Chapter 7

Kagome wasted no time when she returned to the front. She brought her mount down in the midst of the throng of men and soldiers. Some started at her sudden appearance. Some pulled back. Most cheered. They let loose the levity that had been so lost to them in the battle. They saw her and saw the light of their salvation.

But Kagome only smiled politely. She was no hero. She only did what must be done. She rode through their numbers. She acknowledged their bows and hails and cheers. She held herself tall and proud despite feeling neither. It was the image she portrayed they most needed and she would not deny them that.

When at last Kagome had made it through to the command she was unsettled by it all, but still she did not let if phase her. She rode right up the Lords' post. She didn't dismount. She didn't bow.

"Takeda, Tokugawa," she addressed the Lords. "The battle is won."

"The Gods bless our victory," Kuranosuke was quick to praise her. His smile was real as it was relieved. "You have done it, Kagome. I knew you would."

A huff of breath that might have been a scoff brought Kagome's attention to the Tokugawa Lord. Her eyes narrowed in anger. But outwardly, she did nothing more than jerk the reigns she was holding. Ah-Un was quick to comply. He opened his maw and let drop the lifeless creature he held at the Lord's feet.

"A Youkai can be a terrible thing," she told him. Her tone was even and purposefully measured. "Sometimes it can be hard to tell friend from foe."

Perhaps he had heard her message for what it was, or perhaps it was the sight of the deformed beast she had left at his feet, but Tokugawa looked up to Kagome's challenge.

"The Emperor will hear of this."

Kagome only smiled sweetly. "I sincerely hope so. But in the mean time, you will use you influence. A Shrine will be built. The stone soldiers…" She paused and lifted a hand to cover her heart as though the gesture could ease the painful squeeze. "They had lives once, families, people who loved them. They will not be forgotten. We will honor them. We will remember them."

She left no room for argument, no path for dispute. And, eventually, the Lord conceded.

"Hai."

A Lord's word was his bond, and Kagome didn't need anything more from him. She nodded shortly.

"The basilisk's blood holds the cure. Use it to treat your men. See to it than any and all who have been exposed to the toxin drink the elixir."

Kagome turned her mount and set to leave, but she paused and looked back.

"And, gentlemen, please do try to avoid bringing any more wars to my doorstep. A messenger would do just as well."

She would help in any way that she could, but her village was off-limits. Kuranosuke understood her message clearly. He bowed low and in deep respect. Beside him, the Tokugawa Lord was left with little recourse but to do the same.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Miroku?"

Kagome had found the Monk tending to the wounded. He was injured, sick from the poison, and still he worked tirelessly to give aid to the fallen.

Her voice made him turn. He smiled a smile so deep with relief it almost brought tears to her eyes.

"Kagome!"

The Monk dropped what he had been doing and rushed towards her. He pulled her into a tight embrace. Kagome returned the hug with just as much relief and just a much love.

"I'm so glad," she sobbed against him.

"I knew it was you." And still he didn't let her go.

"We found it. The cure. We have it."

"Praise be."

There was such relief. The battle was over. Soon the sickness would be quelled. All of their struggles, and it was finally coming to an end.

Though, speaking of ends…..Kagome stiffened in the Monks hold. His hand had found its way to her own 'end' and had squeezed it thoroughly.

"Miroku." Her voice had grown hard.

"Hai?" And his was far too innocent.

Kagome pushed back from her friend and glared. The look was far from intimidating, especially since her smile hadn't left her.

"You're far too sick to be grabbing at backsides. What would Sango say?"

Miroku took the hint. He held his hands up in mock innocence.

"Why, my dear Miko, my loving and adoring wife is nothing but supportive."

"Uh-huh." Kagome rolled her eyes. The letch truly would never learn. But she adored him. She couldn't imagine having to have faced this army without him. "We'll just see about that. Come on, Monk. Let's go get you some medicine."

His smile still wide and grateful, Miroku nodded. Kagome knew he was as relieved as she was. Just as glad to see this horrible war come to its end. His lapse into debauchery wasn't solely for his own gains. He had used the distraction to bring a sense of levity. They had embraced as friends who had been together through hardships. But that was all. There was no point in lingering. He knew it as well as she did.

So they turned together and made their way out to the fields to join the men. A cure had been found. It was being distributed even now in the water they drank. And there was a joy that couldn't be quelled. A relief that they had made it though the day.

vvvvvvvvvvvv

Night had fallen. Though the watchfires still burned, there was a stillness to the camp. The men had finally taken to their well-deserved rest. The Banners that flew flapped gently in the breeze. They were no longer the thing that stoked fear, that forced allegiance. They were simply a mark of the Houses that had been part of the day.

Kagome walked through the camp alone with her drifting thoughts.

She thought about the sick that had healed so miraculously. Men's minds thought lost to the sickness were made whole again with a single drink of water laced with the basilisk's blood. Their bodies too were recovering. Cloth wet with the same elixir placed against their hardened skin would soften it once more. She was glad for them.

She thought about the ones that had fallen. For them, there was no miracle cure, no coming back. She thought of the ones that had met that end by her own hand. Miroku had told her it was the right choice. Uminasoke had covered it up believing it to be so. Sango had only nodded in understanding when she told her. She had hugged her, told her that was going to be okay. Kagome wasn't so sure.

She thought of her home so far away and far removed from the blood and battles of the past. She thought of what her mother would say. She thought of her friends. Would they even recognize the woman she had become? She had been in the presence of Lords and they had bowed to her word. She held the power over life and death in her hands and she had used it. Was her choice to stay really about truth and lies? Or was it something else? Was the allure of power so great she couldn't refuse its call? Was she no better than the Villain that had craved the power of the Jewel?

She claimed that she used her power to protect the innocent. But who protected them from her?

I'll protect you…The whisper of a memory.

Her breath hitched. Her heart clenched. Her stomach dropped. Inuyasha…

She hadn't even thought of the Hanyou boy. There just hadn't been time. Where had he been? Why had he refused to come? Would the battle have been different if he had?

Without thinking, her course had changed. Her steps had grown more determined.

"Sneaking off again?"

Sango's voice. The Taijiya was nothing more than a shadow in the night, and Kagome jumped despite herself. The Slayer stepped away from one of the tents into the path. She tilted her head and regarded Kagome strangely.

"Should I even ask?"

There was more she wasn't saying, but she let it hang there between them, a secret between friends, between sisters. Kagome didn't know what to say. But then, she didn't need to. Sango knew her better than she knew herself.

"Whatever happens, Kagome, you know I'll be here for you. But…" Her saunter was more of a waddle as she moved her pregnant self to stand in front of her friend. She put her hands on Kagome's shoulders and forced her to look up. "You will tell me what happened with Sesshomaru."

Nothing Kagome could have done would have hidden her blush. Not from Sango.

"Yeah, see? That. You're gonna spill, Kagome." She winked. It was far too suggestive. "And I expect all the juicy details."

"Sango…"

It was a whine, something a child would do. But Sango brushed it off. She let Kagome go and brushed past her. With a wave of her hand over her shoulder, she replied.

"Just don't go jumping through any wells in the meantime."

Kagome watched after the Slayer for a minute. Of course Sango knew she had been distracted. Of course she had seen through the smiles to something deeper. Of course she knew that there was still somewhere Kagome had to be. Sisters always knew.

Kagome smiled despite herself, despite her troubled thoughts. Her sister. Sango was as much family as any she had known. After everything they had been through together, nothing would ever change that. The girl was married now, had a child of her own, another on the way, but that didn't change the bonds of sisterhood that had formed. Nothing ever would.

So she had her sister. She had her teacher. Her friend. Her child. But there was still someone missing from their little family born of danger and nurtured by love.

Kagome was done waiting. She couldn't do it anymore. She wouldn't. She set out to find Sesshomaru and the answers she knew he had.

vvvvvvvvvvvvv

He was sitting, leaning back comfortably against the base of a tree. His eyes were closed, his posture lax. For all the world he looked as though he were asleep.

Briefly, Kagome thought back to the last time the Youkai had slept, how he had refused to let her have the freedom to roam while he did so. But the thought passed as quickly as it had come. Because she knew. Sesshomaru would never have let his guard down with the army of men still so close at hand. He would never leave himself so open and exposed. He would never allow himself to be so vulnerable.

She stepped forward. She could feel the charge in the space as she entered. The vibrations were so intense they lifted small leaves from the forest floor to hover and float just above the ground. Her senses were alight with it. She could feel the urgency, the cry to arms. But she stepped forward anyways, heedless of it.

"You're not fooling anyone," she told him. Annoyance had crept into her tone.

And he, blinking lazily to open his eyes, the hardened gold reflecting back at her even in the dark of night, only shrugged.

"Just as well," he said.

Kagome bristled as she watched him stand. Her irritation was being quickly replaced with anger. He had done it on purpose. He had feigned sleep only to activate his defenses. He had done it willingly, purposefully. And he had done it knowing she would come to see him, knowing that it was against her that he had set the trap. It didn't even phase her that he had picked up his swords, didn't come close to registering as the threat it should have been.

She marched her way over to him, her hands balling into fists at her side.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?"

Sesshomaru finished securing his swords at his side with a determined thrust. When he looked at her, despite her anger, Kagome pulled back. A hardness had taken over him. He was locked down as he would be in battle. A barrier of ice masking his thoughts. The gold of his eyes was piercing, hard, and completely unyielding.

"It means, Priestess…" he drawled in a low, dangerous tone.

Without warning he moved. He was so fast she didn't even have time to draw a startled breath when she found herself face to face with the Youkai, his arms tight around her back, his chest pressed to hers. He leaned down to her, and Kagome frantically searched for some indication of what he wanted, what he was planning. But Sesshomaru gave nothing away. He leaned closer still, not pausing when he heard her gasp, not stopping when he felt her tremble. He brought his nose to her neck, breathing deeply, drawing it out, making a show of it for her.

When he spoke, his voice was nothing more than a whisper of air, his hot breath flowing across her skin and making her shudder.

"…that I do know you."

Kagome didn't know if she should laugh, cry, or scream. It didn't matter though. She wasn't given a chance. Her vision was flashed away in a blinding surge of white light. The air was pulled from her lungs. Her limbs grew heavy, too heavy to bear the weight of. And her senses were set on fire as she was surrounded by the inferno of the Youkai.

Too late did she realize there was no more ground beneath her feet. Too late was it for her to do anything but acquiesce as direction became meaningless and speed became all she knew.

'Burn me, and I will drop you,' words once spoken drifted across her barely conscious mind.

Kagome yielded. She could do nothing else. But just before the pain overtook her, before the lash of the inferno drove her to seek shelter in the black of unconsciousness, a thought came to her.

'I do know you.'

He had tested his own theory and been proven wrong. His defenses hadn't come to bear. They didn't lash out at her when he was making himself unaware. She had been given a pass, free reign in his presence even when he hadn't the will of mind to choose. He did not, would not defend against her.

She would have smiled had it been possible to do so.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvv

It was the landing that woke her. Jarring and hard, it was less like cold water being thrown on her than it was a slap in the face. Kagome moaned miserably. Her head was pounding with a G-force hangover. Her whole body ached. And despite having no idea where she was, she spared no soft feelings for the Youkai that had dropped her there.

Her powers woke as she did, and she used them just to spite him. Kagome shoved Sesshomaru hard, using more than just her hands, more than just her muscles.

"Get off of me!"

She didn't care that her legs were weak, didn't care that, despite the hard impact of the landing, she had suffered no damage for it. She knew damn well that Sesshomaru could have landed without even a whisper of impact. He had done it to rouse her, and by damn it pissed her off.

Kagome was surprised when he did as she asked. But what surprised her more was how cold she felt when he actually let her go.

The wind was howling. Not an angry threat, simply what was. They stood on a bluff that overlooked the ocean. In the open there was nothing to stop the strong currents from whipping her skin and making her shiver.

Even the Youkai that had brought her was not immune. A strong gust caught the long threads of his hair and spun it in a dance. Moonlight played on the silver stands and Kagome found herself entranced. Her anger, so heated and strong, was carried away on the breeze.

"The Shikon."

He wasn't looking at her. His attention had turned out to the water as though he were looking for some distant answer in the hidden depths. But at the very mention of the cursed Jewel, Kagome stiffened.

"What of it?"

And still he didn't look at her.

"It was a trinket," he said, "A bobble, one of hundreds, thousands. I could have just as easily led him to another with the temptation of a wish or a power greater than what he owned. But, as fate would have it, I did not. The Miko that held the jewel would suffice. All that was needed was her compassion.

"The Hanyou was merely an obstacle, as he is apt to be. He is brash, foolish, and far too swayed by his Human heart. It was almost too easy to lead him down a path that would suit my ends. All that remained was the woman, a child of the Light, a creature more magic than Mortal who could unlock the seal on his Demon blood.

"But that was never to be.

"I had almost thought the plan laid waste until you came. In a week you gave the boy more strength than the lifetime he would have spent pining for her. In a month, more courage than he was due. In a year, he became more, I believe, than even our Father dare dream. And through it all, I began to hope. The boy would become a man and find his way to you. Your magic would purify his blood. The taint of the Mortal stain would be lost. The children you would bear would be strong enough to endure.

"Strong enough," he paused only long enough to turn his piercing gaze to finally meet her questioning eyes, "to withstand even my poison."

"Your Poison?"

It was too much and not enough. Kagome didn't understand.

Sesshomaru lifted his hand for her to see. He flexed it, stretching his claws, and from the deadly tips she could see the sickly green glow. But before the deadly mist could take form, Sesshomaru dismissed it with a quick wave of his hand, setting his poison to sleep once more.

"My Sire bestowed upon me this trait," he went on, "and in all my years I have yet to find any that could endure its effects. So, as it was His blood that created it, it stood to reason that only His blood could temper it."

It took Kagome a moment to process what he was saying, a moment more to understand what he meant by it, and still another to realize he was giving her the answer that she had sought all along. She finally knew what it really was he wanted from her.

"You wanted me to breed you a mate?" The very idea was ridiculous. She could hardly wrap her mind around it. It was unfathomable, preposterous, completely absurd. "You can't just play with peoples lives like that!"

"Can't I?" Unmoved, Sesshomaru replied. "You were born with a Jewel of power within you very body, Miko. Are your Gods any less guilty of such?"

Kagome scoffed in disgust. "You're not a God, Sesshomaru."

His brow lifted in a silent challenge. "I do recall hearing you say something quite to the contrary to those men on the battlefield."

"You arrogant son of a-"

"Choose your next words wisely, girl."

Kagome glared murderously at the Youkai. She wanted to be angry. She wanted to hate him for what he had done, what he was sill doing. She didn't want to let it go.

But he bore her wrath as impassively as he did everything else. He did not rise to meet the challenge that was radiating off of her in angry swells and currents. He simply remained, aloof to it all, impervious to her accusation, unflinching from her anger, and, worst of all, unwavering in his assessment, unwilling or uncaring to acknowledge that he had been in any way wrong for it.

She wanted to deny him, but the more time that stretched between them in silence, the more she started to see his logic.

It made sense. If his father's blood created the poison, then his father's blood would hold the cure. It was no different than her using the basilisk blood to cure the men from its toxin. It wasn't pride or selfishness or greed, not even pretenses of Godly power that directed his actions. It was simply necessary.

It was logical. He was logical.

So he had become her teacher when no other knew. He had been her protector when no other could. He had been her confidant, her informant, her ally. All of this he had done to ensure her cooperation so that he could have what it was he most wanted: A power all his own that he could pass on to his children.

But then, even being all these things, all the things that cold, tempered logic would have him be, he had been something else as well. He had been anger and wrath like nothing she had ever seen. He had been sorrow and remorse that hurt her to even look upon. He had been broken. There was no logic that could explain that.

"It isn't right…" she breathed the words with new understanding. And it wasn't. But they were not her words. They were his. Still, she knew, "You're not one to second guess yourself."

His lips quirked in what might have been a smile had it not been so twisted with distain.

"No. But that you would know as much only makes it more so." He turned fully to face her and held out his hand. "Come," he beckoned her to take it. "There is something that you need to see."

Kagome hesitated. She couldn't bring herself to take his hand. And it wasn't the idea of the Youkai's touch that held her still. There was still more he wasn't saying, more he was keeping from her in the silence between his words. Fear gripped her. Possibilities and consequences tumbled through her chaotic thoughts.

What horror could have led Sesshomaru, with all his strength and all his pride, to break down as he had? What madness? How was she, simple girl that she was, to face such a thing? How could she bring herself to go willingly? How could she?

"It isn't right," she heard him say. "But it was not, nor is it my place to tell you."

His voice brought her focus to him, but still she remained, held by the invisible hands of fear. Perhaps it was that he could see her pain that he offered her compassion for it, but then again, perhaps it was simply one more thing he found necessary.

"You just took down a mountain," he said. "Would you falter now in the face of simple truth?"

She was the one to tell him that it was the truth she wanted. It had been. It still was. But it terrified her more than she could say. She had no words. She knew he was right. She knew she had to step forward. She knew that she had to face the unknown no matter how terrible.

Still, her hand shook as she lifted it from her side to place it in his.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Sesshomaru brought them down to land in a field on the outskirts of a village. The small hamlet was tucked in a valley not far from the coast. He had carried them there in the sky, but not in his transport wave. The form of travel was slow in comparison. Kagome suspected he had done it to give her time to breathe, time to think. Time to prepare herself for what was to come.

He didn't say anything as he set her down. He didn't even look back to her as he released her from his hold. But still Kagome stayed where he had left her. She could feel it. Like a shiver against her senses, the burn of his power had been tempered by ice. Sesshomaru was preparing for battle.

He stepped clear of her. He took hold of his sword. Bakusaiga pulsed to life. The blade sang with power as it was pulled from its sheath.

Kagome watched in silent awe. Three years. Three years she had seen Sesshomaru fight through battles and conflicts without his left arm. Three years it had taken him to grow in its place the Totem he now held in his hand.

She saw him now and she saw the blade for what it was. It was His power. In his hands it was signal flare. A beacon in the night. It was a power unmistakable, undeniable. He held it aloft, so fearlessly drawn, burning the night like the dawn.

It didn't take any time for his challenge to be answered.

The wind howled in response. But on that howling wind Kagome heard something else, something she had known, something of a memory.

The beat of her heart stilled. She gasped.

A figure was moving towards them. It bounded from the rooftops of the village and took to the sky. Crimson red and silver streaked a path.

"Inuyasha…"

Kagome almost couldn't believe what she was seeing with her own eyes. All this time, and at long last the Hanyou boy she loved was there in front of her.

"Inuyasha!"

Relief and hope and joy filled her. Kagome ran towards him. But she was stopped in her tracks. Sesshomaru had moved to block her. She felt the blaze of his aura rise up like a wall of fire barring her path. His back was to her. His focus ahead. Still, he held her back. Going around wasn't an option. He was too fast. Going through even less so. He was just too powerful. She wanted to be angry. She wanted to yell and scream and tell him to let her pass. She wanted...

The barest hint of movement caught her eye. Though he in no way acknowledged her, in no way lowered his guard, Sesshomaru did alter his stance. His left hand moved, if only in the smallest way. He opened his hand at his side, his palm to her, his claws not set as they had been, as they should have been. It was a gesture of warding.

Kagome drew in a startled breath. It was so surreal. That Sesshomaru would warn her of anything. That she would recognize it. That she had fought with him and by him often enough that she could see even the barest alteration in his form. But mostly, that his warning came to guard her from Inuyasha. How often had it been that Inuyasha had warned her back from Sesshomaru?

She hadn't listened. Not then. But now….Sesshomaru was not Inuyasha. He was not brash and impulsive. He was not jumping into a fight he had no chance of winning. He was not ruled by his emotions, not swayed by memories of battles or conflicts past. And he was not one to give warnings lightly.

So she paused. She held back. She watched and waited for the coming confrontation to play out.

Inuyasha dropped down well back from Sesshomaru. He skidded to a stop that left him set and ready. His sword was already drawn, and in his hands Tetsusaiga was a behemoth, the fang engorged with power and set to strike. He was growling in anger. His ears were laid back against his head. His fangs were bared.

"Bastard," he spit the word at Sesshomaru. "I told you never to come back."

"There will never be a time where I take orders from you, little brother." Though his words were more articulated, Sesshomaru's reply was just as filled with malice.

"Keh." Inuyasha's hard stance shifted. He broke a hand away from the hilt of Tetsusaiga and used it to sweep his hair back. It was a mocking gesture, a smug dismissal of the threat he faced; but his eyes gave away the ruse. They remained set on his foe, wary of any movement. Still, he played it up with his words.

"So you need another lesson, huh? I'll be more than happy to send you running with your tail between your legs all over again. Maybe this time I'll hack off another piece of you. The last one didn't take so well. But I'm betting there's something that won't grow back."

"The element of surprise is no longer yours, Half-breed," Sesshomaru countered. "Or have you so easily forgotten?"

Inuyasha might have asked. His quick tongue always had an insult or two lined up, especially for Sesshomaru. But Sesshomaru wasted no more time or effort on words.

He attacked.

He was so fast. His movement was nothing but a blur of motion. Bakusaiga was merely an extension of his arm as he brought it down. The motion was seamless, the form flawless, but Sesshomaru never made it to his mark.

Before there was contact, before Sesshomaru came in range of a true attack, a barrier surged up around Inuyasha. It encased him in a powerful shield. It protected him from the assault. And it reacted, as if in anger, and surged back against the strain. It pulsed, sending a wave of energy back at Sesshomaru like a ricochet.

Sesshomaru had been ready for it though. He guarded before it could strike him and he used the pulse of power as momentum to pull back. He landed easily and reset his stance. But his withdrawal, as his attack, had been purposeful.

Inuyasha didn't see it. He laughed. "That's all you got? I thought you came for a fight. But this is just gonna be fun."

His hands tightened against Tetsusaiga and he lifted the blade.

"Inuyasha!"

Kagome's voice turned his focus. Though he never let Sesshomaru from his sights, Inuyasha held back from his attack.

"Fuck off, Kagome. This aint got nothing to do with you."

How could he be so wrong? This had everything to do with her. Sesshomaru had known it. He had left the way open for her to move. More importantly, for her to see.

She was looking now. She knew Inuyasha didn't possess the ability to form a barrier. She knew he had to be drawing the power from somewhere. And though the idea of turning her power on a friend was appalling, Inuyasha had made it clear she had no other option. She opened her eyes.

There was another presence inside that barrier. The spark of fire, the lick of flame that was Inuyasha's essence was not alone. Behind him another figure stood. It was smaller, darker, the Youkai spirit a soft shade of purple that was nearly invisible behind the vivid red of the Inu. But it was something else as well. It was too docile, too subdued, too weak to be any true Youkai.

A Hanyou.

"Shiori…"

Kagome recognized the girl. She had been one of the many that she hand Inuyasha had saved during their travels. But it didn't make any sense.

"You're slipping, Sesshomaru." Inuyasha was diverting. "Since when do you need a girl to tell you where to put your sword? I could give you a few options."

With no more warning, Inuyasha let loose his attack. He brought Tetsusaiga down hard. The winds twisted and churned and were set on fire as the Windscar tore its path.

Sesshomaru was ready for it. He cut the path of the wind with his blade. A tear in the fabric of existence opened up to swallow the furious burn before it ever came near to him.

"Wretched Hanyou," he said as he reset. He didn't advance. He didn't counter. "I know well what it is you conceal behind that barrier. It is your shame. Your disgrace!"

"Bastard…"

Inuyasha poised for another attack. But Kagome had already seen enough.

"Stop it!"

Kagome moved to put herself in the path. Inuyasha would never draw against her. And neither would Tetsusaiga. The protector of Man would resist. She set herself in front of Sesshomaru and spread her arms wide in warding.

"That's enough, Inuyasha! Stop this. Sesshomaru doesn't have anything to do with this. It's me. I'm the reason he's here. Please, just talk to me."

Inuyasha's hard stance relaxed marginally. His sword dipped down an inch as he pulled back from the attack. But he still didn't lower it. He still didn't back down from the fight.

"I got nothing to say to you."

Kagome shook her head. How could he be so wrong? She could see it even now. The girl at his back, the one he was protecting as he had so often protected her, she wasn't just with him. There was contact between them. Shiori's hand rested on Inuyasha's back.

The Hanyou girl had once allowed Inuyasha to absorb the power of her people. She had given to him the Red Tetsusaiga, the fang that could break any barrier. She had given him this power at the loss of her own. But she stood with him now using that power. She was drawing it from him. And he…he was allowing it. He was letting her touch the fire within him. More than that, he was sharing it with her.

Kagome felt the stab of jealousy, the twisting in her gut that made her feel sick. She felt her heart clench. Felt her eyes burn with tears. But she refused to believe it. She refused to even let the thought surface.

"Inuyasha," she pleaded with him. "We can work through this. We've been through so much together. Don't let some misunderstanding destroy everything we've built together. Come back with me. Come back to your friends, your family. We've missed you."

"You still don't get it, do you?"

As he spoke to her, Kagome couldn't help but shiver. His voice was so even, so steady. He sounded nothing like the boisterous, loud, foul-mouthed Hanyou that she loved.

"It figures you would come here with him. He's no different. The both of you, you look at me and only see a Hanyou, a Half-breed, something less than, something to be fixed, something unworthy. But I aint bitting."

"No, Inuyasha." He was so wrong. "I would never…"

Inuyasha cut her short. "Just go home, Kagome. You don't belong here anyways."

"Home?" Kagome could hardly speak the word. How could he be so blind? "Home is the house you built for me, the place we met, the friends we made together! Everything we've been through together, everything we've learned and shared and sacrificed: that's Home!"

"And what would you make me sacrifice now? Is it my power you would take from me, or my Humanity?"

A strangled sob caught in Kagome's throat. She wavered. She stumbled back from Inuyasha's accusations. A hand caught her arm to steady her. But when she looked it was not the hand of the Hanyou boy she loved. It was Sesshomaru.

"Simply say the word and I will take you from this place," he said.

"It isn't right…" the whispered the decree. She finally understood

"Damnit, Sesshomaru! Get your hands off of her!"

Inuyasha's voice brought Kagome back from her lapse. She pulled free of Sesshomaru and turned to him. But she was no longer pleading. She was no longer looking at the man she loved. Though heavy sorrow gripped her, something else had awoken within her.

"What right do you have to tell him?" she asked darkly. "To tell me? What right! I would have given up everything for you. Everything! And you…" A sob broke through. Her words were scattered as her thoughts. "…Do you even care?"

Her gaze shifted slowly. She looked past Inuyasha to the Hanyou girl behind the shield of his back, and the picture couldn't have been clearer.

"I fought for you," she said quietly as she looked back to him. "I fought for us. But I was alone, wasn't I? You didn't fight. You didn't even try. You just gave up. You left and didn't look back. As if what we had wasn't worth fighting for."

Tears streamed down her face and she scrubbed at them angrily. Her limbs shook, fitful tremors of emotion. But she hardened herself against it, against them. She balled her fists and flexed her muscles. She forced herself to stand strong.

"What a coward you are!"

All around her, in a turbulent swirl of blue, her wrath was echoed in the sharp currents and lances of her power. It was building to a cadence so powerful even those whose eyes could not see it could feel the electricity in the air, could smell the charge, could almost taste the thickness of it.

Instinct and self-preservation moved Inuyasha. He readied his stance and lifted his sword. Tetsusaiga pulsed in warning, but the Hanyou did not heed it.

Kagome screamed at the sight of it. It was a wail of anguish, a tortured screech.

He would dare lift his blade against her!

The angry swell of her power grew. Her hands, once clenched at her sides, opened to it and drew it in. Her eyes set once more on Inuyasha, but they were no longer a docile brown, no longer a soft, watery, pitiful shade. They were the eyes of a Miko, blue like the power within her, sharp and strong and brilliant.

"Tetsusaiga!" She cursed the blade that had once been her salvation. "You are henceforth Bound!"

A sweep of her arm and it was done. A wave of energy poured over the land like a tsunami. It enveloped everything in its path. Everything. Yet, when it had passed, all remained as it had been before. Inuyasha still stood. The Hanyou girl he protected still clung to his back. There was no destruction, no fallout.

Only one thing had changed. Only one. That thing which by her hand had been freed slept once more. Tetsusaiga was lifeless in Inuaysha's hands. Its power was gone. Its great size and great strength would serve him no more. And without it as the conduit, the barrier around the pair fell as though it had never been.

"What…?"

Inuyasha would never finish the question. His defenses were laid bare and Sesshomaru didn't waste a second. He covered the distance between them in a flash quicker than the blink of an eye. He didn't use his sword. He didn't need it. His fist landed square against Inuyasha's jaw and the Hanyou was sent flying back.

Shiori was thrown by the impact as well. She fell back from where Inuyasha had stood. But though she wasn't injured, she did not move. Something deep and primal in her animal instincts held her. She looked up at Sesshomaru in terror. The Inu was snarling in warning, his fangs bared, his eyes glowing red in fury. Submit: an order with no words. And she, her defenses gone, her protector laying unconscious, had no choice but to comply.

Kagome watched it all unfold, but she was numb to it. She had seen Inuyasha fall and she had done nothing. So often in the past she would have run to his side. So often she had been the hand to aid him, to support him, to give him strength. So often…

But it had all fallen apart. He had refused her, accused her, and sent her away. He had turned on her. He had betrayed her. And she had betrayed him in turn. What once was, was all over again. And all Kagome could do was stare blindly, listless and unable to move.

She felt it when Sesshomaru approached her. She heard it when he spoke. But at the same time she didn't. She had retreated into herself. She had blocked out the world that had hurt her so terribly.

She knew that he had taken her in his arms. She felt it when he lifted her. She knew the cold brush of wind that told her he had taken to the air. But she didn't feel it all the same. The world below meant nothing. The people, the places, the memories: all were gone.

Tears fell. She could feel their hot path. But they were not hers. How could they be when she felt nothing? But it was a lie. She knew it. And she hated it. The world would lie. The things in it would lie. People would lie. But Kagome wouldn't lie, not to herself.

She broke down. She choked on a sob. Her tears fell in earnest. She cried and her whole body shook with her sorrow. For everything she had lost, everything she had done, everything she had felt, everything she was still feeling: she cried. Her heart was as broken as the sobs that racked her body. And still she cried because there was nothing that could be done about it.

She felt no shame when she turned to the warm body that held her. What was shame to her? She hugged Sesshomaru close as if he were something soft and comfortable. The hardness of his armor didn't even register. She needed to contact, needed the support, just needed.

She might have been surprised to find that he didn't turn her away, but she just couldn't find the thought in the chaos of her mind. She held him close and sobbed. Her thoughts spun, her emotions took over, and she held on for dear life.

Time passed as it always did. Soon enough Kagome's energy was drained. All the hurt, all the pain, all the sorrow, though it still weighed her down, still left her incoherent and adrift, her sobs softened to sniffles, her tears began to ebb, her fitful tremors calmed.

She could feel her breathing start to even out and she focused on it. Hours of training and meditation became a fall-back. In and out: so simple. She focused on it. In and out. Steady. The breath of life to steady her body and her mind. In and out. Calm. The calm of stillness to bring order to chaos. In and out. Pure. The purity of truth that held all power over lies. In and out. Power. The power of the Gods that gave her life gave her the right to choose. In and out.

The current of the air had changed, and for the first time since taking to the skies, Kagome noticed. She looked down only to find that there was no more down. They weren't in the air any longer. Sesshomaru was bringing them down to land.

There was a structure, some kind of building, but Kagome didn't really look at it. There were torches, fires lit to hold off the night, but Kagome didn't really notice. All she seemed to be able to think was that if they were landing he was going to let her go and she would be truly alone.

Maybe he had felt the way her arms tightened around him, or maybe he simply had no intention of putting her down when he pulled up for the landing. But either way, he continued to hold her eve as he pushed open a door. Continued to carry her even as he stepped across the threshold. Continued to be her source of strength weather or not it was his intention to be so.

The room was not as large as the building would have suggested. A fire burned in the hearth. Soft comforts of pillows were scattered about it. There was more, but it just didn't seem important. The room was warm and welcoming. It had Kagome breathing a sigh of relief. There were no more battles to be had, no more confrontations, no more hurt, no more pain: the room whispered such things to her and she found herself relaxing.

She didn't object when Sesshomaru moved to set her down on one of the pillows. She didn't feel any loss when he let her go. She felt the soft give of the fabric, felt it embrace her as she settled into it, and she sighed in relief. To rest now seemed like a small blessing.

Sesshomaru had moved to the other side of the room after letting her down. He had remained silent. Through all of her tears and anguish and struggles he had said nothing. He said nothing now even though Kagome could see him setting a tray of something together. It was strange, but Kagome felt the need to hear his voice.

"Where are we?" she asked quietly.

Sesshomaru didn't look back to her. He only waved his hand in an absent gesture before returning to his task.

"Something about castles and damsels in distress," he said.

Kagome blinked as she tried to process. A castle? He had brought her to a castle? No, that was wrong. He had brought her to one of his castles. Despite having told her it wasn't going to happen, he had brought her to this place that was his.

Still, as noble as the gesture seemed, Kagome couldn't accept it.

"I don't think I count as a damsel," she told him. "I'm not even so sure I'm not the villain. Maybe I really am no different from Her."

Tears threatened again at the thought of the one she had reincarnated from and all the wrongs the dead one had committed, but Kagome pushed them down. She wanted Sesshomaru to speak. She wanted to hear his words. She wanted, needed, to have him tell her that despite what she had done, despite the fact that his father's fang was beyond even his grasp, that he wouldn't hold her accountable for it.

Sesshomaru didn't say anything right away. He finished setting the tray and picked it up, carrying it over to the seating area. He lowered himself down across from Kagome and set the tray between them.

When he answered, he did so only when he was unburdened by any other task. Maybe he knew what she was doing, what she was asking. But then, maybe he just answered her question as he saw it.

"She bound a soul to purgatory," he said. His voice was calm, even, almost soft. "Living yet dead for fifty years. You bound a fang the without your hand would yet still be sealed within the tomb of its maker. If you do not see the difference, perhaps you are looking with the wrong eyes."

The idea was almost laughable. After all, he had seen through her eyes as she had through his. But Kagome just couldn't bring herself to laugh.

"Maybe," she allowed, "But that still doesn't make it right."

And she would set it right. She knew she would. The guilt of what she had done weighed her down nearly as much as the feeling of loss. Just…not today.

She didn't want to think about it. Thankfully, she found her distraction easily enough with the tray that Sesshomaru had set down in front her. The ceramic carafe accompanied by the two delicate ochoko cups were unmistakable. However, though the setting was obvious, Kagome couldn't help questioning it.

"Midnight and wine? That might not be the best idea right now."

Sesshomaru disagreed. "Dealing with Inuyasha is something akin to pounding your head against a stone and expecting it to turn into a butterfly."

Kagome snorted. Loudly. Her hand flew up to cover her mouth, but it did nothing to cover her mirth.

"That's….horrible!"

She may have wanted to sound stern, but all she could manage was to laugh the words out.

Sesshomaru only spared her a sideways look as he made himself more comfortable. He stretched out his legs to lounge, leaned back against the pillows, and with practiced ease lifted the bottle from the tray and poured two cups. He took one for himself and drank from it. His eyes slipped closed as he swallowed as if to emerge himself in the sensation of the drink.

"It is a very big stone."

The words were so distant he might have sighed them out. His focus was elsewhere. Somewhere beyond her, beyond even the comfortable room. And Kagome thought that maybe she understood. Inuyasha, for all he was to her, he was Sesshomaru's blood, his brother. If anyone knew the Hanyou boy better, how difficult he could be, it was Sesshomaru.

So maybe it was a bad idea, but then, maybe it was just inevitable. Kagome let go of her reservations and took the offered cup. Still, she didn't drink. She held the little flask in her hands. She looked into the clear liquid. Her thoughts swirled like it did in her hands.

One thought, though, stood out among the rest.

"I'm sorry," she whispered without looking up, "For what you lost."

"You have nothing to apologize for."

But he was wrong. She had taken something from him. His hope, his dream of a mate that could carry on his power was gone. All because she had failed. She couldn't be what he needed her to be. She couldn't be what Inuyasha needed her to be. She couldn't even be what she wanted to be.

"What a pair we make," she said softly. Her tears fell again, though silent in their path. Tears of loss and of longing that simply had no voice. "Both not willing to settle for anything less than everything. And both winding up with nothing."

She lifted her cup then. She toasted the air, giving a silent farewell to dreams that were never to be.

"To the butterfly."

The drink burned past her lips, but she welcomed the sensation. She swallowed it down and forced her tears with it. What was gone was gone. There was no going back. He had made that clear. He had made his choice and it wasn't her. She wasn't gong to break just because he didn't have the eyes to see what could have been.

It wasn't enough. Still her eyes burned with tears. Still her lips trembled. Still her heart ached.

She held her cup out, asking without asking for more. Sesshomaru filled it without a word. And she drank it back just as quickly.

Again the burn. Again she tried to swallow her tears with it. And again, it wasn't enough.

When she held the cup out again, though Sesshomaru filled it as she asked, he spoke to her a warming.

"It is not so easy to forget."

Kagome's hand stilled. She gasped. She sobbed. More tears fell. She hated it. She hated herself for it.

"How did you?" she asked, pleading. How do you make the pain stop?

Sesshomaru cocked his head to the side and regarded her strangely. "You poured a corrosive liquid into an open wound, stabbed me with needles, and then accused me of beheading more than one sexual partner."

Heavy thoughts and feeling scattered as Kagome looked up in shock. She was horrified.

"When you put it that way it sounds awful!"

All Sesshomaru did in reply was drink from his cup. But Kagome would have sworn he only did it to hide a smile.

"It was certainly sobering," he said once finished.

Kagome laughed despite herself, despite her tears. Maybe it wasn't funny, maybe he hadn't meant it to be so, but it was. And she laughed. And she welcomed the feeling of lightness that came with the sound.

"This is all your fault, you know." She accused him, and yet she didn't. She was grateful.

"Hai," and he didn't deny it. "Yet I can not find reason to be repentant."

After all that had been fought for, all that had been sacrificed, all that had been gained because of it; he wouldn't be sorry for that.

And neither would she.

Kagome breathed in deeply. The breath hitched on the way in, the last remnants of her heavy sorrow catching, but as she let it out slowly she began to feel lighter. She looked to the sky and blinked away the last of her tears.

"What now?" she asked as much to the heavens as to any that could hear.

It was Sesshomaru that answered.

"Stay, if it is your will to do so. Otherwise, I will take you anywhere it is your wish to go; be it your Home, your Well, or…."

He trailed off suggestively and Kagome's lips quirked in the beginnings of a grin as she looked back to him. He knew she couldn't let it slide.

"Or?" she pressed.

The glint in his eyes betrayed his nonchalance.

"When you first brought the Drake to the West, I had been tracking a Tengu. By the time I returned, the trail was long cold."

"A Tengu? Really?

The creatures were just as much a myth as Youkai. They were more devious than the Kitsune, more elusive than the Ningyo, and more skilled with weapons than even…

"As the Tengu are purported to have an affinity to Holy men, it would be advantageous to be granted unfettered access to the shrines."

He was giving her just enough. He didn't ask for her help. He didn't need it. He didn't ask her to stay. He wouldn't. Still, he was giving her a choice. He was letting her know that there were still wonders in this world if she was willing to look for them. Her journey did not have to begin and end with the Hanyou boy she had loved.

"I've never seen a Tengu," she said slowly. "It would be unfortunate to miss such an opportunity."

Sesshomaru didn't bother to hide the smile that spread on his lips in response. Weather it was to her words or in anticipation of the hunt to come, Kagome didn't know.

"Indeed."

He held his cup up and waited for Kagome to do the same: A toast to a journey to come.

Kagome didn't drink it back as the others. She didn't feel the need. She sipped it slowly, feeling the burn on her lips but not needing it. But as she sipped, she couldn't help but think of how her lips had burned when they touched His. She couldn't help but wonder about all he had shown her. She couldn't help think that, maybe, not all was lost as it seemed.

"Sesshomaru?" Her voice was small, timid, uncertain. "My power…could I really pass it on to my children?"

He was silent for a long time. Too long. Kagome began to fear what he would say. She forced herself to look up, forced herself to look him in the eye. He was looking at her as she had seen so many times in the past. The piercing gold of his eyes was set and unwavering. There was no hint of what calculations or assessments he was working through. His thoughts were never betrayed. Still, his focus was so sharp and intense on her that Kagome felt herself shiver. It was like he was peeing into her very soul.

"Not in the Mortal way," he said finally. "However, that does not mean you do not have options."

"Options? Like what?"

"Any Youkai would know how to create a vessel to receive the energies of conception."

It was an answer, but it was hardly an option.

"And how many Youkai would line up to test their power against a Miko?" she asked inscrutably

"I can think of one"

Kagome snorted. "Yeah, but Kouga doesn't count. Good Lord, for a creature with such a strong sense of smell, you would think that he would learn how to bathe."

Then, to Kagome's surprise, Sesshomaru laughed. The sound was deep and smooth and so strange coming from him she almost didn't recognize it for what it was.

"What's so funny?"

She wouldn't have thought the bathing habits of wolves would be something he found amusing.

But Sesshomaru only shook his head. The tug of a smile still played on his lips though even as he moved to stand.

"The hour is late," he said. "I will show you to an appropriate bedchamber."

Kagome eyed him suspiciously for a moment. She was missing something. She just knew it. But, as it didn't seem Sesshomaru was about to elaborate, she let it slide away and stood with him.

The bedchambers weren't far from the sitting area. Kagome suspected that the comfortable room was merely an extension of the living quarters. The formal areas of the estate were likely more grand, more elaborate, less personal. But none of that seemed to matter. It was here he had brought her, giving her the comfort and security she needed after being so broken. She wished she could tell him how much it meant to her.

Sesshomaru slid open a panel door and stepped aside. Kagome understood the gesture. She stepped past him into the room. It was large by the standards of the time. Within she could see all the essentials of a comfortable life. But still she paused. The room was foreign. The decorations, though beautiful, brought her no comfort. And the bed, though seeming plush and warm with heavy blankets and plump pillows, just looked empty.

"Stay."

She whispered the word. It was a request and a plea. She didn't want to be alone.

"If you wish it."

She might have smiled, but it just wasn't in her.

Sesshomaru stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He said nothing, just placed a hand against the curve of her back and guided her forward to the bed. She let him do it. There simply wasn't any fight left in her. When they got to the side of the bed though, Kagome paused.

If she slept this day would be over. She was so tired. She wanted it, the sweet release of mind as her body took the rest it so sorely needed. Tomorrow would be a new day, a new dawn, and the light would start to chase away the shadows of the past that still gripped her.

But still she paused. If this day were to end she would never have the chance again to tell him. She had tried, but he hadn't let her. Not then. Would he now, now when battles seemed so long past, when motives just didn't seem to matter any longer, when she knew the whole truth and everything he had done?

"Would you allow me to thank you?" she asked quietly.

A beat too long in silence told her his answer before he even gave it. It stung her in ways she didn't think it would, didn't think it could have. After all the pain she had felt, she thought she was numb to it all. She was wrong. She could feel the burn behind her eyes that threatened more tears. She closed them to it. Not again…

"It has been a long day. You should rest."

Kagome nodded slowly in understanding. "I see."

She made to kneel down on the bedding, but Sesshomaru stopped her.

"No. You do not."

His hand took hold of her shoulder and he drew her to turn, but Kagome couldn't bring herself to look up. For all the kindness he had shown her in his actions, she knew far too well the barrier of ice that guarded his eyes. She couldn't bring herself to look into that wasteland, not when he was so close. She couldn't bear the thought of the image of herself she would see reflected back.

But Sesshomaru would have none of her hesitations. He lifted his hand and set it beneath her jaw. He applied pressure there; gentle yet firm, she had no choice but to face him. He waited until he had her focus before he spoke.

"All you have seen today has left your heart heavy. I would not have you thank me for bringing you such heartbreak."

He offered no apologies, but then, he had told her not to give any. He gave her no gratitude, but then, he asked for none. She would have thanked him, but it would have just been words. What meaning could words have when action were so much clearer, so much stronger.

Instead, she offered him a weak, watery smile.

"It wasn't you."

For all her efforts to control them, a single tear slipped from the corner of her eye. Sesshomaru brushed her cheek with his hand with a tenderness she had never known and lifted it away

"No," he said. "But I could not bear the thought of having to tell you."

Kagome gasped softly. "It isn't right…."

As she whispered the words they took on a whole new meaning. For all she had thought them to mean, he was telling her now she was wrong.

"You deserve better."

He spoke the words and it was like her eyes had been opened. She saw then the way he looked at her. She saw the tenderness, the compassion. She looked at him and saw him for the first time.

"Sesshomaru…" She whispered his name, but it was more.

She didn't have the words to express what she found with him in that moment. She didn't have the care or will to look away. She leaned into it, into him. And in reply he leaned into her.

Their lips touched and conveyed all words left unspoken. Passions uncaged: It was a breath of life in the dark, a shade of colour that could only ever be when their powers combined.

There was harmony and bliss. There was acceptance and respect. There was trust and there was faith.

There was love.

Steam on the window.

Salt in a kiss.

Two hearts have never pounded like this.

Fin…

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