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Elements

Chapter 2

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Jaken exclaimed, guiltily dropping a fish from his hands as the taiyoukai emerged from the trees. "You have returned!"

Sesshomaru restrained himself from rolling his eyes. "That much is obvious, Jaken," he commented. He looked around the clearing, examining what had been done.

Jaken, obedient to a fault, had started a fire, which was crackling merrily in the center of the area. Rin was happily eating a cooked fish by the fire, not a care in the world. Jaken sulked around, holding the fish he had dropped in surprise.

"Hiiii, Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin said happily, waving. "Jaken cooked Rin and Jaken fish because you told him to. Thanks!"

Sesshomaru waved her thanks off carelessly, moving stiffly to sit down across the fire from Rin, his muscles still aching. He picked up a fish and sniffed it thoughtfully before taking a bite. Jaken sighed audibly in relief.

"Isn't Jaken-sama's fish good?" Rin asked. "Rin likes fish!"

"It is adequate," Sesshomaru acknowledged, taking another bite. Rin smiled.

The clearing was silent for a while as everyone ate, intent on their dinner. Sesshomaru idly picked at the scales of his fish in between bites, his mind journeying back to the miko he had encountered earlier.

"Jaken," he said suddenly, "do you know of the miko that travels with InuYasha?"

"You mean that Kaede wench?" the toad asked, startled.

"Kagome," Sesshomaru corrected idly. Jaken's eyes widened in surprise. "What do you know of her?"

"Well," Jaken said, scratching his head. "She supposedly comes from a far off domain, judging from her attire, my lord. She seemed to have dedicated her life to finding the Shikon shards," he added. "Rumor has it she's the reincarnation of the priestess Kikyo." He looked at him anxiously, as if waiting for the reaction to his words.

"Reincarnation?" Sesshomaru said dubiously.

"Yes," Jaken said, apparently relieved that his master had not struck him down. "She seems too young, as reincarnations usually take hundreds of years to occur, but the fact remains that she is, my lord."

"I see," Sesshomaru said, considering. With such strange origins, it was no wonder she was so unusual. "What else do you know of her?"

"She is very kind to everyone," Jaken said, "youkai and ningen alike. She has adopted an orphaned kitsune, and most in her party she met when they were trying to kill her."

"Fool," Sesshomaru remarked, scornful. What kind of person would forgive those who tried to kill her? Then again, she had defended herself rather admirably when he had tried to kill her, so it wasn't as if she was in overt danger. If anything, her comrades should be wary...

"Indeed, lord," the toad agreed. "They have become powerful allies, however. The monk in particular is-"

"This Sesshomaru cares not about the miko's companions," Sesshomaru dismissed, waving his hand. "Speak of the miko's powers."

"Of course, my lord," Jaken said hurriedly. "The girl has immense raw power, though she has never received any formal training as a miko. I have heard of waves of purification radiating off of her when she is angry enough."

"Rin likes Kagome-san," Rin piped up, joining the conversation. Sesshomaru's eyes widened imperceptibly.

"How do you know Kagome?" Sesshomaru asked, not letting his surprise seep into his tone.

"Kagome-san came and saw Rin once when you and Jaken-sama were somewhere else," Rin told him. "She asked Rin about you and gave Rin something sweet things to eat. Then she made Rin a necklace of flowers."

Sesshomaru's mind briefly flashed back to when he had seen such a garland around Rin's neck. She had seemed more energetic than usual...

"Tell me, Rin," he commanded. "Did you ask Kagome why she had come to see you?"

"Yes!" Rin said. "Rin was curious as to why, so she asked Kagome-san. Kagome-san said that InuYasha was being a baka. She said she had to 'sit' him and she was so mad she had to go think away from him." Rin looked over at Sesshomaru, waiting for his approval.

So, his brother was being an idiot, Sesshomaru mused. That was nothing new. What took him by surprise was the fact that InuYasha angered the miko so much that she would go away from him from time to time. It also seemed as if she had some sort of control over him. Sesshomaru wondered what a 'sit' was.

"Did she say what InuYasha had done?" he asked carefully. Rin frowned.

"Kagome-san said something about InuYasha being 'hypocritical' and 'insensitive' and 'a jerk off'," Rin said, remembering. "Rin asked what those words meant, but Kagome-san just laughed and said that Rin would understand when she was older. Rin could tell Kagome-san was sad though. Rin could see it in her eyes."

Sesshomaru frowned, thinking. Rin's encounter with Kagome sounded much like his own. Both times, she was alone and had gone to a clearing. She had been unarmed, yet unworried. Also, both times she had been hurting on the inside as well. Sesshomaru bit his lip, thinking.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin's tentative voice broke his train of thought, and he turned to see his ward looking at him, concerned. "Is Sesshomaru-sama okay?"

He looked at the young girl. She looked up at him with wide eyes, clearly worried, and his face softened.

"Yes," he said, a rare smile gracing his face. "Tell me one more thing, Rin. After Kagome left you, what did she do?"

"Kagome-san went to go shoot arrows at a tree," Rin said promptly. "Rin remembers because Kagome-san could shoot them in the dark, though Rin could not see. But then Kagome-san did something, and they gave off pretty pink light."

Here, Rin yawned hugely, and Sesshomaru looked around, surprised to note how quickly night had fallen. Standing up in one smooth move, he shook out his kimono.

"Jaken," he commanded. "You are to put Rin to bed and protect her as she sleeps."

"Are you going somewhere, my lord?" Jaken asked, slightly startled at the sudden request.

"Yes," Sesshomaru said, casting a withering look at the kappa for questioning him as he turned and strode out of the fire circle, heading for the forest.

"Is it to do with the miko, my lord?"

Sesshomaru turned back slowly, fixing Jaken with an icy glare, who looked like he regretted calling after the taiyoukai already.

"Yes," he said curtly, his eyes flashing, Jaken visibly flinching at his cutting tone. "Do not question me again, Jaken. You would do well to remember your place."

With a dramatic flourish of his robes, Sesshomaru vanished into the woods.

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THWOK!

Kagome smiled grimly as her arrow hit the tree bark hard, embedding itself into the wood. Withdrawing another arrow from her quiver, she took aim, pulled back on her bowstring, and let it fly.

THWOK!

The arrow made a satisfying thud upon impact, nailing the precise spot she had been aiming at. She was getting better at this.

THWOK!

InuYasha should see her now, she thought. She was constantly hitting her target, in the dark, no less. She was also controlling her miko powers from spilling out onto her arrows, which wasn't nearly as easy as it seemed, given the emotional state she was currently in.

THWOK!

Her arrow landed firmly in the tree, a leaf impaled around the shaft, having been hit in midair as it drifted to the ground.

THWOK!

Her old arrow split as the new one sliced through it, splitting it like a banana, landing in the exact spot as before. Kagome smirked. No one could criticize her aim now.

Deciding that was enough pure archery, Kagome lowered her bow. Closing her eyes and finding her center, she called upon her power, channeling it through her and into an arrow. Raising her bow, she took careful aim, before spinning on the spot suddenly, loosing the arrow.

THWOK!

The arrow landed flaming pink in a tree, scant inches from a familiar silver head, embellished with strange markings and cold, amber eyes.

"I could have hit you, you know," Kagome commented, turning back to her target practice. "I can see in the dark. I could have an arrow straight through your thick skull for trying to kill me earlier. You'd be dead before you knew it, and you wouldn't have known what hit you. No one's reflexes are that quick, Sesshomaru-sama."

Kagome smiled to herself, sensing the taiyoukai lord's obvious surprise and discomfort. It must have been a shock to him. He had been masking his presence, yet she had still known he was there.

Loosing another, a vivid pink trail burned in the air behind her arrow as it hit the tree, the power gradually dissipating into the darkness of the night.

"Why didn't you?"

Kagome glanced over as the taiyoukai stemmed forward, his face an emotionless mask, despite her near miss.

"I didn't want to hurt you," Kagome replied, watching as another bright pink arrow hit her target with a satisfying thwok.

"You did not want to hurt me?" he repeated, his tone blank.

"That's what I said," she responded, restraining herself from rolling her eyes. Notching another arrow, she noticed his vacant expression. Sighing, she elaborated.

"I only wanted to give you a warning that I knew you were there," Kagome explained. "I didn't want to kill you." She let the arrow fly, nailing her target in a blaze of pink glory once again.

"Why not?" Sesshomaru asked, his tone emotionless.

Kagome gaped at him. "You've done nothing to deserve death," she said, astonished, lowering her bow. "Why do you ask?"

He ignored her query.

"This Sesshomaru has tried to kill you many times," he interjected.

"So has the rest of the world," Kagome said dismissively, waving her hand. "That alone doesn't deserve death, and even if it did, I wouldn't kill you."

"Why not?" Sesshomaru asked, clearly not comprehending.

Kagome gaped at him. Was it just demon tradition to kill someone if their own life was threatened, or did he just have a ruthless impression of her and the rest of human kind?

"Have you never heard of mercy?" she said incredulously. "You have a daughter, for Kami's sake! I'm not about to make her an orphan again!"

"You are speaking of Rin," he said flatly. Kagome nodded.

"She's been through so much already. I'm hardly about to take her surrogate father from her," Kagome pointed out. "Why? Do you have a death wish or something?"

Sesshomaru just looked at her blankly.

"Fine, then," she muttered. "Ignore me." Raising her bow and notching an arrow, she continued her target practice as if his interruption had never occurred, pointedly ignoring the taiyoukai.

The taiyoukai, however, seemed inclined to stay and watch her, for whatever reasons. Sighing, Kagome put the strange youkai lord from her mind and focused on why she had come here in the first place, channeling her miko energy.

Her frustration gave her a burst of power, and the flaming pink arrow vaporized a large chunk of bark from the tree on contact, the arrow clattering to the ground. Kagome smiled thinly and conjured up the image of InuYasha's infuriating face from earlier onto the tree. With another arrow, the rest of the tree vaporized in a flash of angry pink light, leaving only scattered ashes and singed wood chips behind.

"What has the hanyou done?" Sesshomaru asked suddenly. Kagome turned to regard him, lowering her bow.

"You mean InuYasha?" she asked. At his affirmative nod, she sighed.

"InuYasha... isn't the easiest person to get along with," she admitted. "He's not very good at understanding things."

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow. Kagome sighed and raised her bow once again.

"InuYasha acts as if I belong to him," she said, letting another arrow fly. "It irritates me to no end."

"Why?" he asked, his amber eyes watching her load another arrow.

"He has already chosen Kikyo," she told him, launching an angry pink arrow, sending a small raccoon youkai running away, "so he has no right to interfere in my own romantic life. Yet, still, when another man indicates his interest in me as a woman, not just as a mere miko, he becomes enraged."

"You have feelings for him," Sesshomaru said flatly.

Kagome turned to look at him curiously. Was it her imagination, or was there a jealous undertone in his voice?

"I don't know anymore," Kagome said honestly. "I know that I did, once, but now... I'm not so sure. My emotions towards him have lessened somewhat, since his choice, but I'm not sure to what degree."

Kagome looked at him sideways. "I don't know why I'm telling you all this," she informed him. "I don't think you even care. You're probably bored out of your mind, listening for juicy tidbits that will help you seize the Tessaiga."

Sesshomaru just looked at her.

"Well, too bad for you," Kagome told him. "I'm not that stupid. I'm going to talk about what I want to talk about, and if you don't like it, you can go away."

His amber eyes watched her blankly, his face betraying no response.

"Showing no emotion, eh?" she commented. "InuYasha's the same." She lifted her head, turning to look away, deep in thought.

"Perhaps I'm too unreasonable towards men in general," Kagome mused. "I want a guy who understands emotions and feelings, but I don't know if that's even possible."

"Like with Koga," Kagome continued, talking aloud, not necessarily to Sesshomaru anymore. It just felt good to talk about everything bothering her, even if no one was listening. Almost... therapeutic.

"Koga says he loves me," she said, "and he very well may. But when I ask him how he knows he loves me, he starts listing what he likes about me. It's the same with Hojo. The put everything into words. They don't seem to realize that sometimes, you can't define something with mere words."

She turned, looking up at the stars, her arms wise. "It's like the sky. Sure, you can describe the sky. You can talk about the stars, the planets, the colors, but can you understand it? Understanding defies words. You either do or you don't. You can't explain it. You just can't."

She sighed, lowering her arms. She turned to look at Sesshomaru, who was still watching her, his eyes following her every move.

"I have to go," she said, slinging her bow over her back. "Not that you care, but my friends will worry if I'm away too long."

She set off into the forest, waving goodbye and calling back, "It was nice talking to you, Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru watched as she vanished into the trees, before silently going back the way he had come.

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