The children gathered at the edge of the meadow. Their obligations to their elders were fulfilled for the day, and now they had time until sunset. Some were carrying cards, others bamboo stems and gunpowder. They would've liked to venture further away from the court, but beyond the forest bordering the grassy land was foreign territory, and the children were explicitly forbidden from leaving the Western Lands.

Sesshōmaru didn't care about his obligations that day and he had already left the West many times. He was an outlier, not like the other kids. He also came empty handed, but no one would have dared to say anything about it. The former heir of the Inu clan had the children's respect, and they thought he was 'cool'. He didn't participate in the games as much as before, seeing as he was older now, but for some reason he decided to turn up that day.

'Since we don't see him around often, I think it would be fair if Sesshōmaru chose the first game,' said one of the children. He was only slightly younger than Sesshōmaru, and his name was Akio. The two were actually relatives, although distant ones - no one really knew much about the Inu family tree, due to the great number of illicit affairs and the secrecy surrounding them.

'Fine, but he can't choose 'fireworks' because it's unfair!' shouted another boy, who looked to be the youngest of the bunch. 'And don't forget that the final round of Oni-gokko we played was inconclusive, and Bizen still owes me a one-on-one match after last time…'

Sesshōmaru sighed, but didn't chastise the boy for his insolence. He had to learn how to talk to his elders, but Sesshōmaru wasn't going to be the one to teach him. He was in a forgiving mood.

'I'm not here to participate,' he said. 'I'm feeling tired. I'll just watch today. You can choose whatever you like.'

It was settled. According to seniority, the responsibility fell on Akio, and he chose 'fireworks', just to spite the boy with a big mouth. It wasn't that unfair anymore, though, with Sesshōmaru sitting it out. Sesshōmaru had a lot of wins to brag about already (although he seldom did), and he didn't feel competitive at the moment. He settled down next to Hanaerō, who was spectating the games from a respectful distance.

The children played many kinds of games, but three of them were always popular: uta-karuta, oni-gokko and 'fireworks'. Sesshōmaru excelled at all of them…except for uta-karuta, which he absolutely despised because he wasn't any good at it. Oni-gokko was a bastardized version of the human game that bore the same name, with many rules that changed after every disagreement. With the latest adjustment, there were now three teams, and backstabbing was allowed again.

'Fireworks' didn't have any rules. They would have been unenforceable, anyway. Besides, the children knew that it wasn't really a game, but a test of yōki, which left the younger ones at a disadvantage by default - except for Sesshōmaru, who dominated the game as soon as he was old enough to play it. But that was an exception to the rule, as he was an outlier.

Still, 'fireworks' was much more forgiving than the others, as there were no losers in this one, so not many complained. In addition, there were no clouds that day.

The first round was between Akio and his sister. They were born only a few years apart, but the outcome of the match was predictable. The siblings both took a bamboo stem filled with gunpowder. They took their positions - about ten paces from each other -, then waited for their assistants to announce the start of the game. The assistants were always the same two demons from the Dai-kitsune clan, who conveniently had the ability to breathe fire.

They looked at each other for a second, as if to coordinate their movements, then started a countdown. As soon as it reached zero, the fuses were lit.

The siblings took off. They seemed to be evenly matched in speed as they ascended higher and higher. In a few moments, they became no more than two dots in the sky, barely visible to a human's eyes. But of course, the demon children could still see them.

A few seconds after there was the faint sound of two cracks in the distance, followed by white sparkles which dimly lit the area for a short period of time. Akio's fireworks seemed to have exploded slightly higher up than his sister's, as expected. Shortly after, the siblings returned to the ground, amidst the cheers of the others.

Hanaerō turned to Sesshōmaru.

'So, what do you think?' she asked.

'Hm?' Sesshoumaru didn't realize he was being spoken to at first. He felt something was off. He tried to shake off the feeling, but it wouldn't subside.

'Is there something wrong?' Hanaerō immediately noticed his discomfort.

'Not sure,' replied Sesshōmaru curtly. There was no need to ruin a nice evening like this. Besides, Hanaerō and him had a lot to talk about, and many schemes to plot. The latest might have even resulted in their names being written down somewhere! They started talking quietly while the other children continued playing.

How Sesshōmaru longed to surpass his father! He had been looking for a way to prove his worth for ages, but there wasn't much he could do at this stage of his life. Still, he wanted nothing more than to evoke a reaction from the Great Dog General, ruler of the Western Lands. Preferably pride, but Sesshōmaru would have settled for anger.

There was one thing that he knew for a fact would earn him victory. But there was no way Tōga would agree to play a childish game like 'fireworks' with him, and even if he won, it would only prove his supremacy in something that didn't matter all that much. He needed something more. Thankfully, Hanaerō was creative with her ideas, and almost as ambitious as he was.

The competition had three participants, but only Sesshōmaru knew they were playing.

Hanaerō was the brain of this operation, yes - but Sesshōmaru would be the muscle, and that's all that counted in his eyes. He didn't care about impressing his father with his wits, so he didn't feel resentful over the fact that Hanaerō was taking care of the technicalities. It would still be a one-of-a-kind accomplishment. He could afford to give her credit where it was due and still come out a hero, if everything went well. And if everything went well, Tōga would only realize he's been defeated once the game had already been concluded.

Sesshōmaru let his thoughts wander. Would he even tell his father of what he had done, or would he let him learn it from somebody else? The latter option felt more vindictive, therefore more satisfying for his pride. Have you heard what your son has done? Why, I never would've imagined - I thought you said he was a good-for-nothing, wayward child! Sesshōmaru laughed inwardly. He could already imagine the people talking!

But even while he was daydreaming like this, he could still sense a certain kind of disturbance in the air. Suddenly, he identified the reason for his uneasiness.

He was being watched.

His eyes darted around, annoyed that his fantasies were interrupted. His friend looked at him questioningly. This time, he filled her in. Hanaerō concentrated for a moment, then stated that she could feel it, too. They spent the next few minutes surveying the area, looking for anything suspicious. Sesshōmaru spotted a shadow between the trees that didn't seem to belong, but he stared at it for a long time and it didn't move. Eventually, they both gave up and decided to ignore the sensation. It was probably one of their family members or someone they sent to spy on them. Well, they would have to leave empty handed, Sesshōmaru thought. They haven't done anything wrong… yet.

It was starting to get dark. The children agreed that they would play another round, then call it a day. They chose Sesshōmaru to play against Kaitō, the current champion-who-didn't-have-an-unfair-advantage (who also happened to be the oldest amongst them). Sesshōmaru protested at first, reminding the kids that he was not supposed to participate, but he gave in soon enough. The young ones wanted to see the trick, and he was in a magnanimous mood. Plus, Kaitō forfeited because he wanted to watch, too.

So Sesshōmaru stood in the middle of the meadow, focusing on the upcoming task. There was no need for a countdown. When the fuse was lit, he took off without hesitation. The game posed some risk to most yōkai, but not to him. He was an outlier, and the sky was his territory. There was no air left to breathe when let go of the bamboo stick as it exploded - knowing well nobody would see the sparks. He looked down: he could see the entirety of the Western Lands sprawled out beneath him, along with its neighboring territories. He admired the view for a few moments, then started his descent.

When he returned, he was met with the delight of his peers. The boy who complained about unfairness before was now enthusiastically questioning him. 'Did it really explode? How high did you go? What was it like?'

Sesshōmaru would then feign surprise, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. 'Hm? You couldn't see it? How strange…' He liked to humor the young ones.

'We didn't see anything! It was awesome!'

Everything was perfect. His circle of friends all agreed that he was very powerful and Hanaerō was looking at him fondly. It was a nice feeling. If only a certain someone would see what he was capable of…

Sesshōmaru glanced at the direction of the woods. The shadow was gone.