I do not own InuYasha or company. Just this plot.
Chapter 5
When they got home, Kagome led the way into the house.
"Hey, Kagome," Mrs. Higurashi said as her daughter walked into the room. "How was the trip?"
Kagome looked at the demon lord as he made his way to the living room to sit down on a recliner.
"It was okay. He nearly destroyed your car when I turned the ignition," Kagome explained.
Mrs. Higurashi sighed.
"No problems, then?"
Kagome nodded.
"I'm pretty sure, even though he won't admit it, he enjoyed the day. We had hot dogs for lunch and he said he wouldn't eat his own kind. I convinced him to try it and he liked it. Then we went to the river and I showed him how to skip stones. With his first try, he skipped his stone seven times."
"I will admit," a voice said, startling both women, "that today was indeed an interesting one."
Kagome sighed as she placed a hand over her pounding heart. She then looked up at him.
"You did enjoy it?"
He nodded.
"Then you'll enjoy what I have planned for you tomorrow."
The next day, Kagome got up and dressed Sesshomaru.
"Are you ready to head out, Sesshomaru?"
He nodded.
"Come on, then," she said. "We're taking the train today."
He growled.
"This is the only time I'm asking you to ride the train. Please?" she asked, putting her hands together and bowing her head.
Sesshomaru looked at her a moment.
"Very well... Kagome."
Kagome's gaze shot up to look at him.
"Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru!"
Even though Sesshomaru didn't like the smell he was inhaling, he wasn't irked. And he couldn't figure out why.
"This is our stop," Kagome said as she stepped off the train.
"Where are we going?"
"I can't tell you," she said. "If I did, it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?"
"Hn."
Kagome smiled as she led the way to a boat.
"Come on. This one's ours for the day."
Sesshomaru slowly stepped into the small vessel.
"We're here," Kagome said as she aimed the nose of the boat toward the sandy shore.
"Where are we?"
"I'll tell you when we're ashore."
She climbed out of the boat and waited for Sesshomaru, then she tried pulling it farther ashore. But she didn't have the strength. Sesshomaru reached around her and pulled the boat almost fully out of the water.
"Okay. We're here."
"Lean down for me."
"What are you planning?"
Kagome didn't say anything. So he leaned down. She grabbed the beads around his neck and pulled them off.
As soon as the beads were free of his hair, his poison claws were at her throat.
She closed her eyes.
"If that is what you want, Sesshomaru, I won't stop you. We're on an uninhabited island."
His claws lost their eerie green glow.
"Why?"
Kagome opened one eye very slowly and saw Sesshomaru standing there. His hands were at his sides.
"Why what?"
"Why did you remove the beads?"
"I thought you might want to change forms."
Sesshomaru looked they way they had come and noticed that the city was a good distance away.
"I do not wish to do so."
Kagome nodded as she put the beads in her pocket.
"The beads?"
"I trust you," she said as she sat down on a fallen tree at the edge of the small wooded area on the island.
"You trust a demon?"
Kagome looked up to see Sesshomaru kneeling down in front of her.
"I trust you."
"Why do you trust me?"
Kagome shook her head.
"I have no idea."
Sesshomaru moved from kneeling in front of her to sitting beside her.
"Give me your hand."
Kagome slowly presented her right hand.
With surprisingly gentle hands, Sesshomaru started to trace the lines of her palm, is claw barely making contact.
"What are you doing?"
He said nothing as he poked five points on her palm.
A blue crescent moon appeared on the back of her hand.
"What did you do?"
Sesshomaru took a deep breath before looking at Kagome.
"I see now I have been a fool since coming here. I see now... Kagome, that you wanted me here fro Rin. From what she tells me in the evening, your mother is taking the best care of her."
"That still doesn't tell me what this is," she said as she pointed to the back of her right hand.
"It's a mark of trust," he said as he took her and ran his thumb over the blue crescent moon on her hand.
"How long will it last?" Kagome asked. Her eyes were glued to the blue mark.
"It will never fade."
Kagome gasped.
"It's permanent?"
Sesshomaru nodded as he continued to rub the mark.
"I have never given this mark to any. Know that I now trust your judgment."
Kagome nodded as she grasped his hand.
"Thank you, Sesshomaru."
He nodded as his hand gently gripped hers.
Kagome and Sesshomaru returned to the Shrine just as the sun was about to fall.
"Kagome!"
Kagome was pulled into a tight embrace.
"I'm okay, Mom."
"I know, dear, but I was getting worried."
She then looked down at their hands and saw the mark.
"Young lady!"
"It's not what you think!" Kagome said holding up her hands.
"It looks like a tattoo!"
"It's not!"
"Then what is it?"
Sesshomaru gently gripped Kagome's right hand and held it out to her mother.
"I gave her this mark. It is one of trust and is rarely given to any outside the Taisho house."
"You gave her this mark?"
Sesshomaru nodded again.
"Can you remove it?"
Sesshomaru shook his head.
"What will all of her teachers say when they see it?"
"I could always say I just put it on with a magic marker."
Mrs. Higurashi sighed.
"Having a demon lord around is far more difficult than I had thought."
Kagome gave a light chuckle.
That's when her mother noticed that Sesshomaru wasn't wearing the beads.
"I took them off as a sign of trust. That was my mark, as this was his."
Mrs. Higurashi shook her head.
"Well, you better get to bed, Kagome. You've got school in the morning."
Kagome nodded and walked with Sesshomaru out to his room.
"Thank you for today, Kagome."
Kagome stopped dead in her tracks.
"What?" she asked after a moment. She had forgotten how to speak.
"I thanked you for the day."
"Yes. I thought you did."
Kagome then, on shaking legs, took Sesshomaru to his room and helped him get ready for bed.
"Goodnight, Sesshomaru."
Sesshomaru nodded as he sat on the futon.
Kagome closed the door and headed to bed.
Finally! I finished this chapter! Sorry for the wait.
Kagome finally has Sesshomaru's trust, and the mark to prove it. So what's gonna happen next? Kagome has school and Sesshomaru does not want to sit at the Shrine. What happens when he follows her to school? How will the teachers react? How will the other students? Especially the girls? ;) Those answers next chapter. Til then,
Talon Earthstone
Please review.
