Title: Dreaming of the faithful and sacrifices of the heart

Author: Hairann

Prompt: Lapis Lazuli

Genre: Friendship, Angst, Comfort

AU/CU: CU/Divergence

Rating: T

Warnings: Use of the male b word and the w word.

Word Count: 6758

Summary: An unexpected visitor arrives at the hut, threatening the family they have created.

Full story summary: Sometimes in order to correct the mistakes of the past, you have to start over from the beginning. Sometimes in order to achieve what you wish for most in the world, you have to be willing to give up everything else. Join Kagome as her wish throws her further back in time, to the moment she is needed the most.

Part 14 of Rewriting History.

Somehow time managed to pass both almost too quick to notice and painstakingly slow at the same time. As strange as it sounded, at the time it made perfect sense to me. During the day when the boys were up, filling our home with games and laughter, I would swear if I simply blinked I would miss so much. But at night, long after they had fallen asleep on either side of me on the futon, I would lie awake; staring up at the ceiling in desperate attempt to fall asleep.

But no matter that sleep would refuse to come, I could do nothing about it without waking both of them up. No longer able to get out of bed on my own, I could not even rebuild the fire or quietly clean in order to pass the time or get myself to fall asleep. Night after night, for over two years, time passed so slowly for me at night, while passing so quickly during the day. Unfortunately, without interrupting their sleeping schedules, there was nothing I could do about it.

For a brief moment, I contemplated having Jaken going to bed a little later than Inuyasha just so he could help me to bed once I was ready for it, but as it took both of them to get me out of my chair and Inuyasha refused to sleep if Jaken was not with him, I was left with little choice other than to stare up at the ceiling. Though, seeing as I could not even bathe myself or change my clothes, my issues with sleep were the least of my problems.

With Sesshoumaru's visits being few and far between, himself too busy with dealing with an uprising on his land, poor Jaken was left to pick up the slack of taking care of me. He never complained, or even seemed to mind and I could not help but wonder if he had done the same for Sesshoumaru in the past. From what I remembered from history class, it usually required help from others to dress the women in this time because of all of their layers of clothing; not to mention styling their hair.

There was a reason the people of this time used a solid block as a pillow rather than using a much softer surface. The hairstyles took so long and required so much work to do, that you needed to leave them in for days at a time. Perhaps, even the men, or at the very least the wealthy and powerful men, had others help them get ready as well. Maybe not because they actually needed the help, but because it was easier to have someone else do it for them.

Truthfully, it did not really matter why Jaken was comfortable with helping me bathe and dress as it made my life that much easier. As much as I had never gone for the easy life before, I no longer had a say in the matter. Either my life was made easier with accepting help for the most basic needs, or my life would have been impossible to live. I could not stay in the same clothes or refuse to bathe unless Sesshoumaru was there and I certainly could not stay in bed all day; every day. I was already getting bed sores as it was and I did not need to make them any worse.

My one consolation was at least some of my modesty was allowed to be preserved by a back brace that Sesshoumaru had made for me. Though the wooden contraption was uncomfortable, it was worth it to not risk further injuring my back every time I fell out of my chair. Sadly, the truth was that it happened more often in the beginning than I wanted to admit. I kept trying to be the old me, even confined to my chair; reaching out too far for things instead of asking for them, trying to get myself out of the chair.

In the beginning I was dead set against needing anyone's help for anything and my stubbornness simply resulted in me falling face first on the ground. Almost as if he knew exactly how I would react, Sesshoumaru had refused to build the chair I had asked for until I was wearing the back brace. The rare times he was there when I fell out of my chair, he would simply stand there staring at me in silence; refusing to let the others help me back up as they usually did.

Eventually he would ask me when I planned to stop acting unintelligent, his version of stupid apparently, and I always gave him the same reply; never. The moment I accepted my limitations, I would be accepting my fate and I refused to do that. I had never been one to accept fate the way it was, always doing everything I could to change it to what I wanted or believed was truly meant to be, and I was not about to change because I was injured.

The one time I probably should have been willing to change considering there was no true way to know if it was going to be permanent or not, but that simply made me wish to fight against fate even more. Though I could not see him, I was always sure that he would roll his eyes at me before lifting me back up into my chair and whispering that I was the strangest being he had ever met. I still do not know if I was actually supposed to hear his words or not, so I have refrained from answering.

As strange an interaction it has been, not that our usual interactions were not already weird enough, it seemed to work for us. Taking my mind off of the past interactions with him, I watched as the two demons ran around the yard playing tag. At the moment, Jaken was the one that was it and Inuyasha was managing to keep just out of his reach. What was really funny is that I realized, while sitting there in my chair watching the two of them, Inuyasha was not going any where near his max speed.

Even with as young as he was, he was already much faster than he was pretending to be; going only slightly faster than Jaken so he could almost keep up with him. What was even stranger than that, was the fact that Inuyasha was not mocking him for being unable to keep up. He did not even let Jaken know that he had in fact slowed down for him. Less and less everyday, he was reminding me of the old Inuyasha I used to know.

Feeling a presence coming from behind me, I did not bother taking my eyes off of the 'little' ones as I greeted him. "Welcome back Sesshoumaru. You are back earlier than I was expecting," I admitted as he stepped up beside me and watched the others; both of them noticing his presence mere moments after I had. Stopping in their game, Jaken rushed over to bow before him with Inuyasha following his example.

Honestly, I could not remember when Inuyasha had picked up the habit, but seeing as the very corner of Sesshoumaru's mouth tilted up ever so slightly every time he did so, I had decided not to bring any attention to the action. Waving them off with a nod of his head, Sesshoumaru waited until the two had gone back to their game of tag before responding to me. "The meeting with the elders went quicker than I was expecting."

Smiling, I could not help but ask, "How many of the elders did you have to threaten to get them to agree with you so quickly?" Already knowing what he had gone back to discuss with them this time, knowledge I usually did not have until after he had gotten his way, I had already been expecting the elders to fight him on his 'request'. Honestly nothing Sesshoumaru ever asked for was really a request, he simply let it sound like that for some strange reason.

"All of them," he admitted, giving me the slightest smirk of satisfaction before turning his attention back to the others. Inuyasha, either distracted for a moment or deciding to be nice, had slowed down long enough for Jaken to tag him. Grinning at his accomplishment, Jaken took off in the other direction calling out Inuyasha was now 'it' long after he had started running.

Laughing at both Jaken's reaction and Sesshoumaru's answer, I told him, "I am not surprised. At least you got your way though." For a moment, he remained silent as he trained his eyes on Jaken; watching as Inuyasha refused to pick up his speed enough to catch him in the few seconds it honestly would have taken him at full speed. Jaken ran away from him laughing, but the cheerful sound was not the least bit mocking; instead an honest expression of the fact he was having fun.

"Yes, Jaken is now my legal advisor," he answered without taking his eyes off of the two still playing in the yard; either unaware or unconcerned about our conversation. Smiling for a moment as I watched him in silence, I was half-tempted to suggest he join them, but seeing as I doubted he would slow down to make it fair as Inuyasha had done, not to mention the fact that it was doubtful he would agree to play such a childish game, I decided against mentioning it.

As I noticed the natural light outside seemed to be dimming, I turned my gaze upward and realized just how late it was growing. It would not be long before the sun would set on the horizon. "I need to get dinner started," I informed him even as I reached my hands down to the wheels on my chair and was about to start wheeling myself around so I could go back inside. But before I even had the chance to start turning myself in the right direction, Sesshoumaru had picked me up without a word.

Laughing, I pointed out the obvious, "I am perfectly capable of getting around on my own. It is why I asked you to put wheels on the chair." Apparently deciding to ignore me, he continued on into the hut in silence without even acknowledging that I had spoken. Perhaps because of the amount of time I had spent around him in this era, I noticed the subtle changes in his expression that I never would have imagined the older Sesshoumaru even had.

"Wipe that look off of your face, Sesshoumaru," I insisted even though I was sure he thought his face was a stoic as ever. Truthfully to anyone else it probably was, but I found over the years that he was having problems remaining completely emotionless to my eyes. "I am getting stronger, Sesshoumaru. My back is slowly healing. While I still might have a long way to go, but I am sure I will walk again some day." Though I knew my tone was steady and reassuring, still he refused to say anything and instead set me down beside the fireplace.

Seeing he was about to walk away, probably to grab what I would need to make dinner, I stopped his retreat by grabbing onto his wrist. "It is not your fault, Sesshoumaru. There was no way for you to know that we would be in danger that day or to get there any faster. We made that trip countless times without any problems. I do not blame you, Sesshoumaru, and I will be damned if I let you blame yourself."

It was not surprising that he tried to deny it when he opened his mouth to speak finally, but I was not buying it and told him as such. "I can see it in your eyes, Sesshoumaru, no matter how hard you try to hide it from me. I can see the shame and regret as though me being unable to walk was some how your fault. It is nobody's fault because I got hurt protecting someone I love. And even with knowing the outcome, I would do everything exactly the same in a heartbeat.

"It is what I have been trying to get you to understand for years. Love is that important. I would gladly die for Inuyasha if that was what it took to keep him safe. I would die for him and I would kill for him. There is nothing that I would not do to protect that little boy because I love him and love is the only thing that matters in this world. You could be the richest, most powerful being in the entire land, but you would still have nothing without love. And you can be the poorest peasant in the world, but be rich for being loved.

"I do not really regret what happened that day because he is safe and I am still alive. I am still here with all of you. I was not ripped from your lives again," I told him, not really realizing what I had said until he was questioning me about it. After he asked me to explain, I could only stare at him in silence for a moment; wondering if I should really tell him the whole truth. That future would not come true as I was able to get back into the past after all, but seeing his determined look to get the answer, I knew he would not let me get away with not answering it.

Sighing, I wondered, "Do you remember the night a few years ago when Jaken told you about Leap day preventing me from getting back here because the well was not working right. That it sent me back to the time I had originally come back to when I first met all of you." Not bothering to mention the verbal sparing we had that night after he had been updated by Jaken, I waited for him to nod his head before continuing on.

"What I did not tell Jaken was who it was that pinned Inuyasha to the tree this time around. The same priestess was used to trick him that was used before, however, this time the monster behind it was different. This time, it was you that caused him to be pinned to the tree." For a moment, after I had finished speaking, Sesshoumaru only stood there staring at me with a dubious look on his face. I was not really surprised to find him refusing to believe it as even I had a hard time myself and I remembered what the older Sesshoumaru had done the first time I met him.

"That is not possible. There is no reason for me to resort to pinning him to a tree. And I certainly would not have a priestess help me," Sesshoumaru insisted and if I had not seen it myself, if Inuyasha himself had not told me who was behind him, I would have been inclined to believe Sesshoumaru. He did not even get help from me and yet, some how he had allowed another priestess he did not know help him. But what made it so much worse, was the fact that it would have been a lot easier to simply kill Inuyasha on his own.

Instead, he had taken what he knew about the original future and used it against Inuyasha. And though he had no way of knowing if I would ever show up again, I could not help but think that he had used such a thing against me. By some freak accident I had managed to find Inuyasha and I knew that Sesshoumaru had done exactly what I had been trying to prevent all along. Whether to spite me or Inuyasha more, I did not know, but I was certain it had been done simply to hurt us.

"Honestly, I did not understand it either, Sesshoumaru, but you were the reason he was pinned to the tree. He told me as much himself. As much as I hate to admit it, with all you have accomplished, but it is not that surprising that you would do something like that; if I am truly being honest. Not after what you did the first time I met you. Kami how you must have hated Inuyasha, hated me to have done what you did."

Growling in annoyance when I fell into silence without any further explanation, Sesshoumaru demanded, "What did I do? Spit it out woman, what are you accusing me of now? What monstrous thing did I do that led up to him being pinned?" For a moment, I debated not telling him the whole story in case it ever gave him inspiration in the future, as what I had already told him about the first time Inuyasha had been pinned to a tree had seemed to already do, but it was clear that he would not accept my silence as an answer.

"A few years after I disappeared, you took Jaken and left Inuyasha on his own when you realized I was not coming back. Though I do not know what happened in between then and him getting pinned to the tree, I do know that you got a priestess to trick Inuyasha into befriending her before she betrayed him and bound him to the tree. The only difference was this time he seemed to be more awake then he had been before. When I arrived and was learning this from him, you must have sensed my presence because you came rushing toward us.

"Inuyasha told me to run away and so I did. I jumped into the well just in time to hear you kill him. Why would you kill him Sesshoumaru? Why were you so angry?" I demanded, my thoughts no longer on the demon before me but on the one from the future who had done such horrible things. If I had really thought about it, I could not take it out on him because it had not even happened yet, but in that moment my mind did not care.

He was as guilty of abandoning Inuyasha and of killing him as his older self had been. Unsurprisingly, instead of answering me, Sesshoumaru simply wrenched his hand free of mine and disappeared out of the hut without a word. Even if I wanted to go after him, I was stuck exactly where I was as my chair was still outside where he had left it and it would take Inuyasha and Jaken far too long to get me into it to catch up to him. For a moment, I could do nothing more than breath loudly through my clenched teeth before finally growling out my frustrations and slamming my first down on the table.

…

Though they had found the tense dinner strange, neither Jaken nor Inuyasha had questioned Sesshoumaru's sudden departure or even brought up his name. Though as much as I would have preferred that they not know of the fight that had taken place earlier that night, it was not hard to tell they had at least sensed the confrontation even if they had not actually overheard the words. Thankfully it was safe to say they had not when Inuyasha had not brought up the things I had accused Sesshoumaru of doing to him.

I counted this as a blessing as I was not quite ready to explain everything to Inuyasha about the future that hopefully will not take place anymore. Though I did fully intend to tell him everything one day, he was still far too young to be burdened with such knowledge yet. But even more than the tense atmosphere of the hut whether Sesshoumaru was there or not, it was my strange request later that night that really confused the two of them.

Typically the three of us went to bed at the same time as I could not make them wait up until I was actually ready for bed and I was unable to get into bed on my own, so it was not surprised when I had gotten two confused looks when I told them that I would be sitting outside for a while and that they were to go to bed without me. Though it was not hard to figure out that I was planning on waiting for Sesshoumaru to return, neither of them pointed out the fact that there was no guarantee that he would be returning any time soon; especially after the way I had treated him.

Though the chance was slim, I wanted to stay awake just in case. So after helping me into my chair, Jaken prepared the futon for bed while Inuyasha carried an extra blanket outside for me. Once I stopped where I wanted to wait, Inuyasha placed the blanket over my shoulders before making sure my bow and arrows were still reachable. Though I had not yet remastered holding the bow from my new position to make sure I had a steady hand and could hit my target, I was still able to pour power into the arrows themselves and stab an attacker with them.

I did not bother asking why he had made sure the bow was there, figuring he had added it in case I felt the need to practice while I waited. After insisting I call for them if I needed anything, Inuyasha kissed my cheek before heading back inside where Jaken was waiting for him. Within a few minutes I could already hear their soft snores coming from inside the hut and smiled to myself. How lucky they were to be able to fall asleep so quickly like that.

Even before my current predicament, I had never been able to fall asleep that fast; something that had annoyed the older Inuyasha to no end. For someone who almost never slept, he really liked to complain about me not falling asleep fast enough whenever we made camp. It had been a running joke with the group for as long as I could remember and thinking about it now, almost two hundred years before the rest of the group would even be born, I could not help but smile.

But memories of them quickly turned to a darker note when I remembered the last time I had seen any of them. Shaking my head to clear thoughts of them, seeing as me crying when he returned was the last thing I needed, I decided instead to stare off into the surrounding woods while I waited, and prayed, for him to return. Even slower than it did while I laid in bed waiting for sleep, time seemed to creep by; hours taking forever to pass.

I had just about decided to sleep where I was, not wanting to wake the others, when I felt a presence coming from behind me. For the briefest moments, I sighed in relief before it dawned on me that it was not a presence that I knew or trusted. Spinning my chair around as fast as I could, which honestly was rather slowly, I reached back for one of my arrows just as a strange demon appeared before me. "Priestess!" the demon hissed at me before attacking without warning.

Without the time to add much power into the arrow and barely having the chance to scratch him with it as he flung my chair across the yard, I accomplished little more than pissing him off. Closing my eyes against the pain as my chair tipped over and sent me rolling across the yard, I silently thanked Sesshoumaru for the back brace as it was the only thing preventing my back from being injured further. Somewhere behind me, though I could not see it, I could hear the chair crash against one of the trees; shattering on impact.

More so than losing what little mobility I still had, I was far more concerned about the fact that my only weapons had been thrown across the yard with the chair. Now I was trapped on the ground, able to feel the hard surface of a tree behind me, and completely weaponless. Well that was not entirely true, I realized as I prayed he had stayed close enough to hear me as he sometimes tended to do even when he was annoyed or angry with me.

Seeing the demon coming straight at me with his claws raised, I used the last weapon I had remaining. "Sesshoumaru!" I screamed as loud as I could, hurting my own throat in the process, but paying it little mind. The demon's head twitched slightly, the only sign that I had bothered his ears, before tilting his head to the side when what I screamed finally sank in. Stopping merely a foot from me, his claws still raised, he regarded me for a moment in silence.

"How do you know the demon lord, priestess?" he inquired, seeming to be legitimately curious, but before I could even think of a safe answer to his question, Jaken and Inuyasha had rushed out of the hut to protect me. No doubt awaken by my scream if his strange presence had not already awoken them, the two had come out ready to fight. Jaken had his staff raised and though it was still sheathed at his side, Inuyasha had grabbed his sword on the way out. Unlike he did in the future, the younger half-demon had not started carrying it at all times; including sleeping with it at his side.

Noticing their presence, the demon forgot about me for a moment as he turned his attention back to them; giving them each a quick once over. Completely ignoring Jaken, he turned toward Inuyasha as he, no doubt, took in the long silver hair and golden eyes he was blessed with. Features that looked so much like his father and, unfortunately in this case, so much like his half-brother as well. "So the great Sesshoumaru has followed in his father's footsteps and sired a bastard half-breed."

Considering he probably did not know how half-demons aged, as even I was still getting used to the idea that it seemed he only aged about a year for every five that actually passed, I was not really that surprised when he assumed Inuyasha to be his brother's son instead of their father's. "I will deal with you in a minute, demon whore," the demon called over his shoulder at me even as he began making his way toward Inuyasha.

Before I could call out to him and before the demon had even gotten more than a few feet, Inuyasha had suddenly leaped into the air; crashing into the demon and knocking them both to the ground. In an instant he was already pummeling the demon in the face before he had the chance to react, all the while screaming at him, "I am not a half-breed, I am a half-demon!" Over and over he repeated this as he continued to beat the demon's face with enough rage to rival his older self.

Shocked speechless and proud of him for standing up for himself, I could only lie there watching in silence. Jaken, though much closer to him and in a better position to come to his aid, simply stood there in silence as well. Though he was ready for battle at any moment if he was needed, he apparently saw what I had; that Inuyasha did not need help at that moment. If anyone needed help, it was the other demon.

Unable to get over my shock, I simply continued to lay there watching until Sesshoumaru showed up a minute later; pulling Inuyasha off of the demon the instant he was within reach. It was only then that I was able to see the extent of the damage Inuyasha had done and found myself silently thanking Sesshoumaru since, if it had gone on much longer, Inuyasha would have killed the demon. While I was proud of him for standing up for himself and that he was fighting, not because he was being brash and going around picking fights, but because he was defending his honor and our safety, he was still too young to take his first life.

Noticing Inuyasha had refused to stop squirming in his grasp, trying in vain to reach the demon once more, Sesshoumaru commanded, "Calm yourself pup," but neither Inuyasha was not listening to him or had simply not heard him because he began to squirm even more as he growled at the demon still sprawled out on the ground.

"I am not a half-breed, I am a half-demon! I am worthy of living as anyone else!" he screamed out as he continued in vain to try and get out of his grasp. Unable to help myself, I could feel tears of pride rolling down my cheeks at the thought of just how far he had come from the boy I would never get the chance to meet again. Apparently smelling my tears the moment they reached the air, Inuyasha suddenly stopped his attempts to get at the demon and turned his full attention to me.

"Mommy!" he cried out, wrenching himself free from Sesshoumaru's grasp with enough strength to startle the demon lord momentarily, and rushed toward me. Wrapping my arms around him the moment he was in reach, I paid little mind to the fact that he knocked the both of us all the way to the ground with the force behind his hug and instantly began kissing his face and hair. Assuring him that I was proud of him for protecting our family, I did not even bother to fight the tears as the rolled down my cheeks and dampened his hair.

"Does that mean you do not need to call for big brother anymore, Mommy? You can call for me when you are in danger," he insisted as he glanced up into my eyes and unable to speak for a moment, I could only smile and nod my head in agreement. Releasing him for a moment, I used my arms to pull myself into a sitting position, propping myself against the tree behind me; accepting his help when he realized what I was doing.

Pulling him into my lap once I was settled, I wrapped my arms around him once more and rested my chin on his head. "Your parents would be so very proud of the man you are becoming, Inuyasha. And so am I," I assured him before he turned slightly in my lap and returned the hug. For a moment, I thought he would remain silent until I heard him sigh. Following his gaze, I could just see the remains of my chair from where I was.

"It is okay, Inuyasha. We can always build another chair. You saved me, that is what really matters," I assured him honestly before hearing a groan coming from the demon. Realizing he still needed to be dealt with, I instructed, "Inuyasha, Jaken, it is time to go back to sleep. I will be in in a minute." Shaking my head at Jaken when he went to question me about the demon, at least judging by his gesturing toward it, I gestured toward Inuyasha as he was getting up out of my lap.

Thankfully understand my meaning, Jaken nodded his head before calling for Inuyasha to come with him. After the two had bid me goodnight for the second time, they quickly disappeared into the hut; closing the door behind them. Once I was sure they were as out of range as they were going to be, I turned my attention to the silent demon lord and uttered one cold, hard command, "Kill him." Without a word, he quickly and effortless killed the demon before he could realize what was about to befall him.

Continuing in silence, Sesshoumaru grabbed a hold of the demon's feet and effortlessly lifted him into the air; making his way away from the hut. Assuming he did not want to get his blood on his clothes or coat the grass in it, I did not question his method of carrying him out. Some how knowing he would return as soon as he was done, I waited for him in silence at the base of the tree; unable to go anywhere without his help.

It was not long before I could feel his presence arriving in the clearing once more and, even before I could see him, I told him, "I am sorry, Sesshoumaru. I should not have blamed you for something you have not even done yet. It was not fair to hold it against you." Instead of answering right away, he carefully lifted me from the ground and, instead of heading toward the hut as I had expected him to, he began to walk away from the clearing.

"You can blame me for whatever you want," he informed me, giving no indication to the odd choice of directions. Though his action confused me, I decided to hold my tongue as he walked; knowing he would eventually give me the answer I sought. But as we arrived at the nearby river and he set me down on the shore, close enough that my feet could almost reach the water, my curiosity finally won out and I could not resist asking him what we were doing there.

In a response that I was quickly associating with him, Sesshoumaru remained silent for a minute as he sat down next to me and opted to stare out into the water instead of answering me. Displaying more patience than I would have thought I had, I said nothing as I followed his gaze out into the water; letting the calming sound of the waves bring me down from the agitated state the demon had put me in. "I wanted to make sure the others would not overhear. After tonight, I will not be able to come back."

Though him suddenly speaking startled me momentarily, as soon as his words registered in my mind, I was turning toward him in shock. "What do you mean, Sesshoumaru? Why would you not return?" I demanded to know, but unsurprisingly, the demon lord ignored my words and instead repeated his earlier words with little more information than he had given me the first time.

"I am going to take Jaken and we will not be returning," he 'explained', refusing to take his eyes off of the river I had already forgotten was even there. As I watched his face for any explanation to his sudden and strange decision, considering it had been his idea to leave Jaken there in the first place, that he had been the one that insisted to visit them, I found myself growing annoyed when I could find nothing in his features.

Kami how I wished I could have stood up at that moment, wanting more than anything to tower over him as I pointed my finger at him accusingly. While I knew it would do no good and would not effect him in the least, it would have made feel at least slightly better; as though I was in some kind of control. "Why, Sesshoumaru? Why do you still hate us so much after everything? Did nothing really change in all these years that you could just abandon us now like it was nothing? Like we are nothing? You really are heartless!"

As much as I tried to stop it, I quickly lost the battle and soon felt tears of frustration nearly burning my cheeks as they rolled down. Suddenly growling almost deafeningly, he shot to his feet and began to pace back and forth; thoroughly startling me into silence. Finally, after a minute or two had passed, he growled once more, this time under his breath, before turning back to face me. "I am not leaving because I am the monster you are accusing me of being, Kagome.

"You claim to know me so well, to be able to see through the mask I wear, and yet you know me so little. That demon was from my land. He must have followed my scent here; putting all of you in danger. I can not be here all of the time to protect you and he is still too young to protect you from the extra demons coming from the West if they ever found out he was still alive," Sesshoumaru insisted and before I could stop myself, not wanting to interrupt him especially when I had already accused him twice in the same day of being worse than he truly was, I asked him what he meant.

"I told the council years ago that I killed him when they started worrying about him becoming the heir to the West if I was to parish. If they were to find out that he was still alive, they would stop at nothing to kill him and anyone else that knew of his existence. Even without your injury, you would be no match for the horde of demons they would no doubt send to kill both of you. Continuing to come here, or leaving Jaken here now that he was named my advisor, is putting you in danger."

"Sesshoumaru we are an injured priestess and a child half-demon, we are always in danger. We want you in our lives. You and Jaken are apart of our family. Inuyasha asks about you every day that you are not here and I look for you every night in between your visits. You are a huge part of our lives and you know what you mean to us. How can you bear to leave us forever knowing how important you are to us?" I demanded, not caring how pathetic I was sounding. I was being honest and that was the only thing that matter to me at that moment.

I could not bear for him to walk away forever without knowing just how much he meant to us. "I have to leave because of how important I am to you. The only way I could ever stay is to completely turn my back on the West and that is something I would never do. The West is the only thing my father left me that meant a damn to me," he insisted and I could not help but shake my head at him. For someone as intelligent as he was, he still seemed to miss such obvious things.

"You still do not get it, Sesshoumaru. Your father left you Inuyasha. He left you his infant son. He went to his death knowing that you would still be here to protect him in his place," I insisted passionately, and though I was bummed when he was unmoved by my words, I was not really surprised by his lack of response. Unable to do anything else, I just shook my head sadly. "Take me home, Sesshoumaru. Say goodbye to Inuyasha before you leave. You owe him that much at least after coming into his life only to leave it just as quickly.

"After tonight, I will stop looking for you in the darkness and eventually he will stop asking for you. I am proud of you for managing to get this far where you actually care about our well-beings. I am just upset because Inuyasha and I will miss you," I admitted with as much of a smile as I could muster at that moment. The old Sesshoumaru, or even the older one, would not have cared that they were in danger that night; he would have let the demon kill them.

And he certainly would not be leaving them to protect them from future demon attacks; he would have been behind those future attacks himself. Without a word, Sesshoumaru once again lifted me into his arms carefully and began making his way back toward the hut. Unable to do anything else, I buried my nose into his chest; breathing in his unique, familiar scent as I tried my best to not cry anymore. It would not bode well to wake Inuyasha with my tears.