Ukime no Sekisetsu

Part VI

Arise: Sesshomaru

By the time the first night fell, Sesshomaru knew he was being followed. Like twin streams of teasing energy, the presence of Shippou and the miko reached out to him. The kitsune projected discontent like a wave before him; Kagome was a blur to his senses, a blur of guilt, and fear, and softness. He wondered how much of that was for him, and how much of it was just her.

Kagome.

He knew it was not by Shippou's initiation that they were following his path. His miko was not happy that he had left her behind, and the kitsune would do anything to make her happy.

And I know she will not tell him why.

He had not meant to lure her after him – or had he? Where Kagome was concerned, intentions and possibilities became skewed. As though it were a candle, he could see the cure she held out for him, the salve for century-old wounds. It seemed so simple; she had touched him, and now the ache was less.

He would have to find a way to keep her near him, until the last, weary throb was silenced. If she followed him, that made it easier. In one thing only, Shippou had been right.

I do not want to share her.

It was not really up to him at all. The miko would do what she wanted to do, and he would be lucky if she did not disappear entirely. The season just past had frightened him, the long wander as spring faded behind him, trying to find her again.

I must lead her somewhere. Eventually, she will tired of the chase, and then she will need a place to rest. She is…not youkai.

It was becoming impossible to think of her as human; the smoothness of her skin, the grace of her movement was something else. She did not even smell human any more – her scent was full of petals, shadows, stars. Abruptly, he stopped. The grass moved around his feet, damp with dew that was already collecting for the dawn.

If I take her…home?

It was not far, west and north of this place. And he had promised Shippou…he would return there.

And the other.

Easily, he made up his mind. There were things there that he could share with her, things he could give her. He waited for half an hour, watching the sun move in the sky, and the shadows of the leaves on the ground - long enough that Shippou had a chance to catch up. Then, not as swiftly as the first time, he continued on, and this time his direction was definite. By the time the sun was high, he had reached his destination, and he strode inside swiftly. There were preparations to be made if his miko was coming to this place, things that had to be started immediately.

And even so, there is no way they will be finished in time. Either way, I cannot let her go back to a place like that again.

Dark in his thoughts was the through squalor of the village he had first found her in - the drab paleness of everything, the lack of color, of life. He had made a promise, and now, for the first time, there was a chance that he could keep it.

Yes. That promise -


"This is the place?"

Sesshomaru heard Kagome's voice outside, and went immediately to the door - and then stopped, waiting, his hand outstretched. Through the crack that it was open, he could see Shippou's face, the abrupt change in it as he recognized Sesshomaru's own presence; he nodded for Kagome.

"I told you it was not far. I cannot believe he actually came back here."

Kagome's eyes were questioning him, while they darted back and forth, taking in all the details of this place, but Shippou did not elaborate.

"It's beautiful, Shippou. I'm glad you were taken care of in such a place, that you were not left alone."

She shook her head, and sighed. Watching, Sesshomaru's eyes glittered, but a few harsh words formed on Shippou's lips and shot at her with a guttural depth.

"I was alone here, except for…"

He paused, and licked his lips. His eyes darted upwards suddenly, away from Kagome's face, and locked with Sesshomaru's eyes, invisible in the door-shadow. Whatever he had been about to say, he suddenly changed his mind.

"Except for those times Sesshomaru chose to visit. That was not often."

Sesshomaru chose just that moment to slide open the door; he stood watchful and well-pleased, watching a fountain of relief bubble up in Kagome's chest and rise into her smile. It was close, very close, to the smile of his memory, and he wondered at her expression, at that happiness. Because...of him? He shook his head

"Are you berating me, kitsune? I might have left you to die in the blood on that battlefield."

"But you didn't, Sesshomaru. I am - so grateful, but the words...the words really don't mean much, do they?"

She spoke quietly, but the words distracted him from his displeasure; he looked again at her, and was struck dumb by the brilliance of her smile, the brightness of her eyes. When she turned away, he blinked, feeling a tingle even in his fingertips. While these feelings drifted across his face, Shippou watched, his eyes narrow, his gaze fierce. Sesshomaru saw what was coming, the intention of words that he had restrained before.

Kagome's presence makes him bold. Is that good? I wonder.

"Shall we go inside, Sesshomaru-sama? Shall we see what welcome awaits us?"

Sesshomaru turned away from Shippou, and held out his hand for Kagome. She took it without a word, and her eyes scolded Shippou for a moment as they slid over him; it startled him, Sesshomaru saw it, and he felt a rumble of inner pleasure that already, he was important to her - already, he was worthy of respect in her eyes. He knew he did not deserve it; he had failed, failed...but the feeling was there, just the same.

He waited at the door with her hand carefully in his hand - so small, her hand! - as she balanced against him and slid off her shoes. The dark wood floors were smooth and cool under her feet; she shivered, and then Sesshomaru led her with a gentle hand through the polished hallways and past many shadowed doors.

The sound of a well-played lute strung itself slowly and quietly around her ears, so slowly that she when she noticed the music, finally, she could not remember when it had started, or if it had been playing when she first stepped inside the house. She stopped outside the door where it was strongest, in time for a tingle of light plucking notes that ran into her ears like rain. Sesshomaru's tug on her hand was pliant, and made her unafraid to tug back.

"Who is playing, Sesshomaru?"

His fingers slid away from her, and his eyes sharpened, peering through the silk-screened door. He had forgotten - or no, not forgotten, not bothered to remember - that this might be a difficult introduction. He noticed then that she still carried her bow in her other hand, and he saw long years of wariness in that; she was as different as could be from the girl she had once been. He spoke slowly, unable to avoid her question.

"Someone else…that I saved."

He took a step forward, and slid open the screen. His eyes were deep dark now, hiding interpretation. It took an instant for her to apply recognition, another instant for the player to look up and meet her eyes in the doorway. In the third instant, palpable power trembled along the length of her arrow, the string of her bow thrummed with it, her eyes blazing with memories.

"Tell me why she is here, Sesshomaru, before I kill her."

He had expected her anger, her power, but not the murderous desire that flickered behind her eyes.

I was right; she is still guilty. Why? She had her vengeance, and I…

It was not time for those thoughts. Grieving, anger, rotted desires must be put away for another moment, when his miko would tell him why, and how. He did not consider that she, too, might not know.

"She is here because I made a promise."

The arrow began to drop on the string, no longer aimed but still dangerous.

"A…promise?"

Kagome's eyes lifted from her target and strung themselves over Sesshomaru for a moment of appraisal. He told her the only thing he could think of to distract her, the only thing he could think of at all. He told her the Truth.

"To Rin."

She watched the name drag over him, illuminating many things for her even as it bloodied his thoughts. The memory of her dream bolted through her chest. It was not yet time to confront him with it. The sound of the girl's name contorted him - she did not have anything in her thoughts to encompass the future of his pain. Not now. Not yet.

"What was this promise, Sesshomaru?"

Her voice called him back out of the darkness, and he saw that she knew this.

"I promised…to protect them. There were others…but…I came too late."

There was even you, miko. Kagome. She liked you best.

He turned away, left her alone even as the bow was dropping from her fingers to the floor. He heard Kagome's footsteps, slow, and her voice, low and uncertain.

"Hello…Kanna."

He paused, waiting for the lisp that would answer her.

"You are the miko who killed him. Thank you, miko-sama. Thank you for my freedom."

There was a long, still silence. Kagome's voice snuck through it like waves beneath the water.

"You…play very well, Kanna. Will you - play for me?"

Sesshomaru turned away, satisfied. Even as he was walking away, an angry huff passed near him, moving swiftly. With turning or pausing in his footsteps, Sesshomaru stopped the motion of that anger with low, easy words.

"You do not remember Kagome very well, Shippou. She was never one with a grudge, never one to carry vengeance close to her. She is not like us."

"But – Kanna!"

He stopped then, so that Shippou would not be able to see the expression on his face.

"Kanna is a child. She will never be anything but a child, emptying everything she touches, unless she chooses to make it so. She is not Naraku, Shippou."

Yes…she is not Naraku. But she does not laugh.

He passed away down the hallway without further words; he kept his thoughts to himself, and returned to the preparations he had been making. There were new rooms in his house now; Shippou would be surprised. He was making plans without admitting them, even to himself; he had intentions which he had no intention of describing, even in his thoughts. He was racking his brain for a way to get her away, now that she had come - for a short while, with the insurance of her return. Momentarily, his eyes widened. He knew, quite suddenly, exactly the right thing to do.

I will send them to the festival; I could hear it, smell it it, on the way back here. I will send her with Shippou, and that will give enough time...to finish.

Slowly, completely, sure that no one was watching, he smiled.

A/N: Little bit longer than the others, hopefully not too long...and away I go, to Part 6, second half...Shippou, Kagome, and a festival. (Should I...should I beg? Pleeease review? Pleeease? I will speak to the spirits of the anime plane...)