Chapter 8

Author Notes:

Yup, still walking, Kagome gets on Sesshoumaru's nerves...a lot.

She wouldn't shut up.

Sesshoumaru had glared at her and scowled at her, but still she persisted.

She was driving him mad.

"So..." Kagome said with an amused look on her face. "Killing perfection, huh? What a strange name. Kinda bloodthirsty, not to mention arrogant, but I suppose it's fitting. Though, I can't imagine giving a baby that name..." she babbled.

Had Sesshoumaru been more expressive, he was sure his eye would have twitched.

Kagome, of course, continued with her monologue as if she wasn't dangerously close to having her tongue severed. She desperately craved conversation, and if he wouldn't provide it, then she would just have to start one herself.

"I mean, did you have a nickname when you were little? You know, until you grew into the whole 'killing mercilessly' part?" She asked. Kagome glanced over at her silent companion and wondered what Sesshoumaru was like when he was a kid. I mean, he had to be a child at some point, right? Unless inuyoukai just sprouted from the ground - tall, dark, growling and unfairly clean.

No, Sesshoumaru must've been young at one point, though, she could hardly imagine him as your typical toddler; giggling and squirming and asking where babies came from. Kagome almost snorted. Now THAT she would pay to see.

Sesshoumaru had only vaguely been listening, but he figured that if he did not respond soon she would continue her incessant chatter for hours. "What are you going on about, miko?"

"Eh?" Kagome gave him a blank look. "I was just asking about your name."

"What about it?" He said in his deep baritone.

"Well, I was just wondering...wait a second, you weren't listening to me at all, were you?" She said, glaring angrily at him.

"No."

"That's rude I hope you know," she sniffed, crossing her arms and sticking her nose in the air. "Didn't your mother ever teach you any manners?"

"No," he responded again. It was the job of the royal tutors to instruct him on proper court etiquette, surely the miko knew this.

"I was being sarcastic, Einstein," she rolled her eyes.

'Einstein'? He mentally repeated the word with mild confusion. He rolled it around on the tip of his tongue for a bit and decided that he didn't like it.

No, he did not like it at all.

"You will not insult This Sesshoumaru, wench," he growled at the back of her head. She had apparently given up on their conversation and was now trying her best to ignore him.

Ignoring things was not her strong-suit.

"Oh, lighten up," she scoffed. Seriously, there were worse things she could have called him. Einstein was a genius after all, she could've just been blunt and told him he was stupid. "This is why the only creatures that can stand to be around you are a whimpering little toad and an orphan girl; you'd drive everyone else nuts!"

Seeing as she was currently driving him to the brink of insanity, he did not believe she had grounds to make such accusations. "I believe someone is being a bit hypocritical," he said dryly.

"Maybe," she conceded, "but at least I have friends, which is more than you can say."

"I do not need, nor do I want friends," he said, sneering at the last word as though it gave him a bad taste in his mouth simply to say it.

"Sure you don't," she said in a patronizing tone that had him teetering on the verge of homicidal. His claws twitched and he fought back a growl. "Really, don't you get tired of everyone being afraid of you?"

"No," he said stubbornly, and then added, "the ability to instill fear in one's enemies is vital to a being of my position."

Wow, someone is a bit touchy on this subject, she thought. Well, at least he's talking to me.

"Not everyone is your enemy, you know," she said matter-of-factly. "And fear can only get you so far. When I first met you I was terrified of you, but you still couldn't take Tessaiga, could you?"

He too remembered the look of terror in her eyes as he doused her with enough poison to melt a small village. It was one of his fonder memories of the miko.

"It was mere luck that you escaped with your life," he said dismissively. "And it is only a god's protection that allows you to keep it no w."

Kagome just rolled her eyes at the arrogant youkai. "Sure, sure," she said, waving a hand, "you can threaten me all you want, but I'm not afraid of you anymore, I don't think you're really as mean as you want people to believe."

Sesshoumaru stopped mid-step and glared at her. She was not afraid of him? The miko had always been one to thrust herself into mortal peril, but by telling him this it was clear that she was now suicidal.

"Then you are foolish, miko," he said, his words sharp. "For when the god's mate is returned to him, you will fall out of his protection and onto my claws."

Kagome blinked, did he just tell me he was going to kill me when this was over? Yeah, I think he did. Well, that wasn't very nice. She walked over to the imposing lord with her hands on her hips. He simply remained unmoving and unaffected, looking...bored again.

Her eyes narrowed. "Is that how you deal with everything? You kill it?" She asked incredulously, "And when all is said and done, when everyone who has ever wronged you is dead, what will be left, huh? Will you truly be happy then, Sesshoumaru-sama? Or will you simply be alone?"

He didn't answer her. She didn't expect him to.

And with that said, she sighed, turned on her heal and continued their traveling as though they had never stopped. "I think one day you'll realize that you need people, even if you won't ever admit it."

He scoffed as he continued after her. He wasn't exactly sure how to handle what had just happened - she had faced him and yelled at him and he had let her. No one had ever done such a thing and lived. No one had ever challenged him in such a way.

He did not like it, nor did he understand it, and so... he ignored it.

"I'd be your friend," she added conversationally even though he had not given any indication that he was still listening to her, "if your head wasn't so big, that is."

But that was something he could not ignore.

"If I were to one day seek friendship, it would not be yours," he said coldly, giving her a glare that clearly told her he would rather set fire to his own hair than try and make a friend and t hat he would rather eat the ashes of his burnt hair than try to make friends with her.

"You know, you really are impossible!" She snapped. "I'm surprised you can even get within a two foot radius of a female without her immediately wanting to slap you for being so annoying."

Sesshoumaru arched an elegant brow. She had argued with him, annoyed him, yelled at him, and insulted him... it was time she learned her place. He smirked wickedly as he quickly closed the distance between them, grabbing the miko by the shoulder and spinning her around so that her chest was pressed against his breastplate.

Kagome gasped as she collided with his armor, her wide eyes immediately finding his. He leaned towards her, golden irises gleaming as he sneered. "Do you doubt This Sesshoumaru's ability to attract members of the opposite sex?"

Um, what had she been talking about? She shook her head frantically and hoped that it was the right gesture.

"Good," he responded as any expression he previously held melted off his face. He released her, pushing the shell-shocked girl aside without a second glance. "Then I suggest you keep quiet."

Kagome could only nod weakly, staring blankly at the spot where he had just been, standing very close, only inches away. Her knees and heart seemed to be having a sort of epileptic episode, she noted. Hm, strange, perhaps I should feint.

She settled on staring blankly at a tree instead.

Get it together, Kagome! She chided herself as she took a deep breath, rubbing circles on her temples with her fingers. She gathered herself and turned to follow after the source of her distress. He was just being a jerk so, stop thinking about how close he was to your face and how close you were pressed to - NO! Stop it, just act like nothing happened.

And so, the two unlikely companions continued on their journey, one trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach, and the other simply ignoring everything.

***

"Rin, you foolish girl, what do you think you are doing!" Jaken yelled, waving his staff above his head in distress.

"I am making a crown for our lord, master Jaken, would you like to help?" The girl was sitting in a field of bright, yellow flowers, picking the fragrant blooms and braiding them into a chain. She would sit there all afternoon, if left to her own devices, making countless flower crowns and bracelets and necklaces. Jaken had to stop her immediately if he did not want to be covered from head to toe.

"No, I most certainly would not!" he said indignantly. "And you should not either - Lord Sesshoumaru has no interest in such ridiculous things!"

Rin frowned and looked down at the half finished crown. "Why not?"

"Because, you stupid girl, he is a great and mighty demon lord!" Jaken scoffed. "He would not be caught dead with such a silly gift."

Rin merely shrugged her shoulders and added another flower to the chain. "Well, if he doesn't like it, he can throw it away."

Jaken rolled his bulbous, yellow eyes. "You will not have time to finish it anyway, stubborn child, Lord Sesshoumaru will be returning any minute."

"Oh, I don't think he's coming back just yet," Rin said assuredly as she picked another flower and flicked a lady bug from one of its petals.

"And what makes you think such nonsense?"

Rin turned to her youkai companion and gave him an airy look. "Rin just knows, master Jaken."

And with that she went back to her task, humming a tune as Jaken scratched his head in confusion.

***

Kagome was hungry. Her stomach was rumbling, and she knew he could hear it, but like most things, he was ignoring it. And he was ignoring it because he was a jerk, and Kagome was pretty sure she might hate him.

"You don't eat very often, do you?" Kagome asked irritably.

They had been walking all day and the only thing she'd had to eat was a smushed granola bar that morning. And that was her last smushed granola bar, too! After all, she had been on her way home when he was so rudely kidnapped, and she had been hoping to replenish her dwindling supplies. But soon she wouldn't have any food left, not even the gross canned beans she kept with her for emergency purposes only. And she was pretty sure she didn't even have a can opener... how typical.

Sesshoumaru continued to ignore her, which was also typical.

"You don't talk much either," she noted with a roll of her eyes. "Aren't Lords supposed to be sociable?"

"Lords may be however they wish to be," he said impatiently. "Unlike foolish miko, who seem to only be insufferable."

Kagome huffed in indignation and crossed her arms over her chest, "I am not insufferable! You're just unable to appreciate anything, even something as simple as a conversation!"

Sesshoumaru gave the girl a withering glare, though, he wasn't able to muster as much murderous hatred behind it as usual. Something about the way she spoke with him intrigued him on some small level. No one had ever dared to speak against him, and here she was, doing it on an annoyingly regular basis.

It was baffling. And incredibly annoying, but not as incredibly annoying as he had thought it should be, which in itself was baffling... he did not like thinking about it.

He could not remember the last time he had argued with someone without killing them soon after. Even as a pup he was rarely chastised - save for his father and mother. Every conversation he held was one filled with honorifics and praise, it was not incredibly irritating, just... tiresome. But this miko was either incapable of - or simply did not wish to - hold her tongue. It was... different to be talked with instead of talked at, and he begrudgingly admitted that he was not terribly adverse to her verbal sparring. He simply thought it incredibly stupid. Why did she wish to tempt such an obviously powerful youkai? Even with the favor of a god, he knew that she knew, it did not guarantee she would be safe from his wrath.

If she truly was from the future, humans must have only grown more idiotic with time.

"Perhaps if the conversation were not so simple, I would appreciate it more," he said as she gave a pathetic squeak of fury.

"That's it!" She exclaimed, storming off to plop down on a fallen tree, her arms still crossed and her chin in the air. Kagome was used to being called annoying and ridiculous, Inuyasha told her as much everyday, but unlike Inuyasha she had a feeling that the youkai lord really meant it. Sesshoumaru stopped in his tracks but did not turn to face her.

"Miko, we must make haste," he warned her with a dangerous edge to his cold voice. His amusement in their witty banter quickly fading with her lack of compliance.

"Not until you stop being such a jerk!"

"If you do not wish to hear what I have to say, then do not ask me questions that require a response," he growled. "I am perfectly content to walk in silence, yet you seem to know not the meaning of the concept."

"Now you listen here, buddy," she said, thrusting a finger in front of her and pointing at him angrily even though he was still turned away from her and could probably not see it. "I didn't exactly sign up for this you know, and I'm sorry I had to drag you into it, but that guy was gonna force me to marry him if I didn't do something! So, the least you can do is be civil until this is over and then we never have to see each other again!"

Sesshoumaru, a man who prided himself on his regal patience and calm demeanor, at this moment wanted nothing more than to wrap his claws around the young girl and throttle her until she could no longer plague his existence.

He turned his piercing gaze to Kagome. "I have been forced into a god's service simply because you did not wish to marry him?" He snarled.

"H-hey, don't you dare try and make me feel bad about this!" Kagome said nervously, but defiantly. "I shouldn't be forced to marry someone against my will simply because it would have been more convenient for you if I did!"

Sesshoumaru took a calming breath to steady himself, something which he had not had to do in over a century. He had not spoken so much to another in... well, ever. He felt drained. This girl was going to be his undoing and it seemed that there was nothing he could do about it if he did not want to end up dead.

"What is it you suggest I do then, wench," he struggled not to snarl, fixing his face into its' previous mask of indifference.

"I want you to be civil," she said simply, smirking smugly at getting her way.

"And what exactly does 'civil' entail?"

Kagome's smirk died, what exactly does that entail? She wondered to herself. She couldn't expect him to suddenly morph into a chatty gentleman, not without him eventually killing her from the strain of it all, so what could she ask from him without it being too much?

"Well," he questioned, arching an eyebrow.

"I want you to say something nice, it doesn't matter about what," she finally decided. "A compliment. I want a compliment once a day."

Who does this ningen think she is? Demanding praise from This Sesshoumaru! I should skin her alive for even having such thoughts!

"Well?" Kagome smirked, arching a brow in an eerily accurate imitation.

"Agreed, but there will be no more delays," he said forcefully and resumed his walking, praising the gods when he heard her get up to follow. He really didn't want to soil his clothing by having to drag her along with him.

"Okay," she said happily.

"Good, now silence yourself, miko," he said in his deep baritone. "Lest you wish last nights events to repeat themselves."

"Eh? Oh, you mean that pervert who was after me?" Kagome questioned, choosing to ignore his attempts to get her to shut up. She was a talker, she knew it and accepted it as an often inconvenient part of her personality, and if he didn't like it... well, too bad.

"Indeed."

"Yeah, I was wondering about that...how come he came after me? I mean I know WHY he came after me, but I don't understand why he didn't stay away because of you," she babbled.

"I can conceal my aura if I wish," he answered.

"So, you were concealing your aura?"

"No," he said flatly but did not expand.

"Okay...then why would he come anywhere near you? Aren't you like, terrifying and ruthless and all that?" Kagome said impatiently. Stupid jerk, it was as if he expected her to immediately realize the answer to her question as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Because, miko, he did not realize that I took any interest in whether you lived or died," he growled in frustration. "He believed you to be just a lone woman in the woods. Normally I would not take notice if one of my subjects hunted in my vicinity. As long as they do not get in my way, I care not for their actions."

"Oh," the school girl frowned, "I guess that makes sense... so, does that mean that youkai are gonna come after me even with you around?"

"Not only are you a priestess, but you carry shards of the Shikon no Tama," he said solemnly, "there are many who would wish to do you harm."

Of course, she thought drearily, looking down at her chest to see the small, glass vile of shards that hung there. What was that saying? You can rest when you're dead? I'm gonna find whoever said that and murder them in their sleep.

"Okay, well that settles it," Kagome sighed, "where's the nearest village? If I'm gonna be attacked on a regular basis I'm gonna need to get another bow."

"Hn," her companion responded distastefully.

Kagome rolled her eyes and sensed that this was probably not going to be as easy as taking his hand and skipping off to market. Not that she would ever touch his hand. No, he would probably gnaw her arm off... then beat her to death with it.

"What's the hold up?" She sighed.

He gave her a scowl that clearly said he did not understand, and she realized that though Sango, Miroku and Inuyasha may be used to her odd way of speech, Lord Sesshoumaru was definitely not.

"I mean what's with all the 'hn'-ing, is there a problem?"

"I find human villages rather opposed to my presence," he said, and then added as an afterthought, "it will be most tiresome to wipe the ningen filth from my claws."

"Wha-Oh, hey now!" Kagome said nervously. "I'm a miko, remember? You can't just go around killing people in front of me, it's against my principles! Not to mention it's really horrible and cruel... but I guess you wouldn't care about that."

"Indeed," he said tonelessly.

"Well, even if you don't care, I do, and if we're gonna be traveling together I can't let you hurt anyone," she said firmly.

"You are done making demands, miko," he reminded her with a steely edge to his voice that made her shiver.

"O-okay, but this isn't a demand," she said shakily and took a step back from him lest he decided to test those long, lethal looking claws on her face. She liked her face and disfigurement by poisonous claws didn't sound very spiffy. "It's a warning: if you try to hurt an innocent, I'll be forced to defend them!"

Sesshoumaru frowned slightly as he considered the half-frightened, half-recklessly brave, girl. As if she could do anything to stop him, he could break her in half...no, into fourths...before she could even lift a finger against him. And yet there was something about her that made him believe that she would try, she knew she would not be able to stop him, but she would die trying.

He almost found it admirable. Almost. Mostly he found it incredibly stupid.

"I will not harm another in your presence unless they give me reason to," he declared tiredly. "And as much as I loath to admit to the necessity of visiting such a place, for one such as yourself to be traveling unarmed is most unwise. Especially since your safety directly effects mine. I will direct you to the nearest village."

"Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama," she said in a slightly astonished voice. She had thought he would have made a much bigger fuss, Inuyasha definitely would have, but this was certainly surprising. Wow, who knew the stubborn inu-lord could be reasonable?

Sesshoumaru blinked in confusion, "for what?"

Kagome almost laughed. "You're being considerate... sort of, and I'm guessing that's a really big deal for you so, thanks."

He didn't answer, only giving her a hesitant nod before turning away from her and walking towards what she assumed to be the direction of the closest village.

Kagome smiled - apparently the youkai lord was a teensy bit bashful. How funny.

Chapter Notes:

I love Rin. She's just so weird sometimes, like I get the impression that she would be that creepy little kid who sits in the back of the classroom and eats paper, but I still love her lol.

So yeah, how's it goin' so far? Pretty good? Disastrous? Hopefully not that last one.