Kagome was more than happy to go with Rin, relieved that she didn't need to lie any more than what she had already. She spent all day laughing and playing with her kit and Rin, and couldn't help but forget all of what had transpired in her mind. She frolicked in the fields, picked flowers, and played every children's game from tag, to house, to mother may I. When she finally came inside for the evening meal, she found that she sat easily next to Sesshomaru, her elbow brushing his every now and again as she collected food and heaped it upon her plate, finding that she was indeed very hungry. Hungrier, in fact, than she could ever remember herself being, she noted with dismay. After waiting the eternity that he took to take the first bite, she began eating gleefully, noting that this tasted good, and this was over-spiced and that had the sweetest aftertaste ever, and this little tidbit needed a little salt. After every notice that she uttered, she held up a piece of the food in question, for his tasting. And every time, his tongue brushed her fingertips deliciously, and she was hard pressed to keep from giggling like a ninny.

If she had her wits about her, she would have noted that every bite that she pressed to his lips, he eyed her more and more, and after she raised herself to her knees to bend a bit over the table to grab some small bit that she just had to have, he shifted a bit after looking nonchalantly at her generous rear end, raising his leg to keep himself hidden from her. But his torture did not end there. The next thing he knew, she was sniffing the air. Then she turned to him. Suddenly, her nose was buried in the crook of his neck, and he could feel her taking deep breaths along his skin, and he noted that her painfully soft lips were pressed sinfully against his neck.

"You smell really good today!" She mumbled against his skin, her tongue swiping along her lips, just barely grazing the flesh of his neck. He took a deep breath, collected himself, and looked at her, confused.

"Woman, what are you doing?" He asked through clenched teeth, his mind reeling as he attempted to keep his hand still.

"Smelling you." She brushed her tongue against his skin again, noting that he didn't taste like what she thought he would, like skin and maybe the slightest hint of sweat, but like sweat and that delicious taste of water, and he was sweet, as if kissed by honey. She liked how he tasted. She liked it a lot.

Suddenly she was on her rear end, looking up at Sesshomaru, who had stood swiftly and was walking out of the dining room, his façade thinning as he struggled to keep his stride leisurely as he fled the area.

Hiding her frown, she sat back down, her foot brushing where he sat, noting that it still held his warmth. She smiled softly as she ate, not noticing the strange looks of Shippo, Jaken, and Rin. After a while, she excused herself, the food in her stomach more than enough to sustain her until the next meal. She traveled to the fields, and surrounded by flowers, she sat down easily.

Then an idea hit her. He wasn't next to her now, but if she could brush her aura against his… She shivered in anticipation, flexing her aura out, finding that the ease that she once had when manipulating her aura was gone, and it required much work to make it stretch all the way to him. But oh… once her aura touched his, a jolt of electricity ran down her spine, and the gasp that wretched itself out of her was unheard by anyone save herself and Sesshomaru.

-;-

"Kagome…?" He asked uncertainly, his back ramrod straight as he felt her brush against him in the most personal of ways, their minds interconnected.

His beast took a cautious step towards the new door in his mind, unaccustomed to seeing anything but his bowl, his cage, and the occasional disapproving glance. He opened the door, surprised that a room full of Kagomes' greeted him. But he ignored them, deciding that they were unimportant, and something much more pressing was calling to him, and he needed to respond.

He walked past them unseeingly, to another door, the wood still fresh, the knob still shining and winking in its newness. He turned the golden knob, walking inside without hesitation.

The sight that greeted him was Kagome. But she wasn't. It was the basics of the Kagome he knew and loved, but she was… different. More different than he had realized, he noted as he took in her scent, and the sound of her calmly beating heart. He wanted her.

"Hello, Sesshomaru." She whispered delicately, a show of control that nearly sent him reeling. He staggered closer to her, his heartbeat thrumming in his ears.

"Kagome? Is that you?" He asked, his tongue running over his lips.

"Kind of. Sort of. I'm not entirely sure. I am still me, but I don't know what that means. I've been told that I am becoming something I always have been. But I don't feel the same. There is another being. She is me, but different, you know?" She said softly, even as a lovelier, more delicate Kagome stepped out of the shadows. Sesshomaru looked between the two versions of Kagome, at a loss for words.

"I don't know what's happening, Sesshomaru." The Kagome's voiced together, looking at him with several emotions flitting across their faces too fast for him to make some sense out of what was happening.

"Kagome," He said at last, "I know what is happening." The happiness that flickered across their faces made his heart race.

"I am to Sesshomaru what She is to you. You may be different, but you are the same being. I give Sesshomaru access to powers he would not normally have, and the same is true for her. She is you, Kagome." He said, certain of himself.

"But… if we are one, then how come everything is different now? It was a struggle to stretch my aura to touch yours…"

He smiled softly. "Silly girl, you have control over the powers that you have always had, but when you reconnected with her," he said, motioning towards the newcomer, "you now must re- master her powers before the ease in which you once did things returns."

She nodded, smiling, before she felt the ripping sensation flood her mind, feeling Sesshomaru being forcibly removed from her person.

-;-

He gasped, feeling himself being shoved back into the confines of his mind. He searched the area for Kagome, his aura flooding his grounds in his need to find her. After his brushed against her lightly, he felt her gasp of pain echo in his ears and went to her as fast as he could.

You fool! How dare you! She was not ready to piece the puzzle together! You have triggered the reunification of the two halves of Kagome before she is ready! Now, her life hangs in the balance!

And he felt his world shatter, as he cradled her shaking, sweating body against his own, willing to do anything for her.

Okay, so maybe I was having a bit too much fun with this. Lemme know what you think.