AUTHOR'S CORNER:
Holy reviews! I can't believe how many I got this time around! I'll do my best to answer all the questions, if I miss one then gomen! I'll try to get it next time around!
turniquet, mad monk, inugirl06, bBlack Dahlia, mangadreams, NekoYasha101, Eternityoftears, Scruffy Wolf, ktshabati, Rinagurl13 - you guys are awesome! Some of the names have been with me since the beginning and you have no idea how much I appreciate that! Honestly, I don't think I could keep the pace if I didn't get any reviews!
FluffyLover7 - It made you cry! Why? Did I do something wrong? I don' t think it was supposed to make you cry, is this a good kind of crying? -sweatdrop-
YamiYoukai - You need to know that you absolutely made my day yesterday, or early this morning rather! I logged in to check my messages at -ahem- three in the morning and found a huge and detailed review by you! Thank you so much! What you wrote has told me so much that I needed to know, especially that the feeling I was attempting to get across and the measure of the strength of the characters is correct. Thank you so much!
Sessluver - -sigh- You are indeed correct that it is Sesshomaru that throws the monkey wrench in their relationship, though you will see it's not entirely his fault. Thank you for the awesome review! And don't worry! I'm not going anywhere! This'll be a long one and I'll stick it out to the end, even if I have to drop back my update schedule slightly.
WHEW! Ok peoples! DON'T HATE ME! This is a very different chapter and I had alot of fun writing it, my editor said that I managed to keep the characters fairly in character, but please let me know what you think! Oh, and by the way, I'm not going to make it easy on our destined couple here... yes, they will get a happy ending, but I'm gonna make it hard for them to accomplish it, because in reality I think it would be really hard for a relationship to form between them. ANYWAYS, they've got a long road ahead of them, so keep me updated to your thoughts and I'll try to fix any discrepancies I find or you all point out! ENJOY!
Chapter 14
Kagome tossed and turned, the light of the moon filtering through her window and playing shadows on her ceiling. Her feelings toward a certain stoic taiyoukai confused her greatly and left her feeling guilty about her love for InuYasha. Kagome flipped over and faced the wall, glaring at it slightly as if it would give her the answers if she tried hard enough. With a sigh she flipped onto her back again and stared at the ceiling.
"What should I do?" she whispered to the darkness, not expecting an answer back.
"Keh, I think you should stop being a coward and actually go for something that you want," Kagome's eyes flew wide open at the familiar voice and she whirled around in bed to find a familiar face crouched by the side of her bed. Without thinking, she threw herself out of bed toward the apparition in her happiness. Panic flashed through the ghostly InuYasha's face as she passed right through him and landed hard on the floor.
His ears twitched in annoyance and his eyes closed, a small vein popping out of his forehead. Kami, the girl will never change! Kagome picked herself up off the floor and got right in InuYasha's face.
"That was the dumbest thing you could possibly have done," he started in on her.
"Well if you hadn't scared the living daylights out of me and appeared so suddenly, I might not have reacted so rashly!"
"That doesn't make you any less of a baka for trying to hug a ghost!"
"You're the baka! Stop sneaking up on me like that!"
"Baka!"
"Baka!"
Silence, snickers. Tears started forming in Kagome's eyes and InuYasha shifted uncomfortably.
"You have no idea how much I've missed you and everyone else," sniffle, "why did I have to be the only one left behind?" Her face dropped covering her eyes with her bangs.
"Kagome, listen to me. Things happened the way they happened for a reason. None of us are sure why yet, but believe me, this was all for the best. You lived because there is something you need to accomplish. The Kami's weren't ready to take you yet." His hand came up as if touching her cheek; Kagome could feel the cold radiating off his ghost.
"You need to let go of us. Of me." He stared into her eyes with complete sincerity for once, his eyes only a shadow of the pale amber they once were. "We're no longer living and you need to let us go in favor of ones who are living. There's someone that needs you, the time for the love we had is gone. You know in your heart as well that it wasn't anything lasting. If we had thought about it seriously when I was alive, we would have realized it was more brotherly and sisterly than loverly." Kagome nodded a little, tears spilling down her cheeks. A small smile broke through her tears as she considered the ghost before her.
"Who are you and what have you done with my coarse, rude and inarticulate InuYasha," a grin spread over InuYasha's transparent face and he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Well, I guess death kinda does that to you, doesn't it?" they laughed together. "Kagome, we've all seen you over the past few days, the whole gang's been watching over you. We're all happy with the way things have been developing, but we have to go. We've been waiting in limbo to see how things would turn out for you and to intervene if necessary," he touched her cheek again lightly.
"Live, be happy. Don't dwell in death with us. You'll get here eventually, but not before you're good and ready!" with those words he jumped to his feet and 'keh'ed to someone unseen to her.
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" smiling, he waved and was gone.
Kagome still sat on the floor staring into the empty space where he once was. Thoughts tumbled around in her head making a general mess out of everything she had tried to make so neat and orderly. Wait… so they have been watching and are happy with what's going on? Meaning, InuYasha is happy that I'm spending time with Sesshomaru? Kagome continued to sit on the floor thinking over everything he had just told her.
Sesshomaru stood unnoticed in the doorway. A few minutes ago Tenseiga had jerked in its sheath and he felt a pulse of something he didn't recognize coming from Kagome's room. Moments later he heard a thud and hurried over to her room to investigate. The sight that met his eyes made him want to laugh out loud, though being Sesshomaru, he of course did nothing but stare with his usual bored look.
Kagome had been lying in a heap on the floor with InuYasha's feet disappearing somewhere in the vicinity of her lower back from where he crouched. The little miko then proceeded to right herself and get right into the face of the ghost and argue with him. Sesshomaru had been slightly surprised to see his brother's ghost in the room and turned to leave the two alone when InuYasha had started to talk to her seriously.
It surprised him slightly that his brother was capable of such deep thinking on his part and that he was also capable of expressing those thoughts in such a concise manner. After his ghost disappeared he watched Kagome consider the hanyou's words for a moment before leaving silently to return to his own room. So that's what had plagued the miko. She was feeling guilty about spending time with this Sesshomaru? Something still didn't quite add up in the taiyoukai's mind, but it at least made a little more sense now.
Kagome meanwhile was still warring with her own mind. If what she believed was true, InuYasha was telling her it was alright to fall in love with his older brother. But he didn't say anything about said older brother loving her back. She sighed and leaned back against the side of her bed. Yes, Kagome knew she was developing feelings for Sesshomaru despite the fact that he was cold, arrogant, deadly, had a nasty temper, refused to call her by her name, generally looked down on her like she was dirt under her feet, and oh, my Kami, does he have beautiful hair! NO! I'm supposed to be thinking about this pragmatically! He also has a general dislike for anything human, which would include the miko in question, he likes to kill things, he carries a demonic sword who will possess anyone who is unfortunate enough to touch it, oh and then there's the small detail that he's a demon lord who will live for a very, very long time. This all doesn't add up to a very successful relationship.
On the other hand, he's been a lot nicer recently, whether he's been showing emotion more, or Kagome's just gotten used to him more, but he's been more readable, he's lowered himself to teach swordsmanship to a mere ningen, he went to a dance club with the same ningen and oh my Kami can the man dance… NO NO NO, pragmatic thoughts! No thoughts of very lean, muscular hips pressing up against… NO NO NO! Lots of cold water, snow is good, waterfalls, icy waterfalls, waterfalls with icy lords in them, who happen to be divest of any clothing… NO! BAD! Oh my Kami! I'm a pervert! I'm as bad as Miroku! Kagome groaned quietly to herself.
Getting back on the subject at hand and mentally piling lots of layers of clothing on the mental image of a certain demon wandering around in her mind, wreaking havoc on anything he touched, she tried to make some sense of her thoughts. Yes, he's made some changes recently. No, she's not ready to get into a relationship with him. However, let's see how a friendship kinda thing will work out. You never know, sometimes friends can become something a lot more and friends would definitely be a good start for him.
Nodding her head slightly at her decision, she finally decided to get up off the floor and crawl back into bed. She fell asleep fairly quickly and slept soundly through the night.
The next morning found Kagome getting up with a relieved sigh, her cheeks flaming red and her pulse through the roof. I need to stop thinking in such vivid images. Because of her forays in thought the night before, he dreams were haunted by a certain very pale demon who refused to stay dressed. He had run around her dreams giggling madly… GIGGLING? and throwing off clothing here and there for Kagome to retrieve and continue chasing after him to try and put them back on him. Eventually she had given up on the clothing in favor of a blanket and had tried smothering the demon with it without catching a glimpse at anything too… ahem important. Blush.
Kagome made her way downstairs groaning slightly; thanking the Kami's that it was Sunday. Reaching the kitchen doorway, she suddenly froze in her tracks. Once again, the image of a very naked demon so resembling the one sitting at the table regarding her over his coffee cup went prancing through her mind, trailing white hair behind him, giggling like a school girl and with a chibified version of herself chasing after him with an armful of blankets and suddenly she couldn't help herself anymore.
Sesshomaru looked up as a very disheveled Kagome appeared in the door way, practically gaped at him, a huge blush suddenly spreading across her cheeks and down her neck to disappear in her oversized t-shirt before unexpectedly and rather suddenly bursting into uncontrollable laughter. One silver eyebrow was raised at the girl laughing like a madman in the door way. The girl's legs decided then to give out on her and she fell in a heap on the floor, still in the doorway, though it seemed she was attempting to control her laughter and was giggling in the most insane manner possible.
The demon being laughed at looked down at himself and then back at the heap of giggles on the floor, his mind trying desperately to discover for himself what had made the girl dissolve into a pile resembling Kagome on the floor. He waited patiently as her giggling finally began to slow and she held her trembling sides, trying desperately to breathe while tears ran down her cheeks.
Suddenly Kagome stopped laughing completely with a strange hiccup sound when she remembered that not only was she laughing outright at the most powerful demon in the entire feudal era, but that most powerful demon in the entire feudal era just so happened to be sitting at her kitchen table glaring at her in a most disconcerting manner, leaving no doubt in her mind that he knew he was being laughed at and was none too happy about it.
Gulping slightly, she picked herself up off the floor, as nonchalantly as possible brushed off her clothing, turned on her heel and disappeared out the door. Sesshomaru was about to push himself up out of his chair and follow her to wring answers out of her skinny little neck when she suddenly appeared again, a smile plastered on her face as she walked into the kitchen as if nothing had happened.
"Good morning, Sesshomaru. I trust you slept well?" she asked the demon who was now half standing, both palms flat on the table, frozen in place and staring at her as if she was insane. Good Kami, the girl's snapped. Kagome poured herself a cup of coffee and went to sit at the table when she felt a looming presence behind her. A large clawed hand plucked the coffee mug from her hand and set it aside while another large clawed hand settled on the top of her head and turned her around forcefully. Kagome was met by two slim amber eyes narrowed in annoyance and very close to her own and she 'eep'ed slightly. Sesshomaru spoke very slowly.
"What… in Kami's name… was that?" he asked her, forcing her to keep eye contact. Kagome gulped and stared into the endless pools of amber that filled her vision.
"Um… uh…" her mind was racing, trying to come up with a plausible explanation. She couldn't exactly tell the demon lurking so close to her that she had dreamt about him running around in her head naked giggling like a school girl. She was pretty sure that wouldn't go over well at all. But being Kagome, lying just wasn't something that she did very well.
"Um… I uh… I… er…" Sesshomaru continued to stare at her, not letting up on her one bit. "I, um… I had a dream about you…" Kami, good going, Kagome. One silver eyebrow quirked up. "And uh… it uh… you… er… ran around a lot," oh this was good. Great going, in no time you'll be telling him the truth and you will die. Nice. Sesshomaru's eyes betrayed nothing.
"And…?" the cool voice made her jump.
"And uh… it was funny?" she ended lamely. Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed and he continued to bore into her. She scrambled for something to tell him to appease the deadly man hanging over her. "Well I mean, come on! Seeing you run around in my head isn't exactly something you would do! I mean you're too dignified for that! So it was rather funny to see you running around like that," Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed down to slits, he knew she was hiding something else from him. So what does Kagome do when she gets really nervous? She babbles really quickly.
"Imeanwhowouldn't?,',Imeanitwasadream,right?" suddenly Kagome realized what she'd blurted out, but apparently so had the demon lurking over her because his face froze in a look of complete shock. Kagome knew there was nothing for it, she was going to die. So what does a brave miko do when she knows she's going to die? She runs squealing like a little girl of course, and that's exactly what Kagome did.
Fortunately for her, Sesshomaru seemed to be frozen in a state similar to shock. Therefore it took a few moments for his mind to finish processing what the woman had just blurted out to him and then to register that the same woman had just taken off in the direction of the bathroom squealing in the oddest manner.
A switch flipped in his head and inuyoukai instincts took over; his prey had just run away from him. Just then he heard the bathroom door slam and click, signifying that she had locked it behind her. Stalking to the bathroom door, he went to bang on it and knock it down, but before his hand reached the door, he was singed and his hand was repulsed. Regaining control of his mind, he realized she had enacted a barrier around the bathroom door in anticipation of his coming after her. He growled deep in his chest.
"If you wish to live past breakfast, you will open this door now," he growled and was rewarded with a small 'eep' from within, but the door did not open and the barrier did not drop. Thinking quickly, he needed to figure out a way to get her to come out of the bathroom without destroying the house. Just then Souta came out of his room looking like he had just woken up.
"Oh, sis is locked in the bathroom?" he asked the youkai who nodded. "I know how you can get her out," he boy motioned for the taiyoukai to follow him and brought him downstairs to the phone by the bottom of the stairs, still within hearing distance of the bathroom. Quickly, Souta whispered an explanation of what the taiyoukai was to do before loudly re-explaining slightly differently so that Kagome would hear.
"See, this thing is called a phone," he said loudly, grinning broadly, "if you push these numbers in certain orders you can talk to other people over great distances. If you push this particular sequence of numbers in, you can speak into this thing and hear out of this thing and talk to that guy Hojo that goes to Kagome's school." Sesshomaru nodded as he took the phone from the youngster, a wicked gleam in his amber eyes.
"I will reward you later," he whispered to the boy before he scampered off, not willing to be around to see the aftermath of what he'd started. In a clear voice, Sesshomaru did as Souta had instructed in their whispered conversation.
"Yes, ningen? I believe your name was Hojo is that correct? Yes? Kagome has informed me that last night was a mistake and she wishes to have you court her," from upstairs he heard a muffled cry and a door being yanked open. Bingo.
Before Kagome even really realized what she had done, having barely made it through the door she'd just opened, she was lifted off her feet and the world tipped wildly around her. Momentarily she realized she was tucked under the arm of a very strong demon and was being carried outside the house. Sesshomaru knew this was going to be loud considering the way she was already kicking and screaming at him and took off for their forest practice area. The demon in question had Kagome around the waist, tucked under his left arm with her head facing behind him. The squirming girl managed to plant a few good kicks in on him before he stilled them with slight pressure from the claws of his right hand.
Kagome hung from his arm like a rag doll, she'd given up on kicking when she'd felt his claws on her and resigned herself to just be carried until he saw fit to put her down or drop her. Long silver hair swished in her face as he moved with demon speed, though where they were going, she wasn't sure. Though she may have stopped kicking, she certainly didn't stop yelling.
"I can't believe you did that! What an underhanded trick! I would think something like that would be beneath you!" she continued haranguing him as he ran, though the demon ignored her in favor of concentrating on not staring at her legs. The miko had gone to bed wearing an over sized t-shirt and short gym shorts which were now creased up in the fold of her hip since her body was bent at somewhat of a ninety degree angle, giving him a very nice and long expanse of creamy skin and shapely leg to look at. The shorts barely covered the round underside of her bottom and he counted slowly to himself to keep his mind occupied as he raced toward their practice spot, hoping to get there before he let himself slip.
Arriving at last in the meadow, he dropped her unceremoniously on the ground and turned to face the sputtering heap of miko who was currently trying to right herself. Crossing his arms over his chest he put on his most cold and stern look, usually reserved for those he was about to kill very slowly and painfully.
"Now, miko, perhaps you would like to repeat what you had just said in the kitchen, only more slowly and concisely. I'm not sure I heard you correctly." Kagome finally righted herself and jumped to her bare feet with her fists balled up at her sides, staring right back at the demon looming over her.
"You heard every word that I said otherwise I wouldn't be out here! Furthermore, no matter what I said you have no right to treat me like this! A dream is a dream; I can't control what I see in my dreams any more than I can control you! Get over yourself and come down off your high horse, Sesshomaru-sama," she yelled, putting sarcastic emphasis on his title. Her stomach dropped into her toes as she saw his eyes tinge red at the corners. Uh, oh… note to self, do not anger deadly demon lord who can tear me apart in many different ways…oops, too late.
"You dare to speak to me that way?" his voice was a raspy hiss and Kagome shivered slightly, but stood her ground.
"And you dare to treat me this way!" she spat right back at him, a pink aura forming around her, her fists clenched so hard at her sides that her knuckles were white. She was sick of his attitude, sick of him acting like he was better than her, sick of him ruining all her hard work to become friends with him simply because he has a male ego, she was SICK OF IT ALL. The air became physically charged with energy as her aura powered up around her.
Sesshomaru's beast raged within him to force this woman into submission, to take her and make her his and show her who was dominant. His breathing became ragged as he forced himself under control. If his beast became unleashed, he could very well kill her without even knowing it. A low warning growl clawed its way out of his chest, telling her in no uncertain terms to back down or face the consequences.
Kagome saw the struggle rising in the demon before her and felt his aura flare, but she couldn't help herself, she would no longer be cowed by this brute. When he growled in warning, she surprised herself by growling back.
Within in the blink of an eye he was lunging toward her. Kagome barely had time to throw her arms over her head, a shimmering pink barrier flew up around her, not only repelling the demon's attack, but throwing him halfway across the field. Sesshomaru landed on his feet and slid backward, his momentum finally slowing as he made contact with the ground, his feet and one steadying hand digging trails in the ground attesting to the power of her barrier.
The barrier dropped and Kagome faced him fearlessly, bright pink auras flaring to life around her small hands as she dropped into a defensive crouch. All thoughts fled her mind save defending herself against an enraged demon, her mind clicked into combat mode and her eyes narrowed at the demon straightening up.
This time when he attacked, she dodged instead, trying to keep up with the inhuman speed of the demon. Suddenly he appeared behind her and knocked her to the ground. Hitting the ground with at thud, she realized he had followed her movement and was now crouched above her, his face was twisted into a feral snarl and his fangs had grown slightly to poke out of his lips as he stared down at her with mostly red eyes. Kagome punched upward into his chest with both hands and he went flying backward, the force of her purifying energy throwing him off her and leaving a stinging burn on his otherwise perfect chest.
Snarling, he was outraged that she'd managed to actually hurt him, her, a mere ningen miko. The more human part of his mind screamed at him that she was no mere ningen miko and was a force to be reckoned with, but his beast ignored him. He wanted the woman and he would do what he had to in order to beat her into submission and claim her.
The struggle for dominance raged on in Sesshomaru as the demon attacked her again, forcing her back toward the tree line. The demon landed a blow to her stomach, but the miko managed to erect a barrier moments before. The force of his blow threw her backward into the trees and she went flying for a few heart stopping moments before crashing into a tree. Kagome was relieved to see her barrier had held; otherwise she would be dead instead of severely bruised. The barrier had acted like a cushion to all the blows, so instead of the full brunt, she'd received what felt like a normal punch and then a short fall onto her back. It still however knocked the wind right out of her and she wheezed, struggling to draw breath.
Kagome coughed and went to pull herself to her feet when she felt strong fingers wrap around her throat and rip her off the ground. Clutching wildly at the arm holding her up her eyes met Sesshomaru's red demonic ones. She watched amazed as the eyes changed from red to gold every few seconds as he tried to gain control of his beast. Quickly, the lack of air became a pressing issue for her and she fried the arm holding her. Dropping her with a hiss, he glanced at his burned arm. The burn was worse than the other's he had sustained so far and the distraction gave Kagome to opportunity to gain some distance, holding her bruised throat with one hand. Apparently he had done a little more than just bruise her, because a moment later she felt something warm pool in her mouth and drip down her chin. She didn't have to touch it to know it was blood.
Her breaths were ragged and watery as she faced the angry demon again. The sight and smell of blood drove him over the edge, especially the smell of her blood. Kagome knew she was drained and wouldn't last another attack. Gathering all her remaining energy, she launched a final attack as Sesshomaru lunged again. He didn't get close enough to lay a hand on her. Suddenly Kagome's entire body erupted in bright pink light and Sesshomaru was thrown backwards with such force that he took down several trees in his path before landing on his back and skidding to a stop.
The force of the blast brought him to his senses and he blinked golden eyes a few times before rising to his feet wincing slightly. That last blast had almost completely disintegrated his shirt and one pant leg, leaving burns all over his chest, up his neck and on his exposed leg and arms. Baka, miko! Didn't she realize what would happen if she challenged my beast so openly! Alpha inu dominance was not something to be taken lightly. He was angry at himself for losing the battle to his beast, but he was just as angry with the miko, she knew better, but she did it anyway. Still, he cringed mentally as he remembered when he had thrown her around like she was a rag doll.
Steadying himself, he followed the path of destruction he had left in his brief flight from the meadow and couldn't help but be impressed slightly with how she had performed. Neither of them had won, which was a burn to his pride, but her speed and thought process during a fight had improved greatly and he felt a surge of unexplainable pride that the miko had been able to stand up against one such as himself. If he had been under control however, the outcome would have been different.
All pleased thoughts fled from his mind as he re-entered the field and surveyed the damage. There was a crater where Kagome had been standing when she had blasted him that last time, but she was not in it. The miko lay some twenty feet in the opposite direction from which he'd been blasted, partly on her side and partly on her stomach, not moving at all and covered in debris as if she'd hit the ground and rolled quite a bit before coming to a stop.
Reaching her side with demon speed, he rolled her onto her back gently and was relieved to see she was alive and breathing, though shallowly and with a residual wet sound with each breath. The blood smeared across her chin and her lower lip made him angry at himself all over again for letting himself hurt her so badly. The girl's clothes were torn and she looked badly bruised in many places, a fresh trail of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth and down one cheek, making him worry that he had damaged her frail human body internally. Running his fingers lightly down her ribs and sides, he determined that nothing was broken before pressing gentle fingers along her abdomen and stomach. No winces or cries of pain, so either she was so far unconscious that she didn't feel it or nothing was wrong.
Noticing the quickly darkening bruises around her slim neck, he gently lifted her head and opened her mouth. Glancing down her throat, he suppressed a sigh of relief to discover that the blood was coming from a simple ruptured blood vessel in her throat, something that would close over quickly and heal fairly easily. Still he allowed himself to cringe slightly when he remembered how that had happened.
He scooped her up gently in his arms, being careful to hold her on her side with her head tilted toward the ground to let the blood drain out of her throat to drip on the ground instead of down her throat and into her stomach. He could attest to the fact that swallowing too much blood made most ningens violently ill.
Cradling the young woman gently in his arms, his mind raced over what he was going to tell her mother when she arrived home from shopping. He was sure she wouldn't be happy at all that he'd nearly killed her daughter and figured she would have every right to be angry with him. An unfamiliar feeling of remorse washed over him. He had grown to respect Kagome's mother and was now afraid she would look at him as no better than an out of control monster. Oddly enough, the thought of this upset him greatly as he leapt into Kagome's room through the window and set her as gently as possible on her bed, being mindful of the dark bruises he was pretty sure almost completely covered her back and spine. He hadn't been gentle when he had thrown her into that tree.
Quickly he got a warm, damp washcloth and cleaned the blood off her face as best he could. Opening her mouth, he was pleased to see the bleeding had nearly stopped and that he didn't have to worry about her swallowing any more blood. Running gentle hands all over her limbs and torso, he double checked her for any broken bones or dangerous bruising. Not finding anything serious, he settled down on the bed next to her to watch her as she rested.
The woman's long dark eyelashes curled appealingly against her lightly tanned cheeks and he was relieved to see no bruising had made it to her face, though the dark hand-shaped bruises on her neck greatly disturbed him.
Sesshomaru watched her for some time before he finally heard the front door open and Mrs. Higurashi arrive home. Rising to his feet, he turned to head downstairs when he was assaulted by an overwhelming feeling of apprehension and guilt. The feeling arrested his steps just at the top of the stairs and forced him to examine this new emotion. He had never been apprehensive about anything before, the demon was always so sure of himself. But now, the thought of telling the mother of the woman he'd injured that he had betrayed her trust and done damage to her daughter made him want to fidget like a child who's done something wrong.
The feelings disturbed him as he didn't quite know what to do with them or how to react to them. The miko herself he wasn't apprehensive about at all, in fact he looked forward to telling her off for her stupidity when she woke up. Yes, he had a strange feeling of guilt for hurting her, but it was partially her own fault. But the thought of facing her mother had the great taiyoukai of the west stopped in his tracks. Berating himself for being stupid, he continued down the stairs to inform Kagome's mother what had happened.