Chapter Twenty: Almost...

"Speaking"

Thoughts/memories/dreams

'Beast Speaking'

Two days. For two days now, Kasumi traveled alongside Sesshomaru and Rin. And for two days, Sesshomaru hasn't said a word to her.

Did she upset him? Did she do something to make him mad? Was he pouting because she splashed him?

No matter what she thought, nothing to her made sense, as Sesshomaru didn't seem the type to hold a grudge... though his fixation on this Naraku might prove her wrong. It's just no matter how hard she tried to coerce him into conversation, he rarely uttered a word.

She was staring at the back of his head now as he walked ahead of her and Rin. His silver hair swayed behind his back with every step, fur wrap swaying gently at each motion. He was focused so much on what was ahead of him, she doubted he noticed how far behind the two of them were getting.

She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest in frustration. She felt Rins gaze on her, questioning her actions with her eyes alone, but Kasumi chose not to acknowledge it. Rin seemed use to the silence from Sesshomaru, she doubted she'd understand her frustrations with the lord.

Rins eyes flicked towards Sesshomaru, then back to Kasumi. She hmmed to herself before tightly grasping on the fox's hand, leading her closer to the inulord.

"Rin, what are you doing?" She questioned.

"We have to keep up or we'll be left behind." Rin said, tugging her hand until she stood next to Sesshomaru, sandwiched between the two demons.

He glanced down at her, then up at Kasumi before his gaze moved forward again. She huffed, choosing to walk slower, but noticed that he had slowed his pace on his own, making it so that the three of them walked together.

Is he always like this? She wondered, her frustration ebbing away the longer she stared at his profile. He's not like this at the estate... at least he hasn't been around me...

She grew concerned now, her earlier thoughts of possibly angering him crossing her mind again. She started tugging on strands of her unkempt hair, gently ringing the dark locks between her fists and fingers, nervously fidgeting. I'm always making him angry. What can I do to make it better? What can I do?

A frown etched into her expression, so deep that it even made Sesshomaru stop to stare at her. He could sense her worry, and wondered what was bugging her this time. She's been angry the last day or so, so he's laid off on making conversation for fear of making her even angrier. It seemed nothing he did worked on her, and now she seemed frightened and worried. He looked down at Rin, who was walking slightly ahead of them now, and paused in his footsteps.

"Rin, why not catch something you can snack on?" He suggested.

Rin turned to face him, saluting to him as if she was one of his soldiers. "Yes, my lord!" She said turning back around and running into the trees.

"Are we stopping?" Kasumi asked, not looking up at him. He frowned and walked further ahead, finding a solid tree to lean against. Kasumi huffed, turning her back to him and sitting down on a tree trunk. She stuck her elbow on her knee and rested her chin on her palm, gazing out into the greenery of the forest.

Sesshomarus golden eyes followed her every movement, wagering her emotions based on them.

Now she's angry again. His frown deepened. Her shoulders sagged in his robes, her spine curling, a defeated set resting over her body now. Even her ears had slipped down, nearly invisible in her hair. She smelled sad now. The urge to comfort her came strong, enough so that he didn't realize he was by her side until her emerald eyes was on his.

"What?" She asked, a hint of annoyance tinged in her typically sweet voice.

"You're upset," He said plainly, causing her brows to raise up her forehead, disappearing under her bangs.

"Me? Upset? You're the one who is upset." This time, his brow was the one to raise in question. "You've barely spoken to me over the last two days." Her arm fell and she raised her chin up. He saw the sting of hurt in her eyes and he stopped himself from sighing.

'Seems like you've made our mate sad,' his beast growled, forcing Sesshomaru to acknowledge his persisting presence.

"It seems I've hurt your feelings; I wasn't aware of that." He said. "I thought you were mad at me, so I chose not to say too much in case I angered you further."

"You mean... you're not angry at me for splashing you?"

"I wouldn't be angry over something so petty."

"Why would you think I'd be upset with you then?" He saw her eyes narrow at her question, wondering what was going through her head now.

"I thought you might still be upset about that night. Where I put that hole in your stomach."

On instinct, Kasumi's hand flew to her healed abdomen, feeling the ache at the slight touch. She was grateful she had healed. According to Sesshomaru, she would have healed faster if she hadn't had that one night of being human, but explained to her she healed enough during the day she would be fine in two days.

He hadn't been wronged. There was no mark on her stomach from what she could tell, not even a visible bruise, however the muscles were still tender to the touch.

"You saved me that night, why would I be angry?" She looked up at him, only to see he had turned his gaze away from her. She smelled something coming from him, something she had smelled on him only a couple of times. She couldn't find a name for it, and she wracked through her brain trying to remember. Finally, it clicked, and she stood up quickly, standing in front of him. She was short enough he was able to look right over her head. She grabbed his face between her hands and angled it down so he looked at her. He fought her at first, but eventually caved and allowed her to make him look down.

"Sesshomaru, are you embarrassed?" She questioned. If she didn't know any better, she could have sworn she saw a hint of pink on his cheeks.

"I am not embarrassed," he stated, taking one of her wrists and taking her hand from his face.

"Then tell me why you thought I was angry at you." She demanded, and Sesshomaru had a hard time looking at her.

"I thought you might have been angry at me for taking some of your clothing off. Or that I punched a hole through you."

She snorted, and his eyes darted down to her in a glare.

Amusement flickered in her gaze and she wrapped her arms around him awkwardly. She chuckled lightly, deepening his glare, but she just held onto him, her amusement clear. Eventually she looked up at him, smile wide, arms still around him.

"How can I be angry when you were just keeping me safe, my lord? It may have hurt but you saved my life, twice now. I can't be angry at you for it."

"Hm..." Sesshomaru stared down at her expectant gaze, waiting for him to acknowledge her words.

Such a cute kit... he watched her ears flick back, and he lifted his hand, petting her head and her ears back. She relaxed her hold on him, but didn't let go, leaning into him a little. His hand touched her cheek now, fingers sliding into her hair, gently moving the dark locks away from her fair skin. A rose pink colored her cheeks at the gentle motion, her eyes watching him, glimmering with an emotion he couldn't place. An ineffable aroma settled into the air, a warm, almost thick honey, drawing him closer towards her like a wanting bee to its queen. Their noses brushed against one another, their breath mingled together in a sweet mixture of spice and peach. Her eyes fluttered shut as his hand drew to the back of her head, leaning in to close the distance between them. There was the barest of contact of their lips, before the two of them were violently ripped apart.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Master Jaken is back!" Rin's voice came from the depths of the trees, forcing the two demons to release one another and take several steps away. Kasumi's heart walloped in her body, every vein flowing through her bruised at its impact. Her face was an impossible shade of red, and she attempted to hide it with the sleeves of the musky kimono.

Sesshomaru could feel, see, and smell her embarrassment at the short contact, where all he felt was annoyance it was interrupted.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Master Jaken is back!" Rin's repeated shout had his attention turned towards the source. "He's back and he brought a girl with him!" Sesshomaru's brows furrowed and he walked towards her. Kasumi stayed rooted to her spot, crouching down with her face hidden between her knees. He paused in his pursuit of understanding, turning back to the kit and placing a gentle hand on her head. She looked up at him, her expression panicked and red.

"I-I'll catch up." She stammered, ears again flat against her hair.

He frowned at her, pulling her up by her bicep till she was on her feet. "No, it isn't safe to leave you on your own." He insisted.

She pushed at his grip with her hands, eyes squeezed shut as she tried to escape him. "Please, Sesshomaru." She begged softly. "Let go of me."

He watched her cringe at his touch and he growled loudly. So she's angry I touched her this time? Annoyed, he yanked her up, pulling her over his shoulder and walking off.

She squirmed, trying to push her way out of the cage of his arm with no success. "Please! Put me down!" She turned over her shoulder to look at him, only to see he was focused on something ahead of them. She followed his gaze to find Rin sitting on the imps back, pinning him to the ground and laughing, while someone was shuffling through the saddle bags on Ah-uhn. She squinted her gaze, spotting white hair, dark skin and a bright yellow kimono.

"Usui!" Kasumi called out.

Usui's head poked out from the other side of the two headed dragon, and her eyes narrowed at the sight of Sesshomaru manhandling her lady. "Lord Sesshomaru! That is not how we handle women!" She chastised, running over to them to point a finger at him.

He growled at her. "I can do what I want with her."

"No! You cannot, Lady Kasumi isn't someone you can do whatever you want with, and you know that." She retorted.

'Kill her! Who is she to tell us what to do?!' His beast practically roared within him, and he almost complied, if it weren't for the way the kit wiggled in his grasp.

"Sesshomaru, please put me down." She begged again.

He looked at her, his annoyance fading as he saw the embarrassed sheen in her eyes. Huffing he dropped her onto her feet where she promptly fell back only for Usui to catch her. Kasumi turned swiftly to bury her face into the oni's chest, deepening the inulord's glare.

Usui ignored her lord, tightly wrapping her arms around Kasumi and leading her away.

"I'm gonna faint," she gasped, clinging onto the bright, decorative kimono Usui always bore.

"What happened?" Usui whispered back, practically carrying her towards ah-uhn. Kasmui violently shook her head no. She could still feel Sesshomaru's eyes following them, and she couldn't possibly utter a word on what they almost did. The contact may have been brief, but the warm ghostly sensation of his lips on hers lingered.

Author Note: Super short chapter but I couldn't honestly bring myself to add more to it, and not because i couldn't handle it but because I think this chapter is really freaking cute with just this. I will make sure to add more chapters this week though so stay tuned, and as always, thanks for the support!