My broken heart has bled
With memories of a love that's dead
Sometimes happy then sad
-Deep Purple: Love Help Me
A month had passed, and Kagome was walking now. She was somewhat wobbly like a newborn fawn. She could feed, use the bucket, and bathe herself. (Much to Sesshomaru's relief.) She often walked out of the cave to sit on the large flat rock that served as its porch. That's where Kaili found her when she returned from her journey right at sunset.
"I ...tell ...you what... I'm just about... too old... to.. be hoof..in' it... up and ...down this... mountain." Kaili wheezed, before plopping her some was rotund figure next to Kagome. Kagome smiled.
"Oh come on Kaili-sama you still have a good thousand years left. I'm sure of it." Kagome said looking down at the sun golden hued tree tops.
"Ha that's a laugh. Kami knows that in all my years I have never met a human quite like you child. You remind me of me when I was young...was I ever young?...I may have a day maybe years left I don't know but I sure could use the vacation." Kaili said watching as the sky changed from blue, to orangery pink, then misty purple. They sat in comfortable silence as all the stars began to sparkle one by one in the early night sky.
"We never really know when we're going to pass. We go in the blink of an eye. One minute I was yelling at Inuyasha for being a baka, and the next he's gone. I'm left here wondering when I'll see him again. Shippo, my sweet little Shippo. He was like my own child, and he was ripped from my arms without a second thought. I can still see him reaching for me. Why did Kami choose for me to live, and not him? I'd trade places with all of them if I could." Kagome said quietly her eyes glassy and looking far away.
"Kagome loss hurts, and nothing anyone says makes the pain less. Believe me I know firsthand. I lost a mate and two out of three babies barely able to crawl around. Snatched from me before I had my back completely turned. Somehow I made it, and you will too with time." Kaili said, watching the young miko from the corner of her own glassy eyes. Kagome sighed and looked up at the orange moon just barely above the tree line.
"What kept you going on?" Kagome asked looking at the older woman.
"My daughter Tsuki I had to raise her, and she grew into a fine grand lady. Gave me a fine, beautiful grand son. She loved that baby. Boy, did she love him. He was all she ever talked about. He cut his first tooth, he said his first word, he's crawling, he skipped walking and went straight to running, he barked at a servant. She went on and on about him. Telling me every single precious detail about all the little things he did." she said with a sigh. "She would still be going on about him if she hadn't succumb to her illness. Poor Sesshomaru, he was still too young to remember her properly." she added sadly. "Sesshomaru was born alive, but just barely. I gave him my immortality so that he would survive. His two sisters had died before birth. They'd been born too early. A rival lord had sent an assassin to kill Tsuki. She was stabbed in the belly. I'm grateful that her and Sesshomaru survived." She said.
Sesshomaru sat quietly by the fire listening to his grandmother and the miko converse. She was right he barely remembered his mother. His father had told him once that they were very young when they'd been mated and eventually had him. Sesshomaru did remember her scent, a mixture of cherries and vanilla. He also remembered that her name meant moon. He also realized that the three of them were connected with their losses. He lost his brother whom Kagome loved, and his Grandmother lost her daughter who was his mother. Why did sadness have a way of entwining beings together? He was shocked by the gift his grandmother had bestowed upon him.
Kagome and Kaili retired into the cave, and settled in for the night. Sesshomaru stayed up gazing into the fire lost in thought. He was stuck with another human female to grate his nerves. He wondered if his life would ever return to the normalcy he had before Rin. Although by taking on another human, maybe he could rid himself of Jaken. The miko could always purify the green monstrosity. He cracked a small smile for that one.
