Chapter 2: Heart and Help

As soon as the others couldn't see it, Kagome's shoulders slumped, the strength leaving her. A tear ran down her face as the memories of what happened flooded her brain again. Sesshoumaru walked behind her at a distance and was faintly surprised when Kagome turned as she walked, and went into the surrounding forest. Curious, he followed her and was surprised when he found her in a position he found himself in when he was thinking. Sitting down on a large tree root, her back against a tree, her right leg up against the root while her right arm was leaning on the knee and her left arm resting on her stomach, was Kagome. Her head was bowed, but he could smell the tears and without thinking, moved forward.

Kagome's head shot up as soon as she sensed him coming towards her and the wariness in her gaze made him slow down ever so slightly. Her eyes followed him as he sat down next to her before they shut as a few more tears escaped her eyes. Both she and Sesshoumaru had become relative friends in the time Sesshoumaru and his small pack became allied with hers, so if he talked in word that were more than 'hn', 'die' and 'Jaken', it no longer surprised her.

"Why are you here, Sesshoumaru-Sama?" He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. But instead of answering the question, he told her something from his past that he had never said to anyone else.

"I once had a sister." The loss of 'this Sesshoumaru' usually meant that what he was about to say was very serious. Kagome turned her head towards him and opened her eyes curiously. Seeing that he had her full attention, he continued. "She had also gone through what you have, and I was the only one who would comfort her. She eventually recovered, but she was always terrified of men afterwards and hated being touched by one unless they first warned her. One day, she was attacked by bandits. Too terrified to do anything, even scream, she could do nothing to stop them from repeating what she had gone through once before just leaving her on the side of the road. That was how I came across her. She begged me to kill her, that she couldn't recover for a second time. I saw the truth in her words and asked her how she would like to die." Sesshoumaru glanced at her again, only to see her enraptured gaze on him, completely into the tragic tale.

"And what happened?" She asked quietly as tears ran down her cheeks.

"She said she would like to die by my poison. At first I out rightly refused - my poison at the time was extremely painful and one of the slowest ways to die. She smiled at me and told me about a special kind of poison, a poison only I could create. I didn't understand. She held up her own claws as she drew mine closer to her and cut my palm and let a few drops of her own poison drop into the wound." Sesshoumaru stopped as he felt a small tug on his sleeve. He looked at her fully.

"What did her poison do?"

"Hers was not corrosive, as mine was. It would paralyse the opponent as it killed them painfully." Kagome's eyes widened, and was suddenly not sure as to which poison was better.

"Oh." Amusement softened Sesshoumaru's golden eyes for a moment, to Kagome's fascination.

"Yes. When she had dropped her poison into the small wound, it had mixed the two poisons together. Whereas before I had two kinds of poison, now I had three. The newest edition of my poison could numb the being as it killed them, and the being would have no time to feel pain. It is the most merciful of my poisons, by far. After that, she asked me to kill her. With care I injected a rather large dose of it in her bloodstream and had no choice but to hold her as she died." Kagome frowned as something didn't quite add up.

"How come she was affected by your poison, but you weren't affected by hers?" Pleased with her quickness, Sesshoumaru answered her.

"I have immunity to large doses of a number of poisons. That is why a few drops of hers did not affect me. As for my sister… she was not gifted with immunity." Her mouth made an 'O' shape as she understood.

"Why did you tell me that?" His eyes suddenly went distant and she wondered why.

"This Sessho- no, I wished to help. It is no use for the Shikon no Miko to be traumatised." There was a faint teasing in his voice.

"Thank you Sesshoumaru-Sama!" Kagome smiled brightly, completely grateful to him. Her voice was light as she spoke, but it darkened when she next spoke. "Would you… I mean… could you…?" Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed slightly, wondering what exactly she was getting at.

"Speak clearly, Kagome." His harsh tone did nothing to hide that he had said her name. She looked shocked before composing herself.

"Would you help me from now on, Sesshoumaru-Sama?" Kagome feared the response more than she had feared anything else in her life. Sesshoumaru nodded once.

"I shall." He blinked, slightly stunned, as Kagome gave one of her brightest smiles.

"Thank you so much, Sesshoumaru-Sama!" She surprised herself when she reached over and gave him a hug. Sesshoumaru stiffened, not because he was unused to the contact as Kagome had often done this before, but because he was unsure what her reaction would be once she realised exactly what she had done. Sure enough, as soon as she realised where she was, she tensed. He smelled her fear, but she wasn't letting go.

Kagome knew she had to overcome this if she wanted to carry on with her life - she was not going to let her rapist win. She felt as Sesshoumaru relaxed as she continued to hug him. She was truthfully very afraid, but as she took deep breaths in and out, she found she could relax slowly. When she was completely relaxed, she felt Sesshoumaru's right arm go around her body to hug her back, or at least to get her used to him touching her.

Surprise filtered through him when, despite her fear, Kagome held on. He heard her breathing rhythmically, evidently trying to calm herself down. He relaxed, knowing it probably wouldn't help if he was tense. When he was sure she was relaxed, Sesshoumaru put his remaining arm around her slowly, trying to sense if she was ready for it, letting her get used to it. She tensed, still doing the breathing exercises, but didn't move away. She whimpered in distress when she couldn't relax, her memories overwhelming her. Sesshoumaru purred deep in his chest, crooning to calm her down as much a possible.

To say he was shocked would an understatement when she released an answering croon. She was not a youkai, so she should not be able to do what she was doing. Then he watched, unsure what to think as her hair gained deep red streaks, the tips of her hair also that colour and it grew to her hips. He couldn't see her features, but they changed, smoothing out, loosing the slight girlish quality as it matured and her high cheek bones became more prominent. Her eyes narrowed as she felt the change within herself, her eyesight sharpening and her hearing becoming more sensitive. Her nails grew sharper, but not as much as a youkai's would. Sesshoumaru stepped back out of the hug, wanting to see exactly what had happened.

The change was evident. Her body was more curved, filling out properly, her ears had grown to elfin points and her eyes had changed colour. Once a chocolate brown, they were now an airy blue, dark as the sky, yet somehow colder than that. Through her torn tee shirt green patterns covered her arms that he assumed went to her shoulders. They were also on her legs and stomach and he admired the curves and whisper-like strokes of the lines.

Sesshoumaru had no idea what kind of creature she was, but he was determined to find out. What intrigued him the most was the fact that she did no seem surprised that this had happened now, only resigned and sorrowful. He supposed that she was still mourning the loss of her family on top of her rape.

He had never been more wrong in his assumptions.

The problem was, how was she going to hide this from her friends?

And even worse, Naraku?