Some hours later found the kitten still sitting on his shoulder but her tail was twitching, which anyone who knows cats will tell you that the little creature was mad. Sesshoumaru though was so engrossed in his work that he didn't even notice it. She meowed at him and pawed his neck, again, he didn't seem to notice her actions. Another couple twitches of her tail and she jumped from his should to the laptop on his desk where she sat in his way stopping him from typing any further.
"Kagome, come on now, I have work to do," he picked her up and put her back on his shoulder where she seemed to prefer sitting only to have her jump back on his laptop. He sighed and looked at the clock before stretching with a groan, "you're not going to let me get any more work done are you?" She just stared at him with those crystal blue eyes as if to say, duh. He chuckled to himself and stood to leave his study, "I guess 1 a.m. is as good a stopping point as any other. Come on girl," he stopped short and looked at her then shook his head. "I'm turning into my mother, talking to an animal like you could actually understand me or even respond." The small kitten meowed to him as she followed him into his bedroom and hoped onto his bed while he readied himself for sleep.
He pulled back the covers and laid down, staring at the ceiling above his bed. He felt the kitten climb up on the pillow next to him and when he looked over he noticed she was staring at him. With a heavy sigh he reach up to pet her, "I'm sorry girl, I'm just not used to having company anymore. I work long hours and other than meetings or the occasional dinner with mom I don't usually talk with anyone."
He looked over at his nightstand where there was a picture of himself with a young woman, her blonde hair had more color than his and her green eyes seemed lifeless even compared to his but she had a beautiful smile. He picked up the frame to look at closer, "We were together for a few years and I thought we were happy, but turns out I was wrong. She simply wanted connections to my father's company for her uncle." He chuckled humorlessly, "she was pretty irritated when she found out that my company has no connections to his at all. Yes, my plan is to one day buy his company out but until then I am my own person and stand on my own feet without his help." Kagome rubbed her little head on his cheek as he set the picture back on his nightstand. "Ever since she left I just haven't felt the need to be with anyone. Honestly I don't know why I keep that picture, everything else is gone at this point." He rolled on to his side so he was facing her, "good night Kagome," and dozed off while she curled up into a ball on the pillow nearby him.
Only she didn't sleep, she simply watched him for a while. After an hour had passed she stood up, jumped off the bed, and walked over to the full length mirror in the corner of his room. Looking over her shoulder she could see his bed was deep in shadows, she raised a paw to his mirror and held it there against the glass for a minute. The glass seemed to ripple under her paw until an image of a young woman appeared in the glass. Her red eyes blazed in anger, her dark skinned face was framed by bright ready hair which fell in a heavy braid flung over her shoulder. The silver negligee she wore hid nothing from the imagination and she sat in her favorite throne surrounded by her "toys" as she called them. Really they were young men whom she had placed in a trance for her enjoyment.
"Why in the name of hell did it take you so long to answer me you fool? And get out of that form! Your look ridiculous." Kagome rolled her eyes as a faint light surrounded her form. Her limbs became human arms and legs with pale ivory skin, faint lines swept over her skin in various areas seemingly forming a pattern but it was hard to tell what it was. Her black fur became full and long midnight black hair which fell down her back in gentle waves. She knelt in a simple bow with her head lowered, when she raised her head her pure blue eyes were calm and pale.
"My new master is a bit of a night owl it seems. It took my pestering him for a good hour to get him to go to bed and sleep deeply enough to answer you." The woman's angry face seemed to morph into a full rage as Kagome spoke, how this woman ruled over the night and her people was utterly beyond her. She held back a sigh as she knew what was coming next, all she could do was be grateful that Sesshoumaru wouldn't be able to hear her rant.
"New master?! You bitch I told you to stay in that pet store until I summoned you." Kagome tuned out the rest of the woman's rant, she knew what it was at this point. She had pissed her off at some point in the last year and so she was put into the body of a newborn kitten as punishment. She was supposed to have stayed at that pet shop even if they euthanized her for not being sellable. She knew that the woman before her didn't care if they killed her but she was in no mood to go through the rebirth process again anytime soon. Kagome noticed the woman was winding down and started to pay attention again. "Well it can't be helped for now," the creature sighed dramatically before pointing at her with her sharp claw like painted nails, "you are to find that errant boy and bring him back home. He threw one of his fits and is hiding himself from me again, I want him home by tomorrow evening you hear me?" Kagome nodded as the image faded away leaving her by herself once more. She tapped the mirror and drew a small symbol in the corner, it glowed briefly and disappeared.
'That should completely block her from seeing anything through the mirror without my knowledge,' she thought to herself. Standing up to her full height slowly, Kagome stretched and moved her limbs carefully; she had been stuck in that kitten form for a while now. She walked over to the bed where her "master" slept peacefully and sighed as a small beam of moonlight landed on his face through the open curtains. He was sleeping peacefully, his breathing even and deep.
She stopped her hand from touching him and bit her lip, he did look remarkably like him but there had been others who had as well. Turning away from the bed she summoned a small chest from the nether and pulled out a simple black outfit of leggings and a long sleeved shirt. After being sure that there was no trace of her human form in the room she slipped out the window and jumped down from the second story.
'This boy is going to be the death of me one of these days I swear. He's so much like his father its painful at times,' she thought to herself as she found a nearby forest and ducked into the branches gracefully without a sound. Kagome stood in a small clearing and closed her eyes, she felt her powers rise slightly and sent a small pulse out to the trees. A few minutes later a small grin lifted her lips as she felt an answering call to the northwest of her location. Jumping up to one of the lower branches she jumped from tree to tree tracing the call until she found a teenage boy sitting on an upper branch staring at the stars. His tanned skin seemed to almost glow in the small amount of moonlight filtering through the branches, the dark red hair he kept short was swept to the side of his face.
"That took a little longer than I thought for her to notice I was gone," his voice was a soothing timber much like his father's had been but held a softer almost feminine edge to it. "Though I am slightly surprised she sent you, I thought she was mad at you right now." Kagome snorted softly and brought herself to rest on a sturdy branch nearby his own.
"She can piss in the wind for all I care when it comes to her ire. As for why I'm the one she sent, she knows I'm the only one who can usually find you in a decent amount of time so here we are." Her voice was calm and almost bored, "Why are you hiding this time?"
"Why do I ever hide?" he refused to look at her and kept his eyes on the stars. Kagome nodded and sat with him in silence for a few minutes.
"How many this time?" At her question he looked down and held up 5 fingers causing her to sigh heavily and shake her head while fighting her anger. "I'm sorry sweetling, all I can do is offer you comfort, if you're willing to accept it," she opened her arms and felt him crash into her chest, and was suddenly thankful to the large branch she chose. The tears he shed made her anger simmer a little higher, his form shifted to that of a younger boy no older than 10. She stroked his hair and held him close while he cried, she whispered soothing words and placed kisses on the top of his head. About 20 minutes later he was quiet and simply laying against her dozing while she continued to run her fingers through his soft short hair. Unfortunately her legs were going numb so she shifted slightly and he woke from his light sleep. He looked up at her with those soft green eyes that still held the evidence of his tears. "You look so much like your dad," she chuckled as she pushed some of his hair from his face.
"I miss him, he never let her do this to me when he was still aware," she frowned at his words and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead where the faint black moon rested. "How much longer must we endure this? I know she's…" he pause as if swallowing bile, not that she blamed him, "my mother, but this is getting old. When she took control all those years ago and killed your mate everything went to hell." Kagome nodded and winced at the reminder of what she lost as he continued, "Dad used to tell me how great he was and how much he wished I could've met him one day. Dad would talk about the prophecy and," she shushed him with a gentle finger to his lips.
"I know sweetling but that was supposed to have happened several hundred years ago now. She managed to find him before he rose and killed his reborn form." She closed her eyes against the tears she could feel burning her eyes, "I have my doubts that we will ever find him again. I have found several over the years that looked like him, or felt like him but they were never him."
"That's the other thing that bothers me, she somehow made you kill him," she bit her lip at the memory of finding him and realizing who he was then everything went dark. When she came to she was covered in his blood and he was dead in front of her. "How did she manage that?" Kagome took a deep steadying breath and reached back into her memories.
"I don't remember much and what little I do is incredibly fuzzy, I'm sorry that I can't tell you more." Her voice was strained as she fought back the tears that always threatened at that memory. "I think she did it for the sheer joy of seeing my pain." He nodded and looked at her again with a curious look and she asked him what was on his mind.
"I was wondering if I can hide with you for a while again, I really don't want to go back right now," she couldn't help the grin and rolled her eyes making him laugh a little. "It's because I know she wants me back to 'entertain' her friends but I'm really tired of it, I'm still just a kid but she makes me take that form and, and."
"Shh, calm yourself Aki-chan," She framed his small face with her hands, "I don't want to send you back there either, knowing what's to happen." This boy was like a son to her, she helped raise him when she wasn't being punished for some random offense to his mother. She brushed some of his bangs from his face, "have you been practicing that spell I taught you for the shadow form?" He nodded, "Then why not use this as a chance to see how well it works?" his shoulders slumped.
"She can tell when it's not me and then she beats me for trying to deceive her and her friends." He looked up at her through his lashes, she could see the puppy eyes forming along with his question, "could you do the spell this time so I can hide a little longer?" Kagome sighed deeply and stared at him for a long minute before she nodded, gaining a large grin from the boy still resting on her lap. "Thank you oba, you're the best!" he gave her a crushing hug and stood on the branch as she carefully stood as well. She closed her eyes and quietly chanted the spell that would allow a double to appear of the boy in front of her, just in his older form. Once done she opened her eyes, now brighter than normal and found the two of males standing there, a young one on the branch and the other older boy in midair with its red eyes closed.
"Akihiro, awaken," she said with a firm command, "return to mother and act as your counterpart for the next week until I summon you." The second boy nodded and bowed to them before fading from sight. "I can only hold the spell for a week Aki, so that's all the time I can buy you, I hope that's enough." He nodded with tears in his eyes, "Please don't cry, one day maybe we'll all be free again." She looked to the east and saw the sun beginning to rise, "I need to return to my master's home, he should be waking soon and it will be strange if I'm missing after the first night he brought me home." She gave him one last peck on his forehead, reminded him to stay hidden and disappeared from his side. She quickly jumped from tree to tree once more until she reached the edge of the forest and ducked into the shadows until she was under her master's window which she had left cracked open.
After carefully climbing through the window and closing it she threw her clothing into the nether with her chest of goods. She climbed onto the bed next to her "master" and just watched him sleep for a little while. He truly did look like her late mate, it was uncanny and it made her heart hurt so much. Finally she reached out to touch him, her fingers brushed his soft blonde hair from his face and gently touched his cheek. His face turned into her palm, almost nuzzling against it, causing her pull away and forcing her body back into the kitten form just before his eyes opened. She meowed at him and stood with her front paws on his shoulder as he rolled from his side onto his back.
"Morning 'Gome," he mumbled as he reached up to scratch behind her ear. "I had the strangest dream last night. There was a beautiful woman with the darkest hair I've ever seen lying in bed with me, she was so warm and her touch felt so real." He sighed as he sat up causing her to fall off his shoulder, "I really must be losing it girl. I haven't had that dream in, well in years," she meowed at him again and he reached over to pet her more as she sat next to him on the bed. "Doesn't help that all I can ever remember is her touch," he rose from the bed and readied himself for work while she stayed on the bed and watched him as he muttered about the dream while getting dressed.
'A woman with dark hair? In his dream?' she thought. She followed him as he swept into the kitchen and gave her some food while his coffee brewed. He warmed and ate a quick egg sandwich and sipped his coffee while placing the papers he need into his briefcase. He gave her one last pat on the head and headed for the front door.
"I'll be back tonight Kagome, try not to scratch up the furniture, mom did get you a board to do that on." He said distractedly as he shut the door to his apartment behind him. She stared at the door for a long minute.
'Could it be? Did he see me last night?' She moved over to the window of his apartment to watch his car pull away from the building and disappear. 'No he said he had the dream years ago so it's an old dream, but perhaps he really is my Sesshoumaru, my mate.'
Well I said I'd the next chapter up soon. I'm trying to get back into the swing of writing, honestly I've been away from it for a good many years; probably too many. However real life can do that to you. For right now I'm going to aim at one chapter a week or every other week.
