InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Throw Caution To The Wind ❯ Antidotes ( Chapter 2 )

AN: I'm glad everyone liked it! And I got new readers, too! Well, as for the confusing "who died, what's the heck's happening" thing, I plan to tell you in a couple chapters. Maybe two, maybe even this one, so please be patient. I know the first chapter was disorienting. Also, I am warning you before hand that Sesshoumaru may seem a little OOC. Usually this is uncharacteristic of my writing, seeing as how I am a diehard 'stoic Sesshoumaru' fan. Please bare with me. First of all, I was looking through the manga, and he really does show emotion. Namely hatred for Inuyasha, but still. And most importantly, there are reasons he may be a little more emotional than usual. This will become apparent in the end. I applaud anyone that read this whole AN. Thanks for the reviews!

THROW CAUTION TO THE WIND_*CHAPTER 2*_

A rolling stone gathers no moss. I never did quite understand that. Was moss good or bad? If you are always moving and busy, you don't get all moldy or whatever, right? But if you stay put and calm, life can settle down and things can build upon other things, for instance, moss, right? So what was good and what was bad? Who knows, sometimes I just don't understand old proverbs, maybe because they're just that-old. But, one thing was for sure. At the rate Sesshoumaru and I were traveling, I can guarantee that no manner of living organism would be growing on me any time soon. I pitty the piece of green leafage that was squashed while I was hurrying to keep up with the demon lord's pace.

I had been traveling with Sesshoumaru for a good few hours, straining to stay head to head with him. He walked leisurely, fluidly, amazingly graceful for a full youkai, but his strides were long, and I was randomly sprinting to keep up. I did however, hold his pace for a good while, but he did not suggest a rest, and I did not request one.

Lugging my yellow pack was not a simple task, no matter how often I did it. I wished desperately that I had thought to bring my bike. We could go so much faster. After about four hours of straight walking, I was feeling results, but, I had to admit, this time period was proving a great exercise program. I had been blowing half the other students away in P.E. class and the work was having a great effect on my body.

I had fallen behind Sesshoumaru, giving myself some time to think. I had forgotten that I had promised never to think again. It hurt too much. No matter how much I dwelled on the cause for my walking behind Sesshoumaru at the moment, my thoughts always returned to his "ward" and I could not help but wonder who it was, what it was, or if I could save it. Thus, my thoughts would return to the one I didn't save. If only I hadn't been so selfish and focused on proving Inuyasha wrong….

As amazing as it might seem, my thoughts rested anywhere but where I was now. It pained me to think of those things though, so I adverted my attention to the youkai lord currently strolling in front of me as if it were a totally normal thing for him to be dragging his hated half-brother's wench behind him. Either that, or he had forgotten I was there. I wouldn't have been surprised actually. I hadn't said anything and neither had he. I followed like an obedient dog, blindly being led by its owner. This thought irked me. I wasn't someone to just trail in others' footsteps.

"Sesshoumaru?" I sped up, walking beside him. I glanced curiously at him, but he seemed to be in a nonchalant state. I took his silence as a cue that he was listening. "How far away is your…home? I presume we're going to your home…?" I looked up at his face which was still studying the road beyond as if it were a boring patch of dirt, which really, it was. "Sesshoumaru?" He remained pondering the road, then shifted to the sky, not out of rudeness though. I seriously think the guy was doing some heavy thinking. I cleared my throat. Nothing. Ok, fine. "Sesshoumaru-sama!!!" I stood up, yelling into his ear. That was seriously not a good idea.

"You-" he turned, clenching an iron hand around my throat. "Never do that again, do you understand me." he growled, tightening his grip. I narrowed my eyes, glaring at him, but nodded.

He dropped me unceremoniously onto the ground in a heap. I hadn't realized he had been holding me in the air by my neck. "Now what do you want, wench."

I disentangled myself and sat on the ground glowering up at him with utter contempt. Had I not told him before? When I didn't answer he narrowed his eyes at me.

"Get up." he said in a calm voice. Too calm. I continued to stared at him from the ground. "I said get up." he repeated, his voice just as smooth.

"I am not deaf." I replied curtly, but remained there. He started to growl but then let out a silent sigh.

"What."

"Huh?" I looked up at him, slightly stunned.

"What is it that you want, woman. When a wench like you throws a fit, she wants something." I frowned.

"I would like to be called by my actual name, as I stated before." I said, pushing myself up off the ground. "Kagome. Not wench, woman, anything. Just Kagome." I think he was either really pissed at me or just really tired, but he sighed again, which was, from my experience, very uncharacteristic of him.

"Indeed. Kagome.." he said as if testing it on his tongue. "Very well, but you will also call me by the name that is proper for one of your class to be calling someone such as me. Understood."

I nodded. I really hadn't expected him to agree. More like chastise me or completely ignore me. Just goes to show that people, er, and youkai, are never predictable. I stood and dusted myself off, only then realizing what a state my clothes were in. Positively filthy. Damn. Oh well. Maybe I could have them washed whenever we got to where we were going.

"Um..Sesshou…" he immediately growled at me. "..maru…what? You said-oh never mind. Sesshoumaru-sama, where exactly are we going?"

"To my home." he stated, walking off to the west once again.

"Right. Your home." I started off also, jogging up to his side. "Um, if you don't mind my asking, how long will it take to get there?"

He stared straight ahead. "I do mind."

I frowned, thinking up new words to add to an already unpleasant, growing list of adjectives for the dear taiyoukai.

__________

About an hour later, we were still walking steadily onward. I guessed it was probably around two or three o'clock, judging by the sun, but then again, I had dropped out of girl scouts, so…

"We will rest here." the sudden words made me jump. Neither of us had said anything since his last rude remark, and it had been perfectly fine with me. "We will stay here for a short while, then I will take you to the castle.

Castle? He lives in a castle? Well, then again, he is the lord of the western lands. Why wouldn't he have a castle?

I had settled down in a matter of minutes, and considering I had no idea of when the next time I would eat would be, I cooked up a cup of instant ramen at record pace. I offered him some, but he stared and scoffed at me. Although, I couldn't help but notice how he was eying all of my cooking utensils with, if it hadn't been masked properly, would have been interest. Apparently this disturbed him, as he took off for no apparent reason into the woods, returning five minutes later, looking somewhat, if he was capable of this, perturbed.

I ate in less than ten minutes and was packed and ready to go in an instant.

"So…" I looked up at him, wondering what he intended to do.

"It will take us another day if we travel as we have been."

"Well, what do you recommend? Taxi or bus, or perhaps I'll just call up my private jet." I mumbled to myself. "It would be best if I could get to your ward as soon as possible, but unfortunately, I'm human. No super speed extras included." then I thought about it "How serious is this illness of your charge's? Sesshoumaru, is it a fatal sickness?" I looked up at him, frightened. I realized that he hadn't even told me what was wrong with this person or thing and I had agreed to help. What if I couldn't do anything?!

"Poisoning." he stated slowly.

I looked at him, shocked.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, we need to get there as soon as possible! Let's go!"

" It will be much faster this way."

"Wha-aiiee!" I screamed as he scooped me up into his arms and jumped into the air. The wind whipped my hair as we flew upwards, stinging my face, but it calmed as we headed west. It felt amazing yet horrible at the same time. I felt as if I were flying, and my stomach had been left behind. I clutched to Sesshoumaru, not thinking of our close proximity. I couldn't care at the moment. I was flying a least a hundred feet off the ground.

I slowly adjusted to the speed and had found an angle of least wind resistence. I don't know how it happened, I'm partly ashamed of myself. Perhaps I was just exhausted, but after a short while, I slipped into the wonderful bliss of unconsciousness.

"Kagome!" I had just pulled myself over the top of the well, greeted by an orange bundle hurtling itself at me.1

"Hi, Shippou!" I wrapped my arms around the kitsune, hugging him to me.

"Oi, wench, it took you long enough!" the hanyou scoffed from under the Goshinboku, his arms folded in his trademark position.

"Hi Inuyasha." I smiled despite myself.

"Hey Kagome, guess what!" My attention shifted to the small fox in my arms.

"What?" I ruffled his hair.

But I didn't hear what he was saying. His voice drifted in and out of the background. Something spread over us, casting an ominous, black shadow. Suddenly, I slammed into something.

"Oww…what was that for!!!" I immediately grabbed my butt which was now throbbing.

"You were asleep."

"Do tell. So why exactly did you drop me?" I stared up at Sesshoumaru, trying my best to look unfazed.

"You were not awake…"

"Well obviously, if I was asleep. Astute observation." I cringed, pulling myself off of the ground to what I swear was a pop somewhere in five different spots of my back.

"…And we are here." He walked past me, headed straight in the direction I wasn't facing. There was a beautiful mansion there. Plain in its wooden and stone structure, but elegant. I didn't waste time looking at it though, there would be plenty for that later.

But, as we were walking, a felt a nagging feeling pull at my stomach. It didn't seem quite right. Then it happened. I felt the pulling feeling. I sensed the presence of a jewel shard. But I pushed it into the back of mind. There would be time for that later, also. In addition to that, I didn't think Sesshoumaru would be interested in such things, and if he were, the more reason to not to mention anything relating to the jewel.

"Sesshoumaru.." I ran up to him, walking along his side. "How long was I asleep?"

"An hour." he replied deeply.

"Sesshoumaru.." I grabbed his arm. "Take me to your ward right now." He didn't chastise me for ordering him around. Instead, he nodded curtly and entered through the gates and into the home.

I had just entered the door, taking a quick glance around when:

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" the toad-like henchman came hobbling over to his master. I have to admit, I was relieved that there was proof that the toad was not Sesshoumaru's ward. I mean, you never know.

"Jaken, where is Rin.?"

"She,-she is this way Sesshoumaru-sama!" With that, the creature scuttled off at an amazing pace for such an oddly shaped, tubby thing. Sesshoumaru followed at a brisk pace and I kept up. He led me down several hallways. If I was paying attention, I would have realized the place was built like a square, centering around a large garden. But I was merely occupied with the demon lord in front of me. He was, after all, Sesshoumaru. And I was supposed to help him. How ironic.

We went down one more hallway. I nearly slammed into the back of Sesshoumaru as he stopped abruptly, marching through the shoji door on the left as if on a war mission. I followed him in slowly and had to retain a gasp. The room was dimly lit, the windows shut and the light from the outside corridor sent odd painted odd-shaped shadows across the walls. Yet, accompanying the drab lighting, beautiful flowers were everywhere around the room in beautiful, colored vases. It was most odd, but awakening. The contrast of the contents to the attitude of the room. Even dark, it seemed to welcome one such as a child's room does to those with young hearts.

I took this all in within a matter of seconds, turning my attention to the bed beneath a window on my right. Sesshoumaru, leaning against the foot of the bed looked at me pointedly and I approached the blankets. To be perfectly honest, I was a little afraid. I didn't know what the "ward" even was. You can imagine my surprise when I bent over the bed, lifted the sheets, and found the most adorable little girl I had ever seen. A human girl. That was a shock to my system, but I had no time to worry about those things now. I looked to Sesshoumaru who had not moved from his position at the foot of the bed.

"The girl, what's her name?" I asked softly.

"She is called Rin." he stared at the child as if she might just up and jump around any second. I turned back to Rin.

"Rin, can you hear me?" I placed a hand on her forehead. I had been to hot springs cooler. She was sweating a bit, and her eyebrows were scrunched together as if in unimaginable concentration.

Unbeknownst to me, Sesshoumaru had moved to the opposite side of the bed.

"Rin. Wake up." he stated. But I could swear there was something in his voice. Could it have been panic?

She stirred, her face scrunching up more until she slowly lifted her eyelids. I don't know how, but this was already a small victory. The child wasn't gone yet. I still had time.

"Sesshoumaru-sama…!"

"Rin. This woman is Kagome. She is attempting to heal you." His eyes shifted to me. "Please be good for her."

"Ok, Sesshoumaru-sama…" but the girl's eyes had slid closed again, and I felt myself panicking even as she fell into a reassuring sleep. No, I could do this.

I bent over Rin, checking her pulse and temperature once more, as bet as I could.

"Sesshoumaru, I'll need some water. And my pack."

Sesshoumaru nodded once.

"Jaken."

"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"Have Maki bring water. Have Kaji bring the woman's pack."

"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama." with that, the toad bustled out the door, disappearing down a hallway.

I leaned over the girl, studying her face, arms and legs for any marks.

"You said poisoning?" I didn't look at him while asking the question, I examined her pulse again. Too bad I didn't have a cell phone that was inter-era serviceable. Then I could just dial up poison control.

"Yes. Poisoning."

"Do you have any idea from what?"

"No."

Now, this created problems. Certain poisons had certain antidotes. I cursed myself for not paying closer attention in health class when we had learned about these things.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, I want me pretty rock…and udon…"

"Ok. These symptoms look familiar to me. Hopefully that's a good thing."

"Pretty rock. Udon…I want my pretty rock…"

I pulled back her blankets more. She needed to be cool. Sure, heat would break the fever, but we needed to stop the flow of blood so that the poison could not spread.

Two seconds later, a servant came in carrying a bucket of cold water, a towel, and following her, another servant with my yellow pack.

"Maki, Kaji. Tonight, Rin eats udon. See if you can find the child's damned rock.

I thanked Maki and Kaji, taking the pack, spilling the contents over the floor.

"I know it's here somewhere. Damn. How come there's so many ramen packages?! I shifted through the things, searching frantically.

"Ah-hah!" I pulled out a can triumphantly, setting it by the bed.

I pulled the bucket over to me and washed the girl's body with a cool rag, leaving it on her forehead afterwards. I took out a spoon and filled it full with the medicine from my bag, the very same medicine I used for when Miroku had been poisoned by the saimyousho, those damned bugs of Naraku's. If that didn't work, I didn't know what would. After all, the only things I knew were how to bandage someone and give them the right amount of Advil. Though, I'm learning of course.

With the help of the two servants Maki and Kaji, I managed to get two spoons of the liquid down the girl's throat. Afterwards, I dampened the cloth again and replaced it. I sat down quietly by the bed and watched the raven-haired child take deep, sighing breaths. The girl was absolutely cute. And the way she had said Sesshoumaru's name…what? That couldn't be right. A human girl, Sesshoumaru's ward? I laid my head on one hand, resting on the bed. I was aware of Sesshoumaru still watching me. I had almost completely forgotten that he was present. Obviously, he was very protective of his ward. It wasn't my business. Whatever or whoever Sesshoumaru chose to surround himself with, it was no matter to me. But, I was perfectly happy when I had seen that the girl was a human girl. Maybe it would be good for her to be with Sesshoumaru. Maybe having a child around would soften him up a bit. I reached up, moving a strand of wet hair from the girl's face. She was so innocent and cute in appearance. I could almost tell what she was like naturally. Probably happy, but shy and quiet.

"Sesshoumaru, if you have other matters to attend to…I'll stay with Rin. There's nothing more I can do for her now, just wait, but you can go." I had sensed an uneasiness about him. Perhaps he was mad that he had had to go out of his way to find me, and I couldn't do more, or perhaps, he really did care about the child. More than I would of thought him capable of before.

"I will stay here." his voice came from the corner of the room now. I think he was sitting down.

Well, I thought to myself, resting my hand on her forehead, my head on the bed, watching her. I guess you have to see it to believe it sometimes…

_____________________________________________

I woke up to a small hand squeezing mine. For a minute, I thought it was Shippou… But when I looked up, it was the small child, Rin, looking back at me with big, puppy dog eyes which were soon consumed by a huge smile, not to mention dark rings.

"Pretty lady was talking in her sleep." she screwed her face up for a second. "Sorry, you were talking in your sleep." the girl lay, staring at me as best she could from her reclined position. She looked at me for a second, as if evaluating me. She whispered quietly probably form the weakness, but maybe because Sesshoumaru sat, head bowed. He looked completely and utterly out of it. His chest was barely moving with the freedom of sleep. It struck me as shockingly uncharacteristic. Well, everyone, no matter what or who they are, has to sleep at one time or another, don't they. It's just, well, he seemed so…wrong like that. Yet, the little that he had done in the course of the day had, now that I thought about it, all seemed wrong for him.

"Your name is Rin, right?" I whispered, smiling.

"Mm-hm." the girl nodded her head once, reminding me of Shippou yet again. I missed him so much.

"Ok, Rin-chan. I'm Kagome. It's very nice to meet you. I'm here to help you get better. Can you help me?"

The little girl smiled up at me with what would have been the brightest smile on earth, if not for the exhaustion that diluted it. "Yes, Kagome-chan!"

"Good! Now first things first. I would really like it if you would try to rest a little. Sleep will help you get better." I adjusted her pillow a little for her and pulled the sheets over her while she curled up.

"Kagome-chan?" a voice peeped from under the covers.

"Yes, Rin-chan?"

"Are you going to stay here with me?"

"Yes Rin-chan. Now you should get some rest…" I sat down by the bed once again to prove my point. The girl was easy to deal with, cute as possible, and was so sweet to me, someone she had not even met before. I placed my hands on the bed and cradled my head in them. Rin was asleep in less than five minutes, snoring quietly.

It appeared that the medicine I had given her was taking affect and Rin would probably be fine. No lasting damage to think of. It was dark now. I had no idea what time it was.

Inuyasha was there. Inuyasha and Shippou were fighting. Soon after, in come Sango and Miroku, investigating the loud sounds that echoed through the woods. Inuyasha and Shippou fighting. Then Inuyasha…

"No!" I shot up, only to stumble backwards, realizing that I hadn't been in bed even.

"You will wake Rin if you continue on in that matter, not to mention my ear drums." a smooth voice spoke from behind me.

"Yeah, well-"

"Who."

I stood up slowly and turned to face him.

"Who, who?"

"Who was it?"

I looked at him, his golden eyes penetrating my blue ones like cutting through air.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I knew damn well. But if you thought I would go for the demon lord of the western lands knowing much more about me than he already does, you got something coming. Plus…I really didn't want to talk about it.

He shot me a stoic glare "Tomorrow, breakfast is at seven. Be there." then turned and exited the room. Crap! What am I supposed to do? Follow him? Stay here? In the end, I opted for staying there. After all, the peace and quiet of Rin's room was much more enjoyable to dead quiet of Sesshoumaru.

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AN: Sorry this chapter took so long. It really has nothing worthwhile in it either. Just a slight bit of character building, that's it. Hope that's ok. Next chapter will be more promising, but I don't know when that will come out. You see, I'm actually attempting to plan this story out.

As for who died, one or two of you figured it out. As for how they died, details may come soon. I will explain who died next chapter though. Also, I'm sorry if this story is hard to understand or a little bit off, but this is my first time writing in first person.

Well, please tell me what you think! 'Till next time!