At the clearing of a throat, Kagome woke with a start, sending several papers flying around the room. Quickly gathering them back to the table, she looked at Sesshoumaru standing in the doorway with an eyebrow raised. One of these days, she was going to wax it off so it wouldn't be so noticeable when he did that.
"I wonder at your research methods, Miko," he mildly intoned, "tell me how you can read with your eyes closed?"
"Why, Seshoumaru, I'm surprised at you. Can't you hear the words speaking to you from the pages? They do to me," she said sarcastically while sorting out some books.
"Hn."
She sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just that I have not been able to find anything that would be of use over the past four days, and it's beginning to get really annoying."
After Sesshoumaru had shown her his collection of texts and books, and what he thought would be a good place to start, he had left her to her search. Jaken would occasionally come in to scold her about the delicacy of some of the papers, or to grudgingly ask is she needed anything. It seemed that Sesshoumaru had instructed him to be civil to her, but it did not come willingly to the small green creature. They'd had dinner together every night, with Jaken hovering around and huffing at the compliments she would pay him for the food. It did not slip by her that her portions grew day by day.
Sesshoumaru came over to her and sifted through the papers on the table before sitting down in front of her.
"Do you actually know what you are looking for?"
"Information about the well, and how to open it." Kagome rolled her eyes at him. Surely that much was obvious.
An eyebrow raised itself again. She started to wonder if they were sentient.
"Do you not think that is very specific?"
"Why shouldn't I look for specific information? It's a very specific situation."
"Knowledge about the well and it's magical properties is not widely spread, Miko. After you vanished, your companions did everything they could to cover it up in hopes of you returning. They did not want to risk anything tampering with the well."
Kagome stared at him. "How do you know? I thought you did not meddle in their affairs?"
"Rin stayed in your village, to be raised by her own species. I visited."
As she had discovered early on that anything to do with Rin was a touchy subject, she decided not to push there. "So what do you recommend I look into?"
Seshoumaru stood up and wandered around the room, gazing at the titles on the shelves. "The Shikon, it's keepers. Anything about spiritual barriers."
"But I already know the Shikon's not involved. You told me I return, and it's gone, so I have to be able to travel through time without it."
"Regardless, it is still linked to you and the well." He dropped a sizable tome in her lap. "This is every piece of information I own about the Shikon. If you cannot find anything of use in here, you will find nothing in my collection."
On her last day in the mountains, Kagome was wandering around the gardens, wondering why Sesshoumaru had not given her the book on the Shikon and everything related before. It was as if one moment, he wanted to help her get to reopen the well and in the next, he abhorred the idea of her being back in the past. And Jaken's contempt for her must come from something. It must be something she would do when she got back the past, but she could not fathom what it would be. Spotting Sesshoumaru by the pond, she decided she would just ask him.
He refused to answer or even meet her gaze. "I will not tell you. It would change the course of time."
"What do you mean? Do you mean that if I knew, I would not go back to prevent it from happening, whatever it is? And by staying here, I would create some sort of paradox, or something?"
He nodded once. "That is a possibility."
"Well, it has to be pretty terrible if it could keep me away from InuYasha," she tried to assure him, "Don't worry, Sesshoumaru, I'm going back, one way or another. But I'll try to do anything in my power to not make you hate me in the process."
As she sauntered off, Sesshoumaru sighed to himself.
"That will not be enough, Kagome."
The trip back to town was uneventful. Kagome had convinced Sesshoumaru to let her take the tome with her, so she could read it front to back at a more leisurely pace. She tried to read somewhat during the trip, but only succeeded in making herself carsick. Instead, she napped a little, ate a little, drank a little and spoke a little, and before she knew it, Sesshoumaru was helping her carry her bags up the shrine stairs. He adamantly refused to come in, however, even after her mother came outside to welcome her home and insisted he stay for dinner as thanks for letting her daughter stay with him.
So, instead, mother and daughter waved him down the stairs and off into the city before going inside. After a long, hot bath, Kagome told her mother all about the thing she found and did not find, showing her the book Sesshoumaru had lent her. Miss Higurashi took one look at it and wished her daughter luck working through it all, before starting on dinner.
The following months, Kagome read, reread and re-reread the book. While she learned a lot about Midoriko, Kikyou and every miko in between that had been burdened with the care for the Shikon, she found the information of little use in her own predicament. When she tried to contact Sesshoumaru to discuss her findings, Jaken told her that he was traveling for business and would not be back until early autumn. Kagome was dumbfounded that he had not told her himself. She tried emailing him, but all she got was a short answer that he would come see her when he returned. Every other mail she sent after that was met with a stony digital silence.
After she heard of his absence, she spent the first few days wondering what she could have said or done to upset him. When she could not figure it out, she decided she was overanalyzing the situation, and that she should just believe Jaken. Sesshoumaru had gone abroad to hunt for some choice pieces of art, and that was that.
She busied herself with school and got back in touch with the literary club and her friends that she had been neglecting. Though InuYasha and the others were never far from her mind, she found it strangely liberating to be a normal high school girl for once.
On the other side of the world, Sesshoumaru found it hard to concentrate on his job. Every time he saw a group of Japanese tourists pass him, he wondered what she was doing. He even caught himself looking for her in the throngs of people surrounding the statue of David. It did not disturb him as much as it once would have. After meeting her in the library, almost a year ago now, his hatred for her had quickly dissipated. He knew it had been misplaced in the first place, but at the time he had needed someone to blame.
"Nishimoto-sama?" a familiar voice brought him from his thoughts.
A young man was suddenly standing beside him. He had dark, curly hair and dark brown eyes. A wisp of a moustache adorned his mouth, which was curved into an easy smile.
"I thought that was you. I was not expecting you for another year, or so. Is something wrong with your charm?"
"The charm is adequate, as is yours. Very convincing, kit."
The grin showed the man's true nature.
"Thank you, Sesshoumaru. Coming from you, that is high praise indeed."
A picture of handmade Christmas ornaments flashed before his eyes and before he had recomposed himself, the kit had invited him to his home for a cup of coffee. As soon as they entered the door, the younger man took of the golden necklace bearing a cross and tossed it in a bowl beside the door with his keys. Stretching his long legs and seven tails, Shippou exclaimed that this was much better and directed Sesshoumaru to wake of his charm as well.
"No one is watching here, Sesshoumaru."
"I do not recall giving you permission to call me by my name so familiarly, kit."
"As long as you're going to call me 'kit', I'm going to call you Sesshoumaru. Nothing more, nothing less."
As Shippou rummaged through the kitchen, making coffee and trying to find anything remotely edible, Sesshoumaru sat himself down at the dinner table.
"Any news from the old country?" came a muffled cry from the kitchen.
"The Miko has returned."
A loud crash, followed by silence. The kitsune came back around the corner empty handed and scowling.
"And she sent you to find me, is that it?"
"I am here on business. I did not know you would be in Italy."
Shippou sat down opposite him with a sigh. "Yeah…I was in Norway, when you last saw, me huh?"
At Sesshoumaru's nod, another silence stretched. With another heavy sigh, Shippou stood up again.
"Don't tell her where I am. I have long since forgiven her for…you know… But I don't know if she can forgive me for what happened after…"
"I understand."
Shippou nodded in thanks and went to get their coffee. They drank it in silence. As Sesshoumaru got up to leave, Shippou could not stop the question rolling from his lips.
"Have you forgiven her, Sesshoumaru?"
The inuyoukai paused in the doorway. Without looking back at the kitsune, he answered.
"Yes."
Another typical grin. "Good. Treat her well."
"Hn."
And with that, Sesshoumaru was back on the streets of Florence, his business completed.
A.N.: Still don't own anything.