(A/N) Hope you like this chappie, it's pretty long and I spent quite some time on it, like I said before, I would like to finish this book pretty soon, so I'm trying to hurry with the chappies, and make them as long as possible. Okay, if you have any flames, now is the time to review b/c I'm getting so frustrated with the low amount of reviews it's really starting to bug me!!! Okay, enjoy. Oh, yeah, 'bout the typo's sorry, I forget to proofread most of the time, and even if I do, I usually skip sum.
Disclaimer: You know what, It's getting annoying, it's like they're trying to hammer it into your brains that you don't own the characters, I get it! I don't own them! It fanfiction! I DUN OWN THEM except, in my dreams. _(^'.'^)_
Chapter Five: Rin's Sickness and the Wonderful Hot Springs
Before: Her ears moved at the sound of a voice
Now:
"You're awake," the oji's voice echoed through the room. "Go take a bath and meet me at the breakfast table. These are orders, wench." Kagome nodded then hearing the word 'wench' she retorted.
"Sesshoumaru! I told you my name is KAGOME!"
"This is my castle, is it not? I will call you by whichever name I please. If I call you wench, you shall respond as if I called you by, Kagome, your name."
"Why you-"
"Go take your bath" he said walking out of the room. As if that was a cue, Sui reappeared in the room,
"Mistress, urgh, Kagome, are you ready to take your bath? Follow me, and take that yellow kimono with you, you will need to change." Once again Kagome nodded, happy to hear a cheerful voice once more. "I suppose you would like to go to your hot springs?"
At that, Kagome smiled with joy. "Hot springs???" She questioned with doubt, "My hot springs???"
"Yes, there is a almost private hot springs made for long-term guests, and by the looks of it, Sesshoumaru made you a long-term guest."
"No, I'm afraid that I am here only to heal Rin."
"Don't be frightened by his cold exterior, I have a feeling that once Rin is healed, she will need an instructor of the miko ways, and then a mother."
"Sesshoumaru can find one for her, I'm sure, but I am only here to heal her."
"Yes, Kagome, ano, we're here."
Kagome gasped from shock. The guest hot springs were fantastic, marvelous, and anything but ugly. There were five different Jacuzzi-like pools of water, three waterfalls and one huge and immense amount water that was in the middle of it all. Surrounding everything was different and many varieties of flowers and even two weeping willow trees in the corners. (A/N the place was huge, enormous, vast, gigantic, massive, gargantuan, and did I mention huge?) She wondered what the private hot springs looked like if this magnificent sight was merely the guests' hot springs.
"Kagome, are you all right"
"Please tell me Sui, I am not dreaming."
"You are not dreaming."
"Thank you Sui. I am to take my bath here, correct?"
"It would seem so. I guess I should leave, but first, that green liquid is for your hair and the purple for your body."
"Green is hair, purple is body, arigatou Sui."
"Yes, Kagome, the towels are on the cabinet to your left, I take my leave."
Once she heard the door click close, Kagome tried not to leap into the inviting water as her instincts told her to. Rather, she spied a mirror on the left wall and decided that it was time to see her reflection, as the mirror in her room was now broken. 'Sesshoumaru'll be mad at me, but, not much harm done' she thought as she went toward the mirror, not wanting to think of what her reflection looked like. She reached the mirror with her eyes close, when she opened them, she produced a stifle of surprise from her mouth.
She hated to admit it, but she was gorgeous. Her silver hair was speckled with sunlight and her eyes showed moving clouds and were the deep blue color of the sky. Out from her silky hair pointed two elegant ears that looked rather Elvin. There were two blue stripes on each side of the face, as well as two perfectly arched eyebrows.
Though she looked the same, Kagome noticed there was something different about her (except the obvious changes). She eep'd when she realized what had happened. Her silken nightgown clung to her body revealing that her stomach had become flatter (she was thin, very thin, thinner than before, she lost weight, got it?) while her upper chest had gotten bigger (I'm not a hentai!!! She's just supposed to be different and a great demoness, and stuff like than). Her face had gotten very red at this realization; she muttered something about youkai's bodies having to be a bit more modest.
That's when she recognized one more thing; there was a beautiful tail that was silver with little shimmers of sun, just like her long hair. It was so soft as it was lifted to her face. She stroked it, amazed by its fluffiness, then, just because she felt like it, she rubbed her face against its softness. The silver tail felt so good, and she was very happy with it. 'A TAIL, I HAVE A TAIL' she squealing in her thoughts, it was just so cool. Then she noticed something in the mirror; there was a glimmer of pink. She raised her bangs; there was a pink moon in the middle of her forehead. It was quite like Sesshoumaru's except that it was different in color and faced the other way. It was beautiful, but she decided it wasn't good to stay like that gawking, so she decided to take the bath and go get some breakfast before Sesshoumaru would started to think she wasn't following his, um, orders, 'conceited jerk'
She dropped her nightgown to the ground, carefully not cutting it with her claws. She took the two buckets of liquid. First she took some of the green liquid and massaged it into her scalp. It felt good, as cool as the futuristic shampoo and with the scent of green tea and many herbs. It had such a pleasing smell she noticed with her nose; its smelling 'ability' had gotten better. Once she was done massaging her scalp and her very long hair and very long tail (this alone took ten minutes, but it was felt good to be fully clean) She then took the purple liquid and rubbed it on her body. This liquid smelled like lavender and sakura, also a very good smell.
Once done, she dipped into the soothing water. It was perfect, not too hot nor too cold. She scrubbed the suds off everything and soaked for five minutes (she was running late, with all that hair and tail) then quickly tried to dry herself off, best as she could. She took a big towel and wrapped her hair in it, some of her hair still peeped out from the edge. Then she took another towel and dried her tail and another towel yet for her body. She put on the yellow kimono, thankful that it was rather simple and did not tangle herself. She wasn't sure how it looked on her, so she stepped in front of the mirror once again. It was beautiful.
Her damp hair strung around the yellow, and made a perfect silver and gold background and it turned out that the white parts were really beautiful roses. The kimono clung in all the right places, and thankfully, did not cling to her upper body, but rather her stomach (which she had to admit, had shrunken to the produce the perfect shape). She decided that this yellow kimono would do for now, before she changed into her own clothes this afternoon, for it was rather uncomfortable, as she wasn't used to these long dressy kimono's and preferred the comfortable clothes of her time. She sighed and decided not to be any more late otherwise, Sesshoumaru would look like he would take her head off for being so behind schedule.
She was thankful that Sui turned up at the same moment Kagome left the hot springs, for she had no idea where to go for the breakfast. Her happiness melted when she saw the serious and worried face of the panther youkai.
"Kagome! My master is getting very impatient, hurry now or I don't know what he'll do, he's been pacing for fifteen minutes now." Kagome eep'd at the thought and quickly tried to run to the castle and as she tried, she slipped on a rock, slipping onto the muddy ground before her. She yelped with the thought of muddying her clothes when suddenly and thankfully her tail acted like a spring and helped her straighten herself.
"Oh, that's what that's for" she said with a mocking tone, looking at the distressed Sui's face. "Um, Sui, its okay, my tail saved me" she laughed at the fact, "can you please show my to the breakfast place?"
"Yes, milady"
"Kagome"
"Yes, sorry, Kagome." The pair left the hot springs and headed toward the caste, when they reached it, Kagome had more time to marvel at the sight of two bronzish doors. They showed two mirror images of a fearsome inu-youkai. 'Inuyasha's father'
"Yes, it is the fearsome Inu-taisho (a/n I have no idea how to spell his name, I'm doing it from memory so please correct me through email before I continue to embarrass myself)"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to say that out loud"
"You didn't, your face's emotions betrayed your thoughts"
"Oh." Was all that she could say. 'Was Sesshoumaru able to read me so easily, I must try to cover up my emotions lest they betray me, or, WHAT AM I THINKING? SESSHOUMARU WANTING TO USE MY THOUGHTS AGAINST ME??? KAGOME WAKE UP, YOU'RE HIS GUEST!!!' still, it was possible that Sesshoumaru might do that; he isn't nice, if you trust Inuyasha's descriptions. That is when Kagome observed that Sui was waiting for her, so she continued walking through the big entrance.
Inside, she noticed that there were many pictures hanging on the walls. Most of them showed landscapes and sunsets and nature-like things. She only noticed one that had the image of a human. And it was tucked away I one of the shadowed corners of the room, so Kagome was forced to continue to the dining room before she could realize what the picture was of.
"You're late," said the Demon Lord. "If you wish to eat, do so on time, this is your first and only warning." Kagome nodded, and wanted to reply, except she was cut short by a golden furball.
"KAGOME!"
"Shippo?"
"Kagome!" Shippo repeated, and then stared at her after his short embrace with her neck. "You look different…YOU'RE a youkai!"
"Yes, Shippo"
"Now you can truly adopt me!"
"Yes, Shippo" she said, this time laughing. 'At least some good will come of this change'
"C'mon mommy, lets eat, I'm hungry"
"Your kit refused to eat without your presence," stated the Taiyoukai (a/n, sorry, I just don't think that this is a good place to call him 'Sesshoumaru') Kagome nodded once more, deprived of speech by the cold glare he gave her. "Now that you are here, you may eat, I have done so already, so I shall be in the library, you shall not disturb me, and you shall tend to Rin, as you have promised." He said as he left the room.
'Jerk' Kagome thought, but willed herself not to say it out loud. 'Even though it is his home, I will teach me not to order me around like a servant'. Since her stomach was grumbling, she decided to follow his orders, and eat. 'He mustn't worry about my intrusion, who'd want to bother him?'
After Kagome was done eating a remarkably delicious breakfast of some kind of oatmeal with strawberries and apple pie (a/n I'm making this up as I go). She almost ran up to her room and got the big yellow bag before she bumped into a calm Sui. "I have to show you to her room, for you know not where it is?"
"Um, arigatou, you're right, I don't" she said as she followed Sui out of the hallway.
"As you may have noticed, you and your kitsune are in the East Wing, Rin is in the West Wing, in fact, this IS her room" Sui stopped. Kagome nodded her head as acknowledgement. "I suppose, you do not need me anymore, as you know her room and the location of yours"
"Yes, thank you"
"That's my job," she said as she went left Kagome in front of the room. 'Why was she so, regal sounding? Maybe she takes her job too seriously, or something'. She sighed and knocked on the door. This action granted her two small coughs from the room.
"S-seshou::cough cough :: maru ::cough::-sama?"
"No, Rin, my name is Kagome." Kagome said stepping into the room.
"Where's Sesshoumaru-sama?" the little girl replied, sitting up.
"Sesshoumaru sent me to take care of you. Rin-chan, you have a cold, lay down and I'll give you something to help your throat."
"No! Where's Sesshoumaru-sama?" said the determined girl.
"Rin? He sent me, he's in the library, and now lay down and rest, from the looks of it you'll be here for a week." Said Kagome, this time applying force to the girl's chest so that she would listen. The little girl grumbled. 'She reminds me of Shippo, so stubborn when it comes to someone important to her'. She put her yellow bag onto a convenient little desk near a window. She searched through the bag and was glad that she put the medicine near the top last time she arranged the items.
She took out a Halls Cough Drop and gave it to the girl. Seeing the curious expression on the girls face when she tried to swallow the pill-like candy, wrapper and all, Kagome made her spit it out and showed her how to take away the wrapper. The girl smiled when from the white wrapper came a delicious looking blue candy. Her facial appearance was that of disgust when she realized that it wasn't sweet or candyish at all. In fact, she would have spit the minty ball out of her mouth if Kagome's hand hadn't covered her mouth.
"No, Rin, don't spit it out and don't swallow it, suck on it, it will help your throat, ill sit here and tell you a story if you want."
The girl smiled at this, "Yes, Kagome-chan-" she couldn't say anymore as the she started sputtering because the cough drop had slipped from her tongue and was choking her. Immediately, Kagome sat her up and hit her softly on the back until the cough drop settled in her mouth properly. "Arigatou."
"Don't speak with that in your mouth!" Rin seeing the worry on her new friend's face nodded. "You scared me there! Now lay down and I'll tell you a story."
"Once upon a time, there was little girl that lived with her mommy a forest. Her mother gave her a big red cloak and a big red hood, and because this girl never took the cloak and good of, they called her ' Little Red Riding Hood'."
"Was she like Rin?"
"I told you not to speak, but I guess, yes, she was like Rin, sort of."
"Anyway, her mother asked her to take some eggs and pastries for her very sick grandma, her mother also warned her to say on the road. The girl set of to her grandmother's house, but she wanted to pick her ill grandma some flowers, so she strayed a bit off the road. That's when she met a very bad wolf. This wolf wanted to eat her-"
"No! Red Riding Hood would get away, won't she?"
"Rin let me finish. This wolf wanted to eat her but decided not to when she told him that she was going to her grandma's house. You see, this was a very greedy wolf and wanted to eat both the little girl AND her grandmother. So, he set off to her grandmother's house and got there before Little Red Riding Hood. He swallowed her grandma whole. And dressed in her grandma's clothes."
"He must have been a very bad wolf, but Sesshoumaru-sama would have killed them like he did the ones that hurt Rin!"
"Wolves hurt you?"
"Yes, Kagome-chan, they hurt me really bad and then all I saw was black, but then Sesshoumaru-sama got his sword and hit something and then everything was back to normal! Sesshoumaru-sama will save Little Red Riding Hood! Like he saved Rin!"
'Rin died and Sesshoumaru resurrected her? This is impossible. With Tenseiga?' "Ano… we'll see Rin. So, this wolf dressed in her grandma's clothes and then waited for Little Red Riding Hood to come along. When she did she was wondering why her grandma was acting so strange, so she asked her grandma questions. What she didn't know was that it wasn't her grandma at all but the big bad wolf. So, when she asked why the wolf's ears were so big, the wolf replied with 'all the better to hear you'. She then asked him why his eyes and arms were so big. He told her that it was all the better to see and hug her with. But when she got to his teeth, and asked him what great teeth he had, he said 'all the better to eat you with' and with that he ate her"
"NO! Onegai, Sesshoumaru-sama should save her!"
"Rin I didn't finish."
"Gomen nasai"
"That's alright. So, the big bad wolf ate her when a passing demon lord-"
"Sesshoumaru-sama!"
"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama heard the commotion and saw the wolf eating the little girl, so he took out his sword and made a clean cut through the wolf, revealing the little girl and the grandma. For you see, the foolish wolf didn't chew his food properly and therefore the girl and grandma were still alive. Then Sesshoumaru-sama told the little girl not to disobey her mother and not stray from the road ever again or next time he wouldn't be there to save her. And so, the trio settled down to eat the little cakes the girl's mother had baked for the grandma."
At this the little girl's face dropped. "Rin doesn't know her okaa-san, will you be Rin's okaa-san?" The little girl's face lit up with this question.
"I'm not sure, Rin, I'm not going to be here forever." Her previous brightly lit face dropped once more. "But, sure Rin, why, not! I can be your okaa-san while I'm still here!"
"Yay!" the little girl wrapped herself tightly around her new temporary mother's waist. Her face illuminated her emotion and plans for the coming next weeks. Kagome sighed and gave into the little hug, stroking the little girl's hair, the way only a mother knows how.
Oji- prince
Sakura- Cherry blossoms
Arigatou- Thank You
Youkai- Demon
Inu- Dog
Ano- well
Onegai- Please
Gomen- sorry, Gomen Nasai- Polite Sorry
(A/N) eep, sorry, I'm a very bad storyteller, and I'm doing that from memory, okie, next chapter will be out hopefully tomorrow! 'Till then.
Spoken