"I'm so pathetically intense.
I just can't be any other way."
— Sylvia Plath
Sesshomaru sits outside of the castle's main gate studying his agenda for the day. At least he tries to. He glances at the talisman Kikyo gave him when they last met. Just as she said, the blank paper would let him know when she's on her way to the West. But the last indication he received was more than an hour ago. The black snake representing her on the paper has barely moved. He taps his foot, contemplating going East.
There's no need to be impatient, he tells himself. Still, his foot tapping continues, growing louder. When he looks at the talisman, the snake has moved right next to the waning crescent moon that's supposed to be him. He picks it up thinking it can't be right.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken yells, pointing at the sky.
Kikyo's soul collectors carry her in on the chill autumn breeze. With hardly a sound, she lands. She bids her soul collectors goodbye. They slither off, but never too far. She curls the locks of hair framing her bangs behind her ears, acclimating herself to being on land again.
Jaken trots over to her, bowing outlandishly. When Sesshomaru told him Kikyo was visiting them, he'd mobilized the staff to put the castle through its most rigorous cleaning and decoration.
"Pristine," he told them. "It has to be pristine."
Sesshomaru wants to ask him where this abject fondness for Kikyo came from, but he has his own thoughts about her to work out.
"My Lady, welcome to the West." Jaken sweeps a hand over the estate in all its developing glory.
Kikyo takes in the hilltop castle, the defenses established throughout its architecture that would go unnoticed were it not for her spiritual brilliance. Before she landed, the sheer volume of the complex's buildings connected by gates and winding paths had left her breathless.
"Thank you, Jaken." She humors him with a curtsy that he finds all too adorable. "I thought I'd have trouble getting here but it's quite unmistakable. What a lovely castle."
Jaken's smile reaches his ears. His blush turns his cheeks a funny shade of purple. Sesshomaru approaches them from his makeshift seat, one of two gargantuan Dog demon statues on platforms. They sit on either side of the castle's main entrance like guards.
"Hello." Kikyo's voice is pillow soft. It's as if she's seeing him for the first time, their phase of chance encounters ended. Everything feels intentional now.
"It looked like you weren't coming." He holds up his talisman. His attention lingers on her wind-ravaged hair and the color still on her cheeks from altitude. A cold flame ignites the talisman, burning it into nothing. His staring is disrupted as he watches it disappear.
"Forgive me." Kikyo lets her own talisman combust. She flattens her bangs and unties the ribbon doing a poor job of securing her hair. "Flying is still new to me and I lost my original talisman on the way. It must have looked like I hadn't moved."
A quiet falls between them. Jaken's eyes dart back and forth. He clears his throat to fill up the silence.
"Might I have a tour?" Kikyo flips her hair behind her back. Sesshomaru sucks in a breath. It's hard to reconcile that she's at his home and as an invited guest, no less. "If you have time, that is."
"Leave us, Jaken." Sesshomaru tosses his agenda at him, eyes back on Kikyo.
Jaken's mouth hangs open like a fish caught on a hook. If there has ever been a time he's wanted to be by Sesshomaru's side, it's now. He notices Sesshomaru's tight fist, the way he looks at Kikyo like she's brand new. It's an unease Jaken's never witnessed in him and he doesn't want to miss any of it. But he falls back.
"Good luck, milord. And my Lady, do enjoy your stay." Jaken steals away merrily. At the very least, he can head them off before they tour in earnest, and ensure the castle is up to snuff like he left it.
Kikyo holds her laughter in, wondering where the two of them would be without each other.
At a loss for words, a frown severe enough to cause wrinkles transforms Sesshomaru's face. How do he and this woman communicate now? It was easier when one of their lives was being threatened or they questioned each other's motives.
"Shall we begin with the grounds, or inside of the castle?" Kikyo realizes she needs to steer things if they're ever going to move from where they stand.
Sesshomaru turns toward the gate, walking away. Kikyo refuses to move so much as a toe. He looks back at her with her free hand on her hip, the ribbon trapped between her fingers and hanging down the length of her leg.
"Sesshomaru," she says, staying put. "I am sensing an awkwardness. Speak to me as you always have." He's already not one for useless prattle but she refuses to get even less than that.
He frowns again, searching for the root of his behavior. Little else had kept his attention as he waited for her to arrive. Now that she's here, he is confronted with yet another evolution of their association. She comes to his side, peering up at him in that way of hers.
"I understand how you feel." Her gaze is fixed. "I am also not accustomed to working with others."
He despises presumption, but she isn't wrong. She's also only speaking to part of their problem but he can't yet find the words for the rest. The feeling of her on his hand returns.
Kikyo would be lying if she denied the shift their last meeting had created. After formally allying with him, the walk back to the Hitomi castle felt even more dishonest, but freeing too. Sesshomaru is the one she doesn't want to lie to.
Rest has eluded her during the past two days since seeing him. The drama pervading in the East marking Nagasaki's return hasn't even been enough to reroute her racing thoughts. There is no clear indication of the shape this new dynamic with Sesshomaru will take, but she likes knowing they have an understanding now.
She breaks from looking at him to appreciate their surroundings, the flower blossoms falling around them and the rolling green grass cascading downhill.
"Come with me." Sesshomaru waits to make sure they walk side by side.
Kikyo smiles and they pass through the gate.
Her eyes light up when they reach the fountain. Given her attraction to water, he isn't surprised. She lets the water trickle down onto her hands, then flings them dry. She sits on the fountain's edge to tie her hair, resting her bow and quiver beside her.
"Why don't you sit down too?" She points to the ample space next to her.
"You do realize how much ground we have to cover?" If he hadn't compared navigating the castle to training, he would still end up lost on most days, but he sits down despite his words.
"What's the rush?" Kikyo glances back at the water. "I know you didn't ask me here to show off your castle."
Little does she know that is part of the reason, but again, her presumptions prove correct.
"Koga will be here tomorrow," he sighs.
In his youth, he needed to establish how strong he was. Perhaps in some ways, he hasn't changed. Tokijin doesn't erase the feeling that something is still missing. He tries to relate to Koga's brash reputation but it's not an accurate comparison. He's worked too hard to stay in control.
"How will things change if he falls under you?" Kikyo leans into him a couple of inches, astonished by her own interest.
"When," Sesshomaru corrects her. "It's my understanding that you made a rather compelling case for him doing so."
Kikyo recoils to her previous distance, remembering her encounter with Koga.
"I hope he isn't any trouble." She questions if Koga's will to live outweighs the famine he's quenched with human lives. "I wasn't exactly delicate."
Sesshomaru smirks. Her indelicate way of negotiating is the part of Jaken's story that he preferred the most.
"The jewel shards in Koga's legs—" She crosses her arms, possessed with thought "—there will come a time when I'll need them. They are the key to defeating Naraku."
"Then you shall have them." He doesn't hesitate. She knows the sacred jewel is of no consequence to him. "If there are other shards spread throughout the West, then I will ensure they are yours."
"If there are any jewel shards here, Naraku is likely to come for them." She feels responsible for the jewel's return to this world, the result of a selfish wish. "There are many lives within your purview, Sesshomaru. We must protect them."
The amount of demons and humans in his territory makes the one hundred thousand allies he's gained seem infinitesimal. He thinks of all the work that still exists, trying to calculate if he's made any progress at all.
"But let's focus on what's in front of us now," Kikyo cuts back in, relieving his stress unwittingly.
Sesshomaru explains the situation with the Western Wolf Demons, and the need to expand their domain to accommodate Koga and his wolves.
"The expansion will include humans," Sesshomaru tells her.
"So you need to assure the humans that this will not threaten their way of life. And that is where I come in." She nods, understanding.
The thought of him needing her in this way creates a tingling sensation in her body, energizing her. Conflict resolution usually comes by way of violence but there's an art to a more subtle approach. It's relieving to give her arrows a rest and achieve her desires without manipulation.
"Coexistence," he confirms, standing up.
Her astuteness is a breath of fresh air compared to his usual dealings with others. Without having to spell it all out, she understands what he needs. The implications of this concern him but at the very least, it makes their alliance navigable. That is what he chooses to focus on.
They journey to the den of the Western Wolves first. Below them, children play outside and the adults tend to a farm, plucking the last of the summer harvest from the earth.
They land outside the entrance of a massive cave. Their arrival draws the attention of the wolves outside. The adults scramble for the children to retreat close to them. One of them dashes past Sesshomaru and Kikyo inside of the cave to call for help.
From deep within the cave, a wolf with the appearance of a man emerges. His long, black hair flows freely down his back. He doesn't wear fur. Just cloth and leather. Kikyo notices his eyes possess the same blue as Koga's.
"Lord Sesshomaru," the wolf kneels, but his eyes are on Kikyo, "and the priestess, Kikyo, I presume? Kaito mentioned a priestess in our Lord's company."
"Of course he did," Sesshomaru thinks.
"I am Okami," the wolf says. "I am the interim leader of our tribe."
Kikyo senses a gentleness in him but hardly any of the power required to protect a tribe. It makes sense why Koga is needed. Sesshomaru states their business, glancing at the other wolves who stand deadly still while listening to him.
"Koga? Lead us?" A female wolf demon with powder caked on her face and lips over-lined in rouge strolls out of the cave. "That beast would eat us if he got hungry enough."
"So you think I am easily defied?" Sesshomaru questions her, noting that her instincts aren't entirely broken. She flees behind Okami and closes her mouth.
"My Lord," Okami chimes in, swatting her away, "my concern is for the humans we would now live amongst. We would rather they not come to any harm." He looks at Kikyo again. Sesshomaru flexes his hand, cracking each of his knuckles. "There's a woman in the village nearby that I've proposed to."
Sesshomaru and Kikyo's eyes widen at hearing this, but it all becomes clear. Okami doesn't want to lead unless it's a family with the human he's fallen for.
"As I said," Sesshomaru brushes off Okami's announcement that he certainly didn't ask for, "Koga will not defy me. He knows that he's not to harm anyone else. I don't need to tell you what his abilities mean for your pack. "
The wolves exchange contemplative looks with each other. Sesshomaru and Kikyo easily identify all who are opposed, making a point to look them in the eyes.
"Very well," Okami agrees. He bares his teeth in the faintest grin, no doubt for the woman he mentioned. "We shall prepare for the expansion and Koga's arrival tomorrow."
"And we shall go and prepare the humans in the village," Kikyo explains. At this, Okami and the wolves grow a touch more hopeful. "The goal is for us all to work together."
Sesshomaru turns to leave, taking Kikyo with him in the air again. The wolves watch them, and Sesshomaru also hears the excitement in their conversation that breaks out. It seems that this is a bridge they've wanted to gap for some time.
When he and Kikyo land in the village, the hostility is immediate. Men with bows and anything that could cause injury swarm them. Sesshomaru itches to draw his whip. These are the creatures he is to coexist with.
"Please bring out the headman." Kikyo's voice carries to everyone assembled, even the villagers holed up inside their homes.
"And why should we?" A man trains his arrow on her. Kikyo shakes her head, twirling her own bow.
"Because if you don't, the lord of your lands is going to kill you." She points the tip of her bow at Sesshomaru and the man's hands shake. His arrow falls to the ground.
A much older man with large coins embedded in his ear lobes comes out of the house at the heart of the village. Dressed in a deep green robe with the sleeves rolled up and tied around his shoulders, Kikyo notices his arms covered in more tattoos than skin. The skin she can see is dark from exposure to the sun. He looks like he's worked every single day of his life.
"So it's true then." He walks until he passes the idiot who threatened them, kneeling when he reaches Sesshomaru. "Only rumors had reached us way out here, but it's true you've reclaimed the West."
"And you are?" Sesshomaru looks down at the man, half his height, but seemingly with more age than any human should possess. More interesting is that word of his takeover isn't well known throughout the West.
"I'm just a man who knows his history, Lord Sesshomaru." He opens his eyes, glossy with time and encroaching blindness. "I'm also the headman of the village and surrounding areas. Call me Kazuki."
The villagers grimace at Kazuki's back, their wariness of Sesshomaru unabated. He ignores their disdainful stares as he and Kikyo follow Kazuki inside of his home. Murmurs of "A priestess?" cut through the silence.
"Forgive us our ignorance, my Lord." Kazuki points for them to sit down. "Some of the villagers were chased from their homes by demons and found refuge here."
So maybe they have a reason for their prejudice, Sesshomaru thinks. Kikyo looks around Kazuki's home, appreciating his passion for art. A painting of a giant dog, shrouded in clouds hangs on the wall.
Kazuki gets to work grinding a blend of dry tea leaves down to a fine powder. Grabbing a kettle from the furnace heating the room, he adds hot water. He swishes the contents until foamy, pouring it over a metal sieve into three cups.
"I hope Dog demons like tea." Kazuki sits across from them, whistling into his cup.
Sesshomaru does like tea and he very much likes the blend of florals and aromatics in Kazuki's tea. It's better than Chiyo's but there's no point upsetting her with this information.
He looks at Kikyo and she takes the lead. Kazuki's eyes shine when she speaks. The thick film over his eyes starts to clarify, revealing his feelings that had initially seemed unreadable if judged by his face alone. Sesshomaru notes his lack of opposition, but detects wariness in the fine print of his compliance.
"Humans do not understand hierarchy in the way that demons do."
Kazuki mentions this like it's some groundbreaking fact of life. Sesshomaru is keenly aware that humans resist little more than falling in line.
"Perhaps a show of goodwill?" Kikyo suggests, thinking out loud. "If there are any sick or injured among you, I can heal them. How are your medicinal reserves? I am quite adept at creating remedies. Would either of these things help the villagers see that Sesshomaru isn't a threat?"
Sesshomaru reels back slightly. He is very much a threat. But he cools down, knowing that he isn't supposed to be a threat to these people. Kazuki's eyes become even more clear.
"My Lady, you would do that for us?"
"Let me show you." Kikyo gets up to kneel beside him.
She places a finger on the center of his forehead. With her other hand, she forms a symbol, and whispers an incantation. A faint, lavender glow surrounds both of them. The energy flows into Kazuki's eyes like smoke. Sesshomaru watches intently. In time, Kazuki's eyes brighten, each part easy to distinguish, no longer murky with disease.
"You have beautiful eyes, Kazuki. They deserve to see and be seen." Kikyo returns to her seat. Her body moves like a perfect brushstroke. Sesshomaru watches her fall into her seated position fluidly.
Kazuki runs to another room, rummaging for something and hollering when he finds it. Kikyo smiles at Sesshomaru. Duty aside, she enjoys healing people. Even the most beautiful gifts collect dust if they aren't used. She refuses to be a pretty thing on a shelf. Kazuki returns to them, holding a hand mirror.
"I haven't seen this clearly in thirty years!" He obsesses over himself in the mirror.
He summons the central villagers as well as those from the surrounding areas. All of whom bring their broken and weary to Kikyo. The size of the line awaiting her healing touch and words of wisdom leaves Sesshomaru thinking they'll be there all night. But she isn't deterred in the slightest.
He watches her greet each person with a gentle smile, ready to do what she can to solve their problems. Kazuki and the other male leaders approach him to discuss the changes that are sure to come with the arrival of the Wolf demons.
It takes everything inside of Sesshomaru to relay things yet again. He understands why his mind often drifts to murder. It's easier to kill problems than solve them. But no one asked him to revive the West. Toran or Kaito would have remained all too happy to divvy up the land and resources themselves, but he just had to assume office.
Despite knowing he'd have it no other way, the labor associated with it remains unappealing. Hard work and discipline are the dragons that passion is forced to slay at every sunrise.
"It's not my practice to trust demons," one of the village leaders says, "but I just can't see why you'd lie, Lord Sesshomaru. If you wanted to annihilate us, you would."
"Damn right," Sesshomaru thinks. The hint of Inuyasha that he hears in his internal voice makes him want to vomit.
The other leaders, not blessed with the gift of shame, turn to gaze at Kikyo. Sesshomaru ponders whether it would hurt his and Kikyo's efforts if he only killed these men. Kazuki senses his exasperation and guides him away from them.
"I will make sure everyone understands the changes taking place." His voice brings Sesshomaru back to the present. "If you and Lady Kikyo are any indication, it might be a nice change of pace around here, living together with demons."
"Then I leave it to you." Sesshomaru goes to join Kikyo.
A mother carrying a young child is next in line. The woman explains the rash and sickness that have plagued her son for months. Kikyo caresses the boy's head, damp with fever. He opens his eyes, seeing Sesshomaru. He smiles, causing his mother to apologize.
"Don't stare at him like that," she chastises him. "He is the Lord of the Western Lands."
The boy doesn't listen. He observes as much of Sesshomaru as he's able to see curled against his mother's chest. His eyes widen with pure fascination. Kikyo examines his chubby calf, finding the rash at the bend of his knee. No doubt the result of a demon bug bite, the explanation for his prolonged symptoms.
She quickly applies ointment, knowing it'll sting less with him transfixed by Sesshomaru. She massages it into his skin until it glows. The rash dries up and the patch of skin it had afflicted falls off the boy's leg, disappearing. His mother rubs the new skin and he pulls away from her to stand in front of Sesshomaru.
He touches his dark hair, not silver-white, and blinks his deep, brown eyes, so different from Sesshomaru's golden eyes. Kikyo notices that Sesshomaru maintains eye contact with him. The boy points at Tenseiga and Tokijin.
"Not for children," Sesshomaru tells him.
The boy nods and his mother gathers him up in her arms. He waves at Sesshomaru as they walk away, until he can no longer see him.
The last two people, a young couple, step forward with a simple request. Kikyo blesses the woman's womb and they leave, totally convinced of their ability to conceive.
"More mannerless children on the way," Sesshomaru scoffs, tuning out the couple's excitement to start trying now.
"You can't blame that child for staring." Kikyo cleans her hands with a wet cloth, then organizes all the medicine she's made. "Your appearance is otherworldly. The first time I saw you, I—"
She stops speaking, shaking her head. For the briefest moment, a comfort that she's become acquainted with had settled on her so completely and unconsciously. Her mouth has never almost run away with her before.
"You were saying?" Sesshomaru watches her organize the same things again.
"It's nothing." She seals the glass medicine bottles, cradling them in the crook of her arm.
She catches Kazuki's attention, but stops him from coming over, going to him instead to deliver the medicine and their instructions.
Sesshomaru processes her evasion, affronted. He wants to ask her again. It's like someone saying "Guess what" and then "Never mind." He doesn't care. It's just annoying.
Kikyo feels his eyes on her, so she lets Kazuki say everything he needs to. When he bids her goodbye, the walk back to Sesshomaru feels a thousand miles. She keeps her thoughts inside her head, remembering his inhuman ability to hear.
"What were you going to say to me before?" Sesshomaru refuses to let it go. Kikyo stops in the middle of retrieving her bow and arrows. "Speak to me as you always have, Kikyo."
This is the second time she's heard him say her name. It escapes his lips with a richness she isn't used to. He labors over each vowel and consonant. Kikyo sucks her teeth. He doesn't show it on his face, but he feels entirely too clever.
"All right." She puts her hands on her hips, undeterred. "I was going to say that I thought you were quite handsome when I first met you. No," she pauses to remember the exact feeling, "I thought you were beautiful."
His cleverness expires. His jaw tightens, nonplussed. Kikyo fastens her quiver to her back and grabs her bow. It feels silly to have hesitated, reminding herself that he is the one she doesn't want to lie to.
"Shall we go?" She steps closer to him. Sesshomaru barely nods, just produces clouds under their feet that take them back to the castle.
The sunset impends. Green creeps into the sky, mirroring the soft grass blanketing the Western Lands. Kikyo imagines the story Hitoshi has dreamed up in her absence. The feeling of her feet touching the ground is a stronger thought. She can't describe it even after flying so many times now. Teaching herself unlocked her sense of freedom, but flying with Sesshomaru dispels the loneliness she had accepted as her fate.
His hand is on her lower back and hers is on his chest like always, between the two spikes on the front of his pauldron. She glides a finger along one of the spikes. He glances down at her, altered by her admission. It's not as if his appearance isn't regularly admired. He just believed it was only her beauty ensnaring him. He tells himself not to presume, to not make such leaps based on something so trivial.
"When are you expected back?" He leaps anyway.
Kikyo sighs, looking up at the day gone by. Sesshomaru focuses on the curve of her ear, one of the first parts of her that had stood out to him.
"Who can say?" Kikyo shakes her head. "Kagewaki's father has returned and his presence has shifted things to say the least."
Sesshomaru couldn't care less. If she agreed, he'd kill the lot of them and she wouldn't have to go back there.
"I know what you're thinking." She glances at him sidelong, startling him imperceptibly. "This is not a problem that your claws, your whip, or your swords can solve."
He scoffs at her knowing smirk. But the fact remains that she is not ready to return East. Stretching time here with him is more appealing. The question of when they'll see each other again comes to mind.
"If you aren't leaving yet, then let's continue the tour." It doesn't seem like she's ready to go, but he also feels like he's going back on his word as far as presumption is concerned.
"I'd like that." Kikyo staves off her loneliness for a little while longer.
Rather than see each room as they pass them, Sesshomaru thinks of what would most interest Kikyo. He leads them to the main library. Historian and master storyteller that Jaken is, he wasn't satisfied with just one. The shelves are stacked up from the floor to the ceiling.
"How did you amass such a collection?" Kikyo scans the number of scrolls and tomes on each shelf as if getting a rough estimate.
"My mother and father were avid readers. About a third came from Jaken." Sesshomaru can't determine whether she's impressed or not.
"My parents were some of the only adults in our village who could read." Kikyo picks out a scroll on demon slayer tactics. "They were very strict with me and Kaede about our studies."
An aura of strictness usually comes off of her, as if she's constantly fighting contradictions, trying to remain above them. Sesshomaru has always believed in his own discipline but it pales in comparison to hers. After all, she went so far as to reaffirm it in death.
Kikyo rolls the scroll up carefully and puts it back in its place. At her own mention of Kaede, a sadness bears down on her heart. She leans against a large, stone table in the center of the room.
"Your sister put up a brave front, but I sensed her unease over your unknown whereabouts when we spoke." Sesshomaru wants to explain the circumstances leading to his conversation with Kaede.
But Kikyo doesn't appear infringed upon. She merely hangs her head. This is the opposite of what he intended when he asked her to stay, but he welcomes her feelings as they come.
The library is dark, save the torches dotted throughout the room. Quiet, save the sound of their breathing. A sense of guilt washes over her. Her mood takes up space. It's easy to believe that it infects everything and everyone around her. She can't even pinpoint the source. It's almost like she's only allowed to feel a certain amount of joy. When she's too greedy, the sadness is quick to humble her.
"I left without telling her." She speaks through the tightness in her throat. "I have caused her nothing but pain in this life and the last. I am the reason she lost her eye."
She had been too greedy. For normalcy. For Inuyasha's love.
Tenseiga pulses at his side. The cadence is different—like it's crying. Sesshomaru rests his hand on the hilt.
"Perhaps." He studies a book's title to distract from her pain traveling through him, but it's nothing he's unable to bear. "As great as you say your sins are, she didn't seem concerned with any of it. She spoke only of you having a peaceful life."
Kikyo closes her eyes to soothe her strained throat and the burning in her nose. Perhaps her incessant guilt is Kaede's only grievance against her. It's something she never considered. If she allows herself, surely she can remember Kaede's smile and their days together without tears. Why is happiness easier to forget? Her sorrow is bone-deep.
A silence falls between them. Sesshomaru comes beside her, also leaning against the table. Her nose is red. He feels responsible for miring her in unwanted memories.
"Thank you." Kikyo turns to him, her sadness dissipating, his words like permission to feel something else. Each time they meet, he surprises her in a way that defies her understanding of him.
"Don't thank me." He looks away. Similarly, her gratitude stuns him. "It's just my assessment based on one discussion with her."
Warmth radiates from him as they stand together. She looks down at his hand curled over the edge of the table, and hers next to him. Since he first saved her life, she feels warmth in spells. Sometimes apart from him, but always with him.
"Sesshomaru?" She calls his name, smiling to herself. "Isn't it time for dinner? And could we have it outside by a fire?"
He presses his lips together, knowing his mother is somewhere scandalized. Mannerless children indeed. Since the time Kikyo arrived, he hasn't offered her anything. Jaken is supposed to be on top of these things. He pauses to talk himself out of the dawning realization that he's been starving her all day for his own ambitions. Then he remembers that she has no need of food.
"I thought—" he starts, distracted by how he's going to kill Jaken for not at least going through the motions of welcoming guests.
"I know," she says. "I don't have to eat, but I'd like to."
Being next to him ignites the feeling of being very alive and living people satisfy their appetites.
"What do you want?" he asks.
Because whatever it is, somebody in this castle is going to get it.
Plain, white rice. Sesshomaru sits across from Kikyo outside of the castle, a fire burning between them. He tosses one last chunk of wood into the flames and sits back to watch her eat from the comically large bowl Chiyo delivered. Kikyo piles the delicate grains on her chopsticks and blows.
"You do know that I have actual food here? Far more than just rice." Sesshomaru looks at the castle, sensing all of the souls inside that have to eat.
Kikyo sighs at the taste of the rice, its simplicity a gift. Blissfully uncomplicated. Sesshomaru lets her eat in peace until she sits the bowl down. It looks hardly touched despite counting all of her tiny mouthfuls. In addition, he tallies the amount of times he's seen her use her powers today.
"It seems that using your powers no longer takes a toll on you." He watches the flames devour each other.
"It's your blood," she says plainly. "My water's effect is tenfold and the souls within me have hardly stirred since."
He has tried to forget giving his blood to her but its phantom redness remains on her lips.
"I know it won't last, but—" She takes a long, deep breath "—there has not been a single instance since I came back that I haven't worried about dying. Not until that night when you saved me."
Naraku had hunted her down like she was less than human, less than an ant underfoot. The sickening glee he must have had seeing her run for her life, puppeteering her demise a second time. She threads her fingers together, then pulls them apart. Despite her attempts to calm herself, she can't hide her wildly beating heart.
"Why did you do it?" She touches her lips, looking straight at him.
He knows she isn't asking why he saved her. Her heart pounds in her chest, the feeling of being alive much stronger than it has ever been. She searches her heart for the feelings that had revived her. In this moment, the bitterness and rage seem only like bad dreams—gone with the act of waking up.
Sesshomaru delays his answer. The fire rises, obstructing their view of each other. Tiny sparks fly around. The wood crackles. One of the logs breaks, consumed.
"Your wound wasn't healing."
It's a half-truth. Expediency had been the furthest thing from his mind as she lay there diminished, with a smile on her face. A smile for all the lives she'd saved, keeping them at a safe distance from Naraku's hatred and fear of her.
Kikyo stands up, raising a hand. Her fingers move as if playing an instrument, lithe and delicate. Sesshomaru remembers her comment about Koga, how the woman on the battlefield is so different from the one in front of him now. The more facets of her that he sees, the more reveal themselves to be seen. Her soul collectors arrive, breaking through the sky's darkness. She steps away from the fire to greet them. He rises too.
"I would call today a great success." She holds out her hand to him.
"Indeed." Sesshomaru captures her hand. His thumb slides across the back of it before he releases her.
The soul collectors surround her, lifting her up. She looks at the castle on a hill and the backdrop of the Western Lands. At the peace she leaves behind as a means to prolong it.
She looks at him, watching her be carried away.
"Maybe next time, you'll tell me the truth." She smiles, facing East.
The sky takes her back to that place and those people.
Sesshomaru turns to the evidence of their time together; the fire, waning in her absence. The bowl of rice. He retrieves his swords from the ground and heads up to the castle, passing through the gate alone.