The Best Laid Plans... by FireDreamer

...seldom last the initial confrontation

Trap Inuyasha and that stupid baboon in a mirror field. Sesshoumaru couldn't believe his luck when he found these special little prisons. The old demon that sold them to him offered the spells to let people back out, but Sesshoumaru refused. Why would he ever let either of those idiots back out? They wouldn't be able to kill each other either. It was more than death; it was eternal torment.

All in all it was a plan that couldn't fail.

Which means it did, of course.

Inuyasha slashed the trap with the Tetsusaiga, which is why Sesshoumaru was sitting in the trap.

With Her.

Inuyasha's strange little human woman glared back at him arrow drawn. "This is all your fault! If you weren't so hung up on hurting Inuyasha...!"

"Will you be quiet, human?" Sesshoumaru snarled and sat back against the wall of the magical prison with a sigh.

"Here I thought you'd just make me. Inuyasha will kill you if you hurt me."

"I really don't care what you think he'll do. Silence."

Kagome pulled back the arrow, ready to fire. "Don't do that. It'll hurt us both."

She didn't move. Stupid human. What did she think she would accomplish doing that? "This is a mirror prison. Whatever you do to me happens to you and the opposite. Now shut up or I'l tear my own throat out so you'll die."

"Wouldn't you die too?" Kagome lowered her bow.

"It would be almost worth it to get you to be quiet."

Kagome opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it and sat down against the opposite wall of the prison. After several minutes of silence she asked. "How long will be stuck here?"

"Until Jaken gets me out." Sesshoumaru said. "A few days perhaps"

And the silence resumed.

"Well I'll go to sleep then."

Why would I care what she does? Sesshoumaru thought to himself and watched her settle her bag right against the grass and curl up in a position to sleep. It was amazing what she was wearing. She had no shame, and must know that her clothing was inappropriate for a woman. That skirt was so short he could see her strange undergarments. She would actually be pretty if she weren't a weak human.

Sesshoumaru hated weakness. Being human was the ultimate weakness to him. Being human and female was more than he thought any soul could stand. She shifted around in her sleep a lot. Silly pathetic human.

Sesshoumaru looked at the setting sun.

Still sleep was not a bad idea...

~*~*~*~

Kagome glanced over at the sleeping demon on the other side of the small patch of earth which was their prison and frowned. He almost didn't look like he had his personality problems when he was sleeping. He resembled Inuyasha more too. She couldn't really see it before but she could see where they were related now.

They had similar attitudes for one. Sesshoumaru was as stubborn as Inuyasha or worse. They didn't look that much alike. But that was probably because Inuyasha's mother was human, like her.

She sat up and started rummaging through her bag. It had to be time to eat. After all, it wasn't even dark outside anymore.

"What are you doing?" Sesshoumaru cracked one eye open and somehow managed to glare at her with that alone.

"I'm getting food. Are you hungry?"

"I don't need food from humans." Sesshoumaru stated. His stomach protested.

Kagome rolled her eyes, shook her head and tossed him a candy bar. The demon stared at it for a minute.

"You open the wrapper and eat it."

"Wrapper?"

Kagome frowned, they really knew nothing here. "The covering."

Sesshoumaru threw it back to her. "I don't need weird human food."

"Fine. You can starve then!" Kagome said...then began making instant Ramen.

~*~*~*~

Inuyasha moaned and opened his eyes to the not so nice face of Naraku. What the hell had happened? Sesshoumaru had tried to use some sort of magic item, and Inuyasha didn't remember anything after the glowing light and attacking Naraku...who was still watching him, just inches from his face. "Argh! What the fuck are you doing! Get away!"

Naraku laughed as Inuyasha clawed at the air, as he had already sat back. "We're trapped."

Inuyasha tried to jump at Naraku, only to hit an invisible wall when Naraku dodged to the side. "See? I told you."

"So what? I can still kill you!"

"No...you can't. You see when you hit at me it hurt you too." Inuyasha sat in the grass glaring at Naraku. This was going to be a long day.

~*~*~*~

Sesshoumaru tried to smooth out his hair, having already removed the annoying armor because of the warmth of the afternoon sun and the fact that he refused to let this woman think he was on his guard against her. His claws snarled on a tangle in his hair and he pulled at it, feeling the pain in his scalp.

"OUCH!" Kagome rubbed her forehead. "Stop that!"

"Stupid human. I have to get my hair untangled."

"Stop calling me human! I have a name. It's Kagome."

"Why should I care?"

"Because I have a comb for you to use." Kagome said, as she pulled her hairbrush out of her bag and offered it to him.

Sesshoumaru glared at the offending object as if it were something he stepped in, much like he looked at the wo- no Kagome. He took it in his hands and began smoothing out his hair with it. Then got it caught in the knots a few moments later.

"Here. Let me." Kagome knelt down behind him and gently pulled the brush free and started working on a knot.

"Why are you helping me?"

"Well we'll just make each other miserable if we don't work together. I mean, you and Inuyasha had the same father so you can't be that bad."

Sesshoumaru grabbed her wrist tightly. "Do NOT compare me to that halfbreed."

Kagome pulled her wrist away. "I was just saying that your father must have really been special."

"He married a human. He was wrong."

"This human can stop brushing your hair." Sesshoumaru stopped for a moment. It felt nice to have her run the soft strange comb through his hair. And she smelled rather pretty for a human.

"..."

"What was that?"

"Thank you.."

"It's getting later in the day, are you sure you aren't hungry?"

"I never said I wasn't hungry hu-Kagome. I just don't need human food."

"There really aren't any demons when I live, so I don't know what you'd normally eat, but Inuyasha likes instant Ramen."

"In-stant...Ramen." Sesshoumaru frowned.

"They're good. Really. They never made him sick."

"I would rather they did."

"Why do you hate Inuyasha? Is it cause your father liked him more?"

"He had a lapse of sanity and the mutt was the result." Sesshoumaru glared back in her direction. If he insulted her she'd stop. His hair felt so nice this way.

"Uhm...away from the Inuyasha topic. What is this?" Kagome reached for the fur Sesshoumaru normally wore.

"None of your concern!"

"Okay...okay..." Kagome began separating his hair.

"What are you doing?" Sesshoumaru asked.

Kagome began braiding his hair. "I'm braiding your hair. It's so long, so it will tangle less if I braid it."

Sesshoumaru mumbled but let the woman do what she wanted. It really would tangle less if she braided it.

When she finished she lifted the braid over his shoulder for his approval. The neat work surprised Sesshoumaru. He didn't know humans could actually do anything competently.

"Do you like it?"

"I'd like to be out of here and away from you."

Kagome was still holding the end of the braid. "Here, hold this. I'll get something to tie it with." Kagome pulled some stuff out of her bag, Sesshoumaru didn't really care what, and came back. "Okay now." She tied the braid up and dropped a rosary over his head. "Down!"

Sesshoumaru found his face in the dirt. Kagome's face buried into his back. She shook her head and sat up. "Wow. It worked!"

"What did you do to me human?!"

"I gave you some jewelry to match Inuyasha's. You're not getting us out and leaving Inuyasha to die."

"I-" Sesshoumaru stopped. That was exactly what he had been planning to do. "You'd better take this toy off me after then!"

"Maybe." Kagome smiled and thought about it. "If you had that on you wouldn't be able to hurt Inuyasha ever again."

"I'm not trying to hurt him. I'm trying to kill him. There is a big difference."

"Well I don't want you to kill him obviously. Why ARE you so dead set on killing him anyway? You can't just accept that your father must have loved his mother very dearly? Or is it because she was a human? You know humans have power too! Down!"

Sesshoumaru wiped off his face and smirked at the Kagome-pancake. The little idiot forgot that it did that to her too in here. "Idiot."

Kagome blinked, tears filling her eyes.

"What the-?"

"I try my best...but it's never enough. If it was enough I'd never get into situations like this. My mother is going to be so worried when I don't get home tomorrow. I have a math test tomorrow!" Kagome was so stressed she used the English word for test.

"Test?" Sesshoumaru asked. What was a test?

Kagome ignored him, bursting into tears. "I'll never pass if I miss my math test!"

Sesshoumaru stared at the crying female, her face had a smudge of dirt on it near her mouth, marring the pretty skin. Her wailing was hurting his ears though. He touched her shoulder. "Please stop.."

"Why should I? I'm stuck in here with the one person in this time that hates me more than Kikyo!"

"What is a test?"

"Oh...a test is for my education. In my time you have to be educated. If you don't prove you are then they punish you."

"Women don't need to be educated." Sesshoumaru said, and Kagome frowned.

"Of course they do! Women do all the same jobs as men in my time!"

"How strange. Human women take up the sword?"

"No, of course not. There's not really any fighting back home..." Sesshoumaru listened to her babble about home while looking off in the distance. Where was Jaken? He knew that little toad could get the key faster than this.

Kagome talked of a world he couldn't possible imagine. No demons? No fighting? If she was from the future, and there were no demons there, did that mean he was destined to die before her time?

Sesshoumaru didn't want to die, but what if there really was something out there powerful enough to defeat even him?

Nonsense. The girl was crazy.

~*~*~*~

Rin yawned as she woke up and looked over the bushes at the edge of the forest. "Stay here." Sesshoumaru had said. Rin wasn't about to disobey immediatly. He promised to come get her before nightfall, that she'd be safe. Jaken had ran off for some unknown reason. She had gone to find him. When she saw him sitting with a woman she waited...and waited...fell asleep and here she was. He said she might get hurt if she was here. Only...he was sitting there, just sitting there, next to a woman. This didn't look dangerous, and Rin was hungry. She crawled out of the bushes and ran to him.

Kagome looked up to see a girl running towards them. "Who...?"

Sesshoumaru sighed inwardly. She would have to come here. Now the stupid woman would start talking again. He had finally managed to talk her into being quiet.

"Sesshoumaru-sama...you didn't come back like you promised." Rin mumbled and walked right through the walls of the prison and Sesshoumaru and Kagome both had the same thought at the same time, much to Sesshoumaru's embarrassment. They pushed against the invisible walls. When they met with resistance Kagome kicked the wall.

"Rin step back a bit."

Rin took one step back and Sesshoumaru said impatiently "Farther."

Rin stepped back two more times, back through the walls. "Why am I doing this? Is this a new game you learned from this lady?"

Kagome frowned. "How come she can get in and out but we can't?"

"Probably because the prison already has two people."

"Oh. Sesshoumaru?"

Sesshoumaru glared at Kagome. "What?"

"Who is she?"

~*~*~*~

Meanwhile...Inuyasha, who was still trying to think up that miracle plan that wouldn't involve getting himself killed, glared at Naraku. Naraku smiled smugly back at him.

~*~*~*~

Sesshoumaru wished he were anywhere else at that moment, but trapped in a prison with a stupid woman. Kagome and Rin were talking to each other, Kagome amusing the girl by telling her all sorts of strange stories, and Rin asking all sorts of equally strange questions.

In short, it was hell.

When they started on a new topic he glared at them both. They ignored him. Rin had been tolerable when she was quiet, even okay alone, but with Kagome...well this was madness.

He looked out in the distance, hoping it would all be over soon.

And it was. After a few more hours of torture, Sesshoumaru saw someone in the distance. Jaken. He started thanking every god he'd heard of and any he hadn't.

~*~*~*~

"Take it off of me now. I'll free the half breed." Sesshoumaru glared at the pretty, half undressed girl that had put this rosary on him in the first place. Who knew she kept the annoying things in her bag?

"No. It'll teach you a lesson."

"I think it's pretty!" Rin had become Kagome's ally in only a few hours. "Kagome should stay with us always and forever."

"No, she shouldn't. She's..." a human wouldn't be a good excuse for Rin. "She's my stupid half brother's woman."

"I am not!" Kagome snapped in her defense.

"She wants to find all the pieces of the pretty bead. We could find them too! It's like hide and seek!"

"No, it's not. It's dangerous and I..." Sesshoumaru didn't want to discuss things like this in front of Kagome, when she would go back to Inuyasha and they would laugh at him. Laugh at him for being so nice to a stupid little human like Rin.

But she had saved him. She wasn't like other humans. Even if she wouldn't understand...

"Rin, I do not feel like protecting you from the trash that comes after Kagome because of a stupid bead that I have no use for anyway."

Rin's face fell. "But I like Kagome."

Kagome patted Rin on the head. "We're not friends, Sesshoumaru and I."

Rin's face brightened with a sudden idea. "Then can we visit?"

"Visit?"

"Kagome!"

Kagome and Sesshoumaru looked at each other. After a moment Kagome said. "I don't see why not...as long as he's not attacking Inuyasha!"

"YAY!"

~*~*~*~

"I can't believe Naraku got away! After all this time, he comes in person and we couldn't even touch him!" Inuyasha leaned against a tree, sitting high up in its branches.

"That's how things happen." Kagome said. She picked up her bag, minus food stuffs and a rosary.

"Where are you going?"

"Home. I have an exam to make up."