In the Beholders Eye

Written By Sarga

May/June 2006

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters, I'm just taking a theme and running with it...

Chapter 30: Protection from the Protector

Two hanyous peered from the bushes at a little girl playing with some flowers nearby. Her ugly green bodyguard acted as a begrudging receptacle of the child's bounty, flowers decorating his ears in a wreath. A quarter of the way around the clearing, Miroku and Sango crouched in a similar position.

"What makes you think you could possibly sneak up on this Sesshoumaru, half-breed?"

The cold voice spoke from behind the two hanyous.

Standing quickly, the pair looked at one another then at their target.

Kagome was the first to speak. Not having the history with Sesshoumaru that his brother did, she hoped to avoid further bloodshed.

"Lord Sesshoumaru," Kagome began, hoping to impart the respect she had for his position. "We come seeking a favour from you. You have in your possession a powerful object that would restore me to my former self." Kagome bowed low as she spoke. "I would like to request that you allow me to have this object." Kagome stood straight once more, awaiting the reply.

"If the object you speak of is the amulet, it is a worthless trinket." Sesshoumaru's cold voice bordered on disinterest.

Kagome perked up. Perhaps there was a chance she could get it without the pain of bloodshed...

"Then would you be willing to part with it?" Kagome asked cautiously.

"No," Sesshoumaru responded, just as emotionless as before.

"No?" Inuyasha growled, taking a step forward, and made to draw Tetsusaiga. Kagome caught his arm and sent him a pleading look. While Inuyasha backed down, Kagome continued.

"Please, Lord Sesshoumaru. I am asking something of you that you do not value, yet would mean the world to me. What can I do to obtain it?" Kagome asked.

"Nothing." Sesshoumaru looked at Kagome, as if seeing her for the first time. "Leave before I decide that you no longer deserve your pitiful half-breed existence."

Kagome resigned herself to the fact that she would have to battle. "Give it to me willingly or I will be forced to take it from your dead hands." Kagome said carefully but clearly.

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed noticeably as he took note of who was issuing the challenge. With a slight smirk that did not play itself to his eyes, Sesshoumaru spoke to Inuyasha. "You do realize that the stronger mate is the one who issues the challenges?"

Inuyasha's grip tightened on Tetsusaiga as he responded. "She is stronger," he ground out, finding difficulty not in admitting that fact, rather, finding the difficulty in restraining himself as he had promised Kagome. He backed towards Miroku and Sango, passing a startled Jaken and Rin.

Kagome growled menacingly low in her throat, glaring unflinchingly at the foe before her. The natural reaction was made more powerful by the significance of it. She was challenging him, and they both knew it.

Moving one foot behind the other, crouched in a battle stance, Kagome bared her teeth.

"Sesshoumaru you bastard! You won't keep me from my life any more."

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. A quick flash in his eye and he sprang towards her, drawing his poison whip. With a flick of his wrist, Sesshoumaru made the first attack. Dodging the poison whip nimbly, Kagome easily avoided it.

'He's testing me!' Kagome thought with annoyance, raising her claws, allowing her puring energy to shine through them. She felt a rage bubble forth and she harnessed it, welcoming the added strength and speed. She would need it.

Sesshoumaru, his single arm working in perfect coordination with the rest of his body, hurtled towards her once more. The previous feint was a mere parlour trick by comparison. Green poison dripping from his claws, Sesshoumaru swung at Kagome, tearing through her sleeve but missing her body. In response, Kagome brought her own claws upward, skimming his arm with a perceivable hiss of burning flesh.

Landing opposite to each other, backs turned, the pair whirled around once more. Kagome crouched low, running to Sesshoumaru's left, his weak side. Sesshoumaru bounded forward, determined not to let her take him off balance. In a fluid motion, he reached for his tokijin and swung it upwards, the blade narrowly missing its target of Kagome's neck.

Kagome rolled away from the blade, springing from the ground as Sesshoumaru swung down to where she had been the instant earlier. With a power she had previously left untapped, Kagome surged forward. Slashing a clawed hand across Sesshoumaru's chest, Kagome tore through his side, the only area left unprotected by his armor. His armor was left with a gouge and his side started to bleed heavily.

"You do well to strike this Sesshoumaru, girl," he complimented her as he lunged towards her once more, his sword acting as a natural extension of his body. The blade sliced through her left sleeve, piercing her shoulder.

Kagome felt the blood drip down her now useless arm.

"I guess we're evenly matched now," Kagome joked wryly, narrowly avoiding another swing of his blade.

Not to be overwhelmed by his blade, Kagome drew her own. Its dwarfed length seemed to offer no defense, but as she brought it forward to parry Sesshoumaru's blow, she felt its strength, Inuyasha's strength. With the sudden influx of power, she pushed forward, discarding her vow to never cut with the blade. Cutting the flesh along Sesshoumaru's hand, Kagome managed to loosen his grip. Lifting an agonizingly burning hand to his, Kagome tore the blade away, her pained arm falling loosely back to her side.

The advantage distinctly hers, Kagome pressed onward. Stabbing deeply with the blade into Sesshoumaru's left side, Kagome pushed with all of her might. The demon's blood flowed freely from the wound as they fell to the ground. Kagome shifted her blade to her weak hand and used her right one to pummel Sesshoumaru's beautiful face again and again. She felt him sputter, his breathing made difficult by his bloody nose.

Pulling back, Kagome ground his hand into the ground with her foot. Reaching forward with her lethally glowing claws, Kagome gripped his neck tightly, just on the edge of her searing powers.

Growling low, Kagome spat out the words. "Do you concede?"

Grinning from ear to ear, a ghastly sight with the blood that covered his broken form, Sesshoumaru responded. "This Sesshoumaru is no fool, I concede."

Releasing him quickly, she backed away slowly. "Where is it, Sesshoumaru? Where is the Kasei-Ippin?"

Sesshoumaru sat up, his mangled hand smearing blood across his chin as he tried to wipe a drop from his mouth. "Rin, bring her the Kasei-Ippin. She has earned her wish."

The child, remarkably unphased by the bloody battle that had just taken place, remained rooted in her position. The look in her eye, rather than one of horror, shock or dismay was one of defiance.

"No." Rin refused to move forward.

End of Chapter

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Me thinks she likes pretty shinies...

More reviews please...

- Sarga