Snippets of Time
Summary: AU Sess/Kag Their first encounter was innocent enough, just a child hiding from the oppression of expectations and a teenager searching for an escape from the responsibilities of his duty to his family. But it would grow from simple moments of solace in each other's presence to something much deeper, much more binding.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
A/N: This will hopefully be a series of one-shots following a time line. It all really depends on how much time I will get to write. Anyhow, hope you enjoy!
The Price of Innocence
She had only been the tender and impressionable age of eight when Sesshoumaru had first laid eyes on her pure and spirited self. He himself was nearing adulthood so had watched the child with indifference, not aware of the effect the small girl would leave on his life. She, at the time, was merely the eldest daughter of the Higurashi clan who was his younger brother's playmate. She was a pretty little thing: the perfect picture of a nobleman's young daughter, swathed in the finest silk robes with her dark hair hanging loose in youthful innocence. Shining blue eyes shimmered prettily in purity like the clean springs of the palace gardens and reflected nothing but childish naïveté befitting her age. Her heart shaped face radiated with babyish pleasure and her pink lips were always turned upwards in a smile.
It was this good heartedness joy blessed upon the child that caused the ladies of the court to flock to the child and fawn over her like a novel pet, lavishing her with treats and hugging the child to their silk bosoms all the while cooing admirations and their envy of the child. Sesshoumaru had watched the debacle with a sneer, silently testifying to himself of the foolishness of the female countenance. He had almost felt pity on the child, who was still smiling, ignorant of her own misfortune.
He learned that the girl had been brought to court by her father, a human lord of his father's court, when her mother had died in childbirth, and held the burden of the Higurashi clan on her shoulders. Less her father remarried and gave birth to a son, her husband would inherit the vast estate and lands that belonged to her family. But the fate of a child didn't matter to Sesshoumaru; he had more pressing things to worry about, such as tactical training and his lessons from his own father, the Lord of the West.
But he would catch glimpses of her around the palace, and he would be stunned by the innocence of her smile for a second or two before forgetting her completely and returning to his task at hand.
He vaguely remembered learning her name, but it refused to stick until a year after he had first noticed her.
The celebration being held was in the honor of his sixteenth birthday, his coming of age and the entire court had been invited it seemed. Sesshoumaru was feeling, for all his indifference and stoicism, claustrophobic in the grand hall full of lords drinking sake and ladies giggling behind their fans. He didn't take a moment's hesitation when an opportunity to escape into the palace gardens arrived and the dog prince hurriedly left the chaos of the hall. He breathed in full gulps of air, walking to the pond.
The silence was a welcome relief, until he heard the sniffling. Golden eyes roved the darkness until they landed on the curled figure dressed in fine silk robes. Staring at the figure, Sesshoumaru realized that it was the Higurashi child. She was difficult to recognize in the dark, even with his sharpened sense. She wasn't the epitome of the smiling angelic girl that was loved dearly by the court ladies, and even by a few of the lords. Instead, in the darkness here, she looked completely miserable.
Sesshoumaru stood there, looking down on the human child, confusion marring his face briefly. Should he leave, even though it was his right to send her away; or should he simply stay and ignore her and loose himself in his own thoughts?
All contemplations on his possible actions left him though as the child shifted. His golden indifferent gaze was met with shimmering, blurry eyes of cerulean blue. Sesshoumaru went rigid, his breath catching in his throat mutely. The human girl and the demon teenager stared at each other, the moment passing in eternity. She blinked and Sesshoumaru breathed. And to his complete surprise, he felt his knees bend and he found himself sitting beside the girl, not once breaking their locked gaze.
Both were tense with wariness and apprehension, unsure of each other. She was uncertain of how to act, caught in her forbidden misery. He was lost in the mystery of the feeling that was flooding him, not sure what how to treat this girl. So they sat there until familiarity eased the tension from their shoulders slightly and the girl braved a few words.
"You are Inuyasha's brother." A statement, an observation, more than a question. He nodded, surprised by the smoothness of the child's voice, betraying a soul far older than the nine years it had lived. "You're a lot taller than he is." Sesshoumaru's brow quirked at that, and, unsure how to respond, he nodded again. The girl looked at him, her blue eyes clearing slightly, and with a tilt of her head, her lips tipped upwards barely enough for him to see, "And a lot scarier."
Sesshoumaru was stunned by the girl's bluntness. Not many spoke so directly with him and here this slip of a girl looking him straight in the eye and speaking frankly. She laughed softly at the rare expression on the young prince's face. He wasn't sure if he should be insulted or not.
She sobered though and he found he instantly missed the laughter. She turned away from him and watched the still pond, hugging her knees closer to her body. Sesshoumaru couldn't pull his eyes away from her as the faint sparkle in her blue eyes was replaced once again with the somber melancholy that had been there earlier. "Do you hate being a prince?"
The suddenness of the question threw him off and once again Sesshoumaru was at a loss whether he shoulder answer or not, or how he could answer the question. He paused and reflected on the question. Did he like being the heir? He hadn't really thought about it. "It is what is expected of this Sesshoumaru."
Her head swiveled to him, her black hair flowing to the side at the suddenness of the movement. She glared at him, tears welling in her eyes again. "Duty," She nearly spat, "is a prison." And as though she suddenly realized what she said, she cringed and looked away ashamed. Sesshoumaru stayed silent, which she was grateful for, but the bitterness of the statement echoed in his mind. A bitterness that he could never have envisioned this child ever experiencing.
"Yes." He said, snapping both of them to awareness, "It is a prison." He clarified upon seeing her inquisitive expression.
She bit her lip and gazed at the pond once again. "It killed my mother…and it will kill me." She looked at him with clarity and Sesshoumaru held his breath at the sudden rise of tension in the air, "And it will destroy you."
He felt a tingle race down his spine at the prediction.
"I hate this place." Again the bitterness returned in her tone and the feeling of despair returned to him. He looked at the pond and wondered how it held so still at the weighted words the girl spoke. But she wiped her eyes, her sleeve obscuring her face. As the arm moved, he saw once again the smile and knew immediately that all those smiles he had seen from afar were as false as the one in front of him. Such an amazing actress, this little poor fated child, he realized. That life demanded a mere girl to fake her childhood cheerfulness to fit the image of what the court expected of her was a cruelty Sesshoumaru knew all too well himself.
The price of innocence was cost all children paid as they entered adulthood. Both he and this child shared the scars of that price, forced to grow up too soon. Each knew what was expected of them, the heir of the Lord of the West, and the only child of the Higurashi clan. Each felt the weight of the duty, of the responsibility, of the burden that came with adulthood.
Tomorrow he would stand alone once again and take his place by his father's side and stare into the faces of the people he would govern. And so, Sesshoumaru, heir to the feared Lord of the West, found solace in the mere slip of a girl, on the last night of his freedom as a child.
He jerked out of his thoughts at the tentative touch on his shoulder. The blue eyes in front of him told him that she understood, and he tried to soften his face to show his gratitude.
"What is your name?" He asked, drowning in blue.
She smiled brightly, though falsely, "Kagome."
End of the first drabble.
Thank you for reading!
Sincerely, Mangagirl3535