Disclaimer: I own only the Water God's Child, the priest of the lonely shrine in the mountains and his assistant mikos.
Author's (rather long) note: CU/AR. This begins in the manga universe, with a passing reference to Inuyasha Movie 3 and Movie 4, before ending up in the present time. There will be no attempt to explain how Sesshoumaru and Kagome got and ended up together because that's been done before by many a fine fan fiction authors (that's just a convoluted way of saying "I is lazy"). There are quite a few character deaths in this narrative, next to no happily-ever-after and a twist of lime, just for flavour. Kagome is about 16 years old at the start of this fic, but please bear in mind the setting and context. Any and all inaccuracies pertaining to rites and rituals mentioned in this piece of fiction are the direct result for my lack of research and knowledge.
This baby was drafted out in mid-February 2010 and completed somewhere in March the same year. I think it's high time I shared it, nu? I vacillated so much between posting and not posting that it's hardly amusing.
01: Maiden, Maiden, Tell Me True…
More than a year had passed since the time portal closed. While Inuyasha went to the well every three days or so, just in case the portal had opened again, he sometimes wandered away, all over the lands. Today, he found himself leaping up the slopes on the foothills of a mountain, relishing the fresh air, the greenery and the general sense of peace, running hard and bounding over rocks, logs and streamlets until he scented something on the breeze, something that made his spine stiffen in shock. He could smell another hanyou, along with his half-brother and... a familiar smell – faint and somewhat static as it the scent had been frozen - but utterly unmistakable. The tempo of his heart increased with the onslaught of emotions; the presence of his half brother or the hanyou he could dismiss, but he could not ignore that last smell.
Turning his face to the direction of those scents, Inuyasha ran and ran until he stumbled upon a clearing. In that clearing stood a modest house. That too, he could ignore at any given day, if not for that fact that his nose led him there, where those three scents were the strongest. A female hanyou, older than he was by a few centuries, stood before the house, crouched defensively with an unsheathed blade in her hand. Eyeing him warily with enormous sloe eyes, she sniffed discreetly. Her elongated brown ears swivelled and twitched as she straightened slowly.
"Inuyasha-sama?" she asked tentatively.
"Who are you?" he demanded in return, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword.
"My name is Kanoko. I am the caretaker of this house."
"I smell Sesshoumaru. Is he here?" Inuyasha growled.
"Yes, of course, he is. This is, after all, his home." She sheathed her short sword and bowed, gesturing politely for him to follow. They rounded the house and came to a veranda at the back, where Sesshoumaru was sitting, in perfect seiza posture, seemingly lost in contemplation as he stared at the vista before him. Kanoko bowed and left them. While Sesshoumaru looked outwardly calm and still, Inuyasha could smell the heavy pall of sadness and despair, two emotions he would never attribute to the daiyoukai. Heck, he doubted the bastard even had a heart beneath that armour. The tangible emotions coming from his half-brother made him uneasy. Inuyasha crossed his arms and glared at Sesshoumaru, who did not yet acknowledge his presence.
"Why is it," Inuyasha grounded out, "that I smell Kagome in this place, when she is no longer here?"
"This is a calendar. This is how we mark days in my time."
She showed him a piece of shiny white card, small enough to fit in her palm and explained to him the divisions of months, weeks and days, pointing to each one as she spoke. "Where I come from," she paused, a light blush blooming on her cheeks, "this date coincides with our wedding day." The waves of pleasure and pride emanating from her scent almost made him smile.
She offered him the hard white card. He took it from her and studied the numbers on it, making special note of that significant date.
"And when were you born?"
She twisted her head to peruse the card he now held in his hands, one finger tapping on her chin.
"Ah, here it is. This date," her finger pointed out the date of her birth before moving to the four digits at the top the card. "Sixteen years prior to this year."