A/N: I'm alive, you guys! Sorry for the long wait; but, the good news is that I just took my last final exam today and that means this stupid evil semester from Hell is officially over—I swear to you all, I have the desperate urge to set all my textbooks on fire in my backyard and dance around the flames like a pagan, but I'm sure someone in my neighborhood would call the cops on me. Nosy neighbors—a pox on all of them! Anyway, enough of that insanity: I've already picked my classes for next semester, and hopefully I won't have the scheduling difficulties I had this semester, since I'll be going to campus three days a week instead of all five (which sucks, in case you were wondering). So anyway, here's the next chapter. The lyrics for "Fukai Mori" and the accompanying translation I got from an IY website, I totally recommend that you guys check it out, it's well-worth your while if you're an Inuyasha fan.


Disclaimer: go see Chapters One through Nine if you're really wondering.
Words To Know:

sensei: teacher, master; within the contexts of this story, "teacher"

sayonara: farewell, as in "good-bye forever" or at the very least, good-bye for a really long time


Chapter Ten: Peace, Of A Sort

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Tsukurareta wakugumi o koe

Ima o ikite

Sabitsuita kokoro mate

Ugokudasu yo

---

Going beyond the exhaustion,

Living here and now,

The rusted spirit

Moves about once more.

"Fukai Mori"/ Do As Infinity

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"I'm gonna be sick," Kagome groaned, lurching out of Sesshoumaru's lap and to her feet. She stumbled her way to the entrance of the cave. Sesshoumaru heard her stagger a few more feet before she began retching. For once, he was thankful for the malodorousness of Toutousai's forge; at the very least, it would keep him from catching the sour smell of vomit.

A glance at Toutousai found the old man still admiring his glowing handiwork. Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes and went back to listening to the miko's painful heaving. She was the more entertaining, of the two.

She stopped heaving after a few more minutes, and then he heard her slowly walking back to the cave. She appeared in the entrance, walked a few steps in and then collapsed on the floor with a death moan, head falling back to rest against the wall. Sesshoumaru rose gracefully to his feet and walked to where she sat, looking like a wrung out rag. She didn't even bother to open her eyes when he knelt down before her and picked up her right hand.

Sesshoumaru inspected the cut Toutousai had made. It was a little deeper than it needed to be, and too lengthy. He frowned; this cut would take far too long to heal, given the inferiority of the human body. And they had fallen too behind in her kenjutsu to wait for the skin to mend. Sighing, he settled down more comfortably before her.

Kagome jerked at the brush of something warm and wet against her palm. She tried to pull her hand away, but someone was holding her fast. Opening her eyes, she found Sesshoumaru seated before her, her hand in both of his…and damned if he wasn't licking her palm. She stared at him, aghast. And then she felt a mortified blush work its way up her neck to spread over her cheeks.

"Y-y-you d-don't have to do that," she sputtered, trying to reclaim her hand.

Sesshoumaru met her embarrassed gaze over their hands, and she winced, humiliated in a very new and special way. After all, how many women could say they'd had their wounds licked by a handsome, if emotionally stunted and sociopathic, dog demon? Kagome silently asked herself why her life was so weird. And who was enjoying this at her expense, because she REALLY wanted to talk to that sick fu—

"It will take several days for this wound to heal," Sesshoumaru said nonchalantly, between licks. "That is time we cannot afford to waste."

"Oh gods," she groaned, gritting her teeth when his tongue passed over her palm again, "why do you hate me?"

"There's no need for dramatics, Miko," Sesshoumaru returned dryly.

"You're not the one getting her hand licked by a youkai lord."

"Irrelevant, but dully noted."

Kagome sighed and gave up. In the end, she really didn't want to have to explain why this embarrassed her. And Sesshoumaru didn't look overly interested in hearing her excuses anyway, so she just decided that sitting in quiet discomfort would speed the process along faster.

She kept her eyes trained outside, unable to look at him while he "treated" her, such as it was. She knew youkai saliva had curative properties. It was an odd fact she'd picked up from Sango, stored away in her brain and then promptly forgotten about, as she'd done with algebra and trig. Once the information was no longer relevant, her brain had tossed it out to make room for something else, such as remembering where she left her damn keys. And even if she had remembered it on her own, she never would have dreamed that Sesshoumaru would use it on her. It smacked of lowering himself to help her. Willingly.

She really shouldn't have been uncomfortable with the idea, seeing as how he'd helped her before. Well, nothing tangible, aside from nursing her through her infection-induced fever. But it was the fact that she hadn't had to ask him, or otherwise force him, to do it that bothered her. He had acted completely on his own, with no nudging on her part. Her gaze flickered to him, watched him for bare seconds out of the corner of her eye and then went back to the world outside the cave. He was watching her, eyes trained on her. Kagome got the uneasy feeling that she was being observed as if she were his own personal science project. He didn't blink, just stared at her, eyes narrow and glittering. A shiver tripped down her spine; whatever was going on in that dark, sharp mind, she was positive she didn't want to know.

He was right.

Sesshoumaru mulled over the taste of the miko's blood as he tended to her palm, growing more and more certain with each pass of his tongue on her flesh that there was something different about the woman's blood. About her.

Why hadn't he noticed that sweetness before?

A corner of his mouth twitched up cynically when he saw her glance at him briefly out of the corner of her eye. She was nervous and wary; he could smell it on her. She was remarkably edgy, actually, but he wasn't bothered by that in the least. Let her be knocked off her equilibrium for a change—gods knew it had happened to him more than enough since her arrival.

Another pass, another taste. The heavier flavor of blood, that metallic tang, hit first, overpowering. It quickly faded, to be replaced by the more subtle texture, the more pleasant essence. It tasted pure and it tasted soft. He was almost certain that it was a result of her power, of her ability. That was the only conclusion he could come to, anyway. He still wondered why he'd only become aware of it now. Was it because of the sword? Had her proximity to the holy object drawn out this mysterious little peculiarity?

He knew she didn't know, wasn't aware, of the change. No point in asking her. And while Toutousai knew enough about miko to know that blood would bind them to their weapons, he doubted the old man would be able to explain why the miko's blood had never smelled different until tonight. Toutousai knew weapons—he didn't know shit about blood. Or anything else, for that matter.

He kept licking her palm even after the wound had shut, just to make her nervous. It was a childish reaction and later, he'd feel stupid for giving in to it. But for right now, he wanted to see her squirm.

Kagome gritted her teeth and silently recited her times tables. The licks had slowed. He was dragging his tongue over her palm languorously. Her cheeks were on fire. Oh wow, this sucked. She had never dreamed that something so potentially erotic could be so utterly humiliating.

"Are you done yet?" she asked, back teeth tightly ground against each other.

"No," he returned, just before laving her palm.

She suppressed another shudder.

Fuck.

Wait! No! Wrong word! I meant shit! Yeah, right shit! That's it!

Too late: now that the word had come to the forefront of her mind, her brain snagged hold of it. It was not giving her mental pictures analogous with the noun form of the word, however. No, her scattered wits had skipped frantically by that nice safe haven for the very dangerous world of the Fuck: Verb; Used in a sentence to denote activity, as in: I like fucking.

"Oh gods!" she wailed, snatching her hand away and covering her eyes. Her face was permanently on fire; she would look like she'd been sunburned for the rest of her life. And forget ever looking Sesshoumaru in the face ever again.

"Fuck!" she exploded; the demon lord had been safely away from the dirty montage in her mind until she'd actually thought of him. Now he was a star.

"My life is SUCH crap," she moaned. "Why does even my mind have to work against me?"

She heard him snort.

"I am begging you, Sesshoumaru: Do. Not. Say. A. Word. Please, in the name of all that is good and holy in this world, don't say anything. Or I'll have to throw myself off this mountain." she implored before he could open his mouth to say something condescending. Not because she wanted to avoid hearing his general disdain for her race and her in particular, although that was certainly incentive. She just didn't want anything he said in that deep voice of his to be horribly vulgarized by the dirtier portions of her mind. She already had a mental picture of him that would have given her mother a seizure (actually, she'd almost given herself one). She didn't need to hear him or look at him and add some more features. Maybe if she could get him to cooperate….

"And why would this Sesshoumaru want to prevent that?"

She was going to kill him.

She ripped her hands away from her face and glared at him. He was still seated before her, only now, he was smirking at her, eyes narrowed. That bastard. He was enjoying her discomfort! That son of a bitch! How DARE he!

"I hate you," she snapped. "I hate you and I hope you drop dead—stone cold dead—in front of me right this instant!"

He raised a haughty eyebrow.

"And if I don't?" he asked, sounding bored.

Kagome made a sound of outrage; she was too upset for words. Fine then. If he wanted to torture her, she'd just have to…. What? She didn't have any ammunition. She sighed in frustration. Her life really was crap.

"Miko? I'm waiting."

She shoved her face in his, nose to nose.

"Go sit on Toukijin!" she shouted, then abruptly got to her feet and stormed out of the common room and forge.

Sesshoumaru sat in silence for a moment. Then, slowly, the corners of his mouth lifted and he smiled in true amusement and satisfaction.

"I won," he said loudly enough for the miko to hear, and he chuckled under his breath when he heard her yell an obscenity.

And THAT, is how one tormented a miko.

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Kagome blocked Sesshoumaru's swing with a grunt and quickly backed away the second the pressure let up on his end.

He had slowed down considerably for her benefit, but he was still way faster than she was. She knew that it was impossible for him to slow down any more, but the more irrational portion of her mind complained and wished he would. She tried to block another swing that seemed to come out of nowhere and managed to partially succeed; his bokken made stinging contact with her elbow.

Kagome let out some random, wordless exclamation of pain as her arm throbbed.

"Time out," she managed to say as stars danced before her eyes. Stars with obnoxiously familiar smirks, reeking superiority. "Crap," she muttered, collapsing on the ground and pushing back her sleeve to rub her elbow.

Sesshoumaru stood before her, the bokken tucked into the crook of his right arm. And something she'd noticed about his style suddenly popped into her head.

"Oi, Sesshoumaru," she said, forcing down the hitch her heart gave at using one of Inuyasha's rude attention-getters.

The demon lord sent her a look icy with displeasure at being treated to such a common phrase. She ignored it.

"I noticed you only use your right hand when you're gripping the bokken," she said.

He raised an eyebrow. And? his expression seemed to say.

"Why?"

There was a pause.

"Why do I use one hand or why do I use the right hand?" he returned finally.

She shrugged. "Both. I noticed it a while back, but I kept forgetting to ask you about it."

"If you recall, the hanyou sliced my left arm off," he said, voice holding the barest traces of resentment.

She nodded.

"I was left with one hand for over thirty years, Miko. One learns to adapt."

She cocked her head and pursed her lip as she examined one arm and then the other. She finally met his gaze.

"Huh," was all she said.

"Have you recovered?" he asked.

"I guess," she said with a sigh, picking up her discarded bokken and standing. She slipped into defensive stance, waiting for him to attack her.

He watched her for a moment in silence, then abruptly came at her. He drove her back, toward the stand of trees. Kagome knew immediately that he was trying to corner her, such as it were.

They were using pretty basic, simple maneuvers. He'd begun with defensive training because that was what she'd probably be doing most with her sword. It was practical. It was also hard as all hell.

Toutousai had been dead-on: Sesshoumaru was a merciless sensei. He rarely, if ever, let her take a break, was constantly pushing her to keep going whether she had the ability to or not. And while he held back a considerable amount of his strength, he was in no way letting her off easy. Every muscle in her body was straining to keep up with the demon lord. Unfortunately, Kagome had a feeling she wasn't doing so hot.

She backed right into a tree. She saw Sesshoumaru's predatory smile just before he swung the bokken down toward her head. She brought her own up to meet his, only to have it brought down to about waist level from the force of the demon's blow. The strike reverberated up her arms painfully and she winced.

"You'd be dead."

She sent him a very unamused look.

"That'd be the eighth time this hour." She glanced at his bokken, still pressing hers down. She sent him a pointed look. "Mind letting me up?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Make me," he returned. "I've just cornered you. What are you going to do?"

"According to you, I'm dead. Being dead denotes the absence of life, i.e. being lifeless, inanimate, no longer active and functioning, period." Kagome replied. "Corpses do not wiggle out of corners. Therefore, this 'corpse' will not."

He frowned at her. "This 'corpse'," he said, bringing his face down low so that they were nearly nose to nose, "will do just that, or she will cease to be a pretend one. This 'corpse' will be just that—a corpse. 'Being lifeless, inanimate, no longer active and functioning, period.' Do you understand, Miko? Or will I be forced to demonstrate 'the absence of life'?"

Kagome watched Sesshoumaru and listened to his even, smooth tones as he very effectively threatened her. She refused to let her fear gain control however. She had to take control of herself, and this situation. So he wanted her to get out of the corner he'd backed her into? Okay—she'd do just what he wanted.

She leaned up and kissed him, eyes on his, and had the satisfaction of seeing horror leap into his deadpan face. She felt him stiffen and begin to jerk back and got ready to swing her sword into his face the second he backed away from her.

Appalled didn't begin to describe what Sesshoumaru was feeling. What in the FUCK had gotten into the woman? What spawn of hell had possessed her to kiss him? And how was he going to keep from killing her when he got the hell away from her?

He was pulling back when he saw the smug satisfaction shining in her eyes. His own narrowed. So, she was trying to addle him, was she? Two could play this game.

He pressed her back against the tree and nearly smiled when her eyes darkened in confusion and a little apprehension. My my. This wasn't going at all the way she'd planned, was it? He sucked her bottom lip in between his own. The miko stiffened, and Sesshoumaru smiled faintly, pleased with her reaction. Then, he abruptly bit down on her lip with enough force to break through the skin and sank his fangs into the soft flesh, her blood seeping into his mouth.

She yelped and he allowed her to rip her mouth away and stumble away from him. She immediately put a hand to her lip and watched him, wide eyed and shocked. He raised an eyebrow.

"You bit me," she said from behind her hand.

"How astute of you," he replied.

"You asshole!" she yelled. "Why would you bite me!"

"Don't be stupid, woman," he snapped. "For the same reason you kissed me. Which, by the way, will never happen again or I will not hesitate to forget that I require your powers of purification."

She glared at him mutinously, then lifted her hand away from her mouth and looked at it.

"You didn't have to bite so hard," she muttered churlishly.

He sent her a dark look and took a step toward her. Her eyes nearly fell out of her head.

"You're not licking it shut!" she shouted, swinging her bokken out in front of her awkwardly with one hand while she held the other to her lip.

"You're damn right I'm not!" he shouted back, then took a deep, calming breath and uncurled his fists. They watched each other in something like resentment, since they'd driven each other to acting childish once again, and effectively broken on their agreement to stop such behavior.

Kagome sighed when Sesshoumaru would have spoken.

"Why am I learning how to do this if the thing I'm going up against is youkai?" she asked wearily, plopping down onto the grass gracelessly and throwing her bokken off to the side. She glanced down at her hand to check on the bleeding from her lip, then replaced her hand.

"This youkai has the ability to manipulate the minds of others," Sesshoumaru said, deciding to sit down as well.

"Mind control?" Kagome asked, staring at him, obviously unpleasantly surprised by this development.

Sesshoumaru nodded, holding up his bokken and inspecting the tip. "Anything capable of sentient thought has the potential for having its mind taken over by this youkai," he said. It went without saying that humans were likely among the demon's soldiers.

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "So why hasn't he tried to mess with your head?" she asked with a smirk.

Sesshoumaru smirked back. "He's survived eight years of warfare with me, Miko—I give the bastard at least some credit for intelligent thought."

Kagome laughed darkly, then fell back against the grass and closed her eyes.

"So, I'm going up against a youkai who's able to control minds, and has been dodging your claws for eight years? Great. Just great. My life gets better with every hour that passes." She opened her eyes and stared up at the sky. "How do you know he won't try to get in my head and make me one of his grunts?"

"I don't know," Sesshoumaru returned, ignoring the last part of her question since he had no idea what she was talking about, "I simply doubt that he'll dare."

Kagome lifted her head and looked at him.

"Why?"

"You are a miko. It is unheard of that a miko should work in tandem with a youkai."

"I'm working with you," she interrupted.

He glared at her meaningfully when he said,

"You're a very special case."

The way he said "special" told Kagome that he didn't mean it in a good way.

"In any case, I believe the thought will not cross his mind. Youkai energy is too dark, too different, from the energy of a miko. It would be impossible for a youkai to control such a thing. The natures are too different to attempt such a thing without extreme difficulty. It wouldn't be worth the effort, in the end."

Kagome laid back down and thought about that.

"I hope," she said at long last, "that this guy is as intelligent as you give him credit for. Because it would suck if you were wrong about that."

He didn't reply.

They were silent for a long time, and then Sesshoumaru stood. Kagome, hearing him move, lifted her head and found him watching her.

"As we're leaving tomorrow, it would behoove you to take advantage of all this free time we have such an abundance of, and learn what you can."

She stared at him for a second, processing that information, then sighed and sat up.

"I'd like to say good-bye to Sango and Miroku's children before we go," she said.

He eyed her. "If I say no, you'll irritate me, won't you?"

She nodded. "And to hell with our accord," she added.

He sighed inwardly.

"Pick up your bokken you frustrating woman."

Kagome smiled wryly, stood up and fetched the instrument, then got into defensive stance.

"As you wish, Sensei."

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Toutousai had her try on her new armor when she and Sesshoumaru arrived back at his cave later that day, just before dinner. The old demon eyed her critically once she had gotten into the leather and metal contraption, circling her and mumbling to himself unintelligibly. He tugged here, adjusted there, then jerked his head and stepped back.

"There," he said.

"Do I look ready to kick ass Ojii-san?" Kagome asked with a half grin.

"'Look' being the operative word," Sesshoumaru murmured from where he leaned against the wall, eyeing her armor as critically as Toutousai had.

Kagome ignored him, and was damn proud of her restraint.

"You look very fine indeed, Kagome-chan," Toutousai hurried to assure her, in case she decided to take offense to the demon lord's estimation of her abilities. They had been more or less quiet since their return from the taiji-ya village, but the older demon knew that that could change very quickly. As it was, Sesshoumaru still ripped the sheets off of her and shook her awake in the morning, and she still tried to purify him upon being rudely returned to the land of consciousness. Once the yelling had passed, they were able to more or less tolerate each other with lukewarm humor—good humor was simply asking too much from two beings who would have preferred to have nothing to do with each other.

Kagome smiled at the old demon, then got out of her armor and carefully set it next to her bow, quiver and pack.

The miko sat down to dinner, and Toutousai joined her at the low table and inquired after her kenjutsu lessons. Kagome cheerfully filled him in on the afternoon's events, though she skipped the part where she had kissed Sesshoumaru and he had bitten her in retaliation, the demon lord noticed in dark amusement. Not that he would have been happy to have her tell the crazy swordsmith about the unpleasant incident. He was simply amused that she was as eager as he to pretend the episode had never taken place, despite the angry fang marks on her bottom lip that said otherwise.

She had improved since her time in the shrine. He still had no idea what had happened in that suffocating little box, but—and he'd cut off his own arm before he'd say it out loud—he was grateful. Hopefully, from here on out, his plans would fall into place more quickly, more smoothly.

He caught little shadows moving over her eyes every once in a while, a vague sadness that passed over her features for a quick moment and then was gone. It would have been too much to expect her to be completely repaired and restored. She was still mourning. But the sickness that had been leeching the life out of her, stealing the soul from her, had been purged at some point during the two nights she had spent in the shrine to her dead friends.

He wondered sometimes if, after being faced with the mortality of her comrades, she felt her own more keenly. As he understood it, death had that affect on humans, moved them to examine their lives, the briefness of their time on the earthly plain. He had never understood the purpose of humanity. They really were rather useless, at the mercy of everything, even each other. Which was not to say that youkai didn't pose a threat to each other, they did. But there was a reason behind it. There was an order to maintain, power to control. Humans had no such power, no such order. And so he wondered why they were even alive. Why something so weak and useless should be allowed to dwell for a handful of decades, having accomplished nothing worthwhile, having done nothing of merit, nothing to redeem its wastefulness. Why something so low and vile was allowed the chance when it squandered that chance at pursuits of no intrinsic value. And why that contemptible creature fought so hard for a gift it had no true appreciation for.

But he held his peace and sat near the miko and nursed a cup of tea and watched her and wondered. Wondered if she knew that he could smell the faint scent of decay on her, wondered if she knew that death hovered over her as it hovered over all humans, wondered if she knew that she more than likely had no more than two decades (and that was being overly generous in his estimation) left to live before her mortality, the curse and ruin of humanity, fulfilled its promise. And he wondered, as he sat there quietly, listening to her cheerful voice, why that knowledge suddenly made him so sad.

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Toutousai showed Kagome what her sword was capable of that night after dinner. He had her pick up the weapon, unsheathe it and hold it as he looked it over, then smiled and nodded his head.

"Now, bring it outside," he said, turning and walking out of his forge.

Kagome stared after him, then looked at Sesshoumaru, who met her gaze with his usual practiced boredom. And it WAS practiced; now that she was no longer drowning in her anguish, now that she was able to lift her head above the dark water threatening to pull her under, she recognized the fakeness of the expression. It was a shield. It was a mask. It was protection. It was what kept him sane. She wondered at that, but said nothing. She was still trying to collect the shattered pieces of herself and fit them back together. The pieces were sharp-edged and jagged, and she knew that they would never fit together perfectly, but it was enough that she could be mended, with time and care. Maybe later. She was a miko, after all. It was her job to purify that which had been tainted, heal what had been harmed. Even if what had been tainted and harmed was a being that had no love of her and no desire for her help.

Kagome followed Toutousai out, her sheathed sword tightly gripped in one hand. She felt Sesshoumaru fall into step behind her. Upon reaching Toutousai, the swordsmith asked her to once again unsheathe her sword, which she obediently did.

"Kagome, this weapon is an extension of your power," the old demon said. "Anything you can do, it can do."

She raised an eyebrow and sent the sword a skeptical look. "Oh?" she asked dubiously.

Toutousai looked miffed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

"It's just that I can't really do very much with my ki, Ojii-san," Kagome replied, moving to slide the sword into its scabbard.

"Stick it in the dirt," Toutousai ordered.

"What?" Kagome asked, confused by the demand; even Sesshoumaru was sending the old man a look that said he must had lost his mind.

"You heard me, child," Toutousai said irritably.

Kagome sighed, eyes turned upwards, shrugged and stabbed the sword into the dirt like an oversized toothpick. A purple glow immediately enveloped the sword and the area directly around it. Kagome stared at her weapon in shock, then looked to Toutousai, who was smugly watching her.

"What in the hell?" she murmured. "That's a barrier."

"Yes it is."

Kagome looked back down at her glowing sword. She walked around it slowly, then crouched down beside it and leaned in for a closer look. She noticed that Sesshoumaru had stepped closer, also investigating. She grunted, frowning.

"Hell," she groused, "this barrier is better than any of mine."

"It's concentrated," Sesshoumaru said, also crouching down. He was considerably farther from the sword than she was, not that she blamed him, him being youkai and all.

Toutousai nodded. Kagome looked up at the demon lord. "Concentrated?" she repeated.

The demon lord nodded. "The power has direction, is focused in one area with one purpose. That is the reason for its strength."

Kagome's gaze went back to the sword.

"Huh." was all she replied. She cocked her head, then looked at Toutousai. Her gaze went back and forth between the sword and its creator, and then she leaned forward, grabbed her sword and jerked it out of the dirt with a grunt. Then she walked to Toutousai. She stood before him, eyed him speculatively, then suddenly plunged the sword into the ground in front of him.

"What in the hell!" the old demon exploded, eyes bugging out of his head as he was enveloped by the purple-colored barrier.

Kagome's face broke out into a wide grin. "I was hoping that would happen," she said to no one in particular.

"What exactly were you hoping for?" Sesshoumaru asked, coming to stand beside her and watch idly as Toutousai waved his arms over his head and yelled at them. It was actually pretty entertaining, the demon lord reflected absently.

"The barrier grows to accommodate whatever it's protecting," Kagome returned, still grinning with pleasure that her guess had been right. "As long as I stick the katana into the ground in front of the thing I want protected—right Ojii-san?"

"Get me out of here!"

"Why?" Kagome asked, her smile leaving her suddenly. "Are you being purified?"

"No!" the old demon bellowed, glaring at her. "I just want to get the hell out of here!"

Kagome shrugged, stepped forward and reached through the barrier to grab the sword. The barrier dissipated the second the tip left the dirt. Toutousai scowled at her darkly.

"And just why in the seven hells did you use ME to try out your theory on?" he snapped.

Kagome watched him, surprised. "Who else was I going to use?"

Toutousai pointed to Sesshoumaru. Kagome followed his finger, saw who the old swordsmith was gesturing to and turned back to him with a look of complete disbelief.

"You're kidding, right?"

Toutousai's eyes flickered to Sesshoumaru, who was watching him with icy displeasure. He paused, mouth screwed up. He really couldn't see Sesshoumaru docilely submitting to being a guinea pig for the miko's weapon. He could see, however, the demon lord running the miko through should she have attempted.

"Well," the old man grumbled, "it was a thought, anyway."

"A dumb one," Kagome muttered.

"So this weapon can do anything the miko is able to do with her hands?" Sesshoumaru asked after an acceptably uncomfortable silence had descended.

"That's the idea," Toutousai said after a short pause. "Keeps her within range to do serious damage without having to resort to hand-to-hand combat, such as it is."

"I'm right here," Kagome mumbled irritably, annoyed that she was being talked about when she was standing not four feet from the two men. Both decided to ignore her, much to her growing resentment.

"Useful," Sesshoumaru decided at long last. Toutousai scowled and muttered something under his breath. Sesshoumaru sent the old man a sharp, narrow-eyed look. "I don't believe I caught all of that," he commented mildly, cracking his knuckles for effect.

"Don't kill him," Kagome said with a sigh, sheathing her sword, "I just ate. Murder upsets the digestion."

"Is that right?" Sesshoumaru murmured with a dark smirk. "I've found it actually aids in the digestive process."

The miko sent him a look that plainly told him just how much faith she put in his observation.

Toutousai, meanwhile, had edged back toward his cave.

"I believe I left the fire burning," he said lamely, taking a chance and running for the safety of his forge. Kagome bit back a laugh at the old man's hasty retreat, then sighed and glanced over at the demon lord standing beside her.

Sesshoumaru's face was lifted toward the night sky, eyes closed. He looked almost peaceful. Kagome looked up at the moon and decided that the taiyoukai had the right idea. The moon hung serenely in the inky blackness, bathing the world below it in a silvery light. The stars were out too, winking almost cheerfully. She smiled wistfully; she had forgotten how beautiful nights were here, where the sky was clean and free of pollution and millions of volts of unnatural light. She picked out a few constellations, remembered pointing them out to Sango and Miroku and Shippou…Shippou.

Kagome felt a little knot of dread take up residence in her stomach, but she steeled herself. There was a hope, small and painful, that the kitsune had not met the same fate as the others of their little group. But Kagome doubted that the baby fox demon she had adopted as her own had survived. Especially since he had left Inuyasha's protection a few years before the half demon had died. Everyone else was gone—it would have been asking too much of Fate for the kitsune to have outlived them all.

"I don't suppose you'd know what happened to Shippou?" she asked the demon beside her quietly. After a long silence, she decided she should elaborate: "He was the little kitsune that traveled with us?"

Sesshoumaru let out a soft grunt beside her, and her eyes darted to him, surprised that he'd made such a sound. His face, however, was impassive as ever.

"No," he said at length, dashing her last, sad little hope. "During my final dealings with the hanyou, the kitsune was no longer with him. He had left the hanyou's care some time before then."

Kagome nodded, then looked back up at the sky. She fought down the urge to weep copiously for the child of her heart, lost to gods knew what. A few tears slid down her cheeks. She calmly wiped them away, watching the moon as though it were her only salvation. At first, she was surprised at how well she had taken the news, but then again, she had had a feeling, deep down inside, that she was the sole survivor of their little band. She had accepted that possibility unconsciously during her time in the memorial to Sango and Miroku.

Once she was sure that she could speak without breaking down, she glanced at Sesshoumaru. He was watching the moon as well.

"What time are we leaving tomorrow?"

"Early."

Kagome's mouth twitched at the vague answer. How typically cryptic of the man. Demon.

"Then I'll turn in," she said quietly, walking towards the cave. She stopped halfway there, but didn't turn around. "Sesshoumaru?"

She felt his gaze on her back.

"I haven't forgotten the promise you made this afternoon—I don't care what time we leave Ojii-san's cave as long as we stop by the taijiya village afterwards."

Technically, Sesshoumaru had made no such promise. At least, not out loud. But Kagome was beginning to understand the demon's strange language without words, and he had clearly acquiesced to her pseudo-request earlier just before he had ordered her to pick up her bokken and resume her lesson.

"If you give me any trouble tomorrow morning, Miko, I will not hesitate to fling you off the side of the mountain."

Kagome smiled at the frigid tone he graced her with—he was in a really bad mood if he was threatening physical harm.

"Good-night Sesshoumaru."

He didn't answer. She hadn't expected him to.

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

They left before dawn.

Kagome surprised not only Sesshoumaru and Toutousai but also herself when her eyes snapped open the second Sesshoumaru ripped the sheets off her. She didn't even feel sleepy. She turned over on the lumpy old futon she had been borrowing for the past week or so, and gazed up at the demon lord, who was wearing an expression akin to amazement on his face while he watched her. They stared at each other, both feeling rather stunned by her miraculous awakening.

"Weird," Kagome said, voice rough with sleep.

Sesshoumaru blinked, then reigned in his surprise and schooled his features.

"We'll be leaving shortly," he announced, then turned and left the chamber. Kagome watched him go, feeling a twinge of disappointment. She had gotten used to the routine they had established in the morning. It wasn't that she necessarily enjoyed it, because she didn't. There was nothing enjoyable about having your warm sheets ripped off your prone body, and then being shaken like a rattle on top of it, by a very annoyed dog demon. There were far more pleasant ways of greeting the day. Like breakfast in bed, or the sight of a really good-looking man baring breakfast, or even just the really good-looking man. Sans shirt. And pants.

But Kagome had become rather fond of routine as she had grown older. It made sense out of chaos, and while most people her age hadn't minded a little chaos, they hadn't been juggling two different lives in two different eras. Routine had become her very best friend out of necessity.

And it was hard to break the habit of searching for a daily rhythm to adjust to. She had fallen into the Wake-up Call from Hell because it had happened more or less at the same time for more than two days in a row. Her brain had just naturally adapted to that. And now she felt more than a little thrown off that the routine had been interrupted.

Sighing, Kagome sat up and scratched her head absently, then stretched and yawned hugely. She had laid awake for two hours after retiring, unsure how she felt, exactly, about leaving the forge. The place had become a kind of bizarre home to her. She was going to miss it, despite the stifling heat and the smell. And Toutousai. He was rather like a weird uncle, or senile old grandfather. In fact, he reminded her quite a lot of Jii-chan, except demonic and fascinated by weaponry rather than fairy tales. Other than that, they were much alike.

"You finally slit that poor child's throat, didn't you?" she heard Toutousai demand. She smiled at the outraged tone his voice took on. At least, she smiled until he spoke again: "And left her carcass on my futon, just to put me out, didn't you? I'll have to get another one, you ungrateful mongrel."

"Why you miserable old coot!" Kagome yelled, jumping off the futon and scrambling into the common room.

Toutousai whirled around, shocked at both her voice and her words—she'd never called him names like that unappreciative mongrel did—while Sesshoumaru, who had been in the process of tying on his armor, raised an eyebrow at her display of energy so quickly after waking up.

"I can't believe you were worried about your damn futon!" Kagome said, fuming. She glared at him. "It isn't even a very good one! It felt like I was sleeping on the ground anyway."

Toutousai looked offended. Sesshoumaru went back to his armor, a corner of his mouth twitching. This morning's entertainment was really quite good, especially since he didn't have to play any part in it. He could just sit back and watch.

"Ungrateful child!" Toutousai said, returning her glare. "I give you my bed, my food—"

"That sucked too." she caustically threw back.

Perhaps he'd spoken too soon.

"Miko," Sesshoumaru said, his voice holding warning. "We do not have time for your childish antics."

Kagome watched him for several seconds, then slowly raised her hand and then her middle finger. He raised his eyebrow, not entirely sure what she meant by the gesture, but quite sure that it was meant to be insulting, if the expression on her face was anything to go by.

"Yes?" he asked, bored.

"Fuck. You." Kagome said, sounding just as bored. She then let her hand drop to her side, turned and went back into Toutousai's chamber.

The two demons stared after her.

"Gods above, she spent far too much time with Inuyasha," Toutousai said after a long silence.

"So it would seem."

They ate breakfast—Sesshoumaru ate the proffered fare with a look of faint distaste that Kagome enjoyed because she had decided she was going to hate him for a little while—then walked out of the forge, Toutousai following after them. Sesshoumaru made a move to grab the miko, but she gave his hand a whack. He growled at her, startled and furious that she'd dared strike him. She glared at him.

"Wait a minute," she ordered, then turned to Toutousai. She threw her arms around the old demon, who stumbled back in surprise, then awkwardly patted her back.

"Arigatou Ojii-san," she said sincerely. "For everything. Even the futon."

Toutousai grumbled under his breath. "You're welcome," he groused, not liking the unpleasant gleam in Sesshoumaru's eyes.

Kagome let go of him and smiled. Toutousai found himself smiling back, despite himself. Oh, who cared what that spoiled asshole thought? She was a sweet girl.

"Make good use of that katana, Kagome-chan," Toutousai instructed.

She nodded. "I will," she promised. She sent him a suddenly shy look. "Would you mind much if I visited you again? I know I'm a pain—"

"It gets lonely up here, even with Momo," Toutousai said hurriedly.

She beamed at him.

"How touching."

The swordsmith and the miko sent the demon lord acidic looks. The demon lord returned the looks. Kagome sighed, then turned back to Toutousai. She bowed, then turned and went to Sesshoumaru, who grabbed her around the waist.

"Good-bye!" Kagome yelled, waving, as Sesshoumaru leapt off the ledge.

"Good-bye!" Toutousai yelled back, returning the wave, suddenly frantic to convey his liking for her, the merry little human woman whose natural effervescence brightened the world around her. He went to the ledge and looked over, and watched as Sesshoumaru set her on her feet. She adjusted her armor and clothing, then looked up at the demon lord. Satisfied, he turned and began walking to the woods. She scrambled after him. Toutousai watched the pair until they disappeared into the forest, then sat down and watched the horizon.

His forge was suddenly too quiet for his liking. He had gotten used to Kagome's voice, either cheerfully going on about her kenjutsu or snapping at the puppy. The place suddenly felt lonelier, faded, in a way it hadn't before.

"What a funny little human," he murmured. He looked up at the sky. "Gods, protect her—I'd like that funny little human to visit me again someday soon."

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Mamoru watched Sesshoumaru and Kagome's approach, silently asking himself if the world really was coming to an end. After all, Sesshoumaru had never been particularly fond of the taijiya, and already many of his relatives were begging for Mamoru to bless them, terrified that the apocalypse, or something very much like it, was about to descend upon them, and that so much contact with the demon lord was the prelude to the end.

He stepped forward and bowed lowly, greeted them both solemnly:

"Sesshoumaru-sama, Kagome-sama."

Kagome bowed to him, then smiled. Mamoru found himself smiling back.

"I just wanted to say good-bye, Mamoru-sama, and thank you for all your help," she said.

Mamoru inclined his head. "I am pleased to have been of service to the dear friend of my honored parents," he said simply.

Kagome's smile widened, and she took a shy step forward. "Anything against hugging monks?" she asked, biting her bottom lip.

Mamoru chuckled.

"No," he said, shaking his head.

Kagome launched herself into his arms and squeezed him tightly, burying her face against him. He laid his cheek against the top of her head and shut his eyes, returning the force of her embrace. He remembered his father's stories about the young woman's expansive soul, and as he embraced her, he felt it envelope him. And thought again what a remarkable woman she was.

"Arigatou," she murmured against his shoulder, then leaned up and kissed his cheek. His eyes flew open and he jerked a little, surprised by the gesture. He was used to his nieces and grand nieces kissing his cheeks and hugging him, so he wasn't completely surprised, but it was something of a shock coming from a young miko who had traveled with his parents.

"You're welcome," he said, coughing slightly and mentally thanking the gods that he hadn't blushed like a green little boy.

She stepped away from him and smiled happily. Slowly, though, the smile left her and she watched him solemnly.

"I'd like to say good-bye to Sango and Miroku, Mamoru-sama."

He nodded. "I expected you'd want to visit them before you left. I thought it better to let you decide when was the best time for you."

She sent him a sad half-smile in thanks. He turned and led her though the village. Kagome glanced over her shoulder once and was surprised to see Sesshoumaru following her and Mamoru. His eyes were carefully blank when they met hers. She watched him for a moment, then faced forward.

The monk led the miko and the demon lord to the small cemetery just beyond the taijiya village, surrounded by a wooden fence. The holy ground had been well-tended to, and even though Kagome hadn't expected less of Sango and Miroku's children, she was happy to find them so lovingly remembered.

Just as Inuyasha was….

Mamoru and Sesshoumaru stood by the fence, watching Kagome walk toward two stone markers emblazoned with the kanji of her friends' names. It was, Mamoru thought idly, the first time in his life he wasn't afraid of upsetting the taiyoukai. Odd that it was because of a human woman.

Kagome knelt before the stone markers, tracing the characters of Miroku's name, which were newer, less worn.

"You should have gone with her, hentai," she murmured affectionately. "I'm sorry you had to live without her. But you're with her now, so maybe there's nothing to be sorry about."

The wind rustled the long grass around her. Kagome smiled, leaned forward and kissed the stone. Then, she turned to Sango's marker.

"Sister of my heart," she murmured, tracing the kanji. "I missed you. I still miss you. But I'm glad you were happy. That's enough, I guess. It'll have to be. Fate didn't mean for me to be with you when you died. If I'm able to, after I do this for Sesshoumaru, I'll come back. Make sure your kids are okay. It's the least I can do."

She leaned forward, kissed the stone, then bowed her head and silently prayed that where ever her friends the houshi and the taijiya were, they were together and content. Then she opened her eyes, laid her hands on the markers for one more silent good-bye, and stood and turned and walked slowly to the demon lord and the monk who waited for her, her eyes dry.

They regarded her silently as she walked through the gate and faced them. A little sad, perhaps, but determined. She bowed to Mamoru.

"Arigatou Mamoru-sama," she said, straightening.

"It was nothing, Kagome-sama," the monk murmured. He stepped forward, one hand disappearing into the sleeve of his robes. The hand withdrew a second later, and Kagome's eyes widened when she caught sight of what he held.

It can't be, she thought, heart thudding slowly, painfully.

Mamoru grasped her hand and pressed the familiar prayer beads into her palm, then gently shut her fingers over them. They were warm.

"Otou-san gave them to me when I announced my intentions," he said, stepping back. "He said it was fitting, and hoped I was better at it than he was." The monk's mouth curved into a nostalgia-tinged smile.

Kagome stared at the beads, then looked up at Mamoru.

"But," she said, voice faltering, "but these are…."

"A gift, Kagome-sama," Mamoru said gently. "I have a feeling Otou-san and Okaa-san would have approved of you having them."

Her hand convulsed, tightened around the beads, and they bit into her skin. She looked back down at them, then bowed her head and shut her eyes. She wanted to thank him, but she knew she would never be able to convey the depth of her appreciation to the man who looked so much like Miroku that her heart hurt. Her gratitude that he would willingly share a piece of the man he had so loved and admired, with her.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to find Mamoru smiling down at her. He seemed to understand. He would have, being the son of a man who had had such eerie insight into the hearts of others.

"You're welcome."

She managed a watery, shaky smile. He squeezed her shoulder, and they stood in silence for a moment.

"My siblings wish to say their good-byes as well, Kagome-sama."

She nodded, not able to trust her voice. Mamoru smiled, gently patted her shoulder, then dropped his hand and turned and began walking back to the village. The brass rings of his shakujou chimed as he moved, and while Kagome watched him, the past and the present seemed to blur for a moment as Miroku replaced his son. Her heart stuttered, and then the moment passed and it was Mamoru again. She let out a broken sigh and looked back down at the beads in her hand. How ironic that the beads that had kept the kazaana from devouring them all should bring her such a sense of…serenity? Yes, serenity. It was her last piece of Miroku and Sango. It was something for her.

"Miko."

Her eyes went to the demon lord watching her. She had forgotten about him.

"The monk waits."

She looked back toward where Mamoru had been heading and, sure enough, saw him standing there, waiting. She brought the hand that held the beads to her chest unconsciously, and nodded her head.

"Right," she managed, taking one step forward. She caught sight of something and stopped. There was a sad little patch of flowers growing just on the periphery of her vision. She went to them and plucked them, then turned and went back into the cemetery, to the graves of her friends. She laid one before Miroku's marker, another before Sango's, and one beside Sango's resting place as an after-thought, remembering Kirara.

"I love you," she murmured to all three. She squeezed the beads. "Sayonara."

Then she turned and strode out of the cemetery without looking back. She heard Sesshoumaru fall into step behind her. Again, her grip on the beads tightened.

She wasn't healed. Not yet. But the beads brought her peace, and healing didn't seem like such an impossible feat anymore. After all, she'd completed and purified the Shikon no Tama, she had defeated Naraku. Both those things had seemed impossible. But she had done them. And she could do this too.