Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha
---
Kagome stared at the hat on her desk and sighed softly. The straw hat had been with her for some time now, and it held more value to her than most of her possessions. The hat, after all, was one of her few reminders of the past.
The well had been closed for some time now. Kagome and her friends had defeated Naraku and the Shikon no Tama had disappeared. It seemed like everything would be well, but she had ended up in her time, and the well refused to work.
Now she was stuck in her own time period and the one she had fallen for was five hundred years in the past.
That's what made her hat even more valued to her.
The one she had fallen for, Sesshomaru, had helped her get her hat back each time that she had lost it.
She smiled sadly at the memory as she rubbed the frayed edges of the hat. Sighing again, something she seemed to be doing quite often, Kagome took her eyes off of the hat to the history paper on her desk.
Her history classes had gotten a lot easier once she found herself permanently in her own time. Learning and remembering all the facts was a lot easier when she had been there to see it unfold before her eyes.
The phone rang and Kagome picked it up. "Hello?" she said as her other hand continued writing.
"Kagome? It's Ayumi."
"Oh, hi Ayumi, what's up?" she asked wondering what her friend wanted.
"I was wondering if you wanted to go to the mall with me," Ayumi said.
"The mall...?" Kagome frowned. Her friends weren't trying to set her up with some guy like they did last time they invited her out were they?
"Yes, and it'll just be us going. Eri and Yuka are busy," she told her as if sensing her friend's hesitation. "So... see you at the mall in fifteen minutes...?"
"Yeah, see you Ayumi," Kagome said and placed the phone back on the receiver. She heard knocking on her door and turned around to see her mother standing there looking at her with a smile.
"So was that your friend?" she asked.
Kagome nodded. "Ayumi asked me to go shopping with her at the mall," she told her as she went over to her closet to find something to change into.
"That's good," her mother told her nodding. "It'll be good for you to spend time with your friends."
She hesitated as she took out an outfit. "I know. I'm okay though, honest," she told her smiling sincerely. "I'll see you when I get home okay?"
Kagome's mother nodded as she watched her daughter hurry off. It had been three years, but time had still not healed the wound that she knew was in Kagome's heart. She smiled slowly as she looked out the window. Something seemed different about today though... something good would happen.
---
"Ayumi!" Kagome called out as she saw her friend standing near the entrance. She hurried over and smiled at her. "Sorry for being a bit late, I had to run back and get my hat."
Her friend chuckled. "Isn't that hat getting a bit old? Or is it a gift given to you by that violent ex-boyfriend of yours?" she teased.
"No it's not getting old, and it wasn't a gift by him!" she protested. Smiling sadly, Kagome touched her hat softly before she looked at her friend with a bright grin. "Anyway, how about we get going? We did come to the mall to shop right?"
"Right," Ayumi said walking after her friend.
---
"Geeze, the mall's crowded today," Kagome complained. She was walking towards the escalator with her hands full of shopping bags.
"Yeah, it must be because of how Christmas is coming closer and all," Ayumi told her as she walked after her friend. She looked ahead of them and her eyes widened as she saw a man coming towards them. "Kagome watch out!"
Ayumi's warning came too late as the man bumped into her friend and caused her to fall. Her hat fell off of her head and went over the side of the railing. Kagome immediately got back up and stared at her falling hat with wide eyes.
"Hold my stuff for me Ayumi," Kagome told her friend as she quickly ran over to the escalator. She had to get her hat back, she could not lose it!
"Wait Kagome, it's just a hat!" she sighed and went over near the railing to peer down. There was Kagome, and there was the hat... though who was that picking her hat off the floor?
---
Kagome reached the ground and wildly looked about for her hat. She spotted it over the edge of the fountain and hurriedly ran over to get it. As she got closer she saw that her hat was actually being held up by a hand.
Her heart... it felt like it had stopped beating.
She looked at the person holding it with wide eyes. His hair was pulled back by a simple tie, still long and silky as she remembered. His face didn't have his markings and neither did his hands. He was wearing a business suit, but even so, she could still see that it was him.
Sesshomaru.
It couldn't be... He couldn't be there in front of her!
"I thought I told you not to lose this," he told her his voice still sounding as it had before though it didn't seem to be as harsh as it did before. "Did I not tell you that there would be consequences?"
Her mouth gaping, Kagome struggled to rise out of her shock. Finally regaining control of herself, she quickly retorted though her eyes were starting to tear at the sight of him. "You didn't even give me a chance to get it back!"
Sesshomaru smirked as he walked closer towards her. "I was impatient," he told her simply.
"Yeah well, I don't think it counts then," she told him looking at him defiantly.
"It need not matter," Sesshomaru said stopping right in front of her.
Blinking at his close-ness, Kagome took a step back and held out her hand. "My hat back please."
"Fine," he told her.
Sesshomaru then placed the hat on her head but not before he lowered himself down to lay a kiss on her lips. Pulling back, he continued smirking at her. "I believe that I shall save the rest of your punishment for later," he told her straightening up.
Kagome's eyes seemed to be permanently fixed to its wide-eyed state. She... he... kissed... what!?! "I...I... you are confusing me Sesshomaru," she said glaring at him though it was ruined by the fact that she could feel her face reddening from what the taiyoukai had done.
"Consider that part of the punishment," Sesshomaru said as he started to walk away, but not before grabbing her hat from her head.
"Hey!" Kagome yelled. "That's mine!"
Sesshomaru merely smirked as he easily held Kagome's hat out of her reach. Yes, seeing her again was definitely worth the long five hundred years he had to wait.
He frowned inwardly. His brother was right... for once. He no doubt would be gloating the next time he saw him. The idiotic half demon...
"Sesshomaru! You can't just give me back my hat then take it! That's not right!" Kagome protested still trying to get it.
...Even more so an idiot for giving her up. "Life isn't fair Kagome," he told her. "Live with it."
Better now that you're here, Kagome thought. She tried getting it again and laughed when he held it out of her reach. Yes, life was definitely better!
---
Ayumi stared down wide eyed at what had happened. That guy... Kagome knew him, well she definitely had to since he kissed her! And now they were leaving.
She shook her head and sighed. She was glad that Kagome was happy again, but did she have to forget her things? Ayumi smiled before she moved away from the railings. She'd stop by her friend's place later and drop her things.
Oh, and she'd have to tell Eri and Yuka about this guy. Maybe they'd stop hounding Kagome about guys if they knew.
She smiled more before she took off. Her friend was happy, and in that way, she was happy too.