I Do Not Own InuYasha


Ikigai

いきがい

"A reason for being"

'A reason to get up in the morning'

To enjoy the meaning of life - passion, purpose, something one lives for


III: 8


Year 1579...

Tsuzuki Castle...

Since the run in with Kagome and InuYasha Rin's winter had been relatively studious for her. She read scripture upon scripture, book upon book for information on Magatsuhi's curse, and thus far she had learned nothing about Magatsuhi's curse. It was not a total loss though, she had learned a lot of other things about curses and souls and reincarnation in general, but nothing on this particular curse. Aiding her lord in his research was surprisingly satisfying while also being disappointing; though her lord let her read his private writings so she could learn. Sesshōmaru had been sneaking off to many places between the heavens, wilds and yōkai lands for answers and had recently started scouring the mortal realms as well. Before he had returned to celebrate her birth he had been in Joseon, before that he had looked into Ming libraries for answers. People didn't know what to make of her lord's insatiable curiosity so people mostly hadn't dwelled upon what he was up to.

Today Rin was alone with Shiori and Sōten in the shiro, the winter was exceptionally harsh thus far, and today all three of them were bound to the shiro because of the blizzards in the yōkai realm. They were just having a quiet day catching up with each other.

"Sesshōmaru-sama was kind enough to give me my father's scrolls," Shiori explained while they all sipped tea and chatted about their recent lessons.

"They knew each other?" Sōten asked.

"Hai, apparently they were like brothers," she admitted. "Sesshōmaru-sama didn't come at father's end though."

"I wonder why," Rin murmured.

"Because I was requested to stay out of it," Sesshōmaru answered appearing, which had all three of them spinning to face him.

"Sesshōmaru-sama!" Rin smiled broadly.

"Come," he gestured for her which had her scrambling to her feet as she ran to her place at his side.

"No matter what you are to remain at my side and to remain calm, you will not fear," he said swiftly as they walked. Sōten and Shiori fell into step behind them.

"What is going on, my lord?" Rin asked as she walked with him.

"The Eastern Yōrō Tribe is coming," Sesshōmaru said as they walked.

"Why, my lord?" Rin asked skittishly.

"I do not know. You will remain at my side as my equal, do not bow, do not submit," he ordered.

"Hai, my lord," she said reverently. She didn't want to deal with the wolves, she had never been able to forgive her first death or her murderers. Though she trusted any yōkai over a human she had troubles with wolves. Sesshōmaru had never made her deal with them, not even the one time that she and Jaken had run into them. Sesshōmaru made her safe.

Jaken was shouting his greetings, and they walked into the Tsuzuki court yard. Unlike many palaces Rin knew of, or had seen, Tsuzuki Castle did not have a formal throne room, though she knew there were formal meeting places. The most extravagant seat for Kimi on the days Kimi decided to toy with her prey, Rin was aware that's how Kimi viewed it, the seat was for intimidation purposes. Now though, now she was wishing Sesshōmaru and his mother felt the need to intimidate the wolves.

She tensed but saved face as she adopted her lord's indifferent façade so she didn't succumb to her fears.

Kōga walked as lead, she internally panicked seeing the one who ordered her village's death. There were his seconds on his left and right, she recognized them both, and she tensed at the wolves which followed, and the humanoid yōkai keeping in the center.

"Easy little one," Kimi ordered softly.

"Sesshōmaru-sama," Jaken greeted bowing lowly and formally. "I bring Kōga of the Eastern Yōrō Tribe!"

"I can introduce myself!" the wolf bellowed.

"Silence you impudent welp!" Jaken snapped. "You will adhere to the Shikoku InuYōkai Clan customs here! We are not the savages of the Eastern Yōrō Tribe!"

"And you should not insult out guests, imp," Kimi stated sharply.

"We have come because we are in troubled times, and we need your help," a new voice said as she appeared, waddling up to Kōga's side. Rin tensed at the movements of the wolves as she stifled her fear even as the petite redhead appeared. Unlike Kōga's men who were dressed in brown and black, the woman was dressed in grey and white furs.

"Help?" Sesshōmaru asked icily.

"And why would we help you?" Kimi asked as she walked down a few steps. "We are the West, not the East. There is no gain here for us with aiding the wolves so far from us."

"We have no home," the woman spoke softly.

"Wildfire from the south tore through our territories, we are all that remain of the Eastern Yōrō Tribe," Kōga said. "We come with no food, or trade, no numbers to strengthen your people, or an alliance of substance. We only come with a promise and hope."

"Hope?" Kimi asked icily.

"I'm to have a daughter," Kōga said. "Scent has already determined it, and I know you have no mate. I propose a promise."

Rin saw the way her lord frowned at that as he stiffened. She saw the frown on Kimi's lips as Kimi's own attendants stiffened.

"A rather audacious promise, betrothing a cub not yet born to a daiyōkai who is almost nine centuries older than she will be," Kimi said carefully.

"I would not offer it if I was not desperate, and I've seen how his lordship is to his ward," Kōga said. "I have hopes that he would possess the same patience and steadfastness for my own daughter, and the same sanctuary."

"Sanctuary the human only needed because of your actions," Kimi said. "I have heard tale of your reputation, preying on defenseless human villages, slaughtering the weak who sought your aid in times of need, and attempting to forsake the very union you have bound yourself to," Kimi said.

"All of which I am deeply ashamed of," Kōga admitted softly.

"And yet, you dare to ask to be bound to the honor of my Clan, through my son no less, when you have displayed so little of it yourself," Kimi stated. "You bring no prospects, no strength, and no lands of interest, either in the mortal realm or the yōkai realm, and yet you hope to bind yourselves to my Clan, my pack!?" Kimi snarled. "The…"

"PLEASE!" the woman shouted as she lowered herself entirely. "Please! I know my husband and alpha was dishonorable, and despicable before, but he has changed in recent years!"

"And now that you find yourselves here, offering nothing, you expect us to take faith your intentions now that times are challenging."

"I have not earned that faith, yet, but I only come seeking aid because of my mate and daughter, the tribe and I would survive, but the winter was already harsh, this fire took everything else," he said softly. "I would ask the mutt, but there's been a swarm of yōkai conflicts there, with the onikuma," he said. "We have no where else to go or anyone else to plead for aid. I had heard that Sesshōmaru-sama was a fair leader."

"We will discuss this privately, for now, Rin will see to your mate's health and my mother will coordinate territory for your injured to be aided," Sesshōmaru said indifferently. "Show the bitch to a room," Sesshōmaru said.

"Hai my lord," Rin agreed meekly as she slowly approached the wolves, she was trembling as she walked towards the ookami. She tensed as the more wolf like members of the tribe looked at her, but she kept going forward.

"I am Rin, I am here to aid you," she said softly as she cautiously offered the female a hand. The woman took it and Rin helped the tall onna to her feet, she was surprisingly heavy with her cub, at least Rin was surprised. Rin nodded as Shiori and Sōten took her place, flanking the ookami bitch and then leading her to some rooms for an examination.


Ayame stared at the small human girl who's scent was filled with fear and mistrust as she moved around the room, the hanyō and yōkai had taken to standing away from her and near the exits like sentry. She could see the ookami bites on the girl's arms when they were revealed from her sleeves, and she cringed at the sight.

Ayame loved her mate very deeply, she adored him more than life itself, always had, he was her mate and now he was her best friend.

But after she had left with the elders; who had before kept the pack in check, her mate had descended onto a dark path which had inflicted a terrible title upon her Tribe. Kōga had possessed no qualms about killing humans or the weak, he had slaughtered all in his territory who posed a threat or did not belong, but it had earned him a terrible title. She knew that it was only because of Kagome that her mate had decided to grow up.

Looking at Sesshōmaru-sama's Rin, Ayame just felt pity for the girl, what a terrible pain that must have been to have inflicted upon her.

There was something more, something peculiar about this onna's scent though, she radiated raw yōkai power which Ayame couldn't understand.


Sesshomaru looked balefully across his desk at Kōga who was nervously fidgeting. The ookami had never been civilized creatures, Sesshōmaru could remember when he had been called upon to bless the arrival of Kōga being born for that meant the ookami had an heir. He had gone of course; it was just after the Mongol invasion and good relationships were needed between allies, because at the time that's what he and the Eastern Yōrō Tribe had been. The threat of the Hyōga savages landing on their shores had outweighed any of Sesshōmaru's personal feelings about the ookami.

Sesshōmaru had remembered, since his puphood, Rin didn't like or trust ookami, she had been so intent on avoiding them she had gone so far north that they had met Bokusenō in the far north just to go east and south to bring him home when they had escaped the Tang empire.

"I don't have anything to offer," Kōga said tiredly. "I am here as a last hope for some form of mercy," he admitted meekly. "The winter was harsh already, but the fire in the human village ravaged everything, it killed so many before it ran out of fuel, it took everything. I barely saved those I brought with me."

"I knew your father, and your grandfather," Sesshōmaru stated. "We fought together in the Mongol invasions," he explained. "I was present for your presentation."

"Well fuck, you're old."

"So why are you proposing me to take your daughter, who is not even born yet, as a mate?"

"I have no other leverage," Kōga admitted. "This cub is strong, I can smell it, I can feel it, the pregnancy has been hard on Ayame but the cub is very strong. The pure inu daiyōkai would need a strong mate, adding the ookami tribe to your bloodlines will only strengthen your pack's power and lands. And when springs come the lands will heal, we will be able to offer trade, hunting trade, and goods trading. The East is home to many rare herbs, both in the mortal realm and the yōkai, and the wilds are untamed places to explore and seek conquest," he said.

"I have no interest in mating a cub," Sesshōmaru stated firmly.

"But you'll take a human as a concubine, and don't deny it, I smelt ya all over that little human. Ain't nothing innocent about that sort of scent claim, and she's always had it."

"Rin has been my mate for as long as I remember, the claim was enacted the moment she was born," he said levelly. "If, in time, she decides not to enact the claim then then claim I have placed on her will dissolve, it will fade and she will live her life," he said. He didn't add he'd slowly descend into madness or that the pain of her rejection would kill him in all likelihood.

"You put that kind of claim on a pup?"

Sesshōmaru didn't react to that. He remembered Tsukuyomaru's shock when he had impulsively marked a human pup, and the utter disgust at the notion. But then Tsukuyomaru had found that human babe, alone and dying and intervened. Some impulses could not be quelled but the reactions could be controlled. Sesshōmaru had knowingly marked a human pup, it ensured her safety, her life, and it gave him a read on how to care for her; he had never reared a pup, human or yōkai, and had no desire to have the pup perish to the elements or worse because he could not figure out her human needs.

"I offer my daughter because you're trustworthy, and I know you'll be a patient mate for her," Kōga said.

"Who's old enough to be her grandfather," he replied levelly.

"She'll be safe, you have a secure, expanding empire, if she's aligned to you then she's safe, with my Tribe's dwindling numbers because of recent hits I don't know if I can secure my daughter's immediate future," the ookami admitted. "I'd offer a union between your mutt brother's pup and my daughter but Kagome suffered a miscarriage and she's not guaranteed a son when she should conceive again. I'm forced to beg you or InuYasha and between the two I'll plead with you."

"You killed Rin," he said levelly.

"The human with you?" Kōga asked bewildered.

"Hai," Sesshōmaru replied in an icy clipped tone. It was a grievance he had never addressed because he had concealed his claim on the girl and at the time of her death she was unclaimed; technically. Their bond had been in place before he sealed it by claiming her after he had resurrected her. But it had always been there, before the mark.

"I am willing to do whatever you want to make amends," Kōga admitted desperately. "But please, help us."

"I will not mate your daughter, I have no interests in cubs, if you persist on my aid though your daughter will be here for proper tutelage and instruction, you will swear loyalty to the Shikoku InuYōkai Clan, and you will submit to being vassals," he stated. "If you or any of your pack should ever harm Rin again though, I will slaughter what remains. The human is of higher rank than you and you will respect her wishes. If you desire to make amends with Rin you will accept whatever she decides, I will discuss it with her further.

"As your mate is due any day now, I will permit you to take refuge here, but in the spring your pack will return to your lands. We will offer aid and have a credit plan in place so the Eastern Yōrō Tribe will pay us back. At the end of the agreed upon amount of credit, if it is not paid by an agreed upon date your daughter will be collateral, and she will belong to me," he stated firmly.

"Agreed," Kōga whispered meekly.

"Leave," Sesshōmaru waved off the ookami who bows and left. Sesshōmaru sighed, he would have no use for an ookami female; ever, but there were a few ookami here who could teach the cub manners when she was old enough. He would not tolerate a wild wolf running around his territory peeing on everything.

Sesshōmaru made a mental note to make the credit payment plan generous enough so that he would not be stuck with whatever welp Kōga produced.

Besides, Rin would never tolerate him having a concubine or having a wild wolf think she was his bitch when that time came. As he was not a creature of lavished desires, but rather simple needs he could see no appeal in having an ookami bitch in his life, even if Rin permitted such an atrocity. Sesshōmaru would not have an upset Rin, for an upset Rin wreaked more havoc on his life than a thousand armies. And as Sesshōmaru's grandfather had taught him long ago: happy mate, happy life.


December 17th, 1988...

Nichimeya, Aomori, Japan...

Zaizen Ken'ichi found himself struggling to decide what to do next with his life. He wasn't the most studious of students, and he wasn't ever going to survive a desk job in the city. He was seriously considering the fire brigade, but he knew his mother wouldn't survive that if he announced it, which had him sighing as he sat at his desk looking over his options and his high school tests scores.

Ever since he was little and watched Hawaii Five-0 reruns with his cousins he had wanted to help people, really help. He didn't have the brains to make it through university and become something like a doctor or lawyer or business man, but crisis and emergency and aiding people, that he found appealing, greatly appealing. And if he stayed in Nishimeya he could help his mom and dad keep up the farm, which he knew they enjoyed.

Frowning he looked at the picture he had of him and Rin at a little league game in Hawaii just before she had disappeared.

"What would you suggest?" he asked the photo. She'd be twelve now, and somehow she always seemed the smartest one. Or his memory had embellished on details about his little sister. There were times though he remembered her being this all knowing wise onna, then a chattering child the next second. Her advice had always been the best, right up there with his mother's and father's advice.

She didn't answer back.

He sighed.

"That's what I thought," he grumbled.

To the fire brigade it would be, he would learn to help people. Even if it gave his mother a heart attack.