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Crisp air ruffled through the treetops of surrounding woods of the Western Castle. It was a picturesque day; the sun glinted off the high turrets and played across the surface of courtyard ponds. The castle itself was a marvelous structure dating back before the lands were carved into the four cardinal kingdoms. Built by the hands of youkai and magi together, creating the marble-stone masterpiece incorporating styles collected from many sources. The halls were bustling as usual with servants scurrying to complete the day to day upkeep of the castle and grounds, the latter being a current hotspot of attention. The Lord of the castle was in and was training his young prince in the main training ground.

The exceptional day was no excuse to slack; spears rained from the castle roof, aiming straight at a small demon child nimbly dodging the blades.

"Father?"

"What is it, Sesshoumaru?" hollered Inutaishou from the sidelines. He grinned at his son who continued to successfully evade.

"I've been doing evasion drills for the past three hours, how much lo—ACK!" He swiftly bent double, then flipped back, skirting a near-hit, "how much longer am I going to have to do this?" the young taiyoukai moaned.

"As long as it takes for you to do it perfectly!" His father answered upon hearing the grumbling.

"Haah." Sesshoumaru sighed; this drill was getting quite boring… "Ow!" He cried abruptly, grimacing and slapping a hand to his cheek; a razor-sharp blade had torn into his skin making a gash from ear to chin. The weapons ceased falling and Inutaishou strode to his son, clapping his back with a painful sounding thump, sending him stumbling a few steps forward with the force.

"Good try, son! Still not perfect, but if your anything like your mother, you'll be slick as a fox demon in no time!" his playful roar pulled Sesshoumaru's lips into a smile. He smeared the blood away from the already-healed cut.

"You think so?" He grinned up at his father, gleaming eyes full of promise.

"Of course! You're getting more powerful everyday."

Sesshoumaru was an extremely young taiyoukai of twenty years old. His shining silver hair reached to about the middle of his shoulder blades and ruffled in the wind. Large golden eyes adorned his young face along with the perfect twin maroon stripes on his cheeks, with marks on his eyelids of matching color. On his forehead the regal crescent moon embellished the pale skin, signifying him as heir to the West. Lately his father had been keenly interested in training his son. Evasive drills, hand-to-hand combat, poison control, poison whip precision, transformations, and sword spars with his father where only some of the maneuvers he practiced.

Inutaishou was a remarkably known daiyoukai of about four thousand years old. His maroon stripes where jagged and unruly, the opposite of the refined markings inherited by his son. His knee length sliver hair was gathered up in a high ponytail and he wore the armor plates and fur unique to his stature. Inutaishou was a devilishly talented warrior, truly ruthless and coldblooded when it was warranted. However he also had one of the softest hearts ever possessed by a pitiless warlord; he loved his son with all his heart. And more than ever he wanted Sesshoumaru to become stronger than himself.

"So then, what's next, Otousan?" Sesshoumaru asked brightly, cleaning the rest of the smudged blood from his cheek with his sleeve. A hint of fangs glinted at the edge of his mouth as he smiled.

"Hmm…" He snapped his fingers and twelve servants jogged out of an unseen exit from the castle and set targets up far from the two of them. "Poison whip practice, I think." Inutaishou said with an air of pride.

Sesshoumaru grinned; this was his favorite aside from sword fighting. The young inu youkai held his arm out at his side, and pointed his clawed fingers together. A small sickly green colored sphere formed at the apex of his claws and rapidly elongated into a whip. He reared back and lashed forward, easily destroying the targets and dicing them up for good measure with quick flicks of his wrist. His concentration and precision were truly prodigious.

"Hm." Inutaishou looked less impressed than he was. "I suppose that will do…" He said thoughtfully with a hint of mirth. Then, faster than Sesshoumaru could blink, and without any warning, Inutaishou drew his sword and charged at his son.

Sesshoumaru let out a strangled cry of surprise and tugged at his training sword. He brought it in front of him just in time and slid one foot back to brace himself. His eyes closed tight in a grimace.

"Never lose sight of your target in battle!" Inutaishou barked, and suddenly Sesshoumaru felt the quick release of pressure on his sword. His eyes flew open but Inutaishou had vanished.

"Father? Father, where did you go?" He cried, spinning around, attempting to be ready to defend himself from all possible sides.

"Don't only rely on your sight! Use your other senses as well!" His father's booming voice came from all around him; he was not able to pinpoint his location. He closed his eyes to catch his scent.

"I told you to not to close your eyes!" Sesshoumaru's lids flew open and his father was crouched in front of him, a grin greeting him.

"Ah, father, you're confusing me!" The small demon wailed, throwing his arms over Inutaishou's head and unbalancing the daiyoukai, taking them both down to the grass. He laughed and wrestled, playful growls escalated before he allowed his son to pin him.

"What's next?" Sesshoumaru leapt off his father, taking his hand and tugging him onto his feet.

"That's it." Inutaishou said simply, ruffling his hair.

"What's it?" bewildered, the young demon eyed his father. He'd never cut short a training session before.

"That's it for training, Sessh. I have a surprise for you today," continued the daiyoukai.

"Ooh, A surprise? What is it?"

"The daughter of the Northern lord is coming down here today to build a stronger alliance between us. She could be a good mate for you when you get older…" The demon smirked at his son's immediate reaction.

"F-father! I don't want a mate!" the outburst was followed by a deep blush creeping up his cheeks and his eyes averted themselves.

"She'll be here any minute. Ah! Here she comes now." He shaded his eyes and looked towards the main gates, a grin playing about his lips. Sesshoumaru looked too, squinting into the distance. His eyes widened at the creature he saw streaking towards them.

It was a small unicorn with a silver coat and a deep gold mane tossing in the wind. It suddenly jumped in the air, a ball of violet light engulfing it before it faded and a small girl was rocketing towards the ground.

Sesshoumaru scrambled around with his arms outstretched, his mouth in the shape of a large 'o'. He caught the girl with a small "ouff", and a cascade of golden hair flashed into his face.

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A/N: Wow, it's been forever since I wrote an author's note…HELLO! My name is Cris, I'm a girl, and I'm 17 now (Whew I started my main story when I was like 13!) I had the username Youkai99Angel when I first uploaded these, so, even though it's unlikely, if anyone comes across this story that read it back then and thinks I stole it, I didn't. It's mine ^_^ and it's me. Anywho, it's nice to meet you, please drop me a review to let me know if my stories are still considered good :P, and thanks for reading!

Anyway, this story is probably my favorite out of my…trilogy I guess. There're three parts to this story...or there were…writing took a backburner to school in the middle of the sequel which remains unfinished. Anyway, They were really popular on here back when Inuyasha was on AdultSwim, but now that it's finished on there, I guess this fandom has slowed down some…I duno. But anyway, I took them off and fixed em up and I decided to re-upload em just for the heck of it, but back to this story…

Lol ok so yes, it starts out on a happy note. I believe Sesshoumaru had SOME joy in his life, but believe me, it gets very dark. Many a reviewer has told me they cried, though I don't think I'm terribly good at tear-jerkers.

So i hope you stick with me until we get to the good parts, I'm looking forward to feedback so please click that nice big review button and gimme watcha got! ^_^ Thanks for reading!

JA NE!