Summary: Gojo felt like he was staring at a ghost. Kagome was declared dead 10 years ago when a mission she was on went awry, yet there was no mistaking her. As if she existed to bend the rules of the Jujutsu Society, her manipulation of the Shikon no Tama was unheard of. She was the first and the only one to control the Four Domains of the Jewel.

Pairing: Satoru Gojo/Kagome Higurashi

Disclaimer: I do not own either series. Each belongs to their rightful owners.

Chapter Two

Despite the bustling street around them, filled with dozens and dozens of voices coming from every which way, the silence filling the gap between them was palpable. The world around them kept moving, oblivious to them standing there frozen. There was a barrage of emotions she could feel radiating off of him. Each one cut deeper than she ever imagined it would.

Tentatively, a hand fell to rest on her cheek. There was a warmth that came with it. Comfortable and familiar, yet distant all at the same time.

"It's really you." Just beneath the disbelief he spoke with, there was a dangerous undercurrent of rage. "I knew it. Those-"

Those bastards had lied.

"Satoru-"

"They said that you sacrificed yourself so they could get away and regroup." Gojo cut her off. His tone wasn't harsh, but it was clear he was commanding the right to speak first. There were a dozen questions that had taken root in his chest over the years, and now they all demanded answers. This… All of this felt like a dream he'd had so many times over the past ten years, but this time he knew he was awake. "I went to retrieve your body from where you were left, but you weren't there. They brushed it off as if you and the jewel had both been consumed by a curse."

His comment made her brows furrow some. Of course, they had to say something believable. After all, she'd risked herself many times in the past, so sacrificing herself wasn't that off track.

"Where?" Gojo gripped her a bit firmer, stepping closer as he desperately tried to pull her attention to his face. He wanted her to look at him. He wanted to feel her looking at him, see her bright blue eyes fixated on him. No… It was no longer a want, but a need to ground him to reality. He needed her attention on him, just like he needed air to survive. He felt like he'd soon combust without it.

With the insistence from him, Kagome eventually looked up. Her eyes were familiar, comforting. They placated some kind of feeling, something far more feral clawing against his chest.

"Where were you?" Of all the questions burning him up from the inside, that one was the most important. He'd never accepted her so-called death. Something inside him always led him to believe otherwise. Instinct or denial alone, that didn't exactly matter to him anymore. None of it, not right now. "I looked everywhere I could- everywhere I knew you'd go but-" She was never anywhere to be found. Not even the faintest hint of her aura.

She'd just vanished, both body and soul. She was gone. Nothing tangible remained for him to hold tight to.

"I left with Sesshomaru." The answer was short, cutting straight to the point. The name was vaguely familiar. He'd heard it all of one or two times in listening to her talk about her past. It wasn't enough to gather a clear image of who it was, but just enough to understand that he'd been an ally to her. As she offered that explanation, she jutted her thumb toward the figure standing a few paces behind her. The gesture was enough to pull his attention up and away from her despite not wanting to do so. "He found me in time."

Sesshomaru.

An imposing figure lurked behind her, just out of reach. Despite the bright color of his gold eyes, there wasn't a trace of warmth to be found. They were cold, distant, bearing no sort of affection nor care. Silver hair, long in length and pristine reflected the streetlights lighting up the walkways. An air of lethality seeped from him.

Somewhere inside him. Gojo felt a pang of jealousy when he fully comprehended the weight of her words.

For the past ten years, she'd been with him? It brought a follow-up question, one he didn't risk asking right then and there.

Just how close were the two?

She sighed softly, bringing a hand up to tuck a long lock of hair back behind her ear. She was used to the universe going against her, but this… This time it seemed like a bit too much. All she'd wanted was a simple trip to a place she used to be so fond of. Things often fail to go as planned whenever it came to her, she knew that well enough, but this felt like rubbing salt in the wound more than anything else.

For a split second, his grip on her grew a faction tighter. She felt the barrage of complicated emotions burning a wildfire inside him. Just as suddenly as it'd appeared, his grip faded entirely. Despite letting her go, his hand hovered just before her, as if he'd grab at her again the moment she tried to move.

Someone had saved her life. Surely that was enough cause for him to overlook everything else and focus on only the positives of that sentiment, right? Then why couldn't he?

After all, he had been right there. Ten years. She'd been gone for ten years. Had he never once been a thought in her mind? That, he realized, dug deeper than he was willing to vocalize. First Kagome then Surugu…-

"Why?" The question, nothing more than a single word, had been quiet, tense. Kagome returned her attention to his face, her head craned gently to the side in confusion.

"Why what?" she asked, her confusion seeping into her voice. "Why they tried to get rid of me? Or-?"

"Why didn't you come to me?" He motioned to his chest with his other hand, voice wavering some. He was the strongest. He could've protected her from any harm and ensured no backlash would reach her. He could've salvaged something if only she'd-! "It's been ten years. You didn't have to shoulder it all alone!"

Oddly enough, that seemed too true to something she'd do. It made his heart twist accepting that she wouldn't reach a hand out, out of fear of being perceived as weak.

Kagome's brows furrowed in confusion at his question. It took a few seconds for the full meaning to sink in, and her expression softened some. "What good would it have done?" she asked. She could tell that her response wasn't the words he'd wanted to hear, but lying and pretending to spare his feelings would do neither of them any good. "They wanted me gone, and if I walked back from it all then they'd only try again. If you stuck up for me then it'd only cause problems for you. I'm a big girl, I didn't need you protecting me."

He gritted his teeth in frustration at her response. He should've expected something like that from her, but it did nothing to numb the anger gnawing a hole through him. "As if they could do anything to me," he retaliated. "You think I care about those geezers and what they decide? I'd still do whatever the hell I want." He knew that she could protect herself, but her comment still dug deep. Maybe she didn't need him protecting her, but he still wanted to be the only one she went to when that risk came.

She was about to respond when the faint sound of a text alert came from behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to spot Sesshomaru looking at his phone. A second later, he caught her gaze and turned.

"I'm going ahead." They were the first words he'd said in the entire time they'd been out there. "Are you coming along, or will you stay here?"

It was always her choice to make, what she'd do. He never forced her hand either way, leaving her to choose with her own judgment guiding her. Either way, she knew he could handle anything that came around on his own, no matter if she went with him or not. After a moment, she sighed and shook her head.

"No, you go ahead," she responded. "I'll be fine." She had full faith in those words. Despite the time that'd passed since she'd last been in his presence, she knew her old classmate wouldn't hurt her. Out of everyone, he was the last person she expected any pushback from.

In the following seconds, it was just the pair of them left standing there. The silence that fell between them was suffocating, charged with powerful feelings from his side. With her heightened senses, it was all overwhelming.

She let her gaze roam back to Gojo, her confusion resurfacing when she caught his staring past her in the direction Sesshomaru had gone, a glare imprinted on his face. Upon noticing it, she wanted to call attention to it, but, at the same time, she wasn't sure what sort of answer she'd get from him if she did. She wasn't sure she wanted to learn, either.

"Satoru…-" Kagome began, only to pause and breathe a soft sigh a few seconds later. "I did what I felt was for the best for everyone."

"Huh?" The genuine hurt in that single-worded response weighed heavily on her shoulders. Her expression softened as she lowered her gaze to the ground, her heart feeling heavier in her chest than ever.

"It gave me a chance to grow stronger without the fear of repercussions," she stated in a low tone. "I had no fear of the jewel harming another when no one else was around, and I was able to push myself past prior limits that held me stagnant. Past the limits that had been imposed on me by customs and traditions."

"What are you trying to say?" he asked. The implications were clear as day, but a part of him rejected the idea altogether.

"Sure, it nearly killed me a hundred times over, but I did it," she said with a faint shrug of her shoulders, her smile nearly fading entirely. "Nothing was holding me back anymore, so I figured why not?"

His eyes followed as her hand came up, watching as she rested her hand over her chest, over the place the jewel lurked forever entwined with her soul. Considered one of the strongest cursed objects to come into existence, there'd always been such intense prejudice towards her for her connection to it. She'd loathed it, but she had been unable to get rid of it. It was drawn to her. She, unlike others around her, was immune to its influence.

That fact alone should've been a good thing. That meant it was safe in her care, as no one else would ever get within its reach. Otherwise, it'd be left on its own, incapable of destruction and free to cause whatever mayhem on whoever was unlucky enough to fall victim to its corruption.

And yet…

It'd been the exact opposite. She'd been critiqued and unfairly judged for something out of her control. Limitations and scrutiny had been imposed on her out of fear. Fear of her becoming too strong to control, to manipulate with old-standing traditions when she already pushed back against them so casually. She'd always brushed it off, never letting the shame they tried so hard to enforce on her impact her.

"Four souls mark four domains, and I alone have control over them all." She looked up at him, her expression oddly serene. "They wanted me dead for something I had no choice in, so I took it upon myself to give myself a choice."

After all, it was something no one else could stand to do.

In reality, they had forced her into this situation, anyway. She had been content to live a peaceful life. Well, a life as peaceful as possible with the burden of the Shikon no Tama weighing on her shoulders. It was they who decided that wouldn't be enough and decided it would be best to eradicate her in hopes the jewel would vanish with her.

"It was a dumb idea on their part," she murmured, sweeping her gaze back down to the ground. "After all, even if I'm gone, the jewel will remain. All it would've done was leave it free for someone else to come across it." She'd put plenty of thought into it over these years, but all it ever did was cement one crucial thought into her mind. "They're dumber than I thought if they thought it'd do any good in the end," she mused with a thoughtful sigh.

She might've disliked the elders of the Jujutsu society, but she never thought they were outright dumb. Their thoughts were a little stunted and held up with traditions better left retired, yet she respected the knowledge they possessed. Now, she couldn't seem to view them in the same light.

"You…-" Gojo spoke, and Kagome lifted her attention back up to his face. A mix of surprise and mesmerization lingered in his eyes as he processed her claims. "You did the very thing those geezers were afraid of."

"I did," she responded. She'd done just that. "I was a little angry after everything and spite is a great motivator. If you think about it, they brought all this upon themselves."

The irony of it all wasn't lost on him. If not for his persisting anger over it all, he would've laughed. The looming reminder of ten years lost between them only solidified the anger simmering deep within his chest. Despite that, he opted to ignore it for now, instead choosing to focus on establishing whatever connection could be salvaged in the present.

"Convenient we crossed paths here, then," he said, jutting a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the cafe they stood outside of. "Don't think I've forgotten. You still owe me a date."

Kagome's eyes widened at the comment, and she stood silently for a few long seconds as she fully processed his words. "I don't recall ever using those words," she stated, but he only brushed the comment off.

"Let's not mince words," he said, flicking his hand a few times in the air beside his head. "No time like the present, hm?"

Kagome's look of surprise slowly melted into a small smile. In reality she didn't have a reason to turn the idea down. After all, she'd wanted to go and now that Sesshomaru had been pulled away by something, she was on her own. "Ah, fine," she sighed, a faint warmth pooling inside her. After all, a part of her had been looking forward to those plans all those years ago. "I dunno if they'll still have my old favorites anymore, so I might as well find some new favorites."

There was something so carefree, so serene that she could feel in that moment. Stress, tension, regret… all negative emotions seemed to melt away from her as the calming air of familiarity washed over her.

Ten years was a long time, yet the comfort she'd always felt around him was as persistent as ever. In a way, it was as if no time at all had passed.

Auroua-chan: Gonna wrap this chapter up here.

Anyway, thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoyed. Hopefully I caught all the errors before posting, but if not sorry.

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Bye for now~