Let Me Alone

A/N: Instead of having two short chapters, I went ahead and combined the two to create a lengthier one. Enjoy. :)

Frozen by fear more than the bitter cold itself, Kagome could only blink as she stared into the perfected face of death. Golden eyes tinged with crimson burned with fury as his beast let out a low, dangerous growl. What the hell had she been thinking? She didn’t just accidentally touch his person, oh no; the Kamis would not spare her that much luck. She had full-blown ran into the Lord of the Western Lands himself! Was she that depressed with life that she sought death?

Another thought flashed raced across her mind as furious spheres clashing of scarlet and yellow bore into her, causing her to writhe as though she had been burned. How was she not dead yet? She worried not of the details nor did she have the urge to voice the question as she was assured it meant sudden death. She knew that he did not ‘save’ her as some would put it. She was the one that blatantly stumbled onto him, bringing along a pack of vicious demons that was in no way slowing down as they neared him. So…he did what was only natural—protected himself; not her, not anyone, but himself. All this rushed through her mind as she stared and then, as if remembering who exactly she was staring at and how long she had actually been staring at him, she dropped her eyes and pretended to be interested with something on the forest floor. He blinked. Then his perfect face broke and he smiled, flashing dangerously pointed fangs…Kagome fainted. The last conscious thought weighing on her mind was ‘I am going to die’ and with that, she was out.

Sesshoumaru stared down his nose at the female. She dared to touch his person; he should dispose of her wretched body. He smiled, something foretelling and watched as she fainted. He could very well leave her fro the wolves…Koga had always fancied the ninjen and if his pets didn’t get to her first, then he could do as he wished with her. That would only work if Koga was in the vicinity and seeing how Kagome had managed to lose herself deep within the Western Lands, it wasn’t likely that Koga was anything by near. He turned and left her still body in the dirt; he would not kill an unconscious being.

Opening one eye, Kagome scanned the area around her; she closed it again. She could see nothing but darkness. What happened? She remembered the boars, remembered the horrific child, running through the forest and…oh God! Am I not dead yet? She remembered those emotionless, golden orbs glaring down at her as she fell. She had actually bumped into Lord Sesshoumaru! Others did not give his name the title, but although he had attempted to end her life countless times, he was Lord of the West. Her mind numb from both fear and exhaustion, she tried focusing her eyes on her outstretched fingers; they appeared blue from the frost and she could no longer feel her toes.

Once again, she stumbled blindly through the woods, falling every so often on hidden roots. Her ankle held a dull pain, probably because of the bitter coldness of the early morning hours. Her stringy hair, clumped in knots of dirt and sticks, stuck to her face. She glared up at the night sky and let out a pitiful cry of anguish. It mattered not who heard her. She was half-dead, starved, injured, and a filthy miko; one not deserving of her title. As to why her life was not ended, she did not ponder. If her life was spared, then that was good enough for her and she needed no explanation for the details. She drew a ragged breath then coughed. ”Oh great,” she mumbled. Now she could add ‘sick’ to her list of growing problems. ”How could this get any worse?” she berated herself as she uttered the words, the wind picking up speed. The icy breeze sliced through her skin, cutting into her bones and she growled in anger. And then…as if mocking her…the heavens cracked and it began to rain sleet. Her miko powers, long ago spent, did not alert her of the powerful demon ahead of her. All her eyes saw was a flicker of light and in desperation, ran with the last bit of energy she could muster.

She broke through, falling on her face, as the forest let out into a small clearing. Her fingers landed only inches away from a small campfire and if she could feel them, she would have drawn them back. She had not the energy to raise her face to stare into the same golden orbs that burned with distaste of her mere existence.

Once again Sesshoumaru glared at the same miko with controlled rage. His claws were outstretched, ready to attack and dripped of venom. Was this miko truly seeking death on this night? This was twice he had come in the company of her and did not wish for a repeat. The thought of melting the flesh from her face by dangling her body by her feet over the fire crossed his mind, but once again, honor would not allow him to harm an unconscious creature, even if it were a wretched human. His claws retracted and he seated himself. He studied the top of her head, his eyes narrowing slightly. Although he kept Rin alive, he still saw her kind as ninjen filth. He did not know the reason behind why Tenseiga brought the child back to life, but she was bound to him now and he could not break the bond.

Sesshoumaru’s deadly glare bore down into Kagome’s unconscious form that lay across from which the lord sat, shadows forming around her figure from the firelight’s glow. He allowed himself a moment to observe her appearance. She seemed frail, much more so than at the battle with Naraku. Death seemed to have draped itself around her slim figure, clinging tightly to her form and providing her skin with a colorless, pasty hue. Death was not becoming of her. He paused, thinking a bit more on that last thought before allowing it to pass. Was it because she had saved his ward countless times when Jaken had failed to keep her safe? Was he becoming tender? The reflections of the fire flickered in his eyes as he stared across, still glaring at the girl. Her skin should have warmed a bit being so close to the heat; he growled. Any other thoughts he may have had on her well being ceased as he stood, walking over to her body. He could hear her ragged, uneven breathing as he stood, towering over her. He narrowed his eyes slightly then kicked her roughly in the side, causing her to jump and to go into a fit of painful coughing.

Kagome, in a disturbing slumber of nightmares, jolted awake as she felt something hard strike against her ribcage. Gulping for air, something in her raw throat caught, causing her to go into a coughing spasm. She stared at her surroundings through unfocused eyes, trying to calm the seizures that seemed to have taken control over her lungs. She did not remember falling asleep nor did she remember building the fire that was in front of her; she stilled, acknowledging the powerful aura that loomed over her. Coughing up one last mouthful of blood, she spat at the dirt and slowly raised her head, her gaze locking with the same eyes that she had seemingly not long ago looked into.

”Wench.”

She dropped her gaze back to the earth as if she had been struck and pulled herself into a sitting position. She knew not how she was once again in the presence of Lord Sesshoumaru, but could guess that he was not in the least bit happy about it. She remembered the first encounter, but not this one. She then realized that she could feel her skin again and gave her arm a good pinch before wincing in pain, then wiggled her toes for good measure.

Pushing herself up, she stood on shaky legs as she again peered up into the emotionless spheres of gold. ”Forgive me Sesshou—“ She was not given any amount of time to complete her sentence before being slammed into a nearby tree, her feet dangling limply as she was held face to face by an iron grip.

”You dare speak out of turn?” Sesshoumaru seethed. He tightened his grip around her neck, watching her skin turn from a pale white to a pastel blue. A thought crossed his mind as his glare bore into her eyes. Why does she not fight back? Instead of clawing at his arms as many had done before their lives were ended, her body just hung lifelessly, as if waiting for her life to end.

”Why do you not resist me?”

Kagome blinked slowly. She could feel her body slowly shutting down from lack of oxygen and for a moment, it felt good. The way her skin was tingling and beginning to go numb….and the way her vision was beginning to blur. His words echoed in her ears as she closed her eyes, relishing in the closeness of death. What more did she have to live for? There wasn’t a soul left in this life that was worth living for; she was just so damn lost. She allowed one tear to slip and roll down her dirtied cheek before opening her eyes once more, watching small dots appear before her eyes. ”It won’t be long and I will be gone,” she mumbled to herself.

Sesshoumaru watched as the girl closed her eyes and felt her body relax. Was she ignoring him? He growled low, his claws growing longer and itching to release poison. He would not be ignored by a girl, a ningen one at that. His irritation seemed to show as his eyes began to bleed over, crimson interlacing with gold. His control was about to snap when he heard her strained voice murmur something incoherently. For just a moment, he was taken back at the look in her eyes. She appeared so lost and so…broken? She looked as if she awaited death with open arms. Why did it matter? ”It doesn’t,” he inwardly growled.

”Repeat yourself,” he commanded, shaking her small form.

Kagome, not exactly conscious, did not think she had spoken her thought aloud until she was being shaken. Her mind was fuzzy and did not want to cooperate as she attempted to process his words. She blinked and then glanced back up at his bored expression before mumbling, ”I said ‘It won’t be long and I will be gone’.” She turned her head to the side, her chin resting against her shoulder as she closed her eyes once more.

He watched the girl intently as her lips moved, the words so soft that they barely graced the wind with their presence before they were swept away. ”You dare ask for death so casually?” Why was this human so unconcerned about death. He had, over the years, developed the idea that all humans feared death and yet, here was this human wench hoping and wishing for death as if it were nothing at all. He tossed her roughly to the ground, her body crumpling against the hard forest floor as she landed.