Inuyasha

Survival of Love

Chapter 10

A Helping Hand

September 3, 2017

Sesshomaru kept himself busy but it wasn't doing much good, he was easily angered when something went wrong over the last couple of days. His mate Kagome has been gone infiltrating a priest and priestess group who are attacking high level demons nearly two weeks now. He was spending a lot of time in his study or in the garden with Hikaru which seemed to be the only time he was happy now a days was his few moments of peace and quiet with his son.

Tsubaki for her part was maintaining the daily run of the castle which was like second nature to her, she knew her son wouldn't have the patience for the million and one mundane tasks to be done without his mate by his side. With Kagome gone he had become increasingly more difficult to deal with, she had at one point attempted to keep him occupied with teaching him how to keep his mate informed of situations in the other lands, but she gave that up since it seemed to make him more agitated being reminded that Kagome wasn't here at the castle with him.

The castle staff for their part took it in stride, they new this was only temporary and would pass as soon as their Lady returned. That fact didn't deter them from making sure their jobs were done correctly the first time every time or from avoiding their agitated Lord when ever possible. There were moments when doing their daily tasks that they would find their Lord staring at the stair case almost sadly before he would notice their presence then storm back into his study or out onto the grounds.

Rin who was always unfazed by the changes around her was worried about her father figure the sudden change in his behavior even towards her was hard to miss. The two children Rin and Shippou were left to spend the days playing by themselves inside the castle grounds. Sesshomaru had even stopped taking her with him when he did his rounds checking his boarders.

"Lady Tsubaki?" Shippou gathered the courage to ask late that afternoon as he watched Sesshomaru slam his study door again for the hundredth time that day.

"Yes kit?" Tsubaki asked curiously as she looked down at the small kit.

"What's wrong with Sesshomaru?" Shippou asked confused as he looked up at Tsubaki with Rin hiding slightly behind her also looking up with pleading eyes.

'They are worried about him.' Tsubaki thought for a moment before a soft smile appeared on her lips and she kneeled down to talk to them on their level. "He is lonely little ones." she said as she brushed bangs out of both of their faces.

"Lonely? How this castle is full of demons." Shippou said confused as he looked up at her.

"Rin, Shippou, and Hikaru are here too." Rin piped up bravely. Tsubaki was intimidating to her, she had never seen a demon so tall, proud, and unwavering. Even Sesshomaru wavered when Rin wanted something.

"Oh young ones this is different. There are things in life that require more then company. Sesshomaru misses Kagome he is lonely without his mate. Be patient with him." Tsubaki explained and ruffled both of their hair before standing back up. "Go tell the staff to prepare a picnic out in the garden for tonight's dinner Shippou." she said then walked away when the two children ran off excitedly to do their assignment.

"I'm busy mother!" Sesshomaru growled out at Tsubaki as she just walked into his study without knocking.

"And now your are not my son." Tsubaki said as she stood elegantly in front of his desk with her hands folded in front of her.

"What?" Sesshomaru demanded as he jerked his head up from the scroll he was reading to glare at her. She dared to tell him, Lord of this castle, what to do.

"I said you are no longer busy." Tsubaki said silkily as she stared down at him impassively.

"This is my Castle now mother you don't give me orders." Sesshomaru said angrily then returned back to the scroll he was reading. To be honest he couldn't concentrate on the scroll in his hands nor did he even care at this moment what it said.

"Sesshomaru!" Tsubaki said agitated as she glared at him for a moment then regained her composure. "My son, you are being very unreasonable. The young wards of yours have noticed the change in your behavior, you avoid them and they are worried about you. I have arraigned for the staff to set up dinner in the garden for a picnic tonight you will join us." She said once he looked up at her again.

"I will not." Sesshomaru said angrily how dare this woman just waltz in here and take over like she was the one in charge instead of him or his mate Kagome.

"Sesshomaru, Kagome chose this path for herself you can not keep sulking in here. The only cure for your problem is Kagome's return but you can lessen the effects of her being gone by being with family. You chose those young wards as your family now be with them." Tsubaki said slightly irritated with her son then turned and walked out of his study without a second glance back at him.

Sesshomaru sighed as he put the scroll down and leaned back into his chair looking up at the ceiling of his study for a moment. He closed his eyes concentrating on regaining control of his emotions, his mother was right and he knew it, that fact didn't make it any easier. When he opened his eyes again he still hurt inside but his normal mask was back in place hiding it from the world. "Very well mother." he mumbled as he stood up and walked out of his study to have dinner in the garden.

Tsubaki was sitting on a large blanket while holding Hikaru facing out towards the other two children. Rin and Shippou also had a nice spot on the blanket with Shippou keeping Hikaru entertained with his fox magic and fox fire.

Sesshomaru walked into the garden and watched for a few moments as Hikaru giggled gleefully trying to reach out and grab Shippou's tricks. He smiled lovingly over at his small family then walked over to them and sat down on the blanket with them.

Shippou looked over at Sesshomaru shocked then laughed when Rin had ran over and hugged him unexpectedly.

"Nice of you to join us my son." Tsubaki said as she handed him Hikaru with a small smile on her lips.

Sesshomaru took Hikaru and held him in one arm setting him on one of his legs then pulled Rin into his lap. "Come here Shippou." he said as he held out his other arm for Shippou to come over to him.

Shippou looked over at Sesshomaru surprised, he was Kagome's charge not Sesshomaru's. Sesshomaru had just gotten stuck with him when he mated his surrogate mother. Shippou stood up with a gentle prodding from Tsubaki and walked over to Sesshomaru curiously.

Sesshomaru pulled Shippou down on to his other leg then hugged all three of them gently. "I am sorry for my behavior my young ones." he said softly down to them once he released his hug.

"We understand Sesshomaru-sama." Rin said softly as she smiled up at her father figure happily with a grin as bright as the sun.

"I'm sure you don't fully understand Rin, just know I will do better for you." Sesshomaru said and sighed for the first time since Kagome left this is the most content feeling he has had.

"We understand better now than we did Sesshomaru-sama." Shippou said softly as he reached over and held Rin's hand in one of his then reached over and grabbed one of Sesshomaru's hands in the other. Rin for her part smiled again and grabbed one of Hikaru's small hands then looked up at Sesshomaru expectantly.

Sesshomaru genuinely smiled a loving smile down at the three children then put one of his fingers into the giggling Hikaru's hand then looked up at his mother and nodded to her a 'thank you' for pushing him to be out here.

Tsubaki smiled and nodded back to him. She turned her attention to one of the servants now serving their dinner. Now that her son understood how to counter act his loneliness the oppressive atmosphere in the castle should dissipate or at least lessen for a while.

After a lot of pleasant talk about the children's day and with night falling they decided to head back into the castle. "I will be leaving in the morning to do a patrol Rin, Shippou would you like to come with me for this one?" Sesshomaru asked curiously as he carried Hikaru back into the castle and held the young Rin's hand who was also holding Shippou's hand.

"Can we?" Shippou asked excitedly as he looked up at Sesshomaru. It would be nice to get out of the castle. They hadn't left the castle since before Hikaru was born cause Sesshomaru had stopped doing his patrols, then when he resumed them he wanted to do them fast so that meant no Tagalogs.

"Of course." Sesshomaru said as he watched to two children curiously.

"You hear that Rin? We get to go!" Shippou said excitedly as he and Rin jumped around silly like behaving as if they were going to get to go to a harvest fair humans held after the fields were brought in for winter.

"Rin is happy!" Rin said as she looked up at Sesshomaru extremely happy, she missed getting to spend those patrols with him.

"Very well mother will you tell Jaken to have us ready as I put the pups to bed?" Sesshomaru asked after he laughed lightly at Rin and Shippou as he looked back at his mother.

"Of course my son." Tsubaki said as she stopped at the bottom of the stairs watching Sesshomaru and the children make their way up towards the second floor. His spirits seemed to be at an all time high since his mate had left. She turned and made her way into the dinning room where she could sense the little imp demon.

After Sesshomaru put Rin and Shippou to bed he walked over to the West wing of the castle. 'We should move them into the West wing they are our family after all.' he thought as he made his way down the hallway passing Inuyasha's empty room and he sighed, he couldn't believe it but he missed that brash half demon. He continued down the empty corridors until he reached his lonely set of rooms. He laid Hikaru down, who was already asleep, then moved over and started undressing for bed himself his lonely bed. 'I'll go North first tomorrow then make my way South. I think I'll visit the Southern Palace tomorrow and maybe sense where she is...' he thought as he laid down.

~*~*~*~ With Inuyasha & Himeko ~*~*~*~

"That was close Lord Inuyasha." Himeko said as she stood up tall and looked over at him.

"Too close we may have endangered Kagome." Inuyasha said as he sat down on the ground at the base of a large tree. There was no way that those humans had kept up with them to make it this far, barrier or not.

"I must inform Lord Sesshomaru." Himeko said as she started to turn around to head back to the Western Lands.

"Wait. We need to know if she's safe before you report to him. The Priestess Hitomiko is around here if my memory serves. She's a friend she may be willing to check on Kagome for us tomorrow morning if we go and ask her tonight." Inuyasha said as he reached up and grabbed Himeko's hand then blushed lightly when he realized he was holding her hand. Good thing it was dark even with their eyesight it would have been difficult to distinguish the color difference.

"If Lord Sesshomaru finds out I with held this report he will be furious." Himeko said as she looked back at Inuyasha like he was crazy.

"He's going to be worse than furious if you go back and tell him we may have endangered her and you not know if she's alive Himeko. He will rage like nothing you've seen before." Inuyasha said as he stood up and sniffed the air lightly. "Hitomiko's village is probably half an hour that way." he said as he pointed northeast.

"You have a point..." Himeko said softly as she envisioned her own death. She shook her head getting rid of the awful imagery. "After you, you know where you are going." she said with a small laugh.

They traveled northeast for about half an hour until they came across a lovely little village in which they skirted around then looked up at the shrine to see a priestess standing there with a bow drawn back and a charged arrow.

"What do you want here demons?" Hitomiko asked as she stared down the last half of the stairs ready to fire if needed.

"To ask for you assistance Priestess Hitomiko for my friend Priestess Kagome we met not to long ago." Inuyasha said as he watched her curiously.

"Who are you?" Hitomiko asked as she continued to stare the two down.

"I'm Inuyasha the half demon Priestess Kagome was with when she met you, and this is Himeko our friend." Inuyasha said pointing to himself then over to Himeko.

"Who were the others with you that day?" Hitomiko asked not taking any chances.

"Lord Sesshomaru, the Niko Kirara, the Monk Miroku, and the Demon Hunter Sango. We had a couple of children off in the distance. By the names of Rin and Shippou. You informed us of Priestess Kagome's powers being sealed just before we left." Inuyasha said as he continued to watch her curiously wondering if she was going to accept them and help them or turn them away.

"Very well give me a moment to walk down to you." Hitomiko said as she released the tension on her bow then made her way down the stairs but both of the demons noticed how she didn't take her arrow off her string. "What can I do for you?" she asked curiously looking between the two once she got down to the bottom though obviously keeping her distance.

"We asked you to spread the rumors of a self taught priestess. That Priestess is Kagome, we may have endangered her in her secret mission and we were hoping you would check to make sure she is safe. For you it would be about an hour and a half from here." Inuyasha said as he looked at Hitomiko hoping she would agree.

"I have duties to preform here." Hitomiko said leery about leaving her village with two obviously powerful demons right on the front door step.

"Please Priestess I beg you we will watch over your village no harm shall come to it on the honor of the West. Please check on Priestess Kagome for us." Himeko begged as she actually kneeled down to Hitomiko and bowed to her placing her head on the ground between her hands as she had done for Sesshomaru several times before.

"Priestess Hitomiko, Priestess Kagome is our friend and we cannot go back to check on her without putting her in danger for sure." Inuyasha said worried as he mirrored Himeko putting his pride to the side to protect his best friend.

Hitomiko looked at the two demons stunned for a few moments she had never had demons bow to her before. She remembered this young man being loud and brash when he was here before she walked over to him curiously and placed a hand down on his back letting a little bit of her power seep into him to tell if he was being honest or was being deceptive with her. If he reacted aggressively then the latter would be true.

Inuyasha stiffened but remained as he was, his one and only shot was this priestess. He had no way to use the gem to check on Kagome it was up to Kagome to provide the messages. She hadn't provided one since trying to warn them which meant she was unable to for some reason.

Hitomiko moved over to Himeko and did the same with her. She felt Himeko stiffen but remain as she was as well. "Very well if you can trust me to test you in such a manner then I can assist you." she said as she stood back up and looked at them curiously. "What is Priestess Kagome doing?"

Himeko and Inuyasha looked up at her then at each other and shared a sigh of relief. "Thank you Priestess." the chorused in unison and bowed to her again.

"Kagome is with our other friends the Monk Miroku, demon slayer Sango and Kohaku. They are with a new group of Priests and Priestesses investigating them." Inuyasha said as he looked back up at Hitomiko.

"Those four who are imprisoning demons just for being demon?" Hitomiko asked curiously as she watched them to see if there was any deceit.

"Yes Priestess." Himeko said not wanting Inuyasha to sprout to much info just in case this Priestess sides with the others.

"Despicable way to treat any being. There are bad humans like there are bad demons I see no sign of anyone rushing to throw the humans in prisons. Now I take it this is of the up most urgency for you." Hitomiko said as she turned and walked back to the stairs of the shrine.

Himeko and Inuyasha as they looked up at Hitomiko. "Yes Priestess the sooner we know she is safe the sooner we can breath easy." Himeko said as she watched Hitomiko walk up the first few steps.

"Then I shall make hast and leave as soon as I am ready. There is a field about two hours away southwest of here where I pick rare herbs for this area. That will be my reason for passing by this group you are worried about." Hitomiko said back to them then continued up the stairs to prepare herself to leave.

Himeko watched as Hitomiko walked back down the stairs ready to leave about a half an hour later. "Priestess is there anything you need us to do while you are gone?" She asked curiously.

"Just protect my village. I have have both of your words that it shall remain unharmed and protected in my absence?" Hitomiko asked curiously as she looked up at both of them since they were now standing again.

"On our honor and that of our Lord Priestess your village will be protected at all cost even our own lives." Himeko said as she stood tall and proud as a demon of the highest rank in the West other than her Lord that is.

"Let's try not to loose any lives tonight shall we." Hitomiko said with a small smile and a nod before she turned and made her way Southwest towards Kagome and her group.