A/N: Hello everybody! This fic was started because I missed Sesshomaru's presence in my life. As if he ever could be there in the first place, but that's not what the fic is about. It was born from a rather strange idea, I've never thought it would turn out to be so philosophical. Oh well… It was started as a one-short, but grew immensely. The plot span is at least fifteen years, so I want to apologize beforehand if there are mistakes with the time line. There are a lot of Japanese words in the text, some are those which are commonly used in Inuyasha fics, those that are not – have translation beside them.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha only some original characters.

Something to Protect or the Endless Circle of Life

by Lady Arabella Malfoy

Prologue

The feeling of déjà vu was a common thing among youkai, especially to those who have lived for hundreds of years. One and the same events repeated over and over again with different people, in different places, but humanity didn't offer much of a variety. That's why Sesshomaru was not surprised, even if he was ever, to see a half naked female body floating down the river that was speedily moving towards a waterfall. He paid her no mind, moving in his energy ball towards an unknown destination. Unknown, since lately Lord Sesshomaru had lost the purpose of his existence. There was no powerful enough enemy to slay, no lands to conquer, and going down to simple terrorizing of humans, the past time all youkai ravishly endured, was way below his taiyoukai status.

The body moved further downstream, being thrown over the river riffles, one of them was large enough for the body to turn over to reveal the woman's face. The feeling of déjà vu increased. The scent was of course different, but the appearance, the hair, and most importantly the face were the exact copy of the woman he once saved from the river currents.

The only difference – there was no spider mark on her back.

Driven by unknown instinct, Sesshomaru descended, retrieved the body from the water and put it on the river bank. The woman was obviously human and dead, what was even more obvious. But her face… The last time he saw it was at the flower field at least a hundred years ago. Another instinct of a mysterious origin made him draw Tenseiga and vanquish the demons of the Underworld who came for the woman's soul.

Sesshomaru knew that it was in his best interests to leave and let the woman deal with her new-founded life, but he stayed, sitting on a boulder, waiting for her to wake up. Which she did eventually with a loud grunt. Slowly coming to her senses, the woman sat up and looked around. She was obviously unaware of her state of returning to the world of the living, believing herself to be dead. She turned around once more and finally noticed she wasn't alone on the meadow. And then she screamed.

"Youkai!"

A typical reaction of a typical human. Sesshomaru stood up and headed towards the forest. It was pointless to stay – she was not her. He was a fool to believe that by some miracle Kagura was granted another chance at life. The appearance must've been just a coincidence. And a human… Sesshomaru had already reached the edge of the forest, when a hail stopped him.

"Please, wait! Could you at least tell me where I am?"

"Three miles to the West is Hanjoku village, downstream is town Zenzjan," he replied without turning around.

"So I am alive? How can it be? Why am I not dead?"

There was so much agony in her regret for being alive that it made Sesshomaru turn around to face the broken woman. In his long lifetime he had seen humans and youkai who begged him for death, for release from their painful sufferings, usually the ones he himself inflicted upon them. So why could a young woman wish death upon herself?

"Why didn't you kill me? Isn't it what youkai do?"

"This Sesshomaru revived you."

"You? You brought me back to this sinful world!" the woman yelled, her light brown eyes blazing with anger. To Sesshomaru's misfortune (what an oxymoron) he neared her enough for her to spring at him with clenched fists. Even if he hadn't been protected by his armor, two tiny human female fists would've done nothing to his body. They both knew that, but she still… "Who gave you the right? Were you just passing by and decided to revive some unknown human just for some sick entertainment? Haven't it crossed your youkai mind that there was a reason for me to jump off that cliff? That I preferred staying dead instead of… instead of…" Her anger evaporated just as quickly as it came and she fell onto the ground in front of Lord of the Western Lands, whom she dared to attack, in a heap of limbs tangled in still unfixed yukata.

"And what was the reason of you taking your life? If it was as important as you claim, I will kill you."

"My fiancée rejected me."

"Then you are more than a fool to end your life for it," Sesshomaru stated coldly. Brainless love struck fools – their existence was a wall-eye of humanity course of survival. Sometimes youkai too, take his father, for example.

"I was to be married after the next full moon. It was an arranged marriage, but it promised me a good life as the wife of the head of our village. Two days ago, I was returning from town and was attacked by three men. They beat me and raped me," the woman spat, every sharp cut word full of hate and contempt. "Each of them took me while others watched and laughed. When they were finished, they threw me at the outskirts of my village, beaten and bloody. It took me a whole day to reach my fiancée's house to seek his protection and punishment for the offenders. He didn't believe me, that son of a bitch!" the woman cursed, hitting the ground with her fists, as she could hit the man if he was present. "He accused me of having a lover before our marriage and to conceal my impurity I staged my rape. And then he tossed me out of the house! Like some garbage! And called me a whore! Hey, where are you going? Didn't you promise me something?"

"This Sesshomaru promised you nothing. Your reason for getting rid of something given to you by Kami itself is dishonorable for even a human."

"Dishonorable? I have no honor left because of those rascals! They took away my innocence, the most precious treasure any woman possesses. Something that is supposed to be given to a special person, not to some thugs that wanted to have a bit of quick fun! But how are you supposed to understand, you, youkai, are all heartless bastards! Kill me now and end this farce!"

"I won't, because this killing will dishonor this Sesshomaru. He kills only those who are worth it. If you are so eager to die then jump over the waterfall, the sword can revive only once. I advise you to fix your clothes properly, so maybe then you won't be considered a whore at your burial." With that Sesshomaru left deeming not to see anymore the human woman, mysteriously so alike Kagura not only in appearance, but in character too.

….

A hundred years ago, Inuyasha group disbanded after the final defeat of Naraku. The monk and the youkai slayer got married and started working on the large family they both wanted. After a lot of fights, awkward moments and pure stubbornness Inuyasha and Kagome decided to get married too. The only problem was Kagome's human lifespan. Even if Inuyasha was a hanoyu, he could live at least three hundred years. So Inuyasha went to Lady of the Western Lands, who had connections to the World of the Dead, and begged her to prolong Kagome's life.

Sesshomaru regretted every day his absence in his mother's castle during the visit of his step-brother. The view of Inuyasha desperately begging on his knees… An entertainment of a lifetime. He also knew that Inuyasha was on his own, without his constantly present miko girl. Must've been an independent intention, very uncharacteristic of Sesshomaru's dim-witted sibling.

The Lady agreed, but the price was three years of servitude, without leaving the castle, and most importantly not seeing his fiancée. Sesshomaru was surprised to hear from mother that Inuyasha actually agreed. If he knew his mother, the servitude wouldn't have ended with the nightfall's setting. Was she testing Inuyasha's fidelity or simply getting revenge on the result of her husband's betrayal?

Whatever was the reason, Sesshomaru had never been informed about (he didn't even inquire of course), but after three years Inuyasha mated Kagome and a hundred years later she looked exactly the same, not even giving birth to two pups had changed her. Both boys looked human apart from their silver hair and pointed ears. They were too young however to show any visible youkai heritage so had no problems with village children who befriended them, even with extreme cautiousness on their parents' part.

Among those human friends were two notorious boys and one girl who had in their blood love for life and adventure and also bravery and strength few possessed. Those kids were children of Rin and Kohaku, whose union was predetermined the moment Kohaku returned to visit his sister, Sango, after finishing his training as a youkai slayer.

The appearance of a young, strong young man caused quite a stir in the village. All girls of age were interested in him and didn't hide it, which wasn't exactly a proper behavior for young ladies, but for someone like a young hero to notice them… His glance stayed on only one girl though. Not a little girl anymore, but a woman for whose smile he could fight a deadliest youkai on Earth.

A subtle courting had already started when Sesshomaru arrived to pay his ward a visit. With a curt nod he gave his blessings, an action he at times regretted since a wife of a youkai slayer turned into a widow with a very high probability and in a short time no less. That's why Sesshomaru decided to work on the boy himself. The special training lowered the chances of youkai to leave alive after facing Kohaku to the minimum, so he and Rin lived a long live with their three children and six grandchildren, who moved to another villages after the passing of their grandparents. They married and had children of their own, who continued the circle of life after reaching maturity. On and on Sesshomaru had a pack (if anybody dared to call it so) of thirty humans, descendants of Rin who was in his care so many years ago.

The only ones who remembered the quest to destroy Naraku was he, Inuyasha with his mate and Shippo who lived with them. All others were dead, slept peacefully in their graves. That didn't mean that those who remained were utterly happy with their lives without the persons once very dear to them.