InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Decrepit ❯ chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Title: Decrepit

 

Author: Anonymous Fangirl

Summary: Because they have no other choice (Sesshoumaru Kagome)

 

Rating: Mature.

 

Pairings: I don't think I need to restate what was in the summary. . . and you should know by this point. . . if you don't, reread the story. Please.

 

Disclaimer: I own a lot of fish. I own a cat. And I own a dog. But he's name isn't Inuyasha.

 

Dedicated: To Noacat.

 

 

 

Chapter Six

 

When it came to relationships, she was a dud mused Kagome Higurashi with a bit of self loathing. It had been four days, six hours, and - she cast a glance at her watch - fifteen minutes (not that she was counting or anything) since Sesshoumaru, the stoic demon Lord of the Western lands had left her on the outskirts of Inuyasha's forest with out so much as a good bye or a fare the well. Kagome scoffed in a very Inuyasha like manner. And he had taken her virginity!

 

She supposed that she should have been happy - after all, she was right back where she had wanted to be - out of the demon lord's grasp. And that was what she wanted. It was.

 

But that didn't explain the nauseous feeling she got in her stomach whenever she told herself that she was glad to be back.

 

Her companions hadn't asked where she had been - she assumed that Sango and Miroku thought that she had gone back to her time for a test or something, though Shippo and Inuyasha's noses where certainly strong enough to smell that they could smell the truth all over her.

 

But for some reason, they hadn't said a thing.

 

While she wasn't positive Shippo knew where she had truly been, from the mournful and scouring looks Inuyasha kept sending her way, she was pretty sure he knew the truth.

 

After all, why else would he be looking at her like that?

 

“I think we should stop for the night.” Inuyasha said, casting a glance towards the darkening sky.

 

Kagome blinked hard. There was no way Inuyasha had just said that they should stop for the night! Kagome wanted to scream in disbelief. Unless. . .

 

“Is it that time of the month already, Inuyasha?” Miroku asked, searching the sky to see if the moon would make an appearance tonight.

 

Inuyasha growled. “Yeah. . . I haven't been able to smell anything for days.”

 

Kagome cocked her head to one side in confusion. If Inuyasha hadn't smelt anything in days, then he couldn't have possibly known that she was with Sesshoumaru. So then why wouldn't he have asked where she was? Had he thought that she had gone home? No. . . he would have gone to pick her up, especially if she hadn't told him where she was going. And even if he hadn't gone to demand why she had gone back to her own time without his permission, then what was with all the looks? She was about to ask him that very question when he turned to the group and began to speak.

 

“Are you guys gonna be okay for the night? I think I'm just going to take off.” Inuyasha said, looking to either side of him uneasily.

 

Like he was hiding something.

 

“Sure thing, Inuyasha. We'll be fine. And now that Kagome is gracing us once again with her wonderful cooking, I'm sure we wont have to forge for roots like we did when she was back at her home.” With that, Miroku cast her a grateful look. Obviously, her presence and her foods from the future had made everything that they had eaten before she came in to their lives unpalatable. Kagome smiled, happy for the first time in days. It was nice to feel needed.

 

At least some people needed her.

 

She quickly shook the thought from her head, refusing to spend one more iota of her energy dwelling on that dog. After all, how dare he just take her back to her friends, as if she hadn't meant anything to him, as if he had only used her as long as he needed a plaything!

Kagome sobered. She supposed that was probably it. Sesshoumaru hadn't really wanted her. . . he had wanted sex and a way to upset his brother. Huh. . . he had managed to kill both birds with the same stone. He wouldn't have kept her. . . and she wouldn't have let him.

 

But couldn't they have at least had more time together this time?

 

Kagome shook her head. This time? This had been the only time, and would always only be the only time. She would never be foolish enough to let him take her again, no matter how much she loved him.

 

She loved him.

 

Kagome paled, and the nauseous feeling returned. Oh god, she had fallen in love with him!

 

“Kagome?” Sango's concerned voice seemed very, very distant. “Kagome, are you alright?”

 

Kagome tried to answer that she was fine. . . she could feel the words gather on the tip of her tongue. But she couldn't get her mouth to move. In fact, she couldn't get anything to move.

“Inuyasha!” Miroku screamed in to the darkening forest. “Inuyasha! Come back! Kagome's been injured!”

 

But no reply came.

 

Kirere transformed quickly and Miroku gathered the trembling Kagome in to his arms, placing her atop the soft fur of the yellow fire cat. Kagome wanted to tell them that they were being foolish - ro she was beign foolish, one or the other. But she couldn't even seem to find the strength to lift her hand to show them she was fine.

 

Sango grabbed some rope from Kagome's backpack to tie her down, and looked back out in to the forest. “Do you think we should wait for Inuyasha?” She asked, unwilling to wait if it meant Kagome's health may falter.

 

Miroku shook his head. “Inuyasha probably can't hear us. . . maybe he's already human. Either way, we have to take Kagome to the village. Kaede can probably help her.”

 

Kagome was only vaguely aware of the conversation, and if there had been any conversation on the trip to Keade's, she hadn't heard it. All that seemed to matter was staying awake. Trying to stay conscious, she focused all of her attentions on a single silver orb that hung nearly invisible behind the thick clouds in the sky. She knew there was something wrong. . . the moon shouldn't be visible that night. What was it? Why wasn't the moon supposed to be there? She knew it was an important reason!

 

But it had taken too much of an effort to try to remember why, so she simply let her mind drift as the scenery passed swiftly beneath them.

 

 

A single figure donned in a simple Kimono in the color of ivory stood alone, high on a mountain top, brooding about the meaning of. . . well, everything.

 

He didn't speak. . . not that there was anyone there to listen. No sound passed his lips, but as he surveyed the beautiful landscape beneath him, a musical tune seemed to be the night's lilt.

 

He stood high, and he stood proud. And he stood alone. But as he stood alone, he was not lonely. After all, how can one be lonely when they had their memories to keep them company?

 

 

 

 

Orihime had finally stopped crying. Her eyes remained red and puffy, but she didn't bother to hide them. Even the pain was simply a sign of her love.

 

But she knew the tears would fall again that evening, and the evening after that, and the evening after that. Perhaps not every evening for the rest of her life. She had heard somewhere that you don't stay in love forever. . . that eventually, you learn to love again.

 

But it would certainly be a long time before that happened.

 

She walked with pride and dignity in to the informal dining hall for dinner with her father. It wasn't often that they ate together, but whenever he requested it, it was her job as a dutiful daughter and princess to oblige him.

 

But that didn't mean that she had to enjoy it. . .

 

She sulked in to the massive room - something odd for her. Her normal dignified demeanor was hunched over in a very un - Princess like fashion, her eyes flashing with annoyance and pain.

 

And her father was utterly oblivious.

 

“Ri - chan! Thank you for coming to dinner tonight!” He grabbed her up in a big bear hug and thanked her,, as if she had had a choice in the matter.

 

“It is my pleasure, father.” She hissed out in between clenched teeth, and cursed her luck for being born a princess.

 

Her father gave her a kiss on her forehead, and then on each of her eye lids. “Your skin is warm. . . perhaps I should call a miko to see if you are healthy?” He asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

 

Orihime's annoyance simmered on a low heat, and his teasing had only made her angrier. He teased as if he didn't realize that she had been crying. He teased as if it didn't matter anyways.

 

Orihime sat down stiffly at the table and only gave her father a quick, cold glance. “Is dinner ready yet?” She asked with a chill in her voice.

 

But if her father had noticed the ice that layered her utteration, his cheery demeanor showed that he had chosen to ignore it. “Why, Ri - Chan! You are going to make me think that you don't want to get this dinner with me over with as soon as possible!” Her father feigned mortification. “Why, don't you want to spend some time with your father?”

 

Orihime tipped her head graciously and smiled lightly. “Why father, what in the world would make you think that I wouldn't want to spend time with you?” She wouldn't deny the truth. . . it wasn't in her to tell a lie.

 

Her father was unaffected. “Well, I thought that I should inform you that I've made some rather important decisions about your future.” He said in a proud fathering voice.

 

Orihime paled slightly. “What sort of. . . decisions?” But she didn't need to ask. She already knew.

 

“I think that it's high time for you to get married, and I know just the boy for you! He's the son of a rather powerful land, and their alliance with us could prove to be most benefactual.” A wry grin played on her father's face, and it was obvious to Orihime that he was rather pleased with himself.

 

Suffice to say, Orihime was not. She fumed and shook with anger as she stared at her father through narrowed eyes. How dare he! How dare he try to marry her off to someone she didn't love!

But he could dare. It was an obligation for him to dare. Remembering what Sephie had told her merely two nights prior, she stiffened her back and bit back the tears that had threatened to fall once more. It was her duty as a princess to see to her people's needs. . . and her father could always use more allies.

 

“Married?” She voiced simply, coldly.

 

The proud Lord nodded with glee. “Yes. He's a rather handsome young man, and I'm sure with time you could grow to be very fond of him.”

 

With time, Orihime thought cryptically, anything was possible.

 

Orihime stood, the heels of her hands still against the table and kept her gaze away from her fathers. She would go down. . . but she would go down with dignity.

 

“Ri - Chan?”

 

“I'm not hungry.” Orihime answered as she turned back towards the towering doors that would lead her in to the main part of the citadel.

 

At her back, her father called out to her. “Don't you want to know who you'll be marrying?”

 

She would have rather died.

 

Her fingers had wrapped around the handles made of brass that would allow her entrance to the rest of the castle when she heard her father from behind her. “His name is Sesshoumaru Taisho of the Western Lands.”

 

Orihime froze. . . and then, like the good little princess she was, promptly fainted.

 

 

 

Even though it had been centuries before, Sesshoumaru still felt the same humor he had felt the moment her father had told him what had transgressed. Their parents had thought that they were such deviants. . . playing their children on like that.

 

He even allowed himself a smile as he remembered when she had awoken to see him staring down at her. She had thrown herself from the bed and in to his arms, and like the weepy little female that she was, she had begun to cry anew - these tears, however, were born out of love and joy.

 

He had always loved seeing her overjoyed.

 

He turned his head towards the sky and thought of a different woman. Kagome wasn't weepy at all. In fact, he believed that she would rather bite off her own tongue than to let him see her tears. . . and that she probably had hidden them from him.

 

Her expressions were many with little time in between them. She could be happy and angry all in the same moment. Orihime had never, ever been that way. Orihime would simmer over the little things for days. . . and up until the day she died, he could only remember seeing a handful of expressions. But then, he thought with an angry frown, she hadn't really been alive that long at all.

 

Sesshoumaru's frown grew deeper as he turned his thoughts back to Kagome. How much time would he have with her? Would the gods see it fit to give him a year or two?

 

No time, Sesshoumaru quickly reminded himself. He would have no time with her. He wouldn't allow it. He couldn't fall in love again. . . especially not with a mortal. He had learned his lesson once. . . and his father had learned it too.

 

He would not go to her, no matter how much he wished to.

 

He howled, a guttural sound that held all his angst and hidden pains. A few animals howled back their anonymous sympathy. . . a sympathy for all those how had loved and lost their mates.

 

And though he told himself that he wouldn't go back to her . . . and told himself that he couldn't go back to her. . .

 

. . . it didn't stop his feet from beginning their slow descention down the mountain side, back towards where he had come.