Letters of Love by Tiegrsi

Letters of Love

'598 years...' he mused. 'It is time.'

The tall, infinitely graceful male came out of his study and walked down the hall to his master bedroom. Slipping quietly in he looked to the back corner of the room and found the light from the bathroom dancing out across the lushly carpeted floor. "Koi," he called softly. "I have to go to that meeting now."

A petite woman stepped out of the bathroom, no longer ashamed of her naked flesh as she once had been so long ago. She stepped lightly over to her lover and caressed his well muscled arm with a soft brush of her fingertips. She smiled up at him with longing in her eyes, and wrapped her arms up around his neck. Her long, raven black hair was wet from her shower and clung to her damp skin as she moved into his embrace. He bent down and kissed her pouty lips tenderly, nibbling on the lower one a bit as he pressed against her.

'It is quite amazing after all these years,' he thought happily. 'How much I still can't get enough of her.'

The lovers seperated hesitantly, and he asked if she would still be awake when he returned, around midnight. It was half question, and half promise, and her deep brown eyes sparkled up at him with knowledge. "Of course," she replied as she released him from her grasp.

She watched as he turned to go, and admired the silky, silvery tresses of his knee length hair as he disapeared through the doorway. 'Over 500 years and he hasn't changed a bit,' she thought as she wandered back to the bathroom to finish drying off. 'Kami, how I love him.'

...................................................................................................................................................................

He took a late train to Tokyo, feeling slightly ashamed for lying to her about his destination. He wasn't sure what she would have done if she found out the truth. 'Probably talk me out of it,' he realised. 'It is better this way. She will know the truth in a few more years.' He planned to tell her on the 500th anniversary of their mating, only two more years away. After all, he did promise her that she would eventually know.

Reaching the city he desired, he wandered from the station and took a taxi to the shrine that was his ultimate goal. He bounded silently up the long staircase to the top, making sure no one other than the driver saw or heard his movements. It would not be wise for anyone to find out about his little visit, not yet.

Reaching the flat pavement at the top of the stair, he turned and moved like a shadow to the back of the building that housed the family who lived at the shrine. He slipped like a thief into the second story window and paused only a moment once inside to make sure the room's occupant was indeed asleep. Seeing the young girl tucked carefully into her bed and breathing deeply in slumber, he stalked swiftly to the corner of the room and slipped two carefully thought out letters inside the dirty yellow bag he found there.

He paused again before climbing back out the window to admire the 17 year old girl sleeping soundly. "Sleep well, koi," he whispered as he left. Finished with his secret task, he made his way back home to the woman he loved more desperately than life itself, intent on redeeming himself for his trickery by proving his love to her once again.

Higurashi Kagome woke up slowly, stretching her muscles and rolling out of her bed. It was Saturday morning, and she knew if she didn't hurry there would be a very annoyed hanyou making his way to her home to reclaim her.

She dressed quickly and gathered together a large pile of supplies that she would be needing for her trip, tossing everything on the floor near her trusty old back pack. 'That's never going to fit!' she thought as she looked from the pile to the bag. 'I guess I'll just have to leave my books behind again.' With a sigh she reached in the bag, expecting to meet the hard covers of the books she knew were inside. Instead she met folded paper, and pulled two letters out. 'Where did these come from?' she wondered a bit warily. 'I know they weren't in here last night.'

She turned the letters over and examined them carefully. They were both sealed with a dark red spot of wax, each depicting a small sakura blossom with a monogramed "T" in the middle. It was not a seal she recognised, and she stared at them blankly after setting them on the floor. One was completely blank, and the other was marked "Kagome". Deciding to solve the mystery, she picked up the letter addressed to herself and carfully broke the delicate seal. She opened the paper with slightly trembling hands and read the contents.

Kagome,

I know you must be confused, and for that I must apologize. However, there is no other way. In time, you will understand the reasons for this letter and the task you must complete. Please do not be afraid, for although you may not realise it just now, I am a friend.

I know about your travels through the well.

Kagome's grip faltered and the letter dropped to the ground. There was more writing, but she wasn't sure she could read it. Who could possibly know about her secret life? Only her family knew anything about her travels. Could the letter have come from a old friend, had someone really lived long enough to deliver such a message? 'Maybe it will say...' Picking the letter back up, she set her mind on reading it all, and trying not to shake too much.

I know about your travels through the well. There is something very important, Kagome, that you must do for me. I am sorry that I cannot reveal at this time the reasons, or even who I am. I do promise, however, that one day you will know.

With this letter you will have found another. Under no circumstances are you to open it or read it's contents. I know that must be hard, but the other message is not for you. One day it's contents, as well, will be revealed. I wish you to do me a simple favor, and take the second letter with you to the past. Tell no one of these correspondances! To do so would alter time itself, and may be very dangerous.

Leave the second letter near the bone eater's well in two day's time. Let no one see you do so! I know it is difficult to understand, but you must trust me that if you do everything I say, you will be more than pleased with the results. Most importantly, because I know it will help ease your fears, I need to tell you this. If you complete this small favor, I assure you that Naraku will be defeated. If, however, you do not do as I have instructed, I cannot predict the outcome of your war with him.

Kagome, you know as well as I that his evil must be put to an end.

Be well, koi.

Kagome read the letter three times, unsure if what she was seeing was to be believed. 'It must be from an old friend. Who else would know all this?' she thought. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she looked once more at the last line. 'Be well, koi.' Was it from Inuyasha? Who else would call her their love? She had a million questions and not a single answer. 'Does this mean I will finally be with Inuyasha? That Naraku will be defeated? Could there be another person involved, one I have not yet met? Perhaps the letter is to insure I meet them? Should I peak at the other letter? Perhaps it would tell me more...

She looked down again at the paper in her hands. 'Under no circumstances are you to open it or read it's contents. I know that must be hard, but the other message is not for you.' She frowned. 'Maybe I shouldn't...I wonder what could happen if I did? But it says I shouldn't...and obviously this person knows more about the past than I...if they have already lived through it. Could it be a trick?'

She pondered the idea for a while. 'No,' she decided finally. If it were a trick, she would be feeling some kind of dread, wouldn't she? But the letter made her feel...optimistic. Someone loved her, loved her enough to come find her after 500 years.

Kagome packed her bag carefully and stashed the second letter away inside, noting for the first time how much thicker it was. There were many more pages in the second letter, while hers was only one. She decided just to do as the stranger, who must not be a stranger at all, had asked. If she would find out eventually all the answers, she could be content in that.

She walked down the stairs and packed some food into the already overstuffed bag, and waved goodbye to her family once again. Then she headed off to the well and slipped through time back to her second home.

Two evenings passed, and Kagome was sitting in Kaede's hut with her friends, talking over the latest plans to seek out Naraku. Down at the well, the letter rested in the grass waiting for it's owner to come and claim it.

A little girl walked by, and saw the paper laying in the grass as she picked a few flowers nearby. Running over, she picked it up and wondered at it with excitement. She ran back to the forest, paper firmly grasped in her hand.

"Rin," a cool baritone greeted her. "What have you got there?"

"Lord Sesshomaru!" the girl screeched happily as she ran to him. "I found it by the well!" She reached up her little hand and offered him the paper. He took it and flipped it over, musing at scent that remained. It was the scent of the miko that traveled with his brother, and he was about to toss it aside in disgust when a second scent wafted up to him, his own.

'What manner of trickery is this?!' he thought furiously. 'I have written no document such as this. The paper is strange, and I do not recognise this seal.' He narrowed his eyes and looked carefully at the little spot of wax, noting the "T" in the middle. Aggrivated at the lack of answers on the blank outside of the paper, he tore it open to find out what the contents were. A small picture was attached somehow to the paper, and he stared at it in wonder. It was like a painting, but it smelled strange and the quality was better than anything he had ever seen. The part that left him the most stunned, however, was what the picture was of. Obviously a family portrait, he stared with no little bit of wonder at his own face. In front of him stood several children, three boys and two girls. All bore his marks, but one boy and one girl had black hair instead of silver. Standing next to him, smiling proudly, was a slightly older version of the miko from his brother's pack.

His mind swirled with anger, confusion, fear, wonder, and a small bit of pride, all hidden under his icy, stoic mask while his young ward and gama retainer watched. Moving from the picture, he read the contents of the letter, and what he found there would change his life forever.

Two years had passed, and the man in the future who had come from the past was finally ready to admit his secret.

"Koi," he called, "come. I have something to show you."

His beautiful mate walked over and sat down in the study with him. He picked up a small box and placed it in her lap. He bent down near her ear and kissed her neck gently near the mark he had left on her 500 years previous. "Please, do not be angry with me, my love," he whispered. "It is time you knew."

She looked down at the little box, wondering just what secret he was keeping. She loved him, and trusted him completely, and she was sure that whatever it was, she would not be angry. She opened the little lid and found inside an ancient pile of papers, and she knew right away what they were. Setting the entire box and it's contents up on the desk, she stood up and turned to face her lover. Only his eyes betrayed his concern that she would be upset, but she smiled at him and wrapped her arms up around his neck.

"I knew," she admitted. "I always knew."

He looked at her, dumbfounded. Never one to stutter, his voice failed him on this occasion. "Ha...How?" he managed with a gulp.

She smiled up and pulled him into a passionate kiss. When she broke it, she looked at him with all the love she felt, and admitted her own secret. "Do you think you are the only one to write letters to a young girl?"