Chapter 25 – To Spy

The first sign that something was wrong had been Sesshoumaru's narrowed eyes.

She then felt something change in the wind, as if the air was tainted, and it became a little hard to breathe, almost like someone was squeezing her neck. When they landed, Kagome realized that leaving the children at the shiro this time had been an amazing idea, for there was something was really wrong with the ones standing in front of her.

''What happened?'' She asked as she slid off Ah-Un's back and ran to kneel in front of Kikyou, who was trying to bandage the hanyou's hip with only her left arm. Kagome couldn't see what was wrong with her right hand, but the blood staining the bandages her sister had put there didn't seem like a good sign.

''Naraku attacked us out of the blue,'' The monk spoke, coughing as he tried to sit but only managed to make the wound on his chest bleed again. ''We were walking, almost settling down for a break, when a dozen youkai appeared on the horizon and came to attack us.''

''We killed them,'' The slayer spoke, glaring at the giant scratch on her weapon. ''But Naraku suddenly appeared and started talking bullshit, asking Kikyou how she managed to cast an illusion spell on herself.''

''What?'' Kagome frowned, taking the bandages from her sister's hand to do the task for her.

''We don't understand either, the asshole said something about how it was such a pity that she traded the daiyoukai for the hanyou and left her safe garden. The coward didn't even give us time to think about what he was talking, just tried to kill us.'' InuYasha grunted, doing his best to not grimace as Kagome pulled the bandage a little too tight for his liking.

''But why? The barrier is still strong, no one is able to sense your shards unless they find a way to destroy the spell.'' Kagome said, frowning as she moved to look at Kikyou's hand and allowed her reiki to rise and heal the deep gash that was bleeding.

''We don't know,'' Kikyou said, matching her sister's frown. ''I thought about that too but he asked me where I put the shards I stole from him, since it wasn't with me. He didn't know about my shards, I think he confused me with someone else.''

As soon as Kagome heard shards and stole, her eyes widened and she muttered a curse under her breath. Everything they said made perfect sense to her, Naraku had confused them both and tried to get his revenge on her sister instead.

''What's wrong?'' Kikyou asked, her frown deepening as her friend sighed and scratched her head.

''Well, you see-'' When Kagome was about to explain the truth, a hand found its way to her mouth and she let out a confused and muffled sound.

''We're being watched.'' Sesshoumaru whispered in her ear as he slowly released her and moved back a little to glare at the horizon.

''So I wasn't wrong,'' InuYasha muttered as he stood up and unsheathed Tessaiga. ''Show up you coward, we know you're hiding somewhere!" He shouted, making Kikyou groan in annoyance.

''You can't fight in this condition InuYasha, you're hurt." She said, but only received his scoff as answer. ''I can't even do anything, I broke my bow in the fight and my spiritual energy is drained. Miroku had been on the edge of his life today because of some poison youkai that infected him, I had to use all of my powers to purify the miasma from his blood."

Taking a quick look to where the man was laying down, Kagome pressed her lips together as she observed that he was about to pass out, the wound on his chest was bleeding angrily and he needed help urgently. The slayer seemed fine on the other hand, she only had a shallow cut on her leg and moved to stay in front of the monk, taking a protective stance.

The wind howled suddenly and shivers took over Kagome's body, making her rise and grab her bow a second before a feminine laughter echoed in the woods.

''So the hanyou and his human companions aren't as imbecile as my master thought.'' The voice spoke, it seemed to come from everywhere around them and Kagome pressed her lips together, trying to find the source of it.

''Stop hiding like the coward you are and fight us!" InuYasha shouted again, clearly annoyed for not knowing where to look, and Kikyou put a fragile barrier around him, the only thing she could do in this situation. The idiot would get himself killed if he kept behaving like this.

''Fight? I don't want to fight,'' The voice said, the wind seemed to blow stronger and Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at a certain spot in front of them. ''Master send me here to watch, he needed to see when the girl would drop her illusion spell but I guess he got the wrong person.''

Noticing where the daiyoukai had been staring, Kagome frowned when she realized that the wind concentrated mostly in that spot, the harsh blows seemed to come from there but she couldn't really see with her hair getting all over her face and blocking her vision.

Turning her back so she wasn't standing against the wind, Kagome looked through the corner of her eyes and saw Sesshoumaru staring at her. Praying that he understood what she wanted when she tilted her head back a little, Kagome closed her eyes and focused.

The bow was ready to fire as she pointed it to a random spot next to a tree. The voice laughed, the sound coming from everywhere around her, and she waited until the wind shifted slightly, proving that she was right.

A softer breeze came by, and Kagome shot. A bright crimson arrow appearing behind her back and dashing forward, moving to the spot she felt wavering together with Tokijin's energy blast. She knew the daiyoukai understood what she planned to do on the second she turned her back to him, he had felt it too.

A scream tore through the forest and the wind blew harshly against their skin, a woman flying on a feather appearing above them. Her left arm had been hurt, and her red eyes wanted revenge as they stared at the miko.

"You little bitch, if my master didn't take a particular interest in your sorry self you would be dead by now!" The woman hissed, opening a fan that was hidden inside her yukata and gathering her youki there. "Dance of blades!"

Before Kagome could put up a barrier, she found herself being lifted in the air and landing on the other side of the field, who now was completely devastated, almost as if a hurricane had passed by it.

"Foolish," The daiyoukai at her side spoke as he dropped her on the ground, his tone sounding as bored as ever. "State your business in this Sesshoumaru's lands, or die by this one's sword."

The woman opened her mouth to speak, but the sudden attack of Tetsusaiga made her stop to dodge the energy blast that had been way too close for her taste. Frowning as she looked around and saw that she was outnumbered, the woman threw a disgusted glance at the ones on the hill and decided that this wasn't worth her life. If Naraku thought she would die serving him, he was wrong.

"You shall hear from me soon, the name is Kagura." The youkai spoke, waving her fan and sending an attack towards the hanyou. With another graceful sway of her weapon, she was gone. Though most of the group was hurt and unable to fight and the hanyou could be dealt with, she had no death wish to face the daiyoukai and the miko too. She had already gotten the information she needed, Naraku wouldn't care much about her sudden retreat.

"She only wanted to watch, whatever information she needed to know, she found." Kikyou spoke, sighing as she saw InuYasha sheath his sword and lay against a tree. He was exhausted, and so was she.

"This is troublesome," The taijiya said as she put her hiraikotsu down and kneleed next to the monk, frowning as she put a hand on his forehead and felt his body burning. "He passed out, his condition isn't getting any better."

"We need to talk Kagome," Kikyou muttered as she got up, walking to stand next to the fallen monk. "But not right now, we need to get to a village before he gets worse."

"Won't happen, we're in the middle of nowhere and I can't carry everyone back to the last village we stopped by," InuYasha grunted, watching his blood ooze through the bandages. "You better give him any herbs you got so his pain is lessened while we walk back to where we came, it might take a while."

The slayer made a distressed noise, her hand still caressing the monk's face. Kikyou sighed and slowly moved to gather her satchel from across the campsite, her ankle had been twisted during the battle and she wished for nothing more than a place to stay for the night and recover from her wounds. She was tired, and her quest for the jewel was starting to take it's tool on her health.

Meanwhile, the daiyoukai stared at the horizon, lost on his thoughts about what had just happened. Naraku was searching for the miko, and though the hanyou had already been viewed as a threat for trespassing his territory, he now was a risk for his pack and needed to be disposed of as soon as possible. It wouldn't do for him to invade his lands again and meet the girl, Sesshoumaru had already made the mistake of letting that happen once.

A soft pull on the sleeve of his haori pulled him out of his little reverie, and he looked down to find said girl staring at him with wide and pleading eyes, much like his ward did on the rare times she wanted to ask for a favor.

Raising an eyebrow at the girl, he embraced himself for whatever she was about to say, though he already had a faint idea of what it was once he took a quick look around the destroyed hill where they now stood. Humans were way too fragile for his taste, but he couldn't bring himself to criticize them any longer when the miko attached to his clothes had displayed such an enormous amount of strength during her short spam of life.

Sighing inwardly once the girl made her request and fidgeted nervously, he pointed at Ah-Un and told her to be quick. As she thanked him and moved to ready his beast for the flight, asking for help to carry the monk, Sesshoumaru had the annoying thought that maybe, just maybe, he was growing soft.


Leaving the meeting that had wasted away most of his day, a slightly annoyed inuyoukai made his way through the hallways of the shiro. Though he was born and raised to deal with this kind of thing and was impeccable while creating strategies for war and figuring out the politics that came along with being a lord, he had always hated meeting with the council.

His father had more patience than him in this aspect, but the daiyoukai couldn't bear to care enough about the fruitless discussions that occurred during those times. Most of it were just mindless arguments about who had the better idea or who managed to kill more enemies in the past war, the generals would then proceed to tell tales of their golden times and Sesshoumaru was left to plot their deaths in a very slow way, while considering the consequences of this possible act.

The topic of today's meeting had been his insufferable half-brother, that proved to be an annoyance even when he wasn't around. The hanyou's mere existence proved to be a hindrance, but Sesshoumaru had to admit that this time the boy hadn't done anything at all. Some of the generals had been wary of his presence in the shiro during the past week and decided that ranting about that and the humans was a great idea. The daiyoukai's already foul mood only got worse after this because they were meant to discuss about the other annoying hanyou, Naraku, and yet nobody seemed to stick to the topic. Gossip about his deceased father and his long dead human mate soon followed after, and Sesshoumaru had to resort to death threats when he saw what was hidden behind the meaningless talk: the fear he would follow Inu no Taisho's steps.

A rather graphic comment about how he enjoyed decapitating his enemies was enough to shut their filthy mouths, and the council finally proceeded to discuss what really mattered. That cost him a headache though, and the inuyoukai grunted as he passed by a rather noisy room.

The thought of seeking out his official healer crossed his mind, but he quickly discarded it. Though it was not common for full blooded demons to suffer with those minor inconveniences that belonged mostly to the human race, it happened every once in a while and wasn't anything alarming at all. He was simply having a bad day.

Decided to go to his room to sleep since he couldn't remember the last time he took a nap and the stress and headache were probably caused by his lack of rest, the daiyoukai abruptly turned around the corner, only to collide against someone's head.

"Ouch," A surprised female voice squealed, and he looked down to find the miko rubbing her forehead on the spot she had hit him. "I didn't notice you coming, hello there."

Raising an eyebrow, the silver haired man spoke. "You should pay more attention to your surroundings, miko."

He didn't mention that he also failed to notice her, too deep into his thoughts to be aware of what happened around him.

"As should you," Kagome said with a little huff, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I'll let it pass just because I was actually searching for you."

"What happened now?" Sesshoumaru sighed audibly. Ever since his half-brother showed up on his place things got a little chaotic, mainly because of Rin and Shippo.

It turned out they didn't forget the time the hanyou threatened the miko on their first encounter, and made their personal mission to prank the hanyou as much as possible while he was there. Since he recovered faster than his companions because of the youkai blood running through his veins, the children decided that he was fair game and went as hard as possible on the boy, which resulted in minor injuries to his property and a lot of cursing.

The miko usually got involved when his brother got out of control and tried to hit the children, and thus most of her day was spent bickering and threatening to purify the hanyou if he dared to lay a finger on her little ones. The rest of her time was spent helping the humans to recover together with Sakura, and the few times she met him was to deliver the news of yet another disaster occurring on his place.

"Well, InuYasha is actually covered in pink powder as we speak and smelling like spring and butterflies," The woman snickered, seeming strangely satisfied with this fact, and Sesshoumaru almost grimaced once he remembered that he had also been a victim of this trap. "But that's not what I came for, I just wanted to tell you that Miroku is finally getting better and everyone will most likely leave in three to four days!"

"Hn," That was the only answer she got, but Kagome saw that he was slightly pleased with the news.

"I also spoke with Kikyou, she said that she would notify me whenever she encountered with Naraku, he seems to be getting stronger lately and we need to know all of his moves if we want to defeat him," The girl spoke, biting her lip and looking slightly worried. "At least he doesn't know we have the shards with us."

The miko then went silent and started fidgeting, making the daiyoukai raise an eyebrow at her. She did this whenever she wanted to speak but didn't know how to start, and for a second he wondered if he payed too much attention to her to notice this or if she was simply that predictable.

"Do you wish to say anything else to this Sesshoumaru?" He had to ask, or else she wouldn't speak.

"I'm sorry," The girl muttered, holding the empty sleeve of his haori and playing with the silk. She was nervous, he noticed. "I know you don't really like humans or your brother or trouble at all and I ended up asking you to bring all of this to your home, so I wanted to apologize for making you go through that. It's almost over though so please bear with my troublesome wishes for just a few more days, okay?"

Eyes slightly widening at the unexpected apology, Sesshoumaru stared at the girl who now refused to look at him. The scent of guilt clung to her, and he didn't like it at all.

Though she was right about the trouble that was brought to his shiro because of his half-brother and his companions, the miko had nothing to do with it. He could've simply refused her request, but she had a point once she made it. They needed to talk about the jewel and what had happened, and his shiro was the safest place right now to do this since Naraku was keeping a close watch on them all. Discussing such an important topic in the open woods simply wouldn't do, anyone could be spying on them and the girl's wish to bring everyone to his home had been a good strategy. He didn't understand why she was feeling guilty and decided to ease her unnecessary worries, it always surprised him that she thought about his well-being when he himself didn't really care about it at all in some circumstances.

"It is of no consequence, Kagome." The daiyoukai said, raising his hand to give a soft pat on the girl's head. "Your worry is yet again misplaced, this Sesshoumaru is fine."

Wide and bright sapphire eyes turned to stare at him, and for a second he wondered if she would burst out crying for he could see unshed tears shinning in her eyes. This thought was quickly discarded though when a dazzling smile appeared on the woman's face and she attached her arms around his frame, catching him by surprise.

"Thank you, Sesshoumaru." The miko said, her voice happy but muffled because her head was buried on his chest. His hand was still touching her head, and he gave her yet another soft pat before proceeding to caress her hair.

A strange warmth took over his chest, and the daiyoukai sighed in a relief he didn't well understand but appreciated. As the miko broke apart and left to tend to her duties, Sesshoumaru found himself frozen in place, staring at the hand that held her a second ago before proceeding to walk away to his chambers.

The amount of reiki she pushed into him during their embrace went unnoticed by the daiyoukai, and he would realize only later that in that moment, his headache had been gone.