Sesshoumaru and his cousin parted ways at the entrance to the castle, Ryouken frowning after him as the demon lord continued alone to Kagome’s room. Through the open door, he glimpsed Sango and Miroku. Both were reclining against Kirara near Kagome’s bedside, the taijiya knitting a small blue cap as the monk read aloud from a square-shaped scroll entitled Grimm’s Fairy Tales. He recognized it at once as one of Kagome’s ‘books’. Her mother had been sending them regularly, claiming that it was beneficial to read to the unconscious.

Sesshoumaru failed to see the point in it, but he was as willing as the rest of them to try anything that might bring Kagome a measure of comfort in her affliction. And of course, he wished to oblige her poor mother, who had only recently begun speaking to Inuyasha again. The hanyou was reluctant to divulge exactly what had transpired between them, but from the grimness of his expression upon returning through the well, Sesshoumaru could infer the toll it had taken on his brother to inform Kagome’s mother of what had become of her only daughter. Not knowing the woman himself, the demon lord trusted entirely to his brother’s judgment in dealing with her and regretted only that Inuyasha alone was forced to carry this burden, when by all rights it should have been his to bear.

Suppressing his guilt with difficulty, Sesshoumaru entered the room.

“…When the day came for the sentence to be carried out,” the monk read on as the demon lord crossed the threshold, “it was also the last day of the six years during which she had not been permitted to speak or to laugh, and she had thus delivered her dear brothers from the magic curse. The six shirts were finished. Only the left sleeve of the last one was missing…”

Miroku paused, nodding toward him briefly before continuing on. It seemed Sesshoumaru had arrived at the end of the tale, the heroine’s long years of suffering silence compressed to a single line. He wondered, if once he had found a means of healing Kagome, he would reflect on these dark, endless hours with the same sort of blitheness. A side note in a story that was ultimately not about pain or sadness, but about redemption and happiness well-deserved.

If only he could arrive at the end of that story, he thought, as the Jewel burned darkly above his heart, and he reined in such useless, fanciful thinking.

Before him, Kagome lay asleep as always, the scarred, blasted landscape of her face arresting him as ever. He suspected he was the only one who truly looked upon her, besides Hikari perhaps. Even Inuyasha averted his gaze in her presence. Sesshoumaru could not fault his brother nor the others for their avoidance. Often, he wished himself that he could turn his eyes away, but his conscience would not allow it.

Blue flowers threaded through her hair today. Hikari’s doing, Sesshoumaru knew. The maidservant often went to such lengths to improve Kagome’s appearance, though to Sesshoumaru such efforts only seemed to accentuate her flaws. In his bitterer moods, he had nearly commanded the demoness to stop with the ornamentation, the words rising in his throat even now as Hikari and Inuyasha stepped through the door.

At the end of his tale, Miroku closed the book, he, his wife, and the firecat looking toward Sesshoumaru and the others with guarded hope. Quickly, Inuyasha jerked his head to the side—and the matter was dropped, as usual.

“Thanks for staying with her,” the hanyou muttered.

“Of course,” Miroku replied, violet eyes lowering as he helped Sango to her feet.

Conspiciously pregnant, the female taijiya placed a hand to her protruding stomach as she rose to depart. Sesshoumaru’s eyes lingered there, on that telling swell, his thoughts invariably returning to what his mother had said about Kagome, and how she would never be able to bear children of her own. Even had Butamaru been able to repair her outer flesh, this would still have been so.

Perhaps reading something of this regret in his expression, Sango dropped her hand with a slight, guilty frown. Her brown eyes shifted to Kirara, who had miniaturized and perched herself upon Hikari’s shoulder.

“Kirara has taken quite a shine to you, Hikari-chan,” Sango said with a soft smile as the firecat nuzzled the demoness’s cheek.

The maidservant returned the gesture, running her fingers through Kirara’s downy fur as she whispered to her, “I will miss you, too.”

“Miss you?” Inuyasha repeated, glowering at her. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?—you going somewhere, Hikari?”

As the healer flustered, Miroku interceded with a sigh, “Sango’s time is fast approaching, Inuyasha. We won’t be able to return for a while.”

The hanyou deflated. “Oh.”

Clapping a hand to his friend’s shoulder as he strode past, the monk led his wife on with a word of parting. As Kirara leapt down from Hikari’s shoulder, Sango hesitated near the door.

“Months have gone by now, and from what I understand, Kagome-chan has healed as much as she is able,” she said, catching Hikari’s eye briefly before directing her gaze to Sesshoumaru. “Perhaps you should consider lifting her sedation.”

Inuyasha tensed. “But we haven’t found a cure for her yet, Sango.”

“I know that, but…” Her eyes fell as her voice trailed off. “To continue to keep her in this unconscious state, it isn’t good for her, either.”

Inuyasha’s jaw clenched as he looked away. Stepping forward, Sesshoumaru met her pained gaze.

“I will consider it.”

Bowing her head to him in deference, the taijiya, her husband and the neko left the room, Hikari following to see them out. The moment the screen slid shut, Inuyasha rounded upon him.

“What the fuck, Sesshoumaru?” he growled. “Consider it, my ass! Kagome can’t wake up like this—it would kill her.”

Her or you, the demon lord reflected as he regarded his brother. Though in truth Sesshoumaru had to put himself to the same question—could he concede to this defeat, to allow Kagome to awaken into a new world of pain and suffering?

His eyes rested upon her, watching the faint rise and fall of her marred chest, the glow of her restored reiki within. After Magatsuhi’s defeat, her power had gradually returned to her, the effusive vibrancy of her soul standing so at odds with the battered body that contained it. Though he could not quite explain it, Sesshoumaru sensed that Kagome wanted to live, and this…

This was not living.

“To keep her trapped in this darkness,” he mused aloud, his gaze sliding to his brother’s, “are we any better than her tormentors?”

Inuyasha frowned deeply. “What kinda stupid question is that…” he grumbled, wrenching open the screen door as he turned. “Of course we are.”

As the hanyou stormed from the room, Sesshoumaru remained, alone and unconvinced.

---

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

If you’re wondering why this chapter was so long and emo, well I’m stuck at the airport. Here’s to hoping I make it home this year

lol

💕

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