AN: This chapter written in 'story form'. Anyways…read on.

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It's going to storm. That's what crossed her mind.

Not much crossed her mind these days, not much beyond her own sorrow that she was determined to forget. She sighed and pulled down her visor as the sun shawn into her eyes. She sneered at the sun.

She hated it…hated it…

Suddenly something caught her eye. Something on the side of the road…that shawn like the sun. Something…in white…moving…slowly.

I've never been one to pick up hitchhikers she thought But I suppose one can make an acceptation. She pulled over beside the figure. It was a man.

He turned to her with amber eyes and markings on his face.

He looked…familiar. Like she was supposed to know him. She rolled down her window "Hey" she said "There's a storm coming…"

"I know" he said.

"Well get in and I'll give you a lift until it clears" she said.

He turned and put his hand on the door handle "How do you know I will not kill you?" he asked.

"I don't but if your going to kill me at least do it when we're near that lake up there…I'm rather partial to the water."

The man made no move to smile or even show some kind of emotion. He simply opened the door and got in.

"Where you heading."

"That is of no concern."

The two had been driving for awhile. Both had been studying one another and noticed they each had something in common. The cloud…the dark cloud that loomed over both of them, the dark cloud that sunk into their hearts…and refused to leave.

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"I had a husband once."

He turned and stared at her as if he had forgotten she was there... They say that American women were strange. But this one was on another level. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked.

"You lost your wife didn't you?"

"How did you know?"

She smiled a sad smile "After awhile, you begin to see the same face you see in the mirror…that of great loss. It's almost like a dark cloud around you."

Sesshoumaru turned to the window. Not even Kagura was able to read him like that…but…she was better…his first loss…his first…love.

"Rin."

Even through his emotionless exterior she could read him. But it was Kagura's anger through not being able to read him so that made him smile at her memory so. "Kagura."

"So…you lost two."

"Yes…and you?"

"It's a small world."

"That it is."

The two traveled on before she spoke again. "The first was the only friend I'd ever had. As a child I was never that sociable. I despised the world I lived in and longed for the past one."

"A child?"

There was a sadness in his voice that he didn't mean to let through…it was an accident. "As was yours…I see. His name was Leon. I met him when I was 4. I smashed his sand castle, and he ate my play dough…we were inseparable afterwards" she let out a small laugh "He was always dragging me places. I would want to stay home and attempt to read, and he would want to go to the park. I'd want quiet alone time and he'd start jumping all over me. It was so annoying and he was so strange…he was a boy, but he would make flower necklaces and rings, and crowns for me. He would want to go horse back riding and loved to run through the rain."

It was so strange…that this boy she spoke of and the situation she held with him was so like him and Rin's. He recalled how the child would sit in the middle of the fields and sing as she made crowns for him and Jaken made of flowers as wild as her. At his twinge hit his heart as a frog crawled up his throat, that he swallowed. And noticed that the cloud around her had just gotten darker.

"When we were 10 we were on our horses by my house and his horse tripped in a gopher hole. It rolled onto it's side…crushing him. My parents along with his saw the whole thing. But they would be too late. When the horse rolled onto him a rib jabbed into his lung…he died there…in my arms."

Just as Rin had been taken him so violently, her source of light had been ripped from her. "It turned so cold after that. For 10 years life meant little to me. I threw myself into a school, work, home…I just didn't thing about it. Maybe I thought I would forget it, and after that I had no need or want for 'friends.'"

He didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to hear his own story told through another but he still…he still…listened.

"And the second?"

"After I graduated at 15 I created my own production company. After he died making movies were the only thing that brought me some kind of joy. I grew to love it and eventually I flew to Japan to join a film crew. I was going to my hotel room one night when I met him. He was a big shot genius who took over his father's company when he was 14 or something like that."

He had been watching her and the moment the second was mentioned her eyes lit. She chuckled at the memory "We argued in that hallway for 45 minutes. People were afraid to call security on us too when they saw who we were. I wanted him to apologize for running to me with no 'excuse me' and he wanted me to apologize for getting in his way. I said he really wanted me to apologize for not bending down and kissing his ass and it went on from there."

Sesshoumaru recalled all the times him and Kagura met up only to fight. They would argue for hours before taking it to…physical levels.

"In the end I slapped him and walked away. He then grabbed me and we ended up with me against the wall…our encounters over the next 6 months always seemed to end up like that. Then one night he showed up at my hotel. Room and asked me to dinner. After a 35 minute argument about why I should go out with him we left. It was 2 months before he asked me to marry him and we wed…"

"Children?"

She shook her head "We both wanted kids but…there was never time…"

The dark cloud had returned to her and Sesshoumaru knew what was coming next. "It was a plane crash" she said "he was on his way to New York for the launching of his new product when a gas leak occurred…he…called me from the plane going down and left me a message…" her hands tightened on the steering wheel "I still haven't deleted it."

It was completely silent for the next few minutes. The two both found it hard to speak. "And then?" his voice was hoarse with emotion.

She sighed "I sold my shares of his company to his younger brother who owns it now. I closed down my company and…faded away.

"We'd always talked about retiring and buying big pieces of land to live on by ourselves. We'd tare down the fences and get rid of the electrical wires everything but the pipelined and live like they did in ancient Japan. I don't know why we were always so advocate about it. Maybe because we were so private."

Sesshoumaru turned to see it was now night, and snow was slowly falling. When the thought came to mind he'd realized that he'd never talked about Rin or Kagura. But come to think of it, what would this girl do if he began telling her he was a demon? Then again the thought of an institution seemed like it would be entertaining…at least for awhile. Really there was no harm in telling his story to a girl who had placed herself in exile and when it came down to it. He had nothing to lose.

"When I was young I had many adventures in the wilderness" he said "On one such occasion I was greatly injured and left on a forest floor unable to move…that same day a child found me. She attempted to help me, but I refused her help. She returned several times attempting to help me but I still refused. After awhile I…expected to see her. And one day…she didn't return."

He paused at the memory "The next day I was prepared to leave the small camp I'd made. It was then…that I found her. She'd been attacked by wolves.

So I took healed her. From then on she followed me. No matter where I went or how impossible it seemed for a young girl to get there, she followed. She was the bravest child I've ever known. Her laugh and her smile…are always with me."

He gathered his thoughts "After I'd finished my wanderings I returned to my father's palace and we lived there for 10 years. She grew into a beautiful woman with the same wildness she had when she was a child."

The memories came to him like a bullet sinking into his heart. The smile on her face, the wind through her hair, the way she ran through the rain. That laughter…that laughter. He turned up and stared out the windshield to the snow coming down.

"I had many enemies…ones that even lived on my own land. Ones that wished to bring me down…" he stared out into the darkness as he felt it embrace him with it's dark arms "She was riding one day when said enemies saw her…at first they thought she was an animal. They shot her horse down, and it crushed her as your friend's did him. In fear of me they then…set her afire…it was by the horse that I was able to find her later that day. Nothing was left but the slightest big of ash. For many years I mourned her death, unable to let go that I allowed her to die…my morning led me into the modern world. I thought I met her a few years ago…she was the daughter of one of my clients daughters. Just as beautiful, just as wild…and that…laugh" he sighed "It gave me brief joy. After wondering around in a void for several years…I met a woman. She…she was headstrong and had an amazing will. She was the only woman I'd ever met who didn't…"

"Fall at your feet?"

He chuckled "Yes. We kept meeting up much like you and your husband. After awhile we found ourselves in…compromising positions…"

"You began sleeping together."

"Yes. It was then that I learned she was under the contract of a certain business man. One who had recently caused a bitter indiscretion. I defeated him in his own business and freed her from his contract. We then…wed. After that it seemed as though I had once again found happiness…" He chuckled bitterly "But it seems, happiness isn't quite cut out for me. The…the plane she was flying in to get to a conference…in…New York City attained a gas leak and…it fell into the Atlantic."

There was no attempt to sound surprised by the girl. "After I fell into myself and began to wander. I left my company to my retainer and decided to travel the world…that's how I ended up here."

At the end of the story he thought he might be depressed or upset. But found that he felt…a little better, and looking over her saw the dark cloud around her was lighter. She continued driving. And after 10 minutes she spoke.

"You're the son of Inu No Taisho aren't you?" she asked.

That surprised him. If he ever expected her to say something, that was the last. "You're the Lord of the Western Lands. Sesshoumaru" she went on "And your brother is Inuyasha."

"Yes."

"I've heard of you" she said "I've heard the legend of the child and the Lord of the West."

"Legends sometimes lie."

"Obviously, as the legend states that you remain over the child's ashes and become the beautiful Night flower to light her way through the dark."

"How is it you are able to know this?"

"My husband was Seto Kaiba."

"Yes. I figured that part out."

"In several lives ago. Seto was Pharaoh of Egypt. Second to Atem the first. I joined a few of his adventures…"

Sesshoumaru chuckled "I see. So you are a legend yourself. The legend of the Exiled Pharaoh and the Wolf Maiden."

She laughed "Unfortunately our love wasn't strong enough to transcend time and space and we didn't turn into the sky and sun so we can embrace one another forever."

"I see that."

"So where are you going to?"

"You've already asked me that?"

"But you were lying."

Sesshoumaru stayed silent. "I'm going to live for longer than any human" he said "My brother's mate Kagome had…a well. One that could transcend you into the past. My brother always went through that well…I'm going to find it and stop my shame."

"She will die either way."

"That's not the only reason I'm going."

She smiled.

He turned "Would you like to come with me?"

Her smile widened.

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2 years later…

700 years after…

It was strange…the way things happened. Sometimes life threw you curveballs. Sometimes it never stopped throwing that same pitch. She would sometimes look back and laugh at the way things were. "I found it Grandma! I found it!"

"Bring it here child" she said.

The child with long white hair and pointed ears ran to the woman and placed a book in her lap. "Will you read it to us Grandma?" another child asked.

She smiled with a nod."

"They wish to hear it once again?" a deep voice asked.

She turned "Of course, we are about to take the journey. They would like to hear it one last time."

His amber eyes dances with hers as he nodded "Very well."

She then turned and opened the book "This is the legend of the lost wolf maiden, and the Exiled Prince of the West…"

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It was night when the children had fallen asleep. Night when the story had finished several times an the two were ready to leave.

A woman that looked like a younger version of the older woman walked up "It's time" he said.

The older man rose to an impressive height from his chain. "Let's be off" he said

The two then stepped out of their home and turned towards the river by their house. Their children lead them to the boat and they stepped in. "Good-bye father, good-bye mother."

"Farewell" the woman said "We'll see you on the other side."

After hugs from the woman and pats from the man the boat pushed off from the shore by the hands of waves and traveled into the distance.

The two younger versions stayed on the shore and watched as they disappeared into the distance. "They lived through the demon extinction" the oldest boy said in a voice much like his fathers.

"And they build a kingdom on a baron one" the woman said in a voice like her mothers "And they lead the repopulation of the demons" the youngest boy said.

"So ends the legend of the lost wolf maiden and the exiled prince of the west" said the youngest girl.

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Sesshoumaru lifted his hands against the blinding light. Hitomi turned her head and then closed her eyes.

"There they are!…What did I say? If we waited long enough they'd get here."

"700 years isn't what I had in mind!"

"Well I only had to wait 5…"

"Well we've been here longer!"

"Oh you're just mad because you lost that game of 'go'."

"I stand by my word that you cheated."

"Get over it Inuyasha."

"Please…don't start again. You lost the first and you'll lose the next."

"Kaiba won Inuyasha…let it go."

Sesshoumaru recognized that voice…he knew it so well. He opened his eyes to see that his hand was no longer wrinkled and older. He peered down to see hands of his youth. Hitomi was staring at her…a Hitomi he remembered years ago.

"H-Hitomi?" he asked.

"Se-Sesshoumaru…"

"Keh! Are you going to let him drool all over that in front of you Kagura?"

"I am not you Inuyasha."

"What about you Kaiba? You gonna let him drool all over her?"

"Your opinion is nothing to me."

"So before we get into the brawl can we please go in? I'm a little impatient."

"Lord Sesshoumaru!"

"Rin! What did I tell you about rushing at Lord Sesshoumaru!"

"But it's been so long Master Jaken!"

"Hey Yugi! How 'bout we head it? Since we don't know these people?"

"That may be for the best as the two would want to be with family."

"Great! Come one Tea! Tristan? You comin'?"

"I'll stay."

"Sango and I shall follow you…Kagome…perhaps you would like to follow?"

"Um…sure…Inuyasha?"

"I have a bone to pick with this guy…you go ahead."

"Me too! Me too! Sesshoumaru's still scary. I'll go with you guys!"

The group walked towards two large pillars and disappeared between them. Sesshoumaru turned for the first time to the group that has apparently waited so long from them. Inuyasha stood with his usual pissed off look obviously waited to chew him out. Jaken was currently restraining Rin who had retained her childlike form and was struggling to get free, Kagura was fanning herself beside them waiting patiently. Beside them stood a tall man with an arrogant look, and a bright eyed boy looking as impatient as Rin.

As he had finished looking them over Rin had successfully gotten free and ran full speed towards him "Lord Sesshoumaru!" she cried.

She dove into his arms and nuzzled her face into his tail. He tightened his hold against her and smiled as he kneeled down to her level "Rin" he whispered as he embraced her.

"Lord Sesshoumaru we have waited for you for so long" she said "Rin is glad you are here."

Lord Sesshoumaru wrapped his arms around her gathering her warmth to him. "Rin's missed you Lord Sesshoumaru…"

He paused thinking over the reaction or lack of them he could give. But then again…he was dead…now there was nothing to lose "As have I Rin" he said.

The girl squeezed harder before letting herself slide away from him and grabbed his hand when he once again rose "Come on Lord Sesshoumaru!" she said.

He looked up and saw Kagura standing there "Kagura" he said.

He smelled the tears before she shed them. In an instant she was in his arms. The two embraced tightly.

It was then that Hitomi finally got over her shock and notice that Kaiba was now in front of her. A small smile started on her face before it widened and she threw herself into his arms. "Seto" she sobbed as she wrapped her arms around him.

Kaiba nuzzled his face in her neck "Hitomi" he whispered getting a shutter from her.

"You know I was as pissed as an angel could be when you made me wait" Kaiba said as he looked over her for the hundredth time.

She chuckled "Sorry, but…I didn't want him to feel the way I did for so long."

Kaiba smiled "I would say you're always thinking of others."

"But you know me."

He beamed taking her into his arms once again and bringing her lips to his. "Um…Hitomi?"

The voice called out from the silence that that surrounded the two and Hitomi turned to see Mokuba standing there for the first time. "M-Mokuba…but…but you were…"

Mokuba laughed lightly as he scratched his head "Another plane crash…heh…who'd of thought?"

She smirked and then hugged him "At least we're all together."

"You know Sesshoumaru I'm not exactly partial to waiting!"

"Partial? Is that not the biggest word you've ever used?"

The three turned to Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha who were currently fighting. Inuyasha was complaining that they'd made him wait so long and Sesshoumaru was looking at Inuyasha like he always did…as if Inuyasha were below him. The two continued to argue before a voice sounded behind them, deep and demanding.

"Is that the way siblings should act?"

Both froze and they all turned to the pillars. Standing before it was a man. A tall man with white hair put up in a ponytail. He had spikes on his shoulders, drenched in white silk, jagged marks on his face…he looked…a lot like…

"You're Inu No Taisho" Hitomi said in a slight gasp.

"That I am" he said walking up to her in a glide "You are Hitomi Kaiba."

He then reached out and lifted her face to him "A true beauty you are."

She giggled and blushed.

He smiled at her. She then came to her senses and stepped back with a nervous chuckle. Looking up at Kaiba she saw he was looking at her questionably. She shrugged.

Inu No Taisho walked up to his sons who were staring at him "Father" Sesshoumaru whispered.

He smiled "Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha. You have made me proud. Look at you, look at what you've become…there are no words to express the pride and love I feel for the two of you."

Sesshoumaru smiled proudly as he turned to see Inuyasha smirking with the same pride. "Now" Inu No Taisho said "Come along…the others are waiting for us."

Hitomi smiled and turned to Kaiba "It's over Seto" she said "We can finally be happy, and free."

Seto smiled "Then let's get to it…I've waited long enough."

She laughed at him.

She then turned to see Sesshoumaru standing beside her. He smiled in gratitude and gave her a nod before turning and following his family to the pillars.

Hitomi sighed.

'And so ends the legends of maidens and demons' she thought to herself as she took her husband's hand and they walked to the pillars…and disappeared to a voice unknown.

Welcome Home.

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AN: Hope you liked it! It was nice to write for some reason. At least for me….