Chapter 12
It wasn't something she didn't expect to happen.
It wasn't something that precisely defined the situation as 'out of blue', even though it was definitely something that would be categorised in to 'outcomes of losing sanity'.
After almost five years of trailing, cuddling and hovering with him, she knew just how his mind worked. Her own memory tissues had his voice etched in its cells and whenever she does something that would for sure irritate the great lord's heir, the tiny voice in her brain would growl in a perfect replica of his. She had learnt to accept him for who he is, those occasional insecurities, those regular outburst that would make him see red, those false death threats that were strangely creative and the irrational hatred towards his younger brother.
But nothing had prepared the eight year old human girl for what was going on right at this moment. Even after giving him a look of disbelief and later subtly manoeuvring the said look in to a 'are you kidding me?' look, he just stared back with his straight stoic gaze, his eyes half lidded, as if what he had said few minutes ago was absolutely normal and the reactions she had given was very much anticipated. (Which was apparently unnecessary, an overreaction according to him and so was duly ignored, as usual)
There had been days where she would get irritated, call him an idiot, a big meanie (clearly from an over association with Inuyasha) and ignores him until she eventually calms up.
But, Sesshomaru hated to be ignored.
He makes it pretty clear by blowing up the empty rooms in the castle whenever she pays no heed to him. His blowing up never stopped even when his father threatened him that the cost of all those repairs would be deducted from his trust fund.
Half of the castle went down with a loud boom that night.
No one threatens Sesshomaru and sleeps peacefully.
Inuyasha almost died again because he had the audacity to look all smug when the Lady disciplined Sesshomaru.
So it was perfectly safe to say that Kagome knew Sesshomaru and his mind workings. But this was something that was totally over the board.
Yes, she knew that the whole paradox thing-y shifted again and tried to place her back to where she belonged. She had been playing with Inuyasha that morning and there was a sudden air tunnel that had pulled her right from the castle and casted her back in a dark, cold, dry well.
Sesshomaru had gone ballistic. And whenever he goes evil, Inuyasha ends up being threatened with cruel death.
The priestess was called again. She convinced them that this is fate and the human should belong to her own time.
The Western family were not happy.
They were persistent, hard to say no to and in the end they got what they wanted. This time it was much easier to get Kagome back since she had spent more of her life in the realm of demons. Her memory was intact and Inuyasha wasn't in the path of grave anymore.
Kikiyo had pondered on the mystery of reincarnation, the hidden miko powers of the little girl and had departed the land of the West to find out more about the 'transcendental magic' from another powerful miko named Mirodiko.
This made Sesshomaru paranoid. So, he had spent his night sleepless, coming with a best solution to keep Kagome in this time zone, safe, by his side. Kagome had sensed something was amiss and she suppressed her yawn to ask what he was thinking about.
He had turned to her side, held her tiny palms in his, looked deep in to her eyes, took a deep breath (which was totally out of his character) and had said those words.
Hence, the current chaos!
"What?" Kagome asked; wording her reaction since it was blatantly ignored.
"I am going to chain you to me. The shackles will make sure that you don't end up in the other realm since one end is connected to me" He repeated.
"What?" She asked again when her eight year old brain had failed to process what he had just said. Okay, she understood what he had said but was still very much floating in 'are you delusional? slash Do you think it's funny to scare people like this? slash Is this one of your innovative threat?' phase.
Sesshomaru huffed. He was tired, sleepy and he just couldn't believe that he had spent half of the night coming with this brilliant plan only to be questioned twice!
"The priestess is currently unavailable. This is the best strategy to keep you safe" He said and rolled over to claim his much deserved slumber. Kagome had her mouth wide open in utter disbelief. After few minutes of trying to decide whether to hit him on his head or to call him an idiot or to just write this off as a weird nightmare, she ended up on the other side of the huge silk bed with a big pout.
The night was cruel on her human skin. She shuddered visibly.
Her lips broke in to a smile when she felt a tug of silver fur on her ankle. It coiled her tiny frame, warmed her up and she dozed off into her happy dreams.
She hoped he would forget about all this when the dawn bleeds in to the azure sky.
~.~
She was wrong. The boys were just immoderately callow.
Sesshomaru was being completely serious. And Inuyasha, the traitor had voiced out that the plan was perfect.
She screamed. (After swearing that she won't save him anymore and promptly calling him a hypocritical coward. She recently expanded her vocabulary)
"Ka-go-me, you are hurting my ears" Inuyasha whined.
"I know, that's why I'm screaming" She shouted.
"Kagome, you are being unreasonable." Sesshomaru stated. She rolled her eyes, screamed again and took off running.
Inuyasha huffed out with traces of lividness.
"I will go get the chain and the key. You go catch her" Sesshomaru ordered his brother and for once the siblings were in the same page. Inuyasha nodded and jumped over the railing to avoid the huge beams in the middle of the corridor all the while hoping that his parents still had their morning political meeting.
He landed in front of Kagome and she halted for a minute, only to take off again in the opposite direction. The huge palace had so many doors that were unused and she knew that those chambers were unauthorised for an entry. She usually followed all the rules laid down by the Lord, okay not every rule, but as much as possible since staying with Inuyasha required breaking some rules. But right now, she wanted to escape the evil clutches of Western brothers who had thought it was fine to chain her like a slave.
Like a pet
And she was definitely not a pet. So she barged in the closed doors, stumbling once on the dusty carpet, coughing twice and ended up hiding behind an old creaky closet. She knew it was inevitable, Inuyasha would just sniff her out and Sesshomaru would just chain her. She hoped she could hide here until the Lord could bail her out and she was sure the Lady would definitely take her side on it.
She could hear the main doors opening which made her take an involuntary step edging the ends of the closet, tottering in the shadow and fell back. Her fingers curled in to something that was solid with beads. She braced her heart, her lips whimpered and the doors of closet opened with a loud creak.
Inuyasha was in front, Sesshomaru close behind with an iron chain that clinged in his claws, looking all officious and dark. The youngest took a step closer, raised his palm to pull her out of the dusty, stinking and creepy closet. It wasn't as if he hated her, no, he adored her so deeply that he had felt an enormous pain with such acuity when she had gone missing the last time. All he wanted was to keep her in his home so that she would never ever get lost again. So with an unusual display of adroitness, he curled his digits under her wrist and pulled her in to the room.
What he didn't notice was the antique looking beads on her other hand that she had flung on him as a show of puny self defence. He almost snorted, as if the weird looking chain of beads and claws would harm him in anyway.
"Inuyashaaaa" She whined as he pulled further, her two left feet stepped a bit on the wrong side and she fell down. She could almost hear Inuyasha's titter and it only added fuel to the already raging fire. She regretted treating him as a puppy all those years back but now she just wished she could pet him like she used to so he would understand just how stupid their idea was.
'Maybe, if I treat him like one, he would finally see the stupidity in it' She thought. Her knees was scrapped a little and Sesshomaru came in her view to lift her up. He hated seeing her in pain but he knew this was something he should do to secure her.
He never expected her to pounce on Inuyasha and pull his doggy ears.
"Inuyasha, Sit boy" She petted him. There was a loud thud, mass of dust swam in the impact of the younger heir kissing the ground.
"Ow" There was a muffled groan. Sesshomaru rolled his eyes, cursing his brother's laughable reflex (as much as a ten year old could curse). But there was something strange and the beads around his brother's nape glowed in a subtle mauve. Kagome saw it too, with her eyes too wide, her lips in the shape of a small 'o'.
Inuyasha raised himself and dusted his now ruined sleeves. He sneezed and scratched his head in what could be defined as bewilderment.
"Inuyasha SIT" Kagome called out again as if testing a new found theory and the said hanyou went down with a mighty force.
"Ow" He yelled and she giggled. Sesshomaru sniffed and moved closer to give his brother a detailed inspection. His eyes widened in a realisation.
"What?' Inuyasha asked, his voice was squeaky with slight shiver. He didn't like the look on his brother's face.
"It's a subjugation rosary" He whispered and almost broke in an amused smirk.
Who would have ever thought that the little girl in front of him, a former pet, someone who was about to be bounded in chains would reawaken the old magic?
He was wrong. So wrong. He realised that she doesn't need a physical link to be safe. She is his little Kagome with hidden powers.
She is his Kagome who would be safe, who would always be right next to him. He trusted her powers, her will and her instincts.
And why?
Because she is worthy of his trust.
~.~.~
A/N : I know I promised a fluff, but this idea was so tempting. Apart from usual adoration I wanted Sesshomaru to respect her and to trust her.
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