A/N: Took me months to rediscover the plot to this story.

In Search of Themselves

Sango couldn't allow them to reach the rocks. She couldn't face the demon which now haunted her reality.

"Stop!" she yelled above the fray of the storm. "We can't go there!"

Sesshoumaru did not turn around as they sped further to the enclosure, but she could tell he was listening. He awaited her explanation.

"There's something in the rocks!" Sango exclaimed.

She knew he was not heeding her warning as the horror loomed just ahead of them. The young woman would have growled in frustration at the creature's clear arrogant stance, but her fear of the rocks kept her focused on avoiding a rerun of the nightmare. Her horror gave her strength, even through her illness, and she would use the sudden energy to her advantage.

So she rolled off.

Sango braced herself for the hard crash as she rolled into a tucked position. She hit the ground hard and nearly had the aired knocked out of her weak lungs as she rolled over the sunken earth. The young woman became coated in the mud as the water and wind chilled her to the bone.

Sango had managed to grab his notice, however.

At her fall Sesshoumaru had swiftly stopped and turned his nimbus to face her pathetic figure. The great youkai lord set himself upon a wet stone as he stood before Sango. She for her part would not allow herself to be seen quivering, and she bit her lip roughly to keep her body still.

"Now you will tell me what I want to know" she demanded as her breath came out in struggled gasps. Her illness would allow little dignity before this enemy. "How was your arm returned? Where did you get that mark upon your wrist?"

"I do not know" he bluntly replied with disdain at his own ignorance.

"Then what is your business with me?" she questioned sharply. Sango felt cheated of her answers, and rued the agreement she had made with the monster. "Why did you come to see me?"

The lord appeared unwilling to reveal his motives as he contemplated her further inquiries. He struggled with indecision, a state Sango had rarely seen him trapped within. True to his nature, however, he did not long revel in such hesitation.

"My father has ordered I do so" Sesshoumaru answered.

"Don't mock me" Sango threatened as she glared at the youkai. "Inu no Taisho is dead."

"I did not say he was alive, human" Sesshoumaru shot back.

"Then...then how?" she asked as she shook her head, spraying water in the air.

"You will now answer my own questions" he demanded as he brushed aside her own. "What is the marking upon your wrist?" he questioned as his eyes traveled to her covered arm.

"I don't know" Sango shot back, partly in revenge for his poor answers and wholly out of the truth of her experience. She pulled back the soggy cloth and looked out upon the marks. "They just appeared..." she trailed off as she thought of the skull and the ring of the dead.

"When did they appear?" Sesshoumaru pointedly asked as he noted her distracted expression.

"What right have you to know?" she countered. "How can you be here at all with a command from your dead father?"

"I will not tolerate such impudence, human" the lord frowned, but his eyes narrowed in suspicion. Her avoidance of his questions was incentive to push his inquiries further. "What do you know?"

"What are you hiding?" Sango shot back with venom in her tone. She could feel herself weakening as her footing began to grow shaky. The rain was coming down in sheets of sorrow and their conversation was getting them nowhere. "If you refuse to answer my questions, then return to your land" she ordered as she slowly reached up and removed her hiraikotsu from her back.

In a flash of silver, even as a flash of lightning shot through the sky, Sesshoumaru moved across the narrow gap which had separated them. Sango's sluggish movements could not match his own and she found her throat in his newly revived grasp as her weapon fell to the ground. Her hands clasped over his own as she struggled to find enough air to breath.

"This game has tested my patience long enough, human" Sesshoumaru snarled as he squeezed her throat. Sango gasped in pain as she felt her wind pipe struggle to remain open. "What are these marks upon our wrists?"

"I...I don't know" Sango choked out as the world began to spin. She felt on fire from the fever and her body was screaming for oxygen. "It just happened."

"What happened?" he demanded to know as his face inched closer to her own.

Suddenly Sango felt her wrist inflame with scorching pain as one of the circles lit with an unearthly light. Sesshoumaru's expression changed into shock as his own wrist resonated with her light. The young woman could see the flash of pain hidden in his eyes as he released his grasp on her throat and stepped backward, staring at his illuminated arm. She fell to the mud below, but she scarcely heeded the wet earth as she cradled her own arm against her body.

A bright glowing caused Sango to raise her gaze, and for the second time that night Sango saw the lord's body shift between two different forms.

This time Sesshoumaru appeared physically affected by the melding as he grasped his glowing arm in anger.

"You will not" she heard him growl as he grasped his limb so tightly she thought he would rip the arm from his shoulder.

At his words Sango felt her own wrist furiously blaze with a pain greater than any she had so far experienced. She gasped out in shock, so little was her strength that she could not scream, and she ground her teeth to focus her mind away from the agony.

The fog seemed to react to their suffering as the mist swirled about, as though drawn to them but unable to approach closer than a few feet. The two appeared trapped in the slowly shifting vortex of white illumination as each of them tried to fight off an enemy they could not touch nor see.

Sango could only feel a presence, a near overpowering force which tried to consume her being. Images flashed through her mind of the girl who had stretched out her arms in greeting, but who's eyes held only greed and a secret desire. The young woman could not allow the stranger to control her, even for a moment, for she felt the fate would be worse than death.

But still, even with her greatest effort, she felt something slip away.

Finally, however, Sango sensed the persistent other give up and slowly settle into an uneasy slumber. Her ragged breathing was interrupted by coughing fits as the light from her arm faded into nothing. The pain also disappeared and soon her wrist felt as if nothing had happened.

But now she was left with three small circles hovering over the marking of the animal.

Sango noticed as the youkai, too, looked upon his arm as though some new and unwanted consequence had occurred.

"Is it a circle?" she managed to gasp out as her body began to shake.

She could not longer hold back the disease.

His eyes merely turned to her at her question, but still she was satisfied he, too, held one of the strange markings above his own symbol. The tajiki tried to stand to her feet to properly continue what remained of their tattered conversation, but she found her strength would not allow even such a small feat.

Sango sighed in defeat as the lord stepped over to her fallen body. Her pale skin and quivering form clearly told him she would not last long in the stormy conditions. The fog, now undeterred, brought it's chilly air into their space and settled upon their forms like a wet blanket. She barely had enough strength to pull her hiraikotsu close to herself.

"I...I can't stand" she quietly admitted to the youkai, though her pride stung at the show of weakness. Sesshoumaru didn't comment on her statement, but Sango felt as they were lifted up onto his nimbus. Then she had an idea. "There...there's a village not far" she informed him through her raspy breathing. "Just up the mountain trail" she explained. "If you take us there...I will tell you what...what you want to know" she gasped out.

The lord again remained silent, but Sango was silently glad as the cloud sped off along the path she had mentioned. The tajiki wrapped her arms around herself as the rain pelted down against them hard enough to cause some pain, but the cold soaked into her very skin. Her body shook to keep her warm, but her determination to remain conscious was the only thing which kept her from slipping into a deadly sleep.

The journey took less time than by foot, but Sango felt the minutes pass by slowly as finally they came in view of her desolate home. The fog lay supreme around the rotten posts which had once kept the occupants safe from their adversaries. The grasses appeared green from the moisture, a mockery of life among the dead, as the nimbus stopped at the entrance to the village.

"The large building at the end of this road" she instructed, and without hesitation they moved through the broken houses and to her own home.

For once Sango was grateful the illness held sway over her thoughts, as for now she had little time to ponder over the ruins of her once proud village. The pair soon arrived at the broken porch, and the young woman tried to make her own way to the door. She tightly wrapped the strap of her hiraikotsu around her hand and unsteadily stood to her feet.

Her legs collapsed beneath her before she had even reached the steps.

Sango had enough time to swing out her arm to catch her fall before she felt a strong arm gather itself around her waist. The young woman gasped as she was lifted into the air and carried, with great humility, into the building. She turned her eyes upward and glared at the youkai, who seemed disinterested in giving her any his attention any further than was necessary.

"Put me down" she rasped as they stepped into the decrepitated home.

With little ceremony Sesshoumaru released his grasp and she fell to the floor with a hard knock. Dust flew up into her face and she coughed violently as the lord walked past her and looked with little caring to his surroundings.

"Now you will tell me what I wish to know" he ordered as Sango struggled to regain some clean air.

The tajiki growled at the youkai's command as she struggled to her knees. Sango used her hiraikotsu for support as she nestled upon the floor as well as she could manage. She then cleared her throat and composed herself for her explanation.

Though she doubted he would believe such a fantastical tale.

"This was once my village" she carefully introduced the story. He appeared disinterested in hearing about her personal life, but she knew every detail was important to answer the questions he had asked. "A few days ago I had come to visit with my family when I found my ancestors had forsaken an important promise they had made to a youkai lord."

"How did you find this information?" Sesshoumaru questioned.

"I followed the sound of a bell to a grave outside the walls" she explained. "There one of the dead told me about the curse which had been placed upon them because of their broken word." She hung her head in shame. "Now as the last of my village I have been ordered to fulfill that promise and break the curse."

"What youkai did they make this pact with?" he inquired in his monotone voice.

Sango looked at him in some surprise; perhaps he was treating her story seriously.

"I do not know" the young woman admitted as she shook her head. "I was not told."

"Where is this grave?" Sesshoumaru questioned as he turned toward the door.

"A small gate at the far end of the village" Sango informed as she pointed in the general direction. "The grave is past there."

Without another inquiry Sesshoumaru exited the home and left Sango alone with her thoughts. She sighed and tried to make herself as comfortable as she could, considering her inability to move and the dank atmosphere of the home. The young woman looked around at the walls which revealed the cracks as water seeped in from several holes in the wood.

The streams ran down the dirty floor, creating small rivers of mud which showed more clearly the filth of the house than even the layers of dust. Sango shook her head at the decay and pondered what would be her next move in her ill-thought plan.

If Sesshoumaru had not found her along the path, she doubted she would have made the journey even to the rock enclosure.

"Father would not want this" she softly reminded herself as she heavily sighed. The ruins of her father's house echoed her voice. "As the last of my village, I must find an answer to this curse."

The responsibility held in those words inspired her determination and she tried to recall any clue, any hint to what may have happened in the past to cause the mess of the today. She remembered the council with the old man, Arashi, and the discovery of the papers written by him those many years ago. The connection to Sesshoumaru was proving elusive, however, until her mind hit upon one of his questions.

"What youkai did they make the pact with" she quietly repeated aloud as she pondered the significance. Then her eyes widened in surprise and horror as she further recalled his own startling admission. "He spoke with his father" the woman remembered in shock. "Inu no Taisho."

"What of him?" a voice suddenly interrupted, startling her as she swiftly turned her head toward the door.

Sango's voice caught in her throat as Sesshoumaru stood in the door, his eyes softly glowing amidst the faint light from the fog which crept in behind him. His clothing, damp to his very skin, shimmered with an eerie brilliance.

His appearance, however, was not that which so greatly startled the seasoned tajiki. The very air around him felt different, as though some change had come over him.

And the expression on his face appeared to be not his own.

"You know, don't you?" she accused as he stepped silently into the room. She felt as though he were stalking her as he moved to stand before her. "You know Inu no Taisho was the youkai my ancestors made a pact with."

"Perhaps" was the only answer he gave.

His tone sent an unknown chill along Sango's skin. His usually impassive voice had been replaced by some hidden emotion bubbling just beneath the surface. She dared not release what beast lay at the heart of Sesshoumaru's change, but she could not forsake the sudden revelation she had experienced concerning this situation. The tajiki slowly brought her hiraikotsu closer to herself.

"Then what are you doing here? Why do you have the mark on your wrist?" she questioned. "This matter shouldn't concern you at all."

"It does" Sesshoumaru bluntly replied as he began pacing around the young woman.

Sango watched him stalk her as though they were playing the game of prey and predator. She knew too well, however, how both parts were played and the tajiki would have none of this.

"What's happened to you?" she boldly questioned as she carefully watched his movements.

Sango looked about his person for signs of attack, but she could see nothing but damp clothing clinging to his skin.

Then something caught her eye as her gaze fell upon his tainted wrist.

The youkai now held two circles upon his wrist, and the second softly glowed amidst the darkness of the room.

"Sesshoumaru..." she hesitated as she pointed to his changed arm.

The lord slowly stopped his pacing to stop before the suspicious gaze of the young woman. Lightning struck, and for the single instance of light Sango watched as two personalities, the same and yet complete opposites, struggled against one another.

Then the brightness was gone and his golden eyes, haunting in the soft glow of the fog, looked down upon the tajiki with a strangely tender expression.

Their eyes met as the rain pattered down upon the roof. They were frozen for a moment, as though time itself had stilled for their benefit, and Sango was struck with a sudden realization as she realized whose presence she now knew.

"Inu no Taisho" she softly announced as she bowed her head slightly in respect.

The youkai was startled by the honorary title, but he did not argue the point. He merely returned her bow with one of his own.

"Why are you here, my lord?" Sango respectfully asked. "Why are you not resting?"

"The dead cannot rest with a promise unfulfilled" he slowly voiced.

The voice was that of Sesshoumaru, but the tone and emotions which lay beneath the surface were those of another.

"How can we break this curse?" Sango questioned, more eagerly this time. "How can we fulfill this promise?"

The lord didn't answer, he only kneeled down upon the dusty ground and raised the newly regenerated limb. Sango held still, both in shock and curiosity, as his powerful claws, strong enough to crush any human, softly stroked her cheek.

Then he slowly collapsed into her arms.