Disclaimer: I do not own any part of InuYasha, only my own character Kakiya.

Chapter 20

XXX

The air was infused with her scent; it was everywhere. It was intoxicating. He knew it was her, the one he was desperately looking for, and finally tracked her down.

"At last, I will see you again…" he whispered.

The forest breeze was leading him to her; it carried with it her scent. He knew he was getting close.

…

"Mommy! Where were you all this time?" Rin pouted, "I missed you." She added.

Kakiya couldn't help by smile, "I went on a… trip of sorts. I had to take care of something, but I'm done now." She got up from her seat and took the child in her arms, "I'm sorry, Rin." she pat the human girl on her head.

Rin giggled, "It's okay. I forgive you."

A breeze blew by sending a trail of flower petals across their way.

"Come Rin, let's do something fun together."

"Ya!"

Together, they walked to the fields of flowers growing by the castle. They sat in the center of the field and started making flower crows, stringing the various flowers together. Rin was about to make the final sixth crown for Lord Sesshomaru, by Kakiya stopped her.

"He will not wear it… but I have a way to get around that." Kakiya smiled.

After giving Rin the details of her plan, they set it to action at once, fathering as many flowers and flower petals as they could carry. The two of them crowned themselves and then set of to find the rest of their group after. Upon reaching the castle, Kakiya spotted Ah-Un and approached the two-headed dragon.

"These are for you."

Kakiya crowned the two heads with the flower crown she had made. The demon happily accepted the crown. Kakiya hurried back to find Rin struggling to get Jaken to wear his crown.

"Come on! Wear it, it will make you pretty!" Rin protested.

"No, I refuse to let you put something so idiotic upon my head."

Kakiya laughed, "Oh Jaken, it's not like anyone will see you. Besides, Rin spent a lot of time make it for you." She smiled, "And I'm sure if other demons do see you, they would be very jealous."

"Lady Kakiya, I do not agree with this foolishness. Rin may have made it, but I do not want to wear it!"

"Aw, Master Jaken…" Rin had a sad face on.

"See? Now look at what you've done. You made Rin sad." Kakiya came up to Rin and patted her on the head, "It's alright Rin, Jaken is just a very stuck up demon who likes to make little girls like you sad. You should just ignore him."

Jaken twitched at Kakiya's cruel words, "Fine! I'll wear it. But only this once!"

Kakiya smirked, "I always knew you weren't as mean as you looked!"

He was about to snap back, but stopped when Rin came and plopped the flower crown on this head. "There, you look wonderful now, Master Jaken!" Rin said cheerily.

"Wonderful." He said glumly,

"Now let's go find Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin accounted, running off.

"Thank you Jaken. We'll see you later than." Kakiya softly told him before going off to follow Rin.

They found Sesshomaru where he usually was; resting in the sun underneath a tree and enjoying the refreshing breeze.

"Shh! Don't wake up him!" Kakiya cautioned as they quietly crept towards him.

"If the two of you are foolish enough to think that I have not noticed your presence, than you are sadly mistaken." Sesshomaru told then, his eyes still closed. A silence followed, making Sesshomaru start to wonder. He slowly started to open his eyes, "What are you two do-"

A shower of flowers and petal drifted onto him. He looked up and saw Kakiya shining underneath the sun with petals floating around her, and was mesmerised. He slowly stood up, keeping his eyes locked with Kakiya's. His hand started moving unconsciously away from his side and towards her face.

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin grabbed onto his raising hand and snapped him out of his trance.

He quickly turned his attention to Rin, "What is it?"

"You're covered with flowers!" Rin burst out and started giggling.

Sesshomaru finally realized what they have done and sighed, "I cans see that, Rin." He glared at Kakiya and found her softly laughing as well.

Their eyes met again, but Kakiya quickly turned away, "Rin, maybe you should go and get a brush for Sesshomaru."

"Yes mommy!" she giggled and ran off, "Lord Sesshomaru looks so beau-ti-ful! Just like a huge flo-wer!" she sang.

Kakiya laughed, "She's such a cute girl." She turned her attention back to Sesshomaru, "Here, I'll help you get these out." She stepped in closer to him and started to pick out the flowers.

"So you thought that covering this Sesshomaru with flowers was funny?" he suddenly asked.

"Well, afterwards yes, though not at first…" she mumbled. Kakiya reached up and started to take a flower petal from his hair, on the side of his face, when Sesshomaru grabbed her wrist.

"May I ask what you thought of at first?"

Kakiya looked away from his face, concentrating on the ground and bit her bottom lip, "I… umm… well…" she paused and let out a sigh, "When I threw the flowers over you and saw you open your eyes… I was sort of… enchanted by how you looked, erm… angelic, and when you stood up and looked at me…" Kakiya could feel her face turning red, and was relieved that Sesshomaru finally let her go. 'I can't believe what I just said.' She thought.

Sesshomaru was surprised that she felt the same way he did. He looked down at the alluring beauty before him and he found himself enjoying her reaction. "How can I believe you when, even now, you are so captivated by the earth below us? The angelic Sesshomaru is right in front of you, yet you refuse to look at him?"

Kakiya immediately looked up, "I'm not refusing to look at you, I just–" their eyes met once more, silencing her,

"You… what?" Sesshomaru cupped her face and pulled her closer to him, "What were you going to say?" he whispered as he leaned down towards her, "Kakiya…?"

Kakiya's heart thumped loudly against the walls of her chest, but she didn't care of Sesshomaru could hear it or not, "Sesshomaru…"

Their lips met in a passionate kiss; one as hungry as the other for this one prolonged moment. The two of them never imagined that they could ever long for something or someone so passionately. Kakiya's arms wrapped themselves around his broad back and she found herself wanting more from him. Sesshomaru himself finally acknowledged his desire for her and knew that his moment was enough to satisfy his growing hunger. Simultaneously, they sensed an approaching presence and quickly pulled away with each other, both regretting returning to the real world. A man with long silver hair, pulled back in a braid, and piercing red eyes emerged from the bushes behind them.

"At long last, I have finally found you, my dear Kakiya…"

Sesshomaru's hand immediately flew to his sword, he gripped the handle, "What do you want?" he growled. He was already irritated by this interruption, but the fact that he knew Kakiya flared his anger.

The man glared at Sesshomaru, "What I want?" he scoffed, "What I want is for you to get your hands off her and return her to me. Only I may give permission for any male to touch her."

Sesshomaru was about to cut his head cleanly from his head, when Kakiya put her hand on his own to stop him. "I do not know this man, but he seems to know something about me…" she whispered to Sesshomaru and looked at him, "Please?" Kakiya felt his hand relax under hers. "Now you," she gestured to the man, "Are you sure that I am the one you are looking for? Perhaps you have mistaken me for another."

The man suddenly was in front of her, "Kakiya, the name that I regarded dearly since the day you were born. A little child who has the loveliest scent on could never forget, and even I, never forgot your scent when I was forced to part from you." He reached out and touched her hair, "I know what you are, and what you are is only a half of myself." He leaned in and whispered, "and that your true hair is the same silver colour as mine and the man standing with you."

Kakiya's eyes widened in shock, "Who are you…?"

"A person who will guide you back home and a person that cares very much for you."

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed, "A man with no identity makes it hard for one to believe in, how could we possibly trust your words?"

He smiled, "I am able to bring out the 'other' Kakiya."

Kakiya automatically took a step back, "The full moon is not even out yet, and I don't want to let Rin see her, she's dangerous…"

"My dear, she is only another part of you. Besides, the full moon's effects are not needed when you are in the presence of a pure-blood guardian, like myself." He took a step towards her.

Kakiya could already feel the impact of his power, she felt her heart racing, and her body was quickly burning up. It was trying to create more energy for her other self to use, "Stop it! What are you doing to me? I demand you to stop!" she looked back at Sesshomaru with pleading eyes.

Sesshomaru forced himself to look away and turned his attention to the man, "Are you perhaps from a place called Rhoycel?"

The man blinked twice, "Why, yes. How do you know of that place? No one but our own should know."

Sesshomaru put a hand on Kakiya's shoulder, "I was asked to relate information to someone if I happened to chance upon it. This seems to be such a case." He gently pushed the girl towards the other male.

"Sesshomaru…?" the man gently took hold of her wrist, and Kakiya struggled against his hold, "What if I am unable to turn back?" she asked wildly.

He sighed, "Truthfully, you originally did not have an 'other.' You should have only been one person; you should have remained unchanged during all of your forms." He touched her head, "Come out, 'other' Kakiya."

Kakiya's powers erupted from her as a silent screen escaped her mouth and collapsed in his arms. Her eyes opened, revealing a familiar red sheen. Her black hair rippled back into its silver colour. Two red marks burnt their way onto her left cheek and her ears became pointed once more. She looked around and regained her posture when the man let go of her.

"I did not think I would be back so soon." She stated and finally acknowledged Sesshomaru's presence, "Good afternoon, My Lord." She said courtly and added a small, quick bow, "and who is this?"

"Strange indeed. I wonder what happened while you were under the care of someone else?" the man studied her features, "It's a pleasure to meet you, the 'other half' of Kakiya. Though it is a shame that it seems that you two have quite the different personality."

"Answer my question. Who are you?" she demanded.

"I am known as the Guardian Solis."

"Guardian?" Kakiya looked at him, "And I do not know of your name."

"It is one of the many things I must teach you." He simply told her.

Solis stepped closer to Kakiya and put both hands on her head, who felt a sense of security wash over her. His hands glowed white and Kakiya did as well. When he moved his hands apart, Kakiya also split apart, and became two people. When the white light faded, the two Kakiyas stood beside each other and stared at one another.

"I believe it is only fair that I speak with the both of you." He looked at the black haired Kakiya, "My dear, I must apologize for earlier, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Solis." He took their hand, one in each of his own, "You don't know me because the last time that we met was when you were merely an infant." He smiled, "Are you still unable to see the resemblance between us?"

Sesshomaru examined the three of them and found that their scents were similar and they had similar features as well, "Could he be related to her?"

Solis glanced at Sesshomaru, "I see you have figured it out, judging by the look on your face. Now let's see if the little one can do the same." He let of both of their hands.

They looked at one another, "Well, he looks more like you than he does me." The half-breed Kakiya noted, and the other scoffed, "Not when you do this." The demon touched her counterpart and her hair matched the colour of her own. Kakiya touched her hair, "Well, maybe he's our…" she broke off in thought. The demon looked back at the man, "Could you possibly be… our father?"

He grinned "You got it!" he happily embraced the two, "Yes, my dear Kakiya, I am your father. My," he looked down at them both, "How beautiful you have become…" he laughed haughtily and hugged them again, "Everything that I make becomes beautiful." he glared at Sesshomaru, "And I am not about to let my precious daughter fall into the hands of someone that I have not even approved of!"

The two instantly pushed him away, "We can be with whomever we wish to be with!" They both retorted. "Now turn us back," the demon Kakiya demanded, "This is giving me unpleasant memories." She shuddered at the memory of her other self calling that damn pest 'master.' Kakiya rolled her eyes, "That was not me." She said, sensing what her other half was thinking.

Their father looked at the two of them, "This is quite the problem…"

"What?" the two questioned together.

"You are not supposed to be separated like this. You two were originally one, I don't know how you got separated, but we need to join the two of you together again."

"That's what I've been trying to say." The demon girl coolly told him.

"Ah, that's not what I meant. When you were born, you only had one… 'personality' so to speak. Something must have happened to split you two apart, and we need to fix it soon too or else the unbalance of your powers will lead to your destruction."

Sesshomaru's control over his emotions did not fail him, "What do you mean?" he asked, his voice, unaltered.

Solis focused his attention to the demon Kakiya, "There are already signs starting to show. The excessive amount of energy pouring out of your body just to accommodate your split half," he touched the marks on her face, "This is not a trait of mine, nor is it from your mother. In our homeland, such markings represent a guardian's power beginning to become out of control. Your powers will consume you, Kakiya, if you do not return and begin your training to become balanced."

The two of them looked at each other and suddenly Sesshomaru's presence to the both of them became even greater, "But what if we don't want to leave? What about the people here?" the half-breed asked.

"I will make them all forget about you." He simply told them.

The demon Kakiya swung at the man with a sword that she materialized through sheer anger, "You have no right to tell us what to do!"

Solis stopped her blade with his hand, "It seems that teaching you how to balance your powers is not the only thing I must do." He snapped her sword in half with his hand and it disappeared, "Everyone that you have met will forget about you. Only those who really cared," he glanced at Sesshomaru when he said this, "Will remember you upon your return."

The demon Kakiya glared, "And how, may I ask, are you going to pull this off?"

"As a guardian, we live outside the boundaries of time and reality; we are divine beings who keep the balance of things in this world and watch over it."

The half-breed looked at him with awe, "We cannot possibly be gods. Where would we live then?"

"Between the boundaries of heaven and earth, and earth and hell – depending on what type of guardian you are, but that is something that you will learn later, when I bring you home again."

"When do we leave?" they asked together.

Solis put a hand on both of their heads and reunited them. "Now." He put his daughter to sleep before she could protest and picked her up in his arms. He started to walk away, but Sesshomaru stopped him.

"When will I see her again?"

Solis turned around and looked at him, "I do not know; ten years, three months, a century… I truly am unable to tell you. I will let her come back when she is stable again." He simply told him.

A pained look grew on his face as he recalled the memory of the day that Kakiya, as a young girl, didn't come out of the castle to look for him, "Yet again, something is always taking her away from me…" he muttered, letting a secret thought come out.

Solis looked at Sesshomaru, "You are a demon of this world, are you not? A few hundred years is nothing to you. Besides, you will be living those years without the memory of Kakiya because I will be erasing them as soon as we enter our own world."

Sesshomaru let out a low growl, "I will remember her, I will not forget."

Kakiya's father smiled, "If you do, then I will accept your relationship with my daughter. Until then, I bid you farewell." Upon Solis's back grew a pair of pure white feathered wings. He flapped once before turned away and flying into what seemed to be a rip in the air and disappeared.

Sesshomaru suddenly felt a rush of energy surrounding him, making him sway a little before he regained his posture. He felt a presence rush towards him and saw that it was only Rin.

"Lord Sesshomaru?" the little girl looked up at her lord, "I have brought you a brush, I'm sorry that I threw flowers over you, I was not thinking." Rin held up the brush.

"Flowers…?" he looked at himself and found small petals which clung to his boa, clothing, and hair, "Why are there flowers…?" There was a ringing in his head each time he tried to remember, preventing him from remembering about the flowers. A shadow of a women surrounded by petals and sunlight briefly appeared in his mind before it went away again, "Rin, was there a lady with you?"

"Lady? Nope! Rin was alone all this time!"

"Never mind." He took the brush from the little girl and stared at it, 'What was that?' he pondered.

Rin left Sesshomaru to his thoughts and ran off to play with Ah-Un. Sesshomaru sat back down beneath the tree and concentrated on bringing back that fading image of the women in his mind. Somehow, he knew that she was important to him, but he couldn't figure out why.

…

Two years have passed and Naraku was defeated. Sesshomaru had finally surpassed his father and gained his own sword, the Bakusaiga. He left Rin in the care of an elderly lady, Kaede in a human village so that she could finally adapt to their ways of life instead of following him around all the time. Upon his last visit, he saw that InuYasha's human lower, Kagome, had returned from her world beyond the well to stay in this time with InuYasha.

Sesshomaru sat on a rock, watching the waterfall near his castle. He pondered on what he should do; the pest Naraku was permanently out of his life, and he had finally reached his goal of passing his father. He figured that perhaps he should pay his mother a visit, to tell her that he has surpassed his father, but decided to go later. He enjoyed the gentle breeze that brought with it the soft scent of the forest.

"Kakiya…" her named rolled off his lips unconsciously and made him snap to attention, 'What did I just say?' he thought to himself, "Kay… Kiya…" he absentmindedly started pronouncing what he thought had said before, "Kagura…" he laughed to himself, 'It's been long since that woman has passed away.' He watched the clouds go by and a name suddenly surfaced in his mind: Kakiya. A rush of memories came back at him as he soaked in all of the precious time he spent with her, lavishing in his own memories. "Kakiya… I remember you, Kakiya." He whispered to the clouds, "I remembered you." He remembered their kiss and only wished that he shared more with her before she was taken away.

XXX

Tis the New Year to be jolly, two thousand and twelve will be fun.