Youriki: demon, standard word used to describe the race Sesshoumaru, Nishi, Shippo, and Kouga belong to. Have strong spiritual/magical abilities centering on attack and defense. Historically a violent and malicious people, prone to war. If you need further instruction, you are reading the wrong fanfiction.

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Time Trip: Welcome to My World

"If that is how you feel then so be it." Nishi deflated. "But I don't like the idea of having one of my sons teased about his heritage. It brings shame to the family. I think that by choosing that particular insult Sesshoumaru shamed himself as much as he did you." He turned to Sesshoumaru. "Then again, he did ask you to let him have it, and I suppose I owe you an apology for butting in."

"It is alright, Chichi-ue." Silence descended on the room.

"Sooooooo." Inuyasha let all the air whoosh out of him. "Now that we've had the obligatory uncomfortable silence, I've got a small request. Where is my Okasan and could I talk to her?"

"Your Haha-ue is in her apartment on the woman's side." Nishi stressed the more proper term for mother. (A/N As I understand it the terms Chichi-ue and Haha-ue are like Father and Mother, and the terms Oyajii and Okasan are more like Dad and Mom. Those of noble birth are expected to use the more respectful terms. Kasan would be akin to Mommy, and if used by the very young.)

"I'm allowed to call you Oyajii but I can't call my Kasan 'Okasan' in front of you?" Inuyasha asked. Lord Nishi blinked at the question, and Sesshoumaru smirked.

"The little baby wants his Kasan, Chichi-ue." The triumphant adolescent teased.

"What's wrong with calling her Kasan?" Between Inuyasha's position on the futon, overly young face, tone of voice, and innocent expression, he took on the appearance of a child about knee high.

"You still call her Kasan. How old are you?" Nishi asked rhetorically.

"I'm one hundred and forty years old, but I was sealed to a tree for fifty years." Sesshoumaru's jaw dropped. "Nani?"

"That means you are nine decades, Inuyasha. Being sealed away is like an ageless sleep or half death." Lord Nishi's face was unreadable.

"I'm fifteen." Sesshoumaru offered. He couldn't quite remember things clearly back that far, but he was almost sure he never called his Haha-ue 'Kasan,' not even at the tender age of five decades. After all, demons aged about one year for every ten human years, and with such long lives it was much simpler to count decades instead of years.

"Well I'm half demon, so aging half as fast makes sense. I age one year to a human's five."

"So you are really closer to eighteen physically?" Nishi asked

"Yeah, Sesshoumaru is twenty-nine to my eighteen, but before I was sealed it was his twenty-four to my eighteen. I was only recently unsealed, you see. I was catching up nicely, but being sealed set me back. You see what I meant about that crack yesterday, it's a bit odd that I've got more of a family then you."

"Well I have the privilege of being the ripe age of forty-one, and I think I'm quite lucky. I started my family late, much too late in fact. Most demons don't live long enough to enjoy old age, and I'm stuck counting on it so I can see both my sons as men. I would be fifty when you are sealed and fifty-five when you awake. To be fifty-five and have a grandson on my knee, when most men so blessed are my own age now…" Lord Nishi lamented his life choice.

"I chose to fight my youth away, and didn't have a son until I was twenty-six. You say that in your time I am dead, and that is entirely possible. I don't know of many demons that have lived past fifty, particularly with all the fighting that has popped up recently. The human wars are affecting us more then anyone wanted to admit. I don't know how often I told the other great Lords that we could not turn our backs on what the humans do."

"Chichi-ue, what good does it do us to pay attention to them? If they want to kill each other then we'll have more carrion to feed our work beasts with."

"You have the same limited perception as most youriki, Sesshoumaru. If the humans have a huge battle, they tend to ruin the land they fight on. Yes, we will have meat to feed to lesser beasts, but what about for our table? Humans living peacefully would work a farm and hunt, drastically decreasing their need to forage which leaves more for us. The soldier's weapons and armor make them louder, scaring away those animals they don't kill for food. When herds move out of one territory and into another we have border disputes, particularly with the migrating demons and nomadic packs."

"He's right, Sesshoumaru. I'm in a pack myself and it's hard to find food in some territories. Three days after a battle and only the most disgusting youriki will touch the leftovers, the stink of which drives herbivore animals away faster then the battle itself, and the carnivores soon follow. The rotting meat and spilled blood can poison the water and kill the plants for a year, more then that when youriki blood or poison is involved, and there are many lesser youriki who would agree to lead a human army just for the joy of slaughter. This is the world I live in, and in it we are all connected."

"Perhaps Lady Futomi was right about you, Inuyasha. There is something deep underneath those fuzzy ears and child's face that is quite unexpected. Whatever kind of life has led you to this present state; it has endowed you with a peculiar type of wisdom."

"I call them like I see them."

"I still don't see the point. We are superior enough to humans to be able to get what we need from nature without farming for hundreds of years, so the movement of a few herds shouldn't be a bother. We could learn to farm if things got bad enough, not ourselves personally but the servants of course. The Western lands have always been strong and our borders are wide. If others attack because their lands can no longer support them then we will defend ourselves and send them elsewhere."

"Sesshoumaru, what happens when elsewhere also becomes strong and large from groups of starvation-hardened youriki banding together in the wild areas?" Lord Nishi asked with his typical curiosity.

"They wouldn't be able to pull it off. The roaming packs are far too disorganized."

"A common goal does great things for holding a group together." Inuyasha sat up with difficulty. "That's how my pack formed and we would do anything to reach our goal or protect one another. It is a strange pack, but a strong one. We are very rarely beaten and we have a base territory that has not been challenged once, even when we are gone for weeks on the hunt, and not because it isn't a good piece of land. There is rich soil and a fruitful forest. I marked my borders with a few human villages and a large hill, but that is only the tiniest portion of what we have traveled through."

"I've never heard of such a set up."

"I have a valuable investment in Edo and the surrounding area, and I don't want to loose it. My reputation keeps out the riff-raff while I'm out hunting the bigger problems. Occasionally I have to take care of a wandering headache or two, but I've never been called out to surrender my land by someone who wanted to take up permanent residence."

"Why keep something valuable in one place if you are always…"

"It can't be moved."

"What could be of value to you that you can't move it or find it elsewhere?" Sesshoumaru actually smiled at that

"I've been in and around Edo for a long time, or at least what I think is a long time. Kagome has her home near there, and she likes to go see her family often, so I keep being brought back. Kaede-baba lives there and she's useful. I have a bit of a home myself in the forest. There are two parts to my home though. One is a person and the other is a place. The shade of my forest is the place, and Kagome is the person. As long as I have both parts I can relax and be happy." Inuyasha was drifting off in thoughts of his 'home' with Kagome. A nice little fantasy snaked through his head for the millionth time since he met her. Kagome smiled to greet him as he returned from a day's work, dressed in many layers of beautiful kimonos. She was standing at the doorway to a decent sized home with Goshimbo towering over them from the backyard garden. A pup or two could be heard playing with Shippou in the background. It was a scene that filled his dreams on pleasant nights, and teased his hopes during lazy naps on Goshimbo's highest branches. He was brought out of it by a sudden swipe to the head.

"What was that for?"

"You were babbling and your eyes glassed over. I thought I lost a son for a moment there." Lord Nishi explained as Inuyasha carefully picked himself off the tatami mat floor. "I wouldn't move around so much, you will aggravate that wound."

"I've got it under control, Oyajii." Inuyasha grunted as he tested his range of motion. "I heal fast."

"No you don't, not by my standards at least." Lord Nishi commented. "Lay back down."

"No." Inuyasha had apparently recovered from his blood loss, and his characteristic stubbornness returned full force.

"Lay down."

"Woof." Inuyasha barked a negative response in the canine youriki language. "Would you want me to roll over instead?" The only response was a forceful growl. "If I don't move I'll get worse." The growl got louder, and Sesshoumaru scooted back toward the door. Inuyasha stretched a bit more before turning around a few times on the futon and finally curling up and pulling the sheet over his exposed back. He looked much more like a puppy then a man.

"When I tell you to do something…" Nishi started.

"I'm a grown man; don't treat me like a disobedient pup."

"I am your Chichi-ue."

"No, you are not." Four simple words, uttered in a flat tone, into an absolute silence, a silence that was not made to last.

"What?! How can you say that to me?" Nishi was enraged.

"Shit! I said that out loud?" Inuyasha turned bright red in embarrassment.

"Yes, and I want en explanation."

"You're my Oyajii. Our relationship has nothing to do with obedience, formality, or birthrights; and everything to do with bloodlines, empty memories, and broken promises. You have one son who loves and cares for you and your memory, and another that enjoys your company but doesn't rank you very high on his priorities. I don't hate you, please don't misunderstand that. I just don't have any feelings of any kind. You have my respect through what I have heard of your accomplishments and the fact that you are my birth parent. Other then the small loyalty that is the duty of any family member, I don't have any relation to you. Therefore the implied aspects of the title Chichi-ue do not apply. You are my Oyajii and nothing more." Throughout this small speech, Inuyasha stared at the empty corner in front of his bed, ears flat, body tense, desperately attempting to shut up. He only succeeded when he planted his face firmly in the futon and bit down, though he mumbled unintelligibly into the stuffing for a moment.

"I… you… Well I think I shall retire for the evening. Goodnight Sesshoumaru. Goodnight… Inuyasha." Lord Nishi swept himself behind the bamboo screen that led from his sitting room to his bedchamber faster then Sesshoumaru had ever seen him move.

"How could you say something like that? Do you have no shame?"

"I don't know! I didn't mean to say it; it just came out. I never talk this much. I thought it might have been the blood loss or maybe I was thrown off balance from that damn portal, but it hasn't gotten any better."

"You are truly pathetic then. How can you be so greatly affected by such a trivial thing?"

"Don't ask me, and if you think I'm used to feeling this weak and out of control then you are dead wrong." Inuyasha drew himself up out of bed and pulled his thick white Kimono on. He looked around for his haori, but it wasn't in sight.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna talk to my Kasan. Don't laugh! I'm sure your Haha-ue calls you something other then your name that is quite embarrassing, and the same for what you call her. I love my Kasan enough to keep calling her that just to make her smile at me."

"You admit you love her more then you love Chichi-ue?"

"Yes." Inuyasha blushed deeply. "Though I probably wouldn't say it so plainly if something hadn't loosened my tongue beyond my control." With that Inuyasha walked slow and stiff out of the sitting room turned bedroom, following his mother's warm scent. Sesshoumaru remained in the sitting room for a few moments, thinking about how his mother had never given him a pet name, before heading to his own room.

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A/N: Well things are coming to a head here. Next Inuyasha chapter: Kasan Smells Good. A general review/e-mail response: Chapter '9' on the drop down is Kagome's second chapter. Her first chapter I posted as chapter 3 to keep things running chronologically. You have to go back and read Kagome's first chapter to understand her second appearance. Less happens to Kagome, so there are fewer chapters and her chapters span more time. These events take 3-4 days (big time zone difference between Italy and Japan makes an exact count difficult – and yeah, Kagome is in Italy.)

Jonathan Higarashi, born Jonathan Efferus Ducis (lit. meaning: Efferus: fierce. Ducis: leader) took his wife's name to blend in better when he was stuck in modern Japan. He speaks Latin (his first language), Italian, English, Japanese, Gaelic, German, Russian, Spanish, an itty bitty bit of Chinese, the same amount of Arabic, and fluent French. Yes, he could cuss out a boat load of sailors for a day strait and not repeat himself, but he's far too polite for that. ;) He's terrible at math, scatterbrained, and a genius with science and language (obviously). He'll try anything twice, loves to learn, and is a compassionate, strong leader. He is open and optimistic when it comes to most things, but is terrible shy when asked certain personal questions, most notably about his grand achievements (and he really has done some great things for his people). He'll embarrass Kagome in a second, but clams up tight when the subject turns to himself. He thinks of himself more as a humble businessman and translator then the great leader that he is and has been. And now you know Jonathan Higarashi!