Chapter Thirty-Eight
Rin had become bored.
After Kagome returned home, Lord Sesshoumaru left fairly swiftly with barely a word of farewell. Unlike before, he hadn't ordered the little group to stay put in the clearing.
Therefore, she'd wandered off after spying a small village in the distance.
By now she could hear Jaken's incessant wailing somewhere behind her in the forest after he'd lost sight of her, fussing because 'Lord Sesshoumaru will have my head if you get lost, Rin!'
A rumbling gurgle from her stomach urged Rin onwards without an iota of care for his troubles, creeping through the undergrowth. A heavenly, almost spicy smell lured her through rice fields and gardens alike. This smell belonged to cooked food. It wafted appetisingly through fresh, clean air, leading the little girl by her nose until she hovered uncertainly in the doorway of a lone hut.
An old miko sat by an irori, stirring a pot of stew. She looked up, face haggard by age. An eyepatch covered one eye.
Rin wasn't afraid of the pirate miko but shrank out of sight anyway, wary of strangers.
"Hello?"
A shuffling noise alerted her to the priestess' approach, and Rin squeaked, hurrying around one side of the hut and peering out from around the corner cautiously. The woman stopped.
"There is no need to be afraid, child. Are ye hungry?" she smiled, laughter lines deepening around her good eye. Rin found it charming, but was not to be lured in by strangers!
Remaining skittish, she watched as the old woman disappeared back inside, returning a moment later, a bowl of hot, steaming stew in hand. She set it down on the ground and then returned to her irori, unbothered.
Biting her lip, Rin couldn't resist. Tip-toeing forward, she snatched the offered food and slinked away around one side of the hut, squeaking when the hot broth burned her tongue.
After devouring her impromptu feast, she became quite deaf to the old woman's shuffling drawing closer.
"A hearty meal works wonders, does it not?"
Jolting, the little girl inched away from the woman's newfound proximity beside her, eyeing her warily. Since she didn't seem to be a bad person though, Rin decided to give talking a shot.
"...Thank you very much for the meal."
"Ye are welcome," she said, taking a seat on a fallen log outside, her stiff joints protesting. With a grunt, she smiled kindly. "Who might ye be? I am Kaede, the priestess of this village."
Rin dodged the question. The name Kaede sounded familiar, though. She was almost certain Kagome had mentioned it before. "D-do you know any other priestesses?"
"Hm?"
"I'm travelling with one... wasn't sure if you knew her."
"Can ye not give me a name?"
"No way! You could pretend to be her friend and then trick me! Bad people do that kind of thing all the time."
"Hmnn, ye are a very cautious child. Very well, let me list off all the priestesses I know," Kaede listed off a few, the list numerous. "Then there's my sister Kikyo of course, and dark priestess Tsubaki. Oh! And despite her young age, we must not forget Kagome."
Rin immediately relaxed, "you know Kagome?"
"Indeed, she has not returned here for a little while," she hummed contemplatively. "Why are you here alone? Surely Inuyasha, Shippo and the others should be here too, since ye has joined their group no doubt."
Small shoulders fell, and Rin suddenly felt guilty for bringing up the subject without being able to offer answers. It wouldn't be right for her to say anything. Unless…
Rin thought about Kagome's exhaustion. She'd spoken before about how difficult it would be to tell her mother everything that had happened.
Maybe if Rin told this nice lady the grim news, it would lessen the hefty burden on Kagome's shoulders.
"U-um…" she raised her head, brows drawing together. "Kagome returned home. She's going to come back and then tell you something very sad. But I think I'll do the telling for her."
"Oh? Go ahead then," perplexed, Kaede could only nod.
Rin took a deep breath and began talking.
Kagome heaved a sigh, resisting the urge to touch the fresh thick bandage on the bridge of her nose. The Doctor's visit had been fun. Luckily she didn't have a crooked nose, but it was well and truly broken and would take at least three weeks to heal. The black eye was a similar situation.
"You seriously look beat-up, Kagome. Like you were mugged or something."
"Yeah, are you SURE your bad boyfriend didn't do this to you? Because we can totally call the police on him for this."
"Would you like another ice pack?"
Munching on another fry miserably, Kagome forced a smile and politely declined. Why the hell Mama had called up Eri, Yuka and Ayumi, she had no clue. Well, she could hazard a guess. Something about moral support and maintaining connections with her very alive, very modern friends. They'd dragged her straight from the Doctors to Wacdonalds like a bunch of badgering chaperones.
"Really guys, I'm fine," Kagome repeated for the millionth time, massaging her temples. "I got hurt by accident by falling off my dumb bike. You know how clumsy I am," she laughed it off.
Eri and Yuka shared a look, talking not so quietly behind their raised menu, "battered woman syndrome?"
"Totally. Next thing you know she'll tell us she 'fell down the stairs.'"
Kagome inwardly groaned, sinking further down on her side of the booth. She knew they were just concerned, but enduring this was torture. Her throat felt clogged shut with all the things she couldn't say.
"In any case," Eri lowered the menu, "we need some make-up on that eye, stat. What's Hojo going to think if he sees you like this?"
"Noo!" gasping, Yuka grinned. "Leave it!- then he'll see it and demand to know who hurt her! It's the perfect way to get them together!"
Sitting as a passenger in her own body, Kagome stared down at her half-eaten burger. What the hell was she doing? Discontentment curdled, the formerly welcome ice-pack feeling too sharp, too keen on flushed skin.
She couldn't say how it happened.
One minute, she was fine- albeit endearing her friend's inaccurate assumptions. The next, Ayumi had offered to take her to a tea-house, claiming they had some relaxing blends. Earl Grey, Chamomile-
And suddenly Kagome was thinking about Miroku, Sango, then Shippo. In her pain-killer induced brain, she even thought of a certain white-haired Hanyou.
And then he was there.
Standing across from her in the colourful fast-food restaurant, he glared at her with eyes as fierce and glowing as crimson setting suns. Red robes lay splattered with evidence of his kills. Blood caked up to his forearms.
Kagome's breath hitched. Her stomach twisted. Ignoring the startled questions from her high school friends, she stumbled out of the booth.
And that was how Kagome Higurashi found herself crying in a Wacdonalds bathroom, head buried in her hands, sat within a cold, lonely cubicle.
What the hell am I doing?
Air was rushing too quickly in and out of her lungs- but she couldn't stop. Blood pumped, heart drumming loudly in her ears. Amidst the rapid sounds of her panicked breathing, Kagome's being cried out for one thing, a silent plea. A beg that made her heart strain, near bursting in her chest.
I want to go home!
And the place she pictured was not Higurashi Shine.
A cool brush of something familiar fanned over her cheek. Like the welcome kiss of a warm summer breeze; but faintly static, wild and masculine.
Kagome stiffened, whipping her head up, tears frozen upon dark lashes. Youki came again, brushing through her hair and smoothing down the length of her hunched over form, relaxing stiff shoulders.
Panicked breathing calmed, heart settling slowly in her ribcage as she inhaled the familiar youki, letting it soothe her airways. Once she'd regained enough of her senses to stand, Kagome hurried from the bathroom stall, running through the restaurant- past her confused friends- and stumbled out blindly into Tokyo's city streets, looking around dazedly.
Sesshoumaru's youki was gone. Honestly, Kagome couldn't be sure if it had ever really been there. Perhaps she'd imagined the phantom brush, comforting herself with the pillar of strength she'd come to admire.
What she knew for certain, was that she had somewhere else to be.
Sesshoumaru walked from the army division's campsite with the gait of a leisurely stroll, golden eyes calm. Not a trace of blood marred his unblemished white and red silks, though it stained fallen green banners a muddied brown. Behind him, burning tents and fallen men blurred into a murky haze of massacre, tainting the clear air with smells of ash and raw, cooking meat.
A soldier, the same one he had spared before, crawled backwards, mouth moving soundlessly- struck mute in the face of such terror.
Sesshoumaru stopped before him. "...This Sesshoumaru has a message for your lord."
The man trembled. After a few moments, he managed to nod.
"I am aware of the numerous human lords living upon my territory, and should they incite battle, it has nothing to do with me. Kill them if need be, they do not have my protection. But take care," he uttered softly, "-not to attack my father's lands randomly. Your lord forgets the higher power which owns the earth, trees and creatures you blighted yesterday. If he does not tread carefully in demon territory, he may accidentally harm that which belongs to me or my kin. And that is not something I permit," Sesshoumaru purred dispassionately, inspecting perfect nails. "Should he overstep his bounds again, I trust my wrath has thus been sufficiently demonstrated."
With a squeak, the soldier wordlessly nodded once more and was sent on his way, managing to climb his horse and gallop away at a breakneck speed. Sesshoumaru's burning gaze dulled back to its usual calm, gilded gold.
Turning in the direction of the Bone Eater's Well, he readied himself to leave.
"My, for someone so disgusted by humans, you certainly seem passionate about seeking revenge on Kagome's behalf," an amused, sultry voice stopped him in his tracks.