Hindsight

A/N: Wheeeeeee! I'm back! Not in black, though. A really light grey, with a hint of hot pink. Oh, I'm suntanned and most probably peeling, and I'm NEVER going away again without a broadband wireless modem, so I can impart upon the world my literary genius-ness whenever possible.
This, I promise you!
Anyways, onto Chapter...what number is this? I forget...
EIGHT!
Damn, already?


Disclaimer: I own Inuyasha about as much as humanity can really own the seas.
IE, not so much.


CHAPTER EIGHT: Unexpected Amusement

Day One,Act Eight: Sesshomaru


Sesshomaru realized with a sudden moment of clarity that he was enjoying himself.

This morning, while being set upon by the army of surprisingly well-trained rat youkai, he initially felt the joy he always felt at a good fight, the feeling he increasingly experienced when he fought Inuyasha.

But when the battle started to require the presence of his blood outside of his body, he soon sank into understandable feelings of despair and gloom.

Now, as he eyed the blushing miko clutching his haori, trying her best not to look at his naked chest, he again felt amusement and enjoyment.
This rare feeling of amusement had started manifesting itself when she had pleaded with him to don his haori, even going so far as to wash the blood from it.

He had coolly told her no, suppressing a chuckle when her face fell spectacularly.
When she had once more tried to persuade him, using the not-unreasonable argument that it was highly undignified for him to walk around semi-naked, he had overrode it with a glare.
When she had silenced herself, but still glared mutinously at him, he realized that his best glares, ones that routinely had the most battle-hardened youkai cringing and offering their firstborns to him in appeasement, barely made any impact on her now.

He could, of course, give her some healthy respect for him by introducing her face to his poison claws.

However, it would be extremely dishonourable to try to murder the person that saved you, even if you have the capability to resurrect her.
He fleetingly regretted sitting when she had ordered him to by the riverside.

Fleetingly, mind you.

Mainly because, had he not, he would not be currently laughing internally at the fiercely blushing miko who was gripping his tattered haori with the same fervour as a drunkard to a flask of sake.

As she opened her mouth, he sighed, knowing what question was to pass her lips.

Sure enough…

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?”

Sesshomaru decided not to answer, letting his silence be reply.
He, not for the first time, found himself marveling at the incompetence of humans. Their senses were so weak, it was a bloody miracle they managed to survive at all.
He opined that perhaps they survived because they had to. After all, one cannot miss what one has never had.
He found himself very grudgingly respecting them their sheer stubbornness, which was what probably kept them alive this long.

It certainly seemed to be Inuyasha’s way of survival.

He could smell the smoke from the fires of their camp, not to mention the monk, exterminator and, most tellingly, the kitsune that followed them around so faithfully.
If he was correct –and he always was, they would be upon their camp in a matter of minutes.

The miko behind him seemed to be sidling closer to him, eyes darting around nervously as the scent of fear curled mildly around his nose.
He briefly considered growling at her, but was extremely leery of his still slightly-sensitive head, so he let her invade his personal space.
Looking out of the corner of his eyes, he saw her clutching his haori tightly, seemingly in some effort to eke comfort from whatever had her fear snaking thickly around him now.

The darkness of the forest was thinning with the light glowing from the campfire around which her little pack was situated, sans the idiot he had the misfortune to call blood.
He knew that she noticed, because her fear-scent diminished considerably. She could not yet see or hear to whom the fire belonged, so he deduced that she was afraid of the dark.
A silly thing to fear when one was accustomed to living in forests, but what did he know? This woman was strange. Perhaps she did not fear the dark. Perhaps she feared trees?

They finally came within human view of the campsite, and he watched, intrigued, as she finally saw her pack.
Her eyes widened as she pressed his haori into her chest, before she stopped dead in her tracks and stood, stock-still. She stepped back and sank against a nearby tree trunk, smashing his ‘fear-of-trees’ theory to smithereens.
He looked at her for a second, before the answer shot into his mind, its clarity blinding him, and making him question his purported intelligence.
Obviously, she was wary about her little pack’s reaction. However, it would not do to be arrogant and tell her what her problems were. He decided to ask.

“What is it?”

“What if they don’t believe us?” as her arms tightened around his haori, he mused that he would never have that problem. He started to advise her to cut their throats out and feed them to the wild dogs, then slice open the dogs, revive them, and warn them of a repeat performance, but realized that she might not think that a viable response.

“Me, they might not believe. But they are your friends. They will believe you.”

At least, he hoped they would. Friends were a rare and valuable commodity, and as an all-powerful Taiyoukai, he was more accustomed to political allies than emotional friends.

“You think so?” he could feel the violent hope in her sentence, and saw just how much she cared about her pack’s opinion of her.

“I know so. I am, of course, always right.”

She laughed, and Sesshomaru welcomed the now-familiar feel of confusion. What was so funny? He was being serious.
She smiled at him, and rose, and he followed suit, still managing to be vertical before her. Honestly, humans were so slow.

She finally entered the clearing, and Sesshomaru saw the kitsune lift its red head, nose twitching madly. He knew that the fox was smelling Kagome, mainly because Sesshomaru was adept at cloaking his scent.
In the middle of his speech to self, the kit leapt from by the neko and jumped towards Kagome’s outstretched arms. Sesshomaru briefly considered plucking the fox from mid-air, but the blooming smile on his ally’s face had him staying still.

Inasmuch as he was the all-powerful Sesshomaru, he was still a bit leery of Kagome’s unbridled fury. He had once seen a miko lose her temper.

The crater filled with the stone bones of a thousand youkai was still there.

And that was a moderately powerful miko.

He had no wish to find out precisely what a miko of Kagome’s enormous power was capable of.

“Mama! Where have you been? We’ve all been so worried!” Sesshomaru watched, fascinated, as the kit bawled piteously, while Kagome soothed him with quiet words and gentle hands on his poufy hair.

As she murmured to the kitsune, Sesshomaru noted firsthand that which he had seen only from a distance; the unnatural bond of mother-child that she and the kit shared.
The taijiya and monk soon followed the kit, the loud shriek of the demon slayer causing Sesshomaru’s ears to twitch. As he watched Kagome extricate herself from the apparently unbreakable grip of the girl, he revised his opinion of her pack.
They were obviously ill-disciplined idiots, making enough noise to draw out every youkai from fifty miles. The taijiya didn’t even have her huge bone boomerang. They were inordinately fortunate to have his protective presence. Any self-serving youkai worth its salt would immediately turn tail, claw and tentacle and run from his unmistakable presence, which he debated on allowing known.
His delicate ruminations were ruined when Kagome told them that she had run into a person in need.
If she told of the humiliation of almost-defeat by a godsdamned army of rats, he would find a way to make her pay without breaking his debt of honour.

He had a very inventive imagination, contrary to popular opinion. Was it his fault that his ideas tended to lean to the macabre?
He walked out, schooling his face into his best ‘I’m-bloody-dangerous-and-can-gut-you-without-even-moving-but-don’t-worry-because-I’m-in-a-debt-of-honour-to-your-ally-and-cannot-put-my-skills-to-use-on-you’ look.

Still, for some strange reason, the taijiya and monk were not reassured.

“I believe I asked you to stay put while I told them.” She huffed, transferring Shippo to her hip, other hand propped on her other hip.

She had done no such thing. Perhaps she had thought it, but forgot to tell him.
He deliberated on whether to point this out, but the monk and taijiya were inching towards their weaponry, and he would hate to have to destroy her friends in front of her and the young one.

“Perhaps. I do not recollect.”

“Well, I do. Now, I’ll have to do a lot more talking.” Kagome explained.

“You say that as though you do not enjoy speaking.” He returned dryly.

Kagome sniffed and turned back to her friends, unconsciously presenting Sesshomaru with her unprotected back.
The subconscious gesture of absolute trust had Sesshomaru blinking at her, surprised. No one, but no one, had ever presented Sesshomaru with their back. Well, except for Rin, but she was a strange person, even by human standards.

“Well, Lord Sesshomaru was in need of my assistance.”

Sesshomaru realized with a start that they were talking about him. He glared at her neck, promising tribulation if she revealed his shame.

“We don’t need to go into details. Suffice it to say, Lord Sesshomaru will be assisting us against Naraku whenever he may.” Kagome rushed.

Sesshomaru nodded, pleased. Thank the gods that she wasn’t that stupid.
While the humans gawped at him, the kit, Shippo, turned to regard him out of his bright green eyes.
He knew that the kit was trying to ascertain his intentions. Sesshomaru could respect the kit’s concern and protective instincts towards the miko who took care of him, and strove to broadcast his honest intentions.
The kitsune nodded imperceptibly, satisfied, and smiled at Kagome.

“Okay. So, what are we eating? Miroku is a horrible cook.” Shippo told her quietly, but Miroku heard him anyway.
The kit and monk started to bicker, and the taijiya still stared at him, before murmuring her assent.
Kagome turned back to Sesshomaru, and beamed a relieved smile. Sesshomaru rolled his eyes, impatient with the ‘Welcome Sesshomaru’ schtick.

They sat around the fire, Sesshomaru obviously a ways off, propped up against a tree. He didn’t bother them, and they didn’t bother him, engrossed as they were with bickering in the case of the monk and kit, and animated chatter of Kagome and the slayer.
Sesshomaru found himself relaxing, as he didn’t really have to worry about danger.

Who would be fool enough to attack him?

On cue, Inuyasha burst out of a copse of trees, Tetsusaiga drawn and pointed directly at him.

Idiot though he was, the boy had impeccable timing.

The group around the campfire fell into total silence.

As Inuyasha glared at him in what was obviously supposed to be a threatening way, Sesshomaru still sat, refusing to rise immediately. Inuyasha was not even remotely that much of an issue.
Inuyasha’s ‘death-glare’ was broken as he looked at Kagome, before switching back to Sesshomaru, the glare even angrier.
Kagome turned to Sesshomaru, and he looked her directly in the eye, showing his intention to fight the idiot. Like he would pass up the opportunity to fight the ass without worrying about her purity arrows.

Being allies would have benefits. He was glad to know.

He knew the exact moment when she realized she had made him promise not to start any fights.

Ah, joy.

As Sesshomaru slowly rose, one claw on Tokijin, Kagome looked from brother to brother, before sighing deeply and stating, rather surprisingly,

“Ah, shit.”


A/N: Lahdeedah!
Sorry for the monstrous delay. I've been stuck on a deserted island for the past week, where there is NO internet service readily available. Well, sure, there was an internet cafe, but snorkeling in a coral reef beckoned...
Forgive me?
I took the opportunity in the nights to work on the next few chapters, so they'll be regular. Like clockwork.
The sunrise.
And sunset.
Like...corruption in politics!!!