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Strangled Time

Chapter 51

There should have been a spark, a glow, an indication of something as Togashimaru focused on the necklace in his hands, but Saburo got nothing. Well, that wasn't entirely accurate—what Saburo got was a prickling of gooseflesh and a headache just between his eyes from concentrating too hard on an energy that he just wasn't meant to see.

"There." The dog demon said and tossed back the cord with its green magatama and pearls. "Now, do not lose that."

Saburo caught the thing and grimaced. Creeped out by the thought of having demonic energy so close to touching his throat, he was hesitant to put it on.

"It doesn't feel all that different." The blacksmith grumbled. "Warmer, maybe."

Gross.

Togashimaru scoffed before leaning heavily on the crutch of his walking stick. "For you, it will not. Neither should it for Kagome, at the time being. Not unless it is brought to her attention."

At the hidden warning behind the words, Saburo nodded. With a final grump, he tied it back at his neck.

Kagome returned soon after from the northern end of the camp—from the closer, safer, part of their brook. She was back to wearing her green and black Phoenix robes. "This'll have to do, I guess." She said, adjusting the wide orange obi as she walked.

"Was there a problem with your other options of attire?"

"No." The priestess replied to the demon. "They just take too long to put on and it's nearly sundown already. This'll be fine. The top's a little dark, but I don't think it'll make me stick out too much. "

"It truly is a shame that you were forced to forfeit such a fine piece." Togashimaru lamented. "I dare say it may have been one of my favorites."

"Yeah, the colors of that one were mighty nice, the blues an' greens an' purples. It really made her eyes light up all bright and such." Saburo mused alongside the General. "I think I'm gonna miss it."

Kagome raised her eyebrows at the two men and crossed her arms. "Seriously? What, do we have to have a moment of silence for the peacock kimono, or something?"

Flushing a humored red, Saburo turned away with a snicker when Togashimaru lowered his head in respect, saying, "Yes, that may be wise. You would not want the garment to return in spite, possessed by a vengeful spirit, as some beloved accoutrements are known to do after being abandoned."

Beneath Kagome's deadpanned stare, the dog couldn't help but grin. When he lifted a single brow to look up at her, she gave a snort. Then she was giggling over the absurdity of mourning the missing kimono. She needed that laugh, Saburo would come to realize, even as small as it was. She didn't tug or fidget with her Phoenix robes at all after that.

"It will be missed by all," Continued Togashimaru, unfazed.

The young woman chuffed and rubbed her hands up the back of her neck before checking her hair. "By you two, maybe. Yeah, it was pretty, but you won't see me complaining. That's two less kilos I need to worry about lugging around!"

"I didn't mind luggin' it for ya still, Miss Kagome." Saburo told her with a meek smile.

Kagome froze. Hackles raised, she glanced over at the tall human man and then away with a huff. The amusement in the air suddenly felt stale.

"Thank you for carrying my backpack this far, Saburo." She said to him stiffly, like a tart little kid being forced to apologize. "It's gotten heavy over the past couple weeks. But I can handle it from here."

A stone sank in Saburo's chest as the young priestess turned to walk away. Sighing, he scratched awkwardly at the grey beard shadow beginning to show along his jaw line. He heard Togashimaru step closer, but still jumped when the dog demon laid an unexpected hand on his shoulder.

"She will come around, when all is said and done." The beast—no, the Lord—said low under his breath.

Saburo swallowed.

"I sure hope so. It stings ta be snubbed by th' sun."

…

"Bow?"

"Bow."

"Sword?"

"Sword." Kagome tapped the hilt. "Sword?"

Resting his hand his own pommel, Togashimaru repeated, "Sword."

And last on the list, "Masks?"

Kagome twisted to ensure that Togashimaru's mask was neatly secured before adjusting her own. It was a perfect fit.

"Alright, I think we're ready for takeoff."

After double checking that the fire was safely put out, Kagome got to the head of the pack and began to lead them, down the newly worn winter path that would take them right to the city's main traveling road.

The two men brought up the rear, slowly with Saburo helping Toga along; even slower after the demon snipped something to the blacksmith about minding his clumsy feet. It wasn't long at all before there was a bit of a distance between them and the priestess.

Once she was far enough ahead, Saburo shifted Toga's bulk and leaned over to whisper in the ear of his lofty baggage.

"I've been meanin' ta ask you… what's a 'kilo'?"

The demon scoffed. "A measurement of weight."

"No shit." Saburo bit back. He could read basic context clues. "From what scale?"

Togashimaru tore his eyes from Kagome's shoulder blades to glance at the young metal worker. He offered a halfhearted shrug.

"I have not the slightest idea."

Saburo didn't press him further for details, but he knew it was a lie. He heard the forced looseness in the words. Togashimaru read Kagome's books too frequently for him to not know certain secrets of her origin.

Was it dangerous for Saburo to know the truth?

Was that why they tried so poorly to keep him in the dark?

There was more going on than her claim to being connected to destiny, he could see that; it was almost as if she were from another world altogether. Another country, another land, another realm—anywhere but from there. She was too different to have been from the society he knew. Too strange. Too miraculous.

But instead of asking where she was from, Saburo found himself wondering a different question:

Would it matter if he knew?

No. It really didn't.

Because at the end of the day, be she human, priestess, spirit, foreign interloper, or other, it didn't matter.

Kagome was still Kagome.

She was regardless the most fascinating woman he'd ever met, capable of flipping the world on its head by bringing out the best in demons and the worst in man.

…

Kagome's nerves tensed as they entered the city. Her eyes flit from stranger to stranger, merchant to vendor, as they joined the throngs of people milling towards the main square. She looked back at Toga once, twice, twelve times to ensure that he was still there—to ensure that Sesshoumaru was truly gone, unable to enter the city proper beyond the Eastern border.

To ensure that nobody had made Togashimaru, the great late demon General of the Western lands, out to be anything other than the tourist he was pretending to be.

To Kagome's surprise, though, better than ignoring the silver haired dog, the strangers out and about in the streets of Chichibu were being respectful of him. They gave him and his cane space as he passed. They offered courteous nods and patient bows, either thinking he was a respectable elder, what with the color and length of the grand ponytail she didn't bother trying to hide, or that he was a noble of some sort, what with his fine new mask and the white in his silks. Perhaps they thought he was both. Either way, it made navigating much easier.

Free to walk on his own thanks to the added buff of the Bufferin pain killers, Toga had become just another lavish member of the crowd.

People passed of all shapes and sizes and stations. The young, the old. Those dressed to the nines, those dressed on their barest dimes. Everyone was out to have a good time. Everyone. Kagome wouldn't have been surprised if there were even a few more demons hidden among them, there just for the sake of enjoying the festivities.

The atmosphere was bright; the lights around them amassed in the moonless night like a collection of personal sized setting suns, radiant and red. And Toga?

Toga was doing remarkably well.

Twisting to check on her companion and friend once more, Kagome gasped with surprise when a whirlwind of small children ran a circle around her legs. Automatically she touched her purse. They didn't seem to notice. They laughed and giggled in their game, spinning their loosely tied, colorful kimonos to expose bare legs to the cold as they chased one another throughout the crowd.

With a start, the tinier of the two came to a halt when she spotted Saburo and Toga. The little girl was barely taller than Kagome's thigh and looked like a china doll compared to the massive men. She had to crane her neck to an absurd degree in order to get a look at their masks, high above. Her jaw dropped open. Almost tumbling into her sister, the bigger of the girls also stopped to stare. Then a tiny finger, still chubby with baby fat, rose to point.

The little one shrieked with delight.

"Doggie! Doggie!" The toddler cried.

Kagome held her bowstring and her breath as Toga evaluated the threat to his identity.

"Go woof!" The child demanded, now balancing on the balls of her feet. "Go woof!"

Kagome wasn't able to see much behind Toga's dog mask, wasn't able to gauge his reaction. So she didn't know what to expect when he leaned forward on his bird stick to closer meet the two eager little girls and their youthful shrills.

The deep, resounding, ridiculous "Ha-woof!" that came out of his throat in response was most defiantly not on her list of possibilities. The sound knocked her two steps backwards—nearly knocked the children off their feet!

And in the deafening silence that followed, came the bewildered looks of the two girls, chased closely by their screams of glee. Even the adult onlookers around them responded with mirth at the unexpected sound from the large 'old man.' And Kagome?

Kagome was beside herself with laughter.

"Nice costume, Mister!" The taller of the sisters chirped in thanks before grabbing the smaller one's arm and dashing away. They twirled off to continue their game of tag within the river of strangers.

When Kagome looked up she saw the eyes of Togashimaru across the cobblestone walk, glittering goldfish behind his mask.

"It appears that they like my costume." He said with a tone of formality.

Kagome responded with a shrug. "It suits you for some reason."

"Strange." He hummed and touched the maw of the wooden dog face. "I've always considered myself to be more of a tanuki man."

Kagome stepped forward to take his arm. She didn't believe his blasé humor for a minute; she knew that under that mask he was grinning like an idiot.

"Nice costume, mister." She repeated low under her breath with a snort. Togashimaru rumbled with pleasure, too quiet for anyone else around them to hear.

"What's so special 'bout yer costume?" Saburo carped from the other side of the demon. "Mine's just as good as yers."

"If you are questioning the popularity of canines over tengu, I am afraid that there is no contest for you to win. Tengu are, more often than not, absolutely vile creatures with poor taste."

'That's 'cause tengu are disgusting.' Kagome remembered Inuyasha's voice complaining. The memory made her smile wilt a little.

The last time she'd seen him, they'd gotten into a fight over those same masks. She'd been so mean to him over something so petty. Sure, he'd been a jerk first—he was usually the jerk first—but that didn't give her an excuse to stoop down to his level. Kagome shouldn't have hit him with that jab about his brother. It wasn't his fault that he didn't know much about his family. It also wasn't his fault that she'd never seen a dog mask before.

Yet there she was now, standing next to the patriarch of his bloodline, the dog demon wearing the very same mask she'd claimed to not exist.

Fate was funny like that, wasn't it?

"He's trying to say that you got the scarier costume, Saburo." Kagome explained before the blacksmith could get into a huff. "Toga's is eye-catching because it matches his hair, but yours makes people look twice over their shoulder. You're tall and dark, like a bird of death. It's a good contrast, actually. You're the carrion crow that haunts the white dog. The pair of you are giving us a little more attention than I wanted… But I don't think that we could have ever helped that. I mean, you're tall. It's not a bad attention, though, so …that's good at least."

Toga leaned in to nudge her shoulder. "That was not at all what I was trying to say." He said, sounding offended.

"Yes it was, shush." Kagome nudged back. Then she stepped forward, gently pulling Toga along. "Well, Mister Doggie? The bridge isn't far and it doesn't look like we're going to be having any problems with getting there. What are we waiting for?"

The demon's quiet but oh-so-serious responding woof in her ear had Kagome in stitches once again as they continued on ahead. And Saburo?

Saburo stalled. For whatever reason, he didn't follow after them right away. He watched the two of them until they almost disappear into the dense tourist forest. It wasn't until Kagome called out to him that he snapped out of his stupor.

"Come on, Bird Boy!" Was what she yelled when she turned. "I don't want us getting separated!"

Not wanting that either, the blacksmith was quick to catch up.

…

"You know... you don't have to wear this tonight. If you don't want to." Kagome said, fingering the hem of his ratty cloak.

Fidgeting in the doorway of the shack, Inuyasha cast nervous glances up the bank to the street. The lanterns reflected a rich maroon in the liquid pools of his dark violet eyes.

"… I'm supposed to always hide my ears around strangers." He replied more like a mouse than a puppy.

From where she was squatting in front of him, Kagome gave a smile and reached forward to tuck a strand of black hair behind the cartilage of his small, human ear. This time when she touched him, he didn't flinch away. "They look nice and hidden to me."

Eyebrows pinched, he looked back at the priestess. "Mother keeps me inside our room when the moon is gone."

"Because it's a secret?"

Inuyasha shook his head. His cheeks reddened. "Because my nose is sleeping. And sometimes I bump into things."

It must have been so disorienting for him to become human at such a young age. The Inuyasha of her time hated the new moon, because it made him feel weak and powerless. But this little guy? He was already so small and fragile. To have the senses he relied on turned off at the flip of a lunar switch without truly understanding why?

That was scary.

"If you want, I can hold your hand. I'll be your eyes and ears up there." Kagome offered. "You'll feel safer once I introduce you to my two friends. They both look out for me like great big guard dogs. Sometimes they're a bit clumsy, but they're good guys. They'll make sure nothing happens to you, I promise. Then we'll be able to watch the procession and play games. There'll be lots of great food to eat, too. I think you'll have fun, if you come with us."

Not totally convinced, Inuyasha started to pick at his blunt fingernails.

Sighing, Kagome rested her elbows on her knees and slouched closer.

"How about this? If it gets too hectic or you want to leave at any point while we're up there, you can let me know and I'll take you someplace quiet right away. You say the word and we're done."

Pausing, he peeked up between his bangs. "…When I say so?"

She nodded. "When you say so."

For just a moment, the little half demon considered her proposition. He stared at her outstretched hand and chewed at his bottom lip, the hem of his cloak taken up for him to ring.

Right when Kagome was about to back off and try a different tactic—perhaps something that involved steamed dumplings and a little bribery—Inuyasha gave a quick nod.

"Okay." He said quietly. "But… only if I get collateral." The new word was a chunky thing on his tongue, but he remembered it.

The priestess looked at him in puzzlement.

"…Collateral?"

He nodded again, and then the little boy pointed up to the kitsune mask resting at the top of her head.

"That."

…

"I had taken advantage of this in my past life." Togashimaru said as he sprawled out on the bench beside Saburo. It felt good to sit up with his legs outstretched, the smell of delicious food in the air and happy criticizes milling about around them in recreation.

It was almost as if he were at home in the West, in his home city. A retainer by his side, children ogling as they passed, women whispering, wondering what it was he had hidden beneath his accessories. In this case the accessory was his new dog mask, not the massive plates of armor that were usually the popular subject of such fantastical conjecture.

Another similarity to his life before that final battle and the fifteen year time leap was that he had somehow found himself waiting on yet another woman. Claim as they may have to be perfectly punctual, both Izayoi and his formal mate had the tendency to drive him crazy with tardiness—specifically on any occasion that had him eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Odd, how it was always when he was most anxious that they seemed to take their meandering time.

…Almost as if he were the one being impatient.

Hah! Preposterous.

He had the stone like patience of a living deity. He had to, after some four thousand years of continued existence.

"Hey." Saburo said as he wrapped the dog demon's bouncing knee.

Togashimaru looked up to scold the blacksmith for interrupting his thoughts, but found the human man to be pointing across the street. He followed that hand. There, finally rising up from the slope of the hill, was the priestess. She had her back to them. Her wavy hair, still high in its ponytail of mockery, whipped in the cold riverside wind. Her hand was extended, reaching down into the mysterious abyss below.

Togashimaru felt his back straighten.

The pain that had been in his side and racing throughout every vein and capillary beneath his skin dulled to little more than a distant nag as a small hand connected with hers. What she pulled up and over the final ledge of the bank was a child. That child had sleek black hair that fell just beyond his shoulders. On his face to conceal his features, that child was wearing Kagome's ceramic kitsune mask. But more notably, that child was garbed in an outfit of the most vibrant and memorable red.

The robe of the fire rat.

That child was his.

"Ya think that's him?" Saburo asked, but Togashimaru had already risen to his feet.

The mighty demon lost his voice.

When Kagome made her way over to them with the child in tow, Togashimaru nearly lost his balance as well.

"Here we are. Its okay, you can come out. These are the guys I was telling you about." Kagome soothed to the little boy clinging to the backside of her pants. Gently she ushered him to stand in front of her where she could place her hands on his shoulders. He reached up to ring two of her fingers for added security. Kagome motioned first to the human man, still sitting awkwardly on the bench. "This is Saburo. He's a blacksmith, which means that he can make all sorts of tools and metal things. He's big, but don't let that fool you; he's really just a huge marshmallow. And this guy…" She started, pivoting the boy's body a few degrees to face the large, masked demon standing just out of reach before them...

Togashimaru went still when Kagome's eyes met his. She smiled that smile he loved of hers the most—the one she wore each time she gushed about his sons' accomplishments in the future. The shimmering around her pupils told him that she was near tears. The dimples in her cheeks said they were tears of joy. The happiness she felt right then as she introduced the old dog to his youngest son was a wash of warmth; it soothed him, it caressed him, it twined her fingers through his ribs and around his heart with a tightness that was almost suffocating.

He found himself smiling back.

"This guy here… this guy is special. He's a powerful man who fights for justice, for equality, and for love. He's kind and funny and probably the biggest dork I've ever met—but I'm so glad that I got the opportunity to meet him. You see little guy, this guy… well, he's become something like a father to me. I know that sounds kind of silly, doesn't it? But you'll see what I mean, I'm sure. Even if we just have tonight. His name… um… His name is weird, actually. It's really long and pretty hard to say. So instead trying to figure that out, how about we just go ahead and call him 'old man?' You know, as a nickname. I've got a bit of a feeling that he won't mind if we do."

For a second, Togashimaru was about to object, to defend his youth and scold Kagome for poking fun at his age at such a serious moment.

But then he realized the context in which she was using the term of endearment.

And suddenly he did not mind.

He most certainly did not mind in the slightest.

"So, yeah. Little guy… I'd like you to meet my old man."

Chapter End