InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Stealing Heaven ❯ Sleeplessness ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter Eight

Sleeplessness

"Are you certain?"

Blue eyes barely refrained from rolling in exasperation. Kagome sat draped in a blanket on one of the now-familiar cots, her small hands wrapped around a silver and black travel mug of their wretched coffee. At least it was warm, forcing her still fear-chilled fingers to thaw a bit, whether they seemed to want to or not.

"Yes, I'm fine, really" she reassured Professor Taisho for . . . oh, she'd lost count what-teenth time this would make it.

Clearly disbelieving her repeated assessment, the professor shifted his gaze from hers to some point over her head and she knew he was pinning Hojo who'd been standing behind the cot. "Yes," the RN replied with a short laugh, "she is alright, she just had a shock."

After a moment of consideration, Professor Taisho gave a stubborn nod. "Alright, alright," his eyes drifted closed and he pinched tiredly between his brows. "I'm needed back at the site to help oversee the proper removal of the remains."

"Okay," she began shrugging off the blanket, "then I'll just go see where I'm assigned for-"

"You are relieved of whatever research duties you were scheduled for until tomorrow." Kagome's face fell, but the professor wasn't finished yet. "You are to do nothing more strenuous than reading a book in your tent and you will get a good night's sleep this evening."

Setting her coffee aside on the cabinet she shook her head at him. "All due respect professor, but you can't order someone to sleep."

A silver eyebrow quirked fractionally as Professor Taisho squared his shoulders and folded his arms across his chest. "I most certainly can and I quite believe that I just did."

She blinked a few times, finding issue with her unsuccessful attempts to wrap her mind around how ridiculous and stubborn he was suddenly being about this. "Wha . . . ?" Her cheeks puffed out as she forced an exhalation. "This is . . . it's . . . I'm fine and I'm not a child."

He replied through lightly clenched teeth, amber eyes narrowing to slits, "I never suggested you were a child, nevertheless you are my responsibility."

Beneath the blanket her hands curled into fists, small nails digging half-moons into her palms to keep from yelling- she didn't know why he was being so unreasonable, but it was really irritating her. She might be a good at following instructions, but being giving orders was another matter entirely. "Our resident medical professional is of the opinion that I'm alright. I should be allowed to take my whatever shifts I have tonight. Right, Hojo?"

A few seconds of strained silence passed and Kagome turned her head, looking at the RN over her shoulder. His wide brown eyes were flickering, darting from her to Professor Taisho and back again several times, his mouth open just a little. She thought he rather looked like a child who wasn't certain which parent to root for in an argument.

"Uh . . ." he finally meeped out, pausing to clear his throat uncomfortably. "Well, it isn't as though you couldn't do with a good night's rest after the week you've had, Ms. Higurashi."

Kagome squared her jaw, setting her head straight again to scowl up at Professor Taisho. His expression was calm, his brows lifted ever so minutely as though to say You should know better than to challenge me. She didn't know what part of this silent communication was more irksome- that he hadn't had to speak the words for her to understand what he was telling her, or that he knew that he didn't have to speak it.

Scowl deepening she folded her arms under her breasts beneath the blanket, ignoring that Hojo was pretending to suddenly have business elsewhere as he scurried himself out of the tent. "If I was already your colleague rather than just a future one, this might have gone very differently," she pointed out.

His brow furrowed ever so slightly at that- it almost seemed as though she thought that people only listened to him because they were intimidated by his position when he had thought she, of all people, would know better. . . . It might be true, but that didn't mean he had to like it, or even accept it . . . so he chose not to- as he saw it, people listened to him because he was simply correct so often.

"I would very much like to prove you wrong on that, but I suppose we shall just have to wait until after you get your PhD and then have another argument around a third party and see how that fares for you."

She found herself mirroring his expression, though hers was tinged with confusion rather than faintly smug self-certainty. "We are not having an argument!"

He was silent, the only response being the further upward progression of his eyebrows. It was immediately after she'd spoken the words that Kagome realized she was wrong. She didn't want to admit it, but she recognized it all the same. Not only about the argument-thing; they clearly were arguing, though she was clueless as to when they'd progressed to such a casual standing with one another that they would be comfortable enough to get into a verbal fight. At first she'd thought he was being somewhat uncharacteristically stubborn and even arrogant, but she understood now that he was acting this way because he was concerned about her. . . . And she was repaying that by fighting him on what he thought was best for her. She even thought he might be right about that, too- she was wasn't about to admit that, either.

Hanging her head, she at last muttered a grudging, "Fine."

Professor Taisho nodded sharply before turning on his heel and striding toward the tent's entrance. "See you in the morning, Higurashi," he called over his shoulder and then ducked outside.

* * *

Kagome's face was red by the time she finished venting, ". . . gods' damned . . . overprotective son of a bi- . . . . You should have seen him! Acting like some, some . . . overbearing fluke male mother-hen!"

For a long time Sango watched in silence, a thoughtful, if mildly amused, smile turning her lips upward at the corners. Finally Kagome turned back to face her from her final stint of pacing across the floor of their tent.

". . . What?"

Sango shrugged, unable to help the chuckle that escaped her as she pulled her feet in to sit cross-legged on her air mattress. "I didn't say anything."

"No, you didn't." Blue eyes narrowed to slivers of color and white, "You didn't, but you look like I'm not going to like what you're thinking."

"I just . . . think that perhaps this," she wiggled a finger to indicate Kagome's erratic pacing, stomping and even border-line shouting from just a moment earlier, "is a little more strenuous than reading a book."

Kagome only scowled at her as she snatched up a brush from her trunk and plunked herself down on her own mattress and began tugging it angrily through the long, dark waves of her hair.

"Okay," Sango hissed with a roll of her eyes, caving under her friend's scathing look and defaulting to the least anxiety-inducing aspect of Kagome's problems at present. "I also- sorry to say it- but I think it's oddly sweet."

For a moment Kagome's head wobbled on her neck as though she was having some sort of fit. "What are you talking about?" she demanded, blinking rapidly a few times.

"Uhh . . ." Sango stumbled mentally, trying to phrase it without overstepping any boundaries or sticking her foot in her mouth- she was getting the feeling that pointing out what she was seeing to Kagome before the girl realized it for herself would be too jarring to her . . . and she had enough to deal with already. "I just mean that he must clearly value your being here, 'cause well . . . like you said, he sees you basically being his equal someday, right?"

Kagome offered a vague nod as she continued roughly, if absently, brushing her hair. "Something like that, but he kind of said it about all of us."

"Right, but he said it directly to you. Now do you really think that's a conversation he'd have even had with me or Shippo or Ayame or- not present, but more on par with your crazy academic skills- Kikyou?"

The look that came into Kagome's eyes told Sango that her thought processing ability had hit a brick wall. "What are you getting at?"

"I'm not getting at anything." Sango fibbed just a little as she shook her head before tying her hair up into a ponytail, going on as she started digging around in one of her duffel bags for a bottle of nail polish, "I just think he's . . . like you said being overprotective of you, but it's only 'cause he . . . sees you as being like he was back when, so he . . . connects with you maybe in a way that he can't with the rest of us."

That was a logical conclusion and didn't seem to offend Kagome's delicate sensibilities in any way. Kagome inwardly breathed a sigh of relief- she'd honestly forgotten about her little crush during all that had happened recently, but with Sango's awkward verbal nudging she'd thought she had unconsciously given herself away. If she was to listen to that annoying little voice in the back of her mind, it almost felt as though Sango was . . . hinting at something, but that couldn't be. What Kagome imagined Sango was thinking couldn't be right because Professor Taisho would never see her that way. Never, it was simply too . . . unprofessional.

Kagome gave a hopeless little sigh as she put down her hairbrush. Perhaps she'd been better off having forgotten, since remembering that brought to mind the other situation she was having with the professor . . . sort of with the professor, anyway. Her eyes drifted closed for a moment. A demon, a skeleton, a completely inappropriate infatuation . . . it would be a wonder if she was still sane by the time they returned to Japan.

"Sango?"

"Hmm?" She didn't look up, focused on the metallic purple paint she was brushing onto her toenails.

"You'll tell me if you think I'm starting to lose it, right?"

Brown eyes shot up so quickly the girl almost dragged a streak of polish across her entire foot. "Oh, hun! I know things seem a little . . . bizarre right now, but I told you, we'll figure it out, okay? You and me, I'm not letting you go through this alone, okay?"

"It's just," Kagome shook her head, her eyes lowering sadly, it was good to have someone there for her, but there was no way Sango could actually share the burden completely with her, "with what just happened . . . it's going to be that much harder to pretend that . . . you know, that other thing isn't going on."

Sango nodded, capping the nail polish and setting it aside for the moment. Kagome didn't need to elaborate. She knew that the unfortunate- and quite frankly disturbing- discovery of the high priest's remains would lead to many in depth discussions and a second comb-through of the temple for anymore secret doors, scanning the site with equipment they'd at first thought they wouldn't need to employ and the whole nine yards. The constant out-loud thinking over where this man masquerading as a demon was laid to rest would force Kagome's mind to work over her encounter with it again and again. And she was afraid that at some point Professor Taisho would realize that she was holding something back . . . and then she'd cave and blab the entire insane-appearing story and he'd have them both checked into a psych ward.

"I know this isn't easy . . . like at all, but we just stick to our story- there were no ashes, maybe the cult was too afraid they would be found and desecrated so they probably stashed them somewhere else- like the Egyptians did with the Valley of the Kings. And if you ever get the feeling that he thinks you're not telling the whole truth you just give me a signal and I'll . . . I don't know, kick over a camera or something and distract everyone."

Kagome laughed in spite of herself at the mental picture. "Okay."

Sango's eyebrows darted up just a bit. "In this together, right?"

Nodding, Kagome rubbed her hands tiredly over her face- perhaps the professor really was right, she would sleep tonight. "Right. Hey, you have that dark green polish in there?"

"Pfft, of course," Sango replied, immediately digging through her bag again. Keeping Kagome distracted was the only thing she could really do at the moment.

* * *

No matter how she'd felt a few hours earlier, Kagome found herself tossing and turning. She listened to Dominique's soft, sleepy breaths and Sango's hushed snoring for what felt like an eternity. She couldn't recall ever having bouts of insomnia before coming here, unless night-long study sessions fueled by bottles of iced espresso counted- and she wasn't sure they did.

Rolling over for the umpteenth time, she dug her watch out from under her pillow. She was hoping and praying that only a short time had slipped past, that it had only felt like an eternity in her mind, so that she might still get a good solid four or five hours of sleep. Pressing the light on the face plate she frowned deeply at the digits staring back at her. Three A.M. . . . she had to get to sleep somehow.

She pulled herself to sit up and shifted out of her sleeping bag. She'd take a shower, maybe that was what she really needed after the day she'd had. Nodding, she trudged off of her mattress and opened her trunk, retrieving her towel and bathing items. Kagome hung her head back and groaned mutely as she grabbed a lantern and sneaked out of the tent- she could already feel the rich, warm lather of shampoo sinking into her hair and scalp. It would be so pleasant and relaxing, that had to help her rest.

It was so quiet as she walked through the camp. Every tent was dark and she found herself envying the rest of the team, all sleeping so soundly. Pausing, she took a moment to breathe in deeply. It was so peaceful that she felt like she was the only person in the entire world. Her eyes raised to the dark trees lining the camp. Even with everything that had happened, she was going to hate leaving here. What was it, another five weeks? Sighing deeply, she continued on toward the utility stations.

No one else was about, but she locked the door anyway, reaching past the dark plastic curtain to start the shower before stripping down and grabbing her shampoo. Kagome stepped in and pulled the curtain closed, immediately calming as the spray of hot water hit her skin. She spent a long time soaping her hair and rinsing before reaching out to grab her conditioner only to nearly trip over the bottle. Blinking, she looked down at it for a moment. She must have knocked it over and just not heard it under the shower.

Frowning at herself, she simply picked up the bottle and conditioned her hair. Not only was she feeling like a klutz now, but like she might also be forgetful and possibly hard of hearing, too. Rinsing her hair again, she set the bottles blindly on the sink and stood in the water for a long time thinking over everything. What was she going to do when she got back to Japan? She didn't think she'd figure anything out before they got home and that had to mean The Thief would be going with them.

Suddenly she felt herself yanked backward, a warm, large hand clamping over her mouth as an arm wound around her waist to pull her against a warm, bare body. Despite the absurdity of screaming with a hand- and the shower- muffling the sound, she attempted to draw in a breath.

"Hello, little priestess," she heard the familiar even cadence as the words were whispered against her wet hair.

Unreasonably, this had a somewhat calming effect. It wasn't as though knowing it was him was calming to her, simply that at least she now understood what was happening- she might not like the situation, but at least she knew what he was here for- easing the inherent fear of some unknown person having sneaked into her shower. Then she recalled . . . she'd locked the door.

Reaching a hand up, she gingerly tugged at his fingers until he slid them down from her lips. "How did you get in here?"

"Mmm," he murmured into her ear, taking a step forward so they were both under the spray of hot water. "Interestingly enough, this Sesshomaru has a knowledge of picking rudimentary locks, such as the one on this station's door."

She tried to ignore the feeling of his fingertips beginning to trace over her water-slicked skin as she spared a moment to puzzle over that. Of course the professor had had an entire life before she'd crossed his path, there was likely a myriad of odd skills he possessed that she would probably think he simply shouldn't have.

He slipped his hands beneath her arms and raised them, urging her to link her fingers behind his neck. From there he traced his fingertips back down along her arms and ribcage to cup her breasts, the very edges of the claws on his thumbs dragging over her nipples in teasing circles.

Kagome really hoped his lack of clothing didn't mean that he was planning on asking from her more than she was willing to give to him.

"You . . ." her voice trembled and she started again, hating that this felt good- it wasn't only his hands on her breasts, either, but the feel of his skin pressed against hers, of her arms up around him, for a moment she thought she could fool herself into thinking it was Professor Taisho if she really tried, but she didn't want to forget that this wasn't him, that he would never do these sordid things to her. "You know you took too much last time, right?" He had to know, since he had access to the professor's thoughts.

He gave a shrug and she let her eyes drift closed, a small, ragged breath escaping her at the feel of his muscled flesh sliding beneath hers- she was supposed to be terrified of him, so why was she enjoying this so very much?

"A miscalculation on my part. You see," he lowered himself to the shower stall floor, moving her with him and sat, positioning her to sit between his parted legs, his length pressing firmly against the small of her back. "It has been so long since I have had to restrain myself. That was an accident."

The demon shifted sideways a little so that he could lean back against one of the thick plastic walls. She let her head roll to one side between her upraised arms, almost expecting it when he swept her hair aside to brush his lips over her throat. She could feel herself responding to his touch so strongly, could feel the warm moistening between her legs that had nothing to do with the shower. He was using his power on her, that had to be why she couldn't seem to connect with her fear of him or be disgusted with herself for enjoying the feel of having his bare body wrapped around hers.

"If you do that again Professor Taisho will send me away and then you would risk getting found out because you'd have to find an alternate source of sustenance."

"Hmph," the rush of his breath over her damp skin sent a shiver through her. "Yes, I am aware," he trailed a hand down, claws lightly tracing over her ribs to her abdomen, across the curve of her hip. "I wonder, though, why you would warn me."

Kagome held in a trembling breath at the sweet, tingling sensation of his claws and fingertips moving delicately along her inner thighs, the hand at her breast continuing to tease and lightly pinch her nipple. "Because I don't want you taking it out on the professor if a circumstance beyond my control makes me break our deal."

He nodded, scrapping his teeth gently over her earlobe for a moment before speaking. "I will be more restrained in the future, but in order to make that possible, I will need . . . ."

The pause made her nervous, hoping that he wasn't about to follow that with a demand for sex. She wanted to protect Professor Taisho, certainly, but she didn't believe she had it in her to go that far. He withdrew the hand that had been stroking her thighs and held it beneath the spray of the shower, moving it side to side slightly as though he was examining the thin, pulsing streams of water.

"You will need what? You said you would only take morsels- you gave me your word. Oh, wait, let me guess, that doesn't mean anything to a demon?"

"As I recall," he slid both hands down her sides to her hips, grasping them to shift her slightly and she couldn't help the sweet shock it sent rippling through her, or the blush that flared in her cheeks, at the feel of his bare, hardened length pressing so tightly against her, "I said I was taking a morsel then. I said I would not take you as a sacrifice and if your concern is for your maidenly state, well, I see no reason to ruin that as of yet."

"You know I'm a virgin?"

She could feel him nod as he slid his hands between her legs and parted them. "I knew it the moment I tasted you. Consider it a . . . lust-demon talent, if you will. I was going to say that in order for your offerings to take less of a toll on your body- and his- the offerings themselves must be stronger."

"I'm not sure I understand." If he wasn't asking for sex, than she wasn't sure how that was going to be possible.

Again he nodded, brushing his lips over the soft bit of her throat just below her ear as he spoke, "Well, my delectable little priestess, this is to say," he slid two fingers down along smooth feminine skin- he had needed to access this Sesshomaru's knowledge of current world culture to understand that the lack of hair meant she performed a bizarre ritual of self-beautification called waxing- parting the folds there, he exposed that precious little bead of flesh to a single pulsing stream of water, delighting in the shocked gasp it forced from her. "I need to make you come harder."

"Oh my gods," she blurted out, her hips jerking instantly and she tried to skitter out from beneath it- the constant warm, wet thumping against that most sensitive spot was too much, she was sure her body just couldn't take this.

"No, no," he murmured, winding his legs over hers to keep her pinned there. "What you felt last time was truly only a morsel of what I can offer you. You know the grounds of our deal, the least you can do for yourself is enjoy it, do you not think so?"

She didn't want to nod, didn't want her hips to keep jerking, lifting her again and again in rhythm with the tapping water, didn't want to enjoy anything he had to offer her, ever. He took her earlobe between his teeth, delicately scraping the sharp edges over it again and brought his free hand back up to her breasts, alternately dragging the tips of his claws over one of her nipples, then the other and back again. It seemed nearly against her will that her fingers were curling into the hair at the back of his head.

The pulse was almost numbing as it continued to beat over her, her rocking hips moving her to work against his length behind her and she was surprised to hear him let out a rushed breath. She could feel him begin to rock behind her, pressing himself more tightly to her, rubbing his length over her wet skin each time she moved back against him.

"This," he hissed out between lightly clenched teeth, "makes me so glad I chose you, little priestess."

"Wha . . ." she couldn't think straight, from the pulsing between her legs to the claws tickling over her nipples to the feel of him warm, hard and throbbing, sliding against her. "What do you mean?"

He let out a pained groan, his head falling back from hers to tip against the wall, the thrusting of his hips becoming sharper. "It is more than what I need, yet not more than you can spare."

She laughed roughly, she couldn't help it- she knew she should feel ashamed for enjoying this, but she just couldn't . . . there was an odd sort of freedom in knowing this was all he wanted from her, that it didn't matter how he saw her. A sweet aching ripple ran through her as her body began to tense. The Thief uttered another harsh, needy sound, rocking almost violently against her and he slid his hand down from her breast, wrapping his arm around her waist and taking the burden of movement away from her as he forced her forward and back again and again- forward beneath the pulsing beat of the water, back against his sliding length.

Kagome gasped, feeling herself at the edge of the orgasm. "You mean if you come, too, it's stronger?"

"Oh, yes," he muttered, biting down on the back of her neck as he had that first time.

She moaned loudly, oddly grateful for the muffling effect of the shower as the orgasm tore through her, dancing and spiraling through her system as he continued rocking her beneath the spray of water. He made a gruff, grunting noise and she felt almost distantly an odd shifting and rippling of the warm skin of his length as it pressed against her. She could feel it on her skin, could feel him coming as she did and it only added to the delicious warmth forcing trembling shudders through every inch of her.

As it began to slip away she found herself trying to keep her body tense, to hold onto it, but it slid further, leaving her to warm, thundering aftershocks as she regained her ability to move on her own, writhing against him. His head fell forward to rest on her hers and she could feel the rushing of his ragged breath over the side of her throat once more.

It seemed a long moment passed as the simply lay there against each other beneath the spray of the water. Finally she extracted herself from him- regardless of freedoms or enjoyment, she didn't want to feel peaceful around him at all ever. She stood, taking a moment to rinse off her back and turned off the faucet, reaching out toward the sink and snatching up her towel. She refused to look back at him, refused to see what the professor's body would look like, sprawled naked on the shower floor, wet and glistening and spent.

"You're not going to let him come back like this are you?" She asked numbly, hating herself instantly, just like last time, only now it was because she couldn't deny how much she'd just enjoyed that.

The demon cracked a lazy smile. "No, I have more forethought than that. To do so would have this Sesshomaru asking far too many questions." He dragged himself up to stand and pushed the curtain aside, letting the cooler air rush over his skin before grabbing a towel he'd clearly brought with him. "I will dry off and lay this body to rest and he will wake up in a few hours wondering why he feels rested and yet like he barely slept."

She gave a slow nod, wondering just what a therapist would think of her situation, as she wound her damp hair into a bun on the back of her head and struggled into her clothes. "Please," she muttered, sparing a moment to glance over her shoulder at him against her better judgment and freezing up without meaning to.

The Thief was holding his towel wrapped low around his hips, wet silver hair hanging in long, dripping tendrils past his waist and his golden olive skin . . . damn, but Professor Taisho must have a gym membership, his lean muscles screamed staunch dedication. The demon raised his eyes to meet hers, the glow in them still fading and his smug, faintly amused, barely-there smirk brought her crashing back to the moment and she snapped her head back around.

"Please what, little priestess?" He murmured, just the slightest trace of humor edging around his usual icy and bored tone.

Kagome shook her head sharply a few times, placing her hand on the knob as she quickly dumped her bath items onto her towel with the other and bundled them up to tuck it all under her arm. "Please don't leave until I've been in my tent a few minutes." She hung her head, going on- there didn't seem much point in censoring herself since he was already well familiar with her weakness. "In the dark it would be too easy to mistake you for the professor and I just don't think I could take seeing him so soon after . . . after you using him like this, not again."

It was sadly true- when he had faded and left poor Professor Taisho standing there so confused that first time she'd thought she was going to have some sort of breakdown. She didn't bother adding to it that the professor wasn't the only one The Thief was using during his little visits, but she was pretty sure he was already well aware of that part. She heard the muffled rustling of thick cotton and she didn't dare to look, aware that he'd likely loosed the towel to begin drying himself and she didn't think she could handle seeing anymore of Professor Taisho's bare, droplet-speckled body at the moment.

"Very well," was all he said.

With an exaggerated nod, she cracked open the door and peered around it. Camp was still as quiet and as peaceful as she'd left it. Reaching back one last time, she grabbed her lantern in her free hand and slunk out, pushing the door closed again with her back before dragging her feet through camp. She was trying to wrap her spontaneously exhausted mind around what had just happened- perhaps this was why couples in TV shows always seemed to have sex right before going to bed. She felt her fear finally, but it wasn't what she was expecting- it wasn't fear of him, but of herself- of the fact that she couldn't lie to herself and pretend she hadn't just enjoyed that. And she felt angry . . . again, it was directed inward. The Thief was a demon, it seemed a waste of time to be angry at him for being what he was- she still didn't like him, she still wanted him gone- but she could be angry with herself without feeling like it was a waste. She was supposed to be disgusted by him, so why on earth had she just let him see how much she was enjoying what had just happened?

Sighing heavily, she hung her head again, slowing her steps a little. Either that freedom-thing she'd thought earlier was correct . . . or it was an excuse . . . because the demon had taken Professor Taisho's form, of all people. Anyone else- Miroku, Shippo, Dubios- and she'd probably still be back in the shower, having kicked him out first so she could scrub her skin 'til it was raw under near-scalding water.

Kagome picked up her pace again only to halt entirely, her head snapping up and around to lock her gaze on the tree line, a shiver dancing its way up her spine. The dark outline of the trees was no more than blobby shapes of black-on-black and she switched off the lantern, closing her eyes and counting to ten. She opened them again, the forced adjustment of her vision to the darkness helping her make out more detail and she slowly moved her gaze to follow to the line of trees the rounded the camp site.

She wasn't surprised when she didn't see anything, but that did nothing to appease what she was feeling now. Frowning to herself, she shook her head and continued on to her tent, not bothering to switch her lantern back on.

In as close to complete silence as she could manage she zipped the tent shut, stowed her things, tossed her towel across the lid of the trunk to dry and climbed back into her sleeping bag. Snuggling her damp head down against her pillow, she tried to assess this new, more immediate problem.

The Demon was already on the loose, but had been in the utility station, so at least she knew where he was . . . the crying in the temple, she was certain that had been the priest, leading her to him, she had to assume that he was now at rest. This still left her two things to ponder over even as she felt blessed sleep edging around her brain and softening everything.

She'd never felt the sort of spiritual sensitivity that had seemed to now be so constant for her before she had set foot in this jungle- she'd already grudgingly accepted that to be why no one else had heard the spectral weeping. What was it about this place that was doing that to her? It couldn't just be the demon, because if everything that had happened meant that more of the world's ancient myths about demons were true, too, than Japan had been crawling with them only a short few centuries ago. She wasn't crazy and she wasn't imagining things, she knew that now, though she did have to wonder if these were the sort of things mediums felt all the time.

Kagome pulled the sleeping bag more tightly around herself as she moved onto the second thing she had to turn over in her mind. Why had she just felt, so very deeply and unnervingly that it made her shiver just a little even in hindsight, like she was being watched?

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