M.I.A. by ITL

Memories of a time better spent

The wind was cold on her tear-streaked face as she fell to her knees on the wet grass. Her arms encased the stone slab in front of her, and the tears fell harder than ever before. He was gone, and she knew that he was never coming back. Her whole body shook from the force of her sobs. She wasn't aware of the passing of time; all she knew was that every second that he was gone her world grew dimmer.

"Kagome?"

She jumped; she hadn't heard anyone walk up to her.

"Kagome, I think it is time for you to leave. It's getting dark sweetie."

"Sango, he lied to me,"  Kagome said, as she clinged even tighter to the tombstone.

"What?"  

"He said he would come back to me! He said we would get married! He promised me that he wouldn't get hurt!" she cried as she flung her self away from the stone and onto her feet to face her friend. Rushing into Sango's arms she cried even harder. "This isn't fair, Sango. I miss him so much."

"I know, sweetie, we all do. What happened to___" 

"NO! Please don't say his name, please!" Kagome said, cutting Sango off mid-sentence.

"What happened to him was not fair at all, but he knew what he was signing up for when he joined the army."

"You think he signed up for that?" she said, becoming angry and flinging herself out of Sango's hug. "You think that he wanted to become a P.O.W. and...and...and ...die?"

"No of course not Kagome__­_" she was cut off again.

"Please just leave me alone. I can get myself home"

With a sad look, she gave Kagome a small nod and turned to walk away, "Kagome, don't forget I am always here for you. I love you."

"Don't worry, Sango, I know you are and I love you too. I'll call you when I get home; I am just not ready to leave him yet."

"Ok, call me if you need anything, even if you want me to come over and hand you the remote that is sitting two feet away from you! Ok?"

With a small chuckle and a ghost of a smile, she replied with a simple nod. Slowly sinking back down on her knees onto the now cold and wet ground, she leaned back against the tombstone. "Sesshomaru, why did you have to leave me?" she thought, as she closed her eyes willing her self to stop crying. Opening her still wet eyes, memories of happier times came rushing back to her as she watched the sun set behind the trees.

~ two years prior~

Laughing, Kagome and Sango slid into the booth in the back of the bar. It was Kagome's twenty first birthday, and Sango was hell bent on getting her trashed. So far, she has only succeeded in giving Kagome a slight buzz. Sitting back in the booth while sipping on her drink, she scanned the crowd. Her eyes focused on the door as it opened. A group of Army uniform clad youkai, had just walked into the bar. Immediately her eyes focused on the only familiar face in the group.

"Sango, Sango!" she hissed in her friend's ear. "Look who just walked into the bar, it's Sesshomaru from high school!" she exclaimed with a drunken giggle.

Looking up, Sango saw both Sesshomaru and his father standing by the door. "Oh my God, it is!" she practically yelled in her drunken stupor. "I thought he was over fighting in the demon war?"

"I thought so as well, but he must have come back! Man, he is still as fine as he was back in high school!"

"Yeah, he is!" She agreed as she gave him a not so quick once over. "Kags, you should so go talk to him."

"Hell no! Did you forget that the last time I saw him was when we were still in high school, and that I was the biggest dork ever?"

"No, I didn't forget, and I know you were a dork, but now you are hot, single, and one kick ass journalist! AND to top it off he's hot, just got back from the biggest war in our lifetime, and probably has balls bluer than your eyes!"

"SANGO!!!" she yelled, her face glowing red.

"If you don't go talk to him right now, I will stand up and yell his name at the top of my lungs just to get his attention."

"You wouldn't!" Kagome exclaimed, even though she knew full well that she would.

With an evil glint in her eyes, Sango cupped her hands around her mouth, sucked in a deep breath and yelled, "HEY SESSOMARU TAISHO!!!!"

She watched as his head jerked up and turn to their direction. A look of recognition crossed his face as Sango stood there waving her hand like the drunken idiot she was being. With the grace and ease he always had, he weaved his way through the crowd over to their table.  Under her breath she was cursing at Sango, using every word she knew in every language she knew.

"Hello, Sango," came his distinctively sexy voice.

"Hey, Sesshomaru!" Sango said as she took her seat and gestured for him to take the empty seat between her and Kagome. 

Out of the corner of her eye she watched him take the seat next to her. She slowly turned her head to look him directly in the face for the first time since graduating from high school all those years ago. Her breath hitched in her throat when he spoke her name.

"Kagome Higarashi?" he asked.

"Uh yeah, hi Sesshomaru," she said with a quick wave and a small raise of her eyebrows.

"My my my, how we have changed," he said, as he gave her a quick once over.

"Yup," she replied, as she tried her best not to blush as she saw his eyes roam over her figure.  "So what brings you to the bar tonight?" she asked.

"Well my troops and I just got back from the war over in Switzerland, and those of us who had no one to go home to decided to come celebrate our victorious return home here."

"How long were you gone?" Sango asked as she reached for her drink.

"We were there for two tours, so thirty months."

"Wow, two and a half years!" she said after she finished off her drink.

"What brings you two ladies here tonight?" he asked, keeping the conversation going.

"Well, tonight just so happens to be Kagome's twenty first birthday!" Sango said, as she gave her friend a wink and reached for Kagome's untouched drink; before she could get her fingers around the neck of the bottle Kagome grabbed it and took a big swig of it, and spit half of it back in to bottle. "Ew, Kags I hate backwash!"

"Which is exactly why I did it! If you want another drink go get one yourself, leave mine alone!"

As she and Sango argued over the drink, Kagome heard Sesshomaru chuckle slightly. Watching as Sango got to go get her own drink, she turned slightly in her seat to face Sesshomaru, who had turned in his seat so he was facing Kagome entirely.

"Well in honor of your twenty first birthday your next drink is on me!" Sesshomaru said as she took another swig of her drink.

"Oh no, Sesshomaru, you don't have to do that!" she said, waving him off dismissively.

"No, I insist!" he said in a tone that said 'this is my final answer'.

Seeing that she couldn't change his mind, she just gave a short nod.

"So, Kagome, you know what I have been doing since graduating high school, what have you been doing these past five years?"

"Since I graduated when I was sixteen, I had to get legally emancipated from my parents so I could go to the college I wanted."

"Which was...?" he prompted.

"Columbia University"

"Hn, a very good school indeed."

"Yeah, I finished my degree there, and then when I was offered a job working for the New York Times. I couldn't resist passing it up, so I decided to stay here in New York. I have been working here ever since. Sango surprised me one day on the subway and we became fast friends, now roommates. That's all there really is to me."

"This Sesshomaru highly doubts that. There has to be more to you than just that. Tell me, when did you make this big change? If I remember correctly, the last time I saw you you had big glasses, wore nothing but frumpy sweaters, and long skirts, and you always had your hair up in a pony tail. Oh and when you weren't writing your nose was always stuck in some book or another. Now look at you." He said gesturing to her current outfit, a blood red tube top and skinny jeans. On her feet she wore high heels; her hair was let down and was styled in sleek natural waves.

With a deep breath she launched into the story of how she changed her image. "When I got to Columbia U. I felt I needed a change of some sort so that I could fit in better since I was so young. So I got a part time job, saved up some money and bought some new clothes. I found that when I looked like I do now, people pay attention to me more. It made my life easier to look more like everyone else."

"Hn, well this Sesshomaru likes the change."

"Thank you," she said as she reached for her drink and downed it in the matter of seconds.

"It maybe your twenty first birthday but this is not your first time drinking is it?" he asked, with a small chuckle.

"No, I have drank a lot before now, but now I can do it legally!" she said as she began to relax more around him.

"God that took forever!" Sango said as she finally made it back to the booth.

The trio sat back in their seats and caught up on what was happening in each of their lives, but when Sango was asked to go dance by some random guy the trio became a duo, and the air between Sesshomaru and Kagome became slightly awkward.

"Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked, becoming bold.

"Hn?"

"Do you wanna go dance?" she asked.

"This Sesshomaru thinks that dancing sounds good right now," he said as he stood and held out his hand for her to take.

Taking his hand, she stood, and weaved her way into the crowd. Finding a space big enough she began to dance. She swayed her hips back and forth to the beat of the music; her hands were in the air above her head, swaying back and forth as she moved the rest of her body. Her heart started hammering inside of her chest, when she felt his hands come and rest on her hips.

Pulling her closer he let the beat of the music flow through him. It felt so good to be back in the states, away from all the violence, and hostility. He came here tonight to drink away some of the memories he had, from his time at war, but instead he found something better than vodka, he found someone that he could talk to. But more importantly, tonight he was finally able to be himself and he didn't have to worry about whether or not he was going to get shot in his sleep.

For hours they danced, neither willing to stop, both lost in their own thoughts. Finally the DJ gave a shot out for his last call of the night before closing. As the final song ended they stepped apart. Stumbling over a very drunken Sango clinged to Kagome, "Heeey Kaaagggs! Wazzz uuup? I thhiiink that I maaaay have haad a weeeeeee bit too much to drink!" she said with a giggle.

Waving her hand in front of her face to wave the fumes of Sango's breath, "Yes I would have to agree with that statement. Let's get you back to our apartment. I have a feeling that if I don't you'll end up in some sort of trouble," Kagome said, with a shake of her head. Turning to walk out of the bar, she was stopped by Sesshomaru's hand on her shoulder.

"I had a really nice time with you tonight Kagome," he said, his hand resting on her shoulder. "Maybe sometime soon we can get together and we can catch up, and maybe I'll buy you that drink I promised you."

"I'd like that," she said, a small smile on her face.

~Present Day~

The sun had finally set, the moon full and shining brightly in the sky. Slowly pushing herself up off the ground, she wiped away her tears. Wrapping her arms around her self she gave the headstone one final look before turning away and making her way home.

With a heavy heart, she changed into her favorite pair of old pajamas. Her tears we back again. Everywhere she looked she saw memories of Sesshomaru. It was no surprise for her; they did live in this apartment together. Reaching for her phone, she decided to send Sango a txt, instead of calling her. Once the txt was sent she shut off the phone and crawled into her and Sesshomaru's bed. Hugging his pillow close to her chest, she slowly drifted off to sleep as her tears continued to fall.

(AN Well that is it for now, thanks to my awesome beta...MOMODESU!!!! You rock my socks! If you liked the chappy drop me a line! Until the next chapter I am Inu_Tiger_Luver 393 but you may call me ITL)