Incomplete
- Chapter Twenty-Seven -
"So this is it huh?"
She'd expected something a little more obvious, like a sign or a big white line drawn across the ground, but the border between the Western Lands and their neighbours to the east was unmarked. Even so, he walked it with certainty, never once stepping across the invisible line that divided the two.
"I didn't realize it was so big…"
She trailed off, thinking back on the half-day journey it'd taken to get to this point. Ah―Un had done the majority of the walking but endless hours spent in a saddle weren't comfortable no matter how you sliced it.
She hadn't complained though and he hadn't pushed their pace beyond a leisurely stroll. When you have eternity, or something close to it, rushing just didn't seem important.
"At the time of the Second Great War, they extended nearly to the eastern shore," he informed her without pretext.
Almost to the eastern shore? She blinked and stared wide-eyed through the trees. At one time almost all of central Japan had been under his control? Pride swelled up in her chest, and was quickly followed by sympathy. Nothing could have convinced him to give up that land willingly.
"So what happened during the Great War?"
"My father chose to bequeath the Tetsusaiga to Inuyasha," he answered with an underlying bitterness.
He could be arrogant to a fault, but this time she could see his point. Tetsusaiga had the power to kill 100 demons with a single swing. It would have decimated the battlefield and any opposing army but instead, the Great Dog General had left the sword to Inuyasha.
The previous Lord of the West had had his reasons, of course, but they didn't matter. Being overlooked in favour of Inuyasha was the greatest blow Sesshomaru had ever faced to his pride and it left him incapable of forgiveness. Those who knew him knew to avoid the topic entirely and she'd inadvertently done exactly the opposite.
"I'm sorry," she muttered, feeling guilty for having brought it up at all.
He grunted and slowed to a stop ahead of them.
"You should know such things. There are few worse fates than to live ignorant."
"So I guess that means you're going to keep me around for a while?" she wondered, wearing a playful grin.
A corner of his mouth quirked upwards, "Perhaps."
Once they'd crossed the boundary from uncertain allies into lovers, it hadn't taken long for everything she thought she knew about him to become obsolete.
He was proud, arrogant, and ruthless when he needed to be, but those were merely the attributes that made him a good leader; they weren't the sum of the whole. Away from court he was different, more introspective and less cold. His intelligence lent him an unexpected, dry sense of humour that she found immensely entertaining.
She'd always envisioned Sesshomaru as a solitary wanderer, a demon who didn't want or care for the companionship of others, but she knew differently now. He was slow to trust and even slower to warm to new presences in his life, but once he accepted them they became ingrained so deeply it was as though they'd always been a part of him.
He was an intriguing demon – nothing was simple about him and she liked it that way. The more she learned, the more she wanted to learn and he seemed perfectly content, for whatever reason, to indulge her.
"Should we stop here for the night?" she suggested, slowing Ah-Un to a halt. It was almost nightfall and if they didn't stop soon she'd have a hell of a time getting a good fire started.
He nodded in agreement and left her to search the outlying forest for unwanted company. She got to work collecting kindling while Ah-Un dragged a few larger logs out from behind the trees.
She took her time piling the sticks together, her thoughts lingering on Sesshomaru's words from earlier.
There are few worse fates than to live ignorant.
He knew nothing of the Bone Eater's Well or her life on the other side of it. He had no idea she was from the future, or perhaps he did, but she'd never told him. He'd shared so much with her, about his first wife, his relationship with his father, and the Great War, and she'd told him nothing.
The guilt had started to weigh her down and its pull only grew stronger with each passing hour. She needed to tell him. It was better if he found out now, from her, then later by accident from Inuyasha or someone else. She kept telling herself to wait for the right time, but when was there ever a good time to tell someone the ridiculous sounding story of how she'd ended up in the feudal era?
Doubt made her hesitate and she nervously nibbled at her bottom lip. Would he be angry that she'd kept it from him this long? Or more to the point, would he even believe her?
By the time he returned she was hugging her knees next to the fire, lost in thought.
"Are you hungry?" he asked, stopping next to her.
Slowly shaking her head, she motioned for him to join her. He lowered himself to the ground and pulled her in close, leaving his arm to linger comfortably around her waist. She snuggled into him and rested her head against his shoulder, thankful for his warmth. The air had grown considerably cooler after sunset, and having her own personal demon furnace to keep the chills at bay was a welcome relief.
"There's something I want to tell you," she began slowly, nervously picking at her fingers in her lap.
"Oh?" He inclined his head towards her, looking curious.
"It's about where I'm from…"
He nodded for her to go on and she sucked in a deep breath. This was so much harder now that she was committed. How would he react? She hazarded a glance at him from the corner of her eye. He seemed content enough. Maybe this would turn out okay after all?
"I'm not from here," she muttered, searching clumsily for the right words. "I'm…from the future."
"The future?"
His brow lifted sceptically.
"I know how it sounds," she rushed, "but it's true. Two years ago I was pulled through the Bone Eater's Well by a demon. She wanted the Sacred Jewel that was buried inside my body. I didn't even know what a Sacred Jewel was back then, or that I was miko. I didn't learn any of that until later."
She paused to catch her breath and hazarded a glance at his expression. It was thoughtful and troubled but there was no hint of anger there and she let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Inuyasha?"
"He knows. The subjugation beads around his neck somehow allow him to pass through the well into my time," she answered.
Sesshomaru nodded and quietly contemplated the fire in front of them. She hated not knowing what he was thinking.
"Why now?" he asked a little while later. She looked up to find his eyes fixed on her in quiet speculation.
"Because I...didn't want you to live ignorant."
He smiled faintly as she echoed his own words back to him. She held her breath expectantly, unsure what he would do next.
Moving slowly, he tilted her face up to his. He took his time studying her features in the firelight before lowering his lips to hers. He kissed her there amongst the trees, his mouth moving patiently and possessively over hers. A quiet moan sounded in her throat and he pulled away with a final brush of his lips against her cheek.
"I will take you to the well tomorrow."
"What? Why?" she blustered, momentarily taken aback.
"It is your home," he answered simply, as though that explained everything. His sudden decisiveness in almost any situation was one of the more frustrating things about him. Once he made up his mind, it was impossible to change it.
"This is my home too," she pressed, suddenly feeling panic at the thought of returning to the modern era and never being able to come back to this place.
What would happen to her once she made her wish on the Sacred Jewel? She'd never been able to pass through the well without the jewel shards before. It was her most frequent nightmare these days - dark dreams where she was stuck at the bottom of the well in her family's shrine with no way out. There was too much that was important to her here to risk leaving it all behind.
"I cannot ask you to stay," he answered, resolute.
She frowned and reached for his hand, eager to touch some part of him. He closed it over hers, his claws enveloping her smaller fingers.
"You're not forcing me to stay," she protested, making her best attempt to sound calm and collected. "I'm here because I want to be. It's true that I have a life on the other side of the well, but I have a life here too and both are important to me."
He made a quiet sound of disagreement in the back of his throat.
"Someday I'm going to have to choose, but not today. Give me more time. Please?"
He nodded his head in agreement and silence fell between them as they mulled over the consequences of her impending decision. Could she really go back through the well, leaving everyone behind? And could she really stay, abandoning the world and the family she'd grown up in? It wasn't an easy decision and she hated that it was one she had to make.
The wood on the fire crackled and popped, sending a shower of tiny sparks spraying up into the cool night air. She snuggled closer to him in search of warmth and reassurance.
"Tell me about your world."
His quiet request surprised her and she lifted her head from his shoulder to glance up at him. He kept his eyes on the fire, but she could tell he was listening. waiting attentively for her response.
Pulling in a quiet sigh, she relaxed against him once more and tried to decide where to begin. What sort of information would a demon of his calibre most want to know?
"In my time, 500 years from now, demons no longer exist in Japan," she began, figuring it was best to start with the hardest truth. His brow lifted in surprise and she quickly added, "not that I know of, anyway. Some of the smarter ones might have found a way to disguise their presence, but I've never sensed any."
He nodded his head slowly, considering the possibility that this was the case.
"And there are many big cities filled with tall buildings. Edo is called Tokyo in my time, and it has more than 13 times the population it does now."
He sniffed derisively at the thought of so many humans being together in one place but she didn't let it dissuade her.
"There are places called 'Hospitals' where sick and injured people go for treatment. Medicine is so advanced that they can re-attach limbs that have been cut off or remove diseased parts of the body and replace them with healthy ones."
She thought of him when she said this, remembering back to the day when Inuyasha had cut off his left arm. An injury like that would have destroyed a lesser man, but not him. Sometimes she wondered if he would have allowed them to re-attach his arm but something told her 'No'. He wore his wound well and used it as a constant reminder to never underestimate his enemy, no matter how weak they seemed at first glance. It was a necessary lesson, but it had cost him dearly.
"And people can't carry swords," she concluded with a nod at Tenseiga and Tokijin sitting across his lap. "It's against the law."
"Ridiculous," he scoffed. "This Sesshomaru would never abide by such trifling human laws."
She smiled while trying to picture him in her own time, fighting off the police as they tried to wrestle his swords from him. It was strange to imagine him in her world. What would he think of it, she wondered. Inuyasha had told her once that the first time he'd travelled through the well he couldn't leave it for several minutes because he was too overwhelmed by all of the unfamiliar scents and sounds. Would it be the same for Sesshomaru?
She shook her head, dismissing the thought entirely. It was silly to dwell on such things. Without jewel shards or a subjugation necklace he'd couldn't travel through the well to her time, so what did it matter?
She glanced up from the fire and found he was watching her, his expression intense and thoughtful.
"Tell me more," he prodded and she smiled, only too happy to oblige.