Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

A Burning House

Chapter 4

"She is to my lord's liking I hope," Shin said as he bowed to Lord Sesshoumaru who had just entered his study. He had been waiting there to report since his departure from the newest edition to his lord's collection.

"Hai," replied the stoic as ever taiyoukai. "She will do."

Taking that as his dismissal, Shin left Sesshoumaru to catch up on paperwork, while he made his way back to the barracks. Being a general in Sesshoumaru's army, he had his own paperwork to catch up on. In his absence, his troops could have declined into shear madness for lack of guidance.

His office was exactly how he left it, with the addition of two very tall stacks of paper piled onto his desk. It looked as if he would be there all night. He pulled out a charcoal drawing he had commissioned nearly fifty years ago, and let his memories transport him to another time. A time when he was still only a foot soldier, in an upstarts army.

In another part of the House of the Moon, a young girl with jet black hair, had her nose tickled by the intoxicating scent of food. It was just too much for her poor deprived stomach. It growled, very loudly to her detriment, and she blushed at the unruly organ. "I'm sorry, it's just that I hadn't had a chance to eat, seeing as I was to be moving to a new residence." She blushed some more, as the little demoness simply laughed.

"No worries lady. You shall join Lord Sesshoumaru for supper shortly.

"Wow. I only just moved in, and already she was being invited to dine with him." she thought. "And here I assumed I'd only be a bed warmer." That thought made her blush an angry red, Pan a tad nervous.

"Are you alright, Lady Kagome?"

"Dandy," she replied.

"If it pleases my lady, I will prepare you for diner," Pan asked.

"Go ahead," she said. "It's not as if I have a choice in the matter."

The undertaking of preparing oneself for diner, or in Kagome's case, being prepared, was entirely more complex than she could have dreamed. First, she had to be dressed in the proper garb- she had a zillion diner kimonos from which to chose. Next she had to have her hair done in an elaborately simple design. It had to be just right for the occasion. Finally her make-up had to be done. Pan had the hardest time deciding what to use on the girl. Everything she tried just seemed overt, until finally the two women came to the conclusion than anything more than her natural radiance would be a crime and an insult.

She was finally ready for diner, after a lifetime of sitting and primping in front of a very valuable piece of equipment called a mirror. It was something humans and low born youkai didn't have the good fortune to own. She stood and walked to the door, slipped into her house slippers and exited. Awaiting her was what looked to be another unyoke like Sesshoumaru, however, his coloring was the exact opposite. His hair was dark as pitch, his were translucent and shimmered a dark silver. He had one maroon stripe on his left cheek. Kagome would later find out that his name was Naru, and he was the Lord Sesshoumaru's only living relative besides his mother.

"Hello," she said, bowing.

The demon gave her an inclination of his head and simple began to walk. She decided right then, she didn't care for him much.

The lord of the west finally finished his paperwork, he had a headache the size of his lands, and was so very tempted to stand-up his new bride for his bed in rather than sit through a painfully tense dinner. Tempted, however, he was a cardinal lord and was not one to shirk his responsibilities. If things went as planned, he would never have to search another village, and could finally divert his attentions to where they belonged, producing an heir and strengthening the west in the eyes of the other lords.

Fifty years ago, Sesshoumaru would have blanched at the thought of taking a human for a mate, but the Kamis had a different plan for him. The day his father passed was the day the Kami of Fate, Furuhecki, revealed his two-pronged destiny to him.

- FLASHBACK -

"You have two choices," the goddess said. "You may either follow in the footsteps of so many others before you and do what is expected, or," she hesitated, choosing her words. " Or you may do as you are meant and mate with the human that's shines in your minds eye"

"When will I meet this one?" He asked naturally.

Her only answer was a vague "You will know." After that the kami was gone to meddle in the lives of others, no longer concerned with the newly crowned ruler of the western portion of Japan.

- END FLASHBACK -

That was the night, he'd met Kikyo and decided to take her home, if nothing more than to teach her her proper place when it came to royalty. She quickly endeared herself to him. They were of the same nature, quiet and aloof to the surrounding chaos. However, he'd felt no desire to mate her.

And so it went, year after year, he would search out another girl from another village, be they youkai or human. What he found was nothing., not even a clue as to whom his mate was, or was to be. Now Fifty years later, when he had exhausted his patience with such a futile search, his demon was stirred by the scent of a little miko from an obscure village on the edge of his territory.

By right, he should be repulsed by her very existence. After all, her kind existed specifically to exterminate his. And yet, he was attracted to her on his most primal level. There was no doubt. She was the one he was meant to make his.

Once prepared for dinner Sesshoumaru made his way to the dining hall where Kagome would be waiting. He wanted a chance to get to know the girl, before he made his final decision. She sat, the picture of his fantasies, to the right of his seat at the head of the table. Her head was turned, studying the tapestry of his father that hung just behind his chair. Her scent giving away her awe at the beast his father had been.

"I trust you were shown to your room and here without incident," Sesshoumaru said as he entered to the room.

"Yes my lord," Kagome said, standing and bowing.

" Good," he thought, "she has manners." "Be seated," he said.

Once the pair were seated, servant poured from doors Kagome hadn't even noticed, delivering tray upon tray of appetizing selections. It was enough to make any demon's mouth water, and she was much less controlled than a demon.

Sesshoumaru took a sip from his tea indicating that she could eat, and she did, with a gusto someone across the room found hilarious. At that moment Sesshoumaru's younger brother Naru entered to room.

"My brother, you sure know how to pick them," he commented snidely. He'd come to despise the women his brother took in.

" Yes and you would do well to take care how you treat her." It was not a warning or a threat; it was a promise. He had felt nothing for the other women with whom his brother had made unsuccessful passes. However, his beast would have none of that with this one. It had already chosen and if Naru so much as thought too hard about her, he was a dead man, and he would suffer.

"Sessh," the welp said. "If that is how I am to be treated I shall dine elsewhere."

"No Naru, you shall dine with my guest and I," said the taiyoukai with steele in his voice. There was no room for arguing.

Kagome just sat and watched the interaction silently. She felt invisible and it looked to her, she was to the feuding brothers.

That is until Naru took the seat across from her and began the inquisition.