Chapter 7. Conquering Land and Language

February 1516

The children in the castle of the lord of the Western Lands were growing quickly. Shippo was 19, Daichi and Yuuko were 10 and would be eleven in a few months, Aki was 9, Misan was 8, and Muro was 7 soon to be 8. Things definitely were changing. Kohaku had become Kagura's mate and frequently visited with her and his "sister" Kanna. As usual, they would assist in the training of the children. Daichi, Aki, and Misan were exquisite with a sword already after only three years of practice. So were Yuuko and Muro even if they did not have the naturally enhanced senses that the demon offspring did. The two humans were and up and coming demon slayer monk and priestess. Sango and Miroku thought it best for their children to know how to physically and spiritually fight. This would be a first in history. Misan, on the other hand, had progressed fairly as a priestess herself. Her quick tendency to learn everything and her natural power proved useful. At the time, she was working on her archery, not satisfied with only knowing how to wield a sword and desiring to master any sort of weapons presented to her.

She had finished the basic purifying and went over a bit on barriers, but would get into spells in a year or so; in other words, when her mother deemed her ready. As for Misan's nine other languages, Rin had done as she promised and gotten her five more tutors that knew the collection of languages and within the three years, Misan had become fluent in all of them. It amazed many at how much she could adapt her mind to learning. No human would be capable of knowing so many languages, but Misan was definitely not a human in any way imaginable. Inuyasha was proud of his niece for her seemingly impossible accomplishment.

Speaking of Inuyasha, he had become more and more lonely over the years. Kagome's absence had left a major emptiness with him as he yearned to be with the one he was unaware of that he loved. This emptiness could slightly be filled with playing an uncle to the five children and an older brother to Shippo. But that did not stop him from being a little jealous of his brother, Sesshomaru. Who wouldn't be jealous? Sesshomaru had a beautiful mate, three kids anyone would be proud to say were theirs, a palace, a mother that wasn't dead, a kingdom that was steadily growing, and power. While on the other hand, Inuyasha did not have a mate, children, a place to call his own, his mother had died long ago, no land to lay claim to, and his power was not so much that his enemies feared the mere sight of him. But Rin reassured him, hiding something from everyone, even Sesshomaru. There always seemed to be something secretive with Rin on the topic of Kagome, as if something crucial and important happened that day that she took Kagome to the well for one last time. No one would know unless she told them, that was for sure.

Battle was brewing again, this time in the south. Sesshomaru had left to seek out Totosai and commissioned for two demon swords to be forged with two of his very own fangs. Rin would have offered one for Aki but the she was too weak a demon to have made a strong demon sword and her purification powers would have been passed to the sword, which would have effectively purified any demon attempting to use the sword. Only she or Misan would have been able to use such a sword. Well, altogether, the weapons were for Daichi and Aki because their time of age to start fighting was coming upon them and he wanted them to have the best weaponry. However, he did not have one made for Misan because he believed that she should be a lady like her mother and grandmother, and she would not fight in battles. The only fighting she would see would be in her travels as a priestess that would no doubt come, she would be able to fight some demons but never a full on army. This only peeved Misan to no end her father saw her unfit to battle.

May 1516

The fight was upon them. Daichi was set and measured for armor. It was black and the shoulder armor was ridged and spiked as Myoga had said his grandfather's, Inu no Taisho, had been. In fact, he was a spitting image of the Great Dog Demon. His long silver hair tied up into a high pony-tail that made it look like a silver whip as smooth as water and his bangs hung wildly in his face. The markings of jagged blue on his cheeks and wrists while his gold eyes mirrored his grandfather's. Strong and caring, like Inuyasha and Sesshomaru's old man had been, strong and dangerous to his enemies but caring and ever-protective to Izayoi his wife and Inuyasha's mother. The white kimono had the blue stripes across the shoulder and his upper arms were covered with more armor. The sash that would soon hold his sword was mainly red and purple. The part of his fur that was cut away from his true form as tradition for all dog demons, warrior or noble or even commoner, draped across his back and was split at the end in a double-tail, another resemblance to his grandfather. One would think him a reincarnation of the deceased lord, but really it was the traits being passed down the line and them being much alike. He would have probably been the same even if Inu no Taisho was still alive.

And so Daichi went into his first battle, side-by-side with his father. Memories of when Sesshomaru went to fight with his own father flooded his mind but were soon forgotten after their magnificent and much wanted victory. To test his son's strength, Sesshomaru left Daichi the leader of the opposing army and sure enough, Daichi proved himself to them all when he finished off the other powerful demon in a raged fight. This earned the Western Lands rule over the Southern Lands. Afterwards, Sesshomaru rewarded his son with his sword.

At that point, they were finished with reading, writing, and English for they had mastered it. Instead of that, though, it was replaced with learning about demons, traditions, demon history, and even a little human history. Mere concentrated etiquette lessons were added onto their training and history sessions. The boys and girls were separated to have one male tutor for the three boys and a female tutor for the two girls. Yet again, Misan's schedule made a drastic change. It came out to be as such:

6:00-11:00Training with Father and Inuyasha

11:00-1:00Priestess Training with Mother

1:00-2:001 hour break

2:00-4:00History with Jaken

4:00-6:00Manner lessons with Hoshiko

6:00-9:00Random (wandering, time with mother, time with brothers, training, studying, time with Muro or Yuuko, or in study with father)

In the "Random" time she had, she could do many things. She could wander around the castle, garden, woods, anywhere. On the other hand, she could always spend time in the gardens or in her or her mother's chambers with her mother. Then again, there would be the time that she spent quality time with her brothers and sparred or wrestled with them just to get out the extra pent-up energy they had failed to release in practice in the morning, or go exploring around the forest. She could also sit in hers or Muro's rooms listening to Muro talking as she was the only younger girl in the castle and young, adolescent girls need the company of other girls like themselves. Misan never found that need but would indulge Muro with her presence and comfort or assist the demon slayer in any techniques she wished to perfect as a fighter or priestess. And then there was the option of all five of them hanging around, Misan to the side and watching them like a babysitter while they got into trouble, of course. That was always fun. Or she could be in the training courtyard and be training some more or in the "lessons chambers" as they had the deemed the room that Jaken had taught them ever since they had begun their lessons and she would be going over more scrolls or probing the library. But her favorite and most common decision would be to go to her father's study who would be going over political documents and help him out or just offer her company, even if she was completely silent most of the time. Neither her nor Sesshomaru actually started or carried on conversations, they were good listeners or they would know how to get someone how to shut up with a cold glare. Everyone realized that Sesshomaru probably actually cared for Misan the most because of her consideration toward him and she looked up to him as being the best, strongest, most honorable, and, all in all, greatest demon in the world. Words were not necessary for them to have a strong father-daughter bond there. They understood each other more than anyone else could, even Rin.

October 1517

It wasn't long after Aki's 11th birthday that another battle arose and Aki joined in this time. He, like his brother before him, was fitted for the armor he would be wearing for as long as he lived. The black armor was nothing special, the usual bone decorations as these were draped over his left shoulder and they had layers, the top overlapping the bottom one. In a way, it was a mix between Sesshomaru's and Daichi's armor. His kimono had green on the collar and inside the white diamond shapes there were green leaves. His hair was tightly braided and trailing behind him as always. The bangs on his forehead threatened to cover his crescent moon mark but there seemed to be something magical about such a mark for it never allowed any hair to ever cover it on any of the dog demons' foreheads. The stripes of squiggly light purple intruded onto his face upon each cheek bone. Fiery gold eyes of courage and kindness shone. His eyes were like a Inuyasha's and Rin's put together, Inuyasha and Rin both ever brave and ready to fight and yet, kind and caring for those that deserved it. His sash that tied around his waist was orange and green. And his fur that was cut from his dog form came from his left shoulder and diagonally traveled to the right side of his waist, attaching to his sash.

The fight would not earn any territory, they knew that as much, but Aki was eager to kill some demons. He effectively wiped out a fifth of the other army by the end of it all. Sesshomaru and, for some odd reason, Inuyasha were both extremely proud of the young dog demon. Now Daichi and Aki would go around the training yard or fields to practice with their demon swords but never in sight of Misan. She could get jealous to say the least that they were allowed to battle when she was trapped inside a castle like a lady. Her brothers, Muro, Yuuko, Sango, Miroku, Kohaku, Kagura, Shippo, Inuyasha, Jaken, and everyone else knew that Misan should be in a battlefield to use her powers to the fullest extent instead of being wasted away and that decorum of her as a lady should be ignored. She was too much like her father to sit around idly. It was a waste of her time, as she would always bitterly say to herself.

But life continued on. Muro was becoming a pretty young girl. Yet that was not where people in the castle's attention was actually at. They were all beginning to speak of how beautiful of a young girl the princess was blossoming into. She was becoming more than beautiful, but enchanting beyond any other that ever lived once she actually reached a fully grown form.