The Sword That Unites Us

" No." Sesshomaru said finally. InuYasha jumped up. " You stubborn idiot! If you don't allow us to travel with you, Silver's done for! You heard what she said!"

" Her name is Miharu." He said, with an irritated glance at his brother. Miharu was watching the argument between her father and her uncle with her mother sitting behind her and braiding her hair.

" Such beautiful hair." Saeka whispered. " It's just like Sesshomaru's."

" Yeah. I'm just glad I'm not as stubborn as dad is." She muttered. Saeka giggled. " I know what you mean. Since you came into his life, he's changed considerably. He's not as wild. But he's still a pain in the neck when he wants to be." She said.

" I heard that, Saeka." Sesshomaru said.

" I hope you did." She said. He turned around. " Exactly what do you mean by that?"

" I mean that you can never have an open mind about anything." Saeka said. He stood up. Saeka followed suit. Miharu shifted her gaze from one to the other. Everyone else in the room, even InuYasha knew better than to interfere.

" Saeka, I don't believe joining forces with these people will solve anything. We must continue on alone if we are to keep Miharu away from the Time Travelers."

" There you go with that 'we can do this alone'. You know full well that whoever these things are took our daughter and replaced her with a fake! Then, they vanished using some sort of time device. There's no way we can take this on ourselves, especially with Miharu along."

" Are you saying we should leave her?" he asked coldly.

" No, I'm saying we should accept your brother's offer to protect his niece. Your daughter."

" I will not accept any help from him." Sesshomaru snapped.

" Can't you work with him instead of against him for once? If we did go on alone, and something terrible happened to Miharu, I'd never forgive you." She hissed.

" I wouldn't let anything happen to her." He said, though much more quietly. Saeka stepped forward and looked him right in the eye. " You know this is pointless, right?" she said. " There's no way either of us can win without a stalemate."

" What's she talking about?" Kagome whispered to Kaede.

" She's saying that she and Sesshomaru can only walk together as equals. It's like Tenseiga and Tetsuaiga. Neither can overcome the other. It will always be a draw. If Sesshomaru fights Saeka, he will discover that despite his demon instincts, he will be unable to kill her. If she fights him, she will know she is unable to overcome his power, and surrender quietly, without much of a fight." Kaede said. Kagome gasped slightly and watched, wide-eyed. Sesshomaru had his hand on his sword and was glaring at Saeka.

" Lord Sesshomaru." Saeka said. " Kill me if you wish. But you will find that it will be harder than you think. I'm sure you heard what Lade Kaede just said to Kagome just now. There is no way for you to overcome me and for me to overcome you. We can only be as equals." Her face held an expression of pure serenity as she stared at him. Sesshomaru continued to keep his hand upon his sword, but Kagome noticed that it had started to shake. His gaze fell to the floor.

What am I doing? Am I really so angry with Saeka, over a petty fight? But it isn't so trivial. My only child is concerned and Saeka is putting her in danger. No, I love Saeka more than anything. I cannot kill her. I cannot.

His hand fell from his sword and he sighed. " No. I can't kill you." He whispered. Saeka lowered her head. " I'm sorry. I just want to do this right." She said. " I didn't mean for this to happen."

InuYasha was stunned. Sesshomaru had acted against his best choices. This was something he'd never seen him do before.

Miharu simply watched. She knew at heart that her parents could never fight and mean it.

Kaede stood up. " Well, now that that's all cleared up, we can all go about our business until later. Kagome and I are going to work on a plan for travel, InuYasha and Shippo are going to run some errands for me, Miharu is going to help me with a few spells designed to keep the time travelers away and Saeka and Sesshomaru are going to work this out on whether joining forces is a good idea. And ye had better come to a fair conclusion, or I'll clop both of ye upside the head." She said, cackling.

" So what do we have to do exactly?" InuYasha muttered. " Anything with Shippo, it's got to be torture." He added under his breath.

" Hey!" the little fox-kit squealed.

" I need ye to go and fetch Miroku and Sango from the other village a few miles from here. Then I'll just need some asparagus and that'll be it."

" What do you want that for?" Shippo asked, disgusted.

" Why for tonight's supper, of course."

Shippo gagged.

" What should I do?" Kagome asked. Miharu nodded agreement.

" I'll need the two of ye to fetch water from our well and to get ingredients and paper from the villagers. Sesshomaru and Saeka, better start working on that agreement. We've very little time."

" Before what exactly?" Sesshomaru asked.

" Sesshomaru, your daughter Miharu is obviously the Time Traveler's only experiment that lived. As she said, she is their powerful weapon and they'll come looking for her to take her from ye once again. And because they're so advanced, they'll be nothing ye can do about it. The only way to stop them is to find their heart and destroy it, like ye did Naraku."

The mention of Naraku brought the iciness to his heart once again and a sudden urge to travel. But he forced it back down, like he had when Saeka had sickened while moving. He turned to Saeka. " Let's go." He left the hut, Saeka following.

He led them out of the village to the river. She followed him in complete silence. But unlike other times before they had realized the truth, back in the earlier days, this silence was not by any means, an uncomfortable one. It was that of two conjoined souls, perpetually communicating and always connected.

" Saeka." He said quietly.

" Yes, milord?"

" I am sorry for my actions back in the priestess's hut."

" Please forget about it. You were concerned for Miharu. I am too. After having just found her, neither of us knows how to act. I was always so scared that you were going to be unable to fulfill your promise."

Sesshomaru gasped very slightly. " So you had no faith in me?"

" Of course I did. I love and trust you more than anything in the world. I knew that you would keep your promise no matter what. But the stubborn human side of me always wants to believe that the impossible will forever be so."

" That stubborn human side of you is what has kept us together." He said. He stopped. She stared at him. " But, you hate humans. And you're complimenting my human aspects?" she said, bewildered.

" Yes. For many years, I could never understand what my father was thinking in caring for humans such as InuYasha's mother. But now, after having known you, I believe that I'm beginning to understand why father both cared for humans and left me the healing sword, Tenseiga, rather than Tetsuaiga or Sounga. He wanted me to learn how to care about something, to protect something with all my power." He said, drawing Tenseiga and gazing at it. The sword seemed to glow in its own radiant light. Saeka smiled at it fondly. " This sword has really kept us together, you know. It's saved me twice, even when it shouldn't have. You implored it to and it obeyed your wishes." She said. She placed a hand on the sword, feeling the smooth make of the blade and the find texture of the hilt. She could feel the merciful warmth pulsing from within. She closed her eyes. " It's because of this sword that I came to respect you. It's because of his sword that I was permitted to stay with you. This sword has done many tremendous deeds in its lifetime. I am glad to have been one of them."

Sesshomaru couldn't help but smile at her as she silently thanked the sword for life.

" I suppose I see your point." He said. " Tenseiga has brought us so far. It's thanks to Tenseiga that I even have you by my side." He said. Saeka met his gaze as he looked down at her. Before, in the distant past, all she saw in his eyes was hatred and malice toward her and other half-demons and humans alike. Now, his eyes were less foreboding and morose, and more caring and compassionate.

Suddenly, she had a vision. She was standing at the base of a dark cliff, staring up at an even darker mass rising up in front of her, its red eyes gleaming with the pleasure of a kill. A limp form lay off to her right, long dark hair splayed around her head, eyes glazed as death claimed her.

Mother, she thought. She turned to the shadow again and gasped. Its teeth were bared and it was approaching menacingly. She crouched down and covered her head, praying that it would be over soon.

At that moment, she glanced up again and saw a figure standing before the dragon that was her father, Amanamaru. The demon standing between her and the dragon was bearing a sword that resembled a fang and brandishing it warningly. When her father attacked, she closed her eyes. But nothing happened. She opened them again and saw an enormous white dog standing where the demon had been moments before, its teeth at the dragon's throat. With a single burst of strength, it tossed the dragon far into the canyon and turned to face her. She shuffled backward, expecting it to snap her in half with those monstrous jaws. But instead of blind fury that she'd expected, the creature's red-violet eyes were showing kindness and urging her to trust rather than fear. Suddenly calmed, she nodded. The great dog then turned and carefully picked her up in its jaws. She was literally sitting within its mouth. She heard the dull roar of her father and held onto a fang as the dog-creature charged forward. Her father's roars gradually faded and her rescuer continued to run.

Eventually, he stopped, opened his mouth and she dropped to the ground. She turned to see him staring down at her. As she watched, his form slowly changed to that of a human, though she knew he was anything but a human. He knelt down and looked at her.

" You are safe here." He said. She just stared up at him, unable to express her gratitude. " But, my father—"

" He will not follow. Stay in this valley until you are sixteen years of age. Do not leave before then. Do you understand?"

" Yes. My mother, where is she?"

" She can no longer walk with you. You must learn to walk on your own."

Saeka remembered those words. How cruel they had sounded. But now that she was older, she knew that they had been the best words she'd ever heard before. They had helped her.

The demon stood up and started to walk away. Saeka leapt up and tried to follow. " Wait!" she cried. He turned back. " I don't even know who you are. You saved my life."

" I am Mononoke. Farewell, young demon."

And with that, he was gone.

" Saeka! Saeka!"

Saeka shook her head and looked at Sesshomaru. He was staring at her concernedly. " Saeka, are you all right? You were lost for a moment."

Saeka blinked a few times and smiled. " Yes. I'm all right my dearest. I'm just tired."

" Well, while you were spaced out, I thought about it. I think that you were right, that joining forces with InuYasha is a good idea."

Saeka beamed happily. " That's good to hear." She said.

Then, silently, they both started back toward the village.

A/N: Well, that's the end of that one. Unfortunately, I got caught here and now I think I'll have to write yet another one because the Time Travelers are still out there. Dang it! Who is controlling me that I keep writing sequels??? This is turning into an epic legend! The next book is called, Time Slows For No One.