Chapter 11

Author Note:

Again, thanks to all of you who have reviewed! Us fanfic author's do this for free and the best kind of payment we can get is a nice review telling us our long hours typing over a hot computer are appreciated. :-)

Dread. It was not something that lord Sessoumaru, heir and ruler of the Western lands, felt often. It was not something he liked feeling, nor was it something he was comfortable acknowledging that he was even capable of feeling, but in this circumstance he decided that he should be allowed a little leniency on the matter.

"I have discovered something," Sesshoumaru informed the miko reluctantly as she trudged happily through the trees and into the clearing where they had made camp.

"Yeah? What is it?" She asked. She had just spent the better half of an hour digging arrows out of a tree, but she couldn't be happier. She was finally starting to get her powers under control and, strangely enough, it was all thanks to him.

He threw her a weary look. "Now, you must not get overly excited," he warned her. In the past few days he had come to learn her strange emotions, how she could be furious one minute and beaming the next, and his sensitive ears could only take so much of her unpredictable squealing.

"Okay..." Kagome drawled, urging him to spit it out.

"I have discovered a river in which you may bathe if you so desire."

"YOU WHAT!!!" Kagome exclaimed before quickly covering her mouth with one hand and giving him an apologetic look. "Sorry," she whispered.

That woman could deafen an entire country with her damnable squealing, Sesshoumaru grumbled to himself as he fought not to cringe.

He nodded once and tried to ignore the ringing in his ears. "If you continue walking for about a half mile, you should find it."

Kagome smiled widely at him, quickly squashed the ridiculous idea of dancing or joy, and rushed over to her bag to gather her bathing supplies and her pajamas.

"This is really nice of you," she said earnestly. "In fact, you've been uncharacteristically generous a lot tonight, are you sure you're feeling okay?" She laughed and looked over at the lounging demon.

Sesshoumaru looked back into her wide, brown eyes and noticed that he wasn't completely disgusted by what he saw. They were quite ordinary at first glance - comforting, but boring - but when she smiled, they shone with a mesmerizing quality that he couldn't quite place.

He was glad they weren't green, which he found to be much too bold, or blue, which he thought was a horribly calm color. And he was especially thankful they weren't those obnoxious hues that a majority of youkai females seemed to inherit. He had no desire to look upon a face with bright purple eyes staring back at him. There was an unnatural feel about them.

But not the miko's eyes, no, they were the definition of natural. It simply felt normal to look upon her face and see them looking back -expressive and mysterious and full of life.

And then he realized with a start that he liked looking into them, they were nice.

Sesshoumaru scoffed and turned away, disgusted with himself.

In fact, he had been finding many qualities of the miko exceedingly tolerable over the past few days. Like how her hair always smelled of cherry blossoms even covered in dirt and sweat, or how she displayed her bruises and cuts without shame when most women would find such abrasions disgraceful.

And then there was her overwhelming innocence, her honesty, and her fiery spirit, which - surprisingly - he seemed to deem endearing, rather than life threateningly obnoxious.

But he needed to stop these ridiculous observations immediately. What was wrong with him? It was probably only because he had not ever spent so much time in a grown female's presence as he had with her. Besides his mother, she was the only woman he had spent time with outside of the battlefield and the bedroom. He was sure she would probably be quite ordinary if he had anyone to compare her to, no, she would probably be disgusting.

Yes, she was undoubtedly just a filthy, vile, ningen woman. He would not think of her in an agreeable matter ever again.

Decision made, Sesshoumaru stiffened.

"I merely do not wish to hear any more of your complaints," he told her with any and all emotion lacking in his voice. "They are grating to my ears."

"Ah, now I know there's nothing wrong with you," she smirked, "you're being a jerk again."

He merely narrowed his eyes and looked away, not even bothering to watch her as she left the clearing and headed off to bathe.

He let himself become absorbed in his own thoughts, trying to figure out what it was about this girl that seemed to cause him such irritation. He rarely socialized with females, but when he did, they never quite captured his attention as she had. Even if that attention was strictly limited to annoyance.

Of course he could appreciate a beautiful woman if he saw one, and he had appreciated them on several occasions, he just never really viewed them as anything other than entertainment. But the miko...she was not like them. She was entertaining, but in a different way.

Yes, they were constantly at odds, but it was not a fight that she provided, it was a challenge. Not a physical one, but a mental one, and that was something that he did not find very often. There was just something about her that made conversing much easier than he was used to. She was much too bold, extremely outspoken, and fearless to the point of stupidity.

Not only that, but she was good - he wondered if she had ever even told a lie in her whole, pathetic, ningen life. He doubted she could even if she tried.

She was his opposite: loud, indulgent, and innocent. But instead of clashing horribly, they seemed to almost balance each other out...in a strange, nonsensical sort of way.

He hated nonsensical things. He hated humans. He hated brash, irritating females. But for some reason, he realized, he did not entirely hate her.

He sighed; this train of thought was only succeeding in confusing him further. With practiced discipline, he dropped all previous thoughts from his mind and decided that the miko was taking a long time to bathe. She had been gone for over a half of an hour and he wondered if this was normal for ningen females. Rin did not take so long to cleanse herself, though, she did like to remain in the waters to play long after she was spotless.

He wondered if that was what was keeping Kagome - after all, she did act quite childish sometimes. But then again, she was a lot bigger than his ward, she would need more time to clean her adult body.

Wait...had he just referred to her as Kagome? When had that happened?

"AHHHHHHH!" A scream rang out into the night. Even from a half mile away, Sesshoumaru could hear the distress in her voice.

The youkai lord immediately jumped to his feet and took off towards the direction of the call, readying his claws for battle. They dripped with poison of their own accord, his control over them having been lost in his haste to reach the miko. His mind had gone blank and his heart fluttered uncomfortably in his chest. The feeling was unnerving, but he could not dwell on it now.

"GET AWAY! GET AWAY!" Kagome yelled.

He was close, he could smell her cherry blossom scent on the air.

Sesshoumaru burst through the trees and jumped lithely to land on a sturdy rock in the middle of the river the miko bathed in. He growled fiercely, but found no danger, that is, until he turned his gaze to the miko.

The girl's shriek nearly knocked him off his feet.

"SESSOUMARU! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" She screamed, wrapping her arms around her naked body as she quickly dropped back into the water with a splash.

The taiyoukai lord was incredibly confused. He did not sense, nor did he see, any danger. And adding to his befuddlement were her flustered, ear shattering yells. Not to mention the fact that he had just gotten a very brief, if not pleasant, view of her unclothed form. What was going on?

"You were distressed," he said, still blinking in confusion.

"Yeah! There was a snake!" She snapped, pointing to a very addled looking serpent splayed in the grass a few yards away.

She glared at the snake she had just thrown from the water before realizing that by removing her hand to point, she had once again let herself be exposed. She squeaked and quickly covered herself again.

"Would you get outta here? I'm naked you pervert!" She said indignantly with a noticeable blush on her cheeks. He noticed vaguely that the slight coloring was not entirely unfortunate.

"You are submerged," he said simply. "And even if you were not, your usual attire leaves very little to the imagination, I am confused as to why you now choose to be so modest."

"Hey!" She scoffed. "Water is transparent, and there's a difference between tastefully revealing and buck-naked!"

'Tastefully revealing'? Is that what she calls it? He almost rolled his eyes.

"Finish your bath, miko," Sesshoumaru said in his familiar bored tone. "I will leave before you become too agitated."

Kagome opened and closed her mouth in an odd mixture of anger, embarrassment, and simply not knowing what to say, as Sesshoumaru gracefully leapt from his perch and strolled off into the forest.

A million and one thoughts ran through his mind, so many that even his superior brain could not sort through them all. But the most pressing was undoubtedly why he had reacted so violently to her frightened call. He wanted to believe it was because her death meant his death as well, but his own livelihood had admittedly not crossed his mind until now.

Was he truly concerned for her safety? Perhaps he was. It was not the first time he had rushed to rescue a human. He had saved Rin many times from danger, but somehow this felt different...he didn't like it.

He would concentrate on other things.

Other things, such as the view he had just unexpectedly happened upon. Yes, now that was a distraction.

***

Ten minutes later the miko returned to their campsite to find the pompous taiyoukai leaning against a tree as usual. His head turned in her direction and looked her up and down once before smirking.

Coherent thoughts escaped her for a moment, before trusty anger took over. "Keep your eyes to yourself, lecher! And get that look off your face!" She said indignantly, throwing down her bath things and crossing her arms.

She was seriously considering becoming a nun. Yes, a chaste, modest, never to be seen without at least four layers of clothing, nun. She had barely been able to look Inuyasha in the face the first time he had accidentally seen her naked, but with Sesshoumaru... gah! It was too embarrassing to even think about!

I need a lobotomy, she thought distractedly.

"What look, miko?" He continued to smirk.

What? Oh, right, he was ogling me! She remembered.

"That look!" She said pointing to him forcefully. "That perverted look like you've seen all my... my bits and pieces!"

'Bits and pieces?' Sesshoumaru quirked an amused brow as she again squeaked in frustration.

"Ugh, I finally think I'm getting a break from all the hormone crazed men by traveling with you, but turns out your just as bad as the rest of them!" She grumbled. "Well, I've had it, I'm going to bed!"

"Be watchful for serpents," he said lightly.

"Be watchful I don't purify your high and mighty behind into next week," she grumbled as she stomped over to the fire he must have started while she washed up.

And that just made her even angrier, because starting a fire for her was actually considerate and all she wanted to do right now was hate him! What a jerk!

Stupid dog? Her mind supplied hopefully. Okay, on second thought, I need two lobotomies.

***

The hanyou was pacing, he had been pacing for the past few hours, making his companions wish he would just trip already and knock himself unconscious. But no, his head was much too hard for that.

"Inuyasha, would you kindly calm down, I am sure Lady Kagome will be here any minute," Miroku said irritably. He loved his friends, he really did, but sometimes they truly drove him up the wall.

"Damn girl is late again!" He growled to the monk unnecessarily. Miroku was just as aware of the miko's tardiness as Inuyasha was. Kagome was supposed to return this afternoon, but already the sun was setting and she still had not joined them.

"She will be fine, Inuyasha. From what I have heard of her time, I am sure she is perfectly safe," Sango said.

"Keh, like I care," he scoffed, "I just want to get back to finding the jewel shards and she's holdin' everything up!"

Shippou rolled his sparking green eyes, knowing perfectly well that hunting jewel shards was the farthest thing from the hanyou's mind at the moment. Whenever he was away from Kagome for too long he always got like this. Paranoid fool.

"I'm going to get her," he finally said, glaring at each of his companions as if daring them to tell him otherwise.

"Do what you must," Miroku sighed. What did he care if the hanyou wanted to get himself 'sat' into oblivion when he once again went to fetch Kagome before she was ready. It would not be his spine he would have to realign.

Inuyasha hadn't even heard him, he was already running towards the well with a speed that surprised even himself. All day he couldn't shake the feeling that Kagome was in trouble, and as each hour passed without her return, he only grew more and more agitated.

Hold on, Kagome, he thought to himself. I'm coming to get you.

Chapter Note:

Reviews = fuel

* Lobotomy: A surgical operation on a part of the brain to treat mental illness.

I don't know, this chapter was hard to write, don't know if I like it too much...whatever.

3 TWLOAP