It was a beautiful life.
That's what she would say; it was what she believed in. She was impractical. She lived in a land of fairy tales and happy endings. He, however, was very practical. He's lived so long that there were no longer any surprises, nothing amazed or shocked him. Except for her that is. Her beauty, her laugh, her very existence, stunned him. Humans and youkai alike would say that he was ethereal, they have seen nothing. Thinking back on it, he wondered if the Kamis had made her with extra care and thought. They had to of.
He thought back on when they first encountered each other; 7 years ago.
"Sesshoumaru sama," useless voices from useless people would call out to him.
Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes in disdain. Couldn't they say he was busy? Couldn't they see that they were annoying him? "What," he grated out.
"Congratulations on the takeover."
The takeover, such a useless thing to talk about. Others were weak. Sesshoumaru hated the weak, so he destroyed all of them. With his father retired, he was taking the world by storm. Destroying everything in its path, leaving behind no survivors. Such is natural selection though. The strong prosper and survive while the weak suffer and die.
He ignored everyone else and left his building. He pulled out his car keys, just to put them back in. Not knowing why, he decided that he would go take a walk several blocks away.
That's when he found himself walking a path in a field of countless cherry blossom trees. They were needlessly flying about, getting in his face and his way. He rued his decision almost immediately. He pulled out his cell phone and made a call.
"Se-sesshoumaru sama, what can I do for you."
He rolled his eyes at the blubbering idiot. "I want the cherry blossom trees to be cut down," he said harshly.
"Wh-what? But why?"
"Are you daring -," Sesshoumaru stopped in his tracks awestruck. A few feet in front of him was a woman with outstretched arms, breathing in the cherry blossoms. She was spinning slowly with her eyes closed. The cherry blossoms seemed to dance around her.
"Um hello?"
Sesshoumaru hung up the phone and walked towards the ethereal beauty. He lightly grabbed her arm.
She stopped and looked at him. She smiled sweetly. "Aren't they beautiful?"
Her voice was like a song. Beautiful and melodious.
"I think you're beautiful," he said with a voice he didn't know he had possessed.
She looked shocked for a moment and eyed him carefully. But then she smiled even brighter than before. "Look at you," she remarked. "You've fallen in love with me, haven't you?"
Indeed he had.
Over the next few months, they had been getting to know each other exceedingly well. There were romantic dinners, casual dates, and even an obscene number of visits to the petting zoo.
She loved the petting zoo.
He had learned many things about her; things that he cherished. She was named Kagome after her great grandmother. She loved flowers and strawberry ice cream. He learned that she hated spots closely placed together. It was one of her odd quirks. She always put her right shoe on before the left and she put her arms in before her head when putting on a shirt. But when put on a sweater it would be the opposite. She didn't care much for practical things. She cherished the small things.
He remembered every moment, every word. He remembered every kiss, every touch, and every encounter. He even remembered every fight. Though they were few and far between, they did happen.
He remembered their first fight. As always he was planning another hostile takeover. She didn't like that so many people would lose their jobs; their income.
"It's cruel Sesshoumaru! Why do you have to do things like?!"
"It's my job," he replied harsher than he had attended.
"So you just get rid of anyone who you don't like? Anyone you don't have use for? So, what? Are you going to get rid of me one day to?"
"I would never," he reached out to touch her.
She slapped his hand away; angry tears were in her eyes. She stormed away.
That was the first time he had felt pain. Her slap was still resonating in his hand. His heart felt like someone was squeezing it in their hands.
After that, he promised never to take over another company again. He would do anything to make her happy. She knew this, and so did everyone else.
She was his rock; his better half. Stocks had gone up along with company morale and positive articles. He was the man in love and everyone was buzzing about it. Magazines had pictures of them together. She was also a miracle worker. Somehow she managed to repair the bond between him and his useless brother. She even brought their families closer together, and he found that he didn't mind the frivolous weekly family dinners.
Soon she had moved in with him. Which made him learn even more things about her. For example, she couldn't cook. She barely managed to make a decent sandwich.
He recalled one night, coming to the house only to see smoke everywhere. He went to the kitchen to see Kagome panicking and waving a pot warmer at the oven.
"I wanted to make you dinner," she said panicked. "I don't know what I did wrong."
When Sesshoumaru walked over, he peered inside the oven to see a blackened blob of… well he wasn't sure what it was. He also noticed the temperature at which the stove was set.
"It could be that you set it too high."
"I thought 500 would just make it cook faster."
He laughed. "It's fine," he kissed her on the top of the head. "We can go out to eat…. For the rest of our lives."
Kagome playfully shoved him. "I'll get better."
"We'll see."
She didn't get better.
If anything her cooking skills – or rather, lack of – got worse. It even came to the point where he had to replace just about every appliance in his kitchen. Kagome even burned things in the microwave.
Eventually, they had gotten married.
Hundreds had come to see them take their vows. But he could only see her. Her, in her wedding dress. It was white and suited her perfectly. It was exactly her style; simple and elegant.
"I swear to love, honor and respect you," Kagome said her vows, smiling. "I promise to always think of fondly in my heart. I promise to always remind you when you're being a meanie bo beanie and to praise you when you're being extra awesome. I promise to never cook for you. Most of all, I promise to love," tears started to fall and her voice was beginning to break. "You until the end of time, through everything. Because," Kagome paused and took a deep breath. "Because you and this love, is once in a life time."
Sesshoumaru smiled at her. Gods was she beautiful.
"I swear to love, honor, and respect you," Sesshoumaru started with his vows. "I swear to protect you with every fiber of my being. I promise to always buy dinner and never expect dinner to be made. I promise you cheesecake until the end of time. I promise to destroy all closely put together spots. And I promise to always love and always cherish you. You are everything to me and I promise to never forget that fact."
He didn't know being in love could be such a wonderful feeling, such a high. And on their wedding night, he learned just how precious being with the one you truly love is.
He had been with countless of women, but recalling the look on Kagome's face and her charming innocence was just heaven. He could remember the feel of her thighs wrapped tightly around him. The way her fingers dug into his skin. He remembered her initial pain but how she urged him not to worry, that she was happy. He remembered her throatily calling out his name.
They had been happy. Every day was filled with smiles and laughs. Every day was the happiest day of his life.
And then it all came crashing down. Things started to deteriorate.
There was only one warning. One thing that hinted to the destruction of their happiness.
"Hey," Kagome said. "I can't remember how to get to the store from here," she laughed. "I think I must be crazy."
That was it. That one sign that they both dismissed as silliness.
She started forgetting more and more every day. She misplaced car keys and her cell phone. She had trouble remembering which drawer was which. She would go to sleep on the left side of the bed instead of the right. However, they just laughed it off.
Until one day, she was standing in the middle of the street with no idea where she was or where she was going.
"It's a brain tumor," the doctor said coldly. "You'll soon forget everything around you. Even your name. I'm sorry, but you have 6 months at most," the doctor said without remorse.
She cried and he yelled.
They went home and he felt helpless. Never in his centuries of being alive had he ever cried, until then. But his Kagome – his love – held him tight.
"I love you," she whispered. "Please don't cry."
He hugged her tightly. He would find a cure. No matter what it took, he would buy her a cure.
But he didn't. She continued to forget small things. And then she forgot the things that they had done together. She would become frustrated and lash out.
Pretty soon, she forgot him all together.
She died on a day all the cherry blossoms were in bloom. With her last dying breath, she remembered.
"It's been a beautiful life," she said weakly. Tears were falling from Sesshoumaru's face. "I love you."
Sesshoumaru managed to smile. "And I love you."
It's been a year since then. Sesshoumaru was standing in the place they had first met.
"I still love you koi," Sesshoumaru said.
The wind blew, and seemed to encircle him. And he could've sworn that through the wind and the dancing cherry blossoms, he had heard his Kagome whisper, "I love you to."