A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last!
Kagome's POV
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Chapter Seventeen: Dawn
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Dawn gifts a soft touch
An invitation to love
Sweetest surrender
~~~ Mia Rose
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For the thousandth time, I wondered how Sesshoumaru was.
Six days had passed since my departure and, while Chisaki was powerful in her own right, I highly doubted she had managed to detain Sesshoumaru for so long.
He was either so angry with me he had no desire to bring me back, or . . . something was wrong.
I liked to think he was so furious that he never wanted to see me again. While the thought was painful, it was easier than him showing up unannounced at my family's home. If I saw him, I wasn't certain how I would react.
"Kagome?"
I twisted my neck to look at my mother. "Mother, you should go back to sleep. It's much too early for you to be awake."
"I could say the same to you." In truth, it was very early in the morning, but it was what I was accustomed to after my time with Sesshoumaru. "I'm used to having to roll you out of bed myself."
I smiled weakly. "I suppose I've changed, haven't I?"
My mother grimaced, as though the thought physically pained her. I wasn't surprised. Since my return, she'd behaved as if I'd never left. My clothes, the ones I had worn the night I was found on the bank of the river, were tucked safely away in her room. Everything that could be associated with the gods had either been destroyed or hidden.
Well, almosteverything.
"Kagome," my mother said again, interrupting my musings. "I was hoping . . . perhaps you would have breakfast with us today?"
Puzzled, I replied, "Don't I have breakfast with you every day?"
"For a little while, yes. But you do nothing but pick at your food and then lock yourself in your room." She was obviously worried about me, but I would be lying if I said nothing was wrong.
"Mother . . . it's only been a few days. I need to readjust to living here again. Perhaps . . ." I exhaled softly. "Perhaps it would be best if I didn't come to breakfast at all. I plan on leaving here as soon as I possibly can, so I think it would be easier for everyone if I kept to myself."
"Leave? But . . . darling, you've only just come back to us."
"I know." She wouldn't understand, not even if I explained. When had my life become so complicated? I turned my back on her. "Would you please leave me alone? I don't mean to be rude. I just . . . need to be alone, if you wouldn't mind."
I heard the shoji door slide shut and the retreating sound of my mother's footsteps. I was hurting my family, but it couldn't be helped. It really was for their own good.
I stood from my bed and crossed the room to my windows. Silently, I pried them open and pushed myself up and out, slipping to the ground as quietly as I could. I hurried down the worn footpath leading to the river, anxiously glancing over my shoulder. As long as my father didn't see me, I would be safe.
Finally, I came to the small outcropping of rock I visited every morning. After situating myself on a boulder, I pulled a pad of paper from my robes and slowly began to flip through it.
It was like a journal of my experiences in the gods' realm. Only instead of using words, I used pictures. The first was of Sesshoumaru on the day I met him. I remembered trying to recreate the exact color of his eyes, the shine of his hair, the quirk of his mouth . . .
I quickly flipped to the next page. For the next hour or so, I sat by the river, reminiscing on the past month of my life. Of all thirty or so of my pictures, Sesshoumaru was in nearly every one.
I laughed inwardly. If my mother ever saw this, she'd set fire to it and dance around it as it burned.
Sighing, I leaned out over the water, looking at my reflection. Oh, I looked awful. Bruise-like shadows circled my eyes and my skin was ghostly pale. I'd lost weight, and my cheekbones were extremely prominent on my face. I hoped Sesshoumaru never saw me like this . . .
No sooner had the thought crossed my mind that I pulled back, suddenly wary.
With all of his power, who knew what he could do?
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A/N: I guess this is sort of a filler chapter, but I'm happy with it so I hope you all are too! ^-^
Please review!