Chapter 2 –

Kagome –

The next few days went with healing the wounds, playing with Rin, ignored by Jaken and Sesshoumaru, who always seemed deep in thought, and last but not least, they were travelling to get to Sesshoumaru's palace. This, after what Rin told rarely happened. Rin had told Kagome that she thought it was because Sesshoumaru liked the open nature instead of walls. Kagome had seen reason in that, given he was an inu youkai. Kagome sighed. She and Sesshoumaru had not talked once, since that night, but it was a night she would remember forever. He had given her a reason to live again. Kagome looked up and watched Sesshoumaru while they were walking

"Is there anything you want to say miko?" Kagome saw him looking at her, before she turned and blushed

"No" she looked at him again, and was positively sure she saw a small smirk on his lips

"We will camp here tonight" They all nodded and worked on setting up camp

"May Rin and Lady Kagome bathe?" Rin asked Sesshoumaru. He nodded and pointed in the direction they needed. Kagome gathered her bathing supplies and went with Rin to find the hot spring

In the hot spring, Kagome helped Rin with her hair and soaped in the conditioner. She was glad that she had taken lots and lots of supplies with her from her time, and she still had a lot in her bag, since she had not used that much the past 3 months, since she at the time didn't care.

Rin and Kagome got their clothes on, and when done, Kagome tried to work through Rin's hair with her hairbrush.

"Now I smell just like…" Rin started. Kagome froze and stopped her movements

"Shh…" Kagome said to make Rin stop talking. She could feel a youkai near, and it was not Sesshoumaru

"Rin, get behind me" Kagome whispered and hurried. Rin hid between two boulders that covered her body from sight. Kagome then made a small barrier around Rin, protecting her. She stepped away from the boulder and made one for herself, just in case. A bear youkai came out from the bushes. 'What is it with these damn youkai's?!' Kagome hissed mentally. It immediately spotted Kagome

"Leave or you will face the consequences" Kagome ordered, staying perfectly calm. She had been up against worse.

"And what would those consequences be?" The bear asked curious and amused, getting closer to barrier.

"First I will drop this barrier and kick you around till you have managed to draw some blood from me, and then what happens is, that I will leave you to the wrath of Lord Sesshoumaru, who rules these lands by the way… Or I could simply take you myself, I am sure he will understand…" Kagome said, speaking like to herself at the last part, just to provoke the youkai. She saw the youkai pale

"You are bluffing" the youkai said, but not that convincing. Kagome smirked big and turned her head towards Rin

"Rin dear, would you please scream all that you can for me?" Kagome asked teasingly. She knew Sesshoumaru would come if Rin screamed. Kagome sat down to watch the show. Yeah… She had become a bit blood lusty in the past three months, and she had come to enjoy a good fight when presented, either as fighter or just as an observant. And she really did want to see Sesshoumaru in action. It looked so effortless and like a dance when he fought, and she hadn't seen him fight since that night. She heard Rin scream with all her might. It was so loud that the youkai had to cover for his ears. Kagome felt Sesshoumaru nearing.

"Rin, when Sesshoumaru gets here, make sure to close your eyes till I say you can open them" She could slightly see Rin nod and close her eyes. Sesshoumaru stood before her in a flash. The bear youkai paled and tried to run, but was quickly impaled by his Tokijin. Kagome sighed disappointed

"… had expected more fun…" she mumbled and removed the barrier around her and Rin

"You can open them now sweetie" Kagome called over her shoulder. Kagome got to her feet

"You could have played with him a little longer" Kagome teased, but it only earned a glare from the ice prince. Kagome got her bathing supplies and went back to camp with Rin.

She didn't like being kept to herself and her thoughts, the dark thoughts that kept creeping in on her, when she wasn't distracted. So she had played with Rin the entire day, until Rin had no more energy. The next victim had been Ah-Un, well that was until Rin was put to sleep, since Rin preferred to sleep up against the two-headed dragon. Kagome looked at Jaken, and decided against using him as her next victim. But she needed to focus on something that wouldn't let her thoughts become dark. She spotted Sesshoumaru sitting at the base of a tree. She sat next to him, not caring the glare that was sent her way from Jaken

"So… When can I expect to see this palace of yours" she asked, not giving a shit to the formalities

"What is it to you, you human garbage!" Jaken shrieked. Kagome ignored the imp; she found it quiet amusing that Jaken hated being ignored, no matter if it were human or youkai doing the ignoring. She saw Sesshoumaru glance over to Jaken who was fuming and was barfing up a lot of words not meant for fragile creatures to hear. And since Kagome just kept ignoring him, the words got louder. Sesshoumaru just smirked

"We will reach the palace in 2 days time" he answered much to Kagome's surprise, but maybe he wanted to annoy Jaken as much as she. Kagome only nodded in response. They sat there quietly for a while, and she almost felt her heart jump out of her throat when Sesshoumaru suddenly asked her a question

"Do you still believe it should have been you instead of them?" the question was asked very emotionless, but Kagome could see his eyes were searching hers for an answer. She sighed…

"Yes" was all she wanted to answer at the moment. Even though Sesshoumaru might have given her a reason to live, she would still welcome death if offered. Especially, if the jewel vanished with her death. That blasted jewel was a curse; it had given her nothing but heartache.

"Did you ever try the Tensaiga" she whispered. She did not know if she wanted to hear the answer, but she felt like she had to ask

"Yes, but it wouldn't work" he answered. Kagome looked at him. Even though he had been enemies with Inu-Yasha, their brotherly bond had progressed from hate to tolerance when the final battle was over them. She didn't know how he felt from the loss of his half-brother, if he even felt anything about it… Kagome kept her eyes on the stars trying to count them, to keep the thoughts out. She wouldn't even dare trying to sleep. The nightmares still haunted her, so she hadn't slept since she woke up after being rescued by Sesshoumaru a couple of days ago… Her body and mind was tired, but she just couldn't… Sesshoumaru seemed to notice, because in a heartbeat she was sitting in his lap and he was purring! Without her realizing it, her body started to relax, and within 5 minutes she was asleep

Dream state –

Kagome had just shot another arrow towards the mass of low level youkais, when she heard Sango cry out. Kagome looked just in time to see Sango, who was on her knees with Miroku lying motionless, getting impaled by a single miasma tentacle. Kagome froze, her brain not wanting to process what she had just witnessed. Her left food took a step towards the dying couple in total disbelief

"No" she whispered, tears falling down her cheek, her powers inside of her starting to move uncontrollably inside of her. She took another step, and then another till she had collapsed on her knees in front of her friends. But when she saw Shippou, lying dead next to Miroku she screamed panicking

"No! This can't happen! This was not supposed to happen!" Kagome looked at her hands with hers friends blood dripping from it, she had not noticed the tentacles creeping in on her

"Kagome! Get out of the way!" she heard Inu-Yasha scream. From the moment she turned and saw Inu-Yasha hanging dead over her head, something inside of her snapped. She only took a moment to locate Sesshoumaru and have barrier surround him for his safety sake, before her powers inside of her fought its way out. She felt her body starting to warm up and something on her shoulder blades started to form, but she locked gazes with Naraku that were looking disbelieving at her, and then all went pink…

Kagome looked around. It was suddenly pitch black. She tried to grab onto something, but she was only met with darkness and emptiness.

"It was your fault" she heard someone whisper

"It should have been you!" another voice screamed. Kagome trembled all over her body. These voices seemed… familiar…

"I know" she whispered

"IT WAS ALL YOUR FAULT AND WE HAD TO PAY THE PRICE!" the voices screamed at her. Kagome fell to her knees, her hands covering her ears, trying to keep the voices out. Kagome slowly opened her eyes and before her stood Shippou, Miroku, Sango and Inu-Yasha covered in blood and pointing accusingly at her

"You should have died" Miroku said, his eyes filled with hatred

"It was your fault Naraku got so much power so my family died!" Sango accused, her voice filled with venom

"It was your fault my father died!" Shippou screamed, with red eyes instead of his green. Kagome could only look at them, with tears continuing to fall heavy

"You are nothing like my Kikiyo" Inu-Yasha said disgusted, licking of the blood on his hand before he turned to her, flexing his claws

"Say hello to her in hell!" he shouted and lunged out at her. Kagome started screaming when she felt his claws on her body

- Sesshoumaru –

It had not taken long for her to fall asleep, but it didn't come as a surprise since she had yet to sleep at all. Every night since she woke up from her injuries, she had preoccupied her time with anything but sleep. And since it would be unhealthy for her to continue down that path, he had tried what he could to make her fall asleep. He looked down at her sleeping form. She had a frown plastered on her face, which meant she must be dreaming. He looked up at the stars, thinking of the little miko in his arms. She had been through so much in her early human years. He thought of how he would have reacted if it had been him that had lost that much 'I would probably have gone on a killing spree until my loss felt less' he thought. But the miko, a human, had wanted to die in their place instead. Would he ever do that? Would he ever get that feeling towards any? To be so close to someone that you would want to die if they did? His line of thoughts stopped when the little miko in his arms started to whimper, and the smell of tears became stronger. He looked down at her

'She is having a nightmare' his beast commented. Sesshoumaru held Kagome tighter in his embrace, when she started to lash out with her arms

"Kagome" he said in hope of waking her up, but she just kept fighting and crying

"Kagome" he said a bit louder, and started to purr, to try and calm her down. Her fighting stopped, but the tears continued

"I'm… so… sorry" she whispered. Sesshoumaru looked at her confused, believing it was him she was talking too, but before he got to ask, the scent of blood hit his nose. And not just any blood, but Kagome's blood. Sesshoumaru turned Kagome around in his lap, to get a better view. She was bleeding from her arm. He removed her sleeve only to see 5 fresh claw marks.

"Where did that come from?" he looked at her in disbelieve. She was still sleeping, calmer than before, so he kept purring, so she could get the much needed sleep.

'Could it be the reason why she is not sleeping?' his beast offered. It could be one of the reasons, he thought to himself. Nightmares that hurt her? He had never heard of it before, but he knew who to ask. So Sesshoumaru would have to make a little detour to a little youkai tree before they got to the palace. They needed to fix it. He couldn't stay with her every night, but if he had to make sure she was safe during sleep, then they had to find a way to stop it. With that in mind, he himself drifted off to sleep, but not so deep, so he wouldn't notice any change in Kagome.

Author:

Thanks you so much for your reviews; Technopony13 and LoveInTheBattleField. I will try to write the next chapter quickly