AN:

Sorry for the delay in updates. I think that starting Redux has helped a lot, though. I'm having trouble with Paradigm Shift still, but working on some Kagome/Sesshomaru stuff is helping me find that spark of creativity again.

-Ele

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Disclaimer: Not mine! Just playing with their concepts… Many thanks to the creator for allowing it.

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Posted: 5.3.2021

Edited: Unedited

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Lost and Found

Chapter Seven:

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After a startled twitch, Kagome swung around and her wide eyes settled on the face of the stranger that she had crashed into the day before.

"Hi!" He smiled brightly at her. "I was hoping I'd find you here. I thought I might have remembered wrong when you said that you were working here. I'm glad that I heard you right."

Kagome blinked a few times trying to process the situation.

"Oh, uh.. Well I didn't, but now I do..." She paused, glancing at the two paper cups in his hands and then back up at his face. "I just started today."

"Well that just adds more luck in my favor! A new week-" He gestured toward the sky with one of the cups. "A new job-" He pointed to the door of the grocer's. "And hopefully a new start and a new friend?" He held one cup out to her with another blindingly bright smile. "Sencha. With jasmine and lotus."

Kagome only paused for a second before she wrapped her fingers around the warm cup, uttering a soft thanks as she took it from him.

"So… What's your name?" She asked, lifting the lid off of the cup and blowing the steam across the surface. "I'm Kagome."

The young man's eyes widened and his own steaming cup of tea stopped halfway to his mouth as if she'd asked him a monumentally more shocking question than she had. His eyes locked with hers and his shoulders lifted in a small shrug as he sighed.

"Okay, well… this might sound silly, but hear me out, okay?"

Kagome's nose scrunched in confusion and she nodded.

"Do you have time to walk with me while we talk? I'm heading over to my other job." She smiled widely and waved her free hand in the air. "I have an hour, but it would be nice to start walking that way. It's just a few blocks over." She pointed in the right direction.

"Sure! I actually need to head that way, too. If we have time, maybe you could make a quick stop with me. I need to stop into that art gallery on the next street over- we'd pass it, anyway."

"That sounds nice! I love art!"

"It's a plan, then." He smiled and stepped up next to her, pulling her free arm over and looping it through his elbow. "Technically my name is Tamotsu." They both looked forward and began a leisurely pace down the sidewalk, other pedestrians parting around them. "I have another name though. One that only my closest friends use, and only in private."

He leaned in close and grinned conspiratorially as they stopped for a crosswalk light.

"you can call me Shippou!" The whispered secret name excitedly, watching her face closely for her reaction.

Kagome felt her smile widen.

"You're already going to let me call you by your super-secret-closest-friends-only name?"

He tugged her forward with his elbow, where her hand still rested, as the light changed for them.

"Yeah, of course. I feel like I've known you for four hundred and seventy six years!"

Kagome laughed

"Four hundred and seventy six years? Where in the world did you come up with that?"

"Shhh. That's a secret too."

He winked at her and hummed to himself as they made their way.

"Alright, alright. I have to admit, there is something about you that just feels so familiar. I promise that I'm not usually the type to go wandering off with strangers!"

"Oh, I'm not too sure, you seem like the type to make friends with a wolf even if it's trying to kill you."

He smiled almost sadly as he said it, which struck her as odd.

"You're strange. Nice, and funny, but strange." She replied

He just hummed that same tune to himself that he had before and tugged her to the side, stepping up to one of the doors alongside them. It was painted beautifully- a crisp white with hand painted red flowers trailing over the top corner and a striking, indigo, crescent moon of stained glass in the middle.

"Welcome to The Maru Gallery" Shippou announced, letting her hand drop from his elbow and opening the door for her.

The inside was pristine, but didn't carry the heavy chemical scent that normally accompanied such clean places. In fact, it smelled beautifully of jasmine and lotus. She pulled her cup of tea close as she noted the parallel.

The space was open and inviting, if dimly lit. Shelves spanned the back wall, displaying hundreds of various carvings and scrolls. There were statues of many sizes arranged with obvious care off to one side, and tapestries, paintings, charcoal and ink drawings all displayed throughout the rest of the space.

In the middle of it all stood a man. A long braid of dark hair was draped over one shoulder. She could easily imagine it being as long as he was tall if it was loose- and he was tall. Shippou had moved from her side to his as she took in the gallery, and the man towered over her new friend.

"Big…" She squeaked out unconsciously.

She cradled her cup of tea close to her chest and tried her best not to be self-conscious when his face turned toward her. The most startlingly golden eyes watched her gasp and take a step forward.

When a sharp pain struck through her head and she stumbled, a strong, pale hand wrapped around her forearm- another bracing her shoulder as she steadied and took deep breaths, waiting for the pain to fade and her vision to clear.

It didn't occur to her that he had been much too far away from her to catch her, or that there shouldn't have been time for him to reach her side so quickly. She just looked up into those beautiful eyes and thanked him, breathily, for his assistance.

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