UNMASKED

Death is not always a permanent thing.

It had been hard. Hard not only for her son who she honestly thought has a stick far up in his ass, but also for her. Her only child had to take up the responsibilities. Responsibilities that his blasted father left so he could be with his mistress. Don't get her wrong, she had been downright furious when she learned it. After all the years that they had been together, he never learned to love her as herself. Not even after she birthed him a heir. So she confronted him but he had been adamant to have that human beside him. And where would that leave her and their son? So she let him be.

"I am leaving." He said that night and she let him be because that is how much she loves him. It is but a love that would not hold him down yet allows him to achieve and get all that he wanted. Even if that doesn't include her.

"You are not returning." She stated, wanting to confirm it and hear it come from his mouth. "You plan to stay with her."

He snarled at her then. Furious at the way she spat and insulted his precious mistress. Though she said nothing that would indicate it. Red bled from his eyes but after a few seconds it was gone. It only shows how much control he has on his temper.

"You can have everything. Just leave us alone." He said with his back at her. How much it hurts her heart to see him act as if she is nothing. But she did not betray what she feels inside. No, she's stronger than that. She had to be.

"Make Sesshoumaru the Lord." She whispered turning her back at him as he had done. He could leave and not return but he would not get back what he would leave. "Make it so that your offspring from that woman would not be able to contest his right against my child. Do it and I would leave you and your other family be."

She heard him grunt his acceptance but she did not face him again. He would be able to see the crack on her mask. He would be able to see it because they weren't mates for nothing. He wasn't the best, most feared general and lord for nothing.

"Everything I leave, I would not take it back. It will be written so. I would find a way to free you." He said before he left and that is what he wanted for her but she could not be free. Not from the clutches of his court. Or the responsibilities she had to do to allow her oldest some breathing space. Because even if she and her son never got along that much, she still love him with all her heart. And she would be damned if he would die before her.

She then assisted her son from the shadows. Controlling the court and squashing every rebellious thought from them. No one had the right to tell her son what to do. Only she had what it takes to do that.

"You should find yourself a mate." She stated, no longer beating around the bush. The humans had been procreating too much and they started to poach their lands. It would not be long before they have to obliterate all of them or they would be destroyed themselves. The wars between the demons had been getting too tedious that their numbers are starting to dwindle.

As usual, her ice prick of a son deemed himself too high and ignored her. So she continued to push at his buttons knowing exactly what makes him tick. "Perhaps you are waiting for the maturity of your ward."

And there she saw his eyes bleed red like his sire once did. Why can't he have the same charm as his father? The other ladies are too power hungry or too scared of him to be considered as the next Lady of the West.

"Rin will not be brought to this conversation." He threatened while staring at her. Does he honestly think she would be scared like the servants? She's the one that breastfed him when he was still young. Besides she thinks of the human child as her first grandchild.

"Then should the hanyou Inuyasha replace you?" She asked while she scrutinized her claws. He should know the thoughts of his citizens and his council. They are getting tired of waiting for him to find a girl and it is getting hard for her to control them. There is only so much a previous Lady of the West could scheme.

"This Sesshoumaru tires of this. Inuyasha would never be tied with any responsibilities." Her son explained as if he was talking to another child. How did her only child grow up to be so insolent?

"It had been two hundred years after the death of your father." She reminded him. Two hundred years without an official Lady spelled trouble for them and the West. The council would no longer be silenced if the problem concerning the heir is not solved. And though her son views the human child as his own pup, no sane demon would accept a human as their future leader. But hey, hanyous were starting to be accepted so why not? Maybe she would get a kick out of it. Did her son set his sights on a human?

She stared at the eyes of her son and found him boldly staring back. He's such a prick with the way he raised those perfectly arched eyebrows of his. That behavior did not come from her. If he's so sure of not wanting any youkai from the court, could it be a human? A hanyou? Who were the ones closest to him aside from Rin? Who was the unlucky female associated with her son?

"Is it the hanyou's miko?" She asked and waited for that small crack on his mask. And it came, a twitch in his jaw, so miniscule that others might not have noticed but she wasn't the mate of Inutaisho for nothing. Ahhh. So she was right. The Shikon Miko had somehow captured the attention of her beloved child. Now, how could she help on getting what his son wanted?

"You did not object." Sesshoumaru stated and hummed quietly. Oh, so he's pleased with her reaction. What was there to object when the girl is the most loyal female aside from her? It also didn't hurt that the girl is possibly as strong as her son. The council would have no choice but to accept the girl especially if she's backed by her. Removing the girl's hanyou protector would be as easy as flicking a flea away from her person.

"She's the best candidate." She replied, mentally going through possible ways for her son to achieve the girl. But first, she need to assess the girl closely. "Invite her to the shiro."

If her son's surprised she didn't know because he has a stick far up in his ass. Ahh, what an entertainment it would be to watch her son flounder in courting the girl. But he might love it after all they are dog demons. Dogs love the chase. And no matter what, she would get a lot of possible blackmails. Blackmails from the impending courting of her son and the Shikon Miko named Kagome.

-0-0-0-

She had felt it before, like a steady hum of power from her deceased mate. He had promised her she would be freed but he died without doing it. Freed from what, she would never know. Freed from his courts? Freed from him? Or freed from all of it? She did not know if the dead could come back to life. She does not know whether if the power she was feeling was coming from the fangs his mate left behind. Or it was only her imagination? A trick in the mind, others might say. And though she felt his power steadily gaining strength from that day he died, she ignored it. What could a dead man do? What could she possibly do? He left, chose another woman, threw away all the years that they were together and died. And still, after all the years that passed she still hurt.

"Father is alive." Her oldest told her one morning. It was a beautiful day. No attacks on the borders. No scuffles in their town. And no assassination attempts towards her and her sons. So how could a beautiful day turn towards the worst? "He is now within the fortress on the southern border."

With a flurry of her kimono, she flew towards the beacon of power she knew that belongs to him. And there, right on the main room of the shiro laid her now living mate.

"You are alive." She said lowly though it rang in the quiet room. He looked so frail in his sleep that her heart bled for him. His youki was too low it was almost unnoticeable. There were no servants in the shiro, no other people besides him and her. She could kill him, she could hurt him but she would not. He was and still is her mate and though he has chosen another, she would not throw him away now that he needed her most.

And so that night she cared for him, tended to everything that he needs. She brought food from the Western Shiro to the southern fortress because she doesn't know how to cook. She studied medicinal practices. She did it so that no other person need to know her mate is alive. Since if all or anyone else knew that the 'dead' Inutaisho is alive, enemies would come out and kill him again. She even gave half of her youki to him so that his healing would be quicker and his own youki would stabilize. It might kill her if she faced another enemy and her youki wasn't complete but what can she do? She still loves him so.

"I never thought it would be you who would care for me." He told her one night when he first awoke. He was thinner and couldn't move a muscle but it doesn't matter to her. They were mates and it is her duty to care for him. So she never said anything, she only did what she needs to do. Sometimes, she tells him of the outside world. She tell him of how the court was, how his sons were but never of what happened to them before. It still hurt and she would be damned if he ever knew of it.

She helped him in practicing to move again, in walking, in eating, in everything. She assisted him whenever he had to remove body fluids. She did it whenever nature calls. She did it whenever he wants to take a bath. So it hurt her so much when one night he sat before her and told her he wanted to revive his human female.

"I was revived so it is possible I could also revive her." He told her. Oh how much it hurts. It hurts that even after everything that she had done and sacrificed for him she would still be not enough. But still she never told him of how she feels, of how much it pains her so to hear that from him. "I'll surely find a way to free you this time."

And so he searched across the land to find a way to revive his human wife and again she was cast aside. To be thrown away after use and she felt worthless. She was everything and nothing. She had the wealth, the power and the prestige and yet she still wasn't loved by the one person whom she was mated to. None saw her expression crack; none saw the tears that fell from her eyes and maybe no one will ever see it.

She then went back to her palace in the clouds and mourned alone. Mourning for the things that she was feeling. Because if she showed herself to her son then he would know and she couldn't allow anyone to see past her mask. She had lived for a thousand of years and none noticed it, no one noticed her real emotions and she felt old. She felt tired from everything.

How could she go to a happy place with her son and his human child and the human he is courting? She would only see them happy and she would only dampen their moods. And so she stayed alone in the clouds where no one could bother her.

It was a surprise when the power from the lands she got when she became a lady was taken from her. It was then and there she knew that her son had mated the miko. She wasn't even informed. She waited for a day, for a week, and even for a month but they never visited. It was then that she decided to come down. She visited her son and his mate.

The woman child is energetic and enigmatic to be around. She was the sun of her son and she knew she could leave her son to his mate without worry on her mind. But that time when she was happy became the time that she closed herself again. It was the time that Inutaisho returned from his trip pleading her to give some of her youki.

"Why do you ask me of this?" She questioned him, baffled on why does she need to be the one to give her youki? Why couldn't it be him? Why does she have to sacrifice again?

"The witch said my mating mark would be transferred from you to her if you did so." He told her while they were alone in the gardens. He looked so pitiful in her eyes and maybe she too looked so pitiful to others. To have everything and nothing. No one needed her anymore. She could leave and no one would notice her missing.

She knew what her mate was telling her without him voicing it aloud. She would be free from him, free from everything. But where would she be? Where would she go? She could barely keep her Sky Palace where it is but if she gives anymore youki then she might really die and fade. But then her mate knelt down prostrated before her. It was stupid. It was unheard of. And she said yes.

Three moon cycles after that, Inutaisho's ritual to bring back his lover's prepared. She did her job. She even gave some of her blood. The mating mark on her neck that was there for more than half a millennia was no longer there. However, instead of being free she felt lost. She no longer had an anchor. The others could now live without her and so she left. That night when Izayoi's revived had also been the same night that Inutaisho and she had mated. It was the same night where Sesshoumaru's conceived. But it looked to her that Inutaisho had forgotten. He never remembered.

"Take care of your family." She told the new Lady of the Western Lands. The woman, Kagome, was concerned about her and she felt wistful because she could no longer stay and be with them. She would only set herself to die if she stayed so she left to the continent and further. She was hurt, yes but she is stronger than any possible thing the fates would throw at her. She persevered. Yes she doesn't have a lot of youki stored inside her but she is still capable of hurting those who would try to harm her. The chains holding her were cut off and she was unmasked.

Not everyone that leaves, returns and not everyone that was left would chase the one that left them.

-End (for now)

A/N: Would you still accept someone who cheated and betrayed you?