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The sky darkened into dark hues of blues and grays. Not a star glimmered in the night. Clouds covered the vast space above and around them.
Golden eyes narrowed, assessing every movement, sound, and scent: the apex predator.
Shesshomaru surveyed the mountain top’s terrain, slightly put-out that his recent opponent, if you could even call it that, was a coward hiding behind snow covered alps. Ah-Un flew on guard around the precipice, keeping Rin and his pathetic retainer safe.
A crunch to his left.
Sesshomaru turned to the sound with killing precision. His silver hair dazzling in a swirl around him. He zeroed in on the creature instantly, his lithe body tensing, eyes narrowing, and youkai billowing around him for a fatal strike. Like electricity, he shot from where he stood to the spineless fool that dared challenge him.
The gutless snow demon jumped out of hiding and shot straight to Sesshomaru’s adopted daughter, his body hardening into an ice dagger and cutting rapidly through the sky.
Of course Sesshomarru would obliterate him before any damage was done, but then the wind changed. A familiar scent surrounded him, putting him at ease when it should not have, soothing his tempered youkai, distracting him enough to make him falter in his pursuit.
Ah-Un kicked up it’s front legs like a horse, screeching as the snow demon advanced. Little pre-teen Rin held on for dear life, screaming her lord’s name to save her, watching the ice dagger, larger than Sesshomaru’s swords, advance upon her. Jaken, so weak and small, rolled off the dragon’s back and screamed profanities as he fell down the mountain side below. Despite her terror, Rin laughed as she watched over the saddle as Jaken dissapeared. “Master Jaken!” she heaved, amused tears rolling from her eyes, hair blowing and obscuring her sight.
Sesshomaru was only seconds from reaching Rin when she was suddenly picked up from Ah-Un. The wind lifted her from the scaled dragon, and Sesshomaru watched, slightly perturbed as Rin was whisked away.
Without a second thought, he pulled out Bakusaiga, destroying the snow demon in one foul swoop. Then dashed through the sky to find Rin.
When he reached her, she was giggling like the teen she was, no worries and absolutely confident that her lord would save her, despite any consequences that might occur.
So, after finding them a safe place to set camp, Sesshomaru left Rin to her own devices. Jaken had mysteriously found his way back, tasking himself to protect the one human his lord concerned himself with.
Moments later, Sesshomaru found himself at the site of the fight again, and a familiar scent returned.
Closing his silver lashes, breathing the sweet aroma, a familiar name escaped him …“Kagura.”
The wind picked up, swirling like a storm around him, then he heard her.
“Sesshomaru~.”
His muscles tensed, “show yourself.”
A moment passed where he felt the breeze slither and caress him.
“I am always here,” it seemed to whisper.
It was almost teasing. Sesshomaru had never felt anything quite like it before.
“Come to me.”
A beat passed. “I can not,” she murmured.
A strange feeling squeezed within him, something he had never felt before. Something right above his sternum, his heart.
His features hardened. “It is an order,” he demanded.
He could almost feel her smirk around him. “No one,” she breathed, “can control the wind.”
And just like that, she was gone.
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Kagura always showed up when he least expected her to.
He was a Daiyoukai. Yet she constantly made her presence known, despite him always being minutes away from saving his ward and dispatching parasitic vermin.
She continued to tease him relentlessly. “The wind will not be restrained,” she whispered in the breeze.
And it felt like a challenge. For anything and anyone, Sesshomaru strived to control what he wanted. Yet, when moments passed without her, he would remember the last time he witnessed her corporeal form…when he had tried to save her, when his Tessaiga had failed him. When he had failed her.
Numerous women had proposed to be his, yet Kagura had only ever asked for his help, and when he had finally relented to assist her. He had come upon her, dissolving into a field of flowers. Becoming one with the wind, becoming her true self.
So then, why did he feel like she was haunting him: her scent, her voice, her energy?
Or was it him haunting her?
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Years had passed. It felt like a millenium.
Rin was a full fledged adult, a mother of two, the wife of Kohaku. It was the first time Sesshomaru had ever found himself counting time. Humans were fleeting, and she was growing at a speed he had not become accustomed to. Her children were the size of her when she had first stumbled upon him.
They sat on a hill, watching her offspring and husband frolic and picking flowers.
“Thank you for always looking after us, my Lord.”
Sesshomaru didn’t deem it necessary to reply. His silence is always enough for Rin.
He didn’t require mortal sustenance, but it was peaceful as he watched ahead. Rin ate small delicacies he brought her, humming whenever a particular bite sweetened her mouth. The children laughed as Kohaku chased them around, trying to catch butterflies with their tiny hands. He was content.
“Say, Sesshomaru-sama.”
“Hn?”
He closed his eyes, relaxing as he spread his aura out, scaring any decrepit demons away.
Rin paused for a moment, her hesitance clear her hands rubbed softly together. “Are… are you lonely?”
Something in his chest tightened, and he found that he could not answer. Lonely? A creature such as he need not feel such human emotions. He almost scoffed.. but the tightness persisted. And he found himself wondering at how restless he was becoming. Lingering over his land like a ghost, looking for new challenges, new conquests, and finding none.
He liked to be alone. He cherished his solitude. So why did her question disturb him so?
A shriek stole their attention, little limbs waving frantically as a child lost footing on a branch. Kohaku had been distracted by their other offspring and was too far to catch her. Rin screamed out her name, getting up and running wildly to her. Sesshomaru was already flying towards the toddler, his speed faster than anyone could see. Yet before he could reach her, the wind picked up, speeding past him, his eyes oweld in recognition, his steps faltering as he took in a deep breath of the familiar scent. And before their very eyes, the girl was swept up, twirled up in a loop, and deposited softly onto the ground.
Sesshomaru was rooted to his spot, watching and mind going as Rin cried and fretted over her child, both parents making sure she was okay.
After a moment, Rin decided that was enough excitement for one day, and packed up their things to be on their way. “What…” she whispered so only he could hear, “what was that?” She folded a blanket and put it neatly in her basket. “I swear that has happened to me before. Something saved me too, anytime I fell from somewhere too high up.” She turned concerned eyes his way.
Sesshomaru stood with all the indifference in the world, his golden eyes suddenly serious. “Kagura,” he said simply.
“What?” Rin did not recognize the name.
“This Sesshomaru is not alone,” he finally said, leaving her in the clearing unsettled and perturbed.
He was not alone, Kagura was always there. So then, why did her question linger with him for months to come?
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“You are being haunted!” An old cackling woman screeched at him, pointing her gnarled finger his way.
He eyed the digit distastefully, golden eyes narrowing. “You wish for your limb to be severed,” he concluded morbidly.
“The wind moves about you unnaturally!” She continued, not a care in the world that she was about to be mauled to pieces.
Sesshomaru felt a rage bubble up within him. Yes, he knew Kagura was there. She was always there, but always beyond his grasp. The Great Demon Lord of the West could do anything but this. It infuriated him to a degree he thought previously unfathomable. More so than when he had ever wanted the Tessaiga before. His arm tensed as his resentment grew.
“Quiet you vile woman!” Jaken squawked, waving his staff around and aiming to strike her.
And so she did, the old woman going eerily still, her wispy hair the only thing moving in the dark forest. Her silver, half blind eyes stared blankly ahead. “Go,” she muttered, “go to the Whispering Wood, and you shall find her there.”
The daiyoukai’s eyes dilated at the information. “The Whispering Wood,” he repeated. “It’s location.”
But with a woosh, the breath left the grizzled woman’s lungs, and she fell to a heap on the ground. A corpse to be consumed by the forest floor.
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In mere days he had reached Bakuseno. It took the old tree demon longer than expected to wake, so Sesshomaru pulled out his *kiseru and lazily smoked it, watching as it smoldered into different shapes.
Finally, a face formed on the rough bark before him. “Ah, Sesshomaru. What brings you here?” Bakuseno smiled, wrinkles around his eyes and mouth showing his age. “How is your human girl doing? And Inuyasha?”
Sesshomaru ignored him. “Where is the Whispering Wood?”
Bakusno’s branches swayed with mirth. “As direct as ever, I see.”
“I have wasted my time.” Sesshomaru replied, ashing his kiseru and rising deftly to his feet.
The old spirit of the forest sighed. “I have aided your ancestors for ages,” his voice grew nostalgic. “Grant this desolate creature at least an anecdote of your sibling before I wither away. The days grow long, and I sense myself fading.” Sesshomaru stopped as he contemplated his request. “If not him, then of you.”
So Sesshomaru told him of Inuyasha, of how he had settled down with a priestess in a human village and had whelped a quarter demon girl. He found his lips running from him, and soon enough, he was divulging his occurrences with his adopted daughter, the wind sorceress, and why he seeked the Whispering Wood.
When the tale was over, Bakuseno questioned him further not. “Travel south from here. Until the trees thicken over with fog and you can no longer see the hand before you. The Wood will whisper to you and send you to where you long to be.”
Sesshomaru almost left the tree without another word, but hesitated. Giving him one last gilded glance, he saw the old spirit’s eyes grow heavy with fatigue. It seemed this would be the last he would ever witness his wise soul again.
So he faced him fully, and bowed his head respectfully. “Bakuseno, you have served this clan well. You have our everlasting gratitude.” Silver strands blew over his pristine face. Sesshomaru missed the shock that overcame Bakuseno, and then the warm smile that replaced it as his face faded away. His branches swayed in pleasure as Sesshomaru finally set off to his final destination, the Whispering Wood.
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A silver jewel thundered through the sky, dashing to the South faster than the eye could see. Sesshomaru cut his travel time in half in this form, using all his energy to fly faster than lightning. As soon as he reached the southern border, he could hear her. Kagura’s winds joined him, urging him quicker than he was already going. Her soft chuckles echoed around him. His aura flared with anticipation.
Her scent guided his direction, and before he knew it, he exploded through a thick gray fog in the trees, his jeweled form pushing the mist away in a burst of power.
He then plunged to the ground. The mist erupted around him from such a volatile entrance. As it settled, he stood in his humanoid form, mokomoko gracefully over one shoulder and completely unperturbed. He felt Kagura’s wind caress his face, his neck, his sleeves. Then she whispers, “welcome to the Whispering Wood, Sesshomaru.” And with that, she was gone.
In her place arose sprites from the trees, from the ground, and from the haze covered rivers that rushed through the woodland. They laughed merrily as they danced around him. Their bodies glowed like fireflies, their wings shimmered like dragonflies, and they left small wisping trails of greens and pinks behind them. Their eyes consumed almost their whole face, no sclera in sight.
He squinted his golden gaze, perturbed by the sudden turn of events.
The sprites giggled around him, playing with his silver locks and twirling between the strands. “Why have you entered our realm?” Their voices were so small, but together they spoke louder with mirth.
“Where is she?” He entertained killing them on the spot for indulging themselves so familiarly with his body. But he needed information. So he decided to yield to them, at least until he received what he needed.
“She?” They sang. “There are so many she’s!”
His claws twitched, a throb forming at his temple. He was so close. “Kagura,” he divulged, his patience wearing thin. “Where is she?”
“Ah,” they floated above his head in excitement, their movements fast as they sped away from him, “follow us!” They flew. “The Wind Sorceress is this way!”
Not even a blink and they were already several yards away. After the slight shock, Sesshomaru moved a step behind them, dashing through shrubbery, trunks, uprooted roots, and branches. Some sprites slowed down beside him, laughing and playing with his furs. They whispered into his pointed ear.
“What will you give her?”
“One needs to sacrifice.”
“Will you prove your worth?”
“The wind will not be commanded.”
They were suddenly before a cliff. The wind roared louder than anything he heard before. Rushing up a mountain side and pushing violently against anything that came near it. Before the cliff were pillars. The sprites swirled, danced, and landed on them.
“Altars for your gifts,” they explained.
But Sesshomaru had no gifts. A beat passed, his patience at its wits end, he turned from the area, committing it to memory as he began to hunt for the woman that continued to torment his every waking moment.
Several moons had cycled when Sesshomaru finally found himself before the altars again. “Stand aside.” His only warning to the sprites before he unfurled his aura, the gust of his power blew his hair back, and it cleared the area from any mist hindering his view.
Past the altars, he saw Kagura sleeping on the cliff’s edge, held up by her own overpowering winds. A knot stole his voice. She was so close, her head back, almost as if she were reclined on a mountain of pillows. Her hair loose, covering just past her breasts. She was ethereal, exquisite, even elegant as she slept, her bare skin glistened in the sunlight.
The sprites screeched at his display. They moved behind him to watch the impossible. Their dear Wind Sorceress with her first disciple.
“This Sesshomaru bears gifts.” His voice boomed deeply through her hurricanes. Yet she did not stir. He stepped forth to her altars and emptied his cupped hands atop one, “emeralds, your preferred jewels.” They tumbled onto the stoned surface, the smooth gems clinking and green like the earth, the ones she always wore as earrings in a delicate row that trailed down her silken neck.
The wind suddenly turned direction, belting over the jewels, picking them up and swirling them around her sleeping form.
Sesshomaru cleared his throat at the display, unused to the swell of emotion it brought forth from him. So he stepped to the next altar, and placed two feathers on its surface. “Ornaments.. for your hair,” he said a note quieter. The wind shifted again, and before it could gather the two feathers, he unfurled his mokomoko. It billowed before him, and feathers erupted from its surface like an explosion of water against a seashore. The wind gathered it greedily, bringing it to Kagura’s sleeping form, twisting feathers and beads about her like a shield.
The Daiyoukai stepped before the last altar, a clawed hand bringing a delicate butterfly to stand upon its surface. “Your favored creature,” he declared. The insect carefully opened and closed its pink and black wings. “A symbol of your death,” he swallowed, “and rebirth.”
That moment was life changing for him. Someone he could not save. Someone he had failed. Someone he had respected too late, escaping his clawed hands in the most morbid and beautiful way. Her life’s blood stained the purity of the flowers around her, before she deteriorated into her truest form.
The cliff’s winds softened, and he opened his arms, butterflies escaping his sleeves by the thousands.
“One final gift,” the sprites whispered approvingly. “A life for a life.” Said the spirits of the Whispering Wood.
Before Sesshomaru could comprehend what he was doing, he was already leaping and flying to her. He broke through the barrier of gifts that swirled around her, and wrapped one arm around her back, cradling her head in the crook of his elbow, his hand gripping her waist. He found himself admiring her sharp features, the curve of her nose, the pink strip above her lid, the perfectly sculpted bangs above her brow, the lovely bow of her crimson lips. Without a second thought, he lifted his free arm, his sleeve dropping to reveal pale skin with magenta stripes.
“This Sesshomaru offers himself to you, Kagura.” His eyes softened.
At that moment, his daughter's words echoed quietly through his mind. ‘Sesshomaru-sama, are you lonely?’
His silver lashes lowered, and he whispered into Kagura’s pointed ear, “you will forever be free ."
He pulled his face quickly away, its features turned something fierce, the stripes on his cheeks now jagged. Lips curved maddenly over his teeth, and he sunk his jaw into his powerful arm, biting fiercely as he observed her sleeping form. He drew in his blood, filling his mouth so much that when he pulled away, blood dripped from both corners, and he kissed her; opening her mouth with the power of his own, he gave her his life's essence. Once finished, he pulled back, watching her for any signs of life.
Yet there was none. Panicked, he sank himself into his arm, over and over, giving more of himself to her. Was it the poison that coursed through his veins? Was it his breed?
He suddenly felt faint, the world spun as he continued to feed her.
“Kagura,” he whispered. Had he given too much of himself? Would this even work?
It did not matter. He would not give up.
Eyes growing heavy, he rubbed his drenched forehead against hers, “come to me.”
His bangs stuck to his skin, yet he cared not for that, and he filled his mouth with himself one last time before giving her all he had left. A fog slowly crept into the recesses of his mind, and his lips descended to her crimson ones. His limbs grew slack, his head felt heavy. He almost succumbed to his frailty when a warmth spread over his arms, his shoulders, his neck. Claws scraped softly at the base of his head.
A warm breath ghosted over his lips. “Sesshomaru?” It was so quiet, he almost missed it.
His senses struggled to focus. “Kagura?”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, drawing herself closer. He didn’t hear the winds calming or their bodies and gifts landing gently to the ground below. “It took longer to return to you than expected.”
“Will that suffice?” He interrupted her, body curving over hers, protecting and exhausted.
“Yes,” her magenta eyes sparkled, her lips smiling a way they never had before. “More than enough.”
“That is,” he sighed, golden eyes forcing themselves open to finally witness her own crimson ones, his silver curtain of hair surrounding them, “acceptable.”
Kagura blushed, a dear sight he refused to forget, along with the laugh that held no malice. Perhaps, perhaps this would be enough. Seeing her one last time. Possibly… he could possibly beseech her to continue watching over Rin.
The breath left him in a woosh, and he closed his eyes again, the blackness returning to the edges of his mind. “Be free,” he said quietly in his deep undertones, “and Rin-”
“Speak no more,” Kagura rushed, pulling herself over him. Strength zapped, Sesshomaru fell in a heap to his back, his vanilla fur softened his landing. The Wind Sorceress draped herself on him like a blanket. She whispered over his lips, “it was enough. You are enough.” She smiled, tears running down her cheeks as she kissed him, filling his lungs with air, and his body with a newly transformed energy of their mingled youkai - an almost mated pair.
He had proven himself. The gifts had shown he knew her, remembered every little nuance about her, her interests, her deeply cherished freedom. The very last part of his sacrifice had been out of her control. For, to bring back a life always required some kind of sacrifice, and he had sacrificed himself.
Her boundless energy and strength filled him, the sprites of the Whispering Wood released them both from their fae driven spells. Kagura was free, and now so was Sesshomaru.
His body rushed with all the energy in the world. Golden eyes grew wide, lungs suddenly breathing in Kagura’s scent as deep as they could, his claws twitched, and he immediately latched to her bare hips, his other hand pulling her impossibly closer by the back of her neck. Eyes closing and lips pushing back up to her. Feathers, butterflies, and emeralds swirling in a vortex around them.
Finally, they were together, and free.
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Kiseru - a long Japanese smoking pipe.