Inukimi sat up in bed at the sound of her cell phone ringing. Anyone with her number knew not to contact her when the time was unreasonable. Whoever it was, they better be important.

Snatching her cellphone from the bedside table, she almost did a double take at the caller ID. Pushing her silver bangs from her forehead, she wanted to deny the warmth in her chest.

"Sesshou? What's the occasion, Dear? You know mother needs her sleep." Inukimi joked, often speaking as if they were human and actually needed rest or hungered more often than their demonic nature required.

"I wished to speak with you about the annual fundraiser gala." Sesshou stated evenly. He always tried to hide his emotions from his mother, but she always knew better. He wouldn't call at this hour for an event he loathed. "Would it be possible to move up the date, say a month?"

"Why would we do that? You know it takes me all year to plan this event properly…" She was stalling, reaching into her bedside drawer for her mirror. At first she saw her own reflection, the silver river of hair that fell down her shoulders, her dainty chin and delicate features, with large golden eyes and the iridescent crescent moon adorning her brow.

Then with the simple intent of what she desired to see, the reflection dispersed and instead showed as if she were presently a fly on the wall, her son sitting back on his leather couch, legs stretched across the other seats, and still wearing daytime clothing. His khaki pants and white button up were wrinkled as if he had traveled recently, or been overly groped. She almost scoffed at the latter idea. The last time a living creature had touched his person, it had been the human child he once cared for. He held the cell phone to his pointed ear and resisted a sigh.

"I know you always plan ahead, Mother. Simply tell the caterers we would like to move the date six weeks early." Sesshou rested his head back on the arm of the couch, more exhausted in the past two days than he had been in nearly fifty years.

"Six weeks? Sesshou that's almost pointless." Inukimi whined, knowing it grated on his nerves. She was aiming to ruffle his feathers. She just needed the time to explore his home…

"When has what I wanted ever been pointless?" He snapped, rubbing the bridge of his nose with two clawed fingers. "I promise there is reason enough, and you will know shortly."

Inukimi focused on the layout of her son's suburban home, exploring the fox kit's room first, figuring the reason would relate to more scandalous trouble from the little trickster. Disappointed at the nothingness she found, she explored further. She scanned each room, looking for signs of other living beings marking their presence with either a set of shoes by the front door or a sweater on the back of a kitchen chair, but found nothing again. It may be a violation of privacy, but she deemed it necessary, and focused her attention on Sesshou's bedroom.

"Perhaps I can strike a deal with you, Sesshou?" She tried desperately to hide the smile in her voice. "We could host our guests at the summer home, for three weeks prior to the event." She could bet her life on the fact that he was clenching his teeth. She knew how he hated bringing guests into the summer home. Neither of them enjoyed being present themselves, but it was their birthright and historical home. There was a silver lining to her plan, though, and it came in the form of one human priestess lying peacefully in her son's bed. Dog demons were notoriously territorial with their hyper sense of smell. A castle full of single demons vying for the shikon priestess' favor? They would be asking for death, but she deemed it a necessary evil. "Does this push for moving the date have anything to do with siring pups, my son?" Inukimi giggled in mocking, knowing just how right she was.

He hung up on her, cutting off not only the connection on the telephone, but her mirror as well. She had already seen what she wanted, and simply shook her head at his stubbornness. He would see soon enough what she saw. It didn't take a genius to know he had finally found his mate. Grinning to herself, she thought of the pups they would raise, with tiny dog ears like his brother.

The following morning, Sesshou woke to twin blue eyes blinking at his own golden eyes. Kagome scrambled backwards at having been discovered inspecting his person too closely. She fell backwards on the couch, landing on the opposite end with her feet in the air.

He simply raised a single eyebrow in question.

"Um," Kagome lamely stalled, "Breakfast?"

With a subtle sniff, he did detect the scent of maple syrup and pancakes. He never did have a sweet tooth, but by the way she blushed, he could tell she would be disheartened if he denied her charitable offer. He nodded once, standing to straighten his clothing from the night before, and couldn't help but recall a dirty, neglected Rin offering stolen fish to his wounded person.

"So I was thinking…" Kagome trailed off, and by the sound of her racing heart, Sesshou could tell she was nervous. "It was really nice to meet Kakushin." She shook her head as if her thoughts disturbed her, "I mean, the real Kakushin. He's a lot like his parents, and he doesn't even realize it."

"Do not tell me you wish to rescind your rejection." Sesshou's once pleasant memories soured as he thought of Kagome going back on her teary eyed statement.

"No!" Kagome smacked his shoulder as they continued on their way into the kitchen. "Never, blegh," She made a face they both thought Shippou would have enjoyed immensely. "I was thinking maybe I should find Sango and Miroku's descendants."

"Their progeny reproduced in a manner the monk would be proud of." Sesshou stated, sitting at the kitchen table and helping himself to a stack of pancakes. "I stopped counting their own direct offspring after six."

"They had more than six children?" Kagome exclaimed, sitting across from the demon lord, "Kudos to Sango." She began buttering her own stack of pancakes and thought about her long dead friends. "So say everyone started families really young. How many generations would I need to track, do you think?"

"Too many." Sesshou gruffly mumbled around a bite of pancake, earning him a lighthearted dirty look.

"You know, you were so opposed to being like Inuyasha, but I gotta say, you're both slobs when you eat." Kagome teased, knowing he had rudely spoken with his mouth full on purpose, if just to gross her out.

"You have tired me out this weekend and I am getting on in years." He defended himself, knowing his excuses were empty and pointless. Kagome only giggled, and continued to eat in silence. "When you're ready for school, come find me in my study." Kagome nodded and continued to eat her pancakes.

Sessou retreated to his bedroom to get ready for work and found himself standing in the master bathroom, looking at his own reflection. He was well aware that he shared many features with his half-brother, primarily the hair and eyes, but what most people didn't realize was that his hair was pin straight, like his mother's, and Inuyasha had more texture to his thick mane like their father. Even the gold of their eyes, while dead on the same in color, were still shaped differently. His resembled his mother's almond shape, and once again, Inuyasha took after their father's features. It made sense that Inuyasha's stronger half had dominated his genetics, but he had seen his little brother on the night of the new moon a number of times. He knew that Inuyasha's hair was pitch black, his eyes a light grey, and even his mouth took a smaller appearance as his jaw no longer housed sharp canines.

So why did she see so much of Inuyasha in him? Sesshou couldn't tear away from his own reflection as he wondered why. And why did it bother him so much that she did? He stripped his shirt off and searched for the differences. His markings were the biggest giveaway. Only a pure blooded demon could sport them.

"Sesshou?" Kagome spoke from outside his bedroom, knowing he would hear her.

"Yes?" He asked.

"About this weekend…" He could hear the guilt in the beating of her heart and the scent of her nervous perspiration. He would rectify that. Of course the silly girl would overthink his teasing fib about being tired. He was a great demon lord. He did not get tired.

With a few short strides, he opened the door swiftly, not expecting the priestess to fall directly into him.

"Woah!" Kagome gasped, realizing she was face first in a very chiseled chest. She straightened herself out, doing her best to avoid eye contact or any sort of contact with him at all. She could feel her entire face burn with her embarrassment. Falling back on anger to defend herself, she crossed her arms. "What did I say about knocking that off?"

"Did you need something," Sesshou leaned on the door jam heavily, his right arm stretched above him up against the doorway to support his weight, "Kagome?" With almost all of his markings on display, he couldn't help the pride that shot through him.

"I," Kagome squeaked out, "Um," She cleared her throat, "I'm sorry for all the trouble this weekend." She forced herself to be brave and maintain eye contact with him, and not let her eyes wander.

Sesshou leaned down low enough to bring his lips to her ear, hovering next to the shell. With the ghost of a smile, he murmured, "You're no trouble at all." And returned to his full height slowly. He was pleased to see her face deepen in color. "Now get ready for school."

And with that, he promptly shut the door in her face and headed to his bathroom to shower. Before the steam filled the room and fogged his mirror, he caught himself in the reflection and couldn't deny the grin on his face. This, he hadn't known in all his life until now, was his own unique trait. Not his mother's demure and cunning smile, nor his father's cocky and victorious smirk; one he shared with Inuyasha. No, this, he knew, was all him.

And it was all thanks to her.