Chapter 9: BATH TIME!

"Come on Rin. Let go!"

"NO! I WON'T AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"

Kagome sighed in frustration before she released the girl's right hand to try and pry the left one off the door frame. The girl had latched onto it as soon as they had entered the bathhouse and her grip was like a vise: unrelenting and stubborn. Kagome warily noticed that there were nail marks all along the frame's edge and realized with annoyance that she must do this little fit routine about her bath time a lot. Kagome soon gave up trying to remove it short of a crowbar and Rin took this moment to latch the other hand on as well so she could anchor herself even more.

"Why don't you want to take a bath?" Kagome snapped at Rin angrily, her patience quickly grinding away. Personally Kagome loved baths and she could hardly see why the girl would make such a fuss.

Rin glared at her, trying to appear intimidating but only succeeding in looking even cuter. "CAUSE I JUST DON'T WANT TO!" she screamed at Kagome fiercely. Her only response was a series of hushes from Kagome as she tried to get the kid to stop bellowing; she was sure the whole damn castle could hear them!

"Rin be quiet!"

"NO!"

Kagome felt her claws clench as she tried to prevent herself from punching the wall because (a) she didn't want to hurt Rin or the wall and (b) she was sure that it would injure her hand if she tried such a thing. If she had known that Rin was going to throw such a tantrum, she never would have offered to bathe the girl! She was real close to pulling Rin off the door frame and over her lap to give her a good spanking.

Kagome sighed again and tried to calm down. This is just the kind of reaction that Rin wanted. If Kagome got angry then Rin could call for Sesshomaru and Kami only knew what he would do to her for "assaulting" his ward. Rin was not upset at someone giving her a bath; someone other than her foster father had given her an order and she didn't want to do it because she didn't want to be told what to do. It was a game of control. Kagome had tried to do the same thing on her mom, testing her to find out how much she could get away with but she never truly won; moms were moms and they always had a way to make both children and husbands to do what they wished. Kagome would just have to try a different tactic…

"Ok Rin. You win. I'm not going to force you to take a bath." Kagome said with a look of utter defeat on her face as if she had given up completely. She turned her back to Rin and began to rummage through her things to get all her toiletries out, keeping on eye on the girl still firmly planted in the doorway with knuckles white from holding on so hard. Seeing that Rin hadn't moved or said anything, Kagome glanced over her shoulder slightly before looking away again as if the girl's presence were bothering her. "I'm going to take a bath so could you please leave so I can have my privacy?" Kagome said in the most bored tone she could muster, consciously trying to mimic Sesshomaru's tone. Her mother used to use reverse psychology on her so why not try it on Rin?

Rin eyed her suspiciously and Kagome saw her grip begin to relax, the muscles slowly beginning to unclench. As soon as Rin let go, Kagome was going to snatch her, undress her and threw her into the spring and clean her by force if Rin decided she wasn't going to join her. One way or another, Rin will learn that although she is Sesshomaru's adopted daughter and her friend, when Kagome asks her to do something, she should do it without question or at least without so much trouble. Kagome's leg muscles tensed to pounce…

Rin glared for an instant before her grip was readjusted and clutching even more firmly than before. "I don't trust you." She announced loudly as she braced herself with her legs for a struggle if Kagome tried anything.

Kagome mumbled a curse before climbing to her feet and charging up to Rin. "You leave me no choice!" she growled as she placed her hands on Rin's sides and began to tickle.

Rin erupted into pearls of involuntary laughter as Kagome wiggled her fingers even faster over her soft silk clothing, knowing that if she kept this up Rin would have to let go sometime to stop her hands. To her surprise, after about a minute or two of such torture, Rin's grip was still firm, though she was now on her knees on the tiled floor as tears came streaming from her eyes. Kagome stopped as Rin scrambled to her feet; well so much for that idea.

She'll just have to yank her off it then.

Rin thrashed about wildly as Kagome wrapped her arms around the girl's little waist and began to pull her, lifting her off the floor so that her feet danged in the air. Kagome pulled just enough to put pressure on Rin's hold but not pop her arms out of socket while Rin's hands held their place firmly on the wooden frame. After a few moments, Kagome propped her leg against the wall to add leverage and she felt the girl's grip slowly slipping as the added force was beginning to take a toll on her fingers.

"LET ME GO!" Rin screamed angrily as the older girl began to wretch her from her anchor.

"YOU LET GO!" Kagome screamed back, no longer caring if the whole damn castle heard or not. She was getting so tired of this crap!

"Rin, let go"

Kagome suddenly felt no resistant as Rin released her hold and they shot backwards like an arrow from a taunt bow. Kagome was so surprised that she dropped Rin, who landed hard on the stone, before she felt the ground underneath her feet end abruptly and she found herself underwater. Warm water entered her still open mouth as her back scrapped against the rocks from her momentum before she was able to stand up and break the surface, coughing and wheezing for air as she waded in water about waist deep.

As soon as she could breathe again, Kagome clumsily pulled herself out of the water, her damp clothes weighing what seemed like a hundred pounds as she kneeled on the stone tiles of the walkway that wrapped around the spring. Flying backwards into a hot spring wouldn't have been so bad if she didn't have her only pajamas on and her mouth wasn't wide open when she went under. Not to mention that Sesshomaru was standing right there, leaning against the offending door frame lazily while she was drenched from head to toe and effectively making huge puddles all over his floor.

And it looked as if he was trying not to laugh. While his facial expression was the same, Kagome could see that his muscles in his face and shoulders were somewhat strained, as if fighting back a smile. Kagome glared at him hard, almost wishing that her new demonic powers included heat ray vision like Superman. That sure would make her life a hell of a lot easier.

RUN! IT'S KAGOME HIGURASHI! SHE CAN KILL YOU WITH A SINGLE GLARE! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

"I do believe that your concept of bathing is a bit skewed."

And there goes Sesshomaru's oh-so-wise comment that could destroy Kagome's fantasies of heat vision with a single blow and bring her back to reality in record time and did. Kami he was so insufferable! That was definitely not Kagome's idea of a bath.

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow as Kagome stood up, water dripping of her strange garments like little rain drops. He didn't suppose that she noticed the silky fabric of what was obviously her night clothing was now clinging to her in such a fashion that it left little to the imagination, considering how hard she was glaring at him. It was as if she was trying to burn holes into his flesh or something like it. Not that he cared to point out her current condition of dress; she really wasn't half bad to look at. Thanks to her water-logged clothes, he could see her rather shapely figure, though still too slim for his liking… she really needed to eat more to regain flesh lost… with nicely rounded hips and long legs that had water dripping off every luscious curve and surprisingly, seeing her like this didn't cause physiological scarring or blindness as he originally thought he would have when seeing Inuyasha's wench in a rather revealing situation. Then again she wasn't naked though she was close to it…

"I would have you know, falling into a pool fully clothed is hardy a regular 'bathing concept' for me ok?"

Kami did she have long legs!

"Are you even listening to me?"

Nice, long legs.

"Sesshomaru?"

Really nice, long legs…

"EARTH TO SESSHOMARU!"

Sesshomaru eyes snapped up to Kagome's face, slightly annoyed at the interruption. His window of opportunity to observe and appreciate such fine limbs will be closed in a matter of minutes and his wished to use as much time as possible before she notices her modesty is being betrayed by her strange and yet fortuitously traitorous apparel. Not that her face was bad to look at either…

He shook his head roughly to clear all thoughts from his head and promptly becoming annoyed with himself. He never thought he would live to see the day when he might secretly ogle a naïve, half dressed female hanyou (with great legs) who wasn't even aware that she was being ogled. It was as if Kami himself and shoved this particular hanyou in his lap to prove to the Western Lord that not all feminine beings possessing human blood are repulsing in either mental or physical attributes.

Kami was good to him indeed.

"Just because I do not respond to your outcries immediately, does not mean that I did not hear you the first time." He responded coldly as he tried to keep his eyes trained on her face but found that to be getting more and more difficult as the urge to glance at her legs again began to overwhelm him.

Kagome rolled her eyes in annoyance and frustration. He was so full of shit. She knew he didn't hear her the first couple times because he was distracted...AH! He's doing it again! He's looking at something other than my face! Her mind screamed as he followed his gaze.

Kagome gasped when she realized just what he was distracted by.

She inwardly groaned as her face flushed a deep red. Oh Kami no! This can't be happening! She knew now what people meant when they said that they wanted the floor to just swallow them whole! She felt like dying from embarrassment!

Suddenly the room began to spin. She fought to stay standing but found herself kneeling on the floor, her knees weak and legs refusing to respond to her mental command to move as her senses overwhelmed her. The combined smells of the garden immediately gave her a huge headache while the usual fog that radiated off of the warm water was so thick it was like smoke, making it harder for her to breathe. She could feel each grain of sand that made up the stone underneath her finger tips and she could hear the under-workings of the spring as it fought to bring forth warm water to the surface. Her sight was impeccable: she was able to see every droplet of water in the air like she was holding up a magnifying glass. Hell she could even see the bubbles in each droplet.

Next to her, Rin was shouting… or maybe she was talking, Kagome wasn't sure anymore, but she could hear the concern in the little girl's voice as it echoed in her head. The scent of daisies surrounded her in haze that it was more like a fog that she was trying to get out of. One could only assume that it was Rin's scent: the scent of flowers that Kagome knew to mean innocence, simplicity, loyal love, purity, gentleness and youth.

Insanely she gasped onto this thought, holding onto it like a lifeboat in the sea of confusion in her mind. Do all humans smell like flowers? Will Rin's scent change when she gets older, when she is no longer innocent and pure and exposed to the sufferings of life in the world outside Sesshomaru's castle? What was Kagome's scent? Did she smell like some sort of flower? Does she still smell the same or did it change when she was bitten?

Kagome's eyes whirled around until she could see Sesshomaru leaning in the doorway with an old, thick book in his hand. Her senses were enhanced so much that she could hear the sound of him breathing, the beating of his heart, the swaying of the fabric of his clothes, and she could smell his scent and the leather of the old book so much it was like he was right in front of her, not across the room. His scent! Oh Kami his scent! It was like nothing she could ever describe! He smelled…immortal. Fog, snow, rivers, night, forests: there were many scents around him that she wasn't sure which one was the real one or if the combination was his scent!

He started to slowly walk toward her and she could feel the vibrations of each footstep he took through the ground, and she could see every silver stand of his hair swaying gently behind him in the dim light of the torch on the wall as he walked gracefully toward her like some sort of god. She stared hard at the handsome, emotionless face unable to look away as she watched his markings intently so they that seemed to jump out at her, their colors so vibrant that they stood out on his face like a painting.

Kami he was beautiful!

All these senses came to her in such a rush that her head pounded and felt like it was going to burst. She pressed her hands on her temples and put her head on her knees in an attempt to relieve the pressure. The scents around her; Sesshomaru's, Rin's, the gardens, and even the old book in Sesshomaru's hand seemed to close in on her, making it hard to breathe. She felt faint.

What is happening?

Sesshomaru stopped a foot in front of her, his boots clicking on the stones softly: to Kagome it was like thunderclaps.

"Lie down." The vibrations from his low, calm voice seemed to drift into the air and pierce the cloud of panic in her mind. In a way it was almost soothing to Kagome and she glanced helplessly into his face as her brain slowly processed his request like one of the out-of-date computers at her old highschool school. He wanted her to WHAT! She wanted to ask him why but her lungs were having enough trouble trying to breathe let alone talk.

Sensing her reluctance, he kneeled until his eyes were level with her own full of fright and confusion, seeing but not really seeing as she looked into the golden depths. His eyes were so beautiful! All of him was so beautiful! She felt lightheaded from the lack of oxygen getting to her head but she didn't care; she just wanted to get lost in his eyes. A spear of pain lashing into her brain brought her back to reality as she clutched her head again, almost thinking to pound it against the wall to relieve the agony. She had this forceful drive to just rip up the flowers in the garden and break the windows to let the hot, stuffy air out just so she could get some fresh air!

He placed the book to one side and shoved hard her shoulder, causing her to roll on her back. She tried to get up and scramble away but he kneeled down on top of her and penned her arms with his only hand above her head. Images of assault and rape went through her mind as she struggled desperately to escape his grasp, her breath coming in short gasps. She couldn't breathe! Why is she not breathing!

"Calm down. You are having a panic attack." He said calmly in monotone, tightening his grip on her arms, careful not to let his claws break her skin. Though his voice was barely above a whisper, it sounded like he had turned on the intercom in Kagome's mind to full blast and was screaming into it so that she didn't really hear what he was saying.

It also didn't help that Rin was beside her, crying and frantically asking Sesshomaru if Kagome was ok because obviously Kagome was NOT ok! Again she hear Sesshomaru's deep, emotionless voice snap at the little girl; Kagome was pretty sure that he said "silence" or something of that nature to Rin but it was hard to tell as it echoed in her mind. All she really knew was that Rin's screeches ceased immediately, which was a relief but Kagome continued to struggle, trying to free herself from Sesshomaru's grasp. She needed to get out of here! Away from the all noises, the blinding sharpness of her vision, the pain of his claws digging into her arms as he grasped her, the smells… away from him! She just wanted it all to go AWAY!

"Just calm down and breathe." Sesshomaru said, trying to keep his frustration in check. Her sudden rush of enhanced senses must have frightened her and now she's having a panic attack! He was sure that it was just him that stood in her way from going completely ballistic and tearing the room, and possibly Rin, to pieces in a futile attempt to rid all the offending objects in the bath house that pained her senses. Or worse, she could hurt herself while trying to relieve the agony. Both did not bode well.

He watched as her chest continued to rise and fall in a frantic motion, trying to inhale and breathe normally but failing. Her body shuddered as her lungs fought for air and her eyes shot around uncontrollably like a wild animal, searching for something but not really seeing anything. If she keeps this up she'll lose consciousness! She had to calm down somehow…

"BREATHE!" He snapped sharply and momentarily loosened his hold on her to strike her cheek with the flat of his hand before clasping onto her arms again.

Kagome was shocked: she stopped her struggling and relaxed involuntarily as she gaped at him, mouth wide open while her eyes fixed on him like seeing him for the first time. Did… did he just slap her? The movement was so fast that it seemed as if his hands had left her wrist for a millisecond. She wasn't even sure it had happened but she felt the sudden stinging of her cheek as it began to turn a painful red color. Tears welled up in her eyes, more from the surprise than pain while she was forced to resist the urge to touch it with her hand, considering Sesshomaru had a death grip on her arms.

But her breath caught.

She closed her eyes and began to drink in the air thirstily; the scents in the air threatened to overwhelm her one more as inhaled deeply through her mouth but she kept breathing through the pain. That was all she thought about: breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out… She chanted it in her mind as she forced her lungs to obey:

Breathe in, breathe out…

Gradually her breathing slowed and she felt her senses fading back into normalcy, a mere shadow of the taste of youkai sense she had just experienced, to her utter relief. Sesshomaru eased off of her and watched her carefully, making sure she didn't relapse while she was thankful for having his big, heavy body off her stomach. Eventually she sat up, her headache now eased down to a dull ache as she looked around the room, relieved when it didn't begin to spin again.

"You're becoming more trouble than your worth, human."

She glanced up to see Sesshomaru towering over her, his beautiful silver hair reflecting the torch light as it hung mere inches away from her fingers. She closed her eyes again as she felt another headache coming on and this time not "freaky youkai senses" related: it was the headache that was becoming less associated with Inuyasha and more with Sesshomaru. Maybe she should just name it the "Baka Inu-youkai headache" so that it would continue to apply to both brothers to save time.

Kami she hated it when he towered; it made her feel so small and insignificant, which was probably why he constantly continued to do it. Not to mention, it gave her the almost irresistible urge to play with his hair as it fluttered teasingly in the air, taunting her. She could live with the fact that he had better hair than her; she just wished that sometimes she could twirl it between her fingers just to see what it felt like without having to worry about Sesshomaru painfully removing said fingers. Why was she even thinking about his hair at a time like these? Weird the thoughts that run through her head after some traumatic incident involving life or death… or at least it seemed that way. She was pretty sure she would have just passed out after Sesshomaru held her down. Good thing she wasn't still in the spring when it all happened or she would have drowned herself.

Sesshomaru turned his back to her, his long silver strands mischievously batting her in the face as they caressed her cheek. Argh! Must… not… touch… her mind screamed as her hand twitched involuntarily, wanting to wind itself in the hairs that tickled her nose. She idly wondered what he would look like with his hair braided…

Oblivious to her current thoughts about playing with his silver tresses, Sesshomaru bent down to pick up the tome he had brought with him and had carelessly thrown to the side during the little crisis. The binding was a little looser but all together it was still intact. He turned back to the girl who was still sitting on the floor and seemed to have taken up a sudden fascination with some feature present on his person, supposedly his hair. He raised an elegant eyebrow before tossing the book into the girl's lap, who jumped startled as she was forcefully pulled from her silver hair fantasies. She lifted up the tome, feeling the old leather move underneath her finger tips, and looked up questionably at him.

"What's this?"

Sesshomaru scoffed. What did she think it was? Rin's bed time story? It was a tome on her kind; why else would he go through the trouble of retrieving it for her? However instead of using that extremely unnecessary and potentially rude response, he settled for a slightly less offensive one done in the same detached manner he used when he spoke to… well everyone: "I can't protect you from yourself all the time."

Kagome rolled her eyes as she set the book on the ground so that she could use her hands to rise. Ok. You could just say that it was a book on werewolves. Kagome thought bitterly as she began to stand up, weakly unfolding herself and only momentarily stumbling when her knees bucked and nearly gave out on her. Considering he just… helped her to a certain extent, Kagome just decided to ignore that little comment.

"Arigato Lord Sesshomaru." She whispered as she did the traditional bow of respect, though it was probably not as low as "Lord Sesshy-sama" would have liked it. There. She did it. Now she will be able to sleep tonight knowing that she had at least thanked him for something before she snuck off. She lifted up a hand to her forehead, feeling just a little dizzy as she straightened out. "I don't know what happened. My senses just seemed…"

"To overwhelm you and you weren't ready for it." Sesshomaru finished for her, leaning against a sakura tree in the garden casually as if he were completely bored with the whole incident. She glared at him, hoping he would spontaneously combust into a thousand flaming pieces. No such luck. Damn. Why does he always have to be right?

There it was again: the mild scent of burning roses. He was annoying her again. Sesshomaru breathed deep, savoring the strangely addicting scent. He could get used to this; infuriating her just so that he could get a whiff of the almost intoxicating smell she radiated when she was maddened. "You haven't fully adjusted to your youkai form yet. You will most likely experience 'sense spells' similar to the one you just encountered for the few days so try not to be so traumatized next time because you will no doubt have another panic attack."

Kagome fumed, clenching and unclenching her claws. No wonder Sesshomaru and Inuyasha did this when they went into battle. It really released some of the tension in them so that she wouldn't just go up there and punch him right away. They also probably did it to prevent the muscle from cramping so that they don't hurt themselves when they do decide to wail on someone. How could she have ever thought this smug, conceited, pompous ass was handsome!

She looked at his face again. Ok… she could see why she thought he was handsome. Bare fact was that he was handsome, probably the only guy she knew that could be considered beautiful. Though it was the eerie, almost unnatural kind of beauty that many demons had didn't change that fact. What the question should be changed to is: how could such a handsome specimen of the youkai species be such a smug, conceited, pompous ass!

"Well if you hadn't told Rin to 'let go'…"

Before she could even finish the thought, Sesshomaru interrupted. "You would still be trying in vain to pry her from the door frame."

Kagome opened her mouth to tell him that, for his information, she had been real close to forcefully making Rin release her hold but decided to leave that argument be: right now she just needed to fight battles she could win.

"Well if you hadn't aggressively tried to help…"

"You would have inevitably destroyed everything that was around you and causing you offense in an ineffective endeavor to ease your agony, which may or may not have included Rin." He turned to glance at the silent girl who sat patiently on the floor, bound by her foster father's earlier command to remain mute for the time being.

Kagome looked over at Rin, following his gaze before her face turned a pale shade. "You mean… I would have…" she looked down at the stone floor; she couldn't finish the sentence. It was too disgusting.

"Yes." Sesshomaru responded, knowing exactly where her train of thought was going. He waited for her reaction: he half-expected Kagome to deny it and claim that she would never harm Rin under any circumstance but what happened next surprised him:

Kagome couldn't stop herself. She threw herself to where the little girl was sitting and wrapped her arms around her in a crushing, almost desperate embrace. "Rin! I am so sorry! I can't believe… I could have… GOMAN NASAI!" Kagome cried as she clutched Rin's petite form to her own while she sobbed into the younger girl's brown hair, almost fearing that the girl would flinch or shove her away. Instead of a struggle, she felt tiny arms slowly rise up and begin to pat her back as if Rin were the mother consoling the devastated child who had broken her favorite toy.

"Onegai shimasu (please) don't cry Kagome-chan. Ah daijoubu! (I'm okay!)"

That just made Kagome cry even harder. Doesn't the girl realize that she was dangerous! That she was a threat to her very well-being! If Sesshomaru hadn't been there when he was, she could have torn her to pieces with the very hands that were holding her close.

They held each other a while, wolf and girl, while Kagome sobbed into the young girl's hair as Rin comforted her with soothing sounds and reassurances. Kagome wasn't sure when Sesshomaru had left the bath house but when she had released Rin, he was gone. Rin saw that she was looking toward the door and smiled, the corners of her mouth slightly rising and showing hidden dimples. "He does that all the time. You'll get used to it."

Kagome turned to look at the young girl. Now would probably be the best time to answer the question that had been plaguing her since she got here…

"Rin… how did you end up being with Sesshomaru?"

At first Rin was quiet, as if reliving a memory before she turned to her with what Kagome could only describe as a look of admiration, happiness, and… love.

"He saved my life."

Kagome was stunned. He… saved her life? Sesshomaru, the illegibly the most powerful Taiyoukai in all of Japan, renown hater of the human race, feared by demon and mortals alike had intentionally SAVED a little human girl's life?

The rest of the bath, Kagome was silent. The only noise that filled the bathing house was that of Rin's rambling of her daily doings while Kagome gave the minimum responses to make Rin happy. If she had actually been listening, she would have learned of the different demons that stayed at the castle: which ones were nice, which ones to avoid, who cooked the meals, who taught Rin her lessons and who were Sesshomaru's "preferred" warriors.

But Kagome's head was filled with only one youkai: Sesshomaru.

Why did he save Rin's life? Being the heartless youkai he is, the situation didn't make sense at all! What was it that possessed Sesshomaru to do such a thing? Did he feel guilty after killing all those humans and decided to make amends? Did he feel pity toward the orphaned human girl? Did he do it just on a whim? Did he do it to study humans and their behaviors so he could understand them better? To hunt them better?

Before Kagome knew it, she had tucked Rin into bed and was lying in her own, staring up at the ceiling of her fancy bedroom. There was so much about Sesshomaru that she didn't understand… just when she was sure she had him figured out, he does something to change her outlook on his whole personality.

Was… was he more than what he let on to be? Does he love and care about Rin like a true father? Did he just use his cold façade to cover deeper emotions? Is Rin melting his ice covered heart?

She smiled softly before closing her eyes to welcome the world of dreams before her escape attempt.

What would Sesshomaru think if he knew that she was actually starting to think he was a good demon?