InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Rock, Paper, Scissors: Love Beats All ❯ Rock, Paper, Scissors ( Chapter 13 )

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Chapter Thirteen: Rock, Paper, Scissors

Kagome watched as the billowing gusts of miasma overcame the battlefield, still several yards from overtaking Miroku's barrier, and stood on tenterhooks as Sesshomaru and Inuyasha snatched up Sango to carry her off to safety. She let out an overwhelming sigh as she let go of her bated breath. They'd gotten out unharmed! She put a hand on her chest, over her heart, and told herself to calm down. But it was hard not being part of the fight. Sesshomaru had obviously wanted her to be out of the battle or else he wouldn't have told Miroku to construct the barrier around her. Why the flip didn't he want her to fight with everyone else?! It wasn't because he didn't think she could fight - she'd already proven herself to him on that matter. So was it just that he really didn't trust Miroku to keep an eye on Rin and Shippo? Those two were apparently not becoming the best of friends, but come on! An image of Miroku flying through the air at the sweep of Sesshomaru's arm left Kagome grimacing. Sesshomaru didn't actually think that Miroku would let Rin be injured over their silly arguments, did he?

Kagome shook her head, trying to reassure herself, and looked to Sesshomaru's stoic form as a means of distraction. He was watching Inuyasha dash at the Chained Ones, Tetsusaiga held high overhead. Kagome's brow lowered as she stared at Sesshomaru's unflinching features. It wasn't that he particularly detested Miroku or anything. He just didn't trust Rin with anyone but Kagome; that was why she was in this barrier with the young ones. Kagome almost smiled before realizing how pathetically unreasonable that was. Sesshomaru didn't trust her. That was much too strong of a word. Her features smoothed over with trance-like concentration as she searched for the appropriate word for why Sesshomaru might leave Rin with her. If not trust, then perhaps he favored her a little more than the others since she had been traveling with him for the past week or so. Maybe that made her more worthy of caring for Rin than her other friends?

Inuyasha yelled and Kagome instantly snapped her eyes up to him. She was just in time to watch a red and white blur smudge across the sky, landing at Sesshomaru's feet with an ungodly crash. She took a step towards the edge of the barrier, about to rush to his aid, when he suddenly popped back up to his feet. She sighed again, her hand returning to her battering chest. If those two weren't careful, she was going to drop dead of a heart attack! She was probably safer battling...

"Kagome..." came Miroku's voice from the back of the barrier. He had sat down behind them all, determinedly meditating on the barrier, and hadn't spoken for pretty much the entire battle. Kagome turned at his voice, looking down at him as he cracked open an eyelid.

"What is it, Miroku? The barrier?" she asked, hoping against hope that it wasn't going to be about -

"It's about Sesshomaru." She mentally groaned. 'How did I know?' She sighed again, moving between the two children who were transfixed on the battle and would probably not be interested in anything less than a nuclear warhead at the moment. Maybe they shouldn't be watching this sort of thing at such a young age...? Kagome knelt down in front of Miroku and looked him in the eye - his only open eye - and said evenly,

"Miroku, he isn't a bad guy. He just...isn't always as friendly as the rest of us." Miroku's grip visibly tightened on his staff as his knuckles flashed white. "Look, he's protected me this entire time. We can't just make conclusions about people like that."

"Kagome, listen. Sesshomaru is deceptive. He thinks about the things that he does, unlike our Inuyasha. That makes him a little more dangerous...and a lot less trustworthy. He doesn't do anything without reason. He doesn't put effort into anything that he won't benefit from. He plans his schemes as elaborately as Naraku!" Kagome gasped and sat back away from him a little, cringing at her friend's words.

"So now you're placing Sesshomaru in the same category as Naraku?!" she demanded, her temper flaring just slightly. Sesshomaru had become her friend, too!

"No, it's just..." It seemed that Miroku had noticed her anger. Kagome pressed him with an "it's just what?" look, making his shoulders slump with what she hoped was surrender. She felt something change in the atmosphere and the hair on the nape of her neck shot up.

"Miroku! The barrier!" And the atmosphere instantly became statical again, telling Kagome that Miroku had corrected his waver in concentration. Her chest heaved with another sigh of relief before she looked to Miroku appraisingly. "We can talk about this later. Just focus on the barrier for now. For the kids' sakes." Miroku scowled and tacked his gaze to hers. Kagome looked up to where she knew the barrier existed, expectant, but relaxed when the atmosphere stayed the same. She stood up again and stared down at him, waiting for his disapproving opinions of Sesshomaru.

"Kagome!" shouted Inuyasha. She whipped around, thoughts of Miroku and hers argument disappearing as images of Inuyasha's impaled body crowded them away. Luckily, he was just fine - except for a few bumps and bruises due to his earlier flight through the afternoon sky. He gazed at her with sheer determination as he shouted, "Use your sacred arrow to penetrate the barrier!" Kagome nodded, stepping from the barrier with a backwards glance to Miroku to signal that he should create a temporary exit for her. He did so, but with a dubious glance in Sesshomaru's direction - as though not sure if he should turn her loose, for fear of Sesshomaru attacking her. Kagome rolled her eyes, huffing haughtily.

"For the last time, Sesshomaru is our ally!" she admonished, in a last-ditch effort to convince her skeptical friend. Miroku was unconvinced, it seemed, so with a heartening smile at the two small children, she drew an arrow. Her hand shook as she brought it up with her bow, aiming at Kagura, who was hovering on the left. She didn't know why, but she just couldn't bear to attack the middle figure - Kohaku. Even though it wasn't really him and she knew that she really ought to aim there, considering that such a hit would likely affect all three of the Chained Ones, she just couldn't. It was Sango's brother - or at least his body - and it seemed wrong, somehow. She returned her attention to her bow and arrow, which was still quaking. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes - but then she felt someone's eyes on her and looked in their direction.

Sesshomaru. She blushed and looked back to her bow and arrow. 'Focus,' she told herself, but a thought decided to distract her despite her wishes. He doesn't understand the concept of a team - or of being a teammate. He fights alone... She felt a ripple of doubt and willed it away. Miroku was making her doubt Sesshomaru? Was that why she was shaking so badly right now? 'The battle. Everyone's counting on me...' she looked up at the Chained Ones and forced her bow to steady itself.
Then she released her arrow. It whizzed through the air, seemingly slicing through the very sky with its shikon light, and stuck itself in the barrier, just out of reach of Kagura's sneering face. That face reminded her of the wind sorceress' heartless nature - which helped her to understand why she had not remained dead. Naraku still held her heart - as well as Kanna's. They'd never truly died. But Kohaku...?
The arrow still pushed against the barrier, reminding Kagome with a sickening churn of the stomach of the biology assignment she had to complete last month. She'd had to dissect a frog, but its limbs had to be secured with dissection pins. And, since they'd been dead for awhile, their skin was really tough so she'd had to push really hard...and her sacred arrow was doing a striking reenactment of that assignment. 'Kagura's face looks about like mine when the thing jerked,' she noted, the bile rising in her throat for a moment. Why did dead bodies have to have working nerves...? Sesshomaru doesn't care about the feelings of others! Where the heck was all of these weird ideas coming from? Sesshomaru was her teammate and her friend! Miroku...was just overly suspicious. That was all, right? She shook her head roughly, trying to dispel the thoughts. 'Why is biology and Sesshomaru coming up at a time like this? I'm in the middle of battle and thinking about homework!'
"You're distracted about something." Kagome jumped at the voice, turning to meet Sesshomaru's frosty eye - but he was looking over her head at the battle beyond. Sesshomaru is deceptive...that makes him a little more dangerous. Kagome turned back to the battle, acutely aware of Sesshomaru's presence close behind her. She realized, with a twinge of shame at herself, that he was suddenly a little too close. She stepped forward, hoping not to appear obvious.
"It's nothing. I'm always like this when I fight," she lied. Well, maybe it wasn't a complete lie. She was like this when she had to desperately defend her friends - when she was the only one left that could. The arrow fell uselessly to the ground, having barely made a dent in the barrier. 'I should have focused more!' she reprimanded herself, staring crossly at the harmless twig of a weapon that laid yards away on the grass.
"No," he answered flatly. She fought to remember what exactly he was replying to and, when she did, was floored. That was it? No explanation, no room for argument, just "no?" He'd cut off all her possible exits by denying her a reason as to why he refused to accept her excuse. She would've almost been impressed if her anger hadn't overcome it. His reply had left her defenseless to contradict him! He plans his schemes as elaborately as Naraku! chided Miroku's faded voice. Sesshomaru's voice drowned out her following thoughts as he advised, "Discussing it will only serve to further advert your attention. Focus on the battle. Manage your personal issues at a time when it will not injure you to do so." Kagome hadn't turned to face him the entire time, but his voice told her that he was looking down at the crown of her head with partially-concealed concern.
She understood him. He meant that she would end up getting attacked by the Chained Ones if she started talking about what was on her mind right then. Even though he'd obviously come over because he wanted to know what was weighing her down so much, he wasn't willing to find out at the risk of her getting injured. Not that she'd tell him what was wrong to begin with. She could just imagine how that little talk would start out: Oh, well, I'm just wondering if you've got a hidden agenda with being my friend because Miroku says that you have to have an ulterior motive in order to do anything that entails effort. She sighed, at an utter loss. Not only would that tick Sesshomaru off and maybe even hurt him, but it would affect Miroku, as well. In fact, it would probably kill the poor ol' monk.
A hand clasped her narrow shoulder and Kagome looked back to meet Sesshomaru's amber eyes. She'd never really noticed his eye color before, actually. It was a very bright, sparkling amber. Like Inuyasha's, only different somehow. It looked like there were little shards of diamond reflecting the light from them...a full demon trait? It was highly entrancing and Kagome had a difficult time persuading her brain to kindly remove them from Sesshomaru's penetrating stare. So hard a time, that Sesshomaru had to speak before she was released from the spell.
"You aren't battling." And then he shoved past her and stood in stance before her, eyes on the Chained Ones. Kagome was, for a moment, to dazed to realize what had just happened - but when she came back to sense, she quickly stepped in to defend her case.
"I am so battling! My sacred arrows are the only things that can penetrate that barrier!" she bristled, refusing to sit on the sidelines again. Sesshomaru looked to her out of the corner of his eye, scowling for once. Wait. For once? When had it become so uncommon for the taiyoukai to look unhappy? His anger spooked her more than she was willing to admit. "Don't you give me that look! I'm serious!" His eyes narrowed further and she hoped to god that she was downwind - he could smell fear, right?
"The arrow did nothing," he reminded, his tone dark. Kagome was unaffected this time.
"That's because I wasn't focusing! Next time, I'll -"
"Exactly," he interrupted, turning his head back towards the battle as he lifted Tokijin into position. Kagome was nonplussed. What had he meant by that? And then her unvoiced question was answered. "You weren't focusing and because of that, your attack failed. And it will fail the next time, and the next, and the next - until you can focus entirely on this battle." Kagome stared at the back of his silvery locks, unsure of what to say. He doesn't put effort into anything that he won't benefit from. Kagome frowned, but decided that if she was going to be included in this battle, then she was going to have to work out this Sesshomaru-complex fast. And without him discovering her wavering faith in him. She felt a pang of guilt at that. Sesshomaru had been nothing but kind to her and she was doubting him now when he and everyone else needed her most? How low could she get?
"Okay, fine! If you want me to be able to focus, then you need to answer a question for me!" she demanded matter-of-factly. He looked back at her out of the corner of his eye with a look that either meant "and what if I don't care?" or "I'm listening." He was so unreadable at times! Kagome opted for the latter and asked, "What good am I to you?" Her expression was determined and stony and remained so even as his expression flashed to surprise. He looked back at the Chained Ones, which were now taking enjoyment at Inuyasha and Sango's expense by sending them another wave of "energy daggers." Inuyasha was holding it off with the blade of his Tetsusaiga while Sango deftly evaded them from the sky, riding expertly atop Kilala. What she couldn't dodge, she easily deflected with her hiraikotsu. It seemed to Kagome that they had already grown acclimated to the new attack. Kagome turned her attention back to Sesshomaru's ankle-length hair, boring a hole into the full demon's skull.
"..." After several more moments of silence, he said, "You care for Rin." Kagome scowled, opening her mouth to ask if that was really all he had to say about her, when she sighed. She closed her mouth, her expression becoming bored, as she turned her head to the side to stare at the blank stretch of grass that carpeted the ground away from the battle.
"Well, I suppose that'll do, then. I'll just be the babysitter." And then she came up to his side, ignoring the look he was giving her, and brought her bow and arrow out to fire at the Chained Ones. Before she released, she shouted, "Inuyasha! Follow up with your Wind Scar!" Inuyasha was jarred from his fight against the daggers and glared back at her with malice as he barked,
"I would if I could, but Kagura's demon winds are keeping it from forming!" Kagome glowered back at him with just as much vehemence as he'd shown her, replying with an air of annoyance,
"That's why I'm using my sacred arrows, right?! It makes Kagura lose control over the wind!" Inuyasha was stumped for a reply, but his stubbornness wouldn't allow for him to admit that she was right. Instead, he merely shot back,
"Shoot, then!" And she did. Without a moment's thought to anything but the battle - and she'd aimed right for Kohaku in her sudden single-mindedness. She winced at that. She hoped that Sango would forgive her.
"What would you have preferred, then?" came Sesshomaru's voice from her right. She glanced up at him, her expression perplexed, as she struggled to remember what it was that he was referring to. How was this guy always managing to throw her for a loop? After all, this same struggle for understanding had occurred only a few moments ago at his inexplicable "no" when she'd made her excuse for being distracted, hadn't it? How many times a day was he intending for this to happen...?
"Wind Scar!" Inuyasha bellowed. And suddenly it came to her.
"I would have...preferred..." Her eyes darted back and forth, searchingly, as she trailed off. How did she want Sesshomaru to think of her? Unable to come up with an answer that she could form into actual words, she stated simply, "I would have wanted you to call me your friend." She met his eye, smiling with faux-cheerfulness. "But I guess it's okay if it's one-sided for now. After all, you don't really know me that well, right?" And the smile sort of fell away as she looked back at the battle, watching the combined Wind Scar and sacred arrow as it dashed across the battlefield, leaving charred soil in its wake.
"..." The attack collided against the barrier with all of its might and Kagome watched as the barrier flashed away.
"Yes! We did it!" Kagome burst out, jumping into the air with a glittering smile. She aimed it straight at Inuyasha as she shouted, "Attack quickly, Inuyasha! Before they reconstruct the barrier!" Inuyasha smirked knowingly at her as he heaved his Tetsusaiga over his shoulder. Kagome watched him, eyes alight with interest, as he slammed his sword forward with a mighty,
"Wind Scar!" Kagome followed it dutifully as it raced across the battlefield again.
"He did it..." she murmured, somehow surprised. But why? Had she forgotten that Inuyasha was such an excellent fighter? She beamed as the attack crashed into the Chained Ones.
And then frowned. Something was wrong, but before she could understand what - the Wind Scar was hurled right back at Inuyasha! She gasped, eyes widening as she paled.
"Kanna! Her mirror deflected it!" she shouted, so crazed with panic for Inuyasha that she ran blindly towards the attack's new target. "Inuyasha!" she screeched, but was yanked back by the waist of her skirt as Sesshomaru somehow hooked a finger behind it. Kagome turned, wide-eyed, and regarded him with embarrassment, fear, panic, and rage all at once. "You let me go! Inuyasha is - is - INUYASHA!" she bellowed, suddenly breaking away from Sesshomaru's weak hold on her and making a wild dash at Inuyasha.
Halfway to him, she stopped and pulled an arrow from her quiver, shooting a sacred arrow directly in the line of the rebounded Wind Scar - which effectively intercepted it. She stared at the spot where the Wind Scar had been destroyed, gasping for breath from her insane run, and allowed her gaze to wander to Inuyasha - who was looking at her with something of gratitude. She stared at him for a moment before walking over to him the rest of the way, her entire body trembling.
They just stood there, looking at each other for a minute, before Kagome's eyes started welling up with tears for no apparent reason. Inuyasha started in surprise, his eyes growing wide.
"Kagome...!"
"Kagome...!" he exclaimed, unsure of himself. What the Hell was he supposed to do with her?! He stumbled over the next few moments with ungainly mannerisms and half-executed gestures, not quite sure what to do with himself. Why did she have to put him on the spot like this?! Then, as if knowing that he was at a complete loss, she leaned - more like wilted, really - into his chest and curled her arms to herself. Well, it was easy enough for Inuyasha to figure out what to do after that. He put his arms around her and rested his head atop hers. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, hopefully in a consoling tone. She shook her head against his chest and reached up to wipe her eyes.
"I thought...with the Wind Scar..." Inuyasha held her tighter. 'Damn it. I knew it,' he thought dismally. She did love him! Well, this just complicated matters an awful lot for him. He couldn't just push her away...could he? "Kagome, listen -" he said as he peeled her from his chest. He looked down at her, glancing up apprehensively at the Chained Ones to make sure they weren't making a move yet. She was looking up at him with confusion plastered over her tear-stained face. Yeah, that made it easier. He sighed.
"Kagome, I...you were right back there. At the Sacred Tree, I mean." He adverted his gaze from hers as he began to see the transformation - the transformation from confusion to hurt.
"Kikyo....right?" He wouldn't meet her eye. Kikyo was probably long gone by now - and he'd left her there without anyone but that filthy thing! He felt her delicate fingers touch his chin and, somehow, he supposed that must have been the secret technique that made stubborn dog demons look at sad human girls. She was smiling at him, even through her sadness, and even though another wave of tears were overtaking her already shining cheeks. "I'm glad that you made up your mind, Inuyasha. I'm glad that, even though I'm here and Kikyo isn't, that you can still be loyal to her. It's okay - I'll...be okay." Inuyasha reached to wipe away her tears, but she batted his hand away with a smile and did it herself. She could wipe her own tears now, was what that had meant. He smiled back at her.
"We're friends, though, right?" Kagome's face suddenly exploded with a grin and Inuyasha was taken aback. "Wha...what?" She grinned wider.
"Oh nothing, Inuyasha. It's just," she smiled up at him with a fainter expression. "That's what people always say in my time when they have to dump someone." He started in surprise, giving her an odd expression.
"Dump...?"
"Tell them they don't want to be with them anymore." Inuyasha's brow lowered in concentration.
"I don't mean that I don't want you around me," he said slowly.
"No, what I meant was that they don't want to be a couple anymore." Inuyasha was even more confused now.
"Who doesn't?"
"No one. It's just a figure of speech." He raised an eyebrow.
"So what's "dump" mean?"
"It means that you don't want to be a couple with me anymore!" she snapped, her patience obviously wearing thin. He decided to snap back.
"We weren't a couple to begin with!" She appeared to swell with anger.
"No, but you had feelings for me!" she shot. Inuyasha crossed his arms and looked away defiantly.
"Yeah, nausea," he clipped. The silence that followed told him that he'd gone too far. He glanced back at her nervously. She was boiling with rage...
"SIT BOY!" And sit he did.
"Damn it all to Hell! Next time you're all sad and crap, go run to fuckin' Sesshomaru! Let's see you fuckin' sit him!" he grumbled from his face-plant. He hated this stupid subjugation necklace!
"I have an idea about this new opponent, Kagome," Inuyasha heard his brother say from above him. 'Speak of the devil.' Kagome's feet turned to face the opposite direction.
"Huh? Oh, what's your plan?" she asked, her voice suddenly taking on a chipper note as opposed to the enraged sonic-boom that she'd used to administer the "sitting." He grumpily mimicked her under his breath, waiting for the spell to lift. 'Now I know how a coffee table feels, having people talk over it all the time...' he thought sarcastically.
"It's impossible to go about this seriously with Inuyasha in such a ridiculous position," Sesshomaru concluded, nudging his brother with the pointy tip of his black shoes. Inuyasha growled.
"Get the fuck off me!" he slammed, forcing himself up off of the ground with all of his strength. "Jeez! We don't have time for this shit!" he ground out, slowly getting to his feet again. He glowered at Kagome and Sesshomaru, desperately willing the gods to curse them with subjugation beads of their own.
"Right. Sorry, Inuyasha!" And then she frickin' thumped him on the back, sending him sprawling to the ground!
"Damn it to HELL!" He cursed, getting to his feet much easier this time. The necklace still held some weight from the spell, so it had made it more difficult to hold his balance. It had done as much damage as tripping over a tree root, but he was still as pissed as Naraku when his baboon suit was missing. He drilled an angry glare into the two onlookers - Kagome and Sesshomaru - but Kagome looked so apologetic over it that he didn't have the heart to yell at her. He just huffed haughtily and turned to Sesshomaru, ignoring the slight smirk that tugged at the corner of his brother's mouth. "Okay, so what's the damned plan, already?!" It had better be bloody brilliant for all the trouble Inuyasha had just went through to hear it properly...
"I've noticed that the Chained Ones are much like the children's game "Rock, Paper, Scissors" in the way that they use a means of checks and balances to cancel out all our attacks. Naraku has watched all of us, waiting to gather enough information on our techniques to find just the way to make them useless against one or the other of his incarnations." Inuyasha looked at him, amazed that he had thought of such a simple way to explain this new monster, but forcing his features to mold to his usual irritated countenance. Kagome seemed to have no qualms about showing how much she was impressed, however. Her eyes sparkled with interest as she glued them to him. Sesshomaru pressed on, unaware of his fangirl. "With Inuyasha's Wind Scar, Kanna's mirror would deflect it. With Red Tetsusaiga, Naraku knew that the only technique Inuyasha could use for destroying barriers was "Barrier Shatter." Such a weak attack is not powerful enough for the new, stronger barrier that Naraku has created by way of sacrificing and reanimating his incarnations. Red Tetsusaiga is not strong enough."
"Oh, and I suppose that you know of a better attack for Red Tetsusaiga?!" Inuyasha fumed, unable to bear his brother's taunting of Tetsusaiga. For crying out loud, wasn't this the same sword that he was always belly-aching over? Why would he stand there and call it weak for?! Sesshomaru smirked at him - a knowing smirk. What a pompous ass...
"As a matter of fact, I do, Inuyasha. It's called the "Kongosoha," but I doubt that a half-demon such as yourself would be able to travel to the location of its attainment twice in a lifetime." Inuyasha's jaw dropped. There was a stronger technique for Tetsusaiga out there all this time and Sesshomaru knew about it?! He was about to jump in with a threat to loosen his big brother's lips, when Sesshomaru suddenly broke eye contact with him and delved back into business. "However, as Naraku could not find a way to get around Kagome's sacred arrow, he merely used Kanna's mirror as a back-up in case such an attack was made. Which, I am confident, was his most dire mistake." Side-tracked with this new scrap of information, Inuyasha abandoned the Kongosoha topic.
"Well?" he said irritably.
"You like to create dramatic pauses, huh, Sesshomaru...?" Kagome asked, perhaps a little more impatiently than she would have allowed her forced smile to let on. A slight flicker from the corner of the taiyoukai's eye, aimed in Kagome's direction, told his younger brother just whose annoyance had mattered most in this instance. The hanyou crossed his arms and stuck his nose in the air, looking to them both out of the corner of his eye. In Inuyasha's professional opinion, Sesshomaru was starting to get really messed up. The demon lord soon went on to explain himself upon noticing Kagome's disfavor. 'Yep. Seriously screwy.'
"My plan is simple. If we eliminate even one of Naraku's incarnations, we destroy the entire monster. Like "Rock, Paper, Scissors," all three devices must be in play or else the entire system falls apart." Inuyasha thought on this. It made sense, of course, just like every time that Sesshomaru came up with a scheme. He really thought things through. If the rock didn't exist in the game, then scissors would always beat paper. If the scissors didn't exist, paper would always beat rock. Same with paper. So, if you applied the same concept to the Chained Ones...
"So, which do we go after?" Kagome prompted, earning a scathing look from Inuyasha. She instantly backed away, feigning scared, as she held her hands up in surrender.
"Don't get ahead of yourself. We gotta get past that damned barrier first - not to mention, find a way to actually land a hit on them," he grumbled, not at all enjoying this new barrier problem.
"There is a way," Sesshomaru began, but Inuyasha detected a hint of uncertainty belying his tone. That was very...not Sesshomaru. He looked to him with blatant suspicion spreading over his face as Kagome asked, none the wiser,
"Well, what is it? You really like these little cliffhangers, hm?" she admonished good-naturedly, her smile entirely genuine this time around. Sesshomaru seemed to appreciate the gesture, but didn't appear to feel any more sure of what he was about to suggest. He even sighed.
"We must bring Kohaku back to life." Inuyasha and Kagome both froze.
"Bring Kohaku back to life?" they chorused. Kagome was looking at him as if he'd grown an extra head.
"Then why not bring him back to life earlier?!" she demanded, her friendly disposition vanishing in sudden anger at him. His brow lowered purposefully.
"I have no attachment to the boy." Kagome grew visibly more irate. She seemed well near ready to strike him, as it was. He bore down on her, refusing to allow a human to get the best of him. Inuyasha suddenly stepped between them.
"Chill out and stop bitching so much, Sesshomaru. You're about as bad as her," Inuyasha said coolly, jerking a thumb over his shoulder to gesture at Kagome. Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed all the more at Inuyasha's two-cents.
"Uncouth language is to be expected from the lower breeding." Inuyasha's expression went from collected and controlled to angrily surprised.
"What the fuck did you just say about me?!" he started testily, adopting a challenging stance as he turned on him.
"What do you mean "no attachment?" What about Sango?! Do you really not care that Sango's upset about her brother?!" Kagome piped in, pushing past Inuyasha as though he was merely an innocent bystander.
"Hey! I was talking here!" Inuyasha crowed, glaring at her meaningfully. Kagome returned the gaze for a moment before sticking her tongue out at him, pulling down a lower eyelid to give him the well-known "stink-eye."
"Sango's pain is...touching," was Sesshomaru's grueling reply, forcing "heartfelt" words to appease the furious human wench. They said the higher they stood, the harder they fell, didn't they? Well, perhaps such a long descent as he was enduring was in compliment to his high status, then. Some tension melted away from Kagome's shoulders, which had been drawn up past her ears, as she regarded him with half-hidden suspicion. He went on to explain, "It was impossible for me to resurrect him earlier because I feel no emotion towards him, personally. It's the same in the case of the kitsune."
"So," Kagome started, her expression stern as she groped to understand. "Even though you want to resurrect someone, you can't unless you sincerely want to save their lives from the bottom of your heart?" Sesshomaru studied her, wondering how this limit had been so well-explained by someone who barely knew anything of him or his inherited fang.
"Correct." Kagome began to nod affirmingly when something suddenly seemed to dawn on her and her face popped up to gaze at him with disbelief. She opened her mouth, about to say something, but apparently got a hold of herself and decided against it. Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at her, curious as to what she had suppressed, and examined her knowing smile with deep distrust. What had just crossed that human's mind...?
"So now what?!" Inuyasha griped, glaring at Sesshomaru as he crowded past Kagome with a taunting glance. Kagome bumped him out of her way with a strong blow from her hips - sending Inuyasha stumbling off-balance and leaving Kagome with a smirk.
"If we bring Kohaku back to life, then that'll destroy the monster because it's made up of sacrifices, right? How are we supposed to use Tenseiga to bring Kohaku back to life if you don't care about Kohaku, then?" asked Kagome, who seemed to enjoy thinking aloud. Inuyasha came back up to Kagome's side, eyeing her warily, but wearing a severely ticked expression all the same. He rubbed his neck, no doubt sore from his topple, as he fixed Sesshomaru with a smirk.
"Easy. Sesshomaru's going to do some crash-bonding with Kohaku's reanimated corpse and realize that he actually does want to save Kohaku because the guy's really great when he's not, you know, trying to kill him..." jibed Inuyasha, giving up his sarcasm when he received only cold, gritty looks for his efforts. He shouldn't have made a wisecrack about the recently deceased. "Jeez, you guys need to lighten up." He darted looks between the two of them, beginning to squirm under the unappreciative looks. Crossing his arms defiantly as he regained his impertinent attitude, the half demon let out an aggravated "keh," and focused his uninviting expression on Sesshomaru. "Whatever. So what is the plan, then?" the hanyou bit out, breaking the awkward silence - frustrated silence, if you were Sesshomaru.
"The only way is Konkatsu," he answered gravely. "Tenseiga's only technique to allow a human wielder access to the power locked within the healing fang. And it requires the splitting of a human soul to do so." He looked to Kagome and Inuyasha, his expression uncharacteristically dark. "And the only human who cares enough for the boy..."
"...is Sango," finished Kagome, her eyes drifting to the flying demon slayer.