2: Rendezvous

"This is where I'll leave you then, Kagome," Kouga told her, and it seemed it almost pained him. "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

Kagome smiled warmly and grasped his shoulders. "Kouga, you've done more that enough. But I must do this alone. Is that...okay?"

For a long moment, he stared into her eyes intently, looking for something she didn't know. Then he pulled back and nodded before turning quickly away. "Goodbye, Kagome."

"And good luck," he whispered, his feet already carrying him miles away.

She gazed after him, her mind racing ahead to what she would be doing. Leaves shuffled behind her and snapping out of her reverie, she turned quickly. No one there, was her assessment and she allowed herself to momentarily relax.

"Right then," She urged herself. "Let's go before my legs turn leaden and I'm stuck here for life!"

Kagome looked up through the trees, at the castle she could already see between the branches. Intimidating and seemingly floating on air, she admitted, but still just a castle. A perfectly harmless old building, she told herself, yet somehow she didn't find herself believing it.

'Oh, who knows? What does the Lord Sesshoumaru do in his keep?'

A sudden racket started up behind her, and Kagome only had time to realize she'd let her guard down yet again before she was uncomfortably surrounded by very tall youkai in metal armor, only given away by the long, brown tails and pointed ears sticking out from between the metal plates. As one, they brought their spears down towards her and used their other hand to grasp the hilt of their swords.

The result was that they sent the message 'You are trespassing', and Kagome heard it loud and clear. But when not one of them spoke to her, or asked her reason for being where she was, Kagome felt it her job to speak up.

"Uh...Excuse me?" She tried, yet her voice sounded small even to herself. She tried again. "I'm here to see Sesshoumaru."

There, she thought, that sounded better. And very direct in what she was here for. So it was a very perplexed Kagome that found that the armored youkai hadn't moved, and still stood around her, all eyes on her. She crossed her arms and brought one finger up to tap on her nose.

A minute later, she decided to try an experiment. Taking a step to one side, dangerously close to the spears, she had her eyes fixed on the youkai standing on the opposite side. As she moved, she heard the clink of armor bending and shifting and then found that the circle of spears had taken a step also. She was in the middle again.

"Oh!" She suddenly exclaimed, catching on. "You're coming with me! Why didn't you say so?"

Still no response from the abnormally tall guards, but Kagome grinned. "I've always wanted an escort. Let's go, boys!"

Not bothering to question why she knew that they were male as there was nothing to indicate that fact, she did her best to put on an air of confidence and continued walking, circle of spears twirling around her in a very amusing fashion.

Not five minutes later, Kagome stopped short as the last branches were cleared out of the way of her procession and caught her first sight of Sesshoumaru's domain. She couldn't help her wide eyes or how her breath caught in her throat, but her mind still protested how easily she was impressed. And impressed, she was.

It was unlike anything she'd imagined. The Feudal Era had so far shown her the single-story buildings of their time, but this...It was indescribable. The castle seemed to be built into a cliff, the natural rock jutting out in between the delicately crafted castle walls, although the way it loomed over her had to be an illusion. The entire gleaming, white castle stretched impossibly into the sky; Kagome had to tilt her entire head to see the very tip of it. And then an unnatural fatigue washed over her and she stopped moving, just stood there staring at the castle.

But what kept Kagome's eyes glued on the sight before her were the impossibly thin towers. Topped with twisting spires, they gleamed in the ending day's sun; Kagome covered her eyes from the glare of the one nearest to the light. They also seemed to have some kind of insignia, but they were unreadable from her distance. She guessed that they were Sesshoumaru's symbol and left it at that.

Then one of the guards nudged her in the back with his spear, and the sound of ripping fabric could be heard. Kagome froze, disbelief written all over her face.

'No…' She pleaded as her hand reached up behind her to feel the area. When her fingers touched skin, she let out a frustrated yell. "This was my last shirt!"

Oh nonono, this was the last straw; on top of everything she's endured the last few days, she'd barely held it together. She rounded on the guard, her voice rising to a crescendo. "Do you know how hard it is to survive, alone and in a forest, and stay clean at the same time?"

The lack of response infuriated her even more and she completely forgot her plan of entering Sesshoumaru's Keep with dignity in her rage. "Add bathing to that equation and you have a juggling act! And I am NOT a clown; I do NOT juggle! I have been sleep-depraved and under constant stress for the past six days because the entire forest just can't SHUT UP!"

She lost all self-control then, lost in the horrendous memories of the past few days and her abrupt awakening to the real world. No one had told her it was this hard to survive on her own. What was she supposed to expect? Inuyasha had done the hunting; all she'd down was turn the pits over the fire. "And you go and ruin my last freaking shirt! Tell me, what am I supposed to wear now? Well?"

"I would appreciate it if you didn't harass my guards, priestess."

Kagome suddenly whirled, her rage lessening at the deep, calm voice while her mind noted that the guards had raised their spears and receded. Yet, a healthy portion of her anger and frustration with the world in general was still at large in her body and just looking for an outlet.

And Sesshoumaru was looking like a good target.

"You..." She began, her voice so low, it was a growl. "Do you know what I went through to get here?"

Each word was punctuated by one of her feet stomping closer to the youkai, who remained calm even in the face of her fury. He only regarded her coolly and in an uncharacteristic display, arched an eyebrow. "Am I wrong in thinking you're about to tell me, whether I want to hear it or not?"

"Not at all," She said tersely, fists clenched in an effort to get her raging emotions under control. "But I rather think you heard the gist of it already-- that's not why I'm here, in any case."

She paused, gathering the wits that had melted in the heat of her fury. She cursed inwardly at the effort it was taking to be polite. "I seek an audience with you, Lord Sesshoumaru."

He didn't reply right away, choosing instead to regard her with his cool, golden eyes.

"Interesting," He finally said, quiet enough that it sounded more for himself than her. Before she could say anything else though, he turned on his heel and the guard nearest nodded, stepping forward.

"Hey--" She was abruptly cut off as an unseen guard behind her picked her up, and slung her over his shoulder. "What? Put me down! I said, put me down!"

When Kagome realized the ground was moving, she also realized she was being taken somewhere, and she had a good idea where. At least, she hoped.

Meanwhile, the sharp shoulder guards on the guard were beginning to dig into her side, and his swift movements were carrying her momentum in strange directions; at one point, she was sure she was going to slide into his head.

From her downward-facing position, she couldn't see exactly where they were heading and how close everything was. Kagome did note that the trees to either side of her suddenly dispersed and the ground beneath her turned to that of stone. When shadow passed over her head, she realized they must have entered the castle.

"Is this how you treat all of your guests?" Kagome called, both to the guard and Sesshoumaru, who she hoped was nearby. When she heard someone up ahead pause in step, she snorted in an usual change of character. "You call this dignified? You're carrying a half-naked girl off to your lair like loot."

"Hurray, I'm loot," she managed to keep herself balanced as she raised her arms to clap pathetically a few times before she tipped and grabbed at the guard again. Mentally, she counted, 'Three…two…'

"Very well. You've made your point," Sesshoumaru seemed to whisper in her ear, though Kagome knew that was impossible; she would have seen or felt him otherwise. The guard who'd been holding here suddenly reached back and deposited her on her own feet in front of him. Kagome was jarred into silence while she tried to awaken her sleeping legs.

"But you will regret it soon enough," the youkai lord whispered in her ear again.

Kagome could have sworn he was laughing at her, but without a face to go with the voice, she couldn't prove it. And it didn't matter to her that much the next moment when she realized her scheme had worked.

'Well,' she brushed herself off, 'maybe you do have some skill after all.'

"Enough delaying," Sesshoumaru addressed the guards. As one, they straightened and began marching forward.

It was then that Kagome realized they were in a stone hall, though she could see neither beginning nor end of it. The guard behind her poked her again, this time with a finger instead of a weapon.

Kagome shot him a glare, wondering if he could even see it in his metal helmet, but began walking. Soon, the hall turned into an inclined ramp, and then, a wide, revolving staircase.

After about ten minutes of this, Kagome mentally cursed Inuyasha's brother. She was regretting it- as were her ankles, knees, and thighs; the ache from days and days of stressful walking had accumulated and decided to pronounce itself at the most inopportune time.

But Kagome steeled her resolve, thinned her lips, and kept marching right along with the guards. Giving in to being carried, or even just admitting her pain, would be letting Sesshoumaru win, and call it being stubborn or not, she wouldn't let him.

Another ten minutes past, and all feeling from the waistline and down had disappeared for Kagome, which she was thankfully for, even as her balance was beginning to show signs of wear and tear as well. Or was it her eyesight? She had to admit that everything was swimming in and out of focus, and not that recognizable in any case.

When they reached a large doorway not five minutes later, Kagome would have cried in joy had she thought Sesshoumaru wouldn't see it as a sign of weakness.

Through the doorway was yet another hallway, though this one more furnished than the stone one below. Even in her dazed state, Kagome was amazed at the wealth displayed in the wooden parquet, in the gilded frames of the beautiful paintings on the walls, in the rich, red velvet of the curtains over large windows, in the wooden animal engravings over the doors, in the deep green walls.

And strangely, her surroundings gave Kagome the sense of calm that she'd been missing. Her lips turned up into a serene smile without her notice, as her guard pushed her into the last room on the right before joining the others, forming lines in the hallway.

Blinking away tears, Kagome raised a hand to shield her eyes from the pain that the sudden light brought, shining in from the windows across the room. Gradually, she made out a large desk in front of those windows, and a moment later, she realized who was reclining in the big, stuffed chair behind it.

"Sesshoumaru,." She had intended to bow, but as she'd tilted her head, the room spun, so Kagome had to settle for inclining her head in his direction.

If she had been more aware, Kagome would have realized that by doing only so, she had announced herself equal to someone of Sesshoumaru's rank. But rather than being insulted, Sesshoumaru raised a eyebrow, intrigued. So, his younger brother's wench was challenging him, was it?

'Sesshoumaru, I want you to teach me how to defend myself.' Yes, that sounded right, Kagome acknowledged; it wasn't a plea and it wasn't a command. There was a small twinge in the back of her mind for a moment, but she ignored it, so close to her objective. Kagome blinked until the spots in her vision faded and squinted to where she thought Sesshoumaru was in the light.

"Sesshoumaru, I want you- "

Kagome never finished her sentence as her eyes rolled back into her head and her knees gave out. All strength gone, she collapsed on the parquet that she had so admired, unconscious.