Timeless Love (Part Two)
Inuyasha and Kagome sat on their legs in front the fire. They both took deep breaths to prepare themselves. When they finally looked at each other, Inuyasha gave Kagome an empathetic look. "Sorry but this is going to hurt for a bit, but if you don't squirm too much I think that might help to lessen the pain." Kagome nodded and gave Inuyasha a look that she hoped showed all her trust in him. Inuyasha moved his left hand to where it was behind Kagome's neck and pulled lightly so her head leaned on her right shoulder. 'Her skin is so soft and fragile, kind of like a cherry blossom.' Inuyasha imagined how pretty Kagome would look under a cherry blossom tree in spring. When Kagome loosened her kimono so her left shoulder was bare and starting to grow cold from the autumn breeze that came into the cave, Inuyasha put his right hand on Kagome's shoulder to make sure that she wouldn't squirm away as he marked her. After another apologetic look, Inuyasha lowered his head to the base of Kagome's neck where it met with her shoulder. After sniffing for a good spot in the area, Inuyasha licked where he felt Kagome's pulse, making Kagome shudder in surprise. When Inuyasha felt Kagome might move away, Inuyasha's inner demon took over and the child Inuyasha only felt a little control over himself as jagged light purple marks appeared on either side of his face.
Wanting to end the pain for his soon to be mate as soon as possible, the full demon child Inuyasha plunged his fangs into Kagome's neck. Kagome felt her blood begin to gush into Inuyasha's mouth as she experienced intense pain running through her body but tried to stay still like Inuyasha said. It was several moments before the pain subsided into numbness, before Kagome's transformation to start to kick in, and before the full inu demon to be satisfied and slowly let the half demon Inuyasha to take control. When Inuyasha pulled out he licked the wound he made clean, leaving two faintly scared puncture marks in Kagome's neck. But before he pulled away, Inuyasha saw a life size cherry blossom bloom on Kagome's neck to cover up the puncture wounds, it looked like a black and gray tattoo when it finally finished blooming.
"I'm done Kagome. If you want to, you could mark me now." Inuyasha looked nervously to Kagome to see if she was still in pain. Kagome was in somewhat pain but it was due to the transformation, due to the fact a demon's ancient contract was beginning to bind her now that she has been bitten in the very spot needed for her to become a mate. When Kagome opened her mouth Inuyasha noticed that she had already grown two fangs, though smaller than his, which could easily inflict damage if she wanted to. "Are you sure that you'll be ok Inuyasha? I don't want to hurt you too much." Inuyasha nodded since he was still staring at the two fangs in Kagome's opened mouth. 'Kagome looks so much cuter like this. Now if I can just make her blush in the cute way she does I'll – wait I'm thinking way to perverted now, I'm just a kid, I shouldn't be thinking these things!' Inuyasha suppressed thoughts of sweet little Kagome blushing with demon features now added to her as well as what she might look like when she's older.
Before Kagome could do her part though, she passed out in Inuyasha's arms. She only had time to say: "Sorry Inuyasha… I'm sleepy… I promise to mark… you as soon… as I can." Inuyasha nodded and started moving Kagome so she could sleep beside him. As Inuyasha did this, he missed a part of what Kagome had to say next. "I'm sorry for lying to you… but at least I know that we'll definitely see each other again… in the future. I love you… Inuyasha." Inuyasha just finished laying down his hakama to lay Kagome on when he heard the last sentence. Now blushing, Inuyasha laid down beside Kagome and wrapped an arm securely and protectively around her and drifted off to a peaceful sleep filled with thoughts of Kagome and his new life with someone who he knew he loved since the moment he saw her get his ball from the lake outside.
Luna entered the cave she knew she would find Little Lady Kagome in. It was almost time for the sun to come up and there was a light fog surrounding the outside as well as the cave. Luna was sad and regretted doing what she knew she must do now. 'Everything comes at a price. One of the rules of life is that when you get something, something of equal value must be given in return.' One the payments she learned from her soon to be retired father was that love was an ultimate price: as a gift and as a payment. Love was the only thing that competed with time and with those two in that rule only lead to ultimate happiness or ultimate sadness.
Luna found Kagome wrapped in Inuyasha's arms and was sleeping peacefully. Kagome now had a few demon features added to her beauty like any other non-demon mate. Luna noted the two sharp fangs, the furry black dog ears perched on her head, claws that looked like long finger nails and the smile on Kagome's face. 'It will only be a second for Kagome but years for Inuyasha until they see each other again. It's a good thing that Kagome already paid through her heartache when she saw Kikyo and Inuyasha all those times. All Inuyasha needs to do is pay time for the price to be fully paid. Love may cost a lot but true love costs a damn near fortune, when I'm the Lady of Time I'll be making a few changes on that particular rule.' Luna nudged Kagome with the back of her hand and Kagome woke up almost immediately. At once Kagome understood that what she needed to do was done and it pained her to let go of Inuyasha so soon. Kagome wormed out of Inuyasha's warm arms and held back her tears when she looked down to her soon to be mate. "I'm sorry Little Lady Kagome, but Inuyasha's payment has already been decided."
"What do you mean?" Kagome looked at Luna with her ears drooped. Kagome sensed that she already changed overnight but was too upset to pay any attention. "There is a price to altering anything that should be out of one's hands but since this is also a situation of love that price has sky rocked up a bit. To make it easier to pay, the cost has been split in half for the both of you to pay for. Your part of the payment was the constant pain when ever Kikyo got involved and the trials along your journey so far. But Inuyasha's payment is a bit trickier, he needs to search for his mate even though he can't find her and even though he doesn't know he has to wait to be reunited with you. Your payment is the pain of unrequited love and his payment is time torn apart from his mate. All that needs to be done now is for Inuyasha to pay." Luna and Kagome looked sadly at Inuyasha as Luna explained. "But if you don't want Inuyasha to wait any longer then you should come with me now." Luna held up her hand to Kagome, but before Kagome took her hand, she pulled out her jeweled cherry blossom hair pin from her hair and set next to Inuyasha as she mumbled sorry to him.
As quietly as possible, Luna and Kagome left Inuyasha and the cave to wade in the somewhat freezing water. "Don't worry, you'll see him soon enough." Luna smiled to Kagome reassuringly. "But what will feel like a little while for me, will feel like years for Inuyasha, right?" Kagome still felt awful for leaving Inuyasha without a proper good bye. They were in the center of the lake and as they felt the droplets from the water fall hit their faces, Luna and Kagome looked back at the now invisible cave. Then, all too soon, Kagome and Luna left to go forward in time.
Inuyasha was speeding towards the hot spring Sango had said she and Kagome were bathing in. Minutes after Sango came and left for her wash cloth, Sango came again at a full run screaming that Kagome was missing. Inuyasha didn't need a second reason for rushing to the spring. 'I've already lost my first love and best friend but I'm not about to lose Kagome!' Inuyasha thought as he gritted his teeth to numb the pain.
Inuyasha remembered his mate almost fully well but unfortunately time, being the prick that it is, made him forget her name and a few key features of her face that just made everything else somewhat blurry but what really irritated him was that now when he thought of her sent all he could remember was fruit. She was the prettiest girl in Inuyasha's opinion, even with the some minor parts of her face hazy, and he would have bet she would have been one of the most beautiful women too, so beautiful, she might have had to compete with Kagome in a death match for the number one spot. Inuyasha shook his head as he thought of Kagome. Inuyasha knew that he loved Kagome, loved her like he still loved his lost mate, but Inuyasha was a mated man and even if the ritual wasn't completed on his mate's end Inuyasha still thought that taking another would be just wrong.
Inuyasha still remembered the morning he woke up to find his mate's pretty hair pin lying next to him. Hell, Inuyasha kept it with him everywhere he went and made sure that it stayed deep in his hakama but still close to his heart. From that morning on though, Inuyasha searched for his mate in any and all places he could get into but still no luck. Inuyasha missed the kind little girl who saved his life terribly but with Kagome around he felt the strain of trying not to regret ever making that girl his mate. 'She was just helping a passing stranger for God's sake! She was just being nice and me, like an idiot, thought that I could see her again!' Inuyasha had to stop mid way to the hot spring to get his anger gathered.
Of course Inuyasha had come close to finding his mate. He knew for a fact that the little girl was a powerful priestess so he searched where ever it was rumored of such a priestess. And following that trail Inuyasha met his (sorta-ish but not really, kind of more like just a friend) best friend: Kikyo.
Kikyo was his mate. At least that was what Inuyasha wished. No, Kikyo only looked like the woman Inuyasha's little mate would have been. Everything else was wrong, Kikyo's smell was something less sweet and potent than Inuyasha's mate, Kikyo behaved differently like it was natural to always be formal, hell, even when Kikyo gave him a curious look she never would lean her head to one side or smile the almost tasteably warm smile that made Inuyasha blush when he first met his mate.
But even with all these signs screaming that Kikyo wasn't the one, Inuyasha wanted to at least make sure that she didn't have his mark. Unfortunately while Kikyo was alive and when Inuyasha asked to look at her neck at one point in time, the bitch said no and from then on made what Inuyasha recently realized a conscious effort of never to expose her neck even in the intense heat of summer. Then to put lemon and lime juice on a open, puss filled, and festering wound, Kikyo finally showed an unmarked neck to Inuyasha and said that she never showed it before because she knew he would have left the second he realized she wasn't his 'wife'. She told him that one of the times they saw each other from time to time after the big aggravating and time wasting fifty year sleep.
Inuyasha lost all but one ray of hope to finding his mate, and after completing the shikon jewel, Inuyasha was going to look for her again and keep that hope alive. But in the mean time Kagome was number one priority. Kagome was a sweet human girl, in Inuyasha's opinion, and no horny wolf was going to take her innocent nature away unless they killed Inuyasha first. Inuyasha never really knew why he was protective of Kagome, after all, she didn't have any mark on her neck signifying she was claimed by him or by anybody else. Inuyasha knew this because he's accidently walked in on her bathing in a river often enough to get an eyeful of both of her shoulders plus other things before being sat. Even when he knew this, Inuyasha still felt an urge to claim to the world that she was his and no human, demon, or half demon was going to take her.
Inuyasha continued going to the spring that Kagome disappeared from and let his thoughts on the resent subject simmer in the back of his mind. But once Inuyasha got to the hot spring he couldn't tell which way Kagome went. Kagome carried a constantly heavy sent of cherry blossoms and… some other strange combination that he knew he can place somewhere if he got a strong enough whiff and actually concentrated on placing that sent. The only place where Kagome's sent remained somewhat intact was in the center of hot spring. Inuyasha was now going crazy about not finding Kagome anywhere else but turned to see if he could find some clue as to which direction she might have been taken.
Before Inuyasha could take one step away from the hot spring, the center glowed a magical shade of blue. Inuyasha looked at the strange light and pulled out his tensiga to face whatever enemy that lived in the spring. 'Maybe this is what took Kagome.' Inuyasha was about to attack the unknown demon but stood paralyzed when he saw a half demon head emerge from the suddenly clear water. With the head came the rest of a girl's body which was clad in a red knee high, long sleeved kimono. The blue light hugged the dripping wet figure of the half demon girl who had her face down towards the ground. She lingered in the air before standing on her own, knee deep in the water while the light left her.
The half demon had black and dripping wet hair. She looked pale but also pink at the same time. She had lethal claws on her hands but what made Inuyasha drop his sword was on her head. Clearly perched on top of her head were two black dog ears that twitched at Inuyasha's intake of air.
The half demon raised her head to look at her unknown audience and Inuyasha found himself hoping to never see the stranger's face. No matter how much hope he felt already growing inside him, Inuyasha was determined never to be played with by any other fake mates. No matter what, Inuyasha had to find Kagome.
Kagome was sad that she had to leave cute little Inuyasha but she knew that she would see him soon. As she and Luna went through the blue vortex Luna gave Kagome instructions. "Now Lady Kagome, your first instinct when seeing Inuyasha maybe to tell him what happened but you can't."
"Why not? Inuyasha deserves to know the truth since he's had to wait so long." Kagome looked at Luna with a muteness face. "You can't because the Timeless Spring must stay a legend. You mortals and immortals all have regrets in your lives and choices you would like to change." Luna made time stop midway and faced Kagome who had grown to her original age. "What do you think will happen if you blab to one friend who tells another then another? It will be a war zone if you tell anybody. So keep your mouth shut!"
"But what will I tell Inuyasha? Sango will probably have told Inuyasha if she's noticed I'm missing." Kagome said worried. She knew that it'd take a pretty convincing story to fool Inuyasha that he was lied to.
"Tell him that you were kidnapped by a water demon and that you escaped." Luna said simply as she started time again. Then she pulled out a shiny shard of the shikon jewel and held it out to Kagome. "To make your story sell, take this, I had to fight it out of a demon but all's well that ends well." Luna gave Kagome the shard.
"Thanks… Hey Luna… why was I able to save Inuyasha? I mean I'm happy about him being saved, and seeing him as a child, and being his mate but why didn't you stop me after I saved him?" Kagome looked Luna in the eye to see any lie she might say.
Luna simply smiled and started the time to go forward. "You will find out in the future. Aside from defeating Naraku, Inuyasha and you did many things. You and he made quite the difference for humans and demons in the future and my father and I have agreed that this should happen. Besides you and Inuyasha love each other but need a little push to actually start anything. I am helping the world of demons and humans and I'm granting your wish at the same time."
"And what wish was that?" Kagome asked giggling at how help had actually come to her.
"'Wow, it would be so cool if that was actually true. I mean, think of all the possible things a person can do to change their lives and everybody else's for the better. Like me meeting Inuyasha before Kikyo for one.'" Luna copied Kagome when she and Sango were back at the spring.
"You were spying on us even then?" Kagome screamed at Luna. Just when she was about to say something else, the time vortex stopped and Kagome disappeared from in between time.
"Good luck and have a good life Lady Kagome." Luna said sweetly before she fell into slumber to wait for the next person who asked for her help…
It was only a few minutes but it felt like an eternity as Kagome and Inuyasha starred at each other from across the hot spring. How is it that the sweet, selfless, and accepting girl Inuyasha was looking for was so close to him all this time? She was merely an arm's reach away this whole time. But the funny thing was that Inuyasha wasn't angry. He was just relieved. Relieved that he's finally found his lost mate and that she was okay.
Kagome was the first one to break the painful silence. "Inuyasha?" Kagome barely whispered but knew he would hear all the same. In an instant Inuyasha was in front of Kagome and instead of being yelled at for making him worried, he hugged Kagome as if he would never let go.
"Kagome. Do you know how much I've worried about you over the years you were gone?" Inuyasha asked in a gentle voice so he wouldn't frighten his mate.
"I'm sorry Inuyasha but I had to do what I must and it wasn't easy for me either, it's been hard seeing you run off to Kikyo." Kagome forgot the lie she was suppose to tell Inuyasha.
"What happened to you to now show your demon half?" Inuyasha looked at Kagome seriously. Kagome dreaded telling Inuyasha a new lie a on the spot and it showed very clearly on her face.
Kagome looked down in between them and though hard until she finally look at Inuyasha again. "I can't tell you," Kagome began as Inuyasha turned from stunned to angry, "but I can make for not telling you for something else." Inuyasha looked at Kagome suspiciously.
"Like what?" Inuyasha asked Kagome. Kagome leaned against him and stood on the tips of her toes to reach one of his ears. "I can mark you as my husband and fulfill more than what I promised before." Kagome and Inuyasha blushed. After some time Inuyasha smirked.
"I'll take you up on that offer." With that Inuyasha and Kagome ran together looking forward to a new life with each other and a new future too.
End
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