InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Sesshoumaru's Flame ❯ The Heated Encounter ( Chapter 2 )

Going through the first chapter I realized—much to my dismay—that there are some things that simply cannot be fixed. Like how very painfully cheesy this is! WeeeeEEeeeE! So, the plot and basic story stays—I'm merely correcting grammar as I find it. Heh, I'm not lazy, just “hard-work challenged,” come on! Be politically correct!

 

Oh! And I've decided to leave the cruddy author's notes that completely disrupt the story—mostly because I got such nice compliments on them… I don't even remember them!!

 

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A/N: Sorry this chapter has taken so long… I swear, all of my teachers have it out for me -_-V. Anywho, on with the show ^^

Chapter One- The Heated Encounter (the first one was supposed to be a prologue)


As Kagome continued her walk she began to think a little more clearly. Mainly things along the lines of `Was blowing that youkai to oblivion really necessary?' and `Is it just me or do I seem slightly temperamental today?' She was well aware of the answer but she still wasn't sure why it had angered her so. She had seen InuYasha with Kikyo several times before and it had never bothered her as much as it did this time, why?

***

Sesshoumaru stepped to the ground lightly, landing several feet away from the miko. He was well aware of her present mood and did not wish to confront her at the moment. It was not that he was afraid of her, not by any stretch of the imagination! It was merely the fact that he desired to speak with her prior to killing her. He suddenly stilled, why was he doing this again? To see how her great powers really worked? He rubbed his right temple; now that he was actually thinking about it, it sounded ridiculous. Yet, the fact that it was ridiculous didn't stop him from standing there and continuing to wait for her. Though, he was not entirely sure why...

***

Kagome stopped in her tracks, "That's it!" she blurted out suddenly. She had figured out why this particular encounter had enraged her so. Two days ago…

*Flashback (sorry about the transition, I couldn't think of anything better -_-v)*

Kagome stood from the creek that she had been washing up in. Her thoughts went to those still at the camp and how nice it would be if the rest of them washed up too. True, Sango sometimes hopped into a hot spring with her, but InuYasha and Miroku (and unfortunately Shippo, but that was just because InuYasha wouldn't let him bathe with "the girls") seemed to have an aversion to the water.

"You there," Kagome spun around only to see the grinning corpse, Kikyo, staring back at her.

"Wh-what do you want?" Kagome managed to sputter. The walking cadaver merely smirked in response. Screwing up her courage she asked again, "Well, what is it?"

"You know very well who I want. I have merely come to make it clear to you, since you do seem to have some difficulty grasping the concept." Kagome glared at her, waiting for her to go on. "You see, I have a little wager for you. If you can stop InuYasha from coming to me in two days, he will be yours," she chuckled. "But we all know you will never be able to stop him from coming to me."

Kagome was well aware of the fact, but she had a fair amount of pride and she was not going to let this—this clay pot (yes, this is my favorite way to reference Kikyo, although I really don't mind her) get the best of her.

"You have a deal," she stated while giving her head a curt nod. Kikyo did the same and turned to complete her mission.

*End Flashback*

Kagome shook out of her memory, that was it, Kikyo had won. There was nothing else to it. "Wow, that took me a while to figure out," she said to herself half-heartedly, attempting to cheer herself up. Losing that wager had cost her more than she had bargained for.

She began to walk again, this time slower, she was in an all consuming mode of thought. That is, until she bumped into something. As she looked up she was desperately hoping that it was nothing more than a simple tree, wrong Kagome, dead wrong.

***

He could hear her coming miles away—if he had actually been that far away—and he was able to see her with just as much accuracy, so why he didn't move before she crashed into him was beyond his understanding. He merely stood there staring at her walking with her head hung, hands clasped behind her back, and a thoughtful look upon her face. In fact, when she had actually made it to him, he had been a tiny bit surprised, this angered him more than just a bit.

As soon as their bodies made a connection she paused, no, more like froze. With her forehead pressed against his chest her eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open as her mind attempted to wrap around what she had just mindlessly bumped into. As her head rose he expected her to scream, freeze again in horror, or even attempt to fight him, anything except for what she actually did—she looked up into his eyes and smiled at him.

"Oh, excuse me Sesshoumaru-sama, I wasn't quite paying attention,” she began to back away and walk past him but he snapped from his astonishment in time to put an arm out, hand resting on a nearby tree, barricading her from going forward. She looked back up at him, this time a little curious, her day wasn't going too well and she was desperately hoping that it wouldn't become any worse.

"Is there something you need?" she asked, a little confused and anxious at the same time.

"You are a miko," he stated simply, even though for most it would have been a question.

"Yes..." she answered, not entirely sure how to "answer" a statement.

"What is the extent of your powers?" True, it was a question, but she almost wished that he would go back to asking her statements.

"Neh?" she mentally smacked her forehead several times as Sesshoumaru turned to look at her since he had been staring off into the distance. 'That was the most intelligent sound I've made all month,' her mind said sarcastically.

"I asked you to explain the extent of your powers, miko.” Question in statement form—great.

"I-I really don't know, the arrow is all I know of, why?" There, she had answered to the best of her abilities and asked him a question in return. Happy dance!

His arm began to slide gracefully back to his side and he was looking back into the deep part of the woods again. Feeling a tad bit frustrated, she pursued her question, although she was well aware of the fact that it was not the smartest thing to do.

"Why are you asking?” He turned to face her again, his intense eyes locking with hers. She was tempted to take a step back, but her pride—which had already gotten her into trouble—as well as something else, forced her to hold her ground. "Well? It's a valid question."

"Not that I am required to answer to you, but I was merely curious, nothing more." His gaze returned to the forest, as if awaiting a danger that was sure to come.

"You do realize that curiosity killed the cat, right?" Kagome paused for a brief moment, 'Dah! You just earned yourself another mental smack Kagome!' She smiled nervously as he looked at her again, obviously completely un-amused.

"Fortunately, I am not a cat," she blinked a few times at his response as a gracefully arched brow rose. 'She does seem to be of ordinary human intelligence—none whatsoever.' Of course, that, in his book, excluded a certain little girl who happened to be of very quick wit for a child.

"Heh yeah, sorry 'bout that, it's just a saying," she rubbed the back of her neck with her hand and gave him a hugely goofy grin. If he had actually been prone to showing emotion he would have sighed and rolled his eyes, instead he started to walk off. Yet, before he had completed the first step he stopped and turned around. Kagome hadn't moved, she really hadn't had time to.

Sesshoumaru moved in front of her, and since he had begun to invade her little space bubble, she backed up so she was leaning against the tree that he had rested his hand upon to stop her from proceeding. His eyes delved into hers, he had caught a scent that was too interesting, and it seemed to be emanating from the girl before him. It was a scent that he remembered being told about, yet something he had never expected to find. His father had been the lesson giver, and his mother, the victim...

*Flashback (again...)*

"Sesshoumaru, sit down," the great lord motioned his son to a comfortable looking cushion positioned in front of him.

Sesshoumaru shook his head, "I would rather stand."

"Very well, suit yourself," his father leaned back into his own chair. "You are aware of the reason I called you here, are you not?"

"The servant was very brief sir, I cannot be expected to know fully your intentions from a three second encounter with an ignorant servant." Sesshoumaru turned to glare at a cowering figure in the corner of the room.

Turning, his father motioned for the figure to be dismissed and said pointedly to his son, as the servant very nearly ran from the room whilst suppressing a scream that would have woken the dead, "Well I can assure you that it wasn't to turn the servants into quivering platters of fear," he let out a slow easy laugh and very quickly became solemn once again. "Indeed, then I shall just tell you. As you know, your mother is no longer with us." Sesshoumaru nodded, he knew it had been coming to this and he hated every second of it. His mother had left the house a few days before. He did not need someone to explain the goings on of the household to him. In fact, he was very sure that he knew more than his father did, but then again, his father seemed to know everything.

"You probably would like to know why," he paused as though waiting for the boy before him to reply even though he was quite aware that he would receive none. "You are a bit young to understand the process of finding a mate." Sesshoumaru almost let his eyes widen, but was able to stomp down the urge. He had no idea that this would turn into one of those talks, he very dearly hoped that it would soon be over. "And though you are young it is essential that you understand it—all of it." Okay, so much for a short talk...

"It is a fairly complicated matter," he was beating around the bush.

'Just get on with it,' was all Sesshoumaru could think. Luckily, he finally did.

"You will one day run into a female, or even a male, whose very scent intrigues you for no rational reason. There are only a small number of beings that will fall under such a category, and you will know it when you smell it." Sesshoumaru shifted his weight from one leg to the other, his father was rambling and it was becoming annoying. Who would have guessed that the great lord would ramble like a feeble old man? "True there will only be a number of beings who give off the scent but there will only be one whose eyes will change for you."

At this Sesshoumaru looked directly at his father, "What?" It was a confusing statement to say the least.

Sighing and rubbing his temples (some habits are just passed down from generation to generation I guess ^-^) he began to explain it a little more clearly. "The fact that we are inu youkai gives us an advantage to the rest of the world. Whilst the rest of the populace is required to find their mate all we need to do is keep our nose alert."

Sesshoumaru was a little confused now, "So what does this have to do with mother?" he was showing genuine interest, if the mood had allowed his father would have smiled.

"Your mother was a wonderful woman to be sure, she had the smell about her also. What went wrong was my fault. I knew that she wasn't meant to be completely mine, but I was foolish and claimed her anyway. After meeting your new mother I suddenly became painfully aware of the fact that I was meant to be with her. Your new mother is the true one I was intended to be with."

"She is not my mother," Sesshoumaru was fuming. "And how do you know? This-this, change in her eyes? If you ask me it all sounds utterly preposterous." He held his head high and locked his eyes with his fathers.

Luckily Sesshoumaru was speaking with a calm man or he would have been in the hole that he had just dug himself, too deep to get out. He stood up and looked down at his son, never breaking their eye contact. "You will understand when you become a man." And with that, he walked away, leaving Sesshoumaru to stew over the last comment made.

"Something in their eyes my a—"

*End Flashback (… heh, just in time too…)*


`Why is he staring at me like that?' Kagome wondered. Sesshoumaru had gotten closer and was now mere inches from her face, she could feel his warm breath brush against her cheeks as he inspected her eyes thoroughly.

'I-I don't want to admit it, but it's there, I-I see it,' Sesshoumaru was deeply perplexed. There was a storm in her eyes, as though her very soul was in turmoil. He was able to see everything she was feeling, he knew that the eyes were the very windows to the soul, but this was ridiculous, they were supposed to be kind of see through yet hazy, and you should actually have to work to be able to just guess at what the other person was feeling. The thing was, he could not only see clearly what she was thinking and feeling but he was able to feel everything that passed through the glass panes that were her eyes.

Upon seeing all of this he jerked back and took the rest of Kagome in through his scrutinizing gaze. She was not hard on the eyes and as far as he had seen from earlier situations she was not lacking in courage. He jerked back again, only this time it was a mental jerk, 'What am I thinking? How attractive a human is? How courageous she is? This is not right, I will not allow this to continue, this will stop—right this instant.' With that he turned and planned on never looking back.

Kagome was left still standing there, her mouth ready to utter yet one more intelligent sound, "Huh?" Although not as bad as the first it still wasn't the best thing to say at that point. This time he didn't look at her incredulously or even turn his head, he just kept on walking. That is, until the last step he took resulted in a massive shot of pain ripping through his chest. He halted on the spot, not daring to step forward even once more, so intense was the pain. With his quick thinking he stepped back once, the pain ebbed a little, another step, a little more of the sharp jolt that had him frozen mere seconds before was gone. He turned around and walked towards Kagome, the now dull pain ceased to be.

"'I became painfully aware…' So that is what he meant," Sesshoumaru rubbed his temples irritably. He recognized now what his father had meant. `This is pushing it,' he thought. `I do not wish to be with a human.'

"Excuse me?" Kagome was a little confused now. "What do you mean, `So that's what he meant?'" He looked up at her, surprise was evident on his face, she almost gasped, but she didn't—luckily. He shook his head and the emotion was gone.

"There is no meaning in it for you," he snapped harshly.

"Oh, well, I see. I was actually just wondering if you'd like some help with your dilemma. I assume that that's what it really is." She took a step forward putting her hand on his right arm in a comforting gesture. He glared at her incredulously, wondering if she had lost her wits. She just continued to stare up at him, a smile in her eyes, concealing the hurt that was also evident deep within them. He felt this emotion begin to rise in him, he quickly suppressed it.

As he continued to search her eyes he forced himself to ask the question: "What has happened to you?" The expression on her face went from sunny to completely and utterly bemused. He continued, "Something has hurt you deeply, and I-I would like to know what it was."

The force was evident in his voice, she was able to tell that he was new at asking about this sort of thing, `But why me?'

"Um, well, I gave myself a paper-cut today," she offered.

A deep sigh, "No, emotionally, human."

"Uh, I really don't have any idea what you're talking about, Sesshoumaru-sama, but I'm sure—“

"Never mind," was all that was said before he attempted to walk off again. This time he got a meager two feet away before the stabbing pain went through him, only now, it could be felt throughout his body. "Grrr, fine." He turned around and grabbed her by the arm, "You are coming with me."

"But—“

"It is not a question human. Trust me, I do not want this any more than you do."

She was able to twist from his grip (someone obviously wasn't really trying ^^) and when she was free she began the dreaded lecture. "Now you listen here, I do not have to go anywhere with anyone that I do not wish to go with at any point in time. I don't want to go with you so—I am not going to." The last part was emphasized as she bent forward to make sure that he could understand her, as though him being a male gave him a disadvantage in the "thinking things through" category.

He let out a low rumble, "What you don't understand is that you will come with me and that is final. We will figure out where to go when we get there."

"Get where? And who do you think you are?" Refusing to answer such questions from her he grabbed her arm and took to the air. She did the only thing she could think to do at such a time, "INUYASHA!"

A/N: I hope you liked it, I'm really sorry about the suckiness factor but it was kinda forced out of my head. I've been suffering from major writers block so… Anywho, please review, and I promise that the next chapter will be up sooner. I really hope that I can get rid of this writers block before then though. Thanks again =^-^=