Tainted Silver
- Chapter 10 -
A/N: Eh… Right. I'm still updating slower. I have choir on top of everything. You aren't my first priority, like it or not, but you're near it.
"Sango!," she cried urgently. "Sango! For the love of kami, don't!"
"Afraid of a little water Kag-chan?"
Kagome gripped onto Sango for dear life. Her friend thought she was joking, playing around. She didn't know that the panic the water aroused in her was suffocating. She couldn't swim and who knew how deep the water was!
"Sango!," she cried in fear.
Sango merely laughed at her terror and threw Kagome in the merciless water. She quickly ran out to shore so that Kagome wouldn't drag her under or something for revenge.
"What's going on?," Sesshomaru demanded with fury.
"Kagome," Sango laughed.
Sesshomaru turned to see Kagome splashing water everywhere violently. It was obvious that she was drowning. Kagome thrashed this way and that, her feet unable to touch the bottom. She tried to scream but when she opened her mouth she swallowed more and more water. Quickly, the little air she could get from the surface seemed to lessen. The sun light grew dim in her vision and she was swallowed by vicious waters.
'These are my last minutes,' she thought, 'and they aren't in peace!'
Sesshomaru, seeing her not putting as much struggle quickly, threw off his shirt and quickly made his way towards her. As soon as he wrapped his arms around her torso Kagome latched onto him. With her added weight he swam slowly and carefully to shore.
"Kami," gasped Sango upon seeing Kagome's pale visage.
Kagome only shivered in response, not relenting her grip on her savior.
"Let her get over the shock first Sango," Sesshomaru adviced cooly.
She nodded, gripping her hands nervously with guilt.
"Is she alright?," she asked quickly.
He nodded as he ackwardly patted Kagome on the back. He was definitely not used to comforting people.
"Probably swallowed some water but it's mainly the fright. She was obviously drowning Sango."
"I thought she was joking and-."
"It's alright," Kagome rasped
Sango smiled slightly and turned to see that the remainder of the family was coming into view. She left to greet their curious friends before they asked unnecessary questions. Sesshomaru stroked Kagome's raven hair softly.
"So beautiful… I find myself keeping you here at my side for different reasons. Reasons I have yet to find."
He vaguely registered his family's hushed conversation.
"Do you think they'll fall in love?," Sango asked excitedly.
"No," Rin interrupted quietly, "otou-san does not believe that he could harbor such a feeling for a female, much less a human."
Sesshomaru looked at the female in his arms. Could that be remotely possible? Him, falling in love?
"Are you saying Kagome couldn't seduce him?," inquired Miroku innocently.
Sango bopped him on the head with a frown.
"Did Midoriko say it had to be mutual?," Sango asked with a scowl.
"She never said much," retorted Miroku, "however I do believe it would have to be mutual. It would make it harder for him to break the curse, ne?"
"That's true."
"And, if you don't mind my saying, that's a bit cruel. We want our friend to have mutual love, not one-sided. Say, Rin?"
"Yes Miroku?"
"I want you to change your mission. Make your daddy and mommy kiss at any cost."
Rin looked up at him with a frown.
"How's that gonna help me?"
"Hugging leads to kissing. Kissing leads to -."
"MIROKU!," bellowed Sesshomaru.
"Yes?," he squeaked back.
"The whole not talking about sex to Rin goes to you too!"
Miroku quickly nodded in assent.
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The swimming was cut short by Sesshomaru whom insisted that Kagome could and would get sick if she stayed in her wet clothes any longer. Everybody followed accordingly not wanting to be there without him or Kagome. In the mansion, Sango changed Kagome into dry clothes and Sesshomaru locked himself in his room. Inside he smirked smugly at his memories. He remembered clearly whose name Kagome had called out and who she had gripped onto. Him. And something told him they weren't playing in a field of dandelions with Rin in the dream either.
"Sesshomaru?"
"Yes Miroku?"
Miroku quickly opened and closed the door and made his way towards his friend.
"So what's between you and Kagome?"
"Private."
Miroku scowled as he sat on his bed.
"You have nice sheets Sess."
"Miroku," he growled in warning, it was all too familiar.
"R-Right," he stammered, "do you, by any chance, harbor any feelings towards Kagome?"
"Other than the friendship she seems to have somehow built with all of us?"
Miroku nodded, curiosity bright in his eyes.
"No."
Miroku sighed, his shoulders sagging with defeat.
"Whatever you say Mr. Denial."
With that he ran out of the room leaving his friend with a raised eyebrow.
"It's not like you could get her to love you anyways!," Miroku shouted from the stairs.
Sesshomaru stood at the challenge.
"And why the bloody hell could I not?," he growled.
But Miroku was gone and didn't hear his question. Sesshomaru's eyes glinted in the light that flooded the doorway.
"It would be foolish of me to pursue her and to show him I could, true, but I want to pursue her anyways. It should prove of great entertainment."
"Does that mean you and mommy are going to have sex?," Rin asked from the doorway, Kohaku and Souta right behind her.
"No Rin, it doesn't."
All three kids groaned and muttered something about 'impossible adults'. Rin added that they knew they wanted it.
"I told them not to say more about sex in front of Rin," he scowled.
"Oh no," commented Souta calmly, "it wasn't us."
"It was Sango last night. She said Miroku knew he wanted it and would have to work for it," Kohaku added seriously.
"Shut up," hissed Shippou behind them.
"Don't. Listen. To. Sango."
The four kids nodded and ran.
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Inside Shippou's room the three kids sat in a circle pondering on Rin's problem: Wanting a sibling. Souta and Kohaku were in a heated argument about what Sango meant when Kohaku went suddenly still.
"Kohaku?," Souta asked tentatively.
"Yeah?," he answered with a far away look.
"What'd you see?"
Kohaku looked at his giddy friend, whom looked back anxiously.
"Just because I was quiet for a minute or two doesn't mean I had a vision," he snapped.
Souta raised his hands defensively with a smile.
"I'm going to talk to Kagome," he added, "alone."
Souta nodded and looked back at Rin and Shippou. Kohaku left the room and quickly padded down the hallway. Once there he knocked on Kagome's bedroom door.
"Come in."
Kohaku stepped inside and smiled. Sango smiled back.
"Is Kagome awake?," he asked softly.
"I'm alive," Kagome groaned, "just unable to move."
Sango laughed and picked up Kagome's wet clothes.
"I'm going to take these out to dry and then look for Miroku. I'll be back later to see if you're still alive," Sango said with a teasing smile.
"I'm sure I'll still be here to give you hell," Kagome responded dryly.
Sango waved at Kohaku and left the room quickly.
"Is she gone?," Kagome asked silently.
"Hai," responded Kohaku.
"Good!"
Kagome threw back the covers and lifted herself to a sitting position.
"That was painful," she complained.
Kohaku smiled and moved towards her.
"What'd you need?"
Kohaku wrung his hands nervously, avoiding Kagome's eyes.
"Go on," she encouraged.
"I had a vision-."
"My grandfather? Is he alright?"
"He misses you and he has fallen into a depression. The village he is in talks of his insanity and believes that they should place him in a hospital for help or just plain shoot him out of his misery."
Kagome's eyes widened and looked frantic. She stood up quickly, wincing all the way, and shuffled here and there.
"Kagome?"
"I've got to go to my grandfather's side before they shoot him like an animal," she explained.
Sesshomaru entered and signaled Kohaku to leave, unbeknownst to Kagome.
"You'll distract everybody and I'll," she turned, "run."
Her eyes landed on Sesshomaru, the only other in the room. All noises and life seemed to stop in that one moment. Sesshomaru's eyes said it all. She was going nowhere, no exceptions. She looked away not knowing how to face him exactly.
"I come here to check on your health and I find you up and about ready to run away."
Kagome felt goose bumps rise on her flesh and rubbed her arms stiffly.
"I'm thankful that you saved me earlier. But I absolutely refuse to cower in fright before you."
Sesshomaru raised and eyebrow at her, silent. To Kagome his silence was unnerving and equal to his laughing at her expense.
"You can drag me back but I will keep trying to leave until I succeed or die trying," she stated with a passion.
Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed and his earlier suspicions kicked in.
"Why would I let you return?"
Kagome's fists tightened and shook with anger.
"I know you heard my conversation with Kohaku," she growled, "so your question has already been answered."
"Is that your only reason?!," he bellowed.
Kagome jumped in surprise at his sudden volume change. His eyes were burning with accusation.
"Ye-."
"Think before you answer woman," he sneered, walking around her as if studying her.
She looked down, confused.
'What is he talking about?!,' she asked herself frantically.
"InuYasha, Kouga," he listed disgustedly. "Is that not your real reason for wanting to return? So you can go back to them?!"
"What in the-. They are my friends!," she screamed in outrage.
"Very close, intimate friends!"
"Are you saying that I'm a whore?!"
"You might as well-."
Kagome slapped him with her right hand across his left cheek in indignation. How dare he try and implicate that she was an all-around slut because of his damn suspicions and jealousy?!
'Jealousy? He's jealous? Of what?!'
"I will not tolerate you insulting me whether you keep me here as your prisoner or slave. I demand some respect and I demand that you let me go. I have done nothing for your damned suspicion!"
His golden eyes bore in to hers, not saying a word.
"You will go nowhere," he stated.
He whirled around and shut her door. She stood there shocked. Had he not heard what she'd said?! She heard the lock click in place and she burst with anxiety. He'd closed the door! She turned the knob fruitlessly and opted for banging on the door.
"Let. Me. Out!"
Sango looked back at the mansion as she finished hanging the wet kimono to dry. Screaming, most likely an argument, reached her ears.
"Damn," she cursed, "not one minute of peace is possible any more."
She quickly made her way into the kitchen and bumped into Miroku. That only left Kagome and Sesshomaru. Both wasted no time in charging up the stairs where they met an angry Sesshomaru.
"Sess-."
"No," he growled, not sparing them a glance.
The door to his room slammed closed after him. Sango looked at Kagome's obviously abused door.
"No what?" questioned Miroku.
Sango pushed past him and tried to open the door.
"I thought he said we had no keys!"
Miroku shrugged.
"I guess we don't and he does."
Sango glared at him before kicking the door in anger.
"You go deal with Sesshomaru and I'll deal with Kagome."
Miroku nodded and turned on his heels towards his male friend's room. As he got closer he could hear a soft conversation in his room.
"I'm sorry," Kohaku wailed, "it's all my fault."
Miroku raised an eyebrow, curious, and turned to question Sango. Alas, Sango was gone already. She'd gone through the door to soothe Kagome as girls seemed to do. All of them flocked to each other in times of pain and joy.
'Actually,' he rationalized, 'they always flock together.'
"Stop crying," Sesshomaru growled.
Miroku snapped from his musings and returned to his spying.
"If I hadn't told her what I saw in my vision then she wouldn't have tried to get away!"
"It's your duty to tell us what you see so that we may help."
"If she hadn't tried to get away then you wouldn't have locked her up in her room like an animal!," Kohaku yelled back, ignoring his earlier statement.
'So that's why she's locked in her room… But what reason is there for locking her in her room if we trust her?'
"We trust her Sesshomaru," Kohaku stated, as if reading Miroku's mind.
Sesshomaru stood pensive before the young boy. He had run in minutes before wailing that it was his fault that Kagome was stuck in her room. After the argument they'd come to the one statement that he couldn't face. Everybody trusted Kagome. She wasn't there to kill them or to hand them over to a group of killer humans. She had been rather calm about the whole situation, even if he was keeping her there against her will. But he didn't want her to go. Something in him didn't want her to go because, dare he say, he was fond of Kagome. Who, what, when, where, and why he did not know. The truth was that he was fond of her and he didn't want her to leave and never return.
"I am not in the mood to discuss this," he stated, "and you trust her. I do not."
Kohaku bent his head in silent defeat. He got up, shoulders sagging, and left the room quietly.
"Hey Miroku," he greeted softly.
"Hi," he responded in an equal tone.
'Now,' he thought, 'to face the man in denial and interrogate him.'
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"He called me a whore Sango!," Kagome cried.
Sango looked at her friend in concern and tried to soothe her. Kagome, however, was off on a rampage of hurt feelings and anger. She paced back and forth in front of her, waving her hands in gestures.
"I mean, I know he dragged me down the stairs because he thought I was planning to attack him but to call me a whore!"
"Kagome-."
"I understand the stairs. I understand that he was suspicious and I shouldn't have gone off to explore after you told me not to, but I thought he knew me and trusted me by now!"
"He's just-."
"It was like he was jealous! Like the jealous fiancé that can't stand for you to have male friends because he thinks they're interested in you romantically!"
"Kagome!," Sango screamed.
Kagome looked at her with wide eyes and silent.
"Did you ever think that Sesshomaru does trust you not to go and set the other humans on us?"
"I-."
"He does Kagome, I know that. It's the fact that he is interested in you that makes him act the way he does."
"Interested? Interested?!"
"Yes, interested. He doesn't think you'll come back after you leave. I mean, you would be going back to your family and the men that obviously dote on you. Would you come back to the people that kept you from going back for weeks?"
Kagome looked down, examining her finger nails. Would she? She would go back to her normal life and maybe settle down with one of the two men that so obviously loved her. Would she forget about the small amount of time she had spent with them?
'No,' she argued, 'because they are part of my life and memory. But would I come back?'
"I don't know," she responded honestly.
"You would leave Rin and Shippou here. They would miss you terribly and Sesshomaru would be heart broken whether he realizes it or not."
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"You would be heartbroken whether you realize it or not."
Sesshomaru glared at Miroku. How dare he implicate that his feelings for Kagome were deeper than he thought? He knew very damn well what he was feeling!
"I know very damn well what I'm feeling!"
"Really? Then why don't you tell me? We are almost brothers and have confided in one another for years."
Sesshomaru was surprised at Miroku. His words were heart-felt and full of emotion. He wanted Sesshomaru's confidence and to help him with his problems.
"I don't have any problems," he insisted, "but I do appreciate the offer."
"Sesshomaru, we need to talk about this right now before she leaves!"
"She's not leaving!"
"Yes, she is. We trust her enough that we know that she won't tell anybody of us."
"She won't return!," he yelled back.
Sesshomaru tensed at the 'I told you so' look on Miroku's face. He turned and started to pace, something he didn't do often.
"She'll leave and won't come back Miroku. She won't come back."
"What makes you say that?," questioned Miroku while looking for a chair to sit in.
"She's going back to her grandfather and to the men that-."
"Ah, you heard that conversation."
"Yes I did."
"Should have known. If you had listened instead of throwing tantrums-."
"I don't throw tantrums!," he growled.
"Then you would've known that she isn't interested in them, but that again doesn't mean she won't be."
"Exactly," he sneered.
"Then you must do something about it."
"Kill them?"
"Can't go through the barrier crazy killer."
"Damn."
"I know. Why don't you try to, oh I don't know, win her over?"
Sesshomaru's mind reeled. Him, a romancer? Was that remotely possible? He stood for everything serious and calm in life.
"How do you suppose I go about that?"
"Well," sputtered Miroku, "I-I guess we could just-. Oh, I don't know!"
Sesshomaru glared at him and turned away.
"If you've got nothing else to say, I request you leave my room. I've got to think."
Miroku nodded, stood up, and left the room quietly. Sesshomaru sat on his chair, his chin on the palm of his left hand, and his right hand over his left arm. His hair cascaded onto the floor, where it usually lay when he was sitting down. This problem was getting to be a nuisance.
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This is un beta-ed. Hahaha! Like they always are… I know somebody's going to shoot me for this… I do not own Inu & Co. nor do I own Disney's Beauty and The Beast. -