Chapter 17 – To Sweeten
''…I don't think you should do this.''
''Don't disturb my master, you filthy humans!"
''Silence Jaken, your voice is the loudest here."
''He's going to kill us…''
''I have no doubts about that.''
''Stop overreacting!"
''Since when did you learn to use such a fancy word?''
''Shhh, he's waking up!"
''Oh no, run!"
Sesshoumaru's mind was foggy. Everything was confusing and the random voices he kept hearing surely didn't help. Why was he so tired and everything so dark? Why could he smell something sweet so close to him?
Groaning mentally, the daiyoukai tried to remember the events of the past night and after his mind being blank for more than thirty seconds, he could almost hear the miko's endless questions again. So he had slept. That explained why his mind was foggy, the darkness was probably because his eyes were closed and he felt rather foolish for not realizing this sooner. Avoiding sleep for that long wasn't good for him and he made a mental note to sleep at least once every two weeks.
Sleeping didn't explain why he smelled something sweet though, and when he opened his eyes, he found his pack trying to pretend they were resting and failing miserably. The miko's heartbeat, as well as Jaken's, was irregular in a clear sign that they were nervous, while Rin was stuffing her mouth with berries and pretending she didn't exist.
The kitsune was shoving his face on the river as he pretended to drink water and Sesshoumaru realized that something was wrong when he looked at Rin and she coughed as she tried to hide her laughter. The miko now laid stiff on the ground and Jaken's heart was beating so fast that the daiyoukai wondered how he hadn't passed out yet, the kitsune suddenly looked ready to thrown himself into the water and happily drown.
Raising an eyebrow, Sesshoumaru's cheek itched a bit and he moved to scratch it, then he noticed that there was a strange weight on his head and frowned. Slowly lowering his head, the mighty Lord of the West blankly stared at what had fallen on his lap and the sweet scent suddenly made sense, as well as everyone's strange behavior.
Letting out a part of his youki as he narrowed his eyes at the offending object, he heard the miko let out a distressed noise as she hid her face with one of the pelts, which proved her guilty because there was no way she would want to be under the fur while the sun was still up.
His ward was doing a very poor job in hiding her face with her hands and she was getting rather red from trying to hold back her laughter, while Jaken was looking a little pale from where he stood but it could simply be the sunlight on his face. The kitsune had run to hide on the tree right next to the river by now and he could hear the miko's curses from under the pelt she hid, making him scoff.
''Who did it?'' He asked, his voice sounding like a thunder in the silence of the field and Rin finally burst out laughing, falling to the ground as she clutched her sides.
Swallowing nervously, the miko peeked from her safe place and saw the inuyoukai raise an eyebrow at her, sending her straight back into the heated confines of the fur shield she created with a squeal. Jaken had passed out as soon as he heard his master's voice, the stress was too much for him to deal with, and now even Ah-Un seemed anxious as it tried to look at everything but the inuyoukai.
''One…'' Sesshoumaru started to count, and the miko suddenly got up from where she was and squealed as she stared at him. ''Miko.''
''Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama?'' She innocently asked, but he could clearly see that she was trying to play dumb.
''Speak.'' He demanded, and gulping, she started to babble.
''What? Oh, did you notice how beautiful the sun is right now? It's almost done setting and you've slept for quite a while, leaving us a little bit worried. Rin wanted to wake you up but Jaken was being mean and I had to hit him in the head to shut him up, we just rested and played foolish human games while we waited for you to get up, my Lord. Did you rest properly? When it was the last time you slept? Are you feeling well? Are you sick? Can youkai get sick? I remember hearing about the case of a youkai who-''
''Miko!" Sesshoumaru barked, making her squeal yet again and he pinched the bridge of his nose. He could almost see his father rolling on the floor of his tomb right now, laughing at his expenses. If he heard another question coming out of her mouth, he was going to commit mass murder.
''Yes, my Lord!" She said, fidgeting in place as he got up, the offensive object on his hand, and walked to stand right in front of her.
''Who had the idea?'' He asked, though he already knew the answer. Such thing was his ward's signature but he wanted to hear it from the miko's mouth.
After a whole minute of no answer, Sesshoumaru repeated the question and sighed when the miko refused to look at him. Resorting to more extreme methods, he decided to say her name, it had worked rather nicely last time.
''Kagome, tell me who did this.'' He asked, and succeeded in making her look at him instead of the ground.
''No, my Lord.'' She answered, and though he could smell her nervousness in the air, her back was straight and her posture was flawless.
Raising an eyebrow, the daiyoukai questioned. ''Why not?''
''I refuse to betray someone I hold dear.'' She spoke, biting her lower lip, and Sesshoumaru's eyes widened slightly.
So the miko had honor. It was rather touching to see her protecting his ward like this, few were the ones who would risk their reputation with the Western Lord in order to protect a human child, and after giving her one of his worst glares, he dropped the offending object on her head.
''You are not allowed to take it off until I say so, miko.'' He spoke, watching as she touched the crown made of flowers he didn't bother identifying. ''Gather Jaken and let us move, we already lost too much time.''
Rin ended up falling asleep on Ah-Un's back after walking for a while. Her idea of putting flowers all over the daiyoukai proved to be a bad one and now he was dragging Kagome through the night and refused to stop to rest, claiming they had enough time to do it during the day.
She knew he was punishing her though, and pouted when she saw that Shippo went to sleep too and left her alone to deal with a rather annoyed inuyoukai. Yawning, Kagome touched the flowers on her head and since he wasn't looking, decided to take it off to look at them, they were a better distraction than the shadows around her.
Pushing a bit of her powers through the plants, she watched as they shone healthily in pink before her reiki faded away. Not only Sesshoumaru had ordered her to wear the crown until he got bored and let it go, but he also said that she would be punished if the flowers died, so she used what Kaede had taught her and so far, she was doing a good job at keeping them alive.
Trying to remember the older miko's teachings Kagome's eyes widened when she noticed the flowers Rin had used to create the crown and ran to catch up with Sesshoumaru.
''Wait!'' She squealed as she tugged on his sleeve, making him slow down and raise an eyebrow at her.
''I told you to wear it until I felt avenged, miko.'' He spoke, making her roll her eyes as she held the flowers in front of his face.
''Can't you see it?'' She asked, waving the thing in front of his eyes.
''…Is there an insect on them?'' He asked, rather confused. Rin quite frequently ran to beg his help to kill some bug and he honestly didn't understand how she didn't care about seeing dead bodies on the path they traveled but seemed irked by a small and inoffensive spider.
''No?'' Kagome frowned, now confused too. ''I'm asking if you can see what these flowers mean.''
''This Sesshoumaru has more to do than to ponder about the meaning of a flower's short life.'' He answered and the miko sighed, exasperated.
''And you say I'm the insufferable one,'' She muttered, but before he could say anything about her offensive remark, she threw him a question. ''What flower is this one?''
She was pointing at a vibrant orange one with black spots on it, it had the shape of a star and the tips of the petals curled back to the base of the blossom. ''Tiger Lily, why?'' He answered, still a bit lost with the girl's strange behavior.
''They represent pride, wealth and nobility.'' She answered, then pointed at another flower. ''And this one?''
It was light pink and cup shaped, and he faintly recognized it from one of his mother's precious vases. ''Camellia.''
''Yes, they symbolize qualities like excellence and perfection, some say they bring good luck to a man.'' The miko hummed in appreciation and pointed at the last flower he could see. ''Now this one.''
It was a cup shaped yellow flower with four petals, but he didn't remember its name. ''I do not know.''
''Yellow Poppy, it represents success.''
''And what is the point of this?'' Sesshoumaru asked, genuinely curious, and the miko smiled at him.
''You know who did it, right?'' She asked and he nodded.
''Rin is quite fond of flowers, she spends a great deal of her time on Sakura's gardens just watching them.'' He said, seeing the girl smile softly.
''She is sending a message to you, can't you see?'' He couldn't, so he shook his head and was presented with yet another roll of her eyes. ''She is telling you what she thinks about you. Kami, why are men so ignorant?''
His eyes narrowed and she ignored his glare, turning the crown around so he could see a single flower standing out of the rest, this one he recognized.
''A rose?'' He raised an eyebrow at her.
''A dark pink one, it means thankfulness.'' Kagome spoke and enjoyed the way his eyes widened in understanding. ''See? It wasn't that hard to get!"
''Rin is too clever for a child sometimes.'' He spoke after a while, making the miko giggle. ''Is this the reason why she spends so much time collecting flowers?''
''She said to me that they are pretty and she likes pretty things, so she tried to learn more about them.'' Kagome spoke as she looked at the sleeping child on the dragon's back, remembering this particular talk with the girl. ''Children's mentality are usually very simple, but I think she found in the flowers a way to show her appreciation to the ones she likes. I've seen her giving flowers to almost everyone though I'm not sure about their meanings, maybe I should ask her later.''
''Indeed, she is rather fond of making crowns out of them, bracelets too.'' The daiyoukai spoke, frowning when he saw the miko's eyes suddenly sparkle brightly.
''Do you think I could put enough reiki on the flowers to make them last forever?'' She asked, making him raise an eyebrow at her.
''It is possible, why though?'' He asked but she promptly ignored him, hurting his ego yet again.
No one ever ignored him, he ignored the others, so how dared this tiny woman act like she was his superior? Even though he was slightly offended and tempted to kill her, Sesshoumaru found himself only narrowing his eyes and trying to think of a way to make her stop doing that and pay him the attention he deserved.
''Oh, this is going to be good!" The miko giggled as she stared at the flowers before smiling at him and putting them on his head.
''Miko…'' Sesshoumaru growled. The girl truly didn't fear death and for a second he found himself wanting to teach her exactly what true fear was.
''She will be happy to know you wore it, take it off in the morning and I'll use it again.'' She spoke, smiling at him as they entered a peaceful field and he decided that he did not want to deal with her anymore, so he chose to stop for the rest of the night.
''Do not make me regret this.'' He spoke and her eyes widened before she ran to where Ah-Un had laid down.
Settling herself comfortably between the dragon's legs, Kagome gave a happy sigh at its warm temperature and smiled at the daiyoukai who was looking at her with a bored face.
''Just put the crown on my head like we did with you before everyone wakes up, good night.'' She yawned, and before he could say that this was ridiculous, she was fast asleep.
Still, for the rest of the night, Sesshoumaru found himself unable to melt the stupid flowers with his poison. To make things worse the miko's scent now clung onto him, making him wonder if his father was happy because there was no way this wasn't part of the deceased general's thoughtfully planned revenge.
She annoyed him even in her sleep and he found himself trying to focus on anything but her scent, denying to his core that even though she was human, it was rather appealing to him.
