Subjugation by night flame miko

Chapter One: Oblivious

Subjugation

AN: Sadly I do not own anything to do with Inuyasha...except this storyline :D

Warning: There is some mention of rape later in the chapter.

Chapter One: Oblivious

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Kagome watched as Kikyo stepped into Inuyasha's embrace, his eyes looked down on her with a soft lovingness that had only been bestowed on Kagome a few times. Kikyo upturned her face and soon the two were kissing each other passionately, it was obvious that despite all of Kikyos' claims of hate and bitterness that she still loved Inuyasha... and that her love was returned.

Kagome felt her heart smothered under sadness, anger, bitterness and...betrayal. With all of her friends in the future calling Inuyasha her boyfriend she had come to associate that word with Inuyasha, and of course, she felt as possessive as any girlfriend would feel had they been actually going out, unfortunately she now felt hugely betrayed even though she had no right to.

Watching them from behind her tree Kagome tried to stop it but a silver trail of tears started to flow down her cheeks, she felt pathetic but made no attempt to wipe away the weakness, she just watched, unable to pull away. But the saltiness of her tears must have hit Inuyasha's nose because he suddenly stopped and looking up, stared into her cloudy blue eyes.

'...Kagome...' He trailed off, Kikyo turned in his embrace and when she saw Kagome her eyes showed genuine sadness, she understood the pain that Kagome was going through, and despite her attempts to get rid of the girl she could still feel sorry for her.

Kagome only smiled softly at Inuyasha as it finally hit her how impossible it would be to gain his love fully, his heart would always (at least partly) remain with Kikyo. Slowly walking into the clearing alight with the soft glow of the full moon, Inuyasha watched; his eyes wary, he didn't know how she would react, usually she would just blow up but on some occasions she would only cry with caring sad eyes, he preferred the times when she yelled and sat him, he could deal with that but not the guilt that always came with her tears.

'...I'm...sorry...' He whispered, Kikyo watched with understanding, she knew Inuyasha returned her feelings but that he also held something akin to love for her reincarnation, she turned attempting to leave but Inuyasha merely tightened his hold, noticeably, on her.

Kagome continued her walk forwards and when she was level with him she reached up to lightly caress his cheek, her lips moved into a beautiful but sad smile, her eyes soft and knowing, then lowering her hand she calmly pulled Kikyo out of his embrace and whispered softly 'Osuwari.' The command was so soft and unfeeling that it barely held any power at all, but Inuyasha let it drag him down, he could have stopped his decent, so weak it was, if he truly wished.

His face hit the ground with all the power as if he had of tripped, Kagome kneeled next to him and then she did something that shocked him; she reached out and slipped the rosary from around his neck, he watched numbly as she slipped it into a pocket in her jacket, she had only sat him so she could reach the rosary...

Kagome turned to Kikyo who watched with a kindness not many knew she still possessed, and then Kagome shocked Kikyo as well; for she stepped forwards and lightly hugged the priestess, Kikyo felt guilt slightly eat away at her but also thankfulness, this girl was so much more mature and forgiving than she often acted.

'Take care of him; I know you do not truly want to take him to hell.' And with Kikyo staring amazed at her, Kagome turned away, bestowed one more soft sad smile on Inuyashas' fallen form and then calmly walked into the trees, the shadows of the forest engulfing her.

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As Kagome walked through the darkness of the forest surrounding her she felt her heart struggling to beat, she had finally let go, she would come back and eventually everything would return to normal, but for now she simply needed to be alone. Her sadness ate away at her, her heart beating softly to the background music the forest created.

A shady light sparked through the darkness around her, Kagome let a small smile play across her lips. She had found this clearing a year ago, when Kikyo first kissed Inuyasha in front of her, she had fled that night, again searching for solitude, and had stumbled across this clearing, funny enough it was a full moon then as well. Every time after that that Kagome had been hurt emotionally, she would escape to this clearing; she now knew the path to it so well that she could find it even in darkness such as this, which is not a good thing, Kagome sighed, it only meant she had traversed this path too many times.

Walking into the clearing she saw what made her love this place. Right in the center, surrounded by lush green grass and a few wildflowers was a pond, and by one side of the pond is a large rock, its edge dipping into the water. It is the perfect shape to sit on and the very calmness this place exudes always helped her to control her leaping emotions.

See, Kagome had learnt a technique to control her emotions, she would imagine the pain in her heart (because it was almost always pain) becoming smaller, forming into a tight ball, she would breathe out the ball and then make it disappear, unfortunately by repressing her emotions they would often come back later to make her explode, that is why she would get so angry with Inuyasha, that and her fiery spirit; and that is why she would yell at him and sit him to oblivion, because whatever past hurt he had dealt to her would come into play in the argument.

Smiling almost happily Kagome walked over to the rock, sitting on it, she stared at the pond, the moonlight in the clearing making the water seem surreal, she could see right to the center of it, and the koi fish inside slimming lazily beneath its glassy surface. She had always enjoyed how the fish were called 'koi', or 'love' fish.

She was so lost in her thoughts and her slowly calming emotions, that she didn't notice the demonic presence until it was almost upon her. Turning she nearly fell off her rock when she spotted him almost right behind her, his silver hair glowing in the moonlight,

'Sesshoumaru.'

He watched her enter the clearing, she seemed almost in a daze as she walked over to the boulder near the water, she didn't even notice him, a mistake which he deemed would cost her her life.

He knew who she was, Inuyashas' bitch, the human girl who travelled with his half brother. Sesshoumaru almost could not believe his luck, his enemies' one weakness walked right to him, unarmed and unready to fight, and then deemed to ignore him, a slight to his honour, and everyone knew how important honour was to Sesshoumaru Taisho.

Standing he heard her slight gasp as she spun to face him, he smirked as her heartbeat increased and his whispered name floated to his sensitive ears. His powerful eyes noticed how the moonlight bathed her and he realized that if she wasn't human she would be beautiful.

Raising his hand he saw her step slightly away from the boulder, cracking his fingers he watched her, she had two choices;

One: stay and die

Two: run and die

He preferred her to run, the hunt was always exhilarating, and he knew he had time to waste as his damn half-brother was no where to be heard nor smelt.

'Please, do run, it would make this all the more enjoyable.' Her heart beat quickened even more and he saw her eyes widen, but to his surprise she did not bolt, as he expected, but instead reached into her jacket pocket, he immediately felt wary, maybe she did have a weapon? He saw her draw out a necklace and nearly scoffed, what did she hope to accomplish with that? Yet he was still wary, he knew that looks could be deceiving, yet he was not prepared for when she threw it into the air and began chanting to herself, her

hands forming a sign, and then the beads began to glow.

Kagome chanted the incantation to herself, Kaede had taught it to her just in case Inuyasha ever managed to remove the beads, she watched as Sesshoumaru frowned, finishing the incantation the beads suddenly split apart and shot at Sesshoumaru, he leaped back and left, trying to avoid the beads but they came together around his neck despite his attempts to avoid them. Once they stopped glowing she watched as he tried to pull them from around his neck, scowling slightly when they glowed and refused to be removed. Turning his gaze from the beads to her she shivered slightly as he glared at her, his eyes promised death.

'Wench, what have you done to me.' But instead of waiting for an answer his claws started to glow green and he leapt at her.

'Osuwari!' She yelled, yet instead of being pulled to the ground he simply stopped moving forward. His eyes narrowed further as the beads glowed, obviously trying to pull him down. 'Sit!' She yelled again, but he didn't budge, her fear increased.

'You tried to subdue me?' His voice was amused. 'You tried to subdue Sesshoumaru Taisho, Taiyoukai of the Western Lands?' She glared at him.

'Well that was my only option okay?! You were trying to kill me!' She yelled.

'I still am.' She gulped as his claws glowed green again, but this time he reached up and gripped the beads, his poison melting through them and destroying the subjugation that was holding him back.

Then he turned his eyes to her, they seemed to glow and once again the smirk that stated someone was going to die adorned his lips. She did then what any sane person did when faced by a demon that wanted her death, and was unarmed against him; she ran.

He watched as she turned and attempted to run, he had to give it to her, she was brave, she had tried to subdue him even though it was unlikely it would work.

Leaping after her he smirked when she tripped, only she would manage to trip when a dangerous dog demon was after her, he remembered how clumsy she was from previous battles. As he landed next to her she twisted onto her back and gazed at him with fear filled eyes, he was going to enjoy this. Slashing down at her he could already imagine his claws meeting soft flesh, he would kill her quickly, she had earned that for her attempt at freedom.

But his claws never came in contact, instead they skidded across slippery air that seemed to surround her, it was not a barrier she had put up, he could tell the difference. He had never seen anything of the like. Slashing harder he smirked when his claws came closer to her, her eyes widened further and her heart nearly beat itself out of her chest, stabbing with all his strength he felt the air barrier give way beneath him and his claws went through her, straight into her heart.

Pulling his hand out of her he smirked as she stared at him, lips parted, but his smirk disappeared as the flesh began to heal. He watched in wonder as her body healed itself, her eyes cleared slightly and soon she was breathing again, her heart beating a steady rhythm. She glared at him.

'Hey you tried to kill me!'

'No, I did kill you.' He watched her as she sat up again, without warning he slashed through her and again she healed.

'Would you quit that?! It feels weird.' Reaching towards her intent on strangling the life out of her, again his hand met that barrier of air; it was as if something did not wish her to die. Releasing his need to kill her instead he reached out to her, just to touch her, his hand met no resistance and soon his fingers touched her cheek, she flinched, her eyes wide and wary. He frowned, again he tried to strangle her, but his hand was pushed back by the air. What in Kamis' name was going on?

'Why can't you kill me?' Her voice was confused; he glanced at her, into her eyes.

'I do not know.' Standing from his crouched position he turned and began to walk away.

'Hey, where are you going?' She yelled at him, he turned, his face as blank as ever.

'Away from here.' He watched her as she looked at him, her eyes confused, her lips parted in wonder, 'you were not meant to die tonight, you are lucky.' With that he turned back and left, if she was not meant to die by his hand then so be it.

She watched him leave, his hair swaying slightly. He hadn't been able to kill her? For some reason he was unable to kill her, yes, she was really lucky. Looking around the clearing she smiled softly to herself, this place was still as beautiful as ever, and if there was going to be a place in the Sengoku Jidai that she managed to escape death, then this would be it.

Standing she walked out of the clearing, glancing back only once she left behind her troubles, she really loved this place.

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Three Weeks Later

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Kagome hadn't seen him since that day at the clearing. She was once again with her friends and they were travelling once more, trying to find the last few remaining jewel shards before Naraku.

As she and Sango walked, side by side, down a forest bridged road, she couldn't help smiling at the beauty of the day. Sango glanced at her, she wasn't over the fact that Kagome was so happy even though Kikyo had joined their group and was currently walking side by side with Inuyasha. She returned Sango's glance with an even wider smile, her accidental meeting with Sesshoumaru had chased all her bad emotions away from her, leaving her feeling more happy than usual. Considering he had killed her twice made her quite worried as to why she reacted that way.

As she got lost within her own world once again, she nearly walked into Inuyasha when he stopped abruptly, Miroku did walk into Sango, surreptitiously groping her, and soon he was on the ground seeing stars.

'What is it Inuyasha?' Kagome asked, worried. Kikyo already had an arrow out, staring ahead of her.

'Sesshoumaru.' All Inuyasha had to say, suddenly Miroku was standing, his staff in position, Sango had her Haraikotsu out and Kagome reached for an arrow. Stepping around Inuyasha, Kagome saw Sesshoumaru standing in the road ahead of them, and she was scared, very scared. His eyes were red and she could practically feel the bloodlust coming off of him, he was in a rage and he was there to kill. Inuyasha realised (for once) that he was actually in danger, drawing Tetsaiga; he stood with the sword before him, for once not yelling insults at his half brother.

Kagome stared into the blood red eyes, she couldn't tell why he was in a rage but she did know he was out to kill, and kill he would, right now he would probably take everyone out without a second thought, there was no way to stop him. But Kagome also knew that Sesshoumaru wouldn't want to do that, she knew he believed deeply in honour, and he never attacked before someone attacked him first, thinking about it, if she hadn't attempted to subdue him he probably wouldn't have attacked her. Sure he had goaded her into attacking, but 'legally' what he did was in 'self-defence'.

And so Kagome knew what she had to do. Before Inuyasha could attempt to attack his brother, she quickly put her arrow back in quiver, and staring into Sesshoumaru's eyes when he noticed the motion; she raised her hand to her lips, and let out a long piercing whistle. Inuyasha actually fell to his knees it hurt his ears that much, Sesshoumaru merely snarled and started toward her, his beast having taken over. Kagome turned even as she heard Miroku yell at her,

'Kagome don't run! It will only provoke Sesshoumaru! Kagome!'

As she started to run into the forest she wondered whether Sesshoumaru could kill her this time, immediately she felt slight fear; a snarl behind her let her know that Sesshoumaru smelt the fear. Realizing that feeling scared would provoke him further, she let her imagination picture every scary situation she could find herself in as she fled for her life, she could only hope that Sesshoumaru could not kill her, like last time. For some reason she was not truly scared of him and she had to keep imagining scary things to bring out her fear.

A blur of white to her right gave her a seconds warning before Sesshoumaru was on her, his eyes an even darker red than before. Tackling her he slashed her with his claws, like last time she went numb, for some reason not feeling the pain, either he still couldn't kill her or she could die painlessly. She watched through blurry eyes as Sesshoumaru ripped into her a few more times and then stood snarling, she felt her skin knit back together, her clothes practically in shreds. Rising to her feet, Sesshoumaru (who had looked away) turned back to her, his eyes slightly less red, but he was still angry, looks like he was going to need to kill her a few more times today, to release all his bloodlust. Holding back a sigh, she needed little urging to feel fear again, his eyes darkened and she spun on one foot and began running again, she heard some branches snap behind her, but she didn't turn, twisting on one foot she used a tree to swing round and go back the way she came, narrowly avoiding the blur that attacked her.

She used this technique a few more times before he finally caught her and, once again, ripped her to shreds, she was relieved when one of her arms reattached itself, for a minute she thought she had lost it. His eyes were even less red than before, she could almost see some gold. Smiling slightly he snarled at her, fear surged through her again, it is scary to continually be killed, especially by a demons' beast, despite the fact that she would come back.

Once again she fled, him close on her heels, but this time he played with her, leaping out at her from one direction, herding her this way and that. Finally he got bored and came in to kill her again, this time by throwing her into a cliff wall she had been cornered at. As her bones reformed and her blood pulled back into her she looked up into his eyes, they were completely free of red, he was watching her.

'Why did you do that?' He asked, his face blank.

'Do what.' She asked as she stood and stretched, it was nice that he wasn't killing her. She was really tired, being chased by a blood thirsty demon can do that to you.

'Let me release my blood lust. You had no guarantee of survival.' He seemed to be examining her, judging her every answer, so she gave him the truth.

'Well, you were out for blood anyway. Plus I had more a chance of survival than my friends, also I figured by running you would lose some bloodlust in the hunt.'

'It worked.' He stated. She looked at him and smiled.

'I know. Also I knew you probably wouldn't enjoy slaughtering worthless humans if they did not attack first.' He seemed slightly startled, though only his eyes showed it, and it was only because she had been studying his eyes when he killed her, that she caught it.

'Why would you care what I do or do not enjoy.' That got her confused, why did she care?

'I have no idea. I just figured I could help, so I did.' Shrugging she began walking back to her friends, she could feel his stare in her back.

'I do not need any humans help.' She stopped then and turned to smile at him.

'You know, a thank you wouldn't kill you, I mean I just let you kill me 3 times so you wouldn't go around slaughtering hapless passer-by's.' She didn't expect an answer, and so she nearly fell when she heard what he said next,

'Thank you. I do not think you truly understand what you just prevented.' Turning she folded her arms and looked at him, smiling slightly.

'It's a pleasure, but what did I prevent? You didn't seem too angry.' She shivered when he stalked up to her, he reached for her but when his hand met no resistance she knew he wasn't going to kill her for her questions, his fingers gripped her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes,

'The last time I fell into a rage like that I annihilated two large human settlements, every man, woman, and child was killed, none survived.' Kagome gasped. He wiped out two human villages because he got into a rage like this one? But why did he only have to kill her 3 times to end the rage this time? Surely he would have had to kill her many more times than that.

'But if it took so many lives last time to satisfy your rage, why did you only have to kill me 3 times this time?' He looked away, before returning his intense gaze to her eyes, seeming to read her like a book.

'You did everything right. You felt fear, even though I could tell that some of the fear was forced, my beast could only smell it and wanted more, you ran in an attempt to escape, and when I caught you the second and third time, you fought me, all of this in addition to the hunting and me trying to regain control of my beast, meant that three times was enough. The human villagers...well I could not regain control fast enough, I was young and it was the first time I felt a rage so large, my beast revelled in the pain it caused, making it all the harder to regain control.' His eyes showed pain, despite the fact he hates humans Kagome knew he did not believe in killing unconditionally.

'I'm sorry.' She felt pain at what he had to go through, imagine having a being inside you that could take over and make you destroy all those lives for no more reason than it was angry.

'Do not be, it was not your fault.' He released her, his hand going back to his side.

'But why were you so angry?' He stared at her, deeming whether to answer her question or not. Apparently she was worthy because he began to speak again,

'Some human bandits captured Rin from Jaken, killing Jaken and Ah Un in the process. I came back and brought them to life, when I found Rin, she had been beaten and raped, then left for dead. I found the bandits and destroyed them but when I left I could feel myself loosing control, so I came to my damn half-brother in the hopes a fight with him would end the rage before any unnecessary deaths occurred.' Kagome had a hand covering her mouth in an attempt to hold back the gasp from escaping her, but she was unable to stop the tears, Sesshoumaru stared at her, just noticing the tears, reaching up he wiped one away. 'Why do you cry human?' A sob escaped her.

'Poor Rin! Is she okay? Can I see her?' she asked the last without thinking, and again Sesshoumaru seemed startled by her. Then he almost seemed thoughtful before his face closed to her.

'Perhaps another woman's company would be best for her.' Before anything more could be said he reached out with his only arm, snagged her by the waist and then his yokai cloud was forming under them. Gasping in fear she grabbed his shirt and pushed her face into his chest, scared to look down.

'Woman, you do not fear this Sesshoumaru when he is after you in a bloodlust and yet you fear this?' There was definite amusement in this. He found this funny! Glaring up at him he watched her from the corner of his eye.

'Yeah! Well whilst you will not die from such a high fall I will! There is nothing funny about this! And my name is Kagome! Ka-go-me! Not woman, human, wench, bitch or any other highly imaginative names you could come up with!' Breathing hard she continued to glare at him.

'Very well Kagome. You do not have to fear for I will not let you fall.' Taken slightly aback she sighed before looking out, over her initial bought of fear an audible gasp of happiness reached his ears.

'It's beautiful.' She released the death grip she had on his shirt and instead leaned slightly outwards to see over the edge of the cloud. Sesshoumaru could only wonder at how easily her fears were conquered. Spotting the place where his entourage was encamped he lowered the cloud through the trees, Kagome reached out and snagged a leaf as they passed a branch, something Rin would do; Sesshoumaru thought absently. Once they touched down, Kagome immediately took a few wobbly steps forward before gaining her balance.

'Wow.' Was all she said before doing a little spin, seeing Sesshoumaru watching she blushed and then glared, 'What?' He merely gave her a look before turning his attention to something else.

'Rin is over there. Treat her well, miko.' He stated.

'Or what, you'll kill me?' She asked grinning, he just glared at her. Turning she went in the direction Sesshoumaru had looked. Hearing Jakens' voice ahead of her she wondered why Sesshoumaru hadn't landed directly in the clearing with them, but soon put such thoughts out of her mind when she saw Rin.

The poor girl was curled into a foetal position, Jaken sitting by a fire kept throwing worried glances in her direction. It was obvious Rin had been treated badly, even from this distance bruises could be seen, and by the looks of it she hadn't been washed yet, also whilst the few times Kagome had seen her, she had been a happily chatting young girl, now she silently stared into the flames, not moving an inch.

Stepping into the clearing Jaken jumped up and began threatening her until Sesshoumaru appeared behind her and told him to shut up. Walking over to Rin she pushed some of her bangs out of her Rins' eyes.

'Hello Rin. I'm here to help you out a bit, okay?' Rin stared at her blankly, it scared Kagome, and so Kagome did what she did best, she comforted. Scooping Rin up she turned to Sesshoumaru, Rin held carefully in her arms. 'I'm going to wash her up.' With that she turned in the direction of a stream she had seen through some trees.

Reaching the stream she set Rin on her feet and slipped off Rins' tattered kimono, she had on no underclothes. Rin was only 11-12 years old, how could anyone do that to one so young? Telling Rin to wait a second as Rin stared blindly up at the stars, Kagome slipped off her own clothes, Rin would only feel vulnerably being the only one naked, especially after what she went through.

With Rins clothes off it was painful to see all the bruises she had acquired from her ordeal. Kagome again picked her up and walked with her into the stream, placing her carefully into the slightly cold water, it being summer meant everything was not too cold.

Then she began to scrub Rin down, getting the dirt and...other stuff off of Rin, she couldn't believe Jaken hadn't washed her down, she had read that rape victims often feel very dirty after wards and whilst a bath wouldn't have helped much it was better than nothing. Soon Rin began helping, focusing on the places she was touched most, tears flowing down her hurt face. It was a pitiful sight and had Kagomes' heart aching for the child, soon Kagomes' maternal instincts were in full swing, as she helped Rin wash, scrubbing her raw. Kagome even washed Rins hair, dunking her under the water and rinsing it out as best as possible.

Then she took Rin out and got to work healing her, Kaede had taught her many uses of her miko abilities over the years and one of them was healing, in fact she had asked priestesses from every village that Inuyasha dragged her to, to teach her how to heal, as it seemed to be the only thing she was good at, she was very good at it now and small things such as the bruises and cuts Rin had received were easy to heal, but that did not make it any easier emotionally as each bruise told a different story, stories she had never wanted to hear.

Once she was done Rin looked good as new, except for the deadness in her eyes, but already that was starting to fade slightly. Kagome hadn't said anything the whole time, she didn't need too, what Rin need right now was someone to comfort her, and that was what Kagome was there for. And so, wordlessly, she wrapped Rin in a motherly hug, trying to protect her from a world Rin had already seen too much of. At first Rin did nothing, but then she hugged back and heart wrenching sobs were torn from here small frame.

'Why do bandits always hurt Rin? Why did bandits take Rins parents? Why did Sesshoumaru-sama not save Rin? Why...why...why...' She sobbed into Kagomes shoulder, her tears mingling with the water still running down both of them.

'Bandits are bad Rin, they are bad bad people. They only like to hurt others. Sesshoumaru-sama loves you very much Rin, when he found you gone he was very angry, never think that he did not arrive in time Rin, be glad that he came for you, be glad that he is here for you now. He would risk his life for you Rin.' Rin looked at her with hope filled eyes,

'Really? Does Sesshoumaru-sama love Rin as much as Rin loves Sesshoumaru-sama?' Kagome prayed that he did, he had better after what this girl went through.

'Yes Rin, he loves you very much, he just has trouble showing it sometimes.' Kagome smiled down at her and Rin grinned shakily back, but it was a start.

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AN: I'm sorry for what I had happen to Rin, I just couldn't think of much that would send Sesshoumaru into a complete rage. Sorry again and thanks for reading.