CHAPTER 3
He had killed people for less. It was a line that ran through her head several times as she stood huffing staring at the figure of Sesshomaru upon the floor. He didn't stay down long, a low growl coming from deep inside of his chest and he was on his feet again and coming for her at full speed, she stumbled back against the wall, her eyes wide as she watched those claws turn green and knew that she was all done. As soon as her back hit the wall she clenched her eyes closed and covered her head with her arms, waiting for the blow that did not come.
When she looked up Sesshomaru was locked in a stare down with Kouga, who had him by his wrist holding him back. Sesshomaru did not have the strength to fight Kouga, and she was sure that he knew it too. Those golden eyes went from enraged to the stoic look they held most often and he seemed almost resigned to the fact that this wolf had stopped him, but the hair was starting to rise on Kouga's hackles when Sesshomaru refused to turn away from his gaze.
"Sesshomaru, Kouga, please stop." Kagome said, she sounded exhausted, and honestly, she was, she was completely exhausted from taking care of Sesshomaru. She came and stood between the two, her fingers taking Kouga's hand and peeling it off Sesshomaru's wrist and then she took his hand. He was not completely with it, seeming more like the walking dead than anything alive or intelligent. His expression showed no reaction when she twined her fingers in his long slender ones and started to walk with him toward the bathroom.
"He can't see you." Sota said softly to Kouga when Kagome and Sesshomaru were gone. "That's why he was staring you down so easily."
"Keh." Kouga growled and walked over, sitting down near the window like InuYasha used to, only he sat on a chair.
Kagome moved into the large bathroom. It was the master bathroom, her mother's bathroom. It had a standing shower and a large freestanding tub that existed from way back when all they had was free standing tubs. The area around the tub was walled in with a sliding door that used to be bamboo and paper but was now a textured glass. There was a slight arch to the floor that led to a drain, so that one could wash someone's hair without leaving it in the tub. She moved Sesshomaru to the seat near a window and sat him down there.
"What are you doing to this Sesshomaru?" He asked, for the first time his voice seemed slightly unsure and he sniffed the air a few times. Being unable to see must be extremely hard for this prideful creature.
"Shh, Sesshomaru." She said as she started the bath water running. "Don't move please." She said kindly as she got up and walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She ran downstairs and to her where her mother was cooking up some more tea for Sesshomaru in the kitchen. "Momma, can I have some ointments and bath oil to treat Sesshomaru?" She asked. "I thought he might relax some after a bath."
"Hmm." She said thoughtfully. "I think you might be right. I think that should help a good deal. Go in my room, and get the bottle marked with the green tag, that is the bath oils that you need, the ointments are where they always are, and I am making him some more tea. Ashara brought me some mint from her garden, so it should taste a bit better for him."
"Thanks momma." She said softly, smiling at her and running off. Once retrieving the bath oils and ointments she would come back into the bathroom, to find him patently waiting for her to return. She opened the bottle of oil, expecting it to smell horrid, but to the contrary it had a slight medicine smell mingled with the smell of roses. "Can you smell this Sesshomaru?" She asked, he answered with a curt nod of his head. "Is it offensive? It is medicine to sooth your wounds and draw out the remaining poisons in the tub." She said softly.
"This Sesshomaru isn't a lover of flowers, but it masks the medicine smell well." He answered, his sightless eyes glancing clearly off in front of him. She nodded, finding that was the most pleasant thing he had said to her since he had arrived. She poured the oil into the filling tub, the smell carrying in the steam to saturate the room. She stood then from the water and walked over to Sesshomaru, as she got closer, she noticed the musky smell around him, it mingled well with the smell of the roses. "All right Sesshomaru, if you get undressed than I can…" She stopped dead in her tracks, unable to formulate words as he dropped the robe, then his nimble fingers untied the ties on his pants, and he let them fall. No modesty, but then, she supposed in retrospect later, he most likely had people bathing him all the time as royalty, right? She blushed and turned away from him.
"Should this Sesshomaru remove the bandages?" He asked. At first, she just nodded, forgetting for a moment that he couldn't see her. Then she remembered and cleared her throat.
"Hai." She responded. Soon she heard him moving. "Sesshomaru!" She answered she slipped in front of him and placed her small hands on his chest, her eyes forcefully remaining on his face, his clawed hand would instinctively grab her shoulder, but not hard enough to hurt her. "You are going to fall on these stairs if you are not careful."
There were three stairs that lead up to the sliding glass doors from the actual bathroom. It was nice to be sure you still had privacy when someone had to go to the bathroom while you were taking a bath. Sesshomaru growled at her, she almost said something rash to him, but bit her tongue. No, Sesshomaru must be annoyed with not being able to walk across the room on his own. She stepped back, feeling the stair with her foot before slowly stepping up on it and telling Sesshomaru when to step. When she got to the glass door, she turned to face it, his hand simply slipped with her, now resting on her shoulder with her back to him instead of toward him.
Once she finally got him to the tub, he felt his way around the rim until he could find a way to get into it without her help, settling into the water that was scented in roses he hissed as the water licked at the wounds, cleaning them completely with the salt and other medications that was in the bath oil.
In this sightless world Sesshomaru found himself vulnerable for the first time since he was a child. He had been sitting, doing as he was told, drinking that rancid tea, and listening to the orders of that child for too long. When the wench had sent him face first into the floor, he found himself, for the first time in years, completely embarrassed. He could have killed her, and would have too if that wolf had not stepped in. He was thankful for the peace when she left in the room. And when she returned her demeanor was much changed from when she left. She was reserved and polite to him.
"What are you doing to this Sesshomaru?" He had asked her before she left, she simply hushed him, something he found, in his tense and anxious state very annoying. He was too angry to say anything productive, so he had just left it at that, thankful beyond words when she told him to stay there in the room while she left for a little while.
He had time to think and put a great many things in perspective. Surely, he would regain his eyesight. He could not honestly be stuck like this forever, could he? The idea was frightening, what would he do if he could not see. How does one fight to avenge those that he has lost, how does one fight to reclaim the lands that the hands of fate have dragged him away from, when one cannot see? He knew that for much of it his nose and ears could make up the difference. But then he thought of what it would be like to never see the cherry blossoms again, never see the sun rise or set, never see the water rippling around his feet as he waded in it. What would it be to never see a woman again? To never see his reflection. To never see Rin… no… he did not need to have lost his sight for that. He closed his completely useless eyes and laid his head against the glass of the window seat he sat on. Surely, he was in some form of bathing chamber, and it must be a large one because there was a window there, small bathing chambers never had windows, for lack of privacy.
He heard her reenter the bathing chambers. Her foot fall slower as if she were carrying something; he lifted his head some, canting it, trying to locate her with his ears.
"Can you smell this?" She asked, he inhaled deeply and the scent of roses and something stingily unpleasant filled his sensitive nose. He nodded sharply, indeed he could smell it. "Is it offensive? It is medicine to sooth your wounds and draw out the remaining poisons in the tub."
He informed her that he was no lover of flowers, and really he preferred musky scents to flowered ones, but his own body scent would mold it, and he had heard that roses went well with his own musk, so he didn't argue the point, as long as it covered the unpleasant scent of the medicine, along with the unpleasant scent of his own body, he didn't care what it smelled like.
When she had told him to undress, he did so. Apparently, she was playing bath wench this day, which was good because he would not be able to do this, unsighted, on his own. He stood and started to disrobe; he hoped his back was too her because he could not see her. His mind kept coming back to what he could not do when he could not see.
Stop this! He scolded himself. Stop feeling sorry for yourself! It will prove nothing, and it will accomplish nothing. I must find a way to work with this disability as I did the loss of my arm. No way around it. He stepped out of the pants as the fell to the floor at his feet, stepping forward he felt very cold. The fever had made him sweat and now standing here disrobed he was cold. His hand traveled over the bandages and he inquired as to whether or not he should be able to take them off. She told him too and he did so.
Attempting to work on this issue he would sniff the air, he smelled that she was embarrassed, assuming that it had something to do with his nudity, this woman was odd, how could she pretend to be a Bath Wench if the sight of a naked Inu was too much for her. Certainly, he knew that his own beauty was astounding, but still, she should have been prepared for such things. He started forward when she gasped out calling his name. He had not realized she had moved before her hands were on his chest, and he grabbed her arm for stability, finally subsiding and allowing her to lead him to the tub.
The water hurt, the oils and salts going to work right away. He hissed out through his teeth, trying to get his tight, fever stiffened muscles to work with him and relax in the water, it took him a few minutes to submerge in the deep bathing tub, resting his head against the back of the tub, just feeling the grime lift from his sleek figure.
"Sesshomaru?" He heard her amazingly close to him. He was sure he had started, between the scent of the flowers and the running of the hot water he had not heard or smelled her approach. "Do you want me to wash your hair?"
"Miko…" He said softly, his own voice breaking the soft melody of the running water that he loved to use to relax him, he suppressed the urge to tell her to shut the hell up, not a wise thing to do when one is at another's mercy. He sighed gently and thought better of it. "What is your name?"
"You really don't remember do you?" She asked a slight disappointment hung to her lips as she spoke, he could sense that she was disheartened. He had only remembered her on a few occasions, but her name had never been something that he was able to retain. He never paid much attention.
He remembered then standing outside of a shed where he had just killed a little poisonous imp that was trying to kill her and her comrades. He had not done it to save them, it was just a side effect of him accomplishing what he wanted to have happen, which was for the man to die. What had InuYasha called her then? He closed his eyes and tried to remember, he had screamed out her name, like a dog barking for its fallen master. What had it been…?
"Ka…Kagome?" He asked thoughtfully. He could feel her shock like electricity in the air. "That was the name that InuYasha called out in fear when he thought you were poisoned."
"Hai." She said. "Sesshomaru, could you lean forward some so I can get your hair out?"
He did as he was asked, his one arm reaching up and grabbing the side of the bathing tub and pulling his figure forward, his ribs and back hurt so bad when he did so that he growled, a low and rumbling sound. Once he felt her pull his hair up out of the tub he leaned back again.
"Why do you aid This Sesshomaru?" He asked. He had been wondering that for some time. He had, several times, attempted to put an end to this woman, only to show his half-brother what a fool he was for loving them. To show him how fragile they were. So why was she trying to help him now? He did not understand.
"First off, I am just Kagome, and you don't need to remind us of your name every time you speak." She said softly, she was keeping her voice purposely restricted so that she did not offend his delicate hearing, and he was thankful for that because his hearing was twice as tweaked than when he could see.
"This… or… um… I see." He said, stammering over his words. He would sigh softly.
"Second. I am helping you because you need it." She said. He believed it, there was no reason not to believe her, her tone of voice and her scent both told him that she was being truthful.
"This Sesshomaru doesn't understand you." He said.
"Say it with me." She said, her tone of voice slightly chastising, he canted his head some, not sure what she was talking about. "I do not understand you."
"Ah." He said, he chuckled slightly, something he had not done in what seemed like ages. "Yes, I do not understand you." He replied. This would get some getting used to if he were going to have to start talking like this. She chuckled, she had a melodic voice really, his eyes closed as he felt the sensations course through his body as she started to gather and wet down his hair. He could smell it, and it smelled like wet dog, completely revolting in every way imaginable, not as bad as the secretions from his wounds had smelled, but still, unacceptable for him to smell that way. He heard her chuckle and relaxed back some, her hands working through his hair was relaxing to him, he like it. Slowly he let those useless eyelids close over sightless eyes, resting his head slightly harder against her hands as he bid her to rub harder against his scalp. She complied and he simply tilted his head into her hand.
"Keep your eyes closed, I am going to wash the shampoo out." She said.
"Shampoo?" He repeated.
"Yes, it is a soap that is made for your hair." She said softly in his ear, he shook his head slightly at the breath in his ear. "It has elements in it that will make your eyes burn otherwise."
"Understood." He said softly as she leaned his head back out of the tub and started to rinse the soap from his hair. He jumped when the spray first hit his scalp; he had been expecting her to use a pitcher to dump over his head to rinse the soaps away.
"Calm down." She giggled. "It is a water sprayer."
"A what?" He said, oh this unknowingness was annoying at the very least.
"A water sprayer. It pushes water through a tube at a higher speed than it can escape, so that it comes out with pressure and rinses the soap away." She explained, he still didn't understand.
"What kind of sorcery is this?" He asked softly.
"It isn't. It is technology." She explained. "There are a lot of things about my time that you wouldn't understand. I mean heck, InuYasha ate my alarm clock."
Sesshomaru did not ask what an alarm clock was, instead he sank back into her massaging hands. Leaving his useless eyes closed. Whatever she was using now also bore a faint flowery fragrance, but it was one that matched the roses, and smelled like her mother. She explained to him that this substance made his hair soft, so that it did not tangle so easily. He tried to explain to her that his hair did not tangle easily anyway, but she just told him to wait and see. He did not have any option but to agree.
The bath was soothing, and just sitting in it he could feel his mind clearing and the delirium he had been living in and out of for the last few days waned. He felt more like himself, like he could think. He could smell the poisons drawn from his body mingled now with the bath water.
"This Sesshomaru is sitting in poison." He said.
"Hmm?" She asked him, seeming that he caught her paying attention to something else.
"I am sitting in poison." He repeated in the manner of speak that was appropriate in these days and times.
"Oh, let me get a towel!" She said getting up and moving away.
"Alright, stand up." Kagome said, she was holding out a towel in front of her so that she did not have to subject herself to the naked Sesshomaru again. When he stood up, she came to him and wrapped it around him, his single arm would take the corners when they were offered. "Okay, now come with me and I will brush your hair."
"Miko… Kagome." He said correcting himself. She smiled despite herself, as she had when he remembered her name at long last. "I have to go back and defeat Rimiku."
"Myouga told me that there was a man named Rimiku that you were fighting." She said.
"Not a man." Sesshomaru answered, even in his blinded state he could still see the insane face of the boy. "A child, no older than Rin."
"What?" She gasped, it hurt him to think of Rin again, it seemed so fresh to him. "A child? But how?"
"This… I don't know." He answered softly. He would let his head fall some in stoic thought. "He says that he is a god, but his scent is that of a human. He can summon the very god that should protect my house to cause me wounds that blind me. He stands against Tokijin like a wall, and he has an ability to vibrate the air and fluid so strong that it managed to kill my brother, not an easy task at all. All of this from a child, that may appear to be, no older than seven years of age."
"There is something going on Sesshomaru, something very wrong." Kagome explained, he felt all the tension that had started to build once again melt away as she seated him and got behind him, running her brush through his long silver hair. "Kouga and Myouga both said that their memories are changing." She explained. "Kouga said that he remembered that you disappeared, presumed dead, after the fight that killed InuYasha, but he said he can also remember that you ruled for a long time in your kingdom and died nobly defending your lands from a monster that threatened it, and InuYasha he said lived with you in your lands, that you took care of him, but would never give him royal title because he was a hanyou."
Sesshomaru closed his eyes thoughtfully. When he opened them again he would see still only blackness. "It doesn't make any sense."
"Something is wrong, regardless of if it makes sense Sesshomaru. Something is going on, and I don't know what it is." Kagome said. She continued to brush his hair the entire time, as if it were easier to talk to him while her hands were moving, or maybe, she hoped to quell his temper should he not like what she was saying, he couldn't be certain about it. Sesshomaru crossed his long legs tightly at the knee, Kagome giggled slightly when she noticed it twitch every time, she ran the brush over those long silver locks. Biting her lip, she began to brush it more and more even though it was already completely brushed, not so much to relax him, but more to watch that leg twitch.
"Kagome?" Sesshomaru said.
"Yeah?" She asked, smiling some at the back of his head. He turned sharply, her eyes widening as that single hand moved with extreme accuracy despite his inability to see and snatched the brush from her hand.
"Stop that!" He growled, turning back away from her.
"But it is cute." She insisted. Sesshomaru huffed and got up walking away from her now. She just smiled and shook her head. "Well it is!" She insisted.
"Myouga." Sesshomaru said walking over to the old flea, located once more on the cat that arched it's back at him, hissed and attempted to flee from him. Sesshomaru darted forward catching the animal gracelessly by the tail, a fact that would not have happened that way, could he have seen it. The cat rolled on its back, kicking its feet at him hissing and growling. He felt the flea jump from the cat onto his hand and released the animal, listening to its retreat.
"Lord Sesshomaru." He said bowing to him. He only knew the flea bowed because he felt the flea's beard on his hand.
"Will my sight return?" He asked him. His voice somewhat humbled.
"Yes Lord Sesshomaru. When the Master was felled by a fever like this, his sight was gone for a month, but then returned when his eyes regenerated." The flea said sagely.
"A month!" Sesshomaru growled. "Unacceptable!"
"You don't have a choice Lord Sesshomaru. Your eyes are damaged!" The flea argued.
"How will this Sesshomaru survive a month like this." He asked.
"Here, come with me." The flea said, he talked to Sesshomaru so that the Inu could follow him, first he brought the Inu Prince to a tree, it was not the god tree, or anything nearly so wonderful. Just a tree. Around the bottom of the tree were several long branches that had fallen off the tree. "The first thing you must do Sesshomaru-sama is stop worrying about what others think of you." He said. He found a good stick for him and called him over. "People will pity you, you have no sight and only one arm. But that does not mean you are useless."
"It certainly seems that way." He growled, almost more to himself than speaking to Myouga.
"It does. But it is not the case. Now, we will do for you, what the master taught himself." The flea said. "First take the stick I am standing on."
Sesshomaru reached down, taking the stick in his one good arm, and fingering over it before lifting it and placing it on the ground like a blind man would with it out in front of him.
"Whatchyah doin'?" A voice came. Sesshomaru growled and turned, his eyes flaring red though they did not see, they still changed color. He knew the voice and the scent as Kagome's little brother, Sota.
"Ah good!" Myouga said. "I will need your help. Come. Come."
The boy was more than glad to help, but Sesshomaru did not want him there. It had taken all the pride he could muster just to ask Myouga for help, but this child too. Unthinkable.
"Sota, take the stick from Sesshomaru-sama for a moment." The old flea said, he canted his head some hearing the boy's approach, it was slow and very steadied so that he did not seem nervous, but that, Sesshomaru could smell. He did not fight, when Sota's hand touched the stick, Sesshomaru relinquished it into his care. "Now, Sesshomaru-sama. Feel the land, the air around you." The flea said as he was clearly moving away from Sesshomaru. "There are trees all around you, I want you to sprint forward until you get to me and do so without hitting any trees."
"But how?" He started, but remembered that the boy was there, he would not seem weak in front of this human. "Very well." He said. He started forward, his speed picking up. The black stream of movement pulsing by a black screen of haze. A sudden pain flared through his face and chest as he hit a tree, stumbling back, and landing flat on his ass, no grace, no dignity, no poise on a large flat rock near the tree. He felt the warm rush from the blood oozing from where the bark had cut his face and felt very foolish.
"Try again." The old flea said. Sesshomaru stood again. Sota took his hand when instructed and led him back to where they had started. He placed his feet and readied himself. Again he started forward, this time trying to concentrate, when he heard his feet touch the large flat rock he had landed on he swerved, feeling the tree brush the armless sleeve as he edged around it he felt a moment of victory before the next impact came. Once more he connected with one of the trees and landed on his back end. This time the strong scent of buttercups rose into the air when he landed. He thought for a moment.
"Whelp, come here." He said, as he came to his feet. "Show me the way back."
"Try again Sesshomaru-sama." The flea instructed, but he did not need to, because the crowned prince was starting to see the point. Feel out his surroundings. This time when Sesshomaru came forward he would again narrowly miss the first tree due to the sound of his feet on the stone, and then, when his feet touched down and the overwhelming scent of buttercups hit him, he would swerve again. And again, he narrowly missed the tree with his grace and poise, but there was another tree.
"Good job Sesshomaru-sama!" Sota called, and something sounded distorted to Sesshomaru, he gasped, his good hand reaching out and in front of him, able to stop just short of the tree. What had that been? He had never noticed the way sound distorted because of objects.
"Very impressive Sesshomaru-sama!" Myouga said gleefully, he had caught on better than the old flea hoped that he would. "You see, you are not a prisoner of the blackness, you are the king of it, as you were the king of your own world!"
"This Sesshomaru understands now." He said softly, thoughtfully. "Boy, bring me to the beginning and give me the stick." Sota came to him, taking his clawed hand into his own he led Sesshomaru back to the beginning of the course. Sesshomaru took the stick and tapped it until he found a rock, then he would tap it against the rock. The sounds flexed, but not nearly well enough to determine the course all the way to where Myouga was. The stick didn't vibrate well enough. What will keep a pitch? Sesshomaru wondered softly, he could growl as he moved, but he was sure the vibrations coming from his own chest would drown out the distortions around him. He jumped as something clattered to the earth, the ringing as true as sound, and suddenly, in his mind's eye it was as if the entire meadow had opened up. He could hear the sounds bounce off of things, feeding it back until his mind had constructed for him, what the entire clearing in the woods must look like!
"Gomen! Gomen! Baka Sota! Gomen!" The boy was clambering, Sesshomaru smelled now that the boy had been eating.
"What did you drop boy?" Sesshomaru insisted.
"My f…fork Sesshomaru-sama." The boy answered nervously. Sesshomaru moved forward, toward the epicenter of the sound, stepping over a rock he could hear there before the fork finally laid still, now he was blind again, tripping over the next rock and landing roughly on his knees.
"Give it to me." He insisted. Without any complaints the boy did as he was told. Sesshomaru struck the fork against the rock he tripped over and suddenly the world was clear to him again. His hearing was so sensitive that he could make out basic shapes. But certainly he couldn't carry a fork around with him at all times could he? No, that wouldn't do at all. Instead he would sit and think as the world slowly sank into silent darkness again. Occasionally, when a cricket chirped, or a bird sounded its call the world would light up again for him, for a moment and then vanish. It would be enough for him to decipher where he was, but useless because as soon as he was in motion again, the noise would all stop. "Take me to the beginning whelp." He said to the boy, who immediately complied, he heard his feet striking the ground as he approached him. He would come to his feet now after almost an hour of quiet contemplation and extend his hand for the boy's aid. He was brought to the area that now smelled like him from him standing there so many times. "Now stand back."
The boy moved back as Sesshomaru's hand slipped over his stomach and reached for the handle of the blades he carried now. His fingers flickering over the handle of Tokijin and then deciding that it was best to use Tenseiga instead. His fingers coiled over the textured handle and he drew it, holding it straight out at his side he stood thoughtfully, bringing the blade to the ground now he would spin, dragging the tip, at arm's length across the ground, creating the famous point of no return circle, but it caused the blade to vibrate and dance and sing in his ears, seeing the sounds explode in all directions he would dart forward, the first tree coming up on his right, with the sword dragging behind him he could hear it clear as sight, he dodged it with ease, the second tree to his left, again like a sighted youkai he dodged the obstacle, and finally he came to a log, jumping up and over it, he turned mid-jump, slamming the blade down so that it embedded into the log only centimeters from the youkai flea that sat upon it.
"If this was Tokijin, and you the enemy Myouga. You would be dead." Sesshomaru said. His chest and head filling with pride as he did so.
"EXCELLENT!" Myouga called out hopping up the blade and onto Sesshomaru's shoulder. "I think we should drink to your success!" He cried out, sticking his pin like nose into Sesshomaru's neck. Sesshomaru growled and smacked him flat, flicking him off his shoulder, he placed the blade away and took the stick again, tapping it lightly as he walked back to the house with Sota, he realized that he didn't need to hold the boy's hand, a fact which offered a very stressed Sesshomaru a great deal of peace.
Sesshomaru had over done it. When Sota came in telling her all that had happened it did not surprise Kagome when he vanished into the bathroom and did not come out for hours, just sitting in the tub thinking she supposed. But then again Kagome did not even pretend to understand what was going on inside Sesshomaru's head. He was as enigmatic as they came. She sat in her room thinking, her headphones on. Her mother said that now that Sesshomaru was doing a little better, Kagome had to go back to school, she had missed too much already. There was a knock on the door.
"Yeah?" Kagome asked, she pulled her headset off of her ears and Sota opened the door, Kouga entered next, he had a wet and disheveled looking Sesshomaru under the arm. He must have passed out in the tub.
"You're Mum asked me to bring the rat up here." Kouga complained.
"Thanks, Kouga." Kagome said smiling at him. "Just get him in the bed." Kouga did as he was told, standing nearby as Kagome checked Sesshomaru's wounds. They were starting to heal finally, meaning the poisons must be almost out of the wounds. She pulled the gauze out of her first aid kit, and with Kouga's help to sit him up, wrapped his wounds for what seemed like the millionth time. She was relieved to see that the yellowing of the prior bandages was far less than they had been.
Sesshomaru slept for two days. She was not surprised by it, he had indeed over done it, and now he was paying for it. She had to use rope to bind his hand back to keep him from clawing at his eyes. Myouga said that it was because his eyes were regenerating and undoubtedly it itched horridly, she also had to tie him around the waist to keep him from bringing his body up to his hand, seeing as he had only one arm to bind above. On the third day she came home from school and fell, completely exhausted from spending all her time on school, then, while tending to Sesshomaru she was also doing homework, and housework, it felt as if her day had only just ended, and she just laid her head down before her alarm clock was going off again.
She was not sure when she had fallen asleep, but she awoke to the sound of her name, growled harshly into the air. She started, her feet kicking back, falling flat on her back on the floor chair and all. There was no laugh, not humor found at her expense, only another annoyed growl.
"Yes majesty." She growled irritably.
"Why is this Sesshomaru chained to the bed." He growled.
"Because that Sesshomaru was trying to claw his eyes out." She huffed getting to her feet her hands on her hips.
"Why do you mock this Sesshomaru?" He asked, his golden eyes narrowing some. After all the hell he had caused her, InuYasha and all of the others that she knew and loved, there was something gratifying about seeing him strapped to a bed like a drunken prom date.
"Because this Sesshomaru is still talking to this Kagome like he is all high and mighty and this Kagome is frankly sick of it." She huffed. He gave her a confused and bitter arch of his brow. She had started to learn the difference in the eyebrow quirk that had many meanings from, I love you, to I want you dead, all with a simple gesture of raising the brow over his left eye, not more than a centimeter from where it was.
"Do you think that this Sesshomaru likes this? Do you think that being in debt to a human miko is This Sesshomaru's idea of fun?" He growled at her.
"Oh I think this is a lot easier for you." She huffed. "I am going to school for six hours of the day, then spend the other nine hours trying to get my housework and schoolwork done all the while tending to your ornery ass, and somewhere in that I think you have it easy!"
"Really?" He growled pulling against his restraints. Without Kouga there, she was suddenly very happy that she had secured him. "Does this Miko think that it is easy to sit in the debt of her? Does this Miko think that This Sesshomaru likes being unable to see? Does this Miko think that this Sesshomaru is amused with his current state, so weakened that two hours of running makes him sleep for days on end. Does this Miko think that this Sesshomaru likes smelling like wolf because he had to lean on one just to get out of the tub?" His temper flaring, she just stared at him. He had read enough to figure out that shifting in this day and time would be bad.
"You know what Sesshomaru, right now, I don't care!" She huffed turning back to the desk and picking up the chair. "That Sesshomaru can stayed tied to the bed until he learns some manners or get strong enough to break those binds!"
With that she sank into the seat and picked up her pen. He was impossible, she didn't know how Rin did it? How did that sweet little child put up with Sesshomaru's constant bitching and incessant annoying growling? She was lost.
"Bitch." She didn't answer him, only kept writing.
Five minutes later.
"Wench!" He was more irritated now. She kept writing.
Ten minutes later.
"Damnit!" A hint of desperation in his voice now. She kept writing.
Fifteen minutes later.
"Kagome." He said defeated some.
"Yes Sesshomaru." She said turning to him once he had used her proper name.
"Untie this Sesshomaru." He said looking icily at her.
"No." She said turning back to the desk.
Ten minutes later.
"Kagome." He said again.
"Yes Sesshomaru." She said turning to him once more.
"This Sesshomaru…" As soon as he said that she turned away. He growled, ready to kill her now.
Five minutes later.
"Kagome." He said again.
"Yes Sesshomaru." She said turning to him once more.
"Untie me" He said.
"No." She turned away.
Five minutes later.
"Damnit Kagome!" He growled.
"What the hell do you want!" She hissed. Annoyed now.
"This Sesshomaru…" She turned away.
"Kagome!"
"WHAT!"
"I have to go to the bath room…"
Kagome was so completely shocked by this that she simply turned and looked at him. Her brown eyes wide and staring.
"What?" She wasn't sure that she heard him right. He had never said anything of the sort before.
"I must insist that you do not force me to repeat myself." Sesshomaru murmured gently, he did not want to have to tell her this again. It was a rather personal issue, one that was just not discussed, but she had left him no alternative.
Sesshomaru felt the binds on his hand slack and the rope around his waist released and he sat up, shaking out his hand. He would kick his feet over the bed and onto the floor, coming to his feet gracefully. As Kagome took his arm, he counted the steps to each turn towards the bathroom, so that he could freely walk this path as he had done many times before. He felt like a war dog. Left out on the post for days, tied tight, no food, no water until it was willing to do anything to comply. His pride was injured, and it seemed to affect him more than any of his physical ailments did.
"I can come back on my own." He said, careful to use the first person when speaking. He felt like he had to, least she finds a way to bind him down again. He heard her walk away and stepped into the bathroom, drawing his dagger from his belt he tapped it against the wall so that the room lit up, moving to the shape that was most like the 'toilet' that he had been told about and had to use so many times. First his hand met the washing basin, certainly it would not be good to urinate in it, so he moved next to the next shape, and struck gold.
After finishing his business Sesshomaru moved back to Kagome's room by following and counting the footsteps. When he entered, he sniffed the air, while the whole room smelled of her, it was all stale scents, and he could tell that she was not there. He moved over now, tapping the dagger against the wall, and listening to, and counting his steps, to the window. It still smelled faintly of InuYasha, he would run a hand over the wood. He never thought that he could miss his half-brother; he was a hanyou, and a human lover. He was… he was… admittedly more like his father than he. That was a fact that had prompted Inu Taisho to give Tetsusiga to InuYasha and Tenseiga to himself. Slowly he brought himself to sit on the edge, losing himself to thoughts, only rousing when the smell of food came to him.
"I don't need it." He said absently.
"I know." Kagome's voice answered, "It is mine. I just didn't want to leave you up here alone."
"Why not?" Sesshomaru said, not turning to face her, he didn't see the point in it seeing as she knew his condition, and it was far less straining on him to try not to follow her voice and location with his ears.
"Because… I thought…" Kagome started. She did not finish at first. He could hear her moving over and setting a cup next to him, warm green tea, hinted with lemon and honey. He would reach his hand toward the heated cup and lift it without turning his gaze from the window.
"You thought?" He remarked some moments later.
"I thought maybe I could ask you a few things." She said softly. He could tell from the change in her tones that she had glanced now to the floor.
"If it pleases you this Sess… I… will answer you." He said passively.
"Why did the well let you in?" She asked.
"I don't know." He answered, his body shifting some and his brow raising some in thought. "I can't answer that question because I was not conscious at the time."
"Do you regret that it did?" She asked next.
"Why do you ask such irrelevant question?" He snapped.
"They are relevant to me to understand you!" She responded.
"You don't need to understand me!" He growled. "Next."
"How…" She stumbled over her words, her voice dripping in emotion; he could smell the salty scent of her tears. "How did… InuYasha die?" She asked. She had asked before, but this time she wanted more specifics.
"Fighting Rimiku, we were fighting him together." Sesshomaru recounted, his voice cold and stoic as though he were reading off names out of a phone book. "He was trying to bate me to surrender to him. Rimiku can create a pulse that vibrates the air, and anything in it. He aimed that pulse at InuYasha's brain. He bled from his eyes, his ears, his nose, and eventually stopped twitching. The same with Rin, and with Jakken."
"Did you watch?" She asked.
"No. I was fighting the dragon then." He said. "I wouldn't have let the only ally I had left in this battle die."
"No, I meant Rin." She asked, her voice soft then. "Did you have to watch Rin die?"
"Indeed." He answered nodding to her.
"Why didn't you bring her back? Why didn't you bring InuYasha back?" She asked.
"With Rin and Jakken, it was too late. The fight and my fall through the well stopped me from helping InuYasha," he answered.
"And what does this Rimiku want from you?" She asked. Sesshomaru did not answer for a long time. He sat, sipping his cooling tea, Kagome had apparently forgotten about her meal.
"He wants me to be his dog." Sesshomaru answered finally.
"What?" Kagome gasped. She could not think of Sesshomaru as anyone's dog, let alone the dog of a mere child.
"His pet. He said I needed to be at his side like the dog that I was." Sesshomaru answered. "Don't make me repeat that again."
"No…no of course not." She answered softly, blinking some. "Sesshomaru?"
"Yes Kagome?" He said sipping his tea once more.
"Do you think that it hurt badly?" She said softly. "When InuYasha, Rin and Jakken died?"
"Yes Kagome." He answered solemnly.
"Sesshomaru?"
"Yes Kagome."
"Do you believe you are still without an ally?" She asked him.
"Yes Kagome." He answered.
"You are wrong." She said clearly.
"This Sesshomaru is never wrong." He answered, raising a brow at the window pain.
"Ok, than you are mistaken." She said with a giggle. "You are not alone. You have me."
"Kagome?"
"Yes Sesshomaru?"
"Why?"
"Why? Why what?" she canted her head curiously.
"Why are you my ally?"
She didn't answer at first. Taking a moment to put her thoughts in order.
"Because he is evil, like Naraku was evil, and maybe I am supposed to go back there with you," she said softly. "He killed Rin, that was evil enough. He killed InuYasha, that was evil. He killed Jakken, I think of why that was evil later," she started. Sesshomaru gave a huff at her humor, but didn't stop her. "He has taken your home, if the fight was that close to the well… Kaede's village is probably gone." She swallowed hard. "And I cannot stand by and watch you go back without helping you. Everyone's memories are changing. That never happened when I was traveling before."
Sesshomaru nodded. "Why would memories change?"
"Because Lord Sesshomaru, the well doesn't take you to another town or village. It takes you to my home, 500 years from your time. Some things have already changed. I know for a fact that there were no youkai alive when I came back. And yet, Kouga is here," she said swallowing hard. "You were all dead. Gone."
Sesshomaru had no answer for that. Was it even possible what she was saying?