A/N: Welcome back to another chapter! I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, but actually there are two reasons for that. The first is that I'm kinda sad, cause this story is coming to an end (one more chapter to go) the second… I've (finally) gotten enough money to buy my plane tickets to Japan!
I'm going on the 17th of March for three months, so prepare for a three month hiatus… BUT! I promise to post the last chapter before I leave. There's no way I'm going to leave you all hanging there.
With that said… here's the chapter! Hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.
Kagome sighed. It's been weeks since that horrible last conversation with Sesshoumaru, and her memories were not coming back. Not really. Oh, she had a few flashbacks – passing through a playground, she remembered the ghost of Mayu chan, the older sister of Souta's friend, Satoru. When she passed near a construction site, she remembered the no-mask, with the Shikon shard imbedded in its forehead. But, while she knew that Inuyasha had been around in both cases, she could not remember him.
Her notebook had been filled slowly with many tiny details that she remembered, along with her own presumptions and even things she thought were complete and utter nonsense. The line 'she would have osuwari'd him till his back broke, if he was Inuyasha' headed that list of nonsense. She knew that it was an important clue, but she had absolutely no idea what it meant.
Her friends were disappointed at her, both for letting 'Taisho Kiyoshi' slip away from her without at least a marriage proposal – they didn't actually say that, but Kagome had known then long enough to know that – but mostly, they were mad at her for not telling them what happened to make him stop coming.
It didn't stop them from telling her all the newest gossip about him, fresh from those magazines they liked so much.
"Taisho's new headquarters in Tokyo had been fully established," Eri informed her today at lunch break. "I guess that means he'll be going back to America soon." Kagome didn't reply, simply kept on fiddling with the food on her plate, glad that – at the very least – tomorrow would be Saturday, so she wouldn't have to go to school and be subjugated to her friend's incredulous stares, when they thought she weren't looking.
Still, what Eri told her did leave an impact. Sesshoumaru will be leaving soon, and with him, the secrets to unlock her memories. She was half afraid she would not be able to remember anything else, on her own. She was so sure of herself, at first, but when it became clear that there were so few triggers left for her memories in her time, she began to lose faith. Maybe she shouldn't have driven him away. But then, he had been keeping secrets from her, just like her family has – because her family asked him to!
Let him leave, she thought bitterly, ignoring the pang in her heart. And good riddance, too!
The following Saturday found Kagome dressed in her shrine's traditional garb, blue hakama and light grey haori, showing visitors around the grounds. There weren't many people, but it felt like whenever she had finished with one, another would show up, demanding a tour. Her grandfather was at the shrine itself, giving out blessings as if they were candies, while her mother was busy with the small memorabilia shop at the exit, selling key chains and magnets and sutras blessed by her grandfather – or, as Kagome liked to call it, a large pile of junk.
"Kagome, there's another visitor asking for a tour!" her grandfather had shouted, and Kagome sighed. She had just finished with an elderly couple who were visiting Tokyo, and while they were both very kind, they also wanted to know everything, making her feel as if she were being tested for her knowledge.
Considering the fact that she had a hole the size of three years of her life in her memories, Kagome felt like she would fail that kind of test – even though the couple was pleased with her answers – but really, if she didn't know enough to tell them that five hundred years ago the miko of this very shrine had shot a sealing arrow at a hanyou who was after the Shikon no tama, sealing him to the Goshinboku, then what good was her knowledge?
Kagome froze, blinking, her mind repeating her previous thought. The miko of this very shrine had shot a sealing arrow at a hanyou who was after the Shikon no tama, sealing him to the Goshinboku.
Inuyasha.
There was no other option.
And it would also explain the nick in the god tree's bark, the one she had wondered about, the one Sesshoumaru touched the first time he was here, whispering 'foolish hanyou', which she didn't understand at first, but now she knew. Inuyasha.
"Kagome! Stop dawdling!" Her grandfather yelled again, making her blink again, reminding her that there was a visitor waiting for a tour. She sent a longing glance at her bedroom window, where her notebook was stashed, wanting to just drop it all and go write her newest thoughts inside, but she knew she wouldn't. Her family was counting on her, and while all they had done ever since she woke up was disappoint her, she was not willing to do the same.
And so she walked over to where her grandfather was standing with the new visitor, and blinked again. The new visitor was none other than Kiyoshi Taisho, otherwise known as Sesshoumaru.
"I am leaving Japan soon," he told her grandfather. "I wish to visit the shrine before I leave." He explained, and continued. "I was told that there is an ancient tree in this shrine. It is said that this tree is magical. I would like to see it." Kagome blinked. It was practically the exact same words he used when she first saw him – in the modern era, at least. In Sengoku Jidai, his first words were more along the lines of 'Inuyasha, how fitting that you should be dallying with humans.'
And then she blinked again, because while she remembered the end of that first meeting, she did not know its beginning.
Two memories triggered in less than ten minutes. That was a definite improvement over the past couple of weeks, and Kagome had a feeling that it had something – if not everything – to do with him.
"Ah! The Goshinboku!" her grandfather exclaimed happily. "Yes, it is here. Kagome will show you the way." Sesshoumaru merely bowed, thanking them both, showing no sign that he knew her, that he had already seen the Goshinboku. Deciding to play the same, Kagome bowed back, and motioned him to follow her.
They didn't pass ten steps before Kiyoshi stopped. "What is that over there?" he asked her, pointing at the small locked shrine on their left.
"That is the shrine housing the Bone Eater's Well." She explained. "It is said that during the Feudal Era, the villagers of Edo used to throw the remains of slain youkai into the well, and the remains would simply… disappear."
She wondered how much of that was true, knowing what she did now. After all, that was the story her grandfather had told her Souta when they were younger, to scare them from going inside, and Jiichan's stories were not always as accurate as he wished them to be. But then, that was before the well house had been locked.
Kagome paused.
The well house being locked was something recent, something of the past – forgotten – three years. She wondered if Sesshoumaru was trying to hint at something, trying to give her another clue. After all, he didn't ask about the well the last time he was here.
"May I see it?" Sesshoumaru asked.
"Um, we'll have to ask my grandfather, as I don't have the key." She explained to him, and he nodded as she turned around to look for Jiichan. He was right behind them, had probably heard the entire conversation, and had a look as if he was in a great conflict.
"It-it's dangerous to go inside!" her grandfather warned. "It is the burial grounds of many a dead youkai!"
Kagome felt like she had hit jackpot. Her grandfather would never say no to an obvious wealthy visitor – he liked the donations left by the visitors enough to encourage them in every way – unless there was something else, stronger, to make him rethink. Something such as incurring her mother's wrath, if she learnt he let Kagome see the well, as it might remind her of her past.
"K-Kagome," Jiichan started, obviously trying to think of ways to show the visitor the well without Kagome being around. Kagome narrowed her eyes at him. "Why don't you go see if your mother needs help in the shop?"
Kagome wondered how she could get out of it – she wanted to see what's inside ever since she got back and realised she couldn't – when, to her surprise, Sesshoumaru presented a solution.
"She stays." He informed her grandfather. "She is, after all, my 'tour guide'."
Jiichan looked completely miserable, and for a minute, she felt sorry for him. But only for a minute.
"I would be more than happy to tell you all about the history of the well—" Jiichan tried again, but Sesshoumaru shook his head.
"You have your own duties to attend to, as you explained to me earlier. I would feel remiss should I detain you from them."
Kagome had to stop herself from gazing at Sesshoumaru in awe and gratitude. Not only had he made sure she would be there while her grandfather opened the well, he also made sure Jiichan won't be there. It was such a subtle, polite dismissal, yet she had no doubt her grandfather caught it. His face looked as if he had eaten something so sour it was eating him from the inside. All he did, though, was sigh, and motion them to move so he could unlock the door.
And then the two of them were inside, her grandfather off to 'attend to his duties', as Sesshoumaru had put it so nicely, and Kagome saw the bone eater's well for the first time since she had woken up in the hospital, and she blinked, only this time she hadn't transported anywhere else, she was in the same place, but Sesshoumaru wasn't there – Souta was. It was the morning of her 15th birthday, and they had gone inside because Buyo was hiding there, and Souta was too much of a coward to go alone, and she laughed at him, because he should be old enough to stop believing in ghost stories, only this time, he had been right to be afraid because Mistress Centipede had resurrected, taking her down the well to an unknown time and place.
Kagome blinked again.
"The well…" she said as soon as she found her voice. "That was my portal, wasn't it?" she asked Sesshoumaru, who simply nodded.
"Thank you," she said, looking at him, feeling that a simple thank you was not enough, so she did the first thing that came to her mind; she hugged him. He seemed surprised, at first, but soon enough she felt his hands settling around her shoulders.
"You're more than welcome, little miko." He whispered to her, and she smiled, despite the demeaning nickname. She found that she didn't mind it so much anymore, anyway.
"I'm sorry for what I said that night, Sesshoumaru." She said, not letting go. He didn't, either.
"It is I who should be apologising, Kagome." He informed her. "I should have realised that it would hurt you."
Kagome blinked. Was he actually apologising? The great and powerful Taiyoukai, apologising to a simple human?
Kagome took a step back, looking at his face. At first glace, it looked as impassive as always, but at a closer look she saw that there was something… softer in his eyes. It made her stomach twist.
"Are you really leaving soon?" she asked, suddenly disappointed at the notion.
"If there is nothing else to keep me here," he answered cryptically, but she had a feeling it had something to do with her.
"Have you regained any more memories?" he asked after a moment of silence.
"A little bit," she answered. "Mostly little, unimportant tidbits; things that happened in this era. I still don't remember what Inuyasha looked like." she finished with a sigh.
"I might be able to help with that." He said slowly. "If you wish it so, of course."
"Really? You would still help me, after all I've said?" He nodded, and Kagome smiled. "Thank you so much!"
Sesshoumaru smiled back, and not just a barely-there smile, but a full one, a noticeable one. "I'll take that as a yes."
She nodded, because of course it was a yes, because she enjoyed spending time with him, even when they weren't trying to reawaken lost memories, and that thought made her pause, because it was so sudden, and she had never really thought about it, but now, now she realised the truth of it, realised that it didn't matter much if she ever fully regained her memories, because she could always live in his.
And that thought made her pause, too, because it felt foreign, and it was something she had never felt or thought before, but it was true, too.
"When do you finish with your duties in the shrine?" he asked her.
"Usually somewhere between 5 or 6 in the afternoon," she told him, and he nodded.
"I will come to pick you up at 7, then."
Kagome nodded. "The usual corner?" she asked, and he nodded again. She smiled.
"We should get out of here before my grandfather starts wondering what we are doing in the darkness of the well house for so long." She told him, and he smirked before nodding.
Neither of them made any move towards the door, though.
Kagome felt happy, happier than she has been for the past few months. She didn't even notice her mother and grandfather arguing, when they thought she didn't hear them.
"How could you let her go inside the well?" Mama's tone was accusing. "You know what will happen if she finds out!"
"How could I not? That man was Taisho Kiyoshi, who could say no to him? And besides, he did leave a nice donation before he left." Jiichan tried to please her angry mother.
"Oh, how nice. So you're saying that if Kagome decided to go back and dies, at least we got a nice donation!"
Kagome had never heard Mama angry before, but it was obvious that the way she argued, at the very least, was hereditary. She was amazed that they didn't realise that she could hear them, even though she was in her room, writing in her notebook her realisations of the day.
"Of course not, Mariko. That's not what I said and you know it. Besides, you can't know for sure that seeing the well would awaken her memories."
Kagome was tired of hearing them shout at each other. It was time for her to do something about it, she decided. Leaving her room, she saw Souta huddled in the furthest corner of the house, his hands on his ears. He didn't like hearing them fight anymore than she did. She walked over to him, offering him her hand. He blinked at her, confused.
"You know, don't you?" he didn't need to clarify. She simply nodded as he took her hand, and the two of them – still holding hands – walked down the stairs.
"Well, and you can't know for sure that she won't! I swear, Jiichan, if she remembers—" and here Mama stopped, because Kagome and Souta had just walked in to the kitchen.
"Can you stop shouting at each other? It really makes it hard to concentrate on my homework." She informed them calmly, as if they weren't discussing her past loud enough for all Tokyo to hear.
"Ka-Kagome…" her mother started incredulously. Kagome had to stop herself from laughing.
"Honestly, Mama. I'm not going to go and jump in the well. Relax."
Jiichan and Mama were staring at her, their jaws nearly hitting the floor.
"I have been slowly remembering things from the past for a while now. I would have told you that, if you weren't so set on the fact that I wouldn't."
"Kagome…" Mama said once the shock subsided. "I only wanted your best."
This time, it was Kagome's to anger.
"Really? How is it my best to walk around with a hole in my memories?" she asked, her voice getting louder and louder with every word.
"Kagome, you didn't see the way you looked when Inuyasha brought you back the last time – how you both looked." Her mother explained in a low voice, as if to contrast Kagome's angry shouts. "You were covered in blood. We thought you were dead."
Those two short sentences were enough to make Kagome pause. She didn't have memories of what led to her amnesia, but now that her mother mentioned it, and knowing some things about her past, it did not surprise her that it was some gory battle or another.
"Oh." She said, because she didn't know what else she could say. And then – "still, you should have trusted my judgment."
And with than, she turned back to her room, off to do her homework until Sesshoumaru would come to pick her up.
A/N:
This was a hard chapter to begin writing. While all the others practically escaped my mind the minute I touched the keyboard, this one had to be forced out, and every sentence seemed like a struggle. But after a while I found my rhythm, and now I'm really happy with how it turned out. I felt like you deserve to know why the beginning is so crappy.
Until next time!
