Author's Note: The end of my little Phantom Pains series as it is. I hope you enjoyed the stories as much as I enjoyed writing them. Maybe there will be another story, if Lord knows, and Muse willing, I get a suitable plot. If not, I hope you smile. Thank you and goodnight. Please, read and review.

Chapter Nine: Oleander

Sesshoumaru himself rebuilt Kannon's Court. Quietly. Solitarily. But he did it, and the rest could only watch him in muted wonder as he went about mourning. Tama was most entranced, and lingered for hours on end at a distance, watching as Sesshoumaru purposefully and wordlessly pushed up walls that had been broken, and smoothed earth that had been destroyed. He worked sometimes in human form but mainly in his true form because it was easier for Youkai to function then a one armed man. Tama watched him without lending aide or thinking of interfering, instead tilting his head to one side and then another- glimpsing the world anew through his tired, half-blind eye and realizing just how much distance stood between what was and what could never be again. He had lost Sesshoumaru and no amount of love on his part could change and remake that. But still, he was Tama and would take no offense given him. And all around him, shadows gathered.

Rin kept the human company. Sesshoumaru had told her too, speaking to her as a servant for the first time in her life but she didn't mind, nor did she think much of the tone. The human, a male older then her, needed a kind hand and thanks to Sesshoumaru and something given to her only in Kannon's Court, Rin knew of comforting hands and gentle aide. She helped him, dressing the boy's wounds and sitting beside him, speaking. She said nothing of importance in her small mind, only what she knew: she told him of her life in the village, of the cold and the sorrow and then how she found Sesshoumaru laying ill in the woods- much like Sesshoumaru must have found him- and then how, he awoke her from a terrible dream and how now she followed him always. She told him of Sesshoumaru's kindness and Jaken's. She told him of everything that clustered and collected in her small brain.

And unbeknownst to her, Jomei listened. Each word, each cadence of her voice washed over him and craved little pieces of herself into himself. He listened to how she spoke of Sesshoumaru and the love she held for the demon and knew, that justice of a kind, of his making would be far in coming but all the same; it would come. And all around him, shadows gathered.

Sesshoumaru was not ignorant of the shadows creeping through the defenses he had reset but he did not hinder them. It was not his right, just as this was not his domain. He was just rebuilding, and waiting. He knew she would return, after all. Kannon was a god. Gods do not perish, at least not forever. He had to wait, and make ready the way for the return. Some part of him wished to see his Kannon again, but he knew that was impossible. His Kannon, the visions of his dreams and keeper of his secrets, was gone. He had died for Sesshoumaru.

"Do you regret her actions?"

Sesshoumaru did not flinch when he heard the voice, nor did he look behind him towards the Speaker. He knew the person already. "Kannon should have called me, I would have…"

"Attended?" The voice hesitated. "After all this, do you still not understand? For what would you have attended? For what would you have prevented, Inu no Taisho's heir? The death? Would you gained Kannon's life, ransomed it for Rin's? Would Kannon, being Kannon, have allowed- Sesshoumaru, once called Hunger?"

"I grieve." He said simply.

"For Kannon?"

"No. For the point of view." He turned then and saw the Celt watching him unabashedly. He stared at her, and then inclined his head in a half-bow. "Milady."

The Celt smiled, nervously at first but he already could see the assuredness that slid behind the smile. The assuredness that was wholly without arrogance in a way only Kannon could have. "My children will come soon, and then it will be as it always was…"

"Now who shows folly, Goddess?"

The Celt's smile flickered for a moment, inhaling. "Perhaps, you are right. I am not Kannon…or at least…"

"You will learn."

"You could teach me."

Sesshoumaru almost laughed. Almost. He turned back; to follow the Celt's gaze out towards the Court. She was not his Kannon. Still, she was so much more then being without her. Sesshoumaru reached over and took her hand.

The Celt smiled and gently removed it. "You could stay. You, and Jaken and Rin. Even Jomei and Tama would be welcomed. You could stay. With me."

Sesshoumaru continued to watch the horizon.

"But of course you will not. You are Sesshoumaru, with a whole kingdom to build. One that shall be greater then his father's. My dear Hunger, how little you change…"

"Everything changes." Sesshoumaru said softly.

The Celt let the silence linger between them for a moment, before inhaling and folding her arms over her chest. "Where will you go from here?"

Sesshoumaru tilted his head. "Home."

"The Western Lands?"

"No. I still have Naraku to defeat, and a brother to destroy, and a sword to claim." Another beat, and then the smallest of smiles greeted his features. "And yes, I kingdom to build that is greater then that of the Inu no Taisho."

"And then?"

The Inuyoukai was silent. When he spoke, it was not of the future but of the lost. "Tama, will become of him?"

"He has opted to stay, with the human child. When Jomei is strong enough to move again..." There was a beat between them.

"He will come after me again."

"Yes."

"There was a time I would have died for him...a time that has not yet passed...now he would destory me for a dream's sake."

"Everything changes." She told him softly.

He seemed to consider this. Then, without so much as another word to her in farewell, Sesshoumaru of the Western Lands pushed passed her and began to walk. "Jaken, attend."

"Wait for me, my lord!" Jaken shouted as he tumbled forward. Several moments later, Jaken's shrill voice, and the grunting of Ah-Un as it clamored under its reigns shattered the calmest of the Courtyard. Sesshoumaru did not linger or hesitate, but continued to walk in his unaffected pace. Jaken looked back, shouting. "Come on, Rin! Don't want to be left behind."

The Celt thought for a moment that it would be beautiful to think of them forever together but knew this was impossible. Age perhaps would rent them one from another, or death, or despair. Kannon knew of course, and had been tempted, truly tempted for a time to tell how it would end. She hadn't of course. That was not for mortals to know.

She could not have told them of the Hanyou child, the daughter of an illusion. The war that clamored and rolled like thunder because of the birth and the attack, and what Rin would become. Such a beautiful child, such a terrible beauty…

Kannon sidestepped just long enough to see a blurry of orange and yellow as it darted pass, and Rin: all laughter and giggles tumbling after her lord. And the Goddess smiled a little smile. They walked together; each in step, each according to their function; Sesshoumaru of the Hunger, Jaken the Attendant, and Rin their beloved heart till time and destiny would part them.

She inclined her head and shook away the dreams of tomorrow. Kannon hears all cries, but for now, she chooses to ignore them and instead focus on the now. On a group of three Beings in possession of dreams, and of nightmares and of fears and most of all each other disappear into the horizon.

Together.