InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Mother For Rin ❯ Our new daughter ( Chapter 14 )

 

Mitsunaro rose from his seat in the library after bidding Rin goodbye and walked down the hallway and out of the castle. He carried Kagome in his arms, the delicate girl in his arms his only concern as he continued to simply walk past the gardens and to the forest. Like Sesshoumaru, he could gather his youki and form a cloud beneath his feet that would carry him along his travels, but rarely did. There was something about the simple enjoyment of walking, his feet touching the earth below him that he enjoyed.

 

The sun had begun its decent as he had reached the forest between the castle and the village, and was now well past nightfall when he had reached his home. Kagome hadn't stirred in his arms once and as he looked down upon her sleeping face he was reminded of just how gentle a girl she really was. As he took her into his one of his daughter's old rooms and tucked her into the coverings of the futon on the floor he had to wonder just how it was that such a creature existed.

 

This tiny woman in his arms had not only befriended a hanyou and his youkai brother, but had also adopted this slumbering kitsune kit in her arms. She had taken him in when he had lost his family and had been a mother to him ever since. He knew from the softly spoken conversation that he had had with the monk, that both mother and pup would be upset should they be separated and it was just as it should be he thought.

 

He watched from his seat on the edge of the plush futon as Kagome turned onto her side, moaning softly in her sleep and gathered her pup in her arms and held his tiny form close to her chest. Leaning down he kissed her temple and stroked her hair a few times before leaving her and her pup to sleep. As he quietly closed the shoji door behind him and turned around, he was greeted by his mate.

 

Tsukina was a beautiful red inuyoukai and while she may not have been a warrior, she was the fiercest mother he had ever met and he was proud that she was his mate. Her green eyes seemed large in her face as she watched him carefully, her eyes in askance of whom he had just put to bed in their daughter's old room. Mitsunaro motioned with his head toward the general sitting room and she followed after him, her long sunrise red hair falling in waves down her back and framing her delicate snowy face as she followed her mate.

 

Tsukina watched as her mate sat upon one of the seat cushion and she let him pull her down to sit in his lap. Mitsunaro held her against himself in his arms, his head resting upon her shoulder as he enjoyed the simple pleasure of holding his mate in his arms. He kissed her cheek and breathed in and out slowly as he began to speak, his voice low and soft.

 

“We have a guest, a new daughter to care for, for a while.”

 

“Who is she?” Tsukina asked, keeping her voice as low and as soft as his as she looked into her mate's beautiful ocean blue eyes.

 

“Her name is Kagome. It seems that she has entranced both our lord and his brother, they wish to mate with her or so it seems.”

 

“Then what is she doing here?” she asked not understanding why the girl would be with them.

 

“She's human Tsukina, and a gentle girl. She's never felt love like this before, and never this strongly. Her heart belongs to them already, but she holds so many fears that a young woman in love tends to. She's put her trust in me, confided her fears to me, and I will see her courted properly. Kagome reminds me so much of our little Mina, her heart open to the world around her and everyone in it. She's a miko,” he said softly and kissed his mate's temple.

 

“Then why do I sense a youkai presence?” Tsukina asked softly.

 

“She's adopted a kitsune kit,” he said with a soft smile. “Come see,” he said and stood after she had.

 

He led his mate back to what had once been Mina's room and opened the shoji door. Tsukina looked inside and smiled softly as she saw the beautiful girl holding a tiny kitsune in her arms as they both slept. Some of Kagome's dark midnight hair had fallen over her shoulder and come to rest upon Shippou much like a blanket, a bit of her dark locks clutched in her pup's small hand. Kagome's head was bent down, her lips resting lightly against her child's red hair as she slept and Tsukina slipped quietly into the room, her mate following a few steps behind.

 

“Mamma,” Kagome said her voice barely a whisper as stormy blue grey eyes opened slightly, blinking tiredly up at Tsukina as the inuyoukai woman petted her dark locks.

 

“Shh, it's alright little one,” Tsukina said softly and bent forward to kiss Kagome's head. “Go back to sleep sweetheart.”

 

“Mm-k,” Kagome moaned softly and her eyes fell closed once again as she snuggled into the futon, her nose burying itself into her son's hair.

 

Tsukina smiled softly down upon the sleeping girl and brought the blanket up over her shoulder and kissed the girl's head once more before rising and leaving the room with her mate.

 

“She's so darling,” Tsukina said to her mate as they reached their room. “She seems so young.”

 

“Humans tend to mate younger than youkai do, but she's older than most humans are when they mate. But yeah Kina, she's young.”

 

“What is it?” she asked when her mate sighed in worry.

 

“She lost her own mother…I don't know when, but the wound is still very fresh for her. I worry for her, that's why I brought the girl here. The love, the future mating, it's all so new to her and she had no one to guide her through that. But I knew that if I brought her here, then you and I, you mostly since you are a woman, would be able to help her through this…the poor thing, she's so unsure of herself where love is. She loves those two mutts so much…”

 

“But she's afraid that her feelings aren't returned isn't she?” Tsukina asked thoughtfully.

 

“Yeah…When I first met and spoke with her, I could smell them both on her, and also their earlier passions-”

 

“She's still a virgin,” Tsukina said with a shake of her head, the smell of Kagome's innocence unmistakable.

 

“There are ways around that, remember the woods before I mated you?” his mate blushed with a pleasurable smile and Mitsunaro chuckled softly. “Kagome…she's afraid it's only lust they feel, that perhaps she's simply a distraction for them.”

 

“That poor girl,” she said softly.

 

Tsukina donned a white sleeping kimono as her mate donned dark sleeping pants and they slipped into their futon together. Mitsunaro wrapped his arms around his mate and held her close, her head pillowed on his chest as he stroked her hair.

 

“Well she's my little girl now,” Tsukina said softly, sleepily as she yawned. “Taiyoukai and brother or not, those two are gonna have to get my approval before I'll let them take her.”

 

Mitsunaro smiled down upon his mate who had fallen asleep shortly after saying that. He kissed her hair and pulled the covers up higher over her as he settled down to sleep.

 

“That's what I was counting on.”

 

 

 

 

“I'll get it Mamma watch!” Shippou said excitedly as she followed the kitsune out into the woods near Mistunaro's hut.

 

Kagome was dressed in a short summer kimono she had found in the wardrobe, her own clothing and backpack had been left at the castle. Her bow and arrows were slung over her back as she watched Shippou crouch low to the ground and begin his hunt. She watched with amusement and motherly pride as her little Shippou tracked a scent across the ground and looked up to see a large buck ahead.

 

Kagome was about to tell Shippou not to, that his prey was too large for him to handle, but it was too late. The kitsune kit, not thinking of his size compared to the deer, leapt through the brush in a flash and latched his tiny pup teeth onto the neck of the buck hoping to bring his prey down, but instead Shippou was left hanging on for his life as the buck went wild.

 

“Shippou!” Kagome cried out alarmed and notched an arrow in her bow as she took aim on the wildly bucking deer.

 

The deer was moving too fast, too wildly, she couldn't get a solid aim. Her eyes widened frighteningly as she watched the deer head straight for a tree, it was going to smash Shippou into the tree! She tried to take aim once again…she pulled back the bow string and released it, the arrow flying trough the air.

 

“Crap!” she hissed as the arrow deflected off the thick antlers. “No! Shippou!” she cried out again as the buck slammed into the tree.

 

She watched in alarm as her son hung onto the buck barely conscious, the knock into the tree cracking his head against the tree and leaving him on the brink of passing out. She notched another arrow quickly and aimed quickly, firing it only to have this second arrow deflect off the antlers like the last and barely miss hitting Shippou.

 

Her breath caught as the deer headed for another tree and she dropped her bow and quiver as she ran towards it, hoping to pull Shippou off or bring the buck down, either would work as long as Shippou wasn't hurt any worse than he already had been. Kagome cried out sharply and called again for her son when the deer kicked its hind legs at her and threw her into a tree behind it.

 

A flash of golden red, like that of fire or the sunset flew past her and she heard a sharp crack. The deer fell to the forest floor, its neck broken and she lifted her eyes to see Shippou held in a strange inuyoukai's arms. He looked young, maybe as old as Sesshoumaru or Inuyasha, and she struggled to her feet to greet him as he brought her son to her.

 

“Thank you,” Kagome said shakily as she took Shippou in her arms and hugged him close to her chest.

 

“I saw that deer kick you, are you hurt at all?” the inuyoukai asked her as he looked over her concerned.

 

“I don't know,” she said as she nuzzled her face into Shippou's neck, simply relieved that she had him in her arms.

 

“Come on then, it'd be a shame to leave this here after the trouble you two went through to get it,” he said and hoisted the deer onto his shoulder. “It'll be alright young mother,” he said soothingly and led her through the forest to the clearing. “Don't worry; father will take care of any wounds the two of you may have.”

 

“Thank you,” Kagome said again her focus solely on the kitsune in her arms.

 

“Papa,” the inuyoukai called out and Kagome was surprised to see Mitsunaro come out toward them.

 

“Tiynoko what is it - Kagome,” he said alarmed when he saw the bit of blood on her kimono as well as Shippou's. “What happened?” he said coming up to them.

 

“We went hunting…Shippou wanted to show me that he could hunt…the deer was too big…” she trailed off as she looked down at her pup in concern as he lay limp and unconscious in her arms.

 

“That little tyke tried to take down that deer?” he asked disbelievingly as he looked from Shippou to the deer his son held on his shoulder. “Come inside; let's get you two tended to.”

 

“I-I'm sorry I…” Kagome trailed off as she looked down at Shippou in her arms.

 

It hadn't even been two months past that she had lost her family and this morning she had nearly lost her son. Her thoughts were spinning wildly in her head. Damning and condemning her for not being able to watch over and protect her pup as she should have been able to. She felt Mitsunaro's strong warm arms wrap around her and pull her in for a close hug. He held her to him as she stood there, tears running down her face as she looked at her unconscious kitsune.

 

Tiynoko went on ahead, carrying the deer carcass to the hut where his mother would skin and clean it, while his father comforted the distraught girl. He was surprised that his father seemed so familiar with the girl, not because she was human or because she had adopted a youkai pup, but because he hadn't heard word one about her. He was the only unmated pup in the family and his mother was constantly throwing girls his way.

 

Tiynoko shook his head and let the thoughts drift away as he carried the deer to his father's hut and told his mother what had happened. Tsukina was beyond worried, but was comforted to know that her mate was with the girl she now considered a daughter.

 

Kagome stood in the circle of Mitsunaro's arms. Her adrenaline rush had died down allowing her now to feel the growing pain in her back, right hip and thigh, and the almost numbing pain in her side where the deer's hooves had impacted with her tender flesh. Mitsunaro released his hold on her and turned to walk with her back to the hut, Kagome doing her best not to limp, she worried him enough already, caused enough of a great scare.

 

They were nearing and coming in sight of his hut when Kagome felt the throbbing in her head grow immeasurably. At first she had attributed the headache to the crash one feels when coming down from a sugar or adrenaline high, but now the throbbing was all consuming. It felt to her as though her own head may explode and she nearly whimpered as the throbbing in both her head and her side escalated with each breath and each step she took.

 

By the time they had reached the porch she was in agony and felt faint. She turned unfocused eyes on the youkai at her side, her voice whisper soft when she spoke her request.

 

“Can I lay down for a little while?” she asked Mitsunaro tentatively her voice barely above a whisper as she feared she'd fall asleep right where she stood.

 

Mitsunaro nodded to her and took Shippou from her saying that he would bandage the child's wounds and return him to her as she slept. Kagome smiled gratefully and walked slowly into her room in their home. She peeled off the summer kimono and hissed as she felt deep pain across her back; it burned in much the same way as her knee had when she had scraped it learning to ride her bike without the training wheels.

 

There was no mirror to check her back with and quite frankly she was too tired to if there had been one. Her lungs burned and side ached terribly when she breathed and she tiredly mused that she must have bruised her ribs when she hit the tree and bounced off of it. She remained simply in her bra and panties and lay down on the futon, too tired to even try and get under the blankets. Her entire body felt as if it were made of lead and even though any position hurt, she fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

 

 

“Hey, where's the girl?” Tiynoko asked his father as he stepped into the family hut after helping his mom remove the antlers of the large buck.

 

“She was tired and went to lay down for a nap,” Mitsunaro answered his son as he finished wrapping the bandage on Shippou's arm.

 

The young kit had broken his arm when the deer had slammed him into the tree but the inuyoukai knew that the bone, once set as it was now, would heal completely in three days with nary a scar to show for it. He looked up when his son simply stared at him in surprise.

 

“What?” the elder youkai asked his son.

 

“You let her go to sleep?!” he asked alarmed.

 

Tiynoko had trained with the village healer and was now a dignified healer in his own right and new the dangers of one sleeping so suddenly after such trauma as Kagome had inflicted upon her. Mitsunaro shook his head at his son, not understanding the pup's alarm.

 

“Damnit pappa, that deer kicked her hard. It kicked her right into a tree and I know that she hit her head pretty damn hard, I heard the impact!” he said and turned away, following Kagome's sent to his younger sister's room.

 

His father wasn't in time to stop the pup as he burst into the room. They found Kagome lying on her side unconscious, her back facing to them and both youkai gasped softly. The entirety of her back, from just below her shoulders to just above her hips was deeply bruised and scraped up badly. She was lying only in her bra and panties, strange undergarments to youkai who had not before seen the modern clothing, and it was clear to see where the band of her bra had cut through her skin when she had been slammed into the tree.

 

There was a large dark angry bruise on her right hip and a long bruise on her head that extended from her hairline above her right temple to just below her cheekbone. Mitsunaro grew angry at himself for not having noticed any of her injuries before hand though he had to admit to himself that her thick dark hair did conceal an awful lot. Tiynoko moved quickly to the girls' side, their appraisal of her having taken only seconds.

 

“Get mom,” he commanded his father and gently turned Kagome onto her back so that he could see if there were any other injuries.

 

He noticed a thick band of bruising just a hand's width below her breasts and he gently began to press his fingers along her ribs to check for any damage. He heard her moan painfully in her sleep when he touched upon a rib in the lower edge of the right side of the bruise and pressed in more firmly. There it was, a human healer wouldn't have noticed it but he could with his youkai senses, the lowest rib on the right side of the bruise was cracked. The crack itself was barely noticeable but it was there nonetheless.

 

“Tiynoko?” his mother asked as she knelt beside him. “Oh kami,” she gasped as she took stock of Kagome's injuries.

 

“Yeah I know mom,” he said softly his voice aching for the injured girl. “I'll get some water and some poultice for her cuts. On her back underneath her breast binder there's a cut. I need you to undress and clean her ok?” he asked his mom.

 

Tsukina nodded and kissed her son's cheek. “I'm so glad you're here pumpkin.”

 

“Mo-om,” he groaned at the use of her old nickname for him. He hadn't heard her use that since shortly before he began to train with the village healer.

 

“Well I am glad and you are still my little pumpkin.”

 

“I'll go get that water and poultice now.”

 

Tsukina giggled slightly as her son left, a tinge of pink tinting his cheeks. She turned back to Kagome and rolled the girl onto her side as she took in the cut below the clasp of her bra. This breast binder didn't fit over the head, it had a clasp, how interesting, she thought.

 

Tsukina removed Kagome's bra and her eyes widened and brow furrowed as she took in the extent of the damage. The tight elastic band of Kagome's bra as well as the hard metal hoops and hooks of the clasp had cut her pretty badly, turning a simple slit of a cut into a wide gash when she impacted with the tree.

 

Tsukina set the strange breast binder aside and lightly touched along the edges of the wound. The skin was heated and in some spots the blood had yet to clot, leaving small amounts of blood to still weep from the scrape. She silently accepted the bowl of warm water and the soft cloth that her son brought her to clean Kagome's wounds with and was glad that he simply set the poultice off to one side asking his mother to call him in so that he could dress the wounds after she'd cleaned them.

 

Oh of course he was a healer and could have simply tended to Kagome on his own, but he didn't know the girl and didn't want to cause her any upset by having a male tend to her.

 

“Pappa why's the girl with you?” Tiynoko asked his father as he sat next to the youkai on the porch.

 

Mitsunaro sighed as he held the bandaged Shippou in his arms and looked out over the grassy meadow in front of the home. “It's complicated pup…Kagome is…Do you know of the hanyou Inuyasha?”

 

“Inuyasha?...He's Lord Sesshoumaru's brother isn't he? The second heir to the Western Lands?”

 

“Yes. Do you know of his travels, his companions? Have you heard any of the rumors about them?”

 

“I think so…There's a monk with a hole in his hand and it's said that he's a bit lecherous…um a taijiya, the last of her destroyed village and her fire neko youkai…oh and there's a miko that adopted a -” Tiynoko suddenly cut himself off as his head snapped back to the door of the hut. “Wait a minute, a miko and kitsune pup…that's who she is?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“But…then…why is she here?” he asked even more confused now than he had been before.

 

“She's a kind girl…she's the balance of both brothers and is the one thing that will tie the brothers together and make the Western Lands strong as they were when Toga was alive, even more so…both brothers wish to mate with her and she loves them both…”

 

“I don't…I don't understand the problem then.”

 

“Kagome is a dear sweet child. Kindhearted and gentle much like Mina…but unlike Mina she isn't so confident. She's afraid of the affection they show for her because she's afraid of it disappearing or turning out to be a dream.” Mitsunaro looked at his son and blue eyes met aquamarine. “I was a dear friend to Toga; I couldn't help Sesshoumaru much after he died because of the uprisings. But I'll honor Toga now by making certain that Kagome is courted properly. She shouldn't have to wonder if her mates' affections are true, she should be able to know that they are, and the courting will provide the proof of that knowledge for her.”

 

Tiynoko nodded and sat quietly alongside his father as he looked out over the flowering meadow. His eyes saddened as he thought of his favorite sister. She was the baby of the family and when they were young he could always be seen holding her and carrying her around in his arms or on his back. She was mated now to a nice inuyoukai who would take good care of her, but he and Mina no longer had the closeness in their relationship that they once did. She didn't rely on him for protection or comfort anymore because now she had her mate for that.

 

Tiynoko felt the ever present loneliness creep up on him again. It seemed to be his constant companion these days. He had his own hut, it was small only one bedroom a cooking and eating area and the front sitting room with the fire pit in the floor, but it was his and it did him well. Unlike his other siblings, he wasn't mated. He was the only one of the pups that had left home before being mated and Mitsunaro had always wondered why his son had left home. Tiynoko knew his father didn't understand, especially didn't understand why he hadn't reacted to any of the girls that he and his mother had thrown his way, but the truth was, he couldn't.

 

“Tiynoko?” his father spoke softly as he watched the sad expression in his son's face with worry.

 

“Hm?” Tiynoko made the questioning noise without turning his attention away from the meadow in front of him.

 

“Why haven't you mated? Have you not found the one your youkai blood desires?”

 

For a long time Tiynoko didn't speak and his father wondered if he would answer the questions, thinking that he had said something wrong. The young pup looked down at his folded hands before looking up into the blue and white sky.

 

“Do you remember Tikina?”

 

“That young human girl you used to play with when you and Mina were young?”

 

“Yeah that was her…”Tiynoko smiled sadly almost cynically. “Before she and her mother left the village when she was nearly grown, I told her…I told her that I'd come for her, that when she was old enough I'd claim her and mate her…I really loved her…”

 

“Then why haven't you followed through on your promise? Was she wed to someone else?” his father asked as he watched Tiynoko carefully.

 

“…About a month ago I got word from a mutual friend we both have…Tikina's mother had remarried to an old warrior, a samurai come home from his last battle, he was too injured to fight anymore…in a fit of drunken rage he killed Tikina's mother and then raped and beat Tikina to death…before I heard of what had happened I had been planning to go to her in the morning and bring her back here…I never…she was always so kind and sweet and caring, how could?...why?”

 

Mitsunaro scooted closer and wrapped an arm around his son's shoulders pulling his young pup close to his side. Why hadn't Tiynoko told him, either he or his mother sooner? No wonder the pup always seemed so lonely and sad.

 

“I don't know my son. Humans…they don't operate in the same way that we youkai do. Even when drunk of our asses a youkai's first instinct is to protect and comfort their mate. Causing them intentional harm…even in the form of discipline to pups…it just isn't done. You'll see some - well many - humans punish their pups physically, it just isn't done, not with youkai, perhaps a few of the lesser youkai do, but then again some of the lesser youkai also eat their children if they're so inclined.”

 

“I don't understand,” Tiynoko said softly as he felt tears prick at his eyes.

 

He hadn't cried for his lost friend or potential mate before when he had first heard and he couldn't cry now. As much and as strongly as he could feel the tears wanting to be shed, they just never came, only pricked behind his eyes like insects scratching at a dead carcass.

 

“We may never understand why things happen the way they do…Tell me my son, did you make her the promise?”

 

There was no need for clarification; all inuyoukai knew what `the promise' was. It was the most valuable and the strongest promise any inuyoukai could make. It was the promise to protect the one you loved; it was the promise to protect your mate. It was the promise that was never made nor taken lightly and the promise that once made was never broken or forgotten.

 

“Yeah, before her and her mother left, I made her the promise dad. And I failed her.”

 

“You only failed her if you knew it was going to happen and didn't stop it. You didn't fail her; you didn't know her mother had remarried or that her new mate would do that.”

 

“It hurts pappa,” he said softly his voice sounding like a lost child.

 

“Do you want to move back home for awhile my son?”

 

“You think it'd be ok?”

 

Mitsunaro turned his head and kissed his son's temple. “Your mother and I wouldn't have it any other way.”

 

“Tiy,” Tsukina said coming up behind her son. “She's ready for you to treat her wounds. Kagome's awake as well, but just barely. She doesn't seem to recognize much.”

 

Tiynoko looked at his mother in concern and worry and then stood quickly. Walking back into the hut he made his way into Mina's room and sat on his heels next to Kagome's side. He brushed her hair out of her face and she turned her head and looked up at him, her blue grey eyes dulled in pain.

 

“Shippou?” she said as she fingered the ends of his red golden hair.

 

Tiynoko took her hand and looked into her eyes as he looked for anything that could tell him about her head wound. She seemed to be ok but she looked so tired.

 

“I'm Tiynoko. Shippou's outside with father. Are you alright Lady Kagome?” he asked as he carefully dressed the small cut on her face.

 

Kagome's brow furrowed in confusion as she bit her bottom lip and after a moment her eyes widened in fear and she tried to sit up.

 

“Shh, it's ok,” Tiynoko said as he gently but firmly pushed her back down to lie on the futon.

 

“Shippou!” she said in alarm as she tried once again to get up but his hold was strong, keeping her down on the bed. “No,” she said as she tried to struggle out of his hold. “I've gotta get Shippou, the deer, let me go,” she growled as she tried to get up again her desperation to see her son becoming a nearly violent force.

 

“Pappa!” he called out loudly. “Bring the pup in here quickly!”

 

Kagome tried once again to struggle out of his hold when Mitsunaro appeared on her opposite side and put a hand on her breastbone and held her down to the futon, her struggling causing her to pant harshly with the effort she had put forth in her struggle.

 

“Let me go I have to see Shippou!” she growled as she tried to get up once again tears filling her eyes as she was held down to the futon.

 

“Kagome,” Mitsunaro called getting her attention.

 

She turned her head to look at him and saw Shippou in his arm. Her struggle's immediately stopped and she raised her arms out and Mitsunaro let her take her son in her arms. Kagome took Shippou in her arms and held her pup tightly to her chest as she lay on the bed. The tears in her eyes slipped out of the corners and she cried silently as she held fast to her sleeping pup.

 

“See he's ok,” Mitsunaro comforted her as he stroked her hair and bangs back from her face.

 

“I-I'm sorry,” Kagome said after a moment, her voice a bit shaky. “I - I thought it'd be nice if we got the meat for breakfast and I took my bow and arrows with us but Shippou wanted to show me how well he could hunt. I tried to tell him the deer was too big, but he pounced on it before I could. And my arrows kept bouncing off its antlers so I just ran after it to get Shippou away from it.”

 

“You ran after the deer? Kagome that buck was huge.”

 

“I know but…but he's my son.”

 

Mitsunaro leant down and kissed her brow. “Here,” he said wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Let's sit you up so Tiynoko can bind your ribs.”

 

Kagome flinched and then gasped at the pain the movement caused and was panting by the time her ribs were wrapped and she was once again lying back on the futon. Her other wounds and bruises had been tended to as well and she lay back with her breasts and ribs wrapped in bandaging and yawned as she held onto Shippou.

 

“I'm sorry,” Tiynoko said with a bit of a wince. “But I don't want you to wear a kimono until the wound on your back heals and the bruising goes down a bit. I'm sure I have an extra pair of hakama and a haori you can wear until then if you don't mind.”

 

“That'll be fine,” Kagome said softly as she looked down at Shippou and then up at her healer. “Is Shippou alright?”

 

“He has a broken arm but that'll heal soon enough. Three days or so and he'll be back to normal, no sign of ever being injured. He might be a little deer-shy but that's to be expected for a while.”

 

“Thank you. You saved my son and fixed him and me up.”

 

Tiynoko smiled down at the girl in the bed that was once his sister's. “Think nothing of it, you needed help and I was there.”

 

Kagome took his hand in her own and met his eyes, holding his gaze fiercely. “You did a lot and it means a lot. Thank you.”

 

He nodded, a slight blush tinting his cheeks and smiled before rising and leaving the room.

 

 

 

 

“How the hell could you just stand by and let him take her away?!” Inuyasha demanded of his brother as he stood in his brother's room.

 

“It is what is best for her Inuyasha. This courting will allow her to be certain both of her feelings for both of us and our feelings for her.”

 

Sesshoumaru sat calmly on the bed as he talked to his brother. It was safer in here, during their first argument after Mitsunaro had left the day before the library had nearly been torn apart in his brother's rage. Here he could tear things up but there wasn't much to throw around.

 

“Well damnit I know what my feelings are for her,” he growled as some of his fight left him.

 

It had been well before sunrise when the first argument of the morning had started and now it was well past sunset. Inuyasha was tired, exhausted really, and the strain of not having Kagome near was wrecking havoc on his nerves. He needed her there, she was the one constant thing, the only constant thing he'd ever had in his life and damnit he needed her.

 

“I want to go see her,” he said as he sat next to his brother. “I don't care about the damn courting; I just want to see her.”

 

Sesshoumaru sighed and stood. “We'll go tomorrow. I'm going to go check on Sango before I put Rin to bed - where are you going?' he asked as Inuyasha moved to the door.

 

“My room,” the hanyou said simply and walked out, Sesshoumaru just looking at him and shaking his head a few times. His brother was such a conundrum at times.

 

Sesshoumaru moved out of the room and down the hall. The sudden illness of the taijiya had everyone worried and without there being a cause for it, or at least an apparent cause, they were even more worried. He was especially worried that whatever had her ill could make Rin ill as well.

 

He came in front of her door and tapped lightly on the wood frame, the monk inside beckoning him to enter. It really wasn't that much of a surprise that Miroku had taken to keeping by Sango's side during her illness. His love for her was apparent even if he did try to hide it behind his acts of lechery. Sesshoumaru moved quietly into the room and stood next to the bed.

 

“How is she?” he asked Miroku softly, keeping his voice low in deference of the sleeping woman.

 

“Her fever's gone down and she isn't so ill anymore. Another day or so and she should be fine.”

 

Miroku looked down upon Sango as he held her in his arms. For these few days that she'd been ill, Sango had been his to take care of, his to love freely without fear of her rejection due to her nearly constant slumbering.

 

“Do you have any idea what caused her illness?” Sesshoumaru asked Miroku and the monk looked back up at him.

 

“No. But…well I thought maybe the scratches had something to do with it.”

 

“Scratches?” Sesshoumaru asked with a shake of his head not understanding.

 

“Yeah,” Miroku said as he loosened the knot of her sleeping kimono and pulled on side down to reveal her bare shoulder.

 

The snowy skin held four long scratches, no longer than that of Miroku's middle finger. They were spaced an equal distance apart and all were a bright pink.

 

“They used to be really red but as her fever went down so did the color.”

 

Sesshoumaru lent closer and sniffed at the scratches. Just as he had thought, they were claw marks, claw marks made by a poison bearing youkai. An inuyoukai at that. His eyes widened ever so slightly at the surprise he felt. Kimigra, he thought with trepidation. That damn youkai, he'd be having a talk with him.

 

“You know what they are don't you?” Miroku asked the taiyoukai before him.

 

“Yes.” Sesshoumaru sighed and looked into the taijiya's sleeping face. “They are claw marks, soft scratches made by a poison bearing inuyoukai. I believe Kimigra did this,” he said as he studied Sango's face.

 

“Why?” Miroku asked confused.

 

“It's a common practice among poison bearing youkai to scratch a non poison bearing female, youkai or human, to introduce trace amounts of their poison into the female's system. After the female recovers from the poison it makes them immune to it.”

 

“But why would he do that to Sango?”

 

“I believe he is interested in courting her.”