Sesshomaru stood before the giant bonfire that had been built down on the beach just below the Western Citadel. Humans and Youkai alike were dancing around him along the beach, celebrating the death of Naraku. Those that had sent notice that they would be coming for the New Year's gathering had come early, making the gathering having lasted a full lunar cycle now rather than just half a cycle.
The hanyou and his pack had yet to leave nor had he pushed their extended stay. He had not yet truly mourned the death of his mate, the duties of being the hosting lord to the gathering kept him busy. Ivan's sacrifice had been announced, but he couldn't bring himself to mention that they had mated during their travels otherwise it would have truly forced him to deal with his grief.
"Lord Sesshomaru?"
Looking down as Rin came over to stand beside him, he noticed that she had grown several inches in the past month. Looking down at the child that he had announced as his heir, officially adopting her as his child, his gaze softened as her large brown eyes looked up at him. Despite him telling her that she could address him as her father figure, the habit of using his title was hard to break.
"Rin," he greeted.
'She would be mad if she saw you sulking,' Rin signed silently before she focused on the high flames before them.
"Hn," he hummed, knowing that she was right.
Had Ivanna been able to see him now, she would have started yelling at him for his negligence towards his guests the past four weeks of the extended celebration. With the celebration being a constant sound within the halls of the western citadel and the beach, he had yet to try finding a place to mourn. A small part of him feared mourning as it would break his image of a collected lord.
'No one would think less of you for disappearing so you could finally have some silence. It is unhealthy to keep all that pain locked away,' Rin signed before wrapping her arms around his leg as she still did not quite reach his waist.
"You are too wise for your age, pup," Sesshomaru spoke as he cradled her head with his hand as she leaned against him.
"I know," Rin finally spoke, her voice a bit smug and he snorted in amusement.
Looking past the fire to the ocean, he felt him stiffen as he saw familiar violet eyes watching him, her body transparent but the waves around her feet reacted as if she was there. The kimono she wore was crimson with white triple sakura crests mirroring the designs of his usual white haori top. Once his eyes met hers, a soft smile graced her face and her arms lifted to be parallel to the ground and he saw several lavender flowers resting in her closed palms.
A cold wind picked up along the beach and those flowers were blown from her palms, towards him. Reaching out as if to catch the translucent flowers, he frowned as they became solid at his touch. Looking up from the flowers in his palm to the the woman at the water's edge, her smile widened before the image vanished. Looking back down at his hand, the flowers remained and reminded him of the fields where they had first met.
"This one will retire for the night," he spoke and Rin looked up at him with a smile, as if knowing his true intent was to step away from the citadel.
"Hope you sleep well," Rin spoke as she released his leg before running off.
Trapping the lavender flowers in his palm, he weaved his way through the dancing guests to the pathway that led through the forest from the beach to the citadel gates. Once he was hidden from view, he turned off the path and made his way through the forest. When he knew that no one would see him once in the air, he summoned his light orb and made his way to those fields.
Despite the snow, the lavender fields were still in full bloom. He stood at the edge of the tree line and studied the fields, hoping for some other sign like at the bonfire, but saw nothing. No tracks could be seen though he could still see the circle in the middle of the fields where he had first witnessed a naked human singing within perfect blackened circle. Not wanting to take from the untouched flowers, he used his cloud to fly towards the center and frowned seeing a hole into the earth.
Lowering himself into the dark hole, his eyes quickly adjusted as it went deep before leveling out. Glowworms clung to the ceiling and he could hear water in the distance as he walked down the strange path that had never been there before. Reaching a huge cavern sat an underground fresh spring. The clear water was glowing with colors of blue, purple, and green of glowing koi fish swimming within the depths.
A stone path stood before him going across the spring to what looked like a large crystal at its center, glowing for a moment as a koi fish swam near before the light faded as the fish swam away. The glowworms on the ceiling too far above to give light to what looked like a massive quartz crystal cluster, several angled to hover above the clear water. Taking the stone path across the water, he used his poison claws to light the massive crystal cluster that stood larger than his true inu form, he frowned as he saw something within the crystal.
He felt compelled to touch the smooth surface but a deep growl echoed around the cave as he lifted his hand. Surprised to see a pair of massive crimson eyes open, he jumped back to solid ground as the ground shook. A massive canine youkai that had been laying along the edge of the spring behind the crystal cluster moved to stand to its full height. It's fur was light in color so he could see its massive size that was over three times larger than the crystal cluster and his own true form.
The youkai studied him for a moment, but did not move from his place behind the crystal other than its head. He heard the canine exhale loudly as if forcing its hot breathe onto the cluster at the center of the spring. Slowly moving back towards the edge of the water as he saw the crystals melted, shaping into the shape of a flower in full bloom. The canine's head lowered to the center of the crystal and nudged something with its black nose before lifting its head back to look at him.
As Sesshomaru took a step onto the stones in the water, he almost expected the canine to attack him, but it remained silent. He finished crossing the stones, keeping the canine in his sights before stopping at the edge of the crystals. He could see water inside the crystal flower and something was floating just under the surface. Raising a brow up at the seemingly canine guardian, the youkai let out a huff as it moved to sit on its hind legs.
Focusing on the flower, he reached out to the water and it lit up from where he disturbed the surface. Rippling away from his hand, the water started to glow and illuminate the female body he could now make out. Her body was bare of any clothing and dark wavy hair hid her face, while light strands of hair seemed to frame her hidden face. She was lying on her right side and he could see dark markings decorate her skin, starting from her wrist going up in floral vines with flowers spaced evenly going up her arm to her shoulder where it curled over her shoulder to go down her shoulder blade, curving back down to her ribcage and down to curl exotically around her leg before reaching the top of her foot in a single tattoo with some vines branching off. Seeing the other wrist as the female moved slightly in her strange slumber under the water, there was a thin floral vine curling around her wrist several times but didn't go past halfway up her forearm.
Her hair moved and he frowned as a twin crescent moon marking sat on the junction of her shoulder, bite scars under them visible. Confusion filled him as the mark matched the one that sat on his own neck exactly, but a slumbering youkai could be sensed slightly. Reaching into the water, he grabbed the female's arm and pulled her to the surface as her face came into view.
The face of his mate broke through the surface of the water, her breathing seemingly unchanged as she started taking in air instead of the water. Jerking his outer haori off as he pulled her out of the water and into his arms, he fell to his knees as a strong heartbeat reverberated in her chest. No scar ran down the center of her chest nor did the tattoos of lace and chains decorate her torso, but there was no denying that this female was his Ivanna as her eyes opened lazily as if she had been asleep for a long time.
Her eyes focused on his surprised molten orbs and he remained silent as words escaped him. The bond, that had been silent the last lunar cycle, flared to life and he felt the youkai within her roar to live and slowly poked through the bond. At last, she reacted and a smile graced her face, flashing fangs as he felt her love pour through their bond.
"Hi," she whispered, her voice was like sweet honey to his ears and he held her tighter, feeling his body tremble.
"Is this real...?" he whispered, his voice shaky and thick from the emotions that were overwhelming him.
"I promised to take her home, did I not?" the voice of his sire echoed around the cavern and he lifted his head from the woman in his arms to see Touga come around the crystal, his body solid and both his youkai and strong heartbeat could be sensed. "The fates did not appreciate what that truly meant and banished me back to a physical form, but I was not going to allow my eldest son to loose his mate as that would have been the true downfall of the western lands."
"Father...?" Words were impossible to form for the first time in his life.
"My pup is speechless, this is a first," Touga grinned and Ivanna's quiet laugh brought him back to look down at the beautiful woman in his arms. "Thanks to the power within this crystal and its waters, your mate was reborn an inuyoukai and your pup will be a pure inu."
"How is this possible?" he whispered, looking back up at his sire.
"The mark I had placed soon after the completion of your mating. The fates did not know my true intentions until she had already been placed within the crystal and it was too late for them to be able to stop me. The inuyoukai within Ivanna is still considered a newborn and it will take time to learn to communicate and train her."
"But I have the time to do so," Ivanna whispered.
"No longer will you suffer, daughter of mine," Touga smiled and stroked her head.
"Pup...?" Sesshomaru blinked in surprise as that finally registered and looked down at Ivanna, wrapping his jaki around her and took a breath as he felt the small seed of jaki growing within her abdomen.
"What kind of sire would I be if I did not save your pup as well? Did you forget that when you release your youkai and tie yourself inside the body of the female bound to you, that it is always guaranteed of becoming pupped. I know your studies as a child had gone over that subject."
"That was centuries ago," Sesshomaru huffed as the weight on his shoulders melted away and he felt lighter than he had ever been as he got to his feet, keeping Ivanna cradled in his arms.
"Did we miss the gathering?" Ivanna whispered as her arms moved to wrap her arms around his neck.
"No, my mate," he murmured as he pressed a kiss to her soft lips. "It does not technically end for another two days, but it is uncertain if that will actually happen. Since the news of Naraku's defeat, the gathering started two weeks sooner than planned and no one shows any signs of leaving any time soon."
"And yet you were so cold as you stood before that fire," she frowned. "Should you not have been joining in with the others?"
"How could that be possible when this one had watched his mate die and have no time to mourn?" Sesshomaru huffed but allowed a smile to grace his face as she held to him tighter as he used his cloud to quickly leave the cavern for the cold fresh air.
"True" she murmured, the light strands that framed her hair showing to be silver like his own hair, framing her face but the silver did not go past her pointed ears while the marks along her right side seemed to be a deep violet that matched her eyes.
"Let us return home," Touga spoke. "We can deal with both mine and Ivanna's return tomorrow."
"Hn," Sesshomaru hummed and took to his light orb to reach the western citadel quickly, opting to land on the balcony of his personal rooms and Touga landed beside him. "Father, your rooms are still as they have always been. They have been kept clean at mother's insistence but remain unoccupied."
"Then I will retire to them. Sleep well, both of you," Touga smiled and snuck out of the rooms and down the hallway.
"My mate," Sesshomaru whispered as he laid her on his bed, the covers already drawn back.
He removed his clothing, a low growl escaping him as she jerked off his haori and tossed it off the bed. He crawled over to her as she moved to the center of the bed, his mokomoko moving to wrap around her as he pulled the covers over them both. He laid his head on her sternum and wrapped his arms around her, relishing in the strong beat of her heart. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and they fell asleep tangled together.