"Father this is unnecessary."

"Sesshomaru, your father has to test her abilities to see if her sensei was remiss in her training."

"Tsukiko-sama~. I wasn't remiss." Natsu pouted.

She tapped him on the forehead with her fan.

"Don't pout. You're a powerful grown prince, not a kit."

"Hai Tsukiko-sama" he said in a monotone voice as he rubbed the area where the blow landed.

"Although, he does act like one, Tsukiko-sama. Which is why I always have to supervise him" Fubuki chuckled. Tsukiko stared at the fox with an evil smile on her face.

She hummed, then without warning she grabbed his ear in a tight hold, continuing to smile "So why weren't you supervising his decision to run off?"

"Ah my ear!"

"The least you could have done was to let his father know he wasn't kidnapped or ran away"

She then grabbed Natsu's ear.

"I thought I raised you two better"

And she had. When Harou's mate had died, Tsukiko took it upon herself to become a surrogate of sorts to her children. It was the least she could do for her long-time friend.

Fubuki came along with them. He was the product of a cross-class liaison. His mother had an affair with a soldier from Harou's army when the mating games were held in the north. Tsukiko herself had just finished her own games in the west and was betrothed to Toga when it happened. Fubuki's mother, Ansa, being a princess of the east could not be burdened with a child if she wanted to successfully find a wealthy mate. She dumped her child at Harou's doorstep and went on her way. She then ran off to China. His father raised him for the most part with Hatori's mate stepping in before she died.

"What about your son?! He was complicit in it!" Natsu cried.

"He would get his in due time" she said sweetly.

Sesshomaru continued to ignore his mother, staring pointedly at his father who was speaking with Harou.

"Kikyo I'm sorry but you can't come in here!"

"Why not?"

"It's family only, Kikyo"

"I'm practically family! I'm going to be your mate! I should be there"

"Kikyo." Toga intoned catching the volatile woman's attention. "Soon you will be able to be here, but not right now "

She seemed to twirl the idea in her mind for a second before stepping back from the door.

"Sorry for my behaviour. I shall leave " she said before stomping off.

Tsukiko wasn't too sure what it was that Inuyasha saw in that woman. Maybe it was power. The woman had a generous sum of spiritual powers and she took any chance to parade it about. But her son wasn't like that, it would take more than a little power for him to stick with her. She knew it wasn't necessarily beauty. Kikyo was beautiful, but in a cold uninviting way. It appeared her beauty only ran skin deep and Inuyasha didn't seem superficial. The only logical reason maybe the sex. He was male after all, and his father's progeny. That was the only conclusion she could come to with the little insight she had on their relationship before they arrived a year ago. Inuyasha and Kikyo's backstory was as hidden as information on whom Kagome was.

Inuyasha quickly slid the door closed behind her. He leant his head against the door listening to make sure that she left the area and that she wouldn't reopen it again. He huffed a sigh of relief when he was sure she wasn't coming back. Pushing himself off the door he spun to face his father.

"Why are we here anyway, old man? Can't this wait until tomorrow when we actually have presentation of skills?" He grumbled moving towards the seated group.

"No. I need a controlled environment. I need to see that my son was capable in teaching her succinctly"

"Why does everyone doubt me?" Natsu said rubbing his ear.

"Because you can be erratic, impulsive and irrational" Lord Harou said, "I need to be sure that you didn't waste a year and she can at least defend herself from a demon"

"And I need to finally meet this girl" Tsukiko said from her cushion. She hid a sly smile on her face behind her fan. "She has to be special for my son to pick her as sorter when she's only just arrived" She had to be special. Her entrance the night before sparked her interest. The Shikon Miko seemed to have a close bond with her son and vice versa. Why else would his son allow her to threaten his life (albeit jokingly) and he would be expecting her.

"Kagome is special. She's so good..."

The shoji door slid open. Eiji was the first one to step in, his arm linked with the diminutive Miko behind him. She was smiling up at Eiji in a friendly manner. She seemed to be relaxed with the blond. As she stepped through the door, she unlinked her arms and bent gracefully into a 90-degree angle, hands clasped in front of her.

" Ohayō gozaimasu. Thank you for inviting me." she kept her head down, neck bared slightly. Harou nodded impressed with her etiquette so far"

"Rise, little one. Take a seat; you don't need to be so formal."

She followed instructions.

"I need to ensure that you were taught properly. Inuyasha told me that you were an archer, however, do you know self-defence?"

"Hai, Toga-sama. Natsu taught me sufficiently. With my bow I can shoot at least six arrows at once. I'm also trained in the katana, war fans, yumi, shuriken, kunais, bo and jo staffs, the vice chain, sais and naginata of course."

As she rattled off her list of weapons the demons sat in awe. How could one human learn all these weapons in a year?

"What of his other skills has my son passed to you?" Lord Harou asked. He knew his son was a shinobi. Natsu was the north's best spy. Which is why he was scared for his son. He thought someone had finally caught up to him and his machinations and was torturing him for it. Instead he was playing teacher to this strange blue-grey eyed Miko that reminded Harou of Aimikori and most likely teaching her his craft.

"I'm also quite well learned in information gathering and torture." She answered with a bright smile. "Actually,"

Eiji thumped to the ground as if on cue. His eyes were open and pupils tiny staring upward.

"I'm good with poisons"

"What did you do to my head general" Sesshomaru said, not asked.

"She clearly poisoned him with poppy" Natsu said smugly.

"My special version of poppy."

"You poisoned him, Kagome?!" Inuyasha yelled shock written across his face at the stunt. She shrugged nonchalantly at him, moving over to where the guard lay. She picked up his head and placed it in her lap.

"What are you doing?" Tsukiko asked. She was curious but also was quite worried for him. This was her other "son". Tsukiko was a good friend of his mother. She was a good woman, until she had a daughter and decided to ignore Eiji.

Tsukiko watched as the miko rubbed her dainty hands across the golden dog's face. He still wore a loopy grin on his face.

"Don't worry he's not going to die. He just seemed tense and tired, so I decided to... relax him. He should go back to normal soon." She fixed some of the hair in his face to the side with a soft touch. "He's awake and he's very susceptible to questioning, but only to me as I made it to only respond to my aura."

"I've seen it at work and have experienced it. He's in this state of euphoria and rest. Once he comes out of it, he's going to be the most rested he's been a while. But he's going to sing like Kagome's little canary while under. Its quite potent stuff" Natsu's chest was puffing with pride.

"You have really nice eyes" he said in an almost whisper. In his state her eyes look like the sky right before it lightly rained. Like it was there to alleviate the scorching earth and grant him respite. He felt like he could wax poetic on just that sight, but he couldn't move his hands to write. He'd save it for later; inspiration to write haiku and kanshis into the night. Her faced heated like a sun over his face as it began to take on a rosy hue that languidly flowed like water running down her face down her neck. But he kept returning to her eyes and felt as if his eyes made sense to stay glued in her depths.

"Th-thank you Eiji-san. I guess I won"

He gave a laugh at that "You have. But I'd like a proper rematch, you caught me unawares and I'd like to show off."

She gave her own laugh at that. She looked up at the onlookers and gave a dashing smile. Natsu applauded her, quite impressed with her actions. And they were doubting his skill. She may look innocent and kind-hearted, but she was a dangerous source to play with.

While she had been speaking to her target, silver eyes watched the interactions with something akin to jealousy. A part of him wished he were there on her lap receiving her attention. Sesshomaru felt a twinge of something relayed to him by his beast.

"Miko"

"I poisoned him when I spun for him earlier, the dust carried over into the air to him. It was a small amount so he wouldn't notice, and it would take longer to act." Sesshomaru observed how her hands continued to smooth over his brow. "This was a presentation of skill so I thought this would have been the best way to present. Maybe I should've gone for information gathering"

"So, my son taught you in his profession"

"Hai, he was a great sensei"

Harou nodded at her and then began an extremely low conversation with Toga and Tsukiko. Sesshomaru sat in, being the Lord and all.

'Happy?'

'Elated. They were all doubting my abilities as a teacher before you came.'

'Well this should be enough to appease them. Added to my infiltration of the shiro they should be singing your praises.'

'Good. After this, meet me in the northern wing.'

Eiji's eyes blinked once before fluttering as if he was now waking up. He continued to stare up at her.

"Hi."

"Hey. Sorry for poisoning you. I didn't really mean to. Well I meant to, but I had to. No, I didn't have to but who would've expected that I would've poisoned you?... Maybe I should have asked first"

"Seems like my sister should watch her step." He said after thinking for a second.

"She should. But I can take you without poisoning you or tricking you"

"We'll see when we spar. When's the next time you're free?"

Kagome was interrupted by Inuyasha clearing his throat. His ears were flattened to his skull. He was looking down and away from her. He wanted to talk but wouldn't say it. She gave a small smile at him. Inuyasha was still Inuyasha.

"Not today nor tomorrow. Natsu and I have something to do after and I don't know how long it will take. And I promised Inuyasha to speak with him sometime today."

"Well I'll hold you to it"

Their moment was interrupted by the "adults" in the room. It seemed that they deemed Natsu's teaching satisfactory so far. Natsu will continue any physical training necessary while Toga supervised.

"And tomorrow you will do a display of your spiritual powers. Not your full powers of course, just enough to put some fear in your authority." Tsukiko told her with a knowing smile. "And stop hiding your scent; those who hide there scent. You should start now."

Panic entered the miko's eyes. She flicked her eyes up to Natsu who reflect

"I don't think that's-"

"Quiet"

"Yes ma'am" he deflated at once. He mouthed 'I tried' at her. The miko gulped before clasping her hands, palms facing each other muttering a series of words. Nothing happened at first, then they felt a shift, followed by a burst of the most tantalizing scent. It was rain-washed moon jasmine at night with a heavy dose of ozone. But as quick and strong as it came it lessened to a normal degree. She knew that scent.

"So it was you, interesting" she said cryptically. Sesshomaru's red scarf was originally hers.

Eiji flew up from her lap as if burnt. She was confused at his reaction. Memories flashed behind Kagome's eyes unbidden.

'Forget meeting me after, when this is done you, me and Fubuki are leaving together '

"This meeting is over. We have what we need, you can go along know." Tsukiko said with a dismissive motion of her hand.

It became aparent to Eiji how it may have been interpreted by her. He reached out to move towards her but she moved out of his reach imperceptibly. She disguised it as rising to bow and thank them for having her there.

Natsu took that opportunity hauled Kagome away and made to the exit. He gave a hurried greeting to the elders as to not appear rude. Fubuki followed Natsu's lead and respectfully gave his greetings before following the pair out.

"I don't know what you did, but you upset her. You better figure it out and apologize to her. Or I would kick your ass." Inuyasha said matter to Eiji of factly as he got up.

Toga threw a pointed look at the hanyou at his word usage.

"Yeah, yeah, old man. No cursing, and all that" he said leaving the room. He should find his love and make it up to her for blowing her off. Where was Kikyo?

Hey guys, early chapter. Did anyone enjoy that little fluff I put in there between her and Eiji? I know y'all would have preferred it with Sesshomaru but let me tell you a little secret. I love harem manga/anime. Even when I know from the start who they're going to end up with, I like to see the other relationships play out. And I've decided after some deliberation, to not have Inuyasha as part of the haram. I have something else planned.