Sesshomaru heard her heartbeat falter for several beats and dashed forward as he saw her falling backwards. He caught her before her head hit the ground as her heart resumed its normal rhythm. He laid her down carefully as he looked her over, pulling her collar back to check on the developing mark on her neck and frowned seeing nothing wrong physically. He dressed her in a fresh kimono and brushed out her hair before gathering the bags and pulled her into his arm. He kicked the bloodied clothing, both his and hers, into a pile and summoned his poison to disintegrate the pile and headed back to camp. Feeling the tingling in his own neck, he knew that the mating worked but there were questions to be answered. She had been responding well after the mating.

"'Maru...?" He stopped walking as he heard the voice from behind him despite knowing that she was in his arms and turned to see Ivanna. She wore the same kimono he had just dressed her in but he could see the landscape through her as she stood beside a tree transparent. Her eyes fell to her physical body in his arm. "Oh..."

"Why did you collapse?" He asked, realizing that some reason or another she managed to create an image of herself just like she had mentioned once before with the other version of himself that she mentioned multiple times.

"I don't...know..." Her head turned towards the forest as stopped talking but when he looked the way she was, he saw nothing. "I have to go."

"What is it?" He frowned seeing nothing in the direction she was looking nor sensing anything in the area around them.

"Inu no Taisho..." she answered after several long moment staring off into the forest.

"You can see this one's sire?"

"Apparently with the ability to share dreams, I can expel my spirit from my body and walk the line between living and the dead due to being spirited here after my body died in my world," she frowned before taking a step into the forest.

"Mate..."

"I don't have much time, he will send me back to my body," she smiled as she glanced at him before her translucent form disappeared in the woods.

Sesshomaru stared at the place she had discomfort for a while, holding her body closer, at a loss for words. This ninngen, now mate, somehow could not only share dreams with him, she could walk the world outside of her physical form. Hearing a whimper from his mate, he glanced down and saw that her face showed visible pain as he heard her heart speed up.

That got him moving and he worked his way back to their camp. Jaken was awake and tending the fire as he came into the clearing and he heard him gasp as he most likely could smell the mating mark but was smart enough to keep his mouth shut as he laid Ivanna on the bedding and covered her up. Rin rolled towards her as she continued to slumber and he saw the child's hand grip the sleeve of her kimono. Sesshomaru's could only hope that she wouldn't wake up screaming in pain this time, but as he listened to her heart he didn't know what to expect.

"My lord, does a healer need to be summoned?" Jaken asked quietly as he shuffled over beside him.

"Summon General Kahi then go to the seamstress to have her craft this one's mate a new kimono. Speak to no one of the mating, Jaken. This Sesshomaru will formally announce it when we return again to the citadel," he ordered.

"Yes, my lord," the imp bowed before scuttling over to Ah-Un and quickly saddled him before disappearing to complete his tasks.


The sun had reached its highest point before anything disturbed the quiet camp. The child was sitting beside Ivanna who still had yet to wake, coloring in the book Ivanna had given her as she nibbled on some dried fruit. Feeling Kahi's youkai flare as he neared, Sesshomaru watched the forest as he waited for him to arrive.

"You summoned me... I see that I have missed a bit," he spoke as he sniffed the air.

"Uncle Kahi!" Rin jumped to her feet and barreled into the inuyoukai.

"Hello little one," Kahi spoke as he tousled her hair as she clung to his leg.

"Her abilities have become stronger," Sesshomaru spoke quietly so that the child would not hear as she talked to Kahi about what they had been up to the last week.

"How so?" Kahi responded just as quietly as he kept his attention on the child, giving the pretense that he was only focused on her.

"She is able to expel her spirit from her body now and give it a visible form."

"Her heart is struggling."

"She spoke that since her body had died before being spirited here, she could walk along the boundary of the living and the dead. She's wandering the forest, currently in the company of this one's sire apparently."

"Wha...?" He looked up at him, his eyes wide.

"Uncle Kahi, what's wrong?" Rin's voice broke him out of his surprise.

"Nothing, dearest one. Just thought I heard something," he smiled down at her.

"Okay," she smiled before letting him go and skipped back over to her crayons and coloring book.

"The first time she accessed this ability, you had to carry the child away."

"If it caused such a reaction, why use this ability?"

"This one does not think she knows how she does it or possibly does not have control of it. She had been awake and talking to this one when she collapsed suddenly and this one saw her spirit form."

"If she walks with the Inu no Taisho, is there a chance he may have controlled it this time around?"

"This one knows not..." he heard an intake of breath as the rapid heartbeat he had been listening to slowed. He looked down and saw violet eyes staring at the foliage above her. "Ivanna?"

"Hey..." she whispered as she turned her head to look at him with a weak smile.

"Vann, you woke up! You must have been really tired to sleep so long," Rin cheered and Ivanna chuckled.

"I guess so." She sat up slowly and straightened the furs over her so they were not bunched up. Sesshomaru frowned as he watched her slide her right hand into the sleeve of her left and rub her skin as if something was bothering her as she looked around. "What brings you out here, uncle?"

"How are you so calm after meeting the Inu no Taisho?" Kahi frowned.

"Who?" Ivanna blinked and turned to look at Sesshomaru and he saw confusion across her face. "Wait... did I miss something?"

"Do you not remember?" Sesshomaru asked.

"Rin, why don't you come with me? I saw a field of winter flowers nearby on my way here that you would enjoy," Kahi spoke and held his hand out to her.

"Vann?"

"It's okay," she smiled as she brushed the child's hair out of her face. "I'll come join you in a moment."

"Okay," Rin gave her biggest smile before grabbing Kahi's hand and he summoned his cloud to fly them away.

"What do you remember?" Sesshomaru asked.

"I was getting dressed," she frowned as she looked around before focusing on the sky above, her hand going back to rub inside her left sleeve. "How long have I been out?"

"Only half the day. You spirit walked again."

"Spirit walked?"

"You came to this one in your translucent form. As you explained it, due to dying and being spirited here from your own time, you are able to expel your spirit from your body and walk along the border of the living and the dead. That was how you were able to enter Tooru's conscious reality. This one's sire came to you from his place in the netherworld."

"Your father?" She blinked in surprise. "Why...?"

"This one knows not. You only said that there was not much time and disappeared into the forest."

"Why would I have forgotten this?"

"This Sesshomaru believes that you may not have been willing. That this one's sire may have drawn your spirit out."

"Do you think this may have something to do with us mating...?"

"It is possible," he spoke before his eyes going back to her wrist and pulled back the sleeve covering her left arm.

"It just itchy. Dry skin probably," she frowned, trying to put her sleeve back down.

"Pull back your armor," he frowned as he caught the slightest hint of a smell long forgotten.

Ivanna listened and immediately undid the straps that kept the sleeve secured against her skin and pulled up the armor before freezing. There was a blue crescent moon spanning over the bones just below her last two knuckles about inch long on her left hand, then starting from the hollow space between her thumb and pointer finger across the back of her hand, a violet colored stripe that matched the color of her hair, circled around her wrist twice before the end stopped a quarter of the way up her forearm, looking similar to his own. The mark was an inch in thickness before tapering to points on the ends and about an inch of space in between. He brought his hand to the marking and rubbed his thumb over it, feeling the almost silk texture that he felt with his own markings.

"Is this because of the mating?" she asked as she brought her hand over and touched it as well.

"No. It has the faint scent of this one's sire. He must have marked your spirit form."

"So... anything that happens to my spirit form reflects against my physical body and vise versa? I guess that would make sense, but why mark me with Youkai-like markings?"

"There is one who may know. We will leave when Jaken returns."

"Where is the imp?" Ivanna frowned and he saw her glance around the clearing as she secured her armor back into place.

"Completing some tasks. Come, you promised the child you'd join her," Sesshomaru spoke as he got to his feet.

"Okay." He waited as she uncovered herself before pulling her into his arm and she pressed a kiss to his cheek as she wrapped her arms around him. "If this is the only repercussion to having sex, I'll take it."

"Hn."

"After all, it makes you have to carry me everywhere," she grinned and he glanced up at her, her eyes shining with a happiness he had not seen before.

"If you enjoyed being carried so much, why not ask before?" He mused.

"Because the relationship between us did not justify my want to be closer to you. Though all your servants were told that I was just your personal servant, I don't know if they had actually believed that..."

"If any threaten you harm, they will be dealt with immediately. When we next return, you will have soldiers assigned to you at all times," Sesshomaru spoke as they reached a field of white flowers. Kahi sat near Rin and Sesshomaru heard his mate chuckle as they watched Rin pick flowers and twist them into the general's hair.

"Kanoko would have a kick seeing this. I wish I had a camera."

"What is a camera?" He asked, struggling slightly with the foreign word.

"Oh, it takes instant paintings," she mused as she brought her two hands out and created a rectangular box between her thumbs and pointer fingers. "Usually about this side and you would just point it at what image you'd want to capture and within seconds it would happen."

"Vann! Look how pretty Uncle Kahi is!" Rin finally caught sight of them and dashed over, her cheeks flushed from the cold.

"Very pretty," Ivanna grinned as Sesshomaru sat her down against a tree and sat beside her.

"Your legs not working again?"

"I'm good, dearest Rin, do not fret. Why don't you make some crowns for when Jaken and Ah-Un return?"

"Okay!" Rin dashed back into the field as Kahi finally made his way over, leaving the flowers in his hair for the moment.

"You should put flowers in your hair more often, uncle," Ivanna teased as he sat on her other side.

"And you two are careless," Kahi frowned. "You are the Western Lord, Sesshomaru. You know the laws and ways that these delicate matters have to be done."

"Isn't that the point of him being Lord? That he doesn't have to follow other people's rules?" Ivanna asked and Sesshomaru snorted in amusement, enjoying her answer.

"Inuyoukai only mate once, Ivanna."

"You've told me that already."

"Despite you pushing the limits of your heart, you would not be able to carry any pups of Youkai blood and any pups would be not pure."

"And your point is what?" She deadpanned and Sesshomaru watched Kahi as he was taken aback by her answer. "'Maru knows full well that I would not be able to beat him heirs, but everyone should have a chance to mate for more than just politics and responsibility. You should know that."

"I am not a lord..."

"Again, what is your point, uncle? If the council demanded him to take on another for pure heirs then I can't stop him. Besides you once told me that if a lord's mate dies, he may mate again for keeping his bloodline. That means that by Inu mating season, there won't be a problem," she shrugged nonchalantly and Sesshomaru felt his heart seem to drop into his stomach by the weight of those words as she pulled herself into his lap and got comfortable.

"What are you saying?" Kahi frowned as he finally understood what she had just said.

"I will not get to see spring, uncle," she spoke softly, her eyes focused on Rin as she sung to herself. "When you had taken me to meet Kanoko for the first time, I told you the reason I was brought to this world. Recently I learned that even if I did not achieve what I was brought here to do, my heart would not have lasted much longer either way. So, while I can, I am going to live as well as I am able to. Besides he was the one always being pushy so can't put blame on me."

"But you knew better."

"Really, Kahi?" Ivanna huffed. "Because it's so easy to tell this Inu 'no?' Yes I knew better, and I tried, but in the end I got ensnared. Neither of us expected this, it just developed on its own."

"The council is not going to like this," Kahi muttered and Sesshomaru nodded as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"They'll get over it," Ivanna mused.