The Flower Girl Chapter 22

Resentment

Disclaimer:  I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

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Sesshoumaru flicked Bakusaiga to get the blood off the blade, then sheathed his sword.  In an instant, he was standing next to Kagome, and she looked up at him with wide-eyed wonder.

'Boy, when he said he would protect me, he really meant it.  I didn't even get a scratch!'

"You were not injured, miko?"  His voice was calm, soothing, as though nothing very important had just happened - and Kagome could do little more than shake her head at him, her voice gone for several long moments.

Finally, she managed to squeak out,  "I'm fine, Sesshoumaru-sama, not a scratch on me, I swear!"  She smiled up at him, then, and he had to fight the urge to smile back.  With her eyes all wide and filled with awe, and her bright smile, she looked very much like Rin.

He nodded at her.  "It is good, then."  He looked around at their companions, taking note of injuries, and was pleased to find none.  

And then his gaze clashed with Inuyasha's.

There was hatred there, jealousy - and resentment.  He did not like the fact that it had been his brother that had protected Kagome and not him.  

Since Inuyasha had just returned earlier that day, he had not spoken to him to inform the whelp of the way things now stood with the group.  That would have to be remedied soon.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?"  

He looked down at the miko, who still stood at his side, and raised a questioning brow.

"Are... you okay?  You're not hurt or anything, are you?"  She had a deep note of worry in her voice, and he shook his head at her.

"I am fine, little miko, do not be concerned."

She blinked up at him, then smiled again.  "Of course I'm concerned!  I'll always be concerned, but I'm glad you're okay,"  she finished shyly, and then looked away.  "Is everyone else alright?"

Inuyasha couldn't contain his jealousy at that, and burst out bitterly,  "What do you care?  As long as Lord icicle's okay, who cares about the rest of us, ne?"  He turned away before he could see the scowl she shot him.

"Do not presume to know her mind, half-breed.  To continue doing so will only push her further away."

At that, the entire clearing fell silent, and everyone stared at the daiyoukai, and then at Inuyasha.  

"Shut up, Sesshoumaru!  What the heck do you know?  You don't know anything about me or Kagome!"  Inuyasha was almost rabidly angry by now, all the festering, negative emotions inside him bursting outwards.

Kagome's quiet voice broke through the haze in his mind faster than anything else could have, slamming into him with all the force of a tidal wave - shocking him out of his anger with lethal effectiveness.

"He knows me better than you do, Inuyasha - and I know that I can trust him to keep his word.  He has promised to protect me, since you obviously couldn't - not when it counted.  I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I can trust him to do as he said he would."  

Inuyasha's eyes were wide, and somehow defenseless, every word she spoke hitting something deep inside him.  He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, she continued.

"I couldn't say the same for you, could I?"  she asked, sadly.  She shook her head, looking away from him.  "I died, Inuyasha,"  her voice a mere whisper, remembered pain clear within it,  "because of Kikyou - and you didn't even notice, let alone do anything about it.  And then you tried to attack your brother - because he saved my life.  That kind of says it all, don't you think?"

Inuyasha was shaking by now, guilt, fear, and anger twining inside him until he couldn't even separate them, and he choked out,  "I didn't mean...!"  He stepped forward, a pleading look in his eyes.  "Can't you forgive me, just one more time, Kagome - trust me to protect you again?"

She sighed, then, and looked back at him, a pained light in her eye as she took in his slumped, pleading posture.  She glanced for a moment at Sesshoumaru, who was standing behind her quietly, not saying anything, just giving her silent support, and then she looked back up at Inuyasha.

"I'll forgive you sooner or later, Inuyasha, although right now, it's still too raw... but I will never forget.  And I will never trust you to protect me with your whole heart - not again.  I did it once, and it got me killed.  Sesshoumaru is my protector now... and it will stay that way."

Inuyasha choked, wanting to scream, to yell, to make her take him back, but he couldn't speak, he could barely even breathe as the words she'd just spoken spun through his mind and his broken heart.

Kagome moved towards him, and standing in front of him, ran her eyes over his features, tracing them all with her gaze, then met his.  Sadness pouring from her, she said,  "It wouldn't really be fair to me, Inuyasha - because you wouldn't really be protecting me, Kagome... you'd only be protecting the part of me that was once Kikyou."  

She eyed his expression, then finished,  "Resent me if you must for speaking to you like this, but it needed to be said."  

With that, she turned away from him and walked off, wanting to be alone for a little while - leaving a silent group of people behind her.

As she walked away, she never noticed the little flowers that the breeze of her passage ruffled - but Rin did.

Petunia.

Resentment.  

Sesshoumaru glanced at his brother, and then the rest of the group.  "Come.  We leave."  With that, he followed after Kagome.

'Fool.  He is just now beginning to understand what he has lost.'

'He will resent me even more when he realizes the full extent of that loss...'

'Because he does not...'

'Yet.'