Long Note (positive)! A/N: I have no idea how Sesshomaru would be sitting down at dinner. What you read here is my best guess. Also, do full blooded inuyoukai eat? And if so, what? I really don't know. But Inuyasha seems to be absolutely un-picky about most foods. He'll eat his meat mostly raw. But one must wonder if this is simply an Inuyasha trait, like his uncouth swearing and such. I'm sure Sesshomaru would probably look down on his brother's choices of food…so what does that leave him? I really don't know but I'm going to write assuming that he would eat like a human of nobility, expecting the highest quality out of it or something. As for his table conversing, I doubted that food would make him much livelier. Yet as I wrote it I felt nervous about it, like "OMG I accidentally slipped into writing Inuyasha's character." But in rereading it I think it's ok, and if I have it right it only illustrates the quiet similarity between the brothers.

To briar: I totally understand and I take no offence. No I will never pair Rin or Inuyasha or anything like that, and I hate Inuyasha/Kikyo fics too. This one is ambiguous. It can swing either way, Rin/Sess or Ginrei/Sess. Sesshomaru will connect with Ginrei because of guilt and for the fact that she is a full blooded demon like him. But he has known Rin longer, in his heart, even if she were to hate him, and if he were to be angry with her, I believe he would still be technically faithful (stubbornly locking himself away and just seeing no one yet too proud to seek her out himself).

Of course he has to be "unfaithful" (he's not really married to Rin so it is not truly cheating…) simply to produce an heir, so you must realize that there will be a physical thing at least between Sess/Ginrei. This is a story in my mind of dark passion, the forced choices we have to make in life sometimes. I will try to keep it balanced, but as a character I like Ginrei, I may develop her into something different as time goes on (semi-villainess perhaps?) but for now it is my hope that you will all begrudgingly come to like her as well so that you would not mind that she must share Sesshy at least for a time.

Short answer briar (If such a thing is possible from me…) this will be a fic about both, more Ginrei in the beginning but assuredly Rin in particular will never truly be turned out on the street (though I might just drag all of my readers through fire and all seven-ish layers of hell and all of the characters may feel just as terrible as you do for quite a while) but, as those who have read my other stories will vouch, I leave you usually with a happy ending. In the end I ask you briar and others, to hang tight and give me a chance…and as always I am willing to listen, even eager. You're opinions matter that they help me as a writer to learn and to grow. Thank you and I hope I can earn you and others who worry about the same issue, as readers. Love to have you for the ride.

Disclaimer: No I'm afraid none of them are mine.


Naishougoto: Palace on the Lake

If Sesshomaru knew about this he would probably have me killed. Tsukiyume thought to herself as she whirled away from Rin, twirling her pole in a defensive arc. Both the woman and the hanyou girl wore face masks to protect themselves. They dressed in plain white robes for the sparring match, hair tied back tightly at the napes of their necks.

"You can do better than that!" Rin yelled, lunging at the hanyou, her pole lifted and set at the fighting level.

Tsuki twisted, parrying Rin's thrust with more strength than she intended. The human was pushed away with so much force that she stumbled backward, nearly tripping. Tsukiyume immediately rushed at her, shouting, "Rin! Rin are you okay? Lady Rin?"

But Rin was fine and as she corrected her balance she struck out, catching Tsukiyume in the stomach with a blow that might've made a human fall to his knees and retch. Yet to the hanyou girl the blow wasn't nearly as powerful, she groaned but remained on her feet, pinning away.

When she was far enough away to be safe she scowled at her sparring companion. "You cheat!"

Rin didn't answer. She had stopped and pulled her face mask off. She shook out her long black hair and bent over, panting. Tsukiyume paused, cautious. Rin tended to fight hard, so hard that she wore herself out. She'd been trained since she was nothing more than a child, by Sesshomaru himself. The girl didn't know the meaning of the word "quit."

"Are you okay?"

Slowly, the dark-haired head shook. Her hair slipped past her shoulders and surrounded her face in a huge black curtain, blocking Tsukiyume's view. Rin answered from somewhere within it. "It's…" she slapped one palm over her lower abdomen, which was still slightly rounded with her last failed pregnancy.

Tsukiyume could still smell the lingering stress hormones, as well as the heavy remnants of pregnancy scents. She dropped her own fighting pole and tore off her face mask, tossing it to the ground. "We shouldn't have been doing this. Let's go have a bath, Rin." She smiled at the human girl, thought she knew that Rin couldn't see her.

Since coming into Sesshomaru's household Tsukiyume had grown quite a bit, in several ways. Physically she was now taller than Rin by nearly six inches. She had also been educated, growing intellectually by leaps and bounds. Her intelligence had surprised her tutors, and they had openly admitted that. Apparently hanyou were expected to be deficient somehow. Tsukiyume thought that was a misconception they had fostered because of Inuyasha. She knew that hanyou not to be dumb at all, but rather just blustering with emotion. He hid his intelligence because it wasn't important to him for survival. A long time ago Tsuki would have said that Sesshomaru was cold and stoic and nothing like his hanyou brother except for appearances. But now she knew Sesshomaru was far from cold. He would bluster too, if he hadn't been educated and raised carefully. Even so, she thought she could see Inuyasha's curses, his blustering, just beneath Sesshomaru's surface.

Sesshomaru valued the arts and education of the higher classes, embracing them and nurturing them. He had had Rin educated when she was a child, and now he was doing the same for Tsukiyume. The lessons had made her braver, increased her courage. She was still at times the shy, timid hanyou girl that Taikokajin had sheltered in the Middle Lands, and she would always be more bookish than anything else—but not around Rin.

Rin dropped her pole. It clattered over the wooden practice floor loudly, making Tsukiyume cringe and flatten her ears. "Rin?"

When the human girl sat upright Tsukiyume both smelled and saw her tears, though Rin was already wiping them away. "I'm sorry." She tried to smile faintly, "It's just…"

Tsukiyume closed the gap between them, ducking slightly to be more on level with the human. "It's okay." She awkwardly tried to comfort Rin but it felt wrong to her. Rin was usually not the weak one between them. Rin had spent many months trying to get Tsukiyume to speak more than just a few sentences to her in a day. And now that she had succeeded in that she was falling apart.

Normally during Rin's mourning period after a miscarriage—and Tsukiyume had seen one other—the girl was kept away from Tsukiyume, as if letting them spend time together would weaken Rin further. But currently Sesshomaru was not home, and Rin was bursting with loneliness and longing for freedom. Yet physically as well as emotionally she was not recovered.

"Don't cry…"

Rin straightened, blinking her tears back viciously. "I'm not. It was—the pain."

Tsukiyume's ears flattened. She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again, which made Rin smile, thinking of a fish when it's been pulled out of water. But then she looked at Tsuki's ears, the white dog ears flicking on top of her head, and the pain tugged on her heart again, wrenching it like a fist. She lowered her head, letting her black hair fall before her eyes again, obscuring her face.

"Did…" she swallowed nervously, refusing to let Tsukiyume see her crying, though she knew that the hanyou could certainly smell it just like Sesshomaru, "Did your mother ever speak of how it was when you were…" the words faded and died, unable to be fully expressed.

Tsukiyume already knew what Rin was trying to ask, yet at the mention of her mother she sighed, ears drooping a little. Months ago she had lost her mother, and despite the passage of time the pain was still fresh. "My mother never told me anything about her pregnancy."

Through where she held onto Rin's shoulders, Tsukiyume could feel the other girl beginning to tremble. "I don't understand. What's wrong with me? I know it can be done…" she lifted her eyes finally, letting Tsukiyume see the deep, almost blackish pools of tears shimmering there. She realized with a slow dawning sympathy that seeing Tsukiyume everyday had to be a bitter reminder of all the babies she'd lost.

"There's nothing wrong with you." Tsuki punctuated each word with a tiny shake from her hands. "Don't worry about it Rin, ok? I'm sure Lord Sesshomaru will find a way. You never know, maybe that's what he's out there doing right now."


In fact that was not what Sesshomaru was doing at that instant. Instead he was entering the grounds around a small palace in the southern Isei province, one that had not been burned in the civil war but had remained intact, merely evicted of its owners some months previous. Carpenters and architects were still working on the palace, trying to remove the bloodstains and redesign the grounds to a style more fitting for the Western Lands.

The humans hadn't expected his arrival of course. They met him at the gate, bowing and muttering apologies. He ignored them and marched onto the grounds, through the snowy gardens. It was in disrepair, trees burned, upturned, the small river flowing nearby stank to his fine nose. Someone had allowed something to rot in it in the time that had passed between the army's rampage through the area and now when the civil war was at last finished.

The palace had been built on platforms out on the surface of a small lake. A mist hung over the edges of the place, shrouding it. I should call it secret, he thought, the name was fitting with the mist, with the unconscious girl—his new wife—in his arms. Naishougoto.

He thought fleetingly of Rin's dark, tear-filled eyes, and forced the thought away, pressing on. The humans followed him, gawking silently at the inuyoukai girl in his arms.

Sesshomaru crossed the narrow bridge to the palace, letting his mouth twist with disgust at the smell that rose faintly from the murky water. The palace was small, little more than a resort. It had been blessed and purified since the army had passed through; killing the previous inhabitants, but Sesshomaru was almost certain he could still smell blood and death within the place.

He carted the girl—his wife, he reminded himself—up to the second floor. There were several small bedrooms and a balcony open to the view of the gardens and the misty lake. Sesshomaru found the most appealing of the bedrooms and laid the girl over the futon there, gently.

One of the humans trotted up to the door behind him, falling to his knees on the floor loudly, clumsily, making Sesshomaru think of a cow trying to climb up a slippery slope. He turned slowly to face the man with disgust. "Speak, human."

The man sat up. His head was very round and shaped like an egg. "My lord the palace is not ready—this lowly being begs your forgiveness—but it is not ready to house guests…"

"Whether it is ready or not," Sesshomaru answered, coolly, "We will be staying here. I will be leaving tomorrow morning. My wife—" the words felt disgusting on his tongue, a lie, a terrible deception. Again he thought of Rin's eyes, her tears, the scent of their dead daughters as they had slipped from her womb time and time again "—will be staying here alone after that time."

The little egg-headed man nodded, his mouth open and gaping, "Yes sir. Yes my lord…"

He started to turn and leave, and looked as though he would slide the door shut behind him as well, but Sesshomaru cleared his throat quietly, signaling that he had not yet dismissed him. The egghead dropped again into a bow and waited.

"You must find some women—maids. For my wife." Again the words slowed his speech, and he hesitated, losing his train of thought. The egghead looked upwards at him, curious at the pause. Sesshomaru finished quickly with mounting irritation for the exchange. "After I have gone some inuyoukai will appear here. They will be guards I have sent to protect my—her." Somehow that felt a little less treacherous to him.

The egghead nodded and slipped out, shutting the door behind him and continually muttering apologies.

Alone, Sesshomaru glanced back at the inuyoukai girl on the futon, still wrapped up in the kimono she'd been married in, and that she'd spilled sake on. He snarled in silent disgust, allowing the full expression to cross his face now that he was as good as alone.

He rose to his feet and walked to the door, sliding it wide open and then stepping into the hallway. Slowly, almost ceremoniously, Sesshomaru opened every one of the bedroom doors, leaving them wide open so that the air from the balcony washed into the palace. It stank a little like the lake, but it took away the sour smell in the rooms, the faint lingering stench of death. He didn't want to remind the girl of her loss. The way she had shaken, the way she had cowered and cried and passed out—pitiful.

He tried to hate her for her weakness—because that absolved him of guilt. She should be dead like the rest of her family. But she wasn't, his wish for a wife to provide his heirs, that selfish desire had kept the girl alive, had made her suffer in effect, for him. In a roundabout way, he owed her.

Frustrated, Sesshomaru settled onto the balcony, ignoring the chill, and stared out onto the stillness of the shrouded lake. Even the faint smell didn't bother him as he struggled to empty his mind, searching for something else to occupy himself with aside from his mate or his wife…

Wife. It was even foreign in his thoughts.

He watched the humans scurrying about, repairing the palace even as he took shelter in it…with my wife…


Ginrei woke with a jolt, wide awake, blinking in the semi-darkness. There was a gentle breeze brushing past her cheeks, whispering over her ears. Her hands squished into a mattress. She looked down at herself and found the heavy, lavish kimono still on her…and then she remembered the wedding.

Tears threatened again and once and she reached her hands up to cover her face, sniffling. When they came away again she saw touches of color and remembered the maids painting her face. She sneered and rubbed angrily at her face, making tiny sounds of frustration in the back of her throat. A listener would have found them to be almost babyish, whimpering cries, but Ginrei didn't pause to give them any consideration.

This is my wedding night. The thought smacked her, seeming to smash straight into her stomach. She touched her body through the fabric of the kimono, suddenly stricken with fear. Nothing hurt, nothing had happened while she slept…but still she trembled thinking about the monk, of the medicinal tea that had been drugged to keep away her true form.

She thought of that again briefly and then dismissed it. Whoever her husband was he had not harmed her while she slept, perhaps he would never touch her. Perhaps he was interested more in men. Maybe he was lonely—she remembered dimly that the talk of Sesshomaru was that he was removed from the clan, he hated it. Of course that would mean he would not receive a mate from the clan. He would have to acquire one some other way…

And then she understood, at last, why things had happened the way they had. Why Sesshomaru had used the war as he had to gain a wife. She felt the bitterness again that Fate had chosen her, but she was grateful that she at least understood why it had happened the way it had.

The kimono stank like the sake she had clumsily spilled on it. Ginrei pulled herself upright slowly and began to look around. She was inside a small room, the door was wide open. It was dimly lit and a breeze traveled through it from the hall. The room across from her own was also wide open. The entire place was strikingly bare—if she concentrated she thought she could almost smell blood, death—but then she caught the stink of a lake and scowled. A lake? Are we on water?

She stepped hesitantly out into the hallway. The floor boards were cold; her toes cringed from touching them. Why hadn't her husband remembered to bring socks with the kimono? As her step landed on a squeaky board in front of one room, Ginrei stopped, aware then that Sesshomaru was nearby. She could smell him on the breeze passing through the bedrooms, but could not see him.

He spoke then, seemingly from inside one of the rooms ahead of her and to her left. "You're awake."

She stayed perfectly still, staring at the open entrance to that room and straining her ears, listening for his movement. Part of her debated running, the rest of her was still lagging behind, confused, almost sleepy…

"They told me you can speak." His voice was lighter than she remembered on their first meeting—if it could be called a meeting. Despite herself part of her was curious. He was said to be a powerful lord, mysterious. He governed the Western Lands into prosperity and peace. Heaven smiled on him. Could he be such a monster? Words never came to her to answer him, so she remained silent.

A squeak on the floorboards told her he was coming. She stiffened, watching the doorway. When he appeared he was taller than she remembered as well. Ginrei fell to the floor, bowing on instinct. It was good to hide her face; she wasn't sure what her expression revealed. It would be better for him to see her as delicate and obeying, a good wife. Perhaps then she would earn enough respect that he would not abuse her in some way.

"You are Seiyo's daughter." Sesshomaru spoke to her, his voice quiet, gentle, as if he spoke to a child. It calmed Ginrei to hear it and she nodded where she was on the floor, biting her lips and fighting the tears that yet again pushed against the backs of her eyeballs. Father is almost certainly dead now too…

"What is your name?" he asked above her.

Ginrei's eyes were wide as she stared at the floor, reacting to Sesshomaru's question though he would never see it. She opened her mouth to speak and made a squeaking noise. Horrified she shut it again. It had been so long since she had used her voice; it was hoarse and raspy, barely recognizable as a voice at all.

"What did you say?" he asked. The floorboards creaked as he took a step closer.

Ginrei cringed and tried to clear her throat. "Ginrei." She croaked.

Sesshomaru repeated it after her, slowly, gently. "Ginrei." There was a pause throughout which Ginrei remained absolutely motionless except for her hesitant, nervous breathing. At long last he said, "Ginrei, sit up."

She obeyed, but she didn't lift her eyes to him. His gaze roving over her was nearly as heavy as her kimono. She felt heat rise to her face, though she hated it and found herself frowning, though she tried hurriedly to banish the expression.

Finally he spoke, "I have spared you from execution through marriage, Ginrei. I will provide for you. This palace is yours now." there was a short pause and then he added something else in a sterner, deeper voice. "If you try to escape I will have you executed. You are my wife." He paused again and when Ginrei risked a glance at him she saw that his face was emotionless but his eyes were troubled.

She bowed again, eager to hide her face from him. She tried to speak, "Yes, Lord Sesshomaru," but the words were so raspy they hardly sounded like a language at all.

"I am hiring maids to attend you, as well." he remarked, sounding a little lost, a tad uncertain. "Understand that as my wife I expect you to provide my heirs. After you have given me a son I will release you. You will be free."

She flinched at those words, pressing herself closer to the floor. As was expected of her as an unmated, unwed inuyoukai female, Ginrei was a virgin. The thought of consummating her marriage to Sesshomaru—who had acquired her rather than had a marriage arranged with a nice betrothal period and all the ceremony attached—frightened her and filled her with revulsion. The idea of birthing his pups also seemed unreal to her. To be used as a tool for her reproductive value made her feel ill. It would be nothing but an honor if Sesshomaru had asked her in the traditional way, through her father and her uncle and her family. Now she could not imagine it—but she knew she would have no choice.

"Do you understand?" he asked, his tone still deeper and dark.

She peeked cautiously at his feet. "Yes, my lord." She trembled, wondering when he would expect those heirs, whether he would lunge at her and expect the marriage to be consummated now….

For a moment her heart raced, a thrill of wild fear and panic tore through her—Sesshomaru took a step forward. But then he stopped and turned his back on her. "I am leaving tomorrow, Ginrei. Go to sleep. I will be gone when you wake again."

His feet walked away, vanishing into one of the other rooms. The floorboards creaked underneath his weight and then they fell silent as he ceased all movement. Ginrei stared along the floor, unable to move, barely able to think. Gradually her body began to relax as the tension and fear left her body behind.

The day would come when he would not walk away, but for now he had revealed himself as a gentle, perhaps even caring being. Ginrei blinked with surprise as she began to feel the first stirrings of something like acceptance or relief open within her. If this was to be her life than so be it, it was not too terrible of a curse.

Her children would be the heirs to the Western Lands. No marriage arranged by Nishiyori or her father could have done that.


When Sesshomaru arrived back at his castle in the Western Lands he called a brief audience with a few of the inuyoukai he knew. They rose form families that were often buried by the clan, inbred, weak, or sometimes power hungry. Sesshomaru called on the messengers he had come to trust most. In years past they had offered their aid in spying on Inuyasha's whereabouts and goings on. They had also kept an eye on what was happening within the inuyoukai clan, keeping Sesshomaru in the loop without actually forcing him to associate the clan itself.

It was these demons he sent to watch over Ginrei in the palace in the Isei province. Three of them. Two would always act as guards. The third would report in to Sesshomaru once every other week, telling him how she was recovering and if she should ask for him—a possibility that Sesshomaru very much doubted. Ginrei was shell-shocked, that much was clear. But she was also young, she would bounce back. He partially lamented not being able to spend time with her, but Rin was on his mind and Ginrei was nothing to him—and he didn't want her to become anything but nothing.

When the guards had departed, Sesshomaru left the audience room to dine with Rin and Tsukiyume, as he had been doing for months now, since the hanyou girl had come to be his pupil. Shimofuri's expectation that his sister would be returned still annoyed Sesshomaru. He had taken her partially as a hostage, yes, but also because he had seen Rin's fondness for the hanyou girl when they had seen her. In a way Tsukiyume was not a hostage at all, but a pet for Rin, in Sesshomaru's mind.

She was also an experiment. Sesshomaru hoped that she would reveal the true nature of hanyou kind to him. Were all hanyous secretly very powerful creatures? Every day he awoke with the stump of his left arm as a stern reminder never to take any opponent too lightly. He had underestimated Inuyasha's ferocity and power. Even brandishing Tetsusaiga with no experience and no knowledge of how the sword worked, he had still managed to cleave Sesshomaru's arm off.

Thus far Tsukiyume was nothing truly out of the ordinary, though according to Rin the girl had changed remarkably over the months she had stayed within the castle. She was far less timid, even Sesshomaru could see that. But her fighting instructors reported only average ability, though her academic tutors were continually impressed with her intelligence.

Sesshomaru had to wonder if his brother would score well in a specific training, under an instructor. Probably not. Inuyasha would likely lose his temper and kill the trainer. So perhaps judging the two hanyous and their strengths based on the fighting classes was a bad idea.

He emptied his thoughts as he entered the dining room. Rin and Tsukiyume were there already with pleasant expressions on their faces. It was the first time he had seen Rin in three days…the first time I've seen her since I've been married. He felt his body stiffening at the thought and tried to banish it, aware that as he took his seat next to Rin at the head of the table, she could sense it. Years of dealing with him had made her very sensitive to his moods. She almost made a hobby out of watching him, looking to detect his hidden feelings.

Tsukiyume was beginning to catch onto that hobby as well, he realized. The hanyou girls orange eyes followed him carefully. He saw her nostrils flare and felt a stab of alarm. Is it possible that a hanyou's nose would be sharp enough to smell Ginrei on me? He had neglected to bathe since the marriage. It was entirely possible that the inuyoukai girl would have left a scent on him.

Nonchalantly he began to eat, offering neither of them even a greeting—though his eyes did flick to Rin, taking her in. She was aware of his gaze and began blushing. It was a well-established tradition between them that she would welcome him home later…personally.

Tsukiyume noted the undercurrent and made a face of disgust, but when Rin glared at her across the table the hanyou began forcing food more readily into her mouth, totally absorbed with eating.

"Sesshomaru-sama." Rin greeted him, smiling warmly. Sesshomaru glanced at her once and then looked swiftly away, focusing on the food in front of him. Fish. It made him think of the stinky lake that he had been forced to smell all night. And thinking of the palace made him remember Ginrei…

He picked up the chopsticks and investigated the food, in spite of the fact that he didn't feel the least bit hungry.

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Tsukiyume asked, and he paused, staring down at his food. He couldn't lift his eyes to look at her. The memory of her nostrils flaring was still fresh in his mind. What if she asked him about it? He decided to ignore her and push more food into his mouth slowly.

After a moment when he hadn't answered her Tsukiyume posed her question anyway. "Lord Sesshomaru, have you seen Shishi-sama? Has he won the war in the Middle Lands?"

That was a question he could answer! He lifted his eyes confidently now and faced her. "The civil war in the Middle Lands is over. Shimofuri and your uncle were the victors."

Tsukiyume ducked her head, bowing politely, "Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru. May I ask, was my brother healthy?"

"He was fine." Sesshomaru answered blandly.

The next words spilled out of the hanyou girl rapidly, "Does that mean I can go home now?" and then her eyes flew to Rin apologetically. "I-I mean…"

"You're staying here." Sesshomaru answered at once.

Her ears flattened, her face fell. "I want to see my brother…"

"He may visit you any time he wishes." Sesshomaru reiterated, allowing a hint of irritation in his tone. How many times did he have to tell her and her brother this?

Rin spoke now, unable to hide her sadness. "Aren't you happy here, Tsuki? Your lessons, I've heard you're doing wonderfully!"

Tsukiyume's ears were still lying flat. "Lady Rin," she spoke formally, "I am a hostage…"

Sesshomaru and Rin spoke then as one, "You are not a hostage." Rin blinked with surprise and covered her mouth to hide her quiet grin. "My apologies Sesshomaru-sama."

Sesshomaru ignored her, though the outburst amused him too. He didn't want to talk about Tsukiyume's staying or leaving, he only wanted to settle it and let the hanyou know she had no choice, she was staying in the castle and she'd better get accustomed to it.

Tsukiyume looked between them, her orange eyes pained. "Perhaps I might visit shishi-sama…?"

"You may not." Sesshomaru responded, blandly again. He felt her hurt gaze on him but he ignored her and once again started to eat. The rice was dry and tasteless on his tongue.

Rin sighed, slowly. "Maybe Sesshomaru-sama should consider giving Tsukiyume her request."

He didn't even bother dignifying Rin's request with words. He threw her a glare over the rim of his cup as he drank to wash down the thick, lumpy rice. He needed to find their chef and fire him.

"Perhaps it would be entertaining if I went with Tsukiyume. I would enjoy the chance to travel for a time…" Rin was saying, quietly, gently, so as not to anger or irritate him.

He stared at her, letting her see that he was irritated, he was getting angry. Then he again tackled the food to avoid responding verbally.

"It would be safe." Tsukiyume added, cautiously, throwing Rin a quick, querying glance. "And I think it would be good for Lady Rin…" Tsukiyume's eyebrows shot up into her forehead, "Shishi-sama may know of something to help you!" she exclaimed, staring openly at Rin now, as if Sesshomaru had vanished from the room.

Rin lowered her eyes, embarrassedly. She understood that Tsukiyume was thinking about the miscarriages, and that Shimofuri had been around when their mother, the former demon leader Taikokajin, had been pregnant with Tsukiyume. If there was a secret to keeping a hanyou baby safe within her for nine months, then Rin would jump at the chance to go.

Though Sesshomaru understood some of what was happening between the two women, he pretended to take no notice at all. Instead he tossed out his final verdict. "You will both be staying here." He did not look at either of them. Another scoop from the chopsticks from the plate to his mouth, though the rice was sticky like glue, thick and tasteless on his tongue. He vowed not to just fire the chef but to kill him.

"Sesshomaru-sama," Rin spoke with a deeper, distant voice that he knew meant she was serious and swiftly becoming upset with him. "Rin would like to go." It was her childish form of speech, but it also worked to effectively distance her from the demand. But it was still a demand, she was still challenging him.

He wasn't about to play her game. There were other things at stake aside from the dim chance that Shimofuri would suddenly kidnap Rin. That was unlikely to happen and all of them knew it, the young heir would be risking far more than just insulting Sesshomaru. If he were to take Rin as a hostage and keep Tsukiyume Sesshomaru would turn his armies on the young lord and surely destroy him. But already Shimofuri owed Sesshomaru too much. He would not do anything to harm Rin and he would keep her safe—but it was not Rin's safety that truly concerned Sesshomaru at that moment.

It was what Shimofuri might tell Tsukiyume while they visited, and what Tsukiyume would surely then tell Rin…he could already hear the young lord with his young blue eyes, appearing good natured and innocent. It would be nothing of that sort, however.

Sesshomaru was aware how the deal he had struck with the younger lord had troubled him, of the curiosity hidden behind those blue eyes. Shimofuri would leap at the chance to ask Rin about it—and in doing so he would destroy the secrecy Sesshomaru had worked to keep. Perhaps that would be part of the plan, to punish Sesshomaru for the great pains that Shimofuri and Sasugainu had had to go through—giving up the Isei province, hiring the scholar, sparing one of the girls, the ceremony, the castles…

No, there was no way he could allow Tsukiyume and Rin to see Shimofuri so unrestrictedly. Even if he went with them the chances that Shimofuri would still get word to Rin through Tsukiyume…the chance was too great.

He lifted his gaze to her, narrowed and stern, unflinching. "You will both remain here."

Silence reigned at the table afterwards, and when Sesshomaru caught sight of Rin's eyes again he regretted it. Her eyes were the same deep dark pools as when she cried over their lost daughters. He slaughtered the stirrings of guilt in his gut. It is for her own good.

And that was the end of it.


A/N: And a great teaser for next time!

"Sesshomaru-sama…" she purred, gazing up at him. Her eyes were lit by the dim coals of the brazier in the one corner. She wrapped her legs around his hips and Sesshomaru noted detachedly that she wasn't even wearing socks.