Wolf: The finale approaches! Yes, you read me correctly. This is the end. I wrote a bunch of original fiction in between the last chapter and this one, so I don't know if it'll effect my writing style at all. Anyway, this is kind of long, so it's fitting for it to be the end. Enjoy!
Sentry's final test was approaching. Kaede claimed that if this didn't work, she would eat her own bow. It was the simplest solution and had worked once or twice before. All Sentry had to do was keep a piece of the Shikon jewel with her while she tried to get back. Inuyasha had done it, so it should have worked on Sentry too.
"Don't compare me to dog boy," Sentry said, insulted. Inuyasha flushed and was prepared to attack, but Kagome stopped him with some nonsense about Sentry being kidding and just wanting to make him angry.
Finally, the night arrived and Sentry realized that this was her last time to be in the forest. She hadn't seen Sesshomaru since he'd kissed her and she blushed uncharacteristically at the thought. Sesshomaru hated humans, apparently. He hadn't shown any inclination toward Kagome, so it was safe to assume his infatuation wasn't on her looks.
It couldn't have been something small, like her eyes or something, Sentry thought in annoyance. Men never went for drivel like that unless they were in a romance on paper. Even then, the words sounded corny.
While Sentry mulled it over, she saw Rin watching and smiled, gesturing for the girl to come closer. She did, but not without hesitation. Sentry was wearing a white kimono for the purity she would need for the next day.
It made the woman look like a forest goddess out taking a stroll, but Rin said nothing of the sort. She just sat next to the woman and watched the fireflies glowing in and out of the trees.
"Rin, if you went somewhere nice and met someone who you liked a lot, would you want to stay in that nice place instead of going back home?" Sentry asked suddenly. "I mean, if you really liked that place but your home was far away and you had to leave everything behind?"
Rin chose to say nothing, but hugged Sentry around the waist. Her dirty face smudged the kimono, but Sentry didn't mind. A little dirt here and there wasn't a bad thing. Besides, she was getting tired of wearing white all the time.
Something in the brush crashed and Sentry looked up, glaring at whoever had dared to interrupt her moment. It seemed to be only a small animal of some sort, but Sentry wasn't convinced. She smelled a familiar musky scent in the air and hoped secretly that it would be who she thought it was.
After a moment, Sesshomaru stepped out of the bushes, making Rin run to him and take his hand. Sentry smiled softly, knowing that Sesshomaru would be well taken care of when she went home. Rin was a good girl.
"Mutt!" someone shouted, howling at the moon. Sentry sighed. Was that idiot going to be joining the party too? Pretty soon she'd need to book tables.
"Aloha, Kouga," Sentry said with a wave of the hand. She leaned back against a tree and sighed, knowing that the stupid wolf demon would be starting fights soon and she would end up being escorted back to the village.
Kouga noticed Sentry looking appetizing as a replacement for Kagome, but he reminded himself of how much he loved that woman and not this one. Besides, it looked like Sesshomaru already had his claws in her.
"I'm just going this way," Kouga said as he received a glare from Sesshomaru. Rin had disappeared somewhere, understandably. Kouga could be a little scary when he wanted to be. Sentry didn't know about the wolf incident an no one had bothered to tell her.
Soon enough, they were alone again and Sentry pretended not to notice. Sesshomaru leaned over her, taking in her scent and the way the moonlight reflected in her eyes. He leaned down and took her in his arms, not sensing anything except Sentry's arms slowly snake around him. He shut his eyes, feeling a small and sort of shy peck on the lips.
"That won't do," he growled, making Sentry giggle. She liked this demon, loved him even. She wanted him too much and it would hurt going home.
Her lips pressed against him in a better kiss, but it was still meek, especially for the forward girl Sesshomaru had come to expect. He growled, a sound that reverberated in his throat and made Sentry smile all the more. He would have to work for his rights to her lips.
"You're easy to tease," she commented, smirking and leaning away from Sesshomaru. He looked annoyed with her and she could only smile. After all, she was obviously making fun of him. She wanted to see how he would react.
"If I can't have your lips," Sesshomaru said quietly, smirking as Sentry's pulse quickened without her consent. She groaned at his acute hearing, which he also picked up.
His lips attacked her throat, making Sentry gasp. Sesshomaru was obviously no wallflower, but his tricks were surprisingly intense. He must've taken on a lot of lovers in his time.
"Stay," Sesshomaru commanded softly. "Don't go home." With his mouth roaming her neck, Sentry found it hard to refuse. Of course, she couldn't just dump her entire family, either. They would be a tiny bit worried about her.
"I don't know," Sentry said as Sesshomaru's lips found hers. This time she was drawn in, but still teasing him. Sesshomaru pressed Sentry up against her tree, forcing a reaction from her. She smiled and refused to give more than he could steal.
"Ask nicely," she chided him, looking at the beautiful man who could disappear at any second. If he wanted, she would have gladly gone with him, but she had her family to think about. They would worry a little.
"Please," Sesshomaru said in annoyance. It didn't even sound like a question. He failed and Sentry frowned, turning away before smirking. Sesshomaru noticed and decided to play along. It wouldn't do any harm.
"Please?" he repeated, making Sentry smile at his hopeful face. She leaned down to kiss him and instantly he had her trapped once more. This time she was a willful hostage and demanded the embrace to mold to her satisfaction as well. She liked his kisses, but she liked his soft touches just as much.
Perhaps it would have gone further if Inuyasha hadn't hurried to get out of the clearing. He'd only gone for a midnight stroll! He didn't expect his brother and Kagome's cousin to be getting intimate where anyone could see them!
Sesshomaru stopped and turned to look before sighing. His brother was the bane of his existence and he pushed something into Sentry's hand before taking off.
"Way to go, again," Sentry said, straightening her clothes. She'd gotten into one of the best kisses of her life and the dog had to ruin it. It was actually a little clichéd when she thought about it that way. At least it hadn't been Inuyasha watching intently.
"It's not my fault you guys start doing that where anyone can see you!" Inuyasha replied, raising his voice in annoyance. Sentry shrugged and started walking back to the village. Once her little dog friend was spooked, he wouldn't come back.
"I'm going to bed," she told the mutt, walking toward the huts. "If you see Sesshomaru, tell him that I'm still thinking about it."
"What?" Inuyasha said in confusion.
"He'll understand. And by the way, you should take notes from your brother. Kagome would like it." She grinned at the confused man. "Kissing, you idiot." Inuyasha, unsurprisingly, blushed.
Sentry went back to her bed, sighing and trying to sleep. Should she stay here and condemn her family or go home and lose someone she might have actually loved? This was too confusing! Someone should have just chosen for her.
In the morning, the idea of someone else choosing for her was looking more and more appealing. She eventually picked up a shiny blue stone from the ground and looked at it, going to her old clothes and finding a necklace. Weighing both in her hands, she spied Shippo bouncing around.
"Fur ball!" she shouted, waving him over. When he was looking at her curiously, she continued. "Do you want to play a game with me?" Shippo nodded immediately, acting like a typical child. Sentry led him to the forest and into a familiar clearing with plenty of brush around.
She turned back to the little demon. "I want you to take these two things," she said, giving him the necklace and stone. "Hide them around this clearing while I'm not around and make sure it's hard to find them, but not impossible. I'm going to go back to the village so I can't cheat and then I want you to come get me when you're done."
"Why?" Shippo asked, looking at the girl with something like innocence. She hadn't seen that sort of face in a long time and it made her heart ache. The demon was like a child in every way and she wanted to be able to be happy like he was.
"It's going to help me tell my future," Sentry promised, smiling. She saw the demon run off with both items and walked away. Whichever one she found first would be the one she didn't go to, she decided. She wouldn't go back on that and she wouldn't ignore anything.
Almost an hour later, seeming like an eternity to the waiting Sentry, Shippo came back covered in dirt. He grinned at Sentry and she set off for the forest, going to the clearing and seeing nothing out of place. Her search began.
The ground revealed nothing obvious, so Sentry looked up in the trees and also saw nothing. Shippo hadn't taken the obvious route it seemed. Sentry continued searching, digging through loose grass and flowers, sighing.
If she stayed, things with Sesshomaru would be great. He'd actually tolerate her, unlike her last few boyfriends. Plus, she could always send messages to her family through Kagome and her infuriating ability to move through time.
But if she left, she could have all the things she loved, like her friends and indoor plumbing… She missed toilets. The whole era stunk of nature and she didn't really like nature. She preferred cities, where her home was. School was okay. She even liked seeing that yappy little dog in the apartment next to hers.
The decision was so hard and Senty sighed, taking a break from her searching. Her hands were scratched with thorns and she rubbed them irritably. She'd asked Shippo to make it hard, but not impossible. It had been a long time already. How well had he hidden those things?
"Lose something?" a familiar voice said behind Sentry, noticing her foreign clothes and the fact that she looked annoyed. Sentry nodded and crossed her arms, feeling Sesshomaru observe her. He was silently gesturing for her to go on.
"I'm looking for either a blue stone or a black necklace," she told him. "Whichever one I find first will help me out with a problem I'm having." Sesshomaru saw her sad eyes and immediately knew which problem she was referring to.
Sentry started looking again once she couldn't bear to meet Sesshomaru's eyes. She bent down and looked under rocks and in trees, searching for her necklace or the stone. Which one would she find first, she wondered?
"Is this one you're looking for?" Sesshomaru asked from behind her. His voice played with her heartbeat and she whipped around to see him holding her blue stone. She felt tears well up in her eyes and pulled out the black necklace from where she thought it was.
"I saw the blue stone first," she said, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. Sesshomaru looked concerned because she was almost crying, but he couldn't really do anything about it. After all, she was a human and he didn't understand her emotions.
"I guess this is goodbye," she said with a small smile. "I'm going back to my time if this time works." Sesshomaru looked at the stone accusingly. The dirty little rock had made the girl in front of him choose wrong!
"But you had the necklace in your hand first," Sesshomaru said quietly, angrily. Sentry just shook her head and closed her eyes.
"I told myself, the first one I found is the opposite of where I'm going," she told him. "The stone means I go home."
The demon swore and threw the rock away from the couple. It hit a tree and made a large indent because of his anger. He put his arms around Sentry and made himself a cage around her, not letter her go even when she moved to leave.
"Sesshomaru," Sentry said dangerously.
"Don't leave me," he replied, looking down at her. He wasn't looking at her like it was love, she realized. It was only possession and his skewed emotions. She struggled to break out of his arms, growling profanities in English.
"Shippo!" she shouted, hoping that someone would help her leave this demon. Sesshomaru's grip on her loosened as he heard running feet, but he didn't let Sentry go.
"Please, stay," Sesshomaru told her, his eyes turning into something closer to what she recognized, but he was still acting like she was some kind of machine that would do as he told it.
Sentry kissed him softly before thrusting forward and hitting Sesshomaru in the stomach. The damage wasn't much, but the surprise was enough that his grip loosened for a moment. Sentry darted out of his grip and ran, tears streaming down her face.
"Bastard," she said to herself. She remembered when her other boyfriend had gotten that possessive. It had been just before he'd tried to kill her, claiming that he loved her too much.
Kagome rushed toward her cousin when she saw Sentry panting and holding her necklace in her hands. "Let's get this thing started," she said with a fake smile, wiping her tears away. "I'm ready to go home."
"What happened?" Kagome demanded, probably acting a little selfish when it was obvious her cousin was distressed.
Inuyasha appeared and smelled Sesshomaru all over the girl, but he wisely said nothing. It didn't smell like anything bad, but it seemed that Kagome's cousin had had a big scare involving his brother. She stank of terror. She'd probably seen the real him, the one that hated all things human and only wanted what suited his interests at the time.
Kaede seemed prepared and the group made its way to the well, Kagome in the lead. She pulled out their large part of the Shikon Jewel and handed it to Sentry, feeling like an idiot. It was surprising they hadn't thought of this before now.
Sentry felt a power grip her spirit and knew somehow that this would work. She wanted to go home and Inuyasha had brokenly explained that this jewel granted wishes. She hoped that it would work for her. Sentry turned to Kagome and nodded to everyone.
"It's been fun," she said with a soft smile that Kagome didn't know her cousin possessed. Then Sentry was gone down the well and she didn't hit the bottom. Sesshomaru turned away from where he'd been watching. That human had left a hole in his chest, but he ignored the urge to jump after her.
Sentry looked around and saw that Kagome had followed her. The American handed her cousin the Shikon Jewel without a word and looked around. It was dirty there. She was surprised she hadn't broken her neck in the reentry, really. Sentry let Kagome climb up the ladder first, while she was thinking, and then looked around at the yard, which was familiar to her but seemed different in daylight. Kagome's mother was waiting with two cups of hot tea, which the girls accepted eagerly.
"Your parents haven't started worrying yet," the woman continued to Sentry. "I've just finished making dinner, so you're welcome to come in and eat whenever you two are ready."
Sentry nodded and looked up at the sun. She was really back in the right time. It was nice outside and something glinted over by the tree with the ropes on it. It seemed like metal, but Kagome had caught it too, so it must not have been a thing of her imagination.
Looking around, Sentry pulled out a piece of worn metal that had somehow weathered without dulling. It was stuffed in a hole in the tree and she looked at the strange symbols on it. "This looks Japanese," she said with confusion, scratching her head.
"It is," Kagome said, looking at it and not recognizing the old style of kanji. "Come with me." Sentry followed her cousin to her grandfather's rooms, finding the old man praying.
"What?" the old man asked irritably.
"What does this say?" Sentry asked, ignoring his attitude for now. She would steal his dinner when he wasn't looking.
The old man stared hard at the piece of metal before snapping his fingers. "That's 'ai shiteru,'" he told the girls before turning back to his praying. Sentry still seemed a little confused, not immediately recognizing the term.
"That's the serious way of saying 'I love you,'" Kagome told her cousin, sighing. "Who gave it to you?" Sentry had a feeling she knew, but darted back out to the tree and reached her hand inside of the hole. She pulled out a blue stone and bashed her head against the tree trunk. Kagome stopped her, looking concerned.
"Back off," Sentry told her harshly, sinking to the ground and clutching the piece of metal tightly. She'd made a mistake and she knew that she couldn't go back. She was an idiot.
Back in time, after Sesshomaru had put the piece of metal in tree, he carefully forgot everything about his human love. She was gone, not yet born even when he was expected to die. It would have been impossible anyway. Humans were useless and their lives flashed by in an instant. He would have long outlived her, even if she'd decided to stay. There was no use remembering.
Wolf:
Until next time, I bid you happy reading.