Forbidden by NanashiTenshi

Forbidden

This is a rewrite, or at least an edit.  Hope you enjoy. If it’s confusing let me know, it is going to jump around a bit in the beginning.  I thought about making this longer than a one-shot, but fought against it.  I’ve got too many stories in the works anyway as it is.  I just had to get this out of my system.

 I don’ own Inuyasha or any of his buds so don’t ask.  Oh, as will be apparent, this Sess/Kag fic.

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~~~Forbidden~~~

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Kagome sat on her windowsill gazing at the setting sun, fingering the complete jewel that hung from her neck, as it slipped further and further into the horizon.  It signified the end of yet another day, another day without her friends.  Yet another pointless day to add on to her meaningless life. 

She had told herself over and over again that Naraku had been defeated by now.  Without the jewel he was nothing, not even half as strong as Inuyasha, not even a match for Sango.  How could they have not defeated him in battle?  They were such a strong group, each excelling in a different area of combat.  But then again, he was so damn manipulative.  Even in his diminished state he would still have tried something, no doubt covering all his bases.  She knew she couldn’t chance going back, wasn't even sure if the well would accept her.  Somehow or another it felt like going to her death, that no matter the outcome of Naraku, she would die a horrible death on the other side.  There was no telling who was dead on the other side without going, and even if they all were somehow still alive, he could have managed to hide, waiting for her return, waiting to fulfill the images played to her in her dreams.   That, or even worse, she could go back to seeing her friends slaughtered, only to be next in line. 

After what she had done, there was no doubt in her mind, he would do whatever it took to wait for her, wait for his revenge… to take back what he thought was his, even if it meant a fake death like he had done before to lure out Kaguya from beyond the looking glass.  Going back would be her demise.  Knowing that returning meant a slow, agonizing death kept her feet rooted right where they were.  Cowardly, yes, she knew and was ashamed of herself for it.  She was running from her fears, leaving her loved ones behind to face the wrath that was sure to come… all to protect herself.  Who would have expected that kind of selfish, cowardice behavior from her, the one who was always blindly diving into anything regardless of the risk of her life?  No one, no one did, not even her.  She tried to keep telling herself that her life didn’t matter, that theirs were so much more important, that they deserved her help for shattering the jewel in the first place, for returning it to the era in the first place, but she never could jump in that well.  Every time she tried images of the path she was choosing would flash before her eyes, forcing her to turn away.

She was still unsure as to why her future was revealed in her dreams, but she knew to heed their warning.  It may have taken some time to learn what they meant, but…

  Pain settled over her features as the images flashed before her eyes and she was forced to close them shut.  Under the protection of the entire extended group she and Kikyo would still manage to get entrapped by the enemy, tortured beyond anything ever imaginable.  There would no be reviving her with Tenseiga when he was finished with her.

Yes, as peculiar as it sounds, Kikyo had joined the group and was actually pleasant.  It probably wouldn’t have been so bad had she not tried to erect a friendship with her reincarnation. She insisted on being a close friend, and Kagome couldn’t figure out why.  She had got what she wanted.  Why was she trying to be nice?  It was almost as if she were trying to make up for her past attacks on her by being overly nice.  Couldn’t she tell that it pained her to speak to her?  Didn’t she know it was just tormenting her all the more?  Or was that what the tainted miko wanted, just to rub it in her face just a little bit more?

  He had finally chosen, even though he never spoke a word of it, not having the balls to tell her to her face.  That alone had made her angry, but she put out the flame as quickly as it had started.  There was nothing she could do about it.  It was his choice.  He had invited her to join the fight, to travel along with them.  What more was there to say?  Not to mention, as time went on, the obvious attraction the two had to one another.  She really couldn’t deny it.  As much as it pained her to say… they did belong to one another.

She had tried to hate her, hate him for not telling her, for leading her on in such a cruel way that crushed her young innocent heart.  She had tried her hardest to hate them both, especially him, but it was something her pure heart couldn’t muster.  Another thing she hated herself for, seeing the good in all people.  She couldn’t hate them because she pitied them both, both brought down to their knees by an evil, twisted monster.  Tricked to turn on one another and abandon the love they shared.  His only romantic interest in her had been her resemblance to his past love.

In the end, all she wanted was to see him happy.  Apparently, even though she could never be in the flesh again, he was happiest being by her side.  But Kami, did it hurt to see them with one another, holding each other close and staring at each other like loved ones do. 

It’s probably the reason she finally got up off her ass and did something other than need to be protected.   Watching them, although shattering her heart, only served to make her more determined to finish this whole thing.  She just wanted to go home and get away from it all.  It was the reason her powers grew.

Not a single one of her friends noticed the changes that she went through as she trained dawn after dawn, struggling to contain the power that her body housed.  To this day she still couldn’t understand how they didn’t notice the changes her body went through.  I mean, who doesn’t notice when a girl’s brown eyes turn blue, literally?  And what about the blue streaks that now accented her unruly black hair?  Maybe the gods finally took pity on her, but really she didn’t care.  It made keeping a secret oh so much easier so she didn’t question nor complain.  Okay, so maybe she did question, but she sure as hell didn’t complain.

That’s around the time the images began invading her mind. At first she ignored them, thinking them only nightmares, but they persisted.  The images played out into dreams and all foretold the same event, her death by Naraku’s hands.  Inuyasha saving Kikyo, making the choice to leave her to die.  Naraku wins, they all die.  All of them… dead, their bodies mutilated beyond recognition.  They ended up something she couldn’t ignore, something she knew was going to come to pass if she didn’t make the jewel whole again and keep it from his grasp.  She had to end this before they battled him again. 

She opened her eyes and watched as the final strands of the light of day disappeared over the horizon, images of her own death fading with it. 

She hated the way she just left them all, but it was the only way.  There were no letters of goodbye and no explanations given.  It would have been too hard for her and definitely too hard to write on paper that she was a coward.  She wasn’t ready to die just yet… still isn’t, although at times she wished she would.  It would be what they suspected though.  Eventually they would have given up hope of finding her alive and chalked her up for dead, especially when Inuyasha found out the well didn’t work anymore.  He didn’t know she contained enough power to seal it off so he, along with everyone else would assume her gone forever.

She had told them all she was going to take a bath in the hot springs, not at all too unusual for her, but still a lie.  Not telling them everything was one thing, but she had just outright lied.  If she was so pure she shouldn’t have been able to do it.  Granted she did take a bath, but it wasn’t her intended purpose, only done to make herself feel better about betraying them all.  But she had to get away.  No one knew about her increased strength and she wasn’t about to ruin it by calling the rest of the jewel in front of them.  They’d all want to go marching after Naraku, something she herself was never going to do again.

The springs were just far enough off that even Sesshoumaru couldn’t sense the power she would be letting off, well he might sense it but not strongly enough to pinpoint it.  She really didn’t know how powerful he was, or how acute his senses, but she was pretty sure she had chose the perfect place.

Yet another strange addition to the group that hadn’t happened too long before this whole thing with her powers started.  He really wasn’t so bad once you got used to his frigid personality, although, make no mistake, he was still an ass.  He didn’t know, but he was the reason that she discovered her new powers in the first place.  He had come to her with Rin near death with a cold his healers couldn’t heal.  Tenseiga refused to help the little girl again.  She couldn’t deny him his wish, even if he had tried to kill her in the past.  The girl was an innocent, and a pure hearted one at that.  It surprised her really, considering the young child had been in his care for so long.  She had expected the child to have been corrupted somehow.  It made her wonder what he was like behind closed doors, if he was always so cold.  He couldn’t be all bad if he raised a girl like Rin.

She couldn’t believe that he had complied when she asked for him to leave Rin in her care without his presence.  There hadn’t been any need to explain, or any further words spoken.  She had no idea he had put so much faith in her.  What on earth had come over the taiyoukai?  He had lowered himself to ask help from a human, even worse, his ‘brother’s wench’.  He could have chosen any miko within the area.  She knew there were more than just her and also knew that he could get Rin anywhere in a matter of moments so location wasn’t a problem.  He could have chosen a miko without his loud-mouthed brother around, one that actually radiated with some form of power, but he hadn’t.  He had chosen her. 

The question was why her?  It was what had made her so determined to heal the child.  She would show him that his faith was not misplaced.  She would not be the human that proved his statement that they were all worthless.  She would show him her worth.  Why she was so determined to show him she is still unsure.

The little girl looked so vulnerable lying there in the bed, sweat pouring off her tiny frame, soaking her clothes.  It looked like the flu, something that she herself would be over in a week, but was deadly to the people from this time.  No one in this era had built up immunity to it like back home.  A frown touched her face as she gazed down at her.  It wasn’t her time.  This small child was warming the heart of a powerful taiyoukai.  She had to be to still be alive, to have him fighting for her life as he was.  To take her away would only mean more bloodshed. 

She had prayed to the Kami’s that night pleading with them for the little girl’s life.  Perhaps they finally had taken the cotton out of their ears, listened, and approved.  Or maybe this had been just what she needed to figure out how to control her ever growing powers.  She had watched in awe as a pure white light engulfed her hand and extended over Rin’s tiny form.  She had felt just a taste of what she was capable of that night and Sesshoumaru had ended up staying with the group.  They had a common goal after all, although for some reason she thought it had a little to do with her.  He never seemed to look at her the same way after that.

It was almost as if he was trying to figure something out about her that she wasn’t telling anyone, mainly him.  It made her slightly nervous, but when he continuously referred to her as a weak ningen all the time she was certain he couldn’t know of her increased powers.  For some reason he thought she had something else to hide… well she did… she hid from him where she was from, but that was on a need to know basis only and he definitely didn’t need to know.

Not even Sesshoumaru sensed her increasing power and this pleased her, so much she had often wondered why, but quickly shook it off.  It meant she didn’t have to worry about him as much as she had originally thought.  She had wondered time and time again what he would say, what they all would say if they could feel the amount of purity that her body contained, the amount of power she housed.   She felt like she could purify the devil himself if he were to show his face in front of her right now.  Really it didn’t make any sense for her to be so pure and pull such a cowardly act, lie to her friends, but she was none the less. 

Calling Naraku’s jewel shards back to her hadn’t proved to be much harder than any of the others she had obtained in the past few months.  It was almost as if it yearned to be pure, yearned to be within her touch once again.  Really, it had made no sense.  She could have sworn she felt the youkai within the jewel purr with contentment every time she purified a new shard.  It was something that was very confusing indeed.  An omnipotent youkai who Midoriko herself couldn’t contain took comfort in a miko’s touch.  It made absolutely no sense, but she gathered the last piece from Naraku anyhow.  The warmth that was her purity had engulfed her body, heightening her connection to the jewel.  Through her mind she called upon the jewel and asked for it to come home.  She had smiled when the last piece of the jewel fluttered into her hand and fused with the rest, the last smile she would ever give.  Her part was over, done.  She was no longer needed anymore.  She had corrected her mistake and now it was time to go home.

She had been smart enough not only to make sure camp was far off from the springs, but to also make sure the camp would not be between her and the way to the well.  Not that it was going to be a problem, she had learned a new trick.  She had watched Kikyo disappear so many times she knew she had to be able to do it to, and she was right.  At the mere thought of a destination she was there.  It left a cold tingling sensation as the world around her disappeared then reappeared again. They never even knew she had left.  It left a sinking feeling in her stomach as she continued on.  It was a sleazy thing to do.

Quietly, for some reason she was unsure of, she crept to the well she appeared before, taking one last look around before she slipped down the well, never to come back.  For some reason she felt like someone had been watching her, but she had noticed too late.  She was glad she had missed them, whoever they were. 

In her mind she wished she could ease the pain this would cause, the suffering she would cause among her friends.  No one deserved to be abandoned like she was abandoning them.  She almost wished they would forget all about her.  Tears streamed her face and the guilt settled in her heart as the blue magic of the well engulfed her for the last time to take her home.  It’s funny, now that she thought about it, it kinda felt like her magic as it wrapped around her.

A single tear slipped down her cheek as she stared out at the now night sky.  She could only imagine the effects her departure had on her friends.  Poor Shippou.  She had come to see him like a mother sees her son and she had left him to fend for himself.  It wasn’t bad enough he had lost both his parents, but now he had lost his adoptive mother too.  She was such a bad, bad person.

What kind of person abandons their friends in favor of their own life? 

A selfish one.

Then how did she remain so pure? 

Perhaps it was meant to be.

But why would the fates fill her heart with such love only to rip it to shreds when it forced her to leave? 

But they didn’t force her, and that was the whole reason she felt bad.  They merely showed her the outcome of the path she was on and she ran like there was no tomorrow.

Was it supposed to be this way?  Had she done the right thing?  If she had, then she wanted to strangle the person who came up with the saying ‘It is better to love and lost then to never have loved at all.’  He apparently had never loved and then lost someone before.  For to have loved and lost creates the longing that eats at your soul, and it is your soul that saves you from your longing; the longing that delves a deep rift in your heart, and plants an ache that is ever present, a conscious thought that keeps sleep from finding you at night; a shadow.. that haunts you until you feel as if you can't breath anymore, and you want it to just end. It was a pain she wished on no one, but one she was forced to suffer every day.  Each day of her life was spent wishing she could crawl up in some hole and die. 

She had tried before, tried to finish herself off, but the tama wouldn’t allow it.  For some reason that was beyond her though it wouldn’t allow her to make that final slice, nor take those pills, not even when she had tried to hang herself.  Now the stupid thing wouldn’t even let her take it off.  It was like it knew what her intentions were going to be the moment she was no longer within its protective shield.   These things would only happen to her.  Who knew the jewel could become so attached?

Her eyes drifted over the shadowed well house.  It called out to her, begged her to release the seal, begged her to go through it once again, the only thing holding her back being the images that would flash before her eyes the moment she set to do it.  She couldn’t go to her tortured death, wouldn’t do it.  This stupid journey to save the world wasn’t even in the history books, not even a fairy tale.

Her mother had tried to comfort her one night, telling her that it was okay, that everything was going to be okay.  She had told her that the pain would go away eventually, that it wouldn’t last forever.  Kagome begged to differ.

Here she was, about to enter into her second year of college, a year after she left them, and she still felt lower than dirt.  Her friends had noticed her sudden change in demeanor and they all drifted away, unable to take her melancholy moods all the time.  The only one that still talked to her was Ayumi.  For some reason that was beyond her comprehension, she had never given up hope of cheering her friend up.  For that, she was grateful.

For once, Kagome wished it would work.  It had been so long since she smiled, she wondered if her lips even moved that way anymore.

Tomorrow was another day, another day without them, but at least the summer break was over.  Her studies always did seem to take these kinds of things off her mind, although this semester was going to be harder than the last.  As a history major it was a course she was required to take, Feudal Japan, and dreaded taking it.  It would only serve to remind her of the days she was trying to forget. 

Wasn’t it bad enough that she could feel like this on her own?  Did she need her studies to remind her of it too?  She hoped the instructor was a good one, one that could keep her mind from straying into unwanted thoughts.  It was the reason she overloaded herself with work.  Hopefully it would drown out the sound of the memories that constantly tried to overtake her mind.  Sometimes it worked, most of the time it didn’t.

 Ayumi told her that she needed a man in her life, that she needed to get up off her butt and go meet someone.  But what would that solve?  It would only add one more person on the list to ignore her miserable presence.  Really, it was hopeless.

Glancing at her clock she noticed it was time to go to bed.  She gave one last parting glance in the direction of the well, bidding her friends goodnight once again, before she crawled into bed and allowed sleep to claim her tired form.  Not that it was any release.  She was tormented with what she had done no matter the state of consciousness.

This is how it has been for the past year, mind drifting throughout her thoughts, no regards to the passing time.  Much of her days wasted to her thoughts.  Thoughts of death by her own hands fleeting through her mind.  So strange for someone to be so terrified of her own death, but welcome it at the same time.

~*~

Sesshoumaru sat at his desk deep in thought.  It couldn’t be the same person he had in mind.  It had to be someone else.  It wouldn’t make any sense otherwise.  Though in all the years he had lived he had never met another with her name, but it was still unfathomable.  She had been a mortal miko, five hundred years ago, who had managed to escape the grasps of all, even him.  Yes, she disappeared one day with what he knew was a complete jewel, but that still didn’t explain what she was doing in his class.  There was no such thing as a five hundred year old miko taking college courses, a history course at that.

He growled at himself for even remembering who the stupid human was.  He was allowing her way too much thought.  All this time and he still couldn’t get her mystical disappearance off his mind.   Well, at least that’s what he blamed his constant thoughts of her on now.

She must not have known he had decided to take a run, patrolling the area for any potential threats.  It’s not like he had been intentionally snooping.  He would never lower himself to peep in on ningen affairs, however strange she had been acting as of late.  She was so forlorn, so detached from the ones she loved, so submissive.  It just wasn’t like her.  He would never admit to a soul that he was only doing what the half-breed should have to protect the girl or that he even cared at all about her well being.  Something was different about her and he was determined to find out exactly what it was.

A sudden flash in holy power surrounded the area, nearly pounding him to the ground, dulling his youkai strength and senses into oblivion.  Whatever it was was immensely strong, lasting only but for only a moment.

Masking his scent he followed the source of power.  He needed to know what this creature was, what sort of threat it posed.  Whatever it was, it was a formidable opponent, even for him, an enemy to any youkai.  If this creature had the power to affect him, he could only imagine what it would do to creatures of lesser stature.  When his eyes settled on her form standing next to the springs with the complete Shikon-no-tama they widened in disbelief.  There was no way that it was Inuyasha’s miko letting off that sort of power.  He wouldn’t believe it, refused to.  There was no way that she could have kept such a power locked away so not even he would notice.  There had never been a creature in all his life that could deceive him like that.

How had she managed to get the jewel away from the dark hanyou?  There was no sweat on her brow, her breathing relaxed, though her scent was laced with sorrow she hadn’t fought in a battle.  If he hadn’t seen it before his very eyes he would have said it impossible.  Not even their entire group had managed to defeat the regenerating fiend, let alone get a shard from his grasp unless he desired it so.  Even then there was always some ulterior motive.  They had barely made it out with their lives when they all fought against him.  How had she managed to escape without a scratch?  More so, if her journey was complete, the task at hand finished, why was her aura radiating such sorrow?  A sorrow only released when experiencing a great loss?

This human seemed to only serve to confuse him, defying every preconceived notion of the human race that plagued the lands.  She stood fearless in the face of danger regardless of her strength, saw the good in all who approached her without regards to past betrayals, gave her love and care so easily, forgave all who would ask for forgiveness, yet she cried in what should be the happiest moment of her life. 

Finished with quizzing himself he had stepped out of the shadows, fed up with her plaguing his mind.  It had been that way since the first day they had met and he was determined to figure out the reason behind it.

A growl was suppressed the moment she vanished into thin air, her form dissolving in front of his very eyes.  The moonlight danced off the trail of tears left to fall to the ground in her body’s absence.  Wherever she was headed, which was obviously not back to camp, she was leaving for good.  There would be no other reason to be so treacherous in her plan. 

He had quickly made his way back to the strange group he now considered his pack, although he would not hesitate to kill anyone who decided to voice that out loud.  They would want to know of her disappearance and the completion of the jewel.

He was not expecting the reaction he received.  None of them had known who she was and all stared at him like he had grown a second head, which infuriated him.  They were all acting like he had lost his mind.  They seemed to remember the evil hanyou, but nothing of the miko, or the jewel.  Even the dead miko, who had died with the jewel in her body, had no idea what he was talking about.  It was beyond infuriating.  He wanted to shake some sense into every one of their feeble minded forms, even Rin.  Even she had seemed to forget all about her idol, her hero.

He was left with no answers, only questions.  The final battle with the disgrace to all youkai hadn’t gone as planned either.  The first thing out of his lips was her name, the question to her whereabouts and the jewel, the last words he ever spoke. 

He had turned on his “brother” for ending the fight so hastily.  The last being on the earth that remembered everything he did and Inuyasha had quickly turned him to dust.  Needless to say the hanyou didn’t leave the battle unscathed, either of them.  It just happens to be one was by his hands, the other by Inuyasha’s.

Rin had been the one brave enough to pull him off, to keep him from beating him to death with only his fist.  The moment she touched his arm he took off.

The girl and the jewel’s power disappeared from the face of the earth, never to be seen again, wiped from everyone’s minds.  Except for his, why?  Why would he be the only one to remember the events?

It was a question that had plagued him ever since.  It made him yearn for the day to come to perhaps see her once again.  The slim hope to finding the answer was so easy to get hooked on.

If it was her, he knew exactly how he was going to get the answer out of her.  She was taking his class.  He was known to be a very intimidating professor with all the papers he assigned.  A smile graced his lips.  Yes, tomorrow was going to be very interesting indeed.

~*~

Kagome groaned as her alarm clock screamed for her to get up.  She didn’t want to open her eyes just yet.  Didn’t want to face the reality of the torment she was living.  Couldn’t she just sleep for the rest of eternity?  Not that it made her feel any better just to see the images replayed in her dreams.  But damn, this was just too early.  Why did that stupid history class have to be so early?  Why did they have to make all of them so damn early?

Footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs and she pulled the covers over her head to hide.  She really didn’t want to get up and face the world yet, but her mother was going to make sure she was up regardless of that fact.  Hell, if it hadn’t been for her in the first place, she would have never left the bed, never gone on with her life.  Not that it did any good.

“Kagome?”  Mrs. Higurashi asked as she poked her head into Kagome’s door.  She frowned, noticing she was still in the bed, hiding.  “Sweetie, it’s time to get up.  I know you’re awake.”  She sighed when her daughter didn’t move. 

A year, a year and she was still miserable.  She wished she could do something to ease her pain, anything.  It was horrible to see her one and only daughter like this with nothing she could do to help or ease the pain.  It wasn’t even this bad when her father died.  She was so worried.  It wasn’t normal to hang on to things like this. 

Then again, she really didn’t know what had happened.  She refused to speak to anyone about it.  It scared her.  There was no telling what could have happened on the other side of that well, five hundred years in the past.

Kagome moaned and threw the covers over her head.  Resistance was futile.  If her mother knew she was up there was no turning back now, she had to get on with her day.  "I’m up, I’m up!”  She grumbled as she rolled out of bed.  “I promise I’ll be down in a minute.”

Mrs. Higurashi forced a smile for her daughter’s sake.  It was so hard smiling when she knew her daughter’s heart and spirit were breaking inside.  “Breakfast will be ready for you when you’re done sweetie.  Don’t take too long or you won’t have time to eat.”

Kagome sighed as she watched her mother leave.  She wished she could smile, if only for her, but that was never going to happen.  Dragging herself through her morning routine she soon found herself in the kitchen pouring herself a cup of coffee.  There would be no hope of waking up if she didn’t have a cup.

Five seconds later her brother came flying down the stairs, grabbing his lunch, breakfast, and back pack all in one sweep and then flying out the front door.  “Morning, gotta go, love you, bye!”

It was strange for him to be so lively this early in the morning, but there was no doubt in her mind as to why.  Her name was Kira.  With sparkling pink eyes, killer body, and blonde waist-length hair she was every man’s dream.  It did however bother her that the girl in question was in fact a neko youkai.  She had a great concealing spell, but she was still a feline, a species of youkai where her encounters weren’t all too pleasant most of the time.

This hadn’t been the first youkai she had crossed paths with since her return from the past.  No, the first experience had been horrible.  It nearly brought her down to tears with pain, not from they youkai touching her, but from the painful memories it brought back to the surface of her mind. 

Not long after her first encounter she realized that while she could feel them, they could not sense her, that, or were ignoring her.  She didn’t understand why no one sensed her powers or the jewel, but to tell you the truth, she really didn’t care anymore.  She only carried the stupid jewel around on her neck now because it was stuck on.  Stupid thing wouldn’t come off.

Mrs. Higurashi snapped her out of her thoughts.  “Kagome, it is nearly 7:30.  Don’t you think you should be getting ready to go?”

Kagome snapped her head to attention and feigned a small smile of thanks, finishing up her breakfast before gathering her things and heading out the door. 

She slung her new black back pack over her shoulders and hopped on her bike.  The college was only twenty minutes on bike.  Plus it was basically the only activity she had in a day.  Even if she had a car, she’d never take it. 

Every other person she passed on the way to the college was either a youkai with the rare hanyou.  It was surprising really how many of them there were considering her and Inuyasha couldn’t sense any of them before.  It only proved how much her power had increased and how useless Inuyasha’s nose was in this time.  Apparently his nose couldn’t smell through the concealing spells.

Although, little good her increased strength did in a place where it wasn’t needed.  What was the point of containing such strength if there was no use for it?  It sounded sort of perverse, but she almost hoped for one of the youkai passing her by on the street to attack her so she could purify their ass to the ground.  Maybe then she would feel a little better, like she had chosen the right path.  But there was no need for that since no youkai ever looked her way and it would be wrong to attack them for no reason.

Humans were oblivious to the existence of youkai, well except for some considering there were hanyou’s, but the majority of the population were clueless and would probably be scared out of their minds if they found out.  It really was amazing how clueless they were, but then again why would you believe something you once read out of a fantasy?  It was supposed to be just that, someone’s made up dreams.

The problem was, seeing them all, knowing that youkai did in fact survive the times and did not perish, forced her to wonder if it was possible for anyone she knew to have survived.  It was the thought that caused her to fall into this never ending plummet into the bottomless pit of despair.  It gave her hope to see one of her friends, hope that time shattered over and over again, slowly torturing her inside.  Really, she didn’t care who it was, she just wanted to see someone had made it, that they all weren’t killed off by Naraku.

It really wasn’t a selfish desire, to see that someone she once knew had survived the ages, survived the fight against the enemy when she ran like a coward.  Was it so bad that she couldn’t bear to find out that they might have died in a final confrontation and all because she wasn’t there?

Kagome shook her head of her thoughts as she arrived at the school, locking up her bike.  It really wouldn’t do for her to waste her time at school thinking about this stuff.  That’s what school was good for.  Kagome glanced at her watch before heading up the stairs into the designated classroom.  She wasn’t surprised she was the only one there, she was fifteen minutes early on the first day of class.  The professor wasn’t even there yet.

Picking a seat somewhere in the middle she sat there and waited for Ayumi to get there.  The girl was a physics major and taking this class just because she hadn’t wanted to take it alone.  No questions asked.

The moment her head hit the table was the moment she chose her grand, high pitch entrance.  “Kagome-chan!  Good morning!  Isn’t it a beautiful day outside?”

Ayumi ran up to her and gave a small hug before taking the seat beside her.  She was up to something.  Never had Kagome seen her so cheery this early.  Kagome eyed her suspiciously.  “Okay, what’s up?  What’s got you in such a great mood this morning?”

Ayumi’s eyes widened.  “Don’t tell me you haven’t looked at this professor’s picture online!”

Now she was really confused.  “What does his picture have to do with your good mood?”  Then it clicked, but it was too late to stop her.

Ayumi squealed with delight.  “He is absolutely gorgeous!  I can’t wait to see him in person!”

Kagome looked her up and down and nodded her head.  “Yup, that answers my second question as well.  That’s why you’re all dressed up this morning.”

She watched as Ayumi’s eyes drifted to some point behind her, her mouth falling open slightly, and her eyes widening in shock.  Apparently said professor had just walked in the room because Ayumi had now been rendered speechless.  It took one hell of a good looking guy to do that.  She didn’t need to turn around to know that he was youkai, a rather strong one at that, which probably accounted for his looks.  Though the concealing spell could also be the reason.  There was no way any guy could be worth all that drool.

“Ayumi you have to be overreac…”  Deep blue met molten gold and her heart skipped a beat, every part of her mind froze in place, afraid of the next step forward, too excited to take one back.  Of all people to see... it was him.  Even without the magenta stripes and long silver hair she knew it was him.  He had been worth the drool back then too.

An elbow to her gut snapped her out of her daze and she glared at the giggling redhead.  His concealment spell was the best she’d seen yet, which meant he probably wouldn’t want to acknowledge her right now.  That was, of course, if he even remembered who she was.  She was nothing to him, beneath him, not worthy of any remembrance.  It was something he had reminded her every time she made him angry, which was just about every time they spoke.  She wouldn’t make a fool of herself.  She had enough to deal with right now.

Sesshoumaru studied the girl that was the spitting image of the miko.  The recognition was mutual, that was one thing that was for sure.  The problem was the girl seemed to lack any miko powers whatsoever.  If anything he had expected her powers to have increased in strength, especially with the jewel hanging around her neck.

Students filled the room before he could study her any longer without drawing attention.  Clearing his throat as everyone settled down he introduced himself.  “I am Professor Taisho and this is Feudal Japan.”  His eyes scanned over the class and landed on Kagome who was doodling on a notepad,  not even pretending to pay attention.  “This course will require your complete attention at all times so attendance is not an option.  Class starts at 8:30 sharp.  Show up late and get additional homework. Your reading skills will be tested to the maximum along with your ability to retain that information.  Pop quizzes will be given sporadically and account for ten percent of your…”

The rest of the class time was spent continuing explaining the course and the expectations of the course.  Blah, blah, blah.  Kagome didn’t care.  She was still trying to figure out how she was going to deal with Sesshoumaru being her history professor.  Although not paying attention to what he was saying was sure grating on his nerves, which could prove to be amusing.  She was sure she could find several ways to annoy the stoic being, especially if he made this harder than it had to be.

Counting the minutes until the end of class she did everything in her powers to avoid looking up.  She couldn't chance exploding and making herself look like an idiot.  The amount of joy that surged through her body at the thought of being able to hear what happened to her friends, what happened with Naraku, was almost uncontainable.  He would have participated in the fight and would definitely know the outcome.  She had to keep her cool.  If he didn’t remember her he would just think her another silly girl that thought he was cute.  There was no way it would come out coherent if she spoke now.  But she couldn’t get over-excited too soon, he may refuse to tell her anything at all.

Sesshoumaru glanced down at his watch, he still had twenty minutes to kill but was unable to come up with anything other than the first assignment.  His thoughts were a little pre-occupied.  “For Wednesday you need to have read up to page 300 in the assigned text.  Expect a quiz, it will give you a feel for the course and a chance to drop out before it’s too late.”

Ayumi groaned and slammed her head on the desk.  “You better be glad I love you girl.  I really don’t need this in my life right now.”

Kagome feigned a smile.  “Yeah, sorry about that.  I didn’t think he would be this tough.”

He was glad she was one of the last students to leave; it would make it that much easier to get her alone without raising suspicion.  “Miss Higurashi.”  Both their heads snapped back to stare at him with wide eyes.

Her mind was reeling.  She didn’t have her photograph on the web so the only way for him to know her name was to remember her.  She looked up at him expectantly, waiting, unable to speak.

He looked to her friend and then back to her.  “I would like to have a moment of your time.”

Taking the hint she looked back at her stunned friend, pushing her towards the door.  “I’ll be right there, promise.”

Ayumi walked off in a daze.  The most gorgeous professor on campus knew Kagome’s name and wanted to talk to her, alone.  A grin touched her lips.  That girl was going to tell her everything.

~*~

As she approached him he could feel the sorrow that radiated off her small form in waves upon waves, but still no hint of holy power.  Yet, at her neck hung the complete Shikon no Tama, clearly stating her identity.  But then again he couldn’t sense its presence either.  It could be just a piece of costume jewelry the girl thought was cute, unlikely, but still a possibility. 

She still refused to look up at him.  There was still a chance that it could be something else, something that would just shatter her world all over again.  “Is there something I can help you with Professor Taisho?”  She asked meekly, not really knowing what to expect.

As her scent drifted towards him he knew it was her.  No one else's did what hers did to him.  Looking around to make sure they were alone he sat down at a desk.  She would tell him what he desired to know.  “Why can I not sense your miko abilities or the Shikon Jewel?”

Kagome gasped and her gaze fell to Sesshoumaru.  She wanted to cry and laugh all at the same time.  She didn’t know where to begin first.  Answer his questions or start firing her own.  Well, knowing him, she would probably need to answer his questions before hers would even be considered.  Just because he remembered her didn’t mean he suddenly grew a heart.

“I’m unsure.”  She managed to say calmly, shrugging her shoulders as if it didn’t mattered.  “I feel everything around me, but no one can sense me.”  She frowned and tugged at the necklace.  “This thing has decided it likes where it’s at and won’t come off now.”

She wasn’t lying, that much he could tell, but he needed to know more to satisfy this curiosity.  If he had just passed her by on the street he would of thought her human, which she was far from.  He glared at her, his anger for her departure starting to build up the longer she sat there.  Only one word escaped his lips.  Anything else would have come out distorted.  “Why?”

Slowly, she took a seat next to Sesshoumaru.  Again, the waves of sorrow rolled off her body, only this time mixed with guilt.  She sighed and hung her head in shame.  “I left because I was scared.”  His silence only prompted her to continue.  “If I had continued on the path I was on I would have died.  My own tortured death was shown to me so I trained myself until I was able to call back the jewel fragments.  When I completed the jewel I fled with the jewel back to my time, now.”

“You are much stronger than you let on.”  He said, stoic as ever.

She let a true, genuine smirk cross over her lips, challenge written clearly in her eyes.  “If I were to fight you, I would win.”

Sesshoumaru had to restrain himself from pinning her up against the wall and showing her just who the strongest really was, why she ran from the battle.  It would not bode well for his career if a student walked in on him causing bodily harm to another female student.  The hassle of coming up with a new identity to get a new job was the only thing keeping him from ripping the smirk from her face.

She could see the rage he was fighting in his eyes no matter how much he tried to hide it, knowing they would be bleeding red if they were in different circumstances.  She wanted him to lash out at her… was looking forward to it. 

Now having realized what she had found she was delighted.  The only problem was getting him to let go.  Considering who she was dealing with it shouldn’t be a problem. 

He snapped her out of her thoughts when a low growl managed to escape his lips and his infuriation only grew when her smile widened at his response.  There was not an ounce of fear from his threat.  Had this human gone insane?  Did she think he wouldn’t strike her down just because she knew him in the past?

Cocking her head to the side and grinning like a Cheshire cat she decided to play with the fire a little more.  What she wouldn’t give to get burned, to have a reason to fight back.  “Oh what’s the matter fluffy?  Still got that stick shoved too far up your ass and think you’re better than everyone else?”

That one had struck a nerve and now his eyes had begun to bleed.  It was taking everything in his power to keep his youkai side in check.  He knew she was goading him into a fight but for what reason he couldn’t figure out.  Did she have a death wish?  Well two could play this game.  He would not let her goad him into a battle.  “I am definitely better than you deserter.”

This was exactly what she was looking for.  Something inside Kagome snapped and she could feel all the pent up anger and sorrow screaming to get though, racing to get out, setting her body aflame.  A loud growl brought her back to reality and her eyes snapped up to find Sesshoumaru on the far side of the room, using the wall to hold his self up.  She ran to go to his side but stopped as he growled again and doubled over in pain.  She didn’t understand what was going on.  He was her only way to figure out what happened to her friends!

Sesshoumaru couldn’t see straight and decided that pissing her off had been a bad idea.  All she had done was allow her aura to be felt.  The sheer immensity of it alone had brought him to his knees.  Never in his life had he ever met a human as powerful as her. 

As she glanced at herself she was surprised to see the tendrils of power coming off her form.  No wonder her body hid her powers and aura.  If he hadn’t been so strong he would have been purified on the spot.  Smiling at the youkai on the far wall she concentrated on quelling them once again.

He growled as her hand reached out for his.  “You are pressing your luck miko.”  He ground out, standing up quickly.

She snapped her hand back and glared at him.  “Apparently you were the one pressing yours.  I’m not the one who was brought to my knees.”  She would be damned if he thought he could push her around like in the past.

“Do not presume to think that I cannot fight in this condition.”  He growled out.  He could feel her aura receding and stood up, gaze meeting hers.  He couldn’t believe the emotions that shone in this human’s eyes, mixed, fighting the urge to come out and above them all an indescribable amount of pain.

She didn’t know if she could take this anymore.  She needed to know.  Damned if the gods didn’t give her the most difficult person to deal with.  So close and yet so far away that it made her want to scream.  Tears fought to stream out her eyes at the thought of not being able to get anything out of the cold-hearted youkai that stood before her.

Without thinking she threw herself at him, clung on to him for all it was worth, and cried into his chest.  “Please…  I just… want to know… what happened… to them… all.”  She managed to choke out in between sobs.

He didn’t know what to do.  It had been close to four and a half hundred years since he’d allowed anyone to touch his person, no one since Rin, and yet he still couldn’t find the strength in him to deny her this comfort.  He didn’t know what it was about her, something that had him transfixed even five hundred years in the past, but he felt as if it were his responsibility to ease her pain as she had done for so many others.  Perhaps Rin really had made him soft.

Gently he wrapped one of his arms around her tiny waist while using his other to rake through her hair, letting a soothing rumble emit from his chest.  He knew what she wanted.  She wanted to know that even though she ran, left everyone she loved behind, that they all survived.  He smirked into her hair.  He wondered how she would take the fact that no one other than him and Naraku remembered who she was.

She couldn’t believe the great inu-youkai himself was consoling a human, and one that had just snapped at him at that.  She should be dead.  If she wasn’t so sure she had gotten up this morning she would have thought she was dreaming.  As her sobs began to clear she hesitantly looked up to meet his gaze.  The laughter she saw behind them was enough to set her body on fire.

Sensing the change in the miko he chose that moment to speak up.  “I suggest we discuss this in other surroundings.  I would hate someone to discover my little secret after keeping as such for such a long period of time.” 

For some reason that is still unknown to her she couldn’t come up with an excuse not to go.  “I have nothing to do for the rest of the day… except your homework.”  She said, ending in a glare.

A smirk touched his lips as he led her to the door.  “I have reason to believe that quiz is going to be a killer too.  It’s a shame you will be otherwise detained to get a head start on it today.”

“You really are evil, you know that?”  She laughed.

He smirked back at her.  “Good to know I still have the touch.”

~*~

Kagome had never felt so great in her life.  All of her friends had led wonderful lives and Shippou was even alive now, not that he would remember her.  That had hurt a little at first, knowing that no one remembered who she was, but it was all for the best.  It meant she hadn’t hurt anyone with her departure.  She had long ago given up on Inuyasha, so it didn’t hurt to find out that he and Kikyo lived happily ever after, it was expected. 

She had some funny feeling that she was never meant to stay in the past, which was what she would have ended up doing if the dreams hadn’t started.  She could only guess as to why he and Naraku were the only ones to have any memories of her.  There could be no telling the answer to that question with certainty.

Sesshoumaru stared at her as she took in all he told her and he had to say.  She took it rather well.  She was excited to hear that all her friends lived on in her absence and surprisingly happy to hear that they didn’t remember her.  Now that he had a chance to really look at her it was astonishing how much she had really changed.  At the good news of her friends the ever so apparent misery that clouded her eyes had evaporated, leaving crystal blue orbs in its wake.  He was so wrapped up in his thoughts he almost jumped when she chose to speak. 

“Thank you so much Sesshoumaru.  I don’t know what I would have done if you had chose not to tell me about them.”  She said, flashing him a genuine smile.

As if sensing her happiness the clasp for the jewel around her neck came undone, the jewel falling to the ground with a thump.  She looked down at the jewel and then back up to Sesshoumaru with a look of disbelief.

Nothing came from the pink piece of jewel on the floor, not even a whisper of power.  It was as if it were waiting all this time for her to finally obtain peace, not allowing her to suffer in a misery that wasn’t supposed to be, as if some sort of repayment.  She could only wonder how she managed to purify it in the state she was in. 

She said a silent prayer for the souls housed within the jewel, thanking them for watching over her in her time of need, watching it as it faded into nothingness.

“The jewel is no more.”  She whispered, not really believing what she was seeing, her voice asking for reassurance.  It signified the end, the end to everything.

Slowly he wrapped his arm around her shoulders for support, unable to keep himself from her.  There was just something about her that he couldn’t get enough of.  She felt right in his embrace.  His head dipped down to nuzzle her neck.  “Yes, it is gone.”  He whispered.

His breath danced across her neck sending a fire throughout her body and for a moment she wondered if he was doing this on purpose.  She shook the thought from her head and fought the desires that his proximity dealt.  This was Sesshoumaru she was talking about.  Yes, he was a youkai in the body of a god, but that was beside the point.  He still thought himself superior to all and would never lower himself to consort with someone like her.  He was just toying with her, that she was sure of.  She would be damned if she would fall into such a trap and be made a fool for his entertainment.

He didn’t know what unknown force had taken over his body but he could no longer confine his hands to his own person.  They sought her out as if they had a mind of their own, uncaring to the fact that they were directing them down the same path as their father.  But it didn’t matter anymore, the times had changed, he wanted her and no other would do.

Kagome gasped as his wandering hands found a crack in her clothing and grazed across the bare skin of her stomach, igniting her body in an intense rush.  It was a feeling she couldn’t explain, one that Inuyasha had never invoked in her before, one she wanted to experience over and over again.  But still she fought, entirely sure the feelings she was having were wrong.  Her purpose in life was to destroy the likes of him, not date him. 

Sesshoumaru smirked into her neck as he felt her heartbeat pick up and the gasp slip through her lips.  He was grateful that he had suggested doing this somewhere more private. Knowing that his body had been responding to anything but a mere human made his attraction to her all the more real.  There was no mistaking she felt the same thing as him, but his intentions needed to be known because she was not submitting.  “I desire you Kagome.  You would make a perfect mate.”

Those simple words brought reality crashing back into her brain and started the wheels once again.  Pulling out of his grasp she turned to face him with a flushed face.  “Oh, because I am oh so powerful as to bring you to your knees with a little flare of power I am now good enough to deem your mate?  What if I don’t think you strong enough to be mine?  What if I don’t desire you?”

Grabbing a hold of her he growled and brought her nose to nose.  “There is no other youkai on this planet that is stronger than I.  You will find a no more suitable mate.”

She met his glare with a defiant look.  “The mate that is suitable for me will not be brought down to their knees by my mere presence.”  She spat.  As if to prove a point she flared her aura a bit.

It took everything he had not to bow down to the intensity of power she was taunting him with.  A growl escaped his lips as his eyes lined red.  Something so deserving of a place by his side would not defy him, especially when he could sense their desire in return.  She was merely choosing to be the difficult ningen that she was.  What she didn’t understand was that was what made her so appealing in the first place… her defiance.  No one dared to defy Sesshoumaru and lived to tell about it… no one but her.  It was going to end now.  She was going to learn her place.

As her aura flared out once again he ignored the burning of his flesh and smashed his lips down on hers, pulling her body to his.  She tasted sweeter than he could ever have imagined, almost making it worth the pain of having his flesh burned from his body. 

Her mind was reeling as she fell into the kiss, completely forgetting everything along with her powers.  The amount of desire projected into that one kiss had overwhelmed her.  She had never expected that much emotion from the ice lord himself.  It inundated her to the point of complying with his wishes for the moment.

Only the smell of burnt flesh brought her back to her senses as she pulled away from him with a sudden force that surprised even him.  “Sesshoumaru!  What were you thinking?!  I could have killed you!”

Her gaze took in his singed form.  It was not only the point of contact that had slowly started to purify his form.  It was as if her aura had wrapped around him to eradicate the threat.  A look of pure horror flashed over her face.  If she hadn’t pulled away, her miko aura would have finished him off without a hitch, without so much as a thought or an approval from her.

When her eyes met his, her breath hitched in her throat, the desire still very evident in the red-tinged eyes.  How could he still want her after what she had just done?  She instinctively backed up against the wall at the predatory gleam he had in his eyes. 

“Your powers…”  He managed to growl out, words choppy, broken, primal.  “Only make you more desirable.”  Slowly he began to inch his way towards her again.

Her aura instinctively flared out to protect her again, although she couldn’t understand why.  She wasn’t really sure she wanted to be protected.  In fact, she was positive she felt safer in his presence.  He took notice of this and yet still continued to close in the space.  “And you are willing to die for said desires?”

His gaze met hers as he reached out for her face, tendrils of her power wrapping themselves about his arm, leaving welts in their path, yet he did not flinch.  “This Sesshoumaru always gets what he desires no matter the consequence.”

As his fingers grazed her cheek she closed her eyes to the comfort.  The attraction to him was undeniable, scary in fact.  It was the reason she had given him so much credit in the past, why she believed there had to be some good somewhere deep inside.  She had never thought her attraction would actually be mutually felt.  They were natural born enemies, weren’t they?  Why would the fates be so cruel as to intertwine their paths as such?  Why did it have to be the brother of her first love?

His entire body was engulfed with the immensity of her aura for yet another time in one day as his lips pressed to hers for yet a second time.  To say it burned would be an understatement but compared to the pleasure the kiss brought about it was nothing.  It was well worth the pain to hear her moan in pleasure at the taste of his lips and to scent her arousal as his hands wandered her heavenly form.

She didn’t know how much more of this she could take and when she broke away, the growl he let out was feral, threatening enough apparently for her aura to pin him to the closest wall.  She gasped when she looked at him.  There wasn’t a place on his body that hadn’t been seared by her powers.  Tears began to well in her eyes at the damage she had done.  His clothes were soaked in blood, he was in obvious pain, yet he desired more.  She didn’t think she could watch him burn beneath her very touch.  “Please…” she managed to choke out.  She was still not trying to cry at the sight she produced.  “I don’t want to hurt you anymore…”

There was no doubt in her mind that if he wasn’t pinned he would be all over her again judging the look he was giving her.  What he said next, although distorted, surprised her.

“A little pain is to be expected at first considering we were not meant to mate.”  His eyes locked with hers.  “It is meant to be a deterrent for youkai, anyone else would be dead by now.”

Her eyes shone with confusion.  “Why is it worth all this just to mate with me?”  She asked meekly.

His gaze leveled with hers and spoke sincerity.  “No human, nor youkai, has ever shown the characteristics that you constantly display.  You are fiercely loyal, compassionate, affectionate, merciful, powerful, driven, stubborn, vibrant, and intelligent.  All the qualities I have searched three times over the planet to find in a woman since I met you.”

As his shackles dissolved at his words he slowly made his way back to her, trying not to take his good fortune for granted.  Wrapping himself yet again around her fiery small form he whispered in her ear.  “I’ve wanted you since I first witnessed you pull out Tetsusaiga.  My stubborn pride along with that obstinate hanyou made sure I didn’t try.  There is nothing in the way now.”

She pulled back and glared at him again.  “You are my teacher!  My miko powers are out to annihilate you!  I would definitely call those some things.”

He only smiled, which knocked her off her feet.  If she didn’t think he looked good before she would have to be out of her mind not to think so now.  There was no way she was going to get out of this with her virginity in tact.  She was beginning to regret meeting back at his place.

Her breath caught in her throat as his lips lowered to her neck just above her pulse.  She could feel his fangs nip her neck and her knees turned to jelly, her tightly wrought control slipping at his ministrations sending her power thrashing again.  But she didn’t understand why, she didn’t want it to stop.  Why would her body fight something so hard that it wanted so badly?  She had never felt this immense form of raw desire in her life.  She needed him to complete her, to make her whole.

Sesshoumaru growled in frustration as he was forced to relinquish his hold on her.  The sheer immensity of her powers was beginning to overwhelm him.  As it was, it was taking everything he had to stand on his own two feet, and it would probably take him close to two days to recover from the injuries her body had dealt him in its defense.  “We shall have to continue this another day when you have learned to control yourself a little better.”

Her body felt cold as he drifted away from her, nursing the wounds that she herself had caused. 

As if sensing her discomfort he spoke to lighten the mood.  “Plus, I know you have a lot of homework to do.  I was the one that assigned it.”

It worked and she laughed.  “Hah!  Please!  I could get that done in a few hours, notes and all!  If I read it through twice I’ll be able to quote it to you oh great Sesshoumaru-sama.”

He smirked.  “That’s Professor Taisho to you Miss Higurashi.”

She smiled back at him once more before she went out the door.  “I’ll see you Wednesday fluffy!” 

~*~

“Kagome!  I’ve been waiting all day for you to show up!  You better be lucky your mom was nice enough to make me lunch or I really would have laid it into you!  Where have you been at?  Were you with Professor Dreamy?  If so, what did you do?  What did he want?  Kagome!  Are you listening?!”  Ayumi screeched as soon as Kagome set one foot in her room.

Kagome just stood there, taking in the endless chatter, waiting for it to stop so she could speak.  Smiling, she sat on the bed next to Ayumi and placed her hand on hers.  “Yes, I am listening, listening for you to shut up so I can tell you what you want to know.”

Ayumi’s jaw dropped as she saw the genuine smile that adorned her best friend’s lips.  It had been ages since she had seen a smile like that.  Whatever she had done, it had helped her a lot and was all for it.  She merely nodded her head in response, too afraid that if she spoke she would refuse her an answer, or maybe slip back into her other persona.

Her smile turned into a grin.  “Yes, I was with, as you call him ‘Professor Dreamy,’ although I would rather call him fluffy.  It really pisses him off.  He is a friend of the family.  I didn’t know he worked here, it kinda took me by surprise.  We just chatted and reminisced about old times.”  When she was met with Ayumi’s wicked grin she looked at her with the most innocent eyes she could muster and said, “What?”

Ayumi giggled and grabbed a mirror off of her desk.  “You haven’t apparently gotten a chance to look at yourself yet.  Somebody was definitely in a make out session with one hot hunky piece of history professor.”

Kagome blushed crimson red as she fingered over the very apparent bite marks on her neck from Sesshoumaru’s ministrations.

“Seems to me he has a little animal in him.”  Ayumi giggled as Kagome turned even a deeper shade of red.

The only reason she had turned a deeper red was that the first thing to flash through her mind was to tell her she had no idea.  It was embarrassing that she liked that about him, what made him so appealing to her.

Once her giggles died down she got all serious and straightened her posture, pointing a finger in Kagome’s face.  “Since when have your eyes been blue?”

Kagome gasped and took another look in the mirror only to have crystal blue orbs staring at her back, no longer the deep blue of before.  That and this was the first time anyone had actually noted any of the changes she had gone through.  “It must be the side-effects from one of my illnesses.”  She sputtered out, not really able to come up with anything else.

Ayumi let out a small laugh.  “I’m not that dense Kagome.  I was the smart one of the other three, remember?  I may not have known where you went, but I knew you weren’t sick.  My first hint was when you never took any medications.  Whatever happened to you while you were gone is what caused you to be in so much pain.  I’m your best friend.  I can tell the difference between illness and heartbreak.  Now, after all this time, one meeting with a hunky man that I know you know from that place you disappear to when they say you’re sick but you’re really not…”  Ayumi paused and gave Kagome a confused look.  “I’m not doing this very well…”

Kagome shook her head in agreement and laughed.  “No, but I get what you’re saying.”  Her face then became very serious.  She was about to trust her with the secret that only her family knew.  “You have to promise not to flip out or tell anyone else, anyone else.”

Ayumi saluted Kagome with a smile and said.  “Would you expect anything less, sir!?”  When Kagome glared at her she sighed.  “Kagome, I promise.”

Ayumi’s eyes widened as Kagome began to tell her story, all starting at the age of fifteen.  The girl had gone through so much, leading two separate lives at once, one of them in which she had to save the world.  The enemies she had to face, the blood and gore she had to see and tend to, and then come back to school like nothing had ever happened, like she hadn’t changed because of it.  Not to mention the power the girl had to learn how to control on top of the split lives, the heartbreak, adopting a youkai son.  She really was an amazing person.  In places where she would have cast someone out, she forgave them, even helped most of them.  Then there was the existence of youkai in the first place, which she seemed to prove pretty damn well.  Although it was still a bit hard to believe that her professor was a youkai at least a thousand years old by what she says.

Kagome waved her hand in front of Ayumi’s face, beginning to wonder if she was going into shock.  It was a lot to take in at once.  “Ayumi?  Are you in there?  Are you okay?”  When the tears began to touch her eyes she became more than a little worried.

Suddenly Ayumi’s attention snapped back to her and the girl threw her arms around Kagome in a fierce hug.  “I am so sorry you had to go through all that alone!  I can’t imagine how hard it was to live two lives at once!  I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that you would trust me with something like this!”

Kagome gave a sigh of relief and then a small laugh, pushing Ayumi off her.  “Glad to here that, but next time don’t scare me like that!  I thought you were going into shock when you didn’t answer me.”

Ayumi laughed.  “Yeah, it’s a lot to take in at once.  I’m a physics major.  I had to throw all I knew out the window to keep an open mind.  I have one question though.”

Kagome quirked an eyebrow as her tone became a whole lot more sly.  Seeing she had her attention she continued.  “If everything you told me is correct, you were making out with your two-timing ex’s half brother who has tried to KILL you more than a few times.  Do you have a death wish or something?  Couldn’t he try to kill you when you least expect it?”

She snorted.  “He could try… it doesn’t mean he will succeed.  As natural born enemies my body has its own set of defenses.”  She began to blush.  “Actually… it’s those defenses that make our relationship so difficult.”

Ayumi gave her a reassuring nudge and smile.  “Once he gains your trust I bet that difficulty will vanish.  I wouldn’t worry about it.”  Ayumi paused for a moment, sniffed the air then quickly dashed out the door.  “Smells like supper!”

Kagome was left smiling and speechless.  She had taken everything so much better than she could ever dream of.  It may have taken a year, but she thought she could move finally on with her life.  Now if she could only figure out how to control her powers more.

~*~

Kagome laughed as she rode her bike to class Wednesday.  It was so amusing to flash her power around someone she knew was an older youkai or hanyou and promptly watch them run for the hills.  The younger ones didn't know what a miko was and therefore didn't understand what was going on and why they were in pain, so it was no fun at all.  Her other three classes were going to be nothing compared to her history course, which was great considering the fact that fluffy was an impossible instructor.  She was taking Astronomy, Digital Graphic Design, and Philosophy, all of which that had nothing to do with her major.  They were just courses to get her requirements out of the way, and interesting at that.

Yesterday Ayumi and she had gone shopping at the new mall to get her some new clothes to go along with her new outlook on life.  She needed clothes that were some other color than black.  They may have looked good on her, but the color just didn’t suit her mood any longer.

Kagome smiled to herself.  If he thought she looked good before he was really in for a surprise when she showed up for class.  Guys were falling all over themselves as she rode her bike to school wearing a short shimmery yellow sundress with sakura blossoms stitched into the silky fabric.  She couldn’t wait to see his reaction.

As she walked into the room she looked around and glanced at her watch.  Apparently twenty minutes before class was even a little too early for even him to show up.  A frown touched her lips as she took a seat in the front of the class.  She had hoped he would show up early to see her.

When he showed up merely seconds later it disappeared completely leaving the most radiant smile in its place.  Golden eyes locked with azure, her body gaining a will of its own, lifting her form and carrying it to him step by step.  Her mind had ceased to function, leaving her subject to the desires and will of her body and soul.

Faster than she could blink she was in his embrace, her lips captured by his in a passionate mind-numbing kiss, her powers not even having the time to react before it was over.  She whimpered at the loss of warmth gazing up at him through lidded eyes, only to be greeted by his smirk.  It was only then she realized what he’d managed to accomplish and she smiled in return.  “It seems you will have to take me by surprise more often.  It appears to be much safer for your well being.”

He wanted nothing more than to repeat his actions and take his chances yet again, but he knew company would be joining them soon so kept his distance but kept his eyes trained on her.  He couldn’t do anything but.

Moments later, both were broken out of their daze when the students began filing in.  It made her glad that they had already distanced themselves from one another.  She would hate for him to lose his job over something like this, over something she couldn’t even explain.  She went ahead and took her seat, making sure to leave a space open for Ayumi.

Ayumi came running in the room, ecstatic to see how her makeover had affected Mr. Dreamy.  When she saw the heated look he gave her every time he glanced in Kagome’s direction she squealed with delight and ran over to sit by a dazed Kagome.  Whatever happened had to have been great to leave her in total oblivion of her presence, even after the squeal.  “Earth to Kagome!”  She laughed, waving her hand in front of her eyes to catch her attention.

Blush instantly staining her cheeks, her attention snapped to Ayumi.  “Sorry.”

Ayumi waggled her eyebrows and passed Kagome a note.  She wasn’t stupid.  She knew if she wanted to get any information out of her that she would have to do it so the inu-youkai wouldn’t be able to hear, otherwise she’d be forced to wait until after class.  There was no way in hell she was going to suffer, especially when she knew where her attentions would be after class.  Most definitely not her.

That was pretty much how the rest of the class ended up; notes being passed back and forth… well except for the quiz, which was a killer.  She was glad she always glances at the copyright dates and notes about the author.  Kagome silently snickered as she watched Sesshoumaru’s movements as he spoke.  He was obviously pissed about her lack of attention and passing of notes, that or aggravated that they had figured out a way to keep him out of their private discussions.

Sesshoumaru glanced at his watch yet again as he continued to speak, getting more aggravated with the girl in front of him as each second passed.  What was it with this girl and her blatant disregard to her superiors?  He wanted nothing more than to make her submit beneath him, show her who the alpha was, but first he would have to subdue her powers.  He glanced at his watch again. ‘Damn girl!’ 

How could one being occupy so many of his thoughts when he cared for no one?  He yearned for her touch, the fire of her power and spirit combined with her undying love… to have her beneath him… running his hands down her flaming hot form, tendrils of power searing his skin.  Apparently he had somehow managed to care for her.  She had somehow gotten under his skin.  His desire for her was a hunger he could not deny.

All eyes focused on him as the pathways from his brain to his mouth seem to have shut down.  It may have only been a fleeting moment, but it was noticed by all.  His eyes focused on Kagome and narrowed.  He would yet again have to let out class early because of the distraction caused by her presence, and yet she sat there oblivious to it all passing notes back and forth.  It was infuriating for her to have this much control over his mind.

It only took a matter of seconds for everyone to file out of the classroom leaving no one but Kagome and Sesshoumaru.  Ayumi had known better then to stay, especially after what she found out by the notes alone.  That girl was hooked.  Never had she seen Kagome react like that to any guy, let alone an ex-rival who has tried to kill her a few times.  She had to give it to the girl though; he was gorgeous, almost flawless.  If it weren’t for his icy exterior he would be perfect, but then again, that was sexy too.  She was a little envious, but she still couldn’t think of anyone who deserved it more.   She wouldn’t stand in the way of what finally made her best friend return to her old, happier self.

~*~

“For the last time, I will not ride with you back to your place!”  She screamed, knowing it hurt his stupid youkai ears.  They had been having this stupid argument for the past ten minutes and he just wouldn’t give up.  “What you say does not always go.”  She ground out.  If she had anything to do about it, whatever they had would not be found out.  Blue eyes clashed with gold, a smirk touching the corners of her lips.  She knew how to rile him up even more.  “I’ll meet you there fluffy.”

A snarl left his lips as her form faded into the sunlight, promising to make her learn place.  Quickly he headed back to his place ready to set the girl straight.

Sesshoumaru growled as he got out of his car.  Thirty minutes, thirty minutes it had taken him to get home, thirty minutes she had to do something devious while he was gone.  Needless to say, he was surprised when he found her curled in a ball, fast asleep on the couch, and all her defenses down.  A mischievous smirk touched his lips as he crept to her sleeping form.

Kagome struggled to keep herself in a relaxed enough state to convince him she was still asleep.  If this was going to work, it would have to be perfectly timed.  She could feel his presence getting closer to her, the moment approaching where all hell would break loose.

He eyed her closely with each and every step he took to her form.  She appeared to be asleep, but looks could be deceiving when dealing with the miko lying before him.  Reaching out a tentative hand to brush his fingers on her neck.  He almost jumped back in surprise when her eyes snapped open, smirk coming to her features, before she disappeared from his sight again.

His eyes bled red as he stared at the empty space on the couch where she was just moments ago.  His head snapped to the ceiling as he heard footsteps above him.  She was in his room, with no idea the trouble she'd gotten herself into, no idea that he had been trying to think of any way to get her precisely where she was at.  It wasn't a trap or anything like that, just some precautions that he took for her next visit to his home and she did willingly go in there.

Each step he took toward his room was taken slowly, hoping to both give her time to cool down and then realize just how much he was going to enjoy the predicament she put herself into with her little "game".  It was time to even the score.

Kagome sat on the bed glaring at the amulet that hung in the center of the room.  Really, it was quite beautiful with no doubt diamonds surrounding a blood-red stone, but its purpose was what was pissing her off.  How he would be able to come across such a thing was beyond her.  It took the blood of a miko to make the damn thing, for all she knew, he killed the miko himself. 

Leaving was a no go because the damn thing was up there to bind her powers and bind her to the stone until the owner released her.  Granted it was no where near powerful enough to keep her completely defenseless, which heightened her self-esteem about her initial strength, but it was still a pain in the ass to go from all powerful to back to where she started when she first fell down the well.  What made matters worse was that he no doubt knew where she was and relishing every step he took in her direction.  Payback was a bitch and she wasn't looking forward to meeting her.

She could feel him slowly getting closer and closer, taking his sweet ass time just like she thought he would.  Even with her dimmed powers she could still feel his youki, anyone with any spiritual powers could feel it. 

Again, she tried to gather enough power to transport herself out of the room, and again she failed, but this time she noticed something different.  She smiled as she watched the trails of her energy swirled around the amulet, working it to its maximum capacity and then some, an escape plan forming in her brain.  All it would take was a little more show of power and she could shatter it to pieces, the problem was it would exert her as well.  To escape its grasp only to quickly pass out in his room wasn't exactly making the situation any better.  He would still have the upper hand.

Her eyes snapped to the door as she heard it move, wiping all signs of frustration from her person.  She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her squirm, especially when she still had a chance to end up on top.  Watching him walk in with that supercilious air about him and the smirk on his face almost broke her, causing her eye to twitch ever so slightly from the anger she was withholding.

One glance to the amulet told him that it was working, but how well was beyond him considering the scent of her power was masked.  Looking down at her, he couldn't help letting a smirk slip through.  She was pissed, no matter how hard she tried to hide it, it was still evident in her scent and the twitch in her eye.  The question was how he was going to approach all this.

Kagome couldn't take it anymore and snapped.  "Are you going to say something or just stand there?!  Do or say something!" 

She immediately regretted her choice of words as his body closed in on hers as a predator would its prey, his intentions clearly written in his eyes.  In a matter of moments he had her pinned to the bed, nose buried in the nape of her neck, nibbling away any semblance of resistance she could have possibly mustered up. 

The first kiss was quiet, a soft meeting of lips that promised more.  That promised anything that could be wished.  Her scent was intoxicating, feeling it spin in his head as he lowered his mouth to hers again, as her lips parted beneath his like the petals of a rose.  She had surrendered herself to him and he was going to have her.

Her fingers glided silkily along his neck, teasing the nerves to the surface.  A low moan sounded in her throat, a moan that had his blood humming in response.  Her body moved against his as she deepened the kiss.  Her eyes remained open, drawing him in.

He slid his hands up her back, aroused by her quick shudder of response.  Watching her, wanting her, he tugged the tie that held up her hair, combing tensed fingers through to loosen the intricate coils.  He could hear her breath catch, see her eyes darken, as he dragged her head back and plundered that wide, unpainted mouth.

She tasted danger and delight and desperation.  The combination swirled inside her, a headier brew than any wine, any charm.  His muscles were wire taut under her hands, and she shivered with a mixture of fear and pleasure at the thought of what would happen when they sprang free.  Her anger over being trapped forgotten, forgotten over the desire he was bringing forth within her body.

Desire took many forms.  Tonight, she knew, it would not come as the patient, reverent exploration that she desired and yearned for.  Tonight would be about satiating a beast that she had ignored for far too long.  Tonight, there were fires raging.

Something snapped, his eyes clouding over with red.  He could all but hear the chains on his control break.  He pulled away, his hands still gripping her arms to the point of drawing blood, his body a mass of aches and needs.  She said nothing, only sat up, her lips soft and swollen from his, her hair tumbled like restless night around her shoulders.  Her eyes full of smoke and secret promises.

He dragged her back again.  Even as his mouth was devouring hers, no longer mindful of his fangs, forced her down onto the bed again.

She'd never believed she would allow herself to fall captive to the moment and lose herself as she had.  She had been wrong.  As he gazed down at her with those lust filled, hazy red eyes, both her mind and her body went willingly with him.  Reckless and ready, she let her lips race over his face, down his throat and back up t meet his avid mouth.

Impatient hands, hungry mouths, desperate words.  He couldn't get enough.  There couldn't be enough to fill this gnawing need.  He knew she was with him, flame for flame, demand for demand, but he wanted to push her further and faster, until there was nothing but blazing heat and wild wind.

She couldn't catch her breath.  The air was too heavy.  And hot, so hot, so hot she wondered that her skin didn't burst into flames.  She reached for him, thinking she would ask, beg, for a moment to stop and catch her sanity.  Then his mouth crushed hers again and even the wish for reason was lost.

In a mindless haze of greed, he clawed his way down the remainder of her clothes.  Clothes shredded and burst open to reveal flushed skin and seductive black lace.  With a breathless oath, he shredded the last piece of fabric that kept him from his goal, so her breasts spilled into his restless hands.

She cried out - not in fear or pain, but in wonder - as his greedy mouth scorched her skin.

He was ruthless, relentless, reckless.  Need sliced through him, hot knives of desire that cut all ties to the civilized as his beast took control.  His hands moved over her, leaving aches and trembles in their wake.

Her response was not submission, not surrender, but rather a greed that swelled as ripely as his own.  She took, she tormented, she tantalized.

They went tumbling over the bed, caught up in a war of pent up passion, wild hands tugging and tearing at clothes, seeking the pleasure of flesh slicked from the heat.  He did as he chose, releasing every dark fantasy that had spun in his mind.  Touching, tasting, devouring.

She crested hard, clinging to him as the wave shot her up and left her wrecked.  His name was a mindless chant through her trembling lips, a chant that ended on a sob when he sent her soaring again.

Dazed, she rose above him.  He could see the light shivering over her skin, and her eyes, dark and glazed with what he had given her.  He knew he would die if he didn't have her tonight, tomorrow, a thousand tomorrows.

He pressed her back into the mattress, clamping his hands on hers.  Breath heaving, he held on long enough for their eyes to meet, for her to see what she had done.  Was it challenge he saw in hers?  Was it triumph?  Then he plunged deep.  Her hands fisted beneath his, and her body rose up to meet him.

The years of riding on the hanyou's back had made the pain quicker to subside as he ripped through what was left of her virginal barrier.

Speed.  Power.  Glory.  They raced together, stroke for stroke, with a strength born of shattering needs.  His mouth sought hers again in a bruising kiss.  Her arms vised around him, those short, neat nails raking desperately down his back.

He felt her agile  body convulse, heard her broken gasp of stunned pleasure.  Then his mind went dim as he leapt off the razor's edge to follow her, teeth sinking into the juncture of her neck, something exploding in the near distance.

A long time later, he clawed his way back to reason.  He'd rolled off her, wanting to let her breathe.  Now she lay on her stomach, sprawled across the bed.  Catching his own breath, he stared into the shadows, flipping back through his mind what had passed between them.  He wasn't sure whether to be appalled or delighted.

He'd... well, he supposed ransacked would be an apt word.  He certainly hadn't been worried about the niceties.  However much pleasure he'd found in a woman before, he'd never slipped over the edge into madness, actually let his beast have its way.  It had its points, he realized.  But he wasn't sure how Kagome might feel about having her clothes ripped off her and her virginity violently taken from her, especially when she was left defenseless to the whole situation.

Sesshoumaru laid a tentative hand on her shoulder.  She shuddered.  Wincing, he took it away again.  He wouldn't know what to do with himself if he had allowed himself to hurt her.  "Kagome..."

She made some sound, something between a whimper and a moan.  He felt a quick stab of fear at the though that she might start crying.  Just great, good going. he thought furiously to himself, then tried again.  He stroked a hand down her hair.  "Kagome.  I apologize for my..."

He let his words trail off, not certain what to say.  Slowly she turned her head, managed to lift up a limp hand far enough to rake the tangled hair out of her eyes.  She blinked at him.  "Did you say something?"

"Are you okay?"

She sighed.  It was a long, catlike sound that made his treacherous body twang.  "Okay?"  She seemed to roll the word around, testing it with her tongue.  "I don't think so.  Ask me again when I find the energy to move."  She slid her hand over the tangled sheets to take his.  "Are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Okay?"

"I wasn't the one being plundered."

The word had a smile spreading lazily over her face.  "No?  I thought I did a pretty good job."  She stretched and was pleased to see that her body was nearly in working order again.  "Give me an hour and I'll try again."

Relief began to trickle through.  "You're not upset?  I marked you as mine, without your consent, and with the help of that amulet."

"Do I look upset?"  She yawned.

He thought it over.  She looked like a cat who'd happily gorged on a gallon of cream.  He didn't even realize he'd started to grin.  "Hn."

"Pleased with yourself, aren't you?"

"Hn."  He started to reach out to drag her closer and found his fingers tangled in what was left of her bra.  "You?"

She wondered that the grin didn't split his face.  It was truly a beautiful sight to see.  He was watching her, all but whistling a tune as he spun the tattered lace on one finger.  Kagome pushed herself up to her knees, noted his very satisfied eyes skimmed over her.  She glanced up at the amulet that hung from the ceiling, only to find it shattered, useless, and smiled.  "Do you know what fluffy?"

He growled lightly at his nickname.  "No. What?"

"I'm going to have to wipe that grin off your face."  She replied slyly.

"And how would you presume to do that?"

Tossing her hair back, she planted herself over him.  Slowly, sinuously, she slid down, allowing her powers to lick at his body.  "Watch me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I hope you all enjoyed my one-shot. I could have kept going and going, building up the suspense, even making them fall in love, but what's the fun in that?