A frowning Sesshoumaru came back outside a half-hour later to find Kagome playing with Rin once again. The ex-slave noticed him after a moment, froze, and then waved slightly at him as she returned to what she had been doing. After seeing that, the dog demon could not help by smile, even though he had been frowning earlier. He was thrilled by Kagome's actions. She was finally acting a little more normal around him. That was a very good thing.
He watched the two girls play for a while before turning to face Sango. "I have surveyed the damage and decided that the house is too destroyed to be lived in. There is too much wreckage in some essential rooms." The amount of damage had actually surprised him but he was not going to tell Sango that. It did not matter anyway. He had already made some calls and learned that repairing his home would take quite a bit of money.
"I am sorry about all the damage, Sesshoumaru," Sango apologized sincerely. She had not meant to wreck such havoc on his home.
"Don't be. You did what I hired you to do --protect Kagome," he responded, voice calm. "Besides this only means that Kagome and I will have to say somewhere else for about two weeks while this house is being repaired."
"Where will you two be staying?" She needed to know where she was supposed to go the next morning so she could continue to protect Kagome while the inu youkai was at work.
"Never mind, Sango. I'm taking this opportunity to allow myself a vacation from work, so I can get some things done elsewhere." Sesshoumaru moved so he could watch his house guest as he continued to converse with the bodyguard. "I'll protect Kagome while we're gone, so you can take a break as well. Although, I'll need you again when we return."
Sango nodded her head in acknowledgment. "All right. I'll report back here at seven in the morning, exactly two weeks from today."
"I will call you if the date changes," Sesshoumaru promised, earning a nod of agreement from her.
Sango sighed. "Now I have the task of breaking up the game and telling Rin that it's time for us to leave."
After saying a quick farewell to the dog demon, she proceeded to convince Rin that they needed to leave. Rin put up a small fight, using tears and a cute puppy-dog face as her weapons. Sango won the argument, so both of the sisters gave Kagome a hug good-bye and then left.
Kagome frowned slightly when the two girls departed. She had enjoyed their company, and she hated to see them go. Things had been so much fun with them around, not to mention that Rin was such a sweetheart.
Instead of moping like she wanted to, the ex-slave turned her attention to Sesshoumaru. "Where are we going to say, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Kagome asked, facing him so that she could watch his face.
"I have a place about an hour from here that we can stay at. It's much safer, and no one will think to look for you there," he replied his tone and face neutral. 'Of course, since no one has been there in five centuries, no one would look for me there either. Unfortunately, that also means that the pantry is not stocked up. We will have to do some grocery shopping tomorrow.'
She looked at the dog demon, curiosity on her face. 'A safer place? Wow,' she thought, feeling gratitude wash through her system. 'He cares more about me than anyone else I've met in years. Sango and Rin care about me as well, but Sesshoumaru goes far beyond what he has to do to keep me safe.'
"You may want to go see if you have any wearable clothes left that you can pack," Sesshoumaru suggested. "When I looked at your room, there wasn't much left. I did set the dresser back up for you, and the closet appears to be intact."
"Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama," she told him politely, and then she rushed off to do his bidding.
The inu youkai merely shook his head sadly and went inside to his own packing.
~*~*~
An hour later, both Sesshoumaru and Kagome were in his car, traveling to their temporary home. They were about ten minutes away to be more exact. The ride was a comfortable one, with Kagome happily answering any questions about her day.
Despite her cheery mood, Kagome instantly quieted when they reached their destination. She just stared at the building, blue-gray eyes wide with amazement. She had never seen anything so astounding in her entire life. The phrase 'unbelievably magnificent' was what came to her mind.
For the next two weeks, she was not going to be staying in a house like she had expected. She was not even going to live in a mansion. Sesshoumaru was having her stay in a gigantic castle!
"Oh my," she whispered under her breath, completely dumbfounded.
The entire castle was made of brilliant white stones that shone brightly in the sun. Slender towers gracefully rose up towards the sky. A moat full of crystal clear water surrounded the structure. Over all, it was a dazzling castle that seemed to have come right out of a fantasy book.
"Heavenly," was her next comment.
Sesshoumaru smirked, pleased by her reaction. He had brought her here, even though he risked bringing up painful memories, just to see her shocked face. Since he had gotten to see it, he was quite happy.
'Dear Kami! Since when do I, Sesshoumaru, toss aside my good sense just because of some little human girl?' he wondered, amazed with himself. Two months ago he would not have even considered visiting his castle.
"Sesshoumaru-sama, it's beautiful..." she said breathlessly, wonderment in her voice. "Thank you so much for bringing me here." She turned her bright smile on the dog demon. "I love it."
He noticed her grin and instantly flashed a half-smile back. "You're welcome," he responded, surprising himself.
'I'm taking this help-out-the-slave plan a little too far,' he thought. 'But why? Is it because Kagome is pretty... and even good company? She can cook very well, and she smells wonderful. She's pleasant to talk to when she's not in slave mood.' Sesshoumaru looked over at her as he stopped the car. 'She's more than pretty; she's beautiful.'
The inu youkai mentally smacked himself for that thought. Silently grumbling, he got out of the car and began to think of a way to lower the drawbridge. He was not given a long time to think because suddenly, to his complete surprise, the drawbridge lowered on its own.
Sesshoumaru was shocked for a moment, but his mind quickly came up with a logical conclusion. Someone had lowered the hunk of wood from the inside, which meant that someone was in his castle. Of course, the dog demon had a pretty good idea as to who it was.
'It's probably Telonomaru,' he thought, growling softly. He was not pleased with the thought of another person in his castle, even if that person did just happen to be a family member.
"Sesshoumaru-sama?" Kagome called out his name through her open window, wondering why they were still outside when they could obviously get into the castle. When the inu youkai did not respond, the miko climbed out of the car. "Sesshoumaru-sama?" she repeated, frowning slightly.
Either the demon was deep in thought or he was ignoring her. Since Kagome did not like the second option, she decided to believe in the first one. If Sesshoumaru was thinking so hard that he had turned even her out, then he needed someone to snap him out of it.
Timidly at first, but with more courage as she went on, she walked up to the dog demon until she was standing right in front of him. She took a deep breath, let it out, and then looked up into a pair of unfocused golden eyes.
"Yooouuuu-whooooo," Kagome said, waving her hand in front of his face. "Are you still in there, Sesshoumaru-sama?"
A clawed hand snapped up faster than her eyes could see and grabbed her hand, forcing it out of his line of vision. "Yes, I am," Sesshoumaru replied stiffly, although he did not release the girl's hand. It was a subconscious action, something that he was not even fully aware of.
However, Kagome did notice that he held onto her hand, but she didn't argue. It felt perfectly natural to her, like it was something she was supposed to do. Despite that fact, she still blushed slightly. "What were you thinking about, Sesshoumaru-sama?"
She knew that it was probably a bad idea to pester the dog demon, but her day had been so wonderful so far that she just felt like testing her luck a little. Besides, he had told her to act how she wanted to, hadn't he? Well, he was going to get what he asked for, whether he liked it or not.
The inu youkai debated over if he actually wanted to answer or not. In the end, he decided to tell the girl what she wanted to know. "A family member."
"Oh?" Kagome cocked her head slightly to one side, looking very cute as she did so. "Why?"
Sesshoumaru blinked, studying the miko's curious face. He found temptation staring right back at him. She did not look timid or expressionless as she often did. Instead, her eyes were bright, and the small smile on her face drew his attention to her perfect lips. "Because he is most likely inside the castle," he replied, forcing his gaze away from Kagome and towards the castle.
"Is that a good or bad thing?" she inquired, her voice drawing his eyes back to her.
The inu youkai considered the question for a few moments. Whether it was a good or bad thing solely depended on a person's point of view. "Telonomaru visiting is not bad, but it's not good either," he finally answered.
"Is Telonomaru nice?" Kagome wanted to know. If he was nice, then she knew that she would have no problem with him. If he was mean, then Sesshoumaru would protect her; thus, she would still have no problem. Either way, she would be perfectly fine and completely safe.
"Why don't you greet me and find out for yourself?" a male voice asked loudly from the direction of the castle.
The ex-slave turned her head to see who had spoken. Her eyes rested on a tall inu youkai dressed in an old-fashioned male kimono, and he appeared to be maybe twenty years older than Sesshoumaru. Golden eyes watched her with a kind expression as long silver hair fell to his waist.
"Hello, Telonomaru," Sesshoumaru told the other youkai, his voice void of any emotion. Kagome took that as a sign that he was not happy.
"It is very nice to meet you, Telonomaru-sama," she said sweetly, her voice pitched to help her old master relax a little. "I'm Kagome." Her tone had the appropriate effect on Sesshoumaru, much to her delight.
"The pleasure is all mine, I can assure you," Telonomaru replied, chuckling. He took an instant liking to the polite, kind-sounding girl. Also, she was holding hands with his cousin, a definite plus in his book. If Sesshoumaru was allowing the girl to hold his hand, then there was hope for him yet.
Sesshoumaru decided to spoil the pleasant little moment by growling. "What are you doing here, Telonomaru?" he demanded to know, sounding very unhappy. He did like his cousin, really he did; but Telonomaru was a horrible matchmaker, something that had been proven many times.
For the past half-century, Telonomaru had been trying to set him up with one girl or another. Of course, if the dog demon was not playing matchmaker, he was forcing his cousin to listen to arguments about the importance of marriage. Sesshoumaru found it annoying after a while.
The kimono-clad male walked up to his cousin, laughter in his eyes. "I came here to fix the place up a bit," Telonomaru answered. "And as soon as I was done, I had been planning on visiting you." He paused to chuckle for a brief moment. "I most certainly hadn't been expecting you to show up here... and with a beautiful female as well."
Kagome's stomach rumbled very loudly right then, stopping Sesshoumaru from making a retort. She placed her free hand over her tummy, giving her old master a small smile. "May we please go inside and eat, Sesshoumaru-sama?" she inquired softly. "My stomach seems to be protesting about its lack of food." She gave Sesshoumaru a small smile, earning a nod from him.
"All right. If you want to," he answered, giving into her. He was not really hungry, but that was partially due to the presence of his cousin.
"I'll see if I can fix anything," Telonomaru stated, turning around and beginning to walk back into the castle. "I didn't bring anyone who could cook, so you two are stuck with my cooking for the time being."
'Kami, help me,' Sesshoumaru silently pleaded, sighing softly. His cousin was not the best of chefs.
Kagome pulled her hand out of Sesshoumaru's and jogged to catch up with Telonomaru. "I want to cook, Telonomaru-sama," she told him as Sesshoumaru came to walk beside her. "Please?"
Telonomaru looked down at her eager, pleading expression. 'Well, she certainly can't be any worse at cooking than I am,' he thought humorously as he nodded his head. "I don't see why you can't. Besides, I can almost guarantee that you're a better chef than I am." He reached out to pat the girl on the head, but she jerked out of his reach.
Sesshoumaru placed a hand on the girl's shoulders, a comforting gesture. "He won't hurt you, Kagome," the inu youkai said reassuringly. "He has a wife back home that will beat him over the head with a frying pan if he even so much as thinks about you indecently."
Telonomaru frowned, a little shocked and confused by that statement; he did not protest though when he saw the girl relax and smile slightly. She had obviously gone through some kind of ordeal, and his cousin was helping her recover.
'Sesshoumaru, acting as someone's knight in shining armor. How interesting...' he silently mused, impressed by the taiyoukai's actions. 'He must care about her quite a bit to act so differently around her. Last time I checked, he rarely even acted like this around family members.'
"If you say so, Sesshoumaru-sama," Kagome replied to the dog demon, nodding her head. "I believe you. You have yet to lie to me." She really did believe him; she trusted him with all of her heart. He had never hurt her, never yelled at her. He had only tried to help her. It was her trust in him that encouraged her to act normal.
"Good." Sesshoumaru turned his attention away from the girl and towards the other dog demon. "And, Telonomaru, if you do anything to her that I don't like, then you will sorely regret it." The warning was harsh, cruel, and cold. It left no room for an argument of any kind. Of course, it was also not needed.
Telonomaru nodded his head in understanding. His cousin was protective of the girl... how quaint. "I wouldn't dream of hurting Kagome in any way, so you can just relax, little cousin." He gave the younger demon a harmless smile. "Trust me."
Sesshoumaru glared at Telonomaru for a few moments until Kagome touched his arm, making his gaze soften considerably as he turned to look at her. "Let's go inside. Once I show you where the kitchen is, I'll come back out here and drive the car into the courtyard." He began to lead Kagome inside, pressing a button on his keychain to get the car doors to lock.
"Can I fix oden, Sesshoumaru-sama?" the miko asked, tone hopeful.
The inu youkai nearly laughed. "Yes, you may."
"Yea!" she cheered, smiling.
Telonomaru watched the two as they went into the castle, a knowing grin on his face. 'Oh, how you are so close to the edge, cousin,' he thought happily. 'All you need is a little push to fall right over and go plummeting straight into love, and I think that I shall be the one to do the pushing.'
Plans forming inside his head at an alarming rate, the devious inu youkai went into the castle as well. Soon, he would be putting one of his little plans into action. All he needed was just the right moment.
'Sesshoumaru, soon you won't even know what hit you.'