Disclaimer: I do not pretend to own the characters of Inuyasha even if I wish I did…..so please don't sue. And believe me when I say, if I owned the great Sesshomaru-sama I'd have much better things to do then write fanfics about him.
"Hold on a minute Rin, where does she wish for me to go?" Sesshomaru asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.
"Um, it's a weird name and I'm not sure how to say it, but there's this place she mentioned. She said it could help you."
"Help me……help me with what?"
"With your problems. Kagome said that you need help, but she said that the help that you need is not something you can get in this world. Kagome said your 'special'. Then she said that this place is where 'special' people go in order to get 'unspecial'. My lord, please go, it'll be good, I promise!"
This was all way too much for the dog demon to take in at once. 'A different world? What did she mean by that? And how would a mere well be able to transport me there? And what did she mean when she said I was 'special'!' Sesshomaru felt a bit indignant, though he wasn't sure exactly why. Something about what the wench had said pissed him off. Sesshomaru wasn't sure what to do and he had no idea what to tell Rin as she looked up at him with puppy dog eyes. "Rin, whatever that woman said to you, just forget it. We're leaving now." Sesshomaru stood up. He was about to walk away when something pulled heavily at his arm. He looked down to see Rin grasping his arm with all her might and 'trying' (operative word here) to pull him back.
"Please, my lord, go see Lady Kagome. Please!" Tears formed in Rin's eyes and Sesshomaru could tell that she was about to have a total meltdown. If there was one thing the proud demon lord could not stand it was Rin's tears (-nudge- big softie). Sesshomaru thought it out for a moment before sighing.
"Alright Rin, I shall go see Kagome, but I promise you nothing," he said, relenting. Rin immediately brightened and all traces of watery eyes disappeared. For that, Sesshomaru was grateful. So Sesshomaru, Rin, Jaken, and Ah-Uhn set off to see Kagome.
- - - In another part of the woods not too far off - - -
"Gah, where the hell are we going?" Inuyasha demanded.
"It should not be too much farther before we find our way…..err….uh...I mean….uh….okay, no one panic; we, are not lost!"
"WE'RE LOST? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING MONK?"
Kagome sighed. "Please, Inuyasha, keep your voice down. Yelling won't solve anything right now."
Inuyasha growled slightly. "I'll yell if I want 'cause I feel like it!"
Kagome gave Inuyasha a warning look. "Inuyasha…" Inuyasha flattened his ears, relenting.
"Whatever, but why do we have to follow the stupid map again?" Inuyasha directed the question at Miroku, who was holding the ragged map.
"I assure you, Inuyasha, that this map is quite accurate and that there is nothing amiss here….I just need to figure out how to read it is all." At this everyone groaned. Sango walked up to Miroku, took one look at the map, and sighed. She grabbed the map from him.
"You know, it is possible that it would be easier to read the map if you weren't holding it upside down," she announced, flipping it upright and handing it back to the monk.
"Heh, heh, heh…..I knew that. Hey, check this out, there's a big 'X' on this map."
Kagome walked over and took a look at the map. "Wow! It's a real treasure map! Uh….does anybody know what any of these landmarks are?"
Sango shook her head. "The only thing readable here is the red X, everything else is scribbles."
"So that means…..this thing won't help us at all," Kagome felt bedraggled, this day was just not hers.
"You mean to tell me that we've been going who knows where all this time!" Inuyasha asked, glaring daggers at the monk.
"I believe that, by now, we are corning 'no' and 'where'." Kagome declared, sighing.
"Feh, we should have just followed scents until we got out of this damned forest."
"Not everyone here has hanyou senses you know," Kagome replied, looking miffed.
"Oi, one nose is all we need. We would have been fine if we hadn't tried to rely on that stupid map. No one ever listens to me."
"Of course no one listens to you; if we did we'd all have migraines." Inuyasha growled and hit Shippou over the head.
"No one asked you!"
"Guys, cut it out." Kagome sighed; she had to admit things looked pretty hopeless. Then something ahead of them caught her eye. 'Yes, finally.' Kagome smiled as she caught sight of the demon lord's traveling party. "Sesshomaru, over here," she called. Everyone got quiet, with the exception of Inuyasha who was now growling. All eyes turned to Sesshomaru as he got closer.
Sesshomaru looked quite miserable, in that you-really-can't-tell-because-he-appears-to-lack-all-emotion kind of way. "Do no presume that I have come here to fulfill your request. I have merely traveled here to learn the details of this incomprehensible invitation, and to kill Inuyasha."
"Now Sesshomaru, that is not the right foot to start out on. You and Inuyasha need to get along for the time being. That means no killing. Don't even poke one another. No physical contact is permitted. Oh, and no throwing insults either." Sesshomaru stared at Kagome in disbelief, not sure if his keen sense of hearing had been working for the past 30 seconds.
'Is this strange wench actually reprimanding me?' Kagome used the precious few moments of Sesshomaru being caught off guard to make her move.
"Now!" she shouted. Miroku threw a beaded bracelet over Sesshomaru's wrist and started chanting. By now, Sesshomaru was looking even more astonished. The beads glowed and the lord felt a strange and constricting power radiating off of the charmed accessory. He growled and shot a death glare at Kagome.
"What the hell have you done to me?" he demanded.
"Don't panic, these beads are only temporary," she assured, "they are for your own good. I could not take you to my world without them."
Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed. "What do they do, wench?"
"They seal away your energy so that you are unable to attack anyone or anything. The seal shall fade away in about a week or two. For the time being, however, it is absolutely indestructible."
"It was not you to whom I asked," Sesshomaru bit out at Miroku. Miroku gulped under the lord's intense glare, but did not give off any other signs of his fear. Sesshomaru turned back to Kagome. "What is it that you wish of me?" he demanded.
Kagome thought for a moment. 'Hmmm, you know that's a pretty broad category. This could be used to my advantage.' She shook her head, dissolving her thoughts. 'No, now's not the time to think about that. Although it would be nice to get him to do some things, I won't take advantage of this situation. After all, the whole reason I'm doing this is to help him.' (Note: In case this is what you're thinking, no, Kagome is not thinking anything perverted or any 'bad' use of the Fluff Master…..that would be despicable.) "Well, I want to help you."
Sesshomaru gave her a look that suggested he thought her to be either a complete liar or way off the edge of sanity. "First of all, I would never accept help from a disgusting human such as yourself nor would you have any reason to desire such a thing."
"Hey, Fluff-brains, Kagome isn't a disgusting human so you can just shove it," Inuyasha retorted. (O.o…Fluff-brains? What the hell is wrong with me? I'm not going to ask myself…and you probably shouldn't either.)
"Thank you Inuyasha, but I got this," Kagome reasoned. It was actually neither of the two who made Sesshomaru regret his statement, but rather the little brown-haired child.
"You think humans are disgusting?" she whimpered. "Does that mean Lord Sesshomaru thinks Rin is disgusting too?" Sesshomaru looked slightly panicked for a split second before deciding that if he ignored her question, it would go away. Strangely enough….it did. Shippou came over to Rin, and distracted her by asking her if she wanted to play with him. Rin smiled, agreeing, and the two moved out of the way of the adult conversation, though keeping themselves in plain view…just in case.
"Anyway," Kagome continued, "I truly do wish to help you. Don't ask why, because I can't really explain it, but I really do." Sesshomaru studied her skeptically for a minute, before relenting.
"I do not have a choice in this matter do I?" he asked in a rare moment of weakness. Sesshomaru knew when he was beat. He simply hoped that this would all be over with very quickly.
Kagome shook her head, smiling. "But don't worry, everything will be alright." Somehow, Sesshomaru seriously doubted that, but he decided to make things easier and just go along with it. "Oh, by the way…..do you happen to know the way out of the woods? We kind of need to get back to the well before you can come to my world." Kagome laughed slightly.
If Sesshomaru wasn't uneasy before, he certainly was now. 'This wench can't even find her way out of these woods? My fate is sealed. I should say goodbye to Rin before I leave. Did I or did I not already write my will?'
A/N: Well, this concluded another chapter. -sigh- I'm sorry about both the shortness of this chapter and the amount of time it's taken to get it done. I've been in a rut lately. I've have so many things to do and I've also had writer's block. So, when I finally have time to write my story….I have no idea what I'm going to write. sweatdrop The time I have to myself seems to be growing slimmer and slimmer each day. Then again, maybe that's just me. My friends keep lending me books and DVDs which take up all of my time trying to get through. By the time I've finished them so I can give them back to their awaiting owners my friends give me more manga and anime. Another major downfall of mine is that I love to read. You see, I have 39 or 40 books I want to read. My procession through those is always halted when I go to the library though…..where I pick out a couple more. That of course means that I have to read those first, because I have to return them in two weeks time. Then, after I return them, 90 of the time I can't resist checking out a couple of new arrivals while I'm there. The cycle just keeps on going. There are also the anime series that I want to re-watch and the video games that I am seriously falling behind in. So yeah, I'm kind of a mess. I assure you, however, that I am trying my best to update. I also am planning to write the next chapter much sooner that this one in order to make an attempt to make up for the shortness of this chapter. Oh and thank you so much to all of you who have reviewed. I really appreciate it.
Wolfygirl13 – Aw, thanks. I hope your family can get along better as well…..though hope for mine is pretty grim. 0.-
Kiss of the Breeze – Mmmmm beetles, the other white meat. Thank you for supporting the 'no calling Sesshomaru Uncle Frank' club. Speaking of making people frightened and miserable, it is fun isn't it? Always a nice time-passer. My friends also concoct schemes to scare people and you wouldn't believe how many things we can think of in a two minute time span. Oh, and thanks for the referral, I'll check them out when I get a couple of spare minutes and can actually remember. (By the way…..my computer sucks too -sighs-)
Summonergirl001 – Wow Ally, 'calling the great Lord Sesshomaru anything but The Great Lord Sesshomaru' huh? He, he, he. I have to ask you something though….can I please, please, please have a giant stick too? I promise to beat up Evan with it if you give me one. puppy dog eyes (Long live the Evan hater's club! Woot!) There is one thing that bugs me about your review though – drop my Sesshy plushie and no one gets hurt! He's mine damn it! You heard me, NANI KUSO! -clears throat- I'm okay now…..but the plushie is still mine. -twitch, twitch-
RisikaFox – Adrienne! -hugs- I miss you! …..Even if I do email you nearly everyday….-sweatdrop- I'm not sure I want to know what you're thinking when I say the word stalker though. I'm not sure why, but everything I say to you always comes out wrong. This, of course, is why I am in the hall of fame for strange sayings….the most popular one is not to be mentioned of course….not here anyway -shifty eyes- . Oh, and letcher is how Microsoft Word told me to spell it. I obey the law of spell check, whose power is absolute. Yay! Just kidding….spell check is only right half the time, at best. sigh I'm sorry if my spelling is not perfect, but I believe an act of vengeance is called for right about now: Ha! You spelled 'sorry' wrong! In your face! Okay, I'm good now. And yes, your Onii-san is a roadmap. 0.-
Anyway, until the next chapter. 0.-