"Yet who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him?"

William Shakespeare - MacBeth

Lord Toyotomi was in a foul temper and Michi knew better than to cross his lord when he was in this sort of mood. The kitchen boy scurried down the hallway that lead to the servants quarters, keeping his head down and his eyes averted as some of his lord's vassals passed by him. He stopped and bowed respectfully before hurrying away again.

The vassals didn't notice him, nor did they acknowledge the gesture of respect. Michi knew though, had he failed to behave in a proper manner one of them would have noticed and probably had him beaten. He had learned long ago that to survive in Toyotomi's castle one had to be invisible, and he was very good at being invisible.

Hoping no one else came along to impede his journey he slipped around the corner, down the servant's hall, and into a room at the end. His sister Mari hadn't moved from the spot she'd been in for the past few days, ever since she'd been summoned to Lord Toyotomi's chamber.

The boy hurried over to her, but when he sat down on the edge of the futon next to her she recoiled from him and pulled her body into a fetal position.

"You need to stop coming in here Michi. It's not safe," she whispered. He scowled, the way only ten year old boys can, and sulkily placed the food he'd sneaked from the kitchen on the edge of the bed next to her.

"You need to eat something sister. You're getting too weak and you're going to get sick."

The fourteen year old shook her head and continued to stare at the wall. She couldn't tell her brother that it didn't matter if she wasted away to nothing. She was shamed. No man would ever want to touch her after what Lord Toyotomi had done to her.

She closed her eyes tightly and spoke in a broken voice.

"Michi, you need to get away from this place." He shook his head mutinously although she couldn't see him.

"No! I'm not leaving you. I don't want to lose you Mari, not like mom and dad."

She felt a sob claw at her throat and she turned towards her brother and pulled him into a tight hug. He hugged her back just as desperately. After a few moments she lifted him up so she could meet his eyes. He swallowed. He'd never seen his sister look like that before.

"Listen to me little brother; it's too late for me. I've already let Lord Toyotomi take me, but I also over heard him talking while I was there. There is going to be another sacrifice, just like the one that took your friend Nao. I want you to flee from this castle. Run and never look back. You must do this for me."

Tears started to leak down his cheeks and he started shaking his head furiously.

"No! No I won't do it! I won't leave you."

She grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

"You have too!" And this time she pulled the blanket down that had been covering her stomach. He recoiled and started shaking his head in denial.

"No sister. Please no. Please tell me he didn't…"

She smiled sadly and ran a hand over her abdomen, feeling the withering, swirling mass of her distended belly.

"It's what happens to all the girls that are taken to our Lord's bed. Soon they will come for me and bare me away and you will never see me again. My last request of you brother is that you save yourself. Flee from this place, tonight. Find a new life away from this tainted palace. I beg you Michi."

Michi reached over and hugged her sister tighter.

"I'll hide for now, but I'm not leaving the palace, and I'm not giving up. I'm going to find a way to save you, sister."

Just as quickly as he'd come, he left and Mari watched her baby brother leave her with sad eyes.

"Your love is going to be the death of you, my brother."

Kagome hissed and winced as she wiggled her jeans over the raw scraps marring the ivory skin of her slim hips. InuYasha heard the small sound and the rustle of fabric as she secured her clothing, but didn't turn around. His ears flattened against his skull and a wave of shame washed over him again with the force of a raging tsunami.

He still couldn't believe what he'd almost done. He chanced a glance at the miko and saw her struggling with her baby blue t-shirt. He quickly averted his gaze.

She'd made him go back to the village and retrieve her spare clothing from her yellow backpack. He'd protested at first, saying he wanted to have the element of surprise when he confronted Tatsuo, but she'd indelicately pointed out that there was no way she was walking back into the village wearing only his hitoe.

What she didn't have to point out was how it would have looked. Even he wasn't that obtuse. He felt humiliation squeeze his chest and lost in his self-disgust he hadn't realized Kagome had finished changing until he felt her fingers lightly grasp his forearm. He looked at her and looked away, unable to take the compassion and forgiveness he saw in her doe eyes.

"InuYasha…" She started to say, but he shrugged off her hand, pulled away, and cut her off.

"We need to go. I don't want Tatsuo to slither away before I get a chance to talk to him." Talk to him, terrorize him, gut him… what was the difference?

Kagome narrowed her gaze and a vein starting ticking in her temple. InuYasha was unwisely oblivious to her building anger. She crossed her arms and pursed her lips; he still wouldn't look at her, he'd even turned away to start towards the village.

A low growl from her throat caught his attention and he made the mistake of turning towards her and glancing up; his eyes widened in realization when he saw the look on her face.

"No don't!" He said at the same time she bellowed.

"Sit boy!"

The beads of subjugation glowed bright and a mumbled curse slipped from his throat as he was slammed unmercifully to the ground.

"Kagome!" He snarled when he could speak again. She yelled again. "Sit, Sit, Sit, Sit, Sit!"

He yelped as his body rose up and slammed down with each damning syllable that fell from her lips. It was a good while before he was able to move again and look up. When he did the angry words that had been on the tip of his tongue died when he took in Kagome's shaking shoulders and glistening cheeks.

She was crying. He looked at her, bewildered.

"Kagome," he whispered, weakly. Her eyes snapped to his and she clenched her fists.

"You are such an idiot!" She turned away again, sobbing uncontrollably. He wanted to fight his natural urge to comfort her; still unsure of touching her, even though he'd allowed himself to hold her in the cave. He gazed at her helplessly and found himself powerless to stop himself from pulling her into his arms again.

To his surprise she followed him and buried her face in his robes while he enfolded her against his chest.

"Y-You baka…can't b-believe you…always pushing…."

Her voice was muffled against the fabric of his kosode. The thin undershirt was soon soaked with her tears and as she fisted her hands in the fabric, practically burrowing into him. He ran his hands up and down her back soothingly and rested his head on top of hers.

He didn't really understand why she was crying and her jumbled curses and phrases weren't helping. So he simply held her, feeling elated and guilty that she obviously wasn't holding what had happened against him.

He frowned. Not that he was likely to forget it anytime soon. He tensed and she felt the change in his body as she pulled away to look him straight in the eye.

"Stop it," she commanded. He frowned, puzzled.

"Stop what?" She angrily brushed her remaining tears away from her cheeks.

"Stop pulling away from me! I swear you are the most stubborn, pig-headed, annoying….argh!"

He was still looking a bit clueless, but at least he hadn't released his hold on her. Kagome attempted to take a calming breath, closed her eyes, opened them, and met his gaze again with all the determination and conviction she could muster.

"InuYasha, please listen to me. It wasn't your fault. I may not know what that bastard did to you, but I know it wasn't you. I meant what I said in the cave. You would never hurt me, but I swear to Kami if you keep trying to push me away from you I will say 'it' so many times that you won't even know your own name when I done. Then I'll go back home for two weeks, refuse to hunt anymore jewel shards, and take a nice, relaxing vacation somewhere you can't follow me! And after I've done that, I'm gonna come back here and say 'it' a few more times, just to remind you not to be this stupid again!"

She buried her face in his chest again, holding him tighter and his arms tightened around her small frame convulsively. His throat felt dry and he couldn't swallow passed the lump that had suddenly become lodge near his Adam's apple.

Had anyone ever accepted him like Kagome had? The last person he could definitively say had was his mother, and that was a long time ago. His chest rumbled, half between an approving growl and a contented sigh.

He thought once again how much he truly didn't deserve her, but he held on for a few more minutes before reluctantly pulling away. She let him go and he tenderly brushed the back of his fingers against her tear stained cheek, before stepping back. His voice was gruff and contrite when he mumbled.

"I'm...I'm…" He was trying to say he was sorry but the word wouldn't come. She shook her head ruefully and rolled her eyes.

"Come on, baka." She tugged on the sleeve of his kosode, leading him away. He scoffed, bent down to retrieve his hitoe when they passed it, and uttered a low, "keh," but he followed.

Kagome fought the urge to shake her head.

He was never going to change.

Tatsuo was scared. He slipped back into the village sweating profusely and mumbling under his breath. He'd thought his plan was so perfect and had almost cried out with glee when he'd seen the hanyou return to the village to retrieve the strange clothing out of the yellow sack the miko was known to carry. He'd even followed him discreetly, being extremely careful to stay down wind, and seen the girl wearing the hanyou's hitoe and carrying her ripped clothing, but then he'd overheard their conversation.

Instead of raping her and gutting her like he should have done the little bitch had somehow helped him overcome the potion. He scowled and stalked to his hut. He still had no idea how she'd done it. Wasting no time, he ignored his wife's questions and pushed his way into his backroom. He looked at the mirror and ran a nervous hand through his thinning hair.

His master would not be pleased if he contacted him now, especially since his latest scheme had not yielded the results that he'd hoped. He was running out of time and options.

Feeling cornered, Tatsuo started digging through a nearby trunk, looking for the item his master had given him to use as a last resort. When his hands closed over it he smiled a smile that was very close to being unhinged and pulled the item out of the trunk.

It was an amulet with an obsidian stone deeply set in gold. The aura around the piece was choking and Tatsuo felt what was left of his soul scream in agony as he placed the piece around his neck.

Inky black tendrils of power started swirling around and around. Tatsuo screamed in agony and fell to his knees. A moment latter he heard his wife pounding on his door, demanding entry, but he couldn't move. The swirling energy surrounded him, engulfed him, and he screamed and screamed and screamed.

Finally he collapsed in a heap on the floor, barely able to move. He could still hear his wife yelling for him but it sounded far away. He drifted in between waking and dreaming unsure of what was happening and very afraid. The darkness swirled around him and slowly he drifted into it and allowed it to consume him.

When it was gone the man known as Tatsuo was no more and in his place there was something else…something purely evil. The thing rose and his watery brown eyes were now solid black. The smile that twisted stolen lips was predatory.

The being threw open the door and Tatsuo's wife fell into the room.

"Hello dear."

She started screaming.