A/N: I didn't expect to be writing this, actually. But plotbunnies are unstoppable that way. I just hope this fic really takes off, because I have such grand plans for it, mwahahaha!

Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Reviews are love!

Ciao!

ooOoo

The bleeding red light of dusk illuminates his face, lending an eerie glow to his features. Whiskey eyes turn to an almost glowing scarlet in it, and pearly white teeth gleam in a soft smile that suddenly seems a touch predatory.

Kagome feels an involuntary rush of adrenaline run through her veins, making the otherwise mundane moment seem titillating, fear giving it the magic she never quite admits to sorely miss.

She hasn't seen him in over three weeks, still reeling from the shock and pain and grief-

("You honestly expect him to live still? After so long?")

But he told her to come to him if she needs help, any help at all, and so here she is.

She enters the office after only a second of hesitaton, closing the door behind her with an ominous click.

"Sesshōmaru," she greets softly.

"Little One," he replies in an equally soft manner, reflective eyes fixed on her. "Something ails you," he declares as his earlier smile vanishes, leaving no evidence in its wake. There is no question in his tone. And, well, that makes things so much easier since she's having a hard enough time admitting to herself that the problem even exists, much less that it bothers her. His statement makes it so that she can't really deny it.

Sesshōmaru isn't asking. He never does.

(Blood mixed with tears. So much struggle. Beautiful.

"Please don't do this. Don't ask it of me. Please, anything but this!"

A smile. A sharp inhale of excitement. "Then I won't ask.")

"I... I..." she stammers, not quite knowing how to phrase her thoughts. "There's... I think there's something wrong with me."

He solemnly nods and leans forward from his seat, his long black hair spilling from his shoulders. "Speak your mind."

"...I'm having these urges," she slowly admits. "To... um, hurt." To kill, is what she leaves unsaid.

Sesshōmaru's lips twitch to an almost smile, almost as if he heard her thoughts anyway.

"I... I tried," she blubbers, "That is, I can't help myself. Can't help but act on those urges. I tried, but I can't."

"I see," he says at length. "This bothers you."

A reluctant nod. "Yes. Yes, it does. It bothers me very much."

"And now you are here."

"Yes," she sighs. "I need your help."

"You presume much to think I will provide it, after the words you last spoke to me."

She defiantly meets his gaze. "At the risk of losing my head, I'd say I'm beyond caring if I'd offend you with my presence or not. I'm... I'm desperate. I need help."

"You have an awful way of securing it."

An artful shrug. "I figured I can't force you into anything, with you being... who you are. You'll either help me or you won't. It's all quite simple."

And it is simple. Just as it has ever been before.

Dogs are simple creatures by nature and design.

He studies her for a long moment, before rising to his feet, striding to a file cabinet. He deftly fishes out a thick manila envelope and drops it on her lap.

"There is your 'help'."

She scans through the contents and sees various documents proving a person's identity. A birth certificate. School transcripts and IDs. Passport. All seemingly legitimate, to her admittedly amateur scrutiny. All with her face on them. All with a name that isn't hers.

"Takatsukasa Kaname?"

"Kaname is phonetically similar to your true name. It is adequate enough for its purpose."

Purpose? What purpose? She fails to see how false documents would help her mental issues, and- "When did you have the time to make these?"

He gives her an indulgent smile, one that seems wholly unfamiliar on his face, which she remembered to only have his default aloof expression. "You forget that as you lived your childhood, before the Well, I had already lived the past you were about to see."

It takes her a moment to digest his words. Before the Well...

He'd known! The thought hadn't occurred to her before, but he'd known! While she was still in diapers, he'd known that she would go to the past and go through hell to save the world.

A deep seated resentment she didn't even know existed bubbles to the surface. He'd watched over her all this time - her entire life, it seems like - and he never even- didn't even-

"You know that I had to keep my distance, Little One. You were wary of me in the past, I recall. You did not seem to know me. It wouldn't do to make your acquaintance and alter the timeline, when there was no reason to."

She very nearly snarls at that. No reason to? "Does the timeline even exist?" She asks instead. "Because it sure didn't seem like it while I starved and killed and hacked my way to Naraku's death. If it wouldnt have changed my time anyway, I would've-"

"You would have placed less effort to your cause. Probably fail in the process."

"But I already succeeded, Sesshōmaru. Before I even began the quest, there was already a foregone conclusion. All that struggle and death, all those mistakes..."

"Your trials were as I recalled," he placates. "They would have happened for they already had. You understand this.

"Had I attempted to warn you - or aid you, even - at the time, then something would have gotten in my way. Something would have stopped me. Such warning and aid was not given to you, thus it could not be. At the worst I would have died in the attempt. There was no choice but to let the past be."

With a heavy sigh, the fight rushes out of her, leaving her drained and feeling strangely bereft. "But I felt so alone," she whispers, lips trembling. "The others suffered too, but I couldn't... My family didn't... I..."

"I understand," he murmurs soothingly as he sits beside her and runs his hands over her back, his thumb tracing small circles. Another unfamiliar gesture, she thinks. He's so different now, it almost seems unreal. "I was unable to help the way you wanted, but I had hoped to help in the future. After the spider hanyō's inevitable end. When you would undoubtedly need it, and would no longer have your merry band of outlaws with you."

The reminder of the friends she left behind make her eyes fill with tears. Again. She always seems to cry nowadays, it's become quite ridiculous. It has been a over two months, and she finds it amazing, somewhat, that she could cry for her loss still, after all this time. Because the world hasn't ended, has it? She still has her family, her other friends, and she even gets to keep her normal life. It's what she wanted, what she fought tooth and nail for. Why is it that she cant seem to find even just one iota of happiness for her efforts?

It all seems so unfair.

"The fake identity?" She asks tremulously, deciding to stick to the topic on hand. "How is it supposed to help me?"

"It would bind you to me. In a familial way," he hastily adds. "I had arranged Takatsukasa Kaname to be my sibling. As Takatsukasa Kaname, you would have access to the professional help in the many hospitals I own.

"Your younger sister?!" She asks incredulously. "You hardly even acknowledged Inuya- your half-brother," she adds, "as your blood because he was half-human. You're saying you want to adopt a fully human girl when you didn't want your half-human brother?"

"It would not be anything I have not done before," he replies, his lips tilting to form a sardonic smile."I had a human ward, if you recall."

"Rin," she blurts, pointedly not thinking about how very dead the girl must be after five centuries. "Right. So you had less of a problem with humans than you did with... your own brother? You said it was his human blood you disliked."

"... I found him disagreeable for more than just his human heritage, I'll have you know."

"...What did he do?"

"You seem to be under the impression that he had to do something to incur my wrath," he says softly, withdrawing his hands from her back. "Did you not say that I hated him solely for his human blood?"

"I did, and you denied it. You seem to have mellowed out, but you still have something against him. So what did he do?"

He sighs. "Nothing of import. He's merely irritating enough to annoy me even in death."

The conversation tapers out after that, the air having turned too stifling and awkward for words to be spoken between them. Kagome murmurs a despondent farewell, deciding to clarify matters the next day. Hopefully the awkwardness would have cleared out by then.

She just hopes she wouldn't have to hurt (or kill) anything in the remaining hours.

ooOoo

Another cat is laid bare before her feet, neck broken, properly skinned and gutted and ready for the roasting that will not happen.

She doesn't need to do this anymore, she reminds herself, even as the disgusting rush of pride and pleasure thrums beneath her skin. She doesn't need to kill or fight to survive. But the deed is done, nearly complete before she even became aware of her own actions. It had been a thoughtless thing, most probably done out of habit, and were it not for the unusual amount of pleasure she took in killing, she would have thought nothing of the habit.

But-

("It shouldn't be a problem, wench. It's easy enough. Here's what you should do...")

But she feels so happy after, so damned proud that she doesn't know what to do with herself. And her kill. For a moment she believes she is back to five hundred years ago, with Sango and Miroku and... and him. She could almost feel them behind her, preparing. A fire for her kill to be cooked in. Miroku would be making eyes at Sango who would roll her eyes, and he... he would be staring after her back, wondering what the hell is bothering her. He would call out to her any second now, and she couldn't help but turn around and look at-

("What's taking you so long, wench? I'm starving!")

-at nothing. The tree doesn't react to her gaze. She frowns as she snaps out of her reverie.

"Urges, you said?" A deep voice asks.

She snaps back to the direction the sudden voice came from, only to meet the golden irises of Inu-

"Sesshōmaru!" She gasps. "What are you doing here?"

"Matters were left... unresolved. I came to your home to discuss them, only to find you gone, with your scent trail leading me here." His eyes fall on the feline carcass, before flicking to her gored hands.

She blushes and quickly hides them in her pockets

"A pup," he declares with a flat expression.

"...What?"

"Your skills are unrefined, your kill messily skinned. There are flecks of blood on your clothes. You are like a pup." He pauses before adding, "You need to be taught."

That... is not what she expected him to say. But each word he says makes her heart beat faster in anticipation. In excitement, and ar- "I... why aren't you... this is wrong, Sesshōmaru," she stammers, backing away from him a step and taking deep breaths that do nothing to take away her strange giddiness. "This is exactly why I need help. I keep hunting animals and I don't even think about it and-" she cuts herself off, before continuing, "I don't know why I keep doing this. It's not like it's necessary, after all. I can just go to the grocery store and... but it.. I..."

"It is not the same," he says, giving voice to her thoughts. His gaze is focused and penetrating, trained on her reddening face. "The thrill of the chase, the capture, the struggle, the death. The blood."

She flushes, but says nothing.

"The pride in contributing to the Pack," he adds, "Is something that cannot be bought in grocery stores. This is not a bad thing."

Kagome bristles. "What? What are you talking about? I'm killing little animals, Sesshōmaru! And enjoying every second of it. I'm turning into some murdering psycho. Even now, horrified as I am, I feel happy and excited and-"

"And sexually aroused," he finishes. At her mortified expression he explains, "The scent of your desire is heavy in the air."

Kagome's mouth suddenly dries up.

"It's not what you think it is," she weakly argues. "It's not!"

He inhales deeply, much to her mortification. "I am well-versed enough in such things to know exactly what it is." His eyes flash crimson.

She gasps, taking one more step back, even as he takes a step towards her.

"It was different in our time," he drawls. "It was a constant fight to the top. A fight to be the strongest, the fastest, the smartest. None of that struggle exists in this time."

A pit of dread forms in her chest, but excitement too. "Sesshōmaru, what are you talking about?"

"What you do not know, is that after being strong enough," he takes one step closer, "The fighting instinct does not just disappear. It burrows deep and festers, until you cannot take any more of it. And this happens," he gestures to the dead animal between them.

"But it's over," she replies. "I don't have to fight like that anymore. There's no Naraku here, no insanely strong enemy I have to defeat."

He smiles. "Perhaps you need one." He lifts her chin to make her meet his gaze. "I can give you the struggle you so desperately crave, Little One. Say the word, and I shall grant you your basest desires."

His pupils are blown wide, fangs slightly protruding. Yet his hair remains jet black, his cheeks and forehead free of demonic markings. The slight hint of violence makes her breath come in harsh pants. Makes the apex of her thighs damp and throbbing. But it doesn't make sense, nothing about this makes any sort of sense-

"I don't understand what's going on, Sesshōmaru."

"I will take you, Little One, and you will fight me for the privilege."

ooOoo

*Accidentally gives Sesshōmaru a BDSM kink the size of Feudal Japan*

Oops.

Anyway, tell me what you think.