Disclaimer - Sesshy-sama doesn't belong to me. Boo-hoo! Anyhow, don't sue, I don't have anything you could possibly want.

A/N - Okay, this chapter is dedicated to all those people who were waiting for Sesshy to meet up with his niece and nephew. This is also where the action starts picking up a bit. I hope I did it justice and lived up to your expectations. Enjoy.

Note: Bit of a time skip once again, but this is the last one. I promise.


Teaching Rin

Chapter 52

Friendly Family Interference


Patrols had always had a calming affect on the Western Lord. Even when he had been younger, long before he had taken on the mantle of Western Lord, InuTaisho had often sent him off to scout out the various checkpoints along the borderlands just to get him out of the fortress. Sesshomaru had never been an inside type of person, which is not all that surprising considering that most demons of his nature were not. He needed space to roam, and wide areas to transverse through. So when it was time for him to patrol the interior lands of the West, he had happily left Jaken in charge of the fortress affairs and taken to the sky in an attempt to clear his mind.

Sesshomaru soared through the late summer air, his cool amber eyes searching the surrounding countryside as his looked for any sign of unauthorized travelers entering into his lands. So far, everything had checked out clean. The only thing that was out of place was the reports he'd gotten along the coastal areas that told of an increase in sightings of ships baring armed soldiers and the black and green crest of the Southern Lands.

'She's in the middle of something else, no doubt. Stirring up trouble as only she is capable of.' his mind told him vindictively, slipping back onto a topic that he had been trying to get off of since the pre-union party in the South two months ago. It had been eight weeks since the union party, and nearly three since he'd finally dumped his pride and sent some scouts to the South with instructions to find out from Ryu if the pirating was still going on. It had also served a duel purpose of appeasing his curiosity to find out how and what Kaida was doing. Sesshomaru had figured that if things were still tense in the South Lands, then someone would at least know what the itinerant demoness was doing…if she wasn't attached to her father's side. So when his messenger had arrived back, reporting that the pirating had once again picked up, Sesshomaru expected to hear that Kaida was in the middle of figuring out a way to stop the illegal confiscation of the South's goods.

Imagine his surprise when the messenger reported that Kaida had been gone from her homelands for over a month. One of the council members, some demon called Uragiru, had blithely told the Western messenger that the demoness had been sent to the mainland in an attempt to put a stop to the pirating by killing Shinegori and nipping his little invasion in the bud before it got any worse.

Sesshomaru had been less than pleased with this round of news, and had figured that Kaida had once again fallen to her father's will and been sent to help Seiti. But something had rankled him for hours after receiving the report. The messenger had also discreetly asked a few others where Kaida had been, and what she had been up to since leaving the West. Some had said she jumping from the mainland to the Southlands via the trade ships as a measure of protection against the pirating, yet still a few others had said she was running missions for her father on the interior of the island. But one thing was for sure, it was a well known fact that she was hardly in the southern castle anymore…and most definitely not attached to her father like an unneeded extra appendage.

Sesshomaru landed in a tree and stretched his senses a bit, finding it calming to be out on patrol again, as opposed to staring at the familiar walls of the fortress. There was only so much he could do within the confined walls, and things were just starting to even out again, at least to the point where he was getting things done again, and not so hung up on Kaida's nonexistent presence. He still missed her, especially in the evening times when they would usually spar in the dojo. But he figured if she'd had the desire to speak with him, she'd have done so by now. At this point, if she wasn't going to make an effort, he sure as all hell wasn't either.

"Do you think I can jump it?"

"Go on, what's the worse that can happen?"

The Western Lord craned his head in the direction of the childish voices permeating through the warm air. It seemed he wasn't the only one out this day.

"But what if I don't make it? Then what?"

"Do what comes usually do when you don't get your way. Seethe, fume and throw a temper tantrum."

Sesshomaru landed lightly on the ground, quickly spotting two children standing not far from the edge of the cliff. The littlest one seemed to be contemplating trying to jump from the cliff to the high embankment on the other side. The little boy, however, was slowly inching his way away from the steep drop off. They seemed to notice his presence at the same time, and he stepped out of the noonday shadows of the trees and into the light. He took note of them, seeing the black tipped doggy ears on top of the little girl's head, and the large amber eyes in the little boy. The two children just continued to stare at him for a few seconds before the little boy spoke up, his voice timid and unsure.

"Uhh...Kiki...we need to go find dad right..." he began, only to be cut off by the little girl.

"Hello." she said. "Who are you? I've never seen you here before."

"Who I am is none of your concern, whelp." he said simply. She stiffened up immediately, and Sesshomaru could feel the anger coming off of her in waves. He turned his attention to the wide eyed little boy, noting that he looked eerily familiar.

"Sorry to bother you, sir." he said, bowing deeply and grabbing the girl's kimono sleeve. "Excuse us."

"What? I'm not goin' nowhere!" the little girl said stoutly, now glaring at him. "We were here first!"

"Kiki...we need to go." he said simply, tugging a bit more harshly.

"No we don't. We always play here, Korin!" she said loudly, glaring back at her brother and yanking her sleeve out of his grasp. "You know that! Besides, daddy said it was okay!" Sesshomaru withheld the urge to roll his eyes at the sibling's antics. These must be his idiot half-brother's children. Only Inuyasha would let his children play near the edge of a cliff.

Sesshomaru remembered Rin mentioning that Kagome had once again given birth a few years ago, this time to a little girl. He had never seen the children, but word had gotten back, through his ward, that they were a handful at times. Sesshomaru hoped they put Inuyasha through holy hell as payback for some of the stunts the hanyou had pulled when he was a pup.

'Speaking of the idiot…' Sesshomaru thought, picking up the slightly offset demonic aura of his half brother closing in quickly on their location.

"..are you, anyway?" the little girl's voice was demanding, her slightly clawed hands on her hips.

"Such a precocious little creature. If you want to live until your father gets here, you better be good." he ground out.

"Mister, I don't behave for parents. What makes you think I'm going to do it for you?" the smart mouthed little girl said pointedly, her arms now crossed over her chest and a frown on her face.

'Oh joy, she's Inuyasha made over.' he thought glumly.

"Because your parents wouldn't accidentally toss you over the edge of this cliff." he answered coldly. The little girl's gaze flickered over to the side of the cliff, but she didn't seem to be losing any of her steam. Sesshomaru suddenly wondered if he was losing his ability to intimidate even a small child. Of course, if this was Inuyasha's child, the little menace probably didn't have the sense to realize who she was messing with. The older one seemed to realize who he was though, if the wide eyed look on the boy's face was anything to go by.

"Uh, Kiki, you might want to listen to him." Korin said carefully, jerking on his younger sister's kimono sleeve.

"Why?" she demanded.

"You just do." the boy said, tugging on her kimono a bit more insistently. "Come on, we need to go find dad and.."

"Why?" she asked, only to glare up at Sesshomaru. "Who are you anyways?"

"Sesshomaru, Lord of these lands." Sesshomaru answered, waiting for a look of understanding, or more preferably fear, pass over the itinerant little girl's face.

"Who?" she asked, squinching her eyes up at him. "Never heard of you."

"He's our uncle, Kiki." Korin said, slapping his head in aggravation.

"Oh." the little girl said, walking up to Sesshomaru and giving him a contemplative once over. "Are you really our daddy's brother? You look kinda like him."

"Unfortunately, yes." Sesshomaru growled. He could sense Inuyasha's aura heading towards them, and was about to just disappear since he had no desire to fight with his idiot of a half sibling. He had turned to leave the two children to their own devices when the little girl lunged at him, sinking her baby teeth into his pant's leg.

"KIKI!" Korin yelled, rushing over to pull ineffectively at his younger sister's clothing in an attempt to dislodge her from their uncle's leg. Sesshomaru looked down at the two siblings, his anger starting to peak. He could feel Inuyasha getting closer, and knew he would be breaking through the trees at any second.

So much for getting away from this pack of idiots.

"KIKI! LET GO OF HIM!" Korin's plaintive voice sounded hysterical. "DO YOU WANT HIM TO EAT US! LEGGO! LEGGO!"

"Nh hes nt oin' nwhrs." the little girl grunted around a mouthful of Sesshomaru's voluminous pant legs. "Im oldm illad etsere!"

"DAAAAAD!" Korin screamed, apparently at his wits end and thinking he was going to die. Sure enough, Inuyasha came crashing through the tree break at that very moment, an annoyed look on his face.

"What's wrong, Korin? Where is your….Sesshomaru? What the hell are you doing here?" Inuyasha demanded coldly. "And what are you doin' to my kids?"

"Dad! Do something! I can't get her off!" Korin wailed, still tugging at Kiki's kimono.

"I believe this belongs to you." Sesshomaru said calmly, kicking his leg a few times to try and dislodge the child. She just growled and held on for all she was worth. Inuyasha didn't move at first, apparently a bit shocked to find his only daughter trying her best to bite Sesshomaru. But he quickly came to his senses when Kiki reared back to bite Sesshomaru again, obviously intent on drawing blood this time.

"Kiki, don't bite him! You don't know where he's been." Inuyasha admonished, pulling the young girl into his arms before she could latch onto the irate lord once again.

"But…dad…" she whined, struggling to get out of his hands and back at the demon that towered over her. "It's your brother!"

"I know." Inuyasha said in a voice that asked them not to remind him of the familial relationship.

"But isn't he the one you always call an anal retentive bastard with a stick stuck up his ass?" Kiki demanded. "You said if you ever saw him again, you were going to take a bite out of him! I was just helping!"

"I didn't mean it literally, young lady." Inuyasha scolded.

"Not that he could hope to 'take a bite out of me' anyways." Sesshomaru pointed out, causing Inuyasha to bristle at the challenge.

"You want to make a bet on that?" he growled, glaring daggers at the Western Lord.

"If you are so eager to lose, so be it." Sesshomaru retorted, ice lacing his voice. The two brothers continued to stare each other into the ground until Kiki cleared her throat in a way very reminiscent of how her mother used to do before slamming Inuyasha into the ground.

"Isn't there someone else you can annoy, jerk? Friends? Enemies? Poisonous reptiles?" Kiki demanded angrily, glaring as well as any five year old could, safely tucked in her father's arms.

"She's right. Don't you have some defenseless animal to disembowel?" Inuyasha demanded.

"Yes, it's standing in front of me." Sesshomaru deadpanned.

"Hey! You don't talk to my daddy that way, you big prick!" Kiki yelled angrily.

"Well, she inherited your filthy mouth I see."

"That ain't all I got, buddy! Keep talking and I'll kick your as…"

"Kiki!" Kagome's steel voice rang through the clearing. Sesshomaru looked up and saw the miko, hands on hips and an expression on her face that promised motherly intervention.

"Shit." the little girl muttered, quickly attaching herself to her father with a death grip. "Dad! Help!"

"Now she's done it." Korin said, hanging his head in aggravation at his sister's antics.

"Congratulations, Inuyasha. She's as bad as you are." Sesshomaru said drolly.

"Watch it, asshole. That's my daughter you're talking about." Inuyasha growled.

"Really? I had no idea." Sesshomaru said, baiting the younger demon while he could. When Kagome finally got to them, she gave the entire group a stern look before settling her attention on Sesshomaru.

"Oh, Lord Sesshomaru. I didn't know you were here. How have you been?" she said politely.

"Come on, Kagome. Don't be nice to him." Inuyasha whined.

"He's not the bad guy anymore, Inuyasha, and hasn't been for a long time. At least try to be civil in front of the children." the miko hissed, reaching up to pinch one of Inuyasha's white ears none too gently in an attempt to get her point across.

"I will if he will." the hanyou grumbled.

"That's better." Kagome said calmly. "So, what brings you here, Lord Sesshomaru? We have not heard from you in a while. Everything going well, I hope."

"Well enough, miko." he said calmly.

"Yeah, what are you doing here, anyways?" Inuyasha asked absently transferring his daughter to his shoulders.

"Routine patrols." he answered vaguely.

"And you just had to stop here?" Inuyasha asked sourly.

"Don't start, Inuyasha. He doesn't have to have a reason to come by here." Kagome said calmly. "They're his lands after all."

"Well he's gotta have one as far as I'm concerned." the half demon hissed. "Besides, he had to have done something to make Kiki try to bite him."

"You did what, Kikieta?" Kagome demanded. Sesshomaru watched as the little girl's ears, so similar to her father's, drooped at the anger in her mother's voice. "You attacked Lord Sesshomaru?" The little girl looked thoroughly chastised, and hung her head in embarrassment.

"What did you do to her, Fluffy?" Inuyasha demanded, apparently still looking for a reason to pin the fault on him.

"I did nothing."

"Why do I not believe you?"

"But…he didn't do anything." Korin said, finally speaking up. Inuyasha suddenly looked put out, finding that Sesshomaru was indeed in the clear. "Well, he threatened to throw Kiki off the cliff, but other than that…"

"Hah! I knew he wasn't innocent." Inuyasha growled, reaching for Tetsusaiga. "Threaten my daughter, did you? I'll show you who…"

"Inuyasha, that's enough." Kagome said, rolling her eyes at her mate's antics. "You know as well as I do that Sesshomaru was not going to throw either of them off the cliff. So calm down."

"Come on, Kagome! Don't take his side! He threatened our kids!"

"He also threatens you on a regular basis." she pointed out dully. "And you're perfectly fine. Don't even think about lecturing him about something you know he wasn't going to do."

"Him? Lecture me?" Sesshomaru said dully, causing Inuyasha to fume even more. "I'll try to stay awake."

"You better. I fell asleep during one of dad's lectures one time, and he hung me upside down in the God Tree." Kiki said sagely, her animosity temporarily gone in the face of her mother's wrath. Sesshomaru heard the indignant sputter of Inuyasha and noticed Kagome's glare with that little gem of information. "It didn't work, though. Mama's lectures are better."

"Thanks. Your vote of confidence in me is overwhelming, Kiki."

"You're welcome, daddy!" she beamed.

"That's enough, both of you." Kagome said finally, her exasperation showing through plainly. "I swear, I don't know which pair of you is worse!"

"Aww, come on, Kagome." Inuyasha whined. "I just wanna know what he's doing here. And what's got him in such a pissy mood."

"That's none of our business." Kagome said firmly.

"Yeah, but I bet it's got something to do with a certain Southern noble named Kaida, don't you?"

"What?" Sesshomaru demanded.

"Inuyasha, don't bait him into another.."

"Ah, don't look so surprised, Fluffy." Inuyasha teased, happy to find something that finally got his half brother to react.

"How did you, of all creatures…"

"Rin." Inuyasha said cheekily. "She keeps in touch with Shippo and tells him what's going on in the upper circles. Word has it you and the Souther General had a fight and she left your sorry ass. Care to squash some rumors and appease my curiosity, big brother?"

"Not particularly." the Western Lord said simply, his eyes still lingering on the little girl Inuyasha held. She had fallen quiet, thank the gods.

"Really? That's a pity." Inuyasha said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the tree trunk. "But now that I think about it, Kaida didn't seem all that willing to talk about you either when I saw her."

"When did you see her?"

"A few weeks ago." Kagome interjected, feeling that if she didn't step in soon, Sesshomaru was going to kill Inuyasha just for being so damned annoying.

"What was she doing here?" Sesshomaru asked nonchalantly.

"I thought you didn't want to talk about it?"

"Answer me, hanyou, and I won't kill you where you stand."

"Geez…touchy aren't we?"

"Talk."

"She was on one of the trade ships that dock near the pearl beds outside the fishing village along the coast." Inuyasha relented. "Kagome and I had taken the kids down there for a few days, and we ran into her."

"She knew who you were?"

"Yeah…seems she remembered me from when we used to play together when we were kids." Inuyasha said sheepishly. "I didn't really recognize her at first, but then everything kinda clicked. She's changed a lot since the last time I remember seeing her."

"Time has a way of doing that." Sesshomaru muttered. Great, even his idiotic half brother knew about his problems. Who was next?

"So it's true then. She did leave you high and dry." Inuyasha smirked, causing Kagome to punch him in the arm.

"Drop it already." she said.

"She was a hopeless case, much like yourself, Inuyasha." Sesshomaru said dryly.

"A person's only hopeless if you walk away from them." Inuyasha pointed out, leveling his sibling with a knowing glare.

"That is true, Lord Sesshomaru." Kagome added gently. "Anything can be made to work if you fiddle with it long enough. Relationships are no exception."

"Considering you are voluntarily mated to Inuyasha, I suspect there is some truth in your statement, miko." Sesshomaru said, nodding his head in her direction.

"Hmph. You're just jealous!" Kiki proclaimed loudly before Inuyasha could say anything. "When you ever find a mate, you should be loyal…or in your case grateful."

"Kiki! That's enough, little missy." Kagome chastised. "We are going back to the village now."

"But…but…."

"No buts, young lady." Kagome said sternly, pointing back towards the village beyond the forest. "March." The little girl grumbled as Inuyasha put her down, but finally relented and started walking back the way she had come from. Kagome turned back to Sesshomaru and gave him a bow. "It was good to see you, Lord Sesshomaru. I hope everything works out for you."

"Miko." he said, nodding slightly in the priestess' direction as she called Korin to her side and they began following a sulking Kiki.

"Goodbye, Lord Sesshomaru." she called out.

"I take back my previous statement, Inuyasha." Sesshomaru said drolly after the trio had disappeared into the forest. "Your daughter is worse than you ever were."

"Yeah, she's something else. I have a feeling she wouldn't know how to act if she wasn't in trouble." Inuyasha said with a shake of his head, but a small indulgent smile on his face. The hanyou's demeanor quickly changed however, when he turned his full attention back to Sesshomaru. "You know there's been talk of a large group of ships baring the Southern Land's emblem being seen off the coast."

"Trade ships." Sesshomaru said absently, filing the information away for later use. He and Inuyasha may not have been on the best of terms still, but the two half brothers had found some even ground after teaming up to kill Naraku. They didn't try to kill each other anymore, mostly thanks to Kagome's interference in the matter, so any meeting where they both walked away relatively unharmed was a step in the right direction.

"Trade ships aren't loaded to the brim with armed soldiers." Inuyasha pointed out. "Sesshomaru, what the hell is going on?"

"The Southern Land's trade ships have been systematically attacked and pirated for the past few months." Sesshomaru said curtly.

"Any odds of a fight coming near here?"

"Not likely."

"Who's behind it?"

"Shinegori, from the mainland." Sesshomaru said. "He's using the cargos to finance his overthrow of some territories under another Seiti's control."

"Shinegori and Seiti, huh?" Inuyasha asked, recognizing the names easily enough. "They're causing one hell of a problem along the coastlines, I can tell you that much. Myouga said Kaida told all the captains of your ships to be on the lookout when they set out. Sounds like things are heating up."

"I would not doubt it." Sesshomaru said calmly, his senses flaring up slightly as another aura approached at a break neck speed. Apparently Inuyasha felt it to, because the hanyou's hand went straight for Tetsusaiga. Sesshomaru expanded his own demonic energy, trying to figure out if he knew who the intruder was. The aura was familiar, but he couldn't place it right off hand. Thankfully, they weren't forced to wait long until the newcomer showed himself. There was a blur of brown as the demon broke through the tree line, and Sesshomaru tamped down an annoyed growl when he realized that the intruder was none other than that mutt Kaze.

"You know this guy?" Inuyasha asked.

"Unfortunately." Sesshomaru groused, wondering idly what the brown headed demon was doing this far away from the Southern Lands. The merchant spotted him easily, and Sesshomaru would have sworn he heard the mutt give a sigh of relief. But that could have just been his imagination. The mongrel crossed the space quickly, and the brothers quickly noted that he looked absolutely worn out, almost to the point of exhaustion.

"Lord Sesshomaru?" he said, nodding slightly.

"What are you doing here?" Sesshomaru demanded.

"It's Kaida, my Lord."

"What about her?" Inuyasha asked when Sesshomaru remained silent.

"She's….she's…"

"Get to the point, half-breed. What do you want?" Sesshomaru barked.

"She's about to get herself killed."

That got their attention.

"What? Where is she?" Sesshomaru demanded. "Where did she go?"

"She left with the fleet of ships for the Sea of Japan." Kaze said raggedly. "We received word that Shinegori would be heading this way via a water route. She's gone to intercept him, to keep him away from here."

"A sea battle?" Sesshomaru asked, more that a little surprised at Kaida's audacity to even try such a risky move.

"Yes." he said, shaking his head. "Ryu ordered all the naval regiments to go with her, but then we found out that she took only a little over a quarter of them."

"So send the rest to catch up." Inuyasha said, rolling his eyes at the frantic merchant.

"We can't." Kaze huffed. "The boats were vandalized by the spy you told Ryu about, so they weren't able to sail. The traitor was caught, and we're trying to get the ships repaired at the moment to send after her."

"Is Seiti sending reinforcements?" the Western Lord demanded.

"He was supposed to. But we just received word that someone set fire to his ships a few days ago." Kaze said exasperatingly. "He may be able to send four ships, if that."

"Does she know this?" Sesshomaru demanded.

"We sent a messenger, but haven't heard anything back. Lord Ryu seems to believe the message was intercepted, and the runner killed." Kaze said, with a sad shake of his head.

"Has she lost her damned mind?" Inuyasha groused, tallying up the odds against the demoness.

"She's not thinking clearly, and hasn't been for a while." Kaze admitted, throwing a scalding glare in Sesshomaru's general direction. "She been moody and irrational for weeks. If she's not heading up a mission, she's in the dojo training. It's almost like she's got tunnel vision once she gets her mind set on something. I'm starting to think she's trying to prove something to someone."

"Looks like you aren't the only one who's been moping around after your little lover's spat." Inuyasha said evilly. "Bet that makes you feel better, eh, Fluffbutt?"

"Where are her brothers and Ryu?" Sesshomaru asked, completely ignoring Inuyasha's barb.

"Lord Ryu is currently seeing to the repairs on the ships and leading the interrogation against the spy that was caught. Ryuiji left three days ago on a boat scheduled to land in China, and Ryuichi is out fortifying the ports and pearl beds." Kaze said. "The only one who is with Kaida is Keiji."

"She might as well have nothing there." Sesshomaru grunted.

"This to be her final fight. She won't come out of there alive at the rate she's going. It is a three day trip from the port she left out of to the mainland. She's been gone for a day and a half. The boats will not be finished in time to be of any help." Kaze said quietly.

"She's on a suicide mission." Inuyasha muttered, shaking his head at the thought.

"The one who is responsible for the pirating is rumored to be on the main flagship of Shinegori's fleet. That's where she is headed." Kaze said.

"Do you know who it is?" Inuyasha asked.

"I wish I did, or I would handle this myself." Kaze said sourly, turning his attention to the half demon. "Although I have few doubts that Kaida is aware of their identities. How she gets her information I will never….Sesshomaru? Sesshomaru?"

But the demon in question was long gone.

"Well, I haven't seen Lord Fluffball move that fast in a while." Inuyasha commented idly as he leaned up against a tree and stuffed his hands into the voluminous sleeves of his haori, a wicked grin set into place on his handsome face.


The Western elites had just finished up their daily regimen when the doors to the barracks were flung open and a stone faced Sesshomaru stepped into the community area of the barracks. The soldiers, who were changing from their sweaty clothes, and thus in various states of undress, froze in their spots as their leader's cold amber gaze swept across room, silently taking in every miniscule detail. The waves of murderous intent rolling off of Sesshomaru was enough of a deterrent for most of the elites to breath, let alone move. But Bano finally stepped forward, slightly wary of the silver haired dog lord.

"Lord Sesshomaru, sir?" he asked cautiously.

"Ready yourselves." Sesshomaru ordered imperially, his voice as cold as death. "We leave for the coastal checkpoints in half an hour."

"Sir!" came the resounding response from the surrounding half naked demons.

"My Lord, what has happened?" Bano asked as the scuffling and movement immediately turned into organized chaos as the soldiers began to ready themselves for departure. Sesshomaru gave the bear demon a cool look and turned to leave the barracks, his words barely discernable above the background racket being created.

"It is time for you to hold true to your promise."


A/N -
Well, there we go. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Not much to say now other than hang in there because this story's about to take a nose dive into the action section.

Until next time,

A.A.

Oh, and please review. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what's happened so far….and your predictions of what is to come.