InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Spring Fever ❯ Becoming the Lord of the Western Lands ( Chapter 20 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 20

Becoming the Lord of the Western Lands

A few more days had passed since Sesshomaru's useful dream, and feeling rested enough to see the obvious on his own he met with the gathered council. Jaken, acting as though he were demoted, was rather apprehensive towards not participating in the meeting, but the last thing Sesshomaru needed there was a toad with a floppy beak.

He was quick to remember that he really hated the council. For various reasons.

“Lord Sesshomaru,” the first of four women began, smiling warmly as she spoke in Mandarin Chinese. “It has been a long time.”

“Too long!” the second of four men chortled in the same tongue, his belly round with wealth and mirth. Sesshomaru spoke Mandarin fluently, as it was his original language, he just didn't prefer it. “Last time we saw you your father had to haul your toddler self out by your sash just so we had a table to sit at!”

They all enjoyed that memory, even the ones who didn't remember it. His being a toddler for the last time they saw him showed how often the council was ever called upon. Individual members would visit frequently though and consume his father's time.

As the laughter faded to giggles and clearing of throats Sesshomaru acknowledged to himself that he would have dismissed them immediately if not for the time and great risk needed to call them there. Despite their ages, which were quite ancient even for demons, they were all still wise, and he could use some experience and wisdom he admittedly didn't have yet.

“Well met, members of the council,” he formally began, all of them bowing slightly towards the center of the table in regards to him. “I assume all of you know the issues behind your summons?”

“So strict,” the fourth man, or in other words the man sitting furthest from Sesshomaru, stated. All the men were to Sesshomaru's left, the women to his right. He absentmindedly noted that all the men wore the top portion of their long hair in topknots while the rest was loose. “You there! Servant girl! Come here!”

Sesshomaru saw that this particular fellow was a war veteran, and that fact was supported by him calling for an unhealthy amount of sake. The servant bowed and dismissed herself, quite possibly needing to go find ten others to haul the order in. Sesshomaru hated sake, but would have felt odd being the only one to order tea.

“Now then!” the veteran began, clapping his clawed hands eagerly. “On with the business of battle!”

“Dreadful topic,” the third woman commented scornfully, her exceptionally narrow eyes turning to slits of displeasure.

“Coming from an herbalist, I should assume so!” the veteran fired off, smiling widely. It was amazing, when he stretched his aged features into that merry expression the less tanned parts of his face were completely hidden in familiar skin folds. He apparently smiled a lot, which seemed odd for his status... In fact, they had all laughed already. For their ranks and age, they acted younger than Sesshomaru himself! “No worries, sake will loosen all tongues!”

“You plan to discuss such a topic with less than half your wits about you?” asked the first woman, smiling with mirth. “My, my, and here I had thought you would change your ways.”

“Why change a good thing?” the veteran inquired, slapping the third man on the shoulder for fun. “Now, this man has changed!”

All of the women suddenly glared at him, the third man stared straight ahead, and the two men closest to Sesshomaru suddenly looked like they didn't want to be in the room anymore.

“Change happens,” the third and fairly strict looking man stated, removing the hand that was still on his shoulder. Everyone relaxed with the action. “There would be no life if there was no change.”

Sesshomaru had to agree with that. He didn't know why the counselor had changed to be negative though. In fact, he'd never known any of the members before now, so their personalities were still a mystery to him.

“Cheer up,” smiled the fourth woman, who happened to be the youngest of the elders. “We are here to discuss battle tactic, not the past. You two should be delighted to finally be called here for your specialty.”

Ah yes, specialties. It was gradually becoming obvious which member served what purpose. The two men on the end, though seeming to be opposites, were both veterans. He later discovered that the second woman was too, despite her beautiful attire and feminine charm. She was very noble in her garb and in the way she held herself, and was the only woman to have her hair fully drawn up. All of her features were quite petite in a pretty fashion, and by her scent she still had pursuers despite her age.

When the sake came the carefree chattering ceased and seriousness began to settle in, oddly enough. There was a long silence and then the straight faced veteran finally sighed and stood.

“Time to assess what we have to work with.”

“So soon?” the woman veteran asked calmly when Sesshomaru found himself fending off a blade with two fingers. That was one of two blades though he noted as its twin came slicing for his side.

“This had better require less blood than it had with the Inu no Taisho!” the herbalist scolded when Sesshomaru leaped from his seat and unsheathed Tenseiga.

“Yeah, yeah,” the serious veteran regarded her, standing now on the floor cushion where Sesshomaru had once sat. He tipped his head to Tenseiga. “You plan to fight me with the blade that cannot cut?”

“Tenseiga has been trained into a weapon,” Sesshomaru informed, which raised a few eyebrows.

The veteran smirked. “I see. Let us take this outside.”

“Dear lord, what on earth is happening now?” Sesshomaru's quickly approaching mother asked the women as everyone lined one side of the court to watch, various servants tending to all. Jaken, trained on silence, was at her heels. The silence was probably due to her calling him `little youkai' every time he opened his beak, but he seemed less than miserable upon seeing his lord.

As Sesshomaru stepped off the outdoor walk with his opponent, he decided to accept that this all made sense and was not random. They simply wanted to know his strengths and weaknesses, just like they had done with his father. Sesshomaru had not seen the original fight, since he had not been born to do so, but there had been several other spars after the original. He had only been able to sneak around the guards once to watch a fight, and awed at Tetsusaiga's powers as the men battled. Now though, Sesshomaru did not wield Tetsusaiga. Instead he possessed a blade which more than outdid his father's preferred weapon.

“Alright!” the jolly veteran began, raising his hands. Sesshomaru noticed that one hand still held a sake cup... “Brawl!”

...

Brawl? That was not the term he expected. Nonetheless, he didn't have much time to contemplate vocabulary when his opponent disappeared. Sesshomaru simply stood there.

“Is he asking to be killed?” the herbalist whispered.

The female veteran had a smile on her face.

…

There.

Sesshomaru braced Tenseiga above his right temple to catch the oncoming blade. His free left hand deftly grabbed the attacker's wrist, and pulling Tenseiga from under the blade he punched the counselor's elbow out of place with his armed fist. It all took a fraction of a second.

The jolly veteran began laughing his ass off when his partner jumped back and landed ten feet away from Sesshomaru. “He got you there, Le!”

Le? That was it? No entitlement?

“So,” Le began, unflinchingly fixing his left arm. “Do you think you are as good as your father, boy?”

Boy? “No,” Sesshomaru replied, which made a few ears perk. “I have surpassed him.”

“Ho ho!” laughed the jolly fat man as others shared looks. “We have a cocky one on our hands, yes?”

“You have no idea, Tao...” Sesshomaru's mother sighed, her bored expression hiding how truly disgusted she had been by the crack and pop of Le's arm being realigned. “Shu Fang, would you like to sit for tea?”

Sesshomaru noted one of the female counselors nod merrily in acceptance as he blocked for the seventh time in five seconds. Le was being ridiculously persistent, so Sesshomaru spared a minimal amount of energy and released a kenatsu towards the man's face. The very miniature Wind Scar made a small flash and the sound or ripping parchment. It was the same thing he used on the Bone Eaters Well upon arriving so many days ago, and was also good on relentless foes.

Le fell back into a defensive position, scrubbing at his partially blinded eyes, and his hand came away bloody. That didn't seem to matter though when he lunged again.

The herbalist sighed, sounding disappointed.

“Come now, Mei!” laughed the sake loving man. “What is a spar without a little blood?”

She gave him a flat stare, no one really seeming to mind the horrid breeze a full-blown Wind Scar could produce. Sesshomaru saw that it still rustled the viewer's clothes as he leaped after a falling back Le through various clouds of earth.

“A clean one, Sheng” the herbalist replied, coughing for the dust while straightening her garments. “Unlike the initiation fight you had with Cheng so long ago.”

“That was one for the record!” the veteran Sheng laughed. “Nearly lost my arm in that one!”

“I would say your whole left side,” Mei corrected.

Who was Cheng?

“Mind your eyes, not your ears boy!” Le yelled, attacking only to be fended off again. Sesshomaru was ready to dispatch this man, but that would mean killing someone he needed.

Damn…

About three hours of battling and energy releasing fun later, the counselors were having delightful conversations in groups of two and three within rings of attendants, and Sesshomaru was panting. Heavily. That man simply would not stop!

“Had enough?” Le asked, a tad more composed than Sesshomaru could manage.

“I certainly have,” Sesshomaru's mother answered. He hadn't even noticed her being back…

“Ah!” the female veteran, annoyingly enough named Li, exclaimed. “That was not too long!”

Sesshomaru and Le leveled looks at her, which she brushed off without even the bat of an eyelash.

“Alright, time for the meeting!” Sheng prompted with a smile, clapping his clawed hands eagerly. He liked to do that.

Sesshomaru, straightening from a battle stance and sighing, did not want to go sitting around the rest of the day listening to old people squabble… He was simply not in the mindset to do so.

He and Le shared a momentary glare before the man quickly sheathed his swords and excused himself with a bow. Sesshomaru followed, passing Tao who was in animated discussion with Mei and the two chancellors whose names escaped him, probably due to the fact that they rarely spoke.

“Ah-ah!” Shu Fang clucked when Sesshomaru went to follow Le and the other veterans through the door. He was stopped and it was closed in his face. “That meeting is not for you to attend.”

Oh thank kami he was free…

“Good job, Chao-san!” the chubby man in charge of finances congratulated with a clap over Sesshomaru's shoulder.

… Chao-san? Chao?? Why san? That was Japanese entitlement added to a Chinese name, and not even proper.

“Need you bother him with a nickname so soon?” Shu Fang inquired, smiling nonetheless. She apparently found Sesshomaru being called surpassing-man rather cute.

“Ah, why spare him the treatment his father got?” Tao asked, shaking Sesshomaru's shoulder like they were lifelong drinking buddies.

“He did not appreciate it either,” Mei informed the deranged man.

“He did after a century. Better Cheng than calling him Inu no Taisho all the time.” Tao laughed, shocking Sesshomaru. “He refused to tell us his full birth name anyway!”

Cheng?! They nicknamed his honorable father Cheng?! Alright, sure, Cheng roughly meant `accomplished one', and that reflected Sesshomaru's father well, but such an inappropriate and disrespectful entitlement? He was amazed that his father didn't kick these people out of the council post-haste. It would have saved him the trouble of having to do it.

“Besides,” the man resumed, finally removing his hand from Sesshomaru's frame, “Japanese still feels odd on my tongue, I do not know why you changed your names upon moving to Japan. And such formality is rather annoying.”

“Cannot teach an old dog new tricks,” Mei commented, addressing Sesshomaru in Japanese next. “Quite the intolerable man, no? No matter how much your father tried Tao still knows only the basics in Japanese.”

Sesshomaru nodded as the silent duo giggled, making the wealthy looking man glance back at them with curiosity.

“What was that?” Tao asked in Mandarin, knowing he was being talked about.

“Nothing you cannot handle,” Shu Fang supplied, Sesshomaru's mother training her face into a calm expression once more in the elder woman's shadow. “Chao, dear, would you accompany me?”

The tiny hairs on Sesshomaru's neck lifted with anger as even his mother giggled at that and his reaction, and he heard the three veterans sharing the new nickname amongst themselves. It seemed to be his for the keeping…

He accepted Shu Fang's request for a private audience with him, and he noted how expected his doing so was when they entered a room prepared for two. Apparently, sake was a necessity in Sesshomaru's presence today…

“Really, must you subject me to drink alone?” she asked after five minutes of silence, sitting across from Sesshomaru at a small table.

He hated sake more than he hated the council, but Sesshomaru filled a cup to `savor' out of courtesy. Ugh, and it was warmed…

Shu Fang smiled at him over the rim of her steaming beverage, and taking a sip she lowered it to her lap. “You know, this reminds me of the first time I spoke with your father alone.”

… Fascinating… “Why is the room guarded by the silent?”

“The guards?” she asked. “Your mother selected them. Are they all deaf?”

He nodded. She shrugged. He took anther drink, and deep down inside he gagged.

“Still so young,” she commented, apparently picking up on his internal wince. “It is amazing that you already have a woman so sufficiently wrapped around your mind.”

Oh dear kami… That is what his mother wanted to talk to her about?? “Ridiculous.”

“Oh, no, not really,” Shu Fang replied before taking another sip. “Your father was two hundred years younger than you are now when he became interested in your mother as a mate. Which reminds me, her nickname is Li Hua.”

“Pear Blossom?” he translated.

“Oh, it was so cute!” Shu Fang abruptly giggled, holding her face like a love-struck woman one thirty-seventh her age. “In China, in the castle your uncle currently rules, is where they met. Your father was so tender with her, much more so than with anyone else, even his concubines, and she would visit him a lot. Trust me, I know, I was her guardian for a very long time. Anyway, she got that name because his first sign of interest in her was to decorate her hair with a pear blossom. They were mated only three years after that.”

Sesshomaru was, surprisingly enough, interested in this. He never knew much about his parents, only what he observed while growing up. Three years of courting was indeed a short amount of time. If his mother came to visit regularly, then she probably only saw her mate-to-be thirty six times before allowing him to claim her.

“Cheng was the only one to make your mother giggle,” Shu Fang commented, apparently quite comfortable with the nickname. “It is so hard to get the young inuyoukai royalty to enjoy life. It goes straight from merry childhood to serious adolescence with you children.”

“I am not a child,” Sesshomaru informed her, taking another drink to occupy himself and being rudely reminded that it was not tea.

“One must deceive one's self before deceiving others,” she quoted, smirking over her cup.

Sesshomaru scowled.

“Your mother told me something interesting,” Shu Fang offered as a change of subject. “She said that you had laughed not too long ago. Quite the rarity for you.”

Damn gossiping women…

“Also, it was a laugh which was preceded by inquiry on a cradle?”

Damn gossiping women who suspected the worst of things...

“Relief in the absence of one, I assure you,” Sesshomaru offered, finishing off his serving of sake. He hadn't told anyone about the dream, as it was still rather unbelievable to himself. He nearly growled with displeasure when Shu Fang refilled the cup politely for him.

There was a long span of silence, which was extremely boring… He had nothing to discuss with her though, so after twenty minutes Sesshomaru's mind was wandering restlessly. He thought about battle strategies, relations in the north and south, what could possibly trigger the downfall of the o-shiro, Kagome…

“Ah, so your mother was correct,” the woman finally spoke, pouring herself a twelfth cup and Sesshomaru his fifth.

“How so?” he inquired while storing his thoughts away, glaring at the liquid as though he could make it evaporate with his gaze alone. Or freeze it, any non-consumable form it took was good for him.

“That you have a female on your mind,” she informed him warmly. “Do not deny it, you cannot hide such an obvious expression from little old me.”

Yet deny it he did, and she smiled.

“Such is another burden for the young,” she stated thoughtfully. “You refuse to acknowledge the best of things ever happening.”

The best of things? What was she blathering about? His month-long emotional turmoil was utter hell and the only things which came from it were loosened personal control and a feminine mental infection. An infection with no cure. It actually made him miss the girl, at certain dull times... Of which there happened to be quite a few. In fact, the last few days he was thinking of what she would say in response to even the most common of activities or responses, and that resulted in Sesshomaru calling himself certain names which he didn't find at all appropriate...

“For suspecting as much and seeing it as good,” he began, willing himself to forget those last confusing thoughts, “she had yet to calculate the fact that I was not in China to find an inu.”

“Does that matter?”

Sesshomaru, this time genuinely, regarded her. Did he hear her correctly? “Of course it would.”

The woman shook her head. “My, my. Another flaw of being young…” He swallowed down his growl with the entire fifth cup in one gulp, and didn't really care this time that she refilled it. The taste began to dull with time anyway. “Love can take many forms.”

He blinked at her.

“What?” she asked, giving an innocent shrug. “You know, if I was to recall every sexual encounter in my life, I would say that a great many of them were actually with humans.” Now he just gawked, slightly. And she giggled. “They really can be feisty little encounters. Despite the risk of hanyou children they are rather fun. Mm, did you know that a female demon mating a human male has less of a chance getting pregnant than a human female mating a male demon? It is practically a one in fifty chance to a fifty percent chance.”

... “Hence the reason men like myself do not chase after humans.”

She smirked. Sesshomaru then spent the next five hours discussing such matters until they began to repeat themselves for lack of ideas. When they left to check on the rest of the council his head was still spinning with thoughts.

“We have come, to a decision!” Sheng announced merrily when Sesshomaru and Shu Fang returned to the council room, sounding a tad drunk as sake bottles enshrined him like candles.

Sesshomaru waited patiently for the important outcome of the afternoon while approaching a seat, feeling a tad tipsy himself. He now liked sake more than the council, but it was still a rather low affection.

“We have decided, that your nickname shall be Chao-san!”

Sesshomaru nearly fell over.

“It is a good one, no?” Tao, the name chooser, inquired.

“Indeed!” Li replied giddily.

...

“Now then!” Sheng continued, putting an arm around Sesshomaru's frame and steering him right back out the door he had just walked through. “Off for our meeting!”

Sesshomaru noticed that no one else followed… Well, no one important. Sheng had his own entourage of sake bearing servants tailing him, which sadly didn't daze Sesshomaru.

“Ah!” the more than grown man sighed as he had himself a seat in the grass. They were in the small private garden associated with the room he was assigned while he stayed. If Sesshomaru wasn't impressed enough, Sheng not only flopped onto his back but told Sesshomaru to do the same.

He had a seat, and waved the drink bearers away for the night. They felt obligated to leave the sake though...

“Where did all of your father's consorts go?”

That was quite random... “My mother 'relocated' them.”

Sheng went from his back onto his elbows and fixed Sesshomaru a look. “She dismissed them?”

“In a sense, yes.”

“That is quite dishonorable...” Sheng commented almost to himself. And that it was. Dismissing them was breaking the lifelong guarantee to have food, a home, child care, and to never be kicked out. “Where are they?”

Sesshomaru shrugged. “Perhaps mingled within my uncle's collection.”

“Did they take their kids?” Sheng inquired.

“Some did. Some did not. Those which remained were raised as servants.” It was odd to think that Sesshomaru's half-siblings of full inu blood served the o-shiro now, but it was easily overlooked.

“... Hm,” the old man muttered. “I had no idea your mother would be so bitter towards them. Have you started your own collection yet?”

“No.”

“A shame... Perhaps you can go to China and reclaim your father's consorts. He had quite the talented selection even before he married your mother.”

There was a span of silence, which was interrupted by Sheng's sigh.

“I like being on top of a mountain,” he began for good measure. “The stars are brighter the closer you get to them.”

“That they are,” Sesshomaru replied, watching the man as he stargazed.

“Come now, Sesshomaru, have yourself a break!” Sheng encouraged him. “It's not every day, or night rather, that I get to lounge with royalty.”

Indeed it did not seem like his forte…

“Say, you know all those times your father and I were `sparing'?”

Sesshomaru nodded.

“Then you know a lie,” Sheng informed him, grabbing a whole bottle of alcohol and bringing it nonchalantly to his lips for a long haul. He sighed, breath tainted with the warm twinge of the drink, and relaxed into the earth. “Well, mostly a lie. More often than not, he and I were just staring at time.”

“At time?” Sesshomaru asked.

“It really is a hard thing to do,” Sheng admitted, wobbling slightly as he got up onto an elbow. He pointed up. “You see those stars, Sesshomaru?”

“Clearly.”

“Don't ever be one.”

Sesshomaru blinked at the abbreviated word. He had only heard that sort of slang in the future.

“To be a star is to die,” Sheng informed him, putting a hand over his heart. “Right here.” He fell over onto his back once more. “Sure, stars are pretty to look at, and they seem so out of reach that they can't help but to be marveled. But if you look real close, you'll see that they never move. … All their lives, they watch others live. They envy us, Sesshomaru.”

… “Why would that be?”

Sheng reached out and slapped a hand onto Sesshomaru's knee. “They can't feel, Chao-san. And they never live because they can never die. You see son, life isn't about being perfect. In fact, it's rather the opposite. Your imperfections are what make you stand apart from others, and they're the things to lead you down a path into purgatory. Once you're there, you get to live. When you leave, and you stop making mistakes and living, one way or another you die. It's that simple.”

Apparently purgatory was another five hundred years away...

Sheng rolled onto his side to regard Sesshomaru, after emptying another bottle of course. “Being regal all the time is utter hell... ... You want to learn something your daddy loved?”

“… Why not?” Sesshomaru asked, figuring he'd take a bottle himself for this one. Drunk counselors were rather entertaining.

“Now, I don't expect you to get this the first time,” Sheng stated. “What you gotta do, is bottle up all of your energy.”

Sesshomaru stared, and then did so.

“Fail!” Sheng yelled, gesturing at Sesshomaru with an empty bottle.

“What do you mean?” Sesshomaru asked.

“I said all of it, not most of it!” Sheng yelled.

“I did.”

“You didn't.”

“I did.”

“You damn well didn't!” Sheng yelled. “Let's put it this way. If I stabbed you,” he jabbed Sesshomaru in the stomach, “here. Would you die?”

“No.”

“Then you didn't!”

Sesshomaru frowned. “Are you suggesting that I surrender all forms of self interest for this?”

“If self interest brings you even a toe above humanity,” Sheng informed, measuring with his fingers how much a toe was… “Then yes.”

To do that would be to completely withdraw from everything Sesshomaru spent his life in training, from sharpening his senses to lengthening his own life. He'd be rendered mortal. “Preposterous.”

“Oh, it is!” Sheng agreed. “That's why your daddy and I did it! I was rather shocked the first time. The years certainly don't come catching up with you.”

Sesshomaru merely looked at the man. Was he insane?

“Come on, if I do it first will you?” Sheng bartered, not sounding his age in the slightest. In fact, he sounded like an annoying miko.

“You would risk your life in such a fashion?” Sesshomaru asked.

Sheng shrugged. “Being an idiot is always a great source of entertainment…”

Those words struck a nerve. Sesshomaru was rudely reminded of the first descent on a particular amusement ride he didn't fancy, eyes closed and arms up. Oye... He really didn't want to think about her or anything relating to her, because doing so made him miss having her irritating self around for the most unexplainable reason.

Sesshomaru stirred himself from his memories when Sheng suddenly disappeared from the sixth sense. He had to look over to confirm that the energy-suppressed demon was still there.

“Just like old times,” he said to himself with a sigh. Aside from his appearance he was just like a human now, and that gave Sesshomaru an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach. “It's feeling like this that one can die happy.”

“It is feeling like that that one can die easily,” Sesshomaru informed the foolish old man.

Sheng gave out a hearty laugh then. “Oh, the memories you stir in me!”

Sesshomaru frowned.

“You sound just like your father when he was your age,” Sheng informed. “Damn he was a stiff back then too.” He looked over to see Sesshomaru roll his eyes. “Now, now, don't act like that. To let you know two things, your father showed me how to do this, and he changed on his own accord.”

“With drink?” Sesshomaru asked, surprised when he swung his bottle slightly to the lack of a slosh. Either he drank it all or it finally evaporated.

“Nah,” Sheng replied. “It was the change which provoked the drink. Not that he was an alcoholic, he barely tolerated the stuff.” Ah, inheritance... “Your honorable, regal, intelligent, and mighty father fell in love for a second time, and not a month after your birth.”

Sesshomaru then scowled. Deeply. “Which would make three 'mates' in his life.”

“Technically, two,” Sheng clarified. “His first love, your mother, was an arranged marriage.”

... That was news...

“Not to say that she is the exception, nor that their love wasn't natural,” Sheng defended. “Those two were the highlight of life for miles when they were with one another. There was indeed love, just not how love usually occurs.” Sheng paused for a few minutes to consider how to word where he was going with this unpleasant topic, and in those few minutes Sesshomaru found he had gathered to himself two newly emptied sake bottles. “Lighten up on the drink there son, there's no need to chug when you can savor.”

“This Sesshomaru does not 'chug'.”

Sheng snorted. “I'm rather sure you don't... Anyway, to put matters clean and simple, your father met someone while he was banned from your mother's presence.”

“Banned?” Sesshomaru inquired, blinking. His face felt hot.

“Yeah, you wouldn't remember that. You should know though that men stay away from mother and pup for the first year in our clan. It's more instinct than anything else, but Cheng had to be 'encouraged' to go away for that long. When I couldn't get him away, your mother certainly did. She nearly beheaded the poor bastard when she caught him watching you sleep in your cradle. And trust me, you were all he talked about for months, to the point of being excessive.”

“And the woman?” Sesshomaru asked.

“Right, the clean and simple bit...” Neither of those adjectives were true. “She was an utter nightmare for your father and I.”

“You accompanied him?”

“Like a brother!” Sheng informed with a smirk. “We traveled over to Japan, scouting future terrain and getting our fill in training. You father wanted to familiarize himself with the major demon colonies, especially the sparse wolf ones. It was while doing the latter when he met her.” Sesshomaru was silent, so Sheng continued. “Being rather young and foolish, your father and I decided that in the spring of that year we would re-visit a particularly friendly little territory of wolves nestled in the heart of the lands. We wanted to see how many females we could lure away for a night.”

Sesshomaru eyed him.

He chuckled. “No, we didn't even get one of them! There was trouble afoot... ... When we got there things were quiet and calm, and the wolves ignored us lords as they kept watch for real foes. We ran into the women as planned, or they rather ran into us for getting so near the pup filled den, but aside from that we met them and the first thing Cheng could ask was 'what has happened here'. I about smacked myself. He could be so bullheaded about politics. The women no more than looked at one another for the volunteer to explain things when Cheng began to walk away towards the scent of wolves and a human female.”

Sesshomaru's attentions were caught.

“Oh, you should have seen how much of a handful she was! Needed four demons around her just to suppress her powers let alone keep her under control, despite her being blind as a bat.”

Aforementioned attentions were now ensnared. Sesshomaru's father... No, that wasn't fathomable...

“A feisty little priestess. Or rather, an itako trainee.”

... It was fathomable...?

“You know what an itako is, right?” Sheng asked.

“Of course,” Sesshomaru replied, thinking of a young and blind woman in white as they were described to be. “I have never met one though.” Dear kami, was he really turning out like his father? First his mother comments on it after Rin's second revival, and now he was hearing stories about demons and mikos.

“Well, your father certainly did!” Sheng laughed. “Oh she made his life hell, and without even trying. We, being ignorant lords, took her into our custody and off the wolves' hands; which they were more than happy to agree to. Apparently the men had been out on a hunt when they witnessed the girl trying to commit suicide by pouring water over herself from the mountain stream at nightfall. Turns out, it was her first day of one hundred in training, which explained her white garb... Your father and I really didn't know what to make of her, so we decided to return her to the village she came from...”

Sheng fell into a moment of thoughtfulness, emptying half a bottle of sake in one tip while he was at it. “Cheng had been the one to carry her, considering her condition and his ability to quell her energy. She was more than resistant at first, but being a frightened child of no more than thirteen she didn't last too long. Especially when he got that pelt around her. She even stopped shivering at that point. Anyway, we were no more than thirty paces from the village when she asked Cheng if he was a god.”

Sesshomaru already knew his father would have said yes to such a question even before Sheng threw a cocky smile at him.

“But of course he was a god... We thought it was funny, and since she couldn't see us smirking over it she missed out on the joke. So we dropped her off, and she asked Cheng if he could come back to that place in one hundred and twenty days.”

“He did, correct?” Sesshomaru asked.

Sheng nodded. “It was simple enough, and coming from a child Cheng was allowed to be curious as to why. Besides, he and I weren't even halfway through our isolation, so it was a good way to kill time. I had thought that your father would forget about her after a week, but he didn't. Instead, he talked of her more frequently with the passing of time, until finally he realized how silly it was to do so and he didn't mention her again. After one hundred and twenty days though, I woke up to find he was gone. I could have found him if I wanted, but there was no desire to and so I didn't. He came back that evening and said he was just married off.”

Sesshomaru choked on the sake, which felt absolutely horrendous up one's nose.

“That was my expression exactly!” Sheng announced as Sesshomaru gagged. “I was absolutely baffled, but we both had a good laugh over itakos and the gods who supposedly claim them. A year later, he celebrated his 'wedding anniversary' by crossing the sea and visiting her again while keeping updated on demon tribes, and it was then that he began to fall for her.”

“So easily?” Sesshomaru asked.

“Oh, no. Trust me, it wasn't... There were never any touchy-feeling emotions between them, nor words of love. It was her company he had fallen in love with.” Sheng glanced at Sesshomaru, seeing a befuddled expression. “Sounds silly, right? He and I began talking about it after a meeting on how to invade Japan, when she reached her fiftieth year, and he admitted that he didn't want her to die. So, he went to Japan again to find TÅtÅsai, whether he's still alive or not is beyond me but he was a great weapon smith, and ripped out a fang to have it forged into a weapon...” Sheng gave a pointed glance at Tenseiga. “TÅtÅsai forged your father two blades from that fang. The sword which could save a hundred lives in one stroke, and another which could slay one hundred in a stroke.”

“Two swords from one fang?” Sesshomaru inquired. This was definitely new.

“Well, did you expect to have your father to resign himself to smiling with two missing teeth for a day?” Sheng asked as means of a joke, which didn't take well. He sighed. “Where was I...? Yes, one fang to forge two swords, which explains their inexplicable liking for one another rather nicely. The one your father sought was Tenseiga, while Tetsusaiga was forged to harbor the energy which is folded into the steels of such blades. Forging these took a month, and by the time TÅtÅsai delivered the weapons and Cheng arrived at the village, he was greeted with her remains of bones and ashes.”

Sesshomaru suddenly felt sick at that thought. He blamed the sake.

“She died of age, despite how short a time fifty years seems to us. I didn't see your father again for two years. No one saw your father again. They were infuriated because of the missed invasion date. Your mother tried to tell you, and you were still a child at this point, that he was just being a lord and that whatever he does is what he must do. When he came back to call on the council is when you were so excited to see him that you jumped onto the table. You didn't seem to take too well to being hauled out.”

“Not well at all,” Sesshomaru supplied. He remembered that, and how he had to find a very isolated spot at the edge of the o-shiro barrier to cry soundlessly over it. He remembered it because it was the last time he ever cried.

“I figured,” Sheng added. “Your father was absolutely miserable, on the inside at least. He needed to call upon the council for permission to forge a third sword, which would be breaking the mainland code. I was the only member to deny him, and he hated me for it. You shouldn't go making weapons though in a foul mood, and I was the only one he couldn't hide it from.”

He emptied the bottle, and reached back only to slap a tray. “We're out? Damn... Anyway, two weeks later So'unga, a sword which could enter hell and manipulate the dead, was born. Your mother was absolutely petrified of it, and demanded that you not be exposed to such a weapon. ... Cheng got a grasp of it quickly enough, and politics were in a bit of a ruckus over his sudden disappearance, again. After... I believe two days, he returned and forgave me, and he had this funny little ghostly demon from hell named Saya with him. He helped your father to fully control the blade until he was strong enough to do it himself in exchange for stability amongst the living. Aside from that, I let him be for a few months, and when I visited again you were bouncing on his knee. It was around then that he showed me how to bottle my energies like this...”

Thusly, their conversation looped, and Sesshomaru was reminded that the demon laying nearby really didn't feel like a demon at all.

“He had to learn this in order to accomplish what he needed to do in hell, surprisingly enough. He eventually told me that he had called out to his itako, revealing himself to any onslaught which would seize his exposed self so that her miko spirit would not shy from him, and instead of being torn to pieces by those imprisoned for eternity he was enveloped by light.”

“How does that work?” Sesshomaru inquired, feeling the corners of his mouth lift slightly over his own confusion.

Sheng regarded him. “Surely you know the main difference between spiritual and demonic energies, correct?”

Ah, right... One was inherited through blood, the other remained with the soul. He nodded.

“Good. She found him and easily protected him, and from what he claims they talked. For two full days, by kami! Do you have any idea how drained you become in hell?” Yes. He did. “She said she would see him again, but not as an itako, and sure enough she did.”

Sesshomaru frowned. Maybe it was the drink which made him feel confused...

“Souls, whether human or demon or spiritual, are recycled five hundred years after death. You were five hundred and fifty years old when your father vanished one day for no apparent reason.” Sesshomaru remembered that as well. It was when he began to take to wandering the lands he would inherit. “He left to see her as a reborn infant who wasn't even named yet.”

“Izayoi.”

Sheng regarded Sesshomaru when he spoke. “Yes, Izayoi is the name he gave her, and which she went by starting at childhood. It is the one she had in her previous life, and he liked it for the meaning of Full Moon, the time when even the darkest of nights were bright. You know well enough how he watched her grow and talked with her more than annually. Your mother did too, and she accepted his appreciation for such a brief mortal. It is common after all for a healthy inu man to mate more than one woman in his life outside of his consorts, and he chose Izayoi.”

“She was not a priestess though,” Sesshomaru informed Sheng. “Her powers should have transcended.”

“They should have,” he agreed. “But apparently something happened, and she was in no position to understand why since she had no memories prior to being a few years old. ... Later on, Tenseiga was finally used to save both her and Cheng's hanyou child, and he used So'unga again for the first time in centuries to obliterate the man who sought the life if his soul mate.”

“Soul mate?” Sesshomaru asked, believing this to be a bit of a joke.

Sheng merely smiled. “That's what he called her. Your mother was his official mate, but his soul belonged to another and she knew it.”

Sesshomaru was now completely convinced that sake made everything wrong since his head was spinning ever so slightly. He reclined into the grass to discuss less heavy topics with Sheng until the night faded and the sun was glaring into their faces. The next night Sesshomaru learned what Sheng had tried to make him do, but not because of curiosity.

“I swear, it'll work!” the veteran laughed when he saw Sesshomaru's expression to feeling his heart beat so quickly. “And you're not having a heart attack, that's how quick it should be beating. We just make it slow down to a boring pace.”

It hurt... Sesshomaru felt like his head and fingertips were pulsating with every seemingly rapid beat, which happened to be sixty-five beats per minute now, and after a moment he realized they indeed were. It gave him a headache, which was a feeling he had avoided since childhood. It felt remotely like what that ice cream had given him.

Sheng seemed to be enjoying it though. After a few minutes Sesshomaru grew accustomed to the feeling of allowing his body to function as it naturally did, and despite his dull senses two things became very prudent. His stomach and his bladder.

“See, this is a reason demons prefer not feeling like this all the time,” Sheng informed Sesshomaru as they sat down to a feast. The servants were surprised to feel the two of them bearing no energy, but they calmed when Sheng continued with what he started. “I do swear that it will work.”

“How can it when my senses are this dulled?” Sesshomaru asked. He could definitely hear himself chew, but there was no rustling of fabric from the guards outside, no defined scents of who was who and what was what, even his peripheral had gone to shit. How did humans live like this??

“You will be fine,” Sheng confirmed. Sesshomaru noted that the man spoke more formally when others were around. “Just do not get caught before you enter the middle of the city.”

And that was the plan. Sesshomaru had demonstrated Tenseiga's powers, and within mere minutes the council was determined to use the Meidou Zangetsuha as the initial blow. It was the quickest attack with the most devastating outcome, and once the first blow was made the favor would tip extraordinary towards Bashamon's men. Their senses were better, they were faster, but most importantly the battle would be held in their terrain, and that last unnerved Sesshomaru the most. He would be left exposed and in the air after that attack, and the sight of the Meidou would be the signal for his forces and any arms he could gather to his call to bombard the city, leaving him to fight the majority of Bashamon's men himself in energy draining waves of attacks. It shouldn't affect him too much, but timing was everything. The longer he had to deal with the small fry reflected the amount of time Bashamon had to prepare and the more exerted Sesshomaru became. Once his reinforcements arrived though he would be free to battle the dragon of the pack, and once he was down everyone else would quickly follow. After all, reptiles were quite dumb and quite selfish. When Bashamon fell they would begin to squabble amongst themselves as well for dominance.

That was the battle plan.

One week after that, Sesshomaru left the o-shiro cautiously with the council and went to the north. They were off to have a political bargain.

“Another war?” asked a rather young man clad in furs from head to toe. From his scent, this man was related to the young wolf lord who allowed Rin to die a while back. “You dogs can never get enough, can you?”

Sesshomaru barely smirked. “We do enjoy regular fights.” Sesshomaru's eight council members were all seated to his right on the grass where the wolves decided to meet, while the Lord of the Northern Lands' counselors were seated to his left. In this manner the councils could regard one another officially and speak freely, and Sesshomaru could have a battle of expressions with his fellow lord through the discussions of the councils.

The meeting had only lasted the day, mostly concerning bargains for the sought assistance in something which Sesshomaru had 'created for himself'. For the Lord of the Northern Lands, there was no benefit unless Sesshomaru doubly returned the amount of land taken by Bashamon and increased trade routes. This was agreed to and battle plans were shared, and after a night of travel there was another meeting held in the south.

This one was far more tedious than it had been in the north. Sesshomaru despised birds, but bore through it. The Lady of the Southern Lands was a beak-faced elder who needed her great-great-great-great-great-great grandchild to at times translate what was being said into chirps, clicks, screams and shrill whistles and vice versa. She was more resistant to the idea of aiding Sesshomaru, since her rivals the wolves had already agreed to do so and her alliance with the west was weak as it was, but she allowed increments of her soldiers to be called upon in accordance to the increment of land returned to her. It was finally established that one fifth of her air-worthy demons be sent to the boarder to be on call in exchange for a twenty percent interest on land returned to her. That was fine, Sesshomaru would have plenty of islands they'd love and would easily cover the interest.

And so, once the north and the south were gained as enforcers and told to prepare for battle by the next full moon, Sesshomaru was resigned to spend the rest of that time visiting groups of hidden battalions of his own and major wolf clans to tell them how to prepare for the war while the non-veteran council members returned to China to barter with his uncle. Sheng, Li and Le each separated to remain with the three main regiments scattered in the land to gather the forces and train for the week that they had.

“My lord,” Jaken began one evening, clutching Sesshomaru's pelt as he flew off for a familiar clan, “I beg your pardon for bringing this up, my lord, but would it be beneficial to recruit Inuyasha and the Tetsusaiga?”

“Hn,” Sesshomaru scoffed. “He would most likely destroy my own forces with his lack of control.”

“Ah! Very true, my lord! I apologize for bringing such an obvious flaw into discussion!”

That toad had an annoying manner of speech... The council had made the same inquiry on the great blade, but seeing as only one being (and a very untalented one at that) could wield it now the subject was dismissed. Sesshomaru didn't want to hunt the mutt down anyway.

“Ah! It's you! Mutt-face's bro!”

“His name is Lord Sesshomaru you ungrateful wolf!” Jaken yelled at Koga, who had just run up to meet them when Sesshomaru crossed into his territory.

“Yeah, yeah,” the wolf replied, crossing his arms and getting serious. “I've heard news of a war. We finally clearing the scaly filth out of here or what?”

Sesshomaru confirmed it, and the wolf smiled in an oddly cocky manner. “Alright then! You're welcome here! Want some boar?”

“Of course he's welcome here, he's the lord!” the green toad demon yelled, more affronted than Sesshomaru was.

“Jaken, silence yourself.”

And he did for the rest of the evening, which was good because there was a bit of useful information to be attained.

“The Goraishi?”

“Yeah,” Koga replied, seeming almost bored when he lifted his right hand and allowed a mystical device to leap from his flesh and cover his fingertips with metal sheers. There were five, and each was connected to a bracelet by thin chains. The sound of its summons echoed oddly in the cave they sat in, Koga's men feasting on what they were able to obtain that day. There were quite a few females in late pregnancy who were competing viciously for the meat, and they usually got it. “It's powerful, but it takes up my sword hand. Not that I really even use it, it's just the principle of the matter.”

“How powerful?” Sesshomaru asked. This was interesting to have a new weapon on his side of the battle.

“It can knock aside the Backlash Wave. That's the most powerful attack it's faced so far.” He withdrew the weapon back into his arm, which looked rather painful but didn't make him flinch. “It also has this funny holy energy to it. It's not like a monk's or priestess'. More like your blades'.”

He was referring to Tenseiga. “Have you drawn on that energy yet?”

Koga rubbed the back of his head. “I'm not too sure. This thing's a pain to master. It's saved my life already though so I don't know if that counts. Its attack power is still as high as ever though, so I suppose the next time my life is in danger is when I'll find out.”

Sesshomaru nodded. Sometimes weapons liked to hide certain things from their possessors.

“Koga!” came a feminine voice. Sesshomaru looked back to see a cute little wolf clad in white come whirling into the cave, sparing a glance at the dinner before settling her sights on Sesshomaru. “Oh! I'm sorry; I didn't think you would be meeting the lord right now.”

“It's fine, Ayame. What's up?” the young minor lord asked.

“I just came from the north,” she began, sitting to form a triangle, “but I suppose Lord Sesshomaru has already told you the battle plans.”

Sesshomaru actually hadn't, and let her explain them to see what the other wolf packs were being told. It was quite accurate, which he told her when she asked.

“So,” Koga started when she finished, “this means I get to lead my men into a camp full of stinkin' dogs?”

Jaken about burst, but Sesshomaru could tell that, in an insulting manner, Koga was being good natured.

“That's so rude,” Ayame informed the young lord. She liked him, and by his scent Koga was beginning to return the feeling.

Koga shrugged. “It's true. You dogs smell horrible to wolves.”

“Likewise,” Sesshomaru replied. “I would request less than half of your men, as you will be having pups here soon.”

“Yeah, that's true,” Koga commented, taking a glance and counting heads. Sesshomaru had already registered the numbers. Forty eight able bodied men, twenty two children, thirty three females, six of which were pregnant, and all but seven of them had yet to bear Koga's scent as recognition of him being their leader. “None of the whelps will be mine though. My pack has become overrun in the last few weeks because of the annual dispersing from the north. Even Ayame came down from the main territory to join me.”

Said little female blushed faintly. Sesshomaru expected she would bear Koga's pup in the next spring. Not only because she liked them, but because it was her scent the others bore to be their leader's. Apparently Koga had lost a great deal of men and they were merging packs. The wolves did this annual colonization like clockwork. For some reason they were slow to take on the full settlement extended by Sesshomaru's father from the last war so many hundreds of years ago, but the gradual change seemed to work nicely for both sides.

“So, the next full moon?” Koga asked when he saw Sesshomaru off.

“Yes.”

“The southern regiment?”

“Yes,” he repeated. “Ask for Sheng.”

“Got it.”

And he left. Four days later the night of the full moon came. Far more quickly than anticipated...

“Did you expect a storm?” Li inquired mildly, her black hair running in short rivulets down her face should it stray from the bun. Even in the rain she examined her honed blades in preparation for battle. Like Le, she possessed twin swords, and it just so happened that the two of them spent most of their lives sparing one another. She wore light armor that night, and if the moon weren't hidden behind the storm it would have glimmered across the buffed sheen and beads of water gathered to the metal.

“No,” Sesshomaru admitted, smirking inside as he hunkered down near the hilltop with her, scanning the area and watching the patch which looked like a cloud shadow barely shift. Sheng's troops were there and finally in position after washing off most of their scents in the creek. There would have been another faint patch for the birds, but they were taking shelter in the woods until the battle started. Wet feathers were not the best condition for them. Despite that, Sesshomaru had hoped for bad weather, and was excited for the last two days when he caught the smell of rain on the wind.

Rain... The current drizzle would soon turn into the utter downpour of nature.

After the water had been falling heavily for five minutes was when Sesshomaru would leave. Rain was an element reptiles hid from, least they didn't mind being sluggish in body let alone mind. Even though they bore the appearance of man, they were still coldblooded and gathered heat from elsewhere. Sesshomaru's men would be hindered as well, but not as severely. So long as they kept a firm footing in the ground they would do well.

The five minutes went by quickly as Sesshomaru planned out his path. Sheng was position outside of the city entrance a quarter of a mile from the main road, and Sesshomaru would be passing them to enter the part of the city which would be penetrated only by himself. It would be good to lure any curious guards there while the main attack was initiated behind them in a pincer fashion.

Three hundred seconds had passed. It was his time to go.

A slight hand suddenly grasped Sesshomaru's wrist and he looked back to see Li with a very serious expression on her face. “You are sure about this move, Sesshomaru?”

He blinked at her. “Entirely.”

They kept eye contact, and when she finally nodded and sank down the slight hill to the group she was leading he slid down the opposite side. He had a minute. That's all the council would allow. Tenseiga thrummed dangerously in his hand, but he restrained from allowing his energy to well up inside in response. He didn't want to announce himself before the initial blow after all...

Passing Sheng and his men at a run, receiving a quick thumbs up, Sesshomaru ran silently onward as two shadows fell in behind him. If he had kept his pelt with him he would have looked like a white wolf stalking the sheep herd, jumping over long-dead trees and swerving between bushes in the relatively flat field which separated his troops from the city entrance point. He kept an eye on the surveillance wall and arrow window notches, and seeing that no one wanted to be without a fire in that weather he easily approached the blind spot at the northern most point of the city, opposite Li's position. She, Sheng and Le were favoring the south end of the city.

Merely a foot from the wall, Sesshomaru regarded the two who had followed, both being women. They were experts in barrier making and great at stealth. They rose invisible walls which went through the thinner part of the wall, barely detectable, and enveloped Sesshomaru so he could wield Tenseiga and create an opening without being sensed.

Unsheathed, Tenseiga turned black, practically reflecting the sky, and with a slight swing a meidou sliced cleanly through and ended within the limits of the barrier. One of the women sighed at that. If Sesshomaru hadn't ended the attack at just that distance then it would have broken through the barrier and given the women the migraines of their lives. That and there would have to be piles of lizard bodies...

The barrier collapsed when Sesshomaru withheld his entire store of energy, as Sheng had showed him, and sheathed the blade. With a bow the women went running silently back to Sheng.

Sesshomaru ducked into the wall opening and hurried through the perfectly circular tunnel, hunching slightly. The meidou had not eaten completely through the wall, leaving Sesshomaru to loosen some large rocks with his fists. They broke easily, even without his full strength, and slipping through the hole he replaced the stones quickly and was on his way.

Sesshomaru came alongside the first of many houses and suppressed the urge to jump onto it. It would help his senses to have a better view, but it would help his foes even more. Besides, as he was now, he doubted he would be able to make the leap anyway. Going about this by foot and with bottled energy was the one option that worked. He had studied maps of this city, and now he had to follow the path set in his mind. The middle of the capital, where many prudent businesses and most of the ruling castle resided, was his target.

Even with dulled senses and pouring rain Sesshomaru could hear the hissed inhale which entered the opposite end of the alley he was crossing. He back stepped immediately to avoid being seen, but not being smelled he couldn't guarantee.

Loosening Bakusaiga in its sheath he waited, his back inches from the wet rock wall which still retained the heat of the passed day. There were no footsteps. Angling the blade upright in his left hand and slowly turning it Sesshomaru looked around the corner with the reflection. Although hindered by the engravings in the side, he saw nothing.

Good.

There was a sudden scream and the sound of running feet to his right, and Sesshomaru jabbed this sword straight out in instinct. Luckily, it gouged the guard through the middle, and his body quickly broke down into nothing.

Shit.

He ran. Random screams in the night were usually a sign of something bad, and others would be charging closer at any second. DAMN!! If he could have been in that city and not suppressing his power then he would have avoided the guard more than easily!

Avoiding major puddles, Sesshomaru's feet still splashed in the water gathered between cobblestones. You know what? Damn them all. He'd kill them without hesitation even without his full strength.

Slitting the throat of one who crossed his path he barely waited for the body to begin decomposing before dispatching the two following him. Anything that moved on a night like this was a good victim.

Twenty seven deaths later, Sesshomaru leaped over a wall which divided an alley and saw someone shift. Bakusaiga went immediately for the throat, and stopped centimeters away when he noticed that said throat was at the level of his hip.

A human child. A soaked one at that. He stared up at Sesshomaru, shocked and clutching a small satchel with food in it, then turned around and ran.

... It was a pity that he ran for the center of the city. No matter though. At least he ran silently.

A cautious five minutes later Sesshomaru saw the two story building which marked the beginning of the center, and slipping between more structures he peered into the street and was greeted by the wall which distinguished the section.

There would be more guards here.

Looking to both sides and glancing behind himself, Sesshomaru quickly dodged across the street, jumped onto the unstable crate stack, onto the slick nearby roof and over the wall before he could lose his footing.

He landed, and froze. He wasn't sensing anything too threatening, but Tenseiga began to shiver in its scabbard. He looked down and saw the Shikon no Tama slowly begin to glimmer, waking up.

Shit!! Demons could sense that better than they could sense him! And they did. Sesshomaru gave up on hiding himself, and mounting a three story building he jumped off and into the rain plagued sky.

Warning bells soon began to ring, but at this point it was fine. Catching himself in midair, Sesshomaru drew Tenseiga and positioned it over his left shoulder to send a meidou to eat the earth and the center of the city with it.

...

He held it there, and stared down. This didn't feel right. He didn't know why, but something was screaming at him not to swing the blade down. Tenseiga simply quaked in his grip, but it wasn't the one yelling at him to hold back. This was wrong. It didn't go against his moral, he could kill the innocent. It didn't go against his instinct. But he had a bad feeling about it.

'None of us today would have ever been born,' said a certain miko in his head, memories of a mall and changing rooms and the foul odor of perfume flickering in his mind. 'Just one little difference in the past, one, could change the entire future!'

That was it. Tokyo certainly did not have a giant hole in it... The map of that city reminded him of the one of Edo.

Tenseiga continued vibrating violently, the jewel now like a blasted star in the air. He couldn't do it.

That was fine though, he had Bashamon's attention anyway.

Shooting up higher, Sesshomaru easily dodged the dragon form of his rival high lord as he came flying at him, the glow of a Shikon no Tama resonating from his chest as Sesshomaru's did from Tenseiga.

“I was beginning to wonder if you really had disappeared, Sesshomaru,” the dragon commented, body looping through the air irregularly as he suspended in the sky, glancing at the Jewel in Tenseiga and brushing it off. Apparently the fool believed it to be a fake. Sesshomaru noticed that even without the attack his forces were moving in, and Bashamon saw as well.

Not wanting to have thousands of deaths on his hands in a matter of seconds, Sesshomaru lunged at the dragon. He was stronger than he had been last time, and even then he beat this miserable excuse for a lord. The fact they both possessed the Shikon no Tama was an unimportant factor since its strength was the same.

... Wait a second...

He quickly dodged five claws and a snapping jaw and dug Tenseiga into the body passing by as it flew for the ground. He did damage, but not enough to kill him. Could he kill him? Sesshomaru was definitely confused now. Why? Why was Bashamon alive in the future, even as a shadow of his former self?

“Thinking at a time like this?” Bashamon inquired, lunging with open mouth for Sesshomaru again. Apparently this dragon thought Sesshomaru easy prey if last time was anything to reference from. Fangs were mere feet away and Sesshomaru snapped out of his thoughts in time to hold the jaw open.

Bashamon laughed, breath reeking of constantly burnt and healed over flesh, and the temperature dropped when they pierced the clouds.

The mist was thick, and there were a few flashes of light before they were suddenly bathed in the light of the moon. They were above the storm, and Bashamon actually had an easier time breathing at that altitude than Sesshomaru.

“Now, where did we leave off?” Bashamon asked after Sesshomaru leaped from his maw. Glimmering streams of water fell from Bashamon's body, but the temperature of the atmosphere would still hinder him.

Sesshomaru shouldn't be thinking about that though. His mind was still caught up in what to do. He had a feeling that he shouldn't kill him, but rather that he should take him prisoner. But that was a ridiculous thought. You can't simply control someone like that.

“What useless plan could you be formulating?” Bashamon asked, sounding a tad bored as Sesshomaru parried yet another attack and dodged a stream of flame. He needed time. He either had to make a decision now or avoid wearing himself out in battle. And Tenseiga's damnable vibrating was not helping! Sometimes the passing idea of the sword speaking actually seemed promising...

Dodging the tail, which seemed thrown out just to see how aware Sesshomaru was of his surroundings, he decided to take Bashamon's life. He had no means by which to bind the demon, certainly not for five hundred years, and he would make such efforts for what? He didn't want to think about it, and quite frankly he didn't have to, because some friendly barbs were trying to grip his skin in a manner of unfriendly greeting.

“Planning on the ways to kill someone a second time,” Sesshomaru informed, lifting his sword before himself. Apparently the dragon did not consume Tetsusaiga or anything of the nature to obtain its powers, so Sesshomaru would have fun seeing how Bashamon enjoyed his own treatments. “Adamant Barrage!”

Tenseiga layered itself in crystal, and at a swing released a wave of diamonds straight for Bashamon. Several pierced his thick scales easily, one actually striking near the heart in his throat if not through it, and Tenseiga nearly jumped from Sesshomaru's slowly numbing grasp on it with how it shook.

Fine. No more toying.

Sesshomaru held the blade straight out, watching the white crystals meld themselves down into red scales. The attack which frightened Sesshomaru the most on his last night in the future. The youki absorption.

Bashamon looked astounded when he began transforming down to his humanoid self, his energy being drawn from his body and soul and into Tenseiga. What the sword did with it Sesshomaru didn't know, but so long as it left his foe and the Jewel remained pure he was fine with it.

“What is this?!” Bashamon demanded, watching his hands as the scales slowly sank into his flesh. For some reason the Shikon no Tama within him did not lend its powers. Good.

“Your demise,” Sesshomaru informed. He watched as the man slowly lost control over his ability to levitate and went careening for the earth. He followed.

“Damn you!” Bashamon hollered, trying to shoot whatever energy remained in him up at Sesshomaru. Tenseiga savored it, but not as much as Sesshomaru savored watching Bashamon slam back-first into the ground. He was barely powerful enough to survive it in this condition.

The battle around them was at a pause, demons staring through the downpour to see what would happen from where they stood twenty feet away.

“So,” Bashamon commented, the blood most likely coming from the back of his head. He regarded Sesshomaru through slitted eyes, avoiding the rain, “like this?”

Sesshomaru made no reply, being pissed off enough to have to kill this miserable demon who destroyed his reputation effortlessly and who sent him into the future to know suffering in more ways than even an aristocratic assassin could imagine, and surprisingly even more angered by his father's heirloom still quaking violently, he unceremoniously performed the youketsu cutting by sinking Tenseiga into Bashamon's heart.

Instant death was far preferred over the shocked and shaky inhale the demon gave. Something was wrong... He should be dead, not shocked!

Tenseiga stilled, but something pulsed. Sesshomaru watched as the Shikon no Tama, possessor of thousands of demons and one miko, reached down through the mystical blade and coated Bashamon in an apparently agonizing energy, grabbing its apparently younger self and dissolving it. The screaming was nigh unbearable, but soon enough the Jewel withdrew its energy, and Bashamon was no longer the demon he once was.

The Shikon no Tama, or more plausibly the miko Midoriko, had stolen his soul. How utterly unpredictable. It made Sesshomaru laugh at how simply hilarious that was.

Bashamon was petrified, and instinctively rolled away. He passed through the blade, and felt at his chest as he was leaned back onto an unsteady hand.

“Bashamon,” Sesshomaru began, still smiling. This was beautiful, and apparently a smiling inugami daiyÅkai was terrifying for demons as well as mikos. “Your soul and powers have been sealed indefinitely.”

Bashamon was baffled. Flabbergasted. Surprised, really. Then, extremely angry.

“I will slaughter you!” he hollered, standing none-too-quickly and drawing a blade. Or, tried to. His hand passed straight through it.

“While in such a condition,” Sesshomaru informed, not phased by the 'threat' in the least, “you will only exist as an image, and shall remain imprisoned for the rest of your unnatural days.”

This didn't go over too smoothly, but with the Jewel's energy simply twisting Bashamon's soul at Sesshomaru's slightest whim there wasn't much he could do but break down twenty agonizing minutes later to plead for death. After that, the 'war' was over, and the north and south were most likely informed of the victory by the cheer which Sesshomaru's men released.

Bashamon, now soul-bound to a certain proximity from the Shikon no Tama, remained at Sesshomaru's side, harmless and completely humiliated and ashamed, as he greeted his uncle for the first time in centuries.

“I see you have yourself a pet,” he commented as soldiers fresh from China disembarked on the western coast.

“A prisoner of war would be more fitting,” Sesshomaru informed. “RyÅ«kotsusei's younger brother.”

“Ah,” the Inu no Taisho's brother replied, keeping a serious expression. “Good to know he is in capable hands. I see my men have arrived in time for the cleanup?”

Sesshomaru nodded. That they did. Crossing in ships tended to be a slow form of travel for demons, but ships would be needed to send any lizards, whose bodies Sesshomaru preferred to not litter the ocean with, back to the very southern islands above Australia. It would take around a year to gather them all and transport them to their proper home, but it was better than having bored troops wander the countryside.

Sesshomaru's mother was able to greet her brother-in-law, whom she could barely stand being around, once before he needed to return to his lands, but he left Sesshomaru ample forces to control the new lands he had just conquered. Small battles in individual cities would occur for about a month longer, but those were nothing.

A week after all of the political technicalities were properly handed off to Sesshomaru's council, practically with the wave of an uncaring hand and by handing over Tenseiga for Bashamon's warding to be done without him, he left.

Unfortunately an ecstatic toad accompanied him.

“What is here, my Lord?” he asked curiously when Sesshomaru arrived near the edge of Edo outside of a familiar shrine. “My Lord?”

Sesshomaru opened the doors of both the shrine and the well, and looked into its depths. He could sense it. How utterly still the well was.

“My Lord, my I ask why we are here?”

Sesshomaru closed the well. Apparently the Jewel was needed again.