Kagome hummed to herself as she followed Sesshomaru. Again he was silent and it was beginning to get unbearable, so that's when she decided to hum a song from her time.
"What is that?" Sesshomaru suddenly asked.
His question caught her off guard, "Huh? What is what?"
"The melody you hum. What is it?"
Kagome could have smacked her forehead. She must have sounded stupid. "Oh, it's a song from my ti-….my country. It's very popular."
Sesshomaru stopped and looked up at the sky, "We are being followed." Slowly he turned around and grabbed Kagome's arm, pulling her behind him.
She could see nothing but the trees in front of her for a minute. Then something moved. It surprised her and stole a gasp from her. "What is it?"
Sesshomaru closed his beautiful eyes and sniffed, "Wolf."
"Koga?" She looked up at Sesshomaru and watched his eyes narrow. He placed his right hand on the hilt of Tokijin and vanished.
Kagome looked around but saw nothing. Where did he go? If it was Koga that Sesshomaru sensed, he would kill him without a second thought. As powerful as Koga was, he stood no chance against Sesshomaru. She had to stop him!
Without another thought Kagome ran into the woods, following her intuition. She heard a sickening crack to her left. She stopped and saw a tree falling over and then Sesshomaru. He swung Tokijin which was followed by an explosion. Dust flew up and cloaked Sesshomaru from her sight.
Something quick dashed out of cloud of dust and headed straight for her. Whoever this was she knew one thing for sure. This was not Koga. This demon was much taller and seemed to be older than Koga by at least five years. He had loose black hair which was comparable to Sesshomaru's in beauty. His eyes were a deep purple and he wore no shirt. Just pants many ronin's wore. He was beautiful.
Kagome's awe turned to horror as she watched the demon pulled back his arm and balled his fist. He was going to strike her!
Sesshomaru was suddenly in front of her and slashed the demons arm with poison claws. He dug his claws into the flesh and anchored them there as he twirled and tossed the demon into a large tree a few feet away. Kagome almost puked at the horrid smell of rotting flesh and the sound of it fizzing and bubbling up.
The demon hissed in pain. He quickly gathered himself knowing his life was at risk if he stayed and then fled.
Kagome fell to her knees and covered her mouth with her hands. The smell was so disgusting. Arms enveloped her and picked her up. She had the faint knowledge that she was moving but she was so nauseated that she didn't really care. She tried opening her eyes a few times but everything was such a blur it made her stomach lurch every time.
After what seemed like hours, a familiar voice said "Breathe. Deeply, this will help you."
Kagome did as Sesshomaru instructed. Whatever this was is was doing wonders for her. It held a minty scent and the aroma was so powerful she could almost taste it. It filled her throat and cooled the burning. It pushed the nausea away and in fact made her hungry. She opened her watering eyes and other than the blur of tears she saw fine.
"Sess..shomaru?" Her voice was weak.
Sesshomaru held her in his lap, one arm steadying her, the other holding a large leaf with a light blue mush on it. "Just breathe. You inhaled the poisonous fumes, this will make you better."
She coughed, "Who was that? Who attacked us?"
Sesshomaru didn't answer for a few seconds, "Daisuke. Our fathers were enemies and because my father bested his, he feels a need to best me to prove his family's worth. He's even weaker than his father…no more questions, breathe."
Kagome wanted to pout but she didn't think it would even phase Sesshomaru so, she grabbed his wrist and pulled the blue mush closer to her nose and took deep, even breaths. It only took a few minutes for the heavy feeling to lift. Kagome took a deep breath of clean air and smiled, "Wow Sesshomaru! That stuff is amazing! Where did you get it?"
Sesshomaru didn't answer. He grabbed her chin gently with his fingers and turned her face right and then left. He pursed those gorgeous lips and let her go. "You'll be fine."
Kagome watched him and felt a blush as stared right back at her, something flashed in his eyes that she didn't quite recognize. Something about the way he looked at her made her feel naked. She gathered the energy to stand up and walk a few steps away.
She smiled nervously, "Well, are we going to keep going?"
Sesshomaru's face seemed shocked for a split second, "You…want to come?"
A rush of emotions raced across Kagome's face. She was silent for a while before finally deciding on telling him the truth, "You haven't hurt me, in fact, you've taken care of me. I do not fear for my life with you."
Sesshomaru stood up and walked up to her, "Do you not miss Inuyasha?"
Inuyasha. She felt her heart tear. She bit her lip and nodded, "Yes…"
"But?"
Kagome took a deep breath and bit her lip a little harder trying to restrain against the tears she felt, "He doesn't want me…I'll just get in his way. With her…"
Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed as a look of utter disapproval masked his face, "The dead woman?" His frown deepened when Kagome nodded. "You have proof of this affair?"
Kagome gave a short, unamused laugh, "I've seen them kissing all over each other…more than once."
Sesshomaru glanced behind them and saw a flash of red. Inuyasha fell from the sky and landed gracefully. "There you are you bastard! How dare you take Kagome! I'll kill you!"
Kagome looked up at Sesshomaru, not sure what to do. Sesshomaru took her confusion as a request to get rid of source. Inuyasha.
He didn't say a word, Sesshomaru simply charged at Inuyasha, sending his light whip out from the tip of his newly restored fingers. Inuyasha's eyes widened and he barely managed to bring out Tetsaiga in time to block it. "Tsk! Damn you Sesshomaru! What are you up to?"
"Leave Inuyasha. This is the only chance I will give you." Sesshomaru held up his hand, finger tips glowing.
Inuyasha laughed, "As if! Not without Kagome!"
"Isn't your dead priestess enough for you? Or does your knowledge of how disgraceful your half blood is you feel the need to over compensate with women?" Sesshomaru went into a fighting stance.
Inuyasha seemed stunned for a second but anger replaced the emotion, "Shut the hell up! You don't know what you are talking about!"
"You don't deny it little brother." Sesshomaru struck. The lightning fast whip brushed past the defending Tetsaiga and slit a deep gash in Inuyasha's cheek, who jumped back a few feet, trying to put distance between them.
Inuyasha snarled, "Kagome! What are you doing just standing there? Run!"
Kagome looked at Inuyasha with wide eyes, "He's not a threat to me Inuyasha!"
"What the hell are you babbling about? This is Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha snapped.
Sesshomaru took the time to sliced Inuyasha's Robe of the Fire Rat, since he managed to dodge just in time.
"Take the hint and flee like the pathetic mutt you are. She doesn't want you. Why would she when you've further soiled yourself by choosing a dead woman over her?" Sesshomaru's claws upper cut Inuyasha's entire abdomen. The poison instantly bubbling up where the marks were left.
Inuyasha fell to one knee, clutching his stomach, "Ka…gome? What is he…talking about?"
Kagome looked at the apparently very interesting dirt. She sighed before turning to look at him with sad but defiant eyes, "I've seen you with her Inuyasha…I've seen you with Kikyo. I told you that even if you chose her I'd stay by your side but…" She bit her lip, but this time it didn't help with blocking the tears, "I didn't anticipate the pain…because of it, I've been a liability to the team. I think it's best…that I stay with Sesshomaru…so you can be with Kikyo without worrying about me, and I can get over this pain. I'll continue to gather shards and I'll come to you if I sense Naraku…but I can't deal with this anymore…I'm sorry Inuyasha."
She couldn't bare to look at him any longer. She turned and ran into the forest.
Inuyasha held out his hand as if stop Kagome with sure will power, "Kagome…I'm…" True he had been seeing Kikyo on a regular basis and he loved Kikyo, but he never dreamed that it would actually drive Kagome to leave, and with his own brother. He loved her too. The pain in his heart weakened him and made him more vulnerable to the poison. His vision began to blur and his body was so heavy.
Sesshomaru stared at his brother with disgust, "That human woman was the best thing that ever happened to you. You didn't deserve her to begin with, now this will only be the beginning of what I take from you. Kagome, then Tetsaiga, and then your life."
The last thing Inuyasha saw before everything went black was Sesshomaru turning and walking into the forest, after his Kagome to comfort her.
