Hello! This fanfic is reposted from a different account, since I've decided I want all my stories in one place. This is also cross-posted in Ao3 under the same username.

I don't own Inuyasha.

She wasn't the first choice.

Before her, there was the other her.

But he wouldn't have anything to do with the other, not that anyone would expect him to, or would even go as far as to consider he had fallen into his own trap created out of disdain he had so long since bore inside him. Besides the priestess already harboring feelings for another, her appearance, her weaknesses, her emotions, every drop of her blood all made clear how human she was. They also made clear the bounds of the relation he only ever intended to have with the young woman. She traveled with the half-demon and his group, and her spiritual powers aided in defeating their greatest enemy; she was an ally he's forced to be acquainted with — that was what she was. A mere human being. Her humanity would be a disgrace to his kind, what flowed in her veins would taint the absolute power acquired through centuries worth of searching with incompetence and vulnerability. Her direct and intimate affiliation with the half-demon was met with reprehension from him, yet ironically, it was that same connection that aroused interest inside him for the girl. As he battled for the fang of the great dog-demon, and battled with the bad blood coursing through his kin, he watched her with silent eyes. He never protected her, but he slew her enemies. The lengths she would go to for her beloved, he witnessed as he stood behind with the rest, thinking of things only he would ever know about, and possibly wondering about the passion and commitment that were foreign to him, but clearly emanating very strongly from her.

That was all he would do, even if he could do more.

She was a human. That alone made all the difference.

-x-

She didn't come next either. There was someone else before her. Beautiful and powerful, she had been just like him.

And she might have loved him. Whether it was due to his pride or he was used to being on his own as to why he had never sought her was beyond anyone, if they even managed to get anything from the controlled exterior that would never reveal more than he would allow. He had denied her of his help, but had saved her on chances. The last time, he tried to save her… of his own accord. She had been the enemy, the reason for the physical and emotional wounds suffered by everyone in the past. Her existence a lifetime obligation of loyalty to the one he could never forgive, the one he intended to destroy. Her nature had made her somewhat spiteful and unsympathetic, seek the best interests for her own self, and manipulate to dance to her rhythm those who were doomed to fall in her clutches. Even the few, short encounters had not been exactly congenial, and she would leave with either biting remarks meant to insult him or feelings of a lost cause and an increased emptiness in her heart. And yet it hadn't escaped his notice; when it came down to it she had been alone. In all his seemingly cold, uncaring self, he acknowledged that even with all the things she was capable of, she still bore fears and weaknesses of a woman. At the end, he had recognized her and what she was beyond her façade, of which only he would understand on some deeper level. And whatever all that was… all a passing memory, blown away to a place he could not yet reach. She had to leave. And he wanted to change that before she did. He never displayed sadness or tears, but the change inside him was such that it allowed him to be one step closer to obtaining power derived from his own compassionate heart. No word would come out from his lips.

But once in a while he would stop and take in the feel of the wind, as if the sheer presence of it would also mean she was by his side.

-x-

She was the last; for most people — and for her, for a time, without so much as a question — the one.

She was a different story. Even as not a living soul would be left not in wonder, surprise should no come to those enumerable few who had the chance to observe a more intimate aspect of his self, should he take a further stride in the one bond he had ever made with another being alive. He was never one to in any way associate himself with anything he deemed as insignificant, let alone to allow an intense connection to develop with him on the other end, so her very person in the whole scenario only meant that somehow, when no one had managed, or had dared, to get to him, she was able to break through to him, and thus by mortals and demons alike she was regarded as special, something no one had quite deciphered the exact meaning of, but nonetheless extremely precious. With mind set on gaining supremacy over all, there had been no place for irrelevant things. Having resolved to a life in solitude had seen no need for him to bother himself with regards to a life companion. But then the reality that he had obviously felt differently towards her as for her to be the one exception to every rule he had set up for himself only solidified the conclusion that eventually, someday, she would be the one to stay by his side in that sense. And that was even though she was most ordinary. She held no power of sorts. She was most defenseless whereas he stood tall above the greatests. But whatever he refused the others, or the world for that matter, he unconditionally gave her. Magnificent and imperial, unparalleled in any degree, and solely hers to take liberties with as she willed. Many claimed she was lucky, only because none of them knew him as she did. Nor had they bore witness to those fleeting yet note-worthy snippets of his life when the unsuspecting world had unknowingly caught a glimpse of his heart. She herself had never realized, but soon the passing of seasons would eventually give way to change, like the transition from naivety and innocence to knowledge and insecurity. And there was that constant nagging feeling at the back of her mind thereafter, and no matter how hard she tried to hold on, both to her heart and his words, there were those certain things she could neither overlook nor forget...

...Not the voice from a distant memory, a reminiscence of an old past that had told of a person she closely resembled. Or the only other who had caused quite a stir in emotions of someone as unmoving as he was, because, maybe, deep down he had wanted her to stay more than he ever dared admit to anyone outside of himself.

She watched him look at her. And hoped with all her heart that despite the circumstances making her question her status beside him, she had been at least part of the options, and not merely a filler, or an only resort because he had let go of what could have been.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think :)

November 2, 2014