Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Par Tout Autre Nom ❯ Fractured Purpose ( Chapter 47 )

Disclaimers: Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho belong respectively to Rumiko Takahashi and Yoshihiro Togashi.

A/N: Now that I've set my briefcase on fire (as Som can attest to), and resisted the urge to throw the whole computer out the window (see Kazusa for that one) I took bit and finished going through this. -makes a face- At any rate, I was assured that a chapter being "too long" was not a bad thing and because of that, I'm posting it as is rather than chopping it in half. Heh heh… I wondered how many people were going to be thrown for a loop with that ending, and I'm sure you're anxious to find out what's going on.

For my love-loves, I must -as always- tell you all how very much I do adore you. All my junkies, buddies, reviewers, and readers… not to mention how much fun I've had with the emails I've received and the people who just bounce up to talk to me. LOL, it's tons of fun and it never fails to brighten my days so much. I love hearing what you're enjoying in the story, and I absolutely adore the people who are nice enough to help me out here and there when I'm too tired to catch everything. But again, I ramble… so I'll let you get right into it.

<~*~*~*~>

By Any Other Name

~Fractured Purpose~

Kagome slowed to a stop when she reached a slight break in the foliage, brows drawing low in a bemused frown as the mists threading about her ankles thickened. The shadows closed in around her through the thick trees, blocking even the faintest hint of light from the distant campfire. Not that it mattered much anymore, but still- Kagome pressed one hand over her heart and stared up through the thick branches allowing nothing but the soft glow of waning moonlight to filter through them. She could feel it stronger here, the aching pull, the crying deep inside her soul to search and finish the aborted bond…

They were calling her to this place.

"I knew you would come to me."

Kagome froze, subconsciously gritting her teeth at the heavy pulse echoing through her aura the instant that silky whisper intruded on her senses. Her aura flared in the same bizarre response she'd had suffered through once before, but even she could tell it was still muted and weak from her half-healed wounds.

"I knew you could hear them crying for you," the shadows in front of her darkened, taking on the shape of an all too familiar silhouette coming closer. The thick jyaki pulled away from him slowly, wisping tendrils curling here and there as it revealed him little by little until they were standing less than six feet apart.

"The feel of you is what makes them cry," Kagome forced herself to stand proudly in front him, fisting her hands at her sides as she tamped down every instinct she had regarding the creature in front of her. But… something was wrong. Something was different this time…

Naraku chuckled softly, the pale moonlight making his skin almost luminous as he brushed his wavy hair back over his shoulder in an elegant motion, "You may be able to fool the senses of your `companions,' my dear, but I would appreciate it if you not patronize me in the same way."

Kagome's brows drew together suspiciously at the almost friendly way he was addressing her, sliding one foot back as though readying herself for escape should it prove necessary, "I don't know what you're talking about, Naraku."

"You can do better than that, Kagome," Naraku's eyes flashed in the darkness, giving her the urge to wrap her arms around her torso under the sudden sensation of having her very soul stripped bare under his gaze.

"You know my name?" as soon as the words were spoken, she bit down hard on her lip and wished for all the world that she could take them back.

Naraku's eyes lit up with genuine amusement, giving his beautiful face a softer expression than she had ever imagined he would be capable of… or hoped to ever see, "Did you actually think that after all this time I wouldn't have such simple information? I am not as stupid as that."

"You've never said it before," Kagome tried to cover the foolish words, turning her face aside in an effort to hide the blush she could feel darkening her cheeks.

"I have known you from the start," Naraku murmured after letting her fidget in silence for a moment, waiting for her startled gaze to snap back to him before he continued. "My eyes are always watching, you know. I make it a priority to know which of my opponents embodies the greatest threat to what I wish to achieve."

"How could I forget?" Kagome's surprise and embarrassment disappeared so quickly she would have been confused had the situation been any less unstable. Her gaze hardened, reflexively lifting one hand to her throat to touch the pinpoint scars she still carried from some of his earliest efforts to remove her. "I'm too pure for you even now, aren't I?"

"I still have hope that you will prove malleable despite your purity after you allowed yourself to be my eyes," he dipped his head in mock-salute to that event. "A part of me touched your soul that day, Kagome, something deep inside you that you've hidden from the others. From yourself even-"

"I pushed that thing out of my soul, Naraku, there is nothing of you left in me," Kagome shook her head in a quick, negative motion and turned to leave. She was unsure as to why she felt no threat from the deadly hanyou but was unwilling to examine it too closely with his presence pushing in on her like a viscous entity all its own.

"The jewel no longer obeys me."

At that whispered admission, Kagome could no more stop herself from twisting around to stare at Naraku than she could have stopped the moon from rising, "What?"

"You never asked me why I came here, Kagome," Naraku tilted his head to one side quizzically, the slow smirk tugging at his lips making her all the more aware of her unnatural pallor in the weak light. "It's very telling, isn't it?"

A shiver of fear snaked down her spine as she faced the hanyou again, ignorant of the way her own eyes took on a muted glow, "Why have you come here?"

"Why have you?" he countered, taking a gliding step closer to her with one hand outstretched as though intending to touch her face. When she slid back away from him, eyes wary and hands poised to summon up what she could of her decreased energy, Naraku chuckled softly and turned his palm up in peace offering to her. "You appear less and less human with each passing day, don't you, my beautiful miko?"

Kagome's eyes flashed brighter in momentary panic, subtly pressing her hands against her stomach when she felt a flush of foreign energy spilling over into her soul under his accusation. She forced her voice to steady, glaring up at him as she ground out angrily, "I'm no less human than I've ever been."

Naraku's answering smile would have been what she could call soft if not for the chilling light in his scarlet eyes as he took one step, then another until he was close enough that she could feel his youki pressing in even more insistently on her aura. She felt trapped, something deep inside her soul beating out of synch with her heart as it started to shift and rise the longer that tainted ki curled around her. It was whispering to her, so many voices… and the heat- It felt like thousands of arms trying to wind around her soul all at once.

"I can feel you now."

Pulling herself up out of the unfamiliar and nearly crushing sensations with effort, Kagome blinked to refocus on that satisfied face looking down at her, "No-"

"You can feel me too, can't you?" Naraku ignored the whisper, catching one of her wrists when she tried to pull away. "That's why you came to me alone. After all… I am the only one who has ever held you for so very long, aren't I? My perfect, beautiful Tama-"

"NO!" Kagome wrenched her wrist free, mindless to the hissing burn left behind on both her skin and his as she turned her back to him. Her shoulders hunched, bile rising in her throat when she felt the souls inside her grow more defined under her agitation. The feel of them roiling about within her made a mockery of her denial, nearly falling to her knees when they began wrapping possessively around her to cling to her soul. Still through those nearly suffocating sensations, Kagome could feel them reach towards the stolen shards in Naraku's possession, breathing deeply as she forced the words out. "I am human, Naraku, don't call me by such a disgusting name."

"Lying to yourself will not make it less true," Naraku chided gently, reaching out to glide his fingers over the thick curtain of hair hiding her back from his eyes. He paused after a complete stroke, brushing the entire mass forward over her shoulder and staring hard at the exposed area. "Words are empty, Kagome," his eyes narrowed in dark satisfaction as the material of her kimono at the center of her back began to glow and sizzle. "I know how the jewel granted the hanyou's wish."

Kagome's eyes clenched shut, swallowing hard against the strangely panicked fury rising within her at every word out of his mouth, "Don't dare to presume you would know such things, Naraku."

Naraku leaned forward, dropping his voice to an intimate whisper in her ear, "Then can you explain to me why you did come to me alone when I called for you? Why not summon the others as soon as you felt me here watching you? And don't pretend that you were unaware of what you were feeling, Kagome. You and I know better."

"The jewel gave its power to Inuyasha's wish," Kagome forced herself to stand her ground, expending extra energy to attempt to calm the souls before they could exert any more influence on her behavior. "Nothing feels the way it used to, not the way you're accusing. I can't tell sometimes."

Naraku curled two fingers in the back of her kimono where it gapped away from her nape, shouki flowing through them with an angry crackle as he pulled downwards and melted the fabric open. He was ready when she gasped and tried to twist away, his free hand clapping down on her bare shoulder and digging into the muscle to hold her still until he reached to obi. Leaning back to admire the patterned injury, he let his shouki dissipate as he traced just above the healing wounds in her flesh, "I can taste it inside you."

Kagome's stomach lurched at his proximity, grinding the heel of one hand against her forehead when the whispers started to tease the edges of her mind clearly enough to pick up actual words. No… no not now. Please, not now!

"I don't know how I had missed it before, but now?" he inhaled deeply, giving every indication of savoring whatever he could detect of her diminished scent. "Now all that's left beneath this empty illusion, this protection your soul has created for itself, is the feel and the flavor of the Shikon-no-Tama."

"It's not true," Kagome choked out, tears burning behind her eyes as she tried to will her body to move, to run. The night air was cold against the over-heated skin of her back, soothing the fever until the pain began to increase. The whispers in her mind began to grow stronger, mingling and blending until they seemed to gain direction. The same voice, that same damned collection she remembered from that day…

You are afraid.

"Why are you fighting so strongly against the truth?" Naraku let out an exaggerated sigh, his fingers digging bruisingly tight into her shoulder when she tried to move again. "I have told you, my dear, I can feel you. We both what you are, what you have become thanks to Inuyasha."

He is the one who stopped us from being complete again when the hanyou gave us our return.

Naraku leaned closer to her until his breath fanned over her ear and sent chills down her spine, "I can help you understand your power, Tama. No one understands you more than I do, no one else can possibly show you the full potential in your soul now that you are whole."

"I'm not whole," Kagome whispered, shaking her head as though trying to banish all of them from her thoughts.

It's his fault. Hestole pieces of us again.

"You ripped them out of my skin and ran away," she tilted her head back, staring up at the fathomless depths of the night sky, mindless to the sparks of ki tracing around the symbols in her skin.

We seem to not have taken enough from him for his soul to know its place.

"You stopped us," Kagome brought both her hands up to cover her ears as tears slipped unheeded from the corners of her eyes.

"You want them back, don't you?" Naraku pulled, turning her unresisting body back around to face him as his eyes gleamed with satisfaction at her inner turmoil. "Your soul is hungry, reaching for youki to repair itself, isn't it? It burns inside, doesn't it, Tama? It aches…"

Kagome's eyes opened, glassy and inhumanly bright as the paths of his ki brightened to her gaze. She could see it reaching for her, bending and swaying almost submissively as it called for the souls inside her to find a matching beat and reach for it, mix with it, "They are screaming in your hands."

We must teach him what has changed.

"You should have told me it came from your body from the start," Naraku caught her wrist again, pressing her palm hard against his chest where his kimono fell open enough to allow skin to skin contact. "If you had come to me as you should have, shown me the place where the jewel was torn from you, I would have treated you with the care you deserved."

He still dares to think he can control us now that we have restored ourselves.

Kagome's fingers curled, staring with a sort of detached fascination at the snap of her power sparking against the hanyou's skin. The purification was raising welts across his flesh, but he didn't so much as bat an eyelash as he dragged her closer until their bodies were nearly touching. It felt different, nothing like what she had experienced the other times she reacted naturally to tainted ki. Confusion growing, Kagome gave in and tentatively whispered the question to her mind, unsure of what to expect from the voices this time, What is this feeling?

This time we will leave nothing behind.

Nothing? What are-? What's happening to me? Kagome demanded, eyes lifting to look at Naraku on pure reflex as he spoke again.

"How do you think I knew to come to this place for you? How I knew that you would answer me by searching for me alone?" Naraku pulled her hand harder against his skin, his eyes flashing deep, bone-chilling scarlet as the shadows seemed to come alive. They spread upwards, fanning out through the branches and locking them in their own little world. "They have gained voices, and when they cry, they cry only for the one they came from."

Kagome flinched when she felt his other hand graze her side through the sagging folds of the ruined kimono, perversely grateful it was managing to stay upright and preserve her sense of modesty. But that vanished at the jolt of heat searing through her aura when his jyaki clashed against the old scar, the bite from what felt like forever ago. The bite that split them apart.

We will take the rest of ourselves back from him, and be finished with this pain he causes you, this fear. Wewill teach you all you need to know now that you belong to us. You have no need of him.

"You belong with a youkai who understands what it turned you into, Kagome," Naraku was dipping his head towards hers, hair sliding forward over his shoulder again to brush against her arm as he increased the enticing pitch to his voice. "You belong to me."

We will devour him and the souls he holds. We'll use him to grow stronger.

Kagome's eyes widened when she saw her hand rapidly pale, the color leeching away until her skin seemed to glow stark white. Alarmed and feeling herself sinking into… into something, she hissed out in rising anger, "Because of you I have these things inside me. Because of you… this burning-" Always burning…

We will always protect you.

"Inuyasha was the one who made the wish, Tama," Naraku smiled down at her, eyes taking on a drowsy look as he willed his flesh to soften. Her hand started to sink into him, and he almost moaned at the feeling of his power increasing, sharpening as it filled every last part of his carefully formed body again, "He was the one who caused you to be devoured by the jewel. Not me."

We will never let them take you from us again.

"Because of you," Kagome could feel herself starting to shake, trying and failing to stop the whispers from comforting her as she watched her hand vanishing into Naraku's chest, "we don't even know what we are anymore."

Naraku's smile widened at the change in the plural way she referred to herself, radiating with almost feral triumph as he swept his free arm around her to pin her against his chest. "You are mine, Tama. You have always been mine. Release yourself into me and I will give you everything you've ever wanted. I'll teach you how to control your power."

Kagome's entire arm was starting to burn with the most searing cold she had ever felt, the shaking growing worse despite the odd calm sensation filling her with each heavy pulse of her aura. When her mouth opened again, she felt the souls inside her rise to a fever pitch and overwhelm her, taking control to speak through her voice, "Release them to us."

Naraku chuckled, splaying his palm open to cover the symbol on her back as best he could, inhaling as the injuries began to seep and release the scent of her blood into the night, "They are waiting for you inside me, Tama. Come and take them if you wish to find your completion."

Kagome's expression wiped blank of any emotions, her eyes glittering in the darkness as her other hand lifted and abruptly plunged into his chest beside the other, "Then open yourself for us."

Naraku tilted his head back under the abrupt flood of rising ki, granting her better access as she pressed forward. His jyaki wound around her tightly to draw her in more completely when she started to pause. The intoxicating feel of his power increasing so dramatically returned, restoring all the sensations that had been excruciatingly absent ever since the hanyou's wish had removed the jewel from his hands. His eyes closed, lips parting on a sigh the further she absorbed into him when she was suddenly ripped from his arms, jarring his soul so fiercely he nearly went to his knees.

Kagome reeled back into herself, choking out a scream of pain and fury as her spine arched under the uncontrolled excess still fighting to bond together inside her. She could feel the jyaki knifing its way through her soul, searching out holes and gaps she hadn't even known where there as it tried to distribute itself through her. She could taste blood, letting out a cry of distress when the jyaki settled in to place and failed to complete the gaps or the emptiness she could feel. Only the shout reaching her ears from what seemed so very far away stopped her from lashing out violently against whatever it was that had stopped her from retrieving the last of her missing pieces.

"Kagome! Kagome, look at me," he pleaded in a harsh whisper, hands stroking over her hair and face in near desperation. "Please, look at me! Stay awake, Kagome, you have to stay awake!"

Her eyes opened, subconsciously reaching up to brush shaking, translucent fingers over the frightened face above her in disjointed confusion, "Inuyasha?"

"I'm here, I'm right here," Inuyasha swept her up in his arms, his panic passing in on her hypersensitive aura with almost dizzying force as he nearly crushed her against his chest, rocking her back and forth like an infant. "It's okay now, I've got you."

"Inuyasha. Help…me…"

<………>

"It has been a long time, my Tama," Naraku's voice pulled Kagome out of the memory, drawing her attention beside her to the self-made hanyou bowing to the altar in mock respect. His black shouki seeped up out of the floor to form another pillow as he gracefully lowered himself to kneel close enough that he could have leaned and brushed against her, "You have left me to wonder what became of you after you destroyed me."

"There was no reason for me to come before now," Kagome swallowed hard, using Sesshoumaru's borrowed ki to restore her equilibrium from the unsettling flush of memory until her aura had settled back into a more peaceful state.

"You could have come to assuage my fears that you had vanished from this realm altogether," Naraku's eyes moved over her leisurely, obviously soaking in every nuance and change in her appearance.

"You should be so lucky," Kagome snorted dryly.

"The pleasure of your company then?" his lips kicked up in the barest hint of a smile as he stretched out one hand to trace the characters for his name in a way that suggested it had become something of a habit over time. "Bringing peace to what you left of me in this place?"

"You couldn't release your emotions into death, Naraku, don't think I have any guilt regarding this remnant of what you were," Kagome lifted one hand in an almost regal gesture to stop him from continuing. "It's your selfishness and the strength of your emotions that holds you here."

"Perhaps it is," Naraku shrugged nonchalantly, rising up on his knees to more easily turn and face her side before settling back down with fluid elegance. "I can see that you have finally lost the last spark of humanity that was within your soul, Tama. Have you managed to make peace with what you have become after all?"

"Mortality and humanity are different, Naraku," she shook her head, but followed the "suggestion" and adjusted her own position to a more casual face-to-face. "But yes, we are at peace with what we are now."

"Your soul is no longer as hungry as I recall," he reached out, hand hovering just above the skin of her cheek as though forcefully restraining himself from closing that distance between them. "I can no longer feel the confusion, or the battle raging inside you the way it used to be."

"Sesshoumaru is very good to me," Kagome dipped her head to acknowledge the roundabout praise to her condition, sighing at the unmistakable spark of jealousy that chased through those scarlet eyes at the mention of the taiyoukai. It was enough that some part of her mind that wanted nothing more than to torture him prodded her to make that subtle dig even a little deeper, "But then, even you thought he was perfect. You did try to steal his body for yourself."

"If I had succeeded, perhaps all that beautiful loyalty you hold for him would have been mine instead," Naraku tilted his head to one side, drawing one hand down over his heart in a meaningful gesture.

"It doesn't matter what face you're wearing, Naraku," Kagome shook her head in denial to that possibility. "Your soul is incapable of tempting me."

"Five hundred years have not changed your mind?" Naraku arched one eyebrow in arrogant question, leaning forward until her ki began to spark in warning. "The taiyoukai may be the most powerful creature you have ever given yourself to, Kagome, but he cannot give you the things that I could have given you."

Kagome held up a hand, smiling darkly when he retreated quickly from the possibility of making contact, "I've already taken everything I wanted from you."

The anger in his expression was gone as quickly as it had appeared as Naraku very obviously composed himself. They stared at each other in silence for several minutes until his eyes filled with suspicion. Tilting his head, he regarded her more critically through a narrowed glare until his brows lifted fractionally in realization, "Ahh, that is what is different about you… there is another soul in your eyes. You've come to show me that you've taken on a new carrier."

"A hybrid," Kagome didn't even bother to deny it. "I absorbed into him a few days ago, but he has only just accepted me. You're right though, he is new. And he wasn't born until after we had become legends."

"I see. Your youngest yet then," Naraku chuckled and let his hands rest on his thighs in a more relaxed position. "But I can taste his jyaki, Tama. This hybrid seems just as blood-thirsty as the rest of us who have succeeded in holding you have been. You must admit your tastes in the souls you attach to run a little strangely for someone with your level of purity. However, I am curious-"

Kagome smiled, sitting back on her heels as she took her time regarding the creature in front of her, "Don't bother asking. I won't bring him to meet a ghost just to assuage your boredom."

"But you have brought me a strange kitsune," Naraku challenged, his face taking on a shrewd look as he puzzled over what he could see and feel from her before he decided on the next question to ask. "Well, well… a soul that you haven't tasted? Not even a little? Tell me then, what are you intending to do with him if he has been allowed to come so close to this place?"

"I am not intending to absorb him," Kagome folded her hands into the voluminous sleeves of her kimono. She hesitated before answering, thinking over what she truly wanted to say before giving in and admitting, "He is… someone who is becoming special to me."

Genuine surprise lit in Naraku's eyes, "A kitsune?"

Kagome couldn't stop herself from letting out an exasperated sound, "Why is that the first thing everyone asks me? Yes, I do have a grasp on exactly what kind of youkai he is."

"Kitsune are notorious for their selfish behavior, Tama, I'm merely surprised that you're so willing to risk repeating the past after how fervently you assured me you would avoid those risks at all costs," Naraku didn't seem the least bit phased by her flash of temper, leaning back as his shouki formed something of a nest of pillows for him to lounge on more casually. "You say so quickly that you're not intending to absorb him, but even you must admit that it may become necessary in the end."

"If it comes to that, I won't hesitate," Kagome's gaze slanted guiltily back towards the doors leading out of the shrine. "But he doesn't know what I am."

Naraku's laughter was practically delighted, "Why my dearest Tama, I don't believe I have ever been more proud of you than I am right now! How deceptive you have become in your old age."

"I'm not as old as you think I am," Kagome countered with a warning frown.

Naraku gave her an arch look, "I have not lost my intelligence since we last spoke, Tama, or my perception. You forget who you are speaking with if you think that I can be fooled as easily as the others you have chosen to associate yourself with."

"What's that supposed to mean, Naraku?" her eyes narrowed sharply.

He leaned forward, smiling up at her like a lord admiring a favored lover, "It means that regardless of what you tell yourself, I can still tell when you are lying. You may not be as ancient as Sesshoumaru, no, but you are also not as young as you wish for them to think you are. Not any longer."

Kagome could feel the blood drain from her face under his knowing smirk, clenching her fists and scowling at him, "How do you-?"

"Know that?" Naraku finished when her voice failed her. "I am still the one who has held you longest, Kagome. The taiyoukai is trying to break my record, but you seem to enjoy pretending it doesn't matter how long you were in my hands before you became what you are now. It was easier for me to feel your soul trapped in limbo considering my current plane of existence."

Kagome gritted her teeth, sighing deeply as she turned her gaze back to the altar, "It would only upset them if they found out the second wish didn't send me back as quickly as they thought."

Naraku chuckled, languidly propping his chin up on an upraised palm as he regarded her with piercing intensity, "How very fortunate then for you to have such a captive audience to play confidant for you regarding such bothersome matters. Of course, you hold the added bonus of being the only living or non-living being capable of walking these grounds… aside from your dear husband, that is."

"Miroku has been here?" Kagome's attention snapped back to him at the information.

"It wasn't a long visit. However, he was only too happy to grace me with his newly ascended presence," Naraku's lips twisted in a faintly bitter smile before he lifted his head enough to make a dismissive gesture with his hand. "The houshi only wished to intensify the strength of the barriers he had created. Implementing all the power a god who still retains his connection with the Shikon-no-Tama is capable of."

"Ruining your remaining hopes of finding a way free of this shrine," Kagome smiled at the displeasure she could feel vibrating off him. "What's wrong, Naraku? I would have thought by now you would have been used to being a remnant ghost."

"Restless spirit, my dear," Naraku corrected her with a smirk as his mood quickly shifted back to something more amicable. "I am not such a simple thing as a ghost as you well know. I never will be so long as you exist," he lifted his other hand to rest two fingers just below the hollow of his throat where the carrier's mark remained clear as the day he had gained it. "Or are you forgetting that I remain as I am for you."

"I never forget the feel of a soul I absorb," Kagome took on a warning tone. "I can only hope the memory of it fades with time."

"I could always refresh that memory," his voice dropped to a deeper pitch as he held out a hand in offering.

"Are you still in such a hurry to lose this last aspect of yourself?" she sighed, ignoring his hand in favor of reaching up to absently touch one of the dormant vines holding her hair in place to comfort herself.

Naraku's hand dropped, closing his eyes and choosing to ask another of his own to change their topic rather than answer her question. "What is his name?"

Kagome stared down at him, not bothering to pretend that she misunderstood who he meant. Carefully guarding against giving away more emotion than she wanted him to see, she murmured quietly, "Youko Kurama."

Naraku went perfectly still. Even the shouki in the chamber seemed to pause tensely, gathering back in on its master rapidly as he opened glowing eyes, boring into her as though trying to piece through every layer of her consciousness with his gaze alone. Naraku sat up with exaggerated precision as he continued to regard her with an intensity that would have been disturbing if not for her considerable experience with the twisted hanyou, "Youko Kurama?"

"You've heard of him," Kagome couldn't quite keep the surprise out of her voice.

"Oh yes, I have heard of him. You have your eye on a thieving kitsune, Tama?" he began to chuckle with subtle mockery, softly at first but rapidly gaining volume as he shook his head at his own private thoughts. There was a sinister edge she remembered all too well when he smiled at her next, dropping his chin to watch her through his lashes as he purred out, "How very nice."

Kagome continued to watch him, brow furrowed in confusion over his reaction as she waited for him to expound on the reasons behind it.

Naraku's expression became more earnest as he rose on his knees to emphasize his greater height over her, leaning forward until she was forced to tilt her head all the way back to meet his gaze. "I wonder… every single time that I find myself wondering if it is possible for you to damage my soul any deeper than you have in the past, you return to prove me wrong. To choose a murdering youkai, a thief, and call him someone special to you when you have turned me and my affections for you aside at every turn-"

Kagome's eyes narrowed, rising to her feet to bring herself higher than Naraku again, "There is no comparison between you and Kurama."

"The only difference is circumstance," he reached out and cupped her cheek, hissing and jerking what was left of his hand back when the ki destabilized and absorbed into her skin with a heavy pulse.

Kagome's stare lost every trace of warmth, glowing deep blue with the spike in her own ki when the souls inside her roused to the familiar taste seeping into her. "Be careful, Naraku. You're forgetting how deeply you made the souls inside me crave you. Or rather… crave absorbing every last piece of you for daring to interrupt our completion and come after us again."

Naraku frowned sharply, standing as his shouki spiraled up his torso to curl and twine around his body until it reached the sizzling limb. The mists filled in the shape of his hand before thickening to recreate a solid form. Sighing in minor annoyance, he flexed each digit separately as the blackness of the shouki melted away into his normal skin-tone and left him whole again. Looking over the repaired hand to Kagome, he flashed her a humorless smile, "I see you still have not forgiven me."

"Don't hold your breath."

Naraku's amusement returned, spreading his fingers for further examination to be certain he hadn't lost too much of himself one last time before he let it drop to his side. "You should have been mine, Tama. You and I… we would have made a perfect world together. Nothing would have ever had the strength to stand against us. We would have been gods, invincible."

"I don't need to be invincible," Kagome folded her arms over her chest, looking at Naraku with an almost pitying expression. "That's why I absorbed you, Naraku. You never did understand what we needed to feel whole. What I wanted."

"Ah, so you still pretend that you are so very naïve and innocent," Naraku shook his head to rebuke her for those idealistic words. "I may no longer be alive, but you know that I have not lost my memories of you no matter how often you try to deny it. And I know that you have not forgotten it either. What you need to be whole is much more than you are willing to admit to yourself."

Kagome took a reflexive step back from him, distractedly raising her hand to let her fingers rest just below her throat as she tried in vain to ignore the blunt truth in those words. "I know what I need."

"Obviously it hides within the body of a kitsune thief," Naraku arched an eyebrow, smirking when her cheeks darkened at the sardonic remark.

"You're still just as much an asshole as you were when you were alive," Kagome squared her shoulders, painstakingly gathering the souls around her to prevent them from getting out of hand when they sensed her growing anger. Satisfied when she had herself under control, Kagome met Naraku's gaze with grave severity and finally gave him the real reason for her visit, "What did I miss?"

That damned brow arched higher, something smug and supremely arrogant turning his eyes a darker shade of scarlet as he returned to his kneeling position, "Ah… So that's the reason you're here. Reincarnation is a beautiful thing, is it not, Tama?"

"Don't fuck with me, Naraku, I'm not in the mood," Kagome took a step closer to her, holding her hand out palm up to let the mix of jyaki and purification inside her spark together in a subtle threat before his eyes. "What of you is still out there with your obsession? What else did you cast off besides Hakudoushi and that thing?"

"What makes you think I know anything?" he gestured around the shrine expansively. "This is my world now, Tama. Anything beyond the walls is a mystery to me."

Kagome set her other hand on her hip and let the ki spark closer to the hanyou this time just to see him quickly twist to avoid the potentially deadly energy. "The only creatures that exist who can speak directly to my soul without difficulty are allowed access because they already have a path in. And we both know how those form."

Naraku studied her impassively another moment, obviously reveling in the chance to have her dependent on his information. Even if it was only for such a tiny space of time, "Before I was purified there were two portions of myself released from my body. One youkai that managed to rip free, and one human soul."

"Onigumo."

"Met him recently, haven't you," the look on his face showed very clearly that he was fully aware she had come in contact with the reincarnation of his human self. "I highly doubt he appreciates your fondness for your kitsune."

"His name is Reiko," Kagome informed him flatly, something inside her taking pleasure in the look of distaste that crossed his face over that simple irony.

"Humans are such ridiculous creatures," Naraku sighed and waved that off in disgust. "But regardless of what idiotic name they are calling the reincarnation of that pathetic human thief, he isn't the reason you're here speaking to me, is it?"

"Who was the youkai, Naraku?" Kagome pressed, answering his question even as she pried for a better answer. "Where is he now?"

Naraku gave an elegant shrug, fully relaxing back into his own most regal mannerisms just to see how frustrated he could get her, "Likely within the Makai, you did know the world was split in three to `keep peace within the races,' didn't you?"

Kagome had to bite down on her tongue to resist the urge to grab him and drain him within an inch of his existence for that condescending tone. He was doing it on purpose, and she knew it… but that didn't change her reaction to it. Only the thought of having to fight those raw emotions if she did helped her refrain from giving in and granting him even more amusement at her expense. Instead, she turned to the altar, reaching out to rest her hand on the bone marker as she gritted out, "Which youkai was it?"

Naraku cocked his head to one side, eyes seeming to soak in the flickering light rather than reflect it, "How strange of you to still think that after so many centuries locked away in this place that I would have such knowledge. Do you think I somehow ascended in the same manner as your husband, Tama?"

"You bastard," Kagome took a step towards him, not in the least bit surprised when he instantly vanished from sight in a swirl of shouki with his laughter ringing through the dim chamber.

"Where is the fun in telling you the answer so soon?" Naraku reappeared behind her, tsking in exaggerated disapproval when she whirled around to face him. "You have dealt with him before, Kagome. Is it truly so hard for you to guess?"

"Anything you've touched is corrupted. Obsessed with gaining the jewel's power at any cost," Kagome's eyes narrowed. "And there were hoards of youkai inside you by the end. How do you expect me to pick out just one?"

Naraku smiled at her, sliding his fingers lazily through his own hair as he answered, "Because, my darling Tama… despite the hoards that were admittedly absorbed to create the body I wanted, only one youkai that I have cast off ever chased after you of his own volition. The same one who fought against me at every turn in order to have you specifically for his very own as soon as he saw your face."

Kagome felt something inside her go cold when an image came to unbidden to her mind, staring at Naraku in complete disbelief at the possibility, "That's impossible. We saw you reabsorb him! You fell apart when you tried to get rid of him!"

"You should know that things do not stay the same forever," Naraku chided softly. "All I needed was more of you to be able to fully separate my human heart from the rest of myself. You were there to see my success in that endeavor."

"You did it on purpose to trap us into killing that part of you and saving you the trouble," Kagome folded her arms over her chest, trying to hide the way she had started to shiver. "Or did you think that I was too stupid to see what you were doing?"

"Hardly," the look Naraku slanted to her very nearly bordered on affectionate. Or at least it would have if not for the edge in his smirk, "I have always been aware that of all your companions, my most lovely Tama, you see me."

"When did you lose Musou?" Kagome ignored him and demanded. "How long has he been on his own? For that matter, how did he separate on his own? You had removed Onigumo's heart by then."

Naraku pondered that for a moment and finally nodded as though satisfied with his inner findings, "Musou became his own creature deep inside us, retaining those desires for you even after I cast out that damn heart. He bided his time gathering strength, and separated from us near the end. He fled before you destroyed us, Kagome."

"He created his own consciousness from inside you?" Kagome knew her suspicion was clearly showing through her face. "With what? How?"

Naraku let out a quiet snort, sending her a mocking glance, "How indeed?"

Understanding had her closing her eyes, biting back a rise in bile over the insinuation below those words, "He had access to the Shikon-no-Tama."

"When so many bodies and souls are forced into one entity, it's common to forget where one ends and another begins," Naraku shrugged, apathetic to the prospect of such an anomaly. "Onigumo's emotions were strong enough to prevent me from killing Kikyou. Why wouldn't they be powerful enough to recreate the youkai body I had foolishly given them in my first attempt to be rid of that weakness?"

"How did he escape your body?" Kagome demanded wearily. "Where did he go?"

"He took advantage of the night our blood ebbed," Naraku lifted one hand up in mocking salute to the sky. "After you left me, I was incapable of holding myself together enough on that night to prevent his detachment. Of course, when you vanished and the barriers were erected to split the worlds, I believe he vowed to lie in wait for the chance to find you in the future. However, you must understand that it was five centuries ago and I am trapped here. I have no way of knowing if he still exists."

"If not him, then are you the one speaking to my soul? Did you feel me appear and decide to use your connection to drive me here?" Kagome asked bluntly, determined to have that suspicion out of the way by the time she left. "The truth, Naraku, I can feel it when you lie to me and you know it."

"I wouldn't dream of it," he gave her a half-bow from his position, never taking his eyes off her throughout the motion. "I'm afraid I wasn't even aware that you had reappeared. I've lost count of the days since I was killed, and I was never aware of the exact time frame you truly hailed from. I take it… there is a youkai speaking along a pathway to your soul who has taken a more personal interest in you? As more than just the jewel? "

"That's the only reason I'm here," Kagome faced the altar again, flicking her hand in a simple gesture that sent the unnatural torches flaring brilliantly to life and chase away the shadows. "I need to know who and what out there has the capability to track me, to connect to my soul that easily and find me even from Makai."

"And so you thought of me," Naraku nodded as though agreeing with that conclusion. "I'm touched."

Kagome's smile was as cold as Sesshoumaru's best, "He's underhanded and cowardly, attacking and whispering to me when he thinks I'll be an easy target. Oh yes, Naraku, I thought of you."

"I have no control of whatever is left of what I was," Naraku shrugged one shoulder, curling one hand to form a tray with two sake cups and a small carafe. "I can feel an echo of them because of my attachment to what they are to me, but you can do the same if you search for what you preserved of myself in your soul."

"I absorbed you to destroy you, not to keep part of you alive," Kagome shook her head when he gestured for her to sit again.

"Come now, Tama, are you thinking of leaving so soon? I so rarely get visitors," Naraku chided, but there was something in his voice- a taunt for the fear she still held after so very long. "Stay a while more to share a drink with the past before you leave to find your future. Let one thief offer his wishes of success to another."

"You would do everything you could to devour Kurama's body and soul if you still had the power, don't think I don't know that," she corrected to prove he wasn't fooling her with that proposed toast. Torn with indecision for a moment, Kagome finally let out a resigned sigh before warily kneeling on the pillow across from him again.

"He has your heart," Naraku answered her accusation as though that was all the reason he needed to harbor such feelings. Although he was more careful to avoid contact with her this time as he held the tray up for her to take the second cup.

Kagome frowned at the absolute certainty in his voice, emptying the cup in a single gulp before holding it out for Naraku to refill, "I said he was becoming special, not that I was in love with him."

"Your eyes tell me a different story," Naraku set down the carafe with almost ritualistic meticulousness. His expression was arrogant and knowing as he seemed to look through her protests and straight into her soul to read the truth for himself. He lifted his own cup in taunting salute, touching the rims together lightly and holding her gaze captive as he drank. "They always give you away, you know. There is a certain light to them, a shine to your aura that comes to you only when you have found someone close to you who you would die to protect. More so than you would for a simple friend, my dear."

"That's no secret. My family is in this time, Naraku, I'm surrounded by people I love enough to die for without question," Kagome defended, but even she could feel the whisper of defensive hesitation in her voice.

"Your family was in the past as well," Naraku pointed out. "When and where makes no difference, Tama, you create the ties yourself. I was foolish to ignore the signs in our time as to the bond that had formed between you and the grandson of the houshi I cursed. I thought my only rival in having your soul in my hands was the hanyou." He pressed the tip of his finger to his temple, and turned it to point at her, "But now I see everything quite clearly."

"I haven't known Youko Kurama long enough to make that kind of decision about my feelings," Kagome gritted her teeth, hating herself for being unable to simply ignore Naraku's challenges. But she could feel it even now, the faint pulse deep in the core of her soul where that tiny piece of their connection remained. The immortal memory that would never fade from the time she- the jewel… had spent fused in the control of the maniacal hanyou. No matter how much she denied it, his bond with the jewel had already been present in the moment it shattered into her skin, undeniable despite her loathing for him, "And I can't afford to enter such situations blindly any longer."

"Suit yourself," Naraku motioned to the carafe, smiling when she reluctantly acquiesced and held her cup out again. "But then, if he isn't someone you have deeper feelings for, why don't you tell him what you are?"

Kagome frowned darkly, turning her face aside and saying nothing as she sipped from the cup.

Naraku laughed quietly again, turning his hand down to press that same fingertip against the floor between them to draw her attention back, "You cannot hide yourself or your emotions from those of us who have carried you so intimately within our souls. But knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that you still know me just as well… why is it that you are willingly discussing this topic with me?"

"You asked," Kagome answered flatly.

"You brought him," he countered easily, taking great pleasure in the level of discomfort radiating off her the more he pressed the issue. "Do not insult my intelligence now, Tama. I may be merely a shadow of life, but I am not a fool. You are presenting this kitsune to each one of your carriers. And that more than anything tells me that your feelings run deeper than they would for someone who is merely `becoming special.'"

Kagome closed her eyes, letting her chin lower towards her chest as the accusation went straight through her, forcing her to rethink her actions, Presenting... Did I-? Oh gods, I've brought Kurama to where I know they can all feel him.

"Better a thief than a monk, my dear," Naraku interrupted her thoughts, smirking at her as he lifted his hand to his mouth and flicked his tongue over the tip of his thumb. "Is that what you are hoping to hear me say? Hoping to have my approval for your choice in taking lovers?"

Kagome's head snapped up, scowling darkly and rising up on her knees as her temper sparked, "You actually think I would ever consider myself in need of that from you?"

Naraku regarded her calmly, his expression never changing, "Then why did you bring him here where my senses can reach? Why did you want me to see him so badly that you would go to the lengths of rebalancing your purification and your protection to pass him through your barrier?"

Kagome composed herself with effort, reaching up to momentarily cover her eyes with her hand in frustration before letting it fall back to her lap. The answers he wanted, he was pushing her, forcing her to look inside herself at emotions and feelings she hadn't even examined for herself. He was doing it again, reaching into her soul and finding all her weaknesses and uncertainty to lay bare before her eyes. They were all legitimate questions… that she didn't want to face just yet.

Once she trusted herself to move without making a fool of herself, she stood and twisted slightly to set the sake cup on the altar before turning glowing eyes back on him. Finally settling on one response that was true without compromising her attempts at privacy, "I brought him to show you just how completely you failed."

"Is that so?" Naraku frowned, eyes narrowing at her choice of words.

"A youkai devouring a human body to make it his own," Kagome affected the most aloof expression she'd ever been able to maintain in front of the hanyou, gaining more confidence as she spoke. "A thief, a killer… no human miko could ever possibly come to care for a soul with those traits, isn't that right, Naraku? Better to absorb her, corrupt her to keep her all to yourself since she'll never be willingly at your side any other way. Isn't that why you did what you did?"

Naraku's lip curled up in the faintest hint of a snarl.

Kagome's smile took on an edge of dark satisfaction as she dug deeper, "The life you wanted and weren't far-sighted enough, or trusting enough to gain. Even the human heart you hated so intensely was reincarnated and is living a life you envy. To think… all those years wasted making your plans; and all that power you stole from us. In the end, Naraku, all that's left of you is a specter of hate in a forgotten shrine while Musou and Onigumo live the lives you meant to have for yourself. And everything you ever desired of me that you were never offered because of your actions, I've willingly giving to a kitsune thief with innocent blood on his hands."

Shouki curled around him menacingly as he rose to his feet in a single, fluid motion. The light from the candles flickered wildly under the rise of an unnatural wind that rippled through their clothes and hair, gathering strength around him with the intensity of his emotions. Naraku's expression contorted with fury, a sound very much like a growl rising in his throat as he reached for her neck. Only to stop just before he reached her, their ki crackling in violent protest against each other as their gazes held for a timeless moment.

She couldn't have begun to guess how long they stood staring at each other, silently waging the war that had never ended between them. But eventually the glow slowly faded from his eyes, serenity returning to his expression as he backed away one step and then another. The air around him expanded outward, bowing the ki oppressively for a brief instant until it turned inward to completely reabsorb back into his body.

Still they remained poised in their silent stalemate until Naraku let out a low, sardonic chuckle and allowed his entire stance to relax in subtle defeat, "I honestly can't decide whether to be furious with you or more proud than I have ever been to see for my own eyes how cruel you've become, my most lovely Tama."

"I learned from the best," Kagome murmured, dipping her head in acknowledge the hand he'd had in that transformation.

"Malice and flattery," he folded his arms over his chest, smiling at her with a twisted sort of indulgent affection. "Careful, my dear, your human façade will only take so much before it becomes obvious how very much you have changed."

"It's only obvious to the ones who knew me before," her expression softened, turning back towards the entrance and taking a step closer to the exit when she paused. Glancing at Naraku, Kagome carefully schooled her expression back into something more neutral, "Thank you for giving me the answers I came for."

Naraku sat down on the altar, drawing one knee up to his chest and letting his eyes trail over her body with lingering appreciation, "Far be it from me to allow other aspects of myself to enjoy what I cannot. You knew that I would revile the thought of them having you enough to tell you who had managed to escape purification."

"I knew I could count on your selfishness," Kagome bowed her head, lifting one hand in blessing as she expanded her ki to mingle with the shrine and reinforce it even further. Peace ran in an unexpected caress through her soul to soothe away a large portion of her anger when she felt the distinct blend of Miroku's lingering energy hum along her senses in answer to her call.

"Kagome."

She curled her hand in to her chest, covering it with the other as she bit back the sudden, inexplicable urge to cry, "Yes?"

"In spite of my displeasure, I still appreciate the courtesy," Naraku absently traced a circle on the altar beside him, fingers mindlessly recreating the symbol burned forever into his mind to send a faint spark along his own long unused path into her mind. "Bringing Youko Kurama with you for me."

"Don't misunderstand my intentions, Naraku," Kagome chastised him quietly, closing her eyes at the flicker of heat chasing between her shoulder blades to answer his pointed recreation. It was proof, irrefutable proof that he had no part in speaking to her soul before now, and it took everything inside her not to allow the souls to violently respond to his summons.

"Enlighten me."

Kagome turned her palm up, staring down at it as her ki momentarily traced its arcane patterns over her skin to reject his call, "For all you think you know everything about me, you never do seem to get it right. I didn't bring Kurama here with you in mind. I brought him for me."

"Now who is being selfish?" Naraku taunted softly.

"I have spent centuries giving myself to others for their delusional whims and desires for omnipotence," Kagome made a simple gesture with her hand to illuminate the path to the shoji more clearly once again. "As I have been told… it's my turn this time."

Naraku watched her walk away from his final resting place, the tomb they had created on this sacred ground, just as she had so many centuries ago. Curling the shadows back around him like a cloak, he let the edges of them spread, twisting and flowing outward across the bland surfaces of the chamber as they would. Once her hand touched the shoji, he shifted his weight to bring her pause and spoke just loud enough for her to hear. "Five hundred years is quite some time to be alone in one's thoughts, my Tama, even for a ghost. Perhaps our next visit will not take so long to occur."

Kagome let out a soft, indecipherable sound as she pushed the shoji open and stepped through. Turning to face the chamber with her arms spread wide to grip the sides of the sliding doors, Kagome looked up to lock their gazes yet again before bowing in mock humility. "After everything I've experienced since the day this all began, I've learned to say that nothing is impossible."

Naraku arched an eyebrow, amusement playing across his features over that vague answer as she started to pull the shoji closed. He wasn't entirely surprised when she paused, slanting a glowing look up at him through her lashes.

"But… you also used to tell me I would learn to appreciate the beauty of suffering," her lips twisted in a purely malicious smirk. "Cruelty, malice… corrupted emotions you were all too eager to call to once I became what I am now. Tell me, Naraku, after all the trouble you went to, which ones do you think you inspire in me the most?"

Kagome slid the door closed with a snap as Naraku's laughter echoed through the walls all around her.

<………>

The sun was just reaching its peak in the sky when Kagome finally stepped out of the shrine. She was too drained to do more than make a slicing gesture with one hand to silence the guardian spirits impatiently when the tried to encircle her again. She folded her arms and frowned up at the sky as they dissipated around her, unable to maintain their forms in the face of her purification. Considering how much later it was than she had hoped, she couldn't stop the slight wince at the thought of the scolding she would no doubt hear from Kurama as soon as she was in arm's length of the kitsune.

Shivering slightly despite the warmth of the sun, Kagome stuffed her hands down in her pockets and turned to stare back at the deceptively peaceful little shrine again. Musou… Dammit all to hell. But it doesn't make sense, he was obsessed with Kikyou not me. The entire time he never realized I was a different person.

Her mind raced with all the potential problems rising from his unexpected appearance, not the least of which being the reaction of the rest of the family. If he was in Makai, wouldn't Sesshoumaru or one the others have heard something? Except Sesshoumaru had never dealt with Musou, probably hadn't even heard of him considering how and when they had faced the bizarre detachment as an opponent. Unless Shippou or Inuyasha had thought to tell the taiyoukai about him. Then again, even if Sesshoumaru had heard of him or knew he was alive in Makai, it was highly likely that he would have kept quiet to prevent her from taking the risk of hunting Musou out on her own. Too many demons of their past had been given their second chance living in that realm from what she had been told.

Her introspection was interrupted by a faint tug, just enough to tilt her head towards the surrounding fence. Blinking in confusion, she reached up and found her fingers immediately encircled with slender vines. Outside the forced suppression from within the shrine, it wasn't long before the rose in her hair was trying to wake and chittering loudly at her in its most disapproving "tone." The tugging became more insistent as it shook of the remaining grogginess, making every effort to guide her in the direction it could no doubt feel its agitated master's ki coming from.

"He's not liking this one bit, is he?" Kagome reached up to stroke the closed bud in an effort to soothe the increasing grunts from her overzealous babysitter.

The rose sighed and made a more distinct tsking sound she was coming to recognize as Kurama's more directly reflected impatience. The vines wrapped through her fingers separated into more vines and reached out, wrapping around her arms to pull even more of her body in that direction.

Kagome nodded and held up her hands to signal her defeat, "All right, all right. I know I've been inside longer than I thought I had… I just lost track of time."

It was hard to tell if she should take offense to the exasperated sigh that came from the plant after that. But regardless of the potential lack of respect from a sentient plant, she couldn't help but roll her eyes, smothering a giggle when it started to mutter to itself. Any irritation she had with it melted under the nostalgic comparison to what she remembered of Jaken's ideas of attending to Rin in her younger days.

Giving in to the increasingly insistent attempts to lead her, Kagome carefully muted her appearance and calmed the agitated souls back into dormancy with every step. Her soul pulsed once, sending a wash of Sesshoumaru's youki from her "stores" throughout her body as it struggled to rebalance her upset system. Reaching out to swing the hidden gate open again, Kagome glanced back at the innocent looking shrine one last time before ducking back through the wall.

Sure enough, the first thing she saw when she stepped around the panel was Kurama standing as close to the barrier as he could tolerate with his arms folded and golden eyes narrowed sternly. Some wicked part of her mind brought her to a stop before she reached him, pondering the merits of standing out of his range to frustrate him. As quickly as that thought occurred to her, he arched one eyebrow to silently, yet clearly convey that he could see exactly what she was thinking. And just as clearly that he was "suggesting" she change her mind.

"You're late, little lover," Youko purred out through Kurama, lifting his hand palm up towards her.

What the hell could she have been doing in there? Kurama sighed heavily at the wave of relief pouring through him, not in the least bit surprised by the rise in anger that followed so closely behind it. Doesn't she know what time it is now? What happened? Why couldn't we feel her? Why can't the rose remember what happened?

`Something inside this place put it to sleep,' Youko frowned at the broken images he was being fed from the worried plant, trying with difficulty to calm his own agitation before it could get worse. `Voices, it says. It remembers voices. She was upset and it was dark.'

That may just have been a tomb, Kurama frowned slightly, wanting to give her the benefit of the doubt through his desire to crush her up against his chest at the very suggestion she had faced something else. But voices? What voices could their have been? She was alone, wasn't she?

Kagome's brows lifted in surprise, not quite believing the emotions he was too distracted to shutter as they flashed through his eyes, "You were… really worried?"

Youko snorted, `Of course I was worried!'

"You have been gone several hours," Kurama winced when the barrier crackled against his hand, but stubbornly continued to hold it out for her.

"Don't do that," Kagome reached out quickly to grip his hand and protect it from the massive amounts of purifying energy. "You're going to burn yourself."

Kurama's fingers instantly closed to trap hers, yanking her through the barrier and wrapping his arms around her to flatten her up against his chest. He didn't even bother to stop Youko from burying their face in her hair and inhaling deeply to let the feel and scent of her wind around them comfortingly, successfully calming them back to a more manageable level.

`That's better,' Youko slid his arms down into Kurama's, pulling her closer as he pressed a lingering kiss to her temple. `Pick her up and get her out of here, I want her away from this place. There's something wrong with it. Something that wasn't in the air when we first arrived.'

Something is watching us, Kurama opened his eyes, staring up at the wall suspiciously at the increasing sensation of another presence somewhere near. "We need to leave," Kurama whispered in her ear, carrying her backwards a step as he continued to search for whatever it was that seemed to have followed her out.

Kagome nodded and closed her eyes, sliding her arms around his neck and letting him tuck her up against him to soak in the possessive feel of him trying to wind around her inside and out. It was funny, but she hadn't even realized just how cold she was, how drained until she felt the warmth of his body. His youki was stroking across her aura, calling out to her senses as it stirred something primal and hungry from deep inside her. In the back of her mind, she realized the vines that had wrapped around her arms were spreading to latch onto Kurama, trying to help bind them together more tightly. But whether it was an echo of her emotions or his own, she wasn't entirely certain.

I told you he held your heart, Tama, Naraku's voice whispered at the back of her mind, making her cringe and tighten her hold on Kurama in a reflexive attempt to push it out through his presence alone. I wonder… how deep will your pain run when he betrays you for your power as well? Will the taiyoukai be enough to save you this time?

"Kagome?" Kurama's attention shifted to the miko in his arms, voice lowering with a note of concern at the complete turnaround in her behavior. She seemed to be crumpling before his eyes, shrinking in on herself and burrowing down in his arms with every second, and he gathered her more carefully against him.

`Show her she's safe with us, Kurama,' Youko's eyes narrowed sharply, pouring even more of his influence into them to actively wrap their youki more protectively around her. `I will not allow her to become this afraid when our arms are around her.'

Inwardly nodding in agreement, Kurama bent to scoop her up in his arms and darted into the trees in an instinctive retreat from the shrine. Whatever had awakened in that place, whatever had been watching them, he wanted to get as far away from it as possible. "Kagome, it's all right," he murmured in her ear, calling out to the woods around them to obediently remove all traces of their passing. "What happened?"

Kagome shook her head, cursing herself for letting her emotions be so badly rattled by the parting taunt, and more for not having an answer besides shutting out the laughter in her mind. Naraku knew exactly what to say to stir up the most painful of memories, and she was struggling to block it out even as she answered him. "They're only memories. I'm being silly, Kurama, I know I am. I just… I let them get to me when I know better."

"It's nothing silly if you feel this strongly," he denied her explanation, pausing on a thicker branch several feet off the ground to stare down at her in growing concern. At Youko's prompting, he dropped a kiss to the top of her head, nuzzling his cheek against her to encourage her to relax in his arms and open up to them, "Tell me what happened. Or let me take this away from you."

Youko? Kurama let the kitsune feel his confusion at that strange request. What are you doing?

`Shh,' Youko shushed him impatiently. `Trust me, she'll understand.'

The words echoed in her mind, and Kagome bit down hard on her lip over the clamor of her soul trying to reach out for him the instant the meaning clicked in her mind. Kagome's fingers dug into his back as she struggled against the seduction in those words, the warmth she could taste behind the offer… and the possibilities of how completely she could use it to her advantage, "I can't let-"

"Nothing more," he readjusted his hold, gently lowering her feet to the branch to be able to support her with one arm so he could tilt her face up with the other. Catching her gaze effortlessly in his, he traced his thumb over her cheek and cajoled, "I promise. I'll even behave."

Kagome stared up at him even as her hands were sliding into his hair, swallowing and inwardly promising that if he could behave then there couldn't be any real harm in it. He was offering, and she was becoming increasingly aware of the gnawing ache of old pain eating away at her soul the longer she looked at him. He was leaning into her hands, his eyes never leaving hers as he traced a light caress across her bottom lip with his thumb in silent temptation and waited for her to respond. Still… fresh from a confrontation with Naraku, she wasn't entirely sure how deeply she might pull-

She opened her mouth with every intention of repeating her concerns albeit reluctantly when he lifted her up on her toes just enough to bring her body completely flush against his own. Her eyes snapped shut before he could see the way they had flashed in answer to that contact, sucking in a sharp gasp as heat snaked through her stomach and sent her reservations tumbling down the wayside, Oh the hell with it.

Kagome pulled herself up at the same time she dragged his face down, her lips meeting and parting his to settle into a kiss that nearly punched the air out of his lungs. Youko took over with immediate enthusiasm, walking them back to brace their weight against the trunk of the tree and winding his arm more securely around her waist. It didn't take much to reposition her higher on his chest, dragging a low, rumbling groan from him when their hips ground together. Not allowing the kiss to break, he dragged her up just a little higher and sunk his free hand deep into her hair. Curling his fingers into a fist, he pulled her head back and let her draw in another breath before covering her mouth with his much more purposefully.

`I told you,' Youko moaned into her mouth, hooking one leg around hers to hold her in place as he released the hold on her waist in favor of sliding his hand up under the back of her shirt. Dragging his hand along her side and around to her stomach, he slipped it up between their bodies until he could feel the steady beat of her heart directly beneath his palm. `She knows us, Kurama, she knows what we are and how we work. Let me show you what we can do that you pretend we can't.'

Wait, Youko, what are you doing? Kurama tried distractedly to rouse himself out of the unbelievable feeling of Kagome practically wrapped around him, being the one to instigate their kissing this time.

`Watch and learn,' Youko grinned wickedly inside their mind, tightening his fist and lifting to arch her back ever so slightly as he splayed the fingers over her heart wide.

The first rush of youki sweeping across her soul nearly buckled Kagome's knees, crying out into his mouth at the intense heat and sheer power within the controlled rush. Holy gods, her mind shakily supplied, fingers clenching in his hair and letting her head fall back under his direction when his lips moved to her exposed throat. He's… oh gods, he's stronger than I thought-

Kurama couldn't stop himself from flashing a smile against her throat when she tried to pull herself even closer to him, Youko's influence was sharpening their canines as he traced the taunt line of muscle down to her pulse. "That's it, little lover," he let his eyes flutter closed as he painstakingly split his focus to stroke his youki over the surface of her ki with expert care, searching for just the right vibration. "Just let me in."

`You see?' Youko lifted their head with a triumphant smirk when he felt the discordant hum darkening her ki. His gaze swept her entire body as best he could see, thoroughly memorized the sight of her body arched and vulnerable, skin practically glowing under his attention as he wound his youki gently throughout that energy and drew it back into himself. `She knew we could take it out of her, she trusts us to make her feel this way.'

Kurama nearly jerked away from her at the familiar spike in their energy, only Youko's sudden snarl and violent refusal to relinquish control stopping the reflexive action, You're feeding!?

`Only on the sad emotions,' Youko defended his actions with a warning frown. `Stop hissing at me, she gave me permission.'

She kissed us, she didn't tell you to suck out her energy! Kurama seethed. You're going to hurt her!

`Don't insult me in that fashion, Kurama,' Youko's voice lowered to a dangerous pitch, eyes gleaming under the wave of pleasure flowing through them to feel the strength of those emotions he was skimming. `Even if you are me, I won't tolerate such disrespect from you. I'm not hurting her, I'm making the pain she's feeling go away.'

Stop it now, Youko, Kurama refused to back down, setting his jaw against the sensations to brace against giving in. She's a miko, she can't-

Kagome's fingers untangled from his hair as though sensing the sudden disagreement inside him, sliding her hands around to cup his face as she pulled herself back up with effort. She knew her eyes were probably bordering on too intense as she looked up at his startled expression, tightening her hold in case he intended to move away when she hadn't taken for herself yet, "Just a little more… Kurama."

Kurama was stunned into silence at that blatant verification of Youko's defense, even as Youko's smile spread into something dark and more than a little dangerous. Nodding his head once, he dipped their head down to murmur against her lips, "Just say the word, Kagome, and I'll stop. I'm not so hungry that I can't control myself even with how truly delicious you taste to me."

"I should stop you," he could feel her lips curve up in a smile against his as she spoke, leaning his head into her left hand when the corner of her thumb brushed his ear.

"Oh?" Youko felt a wholly unexpected warmth curl low in his belly at the teasing pitch in her voice, purring thickly when she gave him another of those slow, lazy kisses he was becoming so addicted to.

"We're in a tree," Kagome pointed out, closing her eyes as she snuck a fraction of his youki into herself when he swept it along the surface of her aura again to be certain he had smoothed out the worst of the pain. Hiding her own actions under his feeding, using the unique strength of his energy to balance the last of her upset and supplement against her own weakness. "And Kouga's waiting."

Kurama couldn't help but chuckle with Youko at that, re-exerting his influence and forcing their hand away from her heart despite the protests from his other side when he felt the kitsune winding down from his feeding, "That argument doesn't particularly compel me. But you're too pale, and I know he's taking us to eat."

`I wasn't totally finished!' Youko growled out, flexing their hand and bringing it to a stop on her stomach to stubbornly keep it inside her shirt. `Dammit, Kurama, you can feel how hot she is right now. Do you know how easy it'll be to convince her to let us play a little more?'

Are you forgetting that humans need to eat? Kurama chided him, closing his eyes and letting out a soft rumbling growl when Kagome kissed him again. Hell, is she forgetting humans need to eat?

Youko blinked and chuckled in amusement at her behavior, but reluctantly pulled back to regard her more critically, `I can feed her what she needs.'

Humans can't live off energy the way you do, Youko, Kurama untangled his hand from her hair grudgingly, combing his fingers gently through it to smooth it back down before wrapping his arms around her waist and rubbing his cheek against hers affectionately.

`In a pinch, they can take it,' Youko pointed out, sighing in resignation when he noted she was indeed looking a little too pale for his peace of mind. `Hell…We need to get rid of Kouga and get back around to more of this when she's got her color back.'

"You need to eat, honey," Kurama tucked her head under his chin, taking in a deep breath. Hissing at Youko to help dampen their arousal enough to function more easily when he felt her teeth scrape lightly over his throat, following it with a lick that only served to heighten that stimulation. "Kagome, you can't let me do things like that to you when you aren't well rested."

`You can be so uptight,' Youko turned his nose up primly. `I told you that I like feeling this, and she started it so you can't blame me.'

That isn't the point and you know it, Kurama let out a sigh of relief when the intensity of their excitement eased. That's better.

`That's a matter of opinion.'

Kurama just rolled his eyes at the kitsune's pout, trying their focus back down to Kagome, "I don't want to risk doing something that hurts you."

Great, now I feel guilty for taking his youki, Kagome made a face from the safety of her position, but still… Everything he said, all his actions, it was as though he was more concerned with her condition than having a chance to feed off her. And she'd felt it, the care he had used and the precision in staying on the surface of her aura, taking out only the negative emotions. Not to mention that'd he'd promised to stop, and followed through with that promise when she'd only made the suggestion that she should. That's… not normal. Why didn't he try to convince me to give him more?

Kurama smiled down at her when she looked up at him with that bemusement written clearly on her face, chuckling as he pressed a light kiss to her forehead, "I don't want to accidentally take too much before I know what you can handle. You're more important to me than just a snack, Kagome."

`Oooh, now that was good,' Youko calmed down when she closed her eyes and leaned into him, her fingers sliding down to his chest and curling in his shirt. `All right then, Kurama, I'll forgive you for before. We can do it your way for now.'

We need her to fall for us, Youko, not just be overwhelmed and attracted to us, Kurama pointed out softly, feeling out the words even as he offered them. You said it yourself, we want all of her. We can be patient a little longer to show her that we will be the ones who can take care of her, we're the one who can give her what she needs. We'll prove to all these assholes around her that we are not a fling.

Youko smiled at the way their lip had curled up in annoyance, winding his arms around Kurama's soul to tuck them closer together as he whispered in his other half's ear, `I knew you would see things my way. Now give our lover a kiss to hold her over until tonight and let's go show that bastard wolf there are no safer hands for her than ours.'

Kagome could feel a blush spreading over her cheeks the longer he stared down at her with such warm intensity, ducking her head and self-consciously brushing her hair back behind her ear. What's wrong with me? He smiles and looks at me like that, and I'm acting like a brainless teenager on a first date all over again. I was a wife, and I'm a mother, dammit, I shouldn't act-!

Kurama hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her face to draw her into a languid kiss, slipping his tongue into her mouth and taking his time to thoroughly draw out all that warmth and emotion he craved. He eased out of the kiss once her arms had crept up around his neck again, taking her lower lip in his teeth for just a moment before reluctantly leaning away. When her eyes opened again, questioning why he had stopped, he winked and swept her back up in his arms, "A promise for later, honey. Next time we'll try it without the tree."