Disclaimer: I don't own. I never will… stop rubbing it in!
Sesshomaru was irritated to say the least.
The miko had answered few of his questions. She had claimed they were "too specific." What she had told him was trivial, but what irked him the most was that he had lapped it all up like a common dog. Powerful inu-youkai such as himself shouldn't have to stoop so low as to consort with a too-cheerful human miko on such serious matters as one's future mate.
When he had asked about his mate's numerous other names, the miko had laughed and told him, "baka, wench, woman, oh, and occasionally bitch."
Day had grown into night as he had talked with Kagome. Soon, it had seemed far too soon, that the woman's friends had begun to call out for her. She had sighed and his nose had distinguished regret in her sent. She was regretting having to leave him? He had pushed the thought aside as she had begun to speak.
"Sesshomaru, I don't want to inconvenience you, but I should probably go home. To my time, that is. If I go back to InuYasha now he'll claim it to be too late for me to return home. I am not fast enough to outrun him if he is following my sent. Could you carry me back to the Bone Eater's Well?" she had asked and after a few moments of thoughtful silence he had complied.
Unfortunately for Kagome she would have to deal with an extremely unhappy hanyou when she returned.
Mere moments after Kagome had disappeared into the well amid a soft, glowing, blue light, InuYasha had burst through the circle of tress surrounding the clearing. The hanyou was obviously furious. Not irritated, not angry, not pissed, furious was the only word to describe the way InuYasha felt right then.
"Okay, Sesshoumaru, you bastard! What the hell did you do to her! If she's hurt I swear I'll kill you as slow and painfully as humanly possible!"
"And what, brother, would make you think that I would hurt the miko in any way?" Sesshomaru asked mildly.
"Don't give me that shit Sesshomaru! Kagome knows something important to you! She wouldn't tell me what but I don't trust that you wouldn't hurt her to get what you want half so much as she does! I'll tear you to pieces if you laid a finger on her. Now, were is Kagome!" InuYasha snarled.
Sesshomaru regarded his idiot half-brother coolly before answering the growling hanyou's question.
"The miko went home." He said simply, putting it in as small words as possible, hoping his dense half-brother would understand.
"What?" InuYasha asked, blinking.
No such luck.
Sesshomaru sighed and his eyes fluttered closed in exasperation. He had to suppress the urge to rub his temples to ease the dull, pounding headache he got when conversing with the dim-witted hanyou.
"She claimed to have a need to rest away from here. The miko went back to her time." He clarified. His voice held no sign of the exasperation he felt and quite frankly it would have shocked InuYasha into silence (gasp! A miracle!) if he had.
Back was the icy façade that the demon lord had dropped while talking with Kagome. It was back full force and currently directed at the hanyou before him.
InuYasha let out an involuntary shiver at the hard indifference in his brother's eyes. Suddenly a wind picked up, carrying Sesshomaru's sent to InuYasha's nose.
InuYasha froze. His brain working double time to make sense of the information his sensitive appendage had just relayed to him. His eyes narrowed at Sesshomaru and he growled menacingly, low in his throat. Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow in response.
"Okay, so Kagome went back to her home. That, however, does not explain why her fucking sent is on you!" his words were little more than a snarl. If Sesshomaru hadn't been a dog demon then he wouldn't have understood half of what InuYasha said.
"I do not have time for this, brother, and I grow tired of your foolishness and refusal to use what little brainpower you have. I have business to attend to." And with that Sesshomaru disappeared from InuYasha's sight.
A snarl of rage was heard from the direction of the Bone Eater's well. Back in the village Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Keade sighed and rolled their eyes.
Kagome sighed contentedly. She lay back on her soft bed. She was positively thrilled that it was summer break. That meant that she didn't need to worry about her school attendance.
It was a bloody miracle, she concluded, that she had made it through yet another school year with fairly high marks. The next school year would be he last in high school. If she ever wanted to get into University she would have to work double time to manage the workload from school and deal with a certain hanyou's demanding pace. She groaned just thinking about it.
Kagome flipped over and stared at the ceiling. Another personal problem weighed heavily on her mind. The fact remained that she had yet to be kissed. She was seventeen for kami's sake! Instead of actually having a love life she roamed all over Feudal Japan collecting shards of an ancient jewel. (a/n: I am completely disregarding all InuYasha movies. That includes the one where Kagome kisses InuYasha to get rid of his youkai form.)
Kagome had gone on a few dates during high school. That included the dates she had been unable to avoid with Hojo, who still had yet to forget his crush on her. Seriously, you'd think the boy would get a clue and move on, or at least tire of chasing her around.
She rolled her eyes. Before the end of the school year, Hojo had asked her out for during the summer. He had looked so eager and once again Kagome had felt the rejection on the tip of her tongue die a painful death. They had a date the next day.
"Oh, joy." She thought before drifting into unconsciousness. That night her dreams were haunted by specters that looked eerily similar to Hojo, complete with wrapped gifts for Kagome's many 'ailments.'
Kagome believed herself scared for life. It was the afternoon after her date with Hojo and she was back in the Feudal Era. She sat back on the rim of the well and waited for InuYasha to come 'fetch' her. That was, after all, what dogs were best at.
They had gone to see a movie, she recalled, it was a humorous one so they had been laughing the entire time. She was profusely relieved by this, if he had tried something it would have been very awkward.
After the movie he had treated her to ice cream and they, well, he had talked. When it had been time for her to return home he had insisted on walking her back to the shrine. He had protested, "A lady should never walk home unaccompanied. Besides, who knows what kinds of people walk around these parts."
His last statement had amused her and she had bravely fought against a rising snicker. They hadn't even left her neighborhood. She knew if probably wasn't fair to Hojo since he lived in a separate neighborhood, but she knew her way around so well she could get home blindfolded, if need be. And as for the people, she knew them all and if she ever wanted to could blackmail every person within a five-mile radius… not that she would, but still. He should have picked up on that he was a smart guy. Sometimes he was just too oblivious for his own good.
When they had arrived back at the shrine she had turned to tell him goodbye when he suddenly hugged her. Kagome had been so startled by his sudden action that before she knew what was happening he had released his hold on her and was leaving the shrine, waving to her over shoulder. He would've been okay too if he hadn't been looking back at her. Too late, her turned his back towards her before he noticed the shrine's steps were right beneath his feet. Needless to say he had lost his balance and took quite a tumble down 278 steps. Once Kagome and her mother had patched him up to the best of their ability he was off again, this time mindful of the stairs. Kagome knew from prior experience that a fall down the Sunset Shrine steps was not something one wished to repeat.
She had gasped at the time and thrown items hurriedly into the large yellow backpack she always carried with her to the Feudal Era. She dove down the well only to find no impatient hanyou waiting for her, in her rush she had come a bit early.
There she sat, perched on the lip of the Bone Eater's well, thinking of her day. In her hurry out the door she had no time for a quick shower. That meant that Hojo's sent was probably still clung to her. Just her luck, either way she would've had an unhappy InuYasha on her hands. Though now that she thought about it she probably should've gone for the kami-wench-I can't-believe-you're-late-again hanyou than the why-do-I-smell-another-male-on-you?-wait-it's-that-Hobo-guy-right? possessive InuYasha. Just thinking about it made her head throb with a dull reminder of the kind of migraine she would later receive.
Kagome heard a small sound to her left. Turning her head she caught sight of Sesshomaru entering the clearing. She smiled, he had become much, hmm… friendlier towards her of late. She supposed it was because of the information she held. Never the less, she enjoyed talking with the taiyoukai. They could actually have intelligent conversations. Far better than InuYasha's customary "Oi, bitch! Get to tracking those shards proto!" or "Kagome! When is the Ramen going to be finished?"
Kagome's smile faltered and was replaced with a slight frown. Sesshomaru's expression was as stoic as ever. Quickly Kagome had learned to look to his eyes to find his emotions. It was only when they were truly alone that he dropped his mask.
Now, however, disturbed her. His eyes were clouded with anger and another emotion she couldn't put her finger on.
"Is something wrong, Sesshomaru?" she asked quizzically.
Kagome blinked and he was in front of her. She looked up his towering form and tilted her head back to meet his eyes. Those twin pools of amber held something Inuyasha's didn't. Before they had begun to know each other she probably would have said it was hate. Hate for his hanyou relation and for all who associated with him. (Now she was beginning to think it was intelligence. Something InuYasha certainly seemed to lack.) She now knew it wasn't hatred; he certainly didn't hate her.
But now was different. His whole demeanor was off. As he looked back down at her his eyes held fire and an unspoken question.
Sesshomaru stared down at the miko and she fidgeted under his intense scrutiny. Finally he began to speak, his voice cold.
"Why is it that I smell another male's sent on you?"
a/n: this is where I'm leaving ya! A nice cliffy if I do say so myself. And just to make you squirm I'll tell ya that I've already got chapter 5 written! All I have to do is type is up and post it! There, NOW lets see if I get a few hundred reviews!
–OhBrother