The Day After Tomorrow

AUTHOR: Angelhart
GENRE: romance/hurt/comfort
STORY: continuation
STATUS: incomplete
RATING: M
DISCLAIMER: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi / the television series are produced by Sunrise.

Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I knew it would take a while for me to be able to post this one and that is why I posted two chapters last time.

Those that follow me on tumblr had the luck to have already read a scene from this chapter. I sometimes post little previews over there of my fanfiction or upcoming chapters.

I want to thank you all for your patience and your support. I am still amazed at the growing followers. Thank you for your favs, reviews and kind comments on tumblr. They mean a lot ^^

Happy reading!

Chapter 21

She was staring at Ginta and Hakkaku. The two wolf demons looked at her as if she would be heading towards her death sentence.

"You sure about this?" Kouga's voice asked her.

Although the faces of his two clan members weren't really comforting she couldn't bring herself to look into his.

Was she stupid? Had she suffered from severe head injury after the car crash and had Tenseiga failed to remedy that?

"You will always have my heart, little bird."

He loved her. Still.

I would be safe with him. I think... I could be happy with him.

But it would be a wrong kind of happiness. He would always be her second choice. Like a backup. And it wouldn't be fair. Not to him. Her heart belonged to someone else. And though she would like to think that that person would want her to be happy - Even if it is with a rival - it wouldn't feel right.

But I could love him. Settle.

A hand lifted her chin gently and her eyes were forced to gaze into his. The deep drowning blue. If he kisses me...

But he didn't. A thumb caressed her cheek, but he refrained from kissing her. As if he knew. Even that intimate moment in the shower he had not truly kissed her.

"I said it once before, little bird, and I'll say it again. When you're done playing with dogs come look me up."

The smile he gave her was full of love. His eyes so warm. He leaned forward and she felt his breath against her left ear. "Just call my name. Anywhere. Anytime." After the whisper he pulled her into a tight embrace. A hand stroked her hair soothingly. She returned his hug and allowed herself this moment of comfort.

"You know," he whispered most softly in her ear again, "If you wanna piss him off you go find him right now. With my scent all over you."

Pulling herself from his arms and returned his warm smile. Standing by the door she found it hard not to laugh at the two sobbing clan members. "I just want to thank you all for your hospitality."

"You sure you don't want me to drive you home?"

She declined Kouga's friendly offer with a wave by her hand. "No, it's okay. I'm going to take the bus home." Gives me time to think.

Kagome was glad when the door closed behind her and after an elevator ride she found herself soon outside the building, the cool air hitting her face. Kouga had taken her back to his apartment somewhere in the night, but after their talk she couldn't get back to sleep. His words were echoing inside her mind over and over again. That although the same in a way, they were completely different species. And that although she considered them being friends, it would be better if she did not see them that way. Truthful words that she had heard being spoken in the Feudal Era by several people. Even Miroku had said something similar once. But she had been so much younger then. And everything had seemed so magical in a way that, in those months, she somehow still expected to one day wake up and suddenly realize it was all a dream.

Except it was not. It had not been a dream.

She couldn't get over the fact that a world had been shown to her and now the door had been closed so suddenly. That she had even imagined a future in that place. And although she had now found her demon friends from that era here in her own time line, it just wasn't the same. Odd enough the only thing that came most close to her what she had been lost was Inuyasha's brother.

The bus ride to the stop close to her home provided her with enough distraction so she didn't have to think about the next step that laid ahead. The bus was full of chitter chatter from several people and she listened silently to their daily life problems and adventures. It humored her that they all seemed so trivial. So unearthly.

She didn't think of herself as a higher being or something other than human, but as she observed and overheard she could understand a bit of how a demon or god might view the human world. With amusement or annoyance perhaps.

Her eyes fell onto a young man who was sitting alone on a seat. He was silent and smiling. Strangely so. Like he was just on the ride for entertainment. To hear people talk and quarrel. When his eyes met hers she could swear she saw a red glow in them before the irises turned to a humanly brown color. He tilted his head and looked at her almost fascinated by her interest, or maybe he was assessing her humanly state.

Maybe I was right before and there are demons among us. And it is because we are so indifferent we just don't see it. And that little feeling that creeps upon your spine once and awhile is warning you about their presence.

He was grinning as if he was enjoying a private joke, before he averted his eyes again and looked out the window. And the chill that didn't warn her beforehand was warning her now. Underneath her vest goosebumps appeared on her arms and she was glad when the bus arrived at her destination.

Kagome got out quickly and only turned her head when the bus drove off again. And realized… that the man had stepped out as well.

Fuck…

She swallowed and walked faster. Not enough to run, but enough to give her the feeling she was moving quicker. Without looking back she knew he was following her. She could hear his footsteps on the pavement even above all the noise of the city. It was as if she had forced all other noises out so she could focus on his steps. Steady, but quick. He would be catching up.

Then he stopped and it made her turn around. There was like a seven step distance between them as she saw him taking a deep breath through his nose, eyeing her for a moment and then turning around and walking away. Whatever had peeked his interest, it had dissipated when he caught her scent. Perhaps with all other scents in the bus he had not been able to pinpoint which one was hers. And she realized that whatever it was, it was probably what saved her from a what she guessed would be a unpleasant introduction. She had no doubt that the young man had been something other than human.

What had Kouga said to her? Something about the risk of demons knowing that she knew about their existence? That kind of knowledge was apparently dangerous.

Kagome opened the door of her apartment building and hurried inside. She didn't want to stand and wait if the stranger would change his mind about their encounter. But as she closed the door behind her and walked up the stairs to her floor, she noticed she was slowing down in her walk. A meeting with a strange demon was indeed something she had no interest for. However she wasn't really looking forward to what was ahead as well…

Standing in front of her door she was a hesitant to open it. She had placed the key in the lock, but had yet to turn it. In her head a whole bunch scenarios of what she would find were shown to her. And she didn't like all of them.

The first one was that he would still be in there. Waiting. His lifespan was probably a hundred thousand years. He could most certainly spare a few days. She could easily picture him having the patience for that.

She was going to confront him. But she rather did that on her own terms. With enough preparation, repetition of what she was going to say, more comfortable clothes and perhaps a taser in her purse.

If he would be waiting for her now, behind that door, she didn't really know what to expect. Nice Sesshomaru. Or going all demon on her ass Sesshomaru. However a reprimand from either one of them would be most unpleasant.

Or he could have left. And her small apartment could be the victim of a demon's sexual frustration tantrum. Not something she was looking forward to either.

Or both! He could have trashed the place and could be sitting mits in the havoc that once was her own little sanctuary. Waiting.

Her hand released the key and she stepped back. Staring like a deer in headlights at the door.

I should have asked Shippou or Kouga to come with. She thought it would be really stupid to call any of them now. Although she had no doubt they would be there quickly.

Come on! Don't be such a wimp. You've faced him before. All proud and cocky. Go lecture him!

She gulped, letting her unspoken words of bravoure fill her confidence and turned the key.

The door opened. Kagome peeked carefully inside, ready to bolt in an instant. She refrained herself from calling his name. She didn't want to push her luck. And it had caused her this mess in the first place.

Pushing the door open fully she noticed that everything seemed just as the way she left it. Like an agent on a crime scene she carefully eyed the place and checked every room.

The demon wasn't there.

Standing in her living room again she released a sigh of relief. That's when she noticed the one thing that was out of place.

Kagome walked towards the item that stood in her bookcase. "Hello you," she said as she dropped her purse on the floor. Her fast heartbeat already slowing. She smiled as she stood before it. "Well look at you. I guess I need to water you now, right?" She laughed softly as she stared at her blooming plant.

She could only guess for the reasons why the demon even bothered. It was a funny thought picturing said demon waving Tenseiga to save her plant. She had no idea the sword could even do that. Perhaps it had been an experiment.

Kagome filled a cup with water and emptied it on the dry soil. She reached out her hand to touch one of the leaves when the skin of her finger met something sharp.

"Ouch! I didn't know you had thorns." It was probably the punishment she deserved for neglecting it from the start. As she sucked the blood on her finger a memory surfaced in her mind.

"You cut yourself, clumsy. If old Myoga would be here right now, you would have made his day."

Staring at her finger and the drop of blood forming on the small prick, she could picture herself there again, underneath the Goshinboku. Inuyasha scolding her for being a klutz and bandaging the wound. She remembered how she had been blushing like an idiot while he had used a piece of her handkerchief to wrap it around her finger. It were moments like that, intimate and sweet that had made her fallen in love with him. And somehow it made the memory all the bitter. For it was as nice as it was painful.

She had told herself more than often that, if she could turn back time she, would make sure not to fall in love with him. But each time those memories entered her mind, she realized she could not, not make herself fall in love with him.

She ignored the metallic taste as she placed her injured finger back in her mouth again. This time Inuyasha wouldn't scent her blood and wouldn't be there to aid her. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't picture his brother doing something similar. It was more likely he would amuse himself watching her bleed to death.

Kagome made her way to the bathroom. Although one part of her wanted to indeed provoke the demon by letting him scent Kouga and his pack all over her, another part – the most sane part obviously – thought that wouldn't be a smart idea. She was aiming for a serious conversation. Not a discussion about scents and hygiene.

Underneath the warm stream of water she recalled the hot moment with the wolf demon. That sweet little bliss that was enforced by his hand. How often had she not used her own hands for a pleasurable moment like that? In her mind it would be Inuyasha standing behind her and it would be his hands roaming over her body and touching her so intimately.

Yet after her real sexual experience those fantasies had changed. Unwillingly. Closing her eyes the face of the one touching her would have markings on each cheek. A crescent moon on his forehead. And every time she forced Inuyasha's face into the picture her mind would somehow alter it again to his brother. She hated herself for it. It felt like cheating. The reality that she had already done so for real not lost on her as well. If they were in a relationship that was.

But how could one be in a relationship when that person lived five hundred years in the past? And was dead in the era she lived in…

"Do you want me to wait, miss?"

Kagome turned around to the driver of the taxi. "No, it's fine. Thank you." She then watched her means for transportation driving away and after he became a spot in the distance she turned to face the large closed fence.

She took a deep breath and then pressed the button of the intercom. She waited until the buzzing ceased, but nothing happened. There was no voice on the other side. She pressed the button again with the same result. Looking up she noticed a camera pointed at her direction. The red blinking light a signal it was on.

So, they could see her.

"Really childish!" She shouted at the camera, not even caring if the demon was there watching and could hear her or not. She stopped herself from kicking against the fence. No doubt it would hurt her more than it would leave a scratch mark on the demon's ego.

She pressed the button of the intercom again. And again. And again.

"I am going to press this button until my finger falls off!" She shouted towards the intercom and then looked at the camera demonstratively.

"Now that would be most tiresome to watch."

She spun around at the sound of his voice.

What was he doing at her side of the fence?

"It is very rude to sneak upon people, you know," she stated.

"I do not sneak. Humans are just awfully noisy."

She was about to argue that when he turned around and walked away. Just like that.

"Hey!" she yelled, but she should have expected him to ignore her for he did just that. "Hey!" She followed him with angry strides.

When he suddenly did stop she almost bumped into him.

He turned his head and looked at her. "You know," he said, "I held you to a more intellect specimen of the human race. Yet you are here. Proving me wrong."

Her eyes blinked at the insult. She was sure it was an insult.

Then he jumped up.

What the-?!

"Sesshomaru!" But he was gone. He had disappeared over the wall she was facing.

Kagome ran back to the gate. She had little hope it would now be open, but that hope died immediately when she was staring at the metal bars in front of her. "Goddamn son of a bitch."

The literal pun of the sentence would have been humorous if she wouldn't have been so pissed off and had payed attention to it. Now the words had just slipped passed her lips.

She took a few steps back and looked up. Attached to the top of the gate were impressive spikes that were obviously meant to discourage anyone to climb over it. Swinging her bag over her shoulder and neck Kagome faced the camera.

"You think you can keep me out!?"

Then she walked towards the gate and took hold of the bars. The confidence she felt as she had formed the plan in her head slowly disappeared as she looked up. Don't just stand there, Kagome, you had an A for gymnastic in college! But the realization that the measurement of her athletic capabilities was years ago, wasn't doing wonders for her self-esteem.

She placed her right foot on the one horizontal bar that was close to the ground and then pulled herself up with her hands. There was only one other horizontal bar and looking up she knew she would be in for a real challenge to reach it.

Once upon a time there was this teenage schoolgirl who in the Feudal Era had become an expert in climbing trees in an escape to become a demon's dinner. How she longed for that schoolgirl now.

But determination was her fuel and although it looked probably ridiculous she was going to reach that bar. Wrapping her legs around the vertical bar she was holding she tried to work herself up as if she would be climbing a rope.

The thought wasn't lost on her that somehow these things were a whole lot easier when a horde of demons were chasing you.

Suddenly there was a metallic sound followed by movement. Movement of the object she was climbing. The gate was opening. Kagome jumped down quickly, not wasting the opportunity that had presented itself. Following the long path leading up to the mansion she could hear the gate slowly closing behind her.

She diverted from the path to find the demon who had jumped over the wall. She didn't know if he would be at the house or in the forest to the right. Yet somehow her gut feeling told her to leave the main road and start her search midst the bushes and Sakura trees. And after walking a few minutes she stumbled upon a familiar place.

The lake.

With the Sakura trees starting to bloom the sight was even more beautiful. For a moment she forgot what she came here to do. It seemed that place had such effect on someone. Stepping closer to the lake her left foot hit a pebble. The small rock was bounced forward and hit the water. Kagome watched the ripples and without even thinking she was suddenly looking for another tiny rock in the grass. When her fingers found one she picked it up and threw it.

She had hoped to see it skip at least once or twice before sinking, yet sunk right away.

"Crap," she muttered under her breath and she searched for another. It took her a while before she found a new one. She threw it up once before catching it and aiming it in a next throw. It hit the water and again sunk.

She was about to curse again when another pebble hit the water. It skipped. Once, a second time, third, fourth... before it disappeared beneath the surface. She looked back and noticed Sesshomaru standing there. A second pebble in his hand. With a quick flick of his wrist he sent it flying.

Kagome watched it skipping over the water. A wondrous seven times before it sank to the bottom of the lake.

"Wow..."

Then her right hand was suddenly grabbed and she realized the demon was now standing behind her. She turned her head to look up to his face, but he was not looking at her, but focused on the lake.

Fingers pried her hand open. She felt the smooth surface of an almost round pebbe placed in her palm. She watched as his fingers closed hers around it. Her arm was pulled back slightly and his hand was partly covering her wrist and fingers.

"Relax. Release when I say so."

He moved her hand quickly and when he voiced "now" she let go.

She watched the small stone skip the water four times. And when it went down in the water she turned around.

His expression was soft. She could almost see an old memory flash in those yellow eyes. Perhaps he had played this game with Rin once – maybe even several times. It made her smile as she thought of him, a ferocious demon, actually playing a children's game with a human child. That he could be attentive like that.

"It's in the wrist," he explained to her, "not the force of the throw."

"I don't understand you," she heard herself say.

He averted his gaze to look at the lake again. "I'm complicated."

"I'll say..." she sighed almost inaudible watching the lake. It was too early for another sunset, but somehow she wouldn't mind waiting for those hours to pass.

"So...," she started.

"So...," he repeated like a baritone echo.

"What now?"

Her eyes locked with his. With one step he stood beside her.

"I don't like humans. Yet, you… I find... less displeasing. I didn't care for you much back then," his eyes narrowed. "You were obnoxious. But... I have come to find that you hold certain character traits and qualities that amuse me."

"A-amuse you? I amuse you?" Was he for real? At her reaction she noticed his lips curling into a grin.

"I begin to understand what my brother saw in you."

She stepped away from him, somehow needing the distance. Him mentioning Inuyasha evoked a pain in her chest. Why was she doing this to herself? Was she indeed, as he once said, that masochistic?

"I don't know why… I even come here," She whispered softly. Words not really meant for him, but more to herself. Every time she came here she was going to end up hurt. Physically or mentally. It would have been so much easier if she would have taken his warning that night and stayed away. And come to think of it he gave her more than one opportunity to do so. Even a moment ago. At the closed gate she could have used her phone to call for a cab and leave.

Maybe I am masochistic…

He blinked slowly as if it was supposed to mean something. "I do." A deep sigh left him. "Like I said. Humans aren't that hard to read."

His gaze was so friendly. Almost human. It was nice to see something that resembled emotion on his face. It suited him.

"I cannot give what you desire, miko."

"I don't want to be here." This world doesn't feel like my home anymore.

"Neither do I. This era is unpleasing in many ways."

"I don't love you."

He snorted at her use of the 'L' word again. "I don't understand your need for attachment to bind feelings and emotions to a simple act. It seems even worse with the females of your species."

She glared at him. He just looked at her puzzled. Even a slight bit entertained for her fury.

"I thought of him, you know. When we-"

"I know," he replied dryly interrupting her sentence. He didn't even look surprised. Not even hurt.

Had she said it in means to hurt him?

Now she looked surprised. "I-it doesn't bother you?"

"Again you project your human emotions on me. Does it comfort you? To think of me more that way? Human? Does it acquire for me to transform in my true form for you to acknowledge what I really am?"

"Are you really that cold? It doesn't sting that your brother was in my mind?"

That look again. As if she was a puzzle he was trying to solve. A hint of amusement in his eyes. Then it occurred to her. He could have been thinking about someone else too. She dared to ask...

"Did you... think of Rin... when we-?"

He laughed. It was so loud, so genuine. It shocked her. It was strange to hear him laugh. It was almost scary. A shiver even ran up her spine.

Then it stopped and his expression immediately softened. "It fears you... You can rest assured. I have no need to project things that aren't real to a reality."

"I still don't understand."

"Your need for answers is tiresome, miko. Let it go."

"I can't..."

He sighed. "Perhaps I can give other satisfaction to your restless mind." He looked in her eyes. The intensity of the gold was keeping her immobile. "You… can provide me with a pleasant distraction as well."

Her eyes widened. Was she hearing this right? "Seriously? You're offering me a deal?"

She flinched as his right hand touched her. Fingers lifting her chin gently. "If you are willing."

"A friends with benefits kind of deal?"

He raised an eyebrow and his hand released her face. "I am not familiar with that context."

"It means..." A heated blush was spreading a nice red color on her cheeks as it dawned on her that she had to explain the meaning of the expression. "Never mind," she said waving her hand "It's a human thing, probably doesn't fit the world of demons anyway."

He looked at her curiously. Her waving it off like that was making him seem even more eager to know.

She decided to avert the topic quickly by asking something that was on her mind. "Are we… friends…?

It took almost a minute before he answered that question. "Let's say we have mutual interests and mutual dislikes that binds us.

"So no friends." In her minds she could hear Kouga's words. That a friendship between a human and demon – if such thing even existed was a brittle thing. And looking into the man's unhuman eyes another question raised to surface of her mind. "Should I fear you?"

"Always."

She blinked at his answer. "That is a weird thing to say."

"Would you prefer it if I would be lying?"

She held his gaze. When she saw nothing of reassurance she gulped and averted her eyes. "You are serious…" When she looked up again she noticed he was still looking at her.

"I do not lie."

A short laugh left her lips. "Yeah…, you are probably the only honest demon out there."

He didn't laugh at her joke, just stared at her.

"So what does a deal with a demon uphold? Sealing it with blood?" An image of an ancient paper scroll unfolding an unknown language to her, a single line at the bottom of it combined with a feather and a drop of her blood flashed through her mind.

"Blood?" He grinned at her. "Haven't you spilled enough? Or..." he nudged his head in her direction. "Are you... perhaps... into that? Miko." The name he used for her left his lips smoothly.

Maybe she should have answered that, because after a minute of silence there was a dark chuckle from him.

"Oh, miko, is it possible that, that innocent mind of yours is filled with dark desires?" His voice cooed.

She flinched and couldn't stop her pale face from turning a deep crimson in mere seconds. His eyes sought out hers and pierced into them. For a moment she actually believed he had the ability and tried to read her mind. He seemed to enjoy the moment, her struggle to find the words to give a reply.

Kagome had no desire to have a repeat where his claws would sink in her skin. Even without the poison they could release it still damned hurt. If such dark place even did exist in her mind she blamed it on the lecherous monk and this modern era where sex was business and there was little taboo.

She met his gaze and watched his lips curling into a grin when she gave her reply: "I think having sex with a demon is already kinky enough."

There was a long pause and Kagome turned to face the lake again. A gentle breeze coming from behind her and causing ripples in the water. From the corners of her eyes she watched him stepping closer and take a position beside her and in the tranquility the place provided she almost inaudible then voiced her answer. Words that were anything but rational. But that part of her mind had already left her nine years ago when a boy asked his sister to look for their cat in the old well shrine. And a young man with dog ears on top of his head asked her to pull out an arrow from his chest.

"I accept..."

A grim smile curled around her lips and a short chuckle left her mouth as she somehow expected to be suddenly devoured by the earth. Or fangs that would dive into her neck to suck the life right out of her. Yet nothing happened. There wasn't a single reaction from the demon next to her.

A wise person would have made a contract. Added every rule, every exception, and every probability. A guarantee to keep one's soul.

A wise person would not have pulled on that arrow as people screamed warnings behind her.

But humans are never smart when associating with demons...

And she was only human after all.

A/N: I know the finger binding scene isn't really canon for it happened in the first movie, but I found the scene cute enough to use it as a memory for Kagome in this chapter.

There is actually one anime episode in which Sesshomaru really laughs (chuckles). It is in episode 18. It is kinda creepy.

The next chapter will be nsfw. I know a few of you have been anxious for that. ^^

Reviews are most welcome.