Priceless (an InuYasha FanFic)

Relapse

Kagome had been almost completely silent since the incident at her house, and Sesshomaru was getting more and more worried. She had shown no interest in going back to the office for the part-time job that they had discussed. She hardly ate anything, and she slept in her own bed. The only time she smiled or spoke was when Rin came home from school, and Sesshomaru could tell that she was putting on a mask for the little girl's benefit. 

For the first few days, Sesshomaru had thought that maybe she just needed some space to recover from the encounter with her former bullies. But the longer he waited the worse she got until finally, the night before his mother had asked them to dinner at her house, Sesshomaru decided that he had waited long enough. Obviously, Kagome needed some help to work through this, and Sesshomaru got the feeling that there was indeed more to the story than she had originally told him.

Sesshomaru went back to her room and stood in the doorway watching his mate as she just lay there on her bed staring aimlessly at the ceiling. "Rin is spending the night at Kaede's tonight."

Kagome said nothing.

"You need to talk about this, Kagome. It's eating you alive. I can see it."

Kagome turned her head to look at him, her eyes empty, almost dead looking. 

Sesshomaru ventured further into the room, the heavy scents of depression and despair almost suffocating him. He sat down on the edge of her bed and covered one of her hands with his own. "Talk to me Kagome. I can't help you if you don't talk to me."

Kagome heaved a long sigh and turned her face away from him. "What is there to talk about. I'm a coward. A nothing."

This caught the Youkai off guard. Is that what she really thought? "Why do think that?"

"One look. That was all it took and I dissolved into the same old whimpering mess from Highschool." Sesshomaru could hear the slight quiver in her voice.

"I did wonder about your reaction to them. You had told me that they never touched you, so I'm not sure I understand the fear. I'm sure there is more to the story that you didn't tell me though. You are many things Kagome Higurashi, but a coward is not one of them. If you were truly a coward, then my beast would not have chosen you for a Mate."

Kagome slowly turned back to look at him again. Her deep brown eyes glistened with tears, and her lips trembled. "How can you be so sure all the time? Why do you believe in me so strongly?" She almost shouted at him, her voice choked on the restrained tears.

Sesshomaru squeezes the hand that he held as he answered, "Because, in the weeks since I found you, I have had the pleasure of watching over you and speaking with you, and watching you interact with my daughter. You are so much stronger and more beautiful than you know, and someday you will see what I do, but for now, trust that I would never lie to you."

The dam broke, and the floods came. Kagome let the tears come and she crawled into his lap, curling into a ball and making herself as small as she could in his arms. She relished his touch, and for a split second, the thought that she should have just come to him in the first place crossed her mind, before she resumed burrowing into his chest. Years of neglect, and loneliness, and all she ever really wanted was this. Someone to believe in her, support her, hold her...

She cried for several more minutes before she was able to calm down and all that was left were hiccups and shuddering breaths.

"Do you want to tell me why seeing my brother and his Miko frightened you so much?"

Kagome took a deep breath. "Inuyasha didn't scare me... Kikyou... she..."

"She what?"

"I told you the truth when I said that nobody 'touched' me, but Kikyou did occasionally... well she and some other girls from the archery club occasionally ganged up on me in the girl's locker room and... they used the bows to hit me, so technically they didn't touch me, but still..."

Sesshomaru was shocked once again. "Why? I thought Kikyou was only jealous of you."

"She was... I guess... They only beat me up when Kikyou and Inuyasha had a fight, and Kikyou would blame the fight on me claiming that I had done something to make them fight, and all the girls who followed her joined in. I guess just shooting arrows at targets wasn't enough of an anger management, she needed a 'punching bag' so to speak."

"So that's why you froze up."

"Yeah..." Then Kagome laughed bitterly. "I think I started hurting myself after the first time they stopped actually. It really isn't funny, so I don't know why I laughed... Maybe I've run out of tears so my body just opted to laugh instead..." She trailed off.

Those words pulled on Sesshomaru's heart. To have gone through so much that the body can no longer discern between a laugh and a cry... Sesshomaru thought back to when he found her in the bathtub. How she had had other older scars all over her skin. Evidence of some form of either self-harm or abuse. Turns out it was both. Sesshomaru felt the urge to kill rise in him all over again but quelled it and focused back on his mate.

"Why do you say that?"

"About the laughing?"

"About hurting yourself."

"Oh..." Kagome thought for a few moments "It had been months since anybody had touched me, I had gotten so used to not feeling any external sensations, that when she first beat me, the pain reminded me that I was alive. I think that's what it was at first, just hurting myself to feel something. Slowly the cuts got deeper, I started getting more reckless with the blades. It kind of got out of control. But it had started to feel good, in some twisted painful way."

Sesshomaru was silent for several long minutes before he pulled Kagome closer to him and just held her. "Is there anything else you would like to share right now?"

Kagome shook her head almost violently.

"Okay. We can just sit like this for a while." And they did. They sat quietly for many more minutes before Sesshomaru spoke up again. "Would you like to come back to my bed little one?"

Kagome nodded her head sleepily.

Standing up, Sesshomaru walked them both into his bedroom and laid her down before ridding himself of his own clothing and pulling on a pair of flannel pajama pants. He turned back around to find a wide-eyed flustered Kagome ducking her head under the comforter. Sesshomaru smirked. He stalked back to his bed like the predator he was and crawled onto the mattress, pulling the blanket away from Kagome's flushed pink face. "How is it that even when you have just been crying you are still so tempting, little mate?" He growled low in her ear before kissing her neck. 

To Kagome's complete and utter mortification... she moaned. That's right people, she moaned.

Sesshomaru chuckled at her reaction before ducking under the covers with her and pulling her back against his chest. Kagome squeaked at his sudden movements but stilled as she felt his broad chest and strong arms envelope her. If she were a cat, she would have been purring as she fell asleep beside him. Luckily for her, she wasn't though, because after that moan earlier, Sesshomaru was fighting an invisible battle in his mind against a raging Beast who had absolutely no sense of timing.

AN. So... tell me what y'all thought. This chapter was a little dark but we got some fluff at the end.  :)

Comments and reviews are always appreciated, and as always, feel free to leave any constructive criticism. I love hearing from you guys!!! You always leave such great reviews!

Stay tuned for more chapters, I will be back with another one soon.

~Cassie