InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Windows on the West ❯ The First Year ( Chapter 27 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer:  I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

~oOo~

Kagome stared out her window at the Goshinboku, and sighed as her thoughts wandered once more to the distant past, and the things she had learned while traveling by Sesshoumaru's side.

It was hard, but he was right, she thought with a slight smile,  when he told me to be honest with Hojo.  I felt bad about hurting his feelings, but now he has found a girl that can return his feelings, and is happy.

She herself, however, wasn't happy.  No, not at all.

There was no denying that she had things here in this time to finish, for the sake of her family's honor – especially as a shrine daughter.  But this year had been hard, being away from all those she loved so much back in the past.

A year, today, since I was pulled away from them all.  Yet, I can still feel Sesshoumaru-sama's presence near the Goshinboku at times... does he go there to remember me?  I hope so...

Turning away from the window with one last, wistful sigh, she sat down at her desk, and turned her mind to her tasks...

Because if she ever wanted to go back to the past, she had to finish them all.

Duty, she could just hear the daiyoukai saying, comes before desire.

And he would be right – you couldn't start the future, with the past hanging all unfinished over your head.

~oOo~

Sesshoumaru made his way to the god tree, his favorite place to be since the miko had been taken from him, and sent back to her family.  He could ofttimes feel her presence there so strongly, that he knew she was standing there, as well... five hundred years in the future.

It helped to keep him sane, and after a year, he could no longer deny that her absence ate at him night and day.  She is pack, that is why.  Pack is always a part of one.  I can only be pleased that her absence is not due to death.  That would be intolerable.

By now, he was resigned to a rather lengthy absence – after the things his brother had told him of her time, he was certain she would not be returning until her duties to her family were complete.  Duty, of course, always came before desire, and he could not begrudge her that.

According to Inuyasha, she would not be finished with those duties for three years.  He disliked every day she was gone, and hated the fact that he had to wait two more years – for today, it had been exactly one year since Inuyasha had returned alone.

A year since I have felt as though I am without another limb.  I had been so pleased to have my arm returned, and am now dealing with another loss.  He frowned at himself at that thought.  

No matter how much he might have wished to deny it, she had changed him, and it was obvious to everyone, not just himself.  And yet... to him, she was still a puzzle.  That, at least, had not changed.  But he had caught himself spouting her wise words to others several times, and could no longer deny to himself how much she had affected him.

As strange as it may seem, in this year she had been gone, he had become resigned to that fact – that he, Sesshoumaru, immutable daiyoukai, had been influenced by a human miko.

He had even learned not to be ashamed of that fact, and indeed, was almost proud of it.  After all, as his pack, she had to be extraordinary, so it was no surprise that he had learned a few things from her.

It went without saying, of course, that she had learned more from him, he being far older and wiser.  Still... he wondered what new things she would have learned by the time she returned... would any of them be things he might find interesting?

Probably, he finally decided, and that was acceptable to him.

He would find just about anything acceptable with him as long as his puzzle returned.

Except her returning to be with Inuyasha.

That, he would not accept.

~oOo~  

A/N:  And there's the first year down.  We'll check back in on the anniversary of year two to see how the daiyoukai and the miko are handling things.

Amber


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