Chapter 3

It had taken Kagome all of two minutes to entirely map and dissect Sesshomaru Taisho's energy correlation. On her third minute within the link, she had already started making plans according to what she had read about his body structure and what she felt his muscles could withstand. In the fourth minute she had already started shoring up her own energies to complement his own, and by the fifth minute she had realized that Captain Taisho was, indeed, a total jerk.

'What, precisely, are you attempting to accomplish, girl?'

Kagome was woman enough to admit, even as his tone was condescending and his words rather snobbish, the timbre of his voice sent tremors down her proverbial back and caused her stomach to flutter. To cover up the lapse in silence on her part, she moved her energy down his right arm and to his hand, as if realigning herself. In her minds' eye, it looked as if she was rippling against him, and for the first time she absently wondered what it felt like for her partner.

Being the one to enter someone else, she had never really experienced linking from the other side. Sure there had been mock links created by a few telepaths during school, but it had been emphasized that a real linking for a soldier was different. A spike of irritation again immolated from her partner and Kagome brought herself back to the present. She was slightly horrified to realize that she had been…stroking Captain Taisho's energy along his neck and shoulders. Oh sweet mother of God.

Keeping her tone of voice polite and detached to hide her embarrassed mortification, Kagome explained that she was mapping his energy. 'I wouldn't be able to help much if I didn't understand how your energy flowed.' She prayed he would drop it.

Something that sounded like a small sigh echoed to her and his body shifted, as well as his energy. He was preparing to enter into his first kata, and she readied herself with him. Paying close attention to the coiling of each muscle in his arms, legs, back and chest, she pulled forth that something extra that all linkable soldiers had. The energy that only a psychic could bring out of them.


Inuyasha would be the first to admit that he thought standing in the training room with all of his teammates to watch Ice-pop link with his new psychic was boring as hell. However, it irritated the bastard that he was standing in the same room with him, so that overrode anything else. He absently stared out of the corner of his eye at his brother's seemingly lax form as he continued to loudly mock him with Kouga. Just as he was opening his mouth to loudly proclaim something that would no doubt be witty and utterly hilarious, he was startled to see Sesshomaru almost jump to attention.

Apparently he wasn't the only one, because all conversation stopped and all eyes were now watching the abnormally tensed captain in the center of the room. Inuyasha felt his eyebrow quirk slightly when what seemed to be a shiver traced up his older brothers' spine and his eyes became momentarily unfocused. Mouth still hanging open unattractively, he swung his gaze to Kouga who had a similar look on his face.

Sango shifted slightly as she studied the other teams' captain. Though she wasn't directly under him and had only worked with him on a single mission, she knew that this wasn't normal behavior for a first linking. She wondered what exactly had happened to cause the strange shiver and, what she assumed, was an inward conversation with whoever had just linked with him. He blinked and his eyes were once again focused, and intensely irritated. This was his normal look, she sighed in relief. At least nothing was wrong. With psychics involved, any number of things could have happened.

All attention shifted firmly to the captain as he smoothly slid into the beginning stance of his kata. His legs slightly bent and his hand resting comfortably on the sheathed practice sword at his side. In a movement almost too fast for their eyes to follow, he had drawn his sword and spun in place raising said sword as if in defense of an oncoming blow. Moving seamlessly into a downward strike and then across, his ponytailed hair fluttered passed in the fast momentum he was using to attack.

Kouga straightened from the slouch he had been in against the padded wall. His gaze sharpened as he picked up on what the others were still trying to process. He was faster and more controlled then Kouga had ever seen in. In training or on the battle field. His eyes watched intently as he studied the practiced and somewhat ruthless motions of the dulled blade. His heart rate sped up as he finally saw what had caught his attention at the back of his mind.

Both the blade and Sesshomaru's arm were lined with what appeared to be a thin sheath of blue energy. A savage grin broke across his face as he watched the other captain move from form to form in anticipation. Whoever this psychic was, they were good. Pulling out his screen, Kouga continued to watch Sesshomaru's movements for break in form or concentration. His excitement ratcheted up a notch as he pulled the strings of his impromptu plan tightly together.

He straightened from the wall altogether and took a step forward, meeting the predatory eyes of Sesshomaru with his own. He placed his screen in his jacket pocket even as the red acceptance message flashed across it.

"It's no fun if you're just swinging around your sword." Kouga started, the sarcasm heavy in his voice as he hyped himself up. "How about we have a little spar?" He asked cheekily as he stretched his arm across his chest and then switched to stretch the other one. Though he normally fought with his fists, his suit fitted with titanium alloy knuckles, he knew his way around a sword pretty well. In the past he could even say he could hold his own against the Taisho prodigy. He was curious to see if that still stood.

Sesshomaru didn't respond verbally, but he had stood from his current kata and faced Wolfe squarely. His eyes burned a bright amber as he watched the other man step over to the wall that held the practice weapons and take down his own saber. He felt her move against him again, and it was enough to bring him back from the high he had been on. The sheer amount of power and control he felt when they had both moved in tandem had raised his level of adrenaline and anticipation to a near fevered pitch.

As they had gone from one form to another he had realized his focus was near absolute. He could see clearly, in his mind and outside, exactly how to move and at what speed he would be able to accomplish what he wanted to. He was aware that they were moving at speeds he had never reached before with any other psychic. As he attacked and counterattacked invisible foes, the novelty of the situation simmered down and a feral excitement had risen to take its place.

This is what he could do. This is what he was supposed to be, he thought to himself. A feeling of pride had suffused his entire being, until she had moved against his energy. He was brought back to himself just as he heard Kouga's challenge. Calming the firestorm currently raging inside of himself, Sesshomaru slid effortlessly into a relaxed stance, his eyes never leaving Kouga. Her hands were sliding along his arms and down his legs, and he belatedly realized she was relaxing his muscles even as she was keeping them ready for movement.

Another shiver of sensation threatened to snake up his back, but Sesshomaru held it at bay. He had already shown outward effects of what her energy did to him, and he couldn't understand why he was reacting the way he was. At first he thought it was something she was actively trying to do, but after snapping at her in suspicion and analyzing her response, both verbally and emotionally, he found her to be rather detached. This, for some unknown reason had irritated him.

Her voice was soft and clear. Her tone aloof and professional. Though he could feel she had emotions, they were held from him as if behind a flexible barrier. It was all he wanted from a psychic partner, but he felt strangely unsatisfied. As he waited for Kouga to link with his own partner, Sesshomaru contemplated exactly what it was he was unsatisfied with.

He took a readied stance as Kouga grinned and got into position himself. Both eyed each other from across the padded room rolling back their shoulders and awaiting a silent signal to begin. He felt her energy slide down his arms and circle around his calves and the answer to his inner question came to him. He didn't like the fact that she was unaffected by him. Here he was feeling…whatever the hell this was and she was…not.

A scowl crossed his lips, too brief to be caught by the teammates playing spectators, but Kouga had caught it. He wondered what exactly had broken through the marble statues' usual barricade of ice before pushing it from his mind entirely. 'Alright, Hakaku. Are you ready?' He mentally asked his linking partner.

'Let's take him down, bro.' Hakaku laughed back and Kouga felt his grin widen even further.

Sesshomaru pushed the confusing issues he was having with his emotions back and slid to the side as Kouga came at him with a vertical strike. The match had begun and it wouldn't do to be distracted by such trivialities. He was determined to find out just how much he could do, now that he had all his power to play with.


Kagome frowned to herself as she monitored the emotional as well as physical stimulus her partner was experiencing. His excitement and anticipation was easy enough to balance as all soldiers felt this during a link in battle. It was always a heady rush when you were able to access parts of yourself you normally couldn't in any other moment. Being able to call upon the energy and direct it to where her partner needed it the most was one of the many jobs a psy-link partner was supposed to do.

Fine-tuning that energy and compounding it with her own was what made the physical representation of said energy lethal to the alien race they warred against.

Baasratu. It was what they called themselves. To humanity, it was a curse word. Since the start of the war, nearly five hundred years prior, mankind had struggled to understand exactly why and what they were fighting. No one knew what had started the aggression between the two races, but everyone well remembered when it had escalated beyond any kind of reparation.

Humanity had just started expanding their wings into the vast territory of space. Rudimentary ships and several small space stations had just been launched and made hospitable. People, those privileged enough to have money, had begun to migrate into the stations, when the discovery of an alien race had made itself known to be rather close by. Naturally curiosity, as well as a healthy dose of caution, had prompted humanities leaders to reach out to this other race.

No one was really sure where things went wrong. Speculation and biases had written in their own histories, but it was all conjecture. All that was known as fact was not long after making contact with this alien race, these Baasratu, their home planet, Earth, had been completely destroyed. Not by invasion or anything of that nature. No, according to the annuls that kept eyewitness accounts of that day, a large Baasratu ship had released what looked to be a black hole that had swallowed the planet whole. If the witnesses could be believed, the black hole had then disappeared before their eyes, leaving nothing but the moon behind.

This had, of course sparked a heated debate between many that still raged to this day. How could a black hole suck in only the planet Earth and not affect the moon? Where exactly would it have disappeared to? If it was, indeed, a black hole, wouldn't that mean that the Earth could possibly be located somewhere else in the universe? With no answers forthcoming, all anyone had was speculation.

Kagome forced herself to focus on the spar when she noticed the energy waves of whoever Captain Taisho was fighting falter. Though she couldn't "see" in the traditional sense of the word, she was able to "feel" the energy of anyone within a certain distance to her partner. She knew that there were currently five other people in the room with the captain, three females and two males. The male they were currently testing themselves with was psy-linked, but Kagome couldn't tell how powerful the psychic was.

A wave of smug pride swamped her senses momentarily and Kagome realized her partner was getting a little carried away. Paying close attention to how they were beating back their opponent, Kagome "watched" as the other combatant was brought to their knees. A flash of cold dread hit her when she realized that though their opponent was not fighting back anymore, Taisho had no notion of stopping his assault.

Deciding that enough was enough, Kagome called the energy she had infused his sword arm with back.


Sesshomaru felt it the minute she had stopped the energy in his arm. His nerveless fingers released the hilt of the sword and for a minute, it felt as if he had no arm at all. Standing there in stunned silence, breath coming out in light pants, Sesshomaru tried to jump start his thought process. He blinked slowly and straightened from the lunge he had been about to complete. It allowed him enough time to gather in his surroundings and understand that for a moment there, he hadn't been thinking during the fight with Kouga.

He had been running on his instincts and the feel of the power he had at his command.

Looking over to his opponent, he took stock of his injuries. Kouga crouched before him on the ground, sword a few feet to his right, and one hand placed before him for balance. Small nicks and cuts littered his arms, face and hands. A large bruise was already growing on his left cheek and his nose was bleeding.

"Hot damn, Taisho!" Kouga wheezed out between breaths. "I couldn't even follow your movements toward the end!" He looked up at the silver haired captain and grinned around the pain in his face.

Sesshomaru "hn"-ed noncommittedly and looked away from Wolfe and glanced toward the others in their teams. All four of them looked rather comically shocked. Inuyasha in particular had his mouth gapping open stupidly.

'Are you back to yourself?' The calm voice of his partner reached him and Sesshomaru felt the need to growl.

'I was never anyone else.' He groused back and was disappointed when all he felt from her were muted emotions he couldn't decipher. 'What did you do? Why did you stop me?' He asked, more for clarification to her thoughts than any real need to know.

'This was only a practice spar to test our strength, not a battle against our enemy.' She answered simply and Sesshomaru pushed the pleased feeling he got when she referred to them as a single unit to the back of his mind. 'It would have been pointless brutality to continue as you wanted.' Irritation and disappointment suffused the last sentence and Sesshomaru latched onto that emotion. She wasn't as detached as she pretended to be.

'And you felt it was your right to go against this Sesshomaru's better judgement?' He asked imperiously and was rewarded with a full blast of irritation.

'This Kagome felt that Sesshomaru's judgement making skills were rather lacking!' Her voice rolled over him in what felt like waves, many emotions riddled throughout. This was how she should sound, he decided, not detached and unmoved. He kept his body's response to hearing her voice to a minimum, ignoring what she was saying as she continued to rant. Only really picking up the end of her diatribe.

'…hurting the poor guy the way you did!?'

'Hn.' He felt a smile twitch at his lips when she seemed to explode at his short answer. Being linked to one Kagome Higurashi was looking to be a rather interesting experience.


Kagome climbed out of the pod, still muttering to herself. "Pig-headed, sexist, idiotic…jerk!" She ignored the way her hair stuck to her arm as she disconnected a few of the electrodes stuck to her temples and neck. The gel never left a person wet when it was drained from the pod. Instead it coated whoever was inside with what felt like a waxy texture. Kagome always likened it with if someone had rubbed her down with a melted crayon. Making sure everything was put away properly and promising to go over her linking experience with Wallace after her shower, Kagome headed toward the small locker room to hang up her suit.

Standing under the hot spray of water, Kagome was relieved when the waxy left over gel immediately washed down the drain. One good thing about that stuff was it was easily removed. Reaching over to the regulated soap and shampoo provided by the research and development department, Kagome allowed the irritation she was still feeling to dissolve. Though she would be partners with the jerk, it was only a week. She could make it to the end…besides, they might not even get a mission while she was filling in.

Nodding in satisfaction over her quick thinking, and ignoring the flash of disappointment she felt for some odd reason, Kagome left her shower with her usual smile on her face. The post-linking interrogation, as Kagome called it, with Wallace ended swiftly and Kagome made her way to the cafeteria. She was starving and she had promised Miroku to spill all the details at lunch.


Hideaki Taisho watched the first linking and subsequent practice spar of his eldest son with intent eyes. When he had been notified that a Miss Higurashi would be a substitute psy-link for Hojo, he had jumped on the chance offered to him. Of course he knew who Kagome Higurashi was. All ship captains were aware of the psychic. Have been since the first round of testing results were reported when she was fifteen.

When she had chosen to become a biological researcher, the Inu no Taisho felt the same deflation as many others had, however she had also chosen a ship within his fleet. Though it wasn't as ideal as he had hoped there was still possibility. Plans had been made and people were shifted about. If any were to question why Sesshomaru's newest linking partner just so happened to be on the same ship as Miss Higurashi, it would be easy enough to feign ignorance. That things had fallen so easily in line with his plans made the Inu no Taisho a little wary.

Coincidences rarely happened when psychics were involved. Especially around psychics as powerful as Kagome Higurashi. Inu no Taisho wondered if perhaps someone else's machinations were involved in this. His musings were cut short as a sharp chime sounded from his office door. Sitting up in his chair, he swiped the holo-video down and promised to watch the rest later. He pressed the switch at the corner of his desk and watched as his wife walked into the room with practiced ease.

Izayoi Taisho smiled beatifically up at her husband as she made her way to his desk. "You skipped out on lunch again, darling." She said as she hefted the small basket in her arms onto the desk's top. Inu no Taisho sighed and grinned charmingly back at her.

"Whatever would I do without you?"


So, normally I don't write author's notes but I felt I had to this time around. I would just like to express my gratitude to all of those that have left such glowing reviews. It takes a lot of courage to post what I've written and the amount of time, research and emotion that has gone into it. No this isn't based off of a book somewhere, this is strictly what I've thought up myself, but it made me happy that it was so well received. Thank you to you all!