Alright, here's the final chapter of this little thing. Thank you so much for reading, a double thanks for the reviews (triple thanks to those of you how added this as a favorite); you have no idea how much this means to me. More reviews would be lovely, I've had a godawful week and I would appreciate the ego boost. Enjoy :]

He had become restless waiting out in the middle of a clearing. Though it probably would've been better to stay another day recuperating, Sesshomaru wasn't known for his patience. His soreness would have to wear off on its own. He had briefly considered waiting until that child came back, but decided it wasn't worth it. Goodbyes were never really a part of his already limited social skills.

Sesshomaru found his faithful but incredibly annoying servant waiting in a clearing for him. Jaken yelled some nonsense about Sesshomaru, ignorant of his presences. A "mysterious" rock hit Jaken in the head. Perhaps this indicated Sesshomaru was in a fairly good mood. This attack, of course, led to the "imp" demon to confront him on how he never was shown any respect and he's always ignored… Sesshomaru tuned him out for the most part and in words he didn't care to remember he told the smaller demon to, basically, shut up. Apathy is the only thing that has kept him from killing the servant.

At that moment, a gust of wind blew through the small meadow, catching his attention as the scent of blood and wolves overtook his sensitive nose. He thought out loud, "I recognize this blood."

He wandered into the forest only to find the little girl in the middle of the path, presumably dead. In his life he had seen death more times than there were stars in the sky, but oddly enough this time it affected his cold personality. The only other one had been his father many years ago. There was a tinge of pity in his heart for the poor child.

As Jaken blabbered on needlessly, Sesshomaru was lost in thought replaying his memory the girl's carefree and open smile. He wasn't sure why he felt compelled to do something about this- it wasn't like he had any attachment to the human. However, someplace deep inside of him thought it would be a waste to leave her.

Slowly he decided the Tenseiga might be worth a shot. A life for a life, and even though his wasn't in danger, he still gave her credit for trying. He pulled the sword from its sheath to see if it would even react to her. It pulsated in his clawed hand, echoed and agreed with his deeply buried desire to save the girl. He could faintly see the demons of the underworld trying to claim her.

Again, thinking out loud, "I'll do another test. I'll use the Tenseiga." There was no guarantee it would work. He tried not to expect anything.

With one long slash he cut through the demons, dissolving them, and freeing her soul. He knelt down next to her and propped her against his knee, holding onto her with his arm. He waited a moment with a stern look on his face, already hating his sword more for failing to bring back her life- the one and only thing it had been forged to do.

Suddenly he heard her heart beat. He gasped in amazement. He hadn't realized he had been holding his breath, waiting for this moment or how disappointed he would've been if the sword hadn't worked. After an excruciatingly long moment, she opened her brown eyes and looked directly at him. He waited until she looked like she was fully alert and then very gently set her back onto her feet.

Without saying another word, he started walking back the way he had originally come from. The girl remained silent. Jaken sputtered incoherently and stood frozen in his spot, completely dumbfounded. Not breaking her gaze from her savior, she slowly started walking towards him, determined to follow him wherever he would go from that day forward.