At the end of this chapter, read my author's comment.
I.
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Kidding.
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Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, Prince of Tennis or any of its characters.
New Beginnings
[8] Sunset
Ryoma woke up with a throbbing headache and knew that there was going to be something about that day that he wasn't going to like. He looked over at his alarm clock and sighed; he was late, so very late for morning practice and suspected that he was going to spend it running laps. With a grunt, Ryoma dragged himself out of bed. His usual morning ritual took no longer than ten minutes, as he was used to fighting against the clock and he strolled down the stairs just as the scent of warm breakfast assaulted his senses.
He followed his nose (and stomach) and quietly walked into the kitchen to catch sight of his cousin cooking. And humming.
He blinked.
Then it hit him like a ton of bricks and Ryoma thinks he might be sick. Today was the day. Sesshomaru was coming today and Kagome was happy and humming and—why was she so happy? Ryoma knew that his cousin hadn't been in contact with the amber-eyed man so she should feel less happy and more nervous about meeting someone she hadn't seen in a while.
It could, of course be very possible that Kagome wasn't humming because of Sesshomaru but Ryoma reminded himself that for the past week, it had been nothing but, "I need to wait for Sesshomaru…", "Can't get this done without Sesshomaru…" and "Sesshomaru will know…" It drove him nuts.
He narrowed his eyes as she did a little jump and what seemed to be a butt wiggle and decided that he had had enough. Walking deeper into the kitchen, Ryoma approached the table and pulled out a seat, making sure it gave a good screech.
Kagome yelped at the sudden noise and jumped. The egg cooking in the pan that she had been holding jumped with her and with nothing to stop it, it flipped two times in the air and landed onto the ground with a wet splat.
Both cousins stared at it for a moment, watching as the running yolk spread out. It reminded Kagome, disgustingly of the time some guy was pushed off the cliff and had landed a few feet away from her. Like the egg yolk, the man's blood had splattered and then spread out underneath him. She resisted a shudder.
Kagome gave Ryoma a cool glare, "You're cleaning that up."
It hadn't been a good morning and Ryoma was pretty sure that it wasn't going to be a good rest of the day either. He had, of course, been right and had spent the remaining ten minutes of morning practice and even a good chunk of afternoon practice running laps.
Ryoma resisted the urge to groan and wiped off his sweat, preparing himself to change into his school uniform since he wanted nothing more than to go home (maybe hitch a ride with Momo-senpai (without his cousin, thank you very much)) and sleep.
"Echizen has been distracted today," Inui announced. Loudly.
It was only the Regulars left in the changing room but the fact didn't stop Ryoma from glaring at his senpai.
"Wait!" Kikumaru cried out and Ryoma had the oddest sense of déjà vu. "Ochibi—"
"Sesshomaru-sama is coming today, isn't he?" Sasabe-senpai asked in his usual quiet—if slightly, girly—voice.
Ryoma looked at him in surprise. "How…"
Sasabe, despite being a Regular had never been really close to the group, apparently even more anti-social than Ryoma was. He appeared for practice and disappeared right afterwards (as a matter of fact, Ryoma was surprised that he even saw the older boy in the changing room that morning) and kept to himself. He even managed to avoid Kikumaru dragging him out for victory parties and Inui's calculating eyes. Inui who knew everything about Sasabe's tennis style but nothing else.
"The whole school's been talking about it," Fuji offered. "Including the teachers. It's not every day that a CEO will come and visit a student here."
Ryoma's frown hardened. He would bet his life that it was either Momo-senpai or Kikumaru-senpai being the blabber mouth. "He'll probably visit her at my house," he muttered.
"Saa," Fuji sighed. "What's the fun in that?"
"To stay away from the press, probably," Oishi offered.
Momoshiro blinked. "Why would he need to stay away from the press?"
"Hmm," Sasabe said. "He is very good looking."
More than one person in the changing room blinked and stared at the usually quiet man. Momoshiro's mouth dropped and he hesitantly took a step backwards from his locker neighbor which made Kaidou hiss as his rival was now standing too close to him for his comfort.
Ryoma, surprisingly, was the first to recover. "You talk too much, senpai."
Sasabe only smiled at him which, much to Ryoma's surprise disturbed him more than Fuji-senpai's smile does.
By the time he was done changing, it was well past five-thirty. Ryoma prayed that any remaining club members already left. Although, Tezuka was probably forced to stay back in order to lock up after Ryoma. Ryoma took a breath and opened the door to leave. He looked around and felt his jaw muscles twitch in annoyance. Buchou was standing to the side, looking familiarly stoic and forbidding. His cousin and her friends were further away and cuddled around a tennis ball whispering to each to other (Kagome was probably waiting for him). The other regulars were hanging around the tennis courts and at least half the tennis club members were still there, whispering to each other and casting not-so-subtle glances around them.
They were waiting for Sesshomaru.
It wasn't as if the CEO couldn't visit Kagome back at the house. Really. What were the chances of Sesshomaru choosing to go through the press and gaping high school students when he could just go to Ryoma's house and see Kagome there?
Unfortunately for Ryoma (and in tune with his bad day), Sesshomaru chose to visit Kagome at the tennis courts. The man's arrival was silent. Literally.
One minute everyone was whispering and waiting and the next, everyone seemed to notice the man's arrival at once, not a sound escaping anyone's lips.
Ryoma actually dropped his tennis bag in shock as he took in the sight of a young man with short black hair and flashing brown eyes. The face was so obviously Sesshomaru but… but… what happened to the hair? The eyes? The everything?
There was a small rustling noise and everyone turned towards it, spotting Higurashi straightening up slowly with her friends. Miroku gave her shoulder a firm squeeze and they watched as the young girl, small in structure, almost timidly walked towards a forbidding-looking CEO.
"I—I," her voice was soft but the wind carried it across the tennis courts. Kagome took a breath and gathered up her courage. Sesshomaru was here. She had her friends. Sesshomaru was here. She had the entire tennis team as witnesses in case… anything happened. Sesshomaru was here!
Kagome took a breath as Sesshomaru stared at her, his eyes not glittering with familiarity. He obviously didn't remember her which left Kagome only one other option: call him by his name. Like Miroku and Sango who had only remembered her when she called their names, she was more than prepared to do the same thing to Sesshomaru and restore him to his former glory.
She took another breath, wanting to say the demon lord's name, but the words wouldn't make it past her throat especially with Sesshomaru looking like… well, like a human. It probably had to do with the strange everything that has been going on. His human look was probably a mask that would fade away once his memories were restored.
Despite her instincts and memories of the demon lord screaming at her to run, Kagome wanted nothing more than to say Sesshomaru's name—oh! It had been so easy the past week—and see Sesshomaru. Kagome took another breath and just as the name was about to roll off her tongue, she had a very disturbing image of the demon lord's human look melting off of him in front of every as he regained his memories. In tune with that, she had another disturbing image of Sesshomaru's reaction when he finally remembered her and killing her, splattering her blood for all to see.
Might as well not scar the poor tennis boys, she thought.
Kagome forced a smile. "Would you like to talk in private?"
He raised an eyebrow—oh! The familiarity! And: "Priestess," he greeted.
Kagome gasped and fell onto the ground, her knees buckling, no longer able to support her. She had been mentally prepared to see another familiar face and to defend herself in case Sesshomaru's temper—and yes, he did have one—got the better of him but no matter how mentally prepared she was, she definitely was not prepared for that. Oh gods, she thought. He remembered! Then: He never forgot in the first place. And, of course: Why is he so human-looking then?
Sesshomaru breathed out what seemed to be an exasperated sigh. As if he read her mind (she wouldn't be surprise if he had) he said, "Look closely."
Kagome looked, squinting at his figure and blinked when her powers shot to the surface of her eyes, making his human illusion shimmer. It melted away and Kagome found herself staring at his very demon-looking form. Very, very, so very Sesshomaru.
She swallowed. "Sesshomaru."
The demon lord nodded approvingly. "Come," he said. Then he looked up, narrowing his gold eyes at Miroku and Sango as if he was surprised seeing them there. His nostrils flared and the two humans had a feeling that the order extended to them too.
"I can't stand up," Kagome found herself whispering.
Sesshomaru raised his eyebrow again.
When he took a step towards the younger girl, Kagome screeched and jumped backwards, fighting the urge to hide behind a tree. "A-are you going to carry me?" she stuttered.
His second eyebrow joined the first.
Kagome narrowed her eyes at him. Personally she could only see Sesshomaru carrying someone else in two ways. One: princess style since the demon lord had two arms now, Kagome thought he might do it just to show that he could and two: thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Kagome was not fond of either way and really, just the mere thought of the demon lord touching her so willing made her shudder.
"Are you sure you remember?" she asked, her voice in a mumble since she seems to be in the center of attention. Again.
"My patience wears thin," the demon lord replied.
Kagome smiled.
Miroku and Sango slowly—cautiously—made their way towards the young priestess and the demon lord. With a sigh, Kagome stood up, reaching out and grasping onto Miroku's shirt for support. Sesshomaru eyed her hand, gave a faint sneer at the contact and then turned around and walked away.
The three of them blinked after him before following.
"Bye," Kagome called back cheerfully, knowing that everyone was staring at the three of them. "Have a good day at tennis practice." Obviously, she was so caught up with everything, she probably forgot (or did not even notice) that tennis practice was over and had been over for a while.
Sango rolled her eyes. "Don't they have anything better to do?"
Kagome sighed. "We're probably the most interesting thing that has happened to them in years."
Sango nodded in Sesshomaru's direction. "Illusion?"
"Yea."
"So he remembers you. The real you?"
"Guess so."
Miroku frowned. "Hmm…"
"Do you think that means, he knows what's going on?" Sango asked.
"Probably," Kagome replied. "And you know what? If he does, you think this matter is more important than whatever business matter he had? Making us wait a week for this shit."
The demon lord slowed down slightly and Kagome had an ebbing suspicion that he heard her. She spent the next few seconds it took to walk to his car—unsurprisingly, a limousine—in silence. With a deep breath, the three of them climbed into the limousine after Sesshomaru. Miroku nodded thankfully at the green-eyed driver who, much to his horror winked at him.
The door shut behind them.
Silence.
"You wish to know what's going on?" Sesshomaru asked. Then in front of them—Kagome could tell as his image shimmered again—his human illusion dropped.
"Yes," Kagome replied, clamping down the "obviously" that threatened to escape.
Sesshomaru stared at her for a few moments. "I do not know." For sure, he wanted to add but ended up not elaborating.
Kagome stared and blinked a few times waiting for the awkward moment where Sesshomaru will laugh at her and tell her that it was a joke. "Well," she said finally. "That's useless."
In front of them, the driver snickered.
"Drive," Sesshomaru hissed out.
Kagome wrinkled her nose when Sesshomaru turned to glare at her.
"You think he'd be nicer," Miroku whispered to Sango, "given their history and all that."
"What history?" Kagome asked, through gritted teeth as she reached out and gave the man a hard twisting pinch.
Miroku yelped but wisely chose not to say anything.
"So," Sango said in an almost sing-song voice. "You're just here to give us a ride around town?"
Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes briefly but otherwise ignored her. He clicked his claws together, an action that made Kagome gulp. "Tell me, priestess, what did you do with the jewel?"
Kagome clenched her eyes shut for a brief moment. Why the hell do I mess everything up?
"I told it to disappear, to cease existing."
Sesshomaru made a small noise at the back of his throat. "No wish?"
Kagome narrowed her eyes and leaned closer to him. "My exact words were: Shikon, disappear. Cease your existence." When the demon lord refused to respond, Kagome found herself getting angrier, "I am not an idiot."
"You flatter yourself," the demon lord responded coolly.
I'm going to strangle him, Kagome thought wondering why the hell she had been so excited for his visit anyway. Forget it, I'll just purify the living shit out of him. Her fingers twitched.
Again, as if reading her mind, Sesshomaru's eyes slid from her face to her fingers.
"Don't. Underestimate. Me," she grounded out.
"I do not."
"You did so."
"I will not."
Their eyes glared and flashed at each other.
Miroku patted Kagome on the shoulder again. "I doubt Lord Sesshomaru will ever underestimate you again, Lady Kagome. Especially since you managed to give Tessaiga to Inuyasha and shoot him in the arm."
Kagome exhaled deeply and leaned back in her seat. "Why do you remember?"
Sesshomaru raised his eyebrow. "I never forgot."
"So… you were… uh, born with all your memories?" She winced at the thought, feeling sorry for whoever modern Sesshomaru's mother was. He must have been one awkward baby.
Sango snickered lightly and Kagome had a suspicion that she was thinking the same thing Kagome was.
"I never died," Sesshomaru said.
Kagome felt herself choke.
"Wait!" Miroku cried out. "Does that mean you don't remember Kagome-chan?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"My head hurts," Sango moaned. "This is so confusing. And I thought it would make more sense if Sesshomaru was here."
"So," Kagome said a little awkwardly as she sat down in a chair that was probably more expensive than her house (and everything in it, combined). "Are you like… a driver and butler all in one?" she asked the man.
He smiled at her, his teeth seemed to flash in the light. "You could say that."
Sesshomaru stared, his lips quirking upwards in what could be mistaken as a smile.
"Alright," Miroku said, with a sigh. He sipped the tea. "Let's start at the beginning. Kagome-sama?"
Kagome cleared her throat. "After I told the Shikon to disappear, I ended up at the bottom of the well." She eyed Sesshomaru. "You know, the well that allows me to transport between times?"
"Hn."
She twitched. "Anyway, the magic of the well ceased to work after the Jewel's disappearance and I just… returned to my former life for about a year. Then… um, due to some personal problems I decided to move in with my cousin, Ryoma, you know him…" She eyed the demon lord again. "And that's where everything began getting really strange.
"Apparently, my aunt thought that I had friends here… which I have absolutely no memories of."
Sesshomaru frowned.
"My friends," Kagome continued, "Being, of course, Sango, Miroku, Inuyasha, and… uh… yea…" She most definitely avoided the demon lord's eyes.
"I met Sango and Miroku again and both of them didn't remember our times back in the federal era. The only reason they remembered was because of me."
"We did and still do, however," Miroku cut in, "have memories of being friends with Kagome years ago when she used to visit her cousin. We might not remember the priestess Kagome-sama but we remember the child Kagome-chan. And now… we have two different set of memories."
The four of them fell silent.
Sesshomaru frowned. "About four hundred years ago," he began, "a human witch rose to power."
Kagome blinked.
"She gathered many followers, all humans." A pause. "And all of them directed their hatred towards demons, they believed that all the wrong in the world is the fault of demons. She was ignored at first since human uprisings were not uncommon but the witch was convinced that she had the ability to duplicate the Jewel."
More than one person paled.
"No one believed her," Sesshomaru continued. "The witch disappeared twenty years after her glory and many thought that she had died. She reappeared a hundred years after her original disappearance, shocking many and making her lingering followers wonder if she was a demon in disguise. She claimed she had the blessing of the gods and pulled out what appeared to be the Jewel."
Oh, gods.
"She called for an audience in front of the four lords and in front of us, demanded the jewel to erase the existence of demons."
Oh. My. God.
"A blinding light flashed forth from the jewel and when it all died down, the witch and the jewel disappeared and I was covered in a…" he trailed off and seemed to wrinkle his nose slightly in disgust. "…a light…"
Kagome leaned closer.
Sesshomaru cleared his throat. "Similar to that of your power's." He took a sip of his tea, clicking his claw against the smooth surface of his cup. "A week afterwards, lower-class demons began dying out. A month, stronger demons, and a year, only the oldest and strongest demons and their monuments remained."
Their monuments? She drew in a sharp breath. "That witch wanted to wipe out the fact that demons ever existed."
Silence.
"Are you…" Miroku asked slightly. "Dying?" Disappearing?
"No," he answered. "I remain, along with Inuyasha and a few others, unaffected."
Kagome blinked.
"Finally," Sesshomaru continued. "Sixteen years ago, I've begun sensing demonic aura and each year, I sense more and more."
"So…" Sango said, tilting her head. "The witch's curse is fading?"
"I doubt that," Sesshomaru answered. "You can't make a demon out of nothing." He turned his attention towards Kagome. "Tell me, priestess, how old are you?"
"Sixt—" Kagome twitched.
Sesshomaru nodded. "You don't understand," he said. "I do not like humans."
Kagome leaned closer to Sesshomaru again, clasping her hands in front of her. "I understand very well," she replied seriously.
The demon lord actually had to refrain from twitching at her words. "I would never wipe out the entire human existence. Even I have to fear the consequences."
Miroku nodded in understanding. "Indeed, the world must be balanced."
"Which means," Sango said, jumping in. "When the witch did whatever the witch did, she unbalanced it."
Kagome shuddered. "So the world's going to end?"
"Not if there has been… demon sightings, for the lack of a better term. Like Momoshiro's demonic tennis ball," Miroku pointed out. "Demons have been reappearing."
"And have been for the past sixteen years," Sesshomaru reminded. He glanced coolly at Kagome, "I doubt it's a coincidence."
Kagome swallowed hard. "What do you suppose it means?"
Sesshomaru stayed silent again for a few moments. Kagome's eyes widened as he lowered his head in a small bow of respect.
Oh. My. God, Kagome thought. She had always somewhat admired the older demon even back when they had been enemies and there might have been a part of Kagome that had always wanted Sesshomaru's respect or attention. But this… this was just downright frightening.
"Holy priestess, Guardian of the Shikon Jewel, you are to rise in power and bring balance to the world."
"Have you ever wished you were normal?" Kagome asked later that night as she rinsed a plate before handing it over to Ryoma to dry.
He stared. "I am normal."
"Yea," Kagome replied sadly. "That's what I thought too." She stared at the green plate in her hands and frowned. "Does this look familiar to you?"
Ryoma blinked. "You ate off of it today."
"That's not what I meant," Kagome muttered distantly. She glared at the plate. There truly was something about that plate that reminded her of something. She narrowed her eyes in concentration and then jumped in shock, giving off a yelp when her powers crackled to life, pink light danced across her hands.
Ryoma and Kagome stared at the young priestess's hands.
"Ryoma…" Kagome said softly, looking sideways at her cousin.
The young tennis prodigy sighed and grabbed the green plate out of her hands. He worked on getting it dried before placing it back into the cabinet. "Tell me when you're ready," he said, placing the drying cloth back where it belongs and began making his way out of the kitchen.
"Hey," Kagome said.
Ryoma turned his head in her direction.
Kagome smiled at him. "I love you."
"Che." He left the room.
Kagome smiled fondly and had a brief suspicion that Ryoma might have already called Souta. She shook her head and made her way up the stairs to prepare for bed. She doubted that he did but even if Ryoma had, he wouldn't let her know that he knew until she was ready for him to know. Like always, she knew that Ryoma would be there if she needed anyone to talk to.
That night, Kagome dreamt of green eyes.
There are two things I want to address:
1. Do not ask me who Kagome's ending up with. Do not spam me with Private Messages, asking me who Kagome's ending up with. I do not want to wake up with fourteen private messages from two people asking me who Kagome's ending up with. It's annoying. Stop.
As I have said in the last chapter: What makes you think, even for a second, that I will tell you? If I tell you that, what is the point of reading the story? I might as well tell you everything.
2. Do not ask me when I'm going to update the story. Especially if I just updated a day ago. Truthfully, I'm fine if it's been two weeks and I haven't updated but if I just updated not even five minutes ago and you're asking me for the next update, it makes me want to not update.
I'm not trying to be mean. Really, I'm not. I love writing (and improving my writing skills or lack thereof) but there are certain things that really, really annoy me. I love getting reviews and I won't go out on my way to demand them but if every single one of them is:
"Update. Update. Update. Update."
Or
"Who's Kagome going to end up with? Huh? Huh? Is it Fuji? Momoshiro? Sesshomaru? Inuyasha? Who? Who? Maybe Kikumaru? Or Kaidou? Who's Kagome going to end up with?"
No.
Just stop.
Stop.
Finally, I hope I'm not discouraging anyone from reviewing because I really love reading all your reviews (especially those that tell me what they like and don't like about the story). And really, I'm totally fine with:
"Great story! Love the chapter. Update whenever."
But if you're typing this out:
"When are you going to update?"
Especially ten minutes after I just updated, do not click that post button.
And once again, I'm not trying to be mean, really. And I apologize if I hurt anyone's feelings. Don't be afraid to review (I swear I don't bite) and tell me what you think of the story and I sincerely hope this will be my last rant. Ever.
Thank you for sticking with me.