Chapter 2

When I stood I saw someone that almost shocked me back to the floor…almost. It was Sesshomaru, the fictional character I'd admired in my old life and dreamt of my first night in my new life. Is this the work of that presence? That voice? I stood, stunned to silence as Sesshomaru stood there watching me with an imperceptible expression. The silence between us endured, the only sound coming from the forest around us, a bush warbler flying by singing its song. As if that had been his signal to speak, Sesshomaru's lips parted and he said just one word.

"Sonshunhu*."(* Early Spring) His gaze never wavered, even as Isamu's growling continued, even as the wind blew his hair in messy strands about him, he did not look away. I hesitated before responding with my own single word, my voice soft with nerves and discomfort.

"Yes." Sesshomaru hmphed before looking away, up at the sky, a hawk's screech coming from the direction he was looking.

"Lord Sesshomaru, you have been spotted! Those filthy humans will no doubt come and try to kill you now. Why not leave them to me while you go on your way? I will catch up soon enough." Sesshomaru watched the hawk circle back into the direction from which it came and then turned back to me.

"No. I will go to them and stop them before they can reach this place." At first I thought he was speaking to me because he had not looked away, but it was soon clear that he was addressing Jakken who I didn't realize was with him until he spoke. Well I was being spectacularly observant today.

Isamu, who was keenly following the conversation seemed to come to a decision and relaxed his tense posture and sat where he was, but did not change back to his smaller form. Sesshomaru watched as he did this then once again returned his gaze to me.

"Stay here. I wish to speak with you when I return." This startled me visibly, but Sesshomaru hadn't seen it since he had already turned and dashed away, Jakken at his feet. Why would he want to talk to me? What did I have that he wanted. As far as I knew, Sesshomaru was a proud blue-blood with little interest in anything so what did he find interesting about me? My singing? The first thing he asked(-_-') was about the song itself, stating its name. Maybe it was the way I looked? I tossed aside that thought quickly, thinking it impossible no matter how beautiful I had become. He had rejected three beauties before me. Why should one more change him? No, he had no interest in beauty. So what was it he was interested in?

As Jakken finished off the last of the humans, Sesshomaru turned to return to the woman he had discovered singing in the forest. Certainly he had gone to discover demons, but not two, at least not two like them. A two-tailed demon slayer tamed beast and another dog demon like himself was certainly not what he expected to find. In fact, he had been following the trail of a mass migration of demons, but when he found her he noticed that the ground was dyed rust with old blood, but recent as if done the day before, but that woman couldn't have taken them alone or even with that beast, at least not without injury yet both were unharmed.

Sesshomaru stopped and looked at the full moon. Perhaps she was attracted by the massive smell of blood spilt by whoever destroyed the migration, perhaps she decided to rest there a moment after having investigated. Yes, that must be it. The woman seemed fragile, weak for a dog demon.

Sesshomaru's thoughts began to bring up images of the woman sitting there, looking lonely and troubled: her long black hair wafted gently in the breeze with gold blue and silver undertones shining in the sun, her honey gold eyes swirling with dark emotions, her kimono was sophisticated and perfect, her posture even more so. The dog demon markings, different colors than the usual, stood out more clearly on pale, soft looking, smooth skin; her fur a purer white than his own, even the aura of unconscious dignity she held about her, the pride, not to mention a beautiful voice.

"Sesshomaru-sama, are you really going back to that girl?" Jakken snapped Sesshomaru out of his thoughts. He looked down at the little demon.

"Girl?" If he was talking about Rin, then he had no intention of visiting the child anytime soon. He hadn't yet come across anything she might like, not since that kimono he gave her just days ago. Jakken didn't seem to realize what his lord was really thinking.

"Yes. Her demon pet seemed rudely hostile towards you. The nerve! And the master did nothing to stop him either!" Now Sesshomaru knew who he spoke of.

"You mean the woman." Jakken scoffed at the word.

"Woman. HA! She looked no older than eighteen!" Sesshomaru frowned at this, looking straight ahead. Indeed, he was not wrong so why had he called her woman instead of girl all this time? What had made her different?

Sesshomaru thought carefully and came quickly to a conclusion. It's because of the air she gives off, it makes it easy to know what type of person she is; distant but lonely, dignified but sad, proud but weak, patient but unfulfilled, a contradiction but not. It was as if he knew all of her without having to go through the process of getting to know her, the tedious aggravating contact between himself and others that she seemed to loathe as much as himself.

The distance, dignity, pride, and longing gave him a sense of familiarity with her, but also opened a door to these other emotions that he did not know; loneliness, sadness, weakness, and patience as well as another he could not identify but was beginning to feel firsthand. This feeling made him wish to protect the woman like with the girl, Rin, but this felt different. The desire felt more powerful, more driven by personal interest than for the interest of the woman. He did not only wish to protect her, it was more. He wanted to be near her, for her to be near him, always within reach or at least within eyesight.

Even now, his heart sped in confusing excitement at the prospect of seeing her again yet his expression didn't change. None of it showed in his body language either. This feeling….Sesshomaru knew what it was. Of course he knew, the definition was burned into his memory by his father who had tried to explain this to him before. This is what he had felt for that human woman, for InuYasha's mother. This…..is love! Shock was erased by the already familiar voice that drifted through the chilly night air.