Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.
Legs curled up to her chest, Kagome leant her chin on her knees as she watched Sesshoumaru. Bankotsu's arrival had reduced the beautiful male to a pensive state, his nubile face set in stone as he stared into the middle distance.
Bankotsu, on the other hand, seemed impatient; darting probing glances out of the windows, his fingers grasping as if he was used to holding a sword of some sort. Which was very possible, considering Sesshoumaru had introduced him as an assassin. Kagome darted another nervous glance in the dark haired male's direction; this was the first time she'd ever met an assassin. She'd wager that this week was turning into a montage of the most spectacular moments of her life. How many people got to meet werewolves? Or assassins for that matter.
Spinning abruptly on his heel, Bankotsu stopped pacing and stared at Sesshoumaru urgently. "We need to leave, now, Sesshoumaru-sama."
Kagome hadn't expected those words to hit her like a physical blow. But the mere thought of Sesshoumaru leaving was intolerable.
Folding his hands under his chin, Sesshoumaru leant his elbows on the table. "I will not leave Kagome," he informed Bankotsu shortly, not bothering to even look at the assassin.
A small smile blossomed at Sesshoumaru's words and Kagome hugged herself a little tighter.
"What, you want us to take her with us?" Bankotsu exclaimed, gesturing wildly with one hand. "That would spell trouble on so many levels!"
Darting a rather irked glance at the man who had broken into her apartment, Kagome grouched, "Don't talk about me like I'm not here."
Golden eyes flicked to Bankotsu's face. "You would leave her to the hands of the monsters who would undoubtedly come for me and find her?" his tone was dark, sending a shiver running down Kagome's spine.
The dark haired assassin ran a hand over his face. "They'd leave her alone if she didn't know anything," he hedged, his voice sounding disbelieving even as he spoke the words.
Sesshoumaru's bald look of scepticism spoke volumes. "Hnn... I will not leave Kagome."
Kagome clapped, startling the two males from their debate, and met Sesshoumaru's stare with a gimlet glare. "Okay. I've been very understanding up until this point, Sesshoumaru. But you still haven't quite explained what you are, who is after you or why your mother has an assassin for that matter," her tone grew incredulous towards the end of her little tirade. "I need answers," she finished, simply, earnestly.
With a sigh that was very unlike him, Sesshoumaru spoke, "I am a demon."
There was a long silence filled by the ticking of her cuckoo clock and Bankotsu' impatient huffing. Kagome titled her head to one side, wondering at the severity reflected in his smouldering gaze. Sure, it was strange to hear him actually say it, but she'd suspected it since her talk with the werewolves. In fact, having her cupcake-baking, veterinarian acquaintance explain that he was a werewolf had been more perturbing, not helped by the fact that Hakkaku had been naked at the time.
"Thought so," Kagome murmured with a slight incline of her head.
Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed. "Pardon?" he asked, tone slightly staggered by her announcement.
Kagome waved a hand as if it was no big deal. "When you were unconscious, I had a chat with the wolves. They told me that legend has it they were descended from demons; that, due to your power, you were probably a demon."
Jaw clenching, Sesshoumaru tamped down on his ire; for some reason he loathed the thought of Kagome entertaining private conversations with the wolves.
"The wolf demons were always stubborn bastards," Bankotsu scoffed, folding his strong arms across his broad chest. "When the demons grew tired of humankind and created their own plane of existence, the Makai, the wolf demons refused to relinquish their claims on the land. Territorial idiots."
"Ma-makai?" Kagome repeated, a little flabbergasted. She swung her gaze back to Sesshoumaru. "Is that where you were talking about leaving to?"
Sesshoumaru inclined his head, silver hair cascading over his shoulder in a silver waterfall. Kagome slumped back in her seat, legs akimbo as she absorbed that little titbit. Could anything else possibly happen to her this week? Or had she finally received her weekly quota of crazy?
Still feeling antsy, apparently, Bankotsu didn't wait for Kagome to recover from this newest revelation, instead he slammed his hands down on the back of the sofa, making her jump and squeak.
"We need to leave," he growled, "Now!"
Sesshoumaru's gaze sharpened and he flicked a probing glance at the wooden flooring beneath Kagome's feet.
A groan. A creak. They all turned suspicious eyes on the wood beneath their feet.
"They're here," he murmured.
Before Kagome could process his words enough to begin to panic, an almost invisible projectile launched through the floor at Bankotsu's feet. The assassin cursed, jumping away a little too slowly, judging by the sudden gash on his cheek.
"Kageromaru," he rumbled, wiping away the blood absently. The assassin reeled, dodging an attacker Kagome couldn't see, and receiving a bloody arm for his troubles. "Fast little bastard."
Sesshoumaru snarled, leaping at Kagome and pulling her into his arms just as the floor at her feet exploded. From her position slung over Sesshoumaru's shoulder, Kagome watched Sesshoumaru slap away something she couldn't see. It was moving so fast, she wondered how her two otherworldly companions were dealing with a threat they couldn't see.
"You would deny me a treat so delicious, Sesshoumaru-sama?" a disembodied voice chuckled. Kagome shuddered, closing her eyes and clinging to Sesshoumaru like a kitten on a tree branch.
Blue eyes popped open when Sesshoumaru conjured something akin to a glowing green whip in one hand.
"Sessh—"
"Hush," he murmured, glowering at the floor as he appeared to listen intently.
Lithe, fluid and deadly, even with a human slung over his shoulder, Sesshoumaru's whip came down with unerring accuracy, just as their attacker burst through the floorboards once more.
The resulting collision knocked the intruder into the far wall with a crunch, creating a crater in the plaster. The body slid down, clattering onto the hardwood floor.
Kagome peered at the little thing; it was the first time she'd been able to even distinguish it and she half-wished she hadn't caught a glimpse. It was an ugly little thing; a human head with silvery hair on a little eel like body with twin razor sharp pincers propping it up.
"Ew."
"Filth," Sesshoumaru agreed nonchalantly.
The creepy prawn-like thing growled at them.
"And where he is," Bankotsu grumbled, "you can bet Juromaru isn't far behind."
As if summoned by his name, Kagome's door exploded off its hinges for the second time that week, this time admitting a silver haired man in a traditional green and yellow kimono.
"Stop breaking my house!" Kagome roared.
Sesshoumaru's hand came down sharply on her bottom, eliciting a shriek of outrage from the woman. "Remain calm," he warned.
"Easy for you to say," she huffed, blowing her hair out of her face.
"Who sent you?" Bankotsu directed his question at Kageromaru, which Kagome found a little strange considering he was definitely not the most humanoid.
"It doesn't matter," Kageromaru sneered, "because you're dinner!"
Kagome shrieked, clinging to Sesshoumaru's hair for stability as her demon pounced, rending the shrimp-thing into halves with a decisive slash of his whip. Bankotsu, who had been tackled by Juromaru, landed hard on the table, breaking the poor thing into firewood and splinters. With a deft flick of his knees, he sent Juromaru sailing over head... straight into Sesshoumaru's waiting whip.
Kagome closed her eyes tightly. Seeing a shrimp-thing rendered in two was a lot easier than watching a man-shaped thing suffer the same fate. Eventually she prised her eyes open only to find bubbling stains on the hardwood floor.
Sesshoumaru inspected his glowing claws nonchalantly. "I melted their corpses."
How considerate, she mused. Though she wondered a little vaguely what else he had up his sleeve. A whip that could rip a person in two and claws that could melt a body down in a few seconds.
"That was easy," Kagome commented, a trace of motion-sickness dampening her bemusement. "And if you ever move that fast with me on your back again I'll be sick all over your shiny hair."
"Hnn..." Sesshoumaru demurred, smacking her bottom once more, inciting a growl from the human woman, and triggering her to tug on his hair.
Bankotsu pursed his lips wryly. "You guys need some privacy?"
The dual growls from both the demon and the human were enough to make even a fearless assassin back off.
"Seriously, though," Bankotsu mused, "they underestimated us by sending these clowns."
"They did not know of your presence," Sesshoumaru hypothesised, returning Kagome to her feet. "And they still expected me to be branded."
"Presumptuous," Kagome scoffed.
Bankotsu grinned at the little feisty human woman; he could see why Sesshoumaru liked her. "We should go; before reinforcements arrive." From the folds of his haori his pulled a beautiful deep blue stone set in a gold disk.
"It's pretty," Kagome murmured, peering at the trinket, "but it isn't a car."
The two males blinked bemusedly at her for a moment and Kagome waved their curious gazes away. "It doesn't matter."
"It is a meido seki," Sesshoumaru intoned, taking the stone from Bankotsu. "A tool of my mother's which can open portals to any realm, if used correctly."
"And if you can't use it properly, it sends you straight to hell," Bankotsu expanded with a roll of his eyes.
Startled by that little announcement, Kagome looked at Sesshoumaru with wide eyes. "You know how to work it, right?"
Tucking the petite miko under one arm, Sesshoumaru answered, a devilish twinkle in his eyes as his face remained a stoic mask. "Do you trust me?"
Kagome gazed into those smouldering golden eyes and gulped. Because she did trust him, even if he was about to lead her into hell.
And they were cast into the void.
A/N: As I was writing this, I imagined the fit Kouga would throw when he found the apartment tomorrow morning ^_^ Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter! Please leave a review; it'd make my day!