InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Destiny, Time Travelers, and a Little Baby ❯ Problems ( Chapter 14 )

Disclaimer : So. No kidnapping or buying on E-Bay. I was thinking about begging, but knowing me I'd say something wrong (I'm always doing that) and offend her and then it would all fail. So, nope. Still don't own him.

Aw, shucks.

Chapter 14 : Problems

After Inuyasha left, Kagome realized she was more mad at herself than Inuyasha. He had every right to feel bad about their kiss and stuff. And she WAS the one to start the whole thing. And she WAS lost before he found her.

But did he HAVE to scare her like that?! If he had just said something, anything really, she wouldn't have ran and gotten so freaked. And if he didn't love her then why did he keep looking at her with that look and those eyes and that hair and those ears. Why did he have to be so damn sexy?!

And why did she have to fall in love with HIM? Wouldn't it have been easier to fall in love with Hojo? Or even Miroku or Kouga? Though Hojo WAS and airhead. AND Miroku WAS a lecher in love with Sango, and vice-versa, and she wasn't about to steal her best friend's man. AND Kouga WAS too much like Inuyasha to really make a difference anyway.

Grrrrrrrr. WHY ARE MEN SO STUPID?!!!

"Bastards." She muttered as she turned and found herself in her room. His room. Their room. "Damnit." She left quickly. Too many memories in there.

She went across the hall again. Rin was still there. She didn't know why, but being around Rin calmed her down. Maybe it was the girl's innocence. Maybe it was her naiveté. Maybe it was just because she was the only other girl around and didn't have any ulterior motives like her friends back home did. She didn't know why or how, but this girl was becoming one of her few cherished friends. Which was odd, seeing as how she was only, like, what, ten?

Rin was still working on her lessons. Her teacher was already gone, but Rin was a diligent student, never breaking from the rigors of learning. Kagome knocked on her open door.

The girl looked up and smiled. "Come in Kagome-san. You don't need to knock."

Kagome nodded and walked in and laid down next to Rin on the floor. She looked over at her work.

It was a drawing.

Of Sesshomaru.

Naturally.

He was saving her from a bunch of yellow and red blobs with a greenish glowy squiggle in his hand. Jaken was laying face down in the background.

What was that about diligent student?

"Whatcha doin' Rin?" Kagome giggled. "Is this part of your lesson?"

"No." Rin said as she added some green to the blobs. "This is for Sesshomaru-sama. He likes my paintings. He said so." She added some black to the purple sky. "He said it was, um, what was it….." She thought. "Oh yeah! He said it was `very interesting'." She smiled as she examined the quality of her work. Sesshomaru's hair wasn't flowy enough. She fixed that with more white globs. It was shaping up, to be sure, but it still didn't look right. She just couldn't put her finger on what.

"Kagome. I can't make this look right." She looked up at the older girl. "Help, please?"

"What do you want me to do?" Kagome asked with a little trepidation. Math? No problem. Grammar and spelling? In the bank. Science and first aid? No sweat. But Art? Shippo could help her more than Kagome.

"Could you draw this again?" She asked, oblivious to Kagome's squeak of apprehension. "That way I can see what I'm doing wrong and fix it. I want it to be perfect for Sesshomaru-sama. He likes it when I do things right."

"Uh. Sure." Kagome picked up a brush and dipped it in blue. She began outlining Rin's picture, but it came out wrong. It wasn't Sesshomaru defending Rin with Jaken lying dead in the background, it was Inuyasha defending her with his giant sword and the rest of the gang cheering in the back.

Rin was looking over her shoulder watching. "That doesn't look right either. That doesn't even look like Lord Sesshomaru. Is that Inuyasha?"

Kagome gaped at the picture. Was she that obsessed? Did he come to her mind even when she wasn't thinking about him?

She needed to get away.

She needed to go home.

She needed her mother.

"I'm sorry Rin. I'm not the best artist. Maybe you could try more blue in his hair. That might fix it." She practically ran out of the room.

"Thank You Kagome!!!!!!!" Rin shouted at her back. She mixed a little blue in the white and applied it to his hair. It worked. He looked more like her beloved Sesshomaru-sama. She smiled and danced around her room. Once her celebration was complete, she collapsed to the floor, dizzy from all the spinning and jumping, and stared at her masterpiece.

She just wished it didn't take so long for paint to dry.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*Elsewhere*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kirara touched down in the middle of town. She was too pissed to care about spooking the villagers today.

`That's right ingrates. Run and hide. Cower in fear of my might! HahahaHCK! *cough* Hairball.'

She trotted to the old miko's hut. The stench of dried herbs and old person was almost overpowering, but she managed to make out Sango's scent. And it sounded like the girl was just rousing from the shouts and screams.

She had to give the monk credit. He hadn't been nearly as far away as she'd thought he'd be. He must've ran for miles trying to catch her.

Stamina.

That was a good quality in a mate.

And come to think of it, there had been numerous times when he'd protected her mistress. And he was strong. Well, by human standards he was. And he was persistent in his endeavors. Whether that was finding a woman or stopping Naraku. Stamina, strength, diligence. All of these were good qualities in a mate.

She guessed he'd just been following his own steps and not the ones sent down by the Youkai Lords of old. But why would he in the first place? He was human. He didn't even know about the steps, most likely. And he HAD given her all that juicy kitty weed. So, maybe he wasn't so bad. Maybe he was good for her mistress. And Sango obviously loves him. And he obviously loves her. So maybe she shouldn't try to break them up. Maybe she should try to fix them up. Maybe she should stop thinking and just play loyal cat again. She'd have to keep an eye on him though. One false move and it was off he goes.

She couldn't believe she'd been living with humans so long and still didn't know their mating rituals. It wasn't surprising though. She'd been fighting with Midoriko, then with the slayers, and then with the people on the search for the shards. She'd just been too busy protecting stuff to notice that maybe the monk was doing it right.

Nah.

Even the humans they met thought he was a little off.

Kirara abruptly released the back of the monk's robes from her teeth. She was getting too attached to him. She worked her jaw of the stiffness from carrying his dead weight for four hours. It had to have been the longest four hours she'd ever spent flying.

Inside the hut, Sango was wide awake and reaching for her weapon. Only a youkai appearance could make the villagers panic like that. That, or a warlord on a rampage. Either way she'd have a fight to finish. And that was exactly what she needed right now. She was bogged down by frustration, and fighting something was always better than fighting herself.

She practically ran from the hut to exterminate the threat when she saw the cause of the disruption. Hiraikotsu clattered to the ground soon followed by her knees.

"Kirara! I wanted him hurt, not dead!" She howled as she stood and moved over to his prone body. "Miroku? Miroku please wake up."

She didn't think she had any tears left to cry. She was wrong. "Miroku please wake up!" She leaned over him and grabbed his robes. With both fists, she shook him as hard as she could. So hard she heard his teeth chatter against each other.

"Miroku! It's Sango! I know you hate me now, but please! I need you! Come back to me!" She yelled at him as she shook. With a sigh, she loosened her grip on his garments. He fell back to the earthen path with a bounce. She cradled his head to her bosom as her tears splattered on his hair, dampening the black locks.

"Miroku." She whimpered. She'd lost him and there was no getting him back.

Then, something amazing happened.

She was groped!

She raised her hand to slap the pervert when she realized something. "He's alive? He's alive! Thank the gods, he's alive." Then she heard the most beautiful sound she'd never thought she'd hear.

"Sango." His voice was hoarse but it was his voice. "Don't cry for me Sango." (The truth is I never left you. Sorry. Had an `Evita' moment there. *shudders*)

This didn't comfort her. Not at all. And her increasing tears told him so.

"Shhh. Shhh. Don't cry. I don't hate you." He soothed her as he struggled into a sitting position so he could hold her as she did him. "I could never hate you. I love you too much."

This only made the tears fall harder. "But I was so mean to you."

"Only because I was mean to you. Sango I don't care if you're not a virgin. It doesn't matter. Well, only a little, but that's okay."

Her tears dried fast. Almost as fast as her mood changed. "What." She stated in a deadly tone. It wasn't a question. She'd heard him perfectly. "Not. A. Virgin?! Why the hell would you think that, huh?!"

He cowered away from the irate female before him. "Because there was no barrier. You felt no pain! What else was I supposed to think?!"

"I don't know! But not that!" She turned away from him and stomped back to Kaede's hut. "Grrrrr. MEN!"

Miroku watched her go. He stood shakily to his feet. It had been hours before he could breath again and if not for his training kicking in instinctively, he would've died. But he didn't think about that. He only thought about her.

"Our marriage is binding Sango. And somehow, someway, you'll see that. Even if I have to marry us again. You'll see." He rubbed his throat as he trudged through the village to see a miko about an herb. "At least I know what she'll do when I die. *sigh* The things I do for love."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*Naraku's Pad*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kaede numbly walked through the halls to the dojo. Her mind was working as she thought of the possibilities that the next days would bring. Soon they would find her parents killers and then she would avenge their deaths. She had been ripped from them so young. So young she couldn't even remember them. She did remember that one had black hair and the other silver. But that was all. She couldn't remember their faces or the sound of their voice, only a shadow of their figure and that hair, that long beautiful hair that each of them had.

When Kikyo found her, she told her about what happened. That the people who killed her parents had kidnapped her for their own nefarious purposes. Funny, but she couldn't remember them either. Looking back on it, she should've remembered the kidnappers better than her parents since they'd had her longer. She should've but she didn't. But she figured it was just from the head injury she'd suffered at their hands.

Kikyo said she'd found her on the roadside, being beaten by them. Since she was a feared miko, she'd just flashed some power and they ran off like cowards. Kikyo said Kaede had been so abused, she almost didn't recognize her, and I quote, `Adorable god-daughter.' Kikyo said memory loss was normal for a head injury of that magnitude and she shouldn't worry about it.

Well Kikyo could shove it up her ass. She wanted to know. She wanted to remember. And if it took until she saw their faces again, she would wait. And she would train. And she would be the worst nightmare they'd ever had.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*Back at Sesshomaru's Place*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kagome ran down the hall. She had to get out of this castle and back down the well. She turned a corner and quickly came face to chest with white silk.

Sesshomaru was surprised when he saw Inuyasha earlier. The boy had been even more distant than usual and didn't even acknowledge his presence. He just walked away from the east wing and past him to the meeting room. From there he turned to the open balcony and jumped over the railing of to the forest surrounding the castle and to a tree where he sat and brooded. From the scent of sadness, frustration, and longing coming from Inuyasha in waves, he could only guess one person at the heart of it all. And he went to find her. What he didn't expect was her finding him. Or rather, barreling into him in a fit of adrenaline rushed stupor.

Kagome looked up at Sesshomaru as he steadied her. She mumbled an apology and made for the room that Inuyasha had just ran out of, when she felt a hand holding her in place. She wasn't scared of the youkai anymore, but she wasn't exactly comfortable with him either. Her tension must have not been overlooked as he told her not to be frightened.

"I just want to help." Were his exact words.

He'd tried to kill her so many times. But he did tell them about Kaede and help when it mattered. And call her crazy, but was he purring at her? The soft growl, often used to ease threatened allies, was coming through his chest in a rumble so low she could've missed it. But it comforted her all the same.

She released the call of her power and relaxed into an uneasy stance. She was nearly prancing with the need to get away, but he held firm until she stopped all together and listened.

"I can assume you have been fighting with my brother. No need to say anything. I saw him moments ago and he looked like he had a lot on his mind. Didn't smell too good either. Absolutely stank of depression." Kagome's face dropped. Her scent turned to dejection and he knew he'd gotten through. Now maybe he could delay her eminent departure.

"Do you know why Inuyasha and I have always fought?"

"I figured it was just because you hated humans."

"By the time I'd met you, yes, but it wasn't always so. I loved my little brother at one time. When my mother died, Father was heart-broken. She was his first love. He knew she wasn't the one, but they were so good together, he didn't want to give that up. It took him nearly one hundred and fifty years to open up to anyone again. It didn't help that his advisors were pushing him to find his queen. He finally found the woman destined to be his mate. Even he himself was shocked that she was the one, but the nose doesn't lie."

Kagome was seriously confused. So Sango was right about the smelling thing? Was she right about the other stuff. Maybe she SHOULD talk to Inuyasha about that…...

"Inuyasha was born a year after their first union." Sesshomaru continued. "I didn't hate him then. I loved having a little brother. He was someone to look out for. Someone to protect. I'd never had that before. When Father died, I was made to take his place. I was nearly full grown while Inuyasha was yet a pup. He was so young and they made me send his mother and him away. I tried to keep them safe, but you can't sway the minds of mortals. When they killed his mother, I had him brought here immediately. I got him the best tutors, tailors, everything that was in my power to provide for him, I did. But I hardly ever saw him, and by the time I got to his wing, he had already healed from their beatings." In a whoosh, Kagome's breath left. She'd been expecting something like that, but hearing it said in that emotionless voice of his was intense.

"In retrospect, I see that I let my advisors destroy my view. They hated humans. They never liked Inuyasha's mother and hated him for being the taint in an otherwise perfect bloodline. They kept me away from him and infested my mind with traitorous thoughts about my little brother. They told me he was a horrible child. That he misbehaved and was stupid. I can't count the time I spent yelling at him for things he was never guilty of in the first place. He ran away when he was big enough to survive on his own. He'd heard about the Shikon jewel and went to find it. I guess he figured if he became all demon, he wouldn't have anyone that could push him around. That he could repay me for all the pain I put him through. I didn't even know what really went on behind my back until he was long gone. I fired my advisors and all the youkai working for me that abhorred the human race shortly after I brought Rin home. I didn't want to repeat the same mistakes with her that I had with Inuyasha. She's changed me. I feel so much freer with her."

He stopped suddenly as he realized what he was saying. He hadn't meant to even say that much but it just kept coming. He was a guarded man and kept his feelings hidden, for his own good and of those around him. But Kagome was so calming. She was a good influence on his stubborn and hot-headed brother. He got that from their father. There was no doubt that Inuyasha, given time and training, would become as great as their noble and terrible father. Terrible being powerful, not bad.

Kagome sighed and gave him a gentle smile. "I always wondered what he did after his mother died. Thank you Sesshomaru for telling me. It helps me understand him better. And I NEED to understand him better. He'd so confusing and infuriating and…..and…..UGH! Sometimes I wonder why I even stay with him, you know? He doesn't need me. Miroku can see the shards. Sango can fight better than me. Shippo is about the only reason I can think of most of the time. But why am I telling you? You don't care." She turned to go and was once again stopped by Sesshomaru.

He stayed quiet until she looked up at him. As their eyes held, he leaned down and whispered to her face, "Maybe he's like that because it's the only thing he can do. Don't be too hard on him for whatever he did. He's just too much like Father to be anything else." He straightened and dismissed Kagome with a nod. "He's in the orchard. Third tree from the end, fifth row from the right." He called over his shoulder as he walked away from his soon to be sister.

Kagome stared after his back. "Geeze. He's as bad as Momma." She turned towards the beautiful cherry trees and spotted his red coat right where Sesshomaru said he was. "Okay. Time for a little conversation. I just hope he isn't too difficult. I'm too drained to deal with him after a Sit today." And she walked off to find him.

Elsewhere, Sesshomaru continued on to his original destination before he had to play peacekeeper with those two. Rin's room smelled of paints, rainwater and her. She was staring intently at a recent drawing.

"What are you doing?"

Rin jumped in surprise at his sudden appearance behind her. "Hello Sesshomaru-sama!" She exclaimed after the shock wore off. "I'm watching the paint dry on your newest painting!"

Sesshomaru quirked a lip. "MY newest painting? Don't you mean yours?"

"No. Rin made it for you."

He frowned. "Rin. How many times have we had this talk? I know you can speak out of the third person. I've heard you. You're teachers are worried about that and I'm tired of assuaging their fears that you have something wrong in that cute head of yours. So drop the act alright? I know you're not a child anymore."

"Yes Lord Sesshomaru. I just thought you'd prefer it if I talked as I did when you first met me."

"You didn't talk at all when I first met you." He started deadpan.

Rin giggled. "True. So how do you like it? I worked really hard on this one."

Sesshomaru was impressed. Her skills were improving every time he saw them. She really captured the heat of battle. `But what's this?' He lifted the paper to his nose and sniffed, not something he did often, but this was a special case. "Rin. Where did you get these paints?"

She gulped. She knew she was in trouble now. She'd been told never to get them from there, but all hers were gone and she just HAD to draw a picture for him. It had been so long since she had. "The study."

Sesshomaru just smiled at her. No need to be worried when this was her heart's desire. The enchanted paints in the study were for special use and only so one could see what was in their own heart. It was his gift to her when she turned of age, but she'd used them earlier than expected.

"Just don't use them all next time." He stood and left her room, her picture in his hand. It was just too bad that she only saw him as her protector. But the rest would come with time. Hopefully she would see him as something more by then. But until the day came, he would wait and try not to get too close. She didn't need to see him as her father and he couldn't see her as his daughter.

When he'd first smelled her, he had been injured. His eyes were turned away and his brain was running on instinct. He could see her in his mind. She was tall, beautiful and human. As if the revelation that his destined was human wasn't enough, when he'd turned around to tell her he'd rather have no mate than a human one, he saw Rin, a girl of eight. And he hissed his frustration at her.

But even he couldn't deny his instincts for long. They were already trying to test her by pushing her away. Telling her that her efforts weren't good enough for him. They were already warming him to her. Telling him that she needed to be taken care of.

When the wolves got her, he had to go back, even against his better judgment. And Tenseiga telling him to bring her to life only confirmed what his instincts had told him.

But she was so young and he was old. It wasn't fair or proper for him to court her. And the gods had teased him thus :

Making him see his adult Rin every time he smelled her and not her younger self. Then he'd lay eyes on her and it would all be some horrible trick.

He wasn't a pedophile. He had decency. And so he waited. Waited until she became what he saw every time he closed his eyes. THAT was his mate. And he would wait until hell froze over, until the stars fell from the sky, until the rivers all ran dry, in other words until the end of time until she became what she was meant to be. And he would protect her, even if that meant he had to remain cold.

He would be Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands. Uncaring, unfeeling ass. He would do that much for her. And maybe now, since he'd helped them so much and repaired the rift of animosity, he could ask a favor of his brother, when the time was right. And he knew just what it'd be too.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*Cherry Tree Orchard*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Inuyasha was right where Sesshomaru said he was. But what would she say to him? What COULD she say to him? That she was an idiot? That she was wrong? That she just couldn't understand him? That she was too mad at her self to think straight and he was a plausible outlet for her anger, jumping out and surprising her like that? That he hurts her when he spurns her and calls her names and compares her to Kikyo? She needed to talk to him so bad, but she just didn't know what to say.

So she decided to take a page from his book and fly by the seat of her pants. Who knows? Maybe she'd say the right thing.

He'd been sitting in the tree for hours. Or maybe it only seemed that way. Every second in Kagome's bad graces and away from her was an eternity.

He dwelt on all the reasons she could be mad at him, of how he could explain "everything" to her, and when he'd expended his imagination on all the possibilities, he remembered what his brother had sprung on him just this afternoon.

Naraku was just to the north? Should they get Sango and Miroku? Should he and Kagome face him alone? It seemed WAY too easy for him to be out there in the open like that. What if it was a trap? Should he snoop around first?

And what about Kaede? He couldn't believe he'd nearly forgotten about her in all this drama. Where was she? What was happening to her?

His gut lurched. A bad feeling came over him when he thought about her. Was it something terrible?

He was wearing himself out. And all this thinking was making his head hurt. Problem solving was never his strong suit. Bursting in with his fists raised or sword up and slashing everything in sight was more his style. Leave the planning and plotting to Miroku, he'd rather kill `em all.

Or at least, that's what he used to be like. Now he had all these responsibilities and people counting on him. Kagome, Kaede, Shippo, Miroku, Sango. Hell, maybe even Kirara from time to time. His pack needed him. He needed to be strong.

He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. And that was how Kagome found him.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sorry it's so short. My shortest one since I redid this. But I am sooooooooo stuck it's not even funny. I can't decided if I want Kagome and Inuyasha to still be fighting when they go North or if they're all made up. Either way it'd work with what I want to happen after this little stepping stone in my plot.

Well, really it's like a big stepping stone. After this little story-arch, it's half way done.

Who knows, maybe it is already half-way done. I'm already thinking up a plot for a sequel. It involves Sesshy and Rin. But I don't know if I should even attempt. This story had taken me over a year and I'm still not done with it.

And as my old readers know, this story is from a dream I had over a year ago. Funny that I can still remember it. But it was confusing. Like the part with Kaede running around the hospital actually involved a college campus, movie theatre, gym, amphitheater, and swimming pool, also jumping cross town, through and over cars and trading taxis a lot. So, yeah, I simplified it a bunch. But the fight between Kosimu and Inuyasha, the original one from my dream, not the first one that came up in my story, is in the next chapter. So kudos to me. This is where I woke up.

Anyway.

I'm going to this talent competition in Dallas next week. Wish me luck. If I'm good I just might get a contract with an agent and then with some movie company and then you could be seeing my face from here to Tokyo. Wouldn't that be flippin' awesome?!

So, yeah. As always, tell me whatcha think. R&R!