Chapter 1
The great lord of the western lands sat before the table of scrolls, his face stoic and completely unreadable. Only those well trained would be able to see the look of complete boredom that lingered beneath half closed lids, as his fingers gently traced the writing before him.
His ears twitched ever so slightly as the sound of a crashing thunder rang down the corridor outside his room and the rapid sound of feet running came to his ears. With a soft sigh, he rose and walked to the partition, sliding it aside and stepping out into the corridor.
Just as he predicted, the swift bundle of brown hair and tears came flying into his arms. "Jii-san!" He watched her passively as she cried into his waist, her slender arms clinging to him.
"I hate her, I hate her, she's so mean to me!" she cried and Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes. This wasn't the first incident, nor the second but was disturbing to both him and his home and it was time he put a stop to it.
"Go to your chambers, bathe yourself and dry your tears, I will speak to her," he said in that monotonous cold voice that he always used, and with a sniffle she nodded and quickly hurried away.
With the grace of ice melting on a hot surface, he strode down the long wooden corridors, his servants dashing off to the side at his approach. Though his face rarely if ever revealed emotion, they came to recognized his walk as a means of determining his mood. And his pace showed that he was furious. He moved like a predator cat, and his steps barely made a sound.
He paused outside one door, and without a word of announcement, slid it open. There stood the object of his displeasure, dangling a young servant girl from her grasp, choking the life from her slender throat as the child could do naught but kick her legs and struggle for her breath.
"Leave her," he whispered but the woman before him continued on her mission. The young girl turned panicked eyes to him, begging without words to be saved, and he moved lightening swift, grabbing the offending wrist.
"I have given you an order," he said, "I will not say it again, or would you like to know the pain of loosing a limb?" The woman turned furious eyes to him for only a brief second and then casually dropped the girl to the ground. He held her wrist tightly until the child could catch her breath. The child swiftly rose to her feet and ran out of the room.
"I tire of these tantrums Megahna," he spoke softly, but no less fiercely and she narrowed her eyes.
"And I tire of being forced to spend time with that whelp of a human brat. My honor is being stripped away every time I have to spend more than a moment in the same room with that vermin," she spat contemptuously at him.
"That whelp is my granddaughter, and you would do well not to forget that fact," he replied, his eyes narrowing. "Your dislike of this fact concerns me little, but your behavior angers me greatly. You will do well to remember that this is still my abode, and my word here is law. You will tolerate the presence of whomever I wish to keep here, and you will do so without this childish behavior. The only dishonor I can see is a bitch youkai who behaves as though she was barely grown from her milk teeth."
"How dare you! I am-"she began and he lifted his hand as if he were going to strike her. He wouldn't, he didn't view her as enough importance to waste the effort of striking, but the appearance of a threat was enough. She flinched, and he lowered his hand.
"You are Lady here, this is true, but I am Lord, and my word is holy writ in this house. You are bound by only minor details, and you can leave at any time."
Megahna sneered at him, "Yes, I am Lady in name only. How you enjoy reminding me of this fact. I am unmarked and therefore easily replaceable."
Sesshoumaru released her arm, giving her a blank look, "I did not think you cared to be otherwise," he replied coldly and turned to leave. He paused only in the doorway to speak once, "If you harm a hair on any of my children's heads in any way, I will send you back to your father's house, rejected."
Her eyes narrowed, "You wouldn't dare! You are honor bound to our marriage!"
"I would gladly take the consequences to have you removed from my sight. I could dismiss you easily, as you have borne no heirs for my house."
Megahna stammered as he turned and gave her a sadistic smirk, "You know as well as I that you have no heirs because you have refused these 100 years to share my bed."
"And it is my word against yours. No one would believe you if you tried to speak up. As for your bed, I do not make it a habit of sleeping where I am no wanted, nor where I want to be. Gladly I would sleep outside in the middle of winter without a thread on my body, then share that pit of poisonous ice."
He turned gracefully, and drifted out of the room, smugly content that he had in fact won this argument this day. He paused outside the door of his study for only a moment and then continued on his path down the corridor to his charge's room. The young servant girl who attended Kirai bowed low to the ground at his approach.
"Your mistress is heeding my word," he said rather than questioned.
"Hai, she is bathing milord," the servant said softly.
"Stand," he commanded and the servant did so, shaking like a leaf in the fall winds. He lightly lifted her chin with one finger, and inspected the dark red marks on her pale throat.
"You will heal," he said and the girl nodded. He glanced towards the hot springs for a moment, "Tell me what occurred with your mistress."
The girl looked hesitant, as if the wrath of Megahna would come down on her, but something in his eyes calmed her fears, "Lady Kirai was practicing her writing, as you instructed when your Lady came into the room and began to grow angry with her. She tore the work that Lady Kirai had completed and said some horrible things to her. Lady Kirai ran away crying, and then Lady Megahna came to take her anger out on me."
He watched her passively, "You may continue with your work, seek a healer as soon as your Lady has been dressed and sent to my quarters," he instructed and turned away. There was much on his mind, but first those damned treatises.
As he returned to the study, he noticed a bent form crouching near the doorway. Jaken, his long time retainer bowed and scrapped before him.
"Lord Sesshoumaru," he rasped, "I have word for you of Lord Keitaro," he said, his face pressed against the wood.
Sesshoumaru resisted the urge to rub his temple in frustration, keeping to his firm form. He walked pass the prostrate frog youkai and back into his study. After settling down behind the low table he glanced at Jaken expectantly. The frog youkai trembled under his gaze until Sesshoumaru had enough.
"Jaken, the letter," he prompted.
Jaken scrambled up to the table, handing him the rolled up scroll with over exaggerated pomp and circumstance. He took it and rolled it open before him, noticing that the handwriting was not that of Keitaro, but more delicate and feminine, Kohana it seemed.
"Tell the servants to prepare Keitaro and Kohana's rooms, and make sure there are fresh robes waiting for them and servants to tend to them. They will be arriving tonight." Jaken squawked and dashed out of the room, as Sesshoumaru looked down again at the scroll.
"Maeko has died," he murmured softly, realizing he felt a twinge of pain, remote but there. For being the whelps of his once annoying half-blooded brother, Inuyasha's children had proven that they were a lot quite deserving of respect. Maeko had followed in her mother's footsteps, both in temperament and in power, and even if she wasn't of his family, he would have given her the proper respect as one powerful leader to another.
"My foolish brother has not come out of his mourning I see," he commented lightly, "He allows his human blood to override his sensibilities. Perhaps it would do him well to be reminded of his duties to our Father's house, and seek a new mate."
He rolled up the scroll just as a faint soft knock sounded on the wood of the door. He glanced up and saw the small feminine silhouette that he was expecting to appear.
"Enter Kirai," he prompted and the door slid open, the girl- no woman, his mind reminded him as her rich scent reached his delicate nose. Of all his grandchildren, she reminded him most of Rin, and perhaps because of it, he had her brought to his castle when she was no older than Rin had been. The years had helped her blossom into a delicate flower, one that had bloomed without his even noticing.
'I should be sure to assign a guard and escort for her now, just in case some overzealous suitor take advantage of her innocent nature,' he thought and made a mental note to speak to some of his special warriors.
"You sent for me, Lord Sesshoumaru," she whispered softly, her hands folded before her and her head bowed politely. He gave her a passive glance, and motioned with his hand, the servant kneeling behind her quickly walked out the door and closed it behind her.
"You know better than to behave as such with me," he scolded lightly and the demure face quickly brightened into a bright smile. 'So much like Rin, you would think she was her spirit reborn,' he thought. Rin always had a smile for him, no matter the situation. Even as she lay dying, old age barely touching her beautiful features, she had held his hand, and smiled, trying to give him what little comfort her frail human body could.
He kept an open door to her children, and their children, but the world was changing around them, and they no longer remembered his kindness but began to buy into the rumors of his cruelty, and his hatred of humans. One by one, they began to fade from his regions, till only a few remained. Kirai was in actuality his great great granddaughter, and one of the last of Rin's blood that did not fear him.
"Your cousins are coming to visit," he told her and she brightened even more, jumping in excitement and running over to his table to pick up the scroll he pointed out.
"Uncle Inuyasha is still away," she commented and pouted slightly. Like all young children, she had been fascinated by Inuyasha's ears, and still seemed to hold that feature in giddy regard.
"I am sure your cousin will allow you to touch his ears, "he said, almost rolling his eyes. She giggled and nodded before falling gracefully to her knees, her eyes taking in the other documents. Like all of the children he had hosted here, she had been taught to read and write, and had an intelligent grasp of diplomacy that had astounded him. If she chose to remain within his court when she came of age, he would be sure that she would have an ambassadorial position, no matter what the others thought.
Times were changing, and while he still found humans a weaker and more subservient species, he did recognize that a few of them possessed admirable qualities, like his late sister-in-law and her daughter. Rin, for being originally of an ignorant and common stock, turned out to be more noble in spirit than many of the aristocratic blue bloods that he was forced to do business with, day after day. There was always one human that amazed him, both by their courage of spirit, or their ingenuity.
"Grandfather," Kirai spoke softly, "Why did you marry her?"
'Sesshoumaru-sama, I don't understand why you married her,' Rin's voice echoed in his mind eerily. He glanced up from his reading to give her a stern look.
"This Sesshoumaru does not speak of his private affairs with anyone," was his response, the same response he had given Rin and the same response he would give for time immemorial.
Kirai's obvious disappointment showed on her young face, but unlike the child of a few years previous, she did not continue to question him. She accepted his response and sat there, looking down at her hands.
Or so he thought, because suddenly her face tilted up again, filled with both concern and stubbornness. "I don't think its right that you have to stay married to her forever. She hates you, and you hate her. I don't care what any of my cousin's say, you don't deserve to have to live with that forever."
"It will not be forever, for even this mighty taiyoukai can die," he said wirily, and she pouted.
"But you won't die for a long long time, and it's not fair," she pouted, her youth very evident as she smacked her hand on her folded thigh. He looked at her in silent contemplation.
"Life is not fair pup, and as a member of an old and distinguished house, sacrifices for the face of honor must be met," he said, realizing that he had given her an explanation when he had sworn he wouldn't. Damn that clever girl, she was just like Rin, pushing buttons that he hadn't had pushed in a long time.
"Go now to your chambers, I have matters to attend to. Practice your harp, for I hope to hear your song at this evening(')s meal," he gave her the closest thing to a smile he had ever given anyone. She grinned and jumped to her feet, giving him a quick peck on the head before running off, and before he could scold her.
Away from the eyes of anyone, the great youkai lord touched his head and the cold from his eyes melted a little. Though not from his loins, she was his pup through and through. He would never admit this to anyone, but he cared for the girl, as he cared for his brother's children and all of Rin's descendents.
'Now, back to those blasted treatises' he swore mentally and returned to his readings.