Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha but Tsukiko, Kenta, and Hotaka are mine! Beware-I'm often accused of having sudden breaks; this one's loaded with 'em. It's more like a string of drabbles strung together. Enjoy! (REPOST: Small Errors corrected-if you happen to spot any more please tell me!)
---------------
It had been when she was seven years old when Tsukiko met the one that was to become her future husband's hated adversary. But she did not know that then, as she gripped her father's sashinuki in her little fist because it was beneath her station to cower behind his legs. That and she thought the powerful dragon youkai Ryuukossei was actually very smelly.
The dragon had chosen to take a human like appearance, like Tsukiko and her father's own, as they greeted each other at her father's front gate. His lips pulled back in a hideous smile pointedly at her. "You have such a lovely daughter, Kenta-sama."
Her father had told when she had snidely asked why people were still coming to congratulate him on her birth seven years after she had been born that such comments were usually just polite chattering. The way he leered at her she doubted it was just chattering and it was far from polite. She schooled face to bored blankness and tried to ignore the spidery feeling she got all over her body when he looked at her.
Kenta, her father, thanked him kindly but surprisingly tugged her behind him. She was more than grateful to be away from the youkai's gaze but she was far from pleased when her father invited him into their home. Mentally, her jaw had dropped in fury and she screeched but outwardly there was no visible sign other than her jaw muscle tightening. But it needn't matter to her as he dismissed her to her studies-the generic excuse for noble children to be shoved out of sight.
She nearly ran as she left, suppressing her shivers as she felt Ryuukossei's gaze upon her back.
---------------
She was ten when she met her future father in law. She was charmed instantly.
The then Inu no Taisho had been sitting with her father when she arrived to meet him. He was a large, imposing man with an easy smile on his lips when he turned to greet her, his fiery yellow eyes fixed on her. "Ah, this must be your daughter, Kenta-san!"
She lifted her brows and remained rooted curiously to the spot. She was overcome by a sudden wave of shyness and nodded simply. He then gestured her closer.
"You're what...nine, ten, now?"
"Ten." she answered, sitting tailor style in front of him as he grinned.
"Such a fine girl, Kenta-san, she'll be as beautiful as her mother, mark my words." he announced, bending a bit to look in her eyes.
She had been taught at a young age to never reveal her emotions to those outside of the family. Instead of grinning excitedly, she ducked her chin and turned her eyes up higher in a coy expression. "You've met my mother?"
He roared with laughter and slapped his thigh. "Met her, dear girl? I'm her cousin." he took a deep swig of his sake as Kenta shook his head and gestured her away.
She dipped her chin lower and raised her brows. "I must partake my leave, Inu no Taisho, for I have to tend to my studies." She had half hoped he would insist on her remaining so she might talk with him. Instead he beamed and nodded.
"You'll just as brilliant as your mother to, I suspect." he patted her head but she didn't mind. "Off with you, to your studies."
She then smiled, bowed, then gotten up and skipped away but stopped when she heard her name mentioned.
"...she'll be a fine wife to anyone." the Inu no Taisho proclaimed and she near danced in delight. She was so pleased that she didn't mind the next part so much.
"She'll be a fine wife to any son you bare."
"So you've decided then?"
The thought she was to be married off didn't worry her-she had been told since she was old enough to crawl that she was to be married for power and not love. If she was to marry a son of the Inu no Taisho, then she was no worse off. He didn't have a son at the moment so it wasn't to be any time soon. She skipped away and missed the last part entirely.
"Yes," her father answered. "Do you know who wants to marry her?"
"Who?"
"Ryuukossei!" Kenta hissed. "Came here nearly three years ago, leering and asking for her hand in marriage."
"Well," the Inu no Taisho soothed. "Anyone can see that she'd be a good match-but I wouldn't trust my mount to Ryuukossei let alone little Tsukiko-hime."
Her father nodded, feeling justified. "Quite so. Well, no fears. He's not to have her, and that's that."
---------------
Two hundred years later, her opinion of an arranged marriage changed utterly. At a young age of ten, she had loved none but herself and select family members. At age two hundred and twenty five, she had loved others and she didn't want the shackles of an arranged marriage.
She walked into the dim room where the cradle is set up. A single candle flickered, throwing shadows across her visage as she hovered above the cradle. She raised her hand and it began to glow as the poison began to seethe beneath her fingers.
She stared at the young babe in the cradle. It was a young boy, silver haired and fiery yellow eyed like his father. He sighed in his sleep, twisted a little, and he faced her. She glared at his pudgy little face and readied her hand. She reached forward...and her hand dimmed as her poison receded.
She flicked the hair out of his face then cupped her hand to the candle and blew out the flame before leaving the room with only a single glance back.
---------------
Tsukiko sat with her legs folded beneath her as she relaxed in the wide meadow, nearly a mile from her home. She had her face lifted to the blue sky, watching sakura blossoms dancing on the breeze and fought to keep her face blank from her agitation as she heard the young son of the Inu no Taisho, who she called Taisho-kun, rustling the grass behind her.
She counted to twenty then reached out and slammed him into the ground when he leapt at her. She glared at him, her left hand pinning his face into the dirt. She watched with a bored, distracted look on her face as he flailed about trying to get out from underneath her hand. She rolled her eyes and let go.
The Inu no Taisho-to-be pulled himself up so quickly he upset his own balance and he fell flat on his rear. His fire yellow eyes glared up at her from his dirt smeared face. "I hate you!"
"You're just selfish." she snapped back. "I'm going to have to tell your father about you when I see him today."
He looked positively scathing; it was a sore spot on his pride that she saw his father more than he ever did. It was that very fact he declared all out war on her—in retaliation she often taunted him that his father favored her more than him.
"You're just a selfish brat, Taisho-kun!" she hissed. They glared each other for a minute before he huffed and looked down at the earth before she returned her gaze to the sky.
"I still hate you!" he snapped and left before she could shout that she hated him too.
---------------
"And just what," Tsukiko began, "do you think you're doing?"
Taisho-kun flinched and looked up at her. She glared down impressively and he stuck his tongue out at her. "If you want to know-" he grinned and turned back to what he was doing. "Then watch!"
Tsukiko raised a brow and gaped when Taisho-kun produced a sling shot. Before she could stop him, he released a stone and they both watched as the stone flew and connected solidly against the Northern Lands Lord's temple, a wolf demon by the name Hotaka. The young man who had been yelling and stalking out of her father's chambers now suddenly slumped to the floor. Tsukiko gaped, snatched up Taisho-kun, and ran before his or her father had a chance to see them as they poked their heads out the door.
"You," she hissed as she raced to the gardens, "are nothing but trouble!"
"Yeah, but you got to admit-" he laughed from inside the grasp of her arms. "-that that was funny!"
She didn't say anything only rolled her eyes and continued onto the gardens.
---------------
Tsukiko sat, relaxed and content, staring up at the stars and her namesake, the moon. She searched for familiar constellations began to distractedly count the stars far above her. Around her, she listened to the cicadas singing loudly on the stagnant breeze.
She piqued her ears as she heard the rustling rasp of sandals on gravel and she glanced over her shoulder.
Taisho-kun kicked at the gravel with his toe. He was sitting beneath a tall sakura tree; knees hunched up to his chest with his arms wrapped his legs. She would have suspected him of not knowing she was there. She narrowed her eyes are returned her gaze to her namesake, intent on ignoring him.
She had been doing a fine job until she began to hear an odd noise. It hit her like a rock.
The young Inu no Taisho-to-be was sniffling.
She shook her head and began to go back to counting the stars.
"-hic-haha-ue...-hic-"
26 stars...27 stars...28 stars...
"-hic-haha-ue..."
32 stars...33 stars...oh, damn it all.
She sighed and stalked over to the tree, resting her hand high above him to steady herself against the tree. He sniffled and she sighed louder. She rolled her eyes and swept his small body into her arms. He squeaked in protest and began to push himself away as she walked back to her spot amongst the azaleas and sat back down. He hissed and fought her as she settled back down then sat him in her lap, his back against her stomach, his little pudgy legs sticking out in front of him. He blinked and huffed.
She looked back and began to count to again but was interrupted when he made a queer little noise deep in his throat. She blinked and looked down at his blood shot eyes and puffy cheeks. "Yes?"
"Where are the heroes?"
"...come again?"
He glared up at her and croaked out his question again. "The heroes! Up there! In the stars-"
"Oh," she said to shush him. She cast a glance about for a second then pointed to lower left on the horizon. "There-that's Hideaki the Horse Youkai that slayed Kurodaisuke the Dragon Youkai." She pointed to a higher point to the far right. "And there's Taiyou the Phoenix Youkai, and..." she pointed dead at the horizon. "If you squint hard, you can see Keisuke the human samurai."
Taisho-kun snorted. "A human." he echoed.
"Yes."
"Why is there a human?"
Tsukiko didn't spare him a glance as she squinted at Keisuke. "He was a bold courageous man who was brilliant with a sword. He slayed a hundred demons with a single swipe of his blade. And saved a hundred humans with his hands."
Taisho-kun lifted his brows up disbelieving. "Nuh-uh, that can't be true."
She peered down at him. "It's an old tale."
He shook his head and wiggled his tooth in his mouth. "I could do better."
Somehow, in the strange twilight and stagnant breeze with the cicada song, it didn't sound like a boast.
She shook her head anyway and returned her gaze to the stars. Nearly half an hour later, after Taisho-kun had been dozing he uttered a triumphant cry and held his tooth aloft. "Ha!" he laughed. He blinked and lifted his gaze up to her. "Umm...would you like to see it?"
She blinked and lifted her hand. He dropped it in her hand. She studied it a minute. "It's a canine." She grinned down at him and he gaped at her. He didn't know she could smile. "The canine lost a canine."
He grinned slowly and laughed. She dropped his tooth back into his palm and began to sit up. He jumped up and looked at her. She placed her hand behind his head and led him inside. "C'mon," she murmured, "let's go."
He nodded and bounced ahead of her. She stopped a moment and shook her head before she walked on.
Goodness, how could she have forgotten Taisho-kun's birthday and his mother's death anniversary?
---------------
Taisho-kun was thirteen when Lord Masuyo of the Western Estates had declared war against the Inu no Taisho and left with his father to do war against their enemy.
Tsukiko had been strangely relieved and sad to see them go. As much as she adored the Inu no Taisho and as much that she become fond of Taisho-kun, Taisho-kun was thirteen and had become a rather mischievous and even flirtatious—with her own hand maidens no less. She had shaken her head when she caught sight of him flirting and turned away, watching her from the corner of her eyes as his looks soured at being caught and then he had been moody the entire afternoon. The Inu no Taisho was a good man but he could be a bit overbearing on her, at times, frayed nerves.
She remembered standing with her father as the Inu no Taisho, Taisho-kun, and their people left their home. It was bizarre; their entourage had been part of their household for so long it seemed as if half of their home was leaving with them. Several of her hand maidens and many servants who were looking on were in tears. Many of them were losing sweet hearts, lovers, even husbands and wives. Tsukiko didn't have tears in her eyes.
She swore that it was dust stinging her sensitive eyes anyway.
---------------
"Oww! Tsukiko-hime, please." Myouga squeaked. Tsukiko glared and squished his tiny body harder.
"Myouga-sama, my patience is running out—if you don't stop sucking my blood and get down to answering my questions I'm going to pop your bulbous head off your little body." she hissed. He froze and began to sweat heavily—she was being sincere. She was going to kill him. Now preferably in her opinion probably.
"Eep." he gasped. "Yes, Tsukiko-hime: the Inu no Taisho and his forces are at least a two week journey on foot. He and his son have conquered Lord Masuyo and are they're way back. Please, Tsukiko-hime, don't squish me anymore-!"
Tsukiko's eyes narrowed and flicked him at the wall.
---------------
It had been late at night when the attack came. Tsukiko had been sleeping but the eerie feeling of blood lust and far off distant cries of battle seeped into her skin and she rose with frazzled nerves. By the time she had fixed her sleeping yukata and stumbled out of her room the cries had become a roar and the sky had turned red with fire. Tsukiko hurried to her father's room to find the servants tugging his battle armor on.
"Chichi-ue!" she had gasped. He had glanced at her but didn't dismiss the servants helping him notch the armor. She wrung her hands and spoke again. "Chichi-ue...?"
Kenta-sama grunted and the servants stopped with the armor and left quickly with heads bowed. He looked at her. "I leave to make war."
"War with who, Chichi-ue?" Lords often went to war but her father hadn't done so in such a long time and who would want to against him?
"Our enemy." He said it as if it explained everything. "Compose yourself, daughter."
She let go of her hands and reeled in her stoic facade again. It didn't stop her heart from pounding a mile a minute and her thoughts from racing. "Chichi-ue, why have they come now?"
He shook his head and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You are my daughter and heir to the Moon Palace. He wants the power for his own and to legally have it, he must have you." His pinched face peered past her. "And he shall not have you."
"Chichi-ue?" she pleaded. He walked past her and started towards the battlements.
---------------
It hadn't reached her until dawn that her father was dead and their forces were losing. She had known long before then, when her father had walked past her, framed by the blood red night sky, she had known.
Now it was merely a matter of saving the Moon Palace and saving herself.
She had sent out the evacuation order a moment ago—now she would make a flashy escape herself; if she couldn't save the Moon Palace then she wouldn't save herself either—by drawing away the attention, perhaps the Moon Palace would be spared.
Better dead than prisoner.
Tsukiko crouched for a moment than sprang high in the air, racing toward the right flank, poison ready. She growled and let herself change into her true form. She reveled a moment as her senses expanded but quickly struck at the enemies. She could hear the loud roars of her enemies as they spotted her. She spewed poison onto her enemy and sped on, racing past them. She could hear the loud shrieks as many turned—and yet not all.
Damn them, still they hungered for her home's destruction.
She turned and raced back, moon dancing upon her fur. She roared and lunged at them again. She slammed nearly twenty of them away with her paw and snapped at more within reach. She grimaced as she felt long shallow grazes tear her side and then heard the thunderous roar. At the moment she had thought that what is was: thunder. But then words slowly formed in the roar: "Don't". "Stop". "Mine".
Tsukiko stuffed the words to the back of her mind. Right now her enemy was before and that was where she must be as well.
The command of the voice did little to stop her enemy from attacking her-they scored several more gashes upon her. She ran on but the pain began to take the toll on her. Her leg was dragging and blood was running in her two tone eyes. She felt the tug of gravity upon her-sotiredsotiredsotired-as her paws faltered. Tired, she thought dazed, tired and everything's so red...
She barely heard the warrior cry behind her as she fell.
---------------
"Ouch."
Not technically a very sophisticated comment but appropriate. Tsukiko felt her like her limbs were lead and there was terrible pain running down her hip. She drew in a deep breath and forced open her eyelids.
In front of her face, a white shape floated about. "...a ghost?"
"Oh!" a voice squeaked. "Tsukiko-hime, you're awake."
Tsukiko looked down and saw Myouga hopping up and down beside her. At her side the ghost floated down and smiled at her. "Strong woman. To take such blood loss and wake so soon."
"Of course!" Myouga beamed. "The lady is from well stock."
"Myouga-sama...what's going on...?" she asked trying to sit up. Myouga began to frantically jump up and down and ghost reached forward to try and stop her.
"Tsukiko-hime!" Myouga squeaked. "You must be careful-"
"Hime-sama, your wounds-"
"What's all this ruckus in here?" a voice groaned and then an old man walked in. "Isn't this a sick person's room?" Tsukiko looked at all three of them and then turned back to Myouga.
"Myouga-sama...who are these two men?" she asked finally. Myouga bounced up and down, anxiously trying to get her to lay her back down.
"Tsukiko-hime, please, lay down. The ghost at your side is Saya and this man is Toutousai-he's a sword smith, Tsukiko-hime." he explained. "Please, please, lay down. The Inu no Taisho will not be pleased to see you about to reopen your wounds!"
"Inu no Taisho..." she breathed, "Where is he? Where is his son? Why did he not come soon-"
"Tsukiko-hime..." Myouga wilted. "Tsukiko-hime, I'm afraid that the Inu no Taisho is dead."
Deaddeaddead...
She stared at him in shock. "The Inu no ...no-!"
"I'm afraid that the wounds he suffered due to his fight with Masuyo caused his death—his son is now the Inu no Taisho." he explained gently, stroking her long pale fingers, trying to be soothing. "The Inu no Taisho hurried as soon as possible when heard that the battle was happening here...Tsukiko-hime...your father...I'm very sorry, Tsukiko-hime...but you see-"
"He's dead." she finished. "I knew...I could smell it." Toutousai frowned, probably wondering how she could have recognized her father's scent on a breeze of so much blood but he didn't ask. "But...I didn't know who was attacking."
"Oh, that's nice. So you ran head long into battle without a clue of your enemy?" Toutousai snorted sitting next to her. "Saya, go tell the Inu no Taisho that Tsukiko-hime is awake."
"Yes!" answered Saya as he slipped away.
"Anyway, you're more alike than I thought-you and the Inu no Taisho." Toutousai began again. Tsukiko frowned and stretched her hand letting the bones pop loudly and the finger tips glow. Toutousai saw that and gulped. "Then again he's less subtle than you—probably have his hands on my neck by now-"
"Toutousai, Tsukiko-hime is a powerful woman and she is on the mend so don't go antagonizing her! She's having a hard time and doesn't need you making it worse!" Tsukiko's eye twitched; had they forgotten her already? She was sitting right there!
"Tsukiko-hime is a strong woman but I doubt she needs you here yelling either, Myouga." the sword smith quipped, adjusting his grip on the long hammer. He turned back to Tsukiko. "Anyway, Tsukiko-hime, you happened to have been fighting Ryuukossei's forces out there-and did nicely if one forget your fainting from your wounds."
Tsukiko hummed thoughtfully but wandered how quick it would take to bury her poisoned claws in his throat.
"It seems as if Ryuukossei was going easy on you—any idea why, Tsukiko-hime?" Toutousai asked. For a minute she stared at him wondering if he really didn't know—but he certainly seemed sincere in his ignorance...
"He wants me, Toutousai-sama, because I'm the heir to the Moon Palace." she clipped out. "Any heir of mine will end up with a large chunk of the west as an inheritance."
"...ah..." he mumbled, curiosity appeased for the moment.
From outside the shoji door, foot steps sounded and the three occupants went silent and stared as the door pulled back.
Taisho-kun had grown in two years, she realized. He's outgrown my nickname for him... she thought. His hair was pulled back and his eyes looked a little sad and tired, the mischievous light she had always seen there was dormant. He wasn't wearing his armor, only a simple wine colored yukata on him. Even his pelt was missing. A long, thin scratch ran underneath his eye and she wondered if he had gotten it from Ryuukossei himself. He looked so worn and wane…
Well, she thought reproachfully to herself, his father died. Of course he's sad and tired.
They stared at each other a long moment before the Inu no Taisho nodded in greeting. "Hello, Tsukiko-hime."
Why did his voice send chills up her spin like someone walked over her grave? His voice was so different now... "Greetings, Inu no Taisho."
She looked for something—anything—to know it would be alright. His aging, her sorrow...something to say everything would be fine soon. She wanted to see the mischievous spark in his eyes once more or at least have him smile...but no, he only nodded again and looked pointedly and Toutousai and Myouga. "Excuse us. We need to talk."
"Yes, Inu no Taisho-sama." Myouga murmured, jumping out of the room with Toutousai following after him.
She sat up looking at him while he shut the door and stared back at her. He sighed and sat down at her side. "Tsukiko-hime-"
"Stop it." she growled, because somebody had to say it-someone needed to stop the charades and so be it if he couldn't, she would. "You never called me Tsukiko-hime if you could manage, so stop it now."
He blinked and stared at her then went 'oh' when he got it.
So many things have changed but this must remain the same if were to stay sane with our grief...
"Well, Hime-chan," his old nickname for her, since she hadn't grown in a century she could still fit in her old nickname. "How have you been?"
Maybe things were going to be fine.
---------------
They were married on one of the hottest days of the month and Tsukiko sat fanning herself and lazing about. Her groom sat beside her, sound asleep. He had been drooping in the ceremony and now the heat had made him terribly sleepy. She stopped fanning herself for a minute and shifted over to his side.
What a day, she mused. The entire day had been insane, what with people running about everywhere, the ceremony, the banquet… She never had been so relieved to escape back to her furnace of a bedroom with her groom trailing behind her.
He made a grunting noise then put arm behind her neck and rested his head against her own and went back to sleep. Her eyelids drooped and she fell asleep too.
---------------
They made love under the stars.
She had been sitting in the garden, staring up at the constellations and counting the stars when he had walked out and sat beside her in the cool grass. Tsukiko looked at him a moment and wondered what he had wanted. "Yes, Taisho-sama?" (Her new nickname that only he understood)
"I remember sitting out here with you when I was little." he said suddenly. She blinked and nodded. "You told me the story of a human who could kill a hundred demons with a stroke of his sword and save a hundred humans with his hands."
"Yes?"
"...that's what Toutousai is here for."
She paused, waiting for him to continue.
"He's a sword smith. I'm going to give him my fang and have him make me a pair of swords to do the same."
She sat there blinking. "Don't you already have a sword?"
"Yes, but these will be different. Special."
"Oh..." It all seemed rather pointless in her opinion but she never had understood what was it about men and swords that made it so unique but she guessed she would never know.
However, one was for certain—she knew that look in his eyes, and my oh my, that look was fairly more exciting and terrifying than she'd ever seen on his face before as he reached for her face.
---------------
Their son was born on one of the coldest day of the year. Sesshoumaru screamed loudly when he came forth. The Inu no Taisho already had a daughter with his wife—now he had a son. He smiled and grinned and called him Sesshoumaru.
"That's a little violent." she murmured later.
"Well...it'll be good for him!" he said quickly and was spared a lecture when Sesshoumaru cried out hungrily.
---------------
The Inu no Taisho told his wife of his affair. She was less than pleased.
"Give one reason not to kill you where you stand."
"...I'm your husband?"
"Wrong answer."
Sesshoumaru and Sayuri watched their father walk around stiffly for a month, gently rubbing his sore head. They looked at each other and swore never ever to upset their mother like that.
---------------
She had been sipping tea when a hysterical Myouga had told her the news—the Inu no Taisho was dead. She had sat there in shock for two days before Sayuri had forced her to move, bathe, and eat. It was the third day that Sesshoumaru returned, leading his father's mistress and child into their home.
When she saw Izayoi she had expected to hate her on the spot but when she looked into her sad eyes she remembered she wasn't the only to lose a husband.
She had let Izayoi stay whenever she needed and arranged for care of the child as well. When Izayoi insisted that she must return to her human home it was Tsukiko who escorted her.
How many people become best friend's with their husband's mistresses anyway?