InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ In Present Company ❯ Chapter 6

You know the drill.

 

Thankfully, the next week and a half was filled with nothing but tedious walking for Kagome and Sesshomaru. They came across villages, but Sesshomaru scouted them first. Nothing suspicious ever appeared, and they began to think that the commander had been the only problem in a good stretch of land. Unfortunately, this lack of excitement made Kagome think a lot. And then talk about it.

 

Mostly Sesshomaru was riddled with ridiculous small things like “Isn't this a pleasant little copse?” and “It sure is nice out today,” and other mindless small talk. However, she quickly gave up on these and even acted as if she didn't expect Sesshomaru to answer. Occasionally, though, she would grow silent for a long time, which meant she was working up the courage to ask him something. Usually something annoying.

 

“Why are you helping me anyway?” she finally asked one day. “I mean, I'm a human and well… yeah.” Kagome was clearly recalling Sesshomaru's comment from several days ago. “What happened that we went from you trying to kill me to…” she paused, trying to think of something appropriate to say, “…this.”

 

Sesshomaru thought that over for a moment, and was glad that by now she had learned that just because he didn't answer right away didn't mean he wasn't going to answer.

 

“We were allies against Naraku,” he gave as an excuse.

 

“Yeah, but he's dead now, and I was under the impression that was a rather reluctant alliance,” Kagome mused.

 

“Only because it involved InuYasha.”

 

Kagome smiled. “Oh, yeah.” She paused for a moment. “But I mean, you're almost being nice to me. What's with that?”

 

Sesshomaru stopped walking and turned to face her, leveling his most disdainful glare at her. “Would you prefer something else?”

 

Kagome laughed nervously. “Uh, no. I was just curious.”

 

They continued walking, and Kagome appeared to think they had dropped the subject. Sesshomaru continued to think about it though. Curiosity was not necessarily a bad thing, he rather encouraged it in Rin. So he carefully put the reason into words.

 

“I admire your courage,” he said finally, surprising Kagome.

 

Kagome just stared at him for a moment like he had just proclaimed his love of fluffy little kittens. “What?” she asked. Had he just complemented her?

 

“When I first encountered you, you were nothing but a squealing little girl who got herself into situations she couldn't handle. It was annoying.”

 

“Oh.” Kagome said. That definitely wasn't a compliment.

 

“But instead of giving up and running home to safety, you worked to improve your fighting skills, so that you are now able to hold your own in a conflict. I understand that the world you come from has little war and no close combat. It says something about your character that you return here to fight. It shows a sense of duty.”

 

Ignoring the fact that that was probably the most words she had ever heard Sesshomaru string together, she thought about that. “I felt that because I had brought the Shikon no Tama, and then broken it, it was my responsibility to see that it was collected and purified, even if I didn't end up doing most of it.”

 

They were quiet for a moment. “What will you do now?” he asked.

 

She laughed. “I don't know! I never really thought about it. I mean, I suppose I should go home and finish high school or something, but I've made so many friends here. I'm actually afraid to go back home. What if the well won't let me back? I don't want to leave my friends forever. I suppose at one time I would have stayed with InuYasha, but I don't know anymore.”

 

Sesshomaru's interest peaked. He was not usually one to pay any notice to the affairs of humans, but this had significance. “I was under the impression that you two were … affectionate towards each other.”

 

Kagome blushed for a moment. “We used to be. There was a time that I thought that he was… should be part of my future, you know? But things changed. Lately he just seems to be so immature all the time. I don't understand it, he never used to be that bad.”

 

“Hn.” Sesshomaru said.

 

Kagome had worked out that `Hn' meant there was something he wasn't saying. “What?”

 

“I do not recall a time when InuYasha was not immature. Perhaps it is you who have changed.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“By human standards, what age would you have guessed InuYasha was when you first met him?”

 

“Oh, about 17. Older than me.”

 

“And now?”

 

Kagome paused a moment, thinking. Suddenly it hit her. “He's still 17!”

 

“Two years younger and less mature than you.”

 

“But—but why?”

 

“In the 50 years that InuYasha was pinned to the tree by Kikyo's arrow he aged one, maybe two years. And that was not entirely an effect of the spell.”

 

Kagome froze. “Because he's a hanyou?”

 

Sesshomaru didn't answer, but Kagome figured she was right. She was older than InuYasha now, and that posed a huge problem.

 

“How old are you?” Kagome asked, out of sheer curiosity. Once the words were out of her mouth, she realized the implication they seemed to draw and blushed.

 

Sesshomaru seemed not to notice. “Almost a thousand years.”

 

Kagome's eyes went wide. “Woah…” she had guessed that he was more than 200, since he was older than InuYasha, but she had never imagined… “You look like you're 20-something!”

 

“InuYokai age even slower than hanyous, and until we are very old we look much the same that I do now,” he explained.

 

“I suppose that makes sense.”

 

“When my father died, he was only just past his prime. He was more than 4,000 years old.”

 

Kagome tried to wrap her brain around that for a moment. Suddenly something came to mind. “So, 500 years is just like, the blink of an eye?”

 

“No. We sense the passing of time the same, we just last longer. It becomes rather monotonous after a while.”

 

Thus the killing sprees for entertainment, Kagome thought to herself. It also explained why in the four years she had known him, Shippo still looked like a baby. “I suppose it would.”

 

After this conversation, Kagome rarely tried to make small talk. Instead, she would tell stories. Sesshomaru rarely said anything, but he did not object either. Kagome got the idea that a good tale was a welcome thing in all that monotony. Most of her stories were things she and her friends had done when he was not there.

 

“…and then we got lost in this strange forest. The trees all looked dead, and suddenly we each thought ourselves to be alone. You see, if you touch the roots of the trees, they make you believe that you are living your worst fear. Miroku thought his hand was consuming him, Shippo thought he had been deserted, Sango saw Kohaku kill her family all over again, and InuYasha relived the day that Kikyo killed him.”

 

“What did you see?” Sesshomaru asked.

 

Kagome blushed, not wanting to tell him. “Oh, I think it was something stupid, like failing an exam or something.”

 

Sesshomaru sensed that she wished to change the subject. “Exam?”

 

Kagome smiled, returning to another subject of discussion: her world. “It's short for examination. You see, from a very young age my people spend most of their time learning, and from time to time they are tested to see how well they have learned. How you do on your exams often effects the direction of the rest of your life.”

 

“Ah. A trial by fire,” Sesshomaru reasoned.

 

“Well, not really. This is scholarly learning, not fighting. So mainly you have to answer a whole bunch of questions in a given amount of time.”

 

Sesshomaru snorted delicately. “That is not difficult.”

 

Kagome turned on him “Of course it is! You have to study for hours and hours, and humans aren't known for photographic memories, you know!”

 

Sesshomaru did not react. “Futogurafuiku?” he asked, the English word unfamiliar.

 

Kagome smacked her hand to her forehead. “It means perfect, like you have a drawing of everything you've ever seen in your head.”

 

“Is that not the nature of memory?” Sesshomaru asked.

 

Kagome sighed. “Not for humans. Some things, important things, they remember perfectly. But most things are vague or fuzzy, and some things we don't remember at all.”

 

“Hn.” Before Kagome could ask, he continued. “What is a futogurafuiku?”

 

“Photograph,” Kagome pronounced it correctly. “Well, in my world we have this device called a camera…” she tried to think of how to explain it.

 

“Another mashinu?” he suggested.

 

“Yeah, it's a machine, usually battery-powered. You see, when you push a button, the camera instantly draws a little picture of whatever is in front of it. Kind of like woodblock, but it looks exactly like what was in front of it. The picture is called a photograph. We like to keep them to help our memories.”

 

“Ah,” Sesshomaru said, a little doubtful.

 

Kagome rolled her eyes. “Here.” She pulled a small card out of her pocket and showed it to him. “This is a photograph of me and my friends. See how much it looks like me?”

 

Sesshomaru peered at it for a moment. “The resemblance is striking.”

 

Kagome smiled, triumphant, and replaced the picture. They walked silently for a few minutes, while Sesshomaru thought.

 

“Do all women from your world dress as you do?”

 

Kagome blushed profusely, vividly remembering Sesshomaru's last comment on her uniform. “Uh, well… sort of. Most of the girls my age are still in school, in what we call High School. Each school has a different uniform, kind of like each daimyo has a different banner for his samurai. That way, you can tell which school they go to. It's a matter of pride outside of school, and within it makes everyone equal. It also keeps the girls from wearing anything immodest to school.”

 

Sesshomaru frowned. “They wear less?”

 

Kagome blushed again. “Well, only the ones who aren't very… proper. But yeah.”

 

Sesshomaru thought about that for a moment. “I should like to visit your world some time.”

 

Kagome laughed. “That's what Miroku says!”

 

Sesshomaru frowned slightly, but let her comment pass. In truth, he had not meant the two ideas to be connected. It was just that her world sounded so different, it would be a nice break from what he'd lived with for so long. No, he thought, this Sesshomaru is not a pervert. Not at all. Which is why he did not just look at Kagome's legs. Of course not. And he didn't look again.

 

Sesshomaru sighed and closed his eyes to keep himself from checking out his companion a third time. This was going to be a very long journey.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

AN

 

Poor Sesshomaru, it's not his fault males are visual.