CH 4
He staggered out into the night. He had never felt so weak in his life. His lip was swollen, and his body was a mass of throbbing bruises. How he hated being a human. When he got his hands on his mother, she would pay.
Sesshomaru wiped a hand along his mouth and gazed at it blearily. It was streaked with red. Why wasn't he healing? Were humans truly this pathetic?
He stumbled on the cobblestones, and nearly fell flat on his face. Where was the easy grace he once possessed? Why was he so helpless?
Where were the superior senses he had possessed? Where was the grace with which he had moved? He tried to snarl, but inuyoukai no more, he could not produce a very impressive one. All that emerged from his bloody lips was a throaty rasp. He had lost everything! Even his looks were marred by all these bruises. There could be scars on his beautiful person, he thought with dull dismay.
His energy was draining incredibly quickly. He had to get to shelter before he blacked out completely.
He was nearing the outskirts of the insufferable town. He could see a tiny little hut. It was a shambles of a work, but it seemed to be deserted, and that was what he wanted. Solidarity. He made his way clumsily toward the hut, and shoved aside the covering. He stumbled inside and stopped short.
The girl he had talked to early was sitting on the floor of the hut, staring up at him with wide eyes. She held a piece of fish in her hand was in the motion of bringing it to her open mouth. Yes, all humans were swine.
Kagome blinked at the intruder. Hey, what do you know, it's that aristocrat from earlier! Only he looks a lot more beat up than before.
For a minute, they stared at each other. She noted that he was covered head to toe with bruises, in colors ranging from sickly green to bright purple.
Ouch.
Deciding to be nice, Kagome smiled. "Hey, you can sit down, you know." Or is your butt covered in bruises as well?
Sesshomaru stood there stiffly. "I will remain standing."
Yup.
"You sure? I have some food. I'll give you some if you sit."
His eyes narrowed. "I am not hungry." He would not be bribed with food. He was not a beggar. He was a youkai, and he was superior in every way to these filthy humans. By morning, he would be completely healed. "I can go for days without- -"
His stomach growled, and he was tempted to rip it from his person.
Kagome stifled a giggle. "Okay, even if you're not hungry, have a seat. You look like you're going to fall over any second!"
He realized that she was right. Reluctantly, he sat down, concealing the pain he felt.
Kagome handed him the last whole fish. "So, what's your name? Mine's Kagome."
"That is none of your business," Sesshomaru said loftily, nibbling on the fish. He wanted to throw the whole thing in his mouth, bones and all, and crunch it all down, but he had been taught better. He ate delicately like the lordling he was.
Kagome tipped her head to the side, then shrugged, attacking her own fish. If he wanted to be like that, she would let him.
"You can sleep here for tonight," she said, yawning. "Since there's nowhere else for you to go, other than outside to the hard ground."
Sesshomaru's grip on his fish tightened. He, the future Lord of the West, sleep in a peasant hut? And a very poorly constructed one at that?
"What, don't give me that look," said Kagome with a raised eyebrow. "You really have nowhere better to go, so I'd stuff that aristocratic air of yours."
Sesshomaru gritted his teeth. He hated this situation, having to lean so heavily on this peasant girl, this gutter girl. But he was logical, if nothing else, and he knew that she was right; he had nowhere better to go.
"Very well," he said haughtily, trying to maintain what little dignity he had left. "I suppose this one could bed in your dwelling for tonight. However, do not presume to speak to me without permission."
Kagome tried not to laugh. Obviously, he himself was no better than a peasant; his clothes showed that much. She wondered why he was putting on such airs.
You get all kinds of people in the world, I guess. All kinds.