The Guise of Apathy by ceramicprincess

For Amusement

The Guise of Apathy

By: Rachel Elizabeth

--For Amusement--

Sesshoumaru looked at Jaken and with his stoic face announced to him, "Naraku thought that I, Sesshoumaru, for the sake of only a single human girl, would do exactly as he said, huh?"

Jaken looked at his Lord, unsure of what to say, because he would have bet his money on Sesshoumaru leaving and getting the girl because his pride had been wounded. However, Sesshoumaru just continued on into the fog that was the night. Not looking back once to acknowledge that Jaken was there or to note the loss of the little girl.

"I can feel it!" Kagome whispered, relieved that after days of traveling they were finally reaching the kehai of the jewel shard.

Inu Yasha stopped dead in his tracks, aware that not only was it the presence of the jewel shard, but of Kohaku. He turned back to look at Sango who happened to be immersed in hitting Miroku over the head because of his recent transgressions. Sango was muttering something along the lines of "That monk will never learn".

Sango felt Inu Yasha's eyes before actually seeing them on her, and she looked up, aware of his expression. She frowned at the hanyou, unsure of what could cause such pain to cross his features, if only for a brief minute. When she looked up from Inu Yasha she realized why they had stopped so suddenly and why he was reluctant to move forward.

When Kagome saw Kohaku in the clearing of the meadow, she understood why Inu Yasha had stopped so quickly and had looked back. It wasn't that he didn't want to take the jewel piece, but that the owner of that particular piece was someone they hadn't wanted to deal with quite yet.

Before anyone could move an inch, a little girl appeared out of the clearing, following Kohaku as happily as she could be. Kagome thought that she was the prettiest little girl she had ever seen. The adorable little girl had the softest brown eyes that shone with her childish innocence and brown hair that came barely past her shoulders. Abruptly, Kohaku turned around and swung his sword. Kagome gasped and raced towards the clearing, heedless of Inu Yasha's warnings.

"You stupid girl! You're going to get killed!" he yelled at her, running after the impulsive girl as he had always done before.

Kagome started yelling at Kohaku, unaware that he could hear nothing except the persistent voice in his head that told him to kill the little girl. Thankfully, the little girl was avoiding the swings as best she could, but it was plainly obvious that she was no match for Kohaku in the state that he was in.

Before thinking of the consequences, Kagome swooped up the little girl in her arms just as Kohaku went to swing the sword full force at her. Inu Yasha barely managed to jump in front of Kagome as the sword sliced at his left arm. Inu Yasha raised his eyebrow at Kohaku and taunted, "Is that the best you can do? You're murdering children now?"

Kohaku said nothing. The look in his eyes was ethereal, not even human anymore. As if he was being commanded by something deep within his self, Kohaku briefly looked apathetically over at the girl. He wasn't even interested in her in the least, he had come to do as he was told and instead had been interrupted by a mere half-ling. A slight rustle behind him reminded Kohaku that he was to leave whether he finished the job or not; he doubted that Naraku would become overly mad about a child not being destroyed. Without sparing so much as a glance towards his sister, he headed towards Kagura.

Sango watched in despair as her brother flew off with Kagura on a feather. She didn't have any words for what she was feeling. Again, she had been so close to him, yet he was, as usual, so distant from her in mind and body this time.

Kagome looked at the small little girl in her arms, she was giggling like mad as though the whole thing had just been a game that she had been playing. Kagome smiled at the girl, her giggling infectious to Inu Yasha and the group. "Rin misses Sesshoumaru-sama."

Kagome froze. Obviously she hadn't heard the little girl right or she was delusional, but Inu Yasha had stopped to stare blankly at the little girl, too. That was a good sign that at least Kagome wasn't hearing things. "Rin misses Sesshoumaru-sama," she declared more forcefully. Kagome wasn't even sure how to respond to a statement like that, how was it possible that Sesshoumaru was protecting a little girl? And she was a human child at that.

Kagome snuggled the girl more tightly to her chest and asked, "You travel with Sesshoumaru?"

"Sesshoumaru-sama, Sesshoumaru-sama. He loves Rin." Rin repeated his name as though to berate Kagome for not giving him the correct honorifics.

Sango looked at Inu Yasha and told him, "We---we can't keep her now! If Sesshoumaru finds out we have her . . ." she let her opinion fade into the wind, not wanting to say that they had to leave the girl behind somewhere.

Kagome looked at Sango as though she had grown two heads and said, "Rin is just a child! We can't just leave her somewhere."

"Kagome-chan is right. Though she may be a companion of Sesshoumaru's we can't leave her out here, or at a village," Miroku muttered, placing the sleeping kitsune on top of Kirara and getting off to inspect the child.

Rin looked at the adults with a smile playing across her lips. Kagome backed away from the group and angrily told them, "This child is coming with us!"

Inu Yasha didn't argue for once. He didn't necessarily like the idea of another person being added to their group, but it looked as though for now he didn't have a choice without upsetting Kagome. He was tired, hungry and had been walking too damn long to listen to any more complaints.

They walked in peaceful silence, with Kagome and Rin on Inu Yasha's back and Rin sleeping peacefully in Kagome's arms. Once Shippou had awoken and become agitated that someone had taken his place, but Inu Yasha had only growled at him and he had hung on to Kirara's back more firmly. However much he didn't like being usurped, he also didn't feel like messing with Inu Yasha as he was and knew that Kagome wouldn't be on his side this time.

When they reached Kaede's village, Kagome carefully got down from Inu Yasha's back and headed towards Kaede's hut to get some well-deserved sleep with the little girl snug at her side. Shippou watched angrily as his surrogate mother and that little pipsqueak of a girl went into Kaede's cabin to rest. Without thinking of the consequences, he bounded towards the cabin and walked right in, but instead of being rebuffed as he had thought, Kagome just smiled in her sleep and held her arms out to him, too.

Rin was completely in a sandwich and she liked it, in her sleep she snuggled more firmly against Kagome and dragged the little boy with her. She liked the feeling of protection that Kagome had given her. The only other person that had given protection unconditionally was Sesshoumaru-sama and thinking of him brought tears to her eyes. She wanted to stay with Kagome-chan, but she loved her Sesshoumaru-sama. She had gotten herself into a fine mess, as Jaken-sama would say.

"Naraku, you realize--at least--don't you, that I haven't come to save Rin," Sesshoumaru told Naraku who was sitting in front of him, completely oblivious to how easy it would be for Sesshoumaru to kill him.

Naraku looked at the impassive Sesshoumaru and nodded, "I know. The fact that you didn't come to save the girl or that you won't kill Inu Yasha when asked made it clear that you had come to kill I, Naraku." Naraku briefly chuckled, as Sesshoumaru stood motionless, "However, the girl is gone."

Sesshoumaru looked at Naraku coldly, unimpressed and unbelieving that Naraku would be stupid enough to let the girl go. However, Sesshoumaru was done with Naraku's plotting and games that he insisted on playing. Cracking his knuckles, Sesshoumaru swiped at the baboon pelt and watched as scrap youkai flowed from Naraku's head.

Without sparing a glance back, Sesshoumaru turned to leave, but Naraku had caught onto his leg and attached himself with one of his tentacles. Sesshoumaru looked down impassively and swiped at the tentacle. He had had enough of playing and announced to Naraku, "Naraku . . . a mere low grade youkai like you . . . won't even be able to lay a finger upon I, Sesshoumaru." With that, he turned and walked out of Naraku's castle, bored by the whole event and intent on finding Rin's location.

Sesshoumaru walked back to where he had left Jaken and looked far ahead into the forest. He wasn't certain that Naraku had been telling the truth about the whereabouts of Rin, however Sesshoumaru did have a sneaking suspicion that something wasn't as Naraku had planned it to be. Sesshoumaru looked at his servant whom had started off on his tirade of the needy Rin and how she wasn't worth their time or effort.

Instead of listening to his ramblings Sesshoumaru grabbed the staff and silently struck him on the forehead, breathing in the night air. What he hadn't smelled before however was the smell of his brother and his wench and some other faintly recognizable scent to be Rin.

"So, my dear brother has Rin." Jaken stopped talking immediately and blinked, rapidly, several times to make sure he had heard his Lord right.

Instead of waiting around any longer to fetch the child, Sesshoumaru grabbed Jaken by the head and carried him off on his cloud towards Inu Yasha and his wench. His brother would pay dearly for setting up this scheme. He didn't care where the girl ended up being, but if this was some elaborate ploy started by Inu Yasha . . . it was time for him to die.

When they landed near Inu Yasha's village Sesshoumaru looked at his pleading servant in his hand. "Milord, milord. Rin is but a troublesome--"

Sesshoumaru looked at him coldly and stated calmly, "I, Sesshoumaru, am not here for the girl." With that being said, Jaken relaxed and felt more confident than he had.

Sesshoumaru commanded Jaken silently to stay where he was and wait for his return with the Tetsusaiga. When Sesshoumaru got to the outskirts of the village he snorted, indelicately, and mocked his brother's weakness in not guarding his village better. Any type of bandits or demons could have entered unbeknownst to the mutt. Sesshoumaru took another breath of air and, clearly enough; it was the girl, Rin's, scent. However, mingled with her scent was the scent of Inu Yasha's wench. Sesshoumaru didn't like the thought that that wench had so completely disrupted Rin's scent with her own as though she had become attached to the child.

He wasn't going to allow anyone to have that child to do as they pleased with her. Without realizing what his intentions were, he strode towards the hut that had Rin's scent in it. As he approached the door, he became even more conscious of the sleeping children inside and of Inu Yasha's human wench. Stepping inside, he eyed the human casually, angry that she could sleep so close to the child without inhibitions. Sesshoumaru realized, instantly, the mistake he had made in entering the hut with a sleeping Rin. He knew how light of a sleeper she could be and the rustling of the door had awoken her to groggily look at the door.

When Rin saw him, she carefully got out of Kagome's arms and went bounding towards Sesshoumaru. As he turned to leave with Rin on his arm, he watched silently as she turned her head to look at Inu Yasha's wench. He could see the regret written plainly on her face as though she had lost a surrogate mother. Sesshoumaru contemplated this scene, denying the fact that it would be so easy to just take Inu Yasha's wench and make Rin happy. He needed a human wench and that disgusted him more than he could possibly put into words. However, the thought was still there of how easy it would be to just take her for Rin.

Rin saw the cold look slowly soften from Sesshoumaru's face and she took her chance at her pleading, "Sesshoumaru-sama, wouldn't Kagome-chan take good care of Rin at home? Rin sure likes Kagome-chan a whole bunch." Sesshoumaru looked at her again, his stoic face still in place and still unreadable as ever.

"I, Sesshoumaru, think this is an interesting situation that you have gotten yourself into, Rin. Inu Yasha's wench is but a mere human, child, and can not help you more than what you have." With that statement firmly in place, he stepped outside the hut and slowly started walking back towards Jaken.

Rin stopped him in his tracks with her next words, "Rin thinks Kagome-chan would be an acceptable human." The little girl clearly didn't understand that she, too, was human, but Sesshoumaru had not the patience to inform her that her beliefs were off, as usual. "Rin thinks that Sesshoumaru-sama needs Kagome-chan."

Sesshoumaru glared at the insolent girl for her impertinent statement. "I, Sesshoumaru, do not need any human. You dare much, Rin." Instead of being intimated in the least by his glare and his statement, Rin just sighed audibly and started humming to herself.

Sesshoumaru had stopped walking and had turned around to look at the hut in the distance. It would be disgustingly easy to taken the wench as she slept and her little kitsune, too. Sesshoumaru had come for the Tetsusaiga and instead was contemplating taking the human wench with him instead. It was not because he wanted the Tetsusaiga and he thought that Inu Yasha would trade it for her life, nor because he wanted Inu Yasha to follow her scent and come to Sesshoumaru's castle so that he could kill him, but simply because Rin had grown attached to the girl in but a few hours. He turned back towards the cabin and Rin squealed in welcome delight at knowing that she was getting her way.

"I, Sesshoumaru, have found it necessary to take the wench with us." When he entered the cabin again, he was startled briefly to find that Inu Yasha's wench was sitting upright and searching around the hut for something. When she finally had the decency to look up and acknowledge his presence her eyes became round circles and she quickly threw a hand across her mouth, clearly startled to find him there.

Instead of waiting for her to say something inane or ramble on about nothing, Sesshoumaru set Rin down by his feet and grabbed Kagome under her arms with his arm and watched as she frantically tried to grab the sleeping kitsune, but with no such luck. Kagome was just about to say something when Sesshoumaru stopped and threw her over his shoulders like a pack of potatoes and menacingly told her, "If you dare to speak, human . . ." He let his sentence fade into the wind, knowing that her fear of him would silence her. With that and a nod at Rin, the three quietly walked out of the village.

Hysterically, Kagome started pounding Sesshoumaru's shoulders, realizing that if she voiced her opinions it would be far worse than she could imagine. When they were safely out of the village, Kagome told Sesshoumaru coldly, "If you're expecting Inu Yasha to trade the Tetsusaiga, you're going to be sadly mistaken." Sesshoumaru didn't even spare a second's thought over her words as he slowly took the green scarf from around her neck and tied it in her mouth.

"I, Sesshoumaru, have no need to hear your ramblings tonight." And with those accursed words, the three companions and their captive took flight into the luminous night.

Kagome was cold, achy and tired of hanging onto Sesshoumaru for dear life, while Rin looked on with amusement deep in her gaze. Kagome realized dejectedly that befriending that girl had probably gotten her into this mess to begin with. She couldn't imagine Rin asking for something and Sesshoumaru not being arrogant enough to think that he could get her whatever she desired. Kagome sighed and Rin looked at her and giggled, thinking that Kagome thought this as fun as she did.

When the four reached what could only be considered a castle on top of the most beautiful hilltop Kagome had ever seen, Sesshoumaru set Kagome down on the ground none too gently and only looked at her. In those eyes she read everything she needed to know. Follow him or die.

It was as simple as that. Sesshoumaru wasn't one to play games with anyone and nor did he expect Kagome to feign girly indignities. He didn't credit her for much, but she wasn't a liar and nor would she become one with him.

He was the great Lord of the Western lands and she was now in his territory.