Disclaimer: Inuyasha, Inuyasha, where fore art thou-- ...Er, sorry, wrong love story... Yeah, I still don't own it. If only...

Reviewer Comments/AN: As I've gotten the same E-mail as a great deal of other authors have about replying to reviews, I'm also going to refrain from now on when it comes to doing just that. Sorry guys. Not that I've been consistent with that anyways lately, but I know it's nice to hear a reply to comments once in awhile. Anyways, just know I appreciate them, and just look for my general author notes here instead.

On another note, I'm going to be doing multiple things in the next couple of weeks: finishing up my summer job, going back to WV to shop and pack for school, going BACK to school, buying books and getting settled, and figuring out how the year will end up going. During all of this stuff, I'll probably start doing some revisions of past chapters for both this story and In Your Eyes. I know both stories have lots of typos that I never got around to fixing. So, be patient. Once I get all settled in school, I will most likely get back on some sort of writing schedule that did not occur during this summer. No more freakish hiatuses until AT LEAST midterms. Here's hoping, right?

Anyways, enjoy the chapter, everyone! It's a bit shorter than most, but call it a transition chapter. I've already got a couple of pages of the next one written out. Oh, and yes, many of you will be killing me for this.

Chapter 11

The house seemed quiet enough without his uncle or father to occupy it, but now that the dark-haired miko had left, Kotan found an unnerving silence had settled over his family's estate. Even before the departure of Inuyasha, he had felt the weight that had settled without her presence. What kind of power did such a miko hold over his family that she could inspire such feelings? He had heard the stories, in pieces, and surely exaggerated, but he found himself both puzzled and awed by the true impact she had upon the lives of his kin.

So this was the woman who had helped defeat Naraku…

He had been surprised by her personality alone, especially in those first moments when she had accused him of being Inuyasha in disguise, and then Inuyasha's son, followed by her rather… interesting way of pulling his uncle out of hiding. Shippou had mentioned the prayer beads, but Kotan had been stunned when he had actually seen them react to the miko's command. And what a command it was…

Kotan sighed, almost imagining the sweatdrop on his head that they were so fond of drawing upon 'anime' characters. The miko had literally commanded Inuyasha to 'sit' like she would a dog. And the prayer beads had answered, causing the irate hanyou to follow suit – rather forcefully, at that. If he had not been so stunned, Kotan was positive he would have started laughing at his uncle at that moment, and had been close to the action when she had continued to use the command at will. The older hanyou had looked more than a bit ridiculous with his face pressed to the floor…

The memory caused him to laugh uncharacteristically in the midst of the hallway – a short, quiet sound that was barely more than a snort of amusement.

"'Nii-san?" He stifled the noise as Aya stepped out into the hall, most likely hearing the unnatural sound that had escaped his throat with her own pair of sensitive ears. Still, he could not mask the mild smirk that appeared on his lips. "'Nii-san, what's so funny?"

He waved his hand dismissively, in the same way as he had seen his father do many times, "It's nothing. Just a thought."

"About Ji-chan, right?" Kotan paused, before nodding in confirmation.

Aya had always been something of a surprise to them all. Her intuition was alarming and reassuring all at once, for it was seldom required that anyone explain a situation to her, but at the same time Kotan knew that his younger sister unnerved more than a moderate amount of people with that uncanny knowledge. She was, after all, only the equivalent of a five-year-old in human years. But, nevertheless, Aya held an unusual sense for what people felt and thought. She read them all like a book – especially Inuyasha.

"Aya," he heard his voice ask, watching his sister shrewdly, "what do you think of the miko?"

The child's face lit like he had never seen before, a knowing grin spreading widely from cheek to cheek as her golden eyes suddenly sparkled with some well-kept secret. "This Aya likes her very much."

"Did you sense something from her?"

The little girl nodded somewhat solemnly, but the grin did not fade. "Kagome-oba-san is very powerful, and very kind. Chichi-ue supports her interaction with Ji-chan, but Ji-chan is afraid-"

"Afraid?" Kotan cocked his head to one side – a habit he had picked up from Aya herself. What would his uncle ever be afraid of? He looked at his sister, but she merely rolled her eyes.

"You don't see it?" He was at a loss. See what? Aya giggled. "Ji-chan likes Kagome-oba-san." He frowned. He already knew that part…

Obviously sensing that her brother still did not see the connection, Aya sobered and looked up at him, her eyes sharp but mildly confused. She was still just a little girl, after all… "Ji-chan is afraid she'll go away again and leave him alone," she said quietly, before looking up at Kotan with upset mirrored in the gold of those orbs. "Why does he think he'll be alone, Onii-san? We're all here…"

Kotan dropped to his knees gracefully so that he was on level with the little hanyou, dragging her into a gentle hug that was most uncommon in his household. "It's… I think it's a different kind of loneliness, inuki." He could feel her nod against his shoulder, and he drew back to hold her by the arms. "Inuyasha likes you very much as well. I think he's happy to see both you and Kagome-sama." He watched the touch of a smile grace her lips.

"Kagome-oba-san should not go away ever again…"

"I agree."

Inuyasha would not be happy. Well, Inuyasha was never happy, but Sesshoumaru supposed he would be on a warpath at some time in the coming days.

He wondered how long it would take the hanyou to figure out what he had done. Would the miko tell him inadvertently? Would he simply hear about it through alternate sources? Or would the miko figure it out and try to keep it from Inuyasha, or perhaps come after the Western Lord himself? Sesshoumaru was mildly amused at the aspect of the miko coming to scream at him like she did his worthless brother. Not that it would matter, it was all working out.

It had been a strange thing to find the miko back in Japan after so long. Unbeknownst to his brother, Sesshoumaru had also been tracking the miko's progress throughout the eras, every incarnation up until the one known as Higurashi Kagome. He was not sure if Inuyasha was aware that Kagome was not the only reincarnation of Kikyou, but he had seen a dozen lifetimes now where a dozen more mikos had been born into the world, some more aware than others about what they were or would become. They had looked very similar; almost twins of each other throughout the ages, but Sesshoumaru had found every possible range of personalities within them, as well as a rather large build-up of enemies. Naraku was not the only enemy that had or would ever threaten that soul his half-breed brother seemed to cherish so highly.

But that was not his concern of the moment.

He questioned his decision, for one of the very few times in his life. Should he really have done such a thing? Was it wise to drag the miko into everything that he had been working at for so long? Should she know of the world that had been built in her absence? The miko was a powerful ally, he had conceded that after the numerous battles with Naraku and about five centuries worth of thought, but was it correct to pull her into the fray once more?

He had been prepared to give her the address from the moment he had left to retrieve Kotan from the Higurashi Shrine, knowing that there was no going back now that Inuyasha's presence was known. But the dark-haired girl seemed different now than she had been when she could still travel through the well. Something had been altered, perhaps even stolen from her. She was bitter, and not as blindly trusting in his idiot brother. Was she prepared to face the future that they had all been looking at for so long now?

His hesitation did not reside within his own opinions or actions, but in what the miko would do with the information he had given her. He was not mistaken in knowing the potential of Higurashi Kagome when faced with the current situation. No, the mistake was in the miko, in the fact that she was teetering on some sort of emotional edge with herself, and had been for the better part of four years. She was a person driven by emotion, as he had found through observing her interactions with his brother, and they were currently in a poor state of being.

Humans… Such miserable creatures…

Sesshoumaru rose to his feet with his usual grace, careful to preserve his human facade before stepping out from behind his desk and proceeding to the doorway of his office. He slipped out the door soundlessly, fully ignoring his secretary as she argued with a client over the phone, and entered his personal elevator with little more than a glance around.

It was pitiful that humans had somehow managed to drive demonkind into hiding after so many millennia of demonic rule. Humans appreciated nothing given to them by birth, and yearned only for the monetary and artificial pleasures they had created for themselves. Pride no longer existed in this technologically-driven world. Sesshoumaru found himself disgusted by it all. Though weak, many humans of the past had at least found dignity in their homes and their occupations, even if they were too pathetic to stand up for themselves. The humans of modern day took these things for granted, and fought uselessly with each other over petty matters. They killed their own allies for sport, not to establish dominance or control. It was a wonder they had not already destroyed themselves – a fact which he accredited to the careful infiltration of his own kind into society.

Demons still secretly ruled, and humans were none the wiser.

"Sir, are you going to lunch?" As he stepped out of the elevator, Sesshoumaru found himself confronted with a petite demon, a shock of auburn hair falling around a smiling, tanned face as she stared up at him with a careful, knowing smile. She did not wait for his reply. "May I join you?"

Sesshoumaru stepped from the elevator and continued on his way, winding through white hallways and around large desk-filled work areas with the ease suggesting he had done it many times before. The fiery-haired demon followed, not quite as tall as his shoulder and looking like an adolescent in face and form. He did not answer her request, but knew that she would assume his consent. The girl managed to keep an even pace with him as they walked, bold enough to walk directly at his side as they went along, and unabashed even as his employees whispered behind their cubicles.

When they finally stepped from the building into the hazy city air, Sesshoumaru did not hesitate, but turned down the sidewalk in exactly the same pace, his eyes locked before him.

"I thought it might be pleasant to sit outside today; on the veranda, perhaps. I've heard that they have splendid little tables for two out there, and you aren't disturbed by anything because it's in the back with this adorable view of the city park across the way," the girl said quietly, neither enthusiastic nor unhanded in making the suggestion. It was simply that: a suggestion.

"That would be acceptable."

He did not turn, but the Western Lord could sense the small smile that drew itself across the youkai's lips, knowing how her eyes would have lit with his acceptance. The girl was predictable in her emotions, and direct in her actions, but utterly mysterious with her motives. Sesshoumaru could only graze over why she would be accompanying him to lunch, a fact which almost unsettled him. Almost. He was still the boss, after all.

They arrived at the small restaurant rather quickly, the walk having taken all of five minutes from the large office building that Sesshoumaru both owned and managed. It required merely a glance and a short word from the small demon to have them seated and for a waitress to take their orders. Once alone, Sesshoumaru looked out at the park that stretched before them while the redhead began to ramble aimlessly about work.

Amaro Riya, a snip of a youkai with hair that looked like living flame when rustled by the wind. She was a hard worker, devoted to her purpose, and the Taiyoukai put a considerable amount of consideration into any concerns she presented to him. Despite her appearance, Sesshoumaru had come to find that she was a powerful fire demon with a gentle, but sharp demeanor that seemed to oppose her explosive nature. She was one of the few employees that Rin treated like a friend, and he supposed it was due to that same unusual personality.

Still, the girl had an irritating tendency to talk incessantly when attempting to confront him on a matter of unrest. This was one of those moments, and he was in no mood to tolerate it.

"What is it that you wish to discuss, Riya?"

"I-uh… That is…" She paused, obviously startled by his abrupt question through her rambling, then composed her expression and sobered. "I wish to discuss this new employee, Sir. I do not believe she is right for the job."

Sesshoumaru quirked a brow. "Oh?" It was unusual for Riya to protest his choice of employees.

"I am concerned. We're walking such a fine line already, and I just wonder if it is wise to—"

"You believe this Sesshoumaru's judgment is faulty?" The smaller demon stiffened considerably, but Sesshoumaru kept an impassable expression upon his face. All of those who worked beneath him, and all of those who were aware of the demon world, knew better than to insult the Lord of the Western Lands. One of the worst types of insults was to question his decisions.

Riya looked pale beneath his scrutiny. "No, Mi'lord," (he noted her shift in formality), "that is not what I meant. It is simply that I do not want all our work to go to waste, and I fear that depending on the ability of one such as… as this particular person, would put us at a high risk that we cannot afford. Every day, humans become more suspicious of the world that we've managed to conceal for centuries, and I fear that this suspicion will turn into confirmation with only the smallest hint. Especially if—" She paused, face stoic. Unfortunately, Sesshoumaru could smell the nervousness that rolled from her body. Still, there was no regret or doubt mingling with that scent.

"Especially if that person is human?" Riya hesitated, and then nodded in confirmation. Sesshoumaru said nothing.

In actuality, Sesshoumaru had had the same concerns that Riya was now sharing with him. The operation he was running, and had been running for more than two centuries now, was delicate, and modern humans were becoming more aware and open to suspicions about the existence of demons. It was a thin line that his kind had walked for a long time now, and, contrary to popular belief, it was one the Western Lord did not wish to cross. It was a dangerous line.

Not that he would say as much.

"Our ambitions will not be compromised." It was a finalization, something that was not to be disputed, but Sesshoumaru could see that this answer did not satisfy the wary demon.

"…Of course, Mi'lord." At that moment, the waitress arrived with their orders, and the conversation was dropped for Riya's much lighter lunch-babble that Sesshoumaru had become accustomed to over the years. It was not so much babble, as the redhead speaking about human matters such as the stock market while the taiyoukai listened with half an ear and commented on what was appropriate.

There had been a great deal of change over the centuries, to both the lands and their inhabitants. Somehow over the years, demons had fallen to the backburners of history and become shadows that pulled the strings behind the human world. It was not that this position dissatisfied Sesshoumaru, so much as his pride bristled at the thought that most humans believed themselves the superior race in the world. Even without demons, the taiyoukai knew this idea was false. Humans were killing themselves off, slowly but surely, and they had no idea how to sustain the world around them as they grew and spread. If not remedied, eventually humans would destroy the very source that sustained all life.

But that was not his concern.

How was it that he had come to this point in his life? When had he become part of human culture? He ran a prestigious, multi-million dollar company, had mated and spawned offspring and thus a family, tolerated his half-breed, illegitimate brother, and hired new, human employees as though it were a perfectly normal and acceptable practice in his line of work. How had he even come upon a 'line of work'?

If Sesshoumaru were any lesser of a youkai, or furthermore a human, his mind would have been swamped with bemusement and questions. But he was not, and so he felt an incredible calm and control that was impossible for most other creatures to contain. Despite the oddity in the way his life had turned out, the questions were simply trivialities to him. But that did not mean he liked them. Having Riya question his decision only furthered this distaste. Long ago, there would have been no need to question him at all over who he used for his own devices. But this modern world was a much different one than the feudal era he had once known.

How inconvenient.

He stood abruptly, finished with his meal and his thoughts. It was time to return to his work.