Sketch 14 – A new light
A full week into being in Sesshoumaru's pack, and Kagome was beginning to get bored. Sure, talking to Rin was fun, and she always had her art to keep her busy, but her new alpha, acted like an alpha. He hunted for the pack so they could eat, and she insisted on at least helping to forage for her food. They had found Jaken and Ah Un now so Jaken was ordered to prepare a fire and cook the meat while Sesshoumaru just sat there in mild thought while Rin danced around the flames singing a song or picked flowers in a nearby field to make a wreath for her new pack sister.
Kagome rued how careless a child could be, she wanted to ask Sesshoumaru what he liked to do for fun, but he was a Daiyoukai, he did not have fun, he did not have hobbies. He enjoyed fighting, but to remain peace in his lands he did not seek it out, neither did he fight unnecessarily, with the exception of his brother sometimes. No, Sesshoumaru was a very silent character, they had not once shared a nice conversation like they had the day she joined his pack. He enjoyed peace and quiet, and while staying alert to danger he could tune out Rin's playing and Jaken's squawking and Kagome felt mean to disturb him then.
Sesshoumaru did a lot of silent brooding and his only real hobby was Rin, although it sounded wrong to describe her as such. Before Rin he had nothing and no one, not really, for Jaken was never a companion, only ever a servant. He should have had his brother, though it was really his own fault for scaring him away. He never showed love or care or even let his mask slip unless it was with her, it was like he used her for an outlet for all the love and care he was capable of feeling and protected her well and showered her with everything because he could.
Even though she had only been with him a week she was already noticing all the subtle signs of love he showed towards her. He tousled her hair before she went to sleep each night and sometimes let her sleep on mokomoko for extra comfort. In the mornings Kagome got lie-ins for unlike Inuyasha, he refused to wake her, and he greeted her with one of his rare smiles when she did wake. It was heart warming, but almost sad to think that he perhaps never smiled before her. It showed the cold and stoic Sesshoumaru in a different light, it depicted him as... lonely.
She had never had that before; she formed attachments quickly and easily, with everyone. Firstly it was her mother and grandfather, and when Souta was born she showed him with all of her love and care and presents and protection. She went to school and gathered friends with whom she could share everything, things she could not tell her family. Then she went to the feudal era and made a friend in Inuyasha with whom she shared everything and disclosed all of her trust into. She made a sister out of Sango, and a brother out of Miroku, and adopted a fox kit, Shippou. She showered him with love and protection and devotion too, which was lovingly returned.
She branched out and made friends all over this era, with Kouga the wolf prince, and Keade, the kindly priestess who was like a nice aunt to her or a grandmother, someone she had never had before. Then she had made friends with Rin, so much so the young girl had started to call her big sister, something she surely did not do for anyone. While Jaken had made no move to be friends with her, or even stop being mean, Sesshoumaru did not insult her, or rush her or do anything to upset her, and even Inuyasha took those liberties. And while she did not like Sesshoumaru and would not class him as a close friend, she held a small amount for affection for him, or at least for that one conversation they had had if they shared no attachment.
She could not help but wonder whether their relationship would grow in time. One week was not very long, but in time maybe he would start to show her subtle signs of care like he did Rin, like saying goodnight to her. Unfortunately she was quite sure things would never reach that stage, two months was the limit before she really had to go home and submit work to school and assure her family she was alive and healthy and happy enough. She was pretty sure she did not want Sesshoumaru knowing about this and if he did he might not be so hot on letting her go. This meant that she had to escape of be rescued before then.
But her time in Sesshoumaru's hold was not unhappy or oppressive in any way. Sesshoumaru had even dispatched of a couple of demons who had been carrying shards and did it a lot cleaner, quieter and easier than Inuyasha would have done it, so she was two more shards up. She drew whenever she needed to let out something that could not be done with words or doting devotion. And Sesshoumaru never stopped being silent and impassive but she was starting to pick up the small signs of communication he used instead of so many words.
For example when he wanted her for some reason all he needed to be was look at her and jerk his head. When he wanted for the group to pick up speed he simply quickened his pace, she would put Rin on Ah Un and walk faster. She realized that the copious amount of words she was used to using were simply not needed. She had an ever growing affection for him, it happens when you spend a lot of time with someone, so she decided to draw a symbolic picture to show it. She drew Sesshoumaru with a beam of light shining on him illuminating his peaceful face as he sat in his silence and called it 'Sesshoumaru in a new light.'