InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Chosen ❯ Questions ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter three: Questions

Everything hurt. Actually that was a tad over exaggerated. Not everything hurt, just most of everything. What was surprising to the young Miko was that she was still alive enough to feel the pain. She had thought that the panther was going to kill her but she was obviously alive, if she was dead then surely she wouldn't be in as much pain. Something struck a chord with her and she realised that her injured shoulder no longer hurt, in fact it was... it was, well tingling. It didn't feel unpleasant exactly, but it wasn't something she liked either. She opened her eyes slowly and glanced up at the sunset.

Or at least that's what her addled brain made of the pair of golden orbs staring her down before she regained the last vestiges of her sanity. There was a demon looking down at her, she was on a leather couch in a blissful darkened apartment (her head was throbbing) and the demon appeared to be a lord if his markings were anything to go on. She didn't know much about demon markings, that was Sango's territory but she was pretty sure of her conclusions. But now there were more pressing matters, like the throb in her temple. She reached to touch her head encouraging a shock of pain and winced.

“Son of a bitch” she attempted to sit up and then promptly fell over backwards into the sofa's embrace.

“Actually I'm not” the demon spoke and her eyes snapped open to fix him with a questioning look

“Not what?” she asked wincing when she discovered that moving her jaw sent shocks of pain into her head

“The' son of a bitch'” he said “my father may have been an Inu Yokai but my mother was a Doku Yokai and therefore not a bitch”

She looked at him incredulously, her head felt like hippo's had been tap dancing on it and he was being pedantic? This was when she cottoned on to how damn gorgeous this demon lord truly was. His long silver hair was tied into a lose braid on one side of his face, he was intense looking and serious not to mention his voice was vaguely familiar. She pondered that for a moment but her pour abused head wasn't coming up with answers as to why he sounded familiar so she argued back at him. After all she was Kagome and those who knew her agreed, she could argue her way out of anything.

“If your father was an Inu Yokai then that makes your mother his bitch” she corrected him ignoring her protesting brain, it still hurt to mover her jaw though the peas that someone had placed by the back of her head were helping. “So you are a son of a bitch”

“Baka onna” he spoke in a cold tone and rolled his eyes. Her reactions to her situation were perplexing to him, she had just woken in an unknown Yokai's apartment and she was engaging in some banter with him? Shouldn't she have some kind of self preservation instinct?

“YOU!” she exclaimed and then winced as her loud explosion made her head quiver in pain, god she was getting sick of that.

“Me?” he asked still trying to figure out what was going on in her head. He inhaled serrupticiously and discovered she was not afraid; she was in pain, confused and triumphant? He was beginning to get a headache from the strange girl.

“You were the one who said `pathetic'” she said earnestly “back with the panther's, when he was going to kill me there was a flash of green and someone who sounded really bored said `pathetic'”

“That is the cause of you being triumphant?” he asked in a perplexed monotone

“Yep”

“Baka onna”

“Iie, baka Inu” she fired back

“Ningen” he accused

“Yokai” she shot back

Sesshoumaru sighed and ran a hand over his face, he was going to have to stop their insult trading session before they devolved to hitting each other with pillows or something equally as childish.

“This argument is pointless” he told her in the way a teacher chastises a small child

“It's fun” she corrected but upon seeing the unyielding look on his face she shut up and bit her lip to restrain herself

“Shouldn't you be afraid?” he abruptly blurted out realising he sounded frustrated but not being able to do a damn thing about it now he had said it. He wasn't used to humans regarding him without fear.

“Not really” she said stretching out her muscles to survey the damage “If you were going to hurt me then why'd you save me from the panthers?”

She was right. He had been outsmarted by a ningen onna and he was never outsmarted the thought riled him up to no end he growled at her and she smirked an overbearing seriously annoying smirk.

“Besides” she said eying his claws that glinted dangerously “if you wanted me dead I'd be dead already”

“Unless I wanted something from you” he countered smugly as he tossed his hair in an effeminate gesture that suited him strangely, not that one could accuse him of being effeminate to his face unless they were looking for a speedy end to their life... suicide by Sesshoumaru.

“All demons want from me is my head on a pointy stick” she rolled her eyes “apparently a make a good table ornament”

He raised a brow at her bizarre mind and its musings and wondered why she insisted on talking so much when it obviously pained her jaw and in effect her head. “What demon threatened you with that?” he asked

“I can't say I remember” she put a slender finger to her pouty bottom lip to suggest thoughtfulness “I mean in the midst of him trying to cut my head off I completely forgot to ask for his contact details”

It appeared that nearly everything that came out of the onna's mouth was sarcastic, but judging by the slight nervous tint to her scent it may have been a defence mechanism. “Are you hunted by many?”

Apparently he had distracted her because when she turned her face to look at him her eyes were unfocused “Huh?”

He had in fact distracted her from surveying the apartment she was in. It looked like some archaeologists had decided to have a party in the room. The furniture was eclectic ranging from and Edwardian bureau to a Victorian chest and the decor seemed to consist of pieces of art from different time periods, there were two swords that caught her interest on the wall for one was emitting intense evil and the other a strange energy the likes of which she had not seen before. There was a large bay window at one edge of the room and the blinds were drawn.

“I said are you hunted by a great number of demons?” he asked a little irked at having to repeat himself, it was not something he did very often

“Are those swords?” she asked getting up from the sofa and, ignoring her protesting muscles, walking over to the two swords mounted on the wall.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her limited attention span. “Those are indeed my swords” he said “Toukijin and Tenseiga”

“You named them?” she asked turning her blue orbs onto him whilst her tone suggested he was crazy

“Tenseiga already had a name, but I profess to naming Toukijin” he said stoically

“You must be powerful”

The offhand compliment made his eyebrows disappear into his silver hair “Nani?”

“The power radiating from them is immense” she continued “you would have to be strong to handle such weapons”

“I am a Daiyokai” he confessed

She made an impressed noise and turned to examine a painting that hung relatively nearby the swords, before she could question him on that as well he stood and grabbing her arm he forced her to sit back in the sofa she had recently vacated.

“What was that?” she asked glaring at him

“I was talking to you before you so rudely cut me off” he stated

She rolled her eyes “You can't be much of a conversationalist then” she snorted

“Or you have the manners of a pup” he retorted

She pouted and glared at him folding her arms crossly, she reminded him off his stubborn grandmother in that moment and he shook away the petrifying image.

“Let's try a simple question” Sesshoumaru was patronising “What is your name?”

“Kagome” she replied “Kagome Higurashi”

“I am Sesshoumaru Taisho” he said

“Good for you” she said

He ignored her “Do you make a habit of being beaten to a pulp by Yokai?”

“For some reason I love getting my head bashed in, it's a habit I just can't kick, maybe I should get therapy, what do you think?” she rolled her eyes and sighed as if she found the entire situation uninteresting

“You would do well to remember not to try my patience” he growled at her

“Or what?”

She regretted the blasé reply as soon as it vacated her lips and tainted the air. So fast she'd barely finished the last syllable of `blasé' she was lying back on the sofa with an Inu Yokai straddling her waist and holding her neck in a death grip, his deadly claws almost piercing her skin.

“This” he offered in response to her question. His face was impassive, if you couldn't see that he was currently squeezing the air out of one Miko's oesophagus you presume he was watching paint dry or something equally as boring. In fact the only thing that hinted to his broken patience was the fact that his left eyebrow was twitching and his gold eyes were shifting from gold to burgundy.

If she had been fully relaxed and recuperated she probably could have shocked him a little with her Miko powers but her body was aching and protesting and what little power she could generate was all centred around trying to stop the god-awful headache that was spearing tridents of pain into her poor brain. She had to remember not to pick fights with concrete.

“Gomen” she gasped instead, hoping to calm him down a little.

As soon as she apologised the pressure was gone, he was across the room stood by the huge window so fast it was almost as if he'd never been trying to stop her oxygen intake. Except she could still feel where his claws had rested against her skin and she rubbed her neck at the creepy feeling.

“What does the phrase `Shikon no Tama Onna' mean to you?” he asked turning his once again saffron eyes on her

“A Panther said that's what I was” she shrugged and wondered what he was going to do if he didn't like that answer.

“Hn” he looked thoughtful for a moment “how often on average would you say you get attacked?”

“Once a week maybe” she paused and frowned “sometimes it's more than that”

“Do you recognise this?” he pulled the athame from where he had stashed it in his jacket pocket

“Should I?” she asked in confusion. He sighed as this sunk in, she didn't know and he was at a loss to explain his uncle's dagger being on the scene.

“Is there a common denominator with the attacks, do they say something that is common from one to the other?” he asked

“You mean apart from the general `die Miko bitch'?” she asked rolling her eyes but sobering when he fixed her with his `I'm going to peel the flesh off your body slowly and enjoy it' look. It was amazing how petrifying a look could be when you received it off this particular guy. She had been blasé with him before because of his humanoid appearance but when she concentrated her reiyouku now she could sense his aura, and it wasn't one to be reckoned with. She should have realised a humanoid appearance meant a more powerful Yokai but her brain was still working about a centimetre an hour and not improving. To her poor concrete abused brain human meant friend and beast meant run, that was as good as she was getting. God she was tired.

“Think” he ordered as her eyelids drooped

“But I can't” she pressed the frozen peas back onto her head “it hurts to think!”

He gave her a look which questioned her intelligence or lack there of and she glared at him.

“You try nose diving onto some lovely concrete with nothing but a human skull!” she snarled

He raised a brow and was at her side in the next instant.

“What?” she balked

“If you tell me about the similarities I can make the head ache go away” he promised sounding sincere, which was enough to make her distrust him.

“How?” she asked

“It is none of your concern” he told her

She rolled her eyes at the arrogance that literally oozed out of the Inu.

“They always say something about my blood making them stronger, or they smell my blood and look at each other funny” she shrugged not really knowing what to say as most of the attacks were similar any way.

“Interesting” he mused

“What's interesting?” she asked as he moved away from her over to a huge book case. The books that sat upon it were sinister and some had their own youki, none of them were exactly new either and they were all leather bound and title-less.

He picked one from the stack, it was bound in red leather and was emitting a fair amount of youki he flipped through the pages and nodded to himself seemingly satisfied.

“What?” she questioned again

“Miko blood is poisonous to Yokai who would see to hurt them, if the blood was ingested by a Yokai with no want to inflict harm then the blood would simply taste bad” he told her and then frowned as he realised that her blood hadn't tasted bad, it had been as water was to a man wandering the Sahara desert for two days. “As it is the blood of a being of purity it would kill them instantly”

“But the panther in the alley tasted my blood and he didn't die” she pointed out

“Hn” he mused as he tried to recall the tale his mother had told him, something about blood that called to all Yokai, perhaps it was this girl that she had been speaking of.

“You said you'd help me with my headache” she pointed out as she realised whatever he was thinking about wasn't going to be shared any time soon.

“Ah, yes” he said and smiled in a sinister fashion that had her scooting back on the sofa to get away from him but to no avail. He grabbed her ankle to stop her escaping and closed the other hand over her mouth and nose, effectively making her breathe through his clawed hand. Once he was satisfied that her mouth and nose were covered he opened the poison ducts under his claws and let a small amount of his carefully perfected sleeping poison to seep into her breathing orifices and smiled as her eyelids fluttered and drooped. She was out like a light.

He smirked, he wasn't too sure what the poison would do to her head ache but he knew that her incessant rambling was giving him a headache. She he shut her up.

He pondered the situation as she lay splayed on the sofa unconscious. It was obvious that there was something very special about this ningen if she had blood that defied law and an unusual number of demons tracking her. She was something not in his books, rather she was someone his mother may or may not have mentioned. Damn his forgetfulness.

Even though he knew there was no way he was going to pay for him to find out what she was, apparently she believed ignorance was bliss, he still wanted to. He wouldn't stop until his curiosity was sated and that meant a little trip to meet his favourite shady occult book dealer...

He shook his head and realised he was going to have to play delivery boy before he could go on his probably pointless errands. He picked the girl up and made his way to the car.

Once he had arranged her kind of comfortably on the back seat he got in and took off, cursing his bad luck for it to be raining now of all times. He shook the water from his long silver spun hair in a decidedly dog like manner that would've made Kagome giggle were she conscious.

He pulled out the sat.nav he never used and using a little logic typed `Higurashi Shrine' and it gleefully told him directions. He hated using the damn thing and was much more comfortable using his own sense of direction, but that was impaired by the fact he had no clue where he was going.

As he drove he pondered his reasoning behind helping the ningen sprawled on the backseat drooling on his upholstery.

There was the obvious reason that he was curious. But that didn't seem to cut it. Curiosity killed the cat and Sesshoumaru would never fall to the same plight as a lower neko. Indeed his own curiosity had never been enough to prompt an unfunded investigation.

So perhaps it was his strange addiction to her blood and scent. But then again he was not one to be ruled by such petty things as addiction. He believed the word to be something ningen made up to excuse their repeated mistakes and bizarre obsessions.

It could be linked to his love for his long passed mother and the fact that he was angry at himself for not remembering what she had told him.

It was also likely that it had something to do with the athame he had found on the fallen panther that smelled of his uncle. Now there was a mystery, which had now come to involve him, however indirectly.

Not that Sesshoumaru would ever admit it, but it was most likely a combination of all of the above.

He pulled up next to the shrine and was about to open the door and dump her on the pavement when he felt something inside him twinge. He didn't want to leave her out in the rain where she would probably get sick.

Wait, where had that come from? He did not care for ningen. He tried to rationalise his automatic response. It was simple, he realised belatedly, he didn't want her to get sick when he had gone through all the trouble to save her in the first place. There, that was a completely justified rational response. Too bad it wasn't the real reason.

He growled under his breath about not going soft and prepared to dump the ningen on the rain soaked pavement...

***

Kagome's eyes fluttered open to inspect a wooden ceiling that looked like it belonged on some kind of porch. She could hear the sound of rain beating against the wood and she sat up quickly when she remembered Sesshoumaru knocking her out.

She looked around and realised she was sat on the shrine steps wrapped in a man's jacket underneath the shelter of the shrine porch roof. Then a wave of nausea hit her and her headache returned with a vengeance.

“Shitty lying Daiyokai!” she exclaimed to the sobbing heavens. As if to empathise with her pain lightning flew across the darkened sky followed soon after by the deafening boom of thunder.

The door opened behind her to reveal a worried looking Miroku.

“What the hell happened to you?”

A/N: I do not own Inuyasha and I make no profit from this.

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Thanks to the nice people who reviewed last timeon fanfitcion dot net; Serenity digo19, MoonFlower77, Moonlight X Luna, kouga's older woman, sousie, GothicHime89 and pollywog222.

On mediaminer dot org thanks to madosie for reviewing! I'm glad you liked the opening!

With special thanks to kouga's older woman for inspiring the opeing argument with her review.

Ja ne, Aimee-chan