Twice Over

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Inuyasha characters.

AN: It's naïve of an author to think that anything is truly original, especially in fanfiction. However, I ask you to keep an open mind and pardon the slow pace. I also hope you enjoy it enough to leave a review. So, without further adieu… enjoy.

oOo

"I am not asking much of you, except to consider what I am offering you."

"You're offering me another fairytale, and I gave up all that magic and adventure three years ago. I've already played my part."

A tense silence stretched between them; outside Kagome's bedroom window, the shrine grounds were still and splashed in places with bright, white-blue moonlight. The winter wind was bitter. Kagome shivered as it trickled in through her window, left ajar and frosted with iridescent smatterings of ice, and watched as the papers on her desk rustled before falling still again. Besides the wide shaft of light coming from her window, her room was dark, all the colors muted and tinged blue by the shadows.

"Perhaps," said Sesshoumaru quietly. He sat cross-legged on her bedroom floor with his back rigidly straight and his gaze, as he turned it on her, bright and shrewd. "But this time it is not destiny calling upon you, I am. Whatever prejudices you hold against me for my past actions can be set aside so that you—"

"This has nothing to do with you!" Kagome cut across him sternly, and ignored his annoyed frown. "I don't want to go back, and I seriously doubt that anything you have to say will change my mind."

"I assure you this is neither," Sesshoumaru said curtly. "The past is not as you left it, and, to be forthright, it was never your place to leave in the first place. I will not question the nature of your decision, but your work remains unfinished, and the longer you shut yourself away in this present, the more the past will suffer."

A short, hot burst of indignation shot through her, turning her cheeks red and making her pajamas uncomfortable against her arms and legs. Whatever Sesshoumaru was alluding to, she would have none of it. Naraku was gone, the jewel was gone, everybody got their happily ever after. Again, an inkling of anger trickled through her, but she stifled it and turned a stony face to Sesshoumaru. Kagome refused to let him get the best of her through her tragically open and caring heart, nor would she let him make her feel as though her decision had been selfish. For three years she'd sacrificed almost every chance at having a life here in the present to ensure that it would stay as it was; if she hadn't, the repercussions of Naraku's success would have been unfathomable, and definitely catastrophic. The dust had settled, and she deserved to live her own life, in her own time.

"Sesshoumaru," Kagome began, sounding like a mother telling her child something for the hundredth time, "I like it here. I like the sense of normalcy, the routine, and I like knowing that I'll live to see tomorrow. Whatever problems you're talking about… I don't know, tag team with Inuyasha or something to fix them, but I can't do it. I can't just go back and pretend I'm a priestess again; I doubt I even have my powers anymore," she said. Predicting him to comment on Inuyasha's worthlessness in his situation, Kagome was taken aback when Sesshoumaru shook his head, a small gesture, and looked away toward the window. Moonlight illumined his face and he glowed; it was beautiful and eerie and Kagome thought wryly how the most beautiful of things were designed to distract from their lethal capabilities.

"I have tried. We," he corrected himself, "Inuyasha and I, along with your other friends have tried, but the seed has been sown and the roots have grown deep in your absence. If things continue as they are at this rate, then youkai as you and I know them, will be extinct in my," he emphasized the word to make it clear he meant the past, "near future."

Another stretch of silence. Chills skittered up and down Kagome's spine that had nothing to do with the wind, and everything to do with Sesshoumaru's disturbing prediction. What had they- Sango, Miroku, Inuyasha, and Sesshoumaru- together not been able to accomplish? The thought, though Kagome had no particular thing in mind, that there was something worse than Naraku that was destroying youkai at such a rapid rate, in the small three year span she'd been gone, was staggering. Wide eyed, she asked Sesshoumaru, "Who or what? And how have they gotten so strong in three years?" Kagome's mind was reeling and she felt nauseous. Sesshoumaru looked grim, but otherwise unaffected, and, for a moment she thought she saw a fleeting look of satisfaction enter his eyes. If he was satisfied, he was even sicker than she thought. He had been marginally more civil tonight than he had been in their past meetings, however, and she doubted that he was gaining any remote amount of pleasure given the circumstances.

"Humans," he said simply, without disdain or conceit. "In the short time you have been absent they have done more than come together. They have formed an army that is growing rapidly, with the last known count near one thousand. And they are not untrained or without direction; reports have supported the theory that a demon slayer, or someone learned in their techniques, has passed their knowledge on. There have been several raids on youkai establishments during the last year with varying degrees of success, but each with a clear message," Sesshoumaru said and paused, giving Kagome an opportunity to comment. However, she remained silent with her knees hugged to her chest, so he continued. "No prisoners have been taken, but their methods of killing are both gruesome and cruel: They are not open to negotiations, and desire nothing more than the destruction of my race."

"Have you asked?" Kagome blurted out, surfacing from the crevice between her knees and chest. Sesshoumaru shot her a glare.

"Several diplomats have been sent to what we know as strongholds, and the ones that have returned bear nothing but wounds," he replied coldly.

There was nothing that Kagome could say that wouldn't sound like she was sympathetic toward the humans, and it felt foreign for her to think of them as humans when she was every inch the same as they were. Except she wasn't, not really. She believed in peace between all races without violence, and whilst her time in Sengoku Jidai had injected the ideal with a painstaking amount of realism, cohabitation was certainly possible. By no means was Kagome ignorant of the savagery mankind was possible of, for it was written clearly across pages of history books and annals around the world, but this sudden surge of violence… she was having a hard time wrapping her mind around it.

Cautiously, Kagome asked, "Has there been any, uh, involvement?" She didn't know how to phrase it any other way and she hoped Sesshoumaru would understand what she was trying to say. Judging by his flat stare, he didn't, so she tried again. "Demon involvement?"

Sesshoumaru did not answer right away, and his already dour expression darkened further. "It would be a relief if there was, but they are acting of their own volition."

"Oh."

Everything that went unsaid hung in the air and pressed down on her. It was horrible, there was no doubt, and she had a thousand questions she wanted to ask. But ultimately, even if Sesshoumaru did answer every single one of her questions, it would not change what was happening, what would happen. By the sounds of things, these people were out for blood, and they were getting it. By nature she was a caring person, and hated to see the innocent cut down out of bloodlust; they were innocent, the youkai that were being killed. Kagome had to remind herself of that. In the past she had helped innocent youkai escape Naraku, and the only thing different between then and now was that… what was it? It could be because Naraku was a threat to humans, hanyou, and youkai alike, and cared nothing for whichever he cut down on his war path. But, rewinding through the conversation, Kagome realized with a small sense of self disgust that it was because Sesshoumaru claimed these people. He had said "the destruction of my race", meaning not just himself and his small group, or even his particular species. He meant the youkai community as a whole.

It was astounding.

To her, Sesshoumaru had always been a constant. Always the more powerful, more bloodthirsty, more detached, and more self-centered brother. Aside from Rin, Kagome had never seen him openly display any sort of emotion for another living creature. Oh, she'd always known there were more of them, powerful youkai like him. There had to be. And though she'd never given it any serious thought, or rather, because she'd never given it any serious thought, she'd ignorantly written the rest of them off as being just as malevolent and isolated as he was.

She was wrong. Dead wrong.

But… "What can I do about it?"

His answer was swift and plain: "You can come back."

Though considerably weaker than before, Kagome stuck with her resolve. Shaking her head as though to clear it of thought, she sighed, "That doesn't tell me anything. Yes, I could go back, but when I got there what would happen? A spontaneous wave of peace that'd wash over the land?" She grimaced. "I don't think so. A place to stay and protection aren't enough incentive for me to uproot myself again, Sesshoumaru."

"I was not aware you would require more, or would even want for more, given your nature," he commented, squinting at her. "I would think the possible genocide of an entire culture would have moved you more deeply."

"It's moved me plenty!" Kagome shot back angrily, nostrils flaring. "But I don't see how I can change any of it! I'm not some miracle worker, and I have half a mind to think that the whole Naraku thing was a fluke. As one person I'm not capable of much more than messing up and first aid. And I'm sure there are plenty of people that can do that better than I can," Kagome said, not even addressing Sesshoumaru anymore. He probably had no interest in her reasons for self loathing, but if anybody needed to see how under qualified and useless she'd be in this situation, it needed to be him since he seemed to be the only one that thought she'd be of some use.

Rising to his feet, Sesshoumaru covered the distance to the bed in two swift steps and glowered down at her. "You are the only one that doubts your capabilities. Had I thought you would be worthless, I would have not bothered wasting my time," he said acerbically, his voice all steel. "Now," Sesshoumaru held out his hand, silken sleeve sliding back to show the two smooth stripes of magenta that encircled his wrist. Kagome stared at his hand, at his gleaming armor, at his face, the visage of resolute determination. "Either you will come with me, or you will not."

Squeezing her eyes shut, Kagome thought of every reason why she shouldn't take his hand. Her hands tangled themselves in her sheets, and when she opened her eyes again, all her muscles relaxed though she hadn't felt them tense up. Sesshoumaru was still looking intently at her, and his hand was still extended.

"Away we go," Kagome muttered, taking his hand and climbing onto his back, careful to mind his armor. Sesshoumaru stepped to the open window and mounted the sill, crouching low and preparing to spring. Kagome gripped his shoulders as her stomach knotted in anticipation, and in a high voice asked, "Are the others waiting for us?"

Sesshoumaru crouched lower in the window, and Kagome gasped as his hand grasped her thigh. Pausing, he looked over his shoulder at her, eyes half hidden by his bangs. "You have ridden like this before with Inuyasha, correct?" Kagome nodded. "Then I suggest you place your arms around my neck, or you will fall."

Blushing out of embarrassment, Kagome awkwardly maneuvered her arms around his neck, ever mindful of his hellish armor, and clasped her hands at his collarbone, covered in the thick layers of his haori. Comfortable as she was going to get, Kagome asked again: "Are the others waiting for us?"

"No."

Without any further conversation, Sesshoumaru leapt from the window out into the winter night, and for a second as they reached the peak of the leap, Kagome felt as though she were flying.