AN: Hey friends! It's friday, y'all. Here's your chapter! Everything is finally revealed!
I hope you enjoy it. I love you! Thank you so much for your continued support. :)
The Goddess
Inuyasha trembled in the grass beside Sesshomaru, Toga still held firmly within his grasp. He had felt immense relief the moment he heard Toga breathe again – only to be beaten down, painfully, once more, as he witnessed Kagome's prophecy emerging into reality.
Kagome had, once again, sacrificed everything for him.
"Inuyasha," Sesshomaru spoke, eyes fixed hard on Kagome, still encompassed within his arms.
Inuyasha looked, mournfully, from the pieces of Kagome that were floating away to what was left of her in Sesshomaru's arms.
But…what he saw confused him.
It was as if Kagome was being born anew – shedding a cocoon as her charred skin came away from her body. Like her namesake, Higurashi, she lost a layer, and beneath it revealed something new. Something different.
She was the same…yet, she was vastly altered. They watched as she changed before their eyes.
And Inuyasha had trouble wrapping his head around what he was looking at.
In a slowly creeping wave that started from her roots, dark hair became pale. The glow of her skin faded away to the fairest porcelain and upon her forehead, between and just above her brows a mark began to appear – steadily transitioning into existence.
The brothers watched in wonder as a snake faded in, like a bruise, mouth opened wide to swallow its own tail. The maroon pigment it held contrasted starkly against the pale of her skin. With a faintly unsteady hand, Sesshomaru reached up to brush fingers over the marking. The snake was a thin ring with feminine designs within its body. The last bit of its tail morphed into Earth's flowers – a symbol of nature.
Ouroboros, Sesshomaru thought, wholeness; infinity. Suddenly, it seemed befitting of her – the Great World Serpent, encircling the Earth.
His eyes trailed down her face and body – taking in the changes. Her steady breathing and unfaltering heartbeat calmed him the moment he laid hands on her. The realization that she was not dying in his arms had induced a feeling of relief within him, so intense that it would have brought him to his knees, had he not already been upon them.
Her power hummed beneath her skin – more prominently than Sesshomaru had come to recognize but less oppressively than it had been when they arrived in the clearing. Her scent no longer suppressed, the smell of power running through her veins saturated her being.
Sesshomaru's eyes lifted from the woman he desired to the child she had resurrected. Toga breathed as Kagome did, but he appeared worse for the wear. His pallor appeared less sickly than it had, but his clothing and throat were encrusted in dried blood.
His eyes had yet to open.
"Toga?" He inquired simply to his brother.
"Alive," Inuyasha intoned, relief heavy and evident in his voice, "Thanks to Kagome." Inuyasha sighed, peering down at his son before glancing at his confusing miko friend. "What's happening to her?"
"I am unsure myself," Sesshomaru said truthfully, "But I have a theory."
"Yeah?" Inuyasha sounded skeptical, "And what theory could explain this?" He asked, nodding at Kagome's bizarre metamorphosis.
Raising an elegant brow at his brother, Sesshomaru stood gracefully, Kagome in his arms.
"My Lord! General Inuyasha!" Several guards, finally able to rise to their feet again, appeared from the forest and made their way toward the two. "Is everything well?"
Turning to face his guard, Sesshomaru allowed a curt nod, ignoring their curious glances at the woman in his arms.
"We should return to the fortress. We can discuss more there."
"You will leave her."
The brothers turned quickly to face the new presence, Sesshomaru's guards immediately drawing their weapons.
"Hold," Sesshomaru commanded softly.
Man and woman stood side-by-side near the cliffs edge, both somehow giving the impression of regality and imposition at once. The air settled statically around them and Sesshomaru felt that their energy was familiar. He glanced down briefly at the woman in his arms before returning his eyes to the figures before him.
"Like hell we are!" Inuyasha growled at the pair before them. His threatening voice, delivered with a sleeping child in his arms, would have been comical had Sesshomaru not shared the same sentiment. He would leave her behind over his dead body – and he refused to be beaten.
Sesshomaru's brows pulled together subtly as he scented the air. They smelled like Kagome.
"Who are you?" He asked narrowly, an ominous feeling creeping over him. He cradled her more protectively within his embrace.
"I am Bishamon, God of Warriors and Protector of the Righteous," the man spoke, his voice authoritative. He regarded Sesshomaru with narrowed eyes. "Defender against that which is evil," he added, "Release Xaelia at once and I will allow you to leave this place unharmed."
The words rang through the clearing as if an echo of Kagome's earlier promise to Riku. It unnerved Inuyasha but Sesshomaru held firm. Several members or his guard growled threateningly at the obvious disrespect to their lord.
"I know nothing of you," Sesshomaru stated, his voice equally imperious, "I will not leave Kagome in the hands of those I do not trust, never mind the singular fact that you are unknown to me."
The man – Bishamon – stood erect, looking fierce as his eyes remained narrowed on Sesshomaru. He wore silk in a deep purple, long ivory hair falling to his calves – half of it pulled up into a top knot on his head and tied there with a ribbon. The daiyoukai noted that the symbol of the Ouroboros was dyed into the front of the man's regal kimono. He held but one sword, placed at his hip and he stood tall, back straight and hands clasped behind him.
He looked the part of a leader – a warrior.
"Bishamon," the woman spoke, reaching out to touch his shoulder, "I told you that force would not work." Her voice was like bird-song and as lovely as Kagome's. "Youkai or not, clearly they care for Xaelia. If we simply explain to them, they will leave her with us, willingly."
Inuyasha's stance went rigid, not liking where this was going. And who was Xaelia? He assumed they were referring to Kagome, but nothing was making sense to him. At this point, he was simply along for the ride; but he would protect what was his at all costs – and Kagome, whether truly his or not – was his to protect.
The woman beside Bishamon was feminine and petite but held herself as fiercely as her counterpart – regal and imposing. She wore white with gold embellishment – gold jewelry adorned her throat and ears and atop her head sat a striking golden headdress. Her long black hair was pulled away from her face but flowed loosely down her back.
They were the image of wealth and prosperity – each prepossessing and ethereal. But one thing strengthened Sesshomaru's suspicions – the symbol of Ouroboros. Not only was it dyed into the warriors kimono, but it marked the skin of the woman's forehead in the same place as it sat upon Kagome's.
"You are Benzaiten," Sesshomaru guessed, "Are you not?"
Three sets of eyes fell upon the daiyoukai – confused, curious and wary.
"I am," she confirmed.
"You are her parents," Sesshomaru stated, "her true parents."
"We are," Bishamon confirmed.
"What the hell is going on, Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha demanded, then looked back at the other two, "You're not takin' her." He said, standing his ground.
"We must," Benzaiten insisted, stepping forward, "If we do not, when she awakens, she will not be the same as she was before."
"Explain," Sesshomaru demanded. Foreboding slowly overcame him but he refused to fall beneath its weight.
"Her soul is filled with the darkness that she took from the sorcerer," Benzaiten explained, "She expended what remained of her light to revive the child," she nodded to Toga, "and free the souls of the other children the sorcerer killed. Without light to defend against the darkness, her soul will remain black and she will become dark of heart. Her soul requires concentrated and profound healing – in order to achieve such, we must take her home."
Benzaiten stepped forward, closing the distance between herself and her daughter, arm outstretched. Sesshomaru growled deeply, stepping away from the woman. He may be certain of who they were – that hardly meant he trusted them. He trusted very few. His garrison, now on edge, followed their lord's lead and several growls were heard throughout the clearing, daring someone to make a move.
"Benzaiten," Bishamon called, warning in his tone, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
"You need not fear the daiyoukai," a new voice called jovially, high-pitched and cracking with age, "he acts only to protect the young goddess."
Sesshomaru eyed the new edition critically as she walked through his now immobilized watchmen. They stood frozen and unblinking as she strolled through their ranks – their only movement their eyes as they watched her pass.
She wore a plain brown robe, a cloak covering the length of it. The hood was pulled up over her head, hiding her face from them – though, her eyes glowed as they peered out from beneath the shadows that enshrouded her as the sun nearly finished its descent.
Her voice gave away her age far more than that of her hunched form or the cane she grasped within her inconceivably wrinkled hand.
Behind her, two more figures stepped out of the growing darkness of the tree-line. All three wore the same plain brown robes, but where the first was hunched and hidden, the other two stood straight and proud. One was gaunt, her bones visible through her thin skin, stretched with age. Her hair was long, hanging in kinky, gray waves down to her waist.
The third figure was clearly the youngest of them – almost childlike in appearance though Sesshomaru felt that aspect of her was deceiving.
"Moira," Bishamon addressed the first woman, "Why are you intruding on my affairs?"
"All affairs are my affairs," the hunched woman said, her voice now menacing, "For, I am fate herself and you would do well to remember that, Bishamon."
"Calm yourself now, sister," the sultry voice of the second woman suggested, eyes glancing about as she observed the people in the clearing.
These women were ancient, yet they were gliding, barefoot, across the clearing towards them, full of a vitality that belied their age. Both youkai were overcome with the impression that they were in the presence of things that were old beyond what anything had a right to be.
Their powers ran deeply.
"Hush, Nona!" the hunched one – Moira – barked, "You will not belittle me!"
"Sesshomaru, what the hell is going on?" Inuyasha asked in an undertone, growing increasingly uncomfortable as the two women argued. He wanted to get Toga home so he could rest properly, but he also didn't want to leave Sesshomaru and Kagome alone with whoever these strange creatures were.
They were clearly out-numbered – what with the guard under some spell – and it made him nervous. He loved Kagome, but he couldn't risk Toga, and she wouldn't want him to.
"Ah, Inuyasha," the third one – the girl – chirped in her tinkling voice, "I see your little one is doing well. I am glad."
She seemed to be the only one with her wits about her, despite appearing as a child.
"How do you know me?" Inuyasha demanded, stiffening.
"Forgive my rudeness," she said, and gestured to the other two women, "and the ill-mannered behaviors of my sisters." That shut the other two up, promptly, as they scoffed at her.
She swept into a regal bow that impressed Sesshomaru. "My name is Yue Xia, and these are my sisters', Nona and Moira." Tipping her head slightly, she continued, "We are the three sisters of fate." She smiled at him, her lips pink and her face round. "I am responsible for fated lovers – I believe in this realm, you call it 'the red string of fate'."
"We know all, boy," Moira broke in, laughter in her voice once more, "Do not question us."
"Then it is I who must question you," Sesshomaru put in, looking down at the three figures who now stood before him. Their eyes fell on him, then as one, they peered at Kagome in his arms.
He narrowed his eyes at them, his aura becoming dangerous.
"Calm yourself, demon," Nona said gently, "We are here to help you."
"You speak pretty words, yet you have rendered my guards useless," Sesshomaru pointed out, "And how is it that you believe you can help me?"
"Nona," Benzaiten called gently, "Why are you three here?"
"As I just said," Nona spoke, eyes remaining on Kagome, "We are here to help."
"Help whom, exactly?" Bishamon demanded, taking long strides to reach them.
"Why, Xaelia, of course," Moira laughed.
"And you as well, Lord Sesshomaru," Yue Xia added, eyes resting on the daiyoukai, "You see, your fate is written for you upon your birth – by Moira," she nodded at her sister, "And your death can be brought forth by Nona, should she wish it so." Yue Xia held his eyes. "But your fated love is solely my responsibility; and this one," she looked at Kagome, reaching out a hand to caress her now colorless hair, "she is your fated love, just as you are hers." Lifting her eyes back to his, she continued, "Simply put, you are destined to be."
"Why am I only now learning of this?" Bishamon demanded of the sisters, anger lacing his voice, "You have tied my daughter to a youkai?"
"Bishamon," Benzaiten rushed to say, "this may be a good thing. Think about it!"
Their eyes met and she waited for him to understand. His eyes widened and flew back to the sisters of fate.
"Could it be?" He whispered.
"We are here to halt the wretched fate Kichijoten had wished upon Xaelia so long ago," Moira revealed.
"Hold on for just a damn minute," Inuyasha growled, his brain overloading with information that didn't make sense to him, "Who the fuck are you people?"
"Pay attention, boy, because I will only say this once!" Moira barked at Inuyasha, her glowing eyes growing stern beneath her hood. "We are the goddesses of fate, my sisters' and I." She pointed with a gnarled hand. "They are Bishamon and Benzaiten, God and Goddess of many things; open a book," She demanded gruffly before continuing, "They are the natural parents of the one you call Kagome, whose given name at birth was Xaelia," she gestured in Kagome's direction, "Your Kagome is a goddess, born of those two." Moira tipped her head and peered at Inuyasha, "Understand?"
"So, Kagome is Xaelia," Inuyasha started, piecing it together, "And Xaelia is a goddess."
"Goddess of the Earth and its Moon," Moira intoned proudly, as if she herself had given Kagome the title.
"Thus, bringing us to this present moment," Yue Xia began, "Xaelia is the Goddess of the Earth," she pointed out, "She is also bound by fate to this Western Daiyoukai," her eyes slid impishly toward Bishamon, a smirk lifting her lips, "I thought it was fitting in its irony that they should be tied together. Besides, he is the only one worthy of her."
Returning her attention to Kagome, her smirk became a joyous smile, "And she is with child," she stated, "She belongs here, on this plane, in this dimension – with her lover and their child."
"Will she…" Bishamon stepped forward, but paused in his question, brows pulling together as he stared at Moira in consternation. Taking a breath he continued, "Will she finally be free of the endless cycle she has been cursed to?"
"Yes," Moira said simply.
"She will know who she is?" Benzaiten questioned, touching her husband's shoulder for support, "She will no longer die and be reborn endlessly? She will truly regain herself and her abilities?"
"She will return to the state of a Goddess," Nona put in, "Immortality will be hers once more."
"And what of my first wife and my divine monarch?" Bishamon wondered, eyes softening as they landed on Xaelia who looked so much like her mother.
"They will be informed and put in their places if need be!" Moira grouched, "Not a soul in any dimension can undo or change a fate that I have decided."
Sesshomaru suppressed a chill – that much power in one person's hands…
"You said her soul has become dark," Sesshomaru said, his eyes adjusting easily to the darkness as the sun finally fell below the horizon, "How do we heal her?"
"Ah, yes, the matter of her tarnished soul," Moira intoned joyfully, "Easy fix."
Her mood swings had Inuyasha clenching his teeth. He didn't care for any of these people – or Goddesses…whatever they were. He didn't like them. But they were offering to help Kagome; could he trust them?
"We must take her back home," Bishamon insisted once more.
"Nonsense," Moira said.
"We simply heal her here," Yue Xia added.
"Laying hands on her as one, infusing our light into her, together," Nona revealed happily.
"That is all that is required to banish her darkness," Moira finished.
"It is but a simple task," Nona said.
"We can do it together, right here," Yue Xia reminded.
They spoke rapidly, as if sharing one mind. It gave Inuyasha the creeps and he hoped this would be over soon.
"Let us begin, then," Moira demanded, "The night has come upon us and I grow weary in my old age."
"Lay her down," Nona instructed, looking at Sesshomaru and gesturing to the grass at his feet.
"No," he said, lifting a brow.
"Stubborn," Moira said disapprovingly, "Just like your father."
"Fine," Nona relented, "Then you must hold her still."
Yue Xia gave Sesshomaru a long look. "If you do not release her, this may hurt you," she warned him, "By your very nature you are dark. We will be infusing her with a considerable amount of light."
"If he refuses to release her, so be it, he will learn a painful lesson, swiftly," Moira said grumpily.
Sesshomaru second-guessed his decision for but a second before straightening his back – standing tall and proud within his own lands, his intended locked in his arms. He refused to let her go.
Yue Xia hid a soft smile behind dark curls. She had chosen well for the fallen goddess, bound to the earth as she was. This daiyoukai would surely care for her like no other could. She knew they would make a perfect match – Xaelia could tame him, teach him humanity and help him grow. All the while he would show her the support she did not know she needed and love her in a way she deserved.
"You may wish to get more comfortable," Nona suggested, hypnotically.
"I will remain standing," Sesshomaru said firmly but not unkind.
"As you wish," she nodded, "sisters, Bishamon, Benzaiten, let us begin."
Inuyasha took a step back, watching as they all gathered in a half circle around Sesshomaru and Kagome. Reaching out, they placed both of their hands on Kagome's body focusing their energy and pulling their essence from themselves, infusing it into the sleeping woman.
She gasped, back arching and body stiffening, and Sesshomaru tightened his grasp on her, eyeing those around him suspiciously – though, somehow he knew they truly were helping her. None of them paid him any attention, eyes closed and focused on healing the goddess they all wished, for one reason or another, to protect.
Sesshomaru felt it after a moment – the purity, the essence of each of the deities as it flowed through Kagome, burning his skin where they connected with a fiery intensity. He ignored it like the daiyoukai he was, clenching his jaw and keeping his eyes on Kagome as her soul regained its light. As he gazed down at her, he had the startling realization that he could not wait for her to open her eyes again.
Kagome whimpered, her face twisting up into a grimace and he growled softly in irritation. Could they not produce results any faster? Moaning in pain, she unconsciously clutched onto the front of his hankimono with a white-knuckled grip, body trembling.
"How much longer?" Inuyasha demanded as he began to twitch. He never had liked seeing Kagome in pain.
"A little bit –"
Moira was cut off by the scream that erupted from Kagome's throat. Her body trembled violently as if in the middle of a winter storm, nothing but a thin layer of clothing between her body and the frigid cold – and then just as suddenly she went limp in Sesshomaru's arms. A long sigh escaped her, and she settled against him again – random twitches the only sign she'd been in any pain at all.
"It is done," Benzaiten said, her hand lingering on her daughter's cheek.
Bishamon released a sigh of relief.
"Now, for the hard part," Moira said.
"Excuse me?" Sesshomaru demanded, eyes moving to the old hag.
"I jest, of course," she cackled, "All will be just as it is supposed to be. Her curse has been lifted along with the darkness she had claimed."
When Bishamon and Benzaiten stared at her in disbelief she shrugged. "What?" Moira demanded, "I do my best work in stressful situations. It was not a difficult undertaking to lift both curses at once."
The two exchanged a look and Moira scoffed. "Just who do you think I am?" She demanded, evidently offended.
Bishamon lifted a hand. "Excuse our reluctance to believe you," he explained, "It is simply that…" he glanced at his wife, "Benzaiten and I have spent many millennia trying to lift the curse put on our daughter with nothing to show for it."
"You simply lacked the power to do so," Nona told them, "Moira is one of the most powerful deities in existence. It was easy for her to undo what had been done."
"Then why did you make her suffer for so long?" Benzaiten demanded softly, fingers curling into fists. Her eyes were lowered to the ground, but her body trembled with barely suppressed rage. "If it was so easily undone, why did you not do it sooner?"
"Benzaiten…" Bishamon looked helplessly at his wife. She had taken Xaelia's exile the hardest.
"I will answer your question," Moira said, "If you can answer one of my own."
"Ask."
"Why did you willingly climb into Bishamon's bed when you knew he was already wed to another?"
Inuyasha's mouth dropped open and his brows lifted. He supposed everyone had drama…even deities. As serious as the situation was, he almost wished he had some of Kagome's popcorn.
"I did that out of love!" Benzaiten defended herself a look of incredulity crossing her face. "I loved Bishamon long before he was forced into an unwanted marriage!"
Moira nodded. "I did not intervene for the same reason."
"I do not understand," Benzaiten admitted, shaking her head.
Moira took a step closer to Benzaiten, reaching out and grabbing her hand. Sesshomaru took a long stride away from the deities in the clearing, distancing himself and Kagome from them. His movements did not go unnoticed, however, and Bishamon glared at him. Inuyasha stepped closer to his brother and Kagome, eyeing the god.
"Benzaiten, had I intervened, your daughter never would have met the one she was fated to be with," both women glanced over at Sesshomaru, "She may have settled with another, but they would never be happy because they were not destined for each other. Her heart would have remained empty and yearning. Like yours," she said, looking at Bishamon. "Surely, you have realized that the two of you have been tied by fates string. However, when you were forced to wed another, you both lived melancholy lives for a long time…until you found one another again."
None of the sisters were going to admit that they made a mistake pairing Bishamon with Kichijoten – though they were quick to fix their mistake, it was not an easy one to remedy.
"Would you have had me consign Xaelia to a similar fate?" She asked. "Never knowing love nor happiness. Never fulfilling the longings and desires of her heart?"
"In order for Xaelia to meet Lord Sesshomaru, it was necessary for her to be here, in this time, as the woman she is now and under the circumstances she has faced," Yue Xia confessed, "It was always Moira's plan to free Xaelia of her shackles, but I made her wait so that Xaelia could have a chance at true happiness."
Taking Benzaiten's other hand in hers, Yue Xia gave it a quick squeeze. "Please do not hold it against us. We were acting in Xaelia's best interest. Now she may have eternity to be happy and truly loved. And she can finally know you."
Benzaiten could hardly argue; she understood, even. But she had missed her daughter, never getting the chance to truly know her. She felt as if so much time had been wasted.
"Benzaiten," Bishamon placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "They are right, my love."
"Of course we are," Moira said loftily.
"Oh, sister," Nona sighed, shaking her head.
"Come sisters, let us return home," Yue Xia said, "Our task here is complete."
"Wait," Sesshomaru called, "Will she remain this way?"
Everyone's eyes fell on Kagome, still tucked protectively in Sesshomaru's arms. Long, pale hair fell in silky waves and she bore the mark of the serpent. What else had changed about her? Sesshomaru was suddenly nervous – would she be different when she woke up?
"You have nothing to fear, demon," Nona spoke, "Her appearance may have changed, but she remains the same on the inside."
"Consider yourself lucky, dog" Moira intoned in her creaky voice. Leaning heavily on her cane, her glowing eyes fell on Sesshomaru, "Not everyone gets the chance at true love."
"Hnn."
Without another word, the sisters turned and on bare feet, retreated back into the woods, disappearing beneath the cover of darkness – taking their spells with them. The sound of movement could be heard as his garrison regained movement.
"Inuyasha, take Toga and the others and return to the fortress," Sesshomaru commanded, "I will be right behind you."
"I aint leavin' you here alone with them," he nodded to the two deities left in the clearing.
"We must take our leave as well," Bishamon admitted, "Come Benzaiten. We can return at another time."
"Lord Sesshomaru," Benzaiten called, stepping towards the daiyoukai and her daughter, "May we come visit? Once she has awakened?"
"I suggest that you do," he said, "She will wish to hear the truth from you. However, do not be surprised if she refuses to accept it, at least at first." He looked down at the sleeping beauty in his arms, a soft smile curling his lips. "My intended is a stubborn one."
"Much like her mother, it would seem," Bishamon laughed. Holding out his hand to her, he said, "Come, love."
With one last lingering look at Xaelia, Benzaiten took her husband's hand and together they jumped off the cliff, disappearing into the darkness.
"Hnn."
Sesshomaru turned and without wasting another moment, took off toward his fortress, Inuyasha on his heels. Not waiting for his guards to open the gates, he jumped over the wall, landing gracefully on his feet. Kagome sighed breathily, leaning further into Sesshomaru.
The guards that had remained in the fortress eyed their lord and the unfamiliar woman he carried in his arms – although, she wasn't unfamiliar. Her aura felt very much like the one they'd become accustomed to feeling from the miko – though…this woman did not appear to be the miko.
They watched warily as their lord took long strides toward the door, opening up for him before he reached it. He disappeared within, General Inuyasha following behind.
The guards had all felt the immense swell of power coming from the direction the miko had run earlier. It was oppressive and felt very much like her energy, but they all knew it couldn't possibly have been coming from her – no miko was that powerful.
That was when several of them had decided to check it out.
Now their lord had returned with a random woman, unconscious in his arms and no sign of the miko. The guards talked quietly among each other, trying to piece the puzzle together.
Sou, however, had been watching Lord Sesshomaru intently as soon as his feet touched the ground within the fortress. The woman he held may have looked different, but there was no doubt that it was the miko.
Had that swell of power come from her? As the other guards returned, the rumors began to circulate around them.
What happened out there? Sou wondered as he stared at the closed door to the fortress.
"Call for two healers," Sesshomaru ordered the nearest servant as soon as he entered his home, "Send one to General Inuyasha's room to check Toga carefully; send the other to mine. Tell them to be hasty." He paused, turning to look at the bowing servant. "Tell the healer looking after Toga to report back to me immediately. And send for a scribe and a messenger."
Without further delay, Sesshomaru headed toward his bedroom, laying Kagome gently down onto the futon. Sitting beside her, he brushed the hair from her face wondering when she would wake up. He wasn't sure how he would explain all of this to her, or how she would take it once the truth was revealed – but a small part of him was worried. Despite what that goddess had said, Kagome was so drastically changed on the surface, how could she not be different at a soul deep level as well?
As he watched her sleeping, Sesshomaru found himself hoping that the woman he had come to love was still there, beneath the surface of the new facade that she would have to face upon waking.
Caressing the marking on her forehead, he brushed his fingers into her hair – now so much like his – and leaned down toward her to capture her lips with his own. Despite all of the changes, her soft lips remained the same.
That alone brought Sesshomaru a small comfort, and he was grateful for it.