22

He could feel her hand wrap around his and he felt this warmth he had never felt before. Sesshomaru hardly understood humans and emotions wrapped with them. His heart ached and yet he felt at ease. Why he decided to sit next to her in the dead of night was beyond him. Perhaps the events of yesterday, perhaps the fact she needed to sleep for tomorrow, but deep down he just wanted to feel her presence around him.

Her scent had driven him mad, there was no other explanation. And yet he didn't feel mad at all, there was a peace he never knew he wished for in her touch. Satomi looked so human as she lay there breathing in deeply. Her mind was troubled lately, and he could not think of anything to do for it. Little did he know this was the trick to her calming down. Sometimes her purity came out in whips and nearly took his breath away in less than romantic means. Honestly, he didn't know how the half breed wasn't human permanently yet.

Looking down at her, he simply stared for a time. There was little to grasp, he wasn't one to dwell on fleeting emotions. Actually, he didn't hold onto much emotion. A trait from his mother, dare he say. The cold-hearted assassin was a role he played well, and to much of an end it helped him grow as a fighter and dominant demon. Honing his skills, surpassing his father was all that mattered. Until Rin. Rin was the first person, human, that he cared about. Jaken was a subject he took responsibility for, but he was willing to punish the imp when necessary. Satomi was different from both. She was strong willed, independent, and defiant enough to make him wish he could swing his whip at her. Beneath all that, she saw through him even if she didn't fully realize it.

Looking over to Inu-Yasha who had stirred awake, he released her hand and stood up.

"Don't move on my account. I was just curious since I've never seen you so… interested before," Inu-Yasha said with a shrug as he leaned on one arm sitting up slightly from the ground. "You were less inclined to talk back at the coastal village about it too. It's whatever I guess, but she deserves to know how you feel about her."

"What business is it to you, little brother?" Sesshomaru almost snarled back as he tried to remain calm. He could tell his reaction hardly surprised Inu-Yasha, but he didn't care about human etiquette. It was lost to him.

"It isn't any. However, human women are different from demons. They have a short life span, and while you ponder over it her life is getting shorter. A second to you is a decade to them." Inu-Yasha sighed, he said his piece about it. He had no idea what his brother was thinking, but he knew when demons thought they had time it always ran out.

"That isn't the problem," Sesshomaru said as he disappeared into the forest. What did Inu-Yasha know anyway… he didn't understand that he felt as if he truly was becoming his father in less than the best way. He knew his father was powerful, and yet he fell protecting a single human woman. If he was only allowed to heal properly by a day before the night he protected her… everything would have been different. Sesshomaru knew all too well what he felt for Satomi was foreign to him and yet he could sense the similarity between how he felt and how his father acted all those years ago.

Had it truly been 200 years since his father demise? Time seemed so fleeting now that Inu-Yasha was considered a young man in the eyes of humans while Sesshomaru hardly aged at all. Hating his brother for the weakness his father showed for a mere human, and knowing they both lived out of the events that took his father's life. He had to admit occasionally, he would glance in on their lives out of spite. Nothing better to do.

That only fueled the hatred as he could see her showering Inu-Yasha with love and devotion. When the illness and famine took Izayoi's life as she grew older, it was almost satisfying to see his half brother suffer in the beginning. Finally, he knew how he felt to lose someone he cared about, even if it was different for them. However, he would never tell Inu-Yasha this, but he couldn't help to watch over the brat. After they had met one day, it was never the same. The secret was out, and they were fighting ever since.

Walking some distance, he found himself back at the hot spring where they had been earlier. Smelling Satomi's scent everywhere made his senses more aware. Her youthful and pure scent was welcomed amongst all the blood they had smelled from the events before this. How she remained as she did was beyond his reckoning. Even able to put him to sleep with a simple touch, she was truly an odd being.

Taking on her wounds wasn't the complicated part, it was understanding where she was. How someone who radiated brightness was kept in a world so dark confused him. Was that what made humans unpredictable? Humans bragged about becoming rich after being so poor. Demons that were evil stayed evil and those who were good stayed good. That's what he thought anyway. His own example was far from average. Not many esteemed demons let a young girl run about with them to their liking. Even less let a divine being into their domain alive. But he wanted her.

The thought surprised even him as it rushed into his mind. Their talk earlier about marriage was curious to him, but it boiled down to he yearned for her. The possession of her and how he didn't wish to share her with anyone or anything proved how far he had gone without even stopping it. Even more, how he didn't wish for her life to end before it was cut much too short. Her powers were growing stronger, and with it her life force became weaker. Humans were already fleeting creatures, and for the second time in his life he cared about a life ending too soon.

What he was becoming was more and more like his father. Oddly, this time instead of anger, it brought up a sense of peace. All this time, his mother's qualities of possessing a brash and aloof personality was never an issue. The passing of a human never bothered him in the least. Even less so after his father had passed. His father died protecting a human, even if it was his human 'wife'. Sesshomaru blamed her for his father's passing, but didn't he promise to lay down his life for that of Satomi's. The full circle made him smirk as he realized just how much he had changed in such a short amount of time, for a demon.

A memory sparked of the first time she kissed him. To share his energy months ago, how he avoided her because he admittedly wanted more. The energy transfers that followed, he knew what he wanted. However, when he possessed her body at the seaside town he felt even more at peace and yet troubled. She was human and yet something much more than that. A goddess. Feeling her, seeing her, experiencing her. Everything about her smelled of human from her tendencies to her strange personality. Her aura and powers were the only thing he could pinpoint as divine. With Jiro's unique ability to make barriers even the two swords couldn't break, the fact she could worried him. Jiro was not to be taken lightly and they would have to find out more. Kohaku would perhaps know more if he were to be scouting once again. However, he noticed Rin kept close to Kohaku almost as much as she did Satomi. He would have to discuss the matter with the demon hunter.

Looking to the starlit sky, he found the irony of his current situation almost amusing. Conversing with humans, protecting them, and even taking one in as a daughter of sorts. Even… caring for one as one might a lover. A mate.

"Father, if you could see me now," he said to himself as he smirked once more before shaking his head. He used to think them so different, on different levels of sorts. His father grew into a weakness, the human woman seduced him, his father would have lived to this day if not for her… a human. All for a human woman. Now, Sesshomaru felt much the same. If he was wounded and his last breath meant a chance to give her more time, he found no doubt he would.

"Is this what you meant by asking me if I had someone to protect? Is our line so cursed as to yearn for something that isn't ours to take?" He never had so many questions for a dead demon. Perhaps he just decided it wasn't worth asking because he would figure it out. Everything was solvable, he had the time and resources. However, now he had anything but time or resources. He knew nothing of his father with the goddess or even having met a goddess, let alone caring for one even now.

Sighing, he felt that perhaps his half brother turned out better for loving his own woman. Even if her circumstances were strange, the clothes she wore always made him wonder. When he was finally told the truth, it was something he had very little faith in but knew that there was something odd about Kagome. Being the strongest priestess of their time, and now bearing his niece or nephew, it would do good to excuse her from this fight. With noble demon blood and purification powers running through the child's veins, it would do well to watch the little one.

As he started back towards camp, he thought about his time with Rin and how much she had taught him about compassion. Something he thought would never come to light. Tensaiga grew more powerful because of her, his own power was enhanced, and he felt emotions he never thought possible. They both learned from each other. Now, Satomi was in his life and he felt driven to protect her, if only to preserve what she so foolishly sold away. Her sister deserved a true family.

His own family had been broken for years, the hatred of Inu-Yasha and once it had almost been repaired until Kikyo pinned him to the tree. The Panther Tribe had almost brought them together, but it would have proved useless until Inu-Yasha had the Tessaiga. With their accidental adventures together before against Naraku and even now, it was strange how much he came to actually tolerate the half demon.

Finding his way back to the camp, it was now almost dawn. It was hard to believe he was lost in his thoughts for that long, but then again he felt lighter somehow. Satomi was slowly stretching and he noticed the finer lines in her muscles as they moved under her skin. The way her hair curled when she woke up. Even more so the small smile she had for him when she noticed his approach. His heart lurched in his chest in a way he found to be unsettling. As if her very presence pulled it from his chest.

"Good Morning, Lord Sesshomaru," Rin called out as she too rose from her sleep. Everyone seemed to be on their feet and much more rested. Perhaps this stop did slow them down, but if that meant they moved faster today, he would accept the impairment to their time frame. The sooner this war was done the better.

"We move as soon as you're ready," he said closing his eyes, unable to meet her glance. He meant it towards everyone, but his world was slowly becoming much smaller revolving around her. A smaller world he couldn't help but admire. He never pictured himself to be a demon who wanted to settle with a woman. Being a demon lord, mating with a suitable demoness and having an heir was supposed to be his role. He revolted against that and decided to find power to become stronger than his father. Now, he wanted a small life with a curly haired, tired eyed goddess who just woke up from what seemed like a rather sound sleep. Life was strange, and it was only getting stranger with time.

He noted how her body moved a little faster and her blood pumped faster in her veins. He admired the heightened scent of arousal. Interesting how she seemed to be so affected by him, almost the same as he was affected by her. They both did something to each other that neither had experienced. The thought made his pride swell as he felt he was doing what he could, even if he didn't exactly what that was. The thought of her gone from his life was something he couldn't describe, and he refused to even find the words for it.

"Ready!" She called out to him in a rushed tone as he turned to her. Her soprano voice rang like a bell in his ears as she looked at him seeking approval it seemed. He nodded in response as they took to their places.

As she mounted Ah-Un, he felt himself looking to Inu-Yasha as Kagome rode on his back. While they never had before, he wondered what it would be like to share his flight with Satomi. Reaching his hand out to her, he wondered what that look of disbelief was for on her face. He understood it on Inu-Yasha and the priestess's face… but hers took him by surprise.

"It may be faster this way," he said as his voice sounded more irritated than he wished for it to. Turning his face to the side, he felt her hand brush against his. Her warm hand against his made his heart pull again.

"Well… um… sure," she said as she dismounted from Ah-Un and his cloud formed below them as they rose to the sky. He held her hand and she gripped fiercely back. Fear and amazement overtook her senses as she looked at the world from her new point of view. His pride swelled once more as he felt her fear fade away. Without even realizing it, they were going faster than he thought to do so as he soon couldn't feel the group's presence behind him. Slowing down, he wrapped an arm around her waist and continued to hold her hand. The mountain was close now, and he could feel the holy barrier around it drain his energy.

"Does it hurt?" she asked looking to him. She must have sensed the barrier too as she looked him over curiously.

"No, just unwelcomed is all," he said as she stared at him for a moment and smiled. As she reached her hand up to his face, he felt a sudden pull rip her from his grasp. Hearing her scream, but she remained unseen. As if she disappeared into thin air. Scent gone, body gone, everything gone.

He yelled out her name as the others approached. Kagome was the first to ask where Satomi was as he turned with his eyes red with anger. He didn't know what happened to her as he turned away from the group and disappeared to the mountain base. He failed her again… he didn't take well to failure.

Suddenly his primal instinct kicked in and he transformed into his full dog demon self. Tall as the trees at the base of the mountain, he fought against the purification powers of the mountain and growled at the entrance. His human form was able to hold more coherent thoughts, but he was able to let go of his thoughts and run on instinct in this form. Right now, his instinct was telling him to save her.

The others joined him at the entrance. He could hear Inu-Yasha explain that this was Sesshomaru's dog demon form and how it had been ages since he'd last seen it. True, he never had a use for it really that his humanoid form couldn't accomplish. However, this time, the purification powers were taking their toll as much as he would never admit it. Mount Hakurei was an inconvenient breeze compared to this purifying whirlwind from hell. The aura made his eyes feel on fire as he continued to growl and bark at the entrance.

Thousands of pins and needles stung at his skin beneath the fur when a sudden whoosh of air came forth. He stood strong and his eyes narrowed as another demon twice the size of him emerged. It was impossible. Never in his dreams and nightmares did he believe this could happen.

'Father?' His thoughts were deaf to the others, but his eyes widened. Inu-Yasha sensed it too although he could tell the half demon didn't truly know why. Growling at the demon, it had to be an illusion. However, when he charged at the demon, it batted him down as if there was nothing but a gnat in the air. It was real and didn't seem happy with their presence. However, there was one advantage.

The barrier came crumbling down as he could finally breathe a fresh breath of air for the first time in a day. Satomi had heightened his resistance, but this power was immense. His father had to be to blame. However, the purification was not a normal situation… unless…

Turning into his humanoid form, he looked up to the demon as he dashed back to the others. "You always did wish to meet father, Inu-Yasha," he said coolly as he narrowed his eyes once more. "Looks like he was guarding this place in death."

Inu-Yasha and Kagome looked at him shocked and Toga shocked. His demon dog form was more than impressive, he was the most powerful their race had ever seen in his prime. Of course, Bakusaiga had signified he had surpassed his father, however there was always an unseen barrier between them. Even if he was told he had surpassed the old man, it was impossible to really tell. His chance had finally come, and he was not about to pass it up. This journey had become more curious.

"Prepare yourself, Father. We will see who the stronger is," he said to Toga before he turned and looked to Kagome and Inu-Yasha. "Find Satomi. I will handle him, whatever he is." Seeing them run inside, Inu-Yasha stalled to look at him. It was no wonder he was confused, but now was not the time for hesitation. "Go!"

That seemed to snap him out of it as they went into the mountain and the demon charged at them before meeting with Sesshomaru's poison whip to the face. The wound healed instantly, but his attention was diverted. Moving faster than he ever had before, he continued to use his whip until he could no longer feel either of them nearby. Even Rin and Kohaku were at a far enough distance. Perhaps they had stayed behind when he transformed. No matter the case, he was now face to face with his arch nemesis. The one he had always wanted to defeat.

"You're no longer yourself. If you are any form of my father, prove it to me," he said as he charged again and they began their battle.