Computers are a good thing. They have caused so many problems, yet helped so much. Almost like the Shikon no Tama that my half-brother used to chase down.
I have to shake my head to clear my thoughts. Ever since I saw her, my mind finds some way to return to her. That is why I sit before the machine on my desk. I am searching for her. I know she lives close by, for she was walking with her friends rather than driving.
And so, I check the list of students at the nearby high school, her school uniform making me wonder if she had decided to attend, but also reminding me of when I saw her the second time, in her odd green and white kimono. Then, I had thought it was immodest and odd for a girl to show so much of her legs. Now, I knew that all female students at the nearby school had to wear them. So how did she have one then? Did she somehow see the future, and liked the attire?
My hope that there would only be one or maybe two girls with the name “Kagome” at the school is acknowledged when a screen comes up, picturing a girl in her uniform, a small smile on her face. A face I remember so well. Underneath the picture is a name.
Kagome Higurashi.
I was right. She IS the girl I met 500 years ago! But how is she still alive? She’s a human!
My curiosity has been well and truly aroused, and now it joins with my longing to speak with someone who remembered the time so long ago, when the land was still grass and trees, with an occasional village. When things were quiet and calm.
I immediately reach for the phone book kept in the lower left drawer of the oak desk. Opening it to the “H” section, I thumb through the pages until I see it.
Higurashi. Sunset Shrine.
There’s a phone number there, but I don’t care. The need for a familiar face overrides all other thought. I rip the page from the book and race out of the house, stopping only to grab my keys and wallet. The drive there is so short, I berate myself for not seeing her sooner. But then, It’s hard to see the people walking by while you’re in phone conferences around the world.
Stopping before the shrine I never paid much attention to, I feel my breath stop in my chest. From my place on the street, it appears to be a place stuck in time, unaffected and unchanged from the harshness of the world around it. Such peace radiates from it as the early morning sun shines over it.
“MOM!!!!!”
So much for the peace, I think, and listen to the voice of a young man and pounding feet speaking to his apparent mother, her voice soothing. Did Kagome have children? I would say no, that it wasn’t possible, that she was too young, but……… She was here, and yet she was first seen 500 years ago. Perhaps she is a demon who can hide her energy? No. She had too many human qualities. Rounded ears, circular pupils, dull canines and nails that could never be called claws. She was a human. A human miko who had lived for 500 years. And I am curious as to how.
A yelled “goodbye!” was my only warning before a boy came running down the stairs before me, dressed in regular clothing and carrying a large backpack. I watched as he stopped in front of me, staring in awe at my face, claws, and hair, which surprised me. Then he said something I had never expected.
“Why do you look like Inuyasha?” I’m certain that my face actually showed the shock I was desperately trying to hide. Then I reminded myself that the boy was related to Kagome in some way, and that she must have told him about my half-brother.
“Inuyasha?” I can’t help but ask. I am naturally curious, and wonder what he knows.
“Yeah, my big brother, Inuyasha. He and my sister were best friends, but then he stopped coming. Sis says he went off with his girlfriend, but- ” He finally stopped long enough to breathe, and noticed his watch, crying out in surprise. “Oh, man! I’m gonna be late! Sorry! Gotta go! If you’re looking for ‘Gome, just go up to the house and knock on the door, she should be up by now!”
And with that, I was left reeling on the sidewalk. Inuyasha used to come here? How is that possible? Perhaps it’s a different Inuyasha than the one I knew. Maybe Kagome did mate with the hanyou, and had a child identical to him. If there’s anything I’ve learned in the past couple of days, it’s that anything is possible.
With one leap, I found myself standing in a courtyard made up of a few buildings. Focusing on the largest one, which I knew was their home due to the smell radiating from it of different people, I strode up to the door. But now I was nervous to see her again. Wait. I, Sesshoumaru, NERVOUS?
Yes.
Very Nervous.
~*~*~*~
I groaned. Damn, I hate mornings. Especially on school days, where I had to go and work hard to make up for all those weeks I had missed while shard-hunting with Inuyasha. It doesn’t look good on a college application to miss tons of time in a couple of years, and having barely passing grades. But today was the worst kind of day. It was a teacher conference day, and Souta had agreed to go out with his friends. And so I had to get up at 8:30 in the morning, without any real motivation.
Oh yeah, it was final. Mornings sucked.
After Souta’s departure, I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, wishing I could learn someway to block out the voice of my younger brother.
Brother.
Sesshoumaru.
I sat up straight in bed, my eyes wide, the moment my senses told me a demon was nearby. There was only a few demons I knew who would come to me. And this didn’t feel like anyone in Shippou’s family. So it could only be one of two people. Kouga, whom I haven’t seen, and whom I know doesn’t think I’m alive, and……… Him.
I leapt from the warm blankets and hurriedly dressed, a hairbrush in one hand and a toothbrush in the other when my mother called me down for a guest. With a final swish of water, and with a final stroke of a brush, I steeled myself for the confrontation of a lifetime. What I saw, though, nearly made me die of embarrassment.
He stood there, as regal, elegant, and proud as ever, those cold eyes watching my mother as she asked questions about why he looked so much like her “daughter’s ex-boyfriend.”
“Mom!” I knew I was blushing. Hell, my face felt like it was redder than Inuyasha’s fire-rat haori that he gave me before leaving with Kikyo. And now, both of the people in the room were staring at me, my mother smiling, blissfully ignorant of the potential danger Sesshoumaru represented. The demon in question, though, nodded to my mother respectfully, and softly asked to speak to me alone. This is so unusual, my brain didn’t start working again until I found myself staring directly into those eyes, cool and indifferent in a face surrounded by long, silvery-white hair.
I must have switched my gaze to his hair, because he lifted up a lock of it with his left hand, which I was shocked to realize had completely back. Now my brain was trying to catch up to my eyes. Sesshoumaru’s alive. In the 21st century. Dressed in black slacks and a dove gray shirt. With his left arm back. And being polite to humans. (A/N: I read about someone dressing him in this outfit in another story, and couldn’t resist!)
It was just too much to comprehend. I don’t know which happened first, whether it was my legs giving out on me, or my eyes closing to welcome back unconsciousness. All I know is that the last thing I saw before the blackness caught me, was the feared demon lord flying towards me, his arms outstretched.