InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Starlight ❯ Chapter 10 ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter 10

Morning broke and the sudden light awoke Sesshomaru almost instantly. (Where am I?) A shift in warmth at his side reminded him. He looked down at the girl tightening her grip around his waist and nuzzling against him. The feeling evoked something but Sesshomaru quickly brushed it away. (Deysite she called it...) Swiftly removing himself from Kagome's grasp, he stood up and backed away a few steps, careful not to let his movement wake her. (The effects seem to have worn off. What to do...) His eyes drifted as Kagome shivered. She wore only a towel and even the heavy mists from the hot springs wouldn't be able to mask the sudden loss in nearby warmth.

Abruptly, Sesshomaru turned his head away.

Kagome moaned softly and stirred. "Hey..." Her arms tightened and she registered the fact that Sesshomaru had left. His absence brought her back to consciousness. "Come back..." She lifted her head and slowly focused on him. "Is it morning yet?" She asked groggily, not fully awake.

"Kagome." He commanded her attention and his tone brought her fully aware of her surroundings.

"What? Oh, are you leaving?" She asked tentatively, suddenly finding it difficult to meet his eyes.

"Yes." He turned away from her suddenly, and Kagome watched a slight breeze dance through his hair before leaving it to settle over his bare back. "Nothing of this kind will ever happen again." He said, anger touching his voice and Kagome straight sat up in surprise.

"What?"

"You will never," He turned slightly to fix her with a hard glare. "Ever speak of what transpired here last night. You will forget everything I may have said or done under the influence of that potion, and if I hear so much as a rumor of this..." His glare smoldered and he emitted a low, menacing growl.

Leaving the rest to Kagome's imagination, Sesshomaru suddenly leapt to the sky and was gone faster than the breeze.

Kagome slowly stood up, eyes still fixed on the fading dot in the sky. The impact of the past few minutes hit her suddenly and she stood up. "That jerk!"

* * *

Somewhere near Kaede's village, three women stepped out of the underbrush.

"That was one hell of a ride..."

"Where are we?"

"Damn, I wish Saion could've come..."

"Damn it! Five minutes and you're already pining away?!"

"I'm not pining!"

"Both of you cut it out."

"She started it."

"Fuck you!"

"Can we please focus here..."

"Alright. Where is she?"

"It had a hot spring in the back..."

"Wasn't...Kaede! That was that old woman's name!"

"So we just gotta ask around."

One of the women, with white fighting gloves and long, dark brown hair, suddenly lifted her arms up and stretched. "We should each take a direction, I guess."

The second, with strawberry blonde hair and a red headdress, pursed her lips and crossed her arms. "Fine. Tana gets north. I'll-"

"Hey!" The gloved woman clenched her fist and stepped forward. "Who said you could decide!"

"Gaila was just trying to help..." The third woman, in a black and pink dress, soothed, biting her lip.

"Avine's right..." Gaila closed her eyes and looked away. "We need a leader and there's no reason-"

"Whoa there..." A gruff voice sounded and all three of them stopped and turned towards the path. A man in dirty armor grinned at them as he lifted his helmet. "Now what're three beautiful ladies such as yourselves doing way out here and, uh..." He cast an eye to their surroundings and let out a low chuckle. "Unaccompanied..."

Avine stepped forward and smiled warmly, oblivious to the man's unsavory stare.

"Excuse me, sir, but would you happen to know where a woman named Kaede lives?"

The man's grin widened. "Yeah, yeah, I know where she lives..." Grin still in place, he turned slightly, and beckoned. "I can show ya..."

He suddenly found himself struggling for breath as Tana seized his neck and lifted him off the ground.

"Moron."

She tightened her grip and pursed her lips as the man began to struggle.

"Let him go, Tana." Gaila said flatly.

"Why?"

"Oh, just please let him go..." Avine jumped up and touched Tana's arm.

A small smile suddenly lit Tana's face and she dropped him. Face still discolored, the man scrambled off, clutching the area below his throat.

"Oh, I hope he's okay.." Avine bit her lip and looked after him.

"Okay? Couldn't you feel the darkness rolling off him?" Tana looked at her in disbelief.

"Damn, even if you managed to miss that, those looks weren't exactly innocent..." Gaila rolled her eyes.

"Okay, I vote against splitting up." Tana sighed, looking pointedly at Avine.

"Works for me."

"He wasn't that obvious..."

"But hey, look on the bright side. At least we may have a fight waiting for us when we do find Kagome..."

"You call that a bright side?"

* * *

Sesshomaru sat heavily on the pillow before his desk, scrolls scattered before him, and still, he had found not so much as a passing mention of something called `Deysite'.

(Is that all she said about it?) He dropped his head into his hands and pulled at the fogged memories. (Deysite...a potion from the goddess of Venus...) Inwardly sighing, he glanced at a particularly large pile of scrolls. (I've gone through everything we have on those ancient goddesses, not just Venus, but all of them!) Anger threatened to boil, but he calmed himself. (What else is there...where haven't I looked?) He suddenly regretted not getting more information out of Kagome.

Suddenly thinking of her brought up memories, and he quickly pushed them away before they could inspire anything more than a passing irritation. (Gods, what was wrong with me? Could a mere potion induce such...) Looking away in hidden distress, more memories flooded his mind, stirring something quite different than anger. (Was all of it the effects of the potion...) Sesshomaru allowed his mind to drift, hoping to coax out some answers from his subconscious. (Or maybe there's some part of me... Did something inside me...) He blinked slowly, now fully caught up in his own memories. (Was her warmth given by the potion?) Closing his eyes, he willed himself to recall how she felt. Her fingers twined through his hair and he felt his back arch up to- (Stop that!)

His eyes shot open and he straightened, realizing he had nearly given in to a memory.

Turning away in disgust with himself, he caught himself in the huge, ornamental mirror his family had always kept there in the library. Turning his head slightly, Sesshomaru realized for the first time, that at some point in the night, Kagome had washed the dried blood out of his hair.

There! I had hoped to get down more on this chapter, but nothing's coming so I'm putting it out as is! Oh, and major apologies to people who are getting alerts from this story, who got like ten emails about me updating my other chapters. I just needed to make a few changes. Nothing major, so no need to go back and read them, just some desperate attempt to improve my writing! Also, I just want to mention these new characters aren't entirely mine. I just changed their names so I wouldn't have to put their series of origin up on the title box. So, here's my one and only disclaimer for the newest characters.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Galaxia or the name `Starlights' (however the Starlights' purpose/powers are entirely mine) from Sailor Moon, and I do not own Sephiroth, Tifa, or Aeris from Final Fantasy 7.

Their backgrounds are unimportant for this story, so if you don't recognize any of their original names, don't sweat it! And, of course, please review!! (Whew! That was a long A/N!)