Kagome made her way back to her room in a warm daze. They both knew another night together would get noticed and so when she opened he door, her body humming with warmth, she didn't notice the lithe shadow hidden in the corner. She raised the gauzy material over her head and dropped it the moment her eye caught the shift in the corner. She dove for her bows and the man dashed from his spot, hitting her head and causing her ears to ring.

Her foot shot out and caught his shin, causing him to fall to one leg. She spun around on the floor, her dress hindering movement, but caught his chin in a solid kick. Her head pounded and when she tried to stand, her feet faltered. Her opponent fell to the floor. She backed slowly to the door and just as she was about to spin around and yell for help, someone grabbed her arm and pushed her back inside.

She kicked out and the man, not that she could see that much, pushed her up against the wall. She hissed and went to yell but he placed a hand over her mouth. She bit his hand and he dropped her in his pain. She raced for the door only to be grabbed by the neck and thrown onto the ground. Now her whole body was in pain.

"Why do you always fight me?" The Northern Lord swaggered in. He held a bottle in one hand, it's handle a red clay and painted on it were beautiful blue flowers. She tried to yell but her throat was still sore from the Lord's throw. When he caught her eye he smiled. "Tie her up."

"You want to know what this holds?" He raised it as his goons followed orders. She bit a few and tried to scream, the only thing that came from her mouth were scratchy breathes. "Its a mixture called Blue Lotus. An Egyptian concoction I bought off a traveling demon. Works so efficiently I had to buy a constant supply. If you drink enough, you drift into a peaceful state and your...sensitivity increases."

He ran a hand over her foot and she kicked out, saving her breathe for one final scream. He smirked and she felt like vomiting. He held the bottle out to a grunt and he tried to force her to drink it only resulting in him almost dropping the jug.

"Move!" The Lord yelled, pushing aside the man. "You cause so much trouble, you had better hope you're worth it!"

He kneeled over her while the two men grabbed her legs, stopping her from kicking him. She knew time was of the essence and tried screaming again. This time, a sound came out and just as she began to hope, the Northern Lord slammed his lips onto hers. She screamed into his mouth and he took the opportunity to let the liquid drug slip from his mouth into hers.

She knew this couldn't be happening but when she was unable to throw the burning liquid from her mouth and a warmth flowed through her veins, she felt helpless. With a moan, she tried yelling again, but the command never man it to her mouth before she slipped into oblivion.

TUH

Yuzuki was laughing at a joke Ryutaro had made. They lay, hidden, underneath a tree, its long branched ladened with leaves covering their bodies from prying eyes. The kissing had stopped a while ago and in its place they talked about everything from their hopes and dreams to the least favorite food.

"You're two hundred years older then I am." He realized, looking up to her face from his place with his head in her lap. She chuckled and grabbed at her mouth so her giggle wouldn't alert a guard. She nodded.

"In my time you are three hundred years older than I am." She explained and provided to run a languid hand through his hair. He hummed deep in his throat and wiggled a bit in her grasp. "I guess I prefer older demons."

"The way you talk about me in the future, you make it seem as if I am some brainless hunk," he elbowed her in the ribs and she just laughed, not bothering to smother it. They laughed quietly as she thought over all the looks he had thrown her when she was younger. She had always taken them as worried glances, but now she wondered if it could have been more. "What are you thinking?"

"Since he day that I was born, you knew how I would turn out, that's how you always knew when I need you the most," She scoffed and arched over his head before falling back against the bark. Her smile dropped into a frown and she cast her eyes over the garden, not really looking at anything.

"Or maybe I just was waiting for you to say the word to let me know you wanted," He wiggled his body provocatively. "-A piece of this."

He drew a laugh from her and he let his head fall back into her lap, letting a smirk curl his lips when her muscles uncoiled under him. Her eyes glazed over and he noticed she ran her fingers through his hair even when preoccupied.

"The word huh?" She raised a brow and he ran a hand up and down her arm, his fingers grazing her shoulder down to the dip of her elbow. "What word will I tell you when I return and you still think you have to hide your feelings for me?"

"You sure think highly of yourself; what if I've moved on?" He questioned while shifting his position in her lap.

"I know you know and I also know you have not so much as kissed a woman in the four hundred years I've known you." She crossed her ankles and looked impressed with herself. "Don't give me that smirk! Think of a word, not common enough that I will randomly say to you."

After more than an hour, she had shot down every idea weather it be moonlight or candy. They jumped from subjects to animals to weapons, each one coming up in a conversation later in her timeline.

"How about a phrase," He suggested, shrugging his shoulders and smiling when she nodded. His brow scrunched as he thought and made Yuzuki smile a bit. "How about 'Below the Blossom Tree'?"

"I might say it in poetry, gods know I studied it enough," She trailed her hand across his abdomen and he could feel the warmth swirl in his veins. He wondered if she realized he would have to wait for so long for her to even be born. "I like 'Inside the Raining Cave'."

He smiled and nodded, remembering the fateful night when he healed inside a cave with her standing guard after helping to heal him. That night seemed to be the start of it, the night she crept her way into his heart. His thoughts drifted to what his father should have said if he found out he was attached to the Heir of the Western Lands.

Yuzuki stood up so quickly, he caught himself seconds before he fell into the dirt. His head shot up to ask what was wrong but Yuzuki was already fixing her dress to hide the marks he'd left on her collarbone and racing for the hallways. He raced after her.

When he finally caught up to her, he found her crouched over a large lump on the ground. As he stepped forward, he caught a slight whimper and realized the lump was a man, cut by claws to the point that his flesh was like ribbons. Yuzuki was braced over him and when she reared another razor sharp claw down at his jugular, he lunged forward and wrapped her in his arms.

She hissed and spit and muttered things in a guttural tone which he realized when she spun on him. Her white hair was clumped with red strands that made her look to be bleeding. Her eyes had bled crimson and blood splatter painted her face. He held her tight as she thrashed and repeated the phonemes over and over. When she finally tired herself out, her words slowed and he slowly deciphered them as she slid to the ground, her legs no longer able to hold her up.

"Took Kagome...took Kagome...they took...took Kagome..." She muttered it out continually and he only noticed the gathering crowd when someone handed him a cloth to wipe the blood from her face. Every time she said the phrase again, he replied the same.

"Who?" He tried over and over, never getting a real response. With the blood from her face, her eyes looked too large and her mouth was pulled into a taunt line. A few people tried to pull her from his arms only to get growled at. Sesshomaru was one. "Who?"

With wide eyes darted around the large mass of people looking at the man across the hall whose face was a mess of blood and skin. He picked her up and carried her to her room. He sat her on her bed carefully and ran a hand across her face. The room was quiet and in the silence, her eyes drained of red to be replaced by a bright yellow. He welcomed the change with a hug, much to the chagrin of her father who occupied the doorway. When she finally called enough, she sat up strait and opened her mouth.

"The man was cleaning up his masters mess. They wanted to make it look like she left of her own free will." She ignored their curious glances and answered their unasked question. "Kagome. The Northern Lord took Kagome."