Chapter 37-Recovery and Learning

InuYasha watched as his brother closed the door. He was still weak, the ordeal had seeped every last ounce of his strength and just when he thought that he was going to breath his last breath he had felt a thrust of power go through him like nothing he ever felt before. It had been Sesshomaru, InuYasha could feel the demon blood rushing through his veins ignited by the pure demon energy Sesshomaru was pushing into him. It had felt like exquisite fire, burning hot with in him driving him forward through the pain and fear he felt clutching at his chest. The release of power had felt like a great hand had suddenly released its hold on his heart. The draining force within him ceased and that was the last thing he could remember. He lay back looking around him. So that is what Sesshomaru was talking about. He saved me, I could almost feel the life being pulled out of me, but I sense him. I wonder if that is what it feels like to be pure demon, if that's the power you feel inside all the time. InuYasha's thought were cut short by sleep.

Miroku, Sango, and Shippo sat quietly talking to one another. "Do you really think that Kagome will go through with this?" Shippo couldn't hide the fear from his voice.

"If I know Kagome she isn't going to let anything stop her. Once she sets her mind to something she doesn't back down easily." Miroku said. He couldn't hide the exhaustion from his face. Sustaining that kind of barrier had drained his energy.

"Did you see what happened out there? I can't imagine anyone living through that. It nearly killed InuYasha." Sango's voice was straining, her faith in this idea weakening with every passing moment.

"Yes, it's true, InuYasha would have died if Sesshomaru hadn't took hold of him. It looked to me like he was giving InuYasha some kind of strength, protecting him somehow." Miroku said looking off.

"Usually when a demon gives over power it dies, but Sesshomaru didn't die. He was strong enough to hold onto his own soul while still letting InuYasha's body feed off his energy." Shippo piped in. "It's rare, but when I was young my pa told me that there were demons strong enough to do it."

"Well Sesshomaru definitely doesn't lack in strength that's for sure, but I still don't know if I believe my eyes yet. Sesshomaru doing that for InuYasha just seems so… impossible." Sango said petting Kirara. The demon cat meowed in agreement.

"Wonders never cease." Miroku answered smiling.

Sesshomaru stood in front of the closed door for a moment trying to figure out what was going to be done. He peered out the window and could see the two mikos sitting across from each other, hand to hand. Training, her persistence is amazing. Sesshomaru smiled to himself, there could be no one quite like her in all the world. He turned and walked down the hallway. "You must want to rest, I will show you to your rooms." Sesshomaru's honor and etiquette were flawless among everyone else's frazzled nerves. For humans acceptance can be quite the challenge, it is no wonder why my brother is so headstrong. Sesshomaru noted. He himself was weak and in need of a rest, he sat himself on the outside deck of the castle and watched as the two mikos tuned their skills, putting up barrier after barrier. Their aura's pulsing and dancing around them as the fought through exhaustion.

Kagome was short on time and strength. "You must concentrate." Kikyo said to her. Kagome closed her eyes and let her mind empty she focused on the dome shape around her. Kikyo would concentrate on breaking through. Sending showers of energy into Kagome's hands. Kagome was able to hold on for a few moments but her hands burned like fire from the rushing force and she would withdraw, pulling her hands from Kikyo's. "You have to feed off the energy instead of fight it. You don't want to just block an attack you want it to fire the will inside you. You have to learn how to use it to your advantage. Once you have absorbed the energy you can send it back at your enemy, a battle isn't won by defense only." Kikyo lectured and they continued on.

Sesshomaru watched over Kagome, she struggled through exhaustion and pain over and over again. Sesshomaru thought to the future. I wonder what she will be like when she has to learn how to be a demon. Will she know how to wield the power within her or will she fear it? Sesshomaru smiled to himself. He doubted that fear was something Kagome had in her. She had walked through fire and back since she had arrived in this world. Her will and her beauty drawing him in like a moth to a flame. Time was passing quickly and the sun was beginning to fade when the two finally rose from their places. They both walked wearily back to the castle. Sesshomaru looked at Kagome, her face pale, dark circles under her eyes. She was drained and Kikyo looked little better. "You look tired, you should rest." Sesshomaru's comment was flat, more of a command than a request.

They entered the home dragging themselves with what little energy they had left to the kitchen. There were bowls set out and Shippo and Sango were spooning out servings. "Miroku will be coming soon, but we decided to let him sleep." Shippo said to the weary faces.

"I hope you don't mind that we used your kitchen to make something to eat. We didn't want to bother you, it was the least we could do for you after you saved InuYasha." Sango said her eyes darting from Sesshomaru to Kagome and Kikyo.

"Thank you, but it was not necessary." Kagome reached over and squeezed his hand. He still had a lot to learn about human ways.

"How's InuYasha doing?" Kagome asked Sango.

"He's still sleeping, I didn't want to wake him." Sango replied.

"Who's sleeping, I'm hungry." InuYasha's voice came from behind them.

"InuYasha?!" Kikyo said turning to see him. He looked far better than before. If there weren't a few scratches here and there it would have been almost impossible to tell that he had nearly just been killed. "You look as though nothing happened to you at all. Are you sure that you should be up?"

"I really feel fine, nothing like that is going to stop me." InuYasha boasted. Sesshomaru caught his eye for a moment, there was so much that InuYasha wanted to ask him. I feel so much stronger now, it has to be because of what happened. What else has changed about me, does this change my demon powers? InuYasha couldn't decide what to ask first. He sat himself at the table and decided that all of that could wait. Right now he was hungry.

The group sat quietly. There were comments on how good the food was and the usual skirmish between InuYasha and Shippo over the last piece of fish, but there was little else to say. Every last one of them was trying to work through what needed to be done. The odds had been stacked against them for so long, but now they had Naraku in their sights and they were stronger than they ever were before. There would be no way that Naraku would expect Sesshomaru to fight with InuYasha instead of against him. They would take him by surprise, he could no longer run and hide. Their only worries lay in the time after his defeat. If they had years it might not seem so daunting, but Kikyo only had a little time left and without her it couldn't be done. They could have the greatest victory and the greatest defeat of their lives all in a matter of days.

After dinner they all retired to their rooms, each with dreams of success and fears of failure swirling within them. InuYasha and Kagome sat on the deck looking out over what was left of the castle grounds. "Kagome, I'm sorry that I never realized sooner what should have been. I put you through a lot and you always stood by me." InuYasha's voice was distant, filled with regret.

"InuYasha, some things were destined to be, and you can't fight that. Kikyo and you were robbed of your chances to be together so long ago, but now the chance is there right in front of you. I had to move on, it was my own destiny that got in the way of us. Thank you for protecting me for all those years, but now you have someone new to protect… and InuYasha, she loves you very much. No other can ever take your place in my heart, but maybe it was just that to begin with. Perhaps we were both drawn together by each other's resemblance to the person we were really meant to be with. Maybe we were just impatient, mistaking what we really felt. In any case InuYasha, I will always be there for you when you need me." Kagome said looking over at him.

InuYasha had somehow changed, Kagome could feel it even if he still looked the same. His eyes staring off into the night, his wounds vanished, from his handsome face. He turned and looked at her. "Thank you Kagome, know that I always will love you. That you were never second, that you two were only different." He said to her and embraced her. He rose and walked back into the house quietly, leaving her to her thoughts. She sat quietly looking off into the millions of stars that sprinkled the skies. She was glad that she and InuYasha had made peace, that she and Kikyo were at least working on the same team, and that she no longer had to hide what she felt. All her happiness was tempered by a feeling of loss, she knew that she would never quite have the life that she had as a child again. There would be no home to run back to, no refuge of television or computers. She may not ever be allowed to pass through the well again.

"You seem worried." Sesshomaru's voice came from behind her. He stepped forward in all his glory and stood next to her. She leaned her head on his powerful leg and stared off.

"Promise me, that you will never abandon me. I don't think I could survive eternity without you." She told him. She knew what had to be done, she could only hope that their destiny had remembered some way for her to keep something of where she had come from.

"Our lives will be immortal, you won't be alone, I shall stand by you. We will reign over these lands together. You will live through the great changes of the world, watch time pass you by. The concerns that you hold every day about lack of time will fade, you will have time to do everything, see everywhere. You can watch the childhood of your parents, guard over your younger brother as you never could before, save your father."

"That is five hundred years away. It seems so far." Her life was still measured in agonizing minutes, years that ticked away like the hands of a clock.

"Five hundred years is nothing, but the blink of an eye. InuYasha himself is nearly two hundred years old. I, myself, am well over five hundred. Your demon life is unending and time irrelevant. That is all the comfort that I can offer you without you actually experiencing it for yourself." Her head rested on him as he looked out into the distance, hoping that his words could be of comfort. She held within her things that he had never hoped to understand, but now it was those things that were the barriers between them. Barriers, that if she allowed, they would have eternity to break down. Sesshomaru only hoped that she had the patience and the understanding in her to go through with it all.

"Does it really pass by that fast?" She asked him.

"It passes by as quickly as you would like. You have time to learn anything you have ever wanted, to become as close to perfection as possible. You have the time that humans so desperately yearn for at your fingertips. Come enough questions for now. We have all the time in the world. Tomorrow." He said and offered his hand to help her up.

Kagome sighed and took his hand. The day had caught up with her, and she was ready for some rest. Sesshomaru walked her to the room that she had stayed in before. She looked up at him with hurt eyes. Why do we have to be apart now? She thought to herself.

Sesshomaru looked down at her understanding what she must be thinking. "Kagome you need to rest, and that is something I don't know if I could grant you, should you stay the night with me." He smiled at her and kissed her lips lightly. "I will stay with you until you sleep." He reassured her. Sesshomaru watched over her as she rested. It wasn't more than a few minutes before she was fast asleep. He watched over her silently as she rested. She looked at peace in spite of all that had transpired, not even he, the Great Lord Sesshomaru could pretend to be so peaceful.

He lay deep in his thoughts watching her breathe when he picked up a familiar scent. He silently rose and walked to the door and slid it open. "In the habit of spying InuYasha?" He raised an eyebrow as his younger brother.

InuYasha fidgeted, normally he would have lashed out at Sesshomaru, but there was something he needed from his brother right now. He forced himself to put his pride on the back burner and spoke. "I wasn't spying, I was waiting for you. Can I ask you something?" InuYasha still couldn't stop himself from cringing at the thought of having to ask Sesshomaru for more help than he had already given.

"Come InuYasha, and I will answer all of your questions." Sesshomaru didn't need to ask what InuYasha wanted, he too had been filled with questions after his first ascension. InuYasha nodded and followed his brother outside. They sat staring out into the night. "You want to know exactly how your powers get stronger, don't you InuYasha?" Sesshomaru questioned the hanyou.

"Well, yeah. I notice that I feel fine, kind of alive, even after all that. I feel like my hands are tingling, itching to move. I can smell everything so much clearer. I feel stronger, I know that much, but am I really stronger?" InuYasha asked.

"Yes InuYasha, you are. Your powers have matured, you have possibly even gained a new power. Your blood is more pure, you are becoming closer to a full demon. The scent is unmistakable, I am sure of it. If you continue to mature you will one day be a full demon." Sesshomaru looked at InuYasha. "Would you care to test your powers out?" Sesshomaru asked him a smile at the corner of his mouth.

"Are you challenging me?" InuYasha asked him.

"No InuYasha as tempting as that is, I am offering to guide you in using your new powers. If you would rather I destroy you I could do that as well." Sesshomaru smiled, he gloated, surely InuYasha understood now that he was no match for his elder brother.

InuYasha thought that the joke was less than amusing, but did his best to remember what he had newly learned about their pasts. "No, I think that this time I will just have to pass on fighting you, as tempting as it may be."

"Wise choice InuYasha. Get up and come with me." Sesshomaru said as they walked into the great spans of nothing that the brothers had left in their wake. "Face me InuYasha, you said that your hands feel as though they want to move, so move them. InuYasha flung his hand out and a blazing red whip produced itself from his forefingers. Sesshomaru deftly blocked the whip with his own. InuYasha looked at his hand mesmerized by his new found power. "Again InuYasha." Sesshomaru said to him. Again InuYasha flung his hand out, but this time the whip flew wide to the side and snapped back almost hitting him. Sesshomaru's snatched the whip with his own. "InuYasha stop swinging wildly, focus and aim. You never could get hold of yourself in battle." Sesshomaru taunted. InuYasha worked better under pressure, his brother knew it.

"Alright, alright." He muttered. He tried again, this time the blow landed closer to his intended target, but was still effortlessly blocked. It went on back and forth for over an hour, InuYasha attacking and Sesshomaru defending. For the first time InuYasha had trained with someone who understood how battle worked. Sesshomaru's explanations were quick and pinpointed the holes in what InuYasha was doing. He sliced through months of observation and correction in less than an hour, fine tuning InuYasha's movements. Finally InuYasha became frustrated.

"When am I ever going to need this thing anyway, I've got Tetsaiga." He crossed his arms in in a silent tantrum. Sesshomaru's youkai whip sliced through the air. It wrapped around the sheath of the Tetsaiga and yanked it from InuYasha's hip.

"Now my dear brother, I Have Tetsaiga now defend yourself." Sesshomaru tossed the sword behind him and began attacking from where he stood. InuYasha suddenly found himself trying to match his newly found skill to the deft movements of Sesshomaru. The attacks were fast and remarkably accurate. It was all InuYasha could do to fend them off, Sesshomaru left no time for attack. Sesshomaru finally rushed him, knocking him to the ground.

Sesshomaru stood over his brother as he looked up at him from the flat of his back. "InuYasha must learn to rely as much on yourself as you do on your weapon." Sesshomaru extended his hand and pulled his younger brother to his feet. That was enough for one day, it was time to rest for the battles they had ahead of them. The two brothers walked side by side into their family home and into their rooms for the first time ever.

Still have some chapters that need Illustrations, if you are interested email me at .