Someone Who Completes Me

AN: A few of my friends have been confused about a few things, so I thought I’d explain them just to be clear.

1. The time traveling—Kagome jumped through the well in 1996 and ended up in 1496. Time seems to have passed at the same rate for both time periods, and three years after Naraku’s defeat, Kagome returned to the feudal era for good.  Here’s where people got confused—for Kagome and the gang, seven years have passed (or a total of ten years since Naraku’s defeat). For Souta, eighty years have passed before he sends Ali through the well, causing her to travel from 2079 to 1506.

2. Kagome knows English? Several of my friends have expressed confusion at this because she missed so much school looking for jewel shards. My spin is that Kagome started learning English in elementary school and took it in seventh and eighth grades, plus whatever classes she DID manage to attend during the series. Hope this all helps… 

Thanks again to my beta readers!

Jaken was concerned for his master. The half-goddess held the strangest hold on him, one that Jaken didn’t know how to break. Not even Rin, the silly little human, had the honor of walking beside his master as an equal. He followed the pair as they walked down the road toward Inuyasha’s village, their hands occasionally brushing. Jaken narrowed his eyes at the girl and pulled out a scroll that held a record of every time Sesshomaru behaved strangely because of her and recorded this latest incident.

Ali flicked one of her ears back toward a suspiciously silent Jaken. She turned around and walked backwards, lifting an eyebrow at the toad who tried to juggle the staff of two heads, Ah-Un’s reigns, and a scroll on which he was scribbling. “What is he doing?” she asked Sesshomaru softly. The demon lord turned his head to watch the toad, and Ali could swear his eyes rolled.

“He is under the impression that you have somehow enchanted me,” he responded. Ali snorted. Like she had enough power to do something like that! Nor did she have a death wish. She shook her head at the strange little toad and turned back to face the road in front of her. “Alithia, yesterday you said that Tokijin was ‘creepy.’ What did you mean by that?” the demon lord asked, his hand resting on the hilt of the sword he was speaking of.

“It wants blood and death. It’s giggling, though as long as you’re holding it, it’s hardly noticeable. I don’t like it at all,” Alithia said with a shiver. Sesshomaru gave a soft snort. It didn’t surprise him that she didn’t like Tokijiin, given her powers. He paused and waited for Jaken to stumble into him.

“Take Ah-Un and let my brother know that I will arrive this evening and that I am bringing Alithia with me,” he ordered and growled when the toad began to whine about leaving him alone with the girl. As Jaken left with tears streaming down his face, Sesshomaru pretended not to hear Alithia’s giggle of amusement. The pair walked down the road in a comfortable silence for nearly four hours before Alithia began to hum distractedly. Sesshomaru flicked his gaze sideways and inwardly smiled at the dreamy expression on her face. Staring out at the road ahead of them, he cleared his throat softly to get her attention. Remembering how much she seemed to enjoy reading, he decided to tell her a story.

“Once, there was a powerful demon who had a beautiful wife and a dutiful son. One day, the demon had two swords forged from his fangs. One was called Tesseiga, which meant ‘the iron crushing fang.’ The other was called Tensaiga, meaning ‘the heavenly birth fang.’ The first sword was capable of destroying one hundred enemies in a single stroke; the second sword saved one hundred allies by reviving them from death.  Then the demon fell in love with a human and had a second son the same night he passed from this world. To each son, he left a sword. To his firstborn and heir, he left the weaker of the two swords, Tensaiga. To his hanyo son, Tesseiga. For many years, his first son did not know what had become of Tesseiga, which he greatly desired for himself. When he learned of what his father had done, the first son felt betrayed and began seeking a way to kill his younger brother to gain his rightful inheritance. Eventually, the younger son proved worthy of the blade that their father had left him, and the elder brother gave up on claiming it as his own. Tesseiga had bonded itself to the younger brother, and nothing could be done about it. Although the elder of the two brothers did gain other swords of power, he never stopped wondering why his father gave him the weaker of the two swords,” Sesshomaru said.

Ali winced as Sesshomaru told his story. She felt bad for him, though she’d never tell him that. Sesshomaru didn’t seem the type to accept what he’d consider pity. Ali thought about the story for several long minutes as they continued down the road. It occurred to her that Sesshomaru’s story resembled a fairy tale.  

“Your father actually gave you the more powerful of the two swords, you know,” she said, shivering a little when he glared at her, his lip drawn back in snarl as he stared at her like she’d grown a second head. “Look, I may not have the physical strength required to do it, but I know of at least a dozen ways to kill you in less than a minute. Taking life away is easy—giving it back isn’t. Humans have tried and will continue trying to bring back the dead. Although on the rare occasion it does succeed, it ends horribly for all parties involved if they use magic. But you—you can bring back people like they were—whole. If I had a sword that could do that, I’d give it to the one child I wanted to take my place on the throne, as it were,” she explained with a shrug. “Besides, you seem to be pretty powerful on your own—why would you even need Tessaiga? You, unlike your idiot of a brother, don’t get drawn into ridiculous fights.”

Sesshomaru was shocked beyond words. Never had he looked at his father’s ‘gift’ that way. There was also a little part of him that swelled with pride in response to her words about him not needing Tesseiga. He smothered his smile and forced a scowl to cross his features. “Why would you give your child Tensaiga and not Tesseiga? That is something I still do not understand,” he said. Alithia took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“You really miss your father, don’t you?” she asked softly. Sesshomaru chose not to respond, but he didn’t pull his hand from hers either. “I doubt ‘Lord of the Western Lands’ is an empty title. What use is land without people to gather its resources? With Tensaiga at your side, you can revive your subjects when you need to,” Alithia explained. “And you have better judgment than your brother, who would revive people just because he could or because someone begged him to,” she added.

Sesshomaru snorted. He could only imagine what his idiot of a half-brother would do with Tensaiga and gave a mental shudder. He pretended not to notice how his fingers curled around hers, or how warm his chest felt with the simple action.

Alithia let out an envious sigh. “I know from a few things that Kagome has said that you initially hated Inuyasha; that it seemed to her that you felt as if Izyaoi and Inuyasha stole your father from you. But remember something Sesshomaru—there is something you have that Inuyasha never will, and that is memories of your father. You may have fought with him the day he died, but Inuyasha has never even seen his face.” Alithia’s voice was filled with raw envy, and it hitched with a choked-back sob. Sesshomaru stopped in the middle of the road and turned to her, lifting her chin up with his other hand.

“You do not remember your parents?” he questioned.

She shook her head, a sad smile crossing her face. “I was only five when they died. I remember the day they died… There was so much blood… and fire… and screaming…” Alithia’s voice trailed off as her eyes began to glaze and terror laced her scent. Sesshomaru could see she was about to have a panic attack. So close to his brother’s village was not the ideal place for that to happen—from the expression currently on her face, it would be even worse than the last attack he’d seen her have, thus endangering Rin. This was something Sesshomaru refused to allow. So he did something that shocked even himself—he kissed her.

Ali was only anchored to the present by the demon lord’s hand intertwined with hers. She could smell gas, blood, and burning flesh and hear screaming, though it was indistinct. She hated reliving this memory; it took so much out of her—her memories screeched to a halt as she became aware of Sesshomaru’s lips capturing hers in a heated kiss. She gave a surprised squawk, allowing his hot tongue to dance past her lips, and to Ali’s immense surprise, dual with hers as she kissed him back. Somehow, her hands wound up tangled in his hair as he pulled her closer to him with a small growl that made Ali’s knees go weak. When Sesshomaru nipped her lip with his fangs, Ali felt an icy cold sensation run down her spine.

*I’m doing it again, that thing that makes demons act really weird around me. No other reason for him to kiss me. Unless it was ‘cause I’m too close to Rin to have a panic attack.* Ali pushed away from Sesshomaru with a deep blush and licked a tiny bead of blood from her bottom lip. She stared at the ground as he gave a low growl of annoyance.

“I didn’t mean for that to happen, Lord Sesshomaru. I apologize.”

Sesshomaru lifted an eyebrow at the girl. He hadn’t any idea of what she was talking about. “What are you talking about, Alithia?” he asked in a more growly tone than he meant to. Alithia flinched.

“Well, either I was giving off that scent that drives demons crazy or you kissed me because I was panicking and you didn’t want to slap me,” she said softly, still staring at the dirt. It was Sesshomaru’s turn to flinch. Was he really that transparent to her? He snorted and lifted her chin.

“What if I kissed you simply because I wanted to?” he asked. Her purple eyes filled with shock and her jaw dropped. “I could have done something else to snap you out of your panic attack, but I chose to kiss you. You did not trick this Sesshomaru into doing something he did not wish to,” he lied coolly. A blush stained the girl’s cheeks becomingly, making him actually want to kiss her. Sesshomaru let his hand drop from her chin and began walking down the road toward Inuyasha’s village again, pleased when Alithia caught up to him a minute later and walked beside him silently.

As the sun sank behind the mountains, Ali began walking slower. She was not ready to face Inuyasha’s gang. “I will not allow my brother to hurt you.” She jumped at the soft assurance coming from the demon lord.  She gave him a faint smile and exhaled shakily. Before she could thank him, a small reddish blur slammed into her midsection.

“Ali-chan!” a tiny voice squeaked. Ali stared down at Shippo’s head in surprise. “We thought you’d been kidnapped!” he sobbed into her chest. Ali smiled and started rubbing his head.

 “Ali-chan!” The way the village children began tugging at Alithia’s clothes in their attempt to get her attention made his breath catch in his chest. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He shook off the sensation and stared as the little fox climbed on top of Alithia’s head to play a set of pipes. The children began tugging Alithia toward the village as they sang the most ridiculous song Sesshomaru had ever heard.

Sango lifted her head from where she knelt in the garden as the sounds of Shippo’s pipes reached her ears. A moment later, she spotted her twins clinging to Ali’s hands. She winced as a pang of guilt filled her chest. She hadn’t meant for Ali to hear her comment about Naraku. Ali was nothing like the monster who had destroyed her family. She stood up and dusted herself off while she waited for Ali to come close enough for Sango to apologize. The group of children, however, had other ideas and drug the half-goddess to the river.

“Tayaiji.” Sango turned to Sesshomaru in surprise. She didn’t think they’d ever spoken. “She had no choice in what happened. She will not harm your children unless they go on a killing spree,” the demon lord said softly.

“I know why she did it, but what do you mean ‘she had no choice’?” Sango asked.

“I was partially incorrect in my assumption that Alithia is a half-goddess—her mother is a tennin.” Sango’s eyebrows furrowed as she tried to remember what a tennin was.  When she did, she couldn’t help but wince. For someone gentle as Ali to be forced to kill—Sango now worried that the sweet girl would go insane.

The next morning Ali felt her stomach turn as Inuyasha’s crew told her of each horrid thing Naraku had done to them and understood why Sango had been so furious with her the last time she’d gone full-goddess. It all sounded so horridly familiar that even Inuyasha smacking Jaken around didn’t bring a smile to her face. She was glad that Sesshomaru had left early that morning—she would never be able to hide her growing unease from him.

Ali looked over at the old priestess as she striped leaves from some sort of medicinal plant. “You said that even before he became Naraku he was filled with an evil aura, and Lord Sesshomaru said that he was once known by another name. What was it?” she asked.

Inuyasha stopped pounding his brother’s servant and let a deep growl escape his lips. “That bastard’s name was Onigumo.” Ali closed her eyes and swallowed against the bile rising in her throat. “Hey, are you okay? You look sorta funny,” Inuyasha said, his amber eyes narrowing as Ali stood up and took shaky steps to her yellow pack. She didn’t answer but dug to the bottom of the pack and pulled out a small black bundle.

“Kagome, would you look at this please?”

Kagome took the small bundle from Ali’s trembling fingers curiously and opened it. On the black silk cloth lay an unusual ring. Tiny diamonds surrounded a shard of pink stone set in silver. Kagome dropped the bundle as if it were scalding her as she realized that the pink stone was in fact a shard of the shikon jewel. She looked at Ali, whose face was now twisted into a grim smile. Inuyasha picked up the ring and studied it for a moment as Miroku and Shippo peered over his shoulder.

“Where did you get a shard of the shikon jewel?” Kagome asked Ali. Ali ignored the shouts of denial coming from the others as she closed her eyes.

“That is the custom engagement ring that my fiancé had designed for me,” she said softly. A deafening silence filled the small hut as Ali ducked out and fled.