Disclaimer: I do not own and make no profit from this. Rumiko takahashi does.
Authors note: Demonlordlover very much encouraged me to post my first ever Sesshomaru/Kagome fan fiction. It has been years since I have written anything like this, let alone posted it! Hopefully I can do this fandom and pairing some justice and not totally make a fool of myself in the process, kind of nervous about this. Also, I have no idea how fast I will be getting chapters out. I also realize I will probably need a beta. Please be patient with me.
~"Words are a pretext. It is the inner bond that draws one person to another, not words."
Rumi~
Ch.1
Lord Sesshomaru walked a sedate pace along the small animal trail leading threw the tall grass. Sparce sections of Acer japonicum and Japanese maples doted the large clearing he and his party were currently transversing, becoming more plentiful the closer he came to the the more densely populated forest area that held the hot spring he saught along with a small river beyond that, one that would have fish for Rin to eat before she went to sleep.
He planned to make camp between the two water sources this night as Rin needed to bathe, he would also partake of the spring later in the night once the child was asleep and under Jaken's watchful eye. He listened with half an ear to the babbling of Rin to the toad demon, although something was starting to pull at his sense of smell. Something that was made harder to identify with the sulfur so strongly in the air and the position of the winds. Jaken squawked something back at the girl, but Sesshomaru made a gesture for silence the group was used to, and which all knew would be unwize to not fallow. Jaken gulped, for him it could mean life or death.
Somewhere between a half mile and a mile later things became more clear to the demon lord. The scent of blood tinted the air along with the scents of his brothers companions but not his half brother. Curious but not concerned he continued on at his leisurely pace. His course veering more towards the left than was his original destination.
The monk was the first to come into view, limping and heavily disheveled but still able to try and protect his comrades from harm. Try being the operative word there,at least against someone of Sesshomaru's calabar. Although looking at the male human again, Sesshomaru thought Jaken might be able to best him at the moment, possibly even Rin.
Miroku lost some of the tention in his posture upon seeing it was the demon lord. Although the two groups could not be viewed as friendly by a long shot, they could at times be uneasy comrades in arms. If nothing else, Miroku figured the dangerous demon had more honor than to kill a small group of humans and nekomata. And if not honor, better things to do with his time. There was also the fact that the rest of his small party was a ways back from him but very obviously still with him. The monk very much doubted he would kill in front of Rin if given a choice.
A small pained grown interupted the silent contemplation of the two males. The dog demons eyes slid just slightly to the left and behind the monk at the noise. Miroku turned too fast for his injured leg and almost over balanced, but was able to catch himself on his staff to keep from tumbling to the ground. Moving as fast as possible in his pained state, leaving drops of blood in his wake, he went to his beloved slayers side, almost completely dismissing the Lord and his party, although he did keep Sesshomaru in his
peripheral vision as he lowered himself so he might check Sango's injuries better. Taking care to mind the large bump on the side of her head behind her ear, he cradled her head in his lap.
Sesshomaru just watched, observing the monk and slayer without voicing anything or making any movements. The smell of a Cinnamomum verum tree hung heavily on the air with a hint of pear fruit, usually these scents clung to the young miko who traveled with them, but he had always noted her natural smell of pears before the spiced scent of her miko powers before. He knew of no other miko's that smelled like she did, all others he had observed before her smelled of ozone when their powers were in use and when not, well they still did not smell pleasant.
'She must have released a large portion of her power' he noted. His eyes moved, looking for her unthinkingly.
He spotted her crumpled form at the base of a small but sturdy tree. Another pained noise brought his steady gaze back to the couple on the forest floor, the huntress was obviously coming back in to consciousness. Her eyelids cracked open, then slammed shut once more before she broke the silence with a strained voice.
"Gods, my head... Are the Oni's dead? Miroku? Did you kill them?" She opened her eyes once more,this time more prepared for the onslaught. As she tried slowly sitting up with Miroku's help, he answered.
"We were down to the last two when I was struck in the side and thrown a distance that way" he gestured off to the side. "Once I came too, and made my way back I came upon Lord Sesshomaru coming this way. I have no idea how the last two disappeared..." He trailed off, looking up at the demon lord with a question in his eyes.
Sesshomaru realizing the monk thought he might have been the one to save them, as it had so happened in the past, unintentionally of course, corrected this wayward thought. "I believe it was the young miko you travel with that killed them. The air smells of her purity. There are also ashes clinging to the brushes over there." He looked pointedly to the area he spoke of, about twelve feet away from the crumpled form of the small woman he had referred to.
It was then that the two noticed their friends downed form, also seeing Kirara limping towards Kagome from the fringe of a dense thicket of trees further behind the woman. Sango and Miroku both gave cries of alarm.
This was the scene Inuyasha, looking pretty disheveled himself, carrying a bruised, battered and upset Shippo came right into the middle of.
"Oi! What the fuck have you done to them asshole?"