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XVI.
The wind was blowing gently, whipping the snow around and carving soft, sensual shapes into its depths.
The sky was aglow, rendered pink and orange and gold like torn silk, and Kagome couldn't look away.
She had spent many years in the Feudal Era and had seen many winters, but she had never really stopped to appreciate the marvellous sights. Now that Naraku was dead and the quest for jewel shards was over, Kagome felt awed, having finally taken time to just look at the world and how different it was, how the past and the future contrasted. The future had nothing as magnificent as this, and Kagome was sad. The world might never again look as clean, as pure, as it did in that moment in the Feudal Era.
To think that human kind could eradicate this nature in order to build ugly – cold, unfeeling – skyscrapers and smoke-stack buildings that would just tear apart the ozone and wreck the word even more.
The world would never look the same again – never the same reds or oranges, never quite that medley of hues caught between silver and blue – it made Kagome depressed.
A sigh made its way passed Kagome's lips, undisturbed.
That seemed to be all she had been doing in the last few days – sigh and be depressed, be depressed and sigh.
A presence at her side made Kagome jump, her head craning to the side and her hand coming up to rest over her erratically beating heart.
"What is it with you dog demons and scaring me?" Kagome asked drily, not at all amused at losing another ten years off her life. Inuyasha had done the same thing not ten minutes previous.
Sesshoumaru's imperious silver eyebrow graced the fringe of his bangs once more with its presence and Kagome turned her head back to look at the scenery again. She didn't want to miss even a second of the sight nature had prepared for her, unknowingly or not.
"You're not so different, you know." Kagome commented, lazily stooping down to capture a hand full of ice and snow, watching disinterestedly as it melted and slipped through her open fingers, leaving only cold, wet flesh behind. The awkwardness of having kissed Sesshoumaru, the Sesshoumaru, hadn't yet faded from her mind, the notion still whetting her imagination and making her unsure of what to say. What was the correct behaviour and procedure of the after-kiss?
Act shy, docile and meek, or fiery, passionate, fierce and ardent? Perhaps she should just forget the whole incident and move on with life, like Sesshoumaru appeared to have done, but then again, that was Sesshoumaru – you could set yourself on fire in front of him and he'd just raise that damnable eyebrow of his. The greatest reaction she might have gotten from him, if she had done that, would be a noncommittal 'hn', and then he would be gone, like the sun over the horizon, indifferent to the sufferings of those under its watch.
She rather liked that analogy.
Regardless, Kagome wasn't Sesshoumaru, and as such, she couldn't just drop it and leave it behind like luggage or... or... or yesterday's trash! She doubted she'd ever forget it.
Sesshoumaru Of The Best (because, honestly, he seemed like one of those guys who liked to capitalize everything) had let her kiss him and survive. The very fact was astonishing – she still hadn't gotten over the fact that she wasn't dead and buried ten feet under. What a riot.
Someday, when she had children of her own, maybe she would tell them of the anomaly that was Sesshoumaru. But then again, maybe she would keep him to herself, a memory of the past. Kagome wondered what he would say to that, if she ever worked up the nerve to tell him.
"I think," she started. "I think you'd get along, if it had a physical form."
"Who are you talking about, Miko?" The Taiyoukai drawled apathetically.
"The snow." She replied slowly, watching as the last of the snow slipped between her fingers.
His other eyebrow quirked.
Kagome bit the inside of her cheek to keep from growling at him or doing something equally as stupid. She rather fancied her life and her head.
"You're both white," she explained, gesturing to the ground below their feet. "Both cold at first appearance, but warm once you acquaint yourself, both are beautiful, but only one sticks around all year long." She winked at him, and Sesshoumaru had to fight back the heat that threatened to invade his cheeks.
Kagome turned back to the clearing that overlooked the valley and the village below it, glistening and shimmering like an elusive water. The sun was almost behind the mountains, now.
"How is it that snow is warm when you... acquaint yourself with it?" Sesshoumaru asked suddenly, intrigued.
And so, Kagome began her long and very detailed explanation of snow camping.
And through the words, the awkwardness melted away.
(Have a spectacular Christmas, everyone. See you in a while. Cheers! – Incomprehensible)