Chapter 32 Past and Present

Through their connection, Kagome could feel that her boyfriend was intensely displeased by something, but she was unable to discern the exact reasons for it. Sitting in Kaede's hut, she had conceded to Sesshoumaru that some business was best left between youkai. Shortly after retrieving Sesshoumaru from the future, (where they both agreed it was safer to leave Shippou, Rin, and Kohaku) he had informed her that he could hear Jaken bickering loudly with someone and it involved Kouga.

The obvious implications of this had pleased neither of them, but Kagome agreed that it might be best if Sesshoumaru handled the matter privately. If Kouga thought that he could treat her the same way that he had in the past, he was in for a rude awakening. Possibly a fatal one. Although the Sesshoumaru of the modern era was not quite the same as Sesshoumaru of the feudal era, Kagome had little doubt that her boyfriend would end the life of anyone who tried to take liberties with her.

It was for that reason she was silently praying that Kouga wasn't stupid enough to enrage Sesshoumaru. She was fairly certain that no amount of pleading would save Kouga in that case.

Although reluctant to do nothing in the present situation, Kagome forced herself to remain silent as the drama between the youkai played itself out.

She was still thinking what could possibly be going on out there when the door to Kaede's hut squeaked open and Sesshoumaru entered.

"Kagome, Sango, Miroku," he began in an irritated voice. "We would appreciate your presence outside."


Souta was more than a little disturbed by recent events. As the news continued to report on what had occurred at the commercial district earlier, he found himself more unnerved rather than less that he had some clue of what was going on. The authorities were still utterly clueless as to what had happened and could only say that they were working on finding evidence for what caused the explosion.

Souta and his most recent companions knew what, or more accurately who, was behind it though. Of course, they weren't about to tell anyone. There wasn't a chance in hell that the news would accept or report that a crazed Chinese guy with inhuman power was trying to mess with time and most likely erase Japan from existence.

There had been a point in time where Souta would have thought it would be cool to be caught up in the adventures that his sister had.

That time had come and gone.

Now he desperately wished that the stupid well hadn't been reactivated and was more than a little envious of the people who had no clue that their lives were hanging in the balance. The only things between them and a rewritten history were his sister, her boyfriend, and whatever allies they could find in the past.

"The waiting and not knowing is maddening, isn't it?" Kohaku suddenly asked from behind Souta, startling him out of his reverie.

Turning around to face the boy, Souta for a moment had the impression he was talking to someone much older than fifteen. Kohaku's eyes seemed to have the kind of look his mother's eyes did. The look that said she had seen more in her life than she had wanted to remember.

"It's just that I'm used to things on the other side of the well being the source of a problem," Souta answered. "My sister has told me that there are youkai in this time too but nothing ever seemed to go wrong for it. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, pops up this Wei guy, damn near killing my sister and going back in time to do rearrange the present to his liking."

"So you believe your sister then? About what Wei wants?" Kohaku asked.

"Well, he sure isn't going back there just for sightseeing," Souta answered. "And from what Sess-"

"Sesshoumaru," Kohaku interrupted.

"From what Sesshoumaru said," Souta continued. "Wei doesn't seem to have the best interest of Japan at heart. By the way, why aren't Rin and Shippou with you?"

Kohaku sighed slightly. "They're in the kitchen. They decided that since they couldn't really do anything, and since they might be gone any instant, they were going to eat as much ice cream and other foods as possible."

"Well, aren't they just little paragons of virtue?" Souta said sarcastically.

Kohaku's face darkened. "Would you prefer they sit here in front of the 'TV,' brooding silently and accomplishing essentially nothing?"

"All our lives could be snuffed out in an instant," Souta hissed "and they're only stuffing their faces. It's like they don't care."

"From the moment we were born our lives have been in the shadow of death. Wei hasn't changed that," Kohaku returned. "Take it from someone who's been dead once; enjoy whatever you can out of life. Otherwise, you're just wasting time."

Not having a good response, Souta turned back to the TV and the reporter on it. Suddenly the scene on the TV seemed to ripple as though it were being submerged beneath an invisible wave. The reporter in front of the camera was abruptly cut off mid-sentence as the channel filled with a snowstorm of static and blaring white noise. Grabbing the remote, Souta turned to another channel only to be greeted by the same static and white noise. Trying several more channels yielded the same result.

Souta turned off the TV. "It seems we are experiencing some difficulties."

Kohaku nodded in silent affirmation, but continued to look at the TV intently. Souta had a pretty good guess as to why. Although it had been in only the glimmering of a moment, Souta had seen the reporter's eyes widen in surprise before the signal was lost.

Or perhaps it was fear.