XX.

Hearts And Bones

While he was walking back to the village with Kagome, Sesshomaru ventured to ask a hesitant question that was not without awkwardness. He wanted to ask it - but he was not sure if he should, or if he could ask it correctly.

"Do you – feel better, mate?"

Kagome smiled faintly and stepped closer to him. There was something uncertain in her face, and he watched her deep breath with trepidation.

"Yes. Better. And I - actually, I have wanted to thank you, Sesshomaru. For - Inuyasha. Miroku told me you were the one who brought him back so we could bury him, once he and I had a chance to talk again. I didn't know, or I would've said something before."

She sighed, the long, shuddering sigh that carries with it the memory of tears. Sesshomaru was grateful, watching her, that that was all it was - but he was uncomfortable with her gratitude.

"You should not thank me – I should have kept you away. I should have done it myself; it was not your responsibility."

He turned finally so he could look her in the face, and she saw a strange mingling of feelings there; anger, relief, regret.

"I did not hate him, Kagome."

The words fell like stones into strange water, and sent out ripples of stillness; Kagome looked at him wide-eyed. Such an admission - was it possible?

"I cannot say I never wished him pain, but he was my brother. I did not hate him. He was dangerous; his life was the burden my father left me, and that is all. But you...you should not have done it."

She smiled a very little smile, and he was left speechless by the sight.

"Didn't you hear Shippou, Sesshomaru? He wanted to die by my hand - he was afraid that instead, he might hurt me...he was always afraid. Now he is not... and I know he knew me, at the end. I hope somewhere, somehow, he has forgiven me, but even if he can't, I had no choice. There was nothing else I could do. Not even Tetsusaiga..."

She shook her head, sighed, wrapped her arms around her shoulders and squeezed herself tightly.

"I knew he was dead the day he tried to kill me, the day I was forced to run away from him, the day I realized he could protect me from every danger except himself...I have been grieving for him for a long time, Sesshomaru."

Her words became so quiet he could hardly hear them.

"Maybe it will be easier, now that he is really gone."

With a swift, almost convulsive movement her hand reached out and gripped his sleeve tightly; he stared down into her eyes, entranced and touched by a flutter of hope.

"Sesshomaru, what I wanted then...what I wanted then is not what I want now. Am I - is that – bad?"

She was waiting for an answer; he could see that in her face. But he heard her words and suddenly could not breathe – there was a soft feeling leaping up in his throat, that dangerous caring again, and it burned out all his words. He was suddenly afraid that she would notice – that she would know.

With the greatest effort it had ever cost him, he forced out words and kept them steady.

"No. No, it is not bad."

It is - it is -

Sesshomaru swallowed his thoughts, pushed them away.

"Come, Kagome. Rin is waiting, and your kit."

She hesitated, watching his face. There was a gleam of redness in his eyes, fading as quickly as it appeared...along with something else that she did not understand.

"Yes. Yes, let's go."

Faster now, running just ahead of the wind, they came down together into the village. They found Shippou and Rin whispering excitedly, leaning against each other. The girl was fascinated by the magic of crayons, and Shippou was more than happy to share his wondrous toy. It was unusual that he had anyone near his own age to share with - the idea of a permanent companion, the idea of sibling, had grown on him quickly.

But he was up at once as they came near, looking up at Kagome with hope and expectant fear mingled on his face. Sesshomaru walked straight over to Rin and picked her up, and she barely blinked, silent now, not bothering to utter a word. Neither did Sesshomaru; there was no need. Rin was used to his presence, his comings and goings – nothing he did disturbed her.

Speaking softly now, Sesshomaru turned to Kagome; he could see Miroku and Sango waiting where they thought they would not intrude, but he wanted to be certain.

They were different, perhaps, than others of their kind - but they were human, and they were not Rin. He did not trust them.

"Do not be surprised if we return home and Kinawai is waiting, mate, and more than annoyed with me. I hate to admit when he is right, but..."

There was a faint shift in his features that might have been a scowl in the making, but it never appeared. Kagome was only confused; he had not really told her about his momentary encounter with the Tiger lord. Briefly, he explained.

"When I retrieved Rin, he was there; he was not happy that I would not stay. We have...matters to discuss, he and I."

And you, mate.

"Why...why not stay and do what you had to do?"

His gaze held her still.

"I would not leave you here, where you did not want to be. I did not know you had reconciled with your friends, or I might not have been as concerned."

"Con-concerned?"

Sesshomaru could feel her confusion, a warm pulse beneath it. Again, he felt hope. It was an uncomfortable feeling, full of uncertainty. He did not like uncertainty.

As if nothing had been said which required elaboration, as if Kagome's questioning word was not a question at all, he turned away from her.

"If you are ready, we should go now."

She was smiling at him, and he did not like that smile; there was something almost cunning in it, but before she could even open her mouth to answer, Shippou was in front of her, between them. No one had thought to tell him he was going, too.

"No! I won't let you take her away again - it isn't fair!"

Kagome went white, reached out to pull him back and console him. Sesshomaru looked down at Shippou and his expression did not change, but Kagome felt a flicker, the strangest sensation she had ever experienced. It was like another person in her thoughts; it was the feeling of Sesshomaru. Her thoughts flashed back to the similar but more overwhelming rush she experienced when he bit her; her fingers reached up unconsciously to touch the tender flesh at her throat, and she shuddered. Again, there was a pulse of otherness.

He is...amused, now. How do I know that?

She found herself unable to identify how she knew it was even him, but there was something instinctual about it, a gut feeling that told her this is mate. She had only the faintest idea of the potential in that single word, mate, but suddenly she suspected for the first time what it might mean.

Her eyes had wandered down to the ground and she shook her blank stare back up to Sesshomaru's face, looked between him and her little kit. Shippou was staring up at Sesshomaru in abject terror, every muscle in his little body tight. And then a strange thing happened - or at least it seemed strange to Kagome.

The little Kitsune relaxed, suddenly and completely, and lay on the ground on his back, let out a high-pitched whine. She saw satisfaction on Sesshomaru's face and then he reached out and pulled Shippou up off the dirt and held him up, focused his gaze on the green eyes of the kit.

"We are not leaving you here."

Shippou could only blink, astonished, and Kagome let out the laughter she had been restraining. She was not sure which of them was funnier - Shippou, hanging by the back of his vest from Sesshomaru's hand, or Sesshomaru, holding Shippou up, all four limbs dangling, in mid-air.

"Happy now, Shippou?"

Shippou returned Kagome's smile, but he could not answer her, thought that if he did, his breath might explode out of him and never return. He felt suddenly free, as if chains he had not been aware of were suddenly loosed. To live with youkai again, to have a real family again – these were things he had wanted that he had not dared to admit even to himself.

When I had Kagome I didn't mind living with humans. Sango and Miroku are friends, but it isn't the same without her. Without Kagome...I can't stand it!

Still, his goodbyes were heartfelt, and Kagome's more so, when their two human companions finally dared to step forward, smiling nervously.

"I'll come back; you know I'll come back, Sango - Miroku - thank you -"

She found herself suddenly being squeezed very tightly, first by Sango, and then by Miroku.

"Don't forget, Kagome, we need you here for our wedding! If you disappear again -"

"Don't worry, Miroku. I won't forget, and I won't disappear. It's not that far, after all."

She could see Sesshomaru's impatience, and could not blame him; this place was wearing on the senses. She held out her arms for Shippou, and he hopped into them with a beaming smile and a last wave for Sango and Miroku. Kagome, too, smiled.

"Goodbye!"

Wind whipped the path in front of them into a tiny whirlwind of dust, and fallen leaves were sucked up too, made a red-and-yellow pattern in the brown-flecked wind and then settled a few moments later. When the dust had died down, Sesshomaru, Kagome, and the children they had been carrying were gone from the humans' sight.

By the time they had come to the Wall and the shut gate, perhaps an hour later by the sun, Sesshomaru had calmed a great deal. Kagome found herself unsure of how she knew this; there was no external sign, but Kagome looked at him closely when they stopped, reached out with hesitant fingers to touch his cheek.

"You are not disturbed, Sesshomaru, you are not bothered?"

She was struck by a sudden thought that made her inexplicably sad.

"I feel like I am trouble to you; Sometimes...sometimes I think I have done nothing but cause you trouble since the very beginning."

Having said it, she could not meet his eyes, but he was laughing at her, very quietly, and she stole a glance at his face, saw a warmth there that he had not shared with her before. It was quite unwilling, something that he could not suppress no matter how hard he tried - but he did not know quite how badly he failed.

"That is what you think, is it?"

He held Rin carefully in one arm and reached out the other hand to tilt up Kagome's chin so he could look her in the face.

"You are right, mate, you are trouble -"

He had to restrain himself from laughing at her suddenly crestfallen expression.

" -But I have decided I do not like 'peace and quiet'...or being alone."

Kagome stumbled mid-step, felt a lurching sensation, as though her heart had tried to beat twice in one moment.

Sesshomaru looked at her out of the corner of his eye, watching her face. He held out his hand for her.

"Are you coming inside, Kagome?"

She reached out and took his hand. The fingers closing over her fingers carried a fatal potential, but she was not afraid.

I have not been afraid…not ever, not even the very first time. Why is that, I wonder? What is it you say with your eyes when you look at me – what is it I am missing, Sesshomaru?

As Kagome saw the answer she could not understand, Sesshomaru saw her question and understood it all too well. He would not, could not answer it. Not now, when her feelings were still confusion at high-speed; not yet.

Freed from Kinawai's vigilance, free from the strangling scent-cords of the young Inu and his mating, Kasuka had fled north - farther north than even the fortress of her mate, across icy seas that wore waves of black water like dark garments. She had crossed dim, stony shores where neither demons nor men made impression on her senses; now, night fell among the northern-most mountains in drops of darkness. Her cloak rippled as she passed by. The mating scent had spurred her to action as soon as it reached her; she was aware of only one individual who could possibly be the mate of the Inu now.

That human woman! The woman I saw!

He had no females, no alliances, no distant kin to mate - many of them, she had killed herself; over time, the long, long time behind her. Like - his father.

Like his father, we will destroy him! Ryuukotsusei is ten seasons dead, killed by the half-breed - but there are others who would relish the chance to put this dog back in his place! Finally, after so long, he has given me a weapon. Ah...

She smiled, an expression of pure pleasure.

This might even be easy.

Caution wrinkled the air around her as she moved, a sensation of danger that intensified until even the few bent and struggling trees seemed to be pulling back, retreating, crumpling close to the ground for comfort.

Like the flowers that close their buds and curl their leaves against the darkness, waiting for the dawn, the world was in hiding from her approach. There was dimness around her even in the night, something more than the shimmer of her cloak.

I am close, I know it. Did you think that putting it in this place would make sure it would not be found, mother? Did you think that time alone would protect your secret? I was young, but I have never forgotten!

Kasuka was following the rumor of her childhood, the half-faded memory of a visit to this place she was seeking in her long-vanished youth. There was no trail, no true path, but ahead of her there was a thicker clump of stunted trees, almost enough to call a forest, that was faintly familiar. They were more gnarled than those she had passed already; hundreds of years fending off the icy winds had made them into little more than stumps with crooked stubs for branches, but she smiled to herself and moved more quickly.

Hours passed, and gradually she slowed again, almost lost her way and found it by chance beneath a spur of remembered rock thrust out from the mountains like a questing arm.

When she had still been a child, when she could barely speak, she had come to the place she was seeking, following her mother. That had been after the War, but before the real battle, before the Inu no Taisho rose in Challenge, before her father's death. In those days, there had been pride in her, pride in her Line, and her Blood, and the legacy of the past, the rise from Darkness.

The opposite of now.

Now, her mother hid in the darkling trees of a dream-haunted wood, and her father hid below the earth, an old grave, a grey grave, buried in the ice - her destination. And on the path - the place where he had died, where his sword was buried.

After a long walk, she found that place, where the trees faded into a clearing and a low, worn mound heaved itself up toward the failing stars; a strangely shaped mound, if one did not know that it was the burial place of a weapon and not a body. Kasuka spoke quietly, holding the edges of her cloak in her fingers and twisting the fabric. The dawn was leaping up into the sky, but she ignored it.

"I will do it, father. I will do it for you, for the honor of our House. I will make that dog and his house nothing but a name, an empty sound, an echo in the wind. When the last of his line is dead and that blood is dried up from the world, I will bring his weapon here, and I will bury it with your sword - and his flesh, I will scatter...so that you can rest easy, Father. After so long...our vengeance is close."

More than two thousand years, I have been waiting...

The memory of the last time she had seen her father alive was strong in her; the glitter of his eye as he walked out to face his foe, his pride and courage in the face of death.

Father...

The memory tightened her will.

Snow blinked in the wind like a flutter of white gauze; sharp cold pulled at Kasuka's robes, beckoning north, further along the path. She did not feel the wind; the old, old anger made her hot. From here, the path was easier to follow, winding up among the rocks despite the persistence of scrubby brush, long, hair-thin roots and branches that reached for her feet as if trying to hold her back.

The faint outline of the way she followed led up onto the shadowed slopes of the mountains, and ended abruptly in darkness, a silent cave, barely tall enough for her to stand in and not very deep.

Yes. This is the place.

Her father's grave was beneath her feet; she knew it. Frozen crystals of snow clung to the only thing of interest in the small cave, almost obscuring the silhouette and features of a dragon-shaped stone, alone in the center of the floor, wings outspread, mouth open. Characters had been carved into the beckoning claws of the dragon, worn away now by the ice and the passage of uncounted seasons, but she knew what had to be done.

The claws of her right hand slid into the flesh of her left arm, and she inhaled a sharp breath.

Quickly, she splashed thick blood over the ice, into the open stone jaws. Almost immediately, there was a screeching, grinding sound that drove Kasuka back to the mouth of the cave, hands over her ears. When the sound stopped and she could look up, she saw that the earth had opened beside the Dragon-marker, showing a staircase of shallow steps that led down into the frozen mountain.

"Power sleeps here, yet it moves. It moves! And I remember..."

Her voice faded into a whisper, half-deranged. She could almost see the funeral procession, hear the bells, warning and summoning at once - but there was nothing, no one to disturb the abyss.

Carefully, she walked down the stone stairs, feeling patches of ice slippery beneath the soft leather of her shoes. The stairs were cracked and worn; dust lay inches thick. At the bottom of the steps, there was utter darkness. A glint of the snowy dawn penetrated just enough that she could see her own footprint, a disturbance in the dust, but that was all. In the dark, her eyes gathered brightness, as if they could pull the light out of the sky that was hidden above her, and with that shining intent she moved forward. The whisper of her feet was loud in the stillness, an intrusion.

In front of her was the reason for the mystery, the ages of silence – the tomb of the her father, the tomb of the last Dragonlord. Kasuka took ten quick steps forward, and bowed very low.

"Father, I have come."

When she raised her head, she could not help but let out a sigh of pleasure. Behind the tomb, there was an altar, and on the altar a strange collection of artifacts – a golden chain, a mirror, an unlit lamp, a knife.

Her memory was displayed in front of her, intact; she could see her mother in her head, placing each of these items here, batting her fingers away from the shining surfaces - and then turning away, leading her back up the stairs...

Kasuka reached out to the altar and felt a whisper of power, a tingle in her fingertips. She took only the mirror. She held it flat in her hands, a surface of silver large enough to cover them both, polished to a high sheen. For more than two thousand years, it had laid here, undisturbed - yet on it alone, no dust had clung; the metal was bright and untarnished.

Carefully, as if it were as fragile as an eggshell, Kasuka carried the mirror out into the hard northern dawn. The early sunlight sliced the peaks of the mountains into lines of light and darkness, sharp as a knife, and Kasuka held the mirror up carefully on the palms of her hands, and looked in it.

She saw darkness, an infinite night, and a thousand glittering pinpoints of lighted stars. Of the day-sky above her, of her own face, there was no sign. She smiled, and caressed that strange and lingering reflection with gentle fingers. The tips of her claws made a strange sound on the metal.

Now, I will be able to go to my people, the sleeping Dragon clans, and remind them of my name. Already, they are restless; they will be easy to provoke - especially when they hear that once again, an Inu has taken a human woman!

And she paused for a moment, her thoughts, her steps - who else was there that might help her? After all this time, was it only her own Kin that had been ill-used by this dog and his kin?

I wonder…who else is dissatisfied, who else might be useful in my cause? The Inu has made many enemies; others seek vengeance - the Wolf, now…his father was killed by the dead Inu no Taisho, just as my father was killed.

As soon as the thought occurred to her, she made up her mind. A common bond could lead to common cause.

Kouga, the Wolf. And he is in need of help, that one; he and his have suffered greatly under the darkness just past. For a long time, he has been a lord without vassals. But I will need leverage; will it be enough for him, to know that the Inu takes a human as his own? It was enough...for his father.

Before she touched the power waiting in her hands, there was groundwork to be laid, a trellis of rumors to build...

Much more swiftly than she had scaled them, Kasuka descended from the frozen mountains. Carefully, she wrapped the mirror she had stolen in a bit of cloth, and hid it away beneath her cloak. It waited silently, patiently, still reflecting a night sky and a pattern of stars that had vanished in the Days of Darkness, before history began.

Late in the afternoon there was noise at the Gate, and Sesshomaru knew who it would be, and went outside to greet Kinawai before a scent had even reached him.

"Are you still upset that I did not wait, or stay, Kinawai? You should have sent a message, and then you would not have needed to worry."

Kinawai pushed the hair back out of his eyes and smiled, but it was a smile of fangs, a hard smile. They clasped arms on the stone path that led into the quietest garden, but Kinawai's face was already layering itself with troubles; Sesshomaru could see him sorting quickly through the pile of his concerns, prioritizing.

"Worry? I am running out of messengers I can trust, Sesshomaru – and I will not waste them on you! The night of no moon – it is almost on us; sixteen days, that is all. I am promised trouble, most of it because of you, and your Kagome. There are many more than I thought there would be who are not pleased to hear of your new mate."

Sesshomaru did not look in the least surprised, but Kinawai shook his head grimly.

"It gets worse, my friend. None of them know who she is, or who she belongs to – no House claims the honor, no family. You and I know why that is, but the rest do not - my mother's kin have sent me messages, that say there are wings moving in the north, to where they don't know, and why, they don't know – and others tell me that they have seen strange things moving on the land. North, in my own lands, and in the west, and on the edge of the mountains bordering your territory."

Sesshomaru was silenced by that; the defiant expression was fading from his face.

"Strange things? What does that mean, Kinawai?"

Kinawai shrugged.

"What I say, and nothing more - I know nothing more. Three of my best messengers have not come back, and I do not expect them to. I sent them to find what they could in the north; do you understand? My own Guard, into my own lands – but the messengers do not return, and I hear nothing!"

And then he slashed open their conversation with what he thought would be the most shocking words of all.

"What I do hear, louder than anything else, is that your new mate...is a human. A human, Sesshomaru! And there are alliances being rethought because of this; I hear the whispers of Challenge forming and I can do nothing to stop them."

It was beyond his comprehension when Sesshomaru actually laughed, succumbing to an involuntary reaction.

"It is not funny, Sesshomaru! The Council -"

"Kinawai."

The laughter had stopped as abruptly as it had started, and Kinawai eyed Sesshomaru for a moment warily. Was he - insane? He had been laughing at the rumor and the circumstances, the same that had once killed his father! Now, he only smiled, but even so -

"You are thinking I am mad, Kinawai, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. I am wondering what it is you are worried about...since it is easily proved to anyone that I have not taken a human for a mate. The shape she once wore is of no concern to anyone, but even if it was known, it would change nothing. A kitsune, too, or a tanuki, can take a human shape - but that does not mean they become human. She is miko, and once she was Dragon - and now, because she is mine, she is Inu. That is all that should concern anyone else."

Sesshomaru could feel Kinawai watching him, though he did not look up to make sure of it.

"But I can use this, Kinawai, and I will - to test the ones you say are trustworthy. If they come - "

"They are coming, Sesshomaru, make no doubt about that."

And he shook his head.

"Bring me back the news, you said. Bring me back the rumors and the whispers, you said. I dislike being forced to run back and forth – even for you, even when I know the reasons. But then – you were not even here, were you? And you are so amused - "

He almost snorted with disgust; his arm shot out and he caught Sesshomaru by the collar of his haori.

"Do not forget, Sesshomaru – I am your friend, as I was your father's friend, but you should not presume too much."

A wide snarl had formed across Sesshomaru's face, silent but full of threat, and he spoke through it with difficulty.

"When you say such things, it makes me think I should be very unhappy – Kinawai."

Easily, Kinawai released him and did not look away. He would not be intimidated, though he understood his danger well enough. Their recent excursion in Sesshomaru's dojo had proved to him that he could not now, if he had ever been able, defeat Sesshomaru. So he laughed and forced the sound to come without effort, took a few steps along the garden path towards the door that led inside, and looked back over his shoulder.

"Unhappy? You should not be unhappy, Sesshomaru. The worry that I brought with me, you have dismissed - and you have your new mate. Or... is she not enough?"

Sesshomaru smoothed his features, took a deep breath and held it. It would not do to alienate Kinawai – not even if he was the most infuriating friend Sesshomaru ever had. Not even if sometimes - sometimes -

He took another deep breath.

"I do not dismiss your worry, Kinawai, not completely... but I do wonder how it is that something which only you could know is now widespread rumor."

"Are you suspicious of my trust, Sesshomaru? Since you asked it of me, I have said no word to anyone about her – not even Atawai, who has sent curious messages of his own. The East, he says, is curious - saying nothing about his own ravenous rumor-mongering. The East! To him and all the others, I say that I know no more than they, but already there are questions, and more than questions. Atawai even questions the rite; he calls it 'ancient foolishness'."

A bark of laughter escaped Sesshomaru's mouth, and his eyes burned with a difficult amusement.

"Ancient foolishness? If he comes to her presentation with words like that on his tongue, I will tear him to pieces and write the next Record in his blood!"

Kinawai's eyes reached out for him, pierced him.

"And have you heard from him, or any of the others? They should have sent acceptance by now – "

Sesshomaru interrupted him.

"I have heard nothing from anyone."

He smiled, remembering, and then continued, more serious.

"I was teaching Kagome to hunt, but someone close to her was wounded, the kit she protects. She felt his danger, and followed it."

He realized suddenly that as much as the event had occupied his own thoughts the last few days, Kinawai would not yet know that his brother was dead, but Kinawai was preoccupied with his own thoughts and conclusions.

"I saw the girl outside and spoke to her; I have been waiting. You picked a poor time to disappear, Sesshomaru – and you are telling me it was for a kit – that your mate has a kitsune she calls her own? What kind of miko is she?"

"The right kind."

Sesshomaru's eyes wore a sudden gleam, but he dimmed it almost immediately.

"The kitsune's name is Shippou; he has been hers for some time now."

Kinawai's eyes opened just a little wider with curiosity, but Sesshomaru shrugged and turned back to the more important subject, half-frowning, seeking a smile of pleasure that he would have liked to come easily but which was proving elusive.

"You will want to know more than just that, Kinawai. My brother - Inuyasha is dead."

Suddenly, all the annoyance faded from Kinawai's features and was overtaken by an expression of relief.

"Good! Good, that is good. It was past time you took care of him, but now the Council will not listen if –"

"I did not kill him, Kinawai. Kagome – Kagome was the one who did it."

As he said it he found the smile that had been evading him, and turned it on Kinawai.

"Ahh…she is beautiful when she kills, Kinawai. Beautiful…perfect."

Sesshomaru's smile disturbed Kinawai greatly. The necessity of what had been done he knew all too well. Inuyasha's persistent defiance of his brother's authority and his possession of Tetsusaiga had created more than a little stir among those who sat on the demon Council, and those who only wished to aggravate violence often spoke Inuyasha's name. Sesshomaru's position, the defense of his father's title and honor, required this death – but to see beauty in his mate, as she killed his own brother!

For Kinawai, it only highlighted how much of Sesshomaru's entire focus had been shifted onto Kagome, and for a moment, he wondered if he had done the right thing. What had he really done, encouraging the claim that Sesshomaru had made, subtly forcing him to the point of no return?

And on Eldest's orders! I have heard nothing from her since that message, telling me to come to Sesshomaru, telling me to bring him those specific words - Awaken his destiny, she said. Use the Sight that was given to you, she said, and I have done that...and more than that. Does that mean that I have done as she desired?

It was the probable, if not the definite, truth; Eldest's message had been the first time in more than a thousand years that a lord of Council had had direct contact with her, and she had made herself quite clear. Kinawai himself had never seen her, but the experience of those he had spoken with and the hard words of Sesshomaru's Records had prevented him from dismissing that single, fragile sheet of paper. The idea of forgery had not even entered his mind, but neither could he comprehend her motives. After so long, to break her silence - and for such a reason! A mate for Sesshomaru...the release of some human miko from an ancient magic - what did she gain by that?

But this speculation is pointless. I will never know why; the chances are that I will never hear from her again, and certainly, I will never see her.

A/N: And...another chapter! This is one is slightly longer than usual, because I must spend some time the next day or so working on my xxxHolic and Death Note fictions; I get all caught up in one or the other and then I lose track, and that's no good because I have...what, 9 or 10 of these things now? Ridiculous. Anyway, Ta-da! Kasuka, Kinawai, and Kagome, oh my! Ha, that's actually kind of fun to say. Also, this chapter's title is the name of a Bjork song/mix thing I have...random, right? Anyway, here's hoping that the chapter is not too long, and onwards to reviews!

Final Revisions...Complete!

Firstly, much thanks to mistress-of-the-abyss-2; for me, the point of writing is to tell a good story, and evoke emotion - so you are awesome for letting me know I could do that! Hopefully you find these chapters up to standard!

Niamh13: Much thanks! The earlier chapters were much harder to revise; around chapter...4 or 5 or so I just started completely rewriting them, and it's been a bit easier :D.

Kouga's Older Woman: They do! Besides, everyone needs a tiny Sesshomaru running around, that would be...the cutest thing ever! Ahh-ha I have such a plan, such an evil, evil plan...poor Kagome. Being youkai is just so hard!

ChaoticReverie: Yes! Thank you! Woo! [overexcited...] Sesshomaru is hard; I actually started writing this fanfiction in the first place because I wanted practice with his sort of character; very cold, very calculating - but really not cold at all, just extremely well controlled and very dangerous! , And I fixed bathe. Ha! I can't believe I missed that; ridiculous! (actually for the first three minutes the chapter was posted it had no title, so I think I was just tired! :p) I have to thank you for your compliments, too - they give me a fuzzy feeling!

Lunarcat12: Sesshomaru is fun when he's not being an ass! And you know, I had no plans for a scene of Kagome kicking anyone's ass very soon - well, not counting what she's already done to Inuyasha - but you know what? She's totally going to kick someone's ass! Ha! In fact, I think I'm going to write that now!

Silverkitsune26: Glad to know you love it! Don't worry, Sango and Miroku will be married soon...I just can't decide if I want them to have an autumn or winter wedding. Thanks very much for your thoughtful comments!

And...onward, to the next chapter! Coming Soon: The Few, The Proud, The Ones Sesshomaru (Sort Of) Trusts! Me=wow, chapter 20! You=Review! Please!

Final Revisions - Complete! Joy! R&R