InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ No Such Thing As Fate ❯ Bastard, you are now Fluffy. ( Chapter 13 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Hello,

I'm feeling kinda drained right now so forgive the boring authors note.

This is chapter 13 so please review and tell me what you think, i'd really appreciate it.

This chapter has been beta-ed by the great anime_fairy_13 and I truly do appreciate the help.

Chapter 13: Wandering: Bastard, you are now Fluffy.

Disclaimer: Believe me, if i owned the show, Fluffy would definately be used in the show to piss Sesshomaru off.

XXXXXXXXXX

“Kaa-san?”

Kagome shook her head. Blinking lethargically, she looked down at the little fur ball clinging to her leg.

Shippou scowled up at her.

“Kaa-san, where are you going?” He demanded.

Kagome paused a moment her jaw working uselessly as she fought to gather her thoughts.

“What?”

She sounded rather lost and Shippou obviously took her response as sarcasm. His face twisted into an angry pout.

“You're leaving the temple. I'm going with you, right?” He growled.

Kagome finally looked around, taking in her surroundings. She stood half a foot from the edge of the temple stairs and had been spared from taking a rather nasty fall in her unaware state.

Immediately, she stepped back from the stairs with a nervous flinch.

“What was I doing again?” She asked quietly, shifting her weight back and forth warily.

“I don't know you didn't tell me, and you were going to leave me again,” he fumed.

Kagome glanced down at the fox child clinging to her leg. “Shippou, I'm not leaving you,” she promised.

“You don't know that,” he huffed, squinting up at her.

“I think I do,” she replied, frowning at her son.

“Kaa-san!” He shot her an accusing scowl.

Kagome cringed, “…That was a one time thing. You know I would tell you if I was going to vanish like that. I didn't plan on `that' happening, ok?”

She ran a hand down her face in exasperation as Shippou stared up at her, frowning deeply.

“Kaa-san, you should rest today,” he said after a long moment of contemplation.

“I have too much to do today, Shippou.”

He gave a snort that sounded strangely amused. “Well, I think it will be kind of weird if you work in your sleeping clothes.”

Confusion flickered across her face before she looked down taking in her state of dress. Tugging at the sleeves of her simple green yukata, she let her head drop back as she groaned in dismay. Shippou shook his head and pulled at the hem of her robes intent on leading her back toward the rooms. She followed after the kit, grumbling to herself.

“Are you okay, kaa-san? You've been out of it since you got back.” Kagome only huffed childishly.

“I'm fine Shippou I just-”

A yelp echoed through the halls. Shippou spun around in surprise as Kagome stumbled away from a wall, a hand over her face to sooth her abused nose.

Her face flushed in embarrassment. She looked to Shippou who stood staring at her wide eyed, face frozen in a silent gasp of shock.

“Kaa-san-”

“Don't say anything Shippou,” she said sternly before storming past.

Shippou nodded meekly at her passing form before trailing after her. As promised, he didn't comment and only made sure she got back to the room safely.

Bewildered, but not willing to aggravate his mother at that moment, he shuffled across the room and slid the door open wide enough for her to step through should she so choose. After another glance at her, he went to sit on the porch and stare off at nothing. He made sure to peek back at her every few moments. She was hidden in dark shadows that shouldn't have been possible seeing, as the sun always directed lovely beams of light right into their dwelling at this time of day.

Kagome sat on her unmade futon, not having bothered to roll it up, and put it away. She hadn't even thought to throw the sheets across her bedding to make it even appear half-decent in her haste to leave the temple for reasons she didn't even know. She faced the wall and stared at nothing for a long moment.

For almost half an hour the air was heavy and the quickly warming day made it all the more stifling and the air hardly breathable. Everything smelled of food and the musk of the garden, making a strange but homey aroma that even Shippou had no problem with.

Shippou glanced back at his mother. She scratched her head and then stared at the wall as if pondering the origin of the universe, eyes glazed over and expression blank.

With a sigh, he looked away again. As long as she didn't go vanishing for another few days or throwing herself off old temple steps, he was fine.

He shook his head in dismay at the thought.

“AUGHHHHHHHHH!!! IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!!!!”

Shippou jumped and looked back at his mother. She buried her face in her hands twisting her torso back in forth in some strange rocking motion. Kagome moaned to herself a few moments and Shippou whimpered, frightened and confused by her sudden shift in mood. Kagome looked up instantly at the strangled sound. She opened her arms to him and he came forward hesitantly.

When he was safe in her arms, she held him close and continued to rock, nuzzling her cheek into his bright orange hair.

He was her everything and a great comfort right then.

“Kaa-san?” He called quietly.

“I'm fine Shippou, just confused,” she murmured as her rocking calmed to a lulling sway.

Shippou was silent in thought a long moment before he wiggled for a little room in her arms. She loosened her grip and he allowed himself to nuzzle her cheek in a comforting manner. Kagome hummed happily and used her cheek to return the gesture. Human or demon, it was a universally understood gesture, no matter how much humans denied it, and she sorely needed the comfort.

Shippou sat quietly in her arms watching as she rocked herself into a calming trance and her gaze became distant. He wanted to let her be, he really did. She was calm for the first time in days. She'd been having sudden mood swings he hadn't seen since her time with Inuyasha; going from calm, to bubbly, then strait to as low on the meter as you could get without being labeled suicidal.

The problem was, she needed help. Something had happened during her short `vacation' in the wilderness and he couldn't help her unless she told him what had happened. Well, it wasn't as if he could help her very much, he was only a kit and she would only tell him so much. Still he could find another female to talk to Kagome.

He blinked thoughtfully at his mother; her eyes slid closed drowsily. Maybe the head of the shrine would be a good choice; the old witch drooled over Kagome enough. He figured she could offer some good advice since she was old and wrinkled like Kaede-baba, and Kaede always knew what to do.

He had an excellent chance to get his questions answered while she was off frolicking in her mind somewhere and so he needed to take this chance. Licking his lips in anticipation he reached up and pet her cheek. She grunted her eyes fluttering open.

Shippou nodded to himself and decided it was best to get strait to the point.

“Kaa-san, what happened those three days you were missing?”

XXXXXXXXX

Kagome's eyes flickered open and she lay there letting her thoughts fall into place; the battle, trying to run, intense pain then pleasure…

There was only one thing she could think to say when her memories returned to her that, in her mind, sounded strangely appropriate.

“Well… fuck.”

She turned her head to look around her. It was dark and everything appeared as one giant conglomerate of colors. It took a moment but the dark color slowly became a mix of different dark shades and finally, she could make out the dark shapes of trees and the night sky.

Her vision did a strange dance showing her tripled blurs of everything her gaze landed on. She groaned quietly before blinking a few times to clear the haze. Immediately, she looked to the brightest thing in sight, which turned out to be the fire she lay not far from. She took a moment, taking deep slow breaths, before she let her gaze drift to the other bright splash of color in an otherwise dark themed space. White hair and pale skin appeared a strange mix of warm orange and blue.

Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western lands, sat silently staring at her with the strangest expression on his face. He looked calm and yet she was sure there were other expressions there she didn't have the experience and familiarity with him to notice. For some reason, at that moment, she imagined herself getting her heart ripped out by a dream like Sesshomaru, wearing that same expression.

He was still very naked but he sat at her hip watching her with cold eyes rimmed in red. He wasn't completely back to himself, but he had more common sense than was within reach for him earlier.

She briefly wondered if he wanted to kill her, and through fleeting bits of fear, she wondered why he was sitting so close. What'd happened between them couldn't have been normal, at least to her it wasn't. Yet there he was, by her side, having started a fire, having not moved to rip her arm off as she'd expected.

They stared at each other, both trying to ignore the awkward atmosphere and the plethora of questions that would make everything…right again, so they could forget and never mention this again.

Kagome was the first to speak, her voice a dry whisper.

“Why?”

Sesshomaru turned away to look at the fire. He shifted slightly where he sat and Kagome had the sudden notion that he was uncomfortable.

But, if he was so uncomfortable why didn't he move away. Better yet, why was he even there with her.

“Heat.”

That was all he needed to say to make Kagome want to smack herself.

Inu-youkai had a heat three times a year. Of course, because fate obviously hated her with a passion, she had somehow stumbled upon Sesshomaru in the middle of his. All monks and miko's knew to run away as fast as possible when you found a youkai in heat because that youkai became even more dangerous than usual. This brought her to the question of why she had been spared when any other Miko or Monk would be slaughtered indiscriminately.

She didn't know much else about this phenomenon and Sesshomaru seemed to be in a satisfactory mood...

“Shouldn't you go after female youkai of your own kind?” She rasped, sliding an arm just under her torso to push herself up. The pain between her legs made her pause and bite back a whimper.

“Any female that can stand and fight against me is worthy to my beast,” he answered quietly.

This time Kagome only shook her head in dismay. Of course, she had just stood and fought against a Youkai Lord thinking he was trying to kill her. She somewhat understood the beasts logic, Sesshomaru's aura was crippling but she had still jumped into a fight that hadn't been easy by any sense of the word.

Kagome stared at him in disbelief. She took a breath cringing when her throat burned something fierce.

“Can I have water?” She asked quietly.

Sesshomaru shot her a glance and passed her a small wooden bowl. She quickly downed the liquid and sighed in relief setting the bowl aside. They fell into silence again. Sesshomaru perfectly content to let his mind be blissfully blank, Kagome still struggling to make sense of her predicament.

She shot him a coy glance.

“Before we really started fighting you…” Kagome blushed a bit remembering how he had lapped at her neck like… like a dog.

Sesshomaru stared into the fire silently, obviously going through memories that were not quite his, “Invitation to any female willing to take the chance.”

Kagome shook her head again.

“Ok, why are you answering my questions? And why are you so… not as intense as usual?” She looked ashamed of her wording but she couldn't think of another way to describe it.

“This Sesshomaru's needs are sated for the moment…”

She blushed brightly and fought the urge to say something ignorant that would piss the youkai lord off.

“This Sesshomaru's beast has gone quiet and so this sesshomaru is content to enjoy the calm of his mind for once.”

Kagome nodded, she couldn't imagine having a beast like entity constantly running rampant in her mind.

“Do you mind if I ask a few more questions? I mean, this is a lot for me and I'm confused…” He sent her a cold stare but didn't respond.

Kagome sat herself up completely and looked down at the white top she had been laying on. It was dirty and bloody. She felt bad about the shirt, but what could she do?

A breeze blew through the clearing and she covered herself when realized her body was just as naked as the Youkai lord's. Her clothes were on the other side of the camp. She didn't think she could stand so she would have to suck it up.

“Ok, I understand some of your reactions, you were in heat and not in full control, but why did I start having issues like that? Did you poison me?”

Sesshomaru turned on her his amber eyes rimmed in red seeming to glow brighter. Kagome twitched but otherwise stayed still. “You have youki in your blood. You have eaten the flesh of demons.”

Kagome's eyes widened in realization, her eyes becoming distant. “Yes, I have, Jiji fed it to me to help me along on my travels. I can sometimes go for days without eating.”

Sesshomaru nodded absently.

When he spoke again, Kagome jumped and looked at him. “The youki responded to my own that was searching for a female to mate. You had the reactions another female demoness would have had in your situation.”

Kagome licked her lips uncertainly. That actually made a lot of sense and gave her another reason to kick Jiji in the face the next time she saw him.

Sesshomaru seemed mildly amused as he continued, “This Sesshomaru's beast saw that the youki in your blood suppressed your miko powers. The youki rushed to the surface to give you proper reactions to deal with your,” he paused a moment shooting her a side glance, “our situation.”

Kagome sat silent a long moment and Sesshomaru let her be. They sat almost a half hour before she woke from her stupor and gave a mortified groan.

She lay down the top she had been using as a bed and Sesshomaru decided it was time to ask his own questions.

“Why did you leave your pack?”

Kagome's eyes widened a bit before she looked to the fire in thought.

“Kikyou.”

Sesshomaru nodded in understanding and tossed another handful of twigs into the fire.

Anybody that had any kind of regular contact with the Inu gang knew what that name meant.

“The idiot hanyou has lost his mind,” Sesshomaru said after a moment of silence. A sudden sense of dÃ©jÃ vu swept over her, she could distinctly remember having this same conversation with Miroku and Sango a while ago.

“I heard,” she mused, sending him a glance.

Kagome glanced at him strangely. Sesshomaru didn't seem the type to make small talk. In fact, she had expected him to kill her when he regained conscious thought.

She tilted her head in consideration; he had mentioned the beast always in his head. Maybe the quiet unnerved him.

She could deal with that. Kagome surprisingly wasn't mad at the youkai lord for what had happened. It was as much her fault as it was his. Her damned curiosity got her into another sticky situation and she was paying for said curiosity. Besides, she was learning something, like why it was the utmost importance that she avoided youkai in heat from now on. She had youki in her blood and said youki was very effective in suppressing her miko powers when in the presence of a heat-induced male.

That little bit of information explained so much about her behavior during their earlier fight and about things she had been doing long before that.

`By the gods, what have I gotten into?' Her inner thoughts ragged. `Another fucked up situation Jiji is indirectly a part of,' she thought in dismay. She shook her head, desperate to get away from that topic.

“Sesshomaru-sama, why have I never heard of you destroying the forest like this before?” She motioned to the tree lying innocently on its side just outside of camp.

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed and he turned his piercing gaze on her.

“This Sesshomaru usually has time to search out a female to handle my needs…” Kagome's expression fell when she realized where the conversation was going. “But this time it was necessary to go chase off certain human miko's from my own pack, then take them back to the castle so they need not be worried about again.”

“A youkai's heat is not a pleasant experience woman; parts of the forest would still be standing if not for,” he paused eyeing her as if he wanted to bite her face off, “interference.”

A hand flew to her mouth and she grimaced. “Sorry,” she squeaked.

He snorted and turned away again.

“Sesshomaru-sama?”

He didn't look at her nor did he tell her to shut up so she continued, “Why are your eyes still red a little?”

Sesshomaru turned his head slowly to face her. He eyed her a moment and she only blinked at his strange behavior.

“An Inu's heat last 3 days.”

Now she knew why he was still with her.

Kagome blushed and an uncomfortable tingle shot up her spine.

She knew how long a heat lasted, Inuyasha had his own version of a heat that consisted of him being grumpier than usual but a lot more willing to let females, mainly herself at first, come close to him for long periods of time. He tended to run away in an argument with her too, which she had found horrifying the first few times. Later in their travels, Inuyasha had started to run off to Kikyou to satisfy his needs and of course, she had stumbled upon them having hot passionate sex more than once during those times.

She couldn't bring herself to get upset about sudden resurfacing memories, she was too horrified by what Sesshomaru, lord of the west had just indirectly suggested to a human girl.

“You've got to be kidding,” she murmured in disbelief.

“If this Sesshomaru were `kidding', as you say, this Sesshomaru would not be here to even hear such a question,” he said icily.

He would be long gone?

He was there with her in a camp he had prepared.

He hadn't beheaded her yet.

She was fucked, quite literally.

Kagome glared at him. “What if I decide I don't want to be your little fuck toy for however long this lasts?” She spat.

“Most youkai only take one partner per season, you are not dead and you are powerful enough to fight me while this Sesshomaru is not fully in control. You are the female chosen this time around and that is how it will remain.”

“Do I look like I understand, or give a flying fuck about your rules? I'm not an Inu youkai, nor am I youkai. I'm a miko. See if I won't burn it off, you prick.”

Sesshomaru was on her in seconds. Kagome blushed violently and looked up at the male pinning her to the ground in shock. “You have no choice. For the next two days you will remain here like you are expected unless you want this Sesshomaru's beast to have a field day in that town nearby, the one you obviously came from.”

Kagome swallowed thickly “You wouldn't,” she began uncertainly, “You have too much pride.”

Sesshomaru shrugged. “Too much pride to destroy a lowly human village maybe; too much pride to let my beast run wild near a human village? Not so much.”

Kagome's jaw dropped in horror and she snarled, prepared to call her powers forth. Red sparks jumped across her skin and she yelped. Sesshomaru's lips curled in cold amusement.

“Didn't you listen earlier? Your powers are being suppressed by youki as long as you are near a male in season.”

Kagome's face looked horror stricken. “As long as a-,” she swallowed her disgust, “dominant male is near and in season then the youki in my blood reacts and pushes down my miko powers and makes me react like… a demoness?”

Sesshomaru shrugged, the action somehow appearing graceful. “That is about correct.”

Just to amuse himself he was tempted to tell her she had used youki, something no `pure and noble' miko should be able to use, against him earlier leaving a nice sized burn, now only tender skin, on his shoulder. He knew she would try to attack him and ultimately hurt herself in the process so he refrained. She needed to live for the next two days, provoking a dangerous attack wasn't the way to make that happen.

Sesshomaru grabbed her leg pulling her closer to him. She suddenly wanted to blame everything on him, curse him for taking her virginity, and then being an ass about it afterward.

“Now this Sesshomaru remembers promising to make a certain little Miko pay for her insult against myself,” he purred, obviously amused by the whole situation despite his place in the scheme of things.

Kagome's face resembled a frightened doe's at that moment. She very clearly remembered sticking her tongue out then ignoring the youkai lords final question to her a while back.

Kagome sent him a withering glare coupled with an uncertain grin.

“This is certainly not the way this Sesshomaru planned on punishing you, but it will suffice.”

Kagome laughed nervously. Sesshomaru, Sesshomaru; fucking lord of the west, wanted to have sex with her, again. The first time was a mutual and very awkward misunderstanding, but he was actually making the conscious decision, lust induced with not much choice if what he'd said about partners was true, but a conscious decision none the less.

“I don't think this is a punishment,” she squeaked, obviously failing to come across as confident.

Sesshomaru's eyes flashed dangerously before going back to being only rimmed in red.

“But it is little Miko. Giving your virginity to your once enemy, then being taken by me over and over again until this Sesshomaru is satisfied. Yes, this punishment will suffice. one of your breast could be cut off as planned before and-”

“My breast! What the fuck kinda weird shit is that?” She bellowed trying to wiggle away. She only succeeded in making Sesshomaru's eyes bleed an even darker red.

He blinked uncaringly before shrugging off her very logical concern for her well-being.

“You don't need it to fight. It was agreed we would work together to kill Naraku. You need to be able to fight, not produce milk, it is your fault for displaying such insolence.” Kagome moved to smack him but he caught her wrist and held her as she fought against him.

Well, what could she say to that?

“Fuck you, Sesshomaru!”

His eyes bled red completely and Kagome glared at him defiantly.

She didn't know what made the bastard think she was just going to lay on her back and spread her legs, but he was sorely mistaken. He was going to have to fight for what he wanted and she was going to make sure he fought hard.

She wouldn't lie, he knew exactly what he was doing and she was immensely grateful he did. Overall, her first experience with the opposite sex had been something to brag about. However, he didn't spare manners on her so she couldn't spare him from her bloody thoughts.

With a devious grin, she shot a glance at his amputated arm as plans raced through her mind.

Plan decided, she looked at him and licked her lips eagerly. “Bring it on, Fluffy.”

XXXXXXXXX

Kagome blinked lethargically. “Nothing happened.”

Shippou sighed in disappointment, ten minutes of waiting for her to emerge from la-la land and she still wouldn't tell him what had happened.

Shippou hopped from her arms and she blinked, startled. “I'm gonna ask Chimei to stay with you to make sure your okay. Then I'm gonna go and play or something,” he grumbled.

Kagome nodded slowly at Shippou. The kit glanced back once more from the doorway with a strange expression on his face. He made a face at her before closing the door leaving Kagome to blink at the closed door in surprise. She smiled, amused at the kit's antics. That smile fell after a moment when she returned to more confusing and equally serious thoughts.

“Oh my god!” Her face twisted in horror.

Like lightening, she hopped off her bed and gathered the sheets into a bundle. Satisfied, she threw the bundle down and buried her face in the sheets. Her muffled scream echoed in the room. When she was sure she would pass out if she continued, she stretched out on the floor using the bundle of sheets as a pillow. Blinking black spots from her vision, she took deep breaths as she organized her thoughts.

“I slept with Sesshomaru,” she whispered into the darkness of her room.ã€€

She lay there staring at nothing in disbelief.ã€€

“He's going to kill me the next time we meet. I can't believe I did that to him, but I bet he'll be more respectful to females.” She laughed to herself amused.ã€€

“I'm still confused though…”

XXXXXXXXX

“You are slow, wench.”

Kagome glared up at Sesshomaru. He stood a few feet ahead on a slope. He was leading her somewhere. She was wary to follow but he would have killed her already if that were what he wanted.

She grinned tightly. “How's your stump fluffy?”

His expression fell a bit before going blank. She saw a lot more of his fangs than usual when he spoke, fighting back a snarl, “None of your concern, bitch.”

Kagome grinned making sure to lick her canines. “Oh, but I think it is my concern,” she purred. His eyes narrowed in anger but she saw the difference, he wasn't hell bent on killing her once his `duty' to her was done.

“Why are you helping me to the hot springs again?” She asked with a sudden frown.

“It is my duty, the season was three days. That's three days without food for either of us. It is common knowledge that a female is to be protected until she is fed and at proper strength to protect herself.”

Kagome snorted.

He was obviously trying to balance out the shame by calling her female, a title that should belong to a demoness. She let him be though, if calling her a female helped him get through the day without cringing in disgust around her, she could let him think what he liked.

“Of course I don't know that,” she huffed before forcing herself to climb the hill. They walked on in silence.

Kagome clutched the tattered remains of her kimono around her body for some type of modesty. Sesshomaru simply walked on not caring that his clothes were dirty, bloody, and torn at the shoulder where youki had burned through.

Her breath came out in harsh pants and she paused again and stood there wondering why she didn't have even a little bit of strength.

Sesshomaru paused and watched her with a strange expression on his face. She would have said there was a grudging respect in his eyes but that didn't seem right either. He seemed confused, annoyed, curious, and there were fleeting bits of anger and equal amounts of respect that flashed in his eyes and always right before his empty arm sleeve would spasm.

She smiled proudly seeing the bastard was in pain. He wouldn't be underestimating her again anytime soon.

“Can't breathe, wench?”

Kagome bit back a snarl that shouldn't have been able to be made from a humans throat. “Damn youki,” she huffed.

She glanced up squinting when sunlight got in her eyes making Sesshomaru appear as some angel-like form, waiting to help her. She thought about saying something ignorant but she just didn't have the strength.

With a heavy sigh, she looked away. “Actually I can't, fluffy. Does that make you happy?”

Sesshomaru growled quietly but she heard him and snickered to herself.

She gave a sharp gasp when a bolt of youki shot across her stomach making the muscles lock up and quiver before relaxing again. She looked at her hand watching as a red lazy red mist drifted away from her pale skin.

Kagome glanced back at the barely visible trail of youki she had left in her wake.

“You cannot hold much youki and you don't need it anymore and so your body is purging it.” Kagome blinked lethargically and glanced at the youkai lord who was now standing at an arms distance from her.

“I figured, but is there a way to make it stop hurting so much. It's like having acid trying to crawl out of every pore of my body,” she grumbled.

“That is another reason we are going to the hot springs, besides the obvious reasons such as you being covered in a thin layer of dirt and smelling like filth.”

Kagome snorted, “Look who's talking. I'm not the one with pristine white hair covered in dirt.”

His expression tightened and she smiled, “I thought you knew dirt really shows up on clean white things,” she tsk-ed.ã€€

“Bitch!”

Kagome hummed in amusement unable to get mad at his name-calling.

“Yes?” She chirped.

He suddenly became very calm and Kagome shifted warily when he looked at her amused and smug.

“Do you want help getting to the springs or not? You should begin the last parts of the purging in less than half an hour and most females are determined to get into the water before it starts. This Sesshomaru thinks it is safe to assume the process is extremely painful.”

Kagome paled. “Shit”

She started past him making sure to glare back at the confident and smug Inu lord.

“How do you know all this?” She grumbled.

Sesshomaru snorted catching up to the stumbling Miko with ease.

“You think you are the first to take on too much youki after a season has finished?” Kagome blinked at him as he continued, “It is a sacrifice the male makes to get the female through the mating. As you've noticed it gets violent, bloody, and it drains absurd amounts of energy.”

Kagome smirked eyeing the bloody cut on his cheek, the new burn peeking at her from his not-quite-closed-properly top, and the bloody sleeve of his missing arm.

“I could guess the bloody part, at least.”

He shot her a withering glare that would have scared the shit out of her a few days earlier.

She found it hilarious how he wasn't willing to kill her just yet just because of their little promise a few weeks ago. If he hadn't made that deal with her, Kagome knew she would be dead three times over for all the stuff she kept doing to piss him off. She had no doubt in her mind that he would try, and was likely to succeed, when her usefulness was gone and so she was going to make the most of it.

She gave a small bounce of excitement when the smoke of steam appeared just over the hill slope. With a sudden burst of energy, she walked quickly toward the peak of the hill. She reached the top first and was excited to see a large spring

Kagome hobbled toward the edge of the spring and stuck a toe in. It wasn't too hot so she was extremely happy. She looked back expecting to see Sesshomaru but there was no sign of the Youkai lord. Confused, but not at all distressed, she stripped and got into the spring dragging the rags that were her clothes in with her. She sighed in bliss as the water washed over her sore body.

She had been warned about the coming pain so she was determined to at least rinse the dirt off her clothes before it hit. She had no soap or anything else to help her bathe and so she settled for violently dunking her clothes. She lifted the soaked, still filthy, cloth from the water and sighed. At least she had made an effort to clean her clothes.

She tossed the ragged kimono up on shore before spreading it out to dry. Turning to lean her back against the side of the spring, she briefly wondered how Sesshomaru would clean his clothes or even wash his hair. She had injured what remained of his missing limb and she doubted it would have been any easier had she not attacked him.

The bushes rustled quietly and she spun around in the water. Sesshomaru walked from the forest carrying what looked like a large chunk of meat twice the size of her head. His eyes wandered the area absently as he licked blood from his lips. Obviously, he had hunted down some poor creature and torn into it with his teeth.

“What is th-” Kagome gasped painfully when her muscles locked up violently.

Red bolts of youki skipped across the surface of the water like a current. Kagome vanished underwater a moment when pain shot through her and she was suddenly unable to stay afloat.

Sesshomaru bent at the waters edge peering in half-amused, half-curious to see if she would live.

She popped up with a painful gasp and scrambled for the shore. She dug her nails into the soil around the springs edge but found she didn't have the strength to pull herself out.

“Almost drown, did you wench?”

Kagome looked up and glared. “If you don't leave me alone, I will bite your little stub of an arm again. I don't give a crap who you are,” she snarled. He didn't respond but she did see violent red flash through his eyes.

Kagome groaned and red smoke floated from her skin and vanished.

The pain was only horrible for a few moments. When she could speak, she glared at him. “What's that in your hand” She asked with a quiet rasp.

He dropped the mass of meat before her. Kagome paled and looked at him. “You will eat when you are finished.”

Kagome looked up in disbelief, “I can't eat this,” she hissed.

He snorted. “You will eat it. Your stores of youki will be gotten rid of and this Sesshomaru can guess a weak human like you may die if you don't have something to eat and replace the stores of youki you possess to a proper level for you to handle.”

She looked at him loathingly and Kagome could swear she could hear the evil smirk in his words even as his face remained blank.

“You-you-”

He stood patiently waiting for some colorful insult that she couldn't seem to get out. He honestly found it amusing and was making a mental calculation of who cursed more, the wench or his bastard little brother.

Finally, she bit her lip and simply slumped against the spring's edge in defeat

“I do have enough time to make fire and cook it, right?” She asked weakly.

This time he did smirk, “No.”

Kagome whimpered as he continued, “You can eat like a youkai, raw meat shouldn't be too much of a problem. Right, little miko?”

Kagome had the sudden urge to shove his head through a wall or something more available like a tree.

He watched as she banged her head against the ground a few times in dismay.

“I hate you.”

“So you have told this Sesshomaru before.” He replied lazily.

Kagome's head shot up and she looked at him startled.

“You remember that!” She cried.

Sesshomaru only looked away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He had gotten his way in the end before sending her stumbling toward the town with just enough youki to keep her conscious for a few hours. Walking through the village in nothing but rags on top of having been missing for a few days was not something she planned on doing again.

She'd been sick with disgust for a few days and terrified she would get some type of illness from eating raw meat but so far she was fine and so she wasn't going to complain too much. She had made a goal for herself, to make sure he paid the next time she saw him.

With a sigh, she rolled over on to her side. “At least I don't need to see him again until the fight with Naraku,” she grumbled.ã€€

“Lady Kagome?”

Kagome blinked and stared dumbly at Chimei who stood in her doorway. She hadn't even heard the girl come in.

“I hear you have errands in the village. Your kit said you would like someone to come with you.”

Kagome's eye twitched. “That kit.”

With a deep sigh, she nodded to Chimei.

“He doesn't want me to go vanishing again, so I think it's best to do as he asks, if only for his peace of mind.”

Chimei smiled. “That's wonderful Kagome-sama. I'll be waiting outside the door while you dress.”

Kagome blinked as the door closed. She looked down at her clothes and groaned having totally forgotten to change.

“He's the reason I'm going crazy. That's why I bit the bastard. I wanna see him heal that before someone sees,” she snorted, tugging her Yukata off with jerky movements.

In minutes, she had changed clothes and was ready to go. She walked to the garden door and paused to admire the colors before closing the door tightly.

`Why me? What did I do to end up in these situations?' She thought with a grumble, before opening the front door to meet Chimei.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I had to put this chapter in and I didn't get to where I wanted so please forgive me.

I am begging you, please read and review.