Disclaimer: No own. Would like to own Inu, Sesshou, and InuPapa as my playthings…ahh, and I dislike the name Touga, so I have taken to using the name I attached to him when the 3rd movie first came out. It translates to Perfect. ;) Kukukuku.

His Past, Her Present, Their Future

Chapter 16 - Chronicles

"Shit," Kagome cursed in a rare showing of frustration. She tried to sit up, assisted by the beautiful demon in front of her. She looked at him; though she had seen the projection of him once before, that was only a few moments. He was as tall as Sesshoumaru, but broader. Where his sons were lean, the father was bulkier, but still very attractive. His hair was primped perfectly into his high ponytail, which seemed to be the only thing that kept it from sweeping the floor. His eyes were trained on her, and Kagome lost herself for a several long moments within their depths.

His features, though somewhat finer and more narrow than InuYasha's, were very reminiscent of her hanyou. Unlike her more recent companion, he allowed at least hints of his emotions to show, and had facial expressions to illustrate them. The navy stripes that adorned his cheeks were jagged, reminding her of InuYasha as well. Though his coloring had obviously come from his father, Kagome assumed Sesshoumaru's sculpted, delicate features were attributed to his mother. The beauty of the man in front of her, though, was certainly not lost on her.

"Ahem…" he cleared his throat, making Kagome turn very red in the face. She should not, not, NOT be checking out the long-dead father of InuYasha and Sesshoumaru.

Then the situation hit her again and she moaned, dropping her face into her hands. Her savior was confused, to say the least; the girl went through so many emotions in a matter of seconds! Hopelessness, to intrigue, to admiration, to despair. He placed a hand tentatively on her shoulder, not wishing to frighten her, but she didn't seem frightened of him at all anyway. He pondered on that.

The scent of his son on her was strong. The intensity of it suggested prolonged physical contact, but he was sure this was not the case. Sesshoumaru had been at home just that morning, there was no way he could have gotten out to be so near to this mortal… was there? After a few more moments she seemed to compose herself and smiled up at him.

"I'm very sorry, Lord Mattaki, this is all just a shock. I have been through a lot in the last day."

"You know my name, I see, yet I still do not know yours, miko. Would you care to enlighten me?" Mattaki was a bit shocked at his own disposition to the girl; perhaps it was her aura. She was pure, innocent, and the waves of power emanating from her were soothing. This wasn't something he was used to feeling in a priestess. It prompted him to act as if he was with a long-time friend in his own home rather than in the middle of a forest with a miko in odd clothing.

"Oh, sorry again, Lord Mattaki! I am Kagome, and it is a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine, I assure you. Now, I require an answer to my question, Kagome. Why do you carry the scent of my son upon you so heavily?"

The miko sighed in despair and looked up into those familiar golden eyes. "It is… a long story. And very unbelievable." "Just be honest with them," Sesshoumaru's voice reminded her and she sighed again, heavily. "But, as I was told, I should just be honest with you. I am from the future."

Mattaki's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline as he looked at the girl. He could sense no deceit and yet… how could such a thing be true? Then again, he had seen many strange things in his long life. "It is certainly a… difficult thing to believe. I think I need to know more."

"Yes, Lord Mattaki. Is there somewhere we can go to be in private and a little bit more comfortable?" she squirmed on the splintering wooden slab she was seated on. "It will be a very long story."

He let out a low rumbling chuckle. "Of course. We shall return to my palace; I believe this outranks patrols."

Kagome giggled a little, though the thought of entering the House of the Moon was weighing heavy on her.

Her companion, having risen to his feet seemed to notice this. "What plagues you, child?"

She smiled up at him sadly. "My immediate thought when hearing I would be going to the House of the Moon was that I could see my... well, Shippou." Her chin quivered dangerously before she inhaled deeply, determined not to break down. "I am sorry, that's just another bit of my story and can wait. Let us depart."

He was puzzled, but decided that questions could wait as he put an arm firmly around her waist and took to the sky.

After a side quest to retrieve a large yellow atrocity Kagome had referred to as a 'back-pack' from an old dry well, they once again set off for their destination. They arrived quickly with his demonic speed, and he entered the castle through a window; they did not need any attention. He especially was not willing to run into his son with the strange girl who was covered in his scent. That could be an interesting confrontation, to be sure, but not one he was looking forward to until he knew more.

He led her silently into his study and closed the shoji door soundlessly. The girl seemed to perk up upon entrance and promptly ran to a cushion. "Oh this one was always my favorite. It's even more comfortable new…"

Mattaki shook his head. The more and more she talked, the more he was tempted to believe her farfetched tale. The simple things were often what made a story believable or exposed its lies. He settled on a cushion across the low table from her. "This room has barriers around it, no one will be able to hear our conversation."

Kagome simply nodded, and opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. "My love? Are you in there? A guard said you had returned already"

He sighed and gave the miko a smile. "Enter."

The woman who entered was stunning. Kagome had seen portraits, but her beauty in person was incomparable. She was right to assume the origins of Sesshoumaru's otherworldly beauty. She was slender and graceful, with a playful twinkle in her lavender eyes that made her seem very young. Her long black hair was plaited neatly and the dual violet steaks on her cheeks lent her a regal air.

The lavender eyes laid on Kagome with a curious look. "I see you have a guest, Mattaki."

"Yes, this is the miko Kagome. Kagome, my mate and Lady of the Western Lands, Kaori."

Kagome bowed and smiled, entranced. "It is a pleasure to meet you, my lady."

She began to smile back but stopped, sniffing the air and looking at her mate quizzically. "That scent…"

"Yes, I will explain later. For now, it seems a long day is ahead of Lady Kagome and I,"

Though looking playfully disgruntled, Kaori nodded to her lord. "Yes, my love. Pleasure to have met you, Kagome."

When the majestic woman had exited, Mattaki turned back to a still preoccupied Kagome with a small smile. "Now, before you begin, I am going to ask that you tell me everything that led you to this point," he saw her open her mouth to speak and effectively cut her off with a single hand in the air. "I do not wish to know of mine or my mate's deaths, nor anything I could change, but I do wish to know all else you know."

Kagome gulped. "How…how did you?"

His smile was minute, and his eyes showed his sadness. "The way you looked at us, child. You looked upon us as one does a legend or a dream come to life."

Kagome blushed. "I am sorry, my lord."

"No more formalities when we are in my home, just call me Mattaki and we'll get on fine. I do wonder though, if you would be so kind as to tell me... was my death at least honorable?"

Her blue eyes widened. "Oh. Oh, yes. I cannot imagine a better cause. You certainly did… do not die in vain, Mattaki."

He nodded and smiled. "That is all I could hope for. Now, back to you, child."

With a blushing smile, Kagome nodded and rubbed her fingers across her forehead. "This is going to be a long story, indeed. First, I need to straighten out a few points to set up my story. How old is Sesshoumaru right now?"

He looked at her for a moment quizzically. "One hundred and eighty four summers. How does that help?"

"I was trying to determine how far in the past I am," she thought for a moment. "Well, it seems an even five hundred summers, if my math is correct."

He was surprised, steepling his fingers to cover part of his expression. She was obviously educated, to have done mathematics in her head that would equal out to five hundred. He nodded in deference and waited for her to continue.

"What do you know of Midoriko?"

The demon lord was taken aback, to be sure. "Enough," he ventured cautiously.

"Please, Mattaki. This wil all make a lot more sense if you're willing to be honest."

He contemplated for a moment, and decided to trust his instincts on the girl. "I knew her in life, and it was I who took her crystallized soul to the Exterminator village as her final request. She was a good woman."

Kagome reached into her shirt and pulled out the Shikon Jewel, making the lord's face break into unmasked shock. She smiled ruefully. "It's dormant at the moment. I suspect that is because it already exists in this time."

"Why do you…"

"It will take more of my story before I can explain this," said Kagome, waving her hand at the jewel and dropping it back against her chest. "I just needed to see what you knew, so that this story would be easier to tell. The only other thing to clarify is me… well, my soul. After the danger of the Shikon began to be too much of a problem and its power too much of a temptation, the jewel was moved from the Exterminator's village, about 440 summers from now, and it was entrusted to a priestess by the name of Kikyou. Kikyou is the reincarnation of Midoriko, and I am the reincarnation of Kikyou."

He wondered how this was possible, but it certainly explained the feeling he got around the girl. If she was a reincarnation of Midoriko, she was indeed trustworthy. Though many things changed between incarnations, there were base truths that held true no matter the circumstance. He stayed quiet and watched the girl with new interest.

Kagome's eyes went wide. "Oh, goodness, this could have proven my origins easily!" she exclaimed suddenly as she began digging in the yellow bag. With a muffled exclamation, she popped up with two strange books, which she laid on the low table in from of her. "You see, though I have right now come from five hundred summers in the future, before that I came from another five hundred summers beyond that." She had lost her host, but he nodded in good grace. "And there we have a special thing that allows you to have an instant portrait taken of a person."

"Instant, you say?"

"Yep. It is complicated, but I will show you sometime. For now, I will just show you the result. A few of the pictures may help along the way, since you do not know yet of your second son."

"I will have another son, then?" he replied with a grin.

"Oh, yes. He was a royal pain, but my best friend in all the world. Here," she said, flipping open her book to a group picture taken a few weeks before Naraku's defeat. She pointed people out. "It will be good for you to understand who people are as I tell the story. Obviously, this is Sesshoumaru, and in front of him is his retainer Jaken and his ward Rin. To his left is me, Shippou - he's kind of like my child - in my arms, and InuYasha, your son, to my right. In front of us are Sango, a demon slayer, and Miroku, a monk."

Mattaki's eyes stayed on his eldest son for a moment, looking at the lack of expression on the beautiful face he had inherited from his mother. Everyone else in the portrait was smiling, but not him. Even his eyes showed nothing but a cool disdain. When she mentioned his other son he looked, and didn't hear another thing she said. It was only after she said his name several times that he spoke. "He… is a hanyou."

Kagome could have hit herself. How could she have been so stupid? She settled on grimacing and looking down at her hands. "Yes."

"So I lose my mate before I go then, I assume."

She simply nodded.

There was no denying the boy's lineage, he was definitely his son. He ran a clawed finger over his immortalized face delicately before meeting the worried eyes of his new friend. "Please, tell me your story."

Her previous excitement at telling her story was diminished greatly, but she swallowed hard and began. "It all started on my fifteenth birthday…"

Mattaki listened in wonder as she told a tale of time travel, deceit, love, and hatred. Of betrayal, loss, bravery, and revenge. It was all centered around some strange conglomerate hanyou and the sacred jewel. He heard of the evil hanyou's transgressions, the fights between his sons, of the terror that was stricken upon so many. And he listened as she told him of the strength and courage of his younger child, as well as she and the rest of their small group, and the trials they had endured. It was several hours of him sitting in enraptured silence before she came to the defeat of the group's nemesis, in which she broke off with a hopelessly sad expression.

"What is it?"

"When… I came to… Naraku was dead but so was everyone else. Sesshoumaru, InuYasha, Sango, and Miroku. They were all…" she stopped and took a long breath. "You see, it was my destiny to make a pure wish on the Shikon jewel, to release the part of Midoriko's soul that had been bound within, and rid the world of the plague that the jewel was. But when they were all gone… I made a deal with Midoriko. She gave my friends' lives in exchange for me re-gathering the scattered pieces all over again, and then when my task was complete I was to be sent away."

He nodded and smiled in silent thanks for the restoration for his sons' lives. "What happened then?"

She shrugged helplessly and sighed. "Well, at first everything was going wonderfully. We all had our first taste of freedom in so long! My friends, the monk and slayer, finally started to plan their wedding, InuYasha and I went on odd little daytrips together…it was how things should have been. Carefree, happy, and complete. Then it started to fall back apart. Kikyou decided InuYasha had to go with her to hell, and I… I was powerless to stop him. I came upon them as she was taking him and screamed for her to stop, to let him live."

"You loved him, then?"

"With all my heart and on so many levels. He was my best friend, my first love. He turned to me and smiled, and told me he had to go. He told me he loved me, and that he needed me to be strong for him. And he told me he would see me again someday. And I couldn't move. I just watched the ground open up and swallow them. When he was gone… I guess I was in shock. I didn't wake up for a moon cycle, I just… was." Kagome pushed her hands over her tear covered face and shook her head. "But that is not going to get me anywhere, to think of that. After I awoke, Sesshou came to see InuYasha. They were still on terrible terms, but at least when I was around they didn't fight anymore. I told him he was dead. He gave his usual snide remarks about his idiot, half-breed brother and was going to leave."

Mattaki frowned. "My son is a very different person in the future."

"I can't say for sure, I don't know him now. But Myouga told me once he was a very happy child."

"Yes, he always has been. So you know Myouga, too?"

"Yes. Because of him, and Toutosai, and even Saya, I know I can trust you. They say nothing but the best of things about you, and of your honor and goodness."

He smirked in amusement. "They would have a few more colorful things to say while I am living, I assure you."

She laughed shakily, trying to regain her composure. "I bet they would. Well, Toutosai at least, I can't see Myouga doing anything but groveling and running from danger. And Saya… would be too busy trying to get out of his duties and wanting a nap to care much one way or the other."

His laughter was a soothing rumble that filled the small room. "You know my friends well."

Kagome felt calmed by his youkai's personality; she was very glad to have met him, despite the implications it had on her life. She continued her story with a little prompting, talking of the previous four months with his son and about Midoriko's cryptic poem given to her only the previous day.

"So, what relationship do you have with my son?" Mattaki finally asked, giving in to his curiosity. Obviously they were not mated, but he knew there was something there.

Kagome's face would have matched InuYasha's haori. "We're friends. I'm the only person he considers one."

A dark grey eyebrow rose with a look very reminiscent of Sesshoumaru's deadpan. "Yes, is that all? The weight of his scent on you suggests very close contact."

The scarlet turned to a crimson. "We have been traveling together for four months, and when traveling I fly with him. He was also the last person I had contact with before I was... brought here.."

Mattaki knew better, but didn't push her into more. She moved to sit beside him and flipped through her picture albums, showing him various shots along the way. She had several pictures of Sesshoumaru, and only two showed any emotion on his face. In one, earlier in the photos, he had a small smile as he looked down at his little human ward. The warmth in his eyes spoke volumes, though, in comparison with the harsh looks in the other photographs.

He grinned at the images of his younger son being 'sat', or devouring food as if he would never eat again. The sorrow in that one's eyes was prominent often, though. "What happened in his life to make him look so lost, child?"

Kagome looked down at the picture sadly. "He was alone since he was a very small child. He had the true life of a hanyou - rejected by demons and hated by humans. I cannot tell you more than that."

He cringed, but nodded in understanding. The poor pup. Kagome pulled out one of her favorite pictures of InuYasha, one where the sun shone down on his closed eyes and a smile was apparent on his lips. She gave it to her newfound friend and inclined her head. "I… I want you to have this. So that, at least, you can have a reminder of the man your son will become. He was - will be - an amazing person."

He took it gently and looked into the girls startling dark blue eyes, smiling sincerely. "You have my most sincere thanks."

They continued through the albums, and as she reached the last page she snapped it shut. Her face was once again violet from the severity of her blush, which only peaked the Mattaki's curiosity. "What is it?"

She shook her head. "Nothing!" she chirped in a far too innocent voice.

He would not back down this time, though, and after a short wrestling match the lord was able to extract the source of the girl's flush from her hands and open it to the last page. It was a sweet picture. Kagome laid curled in his elder son's lap, obviously asleep. And his son looked down on her, using his only arm to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. It was much more like the Sesshoumaru he knew, he thought, seeing the love in the boy's eyes and small unguarded smile.

"Just friends, you say?" he said with a impish grin.

Kagome whacked him on the arm, somehow feeling that she had known him for years as she snatched back the album. "It was a cold night, and I had just gotten over being ill! Stupid Kagura; if I see her again, I'm gonna hurl something very large and heavy at her. I should have never taught her about cameras!"

The delightful rumbling laughter once again filled the room, and he laid a hand on her shoulder. She smiled sweetly up at the beautiful man as he fought to control his mirth. "It is truly refreshing to meet a human like you, child. It grows late, we should finish this discussion tomorrow morning. Come, I will show you to your room."

Kagome hesitated, a wary look on her face. "What if I come across Sesshoumaru?"

"Hm," he said, thinking. "Well, you will have to see him at breakfast. He'll know eventually. I will halt his questioning though, which may be a little… enthusiastic…"

"What should I say to him, though? I mean, when Sesshou told me to be honest with them, I don't know if he meant himself…"

"Honesty is always best. I will forbid him from asking of his future, since you seem to know a great deal of it, and I ask that you do not tell him."

"Oh, yes, I would never. Just as I cannot tell you what I know of yours. I suppose I should not even have explained InuYasha…"

"No regrets, child. I am glad to know I will have two strong and honorable sons, even though their rivalry leaves me a bit unsettled. What was it over, anyway, if you can tell me?"

She had left this out in her tale, not sure if she should tell him. But just as she had trusted Sesshoumaru with the book of the future, she trusted Mattaki with this knowledge and sighed. "Tomorrow, I think. I think you have enough information to absorb for now."

He smiled at her. "After breakfast, would you join me again? I wish to hear what Midoriko's words to you were - perhaps I could be of help."

"Thank you, Mattaki. I would like that very much."

"Come then, child, let me show you to your room."