Dislaimer: No owning of Inu Yasha and related stuff for this one. Which is lucky, because I can't draw or keep deadlines to save my life. Rumiko Takahashi owns Inu Yasha.

A/N: I just recently noticed, chapter 13 didn't have a title. Oops!

Thank you everyone who reviews! You're reviews help keep me writing (and on track, it was reviewers who saved chapter 15 from utter disaster.)

I wanted to have Rin baking cookies, but even I couldn't come up with how (which is saying something, since I had no qualms over a hot bath indoors.).

Sembei is a Japanese rice cracker. It's absolutely delicious. I don't know if it was made in the feudal era, but it's certainly more fitting than the castle, so it's staying. For the record, if you've never tried it, I highly recommend it. It comes in a wide variety of shapes and flavors, and I like almost every one I've ever tasted. The grocery store I go to has some, I've seen gas stations that do (but they are usually a bland, generic version) and I know the store Mitsuwa (which I do not own) carries a nice variety. By the way, does anyone know when peaches go in season? I would very much like to eat a peach. The grocery store near my house had a small pile of pathetic fruit it tried to pass for peaches for a few days, but nothing like it had last year, and I can't remember when they showed up last year, I just remember being overjoyed and eating entirely too many peaches too often.

Ch. 16- Cracked Sembei

"Oh! Lord Sesshoumaru?" the inu in question glanced at Rin. "Can I give Master Inu Yasha some of the sembei I made?"

"Do as you wish." Rin bowed and ran off.

"She made sembei?"

"She cooks for herself. I do not cook human food, and what I eat would make her ill."

"What do you eat?" Inu Yasha asked once more.

"Raw meat mostly."

"You eat it raw?"

"Naturally."

Ok, what to ask him. Burning daylight here and once the sun sets I'll never get a straight answer out of him.

Just then, Rin entered with a plate of sembei which looked and smelled delicious. She handed the plate to Inu Yasha, who picked one up and took a bite. His face lit up. He chewed, swallowed, and smiled.

"This is delicious! Did you really make this by your self?"

"Yup! Jaken watched to make sure I didn't hurt myself on the oven. His watching didn't stop me getting burned though, see?"

She held up her finger, which had a nearly healed burn on it.

"Wow, that must've hurt. When did you make these?"

"Yesterday."

"Wow, you heal fast for a human."

"One of the healers licked it. It was gross. Rin made a face, but had to say sorry because it's not nice to make faces, and because the pain went away when he licked it." Rin said thoughtfully.

"I…see…" Poor kid, if she still had her parents with her she probably wouldn't have gotten hurt, and certainly wouldn't be licked like that. My mother just rubbed ointment on my burns. Mother… "Rin? Will you excuse us? I need to talk to Sesshoumaru."

"Ok!" Rin turned to her lord "Lord Sesshoumaru? May I go play in the gardens?"

"Do what you will." Rin ran off calling for Jaken.

"Sesshoumaru?" silence. "When did you first meet my mother?"

"Meet her? When he first introduced her, when he realized she was pregnant."

"What do you remember about meeting her?"

"Everything."

…flashback…

"Lord Sesshoumaru! You came! Your father will be so happy!"

"You sound surprised, Myoga. My father summoned me. It is only right that I should come."

"Yes, um, well, Lord Sesshoumaru, I… I think I should warn you, your father…"

"He is bringing HER, isn't he?"

"umm… who is-"

"His human wench."

"You- you know about-"

"Myoga, of course I know. Did you think I wouldn't notice the scent? He reeks of human every time I see him." There was a loud mooing sound followed by a crash of thunder, and a few feet away stood a one eyed bull, with Totosai on it's back.

"Totosai!"

"Hello, Myoga. Good evening, Sesshoumaru."

"Totosai. Perhaps you can tell me, why does he intend to introduce her now?"

"That is between you and your father. I can tell you this, that woman means the world to your father, and it would mean a lot to him if you two got along."

"I will be civil, if she will." Sesshoumaru turned his head to the side. "They're coming." A sweet giggling could be heard, accompanied by a hearty chuckling, as a tall demon with silver hair, golden eyes. a blue stripe on each cheek, and a beautiful woman with black hair sitting on his back with her arms around his neck. The woman had in one of her hands a small bundle. Totosai and Myoga knelt before the ruler of the western lands.

"No more of this, get up you two. And you, Sesshoumaru, come here, there is someone very dear to me I want you to meet." Sesshoumaru came closer as his father let the woman off his back. "Sesshoumaru, I want you to meet the lady Izayoi. She-"

"Is your mate, and she's pregnant."

"Yes, isn't that wonderful?" Sesshoumaru kept his mouth shut. There was suddenly a sadness in the older demon's eyes. "Sesshoumaru," He said softly, resting a hand on his son's shoulder, "She would not have wanted us to spend the rest of our lives in mourning."

"Of course not."

"So why do you not accept this?"

"I have accepted it." He said, in a monotone voice.

"But you are not happy."

"I am not unhappy."

"Sesshoumaru, please, give us your blessings."

"You do not need them."

"But I want them. Sesshoumaru, you are my son, I want your approval. May I have your blessings?"

"Do as you will."

"Sesshoumaru, why are you acting like this? Why can't you just celebrate with me? You are going to have a baby brother!"

"Or sister…" Pointed out his mate, but he shook his head.

"Brother" he said, tapping his nose. "Sesshoumaru-"

"Father, what do you wish me to do?"

"Be happy."

"Then I shall obey."

"No, Sesshoumaru, do not just act happy, or pretend, I want you to be happy, whatever you need to do to be happy do it."

Sesshoumaru bowed and started to walk away.

"Sesshoumaru!" Sesshoumaru stopped. "Come back here at once! You will greet her."

Sesshoumaru walked right up to her and said, "Greetings. I am glad to finally have been formally introduced to you. My name is Sesshoumaru, though father seems not to have bothered to mention the fact."

"It's alright, I figured it out on my own, he talks about you all the time."

"Really? This is the first he's mentioned of you."

"Sesshoumaru…" his father growled softly.

"My apologies, father, did you wish me to lie for you?"

The air was thick with tension, and lady Izayoi suddenly remembered her bundle.

"Oh! Lord Sesshoumaru! I brought a gift for you."

Sesshoumaru took the bundle she offered, opened it, and found a nice selection of sembei. "Thank you," he said, sounding very much as though he didn't mean it, "but I don't eat human food."

"Sesshoumaru! You will-"

"Very well." He tied the bundle and looked to his father. "Are we done here?"

"No. We are going to have dinner together to celebrate the pregnancy."

The walk to the castle was grim, with Sesshoumaru walking ahead, speaking to no one, Myoga and Totosai riding the bull in the middle, muttering to each other, and the two lovers whispering in the back. Izayoi didn't realize Sesshoumaru could hear them, but her mate knew.

"He hates me."

"He doesn't, he would be upset no matter who I brought home. It's been just the two of us for centuries, we don't see each other much, but he's always there when I need him. Just give him time to adjust."

"No, he really hates me. He wasn't mad, or hurt or offended, he just didn't want to be near me. If it really wasn't me then he would be upset."

"He IS upset, love, he just doesn't show a lot of emotion."

"He wouldn't even try my sembei."

"That wasn't personal. There are many demons that think very little of humans, and most of his instructors growing up were like that. Unfortunately, he developed their distaste for humans."

"Well, at least the baby will be part demon, perhaps he'll get along better with him than with me."

"Perhaps." He said, staring sadly at his son, knowing full well that wouldn't be the case. "Still, it would be better if he got used to your and the baby's presence. I would like you to stay at the castle with me for a few days. I have asked Sesshoumaru to do the same."

"Asked…" muttered Sesshoumaru, so quietly even Totosai barely heard it, but his father heard it and sighed.

"What is wrong, darling?"

"Nothing my love, nothing."

Once they arrived at the castle, everyone went to their own rooms to dress, except Lady Izayoi, who was taken to a separate room where she was tended to by servants. As Sesshoumaru was removing his armor Myoga came up to his door.

"Lord Sesshoumaru? Are you in there? You're father requests your presence!"

Sesshoumaru hung his armor and walked out into the hall, without glancing at Myoga. He went straight to his father's room an tapped lightly at the door frame.

"Come in, come in."

Sesshoumaru entered without a word.

"Help me out of this armor, will you?"

Sesshoumaru started removing the armor in silence.

"Sesshoumaru, are you going to act like this all night?"

"Like what, father?"

"Sulky."

"I'm not sulking, I simply feel quiet."

"I see. Well, if your not sulking, would you mind trying some of Izayoi's sembei? It would mean a lot to her. She thinks you hate her."

Sesshoumaru declined to comment, and simply went to the door.

"Where are you going?"

Sesshoumaru opened the door, and gestured to a servant to come. Once the servant was kneeling and trembling before him, he instructed him to fetch the "foul smelling human food" from his room. Once he dismissed the servant, they went their separate ways, the servant running as fast as his legs would carry him away from Sesshoumaru, and Sesshoumaru closing the door and returning to his father's side.

"Thank you, Sesshoumaru. But please don't refer to it like that when speaking to Izayoi. Now tell me, why do you hate her?"

"Hate? She is not significant enough to-"

"Sesshoumaru!" He barked, loud enough to startle even Sesshoumaru. His voice softened and he spoke, "Izayoi is my mate, Sesshoumaru, her place in my life is permanent. You need to accept this."

"Father, she is human. 'Permanent' for a human, is still a very short time. They live such short lives, and she is already a grown woman. I could go off to war and she'd be dead before I got back."

"No. I could not save your mother, but I have Tensaiga now, I will be able to save Izayoi."

"But will she want you to? Would she spend eternity old and feeble just to keep you company? And would you want her to?" His father looked so old so suddenly. "Father, enjoy your time with her. You are clearly attached to her, and she makes you happy. You deserve to be happy. But don't expect me to indulge in this foolishness."

"But you deserve to be happy too."

"We will be late for dinner if we do not go down soon."

They walked down together, Sesshoumaru always a few steps behind his father. When they made it to the dining room, where the small table the family used to eat at was, Sesshoumaru saw it- Totosai and Myoga in their usual places, and Izayoi sitting to the left of the head of the table, where his mother always sat.

…End flashback…

"Sesshoumaru? Sesshoumaru!" Sesshoumaru grabbed Inu Yasha's wrist to stop him from waving his hand in his face. "What was that about."

"I was just remembering."

"Remembering what?"

"How hard it was, seeing her take my mother's place at the dinner table."

"Oh, when did that happen?"

"The evening father introduced me to her. He had us eat dinner together."

"He just moved her in without you ever even seeing her?"

"No, it was only a visit, he couldn't keep her their for long, she wasn't their two days before one of the servants tried to poison her food. And I had seen her shortly after they met. We just had not been introduced."

"When did you first see her?"

"A few days after he met her, he came to see me. I could smell a human woman's scent on him, so I tracked her scent to her village, and I saw her. I did not introduce myself because at the time I thought she was a temporary amusement."

Inu Yasha accidentally dropped one of his delicious snacks, and it hit the floor and broke into three pieces. Sesshoumaru picked them up, set them in his lap, put them together and picked them up so he was holding all three in place, making the sembei look whole.

"Father tried to speak to me several times after that evening, in hopes of persuading me to overlook her weakness and breed, and accept her into the family. One night, as he was talking, I was holding one of the sembei your mother had made in my hand, and broke it when I grew irritated. He saw it, and took it from me, and held it together like this, saying that our family was like the sembei, and that as long as we never let go, our family need never be broken. But father, what you don't seem to get, is that holding the pieces in place doesn't change the fact that the sembei is cracked, it only hides it."

…End chapter…

A/N ok, I realize that the fetus doesn't have reproductive organs right away, but I'm writing on the assumption that they don't see each other all the time and he wouldn't have found out she was pregnant right away. Longer chapter, but still short by most readers' standards, most likely.