I Do Not Own InuYasha
Aienkien
合縁奇縁
A couple strangely but happily united;
Uncanny relationship formed by a quirk of Fate;
The mysteries of attraction and relationships or bonds between people
II: 9
Year 1581...
Edo, Japan...
Kagome was livid.
And even livid did not do justice to how she was feeling right now. How dare Sesshōmaru mark Rin! How dare he!
InuYasha had explained to her that marking a mate was a permanent linking of souls, it was binding one's self fully to the partner. And yōkai were not attracted to appearances, they were attracted to souls, which is why a reincarnated lover could wreak havoc upon claiming instincts. Kagome hadn't understood that fully until InuYasha explained it as best he could using her and Kikyō as his reference.
Apparently InuYasha's yōkai had been attracted to Kikyō's power, something all yōkai loved. The bond between them was as strong as an unmated pair could get, but because Kikyō was a miko, InuYasha listened to his human desires and never marked her. Which wasn't a problem because at the time of their deaths it was betrayal that had shattered whatever could have been. Yōkai's took betrayal seriously, which is why losing the other half of a bond to a betrayal was enough to shatter everything between those souls.
That hadn't happened with them though because InuYasha had stronger instincts to mark her, claim her, be with her than he ever did Kikyō. Having both her and Kikyō around though had created chaos though for his inner yōkai and who to claim as his mate.
The knowledge that Sesshōmaru had marked Rin, as a child no less, infuriated Kagome! It took away Rin's choice in the matter, it took away her voice in the relationship, it took away her future options! And Sesshōmaru had dared to do it anyway! When he had first found Rin! If Kagome could've, she would've been screaming 'SIT' at Sesshōmaru and sending him to the Americas for this!
Sesshōmaru had no right to take that choice from Rin. And Kagome was going to give him a piece of her mind as soon as these damn Braxton hicks contractions settled down enough to give her back relief! Everything hurt! Good Kami she wanted this pregnancy over with, she couldn't take much more of this. She was still furious with Sesshōmaru though.
"Why are you upset!?" InuYasha demanded.
"Sesshōmaru is a pedophile," she stated.
"A what?"
"He was sexually attracted to a child and removed her choices for her future from her without her consent!" Kagome shrieked.
"That's not even close to what happened," InuYasha stated. "And I've smelled them both for years, there ain't no sex or rutting or whatever going on! The nose doesn't lie! Rin is still an innocent virgin, pure as the day she was born, I haven't even scented a kiss on her! At most Rin seems to like cuddling that furry thing on his shoulder."
"You're positive?" she demanded sharply and lowly.
"I would stake my life on it," he replied. "Sesshōmaru is not a pedophile."
"Then why mark her!?" Kagome demanded. "Mates mean breeding, sex, pack family, whatever else!" she shrieked. The way InuYasha explained this was this was a one-time, eternal marriage bond, only way out was by death and even that could kill the mated pair losing their other half.
"Because he was always bound to her," came the calm, playful voice of Sesshōmaru's mother. Kagome glared at the woman, which had the daiyōkai chuckling as she sat down, arranging her furs elegantly. The woman was unsettling beautiful, and young, she could not look more than thirty-five; and that was being on the old side.
"She is a child!" Kagome seethed.
"Yes, but 'mate' is not merely sex. Many yōkai meet their mates young and mark them, it is not uncommon for one to wait for their mate to grow to the appropriate age to be with them. Sesshōmaru marked a child, who I can assure you, was more than willing to be bound to him or else she could not have been marked, and she's marked him, of that I assure," Kimi said.
"Why mark her? Why not wait?" Kagome growled.
Kimi sighed dryly. "Marking a mate is instinctive one cannot defy the fates and destiny when you are bound together by the red thread. I am certain your own mate could explain this. It is a mark on the soul, the very essence of a life, it is not a bound to sire bloodlines or continue them. True Mates, like yourself and your hanyō, they are already written into the fabrics of destiny, a love between souls. Sex can be a byproduct of that love, but it is not all that there is," she said levelly.
"Why did he mark her!?" Kagome seethed.
"Why did InuYasha mark you? Why did Tōga mark Izayoi and not me? Why are souls bound to each other at all?" she asked with a light teasing note. "Sesshōmaru has always been bound to Rin, and Rin to he, you do not have to understand something as complicatedly simple as that," she stated.
"That is true," a new voice said. "I came as quickly as I dared to, cannot say I was surprised at the damage he inflicted this time."
Kagome wanted to scream at InuYasha, she wanted to 'SIT' Sesshōmaru to the Americas, she wanted to kick Kimi in the knees, and now she wanted to clobber Tōtōsai over the head. She hated them all. Did they not understand what Sesshōmaru had taken from Rin!? Did no one care that he had taken it from her without giving her a chance to grow up and understand what exactly it was that would be taken!? No, they all seemed to just accept that it had happened.
Well, Kagome didn't care! Fates, Kami, even the Buddha himself could go screw themselves, they did not have the right to steal a little girl's future away from her because of one selfish Inu Daiyōkai!
There was a slight cramp in Kagome's back which now was irritating her but she couldn't focus on it as she glared at Sesshōmaru's mother and Tōtōsai.
Kimi had never actually met Tōga's other progeny, and the one time she had met his True Mate she had scorned Tōga for not bringing her to the safety of the InuYōkai territories. She had scorned him for placating his True Mate and leaving her with the humans she so loved. That scorn had carried to Izayoi, especially after the death of Tōga. Kimi might never have been more than his mate, but she had sired his first pup, she had ruled as alpha bitch at his side for over a millennium, she had fought wars with that male; she had fought, killed, and destroyed empires in his name, she had been a good alpha bitch for him even if she could not claim her place as his True Mate.
Looking at InuYasha though she decided he was hers, it was just that simple. He looked like Izayoi, but he had inherited a majority of his sire in appearance though. His small stature though was probably because he was not done growing, but also because he was half human no doubt. She could scent that, he was still young, somewhere between adulthood and puphood, battled tested and assured though; like Sesshōmaru had been. InuYasha had the same mane of silver hair that Tōga had possess, and his eyes were the same shade of gold, his yōkai markings were coming in finally, single, jagged magenta strip markings on each cheek him as Tōga's equal in power.
Sesshōmaru's markings had marked him as not only powerful, venomous and poisonous, but with that crescent moon he'd been marked royal since the time of his puphood; Sesshōmaru's power was always displayed, even when he was growing and she had always known he'd be more powerful than any other daiyōkai sired. Yōkai markings, on a hanyō or yōkai would determine pack rank and display power skills naturally endowed to a yōkai. For InuYasha his markings proved him to be Tōga's equal; at the very least, though he, like Sesshōmaru, would probably grow to outclass his sire's power.
Kimi was startled to see so much of Tōga in the young hanyō though, his nose, the jawline, the mouth, the thickening frame, and the snaggle tooth fangs. No doubt that as the hanyō grew his body would become bulkier, heavier, he seemed to favor Tōga so much she could see him becoming more of a guard than a hunter. Sesshōmaru had taken after her family, he was lean and sleek, a natural hunter, his demeanor that of a guard but he was more of a hunter and killer than a protector. Tōga couldn't ever seem to grasp those instinctual difference, because it was what made Sesshōmaru more inclined to put himself in danger than his packmates. InuYasha seemed very much a guard creature.
Kimi saw a complementary contrast to Sesshōmaru with that. Sesshōmaru was always an offensive fighter, but by the hanyō's reputation she would safely assume he was a defensive creature in nature, attacking when attacked or when there was a threat. Sesshōmaru was not like that. Yes, Kimi decided she was taking the hanyō in, and his fiery mate. Though the bitch would have to learn her place, but this was a hazard of humans, they had to learn the hard way. That was fine with Kimi, she liked a bitch with a fiery spirit, it brought good fortune to her pack.
"This time?" Kagome growled out.
"Kimi-sama, it has been some time," Tōtōsai said nervously and she scented Myōga with him.
"Not long enough," she said as she assessed the old smith now. Kimi had never been very fond of Tōtōsai or Myōga as her husband's main advisors, they had been the ones encouraging him to keep that accursed blade, Sō'unga, which had been a scourge on her house since it had been brought into the lands.
"I am sorry for Tōga's passing."
"I was well aware of it long before it came," she replied.
"Still, no mate should suffer as you did," he said.
"The only ones to truly suffer was Izayoi-sama and InuYasha," she said blandly. "If Tōga had bothered to listen to me his mate and her pup would have been provided for by the pack, as is the natural way of things," she scorned.
"And Sesshōmaru," he started.
"Would have listened to his mother, until such a time he was ready to assume the role of alpha, and his mate the role of alpha bitch. Sesshōmaru might be Inu no Tashio, Tōtōsai, but I am alpha bitch," she warned lowly.
"I carried out the will of Tōga," Tōtōsai defended meekly, which had her curling her lip.
"You will treat my sons with the respect of alpha status, they are not bound to Tōga's will any more, you report to me," Kimi warned lowly as she drew herself up to her full height which had Tōtōsai and Myōga cowering.
"Sons?" InuYasha inquired.
"You are Tōga's progeny, are you not? It would be a dishonor for me not to claim you as mine when he was my mate for so long," she shrugged.
"Listen lady," he started.
"It is rude to argue with your mother in front of outsiders," she chided gently.
"I…" InuYasha started but stared dumbfoundedly at her. "What the hell?" he sputtered. "I had a mom lady," he said.
"And I would never dream to replace your mother, but you are now mine as well," Kimi stated. "It will be important, though you will never be Inu no Tashio you will be the second, it is only right, though I suppose you will need more training, and your bitch will need shelter and safety of a new home."
"Bitch!" Kagome shrieked.
"To be a bitch is to be a respected female of an InuYōkai, it is a great honor to be one's bitch, for you are equal to the one claiming you," Kimi said delicately. She had remembered once Tōga saying humans didn't like the term. "What have you learned, Tōtōsai?" she demanded.
"I spoke to Bokusenō, my lady," Myōga started.
Year 1308...
Somewhere in Kyoto, Japan...
Rin ran, she could hear her lord after her, which had her trusting the weak sunlight and her senses as she ran for the river. She did not know what to make of Sesshōmaru knowing her name, or that she was here, all she knew was to run. She had to get back to Honekui no Ido! She had to! There was no other option!
She could not stay here and risk destroying whatever was to come. A small gasp escaped her when she saw a white dog running beside her which had her running harder, weaving more thoroughly through the trees, a light, misty rain had started.
Moving with a surety she had come to possess after years of living with Sesshōmaru she made her way for the river. She didn't hesitate to dive into the water, not fighting the current but moving with it as her kappa instructor had taught her; the only thing Jaken had taught her well. Making it to the other side with ease she slipped into the forest. She shivered as she ran, letting her senses guide her until she reached a clearing and found the inuyōkai who had attacked her earlier standing at the other end.
He was large, his mokomoko made him look larger than he was, and she stared levelly back at the inuyōkai.
"That's the girl sire," she heard Myōga's voice declare.
The addressing of the inuyōkai alerted her to the fact this was Tōga, Sesshōmaru's father, and she frowned. Rin had thought Tōga to be the great defender of humans against yōkai, after all he had forged the Tetsuseiga for that purpose. Still, she sensed she was in danger which had her resting her hands in her drenched sleeves, her fingers loosely gripping the kaiken.
"Do you not bow to your betters human?" he sneered.
"I bow to no one but my lord," she replied icily.
"You trespass, you will perish," he decided. Rin was not ready for the attack, but the kaiken was in her hand as she slammed it through his armor and in his gut and kicked herself away. As a child she had learnt that she would never have the strength or speed to beat a daiyōkai, but if she learned to use their power against them then she stood a chance, which was why she had Bakusaiga out as she held ready for the next attack, the kaiken in her left hand and Bakusaiga in her right. She was confused by Tōga's actions, but she was not confused by his intent. He growled lowly, grabbing Sō'unga from his back.
"Do you think that blade of yours can hurt me, human?" he asked in a low cold tone that Sesshōmaru used before annihilating armies.
"No," she stated. "But it will defend me," she stated just as icily.
Tōga's lips curled in a cruel smile, revealing his fangs.
Rin snarled and gnashed her teeth like they were fangs in retaliation. He was fast, she barely blocked Sō'unga, though Bakusaiga's reaction was like an explosion of power on her senses. Suddenly the world was warped in a brilliance and sharpness she had never witnessed, and she felt it's power curling through her body protective, possessive, and almost desperately.
Tōga felt Sō'unga's shock at reading nothing from the human, always connecting with minds and thoughts, Sō'unga was a great master of destroying an opponent which was why Tōga had stolen the fang from his father. Sō'unga and he were a brilliant team because Tōga could keep up with the information he and Sō'unga shared. But this girl revealed nothing, her thoughts were not there, her intentions were, and more over the pulse of yōkai power into her seemed to enhance her in a way he had never witnessed.
Her strikes and blocks were perfect, and her use of the dagger made her almost equal to Kimi in skill, which had him snarling. With each blow of Sō'unga he moved to cut this woman down, and yet her own sword moved to keep her safe, deflecting and moving blows. He was certain the sword was possessing her, and he could almost see a furious set of eyes glaring at him when he moved to cut her down.
"You are a feisty onna," he snarled as she moved, it was like a dance with her. One he was not versed in, but the human moved with grace an ease, her
"My lord would expect nothing less of me," she growled, she moved swiftly deflecting him and landing a crippling strike to his leg. Which had him snarling as he narrowly blocking her next strike and caused him to see her eyes. Those eyes had pulses of amber in them as the girl's lips curled like an inuyōkai's in a snarl to show her teeth like they were her fangs.
"Beautiful blade," he growled actually seeing the craftsmanship for the first time. It was unlike anything he had ever seen, the silver steel was black as a midnight, and there was an almost electric pulse of power between the blade and the girl. The delicate etchings were a design he didn't recognize, even as those etching pulsed pale magenta.
"My lord would be flattered," the human growled as she twisted away, her kaiken slashed over his arm and shoulder and he watched her run into the forest night, leaving his knee slashed open and him now moving.
"You're weak," Sō'unga sneered.
"Silence," he hissed sheathing the fang in Saya's sheath. Tōga had long since stolen Sō'unga from his father and wielded it's powers with ease, lately though he had noticed it devouring more and more of his energy.
Pulling himself to his feet he looked at where the girl had emerged to scent his son coming, he wouldn't be killing the human tonight, but he would have to track her down another time.
"Myōga, follow the girl," he hissed as he ignored the pain he had received again from the human girl.
"Of course, master!" Myōga said as he darted off.
