Chapter 36:
She was…moving?
Opening her eyes she could see the interior of a car's roof, sunlight coming in through the windows as the landscape around them went racing by. Somebody was driving very fast.
But that wasn't what had woken her. Loud, piano notes were blaring through to her ears and it made her wince. "Would you turn that down already? This is so not the time!" she heard a female voice growl lightly. The music ended shortly.
A familiar female voice. Shifting her eyes back towards her left she found Shaya's face framed by that wild red hair above her, glaring at something ahead. "Shaya? Is that really you?" her voice came quietly.
Shaya's face instantly dropped the anger as her chin dipped down, focusing on her…in her lap? "Kagome!" She felt like she hadn't seen Shaya smile in ages. "Are you all right? You gave us quite a scare."
A car? She was in a car, with Shaya? And the woman was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, of all things. The same woman who had blushed at wearing sweats!
Leaning up quickly she realized that they were in a very nice car with dark interior, and that it was Sesshomaru driving. That thought made her burst out in giggles, and she saw gold eyes focus on her in the rear-view mirror.
In the passenger seat she saw a second white head turn around to focus on her and her jaw dropped. A very young, flawless girl was staring back at her curiously, tilting her head a bit. She was gorgeous. Big, golden eyes and that perfectly smooth skin like Sesshomaru, and the moon on her forehead only served to make her creamy skin look lighter. No wonder Sesshomaru looked so pale.
"Can you tell me what the hell is going on already?" she heard a stranger's voice ask. "Who is that girl?"
"You know our little Hiromi," Shaya grinned, laughing herself.
"Hiromi?" She was afraid that it came out nearly as a hiss, but she couldn't help it. "B-but…"
"You know me? How?" A lovely voice, though Shaya still had the sweeter one. "I've never met her before, Mama."
Hiromi?
"She's not quite so little anymore," Shaya answered what her thoughts were echoing. "Not that she's not still our baby."
"I am not a baby." Hiromi rolled her eyes, turning almost completely around in the car to rest her right side against the middle console. She tossed long white-hair back over her shoulder to talk to Sesshomaru. "Daa-ad," she drew out the syllables.
A teenager. Baby Hiromi was a bloody teenager.
"You are not very old," Sesshomaru spoke smoothly.
She shook her head to clear her thoughts before pinching herself hard, wincing. When she opened her eyes she was still in the car with three inuyoukai, driving. "This cannot be real."
"Kagome?" Shaya put her hand on her arm. "We have to send you back, and it'll only work once."
Back? "You mean through the well?"
"Precisely," Sesshomaru nearly purred the word.
"But the well doesn't work at all! No matter how many times-"
"What well?" Hiromi broke in.
"Later, pup." Sesshomaru said sternly. She stuck out her tongue at him.
"The well will work ok? And when you get through you have to get to Inuyasha as quickly as you can. Steal AhUn, anything. But you have to get to him."
"Is Inuyasha here with you? Is he alive now? What's going on?"
"You are forbidden from answering, Shaya." Sesshomaru glanced over his shoulder quickly at his mate.
"Why? Did something happen to him?"
"Uncle?" Hiromi's nose wrinkled. "What is she talking about? Wh-" Sesshomaru's right hand left the steering wheel to clamp over his daughter's mouth at the same time that Shaya reached forward, and Hiromi leaned back away from both of them. "Why can't I tell her? Who the hell is she Dad?"
"You are not to speak that way."
"Hiromi? My name is Kagome. What about Inuyasha?" She leaned forward even at the risk of angering the two parents in the car.
"Everything turns out fine Kagome. But we have to send you back."
Meanwhile Hiromi slumped forward in her seat to put her barefeet up on the dashboard, crossing her arms. "Uncle's in trouble," she heard from up front. "They say that they have to send you back because he always sucks ass fighting when-"
"What have I said about your language?" Sesshomaru interrupted.
"But Daddy, it's true!"
"If you cannot adjust your speech then I would be quite content with assisting you." She heard an irritated growl from Hiromi's feminine throat before she turned away from Sesshomaru in her seat to gaze out of the window silently. "As I thought."
"Sesshomaru, be nice," Shaya scolded lightly.
"I will not tolerate vulgarity."
Shaya rolled her eyes and turned back to face her in the car, throwing one leg over the other. Her mouth opened as she was about to say something but it quickly closed, and she bit her lip. "You'll find out anyway, I guess," she sighed.
"What happened to everyone?" These two…three were apparently five-hundred years old older than she had last seen them," You guys don't look a day older than you did then."
"Youkai age differently than humans." Sesshomaru said simply.
"You guys own a flower nursery? What happened to Souta? Where are we going?" Now that they were actually doing something, she had so many questions. "S-"
Sesshmaru interrupted. "Choose your questions carefully, girl. There is not time to answer them all."
"Souta?" she turned towards Shaya. How could she not have aged at all?
"That little field trip was canceled and they're going back to school. He's fine." Shaya tucked some of her long hair back. "Although I'm pretty sure his teacher thinks you're crazy."
"A flower nursery? How do you-"
"We've owned that land for centuries, Kagome. Surely you remember the old house," Shaya laughed softly. "You used to visit with Inuyasha enough." She was a little confused, until she heard a small growl from the front. "Oh, um, oops."
"You cannot tell her of her future, onna."
"Well, it was five-hundred years ago!" Shaya rolled her eyes. "The details get a little skewed after a while!"
"Hn. Do not tell her anything else."
She couldn't help giggling at how funny she found the way they interacted. Hiromi's voice came back to her, sounding annoyed. "They're not so funny after you've heard them argue the same damn fight for six years."
"I swear, if you had his ears you'd be your uncle." Shaya reached forward to tweak her daughter's pointed ear gently. Kagome saw one golden eye roll in its socket before she pulled the appendage out of her mother's clawed hand. "Stop being so rude. You're going to leave a bad impression on Inuyasha's wife."
Hiromi bolted upright to turn around in her seat again, this time dropping the all-too-familiar pout that she'd seen on another beautiful dog youkai. "You mean that was you? You're that Kagome?"
"Yes, sweetie." Shaya answered for her. "Do you remember now?"
Hiromi blinked, studying her face a little. As gorgeous as this…teenager was, it was easy to see where she'd gotten all of her features: Sesshomaru. Her prettiness belonged to Shaya, but her mouth was completely Inuyasha. She laughed again as she realized how much that might have gotten on Sesshomaru's nerves.
"You talk like Inuyasha," she giggled.
"She sulks much in his manner as well," Sesshomaru added with a glance to his daughter. "I am not certain as to how that began."
"Have you always been funny?" she blurted out. Sesshomaru met eyes with her in the rear-view mirror. "Well, have you Sesshomaru? Because I still owe you for that time you made Inuyasha think that I was flirting with you."
Hiromi spluttered, sending a frantic glance his way. "You didn't," she said dumbly.
"She was talking to your mother about my proficiency as a lover." Hiromi covered her face with her hands, even as Shaya was laughing into the back of the passenger seat. "She deserved it." Even she couldn't help bursting out in near-tears, between relief at being with them again and the absurdity of this weird alternate reality.
"You can't say things like that to me!" she squealed. "That is so gross Daddy!"
Sesshomaru cracked a smile—not large, but definitely there.
She glanced out of the window to recognize her own neighborhood, and felt her heart hammer against her chest. She was desperate to be with Inuyasha again, but what if she couldn't come back? She'd never see this aged version of Sesshomaru and…Hiromi and Shaya again. Shaya recognized something in her face," Kagome? Is something wrong?"
"You know where I live?"
Shaya gave her an odd look. "We've lived here for a long time Kagome. We know where the well is."
Sesshomaru pulled up smoothly to the curb closest to the steps to the shrine, and Hiromi was already opening the car-door before it had fully stopped, earning an irritated look from Shaya. Meanwhile Sesshomaru removed himself calmly from the car, and Shaya turned to pat her on the knee motherly. "Come on Kagome."
It was so odd to see white hair moving up her steps, not on just one head, but two. Shaya brought up the rear as Hiromi was already sprinting up the steps a dozen at a time, turning to wait at the top. Sesshomaru glided up in his normal gait, leaving her to walk arm-in-arm with Shaya. It was just so…not normal.
"You always walk so slow!" Hiromi grinned up at Sesshomaru. She noticed for the first time how slim Hiromi was, as slim as this Shaya who was not healing from birth like the Shaya she knew, and she was practically dancing around Sesshomaru as he came forward.
"I am slow, pup?" Sesshomaru drawled out slowly. "Who taught you to walk, may I ask?"
She detected something of a family joke. Hiromi was walking backwards as Sesshomaru veered away from the front of the house and towards where she knew the wellhouse to be. "I for one think that was Uncle 'Yasha," Hiromi teased.
"I suggest you run then, little one." Sesshomaru still spoke smoothly, but from the way that Hiromi squeaked and turned lightning-fast she figured out quickly that there was about to be a chase. Before she could blink again Sesshomaru was a streak of white hair racing after his daughter across the shrine ground and disappearing out of sight.
"He always wins," Shaya laughed softly. "But it never stops her."
She heard Hiromi's voice screaming laughter, and decided that the race was probably already over. Meanwhile she was continuing her "normal" pace with Shaya, and they were nearing the wellhouse all too soon.
"Do I have time to say goodbye to my mother? Ji-chan?" she suddenly whispered.
Shaya blinked, but dropped her arm. "Hurry."
She left her friend there as she ran into the house, slamming the door open. "Mama? Ji-chan?" She saw Buyo on the couch and snatched him up quickly, squeezing the cat that she hadn't seen in so long, and hadn't appreciated him while she'd been there the last few days. "I love you Buyo."
"Kagome? What in the world? Souta's teacher called," Mama came rushing into the room, Ji-chan poking his head in from the kitchen.
"I'm going back," she said breathlessly. Mama's mouth opened, but not before she came forward to wrap her up quickly in her arms. "Oh Mama, I'm so sorry!" Tears she hadn't known existed were already spilling out of her eyes and onto Mama's blouse. "I have to!"
"I've always known, since you brought that boy home," Mama whispered into her ear. "You belong with him. Hug Ji-chan, and go live your life with your husband. We'll always be here if you come back. I love you Kagome."
She could hardly stand to release her mother to squeeze Ji-chan, feeling him pat her back gently. "Do you want some of my charms or my sutras to take back with you? In case that boy gets on your nerves?"
Even feeling sad he was making her giggle at how silly his charms had always been. "I think I can manage, Ji-chan." He nodded, and stepped back, and she turned to face Mama again. "Tell Souta I love him, will you? I love all of you."
"Of course, Kagome."
Without waiting she turned and bolted back outside to the wellhouse where she knew they would be, wiping the tears that she couldn't stop away from her face.
"Kagome?" Shaya's voice came quietly. "You don't have to worry about them. We'll watch over them for you, you know."
Sesshomaru and Hiromi stood quietly side-by-side, and she couldn't help but feel the strangest surge of love for them all. "You tried to kill me the first time you met me, you know." She didn't know why she felt…closer to this older Sesshomaru, but after seeing him play with his daughter she didn't feel intimidated by him at all. Sesshomaru continued to look at her. "Is it weird that I even love you now?"
"I have already warned you once about flirting with me." Sesshomaru tilted his head. "It is time that you chose between two brothers." She couldn't help giggling at how utterly sarcastic he could be with a straight face.
"Take this, miko." Sesshomaru reached into his pocket and removed something small wrapped in cloth, and she came forward to take it. His long, large hand came over hers as she attempted to unwrap it, and he shook his head slightly. "You are to give this to…me. Do not allow anyone else to see it or to remove it from your person, do you understand?"
"What is it?" His hand still hadn't moved, and her cheeks were heating up even though they were in front of his wife and teenage daughter. She hadn't ever thought about how large he really was.
"Do not unwrap it, onna."
"You can't see it, ok Kagome? Don't open it." Shaya sounded stern, which was odd for her.
"How am I getting through the well?"
"The key is in your hand. After your return so many years ago, when you gave…this to me, I spent time studying this well that Inuyasha's humans seemed to be so concerned with." Sesshomaru removed his hand to hang at his side once more. "It is odd to be instigating the other half of this memory, miko."
"Kagome, when you go back, you have to get to Inuyasha ok? But you give that to Sesshomaru." Shaya pointed at what was in her hand. "This is very important, because we don't know what will happen if you don't do it exactly that way, like we remember it."
She pocketed the small thing quickly, nodding. "All right."
"Goodbye, Kagome. We'll…see you on the other side."
"Bye, Kagome." Hiromi spared her a smile. "I guess…I'll see you. I think."
"Goodbye you guys." She was really glad that they ended up happy together. Sitting down on the edge of the well she glanced back at the three, smiling at them all. "Oh, and Sesshomaru?"
"What is it, Kagome?" He'd finally said her name, but she couldn't stop herself.
"You look totally hot in black."
OoO
She'd remember that look on his face for the rest of her life.
Climbing out of the well—climbing out of the well!—she ran for all that she was worth. She was desperate to get back to the village, to Inuyasha! She felt giddy just running past the trees as quickly as she could, forgetting everything but the image of that beautiful husband of hers that would be waiting there. Only five days! But an eternity!
She pushed herself passed her usual limits but this was an emergency, and she could hear her breathing as she ran across that long field separating her from…the village? Torches had been placed at intervals around the borders, though they weren't lit. She slowed down a bit to skirt around one.
"Duck!" She heard a man yell. Glancing behind her she saw some kind of fearsome youkai behind her at some distance and she ran past the men that were strangely gathered, skidding to a stop. It took them some effort, but a single pure arrow shot through the air to destroy the creature.
She didn't have time, according to…"future" Shaya. Turning around she continued towards the center of the village, nearly hyperventilating. "Inuyasha! Inuyasha!"
"Kagome?" she could swear she'd just heard that voice. Spinning around she saw Shaya standing there in that cerulean robe, staring at her in nothing but pure awe.
Eerie.
"Kagome! You're here!" Suddenly she found a surprisingly strong pair of skinny arms around her as she was being hauled towards the woman. "Oh Kagome! How did you get back?"
That was probably a story for another time.
"Where's Inuyasha?" she breathed. "I have to find Inuyasha."
Shaya pulled back far enough to look at her. "Oh that's right. You haven't been here." She heard crashes from somewhere off to her right but the red-head didn't even flinch. "We're kind of in the middle of a war."
War? Inuyasha!
"Can you take me to him? Please!"
"But…Take you to him? Kagome, that's crazy!"
"Inuyasha's life is at stake!" She thought, anyway. Shaya's eyes widened but she kept going," Please!"
"But the…" She read something in her face, resistance fading.
"Your baby will be fine, but I need you to take me to Inuyasha now!"
The inu-female's eyebrows came down and she spun on her heels, launching herself towards the nearest man with a bow on his back. Roughly, and a little startlingly, Shaya tore it from his hands none-too-gently and growled threateningly at him. "Your arrows!" Shaya turned back towards her and shoved arrow and quiver to her chest. "Come on."
She was rather impressed. Riding behind Shaya on the two-headed dragon she called AhUn, they were flying fast towards the source of wherever these creatures had been coming from, although the flow seemed to have stopped. "Thank you Shaya."
"If I know Sesshomaru he's probably fighting Inuyasha himself," she growled lightly. "But if it came down between an enemy and Inuyasha, I …well, I'm pretty sure he'd kill the other guy first."
How reassuring.
They flew silently for quite a while before she saw a bunch of burned land below them, stretching from the side of the end of the cliff…wait. "Shaya? Are those bodies?" The grass was covered up beneath them all, showing only the barest of patches here and there.
"I'm afraid so." Shaya leaned, directing AhUn's reins as she did so. The forest away from the large battleground was rapidly rising towards them and she was a little off balance but Shaya was already descending from AhUn's back. She regained it and followed.
"Shaya? Kagome?" Miroku's voice came. His sleeve was ripped with the wound on his shoulder.
"Are you hurt badly?" Shaya asked quietly. "How are things going? I smelled blood."
"Sesshomaru has been forced to rid us of the thing himself. My arm is of no use, and Inuyasha…" Miroku winced as Shaya was prying at his shoulder.
"Where is he now? Is h..." Shaya fell silent, and she took a moment to glance back at her friends.
"What about Inuyasha? Is he ok?"
"He and Sesshomaru have been arguing over who is to take the final blow. It has not been pleasant."
"But neither one of them are hurt though right?
"I am sorry that I cannot be of assistance to him, Lady." Miroku apologized to Shaya, ignoring her question. "It was all that I could manage to collect myself from the field," he winced. "Although, I'm proud to say that Inuyasha was the one who put that wound on the creature's leg."
"That's all right," Shaya separated the fabric to make obvious a deep, clotted wound on Miroku's shoulder. "Oh Houshi-sama…" she gasped.
"It will heal, with a little time."
She went over to Kilala, rousing her friend gently with a sound. "Kilala? Will you take me back over there?" She felt a little intimidated guiding the dragon creature.
"You are going Kagome?" Miroku sounded alarmed. "We must talk about how you returned later."
"Will you stay here and watch over Miroku?" she asked once she had Shaya's attention.
"Go," Shaya waved a hand in her direction. "They probably need your help."
She took off without another word towards where she could see flashes of light exploding in the valley, inside the circle of trees away from the rest of the battle. She could see the giant form of…something that was ripping away trees to reach what was presumably the two Inu-brothers, but she couldn't really be sure.
At the first sign of white hair she told Kilala to descend, watching another white swirl as the head turned in her direction. Inuyasha! "Inuyasha! Oh Inuyasha!" she cried out towards him.
"Kagome!"
And then with a sickening light she watched her red-figured, hanyou husband disappear, only to reappear several yards away and crumpled to the ground. Gasping she turned her eyes back in the direction where she could see Sesshomaru regaining the creature's attention, only glancing towards her with the skimpiest of looks.
"Inuyasha!" she screamed.
OoO
She didn't know when she fainted, but she could feel it in her muscles. Opening her eyes she could see the underside of a roof above her…somehow. Turning her head a bit she couldn't hear much noise except for the crackling of a fire. Wincing she hesitantly leaned upwards.
"Kagome?" she heard Rin whisper. It would seem that Rin was in here along with a basket with two babies in it, one who was fussing loud enough to be heard loudly. Rin looked…
"Rin," she coughed. Pushing her hair back she could see Miroku on a cot on the other side of the room, lying under a blanket with his shoulder heavily bandaged.
"A lot of people were hurt, Kagome." Rin sighed, bringing her knees up to her chest.
"Whose hut is this Rin?" She wanted Inuyasha.
"There's too many sick people to fit them all in Kaede's hut, so she's putting everybody in different places." Rin sighed, glancing over towards where she finally recognized that it was Hiromi and Yoshi, Hiromi crying. "She's been crying since Mama left with you, and she hasn't been back to see us for very long."
"Is it over Rin? How did I get here?"
Rin's eyes found something in the floor to look at and did not rise again. "Sesshomaru-sama took out the mean creature while Sango and Kaede helped protect everyone here, but people are still dead." Rin's voice was very quiet, and she saw the red around her eyes. "The Houshi-sama's shoulder is hurt but Mama says that he ought to be ok in a while. Sango hurt her ankle but it's sprained. Yuri's grandmother died, and some of the other people from the village."
"Who's Yuri?"
"A friend of mine," Rin turned her face away. "Sesshomaru-sama was really mad at Mama for leaving the village. I've never seen him so angry."
"Where's Inuyasha?" Not that she didn't care about everybody else, but…"Rin?"
"I don't know," Rin's voice warbled. "I just want Mama."
She got up feeling guilty at rushing out on Rin but her worry for Inuyasha was just too much. Running outside she couldn't help staring at a few of the huts that had been destroyed, rushing towards Kaede's hut.
"Inuyasha?" she breathed. Bodies lined the floor of Kaede's hut—all badly injured, but none of them the hanyou that she was looking for. Turning she was back outside, searching for anyone that she knew. "Please! Inuyasha!" she yelled.
"Kagome? Kagome?" She was spun around violently to come face-to-face with Inuyasha's wide vulnerable eyes, and her lungs stopped working. "Kagome, you baka! You could've been killed!" Without waiting for an answer she found herself pressed into his haori, feeling how crushing his grip really was.
She was trying to run her hands over his torso for injury but Inuyasha wouldn't let her. "Oh Inuyasha! Are you hurt? What happened? I…I thought…" her voice clogged up with so much worry and fear and love that she nearly blacked out. "I thought I'd lost you again."
Inuyasha was silent, but after a moment more he pulled back to just look at her. He was so…"I'm so glad that you're…But I don't know how you could've gotten back, except…What happened to you? Are you ok?" He was struggling as much as she was.
"I saw you get hit!" The words burst out of her. "Let me see!"
His hands stopped hers from fumbling at his haori, cheeks blushing red. Red stains? Oh! "I'm…ok Kagome. I'm fine."
"What is going on Inuyasha? What don't I know? Are you bleeding?"
"Ah…" he shook his head. "Come on. There's been a lot going on, and I don't want to talk about it here."
It felt so natural, so right to have him running under her with her arms around his neck, resting her cheek against the smoothness of his neck. It was home. She knew from the path he was taking where he was going.
Goshinboku.
Jumping up gently she couldn't feel any awkwardness in his movements, no soreness. He set her down to stand on the branch for a moment while he turned around to face her quickly, sitting down and bringing her down to rest against his chest comfortably so that he could rest his nose in her hair.
"Are you really ok?" He didn't protest as she removed his coat and shift from his hakamas to leave his chest open to her, and she smoothed her hands over the skin. She couldn't find a single flaw…even a lot of his old scars were gone. Weird. She felt a laugh from him blow over the top of her head, and his chest moved slightly.
"Yeah, baka. But how did you get back?"
"Tell me what happened out there first." Somehow, she thought that hers was going to be the more fantastical story. If it turned out that he even believed her.
Inuyasha sighed, but set his hands to rubbing at her back in a most soothing manner. "Well, all right. I guess you'd be curious to know, wouldn't you wench?"
"Well, I guess Sesshomaru finally managed to strike down Shiro…with the Wind Scar." Inuyasha cleared his throat. "When I woke up he was kind of there staring at me, and his hand was all burned up. And he pretty much looked as pissed like he always has when he can't use Tessaiga for very long."
"Sesshomaru used Tessaiga? He took it from you?"
"I thought I was dead there for a minute, but I guess not. Sesshomaru almost killed me himself but then Shaya showed up with Miroku half-asleep on that dragon thing and he got distracted. Damn, I've hardly ever seen him so pissed."
"Yeah, that's what Rin said."
"They were still fighting when we left."
"Then…where's this blood coming from Inuyasha?" She pushed back to pull the haori flat against his chest again to see the stains that had yet to work themselves out. His nose wrinkled—she was right! "I saw you get hit Inuyasha!"
"I don't know, ok?" A blush came over Inuyasha's cheeks, faint but there.
"You just don't want to tell me." Reaching up she gripped one ear between her fingers gently and squeezed gently. "Tell me, dog boy, or I am so going to-!"
His hand pulled hers away from his ear, rolling his eyes. Holding her hand gently she felt his claws resting on the back of her skin," Listen. I…I don't remember. I remember getting hit, and hearing you scream, and then…nothing."
"I don't believe this," she shook her head.
"I think I'm crazy Kagome," Inuyasha's eyes left her face for the first time, going a bit distant. "I mean, I could feel it in me. I was gone. But I…" he shook his head, making his hair fly everywhere.
"Inuyasha?" she made her voice small. "Are you ok?"
"There is no way that Sesshom…" Inuyasha wouldn't meet her eyes. "He can't even use the stupid sword."
"Are you talking about Tenseiga?" She'd seen Sesshomaru use the sword against Naraku, but that was a long time ago now. A long time ago? Wow.
"Yeah," Inuyasha's hand on her back prompted her back to hug him tightly, and she buried her face into the skin of his chest. "But that's nuts. Sesshomaru would never give a damn about saving me. Like I'd need his help anyway."
"Well…you did kind of save Shaya, didn't you?"
"What's that got to do with anything?" His voice was getting back to his normal tones: arrogant, crude, obnoxious…and maddeningly adorable.
"He has gotten kind of nicer since then. I've never seen you two sitting, um, somewhat together before, but Sesshomaru did that right?" Even if he'd been terribly cranky.
"That's stupid Kagome."
"It's not! Ok, so he doesn't love you or anything, but maybe he didn't want you to die. That's possible."
Inuyasha snorted, staying silent as he bent to press kisses to the inside of her throat. She quickly forgot what it was that she'd been thinking about as his hands slipped just inside the waistband of her pants, sending shivers up her backside.
This was what she'd been missing. Her Inuyasha.
"Kagome?" In her haze she barely recognized that he was asking a question.
"Hm?" She was more concerned that his lips had stopped.
"What is this?" Opening her eyes she could see the hand-sized thing that future Sesshomaru had handed to her before, now sitting in Inuyasha's hand, formless inside the cloth. From her pocket.
She'd forgotten about it. "Oh. That." He went to open it up but she stopped him, uneasy. Future Sesshy hadn't wanted her to know what it was or look at it.
"You have to promise not to freak out on me ok?" His eyebrows came down. "Ok, so Souta had this field trip…"
OoO
Inuyasha came skidding to a stop in the trees, and she let out an irritated gruff. They were headed to where Inuyasha's nose could smell the two inuyoukai that they knew, and know what? The weird "thing" in her pocket needed to get to Sesshomaru for some reason and she didn't feel right about putting off giving it to him.
"Inuyasha?"
"We ain't goin' any further."
What? "But I have to give this to him! He told me to!"
With a glance back at her she saw the hardness in his eyes melt away, setting her feet down on the ground. "Well, all right. But I'm not goin' any farther than this. They're there, through those trees." Inuyasha gestured ahead towards where the canopy was nearly eclipsing the forests' floor.
"Why aren't you coming with me?"
Inuyasha half-smirked, crossing his arms against his chest. "Just go, if you wanna see him so bad."
She could get irritated at him so easily! Setting a glare on her face she turned to hurry back towards where he had told her they were, mumbling under her breath. He could be so stubborn sometimes. Maybe he was just embarrassed that Sesshomaru had resurrected him though—which she had to thank him for, even if he wouldn't care. She really did appreciate…
She stopped, mind shutting down.
Far from the village Sesshomaru and Shaya had apparently stopped at this little pond to…She could see just…a mass of white hair swirling around in the water, and a long sculptured back, bent over somewhat as he was kissing Shaya. Her arms were looped around his neck and they were both pressed firmly together, turning a bit in the water as they swirled it around them.
Naked? Oh dear, they were…!
She was going to kill Inuyasha!
Sesshomaru's eye opened and his head lifted, focusing on her flaming face. Shaya hadn't noticed, only continued to follow the line of his neck. Her mind filled suddenly with protests, excuses, anything to make him stop looking at her but she couldn't stop herself. Why did she say it?
"You're not doin' it doggy style." Hearing her own words she slapped both hands over her mouth, taking a step backwards.
At the sound of her voice Shaya's head shot up, nearly cracking against Sesshomaru's jaw to stare open-mouthed at her. She couldn't blame her. She spun around quickly, wishing there was a way to kick herself in the head.
"Kagome!" Shaya sounded embarrassed, angry. "What are you doing here?" she nearly hissed.
"R-Rin needs you." Somehow this little event made everything else not matter at the moment. "H-Hiromi won't stop c-crying." Sesshomaru was going to gut her! At least she wouldn't have to ever look them in the face again.
"Hiromi?" Shaya's tone softened some.
"Onna," she heard Sesshomaru say.
"The baby," Shaya said in a breathy voice. "I'd nearly forgotten. She must be miserable and scared."
"I-I-I am gonna go back to the village now," she couldn't believe her luck. Maybe Shaya wouldn't let Sesshomaru kill her. She could always give him the secret future thing later.
"The baby is being watched," Sesshomaru's voice was so quiet that she nearly missed it. "Do not, Shaya."
"Oh, hush!" Shaya let out a small growl. "She can't smell us, she won't know where we are!"
As she ran back in Inuyasha's direction she couldn't help but to feel that perhaps Inuyasha deserved a few sits. Or a hundred.