Hey there, readers. I'm back again after a rather extended hiatus with chapter 25 (technically chapter 24). Sorry for the wait, but I was exhausted after writing those last two monsters and life's been hectic since then. Between taking a new job and carrying a heavier course load than usual this quarter, it's been difficult to find time to sleep, let alone write.

This chapter is going to be short, but I figured getting out something was better than nothing. Hopefully I'll be able to write more as the holidays approach and I get some time off.

Also, just so you all know, I'm probably going to not respond to comments for a while unless they contain questions that require an answer. It's not that I don't love hearing from you/corresponding with you, it's just that the amount of free time I have right now is extremely limited. So please continue your reviews (they're truly invaluable to me), but if you really need to reach me for some reason just send me a PM.

Also, Bakachild, you're the best. Seriously, your last comment made my life :)

Our mini-history lesson for today:

-Shinshoku: a priest of the Shintō faith. Also, adding O- as prefix to any noun (such as Shinshoku) denotes greatness or high status.

-Hana Ichi Monme: A Japanese children's game similar to Red Rover. Use Wikipedia to look up the rules/procedures if you feel so inclined.

The ceremony had been beyond reproach. Almost the entire court had turned out to attend, filling and overflowing the Buraku-in with such a multitude of colors and finery that they might have earned the envy of the kami themselves. The hall had been decorated with equal lavishness, strewn in the gold and crimson hues of the Tennō's ancestry.

Midoriko, in her position as O-miko, had presided jointly with the O-shinshoku over the ceremony, bestowing upon the couple the blessings of the kami over their union as they moved through the matrimonial rituals. A high-ranking houshi had also been in attendance to offer the blessings of the Buddhist sect.

Following the ceremony, the crowd had been moved to the En no Matsubara where a great banquet had been laid out. Musicians and performers of the highest order provided entertainment, and whatever they might think of the union no courtier at the end of the festivities could have spoken an unflattering word about the arrangement and execution of the elegant ceremony.

All of this, however, was merely for show, as the court would accept nothing short of a grand performance. The pair chiefly concerned in all of it cared little for the actual ceremony beyond making certain that it was carried off without any problems. To them, it was what came after that truly mattered.

That was why, as they sat together in the silence and semi-darkness of the room that had suddenly taken on such strange significance, there was a quiet glow of satisfaction about them despite the nervousness they both felt.

She, in her robes as white and pure as the light of the full moon, knelt on one side of the large futon. He, a sharp contrast in robes of deep black embroidered with gold, knelt on the opposite side. Only two small candles at the head of the futon illuminated the scene, but the picture of a couple newly wed could not have been clearer had the light of the midday sun shone down on it.

He was the first to make a move, reaching a tentative hand out across the seemingly untraversable expanse of the futon. The flush that lit her face at the gesture was one of pure pleasure. With a small smile she reached out in return, placing her hand in the confines of his much larger one.

"I'll be a good husband to you, Kikyou," he said with low earnestness, his eyes on their interlocked hands. "I swear I'll take care of you."

She nodded, her eyes bright on his face.

"It goes both ways," she said softly. "I will care for you, as well, Inuyasha. I want to be your support in all things. This-being your wife and your companion-I could…I could ask for nothing more than this in all the world. I…"

She hesitated, a faint tremor going through the hand that he held clutched in his. The sheen of tears brightened her eyes further, and she smiled even as she swallowed them back. He gripped her hand more firmly.

"I know, Kikyou," he said. "I get it. But it's fine now. It's all fine. You and me…we're in this together from now on."

She nodded, her eyes sliding shut. Slowly she leaned in, raising the hand that she held and pressing her cheek to it. His face softened, his eyes trailing over her bent form.

He reached up with his free hand, fingers dipping just beneath the neck of his robes. He pulled up a string of beads that hung there, fingering them for a moment before pulling them slowly over his head to fall to the floor. He tugged her gently to him.

"C'mere."

She blinked slowly as she came back to herself, even that small gesture hard to manage. Everything seemed to be consumed by a thick haze. Even her thoughts dissolved into mist as soon as they began to form in her head. She could not recall where she was. How she had gotten there. She could scarcely remember her own name.

Her chest ached sharply, though. She tried to press her hand to it and found that that limb was also weighted down.

"They looked happy, did they not?" a voice came suddenly, seemingly from both in and outside of her head. Save the ache in her chest, it was the only thing that was clear of the haze.

"I suppose that is the way of newlyweds, though," the voice continued musingly. "Still, it seems rather cruel of him to forget you so completely, does it not? Especially when you have been working so hard on his behalf, Kagome."

Kagome. She realized suddenly that that was her name. With it several other things seemed to emerge out of the fog. His name, the man who she had seen, was Inuyasha, and she loved him. She loved him very much, and he had forgotten all about her. She was certain he must have, judging from how happy he had looked. The ache sharpened.

"But I suppose he has already proved how little he truly cares for you, has he not?" the voice continued, the words so loud inside her head that she was not sure if they were her own thoughts or something else. "He let you go. If he had cared at all for you, he would have asked you to stay. But he simply let you go. Everyone always lets you go. No one cares enough to ask you to stay."

No. Like a brief spark scattering the mist, Kagome had a sudden inkling that this was not right. She had asked to leave, and he-

"He is happy," the voice interrupted, dissolving her thoughts once more. "He is with her now. Forever. He is happy and he has forgotten you."

The two of them, bathed in the glow of the candles and their own contentment, sprang vividly to mind once more. Her chest hurt so much it was difficult to draw breath. But there was something else…something hovering just out of her reach…

"You need to rest, Kagome," the voice said gently. "You are tired and confused. Rest, and you will be able to think more clearly."

She found herself being drawn inexorably back into the darkness of sleep. She could not gather the energy to resist.

"The hanyou was a good entry point, but there is still a great part of her soul that she is keeping back. Give me time. Now that I have opened her up, digging deeper should be a simple matter."

Her mother was crying. Her mother often cried over little things -she was a bit of a crybaby, as her father used to joke- but never like this. For the first time in her life, as they stood watching the pyre on which her father's body was burning, Kagome thought she might know what heartbreak looked like. She held her mother's hand tightly, her own eyes dry.

Faintly she could hear Kaede, newly come to their village, speaking to her mother. Something about the will of the kami and the place that every being had within it.

Kagome did not understand it very well, but she could not help but feel that if this was the will of the kami, then she detested them and their will with her whole heart.

She stood watching from the bottom of the hill, eyes trained on the top of the slope. The cries of the several boys and girls gathered there echoed in her ears as they sung out to each other, advancing and retreating in linked lines. The wind brought the words of their song down to her, and she mouthed the words in time with them.

Katte ureshii hana ichi monme

Makete kuyashii hana ichi monme

Ano ko ga hoshii

Ano ko ja wakaran

Sōdan shiyō

Sō shiyō

The lines dissolved as the children converged into two groups in a bout of shouts and giggles. Kagome watched with wide eyes, wondering for a fleeting moment if this would be the time they would call her up. The time they would call her to join.

But the lines reformed and names were called. Her name was not.

One of the boys who had been called caught sight of her as he moved to the center of the group. He paused, staring down at her. His gaze drew that of the other children and soon all eyes were upon her. Kagome tensed, blinking up at them.

Abruptly she turned on her heel. She had lessons with Kaede. She really had no time to play, anyway. She needed to hurry.

Their murmurs seemed to trail after her. She bit her lip, her cheeks burning with a hot mix of anger and embarrassment.

Faintly she could hear some strange buzzing begin in her ears. She shook her head and continued walking.

She was trying to keep from leaning too heavily against Miroku's back, exhausted after a full day's ride. The faint buzzing in her head persisted even as her eyelids began to droop. She felt drained, too tired even to lift her head, and the rhythmic swaying of the horse beneath them lulled her even further.

It had been days since they had departed her village, and she had been largely successful in avoiding dwelling too much on what she had left behind. Times like these, though, it became difficult to find distractions, with her surroundings too dark to offer much of a view and her body too tired to summon the energy to do anything beyond thinking.

Inevitably her thoughts drifted back to her village. To her mother and brother and grandfather. To Kaede. She was all too well aware that it might be years before she could go back to see them. And yet, even knowing this, some small, guilty part of her was glad to get away. Some part of her had always wanted to go away, to simply find someplace else.

Strangely enough, though, another part of her had wanted them to tell her to stay. It did not make any sense. She knew that well enough and had chastised herself from time to time for the insensibility of it. Still, the feeling remained. In her heart, she had wanted them to ask her to simply stay with them.

But they had not. They had let her go.

She frowned to herself, eyelids drooping as she slipped slowly into unconsciousness. The persistent buzzing in the back of her head at last resolved itself into something intelligible.

"Kagome! Kagome!"

She thought perhaps Miroku might be calling her. She was too tired to care.

"Kagome! Can you hear me? Kagome!"

The voice calling her name had not ceased, but it was such a soft, distant sound that it was easy to disregard.

She stood over the prone body of the woman who had been her mentor, feeling strangely detached. Kaede would never talk or move or smile again. She was gone.

Inuyasha had left the hut in order to give her some space. She needed to prepare the body before she could commence with the ceremony of the final rites.

Now that she was alone, though, she could not seem to do anything besides stare blankly down into the face of the dead woman. She could not will herself to move.

Abruptly she felt anger begin to well up in her, warming her all through. She bit down on her lip, surprised at the feeling and unable to hold it back.

Kaede had lied to her. Time and time again she had lied to her. She had saddled her with a burden that she would likely have to carry for the rest of her life, all because she was too selfish to take responsibility for it. It was hard to believe that the woman had ever loved her at all. She had merely used her because she was convenient.

Looking down into the woman's face, Kagome felt certain for a moment that she hated her. The feeling rose like bile in her throat and she feared she might choke on it.

"Kagome!"

The voice seemed to be growing louder. She ignored it.

"How poorly you have been used, Kagome."

Kagome blinked slowly, realizing that her eyes were open. Her thoughts swirled sluggishly in her head, thick and slow like muddied waters, and it took her several moments to register that a pair of eyes were gazing up into her own.

The face was small and solemn, heavy-lidded violet eyes peering up into her own. It was a…baby, she realized slowly. It lay cradled in the crook of one of her arms.

"You must be angry, Kagome. You have worked so hard and they have all betrayed you. Are you not angry, Kagome?"

Betrayed. Angry. The words echoed strangely in her head, and heat prickled along the back of her neck. Her face warmed and she could feel herself tensing.

"It is alright, Kagome. Let the anger come. Do not fight it. No one could condemn you for it, not after how they have all treated you. It is only natural. Embrace it."

She could feel her face heating further, and there was something almost comforting about the burning sensation she could feel growing in her chest. They had wronged her. All of them had wronged her, and she was tired of struggling and feeling frightened all the time. At least this warmth, this burning feeling, felt certain.

"Kagome!"

She blinked slowly. It was that voice again. The one that had been calling her before. It seemed to be getting louder again.

"Kagome," the baby spoke, recalling her attention. "They deserve your anger-your hatred. You cared so much for them, and look how quickly they have forgotten you."

She could still see the baby's face, its eyes peering up into her own, but suddenly there was something else, as well. She could see the camp. Miroku and Sango and Shippou. Haru and Kohaku. Tomiko and Noriko and the rest of the Tachibana guard.

They carried on as they always had. Chatting, eating, laughing on occasion. Even Miroku and Sango seemed to have set aside their issues for the moment, sitting next to each other around the fire with Shippou between them. No one even seemed to be aware…

"That you are not there?" the baby finished, and the vision dissolved abruptly. "After all that you have done for them, they do not even realize that you are not with them. Or perhaps they do. Perhaps they are relieved to be rid of you, relieved that they can finally be done with this mission and return to the capital. Relieved as your village was relieved to see you go. Relieved as Inuyasha was to see you gone from the court, that he might finally marry without having to concern himself over the burden of your feelings."

Inuyasha…

"Kagome! Kagome!"

The voice would not stop calling her. The heat growing inside her suddenly turned to flames, searing her insides. She groaned softly, and the voice calling out to her grew louder. Between the flames and the voice and the baby in her arms calling out to her, she could scarcely think clearly enough to draw breath.

"What is happening? I thought you had her under control."

"There is something else inside her head. It is interfering with my work."

"Naraku-sama is impatient to have her brought to him-"

"You think I do not know that, you mindless puppet? But she will only be a danger to everything Naraku-sama is doing if we bring her all that way before the Shikon has turned. Now if you will be silent long enough for me to-"

"Inuyasha…"

It took several moments for Kagome to realize that the word had come from her lips, but suddenly several things seemed to click into place all at once. The fog in her head lessened and the heat scorching her insides cooled. She realized that she had no idea where she was. That the child cradled in the crook of her arm was a youkai. That her free hand still clutched the mala bead with all the strength she had in her.

That the voice that had been calling to her all this time was his.

"Kagome!"

This time is was the baby calling out to her, and a sweeping wave of fog seemed to roll back in over her mind.

"You are confused, Kagome," the baby crooned, and her vision narrowed until its eyes were the only thing she could see clearly. "I know it is difficult. Difficult to accept how cruel they all have been. But deluding yourself will solve nothing. He is at this very moment in the court, content with his new bride. Only look and see."

As before when she had seen the camp of her companions, the baby was still clearly visible, but another sight was superimposed over it like an image over crystal clear waters. A vision formed.

It was Inuyasha. He was asleep, his expression peaceful and unguarded in a way she had seldom seen before. Contentment, true and deep, was the word that came most strongly to mind as she looked at him.

Beneath a layer blankets, his torso appeared to be bare. He lay on his side, his body curled protectively around…

Kagome's heart froze inside her chest.

It was Kikyou. His body curled closely around Kikyou, the top of her head tucked neatly beneath his chin. Beneath the blankets her skin appeared to be as bare as his, a faint smile edging her lips even in her sleep. One pale hand was pressed closely to his chest.

Kagome could feel the heat growing up once more in the pit of her stomach, prickling along her neck and arms. It overtook the wrenching ache that the sight caused her and she welcomed it.

"You see now? It is as I have said. He was glad to be rid of you. He is happy now, while you suffer still under the burden of your misguided, shameful love for a man that you cannot have. A love that weakens you. A love that has twisted you with jealousy and spite. Love wasted on an uncaring half-breed-"

"No."

The sound was scarcely more than a breath of air escaping her. It was all that she could manage with the force of the anger that was roiling inside her. But the baby's words had sparked something in her.

"It is never wrong to love somebody, my child. At times it might make you feel ugly and strange to yourself. At times it will be frightening in its power. And at times, like now, it will hurt you more deeply than anything else will ever have the power to. But I promise you, my child, that love, if you have the strength to embrace it fully, is the only gift that will ever make this life worth living."

The words, buried beneath the years in her memory, came back to her now. Kaede had spoken them to her, taking her aside after her father's final rites. At the time the words had fallen on deaf ears, her anger and sadness too great to allow her to heed anything else. She remembered now, though.

"It is never wrong to love somebody," she murmured, the words coming more easily.

It was not wrong. It was not shameful. It was not weakness. Whatever the possible consequences of it might be, she loved Inuyasha. He deserved to be loved and she loved him. And it would never be wrong to love someone.

She had been running ever since she was child. It was finally time to stop.

"Kagome! Answer me, Kagome!"

He had never stopped calling for her.

"Inuyasha…" she called weakly in return, her body feeling as heavy as if it had been ages since she had last moved it. "Inuyasha!"

"Stop that, Kagome!" the baby snapped, a note of ire entering its voice for the first time. "You are confused! He is with her in the court! He has forsaken you, they all have forsaken-"

A giant tremor shook the room, cutting the child off. Kagome gasped, her head jerking upward. For the first time she could see beyond the face of the child cradled against her.

They appeared to be in some sort of cave. It was difficult to make out in the gloom that surrounded them, but the musty smell of earth and moss told the story clearly enough. The air around them felt stagnant, and she wondered how deep down they were.

She had little time to think beyond this, though, as another great tremor rocked the chamber. With each jolt Kagome felt her mind clear a little further, feeling returning to her limbs and a thousand questions flooding her mind all in an instant. The voice that had been calling to her persisted, however, more loudly, more desperately, so that it drowned almost everything else in her head out.

"Kagome! I'm coming! Wait for me, Kagome!"

"Inuyasha!" she called, uncertain if he could hear her as she heard him. "Inuyasha! I'm here, Inuyasha!"

"Silence, you fool!" the baby cried as another tremor, more powerful than those before it, shook them and brought a light rain of debris down. "Boy, what is happening?!"

"Someone is attempting to pierce Naraku-sama's barrier," a voice answered colorlessly. "There is no need for concern. Naraku-sama created the barrier with the jyaki of thousands of youkai. Please continue in your mission, Akago-sama-"

"No need for concern?" snapped the baby, Akago, cutting the speaker short. "Mindless tool of a boy! Someone has managed to find her after all that effort was put in to take her in secret! I need more time! She is putting up more resistance than I had anticipated-"

Another thin layer of earth fell down about them as a blow rocked the room, cutting Akago short. The small child scowled, the expression incongruent with his tiny features. He waved a small hand, presumably in the direction of the other person in the room that Kagome could not make out through the darkness.

"What are you waiting for?" he said. "Go see to the problem now, or else I will lay all the blame on you when Naraku-sama's planning all comes to nothing!"

"There is no need for concern," the voice repeated with equal monotony. "If it is a youkai, the barrier will soon consume its youki to fortify itself. It will be dead shortly. Please focus on your task, Akago-sama. Naraku-sama is already impatient-"

"Silence, impudent boy," Akago snarled, violet eyes narrowed. "That I must rely on such a pathetic dog to guard me-"

This time it was not a tremor that cut his words short, but Kagome herself. She shifted, jostling the child where he was cradled in the crook of her arm. The words of the figure that she could not see had sparked something inside her mind, and she knew suddenly that she had to move.

"Kagome, what are you doing?" Akago said, its tone sliding smoothly down into something low and soothing. "Come, calm down. You need not move. If there is anything that you wish to see, I will show it to. I will show you the truth, as no one has before-"

"No," Kagome gasped, feeling her muscles begin to relax once more as if of their own will. "No more. No more."

She understood now that, strange as it seemed, the child was somehow manipulating her. It had shown her her own memories and some visions of the world, all of them distorted and dark. It was trying to get at something inside of her…

She had never encountered a youkai with abilities like it before, but she did not have time to consider it at the moment. The voice that called to her was growing more frantic, but also weaker. She had to move now.

It took some effort, but she managed to force her limbs to set the child aside. Though she knew it meant her ill, she could not bring herself to do it any harm as long as it wore such an innocent form. Nor did it seem capable of much beyond whatever it had been attempting to do to her mind, as it could do no more than cry out to her as she set it aside.

The effort it took to force herself to her feet was even greater, all her limbs crying out in simultaneous protest. They were as weak and knotted as if it had been weeks since last she had moved them, and she stumbled several times before she could steady herself.

Kagome had only managed a few blind, tottering steps before something emerged out of the darkness to block her path.

It was Kohaku.

She choked on a cry, stumbling back a step and nearly falling. The memory of him standing stone-faced behind her, the cool metal of his chain wrapped about her throat, returned to her with the force of a blow.

"K-Kohaku-kun," she breathed.

"Please return to Akago-sama," he spoke. "He is not yet finished speaking with you."

There was not the vaguest hint of a threat in his voice, but her eyes darted instinctively to the kusari-gama in his hands. Chills crawled across her skin.

"Kagome! Answer me, Kagome!"

Kagome blinked, uncertain this time if the voice had been only in her head.

"Inuyasha!" she screamed, as loudly as she could manage. "Inuyasha!"

The mountain rocked so hard that Kagome was afraid it might collapse around them. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kohaku stumble, dodging out of the path of a large fragment of earth and falling rock.

Kagome was off in a flash, the darkness of the cave and the stiffness of her muscles be damned.

"…the barrier will consume its youki. It will soon be dead."

The words pounded in time with her own pulse in her ears as she ran, nearly blind and groping her way through the darkness. They were enough to chill even the surge of joy that had momentarily filled her at her other realization.

Inuyasha was there. Inuyasha had come for her.

If she did not get to him soon, though, it would all be for nothing.

She had no idea how to find her way out. For all she knew she was merely winding her way more deeply into the mountain. The sounds of the strange baby crying out behind her and the echo of footsteps following her down the tunnel kept her from summoning enough energy to form a light.

She gasped, biting her tongue to keep from crying out as she smacked hard into something solid. A wall of earth, and a bit of blind groping told her that it was the point where the cave forked in two different directions.

Kagome hesitated, her mind racing. She could hear Kohaku's footsteps growing louder every moment. If he caught her he would bring her back to that youkai that wore a child's face, and she was not at all certain that she had the strength to resist it a second time. And Inuyasha, the fate that would befall him…

Her hands clenched more tightly at her sides. She blinked, surprised at the feel of something solid against the flesh of her left palm. She had been clutching it the entire time without realizing it. Her hand felt stiff from having been curled around it for so long.

The bead, she realized suddenly. She had managed to keep hold of it all this time.

Closing her eyes, she forced herself to calm down and focus for a moment. She could feel him through their link. He truly was nearby, and she could feel their bond stretching between them like a length of red thread. If she followed its tug, she knew she could find him.

There was no way she could outrun Kohaku, however. The footsteps were almost on her, and even this small amount of exertion had left her in a cold sweat. She clutched the bead more tightly.

He had found his way to her when so much separated them. Surely she could do the same now that they were so close.

Summoning her energy up so quickly that it made her light-headed, Kagome formed a sphere of light in her free hand. She quickly sent it flying down the left-hand tunnel before dashing down the right-hand one. The ball of energy would likely dissipate shortly, but she was willing to take any time that she could buy for herself.

Sure enough she could hear the footsteps grow fainter as Kohaku turned to follow the ball of light. Kagome quickened her pace, the tug of the bond steadying her steps even in the darkness.

Periodically the cave would shake beneath the force of a blow and she could hear Inuyasha call out to her. She did not dare to answer for fear of alerting Kohaku, but she focused all of her energy into the bead in the hopes that he would realize she could hear him.

What troubled her, though, was that she could indeed sense his youki growing weaker as Kohaku had predicted it would. Whatever sort of barrier had been set up to protect the mountain, she was not certain if Inuyasha was capable of breaking it. She needed to get to him quickly.

She reached a point where the tunnel began to narrow rapidly, the walls and ceiling seeming to close in around her all at once. She had to crouch down, moving almost on her hands and knees. It got so narrow at one point that she was not sure if she could physically continue moving forward.

With some twisting and wriggling she managed to force herself through, pushing determinedly forward. The press of walls all around her was beginning to wear on her, though, and the panicked thought occurred to her more than once that she might reach a point that was too tight for her to get out of again.

Still, she had to reach him.

A few more twists ands turns in the course of the tunnel brought a change. The air grew lighter, the musty smell of earth less cloying. Kagome's heart leapt in her chest.

It was fresh air. She had to be close.

Redoubling her efforts, she found the opening in just a few moments. The daylight that flooded into the cave through it was almost too bright to bear, but after a few moments her eyes adjusted enough to see that the opening led out onto a ledge. It appeared that she was some ways up the mountain. Now all she had to do was find Inuyasha. She called out to him.

Halfway the sound turned into a scream, a hand clamping down around her ankle. She was tugged back from the ledge and the light, pinned down with a strength greater than her own. Wide-eyed she looked up into the vacant face of Kohaku.

"You need to go back to Akago-sama," he said. "Akago-sama only wishes to help you."

"We both know that's not true," Kagome replied through lips gone numb. "I won't go back there."

He said nothing, but one of the hands holding her down shifted and she found the cool metal of the kusari-gama pressed against her throat. Her flesh turned to ice.

"No," she breathed, shaking her head. "No, Kohaku-kun. Kohaku-kun. You don't want to do this. I-I know you don't. Think of your father. Think of Sango. If she saw this…if she saw you doing this, it would crush her. She loves you, Kohaku-kun. So, please, just stop now. Just stop this now and we can both go back to her, alright?"

Kohaku blinked. Kagome felt the press of the chain against her throat lessen for a moment. Something, the briefest flash of something, moved across his face.

"Ane-ue…" he murmured, as if he could not quite recall what the word meant.

"Yes," Kagome pressed, nodding encouragingly. "Yes, Sango. Your sister. Surely you haven't forgotten her, forgotten how much she cares for you. And your father, too. We all care about you, Kohaku-kun. All of us. So let's just go, alright? We'll get away from here and never come back."

Tentatively, afraid that any sudden movement might break the spell, Kagome reached a hand up. She pressed her fingertips lightly against his cheek, allowing her eyes to slide shut.

She could feel it. The same thing she had sensed in that little boy in court. The spider was inside Kohaku, as well, but larger. It did not feed off of the weak light that was his spiritual energy, but held it fast within the cage of its eight legs. Her instinct had been right. Kohaku was being controlled.

And if he was being controlled, then she could save him.

She stretched out her spiritual senses, reaching for the spider. Likely she would overextend herself again if she tried to force it out, but she could not simply leave Kohaku like this. She had to bring him back to Sango and the rest of his family.

Just as the blue glow of her own energy was about to reach the spider, it jerked away. Kagome's eyes snapped open.

It was not only the spider that had recoiled from her. Kohaku himself had leapt up and away from her. The eyes that looked out at her now were blank once more.

"Kohaku-kun!" she called out, scrambling to her feet.

He backed away from her down the tunnel, kusari-gama raised as if to ward her off. Kagome moved to follow him.

"Kagome!"

The call startled her and she whirled around. It had come from outside the tunnel and suddenly she recalled what she had been doing only moments before. Kagome hesitated, torn between chasing after Kohaku and running to Inuyasha's side.

"Kagome!"

The cry settled the matter for her in an instant. A glance back revealed that Kohaku had already disappeared back into the depths of the mountain, and with a twinge Kagome darted forward out into the light.

"Inuyasha! Inuyasha!"

She could not see the hanyou, but even just being able to call his name aloud was something of a relief. She clutched the bead, hoping that the tug of their bond would lead her to him.

It drew her eyes downward, and for a moment everything stopped.

He was there at the foot of the mountain. Tessaiga was transformed at his side, the tip buried in the ground beside him as he used it to support his weight. Even from a distance he looked exhausted and disheveled, but the joy surging through Kagome at the sight of him was so great she feared her heart might burst with it.

He raised his head. Their eyes met. What followed happened so rapidly that Kagome scarcely understood it afterwards.

Her body was slipping and scrabbling down the mountain slope before she had even thought to move. Inuyasha was pulling his sword from the earth, rushing headlong back towards the barrier that was rife with jyaki that she could feel pulsing sickeningly all about the mountain. By the time she had reached the foot of the slope, he was there, too, with his blade poised.

As if with one mind they moved, her hand reaching up to press against the barrier of youki at the same moment that his sword swung down in a mighty arc against it. And then the world had exploded.

Her spiritual energy, his youki, and the jyaki of the barrier collided in a flash of light and a thunder of sound. And despite the fact that every blow before had failed to move it, despite the fact that they were both hovering close to exhaustion already, the barrier gave way like so much dust between them.

In a moment his arms were around her and hers around him. The force of their bond pulsed between them like a shared heartbeat, and Kagome's ears were filled with the sound of his voice repeating her name over and over and over again. She could not gather enough of her wits to form words to reply.

She knew with a certainty that went beyond thought that she would never leave him behind again.

She felt him tense against her.

"What-?"

"Them," he snarled.

Kagome turned, spotting Kohaku emerging out onto a ledge high up on the mountain. It was difficult to tell, but he seemed to be carrying the baby in his arms. Inuyasha jerked forward as if to go after them, but Kagome held him fast.

"No!" she said. "One of them is Sango's brother. Just let me try to talk to him-"

But even as she spoke a massive swarm of saimyōshō appeared seemingly out of nowhere, descending upon the pair. They were lifted up and ascended rapidly into the air, the swarm fading out of sight almost as quickly as it had appeared. Kagome broke away from the hanyou's embrace, reaching out a hand as she stumbled a few steps back towards the mountain.

"Kohaku-kun! Wait! Kohaku-"

She had taken no more than three steps before she collapsed, all of her muscles going limp simultaneously. Her vision swam and her head felt light. It had not felt like much in the rush of the moment, but she had expended a massive amount of energy in breaking the barrier.

She was not afraid, though. She could feel his arms go around her as she fell, and she knew that whatever might come she was safe. Through the embrace she could feel him trembling slightly, a mixture of his own exhaustion and something else entirely, and she reached up with what strength she had left to twine her arms about him in return.

Her vision was blurring as her eyes found his face at last, but she would have known those eyes anywhere.

"Inuyasha," she said, the sound escaping her as little more than a rasp. "Inuyasha…Inuyasha, Inuyasha, Inuyasha…"

She could not seem to manage anything beyond that. If she never said another word in her life save his name, she thought she might be the happiest woman in the world. He scoffed, the sound lacking any edge, and pushed back the hair that had fallen across her face.

"Hey, Kagome," he said lowly, a tremor hiding just beneath the words.

She smiled.

It was dark and she couldn't move. Panic seized her, aching muscles jerking as she struggled to move.

The baby still held her fast in the darkness of the cave. Kohaku lurked nearby, eyes empty and kusari-gama in hand. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks as she realized that Inuyasha had been nothing more than a dream. Just another torturous dream in a never-ending stream of them. Surely she would go mad soon. She wanted to scream, but even her throat refused to obey her.

"Open your eyes."

It was that monstrous child again-that thing wearing a child's face. Kagome kept her eyes shut tight, refusing to obey its commands. It was trying to drive her mad. As awful as she felt in that moment, she feared it might soon succeed.

"Kagome, open your eyes," it ordered again.

She jerked harder, struggling desperately, but it held her fast. She would never get away.

"Oi, Kagome!"

She froze. A hand moved across her face, swiping at her cheeks. Hardly daring to breathe, she opened her eyes.

Inuyasha was there.

"You were having a bad dream," he said quietly, moving his hand away slowly.

"...Everything feels like a bad dream," she murmured. "And I'm terrified that I'm still asleep."

He simply looked at her for a long moment, his eyes following the contours of her face.

"…yeah."

She wanted to reach for him and realized that she truly could not move her limbs.

"Inuyasha, I can't move."

"Oh."

It was difficult to tell-it was only slightly lighter out with her eyes open than it had been with them closed-but his face was close enough that she could almost make out a faint flush coloring it. He shifted, tugging at something until her arms came free.

She flushed herself as she realized her position. He had situated her firmly between his legs, her back resting partly against his chest as she craned to look at him. The white of his kosode was visible and she realized that it was his karaginu, tucked far too tightly about her, that had been restricting her movements.

His eyes met hers through the darkness as he finished loosening the garment around her shoulders.

"You passed out," he said after a moment.

Something in his look, in the care with which he seemed to choose the words, told her that there was much more that he wanted to say. But he said nothing.

For that she was grateful. She did not want to think about any of it at the moment. Part of her was still afraid that this was just another dream. That she would wake up back in that mountain again. Or perhaps that she would never wake up again at all.

She suppressed a shudder, turning to lean fully back against Inuyasha. As if he could sense the tide of her thoughts, his arms came up around her like a barrier.

"You did not light a fire," Kagome said, needing to distract herself. A part of her just wanted to hear his voice.

"Yeah," he said. "I didn't want to draw attention. They might be…There might be youkai out in the woods."

They might still be out there, Kagome supplied where he had trailed off. Silently she was grateful for this caution on his part. He was obviously no more eager than she was to encounter them again. They were both still weak after all that had happened and this time they might not-

"Aren't you cold?" she asked, unwilling to entertain that line of thought.

"Keh," he scoffed, and the familiar sound sent a thrill of warmth coursing through her. "Hanyou don't get cold. Worry about yourself."

As if to emphasize the point, he reached down to tuck the karaginu up closer to her chin. It smelled of him, and Kagome breathed deeply. A little bit of the chill seemed to go out of her limbs.

"Thank you," she said softly. Even as she spoke them, she knew the words went beyond the karaginu.

He seemed to know it, too. He shook his head.

"No," he said lowly. "Don't thank me for this, Kagome. You were almost-"

"I'm in love with you."

The words slipped from her with an ease she would never have thought possible. It was strange. She had not meant to say them. She had not even been vaguely entertaining the notion of saying them.

But they were out now, and she found a strange sense of peace settling over her. The last of the bone-deep chill in her limbs was gone. For the first time in a long time, she felt certain. Certain that she needed to say these words and certain that he needed to hear them. Dark and awful as it had been, Kagome finally understood.

It is never wrong to love somebody.

She felt him go rigid behind her.

"Please don't misunderstand. I don't expect anything from you. I just wanted to say it, to make it clear," she continued. "I love you, and I am done running away from that. It's not a bad thing. It's not something I should be ashamed of or try to hide."

"I realize that now, and I will never try to deny it again. I love you, and I'll likely continue feeling this way until the day I die. And that's fine. More than fine, really. I do not need anything more. I just want to be able to be at your side and to support you for as long as I can. If I can just have that..."

She paused, shifting in his arms to look at him. He looked frozen, so deeply stunned that he did not even blink. His eyes were huge as he met her gaze. She found herself smiling.

"I love you, Inuyasha," she said, the weight in her chest lightening a bit more with each repetition of the words. "And I want to be at your side for the rest of my life, come what may. I hope that's alright with you."

For long moments he simply stared at her, and she could feel tremors that had nothing to do with exhaustion moving through the frame that felt so solid against her back. And then something seemed to snap, his entire body clenching as his eyes slid shut.

"Kagome."

The word sounded as if it had been torn from him, small and hoarse.

All at once his arms went tight around her, pressing her close to his chest. She could feel the warmth of his face against her hair, and his hands shook where they clasped her to him.

"Kagome…Kagome…"

He chanted her name as harshly as if he wanted to force it out of himself forever. As lowly as if it were the most precious word he had ever learned. Warm wetness seeped through her hair where his face was pressed.

Kagome brought her arms up slowly, wrapping them about him. She sighed at the warmth that flowed through her, her eyes sliding closed. She felt certain that this moment could have made up for several lifetimes of suffering.

Perhaps this love would cause her more pain in the time to come, but she knew that she would never regret it again. She would never deny it again.

She loved Inuyasha. Whatever came next, she was no longer afraid.

I hope that was as gratifying to read as it was to write. And once again, my apologies for such a short chapter. I originally meant it to be part of a larger one I had planned out in my head, but I got to a point where I decided I'd rather post something short for you all than wait until December to post a longer chapter.

Also, I made a small (teeny tiny miniscule) reference to Japanese mythology/popular thought in there that I didn't clarify, but that might be obvious as it is often used as a trope in anime/manga. 10 points to anyone who can point it out.

I'll try to get working on the next chapter when I get some free time, but I'm going to withhold any definite estimate of when I'll be posting it. December and the holidays should give me some time to catch up on my writing, though, so I'd guess some time around there.

Anyway, review if you feel so inclined. If not, I hope you at least enjoyed the read.