Summary: "Kagome paled. The silvery sharp tip of a sword was inches from her eyes. She sucked in a sharp breath as she realized why it was not embedded in her skull. Blood dripped from his hand and onto the dirt, but as expected Sesshomaru did not seem at all disturbed by it." Kagome and Sesshomaru seek urgent answers to disturbing questions, and... I have no idea yet.
A/N: I have no idea what I'm doing.
Seriously, I just started writing words and this is what happened. I have no idea where I'm gonna go with this or if I will even finish it. Also, it is rated M because there will be very mature themes, maybe. Zoidberg has warned you all! WOO woo-woo woo-woo woo-woo woop!
And if you just went back and reread those last three sentences in his voice, you're the shit. I love you man. Ok- LET'S GO ALREADY!
P.S. Disclaimer: Redundant. Unesseasary.
Chapter One: Komorebi
Though it usually made her very happy to see the sun shining brightly, today Kagome loathed it with every fiber of her small being. Another droplet of sweat slipped down her forehead and dangled from a dark brow, tickling her eyelid. For what felt like the millionth time that afternoon, she dragged the back of her hand across her face. Surely this was a punishment from the gods for some forgotten sin she had committed - no one should've had to endure such blistering heat. Yet endure it she must if the village were to continue thriving at all.
Usually her work as the villages high priestess was slow, and quiet honestly, boring. Ten years ago, if someone had told her she would miss fighting for her life everyday and sleeping outside every night, Kagome would have laughed in their face. But now... she ached for the adventure and excitation of the old days. Sure, her work here was important- if stagnant- but most of it was meanial or simple, which was best left to one of her students for practice. So any real stimulation was infrequent or absent altogether. Today however, the excitement was ill-gained and superfluous. And she, not a student, was needed. This particular situation urgently required her skill and her vast experience. Simply, no one else had any idea what to do.
Scores of men, women, and children lay on makeshift pallets on the forest floor around her. The injuries ranged from minor gashes, to broken bones, to serious internal bleeding and worse. Due to her futuristic schooling, only Kagome was capable of saving the extreme cases. To top it off, heat sickness jabbed an obnoxious thorn in her side today. She glared in the direction of the bright and happy sun which was heating everything to a scorching temperature - lest it were in the shade of the trees. Luckily, there was a temperate north wind slipping lazily past, keeping the dappled shade of the woods more hospitable.
She looked down and steeled herself for the last major case of the day. Like everyone else in the village, she knew the pitiable man. He was a poor young farmer who had merely been trying to tend his field that morning (like most of the others) when he had been violently struck on the back of the head with the hilt of a fine sword. A pair of young demon nobles had been passing through the little village and apparently decided that destroying Edo would be a marvolus way to ease their boredom. Kagome scowled at the bloody scalp she was inspecting. Senseless barbarism, she thought. It was nauseating.
Gingerly, she placed her palm over the wound and concentrated on finding the extent of the mans injuries. Her inner powers transuded out of her fingertips and flooded the unconscious mans body, causing him to glow a cool, subtle blue. Her eyes closed and she went still for a moment as she examined the farmer. A frown disfigured her lips. His brain was swelling. Shit, Kagome thought. She didn't have enough of her own energy to mend this wound. No, she would be forced to fall back on Plan B. Kagome hated Plan B. Though obviously it was requisite.
A weary sigh pushed its way out of her lungs. If her demonic opponents that morning hadn't been so powerful, she may have had enough of her own strength for this one last paitient. Kagome shook her head and forced her mind back into the present. This man would die if she didn't act quickly.
Carefully, she cracked open the gateway into her soul, and reached inside herself. She reached deep past her own spirit, pulsating faintly from exhaustion, for the near blinding power chained and controlled tightly within her. Ever since she had taken The Jewel inside herself, she had made it a rule never to use it - unless absolutely nessesary. To Kagome, this power was not hers to do with as she pleased. Plan B was only a last resort, and even then only for good causes. Yet silently she always wondered, did she have the right to say what was good?
She released some of her restraints on the Shikon's power and allowed a steady trickle of the potent holy energy to bleed through her fingertips into the battered head of the young man. The soft glow around his body slowly transitioned to a warm dusty pink. Kagome could almost see the injury healing in her mind's eye. His fractured skull fused back together - the dangerous swelling reduced. Then the wound disappeared entirely, leaving only a healthy, sleeping man on the pallet before her.
Kagome sat there for a while, lost in torturous thought. To others, she seemed frozen in meditation, but dark memories robbed her of her sight. To the surface of her thoughts rose things she would rather forget and yet could never fully erase. How had everything turned out so different than she had expected? Why had she expected it to be any other way in the first place? Had she really done the right thing? Did she really make the right choice?
A shiver crawled down her spine like a spider scurrying away from a shoe. Kagome stood slowly and clenched her fist. "Oh please, not right now..."
She always knew he was watching her when she felt that spidery shiver. She groaned and palmed her forehead, letting gravity rake her fingers down across her face with an irritated growl. Exactly why he seemed to take a keen interest in her these past few years was far beyond her reasoning. And Kagome wasn't so sure she wanted to know. While he made good company and intelligent conversation, she was not in the mood for his rude humor and prying questions. Today had not at all gone well in her book, so she wasn't inclined to deal with his subtle games. She desperatly needed to relax. Not only for her sanity but to allow her spirit time to recuperate as well.
Kagome turned to a slight, plain girl who was bent over inspecting a child. "Lady Yukina, please inform Lady Rin that all patients are stable and in no danger. I am going to retire for the evening. She is in charge. Just make sure everyone is comfortable. Oh, and watch temperatures. Don't let anyone get too hot. Keep them in the shade and keep everyone hydrated." After recieveing a nod from the younger priestess, Kagome stooped to gather her things. "And once the sun begins to set, have the rest of the able bodied men move everyone into the temple hall. There should be enough room for them to rest there tonight."
Kagome stood with a weary sigh. She could still feel him nearby. Waiting. "Just ignore him," her feet took her in the direction of her home, just beyond the village. "Just ignore him... maybe he'll go away if I pretend he doesn't exsist."
"You know very well that I can hear everything you say, Kagome."
Kagome stopped her trudge down the dusty path and flopped her head back round. There he was. Following her again. "Oh I was hoping you could."
He raised a slender silver brow. "My, my, lashing out at me already? But I've only just arrived, how could I possibly have offended you in less than a minute?" The handsome face remained still and yet the sarcasm was there, accompained by a slight twinkle in his golden eyes.
Kagome rolled hers and looked forward again, resuming her trudge. Then in a rather acerbic tone she said, "You must be losing your senses my lord, if you cannot observe my own state and that of my village to draw a conclusion. What a pity." She repeatedly sucked in her tounge, and shook her head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk..."
"You realize I could end you right now."
She rolled her eyes again. At this point, she knew all of his threats were empty ones - well, threats aimed at her at least. "Sesshomaru, I am not in the mood today, ok? I'm tired, sore, stinky, and cranky. I have been treating villagers all day, after battling a pair of idiot nobles - your idiot nobles, by the way -"
"Mine?" Sesshomaru's golden glare pierced the back of Kagome's head. She swirled around on the spot.
"Yes, yours. Two young demons - judging by the level of power and state of dress... I think western nobles. If you can't keep your subjects in check Sesshomaru, maybe you should see them more often, and less of myself." She turned and began walking again. Then stopped short.
He was in her face. Inches from it. "Tell me what to do again, and you may regret it, miko."
Blue eyes clashed with his gold. They stared at each other for a few silent moments, egos refusing to submit. Then Kagome spoke in a low tone laced with ire. "They did it because they were bored, Sesshomaru. Don't tell me you still condone that kind of behavior."
Ah, she had him there. He did not, in fact, approve of killing in the absence of decent reason. She had every right to reprimand him and he knew it. Though he was loathe to admit it to her out loud, he broke his gaze and looked away. In a soft, low voice he said, "I do not."
Kagome sighed and pushed past the regal demon lord, eager to be home and out of the baking sun. Again, Sesshomaru followed.
"Do you need something Sesshomaru?"
He scoffed. "I do not need anything from you miko. I was simply passing on my patrol and noticed the village was in distress. As we are allies, I wanted to offer my assistance."
Oh sure, Kagome thought to herself. As if that were his only reason for bugging her. He had other reasons and deep down, she knew it, though she was loathe to admit it to herself. "Well, you're too late, everything is under control and in the hands of my capable students." Enervated and slightly irked, Kagome was very ready for the conversation to turn. "Rin is doing well, by the way- she shows so much potential."
"Excellent. I'm quite proud of her. She was always much more intelligent than other humans."
"But I'm not so sure she is as eager to be a miko as she once was."
"Why do you say that?"
They were nearing Kagome's little abode. Sesshomaru's eyes flit to the gigantic tree off in the distance, then back to the home itself. The ancient well lay just behind her house, covered and rotting from neglect. He knew why she wouldn't maintain it. It was a painful reminder of a now haunting past. Sesshomaru had come to the conclusion that she wanted it to rot and disappear altogether. That Kagome hoped the well ceasing to exist would bring her some kind of closure. But she couldn't bring herself to destroy it with her own two hands, and so it sat rotting. Mocking her.
"I think that is something you should discuss with her yourself." She smiled knowingly at him as they walked. "And before you pry, it is not my place to say. My lips are sealed."
"Hn." He followed Kagome the rest of the way to her home in silence. He did not wish to truly antagonize her.
