Hindsight

A/N: Sorry for the delay, duckies. I was sort of busy learning how to scuba dive. But I remembered, and rushed over to update-ify.

Disclaimer: If there was the remotest possibility of owning Inuyasha and his sexified brother, I would cheerfully sell myself into government employment.


Day One; Act 6: Sesshomaru

“Are you going to kill me?”

Sesshomaru looked down at her in amazement, even allowing some of the emotion to show on his face. Truly, the damned emotion was so sudden, and so huge; even he couldn’t hide all of it.

Is this what people thought of him? That he would kill someone who helped him?

He didn’t realize he was that much of an asshole.

He did have honour. A lot of honour. Sometimes he wished that he didn’t, then he would not have to do quite a lot of things.

But to think that a human would think so little about him was just a little annoying.

Why, he had no idea, mainly because he had never really cared about the feelings of humans before. What was the point? He knew that humans lived on his lands, and he let them, but that didn’t mean he cared. Someone had to grow the food in his lands.

He looked down at her, some of his rambling thoughts shifting away when she peeked up at him through her lashes, looking deeply embarrassed.

“So, are you going to kill me?” she repeated.

“Not presently.” Sesshomaru replied with as little emotion as he could, still utterly
incredulous.

As she buried her face into her hands, looking totally defeated, Sesshomaru’s
increasingly ubiquitous confusion grew.

“I said I was not going to kill you, Miko.” He reiterated, wondering if her hearing as well as good sense had leaked out of her brain whilst healing him.

“I know.” She wailed.

Sesshomaru stood perfectly still and totally silent, the way a normal person behaved in front of a huge, angry bear with blood all over it. Maybe she had lost her mind, and was about to explode.
And her being a miko, with the explosion would come a burst of power, and holy powers were definitely not good for his skin.
She suddenly lifted her head from her hands, and sighed, and Sesshomaru tensed even more.

“I’m an idiot, Sesshomaru. That was rude of me. I apologize.”

Sesshomaru remained expressionless, but was inwardly cheering that he didn’t have to run for his life. Even he couldn’t battle against the raw power of a crazy miko.

She rose to her feet and smiled sheepishly.

“Really, I am sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sound quite so…ungrateful.”

Sesshomaru snorted, muttering.

“You mean evil.”

“I really am sorry.” She said softly, looking down at her feet.

Silence reigned, and Sesshomaru smirked despite himself, putting her daft question down to nerves, maybe even fear.

“Um, Sesshomaru, is your leg alright?” she asked hesitantly, gesturing towards his right
leg.

“I have my own healing abilities. It will be fine.” He answered.

“That’s good. Um, really good. It’s…good.” She trailed off.

Sesshomaru imagined that it was indeed good.

“So, what do we do now?” she finally asked meekly.

Sesshomaru didn’t reply, in truth he was barely listening, instead fascinated by the way she bit down on her bottom lip, her white teeth worrying the soft, pink flesh when she was nervous.
He didn’t even bother to shift his eyes when she looked up at him, opting to continue his perusal of her lip-action.
Not a soul in his entire court ever did that. It was sheer madness to show emotion. It could very well get you killed.
As he watched, she shifted, fidgeted, and swayed from side to side, obviously uncomfortable with his look.

Well, that was too bad. She thought he was evil.

He’d watch all he wanted.

“Well?” she asked finally, her cheeks tinted a light pink.

“What do you propose?” he asked coolly, abandoning his watch.

“I don’t know. Hence, the whole asking you deal.” She huffed.

“Are you always this temperamental?” he asked curiously, honestly interested in her answer. She couldn’t seem to hold on to one single emotion for more than ten seconds.
She was rather like Rin, who switched from happy to sad to mad to sleepy to curious in the space of five seconds.

“I am not temperamental. Why would you say that?” she exclaimed.

“Perhaps because you change your emotional state every three seconds?” he asked dryly.

“I do not! Anyway, what happened to you?” she asked suddenly.

He blinked, confused as to what she was referring to now.
Oh, right. The whole, fall bloody out of the sky, mostly dead deal.
He debated as to just how much to tell her. Normally, he would cut her off with a ‘none-of-your-concern’, followed by a glare for good measure. But she had healed him up.
Ah! He knew exactly what to say.

“Court treachery.”

He expected her to press him for details, and he was already resolved to be an unmovable rock the likes of which she had never encountered.

Not for all the power in the world would he tell of his humiliation.

Again, all his fine resolutions came to nothing when she smirked at him, proceeding to follow that up with uncontrollable laughter.

She doubled over, clutching her stomach, and laughed.

And laughed.

And laughed.

She fell to the grass, still laughing, and Sesshomaru again found himself wondering as to the state of her sanity.

Through a supreme act of will did he force himself not to step back and tense himself to run.

She finally stopped laughing to sigh and look up at the sky, flat on her back.
Her fitted, short top rose over her stomach, exposing a toned stomach and dimpled navel.
Sesshomaru found himself staring, as if he had never before seen a woman’s navel.

Wait. Had he?

He found himself reviewing all his previous interaction with females, trying to remember if ever he chanced to look at their navels.

“So, what are we going to do?” she asked, sounding as though she had not just spent five
minutes of her life rolling around in the grass, laughing like a hyena.

Sesshomaru didn’t answer, still trying to remember with all his might whether he had seen a female navel before.

“We could always return to our previous animosity.” She offered, when he made no reply.
Sesshomaru finally snapped out of his navel-search to raise an eyebrow and twist his lips at that suggestion.

What was she, insane?

The possibility seemed more and more feasible every time she opened her mouth.

“I’ll take that as a no. Well, then, I don’t see you making any suggestions. And sit down, please. You’re giving me a neck ache.” She said, rubbing her neck for emphasis.
Sesshomaru decided that he should have indeed never sat when she asked him before. The woman had delusions of superiority.

It was not important at all that she did have some sway now over what he did.

Sesshomaru sat, cursing his damnable honour.

“Have you any sensible suggestions?” he asked her.

As she teased him, and he answered her in kind, he wondered as to what, really, he was to do. Usually when he was indebted to someone, a rare occurrence in itself, he just gave them a position in his court. Some wealth, and a bit of power. That usually did the trick.

He knew that she was different.

He had no problem with putting her in a position of power in his court, but the youkai there might not be as receptive to the idea.
And he didn’t know how she would react to gold and jewels. Women tended to like them, but she was so different, so strange that he didn’t know what she would think.

“So you say. But that is neither here nor there. We have yet to figure out what we’re going to do.” Kagome acceded grudgingly.

Sesshomaru turned his full attention to the conversation, remembering that he had even talked about Inuyasha, who actually was an idiot of the highest order.

“Perhaps I could assist you in your fight against that ridiculous hanyou, Naraku.” He
offered.

It seemed the perfect solution. He could work off his debt to her, without starting an uprising in his court, and he wouldn’t have to face her wrath at his gift of gold.
As he warmed up to the idea, she looked at him in shock.
He got ready to argue for it, realizing that he could help defeat Naraku much quicker.

He was, after all, an exceptional warrior.

“Would you really?”

“I do not make idle suggestions, miko.” He said abruptly.

Would she never trust him? He blithely brushed aside the fact that he had done nothing to earn her trust but attack her friend. Well, defend himself from her friend’s attacks.
Would she forever blame him for Inuyasha’s lack of fighting skills?

“Sorry, but it’s a bit…surprising. You never seemed to care about my fight.” She explained.

“Naraku is a power-mad idiot, foredoomed to failure. I would simply be helping him reach his final destination at an accelerated pace.”

“Well, that sounds perfect. Except, how will Inuyasha react?”

“Loudly, violently, and like the idiot he always is.” Sesshomaru replied dispassionately.

She laughed in delight at that, and Sesshomaru knew that he was not the only one to see Inuyasha for what he truly was.

“Would you be traveling with us?” she asked.

“I am the Lord of the Western Lands. Not even for a debt of honour can I forget that. I will come when I can, and when needed most. Nothing more, and nothing less.” He told her sternly.

“That could work. Will you promise me something?”

He sighed, a tiny, quiet sigh, before looking at her with resigned eyes.
What more would she want? He hoped it was nothing too extravagant that he would be bound to give her.
Here’s hopin’…

“And what would that be?”

“No fighting with Inuyasha. Don’t pick any fights.”

“I shall not pick any fights. I promise.” He said quietly, not promising that he would not fight back if and when Inuyasha attacked him. He refused to accept a beating, especially from a younger sibling.

He would never live with the shame.

She nodded, looking vaguely puzzled.

Puzzle away, miko. I gave my word.

Her eyes traveled down his chest, and he smirked.

For all the strange she most surely was, she was still a woman, faced by the most beautiful body in all Japan.

She would stare.

And he would let her.

There was no harm in some healthy ogling.

Was there?

A/N: So, I've been told that in both my fics, Sesshomaru is OOC. Well, I know. I said before, in this one, I'm making Sesshomaru very sarcastic, but not murderous. He's too hot to be ass-y all the time. And in the other, he's lived considerably longer than in this one, so I hope he gathered some form of wisdom and perhaps the years chillaxed him.
I dunno.
Anyhowsies, next up, Day One, Act Seven, KAGOME!!