How uncomfortable the smell of death had become over the years. He does not remember how it started, but suddenly something he had grown accustomed with was very unpleasant. Must be because he had gradually stopped being the cause of said odor. She turned his head around. Today as the sun shone bright, they were seated by a large tree, just enjoying the afternoon breeze as the kids wrestled on the grass not far from there. The laughs and little joy screams filled the air. Kagome has been unusually quiet lately. Sesshomaru remembered the days she used to speak whole books without stopping to breathe and this would give him a massive sensory overload. Admittedly, nowadays he would kill to hear her endless babbles again. The miasma was still heavily holding onto her now fragile body. His fingers twitched in want. “Don’t.” Sesshomaru heard before he could even move his clawed hand. She exhaled deeply. “You know you can’t touch me until we lift this curse, it could hurt you badly. God knows it has before.” She turned her worried ocean eyes to him, her hand twitched too. “You worry too much, Miko.” This time he did move his hand in her direction. Her eyes went wide, a panicked pulse of reiki came through in her defense. “NO!” The ragged pleading negative filled the air. Kagome dragged herself away from him. The demon lord was not surprised by this reaction, but she never managed to actually burn him with reiki before, not unconsciously at least. The fingertips sizzled with the heat wave, his brow furrowed. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean-” Kagome’s choked apology was interrupted. “I know.” Sesshomaru watched his digits heal rapidly. “This is of no consequence.” He assured her by turning to make visual contact. “Why can’t you listen to me?” She asked rhetorically. The sound of dragged grass announced her leave, like a grasp stealing his life force he felt her aura getting further and further away from him. He noticed the laughs had stopped, Sesshomaru whipped his head thinking something had happened only to encounter his children's sad empathetic looks. Her scent was now laced with a disgusting coat of venomous miasma, he could feel it, covering her like a thick mud blanket, weighing her down, sucking the joy out of her eyes. Since the day Naraku died this plague has ruined their lives. Obviously he would not go down that easily, but cursing her with a life-draining spell had an extra layer of diabolical only a man living fed solely by hate and anger could administer, Sesshomaru recognized, he was once that man, if not for her, he may have ended up the same. It pained him most, not the fact he could not hug her and feel her body between his arms, or even the fact she would not let him help her, but the fear in her eyes, the fear of hurting him. Life was such an unfair thing. They had just admitted their feelings for each other, after years of fighting and uncertainty, of light touches and stolen glances, of kissing and hiding, of passionate nights and awkward mornings. He was furious, mostly because he had no one to blame but himself. He should have taken her sooner, he should have stopped being such a spoiled stubborn child and just accept he wanted her, that he loved a human woman. A dead demon's actions should not be weighting his judgment so much. It should not be weighing it at all. His life was his. He would put an end to this situation and this would happen right now. Sesshomaru found her standing by the door of her old hut, she was always oddly still these days, like she was lost in thought, waiting for something to happen. Her blue eyes once so shining, dulled by the minute. “Funny.” She said, somehow it did not look humorous to him. “I always feared people would think I’m Kikyo.” A weak chuckle left her mouth. “Now here I am, a walking shell.” “You are Ka-go-me.” He mimicked the catchphrase she would say whenever someone mistook her for the dead priestess. Her vision met his, a faint light coming to them, her lips curved tired. “Thank you. You always know what to say.” Her eyes moved to the horizon again. “Come.” Sesshomaru motioned for her to follow. “Let’s ask for the help of the old miko, she should know something about this curse.” Kagome followed sluggishly. They found Kaede in her herb garden sitting in a low stool, like always she would tend to her healing plants in the afternoon. “Kaede.” He called the old woman. A loud sigh was heard, strangely he did not know what this was about. “Sesshomaru-sama.” She turned, somehow not surprised to see him. “Priestess, we need your help.” These words felt odd coming from his mouth. “We need to lift his curse from Kagome, her life force is being drained day by day.” For a moment he thought she had not heard him, the old miko gave the most infuriating pause he had ever witnessed. “I know someone.” Her wrinkled eyes diverted from them, turning back her attention to the herbs. “You will go to Inuyasha’s forest, by the Goshinboku, there’s a hut. It will tell you the truth.” The elder woman was strangely cooperative. Sesshomaru decided he did not have time for that. __________________________________________ As they walked through the well known forest, a feeling of dread filled him. Each step he gave that direction pumped his anxiety, like he was being dragged to an abyss and had nothing to hold on. Strolling the dry path, the dense forest began to swallow them, every inch becoming more damp and ill-lit. The strangest part of the suffocating atmosphere was not the unusual gloominess on a sunny day or even the sudden temperature drop mid-summer. The strangest part was the path of destruction that lay before them. In every step the couple gave in the direction of the sacred tree, it became more evident, something violent took place here. The broken trees, the smashed bushes, thorn rocks, the blood. “Seems like a frenzied wild animal passed through here.” It was bizarre being the talkative one between them. She remained in complete silence. He could see the tree from a distance, but there was no hut beneath it. ‘Maybe it is behind the tree.’ He noticed how they seemed to walk slower. Every footprint they left appeared heavier. Now and then Sesshomaru would look back to make sure there was no danger here. When they finally came beneath the holy tree, he was still distracted searching for foe. He could not hear a thing. Not even her breathing. She stood turned to him, her sad eyes apologetic. Kagome mouthed something inaudible. “I can’t hear you.” Sesshomaru could see she was repeating something. “I’m sorry.” She finally uttered in a slightly audible level. “For what?” He asked, panicked. A heat sensation filled his throat like liquid fire. Dead silence. He turned to the roots of the tree that cursed his brother centuries before and now it cursed him. There laid a little engraved rock. It read: “Kagome. Beloved friend. The Shikon Miko. Our savior.” Her red bow shoved behind the stone. Sesshomaru forgot how to breathe. He slowly turned his head to meet her eyes. Now they were excruciatingly dull, like a dead person. His teeth clenched so hard it hurt, he could feel the blood coming to his amber eyes and transforming them into something else. A frenzied wild animal. An unhuman howl joined her bloody scream when his elongated monstrous claws reached for her, only to grasp a purple smoke that escaped him and came to his arms altogether. He was there again. That day. Her bloodied corpse was heavy in his arms. The heaviest thing he would ever carry. The iron smell covered her sweet wildflower scent, her blood was everywhere. Dry red tears trailed through the fair skin of her face. They ended Naraku’s life, but the cost was far too high for some, for him, all he had. Her trembling lips let a thread of red liquid run. “I don’t wanna die.” She confessed to him, as more tears began to fall. “You will not, miko. Rest assured I will not let this happen.” He gripped her chilling body as if trying to prevent someone from stealing her. “I just found you. I don’t wanna leave.” Her last words choked her. Kagome’s crying face was the last thing he remembers, it was her last action on this earth. She didn’t wanna go. ________________________________________________ Today as the sun shone bright, they were seated by a large tree, just enjoying the afternoon breeze as the kids wrestled on the grass not far from there. The laughs and little joy screams filled the air. Kagome has been unusually quiet lately. Sesshomaru remembered the days she used to speak whole books without stopping to breathe and would give him a massive sensory overload. Admittedly, nowadays he would kill to hear her endless babler again. The miasma was still heavily holding onto her toned body. His fingers twitched in want. “Don’t.”