Chapter 6
Kagome left the bathroom, closing the door behind her and returned to her room to wait until Sesshomaru emerged. Sesshomaru stood in the bathroom for a moment, taking all the oddities around him in before finally beginning to disrobe. He was never one to tarry long, especially when it came to something frivolous like bathing. Sure, it was necessary, but he did not relish in it like many lords or ladies. It was simply something he did, yes it felt good, but doing things that felt good was not something Sesshomaru indulged in. At least not normally.
Silently, he stripped himself of the remains of his shattered armor and his ripped and bloodied garments, setting them on the floor. His hair had mostly escaped abuse during the battle and he never washed it much anyway, but his tail was much the worse for wear. He unwound it from his shoulder before he had taken off his clothes and now he glanced at it as it lay across the floor, looking pathetic with bloody matted fur and dirt ground into it.
Gracefully he stepped into the shower, making sure all of his tail made it into the tub. The water was the perfect temperature and quickly rinsed away the grime and dried blood from the battle the previous day. Ignoring the shampoo and conditioner, he simply soaked his hair before picking up the bar of soap to rid his body of the more persistent grime. A thought occurred to him and he glanced briefly at the shampoo, then at his tail. He snatched up the first bottle and poured some of the liquid into his palm (how he managed this with one hand, I have no idea, but I'm guessing he has very dexterous fingers), put the bottle down and massaged it into his tail from right where it started at the end of his spine all the way down to the tip. After he was finished, he rinsed himself off thoroughly, making sure no traces of soap were left behind.
Once he was done he stared at the dials in a manner that might have made even an inanimate object cringe. Forcefully, he brought images of how the miko had turned on the water and he did the opposite, turning the switch to shut off the shower and then spinning the dials in the opposite direction he had seen her turn them. He was rewarded with the water shutting off as he had hoped and he stood there, resisting the urge to shake the excess water off his body. After all, he was a guest in their house and it wouldn't do to soak the bathroom his first day there.
Instead, he grabbed his heavy, silky curtain of hair with his one good hand and wrung all the excess water out and down the drain of the bathtub before grabbing one of the white fluffy towels off the rack on the wall, toweling himself dry. Briefly he wondered if she was a hime or if all homes in her time had such luxurious bathrooms, although, he admitted, the bathroom was not as large in size as he would expect of a hime. He used the towel to vigorously dry off his tail, ridding it of the water and returning it to its original fluffiness.
Shrugging the soft white bathrobe onto his shoulders and closing it tightly, he maneuvered the tie deftly with his only hand, his tail curled up from where the bathrobe fell to his knees, careful not to lift the back of it at all and wrapped itself in its customary place on his shoulder. He scooped up his dirty clothing and remnants of his armor, he never was one to be waited on, why let others do things for you if you could do them yourself, and exited the bathroom.
Upon exiting the bathroom he turned to proceed to the miko's room when a young boy came barreling out of a room down the hallway and nearly ran right into him, barely stopping in time and falling flat on his rump for his trouble. The boy looked up in surprise and found he had to crane his neck way back in order to fully follow the figure to the top of his head. When he did, he found the eeriest golden eyes staring down at him. The eyes were much like his neesan InuYasha, though slender and colder. Stammering an apology, Souta jumped up quickly and bowed stiffly and hurriedly at the waist before skirting the demon and sprinting down the stairs.
Sesshomaru turned and entered the miko's room without knocking. Kagome was sitting at her desk with a pile of odd looking books next to her, perusing through a mess of papers that lay scattered all over the place. She looked up eagerly as he entered and jumped out of her seat.
"Oh! You're done already! Great! My mom left you some clothes from when my father was alive, I guess she never had the heart to get rid of them, but she said they would come close to fitting you hopefully, at least until we can get you some that actually fit. Just as a warning, the clothes we wear in my time differ vastly from those you would normally wear, so if you have any trouble putting them on or have any questions, make sure to just ask me. I'll answer anything you want." With that, she eagerly grabbed her bathing stuff and exited the room to take a much needed shower.
Sesshomaru stood in the middle of the room wondering how on earth his half brother put up with such a woman. Though he had to admit, she got all the information out he needed in nearly one breath before scampering out of the room like some demented toddler. Folding his battered silk garments as best he could considering there wasn't much left of them; he piled them along with what was left of his armor and his yellow sash in one of the few uncluttered places on her desk and turned to the pile of clean clothes she had left him.
Daintily he picked up the black shirt and studied it briefly before turning to the pants. She had to be kidding. There was barely enough material there to cover him, let alone clothe him decently. Yes, she had warned him that clothes in her era were different, but this was ridiculous. Shedding his robe and dropping it to the floor, he found what looked to be small white undergarments under the pants that were strangely stretchy around the waste and fell to just above mid thigh. Stifling a sigh, he managed to wiggle himself into the clothes provided him, though he was much more used to stepping into them, not worming his way into them.
When the pants were finally almost all the way up, he realized he had a problem. There was no hole in them for his tail. Pulling them up to just underneath his tail, he realized the pants would not sit up where they were supposed to when the tail was there. Letting out a soft breath of resignation he closed his eyes and placed his palm on his tail bone where his tail met his spine. The things I will have to do while I'm here, he thought with a mental head shake. The demon's hand glowed briefly and his tail faded from view as if it had never existed.
Finally he had the shirt on and the pants, but he was having trouble with the front of them. There was a metal contraption along the front and on top of that was a button. Pulling on it, being careful not to rip the material, he managed to figure out that the loose piece in the metal was what operated it and acted as a closer for the pants instead of a row of buttons as was normal. Then he clasped the one button at the top and readjusted the too tight shirt.
Standing in front of the mirror he realized how ridiculous he looked. The pants were made of a thick and fairly rough blue material, but they were too big around his waist and a little too short on the legs, so they sagged down past his bellybutton and barely held on when they reached his hip bones. The black t-shirt that had been left him was stretched tight across his chest muscles and was even tighter around his entire right bicep and around what was left of his left one. The shirt was also too short, especially with the pants riding as low as they were, and only reached his bellybutton, displaying for the whole world to see his lower abs and hips. This especially bothered him since the maroon slashes across his hips that matched the ones on his hands were clearly visible. He'd never felt more exposed in his entire life.
Turning to the bed, he saw socks and shoes left there as well. Sitting down, he pulled on the socks one by one and then glared at the shoes. They were oddly shaped and weird in color and there was no way in hell he was putting those on his feet unless he absolutely had to.
Kagome re-entered her bedroom with a sigh of deep content, her head tilted to the side as she toweled dry her hair only to turn and find a very irritated demon lord parked on her bed staring at her in a very disconcerting manner.
Stopping her movement, she stared back at him with wide confused eyes until she finally alighted on his attire. She figured laughing out loud at the most dangerous demon in all of Japan was probably a death wish so she swallowed hard and forced herself to stare at his face instead.
"What?" The stoic youkai raised one elegant eyebrow at what he felt should have been obvious.
"What indeed? You truly expect me to walk around looking like this? I am barely dressed," Kagome forced down the laughter that threatened to bubble out of her uncontrollably and schooled her expression into one of innocence.
"What's wrong with it? You look great! Oh, the pants are a little short and big around the waist and the shirt is a little too tight, but other than that you'll fit in nicely!" Not to mention the fact that she had never seen him in anything other than massive amounts of silk and spiked armor, and knowing someone was strong was entirely not the same thing as seeing that strong person in an extremely tight black shirt with every muscle showing through so nicely.
Looking at him more closely now, she noticed something was missing. Sesshomaru's fluffy boa thing was no where in sight. It wasn't over with his other clothes and it wasn't on his person.
"Where's that fluffy boa thing you always have?" she asked cocking her head slightly and she could swear she saw a look of absolute annoyance cross the youkai's face briefly.
"That is not a fluffy boa, that is my tail," Kagome's eyes widened, "and I have put a small spell on it that hides it for short periods of time. It did not fit in the pants." As he stared at her he could see laughter light up her eyes and he stifled a sigh. This woman was intolerable at times. There was absolutely nothing funny about the fact that he had to endure the indignity of hiding his tail, at least he thought there wasn't. Kagome cleared her throat, having swallowed her laughter.
"Uh, how long does the spell last?" she asked glancing across his chest, realizing he looked less imposing and smaller without it.
"It will last until this evening or until I release the spell," he turned away dismissively.
"Oh," Kagome began. "So is that a talent all youkai have? Or is it just something you acquired among all your other skills?" Sesshomaru didn't look at her, he just continued to sit on the bed cross legged and stare at the wall.
"All youkai have that ability. We can even hide our entire form and look completely human if the youkai is strong enough," he leveled her with a piercing glare, "but though I hide my tail I will not change any of the rest of my appearance in order to fit into your world." Kagome sweat dropped as he turned forward once again.
Her eyes alighted on the odd way the sleeve fell from where the bicep suddenly ceased to exist on his left side and a pang of guilt shot through her. She was partly responsible for the loss of his limb and seeing him in such a revealing shirt brought into sharp focus just how much she and his half brother had taken from him. Sure, he had killed countless people in his lifetime, but he had done other things deserving of honor and respect. He was an honorable creature and didn't deserve to be maimed so. Though it did absolutely nothing to detract from his awesome presence and the rest of his body definitely made up for any lack the missing arm might have created. Definitely, definitely made up for it…
BAD train of thought! Kagome turned away, to hide the blush beginning to form on her cheeks and began rummaging through her closet for something to wear. She could almost feel the angry glare burning a hole through her bathrobe and into her back. Kami could the guy stare! That stare is enough to kill someone! Having settled on an outfit, she turned around to find him still sitting on the bed glowering at her. She cleared her throat.
"Not that I don't mind your sterling company, but would you mind heading downstairs for breakfast so I can get changed? I don't think my mom would be too keen on my changing in here with you, especially with how she found us this morning." The stare continued unchanged. "Please Sesshomaru-sama?" Kagome decided politeness was the best policy with the demon even though she felt ridiculous doing it.
Unfolding himself from the bed and rising gracefully to his feet in one swift motion, his glower never left her face, only breaking the stare after padding silently to the door and giving her a disgusted look before leaving and shutting the door behind him. Kagome sighed in relief and rid of herself of her bathrobe so she could get dressed.
She would have to do something about his clothing or she would never be rid of that menacing glare. Therefore, first priority this morning: head to the mall and buy Demon Lord of the West some new, better fitting, and suitably fashionable clothing. Sighing quietly to herself, she finished dressing in a light blue sundress and slipped matching sandals onto her feet, ran a quick brush through her mostly dry hair and hurried out of her room and down the stairs to make sure all was all right between her mother and the predictably unpredictable and impeccably annoying stoic demon lord.