Disclaimers: There's a contest in town where you can win the ownership of select InuYasha characters! Mehehehehe, I'll let you know how that turns out.
A/N: (surfaces from depths of family crisis) REEEEEEEEEEEEEEALLY sorry I haven't been working on this as much as I should be. But stuff has come up and such, and I've had to deal with it, so even though this will probably be short. But it's still an update, right? ...Right?
Mad thanxorz to all that reviewed. (huggles)
A Little More Village Time
Sesshoumaru kept his vigil across the river from InuYasha and Kagome all night, and didn't feel the least bit sleepy. Until Kagome woke up. For some reason the girl's consciousness made him inexplicably tired. Like something was pressing against his barriers, making him feel his weakness. It was likely the dregs of the strange spell that she had cast upon him and Kouga the night InuYasha lay dying.
As for said hanyou, InuYasha was reluctant to sleep, having had too little of it for too long, himself. Briefly, the western lord wondered if he was feeling the same... pressure... from Kagome. The two stood and started back to the village. Kouga waited to guard them there, hidden from sight. Once Kagome was out of sight, Sesshoumaru felt in control again. Coming back to himself, he shook himself violently, ridding himself of the morning dew that had settled upon his lordly form, the drops flying in tiny sparks from his silvery mane and his once again immaculately clean kimono. At first he refused to himself to remove the moisture from his armor by using his sleeve, but he broke down when the water started to roll down and absorb into his clothes. After that brief moment of what he considered weakness, he hopped over the river and darted through the trees -- being sure to steer clear of InuYasha and his mate -- in order to find Kouga.
It was to his eternal frustration that he found Kouga asleep on the roof of one of the villager's houses. A swift but nonlethal kick to the wolf's ribs woke him. Kouga's first reaction was to growl and glare his indignancy, but upon realizing it was Sesshoumaru that had caught him napping, the retort died in his throat. He didn't think it was fair. He'd been so tired after that fight with Naraku. He'd only got to sleep a few minutes ago after making sure that InuYasha and Kagome were still at the river, and then he was so rudely awakened!
Kagome and her chosen mate entered Kaede's hut a few minutes later, Kagome making a fuss about her wrinkled kimono. InuYasha rubbed the sleep from his eyes, yawned, and said nothing. After another booting from Sesshoumaru, Kouga hopped off the roof and entered the hut, Sesshoumaru swiftly following. Kouga growled at a thought -- it was like Sesshoumaru was leading from behind! And InuYasha would do the same thing! It was just impossible to be the alpha that he was supposed to be when they were around. 'Damn dogs,' Kouga thought bitterly. 'I'll get a mate of my own, then we'll see who's the alpha.'
Upon entering the hut, a loud, sickening crack met thier delicate ears. They both froze, recognizing the sound for what it was: a breaking bone. Miroku was staring at his casted arm in wide-eyed enthrallment. Kagome's hand was resting on it. How she came to do it, neither of the youkai bothered to find out, but one thing was clear. Kagome had healed Miroku's broken arm.
Disbelievingly, Miroku pulled his arm from his sling, rotating it a few times and flexing his fingers. Still doubtful, he poked at where it had been broken, testing its stability.
"Well," Kaede said briskly. "Now that we've had our miracle for the morning, I heard last night from a trustworthy man that there is a miko toward the east. She has a rather lengthy reputation for bondage spells."
"East," Sesshoumaru repeated. The village was already close to the edge of his territory. He didn't trust what would happen if he left his lands, but if he was to discover the source of InuYasha's strength so that he could use it, as well, he would have to. Unless his presence attracted unwanted attention by the lords of the other lands. He also didn't want to drag Rin into this. But she wouldn't be safe in his place of residence without him there, nor did he quite completely trust Kaede to protect Rin from the villagers. Not that he didn't grudgingly trust Kaede herself. Leaving her with Jaken would provide even less protection, though, but at least he might scare away villagers if they bothered the girl, and Kaede had spent long enough protecting the village from youkai, that together they just might be able to protect his young ward.
"Now, when you say 'bondage'..." Miroku implied amusedly. His reward for his joke was a crack over the head with a very large and heavy boomerang courtesy of a newly healed taiji-ya.
"We go east then," Sesshoumaru annoucned.
Stunned. Absolute. Silence. Filled the room. The glare Sesshoumaru recieved from InuYasha was absolutely murderous. Kagome glanced between InuYasha and Sesshoumaru, wondering and worrying about what would happen next. Kouga stared at him in slack-jawed shock, and the others eyed him as if he had gone insane. Kaede merely blinked her one visible eye and raised her eyebrows.
"You... you...!" InuYasha seethed. The line of his body shook in rage, inexplicable as it was. Sesshoumaru regarded the hanyou as if he was an insolent pup. InuYasha clenched and unclenched his fists, trying to rein in his anger. Something inside Sesshoumaru froze when the edges of InuYasha's eyes blurred red.
'He had-- how could he have-- where'd he get the gall to-- AAAAGG!' InuYasha's thoughts trailed off into a mindless growl at Sesshoumaru's attempt at taking over what little pack he had. Had he been capable of coherent speech patterns, he would have declared that hell would freeze over before he would kowtow to the likes of Sesshoumaru.
The youkai inside him thrashed in animosity toward his brother, fighting against the barricades of the Tetsusaiga. The barriers bent, but held.
They bent enough to drive InuYasha clawing at Sesshoumaru.
Sesshoumaru's surprise cracked through his stoic facade as he side-stepped the sudden attack.
While InuYasha and Sesshoumaru flailed about the room, growling vehemently at each other, Kagome felt something inside her throb, and hard. She pitched forward at the feeling, almost knocking herself off her feet. Miroku tried to step in between the warring brothers, only to be stopped by Sango, with the explanation that the two were fighting for dominance, and anyone that got in the way would end up the worse for wear, and probably wouldn't walk away alive.
It was Kaede and Shippo that noticed Kagome's paling face and how she clutched at the cloth over her chest, as if trying to contain something there. Their inquiries to her condition fell on deaf ears, which caused them to get all the more rialed up, drawing not only Kouga's attention, but Sango's and Miroku's, as well. Sesshoumaru glanced at the girl briefly, then was almost beheaded by a wild swipe of InuYasha's claws.
Though Sesshoumaru avoided InuYasha's claws, he was caught in the stomach by his shoulder, knocking him to the ground. From there he was pinned, and when he tried to throw his brother off, InuYasha bit his ear.
Kouga's head swivelled around so fast it might have broken if he weren't a youkai, and Sango's jaw dropped. The cause was a reflexive yip that came from none other than Sesshoumaru's throat when InuYasha bit his ear. The corners of Kouga's mouth twitched, somehow managing to contain his amusement. Sango determinedly turned back to Kagome, who, when InuYasha bit Sesshoumaru, lurched forward once again, gasping, clamping her hands once again over her chest. Her mouth worked in silent words, incomprehensible to even youkai ears.
In a voice heavy with growls and snarls, InuYasha announced, "You are not the alpha here."
With a defiant glare, Sesshoumaru averted his eyes to the side in what InuYasha accepted as a submissive gesture. InuYasha got off Sesshoumaru, but upon reaching his feet he came back to himself, swaying noticably. Kagome simultaniously pulled in a deep breath and straightened again. Miroku frowned, confusion written plain as day across his features.
"Yasha... InuYasha!" Kagome choked out, an hand flying up to her mouth. The words that started as her own shifted and became convoluted until Kikyou's voice came out of her throat, causing Kagome to absolutely tremble in fear. InuYasha was at her side in an instant, holding her by her shoulders and looking into her eyes.
"Kagome?" he inquired quickly. She stared at him... stared through him. He shook her urgently, saying her name again. "Ka-go-me!"
Coming back to her senses, Kagome launched herself into InuYasha's arms, her hands clenching in the material of his kimono. Though he didn't understand what was going on, he embraced her comfortingly. He frowned at Miroku, trusting he'd have some sort of an explination.
Sesshoumaru was left to pick himself up off the floor alone.
After a breif shake of his head that showed he was confused as well, Miroku began to explain his theory. "Kikyou's aura was... active. When you started to turn into your youkai self, she started acting up. It wasn't noticeable at first, but when you started to really fight Sesshoumaru, and pin him down, it got worse."
"And it's a logical conclusion that if it happens again," Sango provided, "Kikyou might do the same." To this Miroku nodded.
Kouga slanted a smirk in Sesshoumaru's direction. "That means no more trying to undermine the pack heirarchy, Sesshoumaru." Kouga's smirk was met with a glare. Kouga feigned innocence with shrug. "Hey, if you want to challenge mutt-face again and turn Kagome into Kikyou so she can kill us all... well, be my guest!"
With a snarling growl, InuYasha rammed his fist into Kouga's face without looking at him, sending the wolf crashing to the floor.
