A/N: So this is one of those stories I regrettably deleted. It is not new, but I felt maybe someone would like to see it again as it did make several favorites lists last time =) I've also made some corrections, grammatical and otherwise. Hope you enjoy!
A Rare Luxury
It happened by chance. The same as everything else in Kikyo's miserable life and after-life. She had not sought out the other girl, her reincarnation. What reason would she have to do such a thing?
Her footsteps, however, would say otherwise as they led her straight to Kagome.
Bathing in an onsen with the slayer girl, their giggles interrupted the forest like woodsprites.
And so she'd decided not to deter fate, allowing herself to get nearer than she otherwise would. Something [the same something that sometimes compelled her to seek out Inuyasha in times of danger] compelled her to come upon them regardless, knowing that Kagome would sense her well before the taijiya...given their special connection.
Soon enough, she could see them, noticing as well the way her fellow soul sharer tensed and allowed the conversation to abruptly drop off.
"What is it? What's wrong, Kagome?" Sango whispered, preparing to hoist herself out of the water if need be.
"It's nothing. Just a passerby."
"Or maybe-" the slayer swiped furiously at a nearby bush, "-a lecherous monk!"
How fortuitous for Kikyo that the monk had been raised a lech. Perhaps one of the few times the fates had smiled upon her. For, at that moment, the slayer abandoned her friend to chase down and presumably beat the houshi. Leaving both priestesses alone.
"You can come out now. I know you're here," Kagome spoke boldly, trembling slightly.
Kikyo smiled, feeling a strange sort of pride that her reincarnation chose to stay rather than flee.
As she stepped into clear view, Kagome thought the dead girl looked more like a lunar deity than a miko, swathed as she was in moonlight while gliding toward the hotspring.
Kikyo offered no explanation or greeting before tugging the rough hem of her miko garb up and out of her red pants to part it down the middle.
Instantly, the other girl dipped low in the water.
"What are you doing?"
"Am I not welcome at this spring?"
Kagome thought about the unassuming invite. She could refuse Kikyo right here and now, knowing the girl would tuck in her garments and resume her path without complaint, so she could once again soak in leisure until Sango returned. Or she could allow her entrance and sate her own curiosity at the girl's sudden appearance...
Well, she was a kind person in any case and to refuse would be impolite.
"Of course you can bathe here, if you'd like," she said it like a question.
Wordlessly, the older miko divested herself of her clothing as her soul collectors performed an intricate dance above their heads. Before long, she stood completely nude in front of a captivated Kagome.
The younger girl gasped. It was obvious Kikyo had no problem with her own exposure, even seeming to welcome the attention, lingering as she did by the water's steamy edge.
Then the moment passed and the dead girl allowed herself to slip inside the water's warm embrace. She gazed unblinkingly at Kagome, who shrank further into the onsen's recesses.
"Um..."
"Does it bother you, my nudity?"
"A little."
"Yet we are essentially the same, you and I. So tell me, do you also avert your eyes while gazing into a mirror?"
"Of course not, but-"
"The effect is the same," Kikyo cut her off definitively.
"Why are you here?"
"I wished to bathe and this was a suitable place."
"Are you seeking out Inuyasha?" the younger girl asked with keen suspicion.
Kikyo chuckled. "I've gone to great lengths to conceal my presence from him, and you can rest assured that I will flee the moment he sets foot in this place."
Kagome's mouth fell open. Could she really trust the other girl to keep her word? Even if what she said was true, it did little to ease the tension Kagome felt. Because that would mean Kikyo's true intentions lay not with Inuyasha, as they normally did, but with her.
She swallowed thickly. "Okay..."
"You have to know by now that things are bigger than just you, myself and Inuyasha, and our complicated situation," she spoke condescendingly, sailing through the water toward her reincarnation like the ghost that she was.
Kagome instinctively backstepped until she was quite literally between a rock and a hard place. The thought occured to her that Kikyo might kill her here and now to steal back the soul that'd once belonged to her.
But when the other girl was within arm's length she mercifully stopped.
"Do you fear me?" Kikyo tilted her head curiously, smiling a superior sort of smile.
"Believe it or not," Kagome snapped, "you don't know everything about me!"
"Indeed I don't."
For the most part, it was true. Kagome did find it hard to fear Kikyo. Even when there were obviously times that she should've...
"I fear the connection you have with Inuyasha," Kagome whispered.
Something about the strangeness of the other girl's proximity was causing her to feel more honest and vulnerable than she ever had before.
"And I fear yours," Kikyo admitted quietly.
Kagome was startled at the revelation. What could Kikyo possibly have to fear about her relationship with Inuyasha? He'd made it painfully clear where his true loyalty lay, always abandoning their group to seek out his dead ex.
The weight of the other girl's confession bore down on Kagome's nerves until her cheeks flushed pink with an odd sort of anger.
"Yeah, well, he's made it quite clear who he'd choose if it came down between us."
Kikyo regarded Kagome silently, neither judging nor appraising. She could suddenly understand the addiction Inuyasha had for riling this girl up. She was quite beautiful when she was passionate about something, and her bright red blush was regrettably a feature all her own.
Kikyo had never been one to let loose her emotions so freely...but it was an enviable trait.
"Don't presume so much," she said. "I've already told you I'm not here for Inuyasha."
"Then why are you here?"
"I've already told you my reasons," Kikyo said waspishly, sharing in some of that strange anger.
For a long while, both girls were silent. Kikyo watched her other self with unbridled curiosity while Kagome attempted to be more subtle. Only stealing glimpses of the older girl.
Then, Kikyo's fingers were on Kagome's arm.
"We truly are the same," she said. "Both jealous of each other, yet transfixed by one another as well. I should want Inuyasha all to myself. It is, after all, my intention to have his company in Hell. Yet..."
"You feel guilty about it, too," Kagome finished for her.
"Yes." Strangely enough.
"I know the feeling. Your time with him has passed and I feel like he should belong to me on account of that alone, but I also wouldn't want to see your connection severed. Regardless of my own feelings."
Both girls took a moment to let such monumental revelations sink in.
Kikyo's fingers squeezed gently before retracting altogether. Her gaze shifted from Kagome's parted lips and watery eyes to the bright orange container of something just beyond the water's edge.
Guessing at its purpose, she decided to lighten the encounter.
"You have such strange amenities at your disposal."
"Hehe, you mean the shampoo," Kagome followed her line of sight. "I guess it would seem strange to you. It was to Sango and the others at first, too...Would you like to try some?"
"Sham-poo..?" Kikyo tested the word on her tongue.
"For your hair."
She gave a curt nod and swept ebony locks off her shoulders to trail down her back. Kagome grabbed the bottle to squirt some into the other girl's palm, but was astounded to find Kikyo with her back turned expectantly.
"Would you mind? I know it's personal, but Kaede used to tend my hair when I was alive. I've never had much patience for its thickness."
"Um, sure," Kagome hedged, pouring a generous dollop into her own palm.
The older girl's hair was a thing of beauty. Like living, black seaweed it curled and clung to Kagome's fingers as she worked a thick lather. When it came time to suds the scalp, she tentatively leaned into Kikyo's back and felt the slick slide of skin on skin.
"There we go."
Kikyo obligingly dipped lower so her reincarnation could rinse it out. She sniffed the air one last time, savoring the mixture's complex scent like a medicinal syrup.
"It reminds me of a honey tincture I used to stew for Kaede when she fell ill."
"That's pretty close. It's called 'Warm Vanilla Spice'."
WIth the strands now clean and gleaming, Kagome stepped back from her double.
Kikyo turned, reaching for the bottle as she did.
"It is only right that I return the favor."
"Oh, you don't have to!" Kagome blushed. "Sango can get mine when she gets back."
The older girl ignored her, deftly securing the bottle before any further protests.
"Still uncomfortable with my presence, I see."
"Don't take it personal. This is just...odd."
Steady hands on her shoulders guided Kagome until her back faced the other miko.
Kikyo's fingers were magic. They had to be in order to erase all the anxiety from Kagome in just a scant few minutes. The hands in her hair carefully detangled and massaged until the fingertips cut through its mass like a knife through hot butter.
"Such lovely hair. So very like Kaede's," she murmured.
"Thank you."
When Kikyo's hands stilled, Kagome dunked her head underwater and scrubbed at her scalp vigorously until the soap was completely removed and floating in a bubbly ring around them.
Instead of allowing awkwardness to charge the air once more, Kikyo stood to take her leave.
"It has been a pleasure, Kagome. I mean that."
When she was but waist-deep at the onsen's shore, however, Kagome felt an inexplicable tug on her heartstrings.
"Kikyo, wait!"
The older girl stilled, turning to face her reincarnation once again.
"Do you-I mean, should I tell Inuyasha?"
Instead of answering, Kikyo regarded her like a statue. Kagome had moved away from her protective rock so that she stood to her full height, bare-chested and breathless. The hotspring's steam was doing lovely things for her skin, flushing it a flattering pink.
Kikyo allowed her eyes to drift guilelessly over the other girl's body. She'd had a body like that once...when she'd been truly alive. She could remember coming into her own and suddenly realizing one day that she had breasts. The giddiness she'd felt as she looked down her kimono's front to see twin peaks of dusty rose. So much like Kagome's, whose nipples had hardened at the air's cool contrast to the onsen's heat...
Kagome should've been embarrassed -would have been just moments ago- but now she found herself indulging in her own perusal of Kikyo's body. It did little to help her self-esteem as Kikyo's bust was fuller, well-rounded and tipped with glossy, pale pink areolas. Like frozen rosebuds. Her decolletage was an unblemished expanse of marble, the fatal scar left by Naraku it's singular, insignificant flaw...
Both remembering themselves simultaneously, Kagome sunk to a more appropriate level while Kikyo bared all to tug on her priestess garb again. The material felt scratchy and heavy against her skin. Restrictive.
She retrieved her bow and quiver of arrows, too.
"I've quite enjoyed your company, Kagome, and if the fates are kind we shall meet again. Who knows? Maybe I shall desire your company when my abominable reanimation draws to a close."
With that, she joined the shadows as mysteriously as she had shed them mere moments ago.
Kagome's heart thundered, and when she first heard leaves rustling, she kind of hoped it was Kikyo returning for something. Anything.
It wasn't.
Instead, a flushed Sango emerged with Hiraikotsu slung over her shoulder. Just in case...
"How long have you been there?"
"Long enough."
"Do you think she knew?"
"She definitely knew, but I didn't sense any threat from her. Just a desire for privacy."
"Oh," Kagome said, still turned half-heartedly toward where Kikyo'd disappeared.
"That was-weird."
"Yeah, tell me about it."
Sango extended a hand to help her out. "I think she implied that she wanted you to die with her."
Kagome shook her head to clear it of both water and the strange fog that kept her from dissecting her current situation.
"I don't know if I should feel frightened or flattered by it."
"I'd be a bit of both."
But Kagome didn't feel threatened. More like complete in ways she wasn't prepared to understand. Yet.
"C'mon, let's get back before the boys get worried."
"Oh, I don't think Miroku will be worrying about anything for a while," Sango said smugly.
Kagome laughed.
This entire universe was so absurd. To think she'd befriended a perverted monk and his elusive demon slayer quarry. Or a boy who was part-man, part-dog. Much less a dead priestess, who happened to be her former self...
Truly, laughably absurd.