Kagome sat in the bar holding her glass of wine at arms length as if she were disgusted by it. In truth, she was anxious. It has been more than 500 years for him. He'd be here soon. She hoped.
***500 years earlier***
Kagome sat on the hill that over looked the tiny town she'd called home for the past 5 years. She was now a young woman of twenty and a far cry from the young girl of 15 who'd fallen in the well. Naraku was dead. But it wasn't over just yet. She still had to make her wish on the jewel. She sat staring at the tiny object that had caused them so much trouble before. The land had been cleared of most of the evil creatures that had lain in wait for a jewel shard but some still remained. And now that the jewel was whole, the remaining offenders only tried that much harder to steal the gem from it's protecter. But try as they might, they failed and were slain either by herself or her-self proclaimed guardian. Sesshoumaru was the last person she would have thought to promise her his protection. He was known for hating humans. Yet, he had Rin, ever eager to please her lord, as always. Now, Kagome was considered part of his pack. Since Inuyasha's death in the battle against Naraku, the inutachi had split up and gone their respective ways. Sango and Miroku returned to the demon slayer's village to start anew. To raise a family of their own. Kilala went with them, of course. Shippo decided to return to the kitsune community. At first her friends visited often. But after awhile their visits would become farther and farther apart until they did not come at all. It broke Kagome's heart. But deep down inside her, she knew it was for the best. She'd be going soon. As soon as she made her wish.
Sesshoumaru stood a few feet away. Watching the miko. Over the past two years since Naraku's and Inuyasha's deaths, she had earned his respect and they had formed a sort of friendship. Sesshoumaru claimed her as pack. Kagome fell right into line as beta of his pack. Something that did not make Jaken very happy.
Kagome sat with her legs tucked underneath her, staring at the small sphere. He could only imagine the turmoil that must be going on inside of her right now. The conflict she must be faced with. He knew she loved it here. And he knew that as soon as she made her wish, she would be flung back into the future where she originally came from. He inhailed deeply, her scent was heavy on the wind. It smelled of sadness and anxiety mixed with the scents of sunshine and cherry blossums. He had to admit that she smelled rather nice. It was a pleasant change from the dirty unkempt peoples of the village that always reaked of sweat and earth. She smelled like the coming spring. A realization hit him as he watched her. He, the Great Lord Sesshoumaru, the killing perfection, was in love with a mere mortal.
As if she just noticed his prescense she turned her head slowly looking at him out of the corner of one of her eyes, the color of lapis lazuli.
"Sess?" She was the only one allowed to call him that. "Are you ok?" She asked as she noticed his stiff and tense posture. As she spoke, the sound of her bell like voice washed over him, relaxing his muscles one by one until he was able to walk over and take a seat next to her. She watched him with a concerned light in her eyes. He stared into them. The fire that had lured him to her before still burned brightly. Her intelligence shined and he nearly lost himself in her eyes when she spoke again. "Sess? Is something wrong?"
"No." He said flatly as he looked towards the horizon.
"Liar." She said as she too gazed off in the same direction. He sighed. She always knew when he was hiding something. She claimed he was a terrible liar but he suspected it had something to do with the feel of his aura just as he could feel when she was lying about something. "Spill it." She said simply. A strange phrase she'd brought with her from the future. He'd come to learn that it meant, 'speak your mind.'
"You are contemplating your wish." He spoke. It wasn't a question. She nodded quietly. "Hn." Came his classic and ever persistant reply. "Do you know what it is you will wish for?" Again she nodded. "What is your wish?"
"I can't tell you." She said with a smile. He stared her with a questioning gaze. She knew he wanted to know why. "If I tell you," she began in a hushed tone as if she were telling a secret, "then it won't come true." She giggled. Sesshoumaru growled.
Kagome and Sesshoumaru stared off into the sunset until the sky turned dark and the stars began twinkling. Kagome stared up at the sky looking for constellations she knew. Sesshoumaru watched her. She had named off about 6 when Sesshoumaru spoke and startled her out of her thoughts.
"Marry me." He said it in such a way that it almost sounded as if his perfect, silky voice was actually shaken. Kagome blinked. Her mouth dropped open as if to answer but nothing came out. Sesshoumaru brought them closer together by wrapping his arms around her. "Marry me." He said again, more smoothly this time.
"Sesshoumaru..." She squeaked. "I- I can't..." An emotion crossed the lords face that Kagome had never seen before. Was it saddness? Dissapointment? Hurt? Or all of the above? She rushed to explain her answer. "I want to, it's just that..."
"You still love the hanyou?" He asked, relaxing his grip on her.
"NO! No, that's not it." She cried, pulling at his arms to keep them around her. She wanted the comfort, warmth and safety his body provided. "I just don't want to hurt you. I don't want you to suffer. When I make my wish, I'll be forced back into my own time. What would you do? Wait for me for 500 years?" She asked, staring up into his golden eyes. He seemed so pale in the light of the stars. His magenta stripes alsmost seemed crimson and his blue crescent moon looked black. But his hair... His hair remained silver as it glided down his back nearly to his ankles. Kagome had always been jealous of his hair. It was so gorgeous and soft. He occassionally let her brush it for him. She was nearly lost in thought again when his answer came.
"Yes." Kagome was taken aback.
"What?"
"I will wait for you. I will be forever faithful. I will never stray. The thought of once again holding you in my arms like this will be what keeps me going." He said. Kagome's heart pounded in her chest. He leaned in closer until his forehead touched hers. "Kagome," It was the first time he'd ever spoken her name, "marry me, my love." Kagome's whole world seemed to come crashing down around her revealing a new and brighter future for her. One where she could be with the man she'd loved for nearly a year now, and she knew he could live through the 500 years to be reunited once again in her own time. All she had to do was say yes. Tears stung her eyes and wet her cheeks as they slid down her face. Sesshoumaru brought a clawed hand up to wipe them away.
"Oh, Sesshoumaru." She cried as she buried her face in his chest. He held her while she cried out her happiness. "Yes. Yes, I'll marry you." She said finally able to talk. As she looked up at him with so much love in her heart she kissed him. She kissed him with everything she had.
Later that same week, Sesshoumaru and Kagome married. All of her friends were there. Sango, Miroku, and their three young children with Kilala. Shippo came as well. Kagome had appointed him ring bearer. And Rin was the flower girl. Sango, she made her maid of honour and Miroku acted as best man. No one really understood what the significance of the rolls they were playing were but they knew better than to question Kagome's methods of madness. They let her have her day and was happy for her and Sesshoumaru. After the ceremony and the reception Kagome and Sesshoumaru made their way to their quarters. Before Kagome could walk into the rooms she was scooped off her feet and kissed passionatly.
"I believe that it is custom in the future, as you have told me, that the groom is to carry the bride over the threshold of their home?" He asked. Kagome blushed and nodded with a smile as Sesshoumaru stepped through the door and slid it shut with his foot. Kagome did not have time to ask questions. She was immediantly thrown on the bed and being bombarded with kisses.
***500 years later***
Kagome swirled her wine as she blushed at the memory of their first and only night together as a married couple. Her core ached at the thought of his heated kisses and gentle touches. She fingered the silver band on her left ring finger absentmindedly.
"Kagome." A voice said behind her. She turned to see her friend Hojo standing behind her. "Sorry if I startled you, but I just wanted to come over and say hi. I hadn't seen you for awhile. Are you alright? You looked pretty deep in thought." Kagome smiled and shook her head.
"No. Just staring off into space."
"Oh." Hojo shifted from one foot the other as if he were nervous about something.
"I'm sorry, Hojo." She said. "I'm just a little tired tonight. How have you been?"
"Oh, I've been great. I got a job at the..." All of Hojo's words fell on deaf ears. Kagome's mind was far to distracted to talk to him. It was as if she were on automatic pilot. She smiled and nodded as he droned on and on about one thing or another.
***500 years earlier***
Sesshoumaru and Kagome had laid in bed that night, wrapped in a loving embrace. Carressing every inch of each other and strategically placing soft kisses on their bodies.
"Promise me something." Kagome whispered.
"Anything you want, it shall be yours." Sesshoumaru said in a husky voice.
"When I go back to the future..." She began, her voice breaking under the stress of the thought of leaving his side, "Promise you'll meet me somewhere." She couldn't see in the pitch black room but she could feel him staring at her. "A place called Oshiro's. 501 years from today. Our wedding anniversary. Okay?" She knew he could not see her either but she still pleaded him with her eyes. A long silence. She knew he was storing the information in his steel box of a mind.
"On one condition." He answered. When she did not speak he continued. "Spend this one night with me. Our wedding night. Let me make love to you again." Kagome laughed as tears fell down her face.
"As many times as you want." She said. Sesshoumaru growled low in his throat making his chest vibrate.
"You should not have given me such a long leash, little miko." He growled in such a predatory way Kagome was almost scared until he flipped her onto her back and began assaulting her with kisses and touches.
They made love many times that night. Kagome cried out his name over and over again and Sesshoumaru growled in pleasure at the thought that it was his name coming from her lips this time and not this 'Jesus' that she had screamed out before. He was angered at first until she explained what it had meant. He still was not pleased that she was calling another man's name as he thrust into her. He knew from her smell that he was he first man she'd ever been with this intimately before. She had given him her virginity. He felt honoured that she trusted him with her body. So he took comfort in her explanation that by her screaming 'Jesus' only meant that she was thoroughly enjoying herself.
It was nearly dawn before they had exhausted themselves. Kagome was on the verge of blackness when she whispered, "Don't forget. Oshiro's. Meet me there. I love you, Sesshoumaru."
"I will wait for you, my love." He kissed her forehead softly. Kagome smiled as a few tears escaped. She closed her eyes and made her wish.
Sesshoumaru watched as his wife of only a day, vanished in an orb of white light out the window and towards the well that lay in Inuyasha's Forest. It would only be a year for her but for him, it would be half a century. He felt himself die a little inside as he watched the orb disappear on the horizon.
***500 years later***
Kagome was figeting, constantly casting glances at the clock that hung behind the bar. They had never set a time, but he was late. It was nearly ten o'clock. Hojo was still there, sitting at the bar with her, still talking about some useless idea he had for an invention that would make everyone's life much easier when it came to eating healthier. She didn't hear a word.
"Are you late for something?" He asked. She didn't answer. She just kept staring between the clock and the door. He grabbed her face between his hands and forced her to look at him. "Kagome!" He said a little louder. "What is going on?" Kagome pulled her face out from his hands and started staring at the door again.
"I'm waiting for someone." She said simply. Hojo looked a little confused but she didn't care.
"Who are you waiting for?" He asked. She didn't answer. He asked again. Her temper flared and her aura lashed out. Hojo began to sweat and feel uncomfortable under the glare his long time crush was giving him.
"I'm waiting for my husband. And if I remember correctly he's a very protective and possesive man. I don't think he'd like it if he saw me sitting here talking with you." She said, rather irritated. Hojo looked flustered as he got up, bowing his apologies.
"I did not know that you were married. Well... It was nice to see you again, Kagome-san." He said before rushing out of the bar, several people staring after him. Kagome sighed as she turned her stool around to face her glass of wine. She'd hardly touched it. She only ordered it so she could stay and wait for Sesshoumaru. She felt a prescense next to her. Her annoyance only grew.
"Is this seat taken?" The stranger asked, as if he could sense her irritation. Kagome glanced up and the clock. 10:26 pm. She sighed, nearly feeling defeated. She didn't even look at the man.
"No." She said sadly.
"What is a woman like you doing in a bar, this late at night, alone?" The stranger asked. Kagome kept her head down, eyes on her glass of wine.
"I was supposed to meet someone here. We've been planning this for a long time." She said, not really sure why she was telling him.
"How long?" He asked.
"Longer for him than it has been for me." She said in a cryptic non-commital answer. They sat in relative silence for a few more minutes before the man spoke again.
"So, who is he?"
"Who?" She asked hotly.
"The man you're supposed to be meeting here? Who is he?"
Kagome closed her eyes and remembered all the times they'd encountered each other over the years in the fuedal era. Her heart nearly shattering at the memory of their one and only night together as a couple in love. She felt an ache in her chest at the thought of anything happening to him causing him to be unable to meet her.
"My husband." She said softly. "Tonight is our wedding anniversary." She sighed as she glanced at the door again. "I hope nothing has happened to him."
"You sound as if you haven't seen him for a very long time." The stranger said softly. His tone of voice let her know that he understood how she felt.
"I haven't. But it's nothing compared to what he's had to wait."
"What do you mean?" He asked. Kagome laughed.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." She said smiling whistfully at her glass of wine.
Sesshoumaru stared at his Kagome as she stared at her drink. Her dark locks pushed to one side of her neck. She hadn't even looked at him. Of course he could not blame her. The charm that he wore disguised him in every way. His honey colored eyes were now dark brown. His long silver hair that he had cut shorter hung in a pony tail that reached his shouler blades was now a flat black. His long pointed ears now looked human and his markings were hidden by the spell. Even his voice was masked by the charm. It was torture to be so close to her and not have her recognize him. It was killing him to not be able to hold her. To kiss her. To ravish her. When she noticed him staring at her, she peeked at him out of the corner of her eye. Her beautiful blue eye.
"Something wrong?" She asked. There was something strangely familiar about this man. He smiled and shook his head.
"Just remembering my wife." He answered. Kagome nodded and went back to staring her drink. Another silent moment passed before a song started playing on the juke box. She hummed to the soft beat. It was one of her favorites.
"Dance with me?" He asked. Kagome shot him a hard look and he raised his hands in a display of harmlessness. "It is merely a dance. I have no ill intentions, this I swear to you." Kagome stared at him for a minute longer before she nodded. As they made their way out to the dance floor she spoke.
"So, you're married, too." She said. "What 's she like?"
Heart beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave
How can I love when I'm afraid
to fall
But watching you stand alone
all of my doubt
suddenly goes away some how
"She is beautiful. Kind. Smart. Her heart is as big as the world." He said. Kagome smiled a little.
"She sounds like the perfect wife. Wait, let me guess. She can't cook." She joked. The man smiled sadly.
"I do not know. She disappeared shortly after we were married." Kagome suddenly felt horrible for poking fun. But she knew exactly what the man was going through.
"I'm sorry." She said. "I never should have joked like that." He smiled kindly at her and shook his head. Somehow she knew that he had accepted her apology. They danced on.
One step closer
Kagome thought how nice it would be if she were dancing with Sesshoumaru. Her mind went to wonderful places but before she had time to enjoy them her mind took a drastic turn for the worst. What if something had happened to him? What if 500 years was too much for him and he found someone else? What if he died? Or was killed? Kagome's heart cried at any of those possibilities. It must have shown on her face.
"What is wrong?" The man asked. A single tear slid down her cheek.
"I was just thinking how unfair it was of me to ask my husband to wait so long. I was thinking that it's possible that I asked him to wait too long and something may have happened to him. Or that he decided that he could not wait for me and maybe found someone else. Some one better." Better? Than his Kagome? He mentally snorted. No such woman, human or demon, existed.
"And if he did find someone else?" He asked. "What would you do?" Pain flashed across her face as another tear followed the last.
"I would let him go." She said, struggleing to keep her voice even. "It was unfair of me to ask him to wait for so long. And if he gave up on me, I hope he found someone else. Someone to take care of him and make him happy..." Her voice faded off as more tears came cascading down her face.
I have died everyday
waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid
I have loved you
for a thousand years
I'll Love you for
a thousand more
Time stands still
Beauty i know she is
I will be brave
I will not let anything
take away
What's standing in front of me
every breath
every hour has come to this
One step closer
Sesshoumaru danced with his wife and watched her cry at the thought of him with another woman. Again he mentally snorted. Her fears were foolish. He had remained faithful to her just as he had promised. He never strayed. And just as he said, it was thought of holding her in his arms again, completing his half a heart, that kept him going all those years. Gave him a reason to wake up each day and live. He lifted his hand and wiped away her tears.
"You would sacrifice your own happiness so he could be with another woman?" He asked. A knot formed in Kagome's throat preventing her from talking. She nodded. "Then you are foolish to think that there is a better woman out there than you." Her eyes snapped up to meet his.
"What?" She asked... The way he talked...
I have died everday
waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid
I have loved you
for a thousand years
I'll Love you for
a thousand more
And all along I believed
I would find you
time as brought
your heart to me
I have loved you
for a thousand years
I'll love you for
a thousand more
One step closer
"Everyday since my wife disappeared, I have dreamt that I would find her alive and happy. And I have worked hard building a fortune so that we may live a comfortable life. One where she can do what ever makes her happy. One where we are surrounded by our children and our grandchildren. One where she will never have a reason to be sad again." He said as he carresed her face. He leaned in touching his forehead to hers. "Now, I am only a step away from giving that to her."
"Sesshoumaru?" She whispered his name. He closed his eyes at hearing his name on her lips. She brought her hand up to touch his cheek. "Sesshoumaru... You came." More tears fell onto his hand as it rested on her face.
"Did you honestly think that I would not?" He asked, looking into her eyes. The eyes that he had missed for so long. The eyes that he wanted to lose himself in. She flung herself into him, burying her face in his chest crying harder than she ever had before.
"I was so scared!" She cried. "I was so scared that something had happened to you!" He embraced her for the first time in 500 years. He shushed her cries as he stroked her raven locks.
"Do you honestly think that there would ever be any woman out there that could tear me away from you, mate?" He asked. Kagome felt foolish for even thinking it was a possibility.
"500 years is a long time, Sess." She said, drying her tears.
"I would wait an eternity for you." He said taking her face in his hands and placing a soft but hungry kiss on her lips. Kagome moaned softly and he growled. How he'd wanted to taste her lips again. It had been far too long.
One step closer
I have died everyday
waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid
I have loved you
for a thousand years
I'll Love you for
a thousand more
And all along I believed
I would find you
Time has brought
your heart to me
I have loved you
for a thousand years
I'll love you for
a thousand more
Kagome pulled herself as close as she could to him as his arms encircled her waist. They were together again, at long last. And now, nothing could tear them apart. She broke the kiss to breath.
"I knew you'd find me." She said in a raspy voice. Sesshoumaru nuzzled her neck.
"Of course I did. Our hearts are connected." He whispered into her neck. Kagome cried, she was so happy.
"I love you, Sesshoumaru. I love you so much."
"And I you, Kagome. For a thousand years and a thousand more."
~oOo~
A/N: Ok... So it wasn't a short oneshot. lol But I hope you all enjoyed it just the same. The song is Christina Perri's A Thousand Years. (I love her songs.) Please let me know what you think. Read and review. Reviews make me happy. lol