Chapter Fifteen : Eeep. . .

Erisa felt a little more relaxed now. Naraku was dead. The whole Ishiru thing would end. It wasn't working out anyway. Now all she had left to do is find another place for Ishiru's soul. Since such was common practice, as the child-goddess was not the best at making matches, she had a place where she kept the bodies and connected souls until she found a place.

A blue light flickered along the bed-like structure and Erisa turned around, intending to go and have another look over her map. She only made two steps before she was jerked into the air by her dress-collar.

"Yeeek!" Erisa shrieked, flailing her arms in response to the firm grip. Sesshoumaru resisted the urge to cover his ears at the offending noise. Instead, he turned the child-goddess to face him.

"Who are you?" He asked after taking a moment to assess his captive. Erisa was stunned. He wasn't supposed to be there! He was supposed to be back in Feudal Japan! How on earth did he get there? Erisa went with the last question.

"How – How did. . ." She pointed at Sesshoumaru with a shaky finger. Had her spell made a mistake? Erisa looked over and saw Ishiru's body on the structure in back of Sesshoumaru. Said demon lord was in no mood for the little girl's confused stuttering. He snarled at her, bringing her close to his face.

"What do you think you're doing with Ishiru?" Erisa 'eeped' and spoke, her voice rambling and jumbled from fear.

"WellI'msortathematchmakergoddessandfirstIwasgoingtomatchyouupwithherbutthenyoudidn'tcareabouthersoImadeitsoNarakuwoulddieandIshiruwouldbegoneandeverythingwouldgobacktothewayitwaspleasedon'thurtme!" ((Translation at the end)) Erisa finished the entire speech in one breath, panting at the end of it all. Sesshoumaru dropped her unceremoniously to the ground. Despite the speed of the delivery, he had understood what she had said.

"So. . . Ishiru was simply put on my path by some ragtag goddess?" He mused aloud. Ishiru's death had yet to register in his mind. His body was putting it off in order to help him survive, as was his instinct. Erisa stood up, dusting herself off.

"Yes. And there's pretty much nothing you can do about it since-" Her words were cut off as Sesshoumaru, once again, picked her up by her collar. This time he held the front of her little dress.

"This Sesshoumaru believes that he will be the one to decide just what he can and can't do." He spoke imperiously, his voice leaving no room for disobeying. "You will revive Ishiru. You will send us both back to Japan. And you will never again meddle with this Sesshoumaru's life again."

Erisa just nodded. Living alone, she had never developed any methods to deal with people, and Sesshoumaru's commanding presence was overriding any other behavior but obedience. Then something occurred to her.

"I can't bring her back to life." She protested. "I've never done it before." Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow as though to say "you're point?".

"I don't know what will happen. I could loose her soul forever. There's no way she'd be reincarnated." Erisa said quickly, trying to explain. Sesshoumaru seemed to think that over. After a moment, decision appeared in his eyes. He took a firm hold of Erisa, his fingers curling lethally around her neck. But he did not squeeze, or dig his claws in. He gently touched her skin in warning before he spoke.

"You will revive her. And you will do it correctly, or this Sesshoumaru shall kill you."

Erisa was startled. 'Isn't he worried about her at all?' But she didn't think about it for very long. Sesshoumaru released her and Erisa walked over to Ishiru's body, rubbing her throat.

She placed her tiny hand on Ishiru's forehead, closing her eyes as she searched for the demon girl's soul. It usually stayed around the body unless pulled elsewhere. ((Now if this were Zelda you'd have to go get her soul from. . . Kikyou or something.)) She found it, oddly enough, hovering around Sesshoumaru. The process was unusually short and within moments Erisa was done.

"Now do whatever you did when you came here and I'll send you back."

Sesshoumaru complied. The flickering blue enveloped them both, merging with the two bodies and then flickering out, bringing them with it.

OOO

Back In Feudal Japan

OOO

A week had passed since the final battle. Sesshoumaru and Ishiru had yet to re-appear. Inuyasha-tachi had helped Kouga bury his dead. Kagura got her heart back, Kanna had died at some point during the battle. Hakudoshi was still about somewhere with Entei. Jaken, of course, was distraught at his master's disappearance. He ran about the countryside with Rin, who went with him courtesy of Aun. Rin was pretty bored during most of their wandering, even though she was quite worried about both Sesshoumaru and Ishiru. She frequently took her boredom out on Jaken, much to the bedraggled toad's dismay.

"Sesshoumaru-SAMA!" Jaken called, beginning to loose his voice after a week or so of shouting, save for when Rin was sleeping.

Rin was getting quite tired of his yelling. She turned to face backwards on Aun's back, watching the landscape retreat. She looked up, and out on a mountainside she saw a blue light flickering. It was too far away to see clearly. But Rin was sure she saw it.

"Ah! Jaken-sama! Look!" She said, pointing.

OOO

Sesshoumaru stirred into wakefulness, blinking away and odd, sleepy feeling that he hadn't had since he was a pup. He looked up, finding it to be dusk, the sun splashing gold and orange out across the sky. He moved to sit up, and felt a weight on his chest. Looking down, Sesshoumaru found Ishiru lying on top of him. Then, it came back to him, the battle, Erisa, Ishiru. He pulled said demoness into a sitting position in his lap. He heard her heartbeat and her slow, steady breathing. She was alive.

He felt his chest tighten, his throat closing up slightly. Finding it easier not to resist his emotions, Sesshoumaru wrapped his arms around her, holding her to him. He stayed like that for some time. He wasn't sure quite how long. As the last dregs of orange and yellow faded from the sky, he felt the girl in his arms stir. Ishiru shifted slightly as she woke.

"Mmmnh. . . Sesshoumrr. ." She mumbled, still asleep. Ishiru instinctively snuggled against his warmth, her arms moving to curl around his torso. She then woke fully, her eyes fluttering open. After a moment, Ishiru realized what she was doing. She immediately tensed and took her arms from around Sesshoumaru, pulling back from him.

"Sesshoumaru I-!" She said, then gasped. Sesshoumaru watched as she pulled her arms in close to her torso, her hands together about level with her collarbone, looking downward as though shocked.

"It's alright Ishiru." He murmured, gathering her against his chest. "Naraku is dead, your life was spared." As he spoke he gently caressed her hair, comforting her.

"Sesshoumaru?" Ishiru said, her voice unsteady.

"Hmm?"

"I can't see."

OOO

Author's Corner

OOO

Erisa's Garble : Well I'm sorta the matchmaker goddess and first I was going to match you up with her but then you didn't care about her so I made it so Naraku would die and Ishiru would be gone and everything would go back to the way it was, please don't hurt me!

Ugh. This one was a pain to get out. But it I did it. I rule!

Akuma : No you don't.

BP : Hush you.

Akuma : No.

BP : Sticks tongue out at Akuma

Akuma : Stop being childish and go to bed.

BP : It's only 10:45! And it's Sunday tomorrow!

Akuma : Go to bed.

BP : I don't want to! Give me one good reason why I should go to bed.

Akuma : Picks BP up, and puts her on the bed Because you're already here.

BP : And so are you. Grabs his shirt collar and pulls him onto the bed with her

Ruri + Hari : LET US DOOOWWWNN! TT

Review Responses :

Judy : Thankies. Long reviews help me a lot.

DeepFreeze27 : No no, it's not the end. I'm not through with these two yet. Evil look

bowwowlover : Thankies! I've tried really hard to keep him in character. But I think I blew it in this chapter. ;