Chapter Seven – Feeling Alone

I'm re-writing this chapter next, so hopefully I'll get back into the flow and write some new chapters after I finish re-writing this. I hope that people enjoy reading this story and drop me a line letting me know what you think. Hopefully the re-write will improve it and not ruin it in any way. Review please and I thank my reviewers so far, your reviews mean a lot to me 3

Dreams and Flash backs are in italics.


Kagome groaned softly as she awoke. That had to be the weirdest dream that she'd ever had in her life…completely different than the ones she usually had concerning people from the feudal era. Usually it was Inuyasha leaving her…though back in the past she'd had dreams about Naraku killing all her friends and things like that, but she'd never had a dream about Sesshomaru. It had been of Sesshomaru here in her time, and a big business man to boot!

Kagome opened her eyes and blinked the fuzziness away from her vision, after a moment she sat upright though she closed her eyes again when she felt a little light headed. Opening her eyes again she looked around and she was decidedly confused about her surroundings, she was definitely not in her apartment…it was too big, too plush, too cosy and too expensive looking for it to be hers unless she'd won lotto and hadn't been told about it. Or maybe she had been told and that's why she'd fainted…she pondered the idea but tossed it aside, she'd remember being told she'd won lotto, but the question remained, if this wasn't her room then where was she?

She frowned slightly as she looked around the expensive room, biting her bottom lip she wondered if perhaps it hadn't been a dream? Maybe this really was her job interview and she'd fainted on her employer to be…he probably didn't even look anything like Sesshomaru but for some reason she'd seen him instead. She groaned at the idea that she could have just basically thrown away a job without even managing to have the interview, though at that exact moment the sound of the door opening made her look up, just in time to see a tall, silver haired guy let himself into the room.

"I see you're finally awake woman," the silver haired man said unemotionally as he looked down at the dark-haired young woman who had fainted on him. She had come for an interview regarding the reception job but when she'd seen his face she'd called him Sesshomaru and fainted. "Who are you?"

"I am Kagome Higarashi," she said looking up at the man who was standing in front of her though the difference in their heights which was amplified by the fact that she was sitting down still and it was hurting her neck so she stood up. She was glad that she was steady on her feet, she would not have wanted to make him catch her again if she fell over or something else. She now reached up to his chest and though she still had to look up at him, it was better than when she was sitting down. "And you are Sesshomaru, are you not?"

"Why do you call me that name?" he asked with a frown and Kagome backed up a few steps so that she could look at him without hurting herself and get a better look at him. Had she mistaken another guy for Sesshomaru? He looked exactly like Sesshomaru in build and height, not to mention the long silver hair, fair skin, golden eyes…though she was well aware of the fact that it was plausible that he was not Sesshomaru, if she was the reincarnation of Kikyo and they looked very alike it was possible that there were similar replicas of all of her other friends from the feudal era wandering around Tokyo or perhaps other places.

The possibility that this was not the same Sesshomaru was amplified by the fact that he looked human…his markings were gone, his ears were not pointed and he had neither fangs nor claws from what she had been able to see, but those could easily be masked by make-up or some kind of illusion. There was something about him that seemed so familiar and something inside of her said that this was the same Sesshomaru that she'd known back in the Feudal era, or at least physically the same person. If he was living in this era as a business man he had to have changed in some aspects, it was a discovery though…she'd thought that all of the youkai had died off since she hadn't been able to sense them.

"My apologies if you are not Sesshomaru," she said softly with a faint sparkle in her dark brown eyes as she looked up at him. There was a happy spark in here that had been missing for a long time, since she'd been cut off from the feudal era. Despite the fact she was looking up at Sesshomaru, someone who'd tried to kill her multiple times among other things and they'd never been close but he was someone who knew what happened while she was gone, someone she could talk to about the past without having them think she needed a psychiatrist. "Though I am around ninety-five percent sure that you're definitely him."

"My name is Maru InuTaisho," he said stiffly. He was unsure who this woman was to know him as Sesshomaru because he had not gone by that name for over three hundred years. All of the youkai that wanted to fit into this world had been forced to change their names and move cities as the time passed as to not cause suspicion at their lack of aging among other things. But there was no doubt in his mind that the woman before him was not a demon and she was clearly in her early twenties, yet she was adamant over the fact that his name was Sesshomaru. How was it that she could know him? It puzzled him.

"Aha…so that's your current alibi then?" she asked with a soft laugh, she was actually quite enjoying teasing the cool, uptight business man. He seemed to be getting quite annoyed at her teasing but hey at least she wasn't dead; if she was doing this back in the feudal era she'd probably be dead or maimed by now. It was obvious he was unsure as to who she was and how she could know him since she was obviously a young female human.

"What are you talking about woman? That is my name!" he growled in frustration. In all his years he had never found himself in such a position, he had always made a point to know in depth about all about his enemies and allies. But this woman he couldn't place her though she did look vaguely familiar he didn't know where from and that put him to a definite disadvantage and he hated that.

"I take it then, that you don't remember me then?" she said smiling. She was having too much fun in this conversation, the great Sesshomaru was at a loss and she was holding the cards…something he was obviously not pleased about but she was having fun. Providing that she didn't end up dead at the end of this it was all worth it, it was just too bad that she wasn't going to get that job anymore…she really had needed it. "I suppose that's not too surprising since you're over five hundred years old, it would be hard to remember everyone and my name is Kagome, not 'woman'."

"Alright then Kagome," Sesshomaru said reluctantly, it was pointless and futile to continue denying that he was Sesshomaru because she had obviously seen through it. He sat down on the couch that she had been lying on earlier and motioned for her to sit down as well, which she did. "Very well, I am Sesshomaru… but what I do not understand is how you know such a thing, I haven't gone by that name for a few hundred years and you're obviously human."

"Well since you asked so nicely and you haven't attempted to kill me yet I will tell you." Kagome said grinning, seeing someone from the past was wonderful…she wondered if perhaps any of the others had survived the five hundred years and were still alive now as well. "I know you from around five hundred years ago, while we were in the feudal era."

"That is completely impossible woman… you look barely in your twenties, you couldn't possibly have been around back then," Sesshomaru said with a frown as he picked up the phone with the intention of calling his receptionist to ask her to bring in a tray of tea.

"I am twenty-one to be exact and I thought I told you to stop calling me woman?" she said glaring at him from her position on the couch. "My name is Kagome, Ka-go-me!"

"Okay then, Ka-go-me. I'm going to get some tea brought in, are you hungry?" he asked her, looking over his shoulder at her with a raised eyebrow. Though he couldn't help but let a small smile grace his lips at the small growl her stomach made at the mention of food and he turned around again and dialled the number. "I will take that as a yes…Crystal can I have a tray of tea and biscuits brought in please, thank you."

"Mm…I didn't actually know that you owned the business when I applied for this job you know," she said half to herself as she looked down at her hands. She couldn't help but be glad that she had found him in the future, in this time he actually wasn't quite so bad…a little less emotionless and violent than in the past thankfully. Otherwise he'd probably have killed every human that crossed his path and looked at him wrong, not that any jail would have been able to keep him in…but still it was good to see he wasn't a threat to the whole of humanity.

"I gathered as much since you fainted when you saw me, obviously it was a big shock to you." Sesshomaru said as he sat back down on the couch, the grin was still resting on his lips. "You're just lucky that my reflexes are as quick as they were five hundred years ago or you could have hurt yourself."

"Oh…thanks," she said softly when she realised that he must have caught her and carried her to the couch when she had fainted. The realisation made her cheeks turn a light shade of pink and she continued to look down at her hands as she willed the embarrassment away. Sesshomaru nodded and stood to meet his receptionist at the door and take the tray from her, easily balancing it until he placed it on the table in front of the couch. She glanced up at him from beneath lowered eyelashes as she pondered the change in him, he had changed over the last five hundred years and she couldn't help but wonder what had caused it. He actually let his emotions grace his face and show in his eyes as he spoke to people, sure he still wasn't the type to go advertising his thoughts and emotions around. He would definitely be the type that would make a good business man…

The sound of him sitting once more pulled her out of her thoughts and she glanced up at him once more realising that she had gotten caught up in her own thoughts. She watched as he poured the tea out and placed a cup in front of her. She smiled her thanks and leaning forward she added milk and sugar to her tea from the tray. Sesshomaru frowned slightly, now that he was close to her, her scent seemed very familiar but he couldn't place where he knew it from.

"Well it's not very surprising that you don't remember me…we didn't exactly have a friendly relationship, actually you probably didn't have friendly relationships with anyone back then. Whenever we met you were always trying to kill me or my companions, plus you always looked down on me because I was human and 'below you' and that kind of thing. You wouldn't believe how much you annoyed me with your high and mighty attitude…and you were so emotionless…Lord of the Western Lands," she said with a wave of her free hand though a smile curved her lips as she thought back and there was a distant look in her eyes. "…but you know, I'm glad that you survived the last five hundred years. I'd never been able to sense Youkai in this era so I assumed that you'd all disappeared or been killed off at some point in the past."

With a slight laugh she paused before continuing, "Sorry I still haven't answered your question…I didn't mean to go off on a tangent like that. I was the young Miko that travelled with your younger brother Inuyasha to collect all the jewel shards and defeat Naraku."

"You were…and my brother's mate," he said softly. He could finally place the scent that he hadn't smelt for five hundred years though it also had Inuyasha's own scent mixed in faintly. He had not known that his little brother had marked and mated with the girl before he had made the mistake of throwing her back into her own time…he'd actually thought to begin with that his brother had gone a little crazy from loosing her but when the rest of her group had also said she was from the future he'd had no choice but to believe them. After all there was no other way for her to simply vanish and be completely cut off from them with no way of retrieving her. Though who would have thought that he'd come across her like this?

Kagome nodded as she stared down at the tea in her hand like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Now that she could ask the million questions that she'd been obsessing over for the last three years, the questions that swirled around in her head even now…she wasn't really sure if she wanted to know the answers. She could tell that talking about it was bringing thoughts of Inuyasha back into her head and the pain back into her heart, she bit her lip lightly hoping that she wouldn't end up a blubbering mess from talking about it. "So, uh…what happened while I was gone? It's been three years for me since Inuyasha sent me back to this time…"

"What's happened in the last five hundred years would take a long time to discuss…and more than what I can spare today. I have a meeting soon and I have a few more interviews for the receptionist position as well, would you like to reschedule your interview?" he asked with a smile. Kagome was surprised, she hadn't thought that he would offer such a thing…she'd just assumed that she'd lucked out on the job opportunity since she'd kind of wasted her interview time. She nodded, quite mute from the obvious change in the person in front of her…despite it being a good change in him it was a shock considering for her had only taken three years to occur.

"Are you free tonight? I would be quite happy to discuss the past and answer all of your questions over dinner, I'll pick you up at seven if you give me your address," he offered without really giving her a chance to refuse. Kagome was unsure as to whether or not she should agree, but it wouldn't hurt to go out to dinner with him and she did want to know what had happened to everyone. In addition it was nice just to have someone to talk to that understood the time that she'd spent in the past, she wondered dazed if her mother would mind looking after Taishi.

"Um…okay then, I'll meet you at the Higarashi Shrine," she said knowing that she would have to go and see her mother and Taishi before she left. "Do you know where that is?"

"Of course, I will see you at seven at the Higarashi shrine tonight then," he said with a slight nod of his head and with that he ushered her out of his office so he could go to his meeting and leaving Kagome to wonder if it had all been one big strange dream as she left the building.

Kagome walked in the front door of her one bedroom flat and toed off her shoes before dropping her keys and bag onto the kitchen table. With a soft sigh she ran her hand through her long ebony strands before she continued into the small lounge room that went off the kitchen. She enjoyed the feeling of her feet on the carpet because they were feeling a little sore from all the walking she'd done in those heels…seriously the people that invented high heels should be shot for coming up with those torture contraptions. Either that or the males should have kept them to themselves instead of deciding to give them to girls, it had always amused her that they had originally been created for a guy…some king who was short and wanted to be taller.

She dropped down into one of the armchairs and rubbed the bottom of one foot, sighing softly she wondered why she'd actually agreed to going to dinner with Sesshomaru. Well, actually she did know why she'd agreed to it…it was the fact that after three years of isolation and being cut off from everyone she'd found someone that knew all the people she missed so much. Someone that could possibly answer all of her unanswered questions…and someone that knew what the Feudal Era had been like, someone that could relate to her past experiences like no one else here in this era could.

With a sigh Kagome reluctantly pulled herself off the chair and walked over to the phone, she had to call her mother and check whether or not they could look after Taishi tonight. Even though she knew that they would be overjoyed to look after her little bundle of energy, she wouldn't feel right assuming that it would be okay. Picking the phone off the hook she dialled her mum's number and carried the cordless phone back over to the chair, tucking her feet under her as she waited for someone to pick up the phone.

The phone rang half a dozen times and she was beginning to think maybe they had gone out somewhere that afternoon or that they were all outside when finally someone answered the phone and he sounded slightly out of breath, "Hello! Higarashi residence, Souta speaking."

"Hey Souta!" Kagome said with a grin when she realised that it was her younger brother on the phone, she hadn't spoken to him in a while actually. Lately it seemed as if he was always out or studying when she dropped Tai off or picked him up. "So how is my favourite yet most annoying younger brother doing today?"

"I'm fine, but who are you calling annoying? Besides I'm your only younger brother or brother in general and you were always the annoying one not me," Souta said with a laugh. "Taishi has been keeping Mum busy all day though…he really loves it outside, a real rough and tumble boy. One day I'm going to have to show him the joys of playing video games…though maybe when he's a little older and I have more time."

"Oh, no you don't! No corrupting my son with your video game obsession," Kagome said imagining the problems once Tai was introduced to video games. Aside from the fact that she couldn't afford to buy him any right now since she wasn't working she wasn't sure how Tai would go controlling his strength when using those kinds of things. She grinned when she thought of her mum trying to keep up with Tai and she added, "And that's what he's there for, to keep mum on her toes and occupied. So how is high school going at the moment?"

"Urgh…don't even ask," Souta said with a groan and she could imagine the face he would be pulling right now. "School is a complete pain…I don't understand how they can expect us to do so much work! I only seem to finish it before they bury me in more… I just have to keep telling myself that I'm almost finished. Only this year and next year left before I can say good bye to high school forever!"

"Yea you'll finally be finished high school but then you have more study to do at university unless you're not thinking about going there anymore." Kagome said with a laugh. She could completely relate though, there was only so much school that someone could handle before they were sick of it. "Though changing the subject, how is it going with Kimiko and you?"

"Kimiko and I are fine, both in a separate sense and together. Seriously, she's like my saviour amongst all the books, reading and writing…not to mention the maths and all those other terrible things that they force us to endure," He said wryly before he added more seriously. "You should come back home Kagome."

"We've been over this before Souta," Kagome said with a sigh. "There are just too many memories for me there at the shrine…just too many things remind me of Inuyasha still and right now I can't live there. It just won't work for me and besides it's time for me to be out on my own…a place for me and Tai." Souta started to protest and she interjected, easily cutting off his attempts at protest, "No buts Souta…you can't change my mind on this issue. Can you get mum for me please?"

"Yea okay," he said sounding a little dejected as he put the phone down and went to get their mum. Kagome sighed softly, Souta was always trying to talk her into coming back home and she had to admit that it was sometimes a tempting offer, but at the same time she wanted to be out looking after herself. She was worried that if she was at home she would end up relying too much on her mum and family.

"Hello? Is that you Kagome?" asked the slightly breathless voice. Obviously she had been running around or doing some kind of physical activity before Souta had told her that Kagome was on the telephone and wanted to talk to her.

"Hey mum, yea it's me," Kagome said with a smile. "I see that Taishi has obviously been keeping you busy and on your feet today. Has he been playing around outside all day again?"

"Yeah, that grandson of mine is so energetic…he's been running around and playing all day, it's a wonder that I have even been able to keep up with him." Mrs Higarashi said with a smile before asking, "So how did the interview go?"

"Oh, we had to reschedule it. I'll be going back next week I think, they said that they'd call me when they had a definite date and time for it," she said not wanting to get into the whole story over the phone. She'd talk to her mum about it all later when she came over before meeting Sesshomaru, "I was wondering if maybe you wouldn't mind looking after Taishi for me until around ten pm tonight?"

"We would love to," Mrs Higarashi replied. Though she was slightly unsure as to why her daughter would want or need her to look after Taishi so late, but she knew that Kagome would tell her what was going on eventually – probably when she came over to pick him up again. "You know that I adore my grandson and I love having him around the house."

"Thanks Mum, you're a life saver," Kagome said softly. She was glad that her mum hadn't tried to question her about why she wanted her to look after Tai until such a late time. "I will be over later this afternoon for a little while and I'll tell you about what's going on then, love you. Oh and tell grandpa, Souta and Taishi that I love them too. Bye!"

She hung up the phone, relieved that at least that was one thing that she didn't need to worry about anymore. Now she just had to find something to wear…and knowing that Sesshomaru was a top class business man that was probably worth a fortune it was probably going to be somewhere first class. Biting her lip she walked to her bedroom and checked her closet for anything that would be good enough for the dinner. After much rummaging around she finally found the perfect thing, she knew it wasn't a date but she'd rarely had a chance to go out on a date since…well a long time.

She'd never gone out on a date with Inuyasha, not a proper one anyway and she hadn't agreed to go out with anyone after coming back from the feudal era either. She couldn't get past the feeling that it was cheating on Inuyasha and their love, and she'd never really gone on a date before she'd met Inuyasha either except for a few kind of dates with Hojo. So tonight she would wear it because who knew, it might be the only occasion that came up for her to wear it.