Okay! To make up for the embarrassingly short last chapter, I give you your
next chapter as well!!!
Enjoy!! And they're still not mine!!
~~~~~~
Ch. 5 The Truth
I watched as her anger and power grew, reminding me why I had respected her in the first place. She came to life as she demanded the proper respect due her in her home, and I was listening only partially until she said something that made my ears twitch.
"If that damn well hadn't sealed up, I'd go back right now and pin your ass to the tree just like Kikyo did his!" It wasn't the threat that caught my attention, although it was intriguing to hear it coming from such a diminutive figure. It also wasn't her reference to the hanyou, my idiot half-brother, Inuyasha. No.
She had said "Go back" and "that damn well". Had she found a way to go to the past? And if she had, if this where she had appeared from and disappeared to so long ago? I had assumed she was dead, but she mentioned a sealed well.
Perhaps...
"'Well'? 'Go back'?" I watched her closely as her eyes widened in realization. Annoyance flashed across her features, then defeat.
"Yes, the well. It's how I first met Inuyasha. She sighed and looked up at me again, resignation in her eyes. She had surrendered. She knew she had made a mistake, and was now willing to answer my questions.
It's true, what they say. Some humans ARE smarter than others.
I sat on the floor triumphantly. Even though she now towered over me, she still knew I was superior to her. With another sigh, she sat in front of me, looking at the carpet between us.
"You see," she began, "When I was 15 years old, I was pulled into the well that sits here at the shrine by a centipede demon. When I climbed out of the well, I was in the feudal ages." So it WAS true! But then, that meant she HADN'T lived for 500 years. I couldn't help but lean slightly closer to her as she continued the story, her eyes closing as she remembered each event.
I listened as she told me everything, from freeing Inuyasha and placing the subduing spell upon him, to meeting me and all of her other friends, to the resurrection of the dead priestess, and how she had been in love with my half-brother. I silently called him an idiot every time she told me about his comparisons to the dead miko, and how he would leave her for the corpse constantly. Why any man, human, demon, or hanyou, would chose a dead bitch made of clay and bones was beyond me, especially when someone as powerful and... ALIVE as Kagome was, was always available and would do anything for you.
Her emotions radiated off of her in her scent, changing with every laugh as she told of the hentai monk and the skilled exterminator, or when she talked of Inuyasha and the kitsune's first meeting, when my half- brother was pinned to the ground by his hands with a statue. But her pain was also evident as she quietly told of her witnessing Inuyasha and his dead lover kiss, and how the corpse had tried to kill her, only to have to keep silent about it since the hanyou would never believe her, and that she was not willing to betray the woman responsible.
This shocked me. The young miko would not reveal the truth about her incarnate, even though that woman had attempted to kill her? Did this mean that she would not betray me as well, if I were in danger? I knew this would never happen, for I would never be in serious danger, but it was an astounding thought in any case.
"In fact," now she looked up at me again, her blue eyes bright as she smiled, "I guess that's why I was never completely afraid of you." NOW she had my curiosity. I nodded slightly, signaling for her to continue as I leaned slightly closer, not wanting to miss a word.
"You see, you wanted Inuyasha dead, and the Tetsusaiga. And actually, I'm not sure you wanted to kill Inuyasha so much as you wanted the sword. There were a lot of times you could kill him, after all, and you never did. Just as there were times you could have killed me, and didn't. But Kikyou... She wanted to kill Inuyasha too, at first, only to later decide she would rather take him to Hell with her, and perhaps kill me or steal the rest of my soul. She didn't seem to care about me so much until she figured out that so long as I was around, Inuyasha's humanity was coming out. That he would smile like he wouldn't around her. She became jealous, I guess, and decided I needed to die, too. And no offense, Sesshoumaru, but a woman's jealousy is more feared than a man's hatred, youkai or not. So as long as Kikyou was around, I focused more on her than you."
I nodded in understanding. This was true, I knew for a fact. When a woman became jealous, she lost all semblances of honor and respect, not caring who she hurt in the process. But when a man was angry or hated a person, he still held some honor. And she was also correct that I didn't care about Inuyasha dying or not, just that I wanted the famed sword. I also felt that if I fought him enough, he could prove himself worthy of our father's blood.
Looking over to the young miko, I had to admit to myself that perhaps a part of me felt relieved when she had said she was not frightened by me. After all, she was smiling at me, and I doubt that she would smile like that at me if she hated or feared me. I couldn't repress the small smile I gave her in return, noting the way her eyes widened slightly. Then her smile turned to a grin.
"Want to see the well?" The moment I nodded, she reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me behind her as she made her way out the door.
I didn't even notice when my fingers curled around her own. But I did notice how she paused for a second before continuing on.
~~*~~
It felt good to let it all out. To tell everything to someone who understood. I could have told my mother and Souta, sure, but Mama wouldn't be happy if she heard just how much danger I had truly been in while I was in the past, and Souta's image of Inuyasha would be tarnished were I to tell him about Kikyou. Sesshoumaru, though, just listened and nodded, showing that he was soaking everything in that I was telling him and thinking about it.
I decided not to think about why it felt so good to tell him in particular.
When he smiled at me, I couldn't help the surprise that I felt. After all, I hadn't seen very many smiles from him, and only now did I really look at him. He seemed more like a person, now, than a cold-hearted youkai lord. I actually felt COMFORTABLE around him.
Trying not to think of it, I asked if he wanted to see the well. When he nodded, my hand just wrapped around his without my knowledge. I tried REALLY hard not to blush as I dragged him behind me towards the well- house, especially when he ended up holding my hand in return. Now that was a shocker, let me tell you.
And now we're standing here, staring at this centuries-old well, and I'm willing to bet he's probably thinking something along the lines of 'THIS is the well that can pass through time?' I have to agree with him, it doesn't look like much, but I've been through that thing quite a few times, and I know what it's capable of. I moved to sit on the edge of the well, and smiled at him again. He just looks at me curiously, then back at the well.
"Yeah, I know, pretty hard to believe, huh? But I was born and raised in this era, sent back to yours and Inuyasha's, and then got sent back here after Naraku was defeated, and Inuyasha went to hell with Kikyou..." I felt the old familiar lump in my throat as I usually did when I mentioned him, and finally I felt the tears I had been fighting off so hard begin to well up in my eyes. I ducked my head down, and pretended to be looking over my shoulder into the well, praying he didn't see it. The last thing I needed then was yet another comment about a human's weakness.
But he didn't say anything, just walked over and sat next to me. After a few minutes of silence, which felt more like hours, he finally spoke.
"Did you wish to stay in the past, even without him?" I turned to look at him, wondering why on earth he'd ask a question like that, but when my eyes connected with his, which looked curious but also a little... sad? I answered without thinking.
"Yes and no. I wanted to stay with my real friends, the ones whom I had fought with and who protected and loved me like none of my friends here could. I wanted to stay with Shippou and watch him grow up and fall in love. I wanted to stay where I was wanted, where I was needed, and where I loved to be. But my family is here. This is my home, and where I belong. There, most people saw me as 'Kikyou's Reincarnation', very rarely as 'Kagome'. Not even Inuyasha truly saw me as Kagome, I think..." Damn it... now the tears were flowing down my face again, and I was still looking at him. I tried to hurry and turn my head away again, but was stopped when he caught my chin with his hand.
"Your friends did not see you as Kikyou's reincarnation, nor did Rin and I. I never heard her ask for Kikyou, but I did hear her ask for you, quite a few times, in fact. I guess she took a liking to you. When you disappeared, we thought you had died, and it took me all of a month to make her stop sulking. I thought I was going to have to drag your friends to my castle and force them to make her smile again. But she ended up doing it herself, after she made a place for her to remember you by. Actually, she had me make it, since she couldn't lift up the stone she wanted to use as a marker and as a seat. I had to do the same thing when she died an old woman, this time for myself and for her family, her children and grandchildren, who were more wary of me than she was."
I saw the pain flash through his eyes as he told me of Rin's death, and I remembered how much he protected her, and how she loved and adored him. I was surprised to hear of her depression over my "death", but even more surprised at the fact that he was telling me this. Him, Sesshoumaru, the powerful Taiyoukai. He was looking at me sadly as he told me about the one he loved as his own daughter, as though to comfort me and show his understanding. I didn't realize I was hugging him until his arms wrapped around me, startling me from my thoughts.
We sat there like that for a while, just thinking about our pasts, and all the things we had been through, holding each other like old friends or family members who hadn't seen each other in a long time. Which was very true, if you think about it.
After 500 years for him, he had found someone who remembered his time, and after what seemed like decades for me, I had someone I could talk to about the old days...
I hugged him slightly tighter, trying not to think of how I felt slightly better while in his arms.
~~~~~~~
Well! Um, like I said, that last chapter was my first pre-written one, so I got to write whatever came into my head for this one... Um, feel free to review!!
Enjoy!! And they're still not mine!!
~~~~~~
Ch. 5 The Truth
I watched as her anger and power grew, reminding me why I had respected her in the first place. She came to life as she demanded the proper respect due her in her home, and I was listening only partially until she said something that made my ears twitch.
"If that damn well hadn't sealed up, I'd go back right now and pin your ass to the tree just like Kikyo did his!" It wasn't the threat that caught my attention, although it was intriguing to hear it coming from such a diminutive figure. It also wasn't her reference to the hanyou, my idiot half-brother, Inuyasha. No.
She had said "Go back" and "that damn well". Had she found a way to go to the past? And if she had, if this where she had appeared from and disappeared to so long ago? I had assumed she was dead, but she mentioned a sealed well.
Perhaps...
"'Well'? 'Go back'?" I watched her closely as her eyes widened in realization. Annoyance flashed across her features, then defeat.
"Yes, the well. It's how I first met Inuyasha. She sighed and looked up at me again, resignation in her eyes. She had surrendered. She knew she had made a mistake, and was now willing to answer my questions.
It's true, what they say. Some humans ARE smarter than others.
I sat on the floor triumphantly. Even though she now towered over me, she still knew I was superior to her. With another sigh, she sat in front of me, looking at the carpet between us.
"You see," she began, "When I was 15 years old, I was pulled into the well that sits here at the shrine by a centipede demon. When I climbed out of the well, I was in the feudal ages." So it WAS true! But then, that meant she HADN'T lived for 500 years. I couldn't help but lean slightly closer to her as she continued the story, her eyes closing as she remembered each event.
I listened as she told me everything, from freeing Inuyasha and placing the subduing spell upon him, to meeting me and all of her other friends, to the resurrection of the dead priestess, and how she had been in love with my half-brother. I silently called him an idiot every time she told me about his comparisons to the dead miko, and how he would leave her for the corpse constantly. Why any man, human, demon, or hanyou, would chose a dead bitch made of clay and bones was beyond me, especially when someone as powerful and... ALIVE as Kagome was, was always available and would do anything for you.
Her emotions radiated off of her in her scent, changing with every laugh as she told of the hentai monk and the skilled exterminator, or when she talked of Inuyasha and the kitsune's first meeting, when my half- brother was pinned to the ground by his hands with a statue. But her pain was also evident as she quietly told of her witnessing Inuyasha and his dead lover kiss, and how the corpse had tried to kill her, only to have to keep silent about it since the hanyou would never believe her, and that she was not willing to betray the woman responsible.
This shocked me. The young miko would not reveal the truth about her incarnate, even though that woman had attempted to kill her? Did this mean that she would not betray me as well, if I were in danger? I knew this would never happen, for I would never be in serious danger, but it was an astounding thought in any case.
"In fact," now she looked up at me again, her blue eyes bright as she smiled, "I guess that's why I was never completely afraid of you." NOW she had my curiosity. I nodded slightly, signaling for her to continue as I leaned slightly closer, not wanting to miss a word.
"You see, you wanted Inuyasha dead, and the Tetsusaiga. And actually, I'm not sure you wanted to kill Inuyasha so much as you wanted the sword. There were a lot of times you could kill him, after all, and you never did. Just as there were times you could have killed me, and didn't. But Kikyou... She wanted to kill Inuyasha too, at first, only to later decide she would rather take him to Hell with her, and perhaps kill me or steal the rest of my soul. She didn't seem to care about me so much until she figured out that so long as I was around, Inuyasha's humanity was coming out. That he would smile like he wouldn't around her. She became jealous, I guess, and decided I needed to die, too. And no offense, Sesshoumaru, but a woman's jealousy is more feared than a man's hatred, youkai or not. So as long as Kikyou was around, I focused more on her than you."
I nodded in understanding. This was true, I knew for a fact. When a woman became jealous, she lost all semblances of honor and respect, not caring who she hurt in the process. But when a man was angry or hated a person, he still held some honor. And she was also correct that I didn't care about Inuyasha dying or not, just that I wanted the famed sword. I also felt that if I fought him enough, he could prove himself worthy of our father's blood.
Looking over to the young miko, I had to admit to myself that perhaps a part of me felt relieved when she had said she was not frightened by me. After all, she was smiling at me, and I doubt that she would smile like that at me if she hated or feared me. I couldn't repress the small smile I gave her in return, noting the way her eyes widened slightly. Then her smile turned to a grin.
"Want to see the well?" The moment I nodded, she reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me behind her as she made her way out the door.
I didn't even notice when my fingers curled around her own. But I did notice how she paused for a second before continuing on.
~~*~~
It felt good to let it all out. To tell everything to someone who understood. I could have told my mother and Souta, sure, but Mama wouldn't be happy if she heard just how much danger I had truly been in while I was in the past, and Souta's image of Inuyasha would be tarnished were I to tell him about Kikyou. Sesshoumaru, though, just listened and nodded, showing that he was soaking everything in that I was telling him and thinking about it.
I decided not to think about why it felt so good to tell him in particular.
When he smiled at me, I couldn't help the surprise that I felt. After all, I hadn't seen very many smiles from him, and only now did I really look at him. He seemed more like a person, now, than a cold-hearted youkai lord. I actually felt COMFORTABLE around him.
Trying not to think of it, I asked if he wanted to see the well. When he nodded, my hand just wrapped around his without my knowledge. I tried REALLY hard not to blush as I dragged him behind me towards the well- house, especially when he ended up holding my hand in return. Now that was a shocker, let me tell you.
And now we're standing here, staring at this centuries-old well, and I'm willing to bet he's probably thinking something along the lines of 'THIS is the well that can pass through time?' I have to agree with him, it doesn't look like much, but I've been through that thing quite a few times, and I know what it's capable of. I moved to sit on the edge of the well, and smiled at him again. He just looks at me curiously, then back at the well.
"Yeah, I know, pretty hard to believe, huh? But I was born and raised in this era, sent back to yours and Inuyasha's, and then got sent back here after Naraku was defeated, and Inuyasha went to hell with Kikyou..." I felt the old familiar lump in my throat as I usually did when I mentioned him, and finally I felt the tears I had been fighting off so hard begin to well up in my eyes. I ducked my head down, and pretended to be looking over my shoulder into the well, praying he didn't see it. The last thing I needed then was yet another comment about a human's weakness.
But he didn't say anything, just walked over and sat next to me. After a few minutes of silence, which felt more like hours, he finally spoke.
"Did you wish to stay in the past, even without him?" I turned to look at him, wondering why on earth he'd ask a question like that, but when my eyes connected with his, which looked curious but also a little... sad? I answered without thinking.
"Yes and no. I wanted to stay with my real friends, the ones whom I had fought with and who protected and loved me like none of my friends here could. I wanted to stay with Shippou and watch him grow up and fall in love. I wanted to stay where I was wanted, where I was needed, and where I loved to be. But my family is here. This is my home, and where I belong. There, most people saw me as 'Kikyou's Reincarnation', very rarely as 'Kagome'. Not even Inuyasha truly saw me as Kagome, I think..." Damn it... now the tears were flowing down my face again, and I was still looking at him. I tried to hurry and turn my head away again, but was stopped when he caught my chin with his hand.
"Your friends did not see you as Kikyou's reincarnation, nor did Rin and I. I never heard her ask for Kikyou, but I did hear her ask for you, quite a few times, in fact. I guess she took a liking to you. When you disappeared, we thought you had died, and it took me all of a month to make her stop sulking. I thought I was going to have to drag your friends to my castle and force them to make her smile again. But she ended up doing it herself, after she made a place for her to remember you by. Actually, she had me make it, since she couldn't lift up the stone she wanted to use as a marker and as a seat. I had to do the same thing when she died an old woman, this time for myself and for her family, her children and grandchildren, who were more wary of me than she was."
I saw the pain flash through his eyes as he told me of Rin's death, and I remembered how much he protected her, and how she loved and adored him. I was surprised to hear of her depression over my "death", but even more surprised at the fact that he was telling me this. Him, Sesshoumaru, the powerful Taiyoukai. He was looking at me sadly as he told me about the one he loved as his own daughter, as though to comfort me and show his understanding. I didn't realize I was hugging him until his arms wrapped around me, startling me from my thoughts.
We sat there like that for a while, just thinking about our pasts, and all the things we had been through, holding each other like old friends or family members who hadn't seen each other in a long time. Which was very true, if you think about it.
After 500 years for him, he had found someone who remembered his time, and after what seemed like decades for me, I had someone I could talk to about the old days...
I hugged him slightly tighter, trying not to think of how I felt slightly better while in his arms.
~~~~~~~
Well! Um, like I said, that last chapter was my first pre-written one, so I got to write whatever came into my head for this one... Um, feel free to review!!
