A/N: Italicized block- flashback

Hanbok – traditional Korean dress consisting of a short jacket (jeogori) paired with a full skirt (chima)

Jeonmo – a korean hat made out of bamboo and cloth

Hime - princess

Please search the web for a clearer image if you are not familiar. They are really pretty! :)


Unbound


"We can handle this," Miroku started chanting, seeing Sesshomaru's slightly weakened state. "Ayame, watch my back."

The lieutenant nodded and disappeared to take care of the excess beasts.

The larger number of the harpies lunged towards the group just as Miroku's chant finished, and he slashed his bare fingers in the air. Gigantic spikes of ice tore from the ground, suspending the ridiculous amount of harpies in an ice prison, frozen in time. A hand on his katana, the fae warlord ran his finger on the blade.

His faery blood ran to the tip of the sword, and he allowed the sanguine liquid to soak on the earth. A beautiful swirl of white petals bloomed upward. Nonstop it scattered everywhere, the elegant petals cutting through the frozen fiends, but so soft against Kagome's skin.

It was so beautiful, and the amount of blossoms so massive it swallowed them like a blizzard. She failed to realize they were in a blinding storm of razor-sharp illusion.

"My lord!" A voice cut in,and as Kagome realized who it was, the lieutenant's lean figure was hovering a head above them as if she had just leapt.

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed as his eyes met hers. The lieutenant's expression was eerily hard and calculating. It suddenly dawned on him, her free hand was crossed over the bent arm that was holding her katana, as if it were supporting something very heavy.

Amidst the beautiful white blossoms, her fangs pierced the corner of her lip in intense concentration.

Sesshomaru reached over to Kagome and crushed her into his armored chest.

In an instant, Ayame's free hand twisted and morphed into an oversized cannon barrel twice her size. Light collected from the inside, her eyes narrowed and she pointed the barrel towards them.

Without hesitation she fired.


The blast was so loud it left Kagome's ears ringing. The flurry of white petals died down, revealing a harpie just inches away from where Kagome had been standing, although the body had already been macerated beyond recognition.

"Ayame." Sesshomaru signaled to his underling and she nodded in understanding. A screeching harpie flew dangerously close towards them. Ayame aimed skyward and released a barrage of explosions- such powerful discharges Kagome felt as if she would go deaf.

Sesshomaru suddenly grabbed Kagome by the waist and slung her over his shoulder, the girl dizzied as her world turned upside down. He sprinted towards a safer spot, away from the chaos, and with his beautiful katana he drew a perfect circle on the ground.

"Sesshomaru-sama," Kagome protested as he gently put her down.

"We are in a barrier," Sesshomaru consoled the panicking girl. Her eyes were darting around as she spun in circles, as if something was running around them. She clung to his kimono.

"Sesshomaru-sama," she begged this time, and something exploded from outside his barrier. Emerging from the sand was a gargantuan sand worm, baring its tunnel of dagger teeth, towering high above them.

The sand worm came crashing towards the barrier, leaving behind a cloud of dust at the explosive impact. The barrier proved solid, not a hair was out of place of the amber-eyed warlord. Ayame's shots fired far-range. A single shot blew away the monster's head, and the giant body fell like a tree.

Bits and pieces of gut and muscle rained over the barrier. Sesshomaru wiped off a chunk of eye vainly off his shoulder. The girl, however, remained abnormally restless.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Kagome all but screamed again, and before the collected warlord could comprehend what could possibly happen, the ground shook from beneath them.

Kagome threw herself to the tall warlord, her arms flinging around his waist and wrapped him in a very tight embrace. The world suddenly tilted and they were swallowed in a flash of white.


The warlord regained his bearings, the sensation of bile pushing out from his throat. He opened his eyes, the world was still spinning and the nausea had not left. An equally dazed Kagome was beside him. "What happened?" she blurted out, and Sesshomaru scanned their location. They were at a distance away from the newly-emerged sand worm.

Somehow, they materialized one hundred paces away from the fiend.

The sand worm disappeared underground, and Kagome once again clambered towards a kneeling Sesshomaru and wrapped her in her arms. The world spun again as the ground shook beneath them and once more, they found themselves a hundred paces away from the yoma.

"It's too fast!" Kagome could hear Ayame's voice despite the severe nausea. "Lure 'em closer!"

Sesshomaru inched closer to Kagome. "You did well in keeping us alive." He acknowledged, and the bandaged girl nodded. "However we now know that it is following us. Do not teleport. I shall strike when it emerges beneath."

Kagome braced herself as the towering warlord once again curled his hand around her waist. As expected, the ground shook and in an explosion of sand, the monster emerged. Sesshomaru leapt carrying the girl with him, taking out his katana and struck, his maelstrom of lightning and tendrils of darkness intertwining and beheaded the worm in one swift strike.


The desert landscape was coming to an end. The odd terrain of Asphodel continued to leave Miroku speechless- at the edge was a flowing stream, and heavy foliage and tall trees. The cool green hue was a relief from the sight of dry sand dunes.

He stole a glance towards the bandaged girl. She trudged along tirelessly, in par with their trained endurance. Miroku chuckled at her resolve of steel.

He recalled her feat earlier. The girl was able to create domain gateways at will in such short notice. It normally took days, even weeks to establish portals, even in a span of a hundred paces. And one must have been physically present to that specific place to tie your life energy to create the exit gateway.

"I see a stream overhead" Ayame leaned on Miroku's shoulder. "Perhaps we should rest now? The sun is setting."

"It's probably safer if we cross that stream first." Kagome sighed, her throbbing head finally subsiding. The girl stopped, hearing no response from her normally responsive companions. She spun around, only to see them startled.

Even Sesshomaru was visibly taken aback.

"W-what now?" Kagome faltered, and her attention focused on the stream before her. Standing by the water was the most beautiful young woman, pale skin looking fragile against the stark milieu, inky black hair sifted by the soft breeze. She was clad in a flowing white hanbok, her red belt wound tightly emphasizing her tiny waist, and on her hands was a delicate, lace-veiled jeonmo.

She looked like a hime bride. She smiled at them so sweetly and held out her hands in a gesture to come closer.

Kagome looked back at her companions. The gesture apparently did the exact opposite to them, and the girl's confused mind tried to process why. Was the hime a dangerous youkai? She could not recall seeing her on Kaede's book. When she turned back, the hime bride started stripping.

Kagome stood there floored.

Carefully folding her silken garments under her jeonmo, the naked princess set them aside on the ground and walked towards them. Kagome was too stupefied to even react. She heard a scuffle from behind her. Sharply she turned around and realized to her disbelief: her companions high-tailed away, leaving her alone.

She opened her mouth to speak when a most unwelcome belching sound filled her ears, and she looked up as she was suddenly shadowed by a damp darkness. Kagome realized the hime bride was morphing into a gigantic, muscular earthworm.

That was all she saw before she was literally swallowed whole by darkness.


"I hate you guys," Ayame winced as an intact, breathing, slime-covered Kagome tumbled out of the dead worm's stomach. "Tch. Letting a woman like me do the dirty work," she mumbled, pulling Kagome up to stand. The girl wobbled, bracing herself in the lieutenant's strong arms.

Vermilion eyes opened, absolutely homicidal in intent.

"What was that?" Kagome absolutely glared daggers. She spanned her arms out, thick, brown slime dripping from her entire body, landing with an audible slosh on the ground. "What is this?" her glare demanded an answer.

Miroku's face was planted on the ground, doubling over with laughter. Kagome chuckled dryly at his mirth. "Shut up, you traitor." Kagome's inner Fumiko jumped out. "You high-tailed away leaving a defenseless girl alone to be devoured by a giant... worm."

At that, Miroku broke into an even more hysterical laughter. He was trying to say something but he was drowning in a sea of humor he found impossible to escape.

"Ayame?" she asked supplicatingly, the lieutenant had disappeared by the stream, washing her hands from the thick slime that stuck to her when she was retrieving her.

"That was a worm youkai." Sesshomaru provided gracefully. "Nothing to fret over, onna. Nothing dangerous or deadly. It lures its prey and swallows it whole, attempting to digest its food slowly with the mucus on its hollow body."

Kagome's brow twitched in disgust.

"One could easily rip its way our from the inside should you wish to escape."

Sesshomaru's restrained smirk was not helping at all. The slime and the feel of the worm's serrated muscles pressing on her crawled on her skin more than anything, and the nausea came back full force, although for a different reason. "Well, someone could have at least warned me!?" She folded her hands in front of her, and realized it was a bad idea as the drying slime only stuck her hands together like glue.

Kagome gasped in horror. She had to pry her hands away from each other.

"How could you not know?" Miroku breathed in between laughs.

"How would I know?" Kagome cast her glance at the darkening sky. Wiping the slime away from the palm of her hand she walked towards the worm-hime's discarded clothing and bent down to pick it up. Thankfully, the slime had not transferred.

Kagome turned to her male companions. "Don't even dare do anything funny." she threatened. "I won't be long." Kagome stomped towards the stream.


"See? It's sunset. Sunset." Miroku complained as he cast his glance up the gold-tinted dusk. "Tsk. Women."

Sesshomaru only answered with an audible "Hn."

The crushing of leaves had only announced the ladies' arrival, and both of them turned towards the source. Ayame rushed to her husband and tackled him with a hug, Miroku greatly pleased at Ayame's groomed state.

Another figure emerged, clad in the flowing red and white hanbok, the curtain of lace on her jeonmo concealing her face.

Kagome.

"I had to discard the bandages," she said from behind the veil as she walked towards Sesshomaru. She stopped right in front of him, looking up at his much taller form. "None of them were salvageable."

A long moment of silence embraced them both.

As the golden hue of the sunset was slowly fading into the starry sky, Sesshomaru's hesitant hand reached out gingerly into to curtain of lace. His fingers blindly came in contact with the smooth skin of her cheek, running it to the side of her jaw,tracing the outline of her face.

So she had healed, was his first thought as he pressed the palm of his hand gently against her smooth skin, and she unconsciously rested herself against his hand as her head tilted sideways in inquiry. "Sesshomaru-sama, is everything alright?"

Slowly, his other hand lifted the veil over her jeonmo, revealing her un-bandaged face.

She was painfully beautiful.

And her electric blue eyes were shining in concern for him. All this time, always for him.

"Sesshomaru-sama?"

"Onna." Was all he said, before Ayame tugged Kagome away.

"We better settle at the other side for the night, just as Ojou-chan suggested." Miroku hastened.

They quietly trudged along, under the beautiful starry sky for the three, and under the start of a light drizzle for Kagome.

She was thankful she had the jeonmo on. But somehow, the rain did not seem as bothersome to her as it was before.


**Shamayim**

Sango held the yellow ribbon carefully in her hands. She smiled at the measures she had to go through just to steal it from Shippo, until he finally gave in. She had to, though.

She knew she could keep it safer than he would. And Shippo realized that too, that was why he gave it up with childish tears.

She would protect it as if it were her own soul, knowing the symbolism it held for her.

Kouga had told her about that wistful look on Kagome's face before she disappeared into the rift, when they had one of those rare conversations about being eternally bound. Although Kagome did not ask so bluntly as she did with Kouga, "What does it feel like to be in love?" Sango had encountered a similar event, although more intimate and less casual.

It happened during a rainy afternoon in a quaint little town in Rune, when Kagome accompanied her to a mission. They were stuck beneath the shelter of an abandoned shop. While she was grumbling at how the rain could delay their visit, her poly-chromatic eyed companion just smiled and suggested they wait out the rain.

She could recall her nonchalant smile as she reached out and caught the raindrops in her hand.

Sango listened to the gentle hum of the rain hitting the ground. Her companion was smiling, always that calm, knowing smile that she at first thought frustrating, but now she had grown to love.

"How do you do it?" Sango finally asked. She had been itching to have that certain question answered ever since she met her. "How do you always seem so unaffected?"

"I have nothing to fear," she answered, electric blue eyes never leaving her cupped hand. "I have Elohim's promise, and his directions, to guide me. That is why you pillars should also stop worrying. Allow me to lead you, as I have done so for hundreds of years."

Sango nodded. "But still, Kagome... how do you do it-"

"That is a trade secret, Sango." She withdrew her hand from the rain. "Perhaps because... I am one of a kind?" she teased, earning a snort from Sango beside her.

"Oh?" Sango mocked playfully. "Truly?"

"Truly. You're not gonna find anyone... or anything else like me." her companion proclaimed smugly.

They waited more in silence as the rain fell heavier into a full downpour.

Suddenly,

"Rain..." she heard Kagome's voice change tone. It was different from the casual, low-tension tone she usually held. Sango suddenly realized... was it...

sadness?

Sango closed her eyes, listening to Kagome's voice against the steady hum of the rain.

"From where I came from, Sango-dono, it never ceased.

Dark, gloomy...

empty.

That is why... for the longest time, I hated rain."

Sango's consciousness was transported to a lonely place

where the sun could never meet the ground, to a place where her friend's perpetual smile did not exist,

where she stood alone, in the darkness so undeserving of the intense light of her soul.

"But you see, Sango-dono, it was raining when I met him...

and just the thought of him makes me so happy,

even on rainy days."

Sango's breath caught at the longing in her friend's voice. Rarely had she displayed any affection like this, for all the five hundred years she knew her. She reached out and engulfed Kagome's small frame in a tight embrace.

"Eh?" Kagome's amused tone reached her ears. Sango reached out to the amber ribbon wound on her hair, always on her hair. "Did he give you this?"

Kagome shook her head. "Only a reminder. Amber was the color of the window of his soul. I made a promise, Sango-dono, the first time we met. And I have been trying so hard to keep that promise." Kagome then pulled away.

Sango cupped her face with the palm of her hand. "I'm sure you are," much to her heartbreak, tears were streaking down her friend's cheeks.

Their strong, impenetrable fortress was crying.

"I'm sure you are." Sango repeated, as she wiped way her friend's tears, unaware of her own sorrow blatantly running down her own cheeks.

"It all started with that promise, Sango-dono.

It all started from there."

The rain faded into a light drizzle, and as the sun peeked from the dark rainclouds, Kagome's perpetual bright smile bloomed. "It ceased," she pointed out to the rain. "Ah, stop crying, little one. You are making me feel guilty."

The ribbon dissolved in a subtle display of lights, Sango tucking it away for safekeeping. She would be summoning Kagome pretty soon.

Selfish they were, she did not care anymore. It was killing her, not knowing if she was alright, worried that she had forgotten them and finally decided to make another dimension her home. It was her fault, anyway,Sango justified. Kagome was one poor correspondent.


A/N:

Summary: Skip if you don need.

Back in Shamayim, Sango recalls her conversation with Kagome. She comes from a place where it perpetually rained, and the amber ribbon held a significant importance to Kagome. She tucks it away for safety. Harpies and Sand Worms attack the group. Sesshomaru, needing to recover from his transformation, leaves the fighting to Miroku and Ayame. Kagome displays another unusual ability. In the end, she is swallowed whole by a giant earthworm. Covered in slime she finally ditches the bandages.

Sesshomaru finds out she had healed, and he finally sees her.