Chapter 347: Ventilate
v. to give utterance to one's opinions, emotions, complaints, etc.
Disclaimer: I do not own that which belongs to another.
A low rumble set across the temple, sand and rocks bouncing around her ankles. Kagome's eyes widened as she continued her slow approach to the entrance of the enormous temple.
"Miko," grumbled a deep voice, a shock of wind blowing Kagome backwards. Fighting to stay standing Kagome felt a relieved grin stretch at the corners of her mouth.
"Shukaku-sama," greeted Kagome, bowing deeply at her hips in respect.
"I see you have come to bask in this One's greatness," boasted the one-tailed demon, a sandy claw reaching from the darkness, as the Tanuki found his way into the light.
"I did," agreed Kagome easily, carefully watching the demon through her eyelashes, gracefully kneeling on the hard stone floor before Shukaku. "Shukaku-sama, Gaara told me how you helped save the world, Ebizō told me how you helped their ancestors, and I…"
Shukaku's spine straightened, his chin tilted backward in pride as he huffed out a chuckle of delight.
"I wanted to thank you, for helping Gaara, and… I was hoping," Kagome paused, biting the inside of her lip, nervously shifting, "Could you tell me about your beginning?"
Shukaku grumbled lowly in his throat, golden pupils watching Kagome's shifting figure, "very well."
Gaara's heart hammers in his chest, sweat slick on his palms, and his mind reels as it tries to grasp what to say. He opens and closes his mouth in a few failed attempts to start a conversation with the beautiful woman before him. Her eyes demurely cast down, avoiding making direct contact with him. His gut twists in some strange mixture of anxiety and disappointment, leaving him off kilter.
"Do you… have any hobbies?" Gaara finally settles on, a hesitant spark reaching his eyes as he imagines what Naruto might have done in this situation. He could have considered what Kagome would have done, her friendliness a thing of wonder, but the thought left a sour taste in his mouth as disappointment strangled him. He misses her. They haven't even been apart for one whole night, but he feels her missing presence like a missing limb.
The woman gives a small smile, that barely touches her lips as she answers Gaara's question. Gaara can't help but mentally compare it to another well-cherished, cheery grin, unchecked by public expectation. The eyes of the crowd are bearing down on Gaara, and the pulse of self-conscious awareness beats oppressively down on him.
In a daze Kagome directed her feet to meander through downtown. The sun had long since set, and a chill settled into the desert air as the unbearable heat of the day was lost into the uninsulated night. Her mind was in a whirl as it judiciously considered Shukaku's history. A thousand years and nothing had resembled the bustling society that Kagome had grown up in. Just how far into the future had Kagome been catapulted? Was this why she had not been able to return?
"Kagome!" cried a familiar voice, their words slow and slurred. With a puff of amusement Kagome turned towards the staggering figure on the opposite side of the square.
"Kankuro, I didn't realize you had finished your mission!" called Kagome, quickly scampering across the courtyard to brace her stumbling friend against her side.
"He got back just in time for the party," teased Temari, slinking up to the two of them from the shadows.
"Party?" queried Kagome, a curious tilt to her head as she spotted Baki just through the doorway that Temari and Kankuro had exited, "Is this a political thing?"
"Yes," griped Kankuro, his eyebrows drawn down in a scowl, while Temari snickered.
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