A/N: Hello people, I'm finally back see? Sorry it always takes so long but with school and stuff it's a bit problematic. Lol. Anyway, I really don't know how's this, it's a bit strange but it's ok. Say anything you want about it so I can see what's wrong with it that makes it weird.

Anyway, Q/A space here! :

KORN?! [Especially for Amreld] What! I like Korn! It's one of my favorite bands! They're awesome! (I can see, I can see…I'm going Blind!) Really,  I like them very much! Thy're comeing in Italy to hold a concert too! Yay! I HAVE to be there. I have friends that play Korn with their band, they're pretty good, but ya know, the REAL ones! That's a whole different thing! Maybe if I get to take some pictures I'll put them in my website. That is if I can go…-_-

Kikyou? Yeah, I never liked her very much also, but hey, lately I've had people to who give my dislike so Kikyou's pretty ok. Another reason why Im not writing her for a bit. She'd be too weird since the beginning. Can you imagine Kikyou saying, "Oh Kagome you're such a good little girlie!" Nah…

Inuyasha & co.? They'll be around in a near future. It's been so long since I've written about them.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha & co.

Red Isn't Only Blood

Chapter XII: Starting over again

The sun was slowly falling behind the horizon, it was a strange spectacle indeed; after centuries it still held some of its original mystery to him. The orange color that took possession of the cerulean sky in those moments like the blood spilling from a mortal wound was entrancing.  The last time he'd watched it had been nearly two days before, Rin had been arguing incessantly with Jaken and he'd done everything he could to black the senseless noise; to no avail. The two were just helpless; yet, he had to admit it did prove quite amusing at times.  

He used to watch the sunset with his mother and father when he was young. The happy times he often would play with fireflies or laugh while chasing a pillow around his room. He could remember his mother smile, her fragrance and unique personality. Remembering the last days of her life was extremely painful, even after so many years, but what came after was worse. He had always stayed by his father's side in his childhood and early teens, the Lord had never been harsh or exaggeratedly strict with him during the first decades of their life without the Lady of the Western Lands. Then that woman came around, Aiko, was her name, a human princess of some reign, it was the start of Inutaisho's downfall.

Of course it wasn't solely the woman's fault. It had, the bigger part, been his father's fault. Inutaisho, in fact, had fallen in love with the woman; she then became his mate and they had a child, Inuyasha, his hated half-brother. After the hanyou's birth Inutaisho became each day more severe towards him, his first son, and banned all pictures of Lady Kiyoko, his former mate from the castle, had it been for sadness or something else nobody knew. He hadn't particularly cared, he didn't still really care; maybe he should, but he'd started avoiding his father long before the removal of the paintings; as for his mother, he'd preferred to keep within himself the happy memories and try to forget the last period when she'd died after being mortally wounded by one of his father's rivals.

Sitting there with his eyes closed thinking, Lord Sesshoumaru started thinking about the part of his life he tough he'd forgotten. While, instead, Kagome had gone to take a bath, feeling strangely sad. 

***

Sesshoumaru saw she was coming back, and was quite surprised to find that in some deep twisted part of his mind he actually was waiting for her to do so. It was the part of his mind that was intrigued by her, the less rational one and the childish one, also the part that liked hunting down preys. It was like his inner demon was eager on learning the ways of such a powerful miko, maybe to rid the world of her, who knew, some things about his mind even he didn't understand.

"Sorry it took a bit longer, but the water was really nice…" Kagome said as she eyed him skeptically, he could see the doubt behind her eyes, she might have become better at masking her feelings, but when she was emotionally weak, it was just as easy as it had been a year prior. Plus the washed tear stains in her cheeks proved at least one thing; she was a sad person. Something was troubling her, his inner self wanted to know what it was, his mind didn't care; it never cased to amaze him how much in contrast his two parts, the rational and the instinctual one separated when she was involved. He simply acknowledged her with a nod of his head and looked at the darkness beyond the camp for a moment.

I bet. He thought. That she's been sad for a long time. He looked at her from the corner of his eyes as she sat down on the base of a tree in front of him, poking the fire he had made with a stick that a moment later took fire. He watched slightly fascinated as the torch flared blue and extinguished as if it had a will of its own. Once again, he asked himself if she was doing it on purpose or not. It was no big show of power, but coming from a human that had always stayed away from battles behind a hanyou like his brother, it was starting to become strange, watching her small displays of newfound knowledge. He wondered if her miko powers had also increased. There were also the times when her eyes changed, no pupils or nothing, just…plain azure.

"What are you thinking about Sesshoumaru?" Came Kagome's voice from the other side of their 'camp'. Had he not known any better, he would've said she had read his aura, but that wasn't possible because he took good care of keeping it calm all the time.

"How do you know I'm thinking Kagome?" He asked, it sounded like a random question; instead it held great meaning to him. The first piece to put together the puzzle that this miko was, there was still a long way to go though.

"Sensed it." Kagome scoffed, even though angering Sesshoumaru was not on the to-do list for the evening. Seeing him frown she decided the answer wasn't enough, hell, it was never enough when you dealt with the Lord of the Western Lands. "Ok, ok let's play the fifth grade interrogatory. It's not a real feeling. It's like, when a person is thinking…the air around gets heavier, like the thoughts of the person and the concentration are draining the small area. I know, its weird so no questions about it." She finished courtly as she unrolled her sleeping bag on the flood and sat on it, combing thorough her hair with a brush. Yeah right, was she wishing he'd leave her alone in her grief? Duh, of course he -wouldn't- But, she had to admit not being alone felt nice, even of it was Sesshoumaru she was with.

She really was a strange creature, being able to know what someone's doing by what happens around. Normally he would have killed someone like her, those creatures only brought problems and working for the wrong person, destruction. He nodded as a sign he had listened and started looking at the fire, trying to figure out at least a logic was to describe Kagome, she went against all he had been taught, and as much as he despised the idea, he was confused.

Eri and Yuka would probably be drooling in front of a man like him. Kagome thought, giggling in her head. Yeah, maybe they wouldn't notice his claws and fangs…they sure wouldn't. Once she too had been that carefree. Looking at guys if they were cute or not; now she had to be cautious of every person she met, man or woman, be distant and see weather the being was trustworthy or not. Sometimes she longed for the days spent in Tokyo, playing the drums with her band, going to school, helping at the shrine- It all felt so distant now, like centuries had passed, even though really, it had been but two years. She picked up the ramen she'd been making and started tapping on the lid of the box with her chopsticks to the rhythm of a song her friend Jack-an American exchange student that had stopped at her house for a few months- usually sang; it was called 'Blind' if she was correct. She remembered the days they would play together with Shinji and Isaaru; it so often ended up in chaos, everybody throwing picks and sticks at each other and ending up with lumps on the head. If the guys knew how I've ended up, I bet they'd laugh. That and the fact I'm right in front of a gorgeous guy and thinking the same things as Eri would. 'How the mighty have fallen.' They would have said, it had been after all, their favorite phrase. She mused with a ghost of a smile on her lips.

What was I telling myself all these years? I miss my old life. I want back the old days. Kagome thought with a hint of despair as she gazed intently at the fire. She brought her knees towards her chest as a few tears escaped her eyes and she brought her fisted hands to the sides of her face. Why had all this started anyway? She hadn't done anything in her life to be punished by any of the gods she had believed in so many years. It was a question that plagued her mind. She had sometimes thought that Kikyou had cursed all her reincarnations, but that seemed very unlikely. Now everyone was leaving her…and it was solely her fault. She continued telling herself over and over not to fall as the tears spilled forth, going against her decision not to cry openly in front of people, much less the Lord of the Western Lands. She suddenly rose from her spot and ran to wherever her legs wanted to go. She ended up near a river.

The place looked surreal in its splendor. The moon was high in the sky and it's light shone on the water below, creating a ghostly feeling, giving the impression spirits were going to start dancing on the water any moment. But Kagome didn't have time to look at it as she fell to her knees right on the river bank, standing on all fours, her hair shielding her face, her ears leaving wet dots on the dry earth as she sobbed lightly. It looked like she was damned to forever fall on the ground crying, mentally strained all the while hating herself and the world around her. She was a living contradiction; she knew it and couldn't do anything about it; that was what she hated the most. She sat on her feet and brought her hands to her face. They were stained with dirt. 

When she was all alone, she preferred having something to think about, it had always been like that. When her father had disappeared, she had started studying so much, just to forget; after a while her mother had started questioning her physical health. Two years ago during the whole Inuyasha stuff she had focused on the shards; now she was in the middle of nowhere with a person that probably hated her, she had nothing to hang onto, nothing to sustain her, there were no lies that night, only the painful truth. She was growing up, the hard way. Not like every girl should, as the years slowly passed. Reality was knocking at her door and as she struggled to keep it closed hurting herself in the process. How ironic. That was when she noticed Sesshoumaru on the wood's edge approaching calmly, and she could really hate him that moment. He looked so detached from all terrain problems that she envied him; while she was practically dieing from sorrow he could casually walk around as always.

"Go away Sesshoumaru, I'm really not in the mood." She said as she wiped her face and wore an angry face, anger always served to forget prior emotion at times; at least it hid them well.

"You do know crying is good for nothing right?" He said sitting down cross-legged in front of her.

Now, did this surprise her, he was, being conversational? What a bad time he'd chosen. "Well yeah, can't really do anythin about it right now." She answered, slipping to a bit more casual form of talking, she just hoped he understood, you know, sometimes people in Sengoku Jidai don't get some modern terms or abbreviations. She sat down and crossed her legs, her eyes hidden by her bans and her hands pressed on the hard ground beneath her.

"I may not like you very much Higurashi Kagome, but you have proven to be stronger than this." Sesshoumaru continued.

Kagome was awestruck, she couldn't talk, he was being reasonable, human, one could say, "I sure as hell know you can't stand me."

"Maybe," Sesshoumaru replied, "if you talked in a civilized way and not like a barbarian, I could approve you a bit more."

"Huh? You mean, nah, you gotta be kidding me. You can't really, not understand a thing when I talk; can ya?" Kagome said wide-eyed.

"That's exactly what I was talking about, you speak strange, like you're from a foreign land. It's unnerving." The youkai said with a completely blank face.

"Hey! You called me a barbarian before! That was mean, really, you don't even know me. By the way, where I come from my way of speaking is perfectly normal; but, since you seem to have a complex about it, I shall try and speak clearer when you're around. Ok?" Kagome said pouting and clearing an eye with her fisted hand, he was such an ass sometimes, well, most of the time, but making her change her speaking, it was going to be hard trying not to use modern terms.

"The same rule applies to that word you constantly use, 'ok'. What does it mean?" The Lord asked, suddenly curious.

Oh my god, how am I going to explain this. Ok means…ok…The miko thought. "It means…something like the thing you are talking about is acceptable, tolerable. There really isn't a definition for it. Is it a good enough answer?"

"Pretty much. Now, since you're practically sleeping why don't we make a deal." Sesshoumaru said.

"Such as?" Kagome asked suddenly skeptical, she didn't like deals, they always held something behind, like the two people making it had many thing to hide. Yet, after all the both had things to hide, consciously and unconsciously.

"We start from the beginning, like complete strangers. To you, I shall be Lord Sesshoumaru and to me you shall be general Higurashi. What do you think?" The lord said looking at her face. She looked so distant in that moment, like as they were speaking she was elsewhere. Her sad eyes were looking past him, where exactly he wasn't sure but he knew that as hard as he tried he'd never be able to see it too. The girl's form was less tense now, like she was tired, not physically though, something different, worse. I was then she spoke words he'd never thought she'd say.

"Have you ever thought Sesshoumaru why we hate each other so? In the end isn't it Inuyasha's fault? Sometimes I think that if I met you, before I met your half-brother then probably my impression of you would've been much more different. I think that we started with the wrong foot right away; I just assumed right away that you were evil, taking Inuyasha's words as true. At that time I trusted him fully, I didn't doubt anything he said; after all, friends always tell the truth right? Wrong, there have been so many times he has lied to me, but I never wanted to see past his dishonesty because there was nowhere else I could go…" Kagome stopped for a moment trying to keep the tears that threatened to spill again. "Then there was the last blow and I decided it was time to stop fooling myself and I left all my friends. That's when you came around. I should hate you after you nearly killed me, after that incident I've forgotten a few past things. But that's not the point. I think that maybe, if we had met under different circumstances, me not being your brother's faithful companion and you my supposed enemy, we might have been friends."

"There's always a second time. Like I just said, we could start over again." Sesshoumaru said.

"Be friends?" Kagome asked.

"I have to admit, Higurashi, I still don't particularly like you. But I can try and tolerate you." Sesshoumaru replied.

"Well, I suppose it's ok. We'll be coworkers then; lets put it this way. I like it better. One last thing, weren't you supposed to hate me?" Kagome inquired somewhat curious.

"You presume a lot Higurashi. I hate beings like Naraku. I just merely disliked you." The Lord continued.

Kagome smiled lightly, "Thank you Lord Sesshoumaru, for making me feel better." Kagome said.

Sesshoumaru merely rose from the ground and told her to get ready because they were heading for his castle in about an hour. Smiling Kagome sat there a few moments more enjoying the feeling of warmth the sunrise cast on her features watching the glistening water in front of her, finally noticing the splendor of the world around her. She was feeling happy for once and at that moment she didn't care if it was only temporary, let sadness come later, right now she liked listening to the sound of the running water and spring breeze. She was sure her father would've like the place she was and with this last thought she headed towards camp with a lighter heart.

***

A/N: Here we are people to the end of another chapter; I know it wasn't very long but please cope with me because this even too much for the time I've had to write recently. Oh, I've been to a concert of Lacuna Coil! I also got their autographs! Ah!!! It was too cool. And Node played before them! It was soooo cool! I really liked it! =D

I want to go to a concert where Korn and other bands play in Bologna! ^-^ Anyway, lets hope it'll give me some boost to write, again, I'm sorry for the late update.

-Kayrin