A cool spring breeze rushed through the copse she had claimed that night three months ago. The wind whispered through her fur, setting it on end and coating her in the scent of freshly bloomed flowers. Blinking open a sleepy, massive eye, she stared across the glen at the gurgling river where her bodyguard fished. He crouched hip deep in the water, quiet concentration painted on the narrow slit of his eyes and the flat line of his mouth as he studied the water. His hands hovered just above the surface. A flash of movement as he darted those hands into the water, then he tossed a fat trout on the banks next to his fire.
As if he felt her eyes on him, he settled that stern gaze on her. Between them, the fish flopped on the bank and the fire cracked and popped. The breeze that woke her drifted past, trailing the scent of wildflowers.
"Will you shift back today, Kagome-sama?"
She held his gaze for a moment longer before huffing out a puff of breath and turning her head away. She closed her eyes and rested her maw on the grass. He asked her the same question every day. The others had too, at first. Not anymore. Now she reveled in the peace and quiet of the wood, in the solitude that healed her piece by piece, putting back together the bits of her Sesshoumaru had tried to destroy. A truth she kept behind her teeth.
She listened with closed eyes as he caught another fish and set about preparing his breakfast. Horuto presented an anomaly she could not solve. He did not pressure her to return to her duties as a Ward of the West, he did not presume to know what she wanted or needed, and he did not judge her for this retreat she'd dragged him into. He simply went about his day, trained her to fight in this new, massive form, and protected her.
He could not replace Atsuki, but he reminded her of him more every day.
"It is time to patrol, Kagome-sama."
She opened her eyes again and found him standing directly before her snout, impassive as always as he waited. Huffing out another breath, she pushed up to her paws until she towered over him and waited for him to lead the way.
He transformed and strode away, stepping neatly over the shrines some of the lesser youkai from the camp had built in her honor. They made her uncomfortable, but the thought of destroying them made her sick to her stomach in a way she didn't understand. What kind of retribution would the gods take if she destroyed one?
Giving them one last wary look, she stepped around the shrines and followed him into the dark canopy that covered the majority of the forest floor.
They patrolled for hours, only Horuto's occasional comment filling the silence as he explained new scents, taught her how to track and how to avoid leaving tracks, and kept an eye out for anything that didn't belong. In the months since she'd retreated to the wood, she'd eradicated any number of pests and enemies, resulting in an otherwise boring patrol. The past few weeks less and less enemies appeared.
Today would be different. The clang and clash of metal and the grunts and cries of war reached them long before Kagome and Horuto stumbled over a small skirmish. A battle in which Sesshoumaru stood at the middle and fought with a ferocity Kagome had never seen in him—even that terrible night at the Citadel.
She stayed at the tree line, Horuto at her side, and watched. He fought well, each swipe of his blade cutting down youkai left and right, but the youkai at his side did not fare as well. Their armor cracked and broke like rotted wood, their weapons failing under the superior blades of the better trained dragons they fought against.
"Look at the emblem on the armor," Horuto murmured.
She'd noticed it too. Sesshoumaru's unit did not belong to the Citadel's army. They were one of dozens of militia Toga had established along the borders of his territory. They did not have the same training the soldiers born and raised in the Citadel had been given. Sesshoumaru would survive, but the rest…
She transformed, pink light exploding out from her in a burst as she settled back into her human skin. Her knees almost buckled under the shock of being on two feet again, but Horuto's warm hand against her back steadied her and reminded her to breathe.
"You won't be able to keep up with most of them," he murmured as he unstrapped one of his swords and passed them to her. "Focus on the ones already weakened by the militia, and purify where you can. Your reiki will do you more good here than a blade. I will protect you—and if I see you are in danger, I will remove you from the battle. Do you understand?"
The idea of being forcibly removed irked, but she didn't argue. Her skill with a blade barely topped the skill of the militia youkai falling behind Sesshoumaru, but that didn't matter to her. She only worried about saving as many of them as she could.
As her guard led her into the small battle, Sesshoumaru did not pay them any heed. Unsurprised, Kagome simply stepped into the fight and focused on following Horuto's orders. Swing, duck, step aside, purify, swing again, until her arms ached with fatigue and her hakama dripped with sweat and grime.
She took stock of the fight every chance possible, a look there, a pause here, and it was almost over when she saw it. A shadow stepped through corpses and discarded weapons, the faintest of purple glows giving it away as the sun sank slowly below the tree line. She saw it pick up a sword, saw it lift the weapon high, saw it coming down over him—and she didn't think, didn't hesitate, didn't warn anyone as she darted to intercept.
Flinging herself forward, she shoved Sesshoumaru out of the way with all her might and took the blow to her back. The sword cut through her robes and burned against her skin as she fell, ripping a pained cry from her lips as she landed on her hands and knees. She heard him raise his weapon again, but she exploded with reiki so hot even Horuto, Sesshoumaru, and his remaining militia had to step back lest they all perish in the burn. The uncontrolled blast shimmered and glowed around them and when it finally faded, only Kagome remained on the killing field.
A hand grasped her forearm and hauled her to her feet. Cringing as the movement pulled at her wound, she looked up to tell Horuto to be more careful and found herself face to face with a pale-faced Sesshoumaru.
"You stupid fool!" His grip on her arm tightened as he tried to spin her around to examine her back.
Kagome ripped her arm from his grasp even as her back sang with pain. "Don't you touch me, Sesshoumaru."
"You need to see a healer, immediately. Stop this foolishness and come with me." He made to grab for her again as Horuto approached.
Her reiki responded to her emotions. It snapped out at the young prince and burned the tips of his fingers, pushing him well away from her. "I said not to touch me. Horuto is all the help I need." Even as she said it, she felt his careful hands examining her wound behind her.
Sesshoumaru's fingers curled into fists as they glared at each other, his remaining men gawking behind him. "Why are you here, Kagome? Are you following me now?"
She gritted her teeth as Horuto poked and prodded, but forced a derisive snort and raised her chin in defiance. "Don't flatter yourself. I've been patrolling these borders for months now. And saving your life was only me fulfilling my role as a Ward of the West. I'd have done the same for any of those soldiers behind you."
His glared darkened and pink filtered into that cold gaze. "Save my life?" he sneered as he shoved his katana into its sheath. "Now who flatters themself?"
He hadn't seen the hidden youkai. She knew he hadn't, knew he hadn't scented or felt it approaching, either. And yet here they stood, even as her injury screamed at her to collapse into oblivion. Sheer stubbornness kept her on her feet. Unable to keep the anger in her teeth, she let it go and glanced at his men. "You should take better care of those who fight for you." Unwilling to suffer under his glare any longer, she turned and strode back into the woods she'd entered from hours ago.
Each step sent needles of agony ripping through her back and shoulders, but she ignored it as she crushed fallen leaves and stomped over muddy ground still damp from the winter thaw. What had she done to deserve his hatred? All her life, she'd only looked up to him, loved him, trusted him—and now he treated her lower than the lowest of camp servants! How dare he!
Despite her injury and the requisite pain that came with it, she wanted nothing more than to continue her righteous stride through the forest and curse his name over and over until the Kami heard her. Fate was unkind though, and tucked her foot under a high root that brought her low in one fell swoop.
Exhausted and drained, she closed her eyes against the muddy forest floor and lay there until every ache and pain from the skirmish screamed for attention. "Horuto?" she called.
He cleared his throat from somewhere to her left. "Yes, Kagome-sama?"
"Do you think he can still hear us from here?"
He paused, considering as he gauged the distance between the battlefield a ways back and how far she'd made it in her rage. "It is unlikely, Kagome-sama."
"That's good." And she let go, felt first one drop then another fall as sobs fought their way out of her throat and from behind her eyes with the force of a wild, terrified youkai.
Careful of her injury, Horuto leaned down and scooped her up. "I think it's time we return to the camp, Kagome-sama."
Kagome only nodded against his chest as he tucked her in close, and cried and cried and cried as he carried her away.
o.O.o
Word count – 1760
A/N – and this will be the last full on fight between Sesshoumaru and Kagome in this fic. Everything from here will still be uphill going, but it's going to steadily improve bit by bit. Thanks for all your patience guys! As always, R&R.