Reconciliation

by Universally Sound

When Inuyasha is overcome by a new ability he inherited from the Inu no Taishou, Kagome goes on a journey to find and help him only to find that Sesshoumaru has already decided the hanyou's fate and will not be moved. Now, Kagome must reconcile her love, her purpose, and a future she never could have imagined. Post-manga. CU. Slow burn. Gonna be long.

30. Chapter 30 - Separation:Year 1:Summer 3

Author's Note: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the source material for this story. All are owned by Rumiko Takahashi. This fic is labeled MA per standards for eventual violence, sex, and language so be warned.

...

Reconciliation

Chapter 30 – The Separation: Year 1: Summer: Part III

Sleepy blue eyes cracked slowly open, fluttering once and then twice, blinking the heaviness of sleep away. The world around Kagome was warm and cozy as she lay buried in the softness of the futon and covered with a heavy quilt. For the first time in almost a year, her dreams had been a collection of happy memories from past school days, the laughter around a campfire during the quest to reclaim the jewel, and the pride and relief she had felt in the spring when she was finally strong enough to draw a bow. Memories and emotions that were safe and joyful. What had been so different about last night?

The soft fur of Shippou's tail brushed against her arm as he dreamt and twitched, and Kagome raised her head and smiled softly down at him. Careful not to rustle the bedding, she rolled out and rose to stretch lean arms high into the air.

"I haven't slept that well in months…" she whispered to the empty room.

The early morning sun poured in through the screens on the far side of the room and dotted the floor with sunshine. Early morning crickets were singing through the window and the world outside wasn't yet as awake as she was.

"A good day for traveling. Time to get changed and pack up." Kagome nodded firmly, excited to return home and report to her friends.

The miko was halfway through changing into her robes when a soft knock sounded at the door.

Kagome sensed Chinatsu's vast and impish aura, and opened the door with a smile and a finger to her lips before looping the last tie of her hakama. The vixen's large fox ears twitched for sounds of danger but Kagome shook her head and pointed over to the sleeping kit. Chinatsu nodded, understanding, as she entered with a large tray of breakfast and tea.

"So, you are leaving today, little one? How sad." the vixen said quietly, placing the tray in the center of the low table.

"I'll be back in the spring." Kagome said over a shoulder, shoving something deep into her pack and then straightening. "It's been so nice to see you all but I have so much to do when I get back and time waits for no one."

Chinatsu palmed her round belly with a sigh. "How very true. I'm afraid I'll be quite busy the next time you visit our settlement."

"I bet you will!" Kagome grinned. "In the best way."

"Judging by the smile you wear this morning, I take it reconciliation with your inu went well, then?"

"My… inu?" Kagome's face warmed and she turned away from the curious fox. "Our talk was good and I feel better, but I don't think Sesshoumaru would appreciate being called 'mine,' Chi-chan."

"Oh ho, but I believe he would. My gracious…" Chinatsu sat awkwardly at the table and heaved a sigh before continuing. "He was quite adamant this morning that I greet you personally and ensure you were ready to leave by midmorning. The Lord of the West has a peculiar way of making a polite request sound like an undeniable order. I find myself commanded by a male less than one sixth my age."

"He completely does." Kagome nodded with a grin. "He volun-tells everyone around him. I'm sorry if he was forceful."

"Oh, it is to be expected. He is used to his own way, after all, but more than that," Chinatsu lowered her chin and grass green eyes watched the miko from behind dark lashes and a veil of dark mahogany bangs, "our Sesshoumaru has discovered that which is 'his.' What will the little miko do now, I wonder?"

"His? Wait, you said 'this morning'? Did he stay here last night?" she asked, brow furrowed in disbelief and confusion.

"Indeed, little one. He spent the night in the room above you. His aura was most unsettled in the beginning, but calmed as the night wore on. This was perhaps the only time I have felt the whole of it so open and free. So much raw power in one so young…" the vixen purred. "He was your protector through the night, Kagome. Truly, there is no escaping the call for him now." she sang impishly.

'My dreams… and Sesshoumaru stayed here all night? Could that have been why- Wait…'

"The call?" Kagome asked innocently, still absorbing the fact that Sesshoumaru had stayed here for her. "He said something like that last night but there was so much else going on, I forgot to ask."

"Has he not educated you about the norms of courting? How we females test our suitors? Goodness! Leaving everything to me, Sesshoumaru… For shame! Be glad your kit is asleep. The call, little one, is how we refer to the need, the pull, to Mate."

The young woman's eyes went wide and she sputtered as the last errant piece of clothing was shoved roughly into her bag. When she stood again, Kagome shouldered the pack to place near the door and rounded on Chinatsu.

"Well, we're going through that whole ceremony in another year so he can just hold his horses and keep his pants on." The sleeves of her haori overlapped with a flourish as the generously sleeved arms crossed indignantly.

Chinatsu's chipper laugh caused Shippou to stir and Kagome shushed her with a frantic wave before sitting down across the low table to start breakfast. The vixen poured Kagome some tea and passed it over before filling her own cup.

"Dear, I do not mean the physical act, though you are intended already and absolutely no one would blame you for wholly seizing the chance with both hands to just-"

"Focus, Chi-chan. Kami in heaven, those hormones have really got you wound up."

"Daichi minds not," the vixen winked, "but I digress. Sit. I will explain."

When the young woman did as Chinatsu commanded and sat, she swallowed and prepared for more embarrassment.

"Kagome, I mean he feels the call to bind himself to you. To commit himself to your health and happiness as is our way, and prove his fitness. Be prepared, little miko. Your Sesshoumaru is as stubborn as they come and he may be a handful."

Kagome's chopsticks froze in midair, halfway between serving the generous portion of bamboo shoots and her own bowl.

"Oh gods, nobody said anything about this! How do I handle it? What am I supposed to do?"

"Nothing, dear one." Chinatsu patted Kagome's hand across the table. "Sit comfortably and enjoy the attention of a more than capable male." When her companion did not seem relieved but began chewing her lip, Chinatsu decided more explanation was needed. "If you are feeling up to it, and wish to entice him, challenge his instincts to provide and protect. Such requests will deepen your Bond when the time comes."

"Entice… him? Deepen our Bond?"

The conversation in her mother's living room with her grown son and the forlorn version of Sesshoumaru came to mind.

'If this could help, if it's like the daiyoukai version of dating, this might be my chance to help change things. But am I really ready for that?'

"What would I have to do?" Kagome asked hesitantly.

"Oh, each male is different. What does your Lord of the West pursue in his spare time?"

'Flying? Swordplay? Barking orders… None of that will work. Think harder, Kagome. There must be something…'

"Goodness, darling! Do not strain yourself!" Chinatsu chuckled. "Be easy and pay attention. I am sure he has many pleasurable pressure points that you might find if you tried."

"Even your suggestions are suggestive, Chi-chan." Kagome grimaced. "Go find Daichi-sama and let me pack, for heaven's sake. Now I have more to think about."

"Perhaps I will. I will miss you, Kagome. Do not stay away long. Your Sesshoumaru is handsome but perhaps he will agree to share." she purred but the effect was ruined when a wide, fanged yawn stopped her flirting. "Now, I shall leave you to pack and I am returning to my bed."

Chinatsu rose as gracefully as she could manage and walked around the low table to kiss Kagome on the head.

"I highly doubt he's the sharing type." Kagome mused. "For the record, I'm not either." Chinatsu laughed and Kagome's smaller hand held hers for just a moment with a gentle and friendly smile. "I'll miss you, Chi-chan. Good luck with the kits. I can't wait to meet them."

Chinatsu walked to the door, waved once more, and left the miko to eat her breakfast and finish packing. Shippou woke a few minutes later, groggy and dragging, and planted himself at the table with a wide, fanged yawn.

"Sleep well?" she asked happily.

"Mmm hmm…" he nodded.

Shippou grabbed a bowl of rice from the tray and the chopsticks before pausing and looking up at her with embarrassment and guilt in his eyes.

"I missed sleeping with you. I don't sleep quite as good when I'm here."

"Quite as 'well,' Shippou. Well." she lectured. "And me neither."

"Too early for lessons, Momma."

Kagome chuckled and resumed packing as Shippou started eating.

"And I'm sorry I was angry yesterday." he mumbled as her back was turned to check the strap of her quiver.

"Don't be sorry for how you feel but you do need to realize when to hold your tongue." She raised a dark eyebrow in his direction. "Sesshoumaru can't hurt you because of who you are to him now, but anyone else might not be so forgiving."

"I'm not anything to him." Shippou said honestly.

'Oh, but you will be, Ship.' Kagome knew firsthand how tightly bound they would be.

"Yes, you are. You are mine and you'll be his, too. You have a year to decide how to feel about that but he'll adopt you as pack, I'm sure. That's how it works."

"You guys talk about that last night?" he asked, curious.

"No, we actually talked about you while we were in the West last year."

"Oh."

"Deciding what happens to you was first on my list after that meeting, if you remember. Now, finish up your breakfast. They're gonna be back soon, I'm sure."

Shippou ate with more gusto as a plan formulated in his mischievous brain.

"Good… I should still have enough time." he whispered, grinning.

…

After packing and breakfast, it was nearly midmorning and most of the kitsune of the village were out and about. Some sitting quietly and studying the others, some working illusions in the practice spaces between the buildings, and the gaggle of kits all running this way and that, cackling and shoving around the edge of the central pond. Eyes as blue as the morning sky searched the village for her kit but he was nowhere to be seen.

Kagome hefted her pack and quiver higher, and shouldered the steel-tipped staff with a smile. Walking out of the midnight-colored shiro and blinking into the sunlight, she took a deep breath and exhaled happily. The weather was warm and humid. Last night, the village had felt like a cage but this morning, the air and her heart both felt free and clear.

"Having a pleasant morning, Kagome?" came a lilting voice from the shadows.

"Hmm?"

The miko quickly turned around, unsettled by the surprise visitor she hadn't detected at all, and exhaled as the coal-black head of Daichi poked out with a wide grin and crinkled, silver eyes from behind one of the oversized kitsune statues.

"Oh, Daichi-sama, it's you." Kagome sighed and bowed. "Sorry. I was memorizing the sights. I do love it here."

"I am glad to hear it. And we cannot tempt you to stay? I know Chinatsu would be most pleased to see more of you." he purred, tipping his chin down with allure in his eyes.

"Not you, too!" she exclaimed, to which Daichi chuckled lowly and stepped closer.

His dark green kimono was trimmed with the image of a panther stalking upward from the hem and it flashed and wavered as he stepped into the sun. Kagome swore the embroidered beast had climbed higher as the ancient reynard met her at the edge of the plaza.

"I know you have responsibilities elsewhere but do not forget us. You are always most welcome as an honored guest."

The kitsune held his arms open and Kagome blinked, confused. When Daichi motioned for her to come closer with a flick of his wrist, she understood but remained cautious. He had never asked for such a thing before but it seemed discourteous to refuse the village head when they had allowed her to stay.

"I didn't know you were one for hugs, Daichi-sama."

"I am grown affectionate in my old age, little miko. Humor this old fox. Four thousand years of life breeds regret for those things that I did not do when I had the chance."

Kagome stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the kitsune's middle, giving him a brief but sincere hug.

"You don't look a day over a thousand to me." she chuckled into his chest.

Kagome tried to pull away but Daichi held her fast and whispered in her ear.

"You are still hunted, Kagome. Travel with care on your journey home."

The kitsune heard her heart beat more rapidly, listened to the blood rush faster through her veins, and her lungs sucked air deeper and more purposefully. The biting scent of vinegar rose from her and Daichi grinned over her head before frowning with false worry.

"Why?" she asked meekly and pulled away.

"That I cannot say. Your Sesshoumaru would be most upset, however, should any harm come to you now that you are claimed. Be alert but…" he paused with a thin finger to his chin. "I am sure he would defend you with his life should the need arise."

'That's what I'm trying to prevent, dammit.' Kagome thought sadly.

Something was wrong with the future Sesshoumaru. He had seemed stiff, cautious, and moved with less grace and strength than this one. The differences in his eyes and countenance were more drastic than she had realized but after last night, his future self's condition began to worry her. There was more that the future inudaiyoukai was holding back, she was sure. There was no relief in his aura after they spoke, no peace, just more worry and sadness right up until the moment he had released her to leap away.

The chaos of her return to the past still gnawed at her, too. Were Shippou and Sesshoumaru okay? How had that battle played out after she left?

The glistening silver of the head reynard's large eyes gave her pause. It was almost as if he knew what she was thinking, or was puzzling it out as the thoughts developed in her mind. He was so odd and unreadable that her conversations with him always left her unsettled.

"Thank you, Daichi-sama. I'll be careful."

"Good. Now-" He clapped suddenly and loudly, causing Kagome to jump. "-you may want to talk to your Shippou, sooner rather than later, about whom he decides to mimic." the elder kitsune chuckled.

"Huh?"

Kagome followed the pale, clawed finger that now pointed to the three-tired, bedrock fountain on the far side of the plaza. Sitting on the edge of the fountain was… Sesshoumaru? When had he gotten here? No, his aura was all wrong, muddled and discontinuous. Something wasn't quite right…

"Sesshoumaru?" she said at normal volume, but he didn't turn to look at her.

'What's wrong with him?'

Adding to absurdity of the moment was the group of kits all gathered around him and cackling with laughter. Most of them were already holding their sides and doubled over with tears in their eyes as they watched the Lord of the West… pick his nose? With his eyes crossed?

Then it clicked.

"Oh, kami in heaven… Shippou!" she yelled, biting her lip to stop her own sputtering laugh from breaking free.

It was wrong. Shippou absolutely shouldn't have done it, but in a hundred years or a thousand, this image would never leave her brain.

A second later, fear took over. She, herself, had said some unforgiving things to the daiyoukai, challenged his patience on more than one occasion already, and he had forgiven her, but if Sesshoumaru landed in this village with Shippou still transformed and finger-deep in his own right nostril, Kagome might not be able to talk the daiyoukai down from maiming or worse.

"Shippou, stop that right now!" she called, jogging over to him.

In the chaos, her kit had failed to notice his mother arriving in the plaza.

"Oh shit!" he gasped, still Sesshoumaru but now leaning back in terror.

His swear came out as his own higher-pitched voice of youth and Kagome thanked the kami that he didn't sound like the inu, too. Her appreciation for his stoicism would go right out the window for the rest of her days.

"Language, mister! Are you really going to try that hard to piss him off? Take it off right now!"

"It's good, right?" he grinned proudly. "Don't worry so much." the Shippou-Sesshoumaru said with a dismissive wave, "He won't be back for hour-"

Falsely golden eyes raised to the sky, stricken with true fear, as a familiar and oppressive youki pressed on their senses from high above. The roar of an approaching dragon garnered cheers from the other kits but the color drained from the Shippou-Sesshoumaru's face and he went silent.

"You were saying?" Kagome said sarcastically.

"I can't take it off!" he squeaked desperately; panic-stricken eyes boring into her for help.

"Oh shit! Why not?"

"To do one this complicated without the tail, I needed a charm and it lasts for another half hour or so!"

"He'll be able to see you from up there in about two seconds…" she thought out loud. "Run! Into the woods! Don't you dare come back until it's gone. I'll stall."

"Gah!"

Kagome laughed aloud as the Shippou-Sesshoumaru jumped up from the fountain's edge and wind-milled his generously sleeved arms all the way to the bamboo forest. Shippou swore again when he tripped and fell on his face just inside, unused to the bulky clothing and long legs. The miko was still laughing aloud after watching the fake Sesshoumaru's boots fly over his head when the light breeze created by the arrival of the genuine article lifted a few tendrils of hair around her face. Sesshoumaru's agitated aura needled over her back at close range.

"Good morning, Sesshoumaru." Kagome chirped, turning around. "Did you have a pleasant trip?"

Sesshoumaru snarled and stared down at her with angry amber eyes.

"Hello, Kagome-sama!" chirped Rin from the back of Ah-Un.

"Hi, Rin-chan! I'm so happy to see you. That kimono is almost as lovely as you are!" Kagome waved at the girl then looked up and down at the daiyoukai holding the reins. "Why are you so grumpy?"

"Do not attempt to pretend that your kit is not at this moment hiding from This Sesshoumaru."

"Is he?" Kagome said innocently. "I thought he went to collect his things."

"You lie as poorly as you climb." He jerked his chin to gesture at the red, angry scrapes on her forearms from her ascent to the roof last night. "The pup is owed a punishment for his disrespect."

The inu growled again and leaned to the right to step around the grinning young woman.

"Wait a second." she said, placing a hand lightly on his arm. "I'm pretty sure he's just acting out because he's insecure about his place in your world after last night. Don't make it worse by calling him out in front of every kitsune he's ever known. He needs understanding, not punishment."

He scoffed loudly and furrowed pale eyebrows, looming over her.

"Are you suggesting I should reassure the fox who used my own image as a public insult only moments ago?"

Her nod was immediate. "That's exactly what I'm telling you. Welcome to life as the parent of a kitsune. Coincidentally, how are you at scrubbing ink out of silk?"

Sesshoumaru didn't move a muscle but narrowed his eyes further.

"No."

"No? 'No' what?"

"You will discipline the kit and ensure he never repeats the behavior. In this one instance, I will leave his disrespect to you. Should the event repeat itself, I will handle him personally."

"That is entirely fair." she conceded. "I'll make sure he gets the message. In the meantime, think about what you'll tell him when he asks. Shippou wants to know he has a place in the West. It's up to you to tell him what that place is."

"You ask me to consider his future right now? Your timing is as ill-conceived as his."

"No, right now he still looks like you and is hiding in the bamboo forest until the charm-" Kagome snorted aloud, no longer able to stifle the image of the daiyoukai standing in front of her with a finger up his nose, even as the real thing glared menacingly down at her. "-until the charm- Pfft! Wears off! Ha ha ha!"

The other kits joined in her laughter and soon there was a ring of cackling kits, a miko with happy tears running down her cheeks, a finely dressed Rin still atop a twin-headed dragon, and a seething inudaiyoukai.

"I will await you in the forest beyond when you regain control of your sense!" he yelled over the commotion. "Come." he barked at the dragon still carrying a very confused Rin.

The heavy, crunching steps of clawed dragon feet faded away as her laughter did. Kagome wiped her eyes, sighed happily, and marched into the woods to find Shippou.

…

Sesshoumaru led the dragon tamely through the last of the bamboo. He watched Rin as the lower branches snapped around Ah-Un's large body. She had covered her head as he instructed and crouched low against the saddle. Soon, the thick masses of green gave way to the older forest and the pathways between the trees was much more accommodating. Rin sat up and brushed the fallen leaves and twigs from her kimono. Sesshoumaru scented her concern, the musty smell of dying roses, gaining power. Her question, seconds later, was not a surprise.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"Hm?"

"Are Shippou and Kagome-sama still coming with us?"

"Once the kitsune is brought to his senses, they will join us."

"Are they all right?"

"Hm."

Wondering himself how much longer they might be, Sesshoumaru reached out with his youki to find her glowing, blue reiki still pouring forth. The intensity of it still surprised him. If he closed his eyes, she would be the likeness of the sun in a dark sky.

'She either refuses, consciously, to shield herself or enjoys being a beacon to youkai of power.' he lamented.

Something was different about her usually soothing aura, however. At its core, her energy was pure and unaffected but something about their situation was causing her reiki to swirl uncomfortably. Was the kit pushing his boundaries further? Did she sense danger nearby? Another stuttering thrum of her reiki left him more cautious than curious.

"Rin."

"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"Stay with Ah-Un. I will return." He shifted his eyes to the dragons watching him expectantly. "Guard her well."

Rin patted their necks affectionately as she watched her protector stalk into the woods.

…

Several yards north into the thicket of bamboo, Shippou laid on his back in the leaves that padded the forest floor. The illusion had melted away a few minutes ago and his small, fur vest lay splayed wide open like his arms. Kagome stepped into the small clearing and squatted down beside him.

"Hey, kiddo." she said quietly.

"Hey, Momma."

The miko sat down and crossed her legs, resting gentle hands atop her knees, and uncloaked her aura. Shippou sighed when the familiar caresses of her energy reached him.

"You okay?"

Shippou stared up at the sky and spoke to her in the distracted, nonchalant way kids often do when they're thinking hard.

"Yeah. Just… I realized I'm not very good at anything."

"That is not true but tell me why you think it is." Kagome said patiently.

Shippou sat up in a flurry of leaves and his tail swished slowly back and forth, just once, while the thoughts gathered.

"I can't control my resting form and I can't do hard illusions without help. I can't even fight. Why would he want me around?"

"Do you need him to want you around?"

"Well, we're gonna live there, aren't we? I don't want him to hate me running around his house."

"Why don't you ask him?"

Kagome sat up straighter and Shippou felt the pulse of her aura wash over the small clearing.

"No way! I'd ask him about his feelings, he'd melt me, and that'd be it… and I know what you're doing." he said slyly.

"But will he?" she winked. "I won't say his melting days are over, but Sesshoumaru won't hurt you while I'm living. Respect where it's due, of course, don't make him angry just to make him angry."

Kagome tucked her chin and stared down her nose at the nervously grinning kit.

"Okay fine. Maybe I wanted him to get mad."

"And you succeeded. Did it make you feel better?"

"No." Shippou sighed.

None of his questions had been answered, could be answered by Kagome. He didn't feel any stronger or more prepared for life since starting school. Kagome could keep training him to a point but he didn't want to use a bow like her, or a staff like Miroku. Sango was too busy with the kids to teach him swordplay. What's a kid supposed to do? What would he do when he grew up? What would he be? What could he be?

"Then the behavior will not repeat itself?" came the deep voice from the edge of the clearing.

Kagome and Shippou shared a falsely surprised look between them.

Sesshoumaru ducked down under a particularly large and leafy bamboo branch, his silver hair falling forward to brush the ground. As he righted himself, golden eyes found her first and Kagome smiled gently to let him know his presence was welcome. She measured the daiyoukai for signs of wrath but his aura was peaceful, and his eyes were serious but not severe. It took three strides for the inu to make the center of the small clearing and both adults heard the small kit gulp with trepidation.

"Nuh- No. I won't do it again."

"See that you do not."

"So, what happens now?" Shippo asked nervously.

Kagome surprised the daiyoukai by standing up, brushing the leaves from her backside, and clasping her hands behind her back.

"Now, I leave you two alone to sort out how you'll deal with each other for the rest of your lives."

"Momma!"

"Miko-"

"Nope. We talked about this." she said to Sesshoumaru. It was her name or nothing from now on. "Ship, I love you. Good luck."

Kagome patted the kit's head and hummed merrily as two pairs of eyes watched her retreat, both youkai at a loss for words.

"Is the woman always so unpredictable?" the inu asked, still watching her back retreat into the bamboo.

"Nah. I could've told you that's what she was planning. I didn't think you'd actually come."

"The tension in her aura was a ruse?"

"Mm hmm. You fell for it, too."

The quick turn of his head to scowl down at the young male made Shippou swallow again.

"If you understand that there cannot be a repeat of this juvenile and disrespectful behavior, there is nothing more to say."

Shippou realized he was about to lose his chance to sort this out when Sesshoumaru turned around and took a step back into the woods.

"Wait! Can I ask you something?"

The inudaiyoukai surprised him by turning around and waiting.

"Hm?"

The kit was wringing his small hands and staring into the ground.

"Are you mad I'm coming, too? Next year, I mean?"

"You fear rejection from my house?" Sesshoumaru said, cutting through the useless banter.

The miko had said as much. He wondered how well she knew the emotional state of each and every being in her life. Would she claim to know him as well one day? Did he want her to?

"Not from them… fuh- from you."

Sesshoumaru's right hand found his hip and he relaxed his stance. The kit was pack, strange as it was, and the boy was confused and unsure. Posturing did nothing to help either one of them through this new and intimidating relationship. As Alpha, even the small kitsune's doubts were his responsibility now.

"You require reassurance about so many elements of your life."

Shippou straightened the collar of his happi coat and looked up into Sesshoumaru's eyes.

"Momma says I should be in touch with my emotional needs and not be afraid to ask the right questions."

"Hn. You are welcome in the West. Give it no further thought."

Sesshoumaru turned his head and Shippou panicked, voice raising louder than he meant it to.

"Yeah, but what am I supposed to do there?"

The inudaiyoukai closed his eyes for a moment, in thought, then stared down at the child and spoke with a firm and informative tenor. It so happened that he had given the young male's future some thought over this past year. A son of the West cannot be a wandering, homeless prankster for the duration of his life.

"You will study with Rin during the day, train in a martial discipline of your choice with a suitable master, and learn the management of my house and the politics of its existence so that you are able to contribute when you come of age. The miko and I spoke already of your position. I would not name you my heir but you will be expected to involve yourself fully in matters of the Land that shelters and provides for you. Does that satisfy your concern?"

"Wait, I'm a soldier now?"

"A steward. An heir to the West will arise during your lifetime. They will be taught more extensively, included in the Cardinal Council meetings and made responsible for the future, but until such a one exists, you will learn in their stead as Rin does."

"All of that?" Shippou marveled. "Just because you're marrying Kagome?"

"A Mating is a melding of two lives and two packs. It is always wise to include one's pack in the life of its Alpha. Knowledge kept hidden, stays hidden in the event of his death. Should something happen to me without a steward in place, war will swallow the land again. The position is not one of favor but of responsibility. Are you capable?"

Sesshoumaru watched the kit think hard, his shoulders slumped.

"I don't think so. I'm not good at…" Shippou sighed deeply. "…much. I'm not really steward material."

Sesshoumaru stared down at the shrinking, unsure kitsune. There was a time, long ago, when the idea of being used as an instrument was too much for a small, inu pup, as well. What the pup had truly wanted was freedom and knowledge and time. In his earliest years, a knowing father had given him both. Touga had not been a model parent but he understood the wisdom in patience and time.

What this kitsune wanted was similar but he had been denied even the basic comforts of a pack until the miko's adoption. She was doing her best but would never understand youkai in the way the Lord of the West did. The kit needed a tighter pack bond to understand and feel his place and, as his future pack leader, Kagome was right to have called him. He would be loath to admit such to her, however, in light of her manipulative methods.

"You are not. Not yet. This Sesshoumaru will begin training and assessment of your skills after the Bonding ceremony. Will that satisfy your need for knowledge and reassurance?"

"Wha- Train? Me? Yes! Yes!" Shippou jumped into the air, his tail whirling happily.

"However," Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes and Shippou stopped his celebrating to blink cautiously upward, "should the illusion of myself make its appearance ever again, I revoke this offer. Do we understand one another?"

"Completely. Never again. Cross my heart."

"Hm. Then come."

A few steps of silence and then Shippou lost the war with his baser nature.

"Can I do the General, though?" the kit asked brightly.

Sesshoumaru considered that Ryota was amiable, open, and enjoyed a good joke. He was a perfect target for a kitsune.

"When we are not entertaining." the inu conceded.

"Yes!"

…

Kagome fiddled with the end tuft of her braid as it hung below her ribs, then gave up and threaded her fingers through the whole mass to braid it again.

"Kagome-sama? Are you well?" Rin asked from beside her.

"Oh… what? Yeah. Shippou and Sesshoumaru need to talk but that doesn't mean I fully trust him not to hurt Shippou in one way or another."

"Shippou-chan is pack now and Sesshoumaru-sama would never hurt him without cause."

"That's what I'm afraid of. Shippou has more than given him cause… Do they always just stare like that?"

"Hm? Ah-Un?" the girl asked. "They are unfamiliar with you. Come and I'll officially introduce you to them." Rin dragged Kagome by the hand to the dragons' heads. "Ah, Un, this is Kagome-sama. She is very special to me and to Lord Sesshoumaru so you must be kind to her. Now, put your hands here on their muzzles. Yes, like that."

"He- Hello, Ah-Un." the miko said, cautiously stroking the scaly noses of two very curious dragons. When they pushed further into her hands, sniffing deeply at her clothes and pushing her backwards with forceful curiosity, Kagome looked around them at a giggling Rin. "Now what do I do?"

"Nothing. They should know you better now that they have your scent. Easy, Un. Kagome-sama is not used to your pushing." Rin walked over to stand beside them and laid her forehead against that of the one she called Un. "I used to talk to them while milord was away, and he was away a lot." Her deep brown eyes grew wistful. "They are very good listeners."

"Rin-chan…" Kagome smiled, then noticed the single bag perched atop the dragon's large saddle. "You sure packed lightly. Not staying with us for long?"

"The remainder of the summer, yes, but Rin knows she cannot wear the finery of the Palace in Edo. I brought only simple clothing. I would like very much to train some more with Kaede-sama this year. Kenshin-san expressed concern over his lack of knowledge about our care so I would like to help teach him."

"That's incredibly sweet, Rin. I'll help, too, once we've moved there. How is everyone?"

"Well. Kenshin-san in particular is very happy because he is planning his Bonding ceremony with Tomomi-chan for next spring and-"

"What? Sorry, Rin, but what wonderful news! Aww, she must be so happy. They're such a good match."

"Sesshoumaru-sama thought so, too. He had to give them permission."

"Tomomi told me about that. I'm so glad he did. Poor Ren. Now he'll be the lone bachelor."

"Yes. Ren-san is-" Rin cleared her throat. "He is sad sometimes but happier for his brother, I think."

"I hope so. He'll be fine. I'm sure Tomomi will win him over. What of Ryota-taishou and Kouji?"

"They are both well. Ryota-taishou is struggling to learn how 'human clans' are arranged. He cannot understand how human families determine lineage and succession. Kouji-san is busy working with the Lady mother to prepare for the council meeting this year. Everyone seems worried for some reason. Let's see… Haruto-chan is as tall as my knee now and running the halls. He learned several new words from the soldiers around the barracks and Kouji-san was less than pleased."

"Ha! I can imagine. So glad he survived the winter, though. Good for them all. Now, where are those two?"

"Milord and Shippou-chan?"

"Yeah, they've been gone a while-" Kagome walked the length of the dragon and turned around to walk back to their heads when two familiar youki signatures burst into the clearing. "Ah! There you are!"

Shippou bounded out of the woods on four paws and leapt, smiling, into her chest.

"Do you feel better?" she giggled above him.

"Yes!" he exclaimed, nuzzling under her chin, "I'm gonna train really hard!"

"Train?" Kagome leaned back and looked, startled, over at Sesshoumaru. "Wait a second-"

Shippou wriggled out of her arms, leapt up onto the dragon and waited, tail flicking happily.

"I'll tell you all about it later." he grinned proudly. "Hey, Rin!"

"Hello, Shippou! You have grown since autumn!"

"Good. I'm tired of being short." he scoffed.

Kagome listened to their banter with a smile then fixed her eyes on Sesshoumaru for answers.

Ignoring the miko's expectant look, he walked stiffly over to stand before Rin, who merely turned to the side and waited. Sesshoumaru used both large hands to lift his ward carefully onto the dragon's back, where she sat side-saddle and adjusted her kimono before smiling down at him. Shippou crawled over the girl's lap to sit in front and wiggled his rear down into the seat. The inu silently stood in front of Kagome with hard and accusing eyes.

"My turn?" she asked.

A jerk of a nod was his only response. Kagome turned to the side and waited. She felt the pressure of his hands lift her and then squeaked when they left her just before touching the saddle, landing her rear roughly and stealing her breath.

"So, it was a good talk then? Yikes…" she quipped, settling herself and frowning.

"You are more devious than the vixen." he glared up at Kagome, then looked at his ward. "Rin, secure the reins."

Rin nodded and whispered something to Shippou.

"What does that make you?" Kagome grinned. "More gullible than a human?"

His quick growl startled Shippou, and no one but Rin knew what was coming next. She tightened the frame of her arms around the kit and ducked her head down. Sesshoumaru slapped the dragon's flank hard enough to startle them forward with a lurch.

"Fly!" he bellowed.

Kagome screamed as Ah-Un took off from the ground with a mighty lurch and a burst of speed. Her swears of revenge could be heard until the dragons leveled out near the lowest tufts of cloud. The inudaiyoukai allowed himself a grin at his victory over her righteous and roguish tongue.

'Maddening woman…'

And he joined them in the air.

…

High above the forest, Sesshoumaru sniffed and pulsed his aura in warning. A familiar but still unidentifiable malice was sprinting behind them, moving in and out of his range of detection.

'A taunt or a threat?'

The late start, plus the heart-to-heart in the forest, had cost them daylight and travel time. The sun faded quickly and there were hours yet to go before Edo was within range. Rather than attempting to keep two sleeping bodies centered on the dragon, Kagome made a case for camping out tonight and getting an early start. Sesshoumaru had only nodded once before dipping down to land alone, verify the absence of any nearby threats, and find a suitable camp site for the two humans in his charge.

After they landed, Sesshoumaru helped Rin down from Ah-Un's back and stepped one step away from the dragon before growling and turning back around with a scowl to help Kagome down. The woman was already sliding down the dragon's flank as he turned around.

"Don't bother. I'm fine. Thanks anyway." she said flatly, breezing by him to get to the saddlebags still attached to Ah-Un.

Kagome pulled out her own pack, bow, and quiver then arched her back like a cat in the sun after hours of sitting still in the whipping wind. Sesshoumaru turned on his heel and walked silently to the edge of their camp while Kagome prepped a fire and unpacked sleeping blankets before the light faded completely. Once she was done, he disappeared into the woods.

Hours of silence, his shitty attitude as they had left the kitsune, and his deliberate avoidance of her was taking its toll. Hadn't they just sorted out how important talking was? Why was he so grumpy?

He chose that moment to return with three small rabbits, cleaned and gutted, and handed them roughly to Kagome before resuming his guard at the forest's edge without another word. His youki remained flared, raw and edgy, as if one wrong word would invite death.

'He's still mad about Shippou? I have to fix this.'

After dinner and a quick wash in the river, Rin and Shippou laid down and were quickly asleep after the long day. Without the excited chatter of the children, the camp was dark and quiet, enveloped in the pressing silence that was unique to the deep woods. Kagome sat up, poking the dying fire once again, and glancing over at Sesshoumaru every few minutes. She wasn't ready to sleep after Daichi's vague warning but the sulking daiyoukai to her far right was more concerning at the moment.

The inu had closed his eyes but she knew by the turbulent waves of his youki that he was most definitely not asleep… and still pissed. She broke the prodding stick in half, tossed both pieces forcefully into the fire, and marched over to confront him.

"Are you still mad about Shippou's stunt? It wasn't that bad."

He did not look up from his resting position at the base of the tree but opened his eyes to answer while gazing into the campfire.

"Using a distress call as a ploy to lure me to the glade was deceitful. I expected more mature behavior after our conversation."

"Is that what has your tail in a knot? As a result of our conversation, Shippou felt left out and unsure of his own future. I wanted you two to talk to each other. You are the only one who could answer his questions."

Harsh golden eyes flashed with firelight as he glared up at her.

"Did it not occur to you to make a request of This Sesshoumaru instead of resulting to falsehood?"

"Would you have done it?"

Kagome crossed her arms and looked down at him seriously. Sesshoumaru chose to stare into the dying light once again as he answered.

"You will never know."

"Kami in heaven! I will never do it again, then. There? Satisfied?"

"Hardly. Honesty is paramount-"

"-paramount between Mates." she repeated slowly, then sighed and nodded her head slowly in understanding.

To him, her deception, small as it was, had been an outright lie. To her, it had been a necessary method of coercing his involvement. They were still learning the simple truths about each other and she had made an error in judgement. To Sesshoumaru, honesty was very important and she had violated it.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I promise I won't call you without cause again."

"Hm."

Not quite satisfied that she truly understood her blunder, Sesshoumaru leaned back against the tree, closed his eyes one again, and listened to the sounds of their camp and the forest. Too soon, the scents and sounds of the woman beside him stole his focus from the forest once again.

The scent of her anger began to pass and was replaced with the vinegar of her fear. No, the lemon brightness of her nerves and fear. What did that combination mean? He cracked a golden eye open and peered over at her in time to see her scuffle a toe in the grass. Her heart beat a new, irregular and faster rhythm. She looked away from him, watched the flicker of the campfire, as regret danced there with the flames in her downturned eyes. The miko felt… guilty? At last, a quiet and longing sigh came from his intended and the instinct to soothe won out over his mostly-smothered irritation.

It was easy to forget how young she truly was. The miko had been through as much war and hardship in her twenty years as he had in over three hundred. She had already lost the equivalent of a Mate. His own first conquest had taken him six hundred years to find. She possessed the innate ability to comfort and reason through any problem that presented itself. She checked and balanced the emotional states of everyone around her. It must be exhausting.

Kagome had in her arsenal the few skills that he himself lacked. The notion was oddly comforting, not that he was ready to share this revelation just yet.

Someone must have spoken with his intended about the protocols of Mating for her to be so concerned about his anger. Whoever it was, Sesshoumaru shuddered to think, would never be able to explain his ways better than he could. The daiyoukai could lend her his aged wisdom in understanding how Mated pairs were supposed to act and how their early bonds were formed… if she could sit still long enough to listen.

"My mother, in a rare moment of reflection, once said that trust is grown like a forest-"

His deep and serious tenor snagged her attention in the silence around their camp. Kagome looked over cautiously, sat up straighter to emphasize she was listening, and nervously braided her hair as he began. His eyes were locked on the few flames still leaping from the ashes but they held a look of bittersweet memory.

"-by small measures and through the slow passage of time. You cannot watch its development or measure it. In the end, it can be fruitful, vast, its roots reaching deep and spreading far. Without the proper nourishment in the beginning, fragile and weak; trust, like the potential of a forest, will wither and cease to exist." The flash of his inhuman eyes in the fading light made her heart stutter. "I do not wish that between us."

"Me either." the young woman said quietly. "No matter what we become in the end."

"Then you understand my disappointment."

"I think I do. Trust is very important to you."

"It is important in all connections but between us, yes, I value it highly. No other being on this plane will know the details of our house as you will, no one will know the intimacies of my life, and the development of my character. I regret now that you may also use those things against me."

"You think because I used my reiki to get your attention, I'd abuse your memories? That's a huge leap."

"Is it?"

"Yes! I wanted you to talk to Shippou, so I called you in a way I knew you'd respond to. To assume I'd do anything so underhanded as use the tragedies of your past to piss you off is a major reach. Let me clarify: No, I would never do something so wrong."

They were silent for a moment but Sesshoumaru heard the intake of breath before she spoke.

"Maybe I was testing you, though."

"Testing This One's ability to parent your kit?"

"Maybe?"

"Hn. Find other, less dishonest ways to test This One's fitness, if that is what you wish."

"Your fitness? Gods, no." Kagome held up a hand. "Oh, wait. You mean your male fitness, right? Not your physical fitness. Chinatsu was right, then."

"Your vixen has much to answer for, it seems." he said, laying his head back against the tree and closing his eyes.

"Don't blame Chi-chan. I asked. Mostly. There's a lot I don't know about… your… relationship needs. In case you've forgotten, Inuyasha wasn't-" she swallowed, guilt and sadness blocked the words.

One amber eye cracked open. "Was not raised youkai."

"Yeah." Kagome whispered. "Humans don't do things the way you do, and he was more human than youkai most of the time. It wasn't easy at first but we were open about everything."

That got his attention. Sesshoumaru lifted his head from the tree and watched her grow pensive and smile warmly at the ground.

"You found my brother's company so alike to your own kind?" he asked, genuinely curious to know more.

"Mmm. I'm not trying to compare you, so you understand. I just want you to know that I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to youkai customs. Well, most of them. I want us to understand each other and I don't want you to misunderstand me just for being me. For being human."

The tidbits she did know about how inu behaved would stay secrets for now. That intimate level of comfortability with Sesshoumaru was far into the future. Inuyasha had known very little but they had worked through the embarrassment of his instinctual needs together and had grown closer for it. Sesshoumaru surprised her again today with his next admission.

"The same could be said of myself. You clearly expect similar behavior to what is expected of a Mate, but yet, the human way is still inherently different it seems."

"We already agreed there was a lot to learn about each other. This is a first step to that."

"What step?"

Kagome grinned mischievously over at him.

"Admitting you're not perfect either."

He scoffed loudly.

"Hardly. You are confusing your human perception with reality. If you knew the allow-"

A sound in the forest caught his attention, abrupt and new. He rose in the span of a blink and stood protectively between Kagome and the shadows of the trees. The miko stood behind him, minimizing her breathing and her movements.

"What is it?" she whispered.

The voice that returned with an answer was hard, devoid of warmth, and reminiscent of the past.

"Stay here with the pups."

"Where are you going?" she whispered more forcefully, grasping the back of his haori.

Golden eyes flashed with the firelight over his right shoulder as he turned to assess her. Her wide eyed, panicked gaze surprised him. Was he so untrustworthy? Had he not proven his commitment to her safety? Perhaps the woman was still uncertain of his ability. Her breathing quickened; some invented terror played in her mind, he guessed. The inu grew more concerned as the foreign presence with no discernable scent continued to plow noisily through the forest nearby and his patience grew thin.

"Do you trust This Sesshoumaru?" he asked quietly.

Trust was important to him. They had just covered that. But did she? His strength, his wisdom… yes, she did. But deep in the woods in the middle of the night? Leaving her alone with the children to search the forest for some threat she hadn't even heard? Was this the first step on the path to change or was her death becoming more certain? There hadn't been time to discuss the details of the next two years but the future version of Sesshoumaru had said that nothing needed to change until the Bonding ceremony.

The needling anxiety of her aura worried him further. She was losing control of her fear as it consumed and dominated her scent. Fear? What had she to be so afraid of? The miko had faced greater threats than this mysterious stalker. The small hand holding a fistful of his haori tightened and the fabric twisted in her grip. She was holding him here? Afraid of him leaving, or afraid of being left?

"I will return, Kagome."

She barely breathed out the words, the sounds stolen by the dryness of her mouth.

"You don't know that. We're out here alone. I have no idea what's out there, do you?"

"Trust me." he tried lowly.

"I want to. I really do."

"I will return." he said more firmly.

The grip lessened on his coat and before she could wish him well, he disappeared into the trees, leaving only a swirl of youki in his wake and a stone in the pit of her stomach. Kagome turned around to see the children shuffling in their sleep.

'He'll come back.' she told herself, watching Rin and Shippou settle back down. 'He'll definitely come back.'

…

The stalker was quick. There was no scent to follow as the chase began. Farther and farther from the campsite, he raced in the night.

Minutes later, the land began rise to the west and the scentless being with it. Trees passed by in a blur and still the stranger eluded him. Sesshoumaru had sprinted across the forest floor first but then rose above the trees for more speed, pushing his pace nearly to its limit and gaining no ground until the hills grew steep.

The scent of the rock was becoming familiar. He was nearly home. Much farther and the forests would give way to the grassy plains of the foothills in the West. His quarry slowed on the steeper hills but Sesshoumaru had scaled this terrain his entire life. The stalker's first mistake.

As the distance closed, Sesshoumaru recognized the same chimeric aura of the kitsune from the village that had paced the edges of the barrier like a caged animal. It was not fully kitsune, however. The first scents that were not forest or beast reached his nose. Kitsune, yes, but what else? Steel and leather coated in blood and sweat. The scents of a warrior. There was something else. The scent of a human? No human could run so fast. What was this strange being?

To draw out the aura of the stranger, Sesshoumaru flared his youki in a wide sphere and a roar, forcing a reaction from his quarry. Instead of energy, the sting of a misted poison he was unfamiliar with filled his nose and the inu grimaced as the burning smell became the lone decipherable scent he could track.

Suddenly, the being slowed and skidded to a halt to face him down from the other side of a wide river sunk deep into the bedrock of the mountains of his homeland.

"You give chase like the dog you are, Sesshoumaru of the West!" the lively male voice teased. "So very fast and far from your pack though. How will they fare with my brother, I wonder? Was the priestess as willing to follow a phantom into the woods? How far apart you are now from your sweet human…" The rogue clicked his tongue in mock disapproval. "Perhaps we were wrong to prepare so much for so simple a task as ending her pitiful life."

The inudaiyoukai leapt across the chasm faster than the stranger was prepared for and found himself pinned to the bedrock before taking a celebratory breath. The red, vengeful eyes of the last inudaiyoukai of the West bore down on the grinning face of the assassin, accompanied a rock-shaking and inhuman snarl.

"I warned your sire to keep you. He failed in his task just as you have and This Sesshoumaru will inform him personally of your demise."

"You know nothing, pup, and your ignorance will be your undoing!" he spat from beneath the acrid, weeping claws of the inu, "You will die! Before we are through, you will all d- Hlech!"

With another vicious snarl, the throat that mocked him was wholly ripped from the killer's body and tossed unceremoniously into the river. The same sour poison instantly began to fill the gaping and gruesome wound while Sesshoumaru watched his victim sputter his last fearful breaths. Within a minute the assassin was twitching in death from the potency of whatever had erupted in his blood. The human-kitsune burned from the inside out while the last of his blood stained the tan rock that made his deathbed.

…

Before Kagome could take another breath, a faint rustling began just beyond the trees on the eastern edge of their camp. She stood and went to inspect the tree line as well as her human eyes could in the night.

"Sesshoumaru?" she whispered into the trees. "Is that you?"

The voice that answered was familiar but undefinable, like a memory of a dream.

"Your lover is dying alone, alas." the male voice taunted. "My, my but he was a disappointing kill… All bark and no bite, it seems. I had thought he might be more sport than my usual targets." A mocking sigh echoed across the short distance between them. "Ah well, it was fun while it lasted."

Her power coated her body like a second skin within a second and she looked around quietly for her bow and quiver. Hanging on the tree on the far side. Damn.

"Only cowards hide in the shadows." she taunted. "Come out and face me!"

"Shall we play a game instead, little priestess?" A flash of steel reflecting the firelight made her breath catch. "If you land a blow, I'll tell you where he lies. Think carefully. He'll breathe his last soon enough." the voice mocked from the shadows as the crunching sounds of footsteps faded. "Do you have the time to stand there so useless while the last great silver inu dies alone in the dark?"

"No… It's not true." Kagome whispered, standing her ground. "It's not true."

'But what if it is?' her brain countered.

"You have seconds to decide whether to face me, woman. My patience has limits."

"Go fuck yourself. I'm staying right here!"

"Have it your way!" the stranger growled, and then there was silence.

Kagome stood at the edge of the camp, thinking hard.

'Was this how it started? Did the tragedies the future Shippou and Sesshoumaru spoke of start tonight? Have I already failed him? He can't- He can't be dead!'

But doubt gnawed at her gut and grew as she paced until Kagome nearly felt sick with fear and worry. So much was at stake if she made a mistake now.

'I need to find him. I find him and then I'll know one way or the other. The children…'

Kagome sprinted to the tree where her bow and quiver hung, slinging both onto her back. Pulling a single arrow from the quiver, she closed her eyes and imbued the rune carved into the tip with all of the energy it would hold. She held her hands together in prayer, eyes closed in a plea for help.

"Protect them." she prayed, then stabbed the arrow into the ground just above their heads.

The glowing blue reiki burst forth from the arrow, lifting the stray hairs around her face, and manifested in a half-sphere around the sleeping Rin and Shippou. Shippou stirred but only rolled closer to Rin and shuffled his blanket, still asleep.

Ah-Un lifted their massive heads and stared at her with four, glittering pale green eyes.

"You, too. Protect them." Kagome commanded. "I'm skirting camp to find Sesshoumaru. Stay here and... roar if anything happens."

The dragons blinked once and then twice, then laid their heads down in the grass once more but kept all four eyes trained on Rin.

"Thanks."

Kagome pulled her bow free and stepped into the woods with an arrow loosely nocked.

'Sesshoumaru, you'd better come back…'

…

Sesshoumaru stood, flicked the blood from his claws, then raised his nose as a breeze rolled over the river from the forest. No other youkai nearby. He listened. No sounds like footfalls or the ring of steel or panting breaths. He was alone.

But so was Kagome.

The strange, unidentifiable energy that coated the killer dissolved and melted away leaving only the rotting body of a… human male? Another scent rolled off the corpse. Fox? Sesshoumaru searched the armor and found a talisman made from the crystallized eye of a kitsune. It crumbled to dust as he inspected it. An illusionary decoy of human flesh?

It was a trick?

'No!' Golden eyes widened and silver hair whipped behind him as Sesshoumaru took off back to the campsite. 'A distraction!'

He took off again, away from the body and back to his charges and the woman. The corpse-assassin had been fast but clumsy.

'Fool! I should have known.'

Only a killer with a death wish would have baited him into his own territory.

The claim of a second sent to murder his intended was most likely truthful. Still, the miko was an accomplished warrior in her own right, and her reiki was well recovered.

She was strong enough but inexperienced. The assassin that infiltrated his den had been clever enough to bypass every guard and nearly slaughter her and his chief healer. If the true mission was to kill them all, it would be a simple matter to start with the children while the miko was distracted. Sesshoumaru pushed his speed to its limit, rocketing through the air and back to his pack.

Surely, she was not so foolhardy as to leave the camp and their charges unprotected?

…

'Where are you, dammit?' Kagome thought, shoving another low branch from her path.

It was already too dark for her to see even just these several yards into the wood. A deep breath echoed in the dark and the miko closed her eyes and released the lung full of air and a wide cascade of reiki, casting a shockwave of her energy along the forest floor. No youkai nearby. The man, or youkai, that had threatened her with Sesshoumaru's death was long gone.

Sesshoumaru wasn't nearby either. Her gut told her he wasn't dead; that the words were a hollow threat meant to goad her into rash action.

'Be patient. It's been maybe half an hour since he left.'

With a deep sigh, Kagome turned around to head back to camp, feeling useless and worried. She reached out with her reiki for the children and their guardian dragons, expecting everyone to still be sleeping in the camp, but instead found a fourth, barely detectable presence hovering near the children… that wasn't Sesshoumaru.

"Son of a bitch!"

The sprint back to camp felt like it took ages; even the cooler night air burned in her lungs. A weak garble made by the dragons rang out and Kagome broke through the tree line just as Rin screamed.

'Oh, please, no!'

Shippou stood in a panic, disoriented by the scream and looked around for his mother, but instead found an unfamiliar male standing over him with a knowing, unsettling smile and a low chuckle. The killer was clad in a violet haori and black hakama with short cropped black hair and wicked, glaring crimson eyes. The startling awake and instant fear of being caught unaware caused the kit to freeze after standing protectively in front of Rin. His tail tucked beneath him and wide emerald eyes stared unblinking at the face twisted with malice above them.

Kagome's eyes were blinded by the firelight but before they fully adjusted, the miko nocked an arrow and let it fly just as the assassin raised a vicious, jagged blade over the shield protecting the children. He was too busy staring at the fearful look on the kitsune's face to notice her and the sacred arrow ploughed by his right cheek, cutting it deeply but missing the mark.

"Don't you dare touch them!" Kagome bellowed.

The arrow distracted him from the children but the blade in his right hand dropped onto the barrier as he raised the other to palm the blood running down his face. Her reiki barrier reacted to the youki-charged sword, scattering jolts of energy where youki and reiki collided. The contact wore the barrier down and it melted away, leaving the children exposed.

"Human bitch!" he roared, raising the weapon again and charging her.

Ten orbs of reiki appeared around Kagome and pelted the youkai assassin, one by one, as he ran across the camp while she built a larger one close to her chest.

"Annoying mortal, you should have stayed away!"

"You will not hurt them! Hyah!"

The last three orbs collided with his chest, sending him off balance, and Kagome loosed the massive sphere at her breast. It careened across the grass, slammed into the assassin and blasted him, sword and all, into the woods beyond. Kagome picked up her bow and nocked an arrow, charging across the camp to stand near the children and finish the job.

"Are you two okay?"

"Uh huh." "Yes, Kagome-sama."

"Good. Stay here. Shippou, get ready."

Two flames burst to life in his hands and he stood next to her in front of Rin.

"Bastard got the jump on me." the kit growled.

"Language! Stay here. Stay alert."

Shippou nodded resolutely and watched as Kagome crept closer to the tree line.

'Where did you go? That blow shouldn't have killed him…'

Suddenly a flash of silver glittered in the dark. Kagome pulled the arrow back and fired. No sounds of pain, no explosion of purification, but a dark shape shot upward and took a hard turn to the north, disappearing against the darkness of the sky.

"Fine by me! Run away with your tail between your legs, you coward!" Kagome turned around to Rin and Shippou and settled her bow across the quiver. "No one's going back to sleep for a while so let's get comfy, shall we?"

A deep breath and a moment of focus, and suddenly there was a icy blue barrier surrounding the small clearing.

"There. Now we can breathe at least." Kagome surveyed the camp in a slow circle. Nothing had been disturbed but the dirt as the killer was pushed back. Ah-Un was still laying peacefully at the eastern edge of camp. "How in the world were these dragons sleeping through all of that?"

Kagome walked over the Ah-Un and squatted down near their heads.

"Hey." she said forcefully, poking their muzzle with a finger. "Come on, lazy bones. It's time to wake up. Hmm…"

"They do not usually sleep so deeply. Ah-Un?" Rin tried, joining Kagome near their heads with concern in her eyes.

When the dragons didn't move after a few more less-than-gentle shoves, Kagome laid her hands on their shoulder and reached out with her aura instead. Their breathing was rapid and shallow, and Kagome found an evil ichor clinging to their nostrils that seemed to be the culprit.

"Poisoned? Okay, then. Hold on, big guys."

Her power had barely diffused into their skin to begin the healing process when their clawed feet dug into the ground and they roared as if in pain without lifting their heads. Rin screamed and leapt back. A claw caught Kagome's ribs, tearing the white haori and leaving a deep scratch that quickly began to ooze blood. The flailing limb sent her tumbling backward to land on her rear with a shout and the break in focus caused the barrier to melt away.

"Ouch! I'm sorry! What did I do?" she cried, clamping her hands over the fresh wound.

…

The intense flare of reiki caused Sesshoumaru's chest to tighten. They were under attack! The sounds of branches breaking, swearing, and a bowstring twang! had his fangs lengthening and youki breaking free of his control. The need to get to his pack and protect them was winning over his logic.

Another burst of reiki, larger and more powerful, rocketed from the camp.

'The power our Mate wields…' he marveled, comforted and calmed only slightly by the sounds of her strong voice on the wind.

Suddenly a shadow burst upward from the trees, and the scent of singed flesh and kitsune filled his nose. Sesshoumaru turned in the air to pursue when a dragon's roar and the scent of the miko's blood drew his attention. It grew stronger as a second passed and then another.

A decision had to be made: pursue the killer or the safety of his pack?

…

"Hold still, Kagome-sama. I'll get a rag."

"No, it's fine. I need to put the barrier back up in case our guest comes back."

When she repositioned to stand, the wound split further and she gasped and fell back to her rear on the ground.

"On second thought, I'll take that rag and a few minutes."

"Hai, Kagome-sama!"

Shippou was already elbows deep in her backpack for a towel when Sesshoumaru burst into the camp in a frenzy of bared fangs, claws dripping and lit with the pale green of his venom, and a snarl of warning for whoever had drawn her blood. His wrath died with each breath as his golden eyes took in the still camp and instead the safety and health of his small, odd pack. The bleeding miko, notwithstanding.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin called from the ground in front of Ah-Un, relieved to see him okay after the eventful night.

He was to her in an instant, offering a hand to lift his ward from the dirt. Rin stood and lifted her chin but did not otherwise move. Kagome watched, fascinated, as Sesshoumaru bent his head down to touch his cheek to the top of her head, inhaling deeply, assuring himself of her presence and well-being.

"I am well, milord." she comforted.

"The kit is unharmed?" the inu asked with a growl, peering around Rin to see Shippou blinking over at him from near the campfire.

"Yeah… uh- yes, I'm fine, too." Shippou answered, surprised at being addressed.

Sesshoumaru nodded and left the children to walk over to Kagome, his eyes hard.

"You are bleeding. Why?"

A black boot stepped closer. His eyes never left her face and Kagome swallowed. He was staring down at her like a disappointed parent. Kagome checked the periphery for an escape route but he was already bearing down on her.

Step.

She tried to stand but the pain won again and she landed on her rear with a yelp.

"Ah, dammit!"

Step.

Blinking up, Kagome watched his golden eyes dance with the firelight and… concern? A clawed hand was extended to her and she slid her smaller hand in his, gripping his wrist and groaning as the fresh wound stretched and separated when she stood. Standing in front of him, with barely a foot between them, Sesshoumaru lowered his head to hers, inhaling near her temple and pressing his nose against the sensitive, naked skin.

"Ah- Hey, wait a second!" Both of her hands pressed against his chest but he remained close through her half-hearted protest. "It was Ah-Un." she said quietly. "I tried to heal them but- but got clawed instead." She gestured to the weeping gash at her side but he couldn't have seen with his face so close to hers. "What are you doing?"

"Be still." he said, just above her right ear. "Heal them?"

"Yeah. I think they've been poisoned. Shallow breathing. Lethargy. What are you doing?" she tried again.

"You carry faint traces of another scent. Who?" he commanded.

His face dipped lower and the cool tip of his nose grazed the side of her throat.

"I don't-" The miko swallowed and cleared her throat. "I don't know who it was but…"

Kagome recounted the whole event while Sesshoumaru pressed his nose first on her right side, then repeated the gesture on her left. She told him quietly about the taunting, the odd curved sword, and the threats of his death as her heartrate steadily decreased and her brain grew fuzzy with relief as his youki surrounded her in safety and reassurance. After standing to his full height, she noted that his youki had settled back into the familiar rolling waves that meant he was content.

'Did he do all of that… touching just to calm himself or me?'

"It seemed like he wanted me to follow him into the woods." she continued. "He seemed off, somehow. I couldn't detect any youki from him, or very little anyway, and then he showed back up here at camp, trying to attack the children for some reason."

"The assassin is the reason Ah-Un is poisoned?"

"I think so, yes."

"Be still. One moment."

He walked around the groaning heads of the dragons and cupped his hand beneath a small vial produced from his sleeve. The daiyoukai growled lowly and offered the contents of the vial to each one before rising and walking back to Kagome. Without a word, he lifted her feet from the ground and she hissed as the wound stretched beneath her clothing. Sesshoumaru laid her down gently on the pile of the children's blankets.

"Are your supplies sufficient to tend your wound?" Kagome nodded and took the worn backpack from his hand with her thanks. "How did the assassin circumvent you to harm Ah-Un?"

"I was actually a short distance into the woods, looking for you and the killer, and he circled back around ahead of me. I guess that's when he got to the dragons."

"You left the pups unguarded?"

"No, Ah-Un was here, and not poisoned at the time, and I left a barrier around the children."

His voice and amber eyes hardened. "You disobeyed my simple command to stay here and wait."

"Excuse me?" Kagome sat up straighter. "Disobeyed you? I'm not a soldier you can bark at to sit and stay, Sesshoumaru. I'm a person and I made a decision."

"Kagome-sama-" Rin started from behind her Lord, sounding concerned.

"If you had obeyed," the inu continued with narrowed eyes, "no danger would have befallen you or the children."

"I thought you might be bleeding out somewhere in the woods! I was looking for you! If you had stayed here with us, I wouldn't have had to go looking."

"You blame my absence for your carelessness?"

"I blame your absence for our attack, yes. If you hadn't left, I'm pretty sure we could've gotten rid of both them together."

Sesshoumaru opened his mouth to say something else but Kagome cut him off.

"You left us here to play hero alone. You wanna guarantee our health and safety? Stay next time."

"You do not command This Sesshoumaru."

"But you can command me? Seems a little contrary, don't you think?"

"A Mate should submit and do as I ask, you stubborn woman."

Kagome stood in spite of the pain and faced him with a glare of her own, nearly yelling over his angry growling.

"I'm not your Mate yet and this will never work if we don't work as a team, you grumpy, overbearing… ugh, dog!"

The yelling and posturing took their toll and Kagome doubled over and hissed over new pain flaring in the angry gouge in her side. She pressed her hands hard against the wound, walked over to grab a rag from her bag, and stomped off into the woods. Shippou ran after her a second later and the whole camp was quiet but for the whining of the recovering dragons.

…

A little farther into the trees, Kagome was trudging through the trees, swearing.

"Maddening… self-important… who the hell he thinks he is…"

The miko grumbled all the way to the small stream where they'd gathered water this evening and began peeling her torn haori away with another sharp inhale.

"Let me help, Momma." the kit said, grabbing the collar and helping her disrobe.

"Thanks. Mmm… It's deeper than I thought."

"It was a dragon claw. What did you expect?" Shippou said wetting the rag. "Can you heal it?"

"No, I'm too mad to focus. We'll be home tomorrow and I'll heal it then. Would you go back to camp and grab my med kit from the bag? I'll just stitch it up for now since we're flying again in the morning."

"'Kay. Stay right here."

Kagome nodded and continued cleaning the blood away from her lower ribs before moving on to her clothing. A minute later, Shippou was talking to someone over a foxfire torch as he made it back to the stream.

"… you can try if you really want to. Kagome's got lots of experience sewing us all back up, though."

"Kagome-sama?" came the gentle voice of Rin.

"Rin?" The miko saw the young woman push the brush aside to get to the stream, holding her med kit and looking concerned. "What are you doing here? You can go back to sleep now. Sesshoumaru's here and I'll be going to sleep, too, as soon as I get this cleaned up."

"She came to help you stitch it up. Something about learning from Kenshin." the kit shrugged.

"Oh, have you, Rin? The cut's in an awkward place so if you feel like you can do it, I'll let you."

Rin nodded resolutely, determined to be as useful as everyone else today, and laid out the supplies.

"Shippou, clean that for me, would you?" Kagome gestured to the needle.

He grabbed it and sterilized it with his small flame. Rin watched with fascination as he prepped everything before handing the needle carefully back to Rin. Kagome pulled the rag away and Rin went to work. A few stitches in, now that the excitement had died down and the stream was burbling a lullaby, Shippou yawned widely and wavered on his feet.

"Got to bed, Ship." Kagome said between drags of the needle. "We won't be long. Ouch! Faster is not better, Rin-chan. Slow down and make sure you get the best angle before- Ah. Mm hmm. Better."

"'Kay, Kagome. G'night." Shippou mumbled and patted her knee.

"Night, Ship."

Tiny footfalls faded and when Kagome felt Shippou's aura close in on Sesshoumaru's prickly one, she relaxed. He was safe there.

"Kagome-sama?"

"Hmm? Oh, right. Now, what is it you really came out here to do?" the miko grumbled.

Mahogany eyes flicked up to Kagome's cerulean with a tint of nervousness. Kagome was earnest and open but this would mark the first time Rin confronted her and the younger girl was nervous.

"You must not be so hard on milord."

"Hard on him? He's the one- Hn!"

Rin ignored her as another poke of the needle closer to the bone stole Kagome's breath.

"Lord Sesshoumaru has been alone for a long time. Longer than any of us have been alive. He is used to doing things his own way. When Rin was little, he did as he pleased and I was happy just to follow him anywhere. As I grew, he noticed that I was sad when he left, that Rin felt alone when he was gone for a long time. Now, he comes to see me, he takes me places, and he asks me things."

"… Old dogs and new tricks, huh?"

"Pardon?"

"Nothing. A bad joke. Go on."

Rin continued, confused but undeterred.

"It took time for Lord Sesshoumaru to remember how to be part of a pack again. You must try to understand him and give him time to adjust to being with new people. It hurts Rin to hear you fight when you both want the same thing."

"And what is that?"

"A pack. A family. Rin wants- I want you to be part of our family, Kagome-sama, and Sesshoumaru-sama does, too," Kagome shot her a skeptical look, "in his own way. He would not have offered to bring you back or to stay with us in the village if we were only an obligation."

"You're right, I suppose. I love you and Shippou, and I'm trying to understand Sesshoumaru but he doesn't make it easy. So self-righteous all the time… Tie that closer to the- Yes. Good job."

Rin tied and clipped the last stitch, wiped and tucked the tools away, then sat down close to Kagome while the miko washed the remaining blood from the wound.

"Lord Sesshoumaru is Alpha, Kagome-sama. It is his way and his right."

"He's trained you well, I suppose," Kagome mused, tucking one arm in the ripped haori, "but I'm not okay with being dominated."

"I am not trained," Rin said indignantly. "Rin wants milord to be her Alpha. He is kind and thoughtful, strong and brave, and he cares about Rin's health and happiness. I trust him to make decisions about my safety for me and he lets me make those decisions about my life which I care about."

"Where I come from, women are free to do and be what they want, more or less. I was raised to be independent; to live for and take care of myself."

"That sounds lonely, Kagome-sama. Does he know this about you?" Rin asked, and Kagome shook her head. "Milord would not wish to take your freedom from you but he does wish to keep you safe even if you do not like the way he says things. You should not yell at him so."

"You're probably right. Thank you, Rin. For both your advice and your help. You did a good job. I'll start your training when we get back to Edo. We have a new priestess to break in this summer sometime so you can learn together."

The serious look in the younger girl's eyes told Kagome the discussion was not yet over.

"You should apologize to him."

"Probably, but I'm too peeved and tired to force it out tonight. His highness will just have to wait."

Kagome tucked the med kit back together and rose with a groan, feeling the tightly sewn flesh shift uncomfortably.

"Do you love him?" Rin asked. "Is that why you challenge him? Kouji-san told me that sometimes the more you love someone, the harder it is to let them make their own mistakes."

"No, I don't but I do want him to live and be happy," Kagome sighed, "just as I want for you and Shippou. That's why his bone-headed nature is so frustrating."

"You are very much alike." Rin grinned.

"Excuse me?"

In all the time they had known each other, Rin had never said anything so brazen. Her grin widened.

"You and my Lord are very much alike. Rin is satisfied."

The walk back to camp was short and silent as the miko considered Rin's advice. Kagome settled Rin in for the night, tucked Shippou in again now that his snoring sprawl had disheveled his blanket, and then laid down herself with a heavy and tumultuous heart.

Sesshoumaru watched her care for the pups first, then ready herself, all without regard for him. He leaned against Ah-Un and gazed upward at the clouded sky.

'Her instincts to care for the pups is intact but no others? Her safety, submission, and sense of priority are all skewed. No true intended Mate would leave such a breach for the morning. Perhaps, humans and youkai are too fundamentally different to truly understand one another.'

Kagome looked in his direction from her place on the ground, beside the children, and blinked once and then again. She took out a pale, golden ribbon and quickly braided her hair before tying a neat bow. With another cautious look in his direction, she captured his amber eyes and swallowed nervously. He watched with growing astonishment as the miko tossed the thick braided mass behind her and tipped her head just slightly to the side, baring her pale throat and looking at the ground.

He forgot to breathe. The urge to claim her innocent apology with his fangs was powerful and the muscles in his legs tensed and prepared to spring. It had been so long…

"Goodnight, Sesshoumaru." she said quietly.

No, his intended was not inviting his affection but innocently apologizing. The effect was complete and his ire faded completely. This bold, obstinate, powerful woman could swallow her pride and show vulnerability, and he could accept it.

"Goodnight, Kagome. Now, sleep. I will keep watch."

It was a test. A simpler command to test the truth of her compunction. To his surprise, her anger did not spike but she nodded as a wide yawn overtook her, laid down with a sigh, and was asleep within a minute.

'Or perhaps not.' he mused.

…

The remainder of the trip back to Edo was short and quiet. Shippou tried to make conversation with Rin several times but the wind stole most of his words and her human ears had trouble hearing anything but the rushing wind. Eventually, they both gave up and simply watched the land pass by, settling for pointing and gesturing to pass the time. After a few hours, Shippou stood up in the saddle in front of Rin, shouting and pointing as he caught sight of the first familiar farms surrounding Edo.

'Thank the kami.' Kagome sighed. 'Something familiar and predictable.'

She glanced over at Sesshoumaru. He was flying beside them but a fair distance away to give either the dragon or the miko plenty of space, she couldn't decide which. They hadn't spoken while camp was broken and cleaned up, but he had hunted for them and lifted the bulk of their supplies onto Ah-Un without provocation. His youki was settled but not without the occasional spike of… some emotion or another.

Amber met sky blue as he cocked his head, silver hair and voluminous pelt whipping behind him, and stared right back at her.

'Caught!' she panicked, cheeks warming and jerking her head forward again.

Before she could embarrass herself further, Sesshoumaru dipped below them and Ah-Un followed and began to descend. In a few more minutes, the dragon landed with a jarring and galloping run, slowed to a walk, and sauntered along the grassy hills until they were at the village borders.

Kagome sighed as she took in the split rail fencing and uneven furrows. The rice fields were full of strong, tall plants that were nearly ready for harvest.

Summer this time last year meant getting ready for a wedding and finishing the last few minor jobs on their new home as she prepared to start a new life. Autumn, the anniversary of Inuyasha's death, was fast approaching and the next year, autumn would mean the start of a new life all over again. A new life far away from this familiar and comfortable place.

Next, her eyes locked on the shabby and weather-worn Bone Eater's Well. The well sat alone on the hill, far away from the fields and the village. The miko found her gaze drawn to it, wondering how Sesshoumaru would handle the truth. She reached out with her power and found the well dormant and unstirred.

'That complicates things a little.'

Sesshoumaru plucked Rin from the dragon's back and watched the kit hop down to join his mother, who was lost in thought and staring into the forest beyond the well. Rin hugged Sesshoumaru, he reminded her to stay within the village and he would join her for dinner, and she began to walk slowly down the hill with a smile.

"Kagome?" Shippou called up to her. "You okay?"

"Shippou, I need you go to Kaede's ahead of me. I have to talk to Sesshoumaru."

The kit leapt onto her shoulder and whispered as quietly as he could.

"Kagome, I know you said you needed to tell him the truth but does he really need to know?"

"Yes." Kagome said seriously. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. It has to be done and I'm tired of hiding the truth. Maybe we'll understand each other better after I ruin his perception of reality."

"If you say so…" he said skeptically. "I'll wait at Miroku's house, though. Kaede's smells funny and the kids are way more fun."

"Mmm. Tell Miroku and Sango I'll be there in a bit to catch up."

"'Kay."

He nuzzled her cheek once, gave an awkward and unsure nod of his head in Sesshoumaru's direction, and bounded off to chase after Rin.

Sesshoumaru removed the dragon's saddle and jerked his head to dismiss them to hunt. Ah-Un swished their huge tail and galloped into the forest on the southern side of the hill. All the while, the miko stood and gazed fixedly into the woods while her scent swirled with nerves and uncertainty.

Kagome had thought of a myriad of ways to approach the subject of her origin but each one sounded less like a winner than the last. Taking him down the well? Nope. It wouldn't let him through, he'd scoff and she'd end up telling him everything to prove him wrong. Start with her family history and how different modern life was in Tokyo? Nah. He had no frame of reference and she'd sound even nuttier talking about cars and convenience stores. Just blurt it out and wait? He'd scowl and demand an explanation at best; or disappear and write her off as insane at worst. Standing here wasn't getting anything done. If she went all the way back to the beginning…

'Yes! Start at the beginning of the whole crazy tale and go from there. First, I need to deal with that agitated youki of his.'

Sesshoumaru watched her reach up, lift the dark mass of her plait, and free it. Gentle waves of ebony rolled against each other as she shook her head. Tucking the ribbon away, she swallowed and faced him, holding out an open hand.

"I promised I'd tell you the truth when we got back and I would like to before I lose the nerve. Come with me into the woods?" Kagome said, staring into his eyes with a knowing sadness. "There's someplace I want to show you."

"Very well."

Her request was not a surprise after their discussion at the kitsune village but the sadness growing in her aura was confusing. Was the forest a place of tragedy for her? More than that, her extended hand was unexpected. She had never initiated intimacy with him before. Did she need the reassurance of touch to explain her past?

"It's just a hand but you don't have to if you don't want to."

"You have never requested my touch. Why now?"

"This won't be easy for me to explain and maybe- maybe I need to know you care enough to really listen."

"Care for what?"

"Never mind." she sighed. "Come on."

"Wait."

The inu stepped forward, skeptical amber meeting saddening ocean blue, and slipped his right hand into her offered left. A warm and gentle smile lit her face and he found himself grateful for the contact. Either she knew he had been warring with himself for the majority of the day over their most recent conflict; or for the first time, they had needed the exact same thing.

Her small hand was warm, calloused, and slightly damp from nerves. Not that he minded. His was cool and much larger, and she stared down at their clasped hands with wonder and a fleeting sadness. Her aura settled around her in great waves and he freed his own in a show of trust and interest.

"Thank you." she said quietly.

He wondered why her thanks sounded almost like an apology but before he could ask, she had turned around and taken off at a brisk pace for the woods. Before the miko and daiyoukai had made the edge of the woods, they had matched stride in peaceful silence. Beyond the sounds of their steps, the land was quiet and peaceful except for the thrumming of cicadas and chirps of woodland songbirds. Several yards in and covered by the shadows of taller trees, her voice broke through the silence as she continued to walk.

"Sesshoumaru? Do you remember when I said I wanted to tell you the truth about where I came from?"

"Hm."

"Actually, it's not 'where' I'm from but 'when.'"

"Pardon?"

Her heart sped up and he heard her take a deep breath over his right shoulder.

"My family-" She stopped walking, faced the valley, and pointed at the hill overlooking the village with her free, right arm. "-lives right there on the same shrine you see now." He felt her stare at the side of his face. "Five centuries exactly into the future. It will be built up over the coming centuries but it's the same land. That's where I come from."

"You are not making sense."

"I'm not from the Warring States era, as this period of our history comes to be called, but I'm from modern Tokyo five hundred years into the future. That's when."

His eyes found hers and narrowed as he released her hand. She let him without protest but held his gaze.

"You have been angry for the greater part of the day but that is hardly an excuse for luring me into the woods to satisfy your need for levity."

"I'm not joking and I'm not lying. Use your nose."

He inhaled the air between them without breaking eye contact. The saccharine sweetness that had accompanied her few clumsy lies was not present. Then… she was telling the truth? One of her dark eyebrows raised in victory and his frown deepened.

"Explain."

"On my fifteenth birthday, my cat wandered into the well house that surrounds the Bone Eater's Well in my time. A demon sensed the Shikon no Tama that slept within my body, slipped through the well," Kagome parted the gaping hole in the already torn haori to show him the wide, pink scar beneath the bandage, "and slashed me to steal it. The jewel was brought here, to this time, by me. It was my responsibility from the second I was born and when she cut it from me, I freed Inuyasha from his seal to kill her and take it back. The rest, you pretty much know."

"You claim to be from this pitiful village, five centuries beyond this moment?"

"Yes, and the world I come from is so different. We speak differently, act differently, and dress very differently. That's why I've always been 'strange' to everyone we came across. I am a stranger but not because I'm from a small, remote village somewhere else but because I'm from the future."

His brain whirled but, in a split second, settled on clarifying one fact at a time.

"You are a priestess, are you not?"

"I have the reiki of a priestess, and I lived on my family's shrine, but I was not raised to be a miko like Kaede. I was raised like any regular girl; like Rin. I went to public school, I had friends and an annoying little brother, I studied for tests and played sports, but one day, all of that seemed so much less important than saving everyone I knew here from certain death at the hands of Naraku."

Her resolve was noble and commendable but it could not be true. He had been to other dimensions, other planes of existence, but they existed in the same timelines. To suggest such a thing was possible seemed a violation, a perversion, of the very nature of life and the world. Her claims were wild and unsettling but as her explanation deepened, her scent never changed. Always the dewy camelias and fresh rain scent he had come to appreciate, and the nervous yuzu of her uncertainty over his reactions, but never the scent of lies or fear or malice.

"What proof have you?"

"The well itself isn't cooperating right now but I have another idea. Follow me."

"Where?" he demanded.

"You'll have to wait and see."

Kagome was banking on his innate inu curiosity to drive him forward. She walked away from their vantage point and deeper into the forest, guarding her exposed ribs with one arm tucked neatly around herself, and the other working to clear brush from her path.

As he watched her power through her own uncertainty and nervousness just as she was the foliage, Sesshoumaru realized the woman was most likely telling the truth. It explained much about her behavior and disparate notions about mating and pack behavior.

The daiyoukai shadowed her silently and Kagome simply walked ahead of him, allowing him the space and silence to absorb.

"Here it is." she said quietly.

Kagome approached the unremarkable tree with reverence. A twisted mass of gnarled roots and vines grew up from the ground and enveloped the trunk up to the lowest branches. The trunk itself bore a large, bare spot that was free of branches and bark. She stepped forward and laid her free, right hand against the naked trunk.

"This was where I was attacked. I ran from the well as fast as I could and then I found Inuyasha. Saw him for the first time right here."

Sesshoumaru sniffed and nearly lost his composure as the familiar and lost scents of his brother were woven into the tree itself.

"Is this…?"

"Where he was sealed. Yes. A sacred arrow through his chest held him to the tree right here." Kagome turned her head. "You never knew?"

He was three steps behind her and gazing up at the bare trunk. There it was: that same lost and regretful gaze that might appear to be stoicism and indifference to anyone else. Already, Kagome knew him better. This place was another reminder that he was already too late.

"I turned a blind eye to much in my rage. I did not seek him out while the West was in turmoil. It was only when most of the work was done that I left to patrol the land once again. This land is also part of the East so I have no cause to come so deep into the dragon's territory without good reason out of respect for our agreements."

"Oh. Should you not be here? I didn't think of that."

Still, Sesshoumaru didn't look away from the tree.

"Ryouzou was warned of this journey. He slept here for over five decades…"

"Mmm. The arrow held him to the tree and when I broke the seal, he woke up and started shouting and growling like not a day had passed." She laughed just once and it sounded hollow. "It wasn't until much later that I learned what had happened, why he was here, but he saved my life that first day we met. Tried to end it too, but he did save me."

"Naraku's malice reached far and wide. My little brother and the clay miko were but two innocent victims adrift in a sea of death."

"We can talk about that some more if you want to but that's not what I wanted to show you. Come here, please."

Kagome gestured for him to place his hand on the tree and, though he thought her stranger than usual in this moment, complied with her playacting and laid his right hand against the sun-warmed tree. His curiosity peaked when she laid her hand atop his and closed her eyes. A moment passed and then another and he was a second from pulling away and accusing her of teasing once again when a trembling echo beneath their stacked hands caused his eyes to widen.

"Stay still." she said quietly. "Just listen."

Kagome furrowed her brow and more of her reiki was funneled into the tree. Soon, the faint sounds of life reverberated around them as if heard underwater. Blaring roars, ringing, birds chirping, the crackle of an electric storm, the sound of wind through branches. Sesshoumaru opened his citrine eyes to watch her. A palm laid against the tree, the faint glow of energy passing from her hand to the sacred tree, Kagome wore a sad grin and he smelled the salt of withheld tears as she connected with what he assumed was the homeland beyond her reach.

His heart understood her anguish. So far removed and stolen away from all those things that were familiar. The Lord of the North had sentenced her to do it all over again. Despite the multitude of changes and uncertainty, she had still selflessly agreed to Katsurou's demand and was making the best of what time she had wherever she was.

He marveled for a moment at the selflessness of his future Mate. If he was not careful, it would be all too easy to take advantage of her open and amiable nature. She was an innocent and unique soul in need of a protector to safeguard her future and her heart. He made the decision to do both in the years of her life they would share.

The connection to her home was cut off and Kagome moved her hand away from his and stepped back to sit carefully on one of the gnarly roots.

"You have lost much to fulfill your promises."

"I'm not the only one. We're more alike than I realized. My past life is out of reach but not because I can't go back there. It's out of reach because I can never go back to living the way my family does. I don't belong there anymore. All I can do is move forward and make the best of whatever time I have left. Here… and with you."

"You keep this truth hidden from everyone?"

"No, my friends in the village know. Kaede knows. Obviously, Shippou knows. And now you know. Honesty is paramount between Mates." she grinned. "Now you know the truth about me."

"My brother knew?"

"Brace yourself," she grinned wider. "-your brother could come with me to the future. He met my family. My mother, grandfather, and my own brother. Souta loved him. They all did."

"Inuyasha was… unique. He had a true pack with you, then."

"I like to think so. He was comfortable with them. I'm used to a relationship like that with someone I love. I want trust and honesty, just like you do, but I need to feel valued and equal. When you bark orders at me and disappear, I feel like an accessory. A tool. To me, that's not an equal partnership."

"And you value being equal above being guaranteed safety?"

"Those two ideas are not mutually exclusive, Sesshoumaru. I can trust you to keep us safe and not be made to feel like a pawn. Trust is a big thing for you but when it comes to a partner, it's big for me, too. I need you to trust me enough to make decisions, even if they aren't the ones you might have made. I want to be part of a team. I will never be a cowering, submissive wife; and I may not agree with you about lots of things, but it doesn't mean I'm wrong and you can bark orders at me and still get your way, Alpha or not. You agreed to a human Mate and that's what you're getting. That's why I was so upset yesterday."

"I understand."

"Then you get why I can't just take orders without question."

"You can, and should, when your life depends on my knowledge of your safety."

"What?"

"In your future, is the world so dangerous as it is here? You were not a trained warrior when we met the first several times."

"No, my world is safer by far, that's true."

"Yet still you would defy my orders when I have nearly a millennium of life from which to draw my strategy?"

"When you put it that way, I understand your reasons but why can't we try my way?" she pushed.

In the blink of an eye, he was knelt before her. On one knee and hard golden eyes boring into her uncertain ocean blue.

"Weakness." He grabbed her shoulders, suddenly desperate for her to understand. "Hear me: You will become my greatest weakness. Katsurou has ensured it. After the Mating, I will feel your fear, your pain, the panic when you are touched by danger. Do not make me choose between the safety of hundreds in my charge and your own. If you cannot obey my orders to remain unharmed, to trust This One to protect you, the distraction caused by your disobedience has the potential to kill us both. This world is not safe or free of danger as yours was. Once a human resides in the Palace as the Lady of the West, I am almost certain there will be many attempts to divide us."

'So that's what happened then… It must be. He already knows something's coming but it happens anyway? What did we do wrong?'

Black hair shook around her face as the worries of the future took a backseat to the concerns of the present.

"The solution isn't to lock me away like a porcelain doll; it's to communicate and plan, for kami's sake. Mortal danger follows me as closely as my own shadow and you-"

Kagome shook her head again. She couldn't tell him anything about his own future. Not when she was still trying to change it. Her small hand faltered in the empty space between them then cupped the right side of his jaw.

"If they want to kill us off or make mistakes by dividing us then the most practical solution is to stay together. I'm trying to learn about you and trust you. You have to trust me, too."

Frustration swirled in his aura and his gaze left her to stare into the nothingness of the deeper forest as acceptance crept in. She was right. Two decades of life and the least strategic being he had ever known, and she was right. They could be stronger together if he could learn to trust her. Not that either of them would make it easy.

He rose from the ground and stood before her.

"Tell me of the future then. What becomes of my house?"

Panicked blue eyes found him staring at her once again.

"I can't."

His golden eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Cannot or will not?"

"I don't- Don't ask me to-" she sputtered.

'Idiot! I never thought he'd ask me that!'

Sesshoumaru nearly laughed as she panicked to come up with an excuse. It was wrong but she was so easily flustered…

"Breathe, Kagome. If ever there is a time to impart necessary knowledge of the future, I… will trust you to do so."

"Really?"

"Hm. Show me that you are worthy of my trust by returning it, today and in all matters of importance."

"I can promise you to try."

"Then that will have to be enough for now. Come."

The Lord of the West raised his chin, stood to his full height, and extended a hand to his intended, who still sat on the overgrown roots at the base of the sacred tree. Kagome only stared at the offered hand for a long moment. Slowly, she reached forward and clasped his hand in her own. He lifted her gently from her seat.

Two steps brought the young woman to his side and they took each other in. Ancient amber and sky blue. Sesshoumaru turned his silver head toward the village and took a tentative step. When she matched his stride once again, a small laugh erupted from his right.

"Hm?"

"Life is strange…" she mused.

He nodded his agreement.

"Indeed, and it grows more surprising with each passing year."

"Well, at least we can count on one thing to happen next year." she chuckled.

"In fact, I can imagine several pleasant certainties in the coming year." He gave her a rare and slightly impish grin as they continued to walk.

"Wait- Are you- Did you just-" Kagome sputtered. "Don't joke about," her free hand concealed her face from him, "…things like that!"

"I speak of the Bonding ceremony of Kenshin and his Mate, and the council meeting preceding our own. To what are you referring?"

"Nothing!" she squeaked quickly, the apples of her cheeks staining a dark pink. "Never mind!"

"Were you suggesting-" he began with an air of mischief.

"Just drop it, okay?!"

His deep chuckle did nothing to calm her mortification but neither one released their hand as they walked down the hill.

…

The afternoon passed by quickly as Kagome gave Sesshoumaru a short tour of the village, pointing at houses and naming the many maladies that had befallen each family.

The villagers they encountered in between stops spoke quietly among themselves as the couple passed by. Kagome was oblivious, happy to be showing him something of hers for once, but Sesshoumaru heard the beginnings of human gossip that was less than flattering about Kagome's fondness for youkai as company.

'Perhaps a permanent guard is in order for observation as much as safety.'

Her scent was overly ripe with camelia blooms and the sweeter wisteria of her unfettered happiness. To continue the pleasant mood, he asked polite but penetrating questions about human afflictions and how they came to be as his future Mate chattered happily. Human health had never been a concern of his but as Rin aged, Kagome asserted that she would need a certain measure of care.

"I am aware your bodies grow feeble with age, but they cease to function properly beginning in late adulthood?"

"That's the black and white version but it's more accurate to say that some individual parts of us begin to break down before others. Miyoshi-san suffers from arthritis in his back, like Kaede does in her hands, and sometimes needs rest in between days of hard work."

"This is an affliction you cannot heal yourselves?"

"We can heal to a point. Not like you can, obviously. Our bodies fight infections, heal injuries, but they will never grow stronger with age."

"And yet your species survives into the far future?"

"Strange, huh?"

"Not so when you consider the rapid pace at which you multiply."

Kagome walked ahead of him and clasped her hands behind her back.

"I'm going to let that ride as an observation of my species as a whole, and not a personal curiosity."

"As you wish." he grinned at her back.

Kagome took him to Kaede's house to formally introduce them. The inu surprised them both by thanking the elder miko for her care of Rin over the past few years.

"Rin is much better adjusted to life with her own kind." he said politely. "I appreciate your care of her."

"She was as necessary and useful as any apprentice. You did me a favor, as well, but I accept your gratitude, Sesshoumaru-sama."

"Where is Rin?" Kagome cut in.

"She and Sango went down to the river to wash clothes and reacquaint themselves. Yer Shippou is guarding the children, I believe. Teaching them valuable lessons, certainly." Kaede winked. "That reminds me, Kagome, Chisato will be arriving sometime around the autumn harvest. I plan to make good use of the extra hands."

"Ah. Okay. Well, we have one more stop up here, then I'll go back home and start cleaning up for dinner. Thanks, Kaede!"

Sesshoumaru observed as Kagome turned around to leave. News of this "Chisato" had soured her scent and dulled the bright twinkle of her eyes that had been present all afternoon. Why? He resolved to ask later but she interrupted his plans as they ducked out of the miko's home.

"Kaede likes you well enough."

"Hm. One of the few humans I have met that have any sense."

"I agree with you there, actually. Follow me. There's something I want you to see."

They set off across a sunlit patch of green grass atop the hill, away from the shrine building closer to the woods. The scent of freshly dug soil and decay reached his nose but a light breeze from the mountain above swept it away. Several footsteps later, the question came.

"Who is 'Chisato'?" he asked from behind her.

"Caught that, huh? She's my… replacement." Kagome cleared the lump from her throat and stopped walking.

"Hm."

"Here we are."

Sesshoumaru had been blindly following the miko and pondering her reasoning for being upset. Before he realized where they had gone, Kagome stopped and pointed to a simple but clean gravestone.

"Inuyasha." she said simply, kneeling down to touch the smooth surface before folding her hands and praying.

The inudaiyoukai had only the presence of mind to wonder quietly why it was blank but found the thoughts wrapped around other, less identifiable emotions. No, this was not the moment to conquer such feelings. The scent of decay reached his nose once again and before his mind could decipher more, he stopped breathing. The daiyoukai surprised her by coldly turning away and walking out of the graveyard before speaking again.

"I thought you might want to see him while you were here." she said quietly, looking confused.

"Perhaps later. I will hunt, collect Rin, and meet you at your home."

"I haven't shown you where that is yet, though."

"I will find it." He laid finger beside his nose.

"Right. Okay then. See you later…"

With a crouch and no backwards glance, he sprang into the air and left her there, wondering what she had done wrong.

…

Hours later, Sesshoumaru saw Rin to bed in the spare bedroom of Kagome's house and rejoined her in the central room. Shippou's light snoring from her own bed was loud enough even for the woman to hear and she grinned toward the dark room.

"Well, good night, Sesshoumaru. Are you sure you don't want to stay here? There's another bedroom and it's no trouble."

"I do not need rest tonight. You should sleep. I will keep watch."

"Are you all right? I'm sorry if I said something earlier that upset you. I didn't mean to-"

"You did not. Good night."

"Wait. I thought we were being honest with each other. You're upset about… something. I can tell."

"Perhaps another time. Meditate and sleep, Kagome."

"Okay. G'night…"

A small hand clutched her ribs where the wound be healed come the morning. The other laid itself over her worried heart.

…

Like a ghost, Sesshoumaru hovered over the graveyard and kept his youki free to ward away any unwanted guests. A strong night wind blew through the village and sent the trees around the shrine into a rustling wave.

'I did not offer you solace in life. Nothing changes by doing so now.'

Silver hair waved as Sesshoumaru looked past the cluster of huts in the village proper to the lone house at the forest's edge just as Kagome doused the last glowing embers of the fire, darkening the windows.

'And yet… Perhaps it is still necessary.'

Seconds later, two black boots touched down near the grave of Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru took one last breath before kneeling down.

"The human way of mourning is primitive. The body does not house the soul. Your peace is not found in the ground atop the land you protected but I hope you have found it."

A clawed finger extended toward the blank gravestone and lit with youki as the daiyoukai called his power and continued his private conversation.

"Our father's land is protected and secure. My hope is that it will survive long into the future now that I have embraced that which you already knew: humans are necessary and some carry honor worth acknowledging."

The sizzle of melted stone ceased for a moment as Sesshoumaru assessed his work but then continued both to speak and to write.

"Your miko is safe and will remain so in This Sesshoumaru's care, as she was in yours. I will respect and honor our connection for as long as she lives. I will spare her from the turmoil of a true Bond with respect for her humanity but Kagome will never know difficulty if This Sesshoumaru can manage it."

A clawed finger reached forward, lit with the glow of acid once more, and Sesshoumaru traced the last few characters.

"I understand now that you had at your disposal the means and knowledge of the future to rule the masses yet you desired only a modest and fruitful life in an inconsequential village with one you loved. You possessed a wisdom and honesty that I failed to-"

A sharp inhale echoed over the silent stone and the elder inu broke his gaze with the grave to collect himself.

"I have never wished for more than was my lot but for your life alone, would that I had the power to change your fate. Be at peace, little brother."

Without another word, Sesshoumaru took off to spend the night atop the roof of his future Mate, making good on the promise to keep her from harm. Below, the once blank gravestone reflected the moonlight that highlighted the shadows of the fresh inscription:

Inuyasha

Heir of the West

Honored son of the Inu no Taishou

…

Deep in a narrow cave hidden the sheer cliffs of the South, a powerful slap rang out and echoed between the damp stone walls. Silver eyes bore down on the frightened and prostrated form of Tsuneyori.

"Idiot! Useless! The child was to die to provoke his rage! They were as vulnerable as ever they could be and you failed to kill even a small human girl."

"The miko refused to cooperate!" the younger male shouted at the cave floor. "I cannot detect her presence without my youki." Pleading, crimson eyes raised with his head. "Father, if you would but remove the seal, I could use my full potential to kill them all!"

"Think! The miko can purify you if you are whole, Tsuneyori. What's worse, your mother would find you and our plans would be at an end. She would pad and coddle you. Return you home and keep you like a pet. I will make you a king. Which would you prefer?"

"I want to understand but the West is not vulnerable. They amass new soldiers each year and his trade with the humans grows more prosperous. How can we two hope to defeat them all?"

"Only the head of a beast need be severed for the body to die. We are invited to the yearly tournament. There, you will disguise yourself as the champion of the kitsune and enter." A clawed hand waved dismissively. "Kill the original, I suppose. When we win, you will provoke the proud Sesshoumaru and his future Mate after the celebratory dinner, and we will end them there. There is no heir, no brother, and no Mate to take the West from us."

"His General is not to be overlooked."

"Ah, but he has a weak spot now as well." Daichi's slim fingers caressed the cheek of Tsuneyori. "Offspring are so useful. Not long now, my kit. Not long now…"

...

AN: Sorry this one took so long but at least it's long, right? I'm back in school and that means less time to write and more time doing less exciting things. I'll still try to keep updates regular, and my motivation is definitely still there, so bear with me. Next time, the anniversary of Inuyasha's death, the Council meeting in the West, and who's that familiar and roguish personal guard of Kagome's? ;)