+ See Notes in First Chapter.

I'm alive and I have not given up on this story. Life continues to run away with all of us. But All things come to an end...eventually. Hopefully, that time is coming.

XIV.

"Good Morning," Yuka greeted Kagome as she entered her friend's apartment. "I see Seichi-san is still with you."

Kagome didn't bother to glance at her tall Inu shadow. She was well aware Sesshoumaru hadn't disappeared anywhere in the short trip from the hourly hotel. Partly her certainty had to do with the fact she was still wearing his suit jacket – at his insistence. Mostly, she knew it was because "I tripped an instinct," she shrugged at her old friend. "I brought breakfast," she announced needlessly while lifting the bread bag dangling from her arm. The heavier bag of bottles had been confiscated before they'd left Sesshoumaru's room.

Kagome carefully toed off her shoes before entering Yuka's apartment, by-passing the slippers left out to leave them for Sesshoumaru to use.

Jun was quickly in view leaning miserably over the low table centered in the standard sized tatami room. Clearly his evening hadn't quite let go of him yet.

Yuka smiled brightly as she lead both guests to that same table. "You're in good time for it," she settled on her side of the table across from Kagome and beside her boyfriend. "I have to be to work in another hour and a half." Both women kept up a stream of banal conversation for the benefit of Jun and Sesshoumaru.

Kagome and Yuka had learned to settle in comfortable silence years ago and often could communicate easily without speaking a word. Unfortunately their easy companionship was not easily communicated to others at the same time. Early in Jun and Yuka's relationship, they'd discovered that Jun thought a prolonged silence between the two human women was a sign of discord and anger. It was a personal quirk that resulted from his previous experiences. But it was a perception occasionally shared by others. The two females had adjusted their behavior to help prevent this misapprehension.

Kagome didn't need to be told that Yuka had work today. Her friend was wearing her work uniform. Yuka hadn't yet arranged her hair or donned her makeup, something Kagome knew indicated there was plenty of time before there was a need to leave.

Yuka didn't need to be told that Kagome brought breakfast. She always did. Just like Yuka didn't need to be informed that, "I bought you some strawberry milk," because Kagome always remembered her preference.

"I still don't know how you can stand that banana milk," was also an unneeded statement. "I do love your visits Kagome-chan," Yuka continued, "But I really just look forward to the fruit milk and chocolate croissants."

And Kagome knew what she meant. Fruit milk was considered something childish. Kids would drink it ritualistically after visiting public baths or after some other group bonding thing. Adults preferred alcohol to bond with their cohorts. New friends didn't have the comfort of having grown up together. There was a side that couldn't be shown to someone who only knew you as an adult.

"Would you two please stop talking?" Jun begged with a groan and Yuka smirked at Kagome. Kagome settled against the table across from Jun and began settling the bag of food on top.

She rummaged through the contents to pull out the two chocolate croissants and handed Yuka hers before reaching over to pull Sesshoumaru down to the side of the table across from Yuka. He was holding up breakfast with his grip on the bag of bottles. Once she got his claws to release the handle she pulled out the fruit milk for them.

She and Yuka clunked the bottles together and then opened croissants before digging in. All the while Kagome and Yuka continued to hold a silent conversation.

Kagome glanced at Yuka and swept her eyes at Jun before looking back at her girl friend. Yuka shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.

Apparently, Jun's binge last night hadn't helped him with the reason he'd gotten drunk. But Yuka wasn't sure if the hangover was all that was plaguing him this morning. Kagome shook her head to concur with Yuka's assessment. Jun was the type of person to find physical pain a way to offset emotional upset. They were both grateful the groaning youkai had never taken to anything more self-destructive than drinking too much when he got that way.

Jun didn't usually drink that much and Yuka would cut him off at the howling stage. But Yuka's boyfriend had suffered a disappointment at work that left him a multitude of negative feelings to work through and he'd gotten started early. Crying and growling into his alcohol before Kagome and Sesshoumaru had even put in an appearance. Jun's depression had been more effective in goading his fellow Inu to drink with him than competition, bullying or teasing would have.

Proof that the Northern Daijin wasn't as aloof and untouchable as previously thought. It had actually surprised Kagome somewhat. The shrines had no information on Sesshoumaru taking time to commiserate with anyone before. Masashi did rather publicly on occasion, but there was always the undertone of politics involved. Sesshoumaru didn't play those games.

Last night with Jun had no political ramifications. There was no PR play with it. Somehow, it made Sesshoumaru's seem far more genuine.

"Hn," was the quiet observation Sesshoumaru made of his fellow before fishing out a bottle of water and quietly nudging Jun's aching head with it on the table. The silent gesture roused the miserable male enough to look up and accept the offering before considering what was being handed to him.

Jun's hangover must have been worse than Sesshoumaru's because the male actually paled a little at the thought of sipping water. Still, he cracked the seal and took a tentative sip of the contents before resuming his defensive drape over the table in effort to avoid the thin light escaping through the blinds into the apartment and the other occupants around him.

Kagome and Yuka watched Sesshoumaru consider Jun's plight before gold eyes sought out the Reiki user. A swift redirection of his gaze to the water bottle communicated what he wanted Kagome to do.

Reiki healers could spark a temporary increase in youki activity and jolt any healing factor into a brief frenzy. It would also cause some unpleasant side effects.

Depending on how the Reiki was administered, there were the contact burns which could turn out to be worse than the injury or malady the treatment was to correct. The boosted healing rate wouldn't effect the burned area by virtue of what caused the burn, wherever it was. A minuscule amount of Reiki could do a lot of damage if it was delivered internally via a food or drink. If the Reikidosage was too large, the healer would have to go back in to remove the latent Reiki to stop the burning and hope the extraction process didn't create more damage.

Kagome's control was, as Sesshoumaru had observed before, acute. But even the finest control couldn't counteract an allergy, which was entirely possible with a youkai. Nearly all youkai had a negative reaction to exposure to her energy. How extensive the reaction was depended on the individual. The time to test reactions was not on someone already feeling poorly.

Besides the reaction to Reiki, the patient would also be negatively effected by the increased consumption of their body's resources. Recovering from a speed healing was worse than the hangover Jun was currently suffering from. Or so Kagome had been told. It seemed a waste of energy to do that to Jun without his knowledge, consent, or need. Jun didn't need to be anywhere today. With his last project finished up, he had a couple days of downtime.

Asking her to interfere in a situation where the treatment was something as simple as time, hydration, rest, and good food was unnecessary. But Kagome could sort of understand Sesshoumaru's concern. The side effects weren't common knowledge because most youkai wouldn't even consider seeking Reiki healers out for anything that wasn't an energy derived injury. Kagome could remove another's Reiki left over from an attack or accident. She could restore youki energy lines after a severe injury had created blockages. She could even heal damaged tissue by blocking a patient's opposing energy from the area she worked on as long as she carefully removed all evidence of her own energy before she finished up and worked fast. Every individual needed that personal energy to run through the whole of their body for optimal health, disruptions needed to be temporary whether human or youkai.

Kagome pointedly gazed away from Sesshoumaru's quiet communication. She definitely wasn't going to subject Jun to an unnecessary healing and she didn't want to get into an argument defending her lack of action. It would be a pointless activity that would only aggravate Jun's symptoms and irritate everybody else.

Yuka tapped her forefinger against the table once to catch Kagome's attention. Once she was certain of Kagome's regard, Yuka tilted her head toward the inu youkai beside Kagome and raised her eyebrows. The question wasn't hard to figure out and Kagome didn't need to look to the side to wonder what had caught Yuka's curiosity.

Kagome's response was to nod at Jun and discretely lift one finger alit with her energy like a glow worm. Yuka shook her head and finished off her fruit milk before sliding around the corner of the table to approach her hungover flatmate. Just as she was reaching to smooth his hair back from where it had fallen over his down turned face, Jun gave a pained groan and lifted his head from the table top.

"I'm sorry for telling you not to talk," his eyes pleaded with Yuka. "Don't be angry," was whined out as he ducked again.

Yuka smiled and brushed his hair back affectionately, "We're not upset. You have a headache. Kagome and I only really talk to make you feel better," she smirked over at Kagome before leaning into Jun and pressing a kiss to his temple. "Though you should probably drink some more water and eat something before Seichi-san starts to argue with Kagome-chan about speeding up your recovery."

Jun winced before glancing over at Sesshoumaru. "I am never doing that again," he stated forcefully before whining at the increased throb the expression caused him.

Kagome wryly smiled at the wall to avoid throwing it at Sesshoumaru. "Then eat something, there's only the one curry bread on the table. Should be easy enough to avoid it," Yuka told her boyfriend before planting another kiss to his forehead and pushed to her feet. "Kagome-chan and I need to pick out her clothes for the day."

"She needs to borrow more clothes?" Jun asked in surprise. Kagome didn't blame him. He was drunk when she and Yuka were discussing her plans for this trip. Most trips, Kagome would be heading directly from here to catch the morning train after their ritual morning after breakfast. She would don her own clothes, get on the train and nap her way back to Nishi no Mura.Not this trip. Natsuo had threatened to tie Kagome up and leave her in the woods if she came back early. That was no way to spend a night.

"Kagome's return home will be delayed a day," Yuka reminded him as both she and Kagome rose from the table and headed into the bedroom. "Have you thought about what you're going to do today?" she asked after they had closed the door behind them.

"I was originally going to seek out one of the shrines Jii-chan kept in contact with, see if one of them would let me nap for a few hours on the grounds," Kagome started. "That was before Seichi made an appearance."

"You could still do that," Yuka pointed out.

"Not with a youkai in tow," Kagome argued. "Keep in mind these are shrine families I've never met. Asking for a safe place to nap as someone they've only heard of is one thing. Expecting them to tolerate a youkai they're unfamiliar with while I do is something else entirely." Not to mention the reality that Sesshoumaru would be easily identified. Dress him up and call him by an alias as much as she wanted, a shrine family in the territory he governed wouldn't be fooled.

"I suppose," Yuka sighed as she started shifting around the clothes she seldom wore. Yuka's maternal grandparents finally realized their cruelty when Yuka legally dropped her family name. They'd been trying to make up ever since by sending her gifts of clothing. Unfortunately, their taste in clothing for her and what Yuka would willingly wear didn't exactly match.

She usually only kept the clothes on hand long enough for Kagome to make use of them, either to claim them to take home or just to wear around Sapporo during a visit. "I suppose I can find a quiet park to sack out in for a few hours," Kagome huffed as her hands were filled with a vibrant yellow sun dress. "Safety shouldn't be an issue with a big guard hovering near by."

Yuka laughed as she fished out a burnt orange colored sweater to go with the light weight dress. "That's true," she shook the garment, hoping to dislodge a few wrinkles. "Tripping an instinct in Inu like that might have him keeping even the birds away from your slumber. I remember the first morning after Jun and I moved in together," her expression was sly and amused. "Jun nearly killed that alarm clock that you gave me back in school, the one that went off with the weather report."

Kagome laughed. The soft tones of the alarm clock weren't really that startling. Yuka didn't need the assistance waking, but she had a bad habit of dressing without checking the weather. After showing up to class in summer clothes during an unexpected cold snap, and drenched after a downpour Kagome had searched out a solution to her friend's unfortunate problem. "Did you manage to save it?" She asked with a smile "or should I start looking for a replacement?"

Yuka grinned back, "The alarm still lives." She held Sesshoumaru's coat for Kagome as she started stripping out of her club clothes of the night before. "You really do look good in that outfit."

"Yeah," Kagome shrugged as the tank fell to the floor. "But there's no reason to take them with me. I have no place to go out in Nishi no Mura even if I felt secure enough to do so. And storing them at my place would only add ammunition to the community belief of my promiscuity." Though Kagome had always thought type of clothing seldom correlated with any kind of behavior unless it was an activity specific item like ballet shoes or sports equipment. "It still surprises me how inconsistent your grandparents are with clothing," she commented as she pulled the sundress over her head. The shorts would have been too small on Yuka, what was almost hot pants on Kagome would have been booty shorts on Yuka. The sundress was almost too long by comparison, the hem falling nearly to Kagome's ankles putting it about mid-calf on Yuka. And the bust was looser on Kagome than she would have preferred. Yuka wasn't that much bigger than Kagome so it was probably still too big on her too.

"They haven't seen me in years," Yuka shrugged. "And they never bought fitted clothing for me before anyway. They preferred to buy my clothes big, I would wear them longer that way. Those shorts were a surprise though."

"That's a sound practice when you're still growing," Kagome replied carefully. "Children grow so fast and they were on a limited income at their age, but you haven't been an age for growing in a long time. And your height wouldn't have changed much from when you lived with them."

"True," Yuka conceded. "My real issue are the color choices." Kagome glanced to the shorts discarded on the floor and completely understood.

Yuka's preferred wardrobe palate was a mix of royal and jewel colors. Deep reds and purples, blues and the occasional emerald filled her closet. Her separates were conservative pieces that could mix and match and her pants were all serviceable dark colors. Her grandparents leaned more toward pastels and every shade and hue of pink ever made into clothing. The shorts were a hot, neon pink Yuka wouldn't be caught dead in. Clearly the two parties hadn't met in person since Yuka had been buying her own clothing.

Kagome had no problems with any color of clothing. Her neighbors at the shrine had their own ideas though. It had been quite the scandal last summer when Kagome made the mistake of going into town wearing a pastel pink tank top. Apparently the color wasn't respectable enough for a "middle-aged" shrine keeper. As such, Kagome went a little wild in Sapporo, wearing colors Yuka wouldn't.

"What are you going to do after napping?" Yuka returned to the original subject. "You can't plan to spend the whole day asleep in the park."

"I'm not sure," Kagome shrugged the light weight dress into place over her head before reaching for the cropped sweater Yuka had supplied. The dress would be far too chilly without it and Kagome had no intention of wearing Sesshoumaru's suit jacket all day. "I thought I might squeeze in some sight-seeing or check out a few museums since I rarely have this much time in town, but I'll have to see what my shadow wants to do." Because Kagome wasn't going anywhere without him.

"I can't imagine he'll have much of an opinion beyond keeping you safe," Yuka shrugged. "Jun wouldn't offer an opinion on our outings until we'd been going out six months."

"Inu are notorious for that," Kagome mumbled to herself. As a species, the females made most of the decisions in a relationship and males went along for security and to keep other males away. Some would even take it to extremes by insisting they actually enjoyed everything their female suggested for activities rather than just going along with it, forgetting their actual preferences from before partnering up. It was hard to consider a relationship healthy or equal when one half perpetually refused to express a truthful opinion. "Luckily, we're not in much of a relationship beyond the professional." Which was true. Kagome was a shrine keeper who worked with youkai to keep the peace. While taking in orphans for the Daijin was new, she still considered it a facet of her position in the shrine network.

Kagome didn't believe tripping Sesshoumaru's instinct had anything to do with an emotional response on his part. It likely had more to do with honor, obligation, and the future supervision of his kin. Not that he'd bothered to explain his reasons. Kagome had learned to take things at face value when it came to personal relationships.

"If you're sure," Yuka was a romantic. Clearly, she believed the white Inu had more personal reasons for following Kagome around. Kagome conceded that it was a reasonable assumption from the outside. The only male they'd introduced to each other in recent years that wasn't already a blood relative was Jun, Yuka's boyfriend.

Still, just because no other males had joined them before didn't mean that was what was happening now. Kagome didn't bother to protest. No matter what she said, Yuka would take it as evidence to support her own conclusion. Kagome was just glad she'd managed to finally convince Yuka to leave off attempts at matchmaking.

Kagome didn't have the head space to accept any romantic overtures anymore. Every recent attempt to woo her had either been a desire to take advantage of rumor based promiscuity without any need for emotional entanglement or a kitsune plot to cause mischief around town failing to take into account the effect such a relationship would have on Kagome. The first were always couched in insulting terms and typically ended with verbal abuse when she refused. The second never seemed to end as every denial was met with only brief break before reapplication. Her kitsune would-be lover was tenacious in the extreme.

Kagome consciously shook herself away from that problem. She'd given up the possibility of a healthy romantic life of her own. If Yuka believed Sesshoumaru was interested in her that way, the woman wouldn't be hinting at meeting "people" so much any more, whether Kagome was supposed to meet them on her own or at Yuka's direction.

"I could come back here and cook something for you guys later," Kagome offered, mostly to change the subject. "If you provide the kitchen and the food, I'll cook."

"That would be wonderful," Yuka gushed. "I haven't had any of your cooking in a while and after work I usually don't want to cook much of anything." Unsaid was the reality that Jun's version of cooking was far too heavy on instant convenience store options. "It gives Jun a few hours to feel better before going shopping."

Kagome smiled at her friend. Jun loved homemade food, he just didn't know how to make any. She and Yuka used to have dinner dates where they cooked for each other and whoever happened to be around. Kagome missed that dynamic in their friendship and before Naoki and Oki joined her, she'd had little reason to cook much beyond the basics in a couple years. Given how much time passed between visits to Sapporo, there hadn't been much opportunity to cook for anyone else since her great uncle had passed away.

"What does Seichi like to eat?" Yuka asked. "Jun will eat almost anything and I love everything you cook."

"Not everything," Kagome protested with a laugh. "You remember those experiments in high school?" Some of those would-be dishes had been fairly inedible.

"We were still learning," Yuka scoffed. "Your grandfather had absolutely no reason to accuse us both of trying to poison the masses at the festival that year."

Kagome laughed remembering the event. Kagome and Yuka had only been partially responsible for that fiasco. It was their resident cooking queen that wrote the recipe down wrong for them to copy. They just hadn't known enough to recognize the error until everything was done and being sold in their class cafe. "He called it kitchen warfare and insisted we were trying to perpetuate an act of terror out of a classroom." And he'd only been slightly joking at the time. Souta had teased Kagome about it every time she cooked dinner after that.

Her mother had not understood the joke. Higurashi Akemi had not seen much humor in a lot of things as Kagome was growing up.

"No wonder Eri never trusted us with her food," Yuka giggled to continue their fun.

"Eri had a lot more issues than just us following directions without thought," Kagome shrugged with a grin. "I always hoped her food allergies would ease up as she got older." Some of Eri's allergies were the type many kids grew out of, "but it never happened."

"I could never get over the list of things she was allergic to," Yuka shook her head. "It seemed to get longer with every passing year."

It had gotten longer, but it had more to do with Eri being exposed to more as time went on. They'd nearly lost her a few times from unknown allergies popping up. If Kagome hadn't been so skilled with her Reiki on more than one occasion, their dear friend wouldn't have made it out of freshman year. But Yuka didn't know that, and she never liked to share the tale. "What is she doing now?" Kagome asked instead.

After moving to Hokkaido, she's lost touch with a lot of their mutual friends. Some had though Kagome abruptly moving like that was over reaction. Others hadn't been able to keep up with a long distance connection that never had a chance of ever closing the distance in the near future. She carefully didn't wonder if Yuka would have fallen to the wayside if she hadn't also been on the same island as Kagome.

Better to focus on the reality that is than suspect the friends that were still around.

"I heard from Ayumi that Eri became a chef," Yuka grinned. "She's the star of an esoteric eatery that specializes in alternative diet food."

"That's," Kagome paused, searching for a word that was both amused and fitting before settling lamely for "appropriate." Because Eri had been somewhat obsessed about food.

"It was actually a really good move for her," Yuka continued "since she met her husband there. Apparently his list of food allergies is almost as long as hers. And he was way more helpless about managing them than Eri is."

"How wonderful!" Kagome laughed with delight. She always loved to hear her friends were doing well. She wasn't even hurt that she hadn't heard of the wedding until now. "Any kiddos in the offing?"

"I don't think so," Yuka shrugged as she stuffed an all-weather blanket in a tote bag. "Ayumi said Eri was still insisting that she would never pass her predilection for food allergies on to the next generation."

"Most allergies aren't hereditary," Kagome pointed out quietly. But she understood Eri's fears. There were a lot of things that could have killed her friend before she was old enough to figure out a diet that worked for her and her parents hadn't been much help. They'd mainly found one or two things that Eri wasn't allergic to and fed her nothing else most of her childhood. Monotony in a diet wasn't really healthy or appetizing, but it kept Eri alive. "Still, she isn't required to have children. Parenthood isn't for everyone."

"As long as her spouse is onboard with that," Yuka shrugged. There wasn't much reason to further ponder the breeding habits of distant friends. "We got off on a tangent. What should be have for dinner? What would Seichi eat?"

"Seichi is about as trusting with his food as Eri was in high school," Kagome answered. "Whatever Jun picks up or wants cooked will be fine without consulting Seichi's appetite."

"Here," Yuka handed the tote stuffed with blanket and sunscreen off. "I'll just tell Jun to pick up enough to feed four and if Seichi chooses not to eat, we'll have left overs."

Kagome nodded as she slid the tote strap over her shoulder. She probably wasn't the most fashionable person on the street today, but at least her clothes were clean and wouldn't be violating an decency laws. "Sounds like a plan."

"Does Seichi need to borrow clothes too?" Yuka asked as they re-entered the living room.

"Hn, no," Sesshoumaru answered the question firmly.

Kagome left it at that. She had no doubt the fastidious inu had found some way to change out his wardrobe without breaking their cover.

Somehow, he'd managed to get Jun to suck down a full bottle of water and eat at least one bread roll. Hopefully Yuka's miserable boyfriend would start feeling better soon.

The Northern Daijin eyed her outfit up and down before issuing an approving "Hn." Kagome idly supposed she was sufficiently covered for the weather. Sesshoumaru rose to his feet and put on his suit jacket in preparation to leave.

"We'll be back around six to start cooking dinner," Kagome declared as she pushed her feet into her shoes. They weren't really a good style for a dress, but they were better than borrowing shoes off Eri. And they were as perfect for walking around all day as they had been for dancing the night before. Practical ruled more of Kagome's life than formerly, but fashion rarely accounted for bone health or climate.

Kagome nearly tipped forward while adjusting the fit of her second shoe. She was tired and her attention was wondering, a sure sign she needed some sleep.

"Sounds good," Yuka responded to the question Kagome hadn't asked. Neither one had discussed exactly when Yuka would be out of work. Her shifts were long and occasionally ran late. But starting any later would leave the rest of them starving.

"Have a good day," Kagome wished to her friend.

"Barring any emergencies, I will," Yuka smiled and closed the door after Sesshoumaru.

"Shall we find a park?" Kagome asked her taciturn companion.

"Hn," he replied stoically.

"Yeah, I thought so too," she commented on an opinion he hadn't really expressed. But there was a lot that single syllable could have meant, just as there was many applications her words could have as well. A conversation of vagueness could be had by anyone where neither really cared if they were talking about the same thing.

She really needed some sleep.