InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Unexpeced Allies Part III: Trial of the Century ❯ A Tale of Star-Crossed Lovers ( Chapter 16 )

Chapter Sixteen:

A Tale of Star-Crossed Lovers

Kagome woke up suddenly, jerking to a sitting position as she glanced around her room. She looked down and found Shippou asleep in a ball beside her. Kagome's ears twitched as she heard water running from downstairs. She picked up the sleeping pup and walked downstairs to the kitchen.

She passed the hall mirror on her way down and gasped. She moved closer to the mirror as she stared at her reflection. She couldn't tell which was more of a shock, the black and silver striped hair cascading down her shoulder to the small of her back or the large sparkling white wings sprouting from her shoulders. Kagome sighed as she resumed her walk, imagining what her mother would do when she saw her like this. She entered the kitchen and sat down at the table as her mother turned from the stove.

"Hi," her mother said as she put a teapot on the stove. Kagome gawked at her as she sat down in front of her. Her mother smiled at Shippou when he nuzzled his face into Kagome's chest. That's when Kagome took in her clothes.

"What happened to my clothes?" she gasped as she took in the dress and boots. Kagome's mother shook her head as Ji-chan came into the room. Kagome tensed as he sat beside her, waiting for him to start throwing wards like candy at a parade, but he only sat down and smiled at her. Kagome gave an uneasy smile back and stared as her mother poured cups of tea for herself, Kagome and Ji-chan.

"Um, why is no one freaking out?" Kagome asked as she cradled Shippou closer to her.

"Freaking out? About what?"

Kagome blinked in astonishment. "Are you serious?" Her wings twitched behind her. "Did you not notice the new hair and the wings when I sat down?"

"Oh that," Kagome's mother said as she sat down. "No big deal really." As Kagome gawked again, her mother took a sip of tea and sighed. "I have something to explain to you."

Kagome nodded. "O…k…"

"You see Kagome," her mother started "You're youkai now."

"I figured that."

Kagome's mother smirked. "As I see. You become youkai when you make the choice to be. After that, your body is modified to handle the youkai abilities and to live longer."

Ji-chan took a sip of tea and waited for Kagome's mother to continue as Kagome shook her head.

"I'm soooo not following," Kagome sighed.

"Have you heard of the Immortals?"

"I'm an Immortal?" Kagome screeched. Her mother nodded. "In a way, yes. Humans call us Immortals. We're really just an enchanted version of the snow owl youkai. That's why you were born without powers. You must be blood to have the powers."

"Ok," Kagome said as Ji-chan sat back in his chair. Kagome's mother took a sip of tea and continued.

"We have three forms: Human form; the form you were born in; humanoid; what you're in now; and youkai. You have to be trained to know the third one."

"I did the third one already," Kagome whispered.

"Huh?" her mother gasped. Kagome nodded. "Before I came back. I changed into a giant owl."

Jichan nodded. "I see," Kagome's mother said.

"Um, Mom?"

"Yes dear?"

Kagome twirled a striped band of hair around her index finger, mindful of her retracted claws. "Why are you not throwing a fit?"

Kagome's mother blinked, then smiled. The air around her shimmered, then a bright flash of light blinded Kagome momentarily and woke Shippou. When the light faded, Kagome glanced at her mother and gasped.

Her mother's black hair faded to an ashy brown, with strands of white sprinkled in for highlights. The wings on her back stretched across the kitchen were the same size as Kagome's, and were white with caramel-brown tipped feathers. Her eyes shone a bright cerulean blue with the faintest hint of topaz. Kagome blinked, trying to find her voice. "You…you're-"

"Youkai?" Kagome's mother finished as a new feature was added to the already startling display. A brown and white sprinkled tail wrapped around her shoulders and rested against her waist. Kagome glanced at herself, then at her mother.

"I don't have a tail!"

Kagome's mother chuckled as Jichan sighed. "No, you don't. I'm ½ inu youkai. You're 1/3."

"No way. How do you know?"

"Birds don't have fangs," her mother said, pointing a talon at Kagome's mouth. Kagome traced her tongue over her teeth and in fact found the sharp points in her mouth. She grimaced as her mother continued.

"I made the Choice when I was about 10 human years old. My okaasan was attacked by a clan of snake youkai and couldn't protect me and my brother. We made the Choice together."

"Uncle Kenji is an Immortal?"

Kagome's mother nodded. "As a matter of fact, after tomorrow you're going to train with him. He'll teach you what you need to know about being a youkai, including how to fight and how to adopt little Shippou."

Kagome lovingly petted Shippou's cheek. "Will Shippou-"

"Become an Immortal too? I don't know. If you adopt him, the instant your blood enters his body he'll be able to make the Choice. We normally don't tell our young about the power inside them, but Shippou already knows."

"Why?" Kagome asked. Jichan rested his elbow on the table and watched the conversation thoughtfully.

"Because to tell them would risk tainting their decision to become youkai. That's why we didn't tell you and Souta what you really were. But you can only become an Immortal if you decide selflessly." Kagome's mother answered.

Kagome smiled as she imagined what Shippou would look like with wings as Kagome's mother transformed back to her human form. "How do I do that?" Kagome asked as her mother stood up and poured Jichan more tea.

"You just have to imagine it. You don't have the strength for that, but you will tomorrow."

Kagome instantly thought back to the well. "How did you find me?"

Jichan finally spoke up. "You destroyed the well house. When we came to see the commotion, we found you at the bottom of the well, unconscious with Shippou trying to wake you up. We pulled you both out."

Kagome nodded, then shook her head in disagreement. "I can see Mom pulling me out, but not you Jichan."

"Why not?"

Kagome giggled at his offended gaze. "No offense, but you're too old."

Kagome's mother glared at her, then at Jichan. "Show her dad."

Kagome glanced from one to the other. "Show me what?"

Jichan sighed, then shuddered as pure white wings sprouted from his back. Shippou gasped.

"Kagome!" he squealed as Jichan's white hair lengthened down the side of the chair. "Hide behind me!"

"Its ok," Kagome soothed as Jichan opened his eyes. Instead of the deep brown, they were now a complete crystal blue. Jichan smiled down at Shippou as he sniffed him.

"Hey! I know you! You were at Narasa's Mountain!"

Kagome gawked at him. "You-" she pointed a finger at him "Are Narasa?"

Jichan nodded as the years slipped away from his face, leaving a man who couldn't have been much older that Kagome's mother. Kagome groaned and dropped her head to the table.

"No one tells me anything."

"You will train tomorrow, when you can finally revert back to your human form, so your uncle can teach you. Shippou may go as well, just so Kenji's kitsune friend may train him as well."

Shippou hugged Narasa/Jichan fiercely, earning a chuckle from the ancient Immortal. Kagome gazed at him in wonder, then in hope as Narasa/Jichan turned to her.

"I was wondering?"

"Yes?" he said as he put Shippou back to the table.

"Um, what about Sesshoumaru?"

"What about him?" Jichan asked.

"Um," Kagome muttered, scratching her left side. "We share dreams, but now we don't. Why?"

Kagome's mother sighed. "When the well on the other side was destroyed, it destroyed your link. For it to be reestablished he would have to touch your mark."

"Oh. Where is he?"

Narasa/Jichan tapped his chin in thought for a moment, then sighed. "The last I heard of your taiyoukai, it was 1805 in what is now Ireland. I haven't heard anything about him since."

Kagome nodded sadly, fighting back tears. Jichan/Narasa patted her shoulder gently. "Go rest, Kagome. You'll feel better tomorrow."

Kagome nodded and stood up, reaching for Shippou as Kagome's mother scooped him up. "Let Shippou stay down here. A growing pup must be starving by now. Did you miss lunch?"

Shippou nodded. "Breakfast too."

Kagome's mother sighed. "That's not good. You should eat, then you can go with your okaasan."

"Is that alright if I stay with your okaasan, Kagome-hahaue?"

Kagome gave him a weak smile at the honored name. "Yes Shippou-chan, you may stay."

"Call me Bella!" Kagome's mother chirped as Kagome made her way up the stairs.

*

A passerby would have wondered what could have made one of heaven's creatures look so broken-hearted as Kagome opened the door to her room, her wings dragging the floor behind her. She quietly shut the door behind her and flopped on the bed, crying herself to sleep.

++++++

{back in the past, a few days later}

Sesshoumaru entered his study to do paperwork, only to find InuTaisho sitting at the desk.

"Excuse me, Chichiue," he said as he retreated back out the door. InuTaisho motioned him back in with a smile.

"Come back here, Sesshoumaru," he said, his voice like gentle rainfall on a desert land. Sesshoumaru stepped inside and sat down in front of the desk. "I wanted to speak to you anyway."

"Of course, Chichiue. About your lands-"

"Your lands, Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru's head jerked up in surprise, though none showed on his face. "My lands?"

InuTaisho sighed and leaned back against the desk chair. "I remember when I patrolled these lands, defending them at the expense of you and your mother. Now that I have another chance at life, I do not want to rule these lands any longer. The west stays under your rule, my son."

Sesshoumaru nodded and bowed deeply. {SF: Remember folks, this is Sesshou's father. He can be a little occ around him.} "Thank you, Chichiue."

InuTaisho waved off the reverent bow. "No need for that," he said as he stood up and walked around the desk. Sesshoumaru stood and watched him as InuTaisho came to his side and hugged him. Sesshoumaru, totally shocked to see such emotion come from the taiyoukai, stood in silence as InuTaisho spoke again.

"I watched over you as you defended these lands, fought your brother and resurrected the child, and I am proud of you. I however do not approve of you two fighting, but you never really tried to hurt him in the first place. You are not aware of how deeply Lady Kagome has affected you. You are no longer the stoic youkai you used to be, though you still hide your feelings well." He released Sesshoumaru and moved to the nearest bookshelf.

"I can sense your pain over losing her, but do not feel as though all is lost. She is not dead, only a few hundred years away." He pulled a dusty scroll down and sat before the shelf to read it. Looking up, he glanced at the study door.

"Your mother wishes to talk to you. She is in your room."

Sesshoumaru bowed again and left, heading for his mother and his room. When he opened the door, he found Mira digging frantically inside Kagome's bag, which he sat at the foot of his bed. When she nearly fell inside the gigantic pack completely, Sesshoumaru rushed forward and gently helped her out. Mira gave a weak smile in thanks.

"You know, I remember when I used to be able to pick you up and had to rescue you out of things," she playfully griped as Sesshoumaru sat her back on her feet. Sesshoumaru gave her a sad smile as he sat down on the foot of his bed.

"I remember as well. What are you looking for?" he asked as Mira dived into Kagome's pack again. She unzipped the small pouch in front of the pack and crowed in triumph as she yanked out a leopard-print case.

"Modern make-up!" she cheered as she yanked out one of the eye pencils. Sesshoumaru smiled a little more and shook his head.

"You haven't changed, Hahaue," he said as Mira sat down beside her. She smiled back and draped an arm around his waist. "Chichiue said you wished to speak to me."

Mira nodded. "I do, thank you for reminding me. Kagome asked me to…" At this she paused. Sesshoumaru waited patiently while she chose her words.

"She asked me to get to know Inuyasha," Mira finally said, waiting for some sort of reaction from Sesshoumaru.

"I would expect as much," Sesshoumaru said with a faraway look. Mira looked up at him, surprised. "You're not angry?" she asked. Sesshoumaru shook his head.

"I think it is a good idea. Inuyasha, with the exception of Father, is alone. It would do him some good to at least have you as a friend. I think he may already be attached to you as well."

"What makes you think that?" Mira asked as she fiddled with a lip pencil.

"He fought at your feet when you transformed," Sesshoumaru said, glancing at Mira out of the corner of his eye.

Mira nodded. "There's something else. It's about the Reioseiga."

Sesshoumaru tipped his head to the side, his brow creased together. "What about the Reioseiga?"

Mira stood up and sighed. "The Reioseiga isn't your father's fang."

"What?"

Mira frowned down at him. "Growling isn't necessary, Maru-chan. The Reioseiga isn't InuTaisho's fang, it's mine."

"Yours?" Sesshoumaru said, mentally screaming his confusion. He merely stared up at her instead and waited for Mira to explain.

"You see, InuTaisho knew of the struggle you and Inuyasha would go through for the Tetsusaiga. He didn't want the two of you to kill each other over something as insignificant as that one fang, so he arranged for another to be forged. I insisted that it be my fang because of how important the sword would be. The only way for the Reioseiga to be set free was for the wielder to care for the both of you, but love and be loved by you. She had to become the bridge between the two of you, to be able to bring you together. She did that, ne?"

Sesshoumaru though a moment over the past couple of months and nodded. When Naraku kidnapped her and Rin, he willingly tolerated the hanyou's company to find them. Imprisoned together hadn't been as bad is it should have been, even though they fought at the beginning. Inuyasha helped him to realize his feeling for Kagome in his own weird, reckless way. Inuyasha even defended his mother when he was busy fighting Kenirous. Mira smiled and hugged him, her scent nearly as comforting as Kagome's.

"You don't mind if I keep this, do you Maru-chan?" Mira asked, waving the make-up pouch in Sesshoumaru's face. Sesshoumaru shook his head and Mira gave him another quick hug. Moving out the door to the hallway, she glanced back and smiled.

"Perk up, Maru-chan. All isn't lost. Kagome's only five hundred years in the future. Surely you can wait that long. Until then, Rin's birthday is tomorrow. She has something she wants to show you."

She walked out of the room finally, leaving Sesshoumaru to his thoughts. Sesshoumaru reached inside the pack and pulled out Kagome's disc man. Remembering what she taught him about the machine, he put the headphones on his ears and pressed play. Instantly the lyrics of a song he remembered her humming at some point or another sang into his ears.

Sesshoumaru stood up and walked to the balcony, lost in thought as he watched Mira and Rin play in the garden below him, wondering to himself what Kagome was doing.

And if she missed him.

'I do not regret her,' Sesshoumaru thought as his golden eyes refocused to the sky above. 'I do not regret my love for her. But why does it hurt so badly?'

'She is safe now,' he told himself as he shut off the player and set it by his nightstand. He walked to the gardens toward Rin, with one thought on his mind.

'I will wait for her. As long as it takes, I will wait.'

----

SF: I'm back! {::giggles like a mad person::} Did you guys miss me?

Shippou: {::glomps SF::} I did! Inuyasha kept hitting me while you were gone!

Inu-chan: You little brat! {::tries to grab Shippou::} {::Shippou lets go of SF and he and Inu-chan make chase around SF's feet::}

SF: {::irritated sigh::} For the love of…

>Zap!<

SF: {::as Inu-chan tries to smooth out his hair::} What a way to greet someone Inu-chan. You're a real nut. Anyway, sorry about my absence. I promise you guys I had a good reason. This chapter is short, but I promise you that the next chapter of 'To Bear' isn't. It's 28 pages!

Sesshou: You've said this-{::SF glomps him around the neck::} Release me crossbreed!

SF: I missed you too Sesshou! Anyway, the recommendations are at the bottom.

RECOMMENDATION: 'Kagome, Where Are You?!' by Jeffs (AFF.net)

Yup, you guys guessed it. This is an AdultFanfiction first, but this story is rated R so far. Anyway, this story takes off where one of Jeffs' I/K stories left off, with Sesshoumaru finally getting to ask his question about a small metal cube Rin found after he 'exterminated' a demon. Kagome and he touch it at the same time and are instantly transported to another world, with it's own set of problems. This story is sooooo cool! It goes from one world to another, the world changes are believable and the slow romance between Sesshoumaru and Kagome is #1! Give this guy some love too, because he's the first guy (so far as I know of) to write a S/K fanfic! Plus this fic is great! So read and review!

RECOMMENDATION: 'Chimera' by Arella (Mediaminer.org)

I've been meaning to recommend this story for at least four months, but I'm a tad scatterbrained. I didn't know she finished it until last week. Anyway, in this story Sesshoumaru and Kagome meet each other as little kids in a dream after Kagome nearly drowns. Every night from then on they dream of each other, consoling one another through the tragedies in their lives. Soon they become best friends, though they both doubt the other is real. So imagine the shock when…oh, I'll let you guys read it. It's a great story, and if you read and review perhaps {::crosses her legs, her fingers and her arms::} we can get Arella to write a sequel.