Disclaimer: I own no part of the Inuyasha universe and this is written only for my own pleasure.

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Posted 1.8.2020

Edited 2.12.2020

7.7.2020

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Paradigm Shift

Chapter Two: A Different Sort of Confrontation

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Once the decision has been made, and the innocuous moment has set into motion the revelatory process, it cannot be stopped. At first, it almost seems as though you are observing your world from the outside. Drawing away from it instinctively as though something in you realizes that this is a moment in your life that needs to be set apart- imprinted- remembered.

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"Kouga!" Kagome's whisper was soft but it held a sharp edge of urgency.

Their eyes met. He looked away but tightened his grip around her fingers on the saddle. Kagome puffed up her cheeks in frustration. She never did take well to being ignored.

"Kouga!" She leaned down closer to his head.

She saw a muscle in his jaw twitch. He heard her teeth grind.

"What?" He hissed back.

"What's going on!?"

"Who knows? If you're asking where we're going, then we're going that way." He pointed straight ahead of them with a touch of sarcasm. "Toward the village. My guess is we're going to find Inuyasha and the rest. Lord Sesshomaru did say that he wanted to talk to Inuyasha. The others are sure to be nearby."

"Is your capacity to remember what you have been told so limited, Miko? Or are you simply incapable of paying attention to those who speak with you?" Sesshomaru interrupted, causing both Kagome and Kouga a small startle. Kagome flushed with the sting of Sesshomaru's pointed questions but gave no answer. Kouga turned his face away from her again and continued to walk alongside her, silently, after that. He wouldn't look at her again; despite her furious whispers or her nails prodding into his temple.

Kagome's worries only grew as they continued on. Between the biting comments from the two youkai and the border of hostility and civility that she felt they were all perched upon, the whole situation was surreal to her. Her friend's refusal to acknowledge her right now, in this strange situation, was anything but comforting. As much as she was a tightly bundled ball of nerves and emotions, she couldn't tear her eyes from that persistent twitch in his jaw.

'What in the world have I gotten myself into?' She thought to herself as they continued onward.

The distance that the wolf prince was putting between them stung her heart with hurt, and she felt an answering sting begin to make itself known to her in her eyes. She shut them tightly and dropped her head to her chest, proceeding to slip her fingers out of Kouga's grip. She was scared and amid the flood of feelings, and what she perceived as his rejection of her; momentary as it was, stood out clearly. How could he be like this right now? She knew he understood that she was afraid, knew that they both understood, knew they could smell it on her. She'd spent enough time caravaning about the country to understand that the youkai could smell things like that.

Kouga's grip, though, tightened on her fingers as she tried to pull away. She frowned at the action and struggled against the steely hold he had on her, but gave up her indignation after a moment or two.

Kouga turned her palm to sit flat against the leather, drawing his own fingers away only enough to lace them between her own before settling his own palm on the saddle in a larger, rougher mirrored version of her hand.

The gesture was small, and Kagome wasn't sure if she should be comforted or angry with him for it after the way she felt he had been treating her during this little trek. Her world still felt upside down, spiraling away from her grasp on everything she thought she knew about the two powerful men, but at least that confusing gesture drove away the panic that had been threatening to suffocate her.

The stiffening of white, silken-clad shoulders went unnoticed by them both. Sesshomaru could smell the traces of her tears as they welled up, and he could hear her breath come unevenly as she held it in an attempt to keep them from spilling over. Perhaps Rin was softening his attitude toward the incomprehensible emotional turmoils of women. More likely, he thought, he simply did not care for the distraction of any possible forthcoming hysteria.

His hand closed in a near-fist before relaxing again and, though the small gestures had been the only indicators that he noticed Kagome's distress at all, he still heard the pounding of Rin's small feet as she ran to his side and grasped a tiny handful of his sleeve.

He heard the sharp intake of the girl's breath and tilted his face to her. Before she could say whatever she would have, the silk fell to his elbow from the weight of her grasp on its end as he lifted a slender finger to his lips in askance for her silence. His ears were treated to a small giggle as she met his eyes and smiled. He curled his fingers backward to brush against the child's small, soft wrist for only a moment, the gesture hidden by the volume of the sleeve.

Though the Miko seemed to possess somewhat more a modicum of manners, now, Sesshomaru allowed a minuscule tilt upward of his lips as he thought on how much more discreet and mannered his child was in comparison.

Only his eyes moved to the girl as she tugged once on the fabric she held, and he noted the small frown she gave him whilst tilting her head back at the Miko. Eyes still on the small thing that could somehow ask so much more from him than he would give any other; he spoke.

"You have no need for that nonsense, Miko. If I were of a mind to harm you at this time, it would already be done." Another titter lifted to him from his elbow. "Surely by now, you realize that I keep no patience for foolishness."

His words were harsh, but something under the surface comforted her. Kagome's mind blanked at the reality that Sesshomaru…was trying to quiet her fear..? It took her a moment to process it completely before responding.

"Thank you." A pause. "And I'm sorry." She left off the excuses and reasons that she could have used to justify her maelstrom of conflicting emotions. She knew that they all could understand that this was a bizarre circumstance.

"There is no need of apologies, Miko, nor of thanks. You have done me a service tonight, despite our… somewhat tumultuous past. It is I that should offer my own thanks to you."

Slightly chagrined at that, Kagome gave a snort of air at the whole of it all. At that moment, as different as night and day though the two were, their faces reflected each other in humor; though neither could see the other one.

The exchange had done a lot to quell her anxiousness and she squeezed the fingers that were still laced with hers, trying to relay to Kouga something of that. There was an answering pressure from him, but a lingering look at his features still gave her pause. His jaw was still clenched and his brows furrowed; mouth set in a hard line of anger.

Maybe she had taken the pestering a bit far while she tried to pry answers from him. Kagome had no time to dwell on that regret as Sesshomaru came to a halt and lifted one ear toward the left of them. He gave her a look that she couldn't interpret, turned it on her friend, and then settled it back on her before crouching down.

Sesshomaru released his fingers from around Rin's wrist where they had found purchase and had tightened briefly. He locked eyes with the Miko again before cementing his decision. He curled the girl into his chest and, once her small hand grasped his armor, lifted her with more delicate attention than Kagome or Kouge had thought him capable of. In a blink, he had settled the girl in Kagome's lap on the dragon, grabbed Kagome's left arm, and wrapped it across Rin's chest. He pressed Kagome's flesh into the girl as his gaze flickered between Rin and Kagome's faces with a hard look for heated moments.

"Do not leave..

His eyes moved to hers before going back to the child's face once more.

"Do not leave Kagome, Rin."

"Yes, Lord Sesshomaru!" Both of her own arms came up to curl over Kagome's one.

Another seconds long look into Kagome's eyes.

"Ah-Un!" He shouted commandingly as he drew Tokijin and turned from them. Kouga was by his side, poised for battle, before Kagome could blink. She had no time to respond to Shesshomaru or Kouga, had no time to question them, and had to fight down a shriek of surprise as the dragon's legs bent and released, propelling the three of them into the sky. They floated backward away from where the other two were apparently readying themselves for a fight.

She could sense no part of the Shikon jewel but for her own, and hugged the girl close to her, now wrapping her tightly with both arms.

She wished desperately for her bow and arrows, before feeling the soft flyaways of Rin's hair at her neck. Kagome pressed a cheek to the top her her hair and gave her another brief squeeze as she realized that she would have only moved from her to help the others if the fight seemed to be turning badly out of their favor, anyway.

She did this to a lesser degree with Shippou but, unlike the kit, the girl in her arms was, as far as she was aware, completely without any defenses of her own to protect herself.

Her eyes widened as a thought struck her and rang throough her mind.

"Sesshomaru knew that I would keep you safe, Rin, didn't he?"

She felt the girl's smile on the skin of her forearm before she drew it away to answer Kagome.

"Lord Sesshomaru always knows best."

With that, she wiggled her way down into Kagome's embrace.

They watched as the creaks of branches and rustle of leaves finally reached their human ears. It was odd to feel defended by Sesshomaru with even any amount of fierceness, but she thought that maybe she was beginning to numb to the sensation of it even after the short few minutes that they had their strange conversation and even stranger walk.

She guided Rin to turn in her arms and lay her head against her own chest as she hardended herself to protect her temporary charge, and faced the line of trees to await whatever foe would soon be upon them all.

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