Kyoko smiled in contentment as she began to gather her belongings, but her expression fell slightly as she saw her reflection in the mirror. She was nearly shocked to see that her hair was a few inches higher than her shoulders. "My hair… it's so short now…"
"That's okay, you look fine…" Kimi sighed in contentment as her smile spread nearly from ear-to-ear. "We pulled it off! You get to go home to Sesshoumaru and I get to stay here with Kusanagi! Everything has worked out so perfectly!"
"Yes, it has… but I do worry… you see, grandfather told me that sometimes when I have dreams—they can come true… I've had this one several times now, and I don't know what to do…"
"If you've been having the same dream several times over, maybe you can prevent whatever it is from happening."
"I certainly hope so…"
"What happens in the dream, anyhow?"
"Well, me, Sesshoumaru, and Inu Yasha, Sesshoumaru's half-brother, are fighting an oni. I'm injured for some reason, so Inu Yasha and Sesshoumaru take the battle over. Inu Yasha jumps into the air and slices through the oni—but Sesshoumaru is standing in front of it and is struck down… he dies…"
"Well then, the answer is easy."
"It is?"
"You push him out of the way."
"I suppose…"
Kimi nodded slowly as she threw open the doors of the closet in the room. "Anyhow, we need to get you dressed in fresh clothes. That way you'll look all the better when you return to see him."
Kyoko nodded, a smile upon her face.
~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Later ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~
Kyoko waved 'goodbye' to her father and grandfather as she walked away with Kimi and Kusanagi. She turned towards Kimi with a broad smile across her face as she practically skipped ahead of Kimi and Kusanagi.
Kimi glanced at Kusanagi, confused. "I never would have believed that she could even become happy…"
"She's going home to Sesshoumaru, of course she is happy."
~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Five Days Later ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~ ~
Kyoko shook the water from her hair as she took her first steps on land for a little over a day. The three had managed to make their way to Japan—after they barely survived a storm while at sea. Their boat had been overturned several times, causing them to be plunged into the freezing ocean water. Kyoko had been the one who seemed to suffer the most—she was soaked to the bone and had somehow caught a cold in the last half of the storm. She coughed weakly as she tried to shake water from her kimono in vain.
Kimi watched her ill sister in pity. "Kyoko, you should rest a few days before continuing."
"No… I'll be—" Kyoko paused as she sneezed, "just fine."
Kusanagi watched as the sisters bickered for a few moments, and then he sprinted into a forest shortly away from the shore. When he returned nearly an hour later with a few slain beasts for dinner, the two had set up a small fire and were talking civilly to one another once more.
As Kusanagi set the foods down, Kyoko's happy expression turned serious. "Tomorrow, regardless of my condition, I am going to head home—alone. I sense that there will be another storm worse than the one we have suffered already in three days. If you don't leave soon, you may get caught up in it."
Kimi shook her head. "We cannot leave you sick like this…"
Kyoko's eyes met Kimi's in anger. "I'll survive—but if you two don't go as soon as possible, you'll drown for sure."
Kusanagi nodded slowly. "She's right… I wasn't born with the ability to see things such as Kyoko can, but I have a bad feeling about staying here any longer. Kyoko, are you sure that you'll be fine?"
Kyoko nodded. "I've had a cold before, I know most of what I can and cannot do."
"Fine, Kimi, we're leaving at daybreak tomorrow."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Kyoko awoke the next morning, she saw Kimi and Kusanagi patching the boat in preparation to leave. She approched her sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law with a faint smile on her face. "Kimi-onésan, I'm going to miss you…"
Kimi turned around and embraced her sister. "You promise that you're going to come back sometime?"
Kyoko nodded with a smile.
"Good. Send a messenger to let us know of your arrival and we shall prepare a great celebration…"
Kusanagi nodded as he pulled the boat towards the ocean. "Kimi, it's time to go now… And… Goodbye, Kyoko—good luck with Sesshoumaru—I hope that you two can be happy together."
Kyoko nodded and watched as Kimi jumped into the boat with Kusanagi and the two disappeared from sight. She smiled to herself as she turned away from the ocean and headed to the southwest of where she was.
It was some hours of running, sprinting, and occasionally walking before Kyoko decided to stop. She had reached the edge of a forest and had caught the scent of a human and a yokai. She slowly approached the two, seeing that the yokai was a woman, perhaps a little older than Kyoko and the other was a human boy. Kyoko gasped when she realized that the boy was the same one that had helped her several months before—he was Kohaku, the taijiya's son—Sango's brother.