Chapter 5: The Tapestry

Sesshomaru's Study

Kagome was looking at a tapestry hanging on the wall above the

fireplace. The tapestry showed a picture of a young youkai with long,

silver hair. He had jagged purple stripes on both cheeks along with a

white kimono and a matching red sash with purple tips around his wais.

His armor had a big red jewel in the middle of the chest plate. His arms

had shield plates that went all the way down his arms, and had open palm

gauntlets on.

"Sesshomaru-sama!

Who's this portrait of? He looks so much like you but with some

exceptions. Being as he has no crescent moon, and he has one purple

stripe on both cheeks instead of two magenta strips!" Kagome was

awestruck. "I mean he's gorgeous," she said without taking her eyes off

the tapestry while thinking, "I've only seen one other inuyoukai that's

extremely handsome that would compare to this portrait, that being

Sesshomaru. I've always thought so from the first time I saw him, when

he came in ridding that beast looking for the tomb of his and Inuyasha's

father." Unbeknownst to her, she was saying this out loud.

Sesshomaru was shocked at what he was hearing. "This young one

thinks of me as being extremely handsome and has for two years and still

thinks of me that way even after all the times I've tried to KILL HER!"

Sesshomaru stood there puzzled at the new information he just heard.

"Please, Sesshomaru. Who's this portrait of? You need not tell me if

you don't want to. I'm just curious," Kagome said with her kind hearted

tone.

"The portrait is of my great father, InuTaisho. Yes, he was a great

youkai ruler and great sire. He was a great warrior who protected his

family and what was his!" Sesshomaru said with great sorrow in his

voice.

Kagome, hearing the sorrow, turned and faced Sesshomaru. "Gomen

for bringing up the past hurts, Sesshomaru-sama!" bowing low to him to

show him honor and great respect. To change the mood Kagome asked, "So

you had some questions that you wanted to ask me?" being sympathetic

towards his feelings.

Sesshomaru took in Kagome's movements of showing him great

honor. "Hai, please come and take a seat!" pointing to the mat that sat

in front of his desk. "My first question is where are you from?"

"I'm from the village by Inuyasha's Forest." Thinking, "I can't tell

him I'm from the future, about 500 years to be exact." She sat twiddling

her thumbs.

Since she was hiding something, he asked again. "Let's try this

again, since I know you are hiding something. WHERE ARE YOU FROM?"

"Okay, I'll tell you, but you're not going to believe me unless I

show you! You'll think I'm deluded and very deranged," she said. "My

home is on the grounds of the shrine by Inuyasha's Forest but 500 years

into your future from this point. My family is caretaker of the shrine,

since we are the descendants of mikos and priests. That's why I wear

clothes that are so different from this era. But like I said, other than

my word and the strange clothing, the only other way to tell you where

I'm from is to show you. But I don't think that will work because so far

the only other person that's gone through the well, other than me, is

Inuyasha.

"Tomorrow we'll travel to this well and era of yours. You'll show

this Sesshomaru! My second question is why do you look for those small

fragments that you call the Shikon shards with the half-breed and your

companions of humans and the kitsune pup?"

"The fragments were once a whole jewel that came from inside of my

body. It's the same jewel that holds the souls of a priestess named

Midoriku and a demon. This jewel, and even the shards, is very powerful.

If a demon has a shard of the jewel, its strength will double. You

should remember that from when you used one with that human arm to hold

Tetsusaiga. If a demon possesses the whole jewel he'll be very hard to

beat. It was passed down through mikos. The last one before it came to

me was the miko known as Kikyo, the human woman Inuyasha fell in love

and is still in love with, the same woman who pinned him to the tree.

She lost her life after pinning him to the tree. They burned the jewel

with her body as she wished in hope to protect it.

On my 15th birthday, arms came out of the well and pulled me into

it. I ended up in this era. Climbing out of the well, I saw the

sacred tree and walked toward it. That's when I saw this boy pinned to

the tree by an arrow. But what caught my eye were his ears! They

reminded me of a dogs ears and I just had to touch them. She went on

from there telling him what happened. But it is my duty to right the

wrong that I've done. But as Inuyasha says, "It's MY Fault that it

shattered." So I'm stuck with an ungrateful mongrel untill we find the

shards and destroy Naraku. Though at times I want to kill Inuyasha for

the way he treats me. She then went through how everyone came to be in

the group.

"Shippo was orphaned by the Thunder brothers, and I think of him as

my son, even though I'm only 17 years old."

"But the kit is youkai and not human!" Sesshomaru said.

"So, what of it? My mother raised me not to judge the outside of a

person; be it a youkai or human, in order to show respect." Kagome said

proudly. "But many times it's hard to respect, like with Inuyasha." She

looked down at her lap.

Seeing and smelling tears he said, "Speaking of my half-brother,

with him being so protecting towards you, why was he not with you,

leaving you unprotected letting me save your life by

killing a snake youkai and bringing you back here to heal? Where was

that half-breed then?" he questioned with his indifferent mask on.

"She told the story of the day at the well, then Inuyasha walked

up and got in my face and doubled up his fists and said that I was only

saying that because I loved Kouga. I told him yes I loved him but like

family and friends and nothing more. Then he raised his fists and was

going to strike me when I said 'SIT, boy.' " She looked at Sesshomaru

while her eyes were covered with her hair so he'd would not see tears.

What she saw frightened her. Sesshomaru's eyes were blood red with no

pupils and his right hand was glowing green. Kagome was terrified and

scooted into the corner on the right side of the room, drawing up her

knees and buried her face in them. The other time she seen him like this

was in his father's tomb.

Sesshomaru watched Kagome scoot to the right corner of the room and

try to hide. He could smell she was very terrified. He stood there a

moment trying to cool his youkai blood which was boiling and wanted to

kill something. Sighing he walked towards her trembling form. Kneeling

down, he heard her saying, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad."

Leaning forward and placing a hand on her shoulder, he felt her cringe

and recoil away from him. "I'm sorry I'm so weak," she said in a hushed

tone.

He put his right palm on her cheek, slowly sliding his palm to her

chin while saying, "Shhhhhh. This Sesshomaru is not going to bring harm

upon you." He lifted her chin gently until her eye met his. He saw

tears. He did and said something very uncharacteristic. He wiped her

tears away and drew her to his chest saying, "Please forgive this

Sesshomaru for making you tremble with fear! I don't think you are weak.

You've shown me many times that you're very brave when fighting your

adversaries and not backing down. You've won this Sesshomaru's respect

and I hold you in honor." He tilted her head back and kissed her

forehead then leaned her into his chest and she fell asleep. He smiled

to himself because he was able to comfort her when she fell asleep in

his arm. He lifted her and took her to her chambers. He then called Faye

and told her to dress

Kagome, lay out a kimono for her in the morning, and to fix her hair

for the journey that they were going to make tomorrow.