Author's Note: Vaguely inspired by AMV's, my father, the Virgin Mary and various other warm fluffy sources.

"I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here

What have I become"

- Nine Inch Nails "Hurt"

Chapter Two: Hummingbird

Sesshoumaru was led to his room by a human girl from somewhere called Tenochca. She was short, heavy-framed and brown skinned. Her forehead sloped and revealed wide black eyes that were sad and wide, she had wide shapely lips. From underneath the burnt gold of her robes, Sesshoumaru saw her skin was covered with thin bruises the size of his finger. He stared at them for most of their silent journey. It was only when he had been brought to the door that he asked where she had gotten them.

The girl jumped, and stared at him. She seemed to be surprised for a moment he could even speak to her. He was even more surprised when she spoke back in prefect Japanese. She looked down, brushing her hands over the scars. "My mother died from disease. My father was taken prisoner, and murdered. The people of my village would beat me when I did not do what they asked." Her face was thoughtful but not sad when she spoke. "They used dried pieces of cowhide and obsidian to cut my skin." Then she smiled, like Rin smiled once long ago. "But then Lady Hummingbird found me."

"Lady Hummingbird?"

"The Master of this castle." The girl replied simply.

Sesshoumaru frowned. "I've never heard Kannon called that."

"As I have never heard the name Kannon, sire." She paused, and hesitated. "Tell me, how is it you speak Nahuatl?"

"I don't."

The girl seemed awed, and giggled a little. "My lady is great then, to give us understanding of one another. Wouldn't you agree?"

"He gives many gifts." Sesshoumaru returned formally.

The girl was ignorant of the slight coolness that had touched the Taiyoukai's words. She simply nodded. "Milady told me to inform you that your vassal, and the girl will be taken to comfortable rooms and attended to. She will speak to you in the morning."

Sesshoumaru closed the door after the faintest of nods and turned, pulling on the sash of his robes. He shifted a little, pushing off the robe from his shoulders with his free hand, and working over the tense muscles tiredly.

"If I told you it was foolish not to call on me when Inuyasha maimed you so, would it do any good?"

Sesshoumaru grabbed the falling fabric from his shoulder and pulled it back over his body, glaring at the man who sat on his bed.

Kannon was staring at him from under his hair, legs curled under him with a smug, knowing grin. "I've seen much more, Sesshoumaru."

"Never without my consent."

"Now he gets cheeky?" Kannon laughed. "My, my little Hunger. How I have missed you."

"Why do you call me that?"

"Why does it bother you now when it never had before?" Kannon's voice was light and cheerful but there was darkness behind his eyes, clouded and concerned. He sat up, throwing his legs over the side of the bed and reaching to Sesshoumaru. He recoiled when Sesshoumaru flinched. "Don't worry, beloved. It's not the kind of touch."

Sesshoumaru inhaled, and let Kannon drag his hands over the nub that had once been his arm. He never really paid much attention to the wound before. He had always mindful of it of course, understanding of the limitations that it was suppose to have placed on him and his own fierce determination to allow none. He was also aware of the pain. The throbbing that attacked when it was cold, or when he pushed himself too hard.

It was the pain that had brought them to Tama's palace because Rin and Jaken had wanted him to rest.

Tama…

He pulled his mind away from those painful memories and turned instead on the warmth that came from Kannon's hands. They felt like Rin's smiles, reminded him of her songs and her smell. He found himself thinking back, as he had for so many times recently, to the forest that had that small, dumb girl who brought him food and smiled. That smile that had been the only thing she gave to Sesshoumaru that he could think to want. She had seemed so frail then, so very human.

Human…

Sesshoumaru became aware of dulled senses then, of fevers, and desperation that tore at his skin. He remembered feeling the intense containment of what it felt like to be human as a Youkai. He felt his own powers turning on him, felt the way his senses clouded till he was like a blind man, groping for the familiar in a world he could no longer understand. He felt Tajomaru's arrow in his chest; he felt dying…

Sesshoumaru jerked away then, almost crashing into the wall before balancing and refusing to face Kannon.

"Oh my poor boy," Kannon whispered, as she stood. Sometime during his reverie she had taken on a female form. "What have they done to you?"

"Does Kannon not see all?" He demanded bitterly.

"I hear those who call to me," She replied simply. "Why did you deny me that? I could have…"

"Have what, Kannon? Broken the curse? Killed Tama?" He looked at her then. "Killed Rin? Given me back what…" His eyes closed. "Given me back what I lost?"

"What have you lost?"

"Isn't that what I have come to ask you, Goddess?"

Kannon had assumed a male form again, and reached back, pulling the curtain of his hair back behind his ears. He met Sesshoumaru's eyes with a quiet distaste. "I think you seek what you've outgrown. You are a King who wishes for the days of his Princehood; when friendships were simple, enemies clear and gifts given to you as easily as rain should come."

"Nothing that was given to me was free and without the desire to capture something from me."

"How highly my Sesshoumaru thinks himself."

Sesshoumaru looked to the Goddess, and sneered. "Name one thing." He challenged. "One thing given to me because I was Sesshoumaru, not Lord of the Western Lands or the Inutaisho's heir."

"My love."

Sesshoumaru was caught off-guard for a moment, and then struggled to regain himself. "All you are is Love. That is your very nature. You cannot be otherwise."

"Yet you, my child, could be something beyond Sesshoumaru called Hunger?" Kannon flinched when he saw Sesshoumaru recoil from the words. His face softened a little, holding out a hand. "My dear, dear one." He whispered, beckoning the Youkai to come closer. "Because you are the Inutaisho's eldest son, you are Lord of the Western Lands. Because you are Senshomi's son, you are the Hunger. That is your nature. Why rebel now? Be satisfied."

Sesshoumaru had walked to the bed, and allowed himself to be eased into the Goddess' lap. He felt Kannon's cool hands brush against his forehead, felt the Goddess' hands play idly over his moon crest before gingerly, and chastely, Kannon reached down and kissed him. Sesshoumaru closed his eyes for a moment, and was reminded of Rin's smile again.

When Kannon spoke again, his voice was sad. "Yet I know you cannot because that too is your nature. You seek what you can never obtain. You desire what you cannot possess. Even now I think you do." His eyes narrowed, and Kannon's voice turned icy for a moment; like tempests and storm fronts. "And you would take what is mine to sate that hunger."

"Yours?" Sesshoumaru's eyes opened, staring into Kannon's eyes. "When have I taken yours?"

"Do you not know?"

"I do not." And then, because he was tired of games, and wanted rest, he reclined again. Kannon wrapped his hands once again about Sesshoumaru, this time working the muscles his shoulders.

"Compassion is my domain, tolerance and healing." Kannon prodded. "Do you really not know what you have taken?"

Sesshoumaru laughed. "Call Sesshoumaru compassionate now, Goddess? You lie to yourself."

Kannon took on the female form again, and leaned down, finding Sesshoumaru's lips with her own. Gently, but compellingly she kissed the Youkai Lord, putting her hands on his cheeks and stroking his neck. Sesshoumaru stiffened but did not resist. She pushed herself from under his head, and curled around, reaching one arm to cup his body closer.

Sesshoumaru sat up, eyes still shut against hers. He was deep into her spell, allowing himself to be pulled this way and that, arching his chin towards her touch as her fingers drew across his hair. His lips parted as her hands drew down his neck and over his shoulders.

Kannon pushed back his robes lightly, brushing her lips across the alabaster skin. She paid attention to each curve of his skin, each muscle and vein that danced across his skin. Her hand slipped inside his robe, between cloth and skin and tickled his ribcage.

There was a sharp inhale, and then a word. "No."

Kannon pulled away, and found Sesshoumaru's honeyed eyes staring darkly at a corner. She laughed a little, and pushed at her own robe. "You dislike this form?" She asked, "As you wish. Take on your proper form, or one of pure light, should it humor you…I shall follow." She leaned over again and kissed him again, pulling at his lip, scratching behind his ear, and curling around to his neck.

Sesshoumaru swallowed and pulled away again. He could smell Kannon, could taste her and felt her body pushed against his. It was love itself, compassion and storms intertwined and woven together into a vessel of flesh and blood for his benefit. She felt like everything Sesshoumaru could have thought to love, or desire.

One name ran through his mind over and over again, causing him to push and turn away. "No."

"No?"
"Rin." He told her; surprised at himself for wishing that Kannon could understand all the things he could not bring himself to say. "She may come to find me, she may…need me." Kannon arched a brow. If he was capable of blushing, Sesshoumaru thought for a moment that this would be one of those rare times. He found himself stumbling over words and thoughts. "This is a new place for her. Rin may feel uncomfortable. She might be afraid. I should be ready, in case…"

When Kannon spoke, it was measured as if she was teasing or soothing someone who did not see reality. "There is always Jaken."

"But I am Lord Sesshoumaru."

Kannon was staring at him, "Indeed." She drawled, "As I am Kannon. Surely you know no harm would come to her while you are guests in my lands."

Sesshoumaru looked away again and wished that she would do the same. He was feeling exposed under her unwavering, unmoving gaze. He was struck for a moment, how encompassing she was, and how small he felt under her watch.

Kannon shifted in her seat. "She will not come." She continued, not unkindly but the words sliced at Sesshoumaru and he flinched. "There will be no need. I dare say, Rin will find more rest tonight then her weary body has had in a long time."

"She is human. They often do the unpredictable."

"Is that what you wish? That she becomes frightened and seeks comfort in you?"

Sesshoumaru's gaze found the door and took comfort it. He stared at it, willing an appearance. "I should wait for her. She may come."

"You do hope that, don't you?" Kannon asked, awed a little. "Sesshoumaru, do you hope?" He didn't reply, and she seemed to gain an answer from that. "Tama was right. What has become of the Hunger?"

Kannon leaned over and kissed him again, before rising and walking towards the door. She lingered at the doorframe for a moment, before turning back. "When a god finds you appealing, Sesshoumaru," She purred. "They are not something to turn away lightly."

With that she was gone, and Sesshoumaru was left alone. He continued to stare at the door for a long time afterwards, waiting.