Authors Notes: Hey guys, soz it took so long, but I have been hired for a computer nerd group, aka my house has been taken over by my fellow computer nerds as we proceed to try and win a contest. I have been constantly converting stuff to code and then trying to decode other stuff. So please, don't be angry it took me so long to post. I love you guys and thank you for the reviews, and to those who emailed when wouldn't allow reviews. Thank you all so much!

Falls On Me

Chapter 13-Hold your hands up to the sky and try so hard to rise above

"Inu Yasha!" Kagome shouted as she threw open the door to the bedroom. The sight that greeted her made her choke on the bile that rose to her throat. She took in the broken furniture, the mess and chaos Inu Yasha had created.

Shimi lay in a motionless heap on the floor. Inu Yasha was drunk and holding the shikon jewel, which seemed to be lifeless in his clenched hand.

"Kagome, how do you make it work?" Inu Yasha demanded.

"I don't know," Kagome said.

"Yes you do! Tell me!" Inu Yasha demanded as he came towards her threateningly. Sesshoumaru came charging in and slammed his brother against a wall.

"Give her the jewel," Sesshoumaru said in a deadly calm voice. Truthfully, the red in Inu Yasha's eyes worried him. Had the hanyou lost control and let his rage take over him?

"No, I won't give it to a weakling like her," Inu Yasha snarled.

"Then you will give it to me," Sesshoumaru said, just as Inu Yasha's hand came to his side and used his claws to break skin.

The pain shooting up his side didn't worry him. Not until he noticed the burning sensation that accompanied it.

Poison. The hanyou didn't have poison in his body! Their father may have had it, but never before had Inu Yasha used it during an attack.

"I read those little scrolls brother. I know all the family secrets," Inu Yasha snarled.

That meant…

"Yes, brother," Inu Yasha spat the word. "I know how to use my blood to the fullest extent now, how to make myself powerful." Sesshoumaru felt the poison paralyzing his side. His arm dropped away from Inu Yasha's throat. His leg gave out. The poison worked quickly.

"No!" Kagome shrieked. Inu Yasha looked up to see her being held back by Anei. He had heard from Shimi that the two were lovers. He had refused to believe it until this moment when he saw Anei's free way of touching Kagome.

"Let her go bastard, she's mine!" Inu Yasha snarled.

Sesshoumaru watched the ensuing fight with hazy vision at best.

Inu Yasha had discovered the scroll that taught him the techniques of the Inu clan. But he must not have known why that scroll was in the chest. Those techniques made one very powerful, yes, but it was hard to control one's own power. Inu Taisho had put that scroll away, deeming no one ready to read them. Sesshoumaru had of course. And he had been able to control himself and his power. But the hanyou couldn't control his power.

And that would prove to be his undoing.

Kagome watched in a type of fascinated horror as Inu Yasha and Anei fought. Why had Inu Yasha suddenly turned against Anei like that? What had the youkai done? She knew she had to get to Sesshoumaru to see if he was alright, but he was on the other side of the room, and at the moment she wouldn't be able to get past the two fighting.

"She's mine, don't you ever think to touch my wife!" Inu Yasha snarled as stripes began to show on his face.

"Oh Kami," Kagome whispered when she saw Inu Yasha plunge his claws into Anei, much in the same way that he had done to Sesshoumaru.

A gurgling noise came from Anei and he fell onto his back near Kagome.

"Now," Inu Yasha panted. "Tell me how to make it work."

"I don't know," Kagome answered again. She had crept over to Anei's body and checked his wound. It was an angry red that leaked blood as a green acid hissed angrily.

"Stop lying!" Inu Yasha bellowed.

"I'm not you jerk! How could you do this? What happened to you Inu Yasha? What happened to my husband? What happened to the man I loved?" Kagome screamed at him. "You never would have hurt my friends in the past like this? For Kami's sake you endangered Sango's pregnancy!"

"I don't care! How do you make the jewel work you stupid slut?" Inu Yasha snarled as he backhanded her.

Kagome went flying across the room and landed next to Sesshoumaru. Pain jolted through her entire body. She opened her eyes and tried to will it away instead of retreating into her mind. Instead she focused on the feel of Sesshoumaru's clothing brushing against her skin. Forcing herself to keep her eyes open, she looked up at his face.

Unlike Anei, Sesshoumaru's eyes were wide open. Red tinted them and she saw his hand shaking as if he was exerting himself just to move it.

"I promise you he won't hurt anyone else," She whispered. It had been meant to help the youkai. Oddly, he only looked somewhat annoyed by her words.

"Damn it Kagome make this jewel grant my wish!" Inu Yasha snarled.

"You know what?" Kagome suddenly shouted as she got up and stumbled towards him.

"What?" Inu Yasha shouted back. Kagome was right in his face and his lifted his hand to strike her. Instinctively she grabbed his hand and tried to focus her energy to keep it in place.

"I wish Sesshoumaru would kick your ass," Kagome told him in a threatening whisper.

Suddenly a pink light flared and the entire room and Kagome felt heat take over her whole body.

The next thing she knew she was behind Sesshoumaru and he was beating the life out of Inu Yasha.

Kagome saw that his wound was still bleeding, but it didn't seem as angry a red as before. What was going on?

"Oh my god," Kagome whispered just as Sesshoumaru sent Inu Yasha flying into a wall.

"That was a futile wish woman. If it was your way of making sure no one else got hurt I suppose I must commend you on your ingenuity but it was not needed," He said in a cold tone as he walked over to Inu Yasha. He unclenched the hanyou's fist and grabbed the shikon jewel. Kagome caught it and it began to glow a dull pink.

"Thank you," Kagome said.

"Don't thank me. I couldn't kill him. I still can't," Sesshoumaru growled.

"Is that all you think about?" Kagome snapped as she walked over to him.

"Why do you ask?" He snapped back.

"Well for one you're bitching at me about the whole wish thing, which I honestly didn't mean to happen, and then you're bitching about not being able to kill him, all while you're bleeding," Kagome practically snarled.

"What?" Sesshoumaru asked, finally stopping his pacing.

"You. Are. Bleeding. Got that?" Kagome said as she walked over to him. She looked at the burn hole in his happi coat and moved the fabric aside. It clung to the skin, and she thought the saw his body jerk slightly when she pulled the fabric away from his skin.

She began to touch it lightly, wincing slightly as the heat from the wound.

"I have some bandages and cleaning supplies still. They should still be okay," Kagome told him.

"There is no need miko. I can heal fine on my own. And Anei as well," Sesshoumaru said.

Kagome felt ashamed for a minute. She had totally forgotten the other youkai. Quickly she turned to him, only to gasp in astonishment.

There was a black haze around him, swirling like some sort of mist.

"What's going on?" She asked, her voice trembling.

"It's his power. Whatever happened in Hell so many years ago, he proved himself to be a worthy successor," Sesshoumaru stated.

It was a topic Anei avoided. Sesshoumaru had always expressed interest, that is until, he had battled Takemaru and seen the crack in the Earth that had revealed Hell itself. He had lost interest then.

"So everyone will be okay? Even Inu Yasha?" Kagome asked.

"Yes. Unfortunately the hanyou is alive, but if something like this happens again, I will be forced to kill him Kagome," Sesshoumaru stated. Kagome nodded in acceptance. She had come to a conclusion while fighting Inu Yasha.

She no longer loved him. She would always love the person he had been, but not the person he had become. Silent tears slipped down her cheeks and Sesshoumaru immediately caught their strong scent.

"Why are you crying woman? You survived," He said.

"I'm crying because of so many things. What do you care?" Kagome asked. She was sad and angry and so many emotions she couldn't name. All at once. And she was spoiling for a fight.

"Sesshoumaru! Oh, I thought I had heard a noise. Is that Inu Yasha? Is he dead?" So asked eagerly. Sesshoumaru merely looked down at the female neko youkai with distaste. Then he caught something on her scent.

"Yes," Sesshoumaru said. Kagome looked ready to correct him, her eyes becoming even angrier than before.

"Oh, well, will you be taking his wife as your own as tradition states?" So asked.

"What affair is it of yours?"

"She's been having an affair. I thought that you might want to rethink any moves towards wedding her after you heard that," So stated.

Kagome eyes lost their angry glint to them. Now they held the fires of hell within them. This just wasn't his day.

"And just who is she having an affair with?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"Her guard," So stated, as if it was only obvious.

"Oh really? I must thank you for this information So. Now take your court and leave," Sesshoumaru commanded. So looked at him, stunned.

"But, why Sesshoumaru?" So asked.

"Because, So, I have a superior sense of smell. In fact, I'm surprised you didn't know. I can smell Inu Yasha and his mistress on you. And I smell the dust from the chests on you. You must have been there when Inu Yasha opened them. I will not kill you for this treason out of respect for your husband, who was my father's close friend. But you are barred from ever coming here again," Sesshoumaru stated calmly.

"Sesshoumaru, surely you can't be accusing me of treason," So stuttered.

"Inu Yasha lives. If you do not leave now, you will not live. I am sure the council will agree with me," Sesshoumaru stated.

So looked like she had just been handed a death sentence.

"My court will be gone within the hour Sesshoumaru," She whispered.

And then she was gone.

"What's going on?" Kagome shouted. Sesshoumaru merely looked at her, disgusted. So may have proved her part in Inu Yasha's plan, but she had not smelled of deceit when she had blurted out that Kagome was having an affair. And thus, he had no choice but to believe her on that point. Sesshoumaru turned away from her. But Kagome grabbed his wrist.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She demanded.

"I do not deal with whores," Sesshoumaru stated.

Maybe she wasn't so innocent after all. Maybe she had just been out to deceive him. Maybe she truly was like So at heart. Willing to do anything to gain power.

"What? What the hell is wrong with you? Did you actually believe her?" Kagome asked. Sesshoumaru turned to look at her. The look on her face wasn't shock or shame. She was looking at him like he was the stupidest male she had ever seen.

"She did not lie to me," Sesshoumaru told her.

"And you think I am? I did not sleep with Anei. I am not having an affair with him," Kagome stated. The fire in her eyes had not abated.

But there was no deceit in her scent. Only righteous anger. Who to believe?

"Sesshoumaru, Anei is my friend, but he is not my lover. I wouldn't break my vows so lightly. It would have to be for love. And I don't think I could ever love anyone else," Kagome told him.

That proved it. She was incapable of true deceit. Her scent held sadness, but no deceit, nothing to prove her words wrong.

But why had So come to the conclusion Kagome was having an affair with her guard.

"Go to my study and wait. Anei," Sesshoumaru said as he turned to a stirring Anei.

"Yes, Sesshoumaru?"

"Take Inu Yasha to the cell. I have decided he will go before the council. I will go speak to So. Kagome, go to my study, now," Sesshoumaru said in a cold, commanding tone. Anei stood, though somewhat shakily, and went over to Inu Yasha.

"Go, Kagome," Sesshoumaru commanded. Kagome left without another word.

But she would make sure he paid for thinking so badly of her.

She was going to make sure.

Sesshoumaru wanted to laugh and bang his head against something several times as he walked towards his study. After speaking to So, he had finally understood why she would think Kagome and Anei were having an affair. For a woman like So to see a man and woman talking and hugging, it meant affair, because in her world, men and women didn't interact that much, if at all, outside the bedroom. It would be easy to mistake Kagome's easy way of speaking to Anei and his way of touching her randomly for the signs of lovers.

Unfortunately he now had a rather angry miko on his hands that could purify him into dust if she chose to. He had no illusions on that part. The night she had helped Sango give birth she had made the entire castle shake. If she had that much power, she could purify him. But why had he been drawn to that light? Anei had expressed the same feeling, as well as Okibi. No youkai had ever been drawn to the power of a miko. It would be death.

Only, her power had bathed the entire room, and it had felt…Warm. Welcoming.

How the hell could he explain that?

Inwardly sighing, he looked at the door to his study. Kagome waited there. Again. It seemed he would never escape her. He opened the door and stepped inside. Kagome was sitting in front of the small table that served as a desk, fiddling with the shikon jewel.

"I spoke to So. She mistook your relationship with Anei. It would be easy to. Now you may go," Sesshoumaru told her.

"Not yet," Kagome snapped as she stood and walked over to him. "I want to know why you thought I would betray my vows so easily. What have I done to make you think so badly of me?"

"Nothing. So's scent held no deceit when she told me you were having an affair. It just shows she believed her words. It sometimes happens," Sesshoumaru said. Kagome smiled sweetly at him, but her eyes held the fires of hell. She was mad. No, scratch that. She was livid.

"That's it? Wow Sesshoumaru, I never pegged you as a total moron," Kagome snapped.

Sesshoumaru practically began to growl at her insult.

"On another note, what are we supposed to do about Inu Yasha? If he'll steal the shikon jewel once, he'll do it again," Kagome sighed. Sesshoumaru felt somewhat off balance by her sudden change in topic.

"I have decided he will face the council for treason," Sesshoumaru told her.

"The council?" Kagome asked.

"It is made up by the four Lords and Ladies. Normally I wouldn't call a meeting for something like this, but circumstances dictate that I have no choice if we are ever going to solve this problem," Sesshoumaru said. Kagome could practically hear him cursing his father's will.

"What do you think they'll do?" Kagome asked.

"Well, Okibi will either approve or disapprove certain actions. If she feels it is right, she will have him executed. If she does not feel there is cause, she will possibly have him imprisoned," Sesshoumaru said.

"Why Okibi?" Kagome asked.

"Because she is the one person my father put in his will that was allowed to gauge circumstances and allow either myself or Inu Yasha to be executed etcetera."

"Oh. Your father must have trusted her a lot," Kagome sighed.

"Hardly. They barely got along," Sesshoumaru supplied, then asked himself why. Yes, it concerned her husband, but he didn't have to explain everything to her!

"You may leave, Kagome," Sesshoumaru said after several minutes of tense silence.

"No," Kagome said as she sat down obstinately on the floor.

"Leave."

"No."

It had gone from annoyed chatter to a contest of wills. And he couldn't back down. He had challenged himself daily, and on top of every Lord challenging him, every foolish youkai that wanted to make a name for themselves by killing off the Lord of the Western Lands.

Needless to say, he wasn't about to let a human female beat him.

"Woman, leave now. I'm not in the mood for games."

It was a lie, the inner beast loved challenges. No matter how big or how small, it thrived on them.

"I'm not going to move you conceited jackass. After everything I've done, you could at least say thank you," Kagome snapped.

"For what? Wishing for me to do something I have done time and again? Fine, thank you miko, because now I know for a fact that I can throw my brother across the room!" He snapped sarcastically.

"How about apologizing for calling me a whore?" Kagome shouted. "I never did anything to give you the impression I was cheating on my husband!" Kagome shouted suddenly, tears slipping from her eyes.

He felt a slight twinge of regret. He had gone forward without all of the facts, something he rarely did. He had hurt the one person who had taken everything he had thrown at her and excelled. But she had given him a reason to doubt her! Her aroused scent perfumed his room, his bed! He had been unable to escape it!

"I apologize, Kagome," He said in an apathetic voice. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with sadness. But just as quickly they changed and once again they were angry.

"You say everything like it's truly nothing, as if there's no meaning behind your words. How can you be such a complete and utter asshole?" Kagome said as she stood and began to poke his chest. Pink began to tinge her aura, slowly but surely taking it over. Her felt a flicker of panic. Was she going to try and purify him?

"And you know something?" Kagome snapped after a long tirade about his shortcomings as she saw them. Pink had totally taken over her aura, flashing and rolling around her angrily. The miko's eyes were a stormy gray color and her face flushed.

"What?" He asked in an apathetic tone. It was one thing to be scared of the fact you had an angry miko yelling at you, standing one foot away, that could purify you into the next world. It was quite another to show that.

"You deserve this," Kagome snarled. Suddenly Sesshoumaru felt that blinding pain in his groin as her knee connected. Somehow, it seemed even more intense that before. Was that possible?

A groan escaped and Kagome looked horrified, as if she hadn't realized what she was doing. He slid to the floor, wanting to curl into the fetal position, but refusing to give her that satisfaction.

"Oh Kami Sesshoumaru, I'm so sorry!" Kagome said as she kneeled down to where he sat upright against a wall, his eyes closed. Kagome thought it looked like he was biting the inside of his cheek.

"If you have any sense at all woman, you will run as fast as you can in the opposite direction," Sesshoumaru snarled after a minute. The pain was slowly beginning to fade. He opened his eyes and blinked them in surprise.

She held her hands above the…Afflicted area, and a soft pink light glowed. Her eyes were closed, but he could see a dark blush on her cheeks.

Soon the pain was totally gone, but she must not have known because the light didn't stop.

"Woman, I'm fine, stop this," Sesshoumaru said. Kagome blinked and looked at him, her blush darkening if that was possible. She quickly pulled her hands away from where they hovered over his groin and sighed.

"I didn't mean to lose my temper like that," She told him.

"That's twice now. God woman, where did you learn such an awful move?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"My mom taught me a long time ago, saying if a I thought a guy deserved the worst pain imaginable, to use that," Kagome told him, her blush fading, but only a little.

She blushed very prettily.

Sesshoumaru wanted to berate himself. He could not allow himself to think of her in those terms. He would not lust after his brother's wife! He was in no way the beast ruled by lust, unlike his father and brother.

"Do not ever use that technique on me again woman. I'd still like to be able to use it," He said, very crude, totally unlike him. But he wanted to see her blush again. Why he didn't know. He hated how the words sounded at first, but as her face took on a rosy hue, he forgot how much he hated sounding crude and how below his station it was.

Instead he found himself watching as the blush rose from her neck and up her face.

Perhaps her breasts blushed too?

Kagome felt her heart beat faster and faster. Why was he looking at her like that? His eyes seemed almost…Dazed, but while being intensely focused at the same time. She had never seen anyone with those eyes.

"S-Sesshoumaru?" Kagome asked meekly.

Sesshoumaru felt his mind almost shut down as the beast within him broke it's chains at the sound of her breathy voice saying his name. Without a thought, without conscience, he lunged, and was on top of her before she could blink. Lust had finally taken over, her voice breaking the dam.

"You're so innocent," He breathed, his eyes bore down into hers as she lay beneath him, unmoving.

"What do you mean?" Kagome whispered. His lips were close enough to hers they brushed every time they talked.

"You are incapable of lying, of truly hurting someone. You may cause pain, but you feel pain in turn for causing that pain. You are…Unlike any woman I have ever met," He told her.

Kagome had been scared of his apathetic voice, of how his eyes had seemed so cold and empty sometimes.

Now she was terrified of how eyes swirled with…Something, some sort of complicated mix of emotions, and how his voice seemed strained. Terrified, but strangely drawn.

"Is that a good or bad thing?" She asked.

"You decide," He said as he closed the last fraction of space between their lips and kissed her. Because he didn't know. He didn't know if it was good or bad that he was so drawn to her. She was forbidden to him, something he could not have unless Inu Yasha died. Maybe not even then. He didn't know if it was good or bad that she was responding to his kiss with just as much hopeless passion as he was. If it was good or bad that his body responded hungrily to her movements beneath him.

However, not knowing didn't change anything.

Authors End Notes: Soz once again that it took so long. Hope you guys liked the chappy. Please review! And wish us luck!