Characters and plot belong to their rightful owners.
IX.
Kagome shifted in her seat on the log beside Sango.
It was awkward having the usually stoic and aloof I'll-eat-you-if-you-touch-me demon lord and his convoy in their company.
If someone had told Kagome that she'd be exchanging civil conversation (no matter how one-sided) with Sesshoumaru two days ago, she would have laughed and told them that they were out of their mind.
Never in a million years would she have predicted that Sesshoumaru would visit their entourage simply because.
For any other number of reasons she could see it, for example, to claim the Tetsusaiga via battle she could understand, to taunt Inuyasha she could understand, to join up with them under the guise of defeating Naraku, she could understand with only a little trouble, but simply because his ward asked him was bizarre. She couldn't wrap her head around the concept. It was foreign to her, completely foreign.
It was funny, after Naraku had been killed, she hadn't expected to see him again. Inuyasha had explained the difference between human years, demon years, and how hanyou years connected them. It had fascinated her. Like dog years, except, she wasn't sure which one had the "honour" of being the dog.
Actually, after Naraku had been killed, she hadn't expected to be able to come back to the Feudal Era at all. She had always thought that once Naraku was dead and the jewel completed, she would go back to her own time and stay there permanently. Forever. But forever was another foreign concept she had no understanding of, and it had come as a shock when she had been able to stay with her friends and still travel through the well, and there she was.
Caught in the suspended animation of an awkward silence.
Kagome shifted again, twiddling her thumbs nervously in her lap, Shippou's face buried into her neck, one of his pudgy child-like hands tangled into her hair.
They had been in the middle of one of their little 'escapades': back together as a group again – they did it every few months, but that would soon come to an end when Sango's belly became too rounded in her pregnancy to do too much more than sit, pee and complain about her aching back, neck and feet. Kagome looked forward to the day.
Miroku, sitting beside Sango, coughed into his hand, drawing the entire camp's attention to him.
The metal rings on his staff jingled pleasantly when he leaned against it.
"Is there something we can help you with, Lord Sesshoumaru?" He asked at last, his violet eyes squinting at the demon, as if to get a better look.
Sesshoumaru, himself, looked calm and collected like he always did. His figure, however, was stiff and straight like someone had stuck a metal rod through his spine. He practically exuded his distaste for the situation. At last he narrowed his eyes and turned his head to stare at Rin, as if the very sight of the monk offended him. 'Probably does,' Kagome thought with no small amount of distaste.
"Rin?" Kagome asked, upon seeing the girl's reluctance to answer the monk.
"Where is Inuyasha?" She asked after a moment of pause, and Kagome quirked an eyebrow.
Inuyasha, huh?
Well, that was a new one.
"Inuyasha?" Miroku asked curiously, his eyes turning speculative as they rested on Sesshoumaru again.
"Indeed."
Rin blushed crimson and looked away, no further answer forthcoming.
Silence enveloped the clearing once again, this one more awkward than the last, and Kagome almost groaned. She hated awkwardness. She'd had enough in the past ten years to last her a lifetime, but it seemed that fate didn't want to cut her a break.
Fate.
Kagome scoffed. Fate was a fickle woman. Kagome swore that if she ever met Fate, she would kick her. Or give her a good tongue-bashing, the likes of which Inuyasha had never seen. First making her go through that horrible stage of puberty when her voice turned all squeaky and high pitched and her boobs started developing and she got her period, and then setting Naraku upon the world, throwing her down a well (a well!), and not to mention becoming a faux mother at the age of fifteen while having her traipse through Japan in nothing but a white sailor-cut shirt – that liked to turn translucent whenever it rained – and a green miniskirt.
Yeah. Fate was going to get it.
Kagome's mouth watered and her stomach churned. This time she did groan.
"Why, why, why today of all days?" She muttered under her breath, feeling the faint stinging in her chest. Kagome clenched her cheeks, and shut her eyes, already knowing what would happen. If she moved it would only happen sooner.
Heat swarmed her cheeks as she felt her resistance slipping. Kagome ducked her head and waited for the inevitable.
Soon the unmistakable sound of gas being let loose was heard through the clearing, and if possible, the assarted opening quieted even further.
"I ate bananas." She explained shyly, her cheeks positively burning.
Well, that's one way to break the ice, she thought dejectedly.
Sesshoumaru just cocked an eyebrow.
(I lied. Plot-yness starts next chapter. Maybe. Bananas usually tend to be alkaline, but green bananas are moderately acidic. For some people they can cause heartburn and gas. – Incomprehensible)