Setting her bag down on the only table inside a small almost historically built cabin, Kagome looked around at the furnishings as if transported back into the feudal era. Whirling around and looking at Sesshomaru, Kagome began to ask yet one more question when she saw that he was starting to take off the armor layers. When the pieces sat in order on the stand, he moved as if unburdened and sat atop a well-used cushion where he was close to the fire.
Unsure of what to do Kagome continued to stand awkwardly while he seemed to have fallen asleep.
Kagome was hesitant when she sat down next to him on a smaller cushion poised not far from where he sat. she folded her ankles beneath her and sat quietly for a few moments staring into the flames.
His eyes opened then. He was watching Kagome sit with firelight bouncing off of her porcelain face. Her eyes were wary and heavy with thoughts of the coming events. His eyes watched her lips frown and, feeling the guilt he had buried, observed her begin to form just one more question.
Her eyes flicked to him, and she was surprised at the intention that she found in his eyes. " can I ask you something?"
"Hn," he replied without committing.
Twisting so that she could judge for herself the honesty of his answer, she chewed her lip before speaking. "Did you bring me all the way here so that I would remember my life- with you?" she blushed deeper and deeper as she spoke and could barely keep from turning away when he looked up at her with surprise.
Sesshomaru hated the pang of hope that sparked in him. Her eyes met his, and frustratingly, she read his features and nodded slowly. She always seemed to be able to see through his mask. It was one that he had trained into impassive emotionless cruelty, and yet this soul had always been able to access his heart, though he could not say aloud what he was feeling.
"I can't promise you that I am her. When I look at the picture, I can't explain it, but, regardless, I will help you and your students find the citadel."
" that will be enough." he sighed at not having to explore this particular subject yet. "Ask me any remaining questions now. Tomorrow we will begin the research. We will need to find the site." he said, and with that, he left her to her thoughts.
"How long have we been married?" she asked.
"Five years, we were arranged through family ties and mutual interests in demonology," he smirked, and she shook her head.
" you lied! What other lies am I going to have to go along with?" she asked, and he nodded and withdrew a scroll that had a list of lies he had told his students regarding her. she gaped. There were twenty-nine lies he had told dating back exactly five years.
"What happened five years ago?" she asked, and he sighed.
"I found you," he said, and she blushed.
" oh, I see." she continued to read with interest. For a moment, she forgot it was about her and began to be quite entertained by the lies Sesshomaru had imagined. " you know some of these aren't bad." she giggled. " We go out twice a week—vacation in Okinawa during the summer. There are lists of favorite restaurants and my tea and eating habits. You put a lot of thought into some of these. You have even told them that we are planning a child. This is all quite elaborate."
"I required a lie for the situation, and the fact of our past made this all very simple." he did not have to explain himself, but her amusement was more than he had expected.
Gleaming eyes met him, and her smile was dazzling. "You need me to play along. I will." she snickered, and he watched her take every word in with great joy and then store it in her mental notes for future use. He was sure that with this copy of his love, she would exploit this to the fullest extent.
She said good night to him, taking the futon and shutting herself inside, and then slowly fell asleep in the darkness of the strange room. Sesshomaru sighed and looked through the window to the empty forest and grounds inside of his ancient estate. The real work would begin tomorrow, and regardless of Kagome's memories, he would need to make some headway in their search.
Kagome opened her eyes to the wooden walls and floor of a room that felt too familiar. Dazed, she felt the futon beneath her, stretching her arms and legs until she had reached every corner of the mat and then curled beneath the blanket. Breathing in deeply, she took in the scents of field grass and tree bark. A flash of silver brought warmth to her toes, and she lingered in that thought for too many seconds while her mind caught up. Feeling suddenly embarrassed and vulnerable, she sat up in the futon and stood up, went to the door, and walked into a solid chest—field grass. Smelling The familiar scent kagome paused a second before looking up and feeling a vice grip on each of her arms. Taking a measured breath, Sesshomaru put some space between them.
"Good morning?" she said, unsure. Looking at him, she could tell that he was a little frazzled by what she could only imagine.
"Hn," Taking another slow breath. He took a moment to gather his thoughts. He was distracted by the smell of wild strawberries mixed with his natural scent. Taking it in once more, he had a wave of nostalgia and taking a moment to think before preceding. He looked down at her once more. Blue eyes observed him.
"Did you want to talk about something?" she asked, and he looked at her unsure.
Remembering why he had approached the door to wake her, he cleared his throat. "Yes, there is one more matter to discuss."
Stepping out onto the porch of the small cabin, Kagome looked around for the first time. Her eyes mapped out the shrines, and the huts spread out in some kind of hierarchical order she didn't recognize. Looking at each shrine with great focus, she began to pick out the youkai species she would encounter. they were tanuki, kappa water, kitsune, Neko, Kuro, Oni, Tengu, and Mujina.
With an excited smile, kagome brought her notebook out and began to scribble down her observations. "How can they live so closely without conflict?" she mouthed as her pen wrote on the paper.
"As an institution for learning the tribal affairs are contractually halted while in program activity." she heard his voice without hearing any approaching steps.
"Contracted through the school?" she asked, and he looked at her sideways.
"Of course," he said and then descended the steps and began walking towards the intersection in the cross patterned walkway. "Suka could you bring the students together?" he seemed to ask into the air. Kagome walked to where he was and looked for what he was speaking to.
There was a small sound, "bring the students...bring the students." The echo began to magnify until the shrines' doors began to open, and all of the twelve shrine doors opened, and the students hurried to the cross-section and bowed respectfully. "Good morning, professor." they chorused. Kagome smiled, remembering the familiarity of the particular greeting. She had stopped doing it in the United States after her classes gushing and awestruck response. They cried out, "that is so cute!" and with cheers of glee and amusement, she had quietly sat down and made a note of the cultural difference.
"Good morning class, I am glad to see you all prepared for the day's research goals. We will be splitting into two groups. Six of you will be heading to the computer lab to scour the digital archives, focus on the Nihoshin, and the original scrolls from Seikens later life. Maps, letters, and anything else that may suggest that he saw the site in his travels. The remaining six will head to the archives department to look for unobservable clues from the recovered artifacts. Mrs. Taiso and I will be accompanying this group."
The three Oni, the Kuro, the Neko, and the Kapa grouped to go to the library six in total. Kagome observed the oni and determined that they were brothers somewhat close to the same age. She saw a fraternity jock like manner among them and snickered to herself about the irony of it. The Kapa was a small studious looking boy with large glasses and a tight hold on his satchel. Coming to his side, the Neko girl began speaking to him with friendliness, while the final member of their group had her nose buried in a book.
Observing them with her pen scratching rapidly on her notepad, kagome followed her eyes to the next group—one in which she would be accompanying personally. The six were kitsune Tengu tanuki and mujina. The tengu were twins. Kagome could see their bond in synchronized movements and finished thoughts spoken aloud by the other. The boy and girl met up with the Racoon and badger with an eager conversation. They all seemed to be friends. Liking the atmosphere of the pre-assignment chatter, she stood quietly observing.
As the professor divided and directed the students' kagome moved to follow the second group when a striped hand reached out and caught her shoulder. Dazed from looking from her lined paper to the professor's amber eyes, she had almost forgotten what her role was in this and seeing the pointed look stopped.
"This way," he said, and she followed him. He seemed to glide ahead of her, and seeing that she was running to catch him slowed his pace to match hers.
" I thought you said you had thirty students," she said
"These are my research members. The others are still too inexperienced to contribute," he said, and she made a note of it.
"What constitutes a contribution in this situation?" she continued.
"Students that show exemplary thinking and reaction to the unexpected," he explained, feeling as if her questions would never end.
"I see," she said, surprising him.
When he didn't hear her voice until they arrived at his sleek black car, he looked at her once more, and she was writing. He wondered how she wrote with such precision as she walked but pushed the thought aside when he saw that her eyes were glancing at him and then back to her notes. He sighed and opened the door for her. She slid into the seat with small thanks and continued writing. Smirking, he realized that she was making observations about him.
He closed the door and circled the vehicle. Closing the door, he saw that she had put her pen down. "Why dont you run?" she asked, and he looked at her surprised.
"I- thought this would be more appropriate for the times," he said, and it was her turn to be surprised.
"But you are living in a total reconstruction of feudal japan? Aren't you more comfortable…. Uh… in your natural environment and cultural habits?" she started with energy, but as she saw the total confusion in his eyes, she began to feel foolish.
Sesshomaru thought about her comment as he pulled out of the driveway and began down the road. "I believe there has been a misunderstanding," he said. Turning around the corner, they came into view of a large house that sat barely covered by the surrounding forest. "I use the village setting for the team's lodging. They have moved their temples here through inhuman means."
"Are you saying that you live here." she pointed out of the window to the house. He nodded. "Why do you wear these robes then?" she asked, mortified. With the number of people drilling the importance of not making cultural assumptions before researching, she felt like her entire study was antiquated and based on the belief that they did not exist like they did in the old days. Thinking about it, she realized she didn't know what that actually meant.
"Calm yourself. The answer is simple. I believed you would remember me if I dressed as I did when we met. The illusion that I wear prevents any human from seeing what I am, but as you see, the students wear their uniform." he was smirking now as she began to tear pages from her notes and crumple them up. "Take those with you," he commented.
"Has everything I've read about demons been a lie?" she asked, and he took on a new mood.
"Rather, they are written from a human perspective. The mystery of youkai life has always attracted human scholars. The most notable, as you know, is Seiken. His codex has been invaluable, and there have been a few omniogo that have discovered a fair amount. The novels are less reliable since, in essence, they are written in the frame of imagined events rather than true-life situations, but they have been a help to the continuation of youkai worship."
Kagome nodded. He said all the things that she had suspected as she combed through volumes looking for purpose and action in the worship of animal and spiritual beings. She was quiet. Putting her notebook on the floorboards with the crumpled paper, she looked out of the window. Watching the familiar scapes of her home city, Kagome tried to figure out where to go next. How could she narrow this topic to a manageable project?
Sesshomaru knew she was anxious. He could feel the emotion rolling off of her in waves. Reaching out, he touched her hand resting on her thigh, and she looked at him, not seeing past her thoughts as she did. "We are here," he said and exited the car and circled it to open the door for her once more. Kagome left her notebook in the car. Being ushered through the building and the bustling crowds of student bodies, they met up with the group and headed down to the basement.
When they arrived down in the holding area for the university's pieces of history, Sesshomaru spoke with the student worker who watched the archives and stood by as each one of the students signed in. When she looked up expectantly at kagome, he shook his head. " This is my wife. She is a guest lecturing for my class during a graduate-level project.
"Very nice to meet you, Mrs. Taisho," she bowed, and Kagome returned it. They walked into the grouping of shelves that held history in its objects.
Kagome was in heaven. She had loved being around old things, always had. She loved old stories, old furniture, old stuff in general. Bumping into someone, she began to apologize profusely when she looked up and saw herself. Gasping, she heard the giggling kitsune and watched as he poofed into a cloud of smoke and transformed back into himself. "I'm Yahiko," he said, bowing politely. She smiled and tried to hide her surprise at his antics. Her eyes absorbed the red-haired male, his small freckled face and pointed ears. The other kitsune approached and happy to be introduced. She bowed as Yahiko gestured to her, "this is my cousin Watari,"
"Hello, Yahiko, Watari. Can I ask you where you are going to start?" she asked curiously. They looked at each other and grabbing a hand a piece took her to the maps.
Kagome was intrigued by their thoughts. The references made were not ones she recognized but seeing the connections to the wildlands showed an incredible amount of knowledge on natural formations and mountains. "These will be helpful," Yahiko said and withdrew his cellphone from his pocket, focused his camera, and snapped a few pictures of the documents. Kagome smiled then. Seeing that they had the same iPhone, she pointed to it.
" I had that phone, too," she said. The foxes seemed to pick up on something about her comment.
"What happened. This is the newest one, right?" Watari asked curiously.
Kagome's eyes shifted to where she heard the professor speaking quietly to a student. Watari raised her eyebrow "oh, I dropped it... the third day I had it." she sighed heavily.
"What is this group engaged with?" The professor approached their group.
"Maps and land formations professor. I have some knowledge of a myth my grandfather told me… I haven't seen the actual manuscript yet." Watari explained, looking curiously between Kagome and Sesshomaru. Kagome blushed under the scrutiny. Professor Taisho nodded, liking the topic and telling them to continue. "Kagome, would you come with me?" he asked, and seeing Watari's smile broaden, Kagome nodded and went with him casually.
"Did you want something?" she asked quietly.
"I meant to give this to you this morning. It was rather unfortunate that your phone fell from such heights," he smirked.
Kagome heard his words with unexpected hope. Watching him withdraw the same version of the iPhone he had crushed in hand, he presented it to her. Reaching out to take it, she hesitated and then grabbing it eagerly. Without really thinking about it she threw her arms around him, embracing him gratefully before turning away to begin the personalization of her new device. "Thank you!"
Eyes were on him when she turned to sit at one of the tables. Turning back to them, he gave them one look. "Go back to your work."
AN: thank you for reading. I appreciate the chance to get back into writing for an active audience and I hope that you enjoy my work. the racial names of youkai are translated below. note reference material. foster, M. "the book of youkai", university of California press
(Neko)-cat(Kuro)- spider ( mountain habitat)Mujina-badger (shapeshift)Oni-varying shaped Ogre, (note horns and tiger skin loincloth)Tengu- flying mountain ogre (winged humanoid or shape reference kite)Tanuki- racoon (shapeshift)Kitsune- fox (shapeshift)Kappa- water sprite