It is I, Jjah-Jjah! I'm baaacck! And I got lots and lots and bunches of
reviews! I'm as happy as a hog in slop... God, I spend waaayy too much time
around my family... Oh, and I found Ed, my muse! Apparently, he was at
mars, but he came home before I could go get him. He never did get any
tater tots! The UPS guy dropped him off with my new CD... Yeah... I've
decided that if this fic had a theme song it would be In The Shadows by the
Rasmus... (yay!) Ok... Lots of reviews... Let's do this...
Miko Sorrow: Thank you so much!
Shiori-chan: Oooh! Thanks for putting me in your faves! You're a darling person.
dancing-by-moonlight: Thank you for reviewing! Tehehe..
Mirokou Sempai-Crazy: Thank you! Just so ya know, not this chapter, but the next one, we get a little glimpse of what happen to poor Sesshie. Yay!
Tokyobabe2040: Thank you, that's so nice of you to say! And thanks for bringing Ed's whereabouts to my attention. He's back now. He shall suffer...
Stacerue: You like my humor? YAY! You're a nice person, I like you. Thanks for reviewing!
Lady Death: (blushes) Thank you! You're very nice. A lemon? Er, well... Probably not... I have enough trouble writing just normal romance... There might be something implied though... Oh well, I won't know till I get there... Bai!
Defafaeth Mechqua: Ha! You have uncovered a plot twist by accident! There indeed shall be a new cat and special ness shall ensue!!!!
japaneseangel12: Thank you! You're nice! Can't wait to hear from you again!
Rageful Jewel: Thank you. The red light Kagome saw doesn't really have anything to do with Sesshoumaru. It was partly an omen that something bad was about to happen (Inu/Kikyo and being sucked back into the present) and partly there because I saw something like it not too long ago near my house...
desy: Gah! Someone should just get out a flamethrower and torch the woman... Arrgh. Oh well... Thanks for telling me!
sanieSaiyan: Thank you! I was worried about keeping him is some semblance of character; it's so hard!
WinterBlossom/YukiSakura: Thank you! Hope to hear from you again!
RyuuKumiko: Thanks for the review! Trina3: Thank you for reviewing!
soul: Thank you! I will, don't worry. The truth shall be revealed!!!
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Gah! That was a lot of reviews... (pants) But not you get to read the chapter!!! Aren't you pleased? Ne ways, just so you know, I don't really think I did as good a job on this one, but it needs to be here, so.... ONWARD!!! To the disclaimer!
Disclaimer: (insert mad scientist music and lightning/thunder) Gentlemen! I do not own Inuyasha! Muahahahahaha! (phone rings) Release the phone spiders!!!!
(PS: If you get it, I'll give you a Klondike bar)
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Chapter Three: Birds Without Wings
When the morning came the sun was shining and the birds sang as loudly as they possibly could, almost as if to make up for lost time. There was hardly any indication of the past few day's tumultuous weather. It was almost as if everything was a dream.
'But it wasn't.' Kagome mused internally. The very real inu youkai that prowled around the shrine was testament enough for that. After breakfast, Sesshoumaru had gotten up and began walking around the grounds. She couldn't tell if it was to check the place for booby traps or just to get some privacy. Maybe it was bit of both. Either way she didn't mind. She needed to get the house ready for the dishwasher delivery people anyway. She started by tidying up the kitchen and then she found a way to prop the door open. She also sat a few towels down so that they wouldn't scratch the floor in the exchange. When she found that there was nothing more she could do to her satisfaction, she headed outside to once again to contend with the evil leaves.
"Sweep, sweep, sweep." Kagome muttered to herself. "All I ever do is sweep." She banished a particularly annoying pile off the pavement with an aggressive swipe of her mighty broom and then stopped and sighed. It was early morning and she was already bored. She looked out over the shrine's spectacular view of the city. Making a rectangle with her thumbs and pointer fingers she began following the flight path of a pair of pigeons as if filming a movie. The bird's wings shone blue in the sunlight as they slowly rode an air current back to the rooftop of a random building. Few things seemed so free as a bird. What was it about them that made them so deserving of wings?
Settling the broom onto her shoulder she glanced over to where she had noticed Sesshoumaru settle down out of the corner of her eye earlier. What was he doing? She couldn't tell.
She walked over to the Taiyoukai; his back was to her.
"Hi!" She said cheerily, and before she could continue he turned around and fixed her with a glare that clearly conveyed that it was not a beautiful and splendid morning. It was then that she saw what he was doing: Sesshoumaru, the great inu Taiyoukai, was trying with all his might to detangle his hair without going insane... And he didn't look like he was succeeding...
"Um... Do you need some help?"
The inu lord turned his back on her without answering, clearly dismissing her.
'But he didn't say no!' Kagome thought to herself. She ran back into the house just long enough to find a brush and then she came out again. When she sat behind the youkai he stiffened.
"What are you doing?"
"Helping you get all these tangles out. You know, you should really take better care of your hair." She said the last part under her breath, but Sesshoumaru heard it and barely suppressed a growl. How dare the human reprimand him? However, since he was impatient enough to get his hair back to its former glory, he allowed the comment to slide.
The task took at least two hours with both of them working at it. Kagome used the brush while Sesshoumaru used his claws and slowly, the matted chunks of hair became familiar silky locks again. Kagome had tossed all the untangled hair over her shoulder so that she could get to the tangles better, but when all the tangles were gone she pulled the soft mass down and was momentarily stunned.
'Damn. His hair smells really good!' She thought absently. It caught the light and gleamed so brightly, that for a moment her eyes teared up. 'Like going snow-blind...' She began brushing the hair out, marveling at the way she didn't hit a single snag. It seemed very nearly alive; she could feel it even as she ran her hands through it. It wasn't until Sesshoumaru cleared his throat that she realized just how much attention she had been lavishing on him.
"Whoops, sorry! I guess we got all the tangles out huh?" She laughed nervously and scratched her head, rising to her feet in the process.
"So it would seem."
She stood there and for one moment, a gentle breeze came up and Sesshoumaru's hair billowed and shone under it's ministrations. For that moment, with the sun shining down, the breeze, and the Taiyoukai's presence, Kagome sensed that the shrine had somehow been transformed into a sanctuary. By what and for whom, she had no idea and the sensation was gone as quickly as it came.
"Meow." said Buyo as he waddled over. Sesshoumaru looked disdainfully at the animal and moved his ankle when the cat gave it an appraising sniff.
"Hello mighty hunter!" Kagome greeted him. Buyo came over and rubbed against her for a minute and then wandered off elsewhere.
"That is what you use to control the vermin here?" Sesshoumaru's tone held a great deal of incredulity.
"Yeah, well kinda." Kagome answered. "At least that used to be one of his primary functions, but now that he's so old he can't really catch mice anymore."
Sesshoumaru was silent for a moment. Then, "If the creature has outlived his usefulness, then why do you not get rid of it?"
Kagome was shocked. "Because he's my cat and I love him, that's why!"
He looked back at her, his icy gaze meeting her fiery one.
"Foolish." He said, almost bitterly and then stood up and began to walk away. Unwilling to end the conversation, Kagome called out to him.
"Hey. Would you like a tour of the grounds? I can put an interesting slant on it."
He shrugged and followed her.
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"And this," Kagome continued, "is the Goshinboku tree. This is where Kikyo sealed Inuyasha for 50 years. You can still see the scar in the bark where he was stuck."
Kagome looked over at the youkai lord out of the corner of her eye to see how this line of information was affecting him. She wasn't sure how he would react to her talking about Inuyasha. After all, she knew the hanyou wasn't his favorite person. He didn't seem to be mad, though. He was just staring up at the tree with a blank look on his face and that didn't seem to be too unusual for him...
"This tree," He suddenly spoke, "is very old."
"Yes it is." She agreed. He nodded and started away.
"I wish for you to show me this well of yours."
A few moments later the door of the well house slid open for the first time in years. The sunlight shone down through the dust and gave Kagome the courage to walk down the stairs and over to the lip of the small structure. She could not see Sesshoumaru, but she knew he was there, right behind her. She grasped the side of the well like she had hundreds of times before and looked experimentally over the edge of it. The ladder that had been placed there so that she could get in and out easier was still there. She bit back an involuntary sob.
"Why do you want to see this? It doesn't work anymore, you know. Not even with the Shikon no Tama." She pulled the sacred jewel out from where it was concealed around her neck and held it in the palm of her hand. Its pale glow illuminated the interior of the dim well house. She turned and looked over at the youkai who was fixing her with a gaze that was equally as pale. "Do you want the Shikon no Tama?" She asked. This was the one reason that she had never truly considered Sesshoumaru an enemy. He had never coveted the Shikon shards. He had never seemed touched by their enticing power. He had been satisfied with what he was, but now... Was he satisfied with what he was now? She felt numb in that pale red- lidded gaze of his.
One moment they were just standing there looking at one another and the next she could feel the needle-like prick of claws at her throat. He wasn't trying to strangle her or crush her windpipe as she would expect in such a situation. His hand was just loosely curled around her neck, the claws that he had digging into the skin just enough to show how sharp they were. He didn't need to hurt her to show her that he was angry. He just had to remind her that he was dangerous.
"This Sesshoumaru," He began, his voice clipped and freezing, "despite what conclusions you might have drawn, is an honorable one. I would not sink so low as to use that thing to make me more than I am... Any being be they youkai or human would have to be sick-minded to think that the Shikon no Tama can change anything." He stopped and tugged her resisting form closer so he could stare directly into her eyes. "And this Sesshoumaru's mind is completely clear."
Kagome's heart stuttered in her throat and then he was gone. She stood there for several minutes trying to puzzle out what had just happened.
"I made him mad." She said, stating the obvious. She looked at the jewel that was still in her palm and snapped her hand shut. Asking him if he wanted the Shikon no Tama was apparently an affront to his dignity. She certainly wouldn't bring it up again. That is, if she hadn't driven him off with her line of questioning. She hoped not. Despite the danger she knew she was in, she also knew she would rather have him around than not and that really confused her. Was she that lonely? She sighed and put the jewel back around her neck. She would have to apologize next time she saw him.
Her musing was suddenly broken by the sounds of someone moving around the shrine and calling out. "The delivery guys!" She said to herself and ran up the stairs, sliding the door shut behind her.
The dust settled and the Bone-Eater's Well went back to sleep again.
"Hello!" she called running up.
It was the delivery men and they were huffing and puffing and looked decidedly irritable from dragging the new dishwasher up the shrine steps. As politely as she could, Kagome explained where she wanted them to go and what she wanted done. The elder of the two men was nice and compliant but the younger of the two, who was more her own age, simply rubbed the miko the wrong way.
"You know, you should really live in a place that easier to get to, lady." The boy in question scowled.
"Sorry! It's an ancestral home. I wasn't exactly around when they were building it to tell them to make it more accessible to deliveries." Kagome smiled from ear to ear and hoped to God they would leave quickly. Once they were in the house and the elder man had tinkered with the old appliance enough, he concluded that the reason it had malfunctioned was because the people who installed it in the first place were brainless idiots.
"Now see here." He said pointing at a pipe-thing that was indistinguishable from all the others. "This was supposed to be connected here, but those bozos connected it over here! You can't connect it there, the water backs up and the whole thing gets ruined!"
Kagome nodded and tried to pay attention, but she was more focused on the other man. He was looking around at everything far too thoroughly for his own good. It was almost like he was casing the joint. It gave her the creeps. About an hour later, the new dishwasher was installed and the old one was on its way to join the tan rug. Damn. She needed to buy a new rug too, didn't she? She waved the men off after she helped them get the old dishwasher down the stairs (it seemed cruel not to) and then started back up to sanctuary to find Sesshoumaru.
'Here I am thinking of it as sanctuary again...' She thought to herself.
She wandered around looking for a while and found nothing. Feeling a bit anxious, she began to call his name.
"Sesshoumaru! ... Sesshoumaru, where are you? ... I need to talk to you! ... Sesshoumaru!"
She got an answer when she passed by the Goshinboku.
"Higurashi."
She heard it when she was taking a breath. She walked over to the base of the great tree and looked up into its boughs. The Taiyoukai was reclined gracefully among the lower limbs. Still, he was several feet above her head and was peering down at her like guru on top of a mountain.
"I need to tell you something..." She murmured guiltily, knowing that he could hear her. Sesshoumaru waited for her to continue for a while, but then realized that she wasn't going to say what she wanted until he got down. He simply shifted and let himself fall, smirking inwardly at her gasp, and landed gracefully on his feet inches in front of her.
"Yes?" He said, looking down. She was so short.
"Yes, well... I'm sorry."
The inu youkai raised a pale brow.
"I mean," She went on, "I'm sorry that I implied that you wanted the jewel like that. It was wrong of me. After all, I never really considered you my enemy because I knew you never wanted it... Anyway, I really apologize."
Sesshoumaru looked at her and felt some strange emotion that he identified as surprise. He hadn't been surprised in what seemed like ages. He certainly hadn't expected an apology from the human. He hadn't even expected her to have an inkling of the reason why she had set him off. He was so unused to anyone knowing what he was, much less who he was, that he was unsure of how to act.
"You say you do not consider me an enemy, yet I remember many battles." Changing the subject was always a solid option.
"Well yeah." Kagome said, surprised that he seemed to have accepted her apology, "You were always Inuyasha's enemy, not mine..."
They were silent for a moment, then she thought of something. "Well, maybe you could have been considered my enemy that time you tried to kill me in your father's tomb, but you seemed to be doing that just to hurt Inuyasha, so I guess that doesn't count against me... Besides, Inuyasha tried to kill me the first time we met so it doesn't really matter."
"The hanyou tried to kill you?"
"Yeah. He thought I was Kikyo. I guess I can understand that."
Sesshoumaru snorted. "I once had the misfortune to meet the dead miko and if Inuyasha was unable to distinguish between you, then he was much greater imbecile than I gave him credit for..."
The statement was merely a thinly veiled Inuyasha degradation, but Kagome couldn't help to feel a little glow at his words. She smiled. They began to walk down a random path. They didn't say anything aloud, but Kagome's mind was ablaze with thought. What now? She wanted Sesshoumaru to stay. Dare she ask him? Dare she ask how he had managed to end up sprawled out starving in some alley? Hell, she might as well get it over with.
"Sesshoumaru, would you..." She trailed off when she saw that he wasn't paying a bit of attention to her and was looking off to the left of the path by a small tree. She squinted her eyes to perhaps see what had caught his attention and when she finally realized what it was, she was off towards the tree like a shot.
"BUYO! DROP IT!!!" She bellowed. Unbeknownst to her, both cat and youkai winced at the volume of her voice. Buyo scrambled away from his prize and went off somewhere to sulk. Kagome, dropped down on her knees and shielded the quivering clump of feathers with her hands, cooing comforting nonsense.
It was a baby sparrow. Well, not really a baby, baby sparrow as it was summer, but it was still pretty young. It had all of it's adult feathers and the only things that belied its age was the slightly oversized wedge of his beak and the pitiful peeping noise it was emitting.
"Stupid cat." she muttered angrily under her breath, "He can terrorize poor little defenseless birds, but he can't get icky little mice. Pah."
She scooped up the little bird in her hands and could feel its little heart beating furiously against her palm. Belatedly, she hoped it didn't have mites and plopped down to sit on the ground, unintentionally leaning back into Sesshoumaru, who had snuck up on her. She froze and blinked up at him. He looked like some kind of avenging angel. His eyes held hers in predatory sway. His markings seemed to stand out against the paleness of his features more than they ever had before.
"Why did you save that creature," He asked, "When it is the cat's nature to hunt?"
Kagome's brow furrowed in confusion. "But it's just a baby bird. I couldn't just let him kill it. It can't even fly."
"Yet you would deny the cat the thrill of the hunt? Domesticated, how can he go on living if he is not allowed to follow his instincts? Is it not more cruel to rob him of this, than it is to sacrifice the life of a single common bird?"
Kagome looked up at him and sensed that he was talking about something very important.
"I can see what you mean, but Buyo doesn't hunt because he's hungry or anything. He eats cat food. Besides, hunting a bird doesn't really mean anything. Mice can cause damage. They soil your food and they can chew through electrical wires and cause fires. All birds do is sing and build nests. I think if you're going to hunt something, it's better to hunt the mouse, because it had more meaning. There's a reason. At least it's a lot better than killing something just to be killing it."
Sesshoumaru was not looking at her anymore. His head was tilted up slightly, but she didn't think he was turning up his nose at her stupidity. Slowly, he turned and walked over to a tree a few yards away that came with a pair of birds making a frightful din.
"This is the tree the nest is in. The bird was probably knocked out during the storm."
Kagome smiled and rushed over to stand beside him, looking up and searching the branches for the nest. She spotted it about halfway up and immediately sat down and removed her sandals and socks, knowing that it's a lot easier to climb a tree barefoot than not. Holding the bird in one hand, she maneuvered herself up into the branches and then over to the nest. One other little bird was crouched down frozen in the bottom; a little living statue. The miko smiled and placed the sparrow back it in his nest and then began descent... She lost her footing just when she was almost down.
"Crap!" She yelped. It wasn't far enough down to cause injury, but she was horribly embarrassed about having a klutz attack, much less in front of Sesshoumaru. She braced for impact but none came. The Taiyoukai lowered the miko to the safety of the ground and then let go of her waist. Kagome looked up at his searchingly for a moment before speaking.
"Uh. Thank you."
He nodded in response.
"Will have lunch with me Lord Sesshoumaru?" She asked.
The youkai stared at her for a long minute.
"I will."
"Thank you."
Kagome collected her footwear and started back to the house. Sesshoumaru stared after her and wondered just who this strange woman was, and what exactly, she was thanking him for...
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And so, it ends... Well not really... Life goes on, tomorrow birds will sing. Oscar the Grouch rules. Ect, Ect... Well, leave a review when you head out. I need something to buy stir fried ramen from my fav eating place. (goooood ramen.) Ok R&R.
Tata, JJ
Miko Sorrow: Thank you so much!
Shiori-chan: Oooh! Thanks for putting me in your faves! You're a darling person.
dancing-by-moonlight: Thank you for reviewing! Tehehe..
Mirokou Sempai-Crazy: Thank you! Just so ya know, not this chapter, but the next one, we get a little glimpse of what happen to poor Sesshie. Yay!
Tokyobabe2040: Thank you, that's so nice of you to say! And thanks for bringing Ed's whereabouts to my attention. He's back now. He shall suffer...
Stacerue: You like my humor? YAY! You're a nice person, I like you. Thanks for reviewing!
Lady Death: (blushes) Thank you! You're very nice. A lemon? Er, well... Probably not... I have enough trouble writing just normal romance... There might be something implied though... Oh well, I won't know till I get there... Bai!
Defafaeth Mechqua: Ha! You have uncovered a plot twist by accident! There indeed shall be a new cat and special ness shall ensue!!!!
japaneseangel12: Thank you! You're nice! Can't wait to hear from you again!
Rageful Jewel: Thank you. The red light Kagome saw doesn't really have anything to do with Sesshoumaru. It was partly an omen that something bad was about to happen (Inu/Kikyo and being sucked back into the present) and partly there because I saw something like it not too long ago near my house...
desy: Gah! Someone should just get out a flamethrower and torch the woman... Arrgh. Oh well... Thanks for telling me!
sanieSaiyan: Thank you! I was worried about keeping him is some semblance of character; it's so hard!
WinterBlossom/YukiSakura: Thank you! Hope to hear from you again!
RyuuKumiko: Thanks for the review! Trina3: Thank you for reviewing!
soul: Thank you! I will, don't worry. The truth shall be revealed!!!
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Gah! That was a lot of reviews... (pants) But not you get to read the chapter!!! Aren't you pleased? Ne ways, just so you know, I don't really think I did as good a job on this one, but it needs to be here, so.... ONWARD!!! To the disclaimer!
Disclaimer: (insert mad scientist music and lightning/thunder) Gentlemen! I do not own Inuyasha! Muahahahahaha! (phone rings) Release the phone spiders!!!!
(PS: If you get it, I'll give you a Klondike bar)
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Chapter Three: Birds Without Wings
When the morning came the sun was shining and the birds sang as loudly as they possibly could, almost as if to make up for lost time. There was hardly any indication of the past few day's tumultuous weather. It was almost as if everything was a dream.
'But it wasn't.' Kagome mused internally. The very real inu youkai that prowled around the shrine was testament enough for that. After breakfast, Sesshoumaru had gotten up and began walking around the grounds. She couldn't tell if it was to check the place for booby traps or just to get some privacy. Maybe it was bit of both. Either way she didn't mind. She needed to get the house ready for the dishwasher delivery people anyway. She started by tidying up the kitchen and then she found a way to prop the door open. She also sat a few towels down so that they wouldn't scratch the floor in the exchange. When she found that there was nothing more she could do to her satisfaction, she headed outside to once again to contend with the evil leaves.
"Sweep, sweep, sweep." Kagome muttered to herself. "All I ever do is sweep." She banished a particularly annoying pile off the pavement with an aggressive swipe of her mighty broom and then stopped and sighed. It was early morning and she was already bored. She looked out over the shrine's spectacular view of the city. Making a rectangle with her thumbs and pointer fingers she began following the flight path of a pair of pigeons as if filming a movie. The bird's wings shone blue in the sunlight as they slowly rode an air current back to the rooftop of a random building. Few things seemed so free as a bird. What was it about them that made them so deserving of wings?
Settling the broom onto her shoulder she glanced over to where she had noticed Sesshoumaru settle down out of the corner of her eye earlier. What was he doing? She couldn't tell.
She walked over to the Taiyoukai; his back was to her.
"Hi!" She said cheerily, and before she could continue he turned around and fixed her with a glare that clearly conveyed that it was not a beautiful and splendid morning. It was then that she saw what he was doing: Sesshoumaru, the great inu Taiyoukai, was trying with all his might to detangle his hair without going insane... And he didn't look like he was succeeding...
"Um... Do you need some help?"
The inu lord turned his back on her without answering, clearly dismissing her.
'But he didn't say no!' Kagome thought to herself. She ran back into the house just long enough to find a brush and then she came out again. When she sat behind the youkai he stiffened.
"What are you doing?"
"Helping you get all these tangles out. You know, you should really take better care of your hair." She said the last part under her breath, but Sesshoumaru heard it and barely suppressed a growl. How dare the human reprimand him? However, since he was impatient enough to get his hair back to its former glory, he allowed the comment to slide.
The task took at least two hours with both of them working at it. Kagome used the brush while Sesshoumaru used his claws and slowly, the matted chunks of hair became familiar silky locks again. Kagome had tossed all the untangled hair over her shoulder so that she could get to the tangles better, but when all the tangles were gone she pulled the soft mass down and was momentarily stunned.
'Damn. His hair smells really good!' She thought absently. It caught the light and gleamed so brightly, that for a moment her eyes teared up. 'Like going snow-blind...' She began brushing the hair out, marveling at the way she didn't hit a single snag. It seemed very nearly alive; she could feel it even as she ran her hands through it. It wasn't until Sesshoumaru cleared his throat that she realized just how much attention she had been lavishing on him.
"Whoops, sorry! I guess we got all the tangles out huh?" She laughed nervously and scratched her head, rising to her feet in the process.
"So it would seem."
She stood there and for one moment, a gentle breeze came up and Sesshoumaru's hair billowed and shone under it's ministrations. For that moment, with the sun shining down, the breeze, and the Taiyoukai's presence, Kagome sensed that the shrine had somehow been transformed into a sanctuary. By what and for whom, she had no idea and the sensation was gone as quickly as it came.
"Meow." said Buyo as he waddled over. Sesshoumaru looked disdainfully at the animal and moved his ankle when the cat gave it an appraising sniff.
"Hello mighty hunter!" Kagome greeted him. Buyo came over and rubbed against her for a minute and then wandered off elsewhere.
"That is what you use to control the vermin here?" Sesshoumaru's tone held a great deal of incredulity.
"Yeah, well kinda." Kagome answered. "At least that used to be one of his primary functions, but now that he's so old he can't really catch mice anymore."
Sesshoumaru was silent for a moment. Then, "If the creature has outlived his usefulness, then why do you not get rid of it?"
Kagome was shocked. "Because he's my cat and I love him, that's why!"
He looked back at her, his icy gaze meeting her fiery one.
"Foolish." He said, almost bitterly and then stood up and began to walk away. Unwilling to end the conversation, Kagome called out to him.
"Hey. Would you like a tour of the grounds? I can put an interesting slant on it."
He shrugged and followed her.
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"And this," Kagome continued, "is the Goshinboku tree. This is where Kikyo sealed Inuyasha for 50 years. You can still see the scar in the bark where he was stuck."
Kagome looked over at the youkai lord out of the corner of her eye to see how this line of information was affecting him. She wasn't sure how he would react to her talking about Inuyasha. After all, she knew the hanyou wasn't his favorite person. He didn't seem to be mad, though. He was just staring up at the tree with a blank look on his face and that didn't seem to be too unusual for him...
"This tree," He suddenly spoke, "is very old."
"Yes it is." She agreed. He nodded and started away.
"I wish for you to show me this well of yours."
A few moments later the door of the well house slid open for the first time in years. The sunlight shone down through the dust and gave Kagome the courage to walk down the stairs and over to the lip of the small structure. She could not see Sesshoumaru, but she knew he was there, right behind her. She grasped the side of the well like she had hundreds of times before and looked experimentally over the edge of it. The ladder that had been placed there so that she could get in and out easier was still there. She bit back an involuntary sob.
"Why do you want to see this? It doesn't work anymore, you know. Not even with the Shikon no Tama." She pulled the sacred jewel out from where it was concealed around her neck and held it in the palm of her hand. Its pale glow illuminated the interior of the dim well house. She turned and looked over at the youkai who was fixing her with a gaze that was equally as pale. "Do you want the Shikon no Tama?" She asked. This was the one reason that she had never truly considered Sesshoumaru an enemy. He had never coveted the Shikon shards. He had never seemed touched by their enticing power. He had been satisfied with what he was, but now... Was he satisfied with what he was now? She felt numb in that pale red- lidded gaze of his.
One moment they were just standing there looking at one another and the next she could feel the needle-like prick of claws at her throat. He wasn't trying to strangle her or crush her windpipe as she would expect in such a situation. His hand was just loosely curled around her neck, the claws that he had digging into the skin just enough to show how sharp they were. He didn't need to hurt her to show her that he was angry. He just had to remind her that he was dangerous.
"This Sesshoumaru," He began, his voice clipped and freezing, "despite what conclusions you might have drawn, is an honorable one. I would not sink so low as to use that thing to make me more than I am... Any being be they youkai or human would have to be sick-minded to think that the Shikon no Tama can change anything." He stopped and tugged her resisting form closer so he could stare directly into her eyes. "And this Sesshoumaru's mind is completely clear."
Kagome's heart stuttered in her throat and then he was gone. She stood there for several minutes trying to puzzle out what had just happened.
"I made him mad." She said, stating the obvious. She looked at the jewel that was still in her palm and snapped her hand shut. Asking him if he wanted the Shikon no Tama was apparently an affront to his dignity. She certainly wouldn't bring it up again. That is, if she hadn't driven him off with her line of questioning. She hoped not. Despite the danger she knew she was in, she also knew she would rather have him around than not and that really confused her. Was she that lonely? She sighed and put the jewel back around her neck. She would have to apologize next time she saw him.
Her musing was suddenly broken by the sounds of someone moving around the shrine and calling out. "The delivery guys!" She said to herself and ran up the stairs, sliding the door shut behind her.
The dust settled and the Bone-Eater's Well went back to sleep again.
"Hello!" she called running up.
It was the delivery men and they were huffing and puffing and looked decidedly irritable from dragging the new dishwasher up the shrine steps. As politely as she could, Kagome explained where she wanted them to go and what she wanted done. The elder of the two men was nice and compliant but the younger of the two, who was more her own age, simply rubbed the miko the wrong way.
"You know, you should really live in a place that easier to get to, lady." The boy in question scowled.
"Sorry! It's an ancestral home. I wasn't exactly around when they were building it to tell them to make it more accessible to deliveries." Kagome smiled from ear to ear and hoped to God they would leave quickly. Once they were in the house and the elder man had tinkered with the old appliance enough, he concluded that the reason it had malfunctioned was because the people who installed it in the first place were brainless idiots.
"Now see here." He said pointing at a pipe-thing that was indistinguishable from all the others. "This was supposed to be connected here, but those bozos connected it over here! You can't connect it there, the water backs up and the whole thing gets ruined!"
Kagome nodded and tried to pay attention, but she was more focused on the other man. He was looking around at everything far too thoroughly for his own good. It was almost like he was casing the joint. It gave her the creeps. About an hour later, the new dishwasher was installed and the old one was on its way to join the tan rug. Damn. She needed to buy a new rug too, didn't she? She waved the men off after she helped them get the old dishwasher down the stairs (it seemed cruel not to) and then started back up to sanctuary to find Sesshoumaru.
'Here I am thinking of it as sanctuary again...' She thought to herself.
She wandered around looking for a while and found nothing. Feeling a bit anxious, she began to call his name.
"Sesshoumaru! ... Sesshoumaru, where are you? ... I need to talk to you! ... Sesshoumaru!"
She got an answer when she passed by the Goshinboku.
"Higurashi."
She heard it when she was taking a breath. She walked over to the base of the great tree and looked up into its boughs. The Taiyoukai was reclined gracefully among the lower limbs. Still, he was several feet above her head and was peering down at her like guru on top of a mountain.
"I need to tell you something..." She murmured guiltily, knowing that he could hear her. Sesshoumaru waited for her to continue for a while, but then realized that she wasn't going to say what she wanted until he got down. He simply shifted and let himself fall, smirking inwardly at her gasp, and landed gracefully on his feet inches in front of her.
"Yes?" He said, looking down. She was so short.
"Yes, well... I'm sorry."
The inu youkai raised a pale brow.
"I mean," She went on, "I'm sorry that I implied that you wanted the jewel like that. It was wrong of me. After all, I never really considered you my enemy because I knew you never wanted it... Anyway, I really apologize."
Sesshoumaru looked at her and felt some strange emotion that he identified as surprise. He hadn't been surprised in what seemed like ages. He certainly hadn't expected an apology from the human. He hadn't even expected her to have an inkling of the reason why she had set him off. He was so unused to anyone knowing what he was, much less who he was, that he was unsure of how to act.
"You say you do not consider me an enemy, yet I remember many battles." Changing the subject was always a solid option.
"Well yeah." Kagome said, surprised that he seemed to have accepted her apology, "You were always Inuyasha's enemy, not mine..."
They were silent for a moment, then she thought of something. "Well, maybe you could have been considered my enemy that time you tried to kill me in your father's tomb, but you seemed to be doing that just to hurt Inuyasha, so I guess that doesn't count against me... Besides, Inuyasha tried to kill me the first time we met so it doesn't really matter."
"The hanyou tried to kill you?"
"Yeah. He thought I was Kikyo. I guess I can understand that."
Sesshoumaru snorted. "I once had the misfortune to meet the dead miko and if Inuyasha was unable to distinguish between you, then he was much greater imbecile than I gave him credit for..."
The statement was merely a thinly veiled Inuyasha degradation, but Kagome couldn't help to feel a little glow at his words. She smiled. They began to walk down a random path. They didn't say anything aloud, but Kagome's mind was ablaze with thought. What now? She wanted Sesshoumaru to stay. Dare she ask him? Dare she ask how he had managed to end up sprawled out starving in some alley? Hell, she might as well get it over with.
"Sesshoumaru, would you..." She trailed off when she saw that he wasn't paying a bit of attention to her and was looking off to the left of the path by a small tree. She squinted her eyes to perhaps see what had caught his attention and when she finally realized what it was, she was off towards the tree like a shot.
"BUYO! DROP IT!!!" She bellowed. Unbeknownst to her, both cat and youkai winced at the volume of her voice. Buyo scrambled away from his prize and went off somewhere to sulk. Kagome, dropped down on her knees and shielded the quivering clump of feathers with her hands, cooing comforting nonsense.
It was a baby sparrow. Well, not really a baby, baby sparrow as it was summer, but it was still pretty young. It had all of it's adult feathers and the only things that belied its age was the slightly oversized wedge of his beak and the pitiful peeping noise it was emitting.
"Stupid cat." she muttered angrily under her breath, "He can terrorize poor little defenseless birds, but he can't get icky little mice. Pah."
She scooped up the little bird in her hands and could feel its little heart beating furiously against her palm. Belatedly, she hoped it didn't have mites and plopped down to sit on the ground, unintentionally leaning back into Sesshoumaru, who had snuck up on her. She froze and blinked up at him. He looked like some kind of avenging angel. His eyes held hers in predatory sway. His markings seemed to stand out against the paleness of his features more than they ever had before.
"Why did you save that creature," He asked, "When it is the cat's nature to hunt?"
Kagome's brow furrowed in confusion. "But it's just a baby bird. I couldn't just let him kill it. It can't even fly."
"Yet you would deny the cat the thrill of the hunt? Domesticated, how can he go on living if he is not allowed to follow his instincts? Is it not more cruel to rob him of this, than it is to sacrifice the life of a single common bird?"
Kagome looked up at him and sensed that he was talking about something very important.
"I can see what you mean, but Buyo doesn't hunt because he's hungry or anything. He eats cat food. Besides, hunting a bird doesn't really mean anything. Mice can cause damage. They soil your food and they can chew through electrical wires and cause fires. All birds do is sing and build nests. I think if you're going to hunt something, it's better to hunt the mouse, because it had more meaning. There's a reason. At least it's a lot better than killing something just to be killing it."
Sesshoumaru was not looking at her anymore. His head was tilted up slightly, but she didn't think he was turning up his nose at her stupidity. Slowly, he turned and walked over to a tree a few yards away that came with a pair of birds making a frightful din.
"This is the tree the nest is in. The bird was probably knocked out during the storm."
Kagome smiled and rushed over to stand beside him, looking up and searching the branches for the nest. She spotted it about halfway up and immediately sat down and removed her sandals and socks, knowing that it's a lot easier to climb a tree barefoot than not. Holding the bird in one hand, she maneuvered herself up into the branches and then over to the nest. One other little bird was crouched down frozen in the bottom; a little living statue. The miko smiled and placed the sparrow back it in his nest and then began descent... She lost her footing just when she was almost down.
"Crap!" She yelped. It wasn't far enough down to cause injury, but she was horribly embarrassed about having a klutz attack, much less in front of Sesshoumaru. She braced for impact but none came. The Taiyoukai lowered the miko to the safety of the ground and then let go of her waist. Kagome looked up at his searchingly for a moment before speaking.
"Uh. Thank you."
He nodded in response.
"Will have lunch with me Lord Sesshoumaru?" She asked.
The youkai stared at her for a long minute.
"I will."
"Thank you."
Kagome collected her footwear and started back to the house. Sesshoumaru stared after her and wondered just who this strange woman was, and what exactly, she was thanking him for...
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And so, it ends... Well not really... Life goes on, tomorrow birds will sing. Oscar the Grouch rules. Ect, Ect... Well, leave a review when you head out. I need something to buy stir fried ramen from my fav eating place. (goooood ramen.) Ok R&R.
Tata, JJ