The man with the silver hair stood, cloaked in shadows, hidden amongst the golden patterns of sunlight that were painfully brilliant upon Moth's hair.
His golden eyes, lucid with a glittering madness, locked upon Moth's face as he hungrily remembered every detail of the past that was now so far off.
He had known her once, this stranger...
He had known the Moth before she was Moth, when she had been his brother's woman, and he had been jealous of the half demon for his foolish and beautiful human wench.
"Kagome." he tested the word on his tongue, and the resulting sound was so harsh that Moth swerved, eyes rabbit wide, observing a figure from her past.
She backed away, but when the strange memory did not attack, Moth tested her own throat. "Moth. Kagome is gone." she said simply.
He nodded. "I see."
There was silence for a time, then the man with the golden eyes moved slightly, triggering the memory of another with golden eyes.
She closed her brown gaze against them and found herself sorely missing the comfort that denial had brought.
It was easier to forget than to dwell on the past.
He turned and she followed, through the winding forest, in utter silence. A name had come to her, and she tested it, savoring the past despite it's sting.
They reached a large mansion, decayed and brown, on the verge of ruin, and she spoke again. "Sesshomaru. Brother of-"
"We are here." he said abruptly, reaching out and grasping the iron door handle so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
Moth noticed this, and her eyes softened.
"Parent of Rin..." she began, feeling a deep sense of pity for the white skinned man as she recalled his mortal charge.
"Wench of my brother. Wench of Naraku." he snapped in return, evidently injured by the mere memory of the brown-haired newling.
She flinched as though struck and was once again dumb, putting one bare foot before the other.
The dog stopped and let her pass him, eyes intent, hungrily drinking up every detail of her form as memories surged through him.
He stared at her lithe form, her fluid brown hair, the slender swell of her back, and his eyes grew dark with a peculiar sort of anguish.
He coveted her as he never would have coveted her before, he wanted her because of what she invoked, the memories she brought back from the dead.
He had been alone for so long, since She died...
They reached a small room and he opened the door, revealing a study with a large couch and a few blankets.
There were books, yet Moth barely remembered text.
"Rin?" she whispered softly, turning to look into eyes keen with longing.
"Long gone." he said simply, turning and leaving.
Moth sighed and looked out at the sky, darkening with malice and nighttime. Her Lord and Master would know by now, and how angry he would be...
She relished the thought of his embrace when he found her, and yet was repulsed by the thought of the dank dungeon where she had been held prisoner.
Moth knew she would return to that same prison again, when she was found, and that once again she would be victim to the tempests of her Spider's wrath.
"Goodnight." The words issued from her lips with a dreary sigh as Moth pulled up a ragged blanket and closed her eyes.
Her dreams were not good ones.
They were filled with eyes that she had seen once before, golden eyes so similar to those of the dog demon who had just allowed her into his home.
Yet they were not the eyes of Sesshomaru. They were the eyes of another dog demon, and her very being cried out to him.
These eyes echoed with sorrow, pain, and wisdom. He had never known such wisdom when they had been in love, but now it was there.
The eyes looked at her without reproach, and his wild eyes maintained a gentle sort of regret, fiercened only by his wildness.
I loved Kagome, those eyes seemed to say, I loved Kagome, and Kagome is now gone.
Moth's soul constricted with pain- How she wanted to deny his claims!
She wished with all of her heart that she could run into his arms and laugh as she would have long ago, wished she could take advantage of those tempting prayer beads around his neck.
Yet she could not, for he was right.
The one he had loved was gone, long gone, and his bones could not be properly mourned by she who remained.
When he had knelt before her Lord and Master and appealed to Kagome, his words had fallen on deaf ears.
Kagome was no more, now that Spider was through with her.
Moth was the only one left, and when she looked in the mirror, she was not the same being who had once been so happy.
"Forgive me," her broken voice proffered to the darkness, "But I am not the woman you loved, Inuyasha."