When Kagome woke up the next morning, Sesshomaru was already awake. He was just lying beside her, holding her close. Outside she could hear the steady staccato beats of the rain hitting the ground. Sighing, she snuggled closer to his warmth.
“Good morning Kagome.” he said, looking at her, when he felt her stir.
“Good morning Sesshomaru.” she replied, then yawned and stretched.
After crawling out from under the nice, warm furs they shared a breakfast of fruits Kagome had in her pack. She had brought oranges, a fruit he had found he loved. Not only was the smell of them pleasing but the tangy sweet taste was as well. After eating they spent much of the day talking. As normal, she did most of the talking and he listened. But unlike with most beings, he was actually <i>listening</i>. He found most topics she talked about were fascinating to him. Usually, he would ask a few questions here and there and then let her go, enjoying what she was saying.
As dusk fell, she was quiet. Ensconced in his lap, she was curled up to his chest, watching the flames dance.
Running his claws through her hair, he watched her face. It was obvious there was something on her mind. Nuzzling her gently, he asked, “Is there something wrong Kagome?”
Pulling her eyes away from the fire she looked up at him, smiling.
“Nothing’s wrong.” She said, and reached up to stroke the side of his face. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything you wish.” he replied, and nuzzled her hair softly.
“Well… Once we are mated would you be willing to go meet my family? I think they would like to meet the man I fell in love with and who would be considered my husband.” she said, nervously.
Giving her a reassuring squeeze, he then looked down at her. Seeing her nervous expression and how she was chewing her bottom lip, he smiled, “Kagome, I would be honored to meet your family.” Since he had been traveling with his half-brother's pack, he had often heard her talk about them. It was obvious she loved them very much and that they were close.
Sighing, she relaxed, “Thanks, Sesshomaru.” she said, leaning up and giving him a soft kiss.
“You’re most welcome.” he replied, giving her a bit of a squeeze. “So… tell me a bit about them.” Rather than just listen and shake his head at some of the funny stories she told, he paid closer attention to what she said about them so he could better understand their personalities and would be prepared when he met them. Just like he would with an enemy, he liked to know as much as he could beforehand to be prepared.
When he got as much information as he could about her family, he began to ask questions about what it was like in her time and what kinds of things he could expect. Again, he wanted as much forehand knowledge as he could get so that he wouldn’t be caught completely off guard. But while he received that information, he also started to understand things about Kagome and why she could/couldn’t do as well.
Things that most beings in this time grew up learning, such as how to start a fire, fish, clean animals to eat, etc. weren’t skills taught or needed in her time. Fire if needed, and it generally wasn’t because there was no need for it to cook or for heat, could be had with a click or one strike. She didn’t need to know how to catch or clean food because everything they ate was bought somewhere. In her time youkai and hanyous were thought of as nothing but a myth or fairy tale, she hadn’t ever encountered any until she fell through the well. For the first time he had a bit of an understanding of how terrifying ‘his world’ must have been for her on that first trip.
On the other hand, she knew things he didn’t. He wouldn’t know what a quadratic equation was if it came up and bit him on the nose yet she could work with them. She knew anatomy and the basics of how the body and organs functioned, he didn’t and it would have come in hand at times with Rin. For a long time he thought she was as clean as she was just to smell nice, but he learned why humans needed to be clean for health reasons. Fascinating and educational!
When he ran out of questions for her he was surprised to find it was now dark outside. They had been talking for hours when it sure didn’t seem to have been that long. A swell of pride at his chosen’s intelligence bloomed inside of him. After a moment to bask in it, he showed her where the hot springs were in the back cavern so she could bathe while he went out to hunt for their dinner.
As he was putting a clean rabbit on a spit over the fire she was just coming out of the back cavern, drying her hair and carrying her supplies. Wrapped up in his robe, she sat down by the fire to brush out her hair. Like before, they soon found themselves once again lost in conversation as time flew by.