InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Sesshoumaru's Flame ❯ Revelations ( Chapter 3 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Water Sprite 
Kagome figures out her new powers while Sesshoumaru figures out her new powers over him...
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 11.15.2004 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.0K | Visits: 2.0K | Status: Completed
Kagome figures out her new powers while Sesshoumaru figures out her new powers over him...
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 11.15.2004 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.0K | Visits: 2.0K | Status: Completed
A/N: Regular disclaimers apply... why, in the span of about a week, would I be able to acquire anything?
Chapter Two- Revelations
"If you continue to scream like that wench, I will be forced to silence you, Sesshoumaru hissed as the wind took his hair from his face and sent it flying wildly back in cool smooth waves.
InuYasha!! Kagome continued to scream, blatantly ignoring her captor's advice.
Sesshoumaru sniffed around, his brows furrowed, a frown creased his normally smooth forehead. He can't hear you right now, he's- busy.
Kagome looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. She was about to ask what he exactly meant by such a statement but thought better of it. Instead she began to question him about other things, Why me?
He stared down at her, giving her a look of superiority, Do not flatter yourself human, you mean nothing to me. If I were not in the predicament that I am now I would have no qualms with simply dropping you. So it is both of our better interests that you cease the endless questioning. And that was the end of said conversation.
Taking his advice this time she stayed silent, only now she replaced her look of fear, confusion, and a little anger with pure simmering scorn. Sesshoumaru was conscious of the gaze that was being bestowed upon him and was fairly impressed by its intensity, if he had allowed himself he probably would have flinched. Then again, he would never flinch away from a human, just as he was absolutely positive that he would never be able to love one, besides his Rin, but that of course, was a completely different matter.
The mere thought of being stuck with this human was sickening. What was it that caused such a reaction? 'There is no love in this relationship,' he thought. 'In fact, I had never even really noticed her before. There is no way this is going to work out in anyway, I will probably end up killing her before the night is out.' His thoughts continued on in much the same way for most of the journey, that is, until Kagome got tired of the silence.
Where are we going? she asked quietly seething, he was really beginning to tick her off.
"It should not matter to you, the only thing that you need to be worrying about is the amount of time I decide to let you live." He was not looking at her, rather he was staring straight forward, striving to ignore the tantalizing scent of the miko within his grasp.
As he did so her glare had turned much more deadly, he glanced at her face, specifically her eyes. He was startled to find them swirling with a dangerous fire. He slowed his pace so that he would be able to look into her eyes full on without the fear of running into anything- not that he would be so unaware of his surroundings. Giving her his full attention he gazed into her eyes curiously, the mere sight of them made him feel uncomfortably warm, as though he was on fire... little did he know... he actually was (ha-ha ^_^, Sesshoumaru, you're on fire tonight... feelin' hot-hot-hot... sorry, couldn't help mahself).
"AHHH! Sesshoumaru-sama! I'm so sorry!" Sesshoumaru sniffed the air, catching something burning, very nearby. Turning his head he looked to the left only to see the flames directly in his face. Kagome scrambled to get to a position where she was able to put out the flames. She had her left hand positioned on the burning demon lord's arm while the other was frantically beating his left shoulder to death. "I am soooo sorry!! GO OUT YOU STUPID FLAME!!!" Kagome yelled at the inferno that was now threatening Sesshoumaru's perilously long hair (A/N: NOOOOOOOO).
After a hard fought battle, of which Kagome came out somewhat victorious, she laid back into the arm that continued to act as a stabilizer . She sighed with relief and looked up at her comfortable seat. He was staring at her in disbelief, she returned the look, if only because he was showing her his thoughts (or at the moment lack there of) so freely, he had let his guard slip.
"What was that, miko?" Sesshoumaru understandably questioned.
"I, uh, set you on fire," Kagome replied sheepishly.
"Yes, I noticed that part. Why was I not notified of this before? Did I not ask you of your powers specifically?" He was chastising her, she was well aware of it.
"Yes, you did," her voice was rising again, no longer feeling the need to be apologetically quiet. "But I don't remember really needing to tell you my life story!"
He glared at her hoping to get her to quiet down again, she merely glared back in response crossing her arms against her chest. She dared to speak again, "Are we just gonna float here in mid-air, or did you have somewhere that you needed to be? 'Cause if not, I'd really like to walk on my own two feet."
Sesshoumaru considered dropping her but then thought of the consequences that were sure to ensue if he killed her off totally and thought better of it. "No, you are much too slow, it would take days to get to the intended destination. But if you insist on complaining about this so loudly we will touch ground so that you may stretch a bit."
"Oh, thank you great Lord Sesshoumaru. If I were able to bow I would."
"Well, you will regain the ability to do so as soon as we touch down." Kagome rolled her eyes as the sarcastic remark flew straight over his head.
They couldn't have been very far up for it took them less than two seconds to reach the ground, either that or Sesshoumaru was not merely letting them drop but propelling them towards the ground. Either way when they finally reached their secondary destination, secondary only because this was not the final destination, Kagome jumped from Sesshoumaru's arms to the soft leaf covered earth.
"Ahh, what it is to stretch," she said reaching to touch the sky with her fingertips then down low to brush the well missed forest floor. "I mean it's not like I don't hitch rides every now and then but jeeze, flying for what seems to be at least two hours is different, especially when it's so quiet." All of this was said with a smile as she began to walk around a bit, seemingly inspecting the trees, smile growing wider as she spotted a couple of squirrels playing tag (tree-rats!! That's what they are... good thing I like rats, huh?). Sesshoumaru noted the sudden change in disposition from the miko. He sighed shaking his head, thinking something along the lines of females and mood swings.
"Are you nearly finished, we still have quite a ways to travel before it gets dark."
Kagome turned sharply, "You mean we're not going to be able to get there tonight? I thought that you said that it would be faster to fly."
"It will be, if we were to walk at your speed it would in fact take us a week to reach the desired destination. Yet by flying we shall be there tomorrow," he corrected, he was growing impatient with the female.
"Oh, okay, that makes sense," she continued to wander in small circles. "You never told me where we were going."
"I am aware of this. I suppose it would not hurt to say that we are going to my place of residence," it was said more to get her stop asking the same questions over and over again.
Kagome stopped in her tracks, "We're going where?"
"As I said, my living quarters."
"And why is this?" she was thoroughly confused and not afraid to show it.
"You will know soon enough, and now is not the time," was all of the information that he would be giving her that day. "Are you quite finished? It will be growing dark soon and I wish to make as much progress as possible."
Kagome nodded, a little confused to say the least. He stared at her, looking completely uninterested , this was only possible because of his practice with looking drastically different on the outside from what was actually going on on the inside. In truth he was trying to figure the creature out, true she did not reek with the same stench that seemed to emanate from most of her race, and she did not seem to be as slovenly as most of them either. But besides all of this there was something else, he was not very pleased with the fact that he was not able to figure this other factor out, a problem that would normally be figured out with in a span of a split second, it was something he prided himself on, along with many other things.
As he pondered Kagome's eyes became as round as saucers, "Sesshoumaru-sama, there's something that you should know."
Being brought from his thoughts was not a pleasing thing, "What is it this time, miko?"
"THERE'S SOMETHING BEHIND YOU!!!" was all she was able to get out of her mouth before shooting an arrow from her bow. Instead of having the regular pink magic with sparkles flowing gracefully behind it was replaced with an arrow tipped with flames and then promptly there after followed by them as well. But whatever it was that came out of the arrow as it sped through the air it missed Sesshoumaru's head by mere inches, yet still managing to catch a few wayward strands of the freely moving hair as he dodged it (A/N: I will be holding a memorial for these little strands of hair tomorrow at 2:00PM sharp...). He heard the arrow hit something a good five feet behind him, he mentally cursed himself for not detecting it before it had tried to attack them.
Upon hearing whatever it was drop to the ground, Sesshoumaru turned to view his unsuccessful attacker. Nothing more than a pathetic praying-mantis demon, something that had no stealth whatsoever and besides that, easy prey. Sesshoumaru turned back slowly to see Kagome scratching her head and staring at her weapons, "Well, it's never done that before," was all that she was able to offer.
"Why?" Sesshoumaru's question came out with a sharp edge (not for children under 12... or those of us who really just shouldn't play with knives ^_~), he ignored the involuntary action and waited for Kagome to answer.
"Why what? Why was there fire? I really have no idea to tell you the tru-"
"No, not that," Sesshoumaru cut in, 'Although I wish it could be.' "I was referring to the fact that you just saved me. If I had been caught in battle or injured you could have gotten away, instead you saved me. Why?"
Kagome noticed that dying had not been on the list of things that might have happened to him and almost laughed, but contained herself and pondered the question. "I dunno, I suppose it's because I really don't want to see anyone hurt, no matter what."
Sesshoumaru gazed speculatively , "But you do realize that today alone you have killed two youkai, meaning you have done more than simply hurt them. What is the real reason miko, no lies."
"I-uh, well-er, uh. Hey! How did you know I killed one earlier today?"
"That is beside the point, now answer the question that was posed first."
Kagome sniggered at the comment, "Meaning, of course, 'I asked first?' That is so cute, I've only lately heard that from Sota, aww."
Sesshoumaru walked closer, "Take it how you will, just answer the question."
Kagome shrugged, "Well, it could have been the fact that you're the only one around here who knows how to get somewhere civilized." She didn't really even sound convincing to herself but hey, it was the only reasonable thing she could come up with, she wasn't even sure why herself.
"It doesn't really matter does it? I mean we're both still here, and alive at that, so instead of stewing over it perhaps we should just take off, eh?"
Sesshoumaru rolled the suggestion over in his mind and finally decided that it would indeed be for the best. "I agree, let us go then." With that said he picked Kagome up and took to the air once again. As they headed towards their destination there was little to be said between the two, which was not much different than from the previous time that they had been in that position. What was different though was the fact that Kagome was no longer staring a ring of fire into Sesshoumaru's head, partly because if she did, he would probably actually catch fire, and also Sesshoumaru seemed to be in deeper thought than he was before. Now he had several things that needed to be gone over. One of them being why he had been so darned distracted that he couldn't pick up that demon from five miles off.
'I was thinking of her, why was that so distracting? I do not understand this at all. She is nothing more than a human after all, no even worse, a miko. She could attempt to purify me at any moment. But she will not, I do not even think she is aware of her ability to do so. I am really not sure that she even knew that she had the ability to control fire, perhaps she still does not.' He glanced down at the girl within his grasp, she was staring off into space, half-way asleep, he became frustrated with his inability to read her. 'I am supposed to be the illegible one, not the simple human! Or is she really this simple? I cannot be sure, I am never sure around this one,' he caught himself before letting out a deep growl of frustration. He would not have the miko aware of her ability to vex him deeply. He was of course merely worrying over his sharpness of mind, was he losing his special abilities or was this woman simply confusing?
As he emerged from his thoughts he realized that it had grown dark, looking around he decided that it would be best to set up a camp for the night. The miko would have grown weary, even though he had been carrying her she had used up quite a bit of energy on her new power. Scanning the forest below him he spotted a well sheltered area that would be suitable for building a fire and resting. He began to descend , as he did so Kagome stirred from her sleepy daze.
"Are we going to camp here for the night?" she asked before realizing what an obvious question she had just asked.
Sesshoumaru looked down upon her and rose a well-sculpted brow, "No, miko, I merely wish to observe the furry little creatures before we continue on our journey."
Kagome blinked a few times, "Were you being sarcastic just then?"
Sighing, Sesshoumaru set her down on the ground, "Wait here, I shall double check the area for any dangers."
As he disappeared into the forest she waved her hand a bit calling back, "Have fun." He stopped, blinked a few times, just as she had done, shook his head and was off again. He got about thirty feet away before he was reminded of why he had brought Kagome along in the first place.
"Son of a human!" he cursed. "How am I supposed to do anything while in this predicament? I cannot care for this burden with her attached to my side." He stalked angrily back to the camp site.
"Back so soon? You really didn't go too far, in fact I could hear you talking to yourself."
Sesshoumaru mentally kicked himself, he normally could care less how well humans were able to hear but he really would rather that she hadn't heard that one. "Really? It was simply because I have sharpened my abilities so that I am able to detect a danger coming miles away," he stated arrogantly. It was so arrogant that she simply could not resist the temptation to put him back in his place.
"Oh really, and that little incident with the praying-mantis demon was just to test my reaction time in certain situations, right?"
Sesshoumaru shot her a glare meant to send her to the seventh depth of Hell where he was certain she belonged, "Yes, something like that."
She sighed and smiled, "Oh, okay, I get it now. Good thinking there. I might have gotten rusty, but not with you keeping me in tip-top condition." She gave him a sarcastic little thumbs up and turned to go find some kindling to start a fire with.
Sesshoumaru nearly jumped when he noticed that she was going farther than he had been allowed to before, so not wanting the pain to come back to him in front of her he followed closely behind. "Where do you think you're going human?"
"Firstly, to get firewood. Secondly," she stuck her hand out for him to take, "I'm Kagome)." He merely stared at the hand suspiciously for a moment, she sighed and rolled her eyes, letting her hand drop back to her side (A/N: yes, I am aware that hand shakes aren't very common in Japan, but how well would that have worked out if he had just refused to bow also... please correct me if I have said information totally wrong). She continued on, so did Sesshoumaru. She turned around again, "Er-uh, why don't you start to prepare a place so that we'll be able to light the fire? If you're following me to ensure that I won't run," she rose her right hand, "I give you my solemn promise that I won't."
Sesshoumaru was forced to think quickly, "I was simply making sure that no harm came to you. I still have not accomplished what you were brought here for."
"I'm flattered really, but there is no reason that you, with your superior sense of hearing and smell, shouldn't be able to hear me if I were to scream for help or smell the blood if I begin to bleed. I'm sure I'll be fine, besides that, I need to er-uh, purify myself (A/N: this means that she has to pee)."
Nodding stiffly, he watched her leave the camp site. As she got deeper and deeper into the forest he began to wonder. Why hadn't the pain shot through him yet? Judging by the sound of her foot-steps she must have been at least two hundred yards away, he had gotten less than thirty feet. He decided to use that to the best of his advantage, he began to walk in the opposite direction. Ten feet, that was it, ten feet and he was on the ground in pain.
He growled roughly while scootching in a very undignified manner towards the designated spot for the fire. When he arrived he could feel the pain immediately dissolve. He harrumphed and sat cross-legged, hands comfortably situated in his sleeves. 'I may not have freedom anymore but I will not humiliate myself further by taking orders from a mere human. What did she say her name was? Kagome?' he shook his head from his thoughts. 'Why would I need to know such useless information?'
As he pondered his useless information Kagome was out in the woods gathering the wood that would be needed for the rest of the night. She hummed and smiled to herself, anyone who would have passed by would have thought that she was just happy (although who would have been that deep in any forest at that time of night probably wouldn't have cared of she were happy or not), in reality she was attempting to block out the sounds that she continued to hear a little deeper in the forest. The knowledge that the sounds were probably nothing more than tiny animals scurrying around to get prepared for bed did nothing, absolutely nothing, to calm her already anxious nerves.
When enough kindling had been gathered as well as enough logs to get them started, she headed back to the camp. Approaching the site she saw exactly what she had expected to see, Sesshoumaru sitting (actually she had pictured him standing, it seemed that he would have been too ridged to bend) in front of a prefect spot for the fire... with nothing to contain it.
"Um, Sesshoumaru?" she called hesitantly. He looked up at her, waiting for what he knew was coming. "Why isn't there a place set for the fire? I've gathered the wood, so it's only fair that you should-" he continued to look at her with the same expression and she knew that he wasn't going to do anything. "Fine," she sighed. "You're right, you probably don't even need the warmth of the fire, you are a demon after all." She turned to grab the things she required for the new task ahead of her while mumbling , "It would probably melt you anyway..." Sesshoumaru was instantly in front of her.
"What was that for, human?" he seethed. He was stuck with her and to add insult to injury she was, well, insulting him when his pride had already been injured.
"You could hear it, I am not about to repeat myself," she stated snappishly.
"You are aware of the fact that I would be able to hear it, then why did you state it? Do you not fear for your life like a sensible being?"
"I'm not about to insult you behind your back, do I seem that dim to you? Besides, you already know that your an ice prince, I was just stating an already well known fact," with that she turned back around and continued her chore.
Glaring at the miko he stepped back to let her finish. That was until he got tired of watching her go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, for something that he could complete in one easy trip. Walking forward he took everything that she had in her hands and set it up, then proceeded to grab the rest of the needed supplies and constructed the fire, including the lighting of it.
He sat back down and motioned for her to do the same. As she did she grabbed an energy bar out of her pocket (A/N: don't ask me, 'cause I don't know where she would have room for a pocket on that skirt either), then looking up she offered it to Sesshoumaru. He shook his head, although he wasn't sure of what it was. She shrugged and unwrapped it, and as she munched all she could think was, 'I knew that if I made it look painful enough he'd do it,' she almost laughed at how simple it all had been.
~*~
Sesshoumaru looked across the roaring fire before him, what he saw was the most beautiful sight that he could have ever imagined. Kagome had nearly fallen over with fatigue, when she had finally realized that she was too tired to stay up any longer she had simply lain down, resting her head on an arm, and fallen into a deep slumber. He was breathless, the pure innocence that was before him reminded him of Rin as she slept soundly. Only this was somehow different.
It took about two hours but he finally admitted it to himself, she was an incredible being. She had been quick witted enough to save his sorry rump when he had been staring off into space, she was so hard-working that she would have built the fire all by herself (little does he know...), and she was kind, so much so that she allowed herself to smile at him even though he had captured her and she had no idea if she would live through the entire ordeal. No he was not in love with her, he was merely admitting to her beauty, she really did have a certain glow about her, and he supposed that that was where it came from.
No matter how lovely she was he still had to get rid of her, appearance did not make up for her many other weaknesses. Mainly the fact that she was human, that outweighed anything else that he could think of that was even the slightest bit admirable . Besides all of that he was not willing to be pushed into something that he had not agreed to. But it was mostly because she was human... yah, that's it.
~*~
~A few hours later (who says you need to sleep?)~
He was still allowing his eyes to gently graze over her body, he would not lie to himself, there was no point in doing such a thing. He did enjoy looking at her, he would love to run his hands over her- Squeezing his eyes shut tightly he immediately cut the thought short, 'We are definitely not going down that road.' As he opened them he could see the sun slowly creeping up above the trees, warming his face, replacing the heat of the dying embers before him. 'I didn't even notice that the fire had died,' he thought incredulously.
"Haahhh," Kagome rose from her slumbering state on the hard ground to stretch and greet the new day. She looked around her, countenance radiating with happiness, that is, until she realized that she had not slept surrounded by the usual companions. Her visage changed until her eyes landed on Sesshoumaru's stiff form, she instantaneously lit up. He was surprised to say the least, not that it showed or anything. 'She really just wants to be with someone , she will direct her happiness towards anyone, she is full of this- this glowing cheerfulness. Ugh, it's all encompassing ... gross.'
"Good morning, Sesshoumaru-sama! Did you sleep well, did you even sleep?" Kagome looked a bit worried over her new traveling buddy.
He grimaced , it may have been a stab at smiling, neither of them really knew, "Thank you but I do not require sleep as often as you do, K-Kagome."
Her eyes grew wide, he had just called her by her name... no "human," or "miko," or even the one that she had been waiting so patiently for, "wench." None of them, was he trying to be, dare she think it, civil ? Kagome got up and walked to the nearest tree, Sesshoumaru looked on in curiosity. Her hand rose and **knock-knock**
"What was that for, human?" came the deep voice behind her.
She laid her head upon the tree trunk, "Nothing, nothing at all, I was just too slow as per usual."
"Indeed," this came out slowly, as though he were talking to someone who was losing it. "Well then, we should probably be on our way."
"Uh, isn't there a stream nearby? I'd kinda like to wash up," she said, taking her head from the tree trunk.
Sesshoumaru shook his head, "The closest stream is miles away. We shall go to the nearest one that we pass, trust me, I do wish for you to wash up as well."
"Okay then, that sounds reasonable," Kagome said brightly, blatantly ignoring his rude comment. "Let's go then."
Sesshoumaru neared the girl and the thoughts that he had been having mere minutes ago came flooding back. This would prove to be an interesting flight indeed...
~*~
A/N: Firstly I want to say that I hope that you liked this chapter, I liked it because I had successfully chugged four liters of Mountain Dewyah, the stuff with seven times the caffeine of a cup of coffee. Well that happens to be what I consumed while writing this. Truth be told, I enjoyed it because I was able to type up a storm, normally I'm a really slow typer =^-^=Anywho, I suppose the reason I'm saying this is because I want to give an excuse for anything that seems to be a little out-there, now I've decided that I really don't need to, 'cause that's just me!
Secondly I'd like to thank those of you who have reviewed: youkos girl, ????????, Kyuuka tnchi of darkness, silver_wolf, FireFairy1465, Sesshomaru Daughter, and Cresent Moon22000. Thanks for giving your two cents! I encourage all of you out there who have read this to review alsoI accept flames with open arms, as long as they give me the reason that they are a flame. Anywho, I've babbled enough! Thanks again <_<>_>^_^ Bye!
Chapter Two- Revelations
"If you continue to scream like that wench, I will be forced to silence you, Sesshoumaru hissed as the wind took his hair from his face and sent it flying wildly back in cool smooth waves.
InuYasha!! Kagome continued to scream, blatantly ignoring her captor's advice.
Sesshoumaru sniffed around, his brows furrowed, a frown creased his normally smooth forehead. He can't hear you right now, he's- busy.
Kagome looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. She was about to ask what he exactly meant by such a statement but thought better of it. Instead she began to question him about other things, Why me?
He stared down at her, giving her a look of superiority, Do not flatter yourself human, you mean nothing to me. If I were not in the predicament that I am now I would have no qualms with simply dropping you. So it is both of our better interests that you cease the endless questioning. And that was the end of said conversation.
Taking his advice this time she stayed silent, only now she replaced her look of fear, confusion, and a little anger with pure simmering scorn. Sesshoumaru was conscious of the gaze that was being bestowed upon him and was fairly impressed by its intensity, if he had allowed himself he probably would have flinched. Then again, he would never flinch away from a human, just as he was absolutely positive that he would never be able to love one, besides his Rin, but that of course, was a completely different matter.
The mere thought of being stuck with this human was sickening. What was it that caused such a reaction? 'There is no love in this relationship,' he thought. 'In fact, I had never even really noticed her before. There is no way this is going to work out in anyway, I will probably end up killing her before the night is out.' His thoughts continued on in much the same way for most of the journey, that is, until Kagome got tired of the silence.
Where are we going? she asked quietly seething, he was really beginning to tick her off.
"It should not matter to you, the only thing that you need to be worrying about is the amount of time I decide to let you live." He was not looking at her, rather he was staring straight forward, striving to ignore the tantalizing scent of the miko within his grasp.
As he did so her glare had turned much more deadly, he glanced at her face, specifically her eyes. He was startled to find them swirling with a dangerous fire. He slowed his pace so that he would be able to look into her eyes full on without the fear of running into anything- not that he would be so unaware of his surroundings. Giving her his full attention he gazed into her eyes curiously, the mere sight of them made him feel uncomfortably warm, as though he was on fire... little did he know... he actually was (ha-ha ^_^, Sesshoumaru, you're on fire tonight... feelin' hot-hot-hot... sorry, couldn't help mahself).
"AHHH! Sesshoumaru-sama! I'm so sorry!" Sesshoumaru sniffed the air, catching something burning, very nearby. Turning his head he looked to the left only to see the flames directly in his face. Kagome scrambled to get to a position where she was able to put out the flames. She had her left hand positioned on the burning demon lord's arm while the other was frantically beating his left shoulder to death. "I am soooo sorry!! GO OUT YOU STUPID FLAME!!!" Kagome yelled at the inferno that was now threatening Sesshoumaru's perilously long hair (A/N: NOOOOOOOO).
After a hard fought battle, of which Kagome came out somewhat victorious, she laid back into the arm that continued to act as a stabilizer . She sighed with relief and looked up at her comfortable seat. He was staring at her in disbelief, she returned the look, if only because he was showing her his thoughts (or at the moment lack there of) so freely, he had let his guard slip.
"What was that, miko?" Sesshoumaru understandably questioned.
"I, uh, set you on fire," Kagome replied sheepishly.
"Yes, I noticed that part. Why was I not notified of this before? Did I not ask you of your powers specifically?" He was chastising her, she was well aware of it.
"Yes, you did," her voice was rising again, no longer feeling the need to be apologetically quiet. "But I don't remember really needing to tell you my life story!"
He glared at her hoping to get her to quiet down again, she merely glared back in response crossing her arms against her chest. She dared to speak again, "Are we just gonna float here in mid-air, or did you have somewhere that you needed to be? 'Cause if not, I'd really like to walk on my own two feet."
Sesshoumaru considered dropping her but then thought of the consequences that were sure to ensue if he killed her off totally and thought better of it. "No, you are much too slow, it would take days to get to the intended destination. But if you insist on complaining about this so loudly we will touch ground so that you may stretch a bit."
"Oh, thank you great Lord Sesshoumaru. If I were able to bow I would."
"Well, you will regain the ability to do so as soon as we touch down." Kagome rolled her eyes as the sarcastic remark flew straight over his head.
They couldn't have been very far up for it took them less than two seconds to reach the ground, either that or Sesshoumaru was not merely letting them drop but propelling them towards the ground. Either way when they finally reached their secondary destination, secondary only because this was not the final destination, Kagome jumped from Sesshoumaru's arms to the soft leaf covered earth.
"Ahh, what it is to stretch," she said reaching to touch the sky with her fingertips then down low to brush the well missed forest floor. "I mean it's not like I don't hitch rides every now and then but jeeze, flying for what seems to be at least two hours is different, especially when it's so quiet." All of this was said with a smile as she began to walk around a bit, seemingly inspecting the trees, smile growing wider as she spotted a couple of squirrels playing tag (tree-rats!! That's what they are... good thing I like rats, huh?). Sesshoumaru noted the sudden change in disposition from the miko. He sighed shaking his head, thinking something along the lines of females and mood swings.
"Are you nearly finished, we still have quite a ways to travel before it gets dark."
Kagome turned sharply, "You mean we're not going to be able to get there tonight? I thought that you said that it would be faster to fly."
"It will be, if we were to walk at your speed it would in fact take us a week to reach the desired destination. Yet by flying we shall be there tomorrow," he corrected, he was growing impatient with the female.
"Oh, okay, that makes sense," she continued to wander in small circles. "You never told me where we were going."
"I am aware of this. I suppose it would not hurt to say that we are going to my place of residence," it was said more to get her stop asking the same questions over and over again.
Kagome stopped in her tracks, "We're going where?"
"As I said, my living quarters."
"And why is this?" she was thoroughly confused and not afraid to show it.
"You will know soon enough, and now is not the time," was all of the information that he would be giving her that day. "Are you quite finished? It will be growing dark soon and I wish to make as much progress as possible."
Kagome nodded, a little confused to say the least. He stared at her, looking completely uninterested , this was only possible because of his practice with looking drastically different on the outside from what was actually going on on the inside. In truth he was trying to figure the creature out, true she did not reek with the same stench that seemed to emanate from most of her race, and she did not seem to be as slovenly as most of them either. But besides all of this there was something else, he was not very pleased with the fact that he was not able to figure this other factor out, a problem that would normally be figured out with in a span of a split second, it was something he prided himself on, along with many other things.
As he pondered Kagome's eyes became as round as saucers, "Sesshoumaru-sama, there's something that you should know."
Being brought from his thoughts was not a pleasing thing, "What is it this time, miko?"
"THERE'S SOMETHING BEHIND YOU!!!" was all she was able to get out of her mouth before shooting an arrow from her bow. Instead of having the regular pink magic with sparkles flowing gracefully behind it was replaced with an arrow tipped with flames and then promptly there after followed by them as well. But whatever it was that came out of the arrow as it sped through the air it missed Sesshoumaru's head by mere inches, yet still managing to catch a few wayward strands of the freely moving hair as he dodged it (A/N: I will be holding a memorial for these little strands of hair tomorrow at 2:00PM sharp...). He heard the arrow hit something a good five feet behind him, he mentally cursed himself for not detecting it before it had tried to attack them.
Upon hearing whatever it was drop to the ground, Sesshoumaru turned to view his unsuccessful attacker. Nothing more than a pathetic praying-mantis demon, something that had no stealth whatsoever and besides that, easy prey. Sesshoumaru turned back slowly to see Kagome scratching her head and staring at her weapons, "Well, it's never done that before," was all that she was able to offer.
"Why?" Sesshoumaru's question came out with a sharp edge (not for children under 12... or those of us who really just shouldn't play with knives ^_~), he ignored the involuntary action and waited for Kagome to answer.
"Why what? Why was there fire? I really have no idea to tell you the tru-"
"No, not that," Sesshoumaru cut in, 'Although I wish it could be.' "I was referring to the fact that you just saved me. If I had been caught in battle or injured you could have gotten away, instead you saved me. Why?"
Kagome noticed that dying had not been on the list of things that might have happened to him and almost laughed, but contained herself and pondered the question. "I dunno, I suppose it's because I really don't want to see anyone hurt, no matter what."
Sesshoumaru gazed speculatively , "But you do realize that today alone you have killed two youkai, meaning you have done more than simply hurt them. What is the real reason miko, no lies."
"I-uh, well-er, uh. Hey! How did you know I killed one earlier today?"
"That is beside the point, now answer the question that was posed first."
Kagome sniggered at the comment, "Meaning, of course, 'I asked first?' That is so cute, I've only lately heard that from Sota, aww."
Sesshoumaru walked closer, "Take it how you will, just answer the question."
Kagome shrugged, "Well, it could have been the fact that you're the only one around here who knows how to get somewhere civilized." She didn't really even sound convincing to herself but hey, it was the only reasonable thing she could come up with, she wasn't even sure why herself.
"It doesn't really matter does it? I mean we're both still here, and alive at that, so instead of stewing over it perhaps we should just take off, eh?"
Sesshoumaru rolled the suggestion over in his mind and finally decided that it would indeed be for the best. "I agree, let us go then." With that said he picked Kagome up and took to the air once again. As they headed towards their destination there was little to be said between the two, which was not much different than from the previous time that they had been in that position. What was different though was the fact that Kagome was no longer staring a ring of fire into Sesshoumaru's head, partly because if she did, he would probably actually catch fire, and also Sesshoumaru seemed to be in deeper thought than he was before. Now he had several things that needed to be gone over. One of them being why he had been so darned distracted that he couldn't pick up that demon from five miles off.
'I was thinking of her, why was that so distracting? I do not understand this at all. She is nothing more than a human after all, no even worse, a miko. She could attempt to purify me at any moment. But she will not, I do not even think she is aware of her ability to do so. I am really not sure that she even knew that she had the ability to control fire, perhaps she still does not.' He glanced down at the girl within his grasp, she was staring off into space, half-way asleep, he became frustrated with his inability to read her. 'I am supposed to be the illegible one, not the simple human! Or is she really this simple? I cannot be sure, I am never sure around this one,' he caught himself before letting out a deep growl of frustration. He would not have the miko aware of her ability to vex him deeply. He was of course merely worrying over his sharpness of mind, was he losing his special abilities or was this woman simply confusing?
As he emerged from his thoughts he realized that it had grown dark, looking around he decided that it would be best to set up a camp for the night. The miko would have grown weary, even though he had been carrying her she had used up quite a bit of energy on her new power. Scanning the forest below him he spotted a well sheltered area that would be suitable for building a fire and resting. He began to descend , as he did so Kagome stirred from her sleepy daze.
"Are we going to camp here for the night?" she asked before realizing what an obvious question she had just asked.
Sesshoumaru looked down upon her and rose a well-sculpted brow, "No, miko, I merely wish to observe the furry little creatures before we continue on our journey."
Kagome blinked a few times, "Were you being sarcastic just then?"
Sighing, Sesshoumaru set her down on the ground, "Wait here, I shall double check the area for any dangers."
As he disappeared into the forest she waved her hand a bit calling back, "Have fun." He stopped, blinked a few times, just as she had done, shook his head and was off again. He got about thirty feet away before he was reminded of why he had brought Kagome along in the first place.
"Son of a human!" he cursed. "How am I supposed to do anything while in this predicament? I cannot care for this burden with her attached to my side." He stalked angrily back to the camp site.
"Back so soon? You really didn't go too far, in fact I could hear you talking to yourself."
Sesshoumaru mentally kicked himself, he normally could care less how well humans were able to hear but he really would rather that she hadn't heard that one. "Really? It was simply because I have sharpened my abilities so that I am able to detect a danger coming miles away," he stated arrogantly. It was so arrogant that she simply could not resist the temptation to put him back in his place.
"Oh really, and that little incident with the praying-mantis demon was just to test my reaction time in certain situations, right?"
Sesshoumaru shot her a glare meant to send her to the seventh depth of Hell where he was certain she belonged, "Yes, something like that."
She sighed and smiled, "Oh, okay, I get it now. Good thinking there. I might have gotten rusty, but not with you keeping me in tip-top condition." She gave him a sarcastic little thumbs up and turned to go find some kindling to start a fire with.
Sesshoumaru nearly jumped when he noticed that she was going farther than he had been allowed to before, so not wanting the pain to come back to him in front of her he followed closely behind. "Where do you think you're going human?"
"Firstly, to get firewood. Secondly," she stuck her hand out for him to take, "I'm Kagome)." He merely stared at the hand suspiciously for a moment, she sighed and rolled her eyes, letting her hand drop back to her side (A/N: yes, I am aware that hand shakes aren't very common in Japan, but how well would that have worked out if he had just refused to bow also... please correct me if I have said information totally wrong). She continued on, so did Sesshoumaru. She turned around again, "Er-uh, why don't you start to prepare a place so that we'll be able to light the fire? If you're following me to ensure that I won't run," she rose her right hand, "I give you my solemn promise that I won't."
Sesshoumaru was forced to think quickly, "I was simply making sure that no harm came to you. I still have not accomplished what you were brought here for."
"I'm flattered really, but there is no reason that you, with your superior sense of hearing and smell, shouldn't be able to hear me if I were to scream for help or smell the blood if I begin to bleed. I'm sure I'll be fine, besides that, I need to er-uh, purify myself (A/N: this means that she has to pee)."
Nodding stiffly, he watched her leave the camp site. As she got deeper and deeper into the forest he began to wonder. Why hadn't the pain shot through him yet? Judging by the sound of her foot-steps she must have been at least two hundred yards away, he had gotten less than thirty feet. He decided to use that to the best of his advantage, he began to walk in the opposite direction. Ten feet, that was it, ten feet and he was on the ground in pain.
He growled roughly while scootching in a very undignified manner towards the designated spot for the fire. When he arrived he could feel the pain immediately dissolve. He harrumphed and sat cross-legged, hands comfortably situated in his sleeves. 'I may not have freedom anymore but I will not humiliate myself further by taking orders from a mere human. What did she say her name was? Kagome?' he shook his head from his thoughts. 'Why would I need to know such useless information?'
As he pondered his useless information Kagome was out in the woods gathering the wood that would be needed for the rest of the night. She hummed and smiled to herself, anyone who would have passed by would have thought that she was just happy (although who would have been that deep in any forest at that time of night probably wouldn't have cared of she were happy or not), in reality she was attempting to block out the sounds that she continued to hear a little deeper in the forest. The knowledge that the sounds were probably nothing more than tiny animals scurrying around to get prepared for bed did nothing, absolutely nothing, to calm her already anxious nerves.
When enough kindling had been gathered as well as enough logs to get them started, she headed back to the camp. Approaching the site she saw exactly what she had expected to see, Sesshoumaru sitting (actually she had pictured him standing, it seemed that he would have been too ridged to bend) in front of a prefect spot for the fire... with nothing to contain it.
"Um, Sesshoumaru?" she called hesitantly. He looked up at her, waiting for what he knew was coming. "Why isn't there a place set for the fire? I've gathered the wood, so it's only fair that you should-" he continued to look at her with the same expression and she knew that he wasn't going to do anything. "Fine," she sighed. "You're right, you probably don't even need the warmth of the fire, you are a demon after all." She turned to grab the things she required for the new task ahead of her while mumbling , "It would probably melt you anyway..." Sesshoumaru was instantly in front of her.
"What was that for, human?" he seethed. He was stuck with her and to add insult to injury she was, well, insulting him when his pride had already been injured.
"You could hear it, I am not about to repeat myself," she stated snappishly.
"You are aware of the fact that I would be able to hear it, then why did you state it? Do you not fear for your life like a sensible being?"
"I'm not about to insult you behind your back, do I seem that dim to you? Besides, you already know that your an ice prince, I was just stating an already well known fact," with that she turned back around and continued her chore.
Glaring at the miko he stepped back to let her finish. That was until he got tired of watching her go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, for something that he could complete in one easy trip. Walking forward he took everything that she had in her hands and set it up, then proceeded to grab the rest of the needed supplies and constructed the fire, including the lighting of it.
He sat back down and motioned for her to do the same. As she did she grabbed an energy bar out of her pocket (A/N: don't ask me, 'cause I don't know where she would have room for a pocket on that skirt either), then looking up she offered it to Sesshoumaru. He shook his head, although he wasn't sure of what it was. She shrugged and unwrapped it, and as she munched all she could think was, 'I knew that if I made it look painful enough he'd do it,' she almost laughed at how simple it all had been.
~*~
Sesshoumaru looked across the roaring fire before him, what he saw was the most beautiful sight that he could have ever imagined. Kagome had nearly fallen over with fatigue, when she had finally realized that she was too tired to stay up any longer she had simply lain down, resting her head on an arm, and fallen into a deep slumber. He was breathless, the pure innocence that was before him reminded him of Rin as she slept soundly. Only this was somehow different.
It took about two hours but he finally admitted it to himself, she was an incredible being. She had been quick witted enough to save his sorry rump when he had been staring off into space, she was so hard-working that she would have built the fire all by herself (little does he know...), and she was kind, so much so that she allowed herself to smile at him even though he had captured her and she had no idea if she would live through the entire ordeal. No he was not in love with her, he was merely admitting to her beauty, she really did have a certain glow about her, and he supposed that that was where it came from.
No matter how lovely she was he still had to get rid of her, appearance did not make up for her many other weaknesses. Mainly the fact that she was human, that outweighed anything else that he could think of that was even the slightest bit admirable . Besides all of that he was not willing to be pushed into something that he had not agreed to. But it was mostly because she was human... yah, that's it.
~*~
~A few hours later (who says you need to sleep?)~
He was still allowing his eyes to gently graze over her body, he would not lie to himself, there was no point in doing such a thing. He did enjoy looking at her, he would love to run his hands over her- Squeezing his eyes shut tightly he immediately cut the thought short, 'We are definitely not going down that road.' As he opened them he could see the sun slowly creeping up above the trees, warming his face, replacing the heat of the dying embers before him. 'I didn't even notice that the fire had died,' he thought incredulously.
"Haahhh," Kagome rose from her slumbering state on the hard ground to stretch and greet the new day. She looked around her, countenance radiating with happiness, that is, until she realized that she had not slept surrounded by the usual companions. Her visage changed until her eyes landed on Sesshoumaru's stiff form, she instantaneously lit up. He was surprised to say the least, not that it showed or anything. 'She really just wants to be with someone , she will direct her happiness towards anyone, she is full of this- this glowing cheerfulness. Ugh, it's all encompassing ... gross.'
"Good morning, Sesshoumaru-sama! Did you sleep well, did you even sleep?" Kagome looked a bit worried over her new traveling buddy.
He grimaced , it may have been a stab at smiling, neither of them really knew, "Thank you but I do not require sleep as often as you do, K-Kagome."
Her eyes grew wide, he had just called her by her name... no "human," or "miko," or even the one that she had been waiting so patiently for, "wench." None of them, was he trying to be, dare she think it, civil ? Kagome got up and walked to the nearest tree, Sesshoumaru looked on in curiosity. Her hand rose and **knock-knock**
"What was that for, human?" came the deep voice behind her.
She laid her head upon the tree trunk, "Nothing, nothing at all, I was just too slow as per usual."
"Indeed," this came out slowly, as though he were talking to someone who was losing it. "Well then, we should probably be on our way."
"Uh, isn't there a stream nearby? I'd kinda like to wash up," she said, taking her head from the tree trunk.
Sesshoumaru shook his head, "The closest stream is miles away. We shall go to the nearest one that we pass, trust me, I do wish for you to wash up as well."
"Okay then, that sounds reasonable," Kagome said brightly, blatantly ignoring his rude comment. "Let's go then."
Sesshoumaru neared the girl and the thoughts that he had been having mere minutes ago came flooding back. This would prove to be an interesting flight indeed...
~*~
A/N: Firstly I want to say that I hope that you liked this chapter, I liked it because I had successfully chugged four liters of Mountain Dewyah, the stuff with seven times the caffeine of a cup of coffee. Well that happens to be what I consumed while writing this. Truth be told, I enjoyed it because I was able to type up a storm, normally I'm a really slow typer =^-^=Anywho, I suppose the reason I'm saying this is because I want to give an excuse for anything that seems to be a little out-there, now I've decided that I really don't need to, 'cause that's just me!
Secondly I'd like to thank those of you who have reviewed: youkos girl, ????????, Kyuuka tnchi of darkness, silver_wolf, FireFairy1465, Sesshomaru Daughter, and Cresent Moon22000. Thanks for giving your two cents! I encourage all of you out there who have read this to review alsoI accept flames with open arms, as long as they give me the reason that they are a flame. Anywho, I've babbled enough! Thanks again <_<>_>^_^ Bye!