Chapter Two -
Kagome hadn't meant to get so lost in thought; lost in her memories, but with the alcohol dulling her faculties she couldn't seem to help it. She had been more than a little surprised to hear his familiar deep voice rumbling out of the person that had suddenly saved her from being hit by that speeding car. When she realized that she was hugging him, she cursed herself mentally and moved away to put a little distance between them. She couldn't think with the image of the last time she had seen him and bravely hugged him plaguing her. Not to mention, how surprisingly good it felt to be that close to him, and confess her grief, even if it had been mostly accidental.
"I confess I am surprised to see you here, miko," he emphasized and she knew in a heartbeat that he had never been told the truth about her appearance in Feudal times and the magic of the well when combined with the Shikon Jewel.
"Oh, yeah," she commented, her buzz fading very slowly, but her common sense still impaired. "I'd be surprised to see me if I were you too," she continued in the same amiable and conversational tone, as she knew no other way to handle the situation at the moment. "As I am just a lowly human and don't have the seemingly endless lifespan of a taiyokai, like yourself," she said at a much louder volume than was wise to do while discussing such things.
"Perhaps we should move this conversation to a more private location," he hissed suddenly and looked around to make sure no humans had overheard her careless words.
"Umm…" was the only sound she got out before he was pulling her toward the parking lot on the side of the building that housed the club. He stopped briefly before all but throwing her into the passenger seat of a sleek, black sedan that was extremely expensive looking. "But I need to…" she began again, but was cut off when he slammed the door shut, "Get home," she continued as she watched him walk around to the drivers' side of the car before climbing gracefully behind the wheel. Her fear of him, that had been pretty nonexistent the last time she had seen him, snuck up on her a bit as she realized she was now completely alone with him at the moment. At least he didn't throw me in the back seat, she thought, or worse yet, the trunk.
"Where do you live?" he asked without preamble as he started the car.
"Wait a second!" she exclaimed when the anachronism of him driving her anywhere suddenly hit her. "Since when do you drive?" she asked incredulously. He chuckled at her as he pulled smoothly out of the parking space, but stopped before pulling out of the lot to look over at her with a slight smile. To Kagome his reaction was very surprising and she had to ignore the sudden fluttering in her stomach his smile and chuckle had caused.
"Since the horseless carriage arrived in Japan," he answered blithely, his smile growing into a grin.
"Oh," she uttered, for lack of knowing or having anything else to say. Her brain was still apparently having trouble computing the fact he had been alive for so long, that five hundred years really had passed for him since they had seen each other last. "I guess that's alright then," she said at last, knowing it sounded ridiculous.
"I'm glad it meets with your approval," he told her his voice full of laughter, "Now, where do you live?" he asked again. The latent authority that seemed to always reside in his deep, velvety voice had her relating her address before she really realized what she was doing. It was then she understood exactly how dulled her brain still was. She hoped it got clearer soon; she really needed it at the moment.
"Why?" she asked him warily.
"I needed to know which of our homes was closer to the club to decide which one to drive to," he replied matter-of-factly as he finally pulled out of the parking lot and turned in the direction of her family's home. "Your home is closer, so we will go there." he said, answering her next question before she had to ask it.
"What exactly do you want from me?" she asked him with a nervous glance at his perfect features. She did not feel much better when he chuckled again at her question.
"Answers, miko," he replied simply. "You've made me very intrigued and interested in finding them since you are somehow alive." Kagome swallowed and nodded, understanding since she had about a million questions she wanted to ask him if she ever got the chance as well.
Sesshomaru looked at the little miko sitting next to him in the small confines of the interior of his car. He was extremely aware of the differences since the least time he had seen her suddenly. His beast made quite sure he was very aware of the changes in her body once more, and how her scent was very potent inside this small space. To distract himself, he thought back over the last five hundred years. He may have changed a great deal since he had seen the woman beside him, he had become more accustomed to and at peace with the way the world was now. But the world itself had changed so very much more during that time.
As the world he had known back then had begun to change, he realized that he would have to change as well or become obsolete. He did and began to slowly adapt to the human dominated world over time. The human population seemed to explode exponentially even as his own kind became all but extinct, their numbers severely decimated. Those that weren't destroyed by reacting violently to the ever-encroaching humanity, fled for the secret and unknown places of the world that humanity had yet to discover. Over time those places too almost disappeared and it was back to the choices of adapt or die. Living among humans in the area of Edo, which became the bustling metropolis of Tokyo, Sesshomaru became accustomed to their strange ways, and to blending in with them for his own survival. Part of him missed the days when he had roamed his lands, the lands of his father, as a way of life. Back then it had to be to keep the lower ranking yokai in line and retain his title of Lord of the Western Lands. But as he watched the number of his fellow yokai drop dramatically, the cooperation between those remaining rose as well; the need to keep from becoming completely extinct on the forefront of all of their minds. The in-fighting between yokai soon all but ceased and those that still sought power turned their sights to a different kind as capitalism and such ideals took hold of the world.
Sesshomaru was unable to keep from gasping in surprise when the familiarity of the neighborhood he was now driving through hit him. He knew all of Japan so well; especially what was now the Tokyo Metro area, he saw it like a living map in his mind whenever he travelled, but he must not have realized where the address she had given him was leading him as he had been distracted by the miko and his memories. He now realized this area was very familiar indeed, especially in regard to the woman beside him. The miko looked over to him curiously at his sound of surprise before she seemed to realize why he had made it. Understanding lit her gaze as she told him to turn into the next driveway and where to park his car. He could not help looking at the Goshinboku, still growing taller than ever after all this time, as he pulled into the instructed driveway. He had known that the humans had built a shrine around it and the ancient well not very far away, but he hadn't been here in an extremely long time. Remembering the name of the shrine suddenly and realizing it was the same as her family name he thoroughly kicked himself for not making the connection before.
"You live here?" he asked as he followed the miko as she led him to the building that now contained the Bone Eater's Well. She smiled up at him with a strange sadness in her eyes and aura once more.
"Not here exactly," she replied cheekily as she opened the door and walked down the stairs toward the well itself. "In the house on the property." She looked at the well once more with could only be called longing in her eyes.
"So, this is your family's shrine," he confirmed his earlier mental speculation. "I don't know how I never made the connection before," he muttered in a way that she could tell he was mostly talking to himself.
"Yes," she confirmed his thoughts once more. He was glad that that explained the coincidence of the shrine's name, but not how she was still alive in this time.
"How is it you are still alive, miko?" he asked her with a crook of one brow and in a very simple and straightforward manner, seeking to get to the heart of the matter.
"I'm not surprised InuYasha never told you," she said with a quick chuckle, but not answering his burning curiosity as yet. He couldn't help the way he almost flinched at hearing his brother's name spoken so casually by someone after so long. "But," she continued, "Kaede was very adamant about none outside her and our little group knowing. And besides InuYasha and her, no one really understood what was really happening anyway." She spoke the last part offhandedly and making him even more curious. Memories of that time were flashing through his mind at the mention of his brother and the rest of them. He closed his eyes and willed the memories away, wanting to keep to the point.
"Didn't want them to know what?" he asked once his thoughts were under control once more.
"I came through the well, you see," she began in explanation, "I'm from this time, was born here," she confessed.
"How is that possible?" he queried incredulously, "Though it would explain a lot," he muttered a moment later.
"I'll tell you," she said, "But no more interruptions," she seemingly ordered him and he smiled down at her, her fiery personality still in tact. He motioned for her to continue. "It happened seven years ago," she began with a sigh, "I came in here because my brother, Sota, thought he heard our cat, Buyo, in here somewhere. And because Sota is more of a scaredy-cat than Buyo he didn't want to come in here alone. Anyway," she murmured as she walked toward the well, leaning against it with a look at the lid that seemed to be covered with broken sutras of some kind. "It all happened so fast, so I don't remember all the details," she said as she seemed to be gathering her memories. "We heard what we thought was Buyo making noise under this lid as we got close to it. Then, suddenly something came out of the well and pulled me down with it and it most definitely was not Buyo. It was a centipede yokai," she told him, intriguing him. She smiled a weird smile as she continued.
"Though, at the time, all I knew was there was a monster attacking me. She was raving about something, but I was just worried about surviving. I pushed her away then and for some magical reason she actually let me go and disappeared out the well. I managed to come away unscathed and climbed out of the well, wondering why my brother wasn't answering my calls for help. But when I climbed out of the well the shrine and everything else was gone. The only thing I recognized even slightly was the Goshinboku and even it was different. It also just so happened to be the tree I found InuYasha sealed to when I ran to it hoping to find anything or anyone I recognized." She sighed again as she stared at the well's cover while tracing the patterns in the wood with her fingers.
"Before I could do anything but wonder if he was dead and why he had dog ears on the top of his head," she laughed and he couldn't help but smiling down at her in return, "A group of men from Kaede's village bound me and literally dragged me back there." He saw her smiling at the memories, but there was a deep sadness within her as well. He could feel it and see the way it bogged down her aura. "Kaede eventually told me that I was Kikyo's reincarnation and the Shikon no Tama had been reborn inside of me as well. That was why the yokai seemed drawn to me." This confirmed part of what others had told him and explained things that hadn't made sense before. He did as she asked and didn't interrupt with more questions. She was answering them without him having to bother anyway, so he did nothing to stop her as she continued.
"Anyway, to make an incredibly long story short, I'll cut to the parts you already know about," she sighed, "I took the arrow out of InuYasha so he would kill the Centipede Lady that attacked me again while I was trying to make it back to the well, but instead he threatened to kill me and Kaede and a group of villagers that had come to fight the yokai, if we didn't hand over the jewel. Kaede used her gift to put the rosary around his neck that allowed me to subdue him before he got to me," she snorted and turned with a venomous glare in his direction suddenly.
"He wanted to use the jewel's power to become a full yokai, you know," she said with a furious sadness aimed at him. "He was ostracized by both halves of himself. Humans seemed to fear him no matter how much he helped them and yokai wanted to kill him because of his tainted blood; because he was only a half-breed," she said the last words in contempt before looking and walking away from him and the well. He watched as the anger faded almost instantly from her and couldn't help scenting the salt from her fresh tears. Tears that she seemed to not want him to know she was crying.
"Anyway," she began again, "The jewel was eventually shattered into the shards that both of us are very familiar with." She smiled bittersweetly at this before blinking back more tears. "The shards made the well a portal that not only I could travel through, but InuYasha as well, between this time and back then. Which is good, or else I would have flunked out of school for sure," she commented then and he smiled at the irony of her words. "You know most of the rest," she told him as she walked back to lean against the well. "When I made that selfless wish on the jewel it sent me back here and closed the portal in the well for good." She sniffed at this, hiding a sniffle and more tears. "It's been five hundred years for you," she said with a strange look in her eyes and the sad smile back on her face, "But it's only been five years for me."
"That explains a lot," he repeated his previous sentiment, murmuring the words in a daze as he recovered from everything her story had made him think about and feel once more. He looked at her and saw she was staring at the well with a wistful look and he understood why now.
"I'm sure it does," she commented without looking up after he spoke. She pushed away from the well then and strode up to where he had been pacing until he was standing at the bottom of the stairs. "I never expected to see anyone I knew in the Feudal Ear again. I guess I should have realized that you and the other yokai I met, that didn't end up dead, that is, could be around here somewhere. Especially given the extraordinarily long lifespans you full-blooded yokai have," she said in a strange tone of voice that made both sides of his nature sit up and pay attention. He looked down at her and tried not to notice how beautiful she looked just now, illuminated only by the light of the full moon.
"I never expected to see you again," she repeated her earlier words outside the club, "Especially in the guise of a human," she added. He was so completely shocked again when she suddenly reached up to run her fingertips over his cheeks and forehead where his most prominent yokai markings were hiding under the magic he was used to wearing almost all the time. "It's weird seeing you without them," she whispered and made another bold move as she took a lock of his hair between her fingers. "And your hair," she added before their eyes met heatedly. She froze immediately, as if she had just realized what she was doing. He knew that was entirely possible given the alcohol that was still slowly making its' way out of her bloodstream. The miko stepped back a few paces very slowly and he could see fear, real fear that he hadn't sensed in several hundred years directed toward himself that was also showing plainly in her eyes. It saddened him to see such a reaction from her especially since it was such a reversal in attitude from seconds before.
"I'm sorry," she squeaked, her voice higher pitched with her fear and nervousness, "I must be a little tipsy still," she commented mostly to herself. The miko looked up at him and he could see she was bracing herself for his reaction. He sensed her curiosity as she waited for it as well. He smiled slyly for the way he longed to respond to the blushing miko staring up at him would probably surprise her more than if he were to take out the sword he no longer carried and strike her down.
"I'm afraid to disappoint you, miko," he drawled after taking some perverse pleasure in making her wait for his reaction. "But I don't kill as easily as I used to," he informed her, not telling her he hadn't actually killed a human in an extremely long time. "Besides, your kind has made it entirely too complicated after the fact," he commented dryly, the small smirk on his face familiar.
"Are there many yokai left?" she asked him curiously. She wasn't really sure at this point if his last comment had been meant as a joke or not.
"Not many," he answered in a subdued tone. "There are still some of us around, but I would not say many anymore."
"I'm sorry," she told him, surprising him once more with the sincerity in her voice.
"It's probably just as well," he told her blandly, "those who survived moved onto less populated areas, but that wasn't a solution. In the end we had to change our ways or become extinct."
"You seem to have adapted quite well," she told him suddenly with a rather assessing look up and down his body. His beast was whispering things; ideas to him that had his blood heating at this. "You haven't killed me yet," she continued, "And you're using pronouns. It's quite shocking," she breathed out in seemingly one breath then. She covered her mouth with her hand as blood rushed to her cheeks and she gasped. "I'm sorry," and it seemed to be the theme of the night. "Perhaps now isn't the best time for me to try and hold a logical conversation," she admitted with another flush of embarrassment staining her cheeks quite becomingly. He couldn't seem to ignore her beauty no matter how hard he tried. Though, his beast's attitude was not helping the matter in the slightest. Yes, he thought suddenly, the miko would be quite shocked to know how much I have adapted; how intimate my interactions with humans had become over the centuries. Especially certain females like herself. Due to the dwindling number of yokai females, beautiful or friendly ones especially, he had grudgingly rutted with humans through the years, but only at times when he knew they wouldn't or couldn't breed. He had even followed human customs and taken them out on dates and such things.
He was very aware of his growing need for a mate and heirs over the years. Especially since most he knew had already surpassed him in this area. But he had never really felt more than an easily sated lust for the women he had been with over the years; human and yokai alike. So, he had never really contemplated mating with anyone of them; or anyone at all really. Until now, his beast's voice spoke up suddenly, she is a beautiful and strong miko spiritually and physically, not just any human, as we have known all along, it told him. He silenced his inner voice and wondered if meeting her again had thrown him more than slightly off-balance. Well, his beast said; if you won't listen to me and even contemplate mating with her, yet, you could at least rut with the wench. Looking at the miko in the skimpy outfit she had gone clubbing in he couldn't help thinking the same thing. The way the slinky material of the low cut blouse she was wearing clung to her curves and the way the short skirt showed off her legs, he couldn't help wanting to keep looking at her beautifully matured form. He didn't know for sure if she was attracted to him in even a fraction of the same way he was to her. All those years ago there had been a spark of something during her goodbye, but many things change over time, as he was living proof. There is a way for us to find out, his beast told him, and if not we can still look. Now is not the time to think of such things, he yelled at his beast for corrupting his thoughts so much tonight. She was obviously still grieving the loss of her friends, including his brother. He knew the pain of loss all too well and knew only time would help heal her.
Kagome sighed in frustration with herself as she looked up at Sesshomaru. She couldn't deny he was one of the most beautiful people she had ever seen. He had such striking features, not to mention his hair, even when it was not its' real color it was still pretty shining in the moonlight like it was. He doesn't look right though, she told herself; he needs the slashes of color on his cheeks and eyelids, and the crescent moon on his brow. Not to mention his claws, pointed ears, and hair in its' true glorious silver color. Realizing she was staring at him, she dropped her gaze as she began to blush and cursed herself once more. I am never drinking again, she swore. Well, she amended suddenly, perhaps just one now and then. Yeah, she thought, that should be fine. She looked at her watch as a distraction and gasped when she saw the time. It was almost four-thirty in the morning.
"Oh, Kami, I can't believe how late it is already!" she exclaimed in a whisper, "I gotta get home or my mom will worry when she wakes up and finds out I'm not home yet."
"Of course," he replied smoothly and began walking up the steps. He opened the door for her and she couldn't help smile at the absurdity of the situation.
"I still have questions for you though," she told him sheepishly as he came up beside her as they walked the path that would take them by the Goshinboku once more.
"I expected as much," he commented lightly with a familiar smirk on his face.
"Well, this Kagome is happy not to disappoint you then," she told him playfully. It must be the alcohol, she realized. She gasped in shock as he bent down suddenly so that his face was right next to hers. There was a small smile on his face and a twinkling in his eyes.
"Are you teasing me, miko?" he asked in a tone more serious than his expression and smiling eyes.
"Just a bit," she told him with a smile of her own. She swallowed a lump that had found its' way into her throat and tried not to notice how close his mouth was to her own.
"That means I get to tease you back," he told her quite simply, his breath so close it tickled her lips. Her mind went all sorts of places at his words. Places that she had never allowed herself to think about in association to the taiyokai so near her now, especially since returning to her own time. She wasn't saying that some of them hadn't crossed her mind before; for she was a sane heterosexual female, and he was gorgeous even with the magic making him look human.
"Go for it," she murmured as she was quite curious to see what he would tease her with or about. Her natural attraction to him that she had always felt, but pushed very deep inside herself whenever he was near, was now rearing its' head.
Sesshomaru's senses were on alert this close to her. The moment he had felt the answering slide of her attraction to him against his senses, he almost felt it sliding against his skin as well. It was all he could do not to lean in and kiss those full lips of hers just to get her reaction; to see how she would react to a surprise of that kind. He stopped himself for she seemed to be fighting the attraction between them, and also hide it from herself as well as him. The only outward sign was the sudden bloom of color on her cheeks. If he had been human he wouldn't have been able to sense the sudden change in her pheromone levels that altered her scent slightly. It was only slight, but it was more than enough to tell him that she was anything except indifferent to him. Her last words teased him even more and he leaned in a half a millimeter more before he cursed his damn persuasive beast and thought better of it.
"Another time perhaps," he told her instead, his frustrated lust and attraction to her plain in his eyes. Though he highly doubted she would be able to recognize it for what it really was. Sesshomaru realized as well that she was still fuzzy minded from having alcohol in her system and teasing her with anything of that nature would be very ungentlemanly of him at the moment. "Allow me to walk you to your door," he said, testing the waters, so to speak.
Kagome looked up at him standing next to her. She couldn't help feeling slightly dazed and disappointed when he pulled away from her and stood up straight again. She couldn't deny she was attracted to him anymore, it seemed, at least to herself. Though part of her thought it was had conflicting feelings about it since she didn't know how his relationship with InuYasha changed or didn't change after she left yet and didn't want to betray her friend and the feelings she had had for him at one point. Another part of her told her that it didn't matter anyway, for what could such a good-looking man, whatever race he was, want with her in the first place? She really didn't know.
"Sure, whatever you want," she responded and cursed herself again. It was a good thing he didn't read minds, for her words would have betrayed her feelings if he did. She started walking toward her family's home, Sesshomaru beside her, and tried not to look up at him. It didn't take long for them to cross the patch of grass that led to her house. She couldn't help glancing up at him, no matter how she tried, to see if this was really happening. The whole situation was very surreal. The vodka in her system didn't help that feeling either. Kagome paused before the front door, suddenly feeling very awkward with him alone on her front porch. She looked up at him, almost shyly, one last time.
"So, this is it," she told him lamely. "Thanks for driving me home by the way, and walking me to my door," she added haltingly.
"You are very welcome," he responded as she was turning to walk the few remaining steps. "When would be best for us to continue our conversation?" he asked her much to her surprise.
"Hmm…" she mumbled as she thought about it. She was off on the weekends, but she was busy tomorrow so Sunday was the first day that would work. Well, I'm of on weekends," she told him in echo of her thoughts, "But tomorrow I'll be out of town for one of my old friends' wedding." She sighed as she remembered that she promised her mom and grandpa that she would clean up the shrine grounds on Sunday as well. "We could meet or something Sunday but it would have to be later in the day," she continued, "Unless you want to help me come clean up around here," she commented sarcastically with an unladylike snort. "My next day off is…" was all she got out as she looked up at him when he interrupted her with a surprising and kind offer.
"What time would you like me to come over to help you Sunday?" he asked, ignoring her last words completely.
"I wasn't serious," she told him worriedly, fidgeting with the zipper of her jacket. "I wouldn't except you to help me with such a menial chore."
"What time?" he repeated and she was remembering how stubborn the men in his family could be. Making a sound of frustration, she decided that humoring him would be the simplest option at the moment. After all, no matter how much he had changed over the years, he was still the most powerful taiyokai she had ever met underneath that magic. Perhaps she could change plans at the last minute or something, to make sure he didn't have to help her.
"Fine," she said in the same stubborn tone he had used, "At nine-thirty that morning." He bowed slightly in acknowledgement of her words before speaking again.
"Until Sunday then, miko," he told her before turning around to make the trip back to his car on the other said of the property.
"The name's Kagome, you know! Ka-go-me!" she called after him with another frustrated snort. "Goodnight Sesshomaru!" she called again and wondered if he would ever use her name. Once he disappeared from sight she sighed and turned back to slip as quietly as possible into the house. She heard his car pull away and couldn't help smiling at the absurdity of it all; the strange turn of events tonight. She hadn't seen this coming in the slightest and knew that even if she had had a vision about it she wouldn't have even believed it possible until it really happened. Kagome slipped through the house until she reached the sanctuary of her bedroom. Buyo rubbed against her legs and she petted and cooed at him until he sauntered away to curl up on her desk chair. In her mind's eye she saw a flash of red and silver as InuYasha came through the window to sit on her bed as she studied in the chair Buyo was now snoring on. Shaking her head to shake her thoughts and daydream away she blinked away some sudden tears. She quickly brushed her remaining thoughts of the past away as she continued her nightly routine.
She was realizing how exhausted she was by the time she was changed and had been to and from the bathroom. So much so that she almost forgot to set her alarm. She knew that she had to though; she had to catch the train to Nagano with her mom at nine to make it there in time for the start of the wedding hoopla. She didn't know why she was bothering to go, a voice inside her questioned. She had grown apart from her school friends after the well had closed. But she had known Ayumi since primary school and kept some contact after her old friend had moved in the middle of their senior year of high school. So, she guessed it was only right she go to her wedding since she had surprisingly been invited. She didn't want to be rude and not go. She fell asleep very quickly after she snuggled down in her bedcovers and tried to clear her mind. Try as she might though, she couldn't help the sorrowful tears that ran down her cheeks before she fell asleep to have good, but confusing dreams involving a certain inu taiyokai and herself.