I'd like to dedicate this chapter tocaj-trixie and Aiko no Sabaku for their super encouraging reviews!
Despite that Sesshomaru had told her that the herb would not help to heal her bruise, Kagome found herself crushing up the plant and applying it to her neck. She watched as the goop covered up the mark, but sighed when she realized that the dog lord was probably correct. From all the time she had spent in the feudal era, she knew that nothing was coincidental, and that a crescent shaped bruise from a demon bite was not natural and therefor could not be cured naturally.
Holding back the long strands of ebony hair, Kagome took the time to really examine the mark. With a small smile she traced the line, realizing that once the fang marks faded, it would look just like the moon on Sesshomaru's forehead. Not entirely sure what it meant, she brushed her hair back over her shoulder and stood from her chair.
"Kagome?" InuYasha called from the front of the house, drawing her attention.
"I'm in here." She answered, and a moment later he was standing in the doorway.
He smiled and drew closer, his arms coming to circle around her. Unable to help the thought from popping into her mind, she was reminded of the way that dogs were always happy to see you, jumping up and down and wagging their tails like they thought you were never coming back, even if you were only gone for a few minutes. "What have you done all day?"
Kagome shrugged, "I met with Jinenji, and then I went to Kaede's. Sesshomaru was here to see Rin, again." She said, completely leaving out the real reason why his half brother had been in the village.
A strange light of understanding lit his eyes, "So that's why I can smell him on you." He murmured, tucking her hair behind her ear to expose the mark she had been earlier toying with. "What is this crap?" He asked, nose wrinkle from the stench as he touched the ground up herb with a laugh, "Kagome this isn't going to do anything for this mark. It's permanent. It tells other demons that you're mine." He said, pride leaking into his voice.
"Well how was I supposed to know that!" She breathed, a stubborn look rising through the smile already present on her lips.
InuYasha chuckled, "You couldn't figure that out by the shape or color? Come on, I know you're a little air headed sometimes, but really." He said, the humor in his voice making her laugh where she should have been insulted.
Kagome shook her head, not even dignifying his comment with a reply. "Do you have a job today?" She asked, meeting his eyes.
"No." He replied, a spark igniting in his golden orbs. Without another word he met her lips in a fiery kiss, his hand coming to rest on her lower back.
"Good." She squeaked as he lifted her, bringing her to the bed in one swift move.
The day of Rin's birthday was sunny and clear, a light breeze accompanying the suns warm rays to cool them down. Kagome, Sango and Kaede spent most of the morning cooking for the girl. Kaede's hut was filled with noise; Sango shouting at Kagome to pay attention, and the sounds of Rin's frustration with her outfit.
"That looks beautiful Rin." Kagome assured the girl, smiling to try and calm the girl who had been running around changing her clothes like a nut for a good hour.
"No! I look like a kid! The neck has to be lower! And the skirts higher!" She exclaimed, throwing her hand up in the air and stomping back to the pile of kimonos she had yet to try on.
"Kagome. The food." Sango called, pinching the bridge between her nose. "You are on a mission to burn everything you touch, aren't you?" She said, laughing to show that she was still good humored through the chaos.
"I'm not a bad cook, ya know. I'm just not used to cooking like this! Cooking over a pit of fire with no control over the heat is really hard. How do you do it?" Kagome asked exasperated, annoyed that she didn't have the gas stove she was so accustomed to.
"I suppose if I were using the... stove... you used to use, I'd be having trouble too. You'll get used to it eventually." Sango replied, wiping her hands on the apron she had tied around her waist.
"I hope so. I'm sure if I don't improve my cooking skills, InuYasha will never come home for dinner." She mused, tugging at a lock of hair.
"What about this one?" Rin asked, twirling to show them the mint green Kimono she had chosen. The skirts didn't even reach her knees, and the neckline dipped much lower, showing the top of the milky white skin on her bust.
Both Sango and Kagome were both momentarily stunned, looking at the young lady before them. She certainly did not look as though she was fourteen, though. For all that the less flattering kimonos had hidden, this one certainly accented the curves she had so adamantly denied having. "Rin that's... very... revealing." Sango said, breaking the silence.
Beaming brightly, a devious look grew on her face, "I know!" She shouted smoothing the material below the sash that hugged her around her middle.
"Good thing it's warm today." Kagome added, putting the wooden spoon she had been holding on the mat beside the bubbling pots.
Sango laughed as the girl scampered to the mirror to fix her wild hair. "She certainly is trying really hard to get the attention of Sesshomaru. Why is she so fond of that ice cube?" She asked, shaking her head. "That guy certainly can't be good for her."
Kagome shrugged, "Hey. I was 15 when I fell for the idiot I'm married to." She added, earning a nod and shrug from Sango.
"Yeah, but, InuYasha has feelings. Sesshomaru does not." The older girl said, pointing her spoon at the miko.
"Just because he doesn't know that he has them or how to show them, doesn't mean he actually doesn't have feelings. If anyone can break through his icy shell, it's that little ray of sunshine over there with the way-too-revealing kimono that he goes out of his way to see all the time." Kagome decided, and was pleased when Sango could not argue with her reasoning.
"Ah. Our first guests have arrived." Kaede said, smiling as she saw Kohaku descending from the sky astride Kirara.
"Oh!" Sango cried, jumping from her place and running for the door.
Kagome followed with a grin, watching as Sango went to meet them, hugging her little brother, who hesitantly hugged her back, embarrassed by the display. "Hey!" She called, coming over to greet them as well. Kirara growled loudly, and shifted back to her smaller form to jump up into Kagome's arms.
"Hello Lady Kagome." Kohaku greeted respectfully, "Where is Rin?"
"Kohaku!" Said girl cried, running from the hut to nearly tackle the young demon slayer. "It's been so long! How are you?" She asked, grinning up at him.
Flushing, Kohaku sputtered a quick, "Good." in reply, unable to get a full sentence from his restricted throat.
A popping sound came from above their heads, and Shippo dropped down in front of them, clouds of smoke still coming off the fox demon. "Sorry I'm late! The winds not very strong today." He said, scratching the back of his head.
"That's okay Shippo." Rin said, ruffling his coppery orange hair.
"Shippo!" Kagome cried, lifting the little fox into her arms and crushing him to her chest.
"Ka- ACK! What is this!" Shippo said, scrambling to get out of her arms. "You reek!" He cried, covering his nose with both hands.
A hurt look flashed over Kagome features, and Sango turned on the little fox. "What are you talking about Shippo? Kagome doesn't smell bad! You better apologize." She said putting her hands on her hips in a motherly fashion.
"No, no. I don't mean like that. You reek like InuYasha!" He chirped, waving his hands to dismiss the confusion he had brought on.
Sango shook her head, "That's not nice Shippo. And of course she does, they live together."
"Yeah...," Shippo agreed, a strange look on his face, "That's probably why."
"Anyway!" Rin cried, earning every one's attention, "Let's go inside." She said, hoping to diffuse the tense situation.
Kirara mewled in agreement, leaping into Sango's arms as they all made their way inside Kaede's hut.
An hour later, Miroku and their kids had arrived, and everyone was happily chatting away. InuYasha was still patrolling the village, making sure there were no demons in the area to crash the party. To Rin's dissatisfaction, Sesshomaru had yet to arrive.
Kagome watched as Kohaku spoke with Rin, his face tinged pink as they spoke. Vaguely, she wondered if the young demon hunter had feelings for the girl. It wouldn't be a surprise to her, but she was sure that Rin had no idea of the boys liking towards her.
"Oh, my. Kagome, can ye go to the stream and get more water?" Kaede asked, picking up the empty wooden bucket beside her.
Snapping out of her thoughts, she directed her attention to the older Miko and smiled, "Sure thing, Kaede." Kagome said kindly, taking the bucket from the elderly woman.
"I'll go with you!" Shippo said, leaping up and following Kagome out of the hut. Sango stared after them, exchanging a relieved look with Rin with the knowledge that Shippo would be apologizing for the earlier mishap.
For a moment the two walked in silence, both awkwardly aware of the tension still hanging in the air. "Kagome, he marked you, right?" The fox demon asked bluntly.
Kagome choked on her own breath, turning to Shippo in shock at the sudden question. "I- That's-!" She mumbled, incapable of giving a clear answer.
"When a demon marks you, you start to smell really bad to other male demons. It's like he marked you as his territory. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. It's just that my demon senses tell me not to get near you. But I still care about you Kagome. Don't ever think I don't." Shippo said, sadness leaking into his voice.
Kagome stopped dead in her tracks and knelt down next to him, resisting the urge to hug him. "Don't worry Shippo, it's alright. I'm not offended, now that I know why you said that. I'm still really confused about all this." She admitted laughingly.
Shippo launched onto her, hugging her closely with his nose crinkled up, "I don't care if you smell like InuYasha. You're like family to me. I'll suffer through the dog stench!" He shouted, earning a laugh and responsive huge from the miko.
Smiling at his words, she couldn't help but remember when they had first found the fox demon, all alone in the world. At some point during their adventures, she become something like a mother for the young demon, and she would always love the kit."You're family to me too, Shippo." Kagome said, releasing him from the hug and standing up, brushing dusty earth of her kimono. "Now let's hurry and get the water back to Kaede before they think we got lost."
"Right!" Shippo said, grinning toothily up at her.
Rin was smiling at Kohaku, who had been regaling her with a tale about a centipede demon he had slain when the flap to Kaede's hut was lifted and Sesshomaru was revealed behind it. She turned her head and grinned from ear to ear, her face heating up as she leapt to her feet. "Lord Sesshomaru! You came!"
The dog demon did not reply, he simply stared at the hand full of people looking towards him. The human stink that hit him full on was enough to make him rethink visiting the girl this early in the day.
Thankfully for him, Jaken stepped forward then and, with arms crossed in a huff, he said, "Of course he did. Lord Sesshomaru does not go back on his word, silly girl."
"Lord Jaken!" Rin chirped, completely ignoring his tone and capturing the imp in a bone crushing hug.
"Ah! Release me girl!" He shrieked, trying with all his might to dislodge himself from the Rin's grip to no avail.
Sesshomaru found himself struggling to resist the urge to groan and he turned on his heels, lifting the flap back up and walking back out into the cool evening air. He heard Rin trotting after him, calling his name.
"Wait! Don't leave! You just got here!" The girl called, sighing in relief when he did in fact halt.
The dog lord turned and stared hard into her flushed face, and nearly raised his eyebrows in disbelief at her choice in kimono. Surely, that scanty article had not been one he had presented to her. "Here." He finally said after a pregnant pause, fishing a wrapped up bundle from the folds of his haori.
"You didn't ha-..." Rin began, cutting short when she pulled back the clothed wrapped bundle to reveal a finely crafted wooden doll famous in the villages to the north. "Thank... thank you." She murmured, gazing down at the toy in her hands.
Wordlessly nodding his head, Sesshomaru turned once more, intent departing.
"That's it?" Rin asked, recapturing his attention. "You only came to drop this off?" She asked with a look of hurt plastered across her pale face.
"There is no reason to stay any longer." Sesshomaru replied, eying the girl in confusion. He did not understand what he had done to upset her, but he supposed that was due to his lack of understanding of human emotions.
"I see..." Rin whispered, fiddling with the doll. "You know, I think Kohaku wished to court me." She said laughingly, not raising her eyes to meet his.
Not entirely sure why she was informing him of this, he simply replied with, "Oh?"
"He is human, just like me. So I suppose he'd be a good match, huh?" Rin asked cheerily, fighting to suppress the hope that he would reject the prospect.
"I suppose."
Rin looked up, her mouth agape, and she clenched the doll tighter in her grip. "I suppose!" She echoed, a smile once again on her face. "Well, good bye Sesshomaru, thanks for the gift." She chirped, spinning around and heading back towards Kaede's hut.
Completely blown away by how eternally strange humans were, Sesshomaru called to Jaken, and made his ascent into the skies. He narrowed his eyes, disturbed by the strange anger that had settled into his stomach, and tried to clear the image of the infuriating demon slayer apprentice from his mind.
I hope you guys don't mind my focus on SesshRin right now, it won't be that way forever. But I'm determined to make that a thing, and I'm working on making it seem logical. I've never had a challenge like giving emotion to someone with literally no emotion whatsoever without making him too OOC. I have some good ideas for what I'm doing next, and I hope you guys are gonna stick around for my crazy plans!
It's a good thing Rin's character wasn't focused on too much, coz you're about to see a whole new side of her...
Don't forget to review! (: