Chapter 13

Author Note:

DestinysTears = Uber beta and I think we might have to get married.

Sorry for being kind of MIA the past few days, I haven't been answering reviews and such and haven't really been on the internet at all, but I have excuses don't worry! My senior ball was last weekend and my senior bash was yesterday (basically a school endorsed party with lots 'o free stuff lol) but yeah, I have been busy. Soooooo, also, I just want to let ya'll know that for now my unofficial update day is gonna be Sunday. Every Sunday I'll update, unless you make me very happy, then I might update sooner.

Okay, I know I promised mind-blowing action, but then I realized that the particular chapter I was thinking of is...not this one lol. This one does have action, and a bit of romance (finally!), but the intensity I was think of comes a bit later. It's worth the wait though.

I Have a question for everyone at the end of this chapter so, read the chapter note!

"Inuyasha?" Miroku called down the well as another clump of dirt flew past his head to join the growing pile a few yards away. "What, may I ask, are you doing?"

"Digging," he said shortly.

Miroku glanced over his shoulder to Sango and shrugged before gazing back down into the depths of the well. "And why, may we ask, are you digging?"

"To find Kagome, idiot!" He growled and the steady flow of flying dirt increased.

Miroku shot another glance at Sango. They had been waiting for Inuyasha to return to them with an angry Kagome on his back for some time now, but they had eventually decided to head back towards Kaede's village and see what was keeping them so long. When they had arrived they found nothing but a severely disgruntled - and not to mention filthy - hanyou.

"Kagome-chan has not returned then?" Sango asked worriedly.

"Can't ya see that!" Inuyasha spat and jumped out of the hole to land lithely on the well's lip. "And this stupid thing won't let me go after her either!"

Miroku quirked a brow. "Perhaps it is broken?"

"Keh, it ain't broken," he scowled, but his worry was evident in his eyes. "It still reeks like magic. I'd know if it was broken."

"Wait, look at this!" Shippou called frantically, pointing to something in the grass.

Sango went over to the kit and picked up the item that had caught his attention. "It is Kagome-chan's bow."

Miroku's brow furrowed. "Then maybe Inuyasha cannot get through the well because Kagome is not on the other side?"

But Inuyasha wasn't listening to him, he had walked over to Sango and was now staring at the bow in her hands with wide eyes. "Kagome takes this thing with her everywhere she goes," he murmured. "She would never leave it behind."

"Ah, so ye have come finally," an old, raspy voice called. They all turned to see Kaede emerge from the trees with a serious look on her face. "I need to talk with ye immediately."

"What is it, ya old hag!" Inuyasha demanded. "You better tell us what the heck is going on!"

Kaede scowled. "I believe Kagome has been taken. Now, come with me and we shall discuss this over some tea."

***

"I am to believe that you require food yet again?" Sesshoumaru asked her wearily. For some reason the idea that she wanted something else besides apples, apples, beans, and more apples was absolutely ridiculous to the taiyoukai. And since she really didn't want to explain what happens to humans concerning their bowels when one eats too much fruit or ingests beans, she hoped pouting would work.

"Yes, it's dinner time," she huffed, rolling her eyes. "And if it's really such a big deal I'll just eat the apples, geez! I thought you would be happy for the chance to go and slash something to bits."

"I could kill animals in my sleep, miko. They are hardly a challenge."

"Well, if it's so easy, then it shouldn't take you very long," Kagome smiled sweetly and added another log to the fire she was making.

Sesshoumaru would have really liked to add her to the pile of logs and set it ablaze, but then she might end up doing something incredibly irritating...such as dying. And that would be terribly inconvenient - not to mention the fact that burning flesh was not the most pleasant of smells.

"Do not wander," he told her sternly, waiting until she nodded her head in agreement before slinking off into the trees.

Where in the heck would I go anyway? She thought as she watched his shining hair disappear into the darkness. An image of a very angry Sesshoumaru finding her lost and disoriented in some random part of the forest, demanding to know why she had 'wandered' came to mind. Oh, I wanted to see if the trees a mile away from here were just as boring as the ones back at camp. Good news. They are.

She rolled her eyes and dropped a match into the fire pit, watching as it caught the dry leaves and twigs at the bottom, sending bright orange flames up towards the thicker logs. Now that she thought about it, she supposed that she should have been a little more specific as to what 'dinner' for a human implied. Sesshoumaru was obviously oblivious when it came to human behavior...even though he had basically adopted a human child. But maybe Jaken took care of things like feeding and providing for her.

Well, whatever. She just really hoped he would at least bring back something normal and not a bear, or a mountain lion, or something weird like that.

Ew, bear, she thought distastefully, can't imagine that would taste very good.

And just then, as though the universe had been reading her thoughts and decided that she really needed a little more irony in her life, her spiritual powers twitched.

Slowly she turned around to face - wait for it - a bear youkai.

"So, I suppose you've come to eat me, then," she sighed, giving the low-level demon a sour look.

The bear simply grunted and stared at the shards resting against her chest with wild, crazed eyes.

Damn it! She cursed inwardly as she tried to reach for her bow as discretely as possible. Why do I keep forgetting these things make me such a danger magnet?

Her fingers closed around her bow as the bear let out a ferocious roar and charged towards her. It's massive paws - at least twice the size of a normal bear's - pounded against the ground like thunder, the earth shaking beneath her shoes as she spotted her ammunition. Acting quickly, she rolled to the side and jumped to her feet, grabbing an arrow out of her quiver as she went. Experience guided her movements as she nocked her arrow and turned to face the youkai in one fluid motion.

She had one shot, her quiver was too far away for her to reach now, and if she missed...well, she just wasn't going to think about that. She narrowed her eyes in concentration and her arrow sparked to life, glowing pink with her power.

The bear hesitated for a moment, but the insanity brought about by the presence of the Shikon shards eventually won out. He continued to charge at her wildly, his claws and fangs glinting in the firelight. Kagome had to be sure though - she couldn't risk him dodging her arrow. She would have to wait until he was almost right in front of her.

Her fingers tightened as she waited.

And then, out of no where, something hard hit her in the head, knocking her to the ground. She watched in horror as her arrow slipped from her fingers, shooting uselessly right past the bear's shoulder. She tried to struggle to her feet only to fall back to the ground in a sense of vertigo. She felt the back of her head and found blood.

Oh good, now I'm too dizzy to stand, she thought frantically. She lowered her hand and refocused her attention to her impending doom, wondering if the bear would maim her first and take the shards, or just devour her and the shards whole.

But when she looked back to the bear she found a strange sight indeed. Her attacker was now being attacked, which would have been a relief, that is if the bear's attacker was not another mindless demon probably lured here by the shards.

There, in the middle of the clearing, a vicious bear and a horrible eagle youkai were locked in a deadly battle. She noticed, with a hint of annoyance, that the eagle youkai had blood on its talons. Her blood. It had knocked her away from the bear so that it could claim the shards instead.

Kagome's brain started working furiously, telling her that she should probably take this chance to escape, and that maybe running away was a good idea, and hey, wouldn't fleeing into the trees be nice?

Kagome was inclined to agree, and so, she started to crawl away as quietly and quickly as possible. But just as soon as she had started, she was stopped by a terrifying, blood curdling screech. She spun around just in time to see the bear clamp down on the eagle's neck and snap it.

The now dead bird hung limply in his jaws before falling to the ground in a pile of feathers and blood. The bear growled as it refocused on Kagome.

"Running, miko?" It hissed in a voice so jagged and rough it was barely understandable. "I don't think so." And it lowered it's massive head and charged once again.

I'm going to die, she thought to herself as she stared, transfixed at the demon.

He was three strides from her.

No one is going to save me, she realized.

Two strides.

This is NOT how it's supposed to happen, not NOW! She thought viciously, tears of anger running down her face.

He was right in front of her, leaping into the air, his teeth bared, and Kagome held up her hands instinctively.

And then, something amazing happened: she didn't die.

Her hands grew hot, glowing a pink so bright it was almost white. It blinded her, deafened her, stopped her heart. She couldn't breath, she couldn't blink, and it seemed that all time had stopped except for her. And then, slowly, it all restarted. The light faded, she gasped for breath, her heart thudded in her chest, and she was hit by a cloud of black, stinking ashes.

"What the-" she coughed as she inhaled the thick, powdery ash.

"Hn," a deep voice murmured from the trees.

Kagome turned her head towards the noise to discover Sesshoumaru leaning casually against a tree.

"Apparently our excursion to the village was quite unnecessary," he said thoughtfully.

"W-what?" Kagome managed to rasp. She was still thoroughly confused about what had just happened - hadn't a giant bear youkai been about to mangle her? She was pretty sure she hadn't imagined that.

He raised a brow. "Your bow, you did not need it."

Kagome looked down at the pile of ashes scattered across the grass and finally understood what had happened. The youkai hadn't just miraculously disappeared; she had purified the bear with her hands and only her hands. "I...wow," she whispered.

"Indeed," he agreed.

And then she was hit be another realization. "Wait, so you were there the whole time! You just watched me almost get killed!"

He shrugged. "I arrived as the bear defeated the eagle."

"Still, that was more than enough time for you to intervene! I could have died!" She yelled, staring at him in disbelief.

"I sensed the spike in your spiritual power well before the bear was upon you, I was curious as to what you would do," he said uncaringly as he began walking towards her, dragging something behind him.

"You-you jerk!" She huffed, crossing her arms. "What if nothing happened and I really did die?"

He stopped in front of her and looked off into the trees as though deep in thought. "I would have enjoyed the silence," he finally decided, returning his gaze to her.

Kagome really wanted to throw demon ashes in his eyes, but she figured that wouldn't help her whole "not being killed tonight" plan.

"Fine," she huffed, picking herself up off the ground and brushing the ashes from her clothes. "Did you at least get some food?"

He scowled and dropped a dead deer at her feet.

"EEEK!" She squeaked as it hit the ground with a sickening thud. It's head lolled awkwardly in her direction, the deer's glassy, black eyes staring unseeingly at her. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

He raised a brow. "Eat it...or cook it and then eat it if you prefer."

"But it's still got all its fur and...stuff," she said lamely, nudging it's hoof with her foot as though checking to make sure it was really dead and not just pretending.

"Then skin it."

"Ew," Kagome said again, looking up at him with a disgusted expression on her face. "I can't do that! It's gross! Plus, I don't even think I would know how - Inuyasha always does that stuff."

"Are you suggesting that I clean your meal for you?" He asked coldly.

Kagome only pouted out her bottom lip and stared up at him with wide, pleading eyes. He glared at her protruding lip and wondered that if he bit it, would she put it back...somehow the idea was far more enjoyable than it should have been.

"Miko, you are possibly the most troublesome creature I have ever had the misfortune of traveling with," he sighed, forcing his gaze away from the girl's mouth and back towards the dead deer. The latter was much less satisfactory to look upon.

"I'm probably the only creature you've been forced to travel with," she smirked as she made her way back towards the fire, happy that she wasn't going to have to dig out deer innards for the next hour.

"No, I have traveled with my father and even he was not as bothersome," he countered as he sliced through the stomach of the deer with one of his claws.

Kagome looked away and focused on less disgusting things...such as the ground. "So, what was your father like?" She asked as a series of sickening ripping and squishing sounds came from Sesshoumaru's direction. She had always wondered what Inuyasha's father had been like, seeing as Myouga never seemed very inclined to talk about him, and Inuyasha didn't even know him.

But Sesshoumaru knew him, maybe the only person still alive who truly did.

There was a pause and a few more disgusting noises during which Kagome waited. She began to think that he wasn't going to answer her when finally he spoke. "He was the Lord of the West before me and the most feared demon in all of Japan."

There was a rustle of silk as Sesshoumaru walked over to her and handed her a stick with a sizable portion of meat on the end. She took it and lowered it into the fire as he sat down and stared into the flames before him. It was the first time, she realized, the first time he had ever chosen to sit near her instead of just lurking on the edge of darkness against a tree.

"No, that is what the Inu no Taisho was like. I want to know what your father was like," she said.

His gaze shifted to her. "The Inu no Taisho was my father. They are the same."

Kagome simply shook her head. "No they aren't," she insisted. "I could tell you that I am a miko, but that's not what I truly am. I make friends with youkai, and get kidnapped by gods, and take calculus tests. Now, is that how you would ever describe a priestess?"

Sesshoumaru was silent.

"See, they are different," she said as she turned the stick to cook the other side of the meat. "I am a miko, but I'm also Kagome."

Sesshoumaru looked back to the fire and furrowed his brow. "He once told me that the only sound more beautiful than the singing of a blade, was that of a woman's voice," he said quietly, startling the young miko - she hadn't really expected him to respond. "For one signified that which you must protect and the other gave you the power in which to do it."

He looked back to Kagome with an intense expression, as though he had just tried to explain some horrible complexity only to be unsatisfied with his description. "That is how I would describe my father - the only thing he loved more than fighting was love itself."

"Oh," Kagome said, stunned. Whatever response she had expected from the taiyoukai, it was definitely not this. It was almost poetic. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye only to discover that he was still looking at her. She found herself unable to look away. "He sounds honorable."

"He was a foolish man," he corrected quietly, his gaze drifting back towards the fire, but not entirely releasing Kagome from her trance. She was mesmerized by the way the flames seemed to reflect of his pale skin, dancing across his cheeks, making him seem brighter, warmer. Even his hair seemed to glow, like a river under a sunset.

"You are bleeding," he said abruptly, causing Kagome to blush and look away. Her hand went to the cut at the back of her head and found that it was, indeed, still bleeding.

"That stupid bird came out of nowhere," she grumbled.

"Turn your head."

"W-what?" Kagome stuttered, looking back towards the taiyoukai only to find him staring at her expectantly.

"Turn your head so that I may see," he said again, his tone impatient.

Kagome hesitated and then very slowly shifted so that the back of her head was facing him. His fingers came up to slide over the wound, she could feel the tips of his claws prick against her skin, but he made sure not to scratch her. An involuntary shudder ran up her spine and her tummy started doing some weird acrobatics routine that had certainly not endorsed. Were his hands always this soft? His ministrations were almost tender as he gently prodded the flesh around the jagged edge of the wound. But no matter how tender he might have been she couldn't help the small hiss of pain from her lips.

"It is not deep," he concluded, pulling away as Kagome turned back to face him - he was looking at her blood that now coated the tips of his fingers. They both stared at it for a few seconds before he shrugged slightly, brought them up to his mouth, and licked them clean, not bothering to notice Kagome's slightly disgusted and slightly fascinated expression.

"Do not let that burn," he interjected after his fingers were once again spotless.

"What?" Kagome said stupidly, finally looking away.

"You're food, do not let it burn," he clarified, standing up in a flurry of silk and hair, making his way over to a tree at the far end of the clearing.

Kagome pulled the slightly charred meat from the fire and looked over to him. She noticed that he must have removed the eagle youkai and deer carcasses before coming to join her. "Aren't you gonna eat anything?" She wanted to know.

"I...am not hungry," he said, a strange edge to his voice.

"Oh, okay," she said and turned back towards the fire, tried to forget the weird - yet strangely warm - feeling his touch had conjured, and bit off a piece of meat. Hmmm, needs ketchup.

He watched her as she ate her meal in silence and tried not to breath. He had not expected her blood to effect him so; it tasted of sweetness and spice and power, and it taunted him, telling him to take more. He had not licked her blood from his fingers to purposely taste it, he simply wanted to clean his fingers and since there was no water near by it seemed like the only logical solution. But now that he had, he knew that he would never again find anything as satisfying.

Even now it mocked him, the scent of it spilling from her wound that had not yet closed. But he was not some eager young pup, he had far too much dignity and self restraint to let himself drool over some ningen's blood...he just hoped that blasted wound would close soon.

"You did well," he heard himself say, trying to turn his thoughts away from her blood. It was his obligation to provide the miko with a compliment, but he truly was impressed with the power she had wielded. "But perhaps I should not leave you unattended in the future."

She grinned. "Uh oh, I think somebody might actually find me tolerable."

Tolerable, amusing, delicious, his mind added.

"Hardly."

Chapter Note:

Roses are red.

Violets are blue.

Look, I just rhymed.

You should review.

I am the Edgar Allen Poe of poetry when it comes to begging for reviews. Obviously. Just look at that poem. It's pure gold lol.

***Question: This story is probably going to hit 100 reviews soon (on ) and I would like to make something to show my appreciation. So, is there any certain scene from my fic that you would like to see illustrated? I'll post a drawing on deviant art and here when I reach 100. Please let me know!***