Confirmation

The weeks passed quickly. Rumors of unrest came from the enormous Shinano Province, which comprised much of the Western lands. Sesshoumaru sent Kintsuke to investigate while he conferenced with Commander Hiken of the Ravens.

All was mostly well in the North. The few insurgents that had managed to amass a small amount of power were easily brought to heel by Hiken's Murders. Oddly, a few of the notably gifted demons had gone missing.

"Fallen to the insurgents, perhaps," Sesshoumaru mused.

Hiken shook his head.

"Maybe, but Himari and Ichika are too strong to have been bothered by them. The others I am unsure about."

"Find out."

With nothing more to say, Sesshoumaru departed, making for Shinano.

As he bounded through the clouds, he caught sight of the moon. The crescent was waxing. Soon, Kintsuke would change again. The very concept still sat ill with him. As he thought back on the day in the cave, Sesshoumaru realized his haste in accepting her temporary enfeeblement was rooted solely in his desire for her to stay. It was true her human form would be advantageous in keeping track of that Nobunaga General, but…

It had been unspoken but understood when he'd asked Kintsuke to follow him that he would accept her more or less as she was and see to her general well-being in exchange for her presence and efforts. Not so dissimilar to the agreement between a lord and vassal. He had been prepared and willing to manage her eventual demonic transformation born from desperation, as he had learned from Inuyasha half-breeds sometimes underwent. He had even decided he would use Tenseiga in the unlikely event that she fell in battle.

Sesshoumaru could not, however, bring himself to accept that the human thing he'd seen, degraded and ignoble, was the same as the female for which he'd developed a regard.

Kintsuke met him just inside Shinano's northern border. He watched her closely as she dismounted A-Un and came to stand before him. Brimming with youki, carrying that rich, molten scent, and with eyes like yellow jade; this being, this was his Kintsuke.

"What did you discover?" he asked.

"Concerning the humans, Nobunaga has taken the region. As for the demons, it would seem the unrest is only within the Hebi tribe. In short, they are at an impasse about your rule. A few members of their Council of Nine are looking to use the fight it will cause to oust those that support you from the Council. If they are successful, they'll take Shinano with them."

Jaken worried from behind Sesshoumaru.

"Losing Shinano would greatly weaken your hold on the West, my lord."

Sesshoumaru thought for a moment. The Hebi tribe was powerful but treacherous. Subtlety and deceit were in their very nature, and even his father had been careful in his dealings with them. The way forward was clear, but the timing would be critical.

"When will the fighting begin?"

���The political maneuverings are well underway. I estimate another week or so before things grow violent. If I may, your presence at that time would not go unnoticed by the survivors."

"Why do you state the obvious?" Jaken squawked hypocritically

Kintsuke narrowed her piercing eyes at the imp just so, and after a moment, he shifted to hide completely behind his master. Sesshoumaru withheld a smile.

***

Kintsuke was pleased when Sesshoumaru sent Jaken, not her, off with A-Un to appraise Rekkonji of the impending conflict. She liked the dragon well enough but flying still made her nervous. Sesshoumaru took his time leading them through the snow so he could refresh his memory of the terrain where the Hebi tribe resided. It was mountainous, with plenty of hidden paths and crevices to hide in. The task of rooting out each vassal of the offending Council members would be painstaking.

"They will flee South," Sesshoumaru concluded.

Kintsuke agreed.

"That would be the easiest escape route from this place. North and East are too dangerous for them to risk. Even if they fled West toward the sea, they would eventually have to turn South to escape you."

Sesshoumaru's lip quirked.

"None shall escape."

Kintsuke couldn't help but smile.

They returned to the plains outside the Hebi tribe territory just in time. That damnable day was nearly upon her again, and she needed to find somewhere to sequester. There were no caves outside the Hebi territory, and she dared not use one within their borders, so she settled for a thick of bamboo. With the boulder she found at her back, she would only have to keep an eye open in three directions.

Thankfully, she did not have to say anything to remind Sesshoumaru. Either he remembered on his own, or her constant vigil on the moon reminded him. She expected him to continue on his way without her, but instead, he perched atop the boulder she'd chosen, watching her gather wood. Kintsuke was silently grateful for the extra pair of eyes. With the last of her youki, she started her fire, then settled in for another long day.

The cold was excessively bitter here. Despite the thicket breaking up the howling wind beyond it and building her fire higher, Kintsuke was freezing. She was going to need more wood. As she rose to prepare to fetch it, something luxuriously soft and warm fell to coil around her. Sesshoumaru's mokomoko clung to her form, instantly fending off the cold. Her human heart skipped.

Cautiously, she glanced up at him.

The daiyoukai sat meditatively, legs crossed and arms in his sleeves. She wanted to ask him 'why,' but the words wouldn't come. She slowly settled herself again, hiding completely under the fur.

Save for the occasional thump from the wind shaking snow free, all was calm and quiet. In the comfort of his mokomoko, and under Sesshoumaru's careful watch, Kintsuke nearly allowed herself to doze off for a while.

Shifting from above sometime later snapped her back to attention, and she peeked out to see Sesshoumaru alight down beside her.

"What is-?"

He covered her face again with his fur.

"Stay here."

He was almost soundless as he strode away, gone when Kintsuke dared sneak another peek. Had he heard something? Seen something? The thought put her rightfully on edge. She shifted up into a crouch, drawing her tonfa as something howled its death in the distance.

Ice crackled from behind her, crawling along the boulder to cover it thickly. She pushed away just in time, shrugging out of the mokomoko to flash her tonfa at the mangey crystalline form that snarled down at her. An ice hound, jagged and emaciated. She tensed.

'They never travel alone. That's what Sesshoumaru found.'

As though responding to her thought of him, the daiyoukai was suddenly above her, poison decimating the foul creature in an instant. But there were more. There were always more. The snow crunched beneath their paws as they abandoned obfuscation and closed in from either side. She felt Sesshoumaru at her back and understood they were going to split the pack. As he went on the offensive, Kintsuke waited for the hounds to strike.

The first two lost their jaws to her tonfa. A third she kicked back into a fourth. She ducked from another, gutting it as it passed, and the next didn't even get the chance to lunge. Sesshoumaru's claws left it in shreds, and Kintsuke finished off the two she'd left jawless. She retreated to press her back to Sesshoumaru again, listening, watching, waiting. After a moment, she felt him relax just so.

"They're gone."

Kintsuke sighed with relief. She took a moment to wipe her blades clean in a white patch of snow before tucking them away and examining the scene. One of the hounds had knocked over her fire, a stretch of bamboo was missing, and Sesshoumaru's fur was splattered with blood.

'Well…shit…'

She carefully gathered the stained mokomoko and tried to brush the blood away to no avail. It would need to be washed. She ducked her head as Sesshoumaru strode over.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I should have been paying better attention."

His silence drew her gaze up to him. She couldn't place the look on his face as he thumbed a bit of blood gently from her cheek. She shuddered, but not from the cold. There was something balmy in his countenance as he closed his eyes and turned away, aiming out of the forest and toward the plains.

"We're leaving, Kintsuke."

She blinked after him for a moment, unsure what to do with the mokomoko still piled in her arms. It moved on its own, snaking around her shoulders and torso and leaving her arms free. She ran her fingers through the impossible softness, finding comfort in the way it held her tightly.

Sesshoumaru forced himself to slow his pace so Kintsuke could keep up as he sought out another safe place for her to hide. The ice hounds had shown him what he needed most to see today, that she was, in whatever form, still the same female, and always would be. He still had his reservations, but like his attachment to Tessaiga, they would fade with time.

And they had so very much time…

Deep inside, the cracking bundle of frozen sentiment he'd shoved away long ago finally began to melt.