Inuyasha looked on as Sesshoumaru died; watched as his body took on the look of an empty shell. It was almost as though one could see the instant in which the soul had fled. He sat back on the heels of his bare feet, vaguely listening as Kagome tried to comfort the inconsolable Rin. He had always considered Sesshoumaru as being incapable of a noble act. It's just like you to do one nice thing in your entire life … and then drop dead, Inuyasha thought darkly. Who would have ever thought that Sesshoumaru would have been dealt a demise he hadn't deserved?

He quickly wiped his hands clean on his clothing and, standing, glanced over at the two girls. Kagome had her arms wrapped around Rin, and the younger girl was crying her heart out, a horrible, soul-rending sound.

"Hey, stop that … he knew what he was doing. Tenseiga can bring him back, got it? That was the whole point. You'll just piss him off if you cry all over him," Inuyasha said sternly.

With that parting comment, he stalked off into the slowly-lightening morning. The sun was rising, and the first pink hints of daylight were forcing the darker blue out of its way. Inuyasha looked around the desolate landscape, using his senses to try to pick up on Ashrem. The man had disappeared at some point during the battle, when exactly he was not sure, since Sesshoumaru's actions had been riveting his attention at the time.

With a light-footed leap and Tetsusaiga clutched in one hand, he jumped up to the ledge Ashrem had used as a perch from which to heckle at Sesshoumaru. From this point of view, the three individuals below him looked much smaller, and he could see far into the distance where a mountain hovered, pale gray in the slowly growing light. The man's foul scent still lingered here, but it was quickly getting old. He had fled from his own victory. Inuyasha walked a few steps away from the ledge, noticing that this time Ashrem had not erased his scent trail. Whether that was due to haste or overconfidence, Inuyasha did not know, but he was certainly going to make use of that bad decision.

He sheathed Tetsusaiga and dropped back down to the dusty ground, eyes scanning the dry terrain for its sister sword even as his mind replayed the direction in which Sesshoumaru had thrown it. Couldn't have made things simple and tossed it in my direction, could you, you obstinate cur? He thought silently as he wandered about, eyes trying to pick up on the gleam of metal

It was not long before he found it, wedged blade-down into the disturbed earth. Briefly recalling the barrier their father had put around Tetsusaiga in order to keep Sesshoumaru from being able to take it, Inuyasha wondered momentarily if he was about to be in for a nasty surprise of his own. This new consideration was not enough to make him hesitate as he reached out and wrapped his fingers around the hilt, pulling it free from the earth with a light tug. I knew the old man liked me better, he thought smugly, as he turned to run back toward the girls.

Kagome looked up as he approached and he saw that even she was slightly teary-eyed. So damned soft-hearted, he thought to himself as he gestured for them to move away from the body. How easily she forgets that, dead or not, this guy wouldn't have given a damn if it had been her lying there. Inuyasha shook his head slightly in consternation. One good deed doesn't wipe out a lifetime of joyfully creating misery and death…

And yet here he was raising Tenseiga in just the manner Sesshoumaru had used when he had set about reviving all of those villagers for Rin.

Okay, two good deeds. You're still the biggest jerk I've ever known.

He waited for those creepy little soul-gatherers to come for their prize, gazing down thoughtfully at his brother's body. He certainly didn't look like the almighty, invincible taiyoukai anymore; more like a human than a demon now that his youkai powers were destroyed. It was rather creepy, actually. Without the usual cold, superior expression, he looked eerily like Inutaisho. Or, at least, what Inuyasha could remember of Inutaisho.

Where are you, you little cretins? he wondered, tapping his foot restlessly. The longer they stood here, the more time Ashrem had to find another hiding place. 

"Will it work, Inuyasha?" came Rin's hesitant, quavery voice from behind him

"Don't worry, I'll figure it out," he assured her, glancing over his shoulder. Sesshoumaru wasn't the only one that looked like hell. At least she'd stopped crying herself into hysterics. "I've just got to wait for those soul-stealing buggers to come along."

There was something about that hopeful look on her face that made him nervous, almost as though he had just committed himself to something he had never done before and had only seen performed a very few times. Inuyasha looked back down at Sesshoumaru … then at Tenseiga … and there was still nothing. He shifted his grip on the sword, but it remained unresponsive. He frowned lightly as he again recalled the speed with which the soul-bearers had come for the humans in Rin's villages. There had not been this long wait …

He seated himself cross-legged on the hard ground as dawn gave way to full morning, Tenseiga clenched in both hands, watching like a hawk. With sudden clarity, he remembered that Sesshoumaru had been trying to tell him something before he had died…something that Inuyasha was now beginning to suspect might have to do with this healing sword that was refusing to help its master.

It's not going to work for me, is it? Inuyasha thought, but he remained still and quiet with Rin and Kagome hovering expectantly over him. That's what you were going to tell me.

There was movement behind him. Rin began pacing nervously, no longer able to keep still, her steps carrying her forward and backward in an anxious rhythm. Kagome caught on to the problem and knelt beside him, looking pensive.

"Did it take this long at Rin's village?" she asked quietly.

"No," he replied honestly. The creatures had descended on the humans with great haste, and Inuyasha was becoming certain that this delay was less because of their lax attention and more because of his inability to see them.

"Then he's gone?"

"Yeah," he said, glancing over at her. She was wearing one of those doe-eyed, sympathetic expressions. He frowned back at her.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha."

He made a derisive sound as he got back to his feet, still clutching Tenseiga. "Baka, save your sympathy. It's not my loss." He looked up into the sky to find that the sun was beginning its steady climb toward noon. He paced a few steps away and bent to retrieve Toukijin from where it had been dropped during the battle.

"I-Inuyasha …" he heard Rin's voice call uncertainly. He straightened, not really liking the idea of having to look at her, but he turned anyway and saw that she had stopped her pacing. She was watching him with a wary expression. "Why---?"

"If Tenseiga was going to save him, it would have by now," he cut her off with his explanation, then silently berated himself as he realized the statement had come out a bit harsher than he had intended. That spark of hopefulness fell quickly back into grief, leaving Inuyasha to wonder what exactly it was about his brother that had perpetuated such devotion in this girl. "Don't cry. He'd hate it."

She nodded stiffly, but avoided looking him in the eye, and Inuyasha figured that his brother might not have done this tormented girl such a favor after all. He extended Tenseiga to her. "Hold onto that for me, will you? Between Sesshoumaru and me, we've got quite an arsenal. I've got enough swords to carry."

She hesitantly reached out to accept it with shaking hands. Without further comment, Inuyasha moved past her. He wasn't good in this type of situation; he wasn't comfortable with grief and sadness. That was something he'd leave for Kagome to help her with. Besides, what words could he say to her? The guy was dead. He clearly wasn't going to come back. Any kind words from him now, considering the long-standing animosity between himself and Sesshoumaru, would likely only sound forced to Rin's ears.

"Let's go," he announced suddenly, after securing Midoriko's sword and Toukijin beside Tetsusaiga.

"Where are we going?" Kagome asked, looking up at him from where she was kneeling to pick up the fallen jewel shards. 

Inuyasha swept past Rin, bending down to pull Sesshoumaru's limp body onto his back before rising to his feet again, adjusting to the sudden extra weight. "Come on, Rin, Kagome. You two are going to have to walk."

"What are you doing?" Rin asked, sounding alarmed and looking at him as though he had just robbed a grave.

"Do you want me to leave him here?"

"No!" she answered vehemently.

"Then let's go," he said brusquely. "We'll return to where we stayed last night."

Pocketing the last of the shards, Kagome rose to catch up as Inuyasha immediately began stalking off in the direction of the makeshift camp they had set up the night before. She reached out to grab Rin's hand as she hurried after him, pulling the girl along behind her.

"Why back there, Inuyasha? Shouldn't we…shouldn't we take him home?" she asked hesitantly, casting an uncertain glance at the form that was collapsed awkwardly over Inuyasha's back. 

"It's not like he cares, Kagome," Inuyasha replied, pausing to shift Sesshoumaru's weight. You're a lot heavier than you look, he thought, as he tried to get a better hold. "I have to find somewhere to leave you two and since we're out in the middle of nowhere, that's going to be the best place. We stayed there long enough for that entire area to absolutely reek of Sesshoumaru, as well as me. No one will try to mess with you there as long as that's the case."

"You're leaving us there?" Kagome asked, looking as though she was already preparing to argue this plan. "What are you doing?"

"Ashrem is either really stupid or unbelievably cocky. His scent is still trackable. I'm going to go after him before it fades."

"Inuyasha …," Kagome began her argument, but he quickly shut her down.

"Don't give me any of that paranoid bullshit, Kagome. That guy just took out someone I've spent decades trying to get a decent shot at. He can't be left to wander around out there. He's going to stir up a lot of trouble. After what I just saw last night, I can guarantee you that Sesshoumaru won't be the last death." 

*****************************************************************************************************************

She could not bring herself to think about it. It physically hurt to even look at him, and she couldn't stand to be away from him. Something awful and morbid rooted her in place, and yet she was grateful for that in an odd way. She didn't want to leave him and she wasn't sure she could have forced herself to stay, if there wasn't for this thing welding her to the ground beside him.

Inuyasha had already taken his leave, and now it was just herself and Kagome left in a silence that draped heavily over them after his departure. Inuyasha was going to go try to kill Ashrem. Has he learned nothing from this? she wondered, with the vaguest stirrings of panic. But, in a way, she was relieved to see him go. It left her less to worry about, in a sense. She didn't have to be paranoid about suddenly finding herself shoved back into her own mind, a spectator, while he ordered her about. She wouldn't snap out of some sort of half-sleep and find herself staring at Inuyasha's death.

Kagome had tried to argue the matter with him, but he had been adamant and stubborn and unyielding. Rin knew where she had seen that before.

As she sat, stiff-backed, painfully dry-eyed, clutching at bent knees, and unable to relax in the least, she stared blankly at Sesshoumaru, as though waiting for some as yet unknown demon trait to kick in and bring him back, to regenerate him. She kept expecting him to wake up and tell her how utterly stupid she was for even thinking that it was possible for him to die.

It was taking a while to understand that this was his death. It felt like hers, too. What was she to do now? Had he just expected her to shrug and live it off? Did he not know her at all? She had seen enough death in her life; it would have been kinder for him to have ….what? she wondered. What else could … or would he have done? Walk away from her? That was not Sesshoumaru. She was not nearly as shocked by his actions as Kagome and Inuyasha had been.

She could not actually remember the act of killing him, or fighting him at all for that matter, but her heart could not dismiss that it had been her hands on the other end of that sword, even as her mind tried its best to assuage that sense of responsibility. The idea that he had returned her life to her only to have her deliver his end to him with such cold precision circled ceaselessly through her head. Guilt was a harsh, merciless predator and it was gnawing at her insides like a disease.

Is that why you chose to do what you did? she wondered, her gaze flickering of its own will to that cold, unresponsive face. Her dry eyes seemed to liquefy and his face blurred as they filled with tears again. Did you allow yourself to feel guilt? You would say no…you would never admit to such a human failing. 

Ever the guardian. Keep the little human girl alive. That was how he had always related to her, even from the very beginning when he had not seemed especially pleased to find her trailing behind him when she had had no place else to go. It was completely unfair of her to be angry now. He had done what he had become conditioned to do over the years. He had bought her another six decades of life in exchange for ageless immortality. And what could she do? What could she possibly do with her life to make up for that?

That thought stirred this new, horrible, clinging guilt. She had not just inadvertently destroyed her dearest friend…it was worse than even that. She loved him, absolutely, devotedly, despite any and all of his harsher qualities. She had for as long as she could remember. First with a childish adoration, and then with a heart that had known all along that, whatever the restrictions, whatever his own true feelings for her were, she could not possibly be content in a life that was separate from him. Where were those feelings supposed to go now? The one they were intended for was gone and she felt like they were repaying her for her deeds by slowly strangling her.  

She wiped at her swollen eyes with the backs of her hands, trying to clear her vision. Where are you now? she wondered fearfully. She had always heard when she was younger that demons were doomed to a tormented, restless afterlife. Surely, that could not be so in his case, not after an act such as his last. That had to have helped make up for anything too terrible he had done in the past. She wondered for a panicked moment if she should have requested Inuyasha to go retrieve his monk friend before he had set off after Ashrem. Miroku. Maybe he would know? Or would at least know what to do? Would prayer help at all?

Absently, her hands clutched Tenseiga, where it rested in her lap. Jaken had often told her that it was and had always been despised by Sesshoumaru. Despite the fact that Rin would have been pleased to never see or touch any sort of weapon again, this was one she would never give up. It was a small bit of comfort to keep something that had been such an integral part of his daily life, an object that had worked thanklessly to keep him and those he chose to revive among the living.

Her hands splayed across the cold metal and she noticed that they were smeared with dried blood. His? Hers? She did not know. She had refused Kagome's repeated attempts to do something about her arm. That wound was well-deserved and she wasn't going to do anything to speed up its healing. When she looked past her hand into Tenseiga's mirror-like gleam, she found she barely recognized herself. Appropriate, considering how different she felt. She was dirty, disheveled, with odd strands of her hair hanging about her face. And these clothes, she thought, glancing down at herself; these strange clothes were covered with even more of it. She was more certain of whose blood that had been. With shaking hands, she pulled at the unfamiliar, heavy armor that clung around her, fumbling to untie it. She tossed it aside piece by piece, pulled it off her shoulders and knees. She yanked her hair free of the ornament that had been holding it back and threw that away from her as well.

"Rin-chan?" came Kagome's careful voice from behind her.

"Yes?" she asked, not even bothering to turn around, so intent was she on removing these lingering signs of that battle.

"There's food…I—"

"Not hungry. Arigatou."

"Rin …"

"Just tired, Kagome."

"Then maybe you should come over by …"

"No."

"He's gone, Rin. He doesn't know you're there," Kagome tried again with a sigh. She was not at all certain how healthy it was to be clinging to the dead as Rin was doing.

"I'm here for me."

What could she understand of this? Rin wondered bitterly, as Kagome took the hint and moved away again. Inuyasha was alive and well. Kagome didn't have these panicked feelings of knowing that very soon she would never be able to see him again.

She would have to tell Jaken. That appalling thought sprung on her then, and her heart began beating with hard, aching jolts that made her feel certain it was trying to escape the mass confusion that was her current existence. How was she ever to explain to him what had happened? He would hate her, absolutely revile her. Jaken loved him, too, in his own way. He had been with Sesshoumaru for so long…long enough for Rin to know that he understood Sesshoumaru as she did. Under the harsh exterior, lax emotions, and cool detachment was a resolve as far as those whose fate he grudgingly concerned himself with. There was almost never a hint of affection, rarely a sign that he cared in the slightest, but his actions were honest and those were how he demonstrated his feelings. It took years of knowing him to understand that. Jaken knew it well. As did Rin.

Despite Inuyasha's amazement, that final act had been very Sesshoumaru. Ashrem would feel as though it had been his victory, but, as always, the outcome had been entirely within Sesshoumaru's control. To Sesshoumaru, her death would have meant that his enemy had won. His death had been brought onto himself. In that way, it had been acceptable to his pride. She supposed Ashrem had known that much about him and had capitalized upon it.

Hesitantly, she reached out and touched that cold hand. It felt foreign, unreal, no longer radiating the natural warmth of a youkai. The claws were jagged and broken, they had turned instantly brittle after the purification had stripped him of his demonic powers. It was almost like a human hand now. And that's all that separates us? she wondered. That intangible aura of power that had clung to him his entire life, the one that was now gone, leaving a very human-like shell ... it seemed like such an insignificant difference to her, yet it had been so important to him. 

But for all of her bitter thoughts, the anger and grief and guilt, there was another less destructive feeling she was experiencing as well. She wrapped both of her hands around his lifeless one, as though the act had any hope of warming the skin. He would hate what was going through her head. She could almost hear him chiding her for being so hysterically human.

"Arigatou, Sesshoumaru-sama," she whispered, wishing more than anything that he would be able to hear that above all of her other thoughts.

**********************************************************************************************************

There was no transition between that consuming darkness and the light he suddenly found himself blinking against. Sesshoumaru simply went from death to whatever this was, with no warning, no clear idea of what this was. He was standing ankle-deep in impossibly green grass, a field that extended beyond sight in all directions. There was nothing else, save a cloudless sky and warmth from beams of sunlight that appeared not to have a sun from which to originate.

And after all those times Inuyasha told me to go to hell … , he thought, vaguely amused by the scene in which he now found himself. The hanyou would be terribly disappointed to find that they had not taken his suggestion. Instead of the afterlife of the damned and a cursed semi-existence, it appeared he would spend eternity with … this.

"This is not your afterlife," came a soft voice, one that was very familiar, even though centuries separated the last time he had heard it. "It's just a stopping point."

He looked to his right to find that a young woman with long, black hair was standing beside him, clothed exactly as he had last seen her.

"Midoriko," he said, turning to face her fully, finding that he was somehow not at all surprised by her sudden appearance.

"Sesshoumaru-sama," she greeted him with a playful smile, mischievously emphasizing the honorific.

"Are you mocking me?"

"Just a little bit," she admitted teasingly.

"Then I can rest assured that it is indeed you," he replied indulgently. He looked up from her familiar face to the solitary landscape around them. His youkai senses were gone, and yet there was no accompanying feeling of sensory blindness. How strange that this place seemed to lift something off of him, as though he had been carrying an enormous weight he had never been aware of before. "How real is this?"

"I'm not sure how to answer that," she said with a small laugh. "It is as real as your death, but it's not permanent." She tilted her head slightly. "And do you want to know something that I find fascinating?"

"You're going to tell me, anyway," he guessed.

She grinned widely at him, as though she had just been vindicated in a long-standing argument. "This place is where one waits for their soul to move on. It manifests itself differently for everyone that passes through here. If you are a horrible, detestable creature that relishes death and destruction, that is what you will find waiting for you. It says a lot about you that this is what you came to."

"It's quiet. I like quiet."

"It reflects a soul that recognizes itself as not having earned a contented afterlife, and yet does not judge itself as deserving of a hellish one, either. It tells me that you are honest with yourself, you understand that you are not precisely good, but certainly not evil."

"Are you here to judge my soul?" he asked wryly. If so, he had the feeling he was about to get off very easily.

"No one can judge their soul better than themselves, Sesshoumaru," she told him. "You have left some very sad people behind. Does it surprise you to hear that?"

"I expected that from Rin," he answered her.

"Inuyasha is trying to save you."

He glanced up at the blank sky, as though expecting to see his brother's face still hovering over him. "He will be unsuccessful. Tenseiga will not function for him. I know that as certainly as anything."

"He does not know that yet. Quite an effort from the brother that detests you."

"It would have been something for him to rub into my face."

"He does not want your death. And you do not hate him, not anymore."

"Ah, and have you become omniscient over these past decades, Midoriko?"

"No," she said as she placed her arm through his in a friendly gesture. "But I know you both very well; well enough to make you very uncomfortable, I think, my friend," she said, laughing at the forbidding look he gave her. "You see, I can make judgments as an outsider, while you are blinded by years of pride, conflict, arrogance, and bitterness, yours over his human heritage and Inutaisho-sama's decision to die for him, his over your blame and obvious dislike."

"You must have been excessively bored during these last two centuries to have spent so much time on so simplistic and inaccurate an analysis," he told her, feeling uncomfortable at the thought of her being able to pull things out of his head and heart.

"And you are far more complex than you will ever admit to," she replied easily. A silence descended between them, and then she added, "It is so good to see you, Sesshoumaru."

He frowned at her, surprised, in a way, to hear her say that. "Why have you been avoiding me? Why speak to Rin instead?"

"I was gathering my nerve," she said with a trace of humor. "Things were a little awkward between us in those last days, if you will remember. The idea of facing you has been difficult. And, no," she said emphatically, with upraised eyebrows, "I have not been angry with you."

"Stop that," he said, irritated.

"My affection for you remains unchanged. I know that you did what you could," she informed him, ignoring his complaint. "And despite those years when you reveled in being cold-hearted and heavy-handed, you have emerged as someone who is capable, at times, of great kindness."

"You have clearly succumbed to senility."

She laughed at that pronouncement. "I will admit that it sometimes takes the most drastic of situations to initiate something heartfelt from you, but the fact remains that you are not as awful as you like to think you are. Rin would agree with that."

"She has viewed me as her savior for the past eight years. That has skewed how she sees me. Only recently has she become acquainted with what is actually fact."

"She is kinder in her judgment of you than you are."

Certain that this must surely be the most frustrating, circular conversation in which he had ever participated, Sesshoumaru looked up as the air seemed to darken and the landscape around them began to shrink, subtly at first and then with growing speed. In the distance, there were what looked to be dozens and dozens of small specks coming in their direction, creatures that were shooting toward them as if drawn. A look behind him showed that they were approaching from all sides, and as they came closer, Sesshoumaru recognized them for what they were. He had complicated their job on more than one occasion.

"Soul-Bearers," he said.

Midoriko nodded at this assessment and then, without explanation, reached out for his hand and grasped it. She then extended her fingers as though to clasp onto the one that was missing. Sesshoumaru nearly made a snide comment about this attempt, but the unformed words died in his throat when his shoulder began to tingle strangely. Before he could turn his head to inspect this strange phenomena, Midoriko had already latched onto the long-missing left hand.  He looked down in open astonishment and, as though to prove its realness, tested this newly-regrown hand by flexing the fingers. They responded as though they had never been severed from him.

"You should not even be here," she told him, looking very serious for the first time since she had arrived. Sesshoumaru glanced up expectantly as the first of the creatures swept down toward him, mouths open in a cawing racket that pierced his ears.

He had no clear idea of what to expect in this situation, as he had always been the one to interrupt them in the past, but he could admit to no small amount of surprise when their progress was interfered with by a force other than himself and Tenseiga. Several of the creatures impacted with a barrier and were knocked backward, screeching cries of annoyance.

"I won't let them take you. I need you to help me," Midoriko said, ignoring the creatures as though they were of no consequence. Immediately they began shrilly chattering to themselves in confusion.

"I am hardly in a position to do that at this point," he reminded her as he turned from watching the raucous fit that was being pitched all around them.

"I'm going to send you back. I need you to kill Ashrem."

"Gladly," he said with no small amount of sarcasm.

"I am very serious," she said, her fingers digging into his palms as though to emphasize that point. "The Shikon no Tama was an accident, Sesshoumaru. It has caused so much pain and destruction, and I have been unable to do anything about it. I have never fully controlled it. There has always been someone else there, someone lurking behind me, thwarting me. It cannot be destroyed until his link to me is severed. If you can kill him, I can take care of the Shikon no Tama."

"Will you be able to move on then?"

"I don't know," she admitted, and suddenly she looked far older than the eternally youthful girl that had apparently come to revoke his death. "Does that matter? It is absolutely necessary. I'm not sure what will happen, but I know that it will be better for everyone, no matter the outcome." She squeezed even more tightly onto his hands. "I am gone, Sesshoumaru. There's no way to save me. If you can do this, then we can prevent a lot of harm. You have already seen what the Shikon no Tama can become in the possession of someone with dark intentions. Ashrem is not evil, but his heart is consumed with hatred and a need for revenge. He feels that he is doing right, that what he is doing will preserve humans. The Shikon no Tama will devour him."

Sesshoumaru nodded, though how precisely to kill a man who could force Midoriko to defend him at will was something that did not immediately come to mind.

"Inuyasha has already gone to seek him out. There will be others waiting for him. He could use your help," she said, the concern on her face easily readable. "And … don't dismiss him. He is not weak. You don't give him nearly enough credit."

"That is a matter of opinion."

"Ja ne, my friend," she said with a serene smile, not bothering to argue with him. She could hear his thoughts as surely as if they were her own and decided not to discomfort him further by acknowledging that fact … or by the expectation of a long goodbye. She released his hands. "Rin is waiting for you."

***************************************************************************************************************

Kagome felt certain she had never been this worried and exhausted in her entire life. Despite her attempts at arguing with his decision, Inuyasha had returned them to the camp and, after asking her if she would be able to defend herself with the shards, had departed on his hunt. She had said yes, knowing that she could, but now wished she had told him otherwise. Perhaps he would not have been so quick to leave them if he had thought they were helpless. Every time her eyes had swept toward the sad form of Rin and her silent vigil with Sesshoumaru, it made her heart clench with a nervous fear. She did not want to have to experience that grief.

At least Rin had finally shown some signs of life. The shock of the day had faded and she had suddenly pulled herself to her feet, expressing an intent to go clean herself up. Kagome had been prepared to go with her, but was stopped by her friend's request for her to stay behind with Sesshoumaru. Kagome could not summon much grief over the fallen demon lord; she did not know him well enough to do so, but she did hurt for Rin, and even Inuyasha. She knew that there had been a time when Inuyasha had not so despised his brother. He had been bothered by Sesshoumaru's death, even if he was not one to express it in words. There was a lot of unfinished business between them, unresolved either for better or worse. 

The sun was beginning to set once more and Kagome could not escape the haunting feeling that, only twenty-four hours earlier, she and Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru had been searching for Rin. How quickly things changed. It was a creepy feeling, being left alone under a darkening sky with the lifeless taiyoukai. She shivered lightly as the wind picked up and blew through, provoking the fire into a flickering frenzy. There was a strange feeling lingering in the air, one that was accompanied by an odd squawking call from within the forest.

She looked suspiciously around her, over her shoulders, but saw nothing. She cast a nervous glance at the body beside her, wondering if there was something ominous in the woods around her that was becoming braver as the day-old scent of taiyoukai and hanyou began to steadily fade. Kagome looked away from him again ... and then glanced back a second time, forehead furrowed in confusion.

His markings were back.

Kagome got to her knees and moved for a closer look. She was not imagining things, they had all returned to color, even the ones on his hand, standing brilliantly out against his skin. She forced herself to blink, watching in awed bewilderment as the dark, dull hair regained its luster, and his skin color warmed up from waxy to something a little too healthy for Kagome to be certain of her sanity. Suddenly he was looking far less like a corpse, and more like he was taking a well-deserved nap.

She bent closer, trying to listen for any sound of life ... and was nearly pitched into a heart attack when he jolted awake with a spasming jerk, youkai instincts reflexively reaching out to grasp painfully onto the spectator that was Kagome. She was too astonished to even try to pull away.

Sesshoumaru's eyes opened and he was immediately disoriented. He recognized the "unknown threat" and released his hold on the person that was bent over him, quite disappointed that it had not turned out to be Ashrem. He had gone from Midoriko and that ethereal station between life and afterlife, to a darkening sky and Inuyasha's miko wearing what might possibly be the most ridiculous expression he had ever seen formed by a human face.

"Sess … Sesshoumaru?" Kagome gasped, completely at a loss for what to say, sounding as though she was entirely prepared to believe that he was a figment of a frighteningly overactive imagination.

"Yes?" he asked blandly as he sat up, feeling idly for a gaping chest wound that no longer existed. He inspected his surroundings and found that he was now back at the small clearing where they had waited for Ashrem to summon them.

"Are you ... all right?" Kagome's voice sounded uncertain.

He glanced back at her, withholding the more insulting comment that first came to mind. "I would say this is an improvement, miko, yes." His voice sounded unused and odd to his own ears. A glance noted that the now foreign, unexpected weight of his left arm was as real as it had been when Midoriko had regenerated it.

"Your arm …," Kagome murmured, her mind still whirling with the insanity of what had just occurred. He had revived himself without the use of Tenseiga and had regained a lost arm in the process. It was too strange to be believed.

"Prepare to leave," he ordered her, rising to his feet. He glanced down in irritation to find that Toukijin was not with him. "The hanyou took my sword," he muttered.

"Yes, he went to find Ashrem. He didn't want to leave it here with ...," she trailed off, not wanting to voice the fact that Inuyasha had not been willing to leave a usable weapon behind because of Rin.

"Where is she?" he asked, but as the words came out of his mouth, his sense of smell picked up on Rin's location. Without further comment, he moved to go retrieve her, but was stopped by Kagome's appalled voice.

"You can't just walk up to her! You'll give her a stroke!" Kagome exclaimed. "She's taken all of this really hard, you know. Let me go get her."

Sesshoumaru pointed a finger at the fire and said in a no-nonsense tone, "Put that out. If it's still there when I return, I'm leaving you here."

With that order, Sesshoumaru turned and stalked off into the woods, his senses of smell and hearing working to pinpoint Rin. Her scent was clashing with that of running water, making it an even simpler matter to locate her. He swept soundlessly past trees that were glazed a deep orange by the fading sunset, following a sightless path further and further into the darkening forest. The animals around him went still and quiet, waiting for this new and threatening presence to move past them before resuming motion.

As he descended a thickly treed slope, the sound of a water current became very apparent and he was suddenly uncertain of the wisdom in this. Perhaps it would have been better to send Kagome to warn her first, but the need to reach Inuyasha's confrontation with Ashrem left little time for such careful maneuvering. Rin had certainly had enough shock and difficulty over the past few days, but this one was unavoidable.

He found her standing waist-deep in the water of a slowly-moving stream, still ensconced in the strange, form-fitting black attire Ashrem had provided for her, but the armor was gone now and she was scrubbing at the coarse material with a vengeance. Soaked head to toe, hair soppily hanging around her shoulders, hands moving with a rapidity born of frustration, she gave off the image of a very cold, very tired, very sad young woman. As much as he disliked that she was encumbered by such things, it reminded him of why he had been brought to such a fatal decision. He had been motivated to save someone at his own expense because he had been certain that person's heart would grieve for him. How strange.

Not knowing what to say in such a bizarre situation, and hoping to somehow avoid the emotional scene he felt certain he was about to evoke, he called calmly, "Rin ... let's go."  

She whirled at the sound, her heart giving a gigantic thump of recognition even as her mind judged that her sanity had just fled. But he was there, physically there, restored and perfect...save for the blood-stained clothes that he still wore. Somehow that made him even more real.

He walked down to the shore, watching patiently as she splashed through the stream's current, certain that, in her haste, she was going to find a way to slip and drown herself. Stepping into the gently swirling water, he extended a hand to help pull her out, the contact of skin against skin appearing to verify him to her as real and present. A sound somewhere between a cry and a shriek practically collapsed his ear drums as the unabashedly drenched Rin plastered herself to him, thin, dripping arms circling his neck in a crushing grip as a curtain of long, wet hair smacked him in the face.

 He hated hysterical scenes ... but he'd forgive this one.

Aware that he was now nearly as soaked as she was...and even more certain that the iron grip she had on him was not going to lessen any time soon, he moved back a few steps and sat them down on the shore, Rin seated awkwardly in his lap. Her knees dug into his legs as she clung to him like a second skin, expelling a heartful of grief in great tearful sobs that registered as little more than gibberish to even his select hearing. He did finally pick out a few words, including repeated apologies that struck him uncomfortably as an admission of guilt. He had not even considered that before, but he did not think like her, and thus had not even considered the possibility that she would feel responsible for his death. He often forgot that she was not always as logical as he. It was ridiculous ... and so very human of her.

Finally he said, "If you persist in wallowing in this unwarranted responsibility, then you will force me to admit my own guilt. I should have recognized what was happening before it escalated beyond my control, but I am not one to accept the weight of guilt. It's pointless and unproductive. I will not be at all pleased if you burden me with it."

She picked her head up from his shoulder and looked him in the face, her eyes a swimming pool of tears. He could still see it hovering around her, shadowing her thoughts. He was aware now that the end of that battle was likely something that would remain with her for a while, but he wanted to say what he could to shorten that time.

He lowered his head until their faces were mere inches apart, forming an expression of great seriousness. "That was a battle between myself and Ashrem. You were merely a bystander. I never thought differently."

She inhaled a shuddering breath and threaded her fingers into his hair. She was shaking, either from emotion or the effect of cool evening air sliding past her dripping body. "Is this … are you here to stay?" she asked uncertainly.

"Do I feel like a ghost?" he asked, amused at the way she kept clutching at different parts of him, as though testing to see whether or not he would disintegrate at her touch.

"No."

"Did you honestly think something as pitiful as Death could beat me?" he asked, eyebrows raised in affected annoyance. "I have had far worthier opponents."

Her tentative smile returned as she recalled that she had imagined just such a sentence coming from him hours earlier, at a time when she had been certain he was gone forever. "You have a tremendous ego."

"Hai," he agreed instantly. 

"You're really okay?"

"Perfectly."

"Please don't ever do that again. You've got to stop acting like my guardian."

"That was not the act of your guardian," he replied, reaching for her arm, his eyes sweeping down to inspect it, but there was no sign of that cursed mark. At least the bastard was leaving her alone now that he thought his enemy to be safely deceased. Sesshoumaru turned the arm over and recognized the deep, oozing claw marks from where he had removed the Shikon shards. This was certainly going to scar...and he was grateful that this was all that would come out of Ashrem's plotting. The man was going to die very soon and Sesshoumaru wanted to make certain it was he who ended that life, not his brother.

"You need to do something about this," he advised Rin quietly, releasing the arm and looking up to find her staring at him with a very intense expression. He could sense what was coming and she verified it a moment later when she opened her mouth.

"Sesshoumaru, there is something I want to tell---"

He headed her off quickly, making an effort at a kinder tone. "I know there is, but now is not the time. My mangy brother is about to find himself significantly outnumbered."

She quieted down and then nodded. Sesshoumaru disentangled himself from her and got to his feet, pulling her up with him. It took her a moment to register that he was now using two hands.

"Your arm ... it's regenerated," she murmured, fingers lightly brushing the marks on his left wrist, the ones that matched his right exactly. She looked back up at him questioningly

"It was a parting gift from the one who enabled my return," he revealed with a slight smile. "Midoriko sends her regards."

************************************************************************************************************************

He leapt down into a low, treeless, spread-out valley, his sense of smell setting off an alarm that told him Ashrem was very near. Tetsusaiga was already drawn and transformed, as it was also extremely apparent that Ashrem had friends with whom he was meeting. Youkai friends. Or perhaps his next round of victims? Inuyasha didn't really care. The jerk's end was still going to be the same.

Inuyasha stalked silently ahead, eyes roving suspiciously back and forth, waiting for the slightest suggestion of movement. It was time to be done with this affair. He felt like he'd spent most of his life tracking that jewel; he wanted to be finished with it. The last orange rays of daylight were spilling over his shoulders from behind, casting the valley in a deceptively peaceful glow. It wasn't going to stay quiet here for very much longer. He fully intended on being back with Kagome and Rin before dark.

"Ashrem!" he finally called out. "You're stinking up this entire valley, so you can quit the hide-and-seek act! Why don't you come on out and actually fight a battle man to man, huh? I don't have all night. Let's make this quick and ugly, got it?"

The silence returned as he continued forward, ears perked, but he did not have long to wait before Ashrem called out an answer.

"Ah, the renowned half-demon, Inuyasha, and his Tetsusaiga, no less. I am honored. However, I must admit to being curious as to why you have come for me with such blatant hostility. Have I not just done you a great service?" he called with convincing innocence.

Inuyasha smirked as he turned to look behind him, watching as Ashrem slowly made his way down one of the sloping sides of the landscape, appearing very casual and nonchalant. "And what sort of 'service' are you referring to?"

"Your brother is dead. Isn't that something you've wanted for a very long time? He's always treated you rather shabbily, wouldn't you say? And your poor, deceased mother ... it was so unkind of him, the things he said to her following your father's death. Don't you remember?"

Inuyasha frowned, wondering at this personal information that was being spat back at him by a complete stranger. "My problems with Sesshoumaru were none of your business and, to be perfectly honest, I don't appreciate you involving yourself. Now I'm never going see how that fight would have ended. That's pretty damned irritating. I'll grant you Sesshoumaru earned a lot of bad karma. He had a nasty death heading his way, but it shouldn't have come from you."

Ashrem smiled indulgently at this complaint. "Don't tell me you're here for revenge, Inuyasha. He's really not worth it."

Inuyasha turned Tetsusaiga so that it was pointing threateningly at the darkly-robed, annoyingly unperturbed human man. "Hell, yes, I'm here for some revenge. I've got plenty of frustration to take out on you. I've just had to spend the last day around some poor girl who's crying her eyes out over that old dog. I don't appreciate being knocked into my human form by that stupid sword. You've mucked up a perfectly good sibling rivalry. And you've been screwing around with Kagome and that jewel way too much for your own health."

Ashrem nodded, as though admitting to these sins. "Yes, yes. Some of those things are quite regrettable, but became necessary. You forget, though, that I still control the Shikon no Tama. Do you want to experience an end like your brother's?"

Inuyasha gave a short barking laugh and took another step closer. This time Ashrem decided it might be wise to retreat back a few steps. "You know what's funny about that, Ashrem? I don't think I can be purified. Sesshoumaru's always mocked my human blood, but I'm thinking that it's about to come in handy. You can only purify half of me, bastard."

Ashrem frowned lightly, appearing thoughtful as he considered that point. "Even if it does not kill you, your sword will not remain transformed without your demon powers."

"I've got two perfectly good hands to strangle you with, pal."

Ashrem chuckled then, though he did look a little nervous at the prospect of hand-to-hand combat with an angry half-demon. "It doesn't matter. I have no intention to fight you," he stated as his hand disappeared into his robes, as though reaching for something.

Inuyasha picked that moment to leap at him, but before his attack could meet its target, he impacted with a barrier that tossed him effortlessly backward. He rolled from a sprawl to his feet within an instant, glaring at his opponent even as the sounds of several rapidly approaching individuals reached his ears.

Youkai, he thought, recalling the scents he had picked up on when he had first arrived in the valley. Sure enough, this assumption was verified by the figures that began descending toward him, some appearing to have affected a human form, others not even bothering. Inuyasha raised Tetsusaiga again as a pair of demons dropped down in front of Ashrem, blocking the human man from view.

"Finish with all of them, Inuyasha, and I will be glad to fight you," Ashrem called, sounding bemused.

"Not a problem," Inuyasha replied with a mean smile as Tetsusaiga's energy began to swirl and build. "Like I told you, Ashrem … I've got a lot of frustration to vent."  

******************************************************************************************************************

Helllllllllllllllll yeah, start kicking some ass, Inuyasha! LOL! … okay, it's been a long day. I'm surprised I managed to finish this one up so quickly. It was a tough one, because it involves a lot of emotional stuff … I'm thinking … too much? Too little? Who knows? ;)

This was supposed to be the last real chapter, but I realized early on that there was just no way that was going to happen. There was too much to get to and I didn't want to rush things. So … Chapter 20 is going to have to be where Ashrem gets clobbered.

Oh, and I killed Sesshy off for many reasons, the most important of which were:

1.) Basically, it's gonna take something drastic to give that guy some perspective on things. I thought his own death might just be drastic enough.

2.) I had to get him and Midoriko together for that conversation … hey, the girl's just floating around out there. His death solved that problem, too.

3.) Okay, this one is less significant, yet still perfectly valid. I got to give him his arm back. That's basically for my own convenience … it's strange having to check for errors like referring to a one-armed character's "arms" or "hands". Had to watch the plurals for the last 19 chapters. ;)

To the reviewers:

HolyDark: Thank you. Yeah, I felt terrible for him, too. What a bad way to go … but he made a surprising comeback. ;)

Aiwendil Amaurea: Don't worry about it … I still owe you a review on the last few chapters of one of your stories, a story I finished forever ago. LOL! I get terribly back-logged on reviews. It takes me forever to form a coherent thought, believe it or not. And I worried that it was too emotional, really … I didn't want it to come off that way, but it might have.

Noir12: It's fixed! ;) I couldn't stand it, either. Poor guy. He's got a long way to go on the whole "him & Rin" thing, but he's improving. I think he's eventually just going to come to the conclusion that they're just … together. It just happened somehow … weird … ;)

SessRinFan: Thank you! I really was so sorry to do it to him, but I listed my many reasons above…it was convenient and dramatic. Naturally, I had to do it! ;)

Cyhiraeth: Agreed, I tried to make it a noble death because nothing else would fit him (despite what Inuyasha says!). And, nope, Inuyasha couldn't use Tenseiga…that would have made things far too easy! Besides, like I mentioned earlier, it was an excellent way to get Midoriko to come see him.

New Fan: Well, I called it weakness because that's what was being contemplated by Sesshy and, really, that's what Rin is for him. And, yeah, it was certainly not a weak thing to do, but he's looking at it from a youkai perspective, so to him, it might seem a little weak.

Sesshoumaru'sFirefly: Awww, sorry about the tearing up thing. L It was definitely a sad one to write. When I posted it up here, I was kind of like … "What have I done?!" LOL! Ohhhh, and don't worry … Ashrem will be taken care of. *evil cackle*

CurlsofSerenity: Aggggggh!!! God, woman … call off the hamster army!! And speaking of which, have you heard the Hamtaro theme song? It's so catchy … it just sticks in my head until I feel like I need to beat it out ….  Besides, he's back … I'm not going to be a Hamster Happy Meal. ;)

Ailian Rhys: I totally understand … I owe so many stories reviews, it's completely unreal. I have got to get to those … I'll agree, that chapter was a bit on the morbid side, but I figured…the guy's dying. If something's actually capable of killing him, it's going to have to be a nasty way to go. Thanks for the sweet words about my writing…you are far too kind. ;) This review was what made me go with that whole long scene with Rin mulling over all that terrible stuff. I decided to go with it that way, instead of going back and forth between her reaction and the other characters. It would have been kind of dizzying, since she's really the only one who would have a strong reaction to his death. Hopefully it didn't come off as weird. Awww … yeah, I liked how you put that about Inuyasha. I didn't think of it that way at the time, but that's definitely what I was going for. He may not like Sesshoumaru, but after seeing him go like that, he certainly wasn't going to point and laugh. I thought he'd feel kind of bad for him. I tried to make him sound like it was a grudging thing … having to bring him back. But I figured he'd want to make sure and let Sesshoumaru know that he was willing to do it. 

Sashlea: LOL! Yeah …. I don't know. I'm working on plotting out the next story, and I think you may be wrong. ;) But the "sequel" will take place about a year or so after this one, so she'll have had some time to get over the trauma.

Ourania: FOFL! You crack me up. Eeek … scared me a second there, though. I thought I'd brought on a heart attack. ;) I am so sorry to have killed your Sesshy, but it really was very necessary. He is quite alive now, though, and shall remain that way! Promise.:D

Allie: I hang my head in shame. He's fine now … honestly. Not even a scratch! I could never, ever permanently kill him. Or anyone from the series. Well, except for Naraku and Kikyou, since they are very dead in this fic ….

Silver Spell: I totally understand … it's crazy nuts here, too. I'm horrible to be sitting here writing this, when I really should be doing homework, but, hey … I have my priorities straight. :D And thank you!

Silvermuse89: I know … wasn't that the worst cliffhanger? Just kill a guy and leave it like that? I hate it when people do that. That's probably why I was motivated to get this next chapter out so quickly. I was just sad that I didn't get to squeeze in some Ashrem ass-kicking. Ah, well … I get to start on that now that this chapter is done. :D And thank you so much! That's a very sweet thing to say. I'm hoping it'll be better than this one … it'll be a lot less complicated, that's for sure. ;)