Ties to Nowhere

Years passed while Kagome trained in the art of magic with Sora, the witch, returning home every few months for training with her mother in the art of being a Lady, and in combat with her father. In Sora’s small but cluttered hut, Kagome would study scrolls, do the chores that Sora declared she was too old and decrepit to do, and assist her in creating basic spells. During her free time, she would wander the forest alone, thinking back on her encounters with Sesshomaru.

Her life, her training, her everything…it essentially revolved around her becoming his future mate, bringing the houses of their two families together. But she wasn’t obsessing about him purely out of her obligation or duty to "like" him - during the short time they had spent together over the years, he had always been courteous and respectful of her, never lashing out at her for what she was or the fact that they were being forced together by their fathers. Above all, she was nervous – he had a lot to offer in terms of handsomeness and power – and what did she have? She would have to work very hard in order to make herself worthy of him in her own mind.

Sessomaru and his father would visit occasionally when she returned home, but it seemed to be just so her father could brief his father on the progress of her training. As time went on, it became apparent that Sesshomaru wanted very little to do with visiting the palace in the Northern Forest. During her fifth summer of training, he did not come.

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After the general had departed from his last routine visit, Kagome's father told her what had happened. It seemed that Sesshomaru, like so many young men, had become increasingly displeased with his father’s teachings and had left home to begin training in the South with his uncle. Kagome tried her hardest to hide her disappointment from her father and his during their visits, but as time went on and she learned that Sesshomaru had finished his training but still was not coming to see her, she wondered if he had any desire in seeing her again at all. Her mood when she was alone was dark, and she became quieter and reserved with people that she would normally be unguarded around. However, she became more focused than ever on her training. She would show him that she was worthy of him…

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A few months before the end of her training with Sora, Kagome was called home. An emergency meeting of the demon high council had been called, and she was expected to attend. She didn’t learn the news until she reached the palace, and her handmaiden immediately spoke to her on her way to her room.

"My Lady, everyone is in an uproar!" she said in a hushed but excited tone as they walked quickly down the halls towards Kagome's quarters. "The general has pupped a human woman! His Lady is in hysterics and has been sent to her family's palace! The cats are saying that there must be war to overthrow him!" Kagome felt the blood draining from her face and clenched her fists tightly, but kept walking until they reached her room. Whatever her handmaiden said after that, Kagome was only half-listening. A war…what does this mean for us…for me…I wonder how *he* must be feeling right now. She began changing her clothes in preparation for her family leaving to join the council meeting that would take place that evening on the Southern border.

It was the beginning of the end...