Westward Bound

by mega.natural

Fuko, a full-blooded inu youkai of mysterious origins, encounters the great Lord Sesshomaru while searching for clues to her lineage. He decides to claim her as his mate, but how will that be possible when she doesn't know the meaning of the word—and when she doesn't like him all that much to boot? Sesshomaru/OC

21. Fight for Love!

Hello?

Well, then! I've started the process of restructuring previous chapters just to tidy up. I'm mostly ditching the roman numerals and adding some ascii borders. Hopefully you guys won't even notice. Welp, here's a long chapter for you! Enjoy!

Also, I don't own Inuyasha. You knew that.

Miko- priestess. Reiki – holy aura/energy. Hanyou- half-demon. Inu- dog. Ookami- wolf. Neko- cat. Ryu- dragon. Kitsune- fox. Youkai- demon. Youki- demon aura/energy. Daiyoukai- great demon. Moko moko- Sesshomaru's fluffy fluffy tail. Kappa- toad. Dokkaso- Sesshomaru's poison. Hime- princess. Kami- gods. Oni- ogre/troll demons. Baka-idiot. Hentai- pervert. Hai – yes. Yatta – I did it!, Hooray. Houshi – Buddhist priest. Taijiya- slayer, exterminator. Tanuki- raccoon dog. Tengu- bird demons.

— _ — _ —_ —_ —_ —_ —_ —

Chapter 20: Fight for Love!

Nomukyo emerged from the main hall onto the large interior courtyard, his many tails twitching in agitation. As he had been informed of mere moments before, he found his friend facing off against several soldiers of the Western Lands. She did not look overly distressed, but she was pouting at her deadly companion as he took a black lacquered scroll box from around her arm. Kyo paused, Shigure pausing at his side, and they watched as the Lord of the Western Lands tucked a scroll of silk-backed parchment inside the container and sealed it.

Unsure of the nature of this meeting between the newcomers and his guests, the fox began with the joviality he usually reserved for contentious town council meetings. "What's this? Are these messengers who have come to my house? Is it good news or bad?"

"Ah, Kyo…" Fuko glanced to him and then approached with her ears drooping. "Sorry. It seems like we're going to have to leave soon—"

From behind her, the demon lord spoke tersely, "Tomorrow. We will leave in the morning."

"—Yeah, anyway, Sesshomaru's mom sent him a letter and I got one too from some girl I don't know. She said that she wants to fight me for him? Does make sense to you?"

His tails stilled as he processed this news. "So soon?" Kyo could not hide his disappointment and he touched Fuko's sleeve gently as he glanced between her and Lord Sesshomaru.

"I know it's soon, and sudden, but I'll come back, so…" She smiled, clearly trying to cheer him.

He smiled back but it was fleeting at best. "Of course."

She switched from grinning to glowering instantly and roughly nudged his stomach. "Hey, you, don't you doubt me! What's up with that face? I might be gone for a while, but it definitely won't be another five hundred years, so cheer up!"

Kyo cringed and put up his hands, resisting a true smile as he played along. "Yes, milady, I understand. Please do not give me another good punch."

"I apologized for that, Kyo! Geez!"

Sesshomaru turned from their easy exchange and regarded his mother's spy and his subordinates. Sanjuro was looking on with far too much interest. "Have you any other instructions from my mother?"

Noting the dangerous sharpness of his lord's gaze, Sanjuro immediately turned his attention from the odd female. "No, milord. With your assurance that you will return home, I have done all that was asked of me. With your leave, my men and I will depart."

"Go."

Sesshomaru watched them leave and then he turned to animated conversation behind him and inserted himself between the two friends. He addressed the fox, "The hour has grown late. It is important that we rest before we leave."

Kyo had to tilt his head back to meet the daiyoukai's gaze. "Of course. I'll have someone show you to your room—Fuko, we'll speak in the morning, yes?"

"Um, yeah," she answered, glancing back and forth between the two males. "See you in the morning."

Fuko and Sesshomaru didn't talk to each other as they were led down winding halls toward their bedroom. He sensed nervousness in her aura and her movements. She kept tapping her fingers in front of her and then folding them together, and then tapping and then folding. There could be any number of reasons for this and he had to remind himself often that her reasonings should not be his focus, but now he wondered if she was thinking of the stranger who had challenged her or if she thought of the fact that she would soon have to repay the penalty she had promised him almost a week ago.

It became clear soon enough that she'd forgotten all about the promised kiss when she froze on the threshold of the bedroom and said almost reflexively that she wasn't tired. The servant stared at her blankly for a second, but then Sesshomaru shoved the reluctant girl into the large chamber, stepped inside after her, and slid the door closed again, leaving the lesser fox out in the hall.

"Do not fret," he said when he turned and found her standing stiffly in the center of the room. "I mean for us to rest this night."

He had not intended for them to merely rest before this moment, but he also did not particularly want the touch of his mouth on hers to be associated with punishment in her mind.

She snorted at his attempted reassurance. "Sure. We'll sleep after you get your kiss."

He moved to walk passed her, toward the raised bed. "We'll leave it until another time."

"No." She caught his sleeve. "We should just get on with it so it's not hanging over my head anymore."

He glanced down at her. She was looking stubbornly off to one side, but he could see a faint blush coloring her cheeks. They stood close together for a moment while Sesshomaru pondered his options and Fuko waited for some response.

She spoke first. "So, do you want a kiss or not?"

"Hn… If you are willing, I am willing to let you hide behind obligation. It is what you owe me, after all." He pulled the smooth, cool fabric of his sleeve out of her grasp as he moved sanguinely into the shadowed space before them.

Fuko stood in the open lounging area for a while longer, glancing at the thick, cushiony pillows and the artwork that had been thoughtfully staged around to catch different angles of sun and moon light. The bed, which Sesshomaru perched on the edge of, was only in the periphery of her vision, but she could see more plainly that the mattress and coverings had been replaced than she could see which statues were on which pedestals. She reminded herself somewhat distantly to apologize to Nomukyo for leaving the room in such a state after its last use, and then she strode quickly over to Sesshomaru.

Where he sat and calmly removed his armor and weapons, laying them methodically by the bed, she cast off her spear, kicked off her boots, and left these items laying haphazardly by a wardrobe. When she saw him untie his long, golden obi, bundle it, and place it over his swords, she turned back to the wardrobe and whined.

They faced each other a moment later, both striped down to bare feet and under shirts. They had seen each other in less, but now the anticipation (hers anxious and his hungry) was palpable between them and they were going to act on it.

After a quiet moment of looking each other over, Fuko huffed, laid a hand on his chest, and pushed him back. "Move." Her frustration was not entirely affected, but she exaggerated it to lend her actions and voice confidence.

At first, Sesshomaru was wary, thinking that she was rejecting him again by pushing him away, but then her continued pressure made it clear what she wanted and he obligingly slid back further onto the raised mattress. She followed, easing forward into his space, and then she crawled unto his lap all at once. He was surprised and it was only by reflex that his hands found her hips and steadied her as she straddled him. Had he somehow given her the impression that she could only kiss him if she were in his lap? He did not mind this, of course, but her approach was certainly peculiar.

The moment he opened his mouth to comment, she snapped, "Quiet. I'm doing this. This is me kissing you, so be quiet."

His jaw clicked shut, but he narrowed his eyes warningly at her. She seemed to have no concept of how dangerous her casual and constant impertinence would be to anyone else. Just as her warm weight began to settle in his lap, he flexed his fingers, digging claw tips into her lower sides.

She gave a soft growl, but otherwise she ignored his little retaliation. She leaned into him, pressing their bodies together lightly, chest to chest, and then she raised her hands. Her fingers threaded into the lush hair at the base of his skull. He gave her another warning look when she began drawing her claws lightly over his scalp.

"Do not tease me."

"Shut up, okay?" Gently, she tugged at the hair she had wound around her fingers, urging his head back, and that's when she kissed him.

It must have started slow. The first touch must have been gentle, bearing in mind her inexperience, her reluctance, and his resolve to be a non-aggressor in this encounter. Certainly, there must have been a while of touch and retreat, a slow urging to open, deepen, and prolong her kiss—but if this were the case, neither demon would remember any of that upon reflection.

They would remember Sesshomaru on his back (she might wonder at her own boldness in putting him there, he would assert in his mind later that he had laid back on his own). They would remember their hot, panting breaths, the muffled thundering of their hearts, and the slick slide of one tongue over the other. And, they would remember the provocative thrust and grind of their bodies. Sesshomaru's firm grip kept her centered over him for the most pleasurable experience.

But then, she went stiff in his arms. She shuddered, gave a little cry into his mouth, and then started to pull away. The one of the hands that he had left so respectfully on her hips while she leaned over him shot up and cupped the back of her head. He slung the other arm around her back. She was dragged down into the whirl and hot rush again, but it was only for a moment. She started to squirm and turn her head away.

"Le-let go…" She got a hand between them and found purchase with her knees on the smooth bedspread. "'Shomaru, let go!"

He continued trailing wet, nipping kisses down her neck as his hand slid down to her nape. He massaged the tense muscles there.

She gave that sweet little cry again, but then shoved at him. "Enough!"

Just before she would have broken out of his hold, he flexed the muscles of his stomach and easily sat up with her in his lap again. A growl rumbled through his chest and hers, as they were still pressed close together. "What is it? Why have you stopped?"

She shuddered again. "I—that's enough, I said. So, let go of—"

"No."

"No?"

His grip on her tightened. "No. You cannot do this. I am—" He broke off in another long, low growl.

Under her, she felt his penis twitch powerfully against her center and she couldn't stop another shudder. This was painful. Her skin ached. She tried to put more weight on her knees to separate them, but he was bearing down on her. "Let me go, okay? I'm done. You only asked for a kiss—"

"Done." He bared his teeth. "Done? You are not done. You cannot reach your own completion and leave me in this state."

Her fingers flexed and her claws pricked his chest. If there were more blood to be spared in her body for swelling parts or turning any redder, the color in her cheeks would have redoubled just then. "I did not reach completion. That's not what I meant—!"

He thrust a hand into her hair and tugged at the silky locks. "You came."

Fuko gasped, jerking back. "I did not!"

"You cried out, you trembled for me just from kissing—"

"I did not, I did not! I know what that feels like and I definitely would not be so mad at you right now if I had!"

"Truly?" He leaned into her. "All the more reason to continue."

She winced, which he just barely glimpsed as she turned her head away from him. "Sesshomaru! Sesshomaru, this is a bad idea! Let me stand up."

Every limb of his was tensed and every instinct screamed at him to hold on to her, but instead he dropped his hands to her hips and let her shimmy backward off of him. When her feet touched the floor, he cursed softly, "Why are you denying yourself? You want me. There is no concealing it."

Fuko stood, hoping against hope that he couldn't sense her weak knees. "You…you're just setting yourself up for disappointment, you know. I've told you a thousand times, I don't think of you this way."

The fabric of her kosode bunched in his hands as they fisted. "You do."

"I don't."

"For how long are you going to tell yourself that lie? You want me, you are slick for me even now. The scent of it makes my mouth water."

Fuko jerked back again, hands dropping to shield her crotch from his view. Her voice elevated into a restrained scream as she sputtered, "You-fu—I! Am! Having a physiological reaction that I cannot control, thank you very much! Do you want me to start pointing it out every time you pop a boner!?"

Sesshomaru paused and both of his brows lifted. "Pop…?" It took a moment before that bit of gibberish could rework itself into its core meaning in his mind. "That is… colorful wording."

She stomped a foot. "Listen! I don't know why I have to explain this, but when I say 'I don't think of you that way,' I mean that I know us being together won't become anything meaningful. I'm in no position to start a committed relationship with anyone. Mating, having pups, I can't do it, so you need to let go of those ideas. I can only be your friend. That's all I can give you. This—this s-sex stuff—even if you enjoy it for a while, you're just going to get your heart broken!"

Sesshomaru closed his eyes briefly. He could not recall hearing anything more ridiculous in his life. "You seek to protect my heart?"

She threw up her hands as if it were all so obvious. "Yes!"

"How gallant." With calculated, gentle pressure, he started to draw her back toward him and the bed. "Fuko. Do not trouble yourself so. My heart is safe. I will not misunderstand." She took a half back step back, but he hooked his fingers into the belt of her kosode. It would only take a bit of finesse to get her last layer off.

She stopped, gritting her teeth. "You think I don't know your game? All this touching and petting, the penalties you ask for—you're trying to make me feel something for you. Why? It's not going to change my mind. It just hurts me. I can't be more than a friend to you."

He dragged her closer to the edge of the bed, his voice throaty, his tone inviting. "Lay down with me. You are aching, trembling. I ache as you do.

Her hands landed on his shoulders, but her claws did not bite in. "N-no! It's just—my body just— Are you even listening to me!?" Her words were adamant, but her strength was failing her.

"We can help each other." One hand slid down and found the edge of her skirt and, just that quickly, his long fingers were inching up her bare thigh. "Cannot friends lend aid where it is needed?"

Fuko gasped. His hot breath touched her newly exposed her skin and her convictions were scattered for a second. "F-friends?" She lost the ability to speak at all when his lips brushed her where his breath had touched.

He murmured against her skin, "Let me help you." His fingers grazed her through her panties, teasing the sensitive flesh with skillful accuracy.

She smacked the top of his head and then shoved. "Friends…! Friends don't use each other for fleeting sexual gratification, Sesshomaru! I can do that myself! You can do that yourself! I—I don't want your help with this so—" She pulled roughly out of his embrace and turned.

He stilled and watched silently as she stumbled away from him. Fuko went all the way over to the plush cushions against the far wall before she dared to speak again. "I-I'm going to sleep over here. So just… just…," she trailed off and fell to her knees among the pillows.

He watched her pile them up, making a nest of them before the window, and then she curled up on them with her back to him. He watched her for a long time, his fury slowly, slowly abating. Once the red mist tinging the edges of his vision cleared, he could almost appreciate how she had been able to parsed his words while he had her so distracted. He had attempted to cloak his seduction in friendship and she had escaped him. Clever girl.

Slowly, Sesshomaru let himself fall back against the mattress.

Fuko heard the rustle of his movements from across the room. She heard the soft sounds of him loosening his under shirt and then she heard him untying the drawstrings of his pants. All the sounds and movements were very clear, each one deliberate and obvious. She tried to reassure herself that he was just getting comfortable. And when she heard the first muted expulsion of his breath as he took himself in hand, she squeezed her eyes tighter closed and told herself that he was just sighing as he settled into sleep. She ordered herself not to check as sounds of rhythmic stroking filled the room a second later. But then, the scent was really undeniable.

When she rolled over a moment later, silently, shamefully, she saw that he was doing exactly what it sounded like he was doing. Eyes closed, chest bare, he lay on the bed in the stark light of the moon, unabashedly running one hand over his chest and leisurely, steadily drawing his dominate hand up and down the glistening length of his penis.

She whimpered, but the sound and the certainty that she was watching did nothing to stop him. If anything, he prolonged it, stopping intermittingly in his slow stroking to caress and knead the white-furred sac that lay tensed between his spread legs. It was impossible for her to look away from him, from this private act turned performance. Even when his hips began rocking, even when his panting choked to a stop and his toes curled into the linen sheets, and then when opalescent seed spurted from the tip of him, Fuko could not look away. It wasn't until after, when his breathing had eased and the flush began fading from his chest and face, when he turned his head to gaze back at her—that's when she covered her face with both hands and roll over to face the wall.

He laughed at her in a low, gruff chuckle. "I would have liked your help with that, Fuko."

She didn't dare respond.

Fuko lay awake for the rest of the night, tense and aching. He fell asleep soon after his release, but she didn't try to follow his example. If he woke up during that, if he came over to her while she was doing that to herself, she wouldn't be able to turn him away.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Just before the first bit of light from the early morning sun seeped into the room to erasing the shadows in the corners and catch the curves and lines of the artwork scattered around various pedestals, Fuko slipped quietly off of her makeshift bed. She blended into those last shadows and treaded lightly across the woven mats that lined the floor. After gathering her kimono, weapon, and boots, she shuffled backward toward the door that led out onto the hall.

Sesshomaru lay on the bed with one arm slung over his eyes. He was still shirtless, his pants were still loosely bunched around his waist, but at least his privates were covered again. His deep, even breathing convinced her that he was truly asleep, that and his failure to stop her from leaving the room.

Once she was out in the hall, she quickly pulled on her kimono and tied her obi behind her back, then she grabbed her boots. The sound of padded feet were coming from down the hall at a sedate pace. By the time a servant rounded the corner, she was fixing her spear across her back. She smiled at the lesser demon and bid him good morning while she combed through her hair a couple time with her fingers.

"Would you take me to Kyo—Nomukyo, if he's not busy?"

The fox bowed. "Certainly, milady."

The many turns and corridors blurred together as Fuko trailed behind the servant, clasping and unclasping her hands. Yesterday, she worried about saying goodbye to her friend, now she could not shake the burning memory of last night. She could admit very discreetly to herself that she might eventually take Sesshomaru up on his offer. Last night had simply been too much—she wouldn't spend another night feeling that way. But, could she actually let herself become intimate with him when she knew it would just lead to his utter disappointment? Even if the terms were clear at the start, he would expect more than sex eventually.

Before they were alone anymore, she desperately needed advise from someone she trusted.

Shigure was standing guard outside of Kyo's office when Fuko and her guide approached from the south. The brawny fox straightened from his casual slump against the wall and put up a hand in greeting. Even with this friendly gesture, his eyes stayed keen and his gaze tracked passed her searchingly.

"Where's the lord?"

"Aha ha ha," Fuko itched at the back of one ear. "He's still sleeping."

The bodyguard grunted, not seeming satisfied or dissatisfied with her answer. "Well. I guess you've come to see Master Nomukyo."

"Yeah, he's in there, right?" When she moved to touch the door, he sidestepped so that he blocked her way.

"My apologies. He asked that no one disturb him. Shun, would you take her to the—"

"No, no, I really need to talk to him." Fuko took a half step closer to the door. "I won't bother him. You can let me in."

Shigure folded his arms, taking on the posture and demeanor of a brick wall. "No. Master Nomukyo has plans to meet with you soon. You must wait. Shun, help the lady on her way to the east wing breakfast room. "

The servant's tail twitched nervously as he bowed. "Yes, sir."

Fuko let her ears droop. "Oh. Okay. I understand."

She let the lesser fox lead her almost ten feet down the hall before she paused and flicked her ears upward. Fuko turned and called out to the body guard excitedly, "Hey, Shigure, I just remembered!"

He frown at her. "What is it?"

Fuko pressed her lips together and stepped toward him while beckoning for him to come forward. Baffled, he moved to hear whatever secret his master's friend wanted to impart. He took only a few steps toward her—and then, she was behind him, opening the door to the office.

"I'll just be a minute." Then she slipped inside and shut the door in his face, jamming it with a little foxish flare.

Fuko spun and found her friend seated behind his desk, bent over some small object that he worked between his hands. She started to call to him, but then noticed the pale wood shavings littering the floor and the surface of the table, and she saw that he was wiping something again and again with a polishing rag. "What? I didn't know you whittled."

He yelped, throwing the rag into the air in his haste to hide what he'd been working on. It fluttered to the floor harmlessly, and then Shigure finally slammed the door open and thrust himself into the room.

"Out!" Kyo slammed his fist down on the desk with a heretofore unknown expression of anger marring his handsome face.

Fuko cringed and the bodyguard ducked back. "She got around me, sir, I—"

"Out! She can stay, you get out!"

Shigure made a sound of disbelief, but then he nodded hurriedly and stepped back out into the hall.

The door closed and then Fuko sank slowly down into a seated position on the other side of the desk. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "He said you didn't want to be disturbed and I—"

"Don't worry about it." Kyo sighed and drew a hand over his face. They sat quietly until she tried to offer another apology, but he waved that one away as well. "Forget it. I forgive you." He gave her a smile that had only half of the easy charm that they usually contained. "What was it you wanted?"

"I…" Fuko trailed off, frowning. Kyo looked exhausted. The slight touch of his aura as it had flared in anger gave more evidence to that effect. Seeing her friend in this state completely soured the idea of discussing her own petty problems. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He gave a little laugh. "That was nothing. I yell at Shigure constantly. It's a wonder he hasn't poisoned my dinner yet."

"Kyo…," Fuko glanced away from his tired face and fiddled with some of the shavings littering the low table. "Something's the matter. I'm here if you want to talk about it, but you don't have to if it's too personal."

"There's nothing to talk about, dear friend. You're off to the Western Lands to be with your Lord Sesshomaru, and I'm the leader of an entire community with a perfectly capable vixen working at my side. What could possibly be the matter?"

Fuko smiled weakly, feeling suddenly just as tired as he looked. "That-That sounded like sarcasm."

"Did it?" Nomukyo turned away from her suddenly. "Since you've weaseled your way into my office, I might as well give you your parting gift now. I did not quite have the time to stain it as I wanted, but…"

Fuko sensed his reluctance and relented. She was willing to shift her attention from him for a moment. When he brought his gift up from its temporary hiding spot, she immediately melted and cooed at the small wooden figurine he had carved. It was a fox sitting primly with its thick, luxurious tail wrapped about its paws. Its eyes were slitted closed in happiness and its mouth hung slightly ajar, perhaps caught mid laugh. The detail was incredible and the sweep of the head and ears were so exquisite and stylized that she likened it to museum or gallery art.

"Kyo! This is amazing! You're so good!"

He bowed his head and smiled honestly for the first time since she barged in. "Am I?"

"Pfft! Look at that face. You know you are. Kyo, this is just… beautiful!" She showered him with praise for a few minutes more and by the end of it, he was laughing. Eventually, she asked, "Hey, did you carve any of the statues that were in the bedroom you put me in?"

"Hm? No, I didn't."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." He seemed to somber just a little bit. "Unfortunately, I don't have much time for such hobbies. I...make time for it on occasion, but these opportunities are few and far between."

"That's too bad. It's really amazing. This work seems so familiar. I want to say I've seen something like this before."

The very air in the office stilled. Fuko's ears piqued and she looked up from the figurine and into her friend's wide eyes, which seemed to be trying way too hard to impart the message that nothing alarming had been said.

"Kyyyoooo…?" Fuko held up her gift and arched a brow at him. "Have I seen work like this before?"

He glanced away, tittering good-naturedly. "You might have. Who's to say? My designs are not particularly unique—"

She began scooching around the edge of the desk and whispering. "Kyyyooooo! Where have I seen this before? Tell me! Tell me. You can tell me. Tell me!"

He put up his hands, trying to defend himself from her insistence. "Fuko—"

"Nomukyo!"

"Alright!" He fought a smile even as he growled in frustration. "Calm down, will you? Come with me."

The seven-tailed fox took her free hand, stood, and yanked her up to her feet. They went out unto the balcony then, which was a surprise for Fuko. Was what he was about to tell her such a big secret that they had to magically ensure their words weren't overheard?

"So." Kyo said after a pause. He leaned on the railing, looking out over the city. "I have what you might call a secret identity."

Fuko's mouth fell open. "No way!"

"Yes." He scrubbed a hand over his lower jaw. "Every now and then, when I can schedule or force an absence from my duties as leader of Kamikakushi, I disappear into the streets so that I may live another life."

"Are you a vigilante super hero?!"

"What?" Nomukyo straightened, his tails going limp and trailing to the ground as he glanced over his shoulder at her. "No…?"

"N-no? Ha ha, sorry. It's just, you were looking out over the city so broodingly—never mind that. Um, who are you when you're someone else, then?"

He laughed softly and then gave a flourishing bow as he introduced himself. "I am the traveling artist Osamu. You might know me best by my toys."

She jabbed a finger at his face. "Toys by Osamu! I—That was you? I knew it was you."

"You did! It feels good to tell someone. I cannot tell you how surprised I was, not only to see you walk into my shop—alive!—but to be called by my true name while I was disguised. Never before have I been recognized. I've sold jewelry to my own flesh and blood and they did not see me for who I was. How did you know?"

"Well, you looked like I imagined you would."

He blinked. "How's that?"

"When I first started thinking that I might never see you again, I imagined how your entire life would go. I guess that I wanted something to reference. I never thought that you would lose your fur. You know, I thought you would grow up to be a martial artist who ran a school for all the demon kids. Silly, right? But, you did become an artist at least! That's so cool. But, what's with all the subterfuge? Why do you have to hide it?"

Nomukyo glanced away from her, looking again to the sprawling demon city. "I told you before that I founded this place over three-hundred years ago. I had the support of my parents and of my entire clan, but I was always at the helm. I was driven—I worked hard to get the city to the point of widespread renown. Every manner of youkai began petitioning to gain citizenship, whole tribes migrated in and flourished. I was proud. But then, Tatsuya was killed and the entirety of the Ii-Kitsune clan came to me as refugees. The elders sought out that alliance with the Golden Foxes. I was a party to the negotiations of course, but I didn't think beyond the numbers of the situation, what the Golden Foxes could offer the city, how our population would recover with the influx of females. When Jiang came back with me to the city, I just felt all the weight of what I'd taken on at once. I began resenting my own success. I realized that Kamikakushi would keep on growing, would keep getting more demanding, and that this vixen I barely knew would be forever in my life, that we would have kits and I would not have the time to know them, and then I would burden them with this place once I died. I realized that my future was being cemented before me. I thought, haven't I already given everything to the city? I dreamt of walking away from all of it. The stress became so much that I started locking myself up in my office, started carving wood to busy my hands. Some of my early work was good, good enough that I saw a different life in it. I devised my alter ego over the course of a single night. A traveling artist, who could be more free and whimsical, what life could be more opposite to the one I had built around myself? ... I'm an ungrateful bastard, I know. I've enjoyed wealth and comfort, tasted power that others only dream of, and now I whine to be rid of it. But, I cannot shake how I feel."

Fuko stepped forward and touched his back. "I understand."

He glanced at her. "Do you?"

"Yes."

He sighed. "How can you? You are free of everything, not even the earth beneath your feet can hold you. You are so open and cheerful—you laugh so freely. You don't have to lie to everyone constantly just to uphold an image. I envy that about you, I truly do."

Fuko dropped her hand. Hearing his opinion of her, that he thought of her as someone who was free, it hurt. It was worse than false, it was vitally wrong. But, she quailed that hurt response. He didn't mean to wound her, he just didn't know what she'd been through or the promises she had made. "Kyo, I'm not as free as you think."

"No. You're right." He shook his head. "There is that demon lord who means to domesticate you. That—that just seems untenable to me. I cannot imagine you as a pampered lady, locked behind castle walls. It's just so unlike you." He turned to face her fully. "It has occurred to me…"

She had not been thinking of Sesshomaru when she thought of her limitations, but the feverish excitement in her friends gaze put her off correcting him. "What?"

"It has occurred to me—we could leave together."

"Huh?"

"You say that you do not want the life that Lord Sesshomaru has laid out for you. I could be your way out, if you would be mine. We could just leave this place together and never look back."

"You mean, run away from home? Kyo, you've asked me about this before…"

In a silent moment, they both recalled the time that he had come to her in tears after another defeat at the hands of his cousin Tatsuya. He had carried a bag filled with food over one shoulder and a bag filled with toys over the other. Even in her youth, Fuko had said it was a probably a dumb idea to run away from home. Then, she had vowed to go with him and protect him from his dumbness. They had headed south. But, they never made it beyond the territories of his family.

"I remember now. You ate all the food."

"You gave it to me!"

"To hold, Fuko. I gave it to you to hold."

"Right. Sorry about that…"

Frustrated, he spun away from her and punched the railing, cracking the painted wood in his vehemence. "Is that a no, then? Is it still a dumb idea?"

Fuko stepped up beside him and looked out over Kamikakushi. The urban sprawl stretched for miles. The mass of life was staggering. It was hard for her to imagine all the work that must have gone into it, though she'd seen cities rise up from dust before. "It's not a dumb idea, not if you really believe in it. But, I don't think you do."

"What makes you say that?"

"It's like before. You could have given me the toys to hold, but you gave me the food. You didn't really want to leave."

He snorted. "We're not children anymore."

"That's what I mean. You built another life for yourself to get away, but your shop is here, Osamu. Your castle is here, Kyo. You earned this place. You've worked so hard. Why should you be the one to leave?"

He paused, trying to puzzle out her meaning. "You're… saying I should send Jiang back to the mainland?"

"Noooo. I mean, if that's what you really want to do, go for it, but I think what you really need is to start delegating some of the responsibility around here."

"It's not as simple as that."

"Isn't it? You might think that only you can do all of it, but I'm certain that you know people who are capable of taking on small facets of your job. With every little thing you take off of yourself, you'll feel that much lighter."

He sighed slowly. "You think?"

"I really do."

He nodded. "I will… I will consider it." They were quiet for a moment, and then he turned to her. "And you? Will you become domesticated?"

Fuko laughed softly and shook her head. "Pfft. I can handle Sesshomaru. We're friends." She nudged him. "Maybe that's what you need."

"I don't think he wants me for a friend."

"No, dummy. Listen, I haven't really spoken to Jiang, but it doesn't sound like you have either. Forget about the obligation you have to your families. Do you think you could get to know her? Is it impossible for you two to become friends?

"Well, nothing's impossible, but—"

She waved a hand in his face. "Ehhh! Quiet, naysayer. Try it. No matter what you decide in the end, it will be easier if you can see eye to eye with her."

Kyo growled as he imagined courting Jiang. The very idea seemed grueling. He snorted, flipped his hair back from his face, and then sighed, "Can't we just run away together?

Fuko punched him. Lightly.

He took a swipe at her, which she ducked, and then they devolved into laughter. His form was really terrible and she told him so. They laughed harder. Perhaps the situation didn't call for it, nothing particularly hilarious had just been said, but it was such a relief to laugh.

"Alright, stop," Kyo sputtered. "We'll drive ourselves insane if-if we don't stop. Ha! Perhaps we are insane already."

Fuko put her head down on the railing and hummed, fighting back hysteria.

"Ha, hmm." He took a deep breath. "Yes. Very good." The fox straightened, a hand on his quivering stomach. "Now, didn't you come here for something?"

"Oh. Oh, I did. I…" Fuko shook her head. She didn't want to dissect what had happened last night, not after doling out life advice as if she knew what the heck she was talking about. It was too embarrassing. "I just wanted to talk to you alone before I go. Sesshomaru should be up soon. "

"Well. It's been quite the talk, hasn't it?"

"Eh. I've had better."

"You wound me."

"Seriously. Kyo, I'm going to miss you. And you got me this gift—Here, let me make you something."

He watched her tuck the statuette into a pocket in her clothes and then she rooted around in there for something else. "What will you make?" he asked. "I did not give you a gift just to have one returned."

"I know. I want to give you something. It will only take a second. I think I…" Her hand landed on the rough piece of crystal left over from the fate-touched sorceress' orb and she drew it out, but then she paused when she saw what it was. "Oh, I can't use this. Sorry. You wouldn't happen to have a precious gem or geode laying around would you?"

"…What is that?"

"Just something that I'm making for Sesshomaru. I have to start this one over. I'll do that later, but I wanted to make you one so that—"

"Fuko. Do you know what that is?"

"Um…" Fuko's brows slowly lifted as she took in her friend's tone and expression. "Yeah. It's a summoning stone. It's fox magic. What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I don't… I don't understand." Very gently, as if the solid crystalline rock might shatter, Kyo touched it, and then turned her hand so it lay on her palm. "This isn't the first one you've made. Is it?"

"No."

"How many?"

"Kyo, you're making me nervous."

"Tell me."

"I don't know! Maybe… a couple dozen?"

He sucked in a breath and closed his eyes. His words came in a harsh whisper. "A couple dozen hoshi no tama..."

"Star jewel? It's a summoning stone, mostly. I just use them to find people again. I don't make them too often anymore. Just a few in the past century…Kyo?"

"Fuko. Any fox with the power to make hoshi no tama is taught first never to make more than nine in their lifetime. You've made… dozens? Listen to me, you can never make another. They're destroying you."

The demoness reacted the only way she could, with disbelief. She shook her head patiently, held the youki-charged crystal up so he could really see it, and then tried to explain to him the harmlessness of the magic she used. She had been making them for most of her life. Perhaps star jewels were dangerous, but this object could not be a star jewel because she'd never heard of such a thing—she had just guessed at the possibility of summoning stones from the simple fox magic he had taught her. He countered, telling her that the hoshi no tama was a higher, arguably the highest form of fox magic. The danger of them did not lie in the magic alone. They required a sacrifice of self. Star jewels draw in a portion of the maker's spirit. He took the crystal from her and titled it to the rising sun behind them, challenging her to explain the demonic energies trapped inside and her means of putting them there. She began to articulate the process, but she only got a few steps in before he shook his head, thrust the crystal back at her, and told her in no uncertain terms that she had rediscovered how to make the hoshi no tama from its component processes.

"Okay!" she finally snapped. "Maybe that is what this is, but that doesn't mean they're hurting me! I told you, I've been making them since I was little. Wouldn't I be weakened or dead if they were dangerous?"

He shook his head slowly. "I think—I am afraid that you have been weakened." Over her indignant protests, he continued, "Fuko! I have not remarked on it, but it is plain to see that you are much too young for your age! I do not refer to your personality, I mean your appearance, your aura—I am not an expert on natural growth in dog demons, but you must realize the difference between us! We were the same age when we met and now you seem at least a century younger than I. I did not think it was you when we met at first." When she tried to interrupt, he squeezed her wrist. "Tell me, has it never occurred to you that you are not growing as you should?"

"I-I don't know. When you're small, you always wonder when you'll grow, but I'm grown now so—"

"Barely! No offence meant, but something is clearly wrong. Fuko, I am no healer. Even if I was, you need a specialist. We need to find you a doctor."

"But I feel fine!"

As she said this, there was a sharp knock at the door of the office and both of them turned abruptly to look. Shigure's voice rang out, announcing that Lord Sesshomaru had come to collect his companion.

Alarmed, she spun to face him and grabbed him by the front of his jacket. "Don't tell him! Don't say anything! He'd just over react."

"One cannot over react to this!" But then he glanced again at the door and relented immediately. "I won't tell, but—"

"Thank you."

He growled. "You cannot make another jewel, Fuko. Don't. With every one, you are doing damage to yourself. It could be irreparable."

There came another knock along with Shigure's prodding, "Sir?"

Nomukyo gave Fuko one last stern look and then moved toward the door, calling for them to come in.

Sesshomaru entered ahead of the body guard, his sharp gaze sliding between the fox and his chosen demoness. He had been deeply displeased to wake up and find her gone. Faced with them now and noting the subdued atmosphere in the room, he guessed immediately that he had interrupted some serious discussion. But, he refrained from commenting. Instead, he approached wordlessly and took Fuko's hand.

Nomukyo greeted the Western Lord evenly and remained business-like and cordial as he then waved all those in his office toward the exit. "I understand that you wanted to leave at first light. I have one more thing to do here, and then I'll escort you two to the gate, if you would not mind wanting for me. I'll meet you in the courtyard. Shigure, would you shut the door on your way out? Thank you."

Sesshomaru agreed and Fuko wave goodbye as he drew her out of the office. Shigure slid the door closed behind him as he was bidden to do, and then he leaned against it, looking at them with clear distrust. He had been told to ensure his masters privacy and they had both gotten passed him, her with trickery, him with blatant threats. Were he asked his opinion about it, the brawny fox would say it was for the best that these two dog demons were on their way out of the city.

Sesshomaru was not concerned with how he might have offended the body guard. He led Fuko further down the hall and around a corner, toward the courtyard. Once they had a fair amount of privacy, he asked, "What were you two talking about?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. Don't worry about it."

He halted immediately, turned toward her and stepped into her space until she was backed against a wall. His tone was low and firm and his gaze was direct as he said, "Fuko. If you feel I went too far last night, I am the one who needs to be told. Do not tattle to outsiders about our private doings."

She bristled and lowered her voice as well. "I didn't tattle."

"You ran off before I awoke and I found you whispering in his company. It was 'girl-talk' the last time, what else am I to think?"

Fuko glanced away, reddening. "We weren't talking about you. Last night was—I don't want to talk about that at all, so why would I bring it up?"

He touched her chin lightly and tilted her face up. "Do not wander off without me–Look at me."

She stopped trying to twist away and glared up at him. His eyes darkened and he leaned toward her, but she bared her teeth and growled softly.

He drew back. "Was last night truly not to your liking? You are a passionate girl. How is it that you are so easily shocked?"

Fuko finally reached up and pushed his hand away, muttering, "Pervert. Who wouldn't be shocked after a stunt like that?" She eased out from between him and wall, began moving down the hall. "I didn't even think of sex before you, okay? I knew about it, learned about it, but it was never something that involved me."

He followed her closely, one hand reaching out to rest on her lower back. "And now how do you think of it?"

She didn't answer him. Instead, she took a left turn down an interior hallway, then another left at the next junction.

Finally, he prodded her, "Fuko."

"Shut up already." She stopped suddenly at the next fork in the path.

Shigure was still leaning against the door to Nomukyo's office and he looked at them, clearly wondering why they were back just moments after leaving.

Fuko sighed and gestured for Sesshomaru to go ahead of her. "If you don't lead the way, we're just going to go in circles. I don't have any idea where I'm going."

The daiyoukai stepped forward, took her arm, and began leading the way toward the main court yard. He was quite willing to take her words as an answer to his question, though he knew that was not how she meant them.

When Kyo met them at the gate soon after, it did not feel as though they were about to say goodbye. He swept around them with his usual energy and led them out onto the city streets. It was not as if they did not speak of the coming separation. It was just that they spoke mostly of the next time they would meet. Fuko listened eagerly to him describe how the city changed with the seasons and how annual parties could take over the streets. He exclaimed and apologized over how little he had actually showed them. "I suppose next time we will not feel so deep an urge to lounge about, reminiscing and recounting our past. You haven't even seen one of the Musical Academy shows, and for that I truly apologize."

"Are they special?"

"Are they special! Dear friend, I would say half the tourists that come to the city are drawn in by the Musical Academy. And, I really think it's past time for you to meet my parents. Next time, right?"

"Right!"

They arrived at the gate too quickly, this one markedly different from the one Fuko and Sesshomaru had entered the city through. It was an arch of rough cut granite blocks, each one no more than four or five inches across. Kyo called it the Keystone Gate, and as they approached, the gate keeper walked out to meet them with a cane in hand. He was a bent old fox with only a single tail, but Fuko was pretty sure that this was not his true appearance. Kyo greeted him respectfully and called for the gate be opened onto the portal within the Western Lands.

While the old gate keeper turned to his work, Kyo turned to Fuko once more and clapped her on the shoulder. As affected as his affability was with those he did business with, that was how sincere his easy smile was now. "I expect that I'll see you again soon." He wagged a finger in her face. "Don't disappoint me."

She ducked her head. "I know, I know. I'll be back, definitely."

Then, he sobered a bit, though his face did not change. He remarked on how good it would be for her to learn about her own kind, to be among dog demons, and to gather knowledge. He gazed at her intently as he asked her to promise she would do everything in her power to learn all that she could.

She understood his deeper meaning. "I will, I promise. And, thanks for the statue."

"No thanks needed. Just keep it with you."

"I will."

Behind them, the gate had been prepared. Like before, when Fuko looked into it she saw a void, but this one was as eerily silent as the other had been cacophonous. Sesshomaru stepped up to her side and took her arm.

"Ah! Here I have been a poor host again." Kyo stepped back and waved to the silent daiyoukai. "Farewell to you, Lord Sesshomaru. The invitation to visit is open to you as well, of course."

Sesshomaru stared at him for a moment before acknowledging his words with a nod.

Fuko clung tightly to Sesshomaru's side as he moved to walk into the void, but she called over her shoulder to her childhood friend, "Later, Kyo! See you later!"

"Until next time." The fox waved.

The gate swallow them then and he dropped his hand. He felt loneliness, though Shigure stood constantly at his side. He felt worry, though she walked with one of the most powerful daiyoukai in the world. Nomukyo took a breath and resolved to let those things go. As he turned away, back toward his castle and the life he had built and was still building, he said again, "Until next time, dear friend. Until next time."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Fuko and Sesshomaru stepped out onto a field of tall grass upon a sweep of rolling hills, and they were not alone. Sanjuro and his three dog soldiers sat waiting upon a nearby cluster of rocks. Sesshomaru growled quietly. It was enough to catch her ears and make them twitch, but it was too quiet for others to hear.

She was tugged along as he began to stride toward the other dog demons. While they made their approach, she glanced around searchingly. Everything she had been told led her to believe that she now walked on Western soil, but the low hills and the thick woods beyond seemed just the same as other meadows and forests they had traveled through in the past. It was even possible that they had been here before—but, no. Surely Sesshomaru would have said something if they had been here before.

Sanjuro and his soldiers bowed to them and called a greeting as they came within speaking distance. Fuko bobbed her head out of her own sense of politeness and she wasn't surprised when Sesshomaru simply began issuing orders without any sort of nicety. At first he was distrustful. He demanded to know why they had waited here for them. Once the dog scout explained that they were there to offer an escort to the Western Sky Castle, Sesshomaru seemed satisfied. He ordered them to travel on ahead, as no escort was necessary. The scout graciously agreed and bid them safe travels, then he took off with the three young soldiers following on his heels.

The whole exchange seemed odd to Fuko. Once they were alone, she asked why his mother's soldiers would assume that he needed an escort and why he had sent them away even if they didn't. They were going to the same place, after all. Why not travel together?

Sesshomaru still had ahold of her hand, but instead of tugging her along like a reluctant child, he let her walk at his side. "There is the chance that you could be targeted before we reach my mother's holding. Such tactics might be waylaid with a show of force, such as an entourage, but I would rather we travel alone. I am confident in your ability to fend off any attackers."

"Oh! Thanks for the vote of confidence, but who's supposed to be attacking me, exactly?"

He glanced down at her. "There are certain things you should know before we venture into my mother's territory…"

They walked for over an hour while Sesshomaru lectured her. Mostly he explained the likely reception she would receive among the inu daiyoukai at his mother's castle while Fuko tried to listen without interrupting too much. He said that she should not expect anyone to be friendly toward her, not until some time had passed. There were certain demons who he assumed would treat her more kindly than others, but that kindness should not be interpreted as anything other than self-preservation on their part. He paused after giving this warning and its lengthy explanation, but he could not tell how much of what he said was taken to heart. She was listening, however, so he resolved to revisit that discussion as needed. He pressed on and began listing a lot of names. Some were given context, most were left at a name and brief description of rank. With his impressive economy of words, he described how each of these demons should be treated, which of them to be cordial to, which to be merely polite to, and which to ignore.

It all sounded very bleak to Fuko. She could appreciate some measure of short hand, but she at least wanted to form a little bit of her own opinion about the dozens of people Sesshomaru listed off. Or just the opposite. What if she chose to never meet these people? Then, all this information would be moot.

They emerged from the thick forest onto a cliff edge and she stopped. Stretching, surveying the wide swath of land that lay below them, she asked, "Is all this really necessary for me to know? You said your clan has vast libraries. That's what I want."

Sesshomaru paused on the precipice of the overhang and glanced back at her with some measure of drollness. "You think to bypass everyone and everything and go directly to the library of all places?"

She pouted. "Can't I? I need to begin my research. That's why I'm here in the first place."

He turned and strolled toward her. "What of the challenge you so eagerly received?"

"Pfft. Like I knew what the letter would say. I wouldn't have been so eager if you had let me see your mom's letter. Anyway, your ego's big enough as it is. Do you really need two girls to fight over you?"

He circled her, prompting her to turn with him. "Yuri of the Southern House will not let things lie between you. I would not be surprised if she attempts to attack before we even reach the castle."

Fuko frowned. "See, that's what confuses me. There is no 'between us!' She has no idea who I am!"

Sesshomaru chuckled softly at that and laid a hand on top of her head, between her ears. "She knows that you walk with me and that is all she needs in order to target you."

"So, you admit that this is all your fault!" Fuko shook her head but had to reach up to fully dislodge his hand. "When I see her, I'll just tell her that she can have you and that will be the end of it."

All at once, the amusement and playfulness in his manner drained away and he took a step back from her. Fuko froze, blinking at him. It had been a long time since he looked at her with such coolness, with a face so devoid of emotion. Worse yet, there was the reaction he could not hide, the emotions that the youki stone showed her. There was the usual anger, but it was muted. He was severely disappointed and wary as he looked at her now.

"Was that a jest? Would you really injure me that way?"

Her ears flattened slowly to her skull. "What do you mean?"

Sesshomaru began pacing around her again. The level of his scrutiny was inimical, though nothing showed in his face. "How do you think those words might reflect on me? If you were to say such a thing to the heir of the Southern Lands, 'I'll not fight for him. He is not worth the effort?' If such words were spread among my clan and in lands beyond these, can you not imagine how that might affect my reputation?"

Fuko swallowed slowly. She knew how much his reputation meant to him, but she couldn't help feeling trapped by his words. "'Shomaru. You're not being fair. You know that if I fight for you, it's just going to give everyone the wrong idea about us."

A growl backed his words as he spoke, "And what exactly would this 'wrong idea' be? That I am courting you, or that I am worth more to you than the dirt beneath your feet?"

She could only shake her head. The courtship was not her choice, but of course he meant more to her than a stranger, let alone dirt. They were friends, weren't they? "I'm not trying to 'besmirch your name' or anything like that. Do you really think that I would?"

"Unthinkingly, yes. I believe you could say any number of things that would injure me."

She shuffled her feet, taking a step back from him. "Dammit, Sesshomaru. I'm not going to lie about it."

He stopped his circling and stepped into her space. "Am I asking you to?"

Her spine straightened immediately. He could be offended all he wanted, but she wouldn't let him bully her. "Essentially! You want me to fight this girl on her terms, winner gets to be your girlfriend, and then not tell anyone that I don't want that title? Listen, I'll fight for you as a friend, but I—"

"That is all that I ask. Do not make of this some epic romantic duel. This challenge and any others you may face will just be a bid on their part to raise their station in society. They have no personal interest in either of us. "

"You can say that all you want, but you know everyone's going to think we're—"

"That is inconsequential. We know where we stand with one another."

Fuko huffed. "Do we?"

They stared at each other for a long while, both searching the other's face pensively. Sesshomaru was the one to relent. He glanced away from her and said, "We do. I am cognizant of the fact that I have yet to earn your consideration. I would hope that you could acknowledge my continued effort."

She sighed, letting herself relax. "You've made it impossible to ignore. I won't change my mind, you know."

"I will not give up."

Fuko glanced away from him then, down at the scrubby grass beneath their feet. There was a sense of danger in those words that she hadn't caught on those previous occasions when he had said them to her. Now she knew just how stubborn he could be, much more than her. This was a guy who was absolutely relentless.

"Fuko."

Her ears flicked forward. "Huh? What now?"

"If I were to offer you ten favors to be collected at a later time, would you obey me without question for the rest of the day?"

Alarmed, she looked up at him, but his gaze was focused on something high up and in the distance. She followed his line of sight and searched the skies. "What's wrong?"

"Answer me quickly."

"No, 'Shomaru. Now, what are you looking—"

"Twenty favors. Will you take that deal?"

"No! If you need me to do something, just ask, alright?"

As she said this, a large shadow became visible through the clouds on the horizon. Fuko stiffened and, a second later, a grand white dog dipped out of cloud cover and sprinted through the air toward them. At this distance it seemed huge, but as it got closer and the surprise wore off, Fuko could tell that the daiyoukai streaking toward them was not really leviathan in stature. It was maybe even a little smaller than she was in her true form.

"Who is that!?"

"That is my mother. Fuko, I need you to follow my lead."

"I'll do it. You don't have to bribe me with favors."

He threw her such a look then. It said many things, foremost of which seemed to be 'Don't I?'.

"Oh, come on. I'm not difficult all the time."

Now his look became one of disbelief, but he did not speak to his doubts. He said, "Stay here," and then he launched himself off the edge of the cliff.

As he transformed midair, he cursed inwardly, regretting that his private moment with Fuko had come to an end. He had learned from their argument just seconds ago that whatever preparatory work he had spent the last hour doing was but a drop of water in the pail of milk that was her attitude towards others. He realized now that he should have done more to teach her earlier on, but that could hardly be done with his mother listening in.

They were only an hour or two from the Sky Castle. He could not be sure of his mother's motivation in coming to greet them like this, but at least he had some sort of assurance that Fuko would follow his direction for a time. She would be fine so long as no particularly cunning creature got her alone.

From where Fuko stood, it looked like Sesshomaru had exploded into a titanic ball of glorious white fur. She had to steel herself against the pulse of demonic energy that flowed out of him and she squinted her eyes to try and make sense of his body. She was too close to tell what was what. Then, as the beast that he had become and truthfully always had been rose into the air with impressive speed and earth-shaking power, his form coalesced into a magnificent mane and a sweeping tail, a proud, deep chest with wide shoulders and a long, aristocratic snout. He was beautiful, like a fluffy cloud given substance. But then, that was hardly an apt comparison when every line and angle of him bespoke his raw power and his predatory nature as he loped across the sky toward the approaching demoness.

She felt sudden heat touching her face and neck, and Fuko reached up to pat her cheeks. This was the first time she had seen Sesshomaru in his true form. He looked just like himself, except—something was a little off. She looked again at the him, now as he reached the other daiyoukai, his mother, and bounded around her in an odd dance that seemed uncharacteristically friendly. Her gaze landed on the floaty, floppy ears that both inu shared, and she let out a wild exuberant laugh. Cute! That was just adorable!

For some reason, she had imagined Sesshomaru with serious, standing-up ears. From this distance it even looked like the fur thickened at the end of his, creating a pom-pom effect. "'Shomaru! Really?" Fuko began to pace excitedly back and forth along the cliff's edge. "That's just too much! How can you take yourself seriously with ears like that?" She really wanted to join the two dogs. She couldn't fly, but she could jump and run on the air if she needed to. Why had he asked her to stay here? "Arg. Come back here already! I want to make fun of you…"

It was perhaps for the best that Sesshomaru was not close enough to hear her first reaction to his true form. He was focused on his mother and the nicety of greeting her. Their paths through the sky wound together, teeth were bared, roaring barks exchanged, and then his mother's focus shifted and her trajectory tilted toward the ground. More specifically, she headed for the cliff where his chosen female waited. Growling softly, he raced to reach her first.

It should have been terrifying to see a huge inu who she had never met before rushing at her from out of the sky, but Fuko was in too good a humor. Also, there was her natural resistance to intimidation. So, when Sesshomaru's mother circled her once like a bird of prey and then landed before her with a blast of wind, she smiled. Part of the cliff crumbled away under her feet, but she casually side-stepped potential landslide and walked toward the demoness. She looked so elegant and fierce with the same sleek white fur and aristocratic snout as her son. She was more slightly built and her markings were in slightly different places, but they both had the same crescent moon on their brow. The sense of Sesshomaru's wild, raw power gave way to greater maturity and regality in his dam.

Fuko blinked up at the huge dog and waved cheerily. "Hi! Nice to meet you. You're Sesshomaru's mom?"

The grand demoness loomed over her. Her eyes were walls of lurid red with pin-pricks of black in their center and her gaze was focused intensely on her. In response to her greeting, her maw opened wider and showed more jagged teeth—Fuko wondered, was that a smile? If so, maybe this was the source of Sesshomaru's own unnerving expressions of happiness. Even when he was deeply pleased, there was something simply unwholesome about his smile.

Behind her, Sesshomaru shrank back into his humanoid form and moved to stand beside her. After another moment, his mother changed as well. In their humanoid forms, the resemblance was just as striking. As Fuko got her first look at how gorgeous the Lady of the Western Lands was, how richly she was dressed, and how much her friend took after her, Sesshomaru began making introductions.

"Mother. This is my intended, Fuko of the North. Fuko, this is my mother, Lady Kimiko of the Western Lands, Matriarch to the House of the Moon."

Fuko's ears flicked downward unhappily at the word 'intended,' but she pushed that aside for the moment and waved again, this time with both hands. "Hello."

Lady Kimiko blinked slowly, her expression inscrutable in a familiar sort of way, and then she made a noise that was partly bored, partly derisive, and entirely too familiar —"Hn."

Fuko's eyes brighten and one hand immediately shot up to cover her mouth. Damn. She really couldn't start laughing. This would be the worse time to start laughing. She would never be able to explain why she was losing her mind—except if she could impress upon them how often the fleeting thought that Sesshomaru would make a pretty girl crossed her mind, and then here was his mom to prove how natural such a transition might look. How could she explain that, with just that noise, the idea of a female Sesshomaru was firmly lodged in her brain.

Lady Kimiko raised her brows, taking in the manic energy of this strange girl's aura and the obvious grin she was attempting to hide. Sesshomaru chose to stare straight ahead as if this was normal.

"Son." She said after a moment of watching the girl stand frozen. "Are you sure that you have chosen wisely?"

For the first time in a long while, Sesshomaru's youki expanded into Fuko's and nudged her uncomfortably. Recognizing the reproof, she tried to collect herself while he replied, "She is more capable than she appears."

His mother gave a put-upon sigh, eyed Fuko for a moment longer, and then turned away in complete dismissal. "If you quite sure, then let us be on our way. There has been quite the stir among the nobles of our house and outsiders have come to investigate the rumors. I find that far too many demonesses have descended on my castle seeking your 'intended'." As she said this, her feet lifted off the ground and a wisp of cloud formed under her.

Sesshomaru seized Fuko and tucked her against him, and then they glided up through the air after his mother on his own cloud of youki.

Fuko stretched up and tried to whisper in his ear over the roar of the wind, "I'm sorry! It's just—it's usually you who makes that noise!"

He glanced down at her.

She huffed at his bland look. "Oh, you know! That noise you make! That 'hn!' Anyway, I was just surprised, so I won't be weird next time. Promise."

Sesshomaru shifted her in his grip, tucking her more firmly under his arm as he resisted rolling his eyes. He sincerely doubted that this was the end of her awkward behavior.

They flew for a long while, maintaining a height above the cloud line. The brief flashes of land that were visible below shifted between forest, lake, and craggy hillside. Then, they approached a mountain range and began gaining altitude exponentially. Fuko leaned away from Sesshomaru to see where they were going and rather than restrain her, he simply hooked his hand inside of her obi and let her look. He could have told her that there was not much to see until they entered the barrier, but he could guess that she would look anyway.

The change was sudden when it came. Just as it seemed that the earth and even the mountains were falling away below them and they would breach the stratosphere, a sensation of cold pressure flowed over them and a forest sprang into view. Fuko jumped in his arms and said something, but the wind carried away her exact words. He could guess that she was surprised and impressed, for it was an impressive sight. The lands surrounding the Western Sky Castle were vast considering the limitations of the power and magic that had been harvested to isolate this section of the world from the land around it. To enter such a place without knowing it was there would be understandably shocking.

It was only a little while longer spent flying over cultivated woods and manicured meadows before the actual structure of the Western Sky Castle became visible in the distance, and even then they flew over a few small hamlets before they reached the actual castle grounds. It was the definition of splendor and class, with white walls and the darkest blue slate tiling on the many peaked roofs. Demons moved between the different buildings, specks growing larger and more detailed as Sesshomaru descended over the castle grounds. A great many goods were being transported from here to there. Fuko had to wonder if they were preparing for a party or some festival. It didn't seem like this level of activity should be the day-to-day goings on.

As they swooped lower, the demons on the ground looked up and then bowed deeply when they saw who flew overhead. They were servants and vassals of Lady Kimiko and they offered her the deepest respect, but it was not hard to catch the excited exclamations amid the din of voices— "The young lord! It's Lord Sesshomaru! He's here!"

Fuko leaned back into Sesshomaru's side as they slowed and glided over a castle wall, into a more quiet area. Her mind wandered and she thought to herself that her grumpy friend was known as the Lord of the West, but really he was more like a prince. It was an easy conclusion to reach considering his own description of his situation. He had explained to her before that he did not currently have lands or holdings of his own. He was a figure head of the House of the Moon, slated to rule the entirety of the Western Lands as its heir, but he was not yet given such a responsibility. It was basically a matter of his choice when he took on that role. Under these conditions, he was the prince and his mom was the queen—and so he wanted her to be his princess? Bah!

She glanced up at him critically. This was no fairy tale. He did not satisfy any classical princely role. Except for his abiding arrogance and his exasperating habit of being proficient at whatever he did, he just lacked the right characteristics. In fact, if she measured him up against all the princely-types that she had read about or seen portrayed though one media or another, he seemed rather more like a villain. Or a brooding anti-hero, and that was being generous.

She wondered why it was that she liked him. She could even admit to admiring him, though she wouldn't say such a thing to his face. She felt that it was important that they were friends, but why was that? He was so prickly. Even as he insisted that they were courting, he was irritable and liked picking fights with her. He had yet to do anything romantic (unless one considered blatant and persistent sexual advances as romantic). He hadn't given her gifts or said anything particularly nice. Wasn't that weird? Didn't he know how to treat a girl that he liked?

Fuko sighed to herself as they landed in a courtyard surrounded on all four sides by tall buildings. Maybe there was something she wasn't understanding. While she was researching her family, her penchant for getting lost, and proper inu youkai developmental arcs, she should probably research traditional demon courtship. Kyo had mentioned something about being able to reject Sesshomaru's suit somehow. There had to be a book about that somewhere.

Soon after they alighted and the youki cloud under their feet dissipated, two slim, pale young demoness exited one of the buildings and bowed to them. They chorused, "Welcome back, milady. Greetings, milord and guest."

Lady Kimiko swept passed them, calling over her shoulder, "I suggest that you two cleanse yourselves of the scent of the road. I will await you in the interior receiving room." She glanced back briefly and eyed Fuko as she added, "There will be many who will come to see you and pass judgment. It would be best if you were to change into something more suitable."

Fuko blinked and looked down at her clothes, but Sesshomaru grabbed her wrist and led her off toward another structure before she could even formulate a response to his mother's curt suggestion. They had turned down two hallways and gone up a couple flights of stairs before she asked, "'Shomaru, do I stink? Are my clothes really lame?"

Sesshomaru paused in the middle of the stairway and looked back at her. "Your clothing is appropriate for travel and your scent is indicative of your strength."

Her ears bobbed. He led on and they reached the third floor and then went down another hall before she sputtered, "H-hey! You didn't answer either of my questions."

He halted before a sliding door and opened it. "I did."

"You didn't."

He reached over, placed a hand on her shoulder, and then started to shove her into the open doorway. "In."

There was a moment of instinctive resistance before she moved forward under her own power. "I'm going! Don't push me, Sesshomaru, use your words!"

He entered behind her and snapped the door shut again. "You do not listen to my words."

"I do."

"You do not."

The bickering continued as they moved through Sesshomaru's private rooms. He walked directly into his inner bedchamber and laid his swords on a low table. Fuko followed on his heels, but then paused in the center of his room to look around. As he began unbinding his armor, the squabbling shifted easily into a peppering of questions about the castle, its layout, this room which was apparently his room since childhood, all the stuff in this room, and the toys he might have had as a child, since no evidence of childhood persisted in the space.

Sesshomaru answered what he was willing to answer with his usual brusqueness while he moved around the space, reacquainting himself with the location of his different clothes and whatever other items his mother might have moved or removed from the room. The last time he had been in here, there had been an actual armor stand, and that was now gone. It had been replaced with a carved wooden mannequin that was much less useful as a place to quickly store his armor, but was more decorative, which he knew to be his mother's goal. From what he understood, this room was not in use while he was not here, so he honestly did not see the point in redecorating between his every visit.

He found a porcelain basin in a wicker cabinet near to a pitcher of water and he took the opportunity to wash his face and hands. Fuko wandered over and followed suit, and then followed him to the chests of drawers that held his clothing. He opened and closed compartments quickly, clearly looking for something specific, but she opened those drawers that he closed and pawed around with interest—there was some awesome looking stuff in there.

Seeing a flash of something familiar, he turned from where he was searching and reached over her to take something she had uncovered from deep in a drawer. It was a bundle of black silk with a few wisps of golden smoke visible across one side. Fuko took it back from him and unfolded it. The kimono and pants he'd chosen were sophisticated. They fairly dripped with masculinity. But the black and gold design with strands of red intermingled in the smoke was more elegant than anything else.

"Oh, wow. This will look good on you—hey, what are you doing?"

Sesshomaru continued removing his clothes, undeterred by her objections. He reminded her that she stood in his room, where it was perfectly acceptable for him to go around in the nude if he wished.

There was a knock on the outer chamber door then and she dashed away to go answer it. Aware of her slight blush and Sesshomaru's indecent state, she opened the door only a little and peeked out. "Hello?"

A matronly female face peered sternly back at her. "Greetings. I am the seamstress Onako. Lady Kimiko has sent me with clothing for Lord Sesshomaru's companion."

"That's me."

"Yes. May I enter?"

"Oh, sure." Fuko opened the door fully and the seamstress came in with three young female attendants following closely after her. Their arms were laden with fine, vibrantly colored fabrics. As they set to work laying out outfit options on a nearby couch, Onako turned to her sharply and asked that she begin to disrobe.

"Oh, no. No, no. Was very nice of Sesshomaru's mom to try and lend me something to wear, but I can change the clothes I have. I wouldn't want to damage anything that I couldn't replace. Thanks, though. Um, it would be really helpful if you could point out the best examples of what might be good to wear? What would you recommend?"

The seamstress seemed offended by her refusal at first, but was mollified somewhat when her opinion was asked. She began pointing out different aspects of the clothes she had brought, what was in fashion among the house nobles, what was out of fashion but still a safe choice, and which color combinations were most appealing. She even looked Fuko's current outfit over and gave her a brief critique (unconventional, functional, not necessarily age appropriate.) Feeling chastised but still grateful for the instruction, Fuko eventually ushered the seamstress and her attendants to the exit, all of them still laden with the yards of fabric they had brought in. Then she set about taking off and dismantling her clothes.

Sesshomaru came out of the inner chamber of his room a little later, drawn by the sound of rending fabric. He had heard the exchange between her and his mother's head seamstress and he did not particularly wish to participate, so he took extra care in grooming himself for a time. Now he found Fuko kneeling on the ground, dressed only in a fine, gossamer kosode. Its edges were defined by glossed and gold-colored silk. She was tearing her pink and red obi into strips very quickly and letting the pieces fall where they may. The remains of her blue kimono lay on the floor around her.

He stepped closer, asking, "What are you doing?"

She glanced up at him and told him that she was almost done. "Don't step on anything. I'm trying to create art."

He snorted at that but watched as she finished taking apart her obi, and then her hands blurred as she began laying out the pieces of fabric in different configurations and layers. Then, she stood, stepped back, and clapped her hands together. Foreign energies crackled along her arms, radiating out from her palms. With her hands so charged, she bent and touched the pile of linen and silk. As the energy sizzled over it in waves, the fabric knitted itself together and changed shape and color. A second later, Fuko straightened with a finished kimono and obi ensemble in her hands, which she held up for him to inspect. "It's so cute! What do you think?"

He stared. "What manner of magic was that?"

"Alchemy. What do you think of my new outfit?"

He arched a brow and considered the colorful garb silently.

She huffed at him. "Here, I'll put it on."

He watched her do so and was appreciative of the results. Her kimono looked to be of a higher quality now and the cut was somewhat more traditional, but that was only at first glance. The length of her skirt only came down a little more, her sleeves had become a bit wider and the edging was colored as the kosode was in a glimmering gold. He noted that colors had changed somewhat to match his change of clothes. Her kimono shifted along a gradient of red-gold at the shoulders to black-blue down toward the edges of her skirt and sleeves. Her obi (which he watched her tie in that same non-traditional bow and supposed that was this was the only way she knew how to tie it) was somewhat slimmer, sleeker, and had become a soft gold-peach which darkened to red at the twisting, trailing ends. What appeared to be lotus petals tumbling down the ringlets and arches of her bow. Even the simple strap she'd used to limber her spear had changed and become a golden length of woven cord.

But then, as Sesshomaru glanced down, he saw that her boots had made no change, still sturdy and road-worn, bulky with their deep tread, and entirely other to the stylish new ensemble. He had to hold back a smile. Rather than comment on the oversight, he decided that the change suited her. She still looked like herself. Childish, bright, like a young maiden going to festival, but now her clothes would not stand out too much from the other daiyoukai in the castle. "No one will object," he said.

"But what do you think?" She spread her arms and did a turn to show him the whole of it again.

"It's fine."

She pouted. "Just fine?"

He stepped closer to her, paced around her back, and then reached up and stroked one of her twitching ears. "Cute."

She batted at his hand but then swung her arms happily. "Okay! That's what I wanted to hear. Thank you very much. You don't look too bad yourself."

He gave a slight nod in acknowledgment. He had sought this jacket knowing that it complimented him well. "Come. Let us face my mother

They started to leave the room, but Fuko paused in the hall. Something suddenly didn't seem right about Sesshomaru's outfit. She reached over and prodded his side. It was too soft. "No armor?"

He took her hand and drew her along after him. "It would be an insult to my mother to wear armor constantly in her home. It is tantamount to an insinuation about lax security."

Fuko sighed. "I can relate to that. Every little action means something when you're in the public eye. That's why I prefer to be inconspicuous."

"You'll not find anonymity here. Even if I were not at your side, you would attract far too much attention."

She prodded him in the side again. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He didn't reply, which set her to grumbling all through the hall as they traveled toward his mother's receiving room.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

When they met with Lady Kimiko, she was lounging on a cushioned throne on a large dais at the back of a long room, waiting for them as she said she would be. Two young demonesses, handmaidens, attended to her. There were cushions set out on the level below the dais, but Sesshomaru bypassed those entirely and chose a seat on level with his mother. Fuko followed his lead.

Lady Kimiko greeted them smoothly with barely a glance at their choice of clothing or seating and began addressing the situation she was facing, which she described as a large number of daiyoukai congregating around her home, seeking the rumored newcomer. As this rumor that Lord Sesshomaru of the Western Lands had found a female to be his lady turned out to be true, this only left them with answering the challengers. She began listing those demons who had come out of curiosity to meet Fuko, those who had come to challenge her, and those who had come saying they would do one but would do the other. She spoke with the same clarity and diligence that her son had on the same topic, but she used very many more words. Fuko paid attention while she could and even recognized a few names from what Sesshomaru had already told her, but as the list wore on, she started to flag. Slowly, her hand began to inch into the air.

Lady Kimiko saw the hand start to rise, but she ignored it until Fuko waved it back and forth a little and said quietly, "Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me."

Everyone in the room went still and looked to Fuko as the lady of the house came to fully realize that she was being interrupted. She sat up from her reclining position and regarded the girl silently. Sesshomaru continued to stare at his mother as if this is normal, but his youki subtlety flexed and prodded at Fuko. It was a slight irritant that did nothing to stop her.

"So," she said, "I got a challenge letter from a person named Yuri? Of the Southern House? Otherwise, I've never heard from these people before. I have some other matters I want to attend to while I'm here and all of this meeting and greeting and fighting sounds like it's going to take a lot of time."

Lady Kimiko eyed her severely. "You say… you have more important matters to attend to?"

"Well—"

Sesshomaru cut in, saying, "My intended merely expresses concern. She has come to the Western Lands with her own purpose which I have promised to aid her in fulfilling. It is unfortunate, but these proceedings will hinder us somewhat with moving forward with that aim."

The lady looked to her son. "Is that so?"

Fuko glanced back and forth between them. "Yes. I'm concerned. But, I have a solution."

Now everyone looked back to her, Sesshomaru included.

"If we could organize a tournament among the demonesses who say they want to fight me, then I would only have to fight one of them? That seems like an easy solution."

Lady Kimiko blinked slowly. "Clever. And it is not without precedent. However, no one among your challengers would agree to this."

Fuko frowned. "Hm? Why not?"

Sesshomaru lowered his voice as spoke in an aside to her. "It is not you particularly they wish to fight. They seek to show their strength to me."

Fuko lowered her voice as well, turning from the grand demoness to murmur to him. "And a tournament is the perfect way to do that. I don't see the problem."

"You would have them fight multiple opponents, tiring themselves, and then face you who has battled no one."

"So, it's better if I face them all one by one?"

"You can do so easily enough."

"I could but I won't. Even if they're as weak as you say, it would take days, maybe even weeks to get them all."

His eyes narrowed fractionally. "You were content enough to while away your days in the city. You will take this time now."

She glowered at him. "Since you're the main attraction here, why can't they just fight you one by one."

Lady Kimiko produced a small folding fan from somewhere on her person and snapped it open. "If you two are quite finished whispering to each other…"

They turned back to his mother, Sesshomaru adopting a look of boredom, Fuko looking a mite sheepish at how easily she forgot they weren't alone.

The lady snorted delicately, eyes on her son's companion. "The playing field would be made more even and therefore more attractive if you were to enter the tournament yourself."

Fuko nodded and did some quick math in her head. "With the demonesses you mentioned and including me, that's sixteen fights in the first round and thirty-one fights in total . I wonder how long these fights will last? When we flew in earlier, I saw that arena-type area off next to some stable buildings—Are there more venues like that available for these matches or would it be one fight at a time? If each round took a day, that would be great. Six days of fighting, okay, that's not too bad…"

Lady Kimiko fanned herself slowly. "Would you agree to such a tournament, then?"

"Sure." Fuko shrugged. "I've enjoyed tournaments in the past. If it's one fight a day, then I'll have some time to begin my research."

She quirked on elegant brow. "Research?"

"Yes. That's why I've come to the West. Um, you see this mark?" Fuko reached up and brushed her long bangs aside, revealing the strange symbol on her forehead. "I don't know what it means. I'm told it should be related to my lineage, which I also don't know much about. Sesshomaru told me you have an extensive library with books written about and by inu youkai. I'd appreciate it if I could take a look."

Lady Kimiko stared for a moment, processing what the girl had just revealed so casually. Sanjuro had brought the depiction of the mark on her brow weeks ago and none of the castle scholars had found a trace of it in their records. She had been told it was likely that she belonged to a clan from somewhere else in the world, not the mainland, somewhere beyond the eastern oceans or perhaps beyond the northern tundra. It was hard to know since inu youkai did not commonly travel so far. But, this girl did not look or sound like a foreigner, even if her word choices were a bit odd. If she was the start of her own house, that was news enough, but to know nothing of her own lineage was suspect and likely untrue.

"Hn." She paused in fanning herself. "The libraries of the Western Lands are one of our most valuable resources. They have been curated and cultivated for millennia, since before the time of my grandfather. They are not typically open for the use of outsiders." Lady Kimiko let a long silence hang in the air for a moment before she continued, "However, since you seem to have the favor of my son, I suppose an exception can be made."

Fuko smiled, readying a thanks.

Lady Kimiko also smiled slightly as she finished, "Upon the condition that you are victorious in your challenges, of course."

Fuko frowned. "I don't understand. Why not now?"

Everyone in the room could attest to how dangerous it was to question the word of the lady of the house, but even as the handmaidens tensed in fear, Lady Kimiko let out a soft, trilling laugh, as if Fuko had said something especially witty. "Why not? Well. You have my son's favor and his interest now, but you understand that those things are not unconditional, do you not? Should you lose any one of the many demonesses who will come against you, there would be no reason for him to keep you by his side." She began fanning herself again at a slow, lazy pace. "He has assured me that you will not be defeated, that you are 'more capable than you look.' Before I commit myself to handing over special privileges, I think it prudent that you do this simple thing to attest to these claims. You must forgive my reticence in this matter." Her steady gaze was cold and cruel. It rivaled Sesshomaru's at his meanest and most condescending. "You understand now, don't you?"

During her explanation, Fuko's ears had flatten all the way into her hair, but at that question they sprang back up. She met the lady's gaze resolutely. "Yes, you've made yourself quite clear. But, let me just ask, how would your inclinations about my entry into the library change if I forfeited the tournament immediately, before the first match?" Sesshomaru tensed beside her, but she tried to send him soothing vibes through their brushing auras.

Lady Kimiko's eyes widen dramatically and she gave a little surprised laugh. "Oh, what a curious question! Forfeit is the same as defeat. You would be cast out of my castle at the very least and the library would be a moot point. Who can say what might happen to you after that?"

"And if I refuse to participate all together?

"That is defeat."

Fuko clenched her teeth. "How about if I just skip all this, find the strongest demoness around and wreck her? Do you think that would satisfy everyone?"

Lady Kimiko relaxed back into her throne of pillows. "Is that not the aim of all this? To determine the strongest demoness so that my son might court her?"

"Is it?" Fuko sighed, relenting. "So, it's a yes or no scenario then. Lame."

The lady's long lashes fluttered. "Pardon?

Fuko met Lady Kimiko's gaze again, her childish demeanor undercut by her jaded attitude. "It's a bit disappointing, is all. You've limited the situation to two outcomes. But, never mind it. It's your house and your library." Fuko waved her own words away. "So, we are definitely moving forward with this tournament idea, right?"

Again, Lady Kimiko stared at her for a moment as she processed her words. She did not seem nearly so amused as she did a moment a moment ago. Finally, she said that the event would be organized and the prospective participants would be notified as quickly as possible. Soon, Fuko and Sesshomaru were effectively dismissed as she called for the castle grounds man and the store master to be brought to her, along with her house advisors and the commander of the castle guard.

Sesshomaru led Fuko out of the receiving room and down several corridors before he stopped suddenly and turned to her. There was a growl behind his words as he asked, "What was that about?"

"What..?" She blinked as if she was coming out of deep thought. "Those questions I asked your mom? Don't worry about it, I was just asking."

He stepped into her, forcing her look up at him fully. "Explain."

Remembering how he had responded when she mentioned not answering Yuri's challenge in the forest outside the castle barrier, she patted his shoulder placatingly. "I'm going to fight them. I told you that I would. It's just, I don't like it when my options are boiled down to a binary choice. With this tournament, I can only win or only lose. That's not how things really work, you know?"

He did not know. She was not making total sense to him just then, but he could almost see what she meant. However, this was not the time to ruminate on the diversity of outcomes there could be in life and he told her so.

"Yeah. I know. I'm playing along, aren't I?" She looked up at him then with wide, pleading eyes. "I was really hoping to get a look at that library as soon as possible. She's your mom. Isn't there anything you can do to change her mind?"

Sesshomaru tilted his head slightly as he considered her dewy, supplicant gaze. He reached up, gently cupped her cheek for a moment—and then he pinched it. Speaking over the resulting whine and protest, he answered, "The most efficient way to gain my lady mother's permission is to defeat your challengers. There will be no short cuts."

He turned from her and strode away, leaving Fuko to curse and trot along after him. It seemed that she would have to resign herself to a few day's wait.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

It was ten days, ten entire days before the tournament was even scheduled to start. By Lady Kimiko's word, this was simply the fastest they could organize such an event and allow for the participants to gather and prepare themselves. During all this time, Fuko shadowed Sesshomaru closely and spoke to strangers less and less.

He had been right. These people simply were not friendly. Even the servants (all handmaidens for some reason) froze up if she said anything to them that was not a request or a command.

Even though the library had been barred from her until the challenges were over and done with, she had thought that she would be able to talk to some knowledgeable inu youkai during the wait. She had imagined elders, intellectuals, and spiritualists—great thinkers and philosophers who would help her with her unique problem. If such people existed in this society, she was not introduced to them.

Instead, she met over a hundred pale, white-haired inu daiyoukai over the course of four days. These were the 'nobles of the house.' They 'ruled' the smaller holdings around and about the Western Sky Castle and fed it with their tributes, taxes, and veneration. These nobles, all of them 'intimately' affiliated with the House of the Moon, were powerful and influential and most of them blurred together. After the first round of strangers, she could not help but group them into a mass defined mostly by a predatory manner and a calculating look that was left thinly veiled.

Several of the daughters of these families made it clear that they would enter the tournament. These females, ranging from a thousand years older than her to at least a couple centuries her junior, made no great effort to hide their jealousy and their threats. Fuko got the feeling that it was only Sesshomaru's presence that kept them from just barking at her like irate bitches warning her off their territory.

At the end of every day, Fuko told herself not to paint them all with the same brush, that they couldn't all be like this, that it was an extraordinary circumstance or what have you. At the beginning of the next day, the first person in the door of the ornate little sun room that she had been assigned to sit and meet people in would say something so much like the last person that came in that she would experience déjà vu.

So, the first several days were filled with this type of demon. The topics of conversation were limited once the initial introductions were made. They either wanted to call attention to how significant they were in the community or they wanted to focus on her and Sesshomaru, how they had come together, why he had brought her here, and how she planned to precede now that she was here with him. The first time these things came up, Sesshomaru gave her a tacit look and announced to those gathered that they were courting, which set the precedent for the next meeting and the next. That statement was hard for Fuko to argue since it was sort of true and since she was constantly stuck to his side like a burr. Any effort on her part to emphasize their friendship was rewarded with odd looks and little traction. She imagined that the very idea slipped off the well-oiled surface of their minds like drops of water as soon as they heard the words.

She was never really exposed to them long enough to ask if they recognized the demon mark on her forehead and she quickly stopped wanting to ask. After they would leave, Sesshomaru would turn to her and briefly explain why they were worth remembering. Most of them did not warrant more than a two word description. He typically said more about the rulers who gave tribute than the demonesses who would fight her for him. She began taking little notes on borrowed paper that she eventually foxed into a bound journal. The library loomed large in her daydreams.

When they were left alone, Sesshomaru would do or say things that were probably meant to soothe or comfort her. He would say, "They should not concern you. Ignore them," "You will demonstrate your power soon ," or "Focus on your goals."

He did not give a satisfying response when she would answer his advice by pointing out that everything was going exactly the way he wanted. Everyone believed they were a couple. She would 'win' him in the coming tournament and their relationship would be an accomplished fact in the minds of his people. After made a statement like that, he would say something infuriating or lewd.

Even knowing that she was being deflected, she couldn't resent him for it. He had made his intentions clear from the moment this whole courtship thing started. So, she let herself be teased and distracted. They would talk about other things, like Rin, Jaken, and Ah-Un. She asked him if he thought that the gods were really real. They would argue about the intermitted messages Nomukyo would send to her through the little fox statuette (Surprising! She should have known it was magic!). They argued about Sesshomaru's continued efforts in seducing her. She even got around to calling him out for 'scent-marking' her, which she realized he was doing by nonchalantly touching her with a hand that was very faintly charged with youki. One shouldn't just burn their scent onto people without asking! But, she found quickly that it was too much effort to keep him from touching her. (Plus, when she tried to retaliate by doing it to him, he'd smiled at her in that quiet, unnerving way.)

After the sixth or seventh day, most of the daiyoukai who wanted to be introduced had already come to see them. They were left alone more often than not. Some handmaidens hovered nearby to serve them and Fuko noticed that Sesshomaru was more reserved at these times than he was when they were completely alone. At certain intervals, they were brought amazing artisanal teas and bland food. Fuko found this odd. It wasn't that the food tasted bad—it was actually quite good. The meat was fresh, raw, and literally still twitching in some cases. It was served sliced or cubed with little to no seasoning and it was garnished with ripe fruit. But, for her, there was an inexplicable contrast between the simplicity of the food and the majesty and opulence of the castle. They could obviously afford spices or grain. There wasn't even rice or bread on the platters that were brought to them. When she mentioned this to Sesshomaru, he taunted her for having a 'corrupted palate,' no doubt from having eaten so much human fare. It seemed that this was just the way food was prepared in the West. Still, she told him, the meat could use some basil, or soy sauce, or chili peppers, or something. The tea was outstanding, at least.

As the first day of the tournament drew near, daiyoukai from beyond the borders of the Western Lands arrived at the Sky Castle and sought an audience with them. These were demonesses and their entourages, some family and some servants, all wildly beautiful and well-dressed. They had heard tale of some unknown female who had captured the interest of the heir to the House of the Moon and they wanted to test her strength.

By this time, someone had brought Fuko a little table and she would record their names in her journal and then doodle pictures of them while they postured and mildly threatened her. Not all of them were dog demons, interestingly enough. There was a tengu daiyoukai called Makoto with a prominent nose and luxurious blue-black hair. Fuko drew her as what she imagined she might look like as a depressed toucan. There was a panther demoness called Toran with a rather martial posture and way of speaking. Fuko doodled a fat, grumpy cat who had been squeezed into samurai armor and put on a horse. There was also a yuki-onna with frosted, lavender-colored hair and a serene gaze, she was called Tsurara. Fuko drew an ice-cream cone with a little frowny face. She was hungry.

All three of these females seemed to know Sesshomaru personally and mentioned that repeatedly during their audiences—not that Fuko cared. She really did not care about that sort of thing at all because she and Sesshomaru were just friends, and if his past girlfriends wanted to come and make eyes at him then they could do that all they wanted because she and Sesshomaru were just friends. She told him this sternly and in no uncertain terms. Repeatedly. She would not be drawn into fighting out of jealousy because there was no reason for her to have that sort of emotion toward him. Sesshomaru started smirking a lot after this discussion, which Fuko found super annoying.

When they left, Sesshomaru did not offer much context for them besides their family affiliation and his estimation of how difficult a battle with them might be for her. His assessments came with his usual economy of words. But, he said more than usual about Yuri of the Southern House, heir to the Mountain Inu Clan. After she and her entourage left, he had said to her, "Be on guard and do not relent in any case. You will come away the victor. It is just a matter of how well you may win."

Fuko had actually been drawing a portrait of Sesshomaru when Yuri was announced. He had challenged her to draw something serious after flipping through her collection of humorous scribblings. She had glanced up from her work with interest when she heard the familiar name. This was the only demoness who had personally sent her a challenge letter.

She was a little disappointing. Yuri was tall, slight in a fae sort of way, dressed in an lavish kimono with many layers, and she was as blonde as field of ripened rice. She spoke quickly and with confidence, saying and asking many of the same things the other challengers had, but something about her struck Fuko as off. She could not put her finger on it and her brush hovered over her journal without touching. In the end, she did not draw anything for Yuri. Instead, she doodled a picture of a small dog with a large shadow to encapsulate Yuri's soldier, Natsume. She was even taller than her mistress and was more solidly built. Yuri had described herself as "the most beautiful demoness in the Mountain Inu Clan," but Fuko thought that Natsume rivaled her in looks even while dressed in her practical soldier garb.

It was revealed toward the end of the meeting that Natsume would be participating in the tournament as well. Fuko was a bit suspicious of that—no one else had brought their own competition. After they left and after his assessment of Yuri, Sesshomaru went on to say, "I cannot say for certain what that soldier is capable of, but I do not believe that she would have been brought along if she were not useful in some way. Be on guard."

By this time, Fuko had already flipped back to the picture she was drawing of him and she only murmured absentmindedly in response to his advice.

Annoyance had sparked along the youki stone. He had reached over and pinched the shell of her ear. "Do not ignore me."

In response to this, she began to systematically blot out his face in the picture until he took the brush away from her and threatened to melt the journal with his dokkaso.

She had stuck her tongue out at him and he asked if she wanted him to bite it. She rolled her eyes at that. It was two days before the fighting would start and what a prize he would be. It was a wonder that someone hadn't scooped him up already.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

The tournament began with surprisingly little fanfare. The matches were being held one after the other in the packed-dirt arena that Fuko had mentioned when she brought up the idea. Thankfully, the matches were given a time limit. Each contestant had an hour to make their opponent surrender. If they reached the limit without a clear victor, both demonesses were disqualified.

Because of the size constraints of the arena, which was usually used during training among the castle guards, spectators were limited to participants, friends, and family. Of course, with 'participants' stretched to include those lesser demons who were working at the event or attending to the daiyoukai who were participating, and then their friends and family, that made for well over a thousand eyes on the arena at any given time.

Fuko had participated in tournaments before and other myriad experiences in her life had cured her of any stage-fright, so when she was sent out onto the arena floor for her first bout, she was excited. It was simply good to be outdoors after days of laying around inside. She stretched in the bright sun and yawned. Then, when the crier announced the start of the match and she turned to face the young demoness of the Moon Dogs that she would be fighting first and she unlimbered her spear, the girl flinched. Fuko paused at the sight, took the younger demoness's measure quickly, and then put her spear away, sighing. Moments later, she was shuffling the demoness out of the arena, saying quietly, "You don't even have a sword. Were you going to use your claws? Who put you up to this? Tell them mind their own business. Go on, get out of here."

Later that same day, she entered the arena again to face another inu daiyoukai from the Moon Clan. This one carried a bow and a quiver of arrows. Again, Fuko sighed. But, this opponent would not be shooed away with a stern look and a lecture about preparedness. She was confident, cocky even. She thought that winning her first match was proof enough that using a ranged weapon was a valid way to fight. It was, situationally. Very situationally. Fuko asked her to rethink this but she refused and nocked one of her arrows. There was a bright flare of youki from the weapon as the demoness fired up a powerful attack. Fuko dashed up to her, startling her into letting the arrow loose. The blast was impressive and sort of beautiful to look at, but Fuko wouldn't let her do it again. She wrested the bow out of the other demoness's hands and tossed it away. The demoness responded to this by snarling and lunging at Fuko with her claws outstretched, but Fuko tripped her and then frowned in disappointment while she kicked her into submission.

That night, Sesshomaru let her know that she had developed a reputation for humiliating her opponents, which she thought was wildly unfair. "You saw! You saw the people I was put up against! What was I supposed to do?"

"Do not toy with them. Do not talk to them. Put them down quickly and walk away."

"That's how you fight. I fight the way I fight."

He gave her an exasperated glance. "You are stubborn."

"I'm stubborn…? You don't get to call me that."

Next day, Fuko fought Makoto, the tengu daiyoukai. She wielded two curved blades like sickles. Fuko chose to use her spear, holding it at its center where it was perfectly balanced between the two blades. Her speed and fluidity of movement made it seem as if she wielded two blades as well. This was not a style that Sesshomaru had seen her use before and wondered how he might fare against it as he watched her defeat her opponent from up in a private spectator's stand. His mother stood beside him, watching, but she made no comment on Fuko's skill.

That was her only match for the day and after it Sesshomaru fetched her and brought her back up to the spectator's stand. They commentated on the other matches, some of which ended quickly with a burst of activity and others of which dragged out in a brutal blood-letting. Some demonesses had to be carried off the field of battle.

"Does it bother you at all?" Fuko asked, leaning on the smooth railing before her. "Isn't it weird that they're willing get wounded or even die over you?"

"No. Why should it concern me if they injure themselves or die? They fight for pride. It is their own choice. It has very little to do with me."

"Ah. I guess that's true for me as well. They're not really here to fight me personally. They all have their own stories, don't they?"

He reached over and trailed his fingers through her hair, scent-marking her.

She batted at his hand half-heartedly. "Quit it, will you? I'm going to have to roll in the mud to get that off."

He blinked at her slowly. "I would be interested to see that."

Her brow began to twitch. "Y-you're a real pervert, you know that?"

Among the bouts they watched that night, both Yuri and Natsume of the Mountain Inu faced and bested their opponents. Yuri used a three-foot wide tessen and inflicted dire gashes on her foe with youki-laced attacks, making for a quick and bloody battle. Natsume brought a spear with her into the arena, which sparked Fuko's interest. It had only a single blade and she carried it with great familiarity. Unfortunately, her match ended after only a few minutes. Her opponent conceded with an expression of respect and chagrin, as she was obviously outclassed. But, in those brief moments of battle, Fuko sensed admirable skill and a passion for the martial arts.

"She moves very well, don't you think? 'Shomaru?"

"Who?"

"Natsume! SoldieroftheSouthernHouse Natsume! Down there! Aren't you paying attention?"

"No."

"What are you looking at?"

"Stars."

"…Seriously?"

On the third day she learned that her next opponent was meant to be Tsurara the yuki-onna, but she had been injured too badly in winning her fight with Toran the panther demoness and she had to forfeit. In lieu of anything else to do, she spectated and snacked on quivering meat cubes with Sesshomaru in the private stand. The numbers of combatants were being steadily whittled down. Those who were weak or merely competent fighters had been eliminated and now the matches were starting to last up until the time limit. After three hour-long draws in a row, the crier announced that Yuri of the Southern House and Natsume, Soldier of the same, would face off next.

Fuko pressed herself against the railing and tossed meat cubes into her mouth in pure excitement. What drama! Mistress and soldier embroiled in conflict over the object of their desire! True, this was not such a romantic affair as all that, but thinking of it that way made for better spectating. What drama!

No drama. After a moment of staring at each other across the battle field, Natsume knelt in the dirt and bowed. Yuri let out a high, victorious laugh as if she had actually earned her triumph. The meat curdled in Fuko's stomach.

"Can she do that? Is that allowed?"

Sesshomaru snorted quietly. "There are no rules against it."

"That's…That's…" Fuko trailed off in a growl. "That kind of thing gets you disqualified in the World Martial Arts Tournament. But… this is an informal sort of event, I guess."

They watched two more fights end in a draw after that. They were pretty intense and flashy bouts, but Fuko's mind stayed on that match between Yuri and Natsume. It had lasted only a handful of seconds. It was probably the shortest match in the tournament. Over and done with and so incomplete.

The next day, when Sesshomaru told her that she would face Yuri of the Southern House on the arena floor, she grinned. She kept right on grinning until the moment she trotted into the arena. Yuri sashayed onto the field soon after her. The crier, a heavyset dog demon who usually served as stable master, announced them and was about to signal the beginning of the match, but Fuko waved him down, calling for brief halt. He stared at her blankly for a moment, looked to the private stands for some guidance from the Lady of the West, and then he looked back to her and nodded. Fuko turned then and walked over to the slim, golden-haired demoness, ignoring the murmurings of the demons watching from the sidelines.

She spoke softly, as her words were meant only for her would-be opponent. "Hello. Excuse me, but I'd rather fight Natsume, if you don't mind. She didn't get to fight yesterday and I don't think that's fair."

Her words seemed freeze the demoness on the spot.

Fuko continued, "Don't worry. I'll fight you directly after, I swear."

Yuri of the Southern House flushed slowly red. She straightened to her fullest height—and then she began to laugh, high and loud and hearty. "You want to face my servant before you face me, do you?!" Her tone was just below a shout. Only those standing at the very back of the crowds might not hear her exact words, but her tone was unmistakably snide. "I suppose I will humor you! It is only fitting, as you are without name or distinction. I'm glad you at least recognize the proper order of things!"

Fuko frowned, still speaking at a quiet, private level. "You're unpleasant. I'm probably going to hurt you really badly later." She began walking backward, toward her side of the arena. "Send out Natsume, okay? Bye."

There was a mix of emotions that Fuko could sense through the youki stone, not all of them bad. She hoped that Sesshomaru understood why she was doing this. If she had to win, she wanted to win her way.

Yuri stood there for a moment, again seeming frozen by her words, but then she spun and stormed toward the sidelines. A shout went up among the spectators and there was a tumult. Among them, a few blond-haired demons, attendants who were a part of the Mountain Inu entourage, broke off and ran in different directions. It seemed that, once she had forfeited, Natsume had not seen the need to come to the arena and watch the rest of the fights. It took a several minutes for someone to find her, and when she came running up to her mistress it was amidst applause and roars of approval from the entire crowd. More than anything, they just wanted to see the next fight.

From what Fuko could see, there were no words exchanged between the two demonesses. Yuri simply nodded toward the arena and Natsume turned and walked out onto the field.

Fuko squared off against the soldier and unlimbered her spear. Slowly, the tall demoness followed suit, taking her spear in hand and eyeing her with suspicion. The crier coughed once and announced in a booming voice, "Fuko of the North and Natsume, Soldier of the Southern House!"

Fuko interrupted the crier once more and called to the demoness across the field, "Natsume!"

There was a moment of stillness over the entire arena and the demoness in question regarded her with both brows raised. Her reply was slightly gruff. "Yes?"

Fuko grinned. "Let's do our best!"

Natsume, Lieutenant-General to the Mountain Inu Army, Champion of the Southern House, blinked slowly and then let out the softest chuckle. Then she shifted her grip on her weapon, widened her stance, rolled her shoulders, and bared her teeth in a feral grin. Her youki, once of a level with those around her, swelled powerfully. "If you say so!"

Fuko's eyes widen and she began bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet. This was going to be fun.

— _ — _ —_ —_ —_ —_ —_ —

Next time on Westward Bound:

Chapter 21: Natsume, Ever Faithful