Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters in this fan fiction are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. The original characters and plot are the property of Chiaztolite, who is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary of Previous Chapter: Sesshoumaru followed Inuyasha and Kagome's advice to leave the feudal era and stay in the modern world for the time being. Kagome's mother welcomed him warmly into her home, and even urged him to use their surname "Higurashi". Hence, he was now known as "Higurashi Seirin".

The Story of Higurashi Seirin

Ch07: Thank You for the Meal

"Is he going to be okay?" Shippo asked, looking up at Inuyasha.

Kagome and Sesshoumaru had just made the journey into the future just a few moments ago, leaving the rest of them staring at the Bone Eater's well.

"I sure hope so," Miroku chimed in, sighing. "As much as he can be, considering the predicament he is in."

"He'll be just fine when we find Benten and get her to spill the beans on how to get his original body back," Inuyasha grumbled, determination glowing in his amber eyes.

"How are we going to find the Goddess?" Miroku asked, propping his chin with his hand, thinking aloud. "It's not like we know where she would be anytime of the day."

"Well… why don't we try the hot spring where Sesshoumaru saw her?" Sango suggested. "It's a good place to start." Her companions nodded at her suggestion and followed her away from the well to start their quest to find Benten, the Goddess.

"What is this?" Sesshoumaru boldly eyed the plate that had just been placed in front of him. Deep frown lines were etched on his forehead and his nose slightly crinkled with distaste.

"Food," Kagome answered readily as she took a seat across him at the dinner table. She observed Sesshoumaru scrutinizing his dinner and panic started to flutter within her chest. She had never given a thought how human food would look and taste to a yokai. Inuyasha had seemed to adapt to human taste quite quickly and in fact, really like their food but perhaps Sesshoumaru had a much more refined palate. After all, he was a yokai lord and all so he was probably used to eating 20,000 Yen plate of Bluefin tuna, right?

"Why aren't you eating?" Mrs. Higurashi's cheerful voice jerked Kagome out of her line of thought, which was getting more and more rampant as panic settled in the pit of her stomach. She watched her mother softly nudged Sesshoumaru's shoulder, urging him to take the first bite. He looked at the woman then back at the plate in front of him, and still he did not make a move to eat what was served.

"Oh!" Mrs. Higurashi suddenly exclaimed, tapping her forehead with a flourish. "I forgot something," she admitted, chuckling cheerfully. "No wonder you wouldn't eat it. What a smart girl!"

Mrs. Higurashi turned around to grab something from the kitchen and quickly returned. With widened, horrified eyes, Kagome witnessed her mother holding a ketchup bottle over the plate; its spout hovered just a few inches above the Ome-rice. With three efficient and practiced moves, she dropped dollops of thick red sauce.

"Look, I gave you a smiley face," Mrs. Higurashi chuckled, admiring her artwork. "Cute, right?

For the first time in her life, Kagome saw Sesshoumaru's stunned face as he glared at her mother's doodle on his food. It was a genuinely struck-by-lighting, don't know what to say, out of the blue stunned face. And she did not know if she wanted to laugh or cry.

"Sesshoumaru, psst…" she hissed at him as Mrs. Higurashi busied herself in the kitchen. She lifted her spoon and made eating gesture with the utensil, spooning imaginary food into her mouth. "Eat!" she urged him. And when she saw his lingering hesitation, she added,

"Don't worry, it won't taste bad. It probably just tastes… different from what you're used to," she tried to convince him. "It's just fried rice wrapped with eggs. It's quite a common dish here." She nudged his spoon closer to him, urging him to take a bite.

Sesshoumaru eyed his food suspiciously. Rice… the precious grains of the humans with yellow skin as hard as bark. And eggs… the fruits of a chicken. Together? They almost sounded like blasphemy. The taste of human food, especially of this unknown world, was certainly foreign to him. There was no knowing what effect it might have on him. A part of him insisted he should not touch the strange yellow mound with three uneven red blots the lady of the house called 'smiley face'. But the other part, well...

First of all, he could feel the gentle clenching of his insides and the soft, inaudible rumbling his stomach had been making, signalling that he was indeed hungry. Famished, even. It was yet another unfamiliar thing. As a yokai lord, he could go for days without sustenance and still would not have the need to eat. But now, his mouth watered at the mere sight of food, no matter how strange it looked, and the pangs of hunger attacking his human body were testing his self control.

And second... He might have been raised as a proud yokai and proud he was, but etiquettes were instilled in him as a child even more so than pride was. Yokai court life came with a long list of severe norms which must be followed, for the consequences of disobedience were often more than mere social blunders, but war.

To refuse the offerings of a host was one of them.

He noted his hand shook a little as he took hold of the metal spoon. Taking a deep breath, he forced the tremors to stop. Not wanting to give himself a chance to change his mind, he began to spoon food into his mouth. Chewing silently, he discovered the taste, salty and sweet, was not as repulsive as he had expected. The texture was soft with a spongy hint, slightly grainy but smooth towards the end. It was not bad, he concluded, but not an experience he was eager to repeat.

Kagome had been holding her breath as Sesshoumaru took that first bite. But now that she saw him silently feeding himself spoon after spoon of Ome-rice, she could finally exhale and eat her portion. She kept her gaze on her food, mostly, but from time to time she would steal a quick glance at him. With a silent sigh of relief, she admitted he had been facing the situation with more calm and composure she could ever muster herself, if she were to be in his shoes. From the time her mother ushered him out of the storage house and into the house, he had not asked any questions. Observing in complete silence, his golden eyes took in every sight, every details that Kagome could not wonder what went through his mind.

Well... There was the little accident with the shower in the bathroom, but that was bound to happen to anyone who had never used a shower before, right? The whole bit with the hose and the shower head could be confusing to anyone, right? Even she sometimes still could not figure out how to use that blasted thing. So no wonder Sesshoumaru sprayed water not only all over the bathroom, but also the corridor outside. But no harm done. None, just some mopping time.

And perhaps replacing some of the soaked wood floor boards in front of the bathroom...

The next time Kagome looked at Sesshoumaru again, she saw he had finished a decent amount of his meal. She got up to fetch something from the freezer, and handed him a bowl and a spoon.

"What is this?" he asked after the first spoonful. He had a frown on his forehead but he had already scooping the second bite right after.

"It's ice-cream," Kagome told him as she sat down and started digging into her own bowl of ice cream.

"Ice-cream?"

"It's good, right?" Kagome asked cheerfully. "It's made with 100% cream, so it's not one of those yucky diet stuff."

"Cream?" he repeated, frowning once again.

"Yeah, you know," Kagome stared at him, still smiling. "That white liquid we get from cows."

Sesshoumaru did not have a good feeling about this. He felt his stomach churning already at the thought. After a long stretch of silence, he quietly put his spoon down on the table.

"So you are telling me…," he rubbed his forehead with his fingers, pinching the bridge of his nose before he turned to glare at Kagome. "… that I just ate something made using the liquid squeezed out of a cow's udders?"

There was silence in the room.

"Well… when you put it like that…," Kagome grumbled, finally. Leave it to Sesshoumaru to make something as good and as innocent as ice cream sounded so gross and so... wrong. "But it's been pasteurized and everything! It's quite common here to drink milk or cream, you know! You get a ton of calcium from it. It's good for strengthening your bones!"

Slowly, very slowly, Sesshoumaru lifted his head and stare at Kagome. With eyes narrowed and lips pursed into a very thin line, Kagome had to admit he – in this female state – resembled his male counterpart more than ever. She gulped and leaned away, only to have her back bumped against the back of her chair.

"Are you telling this Sesshoumaru that he lacks power?" Even his female voice sounded low, dangerous. Deadly.

Oh, it was just too much! Kagome threw her hands in the air. "No, Seirin," she gritted out, her fear of Sesshoumaru's wrath completely forgotten because she was just so exasperated. "I'm. just. saying. Here, we drink milk. And cream. And eat ice cream. Not only because they taste so darn good but also because it's been known the calcium found in milk and cream helps to strengthen our bones. That is all. No references whatsoever to your strength, or prowess as a yokai lord, which, by the way, right now you are not."

She wanted to say more, much more, but the sight of Sesshoumaru's slumped shoulders – a sight she had never thought she would see – depleted her ire. Without saying a word, he left the dining table. Moments later, the sound of a door closing reached her ears, and she pressed her palm against her eyes, sighing out loud. She did not even notice her mother had entered the dining room.

"Oh, where did Seirin go?" Mrs. Higurashi asked.

Kagome turned around and faked a lighthearted chuckle. "She's gone back to her room," she said. "She's really tired. She said thanks for the meal." No he did not, really.

"That poor girl," Mrs. Higurashi said as she started to pick up the dishes from the dining table. "I don't know what happened but she looked like she had been through a lot when she arrived here. I'm sure she's exhausted. Let her sleep, Kagome. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for her."

Kagome looked at the direction of her room and sighed inwardly. Sesshoumaru had been through a lot today. And for the most part he had been good in facing this new world that was completely foreign to him. He was polite for the most part. And also cooperative, except for the ice cream part, which... well, it wasn't a big deal really. She should not have lost her patience just because of something so trivial.

"I'll just make sure she has everything she needs," Kagome told her mother and left the dining room. Standing in front of the room where Sesshoumaru would be staying while he was their guest, she mustered her courage to knock on the door.

"Sess– uhh, I mean, Seirin," she called softly. "Are you OK?"

When she heard no answer, she knocked again, a bit louder. "Can I get you anything? Anything at all?"

There was no answer. She tested the door knob and found it was not locked. Opening the door fully and scanning the room, she found it empty. No Sesshoumaru – or Seirin - in sight.

But the window was open; the sheer curtains fluttering gently in the night wind.

To be Continued

Author's Note:

OMG, 10 years! It's been a decade since this story was updated. But recently I found a file containing the draft for chapter 7 and I could not resist to bring it back to life. It was so much fun revisiting the chapters and also editing this chapter. I am not sure if anyone out there is still reading this, but if yes, thank you so very much! I would love to hear your thoughts.

The problem with a decade of hiatus is that... I can't quite remember the plot I had planned in my head. That in itself could be an exciting thing, as I am now unchained by the previous plans I had made, and I am now free to re-imagine what the story could be. In any case, please drop me a few lines - I would love to hear from you. See you in the next chapter!