Chapter 05: The Meaning of Knife
Sesshoumaru took a step back, edging away from Kagome.
“Wait!” she called to him, taking two steps for his one. “Please don’t go.”
He paused. Retreat wasn’t honestly his fashion, even when done with dignity.
Kagome swallowed, pushing down the anxiety that crept in her throat. As Inuyasha’s enigmatic older brother, she didn’t know much about him, except that he wasn’t above violence when things weren’t in his favor or even when they were for that matter. Her nervousness spiked. She didn’t want to fight him. She just saved him.
Sesshoumaru glanced at the nearby fence, sizing up its height. His brief look however didn’t go unnoticed and Kagome swiftly found her voice.
“A lot has changed since the Feudal Era,” she warned. “The company of an ally might be nicer than a city of strangers, don’t you think? If you stay, I promise to explain everything that I can.”
He snorted, masking the sway of her reason. “Where am I?”
“Tokyo.”
“Tokyo? What’s Tokyo?”
“I’m sorry. This region used to be Edo, but it’s now known as Tokyo.”
Sesshoumaru nodded. The presence of the sacred tree proved her to be honest. Perhaps it was due to the brevity of their lives, but humans were so fickle when it came to names, changing them on a whim. “How long was I sealed?”
“I don’t know. Ever since I wished the Shikon no Tama into nothingness, I haven’t been able to go back through the well. My family and I just found you a few days ago in Midoriko’s cave.”
“Strange.”
Kagome waited, hoping for an explanation. The silence however wore on, and her patience thinned. “What do you mean by strange?”
“Show me the well.”
Still confused and somewhat annoyed that her question had gone unanswered, she waved her hand, and began to walk away. “It’s over here. Come with me.”
Keeping a slow pace, she led him across the grounds and toward a small wooden shed. Immersed in a sense of emptiness as she climbed up the familiar steps, she reached for the weathered door and slid it open. Sunlight poured in, revealing a square well in the shadows.
“It looks familiar.”
“It’s the Bone-Eater Well. It’s how I traveled from my time to yours.
“How?”
“I just jumped down it. By accident the first time, but I traveled through it continuously for about a year, living my two lives.”
“Then you are simply human.”
Kagome blushed; embarrassed by his insinuation that she might be something supernatural. She hadn’t realized how she might seem to someone who had known her first in the past, and now in the present as well. “I’m Kikyo’s reincarnation. Since the jewel was burned with her body, I was born with it inside of me. I think because of that, I was allowed to travel to your time, and then back again at will.”
“Then when Naraku was defeated, you were returned here.”
She nodded.
“Strange.”
“Why do you keep saying that?”
Keeping silent, he turned around and left the shed.
The first sparks of anger smoldered in her chest and she chased after him. “I’ve been truthful with you. You should be honorable and do the same with me. What’s strange?”
“This has nothing to do with honor, but with respect.”
“Then be respectful and answer me.”
“I will not,” he refused, stopping his trek across the courtyard to confront her. “As a lord, I am entitled to respect, a courtesy that is undeserving of a nameless human who has yet to earn it. Learn your place or your lesson will be harsher.”
Her fury ignited. “I’m not nameless! I am Higurashi Kagome!”
“That is not what I was referring to.”
“If that’s not it, then you mean your lordship. That by being a daiyoukai, you believe that you’re better than everyone else? Well, I’ve got news for you. It might only be a few months for me, but it’s been three hundred years since Naraku’s defeat and nothing is the same. There are no youkai here. Not one. Humans rule everything. We do what we wish now, and for once, you need to respect us.” Her voice lowered, and she let her last words cut. “You’re a lord without people. A lord of nothing.”
Breathing hard, Kagome glared victoriously at him. Then her triumph began to tarnish and her eyes softened. Shock paled his face. Three hundred years pass, and everything he had was a memory. She had gone too far. Worrying so much about his wakening and what he might do had put her on edge all week. She had expected a fight, and when there wasn’t one, she started one.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I don’t know for certain. There could be some youkai out there that I haven’t been able to sense.”
“No, you are correct,” Sesshoumaru said, “I am the last one. I am a lord without people. A lord of nothing.”
“No, that’s not true…” she began to disagree, but he turned away from her, limping toward the house. Soon he disappeared inside, leaving her alone.
Frustrated and angry at her bullheadedness, Kagome began to pace and mutter, recounting events and how she could have gone about it without ripping an injured man a new wound. She would stitch it up when she saw him next; at least she hoped she could. Looking up, she spied her mother walking toward her, a frilled apron tied around her waist.
“Mama, I screwed up,” she admitted, her voice miserable. “He’s not awake for fifteen minutes, and I’ve already ruined things.”
Leaning close, her mother hugged her around her shoulders. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. A lot has happened to you over the last year and a half. More has been expected of you than should be demanded from anyone, let alone a teenage girl.”
“I just wish I had handled it better. Sometimes I forget about the different customs.” Kagome looked up, catching her mother’s dark eyes. “I think I hurt his feelings.”
“He’ll understand,” she soothed. “He may be a demon, but he’s still a man and like most, he just needs time to think. You can make amends with him later.”
“All right.”
Mama smiled. With her arm still around her daughter’s shoulders, she pulled her toward the house. “Besides, I’m fixing steak in honor of our new guest’s recovery. Dogs like steak, don’t they?”
Kagome giggled. “I hope so.”
“I wonder if he’ll be like Inuyasha and love ramen too.”
She shook her head and laughed. “Somehow, I think his tastes are probably too refined for ramen.”
Mama frowned. “That’s too bad. Inuyasha was such a cheap boy to feed.”
Soon they reached the steps and passed through the door leading into the kitchen. A rush of savory aromas met them, and Kagome’s stomach gurgled with anticipation. On the stovetop, saucepans bubbled, and Mama surrendered her daughter to make sure that none of them had burned. Fresh vegetables were spread out on the counter, each washed, trimmed, and ready to be chopped. Satisfied that all was cooking well, Mama left the stove for the refrigerator and retrieved a paper-wrapped package of meat.
“Can I help?” Kagome asked.
“Of course,” he mother replied, and gestured to the counter. “Could you finish dicing the daikon while I trim the steaks, please?”
“No problem!” Walking to the sink, she washed her hands and then searched for her apron in the drawer. Finding it, she tied it on and rolled up her sleeves. Picking up the half cut-up radish, she repositioned it on the cutting board and looked for the knife. Not finding it beside the cutting board, she began to look around the counter and under the other vegetables. “Mama, where’s the knife?”
“The chopping knife?”
“Yeah.”
“It should be there.”
“I can’t find it.”
“I set it down on the cutting board before I went outside.”
“It’s not here. The daikon was the only thing on the cutting board. I’ve checked all over the counter and I looked in the sink. It’s gone.”
“I wonder where it went.” Mama walked toward the hall and yelled into the family room. “Souta, did you move my chopping knife?!”
“No!” came a distant reply.
Her mother hummed. “If he didn’t take it, who could have? It’s strange.”
“Strange,” Kagome murmured, and then she blanched with fear. “Sesshoumaru.”
Bolting out of the kitchen, she ran down the hall. Focusing her powers, she searched for his presence. He was upstairs. Not sparing a moment to slow down, she made for the stairs. Reaching them, she flew up, taking each step two at a time, and nearly stumbling at the top. She was such a stupid girl. How could she tell him that he was a lord without people? That he was a lord of nothing? His title was all that he had left. She was so stupid, and so was bushido. Stupid warrior culture and their death before honor rules.
Her thundering steps softened as Kagome began to sneak close. Moving from the side, she could see into his room, its sliding door open a crack. Through the gap, she peeked at the tatami floor, and then her hand rose to her mouth to stifle a gasp. Spilled across the floor was silver hair, its strands glinting beautifully in the light.
“Oh no.”
Behind her, she felt Mama and Souta walk up. Looking back at them, she realized what she has to do. Even though she doesn’t want to look, she can’t subject anyone else to her mistake.
“Wait here,” she said, and she reached for the handle. Closing her eyes, she pulled the door down its track, and then slowly opened it. She gasped. Bathing in the sunlight at the center of the empty room was Sesshoumaru. The knife still in his hand, he was surrounded by swirls of his shorn hair. With his longest locks reaching his neck, the rest of his hair was ragged and uneven where he had cut it.
“Sesshoumaru?” she whispered.
Ignoring her, he continued to look out of the window.
“Sesshoumaru?” she said louder.
Silence.
Taking a step into the room, she called out again. “Sesshoumaru? Are you all right?”
“I am now.”
Unable to stifle her shock, Kagome blurted out the obvious. “Because you cut off your hair?”
“I am not a lord any longer,” he admitted. “I am a being without a time or a place. I have no purpose. I do not deserve the hair of a lord, of a warrior. My honor will not permit it.” Pushing off of his knees, he rose to his feet. Turning around, he began to walk toward her. She began to back up until she felt Souta behind her. Twirling the knife as he neared, he caught it by the back of the blade, and then handed it to Mama. “My apologies, Higurashi-san. I took it without your permission.”
Mama smiled. “There’s no need.” She gestured to his hair. “Would you like me to even that out for you?”
Mulling over her offer for a moment, he then nodded. “It would be appreciated.”
“My scissors are downstairs.”
“I will accompany you.”
Brushing past Kagome, he left with Mama. Lingering behind, she and Souta stared at the pools of hair, still mystified. Then Souta spoke up.
“Damn, he’s hardcore.”
Kagome nodded.
“At least he didn’t kill himself.”
Kagome nodded again.
A/N: Sorry for the brevity, and the tardy update. My original work has been demanding a lot lately.
One by ladybattousai