InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Final Bow ❯ denial of sentimentality ( Chapter 5 )

DISCLAIMER; I DON'T OWN INU…OR SESSY…OR KOGA…OR NARAKU, BUT WHO REALLY WANTS HIM ANYWAYS.

AN; Sorry it's taken me so long guys ( Author ducks rotten vegetables) Hey! I just painted that wall! Anyways, its been a long week, and let me just say for those of you out there that don't have kids yet, potty training is hell! I think my little boy has pee'd on the floor in front of the bathroom like three times this week. Sigh! Oh well. Any ways, not much progression with the visions in this chapter, but there is some serious relationship insight between Sesshoumaru and Kagome. Naraku is strangely absent from this chapter too, oh well no one really likes him anyway. Next chapter will have a lot more `vision' action and you'll finally get to meet Kagome's archery teacher. I think I might do a costume fitting in the next chapter as well, what do you think? Please let me know if you guys want to see something in particular or if there's something you dislike about the story so far. I can't please everyone, but it never hurts to try. ^-^'. Thanks so much for all of the wonderful reviews, I really enjoy reading them so please keep `em coming! Thanks also to my beta, Avid Reader! Well that's all I have to say for now, except please turn all cell phones and pagers off during the show and deposit all trash into their appropriate receptacles on your way out of the theater. Enjoy….

The Final Bow

By; undecidedly certain

Chapter Five

Denial of Sentimentality

Before the sun had even risen the next morning Sesshoumaru found himself in the dojo with his sword mercilessly pushing his body through the katas over and over again. The deadly dance was exhausting and his muscles burned with the effort, but he was willing to do what ever it took to keep himself away from his troublesome dreams.

Swinging the heavy double edged steel fiercely through the predawn quiet gave him a sense of power. The sound of the blade and his heavy panting breaths the only noise above the gentle chirping crickets and the distant roar of the crashing waves.

He paused and walked over to the open shoji door and leaned heavily in the door frame. Tonight was the new moon and being out in the country meant there were no obtrusive city lights to block out the stars. The sky was absolutely littered with the sparkling entities, more than you could count in a life time.

He couldn't help but wonder as he stood there how many of those stars had actually ceased to exist, only the memory of their lives still burning across the galaxies.

Sesshoumaru if anything was not one who liked to be confused about things. He liked order and control, two things his life was seriously lacking currently and it all seemed to be revolving around one person. Kagome Higurashi.

Well, maybe that's not entirely true. He had been having the dreams for as long as he could remember, though the names and the face were missing, the story was always the same. It wasn't until she appeared that they started bleeding over into the waking hours of his life though.

He thought that if he wrote it down they would go away, that he could find some absolution. Fate was not that kind. They did seem to grant him peace for a time, but the corporeal workings of his inner mind had proved too much of a temptation, so he transposed the story from his dreams into the script they were now working on.

The tale was closely related to the old legend of the Shikon no Tama, only much more detailed. The actual legend was missing an end and there was only one picture of the jewel itself. The portrait hung in his study behind his desk actually, he had bought it as soon as he found out about its existence.

The original owner had demanded an outrageous amount of money for the ancient oil painting, but Sesshoumaru had readily paid it. He felt the need to posses it. Just as he now felt the need to posses Higurashi.

He had known from the moment he first laid eyes on her that she would be troublesome, but he hadn't known to what extent until yesterday. Since the day of her audition at the studio his dreams had returned full force, though instead of the bloody battle fields and fights that once plagued him his night time visage was filled with slightly more peaceful and sometimes sensual scenes.

Yesterday was the first time those dreams had ever seeped into his waking hours though, a fact that both disturbed and fascinated him. The first `vision' so to speak happened in the morning as he was on his way to drop off the training schedules for everyone. He had just finished his workout in the dojo and passed Naraku on his way back inside when everything went gray.

He was suddenly standing in some sort of ancient thrown room, though most of the details were fuzzy. There were a few courtiers and denizens scattering about here and there, but for the most part everything was calm. Wall scrolls and tapestries adorned the room, but he couldn't make out much more than blurs and blobs of dark and light colors.

The scene changed then, he was still in the thrown room, but there was a dark haired man bowed before him. He was speaking, but Sesshoumaru couldn't understand what was being said. It was as if he were listening through a thick pane of glass.

Something must have been said to upset the bowed man because he suddenly jerked his head up angrily. That's when Sesshoumaru noticed his eyes. Red eyes, blood red, set in a face that sharply resembled that of Naraku Himura.

The Naraku look alike was yelling something heatedly and baring what disturbingly enough looked like fangs. Suddenly a group of ancient armor clad guards came in and grabbed the man, hauling him out of the room.

Then just as suddenly as it appeared, the `vision' faded and Sesshoumaru's world returned to color.

Then there had been the incident with Higurashi. He wasn't exactly sure what had possessed him to dance with her, but there was something about seeing her there dancing alone. He couldn't help himself, she looked so beautiful there flowing with an almost unearthly grace in front of the windows, the sun setting red over the horizon.

His body called out for her and his mind screamed to stay away. It was the most damnably frustrating thing he had ever experienced, and growing up with Inuyasha he had a lot of experience with damnably frustrating things.

She wasn't the most beautiful girl he had ever worked with, nor the most fiery, he had worked with his share of permanently pms-ing starlets. Kagome just seemed to poses the perfect balance of attitude and graciousness. She was kind, yet spirited, and it didn't hurt his opinion that Rin absolutely adored the girl.

Damn it all to hell. He took one heavy swing, decapitating a poor unsuspecting practice dummy that had been placed by the door.

Why was he having so much trouble just admitting that he was attracted to her? And why was he fighting it so much? It wasn't as if she were under age or married or even seeing someone, so what was his problem?

When he held her in his arms it felt so right. She was so delicate and petite in the cradle of his arms, she seemed to fit up against him just right. Her silky hair smelled of fresh green apples, whatever shampoo she was using was wonderful.

Oh Kami, when he kissed her he thought he might just explode. The feel of her soft lips against his. It pissed him off to no end that the stupid vision had interrupted him before he'd gotten a chance to deepen it.

Such urges didn't usually drive him to action, in fact it was rare for a woman to effect him so much. With Kagome though he couldn't seem to stop himself. The vision he had with Kagome was much different than the one he'd had earlier. It was much more simple, no words were spoken, but then again the look on her face spoke volumes.

When the world went gray at first the only thing he could really see were her eyes. They alone remained unchanged. Those gorgeous blue eyes blinked up at him owlishly as the rest of her face, while still in shades of gray, started to come into clear focus.

She looked almost exactly the same in the vision as she did in real life. If he hadn't been paying attention he wouldn't have noticed the subtle differences. Her hair, while maintaining that incredible silky texture, was longer, past her waist from what he could tell and she had a fairly fresh cut down her left cheek, though it seemed to be healing quite nicely.

Her cheeks were flushed and her lips were glossy and slightly parted from his kiss. Apparently visionary Kagome and real Kagome were partaking in the same carnal activities.

The most startling fact though was that she experienced it as well. It could have easily been explained away if it was one sided as simple stress induced delirium, but when you add a second variable to the equation it threw the whole hypothesis off kilter.

Something strange was happening, but what?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kagome had been staring at the ceiling for the past forty-five minutes trying to interpret her strange dream, but the only thing she'd been able to figure out was that there was a hairline crack in the perfect enameled paint job of the ceiling. With a groan she looked over at the large red numbers on the digital alarm clock by the bed.

6:30, still ungodly early by Kagome national standards, but Gramps would be up by now. He was always up and ready to open the shrine by seven, and she needed to talk to mama anyways. Mama would say something to make her feel better, somehow she always knows just what to say even when she doesn't know the situation.

With a groan Kagome slid out of bed and pulled on her clothes. Last night after the `silent film incident' as she was now referring to it, Sesshoumaru had gone over voice projection and stage presence. Most of it she had already heard before in drama, though there were differences between stage acting and film acting.

For starters even though the golden rule `acting is reacting' is universal, you don't have to ham it up so much on film because the camera picks up all the subtleties of reality.

The lesson was brief, both of them were obviously distracted and not really into it so Sesshoumaru called it a night after only about thirty minutes. Much to her disappointment he seemed to be blatantly avoiding any kind of physical contact with her.

`Stupid visions.' She thought with a scowl as she made her way down to the kitchen in search of a phone. It couldn't have waited just five more minutes so she could have enjoyed her kiss. Well, maybe ten more minutes.

Just thinking about made her face warm and those annoying butterflies in her middle start wiggling around again. Kagome placed a hand over her stomach with a frown, stupid butterflies.

She didn't know why she was getting all hot and bothered about it anyways, it wasn't as if she liked Sesshoumaru. Ok, so she was mildly attracted to him, but who wouldn't be. Besides, he would never go for a girl like her, not seriously anyways and she was in no way going to be used. She didn't need a heart break like that.

Then there was also the little matter of Rin's mother, who ever and where ever she was. Come to think of it she had been there for nearly three days now and as far as she knew there had been no contact from Rin's mother.

Now that she really thought about it Rin had never mentioned her mother. She pushed the thought aside for later pondering as she stepped into the quiet kitchen to use the phone.

The kitchen was large enough to accommodate for a large house party, yet set up complete with a kitchenette set and a breakfast bar. Kagome wished they would eat in here instead of in the formal dining room. It was so much more cozy in here.

She grabbed the phone that was on the wall and hopped up on the black marble counter top, leaning sleepily back against the pristine white oak cabinets. Hopefully Gramps wont be out on the grounds yet.

-Ring-

`I wonder if mama's up yet.'

-Ring-

`come on, come on'

-Ring-

"Hello." A very groggy and irritated voice sounded on the other line.

"Sota? What are you doing answering the phone?" Kagome asked her brother.

"….."

"SOUTA! Wake up!"

"Wha…Kagome? What's wrong? Why are you calling in the middle of the night?"

Kagome rolled her eyes, was she that bad in the morning? "It's not the middle of the night Sota. Its just really early. Is Grandpa up?"

"…ZZZZ…."

"SOUTA, put grandpa on the phone."

"Huh…oh sorry, hold on………GRAMPS PHONE!" Her brother yelled with out giving her the courtesy of covering the receiver before he started screaming.

"Thanks Sota, Why don't you yell a little louder next time, I don't think the neighbors heard you."

"Don't be stupid Kagome, you know we don't have any neighbors."

"Hello, Higurashi residence may I help you?" The gentle voice of her mother wafted across the line promptly followed by a grunt and a click as Sota hung up.

"Hey mama."

"Kagome? Is everything ok dear? You aren't usually so coherent this early in the morning."

"Yeah, everything's fine." I think. "I just needed to ask Grandpa something."

"Oh, ok. Well he's outside opening up the gates right now, but he should be right back in. So, tell me sweetheart, how is everything going? Is it fun being a movie star?"

"Mama, I'm not really a movie star, but everything is going fine. We're doing a lot of ancient weapons training. The movie is set back in the feudal ages so we have to know the history and all that."

"Oh that sounds interesting. Don't tell grandpa, you'll never get him off the phone."

Kagome giggled. "I know." Her grandpa could be a little long winded when it came to things of old. She learned at an early age how to tune out his seemingly endless ramblings.

"So how is the sea side estate?" Mama asked curiously. Kagome could hear the tell tale bubbling of the percolator in the back round and the sound of eggs being cracked and dumped into a hot frying pan.

`mmmm, that sounds good.' "Oh, mama it's beautiful. The room I'm staying in is huge and the bed, oh Kami mama I don't know how I'm gonna go back to my lumpy old mattress and cotton sheets after this."

The warm lilt of her mothers laughter warmed Kagome from within and she actually felt a twinge of homesickness. "Well I'm sure once you're rich and famous you can afford to buy your self a new mattress and some fancy sheets. You were in the paper you know."

"What?! Really?"

"Yes," Mrs. Higurashi commented. " Yuka brought us over a copy, she was very excited about it, she's a very loud girl at times. Oh, she wants you to call her by the way."

"What did it say?"

"What did what say dear?"

"The paper mama!"

"Lets see here," the crinkling of paper registered over the line, "ok, right on the front page, there's a picture too, you look very pretty in that pink top with the little flowers…"

"Mama." Kagome asked in exasperation.

"Sorry dear, the head line reads 'Starlet or harlot, Kagome Higurashi beats out Kagura Cain for role in the next Takahashi block buster.'

"OH MY GOD! Mama , please tell me your joking."

"there's more dear, it says 'spurned superstar accuses newly discovered actress Kagome Higurashi of sleeping her way into the role.' Well, it goes on from there but that's the gist of it. Apparently Ms. Cain is a little put out about not getting the part in the movie."

"Oh mama." Kagome could feel her embarrassment and anger rising. It was too early in the morning for this, and her mother was telling her all of this in the same manner as she would announce what she was making for dinner. "Why would she say something like that? I've never even met Kagura Cain!"

"Now now sweetheart, don't take it too personally. I'm sure she didn't mean it like that."

"How else could she have possibly meant that?"

"She's just jealous."

Kagome could feel the beginnings of a headache forming and rubbed her eyes aggravated. "Well at least tell me what paper it was so I can go buy up every copy before my reputation is any further destroyed." She said miserably. She couldn't believe how well her mother was taking this.

"We don't usually get this one," Her mother commented off handedly and more paper crinkling could be heard. "It's the 'Tokyo Starr'. Your picture made the front page too. Who is the handsome young man with the blonde hair?"

"The Starr." Kagome said flatly, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief. "Mama, that's just one of those trashy tabloids, I bet Kagura didn't even say those things, and Sesshoumaru has blonde hair, but I don't know when they would have taken a picture of us."

"It looks like your getting ready to climb into a limousine… and there is the most adorable little girl standing there with you…"

"Oh, that's Rin." 'I didn't know there were photographers there!' "She's Sesshoumaru's daughter and she is absolutely precious mama." Kagome fondly of the little girl.

"Oh, so he's married then." Mrs. Higurashi sounded disappointed. Kagome sighed, she knew where this was going.

"No mama, he's not married."

"Really?"

"Mama, is grandpa in yet?"

"Yes dear, but you know…"

"Yes mama, I know the `I want grandchildren before I die' speech by heart."

"I just want you to be happy, dear."

"I know mama." and you want grandchildren to make you happy.

"I love you."

"I love you too mama. I'll call again as soon as I can."

"Ok baby, here's grandpa."

Kagome sat quietly for a minute as she heard her mother telling her grandfather that the telephone was for him over the sounds of breakfast cooking.

"HELLO." Grandpa yelled into the phone. Kagome made an exasperated face at her grandfathers telephone skills. The old guy never did care much for the `cursed contraptions' as he called them.

"Hey gramps, its Kagome." Kagome called into the receiver while holing it away from her ear for self preservations sake.

"KAGOME?"

"Yes Gramps. I wanted to ask you a question…"

"I WANT TO HAVE A WORD WITH YOU YOUNG LADY! YOU HAVE DISGRACED OUR FAMILY SLEEPING WITH THAT MAN AND PUTTING IT IN THE PAPER. I HOPE HE PLANS ON MAKING AN HONEST WOMAN OUT OF YOU!"

`Oh sweet merciful heaven.' "Grandpa! I didn't sleep with him!" Kagome shouted back into the phone. "That's a tabloid paper, they make up junk like that all the time!"

"WHY WOULD THEY PRINT IT IF IT WASN'T TRUE?"

"That's what they do grandpa, its like printed gossip. Think about it, I haven't even known him for a week! Now I have a serious question for you. What do you know about visions?"

"VISIONS YOU SAY?"

"Yes, grandpa, visions." Kagome sighed rubbing her temple.

"WHAT KIND OF VISIONS, THERE ARE MANY KINDS. THERE ARE VISIONS OF THE FUTURE, VISIONS OF THE PAST, THEY CAN BE LINKS TO A PERSON OR A PLACE…"

"I don't think its from a specific person, because I've had the visions about two separate people and only while in their presence. It seems to be spurred by physical contact."

"HMMM. VERY INTERESTING, BUT YOU ALWAYS WERE A SENSITIVE CHILD. PERHAPSE YOU ARE PICKING UP ON SOMEONES PAST LIVES OR PERHAPSE IT IS THE GHOSTS OF PEOPLE ONCE RESIDING IN THAT HOUSE."

"Maybe," Kagome wasn't too sure about the whole past lives thing. That just seemed a little far fetched, not to mention the fact that the people in her visions looked almost exactly like they did now. That just seemed a little coincidental, but Kagome never did hold too much stock in grandpa's theories. "Hey, you know that book with the legend of the Shikon no tama?"

"AH THE JEWEL OF FOUR SOULS, YES I KNOW THAT ONE QUITE WELL. IT IS SAID THAT OVER FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AGO…."

"Yeah grandpa, that's the one, can you send me the book?"

"YES, I'LL HAVE YOUR MOTHER MAIL IT OUT LATER TODAY. A VERY INTERESTING STORY THAT ONE IS, AND ODLY ENOUGH THERE'S NO ENDING. IT ALL STARTED…"

"Well, I've got to go grandpa. I love you."

"THERE WAS A GREAT DEMON LORD…"

CLICK

Kagome sat there looking at the phone for a few minutes with a wistful smile on her face. She wondered how long it would take gramps to realize she wasn't on the phone anymore.

Ok, ok, so maybe it was just a itsy bit disrespectful to just hang up on him like that, but she didn't have all day to listen to him, and he really could go on all day once he got started.

"Mmmmm. Eggs sound really good right about now." She commented to the dark, empty kitchen. It was nearly seven now, might as well start breakfast for everyone. It would give Kaede a break for once, and she enjoyed cooking every once in a while. It's a great way to clear you mind.

She dug around for a while through cabinets for a while until she found a couple of big frying pans. She pulled the eggs and a package of bacon and a tub of butter out of the huge stainless steel side by side fridge, noting with a hint of cynicism that the refrigerator had no magnets on it. What kind of person didn't put magnets on their refrigerator?

Humming light heartedly Kagome set to work cracking eggs and dumping them into the hot frying pan liberally lined with melted butter, sighing happily as the wonderful smells of breakfast cooking assaulted her nose.

The back door was suddenly flung open, making the poor girl yelp and nearly dropping her pan of eggs. There in the doorway was a very disgruntled looking Sesshoumaru.

A very disgruntled and very shirtless Sesshoumaru. Luckily Kagome caught herself before she dropped all of her hard work on the pristine tile floor and her little balancing act saved her the embarrassment of drooling in front of him.

"Morning." She flashed him a nervous smile.

"What are you doing?" He asked calmly moving toward her. He had on a pair of drawstring linen pants, a tee shirt of some sort draped over his shoulder. The smooth muscles of his torso rippled slightly with his movements. Kagome had to bite her cheek hard to stop herself from staring.

She shot him a bemused smile before turning to flip the eggs. "You really are spoiled if you don't know what cooking looks like."

He draped his shirt over the back of one of the high backed bar stools. "I am quite familiar with the act, what I want to know is why you are cooking when Kaede is perfectly competent in the kitchen."

"I am well aware of Kaede's culinary skills." Kagome said, a little irritated that he was being such a pain. " I just felt like cooking this morning and I figured she would like a break." He simply raised an eyebrow mockingly at her. She seriously considered taking the spatula and flinging the eggs at him.

`No!' She made up her mind right then and there, she was going to take the high road. She placed the pan back down on the stove and turned to face him leaning over the bar. She placed her chin in her elbow and looked into his face searchingly.

"Do you ever relax?" She asked him seriously, narrowing her eyes as if to detect if he were lying to her.

"I have down time in between projects." He stated watching her watching him. His lips twitched in amusement when her eyes dropped to his chest and quickly snapped back up to his face.

"That's not what I asked." She said with a frown. "I asked if you ever relax. Kick back, drink a brewsky with the guys, play touch foot ball in the yard with your brother?" He gave her a disgusted look. "I bet you've never just kicked your feet up and vegged out in front of the TV have you?"

"Why would I waste my time like that when I could be doing something productive?"

"Figures." Kagome sighed and turned pulling down a plate for him and started piling on the eggs and bacon. She placed the plate in front of him and he stared at it for a minute. "Breakfast." Kagome stated flatly. "You do eat don't you."

"yes."

"Then eat up. I didn't poison it."

"Indeed." He said with a trace of amusement, but he sat at the bar regardless. He didn't usually take breakfast in the kitchen, nor did he usually eat such a heavy meal so early, but for some reason he couldn't turn her down when she was all but hand feeding him.

His morning exertions had done nothing for his state of mind and yet just five minutes with the witty young woman had calmed the turbulent storm of his emotions. She was watching him intently as he stared hesitantly at the plate of food in front of him. It looked edible enough. With an inward sigh Sesshoumaru scooped up a bite of eggs and tentatively put them into his mouth and chewed.

Kagome watched him with baited breath, waiting for some sign of approval and wondering how anyone managed to making something as simple as chewing looking elegant. At least he didn't eat like Inuyasha.

"Well?" She asked anxiously leaning forward to rest on the bar.

"It is adequate." Sesshoumaru commented before placing another forkful in his mouth.

Kagome `hmphed' indignantly and threw the dish towel she had draped over her shoulder at him. She was aiming for his head, but he caught it easily and sent her an arrogant smirk.

"I bet you never drink out of the milk carton either do you?"

"And why would I do that?" He asked after swallowing another bite. It was actually rather good. He hadn't had a breakfast like this in years.

"Because its what all NORMAL people do when no one is around to see them being too lazy to get a glass." She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Kagome gasped as she glanced at the clock on the microwave. 6:55 am. "Oh no! I've got to go. I don't want to be on Giana's hit list."

She moved the eggs to the back burner and covered the bacon to keep it warm before heading out the door with a hurried good-bye.

Sesshoumaru stared after her for a while contemplating the girls strange behavior and why it affected him so much. Shaking his head he stood up to get him self a glass of milk. He pulled the carton out and looked between it and the glass in his hand for a moment before shaking his head and pouring a glass. He was not about to let her get to him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The morning flew by. Luckily she was on time for the mornings work out because Giana was in full form with her riding crop. Poor Miroku was behaving himself so well, she had to giggle at the way he would cringe every time she would walk by.

Naraku didn't bother to show for the work out, not that Kagome was upset about it or anything, but it was strange seeing as Sesshoumaru wanted them to be there. He was after all the one signing the pay checks around here.

Kagome was having a hard time thinking of all of this as work though, it seemed more like a structured all expense paid vacation to her.

Her session with Inuyasha that morning went much better, unfortunately she didn't get any one on one 'repositioning' from Sesshoumaru, much to her disappointment.

Actually she didn't see him at all until after lunch. She had just finished eating while the others headed in different directions to work on different skills; Miroku and Koga were headed to the dojo with Inuyasha, Sango was headed to the pool to work on her tan with Ayami, and surprisingly enough she still hadn't seen hide nor hair of Naraku.

She was standing in the kitchen looking out into the back garden where Rin was happily traipsing through the rows of carefully planted flowers and plants stooping here or there to jerk a few out of the ground roots and all. Jaken, who was apparently supposed to be watching over her, was fast asleep on the garden bench, his head thrown back and mouth wide with his snores.

Kagome watched with a smile as Rin tiptoed up to the sleeping geezer and plucked the heads off a few of the daisies she'd picked and placed them over his eyes and mouth. Jaken sucked in a shuddering breath and inadvertently sucked in the daisy as well.

Kagome chuckled as the pitiful old man coughed and sputtered and spit out daisy petals. Rin shrieked with delight and began running circles around the garden bench as Jaken started fussing at her about respecting her elders.

As she watched the child start showering the old man with flower petals her thoughts drifted to the conversation with her grandfather that morning. Should she tell Sesshoumaru what he said? No, probably better to just wait and see what happens. So far today she hadn't had anymore freaky happenings so maybe it really was just a fluke.

Wishful thinking.

"Your archery instructor has decided to join us." A smooth voice sounded behind her startling her from her thoughts.

She jumped and turned to face Sesshoumaru. He was wearing a slightly wistful expression as he watched his daughter torturing the old man. Kagome smiled warmly, it was sweet to see such a powerful man crumble to the will of a six year old with watery brown eyes.

"Does she torture all her sitters like this, or is Jaken special?" She asked with a playful smile.

Gorgeous amber eyes flickered toward her for a moment before returning to the sight of his daughter, who was now sitting on the bench next to the old man swinging her legs back and forth. "She is fond of him."

Kagome giggled and turned back to the scene out in the garden where the little brown headed girl was merrily threading daisies into the old mans thinning gray hair. He didn't look very happy about it, not that Rin noticed. "Remind me not to get on her bad side."

He gave a noncommittal `Hn', though she could swear the corners of his mouth twitched.

"Um.." Kagome fidgeted nervously with the hem of her shirt, "didn't you say something about the archery instructor being here?"

He gave an almost imperceptible nod and turned walking out the back door. Kagome sighed and followed feeling a little miffed. She wasn't sure what his problem was, but he was acting all distant and weird. Not that he wasn't always a little distant and weird, but he usually took every chance he got to insult her in some subtle way or another.

`Gah, what is wrong with me?' She wondered as they stepped out into the garden, `do I actually miss him ragging on me?'

Yes, as sad as it sounded she did.

"I suppose that was Sesshoumaru for 'yes, your instructor is here, please follow me lovely and talented Kagome.'" She said wryly, purposely trying to provoke him.

He said nothing and just continued walking. 'Ouch.' Kagome thought, confused at the feeling of hurt that suddenly constricted in her chest.

"Hi Miss Kagome!" Rin shouted running up to her. Kagome knelt down and ruffled the girls hair, forcing a smile on her face.

"Hey sweetie. Are you having fun playing with Jaken?" Kagome shot a glance at the old man, he was pulling assorted flowers and weeds out of his hair and shirt pockets and tossing them to the ground.

"Oh yes, Rin made Jaken pretty!" She wiggled her little finger signaling for Kagome to bend down so she could whisper something in her ear. "He is old." She whispered conspiratorially. "And he needs lots of flowers to look pretty."

Kagome sniggered. "Yes, I think your right, but flowers make everyone look pretty don't you think?"

Rin nodded enthusiastically and pushed a fat yellow daisy into the thick mass of black hair behind Kagome's ear. "Can you play with Rin?" She asked hopefully.

"I have to go learn how to shoot arrows right now, but I will play with you when I get through."

"Really?"

"Really. Now go play, and don't give Jaken too much trouble."

"Okay." She flashed her million dollar gap-toothed smile and bounded back after Jaken.

Kagome stood and turned, apparently Mr. Cold Shoulder had waited for her. He had the strangest look on his face, but Kagome was still mad at him for kissing her then acting like nothing happened. The jerk.

She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him her best glare. "And just what is your problem today?" She asked once she was sure Rin was out of hearing range.

He said nothing and kept walking.

"Fine, you want to pretend that nothing happened then that's just fine with me." She said balling her fists tightly at her sides trying her best to keep the hurt out of her voice.

But she was hurt. Maybe it was just the thought of being rejected, or maybe it was the thought of being used, or maybe for some strange reason she was starting to like him.

She felt a familiar tingle at the back of her eyes as the moisture gathered in the corners. She blinked it away quickly refusing to let her be that weak over a guy. Especially a guy she had absolutely no chance with to begin with. They were just too different, they came from to totally different worlds.

Sesshoumaru stopped suddenly as they passed the dojo. She could see the archery field that had been set up in the distance, but it was still far enough away that she couldn't see who her instructor was. He turned to look at her, but she averted her eyes elsewhere.

"I talked to my grandfather about what happened yesterday." She told him tonelessly still looking away over the cliff at the ocean. When he said nothing in response she continued. "He's a priest so I thought he might have some ideas as to what would cause it. He suggested the possibility of restless spirits of people who used to live here channeling through us or even some sort of past life repressed memories. He is a little senile though, it could have just been a fluke like you said."

Sesshoumaru still said nothing. Fine, if he wanted to play like that she could do it as well. Just as she started walking away toward the archery field his arm shot out and grabbed her forearm pulling her back to him.

As soon as the contact was made a flash of black and white swam before them, but it was gone too soon to make anything out other than to discern that it had happened. She turned her startled blue eyes up to his, surprised at how lost he looked.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment before he opened his mouth to say something, but seemed to change his mind. Instead he pulled her flush to his chest thrusting his hands into her hair and pulling his mouth down to cover her own. Her body seemed to respond to him of its own will and she felt her anger begin to melt away.

She relaxed into him allowing her hands to roam his well built chest and find a place to rest in the soft hair at the nape of his neck. He adjusted his hold on her, wrapping one arm around her waist to pull her closer while his other hand remained gently fisted in her hair pulling a soft moan from her. The kiss was soft yet passionate. Kagome felt light headed.

They broke apart for air and Sesshoumaru rested his forehead against hers, panting slightly, his eyes still closed. "What have you done to me?" He whispered.

Kagome stiffened in his arms as the familiarity of that voice sounding in her ears, saying those same words, crashed around her. Her dream, that's exactly what he said to her in her dream.

"You-you know I have done nothing." She barely managed to choke out in a broken whisper. She was following the script her dreams had laid out for her, playing the game. Whatever was going on it was not some sort of gostie channeling them, and it felt to familiar to be memories from a past life. And what would the chances of coming together with someone from a past life anyway? No, this was something else entirely though she had no clue as to what.

Sesshoumaru's head was spinning. This was eerily familiar. Something very odd was happening here, but his earlier presumptions about the visions being stirred as a result of physical contact seemed false. A fact he was strangely happy about.

This meant he didn't have to avoid her like he had planned, even though he probably should. The last thing he needed right now was a relationship to deal with, and he seriously doubted that Kagome was the type of girl to have a summer fling.

He couldn't do that to her even if he wanted to. She was too naive and innocent, despite her fiery tongue. Not to mention how attached Rin would become. Who was he kidding, Rin was already attached to the girl and Rin rarely, regardless of her happy go lucky nature, was not overly trusting with older women.

He knew he should stop this now before it went any further. It should have never been started to begin with and the worst part about the whole situation is that no matter how many times he tried to fault her for it he just could not. He got himself into this situation and he would have to be man enough to get himself out.

The only question now was 'could he'?

He was snapped out of his internal reflection by a delicate hand waving in front of his face and Kagome's slightly peeved voice ringing in his ears.

"Hey." She wrinkled her nose in annoyance. "What do you think your doing kissing me then zoning out and staring at me like a lunatic? You listen and listen good because I'm only going to say this once. I…AM…NOT one of your slutty little fan girls ready and willing to throw themselves at your beck and call." She emphasized her point with several sharp jabs to the chest before he caught her hand with his own. "I am here to make a movie not be your little play thing. I will not be used like that." She was panting heavily now with the force of her ire and her eyes were starting to sting with unshed tears. "I don't want to be hurt …"

The force of her words had dwindled to a nearly inaudible whisper. She didn't want to get attached and have him crinkle up her heart and toss it out like yesterdays news paper. She didn't want to fall in love, and yet it seemed the wheels were in motion and some part of her couldn't help but stir at the feel of his gentle lips on hers. Longing perhaps and loneliness, but no matter how lonely she might feel she still didn't want an empty relationship based on physical attraction.

The moisture gathering at the corners of her eyes was not lessening in the turn of her thoughts. She didn't want to cry in front of him, she didn't want to look weak and childish. Keeping her head down she tried to pull herself from his arms, but he held her steady.

Warm elegant fingers curled under her chin and tilted her head up to meet his gaze. Sesshoumaru almost laughed, even when he held her chin up so she would look at him she still averted her eyes to the side.

Tentatively she turned her gaze to meet his, it was unreadable as usual. Slowly he started bringing his face down to meet hers, and Kagome was sorely tempted to just give in and let him kiss her again, but her defenses kicked in last minute.

"Wait." She said in a broken whisper, placing her fingers over his mouth to stop him from claiming her own. "Don't do this unless it is what you really want. I can't …I don't want…If you…" Finally frustrated at herself for stumbling over her own words Kagome spit it out plain as day. "Don't lead me on Sesshoumaru, if you don't want a relationship with me then pleas don't start one you have no intentions of perusing."

Sesshoumaru looked down at the girl in his arms for a long moment. Did he want a relationship? Not really, no. He did just fine on his own, he didn't need attachments like that. With out so much as a word he detached his arms from around her slim waist and headed back toward the house.

He didn't look back, he couldn't trust himself to. If he did he would have seen the hurt spilling out of those beautiful blue eyes and it would have broken his resolve. No, he wouldn't be brought to his knees by any woman. She wanted things from him that he just did not have to give. She deserved better than what he had to offer.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

AN; O-o. Angsty, eh? Sorry, didn't really plan it that way, but I didn't want them moving too fast into anything, lets be realistic here people. Besides we all know that Sesshoumaru has some serious denial problems anyway. ^.^'. Hope you liked it, let me know. R& R , my goal is to have 1000 reviews by the time this thing is over so help me out, ne? Thanks again, U.C.