Midday clouds rolled across the sky, lazily billowing as they followed invisible air currents guiding them ever forward. They darkened the sky, covering it over in a deep, hollow grey, making the world below them seem more dark and foreboding than it was. At the horizon, the clouds were tinged with a deep, almost malevolent black, signaling that a storm was brewing. The tops of the trees hissed lightly with a wind sent by the storm, a wind that told of lightening and rain. Yet, none of this was as unwelcome as it would seem. The rainy season had been short this year and though many feared this storm might be a typhoon, it was hoped that it was merely rain.
Villagers across the region had done nothing but pray for most of the summer. Looking up to the sky they hoped for a sign that the gods had heard them, and each day they were disappointed. Temperatures rose and rose, with no sign of relief. Rice patties across the region began to go dry and many were worried what this would mean for their villages. How would they make it through winter? Given the demands from the aristocracy, the tenacity of pillaging thieves, rouge samurai, and frequent youkai attacks many villages were faced with bleak futures.
They could only hope to salvage the last remaining month in summer to come out even. Still the rain remained stubbornly absent and there were whispers across the country that the Gods had forgotten them. Or worse, they were punishing them. It was no secret that evil had befouled the land, and had been running rampant for years with no end in sight. All simple village folk could do was hope and pray, but many were getting weary, their faith worn away by long years of suffering.
Many felt that the Gods had left them entirely. Why else would the Shikon jewel reappear? Whenever and wherever that jewel appeared, grief, pain and loss followed. It was a cursed thing, a blight on the pristine face of the world. There were many who believed that no good luck would come to Japan as long as the thing existed.
Others blamed the bad weather on a demon. Not just any demon either, a demon that had terrorized the countryside for far longer than most humans could remember. It was said the demon could take any form it wished, be it man, woman or child. This demon sought the Shikon, for reasons unknown and wherever it went, devastation followed. Anything in its way was destroyed and left to rot in the summer sun. This demon's name was never mentioned in anything above a whisper, for it was feared that to say his name would be like entreating him to bring misfortune upon yourself and all that knew you. For this demon was born of hell itself, and took joy in the utter destruction of anything good and wholesome in this world.
Naraku. They called the demon, Naraku.
His presence had scared the Gods away. Evil had overwhelmed the land, wriggling its way into the hearts of the people. The Gods saw this, no doubt, and were dismayed. If evil so easily rooted into the hearts of the Japanese people, why should the Gods show them pity? Why should they save them from a fate they'd chosen themselves? And those that still believed could only pray harder and with more conviction, to show the Gods that not all was lost. They prayed for rain, for the Gods to return, and for the quick defeat of Naraku.
It was known that there were many brave souls, both demon and human, that strove to kill Naraku and rid the land of darkness. But for all their fighting, not one had succeeded. Despite this, they still prayed and though some lost faith, many more held honest hope in their hearts, because they had seen first hand those that would defeat Naraku. There were tales of undead priestesses, rouge wolves, and raging demons, but the rumors that spread the fastest were all connected to a half-demon, and the strange new protector of the Shikon. She was supposed to have been the reincarnation of a great priestess. The same priestess who'd died defending the jewel in her first life. She was said to be as beautiful as an angel, as kind as a goddess and as pure as the most holy bosatsu.
There were rumors that she wasn't even of this world at all, rumors that she talked and acted quite strangely, as if she were a foreigner, though she didn't look like a foreigner at all. Surely it had to be a disguise because no human would have the kind of power this girl was rumored to have. Enough power to put the smallest amount of fear into Naraku, for the shadow he cast over the land had shortened since she came. He hid now and many agreed it was in fear of her and what she could do to him. Few knew it to be true but many believed that she had faced him once or twice, and had beaten him back.
She was supposed to be nothing more than a mere reincarnation. A simple human girl, but most could not believe that a human, a mortal such as themselves could do such great things. Surely, this girl was sent by the Gods. She had to be of divine origin to tame the unruly darkness as all the tales suggested. So it was hotly debated in the dusty street markets and pubs throughout the country what this girl was, for there was no doubt in anyone's mind that she couldn't be human. There were many people who wasted their day with idle conjecture on this argument. Going back and forth amongst themselves over whether she was a goddess, an angel or a saint. Some even thought that perhaps she was a demon in disguise, doing Buddha's will for a chance at redemption. Few knew the plain, hard truth and had tried to straighten the rumor-mongers out, only to be frustrated into silence minutes later.
The truth was, this legendary girl who was a reincarnation of the great Priestess Kikyo, was a mere human. This girl was ordinary in every way until she'd fallen into a well on her fifteenth birthday. That well had taken her here, for here was where she was needed. And so she stepped out of that well and into legend. She could easily fool most into believing she wasn't so extraordinary, but she was. To the naked eye, she looked no different than any other Japanese girl, perhaps quite a bit prettier than normal, but still human none-the-less. She looked very much like her former self, though a bit more youthful and vibrant. Even in her first life, the great Priestess had been a bit somber. Her reincarnation was the exact opposite. She was giddy and child-like. Her spirit was an unquenchable fire, bright and burning, where her past self was as still and tranquil as water. This girl was by no means a simple reincarnation, though at the surface, one could believe she was.
Indeed, even the younger sister of the great Priestess Kikyo had first believed this. But as the month passed, Kaede had admitted, only to herself, that Kagome was no shade of Kikyo. There was no comparison, because as powerful as Kikyo was, Kagome had the potential to be much more powerful than her. Yet it was so easy to underestimate her. To see her as nothing more than a weak, mortal girl, a human with borrowed power. Even those who knew her best underestimated her. She was untrained and somewhat unskilled. So they couldn't fathom the vastness of her soul and the strength of her power, so delicately hidden inside her small body. They only ever saw snatches of it, which was hardly enough to convince them of her true worth. The girl herself had no idea of her importance. No clue as to how much power she housed and without training she didn't know how far it could stretch itself.
But she was trying.
Without any kind of guidance, but she was still trying.
Trying to live up to the legacy that her former self had left behind, she was trying with all her heart to mold herself into something resembling a proper priestess. She was trying so hard every day to be as good as Kikyo, all the while trying to come out of her shadow. And with each effort, all her inadequacies were thrown back at her. Either by the bitter voice in the back of her head or by the stubborn hanyou who'd captured her heart. It was draining. Tiresome. Aggravating. To try so hard and be constantly left with nothing was beyond frustrating. It was a long string of every negative adjective she could think of, all squished into one compact sore spot on her heart. Lately, that sore spot hadn't been poked much, because she thought they'd settled things. She THOUGHT that he'd stop thinking of her as Kikyo. Today proved her wrong.
On this rather gloomy day, Kagome was beginning to wonder, seriously, if trying as hard as she did was worth the effort. At the moment, it certainly didn't seem so. As she stormed through the forest that surrounded the village that would become Edo and eventually Tokyo, she seriously considered quitting the feudal era entirely. She thought about her real home, thought about that bright city, full of lights and life...and indoor plumbing. Where there were lots of people...people she knew and loved, and loved her back. Not because she was some reincarnation of a priestess, but because she was Kagome Higurashi. Soon to be graduate...Hopefully going to college...Former straight-A student and volleyball player extraordinaire, Kagome. Yes, there she was NOT Kikyo and it was a good thing. Here, she was not Kikyo and it was a thing to be thrown in her face at any possible moment and just when she thought she'd finally been seen as just Kagome that stupid name would come up again and she just wanted to tear her hair out or pound her head against the wall becauseitdrovehertothelimitsofherpatiencetoevenrealizethatshe'dneverbeenseenasherselfand...and..AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
She stopped dead in the middle of the forest and screamed. It didn't help. She frowned, more upset that her scream didn't help than anything else at the moment. It was nearly the end of summer, and with September approaching, she'd finally broached the subject of maybe taking a month off for her exams. That discussion hadn't gone well but this time she wasn't upset at Inuyasha's lack of understanding when it came to her studies. No, this time it was over something much more infuriating.
Kikyo. Kikyo. Kikyo.
It was always Kikyo.
She'd come to accept the fact that the woman was his first experience in love and therefore, held a special place in her heart. She really, really understood that and she was fine with it. Inuyasha was her first love and if she were, God forbid, to ever have another, that man would have to stand in his shadow. But that didn't mean she had to stand for him comparing her to Kikyo all the time! At first, it had been interminable and she'd really resented it, but after a bit, he relented. And she'd breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he'd finally stopped comparing her. Oh...but she was wrong. Sooooooooo wrong. He'd just been waiting for the right moment. Waiting until she forgot, so he could spring it on her like a very unwelcome surprise.
"HA!HA! You're not Kikyo! You'll NEVER be Kikyo! SURPRISE!" she ranted, angrily under her breath as she charged through the forest, "Stupid...ungrateful...bastard..."
And this morning had started out so nicely, too.
They'd just returned home after two days of successful shard hunting. Having gained two more small shards, Kagome had felt light and giddy at their luck. It had been a long road, but with each shard she found, the better she felt, because it was like being able to see the end of that winding road. Besides, the more shards she found, the less grumpy Inuyasha became and a less grumpy Inuyasha was always a good thing. After this last effort, he'd actually been reasonable for once and had allowed them to travel at an almost sedate pace. He refrained from yelling at everyone to hurry up. AND miracle of miracles, he wasn't having a big, unholy fit about her going home. Not that he was all happy and skipping about it, but there was no yelling. Their discussion about it the night before had been a bit heated but no worse than normal, and she felt it had actually gone a bit better than predicted.
Then today had to come and ruin everything.
About ten miles from home, everything went down the crapper when they were attacked. A large boar youkai had leapt out at them from the forest, driven mad by several shard fragments embedded in his shoulder. The youkai seemed to have collected the fragments itself and heedless of the danger, was hell-bent on collecting more, apparently losing its sanity in the process. They knew this because the youkai was yelling and screaming it as he blindly attacked them. Predictably, the subsequent fight hadn't gone well. Due to the jewel shards it'd collected, the youkai was freakishly strong and hard to injure, much less kill. If that wasn't enough, it was so large that it frequently flung them around like rag dolls. In fact, it seemed to take great delight in doing exactly that. She'd been tossed to the ground so many times that she'd lost count. Her knees were bruised and abraded, and she'd put another tear in her school uniform.
Her NEW school uniform.
She'd torn it after the youkai had flung her into a thorn bush. As she struggled to get out, her dress and shirt had gotten caught on the thorns. Hence, torn uniform and torn arms...and legs, pretty much torn everything. Once she'd managed to detangle herself and stumbled back into battle, she'd noticed that Inuyasha was in grave danger of being squished flat by the boar's enormous hoof. Without a word or a thought, she drew her bow and shot. Unbeknownst to her, she was a bit disoriented on account of her close relationship with the ground, being thrown to it as many times as she had been. She was so disoriented that her shot went a little wild and clipped Inuyasha on his arm, causing him to fumble his own attack. Her shot had hit, and had prevented the boar from stomping on Inuyasha.
He saw this and gave her a rather nasty look before proceeding to beat the living hell out of the youkai she'd just "saved" him from. All she could do was watch him work in awe, feeling a bit bad about nearly hitting him but also feeling annoyed that he was ungrateful for her help. In his rage, the hanyou didn't notice that the boar was teetering slowly towards where Kagome stood. And she didn't notice because she was watching him just a bit too intently. With its dying breath, the boar youkai keeled over and died. It would have crushed her had Kouga not shown up unexpectedly, as per usual. He appeared in his customary whirlwind, snatching her up at just the right moment...completely out of the blue. They landed moments later, on the other side of the boar's carcass. He'd been holding her bridal style and she had to struggle out of his arms.
Of course, Inuyasha had caught them just before she'd been able to get out of this highly embarrassing situation. The look on his face wasn't pretty. To say Inuyasha wasn't happy was an understatement. He was livid, so livid that he didn't even have words at his disposal to express the feeling. She knew this because he wasn't immediately yelling. In fact, he was eerily quiet the entire time Kouga was near. She was surprised...and a bit unnerved. While Kouga pronounced that she was his woman, he said nothing. When the wolf turned and berated him for letting his future mate come to harm, he didn't say a word. He took the abuse with a twitching calm. It wasn't really alarming so much as weird. He didn't even say anything as Kouga triumphantly clapped him on the shoulder and complimented him for "no longer fighting destiny"...she was beginning to worry that maybe that boar had thrown him to the ground one too many times. The only evidence that she could see of his ire was the roiling fire in his eyes and the occasional flicker of his ears.
Once Kouga left, his restraint was broken and he exploded, ranting at her like he had when they first met. The expected jealous tirade concerning Kouga and his "interest" in her was pretty much your standard grade angry boyfriend rant. Nothing new there at all. She rolled her eyes and took it as best she could, pointing out that she had no feelings for the wolf. That the supposed relationship they had was pretty much one sided. Plus, it wasn't like Inuyasha was her boyfriend, so he really had no say in who she was friends with. This didn't still his argument, nor did it do anything to cool his ire. In fact, it seemed to add fuel to it. Having broken one avenue for argument, he switched to the next available bitch.
"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU SHOOTING, ANYWAY? YOU ALMOST TOOK MY ARM OFF! WHY THE HELL DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO INTERFERE! I DON'T NEED YOU TO PROTECT ME, KAGOME! YOU'RE USELESS! KIKYO NEVER WOULD HAVE..."
After that part she stopped listening. Her ears were too busy running those last words through her mind. They shuttled through like a bullet train, destroying anything in their path. Her eyes glazed over and she let the hurt she thought had settled grip her heart like a vice. Those last words...You're useless. Kikyo never would have...
Didn't really matter what he said after that. He really said all he had to right there.
Kikyo never would have missed. She would have hit dead on.
Kikyo would know when to fight and when to stay back. She would have let him fight that youkai on his own, even if it looked like he was losing.
Kikyo wouldn't accept help from Kouga. She'd have killed him herself, and she wouldn't have stopped Inuyasha from killing him, like Kagome would.
Yes...there were so many things Kikyo wouldn't do that she did. So many things that she'd never be able to do that Kikyo could do with ridiculous ease.
Kikyo.
Kikyo. Kikyo. Kikyo! Kikyo! Kikyo! KIKYO!
She hated that woman's name. She hated that woman too...even if it was sort of like hating herself. She hated her.
No, hate was too strong a word. She violently disliked Kikyo for everything that she was and for all the things that Kagome knew she never could be. It wasn't fair. In the moment, tears came to her eyes and she wanted nothing more than to cry a river. She held them back and used them to feed the growing fury in the pit of her stomach. Trembling with rage, she balled her fists and glared at him through her bangs. Her eyes glistened with tears and pent up fury. So many times she'd held her tongue. So many times she just quietly accepted, but not this time. Inuyasha actually shrunk back, knowing what that particular glint in her eye meant. He'd overstepped his bounds and he gritted his teeth in anticipation. She'd screamed "SIT, BOY!" so many times that'd he'd left a five foot deep hole in the ground.
Or so she hoped.
Without saying a word to anyone else, she calmly turned around, picked up the shards from the boar carcass and walked away. Once she'd gotten far enough away to not be seen, she started to flat out run for the village. She needed to put as much space as she could between herself and the hanyou. Because...because if she had to see his face right now, she might just be inclined to purify the hell out of him.
Every time she thought he'd made her angrier than she'd ever been before, he managed to raise the bar. Like he was competing with himself to see how much he could piss her off. If so, she wasn't sure which of him was winning, whichever was, she was surely the loser.
And now, here she was, stomping through the forest like some jackass in a giant monster suit, bawling like a child that'd dropped its lolly-pop in the sand. It was ridiculous. She probably looked terrible...she felt terrible, so it all worked out. Not that she really cared what she looked like right now, she was still too angry to care.
Reaching the Goshinboku, her temper still hadn't cooled as she had expected it to. She stopped at the tree and turned to look at it, shaking with unspent rage. It was like she was consumed by it and she realized all those weeks of swallowing her anger had done her no good. Emotions as powerful as that weren't so easy to get rid of. They sat in her heart, raw and bleeding, crying out for attention and now that she'd got around to tending to them, she could see the infection. See how her silence had eaten away all the things she loved about herself, leaving nothing but an empty, miserable shell. Tears flooded down her cheeks and suddenly she wished that sky would erupt and blanket the forest in a torrent of rain. She wanted it to pour, so maybe then she wouldn't notice she was crying. Maybe then she'd be too numb to care about her own sorrow. Instead, the gray sky did nothing put pelt her lightly, mocking her pain by allowing her to feel it. Maybe hate wasn't too strong a word. Right now, it just didn't feel too strong. It felt right.
She hated him. She hated Kikyo. She hated this whole damn era.
It had all started here. If she'd never come to the feudal era...if she'd never seen him pinned to this very tree...she wouldn't be feeling like this. It was like someone had stuck a red hot knife in her heart and left it there to leak out all the things that made her who she was. She was losing herself each and every day, she could feel it. She'd forgotten how to be Kagome Higurashi. Trying to mold herself to better fit a role she didn't even want. She didn't want to be Kikyo, nor did she want to be a priestess. But she found herself unconsciously trying to fill both roles, and she hadn't even noticed it until now. She supposed she was just trying to please Inuyasha. In a way, some part of her hoped that if she could fill the role, then maybe she'd be less useless to him. If she were more Kikyo than Kagome, maybe she'd have a chance.
Pathetic.
Just sad, really.
And pointless.
She'd never be Kikyo. Never in a million years would she be what he wanted. She could only be herself and he just wasn't...he didn't...and she wished. She wished so hard that she'd never come here.
Her hands clenched briefly in anger. She swooped down and picked up a rock off the ground, lobbing it at the tree as hard as she could. It hit the small scar in the bark where Inuyasha had been pinned. Not satisfied, she picked up another small stone and hurled it at the tree, hitting the same spot. She kept throwing and she kept hitting that same spot with a scary kind of accuracy. The kind she wished she had when it was important. This made her even more dissatisfied, so she threw some more. She threw till her shoulder ached.
Last stone in hand, she hurled it at the tree, screaming, "I WISH I NEVER PULLED YOU FROM THIS TREE! YOU HEAR THAT INUYASHA!" She paused, her chest heaving and her face flushing a livid red, "I SHOULD HAVE LEFT YOU HERE TO ROT!"
Her voice echoed emptily in the forest. Yelling didn't make her feel better. Not much would at the moment. The only thing it did do was cause all the birds in the forest to go silent. It left her feeling more alone and lost than ever. She waited, she was always waiting. For a sign, but what that sign was and what it might mean, she didn't know. Maybe she wanted him to hear, to know how much pain he caused her. To know how hurt she always felt. Maybe she was hoping he'd come and apologize. Maybe if he heard...but it was a wish that was too much to hope for. With a frustrated grunt, she cut the air with a hand and turned her back on the forest and the tree that'd started it all.
With the forest now quieted, the only thing she could plainly hear was the soft pitter of rain. After a bit, the birds began to chitter quietly, adding to the already gentle hum of the rain. It was a dim soundtrack to an already somber day. Every step took her away from Inuyasha and towards the well, and with those steps she felt her anger diminish. It faded away and in its wake, it left tears behind. She was defeated. She knew it, could feel it in her heart. Totally, utterly defeated. Her shoulders slumped further and her heart sank with them as the well came into view.
Fresh tears fell on her cheeks and she felt like running but she didn't know why. She should just go back home and forget about the feudal era. Why, why couldn't she do that one little thing? So many times she had that thought and she never followed through. Why! She could easily make her wish a reality. Screw responsibility! She wasn't up to the task. Completing the jewel should be left to someone who was competent. Someone like Kikyo. Okay, She-with-all-the-deadness might be an unpleasant companion, but at least Kikyo knew what she was doing. Why have the copy, when you could have the original, right? She could just pretend she never fell into the well in the first place and go back to her nice, normal life. Her nice, normal, perfect, boring life.
Placing a hand on the worn edge of the well, she felt the aged wood with her fingertips. Her eyes became distant and hard, looking deeply into the bottomless depths of the well. She could shut the portal, bind its magic so that no one could go through or come out. Kaede had shown her how to do elementary sealing spells. It'd be easy. There was a small chance Inuyasha might break through. He was rather tenacious but that didn't mean she'd have to go with him. She'd just give him her shards and send him packing. Okay, it wouldn't be that easy nor would it be that simple but...
She shook her head fiercely.
No, she'd make it that simple.
There would be no explanations. She'd just tell him exactly how she felt. Consequences be damned! And if the bastard tried to drag her away, she'd just sit him. Or purify him into liquid goo of hanyou. She'd do it. She really would.
And then something inside her broke because she knew it'd never be that simple.
No matter how much she thought she wanted to leave for good, she never would. What made it all worse was that she didn't even know why. She just couldn't.
Do you really want to go back to that nice, perfect...boring...life?
Deep inside, she felt as if...as if she did know. As if she had some kind of purpose but damned if she could figure out what it was, like she was hiding it from herself until just the right time.
But when would the time be right? Would now be that time? Because...hello...emotional crisis, here!
Her hand balled into a fist and she pounded the lip of the well. Raising both hands up, she did it again before sinking to the ground. She cried. Her fingers dug into the old wood, cutting ineffectual grooves into the lip of the well. She cried harder. Her hands fell to her sides. On her knees and sobbing, she let out a strangled scream and beat the ground with her fists. It hurt. The sensation was vague and unhelpful. So she just cried harder, her sobs wracking her small body, coming out of her throat in harsh, throaty wails.
She was so tired.
Closing her eyes and pulling her knees to her chest, she hugged herself. Her tears were hot and uncomfortable. They made her cheeks sticky and the area under her eyes sting. Her nose was stuffy and her throat hurt. But she didn't stop. She held herself and cried herself hoarse. All thought was lost behind closed eyes and mired in sorrow, cut off by swirling darkness.
When she lifted her heavy head, she wasn't surprise to find the scenery unchanged. She wasn't surprised to find she lost track of time. At this point, she wouldn't be surprised by most anything. Nothing in her life every changed...for the good anyway.
It was still gloomy. Inuyasha still wasn't here with an apology that would never come, even if by some miracle he did show up. It was still raining and she was still miserable.
With a shaky sigh, she wiped away her tears and sniffled. She sat on the ground for a few minutes, just aimlessly thinking, before she pushed herself up and stood. Looking back at the worn path that led to the well, she realized two things. One, Inuyasha would never come when she wanted him to. He'd always come at his own whim. Her wants and needs never entered into his equations. Two, she realized she need time to think, time to prioritize her life, and find out what she really wanted. She needed to know where she belonged. Because if she couldn't figure out these two things, she'd always be waiting on Inuyasha...and he was always too little, too late. She was tired of too little, too late. Very tired of him apologizing when it didn't matter, and not apologizing when it did. It was like putting an adhesive strip on a scar that had healed over long ago.
It didn't matter if he apologized later, if at all. It had mattered then. Better yet, why always apologize when all it took was some common sense. He knew she hated being compared to Kikyo. He knew and he still said it. And if he hadn't, there wouldn't be a need for an apology in the first place. Anyway, all of that didn't even matter. She wasn't really looking for an "I'm sorry", just an "It'll be okay" would do. That and maybe a hug.
Didn't even have to be THAT complicated. He just had to be here. That'd be enough at this point. It was so stupid. This whole thing with them...it was stupid.
She just...
She just didn't know what she wanted anymore. And that was the problem. Nothing made sense. A weary sigh escaped her lips as she swung her legs over the well and sat down on the lip, preparing jump. Something tickled her senses, it prickled at the base of her skull and she halted all movement forward. Frowning, she didn't even try to figure out who it was, she already knew. The demonic aura that was swiftly coming her way was too big to be Shippou. It couldn't be Kouga, because he'd left in a flourish of wind and leaves around a half hour ago. Wherever he was now, it was far, far from here. This left only one person.
Inuyasha.
She almost groaned. Bracing herself, she pushed up and stood on the lip of the well. It was a dramatic gesture that she felt would convey exactly how much she didn't want to see him.
Lifting her head high, she closed her eyes and said in a clear voice, "Sit, boy."
She didn't hear the sound she was expecting. Confused, she turned her head and began to repeat, "SIT..Bah-o-o-y." but the words caught in her mouth as she saw exactly who it was that stood behind her, "...Oh...boy. "
She felt suddenly colder as all the color drained from her face. The wind, at that moment, decided to rush through the field surrounding the well. Everything had gone quiet again, but this time not because of her noisy outbursts. The denizens of the forest knew danger when they felt it and they silenced themselves until it passed. Even Kagome had to admit to herself that not saying anything was probably the best course of action. At least until she knew what was going on. She felt stupid standing on the well, and she wanted to jump down, but her legs wouldn't move.
Stupid legs.
Instead, she stood there like an idiot, towering over the motionless figure in white who regarded her with ill-concealed menace.
Gulping hard, she said the first stupid thing that came to her mind, "...You're not Inuyasha..."
His clothing snapped in the wind and his eyes narrowed slightly, "Clearly."
She flushed but she didn't look away. Licking her lips, she carefully stepped down from the well. Her gaze was locked with his, and she wouldn't break it. Fear was a natural emotion but only a fool gave into it. She wasn't afraid, even if her body told her different. Though she had to wonder why the stupidest things came out of her mouth in these situations. Apparently he thought so too, from the look he was giving her, which conveyed expected disappointment.
"Humans. Their senses are so dull they can't even tell a full youkai from a hanyou. Pathetic," said the look on his face.
And to that look, she made a mental rude gesture, one that she wouldn't dare make to his face for fear of losing hers.
She really didn't need this right now. Tensing, she pushed back all her own problems and tried to pretend everything was all right. She didn't want him to know she was having an emotional meltdown, not that it was a secret but she didn't need him to see her being weak. He was one more person in a long line who thought of her that way, and she'd be damned before she lent more credence to that idea.
"Inuyasha isn't here."
"Also obvious. You are a keen observer of well known facts. Are there any more blatant suppositions you wish to waste my time with?"
She blinked furiously, her brain unable to connect one thought to the other. A few seconds later it registered that he'd insulted her. A few seconds after that she became indignant, because she really, really didn't need this right now, her self esteem was already in the toilet...not like it needed extra help to get there. Stifling any tears or anger that'd make way to the surface, she gazed at him as levelly as she could. The only thing she wanted to do was go home. She didn't want to trade barbs with Inuyasha's coldhearted brother; she'd had enough insults lobbed at her courtesy of Inuyasha himself. Bad enough that it came from a friend, but from an enemy or pseudo-enemy...or whatever the hell he was...it was just too much for her to bear.
"Lord Sesshoumaru, to what do I owe this honor, then?" She asked stiffly, preferring to remain polite despite the wild urge to say something very rude.
Yet she was still half tempted to ask if he'd come all this way just to insult her. She held her tongue and managed a curt little bow, before looking him straight in the face. His eyes narrowed at that. In the back of her mind, she was sort of worried what he might do. He could attack her right now and there'd be nothing she could do about it. The question of why he was here was a hard one. He wasn't saying anything, merely regarding her coldly in the soft, half-light of the afternoon. It was unnerving to have his undivided attention and she wished he'd just get on with it. He seemed to prefer to intimidate first, and ask questions later, a very effective tactic. Why was he here?
If he was here for Tessaiga...what then?
She sure as hell didn't have it.
None of them held any interest for him, except for Inuyasha. He'd barely paid any attention to anyone besides the hanyou, regarding them as nuisances more than anything else. Pathetic humans meddling in affairs they had no business in. So, why? The only possible other reason would be Rin, and they hadn't done anything to her. In fact, she was quite fond of the little girl. Sure, it was a bit of a gamble on her part when she made friends with his ward, but she hadn't regretted it. And he hadn't seen anything wrong with it for the past few weeks. She couldn't remember anything she'd done that'd upset...him... and then a vague memory surfaced. One that left her a bit confused and a little frightened as she frowned, trying to pinpoint what it was. His remaining hand slipped inside the sleeve of his haori and drew something out of it. Throwing it at her, the object hit the ground with a flat slap. She looked down at her feet, her eyes widening when she saw what was laying there.
The sketchbook she'd given Rin. Looking from him to it, she began to scrabble for that memory, tearing the mental room in her head apart as she looked for it.
"Explain yourself, human." He said, his voice calm and clear, despite the muffled gloom that surrounded him.
For a moment she was confused, and as she reached for the pad, she wondered what was going on. Opening the first page, she saw her own clumsy drawing. Turning the next page, she saw Rin's drawing, which was just a bit less clumsy than her own. She turned to the next page and saw Rin's name repeated a dozen times in the shaky scrawl of one who was just learning to write. The next page turned, and it was more of the same, except instead of her name, the little girl had written Shippou's. The subsequent pages were filled with the same kind of thing. A dozen shaky repetitions of the hiragana for Kagome, Jaken, Sesshoumaru, Rin, and Shippou, and as she flipped, she could see the little girl's practice had paid off. The shaky letters gradually became more clear and defined. For a moment, she rejoiced and then she remembered. She taught the little girl these things, taught her how to write without thinking about the possible repercussions. Shippou had warned her about this and boy, howdy, was he right. Gods above, she was going to die for teaching a girl how to write her own name.
Swallowing hard, she faced the demon lord, her eyes locking with his uneasily. What the hell was she going to tell him? Better yet, what could she say that wouldn't end up with her dead...or possibly disfigured? Then an idea occurred to her. The well. Her eyes shifted subtly to gaze at it before slowly returning to his. Escape was so near. All she'd had to do is fall backwards but how to do it without him stopping her. He was awfully fast. If he anticipated her plan, he could likely stop her fall before the magic in the well activated. If he didn't...she'd escape him this time, but he'd still be here when she came back. Maybe not literally, but it wasn't like he was going away. She'd have to face him sooner or later. Still...She edged just a bit closer to the well, her knees pressing against the lip uncomfortably.
"Your stalling tactics try my patience, answer the question." He stated coolly, looking at the well with the barest hint of interest.
Her heart beat faster. She'd clued him in, now there was no way out of this. Looking behind him, she silently wished for Inuyasha to burst from the forest like he always had. She might be mad at him, but she needed him right now. One more instance where he was too little, waaaaaaaay too late. Stupid, stupid Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru moved towards her and she backed away, feeling vulnerable as the backs of her knees slipped off the lip of the well.
"What? Not so brave without the hanyou to defend you? You know as well as I how you left him. Perhaps I should thank you..."
Her fists clenched. That did it. That really, really did it. Bad enough that Inuyasha was always complaining about how weak she was and how much work it was to protect her, but to hear it from his brother. That was just the last straw. The anger she thought spent burned within her again. Her lip twitched and her face hardened as she let it wash over her. This demon was not Inuyasha and she wouldn't push her luck with him, but she was tired of taking abuse today. Really, really tired of it.
"No thanks necessary. I don't need him or anyone else to protect me. As for your question, all I did was teach her how to write. If that's such a crime, fine...kill me for it but I don't regret teaching her, and nothing you say or do will change that."
She thought about adding several scathing insults to her little speech but stopped herself. It seemed to be some kind of dog demon trait...or instinct...to lob insults like anyone else would trade compliments, like it was against their nature to be anything but condescending. She could jab him right now, hit him where it hurt. Show him how alike he and Inuyasha really were, but that was beneath her. Pathetic human she might be, but she was better than them. Besides, she didn't really know him well enough to suitably insult him in the way she felt he so rightly deserved.
"You taught her how to write." He stated, his normal neutral tone taking on a hint of inquisitiveness.
She paused, not really expecting that comment. Actually, she was kind of expecting some sort of "Presumptuous human" speech or something like that before he ended her life. That question didn't really enter into her equation for this particular confrontation.
"Uh. Yeah. That's what this is all about, isn't it?" She asked, clearly confused.
He didn't answer. Apparently, there was something else or maybe there wasn't. Maybe he was just testing her. Either way, she was officially weirded out and she firmly wanted this day to end, because it really couldn't get much worse.
"You are literate?"
"Yes, of course," she answered, half tempted to make a nasty snipe about not being the only one to state the obvious.
"Curious."
He regarded her more keenly, his sharp eyes locking on her to decipher the meaning behind her words. She wasn't lying and she knew he would know that. Demons seemed to have a pretty keen sense for deception. At least, dog demons did. He moved a bit closer, which didn't make her terribly comfortable, not that he gave a damn. Looking from the well to her, it disturbed him to realize she was almost protecting it. Standing in front of it to keep him from it, and to keep herself near it. It fairly reeked of ancient magic, as did the girl, and his curiosity was further piqued.
He had heard some fairly odd rumors as of late regarding his half-brother and the humans that accompanied him. Not that he gave a damn, but he was always one to indulge his own curiosity. This girl was a mysterious one and he had wondered about her, briefly, on occasion. Even so, she was just a lowly human, so he hadn't put much thought to her. Now he wondered if he were mistaken to so quickly quash his interest in her. She'd inadvertently raised questions about herself, ones that he had a passing interest in. There were many things that weren't clear about the girl. One thing was clear, something was going on here.
"Where did you learn?"
The first word that came to mind at this moment was, "Crap." She didn't say it, but she sure felt like she should. He'd come here on a simple mission, one that she wasn't really clear about...but he had a mission. And now, that mission was complicated by a simple slip of the tongue. Why couldn't she have waited for him to clarify things a bit better before answering? Stupid Kagome! Instead, she just opened her big mouth and now he was looking at the well, and asking questions that she didn't necessarily want to answer. Especially seeing as this was Sesshoumaru. How did that little girl trust him so much, anyway? She wondered that now, more than ever. Her eyes darted around as her mind worked. Licking her lips, she came up with an answer that was truthful enough but also evaded the nasty subject of her origins.
"A school in my hometown." She said, blinking furiously as she tried to edge even closer to the well.
His eyes narrowed, and he moved closer to her in response, "Ah. And that would be where?"
She made a soft grunt, noticing he was really too close for comfort. Moving back, she noticed before it was too late that he'd herded her from the well. Now he stood between her and it. The taiyoukai looked from her to the well, staring for a moment at its bottomless depths before turning his attention back to her to wait for her answer.
"Far away from here."
"Really. How far?"
"Very far."
"Hn. Interesting." He said, slowly, "You don't look foreign to me...then again all humans do look alike to my eyes. Still, I've traveled far and wide, and no where in my travels have I encountered a human settlement that educates its women. This hometown of yours must be quite enlightened."
"Yeah, my hometown's weird like that."
"So it is." He intoned, looking at her more piercingly as he leveled his next question, "You're hiding something. What is it? Why do you keep looking at this well? What interests you so? It's only an old well. Or is it?"
"It's...it's nothing...I'm not hiding..."
He gave her a rather dark look, which startled her into silence. The questions he put to her were ones he'd had wanted to ask, from time to time, but hadn't because it hadn't really seemed that important to him. Until now, of course. Now, he decided he wanted to know...and she would provide him satisfactory answers. Not half thought out excuses and out right lies.
"You are a poor liar." He stated with seeming indifference, "You speak Japanese quite well, well enough for it to be your native tongue. Yet your manners and dress indicate otherwise. Additionally, you claim to be educated." He paused then, for dramatic effect before continuing on, "A rude, indecently dress, yet educated human woman is quite an oddity in this day and age. One might wonder where you came from, wouldn't you agree?"
"No, I'm s-su-sure there are a lot of rude, indecently dressed, educated women out there."
"Your impertinence doesn't fool me for a moment, human. I could care less where you came from..." He said, glancing at the well one more time before pointedly looking at her again, "or why you are here...I came because I was concerned about the ideas you've put into my ward's head...and now I wonder, where you might have gotten them from."
"I...buh..I-I..." She stammered, feeling put on the spot, and unnecessarily so.
Wasn't he the one who allowed his ward to see her? And if she'd put ideas into her head, why didn't he say something sooner? It wasn't like he hadn't noticed her dress and speech before. If it was that big an issue, he'd have done something when he'd come upon them in that field months ago. 'Consequences be damned, ' she thought, deciding it'd be her new mantra.
"I don't see how it's any of your business where I come from. I haven't put ANY ideas into your ward's head." She said, pausing to breath in deeply to gather courage, "None that are dangerous anyway and if it really bugs you that much, then...then she doesn't have to visit us anymore. Break her heart, if you want. I was only teaching her what I knew to help her and if you're too short sighted to see that...well, that's not my problem. So go ahead. Allow her to be just like every other human, without any ideas in her head at all!"
Clapping a hand over her mouth, she gazed wide eyed at the taiyoukai, realizing her error much too late. She didn't know where that came from or why really. Her whole body was trembling from the sheer passion of those words. She'd only ever talked to Inuyasha that way but she didn't regret it. Even looking at his face, as coldly regal as it was, she didn't regret it. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, much less what he might do. More than likely, it wouldn't be good for her. Still, she wasn't going to regret. She'd done enough of that already. Never in her whole life had she been so insulted and in such a short time. By two separate people, no less. What next? Would the sky fall down on her? Would she find out she really does have some mysterious and incurable disease? Maybe someone could kill her cat, because that'd just make things ten times better. She couldn't help it, tears came to her eyes. They spilled down her cheeks ever so slowly and they burned. They burned her eyes and her flesh. They burned as they trailed down to their inevitable fall. Why did she have to deal with this kind of stuff? Why couldn't she just be a normal girl? And most importantly, why did she have to have such a big mouth!
Her lips thinned to a determined line as she tried to get a hold of herself. She furtively wiped the tears away before they could fall, even though she knew he could see. His eyes penetrated beyond her, beneath her...straight through her. There was nothing that he wouldn't see and it made her feel ashamed for being so weak in front of him. Ashamed, because she was as pathetic as he thought she was. Stupid, really. It didn't matter. What he thought didn't matter to her. Still, this judgment, his silent judgment of her was the last thing she needed right now.
Up until this point, she'd been fairly happy this summer. Rin and Shippou, and the time just the three of them spent together had made it that way. It had truly been the best summer she'd ever had since she was little. In fact, she could say with all honesty, Rin and Shippou were pretty much the only positive thing going in her life right now. Their time together had given her focus, a purpose.
Now that purpose was threatened.
Perhaps that's where her passion came from. She'd always felt sub-par, even in her own time. Flighty, forgetful, she wasn't nearly as smart as her brother and had been nothing but trouble for her Mum since the day she started Kindergarten. And then there was the whole thing with Inuyasha...and she really didn't want to think about it right now. She just felt like she disappointed so many people in her life, except for Rin and Shippou. They were the only ones she didn't disappoint. In their eyes, she could do no wrong. She was their big sister. Their superhero. Everything she'd always hoped to be for her own little brother but wasn't. Everything she wished she could be for everyone, but never could because of her weak heart.
But the most important thing she was to them was the very thing she needed. She held onto it like a life line because...because they were the only ones who made her feel that way.
To Rin and Shippou, she was special.
Not because she was Kikyo or a priestess. Not because she was the smartest person in the world or the strongest.
She was special because to them...she was Kagome.
There didn't need to be any explanation after that. To them, she was simply Kagome and they loved her for it. She'd been so blindingly overwhelmed by pain that she'd almost forgotten. And the taiyoukai had forced her to remember by threatening to take the one thing she needed more than anything away from her. She wouldn't let him take it away. Not that. He could take anything else, but not that.
Her eyes lit with righteous indignation. How DARE he! How dare he question her intentions! How dare he threaten to take the only good thing she had away from her? Not just her, but Rin and Shippou as well. You can't just let a kid have friends and then take them away for no good reason. It wasn't right or fair.
The more reasonable side of her personality argued, "The world isn't often fair, though...is it?"
She put that reasonable part of herself away in a box and stomped on it. At this point, she was beyond reasoning. Fear for her life had fled, as had any of the more rational instincts she had for self-preservation. She would do this or die trying!
Yet she felt so helpless because she knew there'd be nothing she could do if he decided... She'd be lucky if he just decided to not let Rin visit anymore. The reasonable voice refused to shut up, even in the box and it pushed for her to worry more about her neck right now than her relationship to one little girl. She stomped on it again and in her mind, she imagined chucking the box with the voice inside as far as the strength in her arms would allow. Reasoning had gotten her no where.
Once more something...someone...was taking something that was hers and making it theirs. Inuyasha had taken her self-esteem, her self-respect and quashed it underneath one of his bare, stinky feet. Now his brother was taking her purpose in life, the thing that had kept her going all these months. Did she really have any reason to be here then? She didn't really belong. Looking over at the well longingly, she wanted to dive headfirst into it and put all of this behind her.
She was tired of being leached of all her love and care, when it was so unappreciated. During all of this, she held his steely gaze, trying to shield her eyes from showing her weakness. No more. She let the defeat sink into them. Allowed him to see the utter desolation she felt. He already thought her weak and pathetic for her humanity, why disappoint him by pretending to be what she wasn't? Besides, this is what they wanted, for her to give up and go home. That's what she was going to do.
If only Sesshoumaru would move.
"You care for the child."
"Yes."
"Why? You have no obligation in regards to her welfare."
The tears she felt, the sadness, none of it went away. If anything, the piercingly cold question made her despair more. She wanted to know what he was trying to prove and why he was doing this to her. Perhaps it was the words that were unspoken in the question. Rin didn't belong to her, she wasn't Kagome's ward...she was his. The girl had no relation to her at all, so why did she give a tin shit what happened to her? And the only answer that came to mind was...because.
She frowned as she whispered breathlessly, "I don't need a reason. I just do."
"You mean to tell me you desire to help another without thought for reward? How amusingly human of you." He said, and if she thought him capable of visible emotion, she imagined he might sneer as the insult left his lips but he didn't.
His face remained dismally blank with only the barest hints of revulsion at what he believed to be bald faced lies. He regarded her a moment longer, as if deciding whether or not to kill her with the kind of discriminating care one would take to pick out just the right vegetable. Without so much as a word, his gaze left hers. He walked past her as if they hadn't just had a conversation, like he hadn't, just for a moment, considered killing her. She was paralyzed but inside she was boiling. Her voice struggled to scream, to shout a million insults at his retreating back. She wanted to light into him like the focused rays of the sun as filtered through a magnifying glass. How she'd like to hold him under that ray until he popped! It was less a wish and more a burning desire. She realized then that it was probably a good thing she didn't have any super powers because she knew at this moment, she'd misuse them. Maybe it was a good thing she wasn't graced with the control of her power and the strength Kikyo possessed. If she did, a lot of demons would be dead for dreaming.
And as much as she wanted to fight back, to howl at him like the unrelenting wind, she stayed silent. Her mouth moved, but no words came. She surrendered to her inability and her continued weakness, allowing him to get away with insulting her once more. Worse, she was allowing him to win. There would be no more visits from Rin, she was sure of it. She let out a short, defeated sigh and hung her head. She balled one hand into a fist, clenching and unclenching it in frustration, as she realized she wouldn't be able to leave. Not until she was sure he was gone, and he wasn't. He stopped some six feet from her. His back was turned and he seemed to be waiting for something. She wished that whatever it was he was waiting for would come, because she wanted him gone so badly she could taste it.
They stood there with their backs facing each other for what seemed like an eternity. Each gazed at a different spot into the horizon, matching their view, infinity for infinity. Her tears had finally stopped and all she wanted to do was go home. Just go home for at least a couple of weeks to sort her head out and rest. She wondered, blithely, what he really wanted. She still had no clue, not that she gave a damn.
He spoke then, and in his voice stood a calm, imperial command, "You will continue to instruct my ward...on two conditions."
"And what would those conditions be?" She queried placidly.
"First, all lessons should meet with my approval beforehand. I don't wish my ward's head to be filled with vacuous, human half-truths."
She knew what he meant by that, but she was worried that he wasn't going to let the girl dream. And she thought to herself, "Humans should be allowed to dream." It was the kind of thing she'd never tell someone like him. He simply wouldn't understand. The kind of lessons he was asking of her were rote. He wanted the girl to be literate, so that she could become as cold and as calculating as he was...in her own, inferior human way. He didn't want her to dream of fireflies or rainbows. He didn't want her head to be filled with the scattered imaginings that she enjoyed everyday. It was sad, really. She wasn't sure she could do as told, but...Yes...it couldn't hurt to dream. Now wasn't the time, but he WOULD be made to see that Rin was human. And as a human, she deserved to know about her heritage. It was her right, and Kagome would not allow it to be denied. But for the sake of not arguing with the obstinate taiyoukai, she'd drop it for the time being.
"...and the second?"
His head tilted back a little so that he could look at her from the corner of his eye, "Your attire is wantonly inappropriate...if you are to instruct my ward, you will dress more decently, and in a manner that befits a tutor's station."
Her eyes widened and she gave a small huff of surprised annoyance. It was perhaps the most surreal thing she'd ever heard and she wasn't sure if she should be outraged, or amused. She held it back, but she had the deadly desire to question exactly what was wrong with how she dressed. Then she remembered what era she was in and she could almost kick herself.
"You find these conditions disagreeable?" He asked curtly, cutting her off before she could even answer. "If you care about my ward as much as you say, then you won't find it difficult to accede to my demands. You have a fortnight to decide."
He left without a single word more. For a good long time she stood there, staring into space before ambling tiredly towards the well. Her legs felt heavier than they should, as if someone had filled the insides with lead. There were no tears or wails of frustration this time, she was simply too tired for it. She jumped into the well and let the blue lights surrounding her. When the lights stopped, she looked up and sighed audibly with relief at the sight of the well cover. She was home. Thank god.
With what little energy she had left, she crawled out of the well and made a bee-line for her house. She entered listlessly. Walking past her mother, grandfather and brother without saying anything and they watched her go, their heads turning slowly to watch the retreating teenager. With a shrug, it was forgotten and they all went back to what they were doing before, as if Kagome hadn't just dragged herself through their comfortable sitting room like the walking dead.
She made it to her room and stripped off her disheveled clothes, dropping them all over the floor as she made her way to the bathroom. Carelessly, she threw Rin's sketchbook on her bed with some of her discarded clothes. At the moment, it sat there innocently forgotten. One bath, a large meal and a forty five minute long mother/daughter heart to heart later, Kagome was feeling in much better spirits. In fact, by going home, her mood had improved greatly. There were no great insights, no significant discussions, just a simple conversation between a mother and her daughter. Kagome had laid her feelings bare and told her everything that had happened. Her mother offered little advice, but plenty of reassuring platitudes...which she needed a lot more than advice at the moment. Later, she knew there would be a longer, more involved conversation with no clichés and actual advice. But for now...for now her mother gave her the comfort she needed and Kagome gladly accepted.
Best of all, her mother had brought her a glass of hot chocolate, with requisite marshmallows. And with a warm hug, she left Kagome to think while she went to look for her old archery uniform. Her mum couldn't help giving one bit of advice, which was to agree with the arrogant taiyoukai about her clothes. If she were to continue on in the feudal era, she really should blend in. Kagome didn't quite see how her mother's traditional archery uniform would help with that, except for the traditional part. Still...she wasn't in a mood to argue.
Instead, she sat quietly on her bed and sipped her hot chocolate, finally noticing the sketchbook she'd thoughtlessly tossed aside in her single minded quest to bathe. With quiet curiosity, she picked up the sketchbook and began to page through it. A soft smile graced her face as she gazed at Rin's clumsy hand writing that gradually became steadier. If she really decided to do like he asked, it'd change the whole dynamic of their days off. She'd have to shift the schedule of pure, uninterrupted fun, to one that included fun with learning. Though how to do it, that was the real rub. Fun and learning didn't often go together. She shook her head, not wanting to think about that yet. Instead, she quietly paged through the little notebook, while patting herself on the back. With each page, Rin made greater improvements. There were a few characters that needed to be straightened out and one in particular where she was clearly forgetting her stroke order, but overall, she was pleased. Maybe this tutoring thing wouldn't be so bad, after all.
She grinned softly to herself, idly flipping to the next page. Her grin widened. It was a drawing this time, a neat little drawing of Rin, Shippou and herself having what looked to be quite the picnic. Simply adorable. The next page contained more of the same, except this time it was a drawing of their game of Marco Polo. She flipped ahead, touched to see that Rin had drawn, with great care, depictions of their days together. The drawings were pretty good for a kid her age, very detailed, as if the girl really wanted to make sure she remembered everything. Turning the page, her smiled faltered a bit as she saw the subject. Rin had drawn a large tree. Underneath the tree were Rin, Shippou, and herself, not much of a surprise considering the previous pages. It was the other figure included in the drawing that was. Rin had drawn a figure dressed all in white sitting on the far side of their picnic. That figure didn't seem particularly happy about being there as he sipped his tea with blank disdain. But the fact that really shocked her was the placement. Rin had drawn Kagome's crudely drawn doppelganger happily sitting right next to Sesshoumaru.
Her eyes widened comically. Pursing her lips she turned the page, only to be greeted with yet another drawing where she and Sesshoumaru were far too close for comfort. Each page got worse and worse. Soon her little stick figure and his little stick figure were sitting side by side, holding hands. Their tiny stick figure fingers intertwined in such an innocent yet disturbing way that it made Kagome want to unhinge her jaw and eat her own head whole. Her cheeks flared as she sputtered in utter shock.
The last picture was the absolute worst.
Rin had drawn tiny stick Kagome in a wedding kimono, hugging tiny stick Sesshoumaru while tiny stick Rin and Shippou looked on happily. Kagome wanted to die. She wanted to find the deepest, darkest hole in the world, and once she found that spot, she would die. And then it hit her. THIS was what Sesshoumaru had been so upset about. He thought that she had...and would... and using Rin. The words were confused and broken in her mind as she tried to sort it all out. Once she could think again, she held a hand over her mouth as she openly laughed.
He thought...He thought she'd tried to use Rin to get to him. What a ridiculous notion! She lightly touched the paper, her fingers running over the coarse crayon lines as she gazed at it. So much trouble over something so silly! Her fingers rested on the stick figure's entwined hands. She shook her head and smiled. With the smile came a laugh that wouldn't stop. She fell back on her bed and laughed until her stomach hurt. Looking up at her ceiling, she sighed deeply as she rested an arm on her stomach. If nothing else, she had to say that Rin had a pretty vivid imagination. Perhaps TOO vivid. Honestly, her and Sesshoumaru? Ridiculous. She blew a strand of hair out of her face, contemplating her next move. When she got back, she'd have to explain a few things to Rin. Things she wasn't really sure how to say without hurting the poor kid's feelings, if she even got a chance to say them at all.
Damn Sesshoumaru. It'd all be so much easier without him. If it was just her, Rin and Shippou. Grunting, she closed her eyes a few minutes and let her mind rest in empty darkness. She stayed like that for a few seconds before sitting up again. Closing the sketchbook, she sat on the edge of the bed a moment. She had to get ready for bed, but for one reason or the other she felt like delaying the inevitable.
Holding the sketchbook in her hands, she gazed at the cover with a still amused smile on her face. A sharp rap at her window drew her out of her reverie. She let out a small yelp of surprise as she fell off her bed, startled by what she saw out the window. It was a dark, blustery night, with a light, eerie kind of rain that pelted the windows in just the wrong way. Ghosts walked on nights like these, and she always found herself jumping at shadows during this time of year. Her imagination was active enough and she hardly needed help from one misguided hanyou...who was sitting on her roof at the moment, his wet face pressed against the window.
Sooner or later, she knew he'd come but she hadn't expected it at this particular moment. She thought he'd at least wait until morning, instead of showing up in the dead of night, scaring her half to death. Opening the window, she leveled him with the harshest glare she could muster. Honestly, he had a lot of nerve.
"What're you doing here?"
He harumphed, glaring right back at her, "Tch! I should be the one asking that question! Why'd you take off like that!"
"WHY! I...YOU! YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO ASK ME THAT!" She exclaimed, only holding off on the sit word because she didn't feel like having to explain to her mom why they'd have to fix the roof. "AFTER WHAT YOU SAID? I OUTTA..."
"Outta what? Are you going to let me in or am I gonna soak out here all night?" He asked, with equal irritation.
Images of pushing him off the roof entered her mind and she narrowed her eyes, "Do you REALLY want me to answer that?"
"Listen...about that...I'm sorry, okay!" He said, his face the picture of frustrated confusion, "But...are you all right? I just...When I got to the well, I smelled that bastard brother of mine. I wasn't gonna come but...I was worried, all right! So just let me in!"
Her face softened a bit and reluctantly she let him in, closing the window after him. She felt suddenly very guilty for a list of reasons that she didn't want to think about too hard lest she give herself an aneurysm.
"I'm sorry...about yelling before and about running off. I should be more careful." She said, offering him a slightly melancholy welcoming smile, "Thank you...for worrying about me."
He blushed, his eyes widening fractionally before he turned away and huffed, "Don't get all emotional about it. I promised I'd protect you...not like it's a big deal."
She had to smile at his reaction. Stupid Inuyasha.
"Do you want a to--" She asked, her words cut off as unceremoniously shook himself off in the middle of the bedroom, "--wel?"
She opened her eyes, and looked blandly at the mostly dry hanyou who'd made himself at home on her bed.
"What're you glaring at?" He asked, itching an ear with one clawed finger to punctuate the question.
"Comfortable?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Just wondering." She said tiredly, and with a great sigh, she turned heel and started towards the bathroom to get a towel for herself.
"Oi! What's this?"
She turned to see what he was talking about and was horrified to find he held Rin's sketchbook in one clawed hand. Letting out a small squeak, she snatched it away from him with a scowl.
"Nothing. Just Shipou's sketchbook."
"If it's nothing, why'd you grab it like that?"
"Because...I promised Shippou I wouldn't let anyone else see it, that's why!"
He grumbled something about her coddling the little fox demon that she plainly ignored. She stuffed the sketchbook into one of her desk drawers, one of the few that had a lock on it. Slipping the rarely used key off her peg board, she locked the drawer and glared at Inuyasha. She gave him a look that told him exactly what she'd do to him if he suddenly got curious and thought about picking that lock.
Kagome wasn't entirely satisfied that she'd scared him into submission but at the moment, she didn't care. All she focused on was getting a towel for herself, and the sodden hanyou on her bed.
Anything else was incidental.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I removed the author's note from this chapter because of the recent rule change regarding author's notes. For those reading this, I'm going to discontinue the author's note section of my stories. I have a community on LJ, which you can access in my profile. I'll be putting up any responses to questions or comments there.
Thank you all very much for all your support!
Ciao
Noa