Chapter 20 – To Recognize

Sesshoumaru fought back a growl as he stared at his men, they lacked the explanations he needed and he found it strangely hard to control the urge to kill something now.

The fact that he had a migraine due to Rin's cries also didn't help, and he wondered what exactly had happened while he was away patrolling his lands.

The situation with the ryu youkai got on his nerves and he decided to resort to a slightly more violent way to solve the matter. Leaving shiro and flying until he found the current motive of his annoyance and killed a few of them, making sure to let two or three live long enough to pass down the message of what would happen if they ever stepped on his lands again.

Feeling slightly better after decapitating a few idiots, Sesshoumaru flew back to his shiro and looked around in confusion when Jaken didn't appear. An unusual situation, since the toad would usually materialize right in front of him as his feet touched the ground of his shiro and start praising his mightiness until he got bored and either kicked Jaken away or left him talking by himself.

Since this situation was uncommon, Sesshoumaru left to search for his questionably loyal servant, and after finding Jaken passed out hidden in a bush, the daiyoukai realized that something was wrong. As soon as he brought the toad to Sakura, he heard a high pitched scream and his heart started to beat faster as he dashed out of the healing section of his shiro.

The scream belonged to Rin and he had only heard it before when something dangerous was about to happen, biting back a growl when he heard the kitsune scream too and felt a sudden burst of reiki, Sesshoumaru sped up and arrived in the gardens just in time to see the miko remove a spear from her stomach and sway slightly on her feet before she started to fall.

Rin was crying, as well as the kitsune, and Sesshoumaru quickly moved to catch the falling miko before she hit the ground. Her face was paler than usual and there was a lot of blood staining her kimono. Rin kept crying and Sesshoumaru clenched his jaw as he ordered both children to follow him and left to the healing room, where Sakura was.

Once he arrived there, the green eyed youkai gasped in horror and quickly ordered him to put the miko down, Jaken was easily forgotten though also slightly wounded and the daiyoukai pressed his lips into a thin line. Someone had planned to kill one of those under his care, inside his own place. He watched carefully as Sakura's hands shone in a light green color and she poured something on the wound, making the miko flinch in her sleep and the female youkai mutter an apology and a promise that everything would be fine.

Once the earth elemental was finished, the blood had stopped flowing and she sighed in relief, grabbing a wet rag to clean the miko's body before proceeding to bandage her. That was a good time to ask what had happened, and once Rin had stopped crying and started to speak, Sesshoumaru got concerned.

Apparently, his ward had been innocently playing with the kit when the miko suddenly pushed her to the ground. When Rin looked up, she saw the woman with a spear embedded on her stomach and screamed, making Sesshoumaru realize that the one hurt could've been her if the miko didn't show up in time. A second passed by and a bright pink light took over the miko's body and the youkai who had attacked them turned into ashes, a moment later the miko pulled the weapon out of her body and simply passed out.

Jaken's sudden disappearance made sense to him now, the toad had probably been beaten until he passed out and tossed away like trash, but one thing still didn't make sense. How no one in his shiro noticed the invader? It surely had been someone sent from outside, none of his men would be fool enough to attempt to kill his ward, they knew what would happen with them if Rin appeared with as much as a scratch on her body.

The only logical answer was that someone sent the assassin for her, and while he wanted to believe that it was someone he didn't know, the daiyoukai had the feeling that the betrayer lived in the shiro. How else would the assassin be able to enter, if not with the help of someone who knew exactly where he should go? There was a spy on his lands, and he was not pleased when his men didn't find a single clue about who they were even after a whole week had passed by.

''Leave.'' Sesshoumaru bit out, and watched as the three soldiers quickly ran away, fearing for their lives.

Sighing mentally, Sesshoumaru got up from his seat and walked out of his study, he needed a bit of fresh air if he wanted to control the urge to kill something.

Walking through the many halls of his place, he moved aimlessly for a while until he passed by a door and stopped in front of it. It was the miko's room and as he listened to her heartbeat, he realized that she was still asleep, a whole week had passed by since she passed out and there were no signals that she would wake yet.

This was concerning, the miko had slipped into a small coma twice while in his care. He would never admit it but it bothered him, this wasn't acceptable and he pressed his lips into a thin line as he slid the door open and found Sakura and Shippo inside.

''My Lord!" Sakura greeted him with a small smile and he nodded in acknowledgment, stepping inside the room and taking a seat next to the kit. ''She's getting better, her wound is completely closed now and the scar is already fading away, I think she will wake up soon.''

''This is not normal.'' He spoke, and this time the kit nodded.

''Mama always does this when she's hurt, you learn to deal with it as the time passes by.'' Shippo shrugged, making the daiyoukai raise an eyebrow at him.

''Are you not worried about her health?'' Sesshoumaru asked and watched with confusion as the kitsune shook his head.

''This is normal for her, she tried to explain it to me once but I never really understood." The kit frowned as he stared at his mother. ''I got scared when it happened for the first time, but she said it's something she can control depending on the gravity of her injuries. She said that her body completely shuts down when she's badly hurt and only starts working again when she's fine, if the wound is not that severe she can stop it, but I don't think she could control it this time.''

Sesshoumaru frowned visibly as he heard this, just like Sakura, and they both spent a full minute in silence before the earth elemental's eyes widened and she got up.

''I forgot to check on Jaken and give him his medicine, Kami knows that stubborn toad only takes care of himself when I'm bugging him!" She mumbled under her breath as she walked to the door. ''Can you please stay with Kagome-chan for a few minutes? I'll bring Rin with me when I come back so you won't need to worry about her.''

''Can I go see Rin? Maybe play with her and Akio-sama while you're seeing Jaken?'' The kitsune asked, perking up, and Sakura smiled.

''Sure, I promise it won't take too long, Sesshoumaru-sama!" Sakura said, already grabbing Shippo and heading out of the room, not even giving the daiyoukai time to answer her question.

Raising an eyebrow as he stared at the now shut door, Sesshoumaru allowed himself to roll his eyes at their childish behavior and turned to stare at the miko again.

She slept peacefully, as if she was simply taking a nap, and he found himself bothered by this. What did the kit exactly mean when he said that this was normal for her? This wasn't normal for anyone, be it a human, a miko or a youkai, what she did was something he never heard about before and he would wait until she woke to ask about it.

His head ached and he sighed, besides dealing with incompetent people and having to calm down his distressed ward, the other reason why he found himself with a migraine was the miko herself. He didn't want to admit it, but when he saw her falling to the ground as blood poured down her stomach, something inside him tightened and he didn't like it.

He disliked the strange sensation even more when his beast woke, forcing him to face what he had been blissfully oblivious to during this whole time. He had, in some unimaginable way, recognized the miko as pack.

As if having a human child was not enough, now his beast decided to get yet another human to be a part of it and that made Sesshoumaru slightly annoyed, because that meant the kitsune had automatically become a part of the pack too. This wasn't planned, he didn't like to be surprised and he could hear his father's laugh from his tomb, the old bastard was no doubt ecstatic about the turn of the events.

Glaring at the miko's peaceful expression, Sesshoumaru wished she would just wake up because then at least his beast would shut up and leave him alone. He wouldn't need to be constantly worried about the fact that she was human and sleeping for so long was somehow dangerous to her.

Cursing his inu instincts, Sesshoumaru hoped Sakura would come back soon, his stupid beast was even more annoying now that he was in the same room as the miko and he needed to immerse himself in work to forget the strange sensation of being worried for someone else other than Rin.


''We meet yet again.'' Something whispered to her as she opened her eyes and faced a field covered in snow, the sound was like the fusion of a thousand different voices and as strange as it seemed, it brought her a sense of peace.

''Where am I?'' Kagome asked, looking around and seeing nothing but the snow that fell from the sky. It was almost like the whole world was frozen.

''Home, but it matters not.'' The voice spoke, and Kagome's eyes widened when a rose sphere of light suddenly appeared in front of her. ''The moment will arrive soon.''

''What moment?'' Kagome frowned, completely confused.

''The moment where you will realize the truth.'' The voice whispered, its words sending chills down her spine.

It seemed so final, those words sounded like a warning in her confused mind and Kagome bit her lip, what was happening?

''You have been here before.'' The light spoke. ''Every unfortunate occurrence in your life brings you back here, to the place of your birth.''

All the miko could do was frown. None of the words spoken made sense to her, what exactly did they mean by the place of her birth? Had her mother gone into labor in the middle of a snowstorm? Had she perished to the cold? Leaving her baby at the first shrine she saw before death inevitably claimed her?

''I do not understand, I'm afraid.'' It was all she could say, any other word uttered seemed wrong.

''It matters not,'' The voice whispered, shining brighter than before. Around it the snow melt, and a small withered flower appeared instead. ''All of this is temporary, but you still must remember.''

Kagome wanted to ask a question, though she didn't exactly know which one. She took a step closer to the flower, but it seemed to take a step away from her. The more she advanced, the farther everything became from her reach.

''There is no time.'' The voice spoke in such a lonely tone that her heart ached, the words rushed as if it would disappear soon. ''Your role is to absorb, but for that to happen you must break and weaken first. We are sorry for how it all works, but you must play your part.''

The miko's eyes widened as she heard this, the whole world around her starting to disappear. From the distance, the flower bloomed as the light suddenly became too bright and she could no longer keep her eyes open.

''You will remember in time, for you are the vessel that will bring closure." The voice whispered, this time sounding more feminine, and Kagome struggled to listen as the voice sounded farther away. ''Remember these words and hold onto us when you find yourself lost. We will become your path.''

''Awake, miko.''