InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Kagome vs. the Modern Era ❯ Tell Me Yours, I'll Tell You Mine ( Chapter 3 )

Kurama was contemplating whether or not to throw the beautiful miko walking briskly beside him over his shoulder and sprint for her apartment as fast as he could.

‘I want to know all about her. She’s exquisite, like very fine silk, but she is definitely down to earth, funny, sarcastic, and witty. She also has this cloak of sadness entwined with her aura. This must be something related to her past. I’ll tell her everything about me, Youko included, if I can just ease some of the sadness away. I know she must be curious about my aura as well.’

Kurama was abruptly cut off from his ponderings as Kagome noticeably slowed her pace.

“You know, I don’t normally let someone I just met walk me home like this, especially a youkai I just met. I mean if you had told me a year ago that youkai still existed in modern day Japan, I’d have had doubt. I don’t know why, but your aura is so calm, that it actually makes me feel peaceful,” said Kagome, while looking at Kurama.

“You said modern day Japan. Why? How do you know of youkai, Kagome?” asked Kurama. Kagome looked away, so he continued, “Keiko mentioned that she told you about the Spirit Detectives after you had told her something. I also sensed an extreme sadness blanketing your aura when Keiko mentioned the name Miroku. Who was he?” Kurama tried desperately to shake the jealousness out of his voice.

“Miroku was a very dear friend, an older brother figure almost. He was wise beyond his years, more clever than anyone I’ve ever known, and definitely the most lecherous Buddhist monk I have ever had the privilege of knowing,” answered Kagome with a small smile. “You know, I met him because he was trying to kidnap me. We got off to a rough start, particularly after he had groped my ass a couple of times, but nonetheless, he was a great guy. He had a curse on his right hand. Of course, he used the curse as an excuse to grope maidens; however, the real curse was a wind tunnel, a hole in his hand that when uncovered, could suck in anything in its path. Every year of his life, the wind tunnel would expand until one day, it would rip and engulf him. The curse could only be destroyed if the youkai who had placed the curse upon his family was killed.”

Kurama listened in awe. She had been through so much and yet, he sensed this wasn’t even half of what was really going on inside her head and heart. Kurama continued to listen and squeeze her hand to acknowledge that he was intent on giving her his undivided attention.

“You see, Kurama, I am–was a time traveler. I was born on a shrine and grew up hearing wonderful tales of a half demon, a miko, and a jewel. The jewel was called the Shikon no Tama,” Kagome said as she turned to look at Kurama.

“Yes, I have heard these stories. The miko protected a powerful, wish-fulfilling jewel, and fell in love with a hanyou who originally wanted the jewel for himself, in order to become a full youkai. Somehow, they betrayed each other, and the hanyou struck the miko a deadly blow. Before she died, she pinned the half demon to a tree for all eternity. The jewel was burned with the priestess’s body and disappeared. Am I correct in this, Kagome?”

“You are correct in everything, except the jewel never disappeared. It was reborn 550 some years later, in the reincarnation of the miko. I am the reincarnation of the priestess Kikyo. I was grabbed by a youkai seeking the jewel into the dry well on our shrine and pulled 500 years into the past. Somehow, I used my dormant miko powers to escape the youkai. Walking through the forest where my home should have been in the modern era, I came upon a boy with puppy ears on his head, and he was pinned to a tree by an old, withered arrow. I rubbed his ears and then walked away. To a village near the forest where everyone thought I was some kind of demon by the way I was dressed. Kaede, the old village miko and the woman who would become like a grandmother to me, surmised that I was her sister, Kikyo’s, reincarnation,” Kagome paused to open the door of her apartment building and again, wave to Mr. Makoto.

Stepping into the elevator and pressing the button for the fourth floor, she continued, “That’s when Mistress Centipede, the youkai from the well, appeared again and began terrorizing the village and looking for me, or more specifically the jewel. I ran into the forest to distract her and once again, came upon the boy on the tree. This time, however, he was awake and yelling at me, calling me this Kikyo person,” explained Kagome as they stepped from the elevator, down the hall to her apartment. She unlocked the door and invited Kurama inside. “The youkai grabbed and sliced me, and out of my body, fell the Shikon no Tama. The youkai then trapped me against the boy on the tree. The boy told me to pull out the arrow if I wanted to live. Next thing I know, I have the jewel in my hand, a dead youkai 10 feet away, and a very angry, not quite human boy with claws over me, demanding the jewel. Eventually, we became reluctant friends after I shattered the jewel. His name was Inuyasha, and he was my first love.” Kagome smiled then when she peeked at Kurama under her bangs and noticed his clenched jaw at the mention of Inuyasha.

She directed Kurama to the soft, comfortable couch in her living room and sat down next to him. Kurama placed his arm around Kagome and began stroking her arm. Then he whispered in her ear, “Please, continue.”

And she did, as she cuddled into the warmth of his side, “Well, we had to collect the jewel shards. Just one shard in the hands of the wrong person, demon or human, was disastrous. Inuyasha and I traveled together to retrieve them. We ran into many obstacles and blessings along the way. One such obstacle was the resurrection of Kikyo by a demoness that raises the dead using clay, dirt, and bone embodiments. That’s when a part of my soul was used to revive her. She fed off of the souls of recently deceased young women. She hated Inuyasha because she still held onto the bitterness of betrayal, and she tried to kill me and steal the jewel many a time. Inuyasha, however, was still in love with this Kikyo, even though it wasn’t the real Kikyo. She disappeared and reappeared a lot of times during our journey to recombine the jewel. Eventually, Inuyasha realized this golem was just a mere shadow of what Kikyo was and decided to move on, visiting her every now and then when she had information about Naraku. After we met Miroku, that’s when things got interesting. He informed us that the youkai who had put a curse on his hand was a shape-shifter. We concluded that this must have been the same demon that fooled Inuyasha and Kikyo fifty years prior by taking their forms. Eventually we found out that the demon’s name was Naraku, a hanyou formed from several different youkai and a human. His human counterpart, Onigumo, was a badly burnt thief that Kikyo cared for when she was alive. Onigumo was corrupt and lusted after Kikyo. After Kikyo refused to wish on the jewel for Onigumo’s behalf, and in stead was going to use the jewel to turn Inuyasha human, he summoned demons to give him strength, thus becoming Naraku. Naraku was also trying to gather all the shards of the jewel. I learned how to adapt to the Feudal Era and develop my miko abilities. After three years of gathering jewel shards, the final battle was upon us. Our group had expanded to include, not only Miroku, Inuyasha, and I, but also Sango, a taijya; Shippo, an orphaned fox youkai; and Kirara, Sango’s neko fire youkai companion. We fought alongside some of the allies we had made throughout our journey: Kouga, leader of the wolf tribe; Ayame, Kouga’s intended; and Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha’s full inuyoukai half brother. We defeated Naraku. Inuyasha made a wish on the jewel to end the battle waging inside of it, and poof! Here I am. No more time traveling. I’ll always miss them, always. We were a giant, weird, loving, dysfunctional family,” finished Kagome.

Kurama turned to her then and lifted her chin, “Kagome. You’ve been through so much. I had no idea. When you first walked into that restaurant, your power and beauty took my breath away, but I knew there was this melancholy around you. Thank you for sharing your story with me. I just have one more question, and forgive me if it’s too personal.”

“Go ahead, Kurama. I can’t explain it, but I trust you,” said Kagome as she stared into those emerald pools of his.

“This Inuyasha… do you still… love him?”

“I… Kurama… of course, I’ll always love him,” she whispered as she broke eye contact with him. “Our love was not meant to be, however. Not just because of what happened with the jewel in the end. We had been intimate over the last year of our journey. Towards the end, we realized that our relationship was simply too complicated with time traveling, the jewel, and never having a certain future. I opened his heart and showed him that a hanyou could be loved and cherished. And he made me aware of what love was. We had decided to stay best friends until the end of time. I had held hope that he would come find me if indeed he was still alive in this era, but I’m sure he lived a happy, full life,” Kagome said as she turned back to him and smiled, her eyes watery.

“I can ask Koenma, our boss, what happened to Inuyasha, and perhaps your other traveling companions, as well,” offered Kurama.

“Kurama, you’re too kind. Why would you do all that for me?”

“Like you said, I feel the same way, Kagome. I trust you. Believe me, earning the trust of a kitsune is not easy,” joked Kurama, sticking his nose high in the air.

Kagome giggled and pushed his shoulder playfully. “Since I’ve answered your questions, how about you explain yourself. Your aura is part human, part kitsune, correct?”

“Hai, Kagome. Previously, I had housed the soul of Youko Kurama, a fox thief that was on the verge of death. He entered my human body while I was still in my human mother’s womb and became dormant until about five years ago. At our first demon tournament, he reemerged when I was weak in battle. Until recently, we were two separate entities, Shuichi and Youko, housed in the same body. Eventually merging, the two became one. Believe me, holding a conversation with two other people in your head all the time was not the least bit enjoyable,” chuckled Kurama.

Kagome reminisced on her last blind date with the escaped psych patient and stated, “No, I imagine that would not be. So… the secrets are out. What now?”

“Oh, I believe I may have some ideas,” Kurama supplied as he noted the proximity of her lips from his, as well as the small, pink tongue currently darting out to moisten those lips. “You intrigue me, my vixen.”

Welcoming the possessive endearment, Kagome abruptly turned and straddled the handsome kitsune, pulled on his red forelocks, and sealed her lips hungrily over his. Kurama, for his part, was completely taken back. He didn’t have any time to protest, not that he was going to, when her tongue sought his and pushed past his parted lips. His hands went around her waist, down the small of her back, and settled on cupping her ass. ‘Mmmm. This must be heaven. Kami, this vixen will be mine.’

Kagome decided to pull back from the kiss and taunt him.

“You know, you can take control anytime, unless, you’d prefer to be dominated.” With that, Kagome tapped Kurama on his nose, stood, and began a seductive, enticing walk into her bedroom, swaying her hips suggestively. ‘Wait for it, Kagome. No youkai male can resist such a low blow! 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…’

One “Grrr!” and a squeak later, Kagome was thrown over a very masculine shoulder. She heard him sniffing out her bedroom, and as she admired his perfect backside, she couldn’t help to have but one thought.

‘I’ll have to remember to thank Keiko-chan tomorrow.’