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Kagome stared down at the rushing water of the river, her mind full of different, confusing thoughts.
Huffing, she reached down and played with the water with her fingertips.
Why was she here?
Was she here for Inuyasha?
Had she come back for him?
Sesshomaru was right. She had left a time of advanced knowledge and technology, of school, of college, to a time where women were thought of as nothing really.
Where war was a normal occurrence and it was a ordinary day when a demon destroyed your village. Now that the Shikon Jewel was destroyed, the happening was less and less, but it did still happen. Hell, it happened just a few days before with the lizard demon.
Was she here to heal people? To tap into powers that she didn't know she possessed?
She honestly thought she was back for Inuyasha, to start a family with him.
A life.
But, as each day passed, that nice thought drifted further and further into oblivion. And that knowledge scared the living hell out of Kagome.
The well was sealed…closed…gone.
She was stuck here. Maybe never to return home.
Sighing soundly, she suddenly sensed a strong demonic aura. But, she knew who it was. Turning her head to the left slightly, she saw the silver hair blowing in the wind.
"What is it?" She asked him, annoyed that he had cut into her thinking.
"Why are you not with Rin, girl?"
"My name is Kagome." She said to him, standing up to brush off her Miko garb.
"I will call you what I please." He said to her, simply.
Rolling her eyes, she turned to leave, but his voice stopped her.
"Answer my question. I put you in charge of Rin. Why are you not with her?"
Huffing, she spun on him, crossing her arms in front of her.
"I just needed a moment to myself, okay! Kaede is with her. She's fine."
Sesshomaru growled, moving to where he was now blocking her way.
Kagome gasped and took a step back, her breath coming faster now. What was he doing? Kagome felt as if he was playing some kind of game with her.
Like cat and mouse. She was growing very tired of it. If he had something to say, he needed to say it.
"What do you want?" She asked him, semi-afraid of the answer.
He only looked down at her, his hair blowing with the wind.
Kagome was tired of this. She was tired of him, of Inuyasha, of…of everybody!
With no answer, she moved to walk around him, but his hand grasped her upper arm, stopping her in her tracks.
Kagome tried to wrench her arm free, but he held firm, his grip like steel on her bicep.
"L-Let go of me, you bastard!" She yelled.
Sesshomaru turned her body to face him, his hand darting out to graze her hair, pushing it behind her shoulder, as if to look at something on her neck…
"What are you doing?" She demanded him, struggling to loosen his grip.
Raising an eyebrow, he said nothing, finally releasing her.
Turning his back, he walked away, leaving her standing there at the river, confused as hell.
OOOOO
Kagome walked back in Rin's hut not long after the scene at the river.
Kaede was mumbling something over the young girl, her gazing rising to see who had entered the hut.
"Hello, child." Kaede said to the young priestess, "Inuyasha was looking for you not long ago. I think he went back to your home, if you want to see what he needed?"
Kagome closed her eyes, not wanting to talk to Inuyasha at the moment. After what transpired between her and Sesshomaru, she was feeling quite strange and needed time away from him.
"I'll check to see what he needs. Later." She murmured, sitting on the opposite side of Rin, noticing the heavy breathing of the girl.
"Has her fever gone down?"
"Aye. It has. Looks like that Goldenseal is really helping her, way more than that yarrow root," Kaede said.
Silence.
"Kagome. What's wrong, child?"
The younger woman snapped her eyes up to the older Miko's.
"W-Why do you ask?"
Kaede sighed and put down the bowl of water she was holding. Narrowing her eyes, she took in the younger Miko's appearance, closing her one good eye before she began speaking.
"Ye seem very…distant. Even Inuyasha has noticed it. Which is…surprising."
Kagome snorted at that.
"What is it?" Kaede asked again, this time more softly.
Kagome didn't want to tell the older woman what she was feeling, she felt ashamed of the said feeling. After moping around in the future for the three years she was gone, she was finally back and all she wanted to do now, was go home.
"I-It's nothing." She lied, twiddling her fingers together.
Kaede raised an eyebrow, "Kagome, ye have never been a good liar."
Well, that's true.
"I-I…" Kagome started, feeling the shame start to rise in her gut.
Better out with the truth, then lie about it.
"It's partly Inuyasha." Kagome murmured, her eyes looking up to catch the opening of the hut, making sure he wasn't there.
Kaede didn't say anything, but Kagome knew she was listening.
"He just…he doesn't respect what I do. He thinks all I'm good for is purifying things. And now that the jewel is gone, what else is there to purify? He's so…suffocating some of the time. It's like, he acts more like my mother or father, than my husband."
Kaede nodded, beckoning her to continue.
"I just…I feel so lonely here. I miss my family, my home. I know it sounds stupid, and selfish, for when I was in my time, all I wanted to do was come back here."
Kagome stopped a moment to wipe her eyes.
"All my friends are doing their own thing. Sango and Miroku are starting their own family, Shippo has his school. Inuyasha spends most of his time moping about Kikyo." The last sentence came out in a dry sob, before Kagome completely broke down.
It felt so good to say these things to another person.
Kaede stared at the weeping woman, feeling pity for her.
"I'll never measure up to Kikyo. And I don't want to. I'm my own person, but Inuyasha will only see me as her replica. How is a marriage supposed to survive on that?"
Kaede sighed, staring at the young woman with pity.
"Have you come to Inuyasha with this, Kagome?"
The younger woman shook her head, wiping her eyes.
"You should talk to him about it, Kagome."
Kagome herself sighed, shaking her head. "He doesn't listen, he only thinks it's me reading too much into what he's doing. So basically, it's my fault."
Kaede herself sighed, wishing the half-demon would grow up. She feared that if he didn't soon, he would lose the dear girl Kagome.
"Kagome. A serious question, alright?" Kaede asked, looking at the huts entrance herself now.
Silence.
"Have ye thought about leaving for a while?"
Silence.
"No. What's the point? He knows where I go, he can sniff me out. It's not like I'd get far."
Kaede just stared at her, pondering what to say probably.
"Let's just change the subject. I don't want to leave Inuyasha, I just wish he'd pay me more positive attention, and stop looking at me like I'm Kikyo. Which I fear will never happen. Kaede, I'm just tired of living in her shadow."
OO
The night progressed like it usually did. Rin's fever had spiked a little bit, not as high as it usually did, but high enough to get another dose of the Goldenseal medicine.
Kagome shooed Kaede away after their conversation in the hut, asking her to check on the two men who were still on the mend in the separate huts.
Kaede had congratulated her on a successful amputation, usually, the person would bleed out on the table, or succumb to infection after the surgery. Kagome was glad hers was the latter.
Sango and Miroku were proud of her as well.
Inuyasha, all he did was lecture her on how he didn't wish to see her do stuff like that.
Like, he was her parent.
Kagome helped Rin to the corner of the hut, assisting her in squatting over the metal bucket. Rin's face displayed pain, her cheeks reddening profusely.
"It's okay Rin, take your time, don't force it." Kagome told her softly.
After a bit, Rin managed to squeeze out a few drops of liquid before whimpering that she couldn't stand anymore.
Kagome wished that she could urinate more, but it was a good sign that she coud urinate at all.
After laying her down, and bathing her to the best of her advantage, Kagome had given her another dose of the Goldenseal plant, adding in a little Ginger root for the pain she felt after going to the bathroom.
OO
Inuyasha visited her not long after Rin fell asleep.
"Kagome." Her mate said, sitting down beside her, hugging her with one of his arms.
Silence.
"Are you coming back to our hut tonight?" Inuyasha asked, smelling the sickness in the air here.
Kagome sighed and nudged his arm off her shoulders, bunching up her hair to the left side of her neck.
"No. Rin's fever has spiked again."
Inuyasha grunted, sighing heavily before standing up, sticking his hands in his haori sleeves.
Kagome knew it was coming, she just wished he would say it and leave.
"I would like to spend one night with my wife." Inuyasha snapped, turning to look at her.
Kagome looked up at him, and just shrugged, all argued out at the moment.
"Rin is ill, Inuyasha. I understand this has been drug out over the last few days, but she needs me. Sess-."
"Yes, I know that bastard stays in here with you!" He yelled at her, moving towards her in an almost threatening manner.
Kagome scooted back, not used to this side of her husband.
"Brother." A voice cut through the air, making both of them look to the entrance of the hut.
Inuyasha growled, but did not answer him.
"You are going to wake Rin. If you two are having a quarrel, remove yourself from my presence." He growled at them both, his stoic eyes raking over his brother, then going to her, pinning her there.
Silence.
"No." Kagome spoke up, standing on her feet now. "Inuyasha go back to the hut, we'll discuss this tomorrow."
Her husband just glared at her, but left all the same, leaving a quivering Kagome in his wake.
"You needn't stay." Sesshomaru said to her as he settled in.
"No…I-I want to stay. Things, well, they haven't been that great with hi-."
"Miko. You mistake my simple statement as me being concerned with your relationship towards the half-demon."
Kagome just sighed, oh yeah, she forgot, he was the big stoic demon. Couldn't let those emotions through, not even for an instant.
Two emotionally screwed brothers.
There was no more talking for the night, and after the exchange of words with Sesshomaru, Kagome laid her head down next to Rin and finally fell into a restless slumber.
Review please!
Love,
Heather.