I decided to put in CH 2, no thanks to reviewers. But there is no CH 3 with out them
Enjoy :-)
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Chapter II
"I beg your pardon, but your name is Kagome, right?" Sesshomaru questioned, walking up next to her, his eyes as emotionaless as usually.
"Hum, yes it is," She answered nurvously, putting her fist to her mouth.
"Kagome, women of our time, wear pins in their hair, correct? A bobby pin,"
"Yes, most do anyway, why?"
"Do you have one right now that I might use?" He asked, still walking next to her. Sesshomaru noticed that Inuyasha was watching VERY closely, 'make one wrong move' was easily read in his eyes, Sesshomaru could only smirk at his jealous actions.
"Yes I do, here," Kagome stood still for a moment and so did the rest of the group. She reached up and undid the pin in her hair with both hands, then handed it to Sesshomaru.
"What do you need with a woman's hair pin for, Sesshomaru? Want to make yourself look pretty for something?" Inuyasha mocked. Sesshomaru growled deep in his throat, warning his insoulent brother to watch it. When handed the pin, he pushed back his left hand sleeve, revealing a shiney medal charm-braclet holding a 5 point blue star, a 6 point purple star, a silver crestent moon, a small square that would hold a tiny photo, and a red addition sigh, with an unusal, premament looking lock as the fasen. Sesshomaru proceeded to twist the pin in the fasen, which was proving to be a futile action.
"What are you trying to do?" Inuyasha asked, looking over his own shoulder in wonder.
"What does it look like I'm doing, damn it," Frustration was starting to show, in his voice and in his motion.
"Need some help?" Sango asked, stepping towards him.
"If you think you can," he responded looking up at her as she took ahold the pin.
"NO, don't do it Sango! He's trying to trick you! That thing probably keeps his powers at bay, taking it off, and he might turn on us and kill us!" Inuyasha pulled out his sword and pointed it at Sesshomaru, he had aspired to frighten Sango and it had worked. She backed away slowly, still holding the pin.
"Come now, you honostly believe a tringket such as this could hold my demonic powers at bay? You are more foolish than I remember," He smiled, darkly.
"I don't know, but why do you want it off SO bad?" Inuyasha counter attacked. Sesshomaru greeted his teeth a second, almost as if concerned, then smirked. He raised his wrist parrellel to the ground and shook his bracelet, making it jingle.
"This noise could very well get on everyone nerves," Inuyasha's ear twiched, the high-pitched medal would get annoying. Inuyasha closed his eyes and shethed his tetsuaiga. He walked over to Sango and snatched the pin from her and walked over to his brother. Inuyasha roughy took ahold of Sesshomaru's wrist, undid the lock, and handed the tringket to Sesshomaru and the pin back to Kagome.
"Thank you, now, I can promise not to be a burden on you, little brother," He said, placing it in his pocket. The statement made Inuyasha stop and turn around, 'does Sesshomaru think of himself so pathethicly low in the future?' He shook it off and kept walking, with his hands in his sleeves.
"See, Inuyasha. Didn't I tell you we could trust him?" Kagome squeeked.
"That raises another question I have for you," Inuyasha stopped and glared.
"What is it?" he answered calmly.
"What's with the sudden change in temperment? You havn't even tried to kill me as of yet, don't tell me you've grown a soft spot for your half-breed brother?" Inuyasha questioned.
"Fine, then I won't," he replied, startling Inuyasha a little. Sesshomaru proceeded to walk passed him,
"By the way, you shouldn't think of yourself so poorly. What's wrong Inuyasha? Do you have self appreciation issues or something?" He continued, smirking. Inuyasha was jolted out of his shock by his brother's rude question. He responded with a growel and a glare.
"Hmm, this could get very interesting," Miroku whispered to Shippo on his shoulder.
"He frightens me," Shippo whimpered, sliding back behind Miroku. Sesshomaru stopped in his tracks and turned to face the terrified Shippo, who gulped and began to sweat. Miroku held his posture as Sesshomaru walked closer to them. Inuyasha stopped and watched to see what he was going to do.
"Oh, great. He heard me," Shippo gulped. Sesshomaru graced towards the little demon and looked down apon him, Shippo squeezed his eyes shut.
"Do I honostly frighten you, little fox demon?" Shippo jerked his eyes opened. He slowly nodded.
"Well then, I'll fix that," Sesshomaru slid off the pack he was carrying and opened it. The group lookd on in wonder as to what he was searching for. Looking pleased that he found it, Sesshomaru pulled out some sort of pendent about the size of a woman's palm, circular, and of a small, detailed dragon holding a solid red pearl in the center with both claws.
He held it from the black, leather band out in front of his face and placed his bag by his feet. Shippo, who was intreeged with the dazzling pendent, hopped down from Miroku and stood out in front of him. Sessomaru kneeled down before the smaller demon and stationed the charm around Shippo's neck.
"What is it?" Inuyasha spoke, not too interested with the thing.
"A barrior. When activated, it will protect its charge wearing it with however much energy it has saved over the years from its owner, in this case, my demonic power," He easily explained. Shippo looked apon it in amazment.
"Wow," he whispered.
Sesshomaru stood up straight now, "To activate, a simple password must be spoken, and then you will even be safe from Inuyasha and myself," Sesshomaru glanced over to his twitching brother, Inuyasha wanted so bad to just kill him right now.
"Protect him from ME," Inuyasha whispered.
"What's the word?" Miroku questioned.
"Komo...," Sesshomaru stopped and sighed, as if saying it brought pain.
"Well? What, don't you remember it?" Inuyasha spoke boldly. Sesshomaru snapped his head up and glared fircly at his brother.
"Be silent, you intolerable fool! I am the one who came up with it, of coarse I remember,"
He looked back at Shippo, who jumped a little, "Komoriuta, now repeat it," he spoke the word delicectly. Shippo obeyed and repeated it, insently the red pearl began to glow, but then faded a few seconds later.
"It will sence destress and immediately place up a protection, watch," Sesshomaru then quickly lunged his claws toward Shippo, who closed his eyes but felt nothing hit him. He reopened his eyes to see the teal color energy surounding him, and saw Sesshomaru's fingertips slightly burned.
"Relaxing will lower the barrior," he completed his explaination. Shippo took a slow and deep breath and the barrior diminished.
"That's amazing," Sango said, putting her hand to her mouth, "But why Komoriuta? Why lullaby as the password"
"That name is important to me, so I would never forget it. The charm was origianally for Komoriuta anyway"
"Who's that?" Inuyasha asked, he was squating down in front of Shippo holding the pendent, turning it over in his hand.
"It doesn't matter, let's keep walking," he altered the subject quickly and proceeded down the road.
"Why did you choose to stay with us, instead of looking for your past self?" Miroku asked.
"Time travelers are to refrein from actually meeting themselves, it would...alter the way things are. No, I have to stay far away from Sesshomaru. I would probably end up killing him anyway, and that's not a great thing right now," Inuyasha and the others were shocked at the statement just spoken, but didn't want to question it.
"Am I the only one who thinks it was weird hearing him speak in third person like that"
Shippo asked no one in particular.
"You people sure do talk a lot," Sesshomaru glared from over his shoulder.
"Well, we're intreeged with how much you've changed. You're somewhat...fun to be around now," Kagome smiled.
"Hahn, a brush with death will make anyone stop and wonder," Sesshomaru would have kept going, but felt eyes watching him and turned around. The group all had their heads cocked sideways, pondering what had just been said.
"Ahh, never mind. Let's keep walking," he tossed the silence away and continued.
The group agreed and kept walking. Things returned to a normal stature, Inuyasha was leading the journey on the dirt path with the others close behind. Shippo was becoming a bit more cocky, having a barrior to protect him now and it was clear Inuyasha was tweaked about it. All was normal, save for the once proud Sesshomaru, who had kept a fast pace and stayed in the lead, was slowing and falling behind. He sauntered along with his hands in his pockets and aimlessly watched things off the path and in the sky. Inuyasha noticed that his eyes were faultering, trying to stay open; but he shruged it off, I'm not gonna baby him. But Kagome also noticing Sesshomaru's pace, looked at her watch and suggested a lunchbreak.
"What ever for?! We can't be stopping all the time, we're on a mission," Inuyasha fumed.
"Well Inuyasha, I'm tired and hungry. Plus, it's not going to hurt anything. We'll be over there by the river, you can do what ever you want," Kagome escorted her bicycle off to the grassy area by the clear river and settled down, getting some munchies out of her bag. All but Inuyasha and Sesshomaru followed her and began to enjoy the snacks.
"Well, your popularity has certainly skyrocketed," Sesshomaru mocked and then left his brother standing there as he layed down beneath a tree a few yards from the rest with only his shoulders in the shade and closed his eyes. Inuyasha angerly stomped up to his friends and made his opinion clear.
"We only stop for a short time, enough to eat then we keep going," He sat down with them.
"Good idea, Inuyasha," She praised, Even though, that's what I had in mind anyway.
"Hey Sesshomaru, do you want anything to eat?" Kagome called over. She got no responce, Sesshomaru was not in tune with the real world at the moment, something had exhausted him. Inuyasha could hear his soft breaths, for the breeze was light.
"See Inuyasha, even Sesshomaru was tired. You need to be more understanding" Kagome hissed. Inuyasha twitched with annoyance.
"This still confuses me, though," Miroku stated, "About how Sesshomaru's acting around us. Almost nice and concerned." Sango nodded in agreement,
"It confuses me as well, it's almost like he's...attached to you, Inuyasha," she continued.
Inuyasha shrugged, "I don't care, he's not exactly my older brother, he would be future Inuyasha's. My brother wants to dance on my grave," He finished off a sushi ball and glanced at the contemplating group of friends. Inuyasha just pushed it aside, he glanced back at Sesshomaru one more time, then layed down himself in the thick, soft vegatation. After a few moments of relaxing and Kagome had refilled her waterbottes, Inuyasha got a strange shiver up his spine.
"Hah? What's wrong Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, scooting over to him and placing her hand on his shoulder.
"I don't know, I just have a weird feeling," he looked around.
"Is it a demonic ora?" Miroku asked.
Inuyasha just shock his head and sat there with his eyes closed, the group waited. The air was calm and quiet, too quiet. Inuyasha could hear everyone's hushed breathing, Shippo's wimpers and Kirara's purring. Breathing, Inuyasha thought. His eyes then snapped open and spun around in a great haste to the tree Sesshomaru had been sleeping. Inuyasha calmed slightly seeing that he was still there, laying perfectly still. In fact, he hadn't moved at all. Inuyasha hummed questionably, then stood up and carefully stepped forward.
"Come on Sesshomaru, we're leaving, get up," he nudged Sesshomaru's arm with his foot, but got no reaction. The others sat watching Inuyasha kneel beside his brother, he grabbed ahold of his shoulder and shook it slighty.
"Sesshomaru, wake up," but even that failed, Sesshomaru's head fell to the side, his face was pale, his eyelids and lips were tinted blue. Inuyasha's heart skipped, he took hold of Sesshomaru's shirt collar and shock him violently.
"BREATH, SESSHOMARU, DAMNIT. WAKE UP!" He shouted. The others now understood what was panicing their half-demon, and raced over to them just in time to hear Sesshomaru gasp awake. His one hand held tight to Inuyasha wrist as he breathed greedily in the oxygen. Inuyasha released Sesshomaru's shirt and stood up, staring lividly at his brother.
"What... the Hell just happened to you?!" Inuyasha flared his arms out to dramatize his anger. Sesshomaru rolled over to his knees and placed his right hand over the bottom of his ribs.
"Owwh," he whispered to himself, a strong flash of pain read in his expression. Inuyasha was too hothead to notice.
"Answer me!" he glared.
"Why, were you worried about me dear little brother?" Sesshomaru mocked as a responce but whinced in pain again from laughter. Inuyasha jumped back with disguest.
"N..no I was not," His little doggy ear twitched. Sesshomaru smirked, but one of saddness, hoping his brother would have just come out and said the obvious. He stood up as straight as he could,
"Inuyasha? Let's go for a walk, I would like to have a word with you," Inuyasha looked questionablity at Sesshomaru as he began to studder towards the woods, but after a moment he began to follow. When Inuyasha had caught up, Sesshomaru turned around to address the humans,
"Do remember, that I will be able to sence if you follow. Just wait here, I will return him in good health,"
"Hrrr, try anything fishy Sesshomaru, and I'll lop off your head," Inuyasha growled as Sesshomaru proceeded towards the trees. After a while, Sesshomaru had regained his ablity to walk and stood tall and proud with his usual fast pace. Inuyasha followed a few paces behind, he kept his hands in his sleeves and a glare on his face, ready for anything Sesshomaru might dish out. After awhile of walking in silence, it was finally broken.
"I would like to thank you, Inuyasha," Sesshomaru spoke without stopping or turning around.
Inuyasha froze, he hadn't been prepared for that from his sinister brother. Sesshomaru relized that Inuyasha wasn't moving and turned to face him.
"You could have proclaimed me dead and continued on your way, but didn't. I...appreciate it little brother," Sesshomaru smiled slightly. Inuyasha was stunned at the kind words, but wasn't going to get mushy, or let a chance to blackmail his brother get away.
"Well then Sesshomaru," Inuyasha smirked and Sesshomaru's smile was replaced with a glare.
"I do believe you owe me your life, and that means doing exactly what I say. Like a servent"
"Ahh...? No," he responded then began to walk pass Inuyasha, back to the group,
"Let's go, your humans will be worried about you," Inuyasha noticed that he must've sounded rude,
"Wait. Hold on there," he sighed and Sesshomaru stopped.
"What did happen to you? Why did you stop breathing?" Sesshomaru did not answer right away, instead he stood still with his head hung, thinking of what to say.
"The world I live in is a city. Which happens to be full of toxins in the air for people to breath in and hurt their lungs," he faced Inuyasha with a dead smile,
"You can recall that when a human smells something, it's always wrost for us Dog demons, right? Well, it's the same with pollutants, they hurt more on us. Okay then? Let's head back"
The two exited the forest the same way they had entered and found the group sitting in a circle, talking about something. Inuyasha squented in suspicion, as to what exactly and decided to ask about it.
"What are you talking about that needs me to be gone?"
"Oh,... nothing Inuyasha, just chit chat," Shippo studdered on his words.
"Come on. I can tell when you guys are hiding something from me, now spill it," he demanded.
"Oh,... alright," Miroku sighed. The group then grabbed onto Inuyasha's kimono and dragged him far from Sesshomaru, who could only smile at their childishness. The humans and younger demon huddled close and whispered when talking to Inuyasha.
"Soooo?" Kagome asked.
"So what?" he answered nervously with the closeness of his friends.
"So, what did he say to you? Did you fight? Was he threatening and scarey?" Sango exploded with questions. Inuyasha became overwhelmed with claustrophobia and broke away from the group, erupting with annoyance.
"Hey, hey. Back off will ya? It's non of you business what he said or did to me, so step back," he snapped and flew his arms to wave them off.
"Did? What did he do to you, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, the rest of the group looking concerned as well.
"What ever you guys are thinking, you'd better not be. Learn to keep your distance"
"We were only worried about you," Kagome huffed.
"Well,... don't be. For one thing I can handle myself, I don't need people pawing me. And another thing,... he's my brother. He's harmless," and with that said, Inuyasha turned away and started back on the path.
"Get moving. We have a long way to go yet if we want to find the jewel shards and Naraku," he shouted over his shoulder.
"Right. Coming," Shippo shouted back and jumped on to Kagome's shoulder as she followed the half demon. Sesshomaru shrugged and followed his younger brother to where ever he was going.
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Things are certainly looking down for our hero. Please tell me what to do, or what you think.