Chapter Four: It's All Just A Game
A/N: The polls are in and it's going to be…drum roll please! (rata tat rata tat) AU! Now rejoice people! Anyways onto the next thing. VOTE FOR PAIRINGS PEOPLE AND ON MY POLL! And as for the little surprise with InuYasha, I was surprised in canon he didn't actually do such a thing…
EDIT: Scrubbing bubbles power!
Ryūkotsusei arched an eyebrow at the nearly feral dog. He wondered just what about the miko had the dog ready to fight for her safety.
"Me? I was only following the trail I would guess she left for you, Touga." Touga snarled at him, obviously displeased with his answer. Oh well. Tough luck, it's the truth, He thought. The miko's brow had furrowed in thought before she had asked,
"Do you two know each other?"
Touga switched to the human language at her question. "Yes we do. He is the Lord of the East, as I am of the West." Kagome leaned against his massive paw, and gave a thoughtful hum. "Do you two hate each other?"
Both of the great males blinked in surprise, before regaining their wits and addressing the miko's question. "We dislike each other and enjoy challenging each other. But no, we don't hate each other." Ryūkotsusei confessed. Touga huffed and glared at the currently bipedal dragon, before assuming his own bipedal form.
Curiously, Touga questioned the miko "Why do you ask Kagome?"
Kagome bit her lip in anxiety. She had told Touga absolutely nothing regarding his future, making no mention of anything incriminating. Kagome feared that she could irreparably damage the future she came from if she told him too much. Heck, she had even omitted the fact InuYasha was his son.
But… The idea of a living Touga was tempting. Surely his continued life could ensure that Naraku could never have been born of Onigumo. Or perhaps she could have the two youkai with her arrange a way to confuse the timeline until it was safe to unveil the deception? The ideas coming to mind had merit, yet Kagome was unsure.
She would need to consult Sesshomaru about her possibly meddling or outright tampering with the timeline. And she would need to see if she could preserve his and her current memories, if they did decide to go through with a plot to change time itself.
InuYasha did not warrant any consultation about such a sensitive and perilous issue. Not after she had watched him swear upon his soul to honor his promise to descend into Hell with Kikyo upon Naraku's demise. InuYasha was damned either way, with no way out. Who knew what the hell his corpse could put him up to if she found out about a idea that might possibly erase her existence.
Another point in the favor of bamboozling Time. With a little tampering or meddling, she might be able to save InuYasha's soul instead of allowing Kikyo to have her unreasonable revenge.
But first, she needed to placate two Daiyoukai. Poking her pointer fingers together, she murmured to Touga and Ryukotsusei.
"Before I can give you an answer, I must ask if it's alright to divulge the matter. I cannot make the decision to tell you by myself." Both looked at her in curiosity before letting the matter drop.
Kagome quickly spoke into the silence to distract them.
"Do either of you know how to play Ja-ken-pon?"
Kagome clambered back into the Sengoku period, emotionally exhausted, and fiercely regretting ever opening her mouth.
Tic Tac Toe, Ja-ken-pon, and I Spy had been terrible choices of games to introduce to the fiercely competitive rivals. It was like watching InuYasha and Sesshomaru, but infinitely worse…
Ja-ken-pon had been fine, right until they had caught on. Then they started going at youkai speed, after making her the scorekeeper. Her eyes couldn't keep up with the movements, and it was torturous to watch them play best 1223 of 1245 and so on. Ryūkotsusei had won, eventually.
His victory caused Touga to demand a different game while pouting at the smug dragon youkai. So Kagome had introduced them to the Western game Tic Tac Toe.
Another grievous error on her part as she found out. After declaring her the official scorekeeper once more, they set about playing just as seriously as champion chess or Go players would approach their game. A simple game that consisted originally of nine squares evolved into a four rowed one hundred squared game draw into the clearing's ground, with Ryūkotsusei and Touga basically making war to make an unbroken line of twenty-five.
While it was fascinating at first, and deeply amusing the entire time, it eventually began to lose its appeal. With each youkai taking an absolute minimum of twenty minutes to make a move, Kagome had been ready to kill them both before they were even halfway done. Touga had finally emerged triumphant after several hours, leading Ryūkotsusei to take the same approach as Touga had previously.
I Spy had been downright awful since the youkai duo always, always, always choose something too tough for a human to perceive. Or they guessed something a human could not, or would not pick as a target! And yet again, neither had been willing to surrender, making the simple game take several more hours to conclude to an agreed upon tie.
Heaving her backpack over the Well's rim, she took a few steps before flopping onto the soft grass. Kagome was too exhausted to move another she observed the clear azure sky, until a familiar voice intruded.
"Kagome, why do you smell like my Sire?"
Kagome noted with interest that Sesshomaru had surpassed his father's 'terrifying' voice.
"You know what?" "Hnn." She translated it to a curious inquiry.
"You're scarier than Touga by a long shot." "Hnnn." Kagome mentally translated his Sesshomaru speak into This Sesshomaru is pleased you have recognized such a fact. After spending so much time with the Dai she had learned his so called "language."
"Are you sure you want to know why I smell like your Sire?" "Hn." Do not take this Sesshomaru for the idiotic half-breed.
"You asked for it." She said with a shrug as she watched the sky. "The Well took me back in time to before Touga even heard the name Izayoi, and we found out we get along rather splendidly. So… what I wanted to ask you was if I should meddle a bit or outright tamper with the timeline?"
Kagome knew by the resulting silence that Sesshomaru's eyes had widened in shock. "…Hn…" …Only you Kagome. What about InuYasha?
She snorted in sardonic amusement before patting a hand on the grass for him to sit down by her. "You weren't here when InuYasha did something so incredibly stupid that even you would be shocked Sesshomaru. InuYasha swore to Kikyo, after sneaking away in the night again, that on his soul, he would honor his promise to descend into Hell with her.
Either way he's damned himself. Literally this time. I love the moron like an older sister and a friend, but God's blood he is a moron. At least this way he might get a chance at saving his soul from eternal damnation, besides any other changes that may or may not occur."
"Hnn…" You were right. This Sesshomaru is shocked. "Kagome…have you met this one's past self yet?"
She smirked a bit as he finally sat against the Well, carefully not too close and not too far. "Not yet."
Sesshomaru looked down at her and blinked. "If you were going to change the timeline, would this one lose his memory?" She sat up and looked into his xanthous colored eyes with sparkling lapis lazuli orbs. "I have an idea."
Sesshomaru spoke slowly, with learned caution. "This one is listening."
"I was planning on each of us constructing a seal to protect our memories, then infusing it with both of our ki and some of the Well's power. The seal shape I thought would work best is the Ouroboros.
Since it represents the perpetual cyclic renewal of life, death, infinity, the eternal return, and rebirth which leads to immortality, it seemed well suited. It can also mean something that cannot be extinguished, which would also be a helpful aspect."
Sesshomaru looked intrigued. "The symbol is either a snake or dragon that swallows it's own tail, making a perfect circle. It's symbolic nature should insure that it works as we intend it to."
If it was anyone else they would have sighed, but Sesshomaru was not anyone else. "Let us begin Kagome, if we are to tamper with time itself, we will need to use ours wisely."
After more than a few(okay,a lot more than a few,) disastrous attempts with creating the Ouroboros, the duo finally managed to create the seal. Most of their trouble stemmed from the fact miko ki and youki did not mix well, to put it lightly, plus the Well's power was quite volatile on even its best day.
Yet the Ouroboros seemed to be working beautifully. Stagnation was avoided due to its continuous cyclic nature that kept the mind from forming splinter cell personalities. Now all they needed was a test.
But that was for later. This was the time for civilized discussion among sane people.
"So why did you take so long getting back Sesshomaru?"
"This Sesshomaru was accused of trying to force a female in order that this one could be forced into taking the bitch as a mate."
Kagome winced. "How much paperwork and politicking did you have to do?"
Sesshomaru's face grew grave and drawn. "Too much. The bitch did not walk away as recompense to this one from this one's fellow Lords."
Kagome snorted in amusement, knowing well just how bad a snit he would have been in by that point. "How long did it take to clean all the blood and gore once you were done Sesshomaru?"
A small vicious smirk curled his cruel lips, making the terrifying Dai even more so. There was a reason Jaken nearly soiled himself at even a hint of a smile on Sesshomaru's countenance.
"They were still scrubbing the room when this one left."