I Am Me; No One Else

Chapter 5: A Forced Stop and the First Trial

Sesshoumaru had watched Kagome with curiosity and hesitance after their encounter with Kyoko in the village. He seemed to know that there was something that she was not sharing with him at the present time, but he supposed that she would eventually as she always did when it was important to or was threatening someone she cared for.

Their encounter and exploration of the village had changed something inside the miko; he wasn't sure what it was that caused her to be this way, but he knew something about her had shifted from before. The way her eyes would look distanced at times and then a scowl would form. He had heard her mutter his half-brother's name under her breath as well.

Sesshoumaru hadn't enquired after that. For one, whenever she had done that; she seemed irritable and he didn't want to make her upset with him. Their friendship was still fragile; no matter what they had done together to relax and or to survive.

Second, despite the fact he knew that whatever she thought of that included his half-brother wasn't nice...he couldn't help the pang of yearning and of jealousy in knowing she still thought of him even when they were so far apart.

A messenger had come to him in the night not long ago when she had been asleep; Sesshoumaru had reacted out of protection and moved to guard the miko as soon as he had felt the intruding presence. The guard had seemed surprised and somewhat shocked at his lord's willingness to protect her.

This had led to the discussion that prevented him from speaking too much about the incident when he returned to the fortress. To seeing her with him and of how close they were. That was all the daiyoukai needed; for the demoness court to hunt them more thoroughly because of their own jealousy of her because Sesshoumaru had chosen her.

Little did the miko know that he had chosen her for his future mate. He wanted to wait for a more appropriate time; hopefully, after her training was done. The guard had promised not to speak of what he had seen and then relayed to him that Inuyasha and his companions were indeed in the Northern lands.

Apparently battling a newer but stronger puppet of Naraku there as well as his miasma.

The toxic mist had completely decimated and annihilated two villages by now, and it had left none alive as far as his men knew. The only one to escape death was the Northern Lady, and that was for now a rumor at best. She had been there fighting for the people as much as herself while visiting.

Sesshoumaru was now more observant and on guard. The traveling companions were still comfortable, but Kagome had noticed his new sense of observation and wondered what had caused it.

The demon lord, more often and recently; he had also caught her practicing with her bow and spell-casting with her reiki. The bow training was going well since she was already so advanced in it as it was. But Kagome's aptitude for combat with her reiki was next to non-existent presently; it seemed only to be controlled when healing herself or others.

She was about as controlled as a rampaging elephant when she used raw reiki for combat purposes. He had not told her that, as she likely would not have taken it kindly, but had also not offered to help her train due to the explosions she caused.

And a strong desire not to be reduced to a pile of purified ash if all hell broke loose with it.

Nearly three weeks had passed now since they had gotten some distance from Kyoko's village. Kagome had seemed to finally begin to really come to trust that he wouldn't harm her, and he had slowly also opened up his emotions to her at times when he spoke to her.

She often asked questions about demons and their culture; he had to be careful about what he told her, as he didn't want to scare her or to enlighten her to his suppressed desire for her. Not realizing Kagome was merely fishing for extra tidbits to what she already knew.