SessKag Week Day Six - Fireflies

Post-Canon / Romance / 1,323 words

The long summer day was turning to night, when Kagome slipped out of the village and climbed towards the shrine and the Bone Eater's well. The sounds of merriment followed her up the stone stairs as she left the wedding celebration behind her.

At the top of the stairs, grass brushed at her ankles. She had just wanted a moment for herself, some peace and quiet – but when she walked past the well she knew where her feet were taking her.

Somehow, she thought, a small wry smile touching her lips, that seemed appropriate.

She paused before the tall tree, admired its wide trunk. She stepped even closer, rose to the tips of her toes and extended her hand. Her fingers brushed against the rough bark, caressing the scar she knew only too well.

She drew a quivering breath and bowed her head.

"I didn't expect to feel bitter today," she breathed, the God Tree the only audience for her quiet confession, "but I guess a part of me is, a little."

"You left your home to come here, to a time you do not belong, just to be with him," a deep voice remarked from behind.

Kagome jumped. Her hand that had been resting against the bark of the Goshinboku balled into a fist.

She had not heard him approach her; this was a predator who knew how to silence his steps. Likewise, he exercised perfect control over his powers – enough to apparently mask his energy, which was why she hadn't felt him, either.

She turned around slowly.

The impassive golden eyes were narrowed in scrutiny, and Kagome's shoulders stiffened.

"Yet you did not expect to feel bitter on a day he marries another?"

Kagome bit her lip and glared at him. She was still angry at how he'd sneaked up on her, and in any case she didn't owe him any answers. But something about his voice caught her; a trace of curiosity that did not show on his still face.

"I thought I had put it behind me," she said with a small shrug.

"Love is not something one can easily discard."

Kagome scoffed. "Love comes in many forms," she countered. "Inuyasha and I started out as friends. We still are friends now. And I love my friends."

"That is not what this Sesshoumaru means."

His voice sounded colder, but Kagome wasn't fazed. The situation was too bizarre to frighten her; to stand here arguing about love with Sesshoumaru – on Inuyasha's wedding day.

"I'm not sure I ever loved him the way you mean," she replied. And that was the truth.

Oh, she had wholeheartedly believed she was in love with Inuyasha – but she had been young, even when she had returned three years later. The more she thought about it now, the more convinced she was that it had been just puppy love.

It wasn't Inuyasha she had truly been in love with, but the image she'd built of him in her head. What he could have been.

"We were together for a while. But it didn't do either of us any good." She shook her head, to rid herself of the memories – they still had the power to hurt her, but only if she let them. And she wasn't going to, not today of all days. "It wasn't working, and our decision to call it quits was mutual."

He didn't say anything, just stared at her. But the intensity of his gaze was troubling enough.

Kagome rubbed her arms and took a seat, settling on the cool grass and leaning her back against Goshinboku.

To her surprise, Sesshoumaru took a few steps forward, and gracefully lowered himself to the ground just a few scant feet away from her.

Unease curled in her stomach like a heavy weight as she suddenly wondered what game Sesshoumaru was playing here. Their interactions had always been brief and carefully courteous at best – expect perhaps that one moment battling Naraku when they'd been alone and united.

If anything, Kagome thought Sesshoumaru regarded her with mild irritation. So why was he here? Why had he followed her, when she had wanted a moment to herself? Why had he engaged her in a conversation? Why was he sitting so close?

Kagome looked across the clearing, focusing on the dancing glow of the fireflies gathering there. Normally, the sight would've made her smile, but now it only served as a momentary distraction from the growing sense of foreboding caused by Sesshoumaru's unexplained presence.

"I meant what I said earlier," Kagome said, when the silence grew too heavy for her, too much. "Inuyasha's my friend. Maybe I'm still a bit bitter though I have tried to let go of the past. But more than anything else, I want him to be happy."

"You did not find happiness with each other."

It was not a question – and it stung, the way words always did when they struck true and scraped at old scars.

She was surprised that her voice was only a little tight when she replied. "No, but I'm glad he's found it at last."

Sesshoumaru stared at her.

She didn't see it, because she was purposefully ignoring him, but the way her entire body tensed told her all his attention was focused on her.

Kagome gritted her teeth and watched the fireflies – though now that she looked at them more closely, buzzing about their business, their glow reminded her of the golden gleam of his eyes.

When Sesshoumaru finally spoke, his deep voice was soft; softer than Kagome would ever have believed possible.

"And what about you, Kagome?"

Startled, she turned towards him.

"What?"

He tilted his head and studied her, an odd look in his eyes.

"What about your happiness?"

Stunned by both his words and the pain flaring in their wake, Kagome managed a weak shrug.

He struck so quickly that Kagome had only time to flinch – his hand was a blur when it caught hers in a grip as relaxed as it was unyielding.

Kagome's breath froze in her throat and she stared at his deadly claws delicately curved around her wrist. Panic flooded Kagome's mind but cold logic followed right on its heels, reminding her that struggling was not a good idea, not when the most lethal predator of them all had caught a hold of her.

Therefore, she could only helplessly watch when he drew her hand towards him.

Kagome cringed internally, preparing for that deadly flash of his fangs while her heart thundered against her ribs.

But when his lips brushed against the tips of her fingers in a soft caress, the shiver creeping down her spine wasn't all fear.

Kagome's lips parted, her breath still caught in her throat.

His eyes were hooded, their golden colour almost luminous in the darkening night.

Kagome's eyes were wide and wild, her mind scrambling to make sense of it all because hot damn Sessoumaru had just kissed her fingers.

"I think that my half-brother has it right, for once," he murmured, still holding onto her hand, his thumb drawing a lazy circle along her flushing skin. "I would like to find my happiness. Would you, Kagome, be willing to help me look for it?"

Kagome blinked at him, her stomach in knots again but for a whole different reason that it had been earlier.

It was really hard to keep thinking about anything while he traced whimsical patterns on the back of her hand and stared at her with those oddly intent, hooded eyes – let alone trying to process the situation.

Sesshoumaru couldn't possibly be suggesting what she thought he was suggesting, right?

She swallowed.

And yet… Ridiculous and unwise as it might have been, she felt tempted.

Very tempted.

She took a deep breath. What did she have to lose, anyway?

Kagome squared her shoulders and drew herself up. She met his gaze and sealed her fate with one word.

"Yes."