In The Cave Walls
Kagome slammed the door open with an urgent announcement.
"Guys! I have something important to tell you! Just now I was…" she threw a blushing, pained expression, "I was trapped into a compromising position with a large figure of authority so I could be manipulated into making a decision…"
None of her friends were listening—instead they were all suspiciously huddled at the verandah as though spying on someone.
"What is more important than what I just said?!" However when she saw the scene outside, she quickly ducked and hid behind Inuyasha.
Sango and Goro were in the garden alone, a few paces separating them. She looked oddly distraught behind him as he stared straight ahead.
It was like a scene in a classic samurai movie. The sakura petals drizzled on them gently like rain.
"Hush, she's just confessed to him," Shippo whispered.
"Miroku, pass me the popcorn," Inuyasha said.
"What!" Kagome peered at the priest open-mouthed. "Wait, you're not jealous?"
Miroku smiled knowingly. "No. That's because Goro is not my rival."
I can't believe it! she gasped. He knows about 'that'! But does Sango?
Goro spoke suddenly, and the group dropped in silence.
"I'm sorry, Sango. Maybe I should have made it clear from the start. But my heart is with someone else. The truth is —" He paused, heightening the tension in the air. "—I'm already married."
Sango wavered, before falling onto her knees on the gravel. "No!" she wailed, a hand clutching her chest. "You're lying! Why would you hurt me with such horrible words…"
Shippo sniffled as Inuyasha handed him a tissue.
"I can't accept it!" the taijiya cried again before she dashed out from the garden. Kagome immediately stood up to reach for her friend, but Miroku quickly stopped her.
"Kagome-sama, let her be for awhile." He passed her a benevolent smile.
Kagome's eyes glistened with tears. "Miroku...your understanding nature knows no bounds… Knowing that you're a serial cheater yourself, you decided to forgive her this time..." Then she slammed her hand onto the floor. "Hold the phone! How did you know that Goro is..."
To think she had only figured it out yesterday. Goro and Johnny had sewn each other senninbari sashes for good luck, a custom only common among the wives of soldiers. The realization blew up like an explosion in her mind. Johnny's human "wife" was none other than the captain himself.
"That Goro and Johnny were a couple? Like, since the first time we saw them?" Shippo piped.
"Shippo, you too?!"
"It was soooo obvious…"
"No it wasn't!"
"Idiot," Inuyasha said, knocking on her spinning head. "You should be more aware of the things around you. Anyway, what were you saying just now when you came in?"
Kagome brightened. "Oh! The general had me pinned me on his bed last night to force me into taking my role as the oracle."
"Calm down!" Miroku dragged Inuyasha back as he tried to storm out to Aokimaru.
Shippo looked at Kagome. "So what happens? Now that you're the oracle for the hanyou army?"
The miko, or rather the new Divine High Oracle sighed. "I have to revise my history lessons, that's what."
The next day saw Kagome making a trip home to collect her history textbooks. She hadn't even had time to talk to Sango. Aokimaru had sent her packing as soon as possible.
Thinking about it, she probably needed to make a trip to the library too. The more she delved in her new reality, the more she sighed. Was she supposed to feel excited about her new position? She didn't know. All she knew was that a huge responsibility had been heaped onto her shoulders.
What is Aokimaru thinking? she pondered as her fingers ran through the book titles in the library. "A History of Japan…" "Japan from Tokugawa Times to the Present…"
Does he honestly think he can change what has been written? Could one really rewrite the country's destiny by altering decisions, aided by knowledge of the future?
And what if it worked? They would end up sharing the world with half-demons…
Her thoughts suddenly diverged to a certain youkai lord. She wondered where he would fit in all of this.
"Dang it," Kagome whispered to herself. "I can't believe I'm thinking of him at a time like this. Does he think of me too? I wonder what..."
Squealing in embarrassment over her imagination, Kagome quickly stashed all the books from the shelf into her library basket.
"That foolish lass. She has overstepped her boundaries this time. What is she thinking, giving in to Aokimaru's demands? Surely this would not have happened if I killed that old dog."
Sesshoumaru stood on a branch of an ancient cedar tree, on the peak of a hill that overlooked the fortress. A storm was brewing on the grey skies and the wind whipped on his hair in a dramatic fashion. He liked it like that; it was the little things that made him feel invincible. Walking a few steps forward, he sniffed the air.
"I can smell the half-breed, but not her." He twirled on his heel and contemplated. "Well, where else could she be?"
Kagome wheezed as she ascended the walls of the Goshinboku well, skirt hiked up, bag straps snapping at any moment. To make matters worse it was raining—an umbrella in her hand, and the other losing grip on the climbing vines.
Her hand suddenly slipped. Kagome was ready to plummet back into wet sand (and maybe crack open her head on a jutting rock like those Final Destination movies) when she felt someone grab her from above.
She looked up in shock, before a red blush covered her face.
"0-2," Sesshoumaru said.
Kagome's gasp turned into an angry scowl. "No, it's 1-2! I started the fire in the mountain shack, remember?"
He rolled his eyes. "That again." He hurled her out of the well in one quick heave and before she could register anything, he sprinted through the forest, taking her along.
"My umbrella!" Kagome squealed, getting sodden in the rain. "And where are we going?!"
"We need to talk," Sesshoumaru replied coldly.
They took shelter inside a large cave. Kagome watched the rain outside and sighed. The skies did not look like they were getting clearer anytime soon, the pellets dashing down with a peculiar vengeance. Thank goodness her books inside her bag were not wet.
"There's something different about your face," she then pointed when she looked at Sesshoumaru. "Did you get a nose job?"
Sesshoumaru turned away quickly. "I had a little mishap. It will heal, surely. Or one could just get a new nose."
Kagome laughed, peering at him closely. "I hope not. I kinda like this one. Gives you a bit of a personality."
Although quietly pleased, Sesshoumaru still glared and backed her into a corner. "Why did you accept Aokimaru's proposal to be his oracle?" She stuttered in surprise over the abrupt question. "Answer me."
Kagome folded her arms and huffed back. "You're just afraid his plan would succeed, wouldn't you? You don't want half demons to be running your future."
"That is not it. This Sesshoumaru can decimate an entire army in one swing if he chooses to. This is about you. Why did you agree?" He looked at her in the eye and leaned into her face. "You picked a dangerous place to be in."
"Yes, I did," she replied, breathless and unable to blink.
"There is nothing good about being involved in a war..." he whispered back, and she could feel his breath on her lips, "...especially a woman."
Kagome pushed him. "Hah! There you go again with your sexist remarks!"
"Ah, now you're just being self-indulgent."
Sesshoumaru walked away from her, seemingly in frustration. Kagome rubbed her hands, feeling despondent.
"Sesshoumaru, we haven't had a chance to have a proper conversation in a while. Shouldn't we talk about other things?"
"There is no matter of importance between us," he responded harshly. "Not between a human and youkai anyway."
"Then, a man and a woman? Er, male and a female?" Kagome thought aloud. "How do you demons identify yourself?"
Sesshoumaru placed a hand on the moss-covered stone surrounding them. After a long, torturous silence between them, he finally spoke.
"Someone told me once that "the walls of a cave judgeth not." That is why people come here to divulge their secrets."
She watched Sesshoumaru wistfully, her heart struggling.
I don't want to fail in love like Sango did. Please, don't push me away!
"Sesshoumaru!"
She ran to him. He caught her arms, and then her mouth, stealing her breath. And he was ardent, passionate and sweet. Her legs melted and dissolved into the cave floor. She responded back in her own blind fervour.
"Your clothes are wet." His deep voice was hoarse with need. "You will catch a cold."
"You too," she said. Gods, she was a fool, wasn't she? She was so ready to throw everything for him.
Sesshoumaru chuckled, and it only excited her in ways a fifteen-year old high schooler should not feel. "Silly. This Sesshoumaru does not fall sick." He seemed to consider. "But perhaps...tonight might be an exception."
Kagome bit her lip as his nose trailed down her skin.
"Lass... No. Kagome."
A soft clopping sound emerged from the dark stomach of the cave, like hooves against the stone. Totosai appeared into view, with his three-eyed ox beside him.
"Ah, has the rain stopped?" he called, walking out steadily to the entrance. "Would ye look at that? The weather has finally graced us with its sunny presence."
Kagome's heart stopped, and she fainted in the corner in her wad of clothes.
"T-T-Totosai!" Sesshoumaru sputtered. How—what—impossible—shame—death—
"Don't mind me. I shall make my move now." Totosai then turned and gave Sesshomaru an appraising look. "The walls of a cave judgeth not, eh, Sesshoumaru?"
Sesshoumaru wished he had died.
To be continued!
A/N: Good god, people are always interrupting their business, aren't they? That's because it's rated T!
