LL: *huddled in the corner muttering* Freud … mass media brainwashing … ketchup!
B0b: Jeez, her Psych test was two days ago. She still hasn't gotten over it?
Sesshy: *munching on dog treats* You know, I almost feel sorry for her.
B0b and J0rge: O.O
Sesshy: Hey! I said almost!
LL: Hypothalamus!
Disclaimer: *sniffles* They're not mine. Whaaa! *glomps Sesshy*
Notes: I haven't really mentioned it in previous chapters, but Sesshy doesn't have his left arm. And thanks for all your reviews!!
Chapter 6: The Love that I Lost
The soft moonlight filtered through the trees, leaving odd shaped splotches of light and dark to dance over two figures that passed underneath. Had anyone passed by at that moment, they would have never guessed that the demon Lord of the Western Lands and a human girl from the future were the ones engaged in a heated argument under the stars. They certainly weren't playing their parts.
"All you're doing is convincing me further that there is no point to this," Kagome hissed, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at her companion.
"You obviously aren't listening then," Sesshoumaru seethed. "If you continue to attempt to teach yourself magic, eventually you'll make a mistake and end up destroying yourself and probably everything else in your immediate vicinity."
"If I don't learn control, then my magic will get out of hand," Kagome said sweetly, quoting what the demon lord had told her two weeks ago.
Sesshoumaru growled, fed up with the conversation. "Your control is perfect! There is no need for you to continue with this nonsense!"
"What are you complaining about?" Kagome yelled, tired of arguing as well, but not willing to back down. "You started this whole thing!"
Furious at her impertinence, the demon lord grabbed Kagome's chin, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "Idiot girl!" he hissed softly, "How do you expect me to protect you from yourself? You will stop your idle experiments with magic, understand?"
For a moment, she looked as though she was seriously considering obeying him … until a mischievous look flashed through her eyes and she grinned wildly. "I will not," she said with complete confidence, pulling away from him. "I know what I'm doing, Sesshoumaru. After all, I was a priestess in a past life."
The demon lord watched as she turned and walked away. "Humans," he growled in resignation before following.
"Men!"
***
The demon lord watched the girl ahead of him warily. He was worried about this confident attitude of hers about her magic. Her powers were not a plaything that she could toy with as she pleased, but how could he make her understand that?
It was true that he had encouraged her to learn more about her burgeoning magical skills in the beginning. He hadn't actually thought that she could do any real harm with them unless pressed to the extreme, like with the shadow demon. It wasn't until he had found her making creatures out of flame that he realized exactly how strong her powers were, and how potentially dangerous she could be.
At first he had been impressed, if a little nervous that he was traveling with a potential time bomb. Then, he began to wonder where she had gotten all of that power; she certainly was above the level of a mere priestess, even one assigned to protect the Jewel of Four Souls.
The real miracle was that she hadn't blown herself up already. He hadn't been lying when he had said that she had perfect control, but he knew that even those who had her level of control had destroyed themselves by playing around with spells that they had no business trying. Still…
Sesshoumaru drew himself away from his musings to watch the girl in front of him. She wasn't like any mage he had ever met. So maybe…
Maybe she was right. Maybe she was really in no danger.
***
Nearly a month later, Kagome watched the sleeping demon lord smugly as the red glow of her magic faded from the clearing they were camped in. There was no way he could complain about her using magic now. True, he had stopped griping at her after their argument four weeks ago, but every now and then she caught him watching her warily from the corner of his eye. It annoyed her.
She yawned widely, and frowned. Truthfully, she hadn't expected the spell to take that much out of her; it wasn't that complicated after all. With another yawn, Kagome lie down beside the sleeping demon, not quite touching, but close enough to feel his body heat radiate from him.
Watching through half-closed eyes, Kagome was once again struck by exactly how beautiful he was. Unlike Inu-Yasha's course, rough appeal, Sesshoumaru had a refined elegance that spoke of his more worldly experience. Underneath his surface beauty, even while he slept, she could see flashes of his deadly grace and precision in battle. It was this deadly beauty that she was attracted to.
Too bad he was a jerk.
More often of late, Kagome had to keep reminding herself of that fact. The Sesshoumaru that she traveled with was vastly different from the Sesshoumaru that had poked Inu-Yasha's eye out without blinking to get his father's tomb. No doubt he was just being nice to her; he had sense after all, and there was no reason to make their travels together more painful than necessary. There was no way that he would ever feel anything for her, friendship or otherwise. He didn't even like humans.
But what about Rin? The disgustingly optimistic part of her kept asking.
Kagome didn't know about Rin. All she knew was that she wasn't about to fall for someone who would never really care about her. She had done that with Inu-Yasha, and wasn't too hot about repeating the experience.
With one final gaze at the figure beside her, Kagome closed her eyes and fell asleep immediately.
***
Sesshoumaru started awake at the sound of a chirping bird. How long had he been asleep? For that matter, when did he fall asleep? The last thing he remembered was talking to Kagome last night, and then waking up here.
He was relieved to note that Kagome was fast asleep and neither of them was tied up, bloody, or exhibiting any other signs that they were in danger. The demon lord pushed himself up on one elbow, running a hand through his hair to smooth out the tangles.
Wait a minute.
Sesshoumaru sat up fully in one smooth motion, holding both his hands in front of him for inspection. With a hiss of surprise, he realized they were both there. Paying more attention to his left arm, he confirmed once more that it was his, not some fake or replacement. In fact, but for the scar around his shoulder where the original cut had been made, there was nothing to show that he had ever been in that dreadful fight with his brother. The demon stripes across his forearm were even there.
He glanced toward the still sleeping Kagome. Was it possible? Could she have really restored his arm? She must have, he reasoned, for there was no other reasonable explanation.
Flexing his restored arm absently, the demon lord inched closer to the girl. Her soft scent wafted up towards him, but she didn't even stir as he hovered directly above her. Leaning closer, he touched his lips to her soft ones, not enough to even really be called a kiss, a silent thank you that he would never be able to say aloud.
Pushing himself up, the demon lord took one more glance at the girl before turning away. He had just barely made it to the edge of the clearing when his sensitive ears caught sounds of her stirring. He stopped, but refused to turn around, not exactly sure what he would see, not exactly sure that he wanted to see what he expected.
Kagome yawned and popped her back audibly. "Morning, Fluffy," she mumbled sleepily. A pause, then, "What's wrong?"
He turned to see her watching him curiously. He held up his left arm, fist clenched. "I did not ask you to do this," he grated out, his voice as tense as the rest of him. That wasn't the real problem, of course, but there was no way he was about to admit to Kagome that he had been wondering what she tasted like.
She stretched lazily, and replied cheerfully, "I didn't ask you to teach me to fight either. So now we're even." Her face fell, "You aren't pleased? I thought you would be."
The demon looked away. "It matters not either way." For some reason Kagome seemed to take that to mean that he was happy to have his arm back, for she clapped her hands together joyfully and grinned.
They broke camp with the ease of practice, hiding any trace that could point out that they had been there. "Hey Sesshoumaru?" Kagome asked while she gathered her things, "Do you think that maybe we could head back towards the well? My birthday is coming up soon and I want to check on my family."
The demon lord pondered what she had said for a moment before replying, "I suppose we can. But we'll take a different route back to see if we can find more shards on the way."
"Sounds good to me," Kagome said with a grin, shouldering her bag and heading south. Sesshoumaru didn't waste any time in following.
They were both quiet for a moment, and in fact, most of their journey so far had been spent in such silence, for neither of them felt a need to fill up the silence with hollow words. While they walked, Sesshoumaru's nimble mind whirled in thought. It was very likely that they would meet up with his hanyou brother and Kagome's former companions, especially if they continued on their current path, which was a more direct route to the village. However, the demon lord was uncertain on how the girl would react when they did eventually see Inu-Yasha again. She hadn't been too thrilled about meeting up with him the last time. But now, she had no excuses.
He glanced at her for a split-second before turning to watch the path ahead of them. Searching for a way to bring up the subject, he was surprised when Kagome spoke. "So, you think we'll see the others?" The youkai didn't have to ask whom she was talking about.
"Probably," he said noncommittally. "And you will get the sword."
Kagome turned to him and smiled, a dark, secretive smile. "You bet. And I've got just the plan to get it too."
***
Inu-Yasha…
Kagome gave a mental sigh at the thoughts of her former dog-hanyou companion. It was odd, but the thought of him no longer made her heart ache or tears well up in her eyes. When she had first run from him, she had tried everything to keep from thinking of him. Instead, she tried to remind herself of her destination, or her mission. Without realizing it, every demon that had thought her easy pickings had become an outlet for her anger at Inu-Yasha's betrayal. She lost count of all the creatures that she killed while on her way to Sesshoumaru's castle.
While with Sesshoumaru, she began to think of Inu-Yasha less and less. Sometimes though, when she woke up after one of her terrible dreams, she wished that she could see him again.
She couldn't really complain though; it was her fault that things had turned out that way that they did…
"Inu-Yasha!" Kagome screamed, struggling against the bonds that held her against the tree. A very pissed off Kikyo stood between her and the hanyou. Shippou and the others stood off to the side helplessly. The dead priestess had already made it perfectly clear that Kagome would die if they interfered. The girl was already bleeding from numerous cuts inflicted by Kikyo, but she hardly noticed, Inu-Yasha was about to be killed!
Inu-Yasha was even attempting to fight Kikyo; Tetsusaiga was still in its sheath. He didn't even look towards Kagome as she screamed his name. Kikyo attacked, strung an arrow on her bow, aiming it directly at Inu-Yasha's heart. The hanyou didn't move from his position, head down, accepting his fate.
Tears welled in Kagome's eyes. She knew what he was doing; Inu-Yasha had never been able to bring himself to hurt Kikyo before, why would now be any different? Her struggles to get free from her magical bonds increased in intensity. The spell, sensing her retaliation, fought back, inflicting several more deep cuts across her wrists and stomach. Vaguely, she could hear her friends' shouts, but the only voice she was listening for was Inu-Yasha's, who was silent. Her cuts screamed, but she ignored them, pushing further. She had to get free, to help Inu-Yasha.
The twang of a bowstring sliced through her dulled senses as she watched Kikyo release her arrow. It thudded into Inu-Yasha's shoulder, but he would have reacted more had a paper ball hit him. "NO!" Kagome screamed, straining harder, only to have to fall back from exhaustion. There had to be a way to stop this.
"Kikyo!" she called out. The priestess turned, leveling her angry gaze at Kagome. The bonds around her tightened, but Kagome wasn't about to let that stop her. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because," Kikyo replied calmly, as if they were talking over tea, "I'm tired of his games. He belongs with me, and yet he stays with you."
Kagome blinked. "Inu-Yasha?" Kikyo still loved Inu-Yasha?
"He has betrayed me again!" Kikyo wailed.
"No he hasn't," Kagome said softly. Her heart was shattering, but it was nothing when she compared it to all that Kikyo had been through in her life. Gods help her, but she actually felt sorry for her. "He cares about you; he always has. Please don't do this." Kikyo watched her intently, as if she could see a lie.
"You don't have to be alone anymore," Kagome continued desperately. "Come with us. We'd all be thrilled to have your help." Kikyo looked around, to see the reassuring faces of Kagome's friends, who had fortunately caught on.
Suddenly, the bonds holding Kagome disappeared, and she dropped to the ground. Leaning back against the tree she'd been pinned to, the girl breathed a sigh of relief, only to start as Kikyo walked slowly toward Inu-Yasha. But she only pulled the arrow out of his shoulder, and pressed her hand to the wound.
Kagome looked away then, unable to stand anymore of the look in Inu-Yasha's eyes. She wouldn't say anything about it though. She would never say anything about it though; she couldn't now.
Her train of thought was broken when Shippou launched himself at her, and she was occupied with assuring him that she was all right. Looking up, she saw Inu-Yasha holding Kikyo tightly to his chest…
The next few weeks had been hell, but Kagome endured it silently, not wanting to bother others with her troubles. Still, her sour mood seemed to pervade throughout the whole group, save for Inu-Yasha and Kikyo, who seemed to be living in a world of their own. Shippou was oddly quiet for a normally so talkative child. He had nearly stopped teasing Inu-Yasha all together. Miroku still groped Sango occasionally, but Kagome seriously suspected that it was more for the sake of normalcy than for anything else. Then again, it was hard to tell with Miroku.
Still, every time Kagome looked at Kikyo and the happy smile that regularly graced her face, she found that she couldn't get up the guts to say anything to Inu-Yasha. They never fought anymore, and the times that she went home, the hanyou didn't argue. Kagome found that she almost missed trying to dodge an angry dog-demon on the way to the well. Still, she lived with it.
Until one night, she woke up to Kikyo trying to steal her soul again. She had just barely managed to get away, but Inu-Yasha hadn't believed her when she told him. That had hurt more than watching him act lovingly toward Kikyo for the past two weeks. He had thrown away all that they had been through together and called her a liar to her face.
She had left that night, unable to stand it anymore.
***
Sesshoumaru watched his companion take on the distant look of those that are not thinking in the present. Not for the first time, he wondered what was going through that sharp mind of hers. Not that he was about to ask.
Kagome sighed softly, shaking away whatever she was thinking about. She looked up at him with a small smile, but said nothing. For once, Sesshoumaru wanted to talk with her. He wanted to know how she thought, how she felt.
"Are you all right?" he finally settled on asking.
She sighed again, losing her smile and looking away, "I suppose so."
The demon snorted, "What's the matter?"
"Inu-Yasha," Kagome said, looking back up at him with tears in her eyes. "I thought … I thought he trusted me. I thought we were friends, but…" She trailed off, not quite sure about how much more she should say.
"But?" Sesshoumaru prompted, much to her surprise. He smiled inwardly; she obviously had had no idea how curious he was. Nervously, she told him of how Kikyo had tried to kill her – worse than kill her – and Inu-Yasha had sided with the dead woman. Throughout her story, Sesshoumaru listened patiently. When she was done, he looked up at the clear sky, processing what she had told him. Truly, his brother was a fool. But it was obvious that that wasn't what Kagome needed to hear. She berated herself for staying with him for so long, and agreeing with her wasn't going to make her feel any better.
For a moment, the demon lord wondered why he was even bothering to spare her feelings. But he brushed the thought away impatiently. It wouldn't do him any good to make her upset when a few choice words could put her in a better mood so he wouldn't have to listen to her bitching. Yea, that was it.
"Our father died when Inu-Yasha was very young, so he never had the chance to learn any honor," Sesshoumaru began carefully, wondering at the same time why he was sticking up for his half-breed brother.
"Not like you huh?" Kagome said with a grin. "You know, before I got to know you, I would have said that Inu-Yasha was the better man."
Sesshoumaru looked down at the girl, startled. She was complimenting him? Normally, he would have brushed it off as nothing, but coming from Kagome, who had almost no respect for nobles, it meant a lot more, since he knew it wasn't lip service. Where Inu-Yasha had had some trouble, Sesshoumaru easily saw that above all, Kagome was completely honest.
He smirked, "And I would have said that you were a ditzy, worthless human."
***
Sure enough, a few weeks later, Sesshoumaru caught the scent of Inu-Yasha and the rest. They were headed toward the village on a parallel course to theirs. When he told Kagome, she frowned in thought.
"Can we stay away from them until they get to the village? I think that Inu-Yasha will be more off guard there."
Sesshoumaru nodded, commenting that his sense of smell was shaper than Inu-Yasha's so they could keep track of him without him realizing it. "By the way," he continued as they altered their course, "What's your plan?"
Kagome grinned up at him. "Simple. I'm going to make him think that you kidnapped me and wait until he falls asleep."
"You think he'll fall for that?" The demon lord asked.
The girl snorted. "You really need to ask that? There would be no other reason for me to disappear in the middle of the night after all. It's not like Inu-Yasha did anything to upset me or anything like that."
Sesshoumaru chuckled, and grabbed Kagome, rising into the air. She flung her arms around his neck for balance, shifting her glaive into a more comfortable position. They were used to this, Sesshoumaru often carried Kagome when she got tired or when they needed to go faster than Kagome could go.
They made good time to the well, making it by mid-afternoon. Kagome looked at the wooden structure longingly, but she knew that she would have to get the sword from Inu-Yasha first before she could visit her family again. Turning to the dog-demon, who was looking in the direction of the village, she said, "Hey Sesshoumaru, I'm gonna need your help." He looked down at her curiously, raising one silken eyebrow in a silent question. Kagome gestured to herself, "I don't exactly look like I've been spending the last few months as your prisoner. So just rough me up a bit."
The demon lord frowned, "I swore to protect you."
"You're not scared are you?" Kagome teased even as she flipped her glaive and stuck the point into the earth, digging some up. Bending down, she grabbed a handful of dirt and rubbed it through her hair, mussing it up at the same time. With another handful, she smudged her cheeks and arms, giving the impression that she was filthy. "Come on, I need those claws of yours. I can't rip these clothes by myself."
Sesshoumaru sighed, "Where?" Kagome pointed out a few choice spots, and Sesshoumaru slit the fabric open. Pretty soon, she looked much as she had when she had first set foot in his study months ago.
Stepping back, she twirled around for him, "Well, how do I look?"
"Like you've been dragged through the mud by your heels," the demon replied honestly.
"Great!"
Sesshoumaru sighed. Looking up sharply, he announced, "They're coming."
Kagome handed him her glaive. Her cheerful attitude was gone in an instant, replaced by a serious one. "Wait here. This may take me a while."
"Kagome. You'll be all right." It took the girl a moment to realize that Sesshoumaru was asking her a question.
"I'll be fine," she grinned at him. With a wave, she took off, "Wish me luck!"
Sesshoumaru watched her go. "Good luck," he whispered.
Next time: Kagome gets the Tetsusaiga…
LL: *glomping Sesshy* I just know that everyone's going to kill me for that cliffhanger.
Sesshy: I'm going to kill you if you don't let me go.
Review Responses:
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Sailor Silver Moon: Yea, you should definently be tested for psychic powers; I already had the laundry scene when I got your review. =P Actually, Kagome doesn't have much control over her powers at the end of chapter 5, but she's getting better pretty fast. Meditation will do that for you. Hmm, maybe Melira is related to Miroku. *shudders* But don't worry about nitpicking too much, you can't scar me any worse than I already am from school. Thanks as always for the review!
P.t: Don't kill me for the evil cliffhanger! *runs off to hide* Thanks for reviewing!
Lady-Destiny: Thanks! Though I'm not exactly going to be nice to Inu throughout this fic. But I promise not to insult him!
Ichigo: Thanks for the review!
CX-chan: I'm not going to bring back the bow and arrows entirely, but I'll be sure to put in a scene where Kagome uses them again. I hope your sisters don't decide to commit you on my account. *grin* Thanks for the review!
NinjaRage: Thanks!! But there's no way that I'm better than Phillip Pullman; he's a genius! Thanks again!
Pearl: Hehe, you'll just have to wait and find out! Thanks for the review!
dark angel: Don't worry, this is going to go on for a while. Thanks for reviewing!
Little Sister: You may have to wait a little while for more fluff, but there will be plenty more to come! Thanks!
Gryphnwng: o.O Whoa, you're worse than I am about staying up late to read fics. *grins* Hope your roommate doesn't kill you. Glad you liked it so much! Thanks a lot!
ashleekyle: Thanks so much for the ideas! I really appreciate it. Thanks again!
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holly: Thank you!
K-chan: Thanks!
Lunakitty: Your questions will be answered soon. *grin* Thanks for the review!
Cacat-angel: I'm terrible with names, and I didn't want to take forever to find some for the demon, so I just put down the first ones that came to mind. If you have any better ones, I'd love the suggestions, and be perfectly happy to change them. Hehe, now that I've updated, it's your turn! Thanks for he review!
Quimberly: *sighs* I know, they're so cute! Thanks so much!
(blank): Thanks a lot!
cat: Thank you!
Hemi and a rather large multitude of teenage girls: *falls over laughing* Thanks a lot for the review! Here's some more for you all.
shikome kido mi: You'll just have to wait and see. Thanks for reviewing!
tikimoof: *hands over Melira* Have fun! And, you are going to share those s'mores aren't you? Thanks for the review!
TheFool: Thank you!
Talon DragonFriend: Thanks for the article; it was really interesting. I looked up soul on a Japanese/English dictionary online, and one of the things that came up was rei. It seemed to fit, so I used it. Thanks for the review!
Nandelin: *blushes* Thank you so much!
BeCcA: You're welcome. And yea, they are going to end up together, this is a romance after all. *grin* Thanks for reviewing!
misori-chan: Hehe, you think I'm going to make it that easy? *evil grin* And they call him Fluffy because he turns into the giant dog thing. *glomps Fluffy* Ain't he cute! Thanks much!
AngelOkibi: Thank you!