Ann lay in her futon gazing sightlessly through the gap in the shoji screen at her window. Vaguely she knew Kei was next to her washing her body. This is what it had come to. The strength to move had slowly ebbed away, her depression reaching a point where she just wanted to sleep. Kei tugged her kimono back into place and pulled her blanket back up.

"I will bring some food later," she said, her voice soft. Ann didn't respond. The door clicked closed and she was left alone. Her attention returned to the window and suddenly she realized she was watching the snow fall. A painful shock rippled through her body. Somehow, enough time had passed that winter had come. It had been summer when Ichiro and her child had died. How had so much time passed? She slowly sat up and looked around her room, her awareness heightened for the first time in a while. Her room hadn't changed at all since she'd arrived. Only she had changed. She felt weak and drab like a wilting flower.

Ann thought back over the last several months since she'd arrived in Sesshomaru's home, trying to remember details, but it all seemed to mesh together. There were no defining marks of time passing. Kai would come in and care for her from time to time, but Ann hadn't stepped foot out of this room.

"What am I doing?" Ann wondered out loud. "I've been laying here for months getting weaker while Naraku is getting stronger." She scrubbed her face with her hands and was shocked to feel the hard edges of her bone structure. Her hands slowly roved over the rest of her body and found that she'd lost a substantial amount of weight. She held her hands up in front of her face, gasping at the sickly pallor of her skin.

Angry at herself, Ann threw her blankets aside and pushed herself to her feet. On wobbly legs, she walked to the window and peeked out for the first time. A layer of snow covered a walled in courtyard. On the opposite side of the courtyard was a tall, square building. Beyond the courtyard walls and the other building were taller walls, on top of which she could see guards patrolling.

Ann turned from the window and slowly crossed to the shoji door. Quietly, she slid it opened and peeked out. A hallway ran in either direction, once again with richly lacquered wood, but no decorations.

"It's like he doesn't live here or something," Ann thought as she exited the room and started down the hallway. At the end of the hall, a set of stairs led both up and down. She went down and found herself in a large open room that she assumed was a sort of receiving chamber. This room was actually decorated, although it wasn't much. At the end of the room, behind a raised dais, was a tapestry that stretched the entirety of the wall depicting a battle. Ann edged closer to look at the details, realizing that the action centered on a giant white dog with blood red eyes. Hordes of demons swirled above it in the sky while battalions of human soldiers scurried around it like ants.

For some reason the scene sent a chill down Ann's spine. She considered, wondering if it was because she could sympathize with the humans on the ground. She hadn't battled many demons, but she had heard enough stories from Ichiro and her uncle to know that the men in this picture probably all died horribly. She wrapped her arms around her torso and backed away from the picture.

Ann continued her exploration, ending up at a door that happened to open out onto the courtyard she'd seen from her window. She stood in the doorway, gazing out upon the freshly fallen snow. The sun still hadn't risen very high, but enough light shined to turn the frozen layer in to a sparkling blanket. Ann stepped tentatively out into the snow, a thrill running through her at the cold on her bare feet. With her arms still wrapped around herself, she ventured out along what looked to be a path. Lumps rose up on either side that she assumed were low scrubs. In a corner of the courtyard, she found a small pond with a bare tree growing next to it. She laid her hand upon the bark.

"I wonder what you'll look like in a few months?" she whispered. She turned her focus to the pond, kneeling next to it and laying her hands upon its frozen surface. She was finding the cold exhilarating. It had been too long since she'd experienced sensations other than her bed.

A stick on the ground caught her attention. She lifted it, realizing it reminded her of a cross. A single tear escaped the corner of her eye. Quietly she dug the snow aside until she reached dirt. She pushed the stick into the ground and then pushed the snow up around it. She pressed her hands together in prayer while looking at the stick.

"Ichiro," she whispered. "I'm sorry if I've disappointed you, but I'll do better from now on. I promise." Her voice quivered as she made the vow. She didn't say the rest of what she meant, her promise to join her family after she dealt with Naraku hadn't changed. The promise filled her both with darkness and peace.

"What are you doing out here?" a familiar, cold voice startled Ann, and she spun around to see Sesshomaru standing over her. His eyes narrowed as he glanced at the cross-shaped stick. Ann scowled back, feeling a familiar unease. There was something about Sesshomaru that put her on edge. It wasn't just the fact that he could kill her before she blinked, but that he was hard to read. It made her feel as if she had to verbally scramble to stay on his good side.

"I was talking to my family," she grumbled. "I miss them." His eyes roved over her, seemingly taking in her general appearance, making her self-concious.

"Human emotions are so pathetic," he muttered as he turned from her. A fire lit inside Ann at the insult, and she scrambled weakly to her feet.

"How dare you," she shouted. "What do you know about losing loved ones? Have you ever loved anybody other than yourself?"

Sesshomaru paused mid-step, his back to Ann. The air grew colder, the tension thickening between them. When he did turn to face her, his expression was once again unreadable, but his eyes gleamed.

"Love is a weakness that I do not indulge in," Sesshomaru's voice was like ice. "I learned long ago that those that burden themselves with it only end up losing." Ann clenched her fists, feeling that was a barb aimed at her. Furious, she took a step forward, her voice trembling with her barely contained anger.

"Then you know nothing about the strength it takes to love and to lose. You distance yourself from others and hide behind your coldness, but it doesn't make you stronger. It just means that you'll eventually die alone." Sesshomaru's gaze sharpened, a hint of a sneer on his lips.

"I may die alone, but I will have attained what I wanted. Relationships and emotions will only cloud my focus." Ann felt a surge of frustration. They couldn't be more opposite in mindsets. Her eyes blazed as she met Sesshomaru's icy stare.

"Focus? On what, exactly? Killing Naraku? Or is it just some endless pursuit of power that drives you? What kind of life is that, if you can't feel anything?" Sesshomaru's expression hardened, a dangerous glint in his eyes. He took a step closer to her, his presence imposing.

"You speak as if your emotions make you strong. Yet here you are, weakened by grief, clinging to memories. If you wish to honor your family, you will abandon this pitiful display and seek retribution." Ann glanced down at herself. She was pretty pitiful looking; her kimono rumbled and barely covering her, her weight significantly less and she couldn't even imagine how messed up her hair must look right now, most likely giving her a very wild look. Her eyes filled with tears, but she stood her ground and faced Sesshomaru defiantly.

"I will seek retribution, but not because you think my grief is pathetic. I will do it because my love for them gives me the strength to fight. You might think emotions are a weakness, but they give me purpose." Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed, and for a moment, an unreadable emotion flickered across his face. He quickly turned away, his voice returned to its usual cold and distant tenor.

"Then use that purpose wisely, human. Naraku will not be defeated by tears and sentiment. If you truly wish to honor your family, you will need to become stronger than you ever thought possible."

Ann watched as Sesshomaru walked away, disappearing through a door into his home. She looked back at the cross-shaped stick, a new resolve forming within her. She would become stronger, not just for herself, but for the memory of her loved ones. She vowed silently that she would see Naraku dead before she joined her family in the afterlife. And she would show Sesshomaru that strength could come from the heart, even if it was a heart destined to break one last time.

Sesshomaru stood just inside the door, clenching and unclenching his hands. That woman aggravated him beyond measure, but some of what she had said had rung true to him. He clenched his teeth in frustration, trying to argue away what she'd said in his own mind.

"I've come this far without anybody," he thought, determined. "I will continue in the same manner." His eyes darted to the large tapestry at the end of the room. He approached it, a mixture of emotions swirling within him. His father, Toga, was at its center in the midst of a great battle that had taken place long before Sesshomaru had been born. By the time Sesshomaru had known his father, Toga had changed from this blood thirsty creature on the wall to a being that he had trouble seeing eye-to-eye with. Always he had tried to defeat his father, and always he had failed.

Sesshomaru growled at the memory of his father's end. It had been for the sake of others that he'd died, first when he fought Ryūkotsusei to protect the inhabitants of the western lands and then when he fought Takemaru to protect his human lover and half-breed son. Frustration welled up in Sesshomaru. His father had been overwhelmingly powerful, and might have been greater still, but had died for love.

"That woman would commend you, father," Sesshomaru growled, his mind turning to Ann. "I can't. I will be greater than you. I will know all of your strengths and none of your weaknesses." The door to the courtyard slid open, and Sesshomaru stepped into the shadows as Ann entered the room. She was shivering from the cold, but the resolve was still on her face. Carefully she made her way across the room and began her slow ascent to the next floor. A couple of times she stopped to catch her breath, but then she'd continue.

Sesshomaru contemplated her, remaining silent in the shadows. From across the room her scent reached him, lilac. Kai was adept at healing and this scent was one she used to soothe. Normally he wouldn't have thought twice about it, but on Ann the scent ignited some part of his mind. For an instant, the stern mask he wore softened, the scent evoking nostalgic memories. He shook his head, his mask slipping back into place as he continued to watch her.

She stopped halfway up the stairs, her breath coming in labored gasps. She suddenly became alert, her gaze darting around behind her and around the room. Seeing nothing, she shook her head and resumed her determined climb.

Sesshomaru's gaze followed her, his mind in turmoil. "Her resolve is strong," he admitted reluctantly. "Stronger than most humans I have encountered. She defies the weakness of her kind." He mentally shook himself, a surge of frustration rising up in him. "Why do I even care?" he thought angrily. "She is nothing to me. A mere human, driven by foolish emotions."

Yet, her words still echoed in his mind. They challenged what he had come to believe. There was also something about her, a resilience and strength, that he couldn't ignore. She lingered in his thoughts, and he didn't fully understand why. He had always prided himself on his strength, although he still wanted more, and his detachment from emotions had always helped him in maintaining this status. But now he was drawn to this woman who, even in her grief, was powerful in her own way.

"Father," he whispered, his eyes back on the tapestry. "Is this what drew you to that half-breed's mother?" He growled, suddenly determined to cast aside these thoughts. "I will be better than you, father." As he made this vow, he couldn't ignore the tiny piece of doubt that wormed its way into his determination. His eyes still on the tapestry, Sesshomaru suddenly realized that his path, once so clear, had become more obscured.