"Kagome!" "Kagome!"
Inuyasha sped through the forest from where he had left Kikyou. Yes he had meet up with her, but it was only to get some answers and to hopefully patch up long term hurt feelings. He didn't even hug her this time, jeez what did the girl want from him, he couldn't just ignore Kikyou she was part of his past after all.
"Kagome!"
-Where did that stupid girl go now-?
The leaves of the trees swayed with a gentle breeze bringing strange and disturbing scents to his sensitive nose. – That's blood…Sesshoumaru's blood but why does it smell…-
He rolled the thoughts through his mind like a marble. In the middle of his musing something buzzed by just brushing his ear.
"Nani!"
-A purification arrow? -
-But I thought…-
He sniffed the air and neither Kagome nor Kikyou's scent was at the other end of that bow.
"Onano no ko?"
Several arrows flew past their target without him having to dodge a single one.
"Well who ever is shooting these has some lousy aim"
He skidded to a halt in an open field where a little girl with a side ponytail stood; a bow clenched in her fist.
Suddenly the image of the girl and Sesshoumaru flashed in his mind.
She's …..-
His face-hardened and he sniffed the air. It was, as he had feared something was strange about her; her once warm brown eyes were now just black voids. She stood still clutching the bow her knuckles white and her muscles tensed; her entire body seemed to be fighting its own actions. As he stepped toward her a little light seemed to seep into the black voids of her eyes and she dropped the bow. "Sesshoumaru sama?"
Inuyasha was close enough to touch her now his features clear to her his soft fuzzy ears twitching uncertainly; her face once again slipped into a nothingness and she ran for the forest followed by a blue light.
"Hey get back here you"
He ran into the forest after her, but she vanished along with her scent.
Back at the cave the rain was slowing down and Kagome was grumbling something about stubbornness running in the family.
She gathered her things together and set off after Sesshoumaru.
-So damn hard headed the both of them, brothers…jeez-
She wondered around a bit for an hour or so not even sure how it was she was suppose to find the demon lord, after all it isn't like she could sniff him out, sure the thought of using Inuyasha's nose had crossed her mind but she knew it would only cause trouble in the end.
Finally frustrated she called out to him.
"Sesshoumaru where did you go please let me try and help you"
"Silence Wench!"
Kagome looked around for the source of the voice and saw no one; she heard something rustle the leaves in the tree above her and she looked up.
"Inuyasha?"
Kagome squinted her eyes up at the figure in the tree,
-What is he doing dressed like…. like...-
"Woman if I had any reason to kill you THAT would be it"
Her eyes widened, words pulled and dried in her throat put she couldn't push them to the surface; finally she was able to breathe an uncertain question.
"Sesshoumaru?"
His once striped cheeks were now bare and his ears seem to have moved to the top of his head. Blood was still seeping through his wafuku.
–I've got to do something; if he continues to lose his powers and his wounds don't heal...-
She looked about her as if the answer lay somewhere in the grass at her feet.
-oh I wish I could just 'sit' him-
Then a thought hit her and her mouth twisted into a devious smile.
"Sesshoumaru get down here already I only want to help" she shouted up into the tree.
His brows narrowed and his eyes hardened.
"I am not some lost animal stuck in a tree woman; I do not need your help"
Her devious smile only pulled harder at her lips and she cuffed her hands around her mouth and shouted up to him.
"Well you look like one to me 'Inuyasha'"
-Ok that did it-
She watched his eyes darken and his fangs lengthen. He stared down at her every muscle in his body tensing for the kill and he pounced. He had her pinned to the ground his claws at her throat.
"Wench I will not hesitate to kill you"
Kagome looked up at him and frowned. She torn her eyes away from his intense stare and pulled something from her pocket. She held it up a small object between her fingers.
"I'll lend these to you until we can fix this if you promise to give them back"
A small jar with fragments of the shikon jewel was held up to his face.
He stared down at her with his usual indifferent expression, but this time there was a hint of confusion in those stony eyes.
She outwardly sighed and tried to explain her actions without him getting offend or feeling tricked as Naraku had done. She took one more deep breathe and…
"I think they can temporarily return you to normal, but we'll have to figure out how to reverse this spell on you soon."
She heard a faint growl emanate from his throat. He didn't have much choice after all his demonic strength was seeping through holes in his gut. He released Kagome and snatched the small jar from her hand. The jar shattered between his index finger and thumb and he held the two small fragments up to the light. He narrowed his eyes at the shining pink fragments a moment as if commanding them not to betray him. He pulled open his kimono exposing his open bleeding wounds; Kagome winced slightly at the sight of them, but tried not to show it. He looked at the jewels one last time before pushing them with a teeth-clenching squish into his open wounds. The wounds began to fizzle then shrink until they disappeared all together, soon his strips returned but his ears remained on the top of his head.
Kagome's looked up at the once full demon lord her face dancing between shock and relief to finally settle on pure amusement.
"What is so amusing woman?"
Kagome struggled with her face, but the smile refused to fade,
"Your ears…your ears are even cuter then Inuyasha's"
She had been too shocked before to notice and somehow the use of the jewels made them stand out even more, unlike Inuyasha's Sesshoumaru's ears had long moon blue tuffs at the ends. It was difficult but she resisted the urge to rub them.
With much resistance from her face she managed to compose herself.
She stood up brushing the dirt from her knees and skirt.
"Now we just need to find a way to reverse this spell on you"
She turned around to find Sesshoumaru was already walking away.
"Hey wait; you can't do this on your own"
She stomped her foot on the ground her hands clenched into fist at her side.
"Sesshoumaru!"
She made to go after him but stopped at the sound of his voice.
Without turning around he said, "This Sesshoumaru does not need help from a human, I will return the shards to you when I reverse this spell" and he disappeared into the forest. When she tried to catch up to him it was too late he had already vanished.
"Jerk, well it is no doubt in my mind that he and Inuyasha are related"
"Kagome!"
Kagome turned around to find Inuyasha rushing toward her; leaping from one tree to the next to land softly on the ground next to her.
"Inuyasha?"
Kagome's face went from surprised to nervous then hardened into disappointment.
She turned her back to him and bent down to pick up her bag.
"I'm not speaking to you Inuyasha"
Inuyasha reached out to grab her by the shoulders. He would shake her if he had to anything to get her to listen to him for once. How did she make him feel so guilty all the time?
"Baka, I don't have to explain myself to you, but it wasn't what you think"
He turned his head away from her staring down at his bare toes.
Kagome turned her back to him sorrow filling her eyes, -he's not looking at me again…I thought so-
She wiped the tears from her eyes and pulled away from him.
"Sure Inuyasha it never is"
"Kagome…"
"Inuyasha … Osowari!"
"Kagome..." his voice was muffled with dirt but he managed to voice his other questions that had been stinging the back of his eyes.
"Why do you smell like Sesshoumaru's blood, and why does it smell like mine"
Kagome's fist tightened at her side and her shoulders tensed.
He knew what was coming but was powerless to stop it.
" Osowari!"
"WENCH"
Kagome turned to look at him her eyes rimmed with tears.
"I'm going home Inuyasha, I'll be back later I'll see you when I get back"
Kagome turned away from Inuyasha completely and headed back to the bone eater's well.
-Well, at least I don't have to answer about Sesshoumaru for a little while longer anyway; I'm sorry Inuyasha-