Chapter 8 – To Fly

''We're ready, Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin squealed happily as she sat on top of a two-headed dragon and patted the beast's head.

''Hn.'' Her Lord answered as he looked at the speechless miko that was staring at the dragon.

''Come on Kagome-chan, get on Ah-Un!" Rin said as she motioned for the woman to sit behind her and helped Shippo to get on.

''I had never seen a dragon before.'' The miko muttered as she approached the beast and slowly raised her hand to touch it.

Ah, never the one to lose the opportunity of being petted, quickly moved his head to touch the miko's hand, making her squeal in surprise. Patting it gently, she giggled when Un moved to poke her waist, silently demanding attention too. After she made sure both of them were pleased, Kagome smiled and climbed to sit behind Rin, holding the little girl by her waist and squealing when the dragon suddenly jumped into the sky.

''This is amazing!" She exclaimed as she smiled brightly, she never thought she would be able to fly someday.

''Do you have everything you need?'' Sesshoumaru asked, receiving a nod as answer.

She had packed clothes for herself, Rin and Shippo, as well as some food and water in case the kids felt hungry during the flight. Shippo was comfortably sitting on Rin's lap and Kagome had a sword on her waist, as well as a dagger, and a bow on her back, just in case they needed extra protection.

Sesshoumaru had raised an eyebrow at her when she asked him if he could lend her a few weapons but let her choose them anyway, not once questioning her ability to wield such things. It made Kagome smile softly when he didn't doubt her skills, the Lord of the West was one of the few people who didn't doubt her word and she couldn't help but feel grateful for his small act of trust.

''Wait for me, Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken shouted as he jumped and attached himself to Ah-Un's tail, quickly climbing his way to a more comfortable spot on the beast's back.

''Hn.'' With this, they started to move. It took Kagome more than a minute to realize that Sesshoumaru was flying on what it seemed to be a cloud, she had been too mesmerized by the world below her and how small things looked from up there to properly pay attention to anything.

''Hey, I didn't know you could fly!" She said as she stared at her Lord's back with wide eyes.

Sesshoumaru turned his head to face her and raised an eyebrow, the way he looked at her made Kagome few stupid and she pouted.

''Stop staring at me like that! I'm not a youkai, how was I supposed to know that you could just summon a cloud and float to wherever you wanted?'' She huffed as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, she could swear she saw amusement in his eyes. ''How can you do this? Can I learn it too? I would love to be able to fly!"

It was in the moment she started firing questions that Sesshoumaru understood why she looked so familiar to him. Whenever he decided to watch over Rin, he would always find the miko there too and had the strange sensation of familiarity, though he didn't know where it came from. As he took his time to really pay attention to her, he realized that the reason why he felt like this was because she resembled his ward not only on her looks but on her personality too. If she said she was Rin's mother, no one would be able to prove otherwise.

''Stupid miko, stop bothering Sesshoumaru-sama with silly questions!" Jaken snapped as he moved his staff wildly in the air, almost hitting Kagome's head.

''Stop moving you mean toad, you're gonna make us all fall down." The miko groaned, glaring at the toad and only succeeding in making him glare back at her.

''If Kagome-chan can make a cloud like Sesshoumaru-sama's one, can Rin make one too?" The little girl spoke, making Kagome giggle and Jaken scream in indignation, those stupid humans would never be able to compare to his Lord.

''It is made of my youki,'' Sesshoumaru spoke, turning from his ward and her companions to face the sky in front of him, his voice successfully making everyone go silent. ''If the miko is powerful enough, she might be able to bend her reiki in the same way and tame it.''

After a full minute of silence that made Sesshoumaru wonder if he was finally going to have peace, Kagome squealed happily, making Rin and Shippo giggle.

''Really? Can you teach me that, Sesshoumaru-sama?'' The miko asked, ignoring Jaken's protest and staring at Sesshoumaru's back with hopeful eyes.

When he turned to look at her and saw her face, that glowing with excitement reminded him so much of Rin, he found himself unable to deny her request. Slowly nodding his head, he watched as Kagome and Rin squealed, the little girl asking the miko to teach her too once she had learned that.

Saying that first they had to wait for her to grown in order to see if she had reiki lying dormant inside her, Kagome successfully made Rin calm down while managing to not upset her. The miko knew her powers developed rather early and that Rin still had a chance of being a priestess too, but she didn't want to create expectations for the girl and watch her get disappointed in case it didn't happen.

Smiling as they looked at the blue sky, both girls stayed quiet for the rest of the trip, just admiring the scenery in front of them.


''But Sesshoumaru-sama..." Kagome groaned as she threw a stick into the fire, utterly bored.

Rin fell asleep as soon as she finished dinner, just like Shippo. Bathing them both was a slightly hard task and Kagome swore that if she had to chase them down one more time to take a bath, she would just let Jaken deal with them. They were both tired after running halfway across the woods just to escape the miko and once they were clean and ate properly, they both blacked out, leaving Kagome to find something else to do while sleep didn't come to her.

It was way too early for her to rest, she tried to talk with Jaken but he ignored her and moved to sleep with Ah-Un, leaving the miko to find another way of entertaining herself. Sighing as she stared at the daiyoukai that was ignoring her, Kagome groaned again.

''You promised!" She pouted, and this time, she succeeded in making him turn to look at her.

Kagome had spent the last four days trying to convince him to teach her how to use her reiki to make a cloud like his but he simply ignored her existence, making her feel frustrated and annoyed enough to start whining like a child.

''I could go on all night with this,'' She threatened, ignoring his narrowed eyes that clearly demanded silence. ''It would be easier for both of us if you just granted this poor human mercy and decided that you're feeling benevolent enough to teach me how to make the flying cloud.''

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed even more and Kagome wondered for a second when she had stopped fearing him. The look he was sending her way was enough to freeze the whole ocean and yet, she just ignored it. Between flying and camping, she realized that her Lord wasn't as cold and merciless as the rumors said. He hunted and presented the meat for her to prepare for the children, stopped when he noticed that they were tired, moved at a slower pace in order to not drain their bodies and always listened to both Rin and Shippo whenever they blabbed on, never once ignoring them or saying they should shut up.

Those little facts made Kagome get more comfortable in his presence but it was only yesterday, when she woke up and saw Rin cuddled to Sesshoumaru's fur, that she completely lost her fear. The scene was so touching that for a second she forgot about the difference between their kind, there was only a father and a daughter in front of her. The way he protectively held her made Kagome smile softly as she stared at the scene, nothing would be able to make her think that Sesshoumaru was merciless again, not even he himself at the exact second where he opened his eyes and slightly narrowed them at her because he noticed she was staring and interrupting his bonding time with his ward.

''You are insufferable,'' The daiyoukai spoke and Kagome shrugged. He was right, she was purposefully annoying him to have her way. ''Disrespectful too, a mere human should not speak to a Lord like that.''

''But you promised!" She whined, completely ignoring what he said because she knew he was about to lose it.

''Stupid, insufferable miko,'' Sesshoumaru growled as he suddenly got up and glared at her.

Turning his back to Kagome, Sesshoumaru kicked Jaken awake and told him to watch the children before he left, a smirking Kagome following.

''Does that mean we're going to practice now, Sesshoumaru-sama?'' She asked.

''Only because this Sesshoumaru does not wish to have a migraine, miko.'' The daiyoukai all but growled at her, making Kagome smile brightly at his back and all the way to the field he was leading her.

Once they arrived there, Sesshoumaru proceeded to sit against a rock and narrow his eyes at her. ''Meditate.''

Kagome wondered if he ordered her to do that just to make her shut up but decided to not push her luck and obey him, Kaede had taught her the importance of meditation after all. Taking a seat between a few small white flowers, Kagome stretched and then positioned herself, closing her eyes and breathing deeply.

Time passed and she didn't even notice, the full moon was now high in the sky and her mind was completely blank, simply focused on feeling her reiki and breathing. She felt the holy energy move within her body in a calm dance, giving her a sense of peace as she felt each beat of her heart and after a while, she heard Sesshoumaru's voice and slowly opened her eyes, yawning before turning to face him.

His eyebrow was raised and she knew he thought she was tired, so she narrowed her eyes at him and spoke. ''Now, when are we going to start?''

His eyes narrowed back at her and Kagome wondered for a second if he was about to start a glaring contest with her, she would never be able to win.

''Materialize your reiki.'' He spoke, making Kagome frown as she concentrated on an empty spot in front of her.

After a few seconds, a light pink arrow appeared in front of her chest and she smiled. ''It's been a while since I did this, I was afraid of scaring the demons in the shiro so I avoided using my powers as much as I could.''

''Move it.'' He spoke, tilting his head slightly to the left and watching the arrow move in circles around the miko. Briefly looking at the field, he found what he wanted and turned to face her again.

''The apple,'' Sesshoumaru said as he pointed at it. ''Ready,'' He started, the miko's eyes widening when she realized what he wanted her to do.

''That's really far..." She muttered. She could barely see the tree in the dark, the apple was just a blurred red dot in her vision.

''Aim,'' Sesshoumaru kept going, completely ignoring her. Glaring at him for a second when she noticed he wouldn't stop, Kagome turned to face the red dot and focused all her attention on it, the arrow now facing its target.

''Fire.'' He spoke and calmly watched as the arrow darted forward with an impressive speed, hitting the target and making it fall on the grass before a pink light surrounded it and the apple was left intact on the ground.

The daiyoukai was slightly impressed, the miko's aim was deadly even in the dark, something he didn't expect to because humans couldn't see well without light. Turning to face her, he noticed that she was still glaring at him and raised an eyebrow.

''That was unfair, I can't see in the dark because human eyesight is stupid!" She complained, crossing her arms in front of her chest and pouting. ''I could have missed it!"

''And yet, you didn't,'' Sesshoumaru commented, making the miko release a frustrated groan. Kagome was about to start complaining about stuck up daiyoukais when he decided to interrupt her. ''Impressive, for a human.''

It took her a small amount of time to realize that the Lord of the West had just complimented her abilities, but when it finally sunk in, her eyes widened and she smiled brightly at him, her annoyance completely forgotten.

Kagome knew he didn't give compliments freely or without merit so she treasured his words, he would never lie just to make her feel better and he had no reason to.

''Can you make another weapon?'' He asked but Kagome shook her head.

''No, the sisterhood focused more on archery since it's our main form of protection, I never tried to make anything besides a bow and some arrows.'' She answered and he nodded.

''We will start with daggers,'' Sesshoumaru spoke, and as if he was reading her mind, he explained. ''You need practice in materializing your reiki, arrows are too simple to be compared to the amount of concentration you need to fly.''

Nodding her head, Kagome listened to Sesshoumaru's instructions for the rest of the night while she practiced. He corrected her when she was using too much energy, guided her through the motions and a few hours before the sun started to appear, he noticed she was getting tired and decided they were done for the day.

Kagome had accomplished to create a dagger as perfect as the arrow and she smiled brightly at him before she collapsed on the ground next to Rin, falling asleep as soon as her head touched the ground. Shaking his head, Sesshoumaru threw more wood into the fire and took his seat next to the tree once again, looking at the sky and watching it as the colors began to mix until the sun finally rose. He was tired, and the miko would prove to be a handful from now because of his choice to teach her.

Still, Sesshoumaru could not find himself bothered by this. Not at all.