Chapter Seven

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning…

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Sesshoumaru entered the dining hall early the next morning at Katsu's invitation. It was a fairly spacious area, and beautifully decorated, but not formal. It seemed as though it was supposed to be for the castle family; not official events. Which made the fact that there were quite a few lords and ladies sitting at the low table a bit of a surprise. Katsu addressed the issue as Sesshoumaru took the empty seat the taishou directed him to.

"Gomen nasai, Ryouji-san. I do not mean to insult you with these humble surroundings; however, there was a… mishap in the banquet hall last night." A few of the ladies around the table shuddered slightly, Sesshoumaru noticed, as Katsu continued. "It should be repaired by the afternoon meal, should you wish to join us there."

"Arigato gozimasu, KatsuYasha-taishou," Sesshoumaru responded. "And you do not insult; I enjoy this room very much."

"Do you?" Katsu smiled, pleased. "I'll admit, I prefer this room, as well. Now, shall I introduced you?"

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Shippou didn't really know what to do. Frankly, neither did Kagome. It was an odd position, they were in, and it seemed it would take a little getting used to. Luckily, one of the three across from them broke the ice.

"Hey! You're from the valley yesterday, aren't cha?"

Shippou blinked, startled. "Ah… yeah. I'm Sh- Ritoru. Nice to meet ya."

InuYasha grinned, "Hi! 'M InuYasha, 'n this is 'Nii-chan an' Yuki."

"Baka, don't indraduce me as 'Nii-chan," Sesshoumaru huffed, smacking his little brother on the head. "He can't call me that."

"Itai!" InuYasha pouted up at the older boy. "Don' call me that, either!"

"Why not? That's exactly what you are!"

"No, 'm not! You are! It's introduce, not indraduce!"

Sessoumaru scowled, and smacked InuYasha again. "It's close enough!"

Kagome watched the two, attempting to hide her smile. So this is how the brothers had acted before they were enemies? They were so cute! Kagome shifted her attention to the third youkai - Yuki, was it? – as the girl rolled her eyes at the two arguing brothers and stepped around them.

"Nice ta meet ya, too, Ritoru-san. I'm Yuki. The big dummy's name is Sesshoumaru, but you 'kin call 'im Sesshou-kun, like I do." Yuki grinned at the kitsune, showing off her tiny fangs. "You headed to breakfast?"

Shippou grinned back, "Yup. Can I go with you?"

"'Course." Yuki looked at Kagome, "You 'kin go eat, we'll take care of 'im."

Kagome gave the girl an indulgent smile. "Arigato, Yuki-chan. I was I afraid I'd get lost."

"So you ARE new!" InuYasha piped. "I didn' think I'd ever seen ya b'fore…"

"We're from the continent," Shippou boasted. "Jus' got here yesterday."

"Wow…" Sesshoumaru breathed. "What's it like there?"

Kagome smiled down at the chibi as they chattered, then bent and put a hand on Shippou's head. "Ne, Ritoru-chan, I'm going to head back now, okay? S-Onkei is going to see about training with the soldiers, so she should be with them if you need her."

Shippou nodded. "Okay. What about everyone else?"

"I'll either be in our rooms or by the apothecaries, and both I-Yuushi and Ikari will probably be with Ryouji-sama all day. Will you be alright with Yuki-chan and the others today?"

"Un!" Shippou nodded, grinning. "Arigato, Koui-san."

"Don' worry, Koui-san, we'll be able to find someone if we need ta," InuYasha reassured her. "We know this place really well."

"Oh? Well, then, I won't worry," Kagome gave InuYasha a kind smile and pat him on the head. "Arigato gozaimasu, InuYasha-chan."

InuYasha smiled back for a moment before Sesshoumaru pulled on his hand, as well as Shippou's.

"C'mon! Let's eat already!"

"Yeah!" Yuki cheered, grabbing Shippou's other hand as he passed by.

"Food!" InuYasha added happily.

Shippou laughed before tossing one last farewell to Kagome, "Bye, Koui!"

Kagome's heart had never felt lighter, and she hummed all the way back to their rooms. It seemed as though this was going to be another perfect day.

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A/N – Sorry it's been so long. I kinda got out of InuYasha for a while, exploring other anime and the like, and I've always been out of it when it comes to my writing. In other words, I'm really really horrible at it, and thus don't write quite as often as most other people. Besides which, I'm a procrastinator. I will try to get better about this, I will.