Chapter Six

A visit to the palace

Studying for the last exams of her life had her exhausted. Kagome was looking forward to June and the end of it all, celebrating graduation with her friends and family, entering the working world... but it was still a long way off.

Her life now consisted of studying, eating and sleeping. She couldn't afford to get mediocre grades, they had to be as high as possible to make it easier for her to find a job. Competition in Tokyo was fierce and everyone knew that, they had to be the best and stand out from the rest to achieve their dreams.

And that's what Kagome planned to do. She wouldn't stop until she became the best doctor in her class, preparing for the specialty of oncology as she had decided since her father died.

Kagome loved helping others, and her goal was to save as many lives as she could. She would not allow another twelve year old girl to lose her father to cancer as she had.

She climbed the stairs to her temple wearily. Kagome had spent the entire morning in the library going over the most important facts about immunology, the first exam she would have in ten days.

She entered the house and left most of her things by the door, but took her notes up to her room before going to the living room to greet her family. She would continue studying late into the night, after dinner.

It had been too many days since the conversation with the mysterious boy. Kagome texted him a couple of days later, but the messages weren't being delivered. She assumed he was somewhere out of range and didn't think anything of it at the time, but she was starting to get annoyed.

Kagome sighed and sat down at her desk, spreading her notes on it. She needed to stop thinking about Inuyasha and concentrate on her exams, that was the most important thing. She was close to finishing her degree and she couldn't be distracted like that.

If he wanted to see her again, he would write to her. That was what they talked about, and there were still two weeks before he was due to return to Tokyo, so it wasn't worth worrying about.

But it was strange that she hadn't heard from him for so many days, and it made her mad that she couldn't get him out of her mind. They'd only spent a few hours together, but it was as if his image was tattooed in her brain. And his voice... she could still hear it in her dreams, as deep as when she really heard it.

What the hell was happening to her? She wasn't a child anymore to be like this over a boy, let alone one she barely knew. Kagome smacked herself several times on the forehead, forcing herself to stop thinking about him, and got back up to go downstairs.

Hours later, while eating dinner with her family, she heard her phone ringing in the distance. She had an intuition that it was him, but she repressed the urge to get up and run to her room until she had finished her meal.

Only then did she climb the stairs with a lump in her throat and walk over to her desk, where she had left her phone. She unlocked it and saw that she had a missed call... from Inuyasha.

With sweaty hands and a racing heart, she clicked on his contact and held the phone to her ear. It wasn't long before she heard that voice she had dreamed of so much.

"Were you busy?"

Despite that stupid greeting, her whole body reacted to it and a shiver ran down her spine.

"Yes, sorry. I was having dinner with my family," Kagome replied, gripping the edge of her desk tightly to try and control what she was feeling.

It was amazing to hear his voice again after thirteen days, though she couldn't understand why it affected her so much.

"It doesn't matter. I was just calling to tell you that I'm going back to Tokyo in two weeks. You still want to see me?"

Kagome pursed her lips. She was actually a little upset that she hadn't heard from him for so many days... but she doubted it was a good idea to tell him.

"Ah... So you still want to see me? I didn't think so, we haven't spoken since that day..." she muttered, closing her eyes and tugging at a lock of hair in frustration.

She hadn't been able to keep her mouth shut, as usual... when something bothered her, Kagome couldn't shut up. She heard a snort on the other end of the line.

"There's hardly any reception where I am, but I still think the same. I want to see you again and show you the Forbidden Forest."

Kagome sighed, tugging at her lower lip with her teeth. She looked at the picture he had sent her of the forest every day... but she had kept her promise and hadn't shown it to anyone else.

"I want to see you again too, though I'm not sure about that visit to the forest. Would it be at night?"

"Yes."

"I don't know, Inuyasha... I'm a little afraid, I'd rather go during the day," she said, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

"Well, we'll talk about it when we meet... we could have dinner together, but you choose the place. I don't know much about the city yet."

She blinked several times in confusion. Was he asking her out on a date?

"Okay... Do you have a favourite food?" she asked, still amazed at the conversation they were having.

It took Inuyasha a while to answer.

"I like noodles."

Kagome couldn't help but smile. That answer didn't sit well with the cold, mysterious man in her memories.

"Then we'll go to a Japanese restaurant. I know one where they have different kinds of noodles and you can choose."

"Great. I have things to do, I'll try to write to you every few days. See you soon, Kagome."

"Yes, see you soon," she said, and heard Inuyasha hang up.

She set the phone down on her pillow, shaking her head. That conversation had been too strange for her liking, but her stomach was full of butterflies at the thought of a date with him.

A cocky grin spread across Inuyasha's face at the thought of how annoyed Kagome had been at not hearing from him those days. He had had to fight several yōkai who found his cave, and he had also been teaching Shippo how to hunt and camouflage himself. The fox was still very weak and his best option for protection was not to be seen.

Inuyasha was sure that, this time, he would get Kagome to accompany him into the forest. He'd finally be free again and stop thinking about her and her scent.

His stomach growled as he tied the phone to his kimono belt, remembering her words. She was going to take him out to eat at a place where he could gorge on noodles... It had been days since he had finished his supply of human food and he couldn't miss it more. The meat from the animals he hunted and the fruits that grew on the trees couldn't compare with that delicious pasta.

On top of that, he had had to share it with the fox yōkai, who would not leave his side no matter how unpleasant he was to him. More than once, Inuyasha had gotten too angry and yelled at him to leave, but Shippo had cried and told him he had nowhere else to go... and Inuyasha wasn't evil enough to leave him to his fate.

He needed to think of something urgently, though. The little fox didn't mind if he left for a couple of hours, but Shippo would try to follow him if he was gone for a whole day... and Inuyasha would wander back into the human city on the next dark night, a place he could not accompany him to.

Any yōkai would disintegrate upon leaving the forest. The spell cast by the monks and priestesses on the border after the signing of the blood pact kept them at a distance from the human world.

But Inuyasha, being a hybrid, was sure he could get out safely... though he had only tried it in his human form so far.

He shuddered as he remembered the first day he had seen Kagome, when he had transformed into a yōkai and tried to get out of the forest. If Sesshomaru hadn't stopped him, he might have vanished without a trace. Inuyasha didn't quite know what to think. Even if he was transformed, he was still really a half-demon... but secretly he would always thank his overbearing older brother for not letting him take the risk of checking that theory.

He made his way back to his cave, hopping from tree to tree and picking up what food he could along the way.

When he arrived, he saw that Shippo had lit the fire and was roasting some fish. He had probably caught them from the river just a few feet away.

"Inuyasha, are you hungry?" he asked when he saw him standing at his side.

"I'm always hungry," Inuyasha grunted, sitting down in front of the fire and setting the fruits he had brought on the ground.

They shared them while the fish finished cooking. Shippo asked him what he had been doing, but Inuyasha just smacked him on the head and told him to mind his own business.

"You're an idiot, Inuyasha! I'm sick of you hitting me every time I ask you something," the demon complained, rubbing his forehead as he bared his fangs.

"Stop meddling in my life and I won't do it again, brat."

They finished eating in silence and Shippo showed him what he had learnt to do. Fox yōkai possessed magic and he was trying to control his foxfire. He was already able to make it appear and disappear at will, but he still couldn't control a great deal of it.

"I'm looking forward to you being able to fend for yourself. I'm tired of babysitting you," Inuyasha complained, tossing the remains of the fish out of the cave.

"Am I bothering you that much?"

Turning around, he saw that Shippo had tears in his eyes again. Inuyasha sniffled and sat down beside him.

"You don't bother me, but I've been living alone since I was very young. Do you understand?"

Shippo nodded, wiping his tears with his hands.

"I imagine you hybrids are used to loneliness... but I'm not, and I miss my parents," he admitted under his breath.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, sighing. That poor yōkai was only a hundred and twenty years old. In human age, that was the equivalent of about six or seven years, far too young to have to watch someone murder his parents... but the demon forest was like that, all its inhabitants liked to fight each other for control of the territory and he knew it well.

He started living on his own at about Shippo's own age, though hybrids aged twice as fast. Inuyasha was now two hundred and fifty years old, but Shippo would not reach his appearance until he was five centuries old. Fifty Inuyasha years equalled five human years, which was why he had told Kagome he was twenty-five.

That region was dominated by the Taisho, meaning Sesshomaru and his mother, the most powerful dog yōkai who lived in the palace where he grew up.

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, thinking that maybe he had just found the solution to his problem... Perhaps he could convince Sesshomaru if he was there, although he would have nothing to do with his mother.

"We're going on a trip, Shippo," he announced, standing up.

The little fox mimicked him.

"Where are we going?"

Inuyasha looked into his eyes, seeing a spark of excitement in his green irises. Shippo hadn't been far from the cave for weeks, and he had to be bored out of his mind.

"To the palace of the Lord of the West."

Shippo blanched.

"Why? I... I can't go there, I'm not important."

"Don't worry, my brother lives there and they'll let us in. Pick up what you need and let's go" Inuyasha replied, looking around as he better placed the sword in his belt.

The fox demon picked up a couple of items he used for his magic tricks and put them in his pockets.

"Your brother is the Lord of the West?" he asked in surprise.

"Half-brother. Yes, when my father died he took his place."

"Is he a hybrid like you?"

"Keh, don't talk rubbish. No one would accept a hybrid as Lord, he's a dog yōkai and he's over five hundred years old," Inuyasha replied, snorting.

"You're a dog demon too. It shows in your ears," Shippo said, pointing to the white, furry ears sticking out of the top of his head.

"How clever you are," Inuyasha muttered sarcastically.

He crouched down and the fox clung to his back, wrapping his arms around his neck. Inuyasha gathered momentum and leapt to the top of the nearest tree, starting to move north.

It had been ages since he had been near the palace, he and Sesshomaru always met in the forest. He could smell him when he was near and Sesshomaru could smell Inuyasha as well, so they saw each other whenever they wanted to.

He jumped down to the ground and ran as fast as he could. Despite his speed, it would take them a few hours to get there.

The gates of the stone wall surrounding the palace were always open. No one dared to pass through them without permission because they knew that their life would be over in less than a blink of an eye.

The guards acknowledged Inuyasha and bowed their heads slightly in greeting. Shippo flinched and ducked under his white mane, still clinging to his back.

"You come with me and no one will hurt you. Easy, brat," Inuyasha assured him quietly.

He felt his grip loosen and the fox hopped over his shoulder, sniffing the air curiously. The palace gardens were huge and filled with all sorts of plants, and there were also small cottages where the yōkai who served the castle lived with their families. They saw some of the warriors who were not on duty resting by one of the fountains, enjoying the warmth of the sun's rays.

The palace was right in the centre. It was very old, dating from feudal times, but with the care of all the servants it was in perfect condition. Its columns were white and the roof was dark brown. It was decorated with everything from carpets to tapestries inside, and many of the walls had paintings telling the story of the dog yōkai and the signing of the blood pact, which had been made a thousand years ago between the four strongest yōkai (including Inuyasha's father) and the four most powerful human priests in all of Japan.

"Why have we come here?"

"I need to speak with my brother and ask him a favour," Inuyasha said, frowning.

It was going to be difficult to get Sesshomaru to accept Shippo under his protection, but there was no harm in trying.

His half-brother's scent began to grow more intense, a sign that he had noticed their presence and was coming towards them. Inuyasha walked up the steps of the palace and, as he reached the front door, the figure of Sesshomaru stood beside it. His golden eyes were fixed on him.

"It's been almost two hundred years since you've been here, Inuyasha."

"I don't like to be where I'm not welcome," he said, averting his gaze to the door of the central hall, where he suspected his mother would be.

"As long as I am alive, you will always be welcome here," Sesshomaru replied, eyeing the small fox yōkai his brother was carrying on his shoulder.

"Can we talk in private?" Inuyasha asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sesshomaru nodded and walked into the palace, heading for his study. Just by the way he walked, one could tell he belonged to royalty. More than walking, he seemed to float. Shippo jumped down to the ground and the two followed him, walking on a red carpet with black borders.

Inuyasha smiled as Shippo's eyes widened at the sight of the paintings in the hallway. They showed a giant white dog holding a snake of the same size in its jaws.

"Who is it?" asked the fox, pointing to the silhouette of the dog demon.

"It was our father," Sesshomaru replied without turning around.

Shippo blanched and clutched one of the red sleeves of Inuyasha's kimono tightly in fright. He had just realised that the one walking in front of them was his half-brother, the Lord of the West and one of the most powerful yōkai in the entire forest of Japan.

"He doesn't have dog ears like you," he whispered, looking Inuyasha in the eye.

Inuyasha put a finger to his lips to warn him to be quiet. His brother's ears resembled human ears, but they were pointed like Shippo's. His father and mother had them like that, too, as did all high-ranking yōkai. Only hybrids like Inuyasha and non-humanoid yōkai had different ears.

Sesshomaru opened one of the wooden doors and held it, watching them pass through in silence. He walked in after them and closed it, sitting behind his huge dark desk.

The walls were lined with bookshelves filled with old books and scrolls, and in the centre of the wall was a painting of a dog on a cliff. It was very similar to the paintings they had seen minutes before of Inuyasha's father, but the moon on his forehead indicated that it was not the same demon.

"And who is he?" Shippo asked softly, jumping back over Inuyasha's shoulder.

"It's my brother Sesshomaru, in his demon form," Inuyasga replied, looking at the painting.

"Well, he doesn't look as big as your father," the fox whispered, trying to make himself heard only by Inuyasha.

Inuyasha sighed in resignation. Dog demons had the best hearing in the world and his brother had heard Shippo's every word... and he knew he wouldn't have liked being underestimated by a cub.

As he glanced at Sesshomaru, he saw his face begin to change.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. The alpha male show was beginning, and poor Shippo had no idea what he was just about to see.