Title: Love Me Love Me Not
Chapter: Sorting InuTaisho and Mother Nature's Solution
Date: December 18, 2010
InuTaisho had assigned his servants and guards to watch Inuyasha like he was Shiro Inu on Earth while he took a few moments to himself. He had to figure out exactly what he felt for the hanyou and what was purely resentment of the boy's mother that had been misplaced to the child that held a piece of her. He looked back to his reaction to the news that the ningen had become pregnant with his child. He had been enraged that Nature had played with him so, knowing well that not only would the child never be able to be anything more than a bastard, but that the child would be born a hanyou. The thought of exactly what Inuyasha was still sent shudders of revulsion down his spine. He was also furious with the fact that Raja was a perfectly healthy and fertile she-demon yet his seed would never take during their semi-centennial heats. When he had heard that the ningen had tried to kill the pup within her in the early and late stages of her pregnancy, he had been overjoyed with the possibility of never having to live with such a disgrace, even if it meant he had to hand the throne to one of his corrupted relatives.
When the child had been born with only minor signs of its mother's attempts, he had felt some reluctant pride well up in his chest before his disgust of the creature had overrode the feeling. When he had seen that the child had been taken in by the healer when Raja was dying as was the child that they had finally managed to conceive together, he blamed the hanyou for their death. He knew now that Inuyasha had not been the curse to his beloved mate's and child's death, but he still felt that had the boy never been born, it would never have happened the way it did. When he had taken the boy as his mate, he could admit that the unadulterated fear that Inuyasha had given off had not appealed to his rational side at all. In fact, it was the main reason he had not touched Inuyasha outside of mating season because the poor bastard nearly wet himself with fear every time they were alone together in a room. InuTaisho recognized now, that he probably should have worked with Inuyasha on his fear instead of exacerbating it by taking his own frustrations out on the pup. He also realized that he could have waited a bit longer before making the boy his mate and at least giving the pup the semblance of a choice instead of locking him away like a dirty secret. However, his true regret came from how he had let those of lower station treat Inuyasha and how he had taught his…their children to treat him.
As he continued to look back at his actions and feelings toward his bastard son and mate, he realized that the cruelty of his…their children to Inuyasha had been when the hanyou had finally reached the end of his rope and despite their children's current attempts at correcting their behavior; the damage had already been done. InuTaisho had seen how attached, loving, and caring Inuyasha was for his…their children and he had still vindictively limited and limited their time with their mother as they grew and encouraged them to treat their mother just like he did and allowed the servants to do with nothing more as a reason than their mother was hanyou and a bastard.
The servants and guards was another thing that he regretted because he never should have allowed them to believe that they were above Inuyasha and his station as Consort of the Western Lands and of the Shiro Inu king. For his mate it had destroyed any confidence that he might have built up, but more importantly it was a lost chance to gain the boy's confidence in himself and de-esculate some of the fear that he had instilled in the boy since the very beginning of their mating. It was also another nail in the coffin that he had acted no better than they and allowed his mate to feel lesser than the dirt beneath his boots despite the fact that just Inuyasha's acquired position as his mate deserved respect even if he did not respect the hanyou. The fact that he felt regret for his actions with their children and the battery of the pup's self-esteem to the point of desperate suicidal depression, convinced him that he did indeed have some care for Inuyasha and that most of his feelings had been him holding a grudge not just against that ningen, but Mother Nature as well. She had been the engineer behind everything and he had been wrong to not see it before as only she could defy her own set of laws. Between all of them, they had destroyed a beautiful, innocent soul that had never spoken against them or retaliated despite having more than enough justification to. The only question now was, what the hell were they going to do to fix it?
Mother Nature had been worrying over how she was going to make it up to Inuyasha for her foolishness and the pushing of her own agenda over the stress of his life. However, as she watched the joy in Inuyasha's eyes as he was surrounded by his children, she knew what she was going to do. She would undo the curses that she had placed on Inuyasha's womb and on Sesshoumaru. She needed to go talk to InuTaisho about the decision, but she believed it was the right thing to do. She wanted to give him the chance at parenthood that InuTaisho and she had robbed him of with every child he had had. She quietly excused herself and traveled off to InuTaisho's public study where he had shut himself up for the past couple of hours.
She wisped through the door without a care for why it was closed and interrupted his heavy pondering. A sigh left the great DaiYoukai as he opened his eyes to give his full attention to the one deity that he wished he had the power to eradicate without serious repercussions.
"What have I done wrong this time?" His voice was tired as he sarcastically questioned the invading presence known as Mother Nature.
"Don't take that tone with me! That's not what I'm here for anyway. I just wanted to inform you that both your punishment and that of your heir have been lifted. Just don't mess this chance up this time because there may not be another one." Having said her peace, Mother Nature left in a fade as InuTaisho stared at where she had been previously with shock. For a moment he wanted to be outraged, but as he took a moment to think about, Inuyasha had been happiest when he was with child and raising one. Perhaps this would give them the time they needed to truly get through to Inuyasha. However, InuTaisho also realized that he had several things that he needed to do before he could succeed with his ultimate goal. He already had Mother Nature's guarantee that it would happen, but he needed to comfort the pup before he tried anything. For the first time since he had been courting his first mate, InuTaisho was going to have to be romantic.
It would take careful planning, time, and hope that Inuyasha would have an open mind if not an open heart to his advances. He acknowledged that he had done Inuyasha wrong and he wanted his mate to know that he was trying to make amends. He would start by actually trying to court the hanyou before he began seducing him. He did not want to scare Inuyasha anymore than he already had. Inuyasha's path to recovery would a very long one without him adding to it. He left the study to find his trusted vassal, Jaken, to fetch him some of the things he would need and to get word around about the treatment of Inuyasha and its consequences.
A/N: Okay people, let it be noted that the story is coming to an end and within the next 3 to 5 chapters. However, that does not mean that you guys can be slack about the reviews. If you are, I can promise you that this story will not be finished by the the time my winter break is over. SO REVIEW, REVIEW,REVIEW!
Cheers!
Nama