Still don't own the anime.

Sesshomaru lifted his nose and scented the air to determine which way Melissa had gone at the fork in the game trail. Jaken was with her, she never went anywhere completely alone anymore. They were taking to long to find food however and he wasn't going to take a chance that they would get lost. He saw Jaken first. When he drew even with Jaken he saw the reason for the delay, Melissa talking to the most ragged little girl he'd ever seen.

She looked about 4 or 5 years of age, but her growth could easily have been stunted as she bore obvious signs of starvation. Her face was pale and her cheeks sunken, making her dark listless eyes look far to large for her. Her arms and legs were skeletal and clearly visible as her kimono was several sizes to small and worn so thin the only thing keeping her modest was the dirt that covered everything but her thumbs, which he was certain she sucked for some small measure of comfort. To look upon her broke even his heart.

He strode towards them and the child spotting him gasped and hid behind Melissa. Melissa looked to see what frightened the child and smiled at him and placed a reassuring hand on her matted filthy head. "Is ok, Hoshii, this my husband. Sesshomaru, this is Hoshii"

Sesshomaru looked down at the frightened, filthy child. Her name meant star but he'd never seen anything that shined less brightly. "I assume this child is an orphan?"

"I was going to ask." Melissa told him turning back to the girl. "Where are you mama and papa?"

The girl hesitated then answered. "I don't know. Papa may be home."

Sesshomaru saw confusion and concern as well as disappointment in Melissa's eyes. The child had a father, they could not claim her. But if she had a father why was she in such a pitiful state?

"Is you papa sick?" Melissa asked the child.

Hoshii shrugged and stuck a thumb in her mouth then said "He sleeps a lot. His skin looks funny."

Melissa's eyes went to Sesshomaru's hip, "Could Tenseiga..."

"I have never tried it on a sick, living person. Return to camp with Jaken, I will see the child home and see if I can do anything to help." Melissa reluctantly nodded and walked away with her escort as Sesshomaru bid the child to take him to her father.

The sun was setting when the child led him into a tiny hovel. The shack might have been abandoned but for the stench of stale sake and unwashed bodies. A man was asleep in a corner. Though Sesshomaru could not clearly see him in the dark of the shack he could smell that the man's skin and eyes would be yellow. His over indulgence of sake and poor diet had destroyed his liver, he was dying.

As soon as she entered the child began shuffling her feet so that sake gourds she could not see where kicked aside rather than trod upon. She held her hands out infront of her until she felt a wall then crouched down and groped around for sticks of firewood stacked against the wall, none much larger than her own emaciated arms. Once she had picked up some she turned toward the middle of the room.

She shuffled her feet until her toes found the edge of the cooking pit. She selected one of the long thin sticks and poked at the ashes until she found one small ember. She leaned over and blew on it to make it burn brighter and carefully laid a stick against it. A small flame began to lick along the stick and she added another.

Soon a small fire was casting a dim flickering light through the room and her eyes saw a pot near the pit. She happily grabbed the pot and looked inside it then her smile turned to a frown and Sesshomaru heard her nails scrape the bottom when she reached in to scratch a few burned grains of rice loose and placed them in her mouth.

The child called out in anger as Sesshomaru took the pot and held it up so that light flooded the bottom. The few burned grains were a poor meal for a rat. The man had fed himself, but not saved a portion for his child.

The child began to cry from hunger and frustration as Sesshomaru examined the contents of the pot. Her father did not look up to see what distressed his child as he yelled at her to shut up. When she didn't quiet down he groped around for a gourd and threw in her direction, still not lifting his head to see why she cried.

Sesshomaru caught the gourd before it struck her and growled as he crushed it in his hand. The growl caused the man to look up at last and he screamed in horror. The small fire cast Sesshomaru in a strange red glow. His eyes were glowing crimson and his hair was whipping around in a storm of youki. His fangs were exposed and his stripes were ragged.

The man tried to stand but stumbled and fell then backed against the wall adding the pungent odor of fresh urine to the stench of the house. "No! No! Please don't hurt me! Don't hurt me, take the girl instead!"

Sesshomaru looked over at Hoshii who stared in shock and fear at the two of them. He fought down his youki, the child didn't need to witness what he wanted to do to her father. The man had damned himself to a slow and painful death anyway. Instead Sesshomaru swept the child up into his arms and stormed off into the night. The child began to scream and fight him, but her father made no attempt to rescue her.

Halfway between the girl's former home and his camp he sat down with her in his lap and began to stroke her head to calm her. She quit fighting soon, not because she was calm but because she did not have the strength to continue to fight him. She fell silent and stared up at him with wide eyes, trembling.

"You needn't fear me, I will not harm you." He told her gently, still stroking her head. "Your father is very ill, he is no longer able to care for you. You need a new family, it so happens that my wife also needs a family. She is very kind, you will be well cared for. We will see that you are always well fed and properly clothed from this point out. All I ask is that you call her mother and give her the respect that title demands."

The child made no reply, but Sesshomaru knew that she was simply to frightened to reply. He stood again and carried her the rest of the way to camp. Melissa was staring at the fire while the roots she and Jaken had found cooked, worry etched on her face. Sesshomaru wordlessly strode forward and placed the child in her lap.

Melissa looked up in surprise, instinctively wrapping her arms around the tiny child as she asked. "Sesshomaru? What..."

"Her father told me to take her."

"You not able to help?"

"No." It was true, he could find no compassion for such a man. He would explain more fully after the child was asleep. Melissa seemed to understand as she didn't push the issue. He turned to order Jaken to find more food but Jaken had already disappeared into the woods to do so.

When the roots were done roasting Melissa took the first skewer from the fire and blew on it a moment before she gave it to Hoshii. "Careful, is hot." She warned her.

The child pulled off a large piece of root and shoved it in her mouth. Her eyes went wide at the heat and she swallowed the piece whole. She grabbed at her neck with frightened eyes and Melissa and Sesshomaru pounce, Melissa grabbed her arm and smacked her back while Sesshomaru forced her mouth open and tried to reach the root with his fingers. He couldn't reach and Melissa slapped his hands away as she wrapped her arms around the girl and picked her up.

Sesshomaru's hand went to Tenseiga then he hesitated. Tenseiga would bring her back, but would it somehow clear her throat, or would he simply bring her back to die a second time? There was but one choice. He hated to do it in front of Melissa, but he would have to rip the child's throat open to remove the obstruction first.

Meanwhile Melissa seemed to be panicking, she had her arms around Hoshii's middle and kept picking the child up and setting her down. Hoshii went limp in her arms and Melissa laid her on the ground and opened her mouth, she reached in the child's mouth then pressed on her tiny chest. Then Sesshomaru realized what she was doing, Melissa was attempting to use the air trapped in Hoshii's lungs to force the food out!

Tenseiga pulsed as the child's heart stopped. Melissa reached in the child's mouth again and pulled out the root then placed her mouth over the child's and blew air into her lungs. He assumed it was to be sure her airways were indeed clear. Then she pressed on the child's chest again, this time chanting rhythmically.

He waited for Melissa to be done with whatever she was doing. Then to his astonishment Tenseiga fell silent as the creatures from the underworld vanished. Before he could even voice his amazement the child began to vomit and Melissa rolled her over so she would not inhale the few grains of rice and bile she coughed up. As soon as she finished vomiting she was in Melissa's arms, sobbing into her chest.

Sesshomaru stared in shock, his wife could call back the dead? Why had she never told him she had such power? She had used neither a blade nor a stone but only her own secret magic to do so! He sat down and watched in reverence as his wife now broke the roots into small pieces that she fed the child one at a time, reminding her to chew each tiny bite.

Melissa only picked at her own food. When Sesshomaru commented on it she told him she just wasn't very hungry and she'd eat her roots for breakfast. He let it drop, if she wasn't hungry she wouldn't eat and it was not worth arguing over. He supposed the excitement could have upset her stomach.

After dinner Melissa attempted to comb Hoshii's matted hair, but that proved to be a futile effort. The child's hair was just to matted, she only ended up causing the child to cry in pain and breaking two teeth from the comb. She gave up and Hoshii ran to Sesshomaru for protection.

"What will we do about her hair?" Sesshomaru asked once the child fell asleep in his arms.

"Only one thing we can." Melissa replied, "Keep still." She took her knife from her kimono and gently raised one of the filthy mats. She slid the knife under it and carefully sawed up until the matted hair came loose, revealing thick black hair beneath. She continued the process until all the mats were gone and declared the brutally short hairdo a 'messy bob'. Just before she retired she woke Hoshii and led the groggy child to the bushes to potty and they curled together like kittens near the fire.

The next morning Jaken caught fish to supplement the few vegetables left over from the night before. Melissa made a face while the food was cooking. "Fish smells bad." She told Sesshomaru.

"It smells fine." He replied, sniffing the air.

"No, smells bad." Melissa insisted.

Sesshomaru came to the fire to inspect the fish, "It smells as it always does. As it was killed just before it was put over the fire I seriously doubt it has begun to turn."

Hoshii and Jaken both confirmed the fish smelled fine and when they tasted the fish it did not taste off either, but to Melissa it still smelled bad. She couldn't eat it and gave her share to Hoshii instead. Sesshomaru was not pleased when all she ate was a handful of roasted roots, she needed nourishment, but he could not convince her to eat the fish.

After his family had been fed he led them to a hot spring so that Melissa and Hoshii could bathe then, leaving Jaken to watch over them, flew to a human village not a mile away. They were still bathing when he returned. Upon landing he picked up Hoshii's ragged kimono and tossed it into the fire Jaken had started for them.

"Hey!" Hoshii yelled jumping out of the water and running to the fire. She was to late to save her clothes, they were nothing but ash! "I need those!"

"They were rags, not fit to wear." Sesshomaru stated mildly.

"But I'm naked!" Hoshii replied frantically!

"So?"

"I need my kimono, I'm naked!"

"The squirrels are naked also, they seem to see no need for a kimono." He replied, face still straight.

"But I'm a girl!"

"Some of the squirrels are girls as well."

"But I don't got fur! I'll get cold!"

"That is a valid point, you do not have fur. I suppose once you have finished bathing you should wear this." He told her pulling a bright new kimono from the front of his own.

Hoshii's eye went wide as she accepted the gift. "I- I can wear this?"

"It is yours. Return to your bath and Melissa will help you put it on once she deems you clean enough." Hoshii nodded and skipped back to the bath, but she kept looking over her shoulder to see that Sesshomaru didn't burn her new kimono. He placed another Kimono by Hoshii's for Melissa then disrobed and joined his family.

Melissa shot a duck for her and Hoshii to eat for lunch and Sesshomaru was pleased that she ate well. However for dinner they had fish, which again seemed to disagree with his wife. He placed a hand against her head, she wasn't warm, and her scent was fine. But he suspected something was trying to take hold of her body that he just couldn't smell yet.

He went hunting and brought back two large boar leg bones which he nestled into the embers of the fire. When he was sure they were heated through he pulled them from the fire and set them aside to cool. He then bit each one several times down the length and split them in half, instructing both his wife and daughter to eat the rich marrow to build their strength.

Melissa fell asleep early that night. Sesshomaru held the girl in his lap while they watched the fire so she did not disturb Melissa's rest. At one point he realized he was humming a lullaby he didn't know he remembered from his days as a pup. He looked down at Hoshii. She was snuggled against his chest, fast asleep with a thumb in her mouth.

Later that night he was awoken by a strange sensation, his lap was cold and wet. The smell of urine was in the air and Hoshii was missing. He hadn't woken her up to potty as Melissa did and she'd had an accident in her sleep.

He followed the smell of urine and tears and found her crying in an abandoned animal den beneath the roots of a large tree. When he knelt down to peer in at her she coward against the back of it in fear. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"I know you are. I am not angry, come out from there."

"You won't hurt me?"

"No. You are a child, you have not had time to train your bladder. Melissa wakes you at night for that reason, but she fell asleep early. The responsibility fell to me but I did not wake you as I should have. Your accident is my fault."

Very reluctantly she crawled out from her hiding place and followed Sesshomaru back to camp. He had her remove the kimono and rinse the urine from her legs in the frigid water while he stoked the fire to keep her warm while she drip dried. He then took her kimono into the water with him and rinse the urine from the garment and himself. Once clean he flew in low circles around the camp to dry then redressed Hoshii and let her lay down to sleep with Melissa who stirred only to embrace the child. He laid down on Hoshii's other side and reached out the hug them both.

He went for a short walk early the next morning after Jaken had returned from finding food. He returned to find his wife once again picking at her meal. Irritated he strode toward her, determined to figure out why she wasn't feeling well, surely if she were ill she'd have started to smell ill by now.

He was ambushed halfway there by Hoshii who presented him with a bouquet of flowers. "Here Daddy," she told him using the name Melissa had told Hoshii to call him by, "I picked these for you, they smell so good!" He took the bouquet and sniffed absent mindedly, focusing not on the gift but his intention to figure out why Melissa would not eat.

He knelt down in front of her and leaned forward, then turned his had away to sneeze, not once but twice. He sniffled and found his nose was stuffy and his eyes were watering. He then looked at the flowers in his hand, how the devil had the child found the one flower that would take his nose out?

He couldn't smell if she was ill or not, not until the flower's pollen wore off. She didn't feel warm. Finally she admitted that her belly was bothering her, but insisted she was fine.

He kept looking back at them throughout the day. Hoshii was still too weak to walk long distances so Melissa usually carried her. However Hoshii was a new child. She was still skeletal, but her cheeks were turning rosey and her eyes sparkled. The short hairdo suited her well too, now that he was used to it.

And motherhood suited Melissa well. She was tired, and honestly looked a little drained, but she shone with happiness! She seemed almost to glow! But she still looked exhausted.

He walked back to her and lifted Hoshii from her arms. "I will take her for a while. You are pushing yourself too hard. You can't be expected to carry a child while refusing meals without endangering your health."

"That is quite true." A familiar voice stated from behind him, he turned and saw his mother walking toward them. "You seem surprised, did you not catch my scent, Sesshomaru?"

"I am afraid I smelled something I should not have earlier today. My sense of smell has not yet recovered." He replied.

His mother's eyes flicked momentarily to the flowers Hoshii still held in her tiny fist. "I see. So then you were not bringing them to me for the winter. I thought it was a bit early, but given the circumstances not entirely unexpected."

Sesshomaru looked down at Hoshii's tiny form in his arms. Yes, he would need to bring them to his mother much sooner this year, Hoshii would not survive a winter storm without shelter. Not in her malnourished condition. He glanced back to Melissa, a night or two in a real bed with hearty food would do her some good too.

"We are on our way to Inuyasha's village Rin is to be married this fall if Kohaku has met my expectations. However we do have time for a short visit before the wedding, after that I will need to bring them to you for the winter."

"Of course, and Ume will be glad of a chance to lament how thin they both are." Kimiko replied, smiling at Melissa then at Hoshii.

"Hoshii getting strong." Melissa replied, reaching over to ruffle her hair. "Will take time."

Sesshomaru saw his mother's smile slip momentarily as her eyes spotted Melissa's wrist, the bruises were gone, but the rope burns had not healed completely yet. Melissa, focusing on Hoshii did not see it however. His mother smiled at her again. "I am sure you are a wonderful mother, and it's easy to see she needs you to be healthy. We should return to the palace so that you can have Ume fatten you both up."

Melissa nodded and took Hoshii back so that Sesshomaru could pick them both up. When they arrived Kumiko was waiting, dressed in nicer clothing that Sesshomaru was used to seeing and openly greeted Kimiko with a hug. Now that Sesshomaru knew about the relationship they had no reason to hide it.

Kimiko, having caught his scent earlier already had Granny waiting for them in their chamber. Her face split into a wide grin as she embraced Melissa. Then she spotted Hoshii. "Oh dear, poor thing, hasn't anyone bothered to feed you?" She fretted as she took in the child's emaciated form.

"That is why we have claimed her as our own." Sesshomaru told the old bear.

"Oh the poor dear! With winter right around the corner too, there is barely anytime to fatten her up! And Melissa is far too-"

"She has been refusing meals. I had hoped you could convince her that she needs to better nourish herself." Sesshomaru told Granny.

"Has she? Melissa you have to eat! A mother needs her strength to take care of a child properly!" Granny paused for a moment as though realising something, "Your belly has been upset, hasn't it?"

A look of panic flashed across Melissa's face as she nodded "A little."

"Well I think we can help with that. I'll have word sent to Shino to make something gentle on the belly and we'll get an infusion of ginger sent up.-"

"Sesshomaru, may I have a word with you in my quarters?" His mother asked while Granny tended Melissa and Hoshii. He nodded and followed her and her lover to her chambers. She slid the door closed so the three of them alone would hear their discussion. "Melissa appears to have rope burns on her wrists and that is not the kimono she left in."

Sesshomaru then explained about their fight. He could not remember what it had been about, but that in his anger he failed to notice a storm brewing and she got lost in the rain. By the time he found her again she had been captured by men who wanted to use her as bait to kill him. She killed her guard and stole his armor to escape but had to leave her kimono behind in the process.

"It must have been a traumatising experience for her. Kumiko dear, will you please tell Ume I need to speak with her and stay with Melissa until she or my son can join her?"

"Of course, my lady." Kumiko replied with a bow then hurried away, closing the door behind her.

"Sesshomaru, then men who captured her, was she violated?" Shame squeezed his chest, making it hard to speak so he merely nodded. Kimiko turned away from him quickly so that he would not see her anguished face though he did smell the tears that sprang to her eyes. "How long ago was it?"

That was a strange question to him. How long had it been? Not long. He'd lost track of time caring for Hoshii and said so.

"Have you been with her since?" His mother asked, still not looking at him.

"She told me it would help her heal." He replied somewhat defensively.

"Well there's that then. What is done is done and the past cannot be changed. It is better we know. Please send Ume in, we must discuss Melissa's care when she returns for the winter."

He returned to his chambers and dismissed Kumiko. Shortly after Granny returned to help Melissa change and take them to the bath. He saw the worry and sadness in his old nursemaids eyes when she first entered, but she has cheerful when she interacted with Melissa and Hoshii.