InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Windows on the West ❯ Forgiveness ( Chapter 14 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Forgiveness

Disclaimer:  I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

-sSs-

Sesshoumaru watched with a singular glower on his face as the hanyou walked next to the miko companionably.  

It made no sense whatsoever to him.

Even after the whelp had betrayed her, taking the dirt miko's side, and leaving Kagome defenseless, the little priestess treated him no differently than she ever had.  It was... irritating to the daiyoukai.

Would she respond to this one the same had it been he that had betrayed her?  he wondered, almost jealously.

He paused in his step at that thought.  Would she?  Of course, it went without saying that he would not ever betray pack, but the question, once posed, would not leave him alone.  

And so he pondered on it all day, and into the evening, and the moment that Kagome wandered out of camp to stare at the stars, he stood from his spot near the fire, and followed her, leaving a certain puppy-eared hanyou disgruntled behind him.

He did not sit when he reached her, almost giving the whole thing an air of confrontation.

“Tell me, miko, why do you treat the halfling the same as you did before he betrayed you?”

Kagome stared up at him, startled by the question, but even more confused by his behavior.  “I... what?”

“You understood my question.”

She shook her head, still confused by his manner, but answered anyway.  “Well... I guess it's because Inuyasha really didn't have any choice in the way he responded to what happened.”

“Surely you jest,”  he scoffed.

“No.  I mean it.  After all, this whole mess is because he didn't trust Kikyou back then.  If he'd turned his back on her this time, he would have felt he was doing the same thing as last time.  I didn't really expect that confrontation to turn out any differently than it did from the moment Kikyou started it.”  She smiled, then.  “Though I didn't expect you to show up and save me.  That part caught me by surprise.”

He stared at her, his eyes for once not cold.  No, instead they burned.  “Tell me, then, miko.  Would you have given me the same understanding?  Forgiven me the same betrayal?”

Smile turning to a concerned frown, Kagome tilted her head.  He was almost... demanding an answer with his body language, his youki swirling around him dangerously.  That wasn't like him.  The answer must be very important to him... “Yes.”  She gave her answer simply, hoping it would calm him.

His youki did indeed calm, but his gaze still burned.  “Why?”

She smiled at him for a moment, then turned her head to look at the stars.  “Because I trust you.  If you did something like that, I know there'd be a good reason.”   She shrugged.  “I really don't see you doing something like that, though.  Not for any reason, really.”

“Because I carry more honor than the hanyou,”  he said, eyes narrowed on her.

Shaking her head, she said,  “Well, not to say that you don't have honor, but it's not about that.  It's because you wouldn't be confused about what was the right thing to do.  Inuyasha made a mistake – you wouldn't.”

He stared down at his clenched fist, brow furrowed.  She is right, of course.  But she said she would have forgiven me if I had made such a mistake.  She does not lie... The odd tension that had ridden him all day calmed, finally, and he sat down, his usual stillness once more apparent.

So why was her answer so important to me?

Kagome flashed him a quick smile, then turned her attention to the skies, and silence reigned between the two.

Back in the camp, Inuyasha stared at them with heated eyes.



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