Living Again

By Rurouni Star

A/N: Another nice little cliffie. I think I'm getting better at them.

*ducks various thrown objects*

...Is it over?

*eeps as more come, and runs behind Sesshoumaru, who flicks them away and almost lazily grabs one*

Sesshoumaru: A rubber ducky? Honestly, you have no creativity.

Oh yeah? Look who just got royally whooped up on by a human girl!

Sesshoumaru: *moves aside, leaving her open to attack*

You TRAITOOOOOOoooorrrrrrrr... Ouchie.

By the way…

Lilfrozenfire: I shall take that cookie, and raise you a scoop of chocolate ice cream ^_^

Jessica M.: For all he knows, she's safe and warm at home taking those stupid tests. We'll see how long that lasts, right?

Angie: I thought that myself when I wrote it. Inu Yasha may be a bit lacking in the manners department, but he's good enough to know not to insult her like that.

Taiyoukai-kai: Kagome is a very strong character. She'll be a bit weepy in this fic, but that's because she's wondering if what Inu Yasha said was true (it can't be nice being told people are dying for your mistake) and also because she got rid of her family, and she's stuck in Sengoku Jidai with an ice cube that couldn't care less. Sorry in advance – I think I might cry too.

Chapter 3 – What's in a Name?

Sesshoumaru groaned. His head hurt like hell... and what had happened to his hand? It was on fire.

Well, interesting. It was burnt, after all.

But what was more interesting was the face that met his eyes as he opened them.

"Are you okay?" Kagome wasn't prepared for the snarl and the elbow that hit her in the stomach...fairly hard, actually. At least, she thought as she doubled over in pain, she hadn't heard any ribs crack. What surprised her was that Sesshoumaru not only didn't follow up on his attack, he put out a hand to help her up. Did he have a multiple personality disorder or was he PMSing? She might have laughed if she had any air.

Sesshoumaru didn't wait for her to recover and simply grabbed her hand and pulled her up roughly.

"Come with me." Where had that come from? Oh well. There really was only one possible response.

"LIKE HELL!" That certainly used up the last of her breath, but it succinctly summed up her feelings about the matter.

"I'm afraid you have no choice."

"Choice...you can't...force me. I'll just...do that...thingy again..." She was gasping for breath.

"You have no idea what you did, and I have a feeling that you cannot do it again at the moment."

That one blast had more power than that undead miko could channel at her maximum. It is a tribute to the human, at the least, that she has not died from putting it through her body.

"What are you talking about?" she asked irritatedly. It seemed that she had regained her breath and most of her composure with it.

Silence was her answer.

"Look, I'm wet and cold and tired. The least you can do is tell me why I'm supposed to go with you when you've tried to kill me at least two times that I can remember in recent history."

At first, Kagome thought he would be silent again. But he soon replied.

"You will help me destroy the being that styles itself Naraku."

Whatever he was expecting, she was guessing it wasn't laughter. For a moment, she thought she saw an expression approaching affront on his face, but she must have imagined it.

"And what is so funny, human?" That stopped her laughter immediately.

"Kagome."

"What, pray tell me, is 'Kagome'?"

"My name is Kagome. Not wench, not human, not bitch. Ka. Go. Me." That bit of expression that she was able to see changed to faint amusement. She began to think that he was purposely letting her see it to set her at ease.

"I can only guess where you picked up some of those interesting nicknames." The sentence was layered thickly with sarcasm. Obviously, he knew that his brother was not the most polite of beings.

"Yeah, well, it's Kagome. And I was laughing because if you'd simply said you wanted me to kill that bastard I would have. You didn't need to threaten me or insult me, you know."

"And you're saying that you wouldn't have screamed bloody murder for my worthless brother if I got within a hundred feet of you?" She stiffened, and decided that now, more than ever; she couldn't let any hint of what she was feeling out. However...

"I see. As you are currently unattached, it would be mutually beneficial for us to travel together for the moment." Sesshoumaru had seen through her pathetic attempt. Kagome stared at him.

She shook off her reluctance and slowly stretched out her hand to take his again. "I suppose so." She shook his hand, which probably confused him to no end, she reflected later. Amazingly, he showed no sign of confusion.

"Get together your things, Kagome, and we'll leave." She smiled sadly.

"Go home."

At least one person knew her name. Even if he was probably going to kill her in the end...

*

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"Jaken."

That single word made the reptile jump in astonishment. That was surely his master, as there were few others that could sneak up on him.

"H-hai, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"You will tell Rin that she is to come in from the rain. Then you will make some tea for all of us." He nodded somberly.

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama." He began to move toward Rin when the scent hit him.

Another human scent.

"S-SESSHOUMARU-SAMA!" He spun around to see none other than Inu Yasha's wench, looking very lost, but surprisingly not scared. "You-" At first, Jaken had been sure that Sesshoumaru had allowed another human to join them. But then his mind began working again and he saw his master's genius. Of course he would never allow that dirty woman to join them. He had kidnapped her to get the Tetsusaiga. "What a good idea, Sesshoumaru-sama!" He ran toward the field that Rin had been in.

"Rin! Rin! Sesshoumaru-sama wishes your presence!" The girl was nowhere to be seen. "RIN! This is no time to be playing hide and seek! Get over here now!"

There was no response. Jaken began to grow worried. He took his eyes from her for one instant... there! A small rustling in the grass, only audible to a youkai's ears.

Jaken sped to the spot to find a sleeping Rin. Sleeping? She hadn't been tired before, but of course she had been romping around doing Kami only knew what children do for hours and hours.

How did she not get bored day after day?

Jaken took a quick look around to make sure no one was looking, and then tenderly lifted Rin up. She was quite a load, but she was a growing child, after all. Jaken carried her back to Sesshoumaru, his scowl replacing the gentle expression on his face the moment that he came within sight.

"She fell asleep in the field, Sesshoumaru-sama. Humans are so weak that they need to rest every dozen hours or so..." It scared him that Sesshoumaru merely raised an eyebrow and chuckled coldly. Rin shifted a bit, murmuring in her sleep and smiling as she always did.

Jaken didn't care for the girl. Really.

Sesshoumaru relieved him of his burden quickly enough to the complete and utter astonishment of the girl behind him. Kagome's brows were knit in concentration.

Sesshoumaru, of all people...I can't be seeing this!

"You want to ask something, Kagome?" he observed without turning around.

Again with the stressed name. Did he think she couldn't remember it on her own? The miko scowled.

"Nothing, Sesshoumaru," she muttered grouchily.

"That's Sesshoumaru-sama to you, you dirty human!" Jaken muttered at her, but she noticed that he was keeping his voice down so as not to wake the girl called Rin.

Oddly enough, before she could react to the comment, a stone skipped off of Jaken's head with more force than she'd ever seen applied to a rock.

"She prefers to be called Kagome, I am told," his master observed in an offhand manner. "In fact, she specifically requested to not be called simply 'human'." Jaken blinked his eyes furiously as he pulled himself up from the ground, and gaped.

"But...Sesshoumaru-sama...isn't she a prisoner?"

Now that was insulting. She temporarily forgot her surprise at Sesshoumaru's behavior.

"I came here of my own free will, thank you very much, you little lizard." She, too, kept her voice down. She wasn't expecting the elbow that came down on her head, even though it was a bit more of a cuff than an actual attempt at hurting her.

"As long as we're traveling together, it will be much more pleasant if we exchange courtesies, Kagome. His name is Jaken. Mutual courtesy." Sesshoumaru continued past her as if he hadn't just treated her like an unruly servant, and placed Rin gently beneath a tree.

Kagome rubbed her head with a confused expression.

What is WITH him?

"Would you stop saying it like that?" she muttered irritatedly. "Kagome. Not Kagome. Goodness, you can insult me even without resorting to Inu Yasha's name-calling." Jaken stiffened from his place, fully expecting Sesshoumaru to rip her to pieces for saying that cursed name.

The inu youkai paused for a moment, and then, ever so slightly, the edge of his mouth curled upward into a smirk.

"Very well then, Kagome-chan."

Oh didn't that just tear it.