This chapter and the previous one are kinda short. Don't worry, it won't be a trend. I don't think. Thanks to those who reviewed! I hope you like this chapter as well. And yep, Kagome will have moments of OCCness, but you have to understand that a lot has happened differently in this version of the 'story' (we'll be going into most of it, don't worry!), and Kagome has adapted accordingly. But in true Kagome-style---she hasn't lost touch with who she really is. It just takes a little digging... I love Kagome! And it shows in how I always choose her to torture with gratuitous angst! Feel the love! ::squeals as several arrows strike the wall behind her, all miraculously missing by mere inches:: ehhh...hehe...::twitchtwitch::

Disclaimer: I no own. You no own. We no own. Japanese!Miroku's voice makes me melt...Whoops, where did that come from?! (Accidentally caught an episode on Adult Swim. I cried. Then had to go watch my subs. Just say no to dub, minna-san.) Gods, I am such an Audiowhore. But really, could there possibly be a sexier voice??????

And with that completely random moment, let's move on to the story.

To Myself I Turned

Chapter One:

Circle of Giving

I would never think of me as a hero / A bringer of wisdom, of hope, and of peace / I never could think of me in a vortex / Of hope, of future, and vitality.

I can spread my thoughts to flood the room / Embracing and webbing the people reborn. / The love they are feeling I never can taste; / The sadness, the hatred remains my own.

So many souls - they long to be saved, / Some beasts, some sinners, some lost in their fate. / For all to rescue, my lifespan's too short, / Refuse all the evil - divine all the gods?

I never asked for a higher believing / I never questioned the way I was born / I never wanted to walk among angels / I never wanted to be so alone.

Alone with my powers - alone in my mind / (The) holder of darkness - the bringer of light. / This melancholy circle of giving - not taking / Cannot be endured by me.

I'm here to flare a sign / To guide the lost on to their fate. / Like I (once) sent Dante his story to take. / But no one holds that candle for me.

So as the years of helping and bleeding / Had passed away my will to live. / I returned to the sea of my time and my being, / I melted into (the) waves as it was my will.

The Prophet, Dreams of Sanity

The crimson of Sesshoumaru's eyes faded, bringing him back to awareness. Though not enough of him yet. There was a slight rustle of cloth, and he turned in one swift motion, sweeping claws up on instinct and grabbing the hand as it descended towards his face. The beast in him growled warning even as the man tried to push to the surface. The face hovering above his stared down patiently, blinking big brown eyes at him.

Knowing what he was and not being put off by his instant display of aggression, Kagome calmly twisted her wrist out of his grasp and let her hand drop to her knee.

I know this girl. She looks different, but...The glow bled out of his eyes as he stared at her. She stared back, her gaze empty and unhelpful. Her hair fell like a thick black veil around her small shoulders and down her back, the ends of it brushed the dirt as she knelt beside him. With a blink at him, something full of cool amusement, she smiled and rose to her feet. Her grace confused him, he was not used to humans being so calm in his presence. With silent, unhurried steps she crossed the small clearing, giving him more time to study her and her movements. It was clear from the blue hakama and white gi that she was a miko, though it certainly did not explain how she was familiar to him.

She turned back, her dark hair catching sunlight as it fell through breaks in the trees. Staring full at her face as she came back to him, realization finally hit.

She is the human my stupid half-brother was traveling with before...Why is she here?

"Where is he?"

Kagome went to her knees beside him and raised the cup she had retrieved, offering it to him. "Where is who?"

Sesshoumaru swept a hand through the air, causing the offending cup to go skittering across the grass. "You know very well who." He expected to see fear or surprise on the girl's face, but she glared at him coolly.

"I don't know where he is and I don't care."

He's awake. You should go now, came that oh so reasonable voice, sounding a lot like cold water flowing beneathe ice. She heard it, and she even agreed with it, but instead of obeying she found herself balancing back on her heels and studying the youkai before her. He seemed to be mulling over her words rather heavily.

Truth of the matter, he had cast off her statement as a flash of lucidity in the rather murky depths of her feeble human mind. Only a flash because, while she seemed smart enough to recognize his half-brother as the truly worthless creature that he was, she still had not realized the danger that he was.

"What happened," she asked.

He stared at her. Did she really expect him to speak to her? As if she were even capable of understanding?

His silence didn't seem to strike her the way that it should have. It slid across the surface of her serenity, rolling off her like water rolling off the well-oiled feathers of a duck. She smiled at him, a slow curling of her lips that said she had faced and survived things much worse than his stubbornly arrogant attitude.

"You should be dead," she then stated, her smile still in place. It irritated him so. The amusement faded out of her eyes like the shadow of the moon dimming in the brilliance of the dawn. The curve to her mouth remained, giving the look the appearance of something only half-done. She was a peculiar girl. While most humans seemed terrified of silence, she had embraced it.

"I felt it. You should be dead, but you're not." And then she abruptly switched gears, "That's a very interesting sword you have there." She eyed the nondescript blade pointedly.

His hand instantly itched to grasp Tenseiga protectively, but he made no move to do so. She couldn't possibly know what it was.

He glared at her just the same, growing very tired of her questions. "If you value your life, miko, then I suggest you leave. These injuries will not restrain this Sesshoumaru for long."

Rising to her feet, she walked over and retrieved the fallen cup, brushing dirt from its side as she did so. "I value my life," she said, "But you're not my master. I come and go as I please."

"Insolent bitch," but unfortunately that was the worst he could do. Tenseiga had protected him, but not before it let that damn hanyou nearly rip him to shreds. No, not the hanyou, that had all been Tetsusaiga's work. It was truly a magnificent blade, such a pity that it had to be destroyed. Better that though then leaving it to Inuyasha's clumsy hands.

He watched with narrowed eyes as she filled the cup yet again, the clear water pouring in from an unusual container. The waning afternoon sun caught it and shattered into a hundred enticing shards.

He found his tongue thick and dry against the back of his teeth as she approached him once more, liquid sloshing over the vessel's sides. She cupped both her hands around its base as if she were offering him something precious and fragile.

He promptly turned his head away from her, the action taking more strength then he cared to admit. Still, he tilted his chin up and stared blankly into the distance. He'd die before he accepted help from a human.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the strange girl shrug, then lift the glass to her own lips.

TBC...

Next chapter will be much longer. And we will go a little into what Kagome has done on her own (more or less, hint-hint) for the past two years. I want to keep that chapter pretty much together, so that's why this one ends where it does. Thanks for reading everyone! Please review!