A/N: This chapter ran long because I was trying to get to the moment when Rin and Sess see each other again, but Shiroihana interceded and had her way with me. Thus Rin made it home, but she didn't quite make it to Sesshy yet. I AM SO SORRY!! It will definitely happen next time.
Dislcaimer: I do not own them
Last Chapter: Rin and Shimofuri met up. Rin figured out that Amagumori had been killed. Sesshomaru got a fever from his wound. Shiroihana ordered a doctor for him and then went and spoke to Tsukiyume. Saya, resilient like all children, is still safe within IY's household. She clings to her uncle and struggles with the memory of her missing mother and father. Inuyasha sent Shippo to investigate the village and then the Middle Lands, to figure out what's really going on there. Tsukiyume can talk again, and she revealed the basics of the plan made by those in the afterlife, on the other side of death.
Shiroihana's Manipulation
Before the door to Sesshomaru's room, Shiroihana paused and peered over her shoulder at the young hanyou girl behind her. Tsukiyume had dressed and although she appeared fatigued, she had recovered greatly from the attacks she'd suffered first from her uncle's assassin, then her sister-in-law, and finally her cousin Soeki. Apparently hanyou were very resilient beasts, but of course Shiroihana already knew that from her deceased husband's bastard hanyou.
"Hanyou," she murmured quietly. When Tsukiyume's ears swiveled, pointing sharply at Shiroihana with attention, she said, "Don't speak a word to Ginrei or to my son yet."
Tsukiyume frowned. "About what, lady?"
Shiroihana's voice dropped even lower, into a soft whisper. "The alliances and Rin."
Tsukiyume's frown turned deeper and almost angry. "Why not?"
Shiroihana's voice rose when she answered, sharp with irritation. "Do not question me, girl." Before Tsukiyume could protest, Shiroihana slid open the door and stepped inside.
Jaken, Ginrei, and Hanone were all gathered at the edge of the screen that separated Sesshomaru's bed from the rest of the room. From the window on the other side the light silhouetted the frame of a short, squat man onto the flimsy screen wall. Shiroihana picked out the scent of her son's human sweat and the doctor's sugary breath, as well as the sharp stink of herbs. She wrinkled her nose in disgust.
The others sitting outside the screen turned at her entrance, staring. Jaken turned and bowed, begging Shiroihana's pardon. Ginrei bowed as well, her silvered hair flowed over her shoulders like mist from a waterfall. Hanone mimicked her mother.
"Take down that screen," Shiroihana ordered, jabbing one clawed finger at it. "I wish to watch the doctor work."
"My lady," Jaken protested, quivering. "Lord Sesshomaru wishes for privacy! It isn't fitting for us to see him…" he stammered, tapping his three-fingered hands together nervously and fidgeting.
"If you are uncomfortable, little youkai, then leave." Shiroihana turned her gaze to Ginrei. "Fold up the screen. Store it away." Without motioning at all to Tsukiyume, she added, "Hanyou, you should help her."
"Mother—it is against my husband's wishes," Ginrei replied, speaking with a strict formality.
"Your husband does not have the presence of mind or the power to challenge me at this time."
Jaken harrumphed and cried out, offended and astounded that Shiroihana would say something like that. He started to protest, but when she glared at him the imp fell silent, realizing that Shiroihana might be more powerful than his own lord, at least in the present time. It was unseemly to do anything against Sesshomaru's wishes, but at the same time Jaken didn't want to leave his master, even if Sesshomaru would have preferred that no one see him while he was mortal and ill.
On the screen the doctor's shadow scrambled back when Sesshomaru struck out at him, clawing like an animal and giving a hoarse sound like a roar. His shadow joined the doctors on the screen as he sat upright and swayed unsteadily. His roar faded into a hoarse groan of pain and discomfort. He held onto his injured shoulder.
"Take down the screen," Shiroihana ordered again.
Tsukiyume stepped forward to obey. The hanyou's movement encouraged Ginrei. The two young women moved to either side of the screen and took hold of it. They pushed it and folded it into a single slab about the size of a doorframe. Ginrei, the stronger of the two, hauled it across the room and leaned it on the far wall.
Without the screen in place Sesshomaru turned and blinked at his mother, then began to glare. Sweat covered his brow, glistening on his nose and above his lips. "Mother?" he asked, referring to her informally, offering little respect.
Jaken, Ginrei, and Tsukiyume sat together away from the doctor and Sesshomaru, averting their eyes out of discomfort and respect. The doctor stayed quiet and also avoided looking at anyone directly in the eye. Only Hanone, innocent of the trouble in the room, looked unabashedly at everyone around her.
"I have come with good news, Sesshomaru," Shiroihana announced, smiling broadly.
Sesshomaru didn't answer her. His eyes clouded and he closed them, his head drooped. A fit of shivering took him. The doctor moved in like a vulture, sensing his distress, and began picking at the bandages on his shoulder. "These must be changed, my lord."
Distracted by his fever, Sesshomaru failed to answer. He tolerated the doctor's close presence while the man pulled on the bandages, removing them.
"If you can survive this illness, Sesshomaru, your condition will resolve itself," Shiroihana said.
"Mother, what do you mean?" Ginrei asked, looking up at the older inuyoukai woman.
Shiroihana's smile faded, replaced with a frown. "Don't call me that." She paused, shifting her weight from one foot to the other and stretching up one arm to stroke the fluff about her shoulders. "My son will return to his normal state. He will shed this mortal body and return to glory." She made a small noise, something like a laugh. "In the meantime I have grown tired of his skulking."
Shiroihana looked at Sesshomaru and grinned. "This exposure does you well, Sesshomaru! For this short time you will know what it is to be powerless as I take everything away from you."
Jaken squawked, instantly alarmed. "What are you talking about? What kind of mother says something like that?"
"Little youkai," Shiroihana murmured, amusedly. Jaken stared at her but Shiroihana's attention remained on her shivering son, never minding the imp. "There was a time I would have eaten a toad such as yourself rather than suffer such foolish questions."
"Mother," Ginrei called, hesitantly, timid, and almost pleading. "I don't understand what you're saying…"
Shiroihana closed her eyes, drifting inside her own thoughts for a short second. It was vital that Sesshomaru feel his own powerlessness, that he might learn to appreciate and honor the creatures around him in this time that were caring for him. It was the only way to construct an alliance in the new dog demon clan that would last. Shimofuri and Sesshomaru were on bad terms. If Shiroihana told Sesshomaru of Rin's change, of the full details of it, her son would gladly toss away Ginrei to take Rin in her place. He would give Ginrei up willingly enough, but he wouldn't appreciate the loss, there would be no meaning in it. Without meaning Sesshomaru was likely to care very little about the alliance. In a later search for power he might go back on the alliance or insult Shimofuri in some way, perhaps by taking Tsukiyume hostage again—or even worse, one of Ginrei and Shimofuri's future pups.
If he thought he was losing everything it might balance her son's drive for conquest, forcing him to place more value on individuals. She had seen loss affect him powerfully before. It was a dangerous gamble, but Shiroihana had always gone with her gut, and her gut always called for manipulation. Inutaisho had never managed to bring out compassion in their son. Where he had failed, Shiroihana felt certain she had already succeeded once. She would do it again.
When she opened her eyes, Shiroihana saw her son peering up at her, grimacing with pain as the doctor applied herbal poultices to his wound, acrid smelling things designed to draw up the poison and infection. Her heart twisted slightly, aware that he would despise her when he learned that she had withheld information from him, but he already distrusted her and had for many years.
In the years after this deception she knew she would need to invest in healing their relationship. He will hate me for this. But being a parent was as much about love as it was about discipline and hardship. Shiroihana was not a coward; she would face the challenge head on.
"Hanyou," Shiroihana called.
"Yes?" Tsukiyume replied, mumbling the word. Her ears laid flat on her black hair.
"Take Lady Ginrei from here and entertain her for a time. I wish to stay with my son. There is much we must discuss."
"Lord Sesshomaru is unwell!" Jaken protested, shouting in astonishment. "You must let him rest!"
Sesshomaru quirked his head to one side when he heard Jaken's words, but he didn't have the strength or the necessary concentration to agree or disagree. Shiroihana's gaze moved over her son, checking the reaction, and then flew back to the toad. "You will stay here then and converse with me, little youkai."
Jaken's eyes bugged out, growing twice over in size. He bowed low to the floor. "Yes, of course most honorable mother!"
Shiroihana smirked at the imp. You will not think that once I have told you that I am taking Hanone away and dissolving Sesshomaru's marriage. But Jaken's feelings didn't matter to Shiroihana, they could only amuse her.
Ginrei gathered Hanone into her arms and left the room with Tsukiyume. As Shiroihana watched her go she considered ordering Ginrei to leave Hanone behind, but dismissed the idea. She needed to be cruel to achieve her purpose, but she liked Ginrei. She would delay causing the younger inuyoukai woman that pain for a time. Her hawkish golden eyes softened as she followed Ginrei's steps. I'm sorry, little mother.
In the afternoon Saya's caretakers busied her with food preparation. The rituals and procedures were completely new and foreign to her. The blaze of the fire in the hearth, bright and beautiful, mystified her. Kagome, Akisame, and Kasai laughed at the way the little child stared in astonishment and cringed back when the fire cracked. She had seen fire before of course, but Saya hadn't ever been so close to a healthy, large cooking fire.
Kagome used a knife to prepare fish. Kasai worked with her, adding seasonings and running a skewer through the finished chunks for cooking. Akisame stole a bit of the skin and gnawed on it, which horrified Kagome.
"Put that down, Aki! That's disgusting!" Kagome brushed her hands, slimy with fish guts and oils, on her pants and tried to snatch the bit of skin from her daughter's clutches.
"Mom!" Akisame whined, evading her. She turned her back on Kagome and shoved the rest of the skin in her mouth. Saya was watching her with her golden eyes wide, alarmed as Akisame worked her mouth around, burying the crumpled fish skin under her tongue before Kagome grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around.
"Where is it, Aki?" Kagome demanded.
Akisame shrugged innocently. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about!"
Kagome's face darkened with suspicion. "Open your mouth."
Akisame obeyed, opening wide. Her tongue stayed flat, pressed tightly down. When Kagome squinted and leaned closer to examine her cheeks and then her tongue, Akisame pulled away, crossing her arms over her chest. "Leave me alone, Mom! I showed you I don't have it! You're imagining it!"
Suddenly uncertain, Kagome looked to Kasai. The young demon slayer girl controlled her smirk, reworking it under Kagome's scrutiny into a frown of disgust. Kagome asked her, "Did you see her put it in her mouth?"
"No," Kasai replied, not lying exactly. She hadn't seen Akisame do it, but she knew full well that it was more than likely there. "Maybe she ate it already."
Kagome groaned and frowned at Akisame, who returned her mother's stare with a mischievous grin. "I'm serious, young lady. You're going to give yourself worms!" (A/N: yeah I know they eat sushi but I'm not so sure about fish skins. And at any rate, I can't get over my own Western view here with raw food. Uncooked food carries contagion! Of course Kagome is worried.)
"Worms?" Saya asked.
"Yes, parasites," Kagome answered, losing a little of her irritation when she remembered that they technically had a guest.
"Parasites?" Saya asked again.
"Like fleas," Kagome told her. "Or mosquitoes. Worms live inside your stomach and steal your food."
Akisame rolled her eyes, unimpressed. She moved her jaw awkwardly, trying to swallow the buildup of saliva in her mouth. "Dad says we don't get those," she grumbled.
"Your father is not a scholar," Kagome muttered, frowning. "Sometimes he has trouble with simple math."
Listening to this, Saya blanched with alarm. "Aunt Kagome?" she called, testing out the new title for the mother of her cousins.
"Yes, sweetie?"
While Saya distracted Kagome with questions, Akisame turned her back on her mother and started frantically chewing, working her teeth, grinding on the scaled fish skin. She grimaced when she hit one of the hard scales and a little raw fish juice squirted sloppily out of her mouth. She wiped at it in a panic, like a criminal trying to hide all evidence of her sin.
"Will Akisame get sick?" Saya asked.
"I hope not," Kagome replied, sighing.
"I don't think she will," Kasai added. "She's been eating anything that moves, and dead things, for as long as I've known her." She grinned at Saya, aiming her next words at the little girl. "It's so weird that she looks like Aunt Kagome but eats like Uncle Inuyasha. Koinu is really picky comparatively."
Kasai's words didn't appear to comfort Saya much. Upset, she looked to Kagome and blurted, "I saw it."
Akisame choked on her spit and coughed. "Shut up!"
"Mama always told me not to eat stuff like that," she murmured, shaking slightly.
"Don't yell at her, Akisame," Kagome ordered. "She's right."
Defiantly, Akisame swallowed the last of the skin and glared at Saya. "Tattle-tale!" Then her wrath shifted to her mother. "I had it under my tongue all along! And I swallowed all of it! And it was good and I'm not going to get sick!"
"Akisame," Kagome's voice took on a deeper, angry tone.
Suddenly Akisame blinked, paling as she realized she was about to be punished. "Momma—I was just playing!" she adopted a smaller, higher voice, making herself seem younger and less deserving of discipline, as if she could dissuade and manipulate Kagome into forgiving her with just cuteness.
"You need to listen to me, Akisame," Kagome lectured. "How am I supposed to teach you or protect you if you won't listen to me? And lying to me…?"
Akisame shook her head frantically, "I didn't! I mean—it was just a fish skin, Momma!"
"I won't tolerate my daughter turning into a liar," Kagome snapped, driving the point home with the insulting term liar.
"Mom…" Akisame whined, starting to whimper with genuine fear and regret. "I was hungry…"
"You'll be cleaning after dinner tonight, Akisame. Alone." Before Akisame could protest, Kagome moved back to the cutting board, her knife, and the remaining fish. "Now get out of this kitchen and help Sango and Miroku. I'm sure the boys need to take baths. You'll help draw the water and carry it for them."
"Mom!" Akisame groaned.
"Go!" Kagome yelled.
Growling, Akisame turned and left, stomping as loudly as her small feet could manage. She glared at Saya as she left and the little girl flinched, whimpering.
Kasai, watching the last exchange while Kagome returned to cutting and scaling the fish, tried to reassure Saya. "She isn't really mad, Saya. She'll get over it."
"I'm sorry," Saya mumbled, sniffling.
"You know, she'd probably really forgive you if you went and helped her or just kept her company. She hates my little brothers. If you go and help keep them away from her I'm sure she'll be really grateful."
Kagome shook her head. "I think she should stay here, Kasai. She might get hurt if she goes out and plays with the boys."
Kasai laughed, shaking her head. "Aunt Kagome—she's hanyou!"
"She's four years old!" Kagome snapped. She twisted around to look back at the floor, opening her mouth to tell Saya not to go, but the words died on her tongue.
Saya was already gone.
The doctor came and went from the room while Shiroihana and Jaken talked, with Sesshomaru occasionally emerging from his feverish stupor to say something or ask a nonsensical question. Hours passed. As the light from outside changed, the shadows growing longer and narrower with the evening, the herbs in the teas that the doctor prepared for Sesshomaru started to have an effect. Sesshomaru fell into a still, deep sleep and his sweating reduced slightly.
Shiroihana told Jaken the plan for restoring the clan, something the imp, reflecting Sesshomaru, didn't much care for. The clan had done little to impress he and Sesshomaru, so why should they care to build it up again? Shiroihana reminded him that it had been Sesshomaru that destroyed one of the families and caused such strife. Sesshomaru had killed Arasoizuki and helped eliminate Nishiyori, which had started the great imbalance. Jaken refused to be swayed by this opinion, so Shiroihana tried a better one, one that would have convinced even Sesshomaru, though he never would've admitted it.
"You may not be aware of this, little youkai, but there are very few inuyoukai left. I have seen beyond these islands. On the mainland we are reclusive and inbred. In countries further west inuyoukai are exterminated. I passed through lands that had not seen the likes of myself in hundreds of years. We are nearing extinction. It was partly for this reason that I returned to these islands. I must safeguard my own people, and my own family as a matriarch, as one of the oldest inuyoukai left." She sat erect and proud, her backbone stiff with real pride. This news she had not had to tweak or change, the argument was real. Humans were steadily overrunning the youkai of all kinds. Inuyoukai were lucky to have lasted as long as they had.
Shiroihana wouldn't have cared one way or another about the clan because they had wronged Sesshomaru during the panther demon invasion, and her own particular family had been wiped out during a war in the days of Inutaisho, leaving her alone as the last representative of her side of the clan. Yet the threat to their whole species, and to her descendents, made even Shiroihana concerned enough to act.
Sesshomaru slept when Shiroihana announced that not only would she betroth tiny Hanone to Boroya of the north and adopt Hanone as her own heir, but Sesshomaru would have to annul his marriage with Ginrei, to give her to Shimofuri. The imp didn't take well to the news.
"What? My lady, how could you propose such a thing? Lady Ginrei is the source of Lord Sesshomaru's pureblooded heirs!" he squawked.
"It is not a proposal," she told him blandly. "It is what must be done."
"I will never agree with it and neither will Lord Sesshomaru!"
"Do not be so hasty to predict my son's decisions for him, little youkai. Sesshomaru owes the young lord here in the Nanka some penance. There will be another wife, of course." Shiroihana smiled dryly and lowered her eyes as if she were demure, not the manipulative, conniving creature that she truly was.
Jaken didn't let her fool him even for a moment. Her words weren't idle, a whim that she might entertain while Sesshomaru lied unconscious. Shiroihana got what she wanted when she wanted it and how she wanted it always. The question remained: why did she want this? Losing his control and patience, Jaken blustered, "How dare you!"
"It is the proper thing for my son to do. He would benefit from an alliance with Lord Shimofuri." Shiroihana shrugged, adjusting the white pelt on her shoulders. "And it will be done."
"No one will cooperate with you!" Jaken huffed, "Lady Ginrei will oppose it. She will never leave Lord Sesshomaru or Hanone!"
"Nevertheless, it will happen this way for the betterment of the clan," Shiroihana murmured, still smiling. The expression had taken on a certain hardness and chill.
"You've lost your mind!"
Now irritation flashed in Shiroihana's golden eyes. "I tire of your impudence, little youkai." She appeared as if she might threaten him or try to convince him further, but then her attention strayed to the window. The sun's light was fading, growing pink as it set. Time was against her. "Will you tell my son of these plans when he awakens?" she asked, impatiently.
"Yes," Jaken answered, scowling deeply. "But I refuse to accept your suggestion! And both Lord Sesshomaru and Lady Ginrei will reject it as well!" He shouted after her as she rose and left the room. When she had gone the toad huffed to himself and mumbled, twiddling his clawed thumbs and staring at Sesshomaru where he laid motionless, barely even breathing in the depths of his sleep. Jaken growled to himself, disturbed, and moved to sit nearer to his lord, waiting.
He didn't wonder why Shiroihana had so abruptly left him. It didn't occur to him that something had happened; only that she was strange, beyond his ability to comprehend. He had once thought Sesshomaru was complex, but now he thought of his master as easily readable when compared to Shiroihana. Shiroihana was just insane…
Shiroihana's fingertips itched and twitched as she moved at nearly a trot through the halls. Her robes and her long, flowing white hair trailed after her. The fluff on her shoulders rippled with the air current her fast walking generated.
She came to the tearoom where Tsukiyume, Ginrei, and Hanone were seated. Ginrei was speaking, her voice rising and falling in intensity. It was a story. For half a minute Shiroihana paused near the entrance, closing her eyes and listening, trying to recognize the story. The names were foreign, it was a tale from the mainland. Although Shiroihana enjoyed such things, she pushed aside her interest and snatched the door, sliding it open.
The two women and the tiny child turned to regard her with open surprise. Ginrei spoke first, greeting her with a bow. "Mother, it is good to see you. How is my husband?"
"Sleeping," Shiroihana answered dismissively. Her eyes flew to Tsukiyume. "Hanyou, I must take you from here. Your brother has returned."
Tsukiyume blinked, her ears swung forward and back with astonishment. "How can you say that? No one has come to tell me of his return—he hasn't come back yet."
"That is unimportant." Shiroihana motioned at the hanyou. "We must go together and speak with him."
"Mother…" Ginrei started, but Shiroihana lifted her hand, interrupting her.
"Don't call me that. Go be with my son."
Ginrei frowned but tried to hide her confusion. She bowed. "Yes, my lady." Grabbing up Hanone, she rose to her feet and disappeared out the door.
In the silence that followed her departure, Shiroihana cocked her head, listening for the sounds of Ginrei's footfalls, making certain that the young inuyoukai woman was truly gone before she spoke to the hanyou unguardedly. Tsukiyume lost her patience before Shiroihana was satisfied.
"What do you really want?" she demanded.
Shiroihana glared at her. "I meant what I said. You must come with me and greet your brother. He has come with Rin."
Tsukiyume paused, her face twisting with thought. Finally she said, "You're going to stop shishi-sama and Lady Rin from seeing Lord Sesshomaru, aren't you?"
"Yes, I am." Shiroihana smiled.
"Why?" Tsukiyume asked, shaking her head in consternation. "You weren't afraid of letting everyone else see him!"
"It is not your brother that concerns me, only Rin." She paused, considering the hanyou girl before her for a moment. "If my son is to value his alliance with your brother, hanyou, he must value what he is giving away. He won't value losing his current wife if he knows a new one has emerged that he would have preferred anyway."
"He will never go along with your plan unless he knows about Lady Rin," Tsukiyume protested, alarmed but intrigued.
Shiroihana's smile didn't fade. "We shall see. Come, your brother and Rin cannot be allowed to enter the castle unmet."
Saya found Akisame in the backyard, beside a black-brown iron water pump. The seven year old girl was hopping as she pumped the water and grumbling to herself. Out in the high grass of the backyard, Masuyo and Riki were wrestling and shouting. The two small boys' faces appeared in brief spurts above the level of the grass, and then vanished into it again. They shouted attacks that they didn't know but had heard their parents mention, both pretending to be the demon slayer attacking the youkai.
Other sounds reached Saya from her left as she exited the household, stepping onto the veranda. Inuyasha's home was simpler than Jouka Palace where Saya had grown up until the earthquake. Jouka had its own pastures, a massive garden, and stables. Inuyasha's home was mostly just a home, but when Saya turned and stared at the noises coming from her left, she spotted an outdoor pavilion, a little fighting hall. She had never seen one before that wasn't decorative as Jouka had been a women's estate.
For a moment Saya gawked, squinting her eyes against the sun, watching the action taking place over the shaded wooden floor of the pavilion. She recognized her uncle reclining on one of the beams supporting the pavilion roof, scrutinizing the movement of the others. Koinu was there, pivoting, hopping, and ducking the blows of one of the monk's sons. A different boy, thicker and broad-shouldered, the eldest son, waited in line to take on Koinu. Although the human struck over and over at Koinu, the pup never retaliated. He parried blows, or more often sidestepped them altogether, but never attacked.
The metallic clatter from the pump came to a stop then and Akisame called to her grumpily, "Hey tattle-tale!"
Saya instantly looked back to her cousin and her face fell. She fell into a bow as Akisame approached her, lugging a wooden bucket filled with water. "This one is truly sorry for betraying you!"
Akisame stepped past her and onto the shade of the veranda. She set the water bucket down with a grunt and stared down at Saya with a mixture of surprise and frustration. Saya moved with Akisame, turning with an awkward shuffle of her knees as the older girl moved around her. After a moment Akisame blew out a long breath and her shoulders sagged. "Fine, whatever. No big deal."
"Does Saya's most honorable cousin forgive this one?"
Perplexed, Akisame blinked, frowning anew. "I barely understood that," she mumbled, sighing. "But yeah, get up!"
A boy's voice enveloped them then as Masuyo shouted, "Princess!"
Akisame groaned and knelt, hefting up her water. "Run," she grunted at Saya.
Saya looked between the approaching boys and Akisame, confused. "What?"
"Run!" Akisame repeated, and then hurried for the sliding door, slipping inside. The water bucket sloshed and splashed as she moved. Fat droplets escaped and splattered on the floor.
Saya started to get up, but Masuyo and Riki had already reached her. Masuyo led the way and fell into a clumsy, improper bow at the edge of the veranda in front of Saya. When Riki caught up to him, Masuyo snatched his younger brother's hand and pulled the boy down into a kneeling position. Riki resisted, trying to pull away, and Masuyo yelled at him, "You're supposed to bow to a princess!"
Saya had been about to run from them as Akisame suggested, but now her curiosity, her deep inherent desire for knowledge, overwhelmed unthinking obedience. She sat down to be on the same level with the boys and asked, "What is princess?"
Masuyo lifted his head and spoke to her with his eyes closed. "Princess! That's you!"
Riki, still slapping at his older brother's grasp, whimpered and didn't offer an answer.
Saya cocked her head to one side, struggling to think hard. How many words were there to describe her? She'd heard unpleasant ones like demon, and then hanyou which still mildly confused her. Now princess? She had seen people bowing to her mother or her father or Lady Ginrei before, so she understood it was a sign of respect and power. Princess was a positive term.
"Who are you?" she asked, daring to be bolder than was with her cousins or the adults.
"My name's Masuyo," the older boy, the same age as Akisame, replied. He pointed to his brother and said, "He's Riki." When he spoke, Masuyo still refused to stare at her. Although Saya could stare openly into his face, Masuyo kept his eyes closed, as if the light bothered him.
"What's wrong with your eyes?" Saya asked.
Masuyo lowered his head, hiding his face. "Father told me once that it's wrong to look a princess or any person of royalty in the face."
"Oh," Saya answered, though she still didn't understand.
"We are your servants!" Masuyo announced, excitement lacing his voice.
Riki, growing bored, had turned to watch the practice fight in the pavilion. His little mouth hung open in astonishment as he watched Kohimu and Koinu circling each other, stiff with tension and anticipation. Saya also turned her head, caught by the sounds of the fighters, the shouts, grunts, and the occasional slap of flesh on flesh.
"Princess," Masuyo called, recapturing Saya's attention. "What is your command?"
Saya stared at the boy where he was still bowing. It was a game for Masuyo, a sort of make-believe where he could be a glamorous warrior, not just a demon slayer. Saya, however, failed to grasp that he was playing and not serious. She sat still and chewed on her lip, disturbed that the boy wouldn't look at her directly and unable to think of something to tell him to do.
Luckily, before too much time had passed, the grating sound of the sliding door came up behind them and Miroku emerged. He was holding two wooden water buckets, coming out to pump more water. Masuyo and Riki both ran to help their father, giving Saya the chance to slip away inside the house. But the charge stayed with her. What on earth was she going to tell her "servant" to do anyway?
Rin didn't fail to catch the way that the Nanka had changed for her. The scent of the surrounding town was foul with human stinks like waste. On the castle grounds itself the air was rich with pollens from a garden, sweet smells from growing fruit, and the earthy scent of wood and stone, the building blocks of the castle. Guards, human and youkai alike, took notice of her in ways they never had before. The youkai, especially the dog demons, watched her avidly. Rin thought she saw hunger there, animalistic and needy but suppressed. When she'd been human she'd felt their eyes on her too, but in those days the emotion she saw in their eyes was curiosity, amusement, or rarely, disgust. The humans now watched her with reverence or even fear.
The thought of seeing Sesshomaru made Rin's belly clamp up with anticipation. She lowered her eyes, following Shimofuri almost timidly.
As soon as they entered the castle, maids appeared and knelt to remove their footwear and wash their feet. Shimofuri barely paused long enough for them to finish before he strode toward the first flight of stairs, heading deeper into the castle. His thoughts seemed distant, far away from Rin. Rin, waylaid by the maids, fell behind. Harried and unfamiliar with the castle layout, she found herself using her nose to navigate, a bizarre change. Humans relied so much on sight, but the inuyoukai were just as likely to use their nose as their eyes. For the first time in her life, Rin perceived the world as Sesshomaru would have, as even her own daughter would have to a certain extent.
She moved up the stairs, flowing over them. Maids passed her and stared from a distance, then averted their eyes, staring at the floor. At last, on the landing of the third floor, she saw Shimofuri waiting for her, his face twisted with displeasure. At first she felt upset, angry that he would have such an expression on his face. She assumed he was frustrated with her slowness—but he had left her behind!—but as she finished the last flight of stairs she saw that the source of his anger actually stemmed from…
Rin stopped and stared, frozen by a black, distant memory. Before Naraku had died, before Sesshomaru had moved her to Jouka Palace to educate her as if she were a warlord's daughter. Before those events, she could remember climbing up a long white stairway, an enchanted castle seemingly in the sky. Leading them had been Sesshomaru's mother, the inuyoukai woman that now stood before Shimofuri, barring his way.
The inuyoukai woman's gaze fell on Rin and though her lips showed nothing, Rin felt certain she saw a smile in the depths of her fiery golden eyes.
Tsukiyume was standing beside Shimofuri, holding his hand. "Brother, please, you must come with me. The servants have made dinner and Lady Ginrei is waiting with Hanone. We're to eat with them…"
Shimofuri's stare, narrowed and fierce, never left Sesshomaru's mother. "There's no time for banquets and celebrations," he barked. "I've brought Lady Rin back from the north to see—"
"My son is indisposed, currently." Sesshomaru's mother ignored Shimofuri's glare and focused on Rin. "Young lady, you are improperly dressed! You must come with me. I will see to it that the maids here provide you with the finest robes and a proper bath. Then you can join Lord Shimofuri, the hanyou, Hanone, and myself at dinner."
Rin had never scented Sesshomaru with her new inuyoukai nose, but the woman before her was unmistakably Sesshomaru's relative. Rin tried to force the new scent into memory, to analyze it, to learn all that she could. There wasn't anything in it that she recognized, which was a bad sign. How would she know if this truly was Sesshomaru's mother, and not some imposter? What if it was Jishin? What if Sesshomaru was already dead?
"No, I want to see Lord Sesshomaru now," Rin said, calmly but with a serious, somber tone that said: I won't take no for an answer.
"If you insist, but my son cannot speak to you. He will not know that you've come to see him. It will be a waste." Sesshomaru's mother lifted her hand, stifling a yawn and shrugged, shifting the massive white fluff around her shoulders. "Come then, I'll take you to him."
"Brother," Tsukiyume murmured, pulling on his hand.
Shimofuri ripped his hand away and glared at her. "Tsuki—you just let this—her—inside? What's happened since I left? Why are you trying to stop…"
"Hush," Sesshomaru's mother snapped. "The hanyou had nothing to do with my arrival. I was sent here by my late husband's spirit."
Shimofuri bristled almost visibly and took a step closer to her, as if about to attack. "What is this nonsense you're saying?" he demanded.
She regarded him blandly, unafraid of his posturing. "I am a medium, much like your sister the hanyou." She laid one palm over the metallic necklace at her breast, lying over her sky-blue robes. "I am in contact with the dead on occasion with Meidou-seki. It was only with help from the other world that I knew exactly when to come here to prevent the death of my son," she paused and suddenly glared openly at Shimofuri, sneering. "You, I believe, left him here with only womenfolk to protect him! Womenfolk and an imp!"
Shimofuri blustered, confused and alarmed. "I never had to take him in and protect him in the first place, but I did! We stopped…" he stumbled, unable to say his deceased wife and cousin's name out of guilt, "…the first attack. There was another?"
Tsukiyume nodded at his side. "Yes, Soeki came and tried to kill Lord Sesshomaru. She hurt Lady Ginrei too. That's why Lord Sesshomaru is indisposed. He has a fever from his wounds."
"I disposed of Soeki," Sesshomaru's mother said, sniffing. When she spoke again she had inexplicably switched into a more formal, respectful tone. "I understand that Lord Shimofuri was away searching for Lady Rin. The attack was unexpected. Of course it is forgiven. Lord Shimofuri has done well to retrieve Lady Rin. Now, please," she motioned toward Tsukiyume, "enjoy the dinner that the hanyou and I have had prepared."
Tsukiyume tugged on Shimofuri's hand, saying, "Brother, please…"
Shimofuri, frowning, turned and glanced back to Rin. His eyes revealed his bafflement, his utter confusion at the turn of events. He nodded to Rin. "I trust that the lady will show you to Lord Sesshomaru as soon as you are properly dressed."
Rin nodded, but said nothing. As Shimofuri turned away to follow his sister, Rin knew that the young lord didn't trust Sesshomaru's mother or the situation. Just as she did, he felt something odd or wrong in it. His words had been a poorly masked way of warning her before he succumbed to Tsukiyume's prodding. Now Rin was alone with the mysterious lady that had given Sesshomaru life centuries ago.
A/N I'm sorry again I didn't reach their meeting. But this chapter was already running long and I thought about cutting Saya's scene, but...couldn't bring myself to do it. Drop me a line! I don't bite!