Kagome gave another sigh and patiently tried to explain the concept of TV to a poor and highly confused Sango, who had a comical look of confusion on her face. Sesshomaru, however, just looked at the miko with a passive expression on his face although she could have sworn she saw flickers of interest in those amber eyes from time to time.
After the truce had been called Kagome had cautiously entered her house wondering how she was going to explain her two unexpected guests to her family. Sango she had no worries about since she knew the exterminator could be counted on to be curious, but polite and friendly. Sesshomaru was the only unknown factor in this equation. She had no clue how the youkai lord was going to act. The only thing she could possibly be sure of with him was the fact that he wouldn't lose his temper if something didn't go his way and that he wouldn't be unbelievably rude unlike a certain hanyou, who sometimes seemed to have no patience and decorum whatsoever. On the other hand, Kagome had every reason to be worried about the fact that Sesshomaru might get annoyed with one of the local population and decide the world would be better off without that poor soul in it.
She had gone into her house and to her great relief found it to be free of everyone but Buyo, her fat cat. She found a note from her mother saying that she had gone out shopping with a friend and would be back late that evening. The note went on to say that Souta was out on a field trip with his class and they were expected back around an hour after his school normally dismissed. Ji-chan, on the other hand, was on a trip with a friend of his who was a Buddhist monk. They had gone out to a temple way out in the countryside and wouldn't be back for another week and a half.
Kagome read the note with a mixture of relief and regret. She was glad her mother and brother were coming back late. That would give her a few hours to settle Sango and Sesshomaru and explain a few things to them. She read the part about Ji-chan again with a twinge of regret. She would miss getting to see her grandfather, although after some consideration it was probably for the best. One look at the taiyoukai and he would whip out the sealing scrolls faster then she could say 'osuwari'. Kagome covered her mouth and shook with silent laughter as a mental image of her grandfather chasing Sesshomaru came to mind. She then noticed Sango and Sesshomaru looking at her through the open window and she sobered up immediately. She walked over to the door and opened it.
"Do you want to come in and look around?" She asked them. Sango brightened and immediately rushed inside and started firing questions at her friend. Sesshomaru walked in at a more sedate pace and posistioned himself on the living room couch, watching the two humans with a bored expression.
That had been several hours ago and Souta was due back any minute now. Kagome had been explaining things to Sango and answering her questions whenever the exterminator asked. Sesshomaru had sat there on the couch the entire time and barely moved an inch. Sango had then asked about the TV and the miko had started to explain what it was and what it was used for. Little did she know she would be stuck explaining it five more times, since trying to explain TV in terms Sango would understand was a little hard.
The front door slammed open and shut and she heard the sound of her brother's voice in the entryway. "Mama, I'm home!" He walked into the living room and spotted Kagome. "NE-CHAN!!" He shouted and threw himself into his sister's arms. "Souta!" Kagome said laughing and catching him in a hug. Souta put his arms around her neck in a death grip and hugged all the air out of her. He finally released her and Kagome put him down on his feet. "Ne-chan, how long are you going to stay?" He asked. Kagome smiled at her little brother and ruffled his hair affectionately. "A whole week. Remember I'm having my wisdom teeth out tomorrow." Souta smiled happily then quickly sobered. He looked at his sister with all the worry an adoring younger brother is capable of. "Are you going to be okay?" He asked. "Souta, I'm going to be fine. Actually I want you to meet some people."
She gestured Sango over. "This is one of my friends from the past. This is the demon exterminator Sango." Sango smiled at the young boy, who reminded her so much of her own brother. "Hello Souta," She said. "Do you really hunt demons?" Souta asked wide-eyed. "Yes, my whole village does." "Cool!" He then noticed the demon lord on the couch. There was something about him that caused Souta to back up and stand next to his sister and grip her arm. He stared at the Taiyoukai with wide eyes. "Souta, this is Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands." Kagome said putting an arm around her brother's shoulders comfortingly. The demon gave just the barest of nods at the young boy before going back to watching them with a completely expressionless face.
Kagome nudged her brother into the kitchen, giving Sango a small smile. When they were safely in the kitchen, she sat her brother down at the table. She looked at him with a serious expression. "Ne-chan?" Souta asked. "Souta I need to tell you about Sesshomaru." What about him?" "Don't say anything to him if you can." his sister warned. "Why not?" "Well, Sesshomaru isn't like Inuyasha." Her brother's eyes widened in fear. "You mean he'll try to hurt me?" "No! No! He won't. I'm just asking you not to ask him any questions. In other words don't annoy him or he might possibly hurt you." Kagome said. Souta nodded. "I won't bother him."
Kagome jumped when she felt something soft rub around her ankles. She looked down to find Kirara looping around her feet. She picked up the cat demon. "What's that? It looks like a cat." her brother asked. "This is Kirara, Sango's cat demon. Do you want to hold her?" Kagome passed the demon to her brother. Kirara promptly started to cuddle up to the boy, who petted and scratched her behind the ears. Kagome giggled as she watched the pair, not knowing a pair of wistful eyes was watching them with a small, sad smile on her face.
Sango watched her friend and her brother bond with her pet. She couldn't help looking wistful as she observed them reminded of her own brother. She missed Kohaku and she wished she had him back. She even had to admit she felt a little jealous of her friend, but she wouldn't wish for the same thing that happened to her to happen to Kagome.
"Why do you stare at them like that?" Sango jumped at the sound of Sesshomaru's voice and she whirled around to find the demon looking at her with a bit of curiosity in his eyes. She paused not knowing how much she wanted to tell the demon lord. She was also undergoing a bit of shock at the situation. In all the time she had been with Inuyasha and the others she never thought she'd be having a casual conversation with the Demon Lord of the Westeren Lands. It was a bit too much for her. "Well to answer your question I'm watching them like that because they remind me of the times I spent with my own brother. Kohaku… " Sango swallowed a sudden lump in her throat and took a deep breath before continuing. "Kohaku was, is so full of life, he looked up to me and he was gentle and a bit too sensitive for a demon exterminator's life. He just didn't fit into that lifestyle and he knew it too. He didn't want to disappoint our father. I think his heart was in the training but he avoided going into actual battle for as long as he could." She sighed and looked at Sesshomaru. "I miss him and I want to get him back." "Who took him?" The Demon Lord asked. "Naraku took him. He tricked us. He took over a young lord's house and then sent a message to our village that a demon was terrorizing the household. My brother, father and I went there with some of the other exterminators and found there was a demon, a spider demon. The spider demon was controlled by Naraku and through the web managed to take over my brother's mind." Sango's voice cut like cold steel as she told her story, she took a deep breath becoming quieter and a bit more resigned as she continued. "Kohaku killed my father and the other exterminators. Naraku then sent a group of other demons to my village to kill everyone else. When I got back the entire village was wiped out. Now Kohaku is under Naraku's control kept alive only by the Shikon shard in his back." She looked at the taiyoukai to gauge his reaction.
Sesshomaru stared at the girl. No reaction showing in his eyes or his face. However he couldn't help feeling his respect for the exterminator increase slightly. On the other hand her story only reinforced the notion that Naraku needed to be killed. "It seems Naraku is the focal point of many problems for people, youkai and human. Your only one of many who wishes to see him dead." He said. Sango nodded in acceptance knowing this was as close to sympathy as the demon was going to get. She turned her gaze back to her friend and her brother who were laughing at Kirara's antics. Kohaku…
Kagome looked up and noticed Sango staring at them. She noticed the sad look her friend at when she stared at Souta and knew she was thinking about Kohaku. She opened her mouth to suggest that they go outside to look at the shrine when the front door opened and closed. "Souta! Kagome! I'm home!" came her mother's voice. Kagome glanced at the clock and surmised that it was about the time when her mother should be home. She went out into the living room to face her mother. "Kagome, I've bought some more things for your-" Her mother's voice stopped short as she came into the living room and took in the unexpected guests. The demon lord who was looking at her mother with an expressionless face, to Sango who was looking slightly worried with Kirara on her shoulder and finally to her own two children who didn't quite know how to explain the mess if the slightly frightened expression on her mother's face was anything to go by. "Um, Mama, I'd like you to meet some of my friends from the past…." Kagome started. This isn't going to be pretty….
Much to her surprise her mother had taken the two guests in her home as well as the announcement that she would be going shard hunting the day after her surgery with surprising tranquility. Which, considering the fact that that's how her mother usually reacted to these things, shouldn't have made Kagome worried about her mother's reaction in the first place. I must have done something really good in a past life to be blessed with a mother like her. Even dinner had gone smoothly despite Sesshoumaru's obvious distaste at having to eat human food. After a couple of bites though the demon lord looked like he even liked it. Which wasn't too surprising, her mother was a good cook. She'd taken a couple of cooking classes at a local cooking school.
Kagome sighed and rolled over. She knew she really needed to get to sleep, but she had to many thoughts and worries going through her head. "Kagome-chan? What's wrong?" Sango asked, sitting up and looking at her friend. It was night out and the two girls had gone to bed, Sango sleeping on a futon her mother had put on the floor. Kagome had lent her one of her rarely worn nightgowns, which was the closest thing to a sleeping yukata that she could get without actually going out and buying one. Kagome wore pajama pants and a tank top.
"Nothing really, I'm just worried about some of the things your probably worried about." Kagome replied. "If the things you happen to be worried about are whether we can find a shard in this time and if we can unseal the well. Then yes I'm worried about the same things." Sango said. "However the one thing that really worries me is, well, Sesshoumaru." The miko said. "Sesshoumaru?" "Yes, while he is polite and he has more patience then Inuyasha, he has less tolerance." "Inuyasha has more tolerance?" Sango blinked. "That really doesn't make much sense, Kagome-chan, Inuyasha doesn't seem to have any tolerance at all." "Think about it Sango, Inuyasha tolerates me going home, Shippou's antics and you and Mirkou going at each other all the time, right?" Kagome said. Sango nodded. "Well the only asspumption I can make is that he has a lot of tolerance. I don't think Sesshoumaru has that much tolerance. From what I've seen he can barely tolerate Jaken. The only one it seems that he any real tolerance for is that little girl he has with him."
Sango nodded slowly, her friend did have a point to a certain extent. "I suppose you do have a point, Kagome-chan, but there isn't much we can do except be careful around him. We can watch out for him and make sure he doesn't hurt anyone. I think we'll be okay with him, he's very honorable and he knows we need him just as much as we need him in order to get back to the past. I don't think he would deliberately try to hurt our chances to find a shard." Kagome gave her friend a small smile. "Your right, Sango-chan. I don't think we have to worry about him, just trying to find a shard. I haven't the slightest to as to where we might start looking." By this point Kagome's head had hit her pillow in dejection. She rolled over and looked at her clock 2:15. She groaned at the rate she was going she'd be lucky if she got any sleep. She rolled back over to look at Sango. "Well, we can't do much about it right now and we need our sleep." She told her. Sango nodded in agreement and settled on the futon pulling the covers over her body. "Good night, Kagome-chan." Good night Sango-chan, good night Kirara." There was a sleepy mew from the cat demon, from where she was curled up at Sango's side. After a while the two girl's breathing evened out as they fell into a deep sleep.
Sesshoumaru watched the two girls fall asleep, unaware that he had heard their entire conversation. He had turned down Mrs. Higurashi's offer to sleep in Jichan's room. He didn't want the smell of human in his nose all night. So he said he would find a spot to sleep outside. He had tried the Goshinboku but the voices of the two girls evewntualley led him to the tree outside Kagome's room. He had listened to the girl's conversation with some interest. He had thought the miko's observations of him and his brother to be very astute. He certainly would never have put up with the antics that his brother's group seemed to produce whenever they met up. They probably would have been dead within ten minutes. He barley tolerated Jaken at times. Often, he would silence the toad with a kick or punch whenever he had reached his limit of tolerance with the retainer. The only one he seemed to have an unlimited supply of tolerance for was Rin. He supposed that in her case it was because he had some fatherly feelings towards the human girl and so he tolerated the girl's playful behaviors.
He then switched his thoughts to what the exterminator had said. She was right of course. He did need her and the miko. From what he had seen and smelled there where things in this time that he had never seen or heard of. He didn't quite know what to make of some them. Some of the smells where sharp and acrid, there was also an overwhelming smell of too many humans. The only youkai smell he had encountered so far was that of his brother's. The miko had told them that as far as she knew there were only humans in this time and no youkai. That was something he refused to believe. There had to some of his kind in this time. They were probably hiding. Still he wanted to go back to the past, where youkai ruled and humans feared him.
So he would honor the truce he had made and fight along side the human females. One side of his lip lifted up in a slight smirk as a stray thought came to him. If he had to be stuck with someone he preferred the two humans to his brother. His brother was too loud and brash, and didn't think things through. The two females on the other hand, were calm and more patient. They were more willing to listen to ideas and they thought things through. Yes it was better to be stuck here with them instead of Inuyasha. The demon lord thought as he closed his eyes and fell asleep.