I know that the first two chapters seemed a bit choppy, but I think I've gotten better, what about you? Let me know in a review.
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Recap: Angel fell asleep under a rock ledge in her bra and panties.
The sun felt warm in the large flower-filled field. "Anubis," Angel called to her dog. The year-old, black lab, Doberman mix sprang out and tackled the waiting girl. "Good girl." Angel laughed as she wrestled with the puppy. When she did get up, she picked up a stick and threw it for Anubis to retrieve. But it was not Anubis that returned. No, it was a proud, white dog, with red marking around his mouth and a dark crescent moon on his forehead. He came to a stop, towering over Angel.
"Sesshoumaru? No, go back to the Western Lands... please," she turned away from the youkai lord but turned back when she heard an odd thump. Sesshoumaru, stone-cold lord had just gone into the play bow. And... he was wagging his tail! "Holy fuckers..." 'He's acting just like a puppy.'
"Wow, you're really big. How can you expect me to play with you when I can't even reach the top of your head?" She watched in awe as he scaled himself down to the size of a large puppy. He leapt at her, his paws landing squarely on her chest, knocking flat on her back. She wrestled playfully with him, but when she rolled over on him, it was not longer a puppy she was looking at. She was staring into the grinning face of the handsome Lord Sesshoumaru, though the grin seemed oddly self-satisfied, as if he'd just proven a point.
"Comfortable?" his low voice rumbled down to her core. Immediately, she stood herself up then offered him a hand to get up.
The clawed hand that took hers pulled her into an embrace against a hard chest. She leaned her head back to look at his face once more but found herself looking into the cruel, burgundy eyes of a hanyou whom many wished dead. Even worse, she found herself in the state in which she fell asleep in: cold, wet, and in her undergarments.
"You're mine..." He pulled her against him again, causing her to shiver from cold and disgust. "You always have been."
"Get the hell away from me, you filthy- ugh!" her insult was cut short when Naraku grabbed her by the neck and held her about a foot off the ground. The sunny sky turned dark and cloudy as his miasma rolled in like a thick blanket of fog. Bringing her to him, at the same time, sliding his hand around to hold the back of her neck and the other to her lower back, pressing her to him, he overtook her mouth with his in a possessive kiss. She brought her hands to his chest and pushed herself away from him.
"No, this is all wrong! None of this is supposed to be happening," she said, slightly breathless. "Just let me go back to my own world and you can go back to plotting and planning your twisted little heart out."
"Ah, but therein lies the problem. You are part of my plan, and you are already back in your own world," he paused to let it sink in.
"What?"
"But you may want to go back the real world before I have to hurt this lovely creature further." He stepped aside to reveal the once regal Sesshoumaru in a bloody heap on the ground. He raised his arm, then it plunged through the air to deliver the final blow. She dove toward him, arm outreached to try to stop him, but knowing that even with her speed, the distance would cause her to be too late.
"Sesshoumaru!" Angel sat bolt upright in bed. She looked at her outstretched arm and realized she was dry and wearing a white sleeping robe. But it was very loose, nearly slipping off her shoulders, and the sleeves almost drooped off her fingers even though they were not even remotely stretched out. She looked around and saw that she was sitting in a western-style bed with silk sheets and comforter. The room was large, with a fireplace at one wall, a screen door at another, and a balcony at the last. The wall behind her had a large painting above the headboard. In fact, it was a portrait...of Sesshoumaru as a child and a gentleman that looked about the age Sesshoumaru was now.
Angel's vocal outburst had drawn some attention, as was brought to her own attention when a shadow appeared and someone knocked on the other side of the screen door. Without waiting for an answer, the person slid open the screen and stepped through. Apparently, Sesshoumaru thought that knocking was only necessary as a warning to let someone know that he was coming in, whether they liked it or not.
"You're awake," he said in his usual monotone.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious. Where, may I ask, is my bag?" She brought her legs around to kneel and leaned forward, folding her hands in her lap with an inquisitive look on her face.
"You may want to close your robe," he smirked and gestured to the already loose robe, and the position in which she was sitting was not helping.
"You still didn't answer my question," she didn't move. "Where is my bag?"
"I'll have a servant bring it." He walked to the edge of the bed, reached out, and held the top of the robe closed until she brought her own hand up to hold it for herself.
"The man in the portrait with you, is that your father?" she asked, he tone softening significantly.
"You seem to know so much about this world, you should know, shouldn't you?" he was not going out of his way to be friendly.
"I've only seen pictures of him in his true form... You don't look much like him, but... you have his eyes," she said, gazing into those golden orbs.
"Yes, I look more like my mother, or so I'm told," he didn't elaborate. Sesshoumaru realized that she was trying to make small talk but couldn't see the reason behind it. So, at the risk of being to forward, he asked what was up. "You have something on your mind."
"Nothing escapes you," she tried to use her sarcasm to distract him, even though she knew he would just brush it off and continue to press her. "This is your home... in the Western Lands, isn't it? Why am I here?"
"I will answer that when you tell me why you were calling my name in your sleep," he countered.
"Fine... where are my clothes?" she wasn't sure how to answer his question other than, 'It was a nightmare, and you were in it.' Which would sound lame.
"Being washed." Two could play at this game. "That is one of my robes you are wearing. I don't exactly keep women's clothes."
Angel was saved from attempting to continue the conversation by a child's high-pitched squeal of excitement. "Sesshoumaru-sama! Is that the lady from yesterday?" Rin ran into the room and immediately jumped up onto the bed and into Angel's lap. "Is she going to be Rin's new mother?"
"Oh, I don't think so, Rin-chan," Angel said, patting her head and eyeing Sesshoumaru. "But I will be your friend for as long as I'm here."
"Really?" Rin asked, still as excitable as ever. "That's good, because Jaken isn't very fun to play with."
"Rin," Sesshoumaru cut in. "I believe it is your breakfast time. Go downstairs before it gets cold."
"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama!" She did not even question him as she promptly got up and ran back out of the room.
"You must be hungry as well. I assume that, because you are a youkai, you do not eat human food, therefore you will be dining with me." It was not a request, not that Angel minded. Maybe she could get some proper answers. She was about to ask about her clothes, but he continued. "I am having a kimono made for you to wear."
"What? Why?" She was shocked. That he answered her question before she asked, and also by the fact that he was having a kimono made for her.
"You clothes are inappropriate." Those words left her a bit deflated, but she still had the fact that he was having the kimono made for her, regardless of the reason.
"Arigato." Her voice was just a notch lower. She didn't know why; she hadn't even realized until she had spoken the word.
"Hm?" Sesshoumaru arched one delicate eyebrow.
"Nothing," she said quickly. "I was just wondering what would happen to it when I went home."
"You could take it with you, I suppose. Or leave it for Rin to grow into," he returned to nonchalance to cover what he prayed was not a moment of concern. "It should be ready soon enough for you to change into before breakfast."
"If I tell you why I called your name, will you tell me why you brought me here?" She couldn't take it any longer. The dancing around the topic, the lame conversations about breakfast, it was driving her mad.
"That is what I said, so yes, I will," he stated calmly, though the sudden jump backward in subject surprised him slightly.
"I was having a dream that turned into a nightmare," she said, the memories of it returning to her, and she unconsciously touched her lips. "Completely unrealistic, ungrounded fears. But anyway, at the end Naraku was about strike a deathblow to... you..." The last word was barely audible, but Sesshoumaru's sensitive ears caught it.
"You say the fears are unrealistic. Is it because, to you, I am not real?" He could not help asking.
"No, of course not. What I meant by that was I don't think Naraku is nearly strong enough to even come close to being able to defeat you." She could practically see his ego growing and feeding off the words of praise.
"That is true," he said, nodding. The man has an ego bigger than his demon form. 'If my dying was a nightmare to her, and she said that I am real to her instead of a fictional character in a story, does this mean she has feelings for me? Don't be ridiculous! It does not matter what she feels. As soon as she is healed, we will be trying to find a way for her to return to her home. That's right, she will be gone... so even if I am beginning to... beginning to what! Do not go there. I will not put myself through this...' He continued his mental tirade with his usual bored expression, his eyes gazing out the window and occasionally glancing at Angel to find that she too was looking out the window with a somewhat far away look in her eyes.
Their silence was interrupted by a knock on the door. It was a servant coming to let Sesshoumaru know that Angel's kimono was finished, and they were awaiting his order to bring it up, which he gave immediately.
"Your kimono will be up in a moment," he informed her.
"What about my bag?" she reminded him.
"That as well. Everything is being taken care of," Sesshoumaru assured her. A minute or so later the kimono was brought in. "You can change behind that screen." He gestured to a freestanding divider next to the bed.
She got up, still holding the top of the robe closed, got the kimono, and went behind the curtain to change. A few moments later, she emerged. It was a perfect fit. The kimono was dark green with white in the same places Sesshoumaru's had red, and mini dragons where his had the flower-hexagon pattern. The obi was pale blue with swirling, royal blue designs. The strange part was that the kimono did not go all the way around from front to back. It did cover, but it shifted much easier when she moved, allowing for much better range of motion.
Sesshoumaru's breath caught in his throat for a fraction, but he managed to avoid dropping his jaw. She walked to him, laying the sleeping robe on the bed.
"You know," she said. "You're cute when you're shocked." She winked. Yes, she actually winked. "Now, you promised to tell me why you brought me here."
"I saw you sleeping in virtually nothing, in the rain. You looked as if you should have taken me up on my earlier offer," he paused.
"So you took it upon yourself to rectify the situation? Did you consider that maybe I didn't want to be helped?" she fumed at his forwardness. 'I really did want to go with him, but I resisted for the sake of balance, and I wound up here anyway!'
"There were also a few saimyosho nearby," he finished.
"Oh... what! Why didn't I sense them? Very strange..."
"I could not sense them either. Naraku is very tricky, irritatingly so. It's not surprising that neither of us were able to detect their presence." Sesshoumaru made what appeared to be and attempt to comfort her. He placed his hand, stiff though the action was, on her shoulder. She tensed instinctively but relaxed at the warmth radiating from his hand.
"Thank you, Sesshoumaru," she said softly. She closed her eyes for a moment to try to read his feelings, to help decide whether to give into the strange urgency she felt.
For a moment, Sesshoumaru thought she had fallen, tripped or perhaps collapsed. She seemed to have just fallen forward, into him, but then he realized... her arms were around him, and her face was buried in his, presently armor-less chest. His own arm, having been on her shoulder, slid down her back so that he too was embracing her. He never realized exactly how tall she really was; she came just to his shoulders, fairly tall for a female. He tilted his head forward and rested his cheek on her head, breathing in her scent. She smelled of honeysuckle on an ocean breeze. Then a strange scent of salt hit him and a sound like a choked sob. The smell reminded him of when Rin had nightmares, only this lacked the scent of fear. Another strangled cry reached his ears. Then it hit him. She was crying! He had really no clue as to how to respond, so he merely tightened his arms around her. It seemed to have the desired affect. She quieted and gave him a final squeeze before stepping and going to dig into her bag, probably looking for something to wipe her eyes with, not wanting to use her new kimono. After a moment or so of what seemed like futile searching, Sesshoumaru handed her a piece of fabric, and she took it, wordlessly thanking him.
"I feel like such a silly child," she said when she had recovered.
"Why were you crying?" he could not help himself.
"I, um... it was nothing..." she looked away. "Like I said, I feel like a silly child for doing it. I never cry, even when I'm alone. I guess there's a crack in the wall I built to keep my emotions in check..."
"If you are certain... Then I believe the food is ready, are you?" He stood near the door, waiting for her to follow him out. She did, placing the bit of cloth on the bed.
