Hindsight

A/N: A new chapter, me hearties. A Kagome chapter. I like this one. I think it's funny. But, as I have said before, ad nauseum, I am weird.
Yaar.

Disclaimer: Avast, ye scurvy dogs! Avast, says I! Yaaaaar! Oh, blasted be these infernal lawyers! Yaar. I don't own Inuyasha. These accursed lawyers holding a sword to me neck says so.
I guess that's so. Yaar?

Day Two, Act One: Kagome
Chapter Eleven: Bath, Interrupted

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Kagome soaked in a heavenly hot springs, head lolled back in complete relaxation as the blessed waters rolled calming waves of joy all over her exhausted body.

The insane workaholic formerly known as her friend, Inuyasha, had insisted on a brutal pace all freaking day. After he ran off first thing in the morning, ostensibly to scout the area, in actuality to get away from Sesshomaru, she had groaned, instinctively realizing that it would be a long, long, long day.

Sesshomaru then saw it fit to inform her, rather snottily, that he had to leave to inform his retainer that he would be sporadically absent due to his new obligation to her.
Without even waiting for her reply, the insufferable youkai took off to wherever it is he had to go.

When he came back, Inuyasha brought with his obscure rumours about a possible location of a probable shard, stemming from the actions of an uncommonly strong youkai, about fifty miles away.

Inuyasha had made them run all fifty, ignoring complaints and pleas.

And he refused to let Kagome ride on his back, saying equally, if not more, snottily than his half-brother, that she could ask her new ally for assistance in transportation.

This, of course, resulted in her screaming ‘sit’, and stomping past him, making sure to step up hard on his spine.
And to put the arsenic icing on an ipecac cake, the ‘uncommonly strong’ youkai had been about half Shippo’s size and about as strong as a cell phone signal in the Sengoku Jidai.

Inuyasha stepped on it and finished it off. Suffice it to say, there had been no shards there.

She had just stepped wordlessly away, grabbed her bag, and made for the hot springs.

Sango had stayed back, partially because she was too tired to follow, mainly because what strength she had left was donated to smacking Miroku halfway into the next century for once more rubbing his cursed hand along her person.

After scrubbing her filthy hair with the wondrous shampoos her glorious mama had packed for her, she decided languorously that this was obviously her time to luxuriate in peace and quiet, away from feuding brothers and hentai monks, whiny youkai and blood, guts and gore, and even the threat of Naraku. Her sole mission now was to soak, soak, soak, and be at peace with herself and her surroundings.

It was marvelous how wrong a person could really be.

As she soaked, soaked, soaked, a twig snapped, snapped, snapped right behind her.

She flew into action, grabbing her bow and quiver with a speed that shocked even her, nocking an arrow and pointing it unerringly at the bastard out for her blood.

Sesshomaru stared back at her. Well, at the glowing arrow.
Then at her. And his eyes flashed strangely.

Kagome looked down to where his eyes were trained, dropped the bow and arrow, and shrieked, ducking back into the water, after scooping up a handful of pebbles. She then started lobbing them at him hysterically.

“You reprobate pervert! Oh, gods, you’re worse than Miroku! How dare you walk in on my bath? When I’m naked? NAKED! Oh, gods!” she noted dimly that she managed to punctuate each word with a speeding missile.

And Sesshomaru, being the insufferable bastard that he was, managed to duck each and every single one, without flicking a single hair out of place.

Kagome, too far gone to care, ran out of pebbles and lunged towards the nice little
stack nature had handily provided right in front of her.

Sesshomaru, being faster, grabbed her, diving into the springs and trapping her tightly to stop her from assaulting him with sharp pebbles.
His fingers wrapped tightly around her wrists, staying her only weapons in the fight against pervert youkai.

“Greater people than you have died for lesser offences against this Sesshomaru.” He informed her.

Kagome thrust her face right into his, ignoring her brain’s quiet reminder that this was Sesshomaru she was bitching at.

“Well, I’m sure they weren’t walked in on while bathing. And I’m sure they hadn’t been dragged halfway across the world at a dead run by your STUPID brother. And I’m sure they were not bonded to you by your own obligation and honour. And I’m sure they-” Kagome’s diatribe, starting to gain momentum as she settled into the cathartic bitch-fest, was cut short when Sesshomaru clamped one hand to her mouth.

“I’m sure they weren’t quite this mouthy.” He commented.

Kagome’s eyes narrowed, and she could feel her ki rising with her escalating emotions. She kept it in check, though, having no inclination to barbecue Sesshomaru, bastard though he was.
She twisted her head, trying in vain to free her mouth, but Sesshomaru kept his strong grip.
So, she resorted to a tactic her own brother used to get her to remove her hand when he was talking too much and she made him aware of that fact.
She gathered spit, and licked Sesshomaru’s hand wetly.

He, rather gratifyingly, removed his hand quickly, staring at her in apparent shock.

“What? Are you crazy? You don’t stop a girl in the middle of a rant! Rants are necessary to uphold sanity.” She told him heatedly.

An eyebrow quirked at that one, and Kagome found herself momentarily sidetracked from righteous indignation.

How did people do that? Just…flick up one eyebrow?

She shook her head, fixing her glare back onto her face and aiming it at Sesshomaru.

“Let me go, Sesshomaru.” She demanded, pulling at her trapped hands.

“You make this obligation of mine harder by the day.” he told her coldly.

“What the hell are you talking about? I’m trying to freaking bathe here!” she sputtered, still yanking at her hands.

“By yourself.” He stated, looking disgusted at the very idea.

“Well, ex-key-use me, but I tend to bathe by myself! The whole, being naked thing, y’know?” she shot back, twisting her wrists.

“In a forest filled with youkai just itching for some human meat?” he asked, eyebrow inching up again.

Kagome stopped struggling, to stare at him with widened eyes.

What, did he think she was stupid? First Inuyasha, now him? Well, to be fair, he did have a thing against humans, a decided superiority complex over them, and no reason to think otherwise about her.
Inuyasha, knowing her for years, had no excuse, other than he was a monumental idiot.

“I’m perfectly fine. See how quickly I picked up the bow and arrow? If it weren’t you, you’d have been crispy youkai.” She informed him.

“After I stepped on a twig to announce my presence. What if another youkai is not so accommodating as to tell you that he is about to kill you, beforehand?”

Kagome decided that Sesshomaru’s arrogance was slightly more annoying than Inuyasha’s.

Especially since she could not very well ‘sit’ him into next year.

And not at all because he had a viable point.

“If I concede that you may, perhaps, have a point, would you let me go?” she asked grumpily.

“Perhaps.”

“Fine. You may have a point there.”

“Why?”

“Why do you have a point? What kind of question is that? You just spent a good minute trying to convince me and now you’re asking why? Well, let me just say-”

Sesshomaru was apparently a fast learner, as he just pinched her lips closed, making it impossible to lick him again.

“Why are you bathing alone? Does the taijiya not accompany you?” as he released her lips, she scowled mightily at the reason why Sango was absent.

“Well, usually, but today Inuyasha was being an idiot and made us run fifty miles and Sango was tired and Miroku was feeling her up and how do you know that?” it suddenly dawned on her that he really shouldn’t know that particular piece of fact.

“I heard you talking last night.”

“Ohhhh. Now will you let me go, so I can get dressed?”

Sesshomaru looked down, Kagome’s gaze following, and she became properly aware for the first time that she was standing, very naked, in the middle of a steamy hot springs, plastered against a very wet Sesshomaru, who, although clad in a fresh change of clean silken haori and spiky armor, was still a very wet, very hot male-type man.
And even though he could no longer see her…assets, as it were, it did not change the fact that she was very naked, and he was very wet, and they were both wet and naked together in a spring.
Kagome gulped in some air for her suddenly-starved lungs, before slowly looking back up at Sesshomaru.

“How about that, let-go-of-Kagome-plan?” she stammered.

As he abruptly released her and strode out of the springs, Kagome sucked in air, eyes wide as she stared at the wet silk clinging to his spectacular ass.
He walked out, and stepped away, stopping at the edges of the hot springs, where it met the forest.

“Um, you want to leave so I can finish bathe?” she called hesitantly.

“No. Your inevitable death should I leave you alone will not reflect well on my abilities as a protector.” Came his curt reply.

“Of all the arrogant asses the gods ever spat into the world…” she muttered, sinking under the waters.

To be sure, a bare-chested, sweaty Sesshomaru was a sizeable distraction, but a clean, soaking wet Sesshomaru covered in clinging white silk and swaying silver hair was…whoo.
She no longer felt the urge to trace fingertips along the ridges of his abs. She was instead assailed with the need to lick.

Godsdammit, it was Sesshomaru here she was fantasizing about!

She shook her head violently under the water, effectively dispelling the image as hot water spurted up her nose.
She popped up, flicking hair back and smoothing water out, before looking at a now-dry Sesshomaru.

“How did you do that? Get dry so fast, I mean.” She asked.

“A spell.”

“Cool. Um, listen, Sesshomaru? I’m really tired, because Inuyasha is an ass, and he made me run fifty miles today. This water is really helping my muscles, so could we stay a while longer?” she asked, hopefully. She had no real reason to believe that he would be any more accommodating than Inuyasha, who seemed to take a perverse sort of pleasure in denying her anything she asked for, but she could not help but ask.

He stayed silent for a few moments, then turned around and sat on a large, flat rock next to her bag, staring straight at her.

“Fine.”

Kagome grinned stupidly, before turning and resting her head against a rock, being very careful to keep her body underwater.

Joy, joy, joy, time to soak, soak, soak.

In hindsight, of course, Kagome realized that it was the best question she had ever asked, hands-down.


A/N: Come now, mateys. With all the hot spring scenes in the anime, did ye really think that I could help meself?
Yaar, of course not. But, my back hurts. My toes are cold.
But I suffer for you.
And I have more than 2 thousand hits! YAAAAAR!
And I have so many reviews!
I was reading through some other fics' reviews, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my reviewers for their positivity and niceness, as some reviewers can be very vicious!

Next up, Sesshomaru!