InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Final Bow ❯ Turning Tides ( Chapter 9 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer; see ch. 1

A/N; Have you ever been reading fan fic's with other people in the room and read something funny that you laughed out loud at? Then the other people in the room get this funny look on their face and ask what's so funny, so you try to explain, but its kind of a situational comedy and the person doesn't get it. Then you just feel stupid…yeah. That sucks.

Anyways, I love my readers! You guys rock, I got some of the best reviews! Just to answer a few questions, I am figuring on having between 20 and 30 chapters, though I don't have it down to an exact number. I don't want to draw it out too long, but I don't want to cut it short either. Also, I am mainly focusing on the relationship between Kag & Sess. If I wrote out the development of all the relationships in the story it would probably never end.

The Final Bow

By; Undecidedly Certain

Chapter Nine

Turning Tides

>>>>>>>>

Three weeks. She had been here three weeks and had only gotten to go to the beach once. The ocean was less than one hundred feet away, and she was subjected to smelling that alluring salty aroma every time she stepped outside and had to gaze out over the vast expanse of endless blue every morning during their workouts. Yet, she never seemed to find time to go.

Life was an impotent little bald man, hell bent on making everyone else as frustrated and miserable as himself.

“KAGOME! GET YOUR SCRAWNY ASS OVER HERE!”

Make that a FAT, little, impotent, bald man with a mouth full of lemons.

Kagome sighed and pushed herself up off the soft tuft of grass she had settled herself on just moments before and followed Ayame back over to the `battle field'. They had been running the choreography of the major battle scenes all week.

It was exhausting. She was tired, her muscles were sore, and she was sweating like a pig.

“Ladies don't sweat.” Ayame informed her with a wink as they walked as slowly as possible to where Inuyasha was standing impatiently, a bokken resting carelessly over his shoulder. “We glisten.”

“Well I'm glistening like a pig then.” Kagome said as she dourly swiped at her forehead with the back of her hand. A thoroughly disgusted look covered her face as she wiped the salty liquid on the back of her shorts. “Gah! I feel so gross!”

“Yeah well you look gross too wench.” Inuyasha said with a playful smirk, tossing her the special long bow and foam tipped arrows used for practicing the battle sequences.

Kagome calmly pulled an arrow from the quiver and shot him in the head.

It bounced right off of course, but it still left an angry red whelp right between his eyes due to the close range. He rubbed at it furiously sending her a glare.

Kagome smiled innocently and batted her eyelashes at him with nothing but an “oopsie” for an appology.

He scowled and turned to walk toward Sango muttering something about `violent wenches'. Kagome snickered and met Sesshoumaru's eyes from where he was sitting on the sidelines watching their progress. He had his hand resting nonchalantly over his mouth concealing an amused smile.

`Good god he's sexy when he does that.” Kagome thought longingly. Good thing she wasn't the swooning type.

The visions had been oddly absent as of late. They had tried on several occasions over the last two weeks to summon them to no avail. They seemed unwilling to be forced, much to the frustration of Kagome.

Sesshoumaru, as always seemed for the most part unaffected.

Of course they spent half of that time driving each other crazy. It was the most undeniably confusing situation Kagome had ever found herself in. One minute she wanted to rip his head off and tell him where to shove it and the next she had the overwhelming urge to kiss him. It was driving her crazy.

Flashing him a brilliant smile and a suggestive wink from her position on the field, Kagome laughed out loud when his eyebrows shot up at her outwardly flirty behavior. For some reason she found great amusement in keeping him on edge.

Their `relationship', in what ever terms it could be defined, hadn't been progressing very quickly, at least not on a physical level, but they had been spending more time together, a lot of it just in quiet conversation…or at least until he started an argument.

Oh yes, it was always him starting them too. She was beginning to think that he liked to argue with her. It was kind of a one step forward two steps back kind of situation, yet she just couldn't seem to get enough of him.

Sesshoumaru could be so different when they were alone, nice almost. Sometimes.

Kagome pouted a bit as she watched the flurry of motion across the open field - which, by the way, didn't much look like a battle to her, but who was she to judge. It would be different when they filmed it in the studio.

But that wasn't why she was pouting. Sesshoumaru hadn't tried to kiss her again, much to her disappointment, he was probably afraid she would get mad and cry again. She hadn't been able to come up with a good excuse to kiss him and was too embarrassed to put the moves on him just for the heck of it.

In all honesty she wasn't really sure if he wanted to pursue an actual relationship with her at all, but the more time she spent with him the more time she wanted to spend with him. Once she found out that Rin was adopted and Sesshoumaru had no `strings attached' so to speak, Kagome had found herself feeling much less inhibited around him.

She had been spending more time with Rin also and had already made a vow that even if nothing developed between Sesshoumaru and herself that she would still be there for the child post-movie.

The little girl seemed to soak up the female attention like a little love sponge. Kagome was able to provide the cuddling and affection the child craved, along with spending time doing girly things with her like paint nails and fixing hair. Things that Sesshoumaru had absolutely no intention of doing with her.

“Alright,” Inuyasha said coming up and positioning Sango and herself for the battle scene between the miko and demon slayer versus a giant oni that was to take place in the first half of the film when Miya decides to go `undercover' and infiltrate the western citadel to dredge up Norihiko's faithful supporters. She goes under the guise of an apprentice slayer to Sango, or Karu as the character was called, going to offer their services.

There were three camera men on sight to tape rehearsals, three angles to catch all their mistakes and perfect the choreography so the scenes would be perfect. Kagome had been nervous the first day the cameras had been brought out, but she soon forgot they were even there.

“Ok, lets take this from the top and we will go through the counts nice and slow.” Inuyasha instructed as Kagome and Sango readied their practice weapons.

A gigantic practice dummy was set up in place of the oni that would be created by a CG team in the actual film. It was all plaster and foam and snot green, though she wasn't quite sure why they picked that color out the spectrum.

They had even gone so far as to give it a crude face, complete with a potato looking nose and drawn on fangs (courtesy of Inuyasha and Miroku). A team of four puppetiers were in charge of moving the dummy around the field during the mock battles. Kagome felt sorry for them, It was almost twenty feet tall and the thing looked like it weighed a ton.

Inuyasha gave Sesshoumaru a sharp nod, signaling that he was ready to begin.

“Action.” Sesshoumaru called from his seat.

“1...” Inuyasha called out loudly as Kagome pulled an arrow an nocked it. “2...” Sango hefted her huge boomerang up over her head giving it a flashy twirl.

“Higurashi this is a battle scene, not a ballet!” Sesshoumaru called out in an irritated tone.

Kagome pouted. “Higurashi this is a battle scene not a ballet.” She mocked under her breath, sending him the best dirty look she could muster.

Inuyasha chuckled and continued the count. “3...” The oni was pushed forward. “4...” Kagome let her first arrow fly, immediately nocking another in its place. “5...” Sango heaved the boomerang, clipping its shoulder knocking a large chunk of paper machete off the dummy. “6...” The 'oni' was swung toward Kagome who fired her arrow, which bounced off its chest, she then dropped and rolled out of the way. Hitting the ground a little harder than she had meant to knocked the wind out of her, she sat stunned for a moment before rolling back onto her feet.

“Remember how I told you to roll Kags.” Inuyasha scolded lightly before continuing. “7...” Sango released the boomerang once more, this time purposely missing and landing it in the ground behind the plaster oni. “8...” The creature swung at Sango this time, and Sango moved out of the way just in time, diving for her weapon. “9...” the oni turned to Kagome. “10...” Sango reached her weapon and launched it at the oni hitting it in the back. Unfortunately she hit it at just the right angle to off balance it sending the huge monstrosity forward…right for Kagome.

“OH SHIT! KAGOME GET OUT OF THERE!” Inuyasha yelled as the thing swung forward at her.

Later when they reviewed the tapes Kagome saw the puppeteers trying to steady the thing by pulling on the ropes attached at its shoulders, one poor guy even got pulled off his feet in the process. She saw Sango and Inuyasha came running forward to try to help her, and Sesshoumaru jump to his feet yelling her name, but while it was happening the only thing she heard was the deafening pounding of her heart.

As the massive structure of plaster, foam and wood descended upon her she instinctually let her arrow fly before trying to dive out of the way. She almost made it too.

When it hit the ground a massive cloud of dust rose up obscuring everything from view. Kagome felt a burning sensation on her thigh that quickly turned to a dull throb. Dirt flew in her face causing her to cough and sputter as she struggled to regain her bearings.

“Kagome! Oh god, are you ok?” She heard Sango's frantic voice calling.

“I'm (cough) fine (cough)!” She yelled back, even thought her thigh was throbbing something awful. Accessing the damage as the dust cloud began to dissipate, Kagome found that one of the plaster oni's massive arms had missed her leg by a fraction of an inch. If she had fallen an inch to the left her leg would most likely have been broken by the blow.

Luckily she had avoided the weight of the puppet by landing right at its green plaster armpit. Thank God they had decided to forgo realism and neglected to give it pit hair, that would have been nasty.

She tried to pull herself out from under it, wincing at the nasty throb in her right leg. A pair of strong hands grasped her upper arms and pulled her up, bringing her face to face with Sesshoumaru's beautiful hazel eyes. His mouth was pulled into a taught line as he looked her over for injury. His eyes stopped at her legs and narrowed almost angrily.

Kagome followed his line of sight and gasped when she saw the bright crimson liquid dripping down toward her knee. Apparently the arm left a nice gash in her right thigh, not deep enough to be serious, but enough to bleed pretty good.

With out a word to her Sesshoumaru swept her up into his arms bridal style and headed for the house. “Set up Naraku and Koga to go over the forest scene.” He called over his shoulder to his brother.

Kagome had to smile, he may not exactly be one for expressing things with words most of the time, but his actions spoke volumes. She snuggled her head into the crook of his neck, sighing at the wonderful smell of his cologne mixed with the salty sea air.

“I bet that looked pretty cool on camera.” She said almost wistfully. “I wonder if I could do it again.”

His sharp gaze snapped down to her. “You will not be attempting anything so foolish.” He told her sternly.

“You better be careful Sesshoumaru.” Kagome warned him playfully, bringing her hand up to play with the buttoned collar of his dress shirt.

“And why is that?” He asked, still looking straight ahead toward the house. “I believe you are the one injured.”

Kagome giggled and raised her head up to look him in the eye. “Someone might think you actually care.”

His eyes flickered to hers briefly before settling on their destination once more. He made no comment.

`If I could do that I would probably stay out of trouble more often.' She thought with a small smile. Her flapping jaws got her into more trouble than she cared to recollect. She couldn't seem to keep her mouth shut even in the best of circumstances.

Pushing the back door open, Sesshoumaru gracefully carried Kagome into the kitchen and gently sat her upon the counter before disappearing down the hall.

Kagome sat idly looking at her wound. It looked pretty bad, but then again most cuts look bad when their oozing blood and covered in dirt. She was about to get up to start cleaning the cut when Sesshoumaru came back through the door giving her a look that clearly said `stay put'.

“Hey!”

“They're ruined anyway.” He stated calmly as he ripped her jeans open along the outer seam from hip to knee.

“But I liked these jeans.” Kagome whined at the loss.

“Then you shouldn't have been rehearsing in them.”

There really wasn't anything to say to that, so Kagome sighed and pouted quietly.

After running cool water over a cloth, he began to carefully clean the cut. His hands were so gentle, and even though it stung like hell, Kagome couldn't help but melt under his touch.

Once all the blood and dirt was washed away they could tell that it really wasn't as bad as it looked at all. Nothing more than a six inch laceration, not quite deep enough to require stitches.

He smeared the cut with a good amount of Neosporin before wrapping her leg gently with a soft gauze bandage, his fingers gently brushing the inside of her thigh sending a rush of heat to her face.

It was in this moment of accidental, or maybe not so accidental, intimacy that Kagome noticed that Sesshoumaru was literally standing between her legs as she sat on the counter. She felt her breath hitch at this revelation.

When the bandaging was done he allowed his hands to linger on her skin a little longer than necessary, his eyes rising to meet hers.

“All better?” He asked in a low whisper.

Kagome swallowed hard and managed a feeble nod, the look in his eyes… it was making her weak and fluttery. She had never wanted to be kissed by anyone in her entire life as much as she wanted Sesshoumaru Takashima to kiss her in that moment.

Apparently he felt the same.

His face slowly moved toward her, his eyes never leaving hers, his hands still gently resting on her thighs. He moved slowly giving her the chance to stop him if it wasn't what she wanted. When her eyes fluttered closed he knew she wanted it just as bad as he did.

Just as their lips were about to meet the door flew open and in ran Rin holding poor Jaken's reading glasses like a trophy. Sesshoumaru and Kagome flew apart like guilty teenagers.

“heh…hey Rin.” Kagome smiled at the little girl, though she could feel her face burning.

Rin scrunched her little nose up, contorting her face in a comically serious face. Kagome was unconsciously holding her breath, she could just hear the questions coming out of that sweet little mouth now.

`What were you doing? Why? Are you in LOVE? Are you going to be my new mommy? Am I gonna get a baby sister? Where do babies come from?'

Sesshoumaru noticed Kagome growing suddenly pale and began to worry that perhaps she had lost more blood than he'd first assumed.

“You gots a boo boo Kagome?” Rin asked with concern as she edged closer to them, the glasses still clutched in her hand hanging limply by her side as the excitement of her conquest was overlapped by concern for Kagome.

“Just a little one.” Kagome sighed in relief at having dodged the bullet. “I'm ok.” She assured the worried child. “Your papa Sess took good care of me.”

At that assertion Rin grinned broadly. “Did he kiss it? That always makes Rin's boo boo's feel better.”

“Uh….Well …um” Kagome stammered, the color that had drained from her face now returning full force. Even though she had no qualms about kissing Sesshoumaru, her …boo-boo…was in a decidedly intimate place. She felt herself getting flustered just thinking about it.

Rin put her hands on her hips and made a sweeping gesture with Jaken's glasses, looking for a moment very much like an old librarian Kagome remembered very well from primary school. “Well, kiss her boo-boo papa Sess.” She chastised in the way only a six year old can.

Sesshoumaru turned a rakish grin on Kagome at which she promptly responded with a warning glare. Something about the way her cheeks colored for him was endearing, he found himself actually thinking of ways to make her blush, something he would have considered a criminal waste of time not too long ago.

His smirk still firmly in place he turned to his daughter. “I will have to kiss it later Rin. We have a busy schedule,” he explained, “Rehearsals.”

Rin accepted this excuse easily and headed back to torture Jaken some more. He turned back to Kagome, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“What are you thinking?” Kagome asked him narrowing her eyes in speculation.

He didn't reply, but the smirk that crossed his face was more than enough for her to know that she probably wouldn't like it. Or perhaps that she would like it a bit too much.

It could go either way at this point.

“You know,” she stated giving him a gentle poke in the chest causing him to glare at the offending finger haughtily, “you really should think about getting her a nanny. I think Jaken may be getting too old to handle Rin's particular brand of affection.”

Sesshoumaru sighed as he helped her down off the counter, steadying her when she winced slightly as her feet connected with the floor. She was going to be sore tomorrow, that was for sure.

“She does like to torture the old man doesn't she?”

Kagome giggled as they headed back out toward the `battle field' as Inuyasha dubbed it. They walked in a comfortable silence. Strangely enough neither of them were feeling awkward about being interrupted pre-osculation. A little frustrated perhaps. Disappointed …most definitely, but not discomforted.

They had grown quite contented in each others presence in the short time they had known each other. Even their squabbles held a certain affinity for each other, kindred spirits so to speak. She had a way of breaking down his borders and loosening his tie, just as his mere presence made her feel peaceful and secure.

A completion of something infinitely larger than human understanding…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The rest of the afternoon flew by. Mostly in observation for Kagome's part thankfully, she really wasn't much of a fighter. Not like the rest of them.

The choreography of the battle between Koga and Naraku was viscous and complicated. It would probably take lots of practice to get the moves down to the exact precision that she knew both Takishima brothers would demand.

She learned quickly that it wasn't much different than dancing, just a little more violent and painful at times. Regardless she was loving every minute of it.

After a shower, dinner, and reading Rin a bed time story Kagome was completely wiped out and decided to head on to bed a little early.

Pulling back the heavy duvet and crawling under the sheets she lay there for a while trying to find sleep, but it somehow imagined to dodge her at every turn. It was extremely irritating.

She was exhausted, probably too much so to be perfectly honest. The day had been draining, both physically and mentally and her mind was just too wound up to allow her body to sleep, yet her body was too tired to get up and do anything.

With a heavy sigh she rolled over, a perturbed expression drawing out her features as she stared at the gold toned wall by the door. This was not helping.

She reached out and flipped on her bedside lamp and snatched up her script. Hopefully a little reading would wear her down enough to get some much needed sleep.

Page 25

Kagome thought over what had progressed in the script so far. `Ok, so far Norihiko was tricked and seriously injured by the dark miko. Miya found him and nursed him back to health, keeping his identity secret. Despite his adamant, and sometimes violent protests, Miya has been helping to rally Norihiko's supporters and has stumbled across the lone survivor from an exterminators village. She is preparing to leave for the western Citadel under the guise of an apprentice exterminator to try to rally more soldiers that remained loyal to Norihiko. Norihiko is not at all happy about it.

Norihiko: (angrily) Foolish woman. Do you realize that they will kill you if they find you.

Miya: Karu is a strong warrior and I can most certainly hold my own.

Norihiko: Not against an entire stronghold full of demons who's main purpose in life is warfare.

Miya: Most of whom remain loyal to you. Look, I'm going to mask my aura and my face will be covered the entire time. They'll never even realize who I am. Besides, we may be able to find out what he is planning.

Norihiko: (snarls) You will not go .

Miya: And just when did I start listening to you.

[Norihiko grabs Miya by the throat, a move that would have frightened anyone into submission, but Miya only seems encouraged by his actions]

Norihiko: I forbid it.

Miya: You better be careful Lord Norihiko, someone may start to think you care……

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The next day found the main cast and limited crew back on the battle field working through one of the more complex battle scenes that involved nearly all the main actors and a ton of extras, none of whom were present as of yet.

Kagome shifted nervously in her sneakers, her cotton tee shirt and black gym shorts were airy but the heat was still sweltering. The black sports bra she was wearing wasn't helping much either, she could feel herself sweating and it took all of her self control not to swipe at it.

Inuyasha was pacing anxiously around the battlefield spouting out directions to the crew as obstacles and practice dummies were set up on the field.

The first week it had been only the core group of actors participating in the film, but as the weeks progressed it seemed that more people arrived every day. Not all of them stayed of course, but there was a lot more that went into making a movie than Kagome ever thought possible.

Sesshoumaru was seated comfortably in his high backed directors chair just off to the sidelines watching the proceedings with such an ethereal calm, it was almost disturbing. He was like the eye of the storm, the calm place in the melee and ruckus whipping around them like a deadly force.

Kagome at once found herself awed and irritated by it.

Once everyone was in position it was time to work the first sequence of the main battle. It was Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Naraku, and Inuyasha fighting against Kouga, Ayame, and two new guys that just arrived yesterday named Ginta and Hakkau. In the film it would actually be the good guys V.S. the people playing the bad guys plus a bunch of CG and extras playing demon warriors as well.

They had to get the main characters familiar with the scene though before they brought in the extras to keep the confusion to a minimum and to limit the number of takes they had to do in full costume.

Once they were all in position Inuyasha called out a few instructions. Sango and Miroku were to be taking on Ginta and Hakku for this section of the fight, Inuyasha was to be fighting with Ayame, who by the way had the coolest weapon. It was a fighting fan which, once special effects were added, would control the wind. Naraku and Kagome were to be fighting Kouga.

“And Action.” Sesshoumaru called once they were all in position. The first take was awkward and stilted, everyone moving in slow motion. After fifteen minutes of working through the scene Sesshoumaru called cut. “Lets focus on the movements between Naraku, Kagome, and Kouga.”

The three positioned themselves from the start of the scene once more while the others stood to the side to watch. Inuyasha came up, making minor adjustment to weapon grips and footing positions before Sesshoumaru started the scene again.

They moved in the battle dance slowly, but more gracefully, with Inuyasha calling out suggestions and instructions as they went.

“Ok Kouga, now go for Kagome and Naraku, you pull her out of the way just before he hits. Timing here will be critical.”

Kouga did as asked and just as he was instructed Naraku snagged Kagome around the waist and pulled her out of the way. It should have been a perfectly innocent act, but as Kagome was learning quickly… nothing with Naraku was ever as innocent as it should be.

His arm tightened almost painfully around her and she winced. Not only was she uncomfortable being so close to him, he was starting to hurt her, his fingers digging painfully into her ribs.

“Ouch. Not so hard Naraku.” She whimpered slightly, but instead of loosening his grip he held tighter. Sesshoumaru had called cut and Inuyasha was barking out critiques and instructions for the next pair up, not noticing that Naraku had yet to release Kagome.

“He stopped the scene Naraku.” Kagome stated in a shaky voice. He was making her very nervous and he was pulling her so close to his chest that her toes were barely touching the ground. He ignored her and put his face down in the crook of her neck breathing heavily on her skin.

Kagome was getting angry now, he was definitely crossing the boundaries of her personal space and he was hurting her.

“Let me go!” She told him forcefully, pushing against his arms and chest.

His dark, rumbling laughter blew through her hair frightening her more than the painful grip he had around her ribs. His other hand did not remain idle as it slowly rose, brushing against her side and sliding under the hem of her shirt. “Do you really think you can get away from me little miko?” He whispered against her skin, his tongue flicking out against her neck.

Kagome's eyes widened and she started to struggle against his merciless grip, heedless of the pain that shot through her ribs. She was confused, he was calling her miko…was he still acting?

“I SAID LET GO!” She shouted gaining the attention of the others.

He dug his fingers painfully into her side and she cried out in pain, her knees giving way slightly under her. Before she could even register the movement she found herself in a completely different set of arms as Naraku was jerked away from her by Inuyasha.

A strong arm was wrapped around her waist protectively, firm like an iron band, yet gentle enough not to hurt her. Kagome looked back with wide frightened eyes only to see Sesshoumaru Takishima's fierce glare bearing into Naraku like spikes of ice.

“What the hell do you think your doing Himura?” Inuyasha yelled at the actor, still holding him by the back of the shirt.

Naraku smirked. “Guess I just got carried away.” He said nonchalantly, flicking his tongue against his lips and making Kagome cringe at the casual tone he was using after hurting her like that.

And he licked her neck! EWWW!

“Yeah, well pay attention. You could have hurt her.” Inuyasha said giving him a rough shove away from them.

Kagome kept waiting for Sesshoumaru to yell at him, to punch his lights out, anything to defend her honor, but there was no response from the young man still holding her possessively. He was glaring furiously at the young dark haired actor, but remained silent.

She wasn't sure why, but Kagome felt a little hurt by this. She could tell he wasn't happy just by the look on his face, but he remained silent. Maybe she was just overreacting about the whole thing, maybe he really did just get carried away with the scene.

“Um…” Kagome said quietly pulling away from Sesshoumaru, “If I'm done for the day I think I'm going to go take a shower.” A tightness in her throat and tingling in the tip of her nose made it clear that unless she wanted to make a scene - it was time for her to make her exit.

Sesshoumaru looked at her silently for a moment, his face void but his eyes were a torrent of emotion. With out a word he gave her a curt nod before turning and heading back over to his chair.

A tear slipped down her cheek as she headed for the house, but she wasn't quite sure what it was for. Naraku's man handling or Sesshoumaru's almost total lack of response to it.

She shook her head and swiped at her eyes. There was no way she was going to be a baby about this, it was just ridiculous to be upset over it anyways. It was nothing, just a little over enthusiasm on Naraku's part. Sesshoumaru must see it all the time.

So why didn't that make her fell any better?

She climbed the stairs to her room slowly, wincing at the sharp pains coming from her side. With a sigh she kicked off her shoes leaving them in the middle of the room and began shrugging off her clothes leaving them strewn across the floor on the trip to the bathroom.

Turning on the hot water to let it warm up Kagome stepped up in front of the mirror. The person staring back at her looked tired, maybe Sesshoumaru would give them Saturday off and she could get some well deserved sleep.

Then she noticed it.

With wide eyes she turned to the side lifting her arm to reveal the large purple bruise forming down her side in the distinctive shape of a mans hand print. She poked at it hesitantly, wincing at the sharp jab of pain that shot through her nearly taking her breath away.

Could she have a couple of cracked ribs? It was terribly black and blue and starting to swell. This was more than over enthusiasm.

Kagome climbed under the scalding water trying to wash away the feel of his breath on her skin.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sesshoumaru sat back in his study that evening cradling his head in his hands. Kagome hadn't come down for dinner and when Rin went in to tell her good night she was already asleep.

There were so many thoughts running rampant through his mind at present he knew he couldn't fall asleep even if he wanted to.

It could all be summed up in one word. Kagome. All of his problems at present seemed to stem back to the dark haired woman asleep upstairs.

The visions didn't start until she showed up in his life, Rin wasn't asking for a mother before her, and he most certainly wasn't having the erotic, vivid and frustrating dreams that had plagued his nighttime visage the past few weeks.

He couldn't even explain what it was about her that fascinated him so.

“Pretentious, overly loquacious, disrespectful,” he grumbled out loud… and, he let out a long sigh, she was completely endearing.

He found himself drawn to the soft lines of her mouth when she smiled and the way she would wrinkle her nose at him when she was aggravated. The sound of her voice brought a peace to his soul that he was never able to achieve, not even through hours of meditation.

When he heard her cry out in pain this afternoon and saw Naraku with his head buried in her hair, his arms squeezing the air out of her, he felt a surge of anger stronger than anything he'd ever felt before. He wanted to rip Naraku's still beating heart out of his chest and watch the life drain from his eyes.

To be quite frank it disturbed him greatly. He let Inuyasha handle the situation, not trusting himself to open his mouth lest he might really lose control of his rage. Then she pulled away from him and he felt …he couldn't explain it.

Regret perhaps…or remorse for not doing more. She seemed ok though and that was what really mattered.

Naraku said he just got carried away. He didn't believe that for a second, the slimy bastard just wanted to get his hands on Kagome. He had made comments before, but Sesshoumaru just thought he was being his normal pompous, arrogant self.

He had worked with Naraku before, but he was different now. He couldn't quite put his finger on exactly what was different now, the man had always been arrogant and snide and presumptuous, but now he seemed to have almost a malicious under tone to him.

At first he had just taken Naraku's comments with a grain of salt thinking he was just running his mouth, but now…now he had to wonder if he really was a threat to Kagome.

And if he was…what could he do about it?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>& gt;>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

AN; So, what did you think? Naraku is a disgusting piece of poo, ne? Well if you don't like him now you definitely won't like him in the near future. Poor Kagome, but anything worth while is never easy. Don't forget to Review!

U.C.