(AN)---Thanks go out to all reviewers! Your words and opinions are very important to me!
Three Times a Lady:
Chapter Four:
If at First You Don't Succeed, Stop.
Silence filled the space between the two sides, and it stretched for one moment, and then two. With all her friends at the ready around her, she felt utterly exposed. And with good reason. Sesshoumaru was staring at her, not the brother that he hated, or Sango with Hiraikotsu poised to be thrown.
Her.
She stood stock-still, though every nerve in her body screamed out at her to run. You don't run from dogs, her mind thought in an odd burst of clarity. They like it when you run. They like the chase. She was dealing with a dog-demon, but she didn't think that fact changed the rules as much as one would expect.
Miroku, having noticed that the demon's eyes were set upon one thing, turned to Kagome. What he might have said was lost as the ever impatient and reckless Inuyasha leaped at his brother.
"KAZE NO---"
Sesshoumaru did not gift the worthless hanyou with his attention. He gracefully jumped from the branch full seconds before Inuyasha could follow through with his attack. The wind that had sparked and gathered at the half-demon's command fell away instantly when he lost sight of his target.
Sesshoumaru did not distract so easily. The taijiya's over-grown weapon sliced through the air, striking trees and ripping clean through them. The youkai lord, with his eyes still locked on the miko, easily dodged the boomerang. And sent it sailing back to the hand that had thrown it.
The monk came next, with his worldly ways. He stepped between Sesshoumaru and the girl, raising his shakujou in a fighting stance. Sesshoumaru effortlessly caught the staff as it swung out at him, it screaming against Toukijin's edge. He thrust up in one powerful motion and the boy went flying, tumbling over himself and crashing into one of the many trees that lined the small path. The little kitsune child instantly scampered fretfully to the human's side, but Sesshoumaru did not care. He was out of the great lord's way and that was all that mattered.
Kagome watched as, one by one, Sesshoumaru dispatched the obstacles between them. First Inuyasha, then Sango and Miroku. Then Inuyasha again, simply pointing Toukijin in the hanyou's direction as he charged in from behind. All the while his eyes had not left her, as if he regarded her as the most dangerous of them all.
He was cutting a path through her friends with his seemingly single-minded determination, and he was winning. The young miko saw him coming for her and did not know how to stop it. Her hands shook and fumbled with her bow, finally bringing it down, but she knew it was too late. Too slow. As she reached back for an arrow, Sesshoumaru raised Toukijin, then brought the demon-sword down in one ringing stroke.
Kagome screamed as light erupted before her eyes. Hot waves of it that sent her dark hair streaming back from her face. But just as quickly as it came, it was gone. Kagome looked up, fully expecting to be dead or on the threshold of death. And instead realized she was still standing in the middle of the path, her bow gripped tightly in one hand, and an arrow in the other. Sesshoumaru was sprawled on the ground, his hair tangled about his shoulders and in the dirt. The world as she knew it ceased and began in one second. As long as it took her to realize she was still alive.
Miroku came running up, relief shining in his violet-blue eyes. He wrapped his arms around Kagome before she was ready to react, lifting her off her feet. "You did it, Kagome-sama!"
"Wha-what do you mean?" the voice that came to her ears definitely sounded like her own, but it was far too calm to be real.
"You deflected his attack, sending it back to him..." What he didn't say, but hung in the air around him was: just as you did when we fought Tsubaki, the kuromiko.
So much of her miko powers operated on chance and instinct alone. Why did she never train as a proper miko should? The need to ask Kaede that exact question always fled her mind when they returned to the village. Because returning to the village usually either meant injuries, or home. It was like she forgot all else.
Kagome felt a lone hand sliding down the middle of her back, but before it could do any further damage, a foot implanted itself to the back of the monk's head. Sango stood just behind Miroku, eyes closed and faintly twitching. And though she was still clearly annoyed with the houshi's wandering affections, her relief at seeing her friend alive and unharmed over-rode all other emotions.
"I thought he was going to kill us all!"
"He didn't care about us," Miroku mumbled from his place on the ground. Sango and Kagome both looked down at him.
"What do you mean?"
"He was aiming for Kagome-sama."
Kagome swallowed. Sometimes Miroku was far too perceptive. For everybody's own good.
"I thought he was after Tetsusaiga again?"
"Apparently," Miroku said, using his shakujou to push himself up, "Tetsusaiga is not all he is after."
Kagome blushed, and after a moment, Sango did too. Miroku grinned at the two girls and their pretty modesty. He had truly been blessed when fate had thrown him down this path.
"It's not like THAT!" Kagome cried, her fist striking out automatically and whacking the monk on the head. He promptly fell to the ground in a heap, again.
Kagome's blue eyes turned back to the still form of Sesshoumaru, widening when they saw Inuyasha standing over him.
"NO!" she howled, shooting forward to intercept him. She half-flung herself across Sesshoumaru's body and held one hand up to the hanyou, it being both a gesture of warding, and beseeching. "Please, Inuyasha! He's had enough! He's..." Her eyes fell down to the demon-sword, and she noticed Tetsusaiga sheathed at his side. But there was something in his clawed hand.
My...pen? When did he get in my back pack?!
Inuyasha raised the pen into the air, and with a purely evil gleam in his eyes, he threw his head back and laughed. "MWAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Kagome raised one confused eyebrow. The laugh-track cut-off abruptly. Tucking the pen back into his kimono, Inuyasha calmly removed Tetsusaiga and turned the blade downward, holding the hilt between both his palms and high above his head. He looked at Kagome.
"Move, wench."
Kagome shook her head, chewing on her lip as Inuyasha glared down at her. "We stopped him. It ends here."
"Why are you protecting him?!"
"I'm NOT! It's just..." Kagome stopped, not believing she was about to discuss the ethics of killing someone while they were unable to defend themselves. Surely not with one of her friends. Of course, then she remembered she was talking to Inuyasha. When it came to moments like this, there was only one way to get her point across to him.
"Inuyasha," she said calmly, "Put the sword away."
Inuyasha's amber eyes widened, his hands tightening around Tetsusaiga. "Kagome? D-don't do it."
"Put.it.away." The tone of her voice told him it would happen, no matter what he said or did. It was up to him how far it went, though.
Inuyasha sheathed Tetsusaiga slowly, grumbling all the while, but making sure his words were so low that she couldn't make them out. She didn't need to hear it; she knew what he was saying.
"Inuyasha. Osuwari."
The rosary glowed a bright rose-white, pulling him to the ground in one graceful arc. Though 'pulling' was too soft and slow a word to describe the power which forced him down. He didn't even fight it.
"Kagome-sama," Miroku said, stepping over Inuyasha's prone form, "I understand your hesitation, but is it really wise to choose Sesshoumaru's side over Inuyasha's?"
"I'm not on Sesshoumaru's side!" Kagome shouted, causing the monk's ears to ring. "You Don't Strike Someone When They're Already Down!"
The look Miroku gave her was acceptant of her answer, but it was also knowing. As if he thought he had knowledge that she did not.
She glared at him. What other reason could there possibly be?
She did not get to think too deep upon that question, for two rough hands caught her around the waist and jerked her away from the unconscious inu-youkai. Kagome's fingers scrambled at Sesshoumaru's kimono, trying to hold on, but she was forced to let go as the hands holding her hoisted her high into the air. Her feet dangled and she used them instantly to try and kick back at her assailant. Inuyasha growled as her heel connected with his hip, but did not let go.
"Put me down! RIGHT NOW! Or so help me, I'll..."
Sesshoumaru slowly, but steadily stood up. His clothes slightly stained and torn, though he still looked as composed and sharp as he had when he first approached her at the well. He lifted his gold, gold eyes, and Kagome tensed in Inuyasha's grip, ready for the glare to hit her.
And glare he did. But not at her. Sesshoumaru glared at Inuyasha and said, each word pronounced with malicious promise. "Get your filthy hands off my mate."
Jaws dropped, but not Kagome's. For her mind had pleasantly told her that she was mistaken in what she had thought she heard, and at any moment the demon's real words would fill her ears. And they would be oh so much better---nice, normal---threats of dismemberment and a healthy display of disgust.
Inuyasha stared at him with wide, stupid eyes. Seeing the hanyou's continuing noncompliance, Sesshoumaru's voice crawled a notch lower into a growl, and he repeated, "Remove your hands or I will remove them for you." His eyes flashed crimson, before settling back into their previous vibrancy. Just a warning of things to come.
It would have been more intimidating if Inuyasha hadn't drawn two lines curling up from the edges of his mouth---a sort of demented, perpetual grin. Sesshoumaru calmly reached up and wiped at his face in one motion. When the gesture was complete, ink that should have lasted through lots of soap and water, was gone.
Wisely, nobody laughed.
Inuyasha's hands tightened on Kagome's waist, then loosened when he realized that holding a struggling girl during a fight was not a good way to stay alive. Kagome slid to her feet, relieved to be back on the ground, even as shaky as it suddenly seemed to be.
But, because Sesshoumaru had ordered him to, the hanyou could not quite bring himself to fully let go of the young miko. Unfortunately for him, and more for Kagome, that meant his hands slid up her sides, causing her school uniform to pool around his wrists.
Kagome's relief was short-lived as she realized the hem of her shirt was suddenly well above where it was supposed to be.
Wide eyes replaced dropped jaws.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaa! OSUWARI! Hentai!"
Sesshoumaru blinked as his hated brother struck the ground face-first, hard enough to leave an indention of his body in the dirt. Hard enough for bones to crack. It was beautiful.
Kagome quickly jerked her shirt down, refusing to look anybody around her directly in the eyes. Her face was a shade of colour usually reserved for prolonged oxygen deprivation.
Bored, Sesshoumaru turned away, ready to leave the group once again to their petty, useless ways. Looking back over his shoulder at his bitch, he said, "We are leaving."
Kagome's eyes snapped from their embarrassed stare and refocused on him. "What? Wait a minute! I didn't agree to this!"
Sesshoumaru stopped and turned back to regard the girl, not expecting an argument, but fully prepared for one. "You should have thought of the consequence of your actions before you carried through with them, miko."
"You're...you're saying this is my fault—BECAUSE I PROTECTED MYSELF?!"
"Oi, when did..." Inuyasha mumbled into the dirt, but was promptly ignored by both parties.
Sesshoumaru nodded, seemingly pleased that she had grasped the situation perfectly. For a human.
"Well...you could have stopped attacking me!"
"Twice you bested this Sesshoumaru. Did you think I would let that lie as it is?"
She was...crackling? Kagome very slowly drew an arrow and lifted her bow, her eyes narrow and face cold. "I'll just beat you a fourth time, and a fifth, and again! Until you go away or die!"
Sesshoumaru smiled, actually smiled, though it was small and questionable. Kagome faltered at the strange, and oddly frightening sight, her battle aura diminishing some and her bow dropping slightly off its mark. She raised it again and steadied her hand. "What the hell are you grinning about?"
"Once declared mate, we can no longer harm each other."
Kagome laughed in one abrupt and bitter sound. "And you think I care about your stupid rules?!"
Kagome jumped as Inuyasha grasped her shoulder, putting a clawed hand on hers and pushing the bow down. In her confrontation with the youkai lord, she had nearly forgotten about their audience.
"It's not a rule, Kagome, it's a curse. And it's already in affect." Inuyasha glared at his brother, who returned his stare back coldly, not liking where the hanyou's insulting hands rested. A very unpleasant smile came to the Inuyasha's mouth. "But it doesn't say anything about me. The bastard can't be your mate if he's dead."
Sesshoumaru tilted his head to the side slightly, fully aware of his half-brother's emotional weaknesses. "Then you truly do want her?"
"Nani?"
"Surely you know that to kill me would cause the curse to shift to you?"
Inuyasha was silent in the face of that question, and as his silence continued Kagome turned to him with wide eyes. He's hesitating? He would really...leave me to his brother rather than take me as his mate? Her hand tightened around the bow, her knuckles turning a brilliant shade of white. The bow trembled. I don't care! I don't need him to protect me!
Her blue-grey eyes shot to Sesshoumaru and some of her anger at Inuyasha spilled over into what she already held for the Lord of the Western Lands. "I'm your declared mate, so what? It doesn't change anything. Go away."
Feeling an odd touch of annoyance at how the hanyou's hesitation had hurt the miko, Sesshoumaru decided to let the subject go for the moment and not press on. He could always come back later to collect what was his.
Disappearing from her sight in a burst of speed, he let his last words echo out behind him.
"It changes everything."
.The End.
Or is it?
Sequel up soon if you (the reviewers) deem me worthy! ^_^
I already have some ideas. And with the stage set, there will be more room for romance! Of the Sesshoumaru/Kagome variety, of course. ^_~
So review, and tell me if you would be willing to read more!
I may be adding an omake to this story in another chapter. it all depends on how soon I get around to writing it. My schedule just got a lot more hectic. And less fun. And school hasn't even started yet. *pout*
Thanks everybody! I hope you have enjoyed my first posted Inuyasha fic. If you want some serious drama and romance, read the other one I'm posting, "Juxtaposition". I'm getting the feeling that most people just aren't interested. If that's the case then I won't be posting on it anymore. Wouldn't be any point to sharing something nobody wants to read, ya know?
^_^