Merely Human by Betterthankikyo466

Mearly human

She knelt on the ground as he approached, briny smell of tears rising from the damp earth before him, and though she reeked of his brother's scent, his other senses detected no trace of the hanyou brat.

They stayed in their respective positions for a long time, her on the ground, staring up at him with a look of deep despair splashed across her face, him standing above her, staring down with cold disdain.

"Just do it if you're going to," she said at last. Her voice was rough, carrying with it a tale of hours of ragged weeping.

He blinked, slowly, deliberately, as if to ask what, exactly she thought he was going to do.

Her chin tilted up a fraction more, baring the white column of her throat. "Do it," she urged. "Finish it. I'm done. I quit. I give up. Just finish what he started and get it over with."

"Finish what?" he condescended to ask. His brother's bitch was a strange female, even for a human.

Her eyes rolled a little, and his eyebrows lifted a fraction. She dared to show impertinence to Lord Sesshoumaru?

"Kill me," she said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Your damned brother's done the job from the inside. You may as well finish it from the outside."

"Where is InuYasha?"

She sighed, another impertinent sound. "I don't know," she said simply. "And right now, I don't care. Far away from here, I hope."

This was genuinely puzzling. The wench had hung on the hanyou's every word for two years. What could have caused so drastic a change in her outlook? "Why?" he asked bluntly.

"That's none of your business," she retorted, temper flaring.

"Then don't presume to give me your opinion, wench," he snapped back.

"My name's not wench," she shouted, unraveling. "My name's Kagome! Not wench, girl, hey, you or bitch." She spat the last with more invective than he would have thought possible. "Ka! Go! Me!"

"Very well, Ka-go-me," he said, biting off each syllable. "Where is InuYasha?" he demanded again.

"I told you, I don't know. He's not here, and that's fine with me."

He sniffed the air delicately, nose wrinkling with the assault of smells upon it. "You are his mate," he said. "Surely you know where he can be found."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She shook her head, pushing herself to her feet. "I don't even know what I'm doing here." She turned to walk away, muttering to herself.

This was more insult that Sesshoumaru was willing to let pass, even from his brother's bitch. His hand shot out, catching her around the arm.

"You're not going anywhere, Ka-go-me."

Kagome shivered at the prick of claws on her arm. When had that slight pain become a sensation she craved so much? When had it all gone so wrong? And why had Sesshoumaru allowed her to live?

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"I told you what I wanted," he hissed.

"I told you I don't know where he is," she screamed back. "He wants me dead! I don't want to know where he is!"

Sesshoumaru's warm soft boa wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her sides, and his hand slid up to cup her chin firmly, tilting her head from side to side as he peered at the sides of her neck. "I can smell him on you, in you. Where is his mark?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she gritted out, his hand all but immobilizing her chin.

"You mated with him, did you not? I fail to see what else could create such a stench. So that means you know where he is."

"Shut UP! I DON'T want to talk about that!" She yanked her chin free, though she was still wrapped in a silky but firm embrace. "He..." she struggled to get her words out. "He hates me now. Nothing else is important."

The Demon Lord of the Western Lands glared at her for a moment, then rose silently into the air, Kagome still tight in his grip. She squirmed, trying to free herself, until she realized just how far above the ground they were. Much, much too far to fall down again safely.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, voice breaking.

"You are perhaps the most important thing to my brother, aside from the Tetsusaiga. You might be very useful to me."

"Not anymore," she said quietly, slumping in dismay