The Bone Eater's Well
Chapter Two
"Oh, come on, Sesshomaru!" Kagome laughed, waving a hand shyly up at him. "I didn't take you much of a joker."
Kagome's laughter died instantly when she heard the clinking of metal. She blinked up at the demon with a nervous smile. Her hand patted the wall behind her and she cleared her throat.
"I mean-" Kagome's back flattened against the well wall.
"You speak of my son as though you know him."
Kagome's face fell dramatically.
Listening to the baritone of his words, Kagome studied the demon closer. He sure looks like Sesshomaru. She narrowed her blue eyes up at the demon, but the sunlight was blocking her vision. Opting to use her own senses, she tried to expand her aura, gently probing along the edges of his heavy demonic one. He even feels like him, she thought.
Guess not! She squeaked to herself when his aura sprung to life against hers, hotly pressing down on her reiki, nearly stifling her. Kagome shrunk down, shyly away from him to recoil her energy back to her body. Even so, his demonic energy followed and was shifting over her own like a gentle caress as if he was inspecting her.
She took a shaky breath in and steeled herself, visibly squaring her shoulders. She opened her mouth to bark an order to stop at him, but her train of thought was interrupted when the demon knelt down, his silver hair spilling over his shoulder from its high ponytail.
"Oh." She mumbled when he reached a clawed hand out to her.
He can't be all that bad if he's trying to help.
Quickly with her determination and pride intact, she found purchase in the same nooks and crannies to lift herself up closer to his outstretched hand. Carefully, she pulled herself up to scale the well wall faster so as to not keep the demon waiting too long.
He just seems so familiar.
Kagome peaked up through her lashes at him and caught a fang barely hidden beneath his slightly parted lips. She flushed a pretty pink and returned her focus on climbing out of the well. Once she was within a good distance of his hand, she daintily reached with her hand out to his.
Before their hands could touch, her foot slipped and she nearly screamed as she fell back. The demon's hand was quick as lightening to grab her wrist and she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you." Kagome muttered as he pulled her up to the top of the well easily.
He released her once her legs were over the lip of the well, and she scooted until her feet were safe on the ground. She twirled around to stare up at the demon as he remained standing on the lip of the well.
Her lips fell apart in surprise.
"You're-"
Words were unable to form and her brain short circuited. Kagome stared unashamedly into the face of Inuyasha's father, his jagged bluish markings decorating the sides of his face and his silver hair floating around him in waves. His amber irises stared back, and she gasped embarrassed at being caught openly staring.
"How do you know my son?"
Kagome blanched.
"Well, um, you see-" Kagome fiddled with the edge of her green skirt, hands drawing up in front of her when his eyes flicked to her attire.
Running her hands over the pleats of her uniform, she cleared her throat and swallowed another nervous lump down. Butterflies stirred in her stomach, and she turned her head away shyly.
"I've-" Kagome flicked her gaze over his and chewed her lip in thought.
I can't just tell Inuyasha's father that I'm from the future and that's how I met his sons. He'll never believe me! Kagome bit the inside of her lip and her fingers fiddled in front of her. Oh, what do I do? Taking a deep breath, she locked her arms in front of her chest.
"Sesshomaru is kind of a big deal around these parts." She sputtered knowing it wasn't entirely wrong or off mark. "I've seen him once or twice."
The Great Dog General was scrutinizing her from his purchase on the well and she shrunk down aware of his heavy gaze. Kagome stepped back, waving her hands openly.
"He's hard to miss!" She gestured to his face and hair before sweeping her hand over his own attire. "You look so alike I thought you were him! I'm sorry!"
I hope he bites it! Kagome felt the sweat of her nerves break along her back as he took a step down off the well, boots crunching the blades of grass under his weight.
Even standing on level ground, she was small in comparison to him. Despite his armor and pelt, the Dog General was massive- broad shoulders and wide chest. He was looming over her and she did her best to not squirm as he came closer.
Heart pounding, she froze as he leaned over her, nose practically brushing the top of her head as he dipped low. The black tresses at the crown of her head shifted back and forth slowly unlike the natural breeze. He's sniffing me!
Kagome jerked back.
"Hey there, mister! Stop that!" Kagome shoved a hand at his chest, the metal cold and hard in the palm of her hand, trying to push him back.
He blinked down at her and she instantly regretted it. Stupid, Kagome, stupid!
"You speak as strangely as you dress." The demon spoke, chest rumbling under her hand, but he did not move.
His amber eyes fixed her with a pointed stare and she felt heat and anger rise in her chest. She puffed up, drawing her hands to rest on her hips.
"Well, so do you!"
He snorted lightly to her retort. Feeling brave, Kagome raised her chin defiantly. She flicked her hair over her shoulder and kept a pout from her lips when he made a comical nose in his throat similar to a chuckle.
"How odd." He muttered.
The Dog General leaned in for a second time, sniffing her hair, and she growled, hand raising to slap him purely out of instinct. He caught her wrist easily and she bared her teeth at him in frustration.
"I told you to stop doing that!"
"Don't push your luck, ningen."
He was laughing at her with his eyes. She knew it and she snorted indignantly up at him.
"It's Kagome. Ka-go-me." She ground out with clenched teeth.
He was assessing her and she squared up again despite her wrist still being held firmly in his grasp. Her teeth were grinding together and her pack weighed heavy on her shoulders, but she refused to back down.
"Why are you here? Least of all in the well." He spoke, startling her.
Embarrassed, she cleared her throat again. Having no excuse, she shrugged gently while trying to draw her wrist away from him. The Great Dog Demon held firm, muscles not even flinching as she tugged harder.
"That isn't your business." Kagome muttered.
"It is when you are in my territory, ningen."
Surprise licked her and she chewed her lip harder. "Your territory?"
A noise resembling a chuckle did escape him and Kagome felt her stomach clench unexpectedly at the sound. She flushed hotly.
"You are passing through the Western lands, are you not?"
Kagome shyly nodded, unsure of how to answer.
"Then you are passing through my territory. Why are you not with your kind?"
Kagome frowned in confusion. She wasn't sure how to answer that. Guaranteed, she wasn't too sure how humans and demons interacted prior. She had known Inuyasha had never met his father who presumably died two hundred years prior to her arrival in the Feudal Era. Even then, the interactions between humans and demons were minimal and definitely unpleasant in most cases. How different is it then to the Feudal Era? Probably worse, she thought with a pout.
"I thought-" her throat was dry and she swallowed trying to ease the tension. "I thought they were passing through here. You see-"
She glanced around hoping to be struck by an idea. "I was separated from the group I travel with."
He seemed to consider her answer and he released her wrist. She rubbed the appendage, softly coaxing herself to not be tense when he refused to relinquish her personal space. When did he even get so close?
"You are a Holy woman, no?" He pressed, gaze narrowing at her attire again. "I can smell no different."
She was burning hot in embarrassment. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Miko," he was stern in his words and she clamped her mouth shut. "Why are you at the Bone Eater's Well?"
Brows pinching together, she gauged him. Sure, she was a miko, but a poorly trained one. Her powers were vast, but she couldn't control them well enough to perform the way Kikyo did. Moreover, she couldn't explain that she was hoping to use her power to stir the well to transport her back to her time. He'd surely lop her head off!
"I wanted to see it for myself." Kagome muttered, opting to play safe. "I thought that maybe my friends would have passed through here."
She did want to see if it would work, so how far was that stretched from the truth? She only hoped Inuyasha's father wouldn't question it further. Praying he would not be as curious as his second son, Kagome rocked on her feet absentmindedly.
When he didn't, she breathed a sigh of relief. They lapsed into a tense silence and she found herself idolly fidgeting with her attire, fingers splaying over the pleats of her skirt and straightening the hem of her school shirt.
"Miko," he began with rough timber.
"Kagome." Interjecting, she snapped at him with a pointed stare of her own.
He paused to watch her intensely and she lifted her chin defiantly again.
"You should dress more appropriately for your status. Few humans pass through here and other demons may be ill tempted by your lack of dress."
Her mouth opened and closed. Flustered, Kagome tried to find the right words to express herself either in her embarrassment or in her anger. She huffed and opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind. She deflated when she noticed his hand twitch on the hilt of a familiar sword as it rattled lightly in its sheath. Tessaiga. Her chest felt tight.
Shifting her disposition, Kagome blinked up into the seemingly stoic face of the Dog General. "It's all I have."
Satisfied with her answer apparently, he drew back. Taking a step back, he turned away from her to cross the clearing in long strides. Kagome blinked. Once, then twice. That was easy.
"How long will you camp here?"
The question surprised her again, and she found herself curiously watching his armor plated back. Chewing her lip, she rubbed a hand through her hair.
"I'm not sure."
He was a handsome picture there- hair high in his ponytail, swaying with his strides, and his armor gleaming in the morning light. His sharp, chiseled face was half turned towards her and her breath caught at just how similar his sons looked to him.
"Hn."
His response even sounded like the Western Lord she had grown to know in the Feudal Era. Sesshomaru isn't capable of so many words though, she laughed to herself.
"Stay as long as you must, miko."
The Dog General was gone in a leap and she gasped at the sudden disappearance. Kagome shivered, finally feeling the weight of his aura disappear, and she was grateful he didn't probe further.
She had a sinking feeling in her stomach that she would not be rid of the curious dog demon any time soon.
