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His Past, Her Present, Their Future

Chapter 13 - Matchmaker

Sunlight made her eyes water as she blinked the sleep from her heavy eyes, trying to come to terms with the knowledge that it was, in fact, late in the morning. With a moan Kagome rolled over to see Sesshoumaru looking back at her, flawless amber eyes watching her unblinking. She smiled her good morning and sat up, stretching out her arms and listening to her joints pop in relief.

"Why'd ya let me sleep so late?" she said with another yawn, trying to make her body catch up with her.

"You appeared tired."

She smiled. "Thanks, but now I think I overslept. My back is killing me!" She moaned as she stood, trying to massage out the kinks in her lower back. Before she could even open her eyes she found herself set gently back on the ground, this time on her stomach, with a single strong hand pushing deep up the length of her back. She moaned and arched into his touch.

He ran his hand across the length of her back a few times, smoothing the kinks and knots, digging into a few particularly dense areas. She continued her chorus of gasps and contented moans, and Sesshoumaru had to bite back a smirk when he smelt Kagura approaching with curiosity in her aura. He skillfully ran his hand up to her neck and ran his fingers across the base of her skull, making her head go limp with another punctuating whimper from her before Kagura walked into the clearing with an amused look on her face.

"You know, miko, with all the noise you were making I thought I was going to walk in on a very different scene."

Kagome yanked away shot to her feet, her face a painful puce as she muttered about needing to wash up. As she walked and her embarrassment lessened, she reveled in how wonderful her back felt. Sesshoumaru had many hidden talents.

"I wonder how much better that would be if he had both hands…" she wondered aloud.

"Hmm, I'm content to imagine what else he could do with those hands," a voice responded, and Kagome practically spun into Kagura, who was watching her again-blushing face with amusement. "Come on, you know you've thought of it."

"I promise, I haven't!" Kagome replied indignantly, busying herself in the stream. She splashed her face, trying to cool her flaming cheeks.

"Ah, it's a pity. I was hoping you'd find out and tell me."

Kagome looked at the wind witch as if she'd grown a second head. "What?" she squeaked out.

"I wanted him for my own for years, but I can see where his heart is. Don't worry, I'm not competition."

Kagome paled quite noticeably, considering the shades of red she had invented in the previous few minutes. "Nothing is going on between us. He's just my friend."

"Uh huh."

"I'm serious!"

"Sure you are."

Kagome huffed, "We are! We can't be anything else, because I'm leaving once the jewel is complete, for good." Her righteous posturing vanished. "Forever…" she whispered.

"Why would you want to do that?"

"I don't want to."

"Then why are you?"

"Because…" she sighed, "because of my wish on the Shikon Jewel. I brought them back to life with it, you know and, I promised Midoriko I would collect the shards and then go back to my time, for good. It was the only way."

"Your… time?" Kagura said in disbelief.

Kagome let out a little laugh. "Yeah. It doesn't matter who knows now, I guess. I am from five hundred years in the future, from a huge city where Edo is now. There are millions of humans who live there; humans, not youkai. Youkai are nothing but myths in my time. I thought they were just a fairytale until I came here."

Kagura was silent for a long few moments. "Well, that certainly explains a lot. How do you know youkai don't exist though? We're rather clever at hiding, you know."

"I know, but I've never felt youki, and InuYasha never smelt one, either. As much as I would like to imagine you guys could be alive in my time… I just don't see how."

"Well, hold out hope. Who knows? Maybe when you go back, Sesshoumaru and I will be waiting for you," she grinned mischievously and Kagome tossed a twig at her playfully, but with sad eyes.

"So do you see why I can't? I can't just pin my hopes on this. I could fall for him so easily, but there's so much between us that's wrong. I'm human, he's youkai. Now, I don't care personally, but the lifespan difference is harsh. I would age and become old and ugly, while he stayed pristine and perfect. I think I would resent him, and he would be disgusted by me. Then, there's the five hundred year gap… a lot can happen in that time, even if he is alive! He could find a thousand youkai women more worthy than some strange girl from the future."

"Youkai are different, Kagome. Once we choose, we don't just give it up."

Kagome sighed and laid on the stream's bank, "There's more, though. He's… so perfect, that it feels he has to be a dream. Yeah, he has a few… quirks I could do without, but when I look at him, I see damn near perfection, and that's a scary thought. Because I am far from perfect. I guess I just can't see what he sees in me."

Kagura shook her head at the girl. So young. "Silly human. Don't you get it? You've fallen farther than you think you have if you look at him that way. Trust me, he's far from perfect. And he's already long gone, I can see it when he looks at you."

Kagome blushed. "It's too much, Kagura."

"Well, look at it this way, then. What do you want in a man?"

Kagome sat up slightly. "I want… someone I can lose myself in for hours. I need to be able to have real conversations with him, and I need him to challenge me. And… this sounds silly, but I want someone who will argue with me and not think there's something horribly wrong in our relationship. He has to be able to stand up to me. And I can't let the guy be boring. But that's where the biggest problem is! After living here, where I fight demons and save lives, everything in my age is boring! No one there but my mom, brother, and grandfather know of my time here. So its like I'm on a totally different plane of existence from the guys there."

"All the more reason for you to look into the existence of youkai. If any of us are alive, then you'll have people to share it with."

"Mm. I guess you're right. I just… I don't think the guy I want exists," the miko said, raising herself to her feet.

"Well, just to point out what should be obvious to you, you realize you described the dog lord, don't you?"

Kagome halted in mid-rise, her eyes widening. She was right. She had. That crushed her a little. "I did, didn't I?"

"Mmhm."

"But I still have to go home. Now it just… hurts more."

Kagura frowned and put an arm around Kagome's shoulder. "Hey, I didn't want that. Cheer up, at least you know he's out there, huh?"

Kagome smiled just a little. "Mm, you're right."

"Come on, let's get back to camp, I'm sure the Ice Prince is getting impatient."

"I'm sure you're right."

Golden eyes which had been observing in the treetops turned and dashed away, settling back into his previous meditative position before the duo arrived back. He smirked, unable to hold it back. Yes, he'd have his miko, he would definitely see to that.

Rin danced around the garden, singing softly to her flowers. As she grew, she only took more interest in tending the plants, rather than less. She was a whole ten years old now, and she was much more capable of taking care of her beautiful flowers.

Shippou had been silent for a while, so she pranced towards his sullen form. "Shippou, what is wrong?"

The fox looked up at her sadly. "I was just thinking… that I might never see Kagome again."

"Of course you will, silly! Lord Sesshoumaru will bring her back!"

Shippou shook his head. "No, it won't be his choice. You don't know where Kagome is from, do you?"

"Umm, Lord Jaken says she's from a far-off place."

"Yep, but not, like, across the ocean. She's from a long, long time in the future."

Rin's eyes went large. "Wow!"

"Yeah. But once she gets all the pieces of the jewel, she has to go to her time again and leave me here."

Rin flinched and looked up with tear-filled brown eyes. "She won't stay with Lord Sesshoumaru and Rin?"

"She can't."

Rin sniffed and shook her head, "You'll see her again, Shippou. Rin knows you will. You are a youkai, right? You live a long time."

Shippou smiled a little. "Hey, yeah! You're right!"

Rin giggled a little sadly and looked away, plucking a lily with a smile. "If she doesn't come back, and you get to see her in the future, will you tell her that Rin thought she was a good mother? Because… she was like one for a little while. Rin knows she's your mother, but… Rin would have liked a mother like her, too."

Shippou snuggled against his playmate. "I'll tell her, for sure."