Ch 3 is here! It is a little bit longer and sorry for making you all wait for this chapter! Please enjoy!
Chapter 3
Kagome widened her eyes with disbelief and confusion. The priestess was petrified and stood still like a stone. She couldn't believe that the same aura, she had always sensed looming behind her was from Lord Sesshomaru. Questions of uncertainty flew into her mind. The mighty lord turned to face his muscular body to her.
What does he want? She thought eagerly.
But she couldn't manage to wait, she needed an answer.
She asked, "Why are you here?"
With a straight face, Sesshomaru replied, "To ask you a very important question"
Kagome twitched her eyes subconsciously.
"And what are you going to ask me?"
"I heard problems were going on between you and my brother, which still is in progress." His response was smooth flow of words and his voice was low yet loud.
Geez. Gossip spread quickly. Kagome wondered.
"I can tell that you are depressed and emotionally ill." He commented.
Kagome stammered, "B-b-but… W-what do you m-mean? I'm not depressed or emotionally ill. I'm perfectly fine!"
Sesshomaru couldn't stand her lies; he finally asked, "Do you not think that you have been injured quite a lot?"
The full demon took a step closer as Kagome reacted to the opposite direction. In an instant, from a short distance, they both heard the other brother calling out.
"Get away from her, you creep!" Inuyasha exclaimed while he ran towards them, getting ready to attack his expressionless brother. Sesshomaru leaped gracefully to evade Inuyasha's razor-sharp claws. Kagome was now behind Inuyasha and the other was where the half demon facing at. The Tetsusaiga was released from its relentless sheath.
"What do you want?" Inuyasha growled with his fangs showing.
Sesshomaru ignored him and said, "Kagome, please do think about what I said." With his dominant powers, he flew away with lightning speed.
"Yeh. Run away and don't ever come back!" the growling dog exclaimed. He turned around to face the puzzled priestess while he placed the sword back to its sheath.
"Did he hurt you?" he earnestly asked. She looked at his concerned, golden eyes. But Kagome knew that she couldn't talk to him the same way. The comfortable, confident conversation she always had with him won't last long.
He looked around to see signs of grievance.
"He didn't hurt me." She said and started to walk away from him. She trailed the small path towards the village. Inuyasha followed and grabbed Kagome's arms.
"Then what did you guys talk about? Why did he even talk to you?"
"I don't know why he talked to me and as if you care for whatever Sesshomaru and I had conversation about!" Kagome shouted with her temper high. Inuyasha shut his mouth to avoid more exclamations from the fuming priestess. Instead, he just followed her back to the village. When they have arrived back, Miroku and Sango hurried to Inuyasha and Kagome.
"Did you just sense a strong aura? It's now gone but a while..." Miroku asked but Inuyasha interrupted, "It was just Sesshomaru."
Kagome didn't stop walking and entered the hut. Sango saw her and asked, "What happened this time? She was so happy and now she looks…miserable."
The dog demon rolled his eyes and entered the hut for a little snack. Both the monk and the demon slayer looked each other with bewilderment.
Shortly, the old Kaede came in and place the healing herbs onto a bundle, then sat down the wooden floor.
"How are all of you doing?" she asked slowly, waiting for a response with the strange atmosphere.
Sango kindly said, "We are all doing fine Lady Kaede. Thank you. How about you?" the smiling old woman nodded.
She continued, "Oh. There's also an urgent message I received earlier this morning." Kaede handed a clean and neat scroll to Sango. She read it out loud and clear.
"So it's a message for assistance." Miroku commented.
"Yes. That village needs to get someone or a group of people who could terminate a hidden demon that lurked around their village."
The group started to pack their things to bring during the journey. Shippo can't come due to his hardworking training but they brought Kirara with them. Once they have finished, they made their farewell greetings to Kaede and started to fly towards their destination. Miroku and Inuyasha ran together while Sango and Kagome rode on Kirara's back. The monk and the demon slayer yet again, saw the other two faint emotions on their faces. They even wondered if this would continue.
Through the green plains, hills and wild forests, the sun eventually descended from the blended colours of pink and orange. There were still some hints of red blend around the semi-circled sun. The four companions luckily saw an abandoned, broken shack.
Inuyasha sniffed the area and reported, "There's nothing here. We could stay here for the night." The rest placed their bags and pouches down the soft ground. Miroku and Inuyasha looked for a river to catch for fish to roast. As for the girls, they cleaned the shack and collected wood and barks to create fire.
While Kagome picked up small barks and sticks on the base of trees, Sango approached her and asked, "Did anything happen again?" Kagome looked at Sango.
"He just doesn't admit such simple confession." She angrily replied.
"I thought that too, so I asked Miroku to talk to him tonight about what happened earlier with Kikyo." The demon slayer smiled warmly to the depressed priestess. Kagome smiled back. She admired Sango's kindness and concern.
When they went back, they set up the sticks and barks down onto a circle, and started to create sparks and tiny flames below. The flames blazed when Sango tried even harder and finally, the woods were filled fire. Kagome cuddled with her thick, embroidered shawl around her thin shoulders and arms. She made a deep sigh and remembered the question that Sesshomaru asked her that day, when they unexpectedly met.
"Do you not think that you have been injured quite a lot?" those very words were like annoying songs stuck in your head.
Why is he even asking those questions? Is he planning something? She thought.
Shortly, when the sun had fully descended down, and moon ascended with starry skies, the boys came back, roasted fish. The hungry two women could smell the delicious aroma. They all sat down quietly and ate their cooked fish. Kagome only ate half of the fish and gave the rest to Sango. She thanked the others with their benevolence and for the supper. She immediately entered the small shack and slipped in her sleeping bag. The only thing that was in her mind was the curious meeting with Sesshomaru and his confusing question.
The next day, the fire was vanished, the four inside the shack sleeping soundly, and ray of morning light, made the birds to squawk. They all woke up at the same time and started to pack their belonging to prolong their journey. They decided to eat sweet apples from the trees. Walking through the forest they have found the exit that lead to their goal. They could see the huge empire from the hill they are on.
Sango commented with awe, "Wow! What a beautiful empire! It is also huge! No wonder they have their own personal messengers."
"Let's go guys. There's no time to waste." Inuyasha lead the group towards the kingdom.
They have lastly, arrived the vast empire, with detailed dragon and fine-looking floral patterns that trailed from the top to the bottom of the grand gates. The guards were well armoured and built bodies. Their weaponries were strong and sturdy that looked brand new. Most people of the village were living in medium level of wealth. Men and ladies wore fine clothes and kimonos. Only few people lived in a peasant level.
"They are just some rich bastards." Inuyasha murmured. Miroku's eyes were excited to have lots of gorgeous women around him. Sango was again frustrated with the lecherous monk's behaviour and the priestess looked around with admiration. Then an old man came and asked pleasantly, "Are you the people that the lord had sent a message for an urgent help?"
Kagome replied, "Yes we are."
"Well, please follow me to the palace." He gently bowed and lead the way up to the lord's resident. Everything round them once they have entered the palace was extravagant and expensive. The lord was so wealthy that there were a plenty of servants to order around. They also have their own security guard on the door to the lord.
With a nice and loud greeting, the lord of the kingdom welcomed, "Welcome to my kingdom! I am so appreciated that you came here to help me from a critical situation." The gorgeous man walked towards them to and shook their hands.
"I'm actually inspired with your great stories from different villages. When you all protected endangered people from harm."
"Thank you for your compliment, Lord…" Sango stopped and waited to make the lord to introduce himself.
"Sorry for my manners, I'm Lord Wakahiko." He apologized with a big smile on his face.
Sango continued, "Lord Wakahiko, thank you and we are more welcome to help you from this dilemma you are having."
The elegant lord explained the grave condition to the group, "This particular demon have been slaughtering some women of our village and nearly killed one of our guards. At night, I somehow could feel someone's been spying on me, with its penetrating eyes."
"That's why I could smell some demon's odour left." Inuyasha said. "But that demon is not here. I'm sure of it."
Miroku agreed, "I haven't detected any signs of ominous aura around."
Lord Wakahiko said, "For helping us through this, would you like to stay here for the day and night in case the demon comes back?"
The four of them kindly thanked the lord and he led them to their room. The palace was so gigantic that it had abundant of rooms. They walked towards the left side of the splendid stairs and one by one, let them chose their own bedroom.
Kagome said, "We don't need our own bedroom…" but the lord interrupted, "Don't worry! There are a lot more space for the others to sleep in. These rooms are vacant. Please feel yourselves at home."
The priestess saw the other three walking into their selected rooms. Their bedrooms were attached consecutively with the screen doors separating each. Yet again, the room was big enough for four people to sleep in and the decorations and furniture were luxurious.
Afterwards, Kagome was strolling along the magnificent garden with various types of colourful flowers. They were nearly bloomed. Maybe the following few weeks, they would be fully bloom and look appealing for the bees and other insects to do their cross-pollination. She went to the arch bridge above the sparkling stream of water. With the support of the red overpass, she leaned onto it while thinking eagerly about the encounter of Sesshomaru.
What will happen next if we meet again? What am I going to say?
An ill-omened feeling struck Kagome. She felt something agile loitering behind the bushes. Kagome was frightened. She could feel her beating swiftly and loudly. Her bows and arrows were forgotten in her bedroom.
Oh no! I forgot my bows and arrows! She thought.
The priestess tried to look courageous and posed her defending posture from an attack. She could hear scuttling noises of the grass. From the west to the east, the mysterious noise came closer and closer. Suddenly, without any expectations, a long leap from one of the bushes and scraped Kagome's right shoulder with sharp claws.
She screamed and collapsed down to the ground. More damage came to Kagome by bumping her head to the edge of the wooden bridge. She was unconscious with her fragile life on the brink of death…
There you go! Ch 3 is finish! What's going to happen to our poor Kagome with her life in danger?