Ghost of the Past

Kintsuke watched the village from afar, waiting in the field Myouga had directed her to for Inuyasha to arrive. The flea was correct, she'd rather remain away from the humans if she could help it, and Inuyasha had agreed to the quiet meeting here. It would only be a quick conversation anyway, and then she could press Myouga for information as she had originally wanted to do.

Inuyasha felt her before he found her waiting in the tall grass. He was surprised by what he saw, but now Myouga's words made sense. She was a half-breed, like him, perhaps having spent most of her years closer to demons than humans the way he had.

"You must be Kintsuke…" he ventured, wary of the stranger despite their shared affliction and associate.

She inclined her head to him a bit.

"Inuyasha, it's good to see you've finally grown into your kimono."

Inuyasha was not amused by the comment. He was glad, however, when Kintsuke cut right to the chase. He could appreciate a practical sort of person; but what was meant as a polite inquiry of his current state and development over the years somehow launched into an hours-long exchange of stories between the two. Everything from the year-long struggle against Naraku and the jewel to what the general had been like to the nature of half-breeds was touched on, and Inuyasha found for the first time in his life that he actually had questions about it all.

The sun was setting by the time they paused, and Myouga, ever the meddler, all but invited Kintsuke to stay.

"You're already here, and it sounds like you and Lord Inuyasha have a lot to talk about, not to mention she could help you with your skills in combat, sire."

"Hey, I do alright for myself, okay?" Inuyasha shot back.

Kintsuke merely smiled, not minding either which way Inuyasha decided. As she followed him into the village for dinner, though, she narrowed her eyes at the flea on his shoulder.

'What are you up to, Myouga? Why are you trying so blatantly to keep me here?'

***

Dinner was, to say the least, a tad stressful for Kintsuke, who found the fare strange. It was all human food, of course, but she grinned and bore it as best she could, not one to be ungrateful. She did, however, request her own pot for tea, plucking out one of the compressed disks of tea powder sometimes used as currency even among demons.

Hers was youkai tea, she explained to the bright-eyed girl they called Rin, and was not suitable for human consumption. At Kagome's urging, Inuyasha had tried some, hacking it right back up.

" 'The hell IS this stuff?!" he fixed the cup and pot with an angry glower.

"Tea, Inuyasha; perhaps one day you'll come to like it."

Kintsuke mused, sipping her own cup quietly.

"Psh. Fat chance there."

Kagome and the others could only laugh.

The days passed in a peaceful manner, turning quickly into weeks as the two hanyou questioned and strengthened each other. Somehow, she'd avoided having to directly state that she, at one point, had been Sesshoumaru's personal servant. It simply wasn't something she wanted to talk about.

Having nothing better to do and nowhere to be, really, Kintsuke continued to idle, often finding herself convinced to tell stories of her time on the mainland and various differences in culture and languages for both Rin and the monk Miroku. Something of a scholar, Miroku's attention was rapt.

Rin reminded Kintsuke so much of Shu-Ting that it pained her, and she quickly found herself nearly wrapped around the girl's finger. Rin happily spouted on about the countless adventures she'd had after being resurrected by her demon friend, though never mentioned a name. Perhaps to protect his reputation. He visited often, it seemed, and she wanted to do something nice for him for once. After a stern and earnest promise that Rin would never try any herself, Kintsuke had given her one of the disks of tea.

The whispers of Winter were crisp on the air when the routine was broken.

Kintsuke halted her sparring match with Inuyasha as the scent of poison reached her. She knew this particular acrid flavor. When she pointed it out, Inuyasha shrugged.

"It's just Sesshoumaru. He comes 'round now and then to visit Rin. She didn't tell you?"

'Sesshoumaru… That's…Rin's demon friend? That saved her life?'

Kintsuke could hardly believe what she was hearing, but she could sort it out later. She was unsure of how Sesshoumaru would respond to her presence here, and she wasn't sure if she was ready to see him again.

"Hey, don't worry, he won't start nothin'; and if he does, I'll be sure the finish it."

Inuyasha offered a cocky smirk. Kintsuke smiled.

"All the same, I think I should depart for now. I will return for dinner."

She shrugged her haori back on, giving Inuyasha a polite bow before disappearing into the forest, leaving Inuyasha to frown on his way back to the village.

***

Sesshoumaru could taste it on the air, a familiar scent from his more proscribed memories. It triggered the sensation just beyond his fingertips; but below, Rin was waiting for him. He could follow the scent afterward. Rin smiled broadly as he alighted gracefully down.

"Rin, I hope you are well."

A slight kindness settled into his features.

"I am, my lord! Welcome back! Can you stay for a short while this time?"

The hope in her eyes twisted in his chest, and he found himself acquiescing. He ignored the hateful look the bastard half-breed shot him per usual as he ducked inside Rin's tiny hut. The smell he found here gave him pause. This, too, was familiar... As he settled on the zabuton she had put out, he traced the scent to the teapot nearby.

"Rin. What is in the pot?"

"Oh! Um…it's a special kind of tea, that demons drink."

She hesitated, as if unsure how to continue. Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"How did you come to possess it?"

"Inuyasha's new friend gave it to me when I told her about you. She said I couldn't drink it, but I thought you might like it. Do you want to try some, my lord?"

Her entire world seemed to hinge on his response, and he found he could not deny her. He gave her a slight nod, taking the filled clay cup she offered carefully in his claws.

'This is similar to what was served in father's castle…and that scent I found on the air when I arrived… It couldn't be.'

His head continued to argue what his instincts already knew, but he tucked it away for the moment, sipping the steaming liquid and finding it quite satisfactory. As he gave her an approving nod, he thought the girl might burst with joy.

"I'm glad you like it! Inuyasha tried some, but he nearly choked."

Sesshoumaru allowed himself an amused hum at the mental image of the idiot gagging on something as simple as tea, listening patiently as Rin told him of her various adventures while he'd been away.

Soon, however, he felt his inner predator stir. He could no longer ignore the scent he'd found when he'd arrived. He considered and decided he had remained for what was considered an appropriate amount of time.

Setting the cup down, he rose smoothly.

"Rin, I must leave now."

She pouted for only a moment but saw him off in her usual manner, knowing she could not keep him there. He focused himself as he slipped into the clouds.

Even this high, he could track it the fading scent. Below in the forest a good distance from the human's colony, he found the source strolling along on her own through the trees. The wind brought him a fresh sample and he dissected it.

Rich.

Molten.

Female.

Hanyou.

His inner demon growled with what could almost be called satisfaction. The Warmaster had been wrong; she was alive after all, and once again within his reach.

She paused suddenly, those tufted ears on high alert as she scanned first the forest, then the sky. She could feel him, he was sure, just as he felt her. He glided down into the trees, stepping into the grass softly some distance in front of her.

She froze.

Those sharp eyes the color of yellow jade pierced him, and as he compared the being standing before him to the memory of the creature he had once commanded, he found that they were hardly one and the same. She had improved herself dramatically, and were it that he judged solely by jyaki, he could have easily mistaken her not for a half-breed, but for a demon.

His fingertips tingled, and he knew now that she was the source of the phantoms that had disturbed him all these years. It was softer now, though, and as he came closer, it continued to fade.

She turned to flee.

"Stay."

His tone was sharper than he had intended, but he could not permit her to leave. Not yet. She paused and turned to face him. She fixed him again with those eyes, head high, back straight as he closed the distance to a mere foot. The wind shifted like a distant memory, tugging his mokomoko to brush against her and curl around her feet.

He ran his gaze along every angle, memorizing the new, recognizing the old, and again, his demon growled in that contented manner.

"My hanyou…" he breathed.

Her heart skipped once, twice. As his name fell tentatively from her lips, he felt the bundle of frozen sentiment buried deep within him give a mighty crack.