InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ JOURNEY ❯ Chapter 23 ( Chapter 23 )

Disclaimer: All characters pertaining to the show InuYasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi. I am not making any money from this...the only thing that I am getting out of this story is the satisfaction of knowing that other people enjoy my writing. All original characters are my creation and belong to me...as does the plot and storyline.

 

 

Chapter 23

 

Kagome turned back around and continued picking the berries. After a while, she stopped to eat a few. Kagome's fingers were wet with the juice and she dropped a really big one in her lap. Sesshomaru picked it up and placed it against her lips. Sesshomaru watched her lips as she wrapped them around it and ever so gently bit into it. He leaned forward to kiss her instinctively. He pressed his lips against hers, but she pulled away from him. “Sesshomaru don't,” she pleaded as she looked away. “I can't do this. I can't handle being hurt again.”

 

“Kagome, I didn't mean to hurt you. Not a day has passed that...”

 

Kagome jerked her head towards Kirei and Lakota. Lakota was growling lowly, crouched in a protective stance in front of Kirei. Kagome motioned for Sesshomaru to be silent and looked over at Kirei, who was sitting completely motionless behind Lakota. She got up on her knees and picked up her rifle. Sesshomaru listened. At first all he could hear was the wind in the trees, but after a minute, he heard the low, guttural growl of a large cat. Kagome put a hand to her ear and listened. She pointed to the horses, which were twitching their tails nervously. Sesshomaru nodded. Then Kagome pointed to a large rock ledge a good ways off to the east. Sesshomaru looked carefully and could see a large cat crouched lowly on a small ledge. It must have been over a hundred feet away, but Kagome aimed with perfect accuracy, dropping it with one shot.

 

Kagome climbed up the ledge to look at it, rifle in hand. Sesshomaru picked up Kirei and waited. Kagome had shot it in the heart. He watched as she checked for a pulse, and finding none pushed the cat over the ledge. He looked at the big golden cat as it landed in a heap near them. Kagome came back down and carefully dragged it over to the horses.

 

“You're going to have to hold Kirei, Sesshomaru. You'll also have to carry the baskets with you. Your horse won't carry the cat, so I'll have to. Mine is used to it,” she said as she used the rope and a tree for leverage to load the cat onto her horse's saddle. “This cat has been killing our sheep for almost a year now.” She pointed out where it had been blasted with buckshot several times. “We need to get back. It's starting to get late. They will start getting worried if I'm not back before dark.”

 

 

Nathan and Souta were in the barnyard when they arrived back at the ranch, just before dark. She sidled up to them and told them what had happened. They took the cat from her horse and carried it into one of the small buildings. Sesshomaru guessed that they would skin it and cut it up. Kagome would use the pelt for leather and they would add the meat to the freezer. He had never eaten anything from the wild before, so the idea was strange to him, but it didn't seem to bother them at all.

 

Kagome and Sesshomaru put away the horses. Sesshomaru held Kirei while Kagome locked up the chicken coop and checked for eggs. Then she took Kirei from his arms and headed into the main house. Sesshomaru got on his bike and prepared to leave, but Kagome stopped him, much to Nathan's dismay. “Listen, why don't you stay the night? It's getting late. There's no reason for you to ride halfway across Montana in the dark. We're fixing to start supper. There's plenty of food and the couch is comfortable enough.”

 

“I don't know. I don't think I'm too welcome here.”

 

Kagome turned and looked at Nathan and Souta with a scowl on her face that could have melted the polar ice caps. Nathan and Souta both looked down like scolded puppies. They turned and went inside. “My brother and Nathan are just trying to look out for me, that's all.”

 

“Your brother? Souta is your brother?”

 

“Yeah, they are both really great guys, once you get past all that macho crap. Anyway, I don't care what they think. You can leave first thing in the morning.”

 

“Oh, ok,” he agreed as he got off his bike. Sesshomaru was relieved to hear that Souta was her brother - and not her husband. He followed her into the kitchen where Kirei was on her hands and knees drinking from Lakota's water bowl. Kagome scooped her up and sat her on the counter. Kagome handed her a carrot stick to munch on while she tenderized the steaks. “Souta,” she shouted, “go and start the grill.”

 

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After supper was finished, Kagome cleaned the dishes while Souta and Nathan showered. Sesshomaru went outside and sat down at a picnic table that sat under a large tree between the two houses. Souta joined him about twenty minutes later.

 

“She still loves you, you know,” Souta said as he sat down.

 

“Does she?” Sesshomaru asked. “She certainly doesn't act like it.”

 

“She does. You gotta understand that it tore her up inside, not hearing from you, but she's never stopped loving you. It broke her heart when we went down to Arizona at Christmas and that girl answered your door. Kagome wouldn't say anything the entire trip home. It has taken us a while to get her to where she is now. That little girl is what keeps her going. And every time she looks at Kirei, she sees you. She's afraid of getting hurt again. I don't know or care what kept you away, but I'm asking you man to man - please don't put her through that again. If you are going to go back to Arizona, do it now, before she gets used to the idea of you being around.”

 

“If you hurt Kagome again,” Nathan said as he walked up behind them, “I'll hunt you down.”

 

“What?” Sesshomaru asked, taken aback by the obvious threat, stood up to face him.

 

“You heard me,” Nathan fumed as he got in Sesshomaru's face. “I ain't going to stand here and watch you destroy her life - again. You don't have a clue about how hard it has been for her. She feels like you abandoned her. If you had come back for her in the first place, she would have gone with you, but now I don't know. You have no idea of the pain she's been carrying around all this time. I can't count how many times I have lain awake on her couch and listened to her cry herself to sleep. She doesn't deserve that. She deserves better.”

 

Sesshomaru got in Nathan's face. “I love Kagome. Not a day's gone by all this time that I didn't think about her.”

 

“Then where were you?” Nathan asked bluntly.

 

“You have no idea what I went through for her. I went to prison for her.” Sesshomaru saw the look on Nathan's face. “Yeah, prison. I got convicted for the crime she was accused of. I took that gun from her to protect her. Then I got busted with it in Arizona. I got sentenced to forty years in the pen because I loved her enough to keep my mouth shut. I sacrificed my freedom for hers.”

 

“If you got sentenced to forty years, what are you doing here?” Souta asked.

 

“Back in January, my friend Miroku found the guys who murdered and raped Sango Randall. The police got one of them to confess and they found out that they had also killed Rose Crawford. They let me out. I ended up getting a lawyer and filing suit against the justice system, but they settled out of court. I started looking for her as soon as I got out, but all my leads turned up empty. Now that I've found her, I'm going to do whatever it takes to keep her. So you,” he said as her jabbed his finger at Nathan, “can get off my fucking case about it.”

 

“Look man,” Nathan apologized, “I guess I had you pegged wrong. I'm sorry. I guess that it has just eaten away at me, knowing that she could never be mine because she still loves you. She doesn't let on, but she's lonely. When I first came around, she always talked to me, but she keeps more and more to herself all the time. She won't admit it, but she needs you. Kirei needs you. I don't want that little girl to grow up without a daddy.”

 

“Neither do I. My parents have been nagging me to move up here for years, and now I have a reason to. I never meant to hurt her. If I had gotten even one of her letters, I would have contacted her a long time ago. My brother, Inu, has a girlfriend named Kikyo. That's who answered the door on Christmas Day. She has been living there ever since I went to prison. She probably trashed all of the letters. She's been trying to sink her teeth into me for years, but I ain't interested. She's such a whore, and now that I have some money, she's really hot to get at me.”

 

“Well Kagome doesn't care about money. You've seen the way she lives. She chooses to live that way. She has money of her own. She had done pretty well for herself with her business, but she won't spend it. She says that she's saving it for Kirei.”

 

 

Souta bid them both `good-night' and retreated into the house. Nathan offered Sesshomaru a beer, but Sesshomaru declined. Souta came back outside carrying Kirei. “Where's Kagome?” he asked. “She's not in the house. The lights are off at her house.”

 

“She's probably up in the hayloft. That's where she goes when she is upset,” Nathan said.

 

Sesshomaru got up and headed to the barn. He silently opened a door and went inside, heading directly to the ladder. The only light was the light of the moon, and it made it hard to see. When he reached the top, he saw Kagome sitting in one corner, hugging her knees to her chest and crying. Sesshomaru walked over to her and sat down. He tried to embrace her, but she pulled away. Sesshomaru tried to embrace her again, but again she pulled away. Kagome got up and headed for the ladder, but Sesshomaru anticipated that move and cut her off, catching her in his arms and not letting go. She cried as she thrashed about wildly, trying to free herself, finally resorting to pounding her fists against his chest. Sesshomaru stood there and let her pound away, letting her vent her frustration. She finally stopped, waiting for him to release her, and the moment he loosened his grip, she headed for the ladder. Sesshomaru grabbed her hand and spun her around, grabbing her by the waist. He pulled her to him and caressed her face. “Kagome, I never meant to hurt you.” Sesshomaru released her, and instead of bolting, she collapsed to the floor and sobbed as he put his arm around her.

 

“I've been so horrible to you,” she sobbed.

 

“You're only doing what is natural, trying to protect yourself. When you get hurt once, it's instinct that tells you not to risk it again. That's all. I don't blame you for that.”

 

“I feel horrible about the way I have acted. This afternoon, I pushed you away when all I really wanted was to kiss you again,” she cried.

 

Sesshomaru leaned forward and placed his lips on hers, “It's not too late, is it?” he whispered as he kissed her tenderly.

 

“I don't know,” she whispered, shaking.

 

He pulled her closer to him as he kissed her tenderly. He ran his hand up her back and hugged her to him. He caressed her face and wiped the tears from it. Instinctively, he his hand roamed to her breast. He felt it harden beneath his touch. Then he pulled away from her.

 

“No. Not yet,” he said, “This isn't right. I won't make the same mistake twice. I'll wait this time. I won't take advantage of you again,” he said as he walked to the ladder and climbed down, leaving Kagome in the hayloft. He walked over to Nathan, who was still sitting at the table. Lakota began to whine, anticipating something. Then, as Kagome walked toward them, from just beyond the barnyard, wolves began howling - one, then another, and another. It sounded like there were dozens of them. Lakota threw back his head and howled. Kagome smiled, because that was the first time she had ever heard him howl, and it was a beautiful sound. Kagome picked up Kirei and she giggled pulling at the beads on her mother's necklace. Kagome kissed her on the forehead and smiled. Then she bid them `good night' and went to tuck Kirei into bed.

 

 

Kagome walked into her house and turned on the lights. She went upstairs and turned down her bed and laid Kirei in her crib. She heard the front door open and close. “Sesshomaru, is that you?”

 

“Yeah. I came to tuck her in,” he said as he came up the stairs. He leaned over the bed and kissed Kirei on her cheek. Kirei cooed and grabbed a handful of his hair.

 

“Iie, no,” Kagome gently scolded as she pulled the hair loose from her hand. “Don't pull hair.” Kirei appeared to understand, because she continued to play with it, but she didn't pull it again.

 

“I'm going to go downstairs and get some sleep,” he said. I've got to leave early in the morning.” He turned and retreated down the stairs, flopping onto the couch.

 

 

Kagome came downstairs and went into her sewing room. She grabbed a quilt from the rack where she put her finished work. Then she walked back into the living room. Sesshomaru was lying on the couch with his eyes closed, but she knew he wasn't asleep. She silently crept up beside him and covered him with the quilt. He opened his eyes and grabbed her hand as she turned to go upstairs.

 

“Kagome, come here.”

 

Kagome sat down on the couch beside him. He tried to pull her close, but she moved away.

 

“This quilt is beautiful, did you make it?”

 

“Yeah. I have quite a few of them. I sell them at my store in Heart Butte. I actually made this one to give to you as a Christmas present, but when that girl answered your door, I got so pissed that I said `fuck it'.”

 

“I'm sorry about that,” he apologized.

 

“It's ok. It's yours. You can keep it. Sesshomaru looked at the pattern carefully. It was a picture of the place they had spent the night at in the Black Hills National Forest - the place where Kirei was conceived - complete with falling stars.

 

“Thank you, but I think I'll keep it here. I plan on spending a lot of time here.”

 

“Is that a fact?” Kagome said cockily.

 

“That's a fact,” Sesshomaru said.

 

“Yeah, well. We'll see, won't we?” she said as she turned and retreated upstairs.

 

 

Kagome tossed and turned all night long. It took her forever to get to sleep, and when she finally did, it was no help. Kagome woke up short of breath at around midnight. Lakota picked up his head and looked at her as she walked down stairs. She looked out the window next to the front door, but all was calm. She looked out the kitchen window. Everything was ok there too. She walked back upstairs and looked down on Sesshomaru, who was lying silently on the couch. She smiled to herself. He was still as handsome as he had been the day they met. Sesshomaru looked up at her, not saying a word.

 

Kagome went back to sleep, but again she tossed and turned. She whined and moaned as if she was being hit upon. Lakota padded downstairs and nudged his nose under Sesshomaru's hand, waking him. Upon hearing her, Sesshomaru went quickly upstairs, to find Kagome talking in her sleep. He put his hand against her forehead, checking for a temperature, but he found none. “Don't you touch her…No...You'll die first you fucking bastard….Sango, I'm so sorry,” Kagome mumbled in her sleep. Sesshomaru sat down on the bed beside her, resting his hand on her cheek. She responded by pressing her face against it. Sesshomaru decided to lie down with her. He removed his shirt and climbed into bed with her, covering them with one of her quilts. Kagome snuggled up against him instinctively. Sesshomaru draped him arm over her naked body and smiled. “This feels so right,” he thought as Kagome turned to face him, pressing her cheek against his warm chest. She wrapped her arm around his waist. “I love you,” she mumbled as she snuggled closer, her eyes never opening. “I love you too, Kagome,” he said as he fell asleep.

 

 

TBC...

 

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