STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY: Inuyasha and all its characters do not belong to me. They belong to their rightful owner, Rumiko Takahashi. This is for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

Title: The Nexus of Satisfaction
Author: Gladiel
Series: Inuyasha
Genre: General
Rating: PG
Word-count: 485
Summary: There is much we can learn from words.

THE NEXUS OF SATISFACTION
chapter eighteen
discourse


"Why are you here?" Kagome asked bluntly, seconds after regaining full consciousness and realizing Sesshoumaru was sitting in the same room. He, in his own free will, sat in a room with her. Was this one of those odd dreams again?

"You are thinking of strange things," he said instead.

"I just can't…never mind." Well, this must be reality, she thought. Sesshoumaru was an enigma and there were some things she's not meant to understand any time soon.

"Those fools you call friends lack the self-discipline to enter this room without imposing an unsaid heavy burden on you," he then explained.

"Oh." She stared, looking at the wooden ceiling, trying to digest all that happened since she last opened her eyes.

"I'm hungry," she finally said. Soon after she voiced the complaint, her stomach growled loudly. Kagome turned several shades of red, embarrassed at her body's natural way of getting the message across. "Sorry," she muttered.

Sesshoumaru hid his amusement but could not help but remark, "Apparently, your body seconds it. Rin will arrive with food in a matter of minutes."

"Thank you."

Kagome turned her head to his direction, curious about the lord's activities. He sat on the floor a few meters away from her, and was doing…nothing. He was just sitting.

"What are you doing?"

He kept himself in silence. So, he didn't find a convincing reason to answer her question.

"Why keep me here? I did understand the message that you wanted me kicked out, you know."

"The forest is hardly a place for any badly-wounded human to recuperate," he said coolly, as if to say, 'Can't you figure it out with common sense?'

"I'm not stupid. I know that. What I wanted to ask was why…" Her words drifted away and the question was left hanging. "Well, now I have no reason to doubt your kindness. You're really very kind, you know? I don't think you noticed that."

Kind? That was hardly the image he wanted to project. But now that they were floating on that topic, he wanted to ask her why she showed him kindness he did not deserve. She was not indebted to him when she first started her 'visits', although she might consider the thought now. But prior to what he had done after the fight, she had no reason to spend time with his own pack and shower him with unfamiliar kindheartedness.

He heard her lift the sheets on the futon and his eyes unconsciously turned to her direction, watching each movement sharply. The question he wanted to ask was now forgotten for he had, in consequence of her actions, asked another.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to get up. But aside from pushing these sheets to the sides, I can barely lift my head. Not to mention, my body hurts like hell."

He was pleased. He'd have one less human bothering him for a while.

chapter eighteen end.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: theme #80: why; entitled 'Discourse'. That's the end of this short arc. : ) The next chapters to come will be lighter once agan.

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