Kagome stretched her tired muscles as she set foot inside of Sesshoumaru’s castle once more. For once, everything in her life seemed perfect. With an exception of Kikyo, everyone followed them to Sesshoumaru’s castle home. Miroku, Sango and Kirara left to get Shippo and Rin as soon as they learned the location of Sesshoumaru’s castle. Inu Yasha and Sesshoumaru even seemed to be getting along well, with only a few briefly tense moments between the brothers. Kagura and Kouga maintained a safe distance from one another, but neither seemed hostile to the other any more. Sayaka and Kagome hurried up to the room that Kagome used as her quarters when she stayed in the castle before they had met one another. Kagome gladly showed Sayaka the many kimonos that had been sitting in the closet, untouched for quite some time.

Sesshoumaru sighed as he watched the girls marvel over the kimonos. He quietly approached Sayaka and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Those… they were your mother’s… Do with them as you like."

Sayaka spun around, looking up into Sesshoumaru’s eyes apologetically. She stepped back and bowed in front of Sesshoumaru. "I… I never really apologized for attacking you and accusing you of killing my mother… I’m sorry, Sesshoumaru-dono…"

Sesshoumaru’s eyes softened as he pulled Sayaka back up, making her stand. "You don’t have to call me that."

A smile spread over Sayaka’s features as she jumped forward and gave Sesshoumaru a quick hug. "Arigato, Sesshoumaru-sama…"

Kagome quietly watched as Sayaka walked away with Sesshoumaru, explaining her past and how her father had told her of Sesshoumaru’s evil ways. She couldn’t help but to feel envious of Sayaka’s sudden hold on Sesshoumaru’s attention. In her silent anger, she failed to notice as Inu Yasha approached her. "Kagome, are you feeling well?"

Kagome nearly jumped with surprise as she heard Inu Yasha’s voice. She shrugged as he placed his hand on her forehead, checking her temperature. He shook his head as he removed his hand. "I guess you don’t have a fever…"

Kagome shook her head as she lightly touched her neck, which was still bandaged by the cloth from Miroku’s kimono. "I should probably replace the bandage on this…"

Inu Yasha watched quietly as Kagome slowly unwrapped the cloth from her neck. It seemed amazing to him that she, a human, had been able to withstand such a violent attack. Even more amazing was that she bore no grudge whatsoever against Sesshoumaru for having done that to her. Then again, Inu Yasha considered that Sesshoumaru had somehow managed not to damage any of the vital blood vessels in her neck when he was holding her as he had. That action alone took an amount of skill that only Sesshoumaru could have possessed in the situation.

Kagome let out a long sigh as she approached one of the cabinets that she had used when she had been in that room before. She knelt down and withdrew a box of large bandages that she had left there, in the event that someone would have been injured—after all, she couldn’t just take everything with her when she left, could she? She sprayed a little antiseptic on her wound and then placed several of the bandages over her neck. She yawned as she noticed that Inu Yasha was still standing in the doorway of the room. "Inu Yasha… if you don’t mind, I’m going to take a bit of a nap, okay?"

Inu Yasha nodded and closed the door behind him, leaving Kagome alone in the room. He turned and headed down the hallway, leaving behind him the dozens of bedrooms that had been left empty for many years. It had been since before his father died that the halls in this castle were bustling and noisy with dozens of inhabitants. When Inu Taisho passed, Inu Yasha and his mother left the castle. Obviously, they weren’t the only ones to leave the stone walls empty and cold.

Inu Yasha stopped when he reached the top of the staircase, staring down into the room below. He recalled when he was young and played with another child, a young girl, at the top of the staircase. She wasn’t supposed to be in the castle, he remembered, she was supposed to live somewhere else. His father allowed the girl and her mother to stay… until… Why did they have to leave?

Inu Yasha shrugged the thought from his mind as he glanced down at the floor below, seeing Kouga and Kagura in deep conversation.

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Kagura watched Kouga’s actions carefully, still somewhat worried that he would try to attack her. She had spent the past several minutes talking to him, trying to persuade him to relax. He had been planning on giving Sesshoumaru quite the lecture about how he thought that Kagome should be taken care—he was beginning to consider otherwise. "I still don’t see what you’re talking about—he had to have had some way of stopping himself."

Kagura slammed her hands down on a nearby table in frustration. "Are you intentionally this ignorant, or were you just born to be ever so stupid?"

The hairs on the back of Kouga’s neck rose—no one insulted him that way and went unpunished. Anger flared in his eyes as he moved closer towards Kagura. "You impudent—"

"Let me explain this to you simply, Kouga." Kagura sighed resignation as she relaxed onto a chair. Kagura looked up into Kouga’s eyes with a sincerity that she had never before dared to use. "We are all—basically—composed of our physical body and our soul. You need your soul to guide your body—it’s basically your mind. What had happened to Sesshoumaru was that when the ‘evil jyaki’ overtook his body, it took the place of his soul. His soul was still there, it was simply unable to function to control his movement. Do you comprehend any of this yet?"

Kouga rolled his eyes, crossed his arms, and leaned on a wall. He coolly looked down at Kagura, seeing her, for the first time, as a woman and not an enemy. She was being sincere, trying to reason with him, not fighting. For once, no one was fighting anyone—all enemies had been destroyed and truces had been created. Kagura wasn’t his enemy any more… she could even be a friend, now. "I… suppose so."

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ -^_^- ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

~ Several hours later ~

"Hey, get up, we have to go somewhere."

Kagome reluctantly opened her eyes to see Sesshoumaru leaning over her. She smiled slyly as she reached up and pulled him down, closer to herself. Her sapphire eyes sparkled as she brushed her hand over his cheek. "Do we have to go anywhere?"

"Now. We have no choice—I’ll explain later."

Kagome nodded as she sat up. For a moment, she had thought that something seemed different about his mannerisms, but she figured that her imagination had been playing tricks on her. She stood and straightened her kimono, making sure that her appearance seemed perfect before she approached the balcony where the man whom she loved stood waiting for her. She smiled as she snaked her arms around his waist. "Sesshou-kun, I’m ready now…"

Strong arms lifted Kagome onto the Taiyokai’s back as he leapt from the balcony to the outer edge of the flower gardens. Kagome looked around to see if any of the others were following—none were. "Sesshou-kun, are we the only ones going? I mean, if someone’s in trouble, shouldn’t we see if anyone else needs to be with us?"

"No one else needs to come… not yet." The Taiyokai seemed to bite his lip as he continued, trying his best not to look back at Kagome.

Kagome shrugged, not ambitious enough to begin asking other questions. She knew when Sesshoumaru didn’t want to answer her and this was one of those times. She casually glanced towards the front gate of the castle, seeing that Sango and Miroku were returning with the two children. As the couple’s gazes met Kagome’s they waved at her as she disappeared into the forest.

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ -^_^- ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

Sayaka sighed as she re-entered the room that Kagome had led her to earlier. Suddenly all of her hours without sleep began to catch up with her. Talking with Sesshoumaru for the entire afternoon had been interesting, but covering the entire castle grounds while doing so happened to be tiring. Sayaka looked down, seeing that the futon seemed to have been slept on—and recently. A light sniff told her that Kagome had been sleeping in the room, though there was a definite presence of a yokai other than Sesshoumaru.

A quick glance around the room allowed Sayaka to notice that the balcony door had been left open—it was closed when she had left Kagome. Sayaka narrowed her eyes as her gaze fell upon Kagome’s bow and quiver of arrows. Just as quietly as she had entered, Sayaka left the room, mildly concerned.

As she was doing so, and not watching as she entered the hall, she walked straight into Inu Yasha. The couple blushed at the sudden closeness of one another. Sayaka gently grabbed Inu Yasha’s hand as she glanced back into the empty room. "Where did Kagome-chan go?"

Inu Yasha looked inside the room, confused. "She took a nap in there a few hours ago…"

Sayaka slowly turned back to Inu Yasha. Why was she worrying about Kagome now? She had the perfect chance to speak with Inu Yasha and get to know him even better, but she was suddenly anxious about the whereabouts of her human friend. Suddenly she remembered the other scent she had noticed in the room and that she did not recognize that smell. "Inu Yasha… go in there and tell me if you smell another yokai. The scent seems strange and out of place…"

Intrigued, Inu Yasha stepped into the room, taking in all of the scents within. Kagome, Sayaka, Sesshoumaru, Rin, cherry wood, roses, and a strange yokai. Inu Yasha couldn’t even identify the specie that the yokai was. He let a frustrated growl out from the back of his throat as he exited the room. He motioned for Sayaka to follow as he raced through the hallway and down the stairs.

He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, just as the door opened. Rin and Shippo burst in, ran up the stairs and into Rin’s room. Inu Yasha’s harsh gaze softened as he saw Sango and Miroku. Shortly after they entered the castle doors, Sesshoumaru, followed by Kagura and Kouga entered the room from the hallway on the opposite side of the room.

Sango stared at Sesshoumaru, confused. She pointed at the Taiyokai as she began walking towards him. "Ano… didn’t you just leave with Kagome?"

Sesshoumaru shook his head. He had no idea why the taijiya would have believed that he had left—he just had to ask. "Why do you ask?"

Sango glanced back at Miroku for reassurance. When he nodded and crossed his arms, a grim expression over his features, Sango answered, "We just saw the two of you leave when we came in. Kagome waved at us, but you didn’t really look at us at all. You seemed… preoccupied."

Sesshoumaru’s heart wrenched at the thought that Kagome had left. He glanced back at Kagura and Kouga and then to Sango. "I was walking through the gardens with these two."

Panic washed over Inu Yasha’s face as he stepped forward, nearer to his elder brother. "Kagome’s not in her room… The balcony door was left open."

In disbelief, Sesshoumaru raced up the stairs and into the bedroom where he had last seen Kagome. He stopped as he stepped in the room, seeing that Inu Yasha’s words were true, Kagome was gone and the door had been left open. As he caught his breath, he noticed the same scent that Inu Yasha and Sayaka had noticed—the smell of a yokai that didn’t live there. Something was wrong, terribly, terribly wrong.

As Sesshoumaru turned around, he saw Sayaka standing in the doorframe. Her expression was considerably different from any other look he had previously seen on Sayaka’s face—she seemed genuinely sad. "Do you think somebody took Kagome-chan? Someone that looked like you?"

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ -^_^- ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

A.N. Well, the poll has come through, and I seem to have many readers who are very adamant about how Kagome should turn out. I’ll get the actual total of the ‘votes’, but I do have an idea of how everything should work out, so hopefully everyone will be happy.

Thank you, to everyone who voted and reviewed—you’re all great people. (Not to mention that many of you had very valid points about why Kagome should be one way or another.)