Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its contents.
Words: 2.397
Pairing: Sesshoumaru/Kagome
Wordlist
Jinja – Shinto-shrine
Goshintai – building on the shrine grounds where the local god resides
Shamusho – those that tend to the shrine
Ojii-chan – way to refer to your grandfather, but can also be used to address a random old man
Arigatou gozaimasu – polite way to say 'thank you'
Miko – priestess
Youkai – demon
-sama – respecting honorific, lord/lady
Chapter two; Summer
X
Summer. Of the whole year, this is probably the one that people look forward to the most. Warmth –er, make that heat-, ice-cream, vacation and lazing around on the beach. I, on the other hand, was having quite a different experience this year. Instead of all above-mentioned luxuries, I sweated through forests, fields, villages, you name it. I dragged myself through every possible place.. that did not have ice-cream, and did not have showers –if you didn't count the rivers and waterfalls-, and did –and this might even be the worst part- not have mosquito repellents. But you know what? All those places? They did have mosquitoes. Hoards of them.
Kagome took a swig of her water bottle, and groaned a futile complaint against the heat.
Why was it so hot!!? If it wasn't for her limited water supply, she would've dumped the bottle's contents over her head if it'd cool her down. Scratching at one of her many mosquito bites –though she had been told not to-, she cursed the little buzzing things, and silently cursed Inu Yasha, too, for telling her not to use the bug spray she'd brought because it made his nose sting.
She slowly walked to -if she was going the good way, she had been quite doubtful about the last turn- a small jinja that she and the rest of the group had discovered a while back on one of their journeys back to Kaede's village. It was not tended to, but it still looked nice enough to sit and eat and talk about a thousand-and-one things. And the most important thing at the moment: it had shade! The trees seemed to –in her eyes, anyway- lean away from her to give the sun free way in scorching her, and she glared very un-impressively at them.
Kagome had asked the rest to stay behind at the village today, and the little fox-kit had pouted and cried a bit, but who doesn't lighten up at the promise of chocolate and other sweet goodness? So he, too, had complied to her request and she was off -waved out by the grumbling of Inuyasha, who had been 'convinced' to leave her alone for a bit by the floor, that always seemed happy to see his face planted in it again-, armed with her, a water bottle and a basket, filled with treats.
'Ah! Found it!' Kagome cheered, happy that she had taken the good turn. Before her was a picturesque little shrine. It hadn't grown anymore grand since she'd last visited it, but it was still charming. Kagome ran the last bit, rushed to open the miraculously still intact –with animals and youkai running around, it was a wonder the place wasn't wrecked yet- shoji screen, and sighed blissfully once she had fully lowered herself on the cool wood inside. Ahh! She thought happily, Finally! Cooling!
After a few minutes of well-deserved rest, she sat up and patted the basket that she had carelessly dropped on the wooden floor.
"Let's look for the goshintai, I'm pretty sure I saw it earlier.." Kagome muttered, as she walked out again and squeezed her eyes shut against the sun, not used to the fierce light anymore after her rest in the fairly dark room earlier. Eh.. let's see, I think I'm at the house for the shamusho right now, so it must be close by, right? She thought, orientating herself. Ah, you can just see it over there! She softly chuckled at herself for not seeing it earlier, hopped down the small stairs and headed to the goshintai.
Shortly after, she arrived.
Her eyes softened, and placed the basket unto the small altar. Inside were her grandfather's favorite treats, a bouquet of Madonna irises –his favorite flowers-, one of his creepy historical artifacts –'Come on Kagome! Take it! This dried frog leg brings good luck!' she could still hear him say- and one of his most treasured cd's –Kagome figured it couldn't hurt to bring it; if people ever found it before its time, it'd only be a disc, right?-. Here you go, Ojii-chan. She thought gently, as she removed the bouquet from the basket and arranged it on the stone altar that for some reason, felt warm and gentle to the touch.
She gracelessly dropped herself on the floor and rested her weight on her hands, slightly leaning backwards.
She smiled. Her grandfather would've wanted it like this. He had died mere weeks ago, and although there had been a formal funeral back at home, she knew her grandfather had always dreamed of seeing the Sengoku Jidai. Though it was impossible –especially now- to bring him here, Kagome had instead brought things that represented him, so maybe he'd know what it was like, five-hundred years ago.
Relaxing, Kagome closed her eyes, and didn't even notice a few lone tears starting to slide down her cheeks.
Suddenly, the sliding door opened.
X
Sesshoumaru ran trough the woods at an invisible pace, swiftly avoiding the trees that one any less than him would crash into at the speed he was going.
Suddenly, a scent wafted to him. As he slowed ever so slightly, he concentrated. Who does that scent belong to? He thought. It is familiar, but this Sesshoumaru does not know from where he knows it.. It was definitely human though, that much was sure. The hallmarking fragrance of dwindling life –and let's not forget sweat, though that was unfortunately not dwindling- was steadily intertwined with the rest of the scent.
Also, he smelled pure magic. A miko then, he thought, tilting his eyebrow, when have I ever let a miko live, or even bothered to remember her scent? Apart from the human and magical fragrances, there was one part left; the individual. This identified one nameless, faceless person of the other, be it man or women, child or adult, human or youkai.
Wait. I know this scent. That infuriating, loud miko. It's Inuyasha's wench!
Sesshoumaru made a sharp turn to follow the scent, contemplating whether to kill her off and present her dead body to Inuyasha or present her to Inuyasha and then kill her.
Not even two minutes later his vision met a small, unremarkable shrine, with lingering traces of her scent all over the grounds. No matter though, he effortlessly picked out her current position and stalked towards it.
Standing in front of the goshintai, he slid open the door in one, fluid motion.
X
Kagome lazily peeked out of one open eye.
Boots. White hakama. -Uh-oh- Dark armor. White haori with red accents. Yellow obi. -It could still be someone else! She unsuccessfully tried to calm herself- Fluffy thing. –shit. Still, what is that thing?- A flick of her eyes, now both wide open, to the sides of his face; pointed ears. And staring, golden eyes.
Staring at her.
Letting out a squeaked "Sesshoumaru!", Kagome scrambled to a standing position and took some cautious steps away from him, all the while waving her hands in front of her face, unknowingly rubbing the few tears off her face.
And away from the door! Very, very smart Kagome! She was dead. She was going to die here and now and animals would eat her flesh and her bones will be found later and there'll be a documentary about it on Discovery Channel and her family would watch the assuming sketch of her face and find out where she had been all that time!
When death didn't come in the form of green, burning poison in the next few seconds, she looked up. Unexpectedly –well, she had thought he'd kill her on sight!- he was still staring at her. And for some reason, it pissed her off.
And then she did something very, very stupid: she gathered her courage and bit out a "What?"
X
Sesshoumaru had not expected the tears.
He did not even understand how he hadn't smelled them in the first place, but now that he was aware of them, the salt stench of it was annoyingly pungent in the air.
For some reason, he found they didn't suit her. And for some other reason –or maybe, just maybe, it was the same-, he wanted to keep her alive.
He was brought out of his surprise, however slight it had been- by the tiniest rustle of hair; she had lifted her head.
"What?" he heard her say daringly, if not foolishly.
You may be able to imagine the startle Sesshoumaru received because of a human talking to him like that.
Her disrespect for his great being did not please him in the least, he had already promised himself not to kill her, and because the mighty Taiyoukai of the Western Lands did not break his promises, he didn't. Instead, he decided to inquire as to what the hell she was doing in the middle of a forest, alone.
"Miko," he tried to make the title more pleasant by minutely dip his head in greeting, "This Sesshoumaru wants to know what you are doing here." He then aloofly stated.
Inwardly, he allowed himself the Sesshoumaru equivalent of a grin.
That he was being pleasant, didn't mean he had to ask, though.
X
Kagome couldn't believe it.
One, he hadn't killed her the minute he saw her.
Two, he hadn't killed her for snapping at him.
Three, he sort of asked! Sort of being the keyword, but in situations like this, you need to see everything in a positive light, Kagome decided. After all; if a situation seems hopeless, and you yourself get hopeless, would there be a way out? No.
She gathered herself, as he had obviously –or actually, not so obviously- asked her a question.
She turned her head to the altar, where the basket and flowers lay in all their glory.
"I was.. I was here for my grandfather," she said softly, but he heard it anyway. She did not know how to explain what she was doing; she wasn't bringing an offer, and she wasn't visiting, either. "He died some time ago, so I brought some of his things here, because I think he'd like it here." She elaborated, answering his questioning –that seemed suspiciously laced with a promise of death and/or torture were she not to answer, in her eyes- look.
When silence met her words, she thought herself safe enough to leave, and bowed to him –just for safety; after all, everyone knows Sesshoumaru likes to respected, right?-. "Well then, Sesshoumaru-sama, it was…. nice to see you, but I have to go again, okay?" because maybe it hadn't been exactly nice, it hadn't been not nice either.
She started to shuffle towards the door, planning to breeze past him and get her ass to camp.
She didn't actually want to leave, because she had come here with a reason, but a healthy attachment to life usually makes you get away from danger as soon as possible.
But is he really all that dangerous? Something in her head asked her.
Of course he is! She huffed back to… herself. He tried to kill me! Twice! And he tried to kill Inuyasha! ..More than twice!
And? Didn't he save you, too? Helped out in battles?
But he--!
"Miko."
She froze, and looked at him. There was a barely-there emotion in his eyes that she couldn't quite identify. The category it belonged it though, she hadn't expected. It wasn't contempt. It wasn't annoyance. It wasn't quite pity either; it seemed to be.. understanding.
Once again, he dipped his head, this time to the altar –could it be—in respect? Kagome thought bewilderedly-, his eyes still trained on hers.
"This Sesshoumaru.. feels sorry for your loss." Though he had said in that everyday, emotionless voice of his, Kagome felt that hadn't felt easy saying it.
Kagome stared at him –in a manner that resembled a gaping fish-, before she caught herself, and smiled at him, her plans to leave forgotten.
After all, if he felt sympathy for her –because she was now sure that was what she had seen in his eyes-, he couldn't be more than misunderstood, cuddly overgrown dog with sharp claws, could he?
"Arigatou gozaimasu, Sesshoumaru-sama," she too, bowed her head.
X
Was he getting soft?
First, he hadn't killed the girl, and now, he was paying his respects to her and her family? And why did he feel like smiling? And why didn't it disgust him as much as it should have? And why didn't it disgust him at all?
He should've just left the girl alone. Which was exactly what he was going to do. Without reacting on her words, he turned around, starting to step outside when her voice called out to him.
X
She fought the urge to frown.
Had she done something wrong? After all, she had made a correct bow –a brief interest in manners (in which she had annoyed her family to death with endless 'sirs' and curtsies) had learned her this-, and she had spoken politely; so what could bother him enough to leave?
She should be glad, but she wasn't.
So she, too, stepped forward and called out, "Uhm..! Sesshoumaru-sama!"
He turned around to meet her eyes, "what is it, miko?" he asked.
"..you can stay here, if you want." Kagome mumbled, before catching herself, "Of course, you may decide for yourself! I obviously can't force you to stay or go! But.. I'd like it if you'd stay." She finished, wondering what the heck her mouth was doing. It was plotting against her! Plotting! Together with those dratted legs of hers, for walking towards him just now!
However, she forgot all about plotting mouths and conspiring legs, as said mouth fell open and her eyes widened. She wanted to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming this; however slightly, she'd swear Sesshoumaru had the tiniest little barely-there smile on his face. Yes, that subtle, but to her, absolutely over-obviously there.
Kagome noticed, flabbergasted, that his eyes seemed to have warmed over; to have shed a layer of ice, and that his almost non-existent smile was still there, telling her it was real (or a long-term hallucination, but she just.. that just wasn't.), as he stepped forward.
"This Sesshoumaru would like to stay, too," he said, and she heard amusement and something else resounding in his voice, "Kagome."
And he stayed.
(and he stayed forever)
X
A/N
Whee! Quick update! Only.. a bit more than 9 months later :D I feel lazy and failed _"
This doesn't have much to do with summer, and I intended to do something with obon, but it didn't work out. :P Well, I don't really care. So sorry. :3 You may see the very last sentence as part of the fic, or just an extra comment; I see it as both :3
As you may or may not have noticed, I put the all Japanese words in italics, except for the titles, like miko etc… this is for the simple reason that I can.
..okay, I don't really havea reason, but it looked better.
And YEAH. I've got three reviews! I feel so loved :)
Stacerue: Thank you very much for helping me :D I always forget White Day for some reason! I corrected it~
KANYONKHAOS: I decided it'll be unlinked one-shots, so unfortunately there'll be no 'let's see what happens', but rather 'let's see what happens in the next season!' :P
Sunkissedkelsey: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it :)
Well then, please R&R *bows* It only has to take half a minute, but it urges me and all other writers to write that new chapter :)
..and I'll try to update a little faster next time -.-'