A/N: Goodness, it took ages and I worry it's not as good as it should be, sorry for that..


Dawn Potion


Her head was so heavy and it seemed that the world was spinning without her even opening her eyes. She didn't know why she was feeling this way, but she felt heavy and her muscle ached. She took a deep breath, breathing always helped her clear her mind and feel better.

The smells of her room, tiger lilies in the garden outside, the green tea freshly brewed...

...And youki so strong it could choke to death lesser youkai if it wasn't concealed and restrained by will of iron.

With a gasp Kazubana sat up, her eyes snapping open as she focused at the pale figure under a wall. Then, almost at the same time, with a pained groan, the girl collapsed back on the futon, covering her eyes with the sleeve of her robe, shielding herself from the piercing, blinding sunlight. Her head hurt as if kicked by a youkai horse. She whimpered and curled into herself in a vain attempt to feel better.

"This one apologized on behalf of his most esteemed mother," the voice of the man was calm and sounded much closer than it should be, judging by the spot where he had been sitting just a moment ago. Kazubana dared to peek one eye from under her sleeve to see the daiyoukai kneeling by her futon with a cup of green tea in hand. His golden eyes held concern, even if his face seemed as stoic as a stone statue. "Drink this tea, it will soothe the pain."

"What... What did happen?" Kazubana asked, carefully sitting up and pulling her blanket close to herself before reaching both hands for the cup. To her relief she was dressed in her night robe - it wasn't the most proper attire to be in around a daiyoukai, but she guessed it couldn't be helped, he was already in her bedchamber. She was looking at him through half-lidded eyes and trying not to wince at the white of his robe, fur and hair. She had enough brain to know better than to accuse his mother of poisoning her, but she felt it wasn't far from truth. "Lady Kimiko and I talked and she gave me some juice.."

She glanced to his face to see his reaction. Then she froze because he did one thing that many deemed the most terrible - he smirked.

"The juice this one's mother gave you is called the Night Nectar."

Kazubana almost dropped her cup of tea. The name he spoke belonged to one of the strongest youkai alcoholic beverages. Her shocked face made his smirk grow.

"Some people dare to joke that while in this one's blood flows the strongest poison, making this one immune to venom and poisons, this one's mother's blood grants her the strongest head," he said. "Most of the youkai of the court are wise enough not to drink anything with her, unless they want to find themselves with a huge headache the next day. Even this one's great sire never drank with her."

Kazubana looked into her cup and carefully drank a sip. It was like a blessing to her dry tongue and throat. She winced when she realized she barely could taste the aromatic drink.

"I guess I learned this lesson the hard way," she muttered and pouted a little at her own naive silliness. Of course the court would be a potentially dangerous place and if she wanted to stay there she had to be clever and not anyone else cause her the fist and worst hangover of her life. She glanced up at the lord again through her lashes, partially expecting a scolding for her lack of thinking.

"My lord...?" she breathed out when she saw an uncharacteristic soft look in his eyes, accompanied by a little smile that had been a smirk just a minute ago.

"This one finds you wearing your hair down lovely," he said even more quietly, barely a whisper.

"Oh..." Kazu blushed and her gaze dropped down immediately. "Thank you, my lord..."

"Hm,' he hummed and stood up to leave. He was halfway towards the door when Kazu looked up.

"My lord?" she dared to call softly, not daring to raise her voice so not to make her headache return after fading under the blessing of the tea. He stopped and looked back at her. Kazu gripped her cup tighter and spoke again, stumbling over her words, but refusing to stop to think over them, afraid her courage could disappear. "May I... I mean, if it's not an inconvenience for you... Could you stay for a while longer? I'd like to talk to you a bit, if you don't mind, my lord."

Of course, she knew this request was outrageous. He, the western daiyoukai, was a mighty lord, probably having many things to do, spending time with a low girl like herself would probably be a waste of his time.

Still, he had waited for her to wake up and he wanted her to be his companion for three years, so it looked like he wanted to spend time with her... She wondered if it was because she was a wind youkai like Kagura, and that she had Kagura's fan. Was he aware she had seen some of Kagura's memories? Should she tell him?

Kazu realized a pair of bare feet stopped in front of her and glanced up to see that the man she was thinking about stood just beside her futon. She bit her bottom lip and watched him sink to a comfortable seated position, his whole body turned sideways from her as he crossed his legs and looked out of the opened shoji to the garden.

"Are you sure you're up to a conversation?" he inquired after a moment, his voice serious. Kazu hurriedly drank the rest of her tea and gave a small nod.

"I'll be fine. Thank you for the tea," she assured him. She was at the same time happy to see that he stayed, but also anxious and unsure about what she should talk to him. She put the cup beside the futon and froze when she noticed the length of white fur piled up behind the man that looked lost in thought and mesmerized by the tiger lilies swaying on the wind. The tip of the fur tail fluffed out as if it felt the closeness of her hand and without thinking she smoothed it.

A soft, but sharp inhale brought Kazu back to her senses and she snatched her hand back, looking up to see the pair of stunning yellow eyes looking straight at her.

"Forgive me!" she gasped and bowed her head. "I didn't mean to..."

The eyes blinked and turned back towards the garden. The man said nothing, but when Kazu dared to glance back at the splendor of the fur it was even more fluffed out, as if challenging her to smooth it down again. She resisted the desire to touch the white softness. It belonged to one of the most powerful daiyoukai alive it was better not to play with it.

Still, she felt a bit less anxious afterwards, relaxing a little in the presence of the lord, who remained motionless and silent.

"When I went to see Lady Kimiko yesterday," Kazu started after sitting more comfortably on her futon and making sure she looked as decent as one dressed in a plain kosode and covered by a blanket could. He didn't move a muscle, but somehow she knew he was listening. "I actually wanted to find you. I... I saw her and assumed that this huge, magnificent dog had to be you, my lord."

"This one was out of the palace," he said simply and Kazu nodded. He didn't have to explain himself to her in any way, after all he was free to do whatever he wanted.

"I wanted to ask if it could be possible for me to... To train fighting, if I stayed," Kazubana said it all almost without any spaces between words. "I mean... I never had to fight before, but I thought that if I want to travel now and see the world... Could I get a teacher to show me how to utilize the fan you gave me?"

"Does that man you will stay?" his voice was emotionless as always, but she noticed that his mokomoko's tip twitched like the tail of an aggravated cat.

"I..."

At first she wanted to say that she still wasn't sure, after all she still had time. But then she thought how easily she got herself drunk and how thoughtless of her it was to approach Lady Kimiko like she had done.

"Would it be worth it?" she asked instead of reminding him she had still a whole day. "I'm not accustomed to living in the court, I'm just a low girl with no power., no ties to noble clans, nothing special. What will you gain from having me in the palace? Won't I just cause trouble to you, my lord?"

Those were the questions she wanted him to answer the most - what was the reason for him to pick her over any other? She balled her fists under her blanket, forgetting about her aching body and head, just listening to his quiet breathing and waiting for him to speak.

"You smell like a meadow after a storm," he said after a long while. "And you are right, if you stay in the palace, you will be trained both in the matter of fighting and the ways of the court. You are young and led a different life, so it will take some adjusting, but this one thinks that you are capable of doing that. As to this one's reasons - they are of little relevance right now. Know that I mean you no harm."

Kazu was about to say something, ask another question, but just as she opened her mouth, she heard a light tap and the door of her room opened, revealing Mai. The poor servant's bright smile turned in a look of utter terror when she spotted the lord casualty sitting by the bedding containing her barely dressed mistress. With a gasp Mai bent to the floor in a deep bow..

"This one will leave you in your maid's hands," Kazu, started by the black inu, looked up to the silver one standing over her again. "He has affairs to attend to, but he will find you before sundown. This will be the end of the third day."

With that and without waiting for her reply, the lord strode out of the room to the garden, where he disappeared behind the corner of the building. Kazu didn't have to wait long for curious Mai looking up from her bow, her eyes shining with hundreds of questions. The young wind youkai just fell back on her pillow.

.

The daiyoukai of the western inu was walking on the rooftop, which was not too unlike him. It helped to move between parts of the Western Palace without being noticed, because not many youkai bothered to look up while walking down the courtyards.

He had much work to do, with his little brother's arrival today. And he wanted to make a good impression, not only because there were other lords to come and witness the oath of the new Inu no Taisho. He supposed some wanted to challenge him and see if the West was really so weak to give the title to a half-breed.

A small smirk appeared on his lips. The day was going to be fun. Where fun meant maiming or death of idiots who deemed him stupid for acknowledging his brother's powers and abilities as a fighter. And at the sundown he was going to see Kazubana again, hopefully in a better shape after drinking with his mother.

He remembered how he carried the unconscious girl to her room and took care of her. It reminded him of times when his human ward Rin had been a little girl, often falling asleep in the coils of his mokomoko. The wind youkai seemed to hold a similar fondness towards his tail, because she had clung to it t tonight. And today she had dared to stroke it, a thing not many dared to do in his lifetime and survived to tell the tale. He wondered if he could goad her into stroking it again.

"Someone looks extra fuzzy today," spoke someone in a playful voice and a moment later Lady Kimiko descended from above to stand on the rooftop near her son. "It looks like the tea with my blood helped to nurse your tiger lily to better health?"

"Hm," Sesshomaru replied, not stopping to chat with his mother. She joined him, walking with agility and grace. "This one has no use of you meddling in this one's affairs. Especially today."

"Oh, my son, you know that I have only the good of the West in mind, and your happiness. I just want to see the other son of your father before I go home."

"Hm," was all he said in reply before turning his attention to a commotion near the eastern gate of the palace. His little brother's barking could be heard all the way from there.

A/N: Does grabbing the mokomoko counts as groping? What will be Kazu's final answer? What will happen next?