Chapter Text
A respectable demon did not sully their hands with the petty affairs of mortals.
Quite typically, Sesshomaru had little interest in what became of the dead. The gossip and chatter of humans sparked even less.
Yet, whispers of mortal souls being stolen reached even his ears. No less because while Sesshomaru had little care of gossip, Jaken was quite possibly worse than the loquacious humans themselves. Even if he had not heard such rumors himself, his ever dedicated vassal was sure to have informed him, whether prompted or not.
Sesshomaru had not intended to involve himself in such things. Not even when his trek along the riverbank brought him upon a monk speaking heatedly with what appeared to be a priestess of the nearby village. Human conflict was none of his concern. But this woman — this creature — who smelled of death and earthen decay was no human. Although she bore the robes of a priestess and spiritual power enough to make him take pause, if only briefly, whatever humanity she'd once possessed was long gone. Whatever she might have once been, this woman was no longer of the realm of the living.
Sesshomaru paused, his gaze drifting for a moment down to Tenseiga contemplatively. It had been silent since that first night with Inuyasha's little woman — Kagome — only showing the faintest wisp of power when he sought her out two weeks after the fact, just as he had assured.
True to her word, the girl had been perched at the old well when he came calling. True to his own, he refrained from skewering Inuyasha when the half breed was less receptive.
She'd almost seemed surprised by his arrival, despite having clearly been awaiting it. The girl proceeded to turn an odd shade of red while she'd stammered out a greeting. When she had nothing to offer him beyond an admission that a 'Kaede' had also not known what to make of the events surrounding their last encounter, he was unsurprised.
Then she'd offered to show him the well.
At first, Sesshomaru was not impressed by this offer. But, as if she had sensed that, the girl had only held up a hand and urged him to watch. If he hadn't already thought she lacked any real sense of survival instinct, the thought certainly crossed his mind when she then proceeded to throw herself into the old structure. He had not expected the rush of magic that followed, though in hindsight — given what he knew of her thus far — he should have.
And so he'd left their first meeting not quite satisfied, but placated.
Until coming across this golem that resembled the little woman left back in Edo. To an extent. Too much of an extent.
Outwardly, the physical similarities were no more notable than most other women of this land. Dark hair and pale skin were not features that were hard to come by, even among their peasantry. It was the similarity in this woman's energy that caught his attention. If not for the acrid taste of dark magic and corruption that layered it, the energy within this woman echoed that of the same little human he'd so impulsively made a pact with.
There was little more than a few days' time before their next meeting. And Sesshomaru now had questions for the girl. When he caught her scent on the wind, not far down the river, he decided he would not wait to ask them.
She would see him, of course, early or not. Since brokering their deal, the girl had proven herself hospitable almost to a fault — welcoming and accepting in a way that was decidedly foolish. That wasn't his concern, of course, so long as she held her end of their bargain — information. He would know just why there was such a likeness to the dead woman.
"What a foul creature," Jaken muttered as they departed, still close enough to hear the monk and the dead woman's voices along with the affronted shouts of the children that had been at her feet.
If the golem heard him, she either did not take offense or did not care in the first place. Not that it mattered, for Sesshomaru certainly did not.
Jaken cared even less, given the way his volume steadily increased as he continued his inane rambling. "At least she wasn't indecent like that girl—"
"Jaken," he interjected curtly. The imp froze, though Sesshomaru did not slow his stride. "Be quiet."
Jaken quieted.
Sesshomaru left him behind anyway.
Miroku assured them that this job wasn't a scam.
Initially, Kagome wasn't sure how much she believed him. But, not for the first time, nor even the only time recently, she was ready and willing to overlook the monk's dubious ethics if it meant a hot bath. A real bed also didn't hurt, never mind having a roof to spend the night under — for as much as she'd grown to appreciate sleeping under the unblemished night sky of the feudal era, the novelty of the outdoors did wear thin after doing it nearly a week straight.
So, color her surprised when the lord of the castle greeted them and provided details of the job himself — and all without even a mention of an ominous cloud in sight. In fact, the details of the job only lent further credence to its legitimacy. The resident nobleman had recently lost one of his daughters and, in the wake of rumors that whispered of a demon roaming the evening hours, devouring the souls of the recently deceased, had sought aid in defending that of the late princess.
The feast they were presented with definitely didn't hurt. Inuyasha might have been perfectly happy to live on cup ramen for the rest of his days, but being on the road and out in the wilds of feudal Japan had only given Kagome a greater appreciation for real, home-cooked meals. It certainly wasn't her mother's cooking, but even in the technologically lacking world of the feudal era, the talent of the cooks serving nobility was nothing to scoff at. And it smelled good enough that she could pretend not to notice the looks of disdain the servants tried to hide, and the soldiers guarding the perimeter did not.
Her uniform often garnered such looks — including at least one instance of being propositioned — and she was beginning to see the merit in Inuyasha's demands that she wear something other than 'that damned short kimono'. Not that she'd admit that to him. She'd kept it up partly out of convenience and partly out of spite for him trying to tell her what to do.
Nonetheless, a wardrobe change was a problem for future Kagome. Present Kagome's only concern was in finding out whether this food tasted as good as it smelled.
The burst of flavor from the first mouthful nearly drew a groan from her lips that likely would have earned her even more side eye from their hosts. Perhaps a bit too eagerly to be considered polite, Kagome reached for another helping. Dirty looks and assumptions of her honor be damned, she could die happy if she got to eat her fill of this kind of food. All things considered, it was looking to be a good night.
And then the screaming started.
"Specter!"
Kagome slumped in dismay.
"Demon!"
The groan she let out now was a very different sound than it would have been a minute prior.
"Protect the princess!"
Inuyasha turned with a jerk, lips pulled back in a snarl. He leapt to his feet with a sneer, hand on Tessaiga's hilt as he stomped towards the door leading to the courtyard — which he nearly broke with the force he threw it open with. "I know that stench!"
Kagome wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not and rose to go look for herself.
Already ahead of her, Miroku drew up beside Inuyasha to peer out at the commotion for himself. "Isn't that—"
"It's Sesshomaru!" Shippo yelped before promptly diving behind her bag for cover.
'Sesshomaru? What's he doing here?' Kagome shouldered her way past a guard, needing to see for herself.
And indeed, there stood the merciless Lord of the West, surrounded by soldiers in the middle of the courtyard who clearly did not know just whom they dared point their weapons at. Sesshomaru, for his part, somehow looked woefully out of place and in his element simultaneously. More than that, despite the soldiers surrounding him, spears pointed defensively at his face, he almost looked bored.
Right up to the moment he lifted his hand, and Kagome realized his intent. She practically shoved Inuyasha and a nearby guard out of the way to bolt in between the men courting their deaths and the demon who had no qualms granting them.
"Wha— Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted after her. "The hell do you think you're doing?!"
"Inviting him to a picnic. What do you think I'm doing?!" Kagome threw Inuyasha a look over her shoulder, the guards thankfully having the sense to stay their hands upon her involvement. "I'm keeping us from having more dead souls to guard!"
Inuyasha and the soldiers gave her matching looks of skepticism. However, the lord of the estate — drawn out by the commotion — approached, flanked by his own guard, before she could question just why the demon lord was there. "This demon is…another of your comrades?"
"Um, well…" Kagome chanced a look at Sesshomaru, wondering if an agreement or a denial would be the safer answer. For his part, Sesshomaru only stared back at their hosts, unfazed and impossible to read. Deciding there was little choice but to simply hedge her bets, she flashed their host an uneasy smile. "Sort of. This is Sess—Lord Sesshomaru."
Apparently, their host was informed enough to recognize that name, given the way he paled. "The Demon Lord of the West?"
Sesshomaru's eyes drifted towards the man at the recognition. Then, just as quickly, he looked away — a sure dismissal if ever she'd seen one.
Whether that look had been out of curiosity or something else, Kagome was only relieved it didn't seem to be offense. And whether it was Sesshomaru's most accurate or only title, Kagome hadn't the foggiest. But in that instant, she didn't much care either. The demon lord himself had acknowledged it — without bloodshed — and that was good enough for her.
"That's the one!" she chirped with a clap of the hands she hoped concealed her fluttering nerves. "We have, um…something of an agreement. It's not a problem for him to join us, right?"
Inuyasha's protests were silenced with a look, and Miroku and Shippo knew better than to try. Upon fully realizing their folly — and perhaps the potential lethality of their initial hostility — the lord immediately shouted commands for the servants to ready their finest.
They had visiting nobility, after all.
Patient was not a word Kagome would have ever thought she would have been using to describe Sesshomaru, but even she had to give him credit for that much virtue at the bustle they were ushered in with after that.
Frankly, Kagome wasn't entirely certain why he went along with it, for she was quite sure it wasn't just to indulge her, but she was grateful that he only followed her inside once the invitation had been extended. In fact, even as he took a seat — an odd enough sight in and of itself — Sesshomaru barely spared them a glance. His attention lingered out the window, not acknowledging the offerings that the servants were rushing out to present him with.
If she hadn't known better, she might have thought he really was simply bored by the entire affair. Which, Kagome supposed, was certainly better than the alternatives. But that also begged the question of just what had brought him there to begin with — a question she would work up to.
"Try not to hold it against them," she said as she took a seat beside him. "They didn't know who you were and were expecting a demon to show up and steal souls, not join us for dinner."
A dinner that had suddenly become much more lavish than what had been presented to their little ragtag team before.
"I have no need for human provisions," he replied. The woman pouring his sake, one of several servants sent to tend him as a visiting lord, flinched at the cold declaration. Kagome shot her a reassuring smile.
"That's okay," she said, more for the servants' benefit than his, for Sesshomaru certainly didn't need it. "They're just trying to show you some hospitality."
"It is unnecessary."
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Well, between you and me, I'd also rather not risk offending you by not showing you a proper welcome, especially after earlier. You don't exactly scream 'forgiving', you know."
Sesshomaru finally turned his gaze from the window to give her a dull look. If she didn't know any better, Kagome might have thought it would be followed up with a dry 'well, duh'. Maybe she'd spent too much time with Inuyasha. Not that either of them would take particularly kindly to having such similarities pointed out, but at least Inuyasha was typically redirected and placated with the various treats from her world — she was the only one who could provide them, after all.
"Oh, hold on a second." Kagome snapped her fingers and turned to shuffle through her bag. "It's still technically human food, but I guarantee you've never seen anything like this before."
Withdrawing her hand, she wiggled her fingers around the box of Pocky proudly — a tease as much as it was an offering that always worked on Inuyasha. Sesshomaru stared at her outstretched hand blankly.
She huffed but leaned in and lowered her voice so their hosts might not hear. "It's from my world."
He stared at the package a moment longer before simply plucking it from her hands. Were Kagome less attached to her head, she might have commented just how cute an image he made as he turned it over to inspect with the same curiosity Shippo had the first time. But even she had more self-preservation than that.
Assured that he was pacified for the time being, Kagome heaved a sigh and smoothed out her skirt to sit more comfortably. "What brings you out here, anyway?"
"You were not at the well," he said simply, still studying the box.
Kagome blinked. "Was I supposed to be?"
As promised, he'd come calling after their bargain had been struck, two weeks on the dot. And after that weird dream from when she'd fallen asleep in the hot spring the same day she'd been returned — which she'd had to beg and bribe Inuyasha to let them make camp early to take advantage of in the first place — she had barely kept composure enough to greet him even though two weeks had gone by. Frankly, she hadn't expected him to show at all, bargain or not. She had expected him to lose interest if she were honest. Or to at least grow bored or impatient enough to declare that whatever had happened with her was a fluke and their deal was moot.
She hadn't been prepared to actually have that interaction, never mind for it to become a regular part of her schedule.
Granted, most of that first meeting had been spent keeping a fight from breaking out — which would likely have taken out the whole village — but Sesshomaru had kept his word. He hadn't tried to kill Inuyasha. Not physically, anyway. Kagome hadn't realized it during their previous encounters, mostly because she'd been focusing on not getting killed herself, but Sesshomaru was actually a bit of a smart mouth — at least when he wanted to goad Inuyasha. Showing him the well seemed to have placated — or perhaps more accurately, distracted — him enough back then, much to her relief.
It hadn't been quite two weeks since that visit, which made her wonder just why he'd sought her out ahead of schedule. Sesshomaru did not provide an answer, however, though he lifted the box to sniff the brightly colored packaging. Kagome wasn't sure whether to be relieved, amused, or dumbfounded. 'Guess he likes matcha then?'
Their host, the lord who had beseeched them himself, interrupted to address her.
"The bathhouse you requested has been prepared," he said, with only the smallest tip of his head in her direction. Then his gaze slid to Sesshomaru, and his polite smile wavered nervously. "And for our most esteemed guest—"
"I do not require lodging," Sesshomaru said curtly, before the man could finish.
The lord's expression grew strained, clearly uncertain how to proceed after such a declaration — never mind the clear dismissal of the demon lord not even sparing him a glance in his own estate — but Kagome took pity on him before he could risk contradicting his royal prickliness.
"We'll be up all night guarding the princess, after all," she assured. Though she was certain more effort would end up going into keeping Inuyasha and Sesshomaru from butting heads than fighting off whatever creature might come for the princess's soul, if it did at all. Nobles as a demographic — but especially the people of this era, where mysticism and magic were so very real — were a rather paranoid and superstitious group.
In this case, that paranoia was not entirely unfounded.
It was well into the night when it happened. Kagome had almost begun to think Miroku had indeed conned their host into this job, and the biggest threat at hand was the cold war happening between Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. In fact, the complete quiet of it all had her more on edge than anything. When Inuyasha called her out for those nerves, she even admitted as such. Kagome didn't think herself a particularly anxious person, but the anticipation was far more nerve-racking than being in the throes of battle she'd experienced so far.
Then, the echo of a pain she'd rather have forgotten pulsed through her.
Kagome straightened with a jolt, her eyes darting to the late princess's corpse just in time for it to rise into the air. She dove behind Inuyasha with a frightened screech. Inuyasha tensed, fingers wrapping around Tessaiga's hilt while she pointed in horror at the flickering orb that could only be the princess's soul as it slowly emerged from her lifeless body. The exterior wall rattled as it took shape, and that was all the warning they got before it crumbled.
Inuyasha surged to his feet. "So, it finally shows itself."
And show itself it did.
The creature melted into existence before them. It started with the eyes, and then the translucent form of its serpentine body slowly followed. Entwined around the corpse, the serpent almost seemed to stare right through her as it met Kagome's horrified gaze from across the room. Her fingers curled around the fabric of Inuyasha's robes, trembling as its gaze bore down on her.
Inuyasha stretched an arm out in front of her and snarled in warning at the creature. The sound jolted Kagome back to the problem at hand, to their entire purpose for being there.
"Don't worry about me," she insisted, despite the fear that tightened her throat. "The princess, Inuyasha—!"
"Are you unable to defend even that which is already dead, Inuyasha?" Sesshomaru, silent up until then, turned his gaze on the serpent. His eyes roved over the creature, then the body of the dead princess that hovered in the air between them, held in its translucent grasp. "Pitiful."
Kagome didn't even see him draw his sword.
But the creature, this soul-stealing beast, vanished with a burst of light and an inhuman shriek that echoed so loudly it rattled the remaining walls. And in the wake of its demise was Sesshomaru, sword outstretched in the empty air that the serpent had just been. The princess's body fell back to the floor with a quiet thump, freed from its grasp. Forgetting her previous fear of the corpse, Kagome rushed over to check that the soul had indeed returned safely. And nearly flung herself right back across the room.
The princess opened her eyes.