Hello, I've been absent for a little while. After my dog passed it was hard to get inspired enough to continue work on this story. Working on this chapter in particular was pretty hard simply due to how much talking there is. Its focused on answers not action this time. I hope you enjoy it regardless. Thank you. ~Catclass
Chapter 10
The buildings hidden amongst clouds may have been a sight that very few mortals got to witness, but visible emotions on the lord's porcelain skin were even rarer. The miko would take in the sight of his frowns over some floating buildings any day. A soft blush covered her cheeks as she realized how silly her thoughts were getting.
Suddenly, the grumpy demon turned to her. Sesshomaru's face returned to that even familiar stoic mask as he came closer. A heart beat skipped as his large hand slipped around her waist and he pulled her small frame against his. There was a moment of memory to the last time he had grabbed her around the waist before the demon lord shot into the sky.
This time, Kagome managed not to scream in surprise but that did not keep her from grabbing onto his stone shoulder piece for dear life. She was pretty sure he could have let go and she would still be safely attached to his armor. This trip, unlike the fall from Chouko's tower, lasted longer and thus gave her some time to adjust to the incredible speed of Inuyasha's older brother.
That's when it hit her. Kagome wasn't just in love with Sesshomaru, but she was in love with Inuyasha's half-brother. How would Inuyasha respond? Would he even notice? Would he be angry at her or be hurt in some confusing, self-centered betrayal? Inuyasha was her best friend besides Sango, so this hit her hard.
"You've brought another human here, Sesshomaru?" A condoning, feminine voice pierced through her thoughts. Kagome returned to reality and found herself standing in front of a beautiful demoness sitting upon a throne.
White, silver hair and golden eyes told of her dog demon heritage, but the single crescent moon adorning her forehead told of his. This woman, with her pigtails and white fur adorning the muted purple kimono at collar and floor had to be no one other than Sesshomaru's own mother.
Kagome bowed; her black ponytail swinging to pile at the floor before slipping back to its place behind her head. "I am the miko Kagome. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"First human children and now a miko" A beautiful fan swayed casually in pale hands, softly blowing her white bangs. A subtle pout, very similar to her son's, adorned the flawless face as gold eyes studied the human before her. "Did the little human girl cease all of your hatred for humans?"
Silence fell between them as the stubborn lord refused to answer the teasing demoness. Kagome, in the meantime, thought back to Rin's description of her meeting with her adopted grandmother. The little girl was very generous in details of how warm and kind 'Lady Mother' was to her and Sesshomaru.
"Alas, your cousins have come to bother me due to your odd game. Go meet with them for tea." The fan snapped close as the lady pointed thoughtlessly with it to a distant room. White lashes lowered in judgement as she watched her son leave the floundering human.
"Still lacking the charm of your father, I see." She spoke to no one in particular. Familiar gold eyes met blue and a moment of silence passed between them. A gentle sigh from the lady showed that she too had not wanted this awkward situation.
"My son received the sword Bakusaiga, did he not?" Bored with her location, Lady Mother spoke over her shoulder in an indirect way to beckon Kagome into following her to another room.
The miko quickly joined her before answering, "I don't know for sure, but I think he keeps it at his palace." A silver eyebrow rose.
"Why would he do this?"
"My best guess is that he wants to become stronger without the need of a strong weapon." Kagome shrugged while taking a seat across from the demoness. The soft white cushions contrasted brightly against the stone floor. It looked a little odd to see this ornate woman sit on a simple cushion and sip from her ivory tea cup.
"Perhaps, my son can be quite odd." Kagome missed these words as she looked around the room. Somehow, tea cups had appeared with warm tea already poured in them. She hadn't seen any servants or magic, it simply was there the moment her eyes glanced down.
"Are there any questions you might have, miko?"
Said miko's head shot back up as her hands blindly reached for the innocent drink. "Um, well, I might." Her focus turned inward as the thoughts and questions piled together and raged like a huge thunderstorm. What could she ask?
"Is there not a problem with a dog demon mating a bird demon? Would they produce a normal child or a dog-bird hybrid?"
The lady laughed behind her fan causing Kagome to blush at her ignorance. "The child of two demons will inherit the species of the stronger parent. Even if Sesshomaru were to mate with a cat, he would father a dog. How many half-demons do you see that have the hair and eyes of a human?" Her small head bobbed in understanding.
White-silver hair swayed to the side as the elegant lady tilted her head, "Why would you need to know this?" Her eyes were both curious and calculating as her guest stammered.
"I, um, I am helping Sesshomaru pick a mate to produce and raise a strong heir for his western lands, my lady." Kagome started regretting the topic and worried at how much Sesshomaru might have wanted to keep private. There aren't a lot of guys that want their moms to know who they plan on sleeping with.
"Does Sesshomaru feel he needs help?"
"Yes, my lady."
"That hardly makes any sense. Why would a son of mine and Inu no Taisho's breeding need help from a human?" This hit Kagome a little harder than she thought it would. A small frown appeared as she admitted, "I don't know."
"Don't you?" It was aggravating to see the coy smirk on the demoness as if she knew something big. She seemed just as cold and confusing as her son.
"Do you hold it against Sesshomaru's father for having Inuyasha with a human woman?" It just slipped out. Kagome froze in terror as her own words dawned on her. A glance at her hostess showed subtle surprise in painted eyes.
"Inu no Taisho was unlike anyone I'd met before." Lady Mother turned her head to stare off into the distance. The miko shifted to get comfortable for the impending speech. "A dog is a dog. We do not have a single life partner for eternity. My loyalty to Inu no Taisho only happened because he was my favorite and all others fell short. That human that birthed Inuyasha was not his first human relations, though the only one to produce a child. He may have been my favorite but I wasn't his."
That atmosphere was calm and soothing in the private room. The topic seemed solemn, but the demoness held her cold yet careless demeanor. Kagome continued to listen while drinking her tea.
"Sesshomaru, the odd child, grew up seeing the lack of his father's loyalty to me and thought ill of him and the humans he would fancy. For my beloved to die for the child of said human was a loss unexpected but not surprising. Inu no Taisho would not be the demon I loved if he were to have let his own child be murdered." The ornate fan softly swayed to whisper sweet caresses of air against the flawless skin.
Kagome thought on her words amongst the comfortable silence. She was content with knowing that Sesshomaru's mother held little ill will towards Inu no Taisho, Inuyasha, or Izayoi. Both ladies sipped away at their tea while waiting for the other to speak. The miko gave in, "What is it like as the Lady of the West?"
Again, the demoness laughed. "It was a challenge to be seen as more than an ornament on the Lord's shoulder. However, once I obtained their proper respect my beloved could leave his lands under my rule without worry. Negotiations and paperwork became regular tasks all while raising Sesshomaru. Inu no Taisho abhorred sitting in one place for too long, so he made a garden for us to walk through while discussing business. Have you had the pleasure of the seeing the garden in the Western Palace?"
A distant memory of Kagome taking a break from her hundreds of scrolls caused a small smile to appear. "Yes, but I thought it was there for Rin's amusement." She knew the girl loved it dearly and talked about it as often as her lord.
"Is Rin the little human that Sesshomaru needed revived?" A dark brow furrowed at that word, but it relaxed as Kagome remembered how Rin had perished twice in her short existence.
"Probably, she's the only human child that's been attached to Sesshomaru that I know of." She shrugged off the thoughts that such a precious child had ever learned what it was like to die.
The warm tea had effectively lessened the chill of high altitude flight, but as she drank away its continents, Kagome noticed something strange. After the liquid reached a certain level in the cup, if she put it down for a moment and looked away she would find it filled once again. There were no servants in the room, the lady hadn't poured it, so who had? In fact, there wasn't even a kettle.
"Well, it pleases me that somebody there is showing the garden attention." Lady Mother drew out her statement with distraction as she watched the human from behind her fan. "Is something wrong?"
Her question went ignored as blue eyes desperately looked for clues to the great mystery. "Miko" She sung out in a teasing tone. It was enough to regain Kagome's attention; the girl bowed in apology.
"Please, call me Kagome." Sesshomaru had a very hard time calling her by name, but maybe his mother would switch to it more quickly than he.
"Does my son call you by name?" Gold eyes stared, flecks of light sparkled around black slits. They watched as the human shifted, again uneasy with the topic.
"Sometimes." Kagome tried to not seem meek but the soft blush and small smile escaped with the memories. The fan stopped moving and slowly slid closed.
"In demon culture, a title is one of the most important possessions one can have. A lord works hard to be called such; otherwise, he is just another demon. Those of equal status are socially acceptable to drop such honorifics and to drop them otherwise is a sign of disrespect. You do not call him by his title, do you?" The demoness tilted her head in accusation. Kagome's eyes widened and the blush turned pale.
"No, but I do not mean any disrespect!" The black ponytail swayed as the girl violently shook her head. "Sesshomaru has always been Inuyasha's elder half-brother, so the idea that he ruled any land meant little to me." Her eyes widened again. "No! Wait, that didn't come out right. Sesshomaru is Sesshomaru because he cannot be limited to such a… basic title."
Pale cheeks were puffed up and blushing while the miko still struggled on her defense. Giggling interrupted her raging thoughts, and then they turned into chuckles. The demoness was laughing at her and so she laughed too.
"Dear child, if you call lordship a 'basic title' then you are either foolish or have the highest regard for my son." Her warm smile relaxed Kagome, but it was as subtle as one would expect from Sesshomaru's mother. "However, I would wish for that regard as well. Kagome, was it? I would have you address me as Inukimi."
Long white sleeves shielded her bright smile as Kagome bowed more deeply than before. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Inukimi."
Cold eyes sparkled with joy as a nostalgic smile rested on flawless features. A thought dawned on the miko, "Oh! Is that why Sesshomaru wouldn't call me by name?" It was Kagome's turn to tilt her head in question. "Was it out of respect?"
"Alas, I could not say." Inukimi began, "Humans are as fleeting as cherry blossoms in respect to demons such as us. It is hard to isolate a single bloom from so many identical flowers. That is not to say that this is solely a human situation, for I have found lesser demons and simple animals also fall into the void of the forgotten. By recognizing your name, Kagome, the miko, you are a blossom that may not be forgotten."
The door slid open to reveal another lady of white canine attributes. "You are too kind, my lady. There is no need to explain so much to a weed." Blue eyes turned to glare at the rude brat, but instead fell on a demoness as beautiful as the lady herself.
"I shall talk as much as I like with what few guests I receive, child." She chided to the intruder in return.
In contrast to Inukimi, she wore stark white kimonos with bright red detailing. Familiar white fur lined the neck and base of her outer robe just as Sesshomaru's mother's did. Along rosy cheeks lay matching red stripes and painted lips.
Behind her peeked out an identically dressed sister clad in light blues. Her loose hair and large eyes gave the appearance of her being the younger sibling, but she couldn't have been born that much later. The same red stripes, gold eyes, and white hair gave away their familial connection.
"Good afternoon Lady Mother! We got bored with Lord Sesshomaru and decided to see his traveling companion." The younger of the two chirped. "Hi!" She shared a joyful smile of greetings with the miko before her vision was blocked off by an open fan.
The elder sister gracefully pulled her hand fan to coyly hide her lips. "Do not lower yourself to greeting humans. You embarrass this Yuuka." What joy the shorter sibling held slipped away into a small frown; gold eyes slipped to the floor.
It was hard to not feel as if the mere expression of emotions made you appear foolish in this company. It was hard, but the miko had accepted her foolishness years ago.
Kagome turned to glance at Inukimi and found the lady with her son's bored expression. A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she realized this really was where he got his wide variety of expressions from. It was a good thing she could read them super well now.
Ok, so she couldn't read them all the time. Her form subtly deflated as his cryptic words regarding this and that hit her in waves. Did he like her or not? Kagome proudly raised her head to look back at the possible wives for the demon she loved to find them replaced by the man himself.
"Sesshomaru?" Black brows scrunched together in confusion as the girl frantically searched to see what else had changed while she got swept away in her thoughts.
Inukimi still sat perfectly upon her cushions; her metallic eyes lowered to the cup at her painted lips. The other two, Yuuka and Tamiko, had taken to cushions to her left with tea of their own. Where was this tea coming from?
Blue eyes drifted back to the demon lord who gracefully entered the room and sat to her right. "Kagome" Sesshomaru quietly grumbled, "You did not follow."
"You left me with your mother." Kagome stared back with quite the look. "You are lucky that Inukimi has been such a gracious hostess."
He blinked, speechless.
A loud gasp of diva proportion interrupted them as Yuuka stood in mock terror. "You insult Lord Sesshomaru, not once but twice, and then to insult Lady Mother as well! Are all humans so rude?"
Although all eyes were on the standing demoness, only Tamiko spoke. "Oh! Is Lady Mother named Inukimi? That's so pretty." She openly smiled to the older woman who nodded in return. Her elder sister frowned at her own sibling's thoughtless interruption.
To disallow any other rude remarks and accusations, Kagome physically turned her body to properly face both Inukimi and Sesshomaru. "It was not my intention to insult either of you; please let me know if there was anything I did so that I may learn for the future."
The lady chuckled behind her fan as the lord simply raised a single white brow. "There is no need for such serious words, Kagome." Inukimi comforted. "You needn't bother with the words of a pup refusing to accept her defeat."
"Defeat?" The miko echoed. "How is she defeated?" She turned her questioning gaze back to Sesshomaru in hopes he had her answer. He only met her eyes with a sidelong look and the smallest spark of something hidden beneath stoic exterior. So, he knew but he wasn't going to tell her. Kagome sighed in her own defeat.
"Come!" Commanded Inukimi; she reached a sleeve covered hand gracefully toward the girl. "You are spending the night, and dinner is soon upon us." Everyone moved to stand.
Seeing the invitation being extended only to the human, the red accented demoness huffed, "We shall retire to our rooms until then." Tamiko snagged on one of her blue layers while rising and almost fell back to the floor. Her sister merely sighed a practical "poor me" as she watched her blood relation.
Kagome glimpsed back to see the lord following behind them but after a moment he turned into a side room. Soon, the two sisters did the same and it was once again just Inukimi and her walking the enchanted stone floors of this castle in the sky. Many places were open walkways, which would have passed through gardens, but these passed over thick white clouds. The wind was constant but it wasn't violent in any way. It did, however, help give a magical feel to everyone who walked here.
The painted screen door of celestial maidens opened for them to reveal a room of kimono, armor, mirrors, and jars of paint that Kagome could only assume was the makeup of this era. Since there weren't name brand makeup stores yet, the face paints of this era came in all kinds of containers. The dark haired wolf sister, Rika, had had her make up in darling little clam shells.
In fact, that area is where the demoness had led her to sit. Before Kagome could speak another word, Inukimi started combing her long, black locks. "There are questions of my own to be answered. You shall do so as I groom you." She began, not needing the girl to speak to know to continue, "How did you meet Sesshomaru? Speak true words dear; dogs can smell even when words are not spoken."
Kagome watched his mother in the mirror as she moved gracefully behind her. "It was about four years ago when I had first started traveling with Inuyasha. I will never forget the surprise on his face when Sesshomaru showed up with a demon that held the appearance of Inuyasha's mother. It was all to find Tessaiga inside Inu no Taisho's body." Kagome paused. "Is it rude to ask how Tessaiga wound up there and inside Inuyasha's eye?"
A nostalgic smile crossed the lady's face, as she softly smiled. "It was my doing. We discussed such matters the moment the pup's mother became pregnant." There was a moment of unexpected laughter, startling the miko, as she remembered. "That woman was so stubborn; she couldn't be convinced that I would not hurt her child. However, is that all of how you met?"
"Well, inside the grave, I pulled out Tessaiga and that was the first time he tried to kill me. We ran into each other several times over the next few years, but it was mainly him immediately fighting with Inuyasha." Blue eyes lowered to her hands. "It's mine and Inuyasha's fault that he lost his arm."
"He attacked his own pack out of greed; Inu no Taisho would have done much worse to him had he been alive." After a hum of thought, she continued, "Well, perhaps not. My beloved would have laughed and said 'boys will be boys' or 'that's what he gets for bullying his little brother'." They laughed as the normally stoic woman purposefully acted like her deceased husband.
"Now, do you have family?"
How much can she say to this without flat out saying she lived in the future? Of course Inukimi noticed the hesitation, so Kagome told her the truth. "I have a mother, grandfather and little brother that live at a shrine, but I can't tell you too much about them for their safety. I also have a son in the village beside Inuyasha's forest." The pale hand paused.
"You have a son?" Inukimi's voice sounded melodic but it remained as subdued as her expressions. "Yes, his name is Shippo." Kagome happily replied. "He's a fox demon who was orphaned. I tried to think of him as a little brother for the longest time, but last year or so we made it official."
"Does Sesshomaru treat him well?" The comb moved for a couple more strokes through obsidian hair before moving to her bangs. Sharp claws silently trimmed the overgrown length to her brows.
"As well as he treats anyone, I suppose. He is patient with the children, though intimidating. Rin adores him and Shippo is pretty good at following her lead." Kagome was made to close her eyes as a little makeup was applied. In modern terms, she could feel the lipstick, eyeshadow, and eyeliner being painted on.
Inukimi stood to rummage through some kimono, while the miko looked at herself in the mirror. She was glad to not have to wear the amount of paint as some ladies of these eras or pluck out her eyebrows. Still, looking at herself with long, combed hair and makeup not much different from the demoness's felt odd.
Of course, she saw Kikyo in there, but that wasn't it. That insecurity was pushed to the side for this new feeling.
"Has my son shown any interest in the candidates so far?" Oh, that's what it was, guilt. Kagome thoughtlessly slipped on the kimonos as the feeling haunted her. "He has shown interest in a couple ladies."
Coming out from behind the screen, the human met eyes with the pleased demoness. Well, Inukimi was pleased until she saw Kagome wasn't. "What is it child?" She asked.
"You have been so kind to me but we are here to assess Lady Yuuka and Lady Tamiko for the position of your daughter-in-law." A quick darting of her eyes around the room and a regretful sigh signaled the girl's shaky courage. "I'm in love with your son and I really don't want to ruin the chances for any of the candidates due to my selfishness!" Kagome wasn't loud as she was rushed with her words in a bowed position.
"I know."
Freshly trimmed, feathery bangs fluttered as Kagome flung her head up to study the casual demoness. Again, the fan swept across her flawless face to hide the most uncontrollable of quiet laughter from her guest. "You know?" The darker haired girl echoed.
"Child, this is still a world where honorifics are only dropped by those who are the furthest apart or the closest together." Silver hair floated out of her field of vision as Inukimi attacked her head with the comb again; both frowning at the magical reappearing knots. "Wait, earlier, did you mean that she was already defeated because I didn't address him as a lord?"
"My memories have it that he addressed you by name as well." The clawed hand helped lead the girl out of the room and back down hall ways.
"He did? I told him not to, so that the candidates don't get the wrong idea." They stopped in front of a different door this time. Inukimi smirked as she eyed Kagome's appearance one more time, "This will correct any of those wrong ideas, child."