She's in the cellar." She said slowly.

That was surprising. "Did you return her strength to her?"

"No."

"Then how did she get out of the lower-cellar room?"

Kanna remained silent. And he felt his annoyance grow, but he pushed it aside. "Very well then," He said. "Heal her so that she can move." The mirror in Kanna's hands shimmered and glowed for a moment.

"It is done." The little girl said quietly, her voice passive and far away.

"Good." Naraku said. "Then allow her to roam as she pleases for a bit. It is important that she finds us by accident."

"What if she leaves the castle?" A deep sultry voice asked.

Naraku turned to see Kagura standing on the porch behind him. He stared at her with annoyance. She was getting better and better at hiding her presence from him so that he couldn't detect her. That was a bad thing. "The barrier that I have erected around the castle will ensure that she cannot roam away from us… we wouldn't want to have a runaway on our hands… would we Kagura?"

Kagura's face hardened and she looked at him angrily. Naraku knew that Kagura was plotting against him. She may have been an incarnate of himself, but she lacked his stealth and way of planning. She had never admitted that she wanted her freedom, but at the same time it was no secret. Everyone who knew Kagura knew that she craved freedom. It was her nature. She was the wind.

"Then my Lord, should we conceal ourselves?" Kagura said tightly.

"Yes. Do so."

Kagura bowed begrudgingly "Yes, My Lord."

With that, she threw her feather down from her hair and leapt onto it, soaring up into the air. She would hover over the castle until Naraku dropped the barrier, and she knew that everything had gone according to plan. Kanna watched as Kagura took off, before wandering off into the depth of the castle's maze. Naraku wasn't worried that Kagome would accidentally find Kanna. The little girl seemed to know everything and would not be found unless ordered to be found.

"Now, all I must do," He said to himself, satisfied, "Is wait."

Her strength returned to her in a sudden unexpected flood of energy. Kagome allowed it to circle through her veins, the life and strength breathing back into her. She knew that it wasn't natural, but she wasn't about to argue with whatever fate had done to return the power to her muscles. She stood slowly, her legs working easily this time. Her balance had returned, but her cuts and fingernails still burned, and she knew that she needed clothes, but there was none to be found in the empty room. She found another set of stairs and discovered that she was in another cellar, above the one she had originally come from. She walked up the smooth stairs easily and pushed aside the heavy cellar doors. And entered a hallway that was only filled with a deadly silence. There were no pictures, or couches, tables or vases. Just a long, empty hallway with a series of doors running along all the walls.

"Please somebody help me." She said quietly to herself. "I don't know where I am. I don't know where to go or what to do… and I'm naked… and cold." Suddenly she realized that she was weakening. "Stop it." She ordered, shaking her head to herself. "That's not going to help." She kneeled down on the floor and shut the cellar door , holding onto the little iron handles and making sure that it was tightly closed and locked. As she stood she shuddered, the cold air seemed to brush against her bare stomach, raising goose bumps on her pale skin. She suddenly noticed, how extremely pale her skin was. Unnaturally pale, as if she were dead, or as if she had never been in the light before.

"Ok," She said, to herself, taking a deep breath for calm and wrapping her arms around her bare breasts for warmth and protection. She felt extremely self-conscious walking around what was obviously some sort of mansion or castle without any clothes on. But she had no choice. Keeping her shoulders shrugged against the cold, she made her way down the smooth wooden floors, her feet were silent. She wandered for hours in the cold hallways. Calling, "hello" and opening every other door hesitantly, feeling like she was an intruder. "Please, someone," She said quietly. "Is anyone here?" Maybe she was in an abandoned castle. She thought to herself when her feet began to ache from walking for so long. Maybe something had scared everyone away… the thing in the lower cellar suddenly pierced into her mind and she frantically shoved it away. She couldn't think about things like that. Now she just needed to find someone. Anyone.

"Hello," She called tiredly, swearing that she had walked past the same door at least twelve times before. Then, she heard something. Someone had begun to play something. She stopped and her heart began to race. If something was playing, then it meant that someone was playing it. Unless it was a speaker or a CD player or a TV. But at least that showed that there was a chance of someone being there. She strained her ears hard to try and follow the sound. After fifteen minutes she was able to decide that it was definitely getting louder. After twenty minutes she could tell that it was something like a shamisen, and she knew that that meant that someone was playing and that meant that she had found help.

She followed the sound to a room, "hello"? She called from outside the door, hunching her shoulders and doing her best to cover herself. "Hello?" Abruptly the music stopped and she waited in what seemed to be an eternity of silence before the figure's shadow could be seen from the other side of the rice-paper-door. It was a tall and healthy looking figure, but whoever it belonged to moved with at an agonizing pace. Slowly the door slid open to reveal a young man a little over a head taller than her, with dark red hair and clear blue eyes, which widened when he saw her standing naked in front of him. The weathered shamisen in his hand dropped along with his jaw. The sound of it crashing to the ground made her cringe.

"I'm sorry." She said quickly, realizing that she was still shaking a bit, and her voice was quiet and weak sounding. "But… I don't know where I am."

The young man looked to be about 20 or so, and he couldn't seem to stop staring at her, shocked.

"I'm sorry, I… I look like such a mess…" She said quietly, looking down at the floor in shame, her cheeks reddening. "But… could I borrow some clothes or something?"

Suddenly the young man seemed to snap into action. "Oh, oh umm… of course," he said, still slightly bewildered, his voice was strong and smooth. "Um… of… of course you can." He darted back into the room, leaving her standing there, alone outside of the door. He came back flustered, a blue kimono that looked as if it had belonged to him in his hands. He wrapped it around her shoulders hastily and left her to pull the oversized cloth around her body, ignoring the bite as the silken fabric brushed against her cuts. She could feel his eyes on her the whole time.

"Are you ok?" He asked after a while.

"Um, yeah," She said. "I'm ok… I just… I'm not really sure how I got here, or where I am." She realized that someone who didn't know where they were or how they had gotten there was not someone who would be considered "ok".

"Oh God," the man said quietly. "I'm sorry. You must have been through something terrible." He said, she noticed him studying her bloody fingernails and he probably had seen the cut on her face and the others all over her body.

"I woke up in your cellar." She said dumbly.

The young man raised his eyebrow. "In our cellar?"

"Well, actually, it was the room bellow your cellar." She said.

The man frowned. "I don't think we have room below the cellar."

Kagome was quiet. They definitely did have a room below the cellar. She knew it for a fact. In fact, it was the only thing she was absolutely sure of. But she wasn't about to argue with him about it.

"Well that doesn't matter." He said suddenly. "Let me take you to my father." He said. "He'll help you, I promise." He said, stepping out of the room.

"Thank you." She said quietly, falling into step behind him.

He made it about five paces before turning around and looking at her. "Oh, I'm Tetsuya by the way." He paused and looked at her, as if trying to remember something. "What did you say your name was again?"

Kagome opened her mouth to tell him but was stopped by a dull feeling that began to sink into her head, followed by terrified realization and shock. "I…" She said slowly, feeling the tears start to well up in her eyes. She choked on her words, struggling before finally forcing herself to speak. "I don't know."

A/N: BUM BUM BUM! anyway do you think that this story is going down hill? Or do you think its ok? I don't really know anymore. Hey here's a thought! You could always tell me in a review:P XOX nanirain. if u say u still like it ill try to get the next chap up as soon as i can, though it might be around like Sunday or Monday (First week of May, 2005)

Thanx guys!