The energy around him was different, soft even, their fall stunted by a strange warp of gravity. The current path he was on wasn't being governed by Tenseiga, this much he knew. It seemed there had been more at work. Sesshomaru could sense a fading hint of the power that had sent them backwards in time, but more so, the air around him was saturated in hanyou.

He should not have been surprised the half-breed would be involved. He had probably been on the hunt for an answer since the second the priestess disappeared. The Taiyoukai gazed down at the slumbering woman in his arms. Could he blame him?

His face fell into a frown as he looked past her into the mysterious void below his feet. Their fall seemed to be endless, but he knew it was not. Part of him wished it would never end, that they had never tried this successful experiment. He allowed the cell door in his mind to open just a crack, just enough to flood him with doubts.

Would he be able to keep his end of their bargain? Could he walk away as if he never knew her? She sighed sweetly into his armor. Yes, absolutely. She had a life, purpose and a path that had been temporarily interrupted by their sojourn. She was soft and lacked something his personal followers needed to survive in the realm of demons. Something she was better off without.

The Western Lands, his lands, were a conglomerate of the strongest of his kind. All of which vying for supremacy, slavering over his position of authority, not that any of them could hack it even if they gave it their all.

It took a gall and certain fearlessness to follow him into the very heart of such an environment. Especially, a human. Which zeroed his mind's focus onto the real concern.

Could he continue in his current state? How would the Council react? His mother? Rin?

Sesshomaru could barely process the repercussions of his current absence much less the dreaded fallout of his cursed mortality. Any what ifs were immediately met with a myriad of no-win scenarios. He had built an empire upon the one his father selfishly left in tatters, a feat accomplished by his own two hands, his own wits and ruthless tenacity against foe and ally alike.

The answer was plain and simple. They would leave no quarter once they found out. Rin could not remain under his protection. Under the current circumstances, her general wellbeing depended on the distance he kept between them. Jaken would no doubt protect the girl with every ounce of his being should a last-ditch effort be necessary.

Kagome moaned pitifully against his armor bringing his attention back to her. She was lovely and all consuming. Skin smooth and flawlessly creamy. Place her in the right set of silks and maybe….

No!

Sesshomaru almost growled at the absurd thought his own ignorant mind formulated. There would be no way he could hide his dependency upon the Miko's blood. One solitary drop spilt inside the walls of the Western fortress and every youkai within a ten-mile radius would be alerted. When he said she was sweet, it was not a personalized assessment. She genuinely was a gourmet meal, her flavor absolutely intoxicating. The temptation would be too great.

He had lied to her before about how they ate. It truly was a bloody, morbid affair. Demons were named just that by the Kami for a reason. Of course, in polite company, obvious table manners were observed. You couldn't have Court gossip running amuck about you being a slavenly glutton. Though, not all youkai supped the same way. Some did not have the luxury of enjoying their meal with the safe reassurances of power and royal guards at your back. Either way, they salivated one alike over the viscous fluid, the life blood, in their beastly hearts awaiting another hunt.

He couldn't expose Kagome to that. It couldn't be said in so many words, nor should it ever be uttered, but the Miko deserved better.

In that moment, his feet felt the ground rise up to meet them. The energy around him dissipated leaving him with a view of a very vivid red haori bent over the putrid stench of a dying dark priestess, the source of the last vestiges of the spell.

A growl exploded from his chest, youki flaring as rage stormed his senses forcing his eyes to bleed red. InuYasha responded by turning with lightening speed, his body crouching defensively, one hand resting on the hilt of Tetsusaiga.

The slight weight of the woman in Sesshomaru's arms stayed his hand momentarily. With stiff necked reverence, he crouched to lay the Miko gently on the dirt floor. Their golden eyes never leaving the other's, a silent challenge that usually erupted in a 100 years' worth of resentment.

The welp didn't disappoint. He lifted the fist previously wrapped around their father's fang and cracked his knuckles, displaying his claws before charging. The hanyou was a blaze of red and silver, darting around behind him, making the Taiyoukai smirk at his half-brother's idiocy.

"All these years, little brother, and you never learn." Sesshomaru needled as he side-stepped a swipe from the hanyou's claws.

"What did you do to her, asshole?" InuYasha growled as he used the earthen walls of the well to propel himself to a higher vantage point.

He didn't wait for Sesshomaru to answer just barreled down on him. One, two, three, four attempted attacks, all dodged. Each attack kept Sesshomaru from moving forward, his true goal lying prone on the dirt being obviously shielded by InuYasha's erratic movements.

Balling up his fist, Sesshomaru waited for the half breed to come at him. InuYasha did just that, deftly dodging the punch aimed for his jaw. The Taiyoukai sped out of the way of another assault, but he was winged by a stray blow or, at least, that is what he told himself. Looking around the earthen hole they were in, he attempted to follow the now blurred streak of his brother hopping from wall to wall, confusing his dulling senses.

Sesshomaru squinted against the streaks of light streaming down into the well as InuYasha darted past him so fast, he barely registered it. He lifted his claws in defense summoning his poison claws knowing they wouldn't obey. Bracing himself as he watched the red blur come into focus. Just as the sunlight glinted off his little brother's claws…

"Sit, boy!"

InuYasha slammed to the ground leaving a plume of dust in his wake. Kagome's voice was crystal clear imbued with authority, but tinted with something he would have called worry. Sesshomaru released the breath he didn't know he had been holding and turned to her. She didn't give him a side long glance, just sprinted passed him and over InuYasha's twitching body buried deep in a crater to Noriko's frail outline in the adjacent corner.

Her long, graceful fingers were at the old woman's neck before the Miko's knees could hit the dirt. He didn't need to see her face to know she was already assessing the damage done, already calculating how she could salvage a life that didn't need to be saved.


This particular sitting had laid him low leaving him munching on clumps of soil caked roots, but his heart was soaring beyond the stars. Kagome was finally home. InuYasha could hardly believe it. He climbed himself out of that crater gladly, spitting wet muddy clusters with a vengeance. Then she was there solid and real under his fingertips, most of her torso overshadowed by the hilariously overstuffed backpack.

InuYasha could feel the warmth of her through the sweater she was wearing. Her scent was just as he remembered and even through the stink of Sesshomaru clung to her like the dampness of their surroundings, she was still the cleansing breath he had been aching for these past few months.

Kagome looked over her shoulder at him, her blue eyes heartbreakingly accusing. She didn't say anything, her mouth in a thin line as she held up Noriko's slit wrist. Blood was dripping from the tourniquet forcing his beloved to wrap both of her hands around the flooded poultice, he could feel the strain of effort through the muscles under his fingertips.

"InuYasha, please help me." Kagome's voice shattered the moment he was having causing a neck breaking spiral towards reality.

It was cold, her tone. The volume not loud nor was it meek. Something shot straight through his heart doing worse damage than Kikyou's arrow. Without giving the organ a chance to recover, he released her forcing his legs to walk around and take up the dying witch. Kagome hopped onto his back, nearly choking him with one arm in her struggle to keep Noriko's hand elevated.

When her knees hugged his side and the tension of her body relaxed against him, he leapt out of the well. Once his toes met the grass covered destruction of the clearing, he pushed his legs to move double-time towards Kaede. He knew Noriko was nearly gone, well past the point of help, but he would try. For Kagome's sake.

No matter how fast he ran, the smell of death consumed his every breath as Kagome's worried gasps of air flooded his ears. His thighs burned as he pushed harder, blazing past their hut. His claws tore up the dirt path to Kaede's and straight through the tatami mat covering her door leaving it in tatters. The old Miko sat at her fire, teacup in hand watching their entrance with a wide eye. It might have been comical, her expression, had the circumstances been different.

In his dreams, he was supposed to have knelt right in front of the well and asked Kagome to marry him. This tumultuous turn of events wasn't the warm celebratory ruckus he had hoped for.

The next several minutes went by in a haze as he sunk away into the background. Kaede and Kagome worked in tandem, trying to staunch the now seeping flow of blood coming from Noriko's wound. He barely registered Sango running into the room and the raised conglomerate of voices seemed to merge all into one until the staccato suddenly ceased.

He could smell it in the air, the finality of their efforts. The dark miko had passed on. Everything began to melt back to normal as he watched the women wipe their brows with their wrists, hands slick with blood. He couldn't help, but to focus only on Kagome.

She was beautiful and completely distraught. Her delicate hands covered the old woman with a blanket before she stood murmuring hushed words he could have heard if he really wanted to. Sango and Kaede nodded their sullen agreement. Kagome turned to him, pinning him with a look that made his blood run to ice in his veins, seizing any hope he had dead in his chest.

She breezed past him without a word leaving him feeling as if she had punched him in the gut in the process. He wanted to follow, but something told him to stay put. InuYasha watched until she disappeared out of sight before offering his assistance to the two ladies who set him to work immediately.


Kagome stomped through the woods using far too much restraint to keep from muttering to herself. Of all the things she thought she would wake up to, InuYasha assisting in the murder/ suicide of a human being was not one of them. In fact, the obvious nature of it all threw her in the worst way. She knew he cared, loved her even, but spilling blood. No, it was too much.

The afternoon sun led her through InuYasha's forest, revealing the broken ground around the well. She could see a striped wrist and desperate claws gripping the outside wooden rim. The very tip of Sesshomaru's silver scalp had her rushing to his aid. He gripped her proffered hand gratefully as she helped to haul him the rest of the way out. She knew personally how rough the climb could be without a ladder. His white fluffy boa and the pristine white silk of his clothes were stained with dirt from his arduous climb, his brow glistening with a light sheen of sweat in spite of the chilly air.

His face was handsomely placid, like usual, but his eyes were all over her. She could feel those amber orbs crawling across her skin. She felt vulnerable and exposed before him as he studied her. The drying blood on her arms and clothes giving away the events that had just transpired.

"I'm surprised Rin hasn't already found her way to you." Kagome stated with a half-smile trying to distance herself from reality for a moment.

He gave her a long hard look before nodding tersely, his chin tipping up taking the scrutiny with it. It was her turn to observe him in the long silence between them. He was clearly thinking about something other than his young ward, his frown even more sullen than usual.

"What is it, Sesshomaru?" She asked, unnerved by his silent intensity at her side.

Instead of answering, he focused that unnerving attention back to her. This time his fingers came into play, lifting her hair and sleeves intimately searching her person. She wanted to say his actions were because of his current lack of powers. He may have been looking for a clean place on her now blemished skin to take advantage of, but he knew she couldn't bleed anymore even if she wanted to. The thought did occur to her that he may have been genuinely concerned. As if reading her mind, Sesshomaru spoke, his voice quiet.

"The dark priestess is dead." It was a rhetorical statement he made first to her hands, thumb stroking the invisible wound that had been healed. "You need rest, Miko, and a meal." He continued bringing his eyes up to meet hers.

"Yeah, doubt that's going to happen anytime soon. I'm surprised InuYasha isn't here barking threats, might be spying in the tree line though." She half joked up at him liking this distraction more and more.

His fingers tightened around her wrists as the mention of the hanyou had him scanning their surroundings with squinted eyes. She almost wanted to laugh but couldn't. The tension was too much to deny. Satisfied, he returned his attention back to her, his grip loosening until it fell away leaving her feeling the absence of his warmth as acutely as her guilt. A terrible ache in her heart took root and began to blossom, his golden gaze was familiar and somehow sad under heavy lashes.

Kagome finally did smile at him, a genuine heartbreaking goodbye, because she knew he was going to keep his word. Their bargain was done. Rin had been right and this moment, right now, the deadliest creature this side of the Earth was more than an animal. He was a good person, a friend, her friend. Whatever Sesshomaru was feeling, it was the same form of tenderness she felt for him. In her heart she wished him the best and knew, without words, he wished her similar gains.

His eyes lit up and his countenance softened, a tiny lift tweaked the corner of his lips. The palm of his hand cupped the side of her cheek while his claws tucked away a lock of hair behind her blunted ear. She felt chills rack her spine flowing out into her toes and fingers heating her back up as the thundering of her heart drowned out any other noise.

Silver descended upon her, swallowing her vision until she felt his lips on hers, soft yet sure. She accepted him, moving in tandem. His confidence fed hers as he pulled her closer devouring her every breath. She gasped and he dove at the opportunity, plundering her in a way no one ever had before setting her body aflame and her turning her knees to mush. Her fingers threaded into the silken strands of his hair pulling him closer until their connection was almost painful.

Then just as quickly as he had descended, he released her, a brazen smile on his face. Her breath left her lungs in a rush at the sight of his arrogant glory. It took her a moment to taste anything other than him, but the metallic undercurrent was there coating her tongue just a bit, the wound closed during their affections.

"Remain in good health, Lady Kagome." Sesshomaru finally said with a small bow before turning his back and summoning his cloud.

Kagome watched his orb race towards the sky and then out of sight before she moved from her spot. She stared down accusingly at her fingertips as she discovered them pressed against her now baren lips. It was so strange how he made her feel. Light and cold all at the same time, but the radiant heat he sparked within was undeniable.

She shook the errant thoughts away and set her feet on the path that would take her back to the village. Kaede had agreed to do Noriko's final rights, but she needed to be washed and prepared for her final journey into the afterlife. Trying not to let the confusion and accusations get to her, she focused all her might on each step her feet took and each step her feet needed to make.

After the funeral, she and InuYasha were going to need to have a long talk. They needed to hash it out and make it work. After all, they still had a couple months left of winter to get through and she doubted her best friend had been focused on their food stores during her absence.

Rin was also weighing heavily on her heart. The young girl loved Sesshomaru with all she had and to not see him would devastate her. Though, everything she had heard from the Taiyoukai pretty much boiled down to the fact that the girl was safer under their care for the time being.

A cure existed, had to, but Kagome worried about the turn of events in the meantime. He would be mortal in a short matter of time, the miniscule amount of blood he had sneakily stolen would not last for long.

Would he even make it to the Western lands? How would his own kin greet him then? Will he be safe within his fortress? Is Jaken and Rin his only true confidants? Certainly, he would not be alone there. An unpleasant foreboding attacked her gut striking fear into her heart for Sesshomaru.

A/N: Thanks guys for your kind words. Hope you continue to enjoy! 😊 ~scattered_dimensions