Author's Note: Another update woo-woo! I have the day off of work so I may update twice today. Oh and I forgot, I don't own Inuyasha (but I WOULD like to own Sesshomaru ;) ). Please review and let me know what ya think!
"I can feel her aura spiking, coming off in waves. She seems furious. Oblivious. Good." Sesshomaru think, smiling inwardly.
He finds Kagome easily enough. He watches her trip over a few branches, can scent the smell of her blood from scratches she has received from mindlessly stumbling through the dense forest. It smells...delicious. His demon blood stirs at the scent, drawn to it. The animal inside him howls with want.
"Want? I do not want a human woman. That is disgusting. I merely wish to end her. Impertinent wench. Brave and beautiful, hot tempered and mouthy...Beautiful? Did that word just pop into my mind? My beast must be crazed by the scent of blood. Yes. That is all. I will enjoy teaching her a lesson."
Sesshomaru shakes his thoughts away and in a flash is upon the girl. She seems totally unaware, up until he collides with her, grabbing her by her throat. He lifts her up off the forest floor. Every creature, even the insects, have gone silent and still.
He walks with her squirming in his hand. She is eye-level with him, so he is able to glare icily into her eyes. He can feel her fear rolling off of her. She whimpers in protest but he knows she cant speak, his grip on her throat too tight to allow it.
"Did you honestly think you would speak to me in such a way and be allowed to live?" Sesshomaru asks, coldness seeping through his voice.
The girls gurgles something, clawing at his hand. He mentally rolls his eyes and release his grip slightly. Why not hear what she has to say before she dies?
"You're a bastard, Sesshomaru. I should never have stopped Inuyasha from ripping you to shreds when his demon blood transformed him. We should have let him take care of you right then and there. But no, we knocked him out and dragged him away. Because I didn't want him to kill you!" Kagome says, as loudly as possible though most comes out in squeaks.
"Hn. And why is that, Miko?" Sesshomaru, choosing to ignore the disrespect, now intrigued.
"Because I knew he would regret it. Because I know a part of him wishes you two weren't always at odds. He had no one growing up, no father, his mother died when he was just a child. Then, he comes to learn he has a brother, and oh boy! Look what he gets! YOU! Oh joyous day! An angry, jealous, brother who is hellbent on killing him." She seethes through clenched teeth.
"You are either quite brave for speaking to me in this way, with the position you are in," He says, looking at his hand around her fragile throat, "Or you are quite stupid." He glares at her, not letting it show that he has let her words sink in to be put away for further thought at another time.
"Actually, I believe I may be a little of both. Brave, for coming to see you on peaceful terms, to form some sort of pact with you. And stupid, for ever thinking you would be wise enough to take me up on it." Kagome growls back, her fierce brown eyes drilling into his.
Sesshomaru lets a growl rip through his chest, his eyes bleeding a slight red. He stares at the Miko in his hand. How easy it would be to simply break her neck. How small and fragile she is. But, at the same time, he has a slight bit of new respect for her. She is loyal to her pack, even though his half-breed brother has broken her heart. He could sense it in the air before he came upon their campsite earlier. Sadness, anger and jealousy were mixed in with her scent. Her scent, like all the other times he sniffed her out in the times he had "joined forces" with their group in the past, was that of rainfall and lilies. Not that it mattered.
"You've helped us before, Sesshomaru. Not by way of making a pact, but by stumbling upon our group before in battles. Why not do it officially, for once? Maybe finally do something good for your brother?" Kagome asks, silently begging the Gods he releases her already bruised neck.
Sesshomaru blinks and stares at her. He narrows his eyes, searching her face. She has freckles still from the summer sun beating down on her throughout the days of travel around her hairline and a slight dusting on her nose. Her lips quiver for a moment, showing that she is not dull enough to not have some type of fear of him. Her lips, full and pink, pulling her bottom one back to bite on. Her dark chocolate brown eyes squeeze shut, clearly from the pain of having her throat held tightly for so long. Her black silky hair brushes against his wrist from the cool night breeze.
Abruptly, he drops her to the forest floor. She falls hard on her bottom and she lets on a cry, gasping in deep breaths of the cold evening air. She looks down at her jeans, which are ripped up now thanks to all the underbrush, and holds her neck gently. She peers up at the demon Lord, trying to gauge his reaction. His amber eyes are like molten pools, glaring down at her. But she see's something now, something she had never seen on his face before. Respect.
"Listen well, Miko. I will join forces with this group you are forming. But I will decide all battle strategies. That half-breed will not attempt to express any sort of Alpha attitude, when clearly, he is not leader of his group. I will converse with only you and that wolf demon you have already asked." Sesshomaru says.
"What? Me? Why!" Kagome asks, horrified at the thought of having to make decisions like that.
"You are here, are you not? You are binding these treaties you are forming. That is something an Alpha does. Clearly you lead your pack."
With that, he was gone. Kagome lets a sigh escape her lips and she closes her eyes, laying back against Gods know what on the forest floor. She feels the leaves crunch under her head and knows it will take forever to get the little bits out of her long hair but she ignores it. She's alive. Thank the Gods, she is alive! And Sesshomaru...respects her. Somewhat.
She gets up and runs back to camp to tell Miroku the good news and finds him standing with his foot on top of a toad. She stops abruptly and looks down at it, making a face. He's shrieking something that she can hardly understand because his face is so deep in the dirt.
"What IS that?" Kagome asks Miroku, watching it squirm.
"This? Oh, the toad demon that follow Sesshomaru around. He challenged me. I don't have it in me to kill him, though." Miroku says, sighing and looking down at it.
"I AM AN IMP!" The thing shrieks, turning it's head to the side and gasping air.
"Oh, right. Jaken. Whatever, let him go run back to Sesshomaru." Kagome says, yawning.
Miroku lets his foot up off of the little demon who scrambles up. He grabs his staff and glares at the two of them. Then he laughs a maniacal, shrieking laugh.
"I know what you two came here for. Fools! My Lord would NEVER team up with the likes of-"
"Oh, but he already has. It looks like we'll all be spending some time together, Jaken, and you better get used to it. And if you don't like it, you can take it up with your Lord." Kagome says, rolling her eyes at the last word.
Jaken stands, staring, dumbfounded. His jaw dropped and hanging. He can't imagine what his Lord was thinking! That girl must have bewitched him! He doesn't need help from ANYONE to defeat that foul creature Naraku! And he tells the two in front of him exactly that.
"I'll say this again, the same thing I said to Sesshomaru. If he didn't need any help, Naraku would be dead. But lo and behold, he's still alive. So clearly, he does require some assistance, as do we all. Seriously, go scamper back to Sesshomaru, your stink is overwhelming and I'd like to get some sleep tonight."
Jaken glowers at them and runs off in search of his Lord. He knows he shouldn't say anything to him about this treaty, but he will not like it. Nor will he be friendly to any of them. And Rin, poor Rin, will be terrified by those wolves. They murdered her family! Has Sesshomaru forgotten that? No, he more likely doesn't care. Jaken sighs, running in the direction of his Lord's aura.
Kagome sits at camp, going over everything that happened with Sesshomaru. She can't help but have a silly grin on her face. She had succeeded in cutting a deal with the strongest demon alive. And Miroku echoes how proud he is of her. Though she did nearly lose her life. And it also doesn't help that she has to admit she is a bit...excited.
Sesshomaru is definitely nice to look at. Wait, what am I saying! He just tried to kill me! Or...did he? If he really wanted me dead, I would be dead.
Kagome pushes these thoughts from her mind as she settles in for sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. She's exhausted from the trip they have made, and the wear and tear on her body is visible. It has already been a week since they started their trek and will take a few more days, depending on the weather, to get back to Edo. But none of this worries her. She stretches under her sleeping bag, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. For the first time in a long time, they have a plan. And they will take out Naraku. For good.