CHAPTER 8: STILL THE SEA IS SALT

"Stars, I have seen them fall,
But when they drop and die
No star is lost at all
From all the star-sown sky.
The toil of all that be
Helps not the primal fault;
It rains into the sea,
And still the sea is salt."
(Stars, A.E. Housman)

She wakes the next morning as she rarely does – easily and well-rested. At home either her younger brother barged into her room or a cat jumped on top of her or her grandfather was screaming something about spirits in the yard. Here in the Feudal Era if Shippo didn't wake her at the crack of dawn for sweets, then Inuyasha was yelling at them to get a move on or a demon was trying to murder them.

None of it was very relaxing.

She had honestly anticipated being woken by Rin in much the same manner as Shippo, but apparently she proved to be a tad bit more restrained and polite then the young kitsune.

So she wakes to the slant of light across her face, the quietness of her undisturbed sleep. For a long moment, her mind fails her and it's as if she's still dreaming. Was it really her in this huge, fairytale, four-poster bed with the Sistine Chapel ceiling? Was it really her stretching awake in complete repose? Was it really her being allowed to drag herself from the bed at her leisure and dress herself in silence and solitude, no one yelling or demanding or hurrying?

The serenity is broken when she opens the door to venture forth and Rin is standing right there, causing Kagome to let out an undignified yelp.

"You're awake! Yay! Let's go exploring!"

Kagome laughs as Rin starts to drag her down the hall. "Wait, wait, wait – I have to ask Sesshomaru something first."

"Okay! He's downstairs in the kitchen!" And without a pause in her step, Rin starts to lead her in the opposite direction. "I wanted to wake you earlier but he told me Rin," she tried to affect Sesshomaru's deep voice without success, "you must let your new friend sleep. So I did but now you're awake and we can play!"

"That was… very nice of him." Kagome doesn't know how to take that. It's certainly something Inuyasha never allowed her to do – sleep in until she was rested – no matter if they were staying at one of the manors that Miroku had elbowed their way into or not. She barely ever got to sleep in at home, what with school and chores.

"Lord Sesshomaru is very nice!"

"I guess he is." She smiled down at Rin brightly and let the girl tug her along until they'd reached the kitchen and they could hear the demon calling out orders.

"Do not forget the tops of the cabinets, Jaken. And those dishes could stand to be washed once more."

When she steps around the corner, tugged along by Rin, only the girl pulling her forward stops her from stalling in the doorway at the sight of Sesshomaru calling out orders to Jaken, who is frantically cleaning the kitchen. Rin pulls her all the way up to him before she lets go and latches onto his leg. He looks down at her, his expression unguarded before he notices Kagome is there, then it is shuttered and calm once more.

"What… what in the world are you doing?"

She can't be certain, but it seems to here as if the expression in his eyes turns just slightly guilty. "It became apparent to me last evening that perhaps this Sesshomaru has overlooked a few aspects of having a houseguest."

"Overlooked a few aspects of having a house," Jaken muttered to himself.

Without a glance in his direction, Sesshomaru kicks the imp out of the way. "And I am taking means to rectify the situation."

"Oh… that's, really good of you." He shouldn't have let it get this dirty, but at least he was making an effort now. At least there was that.

He nodded. "Perhaps your meals will not need be taken in so soiled a room from now on."

"Yeah, about that…" She didn't want to seem ungrateful that he was (apparently) basically cleaning the kitchen for her benefit, but she had to ask. "Have you sent a message to Inuyasha about where I am?"

Surprisingly, he nodded to her again, not seeming to take offense in the slightest at her question. Though maybe that had more to do with the fact that Rin was still clinging to his leg than with her. "Indeed. A messenger was sent out at first light to locate either my wayward half-brother or any others in your party with a detailed explanation as to your location."

"Oh!" Well, that was good news. Even if Koga got to Inuyasha first, he couldn't get mad because she'd tried to get a hold of him, too. "Well, that's great!" There was really nothing she could do but wait until the messenger found someone. She'd wait a few days, see if anyone showed up, before maybe trying to head out on her own. She had the feeling if she left too soon and Inuyasha showed up and she wasn't here, he'd assume Sesshomaru ate her or something equally nefarious. Better to wait a few days, see if anyone showed up, then think about broaching borrowing Ah-Un for a ride. "Well, if you don't mind terribly, could I stay here in case anyone shows up? I wouldn't want them to worry if I wasn't here."

"That is acceptable."

Rin begs Sesshomaru to go exploring with Kagome and he turns back to his organizing Jaken's cleaning with a dismissive nod. So Kagome spends the bulk of her day being dragged around by a child with all the barring of a drunk bumblebee. Rin drags her from room to room and floor to floor, pointing out things that she finds interesting. There's a secret passageway behind that ripped tapestry. A raven had built a nest in the highest turret of the eastern wing and was sitting on a nest of three perfect eggs. One of the books in the library (and Kagome made a personal vow to go back later because it was incredible) has a note on the opening page written by Sesshomaru's great, great, great grandfather.

She finds something small and interesting in every room. Kagome eyes the huge paintings, the intricate tapestries, the chiseled columns and wishes that someone was here who could tell her more about them. She'd never learned of a great castle like this in her history classes and she hopes she isn't watching the beginning of it fading into time. It's too beautiful for that.

So she lets herself be pulled and prodded around by a precocious child, doesn't allow herself to think about whose house she's staying in or why he's being so nice to her, doesn't think about schoolwork or the jewel of four souls. She doesn't think about what will happen if Inuyasha or Koga randomly show up at Sesshomaru's doorstep. She just enjoyed her day with a bright and happy child, well-rested for the first time in a long time.

It's nice.

Rin passes out between one breath and the next. She sits on a couch in one of the drawing rooms, talking a mile a minute about how a few months ago Jaken found a hive of bees in one of the curtains when he opened them one morning. She pauses to take a breath and, when there's nothing but silence, Kagome looks over and finds her deeply asleep. With a fond smile, Kagome covers her with a tattered blanket. She knows there's nothing and no one in the castle that will harm her and Rin knows her way around better than anyone but Sesshomaru probably. So Kagome doesn't see an issue with wandering off on her own and letting her take a nap in peace.

This time she wanders at her own pace, taking her time to look at the faces in paintings of long-dead taiyoukai, admiring the porcelain vases underneath their dust, and gazing out the tall windows towards the grounds. She doesn't have an exact destination, but her mind is still lingering on the library, wondering if there might be demon fairytales or books about the Shikon no Tama for her to research. She couldn't even begin to hope to find a book about spiritual powers, but maybe there might be.

Her mind is far away as she wanders aimlessly, and suddenly she finds herself somewhere unfamiliar. She thinks, for a moment, that maybe she doesn't remember that she actually has been here before… but no, she would have remembered that huge mural depicting a battle between who she thought might be Sesshomaru's father and what looked to be a large, vicious kitsune. The images, though violent, were bright with color, yet still layered with dust.

Well, she thought to herself, hopefully I eventually come to something I recognize or someone finds me wandering around before I become a ghost or something. She ventures down another long hallway that doesn't seem familiar in the slightest, before she starts opening doors, hoping, by some chance, once of them in a servant's stairwell that will lead back downstairs.

Each subsequent door she opens she feels less hopeful.

Until she finally opens a door into a study that is less dirty than the rest of the castle. The books are haphazardly placed on their shelves, but they are not dusty. The curtains are pulled back from the tall, tall window, letting light slant down on a massive desk strewn with ink and parchment, drops of ink and scrolls. She takes a few hesitant steps inside, thinking that maybe Sesshomaru has left the kitchen and she's stumbled upon his office. She called out, but, when no one answered, she moved to turn around.

It was only sheer chance that her eyes swept across the desk and caught the words Dissolution of Title Due to Non-Marriage. Something in her nature, some curiosity, made her pause, and read more. Her eyes widened with every word, trying to understand, trying to wrap her head around what she was reading. This was… this was saying that the Lord of the Western Lands had to be mated (married, she guessed) in order to retain his title and his lands and his power – otherwise everything would revert the nearest next of kin? She wondered if that's how Inuyasha's mother had come into the picture. She wondered what Sesshomaru was going to –

"What are you doing in here?"

Her head shoots up and she immediately starts to tremble at the look in Sesshomaru's eyes as he stalks forward and snatches the paper out of her hands and throws in on the desk beside them. His eyes are molten gold, brimming with anger, flashing red even as she watches. "I – I'm sorry – I was lost and I just – "

"Get out!"

She turns and runs.