Chapter 10 - Bargain

Kagome was walking around, trying to calm down. She was really annoyed by Inuyasha's and Sesshoumaru's behavior. She just didn't see any way how could those two ever get along at all. She was quite optimistic before, but since Sesshoumaru joined them, her optimism quickly faded away.

Since she started to travel back into the past, she didn't believe in word impossible. How many people said that people can't travel through time? Yet, she was the living proof that it actually was possible, so she learned that no matter how unlikely something might seem, she would never consider it completely impossible, believing in the fact that there's always some way. Though, in this case she was starting to have doubts.

She could see bits of Sesshoumaru's better past self when he was talking with her, but he never showed something like that to Inuyasha or anyone else. She was pretty sure that at the moment, she was the only one who knew his other side. Even Jaken who was with him for so long surely didn't know.

"Lady Kagome." A voice suddenly spoke behind her and Kagome abruptly turned around to see who it was. A man in simple kimono was standing in front of her, but she couldn't determine whether he was a threat or not. She was confused, she didn't feel anyone's presence at all and yet, that man was now standing just a few steps from her. He was definitely giving her an uneasy feeling.

"Who are you? What do you want?" She asked, trying to hide just how stunned she was by his sudden appearance.

"There's no need to worry, I didn't come to hurt you. My master sent me here in effort to try to make the brothers work together." He explained, but Kagome was looking at him even more suspiciously.

"Your master?" She asked carefully.

"Yes, my master Miroku told me to take you away from the group in hope that if Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru will think that you're in danger, they might start to work together." He said calmly and Kagome just stared at him wide eyed.

"Miroku?" She asked bewilderedly.

"That's right, Miroku summoned me and sent me here. He probably thought of this as about the only option, because the process of summoning me took him a lot of energy." He stated.

"Alright," Kagome said slowly, "if you were really sent by Miroku, I think I can trust you, but who or what you really are?" She asked and he chuckled.

"I'm my master's family hidden protector. My existence isn't known even among most of the members of the family, only those chosen ones as keepers know about me and can also summon me. After that I'm obligated to protect anyone I'm told to. Now I was told to protect you while keeping you away from the group." He explained. Kagome thought about it for a while and then looked at him again, this time with suspicion in her eyes.

"What kind of protector are you when you allowed his family to get cursed?" She pointed out. He sighed.

"I'm only able to protect from physical threats, not from curses and I need to be summoned first to be able to do anything." This time it was Kagome who sighed.

"Fine, one last thing. Why didn't I feel your presence before? I still can't, even though I can see you right in front of me. Also, how should I call you?"

"Hiding is one of the ways of protection and you can call me Yori." He smiled, but then his face turned serious again.

"Now it's your choice. Either you will act along with me and come with me willingly or I'll take you with me by force." He said seriously, startling Kagome a bit by the change of mood. She wasn't sure what to do, so she decided to ask one other question before answering.

"Do you think this will work?" She looked at him intently. He shrugged.

"I don't know, but master Miroku thinks so." He said honestly and Kagome nodded.

"That's enough for me, so what should I do?" She asked and he looked at her with smirk.

"First we have to make your friends believe that you were kidnapped, so a loud, honest scream of fear would be nice." He suggested. Kagome frowned, but then took in a deep breath and screamed at top of her lungs.