Winter fireflies.

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."

- Albert Einstein.


Naraku frowned a little at their report, it seemed to him that Inuyasha was hiding from him, and this was not the inu-hanyou's usual way. He did not feel good about it, as if there was something unidentifiable stirring at his soul, plucking at the strings of worry.

Kanna stared at Naraku, her lifeless vacant eyes focusing on the small frown on his smooth forehead. She knew that paranoia was getting to him, so was his fear. Her plan seemed to be working out on its own slowly, and she was glad that Byakuya had not mentioned Sesshoumaru to him.

"Kanna, Byakuya, locate Inuyasha and his group," Naraku gave his order and disappeared from the room, leaving his detachments behind. The illusionist youkai sighed out loud at the next order and folded his arms, "Kanna, why did we not tell him?"

A long pause of silence followed as the nihility youkai calculated her risks and decided to take her next daring move. "Will it do you any good? Now is not the time."

Byakuya's eyebrows shot up in surprise at her reply, it was the first time Kanna had properly answered him, and she seemed to be hinting to him at the same time.

"Kanna, what are you thinking of-" he was promptly silenced when he stared at his own image in her outstretched mirror, his black eyes wide in fear. Kanna knew that he could not lie nor move when his reflection was captured in her mirror and asked him softly, "Byakuya. You should know what I am thinking of. Are you on my side, or his?"

Byakuya parted his lips at her declaration of war against Naraku. It had never crossed his mind that Kanna would betray Naraku, no, it was the last thing that he would ever think of. But now that she was asking whose side he was on, he realized that Kanna could suck his soul away into eternal darkness if she wanted to, not that he wanted to continue to be an underdog for Naraku.

He tried to move his limbs but to his horror, he found that he was simply frozen to the spot, as if time and space had stopped only for him. He could not shift his glance away and pleaded, "Kanna! Don't do this to me!"

"Answer me," Kanna ignored his frightened pleas and stared at his perspiring face.

"Mochiron! What makes you think that I want to live a life like that? I want my freedom too!" Byakuya answered nervously as he tried to shut his eyes to no avail.

He's just like Kagura... The nihility youkai smiled at his words, and spun her mirror clockwise, then anti-clockwise. Byakuya was stunned at what she was doing and before he knew it, he felt a small part of him detaching itself and seeping out from the core of his body. He then realized that a wispy thin strand of soft yellow substance was floating out from his left chest, coating itself around the silver rim of her mirror and vanishing into it. "Tamashi!"

"Kanna! Nani o suru!" Byakuya felt himself going weak at his knees and plopped down to the wooden floor, pressing his hand against his beating heart, not understanding what had Kanna done with his soul.

"A small part of your soul is with me, in this mirror. If you ever betray me, or go against me, then you shall never get it back. Only I can release your soul back to you," Kanna whispered tonelessly as she knelt down before Byakuya. He looked back fearfully at her, and realized that she was no different from Naraku.

A small sense of guilt pooled in her heart, but Kanna knew that she had to do it for her plan to work. Byakuya was a powerful and intelligent illusion-weaver and she knew that she would not be able to defeat him if Naraku had ordered for her death.

"Do not worry, I will not kill you. We need to work together," she laid her mirror on her lap and bowed her head slightly.

Byakuya was stumped and shook his head, "he will discover it, sooner or later."

She narrowed her soulless eyes and spoke in the usual hushed tone, "then we will have to get rid of him before he knows."

He thought that she was mad and simply stared at her expressionless face, "how?"

"I have a plan, just follow me," Kanna got up to her feet and left the stunned youkai in the room, smiling to herself inwardly.


Sesshoumaru retrieved his youki whip and grabbed hold of the dead wild hare by its ears. Rin clapped her hands and squealed in delight, "Sugoi Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken stood proudly as he aimed Nintoujou and released a big burst of fire at the dry twigs that Kagome had gathered, "mochiron! Even without his eyes, Sesshoumaru-sama is not someone to be trifled with!"

The taiyoukai flung the dead hare carelessly across to the fire which was draped accurately over Jaken's head, "urusai. Roast it."

Rin was oblivious to what had happened and tried to skip and follow Sesshoumaru, even though she was dragging the wintercoat that Kagome gave her across the snow and her sandals kept burying themselves into the snow, "Sesshoumaru-sama! There are no flowers around!" But the taiyoukai simply ignored her and continued to make his way to the campsite.

Kagome could not help but to giggle to herself softly, there were still several certain old traits in Sesshoumaru that did not go away with his memory. "Must be innate..." she mumbled to herself as she added another small load of twigs to the fire. She rummaged through her bag and brought out her portable kettle and the teabags. Soon, they had finished their light meal and were sipping hot ocha, in the middle of nowhere.

Kagome looked up from her ocha and could see the clear black sky through the wire-like thin branches. There were not many stars, and each of them shone brightly as they hung off the branches, like silver ornaments which reminded her of Christmas trees and the colourful dazzling decorations that hung on the streets of Toyko and shopping malls. It's coming soon... Kagome thought of the year-end festival and wondered what kind of delicious dishes her mother would prepare for the family. She thought that she could almost smell the mouth-watering aroma of oden and hear the noisy music that Souta always played on the hi-fi.

"Kagome-neesan! What is that?" Rin pointed to the book the was lying on her big yellow bag while huddled inside the warm wintercoat.

Kagome tore her gaze away from the beautiful stars and heart-warming thoughts to Rin's short bony finger.

"Ah! That is my book, I brought it along in case I got bored..." Kagome stole a peek and noticed that Sesshoumaru's ears did not twitch, unlike Inuyasha. He remained stoically silent through the whole meal and she wondered whether that was how they had traveled last time.

"Book?" The little one cocked her head to one side, having not seen a book before. But then again, Kagome carried many peculiar stuff around her, including some dark brown edible sweet snacks that she could not get enough of it.

"Hai! A story book that my friends bought for me," Kagome could not help but to feel homesick, even though she was technically still in Japan. Her friends' incessant babbling about her mysterious relationship with Inuyasha was suddenly a very welcoming thought to the miko as she stared at the steam that swirled out from her cup of ocha.

"Kagome-neesan, can you read it to Rin?"

She could not resist her big black eyes peering curiously at the best-seller fiction book and decided to give up the thoughts of her good friends, "okay, but it is a long book. So you must promise me that you will go to sleep when I stop ne?" Rin nodded her head happily while Jaken let out a squawky snort.

"Ja... This book is about a timid young lady who makes hats for a living. One day, she decided to visit her sister who works in another part of the town. On her way to visit her sister, she got lost and met some unruly soldiers who started to tease her. A young dashing young man suddenly appeared by her side and-"

"Is he as handsome and strong as Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin asked innocently.

Kagome almost choked on her saliva while Sesshoumaru raised one of his eyebrows slightly in surprise.

"Erm, hai. He is as handsome and strong as Sesshoumaru-sama," Kagome noticed the big smile on Rin's face who decided to prop her chin on her small palms. And that she looked especially small and fragile in her old wintercoat which was two sizes too large for her tiny frame.

"He rescued the young lady from the soldiers in no time, but the young lady soon realized-"

"Is the onna pretty? Like Kagome-neesan?" Rin interrupted her a second time. Kagome's appreciative smile was wiped off when she saw Sesshoumaru arching the other eyebrow. She could not decide whether to feel insulted or to throw snow at him when Rin asked again.

"Ne Kagome-neesan. Is she? As pretty as you?"

"As pretty as you Rin," Kagome turned her glare away from the taiyoukai and smiled at Rin, who blushed hard as her smile grew wider.

"The young lady realized that there were funny people, like slime," Kagome gave a meaning glance at the kappa-youkai who had apparently dozed off to sleep and continued, "who were following them. These slime-people started to surround them and the young lady was very frightened, not sure what kind of mess she had gotten herself into. Then suddenly, the young man took hold of her arms and flew to the air, escaping away from their pursuers."

Rin's mouth was slack apart as she rested her cheek against one palm, listening intently to the story that Kagome was telling.

"The young lady then realized that he was no ordinary person but was too scared to ask questions as he glided through mid-air with her. The young man apologized to her and explained that the slime-people were after him. When he dropped her off at the balcony of her sister's shop, he disappeared in an instant and the young lady could not find him anymore."

"He can fly! Like Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin spoke excitedly, to which Kagome laughed nervously and confirmed her suspicions that Rin indeed used Sesshoumaru as a benchmark for everything.

"Ano... he is not a youkai, but a wizard. One who does magic."

Rin nodded her head disappointedly and folded her arms, resting them on her kneecaps. "Kagome-neesan, what happened then?"

"Aa, the young lady could not get him off her mind because she thought that he was the most gentlemanly and handsome man that she has ever met. But her sister told her that he was the young terrible wizard called Hauru who collects and eats young girls' hearts. Sophie, the young lady's name, did not believe it to be true and when she went back to her old hat shop, an old ugly lady came into the shop even though it was very late already. The old lady was actually a horrible old witch who was after Hauru, and she made fun of Sophie's cheap hats. Sophie was angry and decided to not sell her any hats. The old witch was angry and cursed Sophie, turning her into a ninety year old obaa-san. And Sophie could not say a single thing about the curse, and she did not know what the old witch wanted to kill Hauru."

Rin's eyes were wide with fear and anticipation. She had never heard a story that was more interesting and riveting than the one Kagome was telling her. Kagome smiled and noticed that Sesshoumaru had finished his ocha, his empty cup beside him.

"Dakara, Sophie naturally could not stay in her hat shop anymore and slipped out quietly the next morning. She did not know what to do and was angry at the witch who had transformed her into an old woman. It was not comfortable nor easy for her and she took a day to walk out from her town. She continued to walk aimlessly, not understanding why the witch had cursed her. Then, she saw this old black weird looking castle that was balanced on four skinny legs.

It was very cold that day, and Sophie decided to go into that strange-looking castle for a while to hide from the winds. When she got inside, the castle was empty and she could see no one. Sophie decided to sit on a chair that was placed opposite a fireplace and before she fell asleep, she thought that she saw a face appearing in the small fire."

"Youkai!" Rin squealed and sat up straight, excitement and familiarity was written all over her face and bright shining eyes. Sesshoumaru tilted his chin a little and thought that the story was finally progressing to the interesting bit.

Kagome smiled and nodded her head, "hai, it was a fire-youkai. A small one, that was bound to the fireplace. But Sophie did not know and when she woke up the next day, a young boy was staring at her face, asking why she was in the castle. Sophie was embarrassed and shocked, and the boy turned to the fireplace and talked to it angrily. When a nasty blue face appeared in the fire, Sophie thought that she had gone mad, before she realized that she was in a wizard's castle-"

"Hauru's castle!" Rin clapped her hands happily. Kagome sighed inwardly that Rin had found out faster than she could give her a surprise, and mentally remarked to herself that she was rather clever and observant too.

"Ee, it was his castle. The fire-youkai was bound to the fireplace by Hauru, and he pleaded with Sophie to break the contract between them. Sophie agreed and made a deal with the fire-youkai that he must transform Sophie back to her original form and age if she succeeds. Then the wizard, Hauru walked in but he did not recognize Sophie. Somehow, they started to live together, while Sophie takes care of his castle and cook for them-"

"Like how Kagome-neesan takes care of Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin smiled with her eyes shut.

Sesshoumaru made a weird noise at his throat instantly, "Rin, it is late. Go and sleep."

"Hai Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin obeyed without any objections while Kagome laid out her sleeping bag for her. This had been their usual routine for the past three days, except that Rin had asked for the story tonight. She zipped the sleeping bag up to the already sleeping Rin's neck and brushed her messy hair away from her face, whispering softly, "oyasumi Rin."

Kagome proceeded to clear up the cups and kettle and was amazed at the speed that Rin could fall asleep. She could not fathom the adoration that Rin had for Sesshoumaru, and her obedience to him was without a fault. Kagome glared at the taiyoukai from time to time when Sesshoumaru did not move and continued to sit regally like a king, wondering whether her role of being a caretaker included duties of servanthood too.

"Tsumaranai," Sesshoumaru adjusted his stiff position and rested his chin on his knuckles lazily. Kagome raised an eyebrow at his sudden change and wondered to herself whether Sesshoumaru only relaxed when the rest were asleep as she poured more hot water into her cup.

"Huh?"

"Your story, it was boring."

Kagome could not believe her ears, she was babysitting Rin for him and all that she got from him was this. She replied sarcastically and tucked the book into her backpack, "is it? I think you are more boring than my story."

He quirked his eyebrow up at her retort, "and how is that so?"

Kagome thought hard for a while, "you speak so little."

"And that makes me boring?"

"Isn't it so? Humans desire conversation you know."

"But I am not human," the tone of mockery was blatant.

Kagome was stumped, and decided to remain silent before she really threw snow on him. He was as irritating as Inuyasha, although in a different way. Inuyasha scolded and yelled at her senselessly, whilst Sesshoumaru taunted her endlessly. Kagome frowned and stared at the fire, inwardly cursing her luck to be stuck with these two brothers while she sipped her ocha. She thought that the way the fire licked around the twigs was oddly familiar, when it struck her mind that just a week ago, she had sat around the fire with her feudal friends sipping ocha too.

At the thought of Inuyasha, her heart lurched and her eyelids drooped. Everything was almost the same, except that Inuyasha was not with her. Kagome yearned to see Inuyasha, just to make sure that he was alright and that Kikyou had not taken him away to the Netherworld. The dream that she had did not return, but the feeling of unease remained behind.

She bit her lower lip and frowned a little, mentally chiding to herself that Inuyasha had already made his choice between Kikyou and her. The most sensible thing for her to do was to withdraw from the triangle, since she had already lost from the start. But it somehow seemed so difficult to do that, or perhaps it was her love for him that did not want to let go. Kagome drew her legs in and brought out the small glass bottle that hung around her neck, staring at the light pink crystal shards, "it was you who brought me here, isn't it?"

But the shards merely glinted sharply under the pale moonlight in reply to her. Kagome smiled bitterly and turned her eyes to the taiyoukai who was sitting silently opposite her. Even though the brothers shared physical similarities, Kagome could not figure out what Sesshoumaru was thinking or doing; in contrast to Inuyasha who was always predictable and transparent before her eyes. Sesshoumaru was like a thin veil of silk to her, almost understanding, almost knowing. But if she ever reached out to that veil, it will blow away out from her reach. Almost impossible.

Sesshoumaru wondered whether Kagome was fuming on the inside since she had remained defiantly silent. "Kagome, is that how you think of me?"

His question brought her out from her train of thoughts and Kagome scrunched her nose, "hai. You are utterly, thoroughly, completely boring, in and out. I have never met such a person, or youkai like you before."

"I see," Sesshoumaru was surprised at her words, he was not sure whether Kagome was trying to take a stab at him or merely being honest. Kagome thought that she might have gone overboard when Sesshoumaru did not speak and got up to his feet.

"Kagome, take a walk with me," Sesshoumaru flicked his long silver hair behind his shoulders and steadied Tenseiga and Toukijin on his hakama with his obi. Kagome thought that he looked better in his ivory silk haori instead of Souta's shirt, but decided to keep that remark to herself and got to her two feet obediently.

"Where are we going?" Kagome wrapped her arms around herself, wishing that she could bring the fire with her.

"Nowhere," Sesshoumaru turned around and walked away from the makeshift camp, trudging through the snow hurriedly yet effortlessly.

Kagome opened her mouth to retort that it was dangerous to leave Rin with Jaken and Ah-Un only but decided against it to save whatever energy that she had to keep her body warm.

Kagome tried to keep up with him, but it was simply torturous to walk through thick snow fast. After a good five minutes of silent walking, Sesshoumaru finally stopped and Kagome managed to catch up with him, sending small clouds of her warm breaths into the cold winter night.

"Where are we?" she asked breathlessly as she bent forward a little and took in big gulps of icy air.

"I can sense them," Sesshoumaru answered softly.

"Nani? Da re?" Kagome squeaked, not knowing why Sesshoumaru had brought her out to such a place. It was dark, and only faint shafts of the moonlight filtered through the heavy mesh of leafless thin branches above them. Kagome could only hope that Sesshoumaru was not out to get her killed by senseless youkai when he spoke again.

"Ssshh," he put a finger to his lips and remained absolutely silent and motionless.

The fear in her heart faded away when Kagome looked up to Sesshoumaru. He was standing still like a statue as he rested his forefinger against his thin lips. It was almost as if he was waiting, for something or someone to appear. She frowned, not understanding what he was up to when all she heard was their breathing.

Then, it appeared. A small faint light, flying slowly out from the darkness. Kagome clasped her left hand over her open mouth, "fireflies..."
Sesshoumaru knew that she would be surprised and smiled. The pair waited for a short while, and soon they were surrounded by hundreds of fireflies, flying lazily around in the dark secluded area, giving off their soft yellow light.

"It can't be..." Kagome mumbled to herself, she had never ever seen a firefly in winter before.

"It is rare, but it happens," Sesshoumaru sat down on the snow, seeming to enjoy the presence of fireflies, though he could not see them. Kagome looked down at the taiyoukai for a while, before she followed suit and knelt beside him. It was the first time that she had ever seen winter fireflies, which was supposed to be a good sign. But she wondered to herself what good could come out of this rare phenomenon since she was sitting in the snow half-freezing with an equally cold taiyoukai.

"When you were telling the story to Rin, I suddenly remembered that I used to come out in winter night to search for fireflies when I was young."

"Whatever for?" Kagome was curious, as one firefly lingered in front of her before moving away.

"To count them," he replied happily.

"Count them? But isn't it difficult? They all look the same to me," Kagome squinted her eyes to see whether she could differentiate between the fireflies.

He laughed out softly, which seemed to attract more fireflies to him. The soft yellow light illuminated his fair skin a little and Kagome's eyes rounded, his laughter was soft, yet low and heart-warming at the same time.

"That is the interesting part. It is a skill you know, to be able to count fireflies."

Kagome was entranced by his relaxed smile, she would never forget the peaceful look he had on now, "are you trying to tell me that you are not a boring person?"

Sesshoumaru grinned, but continued, "I remember that I gave up after a short while. But my haha-ue would encourage me to persevere, until I found the way to count them one day."

"How?" "By catching them, one by one."

Kagome scrunched her nose again, "how cruel."

He smiled, "and that was the reason why, I never sought out fireflies anymore. Until tonight, when I remembered."

Her mouth gaped open at his words, it was unusual for him to show kindness. Somehow, it did not seem to go hand in hand with his image and status as a taiyoukai. Just at that moment, a firefly fluttered slowly to Sesshoumaru and rested on the tip of his nose, lending an etheral glow to his fair skin and sharp features. But he merely smiled and remained motionless until the firefly flew away.

Kagome felt as if her heart would melt at the sight before her. Sesshoumaru was reliving his childhood memory right in front of her, and it was obvious to her that he had a kind heart too, although it was lost somewhere when he grew up. And, he had chose to tell her, and showed her the winter fireflies.

"It has been a long time, since I have waited for the fireflies," he mused to himself.

"I will never forget this," Kagome said dreamily as her eyes tried to follow the little haphazard-flying light insects. She felt oddly grateful to Sesshoumaru, for letting her know about this precious bit of his past. Even though she could not count nor catch the fireflies for him.

Sesshoumaru leaned back a little and tilted his face up to the fireflies, "am I still a boring person?"

Kagome smiled, "hmmm... maybe."


A/N: The story that Kagome is telling is Howl's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones. I have changed the story a little to fit into my fic. (Hauru is Howl, I thought it will be more appropriate to follow the Japanese's translation of his name) I hope it isn't too boring for you, its one of my fav stories of all times. And yes, this story is not here without a reason. ;p

mochiron - of course
tamashi - soul
nani o suru - what are you doing? (not very polite)
sugoi - wow!
urusai - annoying/noisy
ocha - green tea
dakara - therefore
ja - well/then
onna - woman
ano - excuse me/erm.
aa/ee - yes/affirmative answer
oyasumi - goodnight (casual)
tsumaranai - boring
nani - what
da re - who
haha-ue - respectful way of addressing one's own mother