She had wanted to see the snow. One million, two hundred and ninety six thousand seconds ago she had wanted to see snow. Fifteen days ago, he had relented.
"Kouga told me it was beautiful, Sesshomaru."
He had taken her far to the north, into the mountains where the snow never melted. One hundred and seventy two thousand, eight hundred seconds ago, she had seen the icy slopes for the first time. Two days ago, she had set foot in the mountains of the far north.
"It's so cold...how can any youkai live in this weather?"
He had been taken by surprise. He, the daiyoukai that roamed the West, had been taken by surprise. One hundred and twenty nine thousand, six hundred seconds ago, he had heard the rumbling only an instant before it hit. One and a half days ago, he had only been able to watch.
"Sesshomaru!"
Eighty six thousand, four hundred seconds ago he had found her body. One and a half days ago, he had dug her out of a snowy grave.
"I - you - you came for me, Sessho..."
Forty three thousand, two hundred seconds ago he had returned to the West. The snow still clung to her body, a reminder that he had failed.
Three thousand, six hundred seconds ago, he had drawn Tenseiga. Thirty seconds ago, he had forced it to obey his will.
One second ago, she began to breathe again.
---
She shouldn't have lived. He shouldn't have brought her back. She lived and walked and spoke, but it was no longer her in her body and he knew it.
History repeats itself, the old man whispered on his deathbed.
Two years later, she tripped and fell, tumbling into the river. When he found her, she was face-down in the freezing water, trapped under a sheet of ice.When he pulled her out, there was a smile on her face and a bluish tint to her skin.
It took almost half a day for Tenseiga to bend to his will. When it finally did, she had been covered by a light dusting of snow.
---
She didn't laugh anymore. He noticed this one night after they had stopped. At his side, Tenseiga pulsed. He ignored it.
My will is law and the law can not be broken, the prince once said.
Three years later, he heard a little laugh when she went flying off the edge of a cliff, crashing into the side and tumbling down to hit the bottom with what he imagined was a dull ‘thud'. She had lost her footing on the icy ground.
He found her half-buried in a snow drift stained red, broken and battered and looking as though she had been taken apart and put back together again in the dark.
Three days later, Tenseiga once again succumbed under the force of his will. She had been frozen solid.
---
She no longer spoke, her voice always harsh and empty to his ears. Only ten years later, she was already a perfect stranger to him. She still wore her body.
Tenseiga insistently rattled in its sheath when it came too close to her. He ignored it once again.
A king never admits that he is wrong, someone derisively snorted.
He thought that he heard his name escape her when she broke through the ice on the lake. She had stood still for too long.
When her body floated to the surface again, days after he had melted the ice of the lake, it was bloated and he could see the white of her bones where the fish had nibbled away at her flesh.
It took more than one week for Tenseiga's resolve to give way to his will. By then, she had started decaying.
---
He took her back to the mountains, back to the spot where it had all started more than a decade ago. Fifteen years later, she saw the snow once again and stepped foot onto the mountainside.
Have I been here before? asked the schoolgirl in her neatly pressed uniform.
It happened exactly as it had in the past. She was buried under an avalanche of snow and ice once again. This time, he waited by the edge of the snow for two days before turning and walking away. She didn't follow.
He fancied that he heard the sound of her voice on the wind as he walked away from the mountains. He ignored it and took another step, feet sinking into the snow.
It had been snowing when she died the first time. It had been snowing every time since then.
Sesshomaru left her behind, a rotting body that should have been destroyed fifteen years ago when she first died again.
It was snowing when he returned to the West, bereft of a companion he had hoped to keep forever.
"It's just as pretty as he said, Sesshomaru...but it's so cold."