Just Friends by Omnicurls

Fantasy

Kagome was off-balance and, try as she might, she could not find her footing. “You picked this place?” Kikyo asked as she looked around the spa resort.

“Yeah,” Inuyasha draped an arm around Kagome proudly, “She won this three-day long game, and so we had to go where she wanted.”

“It’s actually tasteful. I’m surprised.” Kikyo said. She linked her arm with Inuyasha’s and pulled him away, “Let’s go; I’ve heard the springs here are amazing.” She led, and he followed like a love-struck child.

“Bitch.” Sango breathed from beside Kagome. Kagome shrugged; if she had gotten angry at every underhanded comment Kikyo had given her, she would never have made it through childhood. “Why is she even here? She didn’t want to come for his birthday week.”

“She didn’t want to go to the mountain house.” Kagome said, “A five-star spa resort? That’s a different deal.”

“Where did she even come from?”

“Don’t ask me. She started texting him again out of nowhere.”

“Couples massages, what do you say Ayame?” Koga pointed excitedly at a brochure and winked at his girlfriend, “Could get all kinds of steamy.”

Ayame brightened and rose to toes in excitement, but the smile on her face faded slightly and she lowered her heels to the ground. “Sounds great, but I thought it was girls do their own thing, the guys go do their own thing?”

“Yeah, but the birthday boy is off making out with his ex, and I don’t want to be stuck on a date with Miroku.” Koga threw his head back and groaned.

“You should go while you’re here, Ayame. Koga isn’t going to bring you here on his own.” Kagome said.

“You’re right!” Ayame grabbed Koga’s hand and leaned into him, “Let’s go.”

“Fuck yeah.” Koga wrapped his arm around Ayame’s waist and kissed her before they headed off together.

Miroku slipped his arm around Sango’s waist and slowly moved his hand downwards, hoping she would not swat his hand away. “So, where are we heading to first? Sauna? Springs?”

Normally, Kagome would not have thought twice about spending time with just Sango and Miroku, but today, she felt strangely unnecessary. She rubbed the back of her neck and feigned a grimace, “I didn’t want to spoil it for everyone, because I picked the spa, but I don’t feel too well, and I’d like to take a quick nap first. I’ll catch up with you guys later?”

“Are you sick?” Miroku restrained his roaming hand for a minute and touched his hand to Kagome’s forehead.

“No, just a light headache. It’s all that drinking Koga made me do.”

“Ok, I’ll come check on you in a bit?” Sango offered.

Kagome shook her head, “It’s just a hangover that won’t go away. I’ll find you guys when I feel better.”

Sango nodded and, with Miroku’s ever roaming hand trying to inch its way down from her waist, they too headed off. Kagome looked down the wooden walkways that each led to a different section of the resort. She contemplated finding an empty sauna but was not particularly excited by the idea, so in the end she found a grassy spot outdoor and committed herself to writing in her journal.

 

Evening came and she was still off balance, but it seemed everyone was as well. She remained mostly quiet, and even thought the others talked among themselves the conversation did not flow as naturally as it had before. Koga and Ayame occasionally exchanged stories with Miroku and Sango, while Inuyasha was far away in his own smitten world. They were four distinct islands all drifting apart with no cross-cutting current to draw them together. She chalked it up to tiredness, although in her heart she knew Kikyo’s presence was the true culprit.

After dinner, they headed to theirs rooms – paired off as they often were. Kagome, when she returned to her room, was not surprised to find Inuyasha telling her he had been very excited to keep rooming with her, but Kikyo was here so he booked a room for himself because ‘who knows, right? Old flings?’. In the end, he had left her alone in the room that they had stupidly believed would be the central meeting place in which the whole crew would drink late into the night and consistently tease Inuyasha for being the only one of them spoiled enough to host a week-long retreat.

She changed into her pyjamas and crawled into bed. She had not brought a book with her, so she had nothing to read, and she had spent most of the day writing in her journal and could not bring herself to write a single additional word. She tried to sleep, but even sleep would not come to her. Frustrated, she changed back into her bathing suit and left her room to find a secluded hot spring in which she could unwind and think.

 

She walked around, taking all sorts of impulsive turns until she found a smaller spring nearly completely hidden by a scattering of tall flowering trees with branches made heavy by late blossoms that refused to fall. She smiled to herself, a genuinely happy smile, dropped her robe carelessly to the side, and settled into the water. The very existence of this spring seemed unreal, as if it has been put there just for her to find. She tilted her head back and look up at sky. It was late, but there were so many stars out that the sky seemed a deep blue instead of black. The heat of the spring settled deep beneath her skin, undoing knots she had not known existed, and leaving her feeling light enough to fly, while her eyes slipped closed. She might have fallen asleep, until she heard her name.

“Kagome?”

She sat up sharply and looked around and saw someone just to the left of her little isolated pool. She immediately recognised him, but it took her a moment to truly process his presence. He was an entire vision; this tall, statuesque man with his silver hair gleaming in the moonlight and his deep red robe evoking of luxuries of centuries past, all set against an impossibly beautiful night sky, at this secluded hot spring. Perhaps she had fallen asleep after all.

“Sesshomaru? I haven’t seen you at all today; I thought you had gotten tired of us and left.” She sank lower into the water until it covered her chest entirely. She was not naked, but there was something oddly intimate about a hot spring in the middle of the night that no amount of clothing could make feel casual.

“I don’t have that luxury. Why are you out here so late?” He stepped down towards her.  

“I couldn’t sleep, and I’m at a resort; might as well take advantage of it. You couldn’t sleep either?”

“Not entirely,” he was at the edge of her hot spring now, “I prefer the night; it’s private.”

Kagome nodded in understanding and a silence passed between them. In the distance, crickets hummed and moving branches rustled against each other. He wasn’t moving; he simply stood there like a painting. “Do you want to join me? There’s more than enough space for both of us.”

He looked around briefly and asked, “Are you sure?”

Kagome nodded and shifted towards one edge of the pool. Sesshomaru removed his robe and she immediately looked away. Not because she had never seen a guy shirtless before, she had; she was friends with Inuyasha and Koga, after all, but this was different.

He entered the water, and she heard him chuckle lightly. “It’s safe now.”

Heat rose to her cheeks, and she swore it was from shame. “I was being polite.” She said defensively.

He settled across from her and another silence passed between them. This time, he spoke first. “Your cousin is here.”

“Kikyo? Yeah.” Slowly the knots of the day began to re-knit themselves between her shoulders.

“She wasn’t at the mountain house.”

“She didn’t want to ‘be trapped’ with us. She calls our friend group a cult. But a spa resort all to ourselves? Even the ‘cult’ couldn’t keep her away.” Kagome rolled her eyes.

Sesshomaru tilted his head to left, and then to the right, “I could see how one would make that accusation.”

“What?” Kagome sputtered, rising up. Her chest rose above the waterline, and she quickly sank down again. “We are not a cult. We’ve known each other since middle school; of course we’d be close. Plus, Ayame has joined us, no problem.”

“You can see her trying hard every single day. You, Sango, Miroku, Inuyasha, Koga – you four have been a cult for as long as I can remember. No strangers welcome.” He said smoothly.

She felt the need to defend her friends; they were close, but that was not a crime. “But Kikyo has known them too since middle school; she was the once who always acted as though we were too ‘immature’ for her.”

“Again, I see her point. You are all overgrown children in desperate need of supervision.” Sesshomaru leaned back casually.

Kagome bit her lip and narrowed her eyes at him. He was trying to get a reaction out of her; she could tell. “Oh, is that why you came along? As a chaperone?”

“No, I was guilted into coming. A moment of filial weakness, nothing more.” He ran his fingers through his silver hair and smoothly changed the subject, “But on the point of immature, are they still together?”

“Kikyo and Inuyasha? Who knows?” Kagome shrugged. She did not do it on purpose, but anyone around her could feel the walls coming up.

“It bothers you.” He stated simply.

Kagome folded her arms and looked away, “Yes. But not for the reason you think. I know you’re going to say I’m just bitter because she won him back in high school, but I’m really over it. It just doesn’t feel right, her taking an interest in his life all of a sudden. Two weeks ago she starts texting him, out of nowhere, and he runs to her as if she didn’t screw him over the last time. I’m not going to be the one picking up his heart again.”

“You’re not jealous. Just concerned.” Sesshomaru said in a tone that made it clear his did not believe her.

“Back in Highschool, I didn’t lose; I quit. While Inuyasha was trying to decide me or Kikyo, me or Kikyo, Hojo was really sincere about liking me.”

Sesshomaru snorted a derisive laugh and Kagome frowned, “Hojo was nice, you and your brother could learn something from him.” She put up her hand before he could speak, “Whatever, half-brother.”

“I was going to say,” He spoke so smoothly and confidently that while she knew she was telling him her piece, she somehow felt as if he were winning and she was the one being lectured. “Nice is boring; it’s how you describe someone you actually have nothing to say about. But thank you for correcting yourself.”

“You’re just… unbelievable.” She sighed. It was meant to be a sigh of frustration, but the flush she felt rise through her body told her that there was a bit more to that sigh than frustration. “As I was saying, Hojo was very sincere and because of him I realised I didn’t want to be with someone who didn’t know if they wanted to be with me. So as long as Inuyasha was torn, there was no point in my pining.”

She had said her piece and she was proud of herself. “But you live together, now.” He kept running his hand through his hair. It was a mesmerising movement and she could not help but stare.

“We’re just roommates. Koga moved in with Ayame, he had an extra room and I didn’t want to live with my family anymore.” Kagome sank lower into the water until it reached her chin, and she pouted, “I don’t care if you believe me, but the truth is I’m worried about my best friend because his ex is clearly toying with him.”  

“That part is clear enough.”

Kagome moved towards him, “You see it too.” She said, her voice bright as she finally felt her suspicions had been vindicated.

Sesshomaru looked at her and she realised just how close she had swum to him. She looked down at the water, which was almost black in the night, and moved backwards but he caught her wrist under the water, stopping her from moving farther away. “She’s toying with you too. Don’t fall for it.”

Kagome blinked in confusion.

“Since she came, you’ve become withdrawn and hesitant, and your little cult had broken up into Sango and Miroku, Koga and Ayame, and Inyasha and Kikyo. Your friend group is full of children, but you hold them together quiet admirably. Don’t lose it in questioning yourself.”

They were having a real, proper conversation and it was deep and meaningful. He was saying things she felt but could not articulate. He had seen her and understood her. Sesshomaru ran his thumb across her wrist. Her skin tingled where he touched her and could feel her heart beating in her head, her chest, her toes. He reached for her other hand and ran his fingers over her wrist, only then did she understand what he was searching for. “The bracelet? It’s in my room. I didn’t want to ruin it.”

“It can stand the water.” He said. He released her hands and she found herself wanting him to hold them again.

“I’ll remember that.” Her words were a breathy whisper. All sense seemed to have deserted her. In the heat of spring, the darkness of the night, the quiet intimacy of the trees that hid them from casual view, an unbearable tension wound between them.

Sesshomaru leaned back against the rock behind him and, on a whim, she moved so she was beside him. “You know, I think this is the first real conversation we’ve had in years. We used to speak occasionally. You remember when Inuyasha was ill, and I would visit him a lot? He’d fall asleep, and we’d talk.”  

“Right,” Sesshomaru said. He remembered their conversations quite well.  

“We got along, even all the way back then. But one day you started acting as if you didn’t even see me. Why?”

“I did not want you to begin thinking I could be recruited into your cult.”

Kagome laughed. Hot springs in the middle of the night were one of those places that felt dreamlike, where all pretences fell away. “I would definitely have tried to recruit you.” She joked.

“Exactly what I wanted to avoid.” He replied.

Silence fell between them again, but this time it was a companionable silence. Kagome tilted her head back again and look up at the sky and Sesshomaru followed her gaze.  “I’m glad you came out tonight,” she said, after a while, “I needed the company.”

“You were not yourself today.”

Kagome thought about his words for a moment. “None of us saw you today… were you stalking us?” Her eyes shone with devilish mischief.

“I would not flatter yourself.”

“You know, it’s ok if you admit you want to join our cult. I won’t tell; I’m good at keeping secrets.” She placed a hand on his should, in a gesture of mocking comfort and smiled up at him.

“I’d sooner die.” Sesshomaru placed his hand over hers and removed her hand from his shoulder. His lips turned up slightly, giving her a hint of a smile. He dropped her hand into the water and turned his attention back to the bright night sky.

 

 

 

 

INUYASHA © Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan • Yomiuri TV • Sunrise 2000
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