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Strangled Time

Chapter Six

Kagome dunked her head under the cascading waterfall. The water was getting colder with each passing day and soon enough she would be forced to find a hot spring to bathe in. Being in the water was usually calming to the priestess, but with all of the thoughts that she had running through her head it was almost impossible to relax.

Leaned against the rocks that were behind the small falls, Kagome watched the sheet of water as it flowed over her body and splashed out wherever it met one of her more prominent curves. It was almost hypnotic.

"He's their dad." She said out loud to the empty forest that surrounded the brook. Her voice cracked a bit when she said it. Rays of light filtered through the trees, still tinged by the pink sunrise. "He's actually their father... So the swords he mentioned were probably Tetsusigua, Tenseiga and Sou'unga..."

Suddenly she reached her arms up, laced her fingers hard through her hair and screamed through her teeth.

"What am I doing!?" Kagome asked herself, resisting the urge to hit her head against the rock behind her. "What if I do something wrong!? What if I change something really important?" She splashed the water in irritation.

'What if it affects Inuyasha?'

Slowly the priestess sank into the water. She knew that her best course of action would have been to simply walk away, to leave things as they were and try to figure out what was wrong with the well on her own. To leave him as he was.

Stuck at the bottom on a well.

Kagome exhaled through closed lips, causing bubbles to rise to the surface of the water. Even if she wanted to the time traveler knew that she would be able to bring herself to leave him to fend for himself. Besides, knowing exactly who he was made her want to leave his side even less. It was an opportunity that Inuyasha himself never got the chance to have and she's didn't want to completely waste that. There was so much she's could learn from Togashimaru and she had so many questions.

However, none of those questions were as important as the one eating at her thoughts: would her being there with Inuyasha's father affect the time stream in any way?

Gasping for breath Kagome broke through the surface of the water and scrambled to the shoreline where her yellow pack sat waiting with a towel on top. As soon as the fabric was wrapped around her body, shielding her nakedness from the bite of the morning air, her arms were elbow deep in her bag. It took pulling out two text books and a box of colored pencils before she found the book she was looking for. Though not a book for school, the small text had taught her a lot about the fictional concepts of time travel.

She flipped through the pages until she found the one she was looking for. Several different paradox theories were listed on the pages, but only one of them were highlighted. Kagome skipped over the Butterfly Effect and the Grandfather Paradox and several others before her hand came to rest on the neon yellow colored words.

The Predestination Paradox.

It was the one that Kagome thought made the most sense about her travels through time because her future didn't seem to change at all with as much as she had influenced the past. Kagome ran her fingers through her tangled wet hair. No matter how perfectly that paradox fit into the puzzle, she secretly hoped that it was different in this new past. Because if it wasn't it could have only meant one thing.

Togashimaru was still going to die.

...

At the other end of Edo, back at the well, Togashimaru was having a different dilemma. His frustrations stemmed from something much simpler than the workings of temporal paradoxes. The demon was bored and his curiosity of what awaited him above the well was growing by the hour.

The priestess had left the moment the sun had risen over the distant mountains with a clipped explanation, stating that she was going to the stream. Her voice had risen to unnatural tones, which was strange but not enough to cause him concern. He didn't know the little human well enough to know whether or not that sort of thing was normal for her.

Her pack was moved the night before, so that was no longer a source of entertainment. But even if it was down there with him he wouldn't have touched it again without the girl's permission. It was her property and he was wrong to have gone through it the day before.

Or at least he was wrong to have not put everything back before she had returned. He could have saved himself the trouble of getting the human upset. Perhaps then he would have gotten the answers that he desired.

Togashimaru scowled as he pulled the long hair pin from where he had hidden it in his sleeve. It was the very piece that he had given his human mistress shortly into their relationship, yet it was aged. The same two herons danced around the fan shaped plate, but they were weathered and lacking the details that had originally caught his eye. Parts of it were even missing. He had trouble wrapping his mind around how it was even possible. There were no humans skilled enough to create an identical replica and no demon could do it without fox magic, yet there was no residue of demonic energy surrounding it.

The demon general slowly shifted his eyes from there tarnished metal to the brown on the vines that the human girl had been using to get in and out of the wretched well. He knew that one of the answers that he sought was a simple climb away.

Knowing full well that he was probably going to do more harm to his already battered body than good, Togashimaru reached forward and gave the vine a test tug. Even if it meant having to be lectured by the priestess who would undoubtedly have to re-bandage his wounds, he had his mind set on getting out of that enclosed space.

It wasn't just about getting out of the well, it was about learning the extent of his predicament.

His patience only stretched so far.

...

The sun was halfway to it's peek by the time the demon had completely gotten out of the well. The little priestess made the climb appear so simple, the demon had thought. Though of course, she hadn't been working with dizzying blood loss and a gaping hole to her side. The poison that was most likely still coursing through his veins, a parting gift from Ryukotsusei, probably wasn't helping his cause.

The dragon's poison explained why his usually rapid healing process had come to an abrupt standstill. Unlike his mate and son, the great general did not have a poison of his own or the immunity that coincided with the ability. The priestess had been correct in stating that his markings were that of position as well warnings of poison, but more often than not only one of those applied to the demon in question, his eldest son being an exception.

Much like a harmless butterfly that mimicked the markings of it's deadly brethren to ward off unwanted enemies, over the generations some of the noble demon lineages have changed in much the same way.

Togashimaru was not even able to take two steps before he crashed to his hands and knees. He was unsure as to whether it was from his own weakness or the shock of the sight layed out in the open space before him.

'How long have I been unconscious?' he asked himself, honestly not wanting to know the answer. If he had been at the bottom of the well for as long as it took beams to rot and grass to grow tall where there had never been grass before then he surely would have died before Kagome had appeared.

"What's going on!?" A voice mimicked his own thoughts. Togashimaru looked up, his molten gaze meeting the priestess who was frantically running towards him. He knew she wouldn't have been pleased with his decision.

The girl seemed much smaller in the wide open field compared to the cramped well. Especially when she closed the distance between them and pressed her hands against his wound that had tore open and was once again bleeding profusely. "Are you trying to get yourself killed, Toga!?"

Ignoring the girl's screeching, the demon looked down at her hands before covering one of them with his own. It certainly was small. The blood that covered those hands didn't suit them, it suited his that were stronger and more menacing. He curled his fingers around hers so that his sharp claws were brushing her palms.

Kagome had calluses. Izayoi didn't have calluses. Suddenly he looked up at her face, confused as if just realizing that she had spoken. "Toga?" He asked, wondering if she had actually called him that or if it was just a figment of his imagination.

"Togashimaru?" She repeated, not getting much more response out of him. "You're totally out of it... Don't you dare pass out, there's no way I'm letting you die from something so stupid!"

...

The pages of the textbook that Kagome was reading fluttered as a breeze passed through the clearing. It was difficult to focus on the words as they shivered with the wind, but she wasn't exactly paying complete attention to them anyhow. With a movement too measured to be natural, the priestess turned a page. She peering up through her bangs at her companion as she did so. He was still sitting against the well with his back to her, staring out over the field.

He was incoherent when she had changed his bandages earlier, his wound was almost as bad as it was when she had first found him and she was forced to waste more cloth to clean it completely. When he had come to he hadn't spoken, not even when she had helped him to his current seat.

Kagome was worried about the demon.

Her book lay forgotten on her lap as she stared at him. He had the same broad shoulders that Inuyasha had, only on a larger scale. Though after seeing his father she was almost positive that her favorite half demon wasn't finished growing. The way he held himself, even when injured, was far more regal than Inuyasha could ever be and that was definitely something that Sesshoumaru had inherited. But there were some things that were uniquely Togashimaru's, such as the way he treated her like an equal from the moment they met. Sure that might change by the time he was back to full strength, but she appreciated regardless.

She knew that there were other things that made him him, she just needed discover them.

"How long have it been since the fall of the castle?"

Kagome startled at his voice, fully expecting that he caught her staring but when she looked up his focus was still on the foundation. Taken aback by his question the priestess took a brief look around at the weathered rubble and nearly nonexistent, blackened wood. "I have no clue," she admitted to him. "It had to be a couple years ago, I mean, judging by what's left."

The demon general crane his neck to look over his shoulder at her, a bewildered expression on his face. "Years?" Her asked before closing his eyes and letting out a deep breath. "Yes, that is the conclusion that I've come to as well."

The futuristic teen watched in confusion as the demon looked away once more. It was as if he was somehow hoping for a different answer. Kagome scowled and looked down at the book that was cradled on her legs. Words pertaining to the workings of time practically jumped off the pages and slapped her in the face. She sucked in a quick breath, feeling like an idiot because it took her so long to realize what the problem was.

If only Miroku was there. He was excellent at reading people and would have probably figured it out an hour before she did.

Hesitantly Kagome closed the cover of her book with a dull thud. "Togashimaru?" She addressed him in a small voice. When he looked back over his shoulder at her she continued. "Do you believe in... time travel?"

His eyes widened and he spun back to the field, wincing as he tugged at his bandages. "It would explain much. But is such a thing even possible?"

"Oh, trust me," Kagome replied, relieved that she finally pinpointed the source of his brooding. "It definitely is."

End Chapter

(A/N~ Hey everyone! I'm sorry that this update took a while. College just started up again so I'm going to school and working full time! It's a heavy load but I'll still find time for you guys, I promise. To make up for it a little bit I'm going to have a little Q&A session with everyone! Every question that is asked in the reviews between now and the time I post the next chapter will be answered at the end of chapter 7. It can be about anything and I will answer it to the best of my ability!)