A/N: Well some of you might have noticed that I have changed my pen name. After reading the announcement on the fanfiction homepage, I wasn't sure if my name was too long so I simply changed it to Angel Thorn. I have had so many lovely reviews from everyone and I really haven't thanked all of you properly… so thank you! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't keep writing so please help support me and maybe I will get off my butt and stop being lazy. Haha, here's the next chapter.
Previous: Kagome looked up at Sesshomaru; he was no longer applying pressure at her, but held her with just enough strength so she could not get away from him. She let out a gentle sigh, all of a sudden feeling safe looking into those beautiful demon eyes.
Sesshomaru didn't move for a time, looking at Kagome with undisguised interest. She was different, that was all he could think of. She came from a different time, had different powers, different friends, and different emotions. However, even though Jaken and Rin stood out in stark contrast compared to the youkai lord, he still cared for them. Kagome had not exactly come to Sesshomaru the way that Jaken and Rin had, he had taken her from his fool of a brother. But uncalled for events took their toll at Sesshomaru's castle and played their part in the miko. He looked at the girl again and watched as her eyelids slowly started to droop and she moved closer, elevating herself on her feet.
It was all different. She felt differently, towards everything. A desire was coming over her, in the short time that she had been with Sesshomaru as her new self. She couldn't exactly blame it all on heightened scent abilities, her thoughts seemed to have changed too. All this realization came over the petite girl in a small elapse of time. Slowly, lowering her eyelids, she raised herself and started to reach for Sesshomaru, his scent filling her nostrils and making her head swim.
Sesshomaru watched, not making a move as Kagome neared him, but instinct made him hold back. He watched as Kagome, eyes now fully closed, slowly reached a tentative hand out. Then he moved back, almost making the miko trip in surprise. He had feared this happening, heightening the senses came with a responsibility of holding back desires with more control. Kagome did not have that control as of yet.
"I…" she began, not exactly knowing how to finish the sentence. She couldn't say what had just happened. That scent. It was puzzling, alluring, and capable of making her a little too loose. I just tried to kiss Sesshomaru! She realized all too late. What made it worse was that he had moved back, not wanting to make contact with her lips. It wasn't surprising. The youkai hadn't shown any signal that he held feelings for Kagome; he only expressed a little more care for her well-being. She had been foolish to try and go further. She looked up to see the youkai lord leaving, without so much as a word. Speechless and dumbfounded, she caught up halfway, and then backed down again, not sure what she would say.
"Your new senses are clouding you mind," he spoke as if nothing had happened. "You will find that many things will be different." Sesshomaru carefully avoided mentioning that Kagome needed to learn more control. Flustering an already flustered girl would only serve to cloud her mind even more. He would wait before assisting her.
Kagome had listened carefully to his words; it had to be the longest sentence in a while. She was disappointed that he had not given her more of an explanation, but all the same, grateful that he hadn't embarrassed her.
"Go and find Rin," said the youkai lord.
Kagome was a little startled to have to give lessons so soon, but she didn't object. She wanted to get away, far away. His piercing hot gaze bore holes through her. "Ja."
They walked silently back to the castle, Sesshomaru disappearing through one of the many halls as soon as they got inside.
What a jerk. At least he could bring me up to my room. Kagome found that the embarrassment of this afternoon was beginning to wear off; it helped if she didn't think about it. She walked along the winding halls, and doing a double-take as she almost walked smack into a suit of amour. Opening the doors, she turned around and closed them softly behind her. The miko noticed that the carpet showed no trace that she had gotten sick yesterday morning, she concluded that Jaken must have had to clean up the mess. Feeling only a little guilty, Kagome took out her bow and arrow and changed into a light sundress.
As Kagome stepped outside, the sun was still high in the sky. Rin was sitting in a heap of flowers, watching Ah and Un graze. Kagome laughed a little, wondering how long it had taken Rin to gather all of those flowers and put them together in one heaping mass. "Rin-chan!" Kagome called out.
The little girl looked up and her face lit up upon seeing the miko. "Kagome-sama! Kagome-sama! Rin is very much looking forward to your lessons!" she said excitedly, doing a little bounce in mid-air.
How does she do that? wondered Kagome briefly. "Are you ready then," she asked.
"Yes, yes!" the girl showed her enthusiasm quite clearly. Poor Jaken must have gone insane after having to 'play' with the girl for four long years. Rin took Kagome's hand and dragged her to the archery range.
"Rin-chan, today you will learn a new spell for your arrow of the priestess," said the miko. She spoke the words that Rin needed to recite in her head three times, making sure it stuck. Lifting her own arrow, Kagome closed her eyes, sealing her power in the arrow, and released. It glowed pink again on the target before subsiding. "That was the sealing arrow," she said, "now you try, Rin-chan."
Rin carefully notched her arrow in place and recited the words that Kagome spoke of out loud. She released standing closer to the target, not being able to shoot as far as her teacher.
Kagome watched as the arrow whizzed and found its spot on the target, but something was different; the arrow did not glow. "Rin-chan, are you sure you recited the prayer correctly," she asked.
The girl shrugged, "Rin is not sure Kagome-sama."
Kagome nodded. "It's ok, try again." She spoke the words again, making sure that Rin got it by making her say it back to her. "Ok, give it another shot," she said.
The small girl recited the prayer another time, and let go. The arrow whizzed forward, but hit the target as a regular one would, it did not glow.
Kagome looked puzzled, surely Rin was simply doing something wrong and the spell wasn't working. She had heard her recite the words, but of course Kagome was not perfect and could have mistaken wrong for right. Kagome notched her own arrow and shot it at Rin's target, it glowed and subsided. There was nothing wrong with the bulls-eye post. "Try again," said the miko, rather unconvinced that there was something wrong with Rin.
The girl notched one more time and released, the same thing happened, no glow. "Kagome-sama…" Rin began.
"Don't worry," Kagome cut off. "Maybe this spell is too advanced right now. Let's try the spiritual arrows, you could always use those," she said matter-or-factly.
Rin nodded and this time and instead of reciting the prayer, she simply shot the arrow like she had been doing for all the other lessons with Kagome. Nothing happened.
Kagome closed her eyes; this was not something she was ready for. For some reason, Rin's spiritual powers had deserted her. At least that was her guess; she would have to ask Sesshomaru about it. "Rin-chan, there is something I must do, do you know where Sesshomaru is?"
She looked at Kagome, puzzled. Was there something really wrong? "Rin does not know where Sesshomaru-sama has gone," she replied.
Kagome nodded slowly, chewing the bottom of her lip. Finally she spoke up, "Rin-chan, why don't you go and find Jaken to play with," she suggested.
The girl brightened up again and nodded. "Ok, Kagome-sama, I hope Jaken-sama misses me!" She bounced with delight and after thanking Kagome, ran off to find the unfortunate green toad.
"This is no use," said Kohaku in a defeated tone. They had traveled on horses from sun high to sun down.
"Is that so?" asked the she horse. "Who is it that you are looking for that makes you so desperate to find?"
"A friend," replied the young demon-slayer. "Several actually, one of my friends were captured and my sister went off with my others friends to try and help before we caught up with them. We got stuck in Inuyasha's father's castle. Shippo found this open field after going through a greenhouse in the back."
"I am not sure of your story," replied Gladearis, "but we will do what we can to help."
"And I appreciate that," replied Kohaku. They had slowly made a round trip all the way around the area, so far not running into Kirara. The horses slowed to a stop, meeting up with the herd.
"I am sorry that we could not be of better assistance to you," said the mare. She lightly tapped her hoof on the ground, making a "scuff, scuff" sound. "Is there anything else that we may offer you?"
"Have you by any chance seen a cat demon around here? She is large, has big teeth, red eyes, and two tails," said the kitsune.
Another horse stepped up. "A feline you say? Do you mean the small cat that came back to this area? She didn't seem so large to me." The black stallion let out a humorous snort, whinnying loudly.
"Oh, that should be Kirara," Shippo said. "Where is she?"
"Over here," she stallion said. He led the young kitsune over the where the little feline was batting playfully at a horses' tail.
"Kirara, you're going to get yourself stepped on," said Kohaku. The young demon-slayer quickly scooped up the feline in his arms, cuddling with his sisters' friend gently.
The two horses waited patiently for them. The gold coat standing out in contrast from the she horse's dappled one. The mare cocked her head and looked at the young travelers inquisitively.
"We need to go," said the young demon-slayer quite suddenly.
"Why would that be?" asked the golden horse.
He slowly shook his head and replied, "We need to go, I have just realized something."
"What's the rush?" asked the pretty she horse.
Kohaku didn't answer and rudely turned heel to leave. The young stallion that had led them to Kirara trotted up. "Is this anyway to repay kindness when it has been shown to you?"
"Yea Kohaku, what's the matter?" asked the kitsune. Kirara gave an inquisitive meow from the young demon-slayer's arms.
"I am sorry," he said, "but you must allow us to leave. I thank you for your hospitality, but our business is quite urgent."
After a long pause the golden horse nodded. "Very well, as you wish, however, we do not know of a way out."
"That is fine," replied Kohaku, "Thank you again." With that, he grabbed his friend's hand and fled. Once they were a good distance away, he slowed to a fast walk.
"What's the matter Kohaku," asked Shippo. It wasn't like his friend to show such behavior towards kindness.
"I may be wrong," he replied, "but I don't think we should stay too long."
"I am worried about Kagome and Inuyasha too, but they could help," protested the kitsune.
"You don't understand do you Shippo?" he asked. "We first need to get out, then I can explain.
The kitsune was confused, but he followed suit anyways, trusting his friend's judgment.
"A bush in the shape of a hand…" murmured the young demon-slayer. His eyes searched about the endless fields of trees and plants, pausing for a moment every few seconds. He quickened his pace when he found what he was looking for. "This way, I remember this from when we first came out." They slowly wound their way around the rocks, steering clear of a small brook to the right. They continued walking for some time, the trees and vines growing more and more dense, soon creating an archway.
"This looks familiar," the kitsune voiced.
"Do you remember the vineyard that we passed through before we emerged into the open field?" asked Kohaku.
His friend nodded.
"We're almost there," he said slowly. They trotted on for a little while longer, the plants no longer resembling a forest, but rather an archway that had been forced to grow in tunnel shape by wires. At last there was the end to the trail of greenery. It came to a final wooden archway where the vines stopped abruptly. The kitsune ran ahead followed by Kirara. Kohaku walked a bit more slowly, stopping before passing through the archway. Hebrushed his fingertips along the wooden surface. Then he turned back, looking from whence he came. It did not surprise him, the vine tunnel was gone.
Hot steam rose from a small pool laden with rocks. The young maiden that lay inside had almost submerged herself completely, with only eyes and a nose poking out.
I haven't see Sesshomaru all day! Kagome had searched for the youkai lord in the impossibly large castle, but no luck. He had either decided to avoid her after the afternoon's incident, or simply didn't give about her. I don't blame him…I was so stupid, why did I do something to embarrassing?
Flashback…
It was all different. She felt differently, towards everything. A desire was coming over her, in the short time that she had been with Sesshomaru as her new self. She couldn't exactly blame it all on heightened scent abilities, her thoughts seemed to have changed too. All this realization came over the petite girl in a small elapse of time. Slowly, lowering her eyelids, she raised herself and started to reach for Sesshomaru, his scent filling her nostrils and making her head swim.
Sesshomaru watched, not making a move as Kagome neared him, but instinct made him hold back. He watched as Kagome, eyes now fully closed, slowly reached a tentative hand out. Then he moved back, almost making the miko trip in surprise. He had feared this happening, heightening the senses came with a responsibility of holding back desires with more control. Kagome did not have that control as of yet.
"I…" she began, not exactly knowing how to finish the sentence. She couldn't say what had just happened. That scent. It was puzzling, alluring, and capable of making her a little too loose. I just tried to kiss Sesshomaru! She realized all too late. What made it worse was that he had moved back, not wanting to make contact with her lips. It wasn't surprising. The youkai hadn't shown any signal that he held feelings for Kagome; he only expressed a little more care for her well-being. She had been foolish to try and go further. She looked up to see the youkai lord leaving, without so much as a word. Speechless and dumbfounded, she caught up halfway, and then backed down again, not sure what she would say.
End Flashback…
She quickly stopped herself before she could recall the lecture that he had given her. It was painfully obvious that Sesshomaru had looked down at Kagome as a naïve little girl that didn't have the power to control somewhat youkai desires. Sure she wasn't youkai, she wasn't marked or invited to share the same bloodline as Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, but something had happened that changed her soul. Kagome was sure that her spirit had stayed intact, nothing could move that. She really didn't understand all this about her soul being changed either, but it was an ancient happening, as she had never in her long flight in the feudal era, never heard of its strange capabilities.
The miko stood up slowly, stretching each of her limbs out carefully to prevent massive amounts of blood traveling up around to her head. Groping around for her towel in the dark, she managed to find it, only to realize that she had not brought out new clothes. Oh how could I forget? Kagome gingerly lifted herself fully out of the stream and searched for the clothes that she had worn to the spring. It had been thrown carelessly on the rocks and was half submerged in steamy water. I can't wear this…oh well, I will just have to go in with a towel, at least it is better than nothing. The girl smiled as she recalled a small incident at a different hot spring, when she was still with her friends.
Flashback…
"This is so comfortable, I wish that we could do this more often," said Kagome as she rubbed the soothing water along her arms.
"It's the perfect temperature," agreed her friend. Sango's hair cascaded down her shoulders into a perfect "V" tip as she lowered herself in the misty water.
A young fox demon swam around the small pool of rocks, sitting on what looked like a sort of inner tube. He floated around leisurely, closing his eyes and humming a soft tune.
"So Kagome, how did the test go," asked the demon slayer.
Kagome grimaced as she recalled her not-so-perfect score in her math exam. She had managed to convince Inuyasha to let her a few days off so she could go back to school for a while; only to find that all her efforts had earned her a "D." "Not so good…" Kagome admitted, sinking into the water and blowing bubbles.
"Sorry to hear that," her friend said sympathetically. Sango cared for Kagome deeply, and she knew that her miko friend went through a lot of stress from having to juggle two worlds in her hands.
The miko looked absentmindedly at the rocks in front of her. All of a sudden, her eyes became very wide, and she let out a terrified scream.
Meanwhile, Inuyasha and Miroku had been sitting near the girl's weapons, when they heard Kagome's scream. The hanyou and houshi rushed forward, quickly making their way to the hot spring. They stopped dead.
"You!" A large rock soon found its home in the houshi's head as an infuriated demon-slayer flung it with all her force. A terrified hanyou quickly tried to turn and escape the mad girls, but was met smack in the face by a terribly hard wooden basket that made kind of a "konk" sound when it made contact with his head. Both the hanyou and the houshi lay motionless on the ground, in case the fierce female predator dared to strike again. They dared.
Then came a shower of small pebbles and an assortment of rocks, branches, twigs, roots, hair supplies, and bubble beads (courtesy of Kagome) that seemed to be very attracted to the two men, if you could even call them that. "Get out, get out, get out!" she screamed. Picking up a very large wooden tub structure, Kagome flung it at the hanyou, and he was immediately knocked all the way back into the trees. She then turned to Miroku and threw the two largest rocks that she could find at him. The monk skillfully dodged the first, and squarely stopped the second. It seemed as if the miko had run out of ammo, and she stopped, dripping wet and completely naked. The houshi let out a triumphant smirk, but failed to realize that another wooden tub was making its way to his head. Sango's aim landed precisely on target, and with another "konk," the poor houshi was also thrown back.
There was a soft moan from somewhere behind the trees, and a muffled voice could barley be heard. "Why did you scream, and then try to kill us…" came the hanyou's voice.
"Oh that…" said Kagome, as she had completely forgotten about the cause of her fear in her blind anger. "A spider."
"A spider……" he said in a defeated tone.
End Flashback…
Kagome smiled as she remembered the cute incident. It was rather amusing, she had to admit and she and her demon slayer friend had laughed about it some time afterwards. Pulling her towel around her frame, Kagome quickly started to make her way towards the entrance to the castle.
She shut the door quietly behind her, and tiptoed over to the hallway that led to her quarters. She hadn't exactly been given restrictions around the castle, but she doubted that she would be welcome to go to the hot spring dead at night. She half expected to see the youkai lord as she made her way along the winding passageway. Kagome had mixed feelings about seeing Sesshomaru again. Seeing him would arouse that strange feeling that she had this afternoon, possibly loosening her actions a little too much. However, she needed to ask him about Rin's spiritual powers as to why they had deserted her. She knew that sooner or later, she would have to confront him about that issue. I hope later.
With her bundle of dirty clothes in one hand, and the other hand holding her towel up, the miko sped up her pace, not quite sure why she was so anxious. Upon reaching the wooden door to her room, a strong scent hit her. It was a spicy yet sweet scent. The aroma was somewhat like sweet honeydew and a taint of chervil. Sesshomaru! What is he doing in my room?
With one hand firmly grasped on her towel, she pulled open the door. Indeed, Sesshomaru was standing there smack in the middle of the room, waiting for her.
He surveyed the girl carefully. She was still dripping wet despite having run through the castle. The towel was hardly large enough to cover what he figured she had wanted to. His eyes traveled down a bit lower; her tail poked out of the towel, but it was a bit fainter. It would disappear in a few days.
Suddenly his strong aroma surrounded the miko again. She could not really say what had taken place, only that her mind seemed to be quite free, away from all common worries, throwing away her common sense. However, this time, Kagome was a bit more prepared. She tried to bring herself out of the dreamy state, and was still only half in control of her actions.
The youkai lord looked at the girl as a strange expression covered her face. Indeed, he too smelled her arousing scent. Meadow grass and wild rice blossoms filled his nose. He ignored it as best he could and kept on his cold mask. He watched as Kagome slowly started to step forward, despite his warning this afternoon. Perhaps, he should have waited longer before seeing the miko again…perhaps.
A/N: I am so sorry for having you all wait so long for me to update! I have been absorbed in around the world travels, and because of that, left my 268 pages of summaries alone. Now I am cramming and I finally got a chance to write this! It is not as long as I would like it to be, but I did not want to reveal too much of Kagome and Sesshomaru's conversation. Please review, it always makes me want to write more and I know that you wish I would hurry and update. Thank you!
Reviewer Responses:
Erin: Hurrying, hurrying!
inuyasha1818: Thank you for your patience.
Aly O 015: Thank God for patient people in this world. I will try and keep going.
amori kuwabara: Thank you very much, I will never give up on this story.
meluvsokka: Um yes, rprprprp. You! Hwhwhwhwhwhw!
Sayuri-chan 16: Thank you so very much! Your reviews convinced me to get off my lazy butt and write. Your story is also very good! I like your plot, interested to see where it all goes. I am also open to a lot of pairings. InuxKag, SessxKag, MirxSang, RinxSess, and BanxKag pretty much caps it off. I am kind of a Kikyo hater. She is really pretty, I will give her that much, but she hasn't really played the live giving role of this whole series. I really hate bisexual pairings! They are all over the site, and InuxSess is definitely disgusting. Well keep reviewing, and I hope to keep talking! Ja!
Friend's Thoughts:
(Well, I think I will narrate this section this time, and talk about my little sleepwalking incident.) 2:30am.
I only have a vague memory of what happened, as I was half sleepwalking. I remember getting up out of bed, and since I have hallucinations in the early morning, (ex. My clock starts reeling through all the hours back and forth, the flowers on my bed change in flashing colors, my cup's pictures change…ect.) I looked at the clock and saw 6:30am. So I went out to my mom who was still sitting on the sofa, and vaguely remember shouting, "It's only three more hours!" at the top of my lungs. Then the rest my mom told me what had happened. She brought me back to bed where I was laughing all weird. Who knows, maybe I have lost it. Haha.