Yay! Good ending. Love the inclusion of Ashitera.

That's good that Sesshoumaru thinks of child Rin and adult Rin as two different people. It would have been kinda pedophilic otherwise.

He's alive!

No! Sesshoumaru!
This is a rather pointless review but the longer I read the more I am indignant for your sake that you only had 200 reviews before me. You really deserve more.

I'm so glad that Rin isn't an adorable obedient little girl. From what I see, she's still steadfastly loyal and somewhat dependent and weak. Good. I would have hated her to be another Midoriko and would have been greatly disappointed if you couldn't move past one type of female character.

A reasonable explanation of the past and Sesshoumaru's relationship with the other members of his family. I approve. However, there was one thing that raised a brow. You said Sesshoumaru wasn't surprised by Inuyasha's sealing because of how emotional Inuyasha was. How did Sesshoumaru know of Inuyasha's character? Was he keeping tabs on his brother, were they interacting even before the Tessaiga was found, or did he just remember the trait from Inuyasha's childhood?

You know, I love what you've done with the characters. Nobody's perfect, a common flaw in fanfiction. I love Inutaisho's god complex and I love how Sesshoumaru is still cold and his personality hasn't made a 180 just because.
Also, I appreciate how this story is about Midoriko. I've never read one with her as a main character before. She just usually appears as an all-knowing god-like figure when granting the Jewel's wish and is portrayed as a selfless martyr, which has always annoyed the heck out of me. It's interesting to see her as a person.

Very nice story. You crafted an enjoyable story with the right balance of action, adventure, drama and romance; not tipping the scale too much into melodrama or unnecessary angst, or drowning in needless action either. Solid narration, attentive dialogue, noteworthy character development, and good use of the canon characters, with appropriate non-canon characters mixed in to add conflict.

In particular, I enjoyed the evolution of Sesshomaru, seen through his interactions first with Midoriku and three centuries later, with Rin. A man that obstinate can’t change overnight, so any romance story involving the implacable taiyoukai has to deal with the challenge of opening his mind and heart without warping him horribly out of character. The seeds of caring were planted in his arrogant youth, and through dialogue, actions, as well as very insightful inner monologue we saw him come to recognize the changes in his perspective. One thing that changes us all is time, and through his experiences over the years, watching people come into and out of his life, he learned the value of taking hold of what brought him joy. You were able to carry him through many uncharacteristic decisions, including a sacrificial death, without forgetting the dark, selfish, coldly rational aspects of his personality; and that’s no easy feat. Well done.

One thing I found strange in this story is the Epilogue. Yes, Sesshomaru made significant progress within this story, making the choice to openly voice his desire for Rin to stay with him, but there’s a big gap between caring for a human and mating with a human, producing hanyou heirs. In fact, based on the show/manga it seems Sesshomaru’s hatred for hanyou far exceeds his disdain for humans. Humans are frail, insignificant creatures, beneath his notice for the most part. Rin has proven herself an exception in canon, so it’s not a huge leap of logic for their pre-existing relationship to progress as she matured. However, to Sesshomaru, hanyou aren’t simply inferior; they are unnatural creatures borne of unnatural unions. That’s a much bigger hurdle for Sesshomaru (and the audience) to conquer, and while “Reflected Past” focused a great deal on the human element, it only grazed the surface in exploring Sesshomaru’s evaluation of the worth of a hanyou. Which made the closing scene, involving the birth of Sesshomaru’s hanyou heir, an awkward ending.

I realize now that you’ve written another story that fills the “gap” between the end of “Reflected Past” and the epilogue. I haven’t read it yet, so I obviously don’t know how it ends, but I can’t help but wonder if perhaps this epilogue might fit better at the end of the sequel. I realize it’s been years since you wrote either story, but it’s just strange to have a look into the future when you have a lot of story in between. This epilogue seems to establish certain developments as fact, automatically removing the suspense in subsequent stories. We know Kagome, Rin, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru live long enough to see the birth of Inushiro, so any death or hardship they experience before this event is temporary. That Sesshomaru will see fit to have hanyou heirs is a foregone conclusion. There’s obviously a tremendous amount of story implied before the epilogue, and it’s been provided after the conclusion as been established.

Otherwise, very good read.

Cool!

xD Drugged on Robitusion [sp?] For a wicked cold so this is what you get. =D
-*-Eternal Snow-*-

You were the fire that warmed me for but a moment.
A brief flash of light, then you were gone.
Leaving me, with nothing to light my way.
Now I'm lost and shivering.
Eternal Snow...
Winter Unending...
Cold Fire...
Frozen Sorrow...
A million frigid tommorrows...
Eternal Snow...
Spring time is gone, never to come back again.
It's as if the warmth has fled from my world.
Snowflakes drift across a barren soul.
Crystal tears, and treasured half-remembered yester-years...
Now I'm lost and shivering.
Eternal Snow...
Winter Unending...
Cold Fire...
Frozen Sorrow...
A million frigid tommorrows...
Eternal Snow...
Eternal Snow...
This was because...just because. Made up on the spot. ;-; Please forgive me for forcing it upon you. Probly doesn't make sense. Gomen!! -sniffle- I

*drools* me like

Awesome story, I loved it!

That was just great I absolutely loved the story. It takes me few days to read both this and the sequel but I absolutely don't regret spared time. You are just brilliant. There is very few people who can make great and interesting plot all people in character and even create their own characters who are some times even more interesting than the original ones. Midoriko was amazing and her relationship with Sesshoumaru was very believable and even though I almost end reading from the beginning thinking that you are going to put them into some loving relationship in which Sess turns to be some love sick puppy like most people write and than you will make Rin her reincarnation but I was surprised and very glad that you managed to avoid all the usual cliche. And you hit it with SessRin. It's true that even when Sess would know that he loves and needs her he would still think about all the dangers of their union and for the sake of them both restrain it from the beginning. I liked very much how you pictured Rin but the best was your taking on Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha you make them so in character that it's almost unbelievable. Their encounters were very funny. And you also made Sesshoumaru as intelligent as he is I loved all his quiotes and his sense of (dark) humor.
Well this review is getting very long so I will just end here and move to comment War's shadow which I think is even better (I didn't even think such a think is possible) So in all this story is beatiful and I'm so happy that you put it here god knows I needed to read some good fanfic for the long time.

OMG! I totally loved your story! The end was a little confusing though.

Beans

P.S. Sesshomaru ROX! Fear the fluff!

*applauds* VERY nice Sess/Rin! XD Makes me happy. Onto the sequel! ^^