AN: Hey there everyone! For some reason, FF.net has been acting weird on me. Oh well. I have thought about this long and hard, and I know how I'm going to end the story! I think I will be wrapping it up in about three or four chapters. I originally planned on adding more things, but I decided to save some for my next story (s). Well, hope this goes ok. Chapters will be longer. They may take me longer to write. Please be patient. Count down begins!!
A TWIST OF FATE*~CHAPTER 17
This was not good. As little as Sesshoumaru knew of human biology, he was well aware that infections were dangerous, and the woman he now held in his arms definitely had one. How could he have been so unaware?
Yes, the girl had been on her own for a day and a half while he was recuperating, but why hadn't he smelled her blood the next day? True, there had been the smell of the phantom youkai blood lingering on both of them and his to add to it, but that still did not give him an excuse. And how could she have been so foolish as to overlook it? Sesshoumaru had traveled with her long enough to know that she was very diligent when it came to even the smallest wound. The thought that she had not cared for herself disturbed him. There was no way she could easily pull herself out of this situation. That's why he was taking her back.
The woman in his arms shifted, pulling Sesshoumaru's attention to her. Her face was very pale, but her eyelashes slowly fluttered open to gaze at Sesshoumaru.
"Where are we going..?" She asked quietly.
"I am taking you back to my home. A number of my servants there are skilled in the healing of battle wounds." Sesshoumaru replied, looking down at her beautiful blue-gray eyes.
"I don't need help. I'll be fine. We still have to search for more shards…" Kagome looked up at him, earnestly. A truly amazing woman.
"Mind yourself, Kagome, you are starting to sound like me." The current shape she was in tormented him. She seemed so…lackluster compared to normal. Her..bounciness…was not present and she had begun to feel clammy.
"Really, Sesshoumaru, don't worry, I'll be fine, really"
"We will arrive before the sun rises tomorrow.
"Sesshoumaru…."
"Enough fool, you will receive the aid of my servants as I tell you-"
"Sesshoumaru…you know I don't like flying." Kagome gave him a weak smile, and much to her pleasure, Sesshoumaru gave her a very small smile in return.
"You will have to overcome this fear eventually. You are aware of that." Her eyes were drooping shut, as he scooped her up in his arms.
"You know, maybe you're right. I'm really tired. We should look for the shards later. I just need a nap."
"You just need proper aid." With that, he took to the air, carrying her in his arms, her pack and bow over one shoulder in hopes that the pack may contain some remedy that his servants could put to use. Kagome was definitely feverish now and she huddled close to his body, burying her face into his chest. "Fool. How could you not have paid attention?" Sesshoumaru realized seconds later that he had not cared about that. His words had been mainly to keep her conscious. If she fell unconscious, he was not sure that he could wake her.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sesshoumaru landed before his home and shoved the front doors forcefully enough to bring down the whole building.
"S-S-Sesshoumaru-sama!" The toad gasped. "I was unaware that-"
"Bring Maki and Kaji to my quarters. Instantly." Sesshoumaru ignored the toad as he scampered of. He looked down at Kagome who looked a bit better, but was now shivering violently. He carried her upstairs and laid her across his bed, examining her for any other wounds that they both might have missed. He found nothing and was about to check over her again when Maki and Kaji entered.
"What has happened, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Kaji asked, eyes landing on Kagome's prone form.
"Phantom youkai. Cut on the shoulder and back. I have very good reason to believe it has become infected."
"Feverish…" Maki stated, pulling her hand from Kagome's forehead.
"Her bag contains medicines which I have never witnessed. There may be something in there that may aid you." Sesshoumaru recalled what he had emptied from her bag when making a pillow. The two servants nodded, setting to work on Kagome's prone form.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
They had worked, cleaning the wound and attempting to calm her fever until an hour before sunrise.
Maki and Kaji were Sesshoumaru's most trusted servants, as they had been in the family a long time, and were good healers. When they told him that he would just have to wait and see, that if she would get better, it would be soon, he accepted that.
He could not restore life to her, seeing as she was not dead yet, and he wondered if the powers of tenseiga would work on a miko, especially one as powerful as she. He loathed not being in control of situations. And to not be able to help Kagome, was a feeling that did not leave him in peace. She lay still, her face sweating as she jerked every now and then.
He was a fool. That was no ordinary wound. Whatever the phantom youkai had wounded her with had been poisoned. Only now did he realized this. How could he not have noticed? Her infection. The poison. It had partially been her fault for neglecting it, but with the amount of poison that had been injected into her, what had happened was hardly escapable.
She had to get better, but there was nothing that he could do at the moment, as Maki informed him, so he did the only thing he could possibly do to help. Even if he could not save her from pain, he could comfort her. The night would be hard.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Light. There had been light.
Kagome's eyes fluttered open slowly. First, she felt the pain. Then she felt the warmth. Kagome's shoulder was wrapped up more tightly than Miroku's purity. It ached, but not nearly as much as she remembered. Her face was cold. It had been wet. Was I sweating? Jeez, I wish I had about five bottles of Tylenol. Her head hurt a bit too. She was dying to get up, but the pain and the comfort argued. Comfort? She was warm, the weight of an arm lying soothingly across her stomach. An arm?
Kagome looked down, moving the least possible amount, to see a striped hand placed over her. Sesshoumaru was asleep, sitting beside the bed she lay on.
He really was beautiful. Strands of silver hair fell over his face, his well-built body barely moving with the breath of its owner. Had he brought her here? She did not recognize the room, but as to where it was located, she had no doubts. Only Sesshoumaru's home looked like this. It calmed her a bit to know that she was back. Had he stayed with her all night? That was definitely strange. Kagome absentmindedly moved a strand of hair away from his face. Why had he gone through so much just to see that she was okay?
"You are truly an amazing human."
Kagome was startled, but didn't move.
"You think so, too?" She said, as if bored.
"You defeat demons, ogres, and overcome a poisoned infection, and still retain a smart mouth. From my experiences, most humans are not capable of all of those things." He said, raising his head from the bed. Kagome gazed on, fascinated, as every strand of his hair slipped back into perfect place. How annoying.
"Yeah, most people have problems being witty." she shrugged. "I thought you said that demons don't sleep."
"I said no such thing. We merely do not need near the amount humans do."
"Ah."
Sesshoumaru leaned forward and pulled the sheet away from Kagome's upper body.
"Eep! What do you think you are doing?!" Kagome yelped, pulling the sheets back up.
"I am attempting to inspect your wounds. It is nothing I have not seen already."
Kagome blushed, but nodded, pulling the sheet down.
Sesshoumaru rose, leaning over her, lifting some of the white bandages. "You heal quickly for a human." He observed, removing the white cloth.
"What're you doing. Don't I need that?" Kagome questioned him.
"You are near to being fully healed… how did you accomplish this?" Sesshoumaru removed the bandages.
Kagome knew that he must have seen her already, since he had bandaged her before, but she couldn't help the blush from spreading to her cheeks, and she pulled the cover up to cover all but where the wound was. "I-I don't know."
"There is no visible wound." Sesshoumaru was right. Kagome looked down, and sure enough, there was a massive mark, but no open wound.
"Ok. That's really strange. I-"
"It makes no matter. You are nearly healed." Sesshoumaru traced a clawed finger down her back, then over her shoulder front, following the path of the mark which would become a scar. Kagome looked at his hand then him, worriedly.
"Sesshoumaru, are you ok?" She asked, placing a hand on his head.
"You are testing me for a fever when you have just overcome one?" Sesshoumaru took her hand from his head, but did not release it.
"Tell me, Kagome…" Sesshoumaru held her hand in one of his and leaned forward to cup her chin with the other. "..about Inu Yasha. How did he hurt you? Why did you make an arrangement with me?"
Kagome looked at him, shocked, but them her eyes calmed, became gray, and she looked away. She took a deep sigh. "This will take some time."
"I am a youkai."
Kagome nodded, removing his hand from her chin, but not refusing his hold on the other one. "Fifty years ago…."
*~*~*~*~*~*~
"And so you made a pact with me. Indeed. That explains many things." The taiyoukai had sat, listening to her story patiently. She had told him straight out what he believed to be the truth, and had now averted her gaze. "Kagome," Sesshoumaru again raised his hand, bringing her face up to look at his. "You have proved very strong. You are willing to fight for your life, but even more, for the lives of others. Sesshoumaru watched her beautiful blue eyes cloud over slightly. "You were injured because of I, one who has tried to kill you numerous times. You are either a fool, or a remarkable person for forgiving and seeing things in others that most would not be able to. You will survive and be loved. Inu Yasha…is a fool." She was on the verge of tears now, he could sense it. "Inu Yasha has his first love and can not forget her."
Kagome looked at him with pain in her eyes. Seeing her like that was utterly unnerving and he wished for anything other than that.
"You will overcome that. You can not remove him from your memory. Do not try to, but do not dwindle in the past, it is unsafe." He leaned forward, looking into her blue-gray eyes, as if peering into her soul. " Instead… look to the future and live in the present.." With that, he bent down, capturing her mouth with his. Kagome sat stiff, shocked, but soon the kiss softened and she found herself hugged against him, returning the kiss with all the emotion that had pent up inside of her. Thoughts and pictures of Inu Yasha flooded through her mind, and she held onto them, but stored them somewhere safe, now focusing on the person before her who she was starting to realize was the only person who had been there for her through all of this. This stoic lord, this demon that had tried to kill her many times, and the person who had saved her. Fate.
Sesshoumaru paid no heed to the voice that argued against him. She was human. This was against his code, his honor. It made no difference. She was not a mere human, she was a powerful miko, she was Kagome.
Sesshoumaru pulled back, looking at her pale face. "You need rest. You should sleep."
Kagome looked at him, a little disappointed. "You call it sleep, I call it lost opportunity."
Was she really... She wasn't suggesting…. Sesshoumaru was slightly shocked. She…
"I want to see Rin and Shippo."
Ah. Of course. The ever decent Kagome would never. I'll have to work on that.. Sesshoumaru stared at the girl who was now looking at him deliberately.
"What.?" He could tell there was a meaning in her eyes.
"I need clothes."
"Indeed." He said, looking on her form which had become slightly exposed during their kiss. Kagome looked down, again pulling the sheets up hastily around her neck. "Kaji." Sesshoumaru called, and to Kagome's wonder, the servant entered immediately.
"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"Fetch Kagome-sama some suitable clothes."
The servant looked slightly shocked. "Y-yes, Sesshoumaru-sama." Kaji left the room, returning, what Kagome could swear, was less than two minutes later. Kaji brought in a fine kimono, followed by Maki who delivered a stack of miko's garb.
"That will be all." Sesshoumaru told them. The servants inclined their heads and left.
Kagome wasn't about to ask why Sesshoumaru was being so kind to her, nor why he kissed her. Kagome cleared her throat at the demon which was standing a few feet away now.
Sesshoumaru looked back at her, quirking one eyebrow.
"I'll also need to get dressed." She said, haughtily.
"I am aware of this." he replied in a monotone voice.
"Then you are also aware.." Kagome glared at him. "..that I am a girl."
Sesshoumaru nodded once. "A woman. Yes, of this I am aware of by now…"
Kagome blushed slightly. Why did he have to make everything so hard?! "Then you are also, I presume, aware that I need my privacy." she spat. "I assume that you understand?"
"Ah. This coming from a woman who wears nothing short of a very revealing kimono…how strange..you truly are a wonder, aren't you? But you were already aware of that."
"And you truly are a pervert! I'm sure you're aware of that!!Now leave!" Kagome shouted, hurling a pillow at him, which he easily dodged and caught, despite their close proximity. He smirked, advancing on her, pillow in hand.
"If I were to suffocate you, no one would hear…"
"And if I were to call you friendly, no one would believe." Kagome muttered, scooting away from him. But Sesshoumaru was too quick. He took a gentle, yet firm grip on her neck, pulling her forward.
"You know, I could end this miserable life of yours…"
"And I could try to convince you to be more approachable." Kagome stared at him, then at the pillow held in his hand.
"I am approachable. Only, none ever seem to approach me in the right way." he took hold of her again, pressing his lips to hers. Kagome was surprised at the warmness of them. She always imagined every part of him to be as cold as his demeanor, and was even more surprised when she discovered she was kissing him back.
"Lord Sesshoumaru! This Jaken did not know that you had--Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken slid the door open, stopping mid-sentence at the sight he found. Kagome pulled away, brushing the hair out of her eyes.
"Jaken. Leave. I will be down shortly." Sesshoumaru said calmly.
"Y-yes, milord. I will tell Rin and the fox child." With that, Jaken went to leave.
"And Jaken."
"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"Why are you wearing a woman's kimono?" Sesshoumaru looked at the toad, completely unenthused. The toad let out a small "eep" and scurried off, down the hall.
"I should get dressed now."
"You should."
"Which means..you should go now."
"I should." Sesshoumaru rose, only to bend down again to whisper in Kagome's ear. "Think about what I have said. I hope that you consider and take it to heart." With that, he left.
*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
AN:OK, I meant to make this a lot longer, but instead, I'm splitting it in two because I'll be gone for a twelve days IN JAPAN!!!! Ahem. So, there you have it. Nothing heart stopping. Nothing amazingly monumental. Just their first kiss. May elaborate on that later. But, I promise you, you're in for some angst in the next half of chapter 17. Please stick around!!! See ya guys when I get back!!