Chapter 28: Other Side of Fear

That night, Inuyasha stood angrily in Sesshomaru's office, more ticked off by the minute at his brother so casually did work on his computer after nearly traumatizing a woman only hours ago. "Are you out of your damn mind?!"

Sesshomaru barely turned away from the screen. "I don't know what you mean, little brother."

"I mean the way you just completely wrote off nearly raping an innocent woman! Not to mention the fact that you made a complete ass of yourself physically taking Kagome away from her date tonight!"

"From what I understand, it was meant to be a business dinner, not a date."

"Yea, but still, you interfered in her personal life, something you said none of us should do!"

"Hn. She talked to you I'm assuming."

"Talked? No." Inuyasha shook his head harshly. "More like sobbed. Do you have any idea how awkward that was trying to stand up for you with Kagome crying all over me? I mean look at this." He pulled at the front of his shirt, showing off the multiple tears stains that adorned it, coated with Kagome's scent.

"She is exaggerating as I told her earlier. It was a past experience she was reliving and even then I did not rape her."

"I know that bastard! But threatening to is just as bad!"

"Inuyasha," Sesshomaru said in a warning tone.

"Oh no! That's not gonna work this time bastard! What the fuck is your problem?! Do you have any idea how scared outta her mind she is?!"

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes at the notion. "She has nothing to fear from me."

"You fake raped her damn it! Why is it I never heard about this until now?"

"Because I did not attempt to rape her, it was a crudely enabled joke and because up until now it was a moment only known among us and, therefore, none of your business."

"But you threatened her!"

"Inuyasha!" Having had enough he rose from his chair. "Leave it alone. You know little about our past together and absolutely nothing about that situation. I am your elder and your alpha here, remember that when you talk to me."

"Keh." Inuyasha crossed his arms. "Well if this is the type of alpha you are, maybe me and my family shouldn't be under you anymore."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me." The half demon snapped back. "I don't care what your excuse is, what you did was uncalled for. The way Kagome looked at me tonight….She was afraid of you! You made her fear you just to get your own way! What kind of leader is that Sesshomaru?!"

"Inuyasha."

The half-breed grunted in response. "What? I already told you that's not gonna work, this time, you went too far!" Taking a firmer stance he prepared himself for a fight or worse another display of his brother's anger.

But rather than warn him again or attempt to physically throw him from the room, Sesshomaru's expression became blank and he asked. "She is truly afraid of me?"

Thrown off for a moment, Inuyasha's ears twitched as he tried to detect some ulterior motive to his question. "Why do you care all of sudden?"

"Kagome….are you afraid of me?"

"Huh?" Startled by the sudden question, the woman in question glanced up from her writings to give him an odd look. "No, why would you ask me something like that?"

Keeping his place on the stone slab that he sat upon, the stoic boy merely shrugged in reply. "Those that live and work in the stronghold seem to generally avoid me, even if I have done nothing to warrant such behavior."

"Uh, have you considered it's just because you're the Lord in training?"

"A ruler must have the respect of his people. Avoiding and looking down whenever they see me is not respect….it is fear."

"Well, I might have an idea as to why they would do that."

He gave her a pointed stare; urging her to continue.

"Uh….Well, you can be a little….emotionless."

"What?"

"You know, like your father….always on the defensive."

"It is my training, I am supposed to be on guard."

"But you're that way with….everything." Closing up her journal, she approached the man swiftly, noting the way he stiffened in response. "See?" she said, pointing out his response. "Even with me, you're always so poised like your gonna strike if someone gets too close. The only time you're not like that is in bed and even then it's only until you finish."

Sesshomaru's mouth turned into a grim line. "I trust you." was all he said, bringing his leg up to rest with him on the bench.

"More than most, yet not enough to be normal."

"What do you suggest?"

"Try smiling."

Curled in a ball in the center of her bed, she tried her best to stifle a headache which was slowly but surely turning into a migraine. The memories were coming closer together, the feelings associated refreshed in her mind. Was this how amnesia patients felt when they started to recall events in their lives?

Flipping onto her back, Kagome kept a firm grip on her aching skull; which had begun pulsing in time with her heartbeat. "Please stop…."

"Stop what?"

Kagome turned so fast her vision clouded over. Instantly regretting the move, the demoness openly howled in agony, her head feeling as though a hammer had struck it.

Taken aback at her pain Sesshomaru pressed his hand against her forehead carefully, wrinkling his brow when he felt the telltale heat of a fever behind his palm. "Are you okay?"

"My head…."

"You have a migraine?" he questioned, sweeping her bangs back away from her face.

"No, I keep having flashbacks and…." Popping open one glazed over eye, Kagome suddenly realized just who she was talking to. "What the hell…."

"Hn. I am merely here to talk...or was until I saw you were in pain."

"You just want to talk? What kind of man does that?" Her words were soft and harsh, most likely due to her headache which was slowly draining her of her energy. "I don't even see why you bother considering your threat…."

"I did not threaten you, woman. And I do not wish to start another argument, not now."

"Right…," Kagome responded, unsure of what else to say.

"Your memory is returning, though not in an order I would have liked. Until it all comes back I will not bother to defend myself on certain moments because you have yet to find out the entire story. This is not the time to talk about our past mistakes."

"Sesshomaru…."

All at once the demon moved away from her, taking a few steps away to give them some much-needed space. "You need a relief of some kind, I will see to it someone sends you something." He turned to go but a fine clawed hand suddenly grabbed his own, preventing him from leaving as intended. Looking back at Kagome, he eyed her body that lay half suspended between him and the bed. Seeing the desperate look on her face, he couldn't help but ask her, "What?" She whispered it so softly he didn't hear it the first time. Asking her again produced the same mumbled result. "Kagome I can't understand you when you talk like that….what do you need?"

"Don't go…."

"What was my life like….in the past I mean?"

"Hn….It was tolerable, up until a certain point of course."

Snorting Kagome pressed on. "I was just tolerant?"

"No….I'm sure you were….happy. You held high ambitions and forever rose people's expectations of you."

"Really? How?"

Sesshomaru chuckled. "There are too many moments to count. You were always up to something. I told you before how quickly your interests changed and how you were a chronic procrastinator."

"How could I be an overachiever yet procrastinate at the same time?" In her mind, those were two words that just didn't go together.

"Hn. You would begin researching, find something noteworthy to the stronghold but useless to you, lose interest after fifteen minutes and then restart the cycle on another project."

Kagome giggled, pulling the cover up to her nose. That sounded like her. She did that very thing now and days with her various architectural projects. There was currently a whole barrel full of unfinished layouts in her office. Long after Jaken had come and gone with demonic strength aspirin, Sesshomaru still remained, sitting stiffly on the edge of her bed while she lay comfortable underneath. They had been talking this way for the past couple of hours, only pausing once in a while to give each other awkward glares. Something told her he was nervous about being so close to her, especially after what he'd done.

She, on the other hand, was feeling a lot better about the demon lord, though she had a feeling her latest flashback, mixed with the brain searing headache that was slowly retreating into her mind and the fact that he was being more talkative than normal was what was making her so okay with him right now. "Did I see anything all the way through?"

"Plenty." Sesshomaru curtly answered. "Most of your projects were completed in the end though some took months or even years to reach that point. You definitely made your mark in our world."

"Well, can I get some examples?"

"Hn." He thought for a moment. "How much exactly do you recall?"

"Well….one thing that stood out the most was the time I went to a mountain and found a statue of a Kappa with a wolf child name Koga...You were there too, but only until later."

A light came from behind Sesshomaru's eyes as she spoke. "You are speaking of our resurrection of the King of Imps. I admit that it was an interesting time."

"What happened?" Shifting slightly in bed, Kagome rested her head on her arm.

"Hn. I thought you said you already retrieved that memory?"

"Yea...It cut off after I told you about the statue and you were saying that the Kappa doesn't exist."

"They do exist, as you proved to not only me but to my father and the entire wolf demon tribe."

"So what happened?"

"It is how we acquired Jaken."

"Jaken? You mean the toad?"

"Jaken is not a toad," He corrected. "He is an imp. Or more specifically a cross between a water imp and a feral one. They all live in another dimension, separated by time."

"Separated? Time? Sesshomaru you have to tell me what happened! I can't wait for it to come back on it's own!"

For a moment, he considered the consequences of telling her the story of how she came to discover a species long thought to be a myth. Seeing her excited expression and remembering how she used to look at him that way every day when they were younger, he shook his head to clear the dark thoughts, deciding there would be no real harm in retelling a centuries old event. "You wish to know?"

"Like I haven't been saying it for the last ten minutes!"

"Hn. Very well."

A/N: See? They are starting to get along. Sesshomaru isn't all bad. I hope you all can see that. Anyway please review! -Theores

P.S. Next chapter will conclude the tale of the Kappa!