She leaned back against Ah-Un's side, wondering how long Sesshoumaru's mother planned to keep her around. She hadn't stopped talking since discovering her identity, regaling her about all the times Sesshoumaru had brought up her name.
It had started with their encounter in his father's tomb, her refusal to hand over Tessaiga and her steadfast loyalty to his brother catching his attention. He'd gone to his mother to reveal he'd found the sword but also to seek counsel on why someone would swear allegiance to another when nothing could be gained from it.
He'd never encountered friendship before—it had never been part of his training—and the confrontation had only added to the disgrace of losing his arm.
Kagome's heart clenched with each passing story. He'd gone through so much as a child with his father suddenly giving up his life as a well-respected general for that of a mere human princess, regardless of his agreement with his mother, and once the jewel had shattered, everything had gotten worse.
Inukimi patted her foot. "Wipe that pained expression off your face, little miko. It was not all bad. He met you, did he not?"
Kagome snorted. "We usually ended up fighting or yelling at each other."
"Yet he saved you from the poison-maker," she said, "And from the spider during your final battle. You had become more than a curiosity to him by then."
A frown puckered Kagome's brow. She'd always thought there was more to her rescue from Mukotsu than Sesshoumaru had let on—he had nothing to gain from saving her—but Inukimi made it sound like much more than it was. "Rin was with him by then. He'd started to change—"
"And your time in the den?"