I seriously wondered if the kit would attack. He seemed to be staring at the bruise left behind by my hand, as though trying to figure out where it came from. But a glance in my direction told him all he needed to know. Or, to be more precise, a glance at my hands, which had the claws extended now in a battle-ready position.
Immediately, he fell into a similar stance, and I could smell the adrenaline coursing through both of our veins as we silently challenged each other. Him for Kagome’s honor, and I for my own. I had not seen him in centuries, and here he immediately thought I was here to torture and kill her and her family. He hadn’t noticed that the stench of fear was nowhere to be found, nor had I done anything threatening to any of them. Hell, I had tried to be cordial! But, the kit had traveled with Inuyasha, so he must have developed the same ‘attack first, think later’ attitude as my half-brother.
When the fox finally moved to attack me, merely lunging forward with his claws ready, I intended to merely dodge and follow through with my own claws. I did not wish to fight inside Kagome’s home, but since I could not avoid it, I would not use my youki whip, nor would I use the poison in my claws. I would merely make the kitsune stop attacking somehow, whether he be unconscious or incapacitated. But, that was not to happen.
Instead, the impossible happened.
Kagome, in a move I had seen her do before when she was with my hanyou brother, leapt in front of me with her arms spread in a defensive position. I could only watch in horror and shock as the other demon’s claws dug into her stomach, directly beneath her ribs, whereas on me they would have hit my gut, a move used to claw out one’s intestines and cause a painful death. But on her, it merely brought the danger of puncturing internal organs. But this was bad enough. I did not know what a human could survive through, as the only humans I had ever attacked had all died instantly. And Rin was already dead from the wolves when I had found her.
But now Kagome was clutching her stomach and falling to her knees. I immediately moved to catch her, and held one arm across her shoulders to support her, while my left hand, the one Inuyasha had removed so long ago, was pressed to her bleeding wound, staining the soft dress a deep crimson. The youkai who had hurt her was staring on in terror, as though he had fulfilled his worst nightmares. I was about to find out how right my analogy was.
“MOM!?!?” The kit yelled out, reaching towards her, Kagome’s blood on his claws screaming at my senses to attack him for her pain. But, the word he used made me pause. She was his mother? No, I remember. She said she was a surrogate mother to the pup she and Inuyasha had rescued from the Thunder Brothers so long ago.
But back to the important matter at hand, namely, the young miko in my arms. She looked up at me, smiling slightly. Needless to say, I was surprised. She had just had the claws of her ‘son’ thrust into her lower chest, like I had done to my own half-brother, causing him to lose consciousness, and she SMILES?!
No matter how shocked I was at this, though, I was in for a much larger surprise. She turned to smile at the red-haired demon before closing her eyes and apparently concentrating, as I could feel her energy and her magic rise to the surface, and even begin to pulse through her. Her hand began to glow with a soft white light, and I could only watch on as the blood flow began to slow and clot, causing the wound to close slowly. Then, once it had formed a deep red scab over the recently injured spot, Kagome’s hand fell to her side, limp.
Her body became just as lifeless in my arms, the sound of her heartbeat and breathing my only reassurance that she still lived. But then one of her blue-gray eyes opened, and focused on the other demon. “Shippou,” she whispered softly. “Show him where my room is, then come back and tell Mom what happened. It’s okay, I’m fine, don’t worry………” She fainted as I held her, wondering how any human could do what she had just done.
The kit shakily led me up the stairs, past a pair of bedrooms, both with frightened heads poking from their doors, one the boy’s, and the other’s the old man’s. Her brother and grandfather. Her brother currently smelled strongly of chocolate, but was also strong with worry, no doubt over the woman in my arms. The elder man smelled of paper and ink, but he also smelled of the concern of his granddaughter’s welfare. With a curt nod to the both of them, I followed the fox to a room that smelled strongly of sakura blossoms, and thunderstorms. Gentle yet powerful. Soothing, yet entrancing.
Kagome.
This was her room, I was certain. I placed her on her bed to rest, only to turn and notice the kitsune’s sorrowful eyes focused on me. I can tell now he regretted attacking me, even if it was only because of Kagome. He bowed his head to me respectfully now, and muttered out, just loud enough for a human to hear, but clear enough for me to understand clearly, “Thank you, Lord Sesshoumaru. I offer my sincerest apologies for doubting you.”
Now THAT was unexpected. Everything was surprising me today, and I didn’t like it. Not one damn bit. But, it was interesting. In fact, I had not been thoroughly shocked this much in almost 500 years. I changed my mind. I DID like this. It felt much more normal to me, somehow.
After I nodded back to the kit and accepted his apology, he asked me to stay with Kagome while he went to inform her mother, whom I am certain was currently dying of worry over her daughter. I was not nearly as worried, though. I knew how powerful Kagome could be when she wished.
Hell, if there was one thing I had learned from all of our fights, both with and against each other, it was that this young but powerful miko did not know how to die.
~*~*~*~
I don’t know why I did it. I can say it was to protect him, or it was to keep a fight from breaking out. I can say it was natural reflex, but I know that it’s not the reason I protected him. He could have dodged. He could have ended the fight quickly. But, I still did it. And it hurt like hell, too.
I think Shippou was the most shocked, seeing as how he had just accidentally hurt his mother figure, whom had protected a person he considered an enemy. I’m an odd person, aren’t I? Well, now I was paying for it. Not only was I bleeding, but all over my favorite dress, too!! Oh well, Mom was always able to get the blood stains out of my uniform, I’m certain she can get this clean. But first, I need to make it stop bleeding.
Focusing all my energy on the hand over my injury, I began to imagine it healing over, forming a rough scab that would disappear soon, and unfortunately would probably leave a scar. But it was better than dying from blood loss. I wasn’t about to attempt instantaneous healing. I don’t think I could do that if I wanted. Not even demons healed like that! Hell, it had been a year or so by the time Sesshoumaru’s arm grew back!!
Speaking of which, I just realized he had been holding me up this entire time, one hand covering my own as I concentrated. Slightly embarrassed, though I wasn’t really sure why, I asked Shippou to show the demon lord how to get to my room, then tell my mom what happened. I knew he was upset, so I told him not to worry. Yeah, I knew he still would, but I’d fix that when I woke up. At that point, I was too tired to care.
So I slept.
The next time I opened my eyes, it was to see something I had NOT expected. Shippou and Sesshoumaru were in my room, talking quietly. The demon lord was talking about what he was doing here, explaining himself, to a kitsune! It was final. The world had come to an end. Hell has frozen over. Naraku has hugged someone. Miroku announced he was gay.
It was while I was staring at them, though, that I noticed the things they both had in common. They were both demons I had known from Sengoku Jidai, and both had connections to Inuyasha and myself, and they both, somehow, had hidden their tails. I had always just assumed Shippou had used illusions to hide his, and never asked, but seeing Sesshoumaru without his, and finally realizing it, the need to ask was overwhelming. In fact, it was how I greeted the duo.
“Where did your tails go?” Okay, that could have gone better. But hey, I got their attention, didn’t I? After all, Shippou was now about to fall off of his chair he was laughing so hard, and Sesshoumaru was actually grinning at me, which was unusual, since I was so used to associating his smiles with a person’s death. Although, he had smiled at me recently, and I hadn’t been afraid. Maybe the shock of having a polite, kind Taiyoukai around kept me from noticing these things, along with the fact that his markings were gone!!! What the hell!? Sure they had looked like make-up, but I had liked them, dammit!!
“And why don’t you have your markings anymore?” Shippou made his way to me and sat down on the edge of the bed.
“You know, Kagome, most people, when they wake up from a 2 hour nap, say ‘hello’ or ‘good morning’ or something, but you, no, you have to go for the weird things, don’t you?” He reached out and touched my face lightly, and I could tell he was still upset about hurting me. But then, now that I think about it, it didn’t hurt anymore. I slid my hand under the blanket to wear the wound was supposed to be, only to find that someone had changed my clothes!!! I turned wide eyes to the two demons, who seemed to be amused at my surprise.
“You don’t possibly think your mother would not come in to check on you herself, or let you lay in your bed in bloodied clothing, do you? No, she made us wait outside while she changed you and covered you up after cleaning your injury. Though she did mention something about it not being as bad as she had expected.” I could almost FEEL the question in Sesshoumaru’s statement. And I have to admit, after slipping my hand under my pajama top, I wanted to ask the same damn question.
WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!!!
I ran my hand over the almost smooth skin, shocked at the size of the scab. It was almost non-existent!!! Immediately, I sat up straight, surprising both youkai, but surprising them even more when I lifted the top just enough to uncover the nearly-healed wound.
I didn’t know eyes could get that large. Especially not Sesshoumaru’s.
Go back in time by about 2 or 3 years, and ask me about Sesshoumaru. I’d tell you he is the cold, merciless, emotionless Demon Lord of the Western Lands, half-brother to Inuyasha, full demon and natural assassin. I’d say that his face was an impenetrable mask, as well as the hard shell he must have kept around his heart, if he even had one.
Fast forward to today, and ask the same question, and I’d probably still say he was the Demon Lord of the Western Lands, half-brother to Inuyasha, and full demon. He’s still a born killer, but he’s not as cold-hearted as he was then. His face shows more than I think he knows, and I don’t think that came from merciless slaughter. I think it came from caring for a child, a human like the ones he despised.
I would also say he was extremely handsome. Well, I’d have said that then, too, but you didn’t hear it from me.
I tugged the shirt back down to cover my formerly-wounded belly, and I watched as the two demons had to shake themselves out of the stupor they had apparently fallen into. When I saw Shippou’s face twist into a mischievous grin, I began to get nervous, but he merely asked, “So, Kagome, have you shown him the God Tree yet?”
Okay, check that, when I find his tail, I’m gonna strangle him with it.
Shippou had asked about the God Tree because of what I had done to it. Sesshoumaru would have been interested to see where his brother had been pinned for fifty years, I’m so sure. And Myouga enjoyed being squished. But what I had done, after the insistence of my family and the agreement of Shippou, was turn the poor tree into a grave marker, carving the names of those I knew to be dead into the bark. Miroku’s name was there, as was Sango’s and Kaede’s. Kirara was still alive, and I was certain Kouga was, too, although he didn’t know I was here, and therefore, hadn’t come to see me. And Inuyasha’s name was there, as well. I had even put Kikyou’s name there.
Trust me, THAT had shocked Shippou. To see me carve the name of the woman who tried to kill me next to Inuyasha’s. But I told him that while Kikyou had been alive, she had probably been a better person, and that she was with Inuyasha now. She deserved to be able to rest in peace as well. I said that this carving represented the living Kikyou, rather than the dead one that I had met.
But now I wonder why Shippou asked me – oh, wait. I had carved Rin’s name, too. I had liked that little girl, she had been so adorable. I had asked Shippou if Sesshoumaru was still alive when I did that, and he had said he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t doubt it. So I had only put Rin’s.
Nervously, I turned to meet a pair of curious golden eyes. I’m glad to see he hasn’t changed much in his looks, I had always liked the silvery-white hair and amber eyes. They made the brothers more unique, I think.
“No I haven’t, Shippou.” Then my mind came back to my earlier questions to them. “But then, neither of you have answered me. Where are your tails, and why are your markings gone?” I looked back and forth between the two, noting how Shippou was smiling sheepishly at the demon lord. Had I REALLY been out that long??
“Tell me where they went, and I’ll show you what I did to the God Tree.” NOW I had Sesshoumaru’s attention. He was a curious little demon, wasn’t he? Wait. ‘Little’? What was I thinking??! This tall man who was currently sitting in my pink bedroom, looking at me with those deep, thoughtful eyes, was ANYTHING but a ‘little demon’.
Hell, I doubt he could have been called that when he was a newborn!!