Ch 5

I have been busy lately getting my enrollment crap ready for my next semester. I have no money, I don't own Inuyasha, my tuition is too high, and on top of all that, my husband just farted. Fantastic. I hope wherever you are reading this it smells like freakin' roses.

Well... enjoy.

I woke up to Sesshoumaru's bright golden eyes the next day. I sat up and yawned, feeling like the world had been lifted off my shoulders, but also the feeling of great sadness permeated the air around me. Inuyasha had left. I knew he would be gone, he told me so himself, he would return to the village after I had gone. Our discussion was… at best.. Enlightening. I know he said some things to me to free me, he said his life wasn't so bad. He even had a child right after he was cursed, but the sadness in his eyes at the mention of his little girl's death was almost too much for me to bear. I never asked how she died.

I found out about Sango and Miroku, they had died at an early age from disease, but not before having one child, a boy. If that child ever had children, Inuyasha did not know.

It had helped me try to move on. What Inuyasha told me was right, I needed to be strong for the trials that I was going to go through. I told him I wanted to stay with him, that I didn't care how old he was, but he put that idea down so fast that I didn't even have time to finish the sentence. He was adamant, that he was not going to be alive in this world much longer, he said he was sick, and while he looked healthy, he didn't feel healthy. He didn't want to start a life with me he couldn't finish.

But he had kissed me, it was so tender and loving… and so heartbreaking. The age difference did not even come into play with me, this was still Inuyasha, he was the same man that had saved me countless times. His lips had moved over mine in a slow rhythm, my lips and tongue memorized every contour of his mouth, savored every sensation I could. I wished it would stay that way forever. It had made me start crying again, because it was a good-bye kiss.

He had handed me Tetsusiaga saying that he could no longer protect anybody with it, and that another should be given a chance to protect me with it. I wasn't sure if he was talking about Kouga or Sesshoumaru, but he made me take it nonetheless. It was a horrible parting gift, but I knew that I would never see him again, and I had to make my peace with that. Inuyasha wanted me to move on, so I intended to try… for him.

Kouga startled me out of my thoughts by sitting down next to me as the bed creaked in protest. I glanced up at him with a sorrowful expression that seemed to knock the words out of him. All I could think was, has it really only been a day? He took a long intake of air and expelled it, he was really worried about me.

"How is your daughter?" I asked, starting up a conversation, I was really worried about Kaori.

"She should be fine now back with the pack, but she was kind of irritated with me for sending her home." Kouga said with a slight smirk.

"I can see that," I said with a slight smile. "She's stubborn like you."

He saw my smile and pulled me into his embrace, it was so warm and inviting, I needed someone to just to hold me. "Kagome, when you are done paying off your debt… come back with me." He released me slowly and I felt his calloused fingers slowly trail down the sides of my arms, I shivered. Kouga then gave me his most dazzling smile, bowed, then took off out the hut before I could say a word.

I don't know how long I stood there and stared out after Kouga, but soon I shook myself of such dirty thoughts about Kouga's thighs and I slid on the knapsack that the villagers packed with supplies. Then with a heavy heart I hefted up Tetsusiaga, in all it's battered glory, and my bow, and pulled on my quiver of arrows. I tilted my head towards Sesshoumaru. "Is there any place that you would particularly like to go?"

Sesshoumaru nodded, but I didn't miss the quick aversion of his eyes from my face down to Tetsusiaga. Was he going to ask for it? Or just take it? I shoved those thoughts to the side as I followed him down the street, listening to the rocks crunch beneath our feet. For some reason I actually felt proud walking next to him while hearing the whispers of the villagers. I held my head high, for I had the privilege of knowing Sesshoumaru, a feat not many can claim.

My thoughts were lost as we walked out of the village and headed down a worn path, what was the purpose of me being here… removing Sesshoumaru's curse and purifying the jewel… well.. I would have to sit with this taiyoukai for extended periods of time… sheesh, it sounded boring. Maybe Kouga would stop in from time to time… I wished that I could go back and see Inuyasha, but I knew I couldn't.

Despite the emotional upheaval that I just went through, I couldn't help but focus on how comforting Kouga had been. I smiled inwardly, because I knew that even though Kouga was a nice looking male specimen, it would still take me a while for me to fall for him. As a mature female of 21, I felt nothing wrong with admiring the male body, but it was mostly a look but not touch thing.

I stared at Sesshoumaru's figure in front of me, sure he had a missing arm, but I was still pretty sure that if he walked around as bare legged as Kouga did, I would still ogle him. I let out a sharp quick laugh that caused Sesshoumaru's head to turn back towards me. Of course I started blushing, I was the queen of blushing.

"Thighs." I squeaked out my explanation then turned redder as I realized what I said. Why in seven hells did I decide to blurt that out? To see his reaction, was my answer.

Oh boy I think I was in a playful mood. I shouldn't be, but I was, my heart had been torn to shreds, but I would be okay.

He stopped walking and turned his head the rest of the way to stare me in the eye, now that was intimidating. I met his eyes in defiance, but ended up just making me feel more embarrassed. His eyebrow raised in a questioning manner.

"Just… never mind." I said quietly. Ugh again! I had to figure out how to talk to this demon without A: him killing me or B: me being bored to death. Either way I was a goner!

Sesshoumaru looked as if he was going to speak but then he turned fully around to face the way we had came, his face narrowed in concentration.

"I smell blood." My head shot up at that and my embarrassment was forgotten, I whirled around and used my ki to search out towards the village, I felt a malevolent presence. We were at least five minutes out, how many people would die before I got back?

I took off running back to the village, only to be grabbed by my wrist.

"Let me go," I said as I twisted my head towards Sesshoumaru. "I have to go save them."

"No," Sesshoumaru said as I tried to pull my hand away. "It is coming this way."

I would have known that if I hadn't been in such a panic to save the village. "It's coming for us…" I whispered.

Sesshoumaru dropped my wrist and pulled Toukijin moving to stand ahead of me. "Do not interfere." He said as he pointed Toukijin at the trees just as the youkai slammed through the trees. Toukijin slammed a blast of destructive energy towards the oni, however the oni took the impact with few scratches.

Something about the aura bothered me when I had first felt it, but now that this monstrosity was before us, tall scaly green thing, I realized this was the same monster that had tried to possess me… the same youkai that was released from the Shikon no Tama…

"Sesshoumaru.." I said as I dropped everything to the ground except my bow and my quiver of arrows. I watched as Sesshoumaru rushed the oni and took a sharp stab towards it's heart and missed. He ignored me and tried to continue an upper swipe towards it's head, sword glinting in the morning sun. An arm came up and before I knew it I had notched an arrow and sent it flying, striking that damned arm that was trying to swat Sesshoumaru like a fly.

It roared back and Sesshoumaru took full advantage to make a another swipe, but his movements were slower than I had remembered, and he struck the oni on his other shoulder. Sesshoumaru leapt back while the oni took off back into the brush. I glance at Sesshoumaru and to my surprise, he did not give chase.

"Sesshoumaru! That's the same youkai that was removed from the Shikon!" I knew, that youkai had to die.

"Miko," Sesshoumaru was breathing hard. "I told you not to interfere."

"Hey," my temper flared. "If it wasn't for me that youkai would have spiked you like some volleyball!" I stopped just to take a breath and was going to berate him on his stupid pride when I noticed that Sesshoumaru wavered. Not a big waver, I'm surprised that I even noticed, but I did. My mouth hung open for a few seconds before I shut it, then opened it again.

I made to move closer to him. "We'll find a comfortable place to rest." Of course, as I said that I didn't expect him to sit where he was, ten yards off the path. I speed walked over to him and sat right in front of him, leaning forward and starting to pull out the threads weaved into his youki. I was starting to get adjusted to having him close to me, just a little, as feeling his hard breathing on my face was strange. I shifted positions to sit beside him to thread them out.

I worked in silence for about half an hour, and soon coming to the startling discovery that while I was just working on the shoulder area, that the more I pulled out, the closer the others were to his clothes. And I was hoping that I wouldn't have to take off said clothes to continue removing the curse. Not that Sesshoumaru wouldn't be nice to look at, but I was sure Sesshoumaru wouldn't want me looking at him. Of course, my thoughts went to a naked Sesshoumaru, and when I felt my face heat up, I knew I had to get my mind off of that.

So, I had to test my theory, and I held out my left hand. "Sesshoumaru, can you give me your hand?" To my relief he set his hand in mine without a fuss, it felt warm… and smooth. I began to feverishly work at his hand, determined to remove the outer whisps to see the ones beneath, to figure how deep they went. Sesshoumaru must have noticed the change in my pace.

"Is there a problem?" Then I jumped, and made a horrible discovery. See even in my hurry to see underneath the first layer, I was still pulling gently on these strands, almost weaving them out, but when I jumped, I had harshly yanked that strand from his youki. Sesshoumaru jerked and hissed in pain before he could stop it.

"I'm so sorry!" I truly was, would he kill me now? "How bad did I hurt you?"

"I will recover," That did little to make me feel better. Then he repeated his question. "Is there a problem?"

"I'm not sure yet." I sighed, I felt a little tired. "I'll know in about 15 maybe 20 minutes."

"Miko, if you were the one cursed, would you want to know?" I saw where he was going, if I was cursed and there was a potential problem, I would want to know about it sooner rather than later.

"When I was working on your shoulder, I noticed as I got through a certain number of strands… that there were deeper threads, ones that seemed to jump out of your haori and back in.. with no starting point that I could see…" I took a deeper breath for a moment. "It could start on your… skin." Then in my head, 'Which would mean you would have to get naked for me.' I didn't add that in… I think he got the point.

"If it is proven that your assumptions are correct, we will continue any way necessary." I understood loud and clear, he didn't care what it took, he wanted the curse gone. That didn't make me feel any better.

So I went back to work, but I was finding it harder and harder to concentrate as I went, but I kept prodding along, knowing that I was getting tired. We hadn't been at this an hour, and yet the act of purifying was wearing me down. Finally I saw what I wanted to see.. Or didn't want to see… either way.

I sighed.

Not entirely happy with this chapter... oh well. I'll live.