DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha or the book called 'Hasse Simonsdochter' written by Thea Beckman, nor do I own the characters of these two stories!! But I do own the idea of mixing these two ingredients into a new story.
Italic: thoughts
-- --: locations
"...": spoken words
~*~*~*~*~: time gap
*...* : noises
-by Kittymui-
Reunion
Previously:
Kagome widened her eyes even more when she saw the whole face of the silver
haired person.
Inuyasha widened his eyes in shock when he shifted his gaze from the horse to the person who sat on it.
S-Sesshoumaru...!?!
~*~*~*~
Hiten and Bankotsu immediately jumped up.
"Who are you!? Show yourself!!" Bankotsu yelled as he held his halberd ready. Hiten did the same with his spear.
Kagome hesitated for a while, but finally decided to come out of the shadows.
Sesshoumaru...? Inuyasha wondered as he watched the figure that was gradually revealed as the horse came into the clearing. The garments and armor are identical yet slightly different than Sesshoumaru's... Inuyasha thought to himself as he narrowed his eyes.
The horse stopped after it came out of the shadows and the person on the horse was completely revealed by the sunlight.
Inuyasha widened his eyes as he saw the raven black braid resting on the person's shoulder. No...it's not Sesshoumaru... he thought, slightly relieved. He relaxed when he saw the bow and recognized the arrows that the person was carrying. But a lot of question appeared in his mind as he scanned the young archer. He's wearing almost the same outfit...but he's...human? Who is he...? Inuyasha mused. He looks definitely younger than me...he looks around the 17...
Hiten and Bankotsu both lowered their weapons when they realized it was this boy who had shot the arrow and saved their friend.
A moment of silence blew over as the three youkai stared at the young archer.
Inuyasha didn't know why, but he just couldn't take his eyes off of those depthless
blue orbs of the boy sitting on the horse.
The same went for Kagome. He...is it him...? she wondered as she continued
to stare into those familiar golden orbs.
"Never imagined to see you here, Inuyasha." a voice suddenly spoke
from behind the young archer.
This voice!! Inuyasha thought surprised.
Four shadows appeared next to the horse and approached the clearing. The bright sunlight revealed respectively Sesshoumaru, Renkotsu, Kouga and Kyoukotsu.
Inuyasha's body tensed as he saw him. "Sesshoumaru!!!" he cried out, not believing his own eyes.
Kagome shifted her gaze from Sesshoumaru, who stood next to her, to the silverhaired one in front of her and then back to Sesshoumaru. They look so much alike...the silver colored hair...the golden eyes... she thought surprised. ...is this the brother he didn't want to mention about...?
Without saying anything else, Sesshoumaru just turned around and started to walk away.
"Feh!! Just like 10 years ago, huh?" Inuyasha spat weakly.
After hearing those words, Sesshoumaru stopped walking and looked over his shoulder to Kagome. "Take care of this for me..." Were his only words before he looked straight ahead and continued to walk away again.
"Wait you bastard!! I haven't finished__!!" Inuyasha yelled after him but was cut off by Kouga.
"Shut up, dogturd!! Or I'll beat the crap out of you!!" he warned angrily.
"Keh! Just you try, you wimpy wolf!!" Inuyasha snickered as he got on his feet again, using his fang for support.
Kagome knew he was injured and that he was pushing himself at the moment. She also knew that Kouga wouldn't ignore such a comment.
Just as she had expected, Kouga had already jumped into a fighting position and was ready to lung forward to attack this Inuyasha.
"Kouga!" she halted him with a clear voice.
When he heard Kagome calling his name, Kouga immediately stopped himself from dashing towards Inuyasha and turned to Kagome with his head slightly lowered.
"Think before you act and do not start a fight out of the blue." Kagome stated with a calm voice.
"I understand, Sora-sama." Kouga acknowledged before he stepped backwards again.
Inuyasha was indeed surprised to see the wolf youkai being that submissive towards
the boy.
His voice is surprisingly high and almost too soft to be coming from a boy.
he thought puzzled. Why is he dressed like Sesshoumaru anyway...and why is
he following him, of all mercenaries...?
His thoughts were cut off when they boy spoke again, with his high voice. "You
can trust us." he started.
You're injured, right?"
Inuyasha looked up at the boy and shifted his gaze to his own body. There were cuts and bruises on his arms and his back really hurt of the impact against the tree.
"I know a place where you can recover from your injuries and stay for a while." the boy continued. "Follow me."
With that he motioned his horse to turn around and was planning to ride away, but when she realized the three weren't following, she stopped her horse and spoke again. "You can walk...can't you? You can borrow my horse if you want." she provoked him.
"Keh!! I'm not as weak as YOU humans!!"Inuyasha spat as he sheathed his fang and gave Kagome a proud look, although her back was facing him.
"Why you__!" Renkotsu growled but was halted when Kagome held up her hand.
To Inuyasha's surprise, the boy looked over his shoulder to look at him and
smirked. "I know you aren't."
After saying those words, he turned around again and rode away on his horse,
with the three youkai following him silently.
Inuyasha just stood there in the clearing, watching them disappear into the forest. Why did he say that? Inuyasha thought to himself. He could have humiliated me in front of everybody, yet he saved my pride.
He looks quite fragile... and he doesn't look like a full fletched mercenary to me...then why are they listening to him? Why are they following his orders? All these questions filled his mind as he tried to digest what had happened in the past 10 minutes.
His thoughts were cut off when he heard his friends approach him from behind.
"What are we going to do?" Hiten asked as he stopped next to Inuyasha.
"I don't sense any threat coming from them..." Bankotsu said. "What do you think, Inuyasha?" he asked.
Inuyasha thought silently for a moment before he turned to his friends. "We'll follow them." he finally spoke. "It's almost evening and traveling in our state would be even more dangerous."
Hiten and Bankotsu both agreed with Inuyasha and the three of them set off into the direction where the young archer and his group had disappeared.
~*~*~*~
"Well well, never thought we would meet again THAT soon." Sango chuckled
when she saw Kagome after opening the front door.
Kagome smiled. "Did Sesshoumaru come here too?" she asked.
"Yeah, he's upstairs in the same bedroom." Sango replied as she stepped away to let them enter.
Kagome pulled Sango into a corner after she closed the door behind them. "Euhm...I'm sorry to bother you again...we will definitely pay you for our stay... and euhm..." she hesitated.
"It's okay, I'm actually glad to see you again." Sango said reassuringly. "Don't worry, you guys can stay here as long as you want to."
"There's something else." Kagome continued. "There will be three more to stay here, do you think you can prepare another room for them? I'll pay for their stay."
Sango smiled. "Sure, no problem."
"Thanks." Kagome said before she walked to her companions again.
"We can stay here for another while. Go upstairs to unequip and refresh yourselves for dinner." Kagome explained. "I'll go talk to Sesshoumaru about this."
Renkotsu, Kouga and Kyoukotsu nodded and went upstairs to do what they were told.
Kagome soon followed them upstairs and made her way to Sesshoumaru.
-- In Sesshoumaru and Kagome's bedroom --
*knock knock*
When nobody answered, Kagome just opened the door, only to see Sesshoumaru standing in front of the window; staring at something far away.
"What's wrong?" Kagome asked as she walked to his side and did the same what he was doing.
No answer.
"Inuyasha..." Kagome repeated the name that Sesshoumaru called the silverhaired one, which caused Sesshoumaru's ears to twitch. "He's your half-brother, right?" she asked.
No answer.
Kagome knew she shouldn't be asking all these things and digging up his past; she knew that there was something wrong between the two brothers. But she also knew that problems should be solved, especially when a problem has existed for 10 long years; it should end after such long time. So Kagome decided to wait patiently until Sesshoumaru opens himself up to her.
*silence*
"My father..." Sesshoumaru finally spoke after a moment of silence.
"My father remarried shortly after my mother passed away."
"He married a human..." he continued, with a slightly disgusted tone
in his voice. "He did not care about how other youkai reacted on this;
he did not care about the honor that our family had earned for decades..."
Kagome didn't say anything; she only stayed next to him, watching the same direction as he did and listened to his story silently.
"...he didn't even care how I felt..." Sesshoumaru added after a moment of silence.
Kagome turned to look at his expression. It was just as emotionless as always, but she could see some sadness in his eyes while he was telling her this.
"I was angry..." he continued. "...angry that my father could forget my mother that easily...angry that he could choose a human and turn our family into a joke for the youkai world."
*silence*
"It was a disgrace..." he spoke again. "He was not even pureblooded...he should not have been born...I despised him...yet he looked up to me admiringly as his brother..."
Sesshoumaru didn't say who this 'he' was, but Kagome knew he was talking about Inuyasha.
"...it was suffocating..." he continued. "...all the hatred welled up in myself...to see such a happy family...I didn't know what to do...so I ran...I ran away from them...10 years ago..."
A moment of silence blew over the bedroom when Sesshoumaru ended his story.
"He can't help it...to be born half-blooded..." Kagome said after
thinking a while.
Sesshoumaru finally turned away from the window to face Kagome after hearing her respond and gave her a puzzled look.
"I'm sure he also had a difficult past too, since he's a hanyou." she explained, not looking away from the window.
Sesshoumaru's eyes softened a little, when he understood what Kagome was trying to say.
Kagome smiled as she turned to face Sesshoumaru. "You married a strange woman yourself...not knowing about her true origin...not even a youkai..." she said as she leaned closer to Sesshoumaru and rested her head on his chest.
"You're not alone anymore...I'm here to share your happiness and sorrow. You can learn to accept him...it's not too late..." she finished with a soft voice.
Sesshoumaru relaxed after hearing those comforting words and wrapped his arms around her. "Thank you...I wanted to hear those words..." he whispered as he held her closer.
Kagome smiled in his embrace. You didn't know how to deal with all those mixed emotions within you, did you? After ten years of separation...you didn't know what to do with the sudden reunion. She thought as she hugged him back. You were just frustrated...
~*~*~ Meanwhile ~*~*~
"Ah, you must be those three she mentioned about. Please come in!" Sango smiled as she stepped away from the doorway to let the three injured ones in.
She...? Who is this woman talking about...? Inuyasha thought puzzled as he entered the building.
"My name is Sango and I'm the hostess of this small inn." Sango introduced herself after closing the door behind them. "I was told that you three would be staying here for a whole so I've already prepared a room." she continued. "I hope you won't mind sharing one room with the three of you, it's the last one down the hall to your left."
Bankotsu stepped forward and introduced himself. "My name is Bankotsu." he started, pointing at himself, Inuyasha and Hiten respectively. "This is Inuyasha and Hiten." he explained politely. "And yes, we would like to stay here until we've recovered from our injuries. We don't mind sharing the same room." Bankotsu continued. "But we might not be able to pay the full price of our stay...if we__" he was cut off by Sango.
"No need to worry about that, your stay had already been paid for." she smiled.
Bankotsu, Hiten and Inuyasha stared at her with wide eyes.
"Dinner won't be served for a while, so you can go to your room forst
to refresh yourselves." Sango said. At the same time Shippou came out of
the kitchen and jumped onto her shoulder.
"I'll have Shippou bring some disinfecting herbs to your room later."
With that, she turned around and entered the kitchen together with Shippou,
leaving the three startled youkai behind in the dining room.
"She's human, isn't she?" Hiten asked puzzled.
"Yeah...strange that she's not even suspicious of us." Bankotsu replied. He turned to Inuyasha. "Can we trust her?"
Inuyasha sniffed the air. Sesshoumaru's scent is definitely in this building and the rest of his group too." he concluded.
"I think we can trust them." he said after a short moment of silence. Besides, the boy's eyes weren't lying when he told me that we could trust him. he thought to himself, recognizing the scent of the young lad that lingered in the air of the inn. Really a strange scent for a boy...waterfalls and forests...? Inuyasha thought puzzled.
~*~*~*~
A couple of hours later, it was dinnertime and Shippou was sent to call all guests for dinner.
Inuyasha's group was the last one who left their room. As soon as they reached the stairs and were about to descend it, a familiar yet different voice sounded from below.
"You're so cute, you know that?" the voice spoke. A small 'meow' sounded in reply.
Inuyasha's ears perked up. This voice...it's the boy...but why is it higher and more...girlish than before? he thought bewildered as he took several steps down the stairs with the rest following him.
More wooden chairs were placed around the table, since it only had 8, it would be enough for the total of 11 of them. Fortunately the table was large enough for 11 chairs, there were enough space for each of them to eat normally.
When they reached the dining table, Inuyasha searched around looking for the boy who saved his life, while Hiten and Bankotsu took their seats. But he could only see Sesshoumaru staring out of the window (with his back facing Inuyasha), Renkotsu, Kouga and Kyoukotsu sitting at the table and little Shippou carrying dishes from the kitchen to the table.
Kagome was sitting in front of the fireplace and playing with Kirara; with her back to Inuyasha. Inuyasha didn't notice her when he came down from the stairs and reached the table.
"Smells delicious, huh?" she giggled as she stroked Kirara's soft
fur. "Come on, let's have dinner."
With that Kagome scooped Kirara up in her arms and went back on her feet.
She was ready to go to the dining table, but find herself looking into two frustrated
golden orbs as she turned around.
Inuyasha was speechless when he saw the 'boy'. He scanned him from head to toe.
His raven black hair wasn't tied into a braid anymore; it was hanging loose and resting on his shoulders. He wasn't wearing armor and was only dressed in the white haori and hakama (with blue edges). A small fire cat could be seen in his arms. The boy was obviously shorter than him, but Inuyasha didn't realize before, since he was sitting on a horse.
He snapped out of his trance when a smile appeared on the young lad's face. "Come on, let's eat." he said with the same girlish voice. With that he walked pass Inuyasha towards the table, leaving Inuyasha startled behind.
When he turned to the table again, everybody had taken their seats. Recovering
from his shock, Inuyasha took the last seat that was facing the boy. He noticed
that he was sitting next to his brother.
What is Sesshoumaru to this boy...? Why is he sitting next to him? Do they know each other well...? Inuyasha wondered as he began to eat like the rest. The questions in his head just wouldn't leave him alone.
During the whole dinner, Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha were the only two who remained
silent, while the rest chatted with each other.
Inuyasha's friends told Sesshoumaru's group about their journey up till now
and vice versa.
Kagome explained to Miroku and Sango how they bumped onto each other in the
forest after they left.
Posted: 23 August 2003
Last Edited: 12 February 2004 (re-edited because of tags problem)
Spelling check: YES