For Sugar00. Yes it's back up. Combining finished stories I used to have into longer one shots.
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I.
The humming was a constant in his life as he stood there watching the elderly miko. Her once lustrous hair was now long and silver, thin. Her hands trembled as she collected the herbs, her skin was fair enough if translucent in some areas and tanned in others. Her veins showed blue, her bones more apparent in her hands. Her face had significant wrinkles around her eyes and mouth for she laughed too much and smiled far too often in her life. Her breasts were no longer as high as they had once been, her back side sagged and every so often she would stop to rub a joint that caused her trouble. Her eyes were weak and hearing nearly gone..
It passed in a moment as he gazed down at the beautiful miko smiling up at him with her blue eyes that rivaled the seas on his furthest borders. Yet knowing what would come, her brief lifespan so real to him he could picture her in her old age..
If anything it caused his heart to clench even more as he gently ran his thumb over her cheek. She was so infinitely precious, this most powerful and yet most delicate of humans. She'd chosen to turn her back on those of her own kind, those who would comfort her in her last days eventually. Instead though he was merely a lord without a palace, preferring the grass and earth around him as his father had..she'd chosen to follow him.
She chose to devote her short years, though to her they would feel as long as his own span would, to being there by his side.
It was humbling for the ever so powerful inuyoukai.
This daughter of the gods could have had any king or emperor just by whom she was, and what she had done. Instead she happily curled up in his fur on cold nights when he would be in his full canine form. She'd hide in a cave or under a tree during a storm and keep a fire going, then eep and hide in his side at the first sign of lightning.
Even Rin had tired of such a life and though she rejoiced in seeing him, and the gifts he brought her still, she'd been happy to have a roof over her head and humans around her again. These days it was just Kagome and Sesshomaru, Jaken usually off on errands with the two headed dragon.
She'd be old and frail one day...
Sesshomaru couldn't say he'd love her any less.
What more could a man ask for in a comrade or ally then that they be willing to give their life on the battlefield?
There was no way he could have ever dreamed of being so loved, someone would give up a life to follow a dog..
Kagome in choosing to follow Sesshomaru, had given him a gift so precious he could do nothing those times when it dawned on him..except pull her close, his face buried in her hair and thank the gods they'd given him this time with her.
The world should be so lucky as he was.
II.
Sesshomaru had never thought himself a hypocrite.
The priceless gift of the gods was in his hands..and he wanted more.
Sighing he ran his claws through Kagome's hair as she slept peacefully against his side, the ache in his heart growing more and more with each strand he separated. He loved her. He hadn't even told her, nor had he ever done more then keep her close and at times he would crush her form to him, rumbling to her in his own tongue. He knew she didn't understand nor did she care. For some reason she loved him enough to follow him, as once she had followed his brother before she'd grown up. How strange fate was, his brother had fallen for a demoness..and with Kagome's blessing wed her.
Sesshomaru had brought the priestess with him, feeling she deserved time away and she had asked him quite softly if she could go with him for a short time..
That short time had been a year now. A year and he'd found there was something to the loyalty of a dog to a human it loved. Kagome was his light, his brightness in all things..and his heart when he couldn't feel. She was completely ridiculous and silly, temperamental and tended to be a bit of an airhead..but she was always concerned over him. She insisted on making him tea, on begging to brush his hair and when he was in the canine form, his fur. She never complained except for in a way to vent..which wasn't truly complaining. She would throw a sulking fit about the rain deciding it just HAD to get all over her..but not about being in the rain. She'd whine about the lightning scaring her, but not the flash flood. She'd sigh about poor food in an inn but never complain about eating fish for three weeks straight that she'd caught and cooked over a simple fire.
When he looked at her, he'd see the frail old woman she'd become...
Because it was his greatest fear.
He didn't wish to lose her.
As Sesshomaru stroked her hair his gold eyes became hard.
Somehow, he was going to keep her at his side..without making her lose that spark that made her maddeningly wonderfully Kagome.
Because Sesshomaru got what he wanted, and an eternity with his human by his side..he wanted more then anything.
III.
It was years later as his fingers again ghosted over the headstone that Sesshomaru closed his eyes in remembered pain. His favorite human...nothing more then a poem in elegant kanji now with incense nearby. He'd never personally been so affected watching the years slip by, ravaging what had once been large dark happy eyes, as wrinkles creased what had been smooth skin and beautiful hair slowly began to gray and fall...
He felt the familiar cold clutch at his heart as his clawed fingers stroked down the beautifully written poem, done by one who loved the woman as no one else could. Sesshomaru had no shame or concern about if others saw him by -her- grave. After all, she had warmed him with her smiles as no one else ever had. Those large dark eyes had seen the good in him everyone else had turned away, and he had become a better man, for her sake.
With a final almost inaudible sigh Sesshomaru stood, one hand straying towards his pelt as his eyes went down to watch his feet back away, as if the boots were somehow betraying him.
Turning with a swirl of silver hair Sesshomaru walked away from a part of his heart that would always remain with the love poem.
He was glad Kagome had started to insist he visit Rin..and it only hardened his resolve to find a way to keep his Kagome. Already there were a few tiny wrinkles from how often she smiled..
Sesshomaru was somewhat saddened and yet uplifted when he visited Rin, but he refused to ever do the same for Kagome.
Kagome would not die.
Even if the Miko seemed to age slower from her powers. He would not permit her to die.
IV.
It was several years later that Sesshomaru found the answer.
When he did it seemed so absurd in it's simplicity that he knew without doubt it was indeed valid, for the Kami had seen fit to make it a very easy solution if they found someone they truly loved. In a sense it was perfectly reasonable..and perfectly understandable why so few had ever sought to use it. Sesshomaru doubted even his great and terrible father with his love of Inuyasha's mother would have considered it.
No it took a deep and blinding affection. Not to die for one, that just took loyalty and dogs had that without cease.
But to be willing to live a half life, to share one's lifespan utterly. There was no way to regain the years should ones partner die, no guarantee of safety should the once mortal be left. Indeed it all but screamed out for the youkai about to then dispose of the one. Yet in history there had been those mortals who blessed by the kami had lived long. Now Sesshomaru thought he understood how.
When he showed the scroll to Kagome she'd nearly dropped it, hands trembling as she stared at him with her eyes watering..understanding the true meaning behind his action.
Understanding that Sesshomaru was a male of few words, but great actions.
There was an offer far more delicate and precious in his presentation.
Touched Kagome smiled softly at him, stroking his cheek, the few crows feet around her eyes only rendered her more beautiful, as did the faint smile creases at her face. She was young yet, but Kagome was expressive and it aged her in some ways faster then others. Even the bits of silver showing through -again young, but she had indeed had a stressful life here- rendered her more unique and precious to Sesshomaru. He had aged himself gracefully and resembled a fully matured man now, not a teen.
They had been companions a decade now, wandering the continent and seeking knowledge and information. Securing his lands until the time blended together and Sesshomaru had absolutely no doubt that he preferred the life of a wandering lord, with his fiesty miko beside him. Anything else, even the path of supreme conquest he had once desired, was pitiful.
With one of her precious smiles Kagome took the first step beyond their adoring friendship and leaned up to kiss his lips gently, the priceless scroll fluttering to the earth forgotten as the two embraced.
Up in the heavens the Kami chuckled as they watched, wondering if Sesshomaru would ever learn they had long since granted the boon of a shared life..Kagome just would never have been content as a teenager forever.
As they watched the tender scene they figured the time spent was worth it indeed, as the seemingly frail bond between youkai and miko resulted in a pure and eternal union, one that would repeat as often as the two souls rejoined the wheel of reincarnation..only unlike past star crossed lovers, these two would always be a part of the other.
Sometimes what seemed to be frail, was stronger then anything else.
Love.