Title: Thrice

Part of: Inuyasha no konto

Theme: Inupapa

Word Count: 2948

Disclaimer: Any characters within these shorts are the creative property of Rumiko Takahashi. They are being used for non-profit recreation.

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Thrice

They say that the third time is the charm.
After the death of his first mate, the Inu no Taisho spent two centuries wandering through the place of her death. Now, all those years later, he chances upon a human girl once, twice, thrice before he realizes that she would be the one -- he has finally found someone else to love.

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The first time she saw him, she was frightened. She had, against all better judgment, ventured far from her father's home. Her path led her into the forest bordering her father's land and she, defiantly, continued on. It was his forest – the forest belonging to the great Inu no Taisho – and she knew it; all the children knew the tales. Her own nurses had warned her of the beast that prowled the forest and what he would do should she disobey them. For, as they all knew, only their nurses and parents had the power to call the Inu no Taisho to their aid in punishing naughty children. But, at the age of ten, she didn't care. She would walk through the forest if she wanted – at least that is what she told herself until she caught sight of a being that could be no one but the Inu no Taisho. She caught a glimpse of the long silver-white ponytail, the mokomoko-sama settled upon his shoulder and ducked behind a nearby bush, praying that she had been unnoticed. She spied him tense and sniff the air gently until his gaze fell on where she sat, hiding. A smirk played on his handsome face and she was able to see fangs glinting in the morning light. The sight spooked her and, again against all better judgment, she ran. He remained behind and she made it home. Her nursed scolded her for being out all morning; she apologized and neglected to mention the mysterious youkai. Over time, she forgot about the encounter.

The second time she saw him, she was entranced. It was on her fourteenth birthday that she, for the second time in her life, decided to walk into the forest. Talks had been had concerning impending marriage for the young hime; though no acceptable suitors had approached her yet, she was wary of her fate. Instead of listening to further discussions regarding her future, she escaped. Seeking solitude, she headed for the forbidden forest. It was no sooner that the woods swallowed her that she happened across the Inu no Taisho. A long lost memory from her childhood surfaced when she spied the magnificent lord. Though she had matured in the time that had passed, he had remained the same. Age seemed not to touch the tai-youkai, and she felt a pang at his ethereal beauty. She met his gaze and took a few steps closer to get a better look at the man standing across from her. Her courage failed after three steps and she paused, bowing to him in respect and reverence. She remained low for a moment longer before she heard an inhuman sound cross his lips. It was such a sound that set her mind right; she was a young woman alone with a demon. Her sense caught up with her at that moment and she fled. This time she hoped he would follow. He did not.

The third time she saw him, however, her reaction was quite different from the two previous encounters: she died.

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As it was his custom, the Inu no Taisho found himself wandering through the wide open space of his forest. A cozy nook of his extensive territories, it was here that he lost his first mate; it was here he found the one that he would take as his second. To a great youkai as himself, time seemed to pass as easily as sighs; it seemed that mere moments had passed since Sumi had been struck down. In truth, it had been over two hundred mortal years.

Two hundred years. It had been two hundred years that Sumi had fallen prey to a fierce bear youkai. Though the demon was not a match for his cool and collected mate normally, she had turned wild in an attempt to save their young son from the attack. He had been away on his own business and had returned in time to find Sesshoumaru lapping at his mother's cheek. Too small and defenseless to do anything but cower as his mother was slew, he only emerged when she fell. The bear youkai lumbered away after his kill leaving the young pup to tend to his mother. Thus was how the Inu no Taisho found his fledgling family.

With a calm look, he gently pulled Sesshoumaru away from his mother, refusing to acknowledge his whimpers and whines. He held him back with his left hand as he used his right to select one of the three mighty swords from his obi. He slowly unsheathed the Tenseiga, awaiting the pulse that indicated that the sword was preparing itself for its purpose. Yet the sword remained still.

He gripped the hilt of the sword and narrowed his eyes. The blade refused to come to life.

The Inu no Taisho turned his scrutiny to the corpse of his former love. There was no hint of her youki about her; the tsukai had already claimed her. Sumi was gone.

Without even bothering to place Tenseiga in it's sheathe, the Inu no Taisho fell to his knees and, joining in with his son, cried and bayed for the loss of the female demon.

And now, near two hundred years past, the Inu no Taisho found himself haunting the forest where Sumi had been killed. He found the solitude of the green to be comforting whenever he felt the loss that pained his heart. It was only then that he was able to slip out from behind the façade that he had assumed upon her death; it was the same sort of cold mask his own son had adopted once he was old enough to understand his role in his own mother's demise.

He cleared his mind of Sesshoumaru as he walked, alone, through the woods. It was no good to brood on the past, he scolded, then raised an eyebrow at the absurdity of the thought. What had been doing for the past two centuries if not brooding?

Suddenly a twig snapped and, to his heightened audible senses, the Inu no Taisho knew that someone had dared to venture into his domain. He tensed but felt no rival youki in the vicinity; lifting his nose into the air he sniffed and caught sense of a young human, covered in the scent of fear. His eyes followed where his nose knew the visitor lay and he was able to make out a small girl. She was shaking slightly, hidden partially behind a bush. He smirked slightly; he hadn't seen a human this small in quite some time. It was an interesting sight to the tai-youkai and he inhaled her fearful scent before he saw her bolt off in the opposite direction. He let her go, though the intrigued part of him wondered why he did. He then wondered why he should be intrigued at all. Then he turned and walked away.

After the encounter, the Inu no Taisho used any excuse to remain closer to the forest. He sent Sesshoumaru out to learn his duties, explaining his reasons that his heir would inherit the position within time. And, though he told himself that he haunted the forest much more frequently now was to be closer to the memory of Sumi, he knew he wanted to glimpse the young human again. After all, she was the first human he had ever seen walk freely through his forest – the only human he had encountered so close that he had spared. Maybe she would chance the path once more.

It wasn't until four mortal years later that she found her way to the forest again. He had been away for a time squashing a rebellion that had risen up against Sesshoumaru, and was eager for solitude, whether he stumbled across her or not. In his silence, he wandered through the forest, daring to trace fairly close to the wooded edge.

And, as luck would have it, when he desired to be alone, there she was. Her scent met his nose before his presence reached his eyes.

The pair paused when they realized that no more than a hundred yards separated them. He waited for her to make her move – would she run? Or would she be as interested as he?

He watched as she, taller and prettier than she was at their last meeting, took a few tentative steps forward. Then, she lowered her gaze and bowed.

His emotionless expression nearly slipped off his face at her act of submission; whether she was aware of the meaning behind her actions mattered to him not. It had been two hundred years since someone excited him – two hundred years until someone willingly submitted themselves to him. He couldn't suppress it; a feral growl escaped his lips.

He watched as her head jerked up in surprise and fear. She stumbled backwards, eager to put further space between herself and the tai-youkai. Fear fueling her flight, she hurriedly flew from the forest.

The Inu no Taisho, angry at himself and at the human girl's naivety, lashed out at a nearby tree, his claws cleaving it into two. The frustration eased a bit, but not nearly enough.

This time it was he who forgot about her.

It was many a moon before the Inu no Taisho visited his revered forest once more. Though he still held the memory of his dead mate within him, he had given up on the idea of every finding a suitable companion. It was folly to be infatuated by a mortal and, besides, to be one so powerful as he was to be lonely, he reasoned, and used his loneliness to fuel many wars, with his son by his side. Sesshoumaru had grown to be a powerful inu youkai, and the Inu no Taisho was proud to have reared such an impressive heir. It could not be helped that his son did not have a mother figure in his life, but if the Inu no Taisho was resigned to loneliness, Sesshoumaru would live the same sort of life.

At least, such was what he told himself when many magnificent inu youkai bitches came forth to replace Sumi. To him, it somehow felt wrong to replace his dead mate with one like her; maybe that was why he felt it acceptable to desire a human girl. She was as different to his kind as anyone could be – yet he had been desirous of her. If only her fear did not cause her to run so.

Therefore, when the Inu no Taisho found himself in his forest, his thoughts were no longer on the young girl he had only spied twice. Instead, he was wondering about a battle Sesshoumaru had left to orchestrate; in truth, he was also beginning to wonder if his son would soon try to overtake him for the role of Inu no Taisho.

So, lost in though, the Inu no Taisho walked through the trees, disregarding his surroundings, allowing the full moon to guide his steps. It wasn't until a familiar scent caught his attention – it was her. But something was wrong, her scent was filled the stench of deep regret and fear. He paused and used his ears to discern which way she was heading. The quiet of the night helped him to pick up the rush of her steps much easier than one would have thought. Once he knew where she was, he took off, resting his right hand between two of his blades: the Tenseiga and the Tessaiga. He wasn't sure which he would need.

He emerged from behind a particular cluster of trees to find the girl – the woman – sprawled out on the grass, limp. The overwhelming stench of death was present, as well as a strong odor of freshly spilt blood. He paused at her side, and narrowed his gaze at her petite form. Using the second sight, he spied a horde of tsukai resting on top of her; she had already died. His hand, leaning towards the Tessaiga, reached for the Tenseiga. He slowly removed it from it's sheathe, but place it at his side. Not for the first time he must try to revive someone endeared to him; would the sword respond this time, as it did not for Sumi? The presence of the tsukai was a sign, at least. It was impossible for him to revive Sumi when there was nary a sign of the dreaded messengers. Would it be possible, then, to revive this human girl?

He took a deep breath before swiping at the tsukai. A flash of his youki followed the tail of the Tenseiga as the imps vanished. A slight cough followed and the human girl rolled onto her back. She was alive.

The Inu no Taisho placed the Tenseiga back in it's sheathe before looking upon her flushed face. He waited until she had pulled herself up and was inspecting her side for a non-existent wound to speak. "You are healed," he said, simply.

She confirmed that he spoke the truth when, beneath the drying blood, she felt no wound. A faint blush colored her porcelain cheeks and she bowed her head. "I'm not so sure that I should thank you, my lord."

He raised an eyebrow and bared one of his fangs in morbid amusement. "Do you tell me that you wish I should have let you die? The wound had harmed you grievously. If not for my interference, you would have remained dead."

"That was my idea, my lord. The wound was inflicted by my own hand to result in death," she answered, her voice faltering though the tone of it remained somewhat defiant.

The Inu no Taisho was not expecting such a reply, though the rusty katana next to her showed that her words were true. But, to him, she was an unattainable vision, a girl he had desired, though he himself knew not why. Yet, he had finally found himself speaking with her to find that she was capable of taking her own life. He wiped his face of any expression and looked down upon her. "And why would you desire such a result?"

She lifted her head, amazed at the manner in which he spoke to her. Surely this was not the beast of her childhood stories? Yet he was the only one – man or beast – who was willing to listen to her; maybe if she had had a confidante prior her actions would not have been so drastic. She met his golden eyes and frowned. "My father has promised me to a vile man that I do not wish to marry. My wedding will be tomorrow and, as I do not love him, I felt that taking my own life would spare me from pledging it to him."

He took in her statement and nodded once. To him, the news that was still unattached was pleasant. His nose could detect whether she was pure or not, but it did not acknowledge whether or not she was wedded. Filling a pleasantness that he hadn't known since Sumi's death two centuries before, he knelt down beside her and wrapped his mokomoko-sama around her thin shoulders. "Come, then, child. What is your name?"

Her chin lifted stubbornly. "Child? I am almost eighteen years old," she answered, the fear that clung to her before her death gone. He noticed with another smirk that she no longer feared him. She caught his smirk and tensed, pulling the fluffy appendage around her shoulders. When he made no attempt to respond to her words, she lowered her eyes again. "My name is Izayoi."

Izayoi. Looking up at the full moon, the Inu no Taisho smiled. Her name fit.

He reached one of his claws out and placed it under her chin. He used gentle force to lift her eyes to meet his own. "Izayoi, so we finally speak."

Her blush darkened, aware of the proximity between herself and the great tai-youkai. She had somehow known that if she had fled to the forest to end her life, she would somehow find the answers to the questions that plagued her since she was ten, since that first time she encountered the Inu no Taisho. In one step she would escape marriage to such a villain, as well as find peace. To Izayoi, it was the only way. However, it was he that saved her from such a fate. In such, she hoped she would learn from him exactly what had come to pass. "Yes," she replied, though her eyes said more, much more.

The Inu no Taisho heard her words, but also read those hidden behind her eyes. It was at that moment that he knew that all those years of wondering through the forest had a purpose. His destiny had brought him to her; he knew that this young human was the one. He would save her from her proposed marriage. In doing so, he would save himself.

It had taken thrice the visits with Izayoi to find the answers he had been searching for himself, but he knew, just as he knew with Sumi, that she was the one. And this time – this time he would die before he let any harm befall a mate. He had already seen her die once, and he would not allow it to happen again.

Keeping the fur around her frame, the Inu no Taisho gently lifted the young hime to her feet. When he began to lead her away from the edge of the forest, going deeper into the woods instead of returning to her father's home, Izayoi followed him. For the first time, she did not run.