AN: Well, friends, we are finally here. We have reached the end of this story…
I have to give a HUGE thank you to all of you who have followed me through this story and stuck with me through my writers block and my hectic school schedule and sporadic updating in later chapters.
You have all been so wonderful and dedicated and from the bottom of my heart:
I thank you.
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Back To You
"Come now little one; no fussing," a deep voice softly demanded, lifting a grunting bundle into warm arms, "Your mother is resting. You would not wish to disturb her, would you?"
Carrying the bundle across the darkened room, Sesshomaru glanced at his mate and son. Satisfied that they remained fast asleep he left through the shoji, daughter in tow. Hearing a grunt from the bundle, he glanced down at Sumiye, brow rising in question.
"Surely you are not hungry already?" He questioned as he trailed slowly down a lantern lit hallway, "It was not so long ago yet that you last ate. Let us not wake your mother quite yet."
Sumiye wiggled, another sound escaping her lips in what Sesshomaru most certainly believed was her agreement.
"How does a stroll through the garden sound?" He continued his one-sided conversation with his daughter as he exited into his private garden – or rather, his family's private garden.
The moon hung heavy and full above them, offering the garden a muted light that did little to mute the beauty of the surrounding nature. Though nearing spring now, snow still blanketed the ground, winter holding on for as long as it could. The night was peaceful and quiet, the sound of his boots crunching in the snow the only noise.
Holding Sumiye close to his unarmored chest, he wrapped mokomoko around her infant body and walked slowly through the moonlit garden.
"Would you like to hear a story, Sumiye?"
A soft coo was his answer, so he continued as a small, chubby hand reached out to grab at long silver hair, so like her own.
"This is the story of a time-traveling miko and the treacherous journey fate had tasked her with."
Pausing in his steps, he looked down at her, ensuring he had her full attention. He blinked at his daughter as she gummed his hair. Sighing softly, he accepted his fate and continued on.
"This is not a story for the faint of heart, little one, so, I suppose it is a good thing you are of strong blood."
Strolling slowly through the garden, Sesshomaru recounted the story of the miko, a heroine many times over. She was an oddity, a savior, a friend, a warrior. A lover and a mate. A mother.
"I know what you must be thinking," he said cordially, eyes falling on his daughters bright blue, running his hand gently over his bundled infant, "She sounds very much like a fictional character, right?"
Smirking secretively as he made his way back toward the fortress, a familiar warmth filled him and he kept his eyes locked on Sumiye, feigning ignorance of his mates presence.
"I assure you, she is very real," he said quietly, "A woman of otherworldly beauty, remarkable power and an abnormal capacity for love."
Sumiye cooed purposefully and Sesshomaru paused, tipping his head. Eyes still fastened to his daughter, he said, "You might be right, Sumiye. Your mother is very likely a creature not of this planet."
"Hey! Are you calling me an alien?!"
The offended cry came from ahead of him and he had to work very hard not to laugh. As it was, he struggled to keep the smirk from his lips.
"Oh," he said deadpan, eyes finally landing on his mate, "Forgive me; I did not know you were there."
Narrowing her eyes, she studied his face for a moment – the slight uptick of his brow, the barely noticeable twitch of his lips as he pressed them together, the shine of his eyes.
The moment her eyes softened he knew she had caught on to him.
"What are you doing out here?" She asked softly, stepping up to him to peer at Sumiye, held snuggly in his arms.
She was always so awed by how nurturing he was. So different from how he once was, becoming a father seemed like his destiny. He was so…good at it. She was envious at times.
"Sumiye awoke," he said, passing the little girl to her mother in exchange for the small boy she held, "I did not wish for her to wake you, so we went for a walk."
"You could've woken me up, I wouldn't have minded," she said, smiling down at her light-haired creations.
The moonlight shining off of Kagome's glossy, pale hair caught his attention and he allowed himself a moment to take her in. The moon lit up the path they shared, reflecting off the snow and making her appear like an apparition – ivory and ethereal. Lifting a hand to her chill-reddened cheek, he brushed his fingertips across her soft skin, catching her chin and tipping her head back.
"A woman of otherworldly beauty," he said softly, amber staring deeply into a blue so brilliant he sometimes had difficulty putting a name to it, "and she is all mine."
A blush not caused by the cold spread across her face and over the bridge of her nose – only serving to make her that much more lovely.
"Even if she is a creature from another plane of existence," he joked, enjoying the way her eyes widened comically.
Before she could say anything, he leaned into her, catching her lips with his own. He didn't feel the fresh snow falling around them as his arm encompassed her waist, pulling her closer still, wrapping his family in the warmth of his mokomoko.
"I love you," Kagome whispered against his lips.
Amber eyes burned through her soul, bringing her blood to a boil and making every nerve ending feel alive.
"And I you, my love."
Blinking against the memory that had flashed through her as suddenly as lighting strikes, she felt tears pooling in her eyes. His words were a soft whisper through her mind and for a long moment she felt as if she couldn't breathe.
Lip trembling, her eyes found her twins. Standing beside her, their attention was fixed ahead of them, their somber expressions so similar and so contrary to their usual personalities.
She could recall the first time one of them were truly upset.
They were much smaller then. Hiroki had befriended the child of one of the human servants Kagome had insisted they hire one particularly bad winter. Come spring, they stayed on and remained within the Western Fortress – a true testament to how times and opinions were changing – and the rest was history.
One winter, a number of years later, the child – Hana, Kagome recalled – was playing out by a frozen pond within the garden. Nobody knew she was there. Nobody knew the ice cracked and she had fallen through.
It wasn't until Sesshomaru had traced her scent to the pond that they realized what had happened. And by then, it was too late. Kagome had tried to bring her back to life, but her soul had long since left her body.
Hiro was devastated. His first brush with death had unsettled him and for days no one could reach him.
"I'm worried about him, Sesshomaru," Kagome said as they laid in bed one night, "He's not coping. He's hardly come out of his room in three days. This isn't like him."
He pulled her flush against him and she draped her leg over his. She waited patiently while Sesshomaru considered his thoughts on the matter.
"I will speak with him in the morning," he said in a soft, deep voice before placing a gentle kiss upon her brow, "All will be well."
The next day, Sesshomaru had disappeared with their son behind the sturdy wooden shoji of his study and they didn't reappear for nearly an hour.
"What did you say to him?" She asked in surprise, watching as the small child smiled up at her before running down the hallway to the bedroom he shared with his sister.
"I simply explained things to him in a way that he would understand," was all he said in response.
She never knew what he had said to Hiroki to make him feel better where everyone else had failed, but it worked, whatever it was. He was much more at peace with life and death from that point.
Until this point.
Now, he was barely keeping it together. Reaching out, Kagome took his hand in hers, a silent show of comfort.
"It'll be okay, Hiro," she said in a motherly voice, "I'll fix this. I'll bring him back."
"How?" He asked in a broken voice, turning to look at her.
"I'm a goddess," she said simply. Thousands of years had passed, and she no longer felt strange saying such. "And as much as he's your father, he's also my mate. I will bring him back."
A broken sob caught their attention and they both looked over at Sumiye, her eyes wide as she viewed her fathers body. Both hands covered her mouth and tears rolled freely from her lashes.
"Oh, baby," Kagome quickly pulled her daughter into an embrace, "It'll all be fine. I'll fix this. Don't worry."
"But what if you can't?!"
Sumiye was a daddy's girl from the beginning. His death had been hardest on her, but she'd kept all of her emotions locked beneath the surface, just as Sesshomaru always had. To see her falling apart now broke Kagome's heart all over again.
"I will!" Kagome said firmly, "I have to, because if I don't…"
Sumiye pulled back slightly to look into her mother's eyes, now as tearful as her own.
"What?" Sumiye questioned when the older woman didn't finish.
"I don't know what I'll do without him," Kagome admitted in a whisper, "I have to bring him back. I will bring him back."
"How?" Sumiye curiously repeated her brother's question, calmed by her mother's surety.
"Blood," she said, "my blood."
"You can't mean –"
"I do."
"Mom…that's dangerous," Hiro said cautiously.
Kagome regarded her children one at a time, thinking over her words before she spoke. She knew that what she would do was dangerous. Something that could only be done once a heart no longer beat and lungs no longer drew breath. To give of her own life's blood; to pierce her own heart and drain the red, viscous liquid from her body while she lives…she knew how dangerous it could be. Only previously attempted by the most skillful of her kind, she'd been given the information in her desperate search to preserve her mate.
For, she knew, one day she would outlive him. And that caused a panic within her, so great that it stole her breath completely.
So, she planned, and she prepared for the inevitable day to come that her mate would be taken from her.
She didn't know what to expect when it finally happened. She'd heard stories – both from youkai and from her majestic parents. None had been pleasant. But, when it finally happened to her, she didn't know how to react. Because there was no pain, no torment…just a complete emptiness, a void that filled her soul entirely.
It left her numb to almost everything. Which, she supposed, was a torture all its own.
"I'm aware of how dangerous it is, Hiro," she offered, "I've done all of the research. I know what to do and what to expect. It may be dangerous, but it'll be okay. I'll be okay. We'll be okay." Placing her palms against each of her children's cheeks, she smiled and said, "I'm going to bring your father back, and when it happens, he'll live as long as I do. It's worth it to try, right?"
"And if you fail?" Sumiye asked, ever the level-headed of them, so much like her father that it was sometimes unsettling to Kagome.
"If I fail…if I fail, then I'll be reunited with him anyway. And the two of you will live on. It's the proper way of things."
Hiroki, not liking that answer, gave his mother a wide-eyed look of shock before it quickly morphed into one of anger and betrayal, and he spun on his heel, striding coolly from the room. In that moment, as Hiro's long, light hair flowed behind him, his angry gait carrying him away and the broad expanse of his shoulders tensed, Kagome saw her mate in their son. And she felt a twinge in her chest, a burning, twisting feeling that could only be the pain that everyone had referred to.
Watching helplessly as her son walked away from her, she wasn't surprised to feel a hand squeezing hers.
"I'll talk to him," Sumiye offered, "Your plan is dangerous, and neither of us wish to lose both of our parents so closely together…" she paused, searching her mothers face and a new determination lit within her eyes, "but, if it can bring him back, then you're right. It's worth it. I'll make him understand."
Kagome could only nod at her daughter, so grown and mature, so calm and collected. How had she become so lucky? The Fate's were truly kind to her, to bless her with such a wonderful family. But, wonderful simply didn't do it justice, as no words could – they would all simply diminish the nature of how incredibly awed she was by her lot in life.
"Thank you, Sumiye."
"Of course, mom," she said, giving her hand another squeeze before letting go, "You should try to get some rest before you start. It wouldn't do for you to be exhausted."
Kagome nodded, a smile turning the corners of her lips.
"You realize, I'm the parent here, don't you?" Kagome joked, feeling the slightest pressure lift from her shoulders as her bright-eyed daughter smiled in return, sharing in a laugh for just the two of them.
"Will you need help with anything?"
"No, it has to be done alone. Thank you, though."
Nodding, Sumiye glanced once more to her father before turning and leaving the room as well.
And Kagome, feeling suddenly as exhausted as her daughter suggested, stared longingly at her mate before crawling onto their bed to curl up beside him. Tears flooded her eyes as her palm brushed over his cold skin, no longer warmed by the perpetual heat he held within himself.
Hugging him tightly to her, she whispered in his ear, "I'll save you. I promise."
Allowing her eyes to slide closed, she slept fitfully beside her unbreathing mate, offering her own heat to warm him as he'd done many times for her in the past.
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She awoke to a surprising lightness in her chest. It was time, of that she was certain. She would pierce her flesh, drain the blood, little by little, from her living, beating heart, and fill him with it until he returned to her.
She would do this for as long and as often as necessary to bring him back.
Because he was her mate. And she would endure anything for him.
The longer he was missing from her side, the harder it became to breathe, and so without wasting any more time, she pledged her love to her children, offering them words of comfort before closing herself off in her rooms.
She walked calmly about, lighting candles and placing amethyst and citrine stones, all large and cut like tapered candles, throughout the room and around her mates cold, supine body. Finally, she placed a rose quartz, roughly the size of her fist, atop his chest, right over his heart. She wore a quartz around her neck to enhance her power and seek protection against a failure in this immense endeavor.
But, she believed, deep down, that if this were not the right thing to do, then the Fate's would not have allowed her to come so far. And if she was wrong, and she failed, then at least the constant emptiness in her chest and in her soul would be gone.
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The entire house was silent as she took the dagger, cut from citrine crystal, to her heart, filling a clear quartz bowl with her blood and turning it red. She'd propped herself comfortably behind her mate, his upper body resting in her lap and her back against the wall.
Using gravity as an aid, she helped her life to flow past his parted lips, coating his throat, his lungs and his stomach. She could feel it, the power that ran through her veins; she could feel it as it was absorbed into his body, crossing the lining of his stomach and lungs, finding its way to his heart.
"More," she mumbled, before repeating the process, ignoring the voice in her mind telling her that should she go too far, she will end up killing herself, too.
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She woke with a start, her chest aching, but she ignored it. She couldn't recall passing out – she must have used to much blood.
Quickly, her eyes darted down to her mate, still a comfortable yet terrifying weight in her arms. She couldn't catch a breath from him, but she checked for a pulse nonetheless.
Nothing.
For a moment, she began to doubt herself but ruthlessly shoved those thoughts away. She would not fail in this. She would bring him back.
She made a promise, and she wouldn't break it.
Holding the citrine stone in her hand, she shoved it into her chest, breaking the slight scab that'd formed over the wound and filled the quartz bowl with her blood several times more, feeding it to him, allowing it to coat every fiber of his body.
"Come back to me, Sesshomaru," she whispered in his ear, holding his head to her chest. Her lips touched his cheek and she closed her eyes, willing her power to be enough to pull his soul back from the other side.
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She didn't know how much time had passed since the first time she offered Sesshomaru her blood. She hadn't moved from her spot behind him; not to eat nor stretch. Not to perform basic bodily functions.
Through sheer force of will, she withstood those discomforts by his side, not once leaving.
No one disturbed her – they knew this ritual was sacred and what it required.
And, it seemed, everyone desired Lord Sesshomaru back among the living and breathing. Despite their lack of interruption, they still silently showed their support as they slipped passed the door to offer a quiet wish for prosperity.
It was a nice gesture, and Kagome appreciated it, but she maintained her focus on her mate. She could feel her power pulsing within him, filling him up and expanding outward to mix with him at the cellular level. She could also feel herself becoming weaker. Still, she continued with a precision-like focus.
"It shouldn't be much longer," she hoped aloud, brushing Sesshomaru's hair from his face. She was both shocked and ecstatic to see some color back in his cheeks. Not only that, but she could see a change happening to his outward features.
He'd aged as he should, and death had found him because of it. Now, though, it was as if time was falling in reverse. Aged skin was beginning to smooth, the slight wrinkles that had dared to appear around his eyes pulling taut once more. His hair, though never losing its luster, had morphed to a wintery white. Now, it was as if magic were happening before her very eyes as hints of silver began to show through the pale strands.
It's working, she thought incredulously; reverently.
With renewed vigor, she continued until once again, she'd used too much blood and found herself drifting into a dreamless sleep where the abyss that had opened in her chest since her mates passing couldn't touch her.
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Warmth.
A warmth unlike any he'd ever felt before filled him, burning his soul and calling to him with an urgency he found concerning.
He wished for nothing more than to heed the call and follow the pull of the warmth that wrapped around him, tugging him in an unknown direction.
As his soul moved more quickly in the direction of the searing heat, he was surprised to find it pleasant and not painful as he thought it should be.
And then a wave of sound passed over him, brushing across his senses and caressing him with such longing that it broke his heart.
After a moment, he realized that there was something familiar about the voice. Something that filled him with desire and adoration.
Mate.
The word brushed against his psyche and though he wasn't sure what exactly it meant, he was certain that he was correct. And with that certainty came images, vivid and blinding, washing over him with such a force that it left him paralyzed, helpless to the current of warmth that tingled against his soul as he drifted further through the stream of light that carried him along.
"Come back to me, Sesshomaru," he heard as if whispered directly into his ear.
Yes, he remembered, he was Sesshomaru; daiyoukai and Lord. Mate to the Goddess of Earth and Moon. Father to two. Loved. Wanted. Needed. Desired.
He felt all of that and more and suddenly he was fighting desperately to reach the source of the warmth that called to him, knowing instinctually that it was her.
His mate.
His Kagome.
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Warmth.
An achingly familiar warmth she hadn't felt in too long met her when she pulled herself from the pitch black of sleep.
She was no longer resting against the wall, instead lying flat on her back, and in a moment of panic, she sat bolt upright, reaching out as if trying to free herself from a nightmare.
"Sesshomaru!" She cried out before she realized she'd done so; before her eyes had even adjusted to her surroundings.
Finding herself alone, she looked beside her at the spot her mate should've been.
"Where is he?" She whispered, panic beginning to spread.
If someone had disturbed the rite before it was completed, it would've all been for nothing.
Tossing the blankets away from her, she rushed toward the door, throwing the shoji screen open and running face first into a warm chest.
She froze as her lungs filled with familiar scents; pine, mint and sandalwood. Bottom lip trembling as her eyes traveled slowly upward, afraid that this was all a vivid dream, her gaze was met with piercing amber and time ceased to exist for her.
"Sesshomaru," she managed before breaking down in his arms, a sobbing mess.
He pulled her tightly to him, feeling young again, and very much alive.
"Hush, love," he whispered, easing her back into the room and sliding the door closed, "Everything's okay."
Setting down the glass of water he'd obtained from a member of his staff, he pulled his mate more firmly into his embrace, holding her against him, allowing her to feel him there with her.
"You're back," she said, her voice high-pitched and broken with the ache he'd left behind for her to deal with.
He'd always dreaded the moment he'd leave her. So, for a time he simply held her close.
Holding her, he whispered in her ear, consoling her and running his fingers through her hair. He understood how desperate she must be feeling; how relieved. He could never fault her for that. Despite the risk she had placed herself under to save him, he could never undermine that by scolding her for it.
Instead, he held her in his arms, leading her gently to their bed where he laid her down and thanked her for her sacrifice. He showed her, in the way of an alpha male, how greatly he appreciated her love and devotion. And he felt her running through his veins, creating a new kind of bond, deeper than ever before, securing his place beside her until the day she would cease to exist herself.
They loved one another freely and wholly, and the Fates rejoiced, for should the two be forced apart, that would surely be the ultimate transgression.
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AN: I gotta say, friends, I'm not sure, honestly, how I feel about this story, now that it's complete.
I feel like I've achieved something, but I also feel like this story was lacking in some way. It happened a little too quickly, or a little too smoothly. Perhaps both?
I chose to forgo tying up all the loose ends, but if anyone really wants to know, PM me and I can fill you in 😊
Anyway, despite my uncertainty, I hope you've all enjoyed it. Love you!