Kimi stared blankly down at the screaming bundle on her doorstep. Wrapped in a loose, soot covered swaddle, red faced and angry, the white haired, puppy eared babe so far up in the clouds could only mean a few things.
The first, that his parents were dead. Toga had gotten himself killed avenging his little human bride, and had not made it to her side with Tenseiga. The second thing...
"Hn. It would seem my son has pack instincts after all."
She bent and scooped the newborn up, sniffing him from top to toe to ascertain his health. He needed food for sure, but whatever elements he'd been exposed to had not endangered his health.
Yet.
She brought him close and he immediately nuzzled at her chest.
"You'll find nothing there, pup." She said, watching him squirm and sniffle pitifully, his little fists balled so tight his teeny claws had punctured his palms.
With a claw as deadly as it was dainty she brushed the end of one of his ears, watching curiously as it flicked backwards. Her eyes widened as the long cooled embers of her mother's instincts stoked and sparked.
She sighed, resigned, apparently pack instinct still lived within her as well.
With her marriage to Toga, the Inu no Taisho she had entered his pack, small as it was, under his protection, though it had not been a love match. Sesshomaru was the fulfillment of their agreement. Their regard for each other was not romantic, so she didn't begrudge him his lovers and dalliances. The human had been a surprise, one she didn't understand, but she hadn't fought him about it. In all respects, she should feel no obligation for this child of a human she'd never met.
But she could see Toga plainly in him, so she tucked the baby closer to her side and walked back into her palace home.
"I've got a maid who's just given birth. She'll have to be the one to nurse you, at least until I can hire a proper nursemaid. She won't be best pleased to nurse a hanyo, but everyone can be bought, and the price is almost never out of my reach."
He'd quieted down to whimpers, and her heart squeezed in the strangest way.
"None of that little one. You are of stock too strong to give up now. What would your father say?"
Her footsteps echoed down the hall as she made her way to the servant's quarters. She passed a mirror and stopped, looking at herself for a moment, at her golden eyes and silver hair. She lifted the baby and held him up, noting how well his hair matched her own. He'd taken to sucking on his fist instead of crying, and then his eyes fluttered open and the gold of their clan shined back from the reflection.
She smiled despite herself and then cuddled the little one up on her shoulder, continuing her trek through the corridors.
"I could certainly tell you what your father would say. He was wise in his way. But I rarely preferred his wisdom to my own."
She paused outside the door she sought and moved the baby so she could stare into his eyes. He was oddly quiet, staring back into her soul, nose twitching as he got to know her scent.
Now this was familiar. A handful of centuries ago she'd been in just this place with her own son. With her obligation to Toga fulfilled, she didn't think she'd be a mother again, and despite her reputation, she liked being a mother. Few would pursue her with such a husband in her past, and she wasn't about to have another heir for the Lord of the West to control. She supposed she'd... given up.
Whatever fate this little one had faced before to have such a father, was burned to ash in whatever fire had singed his swaddle. He was hers now. There would be hell to pay for adopting a half demon, she was sure, but life had been getting a little stale lately. She grinned at him viciously as she made her decision and accepted her new path.
"Inuyasha," she purred down at him, and he blinked, hanging on her every word. "Let's not think for a moment on what your father would say. Listen instead to your new mother. Giving up is for cats and dragons, there is always another means to getting what you want."