Sesshomaru bailed on her. Kagome is not upset, she promises. Okay, maybe a bit. Sesshomaru always keeps his word and for him to bail on her last minute like this has her feeling some kind of way. One, what the hell is going on in Shibuya that had Satoru rushing out of the house and has Sesshomaru heading to that area too? And two, did Sesshomaru really have to send InuYasha in as his replacement? They didn't exactly leave on good terms the last they spoke.
Either way, she knows nothing good is going down in Shibuya if Sesshomaru and Satoru are there. Kagome does not need the Shikon to chime in to tell her what she already knows. Whatever is going on in Shibuya is horrific. Satoru is not easily flustered and Sesshomaru does not, as he says, bother with human problems, so this must involve demons as well.
She sighs, rolls her shoulders back, and waits by the door for InuYasha to show up. He does not keep her waiting for long. She opens the door at the first knock and flashes him a grateful smile as she locks the door behind her. Kagome thinks -hopes- that the tension between them won't be so awkward. They have had arguments before and have always bounced back, so this time should be no different, right?
Wrong. InuYasha rounds on her before they even leave the property. Is one day of no drama so much to ask for?
"I only want you." He beats his chest, claws ripping at the red fire rat haori he wore so long ago. His hair is pulled back into a high ponytail, making him look more regal. She can admit that the years have been kind to him.
Kagome rocks back on her heels, searching within herself for a morsel of want, but she comes up empty. Her heart aches for InuYasha's pain, but the desire has cooled and fizzled out. Maybe that was the problem. They burned so hotly all those years ago. The constant arguments and apologies fueled their dependency on one another.
Suddenly, her bones are weary, and she does not want to argue. Nothing she says from here on out is going to change his mind. And frankly, her mind keeps wandering to how Satoru is doing and if he is staying safe. Yeah, she knows he is the strongest or whatever, nevertheless, she can't help but worry about him.
Someone has to.
To the world, Satoru is the strongest and an immediate solution to their problems, but to her, he is simply Satoru, the man she loves.
"You knew this wasn't our world," she says softly, lips pulled down into a frown. "You had to know. My family's shrine is not here. Never was. Can't even find one that looks like it here." Kagome waves a hand in the air. "I looked around the area." She wets her lips. Satoru offered to buy her a shrine if she wanted one, not that she took him up on that offer because the idea of spending that much money on a whim is maddening to her, but they came to a compromise to support a local shrine instead.
InuYasha jerks his head to the side. One fang grazes his bottom lip. "Sesshomaru, the bastard, told me to leave it alone." His golden eyes pin her in place. "Said that you were glowing. Fucking happy and shit with this hum- sorcerer and to leave it be."
"I'm not with him because he's human." Frankly, with how powerful Satoru is, it does not feel like he's human at all. Not when she thinks about the humans in her world or the ones here that are not sorcerers. "You shouldn't be ashamed of who you are." It pains her to think that InuYasha may still be struggling with his heritage when there is nothing wrong with him.
"I'm not," he snaps, frowning as his eyes focus on her. InuYasha sighs, deflated. "I'm not. Just don't like it."
She gets that, she does; however, InuYasha is just gonna have to accept it. There is no getting around it. Kagome is happy with Satoru. More than happy and when presented with the choice to choose, she chose Satoru. Not that she would ever tell InuYasha that as it would be unnecessarily mean, but she is in love with Satoru.
"We should get going. Did you have anywhere in mind, or did you just want to walk around?" She adjusts the quiver with her bow and closes the door behind her. Assuring Satoru that she'd carry her bow to complete her priestess get up was the only way to settle his nerves about her going out today.
Though if he knew InuYasha was escorting her, he'd probably make up an excuse to stay home.
Or at least try to. She knows he would have eventually still left out to investigate whatever is going on in Shibuya.
"Walk around, follow our instincts. Yada yada." InuYasha stuffs his hands in his sleeves. The rip in his fire coat is already mended. He looks just like he did all those years ago, except now he is wearing shoes, an image she never thought she'd see.
"Say, do you know what is going on in Shibuya?" Kagome goes for nonchalant as she walks side-by-side InuYasha. He must have taken the train here, she thinks, since there is no car in the driveway except for Satoru's (theirs) and they walk past the parked cars in the street. They get some looks, which is to be expected with InuYaha's dog ears being out on full display, but mostly, people shrug and turn their attention back to whatever they were doing.
"What's up with Shippo and Gojo, anyway? The runt's been slacking off to help Gojo with curses." InuYasha snorts and walks like a man that has all the time in the world. His ears twitch and swerve to the left. "Sesshomaru won't shut up about it."
"Dunno. Guess Shippo likes Satoru. He spends more time with him than me." She is not pouting. She is not pouting. Totally O-kay, that Shippo prefers hanging out with Satoru than following her around and keeping her company. It's great. Terrific. She's lying through her teeth. "Is that not normal? You guys helping with the curses?"
Yakeru never gives her a straightforward answer. Or when he does answer her, he just raises more questions. Or he goes on a tangent about how disgusting he finds curses to be and can't be bothered to pay them any mind.
"Only if they bother us." InuYasha scratches at his cheek, pink dusts his cheeks. "I mean, like if I see someone is going to get hurt by one, then yeah, I'll step in. But no one goes out of their way to do the sorcerer's job."
"But you could help and you guys don't want to?"
InuYasha huffs. "Not sure if you've noticed, but there's a hell of a lot more of them and humans than demons. Ain't saying I like it, but we've adapted. None of the others were doing anything about it. Some use the lower levels ones, but..." He stops and regards Kagome with such intensity, her heart sinks.
"How much do you know about Gojo?"
"... enough?" How does one answer a question like that? What is she supposed to do? Go down a list of Satoru's every single like and dislike? She can, but surely InuYasha does not want to hear that.
"He changed the power balance when he was born. Curses back then were manageable. Kind of. The curse users were a pain for jujutsu, but now curses are getting stronger, and bringing more attention to us is not the best play."
Kagome squints at him and places her hands on her hips. "Sounds not like you at all. Doesn't even sound like Sesshomaru either." So that's just it? They are choosing to not deal with the situation even though they have the means to do so. A part of her is disgusted. Another part of her understands their dilemma of being well, frankly outnumbered, by both humans and curses.
Why can't there be a compromise somewhere?
He gives a half-shrug and continues walking. "The bastard is keeping more than just himself alive." InuYasha casts her another contemplating look. "You didn't know about his birth?"
"Eh, he mentioned something about it, but does that really matter?"
"You really haven't changed." InuYasha bumps her shoulder and Kagome can't help but smile. Some of the earlier tension dissipates and she can breathe a little easier. They walk until they come across a local cafe right before InuYasha's phone starts ringing like crazy. Immediately, Kagome finds her blood rushing to her eardrums. She strains herself to hear some of the conversation.
She nearly spills her food onto the floor as she sits down at the table. Her hands won't stop shaking.
"The fuck are you talking about?" InuYasha asks, turning his body away from her as he speaks into the phone. His hand clenches and unclenches. If he is trying to pretend like nothing is wrong, then he is doing a piss-poor job at it. Not even the serene music drifting from the speakers can stop the anxiety from rising in her gut.
"Slow down," he whispers, "what happened? That doesn't even make sense. Where the fuck were you at? Where's Sesshomaru?"
Kagome's fingers shake. Her appetite is gone. She tries to will InuYasha to look at her. To say something that will put her at ease, but he shifts in his seat and does everything he can to not look her way.
"InuYasha..."
"We gotta get back." He slides the phone into his pocket and grabs her arm, dragging her up. "S'orry for cutting this short, but we gotta go." InuYasha talks a mile a minute, not letting her arm go until they are back outside. Kagome can feel the people from inside the cafe staring them down, probably wondering why he is manhandling her.
She wonders that too, but her worry for whatever the hell is going on in Shibuya stills her tongue from lashing out at him. Kagome opens her mouth again to ask him what is going on when her vision goes red, her eardrums ring, and she can barely feel InuYasha's arms wrapped around her.
Please let Satoru be okay, she thinks, before her body gives out.
A/N: I hope everyone is doing well! Thank you all for your continued support. I do read every review and take them into consideration. As far as power leveling goes, my mind sees Satoru as the strongest sorcerer, Sukuna as the strongest curse, and Sesshomaru as the strongest demon (heh SSS gang). Anywho, have a great week and take care of yourselves!
