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Chapter 16

The rushing of water fell over Oshun again as she purposely made her way forward through the life of the great Inu. Her feet moved away from the dog that her heart wanted so much to win. To succeed. His character while not having been perfect was commendable. She had seen the changes and great strides he had made over time. Oshun knew without a doubt she was not just seeing memories of his pivotal moments, but she was doing something on a much grander scale. She didn't just hold a piece of the magic her mother and father held to. She could move through time and space of that memory. But it left her so tired. So emotionally drained to do so. But she would see this to the end. She would help herself and help Sesshomaru to the very end.

Witnessing Sesshomaru endure the unyielding progression of time broke Oshun's heart in ways she hadn't thought possible. She had known him as a powerful, unrelenting force. An embodiment of pride and strength. But now through the prism of centuries, she saw that same strength tested by change and loss in ways she could never have imagined. Each of the defining moments she spent with him through the ages carved deeper lines of sorrow into her soul. It left a helpless painful ache that intensified as she watched him endure. He did not endure silently nor did he take things sitting down. He was a warrior and a king through and through. But time took and took from him and those around him. She knew the struggles of time. She lived it as well. Just her siblings and she chose to see themselves above humankind. To be worshipped. But the demons of this world including Sesshomaru, chose to fight for their existence to live on this planet as themselves and all the rights and privileges deserving. With it came the spectrum of emotions that she watched him wrestle with.

Her bare feet grounded themselves in the cold dirt of the earth watching him face Japan's darkest periods. The chime of her anklets ringing out to find his ears. His amber gaze witnessing bloodshed, wars, and unspeakable devastation. Decisions made from survival and some out of fear from those around him. The coalition between demons and humans of Japan led to a series of events that would change the trajectory of the existence of life on the planet. And with it came the harsh realities of what it would take to do so.

Sesshomaru's memories threaded through Japan's most pivotal moments. Each one an intimate yet untouchable glimpse of the demon who remained etched in her spirit. She saw him first on the battlefield in the late feudal era. His armor reflecting the harsh glint of fire under a blood red sky. Surrounded by chaos, his movements were as precise as they were lethal. He was a figure who commanded power with a grace both terrifying and mesmerizing. Oshun watched as he walked through the carnage unscathed. A lord and warrior bound to a world shaped by honor and violence. Even then, he moved as though he carried his own realm within him. A silent, impenetrable strength that endured even as the world shifted beneath his feet.

She felt an overwhelming urge to reach out, to be by his side in these moments when the weight of the world pressed down upon his shoulders. In the distant fires of war, he had stood tall and commanding. A deadly weapon that had been sharpened and created for moments like this. But she sensed the simmering grief beneath his stoic exterior. A frustration that the power that once commanded the Western Shiro could do little to shield those caught in the broader sense of humanity's relentless and many times unnecessary conflicts. And all she could do was watch him and provide comfort at times. Sometimes it was in the privacy of his Shiro. Other times in makeshift war camps, public discussions, and ship holds. He would find her immediately or she would step out forever going unseen by everyone around him except for those that had activated their third eye. Then there were the silent hours of the night. She would stay through it all just to give comfort to him in those moments. Her body would curl into his and he would welcome her. His hold wrapped her warm body close to his in the moonlight. She felt every moment of his pain, struggles, victories, and triumphs as if it were her own.

As the centuries crept into the Meiji Restoration, Oshun saw him again. From the shadows of a quiet forest, she watched as he moved through a new era unfurling in Japan. His once familiar silks and metal attire had shifted to the refined robes of customed nobility. As tradition bowed to the force of the global Western influence flooding the land, Sesshomaru remained rooted in the ways of tradition as much as he could. She watched him contemplate and work through designs of the railways that snaked across the countryside. The foreign ships in the harbors now docked more frequently with their goods and products. The humans were excited to be part of the innovation and change. The architecture sprang up in the style of a new, industrialized world built around him. His clan and pack moved around him to help carry the burden. Rin grew up through all this turning into a leader of her own. She had become as formidable on the battlefield as well as in the war rooms. Though his expression remained impassive, Oshun sensed his wariness. A silent defiance against the rapid modernization that threatened the ancient ways he held dear.

As the Taisho Era came and went, she saw him standing alone on a cliffside overlooking the sea. She could feel its waters pull her to him as it reflected the world around them. His eyes fixed on a distant horizon. The weight of solitude was palpable around him, though it carried with it a strange calm as if he were accepting. He still stood tall dressed in silks tailored designs that were a bit more fitted. His armor still latched on his body with modifications. The swords still resting at his hips ready to be used at any moment's notice. His demonic power now flaunted with ferocity as a constant warning. He remained a silent guardian over the land. Oshun watched as he would do these things. He would stare out at the sea as he was…searching for her. Reaching out to her.

Oshun felt warm in her spirit when he would do this. He had listened to her. Listened to her share tidbits about herself over the years and began seeking refuge in her. She would find him more and more near the oceans and rivers. There he would find reprieve from the world around him. And sometimes, she would come to him too. Sesshomaru told her plenty of times she smelt of hibiscus, honey, and freshwater. His nose would bury itself in the lush tendrils of her locs as they held onto each other. In those moments at the water's edge, he would speak of what he had found and learned. Their intellectual discussions carried him through the chaos of the life he lived. Once he had even told her that he found research on her father, Obatala. She grew excited to hear that he had learned of the Orishas. And Sesshomaru read of her deep ancestral origins. He had figured out who she was in his lifetime. And he found her to be more enigmatic than ever before.

He had learned and saw her people. A few had been taken and left in Japan. Their stories were just as she had said but with twists and turns. They were all so different in many ways from languages to customs. Yet they shared in the tragedy knowing that they were taken from their homes and forced to adopt the customs of their masters. Some he had freed and taken into his own clan. Others were given provisions to make it back to their homeland. The few that stayed, had nowhere to go or were too afraid to go back. And so, they stayed. And they had learned and grew to be part of the fabric of his growing clan. It wasn't without its own challenges and prejudices. But strides had been taken for their rights to freedom. He held her in the darkest hours of the night and spoke of their stories. His clan started in the hundreds and had now grown into the thousands. All loyal as the Inu blood that grounded them all together.

When Japan entered the turbulence of World War II, Oshun saw him from the shadowed edges of bomb-ravaged cities. His silhouette stood stark against the devastated landscapes. In the destruction, she felt his simmering rage. Disbelief intermingled with how far humanity would go for manifest destiny. She walked the chaotic streets of one infamous event that left her gasping for breath. The people were running through bodies and supplies on the backs of wagons that had just arrived. Demons and human screams, cries, growls, and shouts were heard everywhere in the chaos. Dirtied faces and scars passed by her from some that had hallowed eyes. Things were piled up in some places and burning in others. Soldiers were everywhere running about and creating makeshift spaces in the seaside town that wasn't built to house so many occupants. A crowd stood around a few barrels and soldiers huddled in a corner. They held onto each other as they listened in silence. Radios and machines spoke of bombings and something major coming from the enemy. An evacuation of a place was ordered immediately. Oshun stumbled through the streets in search of Sesshomaru with her own panicked expression. The blazing sirens turned on causing more commotion. A plane flew above her head and over the town. Its war paint, a sign of what was to come shortly.

Tears burned down her face as she stumbled through the streets until she found him. Kids were being put on the back of a wagon with a few women. Sesshomaru stood impressively in his dog form towering everything. He held his body down as more children and women slid down and made their way towards the rustic wagon. Rin rushed around dressed in a mix of a warrior's uniform and an updated muted kimono as she helped another child into the back. She spoke of a hut prepared for the next batch up ahead that she would take them to. Pack members were all taking folks and dropping them off. His commanders rushed to tell him of the sulfur they smelt not too far off from where they had come.

And then…

Lightening ripped through the sky.

The earth shook.

The wind rippled around them.

The soil cried.

The sky bled.

Love had lost a battle.

Oshun bent down to the ground feeling the air rip from her chest. The earth was crying. The waters were furious. Her eyes looked to the sky to see something blooming. Everyone and everything had stopped. Her ears rang as the shock knocked her to her feet. Tears overflowed from the corners of her eyes as she looked around. Her chest was so tight she could hardly breathe. She managed to push herself up and use a wooden pole at her side for support. Her watery gaze saw that some of the demons were down to their knees in the streets. Others looked on in disbelief and ferocity. Red and black gazes glanced at the darkening sky above. Among them was that of Sesshomaru.

His ruby expression held suppressed rage at the devastation wrought upon the people and land. His power which was once a source of pride, seemed to have faded into the chaos of human warfare. His ancient might was almost irrelevant in a world consumed by fire and metal. He moved now through the ruckus making sure his pack was secure. A person sharing his resemblance stumbled out of a building holding onto a woman at his side with lush black hair. A priestess by the looks of her. The young demon's expression matched that of his older brother. His ears lay flat against his head as he held her to him. She was devastated. They consoled her and told her of how she saved lives because of her knowledge. Oshun stepped towards them when she felt something. This woman was much like her. The priestess he held to him.

Oshun continued to watch as the demons all righted themselves. Everyone's expressions still looked to the blooming cloud in the very far distance as the sky darkened severely. The despair and cries echoed amongst the camp as people screamed for their loved ones. The young priestess cried in the arms of her pack that she wished she could have done more. Oshun saw that she too was not of this place but unlike her, fate had grounded her here to her love whom she bared his mark upon her neck.

Oshun turned around and then looked back at the sky again. Her feet carried her out of the town and towards the direction of the explosion. It was unlike anything she had ever seen. Silent tears cascaded now down her face. The pain of the earth ate within her chest. Her fingers turned to push and pull the sea nearby. She could use it to wash them away. To drown them all. To hold no contempt for them as the living seemed to have no empathy for other beings of life. Howls and roars ripped through the skies from all around her. The mourning had begun. A prayer burned on her lips as the occasional wagon and demon passed by her toward their camp. She begged and pleaded for salvation. For healing. For those lost and those forced to live on.

Oshun's feet carried her into the forest nearby. Something landed behind her, but she paid it no mind as she continued to walk in a daze. Strong arms grabbed her, and a warm body held her close. Her lips still moved in the prayer as her arms reached up to hold onto broad shoulders. Silver hair danced in her vision as she held onto him. Her prayers turned into loud cries as she wailed. She wailed for them both. She released the sounds that he couldn't allow himself to relinquish. Her sobs joined the howls of his brethren. She pulled them both down until they were seated in the soil of the earth. Her hands reached for his face. Her thumbs moved over the markings of his birth. She gave so many apologies for things not under her control. She told him of the pain she felt from the earth as it bled.

Sesshomaru felt the howl in his throat burn his esophagus. He had to stay in control. He had to. He could not afford to falter now. He had to check on the pups of his pack. And there was still much work to be done and more lives to save. His immediate pack was safe, but the clan had suffered. Mass graves and ceremonial cremations now painted his vision more frequently than anything he knew. Names and faces of clan members were forever etched into his memory. Blood and ripped fur moved through the air across time. The memory of their bodies lying unrecognizable in dirt trenches would forever haunt him. They had lost so much. Their clan had lost so much. The ones who fought alongside him over the centuries were gone. New life was left with missing gaps in their bloodline. Fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, cousins, neighbors…they were gone. Either destroyed or lost and separated. Lives were lost despite them knowing that this would come. The majority had made it out of the vicinity and yet there were more unaccounted for. He still did not know where his mother was. She had left to negotiate with another fraction in his stead as he worked to secure their territory. The scent of sulfur, copper, and smoke burned his nostrils. Instinct was driving him now as he allowed himself a minute to digest what just happened.

It was a stark, unfamiliar sensation. It was all he could do to hold onto the woman before him. As if grounding himself in her presence might somehow dispel the horrors he'd just witnessed. The devastation, the sheer scale of suffering, clung to him like the ash he could see fall in the far distance. No demon or human was left unscathed. Everyone suffered. The cries that echoed around the area were haunting. There was no life here. Just ghosts and spirits. It left a hollow ache where even his centuries-old pride faltered. Yet here, in the solitude of the woods, with her in his arms, there was a brief respite where her wails of sorrow allowed him to feel this grief.

Sesshomaru's stoic heart wrestled with unfamiliar turmoil. Everything in him wanted to cry out into the sky like his clan. It dug itself into his chest and clawed at his lungs. He felt a rare vulnerability as he clung to Oshun, her heartbeat echoing through him like an anchor to something real, something good amidst a world in ruin. His hand rested over her back, fingers grazing the soft fabric of her white dress as though reassuring himself that she was indeed there. In the biggest moment in his life, she was solid, present, and a balm to the fractured edges of his world. Her fingers danced along his jaws. Sesshomaru leaned into her as she coaxed him through what was happening. Her ramblings had muted despite her tears continuing to fall.

"Mourn, my love."

Sesshomaru blinked at this. The use of the word "love" and the claim she made. The demand she asked of him. His red gaze took in her puffy eyes and the growing scent of rising water. She reached up and moved his shirt out of the way. Her hand rested on his chest, and she rubbed the skin there in soothing circles. "Release this." She muttered through her cries.

As if she relinquished a spell over him…a whine fell from his lips. Suddenly, sounds he had never heard roared from his mouth. And in doing so…the howls and cries around in grew in number. And the people around them grieved. And in doing so…he did too. For the first time…he mourned his losses.

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