The Storm of the Century
A/N: This is a short work written for SessKag Week 2017. Each chapter will fit the theme of the day, some more loosely than others. The more you know about Japan in the summer time, the more sense they'll all make. For the extra-vague ones, I'll have a brief author's note explaining what they mean. If you've got a question or just want to talk (or scream at each other about how awesome SessKag is as a pairing), hit me up. I'm all over the internet and you can find several ways to contact me on my "About" page. :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Rumiko Takahashi does.
"You'll understand why storms are named after people."- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and the Damned
Chapter 1: Tanabata – The Stars, Departing
"Oh come on!" she whines and fumbles her yellow backpack over her shoulders. The clouds that have been threatening rain all day finally open up and it begins to pour. Kagome is not happy about it but she is prepared for it. Kagome is prepared for just about every eventuality—even some that aren't as common as a rainstorm in Edo in late June—and this is why, two minutes later, she's still looking for her umbrella.
Everything about this is familiar. She's lived in Japan for eighteen years and two months—which is her entire life, in case anyone is wondering.
That doesn't stop it from being really, really inconvenient.
"Today is just not my day," she sighs and it feels like the understatement of the year.
She knows it's Shippo running toward her without even looking up. It's half pattern recognition and half the sound of his small feet rustling in the damp grass. When the rain suddenly stops falling on half of her head and she looks around, she isn't surprised to see it's a large leaf held in his small hands. He's got to stand on the very tips of his tiny paws to reach high enough and he's getting wet in the process, but he doesn't scamper up onto her shoulder like he normally would in a typical attempt to keep her dry. She loves him for remembering.
"Shippo, go back to the others," she says, turning to her pack with renewed determination. "I'll be fine. I know it's in here somewhere."
"Kagome, you're getting soaked out here and Miroku says that we'll be stuck in the woods for the night if we don't make it back to Kaede's by sunset and now it's raining and Sango says that's gonna make visibility even worse and she doesn't know if we should keep going at all since demons might start coming after us and," she looks up from her packing to see his small chin begin to wobble, but he bravely squints his eyes to keep the tears from falling, "And Inuyasha still hasn't woken up," he concludes with all the bravery a little boy can muster. She loves him for this, too.
"It's going to be ok, Shippo," she says as reassuringly as she can while digging through her pack like a hungry raccoon, "Inuyasha just had a hard day. Heck, we all had a hard day, but it's going to be ok." She shoots him a smile, "Besides, I know it's in here—AH–HA!" She crows and holds the pink and purple umbrella up like a trophy. "I knew it was in here!"
"Kagome-chan!" Calls Sango from the tree line, where the forest meets the grassy field they've been walking through for hours now, "Maybe you can do that while we travel?"
"Oh. Right," she mumbles sheepishly. "Good call."
Shippo helps her repack her things. When she's all ready to go, he scampers ahead and she awkwardly slings her pack over her good shoulder while simultaneously trying to open the umbrella. Once she's managed to figure that out, she heads toward the trees too.
"Thanks for waiting, guys!" She chirps and smiles between Miroku and Sango.
"Would you like to ride on Kirara, Kagome-sama? I'm sure Inuyasha wouldn't mind travelling with two beautiful ladies instead of one," says Miroku. Kagome isn't sure how he can hit on both of them at once right now, but the utter normalcy of it makes the day a little less awful and she loves him for trying. His wind tunnel had pulled in a good number of saimyoshou today, but he came-to only a few minutes after Naraku collected his remaining pieces and fled thanks to Kagome's careful ministrations of medication from her time. After that, he was a flurry of helpful hands. He helped Kagome bandage and poultice everyone's injuries and then he kept watch while Kagome did her sacred duty. She loves how reliable he is.
But no one laughs and no one even has the energy to tell him off right now. Instead, four pairs of eyes swing toward the firecat and the half-demon slung sideways across her back. Even Kirara turns her head to look at her unconscious passenger. His chest rises and falls with his steady breaths and the bleeding stopped hours ago, but they're all on edge anyway.
"Oh no," she says and shakes her head. Her hairs sticks to the sides of her face. "This is nothing! Sango should have enough room to stretch out!"
"But your shoulder," says Sango, whose face is one enormous bruise and who cannot take a breath without wincing. Even now, she's sacrificing herself to save everyone. When she speaks, her voice is hoarse from all the screaming she did earlier, all of her calling out for Kohaku, but even with the shard removed and his miraculous survival thanks to Kikyo, Kohaku still walked away from his older sister. Sango chased him until he disappeared into the mist and even then she screamed his name until her voice broke and she passed out from the pain. Two hours later, she is as much herself as she has always been and Kagome isn't sure if she loves Sango more for her loyalty or her endurance.
"My shoulder is fine, Sango," she says even though the pain where Naraku's tentacle went through her arm is a constant thrumming and she's already lamenting how awful she just knows the scar will look when she wears a swimsuit. But what difference will one more scar make, anyway? And this one would always be a reminder of the victory they had today, so she'd be sure to wear it proudly. Someday. Or maybe she'd just wear her hair down and hope no one asks about it. But it's not like she wears a ton of bathing suits these days anyway.
And maybe it's a sign of how hurt and tired she is that Sango doesn't argue anymore. She just clambers up onto Kirara behind Inuyasha. Kirara noses Sango's leg once in a comforting gesture and then leaps into the air. She flies low, only a short distance in front of where Miroku and Kagome trudge along in tired silence, Shippo perched on Miroku's shoulder. This is a concession for her human companions and Kagome loves Kirara for her thoughtfulness.
As they walk and the gray day darkens even more, Kagome keeps her eyes fixed on the red of Inuyasha's haori. She imagines what it would be like if he was awake right now. She's known him for just over four years now, and so she's got a lot of memories with which to paint herself a picture. She can see it so clearly: His exasperated, worried expression as he urges them to walk faster. The rough scrape of his claws against her tattered jeans as he pulls her onto his back—although he'd be very careful not to aggravate her hurt shoulder. At dark—because it's very nearly dark now—he'd set her down and disappear into the woods for twenty minutes or so while they set up camp. When he'd come back, he'd have fish or boar or deer and maybe even directions to the nearest hot spring. And he would argue with Shippo while they ate dinner and it would be as close as they'd ever come to peace. She loves Inuyasha for all of his coarse kindness; for the hesitant push and pull of scared and sacred friendship.
Kagome loves all of her friends so much. Her love for each of them is unique, tailored over years and adventures to fit them perfectly and she's grown so used to and fond of their company that she can't imagine a day passing without it. She'd sooner go without eating or breathing. She touches the completed jewel around her neck. She's still not used to the weight of it like this, but its pure glow warms her fingers.
It's been a long time since she's last talked with Inuyasha about what will happen to the jewel now. She doesn't think he wants to become a full demon anymore—not since all that business with him not controlling his demonic blood a few years ago—but she hasn't gotten verbal confirmation on that yet. Not, of course, that she has any idea what to do with it. She'd been vaguely planning on bringing Kohaku back to life or something, but Kikyo managed to do that already, so she can't think of another wish that might be pure enough. Maybe she'll wish Kikyo back to life again. It would make Inuyasha so happy. But she doesn't know if Kikyo would like that. Or Inuyasha. Besides, they've been dancing around each other for so many years at this point that they might need several lifetimes to sort all their problems out. If I turn her back into a mortal, they might never figure it out!
The thought is so strange that she smiles to herself.
The smile fades as she wonders what Inuyasha will do when he wakes up and learns that they've completed the jewel. Kouga had given them his shards a few days ago but, until they'd found Naraku's castle this morning, their share of the jewel had been a tiny sliver. It seemed almost unreal that it was done. Only it wasn't really done at all. Even after Kagome had snatched the jewel (at which point he'd skewered her like a teenage shish-kebab), Naraku had been unimaginably powerful. If it hadn't been for Sesshoumaru's last-minute appearance, they might not have won at all. As it was, Naraku had gathered his incarnations and his still-wriggling pieces and disappeared in a cloud of purple miasma.
She'd tried to thank Sesshoumaru, of course, but he stared through her like she was nothing but a ghost and then turned and walked away without a word. Her eyes narrow and her lips purse. That had been frustrating, but she liked to think that after four years of dealing with Inuyasha's icy older brother she was starting to get used to it. It wasn't true, of course. Every time he has snubbed her or rescued her only to walk away without accepting her sincerest thanks, a little piece of her wanted to grab him by his broad shoulders and shake some sense into him. The problem, she muses, is that he never seems to see me. It's like he doesn't even want to waste the energy of looking at a pathetic human like me. But he travels with Rin! Who's the sweetest ever! How does that make any sense!?
She huffs aloud and kicks a clump of dirt.
"What troubles are on your mind, Kagome-sama?" Miroku's concerned voice floats into her reverie. She glances at him. Shippo is draped across his shoulders, fast asleep.
"Oh, no troubles," she says and flashes him a smile. "Just thinking about stuff. Why? Do I seem worried?"
"You've been glaring at Inuyasha for some time now, and now you've started attacking the foliage."
"Oh, yeah," she mumbles sheepishly. And then, because half the fun of having friends is sharing thoughts and concerns, "I was just thinking about Inuyasha," she says.
Miroku's eyes slant toward her now. He's got a look on his face that she recognizes. It says, in no uncertain terms, Not this again.
"Not like that," she assures quickly—maybe too quickly—and then, before he can question her, she explains "I'm worried about what he'll say about the jewel."
"You think that he still wants to become a full demon, Kagome-sama?" Miroku sounds surprised, but it might just be an act. It's hard to tell with him.
She doesn't worry about his genuineness too much. It's nice enough to have something to talk about, even if neither of them really means it. So she purses her lips again and says darkly, "I don't know for certain, but what I do know is that, if he does try anything, I'm going to S-I-T him into next Tuesday." She doesn't mean it and they both know it. She hasn't sat Inuyasha in more than a year and she doesn't plan to start again now, but Miroku's lips quirk up in a smile, so it's done its job anyway.
The rain begins to fall on Sesshoumaru ten minutes after it starts falling on Kagome. He stares up at the sky. If he were the type to show emotion on his face (which he isn't), he would be glaring. He knew the rain was coming, of course; he smelled the shape of the storm an hour ago. But that doesn't mean he likes it.
When the thunder rolls like a hungry beast, it reminds him of things he'd rather leave buried in the caves at the edges of his memory. When the lightning draws its sword across the heavens, he thinks of eyes that flash with anger. When the rain falls, he wonders if perhaps he trusted the wrong magician in the beginning or at the end. He wonders how much he owes her memory.
"Sesshoumaru-sama's mad at the sky!" Rin whispers.
"Rin! You stupid girl!" snaps Jaken, waving his staff under Sesshoumaru's nose as he turns his ire on the little girl, "Sesshoumaru-sama is merely ascertaining…information! Yes! Ascertaining valuable information from the heavens. But a human like you would never understand something like that!"
"Eeeeeh, Jaken-sama is so smart!" Coos the girl.
He stares down at his girl, who is staring admiringly at his retainer. They both follow wherever he leads without question and, in return, he never leads them astray. They are both living proof that he bears his responsibilities well; that he never shirks his burdens.
"Indeed, but no one is as smart as Sesshoumaru-sama!"
"Yes! Yes, Jaken-sama! Sesshoumaru is so great!"
"Even the heavens tremble when he is angry with them!"
"Is that why they're leaking now?"
"Yes, Rin! They are soiling themselves in fear of Sesshoumaru-sama's wrath!"
"Eeeeh! The sky is peeing on us? Is that why it's so warm? Rin just thought that was because it's summer! Jaken-sama knows everything!"
No, he never shirks his burdens. Even when they become tiresome.
"Rin, Jaken. Come," he says and begins to walk toward the dark trees.
When Kagome wakes up in the morning, her hand closes around the jewel hung like a pendant around her neck. She's just making sure it's still there. Its presence is strangely comforting. And then she notices the voices.
"I cannot believe you fell asleep," hisses Sango. She's clearly angry, but it's not unusual for Sango to be a little unpleasant first thing in the morning, so Kagome isn't overly concerned.
"Forgive me, Sango, my beautiful," wheedles Miroku's voice. "Inuyasha generally takes third shift."
"I'd have done it. But, no! 'Go to sleep,' you said. 'You need your rest,' you said. And why should I forgive you? What would you have done if we'd been attacked in the night? We'd all have died in our sleep because you couldn't be trusted to stay awake for a few hours!"
Miroku, who also knows that Sango isn't a morning person, doesn't sound too concerned. "But we weren't attacked, were we?"
"No thanks to you," is the grouchy reply.
"Yes, that's what's worrying me," muses Miroku, suddenly serious. As if on cue, thunder rolls outside.
His change in demeanor catches Kagome's interest and worry prickles against the palms of her hands, making them itch. Sango appears to notice it too because she says, "What is?" without any of her aforementioned ire.
"We haven't been attacked. By anything. We're carrying more of the Shikon no Tama than we've ever had and yet not a single demon has come after us."
In the quiet that follows this, Kagome notices the chirp of dozens of unseen birds, all celebrating the morning, despite the continued pitter-patter of rain outside the cave they've taken refuge in.
"It could be that Naraku's stench has scared them all away," says Sango at last, although it doesn't sound like she believes it. "Or maybe this storm. Nothing wants to be out in rain like this. I'm sure the little stream we passed yesterday is flooded."
"Perhaps," says Miroku, and it doesn't sound like he believes it, either. "I—,"
A soft moaning sound from one corner of the cave cuts their conversation short.
"Christ on a fucking cracker," moans Inuyasha, "Will you two stop with all that damn noise?"
And Kagome forgets that she's pretending to be asleep. "Inuyasha!" she says, and in a flash she's out of her sleeping bag and across the cave.
"Damn it, wench!" Inuyasha complains, even though his ears perk up at the sound of her voice, "Not you too!"
He could tell himself that it is only because his brother's companions are in his lands that he does it. He could tell himself that it is not because he is eager to see finished what she started so many years ago. He could tell himself that he doesn't think about her when the summer rains come and paint the world in gray and brown.
But he's never been a very good liar, so he doesn't bother.
Instead, his whip lashes out and slices through the second lizard demon. It hisses, but Sesshoumaru has killed enough of these creatures by now to know that it's only the sound of air escaping useless lungs. It hits the ground in chunks and he turns, elegant as a dancer, and catches a third length-wise across its ugly face.
He hates this time of year. He hates the sense of obligation to a person and a cause that do not—have never—concerned him. This girl is nothing like her predecessor. They are so different that it is impossible to compare them, so he doesn't even bother.
The wind howls around him like a mother who's lost her pup. Lightning illuminates the forest, the eyes from the shadows. His whip flashes out at the demon he glimpsed between the trees, trying to slink past where he has stationed himself as guard.
But he still thinks about her sometimes, on long hot days when the rain starts to fall. He thinks about how long ago it happened and how strange it is that he has hardly aged at all and she is dead and gone. More dust than bones by now. More history than memory. He wonders if she ever thought of him, in the years before her death. He wonders how she remembered him.
"Sesshoumaru-sama is so strong!" Chirps Rin from the tree when he's left them.
"Shut your mouth, Rin!" Snaps Jaken, "Sesshoumaru-sama needs to concentrate!"
"Eeeeh! But I thought you said he could defeat low-level demons like that with his eyes closed!"
No one realizes it, but the jewel has awakened something that's been on the edge of things since the very beginning. In the well, caught between times, a thorax twitches.
"I still can't get over seeing you like that," Grouses Inuyasha. "It's just creepy."
"I told you already," she says, but she's smiling so he knows she isn't mad, "My normal outfit was ruined after the fight and all of my spare things are still soaked. I'm not going to wear wet clothes just because you think it makes me look a little bit like Kikyo. It was really nice of Kaede to lend this stuff to me." She tugs on the side of her red hakama. They really were comfortable. If they weren't such a pain to wash and if they didn't make her look so much like Kikyo (and if they came in other, more interesting colors) she might consider wearing them more often.
His ears twitch in agitation. "It's still weird." He's got her bag slung over one shoulder. Despite the fact that his injuries were so much worse than hers, he'd still insisted on carrying it to the well for her. Super demon healing, remember? He'd said. Three days is plenty of time to be fighting fit. And he'd seemed so glad to be useful that she didn't have the heart to tell him that the wound on his back had already bled through its bandage.
Kagome sighs and rolled her eyes. "Well you'll only have to deal with it for a couple more minutes," she says. "Then I'll be out of your hair for a whole week."
"Damn it, Kagome, you know I didn't mean it like that," he looks at her shyly, despite the brusqueness of his tone, but one look at her smile is all the reassurance he needs. "Are you sure you have to go home?" he says, "We're so close."
"I've got to be home for Tanabata! We're understaffed this year and I promised mama ages ago that I'd be around to help with the festival. Besides," she gives a little twirl, which briefly impedes their progress up the hill, "I already look the part! I've got a fancy necklace and everything."
"Yeah, but I still don't like it. What if something happens to you over there?"
"Well, what if something happens to me over here?" she counters. "Look, we've all agreed it's fishy that no demons have come after this thing yet," she rests her hand lightly over the jewel. It's comfortingly warm, even in the damp weather, "It might mean that Naraku's planning something big. It makes the most sense for me to take the jewel somewhere where he can't get it, at least for a little while."
"If he's got something planned," growls Inuyasha, flashing a bright fang, "I'll protect you, Kagome."
And she doesn't have the heart to argue with him on that point so instead she says, "It'll only be for a week or so and I promised Mama. I'll bring you back ramen and some sweets for Shippo too. Oh! And Sango wants more shampoo and I think Miroku's finished with the books I brought for him. He'll probably want more chips too." And then she realized she was rambling so she decided to wrap it up with a nice little bow. "I'll be back before you even realize I'm gone."
"Keh," he says and his ears are flattened against his head. He sniffs. He sniffs again. "Ah, shit," he groans.
"What? What is it?" She is immediately on guard, snatching her bow and quiver of arrows out of Inuyasha's unprotesting hand. She winces when it pulls at her injured shoulder and scans the line of trees around them.
"It's Sesshoumaru." He says the name like a dirty word. "What the hell's that bastard doing around here now?"
But Kagome relaxes visibly. The brothers have reached something that vaguely resembles a truce. At least, they don't try to kill each other on sight and they have been known to team up on occasion to fight Naraku. "Oh, is that all." And she starts walking toward the well again.
"Well? Whaddya want, Bastard?" Calls Inuyasha behind her. She doesn't need to turn around to know who he's talking to.
"These are my lands. I may go where I please." Is the cold reply.
"Yeah, but this is my forest, so piss off!"
When she reaches the well, she turns back to look at them. She wishes they'd at least take it somewhere else. Sesshoumaru doesn't know she's from the future or that the well transports her between times, and she'd like to keep it that way. So instead of jumping in, she slings her bow and quiver over her shoulder, plants a hand on her hip, and, summoning her best Angry Voice, growls, "Inuyasha!"
It's a tone he's heard many times before and it's got his ears flat against his head before he even realizes what's happening. Even Sesshoumaru's eyes slant toward her and she can feel the bottom drop out of her stomach. She tells herself that she isn't afraid of him; it's just that he's so cold all the time. It's off-putting.
Against her chest, the jewel pulses. She assumes (wrongly) that it's reacting to the presence of Sesshoumaru, a full and very powerful demon.
She swallows thickly and then musters all the courage she can. "Inuyasha, I don't have time for this right now." She barks out. "If you will put your fight with your brother—"
"Half brother," corrects Inuyasha.
"Half brother," corrects Kagome with a roll of her eyes, "On hold long enough to hand me my bag, I'll—"
"Woman."
It's Sesshoumaru's cold voice and it's such a surprise that she actually stops talking.
"Hey! Don't call Kagome woman! Only I can –"
"Get away from that well." It's not a question. It's not a suggestion. It's a command.
Kagome bristles. Nobody tells her what to do. Especially when it comes to coming and going anywhere. She's fought for years for her right to come and go as she pleases and she's not giving it up just because a second dog has decided it's his business. She glares at him, all fear evaporating in the wake of her wrath. "Why should I do that? You don't get to tell me what to do just because you're a big scary demon."
The jewel pulses so hot it almost burns in its intensity. Inuyasha's ears prick forward suddenly and he turns, wide-eyed to face Kagome completely. If she were any less angry, she would have noticed that he had turned his back to his brother and she would have thought it was strange. "Kagome," he begins, "Listen—"
"No, you listen. Both of you! I am so sick of—"
And when she looks back on this, she remembers everything in snapshots; just still images instead of a full picture. She remembers Sesshoumaru, his single arm poised on the hilt of his sword, eyes bleeding red as he stares directly at her. She remembers the wide O of shocked horror on Inuyasha's mouth as realization dawns much slower upon his face. She remembers turning, wondering what it was that they were looking at. And she remembers the wide-mouthed face of Madame Centipede before countless hands grabbed at her and dragged her into the well and into that familiar, blinding light.
"Fuck! Kagome!" His brother calls and rushes forward.
Sesshoumaru watches as if from very, very far away as Inuyasha draws his sword and jumps into the well. Swears profusely. Leaps out. Jumps in again.
Eventually, Sesshoumaru shakes enough of the strange dissociation to walk forward. "The well will not open now." He said flatly.
"How do you know? You don't know anything about this!"
"The jewel is complete. It is no longer in two places at once."
"Fuck you! She got here in the first place, didn't she?"
"This is not her home?"
And that's when Inuyasha's brain shakes itself back into action. "Hey," he says, his ears twitching and his eyes narrowing, "How do you know any of this stuff?"
"Because," Sesshoumaru says very slowly, "That human—"
"Her name's Kagome."
Sesshoumaru stares at Inuyasha. If he were the type to glare, he would be glaring. "Is not the first Shikon Miko I have known. While I do not know all the power the Shikon Jewel possesses, I am vaguely familiar with some of its abilities."
Inuyasha sniffed the air. "Bullshit. There's something you're not saying." He growled low in his throat. "You bastard. If you know something about what's going on that you're not telling me, I'll beat it out of you."
"That creature," Sesshoumaru said after a long time, "Have you seen it before?"
"Madame Centipede?" Inuyasha snorts indelicately. "Pfft. Yeah. Kikyo killed her once like fifty years ago and then I killed her again like four years back. Ugly bitch just doesn't want to stay dead."
"Hnn."
"Why?"
"Because I have seen it before as well."