To Live Again
By Rurouni Star
Chapter 5 – Bumps in the Road
"Kagome." The voice surprised her.
"What?"
"Why were you crying?" His eyes refused to meet hers.
"You mean back there?" There was an uneasy silence. "Because I thought you might die."
"You were crying... for me?" Why was he so surprised? She'd been so worried! "Could you...lend me your lap?" Kagome was at first taken aback at the request, but she nodded her head and gently moved Inu Yasha onto her lap.
"Is that a little better?" she asked hesitantly.
"You smell good..." he said unexpectedly instead of answering her question.
"What? I thought – I thought you said you hated my smell."
"That was...a lie..." Her heart sped up just a little. How could he make her feel this way with such simple words? Her hand smoothed back his hair as he fell asleep, breathing gently.
Kagome closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The scent that she herself had come to associate with Inu Yasha flooded her being. It made her feel comforted and protected.
And warm. Always warm...
The girl came awake with a start. Surprisingly, the sun wasn't up yet this time.
A dream... how could it have been a dream? It had felt so real... as if Inu Yasha really were there with her, comforting her.
But he hated her.
She sighed and pulled her knees to her chest. But something caught on them.
A blanket?
It was the blanket from her pack. The one she'd completely forgotten about.
"I keep a lot of useful things in here. I have a tent and a blanket and some cooking pots..."
But who...
Kagome hugged the blanket closer to her almost involuntarily, and smelled the scent from her dream.
Inu Yasha? No. I'm fooling myself. This smell...this smell is a little different. Sesshoumaru then?
Her gaze went to the top of the tree she rested against. Sesshoumaru was leaning against the trunk of the tree, watching the sunrise with a bored look. He surely knew that she'd woken, but he didn't seem to care in the least.
Yeah right. Inu Yasha is the more likely candidate. In fact, a passing Naraku that was concerned I'd catch the chills would be even more likely.
Kagome shook her head and got up to replace the blanket in her pack. Her mind sure was wandering far lately. As she dragged her pack back to her place beneath the tree, she caught sight of the odd pile of beings again. They looked so peaceful and happy together.
For a moment, the miko wondered why Sesshoumaru didn't sleep in that pile of warmth. But then, the absurd picture of the cold demon lord smack dab in the middle made her stifle a laugh.
"Don't bother going back to sleep. The sun is almost up." The voice startled her as she sat back down against the tree.
"I wasn't planning to," she said in an annoyed voice. "I'm quite fine, thank you." What, did he think she got up at lunch every day? Inu Yasha would have had kittens...which was rather absurd considering that he was a male dog demon...
Kagome stopped that trail of thought immediately. She didn't want to think about Inu Yasha at the moment.
Instead, she went through that yellow backpack of hers, looking for her comb. Her hair was snarled beyond belief by now, being in the rain and mud... for that matter she needed a bath rather badly.
"How long until we leave?" she asked quietly. She knew he could hear her.
"An hour perhaps." Without another word, the girl got up and began to walk away.
Maybe she was expecting him to ask where she was going. He didn't.
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One of the big advantages to this whole mess, Kagome decided, was that she didn't have to worry about peeping monks. She pulled off her now ratty uniform with a sigh, realizing that it wouldn't possibly do for the rest of her time in Sengoku Jidai.
Which would be forever.
The girl shook her head unhappily and tried to focus on the matter at hand. Her soap and shampoo wouldn't last long – she'd save it for special occasions when she was feeling even more dirty than usual. Kagome slipped into the cold water with a shiver and hurriedly dunked her hair. The mud flaked away in droves, making her very aware of just how dirty she was. Kagome scrubbed at it furiously, determined to get every speck off of her.
Eventually, the water became too much for her, and she made her way out, shivering uncontrollably. She would miss hot water so much.
Drying off with a towel, the girl looked critically at her only other set of clothes. The ones the villagers had provided her with. She had never used them, and with good reason.
"Take it off."
"OSUWARI!"
Well who would, after that whole episode? She rolled her eyes.
"I don't care what he thinks anymore," she pledged to herself. "This won't make me her. I'll still be me where it counts." With that, she pulled on the loose clothes of a priestess and began the tiring work on her hair.
They were very comfortable, she had to admit. And there'd be no more stares...she'd be a respected miko...and no more stupid comments about her short skirt.
It was a good change.
So why did she feel so stupid wearing the clothes?
Because, she thought sadly, she didn't fit them. She wasn't a miko. Not a real one, anyway.
Defiantly, Kagome left her hair down. There was no reason to complete the look.
The girl let the water of the river run over her uniform gently and stowed it inside her towel in her pack.
She made it back to the tree with a few minutes to spare, but everyone was already up and waiting. Sesshoumaru had misjudged the time.
But Sesshoumaru never misjudged anything...unless...
Nah.
Of course, the awkwardness was all worth it when the three people (and demons) turned her way. There were two surprised expressions.
Rin's was not one of them.
"Kagome-nee-san looks so cool! Is Kagome-nee-san a real miko?" She winced inwardly.
"I'm only borrowing these clothes, really. My other outfit isn't suitable for the kind of travel we do." Well, it hadn't been that way with Inu Yasha and it still wasn't that way.
Sesshoumaru had regained the small composure he'd lost.
He made up for it with a scathing comment. "You almost look respectable in those clothes."
Or compliment. She couldn't really tell with him.
"Yeah, well, as soon as I can find a village, I'm getting something better. I hate these clothes." With a passion.
The demon lord raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything else.
"We're traveling different today," Rin told her happily. "Sesshoumaru-sama says that the bad guys aren't around here, so we're going to go somewhere else." Kagome blinked.
"Surely there isn't room on your animal-"
"An and Un. No, we're taking the big cloud." Kagome could only guess at what this was before her feet lifted off of the ground. It was her turn to be surprised.
"Close your mouth, miko." Sesshoumaru had inexplicably stopped calling her by her name.
"I'm not a miko!" she burst out angrily.
There was a slight pause.
"I mean..." She clutched her pack closer, remembering the blanket inside. "I'm not a miko. My name is Kagome," she said again in a weaker voice.
There was no affirmative answer, but she had the feeling that Sesshoumaru had agreed nonetheless.
"But Sesshoumaru-sama, doesn't she look just like-" Jaken was interrupted by his master before he could finish.
"If you finish that sentence, Jaken, I shall be forced to do something unpleasant."
Kagome still did not understand him.
She doubted she ever would.