When the group had settled down for the night, Kagome quietly crept across the forest floor and tapped Sango and Miroku on their respective shoulders. Inuyasha was not far off and she wanted to keep him in the dark as long as possible.
The monk sat up alertly, before placing his hand over Sango's mouth to demonstrate the need for quiet.
The huntress nodded, before the three leaned in to whisper.
"Are you off, then?"
Kagome nodded. "I'm going to go see if he can tell me what's going on."
All three knew which he Kagome was referring to.
Miroku reached under his pillow for the stack of sutra he had prepared in advance. Hours before, he and Kagome had held a written conversation on a scrap of paper with one of her wonderful 'pens'. Because of his religious training, he had been educated and so he'd begun this method of communication with the girl in order to plan outside the hanyou's keen hearing. Sango, who had at first been rather frustrated at being kept out of the loop, had soon talked the other two into teaching her to read.
At the current time, they had planed that Kagome would leave camp and attempt to contact her new friend for information.
The situation was confusing in the extreme. It was Sango who had insisted Kagome talk to her youkai, fairly certain that he would have at least an inkling of what had 'attacked' their absent companion.
Kagome wasn't sure, but had agreed due to the bizarre nature of the situation.
Miroku reached out and carefully placed one of the spells on the huntress, effectively blocking her scent. Kagome handed Sango her night clothes and Miroku turned his back as she changed into them, before burrowing into Kagome's sleeping bag. It was a well known fact that Sango sometimes would be unable to sleep and so would wander for hours on some nights. The clothing she had just donned was a favorite of Kagome's, bearing her scent.
It just so happened that Kagome was often given to sleeping with her bag up around her ears and her head buried under one of her pillows. Unless Inuyasha were to yank the blankets down, which at this time was highly unlikely given his currant dislike of the bag's usual contents, he would not discover the deception.
Another set of sutras had been prepared to restrain the hanyou just in case he somehow got wise and tried to follow Kagome.
The mini-sized Kirara mewed at her and head butted her as she walked to the edge of camp and Kagome leaned down to stroke the tiny feline. Apparently, demons of her type would never truly stop growing all throughout their lives. She'd just hit another growth-spurt and had happily allowed the girl to ride along with her other two charges, making certain that Kagome would need to interact with Inuyasha as little as possible.
With a last kiss for the purring little beast, Kagome crept away through the trees.
"Do you think she'll find him?" Sango whispered.
Miroku stroked his chin in thought, before raking his hair back from his eyes with a sigh. "I hope so. I've never seen anything like that."
Sango watched him thoughtfully. "You saw something…other than what I did, I mean."
"Something. I've no idea what."
"What did you see?"
"I'm honestly not certain. There's…something in her aura that's not hers. When Inuyasha moved toward her the way that he did, that extra bit swirled through hers like something living."
"What did it look like?"
In most cases, Miroku would not have tried to describe the way a person's aura was supposed to look, as they would not have understood. But Sango, having been raised among people who did understand such things, had a better understanding.
"Have you ever heard of a demon transferring parts of their powers into a human?"
Sango went so still that he was not even certain she was breathing.
"Sango?"
She jerked, then seemed to collect herself a bit. "Describe it."
"Are you-?" His words were cut off as her hand covered his mouth. "I'm fine. Now, tell me what it looked like."
"Fire."
"Fire…?" Her face scrunched up in confusion.
"It looked like fire."
"That's all?"
How could he describe the other element? There had been something terrible, though beautiful to it, like the most hazardous narcotic. Addictive, dangerous, and absolutely deadly in the wrong hands.
"Chaos…"
"What?"
"I cannot describe it."
"Were the elements fighting with Kagome's aura or enmeshed?"
"Neither."
Sango's brows puckered in confusion.
"They were…dancing together, for lack of a better term."
Something about his description nagged at some distant memory but to her frustration, she could not pull it to the surface.
"Sango?"
"They have not mated," she said quietly. "But they have been very close. He is protecting her."
"That was him?" Violet eyes widened. "I thought she had done it. I mean accidently, but with his help."
"No. He did it, though I can't say that I'm sorry he did. However, I'm not certain if what he did was conscious or not."
"Reflexive?"
"Exactly."
He pondered the new bit of information. Unfortunately, it only added to his confusion. That, and witnessing the ape's fear when it had encountered their friend further threw him off. Just whom had Kagome befriended?
Kagome sat quietly under the tree, observing the stars as she waited.
And hoped.
Would he find her? Or would she wait in vain?
She should have known better…
A dark form detached itself from the trees and moved to stand before her. Her eyes widened in shock…and just a bit of appreciation.
It was Sesshomaru…but he was dressed in a fashion she'd never imagined him in.
Long muscled legs encased in smooth black leather, booted to mid-thigh. The boots fastened up the sides in intricately patterned steel slide-hooks. The pants, looking soft enough to stroke, were laced instead of buttoned or zippered as they would have been in her own time.
The kosode was also missing, replaced by a lightweight linen shirt and a loose, open fronted jacket-like garment. He knelt in front of her and his hair, pulled back at the nape, slithered over his shoulder and coiled between his booted feet.
"I hadn't thought I'd see you this night," he said with a faint smile. "Is anything wrong?"
"I needed to ask you something."
He nodded, shifting to sit on the ground.
"This morning….something odd happened."
"Explain."
"Well…I had just gotten up to make breakfast and I had finally decided to stop cooking for Inuyasha, as he had refused to eat what I had made him for the last few days. It must have offended him, because he moved to attack me."
So, the halfling considered her to be the alpha bitch in his pack. The unintended slight must have stung…
"What happened then?"
Kagome noticed right then that he didn't ask if Inuyasha had injured her.
"What did you do?"
He gave her an innocent look, but she could see the amusement in his eyes.
The faint scowl she gave him almost made him smile.
"I made certain nothing could harm you."
"But…it looked like he got burned."
"It does seem that way. But he'll heal. Unfortunately."
His unrepentant honesty was oddly soothing to her worn nerves. "There was one other thing."
A brow arc'd in question.
She explained the episode involving the ape demon and watched his eyes widen with amusement.
"What?"
He smiled. "Nothing."
She huffed. "Fine."
She started to stand, then eeped as she was lifted from the ground.
-three -two -one
Thump. She landed on leather clad thighs. The shift of muscle under her rump threatened to distract her, but she realized that he'd intended just that.
"Spill."
He shook his head and gave in. "You remember when I marked you?"
She fought off the blush. "Yes, I remember." Like that could be easily forgotten…
White teeth flashed in the darkness as he observed her face. So she was cute when she was embarrassed, how could he help himself?
"I gave you a bit of my power. Not much more than a taste, really."
She nodded, eyes wide. Then she sighed. "I don't know whether to berelieved or insulted."
"Insulted?" he asked in surprise.
"Well, he wasn't running from me."
She felt his body shake with laughter, and she smiled. She supposed it was pretty humorous. She wasn't very intimidating.
"So, he was running from your ki. But...how did he see it and not Inuyasha?"
"Inuyasha more than likely did see it but he did not know it would physically assault him. It's a rather…unique…marking and he would not have encountered it's like often."
"I didn't know that it was even possible to do something like that."
He hummed in acknowledgement, arms tightening around her body.
Kagome braced her palms against his legs, shifting into a more comfortable position. The youkai suppressed the groan that tried to escape as a rounded portion of her anatomy pressed down. Leather brushed her skin, and she raised her eyes in question.
He smirked. "I wasn't planning on seeing you tonight."
"You dress this way often?"
"Often enough."
Her hand absently stroked the leather over his thigh as she contemplated his answer. "It doesn't seem very….lordly."
"It isn't. At least, not here."
She scrutinized his oh-so-changed face. A few things were beginning to add up. His coloring, his features, his amazing size….and the way he never seemed to feel the cold. His current attire also factored in.
It was common it parts of Europe. Northern to be exact.
"You're Scandinavian."
His smile was wide and pleased. "I'm impressed."
She felt a thrill of pride at the look he gave her.
"Sometimes I forget that your time encourages female learning. Though, I think I prefer it that way."
So he had no liking for empty headed females. As if she'd needed yet another reason to like him.
She felt a cold breeze whip by and shivered. She was soon covered by the heavy outer garment he had been wearing. Wrapping it about herself, she shot him a grateful look.
There was a sudden beeping sound and she started before realizing that the alarm on her watch had gone off.
He reached down and ran careful fingers over the glass face. "What is this?"
"A watch. It tells time."
He lifted her wrist, studying the piece, before laying her hand in her lap. "You have to leave."
Something in his tone hinted at disappointment. She turned to look into his bright eyes. "I can stay for a bit…if you want me to."
The faintly bashful tone of her voice made him smile. He moved backwards, finding the tree trunk with his back and leaning against it, cradling her closer against his body. "I want."
She smiled back at him, blue eyes shining, before she pressed her check against his chest and let herself go limp. He held her as he felt her succumb to sleep, letting her have the rest she must have needed.
The moon passed behind the clouds and blotted out the light. Luminous eyes suddenly flared, glowing fiercely in the darkness as the Taiyoukai kept watch over his small companion.
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