HISTORY LESSONS

Chapter 3- Discovery

Disclaimer: I don¡¯t own Inu Yasha, only the plot and OCs
A/N- Originally chap. 3 was really long, but i decided to cut it in half.

The woman was sitting on a rock next to a hot spring, her with her back to the front turned slightly to the left, her feet dangling in the water. Her blue kimono was loose and hanging off her shoulders, as if she was getting ready to bathe. Her face was turned and looking at the front, bright blue slightly closed and a gentle smile on her lips. Her wavy ebony hair, reaching to her hips, was loose and dancing in a slight breeze. It revealed the back of her kimono, on which a white dog stood howling at the crescent moon. The miniscule stars embroidered on it seemed to match her sparkling eyes. There was a blue crescent moon on her forehead, maroon stripes on her hands, like that of Sesshoumaru, and another moon on her neck.

Kagome blinked. ¡°Na-Nani! That's¡¦ me!¡±

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

¡®Nononononononononononononono!¡¯ were the thoughts that went through Kagome¡¯s head as she stared open mouthed at the portrait. ¡®HOW WHY WHEN? Oh, shoot! That cannot be me!¡¯ Kagome mentally smacked herself in the head. Just because they looked similar it didn't mean it was her. But shelooked very very familiar.¡®Of course not. It¡¯s just someone else that only looks like me. Yeah¡¦ think of Kikyo...¡¯ Nevertheless she could not take her eyes off the entrancing woman.


Back at Home

Kagome sat on her bed and threw her bag next to her. ¡®What am I going to do when I face him again? I never thought I¡¯d live to see the day Sesshomaru takes a human wife. Gah! How scary¡¦¡¯

Flashback- Few weeks before

Kagome hurriedly walked across the rice fields, trying to get to the well before Inu Yasha noticed she was gone. Suddenly, she felt a finger pulling at the thing strap of her white spaghetti top she was wearing with a white and pink flower patterned skirt that went to her knees. Thinking it was the perverted monk, she turned around, hand aimed to slap his face. ¡°Keep your hands-!¡±
She gasped as a clawed hand caught her wrist before it made contact. There stood Sesshoumaru eyeing her clothes and her yellow bag. ¡°Where are you going, human?¡±
¡°I¡¦ ano¡¦ home?¡±
¡°and where is this home of yours?¡±
¡°It¡¯s in the¡¦ um¡¦ forest¡¦¡±
¡°This Sesshoumaru knows you are not being entirely truthful¡± his grip on her arm tightened ¡°Now answer him¡±
¡°Ouch! All right, all right! But you can't tell anyone. I have to go through the well in the forest to get to where I live¡±
¡°Where does the well lead to?¡±
¡°Eh?¡±
¡°This Sesshoumaru knows the well works as a portal. He has seen you come in and out of it. Tell him wench, where do you come from?¡±
Kagome stared wide eyed. He knew, all this time. How could she have not known he knew? Well now he knew she knew he knew she knew he knew.

¡°I come from 500 years in the future¡±

Sesshoumaru¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°that would explain the indecent clothing you wear¡±
Kagome pulled her hand free ¡°It¡¯s hot, and it¡¯s not like this era has air conditioning¡±

He raised an eyebrow

¡°It takes a while to understand Lady Kagome speak¡± Miroku, Sango, and Inu Yasha appeared behind Kagome.

¡°Erm¡¦ anyway, I¡¯ll just go now...¡±

¡°You¡¯re not going anywhere until we find all the jewel shards!¡± saidInu Yasha

¡°Inu Yasha! I have 2 tests coming up! I¡¯m going home to study, and I¡¯ll be back in 3 days! And don¡¯t you dare come after me!¡± she huffed and stormed off

¡°Oy! Kagome!¡±

¡°Osuwari¡± she called behind her

¡°What was that for?¡± he snarled getting up from the ground

¡°Leave her be¡± Sesshoumaru said coldly, surprising everyone. ¡°Three days is nothing¡±

End Flashback

Amazingly enough, Sesshoumaru was more lenient about Kagome leaving for a few days at a time than Inu Yasha. After learning that Kagome held knowledge of the future, he became very interested in her time. Kagome had refused to tell him anything of great importance, knowing Sesshoumaru had the life span and the power to change history, but told him whatever else he wanted to know. Like the state of her clothes.

¡°I¡¯d better get ready to leave. Still got Naraku to hunt down¡± as Kagome shook her presents for her family out of her bag, something fell with a ¡®thunk¡¯ on the floor. ¡°The history book! It has all the information on Sesshoumaru¡¯s future! Or is it the past? Should I take a peek?¡± sniggering to herself about the look on Sesshoumaru¡¯s face if he ever found out what she was up to (thought it was purely imagination, she doubted there would ever be a ¡®look¡¯ on his face), she opened the book and turned to the table of contents. ¡°Lord of the West¡¦ Lord of the West¡¦ there!¡± grinning mischievously, Kagome turned to the correct page¡°The Legend of the West ?¡± she read out loud. The subchapter labeled so caught Kagome's interest.

¡°This folklore, originating from around 500 years ago, when demons and spiritual beings lived among humans, is based around factual figures andis not one of a simple fairytale with a happy ending. You will find mikos, royal demons, hanyous, and humans alike in the Legend of the West.

It began with a very powerful priestess, or miko, named Midoriko, who died battling a terrible youkai (demon) over 500 years prior. She trapped her own soul and that of the youkai together, giving birth to the Shikon no Tama, also known as the Jewel of Four Souls. Neither good or evil depending on the hands of its holder, it caused havoc and chaos before it was finally entrusted to priestess Kikyo, a reincarnation of Midoriko.

The priestess, who lived in a village that would one day become present day Edo, had the power to purify the jewel and keep it away from evil hands until it could grant its single wish. Thus came along a half-human, half-dog demon Inu Yasha. They fell in love, and Kikyo offered the jewel for the hanyou to make a wish on. If the wish was completely selfless, the jewel would disappear. It was the only way to destroy it. It is known that he had been planning on wishing himself to be a human so he could spend his life with his miko¡±

Kagome paused, frowning. ¡®Why is the story of Inu Yasha and Kikyo in here?¡¯ It went on to how Naraku tricked them into betraying each other, and how Kikyo died and Inu Yasha was sealed to a tree. Heart pounding, Kagome read on.

¡°The Shikon jewel was thought to be lost forever within Kikyo¡¯s grave. Then, 50 years later, a young girl appeared claiming to be from the future. Confirming the villagers¡¯ suspicion that she was a reincarnation of the late priestess, Shikon no Tama was found within her body, and accidentally shattered. The records concerning the mysterious girl are not clear. Oral stories, passed on from generation to generation, tells us the girl was Kagome from present day Japan. She herself held mysterious holy powers andwas able to freeInu Yasha from his enchanted sleep, andhelped him in search of Naraku and the scattered shards.

They joined several others on their journey: Miroku, whose grandfather was an enemy of Naraku, had a cursed wind tunnel on his hand; Sango, a taijiya from the village Midoriko came from; her fire cat demon Kirara; and Shippo, a fox demon adopted by Kagome¡±

It went on and on into detail about their lives. Kagome read up to where it said Naraku was found a year later before she shut the book.

They were in a history book. How did anyone know so much? The stories of herself, her friends, their adventures, were all in the book, and the information was very accurate. From the looks of it, it went beyond what Kagome had gone through so far. ¡®My future is in here! I can find out anything I want, I can read what¡¯s going to happen to us¡¦ I can find out about Naraku!¡¯ just the thought of it was overwhelming. She lied down on her bed, thinking.

When she first found out she was in the past, she was worried that she might alter the future, that she¡¯d come back home to find it drastically changed. But she may have changed everything by not going to the past. Was it all meant to be? Was she supposed to do what she was doing? Kagome could feel a headache coming on as two sides of her argued. One told her to throw away the book and never look in it. The other, however, told her to go ahead and read. What would happen, would happen, and what was done was done. She finally gave in.

¡°Just the part about where we can find Naraku! It can¡¯t be a bad thing to get rid of him, right? Just that little secion¡¦¡±

She flipped it open again and began to turn the pages when something else caught her eye.

The last 20 pages or so were all of photographs. There were portraits like the ones she saw in the castle, the rooms and outside of it caught in pictures from every angle, and even a map. And there. The painting of the woman that looked so much like Kagome. She wanted to know who she was. 'It can't hurt, could it?' It was in black and white and Kagome squinted her eyes and read the caption beneath it:
¡±Lady Kagome of the Western Lands. The last lady andwife of the last lord, Lord Sesshoumaru of the Western Lands¡±

Below it, a portrait labeled ¡°Lord Sesshoumaru, eldest son of InuTaisho, the last Lord of Western the Lands¡± showed the tall, handsome demon's cold and emotionless demeanor.

And as if to rub it in her face, the opposite page was filled with a single painting of the two, portraying her back to his chest, and looking very much like they were indeed lovers.

Author's Note:Keke remember to review!