Blood Stained: Chapter 21: The Key To Freedom

Blood Stained

Chapter 21: The Key to Freedom

Kagome had been awake for a while, but she wasn't sure Sesshomaru was aware of that fact. Morning had risen quite a while ago and she knew it was not the beast lying by her side, yet, she wondered why he stayed. Perhaps he had heard or felt what the beast had told her the previous night? It had been very hard for her to fall asleep when so many thoughts had been going through her mind. She had been left to wonder many things.

There was no more time to waste and no matter what would come her way, now was the time to move forward. Feelings from both parties were extremely obvious, but that needed to be pushed aside for the moment. She would need to focus on more important things. Before taking a deep breath Kagome turned her head in the direction of Sesshomaru. He was still staring at the ceiling, as if she had not moved.

"Sesshomaru?" she asked, her voice nearly a whisper as if she was afraid to disturb him.

It took him a few seconds, but he eventually turned his head her way, staring into her eyes. "I need to talk to you," she said, before sitting up in the bed.

"Hn," was his only response as he repositioned himself properly in the bed.

It was more than obvious what the conversation would be about since he had been able to feel the changes happening. Deep inside he was cursing his beast and this situation; he had a feeling that for once his pride would need to be taken down a notch. His priority was not to be merged with the beast and it would have to come first.

Usually when he had an enemy he would simply fight it and kill it. But this time his enemy was himself. He could not do that. The only way to access some sort of freedom was through the little Miko sitting beside him. What an odd pair they made, a perfect killer youkai and an innocent Miko, having to cooperate together towards a common goal.

"Drastic times call for drastic measures." When Sesshomaru remained silent she titled her head to the side, her head hanging low. "Future stuff," she said, before proceeding. "At this point, I'd rather be friendly with you than have you merge with it." It was bluntly put, but it was the truth.

Sesshomaru did not pronounce a word, nor did he look at her. He nodded in agreement. He shared the same feelings towards the situation no matter how much it was bothering him.

"We need to spend time together. All the time, if possible." After all, she was stuck with the beast most of the time. How bad could it be if it was Sesshomaru? In her opinion it was somewhat of an upgrade. His features didn't change as she voiced her idea.

"This Sesshomaru agrees." He desired to remain his own person and this he knew would be required to do so.

At first she was slightly surprised by his agreement, but she shook that feeling aside and instead was extremely pleased. Now came the next part where they actually had to do things together. For a moment her mind went blank. What did the great cold, Dayoukai do for fun? She had never seen him smile before, except while fighting or reading, he didn't seem to do much. Granted it was expected of him to be this way, he should still have a hobby.

"Any suggestions?" she tried asking.

Sesshomaru wasn't much of a talker and if he had to talk to the Miko this whole time, surely it would drive him insane. He wasn't familiar with the concept of spending time with people. He was not sure how it was done and how exactly people wasted their time. When he remained silence, she decided to come up with something.

"How about we actually go past the limit of your castle” as the thought struck her.

"No," he said, this time extremely quick to answer.

Kagome seemed a little surprised by his answer; she would not run away right now, she wasn't an idiot. It would lead nowhere while she still had her bracelet.

"Why not?"

Perhaps the Miko was more clueless than he previously thought.

"There is a barrier around this Sesshomaru's castle. It is the reason why Naraku does not know where you are Miko."

Naraku flashed in her mind for just a moment. With all the past events she hadn't given him much thought, especially since she considered herself here trouble at the moment. The beast would never have let her go to find the remaining jewel shards. She brought her hand to her heart as a pain suddenly hit her as she thought about her friends.

"You have been known to be gone for a few weeks at the time in the past, correct?"

She nodded.

"Naraku may not be looking for you yet. If you go past the barrier, he will know your location."

Kagome remembered Naraku wanting to absorb Sesshomaru and wondered if that wish was still present. She wondered what he would do if he found here her, as Sesshomaru's mate. Surely the beast would come out if any harm was to come to her. It might endanger Sesshomaru, which was what he probably desired to avoid. The beast would probably throw itself in the way rather than let something happen to Kagome, something Sesshomaru would not do.

Then it was really true, until she had that damn wretched bracelet off her wrist this was her prison. She could not cross that line. She sighed, as these realizations came down on her, and she bit her bottom lip. At least this time he had warned her of something. Kagome gave herself a few seconds to re-focus herself on their current discussion.

"Maybe just conversation will do for now." Unless he revealed a little bit more about himself, or suggested something that wouldn't annoy him. They were differently stuck. Even this was somewhat awkward.

"What do you do all day?" She just had to ask.

Sesshomaru looked away, bothered by the situation, but he answered nonetheless.

"This Sesshomaru usually travels, but the current conditions prevent this. There is not much in the castle, perhaps a few scrolls to read over."

Kagome had never imagined him as the type who would like to sit around and do nothing, and she had been right.

"What about Rin?"

"What about her?"

There was this whole mystery surrounding the little girl and someone could not help but wonder.

"Why did you save her life, why does she travel with you?"

Perhaps it was the most wondered about question, but she was one of the few to actually voice it out.

"I was merely testing the Tenseiga when she was brought back to life."

Kagome pinched her lips together, knowing there was a lot more to the story. That or Rin wouldn't be in the castle at the moment.

"That doesn't answer my second question."

Her tone came across somewhat arrogant, which he did not appreciate, but he let it slid.

"She travels with this Sesshomaru because she desires too. Rin is free to leave whenever she pleases and join a human village."

The young Miko wanted to add that it would probably hurt him if she did so. He would miss the little girl dearly, but she knew better than to open her mouth. For the first time she had heard emotions laced in his voice as he spoke about Rin. It was strange to think such a little human girl had managed to wrap herself around his cold heart.

Sometimes it gave Kagome hope that this might be easier to do than she thought. After all, if Rin could manage to get some feelings out of him why couldn't she? There was more under his fade that he was hiding, which lead her to believe something happened in the past to make him this way. Nobody was born without feelings.

"Miko, do you have something you wish to say or do you intend on remaining in your own world?"

His voice brought her back, and she shook her head.

"I was just wondering something… about me."

It didn't sound very convincing, but she knew Sesshomaru couldn't care less about what was going on in her human mind. She decided to change the subject away from Rin and decided to ask questions that had been running through her mind.

"How far along do I look?"

Kagome could remember the beast telling her youkai pregnancies were 4 months, and she knew a human pregnancy was 9 months, which left her in between, at least in her opinion. There was always the possibility that a hanyou developed as fast as a youkai, which would leave her at four months. But, her stomach wasn't very big, but she did show more than a normal pregnancy.

Sesshomaru turned his head in her direction, eying her stomach for a few seconds. Now, you could begin to see the bulge through her kimono, but it was minimal. He was mostly used to youkai pregnancies and perhaps a little bit for humans, but hanyou… the only one he had ever seen pregnant was Izayoi. At first, when his father had began to see Izayoi he had not told Sesshomaru. One day he had followed his father, only to catch a glimpse of Inutaisho with a very pregnant Izayoi. Not many good memories were associated with this human woman and the further she was from his mind, the better.

"Three months, perhaps four," he finally answered.

She breathed out heavily, before nodding her head. Kagome was crossing her fingers hoping that it would at least be over in 6-7 months, because she just was not ready at the moment. Especially considering the fact she was still stuck in the feudal era and trapped by the bracelet. Although if it was that much longer, she feared that before the birth occurred, Sesshomaru and his beast will have merged, leaving her stuck in the feudal era forever. Kagome wrapped her arms around her belly in a protective manner.

"Rin suggested a name the other day, for a boy." Kagome doubted he cared about the child or what it would be named, but they were supposed to be having a conversation. And subjects to talk about hardly came up when it came to Sesshomaru.

It came to no surprise that Rin wanted to be involved in the pregnancy. Sesshomaru hadn't expected her to come up with a name, at least perhaps not so soon.

"What is it?" he asked, his tone somewhat disinterested.

To be honest, Kagome didn't think he would want to know, because never so far had he shown any type of interest in the child, but she would answer him nonetheless.

"It's Kiyoshi."

Pure. The name was the most ironic choice. A hanyou could not be pure, it was a mix, it was stained, and surely there was nothing pure about the way its life was created. Nothing surrounding it was happiness or purity.

"Interesting." There was no other word he could use or say, at least not that would be offensive, and at the moment, it was what they were trying to avoid.

Kagome raised her eyebrows before shaking her head softly. This reaction had been very unexpected, but at least she had gotten an answer out of him. Meaning he was at least trying. Even though, compared to what she had to do, it wasn't very complicated nor hard.

"You know, you're not giving me much to work with," she said, preventing an awkward silence to install itself between them.

It appeared, unless she would say something Sesshomaru would not talk, nor initiate the conversation. Granted she was usually the one who could talk on and on, especially when she was nervous but the circumstances were different this time. She wasn't at ease around Sesshomaru and considering everything that happened between them, she wasn't exactly looking forward to being friendly with him.

"This Sesshomaru has nothing to say."

Kagome pressed her head against the headboard before sighing.

"Any questions you want to ask me?" At least talking would make the day go by faster. On top of that it was a chance to talk to Sesshomaru instead of his beast.

There was only one question that only she could answer which had been in his mind for a while, but it was not about her.

"You believe Youkais are gone from your time only because you never felt one?"

Kagome nodded.

"I don't think there would be absolutely no youkais in all of Ja- the area where I live," she said, correcting herself.

He titled his head to the side slightly, thinking.

"This Sesshomaru finds it hard to believe humans would have outlived youkais."

She was not a big fan of all the youkais, but she had to agree with him on that point. They were more powerful and lived longer to begin with. What had occurred for every single one of them to disappear? Surely if a catastrophe had happened, humans would have been affected to.

"Perhaps youkais are concealing themselves," he said, coming up with a theory of his own.

"Concealing?"

"They are hiding their youki. Perhaps taking on more of a human form and merging with your people. They look like humans, they act like humans, but they are youkais." Unless all youkais were together, living in one community, nearly hiding from the world, there was no other explanation.

Kagome cringed her face slightly, confused.

"Why would they do that? They have no reason to fear humans."

"Perhaps they do. But by blending in, they might be more powerful than humans in other ways. Be on top, and actually control humans."

The first thought that came into Kagome's mind were the big shots in a company. She could hardly picture them being youkais. This was insane, it sounded as if there was a big conspiracy between youkais that the whole human world was not even aware of. The next question would be how would humans scare youkais? Granted there were talismans that they could protect themselves with, but would they really take it as far as making weapons to hunt down youkais?

"I think someone would have found out by now if it was the case."

Perhaps Sesshomaru was coming up with theories because he couldn't accept the fact that his whole race had died, she couldn't really blame him, but that didn't mean she was going to encourage his ideas.

"There is a positive side," she added before he could talk, "if there's no youkais in my time, that means the bond should break once I get there."

Technically, he would be dead in her time right? Meaning the mark on her neck would disappear since her mate was dead, right? She wasn't actually sure it worked like that in the first place, but it was hard to believe she could travel through time by the means of a well. She hoped that she was correct, if you followed her theory, many things should have been different with her from one side to another. She didn't think she had the patience or brains to try and understand the time traveling theories all by herself.

"Hn." Sesshomaru had a feeling it did not work this way, but just like Kagome, he could only hope it would sever the bond between them.

"How long do youkais live?" This talk about youkais in her time had her wondering if there was actually a Sesshomaru still living in her time. That thought scared her.

"Would you still be alive 500 hundred years from now?"

"Yes, Unless this Sesshomaru was killed."

Kagome's grey eyes widen slightly before she smiled a little.

"Then youkais don't exist in my time," she said, her tone slightly amused.

"Explain," he demanded not understanding her reasoning.

"It's simple really," she said, a small smile still present on her face, which was a rare sight, at least in Sesshomaru's company. "If you did exist in my time, don't you think you would have stopped me, or warned me about all of this? You don't want to be in this situation either. Meaning you would have tried to stop me from going, correct?"

For once the Miko made some sort of sense to him and proved herself. There was no way he could deny her words or theory. He had no desire to be with the Miko and he hardly believed that would change in 500 hundred years. Why wouldn't he stop her from coming or warn her about what his beast would do?

"Perhaps you are right, Miko."

It was weird to hear Sesshomaru agree with her, since it was so rare, but she appreciated it. Then they were interrupted by the sound of her stomach growling announcing her hunger. A blush appeared across her cheeks as she released her stomach. Kagome was about to get up thinking she could get some food, but Sesshomaru stopped her.

"We do not know if you are still ill. You will stay in bed this time. Food will be brought to you," he said, his clawed fingers tightly wrapped around her tiny wrist.

Kagome could see in his eyes that this time, he would not let her challenge him. His pride demanded obedience from her. Obviously her first natural instinct would be to fight that, but she had to agree with him on one thing; her health. Ever since the mating it had been poor, she could hardly afford to be sick once more.

Slowly, she sat back down in the bed. Once she was back in her previous position he released her wrist. Then, it was his turn to rise from the bed and walk in direction of the door so he could order one of the servants to bring her some food. Kagome watched him, a sigh escaping her lips. She had a feeling that before the day would be over she would go crazy. Not only was it planned for her to spend the whole day with Sesshomaru, but also then she had to spend her night with the beast. It seemed like way too much for one day, but it was as she had said earlier.

Drastic times call for drastic measures.

***

"Where's Inuyasha?"

Miroku raised his head, looking at Sango as she asked her question. Then he looked around the area trying to spy the hanyou's whereabouts, but realized he was not present. Although to be honest, he had not paid much attention to Inuyasha. After the events that had occurred with Kagome he hadn't been able to look at Inuyasha the same way and it was hard to forgive him for what he had done.

"I assume he's around here somewhere," he said before resuming his cooking.

Sango didn't seem convinced as she walked a little deeper in the forest to get a look.

"I scanned the area, but I didn't see him."

Unlike Miroku, she had begun to keep tabs on Inuyasha. Unknown to him, she knew about his little meeting with Sesshomaru and she did not like that one bit. Especially the fact, that he had kept this bit of information hidden from them. Granted they were not exactly talking at the moment, but that was something concerning Kagome and he should have shared it with them. From then on, Sango made sure to know where he was going, not for his safety, but for Kagome's sake. She might not be able to help her friend at the moment, but if she could prevent her from more pain and suffering, than she would.

Also, it might be the only thing keeping her from going insane. Ever since Kagome had been taken, their search for the jewel shards had stopped. This was probably due to the fact that without Kagome, it was extremely hard to locate any of them. Only one person could do it except from their friend and that was Kikyo, none of them wanted her help. Not only did they not like the clay Miko, but also it would be betraying Kagome.

"I think he's up to something," said Sango as she sat down on a log beside Miroku.

Miroku could see the growing pain in Sango's eyes, but he was unable to help her. He couldn't stop himself from looking down at his curse hand, his heart heavy. As much as Sango, he had no desire to use Kikyo to help them find the shards, but they would need to find either another way to locate the shards or kill Naraku because every passing day, his time was shortening.

He had promise Sango a life, a new one, perhaps a better one, but he doubted his abilities to fulfill these promises. He flexed his hand, trying to chase his thoughts away. He had always been aware of his condition, but now was not the time to allow himself any depressing thoughts.

Miroku stood up, his fish nearly falling into the fire. "Let's find Inuyasha."

Sango stood up unsure, before casting a glance in the direction of a sleeping Shippo. "We can't leave him by himself."

It was heart breaking to watch Shippo reach nearly a new low every day. Perhaps the loss of Kagome was the hardest on him, losing a third parent. Although this situation had brought a change in the little kit, he seemed more determined. Shippo was not smiling as much as he used to, but a fire was lighting his blue eyes every day. As if he desired to be stronger, better and that perhaps, that way he would be able to bring Kagome back. Obviously nobody had any intention of crushing his hopes, glad that he could find a goal in something.

"Kirara, would you watch over Shippo?" said Miroku, looking in the direction of the neko youkai.

She did not make a sound, but gently moved over to where Shippo was. Wrapping her tails around him, as if in a protective manner.

"I doubt anything will happen, we won't be far," said Miroku, trying to re-assure Sango.

She nodded before leading the way into the forest, where she hoped they would find Inuyasha. When the hanyou was upset he would make his most stupid decisions. She had a feeling it was exactly what would happen. Of course she had no proof that he was heading anywhere towards Kagome, but something inside of her was screaming, telling her to find him.

Sango had always trusted her instincts.

***

Nearly half of the day had gone by and yet time was still moving too slowly for Kagome's taste. After she had eaten, Sesshomaru had suggested she take a nap. Even thou Kagome didn't feel very tired, she had agreed to it. First of all, it would give her a small break from Sesshomaru. Though he would remain in the same room, considering what they had planned, she intended on giving her body as much rest as she possibly could.

She had awakened nearly an hour ago, not much had been said. Sesshomaru was not in the bed by her side anymore, but instead, was in a chair near her, finishing some reading he had been doing. Kagome could only imagine the knowledge he had from reading so much. Perhaps he would find her math book interesting and easy to understand. Nonetheless, he might be busy, but she was not.

"Do you think Rin could come?"

The little girl hadn't been around both of them very often, especially lately, but Kagome could hardly believe it would be a problem. Actually Sesshomaru should appreciate the idea since it meant he wouldn't have to spend so much time with only her.

"As long as you stay in the room, the beast should feel my presence near you." She added in afterthought.

Sesshomaru didn't answer, but instead rose from his seat and walked in direction of the door. Kagome felt like rolling her eyes, did he really believe she could not do anything at all on her own? It took less than a few more seconds for Sesshomaru to take his seat again, still remaining completely silent. Still, Kagome imagined that he had sent someone to get Rin and that she would be arriving soon enough.

Kagome was indeed right and a few minutes later, a knock could be heard on the door.

"Sesshomaru-sama, Kagome, may Rin come in?"

"Of course!" said Kagome, her tone already much more cheerful.

Rin didn't need to be told twice, she gently slid the door open revealing the grin on her face as she entered the room. Kagome moved over a little so Rin would have plenty of room in the bed, the little girl joined her. Sesshomaru only raised his glance a few times to take a look at the two girls sitting together. From the way Rin was acting it was obvious she was fond of the Miko and felt comfortable in her presence.

Watching Rin, reminded Kagome of Shippo, and the time she had spent with him. She could still see him laying on his stomach drawing their latest battle with colored pencils. Colored pencils. She usually brought a new box for Shippo every week since he was going through them so fast, and she probably still had one in her bag. Her bag.

Sesshomaru had taken hold of it the very first day she had arrived at the castle, she hadn't seen it since then. There hadn't been much reason to want it back, but now, once she remembered all the stuff she usually stuffed in that bag, there was probably something that could be use as entertainment.

"Sesshomaru?"

He closed his eyes before lifting them off his scrolls to look into hers. "What is it Miko?"

"Do you still have my yellow bag?"

To be honest, he had long forgotten about the Miko's yellow bag. It had been stuffed into a room with the rest of her stuff. Apart from the few objects he had found strange before he knew she was from the future, he hadn't seen it in months. Although he doubted any of his servants had moved it, or taken things from it.

"Yes."

A glow of excitement appeared in her eyes.

"Could I retrieve it myself?" she said, not wanting him to ask someone to do it, like he had done all day long.

Sesshomaru didn't seem very pleased with her suggestion, but he nodded. "Ask Sayomi, she is standing by the door."

"Rin, do you want to come with me?"

The little girl glanced in the direction of Sesshomaru, but never did he show any sign that it would be a problem so she nodded. "Rin would love to go!"

Kagome grabbed her hand before getting off the bed in the direction of the door. She didn't look in the direction of the Dayoukai as she exited the room. Obviously as soon as they came out, they saw the youkai Sesshomaru had been referring to, and there would be no confusion since there was only one.

"Excuse me, Sesshomaru said you would know where my bag is?"

The youkai nodded. "Third room of the fourth hall."

Kagome blinked a few times. There was more than one hall in this castle? She had barely done any exploring and frankly by herself she would get lost.

"Rin, do you know where that is?"

The little girl nodded. "It's by the second door that leads to the garden."

The young Miko smiled, relieved that she had Rin with her.

"Lead the way," she said, before backing away slightly, so she was not behind Rin, causing her to release the little girl's hand.

With a smile on her face Rin began to walk forward, excited to retrieve Kagome's bag. She had no idea what was in the bag, but from the tone of Kagome's voice, she could tell it would be something exciting. She was so happy to be able to spend some time with Kagome. She hadn't been able to seen the Miko in a number of days.

As Rin lead the way, Kagome made sure she paid attention to where they were going, so she could know the castle a little more. Perhaps in the case she would need to leave, or maybe just to know her surroundings. Quickly enough they reached the door and Rin was the one to open it rushing inside. Kagome followed her actions finding herself in a nearly empty room.

There was a table placed in the middle and on it there were a few objects which belonged to her laying on the table. There was a deck of cards, one of her math books and chocolate, ironically two of these things would please Rin a lot.

Her glance moved to the corner of the room where her yellow bag was leaning against the wall. She smiled slightly before walking in the direction of it and picked it up. Kagome unconsciously hugged it to her. It reminded her of home and all her adventures she had with her friends in the past. Kagome didn't let it bring her down as she slid one of her arms through the bag strap, just like she had done so many times before.

“Kagome, are we bringing these too?” asked Rin, pointing at the objects on the table.

“Yes,” she said smiling, “can you carry them?”

Rin nodded before taking the math book in one hand, the chocolate and deck of card in the other one. A few minutes later they had reached Sesshomaru's bedroom. Sliding the door open and finding Sesshomaru still sitting in the same chair. He watched as the two human girls dropped their treasures on the bed. Rin's eyes opened slightly wider than usual. The little girl had so many questions and was curious to find out what everything was.

The first thing Kagome picked up was the chocolate. She handed it to Rin.

“You can have some chocolate if you'd like.”

That was when they felt Sesshomaru move. Both of them turned their gazes his way, watching him as he made his way towards the bed. He took the chocolate bar from her hand before sniffing it, inspecting it to see if it would be harmful to Rin. As if she would give Rin something to hurt her. Kagome had a slight panic as she wondered if chocolate was also harmful to inuyoukais. She could see Sesshomaru was going to taste it. If it did affect him she didn't want anything to happen. After all, the only person who could remove her bracelet was him.

“Maybe you shouldn't eat that.”

Her words attracted his attention and he pulled it away from his mouth. “Explain yourself Miko.”

Kagome sighed heavily.

“Chocolate is harmful to … well to dogs,” she blurted out. “It's completely harmless to humans, but it causes dogs' hearts to beat faster, and can cause their hearts to stop.”

Technically she didn't know if it would do anything to him, but it would be better to be on the safe side.

“Rin can eat it though, it won't hurt her.”

Sesshomaru dropped the chocolate bar onto the bed before sitting on the edge, which surprised the young Miko. He didn't know what else she had in her bag, but he would make sure to find out what everything else was before letting Rin have it. He stared down at the chocolate bar as if he had been trying to destroy it with his mind. He doubted such a little thing could affect him, but he did not know these things from the future. It would be better simply to be on the safe side.

Rin took the chocolate bar in her tiny hands and took a small bite. A taste she had never known filled her mouth.

“Kagome, Rin likes this!” exclaimed the little girl, after swallowing her first bit and giving Kagome a big happy smile.

Kagome, who was roaming through her bag looking for the art supplies, smiled at her. That's when she found the prize and pulled out the crayons and the paper out of her yellow bag.

“Here you go Rin,” she said, before laying it out on the bed.

To show her how it worked, Kagome took the blue pencil and began to draw on the paper making small waves appear. Rin watched in amazement before raising her head.

“May Rin try?”

“Of course, it's all for you,” said Kagome handing her the pencil.

As Rin lay on her stomach drawing on the paper, it reminded her of Shippo once more, but this time she didn't feel nearly as sad. Perhaps it was the thought of having someone that helped her feel better being beside her. Nonetheless, whatever it was, she was grateful for it and appreciated it. Kagome caste a glance towards Sesshomaru who she saw was carefully observing Rin as she drew. If only he could always be that caring.

-B-

They had spent the rest of the day with Rin, looking through her bag which had brought back many memories for Kagome. But now it was different, the sun was about to set and Rin had gone to her room. Sesshomaru would soon transform. Both of them were still on the bed, Kagome pressed against the headboard and Sesshomaru still sitting on the edge of the bed.

“I want to go to Kaede's village,” announced Kagome, breaking the silence.

Sesshomaru turned his head in her direction. “Miko, it is not possible, he will not let you.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “What if I said it was because I wanted Kaede's advice about my sickness?” Kaede's village… if only she could reach it she would be near the well.

“The beast does not trust this Sesshomaru enough, Miko.” It was obvious to know what she was planning, but he had doubts it would work. She nodded.

“One week.” They needed enough time to plan everything, but not too much for things to get out of control. Like Sesshomaru and his beast merging. “Let's leave in a week.”

She had been more than decent towards the beast, and if she spent so much time with Sesshomaru, surely the beast could not refuse. Kagome knew she could work the part, but the only question was, could Sesshomaru do the same?

“In a week, I'll bring the idea up.” If she hid it from the beast it would only make things worst. The best plan was to be completely honest from the start. Plus there was no point in going and trying to escape if he was only going to stop them in the middle of it.

Sesshomaru seemed to ponder her whole plan/idea. Perhaps it would be enough time to gain some type of trust, especially considering the fact that his time was running out. He had no intention of being merged only to lose himself in the process.

“In one week,” he said, agreeing with her.

A sigh of relief escaped Kagome's lips as she heard his words. Now the only thing left to do was pray that the beast would let them go. Obviously that would require a lot more work from her and Sesshomaru. It also probably would involve a lot more contact. Although they couldn't push it too far or the beast would realize what Sesshomaru and her were trying to do. It just needed to look like Sesshomaru was beginning to feel something towards her. For Kagome, it wasn't as hard since the beast thought she had begun to care for him, so why not Sesshomaru too?

It was almost hard to believe that they might have a chance at this. Although, they would need to be extra careful once they reached the well. All they had was a few seconds to make this work before the beast figured out was happening. One little slip up and things would be worse than they were before, for both Sesshomaru and Kagome.

They had one chance, and they could not afford to waste it.

-B-