Chapter Three: Consequences
When night rolled around, Kagome sullenly ate food from the modern world for dinner. Nobody spoke for fear that Inuyasha would bite their heads off, Kagome in particular. The hanyou had been grumpy all day, refusing to speak more than a sentence to anyone. Although Kagome felt bad, there wasn't anything she could do to calm his...angry, hurt, betrayal? about Sesshoumaru.
"I'm going to bed," Kagome announced when she finished eating.
"Me too," Shippou agreed. The kitsune always went to bed with Kagome, no matter what the time.
"Goodnight," Sango said.
"Sleep well, Kagome-sama, Shippou," Miroku wished them.
"Goodnight Sango-chan, Miroku-sama," she replied. She didn't even both saying goodnight to Inuyasha, instead crawling straight into her sleeping bag and snuggling up with Shippou.
"Goodnight," Inuyasha growled after them.
Instantly, Kagome felt guilty. "Goodnight, Inuyasha."
Soon, everyone went to their proper sleeping areas and Inuyasha was in his spot, awake, holding Tetsusaiga, and brooding. Hours seemed to pass before Kagome
felt herself drift off to sleep, only to be interrupted by a soft voice near her.
"Kagome-mama," the voice whispered.
Slowly, Kagome opened her eyes, as if it were a dream. However, she saw Rin as she feared she would. Without thinking, Kagome stuffed her pillows beside Shippou to give the appearance she still slept there. She then crawled out of the sleeping bag, slipped on a pair of shoes, strapped her arrows and bow to her back, and walked over to Rin. "Rin-chan...why are you here?"
"I wanted to play with Kagome-mama," she explained with a grin. "Jaken-sama is boring, and he hates my drawings."
"Does Sesshoumaru-kun know you're here?" Kagome asked patiently.
"Nope, and he won't if Jaken-sama knows what's good for him," Rin informed her.
Sweatdropping, Kagome took Rin by the hand. "Rin-chan, you can't stay here and play with me. It was dangerous for you to come here by yourself! You could've gotten hurt or lost. Sesshoumaru-kun is probably very worried about you now, too."
"But...I just wanted to play for a little bit," Rin tried to tell Kagome, but the miko would hear nothing of it.
"Come on, Rin-chan," Kagome whispered. "Let's get you back to Sesshoumaru-kun."
"Jaken!" Sesshoumaru raged. "I can't believe you let her out of your sight like that without asking where she went!"
They had picked up Rin's scent and were frantically running towards her destination.
"You stupid toad!" Sesshoumaru accused Jaken in his anger. "How could let her wander off like that when I told you to watch over her!"
"I'm sorry, Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken cried pathetically, far behind. "I didn't mean for it to happen!"
Growling with disgust, Sesshoumaru kept on Rin's trail at superhuman speeds when suddenly it became stronger and accompanied by Kagome's. He stopped in his tracks, calmly walking up to meet Kagome and Rin.
"Kagome," nodded he.
"Sesshoumaru-kun," she replied. Slowly, she let Rin go over to Sesshoumaru, who promptly picked the human child up and tucked her under his arm. "Sorry."
He just nodded again.
Kagome nodded too.
"So," he said finally.
"So," she agreed.
An awkward silence blanketed the miko and the youkai, for both seemed at a complete and utter loss for words.
"Rin-sama!" Jaken yelled from behind Sesshoumaru, having finally caught up. "You stupid brat, what do you think you're doing, running off in the middle of the night like that!" The toad hobbled forward, shaking his staff at her.
However, Jaken reached them, Sesshoumaru simply stepped on him.
Kagome sighed, sweatdropping. "Is it really necessary to do that?"
It looked as if Sesshoumaru might answer for a moment, but instead he turned on his heel and left.
"Well, gee, Sesshoumaru-kun, you're welcome!" Kagome yelled after him. "The least you could have done was say 'thank you'!" Sighing, she lowered her voice. "I wish I would 'osuwari' you, too."
Back at the camp, Inuyasha fell face-first into the dirt.
"What the hell!" Inuyasha demanded angrily. He rose, stormed over to Kagome's sleeping bag, saw the pillows, and lifted Shippou up by his tail. "Hey brat, where's Kagome?"
Shippou yawned. "Bastard...she's right here...I was sleeping, dammit..."
"Stupid, useless kitsune," Inuyasha swore under his breath, dropping Shippou to the ground. However, he did catch Kagome's scent then and decided to follow it. this led him through the woods and out to a river where Kagome skirted the edge. He came face-to-face with her rather suddenly. One smell on her completely overpowered him: Sesshoumaru. He did smell another foreign scent, but he couldn't have cared less.
Kagome had gone back to Sesshoumaru.
She had gone to his brother, his sworn enemy.
She had betrayed him.
Again.
Feeling more hurt and betrayed than before, Inuyasha didn't bother to speak to her, simply took off back to the camp, leaving Kagome to fend for herself. When Kagome reached the camp, Inuyasha refused to even look at the miko, let alone speak to her. The night continued that way, as did the day following. Worried, Kagome confided in Sango, who tried to comfort her but ended up making Kagome more worried.
"What am I going to do..." she groaned and buried her face in her hands. "I can't break my promise, but...Inuyasha..."