"Inuyasha" Kagome bellowed into the darkness. "Inuyasha where are you?" She paused, as if expecting a response. "What the hell is going on here first Sango is gone, then Miroku and Shippo go missing, and now I can't find Inuyasha. And I can't go home because Inuyasha has the jewel shards" Kagome informed herself with a sigh. She slumped down next to the well, lightly tugging at the tall grass surrounding it.
Musing through her thoughts she found herself once again focusing on a particularly violent argument she had with Inuyasha the previous day. Her mind danced on each and every word that had conspired between the pair, and with a gleam of repentance in her eye, she weakly began to sob into her hands.
"If you love that bitch so much Inuyasha, why you just go and rot in hell with her?"
"You have no right to speak about Kikyo like that, you're just the half-shelled whore remains of her spirit" howled Inuyasha.
Kagome stood aback for a moment, strangled by the cruelty in his words. They may have fought before over Kikyo, but he had never called Kagome anything in retort, much less the remains of his previous lover.
Reclaiming her speech Kagome fumed. "You're just a great big show off aren't you?" If he could hurt her, she could certainly hurt him. "You walk around, your head held high, your sword unsheathed. But if only all your enemies could see the real you. The pale, fragile little human who runs from the new moon, like a dog with his tail between his legs." Kagome could see the tension mounting as Inuyasha balled his fist tightly, his nails drawing blood. She didn't care, he deserved it. "You're a pathetic and worthless excuse of a demon. Not even worth--" Kagome silenced as she felt the blood stained hand crash into her cheek, the impact sent her on a collision course with the back wall of their small hut. As she hit the ground, her vision blurred, and her body numb as she slowly lost consciousness.
Kagome's sobs slowly subsided as she held her head tightly between her knees. Breathing in she let her hands linger once again to the ground, now ripping at the grasses she cursed herself. The sting of the thin red cut on her cheek as her last tear rolled down sent a wave of shivers through her body. 'I hate him.' She thought. 'No, I can't hate him, though I want to. After everything we have been through I just can't bring myself to hate him.'
The grass was moist between her fingers; she looked around expectantly when she heard a light rustling of nearby leaves, but sadly sunk back into her somber mood when she found it was only the wind. Kagome was close to crying again when she heard again the soft rustling of the leaves, believing it was again only the wind she kept focused on the dew covered ground. It came as a great startle to her when a voice spoke from close behind.
"You are Inuyasha's woman aren't you?"
Kagome gripped her heart as it attempted to leap from her chest. She spun around to latch her eyes upon the voice in question. Angrily she gritted her teeth; she didn't need this aggravation right now. Especially not from such a self absorbed and vain person as Sesshomaru.
"Let me make this one thing very clear to you; I am not now, nor have I ever been," 'or most likely never will be' she thought, "Inuyasha's woman! Understood?"
Sesshomaru took a step back, more than a little startled by her reaction. He simply wanted to know where his brother was, he had had no intentions of insulting anyone. He could only assume by the way Inuyasha always reacted to her, that this girl was his mate.
"Umm," he fumbled to find the right words for a moment, "ok, I just was asking. No need for such a vulgar reaction." He regained his cool composure.
"What the hell are you doing here anyway?" Kagome grew tired of Sesshomaru and his seemingly endless knowledge of insults.
"I don't believe that that is of any concern to you. The real question is what you are doing here alone without your little puppy dog in tow. It seems that wherever you are--" Sesshomaru averted his eyes as tears began to stream down the girls flushed pink cheeks. Against his better judgment he looked at her. Her raven hair began to matt down to the sides of her face as the tears began to flow."Honestly? What the hell did I say wrong this time? I didn't say you belonged to him or anything. He's just always with you."
"No. It's fine, you didn't say anything wrong" She moaned, rubbing the tears away from her eyes.
"I may not be privy to such human emotions as you are, but I am no fool. No one cries when they are fine." He paused for a moment. "Stupid human emotions" he mumbled angrily. He began to walk away when he felt a sharp jab of pain in the back of his head. He turned to see the girl standing there, her face red with anger, and with pain. Sesshomaru looked down at his feet to see a small oval shaped pebble, the apparent source of his pain. "What the hell?" He stammered, he hadn't done anything to her. 'I will never understand these damn humans.
"Fine. Just go and leave me like everyone else in this life does."
"What are you talking about? You said you were fine. I don't have all day for your silly little games."
"I was crying! How can someone be fine when they are crying?"
"Well if you're not fine then don't say your fine."
"Fine. I'm not fine! Is that better?"
"It would be if you'd stop shouting."
"I'm not shouting." Sesshomaru rolled his eyes at her teary-eyed denial. "Fine. I'm shouting. I'm shouting, I'm shouting!" Kagome trashed her arms in the air as she began to wildly stomp the ground and let out an ear bursting wail. To Sesshomaru, it looked as though the girl was having an all out convulsion. He made a mental note to teach Rin self-containment if she ever felt the need to revert to such actions.
Kagome stood still for a minute, still fuming; she breathed deep relaxing breaths, regaining her composure. She looked up to see Sesshomaru slowly beginning to back away. His face told that he thought she may explode again at any minute.
"Don't go." She whispered. At first, the thought of having Sesshomaru around was rather annoying, but as she looked up into his confused golden eyes, she realized at the moment she didn't have anyone else. And even a cold hearted demon that was willing to listen, was better than no one at all.
Sesshomaru stood apprehensively for a moment, taking in her appearance; she looked as if her episode was over, but he couldn't be sure and was not in any way willing to deal with a hormonal teenage girl. Yet, there was something in her eyes that caught him, a sparkle of interest that peaked his curiosity. Besides, he had nothing better to do, without knowing where to find Inuyasha, Sesshomaru had no better place to be.
Again, against his better judgment, Sesshomaru nodded slowly as he settled down next to the raven haired girl. An awkward silence fell between the two, as they both searched for what to say.