InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tomaru's Story 2: Prejudice ❯ Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

The youkai musicians struck up a rather slow tune, delicate and refined in nature. Tomaru took a deep breath and stepped closer to the lovely Niji. He held out a clawed hand toward her.

 

“My lovely lady… may I have the pleasure of this dance with you?” Charm rolled off every precise syllable.

 

Those fantastic turquoise eyes turned toward him in surprise. “Dance? What do you mean?”

 

An irresistible grin broke out on his handsome face. “Come with me and I will show you. It is something my mother taught me and I have yet to put my supposed talent to any use.”

 

Casting a rather worried look at her parents, Niji accepted Tomaru's hand and allowed him to escort her to the middle of the ballroom, where the crowd of youkai spread away from them to watch.

 

Delicately, Tomaru placed his right hand on Niji's slender waist and grasped her right hand in his left. She looked at him perplexed and a little embarrassed. “What are you doing?”

 

“Just put your free hand on my shoulder and let me show you.”

 

A bit skeptical but willing to accept a challenge, the enchanting ookami did as he instructed. He took a step to the side and she followed, matching her movements to his. She was a quick study, and soon they were whirling gracefully, almost predatory-like, around the small circle the crowd had allowed them.

 

Kagome grinned like a fool. “Ha! I knew teaching you guys ballroom dancing would be a good idea!”

 

Sesshoumaru gave his mate a strange look. “You have not taught all of us `guys,'” he said softly.

 

The miko glanced up at him. “Well… you're always so busy… and I thought you wouldn't want to learn…”

 

The tai-youkai grasped her hand and led her toward where their son was waltzing with Kouga's daughter. “Excuses… now, sensei- teach me.”

 

Kagome gave Sesshoumaru a smile that was meant just for him, that promised delightful things for later that evening. Mimicking Tomaru's stance, Sesshoumaru grasped his mate around her waist and pulled her tightly to him. She gave him a Look.

 

“Relax, your tai-youkai-ness. We can't dance if you're holding me like you're trying to protect me from something.”

 

“Perhaps I simply wish to embrace my mate?”

 

She flushed as he allowed her to lead them off. “Highly unlikely… immensely desirable, but unlikely.”

 

He leaned down as he got the hand of the sweeping movements. “More likely than you could imagine, miko,” he purred.

 

Her blush got redder. “Stop that. We're surrounded by youkai… they can scent what you're doing to me!”

 

“That would be the idea.”

 

Tomaru glanced over Niji's shoulder as his parents joined them in the ever-widening circle. He blinked in surprise as his regal father allowed his mother to teach him- quickly- how to waltz. It was a dance she had learned in her own era, the time she had been unable to return to once the Shikon no Tama disappeared.

 

Soon they were joined by Shippou and Rin, spinning in perfect rhythm with each other. Kagome had taught all her children the strange dance, trying to bring a bit of her past (or future, however you wanted to look at it) into her present. Tamiko found her potential mate, Kioshi, among the somewhat bewildered onlookers and managed to coerce him into joining her with her family. As usual, all it took was a sweet grin and a few soft-spoken words and he was putty in her paws- er, claws.

 

Tomaru flushed slightly as he gazed at his lovely partner. Niji, on the other hand, seemed to focus her eyes on the floor, on his shoulder- anywhere but his face. He nearly growled aloud.

 

Dammit… I'm pouring out all the charm I've got and she still won't look at me! Are these ears that horrendous?

 

His youkai seemed to shrug. Your mother found them absolutely adorable on me when I was still alive… and I know that she's been fascinated with them on all your sisters. Rin likes them too.

 

Tomaru nearly snorted, which would've been even more embarrassing than having his ears twitching nervously as he spun his partner around the floor. Yeah, well, Mother and Rin are the exceptions- they're ningen. And I highly doubt Father would approve of a ningen mate for his heir. The inu-youkai blood has been thinned enough thanks to Mother.

 

Don't you dare insult your mother just because of your ningen blood, pup. I was so caught up in my quest to become a full youkai like your father that I turned against one who loved me with all her heart. She deserved better than me and now she has it. Be grateful both your parents are still alive and care about you so much.

 

Quiet, old man. I'm trying to woo a mate here.

 

Tomaru blinked as Niji stopped suddenly, turning away from him. “Um… Kagetsuniji? Is something wrong?”

 

“Forgive me, my lord,” she murmured. Without uttering another word, she fled, moving rather quickly in the narrow confines of her formal kimono. Tomaru stood in the middle of the dance floor alone, looking very much the abandoned partner.

 

Aiko swept gracefully to his side and immediately swung him back into the dance. He glanced down at his black-haired sister in surprise. “What just happened?”

 

She shrugged without seeming to. “Forget her,” she replied. “Some bitches just can't figure out a great guy when they've got him right in front of them.”

 

He narrowed his eyes as if ready to reprimand her for her behavior, yet he knew as well as she that female youkai of both inu and ookami breeds were often referred to as bitches- yet he wondered. “Thanks for saving my ass then,” he replied, giving her a wink.

 

“Couldn't stand to see you abandoned like a little lost puppy,” she replied cheerfully.

 

Of all her children, Aiko looked and acted the most like Kagome. With her long black hair and always upbeat demeanor, he often thought that if his mother had been a hanyou, that Aiko is what she'd look like. But slight one of her family and she'd rip your throat out. Siblings excluded, of course.

 

The music finally came to a halt and those members of the Inu no Taishou's family that were dancing bowed to their partners. The gathered youkai clapped in approval and genuine entertainment- it wasn't every day they got to witness the stoic Sesshoumaru and his family dancing.

 

Tomaru took a moment to look around the vast room, searching for any trace of the wolf who had fled. Even with his keen eyesight, he could not find her. It appeared that she had vanished.

 

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For the rest of the celebration, Niji was blatantly absent. Tomaru mingled and said few words, opting to portray the proper tai-youkai attitude to those present. His thoughts, however, remained on the ookami, pondering what had happened to cause her to flee like that.

 

Long after the clans had left and only the members of Sesshoumaru's family remained in the household, Tomaru found himself restless. He wandered the corridors, deciding to venture to the kitchen for a bite to eat.

 

Dressed only in a pair of shorts his mother had made him, which she called “boxers,” he padded down the hallways on silent bare feet, trying to keep his stomach from rumbling and giving away his location.

 

“… can't believe you'd do something like this without discussing it with me first! Are you deliberately trying to alienate our son?”

 

Tomaru paused, his ears perking. That sounded like his mother- and she sounded pissed.

 

“My own father would have arranged my mating as well, had he not died before the time came.” Sesshoumaru sounded quite bored, as if he were explaining to someone with low wit.

 

“Your father died when you were, what- 100 years old? More? Tomaru's only 20!”

 

Tomaru's jaw dropped. They were talking about him?

 

“I am full youkai,” Sesshoumaru explained. “Youkai age differently than hanyous. I just barely reached my majority when my father died- it was only a mere year before that I had received my ceremonial pelt. Three months later, Father had met Izayoi and thus conceived Inuyasha.”

 

The still-listening hanyou winced. He never knew how his father felt about him being Inuyasha's reincarnation. Sometimes he worried that perhaps that was why his father never seemed happy with him.

 

“You know I'm sorry for that,” Kagome replied softly. “But I don't see how arranging our son's marriage is going to benefit anyone.”

 

Tomaru, guided more or less by his inner youkai, slammed open the door to the kitchen, where his mother and father were standing face-to-face. “You did what?!” he yelled.

 

Kagome jumped, startled by the abrupt loud noise of the door slamming open and her eldest son's yelling. She took in his nearly naked appearance and tried to hide a snicker- he looked so very adorable in the underwear she had made him.

 

Sesshoumaru regarded his son with a cool glance. “Welcome, Tomaru,” he said neutrally. “Perhaps you should endeavor to clothe yourself before joining this discussion.”

 

“I am dressed,” he growled back, his ears flattening against his silver hair. “And this `discussion', as you term it, should not be happening because you had no right to choose my mate for me!”

 

Wow, thought Kagome, her eyes going wide. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear I was looking at Inuyasha… well, not that I ever saw him like this… She held in a giggle, aware of the seriousness of her son's ire.

 

“Obviously we are having some issues with finding you a potential mate,” Sesshoumaru said, his face impassive as always. “Therefore I have talked it over with another tai-youkai and we have agreed to betroth you to his daughter. Not only will you have a mate and thus pups to inherit, but the two Lands will be united. You will be tai-youkai over both Lands.”

 

“I don't want some bitch you've chosen at your whim!” Tomaru snarled back, his hands clenching into fists so tightly that blood dripped from where his claws broke the skin of his palms.

 

“Watch your tongue, pup,” his father said, stepping closer and allowing his mask to drop. The inu-youkai's regal face was now scowling at him, his gold eyes flashing irritation. “Remember who you are talking to.”

 

“Oh, I remember all right,” Tomaru snorted. “The mighty Inu no Taishou, the great Sesshoumaru, tai-youkai of the Western Lands.”

 

“That is correct- and you will speak to this Sesshoumaru with respect.”

 

“Like hell,” Tomaru growled, baring his fangs. “When are you going to stop being the Inu no Taishou and start acting like my father?”

 

Sesshoumaru growled back, causing Kagome to take a step away. “I am your father, whelp,” he hissed back. “And I am ordering you to honor the betrothal made to ensure the inu-youkai legacy.”

 

Tomaru's eyes flickered, shifting from the soft goldenrod yellow to a bright burnished gold. The pale green crescent on his forehead faded, disappearing. Kagome blinked as she saw the crescent vanish. She slowly walked forward, her hands covering her mouth as she recognized the familiar shade of gold now dominating her son's eyes.

 

“I always knew you were a bastard,” Tomaru said, although his voice had changed from its normal tenor to one nearly forgotten in their memories. Sesshoumaru actually looked startled and Kagome let out a gasp. “Didn't you get enough revenge by taking my Tetsusaiga? By killing me? By taking my Kagome?”

 

“Dear God,” Kagome breathed, her eyes wide in absolute disbelief. “Inuyasha?”

 

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A/N: Just a quick note to all my delighted readers- I was very unsure about posting this story, so please read and review. Let me know if you like it, so that I may be inspired to continue it. I have not gotten very many reviews on my other story and thus I believe that not too many of y'all like it. So I've somewhat lost interest in it. But I hope to keep going- maybe I'll get some people to review on that one if I do. But regardless, please let me know what you think. Thank you to everyone!

 

This story is dedicated to Warm-Ice on FF net.

 

Kagetsuniji- Moon Rainbow (Lunar Rainbow -wink-)