a/n: Am happy to announce to piece placed third!

Title: Waiting

Author: LC Rose

Theme: Missing (weekly perfection #23)

Genre: Angst

Rating: G

Warnings: character death

Word Count: 400

Summary: Canon. Sesshoumaru waits for Kagome to realize she loves him.

**

Sesshoumaru waited with only the patience centuries taught. His eyes he kept ever watchful, guarding what he considered his-even if the miko was unaware of to whom she truly belonged. He was sure in his mind that, eventually, she would realize who truly loved her, who would do anything for her.

At first, after the well allowed her to return, he came to Edo often; staying on the outskirts of the town under the pretense of seeing to Rin. Each time he came, Sesshoumaru secretly watched the miko as she moved, followed the motions of her lips as she spoke, memorized each look she sent his way. When he left, he would sort through those memories; interpreting what he wished of them. And always he would return, expecting her to come to him with the knowledge that he loved her. Had he not proven that many times in the past?

Then, as time passed, Sesshoumaru decided that perhaps his absence would make her heart grow fonder, to realize what she was missing in her life. To a youkai such as him, the passage of time was a blink of his eye and it was several years before he returned to Edo. He expected the miko to rush to his side, declaring that she had finally realized the truth of his love for her and of hers for him. Instead, he was shocked into a stillness unlike any he had experienced before when he spied his beloved fat with the half-breed's pup.

He'd left angrily that day, not even waiting to see Rin, and the look on Kagome's face haunted him. It wasn't one of regret. The miko was not upset that she had betrayed him. No. She had been happy; proud to be carrying the offspring of that foolish hanyou when she should be plump with his own pups instead.

It was more than a dozen years before his anger settled and he dared to return just once more. He was prepared to forgive Kagome her transgression against him, but, when he arrived, he could not smell the miko's scent. So he tracked Inuyasha down. "Where?" he demanded.

"She's gone," Inuyasha answered. "Died. In childbirth."

Pain swelled within him as Sesshoumaru thought of his beloved, murdered by the half-breed's seed. He withdrew his sword, the sound slicing through the heavy silence that'd fallen. Revenge would be his.