Journey to the Future - Chapter 12

Kagome peeked in at her laundry and noticed that the tell-tale red kimono was missing, along with the white inner wear that Kagome had spent an hour scrubbing and mending. It was so torn that she had a hard time believing that Inuyasha was still able to wear it. Fortunately, she had been able to beg some scrap fabric from one of the other guests—Kagome privately thought that the older woman had taken pity on her frustration with Inuyasha’s poor habits. His clothing had been absolutely filthy.

“They really must dry faster than normal clothes,” she muttered, picking up the discarded blue yukata that lie in a heap on the floor. She couldn’t believe that Inuyasha had changed here. He must have been really embarrassed by their conversation not to come back to the room. Hopefully the room was empty when he decided to strip down and change.

Kagome shook out the garment and draped it over the line with her own clothing, which were all still slightly damp. She left the drying clothing for the lure of the festival, making a mental note to gather them before turning in for the night.

Kagome stopped to chat with the innkeeper again, who informed her that the festival was celebrating the founding of the village and the friendship between human and youkai. She couldn’t help grinning hugely. This particular village clearly had the right idea about things. She had the petty desire to bring Kaede here and show her that the hatred she had warned about was not universal.

As she wandered around the village, enjoying the music and the sights of humans, youkai, and hanyou mingling together freely, Kagome was extremely surprised to run into Sesshomaru. Rin had been adamant that he didn’t enter villages unless absolutely necessary, but she wondered if maybe the novelty of a mixed race town was too much for him to resist.

“Sesshomaru,” she greeted, inclining her head in a polite, but slightly wary, bow. She hadn’t forgotten the cryptic statements he had said the day before.

“Hn. Miko,” he responded, looking her over intently. “Are you well?”

Kagome was slightly taken aback by the form of address. Despite what Kaede had told her and the evidence of her own spiritual power, she had never really thought of herself as a miko. “Yes, I’m fine, thank you. Did you come to enjoy the festival?” she asked, pulling up beside him as he began to walk again.

The end of the fluffy boa on his shoulder swayed as he walked and Kagome was dying to stroke it. However, she wasn’t about to touch him without permission. Everything about the youkai just screamed that he enjoyed his personal space. Even the villagers milling about them gave him a wide berth, which was no small feat in the crowded streets. As she spied the awed looks that some of them gave him, Kagome wondered just how well known Sesshomaru really was.

“I wish to purchase Rin a trinket,” Sesshomaru finally responded. It had been so long since she asked the question that Kagome nearly forgot what she had asked.

She stifled a giggle as she remembered Rin’s claim that the youkai enjoyed buying things for her. “That sounds nice,” she said earnestly. “Can I help pick it out?”

Sesshomaru glanced down at her before nodding slightly. He led the way to the same jewelry stall that Kagome had gotten directions from the day before.

As the youkai started looking over some truly gaudy pieces of jewelry, Kagome began to suspect that Sesshomaru had no taste. After all, the winter kimono that Rin gave her was pretty tacky in its pattern and color scheme. She hadn’t noticed in the cave, as she had been preoccupied by other things, but when she was washing it that morning, Kagome finally noticed the terrible animal pattern and clashing colors. She didn’t know that those colors were even possible to make as dyes in the feudal era.

“Sesshomaru,” she said as she noticed the youkai’s hand hovering over a wide golden necklace encrusted with stones. “Don’t you think she would like this?”

Kagome pointed out a tasteful bracelet made of tiny pearls. It was delicate and feminine but simple enough that she thought Rin would actually wear it. She imagined that Rin must have tons of gaudy trinkets and ugly clothing at home. It was kind of sad really, that Sesshomaru tried so hard to spoil her and apparently had the worst taste imaginable.
With the vendor’s nod of permission, she picked the small bracelet up and draped it over her own wrist to show him. The pearls shimmered gently against her skin.

“Hn,” Sesshomaru said thoughtfully. Without another word, he handed the merchant a few coins and turned away.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Kagome called after him, bowing in thanks to the vendor and hurrying to catch up with the youkai. “Don’t you want to take it to her?”

Sesshomaru stopped and looked down at her. “It is yours,” he said, reaching out to fasten it around her wrist.

Kagome froze in shock, both from the unexpected gift and from the warmth that emanated from his fingers as he attached the bracelet. “Oh,” she said, feeling off-balance. “Thank you very much.”

“It is nothing,” he replied, releasing her hand. Although his face was carefully blank, an unknown emotion simmered in his striking golden eyes. They stood there, staring at each other for a moment until Sesshomaru blinked once and turned away. “Be sure to take care,” he said, lifting a hand in farewell as he headed back through the village toward the forest.

“Um… okay,” Kagome responded uncertainly. She wasn’t sure what had just happened, or why Sesshomaru was leaving without having purchased anything for Rin. “Argh!” she groaned, shaking her head irritably.

Inuyasha was easy to read most of the time, but Sesshomaru was nearly impossible and Kagome just knew that she would drive herself crazy trying to figure him out. She supposed that she would have to wait until he decided to be more forthcoming; although that seemed extremely unlikely.

~*~

Kagome spent the rest of the afternoon playing with some of the village children, including one little hanyou girl who looked to belong to the innkeeper. She had the same multicolored feathers for hair but had rounded human nails in place of talons and light brown eyes instead of piercing green. The little girl was absolutely delightful and had a beautiful singing voice. She made Kagome like the innkeeper even more.

Between playing with the children, she also chatted with the mothers watching over them for tips on hair care. The oil that Kagome had used the night before had definitely made her hair feel soft again, but had done nothing for the frizz. When she mentioned that she was on her way to visit Hitomiko, several of the women gasped in delight.

“Oh, Hitomiko-sama has the best hair treatment,” one human woman said, showing off her own well-cared for locks. “Just look what she has done for me! You would not believe how it looked before!”

“Really, she was a complete disaster! Hitomiko-sama will get you sorted out in no time,” agreed her youkai friend.

Kagome thanked them and headed back to the hotel just as it was starting to get dark. She was feeling even more excited to get to Mt. Asahidake and meet Hitomiko. It boded well that even the youkai here seemed fond of her. From what Kagome had heard from both Kaede and Inuyasha, youkai and miko were generally mortal enemies, as their respective power was poison to the other.

Before heading back to her room, Kagome stopped to gather her now dry laundry, draping each garment over her am. She waved goodnight to the innkeeper, who was humming beautifully in the front entrance. Kagome resisted the urge to stop and listen and hurried toward her room, making a mental note to double check her supplies. She would hate to forget anything. It would be just her luck to be out in the middle of nowhere and have no food or water and none readily available.

After the first week traveling, Kagome had taken to carrying a small canteen of water for emergencies. There weren’t as many water sources as she had expected and she knew just how dangerous it was for the human body to go too long without water.

When she slid open the door to her room, Inuyasha was back and lounging on his futon, which had been dragged messily from the closet. The door was still open and the second futon was half on the floor. Kagome rolled her eyes and stepped into the room, dropping the clothes on the table. As she got to know him better, Inuyasha reminded her more and more of her little brother. Including his inability to keep a room tidy.

“Hi, Inuyasha,” she greeted, straightening the closet with a pointed look at him. “Did you find anything good out there?”

“Keh! Not really,” the hanyou snorted, deliberately ignoring her pointed look.

“Spent it all on food, did you?” she asked wryly, sitting at the table to carefully fold the clothes as compactly as possible. She placed the pile neatly at the bottom of her pack, leaving out a light sleeping yukata, followed by her carefully sorted supplies.

Inuyasha remained silent and when Kagome peeked over her shoulder while packing, she saw the slightly sheepish blush that had bloomed on his cheeks. Kagome had been truly shocked by the sheer amount Inuyasha had consumed in the day they had been in the village. On the road, he often ate no more than she did and even skipped some meals. She had thought that maybe he didn’t need to eat as often as a human, but with his recent behavior, she wasn’t so sure.

After finishing with her bag, she stood and crossed the room to push open the wooden shutter. It looked like the festival was staring to wind down as the sky steadily darkened. Colorful lanterns were lit along the village streets and Kagome smiled wistfully at the sight. At the festivals they held at her shrine, they often strung similar lanterns along the walkways to guide visitors through the darkness around the shrine grounds.

Feeling a sharp pang of homesickness, Kagome shut the window firmly to block the view and blew out a sigh. “Okay, well I’m going to take advantage of the baths again, since it was included in the price of the room. There probably won’t be another opportunity until we reach Mt. Asahidake.”

“Do what you like,” Inuyasha said lightly, flipping onto his back and stretching luxuriously. His tongue curled slightly as he yawned.

Casting a suspicious glance at the unusually flippant hanyou, Kagome gathered her nightwear and hair oil. She narrowed her eyes as Inuyasha toyed with something under the neckline of his clothing and she paused in the doorway. “Did Rin buy you something nice?” she asked offhandedly.

Inuyasha hummed in agreement. “Yeah… she really is a nic—wait a minute!” His face reddened and he snatched his hand away from the item under his robes. “How did you… did you see her? But how…” he spluttered.

“I know everything,” Kagome intoned ominously, staring with wide creepy eyes at him. As he recoiled slightly, she couldn’t help herself and burst into laughter. “I’m just joking! But I do know about teenage girls and I could tell that she likes you,” she smiled. “Besides, I got a present today too.” She showed off her wrist and the simple bracelet on it.

“Who bought…” he trailed off and inhaled purposefully. “Sesshomaru?!” he nearly yelled in surprise. Kagome was surprised that he hadn’t smelled his half-brother on her sooner. He must have really been preoccupied by his encounter with Rin.

“Yeah, I was pretty shocked too. Still am, actually,” she admitted, twisting the bracelet around on her arm.

Inuyasha whistled in disbelief.

“Oh, hush you,” Kagome admonished. She waved a hand at him and slipped through the door. The hot, soothing bath tub was calling her.

~*~

Despite her relaxing soak and pleasant chat with a couple other women who were bathing, Kagome slept poorly. She tossed and turned all night. Sesshomaru was walking away from her and no matter what she did, she couldn’t catch up with him. She ran as fast as she could and called out to him, but he never even turned back to look at her or seem to get any closer. Kagome didn’t know why she was trying to catch him or what it was she needed to tell him, but the urge pulled at her from beneath her breast. She tripped, falling hard in the darkness and black sludge oozed over her arms and legs. The ghostly figure of the youkai faded from sight, leaving Kagome alone in the blackness, slowly being devoured by the clinging tar.

“Miko! Wake up!”

With a gasp, Kagome woke from the unsettling dream. A clawed hand squeezed her shoulder and she pushed up on her elbows, breathing harshly. “S-Sesshomaru…?”

“Woman, cease what you are doing this instant,” the youkai said in a terse voice. He looked uncomfortably nervous, which didn’t help calm her racing heart.

She blinked to clear the sleep from her eyes and let out a strangled cry as she focused on what was happening around them.

Sesshomaru was crouched over her and they were enclosed in an opaque pink dome that nearly filled the room. Kagome could just make out Inuyasha pressed against the wall, jaw hanging open and eyes wide in shock. However, the bubble was the least of her worries. As she looked down at herself, she was both surprised and horrified.

There was a brightly shining, pink thread emerging from her heart. She followed the strand with her eyes. As it grew further away from her body, it faded into green before disappearing into white clothing. Kagome looked up in horror to see that the strand led from her heart straight to Sesshomaru. Feeling in a daze, she slowly looked back down at the thread. With a shaking finger, she gently plucked it.

It vibrated, causing a somewhat unpleasant lurch in her chest. She gasped at the same time that Sesshomaru let out a nearly inaudible grunt of discomfort. The delicate strange glowed more brilliantly for a brief moment and then vanished.

Kagome let out a heaving breath of relief as the tether connecting her to Sesshomaru disappeared. It felt as though a weight was lifted from her chest. She looked around at the dome which still encased them, wondering how to make it go away.

Just as she was reaching out to touch it, Sesshomaru grabbed her hand, preventing her from touching the opaque bubble of energy. She looked at him in surprise and then back at the dome. It pulsed gently once, no doubt sending a wave of energy outward, and then began to dissolve, starting at the crown. The shimmering pink cascaded down like melting ice, evaporating as it touched the floor.

In a manner of seconds, all traces of the power had gone. Sesshomaru stood, a little shakily, and stared at her with an unreadable expression.

The silence was unbearable as Kagome found her eyes locked with the daiyoukai’s golden gaze.

“What… what the fuck was that?”

Inuyasha’s hushed exclamation broke the spell and Sesshomaru looked away. Without another word, the youkai left, exiting through the open window.  Kagome shook herself and craned her neck to look at the startled hanyou still pressed against the wall. Now that the pink energy had dissipated, she could see that he held his sheathed sword in front of his chest like a shield.

“I have absolutely no idea,” she breathed, shaking her head in disbelief.

She flopped back down on the futon and pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes. There was no way that she was going back to sleep after all that. She idly registered the sound of Inuyasha sliding down the side of the wall and slowly assuming his customary position. He was abnormally silent and she knew that he was probably almost as unsettled as she was. Kagome curled onto her side and stared vacantly at the wall. What on earth was going on with her? And what did Sesshomaru have to do with any of it?

Kagome presumed that it must have something to do with whatever it was about her that the youkai wanted. It may even be connected to why the well had closed. But at this point, she had even more questions and still no answers. She closed her eyes, hoping futilely to get a little more sleep. If she was well rested now, they may even be able to make it to Hitomiko in a handful of days; and Kagome desperately needed to speak with the experienced miko now.