Theme 1: Glass
(Part I of Sesshoumaru/Kagome Glass-verse)
When Inuyasha was no more, after having built an empire within his own right, tradition dictated that Sesshoumaru act as caretaker for his property until the day his nephew came of age.
Sesshoumaru had not been fond of his brother in life, and even after death he barely thought of him at all. Even though everything Inuyasha had once owned, touched, loved and cherished was now in Sesshoumaru's care.
Their father's fang was in his grasp now, but Sesshoumaru had no use for it. His own arm had finally begun regenerating, and he had no intent in going to yank one off of a human. The sword would one day belong to his nephew, and he was merely to store it until then.
Inuyasha's temples, manors, forests and villages were all Sesshoumaru's, and he regularly patrolled them in addition with his own ancestral lands. The samurai who once answered to their Lord answered now to Sesshoumaru.
And Inuyasha's priestess- his mate, lover, princess, his Lady- she was now Sesshoumaru's as well.
She had not been pleased, to find that she must now answer to her brother-in-law, but she had been overwhelmed with grief and was unable to argue at a point where her objections would mean anything. Besides, she would not leave her son alone with an uncle he never knew.
He had ignored her, at first. Though he personally attended to her when it was necessary and protected her from danger, she was just a piece of the background, insignificant.
His father had once said that humans were like glass; fragile and beautiful. Glass could be shaped into wondrous things, and painted so that light shined through in celestial colors. But glass was also fragile, and easily broken.
To Sesshoumaru, broken glass was worthless, having given up it's purpose. When Kagome came to him, she was just a pile of shards, merely going through the motions. Since she was now his obligation and property, he was unable to simply sweep her into the dustbin.
Once upon a time, Kagome was a girl full of surprises and vigor and purity. It had seemed that she had died with Inuyasha, leaving behind a shell. But Sesshoumaru had to take notice when in time, she seemed to come to life and steadily picked up the pieces.
After a year had passed, she had taken to leaving little "thank you" notes and tokens of appreciation lying around, and whenever she found one missing she gave him a smile, a spark in her eyes.
Six months following that, she somehow took the burden of planning political gatherings off his shoulders, using only the power of suggestion and a wide smile.
Awhile after that, she established a firm bridge of communication between him and the humans and youkai living on his lands. She had started sending out messengers to the people for their suggestions, combing through them and bringing important ones to Sesshoumaru's attention so he could fix the problems of his people.
Through her, his people came to sing his praises.
After he invited her and her son to join him formally for all meals, they began to talk in earnest. They spoke of science, power, strategy, loyalty, history, philosophy, and everything in between.
He had known she wasn't a dumb human, but these talks really brought her intelligence to light.
Somewhere, sometime, Sesshoumaru discovered what many others had discovered before him. Kagome had a way of darting into your heart and staying there, and it was impossible not to cherish her.
Time was slow for Sesshoumaru. For Kagome, time ticked on at a human rate, an impossibly fast rate. For Sesshoumaru, time was sluggish. He had forever, and he had all the time he wanted to get there.
Looking back, he would be unable to pinpoint the exact moment he had claimed her for his own. He just knew that all of a sudden, he held her hand under the table when she was stressed. He caressed her hair when he passed. She ended up moving into his room, his bed, his heart, and she was there to stay.
Somewhere, she ceased to be Inuyasha's. At some point, she had become purely his.
Somehow, he managed to pick up all the shards Inuyasha had left behind of his fragile glass treasure, and together, they had pieced her back together. Into a new and beautiful piece of art.
There was a shard that could never be found, which would always belong to Inuyasha, but even damaged... she was beautiful.
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-DrabbleQueen