Disclaimer: I do not own any of the

main characters within this

fabrication. Their rightful owner

is Rumiko Takahashi. Please support

the official work.

Strangled Time

Chapter Four

The warmth of the sun kissed Kagome's cheek as the light stretched into the depths of the magic well that she was calling camp. It felt good to wake up on dry ground, the priestess mentally praised her idea of lining the floor with the tarp. Despite having slept on the hard earth she was surprisingly comfortable.

'Five more minutes,' she promised herself as she inched closer to the warm blockade beside her. Groggy confusion filled her tired mind when the wall shifted. She really wasn't a very coherent morning person.

"You're awake," a deep voice stated slowly, uneasily. The baritones reverberated against the aged stone.

Kagome's eyes shot open in a moment of clarity and she sprang to her knees and scurried as far away from the demon as she could. When her back hit the stone wall she put her hand on her rapidly beating heart and tried to settle her breathing. 'You scared the crap out of me!' Kagome yelled at him in her head.

"That's... what I should be saying." The hairs on her arms prickled when she thought of her prone sleeping body being near touching the, now conscious and possibly quite powerful, strange demon. "When did you wake up?"

The demon was still on his back, eyes closed, but his clawed hand clung to his wounded side. He seemed like he was conscious of his breathing, focusing on it to keep it steady. Three breaths passed before he answered her. "...Sunrise."

Kagome looked up at the sky and wished that she had the convenience of a watch. "So, about an hour ago," she said to no one in particular, trying to fill the empty, awkward feeling that seemed to linger in the air. For the past few days she had cleaned his wounds and dragged him around like a bloody rag doll, but she hadn't exactly thought of what she would say to him once he woke up.

The priestess glanced around before her eyes fell on his hand. Without really thinking, she leaned forward and swatted it away from the bandages that were just beginning to blossom with red. "Your bleeding just started to stop. If you open it again I'm not going to bother wrapping you up." Kagome scowled at him as she reached for the yellow backpack.

A strangely amused rumble filled the air, causing Kagome to stop pulling various unorganized medical supplies from her pack. A look at her patient nearly confirmed that the sound came from him, a tight smirk lingered at the corner of his lips. "Feisty, for a human," he said.

Kagome turned scarlet and was about to retaliate when his eyes opened and trapped her in a molten gaze. They held the warmth of Inuyasha's as well as the sharpness of Sesshoumaru's. Where Inuyasha's eyes were a deep amber and Sesshoumaru's eyes were a frigid yellow-gold, that demon's were what Kagome believed the brothers' colors would look like if they were melted down and mixed together.

It was intense to the point of being a bit nerve wracking.

Kagome cleared her throat and looked away from his scrutiny. "You're not dead yet," she said as she slowly pulled off his bandages, letting them tug at the skin like a stuck band-aid. She found a bit of satisfaction in the fact that the muscles in his face tightened, a telltale sign that he was holding back a wince. "You can probably thank me for that. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me 'human,' it isn't exactly a flattering nickname."

"Then what is your name?"

Kagome froze in her task and glanced at his face, his eyes were closed again. "Ka-Kagome," she stuttered. The priestess smiled and continued to unravel the roll of fabric that had been binding his largest wound. "You're the first demon to ask."

Silence passed between them, Kagome assumed that he had fallen back asleep before he proved her wrong by speaking. Though his voice seemed far away again."Togashimaru."

She blinked. "Wha- oh! That's your name? Togashimaru?" When she got no response Kagome didn't even need to look to see that he was indeed unconscious. It was amazing that he had even awoken with amount of blood he had lost, she wouldn't judge him for resting and recuperating when he so obviously needed it. She softened her touch as she switched to a clean bandage and started wrapping. "It's nice to meet you."

...

"Saburo?" Kagome called as she pushed away the curtain to the blacksmith's shop. "Are you in here?"

The smith looked up from his smoldering kiln and grinned at the young girl. She was the first woman to step foot in his shop and already she had graced him with her presence twice. Stepping away from the fire pit he wiped sweat off his brow and reached back to tie his long black hair back into a low tail. "I just picked up the bow this morning from a friend a few blocks over. I'm no woodworker, but I'd say he does a pretty fair job." Saburo grabbed a longbow and filled quiver that was leaning against the wall of tools. "The draw isn't very heavy, but I'm sure your husband could tweak it to his liking."

The priestess took the bow from him and threw the quiver over her shoulder. "Oh, I'm not married," she said sheepishly as she drew back on the drawstring to see if she was strong enough. It pulled back and her drawing hand rested on her cheek with ease. "This is for me."

Saburo's lopsided grin widened after he got over his initial shock of seeing a woman handle a weapon with a grace that only came with experience. "I didn't want to assume," he started, "but I figured that was the case. You've got this air about you, like some warrior priestess."

Kagome laughed awkwardly as she gently released the tension in the string, making sure not to dry fire the bow. "Yeah, something like that."

He laughed heartily. "Never thought I'd ever meet one! Well, miss Kagome, is there any other way I could be of service?"

Kagome looked him over, from his sandal clad feet to his tied back sleeves that revealed his tone arms that were several shades tanner than her own skin. "Actually, there is something... since you're about the same size."

...

"I thought you said you weren't married." Saburo said, feigning regret, as he scratched at the bristles on his chin. The two humans walked side by side down the wide roads of the small village textile district. Only three or four shops lined the road, but Kagome knew that it would eventually flourish into the huge various shopping districts of Tokyo.

Kagome paused to look at a simple looking fabric hanging from a stall. "I'm not. He's just some guy I'm taking care of. He was practically dead when I found him."

"Attacked by a demon?" The smith asked, slowing when she slowed. He watched her with an honest curiosity that rivals Shippo's.

The priestess stopped fingering an ornately weaved silk to look up at the man who stood over a head taller than her. "Actually, I don't know. I haven't had time to ask. He was pretty mauled though, so it's likely."

Saburo frowned and started to the next stall. "They're not as active around here as they were since the castle burned, but they're still out there."

"You mean the castle on the hill?" Kagome asked, recalling the foundation that littered the area around the well. It was certainly big enough to be considered a castle. A nod from the tall man confirmed her suspicions. His eyebrows were furrowed, she noticed, it made his dark eyes look even darker. "Do you think demons are evil?"

His sigh was long and drawn out. "I don't think evil is the right way to put it. They do what they do because it's in their nature. But I guess some are evil. The ones that kill just to kill." He frowned and looked at her. "You're a priestess, right? What do you think?"

'I'm not your average priestess.' Kagome thought before responding to his question. "I think think it's a long cycle of hate between both species that makes them think that the other is evil or worthless. But I don't think they're all evil. There are just as many evil humans as there are evil demons, and there is a lot of miss-communication in between."

A warm smile grew on his lips. "You are a very interesting woman."

Flustered, Kagome reached for a few men's yukatas and pushed them into the blacksmith's arms. "Could you try these on? If they fit you, they'll fit him."

...

Togashimaru looked at his clawed hand and flexed it slowly. His vision had been blurred upon awaking, but it was gradually becoming clearer as the day went by. His hearing was all but useless, not even the chirping of birds could reach him where he sat upright in a corner of the well. He assumed his sense of smell was hindered as well, because there was a great lack of smoke in the air. Not even a week of rain could completely wash away that scent of ashes and blood.

The demon could smell blood, but only his own, the recent stains to his bandages from when he moved. There wasn't even a lingering scent to the place where the oddly excitable human, Kagome, had said she cleaned.

But if his nose was correct, telling him that it was early fall, there was a stream nearby and that Kagome had the tingling scent of one with somewhat dormant powers of purity, then there were only two logical explanations.

Either the well he had fallen in had transported him to this new well in a different location, or he had been unconscious at the bottom for more than a few months.

He was determined to find out as soon as he were able to get himself out of the well. Until then he resigned himself to stay under the care of the human girl.

She had to have been the same age as Izayoi, the demon thought when he had seen her more clearly than when he had first woken. She had the same will and lack of fear that made Izayoi so intriguing, but she lacked the princess' more reserved qualities that made her easy to fall in love with.

Regardless, finding any human who was willing to nurse him to health was like finding a diamond lying at the bottom of a stream bed.

The demon general's thoughts turned to Izayoi for the fifteenth time since Kagome had left. She was safe, he had made sure of that. And his son...

"Inuyasha." Togashimaru tested out the name on his tongue. It was a name he had chosen months prior, but just like with his first son saying his name was something that never ceased to amaze him. Even when Sesshoumaru grew to be cold and aloof like his mother, the fact that he was alive was what Togashimaru's considered to be one of his greatest accomplishments.

No matter what they grew up to be like, he was already proud of his son, his two sons.

The once mighty demon rested his head against cold stone and closed his eyes. There was only one missing piece to the pattern.

'Takemaru.' Togashimaru wouldn't allow himself to rest peacefully knowing that there was a possibility of that disgraced samurai still being alive. Long fingers curled into a fist and long, sharp claws cut at the flesh if his palms. Blood dripped down his forearm.

"Don't you think of getting blood on that new yukata!" A shrill voice called from above. When he opened his eyes he could see the human girl leaning over the lip of the well, freshly caught rabbits in one hand and a bow in the other. "Those cost me two mon!"

Togashimaru growled under his breath, his anger and hatred for the vile human barely hidden by a veil of calm and acceptance. "I wouldn't dream of it."

End Chapter

Tsarashi's Math Quiz! : If the hypotenuse of the well is one Toga long, what is the perimeter of the well in terms of Togas?