A/N: Before you start, I apologize to every one of you Honorable Shin'ichi fans, but please remember, like tv tropes this was a situation of Anyone can die.

Year 2: Healing

Silent and unmoving, Sesshomaru stood in front of the great monument of his grandfather, his face void of any type of human emotion. Watching as others visited the lesser graves of their own loved ones, he put down a toddler Inuyasha long enough to kneel downwards, propping the two-year-old on his knee instead so he wouldn't wander off. In the time the boy had learned to walk and began to speak, he had found himself drawn to his elder brother, constantly wanting to be near him and throwing a tantrum whenever the first born Taisho would hand him over to his own mother of all people.

"Nubis…" Inuyasha squirmed on his brother's knee, desperately wanting to be put down.

"Patience little brother," he replied lightly though he bounced him a bit in an attempt to keep him calm. Turning his brother's head back to the beautiful gravestone, Sesshomaru began to explain some things to the young half-demon, "This here, is Ojiisan's final resting place, do you recall?" Though he spoke to Inuyasha like he was a grown adult, in his heart he knew it was a pointless effort. Inuyasha was a child, but sadly enough he was also probably his best friend in the world. Well, second only next to…

Shaking his head to clear the bad thoughts, he remembered his therapy exercises and refocused his attention on the matter at hand. 'Concentrate only on one thing at a time'

"Nubis!" his brother called out a bit louder, whining as he sensed the distress of the person currently handling him.

"Inuyasha" he replied a little more sternly, "I know you want to go but this is important."

"Why?"

"As I said before, this is our Ojiisan's grave, you remember his name?"

Peeking over at the final resting place for a moment, he stared hard in toddler like concentration before proudly exclaiming the name of his deceased grandfather, "Shin'ichi!"

Chuckling, Sesshomaru nodded his head in approval. Standing up with Inuyasha, his eyes never once left the nameplate that rested under the statute. 'Daimyo Shin'ichi, Honorable ruler, father, and grandfather. Long live the West.' There was a much larger memorial to the old man, currently held in central park which contained his signature swords which also contained his signature swords which had been encased underneath the life-sized statue of him.

This had been his new exercise for a few weeks now. His therapist who was supposedly one of the best in the world had recently decreased his antidepressant dosage, wanting him to focus on his feelings and work through them rather than just numbing them like he had just done. Holding Inuyasha high above his waist, he growled low to the half demon, snorting when his attempt to copy his brother's action resulted in him ejecting an old gurgling sound instead. This was the first time he had brought anyone with him to see his grandfather's remains, so naturally he had forgone the usual conversation with the old man he was supposed to be doing. Glancing at his watch he sighed, it was almost time for his next appointment anyway. "Come Inuyasha," placing the boy on his feet, he grasped his tiny hand in his own larger one, allowing him to walk on his own back to the manor, "Nubis has a therapist appointment to get to…"

"Its good to see you again Sesshomaru," the psychiatrist said, a welcoming smile on the surprisingly young man's features, "How have you been?"

"Fine and yourself Houshi-sama…." he replied lightly, shifting slightly on the couch.

"I've been great, but remember I asked you a long time ago to call me Miroku, you know I don't particularly like being called that…."

"Hn."

"Hmm you're still keeping a distance from me." he pointed out.

"You are a physician, and all so a man of spiritual understanding, it is only polite…"

"Yes and you are the future leader of the province I live in though I still call you only the name you requested me to call you. That in itself is a politeness of its own correct?"

Sesshomaru remained silent. Miroku had this effect on him, forcing him not to argue.

"Well then, Sesshomaru," he continued on, "How have your visits with your grandfather been?"

"A gravesite and a statue are not the same as talking to my Ojiisan," he replied, a bit of anger in his voice, "I still don't see why you are making me.."

"Because as you stated to me in an earlier session," the therapist cut him off, "Honorable Shin'ichi was the family member you felt closest to. He was the first person you ran to for comfort when something went wrong." he purposely excluded the incident Inu no Taisho and one of his many mistresses. By overgeneralizing the part Shin'ichi played in Sesshomaru's life, he ensured that the demon wouldn't focus on that particular moment and instead be more willing to discuss the man in greater detail.

"Hn…"

"Yes." he replied as though Sesshomaru had asked a major question, "Now, on to the next topic at hand," he suddenly dove right into the next part of their session, "Have you still been searching for Kagome?"

Sesshomaru noticeably flinched when the psychiatrist mentioned her name. The last time he had seen Miroku, the demon had confided to him that he had been trying to figure out where she had gone, going so far as to take a secret trip to China, only to discover that his father had lied to him. There had been no sign that she had so much as stepped foot in the mainland country.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"No." he growled out defensively, "I want nothing to do with that wench! She couldn't even show her face for my grandfather's funeral!"

"So you're angry at her for failing to attend his final rites?"

"Yes! She should have been there, he saved her life! He did so much for her and she decides to just ignore the fact he had passed on! Our entire family, no the province was devastated!"

"I see…." Miroku replied absently, "If I recall correctly...the last time I mentioned her you refused to talk about her at all, only stating that your father corrupted your bond. Now your anger is directed towards her, the person you once called the victim in all of this."

"No! My father did corrupt her! He infected her with his selfishness."

"Sesshomaru….."

"I don't want to talk about her anymore." the demon finally replied, Miroku sighed as his patient completely shut down.

"Wait," he stood up just as Sesshomaru did, the man apparently intending to storm out from the look of anger on his face, "Sesshomaru, I know this is difficult but you are finally feeling, you are no longer focused on sadness, now you feel anger, it is a sign you are moving through your grief of her, just like you are with Inu no Taisho."

Sesshomaru continued to face the door, his hand on the knob ready to leave. Resting his forehead against it, he remained silent for a moment, startling Miroku when he finally spoke, "Inuyasha….he calls me what she once did though he cannot fully pronounce the name."

"Really?" the therapist gently probed, "And what does he call you?"

"Nubis.." he muttered in reply, "Koji…" he gritted his teeth as his own nickname for her passed his lips, "she started to call me Anubis after I used our bond to revive her….she called me her own personal guardian to the afterlife…."

"Your bond was deep?"

"Deeper than anyone will ever know….she broke it long ago….I haven't been able to feel her for two years…"

"Sesshomaru…" Miroku called his name again, just as gently so not to scare him off, "Come. take a seat again, we can just sit here or you can tell me more about this woman, either way, we are making progress, I don't have any other appointments for today, I can stay as long as you need to."

Glancing over his shoulder, the demon showed the man his tired face, freed from the mask he wore any other time. This was the most he had ever spoken about Kagome in the year and a half he had been seeing his therapist. Up until now he had only been scratching the surface of his life, never really delving into the heartache which had caused him to drink night after night, it was like the final straw.

"I know you don't want to hear this, but I'm going to lower your dosages again, I should have done so ages ago."

Turning around to fully face Miroku, Sesshomaru stared at him with half lidded eyes for a few seconds before finally relenting. Retaking his place on the sofa, the dog demon sighed and buried his face in his hands, trying his best to keep his sanity, which he was slowly losing a grip on with each passing day.

Laying on the floor of her office, Kagome held the up the map she had drawn and turned it upside down as though it would make more sense in that position. Sighing as nothing still came to her, the demoness glanced down at her stomach which suddenly began to grumble loudly, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since noon yesterday. Breathing in she could smell the marketplace outside, the mixtures of street food, spices, and exotic oils filling her nose as the city of Victoria island prepared itself for the wonderful experience that was Seychelles nightlife.

'I haven't had a break all day'

"Kagome….are you still in here?" Pulling the paper from her eyes, the demoness gasped when she saw her boss hovering over her, his eyebrow raised in a silent question as to what exactly she was doing.

Lifting up so quickly the papers around her slid around, Kagome stood up and embarrassed, apologized for her weird behavior, "Jun, sorry I was just looking at…"

"I come in here wondering why the lights are still on, and you're on the floor looking at maps of…" picking one up at random, the dragon king stared hard at the odd route depicted on the page, "regardless, I thought you were done with work four hours ago."

"I am...I mean was...this is a side project I'm working on," she hastily explained, trying and failing miserably to save face. Glancing down, the demoness sighed when she realized she had kicked off her heels under her desk, leaving her in thigh high stockings, which her raised skirt was showing off the seams of. Pulling down the black material, she giggled ironically and re-buttoned the top of her red blouse, once more hiding her impressive cleavage from a secretly disappointed Jun.

"Oh? Then pray tell can I ask why you're doing this in the office? This isn't something you do regularly now is it?"

"Of course not!" silently berating herself for spacing out like that, Kagome sighed as she realized she had failed to be on her best behavior for Jun-Long's visit, which she had been specifically told to do by Seychelles's office head Mikaela.

"Hm…" he was about to say more but was halted by the sounds of Kagome's stomach growling louder, adamantly demanding food.

"Uh...heh….I'm hungry…"

"I can see that…" crossing his arms, Jun-Long eyed Kagome for a moment, smirking when the woman blushed and shifted her eyes away from his. "Well I'm hungry as well and since I was about to go eat anyway, you might as well join me."

"Huh? Oh, Jun I can't impose I…."

Leaning forward the dragon grinned and with a hard edge restated his invitation "I insist,"

A taxi ride later, the pair found themselves sitting across from one another in restaurant Le Bourgeois at the Le Meridien Fisherman's Cove hotel in Mahe city. The city air was perfect the time of year, just warm enough to feel it without causing sweltering and annoyance. Her seat facing the beach, Kagome took in the wonderful smell of ocean water, all the stressors of the day leaving her body as she finally relaxed a bit. Scrolling through the electronic menu, she glanced up for a moment when she felt Jun-Long's eyes on her, gazing at him fully when she noticed his eyes continuing to bore into her. "Something wrong?"

"...Nothing…." he replied, a reassuring smile on his features Picking up his glass of wine, the dragon king took an elegant sip, placing it back in its spot with a practice movement, his eyes never once leaving hers.

"Well there has to be something seeing as you keep…" she trailed off as the creole waiter reappeared, patiently waiting to take their orders. Jun-Long ordered their appetizer, a rather large plate of iced seafood before ordering their shared main course, the royal seafood platter which they both could have their fill of rather than separate plates. As agreed Kagome chose the deserts, wanting both specialty made chocolate brownies and a small fruit platter to share, thanking the waiter as she handed him back the device which contained their entire restaurant menu. Waiting until he walked off, the demoness turned back to the matter and hand and continued with her thought, "you keep staring at me, obviously there has to be a reason…"

"Hahaha," he held up his hands in false surrender, "You caught me, my apologies, it's just I noticed you're very beautiful is all and I was trying to figure out why."

Surprised at his boldness, Kagome drew back slightly, though she said nothing to turn down his advances.

Seeing this, Jun-Long kept talking, "I've been getting a lot reports about you recently, nothing to worry about all of them good I assure you, yet in the past year you've been working for me, your work has been...amazing to say the least."

"Really?" she tilted her head to the side in confusion. It was true, though she was Seychelles lead translator, her job being to act as a mediator between the importing ships captains and Mikaela's inspections. Recently, though, the woman had been giving her more responsibility, going to the shipyard several times in her place, dealing with the ones that couldn't speak basic creole or any other national language for that matter.

"Yes, and some of my captains have been...talking as well...they speak of a beautiful woman in Mikaela's stead, speaking to them like their equal instead of demanding them to answer for tardiness or imperfect products."

She blushed at his statement. She didn't doubt that either. Several captains had actually asked her on a date a few times when they docked in Seychelles, the main person being the wolf demon Koga who asked her just about every time he stopped on the island to stock up and give his travel reports.

"So, I'm trying to figure out what it is about you that is causing half my commanders to request stops in Seychelles, even if their route doesn't come anywhere near this way." a teasing undertone was in the burgundy haired man's voice though there was a seriousness in his eyes.

"Well, I'm nothing special…." Kagome began only to be stopped by Jun-Long's words.

"Don't down yourself, you are incredibly special Kagome, why do you think I worked so hard to track you down after you left Japan? And mixed with the fact you managed to obtain business savvy in the time you were in Istanbul, you are near invaluable to me."

A deep blush was on her face by the time the waiter returned with their food, the man asking if she needed a glass of water when he noticed how red her face had become. When she insisted she was fine, the dragon nodded in agreement and thanking the man again, waited for him to leave like she had earlier before he began to speak again, "I have yet to regret hiring you Kagome, I must say though this is the first time I have seen you since I got you settled in here, but I may be coming back more often than originally intended."

"Uh...that's a little forward isn't it?" Kagome boldly asked.

"Really? I take it I'm not your type."

"No!" she hastily assured him, dropping the pick she had been using to dig out the lobster's meat, "It's nothing like that, I'm not prejudiced or anything I just…."

"I didn't say you were prejudiced," he corrected her train of thought, "There is nothing wrong with not being attracted to a man of a different species from yours. Our cultures are very much similar but that doesn't mean everything else has to be."

"Oh, you're very attractive," she stammered out, "Its just I'm still dealing with a lot of….stuff and…"

Misreading her expression he nodded his head in understanding, "You are still healing from a previous relationship, I have been in your position, I know it takes time not people to fully recover."

"I…"

"Please, do not mention it, let's just finish our meal, here you see the ice is already melting, wet seafood is the worst don't you think," taking another sip of wine, Jun-Long once more returned to his meal, purposely ignoring the unreadable expression of the demoness in front of him. Though he appeared the pinnacle of calm, in reality, the dragon was cursing himself for being so forward with the woman after just one dinner together. He was used to women throwing themselves at him the moment he entered a room, this was his first time dealing with someone who knew who he was and still had reservations. He honestly knew how she was probably feeling right now, he had been in her same position, many years ago when he had possessed no money, no power, and no status of any kind. In that moment, a quote ran through his head that had stuck with him in all aspects of his life, "Time decides everything," he muttered out so low Kagome had to peek up at him to see if he had truly said anything.

A/N: Woah….Jun-Long is back...and so are some other familiar faces…..hmm….where am I going with this? Hope you enjoy, please review! -Theores