Title: An Alternative History

Author: landofthekwt

Rating: PG-13

Prompt: Alternate (Inuyasha Themes#35)

Word Count: 750

Pairing: Sesshoumaru/Kagome,(married) Sesshoumaru/Kikyou (lovers) Inuyasha/ Kikyou (exes) Inuyasha-Kagome (friends)

Warning: None

Summary: Sesshoumaru approaches his mother about divorcing Kagome

A good account of the Northern and Southern Courts can be found in following /textbooks/172/Rest%20of%20the%

The families were all gathered in Yoshino for the Lunar New Year to remember their ancestors who had once ruled Japan. As always, the celebration was subdued. Officially they did not exist even though they had been coming here since for the last seven hundred years.

She had only been able to come after the death of her husband. He had been a member of a branch of the royal family. Their marriage had been the consummate political marriage between royals. Designed to further the ambitions of each branch of the union. He had never known her family's darkest secrets.

Now she could come here openly and mingle with the descendants of the Southern Court. Her people. Not the usurpers who currently occupied the Chrysanthemum Throne. The court scholars had written their tracts to justify the Northerners, but they knew better. The last true emperor had been Go-Kameyama not the ancestors of Go-Komatsu.

Her one vice was her love of genealogy. Yoshino was full of the scrolls detailing the history of the two hundred families. She had dutifully traced them all and logged them in her Blackberry so that she was able to trace the family tree of any particular family. Her hobby had led to the discovery of the Higurashi family, a seemingly innocuous upper class family. Her studies had shown that the family had strong ties to both courts

She had based her decision to push Sesshoumaru toward Kagome on the mantra that marriage was the uniting of blood to further political purpose. The Higurashi blood would combine Northern and Southern lines just as they were united in Sesshoumaru. Someday they would sit atop the throne in Yoshino just as their ancestors had. They had waited seven hundred years. What were a few more centuries?

Sesshoumaru was aware of his mother's avocation. His father would have been shocked to see him burning incense in Yoshino for a family that claimed their family's throne. People thought that he ruled the family. Actually his mother controlled every aspect of their lives with an iron fist. He had married Kagome at her behest. A divorce was only possible if she consented.

She was surprised to see him in Yoshino clad in a traditional kimono praying with the rest of the faithful. He looked out of place. His father had pushed a modern view of royalty and Sesshoumaru was nothing else but his father's son. He would not have come here if he did not need something from her.

"Greetings Sesshoumaru. I would never have expected you to come here"

"Mother. Can I not pray at the graves of my ancestors?"

" It is just surprising since you have never come here before."

"Neither did you until Father died. Yet you have come to every new Years celebration since he died."

"You seemed well informed..Yet I have a feeling that you did not come here just to pray at graves of my ancestors."

"As always you are most perceptive, Mother. I have come to ask you for permission to divorce Kagome."

The last words echoed between them like stones in a well. She had her sources so she was not surprised. His affair with Kikyou was common knowledge to everyone, but Kagome. She had chosen Kagome because she thought her the weaker of the two sisters and more controllable.

"And what would be the basis of the divorce?"

"I know that you desire the combining of blood lines to further this project that your ancestors require of you. Kagome is barren. There will no children to further the ambitions of the southern court."

"And who would take her place at your side?"

"Kikyou possesses the same blood lines as Kagome. With her we could all finally get what we want. I would marry the woman I love. You would get the grandchildren that you so desperately want."

" And what would become of Kagome?"

"She would be given a life estate in some properties, an annuity, her titles and the right to marry whomever she pleases."

"I will consider our options. You should be aware by now that no one of our standing marries for love. What if Kagome refuses to go quietly?"

The question was met by a stony silence. Sesshoumaru turned and left leaving his mother to ponder the future without Kagome. It would certainly be a mess to blot her name from the scrolls and the family registry.