Sesshomaru didn't know why he kissed her. The intent had been to shove his claws through her chest and rip her beating heart from her body, but at the last moment, he had stopped. Fleeing into the skies he felt the waves of wind, distracting him from the slow-fading warmth he still felt had on his lips. He spat once more and growled. " Why her?" He seethed and vowed never to do that again.
The memories of their past battered his mind as he flew, and he had a vague feeling that he had forgotten many things. He recognized a gathering of demon youths at the base of the mountain, why were they there? He wondered.
For now, he needed to return home. There he could gather his things and set off for the next part of his mission. The citadel was close, it would reappear within the week and Sesshomaru would not miss this opportunity. It only appeared once every five hundred years and the last time- he didn't know what happened, but he was sure it was her fault.
The city rose before he understood what was happening. The lights and buildings confused him, this was not right. There had been nothing but a minor city here, but Sesshomaru could sense the destroyed territories and demonic energies that were unlike anything he had ever seen. His aura was unmasked, his cloud blatant. Land passed beneath him as a blur but he could sense something nearby and looked back. There was a tengu at his shoulder, his masked face caught his eyes and he sped up to avoid it. the tengu was fast.
"Professor Taisho?" The boy said, he could sense that it was barely at the age of maturity and wondered at the child's approach. Sesshomaru scoffed.
"What name are you calling me?" He said. The youth became two and he pressed harder towards his land. The scent of his domain led him into the forested land and he was even more confused. "What has happened?" He said and landed on the lawn of a secluded home built with wood and glass. He peered around and saw the evidence of his habits, the smell of his own aura and that of many demons made him even more confused. This wasn't right.
The twin tengu landed, "Professor! Wait, what about our mission? What about the citadel? Where is Mrs. Taisho?" They asked in unison.
Sesshomaru felt his head spinning, not knowing what they were saying to him, and turned on them. "What are you saying to me, our people are enemies, now leave this Sesshomaru!" He hissed and they looked at him a little taken aback.
"We waited for you at the base of Totosai's Mountain, where is Kagome?" They asked at the mention of her name he turned mid-stride.
"Why?" He hissed and they looked as confused as he felt. The look of disdain was different than the calm demeanor he used. Their professor had always been strict, and his energy had always been terrifying but this was like sealing with another person altogether.
"She is your wife, you've been married five years. Did you forget?" They asked Sesshomaru. He took a step back. This was too much. the sword maker had said something similar but it was impossible. he felt disoriented as he looked around, their expectant faces waited for a response and he could only think of one.
"What is the year?" He asked and they looked at him with evident worry.
"Professor, it is the year 2024"
Sesshomaru felt his breath catch the wind left him as he turned to the home that was obviously his own. it was all so foreign but also familiar."What is going on?" he said feeling a strange pressure in his stomach. The two were there as he walked up the stairs and opened the door to his home. Going inside, Sesshomaru felt the familiar motions, he knew where everything was, like he had truly placed each item, and felt the presence of many more demons inside. Gathering his energy he summoned them. The tengu stopped at the door, they did not dare enter without permission but watched the disoriented movements of their teacher as he went in further.
"Lord Sesshomaru?" They called.
walking through the hallway to a wide room furnished with unusual items, he looked around and sensed a familiar energy. "Jakken!" He turned his attention and the tengu felt the awakening energy of the grumpy kappa. His wizened face appeared in a small burst of energy and they heard his exclamation from the door.
"You are, old?" He said, and jakken harrumphed
"this again? ugh...You called my Lord?" He said, and Sesshomaru felt the spinning in his head become nearly debilitating. He went to a large chair at the edge of the room and let himself fall into its comfortable depths
"Tell me what's happened in the last 500 years," he said and Jakken sighed.
"Then she has died again, my Lord?" He asked and Sesshomaru simply looked at him. He could hear the young demons still calling to him. His patience was gone with the two, and releasing energy he closed the door in their face.
"Tell me," he said and Jakken squatted, his staff in hand and he looked at the demon lord squarely. those eyes did not lie, the plain loyalty that he had always known was there as he observed his master.
" It has been such a long time, my Lord, will we revisit this?" He said and saw that Sesshomaru was serious. Something must have happened, jakken thought.
"The citadel will appear, you have gotten this reincarnation this far though she is the first, the students, and the council are waiting for their piece of the wish granted. Where is the woman, now?" He asked, and for the fourth time, Sesshomaru got a sickening feeling.
"Are you telling me that I have claimed her?" He said and Jakken sighed
" My Lord, it has been so long since she was here, I wonder if it would not be better to simply choose another, but yes, this time she is truly yours, though I find her current reincarnation to be a bit of a brat," he said and stood groaning as he stretched his creaking bones. "I am surprised you are home, after the preparation we have done. I expected you to stay out until you had found it."
"I came home for my weapon, it seems I no longer possess it," he said standing, and Jakken laughed like he had said something strange
"That old sword? You haven't used it in a century, call the university if you want it, they have it on display in the archives department," he said and Sesshomaru let his head fall back against the chair.
"Why would I seek her out?" He asked and Jakken started to go back to bed. He looked over his shoulder and gestured to him tiredly. he yawned and made one last effort towards his master before retiring once more.
"Check your chest pocket," he said and disappeared once more.
Sesshomaru felt the small paper in the pocket. Withdrawing it, he saw the image there. He was with Kagome, her eyes and smile caught him off guard, but it was the clear joy on his face that disturbed him. He inspected the photo, it was old, yellowed but it had been kept in good condition. A prized item. It was his.
He recalled the clear hatred he'd felt when he came back to himself on Totosai's mountain. He had nearly killed her but every fiber of his being had stopped him, for some reason.
However disturbing, what they said had been the truth. Now he needed to figure out what happened all that time ago to make this change.
Sesshomaru went to the door and opened it to the shivering tengu. "Remind me of your names, it seems I have forgotten much," he said and the two nodded and entered his house.
"We are Setsuko, and Tankane"
At the base of the mountain, the rest of the students looked around the twilight forest. Each of them guarded their camp as their servants went around readying for the night. The Oni peered up at the mountain.
"We should go up there and find out what happened" Goro was the first to speak and the Datchi and Genki approved with a high five. They flexed their muscles and lunged for the mountainside.
"We could get up there by nightfall, then we could find out what happened," he said and Azami went over too, they looked at her not knowing what she wanted.
"I want to go too," she said and transformed into a bird and began to fly up the mountain to where she had seen Ah-Un disappear earlier.
"This is the lair of the Sword maker, Totosai," Daichi said to his brothers as they climbed. The munjin was there before any of them breached the surface of the rock face. They saw the Swordmaster working in his shop. There was smoke at the stove and they heard the pounding of his hammer against metal.
"Totosai!" Daiken called. As the oldest of the three, he strode forward naturally grabbing the attention of the old Youkai. Totosai looked up, he didn't expect so many guests but he suspected that they had been part of the group that had accompanied Sesshomaru and Kagome. He sighed.
"They're gone," he said and sighed looking frustrated with himself.
"Where did they go?" Goro was at his brother's side and they demanded an answer.
The swordmaker looked down at his creation, the piece of metal was nearly forged into shape and he loathed to stop working. "Go away, I am busy, child," he said and the Oni crossed their arms.
"Totosai, please, "Azame tried as she approached the fire youkai, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Won't you tell us what happened?" she asked sweetly, and he looked at her quiet beauty and blushed.
"Well for you I guess I can make an exception,"
Kagome found her way to the shrine without thinking, the land had changed though not too much that she was confused. Her mind had been busy from the fight with the youkai Sesshoamru. Her fists clenched, why had he kissed her? She was sure that the next move was to plunge his hand into her chest and grab any vital organ he could. It was a trademark of his, a killing blow that had nearly killed her twice before. Each time he neared the pain of his poisoned claws reached out and she was burned.
So what had changed?
Kagome sighed, everything she thought she was sure of was beginning to blur. The edge of sanity dictated that she state the obvious changes. "My body is different. Sesshomaru and I were both at Totosai's mountain. We fought as we always do. He kissed me instead of killing me." she said the last one with utter confusion. "Why?"
Sighing she had flashes of paper with endless notes scrawled across them. The memory was not old, something about the thought of her pages and notes brought an uneasy nervousness to her mind. Like she needed to complete something very important. She could not remember, but it was probably Sesshomaru's fault.
She came to the shrine she had always known and stopped short. It looked different. The torches were gone, in favor of small glass bulbs and they lit up the walkway clearly as if it were daytime. "How strange," she whispered. Her mind was busy trying to place the strange items covering the guardian statues and the strange signs she saw around her when a shrine keeper came out to see her.
"Hello, how can I help you miss, have you gotten lost?" he asked and Kagome let her eyes travel from the altar to the walls. All things could produce a spiritual effect, but she did not feel the energy of the practiced hands that had taught her.
"No, I have come to find something," she said and he nodded.
"Alright, but the shrine closes at night," the keeper looked familiar. His eyes reminded her of a friend and she peered at him.
"Are you from the Hanazono household?" she asked and he was surprised.
"How did you know?" he asked and she nodded.
"I know some of your relatives," she said and he laughed.
"You must be older than you seem, I am the last one. And since I never married, I truly am the last of my family. We have kept this shrine for five hundred years. It was once a vibrant well-traveled shrine, we had trained some of the best priests and even had a few of the greatest priestesses who have ever walked Japan. Have you heard of the priestess Kagome?" he asked.
"That is my name," she said, the strange feeling that coiled her stomach allowed her to follow him, though her legs felt weak.
"She was among the greatest of all priestesses, she was so powerful even the kami themselves revered her strength," he explained, leading her to the altar. She reached into her pocket out of habit and withdrew a few coins. She looked down then and saw her clothes. They were strange, the material felt fuller, softer than the robes she swore that she had been wearing. There was something else in her pocket.
"Oh, is that the latest iPhone?" he asked and she showed it to him. The old man reached out. "May I look, I've been considering whether it will be worth it or not, you know those upgrades," he said and Kagome looked at it not knowing what she was looking at.
"Is that so?" she asked. He opened the camera and looked at the screen with some curiosity.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to go through your phone, here," he said and she peered down at it, the image captured on the screen was strange. It was somewhere that looked like familiar tall shelves of books and perfectly ordinary things preserved on separate shelves. There were tables scattered around the image and several youkai sat reading. "Looks like you are a teacher, my family has some pieces at Tokyo University, in the archives department. One of the professors came here several years ago, I remember him asking about some of the old scrolls. Taisho, I think his name was," he mused and she felt the nagging feeling that she knew this person.
" What scrolls did he come for?" she asked and the shrine keeper nodded.
"It is late. The walk down to the road will take at least an hour, if you eat dinner with me I will walk you down to your car," he said and she nodded, not understanding what he said.
"Where are the others, i thought there were priests and onmyoji training here," she asked and he nodded.
"You must have read the novels," he sighed. " the truth is there haven't been any disciples here training outside of my family for over a hundred years, the novels make it seem so glamorous, but the truth is that the young don't care about this like my generation did, the internet and television have killed a lot of the mysticism of the world, they think that if there were youkai in the world there would be televised evidence," he said and she shook her head.
"Youkai are real, and they are dangerous," she said and he nodded.
"My family has always believed that my father and his father dedicated their lives to destroying evil yokai, but I have never seen one, myself," he said and Kagome pursed her lips.
"The truth is, sir, that I have no car, I walked here from my last destination. I am looking for something very important, the citadel of worlds. Can I stay here in the temple through the night? I will be gone in the morning," she said and he looked at her suddenly interested.
"Tell me about it over dinner, you have my full attention," he said and guided her to the small house.
Kagome tested the futon in the priest's guest room, it was soft, the blanket was plush and she felt the warmth of what the man had called a space heater ensuring the room was warm through the autumn morning. She could hear it raining outside and found herself thinking about a faraway place where the rain battered against the panes of glass above her bed. She lay down, bringing the thick blanket over her, and closing her eyes felt herself begin to drift.
Her hands instinctively went out to reach for something that was not there. she had thought someone was there, beside her, but she recoiled from the thought. "Why can't I remember how I got onto that mountain?" she asked and tried to remember. Where were all of my memories?" she wondered. Turning onto her side she felt like she was missing something, closing her eyes she could almost see the pale skin and silver hair of the demon she hated. Her fists clenched, "I should have killed you back then," she said and closed her eyes thinking about how she would finally end him. She reached into her pocket and withdrew the phone. There was a movable cover that encased the back. Kagome had not figured the thing out yet, but she felt the presence of demonic energy within the device. Flexing the case around she freed the smooth phone from the hard case and noticed there was a folded piece of paper pressed behind it.
Unfolding it she read the title, "Things I've told my students about you."
There were twenty-nine things that she read from the page, she didn't understand it, or many of the things on the list but she did understand one thing. Whoever wrote this was not a casual acquaintance." she sighed and felt the energy of the paper as surely as she knew the pain of poisoned claws. "Why?" she asked and replaced the paper and the case with the phone and lay it down on the floor beside her pillow.
Sesshoamru didn't sleep, the tengu had retired hours ago to the shrines on the other side of the property. None of this was truly familiar, but there was an innate organization that he had always possessed that led him through volumes of notes that had dated back nearly two hundred years. He had gone through it as if looking into another person's life. he had maps drawn, places circled and they all seemed to be searching for someone. he sighed wondering what had come over him, what he was doing when he felt the thing in his pocket buz. he withdrew the strange device. they had known what it was and said it was his.
He could not understand what the tengu children had called a cell phone, they recommended that he look through it to refresh his memory on recent events but he could not make it work to find anything of value. He would keep it with him, it may serve as some kind of charm or curse depending on how it could be used when he did open it.
AN; wow, I never meant to take so long to update this story. I hope you enjoy this! write me a review and tell me what you think of this update. :). i will update again within a few days, I promise! thank you, as always, for reading.
Idreamofinuyoukai, out