InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Unforgettable ❯ Resurrection ( Chapter 4 )

Her reawakening was unlike Rin's. Where the little girl had lazily opened her eyes, looking for all the world like she had only been sleeping, the miko sat bolt upright and let out a piercing scream. Sesshomaru was upon her before either of them knew what was happening. From his position behind her back, he wrapped one arm around her waist as the other came to rest over her mouth. “Silence woman” he managed to bite out over the pounding pain in his ears.

To his great relief, she complied. She tilted her head back to look at him, and he was momentarily startled by the depth of her eyes. The moonlight reflected in them and as she focused on his face, he felt as though he were looking into deep and tranquil lagoons. She blinked, long, thick sooty eyelashes dusting her cheeks, and the spell was broken. They stared at each other in silence, his hand still covering her mouth, his arm still wrapped around her middle. He watched, utterly fascinated, as a heavy glistening tear seeped from her right eye and rolled down her now pink cheek, leaving a trail of shimmering salt water in it's wake.

“If I release you, will you refrain from screaming?” Sesshomaru asked her, still gazing at her face.

Her eyes, large as saucers, Kagome nodded. She inhaled a deep and unsteady breath as his hand released it's hold on her mouth. Tipping her head down to look curiously at the arm still wrapped tightly around her middle, Kagome brought her eyes back up to look at the tayoukai. “What's going on Sesshomaru? Are you going to kill me?”

He noted the hint of panic in her voice and scoffed inwardly. Kill her? Had he not just revived her? “Of course this Sesshomaru will not kill you miko. It would defeat the purpose of reviving you.” Sesshomaru snorted in disgust.

She looked confused. Focusing once again on the hand that was wrapped around her, she questioned “Revived me?”

Stunned, Sesshomaru stared at the top of her head. She did not remember? She had no knowledge of her death? Both Rin and Jaken had known what had befallen them prior to his salvation. She tipped her head back to look at him, and he saw confusion swimming in her dark blue eyes. She knew nothing. How very odd.

She stared through him, obviously in the first stages of shock. “So you're telling me that I.... died. And that you resurrected me?”

Sesshomaru could tell that she wanted him to tell her that she was mistaken. She wanted to hear something, anything, other than the truth. But he would not lie to her. “Indeed.” It was the only thing he could think of to say.

“Well, thanks I guess.” Kagome told him without a trace of emotion in her voice. She pulled herself away from his hold and began to stand.

Sesshomaru followed her lead, standing gracefully and staring at her back. Her wounds had not fully healed. This too was contrary to the other times he had used Tensaiga. Rin bore no marks upon her body as a reminder of her death. But this woman had five scars across her back, evidence of her demise at the claws of the bear demon. They were healed over and silvery, but they were without a doubt present.

He watched as she looked down at herself, and saw the edges of the scars on her side. She raised her head to look at the edge of the clearing and her vision focused on the corpse of the bear. Looking back down at her side, she tenderly ran a single tiny finger over one of the slashes that now marred her flesh. Her face raised, and her wondering gaze met his own. Her legs shook, and her eyes pooled with unshed tears.

Sesshomaru felt pity for the woman. He did not understand why things were not following their usual patterns. She would have been better off had she remembered what had happened to her, if she did not have scars to remind her of something that she could not recall. He slipped off his kimono and walked over to her. Wrapping the large garment around her small frame, he was shocked when she collapsed into his chest.

It was too much. Kagome couldn't believe that she had been dead. Why had she died? Where were her friends? What had happened to her? At the small show of tenderness from the usually stoic Lord of the West, she broke. Pushing her face into his chest, she began to sob.

Sesshomaru was surprised when, after hearing a few of the miko's hitching breaths, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly to his form. She was so small and fragile, and the way his shirt hung about her slender body accentuated her fragility. He wanted to hate her, her love of his brother, her humanity, her breakable nature, but found that he could not muster up the will to do so. He determined that he would resume his hate for her tomorrow, but for tonight, he would give her the pity and comfort that she needed. It was, after all, his fault that she suffered so, and it would bring shame upon him if he were to abandon her.

They stood there, bathed in moonlight and wrapped in purest white, holding each other amongst the scene of utter devastation.

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I'm pleased with this chapter and don't really have anything to add. Tender moments tend to choke me up.
~omizumaru