Cerulean eyes clashed with gold, but it was Kagome that finally put it into words:
"You mean, my chest is somehow beating with your heart!?"
…………………………………………….
At Kagome's startling pronouncement, an uneasy silence filled the shadowy clearing. Any and all questions the two companions might have had died a premature death at Kagome's outburst.
In the silence, an undeniable sense of guilt began to gnaw at the back of Kagome's mind. I never asked for this. I didn't ask for this. Kagome thought with despair. While the rational part of her mind knew that she couldn't have foreseen or forestalled these events, she couldn't help but feel some remorse. She had striven so diligently to be independent, and now her existence was regulated to that of a parasite.
I'm a leech. Kagome thought reproachfully.
She cast a tentative glance towards Sesshoumaru to see how he was taking the startling news. To her guilt-laden mind, his stare which before might have seemed detached and cold, became accusatory and filled with contempt. Shying away from the demons constructed in her mind, Kagome shifted her gaze to shadowy forest around her, unable and unwilling to look at Sesshoumaru for the sense of guilt that gnawed at her mind.
Sesshoumaru, for his part, felt none of the emotions that Kagome was now attributing him with. He was, in fact, less concerned with why Kagome was dependent on him, and more concerned with what her dependency meant for the two of them.
Thinking back on the bizarre episode, Sesshoumaru tried to piece together all that he knew about this new bond. When the shadow beast had sunk its teeth into Kagome's side, instead of Kagome feeling its sting, it had been transferred to this Sesshoumaru. He reasoned.
If pain is transferred across our 'bond,' then, putting it together, I am as vulnerable as… she is. A slight frown pulled at the demon lord's lips.
Deciding to test his new theory, Sesshoumaru stooped towards the carcass of the shadow beast and ripped a fang from its gaping mouth. Pausing briefly before the miko's distraught form, Sesshoumaru nonchalantly drew a hairline cut along the miko's exposed arm.
A brief pain hissed across his arm, and Sesshoumaru now knew that whatever happened to the miko would happen to him.
Kagome for her part felt a slight tingling sensation along her left arm. Drawn out of her silent reverie, she looked up to see Sesshoumaru scrape the shadow beast's fang along her arm. Staring from her arm to the re-bloodied fang, Kagome's sense of remorse dissipated and was replaced with indignation.
"You cut me, you prick! Didn't we already agree that you would refrain from unnecessarily causing me bodily harm? What did you do that for?"
"Apparently," Sesshoumaru replied coolly, disdain coloring his voice, "pain is transferred across our 'bond.'"
Sesshoumaru's brows creased slightly at the thought of such an inconvenience. The miko's pain was now his own, so in a sense he was as weak as she. Though, if that be so, we will just have to ensure the miko's protection. Sesshoumaru thought decidedly. He would not be made weaker through his bond with Kagome.
At the sight of yet another volatile change in emotions, Sesshoumaru chuckled to himself. He would never admit it out loud, but to himself, he could acknowledge that at least on some level he enjoyed seeing how many differing emotions he could draw out of the volatile miko. It is almost fun.
Mirth brimming over, he decided to take this 'game' one step further. With a false sweetness he teased: "Come now, Kagome, don't be like that."
With a predatory glint in his eye, he moved closer to Kagome, hoping to inspire yet another drastic mood change in the miko. Stepping within her personal space, he made sure to set the miko on edge.
At the demon lord's close proximity, an unnamable feeling began to spread through Kagome. Tentatively, she looked up into his molten orbs, almost afraid of his next move.
Noticing her discomfort, Sesshoumaru decided to take it to the next level. Lightly brushing his fingertips across her cheekbone, he whispered huskily in her ear:
"So if pain is transferred across the bond, what about pleasure?"
"Wh-wh-wha-wha-what?!" Was all she could manage to say, as her mind provided devilish images of how 'pleasure' would look on said demon lord.
"H-h-h-h—" Kagome stammered out, trying desperately to derail her current train of thought. However, her body betrayed her, relishing the feeling of Sesshoumaru's hot breath as it tickled over her ear.With a fierce blush staining her cheeks, Kagome fought to even out her breathing and still her fluttering heart.
Finally getting her wayward emotions under control, she braved a glance at the demon lord who stood before her. Amusement and mirth stared back at her, accompanied by a heavy dose of self-assured cockiness in his smirk. He was silently laughing at her.
Kagome felt the embarrassment and frustration welling up inside her. But, before it could spill out into a scathing remark, the demon lord nonchalantly turned and left, beginning the journey northward once again.
As she watched the demon lord's form fade into the shadows, her previous anger and indignation died on her lips. Surprised at the demon lord's abrupt departure, Kagome once again ran after the demon lord.
…………………………………………..
They had been traveling steadily north for weeks now. Rest was few and far between, with food even scarcer. Not that I need to really eat, thought Kagome. But in looking to a certain demon lord, it was apparent that he needed to eat.
Fatigue hung low on his brow. Each movement slow and subdued as if he measured each step before he took it.
He needs to eat. He needs to eat. He needs to eat. The thought resounded like a mantra in her head. To which, her response rang like a macabre death toll. There is no food.
Indeed, there was no food in the shadow realm. She knew, for Sesshoumaru had tried everything. When she had first been attacked by the shadow beast weeks ago, he had tried to ingest that foul creature. With each battle since then, he tried at least a piece of the carcass. But it was all the same.
There was no sustenance from shadows.
So, with each step they took into Japan's infamous snow country, Kagome's heart sunk a little further, each foot fall pronouncing certain doom to the despondent miko.
Kagome knew that the terrain itself wore on the demon lord. He himself said that it took more for him to sustain himself in the shadow realm. It constantly fed upon his youki, depleting his life energy like a leech.
Just like me. Kagome's mind whispered insidiously. She too was leeching off of the demon lord. In acting as a lifeline for Kagome's corporeal presence, Sesshoumaru was in essence sustaining two people within the land of the dead. Even for all his massive power, that effort was starting to show on the demon lord. For them to have traveled this far in and of itself was a testament to the demon lord's incredible strength.
However, beyond all that, beyond the inherent hazards of the shadow realm itself, beyond Kagome's dependence on Sesshoumaru, there was yet another form of exhaustion that plagued the demon lord. One that neither Kagome nor Sesshoumaru could have anticipated.
Sesshoumaru was starving to death.
And that ultimately was why each step towards their destination felt like agony to the young miko because:
She was killing him, and he was letting her.