InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Threads of Fate ❯ Threads of Fate ( Chapter 1 )

Threads of fate

By Midoriko-sama

Saturday August 23rd(started Friday 22nd)

"Kyoko?"

The addressed girl turned around, her pigtails whipping around as she gave the boy a bonny smile

"Hello! Are you the new boy who came to live next door?" she said happily, showing off her missing tooth as she kept grinning

"Yes, my name is Shison. Your mamma told me that your name is Kyoko, and that I could play with you . . . can I?"

"Of course!" said the younger, louder girl, offering the shy boy her hand. He took it with a blush and they made their way to the sand pit in the park just in front of her house.

"Why did you come to live here?" she asked, sitting down and giggling at the sand. She began to make a figure in the sand

"Mamma says that daddy in-her-i-ted the biiiiiig old shrine up there" Shison replied, starting to dig a hole into sand in front of her. Then he beckoned her to lean forward, and he whispered in her ear "That means that a dead person said daddy had to have his house"

Kyoko, covered a squeaky shriek with sandy fists and looked at Shison in fear

"Don't be afraid!" said Shison proudly "Daddy is a great priest, he knows sooo many incantations and magic spells. Mamma told me that the dead person wrote that he wanted my daddy to get the shrine, and I think it is because daddy is such a good priest"

Kyoko gave another bonny smile and wiped her eyes, leaving trails of sand stuck to her tears, then she continued to make her figure in the sand.

"Are you a good priest as well?" she asked, looking at him dig a hole deeper until he reached the bottom and scraped the spade against the tarmac. He frowned at it and touched it, then looked up at her.

"No! I want to be a police man! I want to become a famous detective like Sherlock Holmes and catch the bad men". He puffed out proudly. Kyoko blushed and looked at him in a happier way

"Bad men hurt my grandma last month" she gave a little sniffle and left new wet sand tracks with her tears "Mamma says that they wanted to steal her money and they she wouldn't let them, so they hurt her. Will you catch them for her?"

"I will" he said importantly and seriously "I'll catch them for you Kyoko-chan". She beamed at him "What is that you're doing in the sand?"

"It's a doggy" she said excitedly "I love them sooo much! Especially the ears!"

"Yes! I love doggies too! But you've got sand on your face Kyoko-chan. Do you want to come to the shrine with me? We can count the steps up, and then we can wash the sand away and we can play in the big grounds!"

"Oh! Mamma never let me play when your grandpappa was there, she said I made noise and that he needed rest, I'll love coming Shison-chan!"

"Lets go then!" he said happily, coming out of his shyness as she smiled again and took his hand. They began counting the steps up to the shrine in a hop, hand in hand, one by one.

***************

"Honourable father?"

A young thirteen year old girl made her way in front of the man sitting in his regal kimono on an embroidered cushion, smelling of bath scents of the fine pipe weed he smoked.

"Come here before me daughter" he said "I have summoned you to tell you of your future

Hakami obeyed her father and seated herself on a plainer cushion that was placed before him, although he kept his back to her, looking out into the regal garden at the sakura falling. She bowed to his back all the same, keeping her respect for her father and daimyo as she had been thought all her life.

"Daughter of this Lord, what do you know of youkai" he asked, making it sound like a soft order. She was his youngest, and he loved her best

"The Lord my Father and his Masters have thought me to fear them at worst, honour them at most, depending on their rank and station. The Lord my Father has often told me that he is friend with his honoured neighbour of land, the Dai-Youkai of the West, and that I must so honour his honoured friend with due respect of his station" she replied, bowing low at the mention of the Lord's name to show respect at his absence.

Her father the great worrier Daimyo, vassal to the emperor and who's name in her language meant `great name' itself, turned around to her, put down his pipe and opened his arms. Hakami smiled like the thirteen year old she was and scrambled to her feet, her silk hissing about her, and she found her way to his lap as she always did. This was an honour he reserved only for her. His older daughters and son had never warmed his lap and heard his heart like she did.

"What do you think about getting married, my little Hakami-chan?" he asked her, patting her head. She thought for a minute and then said

"I would like to know him and love him before I marry him pappa, love him like I love you"

"And what if you knew him already? And if he was asking your pappa to have you as his wife? What if your pappa would make a war if he refused, would you go to him when your marriage age arrives?"

"I will do anything for you pappa" she said turning to him trustfully "I will not cause a war for you to fight and get hurt in, I will do what is good and marry who asked you for me." She paused and looked fearful "Is it far away from you pappa? Is he cruel?"

"No to both your questions, beloved daughter" her father smiled "He is not cruel, if not to his enemies, and he is a great Lord already, although his father still retains the title. He has fought by my side, and his Lord Father has thought worth that you and his son will wed in due time so the West will be joined."

"Is it the son of the Lord Dai-Youkai of the West father?" asked Hakami with wide fearful eyes. On her father's lap, she always felt a child again, and forgot the masks of the court to feel safe and show emotion

"Yes my daughter, it is. He is a fine worrier like his father, and has a House and Emblem more powerful than my own. You know that the emperor listens to the Dai-Youkai of the West above all other counsels, and it is a great honour to you and our House that his son- who will be a Dai-Youkai when his time comes- has offered you for becoming his serving wife through his father's choice."

Hakami nodded mutely. She knew that well

"Father, when shall I be of marriable age?" she asked quietly

"When you shall reach the age of fifteen, in two year's time" he replied

"Have you already sent the messenger to him father?" she asked again, looking up at him. He looked down at her sadly "I understand father, but I am not sad. I have met him before, he was gracious, and it is perfect, because you can visit me if I am close."

He smiled down at her proudly

"You shall bring honour and fortune to your house. Your name shall remain one of honour in the house I, Yashasume."

She only hugged him and then took her leave.

************

"Booo!" he called. The bowl of biscuits Kyoko had been holding on a tray made three summersaults before she caught it, and most of its contents scattered on the floor.

All the girls with her, still in their aprons from their cooking class, looked at her with sorry eyes, as she sadly bent down to pick up sweets that had before been beautiful and good, and had earned her a good grade, and that now were inedible. The silly freshman boy who had played the joke on her ran off to snicker with his friends about it.

"Here Kyoko, let me help" said someone at her side softly. Kyoko looked up and then down again at her bowl, as Shison helped her pile the broken dirtied food onto the side of the tray. There was only a bottom of the bowl-full left.

"We'll be going back to class Kyoko" said Mayu, and Kyoko heard the smile in her voice. It only made her blush deeper that her confident was leaving her alone with her crush.

"Are you just out of cooking class?" asked Shison nicely, keeping his eyes on dusting his hands of crumbs into the tray. He watched Kyoko pick the discarded bowl up and put it on the tray too with a sad look

"Hai, Sensei said they were the best of class too" she said ruefully

"Well, you could take those home, there are some left" he said encouragingly. He saw her blush and look down, and his girl next door friend gave him a shy look

"I thought you'd like them, since you have football training this afternoon. I wanted to give them to you for the team, but there aren't enough now . . . you can still take them yourself though . . I mean . ." she went quiet and rubbed at her hands in embarrassment.

"Oh I'd love them" he told her happily. It was like she making him lunch like some girls did the boys they liked. It felt nice "I ate all my lunch bento too, so I'll need something to eat after the training, I'll be hungry". She beamed at him again, and he blushed too.

"Here" she took her handkerchief out and wrapped up the remaining biscuits into it, tying it with a hair bow. "There you go. I'll see in the morning tomorrow. Or do you want to study for a math test with me?" She looked hopefully at him as she undid her apron and folded it, then stood up and threw the biscuits on the tray away. He put her gift in his bag carefully

"Hai, of course, I'll help you study" he said, grinning as she blushed when he read through her request "There is no need to be shy Kyoko-chan, you know I'll help you when you ask"

They made for class

"This is your last year here, ne Shison-chan?" she asked him quietly "Next year you'll be in another school". Then they wouldn't walk together every morning as they did now, or study together, even if he was a year older and a year ahead. It was a sad thought.

"Yes" he sounded sad too "but you know what happens if I do well" he smiled down at her. Now he was nearly a head taller than she was

"You'll make it into Police Academy Shison" she smiled "your grades are good"

"Not as good as yours, Kyoko-chan" he said. The bell rang, and they parted ways in the corridors, waving to each other. Since he had training, he wouldn't walk her home.

***************

"She is a CHILD!" he yelled furiously "A child dressed to resemble a woman!"

"She is a woman in human years, and you shall respect decisions taken by your father"

"I have already! Haven't I given a son to the Lord of the East's daughter as you wished? Didn't I breach my own and your nature to take a woman and then leave her to suit your purpose of having power in the East? Now you would like me to take a human child as my mate? It is outrageous father!"

"Inuyuryoku! Submit to my orders! You are offending me and my blood, and you are offending your mother and her blood, and you are offending the Daimyo Yashasume and his daughter's flag. It is not your honour alone at stake, it is the whole of the Lands'. I, West, demand you to yield instantly!"

There was a pregnant pause, then

"Hai, honourable West"

Hakami sat nervously in the litter, listening to their exchange, trembling with the fear of a new life and with the tremor of being rejected before being even seen. She would dishonour her father to be returned. She would rather commit Sekkepu, but that scared her too.

"Now son, leave the presence of this Lord, and outside find a litter bearing your future mate. Do not dishonour us all"

She trembled again as she saw the shoji door open into the yard her litter had been stopped in. The silk let her see through, although the detail was taken, and he looked like she remembered him in her youth, long white hair reaching below his back, gathered at his neck, red kimono with the colours of his house, tall as a man and shoulders of a man. She indeed felt a child.

The litter was placed on the ground, and a cushion in front of the entrance. The see-through silk was pulled aside to allow her exit. He stood unmoving in front of it, and she dared not look up at his face. As she had been taught, she slipped on her silk out of the litter and onto the cushion, then bowed low to his presence.

"I am here to honour you and serve you my Lord, sent to you as a gift by my father the Daimyo of the house of Yashasume, do with me as you will". She could see his boots. She hoped they wouldn't kick her.

Instead a hand came to hers and another to her chin. She found herself looking into the face of her husband.

"Rise" he said, even as he lifted her effortlessly. He turned to the litter bearers, who were slaves of his own house "You, take your lady's wear into the room designed for her, beside mine own" he turned to her once again "Come with me"

Hakami obediently followed, even when he let go of her hand, and looked down. She had looked into the face of her husband, and had found all fear lost, and at once renewed.

She had never seen him closely, only far off, through her window, on horseback, when his company passed by to pick her father's army up for another war, and once, when she had been barely nine, and there had been a feast to celebrate victory in which she had been presented also to sit by her father, since his other daughters were married and his son and heir had been killed. She had been too young then, uncaring of men and their looks.

His eyes were golden, no . . more the colour of polished red brass, shining liquidly in a flame light, or the fire of sunset. Amber and fire and gold melded into one. Under each eye, like a delicate brush stroke pulled up at the end were two solid black striped that followed the curve of his bone and eye. Against her skin, she had felt the light whisper of his claws, which she had heard the feats and the deadliness of by many a courtier.

His hair was indeed white and long, and his shoulders broad as she dared look up at his back. His age she knew not, but she knew it stretched far beyond hers would ever, far beyond she could think, and so made her appear a mere child to him. Again she felt like one when she should have felt a woman, following her husband

"Do you really possess only fifteen summers?" he asked her suddenly, never pausing his pace. Servants were becoming less and less as they walked on. Fewer and fewer of them walked to the sides and sprawled on the floor in the most abject bows to them both. Soon they were alone, and the new fear began to increase. The fear of being a child-woman alone with a man.

"Hai my Lord, I have seen only fifteen summers" she replied

"You do not look of fifteen summers. You look a woman. Do you humans age so quickly?"

He saw her as a woman now? Her fear of him grew.

"Hai my Lord. I am a woman in human years, our lives are short, so we age faster" she feared him more as he turned to her in the empty room, walked to her and caught her chin again

"You smell of a woman too" he said slowly. Hakami forced her face to close, her eyes not to widen, her breath not to shallow out, and her cheeks not to darken. Her heart kept pounding

"You also smell of a woman's fear" he snickered at her suddenly, breaking into a grin that youthened his face. Hakami could not control her shame any longer and it turned her painted cheeks scarlet. Redder than even the line of red on her lips.

"Forgive me my Lord, if I unwisely fear your hands" she murmured as he let her go to bow her head and hide her face "I am a woman, but I have been kept pure for your hands to be the first to touch me. I fear you not, but I fear my foolishness". Hakami kept looking down. It was not true that she did not fear him, but it was true that is was her inexperience, and the courtier murmurs on pain and rough hands, that frightened her most.

"You would be unwise not to fear these hands" he said to her in a whisper, bringing her face up to his once more, claws well shown and shining "but still, not in the way you're fearing them now. I cannot touch you, by the law of inuyoukai. Until I take the title of Dai-Youkai, I cannot touch you as a man". He stepped in even closer, nearly placing his legs astride of hers. "You fear the touch of a man, don't you"

"Forgive me my Lord, I do. I am really . . ." Hakami would have looked down, but her face was caught, so she took her eyes away from his ". . but a child after all"

"Call me Inuyuryoku. Or Inuyuryo. Everybody calls me that, after my son did it." Hakami nodded "Tell me what your father called you, what is the name they gave you in affection?"

All the white paste placed on her skin couldn't cover the red her face was making. Her court mask was cracking where his fingers where touching.

"Hakami-chan" she whispered, trying not to fall into those eyes and lose her tongue. The grip he had on her was frightening. Freezingly so. She was his child-woman, his child-wife, fearing and yet enthralled by his touch. "Or just Hakami"

"Hakami it shall be then" he said, kissed her forehead and left chuckling through a low door into the next room, his own.

***************

"Congratulations!" cried Kyoko, jumping up and down and clapping her hands. But she wasn't the only one. All his old classmates were there, nearly all had not seen for the two years passed of the graduation. There were his mother and father of course, and her older brother, and . . . his girlfriend. One from the police academy that shared his passion for nearly everything.

Many people popped their streamers, there was a great deal of noise, and a great deal of cheering and laughing and music and food. Kyoko felt out of place for the first time in her boy next door's house, because all these people who were only a year older than her felt older by light years, all eighteen, like he was now, and this was his birthday party. Surprise which she had organised.

Music and pop corn and film and noise and music in the grounds with a lot of banging- not to mention the old school band that had pulled it's pieces together tonight under her pleading. His girlfriend kept trying to get his attention to her alone, to take him to corners, but she couldn't, not tonight, when there were so many people to see him and so many things done for him.

Kyoko sat down and watched Shison and his best friend trying to drink a two pint beer in one breath to see who finished first, while all the boys and girls about them cheered. The other girl sat on the sideline, nearly outside the light, watching with a scowl. At least she, Kyoko, sat by his parents. She was his best friend at least.

Shison's best friend finished his pints before him, but then he went strait out like a light and toppled off his chair, much to the peals of laughter of nearly all the present except Kyoko, Shison and his mother. They dragged Yunichi up to Shison's room, and she couldn't help the little laughs that kept coming out of her mouth whenever Yunichi gave a rather strong snore. Soon Shison was laughing too, and his mother left us to handle the knocked out boy until she found some orange juice downstairs.

"He'll never change" Shison giggled "You'd think that now that he's in college . . .". He shook his head and laughed, readying the bucket. As if on cue, Yunichi started going at it

"He's done is before?" Kyoko asked, wrinkling her nose

"Sure, every weekend the summer before I got into academy" he grinned at her "That's why I used to be so tired Sunday for your walks, remember you teasing me about girls? It wasn't girls, it was Yuni-chan". He enjoyed seeing her giggle helplessly. Yunichi was snoring again, oblivious to the world

"Oh well, now it won't be Yunichi if you'll be tired, although you're not here to go to the walks anymore" she said, keeping her smile and shining eyes as she looked at him.

"What do you mean?" he asked looking puzzled

"That now you really have a girl" she giggled with a wink. She could still be happy, or show him that . . . she stroked Yunichi hair out of his face. The big baby.

"And you?" he probed with a grin "Have a boy yet? I hear Yunichi still hasn't given up on a certain crush . ."

"You hear wrong, he's got a girlfriend at college. I know her, she's in my year too, my friend . . ." for a brief moment Kyoko wondered what was wrong with her, and then she remembered she was their friend.

"Well . . . I don't really . .have a girl . ." Shison said shyly "She's only a friend of mine really. I don't know if she likes me but I really . . ."

"Oh she does, a girl notices" smiled Kyoko

"Well I kind of like someone else" he said, and it was nearly drowned by one of Yunichi's particularly loud snores. It made them cup their mouths to stifle the laughter

"Have you told her?" asked Kyoko

"I thought she liked me at one point, but I haven't seen her for a long time and I don't know what's happening really anymore" he looked at her timidly

"Oh! It's one of your old school mates then isn't it!" she said, still keeping her smile as she tried to keep her friendship, telling herself it was for years to come, to look back and laugh

"She is,-"

"Lets go downstairs and tell her then, go on, which one is she" she said teasingly. Buy Shison seemed to lose his nerve and he looked at Yunichi again

"No, he'll be at it in a while again" he said, readying his bucket. But Yunichi didn't move this time, and Shison knew he wouldn't have.

"Well then tell me who she is and I can bring her" insisted Kyoko, wanting above everything to see him happy "It may not be romantic with Tokyo train snoring in the background-" she pointed as the sleeping boy "- but you'll be alone in the room with her"

"I'm already alone in the room with her" he said slowly, turning scarlet and turning as though to talk to Yunichi. He missed her own cheek colour "with the Tokyo train in the back"

"Me . . ."

"I know, never mind, it's been a while and we're friends and all . ."

"Baka"

"Huh?"

"Domo Baka". She turned him around and kissed him shyly. She stepped back and he stood up to hug her. Just then, Yunichi decided it was time for a never occurred round two.

The people downstairs heard a shriek, and then Shison yelling "Arg! My room! Yunichi you're sooo dead when you get up!!"

His mother sighed at the orange juice finally found and put it down to go and look for cleaning utensils.

****************

Hakami quietly closed her eyes to enjoy the scented breeze of the open garden. Inuyuryo told her again and again she made herself target to arrows, but the wild flowers were beautiful. His first son had come to live with them for a while, and both the father and the son enjoyed the gifts of wild flowers she gave, although the father grumped and the son just smiled. Then Seshoumaru was taken to the East again. He looked very young, in human years maybe thirteen. She dared not ask his age.

Her silk layers spread out around her, as she had shed them, leaving only three for decency. Another soft breeze came up the slope, and again she closed her eyes to enjoy it.

"Hakami!"

There was only one who called her that. Since the first day, even his father the Dai-Youkai had called her by her title, Daughter of the Yashasume, but not he. Even in public, unless there were other nobles, even in front of the wagging tongues of servants and soldiers, he called her by name and name alone, as he had asked her the name she had been called in affection to call her by.

She turned to him and watched him come. She had been in his house five years, and she had changed and grown into a definite woman, but still a child in his eyes, but he hadn't aged a day. Not one hour glass turning. True to his oath to his father's legacy, he had not taken her, although he had gone to her at odd nights, to wake her and kiss her. She did not understand her lord. He called her by the name he had asked to be affectionate, but was never so in day, and rarely so in night.

She had grown to care deeply somehow. He would bring her gifts when she needed them not and expected them least, presenting them to her with little grace and rough handling. He would pay her a complement only when others were not listening, but mock her about it if she asked. He would pretend hate, only to show her some warmth when she thought he would be cold.

Now he came up to her over the slopes with such a grave expression. Could her Lord be so chagrined at her for being in the open garden again? She smiled notwithstanding his face, her thoughts about him cracking her court mask as they always did

"I am sorry, Lord Inuyuryo" she had never dropped the Lord for him "But the flowers I love too much . ." on your tunic ". . . to refuse their call"

"It is not about the flowers Hakami" he said stiffly. He would be on about the arrows now, trying not to look concerned. Was he indeed centuries old? Or was he her child-husband too?

"Hime Hakami, Daughter of the Yashasume clan and house" he said formally. That sobered her. What had happened? "As your promised I am in duty to announce to you that your . .. that your father is dead, and that you . . . ."

He stopped, as he knew he would seeing the look in her eyes

"And that you are now the head of the Yashasume Clan" he forced himself to continue, swallowing a lump in his throat. But her eyes were steadily dying. "It is my duty to inform you also that as my intended, all your properties fall on me, so that now we both head the house of West and the Clan of Yashasume toget . ."

"No" she said. Had he been human it would have gone unheard. His stomach rebelled and turned when another breeze came up the hill behind her and brought with it her usual scent of wild flowers and the bitter salty scent of the tears he saw already

"Hakami-"

"Father was alive a week ago!" she was on her feet and challenging him. Not even as a fifteen year old child had she done that, when he had taken her sweet tofu "He was well! He was here, with us, ate with us, spoke to you and your father!" she had no honorifics now. Blind grief had no titles. "You lie!" she challenged and cried, pushing him with little effect "You lie! Father was well! He was well!"

"He was poisoned. It was slow acting. His taster was found dead too. It took him in his sleep, he didn't suffer . ."

"Father! Father!" she cried, burying her face in her hands and weeping. On his order she had stopped having her face covered in white. But now it looked as though she had. He walked up to her and held her to him as he shouldn't have. Both should have had better composure, both should had taken upon the control of their courtier upbringing. But here they weren't in the court, they were in an open garden, and both of them were wild, as the flowers. The soldiers watching from the walls surrounding the House would be seeing them, but he didn't care.

"Father" she sobbed again

"Shush Hakami, I'll take care of you" he said "I am your promised, it is my duty"

"Leave me" she said, so much more calmly in an instant it was startling "Do not offend my father's memory so soon at least. He cared for me out of love, not out of duty, and he kept me close for that reason. It was no duty that made him love me, he was my father, and he's gone"

"No duty can tie me!" he said in anger

"You have a son out of duty" she said disrespectfully to her promised "You have me out of duty. I do not want pity or obligation! Leave me to my grief."

"No" he stated simply, and pulled her to him. He kissed her forehead as he often did when they were alone, and then her mouth as he did at night. His father had warned him about devotion towards a human woman, how addictive it could get, how it drowned you, and he had listened, but to no avail. He had still drowned.

Finally she gave in to him completely, and wet the front of his silk with her tears as he held her.

*******************

"Wow Shis, you made it" said Yunichi with a broad smile, you really did. Show it to me will you? I want to touch a degree certificate . ."

Shison laughed as he wore his uniform of honour and hugged Kyoko to him and handed his friend the rolled paper. The reception was nice. Shison had invited only a few, while other graduates had invited a large number of people. Only his parents, Kyoko's parents and Yunichi. Since one of the graduates themselves had taken the reception in hand this year, the `family only' rule had been breached. Some had breached it more than others of course

"So who's birthday is it?" someone asked someone else behind him

"Wow" oogled on Yunichi

"Hey, don't burn a hole into it" Shison laughed, taking it back jealously "Besides, you'll have one yourself next year"

"Shis, I'm medical- the chances that I get through first try are minimal" sighed the other.

"If I made all my academy exams up to detective in five years and got through, you'll make it through your last year medical" he said convincingly. Yunichi grinned

"And Kyoki? How are your teaching practices going Kyoki-san?" he got batted and earned a laugh

"Very well! Very well indeed! I really like the students I got till now. The trouble is leaving them, it's always horrid to say goodbye"

"It is ne?"

"Well so, the big day's coming up next month" smirked Yunichi "Everything ready for bride and groom?"

"Of course" snickered Shison "Everything ready for best man?"

"I though I talked you out of it"

"You didn't, it seems"

"Damn"

************

"You are now Inuyuryoku no longer. You are now the West, you are West, Dai-Youkai Inu."

Hakami watched as Inuyuryo was dressed with his father's clothes. His father's mate, Inuyuryo's mother had long ago died. Now his father had been taken in battle, and the time had come for Inuyuryo to take his place.

What did that make of her? She had lost her father too the year before, and now she watched as Inuyuryo too lost a connection to himself. Inuyuryo had loved his father.

Now he wasn't Inuyuryo any longer the youkai had just said. He was now Inu of the West, Dai-youkai Inu. Hakami had nearly forgotten that he was a youkai. Since her father's death, he had been nice, sometimes even tender to her. Seshoumaru had come once, and his father had been scolding him. He had changed, drastically, as though walls had fallen before his once soft eyes. Her Inuyuryo had told her that he had fallen for a human woman, and that she had been killed by the East to avoid any scandal. Now he hated humans and their fragility.

Her Inuyuryo . . . she still had no real place in this court. She was but his promised, and since her father's death, the lands had fallen onto her Lord because she was his, and because no one else of her siblings had been entitled. Since the land had become her Lords, she began hearing many a murmur about a snake in the night, or a leaf in the tea, or a berry among berries. Her Lord had taken to sleep in her chamber and eat of her food. No one dared.

But now that her Inuyuryo had become West, could she call him her West at all? He should mate her now. . . the thought still sent her into chills, still made her feel like that child of fifteen he had been presented with, who had trembled and yearned for his touch at once. She still did, fear his claws but yearn for them, whenever he is in a tender mood.

. . . . .

There were many servants about her now, tending to her. That youkai who had attacked her after her Lord had been made West . . it was from the South. It meant war, but it also meant she caused enemies to her Lord from afar also.

Her Inuyuryo . . . Inuyuryoku . . she rarely call him by his full name, but it is beautiful. Powerful dog . . dog of power . . that was the meaning of his name, and it suited him. He was powerful, but was also beautiful in his power. She loved her Lord, she had learned to . . . . although he loved her not, maybe, but she was devoted to him in her heart.

He was there suddenly. She had seen his speed tonight. It alone saved her life. His speed and his power as a true youkai she had never seen, he never had reason to show. She had forgotten he was a youkai. To her he was Inuyuryo.

"My Lord" she bowed to him "My Lord West Dai-Youkai Inu"

"Stop" he ordered her gruffly, "Rise, come, follow me"

Swiftly through rooms, through ever more deserted corridors, to his room.

"Now I am West and Dai-Youkai" he said thickly "Now you are mine"

*************

Pacing the corridor once more Shison kept his eyes glued to the doors. Yunichi followed him with his eyes and was risking becoming very dizzy by doing so

Suddenly there was a wailing, and Yunichi did a good job of jumping up and restraining the detective from plunging right into the room.

Later, Shison joined his wife and his child in their room after they had been cleaned and fed.

"I messed up your teaching career now didn't I" he said sorrowfully

"How can you say messed up when you refer to her! My Kagome, she's beautiful . . . Our little Kagome-chan"

"She'll have a lovely future, never messed up" he nodded and hugged them both. Baby Kagome yawned in protest and went back to sleep. The both beamed at her.

*********

He watched his mate labour, call and cry in her pain, call for him where the old women wouldn't let him go. The hot rags were changed and changed again, and the scent of her blood mingled with his permeated the room.

Finally the whelp joined them in the world of the living, coming through his mother as he had done to produce him. He wailed his strength to the world like a lost soul. The pup's mother, his mate, slumped against the wooden chair and servants rushed to tend her.

Others brought to the rightful Lord his heir. Not his first born, but his first mated child, and his heir. His brother would rule the East, and they would work together with the North against the South, that was growing seeds of malignance every passing day with the so called Shikon-no-tama.

The child quieted the moment it came to him. His hair was white, Like the Dai-Youkai's own, and the eyes were red, like any child youkai. There was no saying their true colour yet. But his head held large ears of a dog, made bigger by the little hair and the little head.

"Inuyuryo?"

She still called him that, and that was all he wanted her to call him. Inuyuryo, or mate, when they consummated their mating, that was what she always called him. Now with the child born, they would consummate again. He had never touched a concubine in the wait. He would never taint his mate's happy eyes.

"Hakami, this is my heir. You have produced the heir to the West Dai-Youkai Inu and to the Clan of Yashasume."

She took the child in her hands, and then took a butterfly shaped hair ornament of mother pearl he had gifted her with on thier first mated morning, and began fluttering it before the child. It laughed and tried to grasp it. Claws began to grow and harden at once. Inuyuryo felt he had to make sure that his child did not hurt his fragile mate. Fragile beautiful mate.

"Inu is the name of all the heirs of the West" Inuyuryo began "But this son must honour his clan as of well. He shall be called Inuyasha, son of the West Dai-Youkai Inu and of the Clan Yashasume."

Hakami smiled at him in love and approval, while the little pup, still wet, cooed and played with the butterfly, scratching his mother who didn't seem to notice.

*****************

"Mamma?"

Six year old Kagome walked into the room with her teddy bear hanging from one hand like it always did, and her thumb in her mouth. She took it out again to talk

"Mamma?"

Kagome knew her mamma wasn't well. Ever since the little baby had come, mamma had been a bit ill. But pappa said that was ok and normal, and that Kagome now could take care of her little baby brother with her mamma. She could be his second mamma, he had said

But Mamma didn't usually sit on her bed in the dark and cry on her own. Again six year old Kagome took her thumb out of her mouth. This time she shook her mother's knee with her wet hand

"Mamma! Don't cry!" she said. Her mother started and looked at her, then took her into her arms tightly and kept crying "Mammy! Did Kagome do something wrong?"

"No darling, no baby no. You didn't do anything. It's daddy dear. He won't be coming home anymore. Bad people hurt him baby, but now he's ok, now he's with Grandma Suki and Grandma Yuri and Grandpa Toshio"

"He will never come back? Like grandmammas and grandpappa?" said a teary Kagome.

"Yes Kagome-chan, yes, but he will always watch us Kagome-chan. Me you and your baby brother. Poor Souta, he will never know pappa, poor Souta, poor babies" she sobbed

"Don't cry mamma, pappa hated when you cried" said Kagome "Why do you cry? He will never come back, but he will watch over us. He is still here, ne mamma?"

"Yes Kagome, in our hearts, he is here, and he will watch over us"

"Then why are you crying mamma?"

"Sometimes when you love someone a lot, Kagome-chan, you cry more than you laugh"

"Iie mamma, pappa always told me to love everyone and be happy. I will get married too, and be a mamma like you, and I will not cry because of the boy I love, ever mamma."

Kyoko gave her daughter a rueful smile. Kagome slid off her lap, and then ran out the door on her pudsy legs

"Mamma, I have left you my teddy bear so you won't cry. I'm going to be Souta-chan's second mamma now, and you can go tell Jii-chan Sanzo about daddy now". Kyoko watched her daughter suddenly grow in front of her and then run like a child out the door.

**************

"Onagai! Wet gauzes! Clean ones! Run for your Lord's life! I order you run" screamed Hakami as all her new gauzes were soaked instantly with blood. She would have used her dress, but would not appear naked in presence of others but her mate and child.

He was losing too much blood, too much blood!

No avail to all the gauzes in the world. Her vision blurred with the tears. His body was nearly cleaved in half, there was no healing him, there was no healing him.

All the nurses were looking at her helplessly.

"Mate! Mate don't leave me! Don't leave me! Onagai!"

She woke up again, tears in her eyes as once more her mind plagued her with the death of her Inuyuryo. Inuyuryoku.

"Mother?"

He was here as always when she awoke. Nothing escaped those ears of his, once looking so big, and now looking fit for his features, half hidden in his thick white hair. He was so like his father, so like him. Even now in his infancy, the traces of his father's face were painfully evident. All her son needed to be his father's copy where two paint brush strokes of black ink under each eye.

And his ears. His ears were those of a dog, ears that let nothing pass them by even better that the ears his father had worn and that used to catch her every murmur, of pain or pleasure, sadness or delight.

He was aging more quickly than a youkai, her son. He was ageing like a human. Now here as five, he looked almost as though he was aging more quickly than even a human. He crouched before her, a perfect predator already.

Those ears. If not for those, he would look nearly human. There were human children who were bought to the world with white hair like his own and were of none of his heritage. But now they were in the old court of Yashasume, after they had been advised to flee the court of the West. Those ears brought him torment, and it pained her to no end.

The Vassal would keep the place till her little Inuyasha is of age. Then he would take his place and become the new Lord of the West Dai-Youkai Inu, like his father before him. She would be long gone by then. To join her beloved Inuyuryo.

"Why do you cry mother?" he asked her tiredly yet alert to her needs. Such as his father, to mask his concern with those who loved him most. He had once confessed that his nature made him uncomfortable with showing his needs and concerns.

"I dreamt of your father's death Inuyasha-chan. I miss your father, that is why I cry. I loved him"

"Were you happy with father?"

"Hai, of course"

"Then why do you cry? If you loved him, and you were happy, it is a good thing. Why cry mamma?". She moved him into her lap, took her butterfly and began waving it around for him. He still loved it, with its changing colours and ornate wings. And it was a gift from father, it was sacred.

"Because I need to Inuyasha. When your pappa left me, he broke my heart" she said softly, fluttering the wings so it seemed to fly for him

"I will never do that" he said to himself and to her "I will never do that"

**********

"No Souta! Leave Kagome's things alone!" said the older girl to the three year old. He put his thumb in his mouth and sucked, looking up at her sadly.

"Ok, ok, I give in" she said with a sorry smile. Sadly she handed her toy dog to her brother, who awaited it with open arms and shining eyes. Kagome sat quietly in the corner, waiting for her sibling to finish adoring her beloved toy, so that she could take it again, hug it to herself and feel better.

That little doggy always made her feel so better when she missed daddy. He had given him to her.

She looked at baby Souta rub the dog toy's ears.

************

"Give me the boy!"

"No! Never! He is my son! Never!" screamed Hakami, placing herself before the door. None of the Yashasume court would help. They all hated the son of the demon. Seshoumaru advanced on her.

"Worthless human, move from before me!"

"No! He is my son! Seshoumaru, what happened to you! You used to love me, I loved you as a son! Your father and I loved you together!"

"Do not mention my father! He was forced into marriage with you for futile land reasons. He should have destroyed this court as I will do now, but not before destroying it"

"He is your brother! The same blood of your father runs through you both! I talked to him about you greatly Seshoumaru! He looks up to you and loves you! Come to yourself son!"

"I am not your son! I am Lord of the East, Seshoumaru. I, Seshoumaru shall be also Lord of the West and stop the line of the Inu with that brat! Move or die!"

"I will not move" she said quietly. For a moment he hesitated, recalling the wild flowers and the smiles. Then he brought his claws down on her.

He stepped over her and opened the door. There was no one inside. A part of him was relieved. Maybe they would fight as men someday.

"I, Seshoumaru, now claim these lands as mine own. And myself as West and East." He turned to a human boy, no doubt a page, who had crawled out of a hole and frozen upon seeing him and the woman "You, give her a decent burial. She was a woman of worth. She died with worth. She did mate my father after all."

He swept away.

The little boy dragged the woman outside, kissing her as he went. He dug a hole with his hands and then placed her in it, strength impressive for a child his age and height. Then he returned to the room, covered in her blood, and gather the broken fragments of the hair ornament butterfly, and ran once more to place them on the unearthed patch. Then he thought better, and he buried the fragments too, lest they be stolen.

He stared at the earth under his human nails. He stared the earth before him. He turned into the moonless night and ran.

**************

"Jerk!"

"Bitch!"

"Ah! Don't call me that! How many times to I have to tell you! Osuwari!"

Kagome walked into the kitchen, putting the backpack on the table to run up to her room, dashing tears away angrily from her face, refusing to her them fall past her cheek bones.

"Love hurts us all. It always hurts to love" her mother's soft words followed her up the stairs.

Outside a dog demon lay waiting for the spell to lift. A butterfly passed by, wings of a strange trunsuculent colour, changing as they flipped around and around, around and around his head. He wouldn't look at it. No.

Then is settled on his grumpy nose, and he tried screwing his nose to make it go. He looked at everything but it. The salty tears' smell usually made his sneeze, but not today. The butterfly wouldn't have left anyway.

Finally he looked at it. It opened and closed its wings for him, showing off the changing of colours and the ornate designs. Its wings opened and touched his eyes, then closed again.

"Ok, I'll keep my word" he murmured. He sighed as the butterfly flipped its wings again "I'm doing it, I know. I'll go apologise mother . ."

The butterfly flapped its wings, circled his head from one side to another for the last time and then flew away.

End

Wow, this took me a whole night to write. It's really MUCH longer than my usual shorts, but it's still a short. Sort of. Oh well, I loved it, its so sad and so nice in parts. Waaaaaa, give me a tissue, I want to cry.