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Strangled Time

Chapter Nine

It was well past midnight by the time Kagome started winding down her story.

The grass around her had grown damp and the night cold, but the peppy little human girl refused to rest until Togashimaru better knew the young men that his two sons had grown to become. He indulged her, just as eager to hear her tale as she was relieved to get it off her chest. Only when she had begun to shiver did he suggest they save the rest for the next morning.

"No, it's alright. I'm nearly caught up." She insisted before telling him about Naraku's newest habit of attacking large groups of people and the Gyoretsu mask festival that their group was planning to attend before she'd been thrown even further in to the past. However, she skimmed over the terroristic acts of their nemesis and snagged her focus on the actions of his youngest son. His half demon child who was already near maturity at the young age of two hundred years—at that age his eldest was barely past his hip and still harassing his teachers with soot sprites.

"He knows that I don't get a lot of time to spend with my family, but he still came early and bugged me on my birthday. Sometimes lnuyasha can be sweet, he really can. But I swear he'd got a one track mind when it comes to Naraku. He still forgets that we're not as strong as him. We can't go three and a half days on a single tank of gas like he can. We're only human—we need sleep, and breaks, and time to charge our batteries.

She was ranting.

"I want to be able to spend special days in my time. It's my home, I shouldn't have to ask permission to go home every once in a while. It's the only place where I'm actually safe. I don't get why giving me one full day is so much to ask."

Togashimaru raised an eyebrow, but it was unlikely that she would have been able to see it in the overcast darkness, even if her eyes were open. "Do you not feel safe when you are in his company? Does the boy not protect you sufficiently?"

Kagome grumbled and covered her face from his view with her forearm. "That's not it." She responded. "Of course he protects me. He'd do anything to keep me safe. But this is a different kind of safe. My time isn't anything like the past or here. There aren't any demons, or battles, or bandits, or baddies. There's nothing there for me to be in danger from. When I'm home I don't need to make sure that Inuyasha is always nearby just in case something happens, I don't need to worry that my friends are going to get hurt trying to protect me. I can just be. I want to just be sometimes. Wouldn't you want that, too?"

The demon General didn't know how it was to be human—to be frail and in constant danger from beings and creatures that wanted to eat them or could crush them like bugs underfoot—but the concept of ever looming threat was not lost on him. He couldn't remember a time when feuding lords were not trying to claim his lands, or when his person was not a target for those seeking power or glory. Aside from the few times he stole away from the chaotic politics of humans and demons to be alone with Izayoi, those days he'd been spending with the Priestess were actually some of the most peaceful days of his life.

Life threatening wound notwithstanding.

The thought of a world free from daily strife and conflict seemed an impossible dream. Togashimaru didn't dwell on how such a world could come to pass or why her time was without demon kind. The future was not something that he had any particular interest in, especially when it wasn't a future that he was likely to see within his own lifetime.

The only things that mattered to him at that moment were the lives of his children as she knew them.

"Could it be that Inuyasha prefers you to be in the past, because he is more comfortable in his own time? Your future must be very strange to him."

"I know he doesn't like the smell. But it's been three years already, he should be pretty used to it by now. He's never seemed particularly uncomfortable there." She paused to yawn. "And he used to like going just to harass my cat and brother, so that's probably not it."

"Then perhaps he understood that the day was special and wished to spend some of it with you?"

At that Kagome laughed. Her undignified snort made his lips twitch at the corner. She was an oddly endearing little human; he could certainly understand his son's attachment towards her.

"I doubt it. I mean maybe. It's totally something he would do if he wasn't so strung up over Naraku. But he's been doing this every time I visit home, not just on my birthday."

Togashimaru stretched and leaned back against the well as far as he could before the bandages at his side began to tug. "He is your guardian. Above all the others that he runs pack with you are his priority, are you not?" He stated and paused for her to deny it.

He saw the skin of her cheeks flush. "Yeah." She confirmed. "But that's just... He doesn't just—" The Priestess started to object, explain, or justify, but she cut herself off with a little groan. Then she rolled over on her side, away from him, too tired to come up with a good rebuttal. "He always has. We're friends." The grass left dark spots of damp on her back where she'd been laying.

When her voice faded away under the violins of the field crickets and she didn't continue, Togashimaru moved forward with his observations. "If he does not genuinely desire your well-being, then the Tetsusaigua would never have accepted him as its true owner. Keeping you safe under his wing seems to give him purpose. However, when you return to your own time you no longer require his presence or protection, as you've said. That may leave him lost and anxious for your return. He may wish to prove to you that he is worthy as your guardian, but is unable to do so at your home. Although rough, that would be an attribute of his demon half. Normally children are taught to recognize their instincts and overcome them, but my son was never given that opportunity. I apologize if that has brought any inconvenience to you."

It was quiet. And then a small "Oh," answered. "That's not your fault."

He hummed noncommittally. "Strange as it may be to learn while I am still within the land of the living, it does please me to learn that my final will and testament has been carried out by my retainers. It seems things have played out as I suspected they would, should I have been killed in lnuyasha's infancy."

"Hmm," Was her drowsy agreement. Then she fell silent once more.

Togashimaru thought that she had finally fallen asleep; her breath evened and slowed alongside her heart's rhythm. Closing his eyes against the bleak sky, he settled in for another long, sleepless night. His mind restlessly recalled the details of her tale until they were tattooed into his memory.

So when the Priestess spoke up from her earthen bed beside him, voice quiet and hazy, it took him by surprise.

"Hey, Toga?"

For a split second his body stiffened at the nickname, before a wave of warmth took over and soothed his joints.

He didn't correct her.

"Yes Kagome?"

"Why did you do it?"

"What is it I've done?"

"You gave Sesshoumaru the healing sword. He was so angry. He hated you for it."

Togashimaru released a breath that he didn't realize he'd been holding and a small smile formed on his lips. Wistful. His retainers had also questioned his motives.

"I did it because that boy was lost, just as I feared Inuyasha would be without me. He needed to learn humility and humanity. I wanted him to see that there is more to life than power, that life itself is a precious gift. A sword that cannot kill would do little to encourage his violent tendencies. Even further, a sword that revives the dead would have him question mortality and individual purpose. Considering the human child that he has taken as his ward, it appears to have succeeded in opening his eyes to the world beyond the battlefield."

That time when Kagome did not respond, he knew that the fatigue had finally overturned her willpower.

Quietly so not to wake the girl, the large demon slipped his arms from the sleeves of the haori that she had bought to protect him from the chill, and laid it over top of her sleeping form. Like a pup, she curled into its warmth. The two of them had plenty of time to speak on the matter further when the new day dawned.

...

That next morning Kagome saw Togashimari in brighter spirits than he had been since waking. However, a notable shadow still lingered. She had told him all about Inyuasha and Sesshoumaru, from their physical appearances to the nitty gritty of their personalities, but she didn't mention a word about lzayoi. Not a single thing that she had learned about the beautiful princess from Inuyasha's brief admissions and memories, or any of the rumors she'd learned from Saburo.

She especially didn't mention the time that Sesshoumaru had used her visage to trap and possibly murder his half-brother just to get to the entrance of the tomb that Togashimaru had placed in his eye. That was a happenstance better left unknown.

Even so, the demon didn't ask about the woman he loved or even bring her up. Though it was obvious the wanted to. Instead he devoured what she was willing to share with him about the future without question, and that abbreviated information alone seemed to energize him.

Tired of being a stationary, Togashimaru took the initiative to suffer through the pain and get on his feet. With the Priestess' help, he took his first true steps across the field and back—tentatively, as per her explicit instructions. At first he used Kagome as a crutch, and while it was far easier having him lean on her than it had been to drag his comatose body around in the bottom of the well, he was still far too heavy for it to be particularly easy or remotely comfortable. So she went into the woods and found him a nice sturdy stick. With their powers combined he was finally mobile.

Even being as careful as they were, the blood still began to seep through his fresh bandages and leave a black stain on his blue yukata. Kagome could have cleaned it right there as she had been doing, but instead her patient made a formal request to avoid the sponge bath.

That was how the pair ended up down at the brook. Technically he'd asked to visit the hot spring, but the brook was closer and Kagome was worried that the heat would make him lightheaded, so they compromised.

After helping him out of his clothing as modestly as possible and setting him up on the other side of a large boulder in the deeper part of the cold water, Kagome went about the task of getting the bloodstain out his garment. Then, finally, amidst the chirping of birds and babbling of the current that was just beginning to wash away the red-tinged water, Togashimaru broke their companionable silence and asked the question that had been weighing on his mind.

"Did Inuyasha ever speak about his mother?"

Kagome sat back on her heels and watched what remained of her suds as they drifted down stream. Then she looked up. He was completely hidden, of course, save for the glitter of his silver hair just under the surface being pulled by the brook like some sort of iridescent moon algae.

"A little bit." She confessed.

She should tell him, Kagome knew. With the progress that he was showing, it was only a matter of time before he was well enough to go out looking for answers on his own. If he found out before she got the chance to tell him, would he be angry with her for withholding the information? But if she told him, what would prevent him from rushing off before he was ready like a lovesick fool?

Kagome sighed. Maybe she just needed to trust him to make a deal.

"I think," She started carefully. "I may have learned where we can find her." There was a ripple of movement from behind his boulder. Other than that, silence followed. Kagome then firmed her voice into an impenetrable brick wall. "But I won't tell you unless you can promise me a few things."

A huff. Then a chuckle. Again came another splash, this one larger than before, and then Togashimaru pulled himself into view, her pink terrycloth bath towel held around his waist. "Be them demon or human, you women must always set the rules. What are your terms?"

That brought a smile to her lips. "You must swear to me that you don't go on a wild goose chase until I say that you're ready to go. And then, when I think you're fit enough to travel, we go together. I don't want you going out there alone."

If he was put off by her demands, he didn't show it. In fact, he nodded with the utmost severity. "I see. It would be in my best interests to wait for my body to grow stronger, of course. Otherwise I risk following along the same footsteps that put me down that well in the first place. You are considerate of my well-being and I do not see it a burden to swear by these conditions. After all, there is no sense to rush when she already thinks me dead."

Then he paused to raise that furiously haughty eyebrow of his.

"However I do not see how hunting wild geese has anything to do with finding Izayoi."

...

The heat hit her like a wall when she entered the metal workshop. The mouth of the iron furnace glowed an angry orange as a smithy tended to its hungry belly. It was a drastic change from the temperatures outside and Kagome was sure that she'd be sweating by the time she left.

"Good afternoon Shiro!" The Priestess greeted the boy at the fire. At the sound of her voice, her friend's younger brother jumped. The chunks of wood he was holding clattered to the dirt ground in the pit but he managed to fumble and save one. He clutched the solitary log close to his dirty apron and spun to glare at her. She winced and hid the laughter that followed behind her hand. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Is your brother around?"

When his lips pinched together and his glare didn't lessen, Kagome amended her question. "Is Saburo around?"

That family had too many brothers. Saburo was the third eldest of seven, five of which were boys.

Instead of responding to her, Shiro rolled his eyes and turned back to his work. He picked up the wood and gingerly placed them one by one in the kiln. Then he took his gloves off, wiped away the sweat that had his messy hair matted to his brow, and left out a back door without so much as a word in her direction.

While she waited for somebody to appear—hopefully somebody who would speak to her—Kagome perused the tools along the shelves. A box towards the end that hadn't been there before caught her eye. She picked it up just as the back door opened once more.

"Miss Kagome!" Saburo crossed the lower dirt part of the building in three large bounds and jumped up to the wooden floorboards of the customer side. He must have thrown his hair up in that high bun in haste right before he opened the door, because it was an awful mess—half down, half up and strands flying every which way. Kagome couldn't help but grin when she saw it. "Welcome back! I wasn't expectin' to see you so soon."

The little box jangled when she held it out and shook it. "You're making arrowheads now?"

The bridge of his nose lit almost as bright as the fire. He scratched at the unshaven scruff along his jaw and laughed. "I guess you could say I bumped into some inspiration recently." Then Saburo picked up one of the little metal picks and rubbed it between his calloused fingers. "They're just prototypes right now. I've got some dies shippin' up from Kyoto here in a few weeks. Just a little side project. Then, I don't know, maybe I'll start marketin' to the daimyo's troops. Never been a weapon smith before. It could be worth looking into."

Kagome beamed at the news. "That's perfect!" She exclaimed suddenly, earning a start from the craftsman. Backpedaling, she took the arrowhead back from him and deposited the crate back to its spot on the shelves. "I actually came because I have another commission for you, but I wasn't sure if you could do it since you mostly make tools, not weapons."

"Oh?" He asked with a smirk and crossed his broad arms. At that point he wasn't at all surprised by the frisky young Miko's odd requests. "What kind of weapon are ya lookin' for this time?"

"A sword. A pretty big one? Only if you can do it, I know swords are totally different to make than other things."

"Nah, it's not all that different than a kitchen knife." Saburo replied, but the smile on his face had fallen away. "What do ya need such a big sword for? I don't doubt yer strong, but the length would throw you off balance. If it's for you, I'd suggest something smaller. Like a short sword or a dagger. Unless it isn't for you..."

"It's for my companion, actually. Remember the one I was telling you about?" Her eyes drifted back to the kiln and away from the frown growing on his lips as he began to piece together some of the bits of her story that she had intentionally left out. She probably should have held her tongue to prevent him from getting too curious, but once she started talking, she found she couldn't stop. "He'll probably want one when we leave the village. He doesn't have any of his anymore and his armor was a total loss, so I figured he'd be more comfortable with something on him. We're going to go chasing after a few rumors. But don't worry! I'll say good bye before we leave, and I'll have to come back here eventually to be able to get back home, so it's not like I'll be disappearing forever."

At least not yet, she added silently.

Kagome peeked back up at the man and watched as the little cloud above him turned into a thunderous tropical depression of concern. He looked damn near ready to jump down her throat, but then he took a step back. The deep breath that followed doubled the size of his already large chest; it made him look like a grizzly bear doing yoga.

Then, when he had calmed back down to a more mild sauce level, he spoke.

"Miss Kagome. Who exactly is your companion?"

End Chapter

(Note: I'm sorry if this chapter reads a bit odd or stiff. I had a pretty bad fever today when I wrote it. Please let me know if you spot any major inconsistencies and I'll try to correct them. Thank you for reading!)