Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Props to Rumiko Takahashi for her skill and prowess.

Chapter 5

When Kagome and Inuyasha were on stable ground on her side of the well, the miko found the taiyoukai still standing at the bottom, supporting himself with a hand on the wall. Being that the inside of the well felt cramped, Inuyasha leapt out, leaving the two still at the bottom.

"What's wrong, Sesshoumaru?" She asked, watching as he scrunched up his nose in a rare show of displeasure.

"What is that smell? I have never experienced a scent like it." Laughter resounded from above, a clear sign that Inuyasha had known this would happen. Kagome shook her head before she started climbing the rungs of the ladder her grandfather and brother had installed so she could get out without Inuyasha's help. By the time she'd made it to the top, Sesshoumaru had composed himself and was standing beside his brother.

"Pollution. What you smell is pollution and car fumes and possibly human waste. Give it a few hours and you'll get used to it." Inuyasha explained with an unwelcome hand upon the young lord's shoulder. Taking it back at the glare he received, Inuyasha's grin was there to stay as he slid open the well-shrine doors and made his way toward the Higurashi residence happily. Kagome stuck behind with Sesshoumaru and kept pace with him as he intensely inspected everything his senses relayed to him.

"What is 'car fumes'?" He asked after a minute. Kagome sighed internally, dreading all of the questions that had yet to come. Like the first time around was any fun, she mused bitterly, I might not have thought everything through after all. "Miko," the inuyoukai broke her out of her musings.

"Well, a car is a mode of transportation that works because of the mechanical engine inside of it. You put gas inside of it and it makes it go. It rolls on four wheels and is steered with a circle steering-wheel that you grip with your hands. When a car is on, the gas inside is burned away and it releases fumes, or gas, into the air. Car fumes." She tried explaining before they finally crossed the threshold of her home, knowing he wouldn't fully understand. It surprised her when he did't further question it but she happily let it slide, not looking forward to the question game.

"Mama?" The miko called out, slipping off her shoes and motioning for Sesshoumaru to do the same. He grudgingly obliged and followed after her in his socks.

"In the kitchen dear!" Ms. Higurashi answered, already laughing as Inuyasha picked up Buyo and started messing with the chubby cat as per usual. Kagome and the youkai at her heels joined the two in the kitchen, almost surprised to find her grandfather in there too with sutras in his hand.

"Don't do it, old man." Inuyasha warned absently as he pulled at the cat's paws. "My brother is much more dangerous than I am."

Kagome rolled her pretty eyes at the scene and patiently waited for her gramps to put away his sutras. Once the useless things were out of sight, she grabbed at Sesshoumaru's sleeve and pulled him further into the room.

"Sesshoumaru, it's nice to meet you." Ms. Higurashi bowed politely at the young lord and he returned the favour with a slight nod of the head. He did not bow to those below him, even if in this time he was not the lord of the west. Or, was he? Would he live to see this age on his own time? It was only five hundred years away; an amount of time he'd already lived past. 500 years was nothing to a taiyoukai if he didn't get slain. "I'm Ms. Higurashi but you can call me Hitomi if you would like." She smiled softly at the tall demon lord before resuming her task of making tea.

"Ji-chan, say hello to Sesshoumaru, will ya?" Kagome saw him open his mouth and cut him off before he could stop. "And no digs about his origins, race or any other disrespectful comment you're thinking of making. In the Sengoku Jidai, Sesshoumaru is the lord of the west."

With as much reluctance as an old man could show, her grandpa bowed his head and gruffly greeted the tall inu, making Inuyasha laugh. Kagome ignored it all in favour of looking at the clock. Souta would only be back from school in another 3 hours. That left a whole afternoon of boredom. Or so she thought. Half an hour and a lot of curt words later, Sesshoumaru was sitting uncomfortably on one of the kitchen chairs and telling Ms. Higurashi of the curse placed on her only daughter while Inuyasha loudly complained at the video-game he was playing in the living-room. Through all of that, Kagome was trying to talk to Ayumi over the phone while her gramps grumpily grabbed the broom from the closet to go sweep outside.

"Oh my," Ms. Higurashi brought a hand to her heart. "Could you recite the curse word for word to me? There could be something about it in a book." With a worried glance toward her eldest child, she thanked Kami that her father or Souta didn't hear this conversation.

"Dreams and realities become unclear, what is unreal is only as real as it appears. When cared for faces leave your memory, questions rise of their authenticity. Paranoia and fear will climb the ladder of your mind, logic and sanity left far behind. Desire to figure real from fake a main ingredient in newly acquired blood thirst, only the death caused by your hand will ring true to the one who is cursed. Mind lost like a wall taken down brick by agonizing brick, even the most fervent encouragements won't do the trick. Only one may save you yet, or may you forever be nothing more than a killer pet."

As Ms. Higurashi stared on at the taiyoukai in deep thought, Kagome squealed over the phone. "No, it's fine, I'll meet you there. Thanks Ayumi!" In the living-room, Inuyasha's gruff voice let out a, "Damn it all!" And outside, Sesshoumaru could hear the man of the house mutter to himself about killer demons and their unwanted presence in his life. The whole experience, coupled with the sound of the cars outside and the airplane flying overhead were a great aggravation to his ears. Without a word, he stood and walked over to Kagome who was hastily scribbling something down on a piece of paper with a thing called a pencil. She turned and jumped when she saw him there, so accustomed to his aura that she couldn't even feel it anymore.

"Hey Sesshoumaru, what's up?" She asked before folding the little paper in half and stuffing it into her pocket. He blankly stared at her as she contemplated his facial markings with a thoughtful expression. A few seconds ticked by before she nodded to herself and smiled, her glee back with a vengeance.

"Mama, do you have any concealer? I'd like to bring Sesshoumaru along with us when Inuyasha and I go to the store but he can't actually go out in public with those colourful marks on his face." Ms. Higurashi, having composed herself and determined to look up Feudal legends while they were out, nodded and stood. She made her way upstairs to get her makeup from her room, happy that she had light toned foundation because Sesshoumaru's skin was fair and flawless.

Inuyasha joined his brother and his best friend in the kitchen then, having given up on the impossible ninja game. He swung his arm around Kagome's shoulders and she leaned on him, the action as familiar as having him in her home. She picked up a cap from the counter top by the doorway and he clucked his tongue in annoyance at the ugly hat.

"Really? Why can't your people just accept my ears? That little girl a while back loved them so much she made a drawing of them for the TV guys." The hanyou complained as he watched Kagome motion for Sesshoumaru to sit at the table once Ms. Higurashi came back with her compact of powdered foundation. Once the taiyoukai was settled, the miko slid away from Inuyasha's one-armed embrace and took the makeup from her mother.

"Now, now Inuyasha, you know why you have to wear the hat. People are afraid of what they aren't familiar with and it wouldn't do to have them all panicking while you guys are trying to shop. Crowds would form, people would scream, you could get arrested. It's a very simple situation." The matriarch of the household chuckled quietly at the scene unfolding in her head and simply left her daughter with the two silver-haired brothers so she could go do the laundry. A mother's duty stopped for nothing; not even a powerful youkai who was about to get his makeup done while his foul-mouthed brother complained about wearing a hat to cover his dog ears.

Kagome opened up the compact and dabbed the little pad into the powder before bringing it up to the taiyoukai's face. However, before she could actually reach his cheek with it, his deadly hand was wrapped around her small wrist to stop her. With a glare, he tried to make her back off but she only waited for him to release her. He didn't.

"Come on Sesshoumaru, it's only makeup! All it does is cover things we don't want other people to see. It's totally harmless!"

With great reluctance, a little bit of growling from the taiyoukai and a few amused giggles from Kagome later, his markings were finally covered. Stepping back from her masterpiece, Kagome gasped when he opened his bright golden eyes. She could barely believe how attractive he looked without his markings; though he was much more with them. She had thought that the disappearance of his marking would have ruined his beauty but she had been wrong. So completely wrong.

"Stop ogling at my brother and get ready! We have to go to the store." Inuyasha grumbled as he swept past his best friend, rolling his eyes at the look on her face. Wait a minute, he thought to himself, she used to look at me like that…

With a gleam in her eye and a flush to her cheeks, Kagome ran up to her room and quickly got changed into a comfortable yet cute outfit; a skirt and a sweater with some knee high socks. Before long, she was out the front door and in her year, watching the inu brothers glare at each other while simultaneously trying to ward off her grandpa who was having a go at both of them with his useless sutras. It was all a great source of amusement for the Higurashi women until Sesshoumaru's hand reached for his Bakusaiga.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold the phone, men! Ji-chan, stop trying to kill my friends! Sesshoumaru, don't even think about pulling out your sword in this era! Inuyasha, uhh, keep doing nothing!" Kagome stepped in, placing herself between the strong youkai and her frail grandfather. Ms. Higurashi took it as her cue to grasp her father's arm and coerce him into the house. With a huff and her hands on her hips, the miko lifted her chin and started marching towards the arch and steps that lead away from her home and into the city.

Surprisingly enough, Sesshoumaru didn't ask that many questions. He kept to himself most of the trip, silently taking it all in and trying to work out the logics on his own. Everything anyone wanted was just there, waiting to be bought. There was no travelling, negotiating or buying multiple objects to make the finished product you want yourself. These stores were perhaps one of the weirdest things about the future. That and the lack of modesty people had. The young women who walked around with their assets nearly bear for everyone to see while they chatted on portable devices about their recent hook-ups and their next victims. What also made him uneasy was how completely at ease Inuyasha was with it all, as if he'd grown up into it like the miko. And then there was the very open, obviously lusting stares directed at the brothers by females of all ages and even many men.

"Ooh, I almost forgot!" Kagome stopped in her steps a few feet after they left the food store. "I have to meet up with Ayumi at the Fro-Yo place!" And then she turned on her heels, taking the inu brothers and their sensitive hearing right into a shop that smelled like fruit and teen spirit. The taiyoukai positively hated it. The feeling intensify when Kagome's friend made herself known, taking over and dragging the miko along. Not one to take nonsense for long, Sesshoumaru turned to his brother with knotted brows.

"How much longer must I suffer through this endless torture?" Not one to usually voice out his dread or be over dramatic, the demon lord surprised his brother with those words. Sadly, Inuyasha was feeling the strain of the outing as well.

"Keh, I dunno. Go ask her yourself. And use her actual name, not that miko bullshit if her friend is in hearing distance. Nobody 'xcept her family knows 'bout her adventures in our time or about her powers." The hanyou casually warned, crossing his bag-covered arms over his chest. Reluctantly, Sesshoumaru did just as his little brother said, anxious to get it all over with so they could return to the past and get some answers.

Quietly stalking over to the chattering teenage duo, the great inu patiently stood at the priestess' side until she broke the conversation so he could speak. Too bad she completely ignored his presence and kept on gossiping as if he was not standing right beside her. With more irritation than he dared to show in a place packed with so many humans, he broke his silence to get her attention.

"Kagome…" It was uncertain; his mouth and mind not used to addressing her as so, even if it was her name. She'd always just been "the miko", except that one time he asked the undead priestess about her during the whole Menomaru/Hyouga ordeal. That pathetic moth wanna-be.

"Oh!" Kagome startled, almost as if she hadn't noticed him at all. "Sesshoumaru, is something wrong?" She directed the question at the tall, silver-haired male at her right shoulder, her chin lifting to look up at him from her seat across one of her only modern-day friends. Gosh, I've been asking him that a lot lately. It's almost as if I'm worried about him. Well, I sort of am but I'm making it so obvious that the guy probably thinks I'm a meddling girlfriend or something.

"Is your business done here? This environment is not very…comfortable and we really must take care of other things. Things that are more important than," He searched his jumbled mind for the end-tail of conversation he'd picked up from the pair while standing there. "Territory class and attractive boys." The words were uncomfortable on his tongue and he resisted the urge to grimace.

"You mean geometry," The miko laughed, outright amused at his attempt to understand what hey were talking about. Technically, it is a class about territory, she conceded in her mind only, not giving the stoic dog any slack.

"Speaking of cute boys, are you Inuyasha's brother?" The other girl inquired, taking in his similar hair and eye color. Completely ignoring the strange human, he turned his gaze back to Kagome and squinted his eyes just barely. He wanted an answer. Either way, he was going to leave soon, whether she'd be showing him the way back willingly or Inuyasha would be playing the modern-era guide.

"Okay, okay, fine. Jeez, who knew you could be this much of a downer." Kagome mumbled as she turned back to Ayumi to finally retrieve the notes she was supposed to get in the first place. "Sesshy is a party pooper." She smiled a wide, fake smile at Ayumi with her words, aware of the sudden change in the demon at her side caused by them. Oh, she'd be getting it as soon as they were back at her place. First she smears powder on my face and now she dares to humiliate me with words. Either she forgets who is truly alpha or the curse is really toying with her already unstable sanity. No matter, she will not be let off for her transgressions on my person.

That's how the teenager found herself sitting at her kitchen table with her mother, her best friend, her little brother and a silently pissed taiyoukai. Sesshoumaru was done waiting around while she frolicked in her time. He was responsible for dragging her into the damned witch's curse and he was about ready to get it broken so he could stop feeling the…the guilt in his chest. He hadn't felt guilt since…since a long time ago and the feeling was not welcome.

"Dear," Ms. Higurashi broke the tense silence at the table. They'd all been sitting there wordlessly for nearly ten minutes and she was feeling about on the same line as the older inu. She'd found an old story; a story of a curse place on a young priestess, a curse easily broken if all the parties played nice. "Who do you love?" The question caught her daughter off guard, a red hue rising on her cheeks.

"Mama, what are you getting to? You know I don't…" The miko almost choked on her words when Inuyasha scoffed and mumbled about that whole situation between them having passed. Kagome felt entirely the same but it was still strange to hear someone say it out loud.

"Not in that way, Kagome. I found something while you were out and I think this could help. Who do you love? Just name some people and I'll figure the rest out, honey." Ms. Higurashi reassured, a soft smile on her lips. If she could find it, that one name her daughter would catch on, she could help. She just needed to know who lied where in the mess that had befallen her eldest child.

"Well, uhh, I love Shippou. I love Sango and Miroku and Kirara. I love…Inuyasha," She listed off, meriting a "Love ya too, brat," from the previously mentioned hanyou. "I love you, mom. Souta and Ji-chan, too. I love Yuka, Eri and Ayumi. I love Kaede-baa-chan. I love Rin and Kohaku and even Mushin and Hachi. I love Ginta, Hakkaku and even Kouga in a strange type of player-friend way." She continued to list off thoughtfully, not yet giving Ms. Higurashi what she was looking for. "I love Jinenji, I love all the half-demon children we met with on Horai Island." She paused then, uncertain, before swatting her hand in a defeated yet playful manner. "And heck, I'll put the big dog out of his misery. I love Sesshoumaru too, despite his closed off nature and unapproachable way of holding himself. Though, I won't fall to his feet like Jaken does anytime soon." The young miko laughed then, a visual of the eager-to-please toad entering her mind. Jaken was lovable too, if you looked past his grumpy exterior when he wasn't grovelling at Sesshoumaru's feet.

"You do not love me, miko. You are too quick to use the word, as you are too quick to trust. You confuse the sentiment with affection when the two are worlds apart." The taiyoukai spoke up, breaking out of his fuming silence. He was uncomfortable with the human emotion being associated with him. The emotion may not be exclusively humane, he thought bitterly, but it is one I have no need for. She misplaces her heart indeed.

"Hey, shut up ya stiff bastard," Here a strict reprimand from Ms. Higurashi gave the half-demon short pause. "Not because ya don't like it that you gotta brush it off. For some unimaginable reason, some people actually love you. Keh, don't know how that happened, but ya gotta deal with it. I know you love some people too, ya ass." Kagome turned to Inuyasha with a soft smile after his short speech and almost let out an awed sound at the way he was trying to protect her and her feelings. How considerate.

"Inuyasha, tell me, in a sort of strained way, don't you love your brother too?" The priestess wondered out loud at his expense, not quite willing to give up on the mean teasing of their past. Besides, he could lie all he wanted, but she knew there was some love in his heart for the brother he never truly had yet was always there, in the shadows.

"Keh, like I said, I don't understand why people actually love the passive freak," the hanyou grumbled, shooting an uneasy glare at his older brother to catch any sort of reaction. "But yeah, he's my brother. I'm not crazy 'bout the guy but I wouldn't want him dead either. He's the only blood I got left and that merits him some kind of affection, I guess." Even if he spent a year trying to kill me and take my Tetsusaiga when he couldn't even hold it. Asshole.

"You are a fool, little brother. If you think I feel the same way-"

"I ain't lookin' for no damn love confession from you! I think you've properly established in the past how ya feel 'bout bein' related to a half-breed and I don't care one bit about it! So shut the hell up and just…" The red-cloaked hanyou suddenly sprung to his feet. "Why are we even talkin' about this? This is stupid." And he was gone before anyone could say anything.

"Oh, Kami," Kagome whispered, loud enough for the other three to hear anyway. "I never knew. How did I not know?" She worried her bottom lip, her eyes wide in worry. Was Inuyasha really that messed up over the fact that Sesshoumaru didn't hold him dearly in his heart? I mean, it was never a secret. There has to be more to it than that…

If she knew anything about the inuhanyou, it was his knack for running away from his feelings. If she was bold enough to assume so, he was gone farther than just outside. By now he'd already be back in the Sengoku Jidai, sitting in the branches of the Goshinboku with that blank expression he got when he didn't want to feel anything.

A good bath, a night of studying and a refill of my backpack; that's all I need. Then, I'll find him and help him sort those unresolved feelings out. All the guy wanted was family…and now he has it but not in the way he feels he deserves. Poor Inuyasha…

Author's note:

Hi, yes, it's me and I am alive. I had a lot of work this week and could only fit writing in the spare time I had at night before I fell comatose for a few hours. For those reasons, my writing may seem rushed and lacking detail. I strongly apologize for that! But, but, buuuut….things of importance pertaining to the spell will actually start happening next chapter! Yayy, no more stalling with little fluff scenes and useless dialogue! Alright, that's it for now, I'm going to get some "Zs" so I can actually be productive at work tomorrow! Stay beautiful –Nat :)