AUTHOR'S CONER:
Gomen, it's not as long as I'd hoped, but here it is, and it's early too! I managed to get up with enough time to update before work! X3
To answer everyone's question, no, the story does not end here and YES! Much more story is on the way! I still have to get our favorite couple together and perhaps figure out how to produce some kids! But I won't make it easy on them! So you'll just have to find out what happens later! Enjoy!
Chapter 19
Sesshomaru sat at his desk, letting his mask slip for once and massaging the raging headache he was developing. Twenty years had passed since he'd returned from the future. No one had known where he had been or even if he had survived the battle with Naraku and he'd returned to anarchy. His subjects had seen Rin's and Jaken's remains as well as smelt his blood on the battlefield, but could find no trace of Naraku or Sesshomaru, so they assumed the worst and the more powerful of his court tried to take his position and his rule.
This had been squashed quickly upon his return. However, it had taken him some time to reassure his subjects that yes, indeed, he had returned and that HE and HE ALONE was lord of the western lands and re-establish his rule.
Currently he was trying to prevent a war and was failing miserably. The southern lord was determined to have the western lands and would stop at nothing to get them. Of course, when Sesshomaru had returned and found the lord in his lands trying to wrest power away from his loyal subjects and take over the western lands. He had been less than thrilled and had thrown the lord out on his head, literally. Now the snake youkai was preparing for war, continuing to insist that Sesshomaru was somehow changed and was no longer fit to rule.
Ken'ichi, lord of the southern lands had declared war less than a year ago. The snake youkai had been trying to gather support with the other ruling lords and lesser nobles, but many were hesitant to go against the taiyoukai of the west, son of Inu no Taisho. Ken'ichi's basis of accusation lay completely on the fact that the lord had been absent quite a bit while hunting Naraku and then had disappeared without a trace for an entire week after the death of his half brother and the evil hanyou.
The lord of the south, despite advice against this was now gathering an army with the intentions of taking over the west by force. In the north, Lord Takehiko who has been a long time ally of the west immediately sided with Sesshomaru and was amassing his own considerable army to march with Sesshomaru's. The east was under the current rule of Lady Yoko on the eastern shore whose husband was killed in an accident while she was visiting friends on the continent. Yoko had yet to take a new mate and was hesitant to enter into war without a strong male to lead. She was no one to sniff at, however, she felt the army might not listen or rally as strongly behind female rule. It would take time to find a new mate and right now her allegiances weren't strong enough to simply hand over to either the northern or western lords. Yoko had claimed neutrality in the upcoming war, though she saw eye to eye with the other two lords.
Outwardly, no one could detect any change in the stoic youkai, he was as icy and vicious as ever, however, inwardly, the demon couldn't seem to shake the memories of a certain bubbly and violent human miko. In the dark of night when he lay in bed attempting to rest his thoughts would be plagued by soft lips and an equally soft body, the sound of giggling and the painfully absent scent of sakura blossoms and spring water.
During his days, Sesshomaru forced himself to be busy with his preparations for war, not that it was terribly difficult mind you, however in those quiet moments when he lay down to rest his thoughts were ever turbulent. Right after his return he found himself hoping uncharacteristically that a way to reach her again would be found and that he would be able to once again be in her presence.
As the days passed, his heart grew cold once more and the wall she had so carefully melted began to close over again. He became more distant and more unapproachable, even for his allies and those he had known for a long time. For a little while, bitterness even found its way into his heart before it was squashed. The taiyoukai of the west had no time nor need for ridiculous feelings such as longing and bitterness. Systematically and thoroughly, he began to bury the memories of a smiling miko and replacing them with thoughts of war and bloodshed, as he had been before the cursed miko had affected him.
In a last ditch effort his conscience kept digging her up and refusing to let him bury her memory completely, forcing thoughts of their last days together into his mind at the most inappropriate times. He might see her again, his conscience reasoned, he would live a long time, it would be possible to meet her again. These thoughts only made him angrier and left him in foul moods that would last for days. Outwardly however, his subjects noticed nothing save for the fact that he ruled with a heavier hand than he used to. Many attributed it to the fact that the little ningen girl that used to travel with him was now dead and he was no longer weakened by her presence.
Sighing inwardly, he tried to shake his thoughts of her and focus on the coming war and the alliances he was forging instead of blue eyes and rosy lips, but nothing he did worked. Twenty years and still he could not forget her. Suppressing a groan and picking up the next missive he was trying to read he realized it was going to be a long couple of centuries.
Kagome shifted in her chair boredly. She hated seminar. All they did was lecture and make every student fall asleep. It had been six years since the disappearance of Sesshomaru. Kagome had graduated from high school with high honors and had been accepted to Tokyo University where she had taken up Ancient History and Archaeology as a double major. It was her last semester and she was set to graduate at the close of the year.
Through all her accomplishments, she still felt strangely empty and alone. It had taken her a little time to get used to the fact that her life in the past was completely over, but she couldn't help hoping that she might get the chance to see the one person who linked her to her past again. For months she had searched long and hard through all sorts of records for Sesshomaru, hoping that he had made it. Some sign that he was alive somewhere, but it had all been fruitless. The last known account of the powerful demon had been during one of the demon wars. The one where demons were almost completely eradicated by a group of humans. The accounts were unclear and it seemed as if some of the facts were more assumption and legend than actual fact, but it was the last documented evidence of the taiyoukai of the west and she treasured it, despite the fact that it might in actuality be his obituary.
Kagome had dedicated her life to setting right the inaccuracies in ancient Japanese history, so she had taken up History and Archaeology as her majors when she'd been accepted to college and had excelled.
Her teachers commended her on her passion and uncanny knowledge of the feudal era and her ability to 'visualize' the layout of the land and the way things happened. They were especially pleased with her knowledge of miko and houshi traditions and ceremonies as well as their modus opperandum.
Though she wasn't entirely sure why, because it definitely wasn't needed in the future, she had continued her swordsmanship. She had searched long and hard for a proper swordsman trainer who would teach her the techniques that Sesshomaru had begun and then be able to continue them and finish off her training. Eventually she managed to find a retired swordsmanship instructor who taught a rather unorthodox form of swordsmanship. It was unorthodox because he taught his students how to kill instead of 'banty swords around like children with toys rather than an artisan with his most prized tool.' The sensei had been reluctant to teach the young woman, scoffing at her when she had first approached him, but when she'd unsheathed Fubuki and displayed her current knowledge, he changed his tune, recognizing something good when he saw it.
The teacher was impressed with how quickly she picked up the techniques and was more than surprised at the repertoire of skills she already knew. He surmised that she had been taught by a real fighter, and a damn good one at that, however she would never reveal any of her previous experiences.
Fubuki fascinated him as well. The sword was of incredible make, a form of metallurgy that he had never seen before. The blue tint to the blade and the amazingly sharp edge made him question the origin of the katana, but her only answer was that it was a family heirloom passed down over time and that it was not for sale.
Though he was disappointed, he held his tongue and trained her to the best of his abilities. Under his critical eye, he watched her go from a young girl with some good skills and an untrained body, to a young woman whose muscles were formed for swordsmanship and her movements were fluid and very comfortable with a sword. Kagome insisted that they train at least twice a week despite her school schedule and she was faithful in her training right through high school and into college. By the time she was a sophomore he had nothing left to teach her and he insisted that she should compete, however she would hear nothing of it. Her life was too busy to do something like compete.
Her swordsmanship training was kept very separated from her miko training and she was extremely careful to do her sentient sword training out of her sensei's presence. When with him, Fubuki was a normal sword. Outside of her training with her sensei, she did extensive work with the elemental, learning the attacks and how to bring the power within the sword to bear, mix it with her own miko energy and create attacks that would rival those of Tetusaiga.
Fubuki was not a houshi by any stretch of the imagination, but he had been held in the hands of a miko for so many years that he had learned the tricks of the trade and had gladly taught the modern miko everything he knew as well as some other tricks of an elemental that carried over. They spent long training sessions out in the field that Sesshomaru used to take her to, though she had to bike there instead of being carried since the taiyoukai was no longer around.
Somehow, when she gripped her sword and felt the flux of her miko powers within her veins she felt closer to the taiyoukai separated from her by time.
Kagome's attention was drawn back to the teacher lecturing in front of the class as he began to hand out the subject of everyone's seminar. Each student had a different subject matter so that it was impossible for students to cheat or copy another's work. The little miko received her paper and glanced briefly at it. They were usually extraordinarily hard and this one caused a lump to form in her throat.
Obviously her interest in the demon wars and finding Sesshomaru had been noticed by her teacher because her seminar project was to head to the small and very much unnoticed ancient shrine down south and bring back information, pictures and a few other odds and ends about it, and then write a report about the war the shrine was dedicated to using the information she'd gathered.
She put the paper in her bag with a sigh. The only good thing about their reports was that they usually had to travel to accomplish them and were given large chunks of time off from school to do their information gathering, organizing and report writing. Well, time to head south.
A day later found Kagome on the highway heading south, following the instructions the teacher had provided in order to find the forgotten shrine. Supposedly, the shrine stood in the middle of where a massive battle had been held. It was supposed to be one of the last battles of the demon wars before the fall of the demons. Perhaps she would find a hint about whether or not Sesshomaru had been there.
A slow smile spread over the miko's face as she remembered the past few years and all her studies. It had come as quite a surprise and quite flattering to discover that she had been written into history. Oh, of course it wasn't her name specifically and quite a few details had been lost, however she had found the tale of the hanyou pinned to the tree who had eventually come back to life and with the help of a beautiful and powerful miko had destroyed a great evil and then both mysteriously disappeared from the land.
Kagome's smile faded slightly as she considered her project once again. When she'd gone online and researched the location of the shrine and matched up its location in association with what the land might have looked like back then as well as her knowledge of the layout of the land, it appeared that the battle had been fought on what was most likely the neutral territory between the southern and western lands. If Sesshomaru had been alive at this point, which she was almost sure of, then that would mean that this was more than likely a battle fought between his own army and the army of the south. To her knowledge, when she had left for the last time she hadn't known of any sort of arising conflict between the lords, but then Sesshomaru had never been one to talk about things like that.
Briefly, her thoughts rested on the stoic demon and her failed attempts at other relationships. She blamed him entirely. Ever since he'd disappeared, she couldn't help but compare every boy who wanted to date her to a certain silver haired dog demon, and naturally, they never stood a chance. Of course it didn't help that a particularly cute and chibified version of Sesshomaru ran around in her head saying "see, I told you so!" every time she had another failed relationship. Sighing bitterly to herself, she remembered that she had long ago given up trying to find someone to replace the demon since she knew there wasn't one. Or at least, the last she had heard of him he was five hundred years in the past and rather inaccessible.
Turning her little car off the main road, she drove down a heavily wooded road for quite some time before her directions sent her off on another side dirt road. The young woman drove down this road for quite a while longer before finally seeing a faded and fairly old sign for the shrine, indicating that it was just up ahead.
After a few more minutes of driving, the shrine finally came into sight. Kagome parked the car in the small parking alcove and exited the vehicle, taking a good look at the scenery around her. The shrine was surrounded by heavy woods now, though supposedly at the time of the battle it was all open field land. The land was now currently reserved property, meaning it was being held as off limits to build on in order to preserve the wildlife in the area. Kagome's eyes fell on the ramshackle shrine that sat nestled in the arm of the forest, covered in debris from many years of disrepair and disuse.
Continuing to look around her in interest, she pulled Fubuki out of the car and strapped him across her back as had become custom with her. The young miko was never far from the sword and in her studies, she had found that when traveling and studying Archaeology it was unwieldy to have him strapped to her side, so she'd become used to attaching him in a shoulder harness and drawing him from behind her shoulder. After settling him comfortably between her shoulder blades, she pulled her bag and video camera from the back seat, shut the door and approached the shrine, videotaping parts she would need for later and generally just getting a good look at the surrounding area before heading inside.
It was a warm day and the sun was shining brightly, so Kagome had dressed comfortably in a tank top and mid-thigh shorts complete with hiking boots and sturdy socks in case she had to do any walking. Her almost butt length black hair was pulled back loosely in a ponytail, letting stray hairs frame her face and neck.
The shrine was dark and damp inside. Striding to one side, she threw open the shuttered windows letting some light and air in before taking a look around. In the middle of the floor was the center piece of the shrine. The information had been lost, but supposedly something important had happened on that spot that had changed the course of the battle. Kagome approached the waist high monument, circling it with her video camera, getting a few close up shots before putting the camera to the side and crouching down to examine it more closely.
The monument was made of rough hewn stone and had markings on it that had almost been completely scratched away and wiped clean. The legend was that a group of holy men had found the monument shortly after the demon wars had ended and demons had been erased from existence. In their desperation to complete the genocide of the demons they removed the shrine, trying to scratch away the etchings and remove all evidence of any demon victories. Centuries later, the stone had been found and put back where they assumed it had been before, using the markings in the ground left from when the stone had been situated previously. The shrine house had been erected around it to help prevent any more damage to the monument and help preserve what had been lost, but it was no use. There was no one alive that could read the strange scribbles in the rock, nor did they know if it was still accurate or if the holy men had done too much damage to it to make it even readable.
Kagome leaned closer to the rock, kneeling down on one leg to reach out and touch the rock reverently. There, etched in the rock for all to see was the same ancient demon writing that Sesshomaru had used when he had come to high school with her that day so long ago. She couldn't read it of course, but it looked exactly the same, though greatly faded and chipped because of the abuse it had seen.
Kagome's head came forward and her forehead rested against the rock, her eyes slid closed and her fingers slowly traced the familiar etchings in the rock. Letting her mind wander she imagined herself back at that battle, Sesshomaru standing in front of his troops in his familiar hakama with his tail over his right shoulder and Tōkijin in his hand, hair blowing magnificently in the wind. The sound of steel and cries of death heavy in the air. Oh how she wished she knew the outcome of that battle! The shrine was simply evidence that something had happened to change the tide of the battle, but no facts could be found to say which side had won or what had happened.
Cool rough stone slid against her fingers as she sighed deeply. If only I could find out. If only there was some way I could see what happened to him. Oh, Kami! I wish there was some way for me to see him again! I wish I could see what happened here!
Kagome gasped as an overwhelming pulse of power ran through her. Panting slightly in pain, she doubled over, one hand holding her chest and the other braced against the wooden floor. White erupted before her dazed eyes before shifting to a familiar blue and an intense feeling of vertigo overtook her. Briefly she thought she heard her own voice very far away cry out in despair and weep, but she never got the chance to examine that because very suddenly and unexpectedly the vertigo stopped and the world solidified around her once again.
The feeling of relief disappeared like mist in the sun when it wasn't the shrine house that solidified around her, but a very loud, very bloody battlefield.
Oh, Kami… where am I and what have I done?