Chapter 72

Tenseiga's worthy owner



Sesshomaru cast a sharp look on Mai, vanishing in the blinding light. Seeing the woman in danger, the dog demon instinctively leapt forward to rescue her, but Totosai's hand on his shoulder stopped him. The silver-haired youkai glared angrily at the old man.

"Sesshomaru, if you pass through the gate of hell, most likely you won't return. The chances of saving the girl are little and the risk is enormous." The smith said.

Sesshomaru glanced at the opening in the ground – only Mai's hair was now visible, she was almost engulfed in the light of the next world. Should he endanger his life, trying to safe hers? Especially knowing, that most likely he would not succeed… The demon gritted his teeth. This Sesshomaru will not watch her die, I will protect her even if my life is the price. Sesshomaru had his answer.

"The risk is mine to take." The dog demon stated and jumped into the hole. The bright light engulfed him, before he disappeared.



"Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin and Jaken screamed at the same time. Myoga sighed sadly.

"In the end, he went after the girl. The gate is closing." The flea youkai shook his head. Inu no Taisho and his sons were so reckless… And now Sesshomaru will join his father in afterworld.
.
Mai opened her eyes. Gorouza was still holding her hands. Both of them were fleeting in the nothingness, engulfed by the eerie light. She was afraid at first, but everything faded gradually, leaving her mind almost blank. Maybe she should struggle, but it felt so right and safe.

"We will be together, my love." The man whispered. Her fiancé, Mai remembered with difficulty. Her memories began to fade too. The girl smiled to the man. She should be happy, right? He was the one, that she gave her heart to. She gazed into his black eyes. Shouldn't they be golden?- she wondered. Mai thought, that it was a little strange. The man before her was her beloved, so why it felt wrong? Like… he should be someone else… a man with piercing golden eyes.

"MAI!" she heard a deep voice from above shouting her name. That voice… she knew it from somewhere. She clasped her eyes shut. The voice and the golden eyes. Then it came back to her! In her mind she saw an image of a silver-haired demon. She opened her eyes.

"I'm here, Sesshomaru!" she screamed as loud as she could. Gorouza looked at her sharply and tried to pull Mai to himself, but the girl managed to regain her senses and the control over her body. She kicked him in the shin and freed her hands. The man reached out to grip her once more, but Mai got suddenly pulled back. Feeling a pressure on her stomach, she glanced down to see, what caused it. An arm was wrapped around her waist – an arm with distinctive magenta demon markings on the wrist.
"Sesshomaru!" Mai gasped, turning around, so that she could face him. She lifted her head to gaze at the tall man and smiled at him brightly, letting him know, how grateful she was. Sesshomaru looked back at her and pressed her tighter to himself.

"Amayami!" Gorouza shouted, tears welling in his eyes. "How could you… how…"

The man wailed, clutching his fists. Mai opened her mouth to explain to him, that she wasn't the one, who he loved, but suddenly a brighter light appeared between Gorouza and the pair. Mai lifted her arm to the face, covering her eyes. Once the light subsided, she lowered her arm. She heard
Sesshomaru gasping from surprise and she did it too, when she saw the figure. The girl freed herself from the youkai's embrace and floated to the person. She reached out her hand and the other one put her palm on Mai's. Both of them were looking at each other, amazed. This person was like herself, but an another person. Staring at her was like looking into the mirror – the same face, the same body. Mai knew exactly, who was standing before her.

"Amayami-hime." She whispered. The other one smiled.

"Yes, Mai." She answered in Mai's voice. Mai finally had the chance to see the one, who was the true owner of her current body. It was strange to look at another person and yet see herself… The both girls entwined their fingers and were floating around each other, engulfed in a strange light, looking at each other.

"Do you like my world, Mai?" Amayami-hime asked.

"I do, Amayami." Mai answered. "I'm sorry for all this – I stole your life, after all."
The princess sighed.

"It could not be helped. I was the one, who lost your body, so it is right for you to have mine in exchange. All I ask is to take care of my dear father." She said with a smile. Mai nodded, grateful, that the princess didn't mind her stealing her identity.

Sesshomaru was staring at the two women with wide-opened eyes. Both of them looked like the same person. From the words, they had exchanged, he concluded, that one of them was Amayami-hime and the other Mai. Was Mai not the both? The demon felt confused. Who the woman really was?
"Amayami." Gorouza whispered, his face expressing, how shocked he was.

"The gate is closing." Amayami-hime said, turning her attention to Sesshomaru. "Mononoke. If Mai is dear to you, take her back to the world of living. My place is among the dead, but her destiny is not become one of them so soon."

The princess pushed Mai back to Sesshomaru, who snatched her.

"Hurry!" Amayami told him and the demon darted upwards, towards the darker spot. Mai could see the princess floating to Gorouza and pulling the man into the eternal embrace, before the pair disappeared in the blinding light. The dark spot was getting closer, but also shrinking. Will they make in time?



"Myoga, you too?" Totosai asked, as the flea demon began to weep. Rin and Jaken were both crying loudly already and Ah-Un roaring somewhat sadly. Myoga let out a sob.

"We should have stopped him." The flea uttered between sobs. "Sesshomaru-sama may have horrible character, but he is Inu no Taisho's son. Our master would not forgive us, if he knew, that we let him go to meet his death."

"Stop crying, Myoga." Totosai muttered. "The boy chose to die trying to save the human girl. It is an honorable deed, that proved, that his heart is not rotten, after all."
Jaken wailed.

"Of course it's not!" he shouted. "Sesshomaru-sama's heart is perfect."

"Jaken-sama, we can't even burry them!" Rin cried, her face red and swollen from tears. The imp hung his head, his face wet too.

"We will put a gravestone here to commemorate our great Sesshomaru-sama and that stupid girl Mai." The imp decided, before another wave of sobbing shook his little body.

The gate to the hell was nearly closed, all hope was lost. The group gathered around it and was already mourning the dog demon and the girl.

Suddenly, a flash of white darted from the hole, just before the gate closed completely. Everyone gasped, seeing Sesshomaru landing gracefully, holding Mai tight to himself. When they found themselves on the ground, Rin and Jaken ran to them, the imp glued himself to the inu-youkai's led and the child hugged both Sesshomaru and Mai. Myoga hopped on the top of Mai's head, babbling something incoherently and Totosai kept patting the dog demon's back. Even Ah-Un tried to snuggle to the pair.

"Sesshomaru-sama, Jaken always believed in you!" the imp kept sobbing in the inu-youkai's hakama.

"You wanted to build a grave already, Jaken-sama!" Rin accused the imp and snuggled closer to Mai.

"Good job, boy! Good job!" Totosai kept repeating, not stopping patting Sesshomaru's back. Myoga was now crying from relief.

Mai was a little taken aback by the commotion – everyone was crowding around her and Sesshomaru, sobbing and babbling. She really wanted to thank the demon, who saved her. He literally came for her into hell and back, after all. Why did he do such thing? Ah-Un rubbed one of his heads enthusiastically against her so, that Mai landed plastered to Sesshomaru's armor. She looked up and found him glancing at her as well. This was the right moment!

"Sesshomaru, thank you, I…" she stopped, not knowing how should she thank him for doing something like that for her sake. Everything she could think of seemed to be a pathetic excuse for thanks.

"Hn." The demon averted his gaze from her. "I did not do it solely for you. It was a matter of pride, not to let take my servant taken away from me by a mere human."

Mai's grateful smile dropped from her face and she glared at the demon. Damn, he was doing this again. Every time he did something kind, he had to spoil it afterwards with some arrogant remark. What an asshole!

Myoga hopped onto Totosai's shoulder.

"The boy is hopeless." The smith commented. The flea dried his tears and blew his nose.
"Both of them are stubborn." He muttered. Totosai agreed with his old friend.

Gradually, the commotion calmed down. The smith with Myoga sat on the bench and Ah-Un finally laid down. Mai was hugging Rin and Sesshomaru had to kick Jaken to make the imp let go of his leg.
No one noticed a bee, carrying a shiny jewel shard and flying away.

Totosai stood up after a while and approached the dog demon.

"Give me Tenseiga, Sesshomaru." The old man said, reaching out. Sesshomaru eyed him suspiciously, not eager to hand his heritage to the old man. Totosai sighed. "Come on, boy. I need to reforge the blade."

"Reforge the blade?" the inu-youkai repeated, furrowing his brows. Totosai nodded.

"Yes. Today you proved yourself worthy of it. Because of the change in your heart, you will be able to wield Tenseiga as a weapon from now on."

Sesshomaru stood still for a moment, considering the smith's words, before he gave the sword to the old man. Totosai grabbed it and went to his smithy. Soon, the characteristic sounds of clashing the hammer against the blade were heard, as the smith began his work.

Mai smiled, glad, that the dog demon would have a weapon. The terrifying experience turned out to be quite rewarding for him.

Her smile dropped, as she noticed the ominous presence right in front of her. She looked at Sesshomaru's face and flinched – he was terribly intimidating, glaring at her like that. He grabbed her arm and pulled her away from Rin.

"I need to speak with you." He said and began dragging her after himself, as he made his way further from Totosai's house to avoid being heard by anyone. When they were far enough, he released Mai and glared at her once again.

"Who are you truly?" he asked. The girl gulped. She realized, that this moment would come eventually, but why the hell it came so soon?! She sighed, having decided to tell Sesshomaru the entire truth. He deserved to know. Mai cleared the throat.

"I'm not the princess." She began. "It's kind of weird story. Basically, I come from the future, exactly five hundred years in the future. Kagome also comes from there."

Mai stopped, observing the demon's face. Sesshomaru had the same stoic expression as usually. The girl decided to continue.

"One day the mystical mirror switched my soul and princess Amayami's soul, so that I found myself here and she in my world. When I managed to come back with Kagome, it turned out, that she was killed and I was presumed dead in my world."

"Is that the reason you came back?" Sesshomaru interrupted. Mai gawked at him – the demon looked interested in her tale, but didn't show any sign of being shocked or even surprised.

"Um… the reason I came back…" the girl said. "That was actually because my own stupidity. Then it turned out, that I can't return to my own world anymore. Yep, this is it. I'm a girl from the future stuck in the princess's body." She finished.

Sesshomaru wasn't saying anything for a while, taking in everything she just said. Finally he spoke.

"Your past is meaningless. You are living here and now." He stated and began walking towards Totosai's house. Mai stood in place and stared at the demon. This wasn't the reaction she expected from him. In a way, he was right – this world is hers now and here she would spend the rest of her life. Maybe it was for the best… Mai hiked the hem of her kimono and ran after the silver-haired demon.

"Sesshomaru! Wait for me!"