Important Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned from Ancient Magus Bride or Inuyasha.

Authors Note: The word Aegis means protection, support. I wanted to reflect the meaning of this word in places where the characters felt protected or loved in.

P.S. I'm so sorry for taking such a long time.


Beyond the clouds and beneath the bright full moon, a grand and magical castle floated. It was so hidden that only a few beings outside the Inu clan knew of it. Terrenal beings heard stories of the castle from men who swore it existed, but in the end, they all took the tale-tellers as lunatics.

The castle was an enormous traditional Japanese construction. Yet, the wood and stone it consisted of were not ordinary, they were from an unknown source. In fact, the entire fortress was a mystery.

No one within the Inu Clan knew exactly how this castle came to be and believed whatever the elders said. The most ancient dog demons claimed it had been a gift from the moon goddess to the first inu youkai that roamed the world.

Used as a bedtime story, maids would tell children of the Inu clan that, during a dark night, the moon goddess appeared as a human to the dog demon and that he, upon laying his eyes on her naked body and wonderous silver eyes, fell in love with her. The strange pair shared several nights together. But, so many moonless nights began to break the balance on earth and caused chaos.

The other gods upon finding out about this affair forbad the relationship between the youkai and the gods. They even threatened to kill the demon if the moon goddess didn't fulfill with her duties.

But the moon refused to abandon the love she felt for the dog demon and decided to build him a strong fortress. She worked hard on it during a full month and made sure to place it under her sight so that she could always protect his kind and have him close.

As proof of this love, in each generation of Inu Youkai, an heir would bear the mark of the moon on their forehead. As long as the mark existed, so would the castle.

Such a love story between an ancient ancestor and the moon interested the Lord of the West very little. Sesshoumaru wasn't one to believe in such things. But, he acknowledged that the castle was not an average youkai construction.

Its glowing architecture reflected royalty and power. The rooves were a light coal, and the wood was a rich white. The windows and doors were a live red with bordered carvings of flowers, painted with rich colors. On the tip of each roof, golden statues of Inu Youkai stood in a rather intimidating way. The edges of the rooves were painted with delicate lines of turquoise and gold, giving them a final touch.

Sesshoumaru had been gone for a very long time. At least for the last ten years. First, he had gone seeking Tetsaiga: the sword that his father had left his excuse of a brother. Then he had gone out of his way to defeat Naraku. After that, he roamed around the west ensuring its safety.

But the time to return and claim his place as heir and ruler of the Inu Clan had come, and the only way to reach the castle in the sky was falling into the canyon where the wind turned into tornados, giving him the push he needed to go back up.

Of course, to ensure that Rin would arrive safely he would have to carry her. Leaving her to hold onto Ah-Un's reigns would be futile.

Sesshoumaru didn't give her much time to understand what he was about to do. "Prepare yourself, Rin." was all he said before leaping into the depths with her in his arms.

The pressure had affected Rin just as he thought it would. Even though Rin fainted while they flew towards the castle he knew she wasn't going to die.

He would never risk her life again and promised her that she'd be safe as long as he was around. So when her lithe body gave out signals that she was about to lose consciousness, he held her close as a gesture that he would be there when she woke up.

Sesshoumaru heard her say that the castle was pretty before collapsing into nothingness and, for some strange reason, those innocent words made a sense of pride overcome him.

That pride grew more when he passed the waterfalls that cascaded around the circular border of the castle. They brought Sesshoumaru memories of when he was a pup. He remembered older inu children forcing him to swim as close as possible to the border. The challenge was to avoid falling off the edges and swimming back to the docks. Unfortunately, the current was so powerful that he fell and disappeared into the clouds below.

He smirked at the memory as he walked down the long passage that guided them to the entrance. Even though he ended up hating those older demons, he also thanked them. That incident led him to his first accomplishment as heir. Seconds after falling, Sesshoumaru managed to transform into his dog demon form. Not only was he capable of flying back home on his own, but he also became the youngest inu youkai to achieve such a thing.

Because of that, he had won his father's appraisal,

"I can see you're already on your path to become stronger than me, son." had been Toga's words.

Now, as he stood in front of the opening entrance where hundreds of Inu servants awaited their ruler, he could only think of how much more stronger he was than InuTaisho.

"Welcome back Lord Sesshoumaru." sang the servants as he stepped onto the shining glass floor.

He was, at last, home.


During the past couple of weeks, little Chise had gone daily to the library in the forest. The magical aura filled her with peace. She felt safe next to the librarian and entertained herself with books of all sorts. There was this particular book that narrated a love story between a demon and a goddess who couldn't be together. That same book also spoke of all the descendants of the demon and his clan's history. Apparently, it was a dog type of demon, but she was unfamiliar with its background.

Japanese culture had many tales and references about youkai. It all depended on the region one grew up in. Sometimes there were similar or different versions of a vast variety of demons. Where she was from, the most important youkai was the kitsune.

Her grandfather, a kind man who passed away much too soon, had even told her that she was the descendant of a very powerful fox demon and that was the reason behind her emerald eyes and red hair.

It made Chise feel rather important, seeing that it was uncommon to find Japanese women with hair and eyes that weren't dark.

Her impatient curiosity for the story made her skim through the pictures. It was when she reached one in particular that she widened her eyes and stopped.

"Chise?" The librarian was dusting the shelves. Normally the little girl would gasp and giggle while she read the books, but she had become suddenly silent. When he turned her way, he saw her clutching onto the books ends with her tiny hands while her eyes grew more open.

In the picture there was a beautiful man with white hair, gold piercing eyes and a moon mark on his forehead, sitting against the trunk of a cherry tree while observing a little girl who was playing with flowers. The girl was one Chise was far too familiar with for she had seen her before.

"Rin."

"What was that, Chise?" Miura walked over carefully and placed a hand on Chise's shoulder. "Is something wrong?"

"Her name." Chise looked at Miura, who had a worried face, "The girl from my dreams, her name is Rin."

Miura knelt down to get a closer look at the page Chise was pointing to. The girl from the drawing had more or less the same age as Chise. "You know this girl?" he asked gently.

Chise nodded fervently. Miura could read in her eyes that she was desperately begging him to believe her. He knew that she was a gifted child. She was rejected because she could see things that others couldn't and her gift up till today was only a burden, a living nightmare.

Apparently not only could she see magical creatures, but she also held some sort of connection with a person from the past.

How interesting.