You and Me After All

Chapter 25: Overnight Stay

Any joy Kagome had managed to garner for herself evaporated at the sound of his announcement. Spend the night at an inn? Together? She balked at the suggestion and stepped away, nearly bumping into a couple of yōkai passing behind her.

She was not going to spend any moment inside an inn with her rapist.

"Absolutely not!" Kagome retorted. "I'm not staying inside an enclosed space with you, of all people."

She saw his golden eyes shifted their focus to a place somewhere behind her, and she turned her head, searching for what had captured his attention. A distance away beyond the rooflines of the buildings, she saw: a dense row of trees closely packed together. A forest that lay just at the outer fringes of the town.

Kagome looked back at Sesshōmaru, and found the daiyōkai's attention was still riveted on the forest beyond the town.

"It will be dark soon," he said, as he shifted his attention back to her. "And we need to cross that forest to get to my estate."

She frowned. Why did he seem to hesitate? She had been in the woods after dark many times in the past, as he must have. Why should this one be any different?

"That's fine," she said. "I'd rather be in an open space inside a forest than to be trapped with you inside a room."

Sesshōmaru stared at the miko in silence.

Did she not sense any ominous aura coming from the direction of the woods? If she did not, she must be more exhausted than he had previously believed. This harbour town might appear pretty and flourishing as the centre of trade, but every single soul here knew to stay away from those wooded parts after dusk.

"It is not advisable to go into this forest after dark," he explained. "I would offer to carry you and fly over it, but I know how distasteful you find that prospect."

She visibly bristled at that idea.

"Yeah," she said. "And do you wonder why?"

One more time, he attempted to reason with her. "I will rent two rooms so you will have your own, and there will be a lock on the door."

He meant to assure her that she would have privacy and be utterly alone without his company. But instead of providing assurance, his words seemed to make her even angrier. He could hear the grinding of her teeth as she clenched her jaws; her blue eyes blazing as she glared at him.

"Why should I trust you after what you have done? It's not like a lock is going to stop you!"

Without waiting for his response, she turned and began to walk towards the forest.

He had no choice but to follow.