Title: His And Hers
Summary: Love can come in a most unexpected form.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but this plotline. For once I don't even have my own character in a story.
His And Hers
Kagome fell through the air, feeling weightless and like a ton of bricks at the same time. She had no breath to scream and barely enough oxygen to stay conscious. Her vision was growing fuzzy, her head spinning. She knew nothing yet everything.
Why did she do it? Why did she push me? What have I done to her? What have I done to deserve this? Questions swarmed her mind as she fell.
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Kagome stood looking out over the looming precipice. The wind blew softly; her hair billowed slightly in the warm breeze. She reached up and tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. Humming quietly to herself, she gently lowered her body to the ground, allowing her long, bare legs to dangle over the edge. The young miko grinned when a song popped into her head. What a beautiful morning...
She laughed quietly to herself. "I can't believe I have that stupid song stuck in my head. It's not even morning. It's about to be dark."
A stick snapped behind her.
Knowing who it was, she called out, "Hey, Inuyasha, it took you long enough to get here. You were supposed to get away from Kaede's gardening chore and meet me here an hour ago." She shivered slightly as the shadow loomed over her. "What? Rendered speechless by the beauty of the day? Me too." Kagome smiled.
The figure behind her snorted derisively.
"Shut up," the young woman responded in turn. "So I'm not speechless. Then again, when have I ever been?"
Suddenly, she felt two cold hands on her back. Then, she was free falling.
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At first she had screamed but now, now she could do nothing but fall. Looking up, she saw a figure, cloaked in darkness, receding from the edge of the cliff. If she knew nothing else, she knew now that whoever had pushed her off had not been Inuyasha.
Inu...yasha..., she thought. Please, someone, save me... "Save me..." she whispered faintly to no one in particular. I'm not ready to die. We still have to defeat Naraku, complete the jewel. The jewel! Forcing her body to move, she reached her hand up to her neck and tried to feel for the chain attached to the legendary Shikon no Tama. It's gone! No...Inuyasha, what have I done? As the girl fell, tears from her eyes floated up towards the heavens. Shining like small diamonds in the waning evening light. Why did it have to end like this? She curled into a fetal position as she fell, hoping against hope that something would save her. At the very least she prayed that her death would be swift and painless.
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Sesshomaru had been watching the miko for nearly a year now. Something about her had intrigued him; he couldn't say what, though. So, in order to satisfy his deeply hidden curiosity, he had begun to follow her. The Taiyoukai had watched her actions and studied her every move, but he still couldn't figure out exactly what it was about her that inspired such curiosity in him.
One day, about a month after he had begun to watch her, his younger brother had confronted him.
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Inuyasha silently appeared in the trees in front of Sesshomaru. This was no surprise to the Lord of the West, he had known the hanyou was coming but had chosen not to avoid the impending conversation.
The silver haired, dog eared boy stared down the man with a crescent moon adorning his forehead.
"What do you want?" Inuyasha asked gruffly. "What the heck are you doing here?"
Sesshomaru averted his eyes from the red garbed figure before him to the young woman in the clearing beneath them. "Nothing," he said.
Inuyasha followed his older brother's gaze. It softened slightly when he saw what he was looking at. "She is something. No matter how many times she caught me with Kikyou she never told me that I couldn't see her. It hurt her; looking back I can tell that it did. Still, she wanted my happiness above all else." He sighed. A thought entered his head and he quickly snapped his eyes back to the white clad person to his right. There, he could tell some emotion flickered in his eyes. So, he's not so cold after all. Keh, I knew it was just a matter of time before that kid got to him. He knew now what his aniki wanted but he decided to have a little fun with him. "You never answered my question." Sesshomaru turned his piercing gold gaze back to him. "And don't tell me it's nothing. Knowing you, you never do something for 'nothing' there is always some reasoning behind what you do."
The Taiyoukai turned this piece of information over in his head, thinking of a way to escape. "Rin would like to play with your miko and her kit. This Sesshomaru was making sure no harm would come to her."
Uh-huh, Inuyasha thought sarcastically, sure you were. He decided to play dumb, though, and let his brother off the hook. He shrugged. "Whatever." With that, he was gone. A moment later he reappeared in the clearing with the young woman.
Her voice reached Sesshomaru's ears. "Inuyasha," she said, "what's going on? Is everything alright?"
"Everything's fine. I thought I smelled Sesshomaru but he must have passed through here earlier. I couldn't find anything suspicious," he lied.
"Okay," Kagome said.
Sesshomaru had to give Inuyasha some credit. It appeared that his little brother had developed quite a skill, in that area at least.
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Seated in branches high above the young miko's lonely perch, he had watched as the red and white being approached. He heard Kagome's voice as she spoke; apparently thinking it was Inuyasha behind her.
Her rich, melodious laughter reached his ears. He shut his eyes and let the soothing notes sink in.
Suddenly, he heard her scream.
His eyes snapped open and scanned the horizon, looking for the figure of his recent curiosity. Nowhere. She wasn't in sight. That left only one option. She must have fallen or been pushed.
Sesshomaru scowled and looked around for the person who was just standing behind the girl. Nothing. There wasn't any place she could hide yet she had disappeared as well. His scowl deepened as he finally realized what had happened.
He waited. Surely Inuyasha would come to the rescue of the girl. He always had before. Nothing had escaped his attention when it concerned the young woman. The hanyou was everywhere she was. Just about anyway. Now, though, he too was nowhere to be found.
The Taiyoukai could wait no longer. He leapt off the branch and flew through the air toward the ever diminishing figure. He wasn't going to be able to reach her in time. Unless... No, he couldn't do that. It was too risky. But, if he didn't, she would die. He relented, realizing it was his only option.
Fur and flesh rippled. Changing, shifting, reforming themselves into something bigger, stronger, more powerful yet more primal. It was done.
The enormous dog flew even faster through the air after the falling woman. He flew beside her then dropped beneath her. Her landing softened by the white fur.
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Kagome's vision grew hazy as she continued to fall. Suddenly, she landed on something soft. It was warm, white. Her vision began to clear as her breathing evened out. More oxygen was being brought into her body, but it still craved more. The young woman was careful not to hyperventilate while trying to fill her lungs with the desperately needed element.
Several moments later she sat up to feel the wind blowing her hair once more. This time, though, it was not as hard as the gale that had tortured her lungs as she fell. Looking around, Kagome realized exactly where she was. What in the world? Why, why would he do this? For me, of all people why would he do this for me? Her hand reached out to stroke the soft fur. "Why?" This time she said it aloud.
The white dog's ears twitched in her direction. He could say nothing in this form. Hopefully, there was nothing to be said. He now realized what it was about her, and himself, that had intrigued him. Her lack of hatred for those who had done her wrong. His curiosity was now more than just that. It was the emotion humans called love.
He landed a short time later in a small clearing on the border of his lands. The dog lay down and held still as the young woman slid from his back. He watched as she walked around to face him. Had he been in his other form, he would have smiled internally when she walked in between his paws and lay in the crook of his chest and left leg.
"Why?" she asked one more time. She had loved him from afar but never had the guts to tell him, fearful of another broken heart.
He lay his head down and sighed quietly. Because you are mine.
Because I am his, she thought, and he is mine.
Because she was his and he was hers.
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(A/N: This was my first one-shot. I hope you like it. Please review.)