(A/N: -flashes big sign saying- Warning, warning! This chapter has a lot of swearing in it! BEEEEEEEEEEWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARE!!!!!!!! Oh, and in your reviews, I will give you a cookie if you start kicking Kimiro. Evil… ugly… bastard… -grins- And to think I created him… Hm… Anywho…Oh, and I went slightly out of character of myself for this chapter… Felt like Sesshomaru needed to say what I would've been thinking a bit in the middle or ending thing of my chapter. So… -scoots out of side of monitor- Read on! )
Chapter 2
An Accident
Kagome gulped and looked behind her, her chestnut brown eyes stretched wide in fear. There stood a younger Sesshomaru-sama. His white haori was different; its sleeves had red marks of what looked to be a lotus flower. The armor was the same, but his sash was now all blue, ending in yellow with two yellow stripes above the end. His long white hair flowed slightly in the wind and his bangs covered his sparkling amber eyes. Amber eyes… just like InuYasha's eyes…
Kagome looked down at the ground as pain gripped her heart. Had InuYasha told Kikyo about…? Yeah, probably. But then… why wasn't she dead or had disappeared? 'Maybe it takes longer for it to work when I've gone farther into the past,' she thought, staring at the ground. Suddenly, she realized that the yokai were speaking.
"… and Hiro said that maybe she could become a servant in your castle, lord."
A sniff came from Sesshomaru and Kagome looked up. Would he accept her? If so, what would he DO to her? Beat her? Kill her himself? She probably, right now, wasn't worth his trouble to die at his hands. She wouldn't be high enough. In the future however, he'd happily kill her with a smile on his lips and a song in his heart, just to get to InuYasha.
Sesshomaru bared his teeth in thought and his eyes flashed. Not a good sign. And, if one wanted to get really technical, noooooooot a very reassuring one either…
"Kill her."
Kagome cried out and scrambled away from the yokai as they drew their swords, grinning evilly. Only Hiro and the wolf demon didn't do anything, and Hiro even looked sad.
Her breathing sped up and she looked fearfully at Kimiro's katana. It flashed rather dangerously in the sunlight and Kagome's heart jumped into her throat, pushing past a scream and stopping any sound from escaping her pink lips. She opened her mouth slightly in hopes to let the scream out, but only harsh ragged breathing rushed past them. Kimiro smiled menacingly and lifted his sword. Kagome closed her eyes and clasped her hands together in prayer, but she knew simply praying wouldn't do any good. Not against real steel and iron. Not against real hate.
"STOP!" cried a low voice. Kagome felt her heart jump. It… it was so much like InuYasha's!
She opened her eyes, half expecting to see InuYasha standing there in his Robe of the Fire Rat and his amber eyes flashing in anger. Her vision was more… regal than what InuYasha would've REALLY done… but that was the voice's fault.
And, instead of InuYasha standing there, his puppy-dog ears twitching every so slightly, there stood a real lord; a real YOKAI lord.
He was obviously related to Sesshomaru, as it was easier to compare the two as they stood next to each other than comparing him and InuYasha.
The yokai's hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, the ends tickling his waist as it blew slightly in the wind. Two demon stripes were stretched across his face and his eyes also shone like gold in the sun. He had armor too, but on both of his shoulders. His… fluff was hidden behind him and he looked just more… regal.
Honey colored eyes stared at Kagome and she felt herself squirm under its gaze and she looked away, having only glanced at the eyes. What was he looking at her like that for?
She swallowed and finally looked up into their depths. She felt as if she was looking at a full yokai InuYasha, only older; much older. And wiser.
Inu no Taisho pushed his way past some of the yokai and knelt beside her. She gave a small gasp and started to scoot away, but the taiyokai held her shoulder firmly. He looked at her and her heart rate sped up. Staring at InuYasha's father was like looking at InuYasha himself… just a more patient version. And less loud.
"Your soul… it is torn in two, and you have seen… many things." His voice was soft and full of sympathy for her. Not pity; sympathy.
She nodded, to dumbstruck for words. How did he know? Even though Kikyo had returned all of Kagome's soul back to her when Kikyo was first reborn from ash and clay, and hatred alone moved her body, Kagome still felt that a part of her soul had floated into the sky with the souls that helped Kikyo move when she had died. And her heart was with InuYasha.
Inu no Taisho stood up and turned towards his son, growling slightly. "Why, my son, do you show no compassion towards humans? They are not beings to hate for their weakness. And, indeed, I sense a great power in this human." Kagome blanched and looked up at the lord. HE thought that she had POWER!? HA!!! Yeah, right! It would be like saying… InuYasha had a sense of humor! InuYasha, in all the time she had known him, hadn't cracked ONE joke! Seriously…
Sesshomaru's lip twitched in distaste. No doubt he'd rather not have this conversation with his father. "Because," he growled, his golden orbs narrowing angrily. "Humans want us dead, don't they?"
A small growl came from Inu no Taisho's throat. "Not all," he hissed, putting an emphasis on the word 'all'. Kagome wondered if he had already met InuYasha's mother…
Sesshomaru snorted and turned away. "Do whatever you want, father; but what happens to her will be YOUR problem."
Inu no Taisho bristled angrily, red seeping into his eyes, but he breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth several times before it died away. He turned back to Kagome who shivered slightly, but, for some reason, felt safe.
He extended his hand towards her and she accepted it, placing her delicate fingers in his rough hand. Clawed fingers curled up around Kagome's own fingers and pulled her up. She stumbled slightly, but he caught her, smiling in a fatherly way. She smiled back in what she hoped was a friendly way, and, not as she was sure she was doing, in a stupid way. Shame one can never know how one smiles without a mirror…. And Kagome had had enough of those. I mean, with Kanna, Kaguya… Come on! You gotta agree with me, right!?
Kagome, Inu no Taisho, Sesshomaru, and the rest finally appeared at a castle. Kagome felt her jaw drop and she closed her mouth quickly and swallowed down the lump that had begun to rise in her throat. Ooooooooooooooh Kami…
A Few Months Later
"Ew." That was all that was needed to be said; ew.
Kagome felt the bottom of her eye twitch as she stared at the mess that she had been commanded, not asked nicely but commanded, to clean up. There, right in front of her was the sludge that a swamp yokai had left behind. The usually mild-tempered and mild-mouthed ninth-grader began muttering a few chosen swearwords InuYasha had taught her.
She bent, flinching involuntarily as she sludge squelched beneath her. 'Damn, fuck, bitch, motherfucker, asshole-' If a sailor had been in her head he would've blushed!
A chuckle sounded behind her and Kagome mentally groaned, her head lolling back slightly in hatred and disappointment. Oh, and the day, save for the mess she was cleaning right now, had been going so well!
"Well well well, looks like our little maid isn't too happy with the job she has been given," hissed an almost gleeful voice. Kagome whirled around, her eyes narrowed in what could only have been called… you know what, saying that they were filled with something akin to loathing but far beyond would've been an understatement!
"Shut up!" she growled at Kimiro. She doubted she hated NARAKU as much as this guy!
Kimiro clicked his tongue repeatedly in as close as the snake yokai could get to a tsk. "Now now, my dear," he growled, bending down to glare at her in the face. "One must never talk to those stronger, smarter, faster, and in all aspects of the word, better than one's self."
"Than you shouldn't be talking to me."
Rage filled Kimiro's slitted eyes and he narrowed them at her. "Insolent wench," he managed to hiss through what seemed to be something more than rage.
His hand flew out of nowhere and slapped Kagome. She hit the floor and placed a hand over her red cheek. Oh, he should NOT have done that!
Gone was the sweet innocent girl Kagome had been. Living in this Kami forsaken place! Instead was a little ball of energy and hatred that had filled in the gap where the fear of suddenly disappearing or even forgetting about InuYasha and Sango and Miroku and Shippo and Kirara!
Something snapped, and it wasn't pretty.
By the far wall was a longbow, strapped easily to the wall and a quiver of arrows. Kagome shot towards it and the bow fit easily into her hand. She had long ago almost completely mastered the bow, as she had to use it every time the group came across a yokai.
An arrow was fitted to the bow and aimed at Kimiro who stared and took a step back. The words 'What the hell' began to form on his lips, but Kagome narrowed her eyes and hissed through her clenched teeth, "Say anything and I let this arrow go."
Kimiro snorted and took a step closer to her. Kagome's grip on the arrow tightened and she drew the string back, her fingers resting on her shoulder as she gazed back at the snake yokai. A mirthless chuckle escaped his lips. "Arrows don't hurt yokai you stupid girl!"
It was Kagome's turn to laugh mirthlessly. "Ah, but arrows shot with from mikos with spiritual powers created for the purification of yokai, do."
Her grip tightened and Kimiro stopped. It made sense to him, and he began to mentally curse himself. The words Kagome had used before in her head were now transfixed into HIS head.
'Damn, fuck, bitch, motherfucker, asshole-'
Once again, at asshole, the thoughts, or swear words, whichever one you prefer, were interrupted. Sesshomaru and his guests burst in and stopped in their tracks. Sesshomaru's cold eyes moved from Kagome, her bow pulled back as far as it could go and her fingers wrapped around an arrow which bleed blue with the miko's powers and something more than hate or loathing in her eyes, facing against a fearful, almost quivering, Kimiro. He shook his head in his clawed hand. 'Baka…' he thought, looking up. It half looked as if Kimiro was going to wet himself!
Stepping forward he flicked his hand. Kagome's bow was split in half and she took an instinctive step back. She glared angrily at Sesshomaru and he blinked. A servant, glare at HIM? Not to mention a NINGEN servant! Well…
"You," he growled, pointing a clawed finger at Kagome who took in the air a bit quicker than usual. "You are NOT to fight in my halls, no less with one of the soldiers. You shall go to prison. As for YOU!"
Sesshomaru turned at Kimiro who jumped slightly. The inu taiyokai's amber eyes narrowed in disgust. "Get some balls man!"
Kagome smirked as she felt arms hook around her own. She didn't even struggle against them. She watched as everything retreated. Well… at least Kimiro would be told what he needed… Still… If only she had let loose that arrow a second sooner….
