A Star Named Kagome by one_winged

Chapter One

Searching amber eyes scanned the dark blue expanse. Within seconds, he had located it and held it in his gaze. Like always, it was right there at its usual place. A small smile graced his face as he looked up at it glittering and sparkling in the sky like an exquisite jewel.

It reminded him so much of her eyes and the way they would light up when she was amused although he did not exactly relish the fact that most of the amusement was due to him. It could have been anything at all, a raised eyebrow from him, a twitch in his jaw, a seemingly caustic remark, and she would be off in peals of laughter, doubled over on the ground and clutching her stomach while wiping tears from her eyes.

Sometimes, even his famous 'death glare' – the one that renders many other youkais incapable of coherent speech or movement for a couple of minutes – had her giggling madly if he as much as send one her way. She even had the audacity to say on one occasion that she found him very funny. That had not been the first nor was it the last time he contemplated taking her life.

Honestly, he had no idea what the young woman found so amusing about him during all those time they spent together. He was the Lord of the Western Lands for crying out loud, definitely not something anyone would find the least amusing. People find many things amusing, things like a child's antics or a kitsune's pranks or even a certain perverted monk's actions. All these could be considered amusing but nobody would ever find a certain high-ranking demon lord's behavior entertaining.

If anything, everyone else, humans and youkais alike, found him terrifying. He kills anything that gets in his way without so much as a blink or a second thought and had been doing so since he was a young inuyoukai pup some three hundred or so years ago. Now that certainly deserved some fear for his person right? Yet, like the blue star up in the heavens above that defied the brighter light of the moon and shone dazzlingly with its own light, she defied him. Why she was still alive to this day was beyond him. For a frail human girl who was constantly standing up against him and laughing at his expense, she certainly did a good job staying alive. Youkais many times stronger than her have found themselves making their way to hell if they as much as look at the demon lord in the wrong way. He must be getting too lenient now that he was an older, more mature inuyoukai. Yes, that must be it.

However, a part of him was secretly glad he let her live for she provided entertainment in his otherwise amazingly dull life. Despite her frequent bouts of mad giggling, she was very good at making conversation and rather intelligent ones at that. He should know for she would more often than not try to strike up a conversation with him when they were not busy chasing after power hungry hanyous with jewel shards. She had a habit of asking him questions that seemed very simple but was in fact questions which were so cleverly worded that he could not help revealing his innermost thoughts when he answered them. When she spoke, her words held substance to them unlike the usual empty female gossip and that was a relief to him.

Often during the evenings, she would lure him into debating with her by questioning his beliefs and then throwing his arguments back at him after dissecting and picking holes in them. Whenever he was feeling generous, he would let her win but usually, he was the winner for he is, undoubtedly, her superior when it came to knowledge and intelligence. Moreover, where would he put his dignity if he lost to a young girl?

Now that he thought of it, she certainly had a good amount of wisdom for someone so young, very much like the monk that they travel with although her wisdom was dispensed in a straightforward and blunt manner, unlike the monk who chose to go about in circles.

When she was in one of her moods, she liked to play 'what if' games with him knowing full well that it irritated him beyond belief whenever she asked him a question beginning with the words 'what if'. He was a very realistic demon and would never even dream of looking at a situation with a 'what if' question in mind. That would involve using his imagination and it would make it unrealistic. One plus one equals two and always will be so there is no way he was going to ask "What if it makes three?"

She had laughed when he told her that and had happily continued to annoy him with her barrage of annoying questions claiming that she needs to spark his imagination or his brain would die from a lack of creative thoughts. He had promptly informed her then that his imagination and creative thoughts were reserved for other more stimulating situations, especially those that involved him, a female and a bed; situations that most definitely do not involve idle chattering with teenage girls. She had blushed ten marvelous shades of red after that and left him in peace for the rest of the day.

The longer the time he spent around the blue eyed female, the more he found her intriguing. For instance, she could travel between different time periods, something even he, a great demon lord, could not do no matter how hard he tried. He could travel long distances in the blink of an eye yet no matter how fast he traveled he could not make it to say yesterday or tomorrow.

He arrived at the time-traveling conclusion on one occasion when he had so kindly informed her that the short green and white pieces of cloth she calls her clothes were very indecent. She had retorted by saying that it was what people of her time wore every day to somewhere called school and he was being a pervert by noting what the length of her skirt, or something like that, was. He had entertained thoughts of seriously maiming her after that. To think that someone actually had the nerve to call this Sesshoumaru a pervert was downright preposterous. And there he was actually being nice for once. Now he would certainly not inform her that the reason he was telling her that was because he had seen the monk staring at her legs when they were walking, not that he was looking at her legs as well or anything.

Anyway, his conclusion had been correct when she herself informed him that she actually travels from five hundred years into the future to the Sengoku Jidai by means of the Bone Eaters' Well.

A stray cloud hid the star's blue light for a moment and he thought of the times that had seen the light in her eyes dimmed by sadness.

One of those times, the one he remembered the most, was the day his useless half-brother had chosen the dead priestess over her. Inuyasha had gone to see Kikyo when he thought everyone was asleep. No one else knew where, or rather to whom, the hanyou went to except himself and Kagome, who was in fact wide awake the entire time despite the tiredness of her body. Her unhappiness was rolling off her in waves and the minute the stupid hanyou had disappeared out of sight, she too got up and walked away into the forest in the opposite direction. As for him, he followed suit noiselessly a while later.

Well, he was not spying or kami forbid, stalking her or anything. Him, the great taiyoukai of the Western lands would never lower himself to do something as undignified as stalking a human girl. He was merely checking up on her. After all, being someone who was extremely prone to danger, there was no telling what scrape the girl could find herself in if left on her own for anything more than a minute.

He had found her seated under a tree, hugging her knees and staring into the distance. It could have been the tree's large trunk or the way she was curled up for he suddenly noted how small, fragile and absolutely vulnerable she looked despite her fiery nature and defiant attitude. Something must have been wrong with the rabbit he had for dinner earlier because when he saw her, a strange, foreign feeling appeared somewhere in the deep recesses of his demon heart.

He was content to just stand in the shadows and continue observing her but the miko just had to call out his name and beckon him to an empty space beside her. Declining was out of the question for before he could refuse her offer, his legs had moved of their own accord. He was aware of the fact that he was sitting much too close to her for his comfort but he made no move to distance himself and neither did she.

The girl was being quiet for once and at any time else, he would have been extremely grateful. However, her silence at the moment was nothing short of troubling him and that itself was troubling enough. It didn't help at all when the salty scent of her tears reached his highly sensitive nose. If he was not so controlled of himself, there was no knowing what he would do. Probably something rash like wrapping his arms around her small form and holding her tight.

He didn't know how long they sat there as there was no way for him to tell the time when there is nothing except treetops overhead. But it was certainly long enough for her to cry herself to sleep, with her head on his shoulder.

Deciding that he would be a little bit nicer to her for just that one time, because after all, it was the brainless hanyou half-brother of his that had caused her distress, he had refrained from making any movements that could wake her. It seemed as if he had just closed his eyes for an instant and the next thing he knew, sunlight was streaming down from up above.

How he could have fallen asleep remained a mystery to him till today for it was a known fact that youkais do not need much sleep and he was very sure he had had enough to last him for a few more moons. But the thing that puzzled him the most was the warmth he had felt when he awoke to find his arm around the still sleeping girl and this warmth did not have anything to do with her body heat but rather something else he had never experienced before.

By then, he was fairly certain the long digested rabbit must have been an ill one because the funny feeling had increased ten-fold.

A soft breeze blew the cloud away to uncover the star once again. If anything, the star was shining with a light more brilliant than before.

Once again, he couldn't help but to think of how her sunny nature had allowed her to bounce back time after time no matter how down she was previously. Just like the incident with Inuyasha's choice, the next morning had seen her a changed person. The miko had told him of her resolution, which was to accept the hanyou's choice and move on. She wallowed not in tears or self-pity, and instead committed herself to completing the Shikon no Tama as well as the destruction of Naraku with such dedication that he could not help but to admire her strength. There was no way anyone could tell that she just had her heart well and truly broken not too long ago. Yes, the human girl is strong, emotionally that is.

He looked at the other stars scattered across the night sky. Nevertheless, none seemed to shine as bright or as radiant as his star, the little blue star nearest the moon, the star he named after her, Kagome. He had never been much of a stargazer before but the girl had changed that, much like how she has changed him. Of course, he never told her that just like how he never told her that there was a heavenly body bearing her name thanks to him.

With time, he had come to care for the girl unknowingly. Well, care was putting it rather mildly but it was the best he could come up with. As much as he hated admitting it, he could not find a word to accurately describe the strong emotion he felt for the girl. It was something he had never experienced before thus he couldn't exactly name it.

He looked out for the girl's safety and well-being that much was for sure. There was no way he would ever let anyone human or youkai harm her in any way. They would have to utterly defeat him, which was an impossible task in itself, before they could even think of touching a strand of her ebony hair.

Nonetheless, he was never one to take chances so seldom did he let her leave his side for long periods of time unless it was to return home. Whenever that occurred, he would accompany her to the well and then wait for her return by said well which is what he was currently doing.

However, besides protecting her with his entire being, he also found himself trying to mend her broken heart although he wasn't quite sure how. Sure, she never showed her unhappiness on her face yet somehow he could still feel the sorrow in her and sometimes, when she thought no one was looking, the sadness showed in her deep blue eyes. Hence, as often as possible, he would bring her to a hot spring or some wide open meadow overgrown with flowers for he knew she took pleasure in them. And needless to say, he was getting quite fond of the feeling he got whenever he saw her smiles or heard her carefree laughter. They certainly suited her better than sorrow.

He settled down with his back against the well and closed his eyes, letting a small smile play around his lips. Come the break of dawn, his star would be gone but with the morning sun, his Kagome would be back beside him once again.

A/N: Back after a four-month hiatus. Reviews are greatly appreciated for they let me know if my writing has gone down the drain.