Disclaimer: I still don't own Inuyasha but I'm working on it (Yeah right, it's never gonna happen I can be sure of that)
Twisted Love
Chapter Two
Unwanted Touch, Cloaked Mystery
Kagome hurried back to Sesshoumaru's estate climbing in through a window so she didn't wake anyone least of all Sesshoumaru himself. She went straight to Sango's room, knocking hesitantly. She waited for Sango to come to the door looking up and down the hall making sure she hadn't disturbed anyone. Sango opened the door quickly. "Get in here." She said grabbing Kagome by the wrist and yanking her through the doorway. She closed the door softly before turning on Kagome.
"Kagome what's wrong with you? First you go and get my day off ruined, then you have Sesshoumaru looking for you and you're no where to be found. Where have you been?" She hissed. Sango stood legs apart arms held across her chest tightly, glaring at Kagome.
"I'm so sorry Sango I really didn't mean to." She walked over to Sango. "I never meant for him to do that, I know how much you wanted to see your little brother. I wish you could go. I wish I was still stuck with doing chores but I have to have dinner with Sesshoumaru and I can't even see Inuyasha tomorrow." Kagome looked down to her feet. "But wishing isn't going to do me any good now is it?"
"I'm sorry Kagome. I didn't mean to blame it on you I know it's not your fault that idiot Sesshoumaru's doing this, it's just that I'm so mad at him for doing this to me. I must've gotten a little carried away. I didn't mean to yell at you like that but Sesshoumaru scared me when he came in asking for you. He was so forceful. I didn't want you to get in trouble so I told him you just got back from your bath and were changing in the back room. I was so afraid he would call out for you and find I was lying." Sango put a hand behind her back wincing in imagined pain. "That was only a little while ago and he said he would be back soon."
Kagome felt terrible. Now she'd gotten Sango into more trouble. She would have to get herself out of this one. She walked over to the corner of Sango's room grabbing a pitcher of water off of a small table. Carrying it lightly in her hands she hurried to the back room.
A somewhat confused Sango followed her through the door. She stripped out of her thin nightgown and threw it at Sango who quickly moved to catch it. "I'll go get you something to put on. Be right back."
Kagome tipped the pitcher over her head letting the water drench her hair. She shivered as icy rivers rushed down her back and over her breasts flowing down her legs into small pools at her feet. She stood savoring the feeling of the cool clear water sinking into her skin, and rolling across her body. She loved how it made her feel as if she were not only cleansing herself but her soul as well. She placed the pitcher carefully on the floor and grabbed the towel Sango offered her. She dried herself slowly then put on a short nightgown she got from Sango.
"Come, let me brush your hair and we can talk." Sango reached for Kagome's arm and directed her back into the front room to a cloth covered stool. She sat down smoothly and leaned back as Sango ran a comb through her hair. She stared up at the ceiling aimlessly.
"What's going on between you and Lord Sesshoumaru anyway?" Sango asked as she put down the comb in favor of a brush.
"Nothing." Kagome said forcefully. "I mean I don't like him or anything but he seems to be acting rather nice to me lately. Maybe a little too nice. Not that that matters to me; Lord or not I'm not going to be his bitch. Somehow I think I'd rather burn in hell." She giggled quietly. Sango had a way of saying "Lord" as if it were an insult in itself, but Kagome hadn't quite mastered it yet and it sounded rather silly when she tried to mimic Sango's version of it.
"Sesshoumaru couldn't get a dog to be his bitch. I don't know why he wastes his time with people. He should've stayed with Kikyo she was worse than a dog, but at least she followed him around like she was one." Sango barely finished the statement before she dropped the brush and collapsed to the floor laughing. Kagome's laugh joined hers only a second later. "Shit Kikyo might as well have been a dog she sniffed his ass enough times." Sango lay on the ground clutching her stomach. "That's not very nice Kagome. We all know Kikyo was just a suck-up." Kagome couldn't stop laughing. She knew they should be quieter in case their glee brought the Lord to the door but she couldn't resist making fun of Lord Sesshoumaru at a time like this and she needed a break from all her worrying. She swayed in her chair as she reached down to help Sango up from the ground. She was almost up when she slipped pulling Kagome down with her. They landed sprawled out across the floor the stool rolling across the ground beside them.
A sharp knock at the door silenced them instantly. "Lord Sesshoumaru." Kagome whispered fearfully. She prayed that he would believe that she had been here the whole time. She could already imagine how he would punish her as she stood to replace the stool to its standing position. She stood next to it adjusting its cloth cover while Sango scrambled up to get the door. Kagome was fairly amazed at how well Sango composed herself before reaching out to grasp the door handle. She watched silently as the door creaked open and Sesshoumaru stepped inside.
"I trust you had a nice bath Kagome." He eyed her suspiciously but did not push any further into the matter. She couldn't help thinking that he'd known where she'd been this whole time. It made her nervous to think he knew about Inuyasha. He was a forceful demon and she knew she would be severely punished for sneaking out and disobeying him in such a way. She could still remember how he had punished Shippou for sneaking out to see a girl. He'd had problems walking for a whole month afterwards. She brushed the idea from her mind looking towards Sesshoumaru as he addressed Sango and herself.
"It's late you know and remember you're going to have a busy day tomorrow with it being laundry day and market day." He snickered quietly under his breath. "Come on now Kagome get to your quarters, you wouldn't want Sango to be tired tomorrow would you? She's going to be up very early and she doesn't need you to keep her up all night." He motioned to the door gesturing for her to leave. She walked by him cautiously giving Sango a weak smile as she inched herself out the door careful not to come anywhere near Sesshoumaru's outstretched hand but still trying to seem as inconspicuous as possible. She stumbled out the door and began walking briskly down the hall. She could hear Sesshoumaru saying something to Sango about losing another day off if she didn't get all her work done tomorrow. She imagined the dark glare that would slide across her friend's face as soon as Sesshoumaru's back was turned. None of them liked his Lordship and she wondered if he even cared. He was so emotionless and uncaring but perhaps it was only because they were his slaves. She heard the door close softly and quickened her pace to stay ahead of Sesshoumaru. She didn't need him to make any passes at her.
She reached her door and moved to open it. It opened easily and smoothly but just as she was about to walk inside a hand appeared to push the door back closed. Sesshoumaru. She turned to see him one hand held out holding the door closed the other against the wall blocking her from moving. She looked up to see his face soft and smooth framed in his long white hair his eyes glowing. She turned away looking at the floor the wall anywhere but into those eyes. They were too familiar to her but she could not place why, somehow she was afraid to.
Sesshoumaru took his hand from the wall and reached out to her his fingers brushing her jaw line. She was so young her skin so velvety smooth a creamy peach in contrast to her deep obsidian locks. He felt her shrink from his touch. He pushed slightly turning her to face him. She looked up at him her eyes diverted somewhat to the side. His talons slid down to her mouth deftly tracing the outline of her lips. He felt her move away. He wasn't worried; the door would stop her.
He was too close. Kagome couldn't get away from him. She felt trapped by his touch by his body overshadowing her. She felt something inside her stir at his touch but would only be repulsed by his attention. She leaned against the solid oak of the door behind her as Sesshoumaru hovered over her moving closer every second. She trembled in dismay as his hand, fingers delicate and graceful began attempting to raise her chin. She tried to hold it down looking towards her feet but he succeeded in raising her head and her eyes. She looked into his eyes squirming as he bent down to kiss her on the cheek. His touch was like acid she pushed against him fighting to get away but he held her there for a second until he withdrew his lips from her and leaned back.
Her face was a bright red. He hoped she was only bushing it would be a shame if she were angry. He laughed within his head. She had no choice he was her master and could do as he pleased. He waited for her to calm down a bit before he said goodnight. "Sleep tight Kagome, sweet dreams. I want you to be well rested for dinner tomorrow night. Wouldn't want you to fall asleep in your food." He chuckled evilly as he sauntered off to his own quarters which lay at the end of the hall and up the stairs.
Kagome turned swiftly snatching at the handle and wrenching the door open. She scrambled into her room all but slamming the door behind her. How could she have let that happen? Sesshoumaru was disgusting. She longed to run to Inuyasha to have him wrap his arms around her, then everything would be okay. But she still could not bring herself to tell him. It would cause too many problems. She knew Inuyasha would want her to be free. But it was impossible and she didn't want to loose him. She was sure that once the Lord found out about him she would never be able to leave this wretched place, especially not to visit Inuyasha.
She felt so horrid, so violated. She hurried over to a table pouring water from a pitcher into a small bowl. She put it down when the bowl was halfway full. Her hands flew at the water getting handfuls at a time and washing her face. She rubbed at her cheek roughly. She could still feel Sesshoumaru's lips burning on her skin. She washed until her cheek was sore and her face was red.
She left what was left of the water in the bowl and slumped off towards her bed. She got in slowly pulling the covers all the way up to her chin as she had done when she was a child. For long hours she lay motionless while sleep avoided her. She thought of Inuyasha and her old life of Sesshoumaru and tomorrow night's dinner. Finally drifting off to sleep hoping tomorrow would turn out better.
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Kagome woke up early the next morning. She dressed quickly in a thin frock the color of the sky lined with a light green. It was her favorite it reminded her of Inuyasha and she needed that. She looked for Sango in her room and in the kitchen then ended up finding her in the stable loading a hoarse with a pack. "Ready to go already?" Kagome was amazed Sango was never in a hurry to get to the market. "Yeah. I didn't want to stay very long in that fools company." She gestured across the lawns to Miroku who was bent over the flowerbeds watering the flowers and young buds. Kagome chuckled. Sango and Miroku were always arguing over something but they always made up. Their arguments were always over the silliest things and they both knew it. They were never forceful but always more playful when it came to each other. She knew that before the end of the day they would be laughing with each other again.
She helped load the horse. Sango mounted it as Kagome mounted her own horse, a fair white mare with a silvery mane. Sango's horse was almost the exact opposite dark black with a shadowy mane flowing down its neck. They trotted to the edge of the lawn were it met the path. Kagome waved back at Miroku as he watched them leave. Sango only stuck up her nose in mock anger as they pranced by. He smirked back at her holding back a laugh. They rode out past the house and then through the rot iron gate it's metal twisted in sharp coils around itself in a swirling design as cold and foreboding as the cruel master of the house. They rode on until the house was out of sight then Kagome's horse cantered to a halt. She let out a sigh. "Thank God." She whispered barely audible. "What? Kagome did you say something." Sango looked at her curiously. Kagome turned looking startled. "Oh, I'm sorry I was only talking to myself."
They started up at a fast prance saying nothing to each other for a long time until again Kagome broke the silence. "Sango, I don't know what to do. I can't disobey Sesshoumaru but I don't want him near me I can't handle it. And what would Inuyasha think of me. A little whore I'm sure." Her voice was weak but her anxiety was easily detected. Her face was somewhat frantic but Sango knew she was holding back so much grief already, this could only make it worse. "Kagome," She tried comforting her friend as they continued down the dusty path, "please don't worry about it. If you ignore the Lord for long enough I'm sure he'll give up. Remember when Kikyo went off and left him for his brother a few years ago. He was so angry. He wouldn't leave her alone. Poor girl I actually feel sorry for how he pestered her. But she ignored him and he gave up. He'll do the same if you just ignore him."
Kagome knew Sango had a point but she could find no way around her dinner with Sesshoumaru tonight and was still recovering from his touch only last night. She fingered the scars across her back, her lovely skin had been marred forever. Ignoring the Lord would only earn her more of them. She had to stop his come-ons somehow why not Sango's way? She could handle his whip if only to spite him but she knew she wouldn't be able to handle Inuyasha if she let the Lord find out about him. She would just have to be careful.
They rode on, the city coming into sight along the horizon. It wasn't a small city compared to some but it wasn't exactly a large city. Kagome had always liked it here because everyone seemed to know everyone else and it was almost like one big family. It was a quaint little city each house adorned in flowers and kept spotless. The rolling hills that surrounded it were dotted with the white fleece of several sheep their shepherds true and dedicated leaning against the trunk of a tree or sitting high in the branches surveying their fold. The market was a buzz of activity but it was none too crowded. As they neared they could hear the sounds of people buying and selling their goods. They both dismounted carefully leading the horses to the nearest hill entrusting them to a spirited shepherd who calmly took the reins and led the horses to a suitable grassy area.
Kagome and Sango headed for the market place. They bought everything they had come for including a little extra for their lunch. The merchants were cheerful as they handed over the goods for the small golden coins that seemed to flow from Sango's and Kagome's hands like small rivers. They ended up with fifteen packages of carefully wrapped food. Half of it they stuffed carefully into the saddlebags the other half they carried off to the edge of the city. The packages were heavy and the going was slow so it took them almost an hour to get there. There it was the small isolated shack looming darkly ahead of them on the outskirts of civilization.
Kagome reached it first pulling a key from her pocket careful not to drop any of her packages. She opened the door slowly and walked in. She blinked trying to adjust her eyes to the gloomy half-light of the shack. She placed the packages on a table looking for the one that held their lunch. Unable to find it she took the current packages to a back room, Inside the room it was cold and dark the air moist. A hole took up most of the floor space. It was only two feet deep but several more wide. She placed the packages inside the hole they would stay cool there until they got back. There were too many packages to carry back in one trip and by the time they got back all the merchants had closed up their shops and moved on so they usually left half here and made two trips to carry it all. She rose stiffly brushing the dust from her dress. Returning to the front room she almost bumped into Sango as she hurried through the doorway carrying her own packages to dump into the hole.
She picked up the package Sango had deposited on the table apparently this was the one that held their lunch. She waited for Sango to return before hurrying out of the dark little shack into the bright midday sunlight and locking the door. It always gave her the creeps to be in that place so dark and dank. Somehow it almost reminded her of a crypt, empty and desolate the stench of death seeping through the air. She shivered even though it was no where near cool outside. They walked back into the main village looking for a suitable hill to eat their lunch on. They found one, a large oak tree standing at its highest point. Sitting underneath it Kagome handed Sango a roll of fresh bread, a hunk of cheese, and an apple, setting the same out before her. They shared a flask of raspberry cordial eating in silence each thinking about one thing or another, or one person or another.
As Kagome finished the last of her apple she stood to help Sango up. "Back to work. I just can't wait." Sango shuffled to her feat following after her slowly. "What fun." She replied sarcastically. They thanked the shepherd boy for his services giving him a couple gold coins for his time, mounted their horses and took off for home if it could even be called that.
"I think I'm going to ignore him like you said Sango." Kagome said after they'd been riding for a while.
"Good for you Kagome." Her friend replied encouragingly. "I hope it works. I really do. He doesn't deserve you anyway. Just think of Inuyasha. It'll get you through the pain. It's always worked for me." Kagome knew she was meaning Miroku, already forgetting their previous argument. Just as predictable as ever.
"Thanks Sango you're right I can make it." In the back of her mind she thought of the new scars that would most likely be lacing across each other along her back soon. She hoped she could handle it. She pushed her worry away and changed the subject. "Can I ask, what did Miroku do now?"
"What?" Sango seemed mildly startled. "That little pervert. Needs to keep his hands out of places they don't belong if you ask me. Humph. Last time I try and help him water the garden. As if he needed to be all up on me just to show me how much water to give each plant. Sometimes he disgusts me." She sounded angry but knowing her friend it was most likely a pretense if anything could be discerned by her bright red cheeks, somehow unlike anything that said "angry".
"Not again. But he only just tried this last week." Kagome tried desperately to hold in her glee. "I thought he would have learned his lesson by now. And to think he calls himself a gentleman. That's just horrid." She looked away from Sango laughing loudly. Sango pretended to be angry at her for several minutes but eventually a smile slowly spread across her own face and she joined Kagome in her hysterics.
After a few more laughs and a quite few more miles they reached Sesshoumaru's estate. They put the horses in the stable for only a few minutes as they removed the packages from the saddlebags and carried them into the kitchen. They set them on the table, it was Miroku's job to put them away so they hurried back outside getting back on the horses for their second trip.
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Inuyasha slumped down against a tree stump sweat making his hair cling to his naked upper body. He'd been working on Kaede's roof all morning climbing up and down the ladder with large baskets of wood and shingles. She was an old friend of his, unable to fix the many holes in her roof that the wind and rain had opened. Whoever had attempted to fix it the first time had done a poor job and along with the new holes many of the old ones had resurfaced worse for the wear. He hadn't finished yet but he needed a rest and the cup of cool water that Kaede offered was welcome.
He wondered what Kagome's friend had needed her for and he hoped that she was having fun. She was sometimes a little indifferent and even stand-offish if people made her angry or disrupted her feelings. He could fix things like that but he did feel bad knowing that she was hurting. He hoped he would see her tomorrow. He would wait for her in the clearing for a while before he returned to Kaede's to help her with some fence she was complaining had fallen over. That lady was much nicer when Kagome was around. Calmer too. At the moment he was lucky to have a break from her ranting. You would think he'd no idea what he was doing by the way she yelled criticism up at him from her seat at the foot of the ladder.
Until tomorrow. He hoped, thinking of his beloved Kagome as he rose to continue his work on that wretched lady's roof.
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Kagome and Sango had rode their horses straight up to the shack not wanting to walk a long way with the packages. It was getting closer to evening and the sky was a blood red sharp gold rays bursting through it in a last effort as the sun sank defeated below the horizon. In the half light Kagome found the key and unlocked the door she held it open for Sango as she slid in to grab the leftover packages. Kagome let the door close slowly as she turned back to the horses to open their saddlebags making it easier for Sango to put her packages inside of them. She was walking back to the house quickly to get the rest of the packages when she ran into something hard blocking her path. She almost fell backwards but caught herself grabbing for what had been in her way. It appeared to be a dark cloaked figure it's face hidden in shadow. It held out a white hand to help her she took it hesitantly feeling its cold seep into her own hand a feeling of cruel hatred. Her hand shook in fear and once she was standing she let it go quickly bringing her hand back to her side.
"Who are you?" She managed to choke out in a shaking voice. The figure was swathed in a strange mist and its face was dark.
"That is not important at the moment." A distinctly feminine voice emanated from the hooded face. "But this is".
Again the white hand rose up, coming closer and closer. Kagome notice a small white envelope enclosed in the woman's thin sharp fingers. She backed away instinctively as the woman held it out to her.
"Here. This is a letter for your master the Lord Sesshoumaru." She spat out his name in a similar fashion to the way Sango called him Lord. "Take it to him."
Kagome didn't want to touch that hand again, didn't want to take the letter. She scooted away again frightened of the woman's presence.
"Take it!" The woman demanded in an almost scream.
Unbidden Kagome's hand flew out grasping the letter and taking it from the woman slowly. She clutched it tightly in fear staring at the cloaked figure. The woman stared back for a short moment before her hand reached up again this time to grab her shoulder. She tensed at the touch the strong hold making her arm hurt.
"Don't you dare open it. Do you understand me? Because if you do you won't live to see another sunrise." Pure anger was rippling through her voice.
Kagome nodded slowly unsure of what to do hoping the woman would release the hold she had on her arm.
A loud crash was heard behind them. Sango stood in the doorway packages fallen to the ground half their contents flooding out onto the dirt. She stared opened mouthed at the two of them. Looking back at the mysterious woman Kagome felt her hold loosen and then drop. The woman disappeared in a thick cloud of swirling mist.
A/N: Sorry this chappie took so long to get out my comp was havin internet problems. Hope you liked it. Please review I right faster when I think people actually care ya know. Anyways I should have the next chappie in less then three days. Sorry I type really slow. Ciao!