InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ When there is a full moon ❯ A Taiyoukai in the Twenty First Century ( Chapter 7 )

I DON'T OWN INUYASHA

A Taiyoukai in the Twenty First Century

She was definitely aware of the presence of a youkai now. At first, she thought it might have been Inuyasha who had broken his promise to leave her alone. But she dismissed the idea, knowing that Inuyasha would never attempt to harm her world and cause such disturbance. For one horror filled moment she thought it might be Naraku, but she felt no Shikon shards; Naraku never went anywhere without his share of the jewel.

"Kagome-chan!" Tammy chirped happily. "Look, there he is!"

Kagome turned to look at Tammy. She was pointing towards the center of the street where a large group of people were gathered. She could just make out the police and the squad teams that were almost at the center of the people. She knew that the cause of the problem must be at the very center, but she was too far away to see who or what it was. Her friends were still dragging her on, trying to push through the crowd to a place from where they could see well.

It was then that she felt it. It was that feeling that you get when you think someone is watching you, but you can't see them. She could feel the hair on the back of her neck rise, and her senses were screaming at her that she was getting closer and closer to a youkai, a very powerful one at that. She swallowed dryly, and stopped walking.

"Guys," she said in a quiet voice, making her friends turn around and look at her curiously. "I don't think it's safe to be here."

"Ah, come on, Kagome," Lira said disappointedly. "What do you think all these police people are here for?"

"Yeah, Kag," Yumaput in, "there's nothing to worry about. You should see the guy they're trying to arrest. He's sooo hot."

"Yeah, how did you say it?" Lira asked Tammy absent-mindedly.

"Oh…um…hot shit on plate," Tammy answered.

They began dragging her by her arms again. Kagome resisted, making them stop again. "I said no," she said with an air of finality. "I'm not going any closer. You guys go if you like, but --,"

She never finished the rest of her sentence as the crowd chose that moment to gasp, some even screaming. The sound of gun shots filled the air, and the people gathered began to run around in disarray, trying to get as far away as possible. Kagome felt herself being separated from her friends and shoved against a store window. She gasped for breath only to have it forced out of her as someone else collided painfully against her.

She managed to push away from the window and squeeze out of the crushing crowd and into a nearby alleyway. She leaned her hand against the wall, gasping for breath. But soon she completely froze as the tingling feeling increased noticeably. She knew that the demon was close by, too close for her comfort. Slowly, she turned to look back the way she had come. Her eyes widened with shock.

His figure blocked the way out of the alleyway. She could just make out the people running around on the street, none of them aware of the danger that she was in. She wanted to scream, to call for help, but knew better than to show weakness while in the presence of the great Taiyoukai of the Western Lands.

Okay, don't panic, just don't panic! Yeah, right! As if that's possible!She thought to herself as she swallowed hard. His eyes were narrowed in his characteristic look of annoyance, his face void of all emotions. His eyes were boring into her as though he could see into her soul, making her want to shiver. The morning breeze played with his long, white hair and the sun shone through his eyes. For a moment, Kagome could see why her friends were so excited about him. She quickly pushed away the thought and the blush that tried to surface. She looked back at him defiantly, waiting to see whether he was just going to stand there all day or actually do something.

Sesshoumaru felt the corners of his mouth twitch as different emotions played across her face and scent. It went from nervousness to flat out terrified, to excitement, to embarrassment, to defiance, and finally to that of annoyance. That was one thing about the girl; you always knew what she was thinking by just looking at her face or taking a whiff of her intoxicating scent. Sesshoumaru frowned at the last part of his thoughts, waiting for her to explain.

"Well," she said irritably, "are you gonna tell me what you are doing here?"

"I might ask you the same thing," was his emotionless remark.

Kagome huffed with annoyance, why that stupid, egotistical jackass! "This is where I'm from. This is my home. You, I believe, live five hundred years in the past. So, what are you doing here?" she hissed.

Sesshoumaru frowned, 'five hundred years in the past', crazy, human, fool! "You mean to tell me that that bitch sent me five hundred years into the future?" he scuffed.

"I'm not sure who you're talking about, but yes, you're five hundred years in the future. Unless, that is, you have somehow managed to age during those five hundred years but look exactly the same." And I wish I could age that gracefully, she smiled as the though ran through her head.

Sesshoumaru eyed her warily in her odd and inappropriate clothing. He remembered how everyone here was dressed in odd clothes, and that one of the girls who had previously been dragging her had been dressed in the exact same clothes as the miko was usually clad in. He took in another sniff of her scent, his muscles relaxing from the escape of the day's previous stench, and smelled no sign of falsehood. He raised one of his eyebrows in a curious manner. "So you are from the future?"

His question made Kagome want to slap herself across the forehead. She cursed herself for letting that piece of information slip, but knew it was too late to come up with a lie. She sighed regretfully and turned her brown eyes back to him. Hesitantly, she nodded her head.

"You have the ability to go back and forth in time?"

"Sort of," Kagome mumbled under her breath.

Sesshoumaru nodded as well. He looked around the dingy alleyway, his mind on how to get her to send him back when she was his enemy, a very uncooperative one at that.

Kagome watched him curiously. After what seemed like five minutes, she took a hesitant step towards him. "Um…are you stuck here?"

His steely eyes flashed towards her but he made no answer.

Kagome decided to try again. "'Cause, you know, if you were, I might be able to help you go back." Surprise flashed across his normally stoic face, and he corked one of his delicate eyebrows at her. Kagome rolled her eyes at him. "You're a danger to my world since few people believe in demons, let alone a Taiyoukai like yourself. I don't want you here, and I don't think you want to be here. So if I'm right, tell me so I could try and take you back."

To say that he was surprised would have been a great understatement. "You would be willing to help an enemy?"

"Like I said, I don't want you here, meaning that I'll be benefiting as well. Plus, it's not like I've never helped you before!"

Sesshoumaru shook his head, trying to ward away an oncoming headache; this miko always somehow managed to surprise him. He let out a small sigh before asking, "When exactly was the last time you helped this Sesshoumaru?"

Kagome waved her hand in the air dismissively. "Never mind, I'll tell you later. Just tell me, do you want to go home?"

'I'll tell you later', Sesshoumaru stared at her for the absurdity of what she said. She stared back at him impatiently, then suddenly turned tomato red as she seemed to realise what she had said. She shook her head, dismissing the silly words, and turned back to him for his response. Finally, Sesshoumaru nodded his response.

"Do you promise not to hurt my family and friends if I were to help you?" he gave no answer. "Look Sesshoumaru, there's no way I'm going to help you if I think there's even the smallest chance that you'll hurt them. I don't care what you do to me, but you have no right to hurt them."

He could feel his anger beginning to rise, but he forced it down. "And what makes you think that I won't go back on my word?"

Why is it that they always ask that question?! "Why is it so hard to get you to promise something?" she answered with her own question. "You don't exactly strike me as the lying, traitor type. That's more like Naraku."

"Is that so?" he asked without much interest. "Tell me, what 'type' do I exactly 'strike' you as?"

"We're getting off subject here," she reminded him, not wanting to tell him what she thought of him. "Do you promise or not?"

"Answer my question, woman!" he said coldly.

"Fine, but you can't get mad at me if you don't like my answer," she warned, thinking that if he did not answer her question soon she would leave him here and try to escape him. "You, Lord Sesshoumaru of the Western Lands, strike me as the…cold-blooded, arrogant, conceited, and emotionally constipated, murderer type. Now, do you promise or not?"

Sesshoumaru was torn between killing the miko and proving her analysis of him true for her rudeness, or to applaud her for her bravery. He smirked instead and said, "I promise, for now."

Kagome's eyes flicked to his, and she studied him for a long while. Then she broke into a wide smile and nodded her head. "Good," she said happily. "Okay, let's go then." She walked past him and led the way to the street.

At the end of the alleyway, Sesshoumaru quickly reached out and grabbed the miko's wrist to pull her closer to himself to ward off the stench of this world before it hit him full force.

Kagome let out an 'eep' as she was pulled back suddenly into the youkai lord. She stood frozen for a split second, before she realised where, or rather who she was leaning on and began to struggle to get away.

"Will you stop that?" he hissed irritably over her head.

"Will you let go?" she asked back.

Sesshoumaru feigned a thinking look on his face. "No."

Kagome whirled around incredulously. "What? What do you mean 'no'?"

Sesshoumaru let out a soft growl and kept his eyes on the street before them. "Lead the way."

"Argh!How am I supposed to do that if you're keeping me from moving?"

"I'm doing no such thing," he answered back shortly. "You are perfectly capable of moving as is."

Kagome thought this over, then decided to test that theory. And indeed she could do so. He was just holding her close to him, but was not preventing her from moving. Looking quizzically over her shoulder at him, she continued on her way. "Are you going to tell me why you're holding my hand?" she said as they stepped into the now empty street.

The pressure on her wrist increased until she hissed with pain and then released. "No."

Argh, he's impossible! The pompous Jack ass!

They walked back the same way that Kagome had come with her friends about half an hour ago. She glanced back at him every once in a while. The youkai lord was looking around at the buildings, but he seemed to be most interested in the cars.

Kagome let out an irritable sigh, feeling uncomfortable in the silence that had fallen on them. "They're called cars, or sometimes automobiles," she said as they passed a red convertible. "They're like our version of carriages. Only they run on gasoline instead of horses, and are a whole lot faster. The bad thing, though, is that they are very bad for the environment. They are constantly emitting dangerous gasses and pollutants into the air. That's why we have a hole in the ozone layer, and it's only getting bigger as time goes by. We still haven't found out a good, economical way to travel. Did you know we can travel to the other side of the world in less than a day. I don't know if you'd heard of the Americas during your time yet. That's around the same time that Columbus discovered the Americas. I don't think people in Japan new about them though. But maybe youkai did since they could travel much more quickly and could have even gone to the Americas. I should ask Miroku or Inuyasha the next time--,"

"Do you always talk so much, woman?" Sesshoumaru said in his smooth voice.

Kagome huffed irritably and fell silent. Her anger was making her scent all the more stronger to Sesshoumaru's joy, although of course he would never show his joy.

The miko stopped at a set of steps that led to a shrine. She was eyeing him and then the shrine contemplatively. Finally, she let out a long sigh and started up the steps only to be stopped by Sesshoumaru. "Where are you taking me?"

"My house. There is a well in there. That's how I travel back and forth. But if that doesn't work, then I can always ask my grandfather."

He allowed her to continue up the stairs. They arrived at a relatively large yard. From their current position, Sesshoumaru could see what could only have been the tree that he's brother had been pinned to for half a century. The yard itself was empty, and there was a house near the back of the shrine. The miko led the way to the end of the yard and stopped by a well house. She pushed open the door and walked inside, Sesshoumaru at her heels.

"I jump through the well," she pointed to the well at the center of the well house. "It takes me straight to Inuyasha's forest, five hundred years ago. Try it."

"Do not presume you can give orders to me," Sesshoumaru said, walking to the edge of the well, eyeing it sceptically. "Show me."

Kagome blinked with surprise. "Show you," she repeated slowly. "Oh, you don't believe the well works. Fine, I'll show you, but you better hope Inuyasha's not on the other side. I swear, if I have to give up my two weeks of vacation, there's going to be trouble."

Sesshoumaru ignored her and pointed for her to demonstrate. She shrugged and moved to show him. Sesshoumaru watched with concealed amazement as the miko disappeared in a swirl of blue light. A few minutes passed, the blue light lit the well house once more, and the miko reappeared at the bottom of the well. She climbed back up the well and sat at the lip of the well, waiting for him to jump in. With one last look at the miko, Sesshoumaru did just that. He felt his feet touch the ground and looked up.

Above him was the roof of the well house and the miko's dangling legs as she sat on the well's wall.

"It did not work," he said as he jumped out of the well in one leap.

"Well I could have told you that, Mr. Obvious!" Sesshoumaru let out a growl at this. The miko shook her head and rolled her eyes. "No offence was meant Great Youkai Lord. No seriously, I didn't think it would work anyway, it would have been too easy. Plus, me and Inuyasha are the only people I know of who can come through the well. How about we jump in at the same time? Maybe it'll let you through when it's letting me through."

Without a warning, Sesshoumaru grabbed the miko from around the waist and jumped back into the well. Again, the miko let out an 'eep' of surprise, and again nothing happened. They stayed at the bottom of the well, Sesshoumaru eyeing the well and the miko irritably.

"Are you going to let go of me?" Kagome said with annoyance, uncomfortable with the youkai's proximity.

Sesshoumaru growled and pushed the miko away from himself. "I was sent here by a miko's spell, the same miko whose incarnation you are." He smiled at her surprise. She did not know that he knew that about her. "You are a miko, you should be able to send me back. So do it already."

Kagome ignored his order. "You know, you're the first person to have not mistaken me for Kikyou herself. People usually automatically assume that I'm her despite the fact that she's been dead for fifty odd years."

"Will you concentrate?" he growled with his claws positioned near her fragile throat.

The miko let out a short chuckle, her eyes dancing with amusement. "Now really, Sesshoumaru-sama, did you really think I would fall for that? I'm you're only way of getting out of here, you're not about to kill me, at least not until you're back to your time. Now, back to business. You say Kikyou sent you here? That's good for you, cause then I could definitely do something to counter it. Come on," she said and began to climb up the ladder once more. "I'm sure Ji-chan would know of something. Although I should warn you, he…kinda disapproves of youkai." She suddenly let out a happy laugh. "You would have enjoyed seeing him chasing Inuyasha around the house, trying to stick ofundas on him, and yelling 'demon, be gone'! Ah, the good old times," she said wistfully.

"You are right," Sesshoumaru said, surprising even himself. "I would have enjoyed that. Now, stop wasting my time and take me to the old man!"

Why that stupid, self-centred, rude bastard! The thought ran through Kagome's mind without opposition from Kagome. She was tempted to purify the demon lord right then and there but she knew better than to try. Instead she shook her head, and led the way back to the courtyard.

Her grandfather was nowhere to be seen. She had searched the tourists' booth, the tomato patch, and even the sitting area around Goshinboku which was strictly for ceremonial purposes. But no matter where she looked, she could not find him. She could feel Sesshoumaru's impatience, and she was quickly becoming desperate to find her grandfather.

She stopped at the sliding door that led to the kitchen of her house. She turned around and looked at the irritable looking youkai. She cleared her throat cautiously. "Sesshoumaru-sama," it couldn't hurt to be polite in dangerous situations, "I can't find my grandfather --,"

Sesshoumaru resisted the urge to snort at the obvious remark. Instead, he settled for glaring at her.

Kagome reached up with her free hand to rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "We can go inside and wait for him there," she suggested.

Sesshoumaru eyed the house suspiciously, carefully scenting the air surrounding it. What he smelled almost made his mouth water; almost. There was the smell of bread, vegetables, and frying meat. He could also catch the faint scent of at least one human. "Who is within the house?"

Kagome looked at him with surprise before remembering his strong sense of smell. "Oh, that's my mom. She's probably just cooking. Which reminds me…"

She drifted off, looking thoughtfully towards the door. Again she swallowed with a sense of nervousness. The last time her mother had met a demon, or rather a half demon, she had ended up rubbing his ears. It would not do to have her trying to do the same thing to Sesshoumaru. She did not want to think what his reaction would be. Omigod, what if she says something about how much he looks like Inuyasha? He'll definitely kill her for that, never mind any promises made! She snapped out of her reverie when she heard someone clearing their throat. She almost jumped out of her skin with surprise; she had completely forgotten about Sesshoumaru who was now looking at her with one eyebrow raised.

"Sorry about that," she mumbled under her breath. "Look, I've gotta tell you. You'll be the second demon to have ever stepped into this house. They'll…or rather, it's just that…oh hell, just, please, don't hurt them." He made no sign of acknowledgement. "Please, Sesshoumaru, please, please, please don't hurt them. They don't really know what's proper and what's not when it comes to demons and all. They won't mean anything by it."

Sesshoumaru watched her with concealed amusement as she begged him. He wasn't even sure what it was that she was begging him for. But he remained silent, his face schooled into its mask, enjoying the desperate aura that surrounded her.

She watched him with evident worry, waiting for his response. When he didn't make one, she sighed exasperatedly. "I…I promise to do anything if you swear to me that you won't hurt my family."

His eyes danced with surprise, though the rest of his face remained emotionless. "Anything?"

"Anything other than getting the Tessaiga or hurting Inuyasha, so long as it is within my power."

Sesshoumaru allowed an evil smirk to grace his lips. "You have yourself a deal miko. Although, I would not have attacked your family since I had already given my word not to do so."

Kagome's jaw must have reached her knees at least. She simply stood there, just gaping at his completely serious face. Oh yeah…! Damn it, why didn't the bastard just say so sooner? She let out an exasperated sigh, clamping her mouth shut. The stupid git! Though, you've got to admit, he got you good there! Oh shut up! She yelled at herself.

She sent him an angry glare, turned to the door, slammed it open and led him into her home.