InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ An Unforeseen Flame ❯ Suspicion ( Chapter 11 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A/N: Here's another... Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters, nor could I ever hope to be as genius as Rumiko Takahashi.

A splash of dazzling morning light poured over the horizon, brightening the lush green of the forested landscape. Outside of Kaede's hut, the dead tree loomed menacingly like a black spike contrasting severely with the lively greenery that seemed to be invading the countryside. High in the tree sat a silver-haired hanyou who was paying no mind to the manner in which the wind teased certain silver strands of his hair. His mind was elsewhere.

'Why would Sesshomaru wanna keep Kagome around?' he asked himself silently as he pondered what he had learned from the young priestess over dinner. He suspected that Kagome had left a lot out of her story, but he didn't quite know what. There was no way Sesshomaru would do half the things Kagome had told them about without some sort of hidden intention. 'Just what exactly is he playing at?'

He really could not think of any reason why his brother should even bother with Kagome. The Sesshomaru he knew would have just left her in the woods to die. There had to be some sort of ulterior motive. The little girl that traveled with him did just fine without Kagome before she came along. So, he could think of nothing his brother would gain from keeping the young woman's company. Sesshomaru had no interest jewel shards, and he didn't believe that Inuyasha and his friends were actually capable of killing Naraku, so his intentions couldn't be to hinder the group. So what the hell did he want?

Slowly, an idea percolated Inuyasha's dense mind. What if his brother wanted to use Kagome to get to him in some way? Kagome had said that the bastard was being kind to her. Sesshomaru wasn't kind to anyone…ever. Maybe he wanted to gain her trust so that he could get to Inuyasha somehow. But how would he go about doing that? The hanyou was simply at a loss. His brother's behavior was completely baffling.

Kagome rose from her slumber early, a habit she had picked up from traveling with Sesshomaru and company. It felt strange to wake up under a roof after becoming so accustomed to sleeping underneath the open sky. It was also strange to know that Sesshomaru was not near. Although he was quite laconic, Kagome had found herself growing fond of the Demon Lord's presence. She found comfort in simply being near him.

She often wondered why this was. They rarely spoke, yet she felt this unbidden attraction to him. Were these feelings a result of Inuyasha's rejection? Was she inadvertently using Sesshomaru to overcome her unrequited love for his half-brother? She hoped this wasn't the case, but she couldn't help being plagued with many doubts and concerns.

Not that it really mattered anyway. Sesshomaru wouldn't ever return her feelings. After all, she was only a human, and he would never stoop to that sort of degradation. Nonetheless, he was kind enough to her and generally much more understanding than Inuyasha. She almost missed him.

A loud, guttural snore interrupted her musings, and she struggled to suppress a giggle. Shippo was sleeping very soundly, sprawled out unceremoniously upon his bedding. Kagome smiled to herself. As strange as it felt to be without Sesshomaru, it really was nice to be with her friends again.

She had really wished to confide in Sango, but with the excitement of her sudden return, there hadn't been any time for that. The things she wanted to tell Sango, she could never say in front of anyone else. So she had carefully answered all the questions she had been bombarded with to the best of her ability.

Her thoughts turned to the previous night's conversation. All of them were so curious for an explanation of her whereabouts, and they had definitely been shocked to find out that she had been traveling with Sesshomaru. They were also very surprised and disappointed to hear that she planned to continue traveling with him, but they were all as understanding as they could be, except, of course, for Inuyasha.

"Why would you wanna stay with him after all that?" he had demanded scathingly. She had left out their private conversations for personal reasons, so none of her friends truly understood her reasoning, but only Inuyasha had distrusted her judgment enough to voice his opinions."We need you more than he does 'cos none of us can see the shards. He doesn't want them, and you're more useful as a shard detector than a playmate for some stupid kid. Anyway, we're supposed to be your friends."

She couldn't believe he referred to her a 'shard detector' after the last conversation they had. Kami, he was infuriating! She was certain he had only said it to hurt her feelings, maybe in retaliation, because she was hurting his feelings by choosing Sesshomaru's company over his. Or maybe it was because she left him in the first place. She couldn't be certain of his reasoning, but she was positive he meant for her to feel insulted.

Deciding she needed some fresh air, Kagome carefully wended her way through the sleeping bodies lying on the floor and exited Kaede's residence. She found Inuyasha perched on a sturdy limb of the lifeless tree outside of the old priestess's home bathed in the golden glow of early morning light. Somehow Kagome had known he would be there.

"Morning," she greeted him with a lazy smile. It would do no good to stir up any more conflict, so she settled on trying to be friendly. An expression of confusion was etched on his face, but his features relaxed when he noticed Kagome. "Whatcha doing up there?"

"What's it look like I'm doing?" he asked, rather rudely, in reply. She rolled her eyes at him, and the smile faded from her face. She found herself suddenly wondering why she had spent so much time pining over him when he had always treated her this way.

'And he's already back to being a jerk, or should I say his normal self?' she thought to herself with a soft sigh. She had already known it would be expecting too much from him if she thought her disappearance would convince him to treat her more courteously, but she had secretly hoped it would make some kind of difference.

"Never mind," she muttered in exasperation. She was hoping to have a good conversation with him, for once, but, of course, was sadly disappointed. Without a word she turned and stalked off in annoyance through the long, swaying grass toward the God Tree. It was the one place that she always felt totally at peace, even before meeting Inuyasha.

"Wait, Kagome!" he called after her, leaping to the ground adroitly and following the raven-haired woman. "Don't run off on me again."

"That's a hell of a thing to say!" Kagome retorted acrimoniously, spinning around violently to face him, her dark eyes flashing with rage. She was so angry that she didn't even care about her slip of tongue. It was atypical for such a word to escape her lips, and it managed to halfway stun the hanyou. He blinked his surprised golden eyes at her a few times before the shock wore off.

"What do you mean by that?" he demanded, finally recovering, his brows furrowed in annoyance. She was angry with him, after everything she had put him through over the last almost two months? She had no idea how many sleepless nights she had caused him, and she had effectively halted his crusade for revenge against Naraku, but she was angry with him? So maybe he had hurt her feelings, broken her heart or whatever, but he wasn't the only one that screwed up here.

"You have no right to accuse me of running off, when you are just as guilty of it yourself. You're the one who always insisted on running off on me to chase after Kikyo," Kagome nearly shouted. She couldn't believe the nerve of him! It was his fault she had run off, always leading her on and then choosing Kikyo right after. He'd get insanely jealous of Koga, take care of her when she was sick and give her all kinds of reasons to hope that, in the end, it would be her, and then he'd tell her that it never would be. And, to top it off, he'd go back to making her hope and then chase after Kikyo again and again. There was only so much heartbreak a person could take before they snapped.

"At least I always had the decency to come back," Inuyasha rejoined under his breath. Kagome fought the overwhelming urge to utter the words, 'sit boy.' She was better than that. She had grown up enough to no longer use the phrase vindictively, no matter how trying the hanyou was. He, on the other hand, hadn't grown up at all.

"Excuse me? I think the only reason you ever came back was, because Kikyo never asked you to stay with her," she snapped irately. She was so frustrated that hot tears were beginning to sting the corners of her eyes, and Inuyasha could smell the salt of them. That was all he needed, for her to start crying and guilt him into feeling bad.

"You know, it doesn't matter. I couldn't care less what you choose to do with your time, but Sesshomaru is up to something. I can feel it in my gut. So don't you get too comfortable around him," he spat acerbically. "If I were you, I wouldn't trust the bastard as far as I could throw him. Which, in your case, isn't very far," he added derisively before leaping into a nearby tree and disappearing.

Kagome was livid. She continued to her destination in agitation, stomping her feet like an angry child, her mind on Inuyasha's remark. Who was he to go around slinging accusations for no reason? But…Could Sesshomaru really be up to something? No...Inuyasha's suspicion was completely unwarranted. It was obvious that it stemmed from his extreme dislike of his elder brother. But, it could be possible. Sesshomaru was perfectly capable of being conniving and manipulative, but would his honor allow him sink that low? And if he really did have something up his sleeve, what could she possibly have to do with it? She thrust the thoughts from her mind, becoming irritated with the hanyou all over again.

She slumped gracelessly against the coarse bark God Tree vexed beyond measure, her mind racing. The morning air was even cooler in the shade of the large overhanging branches, but she was too preoccupied to notice the goosebumps rising along the milky flesh of her arms and legs. Inuyasha was the only person, except for maybe Jaken, who could annoy her this far beyond measure.

Abruptly she realized why Inuyasha's accusations made her so angry. His claims were causing her unquestioning trust in the Demon Lord to falter. His argument had substance, a fact that bothered her more than anything. She had allowed her infatuation with Sesshomaru to cloud her judgement. She held him in a favorable light, knowing almost nothing save the fact that had attempted to kill her and her friends on more than one occasion, because she had a crush. Talk about following someone blindly.

Even still, she couldn't help but feel some affection toward him. He was so sweet with Rin, and Kagome was sure he wasn't doing that for her benefit. And, really, what was it that he had to gain from keeping her company? It was completely possible that Inuyasha was wrong as well. Only time would tell.