Sesshoumaru grabbed the age-worn wooden handle to the well house and paused before opening it for his raven-haired girlfriend.

"Kagome, do you ever stop to think how wondrous life can be? Here we are at your family shrine, approaching an ancient well that can transport us across time. Not only that but in a way both of us have already died and come back to life. I feel certain that we could start a religion around ourselves claiming to be miraculous. You could pass yourself off as an angel of purity, me...well...obviously not Taiyoukai...that would be too alarming...what to say though..."

Sesshoumaru half-turned to Kagome, ready to torture her with more inane discussions, as she had done so many times to him, but suddenly clenched his jaw shut. Her hands had managed to slip underneath his shirt and were tracing designs on his stomach. Each teasing stroke of her fingertips left a line of fire blossoming on his skin. Slowly, expertly, he felt her fingers glide lower and lower, inflaming him with anticipation.

Suddenly it stopped as her hands withdrew. Sesshoumaru looked at Kagome as though he had been cheated out of a prize.

Which in a sense I have been Sesshoumaru thought to himself.

Kagome put her hand on his, which still had a grasp on the door, and pulled, opening it before them. "Now come on, Rin's waiting."

Sesshoumaru stared at the back of Kagome's head as she descended into the well house as though nothing had happened. How was she able to do that to him? "Kagome, has anyone ever told you, 'don't start the engine unless you're going to drive the car.' It is sound advice."

Kagome looked back at Sesshoumaru as he descended the steps and grinned smugly. "Have you joined the boy scouts? It seems like you're pitching a tent."

Sesshoumaru took Kagome into his arms and sat down on the lip of the well with Kagome sitting on his lap. "Pitching a tent you say? How can you tell?"

Sesshoumaru felt a shiver run through Kagome as he rubbed himself against her and gently nibbled her ear, but refused to go any further. Two could play that game.

"Off we go."

Sesshoumaru leaned back and let gravity do its work, pulling them downward with its grasp. Normally, she would have seen the darkness of the well shattered as blue-purple galaxies of light exploded around both her and Sesshoumaru as they fell through time. But the next few moments held nothing but terror for her.

She stared into dark burning eyes. Eyes so filled with unquenchable hate and the promise of searing agony that they couldn't be human.

"I would love to spend the time raping you endlessly and savoring the taste of your tears on my tongue, but you strike me as one of those who would prove to surprisingly dangerous to let live any longer than is necessary."

Kagome felt claws of agony rend her stomach as his blade bit into her abdomen and burst out of her back. He withdrew the blade, relishing the sounds she made as he twisted it.

"Die slowly."

Darkness filled Kagome"s vision and she felt strong arms around her holding her gently. A drum was beating furiously nearby trying to draw her back to reality. In the distance, someone was calling her name, but Kagome only barely perceived it; everything was in a smothering fog and she felt like she was blindly groping through it.

Sesshoumaru"s heart was pounding like a jackhammer and he could feel his blood burning in his veins, trying desperately to locate whatever threat was present and tear it to pieces. "KAGOME!KAGOME!"

Sesshoumaru was terrified and enraged by whatever was affecting Kagome. One moment, she was snuggled in his arms leaving the future, the next they were in the past and she was unresponsive with eyes rolling up into her head and shaking uncontrollably in his arms. Her mouth opened, and for a moment he thought everything was going to be fine, but then a tortured scream pierced the air, sending his heart into overdrive. Then an eerie stillness swept over her and she went limp in his arms.

Leaping up from the ancient well, he raced through the forest around them, and headed toward Kaede's village in a blur of silver.

A moment later, the towering Youkai Lord stood in Kaede's doorway with Kagome clutched protectively in his arms. Walking over to the bed, he gently placed her down and then turned to the older miko with eyes that burned like twin stars. "Help her."

Kaede looked at Kagome for a moment in puzzlement. No outward markings gave sign of her injury, yet clearly something was wrong with her. "Lord Sesshoumaru, go draw some water while I examine her."

Kaede took a calming breath and moved closer to Kagome. Relaxing her mind, she let her perceptions of the physical world fall away and allowing her to see the essence of Kagome's life force. The pinkish aura that surrounded the girl was stable throughout except for a light blue whirlpool centered above her brow. The slowly swirling funnel of the vortex was twisting deeply into the brow, penetrating the mind's eye with its tail. Kaede silently berated herself as realization struck her. I should have known from the start. Kaede shifted her perceptions back to the physical world as she felt an immensely powerful presence waiting behind her.