I don't own InuYasha or anything associated with it. If I did, I'd have a bigger house and Seshy would be leashed to my bed.
The scent of her tears is what caught his attention. When he'd felt the surge of energy cover all the lands, he'd been drawn towards it, ordering Jaken to look after Rin at the castle while he investigated. It took him almost half a day to fly by his demonic cloud. On his way to the epicenter of the energy wave that had long since passed, he couldn't help but deter his path slightly towards the scent. Twin amber orbs searched the ground far beneath him, finally coming to rest on the raven-haired young woman. She was sitting on the ground in a small clearing, her knees drawn up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them. Her back was leaning against the wooden side of the Bone-Eater's Well. For reasons he couldn't fathom at the time, he soared down from the sky to land a short distance in front of the silently sobbing young woman.
"Little miko," he addressed her, causing her head to quickly snap up at the sound of his voice. Seeing who the voice came from, she quickly replaced her head on her updrawn knees, tears falling to her red hakama pants.
"Unless you can make this stupid well work, just go away, Sesshomaru," Kagome said in a broken tone, her voice trailing off as she finished speaking.
"I know not of what you speak, little miko. I-" he began to say, but was cut off when she quickly lifted her face to look at him with fresh tears flowing from her earthen-brown eyes.
"I'm not a miko anymore, ok? My powers are gone! Just like the damned jewel!" she snapped at him with a blend of both sorrow and anger. She stared at him with a clenched jaw, tears flowing unchecked down her flushed cheeks as several seconds ticked by. She could see that he was thinking about something, but didn't give a damn as to what at that particular moment.
"So that is the energy wave I felt earlier today. The jewel shards were completed. I take it that you used it to make a wish and purify it then?" he asked in a semi-dismissive tone.
"If I made a wish of my heart, do you really think I'd be sitting here... alone... crying?" she asked as though he were a simpleton. "You can thank your idiot brother for that," she added before bringing the sleeve of her haori up to wipe her face.
"The energy wave I felt was not that of a demonic aura. InuYasha could not have used it to gain his wish of becoming a full-fledged demon," Sesshomaru concluded as he looked down to Kagome with his head canted to one side in thought.
"That's because he didn't wish for that!" Kagome's face was a furious blend of sorrow, anger, self-pity, and general loathing. "I would have been happy for him to wish that if I'd known this was the alternative!"
"And just what is the alternative, little one?" He was careful not to address her as the miko she claimed to no longer be.
"As soon as my arrow found Naraku's true heart and I was able to get the last of the jewel shards, I fused the whole thing together with my sacred powers. It hadn't even stopped glowing before that jerk snatched it out of my hands and made his damned wish!" Sesshomaru looked down to her as she told her little story, waiting to hear the end. "And you know what he wished for?" she yelled in rhetorical phrasing. "He wished for that damned clay doll of his to come back to life!"
Even though this shocked Sesshomaru, it reflected on his face for only the briefest moment as Kagome stared into his cool amber eyes. He seemed to ponder the situation for several moments before giving his response to it all. "Hn... So the half-breed remains just that. I presume that with the dead miko's return to full life, it allowed her to reclaim the lost portion of her soul from you. And with it, your miko powers." As he spoke, Kagome slowly climbed to her feet, only to lean her rear against the edge of the well, wiping more tears from her face.
"It sure seems that way. And since the jewel shard vanished with the wish being made..." Her gaze drifted down and behind her as she put half an effort into looking down the well behind her. "... the well doesn't work anymore." She sniffed back a few tears before adding barely above a whisper. "I'm stuck here."
"On the contrary," Sesshomaru stated as he canted his head to the other side while he regarded her. "You are only 'stuck,' as you call it, in this time, not in this place."
Kagome looked up to his face with a look clearly of confusion. "Wh- What do you mean 'only in this time'?" she asked.
"It may come as a shock to you, little one, but I have come to respect you over the last several years." To this, Kagome arched a slender brow, wondering what he was playing at. "Although you are a mere human and consorted with my half-breed brother, I still saw you for what you were and what you became over time. A strong young woman of considerable force." Sesshomaru was careful to leave out certain other things he'd noticed. Perhaps she would learn in time. "Even with your miko powers stolen, you are still able to stand on your own two feet. You still have a heart of great courage. And you are still young woman worthy of attention, even if my brother is too blind to see it."
"What in the world are you talking about?" she asked as the tears started to slow their decent with her attention slightly diverted.
"As the elder of the blood, I cannot allow his folly to go unchecked. I will not allow one deserving of such respect for her accomplishments to go so brutally discarded, as it seems he has done." Sesshomaru made his decision in that moment and extended his clawed hand to her. "If you so desire it, I will take you far away from here, to my Lands of the West. You will never have to see the betraying half-breed again." I will deal with him in my own time, he thought to himself.
Kagome couldn't believe her ears. Was this the same Sesshomaru who had tried to kill her on more than one occasion? As she thought about it for a few moments, her gaze flicking between his face and his offered hand, she realized it had been quite some time since he'd tried. In fact, it'd been at least a year since he'd even used a fierce tone while speaking to her, on the few occasions they spoke. Taking a tentative step toward him, she weighed her options. She could stay here and keep praying to Kami that the well miraculously started working again. She could go back to Kaede's village and loath the world for the happiness of everyone around her but herself in misery. She could leave the village and find another, hoping to start a new life as perhaps a simple farmer. Or she could slip her hand into Sesshomaru's and leave the objects of her misery behind.
Sesshomaru smiled inwardly, but didn't allow it to reflect on his face as Kagome placed her small hand into his. "We will travel by flight," he said as he pulled her to him slowly. He revealed his other arm from the folds of his haori to wrap his hand gently around her waist, coming to rest on her lower back.
She gasped briefly as he did so, looking to where his arm wrapped around her. "Your arm! But.. how?" she asked as she looked back up to his face.
He had frozen when she gasped, wondering if his touch on her was what caused it. Seeing the reason for her astonishment, he allowed himself to relax again and gave her a nod. "I was finally able to find a demon healer, one powerful enough to heal such an extensive and aged injury. She is now my honored healer in the castle. She is just one of those you will likely meet there," he explained as he pulled her closer to him, bringing her flush against his chest. He released her hand and she took hold of his armor over his haori with both hands.
Kagome looked off to the side, towards the forest that lead to Kaede's village. She was silent for several moments and Sesshomaru let her be, knowing she was saying good-bye in her mind. After less than a minute, she sniffed back several more tears before turning her head abruptly and burying her face in the front of his robes. Choking back a sob, she tilted her head just enough that she could speak without her words being lost in the folds of his robes. "Please take me away from here," she whispered. Not having to be asked twice, Sesshomaru tightened the hand at her lower back and wrapped his other arm around her shoulders. A mere thought and his demonic cloud billowed at their feet to launch them skyward.
Consider this a teaser-trailer. I won't be able to finish it for quite some time, as I have two other stories I need to be working on. But I had this lying around in a folder and thought I'd put it up.
Reviews make me love you and want to do updates faster!