Illumination: Chapter Three

In the misty haze that was her slow return to consciousness Kagome idly wondered if she had made it to heaven, everything felt relaxed, soft, "…this must be what clouds feel like."

"She thinks the bedding is made of clouds? Well she's certainly not a noble is she?" The amused whisper didn't register to her at first; it seemed a little bit of a strange thing for an angel to say. Her memory cleared further and she shot up, only to waver, holding herself up with one arm in the thick mattress while the other held her shoulder. The room was a blur, her body was still off as a result of the anesthetic that had been used on it, more than she thought the hole in her shoulder should require judging from the pressure in her mind telling her to just go to sleep again.

"Calm down mi'lady." It was a second voice, with a slight accent; calmer and less rude than the first. Two hands gently pressed her good shoulder back and Kagome didn't have it in her to resist, laying back down. "You need to lay and get rested up. The doctor had to do quite a few stitches to get you back into shape. It'll be a few days fore you can walk 'round regular."

"I…I have to pee." Kagome remarked, blushing slightly at having to ask for help, but she didn't want to wet the bed like some invalid or child. "Could you…"

"Of course, come on, careful now, just move real slow like." The woman helped her back up and this time the measured pace did keep her head from swimming. Kagome was finally able to look around. Though this place was even more ritzy than the waiting room…she accepted leaning on the maid that seemed to be there to help her and started walking steadily.

Ashen gray colored wood whose name she didn't know made up the frame for the bed, the dresser, the vanity, anything else crafted of the clearly expensive substance in the room. The bedding was white with patterns of black thorns and roses along the comforter, and it was thicker than she was…probably why she had made the mistake of thinking it was clouds. The few times she'd lain on layers of cloth at the shop it was no where near as comfortable. The curtains were a pale shimmering silver that broke and reflected the light from a set of double glass doors framed with silvered steel. The carpet was a milk white, soft as cashmere beneath her bare feet as she shuffled to the adjoining bathroom, no less impressive in its opulence.

The black and white patterned floor was cold on her feet but the chill was welcome, it helped return a little more sobriety to her clouded mind. It to was a mix of silvers, grays, whites, and blacks. The sink, the tub, the toilet, all were ebony with platinum colored handles. There were even clippings of dusty miller leaves with their pale fuzzy complexion around brilliant midnight blue flowers she didn't recognize. If she couldn't see the water at the bottom of the small vase Kagome would have assumed they were cloth…

She managed to get rid of the nurse and finish her walk to the toilet and her business without any other involvement, though it took a few insistences before the woman let her go alone. The girl couldn't have been that much older than Kagome…but her job seemed so much more enjoyable, always being able to be around all these magnificent things, to take care of them. Nicer than pricking one's finger constantly mending other's clothes.

"…take your leave, have breakfast sent up for two." Kagome had just turned off the faucet after washing her hands when she heard the baritone of her rescuer. The demon was back to speak with her? Lord Sesshomaru, at least her addled brain remembered that much. She swallowed nervously and set down the towel she'd dried her hands with before making her way out of the bathroom.

The other nurse had already left, and one of the chairs at the small table near the balcony had been taken by the silver haired man that intervened on her behalf the night before. He was wearing a less fine tux but still a suit of impeccable make, just by looking she could tell the fabric was too expensive for her mother's shop to even carry without special order…

"Don't stand there gaping, put on a robe and sit down." Sesshomaru's tone was clear, he didn't have to raise his voice but the inflection used implied he was very much used to making commands.

Kagome glanced around, picking a robe off the hook of the bathroom door, glad she was still so close, wincing when she had to get it around her injured shoulder but tying it off before she approached the table and paused. She didn't know if she should bow or how she was supposed to react to him…he was looking at a paper and not paying attention to her. He had told her to sit down however so she pulled out the second chair and did so after her long moment of hesitation.

"Um…you don't have to do all…this. I feel like…I don't know how to put it…I'm taking advantage of you or something. I could stay somewhere else; this hotel must cost a fortune…" Kagome drifted off there figuring that was yet another extreme understatement.

"Do not consistently refuse or overstate the aid that a noble offers you. Once is humble, almost expected, beyond that it grows tiresome and irritating to hear how unworthy someone is. If you consider yourself without worth, no one will look at you differently." Sesshomaru stated it in such a way as if he was instructing her. Carefully folding the paper and setting it to the side of the table, though she preferred when he was reading, his golden eyes weren't making her organs relocate in her chest. All she could do in reply to his comments was nod once slowly.

"You are a bit old to be taught an escort's ways but at least your mother seemed to think you were fairly intelligent. The primary school you attended gave you top marks." Sesshomaru observed. "Why is it you chose to remain at home when you likely could have attained a grant if you'd applied for it?"

"Escort? Why was he reading up on me?" Kagome frowned as she listened, she could feel her skin prickle slightly with the implications being made. This was bad…she took a deep breath. "I had to stay and take care of mother. Grandfather had passed on only a few months before. Family is more important than school."

Sesshomaru was silent after her answer, quiet for so long that it made her less than comfortable. That unblinking amber stare of his made her wonder if demons could read minds as one of their many abilities. There was a knock that interrupted the awkward silence and the same maid returned with tray's laying out food for them. Kagome blushed and her eyes found her lap when her stomach rumbled, so much for saying she wasn't hungry…instead she wound the enjoyable cloth of her robe through her hands, the feel of it was lovely…

"Please, have something to eat. You will not regain your strength if you remain so thin." Sesshomaru remarked, drawing her from her short distraction. It did smell amazing…but this demon wanted to share a meal with her? "Though it is correct etiquette to bow your head and wait until your master allows you to eat, I assume in this case it was a matter of coincidence."

"Master?" Kagome could feel her temper starting to rise but she picked up silverware and chided herself. "No, no, just put up with it for now…maybe, hopefully: he's just screwing with you…"

"You will begin lessons next week, a few more days and you should be healed enough to pay attention even if you cannot function in all lessons like dance or tea. I'd rather you not push yourself so assume yourself excused from anything that could cause further damage to your wound or re-open the scar." Sesshomaru continued…though Kagome was getting steadily more frustrated she tried to keep herself calm.

"I don't understand. Why do you want me to attend some school? I was going to go back to my life. I already promised I wouldn't tell anyone what happened, and I don't break my word." Kagome said, managing to sound more serious and even than she felt when his eyes flickered to her at her words.

"You are mine Kagome. Your mother sold your future to me. She was handsomely paid, and she will not want for anything, you need not concern yourself with her welfare. She will be leaving this afternoon to travel abroad, an estate awaits her at her destination where she will be taken care of and remain out of the reach of Inu…" Sesshomaru stopped as the slap echoed in the otherwise quiet room, his face had barely turned despite the clear effort the girl had put into the strike. He'd heard the crack from her fingers snapping out of joint. She'd be lucky if she hadn't broken anything, but she didn't feel it yet, the tirade that started made that perfectly clear. He finished his statement a moment before she started. "..yasha."

"I am not anyone's! My mother would not just sell me! Filthy lying demon…let me see my mother right now…what did you do to her? Did you kill her? I don't care if you're a noble or a demon that's my family! How dare you…" Kagome quieted into muffled protests as his hands settled over the back of her head and her mouth, pulling her away from the table with no effort at all and leaving her dangling a few inches from the ground. She tried to pull away, to kick and yell but none of it meant a thing to him. She might as well have been positioned dangling in the air by a statue for as little as her attempts so much as budged him. Her eyes widened and Sesshomaru smirked as the light of recognition for her less than favorable situation entered them. She apparently did learn fairly quickly, though that temper of hers needed a lot of work. Her mother hadn't lied about that being her daughter's largest drawback. He set her down without causing further damage, already he could smell the blood from where the wound had opened on her shoulder.

"I hope that is out of your system now. Yes?" Sesshomaru waited until she barely nodded before he released her and re-took his chair, continuing. "Good. Striking me when you know what I'm capable of shows you don't lack in courage or stupidity. You need the bravery to survive as an escort, certainly the willpower, now you just need to learn tact and to control the idiocy. Sit; as I said Kagome, you are mine now and while I can be generous to the pets that please me I can also be incredibly cruel to those that misbehave. Do not choose..."

Sesshomaru grit his teeth as her plate went flying into his face…the run off from her eggs would stain his suit…he reached up to pull the dish down, plucking a bit of bacon from his hair before he sighed and again finished the statement he'd started before. "…the wrong path."

The door was open, did she really believe she was simply going to outrun him? He stood, ignoring the food running from his person as he vanished, moving so quickly that all that was left was stains by the time he'd slammed her into the wall near the elevator…the drywall spider webbing around her body. It was harder than he'd meant it; it was a long time since he'd last possessed a human and he had to treat them line fine china lest they chip and break.

He looked her up and down, assessing her quickly; the rush had reopened her wound for certain since the crimson was leaking visibly into her bandage now. Without a doubt he'd knocked the wind from her, and possibly caused internal bruising…it was his own mistake for not withdrawing some of his strength. The way she glared at him despite the fact she was fighting to breathe impressed him, she was certainly turning out to be a paradoxical surprise…though not an unpleasant one. Now he just had to make sure she would earn what he'd paid for her.

End Chapter

Heh, Sesshomaru is like 'whoops' cause he didn't actually mean to be so rough with her at the end there. Keep in mind for the society he's been exceptionally nice since most demons would kill someone for striking them, more or less for ruining their outfit XD. Kagome is all *ANGRY FACE*.

-Aura

To my reviewers:

Thanks to everyone for the continued feedback, I'm still sort of amazed at the love this fiction has gotten. Not too much detailing of plans this chapter, mostly Kagome being all angry and Sesshomaru sighing before dealing with it. Kagome really cares about her family XD