InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Melting a heart of ice ❯ Chapter Seven: Thoughts about her ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter Seven: Thoughts about her

Five days.

It had been five days since a strange, cold taiyoukai had come into her life. Five days ago, Kikyou went to battle with the crazy idea of capturing him. She never saw a youkai up close, until five days ago.

At an afternoon, five days ago, she first spoke to him, and he only reacted cold, breaking her arm, and later that evening he called her a whore…

Three days ago, he revived that little bird. She still couldn't believe that a sword would be capable of doing such a thing. But ever since then, she saw Sesshoumaru in another light. She doubted he revived that bird for her, if she would ask him, he probably wouldn't answer or he would claim `it was just to show the sword, as she herself requested'. So she didn't ask, but somewhere deep inside, she still felt a bit special about it.

By reviving that bird, she somehow felt as if Sesshoumaru proved he did have a heart. Foolish of course, you could not say such a thing just because someone revived a little bird. But still… and there were other things.

In the garden, the afternoon before he revived the bird. He said he believed her when she told him, again, that the elves didn't kill his father. And when they spoke, she saw some look of compassion in his eyes, once or twice, but it was gone quickly, so she wasn't sure of that.

The last three days, she hadn't seen him much. He went his own way, walking around the castle, and with her mother's permission, practicing with his sword outside in the gardens.

Always cold, elegant and calm. Always just THE lord. Never did she see him smile, and she thought it was a pity.

She sometimes imagined him smiling, picturing his face before her, and silently asking herself how he would look once he smiled. Kagome was a cheerful person, and she couldn't stand it when people were so serious as this youkai, when people always walked around as if either life was a horrible burden and there was nothing to laugh about, or as if nothing interested them, that they were obvious to the world, as if they were better than other people.

It was just how Sesshoumaru acted, and Kagome thought about how he was when he was a kid. Was he also so serious back then? Never laughing, never playing? Did his mother died when he was that young, or did she live longer? When she lived longer, she had no doubt his mother played with him, because well, all mothers play with their children. Her mother did too. And especially when his father had been that busy…

He looked hurt when he told her his mother died, so she didn't press it, just like Kaede told her to do. But she was determinated to find out who his mother was, and how she died.

She was especially curious about how the woman had looked like. Sesshoumaru could look feminine sometimes, with the long hair and porcelain face. She had a feeling he looked like his mother.

He looked like his father too… But she didn't want to think about that, as she would see her vision all over again. She just hoped Sesshoumaru's mother didn't die in such a way too.

She shook her head and sighed softly as she looked down at a human, a woman from something in her early twenties. It was one of the servants, and she was ill, so Kagome came to look at her.

Kagome didn't have many duties. Her mother ruled the lands in general, Kikyou was responsible for their army. Actually, the only important thing for her to do was protecting the Shikon no Tama. But Kagome always wanted to help, so when the servants were busy, she would help them with their tasks, walking around in other clothes then the expensive dresses she owned. Sesshoumaru had once walked down the halls and he had raised his brows once he recognised her, but he said nothing and just walked further as if he never saw her. She presumed he found it weird for her to act like that, but he never asked about it and she just ignored his curious stares.

Kagome especially enjoyed helping Kaede. She adored the elder woman, listening to her wise words and talking animated to her. She was friends with everyone in the castle, and determinated to know everyone's name.

When some new servants would come, she would visit them, asking them their names, to be friends and to please not call her `Kagome-sama'. She hated that, it was as if she would be a better person, just because she was highborn, and she was clearly not. She knew everyone and everyone knew her. There was no doubt she was popular and everybody liked her.

Also, Kagome was an excellent healer. So, mostly when someone was seriously ill, they would call her to help, although that wasn't really necessary because Kagome went to look at the sick people every now and then by herself.

The woman before her now was indeed seriously ill. She was one of the servants that worked for Kikyou, and her sister had come to her this morning asking her to look at the woman. So now Kagome was trying to heal her, but it didn't really work. She had tried everything, but something was seriously wrong with the woman. She just kept whimpering and trashing around in her bed, and although it wasn't as worse as when Kagome first saw her, it still hadn't stopped.

Kagome frowned and chewed on her bottom lip. Damn, what was wrong here? She sighed again and then looked over at Kikyou, who was watching her intently. "Sorry Kikyou, but I really don't know what's wrong with her. I did my best, but nothing works. The last thing I can do is trying to heal her with my powers."

"Okay," Kikyou nodded. "Try it."

Kagome extended her hands above the woman and shut her eyes, concentrating on her powers. Her hands began to glow in a blue light and soon the light left her hands and went to the woman. After that, the light disappeared, and Kagome eagerly opened her eyes to look at the woman. She looked a lot better, but after waiting some minutes, it became clear she still wasn't healed fully.

Kagome sighed. "Well, I think it's now just some fever. I am going to search in the library for those medicine books we have, I guess there will stand something about it in them."

"I'll watch over her," Kikyou offered.

"Don't you have something else to do?" Kagome raised her brows. "What about the army?"

"I send that letter about Lord Sesshoumaru this morning. We will first negotiate, until then, there's not much I can do. I already ordered Sango to check all our weapons, but I'll wait for the response on that letter first. Really, a truce would be helpful."

"Is it that worse?"

Kikyou shrugged. "We are no warriors Kagome. We are friendly people, but we have no choice than to fight. The moral is low, I can tell you that. Although there is much hatred for youkai now, they still hesitate to fight. And we lost quit a lot people a few months ago. We need new soldiers, and I already have some, but I will have to train them. And normally, I wouldn't have time for that, but with a truce and a guarantee nobody will attack us, that would be a lot easier to concentrate on."

"I see. Well, I will be back in a couple of hours, to see how she is. Until then, you'll find me in the library."

Kagome hurried off, waving at a passing Miroku and turning down several corridors on her way to the library.

*

~Sesshoumaru's castle, Western Lands~

On one of the towers of the castle, a silver haired person clad in red clothes stood on a balcony, gazing of into the distance.

Inuyasha normally wasn't the person to be out here, it was always his older brother who would walk up the tower and stand here, thinking about Kami knows what, but this was no normal situation, so who cares?

He had listened to the soldier, who claimed Sesshoumaru was captured by the elves. He had told him he watched how the Lord got cursed, hit by an arrow and carried away. It sounded ridiculous, his elder brother captured by elves…

Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru never really got along. They were as different as one could be. The elder one cold, composed, intelligent, arrogant, powerful, without emotion. The younger with a horrible temper, also intelligent, but without tact, less powerful, and with a face that always expressed his emotions, although it was not necessary as one could discover how he felt just by his constant yelling and his worse language.

Sesshoumaru mostly ignored his younger brother, and Inuyasha was used to it. He would yell at him often, and in turn Sesshoumaru would threat him sometimes when he got too far, sometimes they even fought, being that Sesshoumaru was rather jealous of Inuyasha's sword Tetsusaiga. But that matter was settled long ago, and now they just went their way.

Inuyasha somehow admired his brother, as he was strong, stronger than Inuyasha ever would be. Sometimes he thought about using that Shikon Jewel, if they ever got it. Maybe then he could get just as powerful as Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru obviously wasn't interested in it, so…

But no, they had years ago promised their father they would never use it. Their father had warned them about it, that it was a dangerous object, and they'd better not use it. And Inuyasha was no fool, no matter how often Sesshoumaru said so.

He worried a lot about Naraku and his desire for the Jewel. He was positive his brother worried about it too, although he never said it, Inuyasha saw how Sesshoumaru always silently studied Naraku, brows raised or eyes narrowed. He had a feeling that his brother planned on getting the Jewel before Naraku could get it, and keep it away from the youkai.

But with Sesshoumaru, you never knew what he was up to.

It was clear that his brother trusted nobody. He went his way, telling no one about his plans, or how he felt. Inuyasha too didn't trust everyone, but he was opener than his brother. He couldn't hide his feelings like that. There had been a time when Sesshoumaru was different, but that was long ago and he rather avoided thinking about that time. It brought back memories that weren't too pleasant…

Inuyasha shook his head and decided to go back. Before you knew it, he would turn into the same thoughtful ice prince as Sesshoumaru was. He shuddered at the thought.

He was just about to turn, as his sensitive ears caught the sound of fluttering wings. His head shot up to see a large eagle coming his way, clutching something white in its claws. It was a beautiful animal, elegant and impressing, but Inuyasha only growled and lunged at it.

He cursed as the bird dropped whatever it was holding and flew away, screeching again as if to say `you'll never get me'. He growled again as he picked up the paper that lay on the ground.

"Damn those elves."

It was infuriating, really. The elves used to send bodes to bring over their messages, but Naraku started to capture them and ever since then, those damn birds turned up. But well, there was nothing to do about it, he decided.

He rolled out the letter and quickly screened the page. As Sesshoumaru was missing, he thought it would be alright.

After a few minutes, his jaw dropped and the letter fluttered to the ground as he released it. So that soldier had been right after all. Sesshoumaru had been captured…

"Fuck it!" he yelled, grasping the letter again and sprinting down the stairs. He ran trough the castle, yelling all the time. "Jaken! Where the hell is that stupid toad when you need him? Jaken, get your ass over here!"

When he turned around a corner, he stumbled over something small and fell, face first into the floor. He cursed, crawled back up and glared over his shoulder as he heard someone else curse too. Seeing it was Jaken, he sighed and rolled his eyes. Someday, he was going to kill that toad.

He whacked the toad over the head before trusting the letter to it. "Here, read."

After reading the letter, Jaken just stood there with bulging eyes. "This humble servant does not understand this…"

"I don't get what you don't understand! Sesshoumaru has been captured, that's as simple as it is. Damn it! What am I supposed to do now?" He grasped the letter again and reread it before coming to a decision. "Jaken!" the toad quickly looked up. "Write a letter to Naraku and Kouga, tell them what's going on and to make a list of their prisoners. They have to release them. The same counts for us."

"B-but, Lord Sesshoumaru will be pissed if you release any prisoners. He will surely escape sometime."

"Baka! If he could escape, he already would've done that, so stop nagging! We can't risk getting him killed, so send those letters and make a list of our prisoners!"

"Alright alright!" Jaken turned and hurried away, while Inuyasha went the other way, still cursing their bad luck.

*

~The elven castle, Southern Lands~

The library of the castle had some high windows, which let a lot of light falling in, so that the room was light and pleasant. They also had large windowsills, and on one of them sat a certain youkai lord, a book in his hands while he was gazing out of the window.

Sesshoumaru had tried to busy himself the best he could the last five days. He was annoyed that he had to leave his lands alone, in his younger brother's hands, who no doubt would ruin all his plans and had no tact or experience whatsoever to accomplish this task. He himself would spend hours in his study, making difficult decisions and such. But he was used to it. His father always trained him when he was young, always pointing out to him that he one day had to rule their lands. Inuyasha had more freedom, if Inuyasha would skip some of the lessons they got, just to go outside and roam the lands, he would only get a reprimand. If he, the eldest son, would do such a thing, he could expect punishment. Inuyasha was carefree, their father's favourite, and he was allowed quit some more than Sesshoumaru was.

Maybe that's why he was so jealous sometimes. The young Sesshoumaru always longed to play sometimes, and when his mother still lived, she made sure he got some time off. But after she died… And his brother even got the better sword. The sword he got was rather useless. What's the point of reviving people, or heal them? He could care less.

But he had decided that he could do nothing about it, and so he just ignored Inuyasha and his father. After the dead of his mother, he closed himself of. After the events that led to her death, he trusted nobody anymore. His cold demeanour was only slightly stopped on that fateful day, when he found his father, dead. For the first time in years, he felt something akin to emotion. He had felt anger, grief, that sort of things. But it was gone soon enough, and his cold mask would slip back on. He had convinced himself that emotions were weak. They were useless.

Maybe that's why he couldn't get Kagome out of his head.

He had been sitting here for hours, trying to read, to busy himself, to do anything to avoid thinking of her again, but here again, she popped up in his mind. He had never met a being that could express so many emotions all in once. She left other elves far behind her on that domain.

Those large eyes of her, they just expressed everything. She was as easy to read as a book. He tried to convince himself she was weak, that showing so many emotions was a weakness of her, but as he observed her the last few days, he came to the conclusion that to her, it was no weakness, it may even be her strength.

Five days had he been here now. After two days spending a lot of time around Kagome, as she showed him around the castle, he had been avoiding her the last three days. He found her to be rather dangerous, getting him to act the way he did after that dream. He thought that if he would keep his distance, he would still dislike her. So he went his own way, and no weird dreams came anymore. So he should have stopped thinking about her, isn't it? But the fact was, he couldn't get her out of his head. Everytime, when he was thinking about something else, or finally got to read his book, suddenly he would think of her again and see her eyes before him. Somehow, his curiosity for this girl hadn't lessened a single bit.

And she also popped up in reality quit a lot. Of course, his room was next to hers, so sometimes he saw her in the morning or evening, and at dinner, he couldn't avoid her too, but somehow, as he walked the corridors, he would pass her on her way to Kami knows what. Once he even saw her helping a servant, doing THEIR job, and dressed in THEIR clothes. This girl was really weird. He wouldn't have recognised her, but she was joking with the servant girl she was helping, and as she laughed, he recognised her. One could recognise her laugh out of thousand. It was clear, and warm, sounding happy even as she didn't felt like it. It would engulf you, and you would feel all warm and loved, he had shuddered at it and wondered if she had this effect on everyone. He thought that that would probably be the case, as everyone seemed to know and like her. It seemed impossible to hate her, even if she was an elf, and he decided that indeed, he couldn't hate her. He didn't know if he liked her, but at least, he didn't hate her.

He looked out of the window once more, letting the sunlight illuminate him, enjoying the feel of it on his pale skin. With a sigh, he closed his book. Being a prisoner at least had one benefit, he now had all the spare time he once whished for, he could do whatever he wanted, as long as he didn't leave the castle, which was impossible for him. But he still wasn't satisfied, not as long as these thoughts would keep bothering him.

Kagome was a mystery, he decided. A mysterious being, warm and caring, but complicated, maybe just as complicated as he was, but in her own way. She didn't hide her feelings like he did, but he felt like she too, didn't told everyone the truth, just as he did. He had seen her smile a lot, in fact, the only thing she did was smile, he thought with a grin. But if you looked closely, not every smile was truly happy. Some of them were so sad… As much as he kept everything hidden behind a cold façade, she did the same, only after a cheery one. But they were both fake, and he knew it.

He was brought from his thoughts as he catched the smell of Sakura blossom and jasmine. `Kagome,' he thought. `when will you ever leave me alone?' He hesitated a moment, should he leave? She was heading this way, and he was trying to avoid her. But no, he remained where he was, silent, and he closed his eyes. Maybe he was a bit lonely, as he wasn't worried at the thought of her endless chatter. He once found it annoying, but he learned to appreciate it later. The girl wasn't brainless, as he first thought. Actually, she could be rather intelligent, but every sense was wasted on her once her compassion showed itself. Then, she would help anyone, no matter who it was, regardless if it was dangerous. She was silly and intelligent the same. Funny combination…

He heard the door open and close, and waited for her to yell his name, but it never came. He heard her moving around, muttering something under her breath, and curious, he opened his eyes. She was standing before some bookshelves, searching for some book. As he already explored the library, he noticed she was standing by the medicine books. `Trying to heal another `innocent' person?' he thought amused.

Finally, she seemed to have found the book she sought for, but unfortunately, it stood rather high, so now she was jumping, trying to get it. Sesshoumaru followed it all with amusement, eyes crinkled in laughter for a moment, but it was gone soon enough. The girl seemed to realise this was getting her nowhere, and she started to search for something to help her, as Sesshoumaru decided it was time to acknowledge her of his presence.

"I thought elves were rather tall people," he stated in a low voice.

Kagome jumped and whirled around, but she stumbled and fell flat on her rear. Blushing a deep red, she got up again and glared at him. "Really Sesshoumaru, you shouldn't scare people like that!"

He raised a brow. "I thought you could sense me with your powers?"

"Well I was thinking about something you know. I didn't expect you here." She looked at the book again and sighed. "Elves are tall, most of them, but I'm rather small." She pouted. "It's not fair."

He grabbed his book and with one elegant jump stood on the ground again. He studied her for a moment, before reaching towards the book, pulling it out and giving it to her. "You are small indeed," he stated.

Her face lit up as she grabbed the book out of his hands. "Thank you!" she hurried off to the table in the center of the room, throwed to book at it and began searching trough it.

He seated himself opposite of her, and attempted to read again. But every now and then, he would look up to study her. She was frowning in concentration, her finger going over the pages as she spitted trough the large book.

"What are you searching?" he asked her as an hour passed.

She looked wary at him. "A servant is sick, and I'm searching for some herbs to give her. I'm not sure which I should use, so…"

"I see"

Another half an hour later, she suddenly shrieked happily and shut the book close. "I found it! And I know Kaede has it somewhere in the gardens!"

He expected her to rush off, get the herb and go on with her lifesaving mission, but he noticed she was staring at him. He sighed and looked up. "What is it?"

Her eyes grew wide, she probably thought he wouldn't notice, but then she looked thoughtful. "I was just wondering… aren't you homesick?"

He raised his eyebrows at her.

"I mean, it's only been five days, but I would miss everyone at home if I had to spend five days or longer somewhere else. Don't you miss someone? Kikyou told me you had a younger brother…"

"Inuyasha is a fool. And no, I'm not `homesick' or something like that. It only irritates me that I cannot rule my lands."

Her expression saddened a bit. "Oh… well I guess that's logical…"

A silence fell, but she still didn't leave and he could sense she had something else to ask, but she didn't dare to do so. He felt irritated, she was getting on his nerves again, like she managed to do so often. He shut his book and looked impatiently at her. "What?"

"How do you mean what?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Just say what you want to say wench, this is getting you nowhere."

"My name is Kagome in case you didn't notice. And not wench! And… I just wanted to ask something. Kikyou send a letter to your brother this morning, but what I really wanted to know… is it true that you have no prisoners? I mean, did you really kill them all? I can't imagine you would be so evil." She flashed him a tiny smile.

"I indeed have no prisoners," he stated. As she looked sad once more, he quickly added "but Inuyasha does."

She frowned. "Your brother has prisoners?"

"Inuyasha has… how shall we call it… a rather weak spot for humans and elves," Sesshoumaru said sarcastically. "Everytime he feels like saving one from my evil claws, he claims he needs another slave or servant. So yes, in a way, we do have prisoners."

She was fully smiling now. "See, I knew you weren't that evil! Everyone has a good side in him, somewhere… And now they will be released, if everything goes the way we want." She stood now, picked up the book and began walking to the door. As she reached it, she paused and looked back at him. "I just wanted to say sorry."

He frowned. "Sorry for what?"

"For putting you in this situation. If it was for me, you would already be free. No one has the right to take others freedom, not even for the purpose of saving our friends. But there is nothing I can do about it… well, I guess I see you at dinner. Good day to you Sesshoumaru."

At that, she was gone, leaving Sesshoumaru to another few hours of puzzling and thinking about her.

*

Kagome had gone back to her patient after retrieving the herbs she needed. Now, the woman was doing well, and she left Kikyou alone with her. Walking down the corridors, she walked into Sango, who suggested they would go to the hot springs together. After getting her stuff, and shaking a smiling Miroku off, they were now in one of the hot springs, relaxing and chatting about their day.

"Kikyou wanted me to check our weapons, and I can tell you, we need that truce. We will have to repair quit a lot and Kikyou has to train new soldiers. In a way, I'm glad Kikyou captured that youkai lord, it gives us some time to prepare for new attacks from their side."

Kagome sighed. "I don't know. I still think it is wrong. You know, Sesshoumaru actually isn't that bad…"

"How can you say that? He's a youkai!"

"Being a youkai doesn't mean he has to be evil."

"Well then just think of what he told you, about him killing prisoners." Sango looked angry now, eyes burning with hatred, she was probably remembering what happened to her family and the village in which she lived.

"But they do have prisoners!" Kagome protested. "He told me this afternoon!" At Sango's odd look, she raised her brow. "What?"

"You had a civilized conversation with him?"

"Yes"

"No attacking?"

"No"

"No offending"

"No, well he called me wench once"

"See, I knew it couldn't be a whole civilized conversation after all!"

Kagome sighed. "He called me that only once. Actually, he was quit nice. I don't think he is such a bad guy."

Sango grumbled a bit. "Whatever you say Kagome. As your friend, I will trust you, but let me warn you too; don't trust him, okay?"

Kagome frowned by herself. `I don't know if I should trust him. I don't think I do. I just think he isn't that bad. But I swore to myself I would make him trust me, because I want to help him, so that means I will have to trust him too. I guess I'm coming a bit closer to him. I'm nearing the walls of that castle that is Sesshoumaru. The first walls, the first hindrance I have to take. But I'm standing at the feet of them without being shot. I guess I should go on…' She looked up at Sango, who was still looking expectantly at her. "I'll see," she offered with a smile.

Sango smiled. "That's good enough, it's not as if I would get a yes out of you. Now tell me, could you help me with Miroku? Curse him a bit or so?"

"Oh come on, do you really want to do that? I know you like him…"

Sango blushed. "No I don't! Please, just help me once. We still have to punish him for last month, you know, when he groped us both."

Kagome suddenly huffed. "Oh I know what you mean! That idiot… Okay, I'm gonna help you. Any ideas?"

*

~Naraku's castle, Northern Lands~

Far north laid Naraku's castle, a dark castle, hidden in a valley. But it was different from the valley in which the elven castle lay. It was a dark valley, there always hung a grey mist and the atmosphere was everything but friendly.

Down one of the corridors in the castle walked a young youkai woman. She was tall and slender, with black hair that she wore in a bun at the back of her head. Tucked in her hair were a few feathers, and she wore long earrings. She had piercing red eyes, and clutched a fan in her hands, which she was fumbling nervously with.

Kagura was the daughter of one of the most feared youkai (if you would skip Sesshoumaru away) a dark man who she hated. At the moment, she was trying to get her nerves in check as she had to tell him a bad message, and he would probably punish her for it, even if she could do nothing about it and only told him the news.

As she reached his study, she waited a few seconds before she knocked on the door. She shuddered as she heard his low voice, ordering her to come in. She stepped inside and walked over to the dark haired man who sat against one of the walls.

The man was handsome, with long dark hair that hung over his shoulders, and crimson eyes. But you immediately understood why the young woman was scared of him. The gaze in his eyes, the evil smirk, his aura, everything on him screamed `evil'.

He turned his gaze to his oldest daughter and grinned. "Well Kagura, tell me, what's the matter?"

Kagura shot him a cold glare. "A message has arrived for you father."

"Indeed. Go on."

"Inuyasha, the younger brother of Lord Sesshoumaru has informed us that Lord Sesshoumaru has been captured by the elves. The elves want to negotiate, and Inuyasha tells us to make a list of our prisoners. They have to be released."

"Or else our precious Sesshoumaru is dead?"

"Yes"

Kagura watched her father nervously as he gazed at the wall opposite of him and said nothing. But despite the fact that she was nervous about his reaction, she was curious if he seriously would release their prisoners, who were quit a lot. "Father, shall I order to make the list?"

To her surprise, he nodded at her. "Do that Kagura."

"You plan on releasing them?"

"No, as I do not care if Sesshoumaru dies or not. In fact, it would be rather helpful, we could take over his lands once he is dead. That brother of his is useless, it would be easy to do so. Yes…," Naraku grinned and as he turned to look at her, she shuddered as she saw the evil glint in his eyes. "I have a plan Kagura, but I will tell you later, after the negotiations. All I can tell you is that they will get their precious friends back, elves and humans, only not how they expect it…"

As Kagura left to follow his orders, she could long hear him laughing madly.

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Aitu: There will be more `moments' between them, don't worry…

HuNnybabee_8o8Â : Thanks! Â