Summary: "Go ahead and cry, Miko. This was all your doing, you got yourself caught up in something that you weren't supposed to. You weren't supposed to fall in love, but you did. I thought that once you fell in love, you gained more hope for things, but with you I lost the last shard of hope that I had...Remember Miko, he will only continue to hurt you if you stay with him and I have a limited amount of patience to wait for you. You have till the first snowfall before I leave you for good. You must make your own decision." Sesshomaru turns from her and walks into the treeline. Kagome drops to her knees, feeling her heart rip itself in-two.

~~~Prologue~~~
Kagome and Inuyasha had been traveling alone for the past month, Shippou left with Miroku to deal with a small demon problem in a village a weeks walk from Edo that wouldn't accept Inuyasha's help, while Sango went to her village to pay her respects, since it was the third anniversary of their deaths. Kagome was now eighteen years old, barely a graduate from High School, still trying to destroy Naraku. She has gotten better at controlling her Reiki, but not as great as she should be.

"Wench, get outta your head. We got more ground to cover." Inuyasha barks from beside her, pulling her out of her thoughts. She looks over to him and huffs, "The sun is almost gone, we need to set up camp before the light is completely gone."

"I can see in the dark, wench." Was his only reply as he kept on walking. Kagome rolls her eyes and walks through a bush into a small clearing big enough for a small fire, her sleeping bag and Inuyasha to sit, if he didn't leave her in the middle of the night like usual. She sets her pack down and goes about finding firewood and builds a small fire. She then goes to look for the stream that she heard a few miles back, knowing that Inuyasha would figure out she wasn't with him soon.

After getting her water, she begins cooking their meal of dried meats, rice and veggies. She makes herself a very tiny portion, saving the rest for Inuyasha, and settles herself against a tree and begins to meditate. She learned that if she meditates for at least an hour every night, she will sleep better and have better control over her Reki. She gets almost completely into her meditation, until she feels a slight brush of a powerful aura against her senses. Her eyes fly open to see Sesshomaru standing on the other side of the fire.

"Miko." He rumbles, his voice smooth yet rough, a soothing sound to her ears.

"Sesshomaru-sama." She nods to him, "How can I help you tonight?" She asks.

"Come." He motions for her to come with him, turns around and walks off. She shrugs and follows him. Once they are what seems to her a good way from Inuyasha, she finds Sesshomaru perched on a small outcropping of rock that sits over the river. Slowly she approaches the demon lord, who motions for her to sit near him.

"You have been following my brother for three years now. Yet you have made very little progress in training." He says it so softly she can hardly hear him, and she thinks at first he's insulting her, but he is stating facts.

"That is true. Everyone sees me as Kikyo's reincarnation, that I shouldn't need training since her powers came so easily to her." She says solemnly, not really understanding the reasoning behind this meeting. She looks up to see Sesshomaru looking out over the small river, his posture relaxed but also alert. She gasps when he looks over to her, his eyes pools of lava; so unlike Inuyasha's eyes which she sees as pools of honey.

"You cannot defeat the vulgar hanyo with the small amount of power that you have harnessed. Since no one else will teach you, I will. We shall do this during the night when my half-brother goes to see the undead miko. You should not cry over him. He is not worth your tears if he chooses the undead over the living." Sesshomaru abruptly stands, and offers his hand. She takes his warm calloused hand, and that night she begins training to become stronger.