Chapter 10

Author Note:

Yay, thanks to all my lovely reviewers! I want to give a special thanks to LC Rose, PriestessSianna and especially TexanLady (your reviews are almost as long as my chapters and I love it!). Also thanks to everyone else, and also to my beta DestinysTears!

Well, read on!

Kagome was on the verge of...something. She didn't really know what, but it probably consisted of a lot of screaming and kicking things, whatever it was.

They had been traveling together for two days, TWO days. Now, two days might not seem like a long time, and admittedly it wasn't, but Kagome didn't care.For TWO DAYS she had no idea where they were going. For TWO DAYS she hadn't had a bath or a good night's sleep. For TWO STINKING DAYS she had to put up with him.

And he was slowly, but surely, driving her insane.

She had thought that her little suggestion for trying to get him to be civil had been a good idea, she had even congratulated herself on her attempts to thaw the icy lord.

But she was a fool.

The first compliment he had paid her had come at the end of the first day, right before they made camp. The sun had been setting and they were enjoying a comfortable silence for the first time since they had begun their travels together, when he said it. He flipped his hair casu ally, settled against a tree, and said:

"I have not had the urge to end your life in the past hour, without the hindrance of your mouth perhaps we could keep it that way."

The second had been something about her scent being much less disrupting when she walked downwind. She still really hadn't gotten over that one. In fact, she still didn't think the twenty minutes of shouting at him about how it wasn't her fault that they hadn't come across a stream in TWO days, was enough.

That's why she was here. In the middle of the apparently endless forrest they had been traversing. Shooting arrows at a tree.

"Stupid dog! Stupid, stupid dog!" She grumbled. Apparently her brain was too frazzled to even think up a decent insulting name to call him.

Stupid dog? Her mind supplied again. She scowled.

Nocking another arrow, Kagome pulled back on the bow string, aiming at her target. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, focusing on the spiritual energy swirling around her. She pulled it into herself, into her lungs and her heart and her blood. She felt it spread into her body, felt it tingle on the surface of her skin as she pushed it into the wood beneath her fingers.

The whole process only took a moment, a second of concentration before her eyes opened and she released. The arrow, shimmering like the deadly talons of a righteous bird of prey, found it's mark with a muffled thunk, and faded as it sunk into the wood.

Kagome sighed tiredly and wilted to the ground. She had been getting much better at this since she had started practicing, really she had, but the task always proved to be too much for her in the end. Her powers were simply bigger than she was; to hold them was one thing, but to use them was another. They overwhelmed her.

"Get up, miko," a deep baritone sounded from the trees around her, causing her to jump in shock.

Oh, it was him.

"No, I like the ground," she said tiredly once she realized the voice belonged to someone that she was pretty sure wasn't going to murder her. Even if he was - she really wasn't in any mood to try and stop him.

Sesshoumaru watched the miko through golden eyes as he stepped into the small clearing she had been practicing in. She really was deceptively powerful for such a slight, little thing, he had to admit. He could feel the spiritual energy she summoned sizzle across his skin, making his hair stand on end. It was an impressive sight, if nothing else, but her skills were severely lacking. Some might say that the sheer, uncontrolled power she possessed would make her a deadly foe, but her inability to remain on her feet made the idea that she could possibly pose a threat, a laughable one.

Still...she was powerful, and power - true power - was perhaps one of the few things that held his respect.

"A warrior should not show weakness in battle, miko," he told her, his piercing golden eyes burning holes into hers.

It was sort of creepy, she decided, seeing as he never seemed to blink. "Well, unless the tree decides to retaliate, I'm pretty sure this isn't a battle," she grumbled, averting her gaze to the ground.

He lifted a brow.

"Yeah, yeah. I know that's not what you meant," she sighed. "But in my defense, I never wanted to be a warrior in the first place so, is it really so surprising that I suck at it?"

Sesshoumaru stared at the girl with a look of mild interest on his normally blank face. If she did not like this path, then why did she choose to follow it? He knew by now that she was the Shikon Miko, the girl who had shattered that wretched jewel and spread its evil across the lands. Did she truly feel such a strong responsibility to atone for her actions when she was clearly untrained and ill equipped to handle the task? She was naught but a frightened girl - a human woman fresh from adolescence. Clearly she was in far over her head...and yet, she would see this task through, she would right her own wrongs.

It was honorable, he realized. She was honorable.

He cocked his head to the side and gave her a calculating look. "Do you wish to know why you fall?"

The tired priestess sighed and shrugged her shoulders sloppily. "I know why I fall: because I'm a tired school girl who should be studying biology, not the extensive arts of demon obliteration. That's why I fall."

"No, it is because you find no joy in the fight, you find no strength in your own power." He responded.

Again she just shrugged, not really understanding why he cared. "Why should I? I don't like killing things, I don't like ending lives."

Again he was impressed by the sheer enormity of this girl's unwavering morals. She truly regretted every life she had taken, every youkai life she had ended. He could smell it on her skin, hear it in her tone.

He had never been one to associate with miko, but the ones he had met were never quite as...pure as she seemed to be. They all seemed to take at least some perverse pleasure in exterminating youkai. They all enjoyed their profession to some extent, but she did not.

"You are a miko, it is what you do," he said somewhat less eloquently than his usual manner of speaking.

"I know, but in my time miko are healers, we don't have to fight demons," she explained. "We get to help people, not hurt them."

"Youkai are not people," he pointed out, his brow furrowing just a little in his confusion.

Kagome shrugged. "They are to me."

Sesshoumaru's eyes widened imperceptibly; he was not sure if that was the wisest, or the stupidest thing he had ever heard her say. Either way, he did not quite know how to respond. It was so unlike him to be at a loss for words, not that he spoke often, but his silence was usually due to preference rather than inhibition.

He did not like the feeling, he did not like it at all.

He looked away from her and towards the tree she had been shooting at. "You protect those who are defenseless, you fight for the lives of those who cannot fight for it themselves. That is how you help people in this time, miko. You should take pride in the strength that allows you to do this," he said sternly as he turned and headed back towards the trees. "Take pride in what you do, or do not do it at all."

He started to walk away from her, his steps graceful, but unhurried.

As she watched his slowly receding figure, Kagome's jaw was hanging open and catching flies. She had never heard Sesshoumaru speak so much at one time, not to mention the fact that his words hadn't been insulting or degrading. He was almost like he actually did care, or something ridiculous like that.

But no, that couldn't be it, he had to be mocking her. Right?

"And your aim is not entirely unfortunate, miko," he said distantly.

Her jaw snapped shut with an audible click and Kagome couldn't help but smile. Even though she knew he was just saying it to fulfill his part of their deal, it was still nice to hear a compliment that wasn't entirely backhanded.

And so, she clapped her hands in determination and picked herself up off the ground. "Okay, find pride in what I do?" A curious smile spread across her face. "Maybe... maybe I can do that."

The young priestess pulled back the string on her bow with a furrowed brow and released her arrow. She emptied her entire quiver and she didn't fall once.

***

Shigeru watched the scene below him unfold with increasing displeasure. He had finally found the girl he had scented a few days ago and she was indeed beautiful. She might not have been as regal or well-kept as his other brides, but there was a fire inside her that shone brighter than any maiden he had ever encountered. She was entrancing.

But, she was a miko, something he had not anticipated. She was not greatly proficient with her powers, but there was no doubt that she would be able to inflict damage upon his person. Perhaps even permanent damage. He did not relish the thought, nor did he relish the powerful magic that hung around her neck. Whatever it was it seemed to whisper for him to swoop in and take it, but he restrained, to do so would be suicide.

Miko were deadly powerful against even a great youkai such as himself, but fortunately she seemed to be untrained and had no real control over her true power. Unfortunately that was not the only obstacle he would have to overcome to procure this girl, because apparently she had a protector. And not just any protector, a taiyoukai.

"Inconvenient," he murmured to himself and rubbed his chin. It was sheer luck that he had decided to watch the girl from the air instead of simply hiding amongst the trees, for if he had been in the trees, the taiyoukai would have most definitely detected him.

He was not entirely sure of the relationship shared between the two - it seemed to him as though they simply tolerated a begrudging camaraderie, but that did not make the youkai lord any less of a threat. Inuyoukai were known for their protective natures. Even if he only traveled with the girl, he would undoubtedly protect her to some extent were she to be threatened.

As it was it would be impossible to even approach her in the dog's presence, Shigeru was sure that he would never willingly allow her to stray from his senses. It would be nearly impossible to separate them... unless they separated of their own accord.

Well, I believe it is time to plan a diversion, he decided tiredly.

"Just wait, my pretty miko," he whispered, "I will have you yet."

Chapter Note:

Oh no, Shigeru has some shenanigans planned! That hooligan!

Anyway, reviews are like chocolate...they're both...delicious? Okay, maybe reviews aren't like chocolate, but they are nice!