Kohana and Yuuta rose slowly from their seats; Kohana retrieving a fan from her kimono, snapping it open and concealing the bottom half of her face.
"As in the Lord Sesshomaru?" She asked in a soft, almost bored drawl.
"I am he." Sesshomaru said with a slight inclining of his silver locked head.
Mayuri watched her mother move the fan down and away from her face with a slow deliberateness and she knew the look that had now appeared on Kohana's delicate features; she was judging. Mayuri knew she was going to do this, but was confident that Sesshomaru would be able to pass the inspection that every male she took home had to endure; if Kohana did not deem him worthy of the daughter she had brought into the world, then he surely was not! Mayuri trusted her mother's judgments of people, for she was sharp and quite adept when it came to reading people.
She continued to start at Sesshomaru, but not his face, not as yet. She was reading his body language and it was telling her that this man was, as expected of a Lord, arrogant, but there was also a gentleness about him that, at first glance, one would never see. He stood before her in a manner which dared her object to the union of him and her daughter and at the same time spoke of his readiness to do just that. He stood very close to Mayuri, which told her he cared a great deal for her and that he was in love with her, but many a man had fallen in love with her daughter and her daughter with them, but this was very different.
Her eyes went to her daughter and there was a radiance about her that she had never seen in the girl and it greatly intrigued and pleased her.
Kohana's green eyes returned to Sesshomaru and this time they were fixated on his amber. She once again saw the arrogance he held in his body and the love and care he held for her daughter, but she also saw strength of character, passion, determination, loyalty, compassion, obstinacy, pride.
Here was a man, standing before her and patiently waiting for her judgment; she found another quality within him. She was more than glad to see loyalty in him. It meant that he was not the type, like most men, to have a mate and then a mistress or two or more on the side. No, he would not do that to her daughter and for that she was very glad indeed.
She had to say that this man was one of high caliber and definitely worthy of her child. Not that her previous partners were not at all up to scratch, her daughter had impeccable taste in men and Kohana was very proud of the fact that she had raised Mayuri as a no nonsense type of female, but there was always something about them that made Kohana feel like they just were not right for Mayuri; they did not have the strength required to spend all eternity with one such as a daughter.
Mayuri was, in many ways as far as Kohana could see, almost exactly like the man she had brought home; she was tenacious just as he was, compassionate, passionate, loyal. The only difference she could now see was where Sesshomaru was arrogant, her daughter was modest.
Oh no, Mayuri was never one to flaunt her beauty or brag of her achievements or believed herself superior to any person. She always complimented people and stroked their egos if need be, just to make them feel that much better about themselves. As a confident woman, her daughter did not like to know that those she cared about felt awful about themselves, for there was a beauty she saw inside of them that she wanted them to see in themselves.
Kohana brought the fan from her face and snapped it shut before putting it back in its place in her kimono.
She turned to her daughter who was now fidgeting with anxiety; biting her lip and twiddling her thumbs, which she expected for Mayuri was always nervous when she brought home a male for her to inspect. Unexpectedly however, Sesshomaru brought his hand around her daughter's waist and pulled her into his side and without a moment's hesitation, Mayuri rested her head onto the armor of his chest and soon her fidgeting had stopped.
Not one of the previous men Mayuri had brought home was bold enough to touch her in front of them, not even so much as to hold her hand; they were always so dreadfully intimidated by her, not even so much Mayuri's father, and constantly on edge whenever they were around her. But Sesshomaru, he was not intimidated and he was not nervous. He was confident! Her daughter, his intended, needed comfort and he did not care at all that she was present; he was going to give it.
"Do not forget what I said." She heard him whisper to her as he looked down at the top of her head.
Kohana raised a brunette brow.
"And what was it that you said to my daughter?" She asked.
Still looking down at her, he squeezed her tighter against his side as she turned to look up at him.
"I told her that regardless of what you say of me, I will still be of the intention to of making her my mate." He did not take his eyes off of Mayuri, not even to blink.
Kohana watched as a smile crept across her daughter's face and her cheeks turned red.
"Very well then. Yuuta, have you anything to say?" She asked, looking to her side and acknowledging her own mate for the first time.
He nodded to her.
"I believe you know what is best." He said quietly. Yuuta was not afraid to question his wife, he simply let her take the reins when it came to most things, especially their daughter; only a woman could understand another woman after all.
He had made a fine choice in a mate. Kohana was as stubborn as she was beautiful; silky brown hair, slim figure, tall, green eyes that were the only thing their daughter had inherited from her, full pink lips and olive skin. She did not have as much curves as her daughter and her daughter had breasts far bigger than her mother's ,for Mayuri had taken after her father.
He was the one with the jet black hair and the freckles and it was his side of the family that had the women with the multitude of curves and the bigger breasts. Yuuta himself was not quite so tall but he was not shorter than his mate, and Mayuri was, and for a man of his age he still had a build to rival that of any young man in his prime. He had the same colour as his wife, his eyes however, were brown.
He looked to his mate now and smiled. Yes, he had made a fine choice indeed. He could not have been happier with the woman who was standing by his side, a woman he had spent more than four hundred years of life with, a woman who had borne him eight wonderful children and hopefully more in the future, a woman that he never had and never would be bored with.
"Either way Mayuri's father and I have no say in the matter do we?" Kohana asked.
Sesshomaru shook his head, looking away from Mayuri for the first time to acknowledge her mother.
"You do not."
Kohana nodded.
"Well, even if it doesn't matter, you have my approval." She said.
Mayuri gasped and looked to her mother.
"We do?" She asked.
Kohana smiled sweetly to her daughter and nodded.
With that Mayuri let out a squeal of pure joy and instantly clung onto Sesshomaru.
Chuckling, Kohana took the hand of her mate and led him away from the garden, her daughter and her intended needed to have some time alone.
After the initial joy wore off Mayuri pulled herself off Sesshomaru enough that he was at arm's length. The smile on her face was so broad and so bright that it seemed almost permanent.
"I do believe I owe you." Sesshomaru said.
The impossible occurred, Mayuri's smiled got wider.
Sesshomaru unfastened the straps that held his armor to his body and the heavy metal piece banged against the hard ground. Stepping out of it, he took Mayuri by the waist as she took him by the shoulders before lifting herself onto him and wrapping her legs around his waist. He held her in place with only one arm as the hand of the other rested itself upon her cheek . Her arms were placed one around his neck and the other, its hand in his silver hair.
Smiling as she was filled with a joy more profound than any other feeling she had at the moment, she leaned into him as he leaned into her and their lips met in a kiss so passionate it rivaled their first.
"Stay with me?" She asked when she came up for air, looking in his eyes.
He kissed her.
"Yes, but only for a few days." He replied.
Her smile turned into a frown of the cute persuasion.
"Fret not," he ran his fingers through her jet black locks. "You are coming with me."
Her smile returned.
"To where are we going?" She asked.
He ran his fingers through her hair again before he rested it on her cheek once again.
"There is someone I wish for you to meet."
Mayuri removed her legs from around his body, but no her arms. The loss of altitude however, now placed her hands upon his armourless chest.
"Who?" She asked.
Sesshomaru pulled her closer to him and kissed her forehead, caressing the skin on her cheek with his thumb.
"My ward." He said. "My Rin."
A/N: Can anyone guess which of the eight Mayuri is?