Sorry 'bout that. Hmm...I titled two things the same 'chapter 2' in different folders on my computer. Wow, I'm truly an idiot. Here's what I meant to post.
-1A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed the first chapter. This chapter's up extra speedily just for you. Not too exciting this time though...little out of my style with all the long descriptions Read on if you dare. Chapter 2
The next morning Inuyasha and group prepared to leave. They were still in search of the jewel shards because that search always led them to straight to Naraku.
"Hey, Kagome! Do you sense any jewel shards today?" Inuyasha asked Kagome who was preparing some ramen for their breakfast.
Kagome looked up at Inuyasha and he looked away from her- he still was unable to meet her eyes. "No, Inuyasha. I sense nothing," replied Kagome with the hint of a sigh in her voice. Inuyasha was pretending that they didn't have a fight last night. He was once again completely ignoring her feelings and even worse, he was ignoring her all together unless he was forced to speak with her. Kagome almost wished some demon would try to attack her. At least then Inuyasha would sweep her off her feet and it would be like him returning her emotions. She knew he was just scared of any commitment, but ignoring her wasn't helping anything.
After their breakfast they headed South, back to Kaeda's village. Kagome needed more supplies and the group itself needed a short break from their travels. They all hoped some news of Naraku had reached the village. The journey would take two days and so that night, Miroku 'sensed' a demonic aurora around a rather well-off lord's mansion. They would stay in comfort that night.
Around supper time, Inyuasha fell asleep. He and Kagome were supposed to be keeping watch of the grounds' front gate to earn their night's stay. Kagome watched the snoring Inuyasha. He still wouldn't talk to her, not even on their long watch. He just sat there in silence. Kagome had tried to start a conversation a few times and failed at that. Inuyasha would just grunt 'yes' or 'no' or shrug his shoulders.
"Maybe I was too forceful in our relationship, telling him to make up his mind right there on the spot last night," she thought. "No, forceful, me? I've been waiting on him and he knows it. He must've chose Kikyo over me," she felt her heart in her chest starting to crack, "I bet he didn't send me away only because he needs my jewel-detecting abilities. He doesn't want me!" She suddenly had an idea, she crept over to the sleeping Inuyasha, "Inuyasha," she whispered into his ear, "Who do you love? Kikyo or Kagome? Choose now." She had read about this. A person cannot lie in their sleep. If Inuyasha answered her, then it would be what truly lays in his heart and he'd be forever unaware that he had said anything at all.
Kagome put her ear to his lips to better hear his answer. "Kikyo..." he murmured lightly, almost out of hearing range.
Kagome's heart crumpled in her chest. She had to get away, she backed away from Inuyasha as if her were the plague and searched around for some place to go. the river. They had passed by a river on their way here and it wasn't too far away. Water always made her feel better. She ran out of the Lord's grounds and into the wilderness, towards the river. From there? Well, she decided where she wanted to go once she was at the river. Unknown to Kagome who was running off, Inuyasha was still whispering in his sleep, "...and Kagome. I love both of them..." Inuyasha shifted his head and continued sleeping, unaware that Kagome was running away from him.
The river had cold, crisp water flowing through it. Kagome had already taken off her socks and shoes and was bathing her feet into it and as she sat on a rock jutting into the flowing water. She stared at the bubbling rapids a little further off without really seeing them. She was thinking, "What had been my original plan? Sit here till he came a took me back again? No. He chose her. I don't want to stay with him anymore if he's just going to use me to find his jewel shard and then, in the end, run off to her and leave me in tears." She promised herself she wouldn't cry. Why were her cheeks wet. She closed her eyes and gave into to pain that threatening to swallow her up alive and leave just a ghost of her behind. A cold shell.
With her eyes closed, she didn't notice the eyes pop up in the water nearby. She didn't notice the frog demon sizing her up, that is, until it spoke to her, "Oh my sweet dear. Is life that difficult to cause you to shed such tears. I can fix that, dear. A few swift crunches and you will never have to worry about anything again."
Kagome jumped to her feet and reached for her bow. Her fingers only caught air as she remembered it was still back at the mansion she had ran from. She backed up as far away from the slimy demon as possible, to the rock's other side. The frog demon approached her, wicked radioactive-green eyes never leaving the girl's figure. It pulled itself up onto the broad rock and slid its sickeningly long pink tongue out of its mouth licking its lips and showing a row of sharp teeth. "My, you looked tasty. Now this will only hurt a bit.."
It threw it's long tongue out in a frog-like manner, hoping to wrap its tongue around her and catch her. Its tongue missed as Kagome did the only thing possible for her to do at that moment. She fell backwards into the swirling waters allowing the current to sweep her a way from the foul demon. Once far enough away, she tried to swim back to shore, but the current was too swift and her arms were too tired from fighting the water to stay up. The water was pulling her faster and faster to the rapids she had noticed earlier. At a distance, they seemed mildly dangerous, but here in the roaring water, they seemed so much more...deadly. The rocks sticking out of the water and those hidden underneath the surface of the water would kill her if the water slammed her into one.
"Inuyasha...!" she yelled at the top of her lungs as the water pushed her directly at the edge of one such boulder in the water. She was frantically trying to scramble out the of the rocks way, but he current was just too strong. Two seconds before she was driven into it, she closed her eyes, hoping that if she didn't see the damage it caused her, then it couldn't hurt her. Suddenly she felt the someone grab her arm and pull her from the water. The same person also picked her up bridal-style and easily jumped to shore from the rock in the rapids. Kagome kept her eyes shut, hoping that she wasn't dreaming and that Inuyasha had actually had come to save her. She feared to open her eyes as she might have found that really she had been dreaming and was really being torn apart by the never-ceasing waters. She felt a soft touch on her forehead, Inuyasha checking to se if she was okay. Good. It wasn't a dream then. She finally opened her eyes to find Sesshomaru's face above her.
She squirmed and tried to crawl away, but Sesshomaru had a good grip on her. "I'm just checking for injuries. You do not need to fear."
"I'm not afraid. And don't you even say that you can smell it," she warned as Sesshomaru let go of her, done checking for injuries.
"You seem to be fine. Why were you in the water?" asked Sesshomaru, still cold and almost distant.
"Well, I didn't want to be, if that's what you're asking," huffed Kagome, "It was the only way to get away from the frog demon trying to eat me."
"You could learn how to make a barrier. You're a priestess, that's obvious from your purifying arrow, but you can do more than that if you train your powers. Not that I care, but Inuyasha may not always be around to protect you. If you go to another priestess, I'm sure she'll be able to show you how to focus your power and make you stronger. Just in case Inuyasha's being, what you call, difficult." Sesshomaru had already risen from where he had tended to Kagome and was once again walking away.
Kagome was confused as to why Sesshomaru had told her this. "Did he know that she intended to leave Inuyasha? No. Impossible, he was just giving friendly advice. Hmm...friendly and Sesshomaru in the same sentence. Amazing," she thought. Kagome had to admit she was growing rather fond of explaining her problems to Sesshomaru. There was just something about him. Meanwhile, he was receding into the trees again, "Wait!" she called after him, "thanks."
Sesshomaru paused for a moment and nodded. Then, he was gone.
Kagome peered after him for a few moments before following the river upstream to her shoes and socks. Luckily, the frog demon was not around anymore. She put on her socks and shoes thinking that she would return to Inuyasha's side for now, until she was strong enough to protect herself. She returned to the front gate she was supposed to be keeping a watch on and sat next to the still slumbering Inuyasha. Her clothes were almost dry so she saw need to tell Inuyasha of her exploits, or of Sesshomaru rescuing her, or of his advice.
Sesshomaru just couldn't explain it to himself. Why had he felt the need to follow that girl? Why did he want to save her and protect her? Why had he allowed a civil conversation to come to pass the two? And why was he helping her leave his half-brother with his advice? It was complicated. Something inside himself awoke in that girl's presence. He decided he would have to keep a closer eye on that part of himself in the future if he was to continue being his cold self.
Sesshomaru arrived at the girl's shoes and socks before her. He went over to the water's edge. He could smell the frog demon lurking beneath the river's surface.
"Come out," the dog demon lord demanded.
The demon surfaced, "Ah, you don't look as tasty as the last, but you'll do nicely in my stomach."
"You will die," said Sesshomaru boredly, swiping his claws through the frog demon's body. The carcass was carried under by the current. Sesshomaru turned his back on it and made his way to the waiting Rin and Jaken as always.
A/N: Yeah, a lot of narration in this one. Hope I didn't bore you to death. Well, you know the routine, drop a line in the review box and have a nice day.