InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ 30 Shards of Jaken ❯ Kagome and Sesshomaru Have a Conversation ( Chapter 29 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Theme: Laughter

Genre:Humor/Gen

Rating:K

Word count:1,219

Kagome and Sesshomaru Have a Conversation

It was one of those rare occasions when Inuyasha's group and Sesshomaru's group crossed paths, and luckily, as Kagome thought, it was one of the more peaceful meetings.

Ah-Un was snoozing lazily in the grass. Shippo and Kohaku and Rin were playing with Kirara, alternating between chasing and being chased by the giant youkai cat. Sango was watching her brother play, her face noticeably light and happy at the sight of him behaving as a carefree child should. Miroku sat beside her, his right arm around her shoulder; no prayer beads adorned it. The need for them had disappeared along with Naraku—for good.

Only Inuyasha and Jaken seemed unwilling to join in the spirit of togetherness that had otherwise pervaded the meadow. Inuyasha sat high up in a tree, probably sulking, whereas Jaken resided firmly on a log on the outskirts of the clearing, like some sort of old growth.

Kagome found herself, by chance, surprisingly close to Sesshomaru. He stood only a few meters away from her spot in the grass, staring into the sky, apparently at nothing, or possibly at something in the far distance that her human eyes couldn't see. But Kagome guessed there was nothing there at all, for she had the distinct impression that Sesshomaru was bored, and that perhaps he was only allowing his companions to stay there for Rin's sake, for the girl was very happy playing with her friends.

Kagome tried to think of something to say, some topic to converse upon, but she felt slightly ridiculous. She and Sesshomaru had hardly ever spoken a word to each other, and he had, on more than one occasion, tried to kill her, which needless to say had always made things a bit awkward between them, but that was far in the past now, and since the two brothers seemed incapable of holding polite conversation, she determined that it was up to her to try to bridge this one obvious gap between the two groups. None of them had ever before attempted to hold a normal, friendly conversation with Sesshomaru, and she figured it was time someone did.

Rifling through her always full-to-bursting yellow knapsack, she happened upon the one item inside that she thought might catch Sesshomaru's fancy. It was an old, thin photo album that she had brought from home. Normally it resided unopened on a shelf in her bedroom, but lately she had taken to carrying it around with her, so that she could look at pictures of her family, of Mama and Grandpa and Souta, whenever she was feeling homesick.

She pulled the album out of her knapsack and opened its golden cover as nonchalantly as possible. She flipped through the pages slowly and deliberately, and when she was quite sure that Sesshomaru had peeked at her out of the corner of his eye, she said, as casually as her voice could muster, “Oh, here's something you might enjoy,” and walked over to him.

Sesshomaru said nothing, but as this wasn't out of character for him, Kagome didn't feel deterred. She stood next to him, holding the open album to his face.

“These are photographs,” she said. “You've never seen them before, have you?”

Though the expression on the youkai's face hardly changed, Kagome could tell he was intrigued. His eyes roamed over the pages.

“Hn,” he said. “Realistic drawings.”

“Not drawings, photos. Like, real pictures of people and things.”

She turned the pages for him again, and was quite pleased when the youkai suddenly took the album from her, a bit forcefully, to inspect it for himself. She could feel the corners of her lips tugging into a smile, and tried to suppress them.

Sesshomaru stood there, straight-backed, flipping the pages stiffly every so often, eyeing each of the pictures. There were ones of Kagome with her family, and ones of her with her school friends, and ones in the busy street, and ones in the mall, and ones at the park… Sesshomaru stared at cars and buses and streetlights and such things as he had never seen before in the background of the photos, but he asked Kagome no questions, nor gave any indication that these things confounded him. Instead, he stopped for an unusually long time at a rather dull and ordinary picture of Kagome in her room, on her bed. She was asleep, and her fat, lazy cat Buyo was lying on top of her stomach, also snoozing. Suddenly Kagome felt embarrassed that Sesshomaru was looking at a picture of her wearing pajamas, and mentally she cursed Souta for taking the silly picture in the first place. Her little brother had thought she and Buyo looked funny like that together. And she had to admit, she'd kept the photo because it had been sort of cute. But now that it was being scrutinized under the unmoving stare of Sesshomaru, she felt mortified.

“What is this?” he said suddenly, and his voice was as low and intimidating as ever, and Kagome tried to take the album out of his arms only to realize too late that his grasp was too firm.

“It's nothing, it's stupid…” she stammered. “My stupid brother took a picture of me while I was asleep…”

“No,” Sesshomaru said, unconcerned or unaware of her embarrassment, “what is this?” And Kagome realized that he was pointing one of his claws directly at the creature lying on her stomach.

“Oh,” Kagome said, “that's Buyo. My cat.”

There was a beat of silence and then, “Why is it resting on you like that?”

Kagome giggled uncomfortably. “That's just what pets do, I guess.”

Sesshomaru was staring at Kagome, and she felt paralyzed under his glare. Finally, he glanced back at the photo of Buyo, and studied it once more, and she felt merciful for the reprieve.

“What else does this pet of yours do?” Sesshomaru asked. “It is fat and puny. What purpose does it serve?”

“Purpose?” Kagome repeated, confused.

Sesshomaru glanced in Ah-Un's direction, and Kagome followed his line of sight toward the two-headed beast that served as transport for him or his charges. “Of course when one employs a creature, it must serve some purpose. This cat of yours, does it make itself useful?” Sesshomaru said with a tone that suggested he found her very stupid.

“Useful? Well, no. All Buyo does is eat and sleep and lay about and follow me around for food and attention.”

“Hn,” Sesshomaru said, rather condescendingly, Kagome thought. “Then why do you keep such a useless beast around?”

The bluntness of the question startled Kagome. She blinked a few times, but then the answer came to her naturally.

“For companionship, of course. It's nice to take care of something that you know needs you. And to be honest, I can't picture my home without Buyo. I've had him around for so long. It wouldn't be the same without him.”

Another long silence. Then—

“Hn,” Sesshomaru said, and Kagome followed his line of sight. He was staring off into the distance, at the far end of the meadow, where a short, little toad youkai was sitting quite uselessly on the edge of a log, and Kagome couldn't help but laugh at what Sesshomaru said next.

“I believe I know what it is like to have a pet, too.”