They stood on the beach, watching the sunset beneath the horizon. They stood for hours, not saying a word to each other. He was simply not the of the talkative sort, and she didn't know what to say. What did one say to somebody they hadn't seen in five hundred years and suddenly walks back into her life? The other day in the coffee shop, that was different. Kagome spent her time merely taking him in, and they barely touched upon the past. She could not speak openly of the well as long as they were in a public coffee shop, nor could he speak of his years with others listening.
And fifteen minutes only allowed for the barest of pleasantries to be exchanged.
"There's a well on my property," she began, brushing the wind-blown hair out of her face. "I don't know how, but somehow it developed a time vortex and it doubled as a portal. One day I accidentally fell into it and I pulled myself up into the feudal era, five hundred years ago. It was on my fifteenth birthday. And I thought my biggest problem that day was what to do with the monkey's hand my grandfather gave me as a gift."
She heard him chuckle and stood amazed for a moment. In the fifteen minutes she had enjoyed with him the other day, Kagome had witnessed the range of emotion that crossed his face. The Sesshoumaru she once knew had somehow disappeared. While he was still stoic in nature, she'd have never thought that he knew how to feel. How had Inuyasha managed to influence her perceptions like that? She imagined it would take a bit to get used to this. "As I wandered and travelled through the years, I began to see more girls dress as you did in recent years. Upon seeing the different school uniforms of today, I could only conclude that somehow you were a girl from this time as well, sent back."
"My mother calls it my destiny," she confessed, bending so that she fell to the ground, her knees resting in the sand. "I think it's the only way she knows how to cope with what happened, or with the idea that my journey to the past wasn't all sunshine and roses, that there was actual danger. I had a purpose, a goal to achieve. I was destined to save the world from darkness. That's how she sees it."
"Your mother is very perceptive," he acknowledged, standing above her. Kagome scowled, wishing he'd at least step to the side. Very little seemed to have changed and at the moment, she found him to be rather intimidating, despite the fact that she felt safe with him. But she didn't like him towering over her. It made her feel small...fragile...human. "You would not have been sent back if your presence was not required."
"And yet I didn't do anything to help defeat Naraku. I was a hindrance. I barely knew how to fight. If it weren't for my reiki, the arrows I shot would have done nothing. And I have no official training." She didn't know why all of these things were pouring out of her mouth. Perhaps it was because she finally had somebody she could speak to, somebody who was there, and didn't think her crazy. All of her friends had believed her sick. Most had moved on when they graduated high school. She was still taking night classes, trying to catch up on what she had missed. She wasn't anywhere near their level and while they insisted they loved her dearly, she could understand why they didn't stick around. They were all in university. They had met a new crowd, one at their level. Who wouldn't want that in their life? But if she had told them her story was legitimate, that wasn't just merely a story that she had come up with and needed to be told, she'd be thought of as crazy. They all knew of Inuyasha, her 'deadbeat boyfriend'. They didn't want to know anything about who he truly was.
"Your impact was far greater than you would have ever known. Inuyasha and I met and spoke over it once. He was old, ready to move on with his life. You helped him reach that point. He had told me that you allowed him to see perspective. Seeing as he was a stubborn child to begin with, I'd say this was quite a feat."
Kagome smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes. So much time had passed and yet it wasn't enough. Sesshoumaru brought it all back simply by standing next to her and she didn't know if she should kiss him for it, thank him for the memories, or scream and yell. She had spent so much of her time trying to move past it. Writing it down, immortalizing the story as she was doing was supposed to be her way of moving past, of moving forward. He was bringing it back to a stand still.
"For a man who has always had nothing to say, you seem to be saying a lot today," she teased, pushing the sand into small piles with her hands. She needed to keep them busy, occupied.
"One only speaks when one has something to say."
The sentence was cryptic to say the least. "You've changed."
"We've all changed," he countered. "Time has forced me to adapt. Youkai have all but disappeared, only a handful of us left. Most got to be too greedy and ignored the growing strength of the human race. I swore that I would not fall into that trap." He looked out to the shore. "These lands are still mine by birthright. You'll never find acknowledgement of this in your human books, nor would I ever try to legally claim them, but I know."
"How can you stand to watch them fall apart?" she asked, brushing the sand off her hands before standing up. She tired of him standing over her. She was tired of everybody standing over her so to speak. Still, she had difficulty looking at him, meeting his eyes. The intensity was still there, and they still reminded her of Inuyasha. "Five hundred years ago I stood in this spot and saw trees for as far as I could see. I could travel half a day's walk from here and come across a hot spring. Any development was farmland. Now it's all buildings and roads. Concrete. Some of it can be pretty; most of it is not. I know you would have never wanted to see anything like this. We humans have destroyed it. I probably didn't know how much until I was able to take the time to stand back and just look around."
"Change is inevitable. I cannot stop it. I can control it. There are agencies designed to preserve what was once there."
"And you, how have you changed? Other than being this talkative?"
There was a small boardwalk about a mile down the beach, Kagome noted as they turned toward it and began walking. When he had called earlier and asked her to come for a drive with him, she had no idea that he meant all the way out to the coast. Her mother wouldn't be worried, she knew, as she had already spoken with her regarding Sesshoumaru. Her mother thought it would be the closure she needed. She didn't need closure. She didn't need to forget. She just wanted both, and had spent so much time trying to get both while moving forward with her own life. It was funny. She had thought she was nearly there, finally content with where she was and all it took was one coffee for her to realize that she was nowhere near close.
Still, she had moved on somewhat. She no longer really grieved over what she had lost. There wasn't that deep, blinding pain that she first felt when she was removed from the others. So maybe this was the final step she needed. It felt right anyway, standing here and talking with him. "What is it that you do to pass time? Five hundred years is a long time to live without doing anything."
"For a human, yes," he conceded, leading them down the way. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, his silver hair blowing in the breeze coming off the ocean. She was still shocked to see it cut so short, though she guessed that was part of his of blending in. Silver hair stood out if you weren't over the age of sixty, and Sesshoumaru didn't look a day over twenty-five. Keeping it long would make him that much more of an oddity. He wouldn't be able to hide amongst the humans. "For a youkai such as myself five hundred years is nothing more than a blip. Still, wealth needed to be accrued. It was quickly becoming apparent that it was no longer physical power and might that ruled this world, but gold. Survival tactics changed. I spent many years dealing in antiquities. I still have a collection and every now and again I'll put a piece to auction."
"So that's it? The great and powerful Sesshoumaru does nothing but auction off the pieces he's collected over the years?"
"No," he smirked. "Knowledge is power. You knew this first hand with your schooling. Inuyasha once told me that despite how much he despised your tests, there were times where what you had learned here was useful back then. How did it feel, Kagome? Do you remember how it felt knowing that you knew something that others didn't? And it was often successful?"
"Arrogant," she admitted. "I felt arrogant and proud knowing that nobody else but me could have known such a thing. It was such a useless thing to feel because it has gotten me nowhere. I'm still struggling to finish my high school, and maybe, just maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll find a local college who will be willing to take on a mature student."
"One day," he murmured. "There are scholarships available for students such as yourself. Some schools will accept mature students. It softens their look when it comes to funding and grants from some of the older donors. I told you. Money talks."
"So, you never answered my question," she prodded, ignoring his previous comment regarding grants. She knew it was wishful thinking, though, as a shrine child she maybe able to get a small one. Some agencies she knew would smile upon those in service to others. She had spent many years, and still did work for her grandfather at the shrine.
"I teach," he replied simply. "History to be exact, at Tokyo University."
"I guess you would have a speciality in that field," she teased.
He smirked, yet said nothing. This was the Sesshoumaru that she knew, silent, stoic, yet was able to convey his thoughts in a single wordless gesture. She had often seen this by-play with Inuyasha. Only then the smirk was dangerous. Today it was more teasing in nature. He was the same, yet different. Much like herself he had grown and evolved.
"I'd love to travel again," she smiled wistfully, thankful that she had somebody she could speak to of such matters openly. Or at least she hoped. He looked at her, but didn't say a word, just simply allowed her to speak her mind. It was refreshing to know that she could bring these things up without judgement. "I think if I've learned one thing in my travels to and from the feudal era, it's the discovery of new things. I can't afford it, but I want to earn enough money where I could travel, see the world, learn new things through experience."
"It's a foolish dream," she conceded, coming to this conclusion before he could say anything. "There are things that tie me down here. It's funny how I've reached my destiny, I've saved mankind from darkness, and yet I still don't know what it is that will really make me happy. Me, not everybody else. It's selfish, but I think it's my turn now."
"From one selfish being to another, it's expected."
"And yet you offer me no words of inspiration. Thank you. I'm tired of falsities"
Bright lights entered their field of view. Shops were lined up along the boardwalk offering all sorts of paraphernalia that she knew tourists swamped over. They were all the same, whether here at the boardwalk buying souvenirs or at her shrine during festivals buying her charms. "I'm in the mood for some ice cream," she changed the subject, walking ahead. "Want some?"
He shook his head, but pulled out his wallet anyway. It was a good night, she decided. Emotional, philosophical, and certainly not what she could consider an ideal date, though they weren't on a date. But she had found somebody who understood her and for the first time, she found herself in a relaxed state. It was enough for now.
AN:
Part two of Dokuga_Contest's Six Course Menu Challenge. This is for the second prompt: Bisque, which is spooning Cream and savouring flavours. And no, the spooning cream isn't the scooping of the ice cream lol. That was added for giggles. I'm looking at this as adding more depth, beginning to enjoy each other's company. That's the fun of interpreting prompts.
Anyway, a big thank you is going to go out to Wiccan as well, who will no doubt be along shortly with her mighty red pen and begin editing out my errors. Thank you Wiccan! I need to make you a new beta banner soon :P
