InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ So Crazy in Love ❯ A Picture of Courtesy ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter Six

A Picture of Courtesy

Kagome had been away from InuYasha for three days and at Sesshoumaru's castle for two. She had played outside with the child everyday, and had sensed Sesshoumaru's eyes on them at all times. She realized that he didn't exactly trust her yet, and she was less insulted than she was intrigued and endeared by the fact that Sesshoumaru was so protective of the young human girl.

On the third day, Rin had asked to take a walk in the nearby forest. Kagome knew that Sesshomaru would not approve of her taking her there without him, so she looked at the girl and told her that they would have to ask Lord Sesshoumaru first. Rin smiled happily and whisked off to find Sesshoumaru.

Kagome and Rin wandered on and off of the path ahead of him, while he watched them interestedly. He had been watching the priestess with Rin since she had gotten there and was relieved that she seemed to treat her well. He was pulled out of his thoughts by the child falling and scraping her hands on some rocks on the side of the trail.

He went to check on Rin only to have the priestess look at her wounds and quickly pull off her bag and start rummaging through it. Curious, he stilled his approach and watched as she pulled out a container of something and readied to spray it on the scratches. Using his demon speed, he reached out and grasped the girl's wrist to still her from spraying whatever it was on the child. The priestess looked up at him in surprise and he looked pointedly at the container.

Kagome was surprised by his stopping her, and then realized that he didn't know what it was, and didn't approve of her using it on Rin without him knowing. She smiled up at him and quickly handed him the container, assuming he would be able to read it. He read it and handed it back to her, the question still in his eyes. `Well, I guess that the word antiseptic means nothing to him. Not to mention the word Neosporin.' "Ummm… I guess the best way to describe this is, herbal remedies in a bottle." He looked back at the container, then at her, releasing her wrist and giving her a curt nod to tell her she could continue.

He watched as the priestess sprayed the neospotin on Rin's hands ready to stop her in an instant if it appeared to harm the girl. Quite on the contrary, the girl giggled and said that it was cool. After she was done, the priestess asked the girl if it felt better, and to Sesshoumaru's astonishment, she said she couldn't feel it anymore. He thought about what a powerful remedy it must be if she could no longer feel any pain. `She must not be from anywhere around here. In fact, the kimono that she usually wears looks quite foreign to me, too. I must ask her about it and the neospotin later.'

"Human, we will return now, though that remedy is powerful, she should still bandage her hands." Sesshoumaru felt an anger rise in the girl as she sharply turned towards him. He didn't believe that she was foolish enough to dispute his order, but she may surprise him.

"Listen, Fluffy, my name is not 'Human', nor is it 'Girl' or 'Wench'," she said the last word softer so as not to let Rin hear it. "My name is Kagome Higurashi. As I'm staying here for a short time, I would appreciate it if you would use it." He looked at the girl thoughtfully for a moment. His anger flared at the gall of her to call him such a demeaning name, but he felt an odd warmth take root in his stomach. He had never used a human's name when addressing them before, besides Rin, but he would humor this girl he decided.

"Alright, Higurashi. I shall address you as such. Let us go now." He turned to leave and he heard Rin's voice behind him. "Rin likes Fluffy. Fluffy suits Lord Sesshoumaru."

"Rin, you will never call me that name." He stated simply with a severe glare in the priestess's direction. He would talk to her tonight after Rin's bedtime, about this odd woman's origins.

*****

That night, Kagome went to her room as Sesshoumaru took Rin to bed. She went to the wardrobe to grab a robe to take down to the baths. She laid the robe on the bed and began to undress. She was just finishing when she heard a knock on the door. She prepared to answer but the door was immediately opened and she quickly turned away from the door and was grabbing for the robe when she heard Sesshoumaru's voice.

"Hum- Higurashi. I have some questions for you." He noticed her state of undress in passing and was slightly amused at her frantic search for the robe in her obvious distress. "Can't you knock?!?!?" "I did knock." "WELL CAN'T YOU WAIT FOR AN ANSWER?! I thought part of being the 'Great Demon Lord of the Western Lands' would mean that you could at least be courteous!"

She had finally gotten a hold of the robe during her tirade and was now violently tying the tie around her waist. She spun to face him, and found him standing uninterestedly inside her door, patiently waiting for her to finish. She flushed at the fact that he had not bothered to turn around, and fumed at herself for feeling embarrassed. `He's the one who walked in on me!' She calmed herself, and asked him politely. "What did you want to know, Sesshoumaru?"

"Where do you come from? Your manner of dress and speech are foreign to me. As are the objects that you carry with you." He saw the blush that was on her face, and found himself smiling inwardly at the thought that this human had thought that he might want to look at her. The thought was almost comical. Yet her comment about his not being courteous had bothered him. He, by breeding, valued good manners, and the fact that he had not turned from her surprised him. But it was not her body that had kept his eyes, but the humorous way she had attempted to cover herself from him. He had almost wanted to laugh at her.

He saw her uneasiness at his question and thought that maybe it was a good thing that he had decided to inquire about it. In his experience, humans did not act like that unless they didn't want to answer, meaning they had something to hide. The fact that she didn't want him to know furthered his desire to know and he stood there for a minute as she just looked at him, visibly trying to think of a way to get out of answering. "I am not leaving without an answer, and for that matter, neither are you."

Kagome looked up into his face and saw his determination, and realized that she was going to have to answer him, whether he decided to believe her or not was up to him. "I'm from a city called Tokyo. It's the capital of Japan." Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed at the girl and he stated, "Kyoto is the capital of Japan, I will not be that easy to fool, Higurashi."

"I know it is, Sesshoumaru. But it won't be forever. I am from the future. About five-hundred years." She watched his face closely, looking for some disbelief, but only seeing the accustomed dead-pan stare that she was used to. She waited for some response from him, but he simply stood in her doorway, allowing no passage past, nor asking anything else of her. She grew frustrated and grabbed her bathing supplies and walked towards him. "Well, Lord Sesshoumaru, if there is nothing else, sir, I would like to go take my bath now." Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed at the back of the head that was now bowed low before him. He did not take lightly to being mocked, and she was doing everything in her power to point out his former mistake in courteousness.

"That will be all for now, Higurashi. You are dismissed." He didn't acknowledge her slight jab at him, and she smiled slightly before ending her bow, expecting him to have left her room. Instead, he was standing there with the door open, waiting for her to exit before him. The picture of courtesy.

She smiled at him politely and left towards the baths. Once her back was to him, a smirk appeared on her face. She was amused to find that her opinion of his actions had mattered enough to him for him to change them. She shook her head thinking that he wasn't as cold-blooded as he tried to make everybody think.

Sesshoumaru exited the room after her and watched her walk a little way down the hall. He chided himself for allowing her to mock him without him punishing her, and even more for not even being that angry. Her words had been humorous, and the joke had not been entirely lost on him. He turned and walked the opposite direction, his eyes glittered with humor and he felt a warm feeling wash over him, as her frantic search for her robe played through his head.