Kikyo watched the back of Inuyasha's silver head as they walked away from Sesshomaru's lands and further east. Walking with her old love into the woods seemed surreal, like she was walking through a dream. Everything about him was familiar and unchanged. He still wore his robe of the fire rat, still looked boyish and lacking in the maturer qualities that came with age. It was a quality she had liked about him. Her own life had thrown her into responsibility not long after she had left childhood- being with Inuyasha had reminded her what it was to be carefree.

When she had first been resurrected, she had longed to see Inuyasha. She had pinned Tsumetai to that rock, convinced she would not walk away alive, and Inuyasha had been the last person that she had thought about.

Was he pleased to see her? Would he be worried? Happy? Indifferent?

Kikyo remembered her last embrace with Inuyasha, when she had died and been lifted into the comfortable nothingness of heaven. "You came for me…That was enough," she had said, smiling a last, sweet smile as she looked up at Inuyasha's tear stained face.

They had kissed, not for the first time, but it was the most passionate kiss she had ever had. Not that she was drawing on a wealth of experience.

All that pain and grief that they had endured, only for her to be dumped once again onto the rim of existence.

A foggy early morning light had begun to filter through the woods, a dewy mist hugging the ground. The indigo sky still lent the cedars and maples their mysterious, ghostly atmosphere. In the distance, deer and stoats scuffled. Kikyo thought she may have spied a Busan fowl hopping through the foliage, the impending light of day sending it fleeing back to its lair. Not far from where they stood, gossamer wings fluttered in the semi-darkness.

Kikyo had forgotten how alive she felt travelling through woodlands and groves. Since her second resurrection, she had been staying in Sesshomaru's castle, and apart from dragging some exhausted children through the countryside, she had not had the opportunity to seek solitude in the trees…Not that finding solitude had really been required in her new life- not living with the stoic Lord Sesshomaru. Her relationship with the western lord had been up and down, but not complex enough for her to search for respite in her beloved woods.

But it was feeling more complex now.

Once they were deep into the forest, Inuyasha turned to Kikyo. He was staring at her like she had suddenly dropped from the sky. Not only that, he looked mildly furious too. He had guessed then, that she had been walking around for some time now.

"How long?" he said, his brows furrowed.

"...How long?" Kikyo repeated uneasily, thinking of Sesshomaru and feeling a nebulous guilt rising in her chest. She had to remind herself that she had done nothing wrong. Her soul collectors swirled around her, drifting on lazy air currants, satisfied now their mistress was safe.

Inuyasha's brow creased further in frustration.

"You know what I mean Kikyo, how long have you been alive for?..This time."

Kikyo turned away wearily and sat on the knees of a particularly squat looking cedar tree. When she counted the days, it did not seem long at all. But to her: the weeks had felt like months.

"A few weeks, give or take…I know what you're thinking Inuyasha." Kikyo said, looking into his eyes, eyes that were so alike, yet unlike his brothers. Inuyasha's irises were a slightly darker gold, and had an overall more approachable, friendlier look to them then Sesshomaru's.

Inuyasha huffed, and she knew every feeling and thought he had felt since seeing her would come pouring out. "Do you? I'll tell you Kikyo, you don't have to guess. What I'm wondering is; why would so much time pass before I'm told that you are alive again?! If I hadn't been in the right place at the right time, I STILL wouldn't know that you are alive, even now. It's almost like you didn't want me to know!" Inuyasha burst out.

Kikyo held her hands up in despair, feeling helpless to explain her reasoning. A thick silence fell between them, with Inuyasha glowering and Kikyo looking exasperated.

Surmising he would not get an answer as the silence stretched on, Inuyasha sighed.

"How did it happen?" he asked softly.

Kikyo stared up into the branches above them, watching the progress of the rising sun. "It was Kohaku. His death…allowed me to live again. I assumed that when I died, my gift to Kohaku would help him live his life to the fullest, and that he would be fortunate enough to die as an old man, content in his bed. And that when he died, that speck of my soul that I gave to him would just…join the rest in the afterlife. Or maybe return to Kagome's body I suppose." Kikyo said. Her heart ached for Kohaku. He did not deserve to be slain at such a young age. But alas, this was the time they lived in.

"I see. I never expected this. To see you again, standing there like no time has passed at all. I-we-I mean, all of us, after you died- we thought of you often. Without you, we never would have defeated Naraku. If-If I had known there was even a chance that we could have brought you back like this, I would of-"

"Left me dead," Kikyo interrupted, looking morosely at her hands. "I'm not meant to be here. I should have died, and stayed dead, over fifty years ago. I don't know why I've come back, why I can never truly be at rest."

Inuyasha was stumped by this confession, but knew it must be how Kikyo truly felt. Kikyo had always trusted Inuyasha enough to be completely honest with him. He had understood how difficult her first resurrection had been, how listlessly she had wandered before she had decided to pursue Naraku. Within moments of being together they had slipped into their old familiar trust. And this trust made her actions all the more confusing for Inuyasha to understand. It was infuriating.

"Why didn't you tell me Kikyo? You know I should have been told immediately."

Kikyo hesitated.

"I've been busy," she said rather lamely. It was an awful response, as if she simply had more important things to do, and had not bothered to tell her old lover that she was alive.

The truth nestled deep in Kikyo's heart, a truth she did not want to speak, was that she did not want to be an awkward burden to Inuyasha. She knew what her presence would mean to him and Kagome, what tension it had caused before Naraku's defeat. Staying away was simpler for both of them.

Her unsatisfactory response had sparked more anger in Inuyasha. He began to pace around the woods, his fists bunched.

"Too busy? That's your answer? You could have written a letter or sent a message. You've been living with Sesshomaru right? Why didn't you ask him to let me know? Maybe you were both 'too busy'? to think of me" Inuyasha growled suspiciously, narrowing his eyes.

Kikyo ignored this jibe about her living with Sesshomaru.

"It was Sesshomaru who found me. He needed the power of a priestess to help in his fight against the northern lord, and then fighting Tsumetai just…took over. There was no time." Kikyo said, shaking her head.

Inuyasha, who had never been one to hide or ignore his feelings, was not satisfied.

"What's going on between you and Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha said venomously with intense eye contact, eye contact that Kikyo broke.

"I'm working with him and I take care of Rin when she stays. That's all." Kikyo said, continuing to avoid her old lover's gaze. She could not say why she was acting so shiftily, technically nothing had happened between her and Sesshomaru…But there were feelings. There, trapped underneath that wretched barrier, Sesshomaru had admitted in his own stiff mannered way that he desired her. And she in turn admired his beauty and his strength.

"That's not the way it looked to me. When I arrived…The way he was holding you…Something is going on, I know it. You need to be careful Kikyo, Sesshomaru is a dangerous demon." Inuyasha said, unconvinced.

Kikyo felt a sudden burst of anger. Who was Inuyasha to question her life and her relationships now?

Gripping the bark of her cedar seat in fury, Kikyo surveyed Inuyasha with an almost haughty grace. "Tell me Inuyasha, are you married?" she asked sharply. Inuyasha spluttered like a goldfish at her words, his eyes wide.

"What?"

"I said, are you married? Rin told me that you are now married to Kagome."

Inuyasha gulped, a deer caught in a bright light.

"I… …Yes," Inuyasha admitted quietly.

Kikyo clutched the bark of her cedar throne until the skin on her hands began to protest. So it was true. Inuyasha and Kagome's romance, something she had always been in the way of, had blossomed upon her death. She felt a flicker of her old jealousy arise in her breast. But it was a small flame; unconsuming. Was that because of Sesshomaru?

"As a married man, you have no right to barrage me with questions like this. There is nothing between you and I anymore. We died- when I died. You moved on." Kikyo said. Shocked by her abruptness, Inuyasha opened his mouth to speak but Kikyo waved his words shut. "I don't blame you for doing so. Kagome loves you, and I know that you love her now. So don't ask me questions like we're sitting in the past."

Kikyo stood and turned her back on Inuyasha. Another silence fell, this one more taut than the last. The sun had gained momentum and the sky was getting brighter and brighter with its ascent. The mystery and danger of the night was fading.

Inuyasha looked at Kikyo sullenly, but did not seem daring enough to broach the topic of Sesshomaru again. The air between the two had become staler, colder.

"So what's the situation with the north and the spiders now?" Inuyasha said eventually, breaking the hush that had fallen.

Kikyo sighed heavily and faced Inuyasha once again, starting to pace. The war was taking its toll and increasing in ferocity.

"It seems we continue to be at war. They were close, using that barrier of theirs, so close to ending us. We were caught in a compromising position," Kikyo said slowly.

Inuyasha frowned, struggling to imagine Sesshomaru in any sort of 'compromising position' that did not involve his daughter, Rin.

"So, what can we do? How can we defeat them?" Inuyasha said eagerly. Since Naraku's defeat, Japan had entered a relatively peaceful lull. A few bandits and rogue samurai had at first been foolish enough to try and attack the village, but Inuyasha had fought them off easily. After a year or so, the warriors and bandits surrounding their village became accustomed and aware that a half demon resided there, and learned to give the village a wide berth.

Because of this; Inuyasha had not had a decent fight in over a year.

"They are using a complicated brand of magic, a magic I have never seen used before. Truthfully, I did not know that this type of magic even existed. Not until now. To defeat them? I think we need to find the weaker of the two when they have cast their spell and destroy them. Then, theoretically, upon death this demonic connection between Mikata and Tsumetai should be severed…Theoretically." Kikyo said with a shrug, inspecting her ruined blue kimono unhappily. "So far, we have been too embroiled in a fight with the magically enhanced of the two, to be able to find the weaker one."

Inuyasha puffed out his chest. "Well you have me now. If you get attacked, I can start looking for an accomplice. I know what she looks like now, the demon called Mikata. She has red hair."

For the first time since seeing Inuyasha, Kikyo smiled. Kikyo had suffered a dark life, full of hunting demons ever since he could remember. She was a woman who rarely smiled. But when a smile could be coaxed out of her, it was rare and effulgent. Inuyasha's offer to help her was his version of an olive branch.

Perhaps her relationship with Inuyasha would never be simple- but for now they had reached an unspoken understanding to leave the past in the past, and to deal with the enemies present now.

"I hope you're not going to wander around and attack every red-headed female you see…Though if you see a red haired female trying to kill everyone with knives, you've probably identified Mikata correctly," Kikyo said airily. She felt lighter somehow. Now that Inuyasha knew she was alive, but had decided to put aside his anger to assist her and Sesshomaru, some of her anxiety had lifted. Seeing Kagome would no doubt be a little awkward at first; but it was an awkwardness she would have to endure in order to see her sister Kaede again.

Kikyo stood up on aching, newly clay-made-flesh limbs. She stared down at the now silken skin of her hands thoughtfully. "I'll need a day or two to rest before we plan our offensive. Perhaps, if we meet in a couple of days…Inuyasha what's wrong?" Kikyo asked, alarmed. For she had looked up whilst speaking and seen the look on Inuyasha's face. He looked pained and stricken.

"You have to come back to the village with me today. Now." Inuyasha said.

Kikyo would have initially bristled at his bossy tone, had it not been for the dire expression he now wore. Something was wrong.

Kikyo frowned, feeling tense. "Why?"

"It's Kaede…she's ill."

Kikyo felt a slight relief. "Oh. Well, I can take a look at her. Though I'm sure Kagome-"

Inuyasha shook his head, grimacing with grief. "No, you don't understand Kikyo," Inuyasha said. He looked near tears. "She's really ill…I think…I think that she's dying."

Kikyo stared at Inuyasha with round eyes, struggling to fully comprehend the enormity of what he was saying. Kikyo knew Kaede was old. But for some unconscious reason, she had taken for granted Kaede's ongoing presence in this world. She had assumed her sister would always be there, that they would have plenty of time to be reunited. Kikyo had even placed Sesshomaru's war over finding her sister again.

Now it seemed she only had what time death allowed her.

Looking devastated, Kikyo shook her head numbly, and stepped towards Inuyasha desperately.

"Tell me everything Inuyasha," Kikyo said in a voice filled with despair.


Writer's note: Thank you for my reviews and follows!