Disclaimer: I do Not own Inuyasha
Beta and Co-author: Tokahlia
Thanks for reviewing: Veraozao, tsuirakuangel, Sin of the Fallen, aurla0
A White Rose_A Kiss of Desire
Chapter 7
Lord Sesshoumaru told himself that the reason he was watching his brother's former miko was not because of any personal interest and that he was not peeping on her. He had followed the girl from afar when, upon trailing the half-breed's scent he had found her and the kit's scent had split from the rest of the group. Between patrolling his lands and searching for Naraku, Sesshoumaru had managed to keep an eye on the priestess in his spare time.
Which was why, when she started doing a routine very similar to his poison-whip fighting style, he became perplexed. Unseen, he leaned against a tree and watched as she leaped and twirled with a ribbon, picking up openings she made and figuring out ways to prevent them as an afterthought. He had to admit, though her moves would never equal his grace, she was pretty good. When she huffed and flopped herself on the ground he tilted his head minutely in confusion. He watched with interest as she drew something in the air and was shocked to see some type of seal form with her reiki. She murmured something that he did not understand and an odd looking object came out of the seal before the seal shimmered and disappeared with a pop.
The inu youkai silently as she fiddled with the object and became more confused when a sweet melody ringed through the air. Everything about the melody was different, there were instruments he had never heard before; even the sound of the music was different. It bewildered his mind and he stored away the memory of the music away in his mind for further contemplation.
The onna now had her eyes closed as she listened intently to the melody; she looked like she was trying to remember something. A short while later, she set the object down and resumed her training. Her movement was much more graceful but did not at all resemble a battle dance, instead it was more of a dance for entertainment. It was... beautiful. Sesshoumaru could not believe that she, never mind any human, was able to move like that. At times, she appeared to be boneless. He noted a few strange moves, to incorporate into his own death-dances.
Aurthor's note: /W8OpvZb2Al4 - this is the link to youtube
And then the stupid kit had to give away Sesshoumaru's position.
"Hahaue!" Sesshoumaru twitched at the voice but made no motion to move. He had been caught. If he were anyone else, Sesshoumaru would have sighed. The daikyoukai inwardly curses his high sense of honour and duty. If he had been some low-life he would have sprinted away from the, though he dared not admit it aloud, slightly-embarrassing prospect of explaining himself. He strode purposely to the pair, making it seemed as if it was his intention in the first place. Though he was slightly put off when the miko only had a curious and expectant look on her slightly flushed face he did not let it come out on his stoic expression.
Kagome was mentally panicking. 'He saw me!' It had been so long since she had performed and he had watched her! Not that she would admit it to anyone, but she greatly valued his opinion for the simple fact that he. Did. Not. Lie. Was it crazy to be worrying more about what he had thought of her ribbon dance than her life?
"Sesshoumaru-sama," she bowed, mentally patting herself on the back for a job well done in keeping her voice neutral and hiding her nervousness away securely, at least for the moment.
"Hn." He did not say another word until he was right before her. Why he stood so close to her she did not know, intimidation factor was he best guess; she refrained herself from thinking more on the subject. "An... interesting performance, miko."
Her heart jumped! She gazed up at him in shock. She gulped. Was it a trick of the light or was there a flicker of humour in his gaze? "Is there something that you want, Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"Hn. You are alone." he stated. From his tone Kagome filled in the blanks; 'Do not think I was spying on you. I am merely wondering why you aren't with that brother of mine.' Her mind's version of Sesshoumaru was surprisingly verbal.
Shippou looked like he would like to retort but remained silent do to fear of the intimidating daiyoukai. Sesshoumaru, of course, had noted the presence of the kit; he had been the first one to notice the inu.
Kagome's eyes lingered on her adopted son, not wanting to hurt the lord's ego by mentioning out loud that they weren't alone.
"I am aware of the kit. This one wonders why you have left the hanyou's pack." Mind Sesshoumaru came alive again in Kagome's brain. 'Of course I noticed Shippou, I'm not blind. Now you better tell me why you left or else I will force it out of you.' The challenging shine in his features did not go unnoticed by Kagome. Suddenly her last meeting with her first love's brother reasserted itself in her mind. 'Humans are such fickle creatures.'
Kagome held her hands behind her back as she spat out the next point, not wanting to loose a jabbing finger to the lord. "No! I wouldn't leave the group to be with someone else, milord. Your brother just got on my bad side one too many times!"
Sesshoumaru quirked an eyebrow but was otherwise silent. "This Sesshoumaru..." he seemed to take in her emotional state with a critical eye before formulating the rest of his responce. "does not believe that you have adequate skills."
"For what?" she nearly shouted, incredulous.
"Survival."
"I..." Kagome wanted to argue but she really did not know what to say. She was sure that he would pick up on her lie a mile away. Her mind was in chaos trying to look for something to say in a frame of two seconds. "You're right. I lack survival skills." She locked eyes with him. "Even still, it was best that I separate from InuYasha."
Sesshoumaru waited for her to elaborate but she did not do as he wished. "Where will you go from here?"
Kagome smiled. She could not helped herself. "Why do you want to know, Sesshoumaru-sama?" 'It almost seems like you care.'
Sesshoumaru was perplexed at her smile. Smiling in his presence was almost unheard of , except for those given by Rin. "Do not make the mistake to think that This one to cares for your well being; however, it has come to This one's attention that his ward, Rin, is in need of a tutor." Sesshoumaru reasoned with himself that this was true; he had been trying to get the girl to take lessons with youkai tutors but most of the time it had ended with Rin running to him, crying about a 'meanie sensei' who would insult her humanity. Though the miko acted strangely Sesshoumaru could tell that she had been educated; add that to the fact that Rin already trusted the onna and she was the obvious choice. He also reasoned with himself that he did not want to take her under his protection because he wanted to keep her close to figure her out, she was such a puzzle.
"Really?" She blurted out without thinking, it was almost a reflex. She was so surprised. Her arctic silver-blue eyes shined in joy and she smiled brightly, almost blindingly, making Sesshoumaru slightly nervous and almost unsure as to how to react.
So he said the only thing he figured would be appropriate. "Hn."
Laughter pearled from Kagome's lips. His answer was just so typical of Sesshoumaru and for once she could not help but to find it charming. Was it wrong to find this predator cute? She would never dare to say it out loud, ever. If a knife was against her throat and the only way she could survive would be to say that Sesshoumaru was cute, she would let them slit her throat. It would be a whole lot less messy that way. Only in the safety of her mind would she utter this endearing adjective to describe Sesshoumaru. She finally calmed down when she saw the glare he sent her, through it really ignited more laughter but she forced herself to calm down. A sweet smile was the reminate of her laughter, she bowed elegantly. "I would be honored to be employed as your ward's tutor, Sesshoumaru-sama. As long as I may still continue my quest for the Shikon shards."
Sesshoumaru snorted. "Rin does not leave This one's side. And as Naraku is still not dead you may accompany This one as he hunts the hanyou."
Kagome had to crushed down another bubble of laughter. She found the Inu Daiyoukai's pride very adorable for some reason at the moment. It might have been because she just found her new hobby in him. It amused her greatly at how fun it was to translate with he said in her mind. He was just so... predictable that it was funny. She mentally giggled. "Thank you for accepting us, Sesshoumaru-sama." she said as formally and as sincerely as she could.
A small twitch formed on the corner of Sesshoumaru's left eyebrow. Right... the kit. He was irritated at the miko's unpredictable responses. The happy smile and joyful light in her eyes made him uncomfortable. This type of reaction and emotion was not what he was accustomed to, at least at this scale. Rin was still a child so her mood changes were bound to happen. However, he ruefully mused, he began to wonder if quickly-switching-moods was a requirement for human females.
"Come." He turned and walked away.
"W-wait Sesshoumaru-sama! I have to pack my things first!"
A White Rose_A Kiss of Desire
"Jaken-sama, when do you think Sesshoumaru-sama will be back? Rin is bored, Jaken-sama."
"Quit whining you insolent child. Sesshoumaru-sama is a Lord. He has a lot of work to do. And I don't care if you're bored." the green kappa huffed, folding his arms inside his sleeve.
Rin sighed. "Jaken-sama is such a meanie. You like me right, Ah-Un?"
Said dragons first wrapped around her body for a hug before Ah, the head on the left nuzzled her cheek, eliciting a giggle. She was in the middle of scratching Ah's ears when her Sesshoumaru senses started to tingle. The young girl's head snapped to the far left and she quickly extracted herself from the dragon's hold and skipped/ran to the camped perimeter and stopped. She swayed back and forth on the heels of her feet, eagerly awaiting her lord's entrance.
"Welcome back, Sesshoumaru-sama!" she pronounced happily. Her joy at seeing him turned gleeful when she caught sight of her favorite nee-chan! "Kagome-sama! You're here!" she was now hopping up and down. She turned her eyes to Sesshoumaru who gave her an almost nod. Her smile widened, almost painfully for those who could see and ran to the miko.
"Rin is so happy you'll be staying with us, Kagome-sama!"
"Hello Rin, how are you?" She patted the girl on the head, smiling down at her. Kagome was a little surprised that the girl had figured out what she was doing, but, she reasoned, Rin had probably realised that Sesshoumaru wasn't a big talker. Off-handedly she wondered if her own skills of deduction would improve.
"Rin is well, thank you for asking."
"Hey, Rin!"
The voice cause the young girl to turn and she waved enthusiastically to the young Kitsune. "Hi, Shippou!"
A White Rose_A Kiss of Desire
As the two children caught up with each other their conversation soon went off into a different tangent. Kagome smiled at them but didn't drop her stuff at the camp site. She wasn't sure whether or not they would stay there for the night and didn't want to make Sesshoumaru think she was lazy. It was almost dark; Sesshoumaru's demon speed had made the journey to where Kagome had been faster on the way there than having to walk at Kagome's quickened pace. However, Kagome was used to a certain hanyou pushing her group until well after the sun had set.
Almost telepathically Sesshoumaru began to speak. "We are camping here for the night. There is a hot spring to the North if you wish to bathe yourself." Kagome burst out into a grin that rivalled Rin's, dropped her satchel at her feet then ran over to the children to announce bath time.
Sesshoumaru found it almost amusing to see her jubilant reaction to something so mundane as bathing. Her happy scent must be contagious because he was feeling oddly refreshing and on impulse ran head off to hunt just as Kagome's silhouette disappeared. He adamantly told himself that he was not doing so to impress her, not at all. Why would the great diayoukai of the west waste time trying to impress a ningen?
The scenery around him blurred. He could feel the cool gust of wind rushing through his hair and flutter his clothes. The sounds of the approaching night ringed pleasantly in his sensitive ears; he relished in the familiarity of it. It was the first sign, the sound of undisturbed nature. His keen ears listened and soon he found the sequences of heartbeats he was looking for, he had found his prey. He made beeline forward his target, making no sound at all to a human ear. As the animal bent down to eat some more vegetation Sesshoumaru pounced, slitting the serow's throat with practised precision.
He flicked the blood off his claws like one would do to a bloodied katana; without mercy he watched, an outsider, as the goat-antelope's life-blood drained out into the ground. Sesshoumaru rolled up his sleeves and as quickly as possible gutted the animal, only leaving in the now mostly empty carcass juicy morsels such as the liver and heart. Once this was done the Lord of the West slung the animal over his back and calmly ran back to camp, reassuring himself that they did in fact need this meat and that no,travel portions would not be good enough to welcome a new member to his group.
Kagome was, simply put, surprised. She was shocked actually at the hospitality that Sesshoumaru showed her upon her return from the bath. Not to say that he was anything less then his stoic and indifference self because he was just as cold as ever, should she just took his actions as... obligated etiquette? 'Yeah, lets just go with that. Seriously though, Sesshoumaru, nice? no way!'
Kagome had remained silent since she had gotten back. At the moment she was currently staring at Sesshoumaru, and, though she tried, it wasn't very inconspicuous. She realized that it was very rude of her but she just couldn't wrap her mind around the phenomenon that Seshoumaru was being courteous to her. He hunted, by the astonished look on Rin's face she guessed it was for her and prepared the meal. Said meal was currently roasting away on the open flame not too far way.
"Miko, cease your staring." His golden eyes bored in on her. Kagome inwardly shied from the force of his gaze. If he were anyone else there would be a prominent frown on his handsome face. She did not react immediately to his words; simply blinked lazily a few times before drawing a seal in the air. She seemingly did not took notice of his calculating gaze.
"Tea set." she whispered and out came a cane basket, inside was a beautiful tea set, folded neatly in spare cloth to stop clinking and chips. She gently set them down.
"Tea leaves assortment." Kagome held the assortment of connected boxes in her hand and ponder for a moment which flavor of tea she should serve. Her mind shifted for a brief second to what Sesshoumaru would like but she was quick to push that thought away as she did not know him well enough to even guess. 'Still, he is being pretty nice...'
Mind made up, she carefully stood up and made her way to him. Her eyes met his and she unconsciously thought back to the posture of an traditional hostess and mimicked the posture impulsively. Her back straightened, her arms leveled parallel to the ground and her feet touched the ground lightly, each steps measured. She kneeled before him then sit back on her folded legs and presented her assortment of tea leaves to heart beat sporadically within her chest, at a 'hn' she straightened herself upright.
"This Sesshoumaru is intrigued by the one third on your left." Kagome smiled, packing up the other leaves with ease and shoving them unceremoniously back into a seal, all the while watched with seemingly detached interest from a young human girl, an astonished kitsune and an arrogant inu lord.
Kagome drew up another seal and called forth a thermos then proceed on to making the tea. She asked Shippou to bring her tea set to her as she did not feel right to be moving from her current space in front of Sesshoumaru. She knew that it used to be considered rude for a man to see a woman standing. Shippou hesitated, looking unsure at Sesshoumaru then back at her and gave in. She was proud of him as she watched him took a deep breath and did what she asked.
"Arigatou, Shippou." she smiled.
"Your welcome, mama." he returned her smile with one of his own, chuckled bashfully at her adoring eyes.
"Do you want to help me, honey?"
"Um, sure." he nodded, though his gaze flickered to Sesshoumaru for a brief second. He turned back and took the object that Kagome handed to him.
"Hold the tea bag open for me."
"Like this?"
"Hai." she then spooned 5 teaspoons of the flavor that Sesshoumaru choose, which was peach blossom and white tea, into the bag. Shippou noticed that she was done as she put away the tea assortments back into one of her seal and tied up the bag.
"Here, mama."
"Not just yet, Shippou. I need to heat up the teapot first."
"Why?"
"So that there won't be a clash in temperature, that would make the tea loose flavor." she answered him patiently as she poured the hot water from the thermos into the ceramic teapot. She set the thermos down and picked up the tea pot, giving it a swish to move the hot liquid around within the pot. After a moment she poured out the now slightly cooler liquid then set the tea pot down. She gestured for Shippou to put the tea bag into the pot and nodded when he did so.
"Oh...are you going to do that to the cups too?"
"Hai." She answered him without taking her eyes away from what she was doing. She poured the hot water into the teapot then closed the lid then proceeded to warming up the tea cups like she did with the tea pot earlier. It was only when she finished with all of the cups that she realized her tea was not ready and by the time that it was her cups would have cooled. She quickly drew out another storage seal and called for her book on sealing. A quick look at the index then leafing through the pages, she found what she was looking for. She copied the seal then checked for mistakes, founding none, she drew the seal on each on of the cups as well as the tea pot after a moment of pause.
"What seal was that, mama?"
"Consitancy seal." She proudly ruffled her son's hair, only to pick up brown eyes gazing at them with something akin to need. Kagome wistfully smiled and opened her arms out to Rin, motioning her forward with her arms. The little girl looked towards Sesshoumaru, who gave the barest semblance of a nod, then rushed towards the miko, kneeling besides Kagome as the young woman quietly pointed out some of the finer points of tea making.
The, still stoic, Sesshoumaru watched as the miko degraded slowly but surely from her formal position of before to a laughing and, though not rude, still otherwise less restrained. Although he regretted the etiquette lessons he would have to, no doubt, force onto his ward he couldn't help but almost smile as the woman handled the children with expert care. He watched as she strayed further and further from her current duties as she babbled nonsense to the two young children. Although he hated to draw attention to himself, and, for some reason, hated disrupting her rambling, there was a very important thing he had to get off his mind.
The daiyoukai of the west cleared his throat softly; immediately all attention was upon him. That's what happened when he could kill everyone in an heartbeat. He waited a heart-beat then assessed his pack mates bar Jaken, who was sitting far away.
He stared first into the eyes of the fox kit, who blinked in instinctual subservience. Then he moved along to his ward Rin, who's chocolate eyes warmed when they caught his cold ones before respectfully lowering to her knees, something she had picked up from who-knows where. The last pair of eyes his settled upon were those of the miko. The inner confusion and the hint of mirth that were found in her grey-blue irises gave no indication that she would break her gaze. Sesshoumaru, had he been a lesser youkai, would have sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. Instead he merely opened his mouth.
"Miko. This one has something to say." His voice was deeper than usual, probably explained by his unneeded throat clearing.
Kagome blushed, "Yes Sesshoumaru-sama?" from such a short distance away he could hear her heart-beat speed he smirked, already giant ego boosted by her unknowing compliment.
"Sesshoumaru?" Her voice brought him back from his wonderings.
The inu-youkai paused, trying to find the appropriate words. "Your tea has finished brewing."
"Ha! gomei. Thank you for reminding me." Her cheek dusted with a soft rosy tint as she turned her eyes to the innocent looking teapot. She took a silent deep breath and slightly pulled back the sleeves of her sleeping yukata that she had changed into after her bath, and gracefully began serving the tea. She smiled at the calming sounds of water hitting the ceramic surface of the cups and watched in interest as each cups filled. She set the tea pot down and gingerly picked up the first cup and presented it to the daiyoukai with both hands.
"Your tea, Sesshoumaru-sama."
"Hn." He took the cup from her, his fingers gazed hers in a feather-light touch. He thanked his own sword that rested at his side for giving him back his arm. A sucker for respect, not being able to accept her gift with both hands would have shamed him. He sniffed the scent of the sweet tea as he brought the cup to his lips. Behind the china he hid his smile as he took a sip. His eyes watching intently at the blush that spread across her face. He could have sighed in contentment as the sweet aroma of the tea was mixed with the intoxicating scent of the Miko. Sesshoumaru paused, the refreshment still in his mouth as he pondered that thought. Yes, he decided, he would admit that her scent was pleasing. It was hard to find a human who kept clean. As he swallowed he inwardly smirked as her heartbeat reacted to his simple actions. The taste of the tea was exquisite.
"D... do you like it, Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"Hn." Kagome sweat-dropped at his answer. Her still pounding heart revealed her nervousness about his opinion. All he had given her was a one word answer. 'Is 'hn' even a word?'
She took a deep breath in place of a shrug and put a smile on her face and offered tea to the others. Shippou and Rin thanked her and happily drank their teas, giving her compliments on it's taste. She finally picked up her own cup and was about to take a sip when she noticed Jaken on her peripheral vision. She placed her cup on her lap on top of her palm and turned her head to the imp.
"Jaken, would you like a cup?"
The imp glared and turned away in a huff. Kagome frowned and mentally shrugged then turned back to her tea. She brought the cup to her lips again only to notice that Sesshoumaru's cup was now empty. She move the china from her lips again as she looked up to his face to see that he was watching the flames. 'He's probably checking on the roasting deer.'As if feeling her eyes on him, he turned his gaze to her. Kagome oh-so-wanted to roll her eyes at the smug and content expression that was painted on his face but knew that it probably wouldn't be good for her in the long run.
She shook her head and placed her cup down neatly. She picked up the teapot from its handle and refilled his cup with more grace than she thought she'd ever posses. It was probably in the way she stuck out her tongue.
She was about to take a sip of her tea again when the sound of the children made her cringe.
"Mama, another cup please!"
"Kagome-sama, Rin too!"
Kagome pressed her lips together and robotically set her cup down again.She successfully put on a sweet smile, through it was too sweet of a smile, and pick up the teapot once more.
"Sure, honey."
From the corner of her eye she could see the sparkling twinkle of amusement in Sesshoumaru's eyes. He had definitely noticed her mood. 'Stupid inu youkai and their nose; oh! and eyes too. Eyes are very perceptive.'
And so, Kagome settled back onto her heels, taking a careful breath in and raising the cup to her lips almost ceremoniously. She was so close, her mouth started drooling a little at the thought of finally having something to drink.
A certain Western Lord cleared his throat and as she opened her eyes there, in front of her knees, next to the tea pot, was an emptied cup; two clawed hands slowly retreating back to an inu youkai's side. Kagome openly gaped. There was no way he could have had the tea that quickly, it was impossible! Huffing at her early attempts to try and seem like a mature person Kagome angrily whacked her cup onto the ground, poured the youkai a quick cup of tea and all but shoved it in his face.
Excruciatingly slowly two clawed hands with magenta stripes reached up to the cup. When his hands finally did grab the cup Kagome was forced to hold it longer. He was teasing her, she realised as bit by bit he took the weight off the cup from her hands. When he had finally taken enough pressure off Kagome eagerly reached back to her cup.
Then he said the worst possible thing. With one hand he carelessly raised his cup and whispered just loud enough for the children, still sipping on their cups, to hear.
"Kanpai."
Kagome watched, horror stricken as the three others eagerly downed what was left of their tea and placed it in front of their host.
A White Rose_A Kiss of Desire
The miko was too easy. Sesshoumaru knew that being a sadist was usually frowned upon but he couldn't understand how anyone would ever not want to be one. Watching the young girl's hopes crush with a single word had made him almost giddy, eliciting a slight chuckle from the impassive lord.
After he had said the last word she had wanted to hear the priestess had angrily snatched up her cup, told Rin to practise her skills in tea pouring and sullenly marched over away from the group, but close enough to still be warm from the fire.
Curse her, he thought, for discovering his weakness. For Rin Sesshoumaru had been forced to act kind, she tried so hard to impress him. But, unlike a certain miko, he knew he wouldn't be as enjoyable to wind up. Instead of pretty blushes he would be subjugated to tears and, most likely, angry stares from disappointed women. Ah, his life was full of woe. He had just been getting started.
"Daijobu, mama?"
Kagome looked up from her Literature book to see Shippou concerned face. She smiled to reassure the young kit.
"I'm fine, Shippou. Is there something you want?"
"You're not angry?"
"No, I'm fine now," at the disbelieving look on Shippou's face she continued, "What? I'm not mad anymore!" Kagome asserted
"Ha! So you weremad. Why?" he pointed a finger at her.
"No pointing, Shippou. It's rude."
"Mama, you didn't answer the question. Nande?" Darnit, he hadn't changed the subject.
"Hm..." She peeked a glance at the Inuyoukai then leaned in and whispered into Shippou's ear. "Sesshoumaru was being a meanie."
"Eh? honto? (really?)" She nodded. "When? what did he do?"
Before she could answer, a deep voice reached a ears.
"Miko," Sesshoumaru face was as stoic as ever when she turned to face him. "the meat is done."
Her mouth watered. She eagerly nodded and made her way to the flame and began to serve the meat. She brought out plates and eating utensil then set them aside. She drew another seal and brought out a carving knife and fork then began carving the food. Her mouth watered even more when she saw how juicy it was. Just as she was finished plating each plates an idea hit her and she moved steadfast with a multitude of seals and created a variety of sauces to go with the meat. She added the additional disks of sauces to each plates then garnished the meat with a sprinkle of parsley and basil. She sat back and scan the plated dishes.
"If only there was a side of salad..." she murmured. 'Oh well. Next time I have a bath I'll try and find some greens to eat.'
Kagome took a deep breath then made her way to the Inu lord with the stray of plates in hand. Shippou was now seated on Rin's right, her left was taken up by Sesshoumaru, or was Rin seated at Sesshoumaru's right, Kagome wondered. Even Jaken had joined the group, though he sat a bit further away. Kagome silently set one plate in front of each person and refilled their teacups, shooting one don't-even-think-about-it glare at Sesshoumaru then sat back and waited.
Sesshoumaru silently observed the onna. He felt a sent of satisfaction that he held all of her attention. A mischievous snake slithered into his conscious making his eyes gleam for an ephemeral moment. He move his clawed hand forward slowly. He inwardly chuckled at the light of excitement in her eyes. 'So eager, Miko?'
His hand made a turn and he watched as her face nearly fall and anger enter her exotic silver-blue orbs. 'Such unique eyes,'He wondered why he never noticed that her eyes were mesmerizing. Sesshoumaru let his median finger ringed around the rim of the porcelain cup and hid a smile as the arc of her left eyebrow twitched and a small bit of confusion entered her eyes. Finally he decided to end her torture and picked up his chopsticks. He picked up a thinly slice piece of meat and dip it in the sauce closest to him. He nearly closed his eyes as the flavor exploded on his tongue.
"Hn." He gave he onna an almost appraising look in his eyes.
Oh how Kagome wished she had a stress ball. 'Him and his cursed 'hn' answer! What's wrong with speaking like a normal person? Oh right, he's not normal! And not a person either. Technically.'
The rest of the meal passed in near silence. The children quickly ate their fill before Kagome ushered them to bed, neatly tucking them in without much fuss. But then again, that did constitute to Shippou turning into a pink balloon and Rin throwing a minor hissy fit. However Kagome handled the situation easily, at least Shippou hadn't been cranky before bedtime, all hell would have broken use. Once the two children were asleep, Jaken had fallen asleep near them, resting against the trunk of a tree.
Kagome burrowed into her sleeping-bag and rolled over to a tree near the fire and, inadvertently, nearer to Sesshoumaru. He looked up at the sound of the futuristic material against itself, quirked an eyebrow but otherwise remained silent. Mind Sesshoumaru made a come-back - 'This one is curious concerning your sleeping arrangements but finds it below himself to make a query.'
"It's a type of sleeping blanket from my ti-home." Kagome caught onto her little blurb before she accidentally revealed her secret. Sesshoumaru gave a hint of a nod in response. Just as Kagome began to fall asleep she felt a sudden rush of Haku's grace tumble over her. It seemed confused, worried and angry. A growl made her open her eyes, thought lazily, but, the rush of youki flowing from Sesshoumaru made her scramble upright. By the time her eyes adjusted to the light all she could see was Sesshoumaru's annoyed sneer.
Kagome's eyes bugged out in alarm. She could feel the tugs in her aura and knew instinctively that Haku was calling for her.
"Miko, explain!" He growled just above a whisper.
"I..." Another tug, stronger than before called her her attention. Kagome did not know what to do, her head moved back and forth between Sesshoumaru's sneering face and the direction of the blowing wind, north of their location.
"Who is summoning you, Miko?"
Sesshoumaru starked towards her. "A lover?" He sniffed her scent.
"None of your concern!" She hissed while kept in mind not to raise her voice. Her heart thumped like a hummingbird. He scared her.
"Wrong. You are now under this Sesshoumaru's protection; therefore, who you associate with is This One's business."
Kagome was angry. 'He has no right!'She was about to slash tongue at him when she felt another tug, it felt desperate and filled with concern and a hint of anger that was not aimed at her.
"Answer, miko. This one does not repeat himself."
Kagome bared her teeth at him. "I do not have to tell you anything!"
Red bled into his eyes but he stopped it half-way. He took a deep cleaning breath. Her time with his sorry excuse of a brother had made her secretive. She had obviously absorbed some of his more appalling habits, such as hiding his emotions. She was used to a blind eye being turned on her disappearances. Sesshoumaru was not going to let his pack be anything but perfection, and perfection meant discipline and trust.
"Kagome, if you are to accompany This one you must learn to trust him."
Kagome anger shimmered down as surprise took over. "You said my name," She spoke the phrase melodically, almost like a song.
Sesshoumaru was surprised and confused at the look of wonder in her eyes. 'This ningen is confusing!' Then another thought hit him 'She bypassed what I just said completely.'he inwardly face-faulted.
"Miko."
"Ah, gomen." Kagome gave herself a moment to calm her mind. "The one who's calling me is my fiancee."
"Fiancee?" Sesshoumaru repeated the word slowly. It was foreign to him.
Kagome eyed him in confusion. 'Does he not know what a fiancee is?'Just as she finished that thought.
"Oh, excuse me. Fiancee is a foreign word from a country name France in the continent of Europe that mean individuals within an engagement that will lead to marriage."
"..."
Kagome did not know how to react to Sesshoumaru silence. She averted her eyes from his intense stare. "He's calling me. Let me go, onegai. I'll be back by dawn. I promise"
"Go"