Ties to Nowhere

A few hours later, Kagome was soaking her aching body in the tub room off of her family’s chambers. The wounds on her arm appeared to have healed completely, but the skin was faintly magenta in color like the stripes on *his* face, in three sweeping slashes that started at her wrist and ended before her elbow. Kagome growled low in her throat, the full impact of the situation having hit her about an hour ago.

Lifting her still somewhat-weak left arm from the water, Kagome brought the inside of her wrist to her nose and inhaled slowly. The skin there carried the faint scent of *him* and the sickly-sweet smell of his poison. This is just great. She would never be able to hide this large of a mark from anyone. But what disturbed her more was that Sesshomaru had obviously intended to kill her with his little act. Too bad for him that she was still alive, and now carrying a mark so large that any demon would be able to smell him on her if they got close enough.

Kagome heaved a sigh that made her whole upper body droop. She knew that he probably hated what his father was trying to make him do by mating with her, but she had no idea how far he was willing to go to get out of his obligations. She hated the idea of being mated to someone who hated her.

It started as a dull ache that began low in her stomach, and seemed to grow and spread through her chest. He hates me. Her eyes began to water.

As if on queue, her mother slid the door to the room open and stepped inside. “Kagome,” she barked, her tone leaving no room for argument, as usual. “General Toga wishes an audience with you in a few moments.” Kagome’s eyes flew to her mother, but she had already turned and was closing the door behind her. She blew her bangs out of her eyes with a long sigh and got out of the tub.

@@@

“Kagome, I have called you here, with your father’s permission of course, to ask for your help. I am sure that he has given you some knowledge as to the nature of what I am about to request?” Kagome nodded. “I have drawn out a basic plan, but the execution will require your expertise and talents. I could not ask what I am about to ask of any other but yourself. It is not for my own benefit that I wish to put these plans into motion upon the event of my death, but for those who I desire most deeply to protect.” He paused here, and seemed to scrutinize her for a moment before continuing. “Kagome, what I am about to ask you will most certainly cause you a level of distress that I do not feel comfortable burdening you with. I am afraid that it will most certainly make the tensions between my son and yourself substantially more strained. But what I have planned will most certainly be for the betterment of my sons…yes, there will be another. And they will both be needing equal protection from themselves, if they grow up to be anything like their father.” He snorted at the way Kagome rolled her eyes, and pushed a scroll across the table to her. “Look this over, and let me know what you make of it.”


=A few months later=

Kagome stepped gingerly out of a cave’s mouth and into the bright afternoon sun, muttering something about stinking old fools and balancing a long package over her shoulder. She wouldn't be able to get home soon enough. The smell of this place had probably set into her clothes already. She waved to signal to the large crow hovering overhead that she was ready to depart.

As the retreating form of Kagome vanished from his view, Totosai wondered if the lumps on his head would ever go away. He hadn’t meant to grab her rear; his hand just happened to land on it while reaching for a bowl. What did she want, anyway? He sighed, scratched his head and stared into space for a few hours.