The world inside her head was a tumult of ravenous energy. It threatened to tear her apart as she fought the pull of her two halves, her body taut with the force that she was using to press herself together into one being, her mind splitting to make room for the new being inside of her. She turned wide eyes to the New Kagome, being forced inside her, their energies pushing them away against this new knowledge. It was as if she were a magnet, being forced against a like charge: It wasn't meant to work. The burning that filled her mind as her forehead split open, Kagome being sucked into the gaping wound like a black hole. After a long time, her voice raw from hours upon hours of screaming, she slumped against the ground, her eyes dull with numbness and yet the sharp ache of pain that still managed to rip a startled gasp or a moan of pain from her. She closed her eyes, tears rolling hotly down her face

"Let it end. Please, dear Kami, let it end." She whispered, without the inflection of feeling in her voice.

-;-

In the realm of the living, Sesshomaru had gathered all of his servants that held even the slightest whisper of helpfulness in them to aid his miko through whatever was happening to her. He could feel her inner battle, but on the mortal plane, she was still as stone, as cold as death. Every time he looked upon her motionless form, he felt the urge to howl in the death wail of his forefathers. He kept the sound at bay, however, for he refused to let her go. She was his. Now and forever, if he had any say about it.

He fervently ignored the keening of his beast, and the rattling of the bars of his cage. He would not be getting out any time soon, he knew that much. How dare the insolent whelp endanger her so? He had half a mind to rip himself apart. But a whisper of an idea reached him through his beast.

"Allow me to breech her mind again, master. I will be able to help her bond to her other half." He breathed, his deep voice laced with guilt.

What were the chances that it would help? The numbers were small, but it was better than what he had going on now. His gaze turned to one of his beseechers of the gods, who had stopped calling upon the gods of life and mercy, and was now praying to the god of death to make her journey to the nether world painless. He closed his eyes, the extension of his aura to hers smooth and effortless as his beast ferried across, eager to bear the pain that Kagome must be feeling.

When he arrived, he had not expected the utter chaos that met his eyes. What in the three worlds was happening? Kagome's ran to and fro, the entire place in disarray, papers littering the ground. He could smell the smoke of a fire, and noted that a hunk of metal at the foremost of Kagome's mind had burst into flames, and the unfamiliar stink of burning plastic assaulted his senses. He dredged onward, his large frame barely fitting into the doorway to the new compartment of Kagome's mind. Once inside, however, the space was huge. After he entered, the slight breeze stopped, and he was hit by a raw blast of energy, nearly sending him to his knees. He stumbled, but did not suffer the indignity of a fall. As he pressed onward, he looked around, noting huge holes it the fabric of this space, the smell of burning flesh hot in his nose. It took all that he had not to spit the taste out of his mouth, and instead chose to continue walking, his mind set on helping Kagome, who was his sole purpose for being in such a place. A heavy moment hung in the air when his eyes searched the rubble of this new room, before he noticed a small, nearly imperceptible moan of pain.

"Kagome!" He shouted, rushing to her, pulling huge slabs of rock away from her barely breathing form, clawing through the heavy stone, throwing it carelessly over his shoulder. He had to save her. He had to save her. The bitter irony of the repetitiveness of this situation was not lost to him.

A bubble of mad laughter caught in his throat, his eyes wetting with unshed tears. She had to be all right. She had to be her. Kagome. His. His.

At last he uncovered her body, and he pulled her battered and bruised form close to his chest, inhaling the scent that was still hers, yet held a new spice to it. After a few breaths he calmed to the point of coherency, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he prepared to heal what minor wounds she sustained on the outside.

His forefinger flicked out, lightly pulling away the cloth that currently obstructed his view of her wounds. Noting that it was still bleeding, he bent, his tongue gliding across the minor cut lightly. A second of nothing. And then, lights exploded behind his eyes, and he nearly swooned at the heady taste of her blood, noting now that it was stronger. It was purer. It drove him wild. But there was not a chance for a second tasting, at least not now, for she was floating above him, her limbs limply hanging from her suspended torso. There was a burst of energy, and then she was not Kagome. She was the more primal half, the half that better knew and better understood the world around them. It was a long struggle, the two pieces struggling for their desired order. It would kill the fifteen year old Kagome to be trapped inside her mind, never to see the light of day unless this always put together half lost her control.

Her form shifted back and forth between the two versions, and after a long, long while, she settled back on the ground, her chest rising and falling savagely in an attempt to catch up with her breath. He peered into her face, looking for her soft, human features. That is not what she found.

He noticed it first when her eyes flew open. They were normally a dark blue-grey with a hint of purple, the kind of color the humans called lavender, even if it was greyer than anything. But now her eyes were a bright, luminescent purple, the color of the wildflowers that bloomed late in the spring. But that was not all that had changed. Her face, although still Kagome-esque in shape, was more angular, and her frame was still the short one that truly was Kagome, but her hips flared more, and there was a new fullness to her bust. He pulled her against him, and felt her hair brush against his hands, silky soft, but he smiled as his hand caught in a tangle, and as he felt around her head more he couldn't help but almost fully grin as he found her well hidden rats nest. This was Kagome. Of that he was sure. Did that mean that she had won? He surely hoped so.

"Kagome?" He asked softly, but she didn't so much as flutter her lashes. He hesitated, leaning down to nuzzle her face.

"Koi, please wake up…"