Edited 5/19/2020

Beautiful Moon

Settling Debts

Mizuki's eyes snapped open when a monstrous demon greeted her from the opposite side of the clearing she was standing in, only to realize it had been a dream. Waking up with her heart threatening to break out of her chest wasn't what she would call a great experience, and she gasped for air like it would help calm the organ down while she looked around at the world that had gotten significantly darker since she'd last been aware of it.

Hours, she realized. She'd been sleeping for hours.

The dragon was curled up on the ground just a few feet from her, Rin asleep against its side. Her shirt was draped across the low branch of a tree, catching flickering light from the fire that hadn't been in place last she'd been awake. Jaken was tending to it while giving her an incredulous look. Sesshomaru observed her with a much more neutral but no less unnerving eye.

Neither said anything, though, so she took some time to assess herself. Her upper arm was stiff and painful and annoying, but she could move her hand so long as she was careful about how much and how quickly, so at least she had that going for her. Her headache had abated a bit, but was still there, so she would need more water, and food, since her stomach was kind enough to toss what she'd had before. Also, a bathroom.

If excusing herself first instead of greeting the two demons was rude, the only one who showed any issue with it was Jaken, so she didn't linger on it. Sesshomaru merely turned his head back to the fire as she disappeared behind a small collection of trees.

She washed and refilled her bottle at the river, offering her apologies once again for soiling it, and quietly rejoined the camp. After a moment of contemplation, she moved herself closer to the fire, worried that any talking would wake the hardworking girl, and belatedly noticed that there were several fish spiked up around the flame.

"Rin believed you would be hungry," Sesshomaru broke the silence, his tone like an unaffected shrug. She didn't think her stomach had made any noise while it tightened in hunger, but he'd known where her attention was with a disturbing accuracy as though it had loudly announced how empty it was anyway.

"She wasn't wrong," she replied, and sat herself down close to the fish. They weren't trimmed, and she'd never had anything cooked over a campfire before, but food was food and she wasn't about to complain even if they tasted like charcoal.

They didn't. They tasted like a fishy campfire, instead. No delicacy, for sure, and Mizuki greatly preferred other preparation methods, but she would give the girl the credit she deserved for her resourcefulness, and perhaps Jaken as well for at least keeping them from overcooking. Eating with one hand for the most part was the worst of the experience, she decided, and she wondered if Sesshomaru related to her frustrations about having limited dexterity for trimming inedible parts when it came to the food he ate.

"Are these all for me?" she asked after finishing off the first of the three. There wasn't any evidence to suggest that the two demons had eaten themselves, but they weren't moving to take the others, either.

Jaken scoffed unhelpfully, so Sesshomaru provided the official response, and managed to leave her contemplating things she'd much rather have not had in her brain as he told her apathetically, "I have no need for human food."

Mizuki regarded the second fish she had just plucked from the ground with a critical eye, wondering how to address that, and eventually settled for not addressing it at all. Instead, she leveled Sesshomaru with a serious look, eager to change the topic.

"I owe you my life," she said sincerely, because she did, regardless of how she felt about his attitude fluctuating from indifference to arrogance whenever it suited him. "I never properly thanked you for that, I guess. I'll find a way to repay you, especially since you all waited around for me to wake up, and it looks like I took my sweet time tracking down my consciousness."

"You should have been grateful from the start!" Jaken snapped in annoyance before his jaw clacked with the force he used to shut it, Sesshomaru's gaze having fallen on him and demonstrating his unusual ability to convey his thoughts without having to speak them. The air seemed to crackle in the same way the fire did in that momentary silence, and then his gaze fell back to her.

"You owe no debt," he informed her in the same way he told her about his difference in dietary needs. "Rin has simply returned your favor."

Her eyebrows shot up at that, having not considered the angle he saw this from. Rin had said it pretty clearly that she had wanted to help her because of her actions now that she thought about it, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise, but she was having a difficult time separating Sesshomaru from the equation he seemed to insist he wasn't a factor in. He appeared to be the girl's guardian, so it didn't make sense to her that he was standing aside on the matter.

She and Rin were settled, it seemed, but she was now reconsidering where she and Sesshomaru stood.

Pocketing that information to sort through later, she responded with a simple nod, and dug into her next fish, finding her thoughts drawing back to the young child and wondering how she had come to be in the company of a couple of demons and a dragon. It wasn't necessarily that she found it unnatural, and Mizuki would be the first to acknowledge that her entire comparison model relied heavily on fairy tales, but her understanding of demons had mostly revolved around terrifying beings in varying forms that found a food source in humans or great entertainment in slaughtering them. Sesshomaru didn't eat human food, but the way he acted around Rin certainly suggested she wasn't what he would consider a meal. It was easy to see why Rin could like him; the demon was strong, appeared to treat her kindly, and could keep her safe. Despite lacking many things, the girl looked happy and cared for.

She didn't know if Sesshomaru had an obligation to care for her, found enjoyment in her company, or had simply not told the child to stop following him. The way he spoke before she had fallen asleep suggested that he didn't think much of humans, and yet he had one human in his company that, so far, she hadn't heard him say a negative word to. Her presence had been the very reason Mizuki had been protected before and likely why she still remained under their care, and while she wasn't sure if that said something about their relationship with one another, it at least meant that he allowed her the indulgence.

Rin slept on, a dragon for a pillow of all things, and Mizuki couldn't help the smile that eased onto her face.

"How'd she come to be with you?" she asked the demons, eyes still on the girl as she watched for any indication that their conversation was disturbing her. "She's a cute kid. Really helpful."

Jaken kept his mouth shut this time, looking to Sesshomaru as though he wanted the answer himself. The other demon glanced briefly at the child before finally replying, "She chose to," an answer that seemed to dissatisfy the imp greatly.

"I can tell she's happy," Mizuki noted, gauging his reaction. "Fond of you, too. There's no denying that."

He hummed an acknowledgement to that in place of an answer and did not elaborate. She figured it wasn't particularly necessary to confirm the information with words, but she had hoped he might provide further insight despite his apparent habit of remaining quiet.

The three fell to silence once again, so Mizuki took up the last fish, allowing the inquiry to end. It hadn't told her much, but it seemed to confirm that he didn't have external reasons for allowing the human child to be close to him, and it allowed her a kinder light to see him in that helped with her nerves a bit. She exchanged looks with Jaken, wondering what Sesshomaru's attachment to the imp might be given the nonchalant display of violence when he'd stepped on his head, only to have the smaller demon harrumph something unintelligible that made her frown in displeasure. She'd barely spoken to him, and he'd been on her case since he'd cared enough to notice her.

"I haven't done anything to you," she reminded him in a hushed tone. "Mind filling me in on why you hate me already?"

Really, she should have known.

"If you hadn't brought that demon here, none of this would have happened!" he declared. "Now Rin has dragged in another human, and before you know it, she'll assemble a small army of them and further hinder Lord Sesshomaru's ambition."

"She's not assembling an army just by helping me for a bit," she corrected him, rolling her eyes at the inflated vision he had of the consequences of a single choice. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm not going to be in your hair long, so sorry for fouling up your campsite, O' Great One. And keep your voice down; you shouldn't wake Rin."

"You…you…!" he sputtered.

"Mizuki," she offered around a mouthful of fish. "Not that difficult to remember."

"You're insufferable!" he squawked in as hushed a tone as he could while still managing to get his anger across, glaring daggers at her before apparently deciding that looking at her must be beneath him, too, and turning away in a huff. It was easy to be annoyed by his attitude, but his disdain for her seemed limited to his expressions and words. That was probably due to Sesshomaru permitting Rin to treat her, which told her that, despite his clear disagreement, Jaken was loyal to him and his intentions. In his own way, he might be looking out for the other demon.

When the third fish was stripped to bones and scales, Mizuki deposited the remains of her meal into the fire, watching as it crackled at the unexpected addition. Across the way, she caught Sesshomaru's gaze reflecting the fire, casting a warmth to his otherwise cold eyes.

"Thanks for the meal," she offered. He said nothing, so she busied herself with drinking water while she thought about just how she was going to honor what she'd said about not imposing upon them for long, unaware of the demon's inner conflict as she did.

The gesture of gratitude was unnecessary, Sesshomaru thought, given that he had had no hand in the preparation of the meal, but he supposed the sentiment was worth expressing. The woman drank from her strange container, turning her attention to the sky instead of speaking more. Every time she lifted the water to her lips, the fabric of her clothing rustled in its unnatural way, a reminder of the strangeness she presented.

Out of place were the words he fitted to her, which ended up leading to his main question; where did she come from? He had no way of answering that without asking her directly, and while the urge to do so was there, he pushed it away with the reminder that it was information entirely unnecessary for him to know and out of his character to consider otherwise.

Something pushed back. He could not place what.

He had been reasoning with himself during the time that she slept that the interest was forgivable, given the human's strangeness. It was not the first time he had been intrigued by something beneath him, and he doubted it would be the last, either. This one simply brought more questions with it.

There were questions he could answer. She'd been in the forest for barely a day, though he could not place where she had been before that, the scents unfamiliar to him. Her inexperience with demons and lack of knowledge of their nature allowed her to feel some semblance of comfort in their presence, simply because she was not being hunted. Words were likely her primary sword and shield and had probably gotten her out of unfavorable situations in the past or had put those who insulted her in their place, based on how she attempted to do the same earlier. She fluctuated between polite and casual speech as it suited her, sometimes within the same breath, as though forgetting herself at times. He assumed she was more used to the latter and fell back to it unconsciously in an effort to make her situation more comfortable.

She was ignorant, but not necessarily stupid, a distinction he had never thought to make before now. Fearful as any human when faced with what could have been her death, but quick to adapt when the situation changed. Cautious of him, still, despite her earlier declarations, and determining Jaken the lesser threat when choosing to sit closer to the imp than himself.

Sesshomaru could not understand this behavior in a human of her age, and where she could have come from to adopt such a childish ignorance. He had thought her sheltered, perhaps due to being the child of a wealthy family, but aside from the length of her hair and her manipulation of words, there was little else to indicate that she had been raised away from the world. If anything, her mannerisms contradicted his theory, and her strange way of dressing and the objects she carried did much the same.

She accepted that he meant no harm to her as easily as Rin, as though the fact that he was a demon held no more weight than the fact that he was a stranger. It was less that she was rejecting the teachings so many humans had ingrained into their children, and more that she did not have any to reject at all.

Thus, he found himself right back where he had started, except with one more question he could not answer.

What is so compelling about this human?

Resigned to satiating his errant curiosity, Sesshomaru began to speak.

"It is not simply that you have no experience with demons," came an unexpected intrusion on her thoughts. Startled, Mizuki found her gaze snapping to the man across the fire. He continued once their eyes met, confident that he had her full attention. "You were never taught to fear them. I thought you sheltered, but you take issue with the characterization, so if you were not denied the knowledge of the world, what explanation would you offer for your ignorance, girl?"

It was clear now that his silence had not been the result of having nothing to say, but his continued examination of her apparently obvious lack of the knowledge of acceptable behavior around demons. She wouldn't have taken so much issue with his interest in it if his questioning didn't also ring of that grating superior attitude he had a tendency to adopt when picking apart her existence, and it made her wish he would drop the interrogation habit. It wasn't like she was sticking around long, anyway.

It was making her idea more appealing, though.

"Mizuki, not girl," she corrected first. Her family name was preferred, but she figured since she hadn't offered either demon their respective titles, it wasn't worth mentioning. "And it's not like I know nothing about demons. They just aren't a problem we have to deal with where I'm from."

"The land you come from is holy, then?" he continued, though the question felt insincere, lacking something fundamental. Testing, she concluded. He really enjoyed testing her.

"Not to my knowledge, no," she offered truthfully, then added, "but given that they're relegated to stories to scare kids with, maybe it is and I'm not aware."

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at that, having anticipated her using the information he offered her and forming a story around it, and finding himself caught off-guard when she instead threw it away and allowed herself to be viewed as perhaps lacking in knowledge of her own home. Her expression told him that she knew it had been bait. A testament to her observation skills or simply luck, he could not decide.

She did not lie, however, not like she had when insisting that she was not afraid of him, and so he was left to ponder more questions.

"What would possess you to leave a home so safe that demons became mere stories?" he pressed instead.

He was not expecting that question to subdue her so much that her reply was uncertain. "…Some things happened," she eventually answered, looking away. "One thing led to another, the whole thing snowballed, and I ended up here. My parents are going to kill me for leaving. Figuratively," she quickly clarified, as though concerned for how she presented them. "I'll be in loads of trouble, I mean."

She paused for a drink, though if it was because she was thirsty or simply to buy herself more time to construct her response, he was uncertain. Eventually, she elaborated, "I wasn't thinking. What possessed me, I can't tell you for sure because I don't even understand it myself. Had I had the presence of mind to stop and think, I would have made a lot of different choices, because I had all the evidence before me that said to expect creatures that might want to eat me to exist, but it hadn't been important. Not compared to other things at the time.

"But then suddenly I'm being chased by one that was very clear about what it wanted out of me, and all of the other things that had been important suddenly weren't because impending horrible death. I feel like a complete idiot. A lucky idiot, apparently, getting away from two guys who thought I looked tasty."

Her guard was down, her words less a careful reveal and more an uncertain ramble, and he found himself wondering why the inquiry had brought that about. Whatever it had been, it gave him further insight into her character. Impulsive. She had family and concerned herself with her parents' thoughts. Aware of her mistakes, and able to admit them.

Also, curiously unbiased.

Her likeness to Rin became much more solidified simply because she offered the possibility that some demons existed who did not regard humans simply as food through the use of a single word. That she had seemed unaware that she had made that distinction confirmed both his thoughts about her and the way she had described demons as stories to be true. She harbored no prejudice for demons because she had no reason to. She had even felt uncomfortable about the ogre's fate despite it having intended to make a meal of her.

The woman might be unsettled by him, but she was far from afraid for her life.

"Interesting."

She looked up at him with an expression that told him she did not understand which part of her rambling he was referring to.

"What is this place to you, then?" he continued, not intending to clear that confusion. "This land where your children's stories are real."

She blinked in surprise, as though asking her opinion was unexpected, before turning her gaze skyward in thought.

"…It's amazing," she concluded, voice soft as though she had only just discovered her answer. "I've never seen so many stars, or trees. Where I come from, it's much more developed, and everyone is crowded together. It's quieter here, and cleaner, wild. The very air smells different.

"But it's just as frightening," she continued. "I've had two brushes with death in the last twenty-four hours. I'm in pain, I'm scared to be alone, and I want to go home before I find another demon who thinks I look appetizing, or worse. You two have been a nice change of pace, but I'm not taking chances on the odds. No offense. I'm sure there are just as many different demons as there are humans, so you have some you get along with, some you don't, and some that really deserve the shit that comes to them."

She seemed to think after a moment that her language was probably too coarse because she apologized for it after a beat, but Sesshomaru merely raised a brow, amused by her blunt way of speaking. She had managed to further confirm his thoughts on her view of demons as she explained her concept of the world she found herself in, and while he was hardly pleased being generally compared so easily with humans, he could see her point. Brigands were not humans any wanted to associate with unless they were one themselves, and demons of different standing hardly got along. The concept was not unreasonable.

What she hadn't provided a clearer picture of was where she called home. He could not imagine where she could have come from that seeing forests and stars as much as he encountered them was a strange occurrence. He had been many places in his life, and nothing short of a cave could have blotted out so many stars that she would be left in such awe of them. She had the same thoughts about so many trees, which eliminated a forest as being part of her home. Where could she live that she knew neither?

"Your home must be strange, to produce a peculiar human such as yourself," he noted, seeing if she would offer more.

This time, however, her reply remained clipped.

"Never seemed that strange to me."

And just like that, the conversation ended. She drank her water and turned her gaze away, having no more to add.

Mizuki didn't want to talk about home. Not to him, anyway. It wasn't that she thought he would end up deciding to plow his way into the future; she was just concerned about herself. Talking about this place with him, she could do. It kept him and this world and her adventure separate from home and made it easier to keep a secret. The more he talked, though, the less she was separating the two, and suddenly realizing it made her stop and rethink what she was saying.

She was becoming comfortable as she conversed with Sesshomaru. The silence hadn't been great, she would admit, but the feeling left her turning over her plans in her head again, and wondering if her approach was okay after all and resenting the ease at all for making her think twice. His questioning still carried that tone of arrogance, but at times it seemed less like he was belittling her and more like he was genuinely curious. In a way, he reminded her of Kimura when they had first met and how they had butted heads while he navigated various ways of challenging her for whatever reasons he had at the time. Sometimes, she was surprised they had become friends at all.

She wasn't looking for that friendship here, though, and didn't think it wise to form one with the man across from her, especially given the way she intended to use him to get home.

And she would use him, she decided, because getting home was more important than anything now that the stone was quiet and in her hands. Getting home was more important than how she felt about the feelings of people she was never going to see again after she returned, or the impression she left here in the past. Her parents' phantoms couldn't decide whether to be embarrassed or proud of their daughter's tenacity.

"Do you know anything about the Bone Eater's Well?"

Her sudden inquiry left Sesshomaru narrowing his eyes. For someone who knew nothing of the world around her, asking about something like the Bone Eater's Well was rather specific. He was concerned for a moment that he had missed something. Was her entire behavior an act?

"Why does it concern you?" he asked, allowing his tone to express some of his own caution and some of the weight of his true presence to bear down on her, half to judge her reaction, half to warn her that he was aware of her game should she be playing one.

She swallowed back the lump that had settled in her throat again, trying, and probably failing, to maintain her composure. She could feel a prick in the air, like static had built up and the charge had released itself somewhere around her chest. It was frightening, similar to the kind of chill down her spine she would think came from someone watching her from the shadows.

When she found the courage to look him in the eye, she came to the realization that the feeling was coming from him. She was being weighed in as a threat, warned of a line she was crossing, and she felt her resolve shrinking away.

"…I need to find it," she explained as she fought to maintain control of it under his sharp gaze. "If I find it, I can return home."

She knew of the well, something old, a tale from a single province, and yet did not seem to have originated from the area. The dichotomy of her knowledge and ignorance left him uncertain. Perhaps it was merely one of the stories she had heard, but her homeland was devoid of demons, and he found it difficult to believe such a place existed that would have knowledge of a small well in the middle of a forest.

Jaken shot him a look, likely thinking the same, but kept his thoughts to himself while he waited on his decision. The woman across the fire held steady despite his threat, though he could tell she was not unaffected, and so he examined her motives in the silence.

If she had no other intention than her words provided, then she was perhaps seeking directions. Weak, human, and having been attacked twice before, she might be further asking for protection for the short journey.

But why the well and not her village? There was no human settlement such as the one she described within proximity of the well, and while the place nearby may be a safer location away from larger conflicts and protected by both its reputation and priestess, there was at least one demonic being that frequented it. There was no other place she might safely find her way to from there.

…Except that her words had not implied that. She had said if she found the well, she could return home, not necessarily that she could find her way home. A small difference, and perhaps he was reading too much into it, but she was speaking carefully now with her guard back up, and the words she chose were likely purposeful.

The curiosity that he had succumbed to was growing, despite his efforts to relieve it. What had once been simply a question of where she had come from became larger questions about the place she called home. His understanding of the woman before him was insufficient, and the line he would usually draw on such matters kept shifting further away, toying with his interest.

He shoved the annoyance of his misguided thoughts to the back of his mind and returned to observing the woman. Strange implications in her words or not, the honest glimmer in her eyes was not an act. The well was necessary for her to return home in some way, and she was choosing not to elaborate on why. To protect this place where demons were mere stories, perhaps. A smart decision on her part.

"You desire a guide?" he asked, easing back on the pressure he was exerting. The tenseness of the woman's shoulders did not ease, however, and Jaken offered him a concerned eye, wondering what he intended to do.

"Security," she clarified with a bluntness that left her tone somewhat hollow, and she continued without the casual affect her word choice usually held. "I require both the need for an escort and someone who can defend me from those who mean me harm."

He turned over the way her tone had shifted for a few moments before laying out his assessment. "And you presume yourself deserving of such a request, based on your actions concerning Rin, despite the aid and protection you have already received in return."

"Rin has more than returned the favor, yes."

Not him, her words implied.

She took his silence as permission to continue. "You strike me as someone who does not do anything without reason, so I propose this to you. Rin is under your protection. Whether that is an obligation or some intrinsic motivation on your part, you needn't explain. What matters is that you left the role of guardianship to someone who did not even notice when she left their sight, and she ended up in danger because of that. What matters is whether you feel that the little bit of time I bought her was a significant factor in you being able to save her or not."

There was a haughtiness to her speech that never reached her expression, as though the words themselves contained the tone rather than the woman who uttered them. The imp beside him sputtered, finally unable to contain his displeasure, and berated her for daring to even consider that her position was as she presented it to be.

"Perhaps it is you who should be considering my words, Jaken," she replied flatly, which caused him to fall silent again despite his quick objection on the matter of owing a human anything.

Sesshomaru, rather than offended, found himself impressed by her nerve. The smirk that rose in his expression was involuntary, but he made no effort to hide it, to the curiosity of the girl who could not discern the reason and the horror of his retainer who knew the various things that could follow.

"Perceptive," he appraised her, to which she was careful not to react. "You have managed to find something you would presume I could feel indebted for. You think yourself integral to Rin's continued life, do you?"

Her expression broke at that, a short laugh that was apparently derisive of herself. "Hardly," she replied. "Hell, I likely led the guy to her on accident. You saw how pathetic I was in the end there.

"But what I think hardly matters," she redirected, humor fading. "As her guardian, you are the one whose thoughts matter most."

Sesshomaru never thought himself the child's guardian, though he supposed defending her life placed him in the role regardless of how he felt about the matter. This woman certainly seemed to believe so. Her entire argument was staged around the idea that her safety was his responsibility, and that he might feel that he had failed to fulfill it properly. Despite the contention hinging entirely on his thoughts, she handed him control of how she would proceed anyway, and whether that was a calculated negotiation tactic or simply because she was confident in his response to it, he could not discern.

He was unsure how correct she was in her assumption, a thought he set aside to dwell on another time.

"I could simply say I do not feel indebted to a human ignorant enough to assume that she could attempt to manipulate one such as I," he told her, and then asked, "What would you say then, when your plan falls apart?"

Mizuki frowned despite having expected this possibility, annoyed by the way he managed to maintain his ancestral superiority despite the conversation revolving around a human he seemed to care about. The girl might look up to him, but his view on humans left a lot to be desired.

Regardless of his views, though, she would get home. The cost would just be greater.

"I fall to a less desirable option," she told him, and pulled the pendant from her pocket. "Giving up something in the hopes of persuading you."

Sesshomaru had felt items with power before, and he knew the blue-green stone held something within it as soon as it was presented to him. For a moment, the woman seemed to wince, as though her actions were causing her physical pain rather than simply regretting the loss of a valuable item. The air around it hummed with agitation.

"This is said to have granted abilities to the ones who bore it before me," she explained. "It is the reason I ended up here in the first place, because it wouldn't leave me alone about it. Parting with it isn't ideal for various reasons, but if I'm frank, I have no understanding of its powers or how to utilize it, so it would be better off in the hands of someone more capable."

This was going to haunt her, too, she knew, and the white noise in her head screamed that she was making another mistake, but she would get home. She wouldn't have any use for mysterious powers or whatever it was that the stone offered, anyway. It was just a necklace. She told herself that over and over while she waited for the demon to reply.

It would have been a tempting offer for lesser beings than himself, and Sesshomaru would reply the same way as when last he had been the target of negotiations over a much more powerful bit of jewel, but he pondered the change in tactics in silence. She was offering what he assumed was an important relic for something as simple as being escorted to a dry well less than a day's walk from their current location. Being able to return home was likely more important to her given her experiences, but the price did not equal what he would think a human would value such a rare, power-granting item.

He wondered briefly about her claim of having successfully escaped another demon prior to the ogre and contemplated whether she truly did not know how to use it.

"I have no use for it," he replied finally. The determination she had in her eyes vanished like a smothered flame, the foundation of what was likely her only other course short of begging pulled from beneath her.

He concluded determinedly that he did not think himself indebted to her. Rin was a resourceful child, and likely would have found some way to survive long enough for him to reach her. This woman only happened to provide one such option.

Still, his absurd curiosity was flaring like no time he could recall, and the innate desire to relieve it remained no matter how he pushed back against it. He should not care. She was only a human wandering lost, a strange deviation from what he understood of the creatures, yes, but no more so than the priestess he had encountered alongside his brother.

There was something else at work here, something he intended to either comprehend or rid himself of entirely, and an option that could perhaps result in both of those lay before him.

He stared at the stone for a moment longer, attempting to discern what he could feel staring back.

"However," he amended, and blue-green eyes lit up with renewed hope, "the well is not far. Perhaps one act in return for your efforts is not unwarranted."

For a long moment, she simply stared back, his conclusion a great relief that took time to process.

"Thank you," she finally said, dipping her head low for a long moment in what apparently served as a bow. "This means a lot to me."

Sesshomaru simply nodded as the air around them calmed, a low hum dissipating into the background until he could no longer distinguish it.

This chapter changed the most so far, compared to the previous four. Mizuki using Sesshomaru for her own gain was something I tried to do before and really pushed for this revision. She's a character that is a product of her upbringing, but clearly dislikes her parents' influence, so the conflict with how she goes about negotiating their debts was something that this chapter had previously lacked.

Sesshomaru is obviously my favorite character, but despite that, he is still complicated to write. I enjoy the way he is presented when he is first introduced in the manga, arrogant and amused by the creatures he finds so small (at least until one such creature lobs off his arm), and so I'll be pulling a lot from that. It has and will remain a balancing act to keep him in character, and I appreciate anyone's input if you think you have suggestions as the story moves along.

And to those of you who have followed this story and its changes along the way, I would love to hear from you about how you feel about these revisions.

Thanks!