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He stood on a hillside above the Higurashi shrine at sunset, waiting eagerly for his quarry to appear. She was entirely too predictable, he thought smugly as he focused his binoculars. When she bothered going to school she always came home exactly the same way, something even the densest of fools could pick up on. Again, worry ate at the very edges of his mind but he shoved it away ruthlessly. First, he needed to be sure.
There she was! A green skirt billowed at the top of the shrine stairs and the boy zeroed in on her quickly. He had to make sure it was really her and not one of her insipid friends, but there was little doubt even without magnifaction. Her step was heavier than most, more purposeful...even at school she moved with power, unconsciously broadcasting her strength. Boys were afraid to approach her alone for reasons they couldn't name; girls felt more comfortable around her in groups. He grinned through his binoculars. He too had been drawn to worship her, before he learned who she was.
She stopped inside the house for a bit, allowing him a short bathroom break at a convenient tree, and came out with a yellow backpack twice the size of her brother (who was following her with an armful of--textbooks? He wiped the binocular lenses but the picture didn't change. Huh.) Kagome's mother followed at a respectful distance, holding what appeared to be a mountain of bentou boxes, and her grandfather was waddling behind the trio carrying something entirely undistinguishable. Perhaps a charm of some sort.
The brother traipsed on ahead to an old building, then slid a rickety door aside. The watcher leaned forward eagerly, focusing hard on the open doorway. It was difficult to see inside the structure given the lack of lighting, but it seemed that he could make out the very familiar shape of an old well. So it did still exist, he realized numbly. He'd never dreamed it was on the Higurashi property.
Goodbyes were brief but unmistakeable, the brother giving the girl a fierce hug and the grandfather wiping away a few tears. Kagome refused grandfather's--whatever-it-was and accepted her mother's kiss. Staggering under the weight of her pack, she struggled into the well house.
He zoomed the binoculars as hard as he could.
Her skirt flashed in the gloom of the well house and he thanked the lucky stars for their school's poor fashion sense. He tracked the skirt eagerly, watching as she tossed the bentou in the well, following with her pack...watched as she swung her legs over the edge.
She dove feet-first into the well and the resulting flash made his eyes water.
The surge of magic rolled over him even at such a distance, and he nearly dropped his binoculars. The last traces of doubt faded from his mind.
"I don't believe it." the watcher breathed incredulously. "It's really her. Son of a bitch."
"I told you so." another voice rumbled flatly. "Why must you continuously doubt me?"
A blond man, or at least pale-haired enough to be called such, was striding purposefully up the hillside in plain view of the well house. In plain view of everything, actually...the idiot's beige work suit stood out like a sore thumb against the grass. Houjou breathed a sigh of exasperation and buried his hand in his tangled hair.
"What are you doing!?" the boy groused, giving his companion a petulant scowl. "She could have seen you!"
"They did not notice me." the man stated blandly as he closed the distance between them. "Her senses are not honed enough yet and the family is too foolish to--"
Houjou raised an eyebrow.
"...and I didn't realize it concerns you so much." his companion finished with a huff. "You are entirely too jittery these days." It wasn't much of an apology, but Houjou had learned to take what he could get.
Glittering hazel eyes met his briefly. "You never used to be this nervous."
For an instant the hazel in the man's eyes wavered before he stepped out of his illusion spell altogether. It hung there in front of him, suspended motionless in the fading sky. From a distance, it looked as if a blond man were viewing the sunset. Up close, one could see the silver-haired youkai turning away from the sun. Houjou saw them both at once, and the effect was more than a little unnerving.
"I do wish you wouldn't look like that!" the boy scowled, giving the youkai beside him a less-than-polite elbow. "It's creepy."
"This form is convenient." Sesshoumaru noted. "Would you rather your foolish little friends see me like this?" He stretched out his claws menacingly.
"No!" Houjou groaned. "I meant...oh, you know..." He waved desperately at the ghostly illusion.
"Oh." the youkai realized, and dismissed the spell with a practiced burst of energy. Its body and limbs crumpled like parchment as they faded, shattering into a thousand pieces. Only the head remained intact, solemn and eerie against the autumn sky. Houjou shivered in spite of himself.
"Stop sniveling." Sesshoumaru commanded. "It's not a ghost, idiot." The head finally vanished, leaving only the slightest shimmer in its wake.
"I know that!" Houjou retorted, crossing his arms in a show of resilience. "It's just...conditioning from this life." he concluded. "Momma raised me to throw salt over my shoulder and watch out for Boojums." he grinned.
"It is possible." the youkai agreed. "Your memories were Awoken fairly late. Many of your traits conflict with your last incarnation."
"Oh?" the school boy asked. "So my other self wasn't afraid of ghosts then?"
"I should think not. You were always so--" Sesshoumaru snorted, before catching himself.
"Always what?" Houjou pressed, grinning. The youkai did not reply. "Always brave? Powerful? Popular with the ladies?"
"I was going to say "stupid", but it hardly needs mentioning."
"Hey!" Houjou aimed a friendly punch at the other's arm and failed spectacularly. "Ow!" he yelped as Sesshoumaru returned his fist to him with a less-than-friendly squeeze.
"Sorry." the youkai said, in a voice that suggested he wasn't really sorry at all.
"Careful with the hand!" the boy admonished, sucking on his bruised fingers. "I have violin practice tonight, you know."
"So why did you come up here then? You're going to be late." the youkai mentioned in a slightly patronizing tone. "What were you doing?"
"Watching." Houjou replied absently. He wasn't particularly in the mood to play games. Sesshoumaru knew damn well what he was doing on the Higurashi's property, and it wasn't really any of his business to begin with.
"There isn't much to see, this time of day." Sesshoumaru noted, surveying the dimming sunset. "The lights blind the stars." he breathed sadly.
"Well, that's Tokyo for you." the school boy replied glibly. "City of a Million Street Lights. Anyhow, I just verified something I've suspected for a while. She is our Kagome."
"You didn't need to come all the way out here to figure that out." the youkai replied. "You could have just..." He paused and gave Houjou a scathing glare. "You were going to approach her about it!" he accused.
"Moi? Of course not!" the boy replied flippantly. "How could you doubt my integrity! For shame!" he clutched his chest dramatically. Sesshoumaru looked titanically unconvinced.
"Oh, who cares!" Houjou snapped, turning away from the youkai. "So I'm just a tinsy bit curious, okay? I want to know what happened! Is that a crime?"
"I already told you," Sesshoumaru replied, in the weary tone of one who has repeated himself many times, "it isn't wise to know the future."
"This isn't the future!" Houjou scowled. "It's the past. MY past!" he remarked pointedly. "Besides, who's fault is it that I know anyways!? My life was going just fine without you." Sesshoumaru flinched slightly, then recovered.
"...your memories might have returned to you anyways, given time."
"Like hell they would!" the boy harrumphed. "Who barged into our classroom and yelled my other name? Who kept trying to convince me to stop by your office and 'take a good look' at you? I thought you were crazy!"
"Point taken."
"And if I didn't know any better, I'd suspect you took that coaching job just so you could come aggravate me..."
Sesshoumaru remained suspiciously silent.
"...you didn't."
"I will admit to some indiscretion on my part."
"Indiscretion?!" Houjou yelped. "That isn't the half of it! I'll have you know--" He noticed the strange, wilted look on Sesshoumaru's face and decided to relent. The dog really was far too easy to tease. "So now here I am, all alone in the world, and whatever will I do? Wherever shall I go?" he simpered in a poor imitation of an American Southern belle.
"Frankly, my dear charlatan, I don't give a damn." Sesshoumaru drolled. "You make your own choice."
"But you must stay with me!" the boy continued, batting his eyelashes dramatically. "My life is ruined! So much has changed!"
"You have gotten remarkably poorer grades recently." Sesshoumaru frowned. "Specifically for conduct."
"So? I just remembered how to have a little fun." Houjou grinned, flexing his fingers. "I haven't done anything terrible yet…"
"Or gotten caught at it." Sesshoumaru drolled. "I suppose that part hasn't changed. It was too much to hope you'd given up your perversities."
"Excuse me? I'll have you know that until you came into my life, I was the epitome of virtue--"
"Trying to make up for your past deeds, perhaps. It took long enough for you to be reincarnated as anything but a slug." the youkai sniffed.
"No! I had sincerely turned over a new leaf, in this life! I was nice to everybody, I got good grades, I helped schoolgirls across the street-"
"With your hand on their asses, no doubt."
"That's the crossing fee."
"…I can't believe you used to be monk."
"Neither can I." Houjou remarked blithely. "I only know what you tell me." He folded his arms. "So why won't you tell me what happens to us?"
"As I said, it isn't wise for one to know too much of their past--"
"I thought it was future I wasn't supposed to know about?" the boy pestered. "What, so I can't know anything but the Present?"
"That's about the size of it." the youkai snapped.
"Would we have had a future?" the boy innocently remarked. "I honestly don't remember what became of us."
Sesshoumaru said nothing, but he did not turn away.
"I suppose I'll be settling for the Present, then." the boy smirked, and moved to twine his fingers with the youkai's. Sesshoumaru jerked toward him, startled by the contact. "I'll wrestle the truth out of you later." he promised. "On a mattress, if I have to." the boy winked.
Sesshoumaru snorted, but the faintest hint of red touched his cheeks.
"See you at school, Kagome." Houjou smirked, waving at the well house. "Hope I don't grope you too much in the Past."