You and Me After All
Chapter 20: Obstinate
The miko was gearing for a fight, Sesshōmaru thought as he quietly watched her clenching her jaws, looking obstinate.
Briefly, he considered telling her why it would not be advisable that she returned to the Plains of Musashi, or the human realm, while she was pregnant. But he had a strong inkling that anything coming out from his mouth at this moment would be seen as manipulative, or an outright lie.
She would think he planned to keep her away from her old life and those she held dear. She would think he planned to keep her away from Inuyasha. She would sooner believe he planned to keep her crushed under his thumb — as his concubine or whore — than to entertain the thought that perhaps, he still had an honourable bone left in his body.
Sesshōmaru opened his mouth, only to close it again.
Perhaps it would be better to have his cousins explain.
The miko's next question brought his attention back to her. "Why have you never told any of us of this realm?"
His golden eyes narrowed. "It is not something this one discusses with outsiders."
"Why not?" She asked again.
"It is the Emperor's decree," he replied. "The two realms are to be kept separate, with only very few souls in one realm aware of the existence of the other."
"Which Emperor?" Kagome asked.
Sesshōmaru did not answer, because white mist suddenly came rolling in from the horizon, so thick that it even impaired his vision. He sensed movements in the water, and the crashing of the waves before they subsided upon the shore.
The hull of a ship appeared from beyond the mist, as though by unspoken agreement. Its considerable breadth parted the surface of the ocean until it came to a stop near where they stood.