She sighed as she stepped stood from her seat on the packed train. She had been lucky enough to even find a seat after barely just making squeezing through the closing doors. To any onlooker she appeared as any day-to-day worker would – her hair was kept neat and tidy down her back with barely a hair out of place. It loosely curled as it met her shoulders – the sides pinned back to keep the long tendrils out of her face. Her face held tasteful makeup – some mascara to accentuate her soft auburn eyes, some light blush, and a light shade of pink adorned her lips.
She wore a simple black pencil skirt and a soft pink blouse. Her carrying case was slung over her shoulder as she clutched a stack of papers to her chest as her stiletto clad feet tapped impatiently while she waited for people to exit the train car.
Finally she managed to squeeze her way through the crowd, shouldering both men and women out of the way until she was free on the platform. Another sigh escaped her lips as she looked upwards at the polluted sky. Oh how she wished she could be in another place, in another time… she paused in her thoughts as her head tilted back towards the ground. No, that was another lifetime. She wasn't Kagome Higurashi the time traveler anymore. She didn't fight demons and gallivant around the countryside anymore – she fought against other lawyers in court. A cool summer breeze blew through her hair as she began her walk to catch her bus.
Even ten years later, she couldn't forget.
When the well first closed up, Kagome had tried it every day. As the months past with no results, her trips to the well became more and more infrequent. The last time she had tried had been when she graduated high school 7 years ago. Maybe I'm a little overdue for a try… Kagome smiled softly as she changed her course, heading down the familiar path to her mother's house.
Life had caught up with her once she no longer had to travel between the two periods. School occupied most of her time until she graduated with her law degree last year, and working at the firm consumed what little social life she had after that. Still, in those few moments before sleep claimed her, visions of a silver-haired hanyou with piercing gold eyes flashed in her mind.
Those golden eyes came to her now, causing her to pause mid-stride. Would he have been proud of her life's progress? Would he have been disappointed she didn't try harder to return to him? Is he still alive, searching for her, or did he find someone else? These thoughts were soul stopping. There were so many what ifs and could have beens… it wasn't good to dwell on the past. It was just that.
She had tried to search him out, but realized quickly it was pointless. No one that old would have kept the same name for 500 years, and she had nothing else to go by. She did feel the occasional pull of youki on her senses, but nothing familiar. There was no local authority to ask, no one she knew in both eras. Nothing. He was just a story now.
Before she knew it, the once proud miko stood at the base of the shrine steps. A sudden push against her senses snapped her back into reality. Her eyes darted to the tree just above her, mentally preparing for an attack. Instead, she heard a groan, followed by a mass dropping from the tree with a thud. Kagome jumped back, as the form quickly took the shape of a man in his mid-thirties, horribly dirty and wounded.
"P-please…" In a moment ten years were gone, and Kagome sprung to help the youkai in front of her. She could tell he was wearing a charm to hide his demonic features from the human world, but there was just enough youki there to give him away to the spiritually inclined. She knelt before the man, watching the way he clutched his stomach and clenched his eyes shut.
"I need to see the wound, sir." Her hands were shaky as she pulled the youkai's arm from his wound. It was deep, she frowned, and she would most likely need to cauterize the wound. She turned from his wound back to his face. "How much ningen blood do you have?" his eyes shot open at her question, a striking violet that was so much akin to the man of her past that she almost let out a gasp, as he turned to look at her. Kagome smiled assuringly at him before replying to his unasked question with a simple, "its okay, I know. I won't tell anyone." He nodded before his somewhat gruff voice filled her ears.
"Ha…half." This time, it was Kagome's eyes that widened. She didn't think hanyou were still around. She was sure she had run into a few quarter youkai, even those with less demonic blood in them, but never in all of her years back had she run into a true hanyou. She nodded before pulling his shirt up and giving him an apologetic look.
"This is gonna sting a bit. You may be human for a while, although for how long I'm not certain. I've only seen this done once." The man gave a sharp nod just as Kagome's hand started to glow. She knew he put two and two together as the muscles in his chest tightened. She tried her best to focus on just cauterizing the wound, instead of the way the man in front of her clenched painfully and ground his teeth. Reiki was never meant to heal youkai, or hanyou for that matter. The smell of burning flesh did nothing to ease her worry, and in fact turned her stomach over. She wasn't used to these kinds of things anymore. She had to give him credit; the most sound he made was a grunt when her reiki touched his flesh. Once she was satisfied the hanyou wasn't going to bleed out she stopped, taking in his exhausted face now that the danger had passed. His dark hair fell in a shaggy, sweaty mess on top of his head, framing high cheekbones and dark furrowed eyebrows. His nose held a perfect curve that complimented his strong jawline. Her eyes trailed lower, noting his athletic build as a light blush dusted her cheeks.
He was beautiful.
Which led Kagome to wonder what type of hanyou he was, and what he looked like without his charm on. Of course, being purified at the moment, she couldn't sneak a peek even if she tried, but it didn't stop her from wanting. A groan escaped the man's lips and suddenly Kagome realized she was gawking at an injured stranger on the sidewalk outside of her mother's home. With a determined gaze, the young lawyer took off her stilettos with an internal reminder to grab them later, and with all of the strength in her tiny body she managed to get the hanyou on his feet and slug an arm over her shoulder before helping him up the steps to a more secluded area. He was barely conscious at this point, which was a blessing to the young girl because at least he wasn't dead weight. Kagome sat him at the base of Goshinboku, and with a relieved sigh, looked down to see her blouse in a reddish ruin. Turning to the once again unconscious man beside her, she chuckled a bit.
"It's okay, I didn't even like this top anyways… it was only my favourite one." She pouted to herself at the thought of trying to find another one like it. She figured the best place to leave him was under the old tree before heading inside to her old room. She knew from experience those with demon heritage didn't necessarily like to be confined indoors – especially in unfamiliar territory. That thought caused her to pause; just what was he doing so injured outside of the shrine of all places?
When morning came, the first thing the 26 year old did was peer out her window to find the man she saved… gone. She scrambled into some clothing and rushed down the stairs, her hair a mess and last night's make-up still on her face. Sure enough, when she got outside all that stood on the shrine grounds was the old God Tree, Inuyasha's mark standing stark against the weathered bark. She frowned, pausing momentarily before flying to the shrine entrance and down the stairs. She pushed her senses out and around her, farther than she had ever tried, desperately trying to locate this mysterious man. A flicker of youki pulled her down the street as she raced by person after person, to find herself come upon a bus stop. She recognized him instantly as he boarded the bus, and her cry of "Wait!" caused the stranger to turn as he boarded.
What happened in that instant would stick with Kagome forever.
Even though she knew he was hanyou, even though she knew that under the guise of a human stood a powerful demonic being, the flash of gold in his eyes caused her to freeze. She watched as he sniffed tentatively, his eyes widen as he turned back to face her, and a hand move to the glass door that now separated them.
The man standing on the bus was trapped. He couldn't necessarily break the damned bus door, but his insticts were screaming to go to her. How could he have forgotten that the shrine he woke up in this morning was the shrine he had been searching for? How could he have forgotten there was only one miko he knew of that could heal a hanyou?
Her hair was a mess, and much longer than he ever cared to remember. Her eyes, no longer wide and youthful and full of mirth, were fully alert and so hopeful. She still had last night's makeup on, but he didn't care – she was just as beautiful as the day they said goodbye. Her body was no longer gangly, but filled out in a way only blossoming into adulthood could do. Even her voice had dropped some – it no longer danced to his ears, but demanded to be heard. In all purposes, he shouldn't have been able to recognize her, especially not in his human form. It was her scent though, the very fragrance that haunted his dreams that called to him, beckoned him to turn around and see her. Kami, he would recognize that scent anywhere.
When he had woken up this morning at the base of an old tree, Inuyasha had been confused. He knew for a fact he had been at the base of the shrine last night. A tiger youkai had caught him unaware earlier in the evening, going into a blood rage over the inu-hanyou's "tainted blood". The damned thing had caught him in the stomach before Inuyasha had made quick work of him. He didn't even know how he found himself sitting in the tree near the shrine. His instincts just knew that he needed to find safety. Luckily, it just so happened to be the very shrine that housed someone near and dear to him.
"I need to get off!" He spoke without turning his attention to the driver, his eyes never leaving Kagome's. He listened as the little imp gulped, fearful of the younger inu brother's wrath.
"I'm sorry, but Sesshoumaru-sama demanded I bring you home the moment we found you, sir." The hanyou growled. Of all the days that damned bastard had to go demand something of his loyal servants… he knew there would be no swaying them to disobey their lord.
"Like hell! Let me the fuck out!"
"The doors are warded milord. Even if you were to try and break them…"
"Keh. Then tell me where the hell we are so I can come back later." The driver, Inuyasha was sure, looked shocked. Never before had the young master cared so much for locations. Out of the corner of his eye he was the driver glance down at his GPS and balk.
"I-I'm sorry, Inuyasha-sama, but the GPS… isn't picking up where we are. We may have to drive around for a bit to get the signal back." Inuyasha's growl turned into a snarl as he restrained himself from breaking the vehicle altogether just to get back to his wench. His eyes turned back to Kagome's, pleading with her to understand. Her haunted look would give him the drive to hunt all of Tokyo for her. Now that he knew he was in the right time period, that she recognized him, that she had waited, nothing would stop him.
Kagome froze in shock before she sunk to her knees, the man's silent promised singing through his eyes; the puzzle pieces finally clicked in to place. Only one hanyou would find the Sunset Shrine and leave it untouched upon waking in an unknown part of town. Only one person would instinctually seek the shrine out for safety. She was surprised she hadn't recognized him at all last night; hell, she was surprised he hadn't recognized her. But then again, judging by how much older he looked, he had probably taken the long way around. She could picture his furry ears and silver downy hair in her mind's eye overlaid on top of his seemingly human head. His clothes were replaced with the robe of the fire-rat. And she was sure, if she had pulled the hanyou's shirt completely off of him last night, she would have found a very familiar set of kotodama around his neck.
The bus pulled away before the miko could react, and in an instant, Inuyasha was gone from her life once more.
Her trembling hand was still outstretched as the bus disappeared further and further down the street. Her face fell, eyebrows upturning as a subtle wind blew her hair in the hanyou's general direction. Tears welled and trickled down her cheeks as Kagome felt her heart break once more. Ten years of pent up loss bubbled to the surface all at once, leaving the young miko-turned-lawyer a sobbing mess on the sidewalk.
She didn't know what name he was living under, where he lived or worked, any phone number to reach him. She just knew he was alive and well in Tokyo. Her crying slowed as she was left hiccupping. Kagome slowly got off of her knees, and shook off the passerbyers that gave her strange looks, and slowly made her way back to the shrine to tell her mama the news; she would be staying at her mother's until he found her. It only made sense – all he ever knew was that she lived at this shrine.
She had to put her faith in the inu-hanyou's abilities once more; after all, he wasn't one to break a promise. And so, for the first time in ten years, Kagome did one thing she thought she never could again.
She hoped.