Morning sun had barely grazed the horizon when the heavy door to Kagome's dungeon cell creaked open. Fuyuki, the amami rabbit demon, stood at the threshold, her expression stern and unyielding. She was not alone; two silent guards flanked her, their presence a visual reminder of the pecking order within Kimiko's mansion.
"You've caused quite the commotion last night," Fuyuki began, her voice sharp as she gestured for Kagome to follow her. As they walked through the dimly lit corridors, Fuyuki's steps were brisk, signaling her irritation.
Kagome, whose mind was still a whirlwind from the previous night's events, nodded meekly. She allowed the older woman's vexation to calm as their steps slowed down a bit until she ventured a cautious question. "Fuyuki-sama, may I ask who the guests were last night?"
Fuyuki's gaze narrowed suspiciously at the inquiry. "Why does that concern a human like you?" she retorted, but after a moment's consideration, she relented. "Nobles from various demon clans. Oda, Tachibana, Taisho, Shimazu and the likes." Her tone was dismissive, yet it was clear that Kagome's curiosity had not gone unnoticed.
Kagome's heart skipped a beat at the mention of the Taisho family, but she dared not probe further, fearing to arouse more suspicion.
Meanwhile, back at Toga's castle, Inuyasha was pacing restlessly. The previous night's encounter with the mysterious Kagome had left him with more questions than answers. He needed to see her again, to find out how she knew him, to unravel this enigma.
He overheard servants whispering about a smaller gathering at Kimiko's mansion that evening. An idea sparked in his mind. It was a perfect excuse to return.
He approached Toga, who was leisurely enjoying his breakfast. "I'm thinking of going to Kimiko's mansion tonight. They're hosting a smaller gathering," Inuyasha announced, trying to sound nonchalant.
Toga, looking up from his meal, raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You? At another social event? What's gotten into you?" he asked, half-amused, half-perplexed.
Inuyasha shrugged, feigning indifference. "Well, maybe I ought to rebuild some bridges if I plan on hanging 'round for a bit longer," he muttered, trying to conceal his true motive.
Toga studied his brother for a moment, a knowing look in his eyes, but he said nothing more on the matter. He simply nodded, accepting Inuyasha's decision, though clearly intrigued by this sudden change in behavior.
As the day progressed, Kagome found herself performing her duties under Fuyuki's watchful eye, each task a reminder of her precarious position within the mansion. She couldn't shake off the feeling of being watched, of being judged for her every move.
And Inuyasha, with his mind occupied by the puzzling human woman, prepared for the evening's event, his thoughts constantly drifting back to how she could have known his name. The anticipation of seeing her again, of uncovering the truth behind their inexplicable connection, filled him with a restless energy.
Both Kagome and Inuyasha, each in their own way, were counting the hours until the evening, unsure of how their paths would cross again under the eyes of watchful spectators.
Later that evening, as the grand hall began to fill with the chatter of noble demons, Kagome spied the familiar set of sarugami maids. They were fussing over a tea tray, their monkey tails twitching in sync with their nervous energy. Remembering their earlier cruelty, Kagome felt a mischievous grin tug at her lips. Revenge, served cold like her bucket of cleaning water, seemed fitting.
She watched them with a predator's focus, noting how they bickered over the arrangement of the tea cups. One maid insisted on a circular pattern, while the other argued for a more 'creative' zigzag formation. Their debate over tea aesthetics was intense enough to rival any noble's discussion on politics.
Kagome's priestess powers hummed softly, like a cat purring, ready to pounce. She needed to be stealthy, like a ninja... or perhaps more aptly, a sly fox spirit. Edging closer, she admired the ornate tea set – it really was a shame it was about to become a puddle of broken ceramics.
As the maids finally agreed on a formation (a compromise that involved some sort of wavy line), Kagome focused her energy. She whispered an incantation, so faint it was lost in the hum of the room. The tray wobbled subtly, almost imperceptibly. Then, as one maid reached for it, her elbow nudged ever so slightly by Kagome's unseen force, the tray did a dramatic tilt-a-whirl.
Cups clattered and rolled like drunken demons, spilling the tea everywhere. The maids yelped, their eyes bulging comically as they scrambled to catch the fleeing cups, only to slip and slide in the spilled tea.
Kagome bit her lip to stifle her laughter. The scene before her was almost too satiating. The sarugami maids flailed about, their limbs entangled, their tails in a knot, as they tried to salvage what little they could of their master's most priced china.
As they struggled, Kagome, ever the opportunist, grabbed a nearby spare tray and swiftly arranged a new set of cups. She glanced back at the maids, now looking like drenched rats, and couldn't help but feel a surge of triumph. For once, it was someone else's turn to be in Fuyuki's hot seat – or, more accurately, the hot tea.
She sashayed into the grand hall, the tray balanced perfectly in her hands. Her satisfaction doubled as she heard the maids' supervisor scolding them in the background, their protests drowned out by his booming voice. Kagome served the tea with a spring in her step, her spirit buoyed by the sweet taste of poetic justice.
Inside the grand hall, Kagome's senses were assaulted by the rich tapestries and the murmur of noble conversations. She concealed her human presence with her priestess powers and moved with practiced grace. Her previous anxiety now masked by a calm, composed exterior. She offered tea to the guests, her eyes scanning the room for any sign of Inuyasha.
Meanwhile, the sarugami maids, still dealing with the aftermath of their accident, were oblivious to Kagome's daring maneuver. It wasn't until they saw her serving tea in the hall that realization dawned on them. But by then, it was too late.
Kagome, amidst the nobles, kept her head down, focusing on her task, all the while listening, waiting for the moment when she would hear Inuyasha's voice. She knew this was a risky game, but it was one she had to play. For now, she was just another servant in the grand hall, invisible yet crucial to the evening's proceedings.
As she poured tea for a group of demon lords, her ears caught a familiar voice. It was him. Inuyasha. He was here, somewhere in the hall, hidden from her view by the delicate paper screens. Her heart leapt, but she remained composed, her hands steady as she served the tea.
The room was filled with the hum of noble demons engaging in hushed conversations. The grand hall was adorned with delicate paper shoji screens, creating a labyrinth of semi-private spaces for the esteemed guests. Behind one of these screens, Inuyasha found himself cornered by a group of inquisitive noble war lords, their questions a tedious drone in his ears.
Nearby, Kagome, self-tasked with serving tea, maneuvered through the crowds, her tray held with unwavering hands. She overheard fragments of conversations, her ears pricking up at the mention of the Taisho family.
As fate would have it, she found herself behind the paper screen where Inuyasha was engaged in conversation. She couldn't see him, but his voice was unmistakable. Her heart raced, but she knew she couldn't reveal herself, not yet.
"Inuyasha-sama, you seem distracted tonight. Is there some mischief on your mind?" one of the noble demons teased, eliciting chuckles from the others.
Inuyasha, sensing a weak although familiar presence on the other side of the screen, seized the opportunity. "Ah, you know, I was just thinking about... gardening," he said, his voice a bit louder, ensuring Kagome could hear him. "I've always been fascinated by night-blooming flowers. They say there's a rare kind in Kimiko's garden that only blooms under the moonlight."
Kagome's eyes widened. She understood the hidden invitation in his words. She had to respond in kind, yet subtly.
"Excuse me, noble sirs," she said, her voice just loud enough to carry through the screen. "Would any of you care for more tea? The jasmine blend is particularly soothing under the moonlight. It's said to enhance the appreciation of nocturnal beauty in the garden."
The nobles, unaware of the coded exchange, politely declined, too engrossed in their own conversations.
Inuyasha smirked to himself, catching onto her clever ruse. "I think I'll pass on the tea. But I might take a stroll later to appreciate those night-blooming flowers. It's a rare opportunity, after all."
The nobles around him nodded in agreement, discussing the exotic plants in Kimiko's garden.
Kagome, her heart pounding with excitement and anxiety, moved away quietly, her mind racing with plans for their clandestine meeting.
Kagome, finally having been caught offering her servitude a little too eagerly, had been dismissed to other duties outside the mansion, away from all the guests and other servants. She scraped remains of foods into a waste compost. It was a long walk from the mansion, the compost was used to fertilize Kimiko's garden. Kagome was sure all of this could have been done just as well with magic, but she remembered Fuyuki saying that magic never surpassed the quality of handmade cooking, gardening or arts.
Kimiko's flowers blossomed just that much sweeter when they were fertilized with actual mulch and watered by hand.
Thinking of Fuyuki, under normal circumstances, would have made the fine hair on the back of her neck stand out. How Kagome would probably later be flogged and left in a dungeon for the unseeable future due to her adventures in the great hall. But she was wholly preoccupied by thinking of someone else. Even though she was exhausted beyond reason, starving and cold, happiness bubbled somewhere in the pit of her stomach. Filling her.
Even if they existed a thousand years apart, they always found each other. Although she was still uncertain on the how part in all of this.
"Oy! Pssst, Kagome."
She almost toppled over into the compost when she heard her name spoken by a familiar, rushed voice.
She dropped her scrape and the plate she had been holding into the compost, twirling around for the sound.
"Inuyasha?" She whispered back.
"Come here." The voice called from somewhere farther. Kagome left her oil lamp behind, not wanting the light to expose her scape to the guards patrolling around the area. She walked to the direction of the sound.
"Where are you?" She whispered louder and halted near a tree.
She nearly screamed when something quickly grabbed her and pulled her up to the tree.
"Hush. Or the hounds will hear you." Inuyasha gently ordered and cupped his hand over her mouth. When she had managed to swallow down her shock, she slowly nodded her head.
They were perched on a large branch of an old tree, in the far corner of Kimiko's domain. It was pitch-black and Kagome couldn't see the man she knew was only some inches away from her. But she could feel him. It was Inuyasha's youki. Something so powerful and unique, no-one could mimic.
They sat there, in silence, for a few moments until Inuyasha removed his hand from her mouth. It was safe to talk.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome almost sobbed, her voice was thick with all sorts of mixed emotions. "How did you get here?"
The inu youkai beside her answered honestly. "Umm, I used a miasma cloud?"
Kagome blinked at his answer. Was it that thick cloud Sesshoumaru rode on? Did it have time travelling properties as well?
"How long have you been here?" She breathed, in too much of stupefied state to realize that had it actually been herInuyasha, the lords and ladies would have hurled his half-bred ass out of the gates quicker than it took a hummingbird to flap its wings once.
"I came yesterday." He replied. Little confused about the discussion he was having with the human woman, but he complied out of curiosity. It was clear she was confusing him with someone. But that still didn't explain how she knew his name. She obviously though she was talking to an inu youkai by the name of Inuyasha, but as far as Inuyasha knew, he was the only one in existence.
"You came to look for me?" Kagome asked, smiling in hopeful relief. This nightmare would soon be over. Inuyasha would take her back to their time. Everything would return to normal. She would see her family again, bicker with Souta, bring tons of candy for Shippo, have a laugh with Sango, despair with her math homework. Like nothing bad had ever happened.
She almost cried with happiness and lunged at Inuyasha, holding him tight. Fearing he'd be stolen away from her, along with her newfound hope and relief.
"I missed you so much." She confessed, burying her face into his suikan. He smelled like the murky forest she remembered. A sudden want to cry like a child shook her whole body violently.
"I–I've done something... Oh, Inuyasha." She wanted to confess the things that had eaten her alive for nights on end for weeks. Her disgusting betrayal. Her weak flesh. But no matter how hard she tried to find for the proper words to describe her vile actions, she could not bring herself to a full confession. "I'm so sorry." She whispered in defeat and cried into his suikan. Letting out all the hurt and confusion of the past weeks, months even. She didn't know how long she had been trapped in this time.
Inuyasha let her cry for a long while. He rubbed her back but said nothing. How could he have? He was wholly oblivious to what the hell was going on. But he could smell the fear and hurt of this woman. It was real. She was in despair.
Was it cruel to pretend to be someone he was not? Would it be more cruel not to?
"Kagome." He murmured and stroked her hair. "It's okay."
He didn't understand any of this. But there was something in her aura that compelled him to comfort her. Another person's aura was usually something that always clashed with his. But this one, it almost... melted into his youki.
Kagome glid her hands over his neck and to his face. Leaning closer to him.
His nostrils flared and his lips parted.
"Wait." Kagome exclaimed, her tone changing from a heartbroken one to annoyed one in a split of a second.
"Where's your rosary?" She questioned.
The hands that rested on Inuyasha's cheeks carefully ventured to his pointed demon ears.
"How are you in your full demon form?" The intonation of her voice rose sharply.
Inuyasha didn't know what else to say except the truth.
"I've always been in this form." He flatly answered.
Kagome tore her hands away and edged away from him as far as possible.
"Inuyasha?" She asked, sounding suspicious.
"Yes?" He answered.
"What's the name of my cat?"
Inuyasha pondered a while before giving out his best guess. "Nekoyasha?" He offered with a sheepish grin.
"YOU'RE NOT INUYASHA!" She screeched and almost fell off the branch.
Inuyasha hurried to clamp his hand over her mouth and steady her from falling.
"Quiet down woman, or the hounds will come 'ere!" He hissed.
Kagome slapped his hand away; the feeling of hope and relief being crushed inside her chest.
"Do you even know who I am?" She demanded, sounding mad.
"Well..." He tried to search for appeasing words but found none. "Not exactly."
Kagome held her breath and tried to calm herself from wanting to punch this sudden stranger in the mouth.
"How dare you!" She spat. "I poured my heart at you and you- you- Aggh!" She balled her hands and stared daggers in the dark at direction he was sitting in.
"You tricked me!" She shouted with a whisper – quite the accomplishment, Inuyasha had to admit.
"Oy! I never said I knew you. It was you who seemed to know me!" He defended himself. "Who the hell are you, woman?"
Kagome stared into the dark, into the amber eyes she could not see. She could sense the guards were moving around. They would find them soon if they didn't scatter.
This man, whoever he was, he was the closest thing she had for a chance.
"Take me down." She commanded and since he could also sense the guards nearing them, he didn't debate.
When they were back on the ground, Kagome angrily pushed him away. Feeling tricked and humiliated.
"Come here, tomorrow evening. Same time, same place" She instructed and quickly headed back to the oil lamp that was still burning next to the compost.
Inuyasha waited until she disappeared back inside before departing to the opposite direction.
Kagome laid wide awake that whole night. Going over the past few hours, analyzing everything once again. Questioning all of her senses and always ending up with the conviction that she hadn't gone mad after all.
How could he notbe Inuyasha when he wasInuyasha? They had an identical resemblance. Not only that, but identical youki. It wasn't a trick. It wasn't a hallucination. He had been real. It had been Inuyasha.
But how could two people...
And a heart-wrenching realization smacked her in the head like a slap of a divine hand. Her pupils contracted to small needlepoints.
Two people of different eras, in fact, canbe the same if they share the same soul.
A/N: Hello old readers! As you've noticed (on FFnet) I've deleted all the old chapters from chapter 13 onwards and done some revising on the story.
Since the Inuyasha preincarnation wasn't part of the plan for this fic when I first began to write this (back in 2011, jeebus :')), I always thought his introduction was a bit haste. So I've mainly prolonged the part where he's incorporated into the story.
I've also gone through the whole story and modified the text to better reflect my current writing style. But no other major alterations. So, if you have fond memories of the stuff that happened in chapters 13–18, fret not! They are still going to happen. :) Just with some polished grammar and sentence structuring! 3