CHAPTER 3: Confusion at Every Turn

Kagome calmed down once the salad was served and she had something to concentrate on other than the demon lord sitting further down the table. He had been on the phone most of the time, not that she had been watching or even trying to listen. But now that she had time to think and feel, Kagome noticed that there was something different about Sesshoumaru that she didn't notice the first time. He felt different. His youki was slightly off from what she remembered, and there was no way she could forget a youki like Sesshoumaru's. During the shard-hunting days, every time he came around, it took every ounce of willpower not to be frightened off or fall to her knees from the sheer intensity of it.

His youki now was a lot more docile and a little…altered? Maybe he had taken a mate. Didn't that change a demon's youki? Maybe he-

"Kagome-san, are you alright?" The old man across from her interrupted her thoughts.

Kagome blinked and nodded, "Yes, Tanaka-san. Just a little tired from my job last night."

"Oh. You were here late last night setting up for today?"

Kagome smiled. "If only. I have another job as an ER Life Assistant at Tokyo Memorial. I got off work at four this morning and was called here to sub for one of our workers who was unable to make it."

"Ah," Tanaka said. "Well my dear, I am very glad you were here this morning. It has been a long time since I have heard the tales of demons or seen someone not afraid to tell their stories. It is very refreshing."

"Thank you." Kagome let out one of her real smiles and watched as the main course was placed in front of her. And then in a whisper Kagome told Tanaka, "I used to have some very good friends that were demons." She didn't see two golden eyes turn towards her at that statement.

Lunch ended all too soon for Kagome who had enjoyed the company of the older business owners that surrounded her. Even as she followed 'Sekiguchi' to his limo, she couldn't help but feel that today was already much better than she thought it would be.

The limo ride was a silent one, especially with Kagome staring out the window, engulfed in daydreams. Even with her good mood, she would not talk to Sekiguchi-sama unless he spoke to her first. The way things were going, even if he were to speak first, she wasn't sure she wanted to answer him.

Before she left with Sekiguchi, Tanaka asked Kagome if she would accompany him and his family on a picnic Sunday after handing her his business card with a cell number scribbled on the back. "It is rare for an old traditional man to find such pleasurable company in the younger generations. And bring more of your demon stories with you." He wouldn't take no for an answer, which Kagome wouldn't have told him anyway. He was pretty jovial for the most part. Those happy thoughts kept her busy until the limo pulled into a long gravel driveway.

Large evergreen trees surrounded the driveway, leaving her to only see the road ahead or the road behind. As the end of the tree line came closer, Kagome could see the large…could she even call it a lawn? Lawns were the little plots of grass surrounding a tiny house, but this? This was the Serengeti after the rains, country clubs would be jealous of all the green she saw. The limo rolled to a stop, the door was opened and Kagome was helped out by a footman whom she detected was a demon. As she stood, waiting for Sekiguchi to exit the limo, she turned to the footman. "What kind of demon are you?"

The footman's eyes widened before he stiffened again at Sekiguchi's presence. "Madam," was his only reply.

"This way," Sekiguchi ordered, "and do not bother the servants."

Kagome fumed at being ordered around and flipped him off behind his back. Had the demon not learned anything after all these years? She just couldn't believe his personality hadn't changed one bit. As he led her through a series of hallways, Kagome could feel tiny sparks of youki throughout the house, signaling her of the other residents and employees. She had been too distracted by the other youki signatures to notice that her escort had stopped in front of a large wooden door. Her face hit him square between the shoulders.

"Sorry." Kagome rubbed her nose. "What's in there?" He wasn't taking her to his room was he?

"My office."

"Oh." Kagome was a little embarrassed over her train of thought but what would stop him from taking advantage of her in his office? An office that no one was probably allowed to enter. Kagome had to be seven kinds of stupid to have agreed to come to his house, enemy territory as far as she was concerned.

The office was lightly decorated with a few sakura paintings on the wall and a small branch of blossoms in a vase at the corner of his desk. The room was overly large, most likely for any meetings that required more space. Sekiguchi walked to his desk and sat on the edge.

"Who are you?"

Kagome's eyes darted around, searching for possible escape routes. The only ones she saw was the window to her right and the door they came through on her left.

"Kagome Higurashi."

"You said you traveled with Inuyasha."

Kagome felt her anger rising. "You tried to melt me when I pulled Tessaiga out of your father's tomb! Don't tell me you forgot that because I sure as hell haven't!"

In a flash, Sekiguchi was in front of her. "You will not raise your voice at me in my house, human!"

Kagome's fists balled at her sides. Her miko powers were coming to the surface in her rage, something that hadn't happened for a very long time. "I will do whatever I want, wherever I want, got that jackass?" She felt his youki building. Something was off with it, but she still couldn't figure it out and it didn't look like she'd have a lot of time either if she had to defend herself.

As soon as Kagome saw a hand raise against her, her hands shot forward to block him. Too many times had other less sober and stupid men tried the very same thing and they learned the lesson Sesshoumaru was about to. There was an explosion and the sound of broken glass. Kagome opened her eyes and saw Sekiguchi's smoking body lying in the middle of the lawn. She'd blasted him through the window.

"Oh get up! Don't tell me you're too old to take on this little miko." He had pissed her off good this morning and Kagome felt a little on the reckless side when she saw that it had actually worked! There was no way she should have landed that attack, but there had been times in the past when she caught the insufferable lord by surprise. Why wasn't he moving? Maybe he was too old? "Sesshoumaru?"

An overpowering youki was instantly at her back, suffocating her. Kagome's blood froze. Whoever stood behind her was too powerful to protect herself from. What had she done?

"I see you're still hot-headed as ever little miko."

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Sesshoumaru could smell the fear radiating off the black-haired woman. She hadn't turned to look at him yet, but he supposed she wouldn't be able to move at all in her shock. The miko had certainly remembered him and too well I seemed from the current scene in the downstairs office. Instead of waiting to be acknowledged, Sesshoumaru walked across the room and stared at the body lying in the lawn, still smoking from an awesome display of miko power.

He turned back to the miko with a smirk on his face. "What did my son do to deserve your anger, miko?"

It took a few drawn out seconds for his question to sink into the miko's brain. "Son?"

"Yes, my son Seiichi," Sesshoumaru said directing the miko's attention to her latest victim with a nod.

Kagome had finally looked away from the body on the lawn and at the voice speaking to her. "Sesshoumaru? But who-how…what?" Her eyes darted over his mark-free face before she whispered, "But your markings? Take it off…"

"Take it off?" he repeated, just to make sure he wasn't hearing things.

"That damn hiding spell."

Oh. The spell.

Sesshoumaru closed his eyes, holding back a shiver as the spell melted away. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the miko was visibly more relaxed, for which he was grateful.

"Is that better?"

Kagome nodded. "Much better," she said while taking another look at the body in the yard. Then looking at Sesshoumaru again, Kagome shook her head. "Maybe not." This was way too confusing. She could see the minute differences between the two men now. Sesshoumaru's eyes were a deeper gold color, his hair a finer white. And his frame was definitely larger than his son's. Dizziness threatened to take over.

"You said son, right?"

"Yes, my son."

"I don't remember you having a son."

"He was not born until two hundred years after you left."

"Are you sure you weren't part of a cloning experiment gone wrong?" When all she received was a nod, Kagome added, "he looks just like you."

"Yes, a fact which he would like to change." The tones of his low baritone voice soothed Kagome to a point of complete relaxation.

"Why?"

Sesshoumaru watched his son sit up and rub his head. "Everyone desires to be their own person, do they not?" He knew that had been a sore topic for the miko and his deceased brother in the past.

"Oh." Kagome looked at him again, no doubt to study his features a little more, not that he wasn't doing the same thing. It had been five hundred years since he saw her last. When her eyes left him to stare at his son again, Sesshoumaru felt a little strange.

"Will he be alright?" Then realizing exactly whose company she was in now, Kagome tensed. "Are you going to kill me now?"

Sesshoumaru smirked. "Why would I kill you?"

Kagome looked to the broken window again as if it wasn't obvious. "I just blasted your son through the window and almost purified him. Oh kami, that blast was meant for you, not a kid!" Kagome said, her guilt finally hitting her at full force.

Sesshoumaru knew he was the only one who could appreciate the humor in the situation and kept his laughter at bay. "He's been through worse and the window is easy to replace. Let us go to the kitchen and find ourselves a snack." Sesshoumaru led Kagome out of his son's study with a hand on the small of her back.

"What?" Why was everything so confusing? Why wasn't he angry about his son flying through the window? "A snack? I'm gonna check on Seiichi really fast-"

Sesshoumaru's hand caught the miko by the elbow and led her out of the office. "A snack, miko, a small bit of sustenance to tide us over until the main course is ready."

"But your son-"

"I assure you he is fine. He was…overdue. My son has been a bit insufferable lately."

"I don't know," Kagome started. "I mean-I've been thinking he was you since I saw him this morning and he's been irritating me all day long! I figured you'd be stronger than you were since the last time I saw you…I think I overdid it."

Sesshoumaru couldn't help but laugh. It pleased him that Kagome knew how strong he was and knew she could not defeat him. Her power at its greatest would never be able to kill him or knock him down, which she must have known if she had goaded his son on after blasting him. When Kagome stopped moving, he turned to see what was wrong but only saw confusion on the miko's face.

"You laugh?" It was an honest question spurred from honest confusion. He hadn't laughed until after his son was born. She didn't know. But the look on her face made him laugh again.

"Seriously, Sesshoumaru. Is he going to be okay?"

Sesshoumaru saw the familiar concern Kagome had and asked her again, "What did my son do to aggravate you?"

Kagome couldn't remember seeing so much emotion from the demon of old. His brows were knit in concern for her, his golden eyes warmed her. Now was not the time to be sheepish but Kagome was and she looked away from him. "Nothing."

"Then he must deserve a greater punishment if you seek to protect him from me." Sesshoumaru felt dishonored at his son's unknown actions and poor Kagome stiffened at hearing a cold tone that unearthed memories she thought she'd left behind. He took a few deep breaths and turned the miko's face towards his. "Tell me of my son's transgression towards you."

Kagome looked straight into his eyes. Sesshoumaru felt her heart speed up, heard her breaths quicken. She looked away again.

"Kagome-"

"He was about to hit me." Kagome was disgusted at how helpless she sounded.

Sesshoumaru was silent in thought. "How hard did you blast him?"

Kagome laughed nervously. "How old were you when we met?"

"I was in my eighth century."

"That's what I figured," the miko said. "And then I added the five hundred years that have passed."

Sesshoumaru smirked. This girl was quick. "You had that figured out in mere seconds?"

Kagome shook her head. "Your son has been pissing me off all day, but I thought he was you. I've been tossing numbers around in my head and figured you were about 1300 and you would be able to take a stronger blast than before, you know, in case the chance presented itself."

"Hn." The miko thought she could teach him a lesson. He was far too powerful now, having more than a millennia of years and experience under his belt. "Well, I'm sure that Seiichi has learned his lesson." Sesshoumaru actually hoped that the miko nailed Seiichi hard enough that this lesson in disrespect would last at least a week, if not more.

"How old is he?"

"Four hundred and four years."

Kagome did the math. "He's still a pup."

"More like an adolescent. He is slightly older than Inuyasha was when you first met. Seiichi is old enough to take responsibility for his actions, especially for one of his breeding."

They finally reached the kitchen and Sesshoumaru led Kagome to a stool at a bar-counter top. When he felt her approaching the house, the feel of her was so strange that he ignored it. But he couldn't ignore it for long as her power pulsed in anger at his son through the levels and rooms of the estate. The tingling sensation ripped memories and dreams from the depths of his mind and pulled him out of his chair in his room and towards her location. Smelling her power and tasting it outside of the door to his son's office was not enough. Sesshoumaru needed to see her and make sure she was real and not just a fading dream.

Right now, he wanted to talk about more pleasant things. "You have matured a great deal since the last time I saw you." Sesshoumaru was pleased to see the miko blush, a sign that she understood his double entendre. "How have I not noticed you after all this time?" Another blush made him smile, which made Kagome blush harder. The taiyoukai was not ignorant of the power of his smiles and how devastating they were to the female population. Knowledge was most definitely power.

"I wasn't born until nineteen eighty."

Pieces started fitting together for the taiyoukai. "The well?" Was that where the wench landed every time she jumped into the well? Here in the future?

"Yeah. It's located on my family shrine."

"Hmm, that explains quite a lot about my brother now." The shrine's safety and well keep was the only request Inuyasha had ever made of Sesshoumaru and he had done his best to honor his brother's dying wish.

"Why? What did he say?"

"In less articulate words my brother said that the safety of the world depended on the safety of the shrine. Since Inuyasha's forest lay within my borders, I made sure to keep the deed to the land all these years and eventually made the government pay me money to keep such a historical monument."

Kagome smiled, no doubt trying to think of exactly how Inuyasha worded his request. "Less articulate words?"

"I believe he said, 'Something's gonna happen to this well in about five hundred years. If you don't make sure this well and this shrine are safe, I'm gonna be reincarnated as your child and rain hell on you for the rest of your immortal life.'"

Kagome's laughter made Sesshoumaru feel lighter than the conversation would have allowed. When she smiled and sighed, the question was asked, "Was he happy?"

Sesshoumaru smiled to himself. "I believe in the end he was happy. Inuyasha found purpose as a bodyguard to my son when I could not be at his side. Inuyasha enjoyed being Seiichi's hero, although I would have wished a better role model for my son."

The topic of Inuyasha was going to be an emotional one for a while with this woman. She needed no words to tell her he was dead. Sesshoumaru pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her when he smelled her tears surfacing.

While Kagome blew her nose, she searched her mind for an appropriate ice breaker. "So what have you been up to all these years?"

"Building an empire that my son is slowly taking over."

"An empire?"

"The Sekiguchi family has their hands in everything, we nearly own Japan."

Kagome took one look at his serious face and laughed at the irony of it all.

"I knew it."

"Inuyasha would tell Seiichi stories of you and the wonders of your time. He drew pictures for my son, who in turn brought them to me and told me their stories as well. I kept them, thinking he would want them later to remind him of his uncle. But because of the pictures and my brother's stories and some smart thinking, we made many good investments throughout the years and have always been well off. If there is anything you ever need, ask and I shall give it to you. It is because of you that my family was blessed and now that I have found you, I will be returning the favor tenfold."

"Oh please. That's not necessary."

"You could buy everything in the world and we would still be filthy rich." Kagome's jaw dropped. Surely he wasn't serious. "Just how did you meet my son?"

Kagome relayed the morning's events to him with perfect clarity. "And don't even think to say it's because of Inuyasha's influence. You guys may be alike but I know the difference between no manners and royal disdain. Seiichi is his father's son."

"Hn," was all he could say. It was true. The miko had him pegged. The chimes of the grandfather clock down the hall brought Sesshoumaru's attention to the clock on the microwave. "Do you have to work tomorrow?"

"Depends on what today is."

"Friday."

"I'm free till Monday."

"Good," Sesshoumaru said as he rose from his stool, "My daughter and her family are here. I will introduce them and you will stay with us this weekend."

"Wait-what?"

Sesshoumaru gave her no time to think. It was a battle tactic that had yet to fail him. "She is your size and has many clothes. There will be no problems."

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Sesshoumaru just told her that she was going to stay here…at his house…with him! The nerve of that guy! And use his daughter's clothes? She just got here, just met his son, and he still presumes to order her about!

The sound of children's feet grew near as a female voice called out.

"Father, where are you?"

"In the dining room."

Two little children with wild black hair ran through the dining room and jumped into their grandfather's arms. "Papa! Papa!"

A smile graced Kagome's lips when she saw the open display of joy on Sesshoumaru's face as he swung his granddaughters around. The years had definitely changed him for the better. And why was it suddenly getting hot?

"Where are your parents little ones?"

"Taking the bags to the room."

"Ah," Sesshoumaru said, the smile never leaving his face. "Girls, I want to introduce you to your grandmother, Kagome. Kagome, this is Moriko," lifting the girl with black hair and green eyes in his left arm, "and this is Hotaru," the girl with black hair and fire-orange eyes in his right arm, "your three and a half year-old granddaughters."

Kagome didn't know how to react to this little piece of news. How did she have grand children and was he suggesting they were going to get married?

Another voice entered the fray. "Rin, did you bring the diaper bag in-"

The man in the doorway of the dining room had vibrant green eyes, copper-colored hair tied back and six tails swishing behind him. He must have confused her with his wife. And by the way he was staring at her, Kagome guessed she looked a lot like her.

"Daddy! Daddy! We have a grandma! Papa told us!" The man in the doorway didn't move when his daughters grabbed his hands to drag him to where Kagome was.

Yet another voice, a feminine one, entered the room. "Shippo, I've got the diaper bag right here…" The woman's voice trailed off as she came to a stop at the door. The diaper bag fell to the floor. "It can't be!"

Kagome's eyes shot between the woman and demon. Their faces bounced around her head but she couldn't solidify anything until the woman called her husband's name again. "Shippo?"

Sesshoumaru took the cue that his assistance was needed. "Shippo, I have informed your daughters that they now have a grandmother."

The spell cast over the room at the reunited miko and her kit was broken with a dry swallow and one whispered word.

"Momma?"

Author's Notes:

So….I HAVE BEEN DYING TO GIVE YOU THIS CHAPTER FOR THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS!! DYING!

From now on, I'll just stick to putting messages down here at the bottom. That way I don't break the line of reality before the story even starts! So, I hope you all liked it. I couldn't wait to post this story for you all and shock the pants off of ya! If you don't understand what happened in the first part of the story, just review bwahahaha and I'll do my best to respond and clue you in.

But if you did get it, please review anyway! It was a lot of fun on my end, receiving reviews that said things along the line of Sesshoumaru hasn't changed one bit! And I was DYING to tell you all, but I couldn't. I just couldn't. I didn't even want to give you hints that it wasn't him, so I wrote the first three chapters at the same time and slowly posted them, making sure that I wasn't giving anything away.

It wasn't until I started writing the third chapter that I thought, ooh, it would be better to just deceive them from the get go! Originally, I had planned for Sekiguchi to be Sesshy and he just wasn't going to recognize her at first. But then those stinkin' muses slipped something into my drink and voila. Seiichi happened. And it worked! Yea!! Now, I hope I can keep the story going in such a fashion.

Echo