Gentle by Lady Wystaerya

Gentle

Gentle

This is my second Sesshoumaru/Kagome fanfiction that I've ever written and, as I am one to take baby steps, I thought that perhaps this would be another good start, at least from Kagome's perspective. Please let me know what you think. 

Disclaimer: I do not own Inu-Yasha or any of its components. I simply own the storyline present in this little one-shot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong.

~Leo Buscaglia

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She didn't know what to make of him - of Sesshoumaru, the Great and Terrible Lord of the Western Lands. 

Kagome liked to think that she was a fair-minded person. Sure, she could be a little bit impatient with Inu-Yasha. She was not blind. She was well aware of how he treated her; everyone else did. But this wasn't about Inu-Yasha. When was it ever?

She forced herself to settled down in the sleeping bag. She needed to sleep. She had to try if Inu-Yasha was going to have them up by the break of dawn. She rubbed her eyes before she tiredly stared at the fire. Shippo was curled against her stomach, fast asleep, as as restless as she was, she could not bring herself to move or toss and turn for the sake of the sleeping fox-kit. It was something of a rule she knew far too well. When Buyo decided to use her as a bed, she oblidged, but only because that enormous feline was, perhaps, her longest friend. Her mind wandered briefly. She hopped Mama was watching after him. She was sure that she would.

With a deep breath she finally, carefully, made herself turn to lay on her back.

Feudal Japan was so different. She could actually watch the stars and there were so many of them - so, so many of them. 

Shippo shifted and murmured something about fox-fire in his sleep, and it was enough to grab her attention for a brief moment. Nope, her adoptive son was fine, fast asleep. 

She sighed.

What was she thinking? Why was she even thinking? The man - the demon had tried to kill her on several occasions.

She exhaled slowly and turned her head to the side, to stare at the campfire.

Why was it the thought of one demon kept her mind running in circles? It was certainly different from how she felt for Inuyasha. It was similar, but it was different.  With Inu-Yasha it was him berating her one moment, and then being gruffly kind towards her the next. Or he was running off to see Kikyo the moment one of her soul-creatures appeared. 

She took a deep breath again and forced her mind to still, but she remembered. She remembered all of the times he was cruel to her; how often he would pick on Shippo. How many times did she have to use the subjugation to literally knock some sense into him? 

A tiger does not change its stripes. Her mother had warned her gently. For someone to treat you so cruely, who treats your friends so cruelly, is weak.

Kagome tried not to let herself think too much about her mother's words, but every time Inu-Yasha did something remotely close to losing his patience with himself and taking it out on her and the rest of the gang?

She wondered how many times she'd tried to run away from responsibility. She'd been so tempted. So many times, she tried to get away, at least to put some distance between herself and tha half-demon, but he always somehow managed to guilt her into coming back. Always.

Except for the last time. She'd returned with the determine to get all of this completed so she could...?

What?

Go home? 

Stay here?

She glanced at Rin, who was curled up in the odd strip of...something that Sesshoumaru always seemed to carry with him on his shoulder. It wasn't fur. At least, she didn't think so. She vaguely wondered if it was as soft as it looked. 

The little girl slept peacefully, content with knowing that the feared Demon Lord watched after her with a gentleness that Kagome had never seen a demon show a human. No, correction - Kilala was that was towards Sango. Shippo was that way towards her. And it was certainly why, according to Jaken's constant badgering and Miroku's observance, why Sesshoumaru seemed stronger, in his own right.

Not that he was not to begin with, but that was different.

And this was different.

He was stronger now, because of Rin. 

And while he did his best not to show it outwardly, he stayed close to her, resting against a large tree just within the limits of Miroku's protection barrier. Every so often, he seemed to reach forward and brush back Rin's hair when she whimpered in her sleep. There was no concern, no worry, no uncertainty that seemed to reveal itself on that porcelain mask of his.

Kagome smiled tiredly at that. 

And no sooner she did so, Sesshoumaru's amber gaze slid in her direction. She felt her breath caught in her throat.

Cerulean met gold and she her smile widened just briefly before she allowed herself to close her eyes. 

He would not hurt her and his secret was safe was safe with her. Gentleness may be a sign of weakness to demons, perhaps, but the two of them knew it was the absolute opposite. 

She exhaled again and shut her eyes. Sleep was returning; she felt it when she tried to open her eyes again. She enjoyed watching him. He was so beautiful. Deadly. Kind.  

But every moment time she tried to open her eyes again, it seemed to take longer and longer.

She wanted to fight it. She didn't want to fall asleep - not quite yet.

And briefly, just briefly, she felt someone brush their fingers against her forehead, lulling her to sleep.

Sleep. 

Sleep would be good, she thought tiredly as she let herself float back away. 

Lord Sesshoumaru of the Western Lands was a lot of things, but being weak and cruel was certainly not one of them. No matter what his half-brother said.

~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Hello my darlings. I apologize this piece is not as good as the first one (titled: Formidable) but I figured I should write something from Kagome's perspective. Please let me know what you think, my dears. I always appreciate feedback. ~~ Lady Wystaerya.