The fireworks left smoke in the air. Kagome had yet to take her eyes off the night sky and Sesshou was in no rush to get her back on track to discuss the past. She still needed time, he realized, but he couldn't grant her much more.

"So Inuyasha..?" She asked, her eyes still glued to the stars.

"In this time," He turned to the sky as well. Perhaps she was spiritual or religious. He wouldn't disrespect her silent prayers for his brother's soul. "He is long dead."

"When?" Kagome refused to let the tightness of her throat consume her voice. She had to know. She had to know he was happy.

"Five years after you left."

His response hit her like a ton of bricks. She guessed he lived another hundred years. She guessed he kept guard over Edo. In her pain filled dreams, she imagined him finding another. She needed him to find happiness, even if it meant he moved on, only thinking of her in the quiet of night when he had a moment alone. She held her breath, knowing an explanation was coming.

"The East declared war when Koga joined the North after mating the red wolf. An old clan of sea turtles came to the shores and forged a ruling in Koga's place." Sesshou kept his face turned upwards to the sky, but his eyes drifted sideways to see Kagome. She wasn't breathing, waiting to hear how. He thought of Rin, and how she died, and pulled his eyes up again. There was so much loss in longevity, immorality, or in her case, uncontrollable time traveling. "I asked Inuyasha to join me in the war. He did so to protect Edo." He could hear her rough exhale, and the sharp gasping inhale she held. "I was with him; he wasn't alone."

Kagome shook with the force of grief that wracked her soul. She couldn't contain it anymore. She tried to be strong, she tried to be brave, and even respectful to Sesshou. She sobbed heavily, holding both hands over her mouth to quiet the guttural misery that left her throat.

"Tenseiga wanted to revive him," Sesshou kept going. He had to do it, like ripping off a bandaid. They couldn't keep revisiting his death. "But he asked me not to." Sesshou watched as Kagome slipped off the the swing set and fell to her knees, still suffocating herself in her hands, and bent until her forehead touched the dirt ground. She was hysterical, and he was not who she needed. He could feel the despair once more as he had the day he found her under the sacred tree. "His remains are at my estate, buried with our other relatives." She continued to weep, drawing her hands from her mouth and began to hyperventilate. Every gasp was shattered by her next breath and her face was quickly turning purple. He could do nothing but watch as she soon quieted with one last strangled breath, slumping sideways.

He knew she would likely push herself into exhaustion. Sesshou had no choice but to watch over her until she regained consciousness. He kneeled to retrieve her and felt his chest tighten at the tear tracks on her cheeks.

Why did he ever ask me to find you? This is torture to your soul, he thought.

Sesshou lifted the girl in his arms and recalled when he held Rin's daughter when she was born. The baby had cried in his arms, naked and writhing, and his whole heart had felt so full, and so pained all at once. Never had he thought he would feel this way about his brother's friend.

Perhaps he was lonely since their passing. He granted himself this excuse, and ignored the old thoughts in his mind teasing him for being weak to young human women. She was only seventeen, an infant compared to his long life, but nearly a woman in today's standards, and yet he felt he had to care for her as he did Rin.

Rin was seventeen when she married, he remembered. He almost forbade it, too. She was so happy, how could he say no?

Cradling Kagome's slight form to his chest, he began towards the parking lot. He had every intention of taking her to his home to watch over her. When she awoke, he would show her the remnants of their past, of Inuyasha, and introduce her to YANA. Afterall, she qualified as a priestess with knowledge of demon kind. She deserved all he had to offer.