Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: I don't know why I wrote this. Mabye it's the fact that I went to prom alone last night. Hmm... anyhow, please review.
Yes and No
He doesn't look up when his secretary pages him to say his 1 o'clock appointment is here. He's too busy looking at the worn photo on his desk that Kagome took all those years ago. She was sitting, happily, in a field of flowers. Kagome had given it to him when she'd been slain by a demon who'd managed to evade him. He hears the door open and waves a hand at a chair.
"Have a seat."
"Do you remember me?"
He stares at her, centuries of control the only thing keeping him from doing something he knows he'll regret. He can't stop looking, seeing what the girl-child that had been could have been, if she'd been allowed to survive.
"Rin?" He stands and moves slowly around his desk to her.
She smiles a little shyly, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Yes and no."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" His haughty voice hides a quaver he can't quite prevent and gives him some measure of comfort.
She spins around, skirt flaring out around her legs. "Kagome made a wish on the jewel."
He frowns. "She and my brother are together forever, I know this."
She smiles, reaching out to run a finger down his cheek, following the line of his stripe. "She knew how much you suffered."
"And?" Her touch has almost undone him. 500 years without her...
"She wished for your happiness too, you know." She moves across the room to the window, hands behind her back, unconciously mimicking a pose he's used many times. "She wished for me to come back, in her time."
"Why in her time?" He doesn't want to ask, but he can't stop himself. Why would Kagome condemn him to five centuries of pain?
"Because she knew I'd be safer in this time." She shrugs and turns back to face him. "Which is where the yes and no part comes in. Since the day I was born in this time period, my life has been bound to yours. I'm human, but I will live as long as you do, and if I'm killed, I will always find you again in my next life." She stretches out her hands to him. "Forever this time, Sesshomaru."
"But what if I die?"
"Then I go with you." She smiles at the way his face hardens. "Do you think I want to go on without you? I've seen hell, Sesshomaru, and it was the last 20 years."
He grabs her hands and pulls her to him. "Where have you been?"
"You couldn't know about me." She wraps her arms around his waist and buries her face in the expensive material of his business suit. "I was too young, and I didn't remember. I had to make the choice on my own."
"I missed you." The words are torn from the depths of his heart, his mask finally breaking so she can see the cracks in his soul.
"I know. I wish I'd never left you alone." She closes her eyes and inhales, smelling the scent that has always been uniquely him, no matter what time period he's in.
His hand goes to her hair, and he pulls her head up to press his lips to hers. She smiles against his mouth.
"I love you, you know. I always did, even when I didn't know who you were." Her hands trace the pointed tips of his ears that she knows no other human could see, and she is content.
He breaks the kiss and presses her closer, her head over his heart. "You will never leave me."
"Never," she agrees, and then they're content just to stand there, with his body curled protectively over his, his heart healing with every breath she takes.