There we go, enjoy this one people! Thank you for me reviews, especially Kawaiihikari1995! Made me smile and give you an interactive hug!
What am I?
Kagome woke up with a pounding headache, but on the bright side she was lying on something warm and comfortable. Never one to lay around after she had woke she sat up and brought a hand to hold her pulsing head, really, migraines were nothing compared to this. She was inside – but the last thing she remembered she was outside, in fact she had been outside, having a standoff with Sesshoumaru, now here she was waking up on a bed in what seemed to be a tent. They had not brought tents with them though.
The door opened and in came Sesshoumaru himself, but he looked a lot different to how she remembered. He was wearing a new set of white silken robes, and he was also wearing some heavy armour. At his waist were a couple of swords, and they looked as though they completed his image, what he had said about his armour and weapons being confiscated were true, they made him look more intimidating, more like a Demon Lord. He was frightening before, but now he was just plain terrifying, he instilled it in you before you even got close.
Noticing she was awake he managed to muster the ghost of a smile onto his face, "How are you feeling?" He inquired, not sounding all too interested, or all that bothered, but it was only polite seeming as he was the one that caused the pain. She replied with a mumbled 'terrible', and then a glassy look passed over her eyes as she recalled what had happened before... she tried to remember her latest memories, she came up with a blank, "What happened?"
"What do you remember?" He asked her, coming away from the entryway to sit beside her on the bed; she did not recoil from him.
"I had my miko barrier up; I was warning you not to get any closer. I was angry because you betrayed me, I am still angry about that you know. I told you that I do not want any part in this war, that I want to go home and forget about you and suggest you do the same. We stood there looking at each other for a couple more moments... then I woke up here. Where even is here, we are in a tent, but we did not bring anything like that with us, so where are we?"
"I think it must have been the trauma," he mused, speaking as much to himself as he was to her, "and over exertion, it has been some time since you last used your miko powers right?" He did not wait for confirmation from her before continuing, "therefore, doing so suddenly must have exhausted you quicker than you usually would have expired." Lies poured easily from his mouth, something he had never really felt the need to do before. "As you said we were just having a standoff as you put it, and then you just all of a sudden collapsed."
He stood up and walked towards the door once more, "now that you are awake I will get you some food, I'll be back in a few minutes." Ten minutes later she was digging into a piece of fruit sushi that had been in the provisions of the people they had killed, but Sesshoumaru did not feel the need to tell her that. After all, if he did, Sesshoumaru would bet his newly returned swords and armour that she would refuse to eat any of it.
"Sesshoumaru," she started once she had finished, "where is Shippou, I am not used to waking up without him when he was with me the night before, and where am I?" She looked around her and realization dawned on her and her face paled. "This is a tent that belonged to the people you killed isn't it?" She said more than asked, "we are still there aren't we, in the battle ground amongst all the blood and the dead bodies? And this food too, this is food that were provisions for the slave drivers, this is food of the dead," she ate it anyway. Sesshoumaru arched an eyebrow at her but did not make reply, she was smarter than he gave her credit for,
"Your son has gone back to the neutral village; it is safer for him there than anywhere else though I am sure we shall see him again." Shippou was actually there to find any demons he could see and spreads the word that the Western Lord was back and raging war against the humans. It was a war against the whole world; he could use as many soldiers as he could lay his hands on. "The middle is hardly the place for a child, it does not matter if he is a demon or not, it does not even matter whether or not he is in danger, he is not here."
"I am going to go join him then, the middle of a war is hardly the place for a miko either. I do not have the power to stop you, but I want no part in this war you are initiating. I just hope that when we meet again, and I am sure that we will, you will still allow me to call you a friend." Sesshoumaru got up and he stood in the tent so he was between her and the door. There he stood and said one word that instilled fear in her, "no."
"N-no? What do you mean by that?"
"I mean no, you are not going anywhere. I vowed I will keep you safe and that means you will stay where I can keep an eye on you at all times."
"Now it is my turn to say no Sesshoumaru. I am going. I refuse to have any part in this war you want, so I am not stopping you so you have no right to try and stop me." She got to her feet to face him and they initiated another standoff. They were interrupted as Hiten entered the tent and therefore the conversation. "Hiten san, he's holding me here against my will!"
He looked down at his feet guiltily and her heart dropped, she knew that look all too well. "I truly am sorry Kagome, but it is best you stayed with Sesshoumaru sama, there is a war now, and there will be casualties, even innocents will be hurt, maybe even die. Sesshoumaru is the only one who can make sure you are not one of them."
"I am not being given a chance?"
"I'm sorry, besides, we cannot disobey a direct order from our alpha, you have to stay here, and if you leave, we will stop you."
"We?"
"Me, Kouga, Ginta, Hakkaku, Manten, and the rest of them."
"Was this your plan from the beginning?" She turned on Sesshoumaru with venom.
"I may have had it in mind," he mentioned without even batting an eyelid. "Now be a good girl and just stay here," he said patronizingly in a tone one might praise a good pet who just did a trick, he was the damn dog here!
"I'm not you damn pet here! I have a family to get back too, and a village that needs my help as a miko. I have a young adopted son and friends!"
"They are not your worries anymore."
"If I am not a miko, a friend, a daughter, a mother, a sister or even a person then what am I?"
"You are mine," he said, "that is all."
"That is all?" She was not even angry at this, just confused, how could that be all?
"I was yours, now you are mine, and that is all from now on."
"Yours? Just yours? I thought I was your friend, obviously I was mistaken."
"No? I have always considered you a friend since the moment you suggested it, but I have also considered you my responsibility and just... mine."
"What like a frickin' possession?" She felt her anger rising.
"No, well, I am not sure, perhaps that is the only way your limited human understanding and language can describe it. To me, you are just mine, that is all there is of consequence, from the moment you asked my name you have been so."
"A pet then?"
"No, I do not expect you to understand, you are only a human child after all, and a miko on top of that, an opposite to demons. You can think what you like if it is any burden off your shoulders, or if you just insist on doing so. As long as you know you are mine, even if you don't like the idea, you do not even have to accept it as far as I am concerned, as long as you know that I consider you such then all is well to me. My will is always what happens, for power and authority goes to the strong who forcibly reach out and take it after all."
"That sounds freaky, horrible even."
"Freaky, horrible, terrible, frightening, gory," he listed with a sadistic smile which only served to scare her further. "But that is war after all, an imbalance of power where the oppressed rise up to seize back what is theirs and rise of the supremacy due to them, and the leader of such an army gains all. In a war there is no second place, there is a winner who gains everything and a loser, who is left with nothing. The humans shall fall little miko and there is nothing you can do to stop it, but you are mine now.
I guess you could call yourself spoils from war as once it is all over you shall never leave my side or eyesight for a moment, because I will it so. Yet that is not quite right because you were always mine, from the moment I decided it so, and that was before I initiated this war. And because this is so you shall not fall into the slavery and damnation the other humans will, except for those in the neutral village of course. Demons are fair, those who did no wrong shall have no wrong done to them, and those who did wrong shall pay.
You shall not fall, for those who fall will lose everything, their home, their possessions, their money, their freedom, maybe even their sanity or their lives. Because you are my responsibility, and mine in all other respects as well, I shall not allow you to fall. From the moment you asked my name I knew that I could never allow you to come to harm."
"Why?"
"Because..." he smiled, a normal smile, "you would not believe me, but because I care."
She did not snort in disagreement, who knew what 'caring' meant in demon terms. "I meant why when I asked you your name, why then?"
He smiled again, "because you were different, you are very different, you always have been. Mikos hate and kill demons but you, no, you didn't put me to work, you offered friendship, an alliance, and you cared. By asking my name, you cared about who I was, not my species, not being a slave, but for who I was, Sesshoumaru, Western Lord."
"You say you cared, but now..." she could not even finish, "For that long it has all been a lie?"
"I have not lied to you once. Why do you think I saved you from the boys who were going to rape you and the man who was going to attack you and Shippou? I helped you because I am your alpha and because you are under my protection."
"I do not need anyone to take me under their responsibility, especially not my former slave! I am my own person and I go my own true way! You want me to be an obedient little pet for you, that is not going to happen, I am not that sort of girl!" Then suddenly he and Hiten felt a burning pain in the middle of their chests, Kagome had shot a ball of purifying energy at them. They doubled up in pain; unaware that she had the miko strength left to do such an attack and that she had the audacity to actually attack their person's in the first place.
"Damn that girl," Sesshoumaru muttered in pain as he writhed on the ground, watching her disappear out of the tent. Secretly he was impressed and even amused although physically hurt by her fiery spirit. It was not because he wanted to crush it, it just showed once more that she was different from the average teenage girl, not all timid and frightened, to was able to stand up for herself, she did so with no hesitation whatsoever. The reason he wanted to keep her close though truly was because he wanted her safe.
It took about five whole minutes for the pain to lessen enough for him to get up and run after her, although Hiten was still on the ground. She had masked her scent, but he did not need to be able to smell her, he could still see her. She had attempted to climb down the cliff, that much was obvious by the fact that she was standing right by it.
She had taken ropes with her, but they had been taken off of her and shredded. She was surrounded by a group of demons, his soldiers. They were throwing taunts at her, "go on then, if you want to get away from us all so badly just jump!"
"That's suicide, give me the rope!" She cried, backing away further.
For some reason, something inside one of the demons snapped. It was probably because she was a human and a miko on top of that. It was one of the ones who had been beaten and starved, one of the more powerful ones. He grabbed a fistful of her top and lifted her off of her feet, Sesshoumaru saw what was happening a second before it happened. He was already rushing forward when the demon threw her down the cliff face.
Without a second thought he rushed forward, pushed the demons out of the way and threw himself after her, hurtling himself over the edge of the cliff and after the falling, screaming girl before she was crushed. He used his youki to make himself fall after her faster and managed to get to her and wrap his arms around her before she fell to the ground. She just lay there, shaking in his arms, he wanted to reprimand her, but no words were needed, she was never going to lash out at him with her miko powers again.
"I cannot protect you if you are dead," he mentioned stoically. "Do not run from me, you belong to me. I will tell you as many times as it takes for you to get it into your heads, you are never going to leave my side. You are MINE!"
Kagome spent the rest of the day with her hands tied to together with the rope that had not been shredded and sitting on the bed in the tent with Sesshoumaru staring at her the whole time. He had an expressionless face on while he did so, but it was obvious he was highly amused by the whole situation, especially with her bonds, it was just a Daiyoukai's sadistic amusement.
"Once you resign yourself to the fact that you are mine and never going to get away, things will become much easier," he promised in a quiet voice that would have been considered sweet if the words were not as they were.
"It is getting late; I'll see you in the morning. Good night." That was it, he was gone and her future had been laid out before her.
