{Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, so don't sue me. College has a strict hold on my wallet anyway.}

Vengeance

By Striking Falcon

Chapter Twelve: Attempted Kidnappings and Other Such Fluff

Ryuukossei approached the campsite, sniffing the air for any signs of the girl. She was here recently, but she had left before he got there. Ryuukossei sighed. He figured the girl could be perfect bait for the halfling, but how to catch Sesshoumaru was a different matter. He looked around, sniffing the air before giving up and turning back to the tournament. He would just have to find another way to defeat the brothers.

Kagome sat in a tree above Ryuukossei, watching him with a little more than interest in her steel gray eyes. She had walked away from Jakken, trying to escape his ever moving mouth, and returned to camp to get some rest. She awoke with a cold chill and an urge to move to a large, thickly leaved tree. When she reached it, her arms lifted and her legs vaulted her to the nearest branch. Her hands grabbed hold of it and she swung herself up and to the next one, moving with a speed she didn't know she had. When she was high enough to see the camp as a whole, she stopped to wonder about her sudden burst of power. Kagome grasped the tree as the wind was knocked out of her from behind. She turned around to see her attacker, but there was nothing there. She looked down and almost screamed. Kagome's hand clamped over her mouth, as if it knew if she did the others wouldn't get to her in time. She watched as the man in her nightmare walked into the campsite, looking around as if searching for something.

Or someone.

Kagome steeled herself from the shudder that was creeping up on her as he stopped under her tree. He sniffed again, looked one more time, and walked away. Kagome sat there for what felt like forever, then started to climb. The power that got her up there seemed to forget that she might need it to get down. It took her a lot longer to get to the ground than to leave it, and by then she was starting to wonder what the hell was going on with her. Kagome could hear Sango's voice in the distance calling her. She looked around one more time, allowing her newfound sense of preservation time to scan her surroundings before running to reach the older girl.

**********

"This has got to be the dumbest, the absolute DUMBEST thing you've ever done, Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted. He was standing above Kagome, his hands on his hips. Kagome was sitting on the ground, back at the campsite, her eyes more interested in the ground than the boy screaming at her. He huffed and grabbed her chin, raising her eyes to his.

"What possessed you to do something so fucking STUPID?"

Kagome eyes watered slightly. "I said I was sorry, ok?" she said, her voice thick.

Sesshoumaru walked over to them, noting to himself the feeling of déjà vu the little scene in front of him was causing. "Inuyasha, please. She's alright, she said she was sorry, and you're making her cry."

Kagome stared at him in open mouthed disbelief. Sesshoumaru…defending her from Inuyasha? This was too weird to be real.

Inuyasha hadn't meant to make her cry, so he decided to shoot the messenger instead of causing Kagome further pain.

"Who asked you?"

Sesshoumaru steeled himself. He knew this would happen. "No one, but there is no need for you to behave like a monster."

"Behave like a- This is none of your business!"

"Inuyasha, please…" Kagome stood between them, her hands on their chests.

"Kagome stay out of it! What place do you have telling me how to talk to my-"

"Your WHAT?" Sesshoumaru hissed. He'd had enough, and Inuyasha's temper was causing him to forget his mouth.

Inuyasha stopped mid sentence. Sesshoumaru had stopped him from saying something extremely stupid. He nodded his head in respect and thanks, then leaped into the distance, leaving them behind. Kagome watched him until all she could see was forest, then cried on Sesshoumaru's shoulder. Sango and Shippou came to them, trying to comfort her. Sesshoumaru stood still, allowing Kagome to totally soak his robes. 'I'm definitely going to have to wash this when she's through.'

Sango patted Kagome's head. "Look, Kagome. He's just worried. You know what Inuyasha is like when he's worried about you. Whoever it was could have hurt you."

Kagome looked at Sango, tears streaming down her face. "I didn't want to worry anyone. I just got so tired of Jakken's harping. I had to get away." Kagome went back to crying in Sesshoumaru's haori. Sango sighed and wrapped her arms around the back of her, enfolding her in a demon/demon exterminator sandwich. Sesshoumaru stared at them in astonishment. 'Is it a good thing to have the two of them trust me like this?' He watched as Shippou settled himself onto Kagome's shoulder, stroking what he could see of her cheek. Sesshoumaru's gaze fell to Sango, whose head was settled in the middle of Kagome's shoulder blades. Her eyes were closed and her fingers twitched a little behind him. He instinctively returned the embrace, allowing the girls the comfort of his protection. Sesshoumaru looked down at the both of them, watching them, before realizing something: He'd never felt more complete in his life. {If only I could draw. ::sniff-sniff::}

*******

'Man, who would have thought Sesshoumaru could be such a life saver,' Inuyasha thought as he settled in a tree. He stopped his flight minutes ago. He was still in range to hear the others at the sight, and knew Kagome was crying. Inuyasha touched his face gently; remembering how pleased she was when she found out he hadn't killed Kouga. 'I almost called her my mate, didn't I?' Inuyasha shook his head. 'I can imagine how she would have reacted to that one. She probably doesn't even like me that way.' He remembered when Sesshoumaru knocked her into him and away from Kouga. 'Why did he do that?' Inuyasha wondered, going over the last few weeks with his brother. Normally he wouldn't tolerate everything that was going on, but now it almost like he was never their enemy at all. Inuyasha rubbed his eyes, trying to stop the headache that was threatening to start. He looked back again and decided he would apologize to Kagome after she went to sleep. As he crept closer to the campsite, he almost fell out of the sky. There was Sesshoumaru, holding Shippo, Kagome and Sango in his arms. If that wasn't enough to make his heart stop beating, Sesshoumaru was staring at Sango as if he were some love struck puppy. Inuyasha held his growing amusement to study the group. Miroku was still asleep, and Inuyasha knew if he wasn't it would have been hell to pay. The look in Sesshoumaru's face was priceless, and Inuyasha knew some deity was smiling down on him if he could see it unnoticed. He knew then and there he would have no more troubles out of the Great Demon. He was almost sorry for him when Jakken came up and interrupted the cozy little scene. Inuyasha shook his head and kept watch, waiting for Kagome to go to sleep.

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Miroku: SF is busy at the moment. Sesshoumaru keeps trying to grab her. And they call me a pervert! Oh well, she posted two chapters today, so push the purple button.