A/N: Hello everyeon! Please excuse the long wait, but I've finally found my muse again - so here's Chapter 4! Please enjoy.

The song Lillia sings in this chapter is from the operetta "Die Csárdásfürstin" ("The Gypsy Princess", a literal translation would be "Princess Csárdás") by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán set in Hungary and Vienna. It was finished during WWI.

The Csárdás is a traditional Hungarian dance.

Thunderstorm

The first thing Sesshomaru noticed when he returned to camp with today's catch was that the human was not there.

Spotting her damp gi draped over a branch, he took a deep breath in order to determine if she was, perhaps, still at the brook, washing herself, but that was not the case. Rather, her trail led into the woods, away from the brook. It was fresh, too, she couldn't have left long before his arrival.

Sesshomaru dropped the carcass and was just about to follow the trail when she suddenly began to sing. Her song was unlike any other he had ever heard, and it seemed melancholy, almost sad, and mourning...

Weißt du es noch?
Denkst du auch manchmal der Stunden?
Süß war der Rausch,
Der uns im Taumel umfing!
Weißt du es noch,
Was wir beseligt empfunden?
Weißt du es noch?
Weißt du es noch?
War auch nur flüchtig der Traum,
Schön war er doch.

So ein lustiger Roman
geht vorüber!
Und man stirbt nicht gleich daran,
Nein, mein Lieber!
So ein lustiger Roman
Ist zum Lachen!
Ja, da kann man
Nichts mehr machen!
Tralalalalala
's ist zum Lachen!
Tralalalalala
Nichts zu machen!
So ein lustiger Roman
Geht vorüber!
Ja, mein Lieber,
Denk' daran!

Weißt du es noch?
Weißt du es noch?
War auch nur flüchtig der Traum –
Schön war er doch!

He found her sitting on a boulder, gazing into the distance, her whole being radiating pain and sadness. Sesshomaru stood there, rooted on the spot – he hadn't known she could sing, and, as far as he could tell, she was good at it, too – he wasn't familiar with this type of song, nor could he understand the lyrics, but he could sense the amount of energy and feeling she was putting into the song.

She didn't seem to mind she had suddenly found herself an audience of one, and just carried on, the song turning mocking without warning, but the underlying sad note never vanished...

Finally, she was done and let out the excess air she had been holding, her body relaxing slightly in the process. Sesshomaru roused himself from his stupor and approached her.

"What kind of language was that?"

"My mothertongue."

"I see. It sounds strange."

"Foreign languages tend to do that."

"Why are you sad?"

"Because that song was sad. And I was already feeling melancholic, so I thought I might as well let it out."

"What do you mean?"

"It is not easy for me to express emotions. I tend to keep everything inside, until, one day, I explode simply because I can't take it any more. Music helps me unwind and let go of some of the stress and other negative things I carry around most of the time."

"I – see. And what was that song about?"

"A woman expressing her own feelings and thoughts to the man she loves – it's one half of a duet between the two, actually, but I can't sing a duet by myself. The song is part of a longer story, though, and I fear you won't be able to understand it out of context."

"Tell me, then."

"You want to hear the story?"

"Hn."

"Very well. Seeing as how the plot is rather complex, I will first provide you with an overview of who is who and related to whom in what way. Tell me if you can't keep up.

Edwin is the son of a lord, and his heir, and one of our main characters. His father is rather strict and doesn't really approve of how Edwin spends his free time.

Sylva, our female lead, is a singer – artists like her didn't really have a good reputation amongst the higher-ups – they were good for entertainment, but nothing more. Artists often had a hard time making ends meet unless they found themselves a patron or – mostly in case of women – a lover. Edwin and Sylva are in love, but they don't have a relationship, because Sylva doesn't want to. Also, she has enough money of her own and doesn't need Edwin's support. Even though Sylva loves Edwin, she expects him to move on eventually, partly because their love can never become a reality.

Bonifazius – called Boni – is a count and a friend of Edwin's, his parents are a lot less strict. He loves to flirt with the girls working alongside Sylva, and is generally good-natured. He is close friends with Sylva, and her manager.

Rohnsdorff – a cousin of Edwin's

Feri Bácsi (uncle Feri) – an elderly nobleman who likes to spend time at the theatres and who is very fond of both Sylva and Edwin

Comtess Anastasia, called Stasi – another cousin who is convinced she will marry Edwin. It is not explained how, if at all, Rohnsdorff and Stasi are related. Boni is acquainted with both of them.

The Lord and Lady, Edwin's parents

The story being with Sylva having her last performance before leaving on a journey. Edwin is pretty determined to marry Sylva, but a letter brought by Rohnsdorff foils his plans – his father demands he join the army for the time of two months (moon cycles), since he's gotten wind of Edwin's inappropriate relationship. Also, his parents have announced his engagement to Stasi, who took Edwin's attentions as a sign of attachment to her. Edwin is angered by this, and tells Sylva he forbids her from leaving, as is his right as a husband. He has a contract set up that he will marry her within two months' time. Feri Bácsi steps in and cautions them against signing the contract hastily, and asks if this is what they both want. They confirm this, and sign the papers.

Meanwhile, Rohnsdorff meets Boni, and hands him an invitation to the engagement ceremony before leaving with Edwin. When Boni learns of the planned marriage between Edwin and Sylva, he shows her the invitation. Feeling hurt and betrayed, Sylva decides to leave on her journey despite having promised Edwin otherwise. Boni accompanies her as Feri Bácsi curses Edwin's foolish actions."

"Sounds very complicated", Sesshomaru observed.

"Indeed. This art-form is called 'operetta', and it is well-known for having plots full of confusion and misunderstandings. The operetta is the little sister of the opera."

"I see. I have seen opera plays before."

"Were you able to keep up so far?"

"Hn. Continue."

"Very well. Two months later, everyone who is anyone is attending the engagement ceremony hosted by Edwin's parents. Sylva and Boni arrive, and Sylva makes Boni pretend she is his wife. Stasi tells Edwin her ideas of marriage, and Edwin still isn't very thrilled – despite the fact that Sylva broke her word and left, he is still very much in love with her, and he most certainly doesn't want to marry Stasi. Later on, Boni and Stasi meet, exchange childhood memories and are quite taken with each other. Edwin runs into Sylva, and gets even angrier when he finds out she is now Boni's wife. Sylva laughs at him, asking if he actually took their fake wedding seriously, but eventually grows melancholic as she reminisces about the happy time they spent together, asking Edwin if he remembers, before turning cynical and mockingly telling him that it was just a funny story, and will eventually be forgotten. This is the song I sang just now."

"I see. It sounded pretty accurate to what you just described."

"I'm glad you think that. Anyway, a rather desperate Edwin now seeks out Boni and asks him to divorce Sylva – cancelling their marriage would mean she could marry again, and his father can't object to him marrying a countess. Boni, who isn't really married to Sylva, agrees readily enough. When Edwin tells Sylva about all that, she asks him, alarmed, whether his father would have allowed him to marry Sylva, the singer. Edwin replies it doesn't matter, as this isn't who she is, but Sylva insists on an answer. Edwin tells her his father would have never permitted it, and that they would have been unable to find happiness. Sylva tries her best to hide her shock.

Just as his father is about to announce the engagement between his son and Stasi, Edwin interrupts him, telling him he is in love with the "countess". Stasi, realising how strong the feelings between them are, releases Edwin from his obligations towards her. However, Sylva, feeling insulted, reveals to the lord and the assembled nobles that she is not, in fact, a countess, but a lady, showing him the contract she and Edwin signed, revealing her true identity. The lord is shocked that she is "that person", but Edwin is still determined to marry her. However, Sylva refuses to go along with this, rips the contract in two, quoting Edwin that they would never be able to find happiness, and leaves, along with Boni.

They return to the inn they are staying at, and Boni realises that Sylva still loves Edwin. Both he and Feri Bácsi, whom they meet there by chance, try to comfort her, but with little success.

Edwin arrives shortly before his father, who is looking for him. The lord meets Feri Bácsi, who disagrees with his view on the relationship between Sylva and Edwin, telling him how he would have loved to marry a singer he once loved, but who married another – the lord is shocked to realise that singer is his wife and to learn that she increased her social status through marriage. Knowing all this, he can hardly object to his son's marrying Sylva...

Boni, who has fallen in love with Stasi, asks the lord for her hand in marriage, and Boni and Stasi then plot to get Sylva and Edwin back together. They make Sylva believe that Edwin, distraught over her rejection of him, is planning to kill himself, causing Sylva to reveal her true feelings.

And they lived happily ever after."

Sesshomaru cocked his head to one side.

"Do you see yourself in Sylva's position?"

She frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"This one can't help but noticing certain similarities between you two."

"I have never looked at it that way", she replied, sounding thoughtful. "Your words do have merit. However – there is one big difference between Sylva and me."

"What would that be?"

"Sylva got a happy ending."

She pushed herself off the boulder and left before he could even think of an answer. Probably a good thing, as Sesshomaru had no idea what to say to that – he was, after all, the one keeping her from finding happiness...

Lillia had lost track of time.

Her watch had stopped long before she had been able to figure out how to read the shadows, besides, Autumn was approaching, and their length changed from day to day.

She was not at all looking forward to the cold season. She might have been able to make it through Winter with Kagome's help – she had heard that the group usually spent the Winters in Edo, she might have been able to hole herself up in Kaede's hut and survive thanks to Kagome's support – but now that she was deprived of the girl's time-travelling abilities, she had no idea how she would last...

Since her watch no longer worked, she could only measure the passage of time if anything exciting happened – which was rare. Things like "the day it was so hot I thought I was gonna die", "the day we saw that big rock" or "the day Sesshomaru wrestled a bear". Lillia had no idea for how long she'd been travelling with the dai-youkai, and now, days blurred together in an unidentifiable mass... It irked her greatly.

Apart from the encounter with that suicidal bear, nothing exciting had happened since that incident with the hairpin – an incident Lillia had tried very hard to forget. She still had no clue as to why Sesshomaru had reacted in such a manner – he hadn't been interested in hearing her out or anything, he had just left. There were just so many things about him she didn't understand, but she didn't want to ask, either. He'd just look down his nose at her again...

This day had promised to be just as boring as the ones preceding it – the sky had been cloudy for days, but so far, no rain had fallen. However, Lillia suddenly knew this was going to change as she could smell the moisture in the air.

"It's gonna rain", she muttered, forgetting for a moment that her companion could hear her.

"How did you know?", he asked, turning halfway around to look at her over his shoulder – something he did quite frequently.

"I can smell it."

"Interesting."

"We need to find shelter."

"There are mountains up ahead. We will find shelter there."

Despite the fact that they were now walking at a faster pace, they had barely reached the foothills when it started to pour. Cursing, Lillia pulled her haori out of her hakama and used it to cover her head, hoping she would get less drenched that way. The mountains still seemed so far away... Lillia fervently hoped she wouldn't get ill from this.

Despite Sesshomaru's best efforts, they did not reach the mountains in time – and soon, they were drenched. The storm was, by now, blowing full force – lightning was flashing above, and the wind was howling. The human's sense of urgency grew every time the sky was lit up, apparently, she didn't like being outside in such weather. Sesshomaru could understand that, he, too, could think of places he would rather be.

Though to him, it was just a minor inconvenience – he was not in danger of being struck by lightning, and the cold wouldn't make him sick, either – however, he had learned from his travels with Rin that humans could fall ill, and wanted to avoid this, if possible.

Finally, they found a cave. Sesshomaru stopped at the entrance to make sure nothing else had sought shelter here already before leading the human inside. She instantly dropped her dripping-wet haori on the ground and then pulled off her boots and tabi. She dug her zori out of her pack and put them on, probably in an attempt to warm her feet. After that, she stated pacing, furiously rubbing her arms to get them warm.

Sesshomaru had, in the meantime, removed his armour and settled against the cave-wall to start the process of drying his own clothes. Her constant pacing finally caught his attention.

"Remove your clothes."

She spun around to face him, a look of pure disbelief on her face.

"Excuse me?"

He pinned her with a stare that made it clear he wasn't going to repeat himself. She bristled.

"I am not going to undress in front of you!"

Sesshomaru cocked a brow.

"Your clothes are soaked. If you stay as you are now, you will undoubtedly fall ill. Besides, I have no desire to see you undressed."

That was nothing but a lie, however, Sesshomaru would never admit that he would very much like to see her. And it would hardly help in this situation, either.

Her reaction to that confused him, though – he sensed anger, mixed with pain and a strange kind of acceptance. Sending a smouldering glare his way, she turned her back at him and began to untie her hakama. She stepped out of it and laid it out to dry next to her haori. She then began fumbling with the ties of her gi – Sesshomaru could tell that she was very unwilling to do this, but he would not relent – her health was more important than her sense of modesty.

Sesshomaru's throat constricted as she shed her garment and he got a look at what she was wearing underneath – while her outer clothing seemed perfectly ordinary, her undergarments were unlike anything he had ever seen. However, there was something else that bothered him – now that her clothes were no longer hiding her body from view, he could see just how thin she really was. It was worrisome, and Sesshomaru decided he would have to come up with a way to make her eat more.

"Remove that, too", he ordered, pointing a clawed hand at the strange breast-bindings she was wearing.

They were soaked, too, and seemed rather thick to him, unlike the other thing she wore – he wouldn't insist on her removing that.

She sent him another glare before obeying. She then sat down on the ground, brought her knees up to her chest and began to wring the water from her hair. Feeling that his fur had already dried enough, Sesshomaru made his mokomoko crawl over to her and wrap around her shivering form. She started when the fur made contact with her skin, but calmed down once she realised what it was.

Sesshomaru had bee heating up the air around his body so his clothes would dry faster – unfortunately, he couldn't use this power to heat up the entire cave – it would be much too exhausting, and he would need his strength to watch over his human. Sesshomaru already had a "Plan B" in mind.

The human had, in the meantime, snuggled into his fur, and seemed a lot more content – and warmer, for the chattering of her teeth had lessened. Sesshomaru could still see the goosebumps cover her body, as she was still sitting on the cold ground. He would have to move her as soon as possible.

With one last burst of his youki, the last remnant of wetness was banished from his clothes. Sesshomaru began to untie his haori and slipped out of the right sleeve before using his mokomoko to drag the human into his lap. She let out a startled "eep" as she collided face-first with his chest before looking up at him with wide blue eyes. Not deterred by that in the slightest, Sesshomaru draped his haori around her shoulders, pulled her flush against his body and wrapped them both in his fur. Her hair was still wet, which was of some concern, so he made sure to wrap it up, too.

Her hands came up to grab the front of his gi, and she pulled, making him look down at her again.

"What are you doing?!", she demanded to know.

"Keeping you warm. You were shaking."

She couldn't really think of anything she could say to that, and so she fell silent. Sesshomaru could tell, however, that she was immensely uncomfortable with this arrangement – she most certainly wouldn't be sitting in his lap if she had any other options.

Sesshomaru wasn't too happy about this, either, but for different reasons – his beast was thrilled to finally be able to hold their intended, and Sesshomaru had to grudgingly admit that it felt nice to hold her like that – it was in moments like those that he prided himself on the amount of self-control he possessed – for, if he were to react to her closeness in any way, she would know, and then all hell would break loose. Sesshomaru did not want to go there.

He began tracing small circles on her back with his claws, careful as not to cut her in the process. Her body was rigid, and this put him on edge – he needed her to relax. She fought him all the way, trying to squirm away from his touch, and occasionally letting out small sounds of distress. Sesshomaru tried his best to ignore this – he wasn't trying to cause her harm, after all – he just wanted her to relax.

Finally, she seemed to give up, and her body relaxed against his. She still wasn't happy, though – her emotions remained pretty negative while she was still awake. Sesshomaru also found that she couldn't just sit still – she would quite often switch the side of her face resting against his chest, and was overall quite fidgety. Sesshomaru bore it with the same stoic indifference he dealt everything else with.

After what seemed like forever to the dai-youkai, the human finally fell asleep, her body going completely limp in the process. Sesshomaru readjusted his position against the wall so he wouldn't have to hold her upright all night long. Once he was certain she was fast asleep, he bent his head down and carefully nuzzled her hair, taking in her scent and looking for anything that was out of the ordinary. Thankfully, he could not detect any scents hinting at the fact she might be falling ill, then again, he had no idea how long it took for this kind of thing to become noticeable...

Sesshomaru leaned back against the wall and looked outside. It was still pouring, and the occasional flash of lightning lit up the cave. Sesshomaru huffed before deciding he might just as well call it a day. He closed his eyes and began drifting off into his meditative state, absent-mindedly noting he felt strangely content...

When Lillia awoke, she was, at first, completely disorientated. First of all, she wasn't lying down – she usually slept curled up on one side, and, even though she moved and tossed around a lot during sleep, she had never woken on her back or her stomach – she couldn't lie very long that way. So, it confused her greatly that she was partly lying, partly reclining on her stomach – this wasn't something she would ever do. And second of all, the thing she was resting on was warm, and moving – and something else, fluffy and warm, was surrounding her. It felt so heavenly soft and comfortable, Lillia decided to burrow deeper into this warmth, feeling totally at ease, despite the weirdness.

The hand on her hip tightened.

Lillia froze when she realised the "thing" she was resting on was actually a person – she couldn't see much because of all the fluff surrounding her, but now, she tried to peek out of it, wanting to know who was there.

Golden eyes gazed back at her, a look of utter boredom on the man's face. She stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights, before the memories of the previous day came flooding in.

Lillia jerked back, trying instantly to get some distance between herself and Sesshomaru. However, he did not let go of her.

"Stay. It is still cold outside."

Lillia stopped struggling as soon as she realised she wouldn't be having her way. She craned her neck and tried to see what was going on outside, but that big white fluffy thing that seemed to be part of Sesshomaru was blocking her view.

"Has it stopped raining?"

"Yes. The sun will be out soon."

"I see. I'll have to put my clothes out to dry later."

Sesshomaru didn't reply, instead, the fur covering her head retreated a bit. Apparently certain she wouldn't attempt to escape again, he let go of her hip and trailed his claws through her locks, making her freeze in surprise.

"Your hair has dried. Good."

The fluff moved back in place, and Sesshomaru's arm settled once more around her midsection.

"Would you mind if I turned around? My feet have fallen asleep."

Sesshomaru gave her a bland look.

"Fallen asleep?", he echoed, clearly not getting the meaning.

"It means they've grown numb. Not exactly a pleasant feeling."

"Hn."

Interpreting his lack of a proper response as a "no", Lillia was about to resign herself to staying in this position, when Sesshomaru removed his arm again and began moving the fluff out of the way so she could get up. As soon as she tried, Lillia's legs began to tingle, and, with a gasp of surprise, she lost her balance and wound up grabbing Sesshomaru's shoulder for support. The dai-youkai winced slightly, and Lillia instantly drew back, careful not to step on anything as she turned around on wobbly legs.

As she was about to settle down again, Sesshomaru moved so she ended up sitting in between his legs instead of straddling them, like she had done before.

"I don't want my legs to fall asleep", he commented dryly.

Lillia tried her best to hide just how uncomfortable she was with this new sitting arrangement – it was even worse than their previous one. However, she had a feeling Sesshomaru wouldn't feel inclined to accommodate her wishes.

She wriggled her toes in an attempt to bring life back into her feet, which only made the tingling worse. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that the fur was on the move again, and soon, she was once more wrapped up from head (well, chin) to toe. Lillia felt awfully tempted to reach out and touch it – it felt so nice against her skin –

Lillia forcefully derailed that train of thoughts. Those were bad thoughts. Very bad thoughts. That fluffy thing was, after all, part of Sesshomaru, who didn't seem to like it when she touched him – Lillia would bet everything she had that he'd let her sleep on the cold floor if that wouldn't make her sick.

Lillia tried her best to ignore the man behind her, but found this to be a difficult task – and, seeing as how his arm was once again wrapped around her hips, there was no way she could put any distance between them. However, the knowledge Sesshomaru wouldn't be trying anything funny was a relief, and it allowed her to be more relaxed than she normally would have been in such a situation. Lillia wasn't used to physical contact, especially physical contact with men who were not family members. She rarely ever hugged people, gave them a handshake at best. Cuddling was something she'd never done, and yet here she was, sitting in between the legs of probably one of the hottest men/demons in the world...

Lillia mentally whacked herself. Unfortunately, the fact that she had decided to not fall for him didn't prevent her from noticing the obvious – he was gorgeous.

And Lillia hated him for that.

"Could you at least try to sit still?", Sesshomaru asked after a while, sounding slightly annoyed.

"No", Lillia snapped. "Besides, this whole seating arrangement was your idea. You'll just have to deal with it."

Lillia had a nagging suspicion she was slightly hyperactive – she would always fidget and shift around, which was, of course, not helpful in a situation like this one. But there was nothing she could do about it.

Lillia did her best to ignore the bizarreness of their situation, but this turned out to be very difficult. She dreaded that Sesshomaru might notice something if she got too distracted by his proximity, so she decided to focus on all the negative aspects of their current situation – they were in a cold cave, had gotten soaked to the bone, and they had skipped dinner. While Lillia didn't mind skipping a meal on occasion, she usually chose to do so. She didn't like it when choices were being made for her, no matter the reason.

Sadly, she could hardly blame the weather for that. She had a very distinct feeling the weather wouldn't care.

But what was probably worst about this situation was the fact that Sesshomaru seemed completely unaffected. Part of her was glad about it, but another felt – hurt. Lillia often felt self-conscious about her body, so this had been just another blow to her ego – a confirmation that something was wrong with her, something she had known for a while.

Unfortunately, Lillia was unable to do anything about it – she had tried anything she could think of, but the whole situation was rather complex, and seemingly insignificant things could cause her to fall back into her "destructive" patterns. Lillia knew that what she was doing was harmful to herself, and yet she was powerless to stop it – it was this lack of control she hated most.

Now that she could see what was going on outside the cave, Lillia noticed that it was daylight already – the first rays of sunlight seemed to be pushing through the clouds – Lillia couldn't see it due to the cave walls and trees blocking her view, but everything was bathed in a diffuse, soft light. Lillia felt the urge to get up and do something – preferably hang up her clothes so they would dry – however, the trees around here weren't suitable for this, and placing wet clothes on a cold, wet rock would accomplish nothing. She would have to wait until it was warmer and dryer outside.

It was only now that she noticed that they had to be fairly high up – most of the trees in her field of vision bore needles instead of leaves, and most of the leaves had fallen already – Winter always came early in the mountains, after all. Lillia hadn't been paying much attention to the road last afternoon, she had been preoccupied with other things.

It didn't take long for the sun to break through the clouds, and wet branches and leaves soon were glimmering in the sunlight. Lillia silently admired the beauty of nature.

After some time had passed, Lillia estimated it might be dry enough to put her clothes outside. Now, all she needed was the inu's cooperation...

"Let me up. I want to put my clothes out", Lillia demanded.

"Very well."

He removed his arm, and Lillia got up, wrapping herself in his haori. It was rather big – Sesshomaru was quite a bit taller than her, and his built was much broader, partly due to his muscles. Lillia had been unable to help noticing that he had quite a bit of these.

Very careful not to reveal any more flesh than absolutely necessary, Lillia picked up her clothes and boots and carried them outside. She tried to wring her clothes out, but that turned out to be an almost impossible task. So, Lillia opted to smack them against the rocks instead, hoping to force the moisture out.

"Could you be somewhat less noisy?"

Lillia sent Sesshomaru a glare over her shoulder.

"No."

He glared right back at her, but Lillia chose to ignore him. She wanted her clothes to dry as soon as possible, so she could put them back on. And she was not going to be mindful of his sharp senses, either.

Luckily, the rocks had already been dried by the sun, and so she spread her clothing over them, angling them so they would catch as much sunlight as possible.

As she stood there, taking in her surroundings, a nagging thought lingered in her mind – that she had forgotten something, but for the life of her, she could not figure out what...

And then it hit her. Suppressing a panicked cry, Lillia spun on her heels and made a mad dash for her pack, not caring about the sparseness of her clothing.

Sesshomaru had risen from the ground, alarmed by the sudden change in her emotions. Lillia chose to ignore him and, with trembling fingers, started to fumble with the ties that held the wrappings of her bow together. She wasn't worried for her bow in itself – it was made from lacquered bamboo, after all, and should be able to withstand some rain. The bowstring, however – it might very well be ruined.

"What is the matter?", Sesshomaru demanded – apparently, her actions still made no sense to him.

"I forgot to put the string up to dry!", Lillia almost wailed. "It could be ruined."

She couldn't see his face, but she was certain he was lifting one eyebrow in that infuriating manner of his when he made his reply.

"This is what you got so worked up about? A bowstring is easily replaced – even humans can make decent ones. And I have more than enough money to outfit you with anything you might need."

That surprised Lillia quite a bit – it sounded almost like an offer. However, Sesshomaru had completely missed her point.

"It's not that it can't be replaced – it's more the fact that I neglected my equipment that bothers me. Sensei would admonish me for that – besides, this isn't just a weapon. It means a lot to me. You would never neglect to take care of your swords, after all."

Lillia had seen him maintaining the two blades he carried – while they apparently didn't need sharpening, they had to be kept clean. And Sesshomaru saw to that thoroughly.

Sesshomaru moved into her field of vision, and Lillia was glad she was occupied with unwrapping her bow – she hadn't realised until now that Sesshomaru had untied his gi sometime last night, probably to warm her through skin-to-skin contact.

Finally, she was done removing the cloth. She cast it aside – not bothering to roll it up – and started unwrapping the bowstring from the bow. It didn't appear to be damaged, but Lillia would have to try it out to be certain. She carefully braced the yumi against the wall before bending it so she could fasten the bowstring. Not only was she worried that the bow might get damaged by the rocks, but in case the string should snap, she would probably get hit by her bow as it recoiled.

Letting out a soft grunt, Lillia managed to bend the bow far enough to fix the bowstring in place. She held her breath as she removed pressure from the bow to see if the string would be able to withstand the tension. She waited with baited breath for several moments, but nothing bad happened. Lillia dubbed this a success and unstrung the bow again, so she could put the bowstring out to dry as well.

"Did you name it?", Sesshomaru asked.

"Yes."

"Well?"

Lillia looked up at that to see his reaction to the name she had picked.

"Ayumu."

He blinked.

"Interesting choice. I have no experience with naming bows myself, so I can't say if it is a good name for one – but I can see why you picked it."

Lillia exhaled softly.

"So – you don't think it's a stupid name?"

He shrugged one shoulder.

"It is your bow. You can call it whatever you like, and the rest of the world will have to live with it. I very much doubt that you would rename it just because someone disapproved."

"True... it's just that I, as a non-native speaker, was a bit worried about picking a name. I've never told anyone – I feared that people would find it strange that I named my bow."

"Hn. I've never heard of anyone else doing that."

"Did you ever practise archery at all?"

"No. Archery never held any appeal to me – I decided to study the sword at a very young age."

"I see."

Lillia picked up the yumi and turned away while trying not to look at Sesshomaru. Once outside, she searched the rocks for a good spot for her yumi before carefully leaning it against them.

"Stay", she said sternly, for good measure.

Then, she headed back inside to collect the cloth she wrapped her bow in so it could dry as well. Sesshomaru was watching her with an odd look on his face – still half-naked – and Lillia suddenly realised that they might have had the most decent conversation ever just now. The fact that he didn't find her strange for naming her bow, or had any objections to the name itself, was a huge relief to her. Despite the fact that Sesshomaru didn't like her very much, she still didn't want to give him any reason to think even less of her – sometimes, she felt the urge to desperately prove to him that his prejudice against humans in general was misplaced.

After everything was in place to dry, she wrapped her arms around her middle – making sure to keep Sesshomaru's haori in place – and stared off into space.

After a while, she was joined by Sesshomaru, who thankfully had had the sense to at least tie his gi. Lillia still thought it best not to look in his direction, and pretended to admire the view instead. It truly was spectacular – the light of the rising sun bathed the mountainside and trees in soft golden light, and droplets of water glimmered on leaves, branches and needles. Feeling strangely content, Lillia started humming softly to herself.

"You seem – happy", Sesshomaru observed after a while.

"Yeah... It's strange. I don't really know why, but this is such a beautiful morning – the storm last night was dreadful, but now, the world seems cleansed... It is almost perfect. I wish this would last forever..."

"Hn. You haven't had a warm meal in over a day – as soon as your clothes have dried, I shall hunt for food."

"Fine by me."

Lillia guessed that Sesshomaru apparently didn't like the prospect of going hunting without being dressed in his full regalia, since, naturally, one had to look positively stunning while killing a rabbit. The thought almost made her break down into a fit of giggles, but she managed to restrain herself.

Judging from the look he shot her, Sesshomaru had picked up on her change of mood, and was apparently not too happy about it. Lillia decided to try and go back to humming as to not aggravate him further, since she was feeling very generous that morning.

Some time later, Lillia checked her clothes to find that they had dried, and remarkably fast, too. She disappeared back into the cave to get dressed while Sesshomaru waited outside, then she returned his haori to him and stepped outside to wait for him to get dressed. Checking her bow, she found that both the string and the wrappings had dried, so she wrapped the bow up again.

Sesshomaru emerged from the cave, flared his youki and took of in a blur. Lillia blinked. She hadn't seen him move like that very often, and it still baffled her how such a thing was even possible. Shaking her head, she stored the bow with her quiver and pack before returning outside to bask in the sunlight. There were darker times ahead, she knew, so she intended to enjoy the weather while she still could.

Glossary:

kaede - maple

tabi - socks that are closed using hooks, they have a reinforced sole and an indentation between the first and second toe

mokomoko - fluff-fluff

sensei - teacher, master, instructor

ayumu - path to the vision