"Kagome." A quiet voice called her. She did not turn around. "It is not your fault." She looked at the ground.

It was. It was her fault. She looked at the grave in front of her. She clenched her hands, feeling the familiar object digging into her skin. Arms wrapped around her waist. She didn't feel them. He was talking to her, but she didn't want him to be. She saw him die.

"You're not really here, are you?" She asked. She received no answer. She hadn't expected one. She turned away from the monument which stood for his life. She chuckled darkly to herself when no one stood behind her. Kagome's silver-haired love still lay dead underneath layers of dirt, sand, and stone. She walked away.

…

"Momma..? Momma, what's wrong?" She didn't hear him. She hasn't heard nor spoke in hours. A warm, aged hand placed on her cheek brought her back to the real world.

"Are you all right, child? You seem to be in your head, it's worrying your little one. And the rest of us." Kaede added. Kagoma looked down at the children. Shippo clung to her right arm while Rin held her left hand gingerly. They both looked to her with damp eyes. One pair held a soft, understanding worry and another panicked and upset. She let her gaze flow from her adoptive son to her body. Under the loose gray cloth draped over her shoulders, she felt bandages covering her neck to waist. They adorned her arms and pinched her skin on occasion. Following her arms her eyes found her fingers clenching a wooden spoon. She had been ladling out soup to serve to her family.

She was confused, just a few seconds ago she had been stepping away from the resting place of her fiance. "Kaede," She began to speak. Her words dragged on as she tasted them on her tongue, cautious. "I think I am going to lie down for a minute. Is that alright?" She glanced at the old woman's face, but the look of concern burned her retinas and filled her body with shame. She looked away.

Shippo whimpered as his mother picked him up, giving him one soft squeeze of reassurance and putting him down giving her room to stand. The three watched her limp with as much grace as she had over to her futon. She was young, no older than seventeen years. When she first fell down the well over two years ago she was childish. She was naive and weak. But she had potential. So much raw power swam through her body. Eventually, it had begun to peer through her skin, casting a barely noticeable pink light over her surroundings whenever she used them. It was sad to see the dull gray her skin had been reduced to. Her hair lost its shine and her eyes seem devoid of the life she had overflowed with all her years.

Their musings were interrupted as Miroku moved through the doorway, robes swishing as he walked. "Lady Kaede, Lady Kagome.." He looked at her and realize she was unresponsive again. Blue eyes stared past him, uninterested in anything once again. He sighed. "The last of the damages are being repaired. Lord Sesshomaru is on his way. He said he wishes to check on his ward." He met Rin's eyes. He sat down next to the fox kit and began speaking to Kaede about the repairs and the people still healing. The four of them ate in relative silence, waiting on the lord of the west to arrive.

…

They didn't have to wait long. They had barely finished their meal before they heard the familiar noise of someone entering the hut. Sesshoumaru's eyes swept the room, taking in every detail subtly. He noted the dirty bowls as well as the full bowl beside them. They had eaten, but Kagome had not. He had no doubt that getting her to eat since the battle was a challenge. "Rin." He spoke. His voice immediately taking control of the room.

"Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru?"

"You are well." It was not a question. It was an observation. He masked how relieved he was. He was not yet used to the idea that his ward was in the care of other humans.

"Yes, M'lord." She grinned up at him, hair bouncing as she walked over to him. She grabbed his hand. "I've missed you!"

"Hn." Her hair felt familiar and soft underneath his clawed fingers, and she basked in the attention. He was pleased to be spending time with the girl but he had other matters to attend to. "Monk." Golden eyes met grief-stained indigo ones. "You will escort me to the burial site of my half-brother."

"Of course, follow me please."

It was a short walk to the graveyard, a quiet one as well. Miroku was lost in memory as he stepped, his body walking toward the area he has traveled every day for the past three weeks. He stopped at a pair of graves near the front. A familiar, twin-tailed cat was curled up over one of the burial sites. On the other, beads of subjugation.

"This is Inuyasha's resting place, my lord." Sesshoumaru watched as the monk stepped to the other grave, marked with a giant boomerang, to mourn. Kirara mewled at Miroku before resting her head on her paws once again.

"The slayer was your intended." The demon lord had never really paid much attention to the monk and the slayer, but he knew that much thanks to the small amount of time the groups traveled together. The monk was silent for a moment.

"... Yes, my lord. We were beginning to discuss marriage and children just a few days before..." He trailed off, not wanting to bore the man presently in his company with his tale of loss.

The only answer he received was a subtle "Hn" from the demon to his right. They fell back into silence. It wasn't comfortable, nor was it tense. It was a necessary silence. Miroku mourned his loss while Sesshoumaru contemplated the life of his brother. He clicked his tongue in annoyance. He was becoming soft. All that time spent with his Rin and the priestess was wearing down the ice around his heart. It was unavoidable. Sighing unnoticeably, he turned and began to walk back to the hut that housed his ward. Miroku said once the last prayer for Sango and Inuyasha and followed behind him.

...

"Priestess." He sat with Kagome in the forest by Edo. He saw a bird flutter away from the tree he was leaning on out of the corner of his eye, he paid it no mind. His voice was stern as he looked into the face of what was one of the most powerful humans of this era. He inwardly growled when he received no answer. "You will speak to me." She met his eyes.

"Yes." She spoke slowly as if every syllable took more effort than she had energy left in her body. "What is it, Sesshoumaru?"

"Where is the Protector of the Jewel?"

"I am right here." He scoffed.

"No, the woman who sits before me is weak. I wish to know where the defeater of Naraku hides. The woman tamed enemies and purified those beyond saving. Where is she?" He saw her flinch. He did not care. He was tired of watching her go through the motions of life unknowing. It had been a few days over a month since the battle took place, yet she was too far in her own mourning to continue life. He didn't know why he cared. Perhaps it was because she was the strongest female in his pack, the alpha female. Perhaps it was because she was to mate his half-brother. There was a multitude of excuses he could make to himself, but the bottom line was that he cared. He would not allow her to waste away as she was.

She looked up at him, hurt. "What should I do, then, Sesh? How do I move on when everything I still have reminds me of all I lost? I'm failing as a mother to Shippo, failing as a friend to Miroku. I haven't even thanked Kaede! God, you're right…" She shuddered, feeling tears flood her eyes and fall down her sickly cheeks. Kagome hugged herself and sobbed. Rambling and breathing wildly, she listed everything she failed to do. He waited for her to calm herself. When he saw that her incoherent words had stopped and her panicked breaths to turn to quiet sobs, he answered her.

"Go home, Kagome." It was a simple answer to a complex question. "Make a wish on the jewel. Go home."