Kagome's breath was stuck in her chest.
Her heart beat like the rapid flight of a hummingbird.
The smooth skin of Sesshomaru's fingers shifted against hers and with a tug, he pulled her closer, all but upon her now.
He spoke softly.
"Even as a child, I could discern one aura from another, one vibration from the next. This is why the flower stood out to me, why I claimed the Wisteria as my own."
At her look of perplexity, he elaborated.
"They shared the same, unique vibration. It was tangible to me in a way that imprinted upon my young mind, and though each appeared in my life at various times, I knew."
Adjusting his grip on her hand, he cradled it in his open palm, his eyes dragging over the lines upon it.
What did he see, she wondered, in the deeper lines, in the fine ones? Her future, perhaps? Her death?
"I felt it again, years – decades, centuries – later, that unmistakable vibration that thrummed through the air," he said softly, a clawed thumb swiping over the flesh of her palm, almost absentmindedly. "I could see it – could follow it, through the trees to its source. Do you wish to know, Kagome, what it was I found then?"
Unable to speak, she nodded, watching his face as he remained enthralled with tracing her palm.
"A butterfly. So blue, so iridescent…so fleeting."
With a soft sigh, he released her hand.
As if he couldn't bear having his hands removed from her, she felt clawed fingertips sweeping into her hair, pushing it back from her face.
"There is significance to this narrative, Kagome," he finally revealed, capturing her eyes once more. She leaned into his palm, riveted. "The vibration I was so drawn to, it was a soul, calling to me, demanding I fulfill the bond we'd made. Do you understand? I killed the flower and made up for it by revering the Wisteria. I mourned the butterfly, and much later I was rewarded with a blue-eyed companion – a pet whom I called Aoi."
His left hand joined his right, cupping her face in his palms. His brows pulled precariously, and Kagome felt keenly that this would be the culmination of his declaration – for it was surely that.
Kagome was no fool. She wouldn't assume, but she had an idea of where this was heading. And it stole her breath from her lungs all over again.
"When I first laid eyes on you, I knew…you'd come back to me again," he breathed, and Kagome's lip trembled. Tears filled her eyes, and once again, though she didn't understand – couldn't understand something of such magnitude – she knew intuitively that he was right. Knew it in every cell of her entire being.
"It was me?" She choked out, her voice thin with emotion.
"It was always you, Kagome."
A horrible thought broke through the beauty of such a revelation, and unshed tears broke over her lashes to be swept away by a reverent swipe of clawed thumbs. Concern shone in gilded eyes.
"But…I left you…every time. Am I doomed to always leave you, then?"
He huffed, a fleeting smile on his lips.
"Is that why you cry, dear one?"
The lump in her throat choked her and so with a whimper, she nodded, hiding her face in his chest. He allowed it, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, holding her securely against him.
With a deep, steady breath, he tipped his head back, closing his eyes against the tide of emotion that threatened him.
She was right, of course. She'd left him. Repeatedly, she'd left him behind to endure without her presence. Each time left a particular ache he refused to part with.
This time, however…this time would be different.
This time, she was neither flower, nor tree, nor butterfly, nor beastly companion.
She was finally a being he could keep.
And he would not be giving her up this time.