[Update! Yay! Please review and enjoy and check out the poll on my profile!]

Sesshomaru woke first, two days later. He looked around to find Kagome unconscious beside him, lying on her stomach with her back bandaged, and his father sitting beside them.

"Father. What happened?"

"To you or Kagome?"

"Both."

"Unga attacked you. He attempted to purify your aura. If Kagome hadn't killed him, you'd be dead."

"She killed him?"

"Yes. After you were attacked, she lost it, and she unlocked her miko powers. She singlehandedly purified Ungai's entire army. Once that happened, she stabbed Ungai to death and came over to check on you. While she was doing that, her brother, who had been unconscious for most of the battle, came to and stabbed her while no one was watching. He then proceeded to kill himself, saying that if he couldn't change the Higurashi line he would just end them. She tried to help him, even after what he'd done, and we had to drag her away because she was delirious from blood loss."

Sesshomaru blinked, "The war is over then?"

"Yes. We killed nearly as many people as we have in our army, and any troops they have left will surely be pale in comparison. The attack only lasted a few hours, and we managed to eliminate any survivors."

The young prince went silent.

"There was one more thing, my son."

He glanced up at his father.

"Your mother is here."

His eyes widened minusculely, "Why?"

"She says she still sees the West as her home, and the citizens her people. It would also seem that Kagome already knew of her presence."

"What?"

"She was sworn to secrecy, because your mother didn't know how you would react, and she didn't want to cloud your judgement during war."

"Let me talk to her."

"Alright. She is most likely at one of the cook fires. It's early morning."

He nodded, getting out of bed carefully. He noted he had been stripped to just his underclothes, and the small injuries he'd ignored during the attack were patched up. Dressing quickly, he slipped out of the tent, searching with his yoki for her familiar aura.

Finding her, he sat down across from her at the fire she had been alone at.

"Mother."

"My son."

Their golden eyes met, both reflecting the firelight.

"Why did you leave?"

"I was no longer welcome."

"Why not tell me?"

"You were young."

"I was only six mother. I was only six when you left me. I haven't seen you in years. Why now?"

"How old are you now?" she asked instead.

"Twenty," Sesshomaru replied.

"That is plenty old enough to know about the requirements of royalty. One of those requirements is to produce many children, mainly to use as bartering pieces if I'm completely honest. Well, after the war a few years back, I couldn't have children anymore. The council convinced your father to stage a divorce, so that he could remarry to another woman, one capable of giving him more children. They sent me away, to live in a palace in the sky, so that no one could find me, and I complied, for the sake of our lands. My only regret was that they didn't allow me to take you with me."

The older woman looked down, frowning slightly. Her son merely looked at her, shaking his head in disbelief.

"All these years. All this time I thought you abandoned me... and the council had ordered it?"

"Your father is many things, but decisive isn't one of them. It didn't take much for them to convince him. Especially as our marriage wasn't going too well at that point."

He sighed, "Thank you, at least, for the explanation mother."

She sighed too, "I understand if you don't believe me. It isn't as if I've given you any reason to. But I want you to know that I didn't leave you intentionally. I was always planning to come back. But then your father mated his Izayoi, and sired that half-breed, and the family I used to want got further and further away. He divorced me, true, but our mating mark was still there. I can't remate, but he can, since he's the alpha. It's... complicated, but the basics are that I was separated from my family, with no chance to start a new one. I'm here to ask to be a part of your family again. Yours and Kagome's I mean."

He paused, considering.

"Of course," he said after a moment, "You are my mother after all."

The woman smiled a warm smile, and moved to sit beside her son.

"I am sorry."

"Do not apologize. We are pack, and that remains no matter the distance."

He leaned his head against her, a rare act of affection. It was something he had done when he was a pup, and the action felt familiar, despite the fact that he was taller than her by at least half a foot.

"My lord!" a voice suddenly called, and he stood, sighing as he went, to address the messenger who called him.

"What is it?"

"Lady Kagome has awoken!"

He nodded, turning and walking toward the tent where his intended had slept.

"Kagome," he murmured as he entered, "Are you alright?"

"Yes," she replied, though the tears on her face suggested otherwise, "What about you? Your aura was so weak when I got to you. I was terrified I'd be too late."

'If I can't change the line, I'll simply end it.'

"My brother... What if he... I'm so scared for him. They saved him right?"

He silently shook his head.

"I know, but if there was even the slightest chance... It was too late. I knew, but I couldn't leave. He has nightmares when he sleeps alone."

He paused, assessing her words. She no longer sounded delirious, instead, she sounded haunted, as if she'd seen all the terrors of the world.

"I'm sorry," he said after a while.

"Will you lay with me?"

"Your wound-"

"I can heal it. Priestess powers."

He sensed a flare of energy, like white light in his mind's eye, and the girl sighed as she sat up, removing the bandages from the vanished wound and taking the haori top he removed for her, wrapping it around her and tying it with a ribbon from her hair, left over from before the battle. [AN: It was a long ribbon, from when she had super long hair.] She was still wearing her trousers from under her armor, so his haori fit her well, and she was fully covered.

He slipped into the bed beside her, and took her into his arms as he had the night before the attack.

"I'm scared," she said after a while, her voice soft.

"Don't be," he said, and, taking her chin in his hand, he kissed away her worries.

[YES! Like finally! I'm writing it and I was still getting impatient for that kiss! But anyway, please review and check out my poll. Byeee!]