InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One Less Star, Book 1 ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

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

Chapter 6

by CinnamonGrrl

It was one of those moments that seems to flow in slow-motion, she would muse at a later date. A single second in time, and yet it affected all of them forever. Sesshoumaru could have ignored her fall, could have struck Sango and his brother down, could have rescued the half of the jewel Inuyasha had stolen, could have united the Shikon and then, who knows?

But he did not. He moved to catch Kagome, so quickly and fluidly he was a mere streak of light instead of a form of flesh and bone. One moment Kagome was falling, weightless and yet heavy as a mountain, and the next he had dropped Toukijin to wrap his arm around her waist, pulling her tightly against him and dropping lightly to the leafy forest floor.

And in that fateful moment, Inuyasha had taken his hostage and departed.

"Oh, god," Kagome whispered in despair, and dropped her head against Sesshoumaru's shoulder to weep. Hands tried to pull her away from him; crying out in protest, she clung to him, to his solid warmth and familiar scent.

"Sesshoumaru-sama," Miroku said carefully, "I would be most grateful if you would release her." He tugged harder on her, and she saw him glaring at Sesshoumaru, who seemed disinclined to acquiesce to the monk's request. "I do not have much time," he exclaimed, his anxiety getting the better of him. "We have to go after Sango."

Sesshoumaru tilted his head in a faintly canine way. "You propose to follow Inuyasha, injured as you are, accompanied by the wounded kit, the nearly-dead neko, the vegetable, and-" he gestured to Kagome "-her? She is, arguably, the most important creature in the land at the moment. How do you propose to keep her safe? Do you not think her worth the ransoms of a dozen kings to Naraku?"

"He's right," Shippo said from Kirara's side. His arm was dangling at an odd angle, and the fire-cat's breathing was rapid and shallow as she lay in a pool of blood. "We'll only be a burden."

"You go, then!" Kagome urged the taiyoukai, pushing on his chest with her fists until he loosened his arm and released her. She stumbled back and was steadied by Miroku, who didn't even try to grope her behind, so serious was the situation. "You're not hurt, you can take him. Go after them!"

"I will not." The words dropped like stones on her heart, and only the knowledge that he would surely kill her stayed her hands from striking him in frustration. "The half of the jewel you gave me is safe. The Shikon cannot be joined and used, and therefore I have no further interest in this… drama of yours."

"Then I will go alone," Miroku stated, his eyes slitted with anger. "I will not abandon Sango to Inuyasha in this state."

"I'll go with you!" Kagome said, but he shook his head.

"Someone has to take care of Shippo and Kohaku and Kirara," he said. "I will go by myself."

"But you can't, Miroku!" Kagome protested. "You're hurt!" She took the monk's hand and pushed up his sleeve, gasping to see the bloody gash in his flesh. She began to clean it with the hem of his sleeve but he pulled away from her, his normally open expression closed, serious and deadly.

"There's no time for that," he said quietly. "I'm going now." She clung to him a moment longer as he turned his burning gaze to Sesshoumaru once more. "Will you return them to Edo?" he asked, indicating Shippo, Kirara, and Kohaku as well as Kagome.

Sesshoumaru gazed at him coolly. "They will be safe."

Miroku seemed satisfied with the demon's promise, and nodded. Pulling from Kagome, he began to run in the direction Inuyasha had taken Sango. Silence fell as they watched him go, and Kagome was sure her heart was breaking. His gait was slow and lacking in its usual grace because of his injuries, but he pressed on regardless.

"With your permission, my lord," Kagura said, her fingers smoothing over the jagged tear in her kimono, "I will accompany him. It is clear he will never make it alone, and we must see where Inuyasha takes the Shikon."

Sesshoumaru was silent a moment, considering, and then inclined his head. "As you wish," he said. But Kagome observed him instead of Kagura as she plucked the feather from her hair and went airborne, pulling Miroku into the boat by his uninjured arm as she swooped by. He was not fooled by Kagura's supposed reasoning for going with Miroku, Kagome knew.

"Now what?" she asked, suddenly nervous as she realized that she was, for all intents and purposes, alone with Sesshoumaru for the first time ever. She felt her knees weaken as the full import of her situation flooded her mind with memories of many thousands of other times she'd been alone with him, all the other Kagomes with their husbands.

Once again, his arm was there to hold her up. "You are injured as well?" he demanded. "Hng." It was a sound that managed to combine great impatience, frustration, annoyance, and boredom all at the same time, somehow. He lowered her to the ground and surveyed the impromptu battlefield. Debris lay all over, the remains of the camp scattered all over like the room of a careless child who'd tired of his toys.

"You will stay here. I will return shortly." And he took to the air without a backward glance.

Kagome went to Shippo's side, slowly and haltingly. She felt old and broken, as if everything she'd ever believed in had just been proven false. Kohaku was senseless as ever but uninjured. Shippo's arm was dislocated and his face was pale as rice flour, sweat dotting it liberally, and she helped him to lay down on her dirtied sleeping bag whilst she checked on Kirara.

The fire-cat was in a bad way; slit open nearly from throat to belly, it was all Kagome could do to keep from gagging at the sight of Kirara's innards threatening to spill out. "Kirara, I need you to transform," she said hoarsely. "You're too big for me to lift, this way."

Obediently, and with a violent twitch as pain wrenched her at the effort, Kirara changed into her small housecat-sized form. Kagome pet her soft ears once, and then took one of Sango's blankets and a scissor from her ever-present rucksack. She cut long strips from it, carefully wiggling them under the injured demon and wrapping them around Kirara's body to try and bind the long, ugly slash together until Kaede could heal her.

She was drenched with sweat and blood by the time Sesshoumaru returned, followed by that two-headed dragon of his. Kagome felt like crying in relief as she got to her feet, wiping as much of the blood from her hands onto the legs of her jeans.

"Thank you," she whispered, eyes swimming with unshed tears as she looked up at him. "Thank you, Sesshoumaru." Unable to stop herself, she reached out and gave his hand a little press of gratitude before turning to help Shippo up. Even that fleeting contact with his warm, living skin made her feel less alone. Shippo helped her get Kohaku on the back of Ah-Un, then scrambled up himself, behind Kohaku.

"Can you hand Kirara to me once I'm up?" she asked Sesshoumaru.

He looked down his nose at her, obviously reluctant to soil himself with the blood and dirt that covered the neko-demon. "You pick her up," he said, and when she had tenderly scooped Kirara into her arms, he lifted Kagome by her waist and plunked her on Ah-Un's back in front of Kohaku's limp form. She couldn't bite back a gasp at the feel of his arm around her, and once more his eyes flew to her face, scrutinizing her.

Without a word, however, he stepped back and gathered a cloud of youki to propel him into the air. Ah-Un took to the sky as well, and Kagome let the wind dry her tears as she carefully clasped Kirara to her. "Shippo, are you ok back there?"

"Yes," he said faintly. "I'll be very glad to see Kaede, though."

Kohaku's weight against her back was reassuring in a strange way, and she closed her eyes. Disbelief raced through her mind, battering impotently at the rock of fact: Inuyasha had betrayed them. He had stolen their half of the Shikon from her, had tried to kill all of them, had kidnapped Sango and run away. It didn't seem possible, and for a moment, Kagome felt sure that this was just another of her bad dreams.

"Midoriko," she muttered, "now would be a good time to come and calm me down." But Midoriko didn't come; the area around Kagome was not a vacant, star-dotted space. It was Sengoku Jidai, the sun was about to rise over the horizon, and their little group was in tatters. "I hope you were right about not letting Inuyasha have the jewel," she continued under her breath at the miko. "Because if all this was for nothing, I'm going to be really pissed off."

"Does she speak to you in your mind?" Sesshoumaru asked, moving to the dragon's side so he could see her as they spoke.

"I-no," Kagome replied, stumbling over the words. "Only in my dreams."

"Dreams are notoriously unreliable for omens and prophecies," he replied with a narrowing of those magnificent amber eyes. "I was under the impression you had direct contact with Midoriko."

Comprehension burst through Kagome. "Is that the only reason you've been helping us?" she demanded, trying valiantly to ignore the shaft of pain lancing through her at the realization. "Because you want to use my miko powers, and connection to Midoriko?"

He frowned, genuinely puzzled. "What other reason could there be?"

She blinked back tears. He's not them, she thought. Theyloved all those other Kagomes, but he doesn't love me. "There's no other reason," she replied, her voice sounding clogged. "I was just wondering."

They both fell silent, and it was then that Kagome realized they were going in entirely the wrong direction. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "Edo is to the east. We're heading-" Her blood seemed to congeal in her veins when she saw they were heading away from, not toward, the sunrise. "We're heading west," she continued in a horrified whisper. "You're not bringing us to Kaede at all."

"You promised Miroku you'd take us to Edo!" Shippo shouted, then coughed at the effort.

"I promised only that you would be safe," Sesshoumaru replied calmly. "And so shall you be." He pressed forward once more, taking the lead by a hundred feet, effectively cutting off any future communication.

Kagome shut her gaping mouth when the wind began whistling in it. Anger rose in her belly, thick and sour, and for a moment she thought seriously of leaping off the dragon at Sesshoumaru, intent on beating him to a pulp, but fortunately reason soon asserted itself through the heavy red mist that seemed to be clouding her vision.

I shouldn't feel betrayed by him, she told herself with a mental snarl. He never made me any promises in this dimension. She settled back against Kohaku and waited to arrive at wherever Sesshoumaru was taking them, promising that she would give Midoriko what-for the next time she slept.

They flew for a very long time, it seemed, though it was probably only an hour. Finally they descended into a lush valley undulating between two long, mist-shrouded mountains, and Ah-Un touched down outside a modest compound. It was comprised of three buildings ranged along a busy little river, all of it surrounded by a sturdy wall with a prominent roofed gate.

They went through the gate and Kagome was amazed at the beauty of the courtyard, with its carefully tended little patches of trees and flowers and herbs. Immense, beautifully-shaped willow trees drooped over all three structures, providing cool shade in summer and protection from the tempests of winter.

The centre building was of two stories, with a verandah stretching across the front. Kagome assumed this was the main house. From the side of the building emerged a long, low pavilion that reached out halfway over the river. Behind it was what was, judging by the smell, clearly a barn, and it was toward this structure that Ah-Un eagerly headed.

The last building was small and squat, made completely of stone and plaster, appearing to have no wood in it at all. Even its roof was tiled instead of thatched like the house and barn. Sturdy doors made of metal gleamed dully in the weak, early sunlight. "What's that building?" Kagome asked, pointing.

"The kura," Sesshoumaru replied. "Treasure-house. Fireproof, so its contents can not be destroyed." He plucked her down from the dragon's back and even assisted Shippo, though the kitsune darted more than one suspicious glance at him. Once Kohaku was standing, staring blankly at the dirt at his feet, Ah-Un ambled off.

Kagome looked around. Beautifully carved wooden lath framed the plaster panels of the walls, and Kagome was surprised to see that the roofs were straight, not curved in the predominant Chinese style. The shoji doors at the front of the house slid open and two figures burst from it, one short and gnarled, the other a little taller and slender.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" croaked the short one, and Kagome realized it was Jaken. "You have brought guests!" He was brought up short, however, when he clapped his bulbous eyes on the "guests". "You," he said accusingly, pointing at Kagome. "My lord, what is the meaning of this? Why are these humans here?" He had, of course, conveniently forgotten that his companion was also a human.

She didn't seem much bothered by it, however. "Welcome home, Sesshoumaru-sama." she addressed him, and he nodded.

"Thank you, Rin."

Kagome was surprised to see how Rin had changed over the years. She knew Shippo had to grow up eventually, but it had been a while since she'd seen Rin, and was amazed to find the adorable little girl had grown into a lanky young teen. Gone was the charming little sideways ponytail; her hair was carefully gathered in an elaborate knot at the top of her head and she wore a simple but pretty yellow yukata printed with orange flower blossoms over another of palest cream. "Hello, Rin," she said, mustering a weak smile.

Rin smiled back uncertainly. "We have met?"

Kagome nodded. "It was years ago, though. I was with--" her throat threatened to close up "-with Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru's brother."

"Half-brother," Sesshoumaru corrected in a low voice, glowering a little.

The young girl's brow creased as she thought hard. "I remember!" she said at last, and her smile grew.

"It is good to see you again, then." Rin said, regardless of her guardian's interruption, and paused. "But I wish you were not injured."

"Oh!" Kagome looked down at the sad little form in her arms. "I'm not, not really. Kirara is, though, and Shippo-" she motioned to the kitsune, who stood, oddly mute and wide-eyed, beside her. "-is too. Kohaku is fine." She glanced at his silent figure. "Or as fine as he gets," she amended, and suddenly felt immensely tired. Without Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku, she had Shippo, Kohaku, and Kirara to take care of by herself, and she found herself dreading the responsibility of it all.

"Is there a healer here?" she asked Sesshoumaru. "I'm worried about Kirara, and Shippo is in a lot of pain."

He began to lead them toward the house. "I am the healer," he replied, removing his shoes to reveal pale, narrow feet before stepping inside. Kagome found it hard to believe that he would be willing to heal anyone, and-probably unwisely-said so whilst she awkwardly clutched Kirara to her chest with one hand and shucked her shoes with the other.

He turned from the kaidan tansu*in which he rummaged for salve and bandages, and fixed Kagome with a gimlet eye. "Are you saying that you consider my education lacking?"

"Um. No?" She wasn't sure how to respond, really… she hadn't been aware she'd insulted him somehow.

He motioned for her to place Kirara on the low table, then smoothly knelt. His hands were quick and sure as he unwrapped the blanket strips from the neko's body and examined her wound. "To kill, one must also be able to heal. Likewise the opposite. The miko Kaede is doubtless a formidable opponent though she spends the lion's share of her time retrieving you and your friends from the brink of death."

Kagome gaped at him. Had he just… made a joke? It was a very little one, granted, but still…

"Go tend to your kit, miko," Sesshoumaru directed. "Rin?"

"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"Take the other boy outside. I find his emptiness… distracting."

Kagome went to Shippo, affectionately brushing aside his ruddy bangs. His skin was clammy and cold in spite of the sweat, and his eyes when he looked up at Kagome were blank with pain.

"Sesshoumaru!" she exclaimed. "I think he's going into shock!"

Sesshoumaru frowned at her lack of honorific and left his ministrations of Kirara to come around the table. He fixed Shippo with a piercing golden gaze, which the boy met unflinchingly, and then wrapped his hand around Shippo's throat, squeezing.

"What-what are you doing?" Kagome shrieked, grabbing at Sesshoumaru's wrist and trying to pull his hand away, but it was like trying to move a mountain. All too soon, Shippo slumped to the side and Sesshoumaru released him. "Are you insane?" she raged at the demon, hands fluttering as she tried to decide whether to check Shippo's pulse or hammer on Sesshoumaru's chest with her fists.

Wisely, she chose to feel for the steady beat of Shippo's heart, then turned to glare at Sesshoumaru. He stood, face impassive, watching her.

"Are you quite done now?" he asked, shouldering her out of the way and wedging Shippo into the corner. Then he grasped Shippo's dislocated arm and, with a sudden and grinding crunch of bone and cartilage, maneuvered the end of it back into its socket. Then he turned back to Kagome with his lips pursed in a snotty little moue, as if daring her to comment.

Kagome, for her part, felt equal amounts of annoyance and embarrassment. Sesshoumaru had, apparently, constricted Shippo's airway to make him pass out so he didn't feel the pain of relocating his shoulder. It was a kindness she hadn't expected from the taiyoukai; she hadn't imagined him to mind overmuch if his reluctant patients were hurting. "Could have given me some warning," she grumbled.

"Ah, but then I would not have had the pleasure of making you leap to a wrong conclusion," he replied, and returned to Kirara as Kagome stared at him once more. He constricted her air flow as well, and set to sewing up the gash in her chest and belly once she was unconscious.

Kagome's annoyance level increased, and embarrassment was replaced by astonishment. Two jokes? Two, in the course of a few minutes? "Who are you, and what have you done with Sesshoumaru?" she asked suspiciously.

He ignored her, busying himself with his methodical stitching of Kirara's flesh. When he was done, he smeared the wound with salve and wrapped her with clean white bandages. Kagome noticed the difficulty he was having with only one hand and came forward to offer her help, but he slid a narrow glance at her and she halted in her tracks.

"Rin," he said quietly when he was done and washing his hand in a bowl of warm water, "attend me." The girl appeared almost immediately. "Take the fire-cat and make her a soft bed in the kitchen, by the fire." With a nod, Rin carefully took Kirara and left the room. Then he bent over Shippo and scooped the boy into the crook of his arm, carrying him up the steps whilst tossing over his shoulder, "Bring the other boy," to Kagome.

She went outside to fetch Kohaku. Rin had seated him beside a little fountain, and his blank eyes were fixed on the water trickling down. "Kohaku," Kagome said, forcing some cheer into her voice. "Time for some rest." She took his arm and tugged him to his feet, and for just a moment something in his gaze flickered, nearly focused… Kagome held her breath, waiting, but it slipped away, and she was left disappointed.

Still, it was better than nothing, wasn't it? Her natural optimism asserted itself, and her step was a little lighter as she guided him up the stairs and followed the sound of voices to a bedroom. She slid open the fusuma screen and found two sleeping pallets side by side, with Shippo already occupying one of them. Sesshoumaru was drawing a blanket up over him.

Kagome led Kohaku to the other pallet and gently pushed him down onto it, arranging his limbs in what she hoped was a comfortable way, and pulled a blanket over him.

"Jaken is preparing a meal for us," Sesshoumaru said, leading the way downstairs once more.

Unsure what to do, Kagome trailed listlessly after him, tugging at her filthy clothes with their crust of dried blood and aware of the potential for disaster. "Um, could I wash off before I ruin something?" She was terrified of brushing against the exquisitely painted fusuma, and even now feared the flakes of who-knew-what falling from her onto the pristine tatami.

He did not pause in stride, but continued toward a small chamber on the river-side of the house, drawing open the door and gesturing within to a washbasin. On a low stool beside it was folded a pile of what were clearly several kimono, and under the stool were neatly placed a pair of sandals. "Clean yourself and join me in the dining room," Sesshoumaru said, leaving her.

Kagome was only too thrilled to strip off her fouled clothing and scrub at herself until her skin was pink and glowing. The warmth they had enjoyed further south had not endured, and she was shivering and goosepimply by the end of her impromptu bath, so gratefully wrapped herself in three of the kimono: a sea-blue kosode first, then pure-white over that, and finally emerald-green embroidered with golden finches perched on cherry-tree branches.

She combed her hair with the little carved-wood comb she found there, and grimaced that she would not be able to wash it just yet. She settled for braiding it and fluffing her bangs and hoping she was not too plain-looking in this amazing house-everything was so perfectly and beautifully created and placed that she felt anxious, like it was a museum in her time and she'd damage something if she touched it or even looked too hard.

Leaving the bathing chamber, she realized she was standing in a long corridor lined with closed doors. Which one was Sesshoumaru behind? She quickly became distracted, staring in awe at the beauty of the scenes painted upon the length of wall. She realized, after a while, that the scenes were of the life of Sesshoumaru's and Inuyasha's father, Inutaisho.

Halfway down the hall, an auburn-furred tiger appeared in the scenes, and then a tiny white puppy soon thereafter: Sesshoumaru as a child. "Ohh," Kagome found herself cooing. "Issocute…"

Behind her, the faintly grating sound of a throat being cleared made Kagome straighten so fast her vertebrae cracked audibly. "Hi!" she said brightly as Sesshoumaru fixed her with a glare so cold she fully expected ice crystals to form on her body.

"Your frivolity is inappropriate in times such as these, miko," he informed her, "or have you forgotten the events of the night?"

She had not. "It's just how I deal with stress," she snapped, then winced at how incredibly stupid it was to be rude to a man who could kill her before she even realized she was in danger. Thankfully, however, he merely looked bored with her show of temper and turned away.

"Come with me," he said, and she followed him into the dining room with its low table of inlaid enamel, in a deep rich red that gleamed like fresh blood, and black cushions heavily embroidered in every colour imaginable. Three places were set, one at the head and one on both left and right, and several dishes were placed on the table, covered but steam still escaped.

Rin was already seated, waiting less than patiently if the rather mutinous expression on her face was anything to judge by, but she managed a sweet tone when she asked, "Get lost?"

"Distracted by the paintings," Kagome clarified, seating herself.

"Oh, did you see the one of Sesshoumaru-sama as a child?" Rin gushed, her bowl of miso soup halted halfway to her mouth as she grinned at Kagome. "Issocute!"

A flick of that demon-lord's chopsticks sent a shower of rice at the child. "Silence," he commanded.

Kagome was agape at what appeared at first to be an inconceivably playful response to Rin's teasing until the girl leapt up with a shriek. "Aieee!" she wailed and dashed from the room, hands to her head as if afraid it were about to come off her neck. Kagome slowly, carefully turned her own head to stare at Sesshoumaru.

"Rin is, I am told, at a stage of development where the state of her hair is of obsessive importance," he said, then took a bite of rice, chewing thoughtfully. "Therefore, it is where I focus my attention when she requires discipline." Kagome couldn't think of a response to that, so just ate an egg while Jaken came in to see if anything were required.

At the sight of the rice scattered over the table, cushion, and tatami, the toad-demon pursed his beak into a smirk. "What did she do this time, my lord?"

Sesshoumaru shook his head slightly, indicating he didn't want to discuss it. Kagome just goggled at the situation. "Eat," he commanded, aware without looking at her that she was staring at him in amazement.

She tried to eat, but with the ensuing silence, the layers of protective numbness her mind had constructed to shield her against the horrors of the night were quickly melting away. It was not long before her throat was too thick with unshed tears for her to swallow the food. "I would like to rest," she forced out, replacing her chopsticks neatly by her plate.

His gaze rested on her, so long she could practically feel its weight. Without a word, he rose and led her back upstairs to another bedroom. This one was smaller, with a low narrow bed instead of a pallet, and a kimono chest tucked into the corner.

"Thank you," she said, bowing, and he left her there. Gratefully, she didn't even bother undressing, but just sank onto the bed and closed her eyes.

But sleep would not come. Instead, images of her friends' faces as they were injured, of Inuyasha as he fought them, filled her mind to battle for space with all those Kagomes' memories, and her conflict over the enigma that was this dimension's Sesshoumaru…

Groaning, she rolled off the bed and stuck her feet in her sandals. She left her room, peeking in on Shippo and Kohaku and finding them still peacefully asleep. She went downstairs, calling softly for Sesshoumaru and Rin and even Jaken, but no one answered. She poked her head into various doors in search of them, becoming more and more amazed as one lovely room after another was revealed to her.

Here was the dining room again, every grain of rice cleaned away. There was a study, judging by the scrolls and books littering every surface. A third room revealed not a stick of furniture, but its walls held every imaginable manner of weapon, bound to the frames of the fusuma by slender leather straps and glinting dully in the meagre sunlight permitted through the paper-covered windows.

A final door led to the little covered pavilion stretching over the river, and at the cool touch of moist air on her face, Kagome eagerly pushed open the shoji and stepped outside. The boards beneath her feet had a tiny tremor from the force of the water rushing past supportive poles, and the sounds-lapping water, buzzing insects, leaves rustled by the breeze-surrounded her with a pleasant sense of mundanity. Her world might be crumbling, but here, at least, everything was as it should be.

She sat sideways on the little bench built into the end of the pavilion, pulling her knees to her chin and staring at the foam rising on the currents of water below. Much of what had occurred during the night was because of her, she felt. If she had heeded Midoriko's warning about Inuyasha, she could have done… what, exactly? There was little she could think of that would have worked to convince him to let her put her half of the Shikon into a safe place-he'd been furious enough when she'd given Naraku's half to Sesshoumaru.

And telling him the truth, that he couldn't be allowed to become a full demon, that he couldn't be trusted not to wreak havoc and mayhem, hadn't been an option either. Kagome had worked so hard to earn even a smidgen of the elusive, barely-there trust of Inuyasha. She knew how betrayed and hurt he would have been had she simply told him that he could never have his dream, that he was too unstable and dangerous, even if it were true.

"Dammit," she whispered, scrubbing at the tears that wet her cheeks. "This is all my fault."

"Why?" asked Sesshoumaru from behind her. Slowly, Kagome turned on the bench to face him. He stood in a slant of sunlight that fell between the ivy-threaded lattice forming the roof of the pavilion, head tilted to one side in curiosity and eyes lit by intelligence. She ruthlessly choked back the part of her that wanted to launch herself at him, to feel his arms-arm-around her, comforting her.

"Midoriko told me that Inuyasha couldn't be trusted around the jewel," she replied once the lump in her throat had subsided a little. "I refused to believe her, told her he wasn't like that." Kagome chose to ignore his tiny sound of disbelief. "She told me I had to kill him before he hurt anyone. I couldn't, and now Miroku and Shippo and Kirara are hurt, and he's taken Sango and half of the Shikon." She dropped her face down to hide it against her knees. "I thought it would be enough, giving you half of it, but it wasn't."

Her head snapped up. "Where did you put it? Is it safe? He can't get it, can he?" Her gaze flicked to the kura. "It's not in there, is it? Because I think he can break through a wall and get in."

"It is safe," was all Sesshoumaru said. "What else does Midoriko tell you?"

Kagome felt herself blush horribly. No, no, no, she thought. There's no way I'm telling him we're fated to fall in love and get married. "Um," she said in a thin, high voice, "not so much, really."

That glorious silver-ivory head tilted slowly to the other side. "You are a terrible liar," he told her. "Quite the worst I've ever encountered."

"Ha ha," she replied nervously. "At least I excel at something, huh?"

"A dubious excellence." He didn't move, and she doubted he was even blinking, as he watched her. "Come," he said after a moment, his voice a little lower, its cadence smoother, soft and soothing. "We are allies now; will you not share your knowledge with me?" It sounded impossibly seductive, as it was meant to, and Kagome felt bits of her body catch on fire even as she gave a little shiver.

"Oooh," she muttered, eyes huge and frightened, "that is so wrong and unfair, you know."

Sesshoumaru stepped closer until the wind, blowing around them, fluttered the pale sleeves of his haori against her legs. "I don't know what you mean," he continued in that same silken tone, and a dozen different scenes of love-most centred around her using her mouth on him-rushed into her head, making her gasp. Kagome twitched, her hands reaching for him automatically before she caught herself and sat on them.

"Evil," she whispered. "You are evil."

"I do try," he said with a demure, close-lipped smile, as if had been a compliment. Kagome rolled her eyes and dropped her head to her knees once more. "Do not hide yourself from me, girl," he said suddenly, the volume of his voice unchanged but the tone arctic, without a hint of the teasing that had suffused it just a moment ago. "If we are to fight together, I will not have a coward at my side."

She raised her face and met his fierce gaze. "Are we going to fight together, then?" she asked. "Are you making it official?"

He tilted his chin up, the very image of determination. "I am."

"Why?"

"This Sesshoumaru is under no obligation to reveal his motivations to you, ningen."

"Great," Kagome grumbled. "Before I was 'girl', now I'm 'ningen'. Definitely on my way down. Soon you'll just be calling me 'dungball'."

"That will certainly be an option if you choose never to reveal your name to me," he said testily, staring out over the river to the far shore.

She gaped at him. "I didn't realize you didn't know it."

"I do have other things to do with my days beside memorize the names of my half-brother's companions," Sesshoumaru commented, glancing at her from the corner of his eye.

They both fell silent, listening to the sounds of water and air. "Higurashi Kagome," she said suddenly.

To her surprise, he bowed to her. It was a tiny bow, scarcely a nod of the head, but it was there. "Sesshoumaru, son of Inutaisho of the West and Akako of the North."

"I know," she said immediately, then wished she hadn't when his gaze sharpened. "I-Inuyasha told me," she offered lamely. She couldn't just say she knew because of all the Kagomes' memories, could she?

"Liar," he said gently. "Must I beat you to obtain the truth?"

"You can try," she said, and yawned, hastily covered it with one hand. "But I still won't tell."

Sesshoumaru sighed. "I do not think I am getting a very good bargain in this partnership," he complained. "You lie to me, you are weak and foolish and do not heed the advice of those far wiser than you."

Midoriko's words came back to her. "Where I falter, you will endure," Kagome whispered. She blinked up at him, seeing his frustration and anger and feeling sorry for causing it. "I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you more. But I can't. Not yet."

He turned and walked away from her, toward the house. At the door, he paused, one long hand on the shoji frame as he half-turned back to her, looking over his shoulder through slitted eyes. "Soon," he said. "You will be able to tell me more, soon."



* kaidan tansu = step chest, a series of modular drawers able to be arranged in a step-pattern so it could be used to climb from one floor to the next above.