The Guise of Apathy
By: Rachel Elizabeth
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Kagome looked up from his one arm and her eyes went wide. In the light—with his features glowing by the light of a new day, his face had contorted into a soft look that seemed out of place, but Kagome thought that that was about the nicest thing he could have done for her. Not only was he softening up, but also he was worried about her health and that was swe—CAPTOR! Think captor, Kagome. He has you locked in a room and will not let you leave his castle.
Sesshoumaru growled at the immediate change in her scent and started leaning towards her. Instinctively, she moved to go back against the bed, away from him and the heat that he started permeating, but instead of growling at her and going away as she had hoped, he moved down with her. She was now pinned with her back against the bed and Sesshoumaru's right arm on the other side of her form, blocking her between his arm and his tall form. Sesshoumaru snarled at her again, closer to her face than she had ever had him before and Kagome's life flashed briefly before her eyes.
Sesshoumaru looked at her eyes glazed over with fear and he realized for the first time that the girl's scent was more pleasing than he'd like to admit. He wanted to bite her; he wanted to prove to her and anyone that even had an inkling of doubt that she belonged to this castle and more importantly; him. Sesshoumaru snarled low in his throat again and before his brain connected with his mouth, he had sunk his teeth into her bottom lip and reveled in her yelp.
Finally, finally.
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—Matters of intrigue—
Sesshoumaru briefly closed his eyes at the contact that heated up between them. Not only was biting her more exciting than he had originally thought, but it was the most permanent mark he could think of at this point. Since she was human, he could not, obviously, mark her and claim her to be his mate. Her scent had also begun to change as the wind again; she was no longer permeating that frightened scent, but a scent more feminine than she could imagine. Lightly, Sesshoumaru grabbed her neck by his claws and lifted her body closer to his so that the contact made her breath catch in her throat.
Kagome barely had enough time to register the fact that her body had been slammed against Sesshoumaru's before she realized that a heat had started to spread through her body and warm her veins. Once in awhile Kagome would doubt the masculinity of this man, however that minute doubt stopped right now. She could feel her heart against his, almost as though it was in sync with hers, pounding fiercely, unable to rush blood to other parts of their bodies fast enough. His chest was warm and demanding; he wanted no less than he took. He did not demand anything from Kagome that she was not willingly giving to him and a fierce growl took to his throat and Kagome's body purred her approval.
Before Kagome could even begin to understand or anticipate feelings, Sesshoumaru had knocked her back on the bed, away from him. Silently, he stood and glared daggers at the door, unable to move, not wanting to move. The girl had, once again, disrupted the peace of his castle and he had had more than enough. Whether he realized it or not, perhaps it was time for the girl to go back to her companions. Sesshoumaru silently snorted at that thought; it would be as if he was acquiescing to Inu Yasha and he would never allow that foolish mutt to think that he had. So the question now became what to do with the girl to occupy her time and keep her as far away from him as possible.
Kagome gasped and sighed and Sesshoumaru briefly turned around to watch her lick her lip to clean off the dried blood. She sat there, in the middle of his huge bed and moistened her lips several times to clean herself, but it was to no avail and Sesshoumaru kept getting closer to cleaning her himself. Impudent girl—"What did you do that for?" Kagome demanded, her voice cracking.
Sesshoumaru only raised an eyebrow at her question and before he could stop the words he stated, "Impudent girl, you ask too many questions. I, Sesshoumaru have no need to answer any of your demands—"
"Still with the 'I, Sesshoumaru'? Don't you ever get sick of being so darned wonderful? I understand—"
"You obviously do not. Humans do not interrupt—"
"Kami, but you are irritating! Do you ever listen to yourself? When Kaede put that necklace around Inu Yasha's neck I think she put it around the wrong brother. Boy, what I would do to be able to control—"
"I would not succumb to a mere human, girl and you forget yourself."
Kagome hummed low in her throat, her temper had exploded and she was going to kill this man if he stood in her room any longer. "God you're so frustrating. Get out of my room! I'm going to kill you. Do you understand?"
Before Kagome even realized what she had said, Sesshoumaru was once again standing in front of her bed and leaning in front of her face, his eyes turning a dark pink. Kagome silently swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, too afraid to move or say anything else to him. "Let us clear things up. You are in my room, under my command, girl. Do not forget your place again." With that, and a quick glance over his shoulder, Sesshoumaru walked out of the room and locked the door behind him.
The lout thinks that he hasn't done anything wrong and more than anything, I just want to smack that stupid look off his face. He obviously does not want me in his home anymore than I want to be here, so why is he holding me captive? A brief image of Inu Yasha popped in Kagome's head and she sighed. Why else would he keep her here except for his pride?
When night fell, Kagome heard the distant sound of crickets chirping but she found no comfort in their song. It seemed as if they were singing of a lost world, a world that they once knew but could never go back to and—
Kagome, this is ridiculous. You are making analogies between yourself and crickets; you need to get out of here. Kagome briefly glanced at the door, sighing to herself that it was probably hopeless to try and escape. The man was a machine; he never let anything . . . or anyone out of his sight for more than a couple of minutes. His trust only went so far. So where exactly did that leave her and that . . . bite that he had given her? Out in la-la land obviously, the man didn't even blink when he walked out the door. He just stormed out like he always does; as though I have ultimately done something wrong. One of these days that pride of his is going to get him in a lot of trouble. Kagome snorted. Who am I to say it hasn't already? When Inu Yasha finds Sesshoumaru's castle he's going to be furious. I hope Sesshoumaru understands the intrigue that he has gotten himself in to. Kagome frowned, unsure of where that thought had come from. Since when did she even care what happened to Inu Yasha's brother? She didn't.
Inu Yasha looked at Shippou who had not stopped wailing since Kagome's disappearance. Inu Yasha had not yet told the group that he could smell Sesshoumaru's scent all over Kagome's hut, thinking that that could only make the matter worse. He despised his brother, true, but he did not want his friends involved in his family disputes. There was no need for them to try and fight Sesshoumaru pointlessly and die because that is exactly what would happen. None of the humans could fight against Sesshoumaru and live to tell the story of it, no matter who they were.
So what exactly was Inu Yasha supposed to do with them so that he could go off and try and find Kagome . . . alone? The more he thought of the irritating group the more frustrated he became, humans didn't know when to leave him in peace. It was always the same thing with them and he understood that they were his friends and he would protect them to their very last breath, but he liked his privacy at times. Privacy seemed like a foreign word to him recently, ever since Kagome had disappeared—ever since Kagome had been taken. Inu Yasha had grown wearier without the girl around him constantly. Even Sango had commented about his abundance of grouchiness lately, and Inu Yasha had always thought that she was the one person who would keep to her own. However, the point seemed moot now that Kagome had been taken. Each of the members of the group had been affected in their own way, some more than others.
The night that Kagome had disappeared, the stupid kitsune had come screeching outside screaming unintelligibly about big white horses and candy. Inu Yasha had blown it off as a normal bout of kid nonsense until he took a sniff at the air and could no longer smell Kagome's scent anywhere near the village. Since that night, Shippou clung to Sango's shoulder, too afraid to go near Inu Yasha without Kagome around to watch over him. Every night after the night that Kagome had been taken Shippou slept with Sango, and cried himself to sleep, wailing Kagome's name in the night, in his dreams. Inu Yasha swore they were more like nightmares, with a screech like Shippou's. Poor Sango tried to alleviate Shippou's crying every night, but each time she stroked his head or tried to whisper to him softly, the kitsune seemed to bawl louder than before, encouraged. Inu Yasha made a point of telling Sango not to egg the kitsune on, for what it was worth, but she muttered under her breath, "too bad that necklace only works for Kagome".
Each day that went by without Kagome seemed to make Sango less and less friendly. Inu Yasha betted that because she slept with a wailing kitsune every night and barely got enough sleep was merely putting her in a genuinely bad mood, which he could have sworn that only the monk could have accomplished. Every chance that Sango got she would send glares of death over to Inu Yasha and he would merely perk up his ears and stay away from the taiji-ya as long as humanly possible, or until dinner was served. For some reason that was unbeknownst to Inu Yasha, the taiji-ya seemed to think that Kagome's disappearance had something to do with him. Inu Yasha clearly did not understand how Sesshoumaru's taking of the girl had any significant relevance towards him. However, Inu Yasha was too irritated to argue with the woman on subjects that she clearly had no clue of. Each day that passed by, Inu Yasha also noticed that Sango seemed to get friendlier with the monk, and he could swear that the monk had not had a good beating in a good week. Even in the monk's own queer way he too seemed affected by the absence of Kagome.
Granted the monk would never speak of his problems out loud or for that matter, never speak of things that troubled him with other people, but Inu Yasha could tell that the monk was deeply troubled that something had happened to Kagome. Inu Yasha could swear that he was genuinely concerned for Kagome, but Inu Yasha reminded himself that the monk could never be concerned with anything other than . . . whatever it was that he wanted to do with all those women. However, ever since Kagome's disappearance the monk had eaten less and spoke even less. This was probably due to the lack of good food, but even Sango's repartee did not seem to knock him back to reality. Inu Yasha watched him at night; he watched him stare at the fire and he often wondered what had the monk so deep in thought. After that thought, he realized that the only thing that could possibly be going through the monk's mind was Sango, lying next to him, naked. Pervert.
So, the issue on hand then had turned out how to leave the group behind and keep them behind for this mission that he himself had to accomplish on his own. However, the more Inu Yasha contemplated leaving the group behind the more he realized the strength of the group. Each person had their own talents, but together, they were the best group of shard hunters—ever to live. Perhaps, then, the best course of action was not to merely leave them out of the game place. Perhaps the best plan was to tell them what he knew and bring them with him. After all, Sesshoumaru wasn't idiotic enough to have done anything to the girl.
This girl was getting to him, she was making her way into his head and he could not do anything to extricate himself from her. She was obnoxious, human, loud, human, inane, human . . . to even list the girls' faults would have taken him too long. Why was he worried about thinking of her bad qualities? He needed to oust her from his thoughts permanently, he needed to stop seeing her, and he needed to stop checking on her to make sure that she had eaten. He should not care whether the girl had enough sense to eat the dinner that had been left for her. She did not seem to care about anything much and Sesshoumaru idly thought that her temperament was the only redeeming quality that she possessed. Scratch that, she was also the most loyal person that he had met . . . unlike his brother who had abandoned him in the midst of a battle to chase after a—miko.
Just like the girl that was sitting in one of his rooms. What about this girl made his brother lose all of his sense? What was so special about a measly human wench?
"I am so sick of you. I despise you. Are you doing this for the Tetsusaiga?" the human wench had somehow escaped her room and had immediately come running for him. "You can't even hold it, you—you freak!" she spat at him, her fists clenching and unclenching murderously.
Sesshoumaru merely looked at the girl with his collected calm and said nothing. If the girl thought that he would explain his actions when she had something other than talk on the mind then she was sadly mistaken. Though she probably knew not, her actions screamed of a challenge and if that was what she truly wanted, Sesshoumaru was not one to disappoint. And yet again, her fists clenched at the silence and she took a threatening step towards him, yet Sesshoumaru merely waited.
"Speak, you dimwit! God, what I would do for a necklace right now to tie your feminine butt to the ground." With those words, she had finally sealed her fate, to think that she could tell him that she could, under any circumstance control him as she did with his dear brother.
Quickly removing himself from the chair that he had occupied, he menacingly stood in front of her, towering over her and growling low in his throat. Kagome visibly swallowed, but did not move from the spot that she had taken in front of him. There was no way that she would allow herself to be bullied by someone that obviously did not want to harm her. Kagome had theorized that the brute put on a show for everyone around him, but taking in Rin and showing kindness to her had shown his real self, if not to the world, to her.
"I do not need the Tetsusaiga." It was amazing what standing up for yourself could get accomplished. Kagome gave herself a mental high five, but as soon as she relaxed, Sesshoumaru had taken a step closer to her and she could barely breathe between their bodies. "Your purpose is much more useful than that."
Kagome seethed, it was just like Sesshoumaru to give encoded messages. "What does that mean?" Unintentionally, her fists clenched again at her sides, but Sesshoumaru merely observed and took no course of action.
"My matters and what I choose to do with you are none of your concern unless you are otherwise told so. Do you not understand your position, human?" Sesshoumaru asked, merely curious at her reaction.
Kagome stomped her foot, angrily. "Augh!" It figured that Sesshoumaru wouldn't feel the need to tell her what he planned to do with her. "I understand perfectly, your highness," she scathed at him, her top lip furling, ready to growl.
"You are the oddest human." With that, and not a glance back [as if he would!] Sesshoumaru walked away, ordering Jaken to walk her back to the room that he so "graciously" [his word] allowed her to stay in.
Well, Kagome thought, I'd like to tell him what he can do with his kindness! He can certainly stick that attitude somewhere where the sun don't shine! As Jaken led her away from Sesshoumaru, who had seated himself at the table again, Kagome turned back around towards him and stuck out her tongue at him.
Sesshoumaru, however, did not react and Kagome thought that that was all the better. When she got to the doorway, she once again turned around and glared angrily at him sitting at the table, and she thought that she saw him lift his right arm and touch his bottom lip. Immediately, her hand shot up to her own bottom lip and she felt the stitches that had been put in her lip to alleviate the bleeding. She realized then, for whatever reason, what that mark on her lip meant . . . and why he had reminded her.
She ran to her room and locked the door, to be left in peace so that she could weep for her loss.
