A/N: I'm answering reviews first again. I don't know why.
Review Responses:
Harmony8390, Missteress Sesshomaru, lyn: I'll always update as soon as I can.
CursedMoon, serenity, Liz, Leena LeBeau, ShadowCat711, inuyuyurrk: Thank you for reviewing, your comments are greatly appreciated.
Sw33tVi3t: I hope he kills her too!
inuyasha92689: Well, I updated. Ja ne till the next chapter!
SkyBlueSunShine: Well, there were 1001 nights of stories in Arabian Nights. But it's known as just Arabian Nights, mostly.
Shadow-mai: Lol. That's a very energetic review you gave me.
kagome-1990: I'm sure he will. If you don't mind me asking, how old are you? Just wondering.
sunfire-moondesire: Hmmm... comfy trees... I'm feeling sleepy.
Tigeriskitty: I love your pen name.
shesshys-only-luff: Lol. Hell-arious. What a beautiful word.
Nya Goddess of Shadows: I'm glad you like it.
Sessh's BabyGrl: Yeah. I don't know what I'll do with Kikyo yet. Well, I've got an idea or two.
IcyAsh: grin Keep reviewing.
inuyashagirl5: He probably will, he's not a lazy bum.
yuya2: Lemons are cool. But has recently become stricter... we'll see.
AngelMiko69: Kikyo = Bitch. Why? I don't know. I just write and she comes out that way.
kittykathy: Glad you like them. Look out for more chapters and more stories!
sessygirl: Nah, we'll give Sesshoumaru a break. Would you like to kill her instead? hands a sub-machine gun over
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(A/N: There might be small references made to Inuyasha episode 151. I've tried to avoid a total spoiler but if you haven't watched the episode you might find it slightly confusing.)
Chapter 14: Discussions
It hurt every inch of his body to do so, but Sesshoumaru had already moved an arm and wasn't about to stop there.
Maybe if he could just have his swords...
What was that girl's name again? The one he couldn't remember too well. Could he call for her? She seemed so familiar, so close.
Oh, the old woman was back in his thoughts.
"What do you want, Kaede?" he asked in a bored tone.
"To resume asking you what I was going to ask you the other day," said Kaede.
"I'm not answering your questions," insisted Sesshoumaru. Then, an idea struck him.
"Do you know this girl, called Ka... something?" asked Sesshoumaru.
"Kagome? She's the person I want to talk to you about!"
"Whatever. Do you think you could do me a favor?"
"Maybe," said Kaede suspiciously. It wasn't very often proud taiyoukai asked for favors.
"Can you tell this Kagome to give me my swords? Just let me hold them."
"Why?" Kaede wanted to know.
"Because then I can, hopefully, heal myself. And why am I answering your idiotic queries anyways?" Without waiting for an answer, he fell silent and refused to even listen to Kaede.
Sighing, Kaede extracted herself from his thoughts. She turned to Miroku who was next to her.
"Any luck?" he asked. He didn't think under any circumstances would Sesshoumaru sit through one of Kaede's talks.
"Yes and no. He wouldn't talk to me, but he did ask for his swords. He said it would help him heal faster."
"Well, give them to him," said Miroku like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"No. Have you any idea the risk? Giving Sesshoumaru, of all youkai, back his swords?"
"Kaede, he's wounded. And he's not about to attack Kagome or anyone else, I'm pretty sure of it."
"Yes, but you being sure he won't attack doesn't mean he won't."
"Oh, Kaede, now you sound like a real nagging grandmother."
She smiled in spite of herself. "That's silly. Fine, let Kagome give him his swords. But if anything goes wrong I hold you responsible."
"I stood up for Sesshoumaru, but I never offered to be his vouchsafe," said Miroku, alarmed.
"Oh, but I'm 'pretty sure nothing will happen'," quoted Kaede with a smile.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"He wants his swords?" asked Kagome incredulously.
"Well, he asked for them," replied Miroku, holding out two gleaming blades in front of Kagome. Rin, with her eyes half closed, had tugged on his robes and he scooped her up.
"Really," said Kagome, and took the swords cautiously. One glowed in indignation of being handled in such a disrespectful manner, while the other just radiated pure evil. Kagome nearly dropped it, but stopped herself in time.
"I think one sword at a time will do," she decided grimly and picked up the glowing one. It was obviously Tensaiga, busy pulsing its objection at being touched by any other than its master.
Kagome knelt besides Sesshoumaru and touched his hand gently, coaxing his fingers away from his palm. When a sufficient grip was made, Kagome placed the blade in his hand and closed his fingers around it.
Miroku nodded encouragingly while Rin, worn out from the day's activities, slept on his shoulder.
"Well, I guess we should wait then," said Kagome uncertainly.
"Excellent suggestion. May I make one more? How about you hold Rin?" said Miroku, shifting slightly uncomfortably.
"I'm tired," implored Kagome. "Besides, what's wrong with holding a child?"
"I'm not used to it," persisted Miroku, but he unintentionally tightened his hold on the girl.
Kagome rolled her eyes. "You know, you go around asking women to bear your child. If you did ever get one to do so, who do you think is going to have to hold the child?"
"The mother, of course," said Miroku like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Besides, I can hold boys. But girls... are different."
"How so?" demanded Kagome sharply. "For all your claims of being a ladies' man, I think you need serious reconsideration about you being a family man."
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. Can you hold her now?"
"No," Kagome stated matter-of-factly. "I will stay here and make sure you do it just right."
Miroku blanched. "Kagome... if I've ever done something to you to make you feel upset... I know I do grope sometimes but I've really turned over a new leaf... You can't have to make me do something I can't do!"
"Oh, but you can," Kagome nodded. "No, not so tight, you'll suffocate Rin. She's hardly good practice because she's so old already. If you held a baby half as tightly as you are holding Rin, you'd have a dead child on your hands."
The door to the hut burst open.
"Kagome, do you have anymore ramen? I'm hung-" Inuyasha stopped short at the scene before him.
"Just leaving..." he mumbled and turned to go.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"This is not my idea of fun," grumbled Miroku.
"Well, it wasn't my idea," retorted Kagome. Rin had thought it would be a great idea to go digging for healing roots for Sesshoumaru – Kaede had backed her, and added a list of her own. How they were going to feed Sesshoumaru the roots remained a mystery to Kagome, but Rin insisted on it. She didn't think it was a good idea to upset the girl, and had gone along. Ever since Miroku's episode with the sleeping Rin, she seemed inseparable from him, to his discomfort.
"I don't hate children," he said for the hundredth time, "I just don't feel right around them."
"For you information," Kagome reminded him, "Sango has a little brother only slightly older than Rin. Your future brother-in-law."
"Well, boys are different. I don't know why."
"Yes, you've told me. Which is a surprise – you seem perpetually to be groping women, yet you balk at even innocently carrying little girls."
He started, and smiled. "That's the problem! I think I'm terrified that some nasty thought will pop into my head when I'm around children."
Kagome giggled. "You may be a pervert," she laughed, "but you're not a pedophile."
"Thank god, no," shuddered Miroku.
"Well, now that your mind is clear I'm sure you'll be much more receptive to children," said Kagome.
Receptive... to children... A thought struck Kagome.
"Miroku..." she said, trying not to let her lip tremble, "what date is it?"
He whipped out a small pocket calendar Kagome had given him a while ago. "In your time... I would say... August 16?"
"Oh, shit," swore Kagome, and dashed off to find Kaede.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"I need to wake Sesshoumaru up," announced Kagome to a patient Kaede, who was carefully drying a few herbs.
"For whatever reason, child?" inquired Kaede. "He should be healing by himself, soon enough, since we've given him his swords."
"Please?" begged Kagome. "It's important. "
"Oh?" Two slate-grey eyebrows shot straight up towards the sky. Then, compassion if nothing else took over the woman, and she sighed. "Well, you could get someone to tap into his thoughts, and tell his mind to heal while that same person gives his extra energy. It's never been done before, though. Tapping into a person's thoughts, especially Sesshoumaru's, takes up too much energy for one to further give him energy. I should know – I was in his mind for two minutes and I slept for ages after."
"Thank you, Kaede," breathed Kagome and dashed off towards the hut.
"What's her problem?" asked Miroku with a smiling Rin in tow. "She just rushed off from us, too." He gave Kaede a bundle of roots and leaves.
Kaede picked the bundle up. "Thank you, Miroku. I don't know what's got into Kagome, the child, but I think she wants to talk to Sesshoumaru."
"I gathered as much," answered Miroku, "from the way she ran off."
"Well? Still standing here?"
"Of course not," said Miroku, and darted after Kagome, who was already lost from sight.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"You know I'm not a very well-trained miko," Kagome said to Sesshoumaru, who remained unmoving. "Actually, I don't think I've even had official training."
A silence stonier than death answered her.
"Well, there's nothing really more to say, is there?" asked Kagome, placing her hands on his shoulders. She'd healed before – she'd practically revived a dead Kikyo once. She supposed this wouldn't be really any different.
But the moment a soft light glowed around her hands, showing that her energy was being given away, Kagome could feel the obvious difference. The incident with Kikyo had been tiring on her only for awhile after. This, on the other hand, was just draining her, bit by bit.
Now, to tap into Sesshoumaru's thoughts. She hadn't really tried that before. Exactly how did one enter others' thoughts?
Trial and error, Kagome. Trial and error. She could hear her old math teacher droning on and on again about algebraic expressions and how to use trial and error on them. Trial and error...
Then, she found herself in an inky darkness, with only one person standing in front of her, wearing the tiniest of smirks.
"Hello," Sesshoumaru said icily. "Are you another miko trying to get into my thoughts? I've had two so far. I warn you, I kicked the two out."
"I didn't even get into your mind yet," said Kagome in puzzlement. "What are you doing here?"
"Your amateur attempts were laughable," he explained slowly. "I decided to invite you in. First, state you name."
Something wasn't right.
"Umm... Sesshoumaru?"
There was no response. Ok, she needed a change of tactics. Something was up with Sesshoumaru.
"Kaede said I could wake you up by channeling my energy into you, and tapping into your thoughts, telling your body to heal with the extra energy. Can't you feel it?"
He paused. "Yes. Though I hardly needed your help. Simply holding Tensaiga gives me energy enough to wake up myself up... in a few hours."
"Well, I need to talk to you, really urgently," said Kagome.
He frowned, his forehead wrinkling just a fraction. "But I do not know you." She looked familiar... like the face that kept reappearing over and over in his mind.
"Kagome... Higurashi Kagome..." Kagome waved a hand on his face, to his annoyance. "This game isn't funny anymore."
"This isn't a game!" he said in irritation. "I..." This was harder to admit than he thought, but for some reason, he trusted her. Still... he couldn't admit weaknesses... But the words slipped out.
"I can't remember as much as I used to."
"What?" hissed Kagome, shocked.
Kagome – the name he kept hearing. When he matched the name to the face...
"Wait... You're Kagome?" Sesshoumaru asked. The Kagome. Feeling pleased, he regarded Kagome with a friendlier smirk. "I remember... a bit more." No problem – give him a few more hours with her, and he would have his memory back, as good as before.
Kagome... with a little girl that seemed so familiar... What was her name? Rin...
Kagome... mouthing off to Jaken... Oh, he remembered Jaken now.
Kagome... and him.
He stood silent, letting memories wash over him slowly. Then...
"Talk," he commanded.
"What?" asked Kagome, slightly confused.
"You wanted to 'urgently' discuss something with me. Talk."
Oh my god... this is so embarrassing! Kagome wanted to scream.
"Ok..." she took a deep, deep, deep, breath. "Umm... I'm not sure if you remember... but anyways. Well, there were these men from the Eastern Lands... they were acting rather out of hand. And they... upset me. So you... comforted me...?" Kagome finished, rather lamely, in her opinion. 'Comforted' wasn't a very good word to use.
"Let me try to remember..." He racked his brains hard.
Flashback
His arms holding her tight... His lips pressing onto hers with an urgency he had never known before...
End Flashback
"I think I understand," he said wryly.
"Good. So, well..." Was there a more delicate way to put it? "Well, I was wondering..."
As he remembered more and more of the times spent with her, he learned once again to read her eyes and emotions like he once did. Her face was an open, albeit interesting, book, and he read it quickly. Understanding her dilemma, he smirked even more, contented to let her squirm in embarrassment, unwilling to help her out.
"I was wondering... I..."
Fine, he wasn't that mean and cold-hearted. He would help her.
"You were wondering if you have conceived a child," he said not unkindly, with an air of wisdom not unlike one Miroku would wear. "No, you haven't." And I can't say that's the happiest news I've heard, he added silently.
Kagome nodded, but didn't look too assured. "But... how do you know?"
"Because I would smell it on you. And even if my nose wasn't working, my brain is... well, not just now, but for now anyways."
"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Kagome.
"Everything. But let me wake up first – you can't keep losing energy while we talk."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"What are they saying?" whispered Shippou, ears straining hard, trying to hear what Kagome was saying in the hut. But his youkai abilities were no match for Miroku, Sango, and Inuyasha, who blocked all the gaps and cracks in the door, trying to listen. Shippou was relegated to the door-crack between the others' feet. The problem was, the hut was built in an old-fashioned style – with very little space for a door crack.
"They're not speaking," hissed Inuyasha impatiently.
"I think they are. But in each other's thoughts, so to the outsider everything is silent," explained Miroku.
"But Kagome hasn't learned that kind of magic," said Sango in a hushed voice.
Kaede appeared around the corner, looking sheepish. She'd been listening through the closed window. "She hasn't learned to tap into minds, true. But it doesn't mean she's not capable of doing it."
"Really, you think so? That's scary..."
"Nonsense, that's phenomenal. Be thankful she's on our side, not Naraku's. Hold on... I think I hear them talking." Miroku edged closer to the door.
"Hey! Respect your elders and let me through!" Kaede muttered, trying to get closer.
"You're stepping on me, Inuyasha!" cried Shippou.
"Shut up, you stupid fox!"
"Both of you! Shut your mouths!" commanded Sango.
"He stepped on my tail!" wailed Shippou.
"You idiotic kid! Do you want them to hear us?"
"You're mean!" yelled Shippou and bit Inuyasha's ankle.
"God damn you, you nasty little brat!" Inuyasha yelled, and bopped Shippou on the head.
"Guys, don't -" began Kaede, but it was a bit late. With Inuyasha shoving and Shippou screaming, and Sango and Miroku trying to move out of the way...
The door groaned as though in pain, and fell through.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A minute before...
For the first time in what seemed like forever, Sesshoumaru's eyes flew open. Sitting up straight, he eyed the room he was in.
Small... pathetic... it would have to do. At least he wasn't helpless anymore, and at least his memory had come back.
His gaze switched to Kagome, who was gasping for air, practically straddling him.
"What is up with you?" panted Kagome. "You make me so tired."
"That's because you were talking to me while I was trying to tell you I could get up already, so you could talk to me while I was awake."
"You could've told me," Kagome muttered darkly.
"Next time I will." It was his form of an unspoken apology – it'd better be, thought
Kagome furiously. "So, where were we?" he asked nonchalantly. "I think we were discussing the night where -"
The door fell open.
"Continue like we're not here," said Miroku eagerly in a cloud of dust.
"Oh, god, Miroku, I told you this wasn't a good idea," Inuyasha complained, picking himself up and slowly dusting himself off.
"SIT!" yelled Kagome. Inuyasha crashed head-first towards the ground – right on top of the heap of disheveled bodies.