I walk down a hallway towards the gardens, following the trail of Kagome's scent and aura to find her. Nearing dinner time, I had abandoned the multitude of reports in my study and gone to seek her out to escort her back in. As I step through the door, her lilting laugh travels across the grounds, along with my mothers. Repressing a grin, I continue out to greet them. Though Mother is irritating on a good day, I am glad she and Kagome are getting along.
"You're really courting him? InuYasha wasn't just being an idiot?" the voice of the slayer asks.
"Yeah. For about two months now. He's been wonderful, Sango." my little Miko replies.
"That's... wow... congratulations then, I think." Sango says slowly.
"But, of course congratulations are in order. My son is quite the catch, especially if one can get past his usual stuffiness." my lovely mother helpfully offers, making Kagome giggle, and myself scowl. I slow down to listen further, curious as to what they will say and knowing my mother will not give me away.
"I am curious, dear Kagome." the monks voice drifts by. "You are human. He is youkai. How will that work with your shorter lifespan?" I frown, unsure of it had even occurred to Kagome, even though it is a not a problem.
"Oh, that's easy. Firstly, I think the Shikon did something to me, though I can't prove anything without testing it to time." This piques my interest. I will have to ask her about it later. "Buuut... once we mate, if we do, I'll just share his lifeline, among other things." she explains breezily, humour colouring her voice.
"I... what? That's a real thing?" the slayer stutters. "Then why is it such a big deal for mixed matings?"
"For the same reason that Yash needs Tetsusaiga. Though, he's a bit of an extreme case. But hanyous have unstable blood due to the power imbalance, usually. However... since I'm a miko- and again, I think the Shikon did something to me- and a really powerful one at that, even though I definitely need training, the power imbalance is negligible between us and won't lead to any crazy bloodlust issues."
"You've been reading from the library, little bird." Kimiko murmurs, with no small amount of pride in her voice, which surprises me even more than the fact that Kagome apparently had been researching. Though, she clearly read much of what it had to offer in her self imposed isolation, so perhaps I should not be surprised.
"So, if his mother had been a miko..." Miroku begins to hypothesize.
"Even if she had only a bit of power, it would've made a huge difference. There's also the other issue of hanyous not living as long as their youkai parents, but it's the blood imbalance that started the major discrimination on the youkai front, at least according to the records. Even with the dragons, it was, from what I could find out, merely an excuse. I'm sure now though it's just become twisted as a "we vs them", especially with what happened to Touga. But..." her voice trails off, I imagine she shrugs at the moment as well.
"Hm, indeed child. Matters were not helped when Touga died at the hands of a human to protect his human mate and hanyou child. And then they were only exacerbated with Sesshoumaru's grief. Many in the West were accepting of the pairing before, yet many of those have since changed their mind in the wake of tragedy." Kimiko supplies, her voice taking a melancholy tone I have not heard from her since my father's death.
"Yeah." I hear Kagome take in a deep shuddering breath before continuing. "The ones who will complain the most will be humans, though. Even though there are youkai who discriminate and don't think mixing should be allowed, you have to remember that humans generally just don't like "other" and often resort to genocidal extermination's to get rid of the "other". As far as I could tell, even after Touga, there are still quite a few youkai who couldn't care less about mixed matings so long as precautions are taken for any kids they have. Humans, however, not so much. And sadly, it's usually the humans who kill the youkai parent and leave the hanyou and human parent behind unable to do anything." Her voice grows heavy with sorrow, and I decide it is time for me to emerge.
Stepping from around the corner, I pad evenly to her, my eyes catching hers, and I inwardly delight in how she lights up immediately, the sadness fleeing from their depths. I watch as she jumps up and moves around the group to rush to me, nearly slamming into me, her arms wrapping around my waist. Returning the gesture, I bend down to press my nose to her hair, reacquainting with her scent.
"Hi." she says quietly, before pulling back to look at me. "Dinner time?"
"Hn, yes. I wished to see if you would like to accompany me to the dining hall, or would prefer a more private dinner with your friends and my mother." I slide my claws though the ends of her hair, watching her eyes shudder closed briefly before she turns to look at the group behind her.
"What do you guys wanna do? Dining hall or just us again?" she asks her friends brightly.
"It would be nice, I think, to have you just to ourselves again tonight." Miroku offers, with his wife nodding her agreement.
My mother claps her hands once before standing. "Well then, let us adjourn and call for dinner service."
4/13/21 A/n: more important info disguised as general conversation.