Sleep did not come easy that night. He didn't require much, but the way Kagome hadn't even spared him a backward glance gnawed at him.
Guilt was not something he was accustomed to, and he'd been hoping sleep would dispel his regret for punishing them both.
Running a hand through his hair, Sesshoumaru stared unblinking up at the ceiling. Yakeru had served him for decades, keeping the shiro from falling under Naraku's influence while he was away. His temper had gotten him into as much trouble as out of it, though the latter outweighed the former, as fear of retribution went a long way.
And then there was Kagome.
Kagome.
He couldn't deny he was biased where she was concerned. She'd caught his attention from the start—a mere human jumping into a daiyoukai's tomb was unheard of—but she'd been little more than an annoyance until the poison-maker.
There hadn't been a reason to intervene, but just like the wolf attack on Rin, something had urged him to alter the woman's fate.
Saving her inside Naraku had been more of a conscious choice. He'd witnessed her power, and the fear of Magatsuhi after it had been unlocked, so he'd known she was the key to defeating the spider once and for all.
Her appearance at his mother's castle had been unexpected, but his insistence on joining in her search to separate the wind witch from his mother had been more so, and he still hadn't figured out the reason behind it.
It was more than curiosity. Such a thing would not have resulted in him agreeing to train her, or sharing his pelt, yet he'd done both these things in a very short amount of time. It also wouldn't explain his current insomnia due to such trivial things as feelings or her view of his character.
Before, Sesshoumaru would have paid her no mind; she would've been instantly banished from the shiro, no questions asked—or worse. He would've taken Yakeru's word and likely dispatched Kagome himself. Publicly.
Before, however, he wouldn't have enjoyed her company to the point of desiring more from her or been unable to sleep due to their now broken bond—and trust.
Closing his eyes, he regulated his breathing, attempting to find even an hour's rest before dawn, but a slight creak of the floor had him on alert. He remained still, keeping his aura from alerting them to his consciousness. If they were brazen enough to attack him in his own home, their desperation would allow for mistakes.
His bed dipped, and Sesshoumaru kept his claws from flexing. The culprit was planning on a personal, up-close attempt on his life?
He would enjoy spilling their blood.
There was a spark of power, and Sesshoumaru pounced, pinning the offender against his pelt to keep them disoriented. Acid dripped from his claws, his eyes hardened as he stared down into determined sapphire. "I will commend you on making it past the guards, miko. No assassin has broken into my private chambers before."
She didn't fight, her power still subdued, but her eyes darted to the door and windows, no doubt trying to decide on the best means of escape. It only infuriated him more. Would she deny the attack outright even though she'd been caught in the act?
"You should have thought of evading capture before rushing into a murder attempt," he growled, fingers tightening around her neck. Had this been her plan from the beginning? He hadn't sensed any deceit from her or Kagura when they'd appeared, but some were so deep in their cause that there was no room for anything else. And if she believed what she was doing was the only course of action, there wouldn't be any deceit in the first place.
Why reveal her weaknesses to him, then? And to Bokuseno and his mother, for that matter? They were influential in their own right, and while the tree elder was incapable of moving from his glade, his resources and allies were far-reaching. All of which easily persuaded to dispose of a mere human if necessary.
There was nothing mere about her, but she was not infallible. And sneaking into the room of the Lord of the West after inciting a riot against his generals would not gain her any favours. "Was this your plan from the start?" he asked, his tone clipped even as he tried to remain impassive.
"I'm not that stupid," she snapped. "Don't you think I'd try to escape and regroup before coming after you? Getting past the guards around my room and yours would be a waste of time." She was distracted by something; the little she'd released of her power barely sparked around her fingers, and Sesshoumaru tried to remember the last time she'd been to the gardens.
The wisteria was in fine form, currently covered in blossoms from weekly visits, the lowest branches now brushing his shoulders when he joined her. He knew she preferred to expel her excess power with him, but he was not always available, and the alternative would harm more than her reputation.
Kagome placed a hand on his chest, urging him to pull back so she could sit up, and he was chagrined to realize he'd done so before he could stop himself. His bias would get him killed if he didn't focus. She still hadn't looked him in the eyes, muttering incantations to herself. "Enough of this foolishness. You cannot deny your treachery this time—"
"Do you trust me?" Sesshoumaru's mouth snapped shut, not wanting the truth of her question to escape, but as she finally met his gaze, the warrior in her, the one he had brought into existence, glared up at him. "Do you trust me?" she whispered again, the desperate plea cutting through his defences—and into his heart.
"With my life."
Whatever she'd been using to shield her emotions shattered, and he caught a glimpse of something, something warm, as she wrapped her arms around him. "Hold your breath." He barely managed to acquiesce before the lid to her power was removed.
Reiki crashed against the walls like a hurricane, muffling the cries of those in the hallway. Sesshoumaru assumed it was the guards, having placed them there as a last resort, but as the air was cleared of lingering youki, his eyes widened.
They were surrounded.
His arm snaked around Kagome's waist, and he leapt from the bed a moment before it caught fire, a sabre slicing through the wall closest to them. She didn't so much as gasp, the waves of power already returning to her for a second round.
"We'll talk later," she said, daggers forming out of pure reiki as she twisted out of his grasp, each disintegrating a soldier as they attempted to grab her. Her hair was loose, along with her singed robes from earlier, but no one got close enough to use it to their advantage.
Sesshoumaru's chest swelled with pride as he watched her, the single thought of protecting him being enough to spur her movements, and he suppressed the need to apologize for doubting her.
There would be time for that later.
Claws glowing, the sound of his whip cracked through the room before it wrapped around the neck of the youkai closest to him. The air was saturated in deceit and dishonour, but none came from the miko, so Sesshoumaru's mind was clear. The flunkies filing into his room would not have the answers he sought. Some were his own soldiers, but most were unknown youkai, clad in the armour of his soldiers in an attempt to camouflage their identity and intent.
One tried to land a hit between the miko's shoulders, but she was too fast, dropping low and taking him out at the ankles. Sesshoumaru placed himself at her back, receiving a curt nod before they worked in tandem to eradicate the threat.
No words were uttered, but none were needed, Kagome's barrier shooting up to allow the horde in a few at a time to keep them controlled. Contained. None of the soldiers understood she was playing with them, and Sesshoumaru's smirk was feral.
She wasn't even focused on those being run through with her blade, eyes searching each time she landed a blow. No one wielded the sabre from the initial attack or carried torches in which to set his room ablaze, but as smoke quickly ate through the wood, he grabbed the back of her collar and backed them out onto the balcony.
"You require fresh air," he said at her questioning glance, and she gathered up the flames, trying to snuff them out, but the fire persisted, and they were forced from the balcony. Sesshoumaru took to the sky as Kagome pulled a hand back, an arrow of reiki striking its target as an angry screech punctured the darkness.
"Not the gardens," she whispered as they floated downward. "Or the village. They won't survive."
How had he thought she was capable of anything other than healing?
They touched down in the training grounds, the area surprisingly empty even for the middle of the night, and Sesshoumaru growled softly as Hokori and Shima burst through the doors. "My lord, what's going on?"
Shima eyed Kagome warily. "We heard the ruckus and sent soldiers to your room—" Her hand on his chest stopped him from attacking, shaking her head once.
"The devious wench is just proving once and for all that she seeks to destroy the shiro and everything in it," Yakeru spat, stepping through the doorway.
"Says the guy who has conveniently escaped the guards from his own room," Kagome shot back. Yakeru appeared unarmed and unharmed, but someone was at fault for the attack, and the miko was above such underhanded tactics.
She didn't wait for the phoenix to make the first move, jumping out of Sesshoumaru's arms to slash at his chest. Yakeru easily dodged, though barely, his eyes widening when no one stepped in to stop her. The other two generals looked between themselves and then to Sesshoumaru for guidance, but the daiyoukai gave no indication of which side he was in support of, so they remained unmoving.
Kagome's vision tunnelled as she went in for another attack. This wasn't the first time the foul-mouthed phoenix had tried to fill Sesshoumaru's head with lies, but she'd make sure it was the last.
It had nearly broken her when Sesshoumaru had forced both her and Yakeru into confinement, but in the hours she'd spent under the guards' scrutiny, she'd realized Sesshoumaru wasn't at fault. Yakeru had spent just as much time training with his sword as with his mind, and it had been enough to fool not only the other generals but the western lord himself. She couldn't blame Sesshoumaru for that, especially since he'd had no reason to doubt the phoenix before.
She was still going to demand an apology when she proved she was right, but there were more important things to deal with right now. She hadn't been sure sneaking into Sesshoumaru's room was the right thing to do, but she'd firmly believed their bond to be more than that of just allies, and she needed him to believe she was innocent.
There was nothing to gain by inciting violence, especially with people like Yakeru and Jaken breathing down her neck, waiting to report any misgivings. In fact, she'd counted on that exact thing, ensuring Jaken had left to fetch Sesshoumaru before engaging Yakeru in any real fight. She'd known she could fend off any attacks until Sesshoumaru returned, but she'd also needed to force Yakeru's hand.
"My lord!" the phoenix called. "Do not be fooled by her feminine wiles! This wench is a traitor to the West and would sooner see it burn than help us prepare for the future." He dodged another blow, but her blade of reiki made contact with his shoulder, exacerbating the wound she'd made back in Sesshoumaru's room—the same one he was trying to keep hidden.
Enough was enough.
Kagome grabbed the front of his shirt, reiki slicing through the fabric as he twisted away. She went to disintegrate it, but the flickering from Yakeru's plumes was enough to alight the crest from the village of Azamuku sewn underneath—along with a patch of her own robes. She stared at it, trying to figure out when he'd gone through her belongings, assuming he'd thought to frame her for something, and her eyes narrowed when she realized it wasn't something she'd brought to the shiro.
Yakeru was the youkai who'd forced her off the cliff and sent her to Inukimi's castle.