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The Ages and Between	By : Kuronohime Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > Inu no Taisho/Kagome Views: 17813 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: Done for purely non monetary pleasure. I do not own Inuyasha or the franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. All characters © Rumiko Takahashi

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
A quiet breakfast was shared between the brothers in the common room. A simple broth and a platter of fresh fruits. They expected to dine at the Inu no Taisho's mansion later, so neither man felt a need for a more sturdy morning meal.
Inuyasha coughed and stared meaningfully at a servant that was waiting for them to finish so that she could gather their empty platters.
The servant caught Inuyasha's stare and Inuyasha swiftly nodded his head to the side – gesturing the servant to leave.
The old demoness bowed her head and left the brothers be.
Inuyasha dug a string of fruit meat from between his teeth and tried to sound as casual as he could.
"So, a priestess, huh?" He retorted and examined his claw for any evidence of fruit.
"How didya come by one? The regular people are pretty wary of our kind, let alone the holy ones." Inuyasha sniggered.
Toga put down his utensils and looked pensive. Like he was summoning a memory by staring intensely at the surface of the table.
"She was lost in the woods, looking for something."
"Ahhuh." Inuyasha urged his brother to continue when he had paused for a long while.
Toga didn't know how to continue telling the following events without revealing things he knew he'd be scolded for.
"What was she looking for?"
"A well." Toga simply replied and kept staring at the bowl of food in front of him.
Inuyasha's pupils distracted for a split second and he was relieved that his brother had missed it.
Ever since last night, Inuyasha had held unto a slither of hope that the woman Toga was looking for, was not Kagome, since the woman herself had not mentioned in one word being an acquaintance of Toga. And by his brother's frantic behavior last night, the woman he spoke of was obviously more than just an acquaintance.
But if the human his brother was looking for was a priestess in search of a well, it could only be Kagome. There hardly existed anyone else that fit those specifics.
Now after this much confirmed, more than ever, he needed to know the exact nature of their relationship. But how could he go about interviewing his brother without being blatantly obvious.
"I see... A priestess looking for a well? Sounds like a deranged old hag to me. You sure she wasn't demented?" Inuyasha mused while peeling open another satsuma.
"No, she was young. Nothing wrong with her mental capacity." Even though at some point of time Toga himself had suspected as much.
"Ah." Inuyasha grinned and tossed a slice of satsuma into his gaping maw. "I see... A pretty one?"
This was the final nail in the evidence coffin that his brother was harboring some sort of romantic infatuation. If Toga was indifferent about the human, he would have ridiculed Inuyasha for asking for such estimations on mortal appearances, blaming Inuyasha's perverted tastes, but Toga didn't say anything. Instead a light tint of red appeared on his face.
"Ohoo!" Inuyasha teased, finishing the last slices of his sweet breakfast fruit. "A very pretty one by the looks of your blush." Inuyasha could concur, she was, but he was not in a position to voice such an opinion.
"So, did you do the nasties?" Inuyasha provoked him playfully. "Play a little slipping the eel in the cavern?" He's tone was riling and he let out a grim laughter even though he was biting through the claw he picked his teeth with. Inuyasha was certain that Kagome was untouched in that way, evident by her maiden scent. But that didn't mean Toga hadn't tried. And by this point, Inuyasha was obsessed to know.
"No!" Toga shouted and stood up so hastily his knee collided with the table.
Inuyasha also bolted from his seat.
"But you wanted to!" Inuyasha accused, the playfulness gone from his tone.
"How is that any of your concern!" Toga snarled at his older brother, they both stood at a standstill and heatedly glared at each other. Inuyasha tried, with all his might, to stop his fists from shaking.
"You should know better! Of all fucking people, you should know better!" Inuyasha shouted now, his eyes burning with either tears or violent crimson, he didn't know.
He continued. "You know what happened to me. What happened to my wife. Those kinda relations are no good, you raving idiot!" Inuyasha's voice grew thick with anguish. It had been a long time he had kept this pain inside, not having talked about it to anyone – not even to Toga. The immeasurable pain he had had to endure losing his family.
"I had no more choice than you did!" Toga barked back, his own voice cracking, but he pressed on.
"You think I did not resent myself for it! You think I didn't try to... to, resist."
Inuyasha's eyes grew larger, his heated temper giving allowance to his reason. Yes, Inuyasha knew fully well that a heart could not be persuaded once it found resonance in another. But he wasn't convinced that this ill-fated affection was mutual. The girl wanted to get back to her own time, to her own family. That left no room for romancing his brother. If anything, Inuyasha would save his brother from a soul-wrenching heartache if he could nip this, whatever this thing between those two was, in the bud.
"Take a word from someone who knows. This will not end well." He cautioned his younger brother, anger slipping away from his tone to be replaced by concern.
Toga didn't reply, only turned his head away. He knew it, he knew all of it damnit.

***

Another nightfall descended and blanketed everything in quiet murk. Since there were no birds or insects, the silence was almost eerie in the complete darkness.
By now, Kagome knew her way to the tree and skillfully avoided all the other servants and guards since she had memorized their schedules. She picked up the hems of her uniform and minced with her geta sandals across the yard.
"Inuyasha?" She whispered into the dark. She couldn't sense his youki, but it could have been just him trying to hide from the guards.
"Inuyasha?" She called again, a little louder, but there was no reply.
Her bottom lip protruded with disappointment.
'Why didn't he come?'

***

Meanwhile Inuyasha was still stuck in the clan meeting. For a man who had lived for centuries, he still had a poor patience and it felt like the ramblings had gone on for weeks instead of hours.
Dusk had already fallen long ago and Inuyasha was anxious, because he knew she was waiting for him. At least he hoped she still was. He rhythmically tapped his fingers against his legs while kneeling on the zabuton. The lords were occupied by heated arguments until the lieutenant of the south had had enough, stood up and lunged at the throat of the lieutenant of the north. A general commotion broke out. Scrolls and threats began to fly across the room.
'I can't take this anymore.'
Inuyasha crept to Toga who was still sitting in his seat, looking worried about something.
"Oy, bro!" Inuyasha whispered to his brother. Toga glanced behind his back and saw his older brother who was hunching there.
"Cover for me. I need to bail." Inuyasha exclaimed and tried to crawl to the shoji door.
"Inuyasha!" Toga commanded sternly.
"You can't leave now. Do you understand. We are at an active state of war now."
Inuyasha hadn't paid any attention to anything that had been discussed by the nincompoops.
"Yea, yea, tell me once ya'll are done with playing with your swords." He dryly replied and progressed to approach the door.
"Inuyasha!" His brother hissed at his retreating behind. "Inuyasha!"
Inuyasha bolted out of his father's quarters and made a quick dash to Kimiko's mansion. While he was flying through the air, he could feel droplets of water hitting his cheeks and forehead. He glanced upwards.
The sky was crying. It usually never rained in the demon realm, but the furious lords had summoned a storm with their restless youki.

***

The silver-haired dog demon finally arrived at site of their rendezvous and tried to search for Kagome in the downpour. He could feel her aura, but could not see her. The heavy rain confused his sense of smell enough for him not be able to pinpoint her location.
"Kagome?" He called her and circled around the tree trunk to find her.
A wet, hard piece of wood smacked him on the head and he swallowed down a very effeminate yelp before it got out of his mouth.
"Has no-one ever taught you it's not very gentlemanly to make ladies wait?"
He looked up the tree and there she was, dripping wet, holding one geta sandal in her hand, on their branch.
Inuyasha grinned at her. "You are a pretty good shot for someone who can't see in the dark."
"Yeah, well, I can still hear you." She boasted and threw her other sandal at Inuyasha as well.
He easily caught it just before it collided with his head. He smirked and tossed the offending footwear away before hopping on the branch next to Kagome.
She was cradling herself in her throughfully drenched outfit, the woman must have gotten cold waiting for him in the rain.
"Baka, you shouldn't have waited for me this late, in this weather." Inuyasha chided her gently.
Kagome suppressed a sneeze and rubbed her shoulders friskily.
"Well, I've gotten pretty used to the cold." All the baths the servants ever got to take were cold. Well, at least hers were since she was the last to bathe. She also remembered the nights she had spent under Toga's companionship, sleeping in her run-down hut in a bed of hay which was barely any better than sleeping in a cave or-
Her train of thought was cut by something warm blanketing her shoulders. Inuyasha had removed his fire-rat suikan and tossed it around Kagome's shivering frame. The fabric still held the warmth it had absorbed from Inuyasha's body. And it seemed to possess a slight resistance to water as well. At least, it felt like the water stopped soaking through her clothes when she was wearing the red coat.
"Is this okay? I mean, won't you get cold now?" Kagome worried, even though she gladly wrapped the garment tighter around herself.
"Feh, don't take demons as the same sort of weaklings as you mortals. I once slept in the snowy mountain peaks with nothing but a smile on me." He arrogantly answered and Kagome could not help but to smile and shake her head at him.
For a moment the human girl forgot that the darkness did not impair his demonic vision as it did hers. In the comfort of the darkness and the roaring rain, Kagome nuzzled her head into the sleeves of his suikan and breathed in his scent.
Yes. It was the same musky forest scent she had come accustomed while riding on his back on those countless demon hunting missions. There was something potently wild and masculine about it, something that was uniquely Inuyasha.
A small smile flirted on her lips as her eyes drifted close and she inhaled more of his lingering scent.
Inuyasha had come tonight, prepared to go into full discussion about her relationship with his brother. But when he saw how she contently snuggled with his clothes, looking happy, almost blissful, whilst sniffing his clothes (odd, he admitted) he did not want to bring up his brother. He didn't want to know.

***

They kept their meeting very short since the sky was not letting up and the demon worried the girl could get seriously sick. Inuyasha brought them down the tree and gathered her disregarded geta sandals from the ground.
He watched as she slipped into them and shed his suikan off her back.
"Tomorrow." He said. "I'll have everything ready. Gather all the stuff you need and meet me here. Same time. I'll take you back to the human realm and help you get back to your family."
Tears of overwhelming joy mixed with the relentless rain, washing her face fresh. It felt nice.
They bid their farewells and Inuyasha kept watching after her back until she entered the halo of the outdoor lights and finally was swallowed by the back entrance door.
He pulled the sleeve of his suikan to his face and deeply inhaled.

***

This time, thanks to the rain, Kagome made it at least inside before the amami rabbit stopped her in her tracks.
Kagome braced herself for a scolding that never came.
Fuyuki simply announced, with an eerily emotionless voice, that mistress Kimiko was expecting her.

***

Kagome was provided with dry clothes, not out of kindness, Fuyuki stressed, but simply because she could not have the human girl make a mess of her mistress' room.
She was crudely pushed into Kimiko's lounge as the shoji door behind was drawn shut.
The human girl had no idea what to expect of this meeting. The last time she had seen Kimiko had been when they first arrived into the demon realm. Since then, her hostess had left her at the mercy of her subordinates.
"Ummnh." She muttered out loud and took a few dreadful steps closer to Kimiko who was enjoying a mid-night tea on her chabudai, a very low traditional tea table. There was another cup next to Kimiko, so Kagome assumed it was in preparation for her.
She walked next to Kimiko, who had not once looked at the visitor that had entered her private quarters in the middle of the night. The human girl was about to ask if she was allowed to sit down, but Kimiko saved her the effort of asking.
"Please, sit down and join me for some tea." The young demoness almost purred and kindly gestured an empty zabuton at the other side of the table.
"Please do excuse me for skipping pleasantries. It's very late." She cordially apologized and poured some green tea into Kagome's ceramic cup of one of the finest craftsmanship Kagome had ever seen.
"You're quite the temptress, my human friend. Piquing interest not only in one brother, but in the both of them." She smiled, not very warmly even though her tone was pleasant. She set aside the tea pot and extended the filled cup to Kagome, now steering her piercing gold eyes at Kagome.
"What?" Kagome gasped, not understanding to whom Kimiko was referring.
"Oh, has Inuyasha not disclosed his familial relations to you during your midnight rendezvous'?" Her eyes slanted slightly, studying Kagome's reactions.
The human girl could only stare at her mistress, a horrible inkling tickling her spine.
"Toga and Inuyasha are brothers, you see." The information was casually said and Kimiko busied herself with a long sip of her tea. Letting the fact sink into the realization of her present company.
It was a good thing Kagome hadn't picked up her cup of tea. For now the fine ceramics would be in shatters on the ground, and Kimiko's arguably expensive tatami would be splattered in herbal tea.
Her whole body shook so violently it almost made her teeth clatter.
How was it possible that such a thing would not have come up during their conversations? Kagome wasn't even curious or shocked to learn Kimiko already knew everything about their secret meetings. She had also known about her and Toga's relationship and seemed to possess an omnipresent awareness of everything that happened around her, even if she was not present herself. She had eyes and ears everywhere. Especially a pair of long, furry bunny ears that undoubtedly reported everything back to their mistress.
But how could Kagome not have learned that Inuyasha was also the son of Inu no Taisho? Come to think of it, she still knew practically nothing about this preincarnation. He never talked about himself and Kagome didn't realize to ask of these things until she first learned them elsewhere.
After a stretched silence, Kimiko was confident that Kagome had processed this bit of information and was ready for some more.
"Of course, it doesn't come much of a surprise that Inuyasha would set his eyes on the first and only human in our realm. Considering his general taste in women." Kimiko hinted and poured some more tea into her now empty cup.
This was something Fuyuki had also alluded to earlier and it had left Kagome bothered. But she hadn't had the chance to discuss with Inuyasha tonight. About these human relations of his. She wasn't sure she could trust Kimiko, or her motives, but as far as Kagome knew, at least she had never lied to her. No matter what her end game might've been - keeping Kagome here and toying with these informations she had.
"What do you mean? What has happened between Inuyasha and humans?"
Kimiko leaned back, searching for a more comfortable position for she was about to get into a lengthy explanation.
"Inuyasha was the first inu daiyoukai to mate a human." Kimiko unceremoniously revealed. Her idle tone made it sound like less of a deal than what it in actuality had been at the time.
"Ever since he was a child, he always had an affinity towards humans." She continued to unveil the past of the older Taisho brother. "He was a kind child and fascinated by the fleeting life-span of humans. A curiosity that later developed into attraction." If there had been a small glee to her voice earlier, it was now gone and Kimiko sounded, for the first time, very sincere and her voice carried a shade of pity.
"The human he mated was barren. They didn't produce any children. So, this union, as much as it was frowned upon, was tolerated since the Taisho bloodline was in not a danger of dilution. As far as I know, he stayed with the woman until she died of old age. The next woman, however, she was not barren, and much to his father's chagrin, was also a human."
She kept silent for a while, not touching her tea either. Looking solemnly the stilled surface of the liquid that reflected her own, pure-bred, demonic features.
"When she was revealed to be expecting, she soon after died. Their unborn child with her."
Kagome placed her hands on her mouth. What heartbreaks one long life had had for a demon who loved outside his own kin.
"Mind you, this was before my time. I do not know the exacts, but sufficed to say, Inu no Taisho was not saddened by the woman's untimely death. Divine punishment, I've heard being said. But I suspect it was a punishment from far closer."
"You don't mean...?" Kagome asked, a sickening tightness coiling in her chest.
Kimiko shook her head. She couldn't say for certain.
"I only know all of this resulted in a horrible dispute within the Taisho family. Inuyasha, as the first son to inherit his father's rank, has been all but removed from the line of succession. He's hardly tolerated by any of our kind anymore since he's a blood traitor." A term that was spoken spitefully, but the spite not necessarily aimed at Inuyasha.
"If he was not the son of the Great General, I doubt he would have any business in our realm anymore."
Youkais frown upon human courting, but especially won't tolerate half-bred offspring, this much Kagome had already learned from Toga. But the extremes they would be willing to go for racial hygiene... It disgusted the human girl. This heinous behavior even at their own kind.
"Why are you telling me all of this?" She murkily asked, realizing the more she learned about the world, the more she grew to despise it.
"Since you have not heeded earlier warnings." Kimiko answered, her sincere and woeful undertone gone.
"I strongly advice you to consider your involvement with either men. If not for your own sake, for theirs."
The tea had cooled down, and Kagome doubted that even the sweetest of delights would taste much good to her after hearing of Inuyasha's past and knowing his future.

***

After Kagome was gone, Fuyuki entered her mistress' room and was given an order.
Fuyuki's mouth ever so slightly cracked open with disbelief of her order, but she could not object to the wishes of her fickle lady.
"Yes, milady." Fuyuki nodded, cleared away Kimiko's set of tea and excused herself of her mistress' quarters.

***

The following day had started with the servants busying themselves with varying errands. Kagome was, as per usual, doing the most mundane ones no-one else wanted. If she was sure of one thing, the lavatories had never reflected anyone's picture the way they did after Kagome had been commissioned under Kimiko's service.
Nothing foreshadowed the events that would unfold later the day.

***

The amami rabbit neatly gathered the hems of her yukata and knelt while entering the room of her mistress.
"Master Toga has arrived, shall I bring him to you?" She announced, still curious of why he had been suddenly called upon.
"No need, Fuyuki. He is not here to see me." A lazy smile spread on Kimiko's perfectly arching, pink, small lips.
When push came to shove, she wanted to see how her little protege would fare.

***

A/N: Holy Tintinnabulation, Batman! The next chapter's gonna be juicy, juicy, juicy, trallallallalaa!
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The Ages and Between