InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Without a Lullaby ❯ Broken ( Chapter 4 )

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

Chapter IV: Broken

 
Rin observed the adults who were almost pointedly staring at their plates of food and at no where else. Kagome-neesan had an unhappy look on her face, but she had to admit that was not usual for her in the least. Kagome-neesan rarely smiled anymore... Rin turned her head to look at Sesshomaru-sama, who seemed calm, but Rin-chan knew better.

Sesshomaru-sama was mad with Kagome-neesan.

Rin just wanted Sesshomaru-sama and Kagome-neesan to get along.

Pouting, Rin wanted to do something to distract their attention.

It was too quiet.

And Rin didn't like quiet breakfasts.

This was the time she usually bothered Jaken the most. So, she proceeded to kick Jaken in the shin under the table.

Jaken seethed, glaring at the child and murmuring to her from across the table, “Stop it, you stupid ningen child!”

Rin did it again.

Jaken was tempted to kick back, but he knew his master would most likely bestow a vicious beating upon him if he did such a thing. So, he grabbed his staff and then walloped the girl on the head for good measure and what he considered proper disciplinary action.

And unfortunately for him, both Kagome and Sesshomaru had been watching the exchange. And they both stood up at the same time. The miko's aura flared in outrage at his abuse of the child's head, and Sesshomaru pinned him with a cold death glare that promise retribution for his assault on his ward.

“Jaken.”

But before he could say more, Kagome lobbed her drinking cup at the toad and hit him upside the head with it as if to say, 'see how you like it, asshole!' It didn't help she had somewhat charged it with her spiritual power and singed the youkai right in the middle of his forehead.

This only proved to incense Sesshomaru further, but he decided to ignore her taking it upon herself to reprimand the kappa until he had dealt with Jaken.

Jaken paled at least ten shades until he was a sickly yellow-green color as he choked out, “Y-yes m'lord?” He had to repress the urge to rub the spot the miko had purified, though it burned like the devil.

Sesshomaru looked at Rin, who was rubbing her head and shooting Jaken a healthy scowl, getting his point across with no words. He knew the lesser youkai understood his meaning.

Jaken sighed insufferably, and apologized loud enough for the human and Sesshomaru to hear. As Sesshomaru continued to stare at him longer, Jaken knew that was not enough.

He would have to appease the child or face the wrath of his lord.

Swallowing hard, Jaken sputtered, “Would Rin like to go pick flowers?” He sounded sickeningly sweet, and Rin didn't buy one bit of it.

“No, Rin would not like to go pick flowers with Jaken. Rin would like to go pick flowers with Kagome-neesan because she is nice.”

Rin made sure to emphasize her sentence as much as possible, knowing Jaken would `get it' worse the more apparent she made it she was displeased. Kagome sighed, moving, not even bothering to wait for Sesshomaru to command her to go with the girl. But to her surprise, Sesshomaru held up one arm to stop her. “No. Rin shall go with Jaken, and the ningen shall stay here. We have something to discuss.”

Rin looked unhappy, but she knew the topic was not negotiable. What Sesshomaru-sama said was final, as with all things he told her. She sulked out the door, and Jaken followed, as unhappy as Rin was with the whole ordeal.

As soon as the door was closed, Sesshomaru had appeared next to Kagome so quickly that he just about scared her out of her wits. He was growling again, having lost his temper, with his face all in hers again.

What's his problem?!

He lost his temper quicker than Inuyasha had! Only, he was much more intimidating than the hanyou ever was.

The fact all she had to do to stop the rampaging hanyou was to say 'osuwari' helped those matters greatly.

She winced at the thought, staring up at the flaming amber eyes. He only showed such outraged emotions near her when they were alone, and she didn't enjoy that one bit. They were getting worse day after day.

She'd preferred it when he ignored her.

His temper terrified the living daylights out of her, and when he growled at her that way during some days, she'd find those nights impossible to sleep through.

She almost feared for her life.

And he is supposed to be protecting me, not making me wonder if I'm going to end up dead the next day! She thought to herself bitterly, a sour look taking hold of her features. She averted her eyes again, her miko aura flaring out to protect her but it did little much to soothe the offended youkai.

This caused Sesshomaru's aggravation to spike considerably, thinking that she was only giving him `attitude' again.

“Ningen, I shall make one thing crystal clear for you. While you are in my home, you shall act decently. You shall act modest, and act like a proper individual. Is there any way you do not understand that?” He was speaking in low tones, looming over her, more than a head taller than her. Their size difference became overwhealmingly obvious to her in that moment.

She cringed back, shaking her head furiously to make sure he knew it was more than crystal clear to her.

It was fucking translucent.

“Good. That entails you not throwing my things at my servants, you not causing noise to disrupt my household, and most of all you showing proper respect to me. Understood?”

Kagome felt her eyes burning. She nodded again, submitting to him. And she was beginning to loathe him for it.

She could have sworn she saw a shadow of a smirk upon his face cross his face, but it was a mere flash and it was gone. As he turned a bit to exit the dining hall, he said one thing that shattered her very fragile soul.

“Inuyasha may have let you run wild like a little whore, dressing like a concubine and defying him though you were his charge, but I will have none of it.”

She didn't realize what she was doing until she had done it. She was just reacting.

She walked up to him calmly, brought her hand back and smacked him square across the face.

They were frozen like that for quite a while. Both their eyes were wide in disbelief.

Sesshomaru's face was angled, and Kagome's body was rigid with shock. It had to be shock. The world had fallen out beneath her and she was floating in the world of impossiblities.

I just... slapped... Sesshomaru...

As he slowly turned to look at her, she saw his teeth bared and his eyes flooding crimson...

But she suddenly did not care.

She would never allow him to dishonor his brother that way. And she had just proven it to herself that she was above letting him speak like that.

I love Inuyasha too much...

She felt her face harden and her jaw tighten, tears running down her cheeks freely.

She was broken.

And she just didn't care anymore. She didn't want to.

There was nothing left...

And when Sesshomaru was about to grab her throat and choke the daylights out of her, he stopped, staring at her in confusion. It was obvious in his face, and if Kagome had been feeling anything else than what she was at that moment, she would have been amused.

But the fact was...

She was crying.

Again.

In front of him.

“I demand you stop that at once, ningen.”

But she didn't.

She just ground her teeth together, and stared at him with hateful eyes...

Hateful, hopeless eyes.

 Sesshomaru growled, trying to intimidate her... into what? Silence?

She was more than silent...

She was as empty as death.

Trying to get her to stop those forsaken emotions.

Glued to the spot, neither one of them moved. It was as if the world had abruptly ended into a apocalypse of silence that only the two of then existed in, Kagome trembling and Sesshomaru rigid in disbelief. The only thing breaking the silence was her soft sniffles that pierced the tense air with the sound of reality.

It brought her off the high of her adrenaline, and she knew she had finally had enough of his callousness.

I'm done.

The spell had entwined them both, drawing them inexorably together like a hurricane. Unit Kagome could take no more, she was at her wits end, Kagome brushed passed him into the hallway without courtesy. She slammed the breakfast door shut behind her as she left.

Snapping Sesshomaru out of his almost-trance, he stormed down the hall. “NINGEN.”

She did not stop.

Instead, she just walked faster.

Sesshomaru appeared in front of her though, stopping her in her tracks. “When I am talking to you, you will acknowledge me.”

She acted as if his existence didn't matter.

As if he wasn't standing there, an effective blockade.

She continued to try and push past him.

Why am I not punishing her for her audacity? Why am I allowing this?

Sesshomaru grabbed her by the shoulders, his nails digging into her flesh and his poisons scorching the outsides of her skin, bubbling and oozing.

Squirming in pain, she cried out harder, her face contorting in pain.

This was barely anything.

He knew it.

He knew that he could have snapped her weak body in half if he wanted to.

But he didn't.

Because I know her pain. I know her pain of loss.

The thought came to him unwanted.

He snarled, causing her to go stiff in his grasp.

All but dragging her, he threw her into her room and broke the handle off so she could not exit. He didn't even care about the damage anymore.

He just needed the ningen contained, so he could think.

What in all the Hells is going on....? What is she changing within me?

Sesshomaru bit back the urge to howl out in supressed rage.
 
Her antics were trying even what some would consider the `better' parts of him.

But she reminded him of not only everything he was not, but everything that he used to be.

And in some small part inside of him, that rocked him to his very core.

But as most things inside of him, that was just something he refused to see.

 
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