Unspoiled by forthright
Early to Bed
Disclaimer: I do hereby disclaim all rights and responsibilities for the characters in this set of scenes... especially for the precious one. A nod of recognition is bent towards Rumiko Takahashi for her creative prowess.
Early to Bed
After a long, hot, sticky hike to check boundaries, Kagome slipped into a steaming spring that had changed little over the centuries. The bathhouse had been been rebuilt using borrowed stone from the surrounding ruins, and on one of the original sections of the wall, she spied a series of unevenly spaced marks. Each gentle curve ended with a sharp upward angle. Sure they had some significance, but clueless to what that might be, she called, “Sesshoumaru-sama?”
“Yes?” he answered from his seat on the steps outside.
Feeling a strong sense of déjà vu, she pressed up against the pool’s edge and asked, “Erm... could you come here?”
He appeared, hovering uncertainly inside the door. “Yes?”
Kagome pointed to the etched lines and asked, “What are those?”
Sesshoumaru gravely answered, “It pleased Rin to record the heights of her children here.”
Glancing around, she realized that similar marks had been made elsewhere on the walls. “So... those were made a long time ago.”
“They were.”
She frowned and nodded to the first set she’d noticed. “But why are those different than the others?”
“I wonder,” he replied vaguely.
▪▪▪
An early bedtime was called, and Kagome gladly took her place in the haphazard nest of pillows and fur. Sleepy though she was, she couldn’t help feeling that the inu-youkai had dodged her question. “Sesshoumaru-sama,” she whispered. “Why did that one set have those extra lines on the ends?”
He hummed softly, and his lips brushed her ear. “Because her eldest has his father’s ears.” Kagome turned in his arms, excited questions poised on the tip of her tongue, but he hushed her with a finger and asked, “Would you be opposed to company tomorrow?”
“N-not at all.”
“Good,” he murmured, his arms tightening possessively around her. “Save your curiosity until then.”
■▪■▪■▪■▪■
Early to Rise
Kagome woke with her heart racing and her stomach in knots... and no clue why she was so worked up. Sesshoumaru still held her close, and he made soothing sounds as he stroked her hair. “What’s going on?” she mumbled, unsure why she was trembling.
His golden eyes were guarded as he quietly announced, “You have company. He is ridiculously early.”
She realized then and gasped, “Oh!” An achingly familiar youki was somewhere very close by.
“Go ahead,” Sesshoumaru urged.
Dressing in haste, Kagome tiptoed out onto the porch, glancing around. Someone was down on the end of the dock, arms folded over a broad chest, and a long, narrow case strapped to his back. She took a step forward, then another, and the figure turned. “Inuyasha?” she whispered, rushing forward in her excitement to reach him.
She pulled up just short, stunned by how much he had changed. The hanyou was taller, filled out, no longer her teenaged peer, but a full-fledged adult. “Hey, Kagome,” he greeted, eyes bright, ears pricked forward. “You okay?”
“I will be,” she replied breathlessly. “You’ve changed!”
“You, too!” he assessed. With a smirk, he casually patted her head, messing up her hair like he used to do to Souta. “I think you’ve gotten shorter.”
“Hey!” she complained.
However, any other protest was cut off when he tugged her into a fierce hug. “I missed you, Kagome,” he said gruffly.
“Y-you really have changed,” she mumbled against his red t-shirt.
“Keh,” he muttered.
After several moments, he turned her loose and lifted a hand towards the house in silent greeting. Sesshoumaru stood in the open doorway of his home, watching her reunion with his brother. Kagome couldn’t have said which surprised her more—the taiyoukai’s answering wave, or the silver band on Inuyasha’s ring finger.
■▪■▪■▪■▪■
Healthy
“You’re married?” Kagome blurted, too surprised for tact.
“Yeah,” the hanyou replied, suddenly looking more like his old, bashful self. “I didn’t really mean for... that is, I planned to wait until... aww, hell.” Inuyasha’s ears broadcast his shifting emotions until they settled on a hopeful half-prick. “I never expected to be as happy as I am, even though that’s exactly what that bastard promised.” Her eyebrows lifted inquiringly, and he went on, “The Sensei figures that when I tried to check the Well, I interrupted you; I was sent to your destination, and you were tossed out where I jumped in... or something. Sesshoumaru was waiting for me in the wellhouse.”
“You never said anything about that!”
“There wasn’t much to tell.” With a sidelong glance, he added, “I talked to this Sesshoumaru the day you came back to us, and he kept insisting, ‘Kagome is mine. Kagome is mine.’ But then, he said I’d be happy.”
“So... who?”
“Rin’s mine,” he replied with a healthy portion of pride.
“How did that happen?” Kagome tentatively ventured.
“No clue,” Inuyasha replied wryly. Tugging his ear, he said, “It was awkward as hell at the time; but I figure if anyone’d understand, it’s you.”
“Oh?”
“Well, Rin was just this big when I met her,” he explained, holding up one hand. “A nice enough kid, but just a kid. I swear, I turned around one day, and she wasn’t little anymore.”
Kagome stole a glance at the pavilion. “I know what that’s like.”
“It took a while to figure out what I wanted to do.”
“You fell in love?” she whispered.
“Well, I learned something important. Maybe you know already?”
“Erm... what?”
Inuyasha leaned closer and gruffly murmured, “When someone really cares about you, it’s damned hard not to care back.”
■▪■▪■▪■▪■
Wealthy
Inuyasha and Kagome sat side-by-side on the end of the dock, bare feet skimming the surface of the water. There were a thousand questions she wanted to ask, but not a single one came to mind. Instead, she shyly remarked, “You look a little more like your dad now.”
“Yeah, that’s what they tell me,” he chuckled. “Totosai mixes us up pretty easy these days.”
“You live near Totosai?”
“Actually, we moved him up by us,” he explained. “All of us had to move.”
“All the youkai?”
“No, no,” Inuyasha replied. “Well, yes, but... damn. Lemme start at the beginning. You see, after me and Rin married, Sesshoumaru took off, but a few years later, he turned up with a kid. She was just a little bit of a thing, half-starved and skittish. She was a neko-hanyou.”
“An orphan?”
“Yeah. I think he hoped Hisoka could do something for her, but Rin took one look and that was that. We took her in.” Inuyasha shook his head and continued, “I dunno if the bastard did it for the kids... or for Rin... or just to drive me crazy, but Aiko was only the start. Sesshoumaru brought Rin orphans like she used to bring him flowers. She calls them her treasures, so I guess we’re rich.”
“Were they all hanyou?”
“Every last one,” he confirmed. “I don’t have a clue how he found so many, but after a couple centuries, there were enough of us to make the locals nervous. Hisoka hooked us up with another group that needed an isolated location; thankfully, Katashi didn’t mind that we were mostly all hanyou.”
“Katashi?” she gasped.
“Yeah, him and his dragons account for half our village’s population.” With a smirk, he added, “He mentions you sometimes, Kagome... calls you Sesshoumaru’s ‘little lady’.”
■▪■▪■▪■▪■
Wise
“Katashi remembers me?” Kagome asked, flushing with pleasure.
“Why wouldn’t he?” Inuyasha scoffed. “To hear him tell it, you kicked up quite the fuss while you were under my old man’s roof.”
“He told you about me and your brother?”
“Some stuff.”
“Tell me more?” Kagome begged.
“About me or my brother?” he countered. Snorting at her expression, he said, “You’ll have to come and see the village for yourself. We’re tucked into a valley with mountains all around. There’s a school, of course; the Sensei made sure of that. And we’ve got Totosai’s forge, which is just as important. With so many hanyou, we had to think about sealing their youkai blood.”
Kagome glanced to the narrow case slung over Inuyasha’s shoulder. “He makes swords for them?”
“Early on, weapons were a must. Nowadays, it’s wiser to choose something easy to hide. Of course, either way, it still costs me.”
“How do you mean?”
“I’ve given up more teeth than I can count for the runts,” he explained, probing a fang with his tongue. “Hisoka, too, especially for the felines. Rin even convinced Sesshoumaru to sacrifice a few for the strongest ones.”
Kagome peeked up at her friend and found him watching her. His golden eyes searched hers intently, and she caught the quiver of his nostrils. “What?” she demanded, feeling self-conscious.
“You and he seem to be getting along okay?” he ventured.
“Mostly,” she replied softly.
“Rin made me promise not to interfere, but... can I say something embarrassing?” Curious, Kagome nodded, and Inuyasha proceeded. “When Sesshoumaru clued in about what was happening between me and Rin, he was pissed. It took some convincing, but eventually, he let me have his most precious person.” With a sheepish glance, he muttered, “I always kinda wanted to return the favor.”
End Note: These drabbles were written in part for the Live Journal community fanfic(underscore)bakeoff and their Secret Ingredient for April 2011—Clue. Each of these drabbles is exactly 300 words. Posted on April 13, 2011.