Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and friends. They're Rumiko Takahashi's.
Chapter 2
"Kagome!" Inuyasha screamed as he watched the well carry her away.
He tried to lunge after her, but nearly a dozen of the wretched demons drove him back to the edge of the clearing with another subversive attack.
"Where are you hiding the shards?" one of the demons hissed at him. "Give them to us, and we'll slay you before that human and end your suffering."
A growl rumbled in his throat as he jumped up and twisted his body to free himself from the attackers. The demon's threats went unanswered by the usually rather boastful hanyou. Inuyasha could not even feel the numerous gashes that soaked his fire rat in blood; his mind focused on one thing: get to Kagome.
She was hurt, possibly dying, all because he had failed to protect her. He wanted to kick himself for not shoving her down the well as soon as they arrived. Absently, he shredded a demon with his claws as faint smile traced across his lips. Kagome would have just come right back to fight, only then she would have been furious with him for trying to save her life.
"Hold on, Kagome! You can sit me all you want later, just hang on! I'm coming for you," Inuyasha shouted, more for his own reassurance since Kagome now lay 500 years out of earshot.
An all too familiar scent suddenly reached Inuyasha's nose. Damn, he thought. That bastard has the worst timing. Angrily he swung Tetsusaiga, driving the little demons back a good distance as a white blur shot out of the forest behind him and settled in a graceful stance across from him.
"Sesshomaru," Inuyasha growled as he watched the emotionless demon survey the situation. He knew his brother could smell the faint scent of Kagome's blood when he glanced at the well.
The insect demons eyed the newcomer warily before launching an attack. Inuyasha couldn't help the chuckle as he thought how stupid those bugs had to be to attempt to lay a claw on Sesshomaru. He was not disappointed either. The demon did not take his icy glare from Inuyasha as he flicked his wrist behind him slicing the attackers in half with his whip. That arrogant dog didn't even bother to turn and verify the success of his attack.
The lesson had been learned, though. The demons slipped back into the forest. Well, now to get rid of this pompous asshole so he could get to Kagome. There would be plenty of time to kill Sesshomaru when Kagome could be around to enjoy it. He lifted Tetsusaiga menacingly, but to his surprise Sesshomaru made no indication that he intended to fight.
"Can you not keep up with your own toys, little brother?" Sesshomaru said with contempt dripping from his voice like his poison saliva.
Those golden eyes stared stonily at a point somewhere just behind Inuyasha while the demon's remaining hand ran idly through the length of silver hair. The half-demon growled angrily and he snapped, "You stay out of this. I'll take care of you once Kagome's safe."
Sesshomaru continued to stare past Inuyasha as he quietly responded, "You can't even take care of yourself, half-breed. I'll retrieve the miko."
At that moment, Inuyasha felt it. Whirling, he followed his brothers gaze and lifted Tetsusaiga just in time to block an attack to his back. Then his brother's words registered. He would get Kagome?
"Sesshomaru, you can't! I'm the only one- "Inuyasha shouted over his shoulder as he forced back the demons.
Sesshomaru heard his brother protesting as he glided into the well. Looking down he was shocked to find it was empty, though the faint scent of her still lingered. He had seen her fall in here with his own eyes. How could she have gotten out? He growled in irritation and prepared to jump back out, but his feet never hit bottom. A blue light engulfed him as his swift descent became more of a floating sensation.
Another growl rumbled in his chest. Something was not right. The scent of demons and his half-breed brother grew faint, while the sharp, metallic scent of the miko's blood became very strong. A moment later he stood in darkness at the bottom of the well, staring down at the pale form of the wench. A pool of her blood was spreading in the dirt.
A quick examination of his person told him that the light had not effected him in any way, so he turned his attention to the woman. Her pulse was very light and much too fast as her heart struggled with the loss of blood. After an awkward moment due to his lack of a limb, Sesshomaru managed to scoop her into his arm supporting her against his chest.
To his utter dismay, she shifted against him and threw her arms around his neck. Aside from the blood, her scent was heavenly and the tenderness of her embrace flooded his mind with the images of his dreams. His own heart began to race as he tried to deny that this is what he had been longing to feel again. Why did this feel so familiar, and so comforting? What was it that danced just beyond the reach of his memory? Anger rose within him that she, a human, should have such an effect on him, a demon lord no less.
She groaned, turning her face toward his, and muttered, "Inuyasha, I knew you'd come."
"Do not mistake me for that filth," Sesshomaru hissed at her. The sight of her face made his blood boil. It was her face that haunted his dreams, her scent that dredged up these emotions he had not felt since, well, since he had been a young child. Emotions he had long held in check. It was her fault he, the lord of the Western Lands, had to stoop so low as to fetch an injured human.
Her frailty seemed to vanish the instant she heard his voice. Her eyes fluttered open and she let out a scream that felt like daggers in his ears. The woman removed her embrace and struggled to reach the bow that had amazingly remained over her shoulder. He chanced another glance at her and found her cheeks flushed pink and her scent spiked with- with embarrassment? Trying to ignore the urge to kill her, Sesshomaru adjusted his hand so that he could keep her from taking the bow and still support her. He then jumped up and out of the well.
Expecting to see a sunlit clearing and a bloodied half-breed scowling at him, Sesshomaru found himself standing inside a small, wooden structure that housed the well. The wench reeked of blood and she was shaking in his arms, but her pleasant scent was not spiked with fear as he would have expected, but utter confusion and a slight nervousness.
Instantly suspicious, Sesshomaru growled and demanded fiercely, "Where have you brought us, wench?"
"How? How did you get through?" she asked trying to make her voice steady through her apparent pain.
Sesshomaru started to reprimand her insolence, but found she had lost consciousness again. This made him even more furious though the only sign of it was the intensity of his glare. He felt he could have burnt this feeble structure to the ground with it. This damn wench would pay for doing this to him. As soon as his debt was repaid and his honor restored, he would eagerly be rid of her and that baka brother of his. Yet even as he thought this, he squeezed her more tightly against his chest.
After more difficulty than he would ever admit, Sesshomaru managed to slide open the doors. The first thing to strike him was a nauseating wave of new scents. Humans, their stench permeated the air in a more massive amount than he had thought possible. Were there even that many of the creatures alive? After that first wave receded, he discovered a stench unlike any he had encounter before. It stung his sensitive nose with the texture of smoke, but seemed somehow false, manufactured, though he could not imagine the sort of creature that could create such a stink.
His eyes discovered a panorama of novelties as overwhelming as those his nose had encountered. This hut led out into the tranquil courtyard of a shrine, and beyond it stood a shining expanse of what appeared to be tall, slender stones that had been polished until they gleamed in the sun. The distance was deceptive, yet he judged them to be huge, probably as tall or taller than himself in true form.
"Perhaps those stones are producing the foul stench in the air," he reasoned softly to himself.
The sounds of someone old trying to stand reached his ears and drew his attention back within the walls of the shrine and to the one familiar item. There stood the sacred tree, the one his brother had been sealed to for fifty years. At its base, an old man had regained his feet and began walking across the courtyard looking at a large square of paper as he muttered to himself.
The old man's scent told Sesshomaru that this was a member of the miko's pack, and a close relative at that. The demon shifted the unconscious woman in his arm and followed the old man towards a hut that looked grander than any he had seen in human villages excluding castles. Could the wench be of some standing among humans? Judging by her skimpy clothing and affection for his brother, he had always assumed she was merely slow-witted and probably homeless.
As soon as he passed inside, Sesshomaru sensed there was something odd about this house. The old man had gone on still muttering about that paper, there was a female in another room somewhere close, but although theirs were the only scents, he heard other voices, two males fighting. Intrigued, Sesshomaru followed the voices into a room that had a strange box at the far end and a few tables and decorations spaced around its perimeter.
"What manner of sorcery is this?" he questioned softly as he approached the box with caution. The voices came from two small humans who were standing on top of a tiny mountain that was also in the box. He watched, fascinated by what he saw, when suddenly the mountain and the men vanished to be replaced by the head of a woman, then another, then a man, then a strange, cylindrical object with writing on it that said it would make hair shiny and silky.
The sudden change startled the demon though his only reaction was to gasp. That was when he caught the scent. During his momentary lack of attention, he had allowed the female who had been in the other room to sneak up on him.
"Who are you and what are you doing in my house!" she cried out as she swung a large, black pot at his head.
Sesshomaru did not even blink, and faster than she could react he had her wrapped tightly in his fur and pinned against the wall. Fear poured off of her as she cried out. How dare this pitiful human try to attack his person?
"I, Sesshomaru, go where I please, mortal," was his only reply.
Kagome stirred when she heard someone cry out and felt herself being jostled against something extremely warm and soft. For a moment she thought she was lying in bed asleep until the pain from her injuries jogged her memory. She was back in her own time and somehow Sesshomaru had come through the well after her. The first thing she saw was her mother struggling as the demon constricted his fur around her. Still unable to reach her bow, and realizing how little it would have helped at this close range, Kagome tried to scan the room for anything she could use as a weapon, or at least buy her some time to get one, without alerting Sesshomaru.
On a small table just beside them she spotted the bottle of perfume Sota had given her mother for her birthday. A giggle almost betrayed her as she thought of the day Inuyasha had accidentally sprayed himself in the face with it. The poor thing, his nose was so sensitive, he passed out for a good ten minutes then spent the rest of the afternoon on her bed, sick as (I know this is awful!) a dog.
That was it! Like it or not, Sesshomaru did have a few things in common with his little brother and one was a sensitive nose. Ignoring the flash of pain, Kagome snatched up the bottle, turned and sprayed it a few times directly into Sesshomaru's nose.
The reaction was instant, and, Kagome had to admit, entertaining. Coughing and gagging, the demon dropped her and became a white blur as he tried to escape the perfume. He collided with the far wall at such a speed that the wall cracked. His golden eyes glazed as he passed into a dazed state and tried desperately to defend his nose.
Kagome in no way expected Sesshomaru to be as effected as Inuyasha, and after making sure her mother wasn't seriously hurt, put an arrow to her bow and pointed it at the demon lord's heart. The pain in her stomach and back was incredible, but she had to hold on. She couldn't let her family get hurt.
After a moment of blind coughing, Sesshomaru's eyes focused and he released a cloud of poison from his claws. It hissed slightly as it dissolved the perfume from the air around him. Still maintaining the deadly composure and demonic grace that sent chills down her spine, Sesshomaru stood and stared at her. Kagome would have given her own left arm to know what he was thinking behind that frigid mask, but she knew it wouldn't be anything good.
"I don't know how you got through the well, Sesshomaru, but you won't hurt my Mom, Gramps or Sota or I'll kill you, and don't think I won't. And Inuyasha will probably be here any minute to stop-" Kagome felt herself slipping from consciousness and tried to fight it. "Stop you."
"Kagome!" her mother screamed as the girl hit the ground.
She crawled closer to Kagome and looked at the ugly gash on her back. Tears were in her eyes as she looked up at Sesshomaru and pleaded, "Please, I only want to help my daughter. Take what you want, but let me call an ambulance and get her to a doctor."
"Cease your crying, wench. I had no intention of killing the miko, at least until my debt is repaid. Once that is done, however, I make no promise concerning her life or death. And I have no interest in harming you either, but if you raise so much as a hand against my person again, I will feel no compunction in ending your life."
Kagome's mother nodded fiercely, and pointed a shaking hand at the phone on the wall behind him. "I'll need to call an ambulance."
When Sesshomaru did not reply, she cautiously slipped over and dialed. He watched her in confusion as she spoke into the device. He was even more shocked when he heard a voice answer. As powerful as he was, these humans possessed magic he had never seen the likes of.
He had not understood about an ambulance, but he knew that he must find Kagome a healer or he would be forced to use Tenseiga on her which only would have meant he had failed. He lifted her into his arm again, glancing down at her face as she instinctively curled into the warmth of his chest. For an instant, he saw her, bathed in moonlight, sleeping peacefully just beyond the glow of a dying fire. As he looked over at her, all he knew was that he needed to be beside her.
Where were these visions coming from and why did they seem more like memories? He felt like a moth drawn to a flame, but just what was this irresistible flame of hers?
Breaking himself from his musings, he asked her mother, "Where is the nearest healer?"
"The ambulance is on its way, so I'll go let Grandpa know where we'll be and tell him to wait here for Sota," Kagome's mother explained a little nervously. "I thank you for bringing her here, and if there is anything we can do to repay you, let us know. It was a pleasure to meet you."
Sesshomaru shook his head and said in an even voice, "I do not leave the miko until I am certain she is beyond all danger."
The look on his face said that he would not be swayed. Kagome's mother swallowed hard and tried to hide her fear. She would put up with evil incarnate to help Kagome. But how was she going to get a full fledged demon through downtown Tokyo?