“What the hell is your problem?!” Inuyasha yelled, fist flailing.
“Inuyasha don’t yell at me.” Kagome said in an eerily calm voice that should have tipped the hanyou off as to how close he was to being put face down in the dirt. Which obviously he missed.
“Wench I will yell at you all I want. It’s your fault that we can’t find the remaining shards. If you weren’t…” Before he could finish, he found himself eating dirt after a very loudly screamed ‘Ouswari!’
Kagome stormed off into the woods, she needed to get away from the hanyou and cool down. As she was leaving she tossed over her shoulder. “Inuyasha if I see you again in the next hour I will say the word over and over again until you reach the center of the earth.”
“Gosh Inuyasha you should’ve seen that one coming.” Shippou said from the safety of Miroku’s shoulder.
“Shut up runt.” Inuyasha said as he jumped up and made a grab for the kit only to be stopped by the monk.
“He’s right Inuyasha, you should know better then to call her names like that.”
Sango nodded her head in agreement. Inuyasha keh’d at them then proceeded to find a tree to go and pout in.
Sesshoumaru watched on in absolute disgust. The hanyou held no respect for his companions, especially the miko. She stood by his side no matter what he did, and always forgave him for his actions, just proving his theory that the half-breed was truly a simpleton. He turned and followed off after the miko, he wanted to know why she would tolerate the half-breed treating her the way he does, and on such a constant basis.
“Sesshoumaru go away, I am in no mood to deal with you right now.” Kagome said without turning towards the demon lord.
“I will go where I please.” He stated in his calm authoritative voice.
“Fine.” Kagome turned to walk off, she just wanted to be alone so that she could calm down. Ever since Sesshoumaru joined her group, she was finding that her alone time had all but disappeared.
“Inuyasha is a halfwit, you shouldn’t waste your time being hurt by his words and actions.”
Kagome froze in her retreat. She wasn’t sure she heard him right. Did he just try to sooth her hurt? Kagome shook her head. There was no way that he would do something like that. She turned to look at him, but he was staring off into the other direction so that she couldn’t see his face. “Did you just say something nice to me? I mean in your own way of course.”
“Don’t flatter yourself human. I was just stating the obvious.”
Kagome walked over to stand in front of the demon and locked her eyes with his. “Ya know Sesshoumaru, somewhere deep down inside that frozen heart of yours, I do believe there is a hint of caring.”
Sesshoumaru snorted at this. “I do not care, nor will I ever.”
“Then why are you here?” She asked as a grin slowly spread across her face.
He glared down at the smiling girl. “You will tell me why you let the half-breed treat you as he does.”
Kagome tilted her head to the side. “I have already answered your question. It is because I love him, and promised to stand by his side no matter what.”
“Even though it causes you pain.”
“Let me ask you this. Why do you hold onto what causes you such pain?”
Sesshoumaru turned his head towards the sky. “Nothing causes me pain.”
Kagome laughed at that, causing him to look back down at her. “Now who’s being the fool? At least I acknowledge my pain, you just hide from yours behind your cold exterior.”
Sesshoumaru curled his lip up at her. “Bite your tongue woman, you go to far.”
Kagome sat down and looked up at him. “If I was wrong then you wouldn’t react as you are. But don’t worry Sesshoumaru, your secret is safe with me.”
Sesshoumaru tried to kill her with his ‘die’ glare, but knew that wouldn’t rid him of the girl, so instead he turned his gaze back up to the evening sky, and retreated into his mind. He wondered how a simple girl such as her could be so sure of who he really was, when he himself wasn’t even sure. He never once questioned who and what he was, until he met her. What is it that she sees about him that he can’t see about himself?
The girl, though a mere ningen, was truly an enigma. She suffers pain from the one she claims to love, but continually stands firm by the half-breeds side. Why would someone torture themselves so willingly, and for not but love? She definitely needed to die, not only because she bested him, or because she made him question himself, but also because of her love for the hanyou. His reasons for her death were getting to be many the longer he stayed around her.
“Ya know Sesshoumaru, I think your beginning to like me.” She said to the demon lord sitting across from her.
Sesshoumaru raised a questioning eyebrow at her.
“Well when ever I seek solitude from Inuyasha you follow me. When I take a walk just to clear my mind, you follow. No matter where I go you are there, it’s almost as if you can’t stand the thought of not being near me. Although I find it flattering, sometimes its just plain annoying.”
“My presence bothers you?” He could feel the smirk wanting to play on his lips. If he couldn’t kill her, the least he could do was drive her insane.
“Not always.” She let out a sigh. “Its just sometimes I find it hard to clear my mind with you watching me all the time. So why do you do it? Why do you follow me all the time?”
Kagome couldn’t admit to him that she was beginning to love having him with her all the time. Each day that passed, she could feel something inside her growing for the youkai, but she didn’t have a name for it just yet. Nevertheless, it was there, every time she looked at him, talked to him, or felt his presence near her; she could feel it growing.
“What I seek from you will be taken by no one, and I am going to make sure that that doesn’t happen.”
Kagome bit back a giggle. “I have told you already, you nor anyone else will take that from me. It has already been foretold.”
Now was his chance to find out how she knew about her own death. “Tell me miko, how is it that you know of your own death?”
Kagome smiled at him. She had come to terms with her fate long ago when Midoriko came to her and showed her what was going to happen once the jewel was complete. It still broke her heart to know what was going to happen to Inuyasha, Shippou, and even the great demon sitting there with her. However, it’s what the kami themselves desire, and who was she to go against them.
“Midoriko told me.”
Sesshoumaru had to check her for deceit, that was just to unbelievable, and was more than shocked to find that she wasn’t lying. The great priestess warrior that fought along side his father when he was nothing more than a young general in his army, had spoken to this girl, telling her of her death.
“And you believed a woman who has long been dead?” He scoffed.
Kagome smiled at him. “She’s not dead.”
Both his eyebrows shot up at that bit of news. “Explain.”
“She lives within the shikon no tama, trapped in an eternal battle until I release her and then she will pass on. As will I.”
“And you have accepted this as your fate? You refuse to fight it?”
Kagome shrugged her shoulders at him. “I have. At first, it bothered me, but soon I came to terms with it. With my death and the completion of the shikon no tama, the reign of Naraku’s evil will come to an end, and the jewel will cease to exist.” She didn’t tell him what else Midoriko told her about the completion of the jewel, nor would she ever. No one needed to know that piece of information.
“There is something you are not telling me miko.” He could sense that she was hiding something from him, and it felt as if it was something very important.
“Yes there is, but I can not say what it is. So don’t bother trying to get it out of me.”
A challenge hmm. He thought to himself. The pup in him loved challenges and what was this miko, but one big challenge? “You will tell me.” He said nonchalantly.
Kagome got up, walked over, and sat beside him. “I do believe my dear lord, that that will never happen.”
Sesshoumaru looked over at the girl sitting next to him. “Believe what you will. No one keeps secrets from this Sesshoumaru for very long, especially when he wants to know what they are.”
Kagome began to laugh at him. “Now you will tell me something. Why do you sometimes refer to yourself in the third person? I know who Sesshoumaru is, he is you. There’s no need to point that out.”
“You will cease your laughing at me. How I refer to myself is none of your concern.”
Kagome just shook her head at him. “Sesshoumaru you are something else.”
“No miko I am me.”
With that Kagome fell over laughing, causing the demon lord to look down upon her as if she had gone mad.
“Please don’t leave me! I need you!” She screamed through her tears as he walked away from her.
How could he leave her just like that, especially now when she needed him the most. She just wanted to hold him one last time before she died, to feel his warmth, his caress, his love. Why would he walk away from her now, is he so weak that he can’t stand to see me pass on? Is his heart so cold that the death of the one he claimed to love is not worth staying with until my last breath?
“I hate you.” She whispered “You will walk the land in misery for the rest of your time, because you turned your back on me.” She could feel her last breath leaving her.
He continued to walk away and heard her voice on the wind. “Sesshoumaru, my love”
Kagome woke with a start. ‘What the hell was that dream all about?’ She wondered. She got up and walked in the darkness over to the stream to wash the sweat from her brow, unaware of the widened eyes upon the face of the demon lord standing in a tree above her.
He heard her cry out to him in her sleep, calling him her love. Did she love him? Impossible and even if she did it really didn’t matter. She could feel what she wants towards him; it won’t change his desire for her death. The only thing he didn’t want was for her to press her feelings upon him. Ningens especially females were notorious for that sappy love stuff, and once they found the object of their desires, they tried to force the feelings to be returned.
He would have none of it. He would never love a ningen, especially her. ‘Stupid girl.’ He thought with disgust.
“Eww I am not touching that! It’s just to gross! How could something living have gross stuff like that inside its body!” Kagome cringed at the disgusting bloody, gooey, blob on the ground in front of her.
“Quit being such a baby Kagome! Just grab the shard already!” The hanyou yelled at her, giving her a push from behind.
Kagome glared back at him then took a step forward. She reached out her hand and as soon as her fingers touched the gooey mess, she jumped back, feeling the dry heaves building up within her. “I can’t do it Inuyasha, it’s just to disgusting. Maybe we could just leave it. I don’t think even Naraku would stick his fingers in that mess. So it should fine right there for the rest of eternity. Right?”
“Stupid girl just grab it and quit being such a bitch about it.”
Sesshoumaru stood back watching with slight amusement. That was another thing about females that proved their worthlessness, they didn’t like to touch dead things, especially dead bugs. He did have to agree with her though; the thing was rather disgusting.
“Keh, I’ll get it.” Inuyasha bent down to grab it, when he was stopped by Kagome.
“You can’t Inuyasha. It’s tainted, if you touch it, it will corrupt you.”
“Then just grab it already.” He snapped at her.
Sesshoumaru saw this as a perfect opportunity to show up the hanyou. Ever so stoically he walked over to the gooey blob, reached down, grabbed the shard, and dropped it into the ashen girls hand.
“Ewww so gross! Ya could have cleaned it first!” She said while holing her hand far out in front of her as if trying to get away from it.
“Hey how come he can touch it and I can’t?” Inuyasha snapped at her.
Kagome walking away with her hand out in front of her and her head turned away as if the goo in her hand would attack her if she laid an eye on it responded. “I don’t know Inuyasha. Why don’t you ask him yourself.”
Inuyasha looked over at the smug look on his brothers face. He didn’t want to ask, because he already knew what Sesshoumaru would say. He could hear it in his head already. ‘Because half-breed, unlike you I am not weak to the pull of the jewel.’ “Keh” He said and stomped off after Kagome.
Suspension by Keva