Jaken mumbled as he waddled through the forest, holding not the staff of two heads, but another, lesser known staff that he used to wield when he lead an army of his own kind. He had retained the staff for sentimental reasons, not really thinking that Sesshomaru would actually find a use for it.
But here he was, the staff of sleep as it was known, in his hands. It had a single head, the head of a woman, that when activated, released a soothing sound combined with a sleeping powder that quickly put anyone, human, hanyou, or demon alike to asleep, aside from those strongest who could resist the powder effects, Sesshomaru being among those.
He reached the target area just as the sun was beginning to rise in the east, casting shadows of the trees into the clearing. A lone well was sitting in the middle of it, along with Sesshomaru's half brother, Inuyasha. The hanyou was sleeping, fidgeting occasionally as he dreamed. Jaken sighed, then walked up to the hanyou, before activating the staff, alluring Inuyasha into a deeper slumber.
He had to wait for another half an hour before the magic of the well activated, and the scent of the hanyou's miko wafted into his nose. Her call for his assist in getting out of the well was heard, followed by waiting, then the sound of her using the roots to climb out of the well, along with her mutterings of what would happen if she found him with the dead priestess, Kikyo, again.
Jaken waited until she got to the top before again activating the staff in her face, causing her to fall asleep immediatly. He grabbed the upper part of her shirt before she could fall to the bottom of the well, and with a strength he didn't know about having, managed to pull her up and out of the well, lying her on the grass.
With a quiet whistle from him acting as signal, Ah-Un appeared out of the forest and into the clearing. Again, using his arms, he managed to hoist the knocked out miko onto the dragon, and seated himself next to her on the dragon's mount. With a pat on it's hide from the staff, the dragon stirred into flight and headed away from the well, towards a deeper portion of the forest.
Looking down at the miko, Jaken could feel nothing but pity where he normally would have despised the human. He felt that very few people actually deserved what his master was about to do to this poor human.
* * *
Kagome awoke with a groan. She tried to rub her face, but couldn't when she found her hands had been bound above her head. Blinking slowly to clear her head, she glanced up to see her arms tied with ropes to tree branches far above her head. Glancing down, a blush came to her face as she saw her shirt and bra were missing, but at least her skirt and shoes were still on.
The crunching of a twig nearby caught her attention, and she looked to see Jaken standing about ten feet away from her, holding her missing clothes in his hands. He looked at her not with lust however, but something that was more akin to pity.
"Human, miko of Inuyasha named Kagome, you have been brought here today to answer for crimes comitted against my master, Sesshomaru. In a recent battle, Inuyasha had, with his sword, almost killed Sesshomaru's ward, Rin, while in a pitched battle against the vile hanyou, Naraku," began Jaken, speaking in a tone of voice Kagome found similar to court tv that her grandpa liked to watch sometimes.
As the little imp spoke, she eyed her surroundings, finally glancing backwards to see Sesshomaru standing there, staying perfectly still, his eyes fixed to her back, cold and almost lifeless looking, causing her to shudder. She remembered the battle in which the imp spoke of. A demon puppet of Naraku had made a suprise attack on the group. At the time Inuyasha and Sesshomaru had been fighting, and the puppet had attacked the bystanders of the group while the two brothers were engaged in combat.
Inuyasha had broken off the battle and used the wind scar on the puppet, which had attempted to use Rin as a human shield with a tentacle. Kagome's arrow had broken the tentacle in time, dropping the child to the ground as the wind scar rippled by overhead, obliterating the puppet. But she remembered that Rin had been scared, possibly scarred, by the close call, as she would not stop crying into Sesshomaru's arms as he and his entourage had departed with a glare to Inuyasha.
The words of the kappa brought her back to his attention.
"Therefore, as a result of these actions, Inuyasha is to be punished by way of putting his own ward through similar pain and punishment. That would be you, Kagome. You are hereby sentenced to ten lashings, to be administered by my master, Sesshomaru, starting right now," stated Jaken, his eyes lowering, as he did not want to watch what would happen next.
"What do you mean, lash..AAAAA!" yelled Kagome as the burning hotness of Sesshomaru's poision whip seared across her back, a small spray of blood and the smell of burnt flesh coming to Sesshomaru's eyes and nose.
Nine more times he lashed her with the whip, in patterns going upwards, diagonally, left, and right, leaving ten foot long lashes of scorched and bruised, bleeding skin on her back.
Yet, when he was finished, he felt neither resolve nor satisfaction.
Instead, he felt...guilty.
'Guilt, this Sesshomaru? Ridicolous.' he thought with a snort.
Yet, he did feel it, and something new, something that sounded like what the humans called...Remorse?
Remorse for his actions? Again, ridicolous.
Kagome could feel the guilt and remorse radiating off of him, as her miko powers had been driven to new heights with the pain that she was feeling. Tears were running down her face, and her lip was quivering as the heat of his assault radiated through her body. It was painful enough to breathe, let alone to continue screaming.
Sesshomaru walked around her, and they came face to face.
His eyes widened, and then narrowed into dangerous slits. He had expected to see her eyes wide with pain and fear, and they were somewhat wide, but the only thing he saw in them was pity, pity for him.
He considered continuing the punishment by backhanding her across the face, but he found that he couldn't bring himself to do so. Instead, with a flick of his claws, he cut through her bindings, allowing the miko to fall into the demon's arm. He held her close to him, and felt her weak heartbeat and the pain radiating through her body.
He gently laid her down on the ground, and stared at her bruised and bleeding back. Opening his mouth, he allowed his tongue to probe her wounds, removing lingering traces of his poision and using his saliva to help heal her wounds.
However, nasty whelps would remain for quite sometime, so the half breed would still learn his lesson.
He allowed his gaze to linger over her body, before he regained his footing. His nose could detect the scent of the now awake and approaching half breed, along with the monk, tajiya, and demon cat. Jaken and Ah-Un had already left, and so laying her clothes over her back, he too departed into the forest.
* * *
Kagome lay there on the forest floor, whimpering softly at what had transpired earlier this morning. She had been the one to save Rin from the wind scar, yet she was the one that Sesshomaru had chosen to punish. She would have hated him almost as much as Naraku for doing so, if for not what had occured after that.
With guilt and remorse, he had helped to heal the wounds that he himself had inflicted upon her, even after he saw the pitying look in her eyes, which she could tell had angered him to no small degree.
The familiar red sight of Inuyasha's red haori came into her sight, and she lifted her head as he and the others arrived into the clearing. He wrinkled his nose at the smell of Sesshomaru, Jaken, the Dragon, along with Kagome's blood and tears. He knelt down next to her and removed the shirt and bra that was lying on her back.
Even from several kilometers distant, Sesshomaru could hear the echo of Inuyasha's yell of hate and anger, his name being called through the forest.
The End