InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ I Will Wait ❯ Chapter Two: Somewhere in This Time ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: //text// is a flashback. Since I don't do flashbacks really, I figured I'd make note of it, though it's probably obvious anyway.

Aarolye: well, it's close to a direct sequel. This story starts only about maybe two weeks after the epilogue of AFH.

Mars: hah. Well you won't get to hear about sleeping arrangements in this chapter, but you may be amused anyway!

Here's another chapter. Yay.

I Will Wait

By: Banshee Puppet

Chapter Two: Somewhere in this Time

Well, frankly, Sesshomaru didn't get it. "So then, it is similar to a moving picture book?" he stated blandly.

"Yeah, I guess it's something like that," the girl replied.

"Picture books are for children and fools," he stated authoritatively. "Do people no longer read in your time?" It was more a demand than a question.

Kagome smirked and pointed to the bookshelf to her left with a thumb. "Some of us do," she answered. "But I still like a good movie from time to time."

"What is this movie?"

"It's…like a play performed for the television."

He quirked an eyebrow slightly. Now plays were interesting. He liked them, though he wouldn't straight out say so.

Kagome smiled slightly, humoring him. Safest way to keep the youkai out of trouble was to keep him entertained. "We'll watch one after dinner. Upstairs. I'll show you the wonders of indoor plumbing."

"Why would anyone want a plum tree indoors?" he blanketed. He was downright inquisitive when he wanted to be.

Kagome was trying not to laugh. He noticed and his brow furrowed with a deep frown. `She is gaining amusement at my expense,' he thought.

"Not that kind of plum," Kagome said finally, grinning up at him. She couldn't help it. He was being so civilized…for once. It was nice. `You know, when you're not trying to murder Inuyasha, you're a decent guy, Sesshomaru,' she thought, though she wasn't stupid enough to say so aloud.

It was at that moment, poised on the stairs, that the front door slammed. "Aaaannneeessaaannnn!" Souta called.

Sesshomaru felt like his ears were bleeding.

"Gah! Souta, what did I tell you about slamming that door!" Kagome hollered back and started toward said door. "I'm sorry, just stay there a second while I deal with the pipsqueak."

He watched as she stood with her hands on hips, staring down at the young boy. His eyes saddened slightly. He remembered when Inuyasha was that young, back before everything went to hell, back when they were brothers and that was all.

//"Do it again, Inuyasha."

"This is too difficult!" the hanyou complained, throwing the sword to the ground. "Why can't I just use my claws? Oy, dad…"

His father walked off then. "You teach him, Sesshomaru," he said. "The honor and responsibility of swordsmanship. I know that you, at least, understand."

"Yes father."

"You're not really gonna make me, are you, aniki?" Inuyasha had asked with a pout.

"Attack me," Sesshomaru said. "I'll show you why it's better to know how to use this sort of weapon. I won't be able to protect you forever, otooto."

"I can protect myself!" Inuyasha had protested.

"Really?" Sesshomaru held the sword out to the boy then. "Prove it."//

He was snapped out of his thoughts to find that damnable cat rubbing against his leg again. The boy was standing directly in front of him. "Who're you?" he asked blatantly, taking no care for manners.

Kagome panicked a bit. "Souta, don't be so rude. Sesshomaru is a guest," she insisted. "Where're mom and grandpa?"

"Mom said to ask you to start dinner. Grandpa's check-up is running late again."

Kagome sighed. "You mean he's flirting with the nurses again."

Souta nodded.

She looked between brother and guest, shifting her weight thoughtfully. "Souta, please show Sesshomaru the upstairs and explain the bathroom like you did with Inuyasha." She remembered the water all over the floor after Souta had explained bathrooms to Inuyasha, and added on second thought, "and don't make a mess!" before heading toward the kitchen.

Souta stuck his tongue out at his sister's back. "Inuyahsa made the mess, not me," he told Sesshomaru conspiratorially.

"I am not the least bit surprised," Sesshomaru stated dryly.

"You know Inuyasha?" Souta said in his usual hero-worship tone.

"Aa," Sesshomaru answered brusquely. "He is my younger brother."

Souta's eyes lit up. "Wow! Really? You must be really strong then! Cool!"

Sesshomaru's male pride puffed a bit at this. "That's Kagome's room," Souta stated, waving blandly at the wooden door. And this is mamma's room," he pointed across the hall from Kagome's. "And Grandpa's, and mine." He opened the door to his room and started rambling something about a device called a "Yugi Hoe" which Sesshomaru could only assume to be some variety of farming implement.

Now the boy led Sesshomaru to the end of the hall. "This is the bathroom," he said. "It's where you relieve yourself and bathe."

Sesshomaru blinked slightly. `In the same place? That's disgusting.' The strange thing about this `bathroom' was that it didn't smell like waste material. It smelled quite a bit like peach blossoms, actually.

"Okay," Souta began. "Sink."

Sesshomaru recognized this as similar to the kitchen, "for washing your hands. This is the soap dispenser, so you do this and scrub, and rinse like this. This is cold water, this is hot water…"

*~*~*

Kagome was glad to be cooking. It took her mind off of the sadistic demon she was trusting to not murder her brother. She chopped the vegetables carefully and began simmering the sauce.

"Kagome."

"In the kitchen, mamma!" She wondered how she was going to break the news about her guest to the woman, but hoped she took it as well as she usually took things.

*~*~*

The "toilet" was an amazing invention, but Souta's explanation about "spewage bumps" and underground tunnels proved inadequate for the youkai's understanding. And then the boy decided to explain the shower. He wasn't paying attention when Sesshomaru leaned halfway over the tub to see what he was doing and pulled up the nozel, soaking the demon from the shoulders up. Sesshomaru startled and tripped on the throw rug in his attempt to escape, landing with a resounding thud on the tile floor.

"Ohmygod! I'm sorry Sesshou-san!" Souta said quickly, turning off the water.

`Sesshou-san?' the youkai blinked and pushed himself upright, his hair a mess of wet tangles and his wrist-ow-already beginning to swell.

*~*~*

Kagome heard a loud thud and knew that it could only be one thing. "Oh no! Sesshomaru!" she squeaked, bolting for the stairs and careless of the knife still in hand. She barged through the bathroom door to find the youkai still looking a bit puzzled over what had just happened. Her grandfather and mother weren't far behind.

"Oh dear," Mrs. Higurashi said, remembering a similar situation with another white-haired young man.

Sesshomaru eyed the knife in Kagome's hand and frowned at her. "Did I not promise not to kill him?" He glared at Souta and added dryly, "even if he may deserve it."

Souta took a few steps back away from the youkai. "Sorry?" he squeaked agai.

"Oh, heh, sorry," Kagome said, giving the knife to her mother and wiping her hands in the lap of the apron she was wearing. From the looks of things, she could imagine what had happened. Sighing, she helped Sesshomaru to his feet.

"Mamma…" she started to ask.

"Grandpa, please find something dry for him while I finish dinner," the woman said evenly. "Kagome, explain over dinner."

"Yes mamma," the girl replied, taking the towel Souta offered her. The boy already knew it was his job to clean up the mess in the bathroom…again.

Before the youkai really knew what was happening, he found himself seated on Kagome's bed with a fluffy towel ruffling through his hair. Everything in this house just happened so quickly. Kagome put the towel aside and, blushing slightly, said, "you should take off your wet shirt before you get sick. My grandfather will bring in something for you to wear soon."

The demon gave a bland nod, reaching for the latch of his breastplate, and ill-concealed a wince. The miko stopped him then, taking the hand and inspecting the damages. "You should have told me," she scolded, resting it gently beside him on the soft bed and undoing the latches for him.

"Grandpa bring some ice and the first aid kit too!" she called over her shoulder before going back to what she was doing. She put her "mom brain" on, or tried to. She wasn't undressing a man from the waist up, she was caring for the injured, and she wasn't looking at a man's bare chest, she was…looking at the stump that had once been the man's left arm. Thoughtlessly, she touched this, a deep sadness entering her eyes. A long silence stretched out between them. "Kagome," Sesshomaru stated finally.

She pulled her hand quickly away. "Sorry," she whispered, putting the towel and his wet shirt in the hamper and pulling a brush off the dresser before kneeling beside him on the bed and getting to work on his tangled hair. It felt amazingly good. No one had brushed his hair for him since he was a small boy. His eyes fell closed on instinct, but snapped open again at the sound of her voice.

"Will it grow back?" she asked. She knew that some youkai had that kind of regenerative ability.

"In your time, does a dog's limb grow back once it is lost?" he asked statically.

"No," she answered numbly.

Unseen by her eyes, a slightly bitter smile tweaked the youkai's lips. "It is so with my time as well. Perhaps not as much has changed over these many years as it would at first appear."

"Hn," Kagome answered, returning to the task of brushing his silken hair. "If that's the case, maybe you're still out there, Sesshomaru, somewhere in this time."

"Che," he scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. Maybe is an extraneous word."

Kagome chuckled silently. Sesshomaru knew she was laughing because he could feel the bed moving with her mirth. It was quite nice, actually-comfortable, though he'd never admit it to anyone else. There was a strange, familiar, magic in the silence for a long moment as she pulled the brush gently through his hair, like they'd done something like this before. He fought the urge to wrap his tail around the human, trying to remind himself that she was, in fact, all-too-human. It wasn't that he hated humans, he just hated the idea of demons and humans interacting with one another on more than the level of `strictly business'. If someone had told him, once, in a strange and twisted dream, the two of them were in love, he would have scoffed at the idea. Humans and demons should never fall in love. His mind flashed on his younger brother as he thought, `that sort of loving only bring suffering and pain to all those involved.' It was a miserable affair that he wanted no part of, not again.

Again, his eyes fell closed as he remembered meeting his father's second wife for the first time. It had been seven years since his own mother died, and he only half-remembered her. He didn't understand why his father would want to wed a human. `She's going to die before you, and then you'll be alone again,' he thought. But he had heard his father on their wedding day tell the human, `let us enjoy as much time as we have together.' He'd known it wouldn't last, that it was entirely temporary. `How can a person allow themselves to fall in love under those circumstances.

His breathing was soft, his head tilted back very slightly, his lips parted a bit. He didn't realize that his usual tense posture had vanished, lost in ancient memories, and Kagome had to catch her breath at what a beautiful sight he was like this. She ran her fingers through his bangs. `What are you hiding from?' she wondered. It was then that the pair heard footsteps and both sat bolt upright, Kagome clutching the hairbrush for dear life, as her grandfather entered.

He held up the armful of clothing. "These should just about fit you," he said. "Some of my son's old things. Not quite fashionable anymore, but at least they're dry."

Kagome wondered why he was being so nice. `He must not realize Sesshomaru is a demon yet,' she thought.

"… …arigato," Sesshomaru said politely, forcing the word through his lips.

"Kagome, why don't you help your mother set the table. I'll teach your friend about the `new-fangled' clothing of the era," he joked badly.

"Hai," Kagome answered, glad to get out of close proximity to the beautiful, yet extremely dangerous demon. She had to keep reminding herself of the last part. She didn't know why he seemed different in her time, he was still the same person, but…well, she didn't know, precisely. For now, she just needed to get away from him before she forgot that dangerous thing altogether.

Sesshomaru watched the girl go thoughtfully. `Something so familiar…' he mused before his attention was dragged back to the old man. "Ooo…you've got a nice sprain here. Well, we'd better get to work before they start eating without us!" the old man grinned at the youkai. Then hearing the silence of the hall, he leveled a serious stare on Sesshomaru and said, "what exactly is your relationship with my cute little granddaughter?"

Sesshomaru blinked. "Nani?"

*~*~*

A/N: it dawns on me as I write this that this story will probably be able to stand on it's own with minimal confusion as it's not really related too much to the other stories in the arc. Well, we'll see. I just want a nice, happy wrap-up on the arc, but if it can stand on its own in the end too, all the better! Cheers. Will try to write more soon, ~B.P.~