18: Shows of Power

"Being brilliant is no great feat if you respect nothing."

-Johann Wolfgang von Geothe

Sesshomaru frowned as he made his way toward a park near his home.

"They just had to tear the new window's down didn't they?" He thought in irritation, his eyes tinting red as he dashed ahead of his spiritual monsters pursuing him. "At least if they're already dead that means I should send them to oblivion when I activate Tessaiga."

His father's fang had been added to his side during his short visit to the estate where he lived, though he didn't want to destroy his own home anymore than the surrounding city so a large open area near the countryside would have to do for the battlefield. He could feel his Tenseiga resonating as he cut through what creatures came close to him. His own blade hadn't been forged for this continuous battle and it was growing weaker as time went on, he needed to switch to the crushing fang of his father soon so he wouldn't continue to stress the weaker of the pair of swords.

He reached the land away from the city before too long, raising a silver brow when he noted some others that were fighting the creatures in the distance. Two of them dressed similarly to how the fellow with Kagome had been clothed, the others seemed young but had a scent of power to them. As long as they stayed out of the way he wasn't going to question a temporary group of allies - however bizarre the uniforms they chose.

The creatures only seemed to be getting worse though, it was amusing for Sesshomaru to a point…it had been his first battle where he could use the fang given to Inuyasha so many years ago. The hilt sizzled a moment when he touched it but not as much as it once did - a sign either that it was starting to accept him or resign that he was now the possessor. He didn't care either way what the sword thought of him, he had no intent to allow it to pause him now.

He quit his dashing, to him it had never been a matter of running away, just separating himself so he could react more aggressively. The sword transformed as he drew it, shifting into the much larger form that could call it's true powers. It pulsed in reaction and quit burning Sesshomaru - his whole point of moving before he engaged had been to protect people after all.

He turned back toward the approaching creatures and smiled with a vicious vengeance.

Tessaiga cut through the air, tearing apart the normal version of reality and exploding across the ground in streaks of yellow energy that tore through the approaching mob, tearing them apart a split second before the true immensity of the attack continued to burn away at the ground and obliterate the forest that had been there moments before.

Making the group that had been fighting their way over nearby glance over in surprise, staring at the show of power in surprise, glancing between themselves.

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The captain of the sixth squad took a single step back from the woman flaring spiritual energy in front of him. His hand sizzled lightly from the unexpected attack from the teenage girl, power still curling uncontrolled around her - at least for a moment.

The world flickered and grew thick then, like the way the air shimmers and distorts when it's hot outside, except it was suddenly everywhere as Byakuya released his own spiritual pressure. When Kagome had felt it before he had still been weakened but now it seemed many times heavier than then, making it suddenly hard to breathe. She faltered a moment, gaping at the soul reapers released power, about to stumble for the steps when another familiar energy touched the edge of her senses and she glanced off the roof of the school to see the golden yellow energy of the wind scar in the distance.

She relaxed at that, he didn't need any help if he held the Tessaiga now.

"Are you done?" Byakuya asked as he felt her energy retreat, covering his own spiritual pressure before it made her sick. Ignoring the burn along his palm.

"Yeah." She slid down the side of the wall to sit down, just then noting that she'd burned him. "Oh…I'm sorry…I didn't mean…"

"Don't apologize. You did mean it." He interrupted. "It'll heal in an hour or two. If you are feeling better you should return to class and let the others deal with these hollows."

"Guess I should have figured that Sesshomaru would be able to handle anything." Kagome mumbled with a small smile. "Especially if he has the Tessaiga."

The demon lord had always been a natural at calling on the fang's powers, so it wasn't a large surprise that after Inuyasha died he would take his father's sword as his own. The sudden lack of dark energy made her able to adjust to her surroundings better and consider the various signature's attached to people's spiritual energy that worked as a sort of ambience label of who they were.

"You speak well of this individual…his spiritual pressure is impressive. Though I will need to report to the soul society as to the fact that hollows seem so attracted to him." Byakuya commented. "Are you well enough to return to class then?"

"I suppose so…" Kagome glanced off toward the battle again, she missed the excitement she had in the feudal era. "What could I have done without my bow and arrows through?"

"We should return then." He commented, watching his ward and unconcerned with how the battle would go after the show of power he'd sensed moments before. He was about to say something else but paused as she took his hand and started to wrap it in the tie from her uniform.

"Your hand is still burned. We should still make that trip to the nurses office so we can get you some aloe and actual bandages to put on it." She said as she carefully wrapped his hand, watching her work as she spoke. The red fabric of her tie surprisingly soft for how well it kept it's shape.

"I'll be fine." He finally shook his head to dismiss it. "I said the wound would disappear before long, you should be wearing your tie not using it as a makeshift bandage for me."

"You are hurt though." She glanced back up to him, settling his hand back at his side. "I'd rather you take care of yourself."

He'd softened his tone a little, the gesture was a bit alien to him but still sweet in it's own right.

"If you weren't so argumentative and headstrong then I wouldn't be injured." he reminded, keeping the smile that threatened off his face. "You should take your tie back and we should return to class."

He reached down to start taking off the makeshift bandage but blinked when she paused his hand with hers. "Just keep it okay? I have more at home."

Her eyes seemed so sad in that moment, as if silently begging him to accept before she broke into tears. "Are all humans this expressive in a glance?"

He glanced away from her gaze then, back toward the steps. "Fine. If I keep this on my hand will you get moving?"

She smiled to him and nodded, heading down the steps ahead of him. He considered her retreating form and then the cherry fabric tied comfortably around his palm. His hand was already feeling better, the gesture wasn't necessary but he didn't mind it as much as he normally might otherwise.

"Perhaps I'm just learning why it is we aren't suppose to linger too long in the mortal world."

He let out a breath slowly and moved off after his ward, he would need a report of just what was happening from his sister when he had a moment to speak to her.

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"What the hell are you?" Ichigo asked rudely, frowning at how similar the release of power had been to the power of his own Zanpakuto. "What was that?"

Sesshomaru considered the orange haired guy coldly, glancing along the group that had also been killing the creatures hounding him. He recognized the coffee colored uniform as the one from Kagome's new school on three of them. The one addressing him and another woman were each in a black kimono similar to the form of dress that the fellow with Kagome had been in.

"Don't just ignore me." Ichigo was starting to stalk over toward the demon lord but Rukia put a hand in front of him.

"Don't Ichigo…" She shook her head at him, frowning at his aggressive nature. "He's not an enemy."

"What were the hollows following you for?" Ishida spoke up this time, he had gotten into the habit of ignoring Ichigo after their initial trip to soul society.

"I couldn't say for certain." Sesshomaru replied with a small shrug, the ground still smoking in front of him from where the claw marks had cut deep into the earth's surface, destroying a good chunk of the park. "I'd assume it has something to do with the fellow that wanted to make me a research specimen."

He still had both his swords drawn, something that was keeping the rest of the bleach crew on their own side of the park as some of them were still surveying the damage.

"Mayuri…" Ishida commented immediately, his voice getting darker as his hands closed to fists at the thought of the slippery clown of a captain. "It has to be…"

"Captain Kurotsuchi?" Rukia asked aloud, considering. "I suppose I wouldn't really put it past him…but I don't think he could call this many hollows. I will have to tell my brother about it, he should be able to contact the soul society more easily than I."

"You know this man then that threatens me?" That had perked Sesshomaru's interest, it had been ages sense someone dared to insult him as such and he wouldn't allow it to pass. If he wanted to hold his own station he couldn't allow it. "How do I find him?"

That made Ichigo and Rukia hesitate, even if Ichigo had the dullest of senses when it came to spiritual energy he knew that the pressure this man had put off was one of the strongest he'd felt - akin to that of Byakuya or Kenpachi when he was not holding anything back with that monstrous eye patch of his.

"He's in the soul society." Ishida answered while the rest were still pondering. "Urahara would probably be the best person to contact if you hope to get there."

"Ishida, don't just go telling him that sort of stuff…" Ichigo frowned at the blue haired Quincy. "You don't know what he might want to do with it."

Orihime was quiet, she wasn't sure if there was anything she could say but she knew why Ishida was telling this guy stuff, she remembered some of the fight between the bizarre captain and her classmate.

"Yeah." Chad agreed with Ichigo. "Seems like he's out for blood to me."

"Where do I find this Urahara?" Sesshomaru asked seriously, and as it seemed what hollows had remained decided to flee he returned his blades to their respective sheathes. He wasn't even considering the other fellows, as it seemed only one of their member cared to give him the information he sought.

Ishida was done listing the address before Rukia could punch him. "What are you doing? Don't tell him that…trouble is the last thing soul society needs right now. Don't you think they have enough enemies?"

"Soul society is full of my enemies, or had you forgotten?" Ishida replied, face still looking off to the side where it had been pushed with the strike of her hand. "I have no issues sending them anyone that might kill one or two more soul reapers."

Sesshomaru had already started walking off in the direction of the address he'd been given, until Ichigo ran in front of him.

"What are your intentions in soul society?" He demanded.

"I plan to deal with the person that thought it a need to insult me like this." Sesshomaru replied, vanishing from view and appearing far on the other side of Ichigo before he continued his slower pace toward his destination.

"Flash step?" Rukia asked in surprise. "We can't let him just wander into soul society. Hey, you, isn't there another way than starting a war with all of us?"

"Sesshomaru." He offered his name after the girl addressed him as 'you'. Looking over a shoulder, he wasn't a fool, he didn't have a desire to start a war with all of these creatures. "Three days, bring him to me to defeat in an honorable fashion. Then I won't pursue entry into this world of yours."

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The rest of school seemed distracted and the whispers were haunting Kagome again when she returned, worse after her feinting and then returning with her tie wrapped around Byakuya's freshly injured hand. Thankfully the teacher didn't ask as she hadn't thought up a story. The day would have moved slower if she hadn't been fighting to catch up to what she had missed while out of the room for the half-hour or so they had been gone.

As it was, she was lucky she'd already finished the book that had been assigned to her and would have a chance to finish one more big project and put it aside when she got the kinks out of the short report she'd written up.

"Thank god for Friday's."

That had become her mantra of the afternoon.

At least she hadn't been given a ton of homework, it was enough that she should be able to finish it in an hour or two if she sat and really got to work on it…though from the sounds of things with the new girl whispering to Byakuya about the weird spiritual realm where he was from she would have a chance to actually do homework without her self-proclaimed protector around to be distracting.

And she meant in more than the eye-candy sort of way…though she was trying not to think of the particular distraction of his good looks. She was up and ready to go when the bell rang, moving away from the classroom. She'd agreed to go home and see her family before the trip for an hour or two tonight and she was looking forward to it. It almost seemed anymore that she was repeating a bizarre version of when she'd been in the feudal era. She still went to school more than then but she rarely seemed to get to see her family. Besides, it sounded like Byakuya was going to be busy with all the stuff that new girl was talking to him about - a perfect chance to escape his watchful eye for a little bit.

Kagome was indeed out of the school and half-way home before Byakuya had finished receiving information from his sister and had a chance to go out to his limousine - he'd mistakenly assumed she would wait for him there. Frowning when he noted that she wasn't where he wanted her.

"Impatient, headstrong, irritating girl…." He had a mental tirade going as he told his driver to go to her home so he could find her. It seemed that Kagome had at least succeeded in getting under Kuchiki Byakuya's skin…

End Chapter

I appreciate the extra feedback, makes me know what people are looking for. Yes, there is going to be more romance between the two main characters. It moves slowly because it's Byakuya, Kagome meanwhile already has admitted she likes the prideful jerk - poor girl. The reviews are helpful…I shall fight with my characters into being less distant. Up later than I should be as usual. I think later I might go back and fiddle with this chapter.

-Aura

P.S. Yes this is like what Mayuri (who I've lovingly nicknamed the clown captain) did to Ishida's grandfather. Glad to see folks picked up the connection.