Mirrored Future
By Amazonian21
Recap: For the moment she was content to close her eyes, leaning back against the tree trunk as the drone of insects and the sun's gentle rays lulled her into a peaceful sleep.
She never noticed that her head was drifting slowly, slowly towards the demon lord's shoulder, or that said demon watched the progression with deep interest.
Chapter 7
'This has gone too far,' the great TaiYoukai thought to himself as Kagome's head came closer and closer to resting on his shoulder. 'I don't want this, I don't want this, I don't want this,' he thought, the words a frantic ferret running through his mind.
This woman did not fear him at all. She was comfortable in his presence, far too comfortable. Not that the blame really lay on her shoulders. He had done nothing to discourage any feelings of comradery from developing. Hell, he'd practically given her a friendship bracelet the moment he threw her in the river. Everything after that was just water under the bridge.
He should have stayed away. Part of him knew he couldn't have, but he couldn't help half wishing it anyway.
Kagome's head finally seemed to reach a decision. Sesshoumaru tensed as if expecting a great pain as first the miko's hair came into contact with his haori. It was soon followed by her smooth brow, as she settled in firmly, carelessly using him as a pillow.
This was wrong. Sesshoumaru felt as if he hadn't resurfaced after being dragged down into the river. He felt like he was drowning. A human girl had reduced him to a nervous wreck. How had this happened?
He looked down to the child in his lap. She was sleeping contentedly, the fingers of one hand wrapped in his hair. She had a small smile on her lips and no worries marring her angelic little face. Looking at her, Sesshoumaru got an idea of when things had started to go wrong. It might have had something to do with this particular character flaw sitting so trustingly against his chest, uncaring that the chest she was so comfortable sleeping against could expand to become part of a 40 foot dog demon with poisonous claws and acid breath.
He probably shouldn't have saved her those few years ago. He wouldn't have, either, if he hadn't had the choice taken from him. After InuYasha almost managed to defeat him using the Wind-Scar, this little girl had risked her life to 'help him'. She'd fearlessly approached a wounded youkai lord, bearing food and water, even though he'd repeatedly tried to turn her away. Yes, in battle Tensaiga had pulled him from defeat, but this girl had innocently stayed by his side, trying to do what she could to heal him whether he'd needed it or not. That sort of kindness and devotion was an inu demon's Achilles heel. Their baser dog natures recognize and respond to loyalty and protectiveness, whether their more ruthless demon natures respected it or not.
If it had been up to Sesshoumaru's more querulous nature, he would have left the girl's wolf ravaged body to be found and buried by the villagers. Or, in remembrance of her pointless service, he may have buried her himself. He certainly wouldn't have wasted time or emotion on such an ephemeral, weak, and pointless creature.
Unfortunately, his inu demon hadn't allowed it. In the deepest, most cut off portions of his soul, Sesshoumaru was attached to the little girl. He admired her sweetness and her ability to love unreservedly. He'd never received such care and affection in his life. That alone was enough for him to allow her to remain at his side. He cared for her, and wanted to protect her.
It seemed that the words of his father echoed through his head as Tensaiga sprang to life, responding to his subconscious desire to return the child's soul to her body.
'What do you care for? What do you protect?' InuTaisho's voice, disconnected and disembodied as it whispered through his mind, hadn't been seeking an answer from his stoic and unfeeling son. It already knew. Tensaiga had no power without being wielded by one with a caring heart.
That day Sesshoumaru had gotten a chink in his emotional armor, and now more cracks were starting to worm their way through.
Sesshoumaru quirked his eyebrow in self mockery. It's never easy to discover something so weakening about yourself. He cared for the little girl in his lap, and it had proven to be a liability. Naraku had already discovered her to be a weakness. No doubt there were several of his subjects who thought him less intimidating for the girl's presence, tagging along behind him trailing flowers in his wake.
And now this miko. Yes he had wanted her to know Rin so that someday, if necessary, he could turn the young girl over to her care. He had sought her out on purpose this day to speak of Rin's future.
That did not mean he should have... played... with the girls.
The youkai shuddered delicately at the thought. He couldn't remember the last time he'd acted so frivolously. Maybe he had when he was a child, but he honestly couldn't remember. Even Sesshoumaru was half convinced he'd been born fully grown, completely serious and determined to be the best at everything. When you're so ambitious and driven there's little room for other emotions.
Sesshoumaru shook his head minutely to clear away all these thoughts. That was the problem with being such a quiet and solitary demon. When you weren't killing something or busying yourself with physical exertion, there was way too much time for introspection.
He relaxed for a moment, willfully making his mind and body reach a peaceful state of meditative blankness. If his thoughts were being unproductive and only left his mind in a state of disarray it was time to let them all go.
His nose, however, was still working just fine. Above the musky and feminine scent of the miko at his side he could smell his brother and that damned wolf quickly approaching. He tensed up, unconsciously assuming a protective stance for the two females in his company. Such a reaction on Rin's behalf made sense. After all, it was Kouga's wolves who had ended her life so violently those years before. Sesshoumaru had tolerated the wolf's annoying presence earlier because he hadn't upset Rin. The girl didn't seem to make the connection between the wolf demon and the wolf animals who'd hurt her. It was still hard to restrain himself from exacting vengeance on behalf of his ward, but such actions wouldn't be appropriate. Kouga was a wolf prince and wasn't directly responsible for the attack. It was necessary to leave things as they were, for now.
Kagome, on the other hand... Why did he suddenly feel the need to snatch the girl up in his good arm and whisk her away from the two possessive male demons? They were her rightful suitors. He had no claim on her, and had no right to stop the males from fighting over her, wooing her, mating her...
That thought wrenched a low, angry growl from his throat before he could stop it. His clawed hand flexed angrily, digging his nails deep into his palm. The pain was a wake up call; he needed to control himself before his inner demon, indulged far too much today as it was, caused some big problems for him.
Kagome was startled awake by both the growl and sensing Kouga's approaching shards. Her head came up first to look in the direction the hanyou and wolf were approaching from before slowly turning to regard the on-edge demon at her side.
She looked sheepishly to his shoulder, realizing she'd been abusing his sacred personage while she slept.
"Heh heh," she smiled nervously, looking up at his impassive face apologetically, "Sorry about that." She hoped he wouldn't hold it against her. She was also very, very grateful she hadn't drooled.
Sesshoumaru simply looked away from her apology, nose in the air, as if to say, 'As if this Sesshoumaru would deign to notice such unimportant things.'
Kagome shook her head ruefully and stood up. She didn't need either InuYasha or Kouga to see her sleeping on Sesshoumaru. It had been entirely innocent and accidental, but those two were not the most reasonable creatures when it came to who she spent time with.
She would gather her clothes and put them over her now dry suit. No point in being so undressed when the boys got here. Such a state of disarray would only fuel their indignation.
'Not that either of them had any right for their anger,' Kagome thought crossly. 'Neither of those bozos ever do anything with me. They just use me for an excuse to trade punches. Hopefully they've gotten it out of their systems all afternoon.'
Sesshoumaru, on the other hand, was interested to see what would happen when the stupid wolf and his irritating half brother realizes the miko was covered in his scent. This should prove vastly entertaining. Outwardly he continued to appear distant and removed, but inwardly he was watching the upcoming scene with interest. If InuYasha made her mad enough, maybe Kagome would 'sit' his brother in front of him again.
Kagome had no sooner finished pulling on her pants and shirt when both demons burst onto the scene. They were practically scrambling over each other, both trying to be the ones to reach her first. Kouga moved with an air of confidence and dismissal, acting as if the hanyou at his side was nothing more than an annoying puppy cavorting around his heels. He was on the way to see his woman, and didn't have much time to spare for pestering animals.
InuYasha, on the other hand, was fuming. He sulked and glowered like a moody teenager, still muttering curses and threats as he came up to Kagome.
"Kagome," he demanded, "tell this asshole you'd never..." Whatever he was about to say, however, died on his lips as he took a deep whiff of the harassed looking girl in front of him.
"What the hell's going on!" he yelled, looking from the miko to the aloof and outwardly cold demon lord in front of him. Sesshoumaru had moved a slightly protesting Rin from his lap when he first heard the hanyou's diatribe and was now standing impassively to one side, feigning indifference to his surroundings. However, when these words were shouted he turned, fixing his half brother with a fierce, cold stare.
"What are you talking about, InuYasha?" Kagome asked, rolling her eyes and placing her hands on her hips. She already looked put-out, and he'd only been here a couple of seconds.
"What do you mean, 'what am I talking about?'" he yelled again, waving his arms about a bit. "His scent's all over you! What did you do to her, you bastard?" he growled, moving towards Sesshoumaru threateningly. The TaiYoukai merely growled lowly in return, warning the young fool to keep his distance.
Kouga, hearing InuYasha's accusations, leaned in to sniff Kagome as well. His hackles rose in anger and he too turned to the youkai lord, intent upon getting some answers.
"Why did you touch my woman, Lord Sesshoumaru?" he demanded, upset but still wary of his opponent. He wanted answers, but only the suicidal started fights with the TaiYoukai. Kouga knew the demon lord barely tolerated his presence on the best of days and didn't want to risk getting him pissed off. He just wanted answers.
"This Sesshoumaru has no time to waste on lowly life forms such as yourselves," he said with all the scorn he could muster. "This Sesshoumaru will not lower himself to answering the demands of such weak demons, especially as concerning what I do or do not do with mikos, now or in the future," he said, ending with a minute smirk that only the two outraged males picked up on.
This caused Kouga and InuYasha both to tense up in furious anger, aware that Sesshoumaru had almost declared an interest in their Kagome.
The miko in question, however, was oblivious to all of the conversation's more demon undertones. She'd never been a territorial and overly sexed male. She'd never felt the urge to mark a tree with urine so that everyone else would know she'd walked by. She'd never worried about the size of her 'equipment' or about hitting people so they wouldn't disrespect her. She'd never wasted hours talking about weapons and the best way to 'kill something.'
Poor, inexperienced girl. If she'd ever been a teenaged boy she would have known that between the three demons, she was in for one big headache.
Luckily, however, Sango and Miroku showed up before all hell could break loose. They'd been looking for the group for a while, after returning from a nearby village. There had been an important development and it concerned all present.
"Kagome!" Sango yelled, an excited young kitsune jumping up and down on her shoulder, "We just discovered something you should hear about!"
"Yeah!" chimed in Shippou, happy to be a part of such important information.
"We think we just got one of the last shards," Miroku said, coming to stand by Sango as she relayed their story.
"We were just walking through the town's market, looking at their little trinkets and supplies," Sango said, ignoring the irritated demons surrounding her. They weren't going to have their fights interrupted just to hear girls talk about shopping. Sango continued in spite of their annoyance.
"We came to this one stall that had all sorts of jewelry and found this," she explained, reaching into her pocket to pull out a small jagged pendant, hanging by a corded chain. She held the necklace out to Kagome, who took it and examined the shard.
"It's a jewel shard!" she exclaimed, looking it over. "But it's red, not pink or black. What does that mean?" she wondered, examining it from all sides.
"We think it means that this is the last of the unclaimed shards," Miroku said, resting against his staff.
"What about Kouga's shards?" Kagome asked, looking over to the wolf demon in question. The conversation had caused both hanyou and wolf to forget their quarrel in favor of listening to what the humans had to say.
"We think that because you're in contact with them on a regular basis, and because they aren't tainted, the jewel considers them already claimed," the monk continued to explain, trying to sound sage and wise.
"I guess so," Kagome said doubtfully. "I guess this one could be red as a way to signal us. If that's the case, and if we have really found the last of the pieces, we need to reclaim the shards in Kouga's legs and join them to the rest of the jewel. Then we go after Naraku and end it all." She was getting a little excited, but still was concerned about asking the wolf demon to give up his shards. She knew he relished the added speed and power they gave him.
She turned to him with a question in her eyes. The wolf demon saw her expression and gulped. He had known this day would come but had foolishly hoped things wouldn't end this way. He wanted to keep his power boosters, but wanted to see Naraku defeated even more. This was going to be a tough decision for him to make, in spite of all his convictions.
Luckily, InuYasha said the best thing he possibly could have. Sensing Kouga's hesitation, he turned to taunt the indecisive youkai.
"What's the matter, wimpy wolf, afraid you won't be able to defeat me without your precious shards?" he taunted, delighting in the new shade of purple covering the enraged wolf's face.
"I wouldn't be afraid to fight you blind, deaf, and armless, you overgrown piece of dog shit!" the wolf yelled, making his final decision. Without pause he snaked a clawed hand down to the back of his right calf. With a slight tremble in his hand, he turned and met Kagome's eyes as he slashed his own calf, releasing the jewel into his palm.
Kagome gasped as the wolf's face whitened in pain, but he didn't cry out. He simply reached around to his other calf and repeated the motion, wincing slightly from the searing pain of his self inflicted wounds.
With both legs injured, Kouga started to stagger forward. Kagome let out a soft cry of worry and rushed forward to catch the struggling demon. She allowed him to prop himself up on her shoulder, taking a moment to regain his strength.
"Don't worry, woman," he said, grunting and grinding his teeth against the pain, "It's just two scratches. They'll heal up. Just give me a moment."
Kagome nodded in response, allowing the wolf to drape both arms around her until one of them was across her breasts. She missed the smug look the wolf shot the hanyou, even through his pain, and also missed the way InuYasha looked ready to kill the demon, and how Sesshoumaru just rolled his eyes privately at the whole scene in front of him.
The only thing he was concerned about was when he could kill Naraku.
'And how many fingers he should rip off that damned wolf's hands to make sure he never handled his miko like that again,' his inner demon supplied maliciously, but he tamped it down and ignored it. Now was not the time for such petty jealousies.
Finally the wolf let Kagome go, making a show of standing up tenderly, slowly removing his arm from her body, dragging it across her breast on 'accident'. Both InuYasha and Sesshoumaru growled in response, causing Kouga to be a little more quick about pulling away.
InuYasha raised a suspicious and questioning glance to Sesshoumaru, but the TaiYoukai was already looking away, curiously fascinated by nearby treetops.
Kouga dropped the two shards into Kagome's out stretched palms. The girl closed her fist around them and concentrated, putting her purified energies into the pieces of jewel. A pink light flared around her fisted hand before she opened it once more, revealing two pink slivers.
"I guess I should try to put my half together," she said thoughtfully. "I am not sure why, but it feels like the right thing to do."
"Yes, I think you're right," Miroku agreed. "If you have about half the shard and Naraku has the other half, you can be sure he's joined his pieces together. I think the jewel's essentially split nature would make having a whole half important. It would be essential to have the pure pieces united in order for them to withstand the taint of the half in Naraku's possession."
"That feels right," Kagome said, pulling her shard pieces from the necklace around her neck. The whole group of people watched with great interest as she dumped the pieces into the palm of her hand. Then, she carefully closed her fist and concentrated.
Nothing happened.
"I don't know what to do," she said, looking helplessly around the group.
"Try closing your eyes again, Kagome," Miroku instructed, thinking deeply. "Now, tap into the same energy you use to purify shards." When Kagome nodded, he continued, "Okay, now envision the jewel whole, pure, and completely untainted, resting in your hand." When Kagome's brow crinkled in concentration, Miroku instructed, "Now push that energy towards the jewel, keeping the image of it whole in your mind, and tell the power what you want it to do."
It seemed to be working. Kagome's hand glowed a bright pink, light seeping out in bright rays from her clenched fist, and illuminating the face of everyone present.
At last the light died down, leaving Kagome to open her eyes and smiled happily in success.
"It worked!" she cheered, opening her hand to reveal an unblemished stone on the palm of her hand. It glowed cheerily with a bright pink hue, perfectly beautiful in its shine an clarity.
"Too bad that doesn't work on diamonds," Miroku said thoughtfully.
Kagome just laughed.
"Well, now that that's over with, I feel we should return to Kaede's village," Miroku said, turning to include everyone in the conversation. "We have no way to find Naraku on our own. Every battle we've had was instigated by that dark hanyou. We seem to only find him when he wants to set a trap. A final meeting is necessary and unavoidable. It would be best to plan for the eventual meeting and recuperate before it takes place."
Sango agreed. "He's going to come looking for us soon. For all we know, his half of the jewel might be signaling to him the same way ours did. He's going to get impatient and greedy for a final fight. He might as well find us on our own turf."
There was a round of tentative agreement amongst the shard hunters. Kagome looked to InuYasha as she thought it over. He didn't seem about to raise any objection. She was relieved he wasn't going to insist on tracking down the elusive hanyou. Naraku would be found when he wanted to be found, and meanwhile the small band might as well be waiting in relative comfort. It did seem like the best plan.
"Alright," she said to her friends, "should we get going first thing in the morning?"
"I can't come with you yet, but I wanna fight at the last battle," Kouga said, turning to Kagome. "I need to go get my wolf pack. They'd be a big help facing that bastard, and a lot of them would love to speak to that bitch Kagura, too."
"That's a good idea, Kouga-kun," Kagome said, smiling at the recuperated wolf, "But we don't know exactly when the battle will happen. You could miss it entirely, or you could come and have to wait around for months."
"I'll leave now and come back immediately," Kouga said, sweeping the girl into his arms. "I won't miss the battle. And if I have to hang around, at least it will give me more time with my future mate," he said, trying to cuddle Kagome under his chin.
"Kouga, let me go please," Kagome said, pushing against his chest. "I told you, I'm not your future mate." She pushed a little harder, until she saw the far off look on his face. It was the look he always got when everything she said would automatically translate into, "Kouga, take me! I'm yours, as soon as you knock the crap out of InuYasha!"
The hanyou in question was currently frothing at the mouth, ready to go into a jealous rage.
"Didn't you hear her, you damn wolf! She said to get your stinking hands off her!" He yelled, ready to clobber the wolf in question.
Kagome sighed in exasperation and looked to Sango for help. The demon slayer took pity on the girl and reached in to grab a hold of her. She used a bit of her considerable muscle power to pull Kagome away from the clingy wolf, dragging her to her side.
"Kagome and I need to go make camp. We need someone to gather fire wood and someone to hunt us some meat, please," she said, thinking of something that could keep the two immature demons busy.
"Keh, I'll get the meat," InuYasha said, shooting a dirty look to the wolf demon. "He couldn't catch an injured turtle," he jeered. "Let wolf boy gather some sticks."
"How will a slow thing like you catch anything, dog turd?" Kouga replied tauntingly. "I may not have my shards, but I could still run circles around you."
"Ha! Prove it, you mangy mutt!" InuYasha yelled, running off into the forest to find some hapless animal to prove his worth with.
With that, Kouga took off in the opposite direction, determined to find the best prey to prove once and for all that he'd be the best one to provide for Kagome's needs.
When they were gone, the group breathed a collective sigh of relief. Sango shook her head over their antics. Those two were always in an eternal pissing contest.
"How much meat do you think they'll bring in this time?" Kagome asked. It was a running wager the three humans had, familiar with the mass carnage that would happen on the nights that Kouga and InuYasha both hunted to outdo each other.
"I'm betting 40 pounds," Miroku guessed. "A deer a piece and a petting zoo's worth of smaller things."
"Are you counting that as dressed or undressed meat?" Sango asked, pulling out a small pad of paper to record Miroku's guess.
"Dressed, of course," Miroku said. "Anything else is amateurish."
"Kagome?" Sango asked, ready for her guess.
"Umm, I think they'll both bring in less meat than last time. They've had a whole afternoon to wear themselves out and last time they went hunting right away," she said, recalling the most recent event.
"So how much?" Sango repeated.
"20 pounds, mixed meat," the girl said, after some thought.
"I'll go with only one smallish deer each, then," Sango decided. "So about 30 pounds dressed, between the two of them."
"Whatever way, we're going to have to make jerky again," Kagome said in dismay. It took such a long time to make the dried meat.
"We'll take the leftovers with us to Kedea's and she'll help us," Sango assured the girl.
"Alright, then, let's get camp ready," Kagome said, gathering all her things together. "Miroku, if you don't mind, would you get the firewood? You know those guys won't. It wouldn't be manly enough for them."
"Don't I always, Kagome-chan?" he asked, laughing. "I want a warm fire tonight. Besides, how else will we cook the prey of our mighty warriors?"
They all sniggered at the thought.
Sango and Miroku turned and began to head back towards where the group had slept the night before, leaving Kagome to turn her attentions back to the youkai who'd stood so silently behind her. He hadn't said anything in such a long time that she'd almost been able to forget his presence. Rin, she noticed, had wandered off a long time ago, no doubt to pick flowers. She had probably been bored with the adults' unending conversation.
"Will you be traveling with us?" she asked the youkai, feeling suddenly shy and awkward. She didn't know quite how to talk to this being in front of her. It was so much easier to deal with the cold demon when Rin was there as a buffer. Without the young girl around, the demon looked more formidable, less familiar and less approachable.
"I will not travel with you," Sesshoumaru said, with blunt directness. "I will return Rin to my holdings. She will not be put in Naraku's way to be used against me, or be in the path of unnecessary danger" he said, with a deep finality.
Kagome smiled a small smile and regarded the impassive demon in front of her. He tried to act so unaffected, but it was obvious how much he cared for the little girl.
"It would work, wouldn't it?" she asked him. Seeing his look of deliberate bored confusion she clarified, "Using Rin against you, I mean. It would worry you."
"The outcome would be irrelevant," the youkai said, attempting to impress his indifference upon the young miko. "But the attempt itself would be offensive and most severely punished."
"Oh, sure. Yeah," she said, teasing the youkai gently. "I'm sure Rin's safety would never enter your mind, and I'm sure you wouldn't be concerned for her well being, just upset that someone would dare cross you," she said, laughing when the youkai sniffed and turned up his nose, preparing to dismiss her.
"I'm glad you understand," he said cooly, choosing to ignore the small giggles coming from the miko. They were most undignified.
"When will you leave?" she asked, wondering why she suddenly hated the thought of seeing him go. She realized she wanted him nearby. No, not him. Rin. She wanted Rin nearby. It was fun to spend her free time playing with the little human girl.
"Tomorrow. Tonight we camp with my retainer and mount," he said, turning back to look at her fully, now that her mirth was under control.
"Oh, okay," Kagome said, suddenly feeling like an awkward school girl again. She had no idea how to end this conversation. She had spent such a relaxed and fun afternoon with the demon that the return of stiff formality was hard to take.
She decided to take a leaf from the TaiYoukai's book and just turn to walk off. It would stop her from saying anything else to humiliate herself, at least.
As she turned to walk away, a clawed hand reached out to grab her shoulder, stilling her attempt to leave. She was turned around by that same hand, to come face-to-face with a demon lord who looked just as surprised as she must have. He was looking down at his arm as if never seeing it before, appalled at its bad behavior.
He looked even more confused as that same arm pulled her in close to his body, until her head rested against his chest. Then, that traitorous arm wrapped around her back, pulling her in for what could only be called a hug.
Sesshoumaru's warm breath caressed her ear as his voice said from above her head, "Be safe."
There was a brief tightening of the double-crossing arm and then coldness hit her front. The demon had released her, running off as if to run away from the consequences of his sneaky arm's unauthorized actions.
Kagome was left to wander back to the camp, flabbergasted and more than a little light headed.
She told herself she was only so disoriented because he must have squeezed all the oxygen from her lungs. It had nothing to do with the tingling warmth in her stomach, or the way she had felt so comfortable and safe in his embrace that she'd never wanted to leave.
It had absolutely nothing to do with how good he smelled, or how she felt like the most important thing in the whole world when he was looking at her. It certainly had nothing to do with wanting to be in his arms again, soon, hopefully to stay. Thoughts like that would be crazy, so obviously they had nothing to do with her current state of being.
No, it had nothing to do with it at all.
A/N: Spoiled. You all are so spoiled. I told you that would happen. I update once a day and then miss two days and SHAME on some of your PMs.
Well, I hope you're satisfied.
Oh, and we're at 5,000 hits. Halfway there. Can anyone draw? I can't. It would be cool to do something arty for 10,000. If I do it we'll have a stick figure Sesshoumaru.
