Training for Tomorrow by Bird That Flies At Dawn

Mask

Prompt: Mask – Riku Ryuu's Random prompts

Words: 300

OOOOOO

Kagome woke up in the hut. Whoa, when did I get back in here?

She glanced around with puzzlement for a moment before noticing that she was the only one inside. She darted to her feet, hurrying outside. In the small meadow surrounding the village just before the tree line were her friends. They were obviously practicing, throwing blows but not causing each other serious harm.

And a type of sadness washed over Kagome. Even Shippo was watching and learning from the sidelines. She hadn't been invited or even woken up. Did they really think her that worthless?

When the kit spotted her, she put on a smile, not wanting to upset him. The fox demon ran over to her excitedly, talking up a storm. She nodded her head and added in a word or two, but Sesshomaru knew she wasn't really paying attention. She was thinking of something else.

She was putting on a mask, trying not to show she was hurt, but he could still tell. After years of training to be able to read his enemy, he could tell most emotions of others by a single glance, but for some reason he found the miko slightly confusing.

One moment she would be ecstatic, and the next depressed. She was the most complex human he had ever met, and she constantly hid behind that mask of hers. Sesshomaru realized now that she was always trying to make others happy. In the process she often ignored her own needs and well being. She was annoyingly selfless. He never thought he'd find a being more annoying than her, but her ability to drive him insane only made him more curious. Blaming his nature, he wanted to know more about her.

If only Kagome realized how intensely curious canines could be.