"How... How did this happen?" His pulsed thrummed obtrusively in his unpointed ears, chest heavy with panic, breath shaky. She shrugged, and it irritated him.

"I don't know," she declared.

"Where are we?"

"I don't know."

"How did we get to this cave?"

"I don't know."

"How long have we been here?"

"I don't know."

It was his turn to scoff. "Is there anything that you do know?"

Kagome glared at him. He regretted his line of questioning immediately when she huffed air for a clearly long winded response.

"No. There is nothing that I know. I don't know what happen, why you're human, where we are or how we got here. In fact, I have no clue why any of this is happening to me." He surmised she hinted at more than just their current predicament.

"I used to be so happy, ya know. Not a care in the world. Now..." She slumped to the floor with a heavy thud and long sigh, calming herself briefly before speaking again.

"I remember... fighting. A woman. There was a bright light. And then suddenly I'm here in a dingy hole with a human Sesshomaru, bleeding out all over my clothes."

Sesshomaru reflected for a moment, as he too remembered these details, hazy as they were. There was, indeed, a battle. But with whom and for what purpose, he could not recall. That mysterious bright light would most likely prove to be the explanation for their current plight, though the details of how and why would also escape him.

Sesshomaru's now slate black eyes widened as his mind drifted to the mentioned mysterious woman. He, too, had caught a glimpse of her before being over taken by the luminescence. He recalled...

Snowy locks of hair... Amber eyes watching intently from the outskirts of battle. "Mother..." he muttered.

"Mother?" Kagome parroted, though Sesshomaru did not answer as he was still engulfed in his thoughts.

Abruptly he stood, so much so that the very little blood he still processed had rushed in an instant from his head, causing him to stumble slightly back. He expected to be caught by hard rock, but to his surprise it was warm flesh that pressed against his side to stable him.

"Careful," she said. Sneering through clenched teeth, he untangled himself from her form, making his stance clear on being touched. Kagome mumbled something unintelligible, but it sounded suspiciously like 'ungrateful fucking mutt', though he would let this pass for now.

Prideful. Arrogant. But not ignorant. Sesshomaru new three things.

One. He was human. He was weak. He was injured and crippled and in need of assistance.

Two. This girl, he knew, would be the only person near by both capable and willing to be that assistance. Being separated from her traveling companions in an unknown land, he knew she would accept a temporary truce and be at least somewhat cooperative.

Three. His mother, no doubt, was present during whatever took place. She would have the answers. She could undo this.

"Almost certainly, whatever this is, was my mother's doing," he finally spoke. Kagome parted her lips as if to speak, but decided better of it and allowed him to finish.

"The most logical coarse of action at this point is to find her. You will accompany this Sesshomaru," he declared, earning him a stern glare.

"What the fuck-" what a vulgar girl, he thought, "makes you think I would ever 'accompany this Sesshomaru'." She took on a deep tone of mocking, rolling her eyes as she uttered her final words. This, too, he choose to ignore for the moment.

"I presume you wish to return to your half breed," he stated decisively. Kagome's tension visibly left her form at this, which he took as a sign to continue.

"No doubt my mother will know his wear a bouts. As compensation, I will return you unharmed to your pack."

He waited in silence as Kagome pondered this. Oh, what a jack ass he was. The satisfaction she knew she would receive from abandoning him here to die of starvation as one of the humans he hated so much was calling to her.

But then, where would that leave her? Stranded. Alone. 'I guess bad company is better than no company,' she thought. Besides. She wasn't the sort to just let him die, foe as he was, or she would have simply let him bleed to death.

"Promise?" He looked to Kagome, who held a lone pinky to him with expectation. He regarded her quizzically.

"It's custom where I'm from. You lock your pinky with mine and promise. It means your word is absolute, and you can't ever break it. Ever ever."

What a silly thing to do. "Very well," he said, locking his to hers.

Satisfied, Kagome's demeanor perked up quite drastically. "So, we find your mom. Simple. Where do we start?"

There was a small rustle in her hair and a little presence made itself known. "I believe I can help with that," came pesky voice.

"Myoga!" She screeched. "You spineless sneak! How long have you been hiding?"

"I take great offense," the little bug huffed. "I was merely uh... er.."

"Save it."

Sesshomaru step forward to regard the flea. "You said you can help. Explain." His cold tone unnerved Myoga.

"We are currently in what's known as 'The Outskirts.' Being a connoisseur of information-"

"More like a greedy blood sucker," Kagome interrupted. Sesshomaru shot her a warning glance and she bit her tongue.

"I frequent this area. I know it quite well, my lord. I can help navigate the two of you through this land and towards the entrance of the Lady Inu's domain." He was being too helpful. This little pest never did anything without reward.

"And what exactly do you want in return?" Kagome scoffed. The flea feigned mock abhorrence at the implication.

"Why, I simply wish to be nestled next to my dear, sweet Kagome." She gagged. "And to, of course, have unlimited access to your tasty blood~." She pinched him between her thumb and finger, bringing him to meet her gaze.

"No. Fucking. Way." She spat. Myoga argued with her for a moment before Sesshomaru interrupted, growing bored of their squabble.

"Very well. It shall be so."

Kagome snapped her head around. "Excuse you? You can't just auction off my body, I'm not your proper-"

"You will do what is necessary," he calmly demanded, gathering his belongings and emerging from the cave to greet the daylight.

Oho. She gawked and sputtered in bitter irritation, following him with a very smug little bug nestled into her hair.