Chapter Fifteen

Three months later Sesshomaru was visiting Rin and her husband's household. From afar he smelled Kagura being present in the house, which wasn't odd per se, but something didn't seem right. There was also a strange dark aura around the house, or at least a part of it.

"Welcome, Sesshomaru-sama," Rin greeted, bowing low, but Sesshomaru still managed to glimpse her puffy red eyes.

"Why were you crying?"

"Don't worry, Sesshomaru-sama, nothing happened… everything is alright. Here."

The taiyoukai turned on his heels and headed towards the direction of Kagura's scent. He entered without knocking and stopped on the doorstep, momentarily bound by the view. Kagura was sitting on the floor, staring at the window, but it was doubtful she saw anything. She looked exactly the same as on the day he pulled her out of the river – pale as dead. The only differences were open eyes and a black kimono she was wearing.

Sesshomaru sat behind her, encircled her petite figure with his arms and pulled Kagura towards his chest. Kagura fell as if a stone statue, her stare on the ceiling now.

"You haven't heard, I suppose," Kagura uttered in a hollow voice. "I am a widow now. He was robbed and killed on the road between villages."

"Do you wish for death?"

"Strangely no. I've been living here, helping with Rin's son, Sesshu. They named him after you, you must've had a fit when they told you how to name the baby. At least someone has recognized your role in the family. I wonder how many you resurrected during four generations."

"Seventeen. Slayers mostly. Were too human to be real youkai exterminators. Some remained dead."

"I think I understand you now. Sesshu is almost the same age as was Rin when you placed her under my guidance. Rin grew up and now I help her with her child. The circle has turned. I may live long enough to see Sesshu's children. Having no blood relatives of your own, it is pretty painful, as if life passes you by. You must be in a lot of pain."

"This Sesshomaru doesn't feel something as ridiculous as pain."

"I know you better than that," Kagura murmured, a corner of her mouth tilting upwards in a smirk. "Even if you don't say it, I know. I feel it. And I don't need any youkai nose or blood or other means of sensations detecting."

"You want remain alive to willingly endure this pain?"

"It is better than to feel nothing at all. Isn't it, Sesshomaru?" Kagura asked, turning her head for the first time to look him in the face. Their noses were not more than two inches apart.

"Your pain pains others."

"I am mourning my husband."

"Don't mourn your life too."

"I just need some time to pull myself together." Sesshomaru's embrace tightened. "That helps, thank you."

"Will you dance at the mating celebration?"

"I won't be appropriate for me to do it so soon after-"

"Please."

"I will then."

….

The festivities dedicated to Yasha and Ryou's mating were a huge success. The whole inu clan assembled including the alpha males of the wolf tribe (who were not as happy to be among so many humans and hanoyu, but they could do nothing with that since there were quite a number of youkai slayers among them). Friends of the family, slayers and their families, the whole village was full of guests from all over the Western Lands and some from the neighboring lands too.

It lasted for three days. In the late evening of the third day, Sesshomaru entered Inuyasha's house and went straight to the master bedroom. Inuyasha met him halfway.

"What is it, Sesshomaru?"

Instead of answering, Sesshomaru threw Tesseiga and Inuyasha caught it by instinct of a longtime combatant. "This is now yours. It is for you to decide, but I wish for it to belong to Ryou afterwards."

"What's going on? Why are you giving me father's sword?"

"Under no circumstances intervene in what will happen tomorrow."

"Hey! What is going to happen tomorrow?"

But Sesshomaru was already gone.

…

"So what are we doing here exactly, Yasha? And so early in the morning too?" Ryou asked his brother, standing on a plateau which overlooked a large meadow.

"Can't stay away from your mate for long?" Yasha asked back with a naughty smirk, making his younger brother blush. But then continued in a serious tone, "Oji-san said we'd receive what we desire, namely his fangs. But why did he ask to bring our sister? Why are you armed, Seimei (pure clear)?"

"I never face a youkai unarmed," a young woman in miko clothes answered. Her quiver was full of arrows and bow looked in perfect condition. She was ready to fight at any time.

"But he is our Oji-san!"

"I've never seen him, apart from these three days, so I don't know him, thus I don't trust him."

Any other comment from the brothers was stopped by the appearance of Sesshomaru himself. He passed the three without any greeting, even nonverbal, and jumped down onto the meadow. A giant canine landed on the grass in his stead.

"We are in deep shit," Ryou said under his breath. His older brother basically agreed with him.

"You will have what you desire," came Sesshomaru deepened voice, "but you must take it yourselves to show that you are worthy of protecting your mates."

"We refuse!" Yasha exclaimed. "We are relatives, we can't kill each other!"

"If you don't attack, Inuyasha village with your mates, family, friends and all inhabitants will be leveled with the ground. You know that this Sesshomaru is capable of that."

"Kso!" Ryou cursed, stomping onto the ground. "What are we going to do?"

"We must attack!" Seimei voiced her opinion. "Otherwise all people we love will be dead! We are the ones who must protect the village, are we not? This is our duty!"

Yasha looked at the passionate but inexperienced miko and understood that they indeed had no choice but to fight. "Okay, here is the plan. We just need to knock him out and get the fangs. There is no need to kill Oji-san. He plays by the rules, so he won't attack the village if we are to fight him. So you both keep him in place with your arrows, and I am going to attack at close range. And Seimei, I doubt your arrows will work on the Lord of the Western Lands, but don't hit the fangs or they will be totally useless afterwards."

The battle-plan in place, Inuyasha and Kagome's offspring raged into fight against the most powerful and fearsome taiyoukai among all. Three hours later they were still in a stalemate. It looked more of a siege than a fight, because Sesshomaru mostly dodged the attacks than fought back. He could have taken out Seimei long ago, since she was standing on the cliff mostly unguarded, because the brothers had their share of trouble upon them. Opposite to Yasha's words, Seimei's purifying arrows did a lot of damage to Sesshomaru.

The taiyoukai was studded with arrows, blood was running from the gashes all over his body, but he was still standing and biting anyone who even neared his jaws.

"This is crazy!" Yasha grumbled to his siblings, returning to the edge of the cliff for a discussion concerning a new strategy. "Does he want us to kill him? I mean, sooner or later I'll manage to crack his scull open! We seriously need to finish this thing already!"

"I can get him in the eye," Ryou suggested guiltily. "He will be distracted enough to be pushed to the ground, right?"

"Okay," Yasha made the final decision, but his heart was heavy.

The strategy worked. In minutes, Sesshomaru was withering from immense pain and from Yasha's grasp while Ryou pulled out the enormous fangs. It wasn't an easy job since Sesshomaru did everything to obstruct the process. After a great struggle Ryou jumped onto the cliff caring the freshly picked out fangs with blood still on them.

"It's finally over."

Yasha's cry made his brother change his opinion. Sesshomaru leaped up and was out for revenge, his one remaining red eye blazing with all-consuming anger.

"He'd went mad," Ryou diagnosed right away, since he'd seen innumerable youkai who were in that condition, they were the ones whom his group slayed. And now they had no choice but to finish off their own uncle.

The arrows and swords started to blaze once again. Both Yasha and Ryou were exhausted to the bone, even Seimei's spiritual power started to run out, but Sesshomaru was still standing. Seimei collected all her remaining strength and sent another arrow that turned into an enormous ball of light. It hit Sesshomaru straight in the chest, making him transform back to his usual form, his only support – his sword that didn't allow him to sprawl on the ground.

"Just one more," Seimei whispered, aiming at the kneeling youkai.

"No!"

The sudden scream made Seimei release the bow string and the arrow zoomed towards its premeditated destination. It didn't reach it however, because something white and rotating hit it off its course. How could something hit an arrow in its flight was incomprehensible for the young miko, but she didn't manage to see the thrower, only the bun of black hair, belonging to someone who was already running down to the meadow.

Kagura stumbled downwards toward the kneeling figure on the plain. She wanted to reach him as fast as possible but stopped on her tracks as she came close enough to see the condition Sesshomaru was in. He looked like a beaten dog: the ground around him was red from the blood he was losing through gashes all over his body which were partly covered by his mane which was in total disarray. Kagura just couldn't believe her eyes, even if at some level she knew that it would happen sooner or later. But why now, right after the festivities, when everybody's spirits, including hers, were uplifted and full of hope for new, better life?

Sesshomaru swayed and collapsed to the side like a rock. That brought Kagura back to the forsaken world.

"No, this can be," she said under her breath, rushing to the fallen youkai's side. "This is impossible, I won't believe it," Kagura keened, turning Sesshomaru over, desperately hoping that her fears wouldn't be confirmed.

Half of his face was covered with blood because of the missing eye, the other half was deadly white. The rasped breaths indicated that Sesshomaru was still alive, but most definitely dying, in several seconds or minutes, but it was inevitable.

"Why? Why are you doing this?" Kagura questioned, feeling betrayed for some strange reason. She looked up at the mould where the young miko was standing, wide eyed and shocked by her first big kill. "It was her, wasn't it? You knew the moment she was born that she would be the only one capable. And so you waited for her to come to power. But why did you have to die? I have the right to an explanation! You forced me to live every time I was starting to fall into abyss. So tell me, dammit! Why are you leaving me alone now?"

"I couldn't fight anymore… the urge to commit… father's mistake," whished out Sesshomaru's barely opened mouth.

Kagura's world stood still. She heard every world perfectly, she also understood what mistake he was talking about. Her anger instantly evaporated, making tears of happiness trail down her cheeks. "Baka, you should've only asked."

"It… can't be," Sesshomaru responded, crashing all Kagura's hopes and changing the tears of happiness to ones of hurt.

"But why? You trust and respect me; do you deem me unworthy only because of my humanity? But if I am a human it doesn't make me love you any less!"

There, she said it. The truth she, first, couldn't realize herself then the truth she tried to deny and suppress, but then damned, believing her feelings would never be answered.

Sesshomaru's remaining eye opened a crack at her exclamation. Ever so slowly his right arm rose towards Kagura's face, the long fingers tracing her jaw line. "Thank you… for letting me see this face… before I die," he said softly with a smile glazing his thin bloodless lips.

"Her face?"

"Yours."

With that last word, the arm fell. The Lord of the Western Lands was no more.

"So what are you doing, standing up there? Bring him back already!" The hail was addressed to Inuyasha who was standing on the mould with his children and Kagome. It was he who brought Kagura and Kagome after the endless begging and nagging of the former. He himself was far from comfortable sensing the scent of his pups' blood mixed with one of Sesshomaru's, but he was asked not to intervene. He was sitting in the main room of the house when Kagura appeared, insisting that something was wrong. She didn't give any definition of 'wrong', but within an hour she was close to going mad. After Kagome joined Kagura in her entreaty Inuyasha had to relent and bring them to the place where the scents mixed. He wasn't exactly surprised by the view in front of him since the scents told him the story beforehand, but the present going ons were definitely one of a kind.

"Why does Kagura-san want this youkai to be revived?" Seimei asked, looking down at Kagura who was wiping blood from Sesshomaru's face with the sleeve of her white kimono.

"Well… I can't exactly believe it, but she seems to have feelings for him."

"But they will never be together, if what I heard about that youkai is right."

"He is your Oji-san, Seimei, so call him right. As for Sesshomaru's being a stuck up bastard… When your brothers prepared a present for you, the bow you're a caring, they wanted only the best. So they convinced Kagura to cut a few of Sesshomaru's hairs to make the bow string, without him knowing of course. Kagura succeeded, but I doubt Sesshomaru wasn't aware of her actions, but he let her anyway. So draw your conclusions. Yasha, Ryou, go home, your mates must be worried."

With that said Inuyasha grabbed Kagome and they descended onto the former battlefield. Two swishes of Tesseiga and Sesshomaru's single eye snapped open. The first thing it saw was the one it saw last – Kagura's face.

Both parties didn't say a word for quite some time, just looking at each other, exchanging thoughts about the bygones and the consequences of their actions. They didn't need to speak, they understood each other with no words needed. Even if that way of communication surprised both Inuyasha and Kagome, they were even more shocked by Sesshomaru's sigh of defeat.

"What does that supposed to mean?" Inuyasha barked.

"Sesshomaru's life belongs to me now," Kagura asked with wide smile that was just a bit naughty on the side. "This is youkai law, isn't it? That means I can follow him to the end of the world and he has no say about it."

"Miko, do the spell," Sesshomaru rasped out, grabbing Kagura's wrist and pulling for her to fall onto his chest.

"But you have been just revived!" Kagome began to protest. "Are you completely sure about it?"

"This woman is to bare my pups. What else do I need to be sure about?"

Before Kagura could analyze Sesshomaru's statement, she felt a blinding pain in her chest, but it was gone as soon as it happened. A sensation of warmth and strength replaced it, as if every cell of her body was humming with energy and satisfaction.

"What was that?" Kagura drawled in a daze.

"That was the uniting of your life-spans," Kagome explained. "Now you have to live at least for another three hundred years!"

"Wow, that's a lot of pups."

…

They mated three months later. Kagura insisted on Sesshomaru to be completely healed after the fight with his nephews. There was no celebration or announcement, but those who mattered – knew. For her mating mark Kagura requested double scars on her cheekbones, so everybody human or youkai knew whom she belonged too. Sesshomaru built them a house in a cave with an inside lake; the cave was secure, but also close enough to a human village which Kagura could frequent. She gave him three sons and three daughters, none of whom were purified. At birth they were inserted an artifact to keep their youkai at bay, and taught to self-restrain it during childhood. Sesshomaru and Kagura pups were the first hanoyu to know how to use their youkai side at will thus making them the strongest hanoyu ever lived.

The pups grew, mated (two of them with the descendants of Rin and Kohaku's clan, making official Sesshomaru's connection to them) and had pups of their own, repeating the circle of life over and over again. Sesshomaru and Kagura died on the same day, their remains buried in the family grave on the Inuyasha cemetery.