Deep end of the ocean! by Moonlight Silk

Take me with you!

I do not own or claim to own Inuyasha or any merchandise associated with the series!

Through the muddy terrain, Kagome and a small group forged their way with acute caution to the final resting place of a beloved friend while tirelessly coping with angry showers pouring from a cold cheerless sky, and the rising breeze which made them unsteady. Suddenly she felt the sliver of the icy weather as it sucked the warmth from her bones and shivered. In all of the two hundred years that she'd lived in the past, she could not remember a November so cold and miserable.

As she continued to tread, carefully placing one foot in front of the other to avoid a fall she glanced on either side of the dirt road. The swaying trees resembled eerie shadows in the bleak afternoon, compounding the gloom and making it almost impossible to see. She could only assume from this point onward that perhaps in another minute or so they would be at their destination.

A short time later the group paused near a cluster of Oak trees that seemed to block the path ahead but she knew better, it was the path that led straight into the forest. As if on cue, a few seconds later each person started to move again. They turned off the main road and into the wilderness where the ground was even more slippery; someone in front stumbled almost causing the heavy wooden box with the remains of the half demon Inuyasha to be dislodged. Luckily they were able to avoid a mishap.

The wilderness with its giant trees and overhanging boughs offered them some protection from the elements and the grieving woman sighed in relief. In the mild shelter of the tall trees on either side of them they could see the Tree of Ages standing magnificent and sturdy up ahead. She stilled for just a moment and watched the raindrops beat against the ashen bark of the ancient monument as she remembered the first time that her eyes had beheld an unbelievable sight. It was her first glimpse of a dog-eared creature pinned to its trunk, stuck in a magical sleep with an arrow protruding from his chest.

She sighed with the memory and then looked up in the dark skies; the rain hit her face washing away the lingering tears. As the raindrops fell, she closed her eyes shielding them from the frosty cold. Suddenly the wind picked up again, the heavy breeze swept under her feet giving her no other recourse than to dig her feet into the soft earth to keep her balance. She lowered her head after a while only to observe that her companions had stopped moving and were thoughtfully gazing at her. Her lips parted as though she meant to say something but then she closed them again without uttering one word and carried on.

The more she walked the more mud squished between her toes as muck overflowed into her getas. It felt cold and strange like her heart that had turned to ice. She didn't belong here now that Inuyasha was dead, and she couldn't go back to her time either. To move forward was something she felt that she could not do by herself, though she must.

There wasn't any light left in her world. She and her half-demon never had children even though they'd tried ceaselessly throughout the years. All of her human friends had died many years ago, and Inuyasha her only friend, lover, and husband was the last to go, leaving her alone and desperate was a fate worse than death.

Inuyasha's final resting place stood fifty paces away, her steps faltered and she felt that her palms had dampened further in the cold and the rain; then suddenly her heart of ice cracked now that the grave was right in front of her.

The wooden box slid in the mud as it was unburdened. The hole in the earth's floor by the base of the tree gathered water and she wondered idly if he would be cold when they buried him in the sodden grave.

"Lady Kagome is there anything that you would like to say before we lay him to rest?" The voice of the priest said over the rustling wind.

She shook her head no and sniffled as she gazed upon the box.

He nodded to her and then gestured to the others to come closer. The group gathered around the gravesite. Soon he began to pray earnestly for Inuyasha's half tainted soul. Kagome listened with indifference, distracted entirely by an aura made faint by the bad weather. The aura lingered until the first heap of wet dirt was dropped on the casket.

She turned away from the others immediately afterward and hurried after the retreating aura, she couldn't let him get away. He was the only family that she had left in spite of not seeing him in over one hundred and fifty years. He had stopped visiting the village after Rin had died.

Her legs felt uncomfortable and heavy as she ran and her soaked clothes weighed her down even more. The left heel of her geta broke as it crashed against a jutting stone; she shook both footwear from her feet and ran harder.

Her heart pounded, the sound vibrated in her ears as she chased the elusive demon down, but to her dismay, she wasn't gaining any ground. Where could he be? She wondered anxiously as her eyes swept the area maddeningly.

She gasped losing a breath as a white silhouette moved between the trees in the gray then disappeared. The thought of him leaving her alone without another soul who understood her plight forced her mind into action and a shout of his name tore pass her lips.

"Sesshomaru please wait!"

She knew that he had heard but would he stop, would he answer her call. She had no way of knowing, she could only hope as, after all, he had come to say goodbye to his only sibling although he had done it from afar.

Tired she held onto a tree; the rain poured again prickling as it hit her flesh. In the quiet, she sensed his un-moving aura and knew that he had answered her plea because now he waits.

She padded barefooted in the mud using her senses to find him. Approaching the top of an elevation, a smallish hill she spotted him across the way. He had his back turned to her as he stood still; Kagome scrambled almost on her hands and knees the rest of the way just to get to him.

She stood behind him staring at his back for a full minute before he turned around and gazed at her with unreadable eyes. The cold from the weather and his eyes made her feel naked and she shivered. Slowly her arms came up forming a barrier across her chest to ward of the surreptitious chill.

He was aware that the woman grieved for his brother and was ill at ease in his presence. So he could not fathom as to why she would give chase and shout his name for him to stop. As he watched her he observed that she would look to the left and right of her quite often, nervously.

He noted with surprise that she did not bear the stench of decay like other humans and did not age; however, her scent was not pure like an immortal. He lifted his head in the air and took a long silent whiff of her scent and found the truth.

She had the scent of a mortal but not one of this time. Her origin was not unknown to him, he knew her to be from a future time and if he had to make an educated guess, the time of her mortality would commence once her actual time caught up with her.

He noticed that the woman's eyes had filled up with tears as he lowered his head, glistening like diamonds as the light hit them and they fell. He felt an inkling of pity for her as he knew of the great love that she and the hanyou had shared.

Now his brother was dead; his mixed blood had given him a long life but because of the human taint he was doomed to grow old and die. He scoffed at the irony and the plight of all those individuals who partook of the forbidden.

Luckily, such folly would never hold sway over him, because loving and impregnating a human was not an indignity passed from their father to him. He grew impatient with the priestess who reminded him so much of Rin with her large, innocent eyes and aura as she stood silently and glimpsed at him ever so often.

A memory of the past unnerved him, if he had let his guard slip an inch all those years ago he might have made the mistake and slept with his ward when she had matured and had wanted him in such a fashion. But he would not tread the path of his father, having these human females around was more trouble than it was worth and a bother.

His eyes narrowed as his ire rose, Kagome looked up at him startled by the shift in his mood and saw lips curled down at the corners scathingly.

"Priestess you have summoned this Sesshomaru," he stated bitingly, "make it quick for you waste my time."

She was caught up in a moment of confusion by his sudden disagreeable mood; she didn't know if she should say what she had wanted to say after chasing him down or to quietly leave.

A harsh gulp burned her throat as she made up her mind. Fluttering wings passed over them and she looked up briefly, the showers were easing. She closed her eyes, she couldn't back down now, she had nothing left to lose.

She sighed deeply and then stared shamelessly at his face as she spoke. "Your brother is dead and I have no one or any place else to go, you are the only family that I have left, please let me follow you."

His response she did not wait for before she fell to her knees at his feet looking wearily at the wet grass. Her heart was empty, devoid of its core as there was nothing left to fill it, but if being by the demon lord's side meant that she could survive; perhaps she could live to see her family again.

He did not answer and silent footsteps put great distances between them and her heart sank. She cried quietly though brokenly, because Sesshomaru did not want her to accompany him even as an insignificant companion.

His aura floated away as she cried but then it stilled, she looked down into the valley and there he was, and for the second time in minutes she was trapped in indecision. Could it be that he has had a change of heart? She wondered. But as she felt impatience seeping alongside his calm aura she got up and started after him.

As he waited he contemplated the soundness of his decision, because on a whim moments ago he had chosen to concede to her request.

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I wrote this piece sometime ago but was hesitant to post it because I did not think that I could manage to write two chapter stories at the same time. I would welcome some feedback on the chapter. Thank you.