The well glowed not even an hour later, stirring Sesshomaru from his meditation. He was greeted with a hand on his shoulder and a sigh of relief from the lip of the well. The smell of old blood mixed with strange fragrances let him know it could only be Kagome. He turned slightly, maneuvering himself so he was looking at the struggling priestess. She frowned at him.

"Would you mind helping me over the side… I don't think these vines will hold much longer…" Her voice was weak and he could tell it was a lot of strain to hold herself up at all. He got into a kneeling position and took her hand, helping her over the side of the well. She leaned into him, squeezing the pauldron on his shoulder like she was going to topple over any minute. He looked down at her as she stepped away. She had abandoned her strange revealing garb for a shirt and pants, along with some stranger black shoes. His attention was drawn immediately of her lack of hair.

"Priestess… your hair."

She frowned, keeping her head down. Kagome snaked her fingers through the half bob and pulled slightly. "I know… but it should grow out soon…"

Sesshomaru hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her face up to him. With his other hand, he tucked the wavy locks behind her ear and seemed to examine her face. Kagome's face started to heat up and she instinctively pulled away from him.

"I think it suits your jawline just fine. If you will, Jaken can straighten the ends for you. He cuts my hair from time to time."

She lightly brushed her hand over the shaved part of her head, careful of the stitched cut above her ear. The image of Jaken cutting Sesshomaru's hair eased into her mind and she started to giggle. This drew a confused look from the youkai lord. As if wanting to draw attention elsewhere, he changed the subject.

"Why are you back, priestess?"

She adjusted her pack. "I have a mission to do here. Or so I think. The well opened up for a reason." Sesshomaru looked behind her at the old well. He had no knowledge of how it worked or how it brought her here. He knew she was from the future but how far was beyond him. Inuyasha had spoken of the sights on the other side but he could not comprehend them.

"The well let me through the first time because I had to put an end to Naraku as the guardian of the Shikon no Tama. But the jewel is gone… I don't even know how I'm able to cross anymore."

The wind blew through the clearing, not as hard as the day before but it was unsettling. Sesshomaru tucked his hair behind his ear and flicked the rest over his shoulder. "The jewel is not gone, priestess. It resides neither here nor there, but it is indeed everywhere. Maybe not on this plane nor the next."

"You're speaking in riddles my Lord." Kagome stuck out her tongue in annoyance.

He smiled. "Everyone may think that the jewel is gone, but greater demons like myself and my pure kin. We feel it. It's here." He pointed at her, his clawed finger nearly touching her collarbone. "The presence of the jewel became stronger the moment you crossed our threshold."

She gently pushed his hand away and sighed. "Enough of that. The jewel is gone." He cocked an eyebrow. She stood silently for a few moments and took several deep breaths. Her miko aura spread out over the clearing and clung to him like a lost child. The area was so deep in spiritual energy his skin started to sting.

"Priestess, what are you doing?" He brushed his hand over his arm, sending little pink sparks flying off into the wind. Where he rubbed there was black ash streaked across his alabaster skin.

"I'm setting a barrier… so I know who or what comes through this area. It might help me figure out what I need to do here." She smiled at him. "Would you walk back to the village with me? I need to gather some information from Kaede and see about getting a pack together and some weapons…" Her voice trailed off as she began to walk away from him.

She was several steps ahead of him when he finally started walking. Every step he took felt like walking through quicksand as the barrier closed down around him. Was she so strong that even he was hindered?

"Priestess."

"Arrows… a bow…"

"Priestess."

"I'll need a miko garb… some cleansing papers…"

"Kagome."

Hearing her name on his lips made her stop and slowly turn around. He was several steps behind her with a scowl on his face. Static crackled around his fingers and through the fabric of his clothes. Even his bangs looked a little fluffier.

"The barrier! I'm so sorry!"

Kagome rushed him, placing her palm on his chest with a slight slap and he was immediately freed from the barrier. "I didn't realize it was hurting you… you should have said someth-." Before she could finish her words, her mind went white and her body gave out on her. Of course, he caught her before she fell to the dirt.

He sighed and picked her up bridal style, keeping her close to his chest and began to walk towards the village. "You can't even run a few steps without hurting yourself… and yet you're dead set on helping someone who doesn't even know they need help."

Sango greeted Sesshomaru at the edge of the village. She wore a plain blue kimono with a pink apron and she had a baby swaddled in her arms. The demon slayer took Kagome's pack from the Daiyokai and nodded. They walked back to Kaede's in silence but her heart was a raging mess. The old priestess welcomed them both inside her little hut and motioned for Sesshomaru to place Kagome upon the bedroll by the fire.

"I did not think Kagome would come back. Ye would think she would have stayed far away." Kaede frowned upon the young girl as she dabbed her forehead. Sango held her baby close.

"Did she say why she came back, Lord Sesshomaru?" He looked at her with a blank expression, only letting out a sigh. To her annoyance, he walked out the hut and into the village. A few minutes later she heard a yip from Rin and the young girl entered the hut.

"My Lord says he'll be back later. Kagome said she wanted some supplies for her stay here, so he has gone to retrieve them." This news surprised both of the older women.

Suddenly, Rin's smile went away. "You don't think that Kagome is going to fight with Lady Kikyo? Or Inuyasha…?" The women just looked at Kagome's still body when someone else spoke up.

"She wouldn't fight. It's not how Kagome would handle things." Inuyasha stood in the doorway with his arms folded. Sango puffed her chest and pushed passed Inuyasha, knocking him into the door frame. He only clicked his tongue at her and returned his attention to Kaede.

"I suppose ye are right Inuyasha. She never fought ye when ye abandoned her for my sister in the past." This did rouse a reaction from the hanyou.

"It's alright Lady Kaede." Kagome sat up from the bedroll and looked at them through squinted eyes. "Could you… could you leave us please." Kagome's initiative surprised the trio and they left her and Inuyasha alone with the crackle of the fire.

The hanyou sat across from her and placed his hands by the fire.

"Kagome… I'm so-"

"No, you're not."

His ears flattened at her retort. "Don't apologize for something like this. You knew deep down you'd do it if you got the chance." Inuyasha slouched and leaned back on his palms.

"Will you take me to our tree…?"

He looked up at her with a slight pout. "Yeah." After a few minutes, she was situated on his back outside of the hut. His hands snaked around her sweat pant clad legs and he hoisted her up, not being gentle at all but Kagome didn't expect any different. Without warning, he shot through the air and the soared across the village sky. She looked down and saw Kikyo looking up at them and her heart suddenly felt heavier.

Within a few minutes, they landed at the base of the tree with such a jolt she saw stars.

"You could…try to be a little easier with me. A lot of sudden motion really hurts." She wheezed as she slid off of his back and into the damp grass. Before he could respond, she was already scaling the large tree roots. He watched her as she climbed up to the spot she found him nearly four years ago, where he was sealed away over fifty years by the woman he shared a home with. The hole in the tree glowed a bright pink under her touch.

She looked back at him and the look on her face nearly knocked the breath out of him. Kagome was trying to hide a sob but the tears were streaming down her face. She had long since discarded her school uniform for more comfortable clothes and he finally got to look at her hair. It was strange seeing her with her hair cut and the stitched wound on her head made him feel like trash. She was also wearing makeup, something she never did before.

She bid him closer and he obeyed. It was something how she could make him follow her every move. Once he was on her, she asked the question he dreaded having to answer.

"Inuyasha, how long before you stopped waiting for me? How long before she showed back up."

He sighed, closing the space between them. "Every three days, for a year I would come and sit here for hours. I would pray every time I walked through the clearing that you would be there." He took her small hands in his own rough ones. "I was here when she appeared in the village to deliver news of her second resurrection and the passing of Kohaku." He didn't dare look her in the eye as his spoke. "She was looking for you, she never said why but she didn't believe us that you had disappeared." Kagome tried to push him away, hoping to make space between them but she slipped on a root and fell into him. Her face was buried in his chest and for some reason, it triggered her tears. He pulled her back up and held her to him.

"Kagome."

"Inuyasha… I love you." She managed to squeak before the sobs overtook her body again.

"Please don't cry Kagome."

She balled her fist in his chest. "Don't cry? You broke my heart!"

He paled, he wasn't ready to hear it. He didn't want to hear it. She pushed him, making both of them stumble back over the roots and onto the ground. She sat up and sat on him, punching his chest over and over again. "Why did you go back to her? I never went with another man. I never kissed another man! I was loyal and devoted. I waited every day for the well… everyday… I've broken bones trying to open the well back up."

She pushed herself up and took off, leaving Inuyasha in the dirt. She needed to get away. She watched where she was going this time, being mindful of the roots and lose rocks, hoping not to fall again.

She crossed the tree line into another clearing and saw him. It was Sesshomaru. He was cleaning his armor and swords in the quiet of the forest. Their auras connected and his face changed slightly. He could obviously feel her tattered emotions. He took a few steps towards her but she skidded to a stop right in front of him. Her vision was blurry and her head burned but her heart hurt more.

He exhaled as she snaked her arms around his waist and pressed her face into his mokumoku. She heard metal hit the ground but it didn't matter. She didn't care if he was about to rip her apart, she only tightened her hold on him.

"Lord… please forgive me."

"Priestess." His voice was quiet but she didn't respond. She only pressed her face closer to him, she didn't even care that her head was throbbing and the stitches were ripping.

"Kagome."

The moment her name left his lips she caved in. She cried into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. A nasty, gut-wrenching sob escaped her throat, the type of cry girls only did in their mother's lap after a middle school breakup. She was almost screaming. Sesshomaru really didn't know how to comfort her so he just held her tight. Inuyasha came into view on the outside of the clearing. The two yokai made eye contact and Inuyasha realized what was happening. His brother was holding the woman he loved while she cried into him.

"You better let her go!"

Sesshomaru felt Kagome flinch against him and he tightened his arm against her. The faint smell of blood wafted up to him, her wound was opened. He had such an overwhelming urge to protect her but he didn't' know why.

"Are you deaf? I said release her!" Inuyasha charged at him. Sesshomaru picked her up slightly and moved from the half-breed's reach.

"Sesshomaru! You have nothing to do with this! Leave us alone!" Inuyasha charged at him again.

"It looks like I have plenty to do with this. I have been brought into it." He had Inuyasha by the neck. Kagome turned and looked up, clutching his sleeve as Inuyasha struggled against his brother's grip. "Inuyasha, you were always good at harming things more than you nurtured them." To Kagome's disbelief, he wasn't choking Inuyasha and he has stopped squirming. He was listening to him for once. "I told you, you don't care for this woman." Sesshomaru said calmly as he pressed his palm against her waist.

"And you do?" Inuyasha barked.

"It would seem so." His own words surprised him greatly. This feeling in his chest wasn't the same fatherly feeling he had for Rin. Not the same feeling of wanting to protect her that he had for his child. This made Kagome blush and look away, not wanting to make eye contact with Inuyasha.

The hanyou pulled himself from his brother's grasp and reached for her but she recoiled away.

"Kagome…"

She didn't look up.

"Kagome, I love you."

She shot her gaze up this time, blood was pouring down the side of her face and was smeared onto Sesshomaru's hankimono. Her heart ached more than the open wound ever could. She felt empty and weak against Sesshomaru.

"Enough." With that he jumped into the air, tucking Kagome against him and took off in a violent rush of wind and clouds.


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