Leave the Pieces (song one shot) by inumaru_rapture

One-shot

Kagome huffed. The man she though held her heart just broke it again, tossing her aside like a hunk of week-old meat when that....that corpse came by. Kagome was steamed, pissed, angry enough to march angrily into the forest away from the safety of camp. She was, of course, not dumb enough to leave her bow behind. In fact, she left both her bow and arrows behind, another sign of her lack of judgment when it came to dealing with the emotions the hanyou put her through.

She was done letting him make her cry. Her inner self pulled duct tape out of its storage and started to piece together her shattered heart. One thing that would allow for the process to quicken was a bath. A nice, hot, seep in the mineral waters of a hot spring... and Kagome knew just where to find one.

Ignorant to the glowing orifices glued to her form, she shrugged off her clothing. She was not wearing her sailor's uniform during this particular season. Frost had begun to show up on the grass in the morning, so she had switched her outfit to thick blue jeans that hugged her hips and thighs, but flared from the knee down, and two shirts; one white long sleeved shirt that fell over her hands to her knuckles, but held a hole for her thumb, and a black vest/hoodie with a red rose on the bottom left hand side. Under her jeans, she wore her thick knee high stockings. All of these clothes were neatly folded once she was in the water. She placed them close by, wondering briefly how she was going to dry...

She was soaking in the water, both elbows resting slightly behind her on a very convenient rock shelf, when a small leak of youkai jyaki came into her senses.

She opened her eyes, not wanting to deal with anyone at the moment, and saw Sesshoumaru standing before the hot spring. She couldn't help the shock that stabbed at her, nor the quick retreat of her arms to shield her body. She knew they had been in Sesshoumaru's land for a while already, and it was only a matter of time before crossing with him, but she was shocked at the predicament. A strange look crossed his eye, as if he regretted the loss of her body to his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I had not realized you... the hot spring... I'll go." She heard herself stammer out a very intelligent response to his arrival. Amusement trailed through his eyes, staying for a moment, before disappearing again. Kagome twitched under his gaze.

"There is no need. This Sesshoumaru was merely going to bathe. It does not require you vacating the premises, since it is This Sesshoumaru's intrusion to your bathing." He began a very awkward process of removing his robes. With having only one arm, though he had not been with it for many years, he still appeared to have difficulties, even if he made them seem perfectly normal, graceful, and elegant... until his claw got stuck in his obi. Kagome watched with sad eyes before moving to help the Taiyoukai.

"May I assist you?" Her soft voice cooed into his awareness, as he heard the water slosh around her.

"You are indecent," his reply almost made Kagome think he was aware yet wary of her being nude before him, something his half-baka-brother never was. But this is Sesshoumaru, not Inuyasha. In many ways, he was better... and Kagome respected him. Part of her thought him extremely attractive, majestic, graceful, beautiful... yet she held fear of him because she knew his strength.

She stepped from the water, aware of the state of her attire, and blushing, moved to remove his obi. She was aware of his eyes upon the top of her head as she skillfully un-tied his obi, folded it, and set it on a small boulder. She was aware of his eyes studying her body, and she wondered why he didn't kill her for undressing him. She pulled off the top layer of his kimono, draping it over one arm, and she loosened the ties to his under kimono.

With as little humiliation as she could possibly muster, she turned her back to him, well aware of the lovely sight she gave him of her rear, and went to hang his kimono on a low tree branch. A light wind swept through the clearing. Kagome shivered as the water left on her body dried or turned into small icicles.

A bare arm wrapped around her waist and pulled the nude miko back into a nude chest. Kagome tried her best not to blush at the contact. She also did her best not to blush, but bluntly ignore the entirely nude man pressing himself to her. For being one armed, he surely was amazed at his speed of undressing. He moved them into the hot springs, moving to sit where she had been sitting, pulling her onto his lap.

Kagome relaxed into his hold, for whatever reason, and did not question him. There were something's in life she wanted to know, but saw them as Koan: questions that are to lead you onto the path of thinking, not onto a path of finding answers.

"You normally converse more with your pack. You do not smell frightened, yet you are not speaking..." His baritone voice rumbled through her chest and, if it weren't for the water, he would've been able to smell her arousal.

"I was thinking... Merely thinking," Kagome retorted, surprising herself as something intelligent sounding left her mouth. Well... That was until...

"What about?" 'Damnit,' her brain cursed and thought of a way to lie without lying...

"My current situation..." she hesitated, but found herself wanting to tell, and trusting him to know.

"I do not know what to do now. Naraku has been defeated, the shikon purified and my way home blocked. The only person I thought I love left me for another. My friends are getting married, and my kit has found an aunt that he has gone to live with... I have no one anymore..." She thought she should be sad on these things, but it was so hard to be in his grasp.

"Since I have no choice but to stay here, I though I would train myself to protect myself. But I have no teacher..."

"This Sesshoumaru could teach you." His head had lowered to the nape of her neck. His lips were pressing lightly onto her soft skin at the joint of her neck and shoulder. She sighed in content and dropped her head to the side, allowing him access.

"This miko would enjoy that...Sesshoumaru-sama."