InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Cornerstone ❯ Chapter 24: You ( Chapter 24 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Title: Cornerstone
Author: DeityOfDeath
Archive: Yes please...
Pairings: Inu Yasha/Sesshomaru, Inu Yasha / Kouga mentions of Inu Yasha/Kagome and Inu Yasha/ Kikyo
Category: Drama, romance, slash, Mpreg,
rating: NC-17/R
Spoilers: Most likely.
Warnings: Yaoi, Lemon, Non-con, Mpreg, Incest, SPOILERS!
Disclaimers: I never have nor will I ever own Inu Yasha or its chars. They are property of Rumiko Takashi and major companies.

Note from Author: Thank You for reading and supporting fan fiction! Enjoy and please review!

The chapter titles are lyrics from the song "Cornerstone" by Day of Fire

Chapter 24: You

Time is double edged sword for youkai. Sometimes it is slow and life feels dull and boring and full of monotony and other times it speeds by like the blink of an eye. Time usually goes faster when one is happy, or so my mate Inu Yasha says.

We both stood outside in our garden watching our children spar with amazing skill and grace. Well…some grace. Adolescents seem lost in their sudden growth; they go from evenly proportioned to all arms and legs as puberty takes its toll on the body.

Keimei and Reimei will soon be sixteen. It is an odd thing to see ones children becoming men. They are skilled in all there is to be skilled in except for life. I have prepared them and taught them much in sixteen years. I have taught them battle skills, leadership, reading, writing and strategy. I have shown them how to hunt and with that how to trail an enemy. They are each individually talented but together they are unstoppable. They are a team, inseparable and deadly.

As they've aged I can see much of the old wolf prince and former leader in them. They both have that toothy grin at times and that confidence that makes one think they are older and more traveled than they are. Both have kept their ebony locks long and tied back in a ponytail much like Kouga's.

I have been training them years for the possibility that they would rule over the wolf tribe's pack. This possibility is more apparent with each years passing as Koname comes to visit. This year she surprised us all by bringing a few pack members; Kouga's mother and sister among them with old friends, Ginta and Hakaku.

Seeing the twins had surprised their paternal grandmother. She saw what Inu Yasha and I always seen, doubles of their father in behavior and looks. She fawned over them and left them gifts of pelts. The two of them took them with enthusiasm, promising they would fashion themselves clothes similar to what was worn by the wolf tribe.

The current leader is Kouga's mother with the aide of a faction of wolves who have been loyal to her past mate and then to her son Kouga and have sworn loyalty to the sons of Kouga but it seems as if the claim is being challenged by an upstart taken in from Ayame's clan who is against leaders raised by the Inu clan fearing we will use the wolf tribe for our own gain.

I had thought precious allies, perhaps future unions to unite our two clans like the one that Inu Yasha and Kouga would have had but to say we would rule them and abuse the privilege? The thought had never entered this ones mind but the thought in someone else's mind let me know that our sons would not be safe among the wolf clan until the opposing side was dealt with. I had said as much to Koname and Kouga's mother, much to my ire both grinned at my statement. I was most likely playing pawn in their game again. Female demons seemed to always be scheming.

“We have no plans for succession until the boys are men of eighteen but we thought you should know the situation we face,” Kouga's mother; Amaya stated as she looked out my library window watching the boys spar with my brothers Hagashouri and Kouakajou. I joined her at the window looking out into the garden. We watched as the two battled their uncles and then their sisters jumped in along with Hissoshouri at their side.

“It will be a battle that will end in many losses but I refuse to let Hinan be leader…he is not of our clan or of the royal bloodline. I believe Ayame's father sent him to tear our pack apart so that he could “absorb” what is left of us,” Amaya spoke softly but you could hear the anger in her tone.

“You have allies Amaya, I will not let anything happen to mine and Kouga's sons! Though as tough as they are I think the boys will be able to fend for themselves,” Yasha spoke up finally from his seat with his hand resting on his once again expanded belly.

Amaya turned and gave him a wide smile, “I know this Yasha. Do not stress over this much now. Just know that when the twins turn eighteen the succession will be an issue,” Amaya reminded.

Amaya and Koname left with Ginta and Hakaku trailing after and I knew they would return in the near future. The two beta wolves who had served Kouga would more than likely serve Keimei and Reimei and already they were overly fond of the boys as much as the boys were fond of them.

When the boys were old enough to understand Yasha and I had sat down with them and explained their parentage, which they took in stride and with more maturity than I would have thought. I suppose it's not hard to realize you are different when you have ebony locks while all your other siblings have ivory.

The two still call me Toosan which is comforting in itself. The triplets who are now thirteen are giving me much more trouble than our oldest two. Renka and Ranka are strong willed and have inherited Yasha's brashness and my beauty. My brother Kouakajou calls them roses with thorns. It will be interesting marrying them off in the future though I have promised Yasha it will be a love match, neither of us would have it any other way.

Both girls look up to my mother which means they'll be trouble but more so because they are already deadly with whips and claws. Their brother on the other hand…

Shion is a silent and moody child. To see him smile is a rare treat and to have him be social is even more so a rarity. He spends all of his time reading and writing and learning new things. He is an apt pupil and is always in search of knowledge of all types. He can defend himself well but his sisters outshine him in battle skills and tactics. I worry for my quiet son.

The one person he seems to look up to is Kouakajou, though I can find little that reassures me with that relationship. It is not that I do not trust my brother; it is that the hero worship has definitely gone to my brother's head. I suppose I can forgive my brother his boasting he is the only one who can pull Shion into practicing his sword skills or dueling and even the occasional barehanded fight.

Hissoshouri is fond of Shion as well but the two seem much like Inu Yasha and I were in the past, just not quite so violent. They are stead fast friends but argue over much. Hissoshouri takes after his mother in much. He has his mothers bright smile and enthusiastic personality but his fathers way of standing tall and sticking by his own beliefs. His little brothers Koishouri and Seishouri are more like their father. Koishouri is most like his father with his quiet demeanor and his posturing like that of a pampered house cat. Seishouri is too young just yet to make judgments on his personality though I can say I have never seen a happier child.

Rin herself is nearing thirty and still her and Hagashouri court like teenagers. Rin has become a beautiful woman that guests still comment on when they see her at balls and gatherings. She carries once more and bets are that she will birth a fourth son. She is farther along than Yasha, due anytime now.

To have her sons near is almost like seeing younger versions of Inu Yasha. Hissoshouri now thirteen, Koishouri ten and Seishouri four with one on the way, we all hope for a girl. We are curious to see a female hanyou with the white puppy ears, ivory hair and golden eyes. Rin is now a tough woman and says she will build a large family for Hagashouri that way when she passes he will never be lonely. She hits hard with her words and it hurt Hagashouri to hear them. He was angry at her for almost a week after those words had left her mouth but she began to get sick not long after and he panicked. Thinking the worst he made her see the palace healer who was now Anisina. Anisina was happy to inform the two that they would be expecting their fourth child. That was eight months ago and no mention of mortality has been made since, though when one is with humans it never truly leaves your thoughts.

Sango the demon slayer, her husband Miroku and their large brood have moved into a nearby village after their village; the one the old priestess had lived in was destroyed during an attack. The two are in their late forties now and past the age of making children but their children are marrying age now and their oldest, the twin girls have both already been married to young men in the town.

It makes Yasha happy to have them close and safe and yet once again it is a double edged sword. After visiting them he comes home with a sad look that takes some time to turn into a smile once more. He and Hagashouri both understand mortality more than any other demon or hanyou will.

And it is always a blink of an eye for demons as time goes on and on.

I watched over my family as it continued to grow and change. Rin birthed a small girl child but the birth was hard and left her weakened and bedridden. They named the small puppy-eared child Chigiriko, promise child.

As I have said before, dog demons breed beautiful hanyou's. The brothers were overjoyed to have such a beautiful little sister to protect and when she opened her eyes we were all amazed to see deep brown eyes like her mother's and not the honeyed color all the rest of us possessed.

I was present as Yasha birthed me three more sons on a blistery night filled with thunder and lightening. All of them were hale and hearty and loud enough to wake the castle even with the pounding rain and sleet.

We named them Naoyuki; which means truth and happiness, Naozumi; pure truth, and Nobuyuki; trust and happiness. These three were nearly identical and hard to tell apart.

As they grew it became easier to differentiate them for Naoyuki was a glutton and grew a bit round about the belly, Naozumi had a black mole just below his right eye and Nobuyuki was just a bit longer/taller than his brothers.

Not long after Chigiriko and the triplets celebrated a year of life Rin's condition seemed to worsen and she began to lose feeling in her legs. A fall or two had happened resulting in serious cuts and welts and she decided to stay in her room. We all visited her in her room for she refused to “burden us” with moving her though we still did whether she argued or not. We had seating arranged in various places in the palace so that she knew she always had a place in every room of the palace and with us no matter her situation.

Seishirou was always at his mother's side, aiding her and helping with his little sister. Chigiriko clung to him almost as much as she clung to her mother and father if not more so. The two were as thick as thieves.

Rin's health declined and the atmosphere in the palace grew silent and morose. A few months before Keimei and Reimei turned eighteen on a night when the moon shone bright in the sky, Rin breathed her last.

Cries rent the air as her last breath left her small and frail body and we watched as the bright light that had grown in Hagashouri's eyes dimmed some. We watched as his appetite for food and drink diminished and soon he stopped joining us at dinner altogether. As his mourning went on for a month we watched as his children suffered not only the loss of their mother but now their father.

I watched my small mate bite his tongue until finally he snapped. He walked up to Hagashouri and punched him square in the mouth causing the surprised demon to be thrown back and onto the floor.

What had been a somewhat loud room at the time quieted as we all watched the scene take afraid to say or do anything.

“Get up you coward! How dare you act like you're the only one mourning her loss! How dare you!”

Hagashouri looked up at him and was about to speak as Yasha cut him off once more, “Yes, you miss her and you always will but that is no excuse to ignore those around you; to ignore your children! Look at them! Have you not noticed that your oldest is trying to be the rock of your family?! Your youngest son has been seeing to your daughters care and needs! Wake up Hagashouri! Don't bury yourself so deep in your despair that you lose sight of what you still have.”

Yasha held out his hand and after a moment Hagashouri took it as Yasha helped pull him up.

“If you need to talk you know we're all here. I can tell you from personal experience that it doesn't get any easier but you have so… many loving family members with open hearts and minds and you need only make use of them.”

That night Hagashouri called his children to his side and they retired to their quarters. I do not know what was said or done but only that the day after Hagashouri had regained a bit of life back in his eyes and his children seemed a little less burdened.

To Be Continued…..

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!! So close! One more chapter. Trying my hardest to get it done before I leave for vacation on Tuesday. I will NOT have internet so if I don't update by Saturday then know I am writing. Thanks for your support, Shion's story is being written and I am currently typing it up but I am going to finish some of my other stories before posting the first chapter.

Kat