A.N.: Written for the SessKag Big Bang collaboration event on Tumblr. I can't imbed them here, but this story comes with incredible art by user cakeit0n on tumblr and AO3! Go check this story out there to see it, it's truly spectacular!
3 months ago, when the air was cool and the trees were bare, that's when the world went to hell.
That's what the humans would say. It's what they did say, frequently and loudly.
But demon kind, his kind, would say the world had opened up.
He wasn't so sure.
His phone buzzed. It was Jaken, alerting him that the cab he'd hired would be there in half an hour. With a sigh he stood from his couch and walked slowly to his bathroom where his performance suit was hanging from his shower curtain rod, pressed and ready to go. He dressed himself rhythmically, groomed his much shorter hair back into a low tail at the nape of his neck, brushed his teeth, and then slipped on the bracelet made of small, white seed beads infused with a charm to hide him in plain sight.
He watched as his hair bled black from the roots to the tips, the color leached from his facial markings, and his eyes darkened from burnished gold to sad, tired brown.
He remembered when the first yokai had unmasked in public, how so many others had followed suit, how the humans had erupted in a fury to find out about their existence, their insistence that they go back into hiding, the resulting outbreak of protests from both sides. All across the world mythical beings took off their disguises and came out of hiding; selkies, Merfolk, naiads, dryads, elves, fairies, across the world, whatever they were called by their home countries, enchanted charms were taken off and human illusions were shattered. Despite the fight for equal rights happening right outside his door, however, Sesshomaru had not unmasked to join his kind on the front lines.
Not yet.
His phone buzzed again, Jaken once again to alert him he had 15 minutes until pick up.
He gathered his sheet music, his wallet, autograph pen, and the tie he couldn't stand to wear for longer than absolutely possible, stuffing them all in his performance bag and heading down to the small lobby of his apartment building to wait the last few minutes in the fresh air.
Playing the piano was something that had brought him peace for many years. Even making it his sole source of income, and thus his job, hadn't tarnished the instrument's ability to soothe his tattered soul from the first key stroke until the last note faded.
It was the schmoozing with patrons after a concert that drained the life out of him.
He stared blankly out of the cab window, watching the lights of store fronts pass by. The magic covering his skin and hiding his form itched as it always did after too many hours under its influence and the light weight of his bracelet magnified under his agitation. He sighed and his eyes drifted closed as he drummed his fingers on the side of his thigh, the phantom notes of one of his songs drifting through his tired mind and lulling him into a calm sort of daze. In a short while he would be home and he could shed every layer of his pitiful disguise.
"Agh! Damn protesters. Traffics backed up at least 4 blocks this time." The cab driver grumbled as the car screeched to a halt.
Sesshomaru grunted in acknowledgment but kept his eyes closed, resigned to waiting until the mess was cleared and they could be on their way. He didn't even bother to look which side was causing the mayhem this time. It didn't matter, the smell of smoke and the ringing ruckus of yelling and shouting was the same either way, and it all meant the same thing: more time cloaked in uncomfortable magic.
His fingers drummed a little faster and he breathed in deeply, holding it for several seconds and releasing slowly, trying to will away the tension building behind his eyes.
Suddenly the door opposite the side he sat on opened up, letting in a rush of stink and sound.
"OI! This cab's in use already!"
"I'm sorry! I'll pay you double your rate, just get me out of here!"
"You one of them protesters?! I don't want nothing do with no yokai lovers!"
"I said double your rate asshole! You want it or not?!"
The cabby cursed her under his breath as she slid in, and Sesshomaru watched her with his jaw nearly on the floor.
She was dripping wet and covered in soot, but he'd recognize the scent and aura under the grime anywhere.
"Sorry about this, sir, but they're getting the pepper spray guns out and- Sesshomaru-sama?!"
He clicked his jaw shut, staring at her, his mind spinning endlessly to make sense of this specter of his past showing up now of all places.
"Miko, what-"
An explosion rocked through the car, and a new plume of fire bloomed somewhere in the direction Kagome had just run from. She looked back in that direction for a moment, and then turned back to him with panic in her eyes.
"Let's go."
"Wait, what?" He asked, watching her flee the car. She ran around the back and ripped his door open, grabbing his hand and yanking.
"Come on, we need to go, now."
"But..." he stammered, remaining planted in his seat, completely undignified in his responses. But her arrival had thrown him so off kilter he still hadn't caught up.
"Get out of the car Sesshomaru!"
Without a thought he exited the vehicle, allowing her to pull him through the frozen lines of traffic, ignoring shouts and honking horns. She expertly led him through alleyways and across the backsides of stores where the dumpsters sat, avoiding any more crowds as the sounds of chaos intensified behind them. He followed her silently until he could see her growing tired, then he scooped her up and lept easily to the top of one of the buildings they'd been hiding behind. There was a heavily shadowed area behind a chimney, and they hunkered down for a moment to let her catch her breath.
"Thank you. That was getting ugly back there." She raked her fingers through her tangled hair and rung some excess water from her shirt as she looked him over, and he simply sat quietly, feeling more ancient and out of place than he ever had.
She spotted the brief case he carried his things in and smiled a little sheepishly.
"Did I catch you on your way home from work?"
"Hn."
"So, fancy suit, briefcase... what do you do? Big business man in the city?"
He blinked and resisted the urge to claw at his skin, which still itched under the magic clinging uncomfortably to his form.
"I am a concert pianist."
Her eyes widened, and she broke out in peels of laughter that plunged him ever deeper into the pool of confusion and discomfort she'd shoved him into when she invaded his cab.
"Oh wow, I didn't know you could tell jokes Sesshomaru-sama!"
"It is not a joke miko. Here." He opened his briefcase and pulled out several sheets of music, passing them to her. Her face went slack as she looked them over, and then she carefully handed them back.
"Oh wow. You weren't kidding. But, I don't recognize you this way, only by your aura. If this is what you do for a living, surely I would have heard about the Great Sesshomaru playing piano."
"I am not famous. I make a living and very little more than that. And no one calls me by the name Sesshomaru anymore; they haven't in many centuries."
She blinked at him, taking in his human guise and gasping softly.
"You haven't unmasked yet, have you?" She asked quietly, eyes shimmering with something he couldn't name, but didn't think he liked.
"No." His voice was much more certain and firm than he felt, but she nodded in acceptance, trying to wipe away the grime on her face.
"I see. Do you live far from here?"
"I live several blocks in that direction," he replied, gesturing in the direction his cab had been driving. "On the corner of 3rd street."
"Hey! I only live a few more blocks away from there! Do you think... you could maybe fly us there? Really fast? If we wait for all the trouble to clear out, we'll be here most of the night."
He took a moment to consider; he hadn't stretched his demonic muscles in decades at least, and just the thought of expending such a burst of energy, even for such a short trip, had his muscles bunching and burning in anticipation. It was a risk, but with all the mayhem in the streets, he was less likely to be given much consideration.
"Hn."
He handed her his briefcase and then scooped her up, pressing her close to his chest.
"Brace yourself miko."
He launched himself off the roof, and in just a few seconds, not even enough time for her to work up a scream, he was stopped on the roof of his apartment building. He bit his tongue to fight of a smirk at the dazed look on her face.
"Oh... oh my gods. I didn't know you could go that fast..."
"You asked if we could go "really fast" did you not, miko? You can not be displeased to have gotten what you asked for."
She smoothed her hair and peeked over the side of the building at the quiet street below.
"How are we gonna get-"
In one blink and the next, she was standing on the sidewalk with Sesshomaru, the breath stolen from her again by his inhuman speed. "-down. Okay. Right. Dumb question."
"Hn. Allow me to walk you home from here, miko."
"No no, I can't possibly inconvenience you anymore than I have. I don't live far enough to be in any danger, trust me."
He considered her for a moment, ready to insist, but he remembered her and her fiery passion in their last encounter with the half-spider fated to hell. Truly anyone who crossed her path with ill intent would be lucky to see the sunrise.
"Very well," he fished around in his briefcase and pulled out a small, white card with neat rows of lettering. "Should you need anything Miko, do not hesitate to call. We are still allies, after all."
He watched her read over the information on the card, and then she met his eyes, one brow lifted in confusion.
"Taisho Saburo?"
He shrugged, the barest lift of one shoulder, and then snapped his briefcase closed.
"It is simply the latest of a string of pseudonyms pulled from a hat."
Her stare was penetrating, blue eyes glittering under the harsh streetlights. He felt none of her reiki probing at him, but he still felt her gaze to the bottom of his soul. He resisted the mounting urge to scratch at his skin.
"Okay. Well, thank you so much Sesshomaru, I'm really happy I ran into you tonight. I'll have to give you a call when I'm free, hopefully before I need to be pulled out of a mess."
"If history is any reliable teacher, I will not hold my breath."
Her playful pout wrinkled her nose, and then she turned with a wave and made her way further down the street.
Sesshomaru sighed, feeling more tired than he believed he ought to, and hurried inside his own apartment to rip off his concealment and find some solitude.
As many centuries as he'd counted on his journey through life there was very little that could surprise him anymore.
Even the global unmasking of mythical creatures hadn't been much of a shock, he'd figured they would only hide for so long.
But the phone call that came in the dead of night just three short days after the clandestine reunion with a certain priestess knocked him entirely off his axis in a way he'd never imagined he could be.
His phone rang bright and chirpy into the quiet darkness of his bedroom, and he groped around on his side table, half blind from sleep, until he found it.
"Taisho Saburo." He slurred into the receiver, voice still gritty with sleep, but then his eyes popped open when the caller answered.
"Sesshomaru! Thank goodness. Listen, I'm so sorry to call so late but... can I stay with you? Just for tonight!"
Sesshomaru rubbed at his eyes to clear them of their tired bleariness and then glanced over at his clock.
"Miko, it is 3 in the morning."
"I know, I know, I'm so sorry, I just... the protests tonight got a little too close to my complex and a small explosion kind of took the wall out where my apartment was located. No one was injured, but I can't stay there. I've directed the other displaced tenants to the local hotels and now everything is occupied. I just need a place to sleep and I'll find somewhere else tomorrow. I promise."
"Where are you?"
"Literally right in front of my building and there's a hundred cop cars and a huge fire truck, you won't miss it."
"I will be there momentarily."
"Thank you thank you thank you!"
He clicked his phone off and stared blankly up at his ceiling for several seconds, and then he rolled out of bed, pulled a sweater over his head, secured his concealment charm, and walked calmly down to the lobby and out the door. Rounding the building, Sesshomaru waited until he was cloaked in alleyway shadows before launching himself across the ground, allowing his yoki to burn through his body, push his muscles, and take him to speeds most living beings, demon kind included, would never reach.
He was there in moments, and for the first time in as long as he could remember, he mourned the lack of rolling country sides to run uninhibited on. Decades without expending and ounce of power, and less than a week after finding the miko had him ready to race laps around the city.
She startled when he emerged from the shadows, and then smirked when she noticed his pajamas and oversized hoodie.
"Oh... oh my. If someone had told me before tonight that the great and terrible Sesshomaru sama wears flannel PJs I probably would have laughed myself into a coma!"
He stared disdainfully down his nose at her while she giggled at his expense, shouldering one of her bags of rescued belongings.
"I will remind you, miko, that it is three in the morning. Normal beings sleep at this hour."
"Sorry," she replied, having the good grace to look sheepish. She stepped close enough that he could wrap an arm around her waist, and then closed her eyes to brace herself.
He went slower this time, keeping to shadows as much as possible, trying to ease the shock on a human system that youkai speeds could cause. She followed him up to his apartment silently, and then looked around his small, sparsely furnished flat, lingering on the piano in his main room.
"So, I'll take the couch unless you have a second room?"
"No. I will take the couch. You take the bed."
"Oh but I couldn't-"
"I practice every morning before a concert. It is better if you aren't sleeping in here when I wake in three hours to start playing."
Kagome's eyes widened, she'd not slept a wink so far, being woken up in just a few hours sounded like torture.
"Got it. I'll take the bed." She replied with a blush, scurrying off, and when he heard his bedroom door click shut, he removed his cloaking bracelet and let his real features shimmer into existence. He sighed in relief and flopped backwards into his couch cushions in a display so undignified none would believe him capable of it, but his exhaustion was bone deep, heaped on him not just from the nights happenings but the weight of endless centuries.
A soft, sweet scent tickled his nose, an undercurrent of something dangerous pushing it and lacing it around him and into all the corners of his apartment, like cherry blossoms limned with electricity.
The Miko.
A curious development in his long life of monotony the way she'd blown onto his path and inserted herself into his space.
She had always been that way, he remembered, strutting about and gathering people up like a collection of trinkets, finding ways to treasure them.
Even him, even when he didn't appreciate her clumsy attempts at making "friends" and desired to keep her as far from his person as possible.
She'd wormed her way in until she pried a grudging respect from him.
She'd saved Rin's life in that final battle. He certainly owed her for that.
That's why she was here, old debts to ancient allies were not easily paid, and this one had been accruing interest for 500 years.
He sighed and closed his eyes.
Less than a week he'd known her again and already his life had been turned upside down.
But the air in his home felt and smelled more full, and she knew him, what he really was.
He wouldn't have to hide.
Long buried embers of yoki stoked and stirred, but the fatigue of his body won out, and then his eyes fluttered closed, and he gave in to unconsciousness.
In the buttery light of early morning he sat straight at his piano, his music for the night open and ignored as his fingers danced expertly across the keys. The notes drifted through his ears, his soul, softening the many edges of everything ugly dug up and left behind by time and loneliness and age. Piano had been one of the few things to make him feel something other than weary in the endless years he'd walked through, even doing it for a living didn't diminish its calming affects on his soul.
He supposed he was just lucky he could do it for a living and didn't have to turn to a day job just to eat.
It was always thoughts like this that made his bones ache and his spine threaten to bow forward until his face met the ground and never got up again. He'd been so high, on top of the world, the pinnacle of existence, and now he was just another faceless entity in a writhing mass of countless others just like him.
But today those thoughts did not send him under; today they buzzed annoyingly at the back of his mind while his senses remained on high alert and more flames of yoki licked up the ashes of his soul.
He heard her long before she emerged. The increased pace of a heart waking from hibernation, her yawn and stretch and sigh, the padding of her feet across the old wood floors, the click of a lock and the turning of a knob, and finally, her quiet greeting lost to a gasp of shock and delight.
He didn't turn her way, but he could feel her eyes as she watched him and listened, and every cell in his skin buzzed and he sat a little straighter.
And audience was always invigorating, even an audience of one.
Especially an audience of one.
The song he played swept and flowed and crescendoed, and when the last notes tinkled from the ends of his claws he finally met her eyes.
"Wow. Concert pianist. You weren't joking."
He lifted a brow, expression flat.
"Have you ever known me to joke about anything?"
Her laugh sparkled along the golden yellow sunbeams filtering through his window, and his fingers plucked out a few matching notes; her delight deepened the strength of her scent.
"I'd love to come watch you play on the stage sometime. I wish I could make it tonight."
He glanced over at the wall opposite his piano bench where his performance calendar hung. After tonight he had several scattered private performances for important clients on fancy boats or for expensive parties or for expensive parties on fancy boats.
But then another classic concert at his usual music hall.
"Exactly one month from today I will have another if you wish to attend. I am always allowed to bring guests, though I don't usually have anyone to bring."
"Oh!" She perked up, eyes glowing with excitement. "I'd love to! I'll probably feel guilty missing out on the protests for that night, but I haven't had something nice to look forward to in a while."
Sesshomaru turned, sitting sideways on his piano bench, and regarded her seriously for a moment.
"How often to you get involved with these protests, Kagome?"
"As often as I can, why?"
"I cannot say I am surprised that you'd rush headlong into danger for the sake of others, but is your job not in jeopardy associating yourself sympathetically with youkai?"
"Oh not at all! On the contrary, business is kind of booming. I'm a pediatrician at a low cost clinic and I spend a lot of time patching up injuries at the protests. I hand out my card a lot. I just want people to know I'm safe to bring themselves or their children to if they need medical care. A lot of doctors are making it pretty clear they won't treat youkai or hanyo patients anymore, and it's just so unfair."
"Hn." He responded, staring down at her feet where they fidgeted on the floor, she moved over to his couch and sat primly on the edge, the smell of nerves radiating from her form, sour and unpleasant.
"Can I ask you a question now?"
"If you please."
"Why... why haven't you unmasked yet? Feel free not to answer, I know it's such a personal thing, everyone has reasons, no one should feel pressured before they're ready it's just... well, you're Sesshomaru. You've always been the proudest person I know. I guess I don't understand."
Sesshomaru turned back to his piano, turning his back on the miko, hiding his face like a coward as his eyes closed, lids tired and heavy. He rolled and straightened his shoulders, and then pressed down on a couple of keys, a forlorn sound reverberating between them.
"Most of my patrons are humans. I do not have the luxury of alienating them by revealing I am not one of them."
"I see." She murmured under her breath. "That's a shame. I admit it's nice to see you like this. Silver hair suits you much better. It makes it even more real that you aren't dead. I thought... I thought you were all dead for so long. I'm really glad you weren't hiding your aura the other night Sesshomaru. I'm really glad I found you again."
He glanced back over his shoulder at her and noticed the sheen of tears that had gathered over her eyes. He supposed he wasn't surprised at the idea that she was lonely in a world without youkai after all she'd seen and done, and with his knowledge of her fiery temper and unmovable sense of justice, he was also not surprised she dedicated so much time to fighting for their cause now that they'd revealed themselves to the world once again.
In a way, she'd been living a lie in a world that she didn't fit in anymore either, just as he had been.
It was a comfort, a small one, but a comfort.
"I am happy I am no longer alone in my understanding of the world."
She smiled, soft and relieved, and then looked around his little apartment a little awkwardly.
"Well, I should start making some calls. I took off work today so I could just focus on finding a place to stay, I don't want to impose on you too long."
"It is no imposition. Stay as long as you need."
She stepped outside to make a few calls, and while she was out, he worked his way through a few more pieces planned for his concert that night. He let his mind mostly get swept away on the currents of the music, and as he was feeling a little nostalgic lately, he let those currents take him down paths of memories he generally avoided. Nieces and nephews who treated him with curious awe, a parade of little human faces with melting brown eyes who called him "Ojii-sama," irritating skirmishes to control the hordes of demons brought out by Naraku's defeat, an overly amorous monk convinced he was lonely trying to set him up with random village women, and a brother who thought it was hysterical; close knit ties to a group of people he should see as lower than him who had filled his days with more meaning than he'd ever had before, but the decades passed much too fast, and still burgeoning feelings of family gave way to bloodshed, discord, chaos, hiding in plain sight from an ever growing and shifting tide of humans intent on pushing their way into every corner of existence, even if it meant pushing other beings out.
His power, his prestige, the honor and fear attached to his name meant nothing.
He meant nothing.
He had nothing.
He closed his eyes but continued playing, switching songs to something chirpier to chase away the dark clouds he'd allowed to gather, clouds he spent so long keeping at bay. He covered them again, tacking up the tattered tarp in his mind that shielded him from the frozen rain of the past.
It was enough to keep him dry, to keep him numb as the sun hid behind layers of storms he refused weather.
The sun.
He wasn't so sure the sun was even there anymore.
A knock on his door alerted him to company just before it slowly opened and Kagome stepped carefully back inside.
"Hey, I called around and not one single hotel has an opening in a feasible distance to my job, I'm about to start calling apartments next. I brought food from the street vendor to thank you for letting me stay."
He joined her at the table and accepted the lunch she brought.
"It is unnecessary for you to do such things, Miko."
"Well I feel bad. I've stormed into your life and trampled all over your peace and quiet. I don't want to be a burden."
He eyed her for a moment, watching her eat, watching her blue eyes close in appreciation of her meal. He remembered how the slayer, the monk and his brother had waited for her, had watched the well, told him and their children their stories of her.
"They never forgot you. They always hoped you would return to them."
She gasped and her eyes swam, darkening like the wind churned sea. She blinked, she swallowed, took a deep breath and pushed her food to the side.
"You... you kept in touch."
He nodded once and stirred his food around, stepping precariously back into those tender memories before hell rolled out on earth.
"Kagome was the name of the Monk and Slayer's third daughter. The last children they had, a set of twin boys, they named Kohaku and Sota. They said that had been your brother's name."
Tears streamed freely down her cheeks now, and her scent told him they carried many things from the depth of her soul.
"They had ten children all together."
She choked out something between a laugh and a sob, wiping at her face with her sleeve, food completely forgotten.
"And Inuyasha?"
"He waited longer than the others before accepting you would not be returning, and he mourned, for a time. He did eventually marry, had a couple of children. They both lived together for a very long time."
"Was he happy?" She asked brokenly, and he felt almost envious of her ability to bravely face the stiff closing of doors that had been propped open for too long.
"He was."
Her eyes pinched closed and she took a deep breath, holding it for several seconds before letting out in a slow and measured sigh. She stared out blankly across his kitchen for several minutes, allowing this information to sink in, to integrate, to settle into her soul and help push her forward farther than she'd been able to force herself before.
"And you?" She asked quietly, "did you have many children?"
He looked back down at his food and concentrated on the distant, dusty pang of old grief that always signaled a surge of warmth when he let these memories wash over him. He managed a smile, though small and wane it was real, and Kagome gasped again when he met her gaze again.
"I must admit that the monk was very put out by my descendants. Rin gave me 12 grandchildren before her days of childbearing ended. She married the slayer boy when they came of age."
A grin, warm and bright and full of love, longing, and old memories replaced the unending sadness that had previously painted her face, and then she giggled.
"Oh no, outdone by his own brother-in-law. Miroku must have driven Sango so crazy over that."
He startled, subtle enough to be missed by all but him, when her hand closed over his.
"Thank you Sesshomaru-sama. I can't tell you how much it means to me that you'd tell me all of this. You've helped me a lot. So much more than I can say."
"Then say nothing." He replied, placing his other hand over her's and a thin wash of color tinged her cheeks. "You are not a storm, Kagome. And you may stay as long as you like."
She'd taken over his couch with a blanket, a box of pizza, a phone book, and a pad of paper and pen to write down the numbers of all local apartment complexes. He left her his spare apartment key as he left for his performance, and she simply smiled gratefully with no arguments.
"In case you must leave while I am away."
"Thank you Sesshomaru-sama. Break a leg!"
When he returned, this time not delayed by protest traffic, she'd fallen asleep across his couch, her notepad laying across her chest with a variety of numbers written and then scratched out. He picked it up and tossed it aside before scooping her up and carrying her carefully to his bed and tucking her in.
His couch smelled so thoroughly of her that the scent followed him into his dreams where he floated gently among a mass of falling Sakura blossoms to a sun warmed field in the middle of spring. It was an odd thing to wake from after spending so many years not dreaming of anything, but it was rejuvenating. Tired was something he'd just been, tired and old and worn, but now he felt a little lighter, a little brighter, if he was a lesser being he might have hummed to himself while making his coffee.
"I've got to talk to you about something."
"Good morning to you as well." He greeted the nervous Miko as she busied herself pouring a cup of coffee for herself.
"I found an open apartment yesterday evening." She said, staring down into the liquid she was stirring and avoiding his gaze entirely.
"Oh? Does this not please you?"
"Well... that's the thing. I'm fine with it, but... it's here, in the same complex you live."
He cocked a brow and sipped his coffee, silently urging her to make whatever point she thought she had. She huffed and rolled her eyes.
"It's right next door. Are you alright being neighbors? I understand if you're uncomfortable with that, I can keep looking. That'll mean staying here some more of course, but if-"
"Kagome," he interrupted, eyes glittering with amusement at the way she nearly rambled her way right out of a new place to live. "I have no objections to you taking the empty apartment next door."
"Thank you," she smiled in relief, and then finished up her coffee and collected her things. "Well I've got to get to work, I have a new hanyo patient coming in today. I'll let myself in tonight after I pick up my leasing contract and then I'll be out of your hair in no time!"
She was not out of his hair.
Living next door to Kagome Higurashi was a new lesson in patience, a virtue he was much more lacking in than he'd previously thought. She was up all hours, dragging herself in from protests in the wee hours of the morning and stumbling back out mere hours later to go to work. She listened to an eclectic mix of music that his sensitive ears picked up no matter how low she turned it down, and her taste in daytime television left a lot to be desired.
Not one week after she moved in, he came home from a rehearsal to find a notice on his door, and a fuming Miko sitting on his couch waiting petulantly for him to return.
"I thought we agreed you would keep the key for emergencies."
"It is an emergency! Have you seen this?! Have you read it?!"
"I have only just taken it from my door, so no." He answered blandly, depositing his things on the table near the door and taking off his shoes and concealment charm. As his demonic features shimmered into existence and he shook off the itchiness of concealment magic, Kagome stomped her foot on his floor, making him wince for the neighbors downstairs.
"Well I'll read it to you then! 'Effective the first of the next month, all residents in possession of any amount of yokai heritage will be required to pay additional fees and deposits or risk prompt eviction. These fees will be required to cover any potential damage caused by animalistic characteristics or feral tendencies.' Can you believe this?! This is blatant discrimination!" She shouted, waving the notice on his face. He plucked it from her grasp and looked it over, noting the official logo of the apartment complex and the signature of the building owner.
"Hn."
"How are you not more mad about this? They're going to charge you more money just for being youkai!"
"No," he replied calmly, walking to paper to the kitchen and disposing of it in the trash. "I will not be paying anything extra. The landlord does not know that I am a yokai."
She paused for a moment, he could almost hear her thoughts banging around in her head.
"Okay... but what about the neighbors? The one across the hall from us for instance! She takes care of her sick mother-in-law who is a moth yokai. Neither of them work."
"That is her mother-in-law? I've never scented a male coming or going."
"That's because she's a lesbian. Her wife, also a moth, is the only one working right now."
He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.
"How do you already know so much about the neighbor's personal lives?"
"Uh, because they're the neighbors? I talk to them?"
He remained silent and she huffed again, throwing her arms up in defeat.
"Stop looking at me like that! It's not weird to talk to the neighbors!"
"Indeed. What is it you are hoping I will do? I can't afford to give them or anyone else money. Neither can you."
"I don't know." She shrugged helplessly, "it's just, it's so unfair."
She looked defeated, every line of her body wilted and turned in, her eyes dulled from their usual sparkling cerulean, and he found he didn't like it.
"You care very much about injustices such as these."
"Of course I do! No one asks to be born the way they are, Sesshomaru. It's not right to treat people unfairly for just existing."
Her words hung heavy in the air between them, dredging up ugly specters of the past he'd rather not face.
"There was a time I would not have agreed with you. However, time seems to be a harsh teacher indeed. You must think me very cowardly to not be fighting amongst the front lines as you do."
"Not at all!" She shouted, urgent and insistent. "I understand why you still need to lay low. This is a unique journey for everyone. I've just always been really hot headed."
He chuckled then, and she went a bit starry eyed at the sound, still foreign to her coming from someone like him.
"I do remember that much. You are probably the first person to be so mouthy toward me to live to see the next day."
She blushed a fiery red and pouted, causing him to laugh even louder, and then as it always did her temper flipped quicker than a switch.
"I know! I'll contact some of the mutual funds that have cropped up for them. I'm sure they're absolutely inundated with requests, but it can't hurt to try. Anyway, thanks for listening to me rant. I was just feeling mad and powerless. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
She turned to leave, but before the door opened, he stopped her.
"Kagome."
She paused and looked over her shoulder at him, brows furrowed in confusion.
"I admire your spirit. You are anything but powerless."
Her eyes glowed as bright as her cheeks as she smiled shyly and ducked out of his apartment.
When the door closed and he'd locked the bolt, his lids slid shut and he breathed in a great gulp of her scent, savoring its sweet, floral notes that lingered around him and all through his apartment.
He shook his head, cleared his throat, and retreated to his room.
His phone chimed where it rested on his piano bench, and he drowned out the droning chit chat between the two overly rich businessmen talking in the music room by checking the text message that just came in.
'Hello! Good luck with your performance. On a boat, right?! Fancy!'
As long as he'd kept up with cell phones, regularly texting with people was not a past time he'd indulged in. Outside of one sent by Jaken to alert him to the cab ordered to pick him up, he just didn't bother.
Kagome, on the other hand, had not hesitated to try and converse with him every day since that night she'd first stayed with him. If it was anyone else he'd probably be annoyed.
'Yes. A yacht, to be precise. And it is not half so luxurious as you imagine. I'm the hired help, after all.' He sent back, and he received a string of laughing faces in return. He grinned down at his phone, but then snatches of the conversation happening close by caught his attention, and he listened in while organizing his sheet music.
"I didn't invite Haru this time, did you know he's one of them Youkai? I had no idea."
"No kidding?"
"No. A wolf or something. Showed up at the country club without that freaky magic they use to hide. He was escorted off the property."
"Damn. You think you know a guy."
"We fired one of the maids that cleans the boat, too. She was a hanyo. Can you imagine? Half human, half yokai. I reported her to the agency that referred her to us, hopefully no one else is fooled by her."
"I bet your wife was spooked."
"Boy was she. I had to-"
Sesshomaru tuned them out, rage simmering up in his chest making his yoki flare against the cloaking spell covering his demonic features. Severing ties with a friend was one thing, but that woman's livelihood was very likely ruined thanks to a couple of bigoted bastards with more money than sense.
He banged down on his piano keys and began playing a loud, intense song that wasn't even on his setlist for the night, but it had the desired effect of driving away the two idiots cluelessly spewing their racism in front of one the very beings they were speaking ill of.
He sighed and shook his head disdainfully. He hated these types of private performances. It was going to be a long night.
With ears so sensitive he could hear three floors down, Sesshomaru had grown skilled at ignoring the various noises of the night in order to sleep. The modern world never slept, and unlike his days wandering the countryside with only the sounds of bugs and night birds to keep him company, cities were filled with cars and voices and radios and every other noisy aspect of life 24/7.
He could tune it out expertly, every night except that one.
Something unusual tickled his ears, a noise unlike the ones he was used to hearing. A grunt, a scrape, huffing, gasping breaths through grit teeth, he'd never heard such noises in the hallway outside his apartment, especially not in the middle of the night.
"Ah, shit! Ooowwwww."
He knew that voice.
He peeled himself out of bed and strode silently through his home, quietly opening his door and peering out into the hallway.
Sure enough, just as he suspected, the troublesome miko Kagome was bracing herself against the wall just outside the elevator, eyes pinched shut and breathing hard and fast with one leg bloody and exposed under a rolled up pant leg.
"Almost there. Almost there. Almost there." She chanted in a whisper, and Sesshomaru nearly saw red with the rage that swept through him at the sight of her injury.
"Miko!" He hissed, drawing her startled attention. She sagged in relief when he exited his apartment and hurried over, scooping her up using his demon speed to rush her in. Safely inside, he laid her gently on his mattress, took off her shoes, and gingerly picked up her ankle and examined the oozing wound.
"Explain." He ordered succinctly, and she took a deep breath around the pain, letting it out in a slow exhale before telling the short and enraging story.
"Protest down by the mall. Tried to help an injured human man, turns out he was on the other side. Stabbed me because he didn't want to be helped by a 'demon lover.' Thankfully he missed any major tendons. Hurts like hell but I'll be fine."
"You were stabbed? And you think this is fine?"
"I don't think being stabbed is fine, I just mean I'll heal up fine."
"Who was it?" He growled out, and he could tell by the way her face paled that his stripes had gone jagged and his eyes were going red. "Tell me who's done this to you."
Hesitating for just a moment, Kagome reached out slowly to cover his hand with her own.
"Sesshomaru, he was just some idiot man. Why are you so angry?"
He stared at her, counting his breaths as he tried to let go of the anger wrapped tightly around his mind and stirring up his instincts, instincts telling him to protect her, find the threat, weed it out, destroy it.
How did he explain that? How did he explain that since she'd made herself such a fixture in his life the thought of someone taking her away made him want to rend and tear and claw? How did he explain he was just as surprised as she by the level of his vitriol?
He blinked; took a deep breath; exhaled.
"You are my ally, are you not? You are under my protection."
Her scent, still bright and sweet despite the pungent clouds of pain and blood, cooled to a tepid, bland simmer.
"Oh."
She sounded disappointed, and it overwhelmed him with the urge to fix whatever he'd done to upset her.
But this should not be about him when she was bleeding out in his home.
"Wait here."
He fetched his small first aid kit and sat carefully next to her leg, using his claw to cut the pant leg off and tossing it away.
"Hey! I still wear those!"
"I will buy you new ones."
She huffed in annoyance, but tensed up and winced when he began cleaning off her leg with a soft wipe and alcohol.
"You must relax, Kagome. This will be over soon."
"I'm trying, I'm trying. It hurts."
"It is in a tender spot."
He worked silently, cleaning and staunching blood and then wrapping firmly to promote proper healing. And then he gave her a few pain pills to take the edge off and help her sleep.
"You will stay here tonight."
"You really don't have to do that. I can hobble home, you don't have to give up your bed."
"You will stay."
She sighed, searching his eyes, probing his soul, and then she patted the bed next to her.
"Will you at least stay until I can fall asleep?"
"Very well." He conceded, sliding in next to her, though he remained upright against the wall. He felt stiff and awkward, unsure what she wanted him to do, wanting to speak and not knowing what to say. Thankfully she didn't suffer from the same affliction of silence he always had.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Hn."
"You said you just barely make a living... but what happened to all your money? Weren't you a lord?"
He looked down at her, openly bewildered.
"What on earth gave you that impression?"
"Uh... you seemed really lordly I guess? And there was Jaken worshipping you like you were the king of the world."
He grinned, chuckling despite himself, and he enjoyed the way her scent warmed back up.
"No Miko, I was not a lord. Jaken has always been exuberant in his loyalty."
"Oh." She mumbled, blushing in embarrassment and poking him in the side when he continued to laugh at her. "You don't have to be rude about it! You were always very regal. It's an honest mistake!"
"I did have some clan money left over from my mother's side of the family, a comfortable inheritance I suppose I could have lived on through the centuries. As it was, I spent it all on Rin and her herd of children. And then all of their children. I didn't actually need much money for my own care until the world had changed so much I no longer recognized it."
"I see." She hummed, drawing patterns across his arm with one of her finger tips. She left tingling swirls behind, a feeling much more light and pleasant than the one caused by the stifling, clinging magic of his concealment charm. He remained very still, hopeful if he didn't draw too much attention to what she was doing she would keep doing it, not inclined to even begin to wonder why he liked it so much.
But she continued her little patterns, and then worked up her nerve to ask another question.
"Sesshomaru... why haven't you really unmasked yet?"
He sat there for a moment, still and silent and soothed by the rhythmic pull of her finger across the skin of his arm. And then he dove headfirst into the tempestuous storm of memory he'd so far ignored.
She felt something like an anchor there next to him, a tangible thing to cling to if he needed to quickly pull himself out, someone who understood how much and how fast a world could change, how far you could leave someone behind.
"There was a time in my youth when I would have scoffed at you and your desires for equality. Did scoff, and even tried to end your life over it. There is no getting around that I was a violent, temperamental, prejudiced demon. You told me so more than once, yourself."
"Eh heh... sorry.."
"Do not apologize. You were right, though your words at the time had no impact, I was not ready to hear them. It was time that humbled me in the end."
"How did that happen?"
"I stayed close to the village my brother and his friends lived in. I left Rin there to learn to live amongst humans, but I couldn't stay away from her. Against all sense I had a great deal of affection for her, so I never went far. The Monk Miroku was the one who extended the olive branches that brought me into their fold. Inuyasha didn't like it at first, but over time we came to an understanding and then became the family we were always supposed to be. Time moves much more slowly for youkai of course, so by the time I was comfortable accepting my place alongside them completely, it was time for them to die, all accept my brother and his wife, though they eventually passed on as well."
"I'm so sorry Sesshomaru."
"After that I was alone with the exception of Jaken, and my new purpose was trying to preserve the place of youkai in the world as humans had multiplied and most of them were ready to be done with sharing a world with demons. In the end, I failed, and to save as many of ourselves as possible we submitted to crude Magics made by kitsune to suppress our yoki and hide our appearances."
"I noticed you don't wear the yoki suppressor anymore. I wouldn't have recognized you that first night if you did."
"It is even more uncomfortable than the masking spell. I suppose what I am trying to say is that I am simply tired. I get along fine as is, I have enough to live." Left unsaid were his thoughts that maybe he deserved to live in obscurity for all the harm he'd caused before, but such thoughts were too mired in self pity to speak aloud.
"I understand. But at the same time, it's kind of sad that no one else gets to know the Sesshomaru-Sama that I know. Striking, ethereal, larger than life... you have one of the strongest fighting spirits, it's one of the ways you and your brother were alike. I hope it doesn't stay asleep forever."
He stared out over the shadowed furniture in his room, wardrobes and drawers filled with clothes and possessions that helped him survive in the era of humans. Somewhere buried deep down amongst them, as deep as the dying embers of his passion and identity, were the silks and furs of who he had been. Hidden away from the ravages of time much like his own soul.
"You know, it's fine being your ally, but I had hoped you at least considered me a friend by now."
He glanced down at her, and her eyes stared through him clear as day, blue as the sky, bright as the sun.
The sun.
His lids slid shut and he savored the sweetness of her smell for just a moment, the hints of honesty, the zest of reiki, the dusty smell of loneliness, the soft smell of home.
"Hn. You are more than my ally."
Her eyes widened, her cheeks bloomed a charming shade of rose, he shook out a quilt and tucked it up under her chin.
"Get some rest, Kagome."
He left his room followed by her whisper.
"Goodnight Sesshomaru."
Sesshomaru stared blankly at himself in the bathroom mirror of the venue he was meant to play in, pants unbuttoned and jacket hanging open. He sighed and shook his head, then picked up his phone and shot off an angry text.
'You are not to bring ANY more pizza to my apartment, Miko, are we understood?'
He frowned at his reflection with narrow brown eyes he still barely recognized and then forced the pants button closed.
Uncomfortable, but it would have to do.
His phone buzzed in response.
'But why?! You like pizza!'
'Because I have but ONE performance suit and tailoring is expensive.'
She sent back a string of those insufferable laughing faces, and then one last text before he had to shut his phone off for the duration of the wedding he'd been hired for.
'Okay okay, I get it. My pants are fitting a little tighter too. Next time we do salad (on top of the pizza)'
He rolled his eyes at her winking faces and slipped his phone in his pocket, leaving the bathroom to find the reception space where the piano was set up for him. There was still a bustle of activity; plates, silverware and crystal glasses laid out on the tables, lush flower arrangements being fluffed and watered and adjusted, strings of crystals meant to glitter in the expensive up lighting, the baker stacking the cake layers with careful precision. He passed it all with nary a glance and took his place behind the glossy black instrument provided by the venue, setting out his sheet music and making sure it was all in order. Not long after, someone who must have been a family member hurried over, typing out a number onto their phone and hunkering behind the stage away from prying eyes, ignorant to his stealthy hearing.
"Hello, I've been calling churches and shrines all morning. Our pastor refuses to marry my daughter and her fiancé. He unmasked to us just last week and we've all accepted him but our pastor won't marry them now. It's the day of and we only found out an hour ago! Do you have anyone who can come officiate? We're desperate. Well pay double- no, triple your fee and all traveling expenses. Oh you do! Oh thank you, thank you. We're at the Golden Blossom venue- you know it? Oh marvelous, I cannot thank you enough."
The call clicked off, and the mother of the bride took a moment to collect herself. He could smell her tears and stress and anguish.
She smoothed her Kimono, patted at her hair, and then approached him with as much dignity as she could muster.
"I regret that I could not warn you ahead of time as this last week has been especially difficult to navigate, but it seems our daughter will be marrying a Hanyo. If you are uncomfortable keeping your time slot for the reception, we understand. We won't fight you on getting deposits back."
He wondered how many vendors had backed out, how many simply weren't told, how many family members refused to show up for what should be a happy occasion.
"I assure you I hold no such grievances over mixed species relationships, ma'am. You hired me to play, and so I will."
"Oh," she broke down again, fanning herself to try and halt the flow of tears. "Thank you. Thank you young man. You've just made things that much easier."
She bustled off to go try and put out as many fires as she could, and Sesshomaru simply sighed.
He remembered when his own Hanyo brother had gotten married. He'd more than proven himself to the village they stayed in, but even still he had to fix damage to his hut and land caused by old fashioned villagers more often than he liked.
He shook his head, pushed away the disgust, and got ready for showtime.
ching*
The sound of received text alerts was not one he was used to at such a late hour. It was late enough that even Kagome would be sleeping.
If she was awake and texting him this late...
He rolled over to his bed table and turned on his screen, reading the little message.
'Do you ever have nightmares? You know... about THEN.'
'About when?'
'Naraku...'
'Ah. Naraku has not plagued my nightmares in many years.'
'Oh.'
He watched the screen for a moment, waiting to see if she would say more before tapping out his own response, but then a call came through instead.
"Hello?" He answered quietly, the dark of night not lending itself well to louder greetings despite the fact he was alone.
"I'm sorry. This is silly. Normally I'm fine but this was a bad one and I... didn't want to be alone."
"Do not apologize. Do you need to use your emergency key to-"
"Coming right over!" The line went dead and he rolled his eyes and grinned. He could track her footsteps through her apartment, out in the hall, to his door, and then through his own dwelling until she burst into his room to find him sitting up in the dark, waiting.
"I uh... hi."
"Hello."
"Um... well, thanks for letting me come over, I was just um... not really-"
"Miko. Come lie down."
She gulped, but did as told and crept slowly into the bed, laying stiffly under the covers.
"I hope this isn't weird for you. If it is I can totally get up and go home. I know I'm being really childish and should just get over it, I'm really sorry to bother-"
Her nervous rambling ended in a squeak as he grabbed her and hauled her over, draping her head across his lap and dragging his claws through her hair.
"Um!!!! What are you doing?!"
"I may have been a solitary creature for most of my life but I do know how to tend to packmates when they are distressed. Now, tell me of your nightmare."
"Packmates?" She asked, but he simply continued to comb her hair.
"The nightmare. Tell me of it."
She sighed and relaxed into him, heart rate settling into a reasonable thrum as her eyes fluttered closed.
"It was the final battle, only this time, he killed everyone but me. Everyone. I saw them all laid out across the battlefield, broken and bloody... even you. He forced me to stare at them all and there was nothing I could do to bring you all back."
"That is indeed a distressing dream."
"I've had it before. Many times. Just... not since finding you again. For so long I thought you all were dead. That maybe winning was a dream. You're proof that wasn't true. I don't know what's wrong with me tonight."
"There is nothing wrong. Grief is not linear."
She grew still and silent, breathing in and out in her own evidence of life as her scent drifted around his room.
"Sesshomaru, what are your nightmares about?"
"I do not dream at all Kagome, at least not until..." he stopped, unsure how to finish. He hadn't dreamed until she had come back into his life. He'd stuffed down and suppressed everything inside him until both nightmare and dream died away and left him to sleep in endless voids each night.
It wasn't until the night she'd stayed there, filling his home and his nose with the smell of her that he saw anything while sleeping.
"It was not until recently that I've begun to dream again."
"Oh." She answered with a yawn, and in the next few minutes she was asleep.
"I'm so excited to see you play for real! I've never been to anything like this before."
Sesshomaru grinned warmly down at Kagome where she skipped along in excitement at his side. She looked lovely in her black dress with her hair pulled back in a simple twist and secured with a sparkly pin. Her cheeks were flushed with happiness as he escorted her from the cab to the back doors of the concert hall. For once he was walking into the hall with anticipation and pride. He wanted to perform for her.
Tonight felt like more than just another job, with the Miko's dazzling smile on the line, it felt like a challenge, a challenge he was itching to meet.
Kagome continued to talk in that quick, stream-of-conscious way she did when she was jittery, and the melody of her voice always filled up the silence so well he never tried to stop her. But the sign posted on the concert hall doors stopped her mid sentence with a gasp of upset and anguish.
"Oh no..." she whispered, and he hoped his disguise would hold against the swelling and swirling of his yoki as rage swept through him.
'For the safety and well-being of our most esteemed patrons, this building now off-limits to Yokai of any type or species. Human Only Establishment."
He felt her hands grip the fabric of his sleeve and smelled the hot notes of anger seep into her scent, echoing the dangerous, dormant poison now bubbling and boiling in his blood.
This was a step in a direction much farther than either had seen so far.
"They... they don't know about you, do they?"
He continued to stare blankly at the simple sheet of white, laminated paper, so harmless a thing to deliver such a damning message, and then he silently opened the door and ushered her inside.
"They do not."
Her good mood was shot, and he could feel her desire to lash out at anyone and everyone who condoned such segregation in this day and age, but for his sake she remained quiet, following him to the backstage area where she would watch the performance.
"Hey you, you the performer tonight?" A stagehand asked as he approached them, his face stern and his pace just a hair too aggressive. Sesshomaru took a subtle step in front of Kagome, and he felt her grab a fistful of the back of his jacket.
"That I am."
"Who's your little friend here? She ain't one of them youkai things, is she? They ain't allowed here anymore."
He looked the man up and down derisively, dismissing him as a threat.
"She is not."
"Alright then. Piano's ready when you are, audience is gathering."
Kagome unclenched, smoothing out his jacket and mumbling under her breath about prejudiced pricks ruining everything. And then she straightened his lapels and met his eyes, searching their brown depths for traces or hints of their true gold.
"It's alright that you didn't get here early enough for a sound check?"
"Sound checks were completed yesterday."
"Okay then. Well, knock em dead."
She mustered a half smile, and he covered her hand where it rested on the front of his jacket, watching in satisfaction as her face pinked and some of the life sparked back in her eyes.
"Thank you."
He turned away and took a measured breath in and then out, walked across the covered stage and took his seat in the piano bench. He busied himself with straightening his music before the curtain raised and the show began, and little bits of conversation from the audience caught his attention.
"Did you see the notice on the door?"
"Yes and I for one am very pleased."
"Me too. I tolerate them at the grocery store but it's wonderful to come somewhere nice without worrying for my safety."
"Indeed. I talked to one of the ushers and they've also fired all the unmasked demons and half demons they had on staff. This is the safest I've felt in weeks."
Sesshomaru stared down at the keys of the piano, black and white, shining in the stage lights, and then all went dark as the curtain climbed and the audience went silent.
He brought his hands up and put them in place, and when the spotlight clicked on, illuminating him for all to see, he pressed down and began his song.
As the music flowed from his fingers, rage flowed through his heart. The scent of pleasure and satisfaction wafted up from the rows and rows of human patrons there to listen to him play for them. Before he would take it as a sign he was doing well, now, he bristled that they'd shut out his kind so they could 'safely' listen to one of 'those yokai' play them a song.
He banged down, staring unseeing at the keys that snapped off in his hands. A gasp rippled across the audience, and in the over-bright light beaming down on him from above he caught sight of the tiny seed beads snug around his wrist, his safety net, his hiding place, his shame. He lifted his wrist and bit down on the string between the beads. It snapped, beads plinking and rolling across the stage, and as the glamor spell rolled away and his hair bled silver in front of a hundred set of eyes and another collective gasp echoed through the hall.
He reared back and slammed his fist into the piano, shattering the front of it as keys flew, strings popped and wood splintered. Then he stood and stepped back, closing his eyes as his hand glowed green, poison dripping down to the floor boards below where spit and sizzled. He concentrated it, held out his arm, and twirled in a graceful arc, unleashing his whip and slicing the rest of the piano in two.
His blood sang in his veins, yoki fluctuating wildly as he took in the destruction. And then he turned to face the audience, still silent in shock and horror, and he gave a placid bow before walking quietly off stage. Kagome stood just off in the wing with her hands pressed over her mouth and tears running freely down her face.
Her hands fell, and she attempted to speak, but he grabbed her shoulders and yanked her forward, crushing his mouth over hers in a desperate and demanding kiss. Her hands threaded through his hair and she pressed closer to him, and when he pulled away she was dazed and flushed.
"Thank you."
"For what?" She panted back, and he tilted his head up and looked down his nose at her.
"For reminding this Sesshomaru who he really is."
Her eyes cleared and she smiled, a stunning, breathtaking smile that stretched slowly across her face. Then she grabbed the lapels of his coat and dragged him back down to kiss him again. The security guards of the building approached slowly, afraid to get too close, warning him to leave before things got ugly. He broke their kiss and rested his forehead against Kagome's, weightless and free, before scooping her up and flying out the door.
It was the perfect spring day with a warm sun, cool breeze, and showers of cherry blossoms raining across the gathered crowd.
He held up the sign Kagome had made for him, holding tight to her hand as they marched forward, surrounded by humans, youkai, and hanyo willing to join together to build a better future for all of them.
He mostly stood by and offered his protection, watching Kagome as she fought as fiercely for justice as she ever had. She threw barriers around children being harassed, rushed forward with medical supplies when someone was hurt, used shields of purity to ward off water canon blasts and rubber bullets, glowed with purpose and vitality, and he knew he'd made the right choice.
He had no idea if he still had a job, if he'd still book enough gigs to pay his bills and keep his apartment, but Kagome had assured him they would figure it out together.
After centuries alone, that sounded good enough to him.
So long ago, the Miko Kagome had fought just this way at his side against a cunning evil who desired to choke the land in miasma. He could do nothing less now but vow to fight with her- and for her- just the same way.
She was radiant with the soft pink petals stuck in her hair as her eyes flashed and she faced hatred head on, and she woke up the beast inside him that had hibernated long enough.
The winter of his life was over.
He'd found the sun again, and she had brought with her a spring he'd forgotten could exist.