Truth

Recovering from being held on the ground by the beads, Sesshoumaru slowly got up and looked at Kagome. As he studied her features, he saw that she looked completely different than what he saw in her just moments before. The evil glint in her eyes gone, and replaced with a horror he didn't understand. He brushed himself off and started opened his mouth to speak, but was abruptly cut off.

"Sesshoumaru," Kagome cut him off with tears gathering in her eyes. "Please, I'm sorry you didn't deserve that. I just," she paused as a few of the tears escaped her eyes and she wiped them away, "what do you want me to do? I'm scared and hurt that you didn't tell me any of this. I trusted you with my secret and you didn't trust me with yours."

Sesshoumaru hesitantly reached out his hand to hold hers. When she didn't pull away, he spoke. "No matter what I would have said, I don't think you would believe me right now. I tried to kill you that time Kagome. What could I have said to prepare you for that? Had I warned you, you could have changed things." Probably too soon he finished in his head.

Kagome gasped slightly in surprise. "I never thought of that," she said softly.

Sesshoumaru kept pushing forward with his argument not letting up, he needed her to know that while he may not be able to tell her everything she wanted to hear, he would tell her what she would need to know. "You may have told my brother that you knew me and then he would have changed how he fought. Or maybe you wouldn't have told him, but what would you have done when you met me? That necklace I gave you, stopped my past self from killing you. I think somehow it was meant to end up in your hands. I can think of no other reason why I wouldn't have killed you that day."

Outright crying now, Kagome grasped his hand tightly and brought it up to her heart. "I'm so sorry Sesshoumaru," she started, but he cut her off.

"It's alright now, Kagome" he started. "I understand, I'm here today to tell you some more details. Again I can't tell you everything yet, but I will tell you all I know I can." He closed the gap between them and with his one hand being held tightly by hers, he gave her a hug with the other, letting her cry into his chest. "Now," he smiled, as he had his head resting on hers, "can we move this to someplace more comfortable?" He heard a muffled laugh and felt her head nod, before he let go and lead her to the couch so they could sit.

Kagome's mother stepped out of the way and headed to the kitchen, she knew that the fires of hate were extinguished and she let them have their privacy.

Once they both settled into the couch, Sesshoumaru didn't hesitate to start giving some of his story.

"As you now know, I have known you in the past. You know that I do not have the best of relationships with him. But what you don't know," he hesitated, "is that after that fight with him, I saw him with a new light. While I never show this to him in anyway, after this I never fight with my full power. I teach him to use his own powers and guide him the best I can. Each time we meet, he is stronger than the last time and he is even more worthy of being called our fathers son." He stopped and examined how well she was taking this news.

Hesitantly Kagome spoke, "but he cut off your arm. How could you even think to respect him after that?"

A slight chuckle escaped Sesshoumaru, "that is precisely WHY I respect him now. He showed he was capable. Once I let that sink in myself, I knew I could train him to be better that the half breed filth I originally thought him to be." He stopped and looked at the glare that Kagome was giving him and sighed, this was going to be a tiresome if she kept thinking that he was talking bad about InuYasha. "Stop," he said with a sigh, "I had no love for my brother than, but as time went on and we worked together, I held respect for him. By the time the jewel was completed, we were pack again. Or rather we were family and traveled as a group."

Contented that she wasn't going to Interrupt him again about past feeling of his brother, he continued. "Soon you will add a few new people to your group. I will only tell you about one of them, the rest, well I'm not sure how you met so I do not know if it would change anything when you meet them. Shippo is the first to join you and he is a Kitsune child. I'm not going to tell you how you meet him, but I do know that you take an instant liking to him. You even adopt him in the not so distant future." He stopped to grin at her. "I even adopt a human female child named Rin later."

She gasped at him, "I do? You do? Oh my god."

"Yes," he said simply. Now anything else I tell you I need you to promise me something."

Kagome stopped and tried to reign in her emotions that were all over the place. Then nodded. "Alright, I promise."

"Good," he started. Over the next few hours, he told her about Naraku and his involvement with the shard. Also for some reason he felt he needed to tell her about Kikyo, and her relationship with her. He tried reasoning with himself that he wanted to prepare her for the troubles they face, but his beast set him straight quickly enough. You need to keep InuYasha as a friend not a love interest. He knew this but, he didn't want to contemplate the fact that they were competing for the affections of the same woman.

After listening intently to Sesshomaru's story, Kagome had one question she couldn't help but ask. "But," she paused "why did you want to find me now?"

Sesshoumaru was afraid that she would ask this question, but he was prepared for it. "The very day I came to find you, I was the first time I thought about you in many years." He paused thinking of how to word his answer. After a moment's thought, he continued, "I was thinking about how few people today are decent, and how there were very few women I respected. You were the first person I thought about. I remembered your tenacity, loyalty and unconventional beauty. Then I remembered your clothes, they were very unusual for the time but now, it is common place. I simply hopped luck was on my side after that, and looked you up. It was, I found you quickly enough and that's when I came to find you."

Kagome was shocked all over again, "I don't know what to say Sesshoumaru, I'm lost. I feel like you are telling me the truth, but I don't know."

"I quite understand, this is a lot for you to accept. But I have to ask you, is it so unreasonable?" At the look of confusion on her face he continued. "You a person from this time, traveling to the feudal era, is it such a tall tale for you believe that I am present in both times?"

"I guess not, when you put it like that." Kagome laughed.

"I ask that you give me the chance, let me prove my intentions. When you go back to my brother, he will have problems using the Tetsusaiga. You need to get him to realise that he can't use it unless he is protecting you. Or to put it another way, the way our father intended, that he needs to use it in protection of humans not in hatred."

"To protect?" Kagome asked.

"Yes, protection. He is half human after all. Our father was fond of humans, and he wanted to offer protection to all in the western lands. The clue to this was the fact that only you a full blooded human could take out the sword."

Kagome gasped in realisation as she comprehended what Sesshoumaru said.

'Have you someone to protect?' You know that was the last thing your father said to you before he died.

Yes I know. I put the clues together a long time ago.

Sure you did, I bet you just figured it out.

No, he sighed inwardly, that was you. Now be quiet.

"Do you have any other questions?" Sesshoumaru asked.

Kagome kept quiet for a moment thinking everything through. Eventually she answered, "Just one, what is this necklace about?"

"That necklace, belonged to my mother, and was enchanted to protect the wearer. It is meant to protect the only weakness that a ruler could have." He paused for effect, "Their mate. That's not to say that the Lady of the West is weak, but instead to offer peace of mind to the Lorde of the lands. Inu demons are fiercely loyal to their mates. regardless how strong their mates are, they always want to protect them. Even when they are not around."

Kagome grabbed the necklace and held it tightly. "This will protect me?" She asked.

Sesshoumaru nodded, "Yes it will. It will also confuse the me in the past. Even if I can't see it, I will sense it. I won't be able to hurt you," he paused then added "neither will anyone else."

"Thank you Sesshoumaru," Kagome said leaning over to hug him quickly. "I think I understand now. At least a little. I'm sorry I didn't trust you. You were right, I think I still would have been hard on you if you told me the truth. I think we should make a new start now, we are on even ground and I think it will help."

"A new start?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"Yes, this should have been our first meeting. I"m sorry I sit here," Kagome stopped mid sentence after seeing Sesshoumaru succumbing to the spell of the beads. She got off the couch and knelt down next to him. "I'm so sorry," Kagome sobbed, "I didn't mean to do that." Letting out a few more tears, "I didn't think about what I said."

Sesshoumaru sighed, he knew this was a complete accident. Yet he couldn't help but wonder how many more times this was going to happen. But the sound of her tears was too much for him. This woman, she was growing on him much faster than he intended. He hadn't felt anything like this since Rin, but it was still somehow different. He wasn't sure how. He only hoped his plan would work and not backfire on him. At the rate he was going, he wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to let her go.

AN:

And with that my lovely readers, I leave you with this. I wanted to get this up much sooner, but life has been kicking me in the butt. My parents have both been in and out of the hospital. I've gone through bouts of depression and all I wanted to do is sleep. This is not an excuse, merely telling you all that this is what happened. Remember, I am fueled by reviews. The more I get, the more motivated I am to get the next chapter out. Also a big thankyou to those of you asking questions. I use them to help fill gaps that may come up, if I have forgotten about them. So far I have needed all them ^^;

Alright, so next time we finally get to see InuYasha! I'm so happy we will see him. I wonder, will he smell Sesshoumaru or ignore it completely? I admit, I'm not sure yet. Kagome will be interesting also. What will she do to InuYasha?

We will find out next time! Thanks for reading!