Waiting Oneshot Series by PhoenixBlade

The House

Hey all! I'm back with a long oneshot for Halloween! (though I didn't make it in time for Halloween *grumble grumble*) but its done so here it is! I did it for a scary challenge on her by Zandrellia, the 2nd attempt, so hopefully it's scary... hopefully. *fingers crossed!* By the way, this is...unedited! *le gasp!* I know, but it's late and I gotta wake up in a few hours for work so this is all I can do for now.

Also, thanks to all who nominated Snow Pearl for best Lemon fic!  Love you all!  Snow Pearl will show up soon with an update! Promise!

~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~

Waiting: The House

by PhoenixBlade

Rated M

~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~

Sessshoumaru scowled as he came face to face with the house that belonged to his brother. Inuyasha's tastes in houses weren't very good in his opinion. It was a large Victorian house, red with white lining the edges and a black tiled rooftop. Looking at the surrounding, he saw the tall trees stood around the house like a barricade, casting dark shadows along the walls of the house before they swerved around to hide behind the house, shading the backyard from view as if hiding a secret. A tall, black metal fence cut off the house from prying eyes at the front and a large metal gate had to be opened by a set of keys to allow them in. The shrubbery had been trimmed and the grass was green and from the smell of things, had been cut recently. It was…quaint, but nothing to fawn over as he preferred Japanese-styled houses like his own. In all actuality, he'd wanted to stay far away from this place as much as he could, but circumstances as of late, concerning his brother, who was now deceased, demanded his presence here.

"It's cute," came a female voice, though it betrayed the truth by the hesitation in her voice.

He turned to see his girlfriend, Kagome, close his car door and come up to stand beside him.

He frowned, "Cute would not be what this Sesshoumaru would describe it as."

Her hands flew up, "Well sorry Mr. Ice prick. It's not every day I come to hang out at the gloominess of your brother's house."

"Half brother," he corrected her, "and I have not come to hang out at his house. I am merely here to remove his belongings before the real estate agent puts it on the market."

"Why not just have them throw away his stuff?" she asked.

He gave her a 'are you seriously asking me this?' look.

Her hands flew up again in defense, "Hey, no offense Sesshoumaru, but from everything you've told me, I thought you didn't like him? I didn't know Inuyasha long, but it seemed like he felt the way same way about you too."

He snorted, "Dislike would not be able to explain the nature of our relationship."

"Whatever you say," she sighed in defeat and looked up at the house, "This place looks creepy. Wish I brought more than one of gramps' ofuda with me."

He snorted at the ridiculousness of her bringing one of her grandfather's supposedly sacred pieces of spiritual paper and returned his eyes went back to the house. Its figure seemed to be looming over them, setting his nerves on edge, but he waved it off as he began his trek down the cobbled path to the house. A house was a house, and he was here to clean out his brother's belongings whether he liked it or not, by orders of his father… but that didn't stop the uneasy feeling he had as he came closer to the house.

Once he took his first step onto the porch, Kagome suddenly grabbed his sleeve. He turned to see her staring at one of the large windows in front with a nervous look on her face.

"Hey," she turned to him nervously, "there's no one else at this house right now…right?"

"No. The real estate agent will not be here until tomorrow morning. There should be no others," he told her.

"Oh…ok."

Curiosity got the best of him, "Why do you ask?"

She hesitated for a moment, then spoke, "I…I thought I saw someone in one of the windows looking down at us… but maybe it was just nothing…"

One of his eyebrows rose, but said nothing. He returned his gaze to the doors in front of him as he made it up the steps. Kagome hurried up the steps after him as he dug out the house key.

"Hey Sesshoumaru?"

He merely 'hn'd?' at her as he tried out several keys for the front door.

"Have you ever gotten the feeling that you're being watched?"

He snorted at her comment and said nothing as he fit a key into the lock and finally opened the door. It creaked as it opened wide, as if beckoning the both of them into the house.

~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~

The inside of the house was dark. Though it was still bright out, all the windows were covered with heavy curtains, letting little light in. They could make out sheet covered furniture from the dim light, but despite it all, it was like seeing an endless abyss of darkness as they stared into the house.

"Sesshoumaru, I love you and all, but doesn't this spell out doom and gloom in a creepy sort of way?" Kagome spoke up, apprehension spilling out in every word she said, "Can't you just have someone else take care of this?"

He gulped in uneasiness, but shook it off as he turned to her, "Father's words are the law. I must see to Inuyasha's things."

She was silent for a few seconds before replying meekly, "If you say so…"

His hand slid into hers, as if to calm her down before stepping across the threshold into the parlor of the old house. They were met with darkness. The house was deathly silent. It reminded Sesshoumaru of a graveyard.

Just as he let out a breath, there was a loud creak before a loud BOOM! threw the both of them several feet into the air. They immediately turned to see the front door had slammed itself shut.

Kagome whimpered and pulled herself close to his side, gripping onto his arm for dear life. Her purse was crushed between his arm and her soft breasts, and she was trembling. Although it was a very arousing sight, he wasn't aroused by it at all, because she was trembling out of fear.

"I've got a very bad feeling about this…" she whispered.

Sesshoumaru scoffed at her, but truthfully, he felt the same way, yet what kind of man was he if he couldn't be the tougher one of the two? Kagome had told him before, that coming from a spiritual family and living at a shrine made her sensitive to spirits. Though he didn't believe in spirits, perhaps she herself was feeling something in the house? Paying it no more thought, he turned to his left, where he knew the light switch to be and flicked it on. The light flickered momentarily before the room was flooded with light from the chandelier and lamps... Kagome breathed a sigh of relief, but kept her grip tight on his arm. He turned to his girlfriend and gave her a small smile. She looked up at him and gave him a dazzling smile in return.

Now able to see, Sesshoumaru took a good look at the parlor. White sheets of fabric had been draped over the furniture. A few paintings and portraits had been hung on the walls, but were covered as well. Pulling away from Kagome, Sesshoumaru set out to work. One by one, he pulled the fabrics off chairs, tables, a piano and lamps until the carpeted floor was littered with the same white cloth. As he pulled the cloth from the last portrait that hung over the fireplace, he heard Kagome gasp. Confused, he saw her point and he turned to look.

There, encased in a delicately carved photo frame, was his brother in his wedding outfit; a black montsuki, haori and hakama. His wife, Kikyo, sat beside him in her own wedding outfit; a white shiromuku. They looked at the camera, one in happiness and the other content. He remembered the picture, because he had been standing next to the cameraman when it had been taken, though he had wanted to be anywhere but in front of the couple that day. His father and his stepmother had been gushing over the couple, making Inuyasha smile like a love struck pubescent boy. His bride though, had been quiet throughout the whole ceremony and distant, as though her mind were elsewhere.

"She looks so beautiful…" Kagome breathed.

"Not as beautiful as you were that day," he smirked.

Kagome blushed.

On the day of his brother's wedding, he did his utmost to stay away from the married couple as he could, but in doing so, it had caught the attention of the sister of his bride, who promptly came over to try to include him in the festivities. Although he had been annoyed at her at first, he found himself attracted and since then, they had been together, his Kagome and him.

"Come, we should go look at the other rooms," he said as he held out his hand to her.

She smiled and took it as he led the way to the next room. He turned on the light to the semi-dark dining room, revealing it to be long and spacious. Pulling off the fabric, they found a long wooden table with six chairs. To the side was a large fireplace and across the room was a display case of beautiful china.

"Sesshoumaru, as creepy as this house may be, it's absolutely gorgeous!" she exclaimed.

He grunted in reply as he pulled the curtains to the side to look out to the backyard. It was starting to get cloudy despite the skies being clear before they arrived. The tall trees hid much of the light from the backyard, but he could see that the backyard had been well cared for. A small fountain stood at the center of the lawn with a small flower bed around it. He frowned at the sparsely scattered lawn ornaments, as if they had been set there to try to give the illusion of a busy backyard instead of it being empty. Instead, it looked like little dark creatures were creeping towards the house, malicious in their intent to whoever was residing in the house at that moment.

He promptly dropped the curtain, deciding that there was nothing of worth in the backyard.

~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~

Turning to Kagome, he noticed that she had gone on to the next room, the kitchen, without him. Leaning against a counter, he observed as she opened several cupboards and perused through the empty fridge. She was so curious, one reason why he loved her so, but sometimes her curiosity would get her into trouble, hence the reason why she was the black sheep in her family, or so she told him.

When she pulled her head out of the fridge, she turned and jumped when she saw him.

"Oh my god! Don't sneak up on me like that!" she yelled at him.

He smirked, "Hungry?"

"No, just wanted to take a look, that's all," she shrugged.

"The food would have spoiled already," he said as he pushed himself away from the counter, "I'm pretty sure the real estate agent threw it all out already."

She shrugged again.

CLUNK!

Both of them jumped and immediately turned towards the door to pantry.

"What was that!?" Kagome almost shrieked.

Putting a finger to his lips, he steadily made his way over to the door, making as little noise as possible. As his hand reached for the doorknob, he turned to Kagome, who had found herself a broom. He lifted a finger to her and she nodded, understanding what he wanted her to do. He counted… one… two… three!

He pulled the door open quickly and readied to jump the intruder… only to be thrown back as a black bat flew past him and all over the kitchen. Kagome was screaming and swinging the broom around in a frenzy. Sesshoumaru turned to see the kitchen door leading to the backyard and opened it quickly.

"Make it go out!" he yelled at her!

"I can't!" she screamed, "Stupid bat's too fast!"

"Do it, miko!"

"You try doing this and you'll see how hard this is! Dammit!" she yelled back as it screeched and flew away from her.

Grabbing a towel, he ran towards them and began swinging it around madly, ushering it out the door. With one last screech, the bat flew out the door and Sesshoumaru slammed it shut.

Panting, the two looked at each other for a few seconds before they erupted into laughter.

"Man… I wonder if Inuyasha and Kikyo ever had to deal with this," Kagome giggled.

"Perhaps," he chuckled.

~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~

After they recovered from their bat ordeal, the two decided to go upstairs to see the bedrooms.

"I guess since this house is ancient, there's gotta be some holes in it too, huh?" Kagome said.

Sesshoumaru nodded as he left the kitchen towards the staircase, "I was against Inuyasha buying this house, but he insisted. Father, being how he was towards the brat, allowed it."

"Well, it's not very nice calling your brother that," Kagome frowned.

"Half brother," he corrected her again as he turned to look up the stairs and froze.

A ghostly figure of a woman in a dress looked down at him. She stared down straight at him as he stared back. It was as if she were staring deep down into his soul, piercing and penetrating, unwelcoming. He was suffocating, wanting to scream, yell, say anything, but all his words were lodged deep in his throat.

The lights suddenly turned on and he blinked and looked up at… nothing.

"Sesshoumaru? What're you doing?" came Kagome's voice.

He tore away from the stairs to look at Kagome who had her hand over the light switch right behind him. A shuddering breath escaped him. Had he been holding his breath that whole time? Was that even real? Had he imagining it?

"I…" don't know…

"Aren't we going upstairs?" she asked.

He stopped, having to catch his breath for a second, and then nodded. Having a firm grip on the railing, he went up the stairs, eyes alert… just in case. Step by step, creak after creak; he finally managed to make it to the top without meeting any more ghostly figures or having his imagination run wild. His hands sought out the light switch and turn on the hallway lights. Turning left, he saw the doors to the bedrooms, a bathroom and at the end of the hallway was a large window that looked outside. From what he could see, the weather was looking gloomy.

"Sesshoumaru? Maybe we should hurry up and check the rooms. The weather looks like its getting worse…" she told him, "and remember that bad feeling I had from earlier?"

He turned to look at her and nodded.

"Well, it's screaming at me now to GTFO."

He looked at her for a few seconds, seeing that her face had paled a little. Perhaps they should leave… but after he checked the bedrooms. His father was a stubborn man so he had no choice but to finish this so they could get the hell out.

"After…" he croaked and stopped.

He hadn't realized that his mouth had run dry.

Coughing, he continued, "After I go through his things, then we can go. If you want, you can go to the car first and wait for me, but it might take me a while."

Kagome looked anxious to leave, but shook her head, "Kind of pointless if you're here and I'm out there. Might as well stay with you."

He nodded and opened the door to the first room. One of the guestrooms. There wasn't much as they rummaged through and tried the next room. It was another guestroom with little in it. The next room was the bathroom. It was clean with little in it. Across from it was another guestroom, one he had used the last time he was here during vacation with his parents. Of course, he had only stayed in the room for a night and a half before taking the car off to stay the rest of the holiday at a hotel. His father and Inuyasha had been furious and his step-mother tried persuading him to return, but he was adamant about staying at the hotel.

He gulped as he opened the door and walked in. Looking around, he saw nothing out of place. The bed looked perfectly done and the rug he remembered overturning had been put back in place. The toiletries he had brought and forgotten to take with him were left untouched on the dresser. His hairbrush was lying on the dresser, still with strands of his hair tangled in the teeth. He looked in the mirror and jumped at his own reflection before shrugging it off. Opening one of the closets, he saw that some of the robes and towels that had been there the last time were in the exact same spots.

"I'm assuming this was the room you stayed in last time you were here?" Kagome asked.

He turned to see her sitting on the bed looking at him. They looked at each other for a few seconds before he looked away with something akin to guilt on his face.

"We should look at the master bedroom," he finally said and left the room.

She didn't follow him.

~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~

Opening the door to his brother's room, he was met with perpetual it had gotten darker outside. The weather was getting worse and a strange feeling in his gut was gnawing at him that it would only get worse from here on out. His hand reached out to the side to turn on the light. The light switch was not where he thought it'd be so his hand searched the wall until he felt something cold, like a hand, against his …and it moved.

His head snapped to the side and his fingers found the light switch and turn it on. With the lights on, he only saw his hand on the light switch, nothing more. With a swift eye, he scanned the room for anything else, but saw nothing except the things that belonged in the room. He saw a door that would lead off into the bathroom... but that was the one area he didn't want to look in. Sure, perhaps the bathroom had been cleaned spotless and polished till it shined, but the horrors that happened in that room would bring up the horrific pictures that the cops showed his father and him.

Turning away from the room, he went over to Inuyasha's dresser and looked through his things. Seeing nothing of consequence there, he went to the closet and opened it. Hangers of his clothes were hung. Beneath it were boxes. Apparently some of Inuyasha's things had been boxed already, or may have never been unboxed. One of the boxes caught his eye, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru.

Picking up the box, he brought it over to the bed and opened it. Pulling things out one by one, he was brought into a memorable moment with the brat he called his brother-correction, his halfbrother. Though the brat was an annoyance and caused much trouble for him, he was still blood and despite the distance between the two, Inuyasha had still been his brother and the memories they shared, before he had found Kikyo, was cherished. Nostalgia almost brought tears to his eyes, but he willed them away as he pulled out Inuyasha's photo album. The first section of the album held pictures of the both of them when they were children. As he flipped page after page of photos, he finally came towards the end, realizing that they were pictures of when Inuyasha began dating Kikyo. The pictures of them together thinned out until only a few formal pictures of them were left.

Turning towards the last few pages, he stopped and flipped back a page as he realized that one of his pictures was missing. It was a very good picture that Inuyasha had taken of him, though Inuyasha had caught him unaware, he admitted that it was a very good side shot of his person. If he could take any picture from the photo album, it would have been that one, but it wasn't there. Where could it have gone?

A cold breath at the back of his neck tore him away from the photo album as he grabbed a warm body and pinned it underneath him on Inuyasha's bed.

"Ouch!" cried his girlfriend, "What the hell!"

"Kagome?" he questioned.

Kagome! What a relief it was!

First the figure on the stairs, then the cold hand. He was going to go insane!

"Seriously! You're freaking me out here!" she screamed at him.

He blinked and pulled back, help her sit up.

"I'm sorry."

She coughed, "I should hope so!"

She continued ranting, but he only stared at her, taking in her miffed self and enjoying the fact that he was not going insane. While she was in mid-rant, he suddenly hugged her, glad of her presence.

"What-what're you doing?" she stammered.

"Hugging you. What does it look like, miko?"

She grumbled a bit before hugging him back. He really did love her. What would he do without her?

Then the lights suddenly went out.

~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~

Not wanting to deal with the house any longer, they stepped outside only to have their clothes whipping with the wind and their hair lashing at their faces. The wind was strong, blowing leaves every which way and the trees groaned as their branches shook in a mad fury. The weather had gotten worse in the short time that they were there and the skies had gotten so clouded that it was as if night had fallen. Sesshoumaru had run into his car to get it started but the engine wouldn't start. He didn't know what was wrong. Kagome was still back on the porch on her phone with the real estate agent about the house's lights.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The gates were slamming against fence fiercely. If left alone, it was very possible that they could be torn from the hinges and cause damage to property, as well as his car. Turning to Kagome, from his car, she shook her head at him, telling him all that he needed to know. Carefully, he grabbed the gates and locked them with the keys before running back to Kagome into the cold dark house.

"What'd she say?" he asked Kagome as she closed the door behind them.

"No luck. She can't do anything because the lines to the electric company are dead. She can't get back with them until the weather's passed."

He sighed, "And us?"

"She suggested that we spend the night here. There's a large storm headed this way," she replied.

"I suppose that we must. The car won't start," he told her.

"What? Seriously?" she groaned.

I feel the same way… he thought dejectedly.

There was something wrong with the house. He didn't want to be here as much as Kagome, but they were left with little choice.

In the moments that followed, they found lighting from candles and some gas lamps stashed throughout the house as décor. Though they were glad to have some light, the dark gloominess of the house did little to erase their apprehension.

"I don't like this house…" Kagome said to him as she curled up beside him on the sofa.

"Hn." was his agreed answer as he pulled her closer.

They sat in silence as the wind howled outside, the trees shook like mad and the rain pelting against the rooftop. It sounded like a battle outside, but he would have preferred dealing with that instead of the graveyard like silence in the house. Though he preferred silence, this was too much.

BAM!

Or perhaps not.

Both turned towards the kitchen where the noise had come from. Unease wove its way into the both of them. With a quick glance at each other, they both got up, grabbing whatever they could use as weapons nearby, and made their way to the kitchen. It was dark, harder for them to find their way around the dining room into the kitchen. Both looked around to see nothing amiss in the kitchen, they even circled around the island in the middle of the kitchen twice but found nothing.

"Sessh!" Kagome whispered loudly.

He turned to her, but her finger pointed towards the pantry door. He looked to see it closed.… He never closed it.

After the bat incident, both had gone upstairs to the bedrooms and when coming back down, had gone down the small hallway that connected to the parlor so they didn't have to go around the kitchen through the dining room. He'd forgotten all about it. There was no way for Kagome to have done it, even during the time he had left her in the guest room to go to his brother's bedroom, he would have heard her going down the stairs at least. Someone or something had closed the door…unless if it was one of those doors that closed itself, which he was hoping it was.

Getting angry, Sesshoumaru walked up to the door and yanked it open as Kagome inhaled loudly in fear… yet nothing happened. He looked inside the pantry and saw nothing except what had been there earlier. Growling, he shut the door.

"I think… we should go to sleep," he suggested, though it sounded more like an order.

Kagome nodded and followed him as he walked up the steps to the next floor.

"Where do we sleep?" asked Kagome.

He stared grimly down the dark corridor at the room that he had slept in before. He didn't want to sleep there, nor did he want to be near his brother's bedroom. Turning to the first room, he opened it and walked in.

"Here is fine," he said.

~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~

Kagome had gone to the bathroom to change into one of Kikyo's robes to sleep in. Her clothes were difficult to sleep in so she had gone to his brother's bedroom to retrieve one of her robes. He was currently lying down on the bed, on his side facing away from the door. He was sleepy, but the events of the day were making it hard for him to drift off. He didn't want to be here, didn't even want to be sleeping in the same house where he had angrily left the last time he stayed here.

He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard the door creak open. Not wanting Kagome to worry over him, he closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. The bed shifted with her weight, though he found it odd that he didn't hear her footsteps, but thought nothing of it. A pair of arms wrapped around his bare waist tightly. Her arms were cold, freezing almost. Why were they so cold? He then felt it, ice cold lips brush against his ear.

"Sesshoumaru…"

His eyes snapped open as he recognized that voice. Turning his head slightly, he saw a pale face with dull gray eyes staring back down at him… then he jumped out of bed.

"Sesshoumaru?"

He was looking at the door to his room, it was opened and Kagome was standing there in a pink sleeping robe. He looked back down on his bed and saw nothing. Had he been asleep? Sleepwalking? Wiping his forehead, he noticed that he was sweating and panting.

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked as she closed the door and walked over to the bed.

'What was wrong with him indeed…?'

"I'm…never mind. It's nothing… nothing at all," he shook his head and crawled back into bed with Kagome.

She wrapped her arms around him, making him stiff for a moment before realizing that it was her warm arms around him and relaxed.

They lay awake in silence for a long time before she spoke up.

"I know you're awake…" she said, "and I think it's about time you told me what happened the last time you were here."

"Kagome…" he began but she cut him off.

"Sesshoumaru, I need to know, what happened? I know you and Inuyasha don't get along, but the whole way here, you were on edge, like you didn't want to come here at all. Is there something you're not telling me?"

He was quiet. He didn't want to tell her, but he loved her and she deserved to know the truth.

"I will, if you promise you won't leave me?" he whispered.

"Sesshoumaru, nothing in this world could make me leave you… unless if you had a love child, and you're actually a woman, then that's another thing, but since I know you're not, then no, I won't leave you," she tried joking, but his mood remained the same.

He began hesitantly, "Kagome... the last time I was here, I stayed one night, and left the next day, madder than hell."

"Why's that?" she asked, burying her face into his back.

He gulped and continued, "I came here last time with my father and stepmother to see Inuyasha and his wife for vacation. Although I refused at first, my father forced me to come with them. So in the end, I came. The first day, we had arrived that evening and only had enough time for an evening meal and sleep. It wasn't until the next day that, in your own words, 'shit hit the fan.'"

He paused and licked his lips. She nodded into his back, her signal for him to continue.

"I had gotten sick the next day, perhaps due to food poisoning. Either way, I was not in the best condition to leave the house as Inuyasha and his wife were supposed to take my father and stepmother out to town. I stayed behind as they went on their way. It wasn't until later that evening that I woke up to Kikyo…"

He drifted off, not knowing how to continue. Kagome remained silent, waiting on him.

"I became feverish, Kagome, delusional and hallucinating to some extent. I thought that it was you who was touching me, tasting me. When I woke, I was horrified to see Kikyo before me and not you."

Kagome stiffened behind him, her arms tightening a bit.

"Thankfully I had pushed her away before anything happened, but she insisted that we continue on, that she loved me, had always loved me since she had seen me, not Inuyasha. I told her that I harbored no such feelings towards her, but she continued and even went so far as to try to blackmail me, for you see, though I may not have liked Inuyasha, I still loved him as my brother. Kikyo knew of this and tried to use it to make me submit to her, but I would have none of it. Inuyasha loved her, more than anything in the world and to have her betray him would have been too much. I was the horrible older brother, but I did not want him to hate me for a misunderstanding such as that and so, I left the house and never returned… until today."

Kagome was quiet for a long time before she spoke up, "Do you… do you think he found out?"

"Though I hope not, I think that might have been the case. On the day that he… passed away, he had called me and left me a message that he wanted to talk to me. He sounded… troubled."

"Did he explain why he needed to talk?"

He shook his head, "No, he did not."

"Oh…"

There was another silence.

"Kagome?" he asked.

"Hm?"

"Are you… angry with me?"

"…No…" she said sleepily, "you were just trying to be a good brother…"

When she said nothing more, he spoke up, "Will you stay with me then?"

"I'll always stay with you cause you're mine. I love you…" she yawned.

He smiled in the dark and held her arms around him tighter.

"I love you too."

~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~

He woke up to an empty bed. It was still dark out. The wind seemed to have gotten stronger and sounded like it was pounding into the walls of the house. The rain calmed a little, but was still coming down hard. He heard the branches scraping up against the house. He groaned and turned over to cuddle next to his girlfriend… only to find her side empty.

"Kagome?" he whispered.

That bad feeling he had in his gut from earlier was stronger now. Something was up. He got up and looked around the room, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. The door was open. Was she taking a bathroom break?

He hoped she was as he lay back down. After a few minutes, that bad feeling he had was nagging at him to go check up on her. What if something had happened to her? The house was just bad and creepy all over; he didn't want to leave her alone. After a few more minutes, he finally decided to get up and check on her.

Barefoot, he made his to the door, but almost ran over one of the tables before realizing that Kagome's clothes were on it. On top of the pile was her ofuda. Not thinking about it, he grabbed it and pushed it into his pocket and walked out into the hallway. Looking down towards the hall he saw that the doors were closed, but he saw a faint light coming from one of the guest bedrooms, the one that he had stayed in before. It was slightly opened.

Unsure as to why she was in there, he made his way over and opened the door. A gas lamp had been lit and was set on nightstand by where Kagome sat on the bed, looking away from him. In her hand was a photo. He could hear the rain start to come down harder outside. There was thunder in the distance, but it sounded like it was coming closer.

"Kagome? What are you doing here?" he asked as he walked to the foot of the bed.

Upon hearing his voice, she placed the photo down in her lap before standing up and turning to him. His eyes went to the photo, realizing that it was the one missing from Inuyasha's photo album. Where had it been all this time? He turned to look at her. Her eyes, why did they look-

"Hello my love," she smiled.

His blood ran cold at that moment she spoke. Her voice was a bit deeper than Kagome's, lined with a hint of seriousness. He knew this voice, the same voice that had been obsessed with him from the moment they met until the moment she confessed her love for him a while ago while she had been alive. Again, there was thunder booming in the distance, though it sounded closer now.

He began to get angry. She had taken over Kagome's body, his Kagome!

"What have you done with Kagome!" he was seething with anger.

"Why, what need do you have for Kagome when you can have me?" she cooed as she walked around the bed to him.

"Leave, Kikyo! Give me back Kagome!"

"Kagome is not good for you, she cannot love you the way I can love you! Can't you see that, my love?"

Her hands moved to his chest, but he batted them away before grabbing onto her shoulders tightly. He heard the loud BOOM! of thunder almost overhead. There was a flash of lightning outside, emitting an ominous glow in the dark room before fading.

"Bring back Kagome!"

"Kagome is gone! You have me now, like how it should be!" she told him, "I've always been watching, you and only you!"

He was reminded of the Kikyo in the wedding photo, but she hadn't been looking at the cameraman, she had been looking at him! Her arms rose to circle around him and he pushed her back. She had tried embracing him earlier on the bed before he slept, he was sure of it now, just as she had caressed his hand as he tried turning the light on in his brother's bedroom.

"Leave, you bitch!" he growled at her.

"I love how dangerous you can be," she purred and began leaning in to kiss him.

He threw her back on the bed and pinned her down. The rain was pounding hard against the rooftop and windows. He could hear the booming of the thunder directly over them.

"Leave, wench! The dead should stay dead!"

"I would not be dead if not for her!" she yelled at him.

"Lies!"

BOOM!

Yet she was insistent, "We could have been together, but that sister of mine did not want to lose you! She went to my husband and told him about my love for you, how it was your arms that held me instead of my husband, how it was you who's name I cried out in my head as he took me every night! We could have been together had she never approached you on my wedding day!"

"Kagome proved herself worthy of my attention and love, not you! Never you!" he snarled at her.

"Long have we pined for you, Kagome and me. Did you know that like you and Inuyasha, Kagome and I used to be best of friends? Oh the stories we would tell each other of our love for you, how we spied upon you day after day of what you ate, what you wore. I approached you, but you never saw me. That's why I went to your brother, as that would have been the closest I would ever come into contact with you, but Kagome ruined it all for you and me! I hate her! I hate her for coming between us!"

BOOM! BOOM!

He then realized that when the ghostly woman had been Kikyo, and that it was Kagome she had been staring down at in jealousy from the top of the staircase earlier, not him. Her hatred of Kagome was deeper than he realized.

"If she had never told Inuyasha, then I would have never had to kill him!"

Suddenly, he grabbed her throat and began squeezing.

"You… you killed him? It was you!" he yelled at her in anger and agony.

The cops had said that it was Inuyasha who had killed her and then committed suicide, but it had been her instead?

"We argued once he found out about my love for you, due to my sister's interference! He was going to leave me! If he left me, I would never be able to see you again! I couldn't let that happen! So I killed him while he was showering! I killed him so that way, I would have been able to be with you!" she confess in a mad fury, but proud and happy.

Lightning flashed outside the window, followed by a thunderous BOOM! the room was filled with a faint flow before he faded again.

He squeezed harder, wanting to kill the stupid bitch himself.

She choked and coughed, but laughed, "Go ahead! Kill your precious Kagome! If I can't have you, neither can her!"

Realization kicked in and he let go of her throat. She laughed and coughed for air at the same time.

"Don't you see? We can be together, finally! I've been waiting all this time, and now, we can finally be together like how we were meant to be!"

BOOM!

Before he could say or do anything more, he felt the ofuda in his pocket, pricking him through his pants.

"No… we will never be together!" he spat at her as he pulled out the ofuda, "give me back Kagome!"

The moment he slapped the ofuda upon her forehead, the wind outside began howling louder than never before, the rain pounded down on the house with a vendetta as claps of thunder made itself known in a godlike fury. Lightning struck the house, emitting the house in an eerie glow as blood curling screams erupted from the mouth of Kagome's body. A strong gust of wind from nowhere suddenly flew into the room as the fading glow was replaced by a rising and rapidly expanding ball of light from the ofuda. Then suddenly, a strong bolt of light struck out at Sesshoumaru, sending him hurling into the mirror across the room.

The light in the room began to fade as he drifted off into unconsciousness. As his eyes closed, he thought he saw his brother kneeling down and telling him to sleep… but he saw no more as the darkness took him.

~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~

Kagome waved goodbye to Sesshoumaru's father as he walked down the hospital hallway with his crying wife. Sighing, she walked back in the room and closed the door. She could hear the beeping coming from the monitor and sounds of breathing coming from the comatose patient hiding behind the white curtain. Pulling it aside, she looked down at the occupant of the bed, the man she loved. He looked as if he was only sleeping, but several weeks had gone by since he had last been awake since the incident at his brother's old Victorian house.

Still, he remained sleeping, as if he were stuck in some sweet dream and never wanted to wake from it. After a few moments, she turned off the light and climbed into bed with him. She curled up beside him, resting his head against her breasts and stroked his silver hair with one hand.

"I love you Sesshoumaru…" she whispered to him, "and I won't let anyone take you away from me."

She kissed his hair.

"I told Inuyasha so that he would divorce Kikyo. That way, she wouldn't have contact with you anymore, but she ended up killing Inuyasha so I had to kill her instead and make the cops think it was Inuyasha who killed her before he committed suicide."

She placed his hand over hers.

"Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Inuyasha, but someone had to take the blame. I'm just sorry that Kikyo had to come back and try to tear us apart, but I'm glad that you love me enough to drive her spirit out. You know now, we were always meant to be together… because you're mine."

She leaned down and kissed his lips.

"I waited for you and when the opportunity came, I took it… but now, it looks like I must wait for you again, but I don't mind. I love you and you love me, and that's all that really matters."

She snuggled in closer to him.

"Come back to me soon, my love, I'm waiting…" she told him sleepily and drifted off to sleep.

Unbeknownst to her, his hand moved, gripping onto her hand tightly, as if answering her…or claiming her…

~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,`~*~,~`~

Uh...review...?