“Sesshoumaru-sama!”

Pausing, the demon lord turned to find his ward scampering toward him up the narrow mountain path. Her dark eyes glimmered with excitement. Pale blue flowers peeked through the braids at her temples. As she skidded to a halt before him, he glanced briefly past her, to the young woman hanging back with a small, conspiratorial smile.

“Look what Kagome-chan found!” Beaming up at him, Rin extended her open hand. In the center of her palm lay a chip of pure white stone. “She said it resembles you.”

Sesshoumaru plucked the chip up in the tips of his claws. “A stone dog,” he said. His eyes narrowed as he examined the vague outline. “Or, perhaps, a bear.”

“Oh, of course it’s a dog!” the miko exclaimed. Puffing a little, she climbed up to join them. “Just imagine the tail curving in a bit, that’s all.”

Unimpressed, Sesshoumaru returned the pebble to his ward. “It is far from this one’s likeness.”

Rocking back onto her heels, Kagome grinned. “Sorry to insult you,” she said, not sounding apologetic in the slightest. “It was more of a metaphor, really.”

Sesshoumaru stared at her—now feeling vaguely insulted. Seeming to sense this, the girl straightened. Her lips gave a sheepish twitch.

“A metaphor in the sense that you’re tough as a rock,” she said brightly. Crossing her arms behind her back, she gazed up at him. “And a little sharp around the edges.”

He frowned faintly as he looked back at her, uncertain how to respond to this assessment. While genuine, he sensed that she was tempering her sentiments toward him. That he should even concern himself with what she thought of him gave him the most pause.

“Ahh, I feel like I’m only digging myself in deeper here.” Shaking her head, she skirted past him. “Anyway—better get going before Inuyasha starts to shout.”

Having spotted another flower patch, Rin was already well ahead of them, though still trailing a fair distance behind the rest of the pack. As Sesshoumaru stepped along after Kagome, his eyes strayed to the glowing shard pendant she clutched near the base of her throat.

“It’s hard to believe our journey’s almost at an end,” she said softly, catching his eye. “It’s just a matter of finding Naraku now.”

“And after we have defeated him and reclaimed the Jewel,” Sesshoumaru asked her, “what then will you do?”

“Destroy it,” she answered, to his surprise.

Sesshoumaru drew to a halt. “You would destroy the Shikon no Tama.”

Stopping as well, Kagome looked at him, her expression mild. “The Jewel does nothing but bring trouble into the lives of others. Nothing good ever comes of using its power for selfish gain. The Jewel itself is selfish, you see—it wants only to continue to exist, at all costs.”

The Lord of the Western Lands considered her in measured silence. Despite her youth and inexperience, at times such as these, she struck him as uncannily wise.

“So then,” he said to her after a moment, “Inuyasha has given up on becoming a full-fledged demon.”

The young woman tensed, a pretty flush coloring her cheeks. “Well, I haven’t exactly gotten around to discussing it with him yet…but I’m sure he’ll agree it’s the right thing to do, in the end.”

Sesshoumaru was not entirely convinced on this point. But given the changes she had wrought in his half-brother thus far, if anyone could persuade the stubborn creature otherwise, it was she.

“I wonder,” he said, peering down at her closely, “why you are discussing this with me.”

Frowning, she seemed to question this herself. “I thought you might understand best,” she replied at last, her blue eyes resting steadily upon him, “since you don’t have any desire to use the Jewel for yourself.”

She bit her lip at the end of this, as though she had more she wished to say. Her silence seemed to hang in the air between them, until she dismissed it with a wave and a sigh.

“Sorry, I know I’m getting ahead of myself with all this—it’s a bad habit.”

Her lips quirked up at him faintly, almost sadly. It was just the shadow of a smile—far from her usual radiant expression, but Sesshoumaru would remember it afterward with piercing, eclipsing clarity.

It would be the last smile he would see from her for a very long time.

For it was at that moment that the sky split open above them in a flood of miasmic darkness. It was at that moment that he tore his eyes from her and looked to his defenseless ward—precisely as Naraku had intended. It was at that moment, as he abandoned Kagome and reached for Rin instead, that he realized the gravity of his mistake—as the next moment came, and the priestess of the Shikon no Tama was torn screaming from this world.

---

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Haha…just another story idea that popped into my head. Realized I haven’t written from Sess’s POV in a long time! Too long. I’m thinking this could be a miniseries of sorts that I can complete over the holidays. We’ll see! Let me know what y’all think 😊

💕

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