'Body work' is when a fighter continually beats at his opponent's midsection, intending to wear him down or knock the breath out of him.

This one-shot is 1657 words.

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Body Work

Naraku watched them as he lounged sideways in the folding chair - the sole piece of furniture in the gray, concrete room, unless you counted the shackles that held Sesshoumaru fast to the floor, which she didn't. Kagome pulled the dog demon's head into her lap and pushed back his silver hair from his sweaty forehead. His eyes were open, but unseeing and dull. If she couldn't feel the soft rise and fall of his chest, she'd fear the worst.

"What did you do to him?" she asked.

"He'll be fine soon enough," Naraku said, flicking his fingers as if her question was a gnat in his ear. "I shouldn't allow it, of course. Anyone else and he would already be dead, but the son of the Great Dog General has more demonic energy than anyone I've encountered. His current good for my business outweighs the bad. For the moment." His grin held nothing close to joy.

Kagome touched the magenta stripes on Sesshoumaru's cheek. Even her raw, untrained miko senses could feel the strength of him and how desperately he was clawing his way back to awareness. "What do you want, Naraku?" she asked as she kept her eyes on Sesshoumaru's face.

"That remains to be seen. I had such plans for you two, and you've both been such great disappointments already," he said.

Kagome sent him a chilly glare. "I'm so sorry to hear that."

"You should be. I have one of the most powerful demons in Japan right there for the taking, and what does he do? He falls in love with a police detective, and one with an unfortunate moral streak." His red eyes fixed on her.

She shifted her weight, turning her head away from the spider demon. "He's not in love with me," she said.

Naraku let out a long-suffering sigh. "Oh, Detective Higurashi. You're not a very good liar, but that's alright. We're going to test how far that his love - and yours - will go. I'm betting it will go quite far."

He got to his feet, and Byakuya darted forward to fold up the chair and tuck it under his arm. Pausing on the threshold, Naraku glanced at her over his shoulder. "I'll let you two discuss the matter," he said before he swept out of the room.

Kagome heard the grind of the key in the lock and the shuffle of the guards' feet on the other side of the door.

Her training kicked into gear, and she assessed the situation in a few seconds. She'd seen half of the Shichinintai brothers on the way in, and she would wager her own money that the other four were on the perimeter. With the additions of Byakuya, Kagura, the goons that cycled through Naraku's employ, and the spider demon himself, she'd have a better chance trying to grow wings. Of course, even the one window that had once been in this hole of a room had been bricked up, so wings wouldn't do much good either.

Miroku would probably assume she had hitched a ride back to the city with one of the uniforms - he'd be too annoyed that she left him alone with a complex homicide scene to call tonight. Sango might try, but her friend had always respected Kagome's need to be left alone. Koga would leave a mocking voicemail and forget it. Not that she'd ever get it - she'd heard the painful crunch of her phone under Byakuya's heel before she was taken.

All in all, not an uplifting assessment.

She bent over the dog demon in her lap, running her hand over his damp brown and down the curve of his jaw. "Sesshoumaru," she whispered.

His golden eyes blinked and focused. "Is he gone?" His voice rasped, sounding deeper than normal.

Kagome swallowed her cry of surprise. "Yes, he's gone."

"Good." Sesshoumaru rolled off of her and spent several seconds with his forehead pressed to the cold floor before pushing himself up to sit against the cinder block wall. His limbs trembled as he righted himself, and the chain rattled. "He is tedious."

She forced herself to remain where she sat, her hands in her lap, knowing how he would despise any help. She already missed the warmth of him. "I thought you were unconscious."

He took a few deep breaths. "I was. I wish I were now," he said.

"Is he really taking all of your youki?"

His eyes cut in her direction. "I would not be in these chains if he had not," he said, lifting one hand. As exhausted as he sounded, the rebuke was clear.

Kagome bristled. "I don't know what's happening, Sesshoumaru. You cut me out of this, just as I was beginning to figure a way out of all this mess."

"There is no way out of this, except by death alone," Sesshoumaru said.

"How would you know?" she shot back. When he glared, she squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed at the bridge of her nose. An ache had started to bloom in her head. "We were working on a plan, and then we found Moryomaru almost cut in half."

Sesshoumaru snorted. "You believe that I killed that monstrosity in the forest?"

Kagome jabbed at the air with her finger. "Did I say that? No, although the place was a bonanza of evidence against you."

He paused for a moment. "How did you realize it was not me?"

Kagome spread her hands. "Oh, come on. I'm not an idiot. No murder scene has ever been that perfect in the history of murder scenes. Your hair, your scent, and your smashed phone? These guys might be good at doing crime, but not so much at setting someone else up for it." She took a breath, and her voice softened. "Besides, based on our current predicament, I figured that you'd failed some test of Naraku's. I'm guessing that you were supposed to kill Moryomaru."

Sesshoumaru leaned his head back. "I offered to work with him instead. Just as we were about to discuss it, Naraku burst from inside Moryomaru's body, killing him."

"Well, that's a gross new one for me." She arched an eyebrow. "And then, he captured you."

"It took me somewhat by surprise," he replied flatly.

"I bet," Kagome said. "So, how's that lone wolf plan of taking Naraku down going for you?"

Sesshoumaru kept his eyes on some indistinct spot on the far wall. "About as well as your plan by committee."

Kagome fanned her fingers out on the concrete floor and took a steadying breath. "When did you know who I was, Sesshoumaru?" she asked.

His jaw clenched. "Early, but not early enough."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Had I known earlier, we would not be in this situation," he said.

She pressed her lips together for a moment. "Because then, you would have ended things before they began."

"Yes."

Her hands arched as they pressed harder into the ground, her fingertips going white. "Did you tell them? Is that how they knew?"

His eyes flashed as his head snapped around to look at her. "You know I did not," he intoned. "They likely followed you after we became involved. Or they may have smelled the cordite on you, as I did."

She blinked. "Cordite? I haven't shot a gun in months."

"You have held one. One has been under your clothing, against your skin. Do you not believe that a dog demon could smell that, particularly when in close contact with that precise spot?" he asked.

"Oh." She swallowed as color rose in her cheeks. "Naraku's going to try to use all of that against us, isn't he?"

Sesshoumaru nodded. "There is no trying. I will do what he wishes - threaten and hurt and kill who he wishes - so that he will not hurt you. Meanwhile, he will turn you into his mole in the police department and corrupt you entirely. If you do not agree, he will imprison me for the rest of my life in order to drain me of my youki like an oil well for his abominable drug."

"That's not the only choice here, Sesshoumaru. I can take care of myself, and even if I can't…." She broke off for a moment. "I won't let him make you into a monster to save me."

He let out a dry, humorless bark of a laugh. "I have been a monster for many hundreds of years, Kagome. You have only known me at my most tame." He pronounced the word with venom as he locked eyes with her. "Unfortunately for the both of us, Naraku is wielding my own instincts against me."

His eyes blazed with something dangerous and unrestrained, even while the shackles held his body, but Kagome edged toward him to grasp his hands. "Sesshoumaru, we both know that you were right. All of this that we have? It's built on a foundation of sand. Just walk away. I know that you can."

"You are asking me to surrender."

"I can't ask you to fight for me," she countered.

Sesshoumaru reached up, his hand sliding gently into the hair at the back of her neck. The cold iron of the chain against her collarbone made her shiver. "I fight, Kagome. It is who I am, in whatever century I inhabit. Perhaps it is time I did it for something worthwhile."

She was still shaking under his touch. "He'll use you up until you're no good to him anymore. You'll end up dead or in prison," she murmured.

"But you will be safe." Sesshoumaru leaned forward, his lips brushing over her cheek until they were next to her ear. "And when Naraku is dead, I will come back to you."

Kagome drew back, her eyes wide. "What are you…"

His thumb swept over her lower lip, stopping her words. "Naraku was right," Sesshoumaru said. "He will see precisely how far this goes."