Kagome hadn't known what to say at first. She wanted to bombard him with questions about where and when he'd first arrived, but Shippou had never once mentioned being mistreated in Meikyuu, so she bit her tongue. "You mentioned Souten before," she eventually asked. "Are there others like you?"

Shippou nodded, sitting upright, green eyes gleaming. "There's a bunch of us! The king pretty much lets us do whatever we want as long as we don't interfere with humans." She gave him a droll look, and he scratched the back of his head. "I couldn't help myself. You were different."

"Meaning you saw an opportunity to test out your tricks and took it."

He gave her a guilty grin, dimples showing on one cheek. "Maybe. But you can't say you didn't enjoy it!"

"Not the point." She tried to keep a straight face, but he wiggled his eyebrows, and Kagome found herself laughing. "Don't sit there thinking you know everything, Shippou. It'll get you into trouble."

"I don't know everything," he said, pointing at her. "I still haven't figured out why your eyes are different."

Kagome stilled. "What do you mean?"

"Before they were blue. Like when you first came here. And back at your house," he replied, leaning closer as if a better view would change what he saw. "But now they're brown."

Her frown deepened, and she scooted closer to the river's edge, peering at her reflection. Nothing seemed out of place, blue eyes staring back at her. "They're still blue, Shippou."

The kit shook his head. "No, they're not. Not to me. They've been different since we came through the portal. I thought you changed them." An odd sense of dread crept up her spine as she mentally retraced her steps since she'd arrived. There was no trace of magic on her, nothing that she could sense, anyway, and she'd been careful not to use too much of her own power to be noticed by the wrong people.

The altercation with the king earlier that morning came to mind, heat creeping into her face as the sensation of his mouth on her neck resurfaced. She'd blown it off as his usual two-faced attitude, but if she was affected by some sort of spell, it would explain why he didn't remember her.

She turned to her companion, gripping the grass between them. "Shippou, tell me more about this spell you think the king is under."


Kagome paced the length of his room, forcing herself to breathe as her mind raced. Shippou hadn't been able to give her many details, considering the king spent most of his time in areas that were off-limits to children, but he'd started spending a lot more time there in the last year or so.

It didn't make sense.

From what she'd gathered, the abduction of children didn't happen that often. At least not often enough for the king to be busy every day. The parts of Meikyuu that were open to humans while they tried to rescue their children or siblings were on the other side of the castle and not somewhere she could explore without getting caught.

But the fact remained that no one knew what was going on in those areas but the king himself, and anyone else directly involved. Kagome was tempted to corner Hakudoshi and fry him until he told her what he knew, but she knew he wouldn't think twice about gutting her, regardless of what the king had said.

Groaning, she dragged a hand through her hair, wincing when her fingers got too close to her temple. It was still healing, especially since stitches didn't seem to exist here. Magic was all fine and good, but the fall had been a bad one, and it took a lot of energy to heal herself from a physical wound.

She paused in front of the king's mirror, glaring at her reflection as she willed it to reveal its secrets. Her eyes were still blue, as they always had been, but Shippou had no reason to lie to her, so why did they seem brown to everyone else? What was the point in changing that one thing about her when everything else was the same?

The creaking of the door pulled her from her thoughts, and the king staggered into the room. It was the same as before; his youki was severely depleted, and Kagome barely managed to grab him before he hit the floor. "Are you alright?"

He grunted, trying to wave her off but not pushing her away either. "She got away."

The dread returned as she led him toward the bed. "Who?"

"Kagome," he hissed, sounding more forlorn than furious. "Why did she spurn me when I offered her everything?"

"Maybe she didn't know you were serious," she said, helping him lay down. "Maybe with all the tricks you played on her before, she thought it was just another lie."

"I never lie," he argued weakly, draping an arm over his eyes.

She quickly shut the door, then sat on the bed, carefully not to jostle him more than needed. "No, you just embellish and exaggerate until no one takes you seriously."

The king peeked at her from under his arm. "And what would you know about it?"

"Nothing, obviously," she grumbled, knowing she currently wasn't 'Kagome' to him.

He huffed in triumph, laying back against the pillows. "I take it you were able to stay out of trouble today?"

"Would it matter if I didn't?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"It would depend on what the trouble entailed. Hakudoshi has been quite vocal about his displeasure in you being here."

She smirked. If not being locked up in the dungeon annoyed the little troll enough to speak up about it, she'd gladly stay out of trouble just to stay in the king's room. "Sounds like he's forgetting his place."

He peeked at her again. "For a human who has not spent much time among the fae, you speak like one."

"And why do you think that is?" she asked, leaning closer. Amber eyes flickered between dull and alive as he stared at her, Kagome refusing to look away.

He eventually raised a condescending eyebrow, once again covering his face with his arm. "You are trying to work your magic on me. It is a fruitless endeavour."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "You've already said I'm not a threat."

"It does not stop you from trying."

"No, it certainly doesn't," she smirked, willing him to sleep so she could heal him again. "Why do you keep trying to capture this Kagome woman every day, anyway?"

"She has not been here every day." The king rolled away from her, exhaustion taking hold. "I do it permit anyone to stay in Meikyuu longer than their given thirteen hours."

"But you did this same thing yesterday," she argued, contemplating whether or not shaking him would cause enough offence to send her back to the dungeon. "You nearly collapsed! And if I hadn't healed you—"

What remained of his power flared, streaks turning jagged on his face as he turned to her. "Now hear this. You may believe anything that your pathetic human imagination comes up with, but there are strict penalties here for lying. I will not have some lowly human dictate the truth to me."

She backtracked but refused to cower. "So today was the first time you'd met her."

"As if anyone could solve my labyrinth more than once," he scoffed. "Kagome was assisted by some of the residents, but no one else has or will be as lucky." The light faded from his eyes, and he groaned softly, rubbing his temples. Kagome said nothing else as she helped him lay down again, it not taking long for sleep to claim him.

She gave it a few minutes just to be sure, then placed her hands on his chest, tendrils of reiki snaking over his shoulders. It started slow, much like his breathing, but he accepted her power just like before, using it to bring colour back to his skin.

She wasn't sure how much she could or even should give him, but maybe if she gave him more than last time, it might break through whatever was keeping him from seeing her—or at least stop the castle from crumbling.

There was still a pile of puzzle pieces that hadn't fallen into place yet, but whatever spell he was under was syphoning his power every time he was beaten by 'Kagome'.