Hello Again!! Thanks for all of your feedback, I really appreciate it. I decided the chapter split pretty naturally, so I went ahead and posted. Enjoy.
Chapter 11: New Light
Kagome wasn't sure why, but her mood had lightened considerably since she had awoken. Inuyasha's death still burned in the back of her mind, but she couldn't help but feel alive and charged. Perhaps she had been effected by Sesshoumaru's healing after all. Jaken didn't seem to be present, and she correctly assumed he had been sent somewhere by Sesshoumaru, not that she minded. As long as she didn't think about it, she managed to enjoy the fresh warm air. If that wasn't enough distraction, however, there was always Rin.
Rin was very pleased with the miko's revival and apparently eased attitude, and celebrated by asking Kagome every question she could think of under the sun. Sesshoumaru listened, amused, as Kagome struggled to keep up with the enthusiastic little girl.
"What do you like to eat?"
"Hmm. Oden, definitely."
"How old are you?"
"I'm sixteen."
'She's so young,' thought Sesshoumaru.
"You're so old!" Rin exclaimed. "Rin hopes she'll be as pretty as you when she's grown up!"
"Umm. . ."
"Ah and Un are my friends. Do you like them?"
"Very much," Kagome smiled.
"What other animals do you like?"
Kagome smiled again. She imagined she must have sounded a lot like Rin when she was younger, talking all the time and asking questions. "Well, I have a fat cat at home named Buyou."
"Where's your home?"
"Very far away," Kagome said somberly.
"How far?"
"So far you could never get there no matter how far you walked." The statement was true enough, though it didn't actually give any explanation.
'So she is foreign,' Sesshoumaru thought. That would explain some of her strange mannerisms and dress, and the odd words that occasionally slipped. Then how did she end up here? Where could she really have come from? Her answer to Rin must be an exaggeration, though he wasn't sure why she was evasive. She had been very specific with her answers until this point; her patience for Rin's questions seemed inexhaustible.
"Oh. . ." said Rin, properly awed. "Where is your family? Are they dead like Rin's? Are those other people you were with your family?"
Kagome paused to consider. "No, my family's not dead. Well, my dad is, but that was when I was younger. They're just at home. The people I traveled with are my friends."
"How come you're with us instead of them now?" Rin was obviously not aware of how dangerous the question was.
A lump rose in Kagome's throat and she felt her heart leap. Sesshoumaru held his breath and stole a look back at Kagome. What did the girl think of her place here? When he had first taken her she had been enraged and heartbroken, but things had improved since the night by the riverbank. She had stopped sending him seething glares since he had confessed his attempt to save Inuyasha, but perhaps she had just become better at concealing her hatred. He was anxious to hear her answer-she was the only person that Rin might possibly trust as much as him. She had the power to change Rin's glowing image of him. What was worse, she could do it without having to lie.
A moment of silence slipped by before Kagome answered. "I like to be with you, Rin-chan," she said a bit too quickly, "and Sesshoumaru-sama has said he'll protect me." Whatever she thought of Sesshoumaru, Kagome decided, she would not hurt Rin. It was obvious Rin respected the demon lord more than anything. He was the only family she had, and she did not want to harm the bond between the two. As long as he was protecting the little girl, she didn't need to know about Sesshoumaru's darker side. Kagome was for most intents and purposes Sesshoumaru's prisoner, but she wasn't going to tell Rin that. Also, Kagome was no longer sure of her appraisal of Sesshoumaru as a heartless murderer.
She realized they had all stopped walking. They had all, apparently, unconsciously followed Sesshoumaru's example, who was standing imposingly ahead of them. 'He must have been listening to us,' Kagome thought anxiously. He looked back over his shoulder at her. Their gazes collided powerfully. Sesshoumaru's eyes were loaded with some emotion that was impossible to interpret. Kagome gave him a hesitant reassuring smile, surprised to find that she no longer felt frightened by his intensity.
Sesshoumaru had not meant to stop, but his feet had taken over as he gave his attention to Kagome. He was surprised by her careful response. She could have told Rin why she was really with them, but had chosen not to. He did not think she did so out of fear of him; she didn't seem to realize that he had been listening. This human was more selfless than he had imagined any creature would be. She was forced to stay with him against her will, and yet she was doing everything she could to help Rin and himself. She was unlike anyone he had encountered before. He found it strange that so many interesting qualities could be found in a human. Her smile had suggested she could still find it within herself to care about him, even after all he had done and tried to do to her since their first encounter. Or perhaps it was all for Rin's sake.
He would find out, he decided as he turned to lead them on. Maybe then he could chase her out of his thoughts.
The girls had resumed their question and answer session while Sesshoumaru continued to listen in. However, he did not let his attention to their surroundings waver. On the borders of his senses, he could hear a faint buzzing. They were being watched, and had been for some time. Sesshoumaru wanted nothing more than to slice apart the insects monitoring them through the thick foliage, but he knew they were easily replaced. After they had completed their task, they would probably simply die, they offered no means of locating Naraku. Given the lack of options, Sesshoumaru ignored them. As long as he Naraku assumed Sesshoumaru didn't know he was being watched, Sesshoumaru had the means to gain an advantage.
Naraku's cowardly games never ceased to infuriate him.
That evening Jaken returned, much to Kagome's disappointment. The youkai had at least brought a new bow and fresh food back with him, grumbling at his chore. Sesshoumaru ignored his complaints and silently relieved Jaken of his burdens, sending the toad to watch Rin, who was spending the remainder of her energy chasing fireflies in the nearby field.
Sesshoumaru observed Kagome as she watched Rin with a small peaceful smile on her face. The little girl was trying unsuccessfully to catch a few of the insects, and Sesshoumaru's sensitive ears could make out Jaken's mumblings about clumsy humans.
"Kagome," Sesshoumaru spoke her name to get her attention.
She turned to him, her arms crossed in a relaxed fashion across her chest with her hair rippling gently in the breeze. Her smile widened fractionally when she turned her head to face him. Perhaps he had just imagined it, but her eyes seemed to brighten when he spoke.
He held out the bow and quiver to her. She took them eagerly, running her fingers over the smooth wood and nimbly testing the string. She seemed born to hold it. Her smile widened as she experimentally bent the bow-it felt good to hold one again. She hadn't realized how attached she'd become to having a weapon at her side.
"I trust you are intelligent enough not to try anything foolish with it," he stated.
"Of course," she answered, completely preoccupied with her new toy.
She was interesting to watch, he thought. "Can you hit anything with that yet?" he asked in his deadpan voice.
Kagome wasn't sure if he was teasing her or if he was being serious, but decided it didn't matter. She turned to him, still smiling. "I've gotten better since you last saw me fight with Inuyasha. I probably still couldn't hit you, though."
"Definitely not." Sesshoumaru decided this was as good an opening as any. "Why did you travel with my brother in the first place?"
Her face fell and the sadness returned to her eyes and she leaned lightly on her bow. "We were trying to complete the Shikon no Tama. Inuyasha wanted it to become a full demon, at least at first. I don't really know if he still thought that at the end. After we found out about Naraku, things became more complicated. It became as much about destroying him as restoring the jewel."
"You wanted the Shikon no Tama for his sake?"
"Well, I suppose," she answered softly. She cast her eyes downward and sighed as if shouldering a heavy burden. "And also because it is my responsibility. The jewel came into this world through my body. It's my fault it's here, my fault it was shattered. I'm the only one that can sense the shards now, and it is my duty to restore it." She looked back up at him with a sad half-smile, her face pale in the fading dusk. "If Naraku completes the jewel, it will be corrupted and have extraordinary power. That's why we were trying to beat him to the last of the shards."
The story around this woman got stranger and stranger. The Shikon no Tama had been inside her body? Is that why she had so much power? Where did she really come from? "What are you?" he whispered interrogatively.
"Higurashi Kagome," she chirped decisively.
"And beyond that?"
"Beyond that, I'm not really sure," she smiled. He wasn't really satisfied with her answer, but he let it lie.
"Do you know were the last of the shards are?" He fully realized the shards were another lever he could use against Naraku.
Kagome shook her head. "No, I have to be within a certain range to sense them-several kilometers or so, I guess. There can't be more than one or two left that we don't know about, though."
"Then we shall find them before Naraku does," Sesshoumaru decided. Naraku would be sure to come to them if they had the shards, and looking for Naraku when he did not want to be found would be next to impossible. The shards Sesshoumaru now had a means to search for.
"You're going to help me?" she asked incredulously.
"Only in order to find Naraku, miko," he said, a ruthless smirk twitching at the sides of his mouth. "I don't care about the shards."
"Do you smile at anything besides the thought of killing?" she asked. "Don't you have any emotion?"
"I have emotions."
"I'm not talking about 'homicidal and less homicidal', I mean the whole array! There must be something out there that you love."
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow.
"Um, don't mind tolerating?" she tried.
"I am not human," he stated the obvious. "I do not loose my focus with every sensation I encounter."
She sighed and gave up. She was actually a little surprised that this conversation had gone on for so long in the first place. She was startled when he spoke again.
"Why didn't you tell Rin the truth about what I've done?"
"Because you're all she has," Kagome told him. "Besides, the two of you are good for each other. How did she end up with you anyway?"
"She was killed by a pack of wolves. I resurrected her." The memory was so clear. She hadn't been with him that long, but he no longer thought of traveling without her.
"Why would you do that?" Kagome asked in amazement.
Sesshoumaru's lips twitched again of their own accord. "She tried to take care of me. The foolish little thing approached even though I could have killed her. She was too naive to know when to stay away."
'So,' she thought, 'he can smile at the thought of something other than killing.' In her opinion, Rin may be naive, but she did a good job picking her friends. Sesshoumaru would never allow any harm to come to her while she was under his care, even if he wasn't the warmest of guardians.
"Rin is also very loyal," he said lowly. "She was the only human I've encountered who never ran or groveled or whined. She is unusual." 'With the exception of the one standing in front of me,' he pondered.
For Sesshoumaru, that was high praise. "You let something that talks that much follow you, then?" Kagome thought it was a little funny.
Sesshoumaru's barely discernable smile remained as he said, "I didn't know she'd talk this much before I resurrected her." There was an faint edge of humor in his voice she didn't think she had heard before, but it reassured her he did not resent the little girl's presence.
Kagome laughed. The bubbly sound floated musically past her lips. It sounded pleasant and kind in Sesshoumaru's ears; no one could hate a girl who could laugh like that. Watching her, he realized this was the longest actual conversation he had experienced in many years. Something about the girl seemed to sooth him and draw him out. It was not all that unpleasant, but he could feel a little of his control slipping away. The longer he was with her, the less like himself he felt.
They both watched as Rin came scampering up to them. Apparently she had found the fireflies too difficult to catch and had gone back to good old inanimate flowers. Her hair was tousled and she looked a little grubby.
Kagome grinned at the little girl's appearance as she accepted a handful of weeds. "Let's go and clean up before bed, Rin-chan."
Sesshoumaru watched them as they walked hand in hand. The miko's movements held his eyes as they strained to decode every motion of her body. Naraku was right about one thing.
The miko was dangerous.
Okie dokie, kind of a light chapter. Next chapter will have a little more action (and it has waff too, or at least that's what I've been told by my 'editor'). Things are getting a little busy around here, finals are only a couple weeks away which means I have a lot going on. I'll try to keep updating as frequently as possible, though.
Thanks again for all of the reviews, they've been really helpful. Please keep reviewing.
I have put up a bio, if anyone cares.
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-Aiwen