InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Mesmerize Me ❯ Runaway ( Chapter 5 )

~*Mesmerize Me*~

By: Napea/Meamiko

Disclaimer: Inuyasha-tachi belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm just borrowing them for a little fun.

~*~

Kagome sat in her room gazing out to the twilight sky longingly. She wasn't sure how much longer she was going to be alive, especially when Sesshoumaru would finally tire of her unwillingness to cooperate. If she managed to survive the two months she'd decided she'd give him a big kiss, apologize about not being able to change him back, then offer to hook him up with one of the village girls. Surely any girl would kill for the kiss he gave her last night.

Kagome inadvertently blushed in the memory of the kiss, her fingers unconsciously returning to her mouth. He'd only kissed her to scare her…hadn't he? Well he had scared her but most of all…she scared herself. She could still feel the rush of blood coursing through her body at the mere thought of his lips on hers.

She frowned suddenly. Why couldn't she just forget about that damn kiss? Sure it was fantastic, exciting and dangerous…but really it wasn't that great…

Another sigh escaped her lips. Who was she kidding? The kiss was that great and more. She shifted her leg underneath her and stole a glance to the moon. It looked so lonely up there, even with all those stars.

She turned her attention to the door, ready to reinitiate her earlier staring contest with it. She was bored…and most of all lonely.

~*~

Rin spared a glance at Shippou then quietly padded over to her protector who sat in front of a fire, his eyes closed and his fingers pressed to his head. "Sesshoumaru-sama…"

Sesshoumaru's eyes flew open as if he were slightly surprised. He paused; taking a moment to regain his composure then slowly turned to look at the child at his side. "Hai, Rin?"

"Sesshoumaru-sama, Rin thinks Kagome-okasan is lonely. Rin thinks you should go cheer her up." The girl said cheerily.

A slight frown crossed Sesshoumaru's face. "I am sure the girl is fine, Rin."

"But Rin thinks Kagome-okasan is going to make Sesshoumaru-sama like he was before but Kagome-okasan has to lo-lu-" She paused and looked imploringly at Shippou.

"Love?" The boy offered and she immediately brightened.

"Yes! Rin meant love. Kagome-okasan has to love Sesshoumaru-sama. Demo…Sesshoumaru-sama should be nicer to Kagome-okasan. Rin thinks Sesshoumaru-sama should give Kagome-okasan a present. That always makes Rin happy."

Sesshoumaru glanced over at the kitsune boy whose eyes widened slightly then he nodded sheepishly. "I'm with Rin on this one Sesshoumaru-sama. It might be easier if you were nicer to Kagome-san."

Sesshoumaru bit back a snort and the urge to say she didn't deserve it but he had to agree that it might go better if he were more…cordial to her. With liquid grace, he stood and turned to the kitsune again.

"You take the girl on a tour of the castle. Make sure she knows not to go to my chambers. Once you are finished with that tell her to come to dinner and to change into one of the kimonos provided for her. Rin, have Kagura tell the kitchen staff to start dinner." The two children nodded and scurried off without another word.

Sesshoumaru swept out of the room, a frown still on his face as he retired to his chambers.

~*~

Kagome smiled kindly at the two young ones even though she was bored out of her mind. She didn't want a tour of the castle she wanted to go home. There wasn't a single thing in the castle that caught her attention except the one place they were stopping her from going: the end of the west wing. Her room, of course, was in the west wing but down toward the end it was dark. You couldn't really see anything even if you inched forward as much as you could.

She had made it a few feet toward the darkness when the two children pulled on the elaborate kimono they made her put on, protesting something about it's taboo to go down there. When they finally returned to her room she stood outside her door, agreed to come to dinner then watched them skip down the hall. When she was sure they were gone she turned toward the darkened part of the wing, glanced behind her then set off for the darkness. As she edged forward she extended her hands out in front of her, hoping she wouldn't trip over something.

A moment later her fingertips fell against a wall but instead of resisting the wall moved backward. She pushed against it slowly, wincing when it made a creaking noise and slipped into a moonlit room. A torch to her left suddenly sprang to life causing Kagome to gasp softly at seeing intent purple eyes staring back at her from the other side of the flame.

She frowned, stepping forward and regarding the torn painting, her hand reaching up, moving a piece of the torn painting to right it. The woman's face was familiar to her…she'd seen it before but not on a woman. A sharp hissing noise caught Kagome's attention as she whirled around to find the source of the sound. Across the room something in a long rectangular case glowed an ominous red. Cautiously, she edged forward until she could see more clearly what lay in the case.

A sword.

A sword that reeked of evil, it's aura practically oozing out of its metal. Without really thinking she reached out to the blood red aura, her fingertips tingling from the clash of her purity and the sword's dark miasma. The evil aura lightened around her fingers, turning the dark aura pure in the one spot.

As she shifted to move closer a hand clamped down on her arm, pulling her away, followed by an angry "Stop!" hissed in her ear. Immediately after she was sent flying backward until her back came into contact with the wall. She cried out as the pain raced through her body, blinding her senses momentarily and almost falling to her knees. When the pain subsided, her eyes flew open frantically searching for the assailant. A face distorted with anger glowered over hers as realization dawned on her.

It was Sesshoumaru…and he was pissed.

"Get out." He said, his body shaking with quiet rage. "NOW!" The sound of his roar resonated through the castle as Kagome frantically pushed passed him and out the door, running like hell, leaving Sesshoumaru to realize that he had just chased away his salvation.

~*~

Kagome mounted the nearest horse, her hands shaking from the aftershock of the former youkai's rage. Within moments she and the mount were off and well into the forest.

As they got deeper in the forest the horse slowed, it's ears moving in many directions to pick up a noise nearby. As the noise came closer the horse started, pacing wildly as Kagome tried to control it.

Five youkai men came out from the trees, circling around her and smiling wolfishly at her.

The largest of the men stepped forward, leering at her. "Well what do we have here? A human female all by herself in the big youkai infested forest. She should know better than to venture here on her own."

Kagome glared at the man. "Let me pass." She said, mentally cursing the shake in her voice.

"Now why would I do that?" He smirked at her obvious discomfort. Kagome's widened as her mind went into overload trying to find someway to get herself out of this but the only thing that came to mind was rather unpleasant…but the only thing she had.

"You're wolf youkai, are you not?" She asked suddenly.

The man sneered. "What of it?"

"In this area all wolf youkai answer to Kouga. You do don't you?" She said with the strength she lacked earlier. The man's smirk wavered slightly.

"How do you know that?"

Kagome paused and steeled herself for what she would say next. "I'm his woman." She declared with false triumph. "If you do anything to me he'll kill you."

The man paused as a flicker of panic flashed across his face. Before Kagome could celebrate her victory the man seemed to recover and with a blink of an eye was suddenly next to her and her horse, causing the beast to buck wildly and throw her off into a tuft of winter's early snow.

"You don't smell of him. You have no mark." He leaned over her as she scrambled to her feet. "Prove it."

Kagome's heart sank. "What?" She squeaked.

"Prove that you're his woman." He sneered.

Kagome stood frozen as if everything just stopped. She was stuck. Every time Kouga tried to get near her she would run like hell in the other direction. She didn't have a shred of proof.

She had opened her mouth to try to bull shit her way through it when the youkai grabbed her arm and pulled her up to him, his face hovering dangerously close to hers. Before she could react all hell broke loose.

She was suddenly ripped from the youkai's arms and into a set of newer, warmer arms wrapped possessively around her waist as voices raised in distress. Kagome closed her eyes and waited for the noise to stop. When the voices ceased a louder, rather annoyingly familiar voice shouted something about touching his woman. She groaned when the realization dawned on her that Kouga was near and quite possibly had an arm around her waist. She opened her eyes fully expecting to be in Kouga's grasp only to be surprised by who exactly held her so intimately close.

The arm Sesshoumaru didn't have around Kagome was grasping a sword, that looked suspiciously like the evil sword in his chambers, pointed straight at the offending youkai's face.

She turned wide eyes to him. "Sess-Sesshoumaru-sama?" She asked breathily. His eyes momentarily darted to hers then away but she managed to see an emotion pass over them before he turned away. Relief…and something else she couldn't identify.

"Oi, human." Kouga's annoying voice brought her from her reverie. "Get your hands off my woman." Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed, flicked to Kouga then back to the youkai who's face his sword currently resided in as his arm tightened around Kagome's waist. "And get your sword out of my hunter's face." Kouga added as an afterthought.

"Kouga-kun." Kagome moved forward slightly only to be pulled back by Sesshoumaru. "Kouga-kun, that youkai was trying to hurt me. Sesshoumaru saved me."

The youkai turned wide eyes to Kouga. "I didn't know! Please! I didn't know!" Kouga's eyes narrowed as he seemed to think it over then flicked over to the other hunters. He nodded slightly, to which the others swarmed forward and grabbed the youkai then dragged him away until they could no longer see them.

"Now," He turned his attention back to Sesshoumaru and Kagome. "Come on Kagome, I'll make you mine tonight." Kagome's eyes widened slightly as she unconsciously moved closer to Sesshoumaru who pointed his sword at the wolf youkai.

"Leave wolf. The lady will not go with you." Sesshoumaru said, his voice a quiet growl with subdued rage. Kouga scoffed and reached out as quick as lightning, pulling the sword from Sesshoumaru's grip, pushed Kagome out of the way then slashed his stomach with it before dropping it to the ground and turning back to Kagome.

Before she really registered what was going on Kagome lashed out. A bright red light formed around her body as the wind picked up, throwing her hair in every direction. Her normally cheery eyes glared at the wolf youkai as the light grew brighter.

"Leave." Her soft voice commanded in a tone that clearly stated that she should not be questioned. Kouga's trademark dust cloud formed and within a blink of an eye he was gone.

Kagome sighed as the light started to fade and turned back to Sesshoumaru who stood looking at her is poorly masked wonder, grasping his sword once again and the wound on his stomach with his free hand. He swayed slightly, casting one last glare at her but she made no move to catch him. Finally his body gave in and he fell to the ground, his long black hair trailing behind him like a black silk cape.

Kagome turned away frantically and reached for the horse fully intent on running away while she had the chance but turned back to Sesshoumaru's unconscious form.

Mentally cursing her conscience she padded over to him.

~*~

"Don't glare at me," Kagome's irritated voice rose a notch slightly. "I'm only trying to help. Now lie down so I can look at it." Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at her but gave into the need to lie down. When she made to reach out for his wound he jerked away.

With a quiet sigh she looked pleadingly at him. "Please?" She asked softly. He regarded her for a moment then gave her a slight nod. When she reached forward again her fingertips lightly brushed his wound causing him to jump up then yelp from the searing pain that ensued.

"Well if you'd hold still this would be over with by now." She said defiantly, planting her fists on her hips.

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't run away." He bit back angrily.

"Well if you hadn't looked so homicidal I wouldn't have run away." She countered.

"I told you to stay out of my chambers. If you had listened I wouldn't have gotten angry." He threw back, looking as though he'd won the argument.

Kagome paused, realizing that he had a legitimate point, and then glared back at him.

"Well you should learn to control your temper!" Huffing indigently she moved away, crossing her arms over her chest.

At first he wanted to tell her that she had no room to talk, especially with her little display but the more he thought about it the more the annoying feeling of guilt slithered into his thoughts. With a resigned sigh he responded.

"I'm sorry." They said in unison then looked at each other with something akin to wonderment. Kagome was the first to break down and smile then laugh slightly. Sesshoumaru froze. An unusual warm feeling washed over him and he found him self smiling with her. A moment later he joined her in her laughter, enjoying the feeling that could only be identified as happiness that washed over him just because she smiled at him.

Maybe, he thought. Maybe, he'd let her heal him. Then maybe he'd get her that present. And maybe…just maybe he could learn to love that smile.

~*~

Ah so we take the turn of events. I followed the movie a lot for this chapter even down to the wolves Belle encounters in the woods…with my special little twist. And bring on the mush! *Gags* Anyhoo, let me know what you think. Ja ne!

Napea