I do not own Inuyasha.

It was like a delusion. A dream that was slowly eroding away in her consciousness, one that rewound as her pupils moved rapidly behind her eye lids. The vision of an intoxicating gentleman with dark features passed through her subconscious and lingered there for a long while until the change transpired. It zapped the color from his long mane changing it a silvery tone so extraordinary that it put the gleam of the twilight moon to shame. Her mangled psyche must have created the illusion of his deep cinnamon eyes brightening like two earthbound suns—a pair that would surely incinerate all that dared look upon them. What a rapturous dream, or a diabolical nightmare.

But surely the man from her reverie whether he be demonic or angelic… Could she have imagined him? She did not have so much confidence in her mind's eye to even begin to take credit for producing such remarkable creature.

Whatever the case she was enduring a migraine while fighting to regain the consciousness she so greatly needed. Her senses were dulled due to her drowsy stupor, but she could feel a cold dank floor against her cheek, and smell something so pungent that it clung to the back of her throat.

"Humans…" A male voice with a snarky tone muttered. "Such weak constitutions, a demon would've recuperated from a shock so minuscule. Moreover, a demon would not have fainted at all on a mere transition to this realm. Perhaps he would lift a lip in disgust of this wretched wasteland and being banished to this horrid place—but faint, ha! Unlikely." He ranted and she could hear the soles of shoes scrapping against stone as he paced angrily.

Such terms as humans and demons were not exactly heard in civilized conversation, or any conversation for that matter. Kagome was having a difficult time willing her eyes to open and as if the person picked up on her distress he moved towards her.

"Won't you wait, the girl is mortal. You can't expect her not to react to such an experience with ease." A female voice piped in to her defense. Was it possible to lose the consciousness that had already been lost? If not then Kagome would be the very first to accomplish such an unheard of task.

"Mortal or not, she's been asleep for nearly three days, and I will not stand idly by while she sleeps through an entire bloody fortnight. Whether or not you object, I am waking her." He said firmly, and the woman remained silent.

Directly afterwards there was the sound of metallic scraping against rock and a swish of water inside of what she could only guess was a bucket. Not a second later did the sensation of freezing water encase Kagome's entire body. It touched every inch of her, crept into her air passages and choked her. The cold alone was enough to shock her into shooting up into a sitting position. She coughed a few times to rid her windpipe of the icy liquid. Her eyes squeezed shut as she rubbed her arms thoroughly—her body convulsing with rippling shivers.

"What in God's name?" Kagome screeched.

"Well good morning, my lady. I was beginning to think I collected a defective hostage." Now that voice sounded familiar. Kagome ceased her attempt to warm her body and snapped her head in his direction. Inuyasha stood there with an empty bucket in his hand and a cocky smile on his face. Through the anger that filtered her eyes she nearly missed the silver gleam of his hair and the golden warmth of his eyes, but when she did she fell back in a start.

"Oh no you don't!" Inuyasha shouted and made it to her side with impossible speed. He caught her before her hair could even touch the ground. "If you even think of fainting so help me, I will feed you to my dogs." He threatened and it didn't surprise her that he seemed completely serious. She was working on a comeback when something twitched on top of his head.

"Oh my stars, are those dog ears?" She asked, her eyes wide and a dumbfounded smile slapped across her pretty face. "They can't be real can they? May I touch them?" She asked excitedly, her eyes glistened with her newfound excitement—like a child at the sight of a new toy. It was so like her to be so easily distracted, but when she was in the situation she was in it couldn't be good for her.

"I'm sorry, I must decline." Inuyasha said through gritted teeth. He retracted his arm and without the support she tumbled backwards into a heap of her own skirts. She whimpered an adorable pitiful sound and looked up at him while he stood up and peered down at her.

"Well what did you do that for?" Kagome snipped, propping herself up on her frail elbows.

"Oh, he's very sensitive about his little ear appendages." The female voice in the background explained, drawing Kagome's attention to her. She had the most outstanding face Kagome had ever seen—deep black hair framed her perfect face, she had a pair of deep green eyes above a straight nose, and full pale lips. She wore extravagant red and gold robes that could've possibly been woven by the finest silk in all of the world, and she was currently using her fingers to illustrate a pair of dog ears on her head which inevitably drew a trill of laughter from Kagome.

"Mother," Inuyasha groaned as he turned his head to look in her direction, "do you mind?" He asked impatiently, and she brought her hands down to her sides.

"I'm sorry, darling." She apologized through a bit of laughter. "I'll leave you to your work. Shall I bring a set of dry clothes for the girl?" She asked, and Kagome despite the dread of her predicament laughed. Perhaps it was hysteria or just the flush that coated Inuyasha's skin. Whatever it was he turned a fiery gaze onto her and her laughter ceased completely.

"No, she appears quite comfortable the way she is." He replied, and Kagome gaped pushing herself to a sitting position.

"You cannot be serious! I'll catch my death if stay in these clothes." She argued, finally summoning the courage to try and stand.

"We can only hope." He said sneeringly, although there was an underline tone that she happened to intercept that laid her mind at ease. He needed her for something or else she would not be where she was—wherever that may be.

"You're incorrigible." She grunted as she succeeded in a wobbly stand.

"And you're aggravating." He countered. "Fetch her blasted clothes, perhaps it will contribute to the impossible task of shutting her up." He added, a clear façade to shelter his own foolish pride.

"Very well." Inuyasha's mother said, bowing her head before exiting the room leaving the two stubborn youths alone together.

There was a nerve-wracking silence for the majority of moment but when Kagome could not fight the question any longer she opened her mouth to speak only to find that there were so many questions she wished to ask that it jammed her thought process and left her looking rather idiotic. She cleared her throat creating the semblance of a resounding ahem though it hardly caught Inuyasha's attention at all.

"What?" He asked impatiently.

"What do you mean what? I have the right to know what I'm doing here—and where here is…" She demanded with as much conviction as she could possibly muster while feeling entirely unsure of herself. Inuyasha's eyes shone with a true manifestation of amusement, a smile perked up a single corner of his mouth. Apparently her pitiful show of assertion was enough to summon his inner child, if he had such a thing that is. It was the first time since she met him that he sincerely resembled someone under the age of fifty… Apart from the short dance they shared beneath a sparkling radiance of the crystal chandelier.

Come to think of it… What happened to that man, were the two truly one in the same? One minute a charming young man with dark features and an ambiguous smile, then the next a light haired calloused man who could very well be a senile old man—albeit a very attractive old man.

"What gall." He said, pressing a finger just below her collar bone. "Where did you find the courage to puff out your chest and establish dominance in the face of evil, in the midst of the underworld no less?" He inquired, quirking his head in a way that inspired a deep sense of dread in Kagome. She opened her mouth to speak, but lost her balance by a single prod from Inuyasha's finger. Now this must have been the umpteenth time that she wound up on the floor, but she was getting a knack for falling onto the ground while still managing to hold onto a shred of dignity. Her hands had instinctively shot backwards to catch herself before she was on her back, but the force of it all caused shot of pain to ignite in one of her delicate wrists.

"Underworld?" She whispered in a state of severe disbelief. "That's not possible, I-I'm alive—oh good gracious, I've died haven't I?" She rambled nonsensically as Inuyasha knelt down beside her with a relaxed smile on his face.

"No, my dear girl, this isn't hell. It's a world that just happens to be on a plain of existence directly below your own. A place inhabited by demons, like myself." He explained, scanning her face to gauge her reaction—but she merely sat there with a blank expression on her face, like the news had caused her to shut down entirely. After a moment of sitting there gawking at each other, Kagome began to laugh hysterically.

"I've gone completely bonkers." She said through the fits of laughter. "I could have sworn you told me that you were a demon an-and that we were residing in the underworld right at this second." She finished, shaking her head.

"Look around, mortal. Does this place look familiar to you?" He asked, exasperated. Kagome did as she was told and scanned the room she sat in. The place seemed vaguely familiar, like the Earl of Rochester's summer home. The only differences were the furniture and the condition of the place. This room in particular resembled one of the guest bedrooms.

"Yes, now that you mention it, it bears a strange likeness to the Earl of Rochester's home… But it—it can't be… I mean that's impossible." She rambled, trying desperately to make sense of her illogical predicament. Her memories spoke for themselves as she gradually began to recall the last moments of her consciousness before she woke up there. "You took me." She accused, her eyes slowly returning to his after a moment.

"So you've finally remembered have you?" Kagome pursed her lips, clutching the damp fabric of her dress. She was prisoner in this place with this man, her captor.

"How did we get here?" She asked shakily.

"It's not as complex as it may appear." He said, kneeling again in front of her. She scrambled away from him as if he was a plague. "Do not fear me; I will not harm you… I would sooner kill myself—you are very important to me as of now. You will help me achieve my ultimate goal." He said earnestly and she sensed his sincerity, so she ceased her attempt to flee.

"What is your goal?"

"It is simple; to free myself from this decrepit wasteland. I've grown weary of this place really… You see it do you not? This place is crumbling and soon there will be nothing but ash, and lingering demons fighting over the tiniest scrap of meat." He explained, his eyes swimming with a vision only he could see, but from what she could imagine it was nothing fortunate.

"Where would you go?" She asked hesitantly looking up at the ceiling. "Up there?" He nodded.

"Yes this is where demons reside, and up there that's the mortal realm—it's a place where demons cannot survive." He said, but it didn't make sense to her. Why would he want to go to a place where demons could not last?

"I don't quite follow… You're saying demons can't live up there, but you were there were you not? Is it not how you abducted me?" She asked, remembering for the briefest moment their graceful waltz amongst all the other mortals a dance with her, a human.

"Do you remember how I looked in that world?"

"Vaguely… My memory feels as though it has been tampered with… Can demons do such a thing?" She asked quickly looking at him for an answer. He laughed and shook his head, his eyes leveled to hers encouraging her to search her memories. "You had black hair and brown eyes, a truly stark comparison to your appearance now. What does this have to do with this?" She asked finally fed up with this clandestine run around.

"I am not fully demon. I am the product of a demon and mortal's affair." He elaborated. "My mother is a very powerful demon. She learned to cloak her power, minimize it until it was as miniscule as that of any ordinary human girl. She stayed in the mortal realm for quite some time… There she met a man and they fell in love, or a very convincing mirage. He was a nobleman, and in that world she held no power, no title. He was to marry and so he was forced to turn her away, and in an attempt to keep what they had, she revealed herself to him." The words he spoke seemed to take a toll on him, but she wanted him to continue.

"How did he react?" She pressed and he stood again with his back faced to her.

"He reacted like most mortals do when they learn that there are creatures more powerful than themselves. He didn't believe it at first, then she showed him a glimpse of her power. It was enough to make him believe, but he feared her and love cannot hope to flourish when fed fear. Nothing could hope to change his new view of her, not even the child that grew in her womb—not even me." His voice was bitter now, and she could see his fists clench at his sides.

"That's tragic." She whispered, but at least his mother experienced the love she coveted—the forbidden love, and yet it had no happy ending.

"Quite… It goes without saying that my mother returned her, because she could not stand to be on the same plain of existence with the man who had taken her heart and trampled on it. So she returned and had me here, in this wretched place and I cannot leave until my father accepts me as his own—and that's where you come in my dear." In the midst of his speech he had turned to face her again.

"What could I do?" She chanced a precarious glance into his eyes.

"You do nothing, you stay here and you have no choice in the matter so do not think of declining." He explained.

"But why do you need me?" She asked.

"Do you know why my mother chose this place as our home?" He inquired, and the wheels began turning in her mind. Her breath caught in her throat as the severity of the situation she was in began to settle. There was a reason why he chose her from all the other women in the room. It was not because of her father as she initially suspected, it was not because of her title. It was because of her fiancé, more importantly; his father the Earl of Rochester. Inuyasha nodded solemnly as he saw her eyes widen with realization. "I am the bastard son of Kenji Watanabe, the Earl of Rochester." He vocalized, and Kagome released the breath she thought she lost. She was indeed a prisoner and the only hope for freedom was that Hojo would desire her safe return enough to get his father to accept Inuyasha as the rightful heir to their estate.

AN: Sorry for the delay.

My charger is busted and it only works if it's positioned a certain way,

And I didn't know that until I tried it today.

But it will undoubtedly die soon, but I'm supposed to be getting a new one soon.

BUT if you want another chapter then if I get enough reviews I'll risk asking my sister to borrow her computer so I can post an update. So review :]

Also this chapter is a bit choppy, I'm not at all satisfied with how it all flows, but I wanted to get you guys something… It was more of an informational chapter… Explaining why Inuyasha took Kagome. And you're probably wondering why he didn't just take Hojo, well it will be explained in the next chapter.

WITH THAT, I bid thee farewell… Until next time. :]