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: 14


Year 1581...

Edo, Japan...

InuYasha was sitting atop his hut; the very one he had built for himself and Kagome, waiting. He hated this sensation, he felt completely useless. Kagome's screams had him wanting to tear into their own hut and protect her, but he couldn't! Nor could he take it anymore. Miroku had been kind enough to leave with his brood of children to explore the forest, far away from where Sesshōmaru was, and Shippō and Kohaku were probably coming back by now. But still, InuYasha was waiting. He didn't like waiting.

Kagome let out another pained moan which had his ears flattening to his head and biting his lip so he didn't leap down to go save her. He couldn't save her, there was nothing to save her from; this was a woman's task.

Still…

One would think after he had sat with Miroku while Sango was giving birth, he'd be accustomed to the cries of a laboring woman, and the smells.

Finally a small cry pierced the air, which had his ears perking up, he could hear his pup's cries at having entered the world, he could hear the steady, quick heartbeat of the pup, the strong breaths of the pup as well. His ears twitched, he listened to the pup and the women, but he was a bit amazed.

Kagome wept as the second pup came, but eventually he heard the second pup join their littermate. This pup was also strong, and healthy. InuYasha's nose twitched when he scented his brother, a bit startled, but he dismissed it as he focused on the pups. It was only a short while later that Sango walked out.

"You can come down now InuYasha!" she called out. He leapt down and darted into his hut, his mate was propped up on a bunch of pillows, she looked utterly exhausted, two pups wrapped up in white were there, he cared about the pups but not as much as Kagome as he darted over, leaping up to sit beside her, scenting her. Thankfully she still smelled healthy, which was a massive relief for him; he remembered scenting a few women who would die after birth, they always smelled toxic somehow, Kagome smelt clean, fresh, like Kagome. He looked down at the bundle in her arms to see a small pup, triangle ears atop a heady of downy silver hair.

"Oh, I remember when Sesshōmaru was this size," Kimi purred, as she handed him the second pup. It startled him that the woman had been holding his pup, he didn't know her! Curling protectively around his mate and pups he traced his mate's mark and felt her leaning heavily on him. This, this right here, this was everything his two hundred and seventy-one years of life, this was everything he had never dared to dream of.

"They're so small," Kagome whispered.

"They're perfect," he decided.

"After your hundred days I advise you to move to inuyōkai territory, we would be very pleased to have them in the shiro!" Kimi said as she left.

"That's presumptuous," Kagome sputtered.

"Yōkai don't like hanyō or less than hanyō pups," InuYasha muttered sourly. Though he didn't really know, his mother had never sought out the other inuyōkai really. His mother had been terrified of Sesshōmaru for some reason, and it wasn't like she feared inuyōkai, she feared Sesshōmaru specifically.

"Look at them, InuYasha," Kagome smiled as she hugged her pup to her and fingered the other one's furs. He smiled as he pressed his nose to her temple breathing in this safe scent. This was his pack, he had never had one before, it felt sacred. He also wanted to go hide them better than in this little hut he had built.

"How are we going to tell them apart?" Kagome asked him as she traced the cheek of the one in his arms, the one in hers was falling asleep.

"They smell identical," he muttered.

"I think they are identical, I only had one placenta," she said.

"One what!?"

"The after birth," she said swiftly.

"That's gross!" he gagged. He had smelled it, that was her bloody scent, he knew what it was, but he hated that she wanted to talk about it, and why did she have to talk about it!? "Why'd you have to bring that up!?"

"Well, it was what gave them nutrients, and with only one placenta I think that means they're identical, and they look identical," Kagome explained. "I don't think they're like Sango and Miroku's girls," she explained.

"Oh, well, when they start weening, they'll develop their own scents," he said.

"Really!?" she gasped.

"Yeah, pups always smell like milk and their mothers," he shrugged. They would develop unique scents sooner rather than later, but he didn't feel like explaining this to Kagome right now because he was just in awe of all she had given him. Miroku was right, this was the most precious, terrifying sensation of his life, and he couldn't believe he was actually a father! He smiled down at the pup cradled in Kagome's arms.

"My mom would've loved this," she whispered.

InuYasha smiled as he nuzzled closer to his mate. His mom would've loved this too, and he was certain the old man would've been proud of him as well.

"What are we going to name them?" she asked.

"We got time to figure that out."

"Oh no. I am NOT calling them baby one and baby two, it's not happening, we are picking names, today and going to get different blankets to tell them apart," she hissed.

"Kagome!"

"Today, InuYasha!" she snapped.

"Katsurō," he murmured.

"Katsurō, I like that," she said testing it out. Looking at the one in his arms she hummed a bit, and he smiled at his pups who were both staring around them with bleary amber eyes.

"Nobuyuki?" she offered for the other pup.

"I like it," he said. "Nobuyuki and Katsurō, good, strong names," he smiled.

"Nobuyuki and Katsurō," she sighed as she yawned.


Sesshōmaru sat there on the lip of the well alone as the rain slid over him. He didn't even know anymore. He knew that, he knew he should know but he didn't. dragging a clawed hand over his face he let his composure and façade drop for a moment. He was alone right now, truly alone, no one in his court had known where he was going or where he was, and he had to think. Thinking was the part he was struggling with.

His father had known?

Known about all this!?

Sesshōmaru felt like screaming, he felt like destroying everything, he felt like finding a way to the netherworld to destroy his father.

Tōga was not all knowing, not all seeing, of his father's many abilities foresight had never been one of them. He knew this, it was part of why his father and grandfather had fought so vehnemently, he remembered that. There were hundreds of years of memories in his mind of his father, some of them were good and some of them were bad, the father he had idolized and attempted to emulate, to out do had never seen him though. And now he was learning that his father not only knew everything but permitted it to happen, Sesshōmaru wanted to tear the world apart for that.

There had been one good, one unwavering, one untainted creature in his entire existence that had seen him, that had wanted him, that had loved him, it didn't take a fight or an impossible task or even power to get her attention to see him. And now he learnt his father had known all of what was to come for the past two hundred years and had willingly deprived him of everything! His father had let that wretched human steal his mate's life so that his father's own mate and pup would live, outside the inuyōkai pack! His father had known about everything to happen to InuYasha, had planned for it, it was why Sesshōmaru had never been bequeathed what should have been his and given the Tenseiga! Granted he was a bit relieved to know his father had known he would need the Tenseiga and not the Tetsusaiga, but still…

His father had let that happen to Rin.

And his father's one small comfort was that Sesshōmaru would have his mate again, at his side where she belonged, but not for a long time. Sesshōmaru wanted to kill his father, he wanted to obliterate Tōtōsai and Myōga for withholding this. He would want to destroy Bokusenō but the old Magnolia tree was Sesshōmaru's oldest advisor and probably the nearest thing to a friend he had at this moment because he wanted to destroy everything.

Rin had introduced him to Bokusenō, he remembered that, it was about the time Rin had given him A-Un. She had smiled and laughed in delight as if finding the Magnolia yōkai had been some sort of reprieve, or a sign of returning home. He could never forget that; she had been so utterly delighted about the sight of that Magnolia tree. Sesshōmaru had remembered Bokusenō's sorrow at the sight of Rin as a pup but the immense delight the tree got from regaling the pup of exotic wars and strange yōkai he had fought in his youth.

Tilting his head back he closed his eyes to the rain. The one sign from Rin was safely tucked, and sealed dryly in his mokomoko, it was all Tōtōsai had given him that had mattered.

Pulling himself up he retreated to a tree to read what was left for him.


Year 1308...

Setsuna Castle...

Rin woke when it was still dark, which had her pushing herself up on her futon as she looked around to see what had disturbed her from her slumber. Her lord always mocked her saying she slept like the dead and wouldn't hear a war if it was waged around her; she didn't think he was wrong, but the fact she was awake prove him wrong.

There was a low sound which had her turning onto her back she looked behind her from the garden to the room and saw her lord sitting beside her, his claws had a strand of her hair twirled around them. It looked so dangerous, but nonthreatening as his golden eyes raked over her.

"Sesshōmaru," she hummed as she fell back, stretching and arching her back as she popped her vertebre.

"Rin," he greeted, his tone ever indifferent and cold as she slumped back on the futon with a relieved sigh.

"It's the middle of the night, what brings you here?" she yawned.

"I will not be here to train you tomorrow, stay with the humans, please," he ordered.

"Mmm, never thought I'd hear that," she chuckled lowly.

"Hm?" he hummed.

"You; asking for something, politely, from me," she said as she rolled over, draping herself over his mokomoko. It was second nature for her, as a child she had always slept on mokomoko when her lord camped with them. And it was rare that Sesshōmaru didn't camp with them, the nights he didn't was because he'd be patrolling what he deemed a safe radius around her. Of course, he hadn't let her sleep alone after encounter with Ongokuki, and when Kohaku had joined their travel group, he would only sleep with her if he was certain no one would see them. Rin loved mokomoko though, it was the most comfortable thing she had ever slept on, and it was so unbearably soft and warm, there was a slow steady beat within it. Rin was relatively certain it was a part of her lord, but she didn't know how that worked as it seemed separate too. Same for Kimi-sama. She smiled sleepily as she cuddled against the fur, her lord blinked a few times at her and softened, his claws hadn't left her hair as they continued combing through her tresses. A sigh escaped her as she took comfort in the touch.

"I implore you to stay here," he said carefully.

"I make no promises, I do as I please, my lord; but I will, if I should leave, endeavor to care for myself and keep myself safe; as I always have," she said as she reached up. Impulse had her tracing his stripes as she leaned into the furs.

He seemed to accept her answer before he let her rest more. Rin didn't remember drifting off, but she did remember the feeling of being warm and safe and cared for, for the first time since ever staying in a human compound.

She woke again when dawn was slowly emerging, and the stars were slowly dying.

Rin snuck out of the Setsuna compound with a surprising amount of ease. She had worn far fewer layers today; she had, despite Kimi-sama's best attempts, never liked dressing up in complicated styles. Rin had dressed more inline with how she preferred, though there was not a lot she could do about the sleeves. Her hair was left in a loose braid, and her feet were bare; which would probably have Kagome and Sango shouting at her to dress properly with the weather. Running into the forest though she didn't think about it, she had always hated footwear as a whole unless she was in a battlefield or it was freezing outside.

Navigating the forest was easy.

Eventually she found herself at the riverbed which had her fingering the kaiken in her sleeve as she rested an arm around Bakusaiga. The fang gave a content hum as it always had when she held it in her hands. It was strange, she could almost, since the time of her lord obtaining Bakusaiga, sworn the fang was alive, it always felt like it when she held it. It was not like the Tenseiga, or any other fang her lord had come to possess, no, the Bakusaiga felt very… unique. It was almost like it was alive on it's own, she could never figure it out, but she could always swear this fang was more protective of her than her lord was, almost like the fang had a will of it's own. She hadn't dismissed that thought entirely given that she knew Sō'unga but thus far this fang had never hurt her so she didn't think that whatever yōkai energy possessed it was going to be harmful to her, or to Sesshōmaru.

Sesshōmaru said he always wanted to protect the fang, but he never elaborated one what that meant, merely that when he used it, it was his last resort.

Rin fingered her kaiken carefully as she waited, she didn't like waiting.

There was a quietness to the misty morning though as she leaned against an old beech tree, then there was a figure who materialized from the mist beside her. Rin warily assessed the inu daiyōkai who peered down at her, she immediately started looking for the differences between Sesshōmaru and Tōga. There were several, mostly Tōga's body type seemed bulkier, but her lord had definitely gotten his jawline and eyes from his sire, she was also certain he had his father's cheekbones, and definitely his father's claws which were resting dangerously close to Rin's head as he leaned on the tree.

"Human," he started. She had the kaiken at his throat and arched a brow.

"My name is Rin, you will use it or I will gut you," she warned. "Only ones permitted to call me human are not you. If you cannot be polite enough to call me by my name I will gut you, I am not going to tolerate being called onna, or wench or hag or human by you. My name is Rin."

Kimi had always called Rin human, but as a playful term of endearment, not the insult of disdain Tōga seemed to be using it for. And Sesshōmaru called her onna when he was vexed with her, he had since well before she was an actual woman. First time she had ever vexed her lord enough to call her anything but her name was their first winter together and she kept chasing after him; rather noisily, through the snow when he was attempting to hunt. She had been eight, but the moment he had called her onna she had felt very grown up, and knew she was annoying him.

"Rin," he growled.

"Very good, good morning Tōga-sama, how are you this morning," she said as she sheathed her blade. She did not bow to him, Rin had been taught by her lord she must never bow to anyone but him, submission in the inuyōkai pack would open her up for challenge and she was his equal, she should act it.

"I am not here for polite conversation, Rin!" Tōga seethed crossly, he looked a lot like InuYasha now.

"Nor am I, but you are lacking in manners," she stated firmly.

"My manners are fine wen…" he started to say, when she arched a brow. "Rin."

"Very good." She said calmly. He growled, she snarled back; a snarl worthy of an inuyōkai and held her ground. "Now, if you want to save your son, tell me what you know about the Shikon no Tama."

"What do you know about it?" he asked her softly, there was something strange about his eyes when he said that.

"It was created by a miko called Midoriko, she created it when she was attempting to purify a daiyōkai attacking her. Within it there were the four souls, Aramitama (courage), Nigimitama (friendship), Kushimitama (wisdom), and Sakimitama (love), together they form the Shikon no Tama. Within the Shikon no Tama the spirits known as Naohi and Magatsuhi battle for dominance of the power within, when the jewel is balanced it is 'pure', providing good fortune and prosperity, but when it is imbalanced, too pure or too wicked, it creates and unfolds chaos to find balance again," she said. "Now what do you know?"

"The daiyōkai that went into the Shikon no Tama was named Watatsumi," Tōga murmured. "He was Midoriko's lover."


*Katsurō- 勝郎, 'Victory' & 'Son'

*Nobuyuki- 信幸 'Trust' & 'Happiness'