He stood looking through the eyepiece of the contraption she called a telescope, being careful not to twist the knob too hard as he tried to make the picture clearer. Pleiades, she had called them, the seven sisters.

Three months ago she had spoken briefly about them during one of their encounters. Tonight she was following through with her promise to teach him about them.

Over the course of the past year he had learned to treasure their moments together, and he yearned to sit with her more often. Tonight she appeared tired, worn out and physically exhausted as she returned from her latest hunt. He was surprised to see her waiting for him, let alone waiting for him with such a machine. It would not have been easy to transport through the well.

But she stood there greeting him, her smile reaching her weary eyes as she set the device up. Pleiades was in the northwestern sky according to her, and tonight was the perfect night to watch them as it was quiet.

And so she sat, telling him the story as he tracked the cluster with the telescope, moving it as she had taught him to do. What an amazing machine to allow him to see the universe so well from such a distance.

There were many stories about them, she had said. The most prominent a Greek story. He had remembered his lessons on the shape of the world, and other lands that stretch far beyond Japan. Greece was located in an area called Europe, far, far from where he was currently situated.

"Okay, so there's nine of them," she recited. "The seven sisters and their two parents." He nodded as he eyed the nine bright stars sitting in a bed of thousands of fainter ones.

"There's Maia, Electra, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, Sterope, and Merope. One of the parent stars is Atlas, the father, and the mother is Pleione," she chewed her lower lip slightly, he noted as he saw it out of the corner of his eye. He didn't know which he was more fascinated with, the stars above, or her nervous little habit. "Atlas was a titan, a giant creature of superior strength who was told by the gods to hold up the Earth. Pleione is from the ocean."

"Anyway, all seven of the sisters were once being chased by the warrior hunter Orion. He's the constellation to the east of them." She pointed to the three stars that formed his belt and he watched intently as she traced his shape in the sky.

"So Zeus, the head god, much like Jupiter," she clarified, "had decided to turn them into doves. Afterward Zeus had changed his mind and changed them into stars. One story says they were saddened by the death of their father, Atlas, and the death of their siblings, the Hyades, another star cluster by the way, that Zeus had decided to immortalize them instead by making them into stars. Orion still chases them though. Despite being made stars, he continues to chase them. Only this time he'll never catch them."

He stepped aside as she reached for the telescope, intent on looking at the stars herself. "We don't call them the Pleiades here in Japan though. It's the name I prefer, but at home we call them the Subaru." She giggled. "We even have a car named after them that has six of the seven stars in its logo."

He thought back quickly to his lesson on cars. The horseless wagon was how she described it. It transported people from destination to destination without having a horse to pull it. "Why only six?"

He watched as she abandoned the telescope and sat on the blanket she had laid on the grass. He did the same, sitting close enough to her to allow his shoulder to brush hers. It was a contact he had learned to enjoy and relished each time they met.

"I don't know. The Greek have a story about the seventh sister, Merope. Maybe it has something to do with that."

He watched her shiver in the night, and noted how cool it had become after sunset. Stupid girl, he thought affectionately. It was winter and she hadn't thought to bring an extra cloak for warmth. Normally they would have had a fire going, but she said the light from the fire would interfere with the light from the stars. He removed his mokomoko-sama and gently placed it around her shoulders, and noted with satisfaction that she snuggled into it immediately. It felt right somehow.

"Thanks," she whispered. "Anyway, Merope is said to be the faintest star in the cluster as punishment. She was shamed for having an affair with a mortal unlike the rest of her sisters."

He chuckled, a sound she was getting more and more used to, and a sound she treasured more and more as he rarely chuckled freely, and if he did, it was usually reserved just for her. "There is not much difference between the Greeks and here," he conceded.

She could feel her ire rise at the thought of the hatred between man and youkai. "You know, you don't help much with this either. 'Weak humans', and 'human stench', and whatnot." She started to rise from her spot on the blanket to pace. "We are more than our bodies. It's not our fault we were born human, just like it's not your fault you were born youkai. I don't know why everybody has to hate each other. I admire Merope for following her heart instead of following her sisters' actions."

He placed a hand gently, but firmly on her shoulder, keeping her in place. "Peace," he said, as he lay on his back to look at the sky, something they both did quite often these days since their first conversation about the stars. "I know not all humans are bad," he pulled her down with him. "For instance, if I treated all humans the same, we would not be lying here together."

She sighed and snuggled into his warmth. It amazed her how much she trusted him to not hurt her, to protect her. And it amazed her even more that he would allow such contact between them. Who knew that the Great Lord Sesshoumaru was a snuggler.

Maybe it was a by-product of their growing relationship, but she really didn't care, he was there with her tonight and that was what mattered.

"Why do demons hate humans so much?" she asked. "I don't understand it."

"Because of the hatred humans have of us demons," he answered. "Jealousy, I figure.
We're stronger, our life span is longer, we're given certain powers and abilities that weren't granted to humans. We're different. Humans work hard and strive to be better, but never succeed. They get angry over this and decide it's better to curse us instead, to try and wipe us from existence so they are the most powerful beings on Earth. It's a power struggle. They hate us because we're different, we hate them because they're weak for it."

"I guess much like Merope and her human mate. They were different and it upset both the gods and humans."

"Yes. Not many humans see their failings as gifts. I may have a longer lifespan than you, but we simply just exist. You cherish your years, I live each day and simply move onto the next without giving it another thought, until time passes and I can't recall where it has passed to, or what I have done to leave my mark on it."

He could feel her head move as she shook it against his shoulder. "That's such a shame," she whispered. "You should always live each moment like it's your last. Especially during this time where everybody is constantly at war with each other."

"Hn."

They lay together in silence for several minutes, looking up at the night sky. "Why is the Pleiades your favourite?" he asked, breaking the silence. "Is it because of the story?"

"No, the story was something I learned afterward. I just thought they were pretty, a group of stars sitting so brightly in a bed of fainter stars, surrounded by a blue dust. There are thousands of star clusters in the sky, but nothing as pretty as these." She frowned. "Even with time though, scientists are predicting they'll move and spread apart from each other, and one day, Pleiades will be no more."

"But despite that," he said thoughtfully. "They've still made a mark on your life. You've noticed them, and appreciated them for their simple existence."

"Yes," she agreed, closing her eyes before letting exhaustion take over. "They've left a mark on me. Just as you have too."

AN

Okay, so initially this was meant to be a one shot vignette, then people asked for more. Now, typically I don't follow the requests to continue vignettes simply because they're meant to end where they are. However, the beauty about this is I could continue, but keep them as separate vignettes. There's no guarantee that I'll continue on beyond this vignette, it'll depend on whether or not the mood strikes me. I probably made a mistake continuing with this vignette instead of leaving well enough alone, but I couldn't stop writing after going out last night.

But last night was a gorgeous, clear night and I took my telescope outside and I was inspired

No, Pleiades wasn't out, too bad. That's a winter constellation and you can find it to the west of Orion. But I had a gorgeous clear sky out, which is rare for Toronto, Ontario as there's no city in Canada that has such terrible light pollution. I was actually able to see the constellations Cassiopeia, Ursa Major (which is probably the easiest constellation ever), Libra, Ophiusius and Lyra. Also got a chance to see Jupiter and three of its four moons (unfortunately, one moon was behind the planet, and the red spot was not facing earth). Even with a quarter crescent moon I was still able to see some Earthshine, which isn't typical unless you see just the beginning of the crescent, and it felt so good that when I came in around midnight, I just started typing until this was finished. Then combine this with the fact that before I went outside I had watched the third Inuyasha movie, which is big-time Sesshoumaru action. I love it! It was like the words just flowed out of my fingertips.

I've included below a link to the Pleiades star cluster on Wikipedia where it has a picture of them so you could all see why they're my favourite celestial objects right now.

http://en. just want to give a shout out and thank you to those who responded to the first story.

On ASS: Tana-san, hasu86 (absolutely loving your stories. Waiting on an update for Summer Maid, but I can't tell you how many times I've read your others, especially Tohoku Vacation). Rowdysgirl, ElegantPaws (to those who haven't read ElegantPaws' 'This Sesshoumaru Needs Not a Mate', it's definitely a must read, go read it now!) and Lexy22. Person of a Strange Origin, Semi-Precious, EternalLove495, MickeytheMouse, sesshomaru121, GYY, Kamakura Yumi (Yes, Plough is the big dipper. It's an old English name for it. The Big Dipper goes by three names, the Big Dipper, Plough, and Ursa Major as it's a part of that constellation).

And finally, a Happy Harry Potter Day to one and all. I've spent the better part of the day laying on a chaise on my patio reading in the sun, and I'm about to curl up on the couch and continue it as well.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and company aren't mine, they belong to Rumiko Takahashi.