May 04 2007: Author's Notes: Right to chapter three. It's more fun to rewrite this older fic than I thought it would be. I'm actually enjoying it quite a bit.

Summary of Chapter Two: After waking alone in a cave, Sesshomaru and Kagome both were a little disoriented and very bloody and wounded from their fall. The caves above them closed they headed out of the only open area when Kagome realized that the jewel shards were missing.

Chapter Three: Nonchalant Manners or Midnight Beauty

"Wait. The jewel shards, I lost them." Kagome protested weakly, still doing her best not to let the tears flow.

"There was nothing else in that room, more or less shards of the shikon jewel." he explained his lack of intention to stop. "My guess is likely someone took them and left us there in the assumption we would be killed."

"Are you sure?" she asked uncertainly.

"Demons can sense shards most of the time can they not?" he replied with the slightest hint of annoyance to his cool voice. "I would have known if they were nearby. Just because I don't care for them myself doesn't mean I don't know they are around."

"Oh." Kagome nodded a little, trying to keep to conversation to avoid the constant agony in her lower body. "I didn't know that all demons could do that. A lot of them seem to want me around for it, Kouga can't do it, neither can Inuyasha."

"You should expect no less from a creature like Inuyasha. Half-breeds don't have the senses of their full blooded relations. As for the wolf demons, they are rather useless scavengers so it wouldn't surprise me." he answered, only keeping up the conversation because he realized it was keeping her conscious and he wasn't certain if she would die if she lost consciousness again.

"I can hear the water now too." She commented, choosing to leave the insults to her friends alone in her situation.

There was light somewhere ahead because she was able to start seeing outlines as she wind created by Sesshomaru's quick movement pressed it onto her face. She could finally make out the bloody demon lord and felt very odd being carried by him as opposed to Inuyasha, the fact that he was pressing her against his body to keep her steady was embarrassing. She couldn't expect him to hold her another way when he didn't have two arms but it was still very awkward for her.

He wasn't looking at her though and for that much she was thankful, she wasn't sure she could take his direct attention at the moment. His amber eyes instead were forward on the path he could see far better than her, his steps quick and steady which reminded her of her half-demon friend.

"Inuyasha…did you come after me? If I dropped the shards and you found them you would still search me out to figure out what was wrong. I know he would try to come save me but he could have fallen too or even be lost somewhere else in these strange caves. Can he see in the dark like his brother can?"

Her thoughts were only serving to disturb her more and she glanced back up to the full demon.

"It's strange to think that I'm glad Sesshomaru is here. I couldn't get out of here if he hadn't been there where I'd fallen…it's good that he's bringing me along as opposed to just leaving me here. I owe him that much…this is the second time he's saved me."

She still remembered when he killed the member of the seven that had been choking her was killed by the full demon brother of Inuyasha. She was still scanning his face carefully, he was regal in a way that was both inspiring and intimidating and even if she didn't always like the way he acted she had to admit that he'd elected a somewhat breathless reaction from her even when she'd first met him. He'd become much less of a jerk sense then. She looked immediately away when his eyes did flicker over her, blushing a little at her foreign thinking.

"What's wrong with her now?" Sesshomaru wasn't bothered so much by having to carry her, if it came to battle he would be forced to drop her but it wasn't as if shwas heavy otherwise. "Does she have a fever as well? No. She's embarrassed about something. Strange human."e

She gasped as they came more fully into the iridescent light, for the first time getting the chance to notice the large glowing stones that were giving light to a cavern opening with large mushrooms and a flowing underground river that was sparkling from reflection of the strange crystalline rock on the ceiling and floor before it rushed over a deeper area of the cave into some natural underground falls. Below them was a somewhat natural path into a lower area where a pool had built up before flowing off further down one of several passages out of this large subterranean garden.

"It's beautiful." Kagome breathed, forgetting her pain for just the shortest of moments as she took in the alien but breathtaking cavern.

To that the demon lord didn't offer an answer - it would have been stranger for him to agree. Instead he was scanning the area alertly with his eyes as he hopped them gracefully down the small 'cliff' along the falls to the lower area with a ease that was amazing even for him with only one arm and Kagome being a further unbalance.

Lights that didn't really exist danced in front of her eyes when he finally landed a little more harshly than was probably planned by the very short skid on the sand below. She was thankful when he settled her down that it wasn't hard ground, even if sand was going to stick to the blood it was much better than something rough to sit on while it still seemed that something in her hip or leg area was still broken.

Sesshomaru let her settle while he sniffed at the water to make sure it was safe to drink before cupping himself some and swallowing it, then bringing some to Kagome. Holding it to her lips in a rare show of compassion.

"Here," he offered. "It's drinkable."

"Ew…it's all bloody." Kagome managed to shake her head a little. Though at the denial she got a slightly raised silver brow before he dumped the cupped water on her lap and sat near her. "I can…hey…wait…what are you doing!?"

She was suddenly protesting him removing her clothing, not that her school uniform was in the best of shape but she certainly was arguing his taking them off of her. Finally he managed to grab both of her hands in his one and look at her seriously though it was fairly obvious he wasn't any happier about the situation than she was.

"You are heavily wounded, I can't even begin to treat the wounds you have until I get your clothing off of you. Until I manage to get you clean I won't be able to get a good look at how serious everything is. I can't be gentle if you keep fighting with me." The threat in his last comment was very clear.

She quit as she couldn't struggle a whole lot as she was anyway, choosing to help as opposed to feel worse as he could be being much ruder to her.

"But still." she thought nervously. "Does he have to stare at me so much?"

He took her scarf and moved to rinse it out, starting to wash her off with it from her shoulders down, it did hurt and she knew she would need to take peroxide to her wounds soon if she wanted to keep her body from getting an infection. They would need to be cleaned first and Sesshomaru was doing a surprising job as an aid in that department, some part of her marveling that she had the demon lord tending to her wounds while she was naked in an underground glowing cavern - it all seemed very surreal.

After a while he finished with her front and helped her turn over, painful as it was it wasn't as bad as it had been when he'd been carrying her. Though when he paused for a long time she started to flush and wonder if he was staring at her behind.

"What?" she finally asked.

He was still looking over the multitude of mystical symbols that had been carved into the whole of her back from her shoulders down to just above her ass. They were deep enough that permanent scars would be more than likely but not deep enough to kill her. He was vaguely surprised that she hadn't died from blood loss after that…or that none of the wounds seemed to be infected.

"Someone wrote on your back." he replied calmly. "With a blade."

End Chapter

Man, three chapters over a few hours…I've been busy. Pondering trying to get one more in tonight but I guess I'll see. If not I want to keep up work on this until I get it reposted.

-Aura

Still no new reviews cause well…I wrote the first three in the same setting.