You are as Old as I by Tsuveras

An Old Face

Rated T for adult situations(harassment/minor romance) and minor swearing.

Several years had gone by since Kagome had been sealed off from the bone eater's well. She wasn't the little girl she once was and even so, she felt empty. She still felt heartbreak everyday and she couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with her sadness most days.

"Come on, Kagome, pleasssse!" The girl talking was her roommate. Her name was Kasumi and she constantly grated on Kagome's nerves. She was always trying to force Kagome to go out and do things with her, but Kagome preferred to stay home and well, binge watch seasons of shows or study up on some old miko techniques.

Ever since she'd come back, she was training to become a shrine maiden, but as their shrine began falling apart, she opted to take a construction course so they could make renovations for a cheaper price.

"Come on, it'll be just you, me, and this guy I met, Haru. He's so cute, but like seriously, I need you for support. I'll lose my head!" Kasumi was going on and on. Kagome sighed as she put a hand to her head.

"If I go, will you not bother me for one whole week?" Kagome questioned and Kasumi pouted.

"Two days, I can't go more than that, I need you Kags." She stated and Kagome sighed.

"Fine, but you better not bother me for two whole days." Kagome pointed at her, but instead of being offended, Kasumi jumped for joy and pulled Kagome into her room.

"Let's see what you got, you gotta be sexy." Kasumi was saying as she started throwing things out of Kagome's dresser.

"Hey, stop, your getting everything everywhere!" Kagome scolded as she picked up her t-shirts that had been flung to the ground. Kasumi made a beeline for her closet and Kagome sighed with grief as she put all the shirts on her bed and began to chase after her crazed roommate.

"Dammnnn, Kagome, you have some nice taste." Kasumi was saying as she eyed a specific dress that Kagome wouldn't be so comfortable wearing. It was a mini, and I mean mini dress, that had no straps except for one that was attached to the crystal divider just under the breast line. The strap was more like a silky green ribbon that you tied in the back. The top part was a satiny black and the lower portion was made of a layer of see-through black with a few different layers of delicate, dark greens. The outermost layer was set with shimmery sparkles around the bottom.

"Why have I never seen you in this?!" Kasumi began demanding. Kagome sighed again.

"It was a gift from my mom," Kagome explained and Kasumi eyed the dress and then her.

"Damnnn, I wish my mom had good taste like this. She's always trying to make me wear those stupid female pants suits." Kagome shook her head as she laughed a little. Kasumi was annoying, but she could be a little amusing at times too.

"Alright put this on, I gotta go get dressed too, I'll be right back. Then we gotta do our hair and makeup." Kasumi explained and Kagome sighed as she nodded.

"Alright..." She huffed and Kasumi gave her a big smile as she stalked out of Kagome's closet and Kagome stared at the dress for a moment.

Ut sis quasi annorum I

It was just another shitty night, in this shitty city, in this shitty era. He should have let himself burn with the other demons, he shouldn't have hidden. Preserve the bloodlines, the other three lord's had said. Only him and the northern lord survived and the northern lord was reduced to flipping burgers and serving fries to filthy ningen.

He, himself, was doing no better. Sure, he had money, lots of it actually, but that didn't fill the gaping hole left in his soul. No, the once great lord of the west, the almighty Sesshomaru had been reduced to nothing but a drunk. His tolerance was so high that he had to drink a lot if he wanted to escape.

This city was shit. The trees were gone, the grass was gone. Everything was just... gone. Everyone he knew, everything that he had thought mattered... It was all gone and he couldn't help but wonder, where did he go wrong? What happened to Jaken? What happened to Inuyasha and his children. He had once hated the hanyou, but when he came out from the underground... Nothing was heard of anyone. Everyone had simply vanished. It was as if the great yokai of old had simply dematerialized and the world was losing its touch of magic.

The humans were killing the earth. They were sucking its resources dry and he would live to see the end of days when the earth became nothing but a toxic, nuclear wasteland. He didn't care however, as long as he had his sake, everything would be okay.

He could feel himself sobering up, so he stepped inside a bar and laughed as he pulled out his credit card. Even if the northern lord was flipping burgers and he was just a drunk, he had been able to sell some of his old things, that is what made him quite rich. You may not be able to tell because he looked so miserable and defeated, he didn't take care of himself the way he used to, but he had come to truly understand the meaning of an old saying—money doesn't buy you happiness.

As he walked into the bar, he caught sight of some human girl in a whorish mini dress, she was trying to pull it down over her thick black tights and he thought it served her right. Stupid human bitch shouldn't wear things like that unless she's trying to get attention. He may not be what he used to be, he was reduced to this horrible, miserable existence, but... He admitted to being a troll. He hated humans, but as he had to keep his identity secret, he could only go so far, but it didn't stop him from harassing humans either way.

He walked by her and slapped her ass hard, before walking past her and going to a booth. He wasn't even really interested in her, he only wanted to get a rise from the filthy humans. He didn't care to look back either and could only imagine she was freaking out to her friend about it. More than likely, she wouldn't wear something like that out in public again.

"Hey, asshole!" He heard a woman's voice near him and turned his head to get punched straight in the eye. He was a yokai, so it didn't really bother him, but it definitely sobered him up more.

"How dare you—Sesshomaru?" This human knowing his name caught him off guard and he looked up at her. Brown eyes, dark hair, where had he seen that before? Oh, just about everywhere. He watched her shake her head.

"Lord Sesshomaru, I can't believe it." She looked as if she would burst into hysterics for a moment before she gazed at him deeply. She took him in with her eyes and he stared at her with confusion. Shouldn't she be angry with him for what just happened? Instead, she stared at him like he was her hopes and dreams. What she had already said implicated that she knew him from somewhere. If he had already harassed her before, he was positive it wouldn't warrant this sort of admiration from this woman.

"Oh, excuse me, I—you know, the Shikon Miko. Don't you remember me? Tesseiga? You tried to melt me, and then you tried to kill Inuyasha a couple of other times and then you just kinda stopped." She began going on and his eyes widened exponentially.

"No, your… Human… You can't be." He couldn't believe it. He couldn't even speak. His mind was shutting down, melting at the inconsistencies to this situation. She is human, she should be dead. He had been told that the Shikon Miko died from her injuries. Yet, here she was, standing before him. Now that she opened her mouth and began being annoying, he knew perfectly well that it was her.

He remembered how annoying she was and how she would never shut up. He remembered a lot of things and not just that, but that they had never been close in any way. How was she here though? It bothered him to no end, not to mention, it made him wonder, were there others that somehow survived? Yet again, she was human. Even if she didn't sustain from her injuries, the passage of time should have surely made her long dead.

"Is this guy bothering you Kagome?" A short, dark-haired girl came over and glared at him, but Kagome patted her shoulder.

"No, it's fine. We're old friends. It was a joke." Kagome replied smoothly and the other girl smiled.

"Well, Haru and me are gonna get out of here, so I'll see yaaa." The girl began and Kagome glared at her.

"But we just got here, you can't leave yet!" Kagome began.

"Well, I mean, you should totally catch up with your friend!" Kasumi exclaimed before she rushed away, getting too far before Kagome could say anything more. Kagome heaved a sigh. She turned back to Sesshomaru and put on a smile that was clearly not real.

"How are you alive?" Sesshomaru finally asked, he couldn't help himself. Kagome shook her head and smiled.

"You know of the Bone-Eater's well?" She asked and he squinted his eyes at her and nodded.

"Well—..."

Anata wa watashi to onaji kurai furuidesu

Sesshomaru was very well onto his tenth drink, Kagome, was only on her second.

"So this whole time, you came from this wretched place?" Sesshomaru had questioned for Kagome to laugh as she nodded.

"I know, I know, it sucks here." She agreed with him. Life was pretty drab now that the magic had been taken out of it.

"And this well of yours, you went back and forth through it?" Sesshomaru questioned. Kagome nodded.

"So perhaps if I—." He began, but Kagome cut him off.

"It doesn't work anymore, the magic is gone." She frowned as she said it. She looked sincere too.

"You have to show me, if there's any chance… Any chance at all." Sesshomaru mumbled it out. He didn't care if she was telling the truth, he wanted to see it for himself.

"Well, I mean, I guess there's no harm in it." Kagome gave in, she could see it in his eyes. Just like her, he had to find out for himself. She stood up and she was about to pull out some cash to pay for her and Kasumi's tab, but Sesshomaru held up his singular hand.

"I'll pay your tab." He stated. Kagome eyed him up and down. He didn't look as polished as he once had. His hair was pulled back in a low ponytail and it looked grimy. His clothes looked like something he had thrown together on a whim. He almost looked homeless now that she really looked at him. Like some strange homeless guy with facial tattoos.

"Sesshomaru, I mean, do you even have money like that?" She questioned as she felt a little worried for him. She hadn't met very many demons in her time, she wondered what kind of stress that would cause on what was probably one of the only remaining yokai to exist. Sesshomaru found himself glaring at her. How dare she assume he was now 'poor'.

"I'm quite rich Miko, I just do not care for the idiotic fashions of this time and to wear clothes such as I used to… I stand out far too much." He admitted it. He was terrified of being found out. He had no idea what the humans had really done, but there had once been rumors of experimentation, the government would capture his kind and mutilate them, dissect them in an effort to study them. It all sounded quite gruesome. Kagome frowned at him.

"If you say so." Kagome said and with that, he went to the bar and she assumed he paid for both of their tabs. Once he had finished, he turned around and waved her towards him. She weaved between people in the crowded room. Once she reached him, he didn't say a word as he turned and began for the door, but she followed him, leaving the seedy little bar to go outside into the warm summer night air. They walked down the sidewalk for a little, getting away from the busy night. It didn't take long for them to be alone, with only the sound of crickets and speeding cars in the distance to comfort them.

"Would you like to fly, Miko?" Sesshomaru questioned as he eyed her up and down. Kagome frowned at him as she thought for a moment.

"Won't people see?" She questioned. He shrugged.

"It's the middle of the night." He replied. Kagome slanted her lips as she thought a little more about it.

"I won't drop you if that is what you're worried about." Sesshomaru said in an effort to hurry her up. Kagome finally shook her head and shrugged.

"Yeah, what the heck, let's do it." She said as she stepped closer to him. With his singular arm, he grabbed her forearm and pulled her close to him. He held her tight as underneath their feet, the demon's cloud began to form.

They shot up, high into the sky, startling Kagome quite a bit. Once Sesshomaru deemed them high enough from prying eyes, he shot forward.

"So, you know where the Higurashi Shrine is?" Kagome questioned. She was trying to calm her nerves of flying so fast, high up in the air. Kirara could never go this fast and Inuyasha could go fast, but they were always close to the ground, not so close towards the clouds. It was a little harder to breathe, but she enjoyed it. The wind on her face was welcomed. She looked up at him, seeing him nod.

"Yes, that crazy old man lives there." Sesshomaru stated. Kagome smiled with curiosity at that. Sesshomaru shook his head and pierced her with his otherworldly golden eyes.

"He claims I'm a demon and attempts to exorcise me every time I've come into contact with him." Sesshomaru admitted. Kagome shook her head at this revelation.

"Jii-San." She muttered under her breath and shook her head. She couldn't believe her grandfather attempted to go up against Sesshomaru. Luckily, Sesshomaru didn't sound all that malicious about her grandfather.

"He's totally harmless though." She tried to assure. Sesshomaru nodded his head.

"I know." He answered.

Je bent zo oud als ik

Sesshomaru was sitting with his back against the wood of the well, he looked to be deep in thought.

"It really used to be a portal to the past?" He questioned yet again. Kagome nodded. He let out a sigh as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"It obviously no longer works." He finally admitted. Kagome nodded.

"I told you." She said and he nodded his head with disappointment.

"I had hoped it would have worked for me, somehow." He admitted. Kagome gave a look of understanding, emotions like sadness and understanding buried deep within her eyes.

"So, please, tell me, what happened to my friends? If you know anything." Kagome questioned him finally. She had been waiting to find the right moment to ask. Sesshomaru looked at her, a frown on his face as he thought.

"The monk and slayer married, that is all I know about them," Sesshomaru admitted. Kagome smiled as she thought of that. At least they ended up together.

"Inuyasha eventually married too, to a hanyou like him, a half bat-demon. I know they had many children and they lived good, long lives." Sesshomaru told her. Kagome smiled sadly at that. She couldn't help remembering Shiori, is that who he married?

"I'm happy for him." She stated, but Sesshomaru could hear the agony in her voice. He looked around again at the shabby old well-house. It was falling apart.

"Miko… Kagome, I want to give you something, however, it's at my estate." Sesshomaru finally said. Kagome looked at him, a little confused, but nodded her agreement. He stood up finally and offered her a hand, of which she took.

Ti si star kolku i jas

Kagome had been quite shocked to find Sesshomaru owned quite an estate. There were multiple buildings on the property, but he brought her to one that seemed a little more quaint. Going inside the small building was like stepping back in time. All the furniture was low sat, tatami mats and pillows were set up as the only places to sit. The floor was made up of lacquered light wooden planks.

He showed her to a rice cloth door that held a padlock and he pulled out a key-ring before he unlocked it and slid it open. Stepping inside, Kagome's face lit up. There sat Sesshomaru's pelt... Thing and his old Tenseiga. Sesshomaru walked towards a closet in the room before he came out with a long, narrow box.

"I think you should have this, you drew it from it's resting place." Sesshomaru stated as he placed it into Kagome's hands. Kagome blinked at him slowly before she went to her hands and knees and set it down. She was careful opening the box, making sure she could still use it when she was done peeking inside. Once she looked, she was shocked. She almost teared up as she looked at Inuyasha's old Tesseiga.

"You're really giving this to me?" She questioned. Sesshomaru scoffed.

"I can think of no one better to own it, than Inuyasha's wench." He said and Kagome gazed up at him to see some sort of playful smile on his lips.

"Your a lot different now, ya know." Kagome finally said.

"Centuries have passed before my eyes, I am surely not the same demon I once was." Sesshomaru stated. Kagome stood up slowly as she fixed her eyes on him.

"Call me it again, please." Her tone wasn't even sarcastic, there was a real need to it. He took her form in carefully, he looked her up and down, from head to toe. Her dress didn't seem so horrible now.

"Inuyasha's wench." He stated. She closed her eyes, a smile lingered on her lips as she thought.

"Speak to me at all Sesshomaru-Sama, say anything, something you would say back then." Kagome requested, begged from him. If she closed her eyes and thought hard enough and listened to his voice, she could almost pretend she was there again.

Sesshomaru breathed deeply. Sesshomaru-Sama, years, it had been years since he'd been called that. She had called him it several times already tonight.

"Your pathetic human, disgusting, and undeserving of this terrible realm of modern technology." He let out as he came forward, quickly, violently, but he didn't hurt her. He crashed himself against her and locked his lips on hers in a kiss. His singular arm snaked tightly around her lower back. Kagome opened her eyes, they were wide in her sockets. However, he pressed against her, greedily, hungrily, desperately, trying to just feel anything that might make him feel like the demon he once was.

Kagome didn't take long to give in. She pressed her lips back, against his, with her own voracity. She tangled her fingers in his now lackluster silver hair and he had wound his one arm around her even more tightly. He attempted to pick her up, several times actually, her feet multiple times just going back to the floor until she got the picture and she brought her legs around him so that he could guide them more easily out of the display room.

He brought her only as far as the living area before he dropped her, gently, against a bulk of pillows in a corner. She stared up at him from where she lay.

Her brown eyes held lust and she brought her hands up, holding them out for him to be pulled down to her level. He brought himself to her side slowly as he laid next to her. Facing each other, he stared into her old, yet young brown eyes. He knew she was still young, yet her eyes held wisdom.

"Do you wish I were Inuyasha?" He finally questioned, believing that he already knew the answer. He listened to a bitter laugh depart from her throat.

"Maybe this is better… Not being with him. I'll never know if I was the cause of his unhappiness… But I think I could find solace in you." Kagome told him. After all, she felt like he was the only one who could understand. He seemed to feel despair at the loss of his home-time too.

The inuyokai smiled to himself.

"Yes, you are almost as old as I." It was a joke, but it was sincere too. He wanted her in his life if she was the only real remnant left. If she was the only true living thing that was left from then, he would refuse to let go.

The northern lord was too different for him to even get along with now and they had never gotten along really to begin with, but she had experienced it all with him. She was a piece of living history, just like himself. Events that had mattered to him, mattered to her. She even cared about those in his family.

"Now tell me, Sesshomaru-Sama, why do I not deserve to live in this realm?" She questioned, as his words had confused her deeply. Sesshomaru stared at her for a second.

"You already said you hate it here. In this time." He began before he looked to be in thought for a second. His eyes narrowed at her before he spoke again.

"I'd whisk you back if I could. Take you with me if I could go." He sighed with the admission.

"But you're from then and I was there long enough... When we're alone... We could pretend to be there." Kagome stated mindlessly, she was already trying to do as such.

"Like right now?" He questioned. She nodded at him.

"Yes, like right now." She answered. They stared at each other for a good long moment, before Sesshomaru broke the silence.

"You should get that outfit of yours again." A smile formed on his lips.

"Your school girl outfit." He had never put two and two together, he hadn't thought about her in years. However, he knew what that outfit was now.

"You were in school when all that was going on." He pondered. He wondered how long it had been when the well had been sealed from her.

"Well, what about you? I wanna see some silk." She counter-offered. She watched him smirk.

"And that hair, it used to be so silky and luscious. That's what I want, Tenseiga on your hip. I want it to be real." She explained. The demon lord blinked at her, slowly, taking in her words.

"And you should be more mean to me, I don't understand why you're being so nice." She added. Her expressions were priceless as she spoke, almost reminding him of when Rin would tell him stories, so very long ago. That memory was like a distant breeze, one that would never be felt again. He chuckled at Kagome's words though, trying to stay in the moment.

"Ahh, but you just answered that Miko, you remember me as I wish to be remembered. I love hearing what you once thought of me, no one fears or respects me now." His eyes gained a hard glint of seriousness.

"Makeup cannot cover my marks, people think I'm a freak with facial tattoos." Sesshomaru had a fire in his eyes, a wave of anger.

"Ahh, but those markings are so threatening to me. I can remember those stripes becoming jagged. Your teeth, your long, sharp teeth. I'll never forget how scary it is to see those teal-colored pupils." Kagome stated in all honesty. She felt him scoot his body closer to her and he brought his nose to the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent.

"Exactly Miko, you are the only one that respects this Sesshomaru now." He had whispered it. Kagome frowned at this revelation.

"And what of me? What do you think of me?" Kagome questioned.

"You talk too much." Sesshomaru stated. Kagome cracked a smile at that. They laid there quietly again for a good long while. Neither was gazing at the other, rather both were stuck in their own thoughts. Kagome turned her brown eyes finally to his golden ones.

"What happened to all the demons?" She finally asked. As she stared into his eyes, she could see the hurt, she could see the pain, but mostly, she could see the shame. She knew that this Sesshomaru was very unlike the one of the past, but she too had changed. She wondered what life would be like now. She wondered exactly how much she would come to rely on this great demon. Sesshomaru pressed his lips into a hard line before he opened his mouth.

"Many priests banded together, seemingly working with the government hand-in-hand. No one was safe, not even those who cared for the well-being of humans for years..." He began the story of what had happened, what he knew of it anyway.

You are as old as I.

We are as old as the stars.

We share a time in space.

Time has created fate.

We are what is left

Of a time of simplicity.

We are what is left

From a world of magic.

We, my dear, are living-history.

For the losses have been tragic.