Sesshoumaru and the other two lords sat in his study discussing issues as they normally did when an interesting subject was brought up.
"Lord Sesshoumaru, what is the status on Lady Kagome?" Lord Haki asked kindly
He became angry for some reason by the question. Calming himself not wanting them to see him upset he replied shortly. However one of the lords did catch his reaction and smiled at it.
"I know of no suitor."
"So Toro may have a chance then? I would like to ask for her for my son. And seeing how she lives under your roof I am asking you." Lord Haki replied with a smile
"I shall speak with her about it later." He told the demon
"She is quite a woman isn't she?" Lord Kougaji said speaking up
"She is indeed. I think she will be well suited for Toro. He needs a mate like that. Besides I think he has already taken a liking to her." Lord Haki spoke excitedly
"Tell me Sesshoumaru, where ever did you find such a woman? I sense strong power in her aura." Kougaji asked watching the demon lords face
Sesshoumaru didn't want to talk about her or anything for that matter. And he certainly didn't want Toro to mate with her. 'I will allow no demon to mate with her!' he thought furiously. He looked to Kougaji who was smiling and then to Haki who seemed confused.
"It is none of your concern." He bit out with a small amount of anger in his voice
"Well I am off to rest for now. Tomorrow will be a long day." Haki said as he left the room
"Are you not going to rest now too?" Sesshoumaru asked looking to Kougaji
Lord Kougaji was good friends with his father and for that was not scared of him. He knew Sesshoumaru was a powerful demon but he did not fear him in any way. He also knew him well enough to read his eyes and actions to know what he was feeling. And the whole idea made his blood boil. He knew the lord would often pick at him for the fun of it. And right now was one of those times.
"So tell me will you let them mate? Kagome and Toro?" he forwardly asked
"If it means ridding her from my house then yes." He stated
"You know since you are technically allowed to you could decline and mate with her yourself." He replied waving his hand like it was no big deal
He was curious to see his reaction to the statement. He wanted to know how deeply he felt for this girl. He seemed to have feelings for her to some degree. He had seen the way he glanced at her during dinner. He acted like his father did with his human mate. Afraid to admit his feelings until it was almost too late. He didn't want Sesshoumaru to end up the same way. Of course he had also promised his dear friend he would watch over him.
"I am nothing like my father! I have no taste for humans! She will mate with Toro and that is final!" he shouted angrily
She was on her way to her room when she decided to stop and see if Sesshoumaru was in his study. She wanted to talk to him for a minute and thought now we be the best time. But when she got to the door she heard him and what sounded like Lord Kougaji. She was getting ready to turn away when she heard what they were discussing.
"So tell me will you let them mate? Kagome and Toro?" Kougaji forwardly asked
'Me marry Toro? No!' she said as she continued to listen waiting for Sesshoumaru to jump up and scream no.
"If it means ridding her from my house then yes." Sesshoumaru stated
'He doesn't want me here anymore? What am I saying he probably never did. I'm so stupid.' She told her self as she shook her head violently. She didn't want to hear the rest but she didn't move.
"You know since you are technically allowed to you could decline and mate with her yourself." Kougaji implied
"I am nothing like my father! I have no taste for humans! She will mate with Toro and that is final!" Sesshoumaru shouted with anger apparent in his voice
'No! No! No! No! No! I will not mate with him or anybody! I will choose my husband.' She screamed angrily as tears started down her face. She ran as silently as possible back to her room to think of what steps she would take next.
Sesshoumaru was so angry he didn't notice the girl that overheard them. Even when she ran down the hall. Kougaji only have good eyes didn't hear or smell her either.
Kougaji though was still suprised to see the reaction from Sesshoumaru. He giggled in response to the mans actions as he realized what degree his friends feelings actually were.
"I shall be off for bed now. I will see you in the morning for breakfast. Sleep well Sesshoumaru." He said leaving for his room
Sesshoumaru sat there thinking about the proposal from the Eastern Lord. He wasn't sure if it was such a good idea. Although it would make stale ground for a peace treaty between their lands. He sighed not sure of what to do. Standing up he left the room to head for bed himself.
When he exited the door he smelt it. 'She was here.' He sniffed again to confirm his other thought. 'And she was crying.' Without realizing his actions he found himself in front of her door. He listened as she cried in her pillow as she had done in the past. He wanted to know why she cried and ask her about the proposal but decided it was not the time. So instead he left and headed for the bath house to relax before sleeping.
She had felt him coming towards her, which made her cry more. When he left she was able to calm herself and get her bearings straight before carrying out what she had planned. Tonight she would leave and never return to this place. He wanted her gone she would be gone. She had to figure out when. That's when she found he didn't go back to his room but down the hall. 'The bath house.' She thought. Now was her chance to get out. She couldn't go out the front door of course he would easily smell her leave. She had finally figured she would go out the door and down over the balcony outside her room.
She opened the single door and looked down seeing it was about nine feet down. As quietly as she could she jumped to the garden below and headed for the wall the surrounded it. Easily she scaled it and succeeded in reaching the other side. When he feet touched the ground again she started to run as fast as she could.
She didn't look back and didn't want to. She wanted to go home and never come back. She wanted forget everything. It was the same thing with Sesshoumaru as it was with Inuyasha. He would never return the feelings. So she ran as fast as her legs would carry her. She could feel twigs and bushes cut at her legs as she ran. But she simply ignored it because she felt that escaping this era was worth the pain.
He was at the table along with Rin and his other guests. They were waiting on Kagome who hadn't seem to wake yet. Rin told them that she probably wasn't hungry and that she was really tired.
"We should eat. Lady Kagome would be upset if we didn't. She always tells me not to wait for her if she runs late." Rin informed everyone
"Sumi! Go wake Kagome tell her breakfast is ready and we have already started." Sesshoumaru told her
"As you wish Lord Sesshoumaru." She replied bowing and quickly left the room as she always did
They all began to eat when the food was brought out. Everyone chatted away about what they thought would be to come. Everyone stopped eating when they thought Kagome had finally arrived only to see another servant.
"Milord, Lord Goru and his family have arrived." The small blonde haired woman spoke nervously
"Very well. Escort them in." He told her
She nodded as she walked to the door and announced them. A few moments later Goru a short stout man with light brown hair and brown eyes walked in. After him Ginku his son, that looked remarkably like him except with blonde hair entered and two women followed him. Goru's wife had pale blonde hair and bright green eyes. Their daughter Hitomi had her mothers green eyes and her fathers brown hair. They sat down at the empty seat at the table greeting the rest of the people in the room.
"Hello Goru. I hope your journey was pleasant?" Sesshoumaru said gaining his attention
"Indeed it would have been if my son had ceased his fighting with his sister." He said sighing heavily as his eye rolled "But I have heard some rather interesting news from people during our travels." He paused for a moment thinking to himself
Sumi chose that moment to burst through the doors looking horrified and franticly around the room.
"Milord, she is gone!" she stated in a scared voice
"WHAT?" he yelled making everyone jump before he disappeared in a flash.
Everyone noted his eyes had turned red like they would before transformation. They all sat there in shock for a moment until Kougaji stood up as well.
"We must find Lady Kagome!" he said making haste
He slammed her door open as the saltiness from her tears and the sadness and pain laced in her scent overwhelmed him for a minute. He entered the room sifting through the scents trying to find her exit point. It only took him a few seconds to realize she went out the door and jumped over the balcony.
Quickly he followed suit as he began to track her through the garden and over the stone wall. It took him a minute to find her scent again and when he did he took off with his inhuman speed.
Kagome woke up as the sun hit her face and eyes. It made them shut from the brightness until they adjusted. She stood on her feet taking in her surroundings. He needed to find a river. It would soon be breakfast time and he would know of her disappearance as well. She started to run again when she luckily cam across a nice sized river. Thinking her best chance to keep him from tracking her would be to cut off her scent. So she dived in and let it carry her down stream. It would help her to go faster too. The current wasn't too fast so she didn't worry too much.
She relaxed every so often as she let the river pull her along with it. Every once in a while she would swim as well so she could make it farther away. She smiled at her plan to escape from his clutches. He would never think she would be smart enough to pull this. He never saw it coming.
Kougaji transformed into his true form. With a wingspan of forty feet he took flight. With his keen eyesight he would be able to see her and cover a good amount of land in not time. He saw Sesshoumaru running through the forest towards what he knew to be his brothers forest. So her followed suit and stayed above watching for the girl.
He stopped by a river where her scent ended. He wasn't sure where she had gone from there. So he decided to check the area. Easily jumping to the other bank he tried to sniff her out again. He had no luck in smelling her out so he followed the river.
She had floated about a mile down now and got out. She walked into the forest that still seemed to surrounded her. She felt a demon aura coming so she took cover when she found it was coming from the skies. When she saw the huge form of a giant owl she clung to the ground even more. She recognized the power of the aura to be Kougaji. Knowing the eyesight of an owl was good she stuck close to the greenery. Hopefully they would head back at nightfall when his sight would be better.
She still ran through the forest as fast as she could. She was determined to not get caught. She didn't want to go back there. She didn't want to marry Toro. She looked to the sky once more to see Kougaji heading back the towards the castle and became more empowered by the sight as she started to run even faster than before.
She kept running until she was grabbed and hoisted into the air. When she looked up she came face to face with a purple ogre demon. His large unexpressive eyes and his huge body. He had two horns atop his head and large teeth. His barely clad body was in front of her as his clawed hand held her to his eye level.
The sight of the demon in front of her frightened her, as he moved closer to smell her.
He looked to the sky to see Kougaji searching from the air. He noticed he too had found no sign of the girl they both searched for. He started to worry that he might not find her. He continued on his way picking up his speed as he tried harder to find her scent. He was having an extremely hard time though. He couldn't find even a morsel of it as he ran. It worried him to think she might be killed by a demon.
But as he ran along the bank of the river he couldn't help but think why she would leave in the first place. Finally it hit him. The night before she had been crying. He finally understood why she had. She had overheard there conversation about her and Toro mating. She overheard him say he wanted to get rid of her. Thinking this he became angry with himself knowing he was the reason she had left.
Now he was just hoping he would find her in time before she became injured. Finding her was the only thing that mattered to her.
Back at the castle a few minutes ago...
"Where are you going Toro?" his father asked as he headed for the door
"To find Lady Kagome." He stated simply
Lord Haki rose from the table and walked towards his son as he spoke low so the others would not over hear. After he finished he wished him a short 'be careful' as he rejoined the group at the table.
She was thrown to the ground roughly and yelped in pain when her leg connect with a tree breaking it. She tried to make her self stand so she could escape but her leg wouldn't allow it. So she used her arms to pull herself away from the demon.
The ogre only walked towards her as his claws raked against her chest and stomach causing deep wounds as blood flowed out. He continued to attack by pulling her up by one leg and again tossing her into another tree that broke her other leg and her right arm.
She cried out in pain as tears fell from her cheeks. She couldn't move either leg or her arm. She tried in vain to stop the flow of blood that oozed from her stomach. Her whole body was covered in blood as it pooled around her. Every direction she looked in she could see the essence of her life all around in red puddles. Coughing up her own blood as she looked at her now crimson hands she panicked as she looked up to see the deadly clawed hands come down on her giving the final blow that sent her into darkness.
"Sesshoumaru.." was her last word as her body became limp on the warm ground
He was still running when he heard a familiar scream. He crossed the river again running in the direction of the cry. When he stepped about two feet a wave of horror hit him in the smell of her blood. It had a coppery smell that seemed to cover the forest. She had lost a large amount of blood by the smell of it. When he had finally made it to the clearing he stopped frozen to the spot as he watched the demons hand connect with her body.
To horrified to move he watched as she coughed up blood and looked at her bloody hands. Looking up to the sky once more she spoke her final words before her body became limp and unmoving.
"Sesshoumaru.."
No longer frozen to his spot his eyes turned red as he started to transform. He looked at the ogre demon who had ended her life ad he stood in his demon form. He stood there on all fours as he growled angrily at the murderer. He swiftly attacked killing it in one swipe as he took it's head off and watched it roll a few feet away. The body of the demon just crumbled and turned to ash upon hitting the ground.
He turned to look at the bloody form as he whimpered and licked her gently. He easily transformed into his normal form as he ran to her side and held her tight. At that point he didn't care that she was human. She was his human and nobody should have hurt her. But he was the one who had hurt her to begin with. He was the reason she had left in the first place. It was his fault this all happened.
Kougaji was circling around the area where Sesshoumaru was when he heard a scream. He looked back to Sesshoumaru to see him head in a different direction. He followed him and looked in front of him as he stopped. He too watch the innocent girl die in the hands of the ogre demon. But before he could attack Sesshoumaru was in his demon form with the demon dead. He transformed into his humanoid form and walked into the clearing where the girl was. He watched as the demon lord held the girl gently as he rocked her back and forth. The evident pain Sesshoumaru's aura caused by the girls death saddened him. So he stood by watching him and waiting for him to get up. There was nothing that could be done now. So he would just have to wait for the lord to finish grieving.
Sesshoumaru continued to hold her and rock her until he thought of how he found her the first time. She was dead then to but he used Tensiega on her and revived her. Just like he had done with Rin. Standing up he pulled his sword out from it's sheath and looked for the little creatures. When he found them he sliced them easily and sheathed his sword again to wait for her to awaken.
Kougaji became horrified as Sesshoumaru drew his sword and sliced at the young woman's body. He found himself angry at the lack of respect that he always thought Sesshoumaru had.
"How dare you desecrate her body!" Kougaji yelled angrily as he grabbed Sesshoumaru's arm
"I only healed her body. That is all. Look." He told the owl demon
He looked closely as her chest rose and fell. He was shocked when her eyes fluttered open and look at him in suprise and confusion.
Sesshoumaru was at her side in an instance as he picked her up into his arms and held her close. He looked to the other lord as if asking him if he was ready to depart. Kougaji just nodded his head as they all took to the sky and headed back to his castle.