"My lord! Why did you bring this human wench back with you? I thought your goal was to merely bring back the human child and now you bring another into out midst! Oh lord Sesshomaru! Have I failed you? Are you punishing me? Are you-"

"Hush Jaken." Sesshomaru's words were soft but firm as he laid Kagome gently on the blanket that had been spread across the ground then stood and turned his back.

"You will guard her with your like Jaken. Do not let her escape however." Sesshomaru said quietly.

"She's a very pretty lady my lord!" Rin piped cheerfully from where she stood behind the short Jaken.

"With my life my lord!" Jaken said in shock ignoring Rin's praise of the girl. "But my lord! Why?"

"Because. She is to become your new mistress." Sesshomaru turned and walked away from them, leaving a shocked Jaken and a cheering Rin.

That girl.

That damn girl. She had brought it on her self. In getting in his way as well as associating with his brother. Sesshomaru inclined his head gently. Inuyasha. You love this human girl don't you? Who so closely resembles your dear Kikyou. And what will you do when you discover she is out of your reach forever. Marriage was nothing to him. Particularly not to a human but it would stand with the girl and infuriate Inuyasha.

Inuyasha. Perhaps attempting to destroy your body is futile. I can do the next best thing hwoever. To fulfill a promise.

Flashback.....

She couldn't rest. She couldn't let herself die until he had promised. Until her son's heart burned with revenge, with hatred, with the thirst for blood. For humans. For the blood of the whore her son's father had forsaken them for. And for the blood of the whore's hybrid offspring.

"Promise me." Her voice was faint and darkness flickered through the angry haze of red that had draped over her vision. "Promise me." She repeated.

"I promise."

"For me. For your sisters."

"I promise."

"Does your heart burn my son? Does your desire light for revenge?"

"Yes mother."

She closed her eyes and sighed peacefully. "Good. Then I can rest."

Sesshomaru's eyes flashed with something unfamiliar, pain maybe? Sadness? He reached a clawed hand out towards the still form of the woman before him. Hand hovering just shy of touching his mother. Her whispered, softly, quietly her name but she didn't stir. Her chest was still and her eyes didn't open again.

"It's too late my lord!" The warted demon said as he scrambled over to stand by Sesshomaru as the demon lord lifted brandy gold eyes to watch the village burn steadily, clouds of silvered smoke rising to stain the air. Shreds of a once white kimono hung to Sesshomaru's lithe form in shreds and tatters, the rags that remained scorched and burned. "There's no one left! They're all dead."

"I know." Sesshomaru straightened and lifted his chin.

"My lord! What do we do now? Your father-"

"My father is dead to me." Sesshomaru said quietly then reached down to pick up his mother gently before turning and walking away from the burning village steadily without looking back. "Come Jaken. We have work to do."

"My lord!?"

Sesshomaru didn't reply, didn't look back, just watched the flickering of orange light that was thrown across the edge of the forest. He didn't need to look behind him to know the ash and rubble his home was being reduced to. The charred remains that would be the only thing that lingered of the village's inhabitants. He didn't need to turn to see the flames that still raged, like the fury that burned in him now, incased in ice.