Explanations
When you last heard from me, I was in a bad place. Ok so I was in the worst place I could ever have imagined; pinned under the massive youkai form of Sesshomaru, being held by his razor sharp teeth and forced to submit, all while drenched in a pheromone that just so happens to be the same one that is released by female dogs to tell males that they are in heat and ready to mate.
Aside from the fact that I don't even think it would be possible for Sesshomaru to mate with me given the fact that at the time he was FIFTY FEET TALL and that there would be no way in hell a fifty foot dog would be able to….ummm….well fit in little ol' me if he did want to mate me, I was still scared stiff (pardon the pun) that he just might ignore that fact and try anyways.
After all, I had just submitted to him. I had no options left to me. I had to come to terms with the fact that I would not be fast enough or strong enough to get away from him, and that if there was going to be even the slightest chance for me to live I had to submit. It was the most difficult thing I have ever had to do. I wanted nothing more than to get away from him. He scared me more than I have ever been scared in my life (and I battle with Naraku on a regular basis so that's saying a lot), and even though I was terrified, still I had to come to terms with my own inabilities.
My whole body was shaking, trembling with barely suppressed fear and anxiety and I had no voice aside from the small pathetic whimpers leaving my lips. He had me completely dominated. I had given myself to him because there was no other way. I had accepted my defeat and possible demise because I had brought it upon myself. I had manipulated the wrong youkai and I would be forced to suffer the consequence.
But even as I began to accept my fate, as I began to come to terms with the idea that I would not live through this horrible situation; even then, deep down, I still held on to the hope that all was not lost, that somehow I would live through this trial.
And being that it is me telling you this story, it seems that I was right to hope. But what saved me was not anything I could have predicted.
Upon my submission to him, Sesshomaru released my shoulder from his massive maw, and proceeded again to draw in deep breaths through his nose to inhale my scent. I had closed my eyes to the great beast because I could no longer bear to look upon the face of my death, but still I could feel his monstrous body hovering above me and the air being disturbed by the persistent rumbling in his chest.
But suddenly, so suddenly that I snapped my eyes open in disbelief, all of that was gone. There was no massive creature above me, no long lazy scenting of my form, no rumbling contented growls; only the stillness of the night air brushing softly against my skin and the feeling of waning power.
For a second, a very short second, I caught a glimpse of Sesshomaru. No longer was he in his great youkai form, he had transformed back into his smaller humanoid appearance. He stood in front of me, his eyes still distorted by the beast, his facial markings still jagged and spread across his skin and his usually stoic countenance twisted into a mask of fury and hate.
If I thought I was in trouble before, I was sure that now it was worse.
I didn't have a chance to do anything though, because before I could the world around me was swept away in a blinding flash of light.
For a time I thought that perhaps I was dead, that he had killed me for misleading him or for degrading him by making him react in such a way to a mere human, but I was, rather rudely, reminded not long after that thought that I was indeed alive.
!Splash!
Apparently the river was not as far away as I had thought. So now I would not only die a horribly violent death by an enraged youkai lord, but I would do it dripping wet. That's just perfect. In fact it fit in nicely with the day I was having. Why wouldn't I have to face my death drenched to the bone and shivering, no longer from fear but because the water is damn cold!
Of course though I wouldn't even be given the time to brood about my new predicament, because that enraged youkai lord I spoke of decided to rip me from the confines of the water; which in comparison to the vice-like grip he place around my throat was actually very comforting in its cold but gentle embrace.
My hands lifted instinctively to try and pry those steel fingers from my throat, but he didn't even flinch. He just pulled me closer to him until I could almost see my reflection in his still glowing eyes, and then growled out in a voice so cold it nearly turned the blood in my veins to ice.
"Explain."
"Naraku," I choked out. It wasn't the whole story, but at the very least I thought it would be enough for him to release my throat so that I could actually be reacquainted with oxygen again. Apparently it was. After a second where he seemed to analyze the response I had given him, a time might I add that he didn't even give consideration to the fact that I was currently bordering on the edge of unconsciousness due to lack of air; he released me. I collapsed in a heap on the ground, frantically gasping in draughts of air to appease my starved lungs.
When I had finally regained some sense of being alive and not suffocated to death, I reluctantly looked up to the youkai who had very nearly been the cause of my untimely death. He had reset the stoic, unemotional, unexpressive countenance I was so used to seeing on him. No more were the crimson lines of his heritage ripping dangerous jagged paths down the sides of his face, nor his eyes gleaming red with malicious intent, instead he was simply the placid calmness of an unmovable force. His hard golden eyes locked onto mine with burning intent.
"This had better be good woman."
I had to furiously press down the shudder of fear that wanted to envelop me. I had saved myself for the moment; I couldn't go and ruin it by collapsing in a pile of weakness. Not that that would have decreased my position in his eyes any, but I still had my own pride to maintain and I wouldn't allow myself to be intimidated by him anymore. I had seen him at his worst, been on the receiving end of his beast in its freest state, and I had lived through it. There was no way I would let fear hold me back now.
"It all started out as an experiment," I began. "I wanted to know if certain compounds, which I know as pheromones, would be able to affect youkai in the same way they affect animals."
Maybe it was just me, but he seemed surprised, well as surprised as Sesshomaru can be I suppose. Perhaps his surprise steamed from the fact that I was educated enough to know how to conduct an experiment, after all it is very unusual for women to be educated in the feudal era. I'm not really sure, but as I began to elaborate on the course of my experiment, I found that Sesshomaru was no longer looking at me with cold detachment, but more curiosity maybe, perhaps even, and I may be pushing things here but, grudging respect.
When I told him what had happened with Kirara, I caught a hint of an amused smirk on his lips. Granted they only moved a micro millimeter and it could have been just a trick of the moonlight, but if I was laughing out loud recounting the experience even after almost being killed and while still in the presence of the assailant, it shouldn't be too hard to believe that Sesshomaru might have cracked a smile at the cost of my cruel joke on the lecherous monk.
When I explained my new position in the eyes of the wolf prince Kouga as a result of my pheromone experiment, I know I saw him lift an eyebrow and allow his eyes to slip over me. Now in my time I know what that particular move would be called; it would be said that he just checked me out. But I refuse to believe that Sesshomaru would ever 'check me out' because I know of his loathing for humans in general. So I guess that the only other reason could be that he was assessing whether or not what I told him had been truth, whether I could play the part of Alpha or not.
He didn't say anything of course. In fact he hadn't said anything aside from the first few commands he had given me. But judging by the way that after he made his 'inspection' as I'm going to call it, he simply went back to looking into the trees as he had been doing since I began my explanation, he didn't find anything to contradict my statement. At least that's what I'm going to assume, after all I am still here talking to you and that's got to mean he found something worthwhile in me or he would not have wasted his time listening to me speak.
Anyways, when I got the experiment concerning the Saimyoushou I had his complete attention. He actually turned away from whatever he found so interesting in the surrounding foliage to listen to my words. I found that having his complete attention was quite an unnerving experience. I was overly worried about what he might say or do or react to what I said or how I said it. Of course I know how ridiculous that is considering he hadn't said anything up until that point aside from his command for me to explain, and any reactions I had gotten from him were either imagined or interpreted; but still, being focused on so intently by such a powerful and intimidating man would have anyone squirming in their boots.
So I chose my words carefully, made sure not to leave anything out in my retelling of the events surrounding my experiment, and finished only to wait on baited breath to see what he would have to say. But he didn't say anything; he only looked away from me again back to the swaying branches of the trees. By this time I was ready to scream at him to do something, to say something, anything! But I had made it this far with my life and I was not about to throw that all away just to have the tension eased out of me.
At last I came to my final experiment; the experiment in which he had become so intimately involved.
"I wanted to test the pheromones on a hanyou before I attempted to use them on Naraku. Because of the human blood in hanyous I had reason to believe that they would react differently to the pheromones. I needed to test the theory before I put my life and the lives of my friends in the path of danger. The only hanyou that was available for my experiment was Inuyasha, so that left only pheromones affecting dogs for me to test, as you well know because you were unfortunately pulled into the experiment."
"I'm so sorry about all of this. Really. If there was any way for me to know what would happen I would never have…"
"Woman."
Why must he always do that? I mean would it be so difficult for him to act like a normal person and not scare the crap out of me every time he speaks? Never mind, forget I even said anything. This is Sesshomaru after all, and he probably enjoys watching me jump at the sound of his voice and squirm under his scrutiny.
"I have no need for your apologies. Your experiment has merit."
"Really? I mean yes of course it does." Way to go Kagome. Make yourself look like a total fool right after you were just complemented by Sesshomaru. Wait, did he just complement me? No that can't be it. He was just thinking that my plan might serve as a good distraction so that he can swoop in and destroy Naraku, right? Anyways, while I had him talking I just had to ask.
"By the way, how was it you were able to pull out of the allure of the pheromone's scent? Purely scientific curiosity of course. Not like I'm trying to say that you were…"
"Salt."
"Huh?" Apparently he saw the complete look of obliviousness on my face and had pity enough to elaborate. Pity, HA! Why do I say such ridiculous things. Sesshomaru having pity, man he must have rattled my brains more than I thought. Anyways, whatever his reasons, which I'm sure are his own and I will likely never know, he elaborated on his statement.
"The salt in your tears mixed with the scent being given off by this 'pheromone' as you call it. It resulted in a different scent, one with less…allure."
"I was crying?"
"Hn," he replied before looking back to the trees. "A useless human trait that the females of your species often engage in."
"Well excuse me!" I had been frightened by him, terrified by him, almost killed by him, and I remained silent; but I have put up with Inuyasha's shit for far too long and I am not about to let someone degrade me simply because of my species! "Forgive me that I was in fear fro my life because a fifty foot dog was intent on either eating me or…or mating with me!"
He turned back around to face me, his eyes narrowed dangerously. Oh man I have just got to learn when to keep my mouth shut!
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Ok I'm sorry that was….well at least its done. Part one of my explanations to get Kagome out of the mess she got herself into. Yeah she made the mess and now expects me to clean it up for her. That ingrate! Hopefully I'll be able to make up for my lacking creativity next chapter.
One more thing. The comment about Sess's size came from one special reviewer but I will not mention who because I wouldn't want to embarrass her any more than necessary.
Chow
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters I am about to weave into my web of chaos. Any and all definitions have been taken directly from Wikipedia the online encyclopedia because I am far too lazy to do any further research to support my Inuyasha obsession.
ShadowsWeaver1
