Shayril: Hiya, everybody!! Here's the next chapter of Tarnished Armor. I'm not going to let me and the others keep you since it's been so long.
Tarnished Armor
Building Bridges Over Rifts
Kagome sat in one of the library's large windows staring out, but her lapis eyes registered nothing. Her mind traversed inner roads, painful roads that needed to be traveled. In her mind she could see herself being violated repeatedly by her betrothed as he tortured her cruelly. Her brain told her that it wasn't him. After all of the evidence she had been given she fully believed that it had been that bastard, Naraku. However, her heart and body kept insisting that it was Sesshoumaru; that her eyes didn't lie to her. She growled in frustration and punched the wall beside the window.
"You will hurt yourself if you do that," a familiar, cold voice commented from behind her.
Her insides froze, but she fought to remain calm as she pulled back her hand to reveal the impression of her fist in the stone. "I don't think so," she said wryly.
She turned to see him leaning against one of the bookshelves wearing his customary white outfit with red cherry blossom design. Vaguely, she wondered how many of those he had. She had seen his haori thrown in the trash heap earlier, too stained with her own blood to be saved. Aki had told her that he had wrapped her in it when he brought her back. With a slight shake of her head she drew her mind back to the moment at hand. As always he looked cool and composed, no emotion showing on his face. His eyes were a different story. Kagome could see concern, anger, and the barest flicker of hurt reflected in them. Somehow she doubted anyone else would be able to, though.
"Are you well?" he asked.
She nodded. "Now that I am a full youkai I heal faster. I'm told I have you to thank for that."
Sesshoumaru inclined his head slightly. "It was the only way to save you. The healers could not stop the internal bleeding."
"Thank you," she said. "Though I wonder if it was such a good idea to save me. I didn't want to come back."
"Yes. I know that. Your mother entered the Dreamscape as your guide to convince you to return." He paused a moment before adding. "We decided that she would be more likely to be able to than I."
Her mouth quirked up into a wry little half smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Wise decision."
"If I had been here this would not have happened."
"I know," Kagome replied. "I also know that it was Naraku and not you. At least... my mind knows. My heart and body are a bit slow on the pick up. It will take a while for my mind to convince the rest of me that they're wrong."
Her intended gave a slight nod of understanding. "I will give you the space you need to heal. I think it goes without saying that the time limit before our wedding has been extended. Indefinitely."
Once again her mouth quirked into a half smile as she attempted to find humor in everything. "I guess this whole experience has been good for something."
Sesshoumaru stiffened. "Indeed," he said coolly. "I must take my leave now. I have matters to attend to."
Before she could say anything he was gone. The air seemed to be a couple degrees colder with his parting. A confused look entered her eyes at the sudden change in his attitude. While he hadn't exactly been warm towards her since their first meeting, with the exception of a few stolen moments, he hadn't been as cold as he was to others. She wondered what brought it about. Thinking over the tail end of their exchange her eyes widened as she actually realized what her last words had been. She had made it sound as if torture and r... rape were comparable to marrying him. The Inu-wolf slapped her forehead.
"Baka! Baka! Baka!" she berated herself.
After a moment she took off to look for him. She had to clear things up before the rift between them grew any larger.
For the next two days Sesshoumaru avoided Kagome. She knew he was in the castle somewhere, but she just couldn't find him. She was beginning to get annoyed with him and was seriously considering not saying anything to him at all. After a few moments she discarded that idea and sighed heavily. Even after what happened to her she was too nice of a person to do that. She had to apologize for the careless thing she said. The only problem was, how do you apologize to someone when they were so good at avoiding you.
He growled. He was so frustrated that he actually growled. That officially made it three dozen times that he had slipped up in the movements of the kata. It shouldn't have happened. Not only was he a master with the katana, but it was also a relatively basic kata. He should have been able to perform it with ease. Taking up the beginning stance once again he started through the exercise. When he slipped up for the thirty-seventh time he lost his composure enough to let a curse pass through his lips. It was that damned girl. Woman, he corrected himself. Technically she's a woman now. He growled again. And that was part of the problem. She was a woman now, which did not go unnoticed by the beast in him. And the beast in him wanted blood because it knew that he wasn't the one to make her a woman even though she was promised to be his mate.
'Admit it,' a voice inside said. That's not the only thing that's bothering you.'
'I have no idea what you are referring to.'
'Liar.'
'How dare you accuse me of something so base.'
'I'm you, so I know the truth. Therefore, I very easily dare to call you a liar. You are.'
'Please, enlighten me.' Somewhere he couldn't help realizing that he couldn't be too sane if he was talking to himself.
'You're upset over what she said in the library. Which is why you've been avoiding her when you know she's been looking for you.'
'I have not been avoiding her.'
'Liar.'
'It is the truth.'
'Uh huh. Sure. I believe you.'
The sarcastic tone wasn't lost on Sesshoumaru as the voice in his head faded. A very slight frown marred his features, barely detectable were anyone to see him, as he thought about what the voice had said. Impossible, he scoffed. I could care less about the woman. As if to prove him wrong the salty scent of her tears reached his nose. Without even thinking he sped from the room in search of her. It didn't take him long to find her sitting across from his father in the older youkai's study.
"See, I told you it would work, my dear," his father told the Inu-wolf.
"Thank you, Inutaisho-sama," Kagome replied with a slight smile.
Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion as his father left them alone. "What is going on? Why were you crying?"
She stood up and faced him. "I wasn't crying."
"Do not lie to me. I smelled your tears."
His betrothed waved that aside. "Oh, those were fake."
Realizing what she said he was now annoyed, with her for faking the tears and with himself for coming running. "Why?"
"I was tired of you avoiding me, so I asked your father for help. He suggested I make you come to me rather than me go to you since I wasn't having much luck with the latter. He said my tears would immediately bring out the protective side of you."
He folded his arms. "Well, it worked. Now that I've come like a good dog, what do you want?"
Kagome flinched at the sarcastic tone in his voice and the slightly hurt look in his eyes. His jaw was locked in anger as he met her gaze. She hadn't meant to do that. Without realizing what she was doing, she stepped up to him and put one of her hands on his.
"Gomen, Sesshoumaru. I did not intend to treat you like a pet."
His golden gaze met her azure one. He tried to remain strong. Honestly he did, but at the sincerely apologetic look in her eyes he just couldn't stay angry with her. Besides, even if the look in her eyes didn't prove how sorry she was then the fact that she was touching him did. He knew it must have taken a lot of courage for her to touch any man, let alone him, after what happened to her. He nodded slightly to indicate that he accepted her apology, cursing himself for being so soft, and watched relief fill her eyes.
"Now, what did you want me for?" Sesshoumaru asked, the tone of his voice not so biting.
"I wanted to apologize for what I said the other day."
He had a nonchalant look in his eyes. "What is there to apologize for? It is no secret that you never wanted to marry to begin with."
Kagome sighed. "It's not the marrying part that I was so set against. It was the part where I had hardly any choice in who I was to marry."
"So then, I am the least of three evils."
"Yes... No... I don't know," she growled in frustration. "And that's what I meant when I said what I did. I was expected to marry you in less than three months and I hardly know you. That's not the way I wanted to start my marriage, to any man. Do you understand?"
"Yes. I suppose it makes sense."
"Our time limit being extended fixes that. Now we can get to know each other better before we get married."
She could see Sesshoumaru's eyes widen slightly in surprise. "You still intend to marry me despite what happened?"
Kagome smiled, a little brighter this time. "Of course. As I told you the other day, my mind knows that it wasn't you, that you would never hurt me. The rest of me just has to catch up. Besides, I wouldn't last a minute married to Inuyasha or Kouga before I cursed them into oblivion. Verbally and magically. Inuyasha out of anger because of his stupidity and Kouga out of sheer annoyance."
Despite himself, Sesshoumaru snickered at the mental image that provided. She smiled up at him. It wasn't quite as bright as it used to be before Naraku's attack on her, but it was getting there.
On the other side of the door Inutaisho and Hyouga, whose auras and scents had both been masked to avoid detection, grinned at each other. Perhaps things would work out after all. As they continued staring through the keyholes their wives came up behind them.
"And what are ye up to?" Kaede asked.
The males jumped in surprise before turning to face the women with pleased smiles on their faces.
"Oh nothing," Hyouga said.
"Just watching bridges being built," the Inu–taiyoukai added.
Their wives watched curiously as they headed down the hall before shaking their heads in bemusement and heading on their own way.
Shayril: There ya go, people!! I hope you liked it. Sesshoumaru: How could they possibly enjoy me being so weak? Shayril: Weak? What weak? Did anyone here think of him as weak? (Chorus of 'No's come out of nowhere. Shayril grins smugly at the taiyoukai.) Shayril: See? You weren't weak. Sesshoumaru: What would you pathetic humans know? Kagome: (Softly) I don't think you were weak, Sesshoumaru. I think you were sweet. (Sesshoumaru inclines his head towards her, but says nothing.) Shayril: (Grins) Well, we gotta go. Don't forget to review. Ja ne!
Tarnished Armor
Building Bridges Over Rifts
Kagome sat in one of the library's large windows staring out, but her lapis eyes registered nothing. Her mind traversed inner roads, painful roads that needed to be traveled. In her mind she could see herself being violated repeatedly by her betrothed as he tortured her cruelly. Her brain told her that it wasn't him. After all of the evidence she had been given she fully believed that it had been that bastard, Naraku. However, her heart and body kept insisting that it was Sesshoumaru; that her eyes didn't lie to her. She growled in frustration and punched the wall beside the window.
"You will hurt yourself if you do that," a familiar, cold voice commented from behind her.
Her insides froze, but she fought to remain calm as she pulled back her hand to reveal the impression of her fist in the stone. "I don't think so," she said wryly.
She turned to see him leaning against one of the bookshelves wearing his customary white outfit with red cherry blossom design. Vaguely, she wondered how many of those he had. She had seen his haori thrown in the trash heap earlier, too stained with her own blood to be saved. Aki had told her that he had wrapped her in it when he brought her back. With a slight shake of her head she drew her mind back to the moment at hand. As always he looked cool and composed, no emotion showing on his face. His eyes were a different story. Kagome could see concern, anger, and the barest flicker of hurt reflected in them. Somehow she doubted anyone else would be able to, though.
"Are you well?" he asked.
She nodded. "Now that I am a full youkai I heal faster. I'm told I have you to thank for that."
Sesshoumaru inclined his head slightly. "It was the only way to save you. The healers could not stop the internal bleeding."
"Thank you," she said. "Though I wonder if it was such a good idea to save me. I didn't want to come back."
"Yes. I know that. Your mother entered the Dreamscape as your guide to convince you to return." He paused a moment before adding. "We decided that she would be more likely to be able to than I."
Her mouth quirked up into a wry little half smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Wise decision."
"If I had been here this would not have happened."
"I know," Kagome replied. "I also know that it was Naraku and not you. At least... my mind knows. My heart and body are a bit slow on the pick up. It will take a while for my mind to convince the rest of me that they're wrong."
Her intended gave a slight nod of understanding. "I will give you the space you need to heal. I think it goes without saying that the time limit before our wedding has been extended. Indefinitely."
Once again her mouth quirked into a half smile as she attempted to find humor in everything. "I guess this whole experience has been good for something."
Sesshoumaru stiffened. "Indeed," he said coolly. "I must take my leave now. I have matters to attend to."
Before she could say anything he was gone. The air seemed to be a couple degrees colder with his parting. A confused look entered her eyes at the sudden change in his attitude. While he hadn't exactly been warm towards her since their first meeting, with the exception of a few stolen moments, he hadn't been as cold as he was to others. She wondered what brought it about. Thinking over the tail end of their exchange her eyes widened as she actually realized what her last words had been. She had made it sound as if torture and r... rape were comparable to marrying him. The Inu-wolf slapped her forehead.
"Baka! Baka! Baka!" she berated herself.
After a moment she took off to look for him. She had to clear things up before the rift between them grew any larger.
For the next two days Sesshoumaru avoided Kagome. She knew he was in the castle somewhere, but she just couldn't find him. She was beginning to get annoyed with him and was seriously considering not saying anything to him at all. After a few moments she discarded that idea and sighed heavily. Even after what happened to her she was too nice of a person to do that. She had to apologize for the careless thing she said. The only problem was, how do you apologize to someone when they were so good at avoiding you.
He growled. He was so frustrated that he actually growled. That officially made it three dozen times that he had slipped up in the movements of the kata. It shouldn't have happened. Not only was he a master with the katana, but it was also a relatively basic kata. He should have been able to perform it with ease. Taking up the beginning stance once again he started through the exercise. When he slipped up for the thirty-seventh time he lost his composure enough to let a curse pass through his lips. It was that damned girl. Woman, he corrected himself. Technically she's a woman now. He growled again. And that was part of the problem. She was a woman now, which did not go unnoticed by the beast in him. And the beast in him wanted blood because it knew that he wasn't the one to make her a woman even though she was promised to be his mate.
'Admit it,' a voice inside said. That's not the only thing that's bothering you.'
'I have no idea what you are referring to.'
'Liar.'
'How dare you accuse me of something so base.'
'I'm you, so I know the truth. Therefore, I very easily dare to call you a liar. You are.'
'Please, enlighten me.' Somewhere he couldn't help realizing that he couldn't be too sane if he was talking to himself.
'You're upset over what she said in the library. Which is why you've been avoiding her when you know she's been looking for you.'
'I have not been avoiding her.'
'Liar.'
'It is the truth.'
'Uh huh. Sure. I believe you.'
The sarcastic tone wasn't lost on Sesshoumaru as the voice in his head faded. A very slight frown marred his features, barely detectable were anyone to see him, as he thought about what the voice had said. Impossible, he scoffed. I could care less about the woman. As if to prove him wrong the salty scent of her tears reached his nose. Without even thinking he sped from the room in search of her. It didn't take him long to find her sitting across from his father in the older youkai's study.
"See, I told you it would work, my dear," his father told the Inu-wolf.
"Thank you, Inutaisho-sama," Kagome replied with a slight smile.
Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion as his father left them alone. "What is going on? Why were you crying?"
She stood up and faced him. "I wasn't crying."
"Do not lie to me. I smelled your tears."
His betrothed waved that aside. "Oh, those were fake."
Realizing what she said he was now annoyed, with her for faking the tears and with himself for coming running. "Why?"
"I was tired of you avoiding me, so I asked your father for help. He suggested I make you come to me rather than me go to you since I wasn't having much luck with the latter. He said my tears would immediately bring out the protective side of you."
He folded his arms. "Well, it worked. Now that I've come like a good dog, what do you want?"
Kagome flinched at the sarcastic tone in his voice and the slightly hurt look in his eyes. His jaw was locked in anger as he met her gaze. She hadn't meant to do that. Without realizing what she was doing, she stepped up to him and put one of her hands on his.
"Gomen, Sesshoumaru. I did not intend to treat you like a pet."
His golden gaze met her azure one. He tried to remain strong. Honestly he did, but at the sincerely apologetic look in her eyes he just couldn't stay angry with her. Besides, even if the look in her eyes didn't prove how sorry she was then the fact that she was touching him did. He knew it must have taken a lot of courage for her to touch any man, let alone him, after what happened to her. He nodded slightly to indicate that he accepted her apology, cursing himself for being so soft, and watched relief fill her eyes.
"Now, what did you want me for?" Sesshoumaru asked, the tone of his voice not so biting.
"I wanted to apologize for what I said the other day."
He had a nonchalant look in his eyes. "What is there to apologize for? It is no secret that you never wanted to marry to begin with."
Kagome sighed. "It's not the marrying part that I was so set against. It was the part where I had hardly any choice in who I was to marry."
"So then, I am the least of three evils."
"Yes... No... I don't know," she growled in frustration. "And that's what I meant when I said what I did. I was expected to marry you in less than three months and I hardly know you. That's not the way I wanted to start my marriage, to any man. Do you understand?"
"Yes. I suppose it makes sense."
"Our time limit being extended fixes that. Now we can get to know each other better before we get married."
She could see Sesshoumaru's eyes widen slightly in surprise. "You still intend to marry me despite what happened?"
Kagome smiled, a little brighter this time. "Of course. As I told you the other day, my mind knows that it wasn't you, that you would never hurt me. The rest of me just has to catch up. Besides, I wouldn't last a minute married to Inuyasha or Kouga before I cursed them into oblivion. Verbally and magically. Inuyasha out of anger because of his stupidity and Kouga out of sheer annoyance."
Despite himself, Sesshoumaru snickered at the mental image that provided. She smiled up at him. It wasn't quite as bright as it used to be before Naraku's attack on her, but it was getting there.
On the other side of the door Inutaisho and Hyouga, whose auras and scents had both been masked to avoid detection, grinned at each other. Perhaps things would work out after all. As they continued staring through the keyholes their wives came up behind them.
"And what are ye up to?" Kaede asked.
The males jumped in surprise before turning to face the women with pleased smiles on their faces.
"Oh nothing," Hyouga said.
"Just watching bridges being built," the Inu–taiyoukai added.
Their wives watched curiously as they headed down the hall before shaking their heads in bemusement and heading on their own way.
Shayril: There ya go, people!! I hope you liked it. Sesshoumaru: How could they possibly enjoy me being so weak? Shayril: Weak? What weak? Did anyone here think of him as weak? (Chorus of 'No's come out of nowhere. Shayril grins smugly at the taiyoukai.) Shayril: See? You weren't weak. Sesshoumaru: What would you pathetic humans know? Kagome: (Softly) I don't think you were weak, Sesshoumaru. I think you were sweet. (Sesshoumaru inclines his head towards her, but says nothing.) Shayril: (Grins) Well, we gotta go. Don't forget to review. Ja ne!