Tsukuyomaru turned out to be a great guide over the festival and the flying island. As he told Kagome, he was invited to the celebrations couple of times before, but his wife was there for the first time, and she and the priestess shared the novelty of the experiences. And it was so much easier for Kagome to connect with Shizu, who shared many of normal human problems that Kagome either experienced before or heard of from the villagers she helped, than to youkai. She only lived with one for less than five moons – this time wasn't enough to truly understand diverse culture of those beings.
Kagome still had fun chatting with other members of small family. Shiori may have been a shy child, but soon the festive atmosphere made her come out of her shell a bit, and she took a liking for Kagome already. And Tsukuyomaru was a positive and kind person, and always found humor in jokes of the females around him. He and Shizu also shared with Kagome a story about how they met, flooring her with awe (and some small amount of envy) over a romantic tale.
It happened one clear moonlit night. Tsukuyomaru was flying over seashore near the den of his tribe, when he noticed a beautiful human maiden (this is where Shizu blushed and smiled over her husband's words) gathering pieces of amber in sand. Curious as to why she would do such thing at night, he glided down to her, and asked her about that.
The woman was shocked by an appearance of a handsome stranger (and there was Tsukuyomaru's turn to smirk devilishly), but responded that she was a poor daughter of a fisherman, but wanted to make her older sister a surprise gift of an amber necklace for her upcoming wedding. Then, to her surprise, the stranger decided to help her with gathering of stones.
The necklace wasn't finished in one night, and so Tsukuyomaru appeared on the next one, and the next. This was, of course, all just a reason to spend more time with a charming woman, who as he learned, was named Shizu. He told her about himself as well, admitting that he was a youkai and one of the bats who attacked her village, but also explained how he was always against such attacks and only ever drank the blood of animals. To his surprise, instead of responding to his revelations with fear and screams, Shizu didn't look at Tsukuyomaru differently.
Even when necklace was done, they continued to meet in secret for a while, until eventually enamored Tsukuyomaru declared that he wanted to spend rest of his live with her as his mate. At that point he explained for Kagome, who wasn't privy to youkai breeding habits that much, that contrary to humans, youkai never had any traditions of marriage or anything remotely similar. Nothing stopped two youkai in love from living together as human husband and wife would, just as nothing stopped a youkai from taking multiple lovers if he wanted. Still, since Shizu was a human, he proposed to marry her by human tradition, and she happily agreed.
This was also when Tsukuyomaru told about his great hopes for this tournament. One of the possible prizes, as he said, was a small piece of ningyo flesh, which was told to grant immortality to any human who will eat it. If not for the rarity of ningyo youkai, Tsukuyomaru would have fished for one himself, but trying to win a piece in tournament seemed to be easier and faster, despite the bat's doubts over his strength.
"But, Tsukuyomaru-san, I can feel how powerful your aura is. Surely you are strong enough to get at least to semi-finals?" Kagome asked the youkai then. It really made little sense to her – strength of Tsukuyomaru's aura was comparable to Sesshomaru's.
"In future I will be, but I am only two and a half hundred years old. I didn't yet grow into all of my power and can't use most of it," Tsukuyomaru replied ruefully. "Tsume-sama is known for her ability to arrange tournament matches in such a way that unfair fights are rare, but I can still easily lose any one of them," with those words he looked at his wife sadly.
"I will still not be old in another ten years," Shizu replied with a smile and a nudge to her husband's shoulder. "Don't bury me ahead of time."
"Dad won't lose," Shiori supplied from where she was walking near her mom. This made Tsukuyomaru smile as well.
"Well, if you believe in him, sweetie, than he sure won't!" he replied with a chuckle and a pat on Shiori's head.
Over watching performances, trying out food and just strolling, time quickly flew by. It was sun had set already, and Kagome and her company were reasonably tired, but not enough to retire for their rooms yet – especially not when the fireworks started. The show of explosions in the sky was enchanting and romantic, and when Kagome saw how Shizu leaned on Tsukuyomaru's shoulder with Shiori nestled between them, she decided to give the family privacy for a short while.
Making sure to still keep them in sight – it was so easy to get lost on this island – Kagome walked some distance away from the garden bench where they sat at, and found another nice spot for fireworks-watching. She was a bit disappointed to see this bench to be already occupied too, but that emotion quickly changed to elation when Kagome realized who exactly was sitting there, and then to embarrassment, when she saw what they were doing.
'So those rumors that Haruko-chan heard were right,' Kagome thought numbly, feeling how her blood rushes to her face. 'Such women exist. Gods, why am I still looking at them?!'
Finding herself still staring at two passionately kissing girls, Kagome quickly turned away from them. This movement, though, was probably the thing that alerted them to her presence.
"Kagome-san!" Shunran's happy voice was heard from behind the priestess. "I thought we will never meet each other again!"
"Uh, hello, Shunran-chan, Shuran-san," Kagome turned back, red as tomato. Two wildcats still sat very close to each other on that bench and were holding hands with no shame to be seen on their faces.
"I am Karan, actually," the red-haired woman said, making Kagome blush even deeper. So she was thinking Karan and Shuran's names wrong for how many days straight now?
"I am sorry! We were never actually introduced, and I was thinking that you were Shuran because of your hair color – it's just like tree leaves in fall!" Kagome rambled in apologizing tone.
"Ah, don't get so anxious!" Karan waved off dismissingly. "So, Tsume-sama decided to let you off today?"
Kagome nodded, calming down a little and remembering her previous day. She met Touran and her cohorts then together with Tsume who came up to greet and tease them, but Kagome didn't had an opportunity to chat with Shunran or any of other cats before she was dragged away again.
"Yes, I didn't see her the whole day," the priestess replied with a smile that started to bloom anew on her face. "I was looking for you, Shunran-chan, but this place is huge! And then, I admit, I just got distracted by all the festivities."
"There is a lot of things too look at, yes," Shunran beamed happily. "Have you seen the dancing performances? I and Karan heard that Tsume-sama brought the kabuki actors from the Kyoto, where they danced for the human Emperor himself!"
"Yea, she knows how to celebrate to the fullest," Karan agreed. "And those humans moved so smoothly, I could've thought that they were youkai."
Kagome delved into her memory for a moment. Yes, she watched a kabuki performance together with Tsukuyomaru and his family, but she honestly thought the actors to be youkai with how fluid their moves were. But she didn't felt for their aura, and they wore heavy clothes and masks, so this was her only clue.
"I honestly believed them to be," the priestess shook her head. "They were amazing. The only person besides them whom I've seen to move with such grace was Sesshomaru-sama."
It was then that Kagome noticed three other people moving next to her and the wildcats couple (which was still a bit of a shock – were youkai really so free in that regard?). They were, of course, Tsukuyomaru, who was holding Shizu's palm in one hand and nodding off Shiori in another.
"Kagome-san, are those your friends?" the bat youkai asked quietly, coming closer. "Will you introduce us?"
"Of course," now Kagome was also speaking in lowered voice. "This is Shunran-chan and Karan-san, and those are Tsukuyomaru-san, Shizu-san and Shiori-chan," she pointed out everyone. Shizu looked at the couple's joined hands with the same astonishment that Kagome felt earlier, and the wildcats, in turn, were throwing curious glances at her and Shiori.
"Nice to meet you," the awkwardness was broken by Shunran, who nodded her head in greeting. "How do you find the festival?"
With that, the companies of four and two became a company of six. Romantic mood was broken in favor of happy chatter. Karan seemed to be a bit apprehensive of Shizu at first, but Shunran and her more outgoing nature soon placated her towards the woman, and beside the first surprise, Shizu didn't show in any way that she was somehow against the cats' relationship. It was, as the woman told Kagome earlier, one of the first things she learned by being in relationship with a youkai – be accepting of their customs, no matter how shocking they might be.
The big group didn't walk together for too long. Shizu decided that it was time to put Shiori to sleep, and Tsukuyomaru felt inclined to leave with her to make sure she won't get lost on her way to their room. Kagome spend a little more time with the wildcats, before starting to think about getting a night sleep as well. Before she left as well, though, she was left with a message to pass.
"Kagome-san, if you meet Sesshomaru," Shunran said to her after Kagome bid her goodbyes and set a place and time for finding each other again tomorrow. "Can you tell him that Touran-sama wanted to challenge him again? She still hopes to get the Rime Spear before the tournament, but I doubt that anyone but you will be able find Sesshomaru before that. I mean, you probably live in the same room, right?"
"Sure, I will tell him when I meet him again," Kagome replied with a slight smile. Touran, just as she suspected, wasn't going to give up yet. "But I don't guarantee him actually coming to see her."
"This is fine," Karan sighed exasperatedly. "We just were told to tell him that if we were to see him by accident. Touran-sama spends all her time looking out for him instead of celebrating. I'd like to see her relax a bit, you 'now?"
Kagome nodded in understanding. She'd like to see Sesshomaru enjoying himself too. It was not to say that she never did before – he quite enjoyed herself on occasions – but Kagome believed that if he only defeated his fear of crowds or whatever was keeping him in hiding right now, he would've found much pleasure in the festival.
'Maybe I can kill two birds with one stone…' a devious plot started to form in Kagome's head when she was walking towards her and Sesshomaru's room a bit later. 'If I manage to not let him get away from me in the morning, I may try to get him to see Touran and actually enjoy the festival! I will just need to make sure I will wake up when he leaves the bed…'
Now that was a daunting task even for the most daring female. Just as yesterday, when Kagome came in, Sesshomaru was lying in bed already, but this time Kagome was less exhausted and actually took her time to both prepare herself to sleep and plan on how to chain herself to Sesshomaru. 'Maybe if I literally bind herself to him…'
She lied down next to Sesshomaru, curling on his pelt. It was, as he once explained, a part of his body in human form – just a detached part, one that could be taken away from him, though such separation of his youki would've been very unpleasant. Still, it was a part that didn't had that much of a feeling of touch. It was, after all, mostly just fur. And now Kagome was planning on exploiting this fact.
Not moving too much, so she wouldn't alert Sesshomaru, she carefully untied a length of ribbon that was keeping her underwear yukata closed, and used it to tie Sesshomaru's pelt to her wrist. At some point Kagome almost felt that he noticed her ministrations, but he seemed to either honestly not notice her (doubtfully) or just ignore her, thinking that she was just tossing and turning around. Either way, the coast seemed clear, her mission was complete, and the young woman went to a peaceful sleep.
Just as Kagome had planned, she woke up from a sharp jerk at her wrist. Instantly, she opened her eyes and sat up to see Sesshomaru, still dressed down to his underwear and pelt, looking with narrowed eyes at the ribbon connecting him to Kagome. Light of pre-dawn was filling the room through windows made out of thin rice paper and turning that pitch-black of night into shades of blues and grays.
"What is the meaning of this?" he asked. Someone who didn't knew Sesshomaru better might've pissed their pants from the tone of his voice, but Kagome grew immune to those kinds of things long time ago. Besides, she knew, looking at relaxed line of his lips, that Sesshomaru wasn't as angry as he might have wanted to appear.
"I am not going to let you disappear on me again, Sesshomaru-sama," Kagome replied at that with determination in her voice. She made no movements to untie them. "At the very least, you should meet with Touran-san, because she wanted to challenge you again, and how can she if nobody can even find you?"
"You have no right to tell this Sesshomaru what he should and should not do, priestess," Sesshomaru hissed, jerking at his pelt as if trying to tear the flimsy ribbon between it and Kagome's hand apart. The action made the strip of cloth dig painfully into her skin, and Kagome rose on her knees to ease the pull.
Now Kagome knew that Sesshomaru was pissed, and despite the fact that she felt anger starting to boil inside of her just from his tone alone, the priestess knew better than to act on it. Making a deep breath, she let herself calm down a little bit and switched her tactic to a more efficient one. Fighting with Sesshomaru bluntly was the wrong way to go, no matter what kind of fight that was – for success you needed to be more cunning.
"Come on, Sesshomaru-sama," Kagome sighed exasperatedly. "I never once had seen you being afraid of anything, and now you are fleeing from such harmless thing as some fun? And not to mention Touran – you've beaten her twice already!"
When Sesshomaru's face went from angry to sour, Kagome knew that her verbal strike landed true. The tactic was childish, Kagome knew that, Sesshomaru knew that, and both knew that if Sesshomaru will not meet this 'fun' face to face right now, Kagome will remind him of that until he will revoke speaking right from her again. Part of the priestess was honestly afraid of that, but stakes were high now, and she was willing to risk some silence for a chance to drag Sesshomaru out.
"This Sesshomaru doesn't find pleasure in dealings with noisy crowds," he finally said with a disdainful snort, snapping the ribbon that tied him to Kagome in one movement of his claws. "But he would hear out whatever Touran wants to say."
"That's great!" Kagome beamed, scrambling to get dressed, while Sesshomaru was doing the same, but much faster and with more finesse. "Shunran-chan said that they will be in the highest garden at sunrise, near the statue of four kirins. And after we meet with Touran-san, we could take a stroll around or something!"
The glance that Sesshomaru threw at Kagome showed clearly what he thought about her 'we could', but aloud he only snorted, waiting for the priestess to get ready.
"I, Touran of the wildcats, call you, Sesshomaru of the dogs, to the challenge of mind for the Rime Spear that you hold in your possession!" were Touran's greeting words to Sesshomaru. Even those she spoke a bit faster than normal, as if she was afraid that elusive dog will disappear on her again. Kagome understood the notion – she spent the whole walk to the meeting place holding his pelt despite the glances he threw at her.
"State the rules of the challenge," Sesshomaru replied in bored tone.
"You shall win, if you solve the puzzle on the lock of this box until the end of this Ten Winters Festival," Touran declared, thrusting forward an ornate puzzle box that she held in her hands. "And if I lose, the box and all its contents will be yours."
Without saying anything, Sesshomaru came closer reached out for the box with a clawed hand. He inspected the item with curiosity that was doubled by Kagome. Finally, after careful examination that included smelling, rubbing, shaking a little and lots of looking, Sesshomaru deigned to reply to anxiously awaiting Touran.
"This Sesshomaru accepts the challenge," he said neutrally and turned to walk away with the box in hand. It seemed for Kagome, that Sesshomaru deemed his job here to be done. Now that was a great opportunity to let him go and join Shunran and Karan, who were waving at her happily in greeting, but…
"Sorry, can't stay with you!" Kagome apologized with a sorry smile, before running after Sesshomaru. It would be no good to let him just disappear on her now.
Sesshomaru, at his turn, was walking purposefully through least walked garden's paths, ignoring any passersby who might have recognized him and tried to greet the son of their hostess. Following after him, Kagome found herself in very quiet clearing filled with exotic flowers, that she could swear wasn't on their way before she and Sesshomaru had walked in. There, he sat under a strange tree with white bark covered in black stripes, and stared at the puzzle box in contemplation.
"May I look at it?" Kagome asked, sitting near him. After a moment of hesitation the box was put into her hands.
Kagome examined it curiously. It was made out of lacquered wood and was as long as one and a half of her palms, as wide as one, and half as tall as it was wide. Little pieces of wood on its sides were arranged into beautifully-made flower ornaments that circled all sides of the box, not showing any hint for the lock or even a lid. When the box was rattled, something quietly shuffled inside. After tinkering with a box a little bit longer, Kagome realized that some of the wooden parts of the box could be slid around, moving and changing the whole ornament with them. After that, the priestess returned the puzzle box to Sesshomaru.
"I never saw such a masterfully crafted thing before," she noted. "I wonder what's inside… Can you smell it out, Sesshomaru-sama?"
"The box blocks most of the scent," Sesshomaru replied with a slight shake of his head. His hands already started to move pieces of the puzzle on the box around. "But what this Sesshomaru can feel is similar to nothing he had smelt before."
Looking at the box with even more curiosity than before, Kagome asked herself if Sesshomaru's curiosity was the thing on which Touran had bid when she came up with the challenge. Sesshomaru was not the cat who was killed by his curiosity, but Kagome had an impression that if not for it, he would've just refused Touran's challenge, as puzzles didn't seem to hold much of his interest. Sesshomaru was more of 'crush a riddle together with the one who makes it' type of the person.
"The festival ends in two days," Kagome added conversationally. She thought what she wanted more – for Sesshomaru to win the challenge so she could learn what was inside the box or for him to lose so that Touran could finally have her spear back. She sympathized with Touran – the wildcat needed the Rime Spear to hold her ground against all those who will be at tournament – but Kagome was also a very curious person.
"Quiet," Sesshomaru growled under his nose in response. The puzzle pieces moved with sharp clicks of the wood. Kagome sighed, standing up. Her hopes to bring Sesshomaru at the festival were now thwarted completely, so there was no reason to trying to fight the inevitable. After waving a goodbye at Sesshomaru that he completely ignored, Kagome left in hopes to catch the wildcats' foursome somewhere nearby.
She was lucky enough to successfully accomplish her self-imposed mission. Shunran and Karan were happy to see Kagome back, and Touran didn't miss an opportunity to subtly ask about Sesshomaru's progress with the puzzle box. The priestess, of course, stayed tight-lipped about that, and soon the conversation flowed towards more neutral paths as the company left the gardens to grab some food and dive into festivities.
Eventually, Shuran left the wildcats' foursome to take a part in eating contest, then Shunran and Karan sneaked away into some quiet corner, giggling all the time, and to her surprise Kagome found herself being left alone with Touran, as they walked by a shore of a koi pond. Without any of the other cats to act as a buffer, Kagome suddenly felt herself out of place near a regal blue-haired woman.
"So… Is there a particular reason for you to take part in the tournament, Touran-san?" the priestess asked, trying to break the uneasy silence. "Do you want one of the prizes?"
"No, they hold little of interest to me," Touran replied in amiable tone, smiling a little. "I am one of those who only come to pose before opposite sex. But I am afraid that without my Rime Spear I will not be able to attract as much attention as I hope to."
"Huh?" Kagome asked dumbly. "Pose? You mean… this entire tournament – is just to show off?"
"Of course!" Touran chuckled. "With how solitary most of youkai live, gatherings like that one are very popular for search of mates, and what is the better way to determine best possible ones if not with a tournament? Even after it ends and Tsume-sama closes her island for visitors again, youkai will continue to scuffle between each other near that area until the very spring."
"Wow, that's a strange way to find a life partner," Kagome said with disbelief and shook her head. Each day there was something new to learn about youkai, it seemed. She wondered if Sesshomaru ever intended to teach her more about youkai culture or deemed it unnecessary.
"You think so? Well, maybe for humans," Touran admitted with a sigh. "With how packed your villages and towns are, I don't think you need to try hard to find a suitable mate."
"Well, for humans, parents usually arrange marriage for their children," Kagome drawled. "And most often for political or financial reasons that benefit their families first and only after that the person who is going to get married."
"Really?" Touran looked at Kagome in surprise. "And those marriages, as I heard, cannot be dissolved? So people are doomed to be with only one person for their whole life, no matter if they like them even a little bit or not?"
"Uh… Like this, yes. But if a man is rich, he can have more than one wife. And both men and women could look for lovers on the side," Kagome lowered her eyes. Suddenly, youkai traditions on looking for a mate seemed to be much more alluring than humans', no matter how strange. At least youkai had their freedoms. Kagome herself was lucky enough to be a priestess and be able to avoid the fate of most human women, but that came with other duties, which were not much easier.
"It's a blessing for humans, then, to have such short lives," Touran shook her head sadly. "Are you, Kagome-san, married yourself?"
"No, no!" Kagome denied in hurry. "Priestesses must be pure, so they can't be married."
"Pure?" Touran raised her brows questioningly. Kagome blushed.
"It means that they must be… virgins," she said in embarrassment.
"What a strange choice of words," Touran replied, only to ask another question. Unhidden curiosity was seen in her eyes. "I didn't deal with humans that much during my life. Can you tell me more about their customs, Kagome-san? Say, how they contain their fights over territory, when they live so close to each other?"
Kagome was glad to answer, if only to escape her embarrassment. Touran continued to throw a question after a question at her, some of them of most bizarre kind, as the two women continued their stroll over the terrace. It came to the point where Kagome was starting to look around in hopes for some of the other wildcats to return and save her, and rescue came indeed, even if not in the shape that she expected to see.
"Tsukuyomaru-san, Shizu-san, Shiori-chan!" Kagome shouted out after noticing familiar head of blue hair passing in the crowd. "Over here!"
Thankfully, bat youkai's hearing was sharp enough to notice Kagome's desperate cry despite the noise around and he immediately turned his family towards them. Touran looked at them with interest that soon changed to recognition.
"Are they your friends?" she asked, turning back to Kagome. The priestess nodded with a happy smile.
"We met yesterday," she replied and threw a question back as Tsukuyomaru and his family drew closer. "Do you know them?"
"In passing," Touran admitted and turned to Tsukuyomaru. Then, she flashed him a teasing smirk. "Hello, bat prince. Still living under your father's heel?"
Tsukuyomaru cringed.
"Nice to see you again too, ice queen. I thought you told me you that were not offended with me earlier," he replied sourly. Kagome and Shizu watched at exchange with confusion, while Shiori hid away from Touran behind her mother's back, only sticking her head out to throw curious glances at the wildcat.
"Ahem, so, this is Tsukuyomaru-san, Shizu-san and Shiori-chan," Kagome introduced and intervened before the mood turned completely sour. "And this is Touran-san, she is the boss of Shunran-chan and Karan-san. But I assume that you know her already?.."
Tsukuyomaru shook his head.
"She came to our territory a few decades ago and wanted to challenge me for the den of our tribe, but since I am not a leader of the tribe yet, I send her to my father instead," he said.
"Yes, and the old geezer just turned me away with my challenge, laughing from behind his impenetrable barrier all the time!" Touran hissed angrily. Surprisingly for Kagome, her words towards Tsukuyomaru's father caused people around her not to frown, but nod in sympathy instead. Even Shizu seemed to look at Touran with some kind of approval.
"He never was even a littlest bit amiable as far as I remember him," Tsukuyomaru shook his head sadly. "I am sure that if he wasn't too old to keep the barrier up, he'd killed me a long time ago."
"But he is your father!" Kagome gasped in shock and outrage. Touran snorted in disdain.
"And a scum," the wildcat said.
"And doesn't deserve to be talked about at such a good day," Shizu put an end to a topic. Kagome nodded in approval – they all, indeed, had much better things to do today.
The mixed company of humans, youkai and creatures in-between continued to enjoy the celebration and talk about all kinds of things. Touran took an opportunity to ask Shizu and Tsukuyomaru about who arranged their marriage after hearing of their status as husband and wife, and was delighted to know that there were exceptions to the rule Kagome explained earlier – the wildcat seemed to be a bit of a romantic at heart. Touran also declared, after hearing about Tsukuyomaru's goals for tournament, that if she will reach semi-finals, she will ask for a piece of ningyo meat for Shizu, since she didn't need any of the prizes for herself.
That, in turn, made Kagome, after some thinking, decide to also enlist for tournament later – with the same goal of helping Tsukuyomaru. The bat youkai and his wife, hearing that, were both happy to hear that and worried for Kagome's safety, but were assured by both Kagome and Touran that she will be fine. And while the priestess herself wasn't so sure about that, that fact that Touran was, made her to breathe a bit easier. That is, until she remembered about Sesshomaru. But she said (and hoping dearly that she wasn't lying) to everyone else that he won't be a problem, and they believed her.
When Kagome finally returned to her room late at early winter night, she had enough time to completely forget her worries about the possibility that Sesshomaru will forbid her to participate in the tournament, and about the tournament itself. She could barely see Sesshomaru's dark silhouette inside, and hear loud click-clacks of wooden puzzle pieces.
"You aren't sleeping yet?" Kagome wondered, slowly fumbling with ties of her clothing in the dark.
"This Sesshomaru isn't going to sleep until he solves this puzzle, priestess," he replied grimly. Seeing as he spent the whole day on it, Kagome now felt that his chances to will the Touran's challenge were lower than she expected. But he still had a whole night and day and another night. Except…
"So are you going to clatter those pieces the whole night?" Kagome asked with a sigh. A question was rhetorical, but to her surprise she could see Sesshomaru rising up. To her even bigger surprise, his silhouette seemed to be decidedly less lumpy than usual, which could only mean that he discarded his pelt. When Kagome reached out to feel with her hand, it was, indeed, still lying on futon.
"Rest, priestess," Sesshomaru said, walking towards the door and leaving Kagome alone and very surprised. But at least her bed for the night was going to be soft and smelling of him.