AN- HI EVERYBODY! I'M BACK! OK, sorry I haven't updated in like a year, but all sorts of stuff has happened, good and bad. Lucky for you, I have a friend at school who has been beating me upside the head demanding an update. So, here it is. Also, before I start and get back into the swing of things, DO NOT E-MAIL ME! REVIEW, BUT DO NOT E-MAIL! That was part of the problem that led to me not update, but please, review. Also, I have messed up Kagome's friends names again but will have to come through and fix them later. Sorry!
I do not own Inuyasha, but I do own a Sesshy-plushy!
To the Castle
It was around midnight when the storm finally calmed into a monotonous and dreary rain. Sesshomaru was in the middle of the group talking to the teachers and explaining what was probably going to happen while Kagome made the rounds with her mom making sure everyone was all right.
"Kagome, get everybody ready to go. We're leaving," Sesshomaru ordered.
"I'm on it!" Kagome called from across their shelter. She then proceeded to gently wake the sleeping teens while alerting others to the decision. Once everyone was up and ready to go, Sesshomaru dropped the shield, exposing the group to the elements.
"Come," Sesshomaru ordered the grumbling group then left, confident they would follow. Kagome kept to his pace with ease, but noticed the others were having difficulty keeping up with Sesshomaru's long strides.
"Um, Sesshomaru? Could we slow down? They were having a hard time keeping up with me and that was in the daylight," Kagome asked timidly, careful not to offend. Sesshomaru slowed down, albeit reluctantly. He could hear the people behind him struggling through the mud and tripping over their classmates' footprints. 'Pathetic' he thought before turning his eyes to the sky.
"Hey Kagome!" a voice cried from the sky. Kaghome and the people following looked up and saw a giant, yellow blob with people on its back coming towards them.
"Hachi!" Kagome exclaimed as she waved excitedly. The people behind Kagome pointed and whispered loudly to one another, trying to comprehend what that thing could be.
"Sesshomaru-sama sent word you were back and might need assistance, now I can see why!" Sango called.
"Indeed, can we give you a lift?" Miroku asked.
"That would be nice!" Kagome called back.
Hachi settled down and Sango, Miroku, Kirara, and finally Inuyasha all jumped down. Kagome made introductions all around and then instructed her classmates to climb on to Hachi.
The students stared at Kagome, trying to decide weather or not she was insane. Kagome's mom forced her way through the crowd of slack-jawed teens and introduced herself. She then climbed on Hachi's back with some wll monitered assistance from Miroku. After watching Mrs. Higurashi the teachers felt it was their duty to follow suit without complaint. Soon everyone except for the shard hunters and Sesshomaru were on Hachi. Hachi gently took to the air followed by Sango and Miroku on Kirara, Inuyasha, and Sesshomaru carrying Kagome in his arms.
The flight was amazing. They spent the majority fo the time above the bruised storm clouds but occasionally mountains, hills, or lakes would become visible through those clouds. At one point they even came across the herd they had seen before. Hachi flew low over them. The newcomers were amazed by the flight. They were flying over a herd of of galloping horses in the middle of the night, rain cascading onto the horses sleek bodies. Sesshomaru on the other hand was miffed that Hachi was sspooking his horses.
Mrs. Higurashi loved the sights before her. This was a world she had secretly longed to see ever since she was a little girl, and now here she was, experiencing a world of pure, unadulterated beauty. She also couldn't help but notice her daughter in the arms of the stoic demon lord. She noticed how Sesshomaru would occasionally and discreetly bury his nose in her daughter's hair and that Kagomer's hands had da habit of traveling across Sesshomaru's shoulders. She also noticed the girls on Hachi were casting just as many glances towards the couple as they were at anything else.
Kagome and Sesshomaru were whispering quietly to themselves.
"While you are here we may as well continue making our plans," Seshsomaru insisted.
"I know but I don't want them to know about our plans," Kagome whispered.
"Are you ashamed? Or perhaps you regret agreeing to be my mate," Sesshomaru said coldly through slitted eyes that looked hurt.
"No! I don't have nay regrets, none at all. It's just that, they have been through a lot and don't understand any of it. I don't want to complicate matters by throwing us into the mix," Kagome explained feeling terrible.
Sessomaru gave what sounded like the most dignified snort Kagome had ever heard before saying "I do not like haiding and I despise lying. However, I will do it if it will help uou feel more comfortale." Kagome smiled and held onto Sesshomaru a little tighter as he buried his nose in her hair, slowly breathing in her calming scent.
'Does this woman realize I will do anything fro her?" he wondered vaugly to himself.
Everyone on Hachi suddenly became very excited as a large castle loomed in the distance. It sat on a large walled hill with towers and turrets that broke through the clouds and glowed in the moonlight. There were elements fo both Asian and European architecture in the grand castle. As the group approached the castle, they could see beautiful gardens and ponds within the castle walls. As they entered the front courtyard Ayame and Aya appeared in the main doorway with two female servants and Jaken waving the staff of Heads excitedly as he tried to make the servants listen to him.
Hachi landed in the main courtyard and allowed everyone to slide off of him before turning back into his orgiional form, chocking everyone.
"Hi! Allow me to reintroduce myself! I'm Hachi!" the little demon declared. The newcomers just stared at hm with wide-eyes before being ordered into the castle by Sesshomaru.
"Thank goodness you guys are OK!"
"Yeah, we were worried sick about you guys!" Ayame and Aya fussed.
"Yeah, but now what's going to happen to us?" someone asked At this a general murmur went up from the rest, everyone contemplating what was going to happen to them next.
"For now you will all be given rooms for the remainder of the night then after breakfast tomorrow we will discuss your fate. First however, you will all bathe, you reek," Sesshomaru informed the group, turning up his nose delicately. Kagome rolled her eyes and volunteered along with Sango and Miroku to get the group cleaned up and ready for bed. Jaken waddled off to find a servant to round up sleeping yukatas and arrange rooms for their guests. Inuyasha stalked off to his room and Sesshomaru headed up to his rooms to have a bath himself and contemplate how much more difficult life had just become.
Batheing was interesting to say the least. The baths were located on the second floor behind two large wooden doors with mermaids and water nymphs and dragons carved into them. The room was several stories high with plants and rock ledges running up the walls. The baths were actually hot springs with some spell or another on them and trees all around. A large rock outcropping too high to see over separated the men from the women. Overall the room looked like it had been cut our of the forest and place in the palace when in all actuality it probably was.
Miroku led the boys off to one side of the rock outcropping while Kagome and Sango led the girls over to the other side. At first the boys seemed a little reluctant to bathe together while on the other side of the rock only a few girls shared the sentiments. Sometime while the groups were batheing and playing in the hotsprings a servant came and took their clothes, leaving sleeping yukatas in their place. Everyone finally got out of the water and put on the yukatas and met outside the wooden doors.
"Follow me humans!" Jaken barked, annoyed at being kept awake by said humans. "There are enough rooms in the castle for you to all have your own room. However, we don't want you infesting the place by being all over, so you all have to share rooms, four to a room."
The group was getting more than just a little annoyed by Jaken and his condescending tone, but broke into groups of three and four.
"Come on Kagome!" Eri beckend.
Kagome thought for a moment before responding. She had her own room here that she would much rather sleep in, but these were her friends whom she was seeing less and less. Kagome smiled and ran off to join her friends in the room Jaken had assigned.
Sorry about typos and such, I'll fix them later! Review please! And I don't know when I'll update again, but hopefully within the next week or so! Thanks!
