Scooping up the Fukuyama family, Milady acted as their steed as she charged at the akashita demon now bound by her son's ally and her power. Hasumi may have been in tears on the ride, but the joined powers of her family and the inu princess gave her staff more strength. In a final blast of power, Hasumi let out a battle cry before releasing a beam of reiki energy. The beast was finally incinerated in the blast and a portal opened to collect something in the bright light.

When the light faded and the sky became blue again, Yuko and Homugi ran over to Genso Shushu-Sen to find Liuxian while Jaken ran around to look for Sesshomaru. They spotted the boat flying within the center of the city and followed it. Jaken, on the other hand, managed to find Sesshomaru as his body was sizzling from the high amounts of reiki energy. He was extremely quiet and still. Jaken tried to call him, but he hardly heard anything. She lied to him. She said they would have their final battle and test their strength one day, but that day would be in the afterlife. He won't see her again for many years.

Yuko and Homugi found Liuxian in the city, standing over his beloved friend's still body. His smile wasn't as wide or bright like his usual. Instead, it reduced to a smirk and he had a look in his eyes that was remorseful, but he was still and breathing irregularly. Yuko ran up to him to ask what was wrong, but, when she went to touch his shoulder and looked down, she saw her beloved mentor not moving... or breathing...

"Sensei!" she called, rushing to Meioshi's side. She tried to shake her, check for a pulse, give her water, anything she could think to do while in tears. She even tried to check for a temperature, but her skin lost its color, her hair dulled, and her response was nigh. She was gone. "Sensei! Please don't leave me, sensei! You have to wake up...! Please... please wake up...!"

"Meioshi, no...!" Homugi whispered, trying to fight her sadness, but she too could only cover her mouth as she sobbed and let the tears fall.

She heard crunching behind her, gasped, and turned to see Sesshomaru and Jaken standing there. Sesshomaru was stiff in his movements, almost felt sick as his throat started to ache, but he wanted to see her. He wanted to punch her for not waiting for him. He wanted to kick her for saying her last words like that. He wanted to lasso her and tie her to Jaken's staff to be petty... he wanted her to live. He wanted her to smile. He wanted her to yell at him for being too cold. He wanted her to be with her children. He wanted her to be able to watch them grow into adults. He wanted her to see Ohta become a man and watch the girls chase after him. More crunching was heard, but the presence behind the group actually startled Sesshomaru. It was Shishido and Naonobu! He wasn't interested in anything they had to say if they were there to mock him, but they were silent and seemed to be waiting for something. Sesshomaru walked up to Meioshi's lifeless body, watching Yuko grieve for her loss. She crawled over her beloved teacher and picked up Meioshi's arms to wrap herself in them for the final time. Homugi had to sit down.

Jaken couldn't believe what he was seeing. All that work to find her place in Sesshomaru's "heart" just to leave his world so early. She was still so young herself! But, he could also see that his lord was hurt. Jaken, for a brief moment, felt some pain himself. He had no one to yell at again, no one to tease, no one to be petty with. The witch was gone.

Turning to Sesshomaru, Jaken asked quietly, "What should we do, my lord?"

||... Make your choice...||

A: Let Meioshi die

B: Talk to Grand Monk Shishido

C: Find Milady for help

D: Revive Meioshi with Tenseiga

||... Are you sure...||

A. Yes

B. No

Ten years later...

Sesshomaru was walking through a field of grass, feeling lost without his family to keep him grounded. His daughters were missing, and his wife was taken away from him. He had been trying to find clues to their whereabouts for so long. What else could he do? Where else could he look? Looking at a swaying dandelion flower, Sesshomaru grew quieter and kneeled down to observe the little weed.

What would you do... if you were me...? Sesshomaru thought, plucking the flower.

He pulled at its seeds to watch them float in the breeze and took a deep breath. It was probably inappropriate to be thinking about another woman when he was already a taken man now, but... he sought her advice often when he came across a healthy dandelion in the wild pastures. It was his routine. Sniffing the air for the smell of fruit pies and aromatic herbs, Sesshomaru took to the sky and flew high for his old friend. He didn't go into Heiwa - avoided it for years - but he did revisit the cliff overlooking the ravine. He could still hear her chewing in the distance, smell her small bowl of rice, see her offering some of her food to him. In the back of his mind, he knew what he was thinking wasn't a sign of unfaithfulness, but he somehow felt that he was crossing the line... when he was able to admit to himself... that he missed another woman for some years now. He missed his rival's voice, even missed their scuffles, but he took great care to fly for her whenever he could. He even spoke to her in the night like they did in the okiya village about his new family. Though he avoided Heiwa like the plague, he visited this very ravine every summer in private and either placed two coins in the water when the sun was setting and no one could see the currency or placed at least eighteen camelia blooms in the water to commemorate the last day he saw her smile. On special nights, namely the anniversary of when she set her children free, he lit candles there and had stew made.

One could easily say that this was a bigger scandal than taking a human for a wife, but he did whisper that he missed her in the night. Should a dandelion seed ever float alone around him then he knew that she was responding to his talks or whispers. He let it touch him sometimes. Other times, he flew low or at least to the height that he remembered when he saw her for the first time. The day she blew a kiss to him. There were some nights when he could admit that he was the most unfaithful. Nights when he didn't want sex from his wife or didn't want to patrol the family home. Perhaps the riskiest thing he'd ever do was visit the ravine after everyone was asleep, retrieve a treasure chest from underneath some rocks, pull out a striped horo of orange and deep indigo, and wait for a soft breeze to pass. About ten to fifteen minutes might pass before the breeze picked up and he would reach for a dandelion tile with a green tassel at the end from the chest. Should a dandelion seed catch his eye on those nights, he would kiss the tile softly and dip it in the waters of the ravine. He would only know that she received his kiss if a leaf or flower petal floated in his direction. On those nights, he let himself be selfish and unfaithful. Not because he didn't love his wife or appreciate his family. Not because he had unspoken desires for his old friend either. Simply because he missed her and wished he were kinder to her. That's all there was to it.

"Tikun?" a familiar voice called on this night. Homugi looked beautiful tonight in her pink and yellow kimono. He hadn't seen her in a while. She then said, "It's been a while. What are you doing here?"

"Asking for advice," Sesshomaru replied honestly. He had been doing so for years anyway.

"From who?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"The doctor," he answered, looking into the sky. "You look nice."

"Ah, it's my first dinner with the man I'm courting," Homugi responded, twirling around a bit slowly but she laughed from excitement. "Giving love a second chance is so nerve-wracking!"

"He is... treating you well?" Sesshomaru questioned, looking at her.

"Very," Homugi said, blushing brightly and smiling softly. "I hope you get the courage to visit Heiwa. That way you can meet him... and talk to her personally. She's not dead."

That shocked him. He took a step forward to silently question, "What do you mean?"

"You moved on with your life after... the incident. I went to go tell you, but... you had already started having your family. There was no need. I simply told her that you were okay."

"That coward didn't even bother to visit!" Sesshomaru said with a low growl.

"She sensed you visiting here quite often. She's been giving you the leaves. She is honored by your memorial to her," Homugi said with a cheerful smile. Hearing the hourly gong, she gasped before saying, "Oh, I'm going to be late! Take care of yourself, Tikun. Before I forget, she says, 'Don't give up.' She's proud of you."

With that, both of his old friends had left. He forgot that she didn't have a smell...