Now for the deep plunge...

Silence took over the rest of the journey. I rubbed my mark. I was pretty obvious that Will was my mate. I'm pretty sure last night was a big clue. And the fact that we smelt like each other made it fairly obvious.

I spent the entire day, thinking about various things. Mainly Will, but the fact that Sesshomaru was jealous sunk into my thoughts as well. The journey went smoothly the rest of the day. No robbers, demons or the like bothered us. Guess it was Sesshomaru's aura and the cat with the sword.

Cats in this area were notorious for being highly skilled. Especially with blades. I would know, my village was not too far from the castle. It wasn't taking as long to get there as it did when I was taken to Sesshomaru's castle. Maybe I could ask to visit my parents.

"Lord Sesshomaru. May I ask of a favor?"

"What is it woman?"

"Well, my village is up ahead. I was wondering if I could visit them for a moment to let them know I am well. Please my lord," I asked, bowing to him.

"Fine. But ten minutes. Any longer and I'll go after you personally."

"Thank you my lord! Thank you!" I squealed and bowed again. "Rin-chan, you want to meet my family?"

"Oh yes. That would be wonderful!" she said with a smile.

"I have a little brother about your age," I said with a smirk. "And I think mom is gonna have another one soon." I sighed and held to Ah-Un's reigns.

"Your mother sounds like a breeder," Sesshomaru commented.

"Well, she's trying to have another girl because I didn't get her oh so special 'powers'. Honestly I don't really care about any powers because if it's the power to whine and bitch at every little thing and have a womb like a factory, I don't want them," I rolled my eyes and pressed my claws into my palms. "I do hope she has another girl. Maybe this one won't die."

Sesshomaru looked back to me, raised eyebrow and continued walking. We would reach my village first thing in the morning.

As the sun set, we set up a small camp, a couple fish lay roasting by the small fire. They were fairly large, so the four of us split two fish, Ah-Un split one amongst themselves. I hummed and rubbed mine down with an herb rub to try and keep my body in high health. Sesshomaru held his nose, face green.

"Do you have to do that?" he whined and I blinked at him with my hands covered in the oily and spicy herbs that coated my fish.

I shrugged my shoulders and licked my hands clean. "You don't have to eat the other half. I was going to split my fish with Rin-chan anyway," I said and smiled at her. "The herbs I put on it help with the complexion and helps to aid in growth among young people."

Sesshomaru was knelt over in the bushes, dry heaving. I sighed and rolled my eyes, he was so dramatic. I walked to him and held his hair from his face, rubbing his back like my mother once did to me.

"Honestly, you're too fragile," I smiled.

He growled and wiped his mouth, glaring at me. I smiled and went to tending the fish. He sat down in a nearby tree, looking to the stars. I started to hum to myself, taking the fish from the fire and cutting them in half, distributing them to everyone. I happily ate, the herbs gave the skin a lovely crunch.

"Lord Sesshomaru, you might want to eat yours before it gets cold or I eat it," I smiled and beckoned him down. He looked at me and turned his nose up in the air. I stood under the tree he was in and held it to him. He snatched it up, eating quickly. I sat where I once stood and sighed. I had finished my fish quickly and was resting against the trunk of the tree. I missed Will already. "I can't believe I'm already attached to him," I muttered to myself, rubbing my mark softly. It was going to be a long couple of months.

Rin lay in my lap, asleep by now. I held her close, leaning against the tree. I looked up to Sesshomaru. He was trying his hardest to stay awake.

"My lord, I can take the watch tonight if you want to sleep," I said and he nodded stiffly. He sat next to me, took Rin from me and I jumped to the tree. I lay on my stomach, sword under my chin. I jumped to the ground quietly and drew my sword to the dark, the fire nothing but embers now.

My ears perked up, hearing twigs snap nearby. I looked over the dark figure and tensed. We were surrounded. How did I not sense this? They came at me and I jumped up, the six of their swords clashed and I smirked. Silly demons. Did they know nothing? I was the best.

"What're you doing? Did mom send you? I swear that woman can sense me anywhere," I said with sudden glee. Four of the six were older than me, two younger.

"Quit lying. Our sister was taken by the lord of the West!" one of the younger yelled at me. I lay back on my stomach, kicking my feet in the air.

"Um... kiddo, Mr. Angelic himself is over there with the small girl. That is the Lord of the West."

"So who is he?" the eldest asked, sheathing his sword, the others following suit. "You're mate I mean."

"Oh my gosh, sister has a mate? What's his name, what's he like?"

I sighed and jumped back to my siblings. Karasu, the oldest, looked at me with piercing green eyes, eying my kimono where he knew the mark was. He flipped his pony tail back over his shoulder. Kiname, the second born was bubbling with happiness. She held my hand, her mouth spilling so many words it was hard to keep up. Havock and Furey, twins, were third and fourth born, both with fiery red hair, Furey had blue eyes, Havock green. Then Kiba, standing flabbergasted at me, finding out I was mated, stared blankly at me, blue eyes blinking. And the last one, Leo, was looking to me, not even caring that I was the first sibling to mate.

"Who's the girl? The human one?" Furey asked, eying the do demon who held the fragile human child in his arms.

"Her name's Rin. I'm her caretaker. The dragon's Ah-Un and the toad is Jaken," I said, sitting down.

"I need a name darlin'. I want every single detail about how your life changed there," Kiname insisted, pouting a little.

"William. His name is William," I said and blushed. I told them everything that had happened since I went to live in the castle, explaining until sun up. And that's when Sesshomaru awoke.

He opened his eyes and snarled, seeing all the cats around him. I started laughing at one of the pranks Havock and Furey pulled on one of the girls in the village. Everyone's eyes rested on Sesshomaru who was standing now. The only sound came from the crackling fire. All my siblings rose and bowed gracefully.

"Good morning Lord Sesshomaru. Sorry to intrude on your camp while you were sleeping," Karasu apologized elegantly. "I am Karasu, first born of the Neko family."

I watched blankly as the rest of my siblings introduced themselves to Sesshomaru.

"Damn! They taught you how to be all formal," I said and poked at the fire.

"That's because you were too busy playing with swords," Kiname humphed.

"Okay, I see what you're doing... You can have him. I don't care," I said, yawning and resting my hands behind my head.

Kiname blushed and hit me, growling. "Don't say stupid things like that."

"Um... You don't have to be so formal to me. Maybe to him," I said and stuck my thumb to him. "But not to me. You were doing good until he woke up too. I was actually bonding with you."

I rose to my feet and smiled at the sleeping Rin. I picked up the sleeping girl and carried her piggy back. Jaken was awake by now, for once not uttering a sound.

We started walking, my siblings walking at least twenty feet in front of Sesshomaru and I. Rin was so comfy, arms around my neck. Jaken tended to Ah-Un's reigns for once.

"Did your older sister not get these so called 'powers' from your mother either?" Sesshomaru asked quietly.

"No. She didn't unfortunately. She's trying to get married so mom and dad will finally get off her back. Mom's trying to have another girl so one of us will pass down the trait, but she says it hasn't happened yet," I said and rested my hand on my sword. "But personally, I think mom's just crazy. That's why I chose to go into swordsmanship rather than learn needle point. That, and my house is full of boys. It's more fun to poke around with them than sit at home being 'proper'."

Ah-Un snorted some and became rather hesitant to keep walking. I rose my eyebrows and sniffed the air. I widened my eye sand clutched my sword harder, placing Rin on the dragon's back one handed.

"Hey sis, you feel that?" Havock yelled to me. "Mom's been like this since you left," He said and continued walking.

I was petting Ah-Un, trying to calm them down before the village came to view.

"This one must be her golden child or something."

"Do you think your mother could have missed seeing these powers all along? And now that you've been gone for months she realized that one of her children had them?" Jaken suggested.

"Dunno. But this aura is that of pure rage. Must be a mood swing or something," I sighed and pulled softly on the reigns, handing them back to Jaken.

Ah-Un followed but was still rather hesitant. The village was as beautiful as ever, even though the foliage here was starting to turn various shades of yellow, red, orange, and brown. A few older women sat on their doorsteps, watching their children play, or teaching their daughters how to sow their own clothes. Children ran around, laughing and playing.

"Lady Tsukihime! You're back!" one of the older women exclaimed happily.

"Tsukihime, my lady, how is my daughter Sakura doing?" one woman asked, pleading me for news that her daughter was safe.

"Your daughter is doing great. I hear she's been doing a wonderful job at the castle," I smiled and the woman waddled back to her hut to tell her husband the news.

We passed through the entire town, people greeting me fondly. I stood outside the front doors to the lord's house. My home. I closed my eyes and walked in before my siblings, wanting to see my mother so bad. I walked through the house until I found her in the kitchen, looking out the back window where my dad played with the two year old brother of mine. I wrapped my arms around her and rested my chin on her head. I was so glad to inherit my father's height, my mother was so short.

She turned around and looked at me. A growl escaped her lips and she slapped me rather hard. I feel back, stunned, my hand slowly rising to touch the spot of blood that came from her claws.

"M-mom?"

"Don't scare me like that Tsuki!" she cried, clutching her stomach. "Don't ever scare me. Baby..." she smiled and kissed my forehead. "I missed you," tears ran down her cheeks as she said this. The tears nestled themselves into my kimono, soaking into the silk.

"Momma," I smiled and looked at the frail woman in front of me. The one I called my mother. "I missed you too Momma."

"And you have yourself a supporting mate, I take it?"

I nodded sheepishly before helping her up to her feet again.

Dad came in not too much later with baby Otoshi, my youngest brother. He blinked a couple times and smiled warmly.

"Heya."

"Tookie!" Otoshi drooled and reached out for me.

I smiled and held him in my arms, burying my face in his tummy.

"How long are you staying girlie?"

"Mutt-face says I only have ten minutes, but Rin wanted to meet everyone, so he'll probably make an exception for her," I said and tickled Otoshi, making him giggle, small fangs showing.

"You did put your respective mark on your mate, right?" Mom asked, raising her eyebrow seriously.

I blushed and shook my head. She opened her mouth to speak and I replied before she could. "He wasn't my first. And we parted before the ritual was completed. The lord wanted to leave as soon as he caught scent of my mate mark," I murmured, looking to the happy Otoshi in my lap.

"Not your- Then who was?"

"L-Lord Sesshomaru," I said and diverted my eyes from my mother. Everyone was silent, my other siblings in the room by now. Mom was bubbling with rage and I handed Otoshi over to Karasu.

"Tsuki!" she yelled. "I thought I told you-"

"Mom! I was in heat and he forced himself on me. You know what happens when I go into heat! I can't keep my head clear, I overheat and I lose my strength! He's a Taiyokai! He is so much stronger than me," I explained to the woman, fist clenched against the table.

"I taught you to do anything to protect yourself from things like that!" she yelled at me.

"That apparently didn't stop you! I heard that Karasu was just a mistake all eighteen years of my goddamn life!" I yelled back.

"Tsuki!" She yelled.

"You have no right to tell me what I did was a mistake when you made the same wrong decision I did!"

"But I loved your father!" she growled. "And you apparently don't love Sesshomaru, so our situations are totally different!"

"Fine! You're right. You always have to be fucking right about every fucking thing! I'll leave you alone to have all the fucking kids you want!" I yelled and saw the tears run down her cheeks. I stormed from the kitchen out to the zen garden in the back. I hopped to the Rock in the center and pulled out my sword.

I growled and threw my clothes from my body, tight armor covering my pale skin for once. My sheathe was discarded to the grass that lay outside the beautifully raked sand. I put my katana in front of me. Kiname jumped down in front of me, sword ready. She smiled at me, nodding.

I ran at her, eyes full of rage. Our swords met over and over. I managed a few cuts on her and pointed my sword at her neck, claiming victory. She smirked and cut me in the side. I jumped back and held my bleeding side, running at her again.

"You do know you got mom's powers, right?"

"Yes. I do," I said and our swords clashed. "Mom's just too narrowed minded to see that I'm mated to the one I love, not my first."

"Mom was just like you, you know? She only-"

"I know. I was there when you discussed it. I was outside the door. Karasu's dad was her first... blah blah blah."

"What!" she yelled and held her bleeding arm.

"Watch your opponent always."

"So you did hear that some guy named Neraku raped her some twenty one years ago and that Karasu is his son, right?" she asked and sidestepped me. I growled and caught her with my kunai, looking at her, eyes full of regret.

"You mean..."

She nodded and I fell to my knees, gripping my sword handle, kunai falling from my hand. Even she didn't know that Sesshomaru wasn't my first either. Neraku did to me what he did to my mother.

"Dammit!" I yelled and stormed inside, sword sticking up from the green turf. I stormed up to my mom and punched her square in her jaw. "If you weren't fucking pregnant for the ninth time, I'd kick you too!" I yelled, leaving for my old room. Today was turning out to be such a bipolar day. I opened my closet and grabbed my old bag, stuffing it with clothes, silk kimonos, sleeping gowns, underwear, training clothes and a few accessories. I hopped from my window to the backyard to grab my sword from the ground and my discarded sheathe and kimono.

"Love ya sis. I may not see you for a while."

I jumped to the roof and jumped, landing in front of Sesshomaru, Rin finally awake.

"Big sister?"

"Yes, Rin?"

"I like your village. It's pretty."

"Thanks."

"Why did everyone call you lady?"

"My mom inherited the town from her father, so her and my dad would be considered the lady and lord of the town."
"Oh. You're royalty like Lord Sesshomaru?"

"He has more power than I do though."
"Like stronger than you power?"

"That and he has a better political standing than my family and I."

"Wow," Rin said, eyes wide, looking up to Sesshomaru.

"Rin, why don't you ride on Ah-Un and get some of your studies done?"

"But big sister..."

"No butts. I know it's hard to write and ride, so I brought some books so you can work on your reading skills and oral skills."

"Fine..." she humphed and took the material from my hands. "Why?"

"Because it's good to be smart in this day and age. Especially at your age. You can impress the lords and ladies of other lands and badmouth people with extremely random words that only smart people know," I said rather proudly. "And besides, for some guys, being smart is a turn on." I smirked and put my hands behind my head.

I only hope I'll survive the landing.