Her feet took her along the familiar path to the familiar tree. The god tree stood just above her, its large green leaves bathed in moonlight. Unfortunatly, Kagome hadn't come here to enjoy the scenery. She hadn't even ment to come here at all, but fate had other plans. She sat at the base of the tree, silent tears streaming down her face. Inuyasha was such a bastard, she couldn't even begin to discribe it. There weren't enough words in the universe to desribe what he was, including words from her own time, 500 years in the future. What she had just witnessed kept swimming infront of her eyes, blurring her vision with even more tears.

Kagome ran through the woods, trying to get away from the monster that was attacking her. The snake demon slithered in and out of the underbrush, making it impossible for her to know its location. She wished Inuyasha was there to save her, but he was out hunting, and she didn't want to draw more attention to herself by calling for him. Not that negleting to call for him would fair her any better. Suddenly she tripped, the offending root sticking out and cutting her leg. She laid sprawled on the ground, panting from her fruitless run. She looked around wildly for something she could use to defend herself with, and her eyes fell on a broken branch that was at least a yard and a half away from her. She scrambled over to it, knowing that it was her best shot against the demon. It had already broken her bow, and unfortunately, that was her only weapon.

She spun around, and channeled as much purification energy as she could into it. The snake demon was closer than she expected, and before she could plunge the stick into the goddamn thing, it sunk its poisonous fangs into her shoulder. Almost as a reflex, she shoved her makeshift sword into its stomach, and the scream of agony that followed made Kagome cringe. Any demon within a hundred miles would have heard that. Half demons too. With that thought she set off to find Inuyasha, ignoring the blistering pain in her arm as the poison spread.

She soon found Inuyasha, but he wasn't alone like she'd hoped. He stood in the center of a clearing, with Kikyou wrapped in his arms, oblivious to the outside world. Unfortunatly, he heard Kagome's cry of pain and smelled her tears. He tore himself away from Kikyou and sniffed the air, turning around completely to where she had been standing moments before. Her scent was still there, but it smelled wrong. Suddenly he relized what the problem was. Kagome was injured, he could smell blood and poison, and the blood was hers. He followed the scent.

He found Kagome on the ground, either unconious or dead, he shuddered to find out which. The Shikon no Tama was in her outstreached hand, she had been keeping it safe since they completed it and killed Naraku few months ago. Bending down, Inuyasha scooped her up into his arms, not bothering to note that her heart was still faintly beating, and took off to see Keadae.(is that how you spell it?)

Keadae's hut was in turmoil, everyone was pacing the floor, cursing, and being violent. Everyone except Kagome, who was the object of all the stress, and Keadae, who was trying to tend to Kagome but was having trouble in the crowded hut. Finally she had enough. "OUT!" she bellowed, and everyone scrambled out of the hut as fast as the could, tripping over each other in the process. Normally she wouldn't have yelled, but nobody would have heard her otherwise. And now that they were gone, she could fix Kagome.

A few hours later Keadae came out of the hut and handed the Shikon no Tama to Inuyasha. Everyone looked between it and the hut. "Is- is she okay?" asked Sango, already knowing the answer. Keadae wouldn't have given Inuyasha the Shikon no Tama if she was. Keadae shook her head sadly. "There was too much poison in her body, and by the time I got there it was too late." A pained silence fell over the group, Songo and Shippo sobbing silently, and Miroku looked like he had just been informed that his wind tunnle was back. Inuyasha stood there in stunned disbelif. Kagome couldn't be gone, she just couldn't! He pushed his way passed Keadae, who looked at him in surprise, and entered the hut. He saw Kagome, lying on the floor of the hut, and it was painfully obvious that she wasn't breathing. He fell to his knees beside her and stared at her lifeless form, wishing that she was still there with him. He'd give anything for her to live, even his own life.

Suddenly the jewel started glowing, and an image appeared infront of him. Two mikos walked up to him, and one was easily recognizabe. "Kagome!" Inuyasha cried out, over joyed to see her. However, when he ran forward to embrace her, she moved out of the way. Hurt and confused, he looked at her, and he saw pain on her face, a pain that was so obviously caused by him. "Kagome i'm-" he was cut off as she shook her head. "Sorry?" she asked. "And just how sorry are you, Inuyasha? Certainly not sorry enough to stay away from her." He stared at her. "I'm sorry enough to use the jewel to bring you back! Isn't that enough?" Suddenly the look of pain on her face was gone. In its place was a look of hatred and betrayal. "You're not sorry, you feel guilty. You're doing this to save yourself the guilt trip." He growled because he knew it was true. He felt responable for her death because he wasn't there to protect her, so he was bringing her back to life to rid him of the guilt. "Whatever your motives, your wish is selfless, wishing another back to life. Therefore, she shall return to the living world. However, some one must take her place, and it must be done willingly." said the second miko. Inuyasha gulped. He didn't want to die. But he was the only one who would be able to switch places with her. "I will." he said. And with those two words their fates were sealed. She'd return to life and he would follow the other miko,(and in case you havent guessed its Midoroku-i think thats how you spell it), to hell.

Kagome slowly turned her senses on. She distinctly remembered being dead, so where was she now? Heaven? Hell? Limbo? Or was that dream with Inuyasha in it real? Had he really died to let her live? It didn't seem like some thing he would do. She slowly opened her eyes, ready for the worst. What she saw made her heart wrench in pain. Sango and Miroku sat holding onto one another, crying. The sound of their sobs seemed abnormally loud, but she passed it off as a side effect of her just returning to life. She could also hear Shippo crying in one of the far corners of the hut, and her mothering instincts took over. She had to get to her kit. She sat up, and was surprised to find that she was in no pain. Everyone in the hut looked over to where she sat, hearing the noise. Everyone stared, and Kagome figured it was because she had already been pronounced dead, and her being alive was a miracle. "Okaa-san, is that really you?" asked Shippo. "Of course it is, Shippo-chan!" Kagome replied enthusiastically. "Inuyasha wished on the Shikon no Tama and brought me back to life!" Then she froze, remembering what the conditions were. She gulped. "Ano... where's Inuyasha's body?" They all looked at her, wondering what they should tell her. " Ano... we buried it." Shippo finally said. "We were going to bury you too, but Keadae noticed that you were alive and breathing wile Inuyasha was dead in the floor." Kagome nodded. Then a thought struck her. "If you knew that I was alive, why did you look so surprised when I woke up?" Everyone deemed it fit to stare at her again, and this time Sango broke the silence. "You've been sleeping for a few days now, Kagome, only about three but still, and so we havn't actualy spared you alot of glances. And, well...you need to look in a mirror." Kagome glared at her. "I know running, fighting and dieing all in the space of two and a half hours isn't good for your physical appearence but I can't look that bad Sango!" Miroku cracked up laughing and Shippo launched himself into Kagome's arms, laughing in relief. "Come on Kagome, let's go take a bath, Kami knows you need it," Said Sango, and Kagome glared at her, half tempted to smack her upside the head.

The hot water felt good on Kagome's tired mucsles, however, she wasn't as tired as she knew she should be. This, too,she passed off as being a side effect, telling herself she'd feel it later.

Later came and she still felt as lively as ever. She couldn't sleep when it was time to go to bed, so she waited until everybody was asleep and then got up and left, walking out of the village. When she got to the edge of the forest she took off running, hoping that that would calm her down. Unfortunatly, all it seemed to do was exilerate her even more. She coulden't ever remember running this fast, not even when she was on Inuyasha.(not like that you pervs you know what i mean) Suddenly she stopped, but even though her feet weren't moving, her body was. She came crashing down face first, and since it had rained earlier that day, in mud. Spluttering curses she walked to a nearby stream and jumped in, not worried about getting wet. When she climbed back out again she was mud free, and completely soaked. She shook herself like a dog, and then wondered as to why she did it. Bending over to look in the stream to make sure the mud was completely gone, she froze. The face looking back at her was not her own. She looked behind her but saw no one there. She looked in the water again and saw the face of the stranger staring at her again. She moved her hand to her face, and the stranger did the same. She tugged on a piece of her hair, wincing when she pulled to hard, and the stranger did the same, also wincing. Kagome reached to the water, to touch the figure, and her hand went through the surface, creating ripples on the water. It was then that Kagome could come to only one decision. The figure was her. This concluded, she studied her new face. Markings much like Sesshomaru's were on her face, only they were purple, not magenta. She had a star shaped crescent on her forhead and small but extremely sharp, pointed fangs. Her ears were pointed as well, but her eyes and hair had stayed the same. She pushed up her sleeves and looked down to see that she had markings running up her arms. She glanced down and noticed that she had markings on her legs as well. Curiosity led her to wonder where else she had markings. Suddenly she relized something. She had a tail! It was completely black except for at the tip, which was a light grey. It wasn't very bushy or poofy, it was more like a tabby cat's tail, only it was a solid colour and not striped. The end simply looked liked it had been dipped in paint. It was obvious to anyone that she was a youkai, but she didn't know what kind. Oh well, she'd find out in the morning. With that settled, she ran off, back to the hut.

The next morning, Kagome woke up and found Shippo with a fever. She quickly tried bringing it down from a burning 115 degrees, but she was unsucsessful. Nothing she nor Keadae did helped him. They buried his body next to Inuyasha's, and Miroku said a prayer. Sango tried to comfort Kagome, but Kagome didn't want comforting. She took of into the woods to seek sancuary.

It seemed Fate didn't want her to have sancuary, however, because as soon as she sat beneth the god tree someone else just had to come and annoy her. This was just not her week. "Who are you? And why are you crying?" Kagome looked up through her tears and saw a little girl that she recognized instantly. "H-hello Rin-chan," Kagome said, quickly drying her tears. She didn't want poor Rin to have to face facts like death at such a young age. Rin's eyes widened. "How do you know me?" she asked, and Kagome coudn't help but smile at the girl's curiosity. "I'm Kagome, do you remember me? It's been awile since I ran into you and Sesshomaru-sama." Rin looked at her for a second. "But you don't look anything like Kagome-sama. You look more like Sesshomaru-sama." Kagome started laughing at the possiblity that she looked anything like Sesshomaru. "You- think I look- like Sesshomaru?" she managed to ask through her laughter. "And what, preytell, is so funny about that?" Kagome couldn't stop laughing. "I'm female and your male and she said I look like you. That either means that I look like a man, or you look like a woman. And I most definitly look female." As she said this she cracked up even more at the thought of Sesshomaru being a girl. This is what she thought the scenario would play out as.

' So...you're a... girl?'

' Yep.'

' And exactly when did you find this out?'

' Yesterday.'

' Oh?'

' Uh huh.'

' How exactly did you find out?'

' I was taking a bath and then I was like, Oh my god are those...?!!'

She laughed even harder at that thought. Before she relized what had happend she was pinned against the tree she had just been sitting under. "You are extremely annoying, and this Sesshomaru does not like annoyances." Sesshomaru's cold, clear voice rang through the clearing. Kagome just rolled her eyes, a gesture that did not go unnoticed. " You think I cannot kill you." It was a statement, not a question. "I have no doubt that you could, but I also know that you wouldn't with young Rin around." Sesshomaru growled. "Rin can be easily taken care of." he said. "Rin, I saw a flower field not too far away. Jaken will take you." A pointed glare at Jaken sent him scurrying over to Rin, grabbing her hand and darting out of the clearing. Kagome laughed. "You find that funny?" Sesshomaru asked her menicingly. "Yes, actually, I do." She replied, a large grin on her face. This was fun! He groweled again. "Do you have a death wish woman?" he asked menicingly. "That depends," she said. "Are you taking requests?" He growled, not liking the feeling of confusion that quickly overcame him. "No." He was quiet for a minute. "Why do you wish to die?" he asked, finding he disliked ignorance fairly quickly. "Why should I tell you?" she asked. "You really don't care, and I don't feel like relaying my story to a brick wall.'' The anger was clear in her voice, anger and pain. He didn't no why, but he felt something he hadn't felt since his mother had died. He felt pain. Angry that the youkai was causing him so much pain, he crushed her neck further into the tree. "Why do you wish to die?" he repeated, and was only further angered when she grinned. "You do relize that threatining my to kill me to find out why I wish to die isn't really going to get you anywhere, right?" Sesshomaru's eyes widened slightly in anger. She was taunting him! "Okay, I guess i'll tell you." she said, her grin broadening. "But you have to ask nicely." He stared at her. She couldn't be serious. How wrong he was. She didn't say anything, and niether did she. They stood there for a long time, waiting to see who would crack first. Suddenly he growled. "Tell me." he said, and was horrified when he found that even to his own ears he sounded desperate. Growl growing ever louder, he crushed her againt the tree again. "Sesshomaru, we've already been through this. Killing me isn't going to get you answers." He continued glaring at her, trying to think of something else he could do to get the information. A wicked idea formed in his head, and he slowly maved his hands to her shoulders. Traling kisses along her neck, he couldn't help but smirk when he felt he shudder. Then, following the same path as he had with his kisses, he ran his tounge along her skin, and she was unable to supress a moan. Before he could stop himself he growled in pleasure, answering her moan. She relaxed against him, and then, relizing what she had done, tensed up again. "Sesshomaru," she moaned trying to protest and finding herself almost completely unable. His lips fell on hers, and suddenly he relized that his plan had backfired on him. He was completely unable to pull away, and he heard his inner beast growl with pleasure.