Inuyasha held Kagome to his back as he traveled with his friends. Kagome still reacted to nothing, but she did obey simple orders. Such as "eat" when food was placed into her hand or "climb on" when Inuyasha squatted in front of her. Though she was now useless as a jewel detector, being as she didn't speak or react, she still retained the ability to purify the shards. Shippo, desperate, still chatted in the evenings when the stopped and made camp. Inuyasha kept them at a relatively slow pace, not wanting to damage the girl that rode on his back. They had already found out that she didn't react to pain anymore.
Inuyasha suddenly stopped, Kirara and Shippo nearly leaving him in the dust.
"Hey! Why'd you stop?"
Inuyasha ignored the fox demon as he sniffed the air. Blinking, he looked at Kagome in sadness and desperation.
"Hey, Kagome, your friend Kouga is on his way."
She didn't react.
Setting Kagome down, Inuyasha got ready for the quickly arriving wolf demon. Within seconds, Kouga arrived, nearly pouncing on Kagome. But he froze when he saw her eyes. Anger filling him, he glared sideways at Inuyasha.
"What the hell did you do to her?"
Shippo was quick to defend Inuyasha, knowing, even at such a young age, that it wasn't the half-breeds fault.
"HEY! IT WASN'T HIS FAULT! IT WAS NARA-"
"It's ok Shippo. It is my fault because I couldn't protect her. Because I took her with me."
Even Kouga was shocked at the admission, at the half-breed's despair.
"What happened?"
Inuyasha paused. He hadn't told anyone exactly what happened, though Sango had guessed.
"… He raped her."
Pain shot through Inuyasha's jaw as the wolf punched him. As Kouga berated him with questions, Inuyasha didn't answer and continued to let the wolf beat him. Leaving the two boys to fight, Sango followed Kagome, who was following a butterfly. Miroku stayed, debating on whether to help Kouga or help Inuyasha, and Shippo, after some debate, decided to stay as well, in case things got out of hand between the two older demons.
Sango sat next to Kagome who was sitting on a hill covered in flowers. Glancing down the hill, she was surprised to see a familiar girl in orange running around. She saw no sign of Rin's guardian or the imp, so she waved the little girl over. Rin happily ran over but slowed when she saw Kagome.
"What's wrong with Lady Kagome?"
"She's… broken."
She wasn't sure how to explain it kindly to the little girl, but Rin seemed to accept the answer. Smiling, she made a crown of flowers and placed it atop Kagome's head.
"I hope you get fixed Lady Kagome!"
Kagome didn't react.
Rin continued to make flower objects for Kagome. A bracelet, a ring, a necklace, and she even started trying to make a kimono. Sango helped her and they had a single sleeve nearly done when Lord Sesshomaru appeared behind Kagome. Sango froze as she wondered if he meant her friend bodily harm.
But he stepped around the human girl and motioned toward Rin.
"Come Rin"
"Can we wait a bit Lord Sesshomaru? I'm making a flower kimono for Lady Kagome!"
He raised an eyebrow but did not ask.
"She's broken and I want to make an entire flower outfit for her!"
As Rin waved her arms around, the part of the sleeve she was working on started to break apart and she squeaked as she grabbed it and started to fix it. Sango watched as Sesshomaru walked over to Kagome and knelt in front of the human girl. Kagome was watching a butterfly again and Sesshomaru grabbed her by the chin and forced her to look at him. As he saw her eyes, his Tenseiga reacted. His eyes narrowed. What could Tenseiga possibly want? This girl was clearly not dead, though, as Rin said, she was broken.
Touching Tenseiga he was surprised to see the messengers of the dead. They kept trying to pull tiny balls of light away from the girl, but seemed to be having great difficulty doing so. Realizing that the balls of light were pieces of the girl's soul, he stood up and drew Tenseiga.
Sango gasped, confused as Sesshomaru drew his fang. Just as that moment, Miroku, Kouga, Shippo, and Inuyasha came into sight, freezing when they saw Sesshomaru standing over Kagome and holding a sword.
Gripping his sword, Sesshomaru sliced apart the imp-like creatures. Sango nearly cried as Kagome's eyes widened in shock and emotion momentarily returned to the girl.
But then Sesshomaru stepped back and the emotion disappeared and Kagome was empty again.
But a seed of hope had already embedded itself in Sango.
Rin seemed to realize that Sesshomaru had helped Kagome more than a flower kimono could, so she gave up and jumped up to follow Sesshomaru. As the others arrived, Sango stood up and pulled Kagome to her feet.
"Sesshomaru, wait!"
The Lord of the West glanced back as the demon slayer watched him, desperation in her face and voice.
"Take Kagome with you!"
His eyebrow raised as the boys all yelled "WHAT?"
"That was the first time Kagome's shown emotion since her incident! I think… I think you can help her more than we can!"
Inuyasha's face fell as he realized that his brother had managed something that he hadn't been able to do.
Sesshomaru turned and started walking.
"Do as you wish, but I have done nothing special to that mortal."
Before anybody else could react, Kouga ran up and grabbed Kagome.
"NO! SHE'S MINE! I TRUSTED HER WITH THE HALF-BREED BECAUSE HE WASN'T A THREAT BUT I REFUSE TO GIVE MY MATE TO ANOTHER DEMON!"
"KOUGA!"
But it was too late. The wolf demon disappeared in a cloud of dust. Inuyasha ran after him, but he was nowhere near as fast as the wolf. It was finally Sango and Miroku who bowed their heads and begged Sesshomaru for help.
Kouga stared at Kagome. She hadn't reacted to anything throughout the trip. Now she was sitting on the cave floor in-front of Kouga and his chest heaved as emotions flitted across his face. He dropped to crouch in-front of her, his clawed hand reaching out to stroke her cheek.
"I don't want… I don't want you to think that you're untouchable because the filthy half-demon touched, forced you."
Leaning forward, he rested his forehead against hers and stared into her empty eyes.
"I don't want… I don't want… I don't want the only one to touch you be him!"
Growling on the last word, he slid his knee between her legs. She didn't react, but he took that as "yes". Reaching up her skirt, he pulled away Kagome's undergarments and threw them across the cave.
Sesshomaru walked, Rin silently following him. She had kind of been hoping that Sesshomaru would agree to save Lady Kagome and bring her with them. Even if the woman was 'broken', she'd always been kind to Rin. Jaken walked next to Rin, complaining about how impudent those humans were for begging Sesshomaru to save a lowly human. Rin, surprising herself and Sesshomaru, hit Jaken and yelled at him.
"LADY KAGOME ISN'T A LOWLY HUMAN MASTER JAKEN!"
Rin didn't notice that her eyes had watered up until the tears started to fall. Rin finally remembered where she'd seen eyes like Kagome's before. Her elder sister had had those same eyes before the bandits killed her. And she hadn't fought at the end.
Sesshomaru watched his ward as the girl tried to hide her falling tears, confusing the hell out of Jaken.
Kouga grunted as he thrust into Kagome. She was crying crystal tears, but her body was reacting to his ministrations. She'd already cum twice and her body was shaking again. He leaned over her body to nip her shoulder. She didn't react and he whined. He wanted to mark her as he came, but if she didn't expose her neck he couldn't. He'd chosen to take her from behind, in traditional wolf style. But, though she wasn't fighting, she wasn't helping either. Her arms and legs were shaking and he knew that after she came then she would need rest before he could try again. Growling as the pressure increased, he nipped at her again.
She froze, her insides tightening around him as she came. Kouga, no longer able to hold it, howled as he came inside her. Sliding his limp member out of her, she collapsed as the last few spurts of his seed shot out and landed on her ass and thighs. Watching the now sleeping girl, Kouga sighed and decided that he could wait. Standing up, he pulled his furs into position and left to go find food for his mate.
Sesshomaru heard the howl just as Rin stopped crying. Eyes flashing red, he left the little girl in the care of the imp. It didn't take him long to reach the cave, even less to dispatch of the mortal wolves that guarded it. Walking in, he saw Kagome asleep in a pool of cum on the ground. He could smell blood, though he saw none. Growling he walked up to the girl and gently pulled her out of the mess. Growling reached his ears and he set the girl down onto a clean spot on the ground. Turning, he saw the wolf demon at the entrance. It wasn't surprising that he hadn't smelled him coming, the entire cave smelled of the wolf.
"Did you really think that because she didn't fight you that it wouldn't be considered forceful?"
His voice was quiet, barely above a whisper, and Kouga flinched, a quick flash of guilt crossing his face.
"Disgusting. Forcing yourself onto a mortal girl when she will not, cannot, respond."
"SHUT UP! KAGOME LOVES ME!"
"Then why does she travel with my filthy half-breed of a brother?"
Kouga flinched back at the harshness, forcefulness, and truthfulness of Sesshomaru's words. He wanted to attack the demon, but even though Kouga truly believed that wolves were better than dogs, Sesshomaru was stronger than him and his entire pack. He could lose leadership of his pack to a dog if he battled the Lord of the West.
And Sesshomaru knew it.
The disgust on the dog demon's face deepened.
"Leave her alone if you cannot even risk your life and the lives of your pack to get her back from me."
Kouga flinched away from the demon and glared at the ground. He knew that he could not, would not, risk his pack for the mortal girl. No matter how much he said he loved her.
He loved his pack more.
Stepping aside, defeated without even throwing a blow, Kouga glared at the ground. Sesshomaru watched with disgust as he picked the human girl back up. Walking past the wolf, he noticed that the demon purposely avoided looking at the girl. Well, at least he had guilt.
Not that that would help him when Inuyasha found him.