Hope on the Horizon
Chapter One.
"'Cause you don't hear me scream; It's getting hard to breathe." - 'July' ~ Breathe Carolina
x . . . . x
“ – fuck you mean, you ain’t doing it?”
Inuyasha? Have I reached heaven?
“If you cannot comprehend such simple words, hanyou, then I could forcefully teach you their meaning.”
Sesshoumaru? Of course, they would be fighting in the afterlife.
Kagome’s heart was a soft beat in her ears, and the bright light behind her closed eyelids made her rethink opening them. There was an odd but familiar smell of an open fire that made her nose twitch and stomach curl with hunger. Afterall, she didn’t think they would have campfires in the afterlife, right? And was she supposed to be hungry in death? Movement by her belly and a yawn caught her ears next, soft and disgruntled.
“Dogs are always so loud in the morning, huh Kagome?”
Shippo.
She forced herself up with a startled cry and the sun assaulted her eyes harshly, but her hands were grasping and there was another startled sound from the bundle in her arms. As her vision cleared, she saw orange and then she turned around until she glimpsed red and another white imposing figure. Her eyes met Shippo’s confused gaze and she held him tightly to her breast before bursting out in tears. Her vision cleared and she realized that her body was warm and this somehow wasn’t the afterlife.
The flapping of clothing in the wind and then Inuyasha was there, “What’s wrong? What happened?” His voice was serious but gruff, his golden gaze assessing her. His clawed fingers grasped her shoulders firmly. With a trembling hand she covered her lips to keep from crying out. Looking passed Inuyasha… cerulean found citrine and the tears came quick, cascading down rounder cheeks then she had, had the night before.
She remembered those eyes red as blood, his voice a nightmare combination of human and animal, guttural – “RUN!”
Movement in the camp stopped as her mind fought what she was seeing. Miroku and Sango at the fire, Jaken and Rin with Ah-Un preparing for the day. Her senses were on fire as they pulsed outward and she realized she could sense jewel shards around her neck. Which was impossible because the Shikon had been complete for nearly ten years.
When was she?
“Kagome! What’s wrong?” Inuyasha’s temper was quick, quicker than she remembered. He had mellowed out so much over the years. He had been forced to lose that temper or that temper would lead to the loss of lives.
Meeting his angry yet concerned gaze, her trembling hands grasped his tightly. Inuyasha’s cheeks pinked but she was not the same girl that she was before, and she ignored it. Instead she found her voice, despite the fact her tongue felt so heavy in her mouth. She hadn’t meant to say the words, but she was confused and in so much mental anguish.
“You’re all dead.” The words were quietly said but with the silence in throughout the camp, they were easily heard. Kagome’s eyes traced his face, lingering on his cheeks. Her hands moved up and she brushed the spots where he would earn his stripes. She remembered his flesh torn beneath her hands. She had vomited when she had seen him, his mangled body brought to her… she remembered and though the image was seared into her consciousness a bloody memory, it did not make her sick. Just pissed and sad. Quieter, “I’m dead too.”
Inuyasha growled and cursed, “The hell you are – the hell we are. You just had a bad dream.” He was brushing her off and how could he not?
It had been three years since she had last seen Inuyasha, three years since she had felt his presence. This body… it didn’t have the mating mark he had left but her soul ached nonetheless, and she found herself reaching out. Her aura screaming for his. Inuyasha leapt back from her as though burned, his face ashen, brows furrowed in confusion.
And the night before – she looked to Sesshoumaru, his impassive face revealing nothing. She had just watched him die. She had left him to fight the hoard, knowing that he wouldn’t survive, knowing she wouldn’t survive. The sobs came fresh and she forced herself to stand, placing Shippo down before she took off running. By the look in his eyes Sesshoumaru thought she was going to stop but she didn’t and she threw herself at him. Her arms wrapped around his waist. He was stiff and she recognized he was going to push her off.
”Kagome-sama no!” Miroku’s caught off voice was at the edge of her senses, but she cared very little. Afterall, Sesshoumaru was alive too. As she had with Inuyasha, she forced her aura through the waves of youki that was Sesshoumaru and found the soul ties that had somehow transcended time. Kagome heard his intake of breath and then she was sailing through the air.
Inuyasha pulled himself out of his stupor just in time to catch her.
Sesshoumaru’s voice thundered over the camp, “What is the meaning of this treachery?”
But Kagome ignored the question just as Inuyasha set her down, the growl rumbling in his chest before he had a chance to stop it.
She fell to her knees and she green skirt of her uniform fluttered around her. Heart pounding in her head, her memories an awful replay. The tears were quiet and fast, her breathing harsh, “You’re all dead in my time. All of you.”
And then she broke into loud, heart wrenching sobs.
The cries of someone who had lost everything.
.
Zankoku’s army had found them.
Sesshoumaru gazed at her steadily over the fire, roaming over her features hungrily.
She stood, her dragon-scale armor shimmering as she moved to him. He held his hand out and she grasped it as he pulled her into his lap. His lips touched her brow as he let out a steady breath. Her body was shaking but they had known this day would come. Her fingers found purchase in the lapels of his haori and she held the angry tears back.
They knew this is how it would end.
But it didn’t make the bitter pill easier to swallow.
There were howls in the distance and his lips were suddenly hungry on hers.
She fell into his hunger, allowing him this moment. Clawed fingers yanked her hair from the bun she had kept it in and tangled in her dark inky stands. She was ice cold and on fire all at once. Neither would survive this night. He pulled away gasping for breath and Kagome leaned against him, her head against his pounding heart.
“Are you scared?” she asked quietly, a tear slipping down her cheek.
Sesshoumaru’s arms tightened around her.
The fire continued to cackle and there was an odd tremble in his arms, “For you.” He admitted and she felt another tear fall, “Knowing that I will leave you behind to befall a fate that I cannot change… it is worse than any death.”
Kagome’s voice caught and she clutched him tighter, “We were too late.”
She could feel their aura’s closer than before and Sesshoumaru gently helped her up.
Humanity was an interesting thing and no matter how long they had been by one another’s side, the piece of her that always wondered leaked out, quiet but trembling, “Do you regret agreeing that day? You could have been spared this fate.”
Sesshoumaru shook his head, and a smile he had reserved just for her teased his lips, “Never. I regret not agreeing sooner.” He admitted just as quiet. His hand held hers for just a moment, “You provided a family and warmth during the darkest of times.”
For a moment, Sesshoumaru remembered his brother.
The times the three of them had shared.
Kagome stepped forward, her arms around his waist. Tears fell steadily now but he pushed her away, his hand coming to his sword just in time to block claws that had reached for neck in an effort to spray her blood across the snowy landscape.
“Found you, bitch.”
They looked and it was their doom littered across the other youkai’s face.
The other youkai came from the shadows and when they descended it was always in the thousands. Sesshoumaru’s blade tore across the nameless youkai’s neck, spraying his blood across the both of them. But where that one died another one stood and another and another – from all angles they came.
“Sesshoumaru!” Kagome screamed, her power coalescing around her. Silver sparks lashing out and turning the youkai to dust. It was to no avail. The light of the moon was suddenly blocked out and she looked up to see the full might of the hoard flying toward them.
Sesshoumaru’s claws embedded in a heart and he turned to her, eyes bleeding crimson. He was falling to his beast, the only choice he had to keep them away long enough for her to run. As his face started to morph, his voice turning guttural and animal, “RUN!”
Her heart ached, every fiber of her being telling her stay and fight.
But she knew better.
So she turned around and ran – leaving Sesshoumaru to die.
.
When the tears stopped, Kagome was sitting by the fire, her blanket around her shoulders and a cup of tea in her hands. Her friends had been gathered around her but both Inuyahsa and Sesshoumaru kept their distance, Inuyasha’s feature painted in confusion, Sesshoumaru’s speaking her death. It was a funny yet beautiful thing to see them together again and her heart felt giddy and pain all at once. Lips curling upward for just a moment, she turned to Miroku.
“How long has Sesshoumaru been travelling with us?” she gently queried. His eyes were guarded and he wore the smile that was beguiling and distant all at the same time. The smile he used when he didn’t want people to know what he was thinking. He thought it was interesting when she had not used the usual honorific.
“Ah, well, Kagome-sama… do you not remember?”
Kagome’s lips curled downward and she held her head in her hand, balancing on her knee, “Quit the bullshit and just tell me.” Knowing how long he had been travelling with them would tell her just where they were in their relationship.
It was Sango who spoke, confusion and curiosity making itself known, “Well…” she brushed a piece of brown hair behind her ears and found her voice, “... he has been travelling with us well over a month now.”
At this stage they were allies, and she was starting to bulldoze his doors one by one. She remembered pushing down his walls and eventually forcing him to become her friend. But it had taken a long time before Sesshoumaru’s hand would be forced and they would become mates. Wrapping the blanket closer around her shoulders, she looked at Inuyasha first, a small but distressed smile on her lips.
“I suppose everyone deserves an explanation.” She met their gazes steadily, not backing down when her eyes met Sesshoumaru’s. In fact, she snorted and laughed. “God, it’s been a long time since you have looked at me with so much disdain.” He didn’t speak so she continued on and this time she found it easier to look at the fire pit instead, “It’s been ten years for me since the Shikon was completed.” Kagome’s smile made the camp catch their breath with the sheer joy on it as she remembered the day. “We win…” she looked to Inuyasha, “…and we are happy.”
She clenched her hands and her voiced tightened painfully, “But we end up losing everything and everyone and this world comes to a drastic and gory end.” She shook her head to rid herself of the painful memories and wondered how much she should tell everyone. If she spoke all of it, would it change anything or is the future set it in stone? She couldn’t help but find the irony in her question considering where she was from. “There is a worse evil out there, stronger than we can contend with and we underestimated him… our loses… they were immeasurable.”
It was at precisely that moment that controlled and distant Sesshoumaru decided he had heard enough. With a forceful growl, he stepped forward, “Assuming that you have not lost your senses, what of this soul binding mark? What did you do?” He spoke to through clenched teeth and his eyes were dark with anger and disgust as they moved between her and Inuyasha.
Growling back, Inuyasha snarled, “Don’t look at me you bastard, I have no clue either!” Inuyasha turned Kagome and his jaw shut painfully, “But he’s fucking right, Kagome, what the fuck is it that I’m feeling?”
She shrugged her shoulders, “You don’t have to believe the story but believe the binding.” She paused again and vaguely she registered that Sesshoumaru was probably going to hurt her or Inuyasha so she stood and she was ready for his potential assault. She dusted off her skirt with a smile, it had been a long time since she had seen it, and she said the words that Sesshoumaru had dreaded hearing. “We’re mates. You, me, Inuyasha - we did it for the sake of power but...” she stopped, those words were better left unspoken.
The sound that left Sesshoumaru’s lips startled Inuyasha for just a moment, he had never heard anything like that come from his reserved elder brother. The rage and anger… his hand went to Tetsusaiga but it was too late, Sesshoumaru’s claws were already headed for his throat, he held his arm prepared to block the blow but it never came. Instead, a silver shimmering shield met his brother’s claws and sparks erupted where they touched.
Inuyasha’s breath caught and he turned to the only person who could create such a thing and sure enough there Kagome was, her cerulean hues tinted silver. “Kagome how – “
She waved him off and stood straight, “I told you, I’m not of this time anymore, Inuyasha. I’m not sure how it happened but I have been given another chance to save us.” Jaw line tense, lips curled into a frown, “I am not going to squander it. I will save us. I sure as hell am not going to let Sesshoumaru’s pissy attitude stop me either. He will be fine with this.”
He would have to be.
And with that, her miko powers rose and Miroku gasped with awe, “She isn’t the same Kagome-sama. Her power and such control.”
“You challenge me then, miko?” Sesshoumaru growled, hand moving to his sword.
Kagome laughed, partially giddy, partially mad, “Sure, Sesshoumaru – I’ll be your opponent. Afterall, it’s me you’re not happy with.”
And surprisingly, it was Kagome who made first contact.
Sesshoumaru’s eyes widened a fraction as he had not been prepared for the speed in which the miko had moved, had not been prepared for her to challenge him so openly. She stopped several feet before him, her fingers making a gesture he had been intimately familiar with before the silver whip she created met his sword. She moved gracefully, her body moving in ways that he recognized as his own fighting style. He mentally growled, How? He pushed forward, his sword sparking dangerously as power started to erupt from it. But the camp was small and Rin was close. Instead he put his sword away and met her onslaught with his claws.
Inuyasha was still encased in her barrier but he called out, “Kagome! Let me out!”
Irritated, she shot back, “Just stay there! I’ll be fine!”
And it was amazing to Inuyasha that she was in fact doing fine. She was keeping up with Sesshoumaru and he wondered how and when the fuck she had learned to fight. Her earlier words were repeating in his ears. Could she really be from the future?
It was in the time he was thinking that Kagome had thrown another barrier but this time around Sesshoumaru and keeping him from charging forward. Lips curling over his teeth dangerously, Sesshoumaru growled and tested the barrier. Kagome knew he could break free, he had done it before but she needed his attention for just a moment, just enough time for him to understand everything. She stood before him and pressed her hand to the barrier.
Gently she began, “This is difficult for you, I know. I do - but we lose everything, Sesshoumaru.” Pausing, his attention still on the barrier, she continued desperately, “Rin dies horrifically. The Western Citadel falls and it’s people are scattered to the corners of Japan as a mad man romps through your lands and destroys your people.” His youki pulsed outward and the barrier shattered around him, as it shattered, his hand grasped her throat. She allowed it and as his hand tightened, “You agree to enter our mating only after you lose everything because the power boost we receive is enormous. But it was too late. We had already lost too much.” Tears slid down her cheeks and Kagome’s hand touched his wrist. Inuyasha yelled her name in the distance but she ignored him. “For me, it’s only been a few hours since I left you to die.”
Sesshoumaru took a moment to look at the miko that suddenly knew his fighting style seemingly overnight. He sniffed and tried to find her lie but there was none. He could smell no deceit in her scent, in fact, she smelled defeated despite the fact she held her gaze steady. Kagome’s hand moved from his wrist to his cheek.
The girl he had saw yesterday no longer existed in her eyes.
Instead a warrior stood in her place.
She was choking on tears, “I leave you to die, Sesshoumaru and I don’t know what’s worse. Losing the last ten years or turning my back on you.” She was glowing lightly, and his palm was burning slowly, he stubbornly held on, tightening his grip. He could behead her but their bond pulsed and he released her abruptly. She landed on her feet and he turned from her.
His back faced her but his words were colder than ice, his form tense, “I do not know which is worse, miko. Knowing that I have entered into a mating with a hanyou and human wretch or to see the human wretch mourn my death.”
His words hurt but she stood her ground, she fought to keep the pain from her voice, “You’ll see what we are up against, Sesshoumaru – hopefully by then we will have earned your favor considering you’re stuck with us.”
He walked away from her and Kagome watched him, content in just knowing he was alive.
She heard loud cursing and smiled briefly as she allowed her barrier to fall. Gazing around the camp, she smiled at everyone though it didn’t reach her eyes, “Inuyasha and I are going to take a quick walk.” Kagome turned to Inuyasha and she beckoned him with a tilt of her head and walked in the opposite direction of Sesshoumaru.
She heard him jump and land beside her. She led him into the foliage, and she could practically feel is apprehension. After several minutes of walking, she stopped in a small spot among the trees. Sunlight filtered through the leaves and she turned to meet his gaze. His hands were tucked into his sleeves and Kagome found her eyes burning when she ran her eyes along his features. Every piece of her ached and bit her lip to keep from crying.
Three years.
He had been lost to her. Too long dead to resurrect.
She had screamed herself hoarse – screamed and screamed until Sesshoumaru dragged her away.
And she had to be dragged, she couldn’t leave him there, mangled in the courtyard.
Her heart was racing, and she could feel the anger taking over.
Something had shifted in her gaze because Inuyasha called out quietly, “Kagome?”
She shook off the memory and smiled at her friend - her mate. Kagome took a seat in the grass at the base of a tree and tapped the spot in front of her. He hesitated for only a moment before he sat before her. Her smile widened and she scooted so that their knees touched. His cheeks burned red and she found it all so endearing yet sad. This Inuyasha would never get the pleasure of stumbling through their first years of mated life together. Both of them learning together because this version of herself, right now, already knew what their future looked like.
Kagome reached out a hand and grasped his, “I guess this is how it felt to see Kikyo resurrected.” She admitted quietly because everything was a jumble, everything more intense then anything she had ever felt. Seeing him again, broke and healed her heart all at once.
Inuyasha didn’t even know where to begin, “You’re really not the same, are you?”
She shrugged, “I mean, I am. I am the same girl that fell down the well… just older, seasoned by war.”
And she was telling the truth. Even though she was sitting there looking so relaxed, she was far from it. He could see how she was aware of everything in her surroundings, could feel her aura reaching and warning off stray youkai. When she had gone to asleep last night, she was still learning how to harness her aura. This morning she had been fighting Sesshoumaru and going toe to toe. His hand gripped hers back, his youki entangling with her reiki in a way that made his breath catch.
Her cerulean hues softened, “What do you want to ask? I know you have questions.” Sesshoumaru was going to be hard to break, Inuyasha not so much. He was her best friend and after the death of Naraku they had begun their mating, their love sweet and reminiscent of a fairy tale.
Inuyasha found his voice, it was strained but he managed to ask, “Why? Why me? Why did we mate?”
Her heart ached and she reached out to hold his other hand, speaking vehemently, “Because I love you, Inuyasha, always. From the moment I saw you I loved you.” Her hanyou, the one that had always felt unworthy, “I chose to stay here. I never went back so that I could stay with you. I couldn’t risk leaving you behind.” She smiled and Inuyasha felt his heart racing at her words. “Where are you with Kikyo? Are you still sneaking off to see her?”
Inuyasha looked away, lips curled down, “What’s it you?” he questioned defensively.
It was answer enough and she waited for the old pain to follow his question but it never came, “Just asking. Do what you have to, Inuyasha.” He gave her incredulous look and she tilted a brow up, “What? Did you expect me to be upset?” he nodded and she scoffed, “I used to be – but it doesn’t matter. We’re mates – this bond we have is end all be all.” Kagome laughed and it tasted like ashes on her tongue, “I guess when youkai mate for life – it really is for life.”
Inuyasha yanked his hands from her angrily, “And what do you fucking expect, Kagome? Do you expect me to just be okay with it?”
She leaned against the tree, “Don’t play coy, Inuyasha.” She grinned mischievously, “You may be seeing Kikyo, but I always had a place in you heart. Afterall, you told me that.”
And he had.
He cursed, “Whatever. It doesn’t change anything.”
Her smile was small and a little bit hurt, “Actually, it changes everything, Inuyasha. We’re bound – soul bound and that’s a little different then mating.”
“Yesterday… yesterday you were my best friend.” Inuyasha was embarrassed to say but his throat was closing with frustration and sadness.
Quietly, with all the love that she could, she leaned forward, her lips a hairsbreadth from his, “I still am, Inuyasha – for God’s sake, I always will be.” Words coming out rushed, “We will always be best friends but that doesn’t change that I love you – that we were mated for seven years – “ she was choking on tears, “- that I spent several years so blissfully happy with you and when they brought your body to me… nothing has broken me since then, Inuyasha. Nothing.” And just like with Sesshoumaru she told him, “It’s done, it’s too late. All you can do is come to terms with it. You will be fine with this, one way or another.”
And because her heart ached and soul hurt, and because she couldn’t stop herself even if she had wanted to, she pressed her lips to his. She had missed him, missed the scent of his skin, missed his tenderness, missed his stubbornness. Tears burned behind her eyelids and she fought them back. She thought the next time she saw him would be in heaven but seeing him in the flesh was so much better. He may not have her memories, may not know why she loved him, but that didn’t matter. They would make new memories.
He was stiff, unyielding in his surprise, but Kagome had been kissing him for seven years.
She knew what he liked, knew how he liked to kiss, knew how to get a rise from him.
Kagome swiped her tongue across his lips, and he parted on instinct. She kissed him forcibly, her tongue meeting his before she intentionally nicked herself on a fang. The taste touched his tongue and he was there, feeding at her mouth, his claws in his hair, the other hand gripping her chin. Between the two brothers, Inuyasha didn’t fight his instincts as much. He held her in place, the strength in his claws there a gentle reminder that he could hurt her but the excitement knowing that he wouldn’t.
They kissed hard, Inuyasha conquering her. He didn’t have as much experience as she did, she felt it in the tremble of his hands and the fact he was stumbling through the kiss riding a high in her blood. He growled and it startled him from the kiss. He pulled away and there was a confusion in his lidded features. Because even now, even if he was seeing Kikyo – he still held a piece of his heart for her, she had been right. Too scared of what the future held to move forward, not knowing what would happen in the final battle. Torn between the two miko – torn between honor and what could be love.
“K-Kagome wh-w – “
She leaned forward again, “Inuyasha – shut up.” And she kissed him again. His heart fluttered; his stomach knotted but in anticipation instead of uncertainty.
Kagome would bend him to her will if she needed to because everything depended on them succeeding.
Her, Inuyasha, and Sesshoumaru.
And she would succeed. She wasn’t losing anyone this time.
.
.
.
I have been toying with this idea for a little while. Ya’ll can shoot me later, I have wanted this threesome for a while. I know not everyone is a fan of Inuyasha but how can you not be? I don’t see enough of these, so I wrote my own! TBH, I actually teared up writing this. It's rough to get into this headspace sometimes.
Yes, hate me. I have so much in backlog. ADLC is giving me so much trouble, I just hate it. I have to really find my love for it again. And I will. I am finding my love for this fandom again slowly but surely. Let me know what you think? Next chapter, Sesshoumaru and Kagome.