Dodo
The sight before them was unprecedented.
First, there was the destruction in the area—grass was flattened, earth was split, and trees were shredded into pieces all around.
Second, there was the gore. Ugly, tentacle-like limbs were littered all over the ground, limbs that looked to once be a part of Naraku's body. Black blood shined in the afternoon sun, splashed over green grass in pooling splotches. The red blood was more sparse, slashing through the oily dark stains in thin lines.
Thirdly, there was the crater. It was deep, wide and fresh—still smoking from whatever demon attack had caused it.
At its center, lay Sesshomaru.
Kagome's sharp intake of breath broke the silent spell over the group, once she saw the demon lord. He was bleeding profusely from a wound in his middle. Knowing Naraku, one of those tentacles had likely stabbed Sesshomaru all the way through. As they got closer, Kagome could make out a nasty set of bruises breaking out on his otherwise angelic face, as well as a halo of blood spatter on the ground around his head.
When she started scooting down the slight incline of the crater, a strong clawed hand caught her arm.
"The hell are you doing, Kagome?!" Inuyasha sputtered, golden eyes widened with an emotion that almost looked like offense.
Kagome snatched her arm out of his grip, "I want to see if he's still breathing!" She hurried down the slope to Sesshomaru, hearing Inuyasha snort derisively behind her.
"If he is, I guess I can do him the favor of puttin' him out of his misery," he huffed.
"SIT, BOY!"
A much smaller crater was created above, a loud thud and the half-demon's groan that followed caused flocks of birds to flee from their branches—but Kagome ignored the sounds, her narrowed eyes scanning for other injuries on Sesshomaru.
When she saw his chest move, a relieved breath escaped her, and she gently grabbed his shoulder, giving him a nudge.
"Sesshomaru?" she said softly. "Can you hear me? Open your eyes…"
It took another few minutes of coaxing before the demon lord's brow furrowed and his elegant eyes opened, blinking. Golden irises looked upward in confusion, searching the sky for answers.
"Sesshomaru," Kagome said again, "can you tell me what happened?"
His eyes snapped over to meet hers, "I… don't know. Who are you?"
She looked down at him warily, frowning, "I'm Kagome. You don't remember me? Not at all?"
Sesshomaru looked her up and down, his eyes lingering over her. Kagome blushed. "No," he said finally. "I'm… sorry."
"The hell is he sorry for?" Inuyasha blurted, stomping down to them. "Tch! Too bad ya ain't dead, bastard."
"You know me?" the demon lord asked, looking at Inuyasha. He sniffed the air, "Your scent is like mine…"
This made the half-demon snort, folding his arms into his sleeves, "I'm your damn brother, you idiot. Half-brother, technically. Of course we smell the same."
Kagome let out an exasperated sigh, "Inuyasha, shut up. Sesshomaru has obviously suffered a head injury, and picking a fight with him isn't helping anything!"
"No, but now would be the perfect time to kill him," Inuyasha said with a laugh and a haughty smirk. "Bet I could easily defeat him like this."
She shot up to her feet and got in his face, "You will do no such thing!"
"What're you taking his side for?! Do you know how many times he's tried to kill us, Kagome?!"
She gestured behind her, towards Sesshomaru, "He has a human girl he takes care of, Inuyasha. Had you considered that? If something happens to him, what happens to her?"
His face fell and his ears flattened, "Oh… uh, I guess I hadn't thought about that."
Kagome put her hands on her hips, "Of course you didn't! Now be quiet and let me help him!" Without waiting for a response she whirled around to face the once-fearsome demon lord, who was looking at the interaction with a mixture of worry and sheepishness. The sight of it staggered Kagome a bit, but she recovered, clearing her throat, "Sesshomaru, can you try sitting up for me?"
"I… Yes, I suppose," he answered. With a pained grunt, he slowly started to rise off the ground, and that's when Kagome saw the sticky puddle of blood underneath the back of his head, pooled in a sharp rock.
She moved behind him to look at the wound, grimacing, "Yeah, I think I see what happened. You fell to the ground so hard, you made this crater, but your head slammed full-force into this rock. I guess that kind of impact would affect even the great Lord Sesshomaru's head, huh?" She attempted to lighten the situation, but she didn't even sound convincing to herself.
"Is that my name?" Sesshomaru asked. "You have said it several times."
"Yep, that's you!" she said cheerfully. Kagome took off her backpack and pulled out her first aid kit, soaking a gauze pad with alcohol. "This may sting a bit, Sesshomaru. I'm going to clean this wound, and maybe get some of this blood out of your pretty hair, okay?"
"Tch! You think he's got pretty hair, huh?" Inuyasha commented gruffly, scowling at his half-brother.
Kagome paid him no mind, "Yours would be pretty too if you ever bothered to take care of it. Hush."
She began dabbing the back of his head with the gauze, lightly at first. When Sesshomaru showed little to no reaction to the sting of alcohol, she started dabbing him a little harder. As she cleaned, she noticed something sickening and purple in the wound, trying to wiggle its way further into his head: a piece of Naraku.
Her eyes widened, and she grabbed a pair of forceps from the kit. "Sesshomaru, I think there's a bit of something in your head, and that it might be the cause of your memory loss. I've gotta pull it out, okay?"
Inuyasha made a disgusted noise, but Sesshomaru braced himself, holding his knees and giving a slight nod, "Alright. Do what you must, Kagome."
Blushing at the sound of her name, she narrowed her eyes at the gross bit of evil flesh. It took a few tries, but she managed to get the delicate ends of the forceps gripped onto the wiggling tentacle, giving it a hard yank.
The sound the flesh made when it came loose from Sesshomaru's skull made her stomach turn over, and she swallowed a wave of nausea.
The tentacle writhed against the bloody rock, and Kagome glared at it. She pulled an arrow from her quiver and stabbed it into the purple flesh, flooding it with her holy light. The bit of Naraku hissed and steamed until it withered into ash. She let out a sigh of relief and looked back at the wound on Sesshomaru's head.
It had healed.
"Oh, look at that!" Kagome exclaimed happily, clapping her hands together. "I guess that thing was preventing you from healing." She scooted back to face Sesshomaru, "How are you feeling now?"
The demon lord's elegant eyes surveyed the scene before him, seeing Inuyasha so close. He wrinkled his nose, but then looked at Kagome. "Hn," was all he said, and then he took off in a blink.
"Tch! Some good that did," Inuyasha complained. "We shoulda left him. Bastard was fine."
Kagome looked at the small pile of ash on the bloodied rock, shaking her head, "I don't know, Inuyasha. I don't think I'd want to find out what would have happened if we left that in his head. What if Naraku got control of him or something? Could you imagine that?"
The half-demon folded his arms again, looking away, "There's no real evidence this was Naraku's doing. I bet it was just some random demon."
She snorted, "You're willing to believe some random demon did that to Sesshomaru, a guy you can't even defeat on your best day? Over Naraku? Our biggest enemy?"
Inuyasha grumbled, "Shut up, Kagome…"
o0o
A few days later, Kagome was in the woods gathering firewood for camp when Sesshomaru appeared again.
He landed in front of her, startling her so bad that she almost dropped her pile of kindling, "God! You could have given me a heart attack, Sesshomaru!"
Golden eyes glittered humorously for a moment before the lightness retreated behind his mask. "I remember it all," he told her. "Everything you said."
Kagome blinked, adjusting the haul in her arms, "You… do?"
He inclined his head, once. "I do. I appreciate your intervention, and for not letting my idiot brother end me in that moment," Sesshomaru said.
"Well, there was no honor for him to defeat you like that," Kagome told him. She shrugged, giving him a crooked smile, "And I seriously doubt he could have killed you, even if you weren't at your best."
He gave a dry chuckle, "I suppose you're right. Though, part of me wonders if your faith in my abilities is too high."
"Never," Kagome said warmly.
Sesshomaru took a step towards her, "He suspected nothing."
"I know." She grinned.
"The mention of Rin is likely why," he deduced. He nodded again, "Thank you for your concern for her."
"How is she?"
"In good health, thanks to you, Kagome."
Kagome took a deep breath and nodded. She narrowed her eyes up at him, "Don't ever scare me like that again. Be careful."
"I will, waterlily," he promised.
She blushed, "Okay then."
Sesshomaru closed the distance between them and tipped her chin up with his forefinger, "Will you meet with me tonight?"
Kagome smiled, "I will."
"Hn," he purred, "then I shall see you after dark, my lovely."
Sesshomaru bent down to kiss her goodbye, his lips moving over hers in the way he knew she liked and always left her wanting more.
o0o