Chapter 3
Demon vision allowed him to move through the dark house silently and with confidence, his hearing picked up an adult sleeping in the room down the hall and a child in the room across the way. Avoiding those doors, he carefully opened the one next to her room and stared in confusion at what he saw. The entire room was covered in tiny white tiles that glistened in the dark. What looked like an empty basin was carved into one wall with glistening silver appendages sticking out of it at odd angles.
Next to that was a half wooden and half white, waist high, rectangular shaped object with a mirror hanging above it. The space in the center of it looked a little like a wash basin, though it also had those silver, shiny things sticking out of it. But the thing next to that was what really confused him.
An oddly shaped object made completely out of the glimmering white material sat there and it gave him the distinct impression it was shaped like it was squatting. A hollow basin had been cut out of it and it had a rectangular shaped back to it. It almost resembled those things that humans used to dispose of waste, but it looked very different from any one he had ever seen, it was also filled with water and had only one of those silver shiny things on it.
Deciding that the large basin thing had to be where they washed themselves, he placed her gently in the human sized bath and shredded the last remaining rags of her clothing with his sharp claws, mindful not to knick her. One silver eyebrow rose involuntarily at the sight of the white contraptions she had around her chest and hips. The demon lord knew women wore undergarments, but he had seen most of them and these looked nothing like anything he had ever seen before.
Deciding to leave those in place, he looked around for a way to put water in the basin. Her cuts would become infected if he didn't clean them, but he could see no way to fill the basin with water and could smell none nearby except for what was in that odd thing behind him. Just the residual odor from that told him that water was not clean enough to use on her wounds, so he decided to rouse her once more to find out how bathing in her time worked.
Sighing inwardly at the situation he had put himself into, he shook her shoulder.
"Woman, I need to clean your wounds. Where is the water to fill this?" blue eyes slid slowly open at the cold tone of his voice and the sound of it so near to her. It took a moment of blinking to formulate the details necessary to determine that the cold material behind her was the bathtub and she was home.
Painstakingly slowly the thoughts filtered into her head that she was wounded, he needed to clean those wounds, he doesn't know how to operate the tub and OH MY KAMI I'M IN ONLY MY UNDERWEAR!
Deciding there really wasn't much she could do about it and that she was lucky she was still alive, she forced the hot flush from her face and made up her mind.
"If you could help me sit up so I can reach the knob, I'll turn the water on for you," she said pointing at the silver contraptions on the wall. He pushed down the urge to snap at her for thinking he was incapable of getting water for the tub and simply did as she asked. Lifting her with his one arm, he pulled her forward until she could reach the silver dials with her good arm and she turned them, twisting one to the left and twisting the other to the right.
To his surprise, water began to flow from the silver spout and she put her hand in the stream as if feeling its temperature. She dropped a plug type thing into the hole at the bottom of the basin, turned the knobs a few more times until satisfied then he returned her to a laying down position.
Sesshomaru marveled for only a moment longer about how the water was capable of coming from the weird spigot at will and that with only turning the knobs a little bit it came out the perfect temperature. Mentally shaking himself, he turned back to his patient.
Closing her eyes tightly, she hissed as she felt him pour the water from his cupped hand over the gash along her hip and thigh before flipping her over with a gentleness she didn't know he possessed to do the same to the much deeper gash in her left shoulder. She rested her head on her arms as the bath filled slowly with soothing warm water and mulled over all that had happened.
Tears stung her eyes as she remembered the fight and how each of her friends had died. Overwhelming grief threatened to swallow her whole as despair sunk its claws into her heart. Sesshomaru stopped his ministrations as the sting of tears reached his sensitive nose. Just like most men, he hated it when a woman cried. His first urge was to ignore her as he did all women, but for some reason, he had the uncharacteristic urge to comfort the distraught woman. The same thing always happened to him when Rin cried. An unfamiliar feeling suddenly tightened in his chest, right around the region of his heart and he almost looked down to see if he had an injury he had missed. The feeling confused him greatly which disturbed him quite a bit. Pushing the feeling away, he returned his attention to the woman sobbing silently in front of him.
"You blame yourself for their deaths," he stated more than asked, surprising even himself as he spoke. Kagome froze, her muscles tensing up at the sudden question before giving him the barest of nods, making sure to keep her head turned away from him. He watched her raven tresses drape across her uninjured shoulder to float gracefully in the rising water.
"There was nothing that could have been done to save any of them. If there was, it would have been done. Do not mock their sacrifice by blaming it on yourself." Kagome sucked in her breath at his accusation. Was she belittling their deaths?
"They died accomplishing their goal: to destroy Naraku, or in reality, giving you the power to do so. Honor their deaths, but do not mock them with your self pity." Mentally he winced, he sounded like a general giving a soldier a lecture, not someone giving a distraught woman comfort in her grief. Although he had to admit he wasn't practiced at this, it was his first try.
Kagome paused, letting his words roll over in her mind, and replaying for herself one last time, the scenes of their deaths. They all died loving each other. She would not tarnish that memory.
"Thank you," her quiet voice surprised him, "that helps me a lot. I will do as you say." She knew the pain of loss would still be with her, but what he had told her brought things into focus for her a little better. Kagome realized she had indeed begun to blame herself for their deaths, berating herself for not having been strong enough for all of them. But she was who she was and she could not change that. They all knew the risks involved, though they had hoped for a better outcome. Finally at peace with herself and able to fully grieve the loss of her closest friends without the pang of guilt, she rested her head on her arms and let herself drift off once again, the tears staining her cheeks now ones of treasured memories than guilt and failure.
This woman never ceased to amaze him. First was her loyalty to his bastard half brother who didn't deserve that loyalty. Then she stands up to the most powerful demon in existence without becoming overwhelmed by fear. Then she tricks Naraku and himself he finally admitted, into thinking she had given herself over, when her goal the whole time was his destruction. Now, she takes harsh criticism over her grief of her friend's deaths and accepts it, using it to alleviate the pain in her heart.
After a moment of studying her young, though well shaped form, his eyes fell on the water filling the tub, realizing it was now more than a little tinged pink from her blood. He quickly turned the knobs the opposite way he had seen her turn them until the flow of water ceased.
Pushing his amazement at such contraptions to the back of his mind to ponder over later, he gently scooped the unconscious woman out of the water and laid her on the bathmat outside the tub.
He was loathe to do what he was about to do, but he figured it had to be done otherwise she would die. Snatching up a towel from it's hanger on the wall, he wrapped her in it to keep her warm before turning her so the gash on her back faced him. Leaning down, his tongue shot out and gently lapped at her wound, making sure to move in the direction of the ripped skin. Inuyoukai have a special property to their saliva that helps to close and quickly heal wounds. Therefore, licking a particularly deep wound, even though the injured party may not be a demon, will still result in much faster healing and clotting so the wound could close up better. He continued these ministrations until he saw his saliva having the desired effect.
Setting her down gently, he moved to the gash on her hip and repeated the treatment. The great lord Sesshomaru was forced to admit to himself that she did not taste as bad as he had anticipated. In fact, she tasted absolutely delicious, her soft supple skin gave easily to his attention and the taste of her blood made him crave more.
Mentally scolding himself for his wayward thoughts, he quickly finished cleaning and sealing her hip wound before wrapping her completely in the large fluffy towel and scooping her into his arm once again. Exiting the still dark bathroom, he silently made his way back to her room and placed her on the bed. Making sure she was still asleep he turned to leave and go back through the well, but a wave of weariness washed over him and he stopped, leaning heavily on the window. His own injuries had caught up with him.
Looking around the small room and taking deep breaths to ensure everything was alright, he decided this was as safe a place as any to heal and rest, so he settled himself down below the window in a position he did not realize so resembled the hanyou who used to sit there.
He realized he had lost a lot of blood for him to become so dizzy and being weak never sat well with him.
Leaning his head back, he decided to just close his eyes for a little while the rest of the hole in his chest healed and before he knew it he had fallen deeply asleep.