CHAPTER 7: Suffer the consequences
Once the children saw the room full of scrolls they couldn't keep still. Kagome explained to them what she wanted accomplished and they jumped into the project head first.
"You have to be very careful with the scrolls. Some of them are hundreds of years old and we don't want any to be destroyed without us first getting the information out of them."
When the children agreed, they sat near a large pile Kagome had made the day before and started their careful perusal. It took about an hour for the children to get a fair idea of how the scrolls were to be separated and by the second hour, Kagome could tell they needed to stretch their legs. She was starting to feel a little restless herself.
At the door, Kagome stretched her miko powers out, telling Sesshoumaru they were ready for a break. They had waited for almost two minutes for Sesshoumaru to open the door.
"My general was giving a report."
Since when did Sesshoumaru start explaining himself? Strange. "Ah. Well, we're going outside for a while. Do you want to take a break with us?" Kagome followed Sesshoumaru's eyes to the children beside her who twitched with unused energy. "They're going to explode. You should come. The sun is calling to us." Kagome smiled when Sesshoumaru sighed, knowing that he was going to follow them.
Kagome felt the castle workers scurrying about their work and felt a cold air set about her tall companion as they drew near. "Can you loosen up, please?" She rolled her neck and shoulders to ease the stress from them. "You make me tense when you're like that."
He did and Kagome noticed and appreciated the difference. Their break was going to be a lot better now. Once the children saw the door that led to the great outdoors, Shippo made a dash for it with Rin close behind. Kagome couldn't help but laugh at how cute they were together. Once Kagome and Sesshoumaru were out of hearing range from the other castle occupants, she asked, "What's your first memory?"
Sesshoumaru watched the kids running around the bushes and trees, waving at the gardeners as they passed them by. "My first memory was my mother's scent. My eyes were not yet open but I could smell her and the nurses attending to her."
Kagome was shocked. "You remember being born?" Sesshoumaru nodded. "Jeez! My first memory would have to be when I was four or five. I can't believe you remember the day you were born…" her voice trailed off as she thought about what else he must remember.
A smile crossed the miko's lips that Sesshoumaru wasn't sure he wanted to know the reason for.
"What is the worst punishment you ever received from Eiko?"
A distinct frown marred Sesshoumaru's otherwise perfect face. "Some things are better left to the unknown." Memories of "the incident" reared its ugly head.
Kagome frowned from a lack of an answer until she remembered, "the punishment for not answering my question is to participate in an activity of my choosing for a half hour. Are you really willing to push that?"
Sesshoumaru must have endured some embarrassing punishment if it was taking him this long to answer. "I will endure your…activity," the taiyoukai said, obviously thinking that nothing could be worse than him telling her what happened.
Little did Sesshoumaru realize that most women, especially of the older generations, loved to tell stories…poor guy. It was an unfortunate downside of being anti-social, not picking up on the workings of others. Kagome knew that she would be visiting the kitchen a lot in the near future and smiled at the thought of it.
A soldier walked up to Sesshoumaru and Kagome. "You sent for me, my lord?"
Kagome looked at the newcomer and her eyes widened. From his hair and skin coloring alone, she knew he was a dog-demon, maybe even a cousin of this pokey lord next to her. His hair was a silvery-blonde, his eyes were as blue as a crystal lake on a summer's day and a long scar stretched from above his right eyebrow to the center of his cheek on the same side, making him look all the more rugged. His silky strands were tied at the nape of his neck and he wore a decorated sleeveless uniform in blue and silver.
"Kagome, this is Satoshi. He will be your escort, should you travel away from the castle."
"It will be my pleasure to serve you, my lady." Satoshi bowed at the waist and when his eyes rose to meet hers again, Kagome saw a flirtatious glint in them. She blushed.
Sesshoumaru recognized the tone Satoshi spoke in and held back a growl. Satoshi's eyes grew brighter at the threatening sound and he smiled to Kagome's surprise.
"If your monk were a demon, he would be my cousin's twin brother." Sesshoumaru lifted his lip in disdain and said to Satoshi, "You may leave."
"But Sesshoumaru-"
"Now!" Kagome had never seen her demon lord lose his temper like that before. Maybe it was because he was more relaxed at home. He had never before lost his temper with Inuyasha, even through all their scuffles.
Kagome watched as Satoshi straightened up and turned back to send a smile her way. "If you need anything, my lady, do not hesitate to send Jaken for me. Anything."
Kagome giggled as Satoshi walked back to whatever it was he did before meeting with them. "Well, he seems nice."
Sesshoumaru sneered. "Although I would not wish you to be in his presence for long periods of time, he is the only one I trust with your safety other than myself."
Kagome's face fell. "Am I going to have to protect myself from him?"
Knowing what the miko implied, he answered, "No. He does not suffer from cursed hands like your monk. He has soft words and a softer heart for women. He will do his best to woo you."
Kagome smiled again. "Words I can handle. We'll be fine."
"So you say," the demon said before leading Kagome towards the garden where the children were playing.
When Kagome didn't hear the usual loud laughter that surrounded the children when they were together, her curiosity grew. What had them so entranced?
Between two apple trees there was a clay flower pot with the origin of the vine that wrapped around the citadel walls. Shippo heard them approach and looked to Kagome in help before turning back to his sad companion. Rin held the dead plant limb in her tiny hands.
"Rin, are you okay?"
Two watery chocolate brown eyes looked up. "The moon flowers, they're dying-" Rin stood and ran into Kagome's waiting arms. The older woman knelt to embrace the small girl and her monstrous tears.
"It's just a part of life, Rin. It will come back to life eventually."
Kagome felt Rin shaking her head against her shoulder. "It's not!" The little girl was near hysterics. "Sesshoumaru-sama said that this was a gift from the moon god to the earth goddess. There is only one and now its dying!"
Why would Sesshoumaru tell Rin that? As strange as it was to think, it had to be somewhat true because Sesshoumaru never lied. If anything, he told the truth too often and especially when not needed, wanted or would be appreciated.
"The only one, Sesshoumaru?" Sesshoumaru heard the doubt in her voice and decided it would be alright to answer.
"The story has been passed down from father to son in my line. The moon god was in love with the goddess of the earth but he could not stay by her side all day. To remind her of him while he was away, he gave her a single white flower that would always be in bloom as would his love for her. Only when the earth died, would the flower die, a last symbol of his broken heart."
"I've never heard that story before," Kagome said, taking one last look at the dying bush. "Is there any story about the earth dying or getting sick?"
Sesshoumaru shook his head. "Perhaps that is something you may find in my father's library."
Kagome groaned at the thought of having to find yet another single scroll in the ancient tomb of parchment and ink. "Hopefully nothing bad will come of this. We'll do our best to search for a scroll about this flower."
Their break had been long enough to let the kids spend their energy and for everyone to realize their hunger. On their way back to Sesshoumaru's study and their organization, a stop at the kitchens was in order. With their bellies full or at least sated for the moment, two humans and two demons made their way back to Sesshoumaru's study to continue their work.
Rin and Shippo were now devoted to the cause of finding treasures hidden in scrolls and the work moved along a lot quicker with their help. Their day was coming to a close and they were still no closer to finding the two scrolls. The next couple of days proved fruitless as well.
--
It was Friday again and Kagome had finally let Sesshoumaru know what it was she wanted. Kagome and the children were ready to leave whenever Sesshoumaru admitted defeat.
"I will not."
Kagome chuckled at his discomfort. "That's what you think, buddy. You gave your word and now you have to follow through. See what happens when you don't want to give me a straight answer?"
Sesshoumaru's face was impassive as he followed behind the miko and the two bouncing children.
"When are we going to get there?" Shippo nearly yelled in excitement.
"We're almost there. We just have to pass by a few more trees…do you see it there?" Rin pointed a finger to the shimmering blue waters beyond the forest clearing.
"Woohoo!" Shippo took off, leaving the rest of the group trailing behind. Rin followed suit, not once looking back for permission from her lord, which Sesshoumaru found quite odd.
The calm lake actually looked very refreshing from the heat of midday. Further ahead, Sesshoumaru sighted clothes strewn along the path, Shippo's clothes. Rin's were folded and lay next to the nearest green sprout of mother earth, where she would be guaranteed to find it again.
As soon as Kagome could smell the lake water, her clothes fell off in haste. She hadn't been swimming in a very long time. And the last time she had been swimming without having to worry about being attacked by Naraku…she couldn't remember.
Luckily for Kagome, Sesshoumaru had retrieved her hideous but incredibly dependable yellow backpack from the battle ground. Many of her possessions within the backpack were still in perfect condition, namely her swimsuit and Kagome would be forever grateful to him for his thoughtful actions.
Kagome tossed her bundle of clothes and a more efficient and convenient version of her backpack near the bush that hid Rin's clothes and jumped into the lake with the children. Sesshoumaru stood on the shore, watching the ridiculous antics of his pack members.
Kagome stopped splashing long enough to see a stiff demon lord on the muddy bank of the lake. "What are you waiting for, Sesshoumaru? Take your clothes off and jump in."
Sesshoumaru was against being a part of the water fun, it went against his nature as an assassin to leave his back open for attack. However much he was against it though, his honor was at greater risk of being attacked and all because of the small and deceptively powerful human woman splashing around in the shallow lake water.
Removing his clothing was an easy task now that he had two hands again. A few seconds was all it took to get the ice-lord down into his feudal whities and into the water where a blushing miko stood waist deep.
"Like what you see, miko?"
Kagome blushed harder, even the water around her was warming if that was at all possible. "I uh…n-no. I mean…hot but.." Kagome groaned. There was no recovering from that wonderful sighting of male perfection.
Rin and Shippo squealed in delight at seeing Sesshoumaru take part in the fun. The lord was doing nothing more than standing waist deep in the water but he was there with them and that was good enough!
Kagome saw the ends of Sesshoumaru's long silvery hair floating on the water and immediately thought of the Mr. Hawaii calendar Yuka brought back for her from her family vacation last summer. So the demon lord wasn't tanned but his sinewy muscle, the deadly force that such muscle could command was a striking turn-on.
With the thoughts of seeing Sesshoumaru lying half naked on the sands of a Hawaiian beach in her mind, clingy water drops and all, it was time to dunk herself. Kagome absently wondered if Sesshoumaru could smell things from under the water's surface. She sure hoped that wasn't the case as she swam a few meters away.
Author's Note:
I would really like to thank everyone for reading this story. Believe me, I didn't think I would get such great responses for this story and yet I am more than pleasantly surprised every time I check my email. You guys (and girls) are so wonderful. Thank you for taking the time to read and review. You have no idea how much your feedback helps me! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I'm really sorry that this took so long. Things have been picking up in life and I haven't been finding the time to conjure up words to the chaos in my mind. Things are still moving slow but I wanted to get this chapter out before the week was over so…it's kinda short. Sorry and I hope you liked this little naughty side of Kagome. She couldn't help it but then who would be able to?