Midnight meets Moonlight by Mujitsu

Chance Meetings

(A/N: Hi everyone, it's Mujitsu again! Welcome to my new story. I would just like to say starting off, I do not believe any of this would ever happen in the anime or manga. This story will take place within the canon universe, but I know it will never happen, understand? I believe that Inuyasha loves Kagome, and Kagome will ALWAYS love Inuyasha, however, I believe that I am also becoming knows as writing Sess/Kag fics, and this one is no different. I'm toying around with ideas here and experimenting with plots, and this one just begged to be written. I'm going to try and avoid a lot of clichés, but if one appears here or there, forgive me. I always try to pride myself on being original, but sometimes, I don't think this story will allow it. I'm going to do my best and hope you enjoy!)

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and company. That great honor belongs to Takahashi-san.

Midnight Meets Moonlight

Chapter One

Chance Meetings

Kagome Higurashi was a beautiful, vibrant, passionate, twenty year old young lady. She was also currently at her wits end. And all because of one surly, immature, violent, dog-eared hanyou.

Of course, it wasn't because of anything new or unusual. Arguments stemmed from her wanting to go home, him not wanting to let her, which inevitably led his mouth to meet his best friend: the ground.

"Good-bye, everyone!" Kagome yelled, waving. "If Inuyasha doesn't give in to his temper, I'll be back in a few days!"

"'Bye, Kagome!" Shippou yelled from Miroku's shoulder. "We'll make sure Inuyasha behaves!"

"I'm not a fucking dog," Inuyasha grumbled, spitting dirt out from between his fangs, and wiping off the mud his clothes.

"Of course you're not, Inuyasha," Miroku said, holding his hand out complacently. "But, you can't deny that your heritage gives you certain....um, shall we say qualities of a dog? Ne, Kikyo-sama?"

Kikyo stepped regally out of the trees and looked impassively at the well. "Kagome has gone back to her home?"

Inuyasha nodded, but before anything else could be said on the matter, a roar filled the air and Kirara landed gracefully in the meadow with Sango hopping agilely down from the firecat.

"Sango, you're back from your village!" Shippou cried, and hopped off Miroku's shoulder to hug the demon slayer.

"Shippou-chan," Sango said, hugging the kit tightly. "Miroku, Inuyasha," she said with the next breath, greeting her other companions. With a slight hesitation, "Kikyo-sama."

The older woman nodded, and Sango had to fight down her surprise. Kikyo had been coming more and more often to the village beside the Bone Eaters well, and it had been a little disconcerting to say the least. Now that Naraku was no longer a problem, they weren't all rushing around the countryside looking for the evil hanyou. They could take time to settle down and carve out a normal life for themselves, and it seemed like Kikyo wanted to come back to her roots and settle down. It still made Sango distrustful of the dead miko. After all, Kagome still had a part of her soul, and Kikyo was still forced to depend on her soul stealers. What would stop her from trying to kill Kagome to get the rest of her soul back and become fully alive?

However, it seemed that none of her other companions were worried over the same thing, and even Kagome had tried to bond with the priestess. The taijiya looked over to where Kagome must have disappeared moments before, and shook off her unease.

She turned with a bright smile. "I'm hungry after the trip. What do you say we go get some dinner at Kaede's. Will you join us, Kikyo?"

Kikyo nodded and the group began to head out of the meadow, away from the well. If Kagome could get along with Kikyo, so could Sango. After all, that girl had the patience of a saint to be able to put up with Inuyasha.

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Kagome felt like she was about to tear her hair out. Would she ever get some peace and quiet? First it was Inuyasha and his constant bossiness, and now it was her friends with their constant nosiness. She had just spent a very irritating three hours walking around Tokyo with Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi talking about nothing besides boys, shopping, and more boys. It was her last day before she had promised to go back to the Sengoku Jidai, and she had wanted to spend some time with her best friends, but they were annoying the hell out of her.

Kagome had thought they'd all matured in the last five years, but obviously, she was wrong. Or maybe it's because the other three girls didn't fall into a well at the age of fifteen, almost get killed, have to chase an ancient jewel that belongs to an evil demon, almost get killed several more times, and then finally kill said evil demon. She sighed to herself. Maybe she had matured too much. She should want to talk about boys and the latest clothing fashion, but those things didn't matter to her anymore.

Maybe she had become jaded. After seeing all the heartache the Sengoku Jidai had to offer, the war, the famine, and her own heartache had made her too cynical of things.

"So, Kagome," Yuka said, turning around to walk backwards while talking to Kagome. "How is your boyfriend?"

Eri took on a sly smile. "Which boyfriend, Yuka? Hojo, or the violent one?"

Kagome took on an exasperated look. "You both know as well as I do that I don't have a boyfriend. Hojo is....well, Hojo." They all looked at each other and giggled. No one could deny that Hojo was in a league all of his own when it came to the opposite sex. "And Inuyasha...I've decided we should be friends instead."

"What!" All three of her friends stopped in their tracks and looked at her, their faces so comical, Kagome had to hold back a smile at their antics. "Why?" they asked in unison.

Why, indeed? Sometimes Kagome still wondered herself when she made the conscious decision not to pursue Inuyasha romantically. Was it two months ago when they defeated Naraku? Or when she realized that Inuyasha had to overcome his own feelings of inadequacy before he could ever love her romantically, which she thought he never would? When she realized that she could love him more as a friend and help him know that he was not just a filthy hanyou? Maybe it happened when she realized that she couldn't stay in the past forever, whatever her fifteen year old mind had thought back then. One day, the well would not let her back through, and she would never see her friends again. How could she start a relationship with Inuyasha knowing that? And then now that Kikyo was involved...

Whatever the case, she had made her choice and was standing by that. "It doesn't matter why, guys," she said. "Can we just leave it be?"

Her friends were silent for a moment before Ayumi blurted out, "So does this mean we can search for a guy for you now?"

Kagome just rolled her eyes and walked on. Would they ever learn? After a few moments, she realized they weren't walking beside her. "Guys?" she asked, turning around and seeing them staring at something. "What's going on?"

They just gave a sigh in response, and Kagome grew irritated. What was so distracting.

"I wonder if his hair is as soft as it looks," Eri whispered.

"I wonder if those tattoos hurt," Ayumi pondered.

"I'm surprised his work doesn't make him cover them up. He looks like he works someplace high class. His suit is probably more than what I make in a year."

"He's gorgeous though. And he doesn't look over twenty-three. He must be very successful."

Who the hell are they talking about? Hair? Twenty-three? Tattoos? Kagome wondered, and decided to get a look for herself. The streets were really crowded, and Kagome had to search for a little in the general direction her friends were looking to find what they were looking at, and when she did, her heart almost stopped.

Long silver hair, a tall, lithe body...porcelain skin...he turned more in their direction and she let out a gasp. Striking golden eyes lidded with magenta along with two stripes on each cheek....a violet crescent moon on his forehead. It was hard to mistake who he was.

Sesshoumaru.

But, why is he here? Kagome panicked. Did he find a way through the well? Is he going to kill all the humans here? Why is he dressed in a suit and...talking on a cell phone!

She took a deep breath and calmed herself. Baka Kagome! You know demons live for a long time...it's possible he lived through these last five hundred years.

She sagged in relief as she came with that conclusion. She couldn't keep her eyes off of him. He didn't look any different than the last time she had seen him...of course, she might have been busy running for her life or pleading for Inuyasha's the last time they had met. He still looked as good as ever...

"I think Kagome is more dumbstruck than we are," Yuka's voice brought her out of the daze she had been in, and Kagome blushed. But before she could defend herself properly, they had started walking away, and Kagome had to run to catch up, throwing one last look at the modernized TaiYoukai. She wondered if she should have gone to talk to him, but she didn't know if he would talk to her, sneer at her, remember her...hell, he could even kill her. She couldn't believe that he had been in Tokyo all of this time, and she had never come across him. Well, now that she knew, she could do some research on him and see what he had been doing the last five hundred years.

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Early the next morning, a yellow backpack flew out of the well and landed on the ground with a dull thump. Soon later, Kagome jumped out, wearing a conservative skirt and blouse. She wasn't in school anymore, so she didn't need her uniform, but she also didn't want to wear traditional clothing either. She still thought it made her look too similar to a certain someone.

That certain someone was sitting under a tree near the well, gazing at Kagome with a neutral expression. "Hello, Kikyo," Kagome said brightly, a soft smile on her face. "I didn't know you were going to be here."

Kikyo's expression didn't change. "Inuyasha has been impatient," was all she said.

Kagome let out a pout. "Mou! I don't know why he gets so onery. Since we killed Naraku, there's no rush to gather the rest of the shards that scattered. I should be allowed to go home once in a while."

Kikyo stood up gracefully and shouldered her bow and arrows. Kagome could see some of her soul stealers in the distance and held back a shiver. "Come," she said, and Kagome blinked. Sometimes Kikyo's abruptness threw her off kilter, but she recovered and put on a pleasant expression. She quickly caught up to the older miko's strides and they walked silently back to the village.

She knew that Sango thought she was crazy to try and strike up a friendship with the undead priestess, but Kagome harbored no ill will against her now. If anything, she pitied Kikyo and felt sorry for the circumstances that were thrown at the woman. Nothing in life seemed to go right for her, and she had ended up betrayed, dead, and resurrected because of it. Of course, Kagome was a sucker for tragic stories, and Kikyo's topped the cake. The younger miko just wanted to make life easier for everyone, and if that meant playing nice with Kikyo, so be it.

They reached the village quickly and headed to Kaede's hut.

"Kagome-chan," Sango greeted as she stepped out of the hut and gave the younger girl a hug. "I'm glad you're back."

"You too, Sango-chan," Kagome said warmly. "Did you have a nice visit to your village?"

The older woman's face became serious. "I think Kohaku has been there. The village was deserted as always, but someone had left fresh flowers on the grave. I tried to track him, but he must have come a while back. I couldn't find him."

"Oh, Sango," Kagome said, her eyes becoming sad. They hadn't been able to find Kohaku after they had killed Naraku, and she knew Sango was trying to be brave. "But that must mean that he remembers something. Maybe if you give him some time, he'll seek you out."

Sango smiled, although it was a bit forced. "Maybe," she consented. All three women stepped into the hut, and Kagome blinked her eyes rapidly to get used to the light. A ball of fur crashed into her, and her breath wheezed out. "Hi, Shippou-chan," she choked.

"Kagome, thank god you're back. Inuyasha has been more of a grump than usual!"

"Has he now?" she murmured and smiled at Miroku across the room. "Where is he now?"

"He should be back any second," the monk replied. "Welcome back, Kagome-sama."

She was about to thank him when the sound of yelling could be heard outside of the hut. "I guess Inuyasha is back," she said wryly. As if her words had conjured him, the hanyou appeared in the doorway.

"It's about time you got back," he complained and dropped to the floor in a cross-legged position. "Kikyo said that she had information for us, but wouldn't tell us until you got back."

"Only you would be glad that I was back for that, Inuyasha," Kagome teased. "And not the fact that you are glad to see me."

He froze and sputtered, trying to come up with something to say that wouldn't earn him an "Osuwari" but he couldn't find anything to say. He huffed when Kagome began laughing at him, but couldn't stop a smile from overcoming his own face. "Whatever, wench, you're back now and that means Kikyo can 'fess up."

Said miko took a spot on the ground and began in her soft voice. "As I was traveling, I heard rumor of a shard about three days from here."

Everyone in the group perked up when they heard the word "shard." "What direction?" Inuyasha asked.

Kikyo paused. "To the West."

Inuyasha gave an annoyed scowl as everyone else froze. Kagome's stomach gave an odd little jerk. The West. Sesshoumaru's domain.

A charged silence followed. "Well?" Inuyasha burst out. "Are we going to sit here all day, or are we going to get going? We have a long three days ahead of us."

"Uh, Inuyasha? You DID hear what Kikyo-sama said about the shard being in the West, right?" Miroku asked.

Inuyasha snorted. "I have better ears than you, bouzo. Of course I heard her. We're going into Sesshoumaru's territory. So what? The bastard doesn't control all of Japan. Hell, he's probably not even in the West right now. Besides, we need to get the shard, right?"

Kikyo looked impassive while the rest looked reluctant...however, none of them said a word contrary to Inuyasha's.

"Well then," he said arrogantly. "That means we leave within the hour. Get all of your gear together." With that, he stood up and walked outside. Kikyo followed soon after.

The rest of the gang looked at each other for a while. Miroku cleared his throat. "Well, it might not be so bad. Last time, Sesshoumaru didn't ACTIVELY try to kill Inuyasha, so..."

"That's because they were fighting their father's sword together, baka," Shippou said. "They didn't have time to try and kill each other."

"Well, what about afterwards?" Sango asked. "Sesshoumaru just walked away and left Inuyasha alone. I think that means they've made some progress in their relationship."

"Oh, sure," Miroku said, a face of innocence on. "So instead of killing Inuyasha whenever he sees him, Sesshoumaru just might be lying in wait, wanting the perfect moment to kill his brother."

"Do you have to be so morbid?" Shippou asked. "We won't know what happens until we meet Sesshoumaru again, so I think we should drop the subject." Visions of claws and poison filled his mind and he began to shiver. "Besides, he scares me."

Shivers filled Kagome too, but for a completely different reason. Too bad she didn't know what that reason was. Maybe it was from anticipation. Now that she had seen Sesshoumaru in the present time, she wanted to get a better look of him in this time. She almost laughed to herself.

Who would've thought that she would actually be excited to see Sesshoumaru? It was ludicrous...

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Okay, that's it for tonight. Warning: this chapter is extremely dull because of me having to set up the plot. Don't give up on it. If you like my other stories, you know I can deliver, just be patient. Usually I would give reviewer responses here, but since this is the first chapter, I don't have any....it's weird. Anyway, I don't know if I'll be able to update before Thanksgiving, so if I don't, Happy Turkey Day everyone!

Ja ne,

Mujitsu