InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ War's Shadow ❯ Path ( Chapter 26 )

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

Chapter 26 - Path




You damned toad, came the resentful thought as Sesshoumaru's fist, clenched around the hammer, pounded violently against the freshly split wood held in place by his free hand. The repetitive sounds of metal driving against wood echoed throughout the entire clearing as he worked to repair the massive hole that had been driven through his roof the night Keito's army had come to attack. One would have thought that it would be more sensible to place blame for his predicament on the ones who had inflicted the damage on the ancient structure, but Sesshoumaru's ire was directed solely toward Jaken as he saw to the chore. Normally, such tiresome things were attended to by his retainer, but this was more of an extensive job and Jaken was not exactly suited for construction or heavy-lifting. An order to fix the roof would have meant that Sesshoumaru would practically have had to see to the chore himself, anyway. And so he had wordlessly set to work on his own, saving himself at least some of the time and aggravation.

Finding that what he was working with was not the correct size, he leaned back on his feet, flattening the board, used keen eyes to judge the proper length and then hacked off the unneeded piece, tossing it carelessly over the side of the roof. The heavy summer sun was bearing down on him, heating his back and the top of his head. He would have started it earlier, but the hanyou child had spent yet another night with him, trailing after him, eyes fixed on him with wordless adoration until her weariness had finally overcome her and she had decided to sleep in the very late morning hours...meaning that she had woken up late and Rin had asked him not to start so loud a chore until she was up and about.

It should wake her, he thought irritably. If I can manage to keep her awake for the entire day, then maybe I will have some peace at night...

Feeling that the board was the proper length, he moved to fit it into place and picked up the hammering tool to secure it, watching as it slid in neatly. He sat back and glared at the rest of the hole. It seems I am not suited for this, either. He simply did not have the patience for manual labor. His father had always kept servants to a minimum so as to not raise Sesshoumaru to rely on them, and that was good because it had made him self-reliant, but there were times such as these when he knew with evil certainty that Isamu would have simply waved the chore off to someone else, and Furu would have set one of his lackeys on it as well.

But they like to keep people near them. I do not.

And just as that thought circulated through his head, there was the sound of the ladder being being set into place with a clunk and he stopped his work, looking over his shoulder as Rin's face emerged over the roofline, hands wrapped firmly around the ladder's supports. She pulled herself up the rest of the way and moved to kneel next to him, inspecting his work.

"It looks really good. You won't even be able to tell," she complimented him. "I've finished sweeping up the inside. It's amazing how much dust and debris can accumulate in just a few days."

"You've been working too hard, Rin," he warned.

"Just trying to do my part," she answered brightly, turning and shielding her eyes against the sun so that she could look out over the tranquility around them. Not a soul for a long, stretching distance. There had been a time when that had made her feel lonely, cut-off, but no longer.

"Yes, and your body is paying for it," he admonished, pounding another board into place. "You are not built like me. I don't expect you to keep up, and you should not expect it, either."

He cast another glance at her. She was obscenely happy, though, and he was oddly grateful for that. Ever since they had returned home, Rin had settled into her old routine, nearly desperately, ecstatic to have her world solidly back into place once more. She had set upon cleaning the place with a manic fervor, almost as though she was washing it clean of any sign that it had ever been anything but a safe, impenetrable haven. "I set Ashitera up in my old room. I thought that would be all right, since...I am staying with you now, right...?"

"If you like," he offered with a faint smile. He would certainly enjoy it... "As for the girl," he went on, reaching past her for another tool and working to size down another split piece of timber, "you should know, Rin, that I intend to find her brothers. If she has remaining family, she belongs with them."

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her expression fall a bit, but her tone was still cheerful when she spoke, oddly echoing Zadi's words, "I know you'll do what you think is best for her."

He stopped what he was doing and glanced at her, several replies coming to mind at that, but he quelled them all except for one. "That is the point. It is not my place to decide what is best for her. She is of no relation to me. She is not even of any relation to someone I could summon a distant fondness for. And it would be awkward for her."

"Awkward? She loves you and---" Rin began to argue, but his head lifted again, very serious.

"For now, perhaps. But she will grow older, Rin, and as she does, the things she has seen will fall into place; they will make more sense. There will come a time when she understands who Ashihei was to her and that I removed him from her life. She will understand that I purposefully exterminated her family. How depraved it will appear for me to draw her into my own household, as though to make up for it. That would be untrue. I feel no guilt for what I have done. I pity her, certainly, but I owe her nothing." He slipped another slab of wood into place. "You do not understand the heart of a youkai. It tends more toward the unforgiving. One day she may wish to avenge her family, as any self-respecting youkai would, even hanyou though she is, and how disgusting it would be to complicate her need for that by forming an unneeded attachment to me."

"You really think she would seek vengeance against you someday?" Rin asked quietly, clearly horrified at the thought.

"I do not know. I have learned from my brother that one can never anticipate a hanyou. Their hearts are made differently. But it will be for her to decide."

"And if she does?"

Sesshoumaru's eyes swerved toward her, stare golden and unwavering. "I will defend myself. As I said, my actions were justified."

Rin's own eyes widened at that as something dawned on her. "I...think I understand, Sesshoumaru," she murmured. "You want to keep this separation between you two...because you are afraid that you will accept her and one day she will turn on you for what you have done."

Eyes averted back to his work, and Rin smiled ruefully. "Your heart is surprising at times, the kindness it is capable of."

"Kindness?" he muttered, glancing upward once more.

"Sometimes I don't think you hear yourself, Sesshoumaru. You are trying to preserve her right to avenge her family...without causing her the hurt of inflicting it on someone important to her. It is damaging to have feelings of hatred and and resentment and no one to turn them toward. But, you see, as thoughtful as that is, you are looking at it from a darker perspective. From my own, it seems that if she finds a place of importance in your own life, she will understand better what it was you were trying to protect."

He shook his head faintly at that, expression lightening some in amusement. "You and your accursed optimism," he muttered, shoving another board into place.



------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------




He could smell the reek of the human village further down the hill; it assulted his nose, made him consider breathing through his mouth. He could forgive them for existing, but the smell of their wretched little hovels was something he would never grow accustomed to. They let animals run rampant...dogs, chickens, cats, vermin, small, dirty children in ragged clothing. They allowed things to fall into complete disrepair, a ramshackle existence that reflected their lack of pride and work ethic. It was shameful.

But, thankfully, Sesshoumaru's business did not require him to go any nearer to the village than he already was. He ascended the hill, following an ancient, worn dirt path. The sun was beating down overhead, not bothering him overly much, but he could remember Rin complaining of how scorchingly hot it had been lately, and Ashitera's red face and ears from day upon consecutive day of play in the water were a testament to that, a sunburn that healed every night while she slept (or stalked him) only to be acquired once more the next day. Sesshoumaru was certain the child would have to be pinned down if she was ever to be kept still for more than a moment.

Perhaps what worsened the summer heat was the lack of air. There was no breeze. The treetops and overgrown grass did not stir as he swept silently past them; something that did not matter to him, save for the mild irritation that was the fact that his sense of smell worked better when there was more wind circulation. But the effect of the heat could be seen on this place. It had been several weeks since that last rainstorm that had poured down the night his home had been assaulted, but this region looked as though it had been sucked completely dry, drained of all moisture, leaving cracked earth and weed-choked vegetation that was browning beyond help. Tree leaves were scarred and crisp, everything was wilted. And he felt certain that some idiot villager would choose to start an outside fire at some point and reduce the entire area to cinders. It made Sesshoumaru doubly grateful that his home was not located especially near any human settlements.

The path under his feet wound its way to the door of a very small hut. There was an obvious attempt to keep it neat and presentable, however, the house nearly creaked from age and Sesshoumaru could smell the rot coming off of it. It had a forlorn look to it and was the same dull, drab brown as everything else. He could also sense that it was currently inhabited by a sickly human, and that made him wonder if this search was about to present him with nothing of worth.

He paused, coming to a stop at an unthreatening distance from the house. His eyes kept searching for a boy, a hanyou boy that looked like her and smelled like them. But weeks of searching manifested themselves in movement from behind the house in the form of a man that looked to be hurtling toward middle age. The man's hair hung loose to his shoulders, dark and uneven. The face was deeply tanned by the sun and was worn-looking as well, beginning to show the signs of advancing age, faint lines around the mouth and eyes. As soon as his dark gaze locked onto Sesshoumaru, he approached at a quicker pace, as though provoked by a sense of alarm. Sesshoumaru could see the wary look that swept over him as the man finished wiping his hands...hands that, though attached to a human body, were clawed and heavily furred. The right hand was missing the index and middle fingers. The hanyou then approached Sesshoumaru, greeting him with an uneasy smile.

It seems I have found you, Kyouru, though you are not what I expected...

"This is...surprising, Sesshoumaru-sama," came the voice, soft and raspy, and Sesshoumaru said nothing in return, simply eyed the man with the certainty of a mission completed. There was no denying this person's identity. The resemblance to Ashihei was there, as was that scent...just like Ashitera.

"Am I to guess that this has something to do with my father?" came the next question, and the man looked resigned, cast a careful look back at the house before turning to watch Sesshoumaru again.

"Are you Kyouru?" Sesshoumaru asked out of mere formality.

"Yes, I am," came the steady reply.

"I am not here to harm you," Sesshoumaru said grimly. "My business with Ashihei's family is finished...aside from one issue."

Not relaxing at all despite the assurance, Kyouru tensely nodded. "And what would that be, sir?"

"You have a younger half-sister. Ashitera, correct?"

"Yes," came the awkward reply, eerie purple eyes blinking in surprise at the turn in the conversation. "But she is--"

"She is with me. However, I do not feel the situation is appropriate, and so I have come to search out her family. She belongs with you."

"S-she's with you?" Kyouru stuttered out, mouth falling open in surprise. "I was certain she had been killed. The last I heard she was with our father at the island fortress. When I heard it was destroyed, I went to see for myself and...," he trailed off, eyebrows rising as he added wryly, "You're very thorough, Lord Sesshoumaru."

"I am not here to discuss my methods. I am here to ask you to take responsibility for her care."

Kyouru exhaled a heavy breath, shoulders sagging some from a soul seized by weariness. "I'm glad to hear that she is safe, and I am grateful that you've seen to her welfare. However---" and the man stopped, glancing back at the house once more. The small dwelling sat there, appearing as dead as everything else in this place.

"Yes?" Sesshoumaru finally prompted, impatient to have it settled, but he could feel that this was not going to end as he had hoped. Something felt wrong here. Beyond the obvious fact that nature herself appeared to have forsaken this place, there was something else, something he couldn't quite name, but it rang in the back of his skull even as he waited for the unsurprising answer from the hanyou's mouth.

"I don't feel that this is a good situation for her, either," Kyouru finally admitted, not making eye contact.

"And why would that be?"

Sweating heavily by this point, the sun beating down on him with a merciless vendetta, Kyouru pointed to the shade of some nearby trees, withered and dry-looking. "Do you mind if we move over there? It's terribly warm today."

Sesshoumaru fell into step with the man, eyeing him unabashedly. The hanyou was probably in his thirties or forties as far as the equivalent in human years, and Sesshoumaru wondered at that. Ashihei had only been about three hundred years old when he had died; to have a hanyou child that appeared as old as this was unusual, as they generally aged rather slowly. At nearly two hundred years old, Inuyasha still appeared to be little more than a teenaged brat, and so how had this Kyouru acquired so much of an age? His hands obviously identified him as hanyou, as did the scent. Sesshoumaru surmised that it was the quality of demon blood involved in creating the creatures, and certainly there was a vast difference between what had flowed through Inutaisho's veins in comparison to the weak, inept Ashihei.

"You age rather rapidly for a half-demon," he commented aloud as they reached treecover. Even there, out of the sun's reach, the air still remained oppressive, dry, making one's throat feel dusty simply from inhaling.

"Ah, yes," Kyouru admitted, appearing to have relaxed some now that he was certain Sesshoumaru had not, in fact, come to finish the vendetta against the north. "I have noticed. It seems I age at about half the rate of a human. I have discovered that one can never tell what they will get when it comes to hanyou, merely from observing my brothers and sisters. I am just thankful that I wasn't born seriously deformed, other than these," he added with a wry smile, raising his furred, paw-like hands. He glanced out over the sloping valley, toward the village nestled below.

"I was born sixty years ago, Sesshoumaru-sama. I am the oldest of Ashihei's children, and I have lived here for the majority of my life. I never saw him often, I knew little about him, and so I hold no resentment for his death. I do resent his treatment of my mother, however. He all but abandoned her, but he did that with each of the women, so I suppose I have no more to complain about than my siblings."

"You were saying that this place is not suitable for your sister," Sesshoumaru prompted. "Why is that?"

"My mother is very old; she is sick. She is probably going to die soon. That village...it looks peaceful, doesn't it? Calm and lazy, but they hate me. They despise us for being here. My father built my mother our original house. I suppose it was a means to make amends for my birth, but the villagers came and burned it to the ground, which is why we now live in the old stable. They pay wandering monks to slay me. They blame me for their troubles, and now there is this drought, and I am having more trouble with them." Kyouru cast a faint smile toward the demon lord. "Ashitera was fortunate to have a mother who could protect her from demons. Her powers frightened the humans around them into submission. Most hanyou do not benefit from such things."

"And why not leave this village?" Sesshoumaru questioned.

"Because I've done nothing wrong." Kyouru appeared thoughtful for a moment before adding, "And as I said, my mother is very old and ailing. I cannot move her now. Her life has been long, and difficult, and sad. The least I can do is make certain her end comes in a place that is familiar and as peaceful as I can make it." The hanyou paused, looking as though he was sifting back through old memories. "There were five different women and five children, one from each of those women."

"Ashihei liked variety, I see."

"One of my younger brothers was killed a few years ago. Exterminated. There was another little girl, younger than Ashitera. She died last winter. There are three of us left: myself, another younger brother, and then Ashi-chan. My brother could easily pass for human; he keeps his hair long to hide his ears. He serves in the daimyou's army, so he would not be suitable for her, either. And, beyond that, he's inherited our grandfather's terrible temper."

"And the other women?"

"All gone, except for my mother. She was the first and she out-lived them all, even my father. How strange for things to have turned out this way," Kyouru commented with a wry smile.

"Then I have all of the information I came for," Sesshoumaru muttered, feeling disatisfied. This had been a complete and utter waste of his time, except for the fact of informing Ashitera's family that she still lived. He was trapped, caught between Ashihei's irresponsibility, the gratifyingly thorough extermination of the child's demon kin, and his complete inability to make contact with anyone of sufficient means to care for her. How strange to have won the war only to end up defeated by this half-breed.

"Kyouru?" came an ancient, reedy voice from the doorway of the dilapidated house, and Sesshoumaru looked up to find a shriveled-looking, gray-haired woman lingering in the doorway, a tentative smile plastered across her face, looking as pleased as though her son had just brought a friend home to play. "Is that a visitor from the village? Where are your manners? Invite him inside; it's too hot to talk out here."

"It's fine, Mother, I'll be in in just a moment," Kyouru called back, before turning to explain to Sesshoumaru, eerily familiar violet eyes crinkling with amused apology. "Forgive her, she is nearly blind."

"She must be if she mistakes me for one of those filthy creatures," Sesshoumaru answered. His eyes rested on Kyouru for another moment, irritated. It was like having them all staring back at him out of that face. This warped, deformed creature that should never have been created, and now held remnants of them all. For the first time, he felt a faint regret at Elif's death. Annoying bitch she may have been, but she would have been suited for seeing to these poor, bastardized pieces of inhumanity that had been left over from her brother's indiscretions. But she had managed to escape it all, and he silently cursed her for it. Voiceless now, Sesshoumaru turned to leave, but was stopped by Kyouru's halting question.

"And Ashi-chan? What will you do with her?"

"It appears I cannot do anything with her," Sesshoumaru answered bitterly. "She will have to remain where she is."

"Then she'll be safe with you? I have heard that you have a half-demon brother that you..."

"My half-demon brother is not safe with me," Sesshoumaru admitted. "The girl will be fine."




-------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------




The entire return trip to his home, he wondered over how these sorts of things tended to happen to him. He was of the more antisocial variety, that much he understood, and yet Sesshoumaru found that he had the most irritating aptitude for simply collecting people...these creatures who latched onto him and refused to let go. Some people sought companionship their entire lives and died alone, while he, on the other hand, sought solitude for the majority of his life and ended up surrounded by a crowd. There might have been something amusing in that if he hadn't been so thoroughly annoyed at being thwarted at every turn.

That little girl...she did not belong with him. She didn't. She was nosy, prone to hyperactivity, to questioning him, to bothering him. She was annoyingly cheerful, clingy, a small shadow. She reeked of Ashihei, she looked like Elif, and with every year that passed those things would only become more true.

She also made Rin astonishingly happy. Giddy, even. It was interesting to watch those two interact. Rin could quiet the girl with a look and brighten her up with a word. It was like some unspoken language. And, it seemed, not a bond he would be breaking, as there was nowhere else to put the child. Sesshoumaru had considered it, he had racked his brain, he had thought of sending her to Inuyasha's village. They were dealing well with one hanyou...why not another? It had also occurred to him to simply show up on Zadi's doorstep, Ashitera in hand. Let that woman deal with it, if she wasn't already in the midst of handling Kanaye in more ways than he could stand to consider. You wretched witch...you were certainly intent on taking the girl, before he became your unnatural obsession.

He smelled them then, those two...they had escaped the responsibility of overseeing their territories again, apparently. His head lifted, mind repeating what it had considered earlier, about his acquiring more and more people as he went on. Was it some failing in his character? Something that made people believe, despite his best efforts to display to the contrary, that he gave anything resembling a damn about them? As his home came into sight, he first spotted Jaken and Ashitera fighting over something, their small faces pinched into identical expressions of disapproval. Rin was speaking to their guests, Aite panting lazily beside her. And, for a moment, Sesshoumaru wished desperately that every creature in that clearing would disappear, evaporate before his very eyes, except for her. That woman radiated peacefulness, tranquility, serenity, home. The rest were mere invaders, sent here to taunt his temper. They did it purposefully. They enjoyed it. And it made him dislike them all the more.

Furu and Isamu experienced a collective turn of their heads as he approached. Ashitera gave a shriek of welcome that was only matched by Jaken's, and the two of them nearly tripped each other in an effort to reach him first.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken crowed.

"You're baaaaaaack!" the little girl exclaimed with shrill, ear-splitting joy, and he frowned down into her rapturous face. She was so ridiculously pleased to see him and he could not understand why. What had he ever done to encourage this affection? He had spent months avoiding her, ignoring her, resenting her, and yet it seemed a hefty measure of her happiness was set on his presence. It was completely inexplicable, and he found that silent thought accompanied by the barest shake of his head.

"Where'd you go?" she asked curiously, jumping lightly from foot to foot, an unceasing bundle of exhausting energy, violet eyes bright and ready for an explanation. Normally he was not given to explaining to her, but as this trip had centered around her, he allowed for some details.

"I went to see your brother. Kyouru."

She stopped moving at that, mouth opening widely in surprise. "Why?"

To ask him to take you, came the internally sighed thought. "To tell him that you are staying here," he offered stiffly instead. "I thought it best that he know where you are."

She fanged a grin at that, hands folding together excitedly. "Did he say something for me?"

"That he will come see you. Not much more than that."

Appearing content at that, the girl whirled and sprinted toward the pond, and he watched as Aite hauled after her. The wolf apparently recognized the child's penchant for trouble-making as well. Sesshoumaru moved toward where Rin was standing with Isamu and Furu, frowning in consternation as he tried to decide on why exactly the two youkai were there at all. Don't they have anything else better to do? he wondered with mild irritation. Truly, those two were starting to spend so much time within his realm, he was beginning to wonder who was watching theirs.

And that was the question he posed to them first. "Why is it that you two refuse to see to your own lands? Should I be planning for a new invasion?"

"I am here to discuss the division of the north, and so this visit does pertain to my lands," Isamu answered Sesshoumaru with an indulgent calm before his eerie, pale eyes flickered toward an impassive Furu. "He's busy lusting after your cousin; that is why he keeps finding excuses to cross your border. He's waiting for her to come back."

Sesshoumaru turned to regard Furu with an expression of faint disgust, as though he had been reduced to some slobbering beast. "Which one? Though I suppose it doesn't matter, as they are both enough to relieve you of what small measure of sanity you maintain. At least the younger one has a brain inside of her head."

"You're insulting my future mate," Furu stated confidently in mocking warning.

"Is that so?" Sesshoumaru questioned dryly. "Then why don't you go repeat that to Kanaye? Isamu and I will start discussing the business of dividing the south along with the north."

"You are developing a sense of humor, aren't you?" Furu questioned proudly, as though it was a gift from him that Sesshoumaru had decided to make use of.

"I wasn't joking," Sesshoumaru replied, stone-faced. He turned and led them inside, out of the reach of the harsh sunlight, gaze resting briefly on Rin as he passed her. She would certainly be pleased by his decision concerning Ashitera, and he could admit that he did like to watch her when she was seized by some fit of happiness. That was not a feeling he tended to experience so much, and so he liked to provoke it from her when possible. But that would have to wait for later, he decided, the shadowed corridors of his home enveloping himself and his guests as he walked. For right now, his attention was focused in on the necessity that was informing Furu and Isamu that they had wasted their time in coming here at all.

He led them to the same room they had met in all those months earlier, when Inuyasha and Kanaye had been busy attempting to murder each other in his front yard, when he had been trying to decipher which side his eastern and southern counterparts rested on. Things changed swiftly indeed. He had been certain of the outcome even then, but now with the north possessed by a vacuum of absent power, it was time to settle the matter of control permanently. It tentatively rested in his hands, but he was waiting for someone of sufficient strength to gather enough nerve to challenge him. For now it was quiet, but he did not expect that to remain the standard.

Sesshoumaru placidly eyed Isamu as the elder demon gracefully seated himself, all self-assurance and dignity...and then looked toward Furu as the massive bear demon all but collapsed on the floor, excessively relaxed and informal, arms tucked under his head as he heaved a sigh and stared up at the ceiling. It was he that got to the business at hand first.

"This is going to be an awkward division," Furu bluntly began. "Situated as you two are, you've got easy access to the north. You share a border. I do not. Not that I've ever complained about that in the past, mind you."

"That is true, Furu. For you, ownership there would be in name only unless you went to the trouble of constructing a fortress. I have no problem with that. You are tiresome, but relatively easy to get along with," Isamu granted.

"Shut up, you shrimp-sucking bastard," Furu sighed dramatically.

"All of this is pointless," Sesshoumaru commented then, bringing two pairs of eyes around to rest squarely on him.

"Ah, why is that?" Furu asked, then held out his hands in a gesture of expectation. "Wait, let me guess...you've already got the divisions plotted out in ink on a ridiculously detailed map, right? God damn you and your penchant for being anal, you mutt. My section's going to be a tiny rocky segment somewhere in the far northwest, right?"

"You don't get a segment at all," Sesshoumaru announced coolly, eyes slitting in open defiance, and he watched as Furu exhaled a frustrated sigh, hand passing over his eyes as though praying for strength from somewhere beyond himself.

"Sesshoumaru...," Isamu began.

"And neither do you," Sesshoumaru quickly informed him, taking a sick pleasure in the sudden tension that seized the room. It was nice, being allowed to take out some of the frustration brought on by other areas in his life. These two made satisfying victims, certainly.

"And why is it that you have the right to make such a singular decision?" Isamu inquired politely.

"Eizan's family was not extinguished. Rule over that land will fall into the hands of one of his descendants as soon as she is of age."

The two youkai blinked at him, stunned into a moment of silence and he could almost see their minds turning with the strangeness of hearing those words from his mouth.

"You're going to hand it over to the hanyou girl?" Furu repeated in open disbelief.

"Not tomorrow, but yes."

"You've been spending too much time out in that heat, my friend," Furu said, voice ringing with the certainty of his conclusion. But then his face wrinkled with obvious thought and he appeared a bit slyer as he said, "Actually, now that I think of it, you're acting as her guardian, right? So it becomes yours for all intents and purposes. You're doing what Eizan had intended to do with Sashe. You're using that kid to keep control of it for yourself. You are a manipulative little bastard, aren't you?" he accused, sounding more congratulatory than perturbed.

Sesshoumaru's eyes slid toward Furu. "Don't pretend to know my motivations...or to predict my intentions. I have stated that it will be turned over to her, and it will be."

"Sesshoumaru...she is a half-demon. She cannot possibly do such a thing. They'll kill her before they will allow it," Isamu stated, looking unconvinced.

"She is a half-demon with strong allies in the west," Sesshoumaru offered, an evil smile faintly crossing his lips. "And the west has strong allies in other areas of Japan, if they choose to remain as such. Can she expect a reprisal from either of you?"

More silence. Isamu appeared thoughtful and Furu was leaning back on his elbows again, eyes trained toward the beams that criss-crossed the ceiling, brown eyes opening and closing in silent consideration. He was the first to speak.

"No," he finally said resolutely, though he still sounded displeased. "She won't have any trouble from me. I can hardly convince Sashe to be with me if I spend my free time targeting some hanyou, right? She doesn't seem the type to be particularly impressed by that, especially given that she's fond of the girl."

"It seems reasoning has fled your brain and settled elsewhere, Furu," Sesshoumaru sneered disdainfully before turning his attention toward Isamu. "And you?"

"I think you are being just as foolish. I think you are openly testing the demon population to see what they will do, to see what you can do over time, how far you can go. And I think I know why," Isamu murmured. "You anticipate a hanyou to follow you, either from that human woman...or in the form of your brother. You are paving the way for them, using the north as a testing ground. Your intentions are not all honorable, though, Sesshoumaru. If you are wrong in anticipating what you can handle, the severity of the backlash, what will come of it? That child will ultimately pay the price for this decision."

"My brother will never control the west," Sesshoumaru stated emphatically. "And I pay my own debts, Isamu. From what I have seen, inflexibility is destructive. It is the reason Eido was able to latch onto the west all those years ago. It is also the reason Eizan is dead, his family destroyed. One hanyou in and of herself is not destructive. That impurity can be cleansed," he answered, thinking inward to Inuyasha and that nearly human child that was to be born soon. "One way or another. It will fall into her hands. If she makes the decision to live as a youkai, then her descendants will eventually be freed of that human blood. If she chooses to live as a human, then it will all have to be taken from her at some point, but it will be taken from her by me, it will fall back to me and then we can discuss dividing it. There will be no instability. Carving it up as things stand now defies our own code. Eizan's line continues in someone who is innocent of everything he attempted to do. Hanyou or not, I will not snatch an inheritance from a child. Will you?"

Isamu remained silent for several long moments before that odd, cryptic smile slid firmly back into place. "You have become your father."

Sesshoumaru blinked at that, caught off guard, but the retort that instantly came to mind died in his throat. "There are worse things to be."



--------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------




It had been difficult to accept, that decision, even if it had been his own. Just earlier that day, Sesshoumaru had still been set on placing Ashitera elsewhere, and now he found years looming ahead of him, days and nights, many of them, all in the company of this child he had somehow acquired while doing his very best to destroy everything she had come from. Now, with night pressing in on them and that girl ensconced in her own bed with the wolf for company, he found himself regarding it all with grim expectation. He was not made for this, but it had become the best solution to a problem that had shadowed him for five months. He did not like the outcome, but he was content with it. He also realized that made little sense, but it was a weight lifted from him, just to have that finality.

Rin's words rang back to him, intermixing with his own, the ones on the rooftop just weeks earlier, before he had even started the search for Ashitera's remaining family. That girl, his mind whispered, her face coming easily to mind. She would grow up in the walls of his house. He would be responsible for her. It was something he had taken upon himself the moment he had left Kyouru to resume that inadequate, miserable life, an offer rescinded, and his mind could barely fathom the unreality of it all. As much as she held him in affection now, he could feel it coming toward them, hurtling, unstoppable; that day in the future when she would truly understand the events that had brought her to him, who was responsible. He could not count on her to be reasonable, to simply accept her family's desecration, no matter how deserved it had been. In her place, it was not something that he would accept.

But until that day, he would perform his function as guardian. He would watch the north for her. He would teach her the things that had been taught to him, to ready him for his own position in the west, and then he would turn it over to her. Absently, he remembered that he had sworn to himself that he would not leave the north in the hands of one of Eizan's family, but when the dust of the final battle had settled, he had been forced to make the best decision available to him. He could not help but wonder if he would be raising his own future enemy within these walls, if one day he would look across some corpse-laden battlefield to have her staring back at him, accusing and vengeful. These circular thoughts made his head ache, and so he took advantage of Ashitera's absence from his bedroom, moving in to claim time with Rin before the unsettled child woke and began wandering once more.

He could tell that Rin was not asleep, but he said nothing, unsure if she was making the attempt. As was his habit, he went to the screen and threw it open, allowing the night air in. He hated having it closed. It made him feel trapped, cut off; he much preferred the outside, but Rin was inside, and she was enough to keep him within the walls of his home. He unclothed himself, feeling the frustrated ache in his head dissipate from the fresh air mixed with the scent he preferred more than anything in the world.

This woman...she was his weakness and he embraced it wholeheartedly. The only thing in his life that could divert his thoughts with the barest of looks; she had to do nothing except exist in the same room with him to gather his attention. He was like some stupid, foolish boy; caught, enraptured, and he didn't give a damn. She was the reward he would allow himself; one earned by destroying every principle he had ever held dear. He was having to acquire new principles.

He didn't give a damn about that, either.

Night air sweeping across skin, he closed his eyes, listening, and yes, the child was not moving about. Ah, what luck...

Silently and with the smoothest of motions, Sesshoumaru slipped in beside Rin, drawn to her, welcoming her as she instantly turned toward him, lips brushing affectionately against his cheek. Her arms stretched around him, resting across his chest, one hand draped over his shoulder. And he lay there with her for several silent minutes, smirking at his former self who would have felt that this was an unforgivable breach in propriety between a human and a demon.

Go to hell.

"Did you finally settle everything with Isamu and Furu?" she asked softly, bringing him back from internally goading himself, voice lazy with the looming arrival of sleep.

"I told them what I intend to do, yes."

"Watch the north for Ashitera?"

"Yes."

"I'm surprised there wasn't an argument..."

"They're thrilled about it," he answered wryly, thinking back to the way the meeting had ended, with Furu's face resting in his hands in utter consternation and Isamu shaking his head as though Sesshoumaru had been completely relieved of his senses.

"And her brother? What'd he say?" Rin asked, situating herself so she was pressed against his side and, not complaining at all, he draped the other arm around her, trapping her.

"His home wasn't suitable, Rin."

Her head lifted at that and he could see her eyes sparkling back at him in the darkness. "And so now...?"

Of its own accord, his hand swept into her hair, catching its softness in great handfuls, twining it around his fingers. This was the time to back out, to forge a different path, because once he gave this to her, it could not be retracted. And there was something in him that did not want to say it, to pitch them all into something he felt ill-prepared for, but he found himself speaking the words, despite all of those reservations.

"I don't take well to mothering," he said slowly, letting the strands fall through his fingers. "You excel at it. She needs it. I've made the only decision I can at this point. If you are still willing to take her on, then she is yours."

There was a gasp of surprise, accompanied by some shrill sound he recognized as unvoiced excitement and, for the first time, he felt something other than dread over the years that loomed ahead of him. To make her this happy for even a moment...is there a better feeling?

"She stays?" Rin asked, fingers folding around his arm in anticipation.

"I cannot seem to convince anyone else that she would be better off in another place," he admitted in open defeat.

And the woman in his arms suddenly sprawled across him in a full embrace, lips rewarding him on their own before her face lifted back up. They were nose-to-nose, her eyes blinking into his with innocent happiness. "Are you sure you're all right with that?"

"This is not the first time I have had to adjust my life to accomodate a child," he commented wryly. "Though, certainly, she is far more annoying than you were ever capable of being. Perhaps because she is so much younger..."

"She's an angel," Rin countered mischievously.

"But is she enough?" came the quiet question, one he had been wondering silently. He had allowed Rin the option to stay with him, true, but in that same breath he had taken from her any possibility of having a family. He wondered if this could make up for that in any way...

Rin blinked at that, mouth curving into a gentle smile. "You were enough. Always."

"She is all there can be, Rin..."

"Then I will enjoy her completely," came the certain reply, though his words did tug at something that prompted regret to surface in her voice. She loved him so fiercely, more than anything, and she wanted so much to be...

"That is precisely what I intend to do with you," came the agreeable reply, tone faintly evil. And now that it was said and could not be taken back, he quelled that other voice, the one that warned him, haunted him, against accepting the girl, against following in the footsteps that had been imprinted before him.

"You have become your father."

Indeed, Isamu, Sesshoumaru absently agreed as he turned them so that he was above her, leaning in to claim her mouth, hands brushing heatedly across exposed skin. And I may very well pay for it later, but that is later, and for now I will have this...

Rin wrapped her arms around him, clinging to him with everything in her, and the earlier regret she had experienced faded, replaced by feelings that were more arduous and prominent and intent on him. She had not lied, she thought, as she stared into the golden eyes that penetrated the darkness with a feral intensity.

He is certainly enough....




------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------




He was driving her mad.

Feeling those eyes boring into her back, Sango turned and looked over one shoulder, eyebrows raised questioningly at Inuyasha who was hovering just a few steps away, watching her with an unnerving intensity, hands folded into sleeves, silent, statue-like even. Faintly shaking her head at his strange behavior, Sango bent once more over baby Kaede, mouth turning up into a smile as the infant cooed contentedly back at her. The baby grasped onto a finger and she cast another questioning look back at the lingering Inuyasha.

"What is it, Inuyasha?" she asked calmly for the second time that morning. She could swear he was waiting to ask her something. He looked poised to do so, but it was as though his mouth refused to form the words.

"Nothing, like I already said," he finally muttered back, averting his eyes.

"Ah....well, she's getting hungry."

"Then feed her."

"Not with you standing there!" Sango exclaimed, wondering if Inuyasha was finally succumbing to Miroku's more perverted influences.

"Oh, right," he mumbled, turning his back to her and heading toward the door. He walked outside into the blaring sunlight, finding Miroku settled on the top step, eyeing Kenji as the boy played with Kirara, chasing her about before flipping her onto her back and giving her stomach a good scratching.

Inuyasha's face turned toward Miroku. His friend was very content, that much was obvious, seemed to grow more so all the time. Inuyasha guessed it had something to do with Sango and the kids, and kept waiting for that same calm to seize him...but all he felt every time his eyes fell on Kagome and her ever-expanding belly was a sense of impending doom, a ticking time bomb, a calm face masking the true panic underneath. It was like Kagome was possessed by some creature, some being in there that he knew was biding its time, waiting to arrive and display him for the openly clumsy, incompetent moron he truly was capable of being.

"How do you know you're doing it right?" he grumbled, eyes following Kenji with the same intensity he had been aiming toward the boy's mother just moments earlier.

"Doing what right?" Miroku asked, glancing at him questioningly, and Inuyasha realized then that he had actually spoken aloud. In a moment of weakness, he confessed.

"How do you know what to do...with him?" Inuyasha asked, waving fingers in Kenji's direction and then angling his head toward the inside of Miroku's home. "And with her?"

"Inuyasha---"

"I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I'm all wrong for this. You've got to tell me what to do. I've got less than four months, Miroku. Four months to get my shit together before I warp that poor kid into something like...," he paused, conjuring up images...of Sesshoumaru...of Kanaye. Stellar parenting had certainly gone into those two. He remembered how horribly difficult he had always been as a child. It was just how his family was. Strong personalities, stubborn, hot-headed, prone to trouble. His head dropped into his hands as he groaned resentfully, "Miroku, you bastard...you've actually managed to turn out halfway decently. You look like you know what you're doing. Care to impart some of that?"

Miroku blinked at his friend. "Inuyasha...it's...," he had been meaning to offer comfort, but then decided to put it on a level the hanyou would better understand. "It's like a battle," he said with a confident nod, and Inuyasha's head came up at that. "You watch, you wait, you carefully choose and consider every movement you make, because the things you do horribly wrong now will cause problems later. Think things through and then act, be unwavering."

"So you're saying I completely obliterate her when she pisses me off?" Inuyasha asked with wry sarcasm.

Miroku sighed. Okay, that wasn't a good analogy. "The needs of children are very simple, but they are necessary, fundamental. There are things you have to provide. Kindness, firmness, a watchful eye, protection, empathy, humility, security---"

"What if those things aren't in you?"

"That's something you don't have to worry about," Miroku confidently replied. "Because you, having lacked so many of those things, know better than anyone exactly what you needed, what you didn't have, and you can provide them for her because I know you, and I know you desperately want to. Your intentions are sincere, my friend. The fact that you worry so much over it now tells me how consumed your heart already is with her. That is all she will need, because all of those things will come easily from those pure intentions."

"So...basically you're just telling me to sit back, and be glad she's here, and the rest will come."

"Precisely."

"What sort of crap advice is that, Miroku?" Inuyasha complained, ears flattening in frustration. 'Pure intentions'. You wouldn't know one of those if it walked up and decked you.

"All I've got," the monk offered with a shrug of his shoulders. "You can always do what I did repeatedly with Sango....admit to Kagome-sama that you have no idea what you're doing and humbly apologize for her having married such a completely inexcusable idiot."

Listening from the doorway behind them, Sango exited, the fed and content Kaede clutched in her arms. Wordlessly, she dropped down on Inuyasha's other side and, not even allowing him the chance to protest, placed the child into his arms, ignoring the squawking curse of surprise and dismay that came out of his mouth. She looked on as he extended little Kaede as though the child would detonate in his face, red-clad arms held outward, fingers splayed to prevent claw contact with delicate skin.

"Take her back," he said, hearing the faint note of desperation in his voice.

"You're doing fine," Sango brushed him off airily, turning to watch her son as he played with Kirara, the scene gathering a few of the other village children who moved to join in on the game.

And so he sat there, arms situated uncomfortably, the baby's fists waving about, feet kicking, eyes locked on his face with a gaze that was so unwavering, it was nearly eerie. But he remembered Miroku's words...like a battle, eh?...and stared back, unblinking. I accept the challenge, you little....

His attention was diverted upward when Kagome exited their house across the road and moved toward them, still looking half-asleep. She affectionately patted Kenji's head as she passed him, and Miroku scooted over on the step so that she could sit next to Inuyasha and the awkwardly-held child. Inuyasha could feel her questioning eyes on him as the shrieks of children at play echoed in the background.

"Kagome...," Inuyasha murmured, recalling Miroku's second bit of advice.

"Hmm?"

"I apologize," he sighed.

"For what?" she asked, frowning and casting a questioning look in Sango's direction as she reached out a finger for the baby to latch onto.

Inuyasha shook his head, practically moaning the words. "I don't know yet, but you just remember it for later."