Disclaimer: As if I owned it. I wish, and I keep wishing, but the stupid stars must be broken!

A/N: Kiyomi is now 7 years old. Later in the chapter we jump 11 years to her 18th birthday. When she is 13, Kagome gives birth to Kibuki and Kamori.

Naraku's Child

Chapter 2: There be Suitors

By Ethril Dragon

After Kiyomi had figured out how to play with Inu-Yasha the rest of her birthday had been entertaining. Kiyomi had never met an adult like Inu-Yasha so his temper was a unique change to what she typically encountered. There was just something so appealing about trying to crawl onto Inu-Yasha's back and head while avoiding his clawed hands.

With the many presents she'd received, the fun she'd had playing with her friends, the torment and teasing she'd put Inu-Yasha through, and the great food she'd had, Kiyomi's birthday had been a great success in her mind; it was impossible for her to think that there was someone that hadn't had fun.

After her parents had put her to bed Kiyomi snuck out her window and to the grassy field that she was often found playing. She made herself comfortable on the grass as she laid back to stare up at the sky. The little spider demon lifted a hand and traced the stars in the sky with her fingers until she found the constellation that had captured her imagination so many times.

"I'm 7 now Orion!" Kiyomi whispered as her hand flopped back down on the grass. Years ago Kiyomi's father had shown her how much fun stargazing could be. It had been her mother though that had taught her about the different constellations in the sky and the myths and legends associated with them.

The little girl giggled and kicked her feet up and down against the ground. Some time ago she'd declared to her father that she would one day mate Orion the hunter. He'd joked with her about how Orion was only in the heavens and out of reach, but Kiyomi refused to let that stop her. She had adored the stories that her mother and father had told her about that star grouping in the sky. She had always imagined that Orion was her personal knight and guardian always watching over her and protecting her.

"Daddy still says I'll find someone better then you." Kiyomi stuck out her tongue at the idea and then giggled. "But the only one better then you is daddy!"

"Who're you talking to runt?" A sudden voice from behind Kiyomi made the little girl jump up and spin around. She relaxed and grinned when she discovered the voice had belonged to Inu-Yasha.

"I'm talking to Orion." Kiyomi pointed up at the sky and gave the Inu Hanyo her biggest smile. "You're not going to tell my parents I'm out here are you?" She asked sheepishly. She was supposed to be in bed and her father was always upset whenever she was found outside at night.

Inu-Yasha watched Kiyomi for a moment as she fidgeted where she was standing. "Keh." He shrugged at her before sinking to the ground to sit. He tilted his head up to watch the stars in the sky. It was a rather nice night out after all what with the full moon.

Slowly Kiyomi walked over to Inu-Yasha only to sit down when she was only a few inches in front of him. Her red eyes stared unblinking at him even after Inu-Yasha had glanced down at her. His stare turned into a glare the longer their eyes were locked with each other.

"So?"

"So what?"

"Are you gonna tell?" Kiyomi frowned up at him and put her hands down on the grass in front of her in all seriousness.

Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes and huffed. "Nah runt, I'm not gonna tell your parents." He shrugged and looked back up at the sky. "It's your business what you do."

Kiyomi frowned at Inu-Yasha and then crossed her arms over her chest. "You're a weird adult." She wrinkled her nose at that.

"Yeah well you're a weird brat." Inu-Yasha countered. He only partially meant it. There was a strange magnetism that Kiyomi seemed to give off that put Inu-Yasha's instincts at ease and on alert all at once. Maybe it was because Kiyomi was Kagome's kid, but he felt an odd protectiveness over her.

"You're a big meany head!" Kiyomi puffed out her cheeks in challenge.

"You're short." He poked at her forehead and pushed just hard enough to make Kiyomi fall back a little.

"Yeah...well..." Kiyomi growled softly before leaning forward so she was balanced on her heals. In the blink of an eye Kiyomi pounced onto Inu-Yasha's chest.

Inu-Yasha leaned back mostly out of surprise at having a little kid suddenly on his chest. "The fuck?" He swore before trying to grab and pull Kiyomi off of him. It was tough trying to pry her off since the little spider demon had taken hold of his jacket.

"I'm not short!" Kiyomi countered before literally standing on his chest to get to his eye level.

"Yes you are!" Inu-Yasha tried to pull Kiyomi off of him again, but now she had a grip of his jacket with her feet. "And you smell funny!"

Kiyomi's face lit up in a blush and she jumped onto his head to bite onto one of his ears. "I do not! Take it back!"

"Yeowch!" Inu-Yasha cried out as he tried to grab the little runt that was assaulting his ear. "Yeah you do! All kids smell weird. Now get offa me!" He finally found purchase with his hands and he was able to knock Kiyomi off of his head.

She tumbled onto the ground and slowly sat up from where she had stopped. Kiyomi sniffled for a moment, her eyes filling with tears. Inu-Yasha panicked when he realized one of her fangs had been knocked out when she'd hit the ground and now there was a gap in her teeth.

"Awe shit!" Inu-Yasha quickly got onto his knees to try and figure out a way to keep Kiyomi from crying. "Don't cry!"

Kiyomi's lip quivered for a moment and she tried to hold it back, but she let out a desperate wail when she tasted blood in her mouth from where her tooth had gotten knocked out.

"PAPA!"

Inu-Yasha was quickly starting to panic as Kiyomi cried and called out for her father for help. "Shit, shit, shit! Stop crying." He begged plaintively. He remembered the times when Kagome used to cry and how holding her always seemed to calm her. What could Inu-Yasha lose giving it a try now?

Nervously Inu-Yasha's arms came around Kiyomi to pull her into a hesitant and weak hold.

Much to the inu hanyo's relief the little girl's crying quickly quieted to soft sniffles. He let out the breath he'd been holding and his shoulders relaxed. Inu-Yasha stiffened again though when he felt Kiyomi snuggle into his hold and cuddle into his chest. She even went as far as to crawl into his lap to get more comfortable. Soon enough the little spider demon was fast asleep, one hand clinging to the fabric of his jacket.

An unknown amount of time passed as Inu-Yasha sat there with Kiyomi cuddled in his arms. There was something pure and soothing about having her so close and it relaxed him.

"What's going on here?" Naraku asked quietly when he approached the inu hanyo that was cradling his daughter. When he held out his arms for his daughter Inu-Yasha quickly relinquished hold of her.

The hanyo rubbed the back of his neck and glanced away from the Spider demon. "She was out here alone so I thought I'd sit with her." He leaned down and plucked the lost fang from the grass. "She...uh lost a tooth and started crying..." He glanced at Naraku, worried that he might get into trouble for possibly damaging the young girl. Much to Inu-Yasha's relief Naraku just looked at the fang with a soft smile

"She's at that age to lose baby teeth." Naraku took the tooth in one hand and then shifted Kiyomi in his arms. His daughter turned and snuggled into the warmth of his chest. "Kiyomi's had a busy day; I'll take her back to bed."

Naraku turned back to Inu-Yasha after a few steps. "Thank you for watching her."

Despite how well Inu-Yasha tried to hide it Naraku was able to see a moment of loneliness fill the hanyo's eyes as he looked at Kiyomi. There was such pain and longing there in those amber orbs. Did the hanyo envy Naraku his family? Did Inu-Yasha want children of his own?

Naraku turned back around and returned to his palace. He knew Inu-Yasha would one day find happiness; Kagome had made the wish after all.

"That's one interesting brat they have." Inu-Yasha mumbled to himself with a sigh. "Maybe she'll mature faster then Kagome did." He sure hoped so; the world was still recovering from Kagome when she'd been young and it wasn't prepared to go through all that chaos again so soon.

When the morning came Inu-Yasha gave his farewells and then shouldered his pack to leave once more. Once again Kagome had told the hanyo that he would always be welcome in their home and asked him to visit more often.

"I'm going to leave Japan for awhile." Inu-Yasha told the group that was seeing him off. "Head west to the mainland and see how far I can go." He'd been hearing a lot of interesting stories about what was going on to the west and he wanted to see if any of the rumors were true. "You'll hear from me through Kanna's mirror."

Kagome nodded and smiled sadly. "We'll always be here for you."

Inu-Yasha nodded and after a quick look to Naraku for permission he pulled Kagome into a one armed hug. He closed his eyes to enjoy the momentary contact before sighing and letting her go. Maybe one day he'd find someone to love him again; he'd just have to make sure not to be an idiot again and lose that love.

With one last wave the inu hanyo was gone in a cloud of dust kicked up by his demon speed.

Years passed and Inu-Yasha kept his promise to stay in contact with his friends. He'd call through Kanna's mirror. Sometimes he'd talk to Naraku about the things he'd discovered outside of Japan and other times he'd just listened to Kagome tell him bout every day life in the palace. The inu hanyo found out about Shippo's mating to Kanna. He learned about how Kohaku had asked for Rin's hand in marriage after a series of difficult trials set by Sesshomaru. Inu-Yasha even learned about the birth of Kagome's and Naraku's twins when Kiyomi had turned 13. The one thing he hadn't been informed about was how Kiyomi had grown into a lovely young lady with her father's grace and her mother's smile.

It was much to Naraku's resentment that his daughter's growing beauty had garnered the attention of several high noble males. He'd known his daughter would be lovely, her mother was a beauty after all, but he had hoped that his daughter wouldn't be attracting attention until she was older. If the only problem was her beauty then Naraku would have been fine, but she was also turning heads and creating a buzz because of her strange power.

Shortly after Inu-Yasha had left after his last visit it had been discovered that Kiyomi not only had demonic powers, but she had holy powers that slept deep within her. Such a combination shouldn't have been possible within a demon, no matter the parentage, and yet Kiyomi existed.

"Kiyomi, father wishes to speak with you." a young boy called out calmly as he ran up to his older sister, his twin just a few steps behind him.

Kiyomi turned from her combat instructor and gratefully took the offered towel to clean off the sweat that she'd been building up. "Did Father say why Kibuki?" Her chest heaved from her exertions and she nodded to her instructor to tell him she was done for the day.

Kibuki shook his head. "He seems really upset about something though." This time it was Kiyomi's little sister Kamori that spoke up.

When compared side by side each of Naraku's three children were very different from each other physically. Kiyomi herself was a combination of both her parents what with her mother's skin complexion, her father's crimson eyes, her mother's graceful bone structure, and her father's curled hair. Kibuki had taken after his father almost completely and almost always seemed to have a slight frown marring his expression. Kamori on the other hand looked like a miniature version of their mother. Much to their father's joy the twins had inherited their mother's eyes though instead of the crimson color that Kiyomi had gotten.

Kiyomi sighed and shook her head. "Where is father then?" She asked as she went behind a screen to change out of her training gear. She was out in seconds wearing a simple kimono made from purple spider silk.

"He's in his study," Kibuki replied quickly only for his twin to finish the sentence. "He's been there all morning reading letters and reports."

"I'll go see what father wants then." As she left Kiyomi gave her little siblings an affectionate bop on the head each before ruffling their bangs teasingly. It was something Shippo had always done to her when she'd been little and her younger siblings seemed to enjoy the attention.

'Shippo...' Kiyomi's heart twisted a little in her chest as she thought about her older brother. She missed her older brother and sister even though they had only moved out recently. Even though the two had mated years ago it had only been in the last year that they'd finally moved away. They weren't too far away, but they were far enough that Kiyomi couldn't visit; she was restricted to her father's palace and the closest town.

Shippo still visited almost every other day, but it wasn't the same as waking up and just seeing her brother all the time. Still, it was nice of Shippo and Kanna to try and be around even though they lived a bit far. Kiyomi definitely saw more of her siblings then her old best friend Haru, Miroku and Sango's oldest child, and he only lived in the town down the road.

The thought of her best friend made Kiyomi huff in annoyance. When they'd been children they'd been really close, but in recent years the young demon slayer had been acting rather strangely around her. It reminded Kiyomi of the years that Kohaku had spent trying to impress Rin. She shrugged off Haru's strange behavior as just a boy thing and tried not to think bout it anymore.

Kiyomi was so deep within her own thoughts that she didn't realize she was standing outside her father's study until she heard his voice call out for her to enter.

She jolted free from her mind and quickly slid the door open to enter the study. "You wanted to speak with me father?"

It wasn't just her father in the room, but also her mother. Naraku was seated at his desk with various stacks of papers and books around him and Kagome was standing by his side with her hands clasped in front of her.

Her father's fingers tapped on his desk for a minute or two before he let out a long sigh and motioned for Kiyomi to sit before him. Once she was settled Naraku actually spoke.

"For the past year I have been receiving requests from various noble families to introduce you to their eligible males." Naraku waved a hand lightly towards a stack of papers that represented a small percentage of the requests. "Although you're still very young, you are mature enough to make a decision about whether or not you will accept a courtship."

Throughout the entire thing Kiyomi made a face of disgust. She was still a 'child' in youkai years, but physically she looked like an adult. "Tell them no. I'm not interested." And truly Kiyomi wasn't. Not once had she felt an attraction to anyone beyond friendship.

Naraku sighed and before he could speak he felt his mate's hand on his shoulder. "Kiyomi sweetheart," Kagome's voice was soft as she spoke up. "You've been taught about youkai politics so you know there's more to this then a simple yes or no." Kagome waited until Kiyomi nodded for her to continue. "You can refuse, but you'll need to at least be respectful and meet with those interested at least once."

Kiyomi sucked in a breath and bit her tongue to keep from outright refusing. Even though she wanted to say no, to tell her parents to refuse everyone, Kiyomi had been taught proper etiquette as befitting a demon of her stature. "Fine." There was a hiss under her words which she'd picked up from her father over the years. "I'll meet these demons, but I'm not going to like it."

With a small sigh Naraku nodded. "We'll hold a ball on your birthday then and invite the youkai court." He held up a hand to keep Kiyomi from arguing like she wanted. "Afterwards you can make a formal announcement that you are not interested in a courtship at this time. Your mother and I will stand behind your decision as well as the rest of the family." And by that he meant Sesshomaru.

The young spider demoness left as soon as she was excused. She was fuming and she could feel her powers swirling just beneath her skin. To think that she was being forced into this situation because of some idiot males just threw her into a fury. She turned sharply and stormed from the palace to the archery range that had been set up for training purposes.

Without even grabbing a bow or arrows Kiyomi took her position before one of the farthest targets. The demons that had been practicing quickly backed away from Kiyomi as she lifted her hands. Her spiritual and demonic energies swirled around her in the air before condensing into the forms of a bow and arrow. She took careful aim at her distant target before releasing the arrow.

Watching the young heiress release her energy in such a way was always a sight for both the humans and demons that lived within and around the palace, but this time the onlookers scattered as the energy became more and more violent.

It took some time, but eventually Kiyomi was able to spend most of her energy on destroying her distant targets and the ground around them. She felt relatively relaxed afterwards and her fury at being forced into her situation had lessened. She understood the politics of what was happening and for the sake of her family she would put up with the idiotic males that wanted to meet her.

"That took longer then normal." Kiyomi didn't even turn her head to look at her best friend Haru. Now that her energy had drained down to manageable levels Kiyomi had switched to a normal bow and arrow.

She pulled back an arrow and took aim at her new target. "I was really mad." Kiyomi let the arrow go and smirked as it embedded itself. "What are you doing here Haru?" Kiyomi's crimson eyes flicked to look at the demon slayer out of the corner of her eyes.

Haru rubbed at the back of his head and there was a light blush on his cheeks. "Training, what else?" He said elusively. Even though he hadn't inherited his father's spiritual abilities he could still sense demon youki if he focused. Spending time around demons gave him time to practice and strengthen his senses. "I could feel your energy flare up from all the way in the middle of town."

Kiyomi grunted and shot three arrows in rapid succession. "Father is inviting the demon court to meet me." She slowly lowered her bow. "He's going to plan a ball on my birthday." With her bow lowered and her arrows all used up Kiyomi turned to smile at Haru.

The human's cheeks flared up and he turned to look away from Kiyomi quickly.

"You'll be there right?" Kiyomi asked despite Haru's sudden avoidance of her.

"Well...if you want me to be." Haru replied noncommittally.

Kiyomi puffed out her cheeks in annoyance before putting her bow away. "You better. You owe me with how weird you've been acting recently."

There was a mewling sound to her side and Kiyomi turned to look down at the little fire cat demon that was walking up to her. "Hey Kirara." Kiyomi knelt and took notice of the black crow in Kirara's mouth. "Out hunting huh?" She giggled when Kirara spit out the bird in favor of jumping up onto Kiyomi's shoulder.

Kiyomi giggled and gently scratched behind one of Kirara's ears lovingly. "It's good to see you too!"

Haru smiled fondly as Kiyomi and Kirara caught up with each other. Kirara had always been a fairly friendly demon, but with Kiyomi that friendliness always seemed to take on a new life. It was like the spider demoness and fire cat understood each other. Whenever Kirara wasn't out with Kohaku she was either spending time with Sango and her family or catching up with Kiyomi.

"Anyway..." Haru coughed to get Kiyomi's attention. "I'll be there. Naraku already asked if I could be there to help represent the demon slayer clan." Naraku was a big supporter of the demon slayer clan and had donated quite a bit to starting an academy for young humans and demons wanting to learn to ancient techniques.

"Good to hear." Kiyomi replied distantly before giving Kirara one last pet. "I'll see you there then." The little fire cat jumped off of her shoulder and landed on Haru's. Kiyomi turned and left, intending to find a quiet place to meditate.

"Yeah." Haru watched until Kiyomi was out of sight. He sighed softly and absently pet Kirara when the little fire cat pressed her nose into his ear. "See you there."

A/N: Chapter 2 rewrite complete.