Kagome and Sango work up early the next day despite the events of the previous night. They had hoped the boys would be up too, but that was asking way too much. They wouldn't be up till close to noon. Well InuYasha and Miroku wouldn't be anyway, Takahashi was always up before both of them. Sometimes it made them wonder if hei ever/i slept.
"Morning ladies. Sleep well?" He was crouching on a low branch of a nearby tree. iWhat is he doing up there this early in the morning?/i Kagome thought still a partly asleep.
"Yeah, we slept great. Thanks fo…" suddenly he was in front of her. Both of them gasped loudly.i I wish he wouldn't do that. It's creepy. /i
"Good." He hissed. Sango gave him a strange look as he looked around skittishly.
"Takahashi," Sango grabbed his shoulder and he jumped causing Sango to jump back as well.
"Jeez! Why so jumpy Tashi-san?" a tired little voice whined innocently from behind them.
"Shippo! I'm sorry if we woke you! Did you sleep well?" Sango asked as Kirara jumped lightly onto her shoulder and nuzzled her face.
"No you didn't! It was InuYasha's snoring that did it! But what's wrong with Tashi-san?" All of their attention was again drawn to the seemingly paranoid raven haired boy.
"Yeah. What's the matter Takahashi?" He stood a moment longer before jumping back to the roof.
"Don't you feel that Kagome? That strong aura? A demon approaches. One who is strong." He went back to watching the horizon sniffing the air tentatively. Kagome look at him relieved. iHe may be stronger than InuYasha but he's a hell of a lot more cautious. But, we've handled demons before without this kind of worry from him. What could be the matter?/i
"Yeah. I feel it now. But there's no need to worry. We'll just wake the boys and take it down like we always do. Takahashi? Are you even list…"
"Kagome-san. Do you not feel the other presence? Surely you, the priestess, would feel such a powerful aura." iWhat is he talking about? I don't feel anything besides the demon. Maybe Kaede will know what's wrong with him. /i
"No Takahashi. I do not feel it. I don't feel anything but the demon." But this aura iis/i strangely familiar.
iShe's kidding right? She's got to be kidding. How could she not sense it? It's so strong so...... far … mil … i …ar…… /i
Quite suddenly, or at least suddenly in Kagome's eyes, Takahashi collapsed and began to fall off the roof. Kagome's only thought as she ran over to catch him was iDon't let him hit the ground! He'll hit too hard! I`m not going to make it! NO! TAKAHASHI!/i
A blur of silver. A scream. Then silence.
Silence. Kagome heard nothing after her scream. But nothing was a igood/i thing. She jerked her head up sharply pulling her hands away from her face. The sun blinded for a moment and her vision blurred from moving too fast and all she could see was a blurred form with silver hair.
"InuYasha?" Her vision cleared an instant later to reveal that it wasn't in fact InuYasha who stood before her but a certain stoic inu-youki prince. Takahashi lay unconscious in his arms. "Se- Sesshomaru?" Thoroughly confused as to where he had suddenly come from she stood and opted to find out. "What are you doing here?" Kagome stood silently waiting for an answer, one she knew she probably wouldn't get, when there was a very loud interruption of the quiet morning air.
"What the hell is ihe/i doing here!?" The look on InuYasha's face in that moment was furious to say the least. But Sesshomaru, apparently unfazed by his brothers' hostile greeting, had taken to looking over the boy in his arms. After searching a moment more, InuYasha still fuming behind him, he pulled a small bottle off of the boys being and held it out to a still befuddled Kagome.
When the gesture finally registered in Kagome's unusually sluggish brain, she reached out and delicately took the bottle from his white hand. When she looked up at the demon she saw a very unhappy InuYasha about to jump on his brother. She opened her mouth and screamed the first thing that came to mind. "SIT BOY!"
i~A minute later, after the dust had settled~/i
Kagome glared at her hanyou companion before looking back to the enigmatic creature before her who was, surprisingly, not looking back at her. Instead his gaze was trained on the sight of his debatably retarded half brother, amusement in his eyes. iWait, what? Him? Amused? I must have imagined that. /iHe looked back to the young miko when she cleared her throat in a rather sad attempt to be inconspicuous. She studied him for a moment and the boy he was still holding.
"How did you know about the bottle?" She asked only just realizing he had searched for and then handed it to her.
He remained quiet for a moment before saying in his usual monotone, "I could smell it."
"Oh…" She fidgeted before going on. "But why do you care?"
"The force of the explosion this would have made would have leveled this village. It would have been unfortunate if something were to have happened to you when I actually needed your help."
iDid he just say what I think he said? He needs my help? This is, odd./i "What did… what exactly did you need help iwith/i?"
He held her gaze but the confidence in his eyes wavered slightly. He opened his mouth once but closed it again when nothing came out. And then he did something Kagome never thought she would see him do, he began to pick at the ends of his sleeves nervously. iWhat's going on? Am I still asleep or something? This day is off to an incredibly strange start. /i
"I need you to take care of Rin."
"What? Why?" She actually wouldn't mind having the girl around. She was sweet and kind hearted, but Sesshomaru never let her out of his sight. Why trust her with the girl now?
"She… She needs another woman in her life." Oh. So that was it. Sesshomaru didn't know how to handle a human child who was going through puberty. Especially not a female child. Rin iwas/i about that age now wasn't she?
"Sure. I'd be glad to watch her for you." She smiled then now not so confused, but he iwas/i still strange. Really, who tries to kill you several times and then all of a sudden asks for your help! isigh. I really wish I could figure him out. At least just a little. The only thing I know for sure about him is that he cares about Rin even if while denying it./i She sighed again. This day was getting interesting.