I may switch from him to her for Noriko, because she's or he's so girly, but actually is a dude… so I think you understand.

Deep blue waters

Dark swaying trees

Dangerous dancing flames

Dexterous swirling winds

Dent-less shining steels

Dry and bleeding earth

Come to me on the ever changing waters

Come to me on the tops of the sightful trees

Come to me in the dance of the fire

Come to me in the passing winds

Come to me on the everlasting steels

Come to me from the nurturing earth

Come to me…

And bring with you your

Impenetrable strength

Flexible strength

Roaring strength

Gusting strength

Unmarked strength

Life giving strength

But most of all…

Bring me the passion

And power

To protect she, the one whom holds my heart

To protect she whom watches me tenderly

To protect she whom I have fallen so deeply in love with

To protect her and only her

For all of time

Kagome winced as her head began to throb. Sleeping in a dungeon was not her idea of a great way to spend the night in any way. Especially with the force of her nightmares that seemed to be out to get her. "Chikuso…" she swore in her native language as she tried to stretch her sore muscles. "I wonder exactly how long are they planning on keeping me here," she mumbled absently to herself.

A sudden violent ripple of jyaki traveled the entire palace causing Kagome to pale. "Kai-Lung… Wow, you seem to be royally pissed…" she frowned as she tried to pinpoint the area of his rage. Kai was somewhere upstairs, obviously, she was the only one in the dungeon she pointed out to herself as another violent ripple shook the palace causing the castle to tremble and the bars to rust as if a couple of thousand years had passed by. Well, at least his being pissed off did some good for her.

The stench of blood nearly knocked her off her feet, "Kai-Lung, don't, please don't kill him!" she shouted out pleading that he hadn't dangerously hurt anyone upstairs.

Terrified of what Kai might do to the others, Kagome rushed taking the stairs two at a time as her leg chain trailed noisily behind her. Another malicious ripple shook the walls. She had finally pinpointed Kai-Lung's location when a sudden shift in the wind disturbed her momentarily. Gulping, she turned around to meet the cold blue eyes that had haunted her in her nightmares for years

"Hello, Kagome," Soi sneered.

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Hotohori trembled at the first ripple of massive energy that swept the halls of his palace. Kagome was his first guess, but then the muffled shout of, "Kai-Lung, what's going on?" made him suspect another individual. Dashing out of his personal chamber as quickly as he could, he met up with Noriko as he dashed by his side.

"Noriko, what is going on?!" he demanded of her as they dashed through the palace side by side.

Noriko gave a small pout, "Tamahome went to check up on the possible eighth warrior, and Miaka of course went with him, I guess things didn't go as smoothly as we planned them to…" Hotohori nodded and instead focused his energy on getting to Tamahome and Miaka quickly. Upon arrival, the situation was easily considered dangerous.

Tamahome had Miaka lodged behind him as he seemingly shielded her from something in Kai-Lung's room. Tatsuki had arrived before them and was threatening whomever it was while Chichiri was anxiously watching the fight. "What's happening?" a curious Chiriko asked Hotohori from his perch upon Mitsukake's shoulder. Chiriko had just managed to escape from his near death experience while Noriko seemed to have been forced by Suzaku and Byakko to stay alive. Chiriko was still suffering from the side effects of being possessed and his body was badly drained of all energy. Mitsukake had been trying for weeks to restore energy to him, but to no avail.

"No clue, we just got here ourselves," Noriko answered for him as Mitsukake put his left hand on his chin in confusion.

Suddenly the cause of the problem dashed out of the room and would have escaped, but slammed into a barrier unnoticed until the last second. "Kai-Lung?" Hotori breathed in shock. Except, it was no Kai-Lung he had known. No, this one had deep purple hair and eyes the color of steel. Claws took the place of fingernails, and deadly fangs glinted in the morning light. He, it, snarled at Chiriko as if knowing who had caused the barrier to come up.

In a blur of movement, the beast charged at Chiriko. He tried to dodge Kai-Lung's dangerous claws, a bit off on timing though due to the sheer shock of the creature's speed. Chiriko grasped his side in pain where the claws had viciously torn through muscle and bone.

"Damn you!" Tatsuki snarled charging at Kai-Lung.

Miaka's terrified shout rang through the hall, "No Tatsuki, he'll kill you!" Tamahome held her back knowing she wouldn't be able to do anything to either stop or save Tatsuki. "Fool!" he breathed terrified for his enemy/ friend.

"Rekka shi-"Tatsuki didn't even get a chance to finish; a blow to the stomach took care of that. He tried to retaliate by lashing out with the sharp edges of the harisen but Kai-Lung evaded with a simple twirl and step.

Kai-Lung was about to move in and finish off his opponent when, "Kai-Lung, don't, please don't kill him!" the desperate plea echoed throughout the palace. He paused, Kagome, it was Kagome's voice. Unluckily for him, the pause was all it took for Tatsuki to regain his footing and lash back at him. The metal fan caught Kai-Lung's right arm, tearing through skin, muscle, and scratching bone from his shoulder to his wrist.

"What the-? It shoulda' gone right through his arm!" Tatsuki shouted out in surprise. A sudden violent rippling made him pause in fear. What the hell was going on?! He saw the barest flash of a smirk like that of a predator before something slashed right through his windpipe, "Wha…?"

"Tatsuki!" Miaka shouted when she saw the barely visible but beep cut on Tatsuki's neck. Kai-Lung turned to face them and she had to hold in a scream of terror. His eyes were blood red as he gazed at them unblinkingly. One bare foot by another he silently made his way towards them. Chiriko whimpered in fright and hid behind Mitsukake as the others stood their ground unwilling to let Kai-Lung through to the entrance of the palace and into the crowded morning streets.

Suddenly, he changed his stance. "He's going to lunge…" Chiriko warned them quietly until Kai-Lung's vivid red eyes caught his causing unbound terror to well up within him. Long legs snapped as they sprang forward to kill as a pair of feminine arms encircled his waist, holding off certain death for the other five warriors.

"Kagome…" Miaka breathed in thankful wonderment as the girl they had just locked up stood by the vicious killer's side, holding him to her and undoubtedly giving herself bruises. Kagome herself didn't turn to any of them, instead they grasped onto Kai-Lung tighter as she buried her face into his back.

"I'm all right Kai, so please, please stop," she pleaded with him. Kai-Lung, to everyone's amazement, reluctantly began to loosen up. Miaka heard Tamahome let out a long breath of relief. "Thank you…" Kagome whispered to Kai while tenderly nuzzling his back. Miaka watched in amazement as Kai-Lung's piercing red eyes faded to a sharp steel color.

Kagome slowly loosened her hold on Kai as he relaxed and began to calm down from his demon high. A small relieved sigh escaped her when Kai began to visually change back to normal. He turned around to face her as she gave him a tired smile knowing she was going to ache all over in the morning. A soft nose buried itself in her dark tresses as strong arms encircled her waist. Kagome grinned and hugged him back before letting go.

Gulping she turned to face the two who Kai-Lung had struck down in his rage. Tatsuki and Chichiri had only minor damage. She heard Miaka's sharp intake of breath when she approached Tatsuki, and also heard Miaka's soft sobs. "Ano… aren't you supposed to cry when he's dead and not when he's only KO'd?" Kagome asked a bit confused, wasn't that how things were supposed to be? Miaka sniffed and turned to her. Kagome sighed and looked at the slash on Tatsuki's neck. Not deep or fatal, but way too close to the trachea, artery, and bronchial tubes in her opinion.

Steeling herself, she reached down to touch the blood that continued to pour out of his neck. A wave of nausea passed over her as the thick scent and warm feel of his blood washed over. There was a light growl from Kai-Lung as she shook her head to clear away the feeling. Gulping down another breath of precious air, Kagome gently brushed her fingers over the slash. Her palm began to tingle as the familiar chant poured through her lips like silk. Slowly, if not a bit foggily, gold eyes began to open.

Tatsuki stared up into worried and exhausted blue eyes. He wasn't exactly sure what had happened, but it hurt like a bitch! Groaning in pain he stood up and gingerly felt around his neck. Nope, no cut no slash, no scar, heck, not even a little bruise! Turning around he froze when he met Kai-Lung's gaze. Both eyes narrowed in contempt before he averted his eyes. "Back off and ya won't hafta die," he snarled at the dark haired man as he made his way to his chamber.

Kagome let out a small sigh before heading over to Chichiri. Kai-Lung wasn't' talkative, that much was obvious, but that didn't mean he was bad. Shaking her head, she missed Mitsukake's amused chuckle. Standing by Chichiri's injured side she peered down and flinched. "Kai you careless idiot!" she hissed underneath her breath knowing that he would catch her words.

Kai growled at his Kagome's hissed words. A heavy hand on his shoulder made him jolt in surprise. Turning around he saw Tamahome give him a sympathetic smile as he held Miaka, who had fainted from an excitement overload, in his left arm. "Woman, they don't know when enough is enough…" Kai-Lung stared in absolute amazement when Noriko gave him a pleasant wink and walk off with a grinning Mitsukake with a snoozing Chiriko on his shoulder. Hotohori stayed behind. "We're going to need to talk later," he informed Kai. Then shaking his head he added on a brighter note, "Make sure the two of them stay alright." Before walking off to his own chamber.

He watched Kagome huff over the man's wound and nearly flinched. The first thing he ever learned about Kagome was that she absolutely hated blood; the next was that healing exhausted her like nothing else. Sighing, Kai-Lung made his way over to Kagome just as she finished healing up Chichiri's wound.

Kagome swayed on her feet as she stood up. The world was spinning underneath her feet, so she tried to shake it off only to end up with a horrible head ache. "Where's the Tylenol when you need it?" she groaned to herself. Her knees buckled underneath her causing her to squeak. Preparing herself to become acquainted with the floor, she braced herself just as muscular arms caught her waist and then scooped her up as if she was nothing but a small sack of clothing. Blushing, she let go of her pride and lay her head on his chest to listen to his gentle heartbeats.

There was something soothing about listening to Kai purr and to have the vibrations travel through her, like a soft massage. Smiling, she wrapped her arms around his neck and cuddled up deeper causing him to laugh at her antics. Closing her eyes, she pressed her ear up to the sturdy beating of his heart and let herself fall asleep.

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Kai-Lung sighed to himself as he tucked the covers around his Kagome. She had fallen asleep quickly and he couldn't help but to cuddle up next to her after losing a whole night with her presence gone. His little ningen was just so… soft and warm. She was soft everywhere, and he knew from his little expeditions during her sleep and when he awoke in the middle of the night unable to fall back to sleep. Well, Kagome needed the rest after healing so much without virtually any sleep or food for an entire twenty hours.

Padding softly in his leather slippers that she had bought for him, he slipped out of the room leaving Kagome to sleep peacefully. It was the perfect time to take up the ruler of Hong-Nan on his earlier request.

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Thank you for reading all the way through this chapter! I really hope you enjoyed it, and expect another chapter up soon if my reviews for this chapter are as great as the ones for my first one! I Hope that I've gotten some kind of personality on Kai-Lung right now, he really hasn't said anything at all yet… but not to worry, he'll speak for sure in the next chapter.

Oh, and the next chapter is how they met, why he doesn't speak, yada yada yada… Well, please continue to read! The only reason I updated this one was because this is only a second chapter while my other ones are more complex at the moment!

~Tsuki no Tennyo