InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Two Colour Palette ❯ If It Turns: Painting Paradox ( Chapter 4 )

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

Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, I'm only playing in the sandbox.

Thanks to everyone who gave feedback on the last chapter! :)

I've rewritten this prompt a few times (which was very annoying, believe me, but I wanted it to be as clear as possible. x.x) And I worry that it's still more than a little confusing, and will probably remain so until the next chapter's posted. I promise, when you read this with the next chapter following on, everything will make sense. Any questions? Leave me a review or drop me a line, and I'll try my best to answer them for you. Oh, and wave good-bye to present!Sesshoumaru for a bit. Next time, Feudal!Sess makes an appearance. :)

Painting Paradox

After his revenge is earned - courtesy of a few well-placed comments and a lot of cursing from his brother - Sesshoumaru goes back to his easel and palette. The room is silent but for the gentle sweep of brush against canvas, and he basks in the sunlight pouring from the roof window, draping his studio in shifting patterns of black and gold.

He paints all morning. Sometimes with fierce concentration and sometimes with dream-like inattention, eyes wandering across the room hand in hand with his ranging thoughts. Kagome inspired him, in the twenty or so minutes she spent facing him across the desk, and when he stops to have a coffee, he thinks that giving her this small painting would be a fitting tribute; something she would appreciate, something which would satisfy him, and something which would hopefully mean further meetings, more tea in the gallery and perhaps even a trip to dinner.

Yes.

Sesshoumaru smiles, and hurries back to the canvas.

By the time he finishes, the sun is sitting high in the sky and people outside are stopping for lunch. Setting down his tools with a smug smile and paint-coated hands, Sesshoumaru looks at the complete work fully, examining every line and curve with a critical eye.

Every familiar line and curve.

He's seen this painting before.

It dawns on him slowly, and he wonders why he didn't notice earlier - too absorbed in finding the precise shade of blue for her eyes, maybe, or the wry twist to her smile. Careless.

Sesshoumaru leans closer - and finds himself transported back in time. Five hundred years ago, to the day his attention was captured by the human woman who simply refused to die, despite the timely appearance of a low-level youkai and the absence of all her usual companions. He remembers his curiosity, drawn to the surface by her odd attitude and mysterious belongings - which happened to include a painting, the style of which he'd never seen before in his considerably long life.

And now, he's painted that very same piece of art. To give to her. And she'll take it back to the past. Where his past self will see it, get interested... and things will progress quite happily from there, from what he remembers.

'... hn.'

The irony catches up with him like a wrecking ball on the re-swing, and he snorts.

'My life appears to have turned into a piece of science-fiction.'

The silence falls again. Sesshoumaru lets it all tick over in his mind, running one hand absently along the wooden edge of his favoured brush, twirling it between two fingers.

'But... if this is the price of being involved with Kagome and her odd time travelling tendencies, then I will pay it gladly.'

Decision made, his concealment falls away easily, claws extending from hands and hair falling about him like a regal cloak, rich and silver. Sesshoumaru dries the paint with a wave of heated youki, and turns the small canvas over. The wooden cross supporting the painting gleams dully in the dim light. His fingers trail across the grainy surface from right to left, stopping at the centrepoint and testing its strength with a gentle press.

It doesn't break, so he carves his message to the past with deft flicks, the kanji minute, precise, short - too small for human eyes to see.

'It wouldn't do for her to read it, after all.'

Job done, he applies a little poison to preserve the carvings (scentless, thanks to the illusion spell, and he decides that his agent does have his uses sometimes, especially with magic) and makes his way downstairs, disguise reasserting itself as he passes into the gallery.

Kagome's scent is fading, but the stink of Inuyasha, Feudal Era-style, still hangs in the doorway like an evil spectre. He never imagined that reliving the stench of the past would be so very... unpleasant.

'If there is one thing in the future I'm truly grateful for, it is the fact that humans have finally learnt how to bathe. Properly.'

With a grimace of distaste, Sesshoumaru follows it down the street at normal walking pace.

'The things I do for Kagome. She will be grateful for this, or I will be most displeased.'

&&&

Somehow, she manages to convince Inuyasha to let her stay in the future for lunch. It takes a lot of persuasion, much arguing and the threat of repeated 'sits', but by the time they get home from the gallery, he gives in and goes to sit in the Goshinboku while she steps inside to eat.

But the moment Mama opens the window and asks him if wants ramen, he follows, faster than she can pour the water from the kettle. Typical.

Three cups of noodles and an empty bento box later, she's said her good-byes and picked up her pack from its resting place in the hall. Inuyasha left the house as soon as he'd finished eating, but she really can't blame him - she would've done the same if exposed to a concentrated dose of Souta's persistent questioning.

Hugs and kisses bestowed, and she's ready to go, walking out into the courtyard with a smile on her face and a grumpy Inuyasha to appease.

Or, at least, she would have appeased him - with promises of more ramen and pocky, no less - if he'd chosen to greet her in an more... appropriate manner.

"What took you so long, wench?"

'Deep breaths. He's annoyed because of Souta, and he's got reason to be angry because I was late and wanted to have lunch... but he's still getting sat later.'

"You finished eatin' ages ago, and no excuses this time. It's been three days, and there might've been a shard rumour while we've been messin' around here, or Naraku could've attacked, or-"

"Inuyasha-"

"-Miroku and Sango are waiting, and Shippo-"

"Inuyasha."

"-rumours of attacks on villages, and now-"

"Inuyasha!"

"What?"

"Osuwari!"

Thud.

"Kagome!"

"Sorry, Inuyasha, but you wouldn't let me get a word in edgeways. I came out to tell you I'm ready to leave, anyway, so stop being so tetchy!."

"... keh."

Kagome knows that's as close as she'll get to an apology, but she smiles anyway, and drops her bag to help him up. As she moves, she catches a glimpse of a figure out of the corner of her eye. The glimpse quickly revolves itself into a person. A slightly familiar person...

Oh no.

"Nishimoto-san!"

He looks back from where he was examining the shrine building, offering a small smile and a nod.

'What's he doing here? And how does he know where I live?'

The idea of 'youkai Shu' suddenly reasserts itself as an option.

"Hello again, Higurashi-san. I hope you don't mind me dropping in - I have a present for you. As thanks for your help with my... painting block."

Inuyasha finally gets up, levering himself off the ground and levelling a glare at the hapless artist, stood only feet away. She can feel the tension in his muscles through the hand that still rests on his arm.

'Please, please, don't do anything stupid, Inuyasha.'

Thankfully, he keeps silent, but the raised eyebrow from Shu in the direction of the 'sit' crater is enough to prompt a fumbled explanation - the second in the same morning.

'Has to be a record.'

"We're... having landscaping work on the shrine grounds. Inuyasha tends to forget where the holes are, and, well - falls. A lot." She waves a hand lamely.

'Urgh. That was terrible. Sometimes, I really, really hate the modern world for not believing in time travel and youkai. It would make life so much easier.'

Inuyasha sends her a look, sceptical and just a little insulted. A nudge of his arm is command enough - 'play along!'.

"I see."

His polite response and acceptance make her sag in relief. She can feel the hanyou to her right getting more impatient by the minute, so she gets down to business. Objective number one: make Shu leave, but without offending him. Because she really did enjoy talking to him this morning, and wouldn't object to further conversations over tea in his beautiful gallery, no matter how many times her rationality kicks her in the shins and tells her that it's a bad, bad idea.

"Ah, it's very nice of you to visit and bring a present, Nishimoto-san-" Is that a frown? Probably the name again. Oops. "... but there's really no need to thank me at all! I didn't do anything except talk a lot and ask too many questions. ... And how did you know where I live?"

Her voice gets smaller and smaller until it fades to a squeak. He smirks.

"The phonebook is a wonderful thing, Higurashi-san."

... ah.

The 'youkai Shu' option quietly sinks back into the realms of impossibility, hand in hand with her dignity. Her cheeks are burning, but she huffs and brushes it off, embarrassed.

'Duh, Kagome!'

He's speaking again, and she half listens while wallowing in her stupidity.

"As for your point about your contribution - on the contrary, I feel I have much to thank you for." His serious expression turns into something more playful.

"And wouldn't it be rude to turn away something I've been painting all morning?"

Kagome opens her mouth to reply, but then his words catch up with her, and she notices the canvas held securely in the crook of his arm. Her jaw shuts with a click.

"You painted something? For me?"

Shu arches an eyebrow as if to say, 'Surprised?'. Next to her, Inuyasha's impatience reaches boiling point, focus shifting from him to her.

"C'mon, Kagome, we're leaving."

His voice is short, clipped, which means he's quickly approaching the 'pissed beyond belief' stage. His eyes are burning, too, wanting an explanation. Inwardly, she sighs, but settles for a pat on the arm and a warning frown.

"Inuyasha. We'll go in a minute." 'Please.'

He doesn't answer or look away, but she feels him give in, albeit unwillingly. She ploughs ahead, turning back to the artist.

"We're going to visit some friends in a bit of a hurry, so I can't invite you inside the house or anything-"

Shu cuts her off, looking oddly sympathetic.

'Great. He can join the herd of people who pity me for my 'possessive boyfriend'. Possessive, yes, boyfriend, no. Will they everget the message?'

Clearly not.

"Don't worry about it, Higurashi-san. I only came to deliver this. Here."

He hands the painting over, and she barely has a chance to look at it - a flash of blue eyes, scarily similar to the ones she sees in the mirror every morning - before Inuyasha tugs on her arm, and she has to throw her good-bye over her shoulder as they jog towards the well.

"Thank you, Nishimoto-san! I promise to come and tell you what I think of it when I have more time, so I'll see you soon!"

He simply raises a hand, and eventually disappears over the rise of the hill.

&&&

Sesshoumaru waits on the path until their voices fade. Moments later, there is a flare of power, and she is gone, into his past and her future.

He takes a deep breath, turns and leaves the way he came, empty-handed and unsatisfied with the few minutes he got to spend with her. But her time isn't his to have yet, and it annoys him beyond belief - because even when she doesn't know him, she is pervasive, invading every aspect of his life while still being totally unaware of it.

Although, he's not exactly an unwilling victim. Not in the past, either, no matter how long it takes for him to concede defeat. With her, falling is inevitable.

Turning the corner into the small square, Sesshoumaru smirks in sympathy for his past self, about to encounter the woman who will eventually change him for the better. And all because of one simple painting, with one simple message carved into the back.

He really won't know what's hit him.

&&&

Written for Set 1, Prompt 4, If It Turns, at LJ comm iy_no_kakera. Un-beta'd. Thanks for reading, and reviews are appreciated! Especially concrit. :)