"I don't want to talk to a damn tree!" Inuyasha complained, loudly, "You can't make me."
Kagome rolled her eyes, "He's a youkai, Inuyasha; and very old. Would it kill you to show a little respect?"
"It's a tree. I won't talk to a tree!" The hanyou insisted, stubbornly.
"You will do as you are told, half-breed." Injected Seshoumaru, smoothly.
Kagome kicked him in the shins and he gave her a bland stare, "Was that supposed to hurt me?"
She leaned forward and flicked his nose, making him wince, "I keep telling you to stop calling him that. It's rude."
"But he is a half breed." The inuyoukai pointed out.
"I don't care. I don't want to hear that word from your mouth again!"
Seshoumaru raised a brow, "And why should I listen to you?"
"Because I say so."
"That does not make sense."
"It does in my world."
Irritated by being ignored, Inuyasha piped up, "Does anyone even care what I want?"
Kagome looked over her shoulder at the hanyou, "Not particularly, no."
He snarled at her and managed to avoid the rock that flew towards him out of nowhere.
"Ha! Your aim is getting worse, bastard." His triumph was short lived as another rock followed, hitting him squarely in the forehead.
"Fuck!"
Kagome growled at Seshoumaru whose face was as impassive as ever, "Will you stop hitting him? He's already hurt badly!"
"He shall treat you with respect."
Inuyasha snorted and Kagome sent a nasty look his way. He diverted his gaze, hastily. The last thing he needed was another lecture from her on manners.
As the group ventured into silence, he watched the girl as she walked next to his half brother. He wondered about her. If she truly was the human that had been stolen from Seshoumaru, how is it that she was still alive? His brother had changed. He was still an ice cold bastard, but he cared about the girl. Inuyasha blinked. It was hard to wrap his head around the fact that his half-brother genuinely cared about another living being.
She was crazy.
The girl was batshit crazy.
But, he took a deep breath, she had somehow made him feel as if he belonged. She argued with him like he wasn't some dirty half breed who wasn't fit to even lick her shoe. She made him feel as if he was someone, a person. She worried about him, yelled at him, made fun of him. She had somehow even made Seshoumaru tolerant of him.
He shook his head, a small grin forming on his face.
She was one crazy bitch.
Kagome felt Inuyasha's aura become lighter and she hid a smile.
Honestly, he worried too much.
"Why are you smiling?" Seshoumaru asked, suspiciously.
She made a face, "Oh honestly. I can smile when I want to."
He looked ahead. "Hn."
They walked together in companionable silence for a while.
"Seshou?"
Everytime she used this name, his heart would soar a little bit. After so long in isolation, he could hardly believe that his Kagome had come back to him. However, he was unable to shower him with affection as he so badly wanted to. He had forgotten how to.
He could kiss her. He could make her feel pleasure. But could he make her happy? The seed of doubt was festering in his mind and he couldn't get rid of it.
"You need to stop brooding."
He raised a brow, "I do not brood."
"Well you were."
"Hn."
She grabbed his hand, "Hey."
He looked down at the small hand entwined with his own and then looked at her. Her eyes were solemn and a little bit sad, "I missed you."
His voice was stuck in his throat. He just stared at her as she continued, "I just realized how much."
Finding his voice, he murmured, "I lost everything that day. I am still uncertain as to how much I have gotten back."
She squeezed his hand and leaned into him as they walked, "I won't leave you. Not ever. I love you, you know."
He froze, as he remembered those words she had spoken just before she had been taken from him.
"Does Seshou love Gome?"
"I hated them." He found himself saying, "I loathed them for taking you from me."
Kagome found her eyes burning and she blinked hard, "I was just a baby, but my memories of my time with you are so clear. It's strange."
"Was she kind to you; Higurashi?"
The question had been burning on the tip of his tongue and now it was out.
Kagome's eyes misted over, "She was a mother to me, Seshou. She took care of me, loved me. I didn't lack for anything, you know." She paused, "Except you."
He was silent. The gentle squeeze of his hand, made her aware of his deeper emotions.
"Why did she take me, Seshoumaru?"
The hand she was holding shifted in a way that it was his hand that now engulfed hers in a protective hold, "She was ordered to by my parents."
Kagome froze. She felt as if someone had just struck her a blow in the chest.
Her voice quivered for a second before she got it under control, "Why did they want to get rid of me?"
He was silent for a few minutes before admitting, "I did not ask. I was too angry."
They walked in peaceful silence for a while.
"You kissed me."
"You were misbehaving."
Kagome frowned, "I'm not a child anymore, you know."
Golden eyes turned dark as they turned in her direction, "Oh, I am well aware of that."
Somehow, that simple statement made her blush but she had to take a stand.
"I mean it. You can't discipline me every time I do something you don't like."
Seshoumaru tugged at her hair, in a casual manner, "You belong to me. I will discipline you when you disobey me."
Indignant, instead of refuting his claim on her, she pushed at his chest, "Well, you can't. I won't stand for it."
His voice quiet, he asked, "You do not like my kiss?"
Kagome stared at her feet, "I didn't say that." Then she turned up that small face to glare at him, "But if you try to discipline me, I'll – I'll…"
She struggled with her words, trying to come with the worst possible threat.
Amused, he studied her form, "You will do what?"
"I'll bite you!"
He raised a brow, "With your human teeth?"
"You bet your ass I will."
Willing to humor her, he nodded his head in acquiescence, "We shall see."
Suddenly Inuyasha's hoarse shout, diverted their attention to the pale hanyou. An arrow flew out of nowhere, aiming at Kagome's heart. Seshoumaru immediately grabbed her and flew backwards. His eyes narrowed as he saw one arrow sticking out of Inuyasha's side.
Jumping to the ground, next to his half brother, he demanded, "You are unhurt?"
One hand clenched onto his thigh, he pulled out the arrow with a groan, "I'm fine. Get the wench outta here. They're after her."
"They?" Seshoumaru raised a brow. He could see no one.
Suddenly, Kagome's aura flared. Seshoumaru watched an arrow approach him and before he could so much as blink, it disintegrated.
He studied his mate's aura in awe. He had never seen it before in all its glory. Golden, with tendrils of a deep blue that he recognized as his own.
"Stay away!"
Kagome screamed out as volley of arrows erupted out of thin air. She pushed both her hands forward as if pushing something away from her and screams disrupted the air.
And then there was silence.
Before any one of them could so much as move, a voice murmured around them, "So the Inu no Taisho was right? His son did mark the Golden Pheonix."
They had found Bokensuno.