Captured and Trapped
folder
InuYasha › Het - Male/Female › Sesshōmaru/Kagome
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
30
Views:
43,927
Reviews:
158
Recommended:
4
Currently Reading:
2
Category:
InuYasha › Het - Male/Female › Sesshōmaru/Kagome
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
30
Views:
43,927
Reviews:
158
Recommended:
4
Currently Reading:
2
Disclaimer:
I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.
It Hurt
Hey!
Here is the chapter 21. Hope you will like it!
Thanks to all of you who had reviewed! I was so glad when I read them that I decided to write a new chapter immediatly! *grin*
Some asked what happened to Jaken and Rin and all so here is a glips of the answer. :)
Thanks again to Pandora-of-the-South for her beta-work, as excellent as always, on this chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.
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…………………….
Chapter 21:
It hurt
……………………
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………………..
Western Palace…
…………………
“Get out of my way!” screamed the little toad demon as he was running through the corridors.
Just in time, the servant jumped to the side, avoiding a collision with the short grumping green toad. Jaken could hardly see above the scrolls he was carrying hastily towards his Lord's office, making it even more difficult for the kappa to run without incident.
His dear Lord had gone missing for almost two weeks and his office was already looking like a battlefield, with documents piling up everywhere.
He turned another corner and was almost at the door. Even in the absence of Sesshomaru, guards were posted at strategic places over the palace's ground. There was, at least, one guard positioned by the office door at all the times, stopping anyone who would be suicidal enough to come here to snoop around his Lord's belongings.
The guard, an Inu Youkai, slide the screen door open when he saw the toad bobbing towards him. Well, to be honest, he heard him before even seeing him. The little youkai was always so noisy; it was a wonder how someone of Sesshomaru's character and sense of hearing could support having him around without getting headaches or worst.
Jaken walked in and put down the scrolls. Half of the room's floor had papers of all genres strewed all over. Even he had difficulty finding a place to even walk. His Lord was already behind in his paper work when it happened but now, it was becoming ridiculous. No one had the authorization to break the seals and read any of the reports, from the spies, the soldiers on the field, the documents of the different villages under the protection of the Lord of the West, the messages of any members of his clan, or correspondences from various important nobles throughout Japan. Even some letters were coming from the mainland. All in all it was a lot of papers and only Sesshomaru could read them.
“I hope sincerely that nothing has happened to Sesshomaru-sama and that he will contact us soon.” The guard said by the door.
Now, if it had been anyone else, Jaken would have snapped at his words, saying something in the same lines that it was an insult to their great Lord to presume that he could be hurt in anyway by anyone, but the little toad didn't. Mostly because that Inu wasn't just a simple guard but a member of the illustrious clan and family of his Lord, sharing the same royal blood, and secondly because he knew that it was just genuine concern.
“I don't know. Lord Sesshomaru had just gone to hunt and didn't come back.” The old age seemed to have caught up with the kappa youkai. “Even Rin is starting to mop around.” He mumbled quietly as if an afterthought. Then, he immediately straightened up as if not a single word of doubt had even passed his beck. “But Sesshomaru-sama is invincible! Something must have caught his attention and he had to investigate. He just doesn't have the time to inform his faithful servants yet, that's all. He will come back soon.”
“Yes, Sesshomaru-sama will be back soon. I can already see his expression when he sees all the work that is waiting for his return.” The guard answered a new light twinkling in his golden eyes.
Jaken coughed to stop himself from chuckling, knowing really well the strong dislike, for better words, of their Lord in regards towards paperwork.
That was when he heard in the distance the familiar scream “Master Jaken!”
“Blasted human child! Why, oh why my Lord, are you keeping her around?” grumbled the Kappa, before running in the direction of the scream.
The Inu watched Jaken leaving, shaking his head and chuckling openly. He too was curious of the reasons as to why Sesshomaru was keeping a weak human child with him; even though he didn't particularly care for humans, the Inu guard had to admit that it was entertaining to watch the quirks of the girl at work. Maybe there wasn't any more profound reason behind her presence than that.
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………………
Border of the Northern Lands, in the forest…
………………
The night had fallen in the forest. The two individuals were silent, watching the dancing flames of the camp fire.
Sango could not bring herself to speak. From time to time, she would send glances towards the monk who had sat himself on the opposite side of the fire. The demon slayer bit down on her bottom lip wondering. Miroku always sat by her side, as close as he could, hoping for an opportunity to grope her, not tonight however.
She knew that she must have hurt the young monk's feelings by almost believing so easily the lies of Kikyo and, to be honest, she could not blame him. He was just worried for their friend's life and she accused him of having a relationship of some kind beyond friendship with the young Miko behind everyone's back. If she had been in his position, she would have reacted more strongly still. What she did was unforgivable.
She, who was always openly criticizing InuYasha for believing every words coming from the mouth of the undead Miko, had done the same thing at the first rising occasion without even questioning it.
She hadn't been able to help herself. She too had remarked the growing relationship between Miroku and Kagome. She even knew that the young Miko had confided some things to Miroku that Kagome had not told anyone else, herself included. She was sure that there were some secrets that they were hiding from her, it was evident enough.
Frankly, she was a little hurt because the two of them were passing more time together than with her. She felt sometimes put out.
She knew that she was being stupid. The relationship between the two had evolve in a deep friendship because of the hours passed with Kagome's training, but still, Sango couldn't stop herself from doubting Miroku's intentions.
It was even more stupid when you thought that way because it was Kagome that was helping her and Miroku to get together. Sango thought that, maybe, her comportment around Miroku could be because of her insecurity. She was always keeping her distances with the monk and in his own perverted way; Miroku was trying to come closer to Sango.
In fact, she had been really surprised by the persistence of the Monk. With her always keeping him away, it was a miracle that he was still interested in her at all. Kagome once said that he was still asking some village girls to bear his child because it was only in this kind of situations that she would truly pay any kind of attention to him. However, it was not helping her insecurity but it was the only way Miroku had thought to go about getting her attention.
If she was honest with herself, she would say that she wasn't all that surprised by the strong friendship that had grow between the two. From their entire group, and possibly from everyone in this era, maybe excluding Kaede, Miroku was the only one who understood Kagome the most. When he couldn't because of some futuristic concepts, he still held a mind opened enough to accept it.
Sango would love to say that she was close, but besides their usual girl talks, Kagome had more in common with the Monk. Sango could not understand Kagome's way of thinking on several aspects, about various things, in particularly when it concerned youkai.
In her opinion, Kagome was too naïve. In her friend's mind, high class youkai couldn't be reduced to just brutal unfeeling beast. Sango thought her wrong; no, she knew that Kagome was wrong. She could accept InuYasha because he was half-human but that was pretty much all.
She couldn't understand how Kagome could stand to be around Kouga, the wolf prince, knowing that not long ago, he and his tribe were eating humans! Even if he said that he wasn't doing so anymore, Sango could not find it in herself to believe him at all. He cannot have change like that because one day he supposedly decided that he loved a human. He can't because he cannot change what he truly was. And the fact was that he was a demon, an animal, a monster.
In general, no one can really change his nature or character. That was partially why she had so much difficulty in being able to believe in the words that Miroku spoke.
The wolf demon affirmed that he loved Kagome and that he won't hurt any more humans because the woman he was in love with was human; that, Sango certainly had doubts about. As said before, demons are beasts in disguise and to say that they could have human feelings like love was grotesque in her opinion. They might be able to feel some kind of attachment, like any animal could in particular conditions, but certainly not love.
She was sure that InuYasha could feel it only because of his part of humanity. She had observed the little fox kid, Shippo. He had seen lots of fights and atrocious death but beside the fear of being killed, the young kitsune didn't seem troubled by any of those gory sights when any human child would have been surely traumatized. She could understand that, since he had already seen so much, he was less touched in this kind of situation but it was just too much.
Kagome had once said that Shippo was probably way older than what they thought but Sango did not find it enough of an explanation. Oh, she had nothing against the young kitsune. She could say that she liked him too, but to treat him as you would a human child was an error.
The young Miko don't see the border between the species and was treating everyone equally. She's even ready to give a second chance to any demon that had done wrong, a fatal mistake in Sango's book. She has given Kouga a second chance and believes in his promises, even though he had acted that way for maybe centuries! Who says that, even if for a time he acts civilly, he won't start hunting humans again once Kagome isn't around anymore?
Sango has experience in dealing with demons and she couldn't be fooled as easily as Kagome. What was bothering her was that Miroku wasn't stopping the young naïve miko or showing her that she was in the wrong. She couldn't understand why he was encouraging her in the wrong path by his silence.
In fact, one of the worst discordance that had ever happened between her miko friend and her was about Sesshomaru, the heartless full blooded youkai, half-brother of InuYasha and current demon Lord of the West.
She had heard a lot of stories about that particular DaiYoukai in her childhood and had seen his cruelty with her own eyes now, while dealing with his own bloodline. She couldn't understand Kagome's point of view. The young Miko was so naïve that it was hurtful and Sango was glad that she was there for her lost friend or she would have been killed already, trusting too easily anyone and anything.
The demon slayer was, for once, of the same opinion as InuYasha was about his half-brother : Sesshomaru was just an homicidal cold and heartless brute. She couldn't even imagine what Kagome could see, and Miroku at some extend, that made her think that there was more than meets the eye in Sesshomaru. Maybe she was wrong, but until she was proven differently, she won't believe it. The fact that InuYasha, a 'simple hanyou' was still breathing and the little human girl that was conscious enough to trail after the demon Lord wasn't proof enough. It could just point out that he was only playing around.
Sango chanced another glance towards the young monk. She couldn't help but beg the question where they were going. When she had caught up with Miroku, he was walking in a direction, but as soon as they had been at a certain distance from Kikyo and InuYasha, the monk had brutally changed and started to walk towards the North. It had been precisely the way they were walking just before they had crossed paths with the undead miko who had appeared seemly out of nowhere and made them change direction.
“Houshi-sama?” Sango said, gathering her courage.
“Hm?” He answered while his eyes stayed fixated on the flames of their camp fire.
“Do you really think that Kikyo is working for Naraku?” She asked timidly.
Miroku finally looked up at her before giving his response. “I can't affirm it without real proof Sango but what I can say is that Kikyo-sama had stayed in Naraku's presence recently, and long enough for his miasma to taint her aura. Though, I don't know how to explain it.”
“What do you mean?” How can someone have their aura tainted by only being in their presence? She thought, confused. “He isn't just possessing her or something?” She said, not seeing any other way how the undead miko's aura could be tainted by someone else's aura. Kikyo didn't seem ill so she wasn't poisoned like she had been in the past by Naraku's miasma.
“No, it isn't a case of possession. As for the taint, well, during my previous travels, I have encountered holy people who had their auras tainted because they have deviated from the right path and decided that helping others where second to helping themselves and their quest of power. Their auras became darker when they take innocent lives or if they had done things which are against the precepts of the Shinto's or Buddha's teaching. However, never before did I see one's holy aura tainted by someone else like that. It is difficult to explain but in Kikyo-sama's aura, I could see traces of Naraku's own aura. The quantity might not have been enough to modify her current scent enough for InuYasha's nose to detect it but for anyone with a decent ability to see and read aura as myself, it is difficult to not remark it. Even more because I know that some months ago, that 'taint' wasn't there.”
They fell into silence. The demon slayer's mind was spinning with the possibilities.
“Do you have any idea of how it could have come to this state?”
Miroku sighed, shaking sadly his head. “No. I know that she must have been in his presence for long periods of time but even close proximity cannot explain this. It would have been needed for them to blend their respective auras or something equivalent to succeed at tainting her aura and soul by his miasma and not just a simple darkness from her ill-actions since her resurrection.”
Sango hesitated a moment. “Why didn't you say something before?”
The young monk looked back towards the fire. “I couldn't explain what I could read in her aura and I still can't. I didn't want for my…hard feelings towards Kikyo-sama to interfere so I decided to observe her actions to try to understand her motivation.”
Another silence fell heavily around the camp fire. Sango bit her bottom lip, hesitating anew. She didn't know if she should talk or not. But after a couple of minutes, she couldn't stay silent any longer.
“Miroku-sama? I-I'm sorry to have doubted…”
“Hm. Could we just forget it?” He said, standing up. “I will go gather more firewood. Stay close to the fire. It shouldn't be too long before Kirara comes back from her hunt.”
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Miroku stood and walked in the woods just out of eyes sight of the camp fire but still close enough to hear if something goes wrong, and sat down on an old died tree root. He needed some time alone. He knew that the demon slayer did not mean to hurt him in any way but it had.
It does, each time she doubts his sincerity towards her. But this time, it was worst. This time around, she had done more than just distrust him.
How could she have believed in the blatant lies of the undead miko Kikyo so easily? How could she believe for even one second that he would betray her like that? That time, she had not only wrongly accused him but Kagome as well.
His thought then turned to their missing friend. He won't lie and say that he doesn't feel a strong link, a friendship as he had never had with anyone before. He did not have to act while around her and at the same time, it was pleasant to be able to discuss different topics with someone that was as cultivated as him. Well, to be honest, the young miko was, in several domains, more advanced than he could ever dream of. After all, the young woman had the advantage of being born and raised 500 years in the future. So it was really stimulating to be able to converse with her and he knew that the young miko felt the same way.
Once, he told her that sometimes, when they talked, he had the impression of talking with a male and not a female. When it had slipped out, he had been afraid to have offended his friend but she had laughed and Miroku had then realized that she understood.
Women, while not stupid at all, were not really cultivated in his time. It was the privilege of the noble class and people of the cloth. Not a lot of men were cultivated but it was even scarcer for women. But even then, the women weren't taught more than what was necessary for their life. But Kagome was able to talk about almost every subject. Of course, it wasn't with her that you could talk about battle strategies; she was very much a 'young innocent woman' in this area, but even in that topic, she had, in more than one occasion, shocked him in her insight and way to analyze a situation.
Miroku sincerely liked Sango, and dreamt often of their possible future together, if he was to overcome his curse before it was too late, but the friendship with Kagome had a special place in his heart too.
Some of the things they talked about though, he knew, he had to keep it for himself only because it hadn't happen yet or had yet to be invented. He understood what she said about time paradox, even if it was confusing, and, while her coming in the past seemed to have been planned, he didn't wish to alter the future beyond what destiny and fate decided.
He had only one chagrin though: the creator of that 'play-boy magazine' that Kagome once shown to him - she couldn't stop blushing that day, mumbling about how the vendor had thought her some kind of pervert because of him, giving him a free ticket to tease her mercily - well, that man had just been born too late for poor holy monk's liking!
Here is the chapter 21. Hope you will like it!
Thanks to all of you who had reviewed! I was so glad when I read them that I decided to write a new chapter immediatly! *grin*
Some asked what happened to Jaken and Rin and all so here is a glips of the answer. :)
Thanks again to Pandora-of-the-South for her beta-work, as excellent as always, on this chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.
8888888888888888888888888
…………………….
Chapter 21:
It hurt
……………………
888888888888888888888888888
………………..
Western Palace…
…………………
“Get out of my way!” screamed the little toad demon as he was running through the corridors.
Just in time, the servant jumped to the side, avoiding a collision with the short grumping green toad. Jaken could hardly see above the scrolls he was carrying hastily towards his Lord's office, making it even more difficult for the kappa to run without incident.
His dear Lord had gone missing for almost two weeks and his office was already looking like a battlefield, with documents piling up everywhere.
He turned another corner and was almost at the door. Even in the absence of Sesshomaru, guards were posted at strategic places over the palace's ground. There was, at least, one guard positioned by the office door at all the times, stopping anyone who would be suicidal enough to come here to snoop around his Lord's belongings.
The guard, an Inu Youkai, slide the screen door open when he saw the toad bobbing towards him. Well, to be honest, he heard him before even seeing him. The little youkai was always so noisy; it was a wonder how someone of Sesshomaru's character and sense of hearing could support having him around without getting headaches or worst.
Jaken walked in and put down the scrolls. Half of the room's floor had papers of all genres strewed all over. Even he had difficulty finding a place to even walk. His Lord was already behind in his paper work when it happened but now, it was becoming ridiculous. No one had the authorization to break the seals and read any of the reports, from the spies, the soldiers on the field, the documents of the different villages under the protection of the Lord of the West, the messages of any members of his clan, or correspondences from various important nobles throughout Japan. Even some letters were coming from the mainland. All in all it was a lot of papers and only Sesshomaru could read them.
“I hope sincerely that nothing has happened to Sesshomaru-sama and that he will contact us soon.” The guard said by the door.
Now, if it had been anyone else, Jaken would have snapped at his words, saying something in the same lines that it was an insult to their great Lord to presume that he could be hurt in anyway by anyone, but the little toad didn't. Mostly because that Inu wasn't just a simple guard but a member of the illustrious clan and family of his Lord, sharing the same royal blood, and secondly because he knew that it was just genuine concern.
“I don't know. Lord Sesshomaru had just gone to hunt and didn't come back.” The old age seemed to have caught up with the kappa youkai. “Even Rin is starting to mop around.” He mumbled quietly as if an afterthought. Then, he immediately straightened up as if not a single word of doubt had even passed his beck. “But Sesshomaru-sama is invincible! Something must have caught his attention and he had to investigate. He just doesn't have the time to inform his faithful servants yet, that's all. He will come back soon.”
“Yes, Sesshomaru-sama will be back soon. I can already see his expression when he sees all the work that is waiting for his return.” The guard answered a new light twinkling in his golden eyes.
Jaken coughed to stop himself from chuckling, knowing really well the strong dislike, for better words, of their Lord in regards towards paperwork.
That was when he heard in the distance the familiar scream “Master Jaken!”
“Blasted human child! Why, oh why my Lord, are you keeping her around?” grumbled the Kappa, before running in the direction of the scream.
The Inu watched Jaken leaving, shaking his head and chuckling openly. He too was curious of the reasons as to why Sesshomaru was keeping a weak human child with him; even though he didn't particularly care for humans, the Inu guard had to admit that it was entertaining to watch the quirks of the girl at work. Maybe there wasn't any more profound reason behind her presence than that.
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………………
Border of the Northern Lands, in the forest…
………………
The night had fallen in the forest. The two individuals were silent, watching the dancing flames of the camp fire.
Sango could not bring herself to speak. From time to time, she would send glances towards the monk who had sat himself on the opposite side of the fire. The demon slayer bit down on her bottom lip wondering. Miroku always sat by her side, as close as he could, hoping for an opportunity to grope her, not tonight however.
She knew that she must have hurt the young monk's feelings by almost believing so easily the lies of Kikyo and, to be honest, she could not blame him. He was just worried for their friend's life and she accused him of having a relationship of some kind beyond friendship with the young Miko behind everyone's back. If she had been in his position, she would have reacted more strongly still. What she did was unforgivable.
She, who was always openly criticizing InuYasha for believing every words coming from the mouth of the undead Miko, had done the same thing at the first rising occasion without even questioning it.
She hadn't been able to help herself. She too had remarked the growing relationship between Miroku and Kagome. She even knew that the young Miko had confided some things to Miroku that Kagome had not told anyone else, herself included. She was sure that there were some secrets that they were hiding from her, it was evident enough.
Frankly, she was a little hurt because the two of them were passing more time together than with her. She felt sometimes put out.
She knew that she was being stupid. The relationship between the two had evolve in a deep friendship because of the hours passed with Kagome's training, but still, Sango couldn't stop herself from doubting Miroku's intentions.
It was even more stupid when you thought that way because it was Kagome that was helping her and Miroku to get together. Sango thought that, maybe, her comportment around Miroku could be because of her insecurity. She was always keeping her distances with the monk and in his own perverted way; Miroku was trying to come closer to Sango.
In fact, she had been really surprised by the persistence of the Monk. With her always keeping him away, it was a miracle that he was still interested in her at all. Kagome once said that he was still asking some village girls to bear his child because it was only in this kind of situations that she would truly pay any kind of attention to him. However, it was not helping her insecurity but it was the only way Miroku had thought to go about getting her attention.
If she was honest with herself, she would say that she wasn't all that surprised by the strong friendship that had grow between the two. From their entire group, and possibly from everyone in this era, maybe excluding Kaede, Miroku was the only one who understood Kagome the most. When he couldn't because of some futuristic concepts, he still held a mind opened enough to accept it.
Sango would love to say that she was close, but besides their usual girl talks, Kagome had more in common with the Monk. Sango could not understand Kagome's way of thinking on several aspects, about various things, in particularly when it concerned youkai.
In her opinion, Kagome was too naïve. In her friend's mind, high class youkai couldn't be reduced to just brutal unfeeling beast. Sango thought her wrong; no, she knew that Kagome was wrong. She could accept InuYasha because he was half-human but that was pretty much all.
She couldn't understand how Kagome could stand to be around Kouga, the wolf prince, knowing that not long ago, he and his tribe were eating humans! Even if he said that he wasn't doing so anymore, Sango could not find it in herself to believe him at all. He cannot have change like that because one day he supposedly decided that he loved a human. He can't because he cannot change what he truly was. And the fact was that he was a demon, an animal, a monster.
In general, no one can really change his nature or character. That was partially why she had so much difficulty in being able to believe in the words that Miroku spoke.
The wolf demon affirmed that he loved Kagome and that he won't hurt any more humans because the woman he was in love with was human; that, Sango certainly had doubts about. As said before, demons are beasts in disguise and to say that they could have human feelings like love was grotesque in her opinion. They might be able to feel some kind of attachment, like any animal could in particular conditions, but certainly not love.
She was sure that InuYasha could feel it only because of his part of humanity. She had observed the little fox kid, Shippo. He had seen lots of fights and atrocious death but beside the fear of being killed, the young kitsune didn't seem troubled by any of those gory sights when any human child would have been surely traumatized. She could understand that, since he had already seen so much, he was less touched in this kind of situation but it was just too much.
Kagome had once said that Shippo was probably way older than what they thought but Sango did not find it enough of an explanation. Oh, she had nothing against the young kitsune. She could say that she liked him too, but to treat him as you would a human child was an error.
The young Miko don't see the border between the species and was treating everyone equally. She's even ready to give a second chance to any demon that had done wrong, a fatal mistake in Sango's book. She has given Kouga a second chance and believes in his promises, even though he had acted that way for maybe centuries! Who says that, even if for a time he acts civilly, he won't start hunting humans again once Kagome isn't around anymore?
Sango has experience in dealing with demons and she couldn't be fooled as easily as Kagome. What was bothering her was that Miroku wasn't stopping the young naïve miko or showing her that she was in the wrong. She couldn't understand why he was encouraging her in the wrong path by his silence.
In fact, one of the worst discordance that had ever happened between her miko friend and her was about Sesshomaru, the heartless full blooded youkai, half-brother of InuYasha and current demon Lord of the West.
She had heard a lot of stories about that particular DaiYoukai in her childhood and had seen his cruelty with her own eyes now, while dealing with his own bloodline. She couldn't understand Kagome's point of view. The young Miko was so naïve that it was hurtful and Sango was glad that she was there for her lost friend or she would have been killed already, trusting too easily anyone and anything.
The demon slayer was, for once, of the same opinion as InuYasha was about his half-brother : Sesshomaru was just an homicidal cold and heartless brute. She couldn't even imagine what Kagome could see, and Miroku at some extend, that made her think that there was more than meets the eye in Sesshomaru. Maybe she was wrong, but until she was proven differently, she won't believe it. The fact that InuYasha, a 'simple hanyou' was still breathing and the little human girl that was conscious enough to trail after the demon Lord wasn't proof enough. It could just point out that he was only playing around.
Sango chanced another glance towards the young monk. She couldn't help but beg the question where they were going. When she had caught up with Miroku, he was walking in a direction, but as soon as they had been at a certain distance from Kikyo and InuYasha, the monk had brutally changed and started to walk towards the North. It had been precisely the way they were walking just before they had crossed paths with the undead miko who had appeared seemly out of nowhere and made them change direction.
“Houshi-sama?” Sango said, gathering her courage.
“Hm?” He answered while his eyes stayed fixated on the flames of their camp fire.
“Do you really think that Kikyo is working for Naraku?” She asked timidly.
Miroku finally looked up at her before giving his response. “I can't affirm it without real proof Sango but what I can say is that Kikyo-sama had stayed in Naraku's presence recently, and long enough for his miasma to taint her aura. Though, I don't know how to explain it.”
“What do you mean?” How can someone have their aura tainted by only being in their presence? She thought, confused. “He isn't just possessing her or something?” She said, not seeing any other way how the undead miko's aura could be tainted by someone else's aura. Kikyo didn't seem ill so she wasn't poisoned like she had been in the past by Naraku's miasma.
“No, it isn't a case of possession. As for the taint, well, during my previous travels, I have encountered holy people who had their auras tainted because they have deviated from the right path and decided that helping others where second to helping themselves and their quest of power. Their auras became darker when they take innocent lives or if they had done things which are against the precepts of the Shinto's or Buddha's teaching. However, never before did I see one's holy aura tainted by someone else like that. It is difficult to explain but in Kikyo-sama's aura, I could see traces of Naraku's own aura. The quantity might not have been enough to modify her current scent enough for InuYasha's nose to detect it but for anyone with a decent ability to see and read aura as myself, it is difficult to not remark it. Even more because I know that some months ago, that 'taint' wasn't there.”
They fell into silence. The demon slayer's mind was spinning with the possibilities.
“Do you have any idea of how it could have come to this state?”
Miroku sighed, shaking sadly his head. “No. I know that she must have been in his presence for long periods of time but even close proximity cannot explain this. It would have been needed for them to blend their respective auras or something equivalent to succeed at tainting her aura and soul by his miasma and not just a simple darkness from her ill-actions since her resurrection.”
Sango hesitated a moment. “Why didn't you say something before?”
The young monk looked back towards the fire. “I couldn't explain what I could read in her aura and I still can't. I didn't want for my…hard feelings towards Kikyo-sama to interfere so I decided to observe her actions to try to understand her motivation.”
Another silence fell heavily around the camp fire. Sango bit her bottom lip, hesitating anew. She didn't know if she should talk or not. But after a couple of minutes, she couldn't stay silent any longer.
“Miroku-sama? I-I'm sorry to have doubted…”
“Hm. Could we just forget it?” He said, standing up. “I will go gather more firewood. Stay close to the fire. It shouldn't be too long before Kirara comes back from her hunt.”
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Miroku stood and walked in the woods just out of eyes sight of the camp fire but still close enough to hear if something goes wrong, and sat down on an old died tree root. He needed some time alone. He knew that the demon slayer did not mean to hurt him in any way but it had.
It does, each time she doubts his sincerity towards her. But this time, it was worst. This time around, she had done more than just distrust him.
How could she have believed in the blatant lies of the undead miko Kikyo so easily? How could she believe for even one second that he would betray her like that? That time, she had not only wrongly accused him but Kagome as well.
His thought then turned to their missing friend. He won't lie and say that he doesn't feel a strong link, a friendship as he had never had with anyone before. He did not have to act while around her and at the same time, it was pleasant to be able to discuss different topics with someone that was as cultivated as him. Well, to be honest, the young miko was, in several domains, more advanced than he could ever dream of. After all, the young woman had the advantage of being born and raised 500 years in the future. So it was really stimulating to be able to converse with her and he knew that the young miko felt the same way.
Once, he told her that sometimes, when they talked, he had the impression of talking with a male and not a female. When it had slipped out, he had been afraid to have offended his friend but she had laughed and Miroku had then realized that she understood.
Women, while not stupid at all, were not really cultivated in his time. It was the privilege of the noble class and people of the cloth. Not a lot of men were cultivated but it was even scarcer for women. But even then, the women weren't taught more than what was necessary for their life. But Kagome was able to talk about almost every subject. Of course, it wasn't with her that you could talk about battle strategies; she was very much a 'young innocent woman' in this area, but even in that topic, she had, in more than one occasion, shocked him in her insight and way to analyze a situation.
Miroku sincerely liked Sango, and dreamt often of their possible future together, if he was to overcome his curse before it was too late, but the friendship with Kagome had a special place in his heart too.
Some of the things they talked about though, he knew, he had to keep it for himself only because it hadn't happen yet or had yet to be invented. He understood what she said about time paradox, even if it was confusing, and, while her coming in the past seemed to have been planned, he didn't wish to alter the future beyond what destiny and fate decided.
He had only one chagrin though: the creator of that 'play-boy magazine' that Kagome once shown to him - she couldn't stop blushing that day, mumbling about how the vendor had thought her some kind of pervert because of him, giving him a free ticket to tease her mercily - well, that man had just been born too late for poor holy monk's liking!