The Demon Lord walked to the strange-looking cave, and spoke aloud.
"Totosai, are you there?"
"Eh? What? Who's out there?"
The small bent demon peered out through the cave opening, and peered around, his huge eyes squinting in the bright light, "I'm kind of busy working here. Whatever it is, I - Lord Sesshomaru!"
Sesshomaru studied the Master Sword Maker, his face as cool as always, golden eyes seeming to peer straight into the old man's heart.
"What can I do for you, Lord Sesshomaru?"
At first the Demon Lord seemed like he wasn't going to speak, he just remained where he was, and regarded the old man in silence. Uneasily, Totosai started to sweat.
Was I supposed to make something for him, and forgotten? Oh no, he'll kill me for sure! Think, you old fool! A sword? No, he already has two. What else could he-
Sesshomaru spoke, "You created a sword for Izumi."
Totosai paused, confused, "Ehhh....what?"
"A sword. An odd-looking sword, do you not remember?"
"A sword for...oh yes, the one made from the strange metals. Oh dear, isn't she happy with it?"
The Demon Lord didn't answer him, but asked his own question, "What was it made for?"
Totosai fell silent for a second, growing more and more confused. Sesshomaru had been there himself when the woman Izumi had come to claim it. Hadn't she told him?
"Well, to be honest, Lord Sesshomaru, I don't know."
Silence.
Totosai continued, "She never told me, and in fact, I don't think she herself really knew."
Sesshomaru turned away, looking out over the distance, "Yes...she said as much to me..."
"Oh? Well...then why do you think I would know?"
Sesshomaru's eyes were a cold gold, "You created the sword, I should think you would have some ideas of it's abilities."
Totosai scratched under one arm as he thought, "Well, normally, yes, I would. But as you yourself said, it's an odd sword. The metals she gave me...she claimed one came from the moon, and the other from the sun. I've never encountered such metals before...very interesting to work with. As for any powers it might have...I can honestly say I have no idea."
Sesshomaru considered this.
Totosai looked down from his cave to the grounds below, lost in thought himself.
"But I'm sure Izumi knows what she's doing, and I would say that that sword is extremely powerful."
He looked back to the Demon Lord to judge his reaction, but blinked.
Sesshomaru was gone.
"So...this is Kohaku."
Izumi smiled down at the young boy, her head tilted to the side slightly as she studied him. Kohaku stood beside Sango, looking up at Izumi with a faint blush on his face. Sango was trying hard not to giggle at her little brother.
"And you're...the Lady Izumi."
"No," Izumi said softly, "I am just Izumi. Please don't call me Lady. It's a title I'm really not that comfortable with."
"Uh...ok."
"How old are you, Kohaku?"
"I'm 13, Ma'am."
"13," Izumi reached up, and removed the straw hat she had been wearing, the broad circular brim keeping the sun from her face, "A young man. Sango tells me you are looking after your village, rebuilding it."
"Yes Ma'am. We're almost completely done now, we just need to plant a few more crops."
The smile on Izumi's face faltered, and faded, and she watched the young boy very intently, almost searching inside him.
"I am very sorry for your loss, Kohaku, and if I could have prevented it...I would have. Please, believe me."
Kohaku blinked, but nodded, "Thank you."
Sango frowned faintly, watching Izumi. The woman had said the exact same thing to her when they had met. It seemed more than something a kind stranger might say...the woman seemed honestly saddened by what happened. Despite what the woman said, the demon-slayer was starting to think there was more to the family painting scroll than Izumi was letting on.
Sango promised herself that when the time was right, she would question Izumi further.
Kohaku spoke, breaking her thoughts.
"Lad - Miss Izumi, Ma'am?"
"Yes dear?"
Kohaku blinked for a second, startled by Izumi's familiar way of speaking, but plowed on, "May I ask how Kagura is?"
Izumi blinked.
Kohaku spoke on, "Sango told me that you said something about Kagura living near you now, away from Naraku. How is she doing?"
"Kagura is doing rather well, Kohaku. She had to learn a few things, but all in all, I'm very proud of how she's doing. It's kind of you to ask."
"Well, I...when I was...kidnapped by Naraku...I got to know her, and...she was never really all that bad."
Izumi smiled softly, "No, she wasn't."
"What's going to happen to her?"
"I can't say, dear. That's up to her to decide. But at any rate, whatever decisions she makes regarding her life will be her own. She is free of Naraku now. She has discovered that, finally. He no longer controls her."
Kohaku smiled, "Good."
Izumi returned his smile.
Night fell.
No stars shone this night; dark clouds gathered and threatened badly-needed rain, but none fell. Thunder grumbled to itself in the distance.
Everyone slept.
Almost everyone.
Sango stirred at a loud complain of thunder, and peered around. The ground was dry, and their fire had been made very small so as not to set anything alight. It was more for light than heat, and it was still unnaturally hot.
Movement caught her eye, and Sango turned to see Izumi sitting up by the small fire. She gazed into the depths, softly humming.
Kirara sat in her lap, being petted.
Sango slowly sat up, not wanting to disturb them, but Kirara's eyes had never really left her beloved Sango's form, and now the little feline looked her way, and gave Sango her unique little mew.
Izumi looked at Sango as well, and smiled faintly, "A storm is coming."
Sango rose, glancing at her friends, who were all asleep, even the normally alert hanyou. Making her way over to Izumi, Sango knelt, and glanced at the woman's face.
Izumi lightly patted Kirara's head, "She knew I was troubled, and came to me to give comfort."
"Kirara's always been very good at sensing when people are upset."
"She's a very wise little thing."
Silence for a little while.
Sango spoke, her voice hushed in the darkness, "Why are you troubled, Izumi?"
"The war. The climate. So much is happening, so quickly."
Sango looked at the woman sitting beside her, "Yet you knew it was coming, didn't you?"
"Yes..." Izumi kept her eyes on the fire, "And yet...it makes me uneasy to know it has begun."
"I think I understand," Sango said.
Izumi moved her gaze from the fire, and to the young woman beside her for a second. Then, startling Sango, she reached out, and gently brought her fingertips to just beneath Sango's chin. Izumi gently moved Sango's face so she could get a better look at her. Izumi smiled gently, "Yes...I believe you do, dear."
Sango felt odd, with this woman studying her so closely, and yet it was like being touched by an aunt or some other female family member. She spoke before she knew she was going to.
"Izumi, why do you seem so sad sometimes?"
Izumi withdrew her hand, and looked back to the fire, "Oh....old thoughts, I suppose. When you've been around as long as I have....you have a lot of things you regret."
"Are you really that old?"
"I am. I am older than even I can remember. Centuries blend into each other. Sometimes I have to stop and really think back to something that has happened so long ago."
Sango studied Izumi's face by the firelight, and spoke, "You're tired, aren't you?"
Izumi blinked, looking at Sango in complete shock. Sango suddenly saw the years that Izumi carried, like a heavy blanket. She didn't look any older, but suddenly, Sango could practically feel the weariness that clung to the older woman like a scent.
Izumi looked back to the fire, and tried to regain her composure, tucking a stray strand of hair behind an ear, "I...sometimes...yes. I get tired. Very tired."
"And it's...not the sort of tired sleeping can cure, is it?"
"No, dear. It's not."
Silence. A small branch cracked in the fire, popping.
"Can't you.....stop?"
"I will one day. When this is all over."
Sango suddenly felt the conversation was moving to a place she wasn't sure she wanted it to go, and so she turned, and spoke, "That is you in that scroll painting, isn't it, Izumi?"
Silence.
Sango looked back to the woman, and waited.
Izumi looked tired, and paused, and then just nodded, closing her eyes for a second.
Sango spoke, "I thought it was you."
Kirara purred.
"Do you hate me?"
Sango looked at Izumi, worried. The older woman's eyes were so tired, and full of sorrow.
"Hate you?"
"The scroll lists me as your family's protector. And yet almost your entire clan was destroyed."
Sango looked back to the fire.
"I...don't hate you. But..why did it happen, Izumi? Was it another of those things that had to happen?"
Izumi took a long, deep breath, and then spoke, "I am not your family's protector, dear. I...knew your ancestor. But I was not your protector. I did not know what was going to happen...because I swear to you...if I had known, I would have stopped it."
There was silence for a while, and then Sango nodded, "I believe you. And I don't hate you. I wish you had been able to prevent it, but...well..you know what they say about wishes."
Sango turned, looking back to where her friends slept, and where her brother slept, "We'll be ok. We'll be ok now."
Izumi nodded, then spoke, "Go back to sleep, dear. It's very late."
"What about you?" Sango turned back to Izumi, and blinked. The hint of weariness, the aura of tiredness, was gone from Izumi, hidden once again behind a veil. Izumi smiled at her, "I'll sleep in a bit. I don't need all that much anymore."
Sango nodded, and rose. Kirara started to jump down, to join her, but Sango put out her hand, "No Kirara. Stay with Izumi for a while more."
Izumi smiled, "Thank you, dear."
Sango smiled at Izumi, feeling odd, and strangely lost, saddened. She returned to her bed roll, and lay down, staring up at the leaves as they danced in the breeze.
Sleep was a very long time in coming.
Someone else moved in the night.
The Lord Sesshomaru walked, lost in thought. His mind wandered of it's own accord, almost running around in circles, forcing him to think about things he would rather not.
Why had Izumi risked her Goddess's punishment, to save him? He had thought that Izumi would, could, do nothing without Amaterasu's permission. She had even told him, once, that there was little she did that was not a direct order from her Goddess.
So why did she risk herself in that manner, knowing she would be hurt?
Is it, because of my father?
It still felt strange to him, to remember seeing Izumi and his father, walking arm in arm, as he himself had done, talking to the woman. There had been no romantic love between InuTashio and Izumi, but there had been a deep love there as a family. They had been friends....more than friends, even. Almost like brother and sister, and it was apparent that Izumi loved InuTashio very much. She mourned his death, and even now, after all these years, she still felt grief.
Was that why she had risked herself to save him? Because he was InuTashio's son?
He frowned to himself.
That image again, of himself, as a youth, sleeping on the ground beneath a tree....and Izumi, leaning over him, casting a protective spell around him.
Touching the crescent moon on his forhead.
He touched the item he carried within his robes. A small thing, and yet at times it felt heavy to him.
Why had he had it made? What did it prove? For what reason?
The moonless night cast no shadows, yet he moved in the darkness, seeing clearly. Small demons scampered out of his way, perhaps sensing his power, perhaps simply busy with their own lives.
A night bird called in the distance.
That was something else, another way he had changed since meeting her. It seemed he was more aware of the birds that lived in the forests now. Izumi's love for birds seemed to seep into everything, and now, for some reason, he was more aware of the birds around him than before.
She was born a human.
Sesshomaru scowled.
Why did that thought suddenly come to him?
And why did he care?
She was born a human. She dug for clams with a stick, along the shoreline as a child. Poor, and wild.
How then, had she been raised to Senmin? How had she gotten so powerful?
Sesshomaru raised his arm, and gazed at it, as if studying it. She had returned the arm to him, as a gift from her Goddess.
No...that wasn't quite right.
The idea of a gift had been from her Goddess....but the arm had been her idea. Because I would be facing a great threat in the days ahead. Is that true? Or because she knew I despised having lost it to InuYasha?
He clenched his fist.
Father, why is she haunting me this way? I do not understand.