Fragile

Chapter 5: Two Steps Back

Sesshoumaru was once again in a foul mood. He’d gone back to bed only to lie there completely awake. He was now walking down one of the many hallways within his home on his way to the kitchen. When he reached his destination he was met with the stale smell of potatoes, green tea, and salt. He turned to survey the area and low-and-behold, there on his kitchen table was a cold half-eaten bowl of potato soup, a cold cup of tea, and the area was saturated with the smell of salt.

Seeing that she’d eaten, Sesshoumaru set out in search of Kagome. The mess in his kitchen had to be her doing because no member of his staff would leave dirty dishes just lying around. Making his way to the room he knew Mana would have shown Kagome to he saw that the door was wide open…and there was a draft. He picked up his pace a little and when he entered the room he saw that the French doors leading outside were left wide open, the red sheers floating on the breeze coming through. “Damn her. I am in no mood for this!”

~*~*~*~

Kagome decided that she’d lost her appetite about halfway through her meal. So she got up and made her way back to her room. Once there she began her exploration of the room again. There were two other doors she hadn’t looked in yet. One led to a good sized bathroom decorated to match the bedroom and the other led to a large walk-in closet. There weren’t many clothes occupying it. Actually, there were only a couple of women’s coats, a few pairs of shoes, and a pair of slippers.

Kagome walked over to lie on her bed and began thinking over her situation again. She had been taken away from her family about four months ago. They lied to her family about where she was. But she was with Sesshoumaru now. All she had to do was answer his questions and he might let her go home. Her heart fell when she remembered what he’d told her earlier. She might have to go back to that horrible place again. ‘I won’t…I can’t go back there…Sesshoumaru can be cold, but he wouldn’t do something that cruel…would he?’ Then a thought struck Kagome. ‘Sesshoumaru’s the one who took me out of there. He didn’t break in. He was already there…he had keys…he’s part of it. He’s one of the one’s who kept me there!’ Kagome was almost in full panic mode. ‘He’ll only keep me here as long as he needs me then he’ll send me back…’ Kagome stood up and went over to the closet and pulled out the slippers she had seen along with one of the coats. “I’m not going back,” she said as she opened the doors leading outside.

Taking a look around, Kagome saw that the doors led into a beautiful garden behind the house. On the other side of the massive garden was the tree line to the surrounding forest. “Okay, if Sesshoumaru was in on the whole thing then his staff probably knows why I’m here. I can’t let anyone see me. If they catch me I’ll probably go straight back to wherever I was…” Kagome felt the sting of betrayal in her chest. She had taken a liking to Mana but now believed it to be false kindness. Taking one last look around the garden to make sure nobody was around to see her she counted to herself, “three…two…one!” And she took off despite her still unstable legs across the garden and into the trees.

As she ran, Kagome could feel the unused muscles in her legs burning and stiffening. The cold air was burning her lungs and she could see her breath every time she exhaled. The bare limbs of the trees caught on her clothes, hair, and face. But she kept running. She had to find her way to the other side of the forest and then find her way home. She tripped on some underbrush a few times but the longer she ran, the more she could feel that familiarity wrap around her. Running through trees after demons and jewel shards; it was one of the things she missed about going back in time.

Kagome’s eyes widened when she saw a wall of green and brown ahead of her through the trees. ‘A hedge maybe? I’m almost there! I’m coming Mama, I’m coming.’ She thought. But all hopes of her escape were shattered when she saw that instead of the shrubbery of a hedge she’d expected, it was a wall of ivy. Kagome slowed her pace until she was at a stumbling walk toward the mass of leaves. She pushed aside the vines until she came in contact with what they were growing on. “No…” Kagome breathed out in defeat as she sank to her knees. She cried for her lost freedom once more as she beat her small fist against a tall wall of stone.

~*~*~*~

Sesshoumaru was making his way through the sleeping forest following Kagome’s scent. ‘When I get my hands on that girl…’ He was livid. He took her from a place she would have rather died than remained at, and she had the nerve to run away before giving him his answers. He was getting close. Her scent was becoming stronger. He stepped from the trees and saw her collapsed at the base of the wall that surrounded the back side of his property. He knew she couldn’t go any further than this, but it still angered him that she would have tried.

“You ungrateful human…get up. You will come back to the house this instant and you will answer my questions. I did not take you from that place as any favor. You know things that I wish to know. Now come.” Sesshoumaru commanded as he looked down at her.

When Kagome heard his voice another wave of emotions crashed down on her. Utter despair at being captured again; fear of what he would do; but more than anything she felt the rage warm her blood again. She turned to look up at him with tears still in her eyes and could only glare at him as she thought of what he and his partners had done to her. “You knew! You knew what they were doing and you didn’t do anything to stop them! Why? Why Sesshoumaru?! I always thought you were cold, but I never thought you could be so cruel! Did you know what they were doing to me?? Did you help them?! Or did you only help them cover it up with lies so that everyone I knew thought I left on my own?! I hate you. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!!” She then reached out to grab the nearest thing to her with any weight to it, which happened to be a fair sized rock, and threw it at him as hard as she could as she began to cry again.

Sesshoumaru only stood there slightly shocked at her outburst until she threw the rock at him. He quickly reached out a hand and caught it as he looked back down at the small human girl. He thought over what she had said…well, shouted at him and rolled his eyes at her theatrics. ‘Humans can be so melodramatic…’ He looked back at her before turning around and calling over his shoulder, “Come Kagome, there are obviously some things that need to be set straight. And since it’s also obvious you won’t be able to escape that way, I suggest you hurry. The weather report is calling for snow later.”