The Sun and the Moon by EtherealCrescent

Their heavenly bodies

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or its characters. They are the sole property of Takahashi Rumiko.

Title: The Sun and the Moon
Author: EtherealCrescent
Word Count: 704
Characters: Kagome/Sesshomaru
Summary: Pondering about heavenly bodies.

AU/Canon: Canon
Author's Notes: My first fanfic. One-shot

"Do you want to know something?" Kagome asked, plopping on the ground gracelessly as she stared out into an endless field of stars that reached into forever.

She waited a moment… but not for him to reply. No reply was the same as an invitation when it came from him. He simply sat with effortless grace down beside her. She smiled.

"Both the Moon and the Sun rise." she declared like she'd realized the answer to all questions, like all at once the trivial things had become invisible and she had become aware of staircases that could reach beyond the stars.

After a moment she turned her full attention to the Moon. It seemed so overbearingly beautiful, noble. Rising to shine into the darkness of the night defiantly, daring to ward off the shadows from enveloping the world. It was so breathtakingly strong.

"Yes, they rise." Sesshomaru spoke, shifting his attentions to where she had been looking and startling her out of her daze. She glanced at him over her shoulder, dizzily taking in the similarities between the heavenly body and her own personal Moon. She wondered if he really knew.

"Other people think that the Sun rises and then the Moon rises…" she struggled for the right words. "… they think that the Moon follows the Sun… that day is really before night. But that's wrong." She remarked to the profile of his face as he continued to stare into the Moon. It seemed as if his auburn eyes had gleamed as a pale blue for only a moment, reflecting the moon's light and becoming a color that they probably should have been. She looked away ashamed as if infringing upon something sacred, he had looked almost vulnerable without the fire in his eyes.

She readied herself to continue with her explanation when he began to speak. "You are trying to say that the Sun follows the Moon…" he paused. "You are wrong…"he asserted. "But other people are wrong too."

Kagome didn't understand. He was like the Moon so it was undoubtedly true that everything, even the Sun, would follow the Moon throughout the cycle of forever. Of course the Moon rose before the Sun. She frowned.

At this, he turned to face her for the first time of the night. His lidded eyes seemed endless and they bore into hers. She felt as if he was pulling something out. She gasped but as she tried to catch her breath and lure whatever it was back inside of her, he reached to place a deadly delicate hand against her cheek and her whole world calmed.

As she gazed into his auburn eyes, she saw the Sun. She saw how it seemed so overbearingly beautiful, humble. She saw that every morning it rose defiantly to shine on a world that would become overtaken by darkness every night… if not for the Moon. It was so breathtakingly strong. And then she saw that what she was seeing was herself, a reflection in his eyes, how he saw her.

He gently removed his hand and turned away, staring back up into the sky. Kagome mimicked his actions, again losing herself amongst the stars.

"Your eyes are the same as this Sesshomaru." he stated in the frank manner that he stated everything.

"And your eyes are like me." she stated more to herself than as a reply.

With nothing left to be said, they resigned themselves to silence. It was not long before they realized they were no longer sitting in the grass.

Sesshomaru and Kagome walked side by side underneath the night sky, neither speaking, and neither lagging behind the other. Night did not follow day and day did not follow night. The Sun and the Moon were the same, interchangeable. Each entity needed the other to stave off the darkness, and each depended on each other's strength the same as each depended on itself. His eyes were merely a reflection of her and hers, a reflection of him.

"The Sun and the Moon rise together." And it was unclear which one of them had spoken. Kagome laughed and Sesshomaru arched a puzzled brow. As one they ascended up the staircase among the stars into forever.