InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Sealed Away ❯ Musing ( Chapter 7 )

Wow, I got another chapter of this story out! ^_^ Some ideas came to me, not sure how they work, but I hope you enjoy them! Rumiko Takahashi owns Inuyasha, not me. ^_^

Sealed Away

Chapter Seven

By: Lazuli

lazulidreamer@yahoo.com

Tossing his pack on the couch, Seirei sighed as he flopped down next to his mother. He had a closer relationship with his mother than most boys his age. He actually listened to what she said. She noticed the look on his face and tilted it towards hers. "Kagome again?" She asked wisely.

Seirei nodded. "She's…she's holding on to the past with an iron grip, Mother… I don't know what else I can do to show her how much I care for her." His violet eyes stared at her pleadingly, hoping that there was some way that she could make it all right for him again, like when he was a kid.

She put aside the book she had been reading and sighed softly. "I don't know what to say, Seirei. You said that she loved someone very much…and lost hem. It's very hard sometimes to recover from a heartbreak that severe."

He nodded, but didn't look happy about agreeing with her. What would she do if I told her about my dreams recently? Probably say that I was crazy or obsessing over Kagome too much. Kagome wouldn't be too happy that I dreamt that I was a person called Inuyasha. Even if she never directly mentioned the name to me, it's not hard to pick up her hastily shortened sentences and the look on her face whenever anyone mentions her prior 'mental illness.'

"I know, Mother-but still-can't she see that not everyone she cares for is going to vanish?" His expression turned frustrated and he growled slightly. "I'm here for her, and I want her to know that!" He remembered when he first met her.

**

Seirei looked up at the young woman as she walked in the quiet library, coat dripping slightly from the rain outside. She had already shaken out her umbrella and placed it among the others in the small rack next to the door. He went back to typing on his computer after a moment, but something drew him to look up at her again. She moved so carefully, but that wasn't what made him look. It was something in her eyes…he shook his head. I'm being foolish. He thought. I'm staring because she's a pretty girl. And she was, too-long dark haired curled around her face, blue gray eyes distant with some type of sadness buried there. She came up to the front desk and he blinked a few times to reassert himself. She's going to think I'm a pervert.

"Excuse me…" She coughed lightly and met his eyes again; the blue gray shade very clear and he couldn't detect the sadness anymore. "Is the assistant position still available?" She looked down nervously for a moment. "I'm experienced in filing paperwork and handling old items." She said softly. "I live at a shrine…"

He gave her a comforting smile. "It is still open. You'll have to tell with the head of the library, though. I'm just another poor worker myself." He winked at her as he called into Hiro-san's office to arrange the interview for the girl. It wasn't until after she got the job that he learned her name. Kagome.

**

She was always quiet…whenever he saw her at her lunch break; she ate alone, her eyes trained on the food as if it were her only link to life. Not that she ate it a lot of the time. It took him interfering to get her to eat.

And he took it upon himself to take care of her like she deserved. Whenever he observed her outside, she was alone as well. It was as if she had grown up with no real friends and was used to living that way.

It was a few days after he met her that he noticed that she was sitting beneath the falling flowers of the sakura tree in the library courtyard, a book in hand, lunch forgotten beside her. There were other girls her age around, chatting happily or exchanging notebooks, but they flowed around her, never stopping, just acting as if she was a part of the tree. His sensitive ears caught the giggles and muffled comments-and Kagome's name came up more than once.

"Can you believe her? She's even crazier than ever now. She just sort of drifts… she doesn't even pretend to hear those voices anymore. Maybe she got some real medical help!" Seirei frowned, and went over to Kagome, sitting easily beside her. "You haven't eaten."

Jumping like he had poked her, her eyes turned to his, startled like a wild animal. "You're talking to me?" There was no controlling the surprise in her voice and he smiled in response to it.

"Of course I am. You're the only one that I see not eating. You're too skinny and should take care of yourself." He took the book away from her with a teasing smile. "You can't survive on words alone."

He didn't expect the cold look she gave him as she yanked her book back. "Some people can." She muttered. "Sometimes it's all they have."

He backed away slightly; hands in the air to show that he meant no harm. " He gave her another comforting smile. "But I think that you do need something to eat…" He tilted his head. "Please eat? I'd hate for you to pass out on my shift." He kept his tone teasing for the last part. He was paying attention still to the idle chatter around them, and to tread carefully with Kagome was a good thing, a cautious thing to do.

Her mouth dropped open in surprise, and then a quiet chuckle crept out. "So it's purely about you?" She picked up a piece of apple with her chopsticks and shoved the morsel into his mouth. "If you like it so much, you eat it."

He ate quickly and then laughed with her. "I already ate." His voice was arrogant and he deftly snatched the chopsticks from her and managed to get more of the food into her mouth than his.

He started talking to her at all of her breaks after that, telling her somewhat of his own childhood. Of his older brother, who had been there for him since he was young-his close relationship with his mother and the kind, yet firm direction of his father. She seemed to drink up his words, a wistful expression on her face as he talked. She spoke little of her own family at first-it was as if she wanted to hold back completely, fearing something. As time went on, she relaxed more around him, and told him all sort of things.

Like the time she told him about her 'illness.'

**

"When I was younger…people thought that I just had an imaginary friend and they brushed it off-I guess they put it in the back of their minds until they could figure out what to do with me." Her mouth turned down at the corners. "They ignored me-said that I had to grow up-and 'for heaven's sake! If you're going to talk to yourself, pick something that isn't linked with evil!'" Letting out her breath in a long sigh, she gave him an amused look. "Apparently, talking to the long dead 'savior' from our shrine's history wasn't acceptable to them."

He tilted his head, wrinkling his nose in distaste at the way her family treated her. "You were only a child, how were they to dictate your thoughts like that?"

Her shrug was graceful. "They didn't believe me when I said I actually dreamed about him. They all thought I was sick in the head…no one believed I had real power-my grandfather said he couldn't feel anything about me." Her snort clearly indicated that her grandfather wouldn't feel an evil entity if it hopped in his lap and danced a jig.

He laughed quietly and handed her a fresh plum, a stern look on his face that she was to eat it and tell her story in between bites. She made a face but bit into the fruit anyways, her eyes half closed. "You're family grows the best fruit…" She paused enough to polish off the small item, and then directed her thoughts back to what she was saying.

"Anyways…I was starting to believe myself that I was imaging things… dreaming about a life that I never lived at all…but it was such a nice one!" Her voice was automatically defensive. "I had a little sister in it…" She paused. "I had a mother for awhile, but as I grew older, my dream self grew older and my mother died there. My father never existed."

She paused. "The most startling thing about my dreams was who was in them. There was a legend around our shrine of a youkai that attacked our village, killing the miko that guarded it. He was the one in my dreams."

Seirei was startled, but didn't act as if she was crazy at all, just encouraging her with a nod of his head. "Go on… you many think I'm crazy, but I'm a firm believer in ghosts and supernatural things like that."

She threw him another one of her surprised looks, but this time it was graced with a small smile. "He was always with me-since I was younger-and then as I grew older he grew more definite and real in my mind. I didn't understand why nobody believed me, I wanted to tell everyone how cool I thought it was that I was talking to someone that lived so long ago." Her expression belied the deep sadness and loneliness that she had felt throughout the years. "He was my only friend."

Seirei put his hand on hers gently, looking at her very carefully. "You said he was your only friend. Do I count as your friend, now?" He asked. He gave her a reassuring smile to say that she wasn't alone-

Her response shocked him. Instead of pulling away, she threw her arms around him and gave him a huge hug, tears streaking down her face. "Thank you."

**

From then on, she told him everything about her life-details that she hadn't told her family, her fears and ambitions…anything that he asked of and stuff that she had kept locked away for so long. He learned to read her and he took care of her like no one had before. And then the dreams started.

It wasn't special dreams like Kagome said that she had shared with her friend. They were ordinary enough dreams at first. He chalked it up to the fact that he was falling in love with Kagome and dreamt accordingly. He soon began to realize that the dreams were changing more and more-like directed by an unseen hand. They became less chaotic and more defined, having a purpose and direction. If he didn't finish a dream one night, it continued into the next, a seemingly endless chain until something broke or a day passed in the dreamscape he was traveling.

And as much as he shared with Kagome himself, there were a few things that he kept secret. One was the dreams, and the second was that he was a youkai himself.

**

He forced his mind back from its wanderings and saw how concerned his mother looked. "Have you even told her how you feel about her?" She asked practically. "It may be that she feels the same way about you, but she doesn't want to say anything for fear of heartbreak."

He blinked at that notion and nodded slowly. "But mother…" He sighed softly. "I'm afraid of causing her heartbreak. I know that she loved this person so much…that she had been with him for a long time."

And as the last 'confession' of hers showed me, linked to his soul and desperate to give him a chance that she never had. How can I compare to something like that? I can't compare, but I can try and be someone there for her-she needs it so desperately and she is a girl that I would love to be with for a long time-forever if possible.

"You know that even your being youkai wouldn't be a problem." She pointed out logically. "You said that she was in love with this youkai that was once a part of her. She couldn't shun you for what you truly are. In fact, I'm surprised you haven't invited this nice girl over to meet us all." Her gaze fixed on his as she looked at him disapprovingly.

He blushed. "I have a perfectly valid reason!" He looked defensive. "Mother… I'm a hanyou. An inuhanyou. She may see me, think of that person she loved before, freak and go all depressed again." He frowned. "I don't want to hurt her more than I can help." He laid his head on her shoulder. "I'll at least invite her here-she can meet everyone, but I want to keep the youkai stuff down to a minimum."

"You've never been ashamed of your family before." Her tone grew even more disapproving. "If you love this girl like you said, and she cares for you the way that you think, then her finding out you are who are you are shouldn't bother her. You are not the one that she loved and you can't being how you were born."

He nodded slowly and moved away from her, a determined expression on his face. "I should tell her…" He paused and thought about it. "You know, I've never been at her home, either. We've always met at other places. Bookshops, coffee houses, our work… but never at our own homes."

She looked vaguely surprised at that as well. "After as long as you've known each other…" She paused. "Ah! Did you know their annual festival is coming up soon?" She raised an eyebrow. "You may find it a good thing to be with Kagome at that time. I think she'll be very vulnerable then."

"It's the anniversary of his death as well." He said thoughtfully. "Something she'd hardly want to celebrate." He nodded and jumped up. "It's in a week…I saw fliers advertising it."

She stroked his hair and smiled at her son. "Then get some dinner in you, get a bath and prepare to go see her tomorrow and invite her here." Her expression grew stern. "I want to meet this lovely girl, Seirei."

Seirei nodded and hugged his mother once more before bounding up the stairs happily.

**

What will happen when Kagome meets Seirei's family? And what will happen when he goes to the festival? All these questions and more answered in the next installment!