Chapter Text
The Meeting
In a quiet forest Kagome stumbled across an old run down hut, further destroyed not by nature but likely the hands of man. Peeking inside lay a bloody woman leaning against the far wall. Kagome thought the woman lay dead, until she suddenly coughed, blood bubbling from her mouth.
Her backpack was quickly shrugged off before rushing to the woman’s side. “What happened here?” She asked, not sure what help she could be. The woman appeared to be a yokai, but even with their incredible healing prowess she doubted the woman would be able to pull through. A hole tore through the center of her stomach and her legs both appeared to be broken, snapped like twigs in a disturbing picture of pain.
“It matters not.” The woman weakly answered. Her eyes unable to properly look into Kagome's, instead they shook in a desperate attempt to form a connection. “If you would be so kind as to do a dying woman a favor?” She pointed to the far wall where the futon lay in disarray.
Kagome nodded solemnly. “Please, reunite me with my child.” She coughed again, more blood spilled down her chest. Kagome left the woman’s side and went over to the futon. There she found a baby boy smothered to death under the blankets. He looked somehow peaceful. He was wrapped in a blanket, little limbs confined in an innocent way. The little dog ears poking out making it obvious that this little one was a hanyo.
Slowly, distraught raging through her, Kagome brought the child back to the woman. She lay him in her lap and the demoness slowly wrapped her arms around her young pup. Barely holding in her tears Kagome looked away. She tried twice to find something to say, but nothing would change the situation for the woman or the child.
The woman looked down at her child and smiled. “Perhaps in death my family may finally find peace. The dead care not whether you were demon, human, or hanyo. And we were all three.”
Kagome placed her hand over the woman’s, rubbing it slightly to give her any kind of confort she could. Minutes went by before the woman took a deep breath, “Thank you miko, may the blessings of my people be upon you”, each word taking a little longer than the next. A small light radiated from the hand Kagome held. The woman smiled as her chin dropped to her chest to gaze down at her beloved child for the last time.
Kagome sat and cried, her hand not leaving the woman’s. Desperate thoughts ran through her head; anger, at those who'd done this, grief, at the lives lost in prejudice.
When her eyes burned, red and irritated, she retracted her hand, dried her cheeks on the sleeve of her shirt and began to stand up to leave. Turning back to the entrance she was presented with the lord of the west, Sesshomaru, standing in the door way, looking down at her with his usual disinterest face.
She fell back a little startled. Trying to stand again she asked, “Can you save her?” His expressionless face seemed to harden a little at her question.
“It would be possible for me to save the foolish woman, but she would not see such an action as a blessing.” he nodded at the bundle in the woman’s lap, “The child is too long dead for such assistance”
“Ah” Kagome replied, looking at her feet before looking back up into his face, “You are probably right.” A few more tears slipped from her eyes.
He frowned, walking up to her. He reached for her face, wiping a tear from her chin and licked it from his finger. “Stop with the water, woman.” He turned and headed for the exit, “Come. I will return you to your companions as thanks for the assistance you provided my kin.”
“Kin?” She asked, but he had left the building. She turned once more to the woman and child. “May you rest peacefully together”, she said quietly before grabbing her pack and following after Sesshomaru.
He had already reached the trees beyond the clearing and made no indication of stopping despite his offer to guide her back. Kagome didn't complain as she rushed after him, pushing aside brush and tree limbs.
Minutes had passed. Sesshomaru didn't keep a slow pace but she was managing to keep up. "You know if you're going to escort someone..yowch" a branch snapped her in the leg leaving a red welt. "You should at least wait for the person you're.." She'd stumbled over a rope. She barely uttered the beginning of an exclamation before Sesshomaru had her hoisted in the air by her wrist in his claws.
"Watch for traps wench, these woods are not safe." He released her wrist and she landed on the ground falling on her bum.
"Jerk" she muttered as she stood up. She noticed spikes in the spot she had tripped. As she continued after Sesshomaru she rubbed her abused wrist that now had small marks from Sesshomaru's nails against her skin. "Could've helped me without the claws" she muttered again.
More minutes passed as she followed the yokai through the woods.
Kagome was beginning to feel a bit unnaturally faint. "Sesshomaru, stop. Wait. Uh. Something's wrong." She leaned over and panted.
She looked down at her wrist and noticed the claw marks seemed a bit more red than they had been. "Did you…" she heaved. "Did you poison me?"
Sesshomaru had stopped and turned back to her. Kagome looked up at him briefly and saw his eyes squinted at her, "This Sesshomaru has no reason to do so, woman."
He walked back to her and examined her wrist, "Do not place blame before finding the actual cause." He sniffed the air once before pushing some of her hair to the side revealing a little metal spike barely touching the skin of her nape.
He pulled it out and showed it to her before melting it in his hand. Without saying anything he took his thumb nail and made a tiny puncture wound on his pointer finger. Producing a small drop of red blood.
"My blood," he offered the finger to her.
"Yes?" She replied, looking from the drop of blood on his finger back to his face a few times, confused.
He squinted at her, eyebrows pinching together to show annoyance. "Consume it. It will counteract any ill done by poison."
She once again looked up at him confused and a bit grossed out.
At her lack of initiative Sesshomaru reached down and grasped her jaw, forcing her mouth to open before wiping his blood spotted finger on her tongue.
Before she could protest he hoisted her under his arm around her waist and was running. "Wait. Stop… I can walk.." she tried to say, though still feeling faint. He gave no response, only grunted while continuing on.
More time passed and the forest had begun to thin when she heard a familiar voice, "Kagome!".
Immediately she was unceremoniously dropped once again on the ground. By the time she'd rolled over and attempted to get up, Sesshomaru was gone. "Inuyasha!" She yelled back, knowing he'd already smelled her and was probably closing in on her location.
She was examining her wrist and feeling her forehead when her dog eared companion burst through the tree. "Kagome, where the hell did you go?" He looked more worried than grumpy, but it still made her mad.
She still didn't feel great after being poisoned and then force fed a certain yokai's blood. She put her hands on her hips. "Something called me into this forest. I couldn't stop it and you'd run off to do who knows what." She walked over gesturing for him to crouch down.
"And more harm than good it did me too." She glared at him when he didn't do as she asked.
He grabbed her wrist the same one Sesshomaru had pulled her away from the trap by. "What's that bastard Sesshomaru's scent coming off you for? Did he come to harm you in order to get to me?" He held her wrist up to his nose, before pulling her close and smelling the nape of her neck as well. "And is this.." he took a deeper inhale, "poison?"
He looked off in a direction, "I'll kill the bastard!" His hand reaching for tessaiga.
She sighed, "Inuyasha could you just stop and bring me back to the group." She leaned against him not wanting to use the necessary strength to stand anymore.
Looking up into his face she pouted, "please? I'm tired."
He turned his face from her, "Keh, fine. You're so weak."
He crouched down and hoisted her onto his back. She leaned into his ear "Stupid jerk," she whispered with warm breath. He pulled her legs tight to him and smiled as he raced off back to their companions.