InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Miko Jumped Over the Moon ❯ An End and a Beginning ( Chapter 9 )

Sunset sent crawling tendrils of purple off-shot with red twisting through the sky. The air became cooler and more biting, Sesshoumaru relocated to the crest of the hill to meditate on the tree stump situated there.

Two children watched him carefully.

“Even when I throw acorns at him he doesn't move!” Shippo informed Rin conspiratorially.

“When Sesshoumaru-sama sits like that he never moves.” Rin confided.

“Is he sleeping?” Shippo asked curiously.

“I don't think so.” Rin pondered her lord for a moment and then shrugged blithely.

“Maybe if we dropped a bucket of water on him from that tree...” Shippo mused as he inspected said branch.

“What are you plotting now Shippo?” an amused Kagome asked, her smirk widening when the two children twirled to look at her guiltily.

“Nothing Kagome.” Shippo scuffed his foot in the dirt and looked up at her innocently.

She ruffled his hair “Of course you were” she winked at him. “Go bug Miroku for a while, ne?”

Grinning, they obeyed and scampered off towards the others happily.

Sesshoumaru heard the quiet crunch of feet against grass and ascertained that the Miko was approaching. Her scent caressed the area fanning out to surround him comfortingly.

“What was the Kitsune planning?” Sesshoumaru asked softly.

Kagome smiled; it seemed he was impossible to sneak up on the Inu lord.

“Something to do with some water and that tree.” Kagome pointed at the innocent looking tree bowed over Sesshoumaru.

He frowned at the tree and Kagome grinned. It seemed not even Sesshoumaru could intimidate something as unmoving as a tree.

She slowly folded her body into shape beside him, but on the ground, and tried unsuccessfully to assume the lotus position.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. “I doubt you will be able to achieve it.”

“Never say never!” she scolded.

He watched the young Miko as she tried, and failed spectacularly, to fold herself into the correct position. Eventually she got stuck, overbalanced, and rolled sideways like a Miko in a barrel. He snorted and rolled her back to sitting using her neckerchief.

She grinned sheepishly and, sighing, he folded her legs the right way round.

“Ow!” she protested “that doesn't bend that way!”

“Cease and desist.” he stubbornly stopped her escape and made her assume the correct position.

“I can do it!” she enthused.

He scoffed “Indeed.”

“Why meditate?” she asked.

“A clear head is essential in battle young one” he raised an eyebrow “perhaps you would benefit from listening to that piece of advice.”

She smirked “And what about in your father's tomb when you transformed? Thinking with a clear head then were you?”

He pursed his lips and glared down his nose at her.

“What?” she asked innocently.

He tossed his hair and it whipped her in the face.

“That was childish!”

“You would know, you are, after all, gifted in the art of childishness.”

“I resent that!”

“You frequently end arguments by stomping your foot.”

“That was just once! You're the one who tried to put me in a boat half your size.”

“A boat that you broke due to your inability to sit still.”

“I did not!”

“Denying obvious facts does not erase them from the past.”

“You are insufferable!”

“Hn, I could return that compliment unto you.”

Kagome blinked at him for a few seconds before her face softened into a whimsical half-smile. Sesshoumaru's obstinate expression relaxed and he tilted his head in question.

“What is it, Miko?”

“You're arguing with me.”

“I am aware of that,” he replied mordantly.

She smiled. “Four months ago you didn't even speak to me; any words that you did utter were along the lines of `die Inuyasha'. But now you're joking with me.”

He snorted. “You made the mistake of thinking me capable of emotions, I am capable of them which is why I repress them; a clear mind is key Miko.”

“Do you have a clear mind right now?” she asked softly.

He shook his head gracefully. “Not since your arrival into my life.”

She blushed slightly. “Is that a bad thing?”

He tilted his head to gaze at the setting sun for a long moment. “I don't believe so... not anymore.”

Her smile was blinding.

The observers smiled in synchronicity.

“What do think he said to make her smile like that?” Sango asked wistfully.

“Maybe...” Miroku was unconscious before his wandering hand could make contact.

“Save it monk.”

“Kagome-neechan sure looks happy.” Rin gushed

“Keh, the two idiots are finally doing something about it!”

The group of eavesdropper's froze at the voice and, as if choreographed, turned as one towards the voice.

Inuyasha was sat on the ground beneath the Goshinboku, retying his haori. His ears flicked and his eyes were noticeably softer than before his curse.

“You aren't angry that Kagome and Sesshoumaru-sama are closer now?” Sango ventured cautiously.

“If I was still angry I wouldn't be fixed.” He shrugged. “It did take me a while there, but I guess I grew up enough.”

Sesshoumaru heard his brother's commentary and smiled slightly. Yes, he was glad the Hanyou seemed to be calmer.

“Ne, Sesshoumaru.”

He turned his attention back to the Miko in time for her to place a tiny kiss on the end of his nose. Blinking in shock he surveyed the blushing Miko.

“Miko?”

“I figured if I was going to be the black sheep... I might as well bring you with me!”

A/N: I don't own Inuyasha and I hope you enjoyed this last instalment.