A/N: So far this is complete, but if I get enough requests I might post a follow-up describing Kagome and Sesshōmaru exploring ruins together. Might - I can't guarantee that muse will cooperate.

When Kagome got her letter for the Japanese School of Magic, she was ecstatic. She had been eleven at the time, and her mother and grandfather both encouraged her to go to the Mahō no nihonjin gakkō, assuring her that they would have teachers capable of furthering her studies in how to use her miko abilities more than she had managed thus far. Seeing as her miko powers weren't like normal miko powers were (reiryoku, after all, wasn't pink, it was blue), she had high hopes for this school.

When she went she was immediately sorted into Chūsei House – which made sense. Kagome was brilliantly smart, but she didn't seek out wisdom and knowledge for its own sake unlike those in Chishiki House, Kagome was unafraid to meet any challenge head on but bravery and courage weren't her main traits, unlike those in Yūki House, and whilst she was ambitious, her ambition was not her main goal unlike those in Yashin House.

Even though Chūsei House was looked down upon by the other three Houses, Kagome had felt right at home in the House of loyalty, easily making friends in the upper years. Not being from a traditional Magical line, she had been degraded for most of her first year there, until it became clear that her grades – which were higher than in anyone else in her year – meant she clearly wasn't inferior to anyone or anything.

When Miroku, a monk, and Sango, a girl from a long family line of ethical mercenaries who worked for the Magical government, graduated three years ahead of her, she had been lonely, but she soon found a new fascination in their new Potion's sensei. Sesshōmaru-sama was from a very well-respected bloodline, and he was cold and pompous – towards everybody without fail. It was, honestly, refreshing to be treated the same as everyone else, even if that being treated the same as amounted to large amounts of disdain at first. Her competency and thorough enjoyment of the subject won out, however, and she broke past his cold façade when she asked him if he would tutor her to her Mastery so that she could become a Potion's Mistress.

"Hmm… You do have the talent and drive to succeed, this is true. You are aware that doing so would mean you have to stay on at school for those three years?"

She nodded with a smile, "I'm already going to be staying on to take Ancient Languages, so I have no problems with that at all, I was expecting it to be honest."

He huffed lightly and smirked a little bit at her. "Hn. We are more alike than I thought. I am in my fourth year of Ancient Languages. All right, you have yourself a position. I will let Headmaster Ichiro know."

Kagome bowed deeply and smiled brilliantly at her new sensei. "Thank you so very much! I won't let you down, Sesshōmaru-sensei."

He dismissed her and she ran back to her Head Girl dorm, where she would be staying until the Headmaster arranged for different housing for her.

Sesshōmaru was unsure of what he was getting into with this new situation that had been dropped into his lap. Had it been any other student he would have told them not to waste time with their delusions of competence. Kagome, however, was beyond competent – she was highly skilled, dedicated, determined, and truly loved Potions. She was an artist – he had already had her assist him in making potions during her time as a student here and her every movement was perfectly precise, steady, smooth, and graceful. Those traits were hard to find in students. She was a joy to work with, and he held no delusions that he would do anything but thoroughly enjoy her remaining six years at the school.

He was only teaching for a short time – his true joy was studying ancient ruins, hence his Ancient Languages class. He had originally intended on leaving as soon as his studies were over, but… well, he would need to stay on an additional year to finish Kagome's Mastery, and then he might as well wait until she left to leave himself. That would give Headmaster Ichiro more time to find a replacement.

Yes, this would definitely be an interesting six years.

Kagome hummed to herself as she stirred the simmering potion six times deosil, then added the newt's eyes and stirred it widdershins twice. There! Now it had to simmer for fifteen minutes before she added the eagle intestines.

Do you need any help, Sesshōmaru? I'm free for fifteen minutes.

Last year she had mastered a spell that would let her telepathically communicate with another person, so long as they performed the spell as well, and Sesshōmaru had been intrigued enough to let her try it with him. He'd found it infinitely preferable to her speaking out loud whilst he was in the midst of brewing, because there was a sensation that the recipient was given to warn them of an incoming message, whilst out loud, there was no such warning system, he just heard her speak. So when they brewed together, they largely only spoke in their minds.

Yes, you can crush the moonflower petals and add them in when I tell you to, thank you.

She grabbed the mortar and pestle and obligingly crushed up the moonflower petals, then, when he directed her, she added them into the cauldron and cleaned the instruments she had been using. Next she diced up some flitterbloom and added that in when directed, before returning to her own potion for the time being.

Thank you for your assistance, Kagome.

She smiled and nodded as she added bat wings to her potion. You're very welcome, Sesshōmaru.

She was pleased with the easy camaraderie they had managed to attain. She knew it wouldn't last – they would both be leaving school once her course in Ancient Languages was complete, and she only had one more year left – but hopefully they would stay in touch by raven, and get together to brew potions together once in a while. Not too often though – Kagome had plans to go to China and begin exploring some of the magical ruins there. Potions was only one of her passions – ancient cultures was her other passion and she craved knowing more about them. As of this past year she was now fluent in both ancient and modern Chinese, Greek, and Egyptian, as well as fluent in Mayan and Portuguese, and Quechua (the language of the Incas) and South American/Mexican Spanish. This year she was learning Roman and Italian – every year in Ancient Languages they learned an ancient language and its modern counterpart. Of course Latin was not in the class but that was because they all learned Latin as a matter of course during their education, as it was what a large portion of Magical Society used as their spell language.

Learning the languages was easy, they just used the spells from the language repository – Ancient Languages also crammed in as much about the ancient cultures and modern cultures as they could fit in, however, and once the languages were learned, class was taught in that language for the rest of the year, to make sure it stuck. Granted, it was incredibly rare that a magically learned language would not stick, but occasionally it did happen and this was a preventative for that happening.

Sighing, she stirred her potion twelve times deosil before taking it off the burner and adding porcupine quills and letting it finish, before bottling it up. Then she went to help Sesshōmaru with his experimental potion. Last time they had gotten this far the potion boiled over, so she needed to be on hand in case there was an accident.

Everything went wrong as soon as he added the bicorn horn, and Sesshōmaru shoved Kagome behind him, stepping back as the potion exploded. He distantly heard Kagome cry out in dismay as he was covered in the unfinished potion – it would do him no harm, but he would have nasty burns for a few hours… Wait, what on earth was she doing?

Oh. Kagome was cleaning up the mess, a few deft flicks of her wand clearing the scalding potion from his body and the surrounding area, before she hurried over towards him and knelt down. "I think we should add the bicorn horn after the doxy venom, not before it, and see if it is less explosive. More importantly what were you thinking not shielding yourself!"

He was about to protest being scolded by his assistant when she placed her hands on his shoulders and he felt her purification energy flowing through him. It tingled lightly, but the pain of his burns receded completely, and he unashamedly stared at her. "What just happened here?"

She flushed in a completely endearing manner and fidgeted slightly. "Um, well, my ki isn't reiryoku like most miko have, so I was taught by one of the yōkai staff members how to use it, and we found out by accident that I could um, heal yōkai. We didn't tell anybody because there might be bad repercussions if lots of people knew, but there's no way in hell I'm letting my best friend suffer for hours from burns when I can fix the problem!"

Sesshōmaru was stunned thrice over. Firstly, a yōkai teaching a miko how to use her powers; secondly, a miko being able to heal yōkai – and her trusting that he would not leak the knowledge; thirdly, best friend? Certainly he had thought of Kagome in such a manner ever since their second year of working on her Potions Mastery had been completed, but he had never dreamed that she would feel the same way about him, in spite of her crush on him. She had other friends, unlike him. He had a few acquaintances, and an arranged fiancée that he had never intended to wed, and still had no intention of wedding, a fact which his mother had finally relented on this past year, although Kagura herself was still intent on chasing after him. But no true friends, excepting for Kagome, who had easily wormed her way into his heart.

There really was only one thing he could do in response to this situation, which was to squeeze one of the hands on his shoulder and say, "Thank you, Kagome. For everything."

Of course, this had her flustered and blushing again, but he would wait. He had time after all, they both did, and while she was not at a point in her life where she was interested in a relationship yet, he would wait for her to be ready, and then ask for her to mate him. Kagome would not reject him.

Kagome held up her torch, inspecting the writing on the wall closest to her as she murmured softly, her Dicta-Quill catching her soft words and transcribing them onto the parchment as she read the words on the tomb she was in. Exploring ancient ruins was a dangerous business, but Kagome had thrived doing it, and besides, she came prepared. She always wore the sword she had learned to fight with in school, the bow and arrows she had learned both at home and continuing in school, a pair of knives strapped to her inner arms, and kept a medical kit shrunken in her pocket, as her bag could potentially be cut away – a medical kit with both magical and non-magical first aid items in it. That had saved her skin more than once.

Sighing, she grabbed her quill and parchment and placed them into her bag, pulling out her lunch and beginning to eat it. It was a simple meal of sushi and onigiri, but no less delicious for all that it was simple. She heard footsteps coming along the corridor and performed a quick spell that would alert her if the coming person (or group of people) was an immediate danger to her. Thankfully, it seemed not, so she stayed where she was at, listening to the footsteps getting ever closer. She was about a fourth of the way through her meal – she always packed enough food for several meals in case she got too absorbed and lost track of time whilst she was exploring the ruins – when a person entered the light shed off by her torch, and their long silver hair made her gasp. "S-sesshōmaru? What on earth are you doing here? This place is dangerous!"

He raised an eyebrow at her and she flushed. Right. Daiyōkai. Duh. He was not invulnerable, but he was in far less danger than she was. "I should ask you the same thing, Kagome. I had no idea you and I shared so many similar interests."

She grinned and patted the floor next to her. He obligingly sat down, and she offered him some of her meal. He didn't need to eat as often as she did, but it was only polite. "Have some food, I bet it's been a while since you ate and I always pack enough for three meals. Just in case."

He took an onigiri and bit into it, and she smiled at him as she ate another piece of sushi. They ate in companionable silence, before Kagome stretched, re-packed the rest of her food, and shrunk it down so that it could safely stay in her pocket. "Well, I was going to go further, but I'd rather talk more with you and you just came from where I was going, so how about we go to my place and I'll make us some tea?"

He laughed softly and shook his head. "I'd rather go to my own home here, seeing as it is closer than yours and will give me an excuse to get rid of Kagura."

Kagome wrinkled her nose at that. It wasn't that she disliked Kagura as a person – they got on rather well back when she was in school, and still wrote to each other often. It was just that, well… Kagura insisted on pursuing Sesshōmaru even though he had made it blatantly clear that he was not interested in that sort of a relationship with her. He had made his preferences in that matter perfectly clear, although he still hadn't made a move yet; Kagome thought that he was giving her time, which she was grateful for. Three years ago she would have been unready and unwilling for such a thing, wanting to focus more on her explorations than focusing on a relationship where she might be tied down. Now, however… well, she had been having a harder time not thinking about him anyway as of late – finding out that they both liked to explore ancient ruins was really a big tipping point.

If he asked, she would say yes. "All right, that sounds fine with me, hahaha. Let's get-"

Just then a knife flew past her face, and it was only the sound of it flying through the air that allowed her to dodge it.

Sesshōmaru cursed to himself as they were attacked. He hadn't been paying attention, having been focused on the person he loved and this wonderful new side to her. She was clearly a professional at the exploration business, just from what small bit he had seen from her. It was more than just her preparedness with bringing extra food, it was her open weapons, her comfortable stance, the bag at her side which he was certain held a Dicta-Quill and parchment. He was also positive – because it was just like her – that she had a first aid kit on her person. She was sensible like that.

Three more daggers were thrown their way; Kagome dodged one, but the other caught her side, making her hiss and draw her bow. Then she threw her torch so that the attacking party was in the light and they were in the shadows, and she began picking them off, her arrows aiming true – aiming to kill. In situations like this, unfortunately, it was kill or be killed, and no middle ground. Suddenly a necromancer in the group summoned a batch of Inferi and Sesshōmaru lit into them with Tenseiga, the heavenly blade cutting them all down within moments – it was designed to work against the dead, after all. The leader of the group yelped and cried out, "It's Sesshōmaru Taishō! We gotta scram!"

"Shit!"

The female with the throwing daggers managed to get his wand arm before she left, and he hissed, yanking the dagger out. It would be a few hours before it healed, but that was all. "She wouldn't have done that for no reason, Sesshōmaru. Let's go back to your place and get cleaned up, I need to stitch my wound and then make sure there wasn't anything detrimental to yōkai on that blade she threw at you. I know that you're immune to poisons but I've learned about substances that can cause healed wounds to get infected and other things like that, which you are not immune to."

He nodded shortly, gave her the Apparition coordinates, and allowed her to side-along Apparate him to his home, since he couldn't use his wand. Once they got inside she found her way to his kitchen and bundled him into a chair there, sternly telling Kagura, "Make sure he stays still, I need to stitch my wound up and then check for infection."

As soon as she left the room, Kagura looked solemnly at him. "That's how it is, then? She's why, isn't she?"

He nodded softly. Kagura was irritating, but not enough for him to want to harm her. "Yes. Before I was just chafing against the arrangement, but now… well, Mother has approved of the match, which is why there is no more arrangement and has not been for five or so years."

"Have you asked her yet?"

Sesshōmaru shook his head, "No, but I intend to now. I think the timing is finally right."

Kagura nodded. "I'll leave tomorrow, then."

They lapsed into silence until Kagome was back, a bandage visible through her torn (cut, rather) shirt as she took a vial out from her enlarged first aid kit and scooped some of his blood into it. The clear liquid turned a sickly yellow and she growled. "She gave you the worst one there is. I'll have to use Muggle first aid on this, which might sting. Potions can't help but alcohol does."

She grabbed a cloth and poured a foul-smelling clear liquid onto it; It was astringent and offended his sense of smell, and sure enough, it stung as she wiped his wound with it and squeezed the cloth so that the liquid permeated the entirety of the wound, causing him to hold back a hiss. Soon, however, the mess was cleaned up, and she bandaged his arm. "There we go, all clear."

Sesshōmaru smiled at her, "Thank you, Kagome. That could have ended badly had I been alone."

She blushed adorably and mumbled, "Well same here. Those Inferi would have killed me if I'd been alone."

He chuckled softly, "Apparently we were not meant to die today, then."

"Shall I make some tea?"

Kagura spoke up then, "Actually I'm headed into town, but you two go ahead. I'm leaving tomorrow."

Kagome looked as if she didn't know whether to be upset or pleased, but she settled for saying, "Well… Okay then. I guess I'll see you later. Write to me when you can?"

The wind yōkai winked at her, "Of course. I bet you'll have some good news for me next time I write to you."

Kagome looked confused, but nodded, and Kagura left the room as Kagome began preparing the tea. Once it was ready, she served both herself and Sesshōmaru, and he smiled at her. "Kagome… I have a question for you."

Might as well get it out of the way now.

Her mind touched his own, and she asked him, Are you sure you want to ask whatever it is right now? Kagura hasn't left the house yet.

He nodded, and out loud she said, "Okay… Ask away then."

"Would you do the honour of becoming my mate, Kagome?"

She gasped then, holding her hands over her mouth, and he worried that it was still too soon, that she wasn't ready – until one of her hands reached over and grabbed his, and she softly responded, "Yes. I would love nothing more, Sesshōmaru."

Her smile outshone the sun, and he was fairly certain that his own matched its intensity.