Shikuro: A Caribbean Fairy Tale

by Inuma Asahi De

Inuyasha was as bad as pirates came, according to his legend. Kagome was a woman of propriety, destined to marry for her family's honor when all she wanted was to live on the sea. What happens when their eyes meet by chance or perhaps by daring fate?

101. Sesshoumaru's Mask

Blanket Disclaimer: The writer does not own any characters created by Rumiko Takahashi but like everyone else wishes she did. All original characters or concepts are the author Inuma Asahi De's (with the exception of historical figures).

Chapter One Hundred and One

Sesshoumaru's Mask

"From this day on Sesshoumaru, you must put on a mask. You can never take it off or you risk destroying your brother's life. Do you understand, Sesshoumaru?"

"Yes, Chichiue—."

---

Sesshoumaru sat in the garden of his home, the light summer air surrounding him as he leaned against the trunk of one of the cherry trees. Although it was not in bloom, he could still smell the fragrance of the flowers as it clung to the cherries that were just ripening in their branches. The smell was lost on him, however, as he absently looked at a book in his lap, he turned a page slowly as he read over the western writing, having only in the past few years learned to read it.

The wind picked up around him, ruffling the pages as he tried to decipher a particularly hard word in the text. The handwriting of whoever had written this particular book made it hard to discern even the letters of the word. He narrowed his eyes and pulled the book from his lap to his face studying the long lines and wavy loops of an alphabet he still found strange with careful scrutiny. In the distance a little giggle echoed between the trees, his ears tilting in the direction of the sound but his eyes not moving. Intently, he turned the book slightly sideways hoping the change in direction would make it easier to read. It didn't.

Sighing heavily, he dropped the book to his lap allowing it to flounder in the wind, the pages rapidly changing. Suddenly, and without warning, he heard the telltale sound of air rushing around an object as it was thrown. Instantly, his eyes snapped to the correct direction and he raised his hand. With the swiftness of his breed, he managed to catch the impending threat without so much as flinch.

A small, innocent laugh filled the air and the nineteen (nearing twenty) year old blinked as he tried to force the smile from his face. He could just make out the little red outfit as the boy tried to hide behind a tree, thinking himself invisible just because of a little wood and bark.

"That was-u strange-e." He spoke with a slight accent as he played along with the child's game. Shrugging, he dropped the pebble and looked back at his book without really seeing it.

He heard the shuffle of little feet and the sound of dirt and leaves as the child stalked him moving closer and closer through the underbrush. The boy giggled again and Sesshoumaru couldn't stop the affectionate look that crossed his features from the sound. He glanced ever so slightly in the direction of the child and tried not to laugh himself as he saw the boy prepared to toss another pebble.

His silver hair, to his shoulders now, was bright in the sun and his ears twitched on his head as they instinctively took in the world around them. His mirthful golden eyes mirrored Sesshoumaru's own, a deep honey color, beautifully radiant and wide with curiosity. The little boy stuck out his tongue as he pulled his hand back towards his head prepared to throw another little stone towards his brother.

Prepared, Sesshoumaru tensed his muscles and nonchalantly moved the book from his lap, abandoning it beside one of the tree's roots. He made a great show of closing his eyes and leaning his head against the tree as if he were about to take a nap and for added affect actually yawned. He heard the fabric of the boy's haori rustle in confusion and tensed up his face to stop from smiling.

"He's asleep?" The little boy's voice, so full of perpetual innocence made the older brother's heart clench a little in his chest. "Nii-chan?" The boy called to him as his footsteps hit the ground loudly.

Sesshoumaru released a fake snore at the sound, waiting for the child to grow closer, knowing Inuyasha was far too curious not to move as close as possible. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he heard the feet grow closer, squishing the grass down as he approached.

"Nii-chan?" Inuyasha spoke again as he came to stand right next to his brother's face, so close Sesshoumaru could feel the boy's breath hit his skin. "Why are you sleeping?"

Sesshoumaru popped his eyes open right at that moment. "Sesshoumaru not-to." He announced as Inuyasha's shrill squeal of excitement made his head split. "Nani!" He cried but ignored the pain in favor of grabbing the child before he could run away.

Inuyasha instantly began to laugh as Sesshoumaru stood up without once letting go of him. "Nii-chan!" The child yelled but Sesshoumaru ignored it as he swung Inuyasha around in his arms before releasing the boy so that he flew up just a little in the air. Inuyasha screamed as he flew a mere two feet above his brother's head, the wind rushing through his hair as he fell back down into the strong arms of his sibling. "Again!" He demanded the second he was secure in Sesshoumaru's arms.

Sesshoumaru laughed in response and spun the child around in a circle causing him to squeal with further delight. "Iya." Sesshoumaru told him 'no' as he stopped his circle and released a growl of affection that Inuyasha immediately returned, a smile on his face so large that it filled it from end to end.

"Sesshoumaru." The firm voice of their father made both boys freeze but for entirely different reasons.

"Otou-san!" Inuyasha cried out as he wiggled himself free from his brother's grasp, the two year old running towards his father the second his feet hit the ground.

Inutaisho smiled as he bent down and caught the little boy, bringing him up into his arms tightly in a hug. "Inuyasha," He spoke gently to the little child as he rubbed one ear between two fingers. "Go to Okaa-sama." He commanded and the little boy tilted his head to the side defiantly.

"No." He frowned as he spoke, his voice firm and his face forming into a pout.

"Inuyasha." Inutaisho's voice dropped a bit lower as he looked down at his youngest son with a narrowed brow that made the little boy immediately look away. "Obey." He commanded in the language of their breed as he sat the boy on the ground and pushed him in the direction of the house.

"Hai." The boy crossed his arms over his chest and pouted with a slight manipulative sniffle. He looked back once over his shoulder towards Sesshoumaru, his large gold eyes begging for his big brother to save him but Sesshoumaru immediately looked away much to the child's confusion.

"Go on, Inuyasha." Inutaisho turned him by his shoulders and gently pushed him once more. This time the little boy obeyed but the look of confusion on his face spoke volumes as he ran off towards the scent of his mother.

"Chichiue," Sesshoumaru started to speak the second his brother's ears were out of hearing range. "Watashi wa—."

"No Nihon-go." Inutaisho interrupted immediately as he looked towards his eldest son, not with anger but with disappointment.

Sesshoumaru sighed loudly and dropped his shoulders at the command as he switched languages. "Let Sesshoumaru—."

"Me."

"Let me," Sesshoumaru growled slightly as he corrected himself. "Explain."

"I'm listening." Inutaisho crossed his arms over his chest and stared at his son down the bridge of his nose.

"There no generals-u—," He held up his hands and motioned to the vacant clearing around them. "Ano—Sess—me—."

"I."

Sesshoumaru resisted the urge to glare at his father's correction, his golden eyes narrowing ever so slightly. "I," He deliberately spat out the pronoun before taking a deep controlled breath. "I not know—the—problem-u."

"Sesshoumaru." Inutaisho sighed and brought a hand up to his face, rubbing at it as he tried to think. "That's not the point this time—sure there's no one to see but," He dropped his hand and looked at his son almost apologetically. "You're confusing Inuyasha."

"Nanto?" He questioned reverting to his native language without thought until his father glared at him. "Gomen—sorry-y—how?"

"He doesn't understand why Nii-chan is mean and nice." Inutaisho explained evenly as he looked away from his son unable to maintain eye contact during this conversation. "It would be better if you were consistent."

"Ano," Sesshoumaru shook his head as he stared at his father with his jaw dropping just slightly. "I—I should just-to be mean—always?"

"It's for the best Sesshoumaru." Inutaisho turned away without another word, his back to his son as if he were banishing him from his life. "From this day on, you must put on a mask, you must never take it off or you risk destroying your brother's life." He glanced at his son over his shoulder, no apology whatsoever in his eyes now as he bluntly protected the young son by hurting the older. "Do you understand, Sesshoumaru?"

Sesshoumaru lowered his head, looking at the ground in front of him as his heart plummeted into his feet. He understood exactly what his father was saying, he understood the plan perfectly. If he showed Inuyasha any affection and a general saw Inuyasha's life would be in danger. And, if he showed Inuyasha affect and hate, the boy's mind would be in danger. He had to protect him, at all cost both mentally and physically. It was his duty as the older brother.

"Yes," He nodded as his desire to protect his brother outweighed the pain in his heart at losing his affection. "Chichiue."

-break-

Sesshoumaru walked through the garden, gliding as it were. It had been two days since that fateful conversation and he had yet to really spend any time with his baby brother. He had, truthfully, been avoiding him. It was easier for Sesshoumaru to simply not see the child versus treating him poorly. The young man sighed as he walked, bringing a hand to the back of his neck to rub at the tense muscles there. Up ahead of himself he heard the telltale sounds of laughter, his ears perking in the direction of the sound just as a word drifted towards them.

"Hanyou." The vile term hit the air with such violence that Sesshoumaru instantly jumped forward, his legs moving quickly over the ground.

Within seconds he entered a clearing coming to stand face to face with one of his generals and his small brother. "Nani ga okotte iru no?" He asked what was going on as he forced himself not to look at Inuyasha's tiny face for fear of showing his affection for the boy to the general.

"Nii-san." Inuyasha turned towards his brother instantly, his tiny face drawn in a line of curiosity as he glanced between the tall dog demon and his brother. "Nani ga hanyou?" He asked without preamble, the question hitting Sesshoumaru square in the gut.

"What is a hanyou?"

He saw the general out of the corner of his eye, the sneer on the man's face making him hate himself as he looked down at the young boy. He knew his face looked surprised and he knew that would be bad for his reputation if the general decided he was, at any moment, pitying the child in front of him for having to ask such a question. That could not happen. For the sake of the child in front of him, that could never happen. He felt his throat grow tight and as much as it pained him he closed his eyes and with one deep breath he put on a mask that would not leave his face for nearly two hundred years: controlled, contained, and perfectly emotionless.

Dark, narrowed golden eyes opened to the sight of a confused and worried looking child but he ignored it. Every emotion he had in that moment, he sealed away, refusing to let himself feel as he glared at the child. He only felt a slight twang in his stomach when Inuyasha stepped back startled by the intense look of hatred.

He heard the general's intake of air and he glanced towards him one last time, seeing the pleased expression on the bastard's face. He knew what he had to do in that moment and with the mask on, it was only just possible. "It-to for best." He told himself, ignoring the pain that was crushing his heart.

"Onii-san?" Inuyasha's voice was tiny and bewildered, the sound not reaching Sesshoumaru's ears as he forced himself to block it out for the sake of his brother's life. Unaware of his brother's reasons, Inuyasha stepped forward wanting nothing more than to see Sesshoumaru's smile of reassurance. One tiny hand reached out and touched the edge of Sesshoumaru's hakama but instantly recoiled the second the demon glared down at him.

"Orokana ikimono wa," He said as firmly and as forcefully as he could staring straight into those innocence eyes as self hatred filled him to his very core. "Kūki no kachi" He kept his voice monotone as he noticed the general's face breaking into a sadistic smile. "It's for the best-to." He told himself as he held onto the mask, using it to not only hide his true feelings but to also not feel them. "Sore wa," He raised his chin up and refused to look at his brother as he released the final word, not believing any of them. "Kokyū."

"A stupid creature not worth the air it breathes."

He heard Inuyasha's sharp intake of breath, the hateful words echoing in the clearing all around them. "Onii-san?" The little boy's voice was shaky and it took all of Sesshoumaru's will power not to fall on his knees and grab the child so he could take back every word.

He opened his mouth to say something, anything but snapped it shut once more before a single word could leave it. Instead, he lowered his face, hiding his eyes from view as he walked away from the child, leaving behind a broken heart. Whether it was Inuyasha's or his own he didn't wish to know.

The lamplight hit the wall of the room, coating it in a strange ethereal glow that Sesshoumaru might have found pretty had he not been glaring at his father with absolute contempt. "I refuse!" He explained as he glared at the man not able to keep the hatred out of his voice as he allowed his mask to drop completely.

"Put your mask back on, Sesshoumaru, there are spies everywhere now." Inutaisho commanded and watched with contained amazement as Sesshoumaru easily obeyed, all emotion leaving his face instantly. "He's become far too good at that over the years." He thought to himself but didn't say a word as Sesshoumaru closed his eyes, sealing himself off from the world. "This is the only way, we're all out of options."

"I can't," Sesshoumaru protested but with no emotion in his voice. In fact, the only indication that he was still livid came as he stood up from the pillow he had been sitting on and began to pace the room. "This is ridiculous."

"That may be," Izayoi told him as she leaned against the wall, a slightly bigger child in her arms, sleeping peacefully. His still pretty small body curled around his mother as he snored. "But—we've weighed all the options and none of them are really in our favor."

"The revolution could start any day." Inutaisho continued where his wife had left off. "That last meeting you told us about proved it." He looked at his son imploringly even as he kept his voice as low as possible, so low that even Izayoi could not hear him. "They expect an act of loyalty, your mask isn't enough anymore. They need physical proof."

"And you want my Chichiue to be that proof?" Sesshoumaru turned and looked at the woman, the mask keeping the hate out of his eyes but only just.

"It's either father or Inuyasha." Izayoi explained calmly as the little boy's ears twitched from the sound of his name but he didn't stir beyond their little movement.

"Why does it have to be anyone?" Sesshoumaru protested the mask slipping off his face as he looked at his step-mother in disgust.

"Sesshoumaru!" Inutaisho growled low in his throat warning his son to put the mask back on once more.

"No!" He whirled around and glared at his father with a growl to match, although, he did make a point of keeping his voice soft so as not to be heard. "You're asking me to kill you, Chichiue." His voice was tense and tight, a certain deadliness seeping into to that seemed impossible to truly ignore. The anger wavered and other emotions began to shine through his well-kept mask, his golden eyes pained for a mere second before anger took over his expression once more.

"It's to protect him." His father spoke softly, his own golden eyes reflecting the pain that had seeped into Sesshoumaru's own. "And you."

"Protect?" Sesshoumaru snorted as he broke their eye contact and glared at the wall defiantly. "You don't know the—the—definition of the word." He stumbled over the words not quite able to say them, even if he hated the man in front of him, he was still his father whom he loved. "You're going to die." He felt his throat tighten and he glanced towards the tiny Inuyasha, the boy's resemblance to the older men uncanny. "You're my father, dying doesn't protect me or him."

"Sesshoumaru." Inutaisho's voice sounded tired as he spoke and he probably was. "You must put on your mask," He said again as he raised his head and looked at his son who still refused to make eye contact with him. "Hide your emotions and do what has to be done."

"No," He whirled around and snarled at his father, the mask dropping completely off his face as he glared at the man as dangerously as he could. "I will not hide my face from the world again." He spoke in a hushed whisper as he allowed his father to see all the pain in his eyes. "For years, I've been treating him like dirt so your plan won't fail." His voice lost all evidence of monotone as every emotion he had been feeling for years crackled at the surface. "I've obeyed your every order even as it tore at my soul because I knew I could make it up to him one day but this?" Sesshoumaru shook his head and held back what might have been a controlled sob. "I can't bring you back to life."

Inutaisho looked away from his son without saying a word, his eyes falling to the ground as he refused to look at his son.

Sitting on the sidelines, Izayoi held her son against her, petting his head as she looked down at his sleeping face. "He can sleep through anything." She commented as the little boy mumbled something incoherent and snuggled deeper into her side.

Sesshoumaru and his father both turned to look at the mother and child as she whispered.

"I'm kind of jealous." She continued as she brushed Inuyasha's bangs out of his face gingerly. "I haven't slept in weeks."

"None of us have." Inutaisho sighed heavily as he spoke and Sesshoumaru turned back to his father, watching the man with eyes finally opened.

He could see the dark circles and the stress lines that surrounded his eyes. He took in the slouching back and the slight shake to his hands. He looked at least five hundred years older than he should have, his whole body tense and showing signs of wear. "Chichiue?" He whispered but the man didn't look at him, instead he continued to stare at the child in his mate's lap.

"We're doing all of this for him." He spoke smoothly as he suddenly stood, his joints popping and his face wincing from the pain it brought him. With a grunt, he crossed the room looking older than Sesshoumaru had ever realized he was. Carefully, he dropped down before his wife and reached out for the child in her arms. She gladly handed him off to his father, the boy no more than muttering in response to the move. The older son watched as his father cradled the child, the sadness in his eyes making the normally vibrant gold, dull. "I wonder," He whispered as he stared at the child's sleeping face. "What he'll look like as a man."

"If you die," Sesshoumaru told him as he narrowed his eyes at his father. "You'll never know."

"No matter what I do Sesshoumaru," Inutaisho finally looked up at his son, staring him straight in the eye as he spoke. "I am going to die. I've known that since before Inuyasha was born, it is my fate—it is my part in this—this messed up destiny."

"We can find another way," Sesshoumaru continued to protest even as he fell to his knees before his father. "We have time—plenty of it." He realized he was begging as he spoke but he didn't dare allow the sound to enter his voice, pride prevented that.

"Fate isn't easily altered Sesshoumaru." Izayoi explained softly as she reached out her hand and mused her son's hair. "We can either go with it like a boat on the tide," Her fingers traced Inuyasha's pudgy cheek. "Or struggle against it until we drown."

"Then let me drown." The words left Sesshoumaru's mouth so violently that Izayoi's fingers snapped away from Inuyasha's cheek and her neck snapped upwards to look at her step-son.

The room grew quiet for several minutes. Inuyasha's little snores and mumbles were the only things the three adults heard. Outside, somewhere in the distance, a night watchman called to another, the two exchanging reports about the weather as they walked the tall walls that surrounded the castle. The sound faded into none existence as Inutaisho pulled Inuyasha a little closer to himself and gently rubbed his nose into the boy's hair, taking in his scent. It was a gesture that any dog demon father would do in affection but as Inutaisho did it, it almost seemed like he was saying something else entirely.

"Sesshoumaru." Inutaisho spoke finally, his voice calm as he laid his cheek against Inuyasha's head. The boy's small ears tweaked against his father's chin in response. "Do you have something you care about," He lifted his head, the tiredness and love in his eyes making Sesshoumaru finally listen. "More than your own life?"

"Yes," Sesshoumaru answered automatically as he glanced down at Inuyasha and then back up at his father. "Inuyasha." He paused for just a moment as he looked away uncomfortably. "I care about him more than anything."

"So do I. I care about you both more than I care for life." His father told him bluntly as he reached across the space that rested between them and touched his son's face. "I would give my life for you and your brother, my sons." He smiled and the pride in his heart showed in it. "I will do this because I know that I will die, so you both," He said the word with such conviction that Sesshoumaru believed it to be true. "Might live."

The older of the two sons closed his eyes against the look in his father's own. He couldn't bear to see the love and acceptance in the eyes that reflected his own any longer. "But there has to be another way." He tried one last time as he felt the prickling of tears, a sensation he had not felt in at least three hundred years. "Why does it have to be like this?" He raised his head showing the watery quality of his vision to his father. "You can change fate, can't you?"

"No you can't." Izayoi said her own voice becoming tight as she held in her own swell of tears. "The future is two sided Sesshouarmu," She spoke with such apology in her voice that Sesshoumaru knew it was real. "And I see both sides."

"So what happens if Chichiue lives?" He asked even though he was almost positive he knew the answer.

"Inuyasha's life alters." Izayoi answered as if it were obvious. "If Inuyasha stays here, he will die—if Inutaisho leaves with us—Inuyasha will never gain the knowledge he needs to accomplish his destiny." It sounded so bizarre coming off her lips but Sesshoumaru knew she spoke a devilish truth. "It is through his experiences—his pains," She closed her eyes and inhaled shakily as if she were trying not to cry. "That he will gain the ability to win this fight."

"We can protect him," Sesshoumaru tried one last time, thinking of anything that could alter fate. "I won't let anything happen to him."

"Even if you did protect him Sesshoumaru, it's not enough." Her lip trembled as she spoke. She tried to stop it, to bite it but no matter what she did it still wobbled. "He won't become strong here—he needs to go out into the world—alone."

"I can find a way to make him strong enough," Sesshoumaru threw the words into the air, grasping for anything he could think to say to stop what he knew was inevitable. "He has Tetsusiaga, after all, with training he'll be fine."

"If he stays here, he will never find a way to be strong enough Sesshoumaru even with Tetsusiaga." Izayoi looked at her young son once more and reached out to cover his small chest with her hand, feeling his heart. "There's something—someone," She smiled at her sleeping son as she felt the swift beats of a youthful heart against her fingertips. "Who will give him the strength to be more than he is."

"I'll find them."

"You won't." Her lip trembled again and the tears finally overflowed as she looked out into the garden where little cherry blossoms were falling in the night. "If he stays here, she will never be born." The tears collected on her chin as both Sesshoumaru and Inutaisho's eyes widened in surprise having never heard this part of her prediction before. "The world is held together so strangely." She ducked her chin away from the Sakura and towards Inuyasha once more, her hand still resting above his heart as if protecting it. "One change and our whole existence may cease or be."

"How can you accept this?" The young man asked as he watched the tears gathering on her chin, descend to her neck. "How?"

"I accept it because," She nearly stopped breathing as she took a shaky and barely controlled breath. "I have no choice—," She turned towards Sesshoumaru just as another tear spilled onto her cheek, gliding down the smoothness of her flesh. "This is my curse—to know every detail of my life, his life, that I can't change." Her voice cracked and she shook her head as she looked up at the ceiling to hold herself in check. "I wish I could stop your father's death, I wish I could stop the Shikon jewel from using an innocent soul," She removed her hand from Inuyasha's chest and wiped at her eyes. "I wish I could protect him from all the pain he will ever know." She closed her eyes unable to stop the tears from flowing. "But—more so than that—I wish—I wish," Her lip trembled and she lost the ability to speak as she pulled her son tighter against her body and cried. "I wish," She brought her head up and her lips trembled violently. "I could protect him from her."

"Why—?"

"Because I know," She opened her mouth and the words left it as Sesshoumaru stared, his whole heart stopping in his chest as she admitted the truth to him. "He will meet her, he will love her," She broke, the mask she had created to hold back the pain of knowing one's fate before it occurred shattering. "And he will—."

She didn't have to say the last word for Sesshoumaru to hear it. The older brother felt his heart stop in his chest and his world flip in a way he didn't think was possible. A hand reached up to his chest, grabbing at his clenching heart. Slowly, as if he were waking into a dream he turned to look for his father's confirmation. He didn't have to look far. A bowed head and a shaking back as the man held onto his young son were enough to tell Sesshoumaru the truth.

-break-

The night air was cold, even though it was summer, as Sesshoumaru stood in the middle of a dark clearing. All around him, his father's generals stood, screaming and yelling, lanterns and torches in some of their hands casting light with flickering flames upon the small world of the cherry blossom orchard. Shadows danced, flickering in and out of existence as the generals without torches held up weapons of all shapes and sizes banging them together, creating a loud violent and shrill drumming sound.

Snarls flew from their tongues, words in a language only their species knew; flying off their tongues as they collectively stared down a man on the other side of the clearing. He was pressed against a wall, which he could have easily escaped over if he only chose to.

His long golden hair held up by a high ponytail blew in the breeze as he stared down his son across from him. Little silver strands caught against the large spikes of his battle armor the sight attracting Sesshoumaru's eyes for the briefest of moments as he watched the strands try to escape with the wind from the horrible confinement. Deep golden eyes, which matched Sesshoumaru's own in so many ways, narrowed as if in pain.

Sesshoumaru felt his hands shake as he brought his own sword up a little higher, the fact that it was actually his father's own fang in his hands making it heavier as he pointed it at his father's heart. "I never thought—," He looked down the sharp blade until he saw his father's chest, the man's breathing calm and controlled. "We would actually be here."

In the distance the sound of screaming echoed, signs that the rebellion was flourishing in all directions. The soldiers, who had been swayed into obeying the generals' orders to start the rebellion, were well on their way to reclaiming the country in the name of their new lord. Ironically, and unknown to them, that new lord had no desire to be one.

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at his father, the mask he had been taught to wear so well for years, firmly in place as he pointed his own sword at the older man. He thought to say something clever, something that would make the generals believe his created mask was truly the real him but he stopped himself before even a word could leave his lips. He just couldn't say a word, he couldn't even think of even one to speak.

He took a step forward, watching as his father tensed and shifted his stance, his feet scrapping at the dirt loudly. Sesshoumaru's heart began to pound in his chest and he clutched his sword in his fingers tightly. The blade pulsed in his hand as if it knew he didn't want to do this but he he had to, even if he didn't want to, he had to. In the back of his head he heard his father speak, words from their last conversation the day before circling in his head.

"When the time comes, make it quick." Inutaisho looked at his son, knowing his words seemed wicked. "Threw the heart—I won't block—just—just one quick strike and done."

Even now, standing across from his father, Sesshoumaru couldn't help but find the words disgusting. His hand shook slightly as he watched his father shift his weight once more, planting it on his back foot, preparing for the moment of utter truth. A sick twisted knot formed in Sesshoumaru's throat as the generals began to shout around them, cheering for blood. He sent his father a look that only a father could actually see. It was one final desperate plea, hidden between narrowed eyes and straight lined lips. Even a perfect mask couldn't keep his emotions hidden from his father.

"Chich—," He started to mouth but was stopped before the last syllable could be shaped by his tight, thin lips.

Inutaisho narrowed his eyes and with a fierce battle cry charged his son, the sword pointing right at Sesshoumaru's head. Instinctively, the boy jumped backwards blocking his father's blade as it slashed through the air aiming for his head. The metal of the two swords hissed as they were drug across one another in the middle of the clearing.

"Don't back away." Inutaisho commanded in English knowing that none of the generals could understand it. "Wait just long enough." He commanded as he pressed his blade against his son's, a spark flashing before them as the two swords strained.

"Chichiue?" Sesshoumaru whispered confused, speaking so low that his generals could not hear him.

"I'm sorry." Inutaisho told him as he pushed himself backwards, shoving himself away from Sesshoumaru and landing in a crouch a few feet away. "I never should have done this to you, asked you to do this." He continued, speaking with a snarled tone so the men assume his words were said in anger and betrayal.

"I understand!" Sesshoumaru snarled back as well as he felt a small ray of hope fill him. "Did he change his—?" The words never solidified in his brain, they never even had the semblance of a chance.

With a scream, Inutaisho rushed forward shocking his son with his speed and yell. Before Sesshoumaru could react, before he could overcome his shook, before he could lower his weapon, before even one thought reached his brain—his eyes meet his father's.

It wasn't more than a second that their eyes met but in the moment he saw a million things he had never seen before. He saw fear, and regret, he saw anxiety, and stress, and old age, and tiredness but most of all, and the most frightening of all, he saw tears. He tried to open his mouth, he had to say something but he couldn't, there just wasn't time.

Inutaisho collided with Sesshoumaru's still outstretched sword. The generals screamed and roared in triumph, not caring if it had seemed odd that Sesshoumaru hadn't moved in order to deliver an obviously fatal blow. Blood splattered on Sesshoumaru's face, on his clothes, on his hair, on his very soul as he stared in ignorant wonder at his father's face. His golden eyes were wide with surprise as if he hadn't realized just how much it would hurt. The smell of blood hit the air and Sesshomaru felt his stomach plummet to the ground as his mind finally processed and realized what had happened.

Inutaisho had impelled himself, straight through the heart, on Sesshoumaru's sword.

"No!" Sesshoumaru yelled in English, the word sounding only violent to the monolingual fools around him. The part of Sesshoumaru that had once been happy and carefree, the part of him that had been a child began to die, haunted desperately by the feel of his father's hot blood as it rushed down the hilt of the blade onto his hands.

His father sputtered, blood bubbling up in his mouth as the sharpness of his own fang tour at his insides, ripping at his delicate flesh both on his front and his back. "I'm sorry." Inutaisho's voice was strained as he spoke in English knowing not one of the generals knew even one word of the language. "I couldn't let me son live with my blood on his hands." He explained as blood seeped out of the corner of his mouth. Luckily, the generals could only see Sesshoumaru's back so they didn't once notice the look of complete despair that covered his every feature. "Put your mask back on Sesshoumaru." His father whispered as he looked at the desolation that covered his son's face. "Or this death will be for not."

"I can't." Sesshoumaru closed his eyes as the rowdy roars continued, none of the generals neither noticing the exchange nor caring as long as their ex-leader died.

"You can." Inutaisho felt the vision at the corner of his eyes beginning to fade. "You take-e it off one day—," His mind grew fuzzy and he leaned forward, the blade pressing into his flesh even deeper but he couldn't feel it anymore his body having gone numb. "I pro-o-mise—will—you—wi-l-l-l." His breath became shallow and he coughed up blood spraying it onto Sesshoumaru's face but the son didn't care in the least. "Some—some—someo-one help you."

Sesshoumaru's eyes went wild as thoughts rushed through his head of every possible scenario in which he could save this man but he too knew it was impossible by now. "No one can help me." The son told his father as tears he couldn't control began to jump into his eyes.

In that moment, had it not been for his father pushing himself away from Sesshoumaru, forcing himself to fall backwards and off the sword, the generals would have noticed the second Sesshoumaru's mask started to crumble. Luckily, Inutaisho's body hitting the ground was enough of a distraction to draw their eyes away from their new leader's face.

Laying on his back in a pool of his own blood, Inutaisho smiled up at his son as the bloody sword pulsed with his life force in Sesshoumaru's hands. The once white fangs in his mouth, which marked his breed, were coated in that same blood, an eerie pink that spoke of death. Golden eyes, growing dull with pain and dying fatigue, stared at Sesshoumaru as a strange spectral calm took over his features. "Ma—a-sk," He looked directly at his son seeing nothing but red as Sesshoumaru barely managed to hold onto the sword. "Don't 'get—for'et."

Sesshoumaru didn't respond as he forced himself to regain the control he had maintained in front of everyone for so many years. "I have to control it—or this death—I can't let it be in vain." His heart ripped in his chest, the pain a million times worse than that moment years ago with Inuyasha amongst these same cherry trees.

"Sesshoumaru," Inutaisho spoke the name without any struggle, the sound of it so hole and complete making the boy nearly falter in his effort to calm. "I—," The tired eyes began to fade, becoming grey instead of gold. "Lo'e—son."

Sesshoumaru stared at his father, the mask firmly in place, his expression perfectly emotionless. "I—," He spoke in perfect monotone, his generals not understanding his words at all but looking to his firm and cool collected demeanor to interpret meaning. "I love Chichiue."

They cheered, screaming, thinking some great threat had been handed down by their lord. Never in a million years would they have guessed that the reason for Inutaisho's last smile was not because he was relieved to welcome death but because his son, for the first time in his life, had told him he loved him. For Inutaisho, that had been the most beautiful and peaceful way he could ever have hoped to die.

-break-

The newest demon lord ran through the streets as fast as he could, his nose actually twitching as he picked up the scent of his step-mother and younger brother. The smell of his father's blood filling his nostrils made it had to track them as easily as he normally would have but he pressed on. Behind him, cheering and drinking as they ran, the generals shouted his name over and over again but he ignored it.

The smell of his brother was starting to overwhelm him, the gentleness of his pup scent making Sesshoumaru's feet move just a little faster. Behind him one of his generals seemed to catch onto the scent as well and before Sesshoumaru realized what the man was doing, Takehashi had jumped over his head, sprinting in the direction of the smell.

"Takehashi!" Sesshoumaru commanded and the man skidded to a stop, his sharp silver eyes looking into a small alley. "Sore wa yori, Takahashi." He commanded hoping beyond hope that Takehashi would listen to his orders. In the shadows of the alley he could see the outline of Izayoi's figure, the shape of her slender body in the haori and hakama of the miko easy to recognize. "Did you think you could hide?" He called towards her watching as she clutched at something in the dark, or better yet, someone. "I told you, didn't I? You cannot run." He took a step forward and Inuyasha's mother lifted herself to her feet her face highlighted by the light of one of the torches.

"Stop this!" She pleaded her eyes already darting this way and that looking all around her but never at Sesshoumaru. She looked at Takahashi, she looked at the other shadows of generals that stood behind her step-son but she never once looked at the man in question. "You're making a mistake." She whispered hastily, not bothering to even attempt to speak Japanese, it wouldn't matter anyway.

Sesshoumaru's eyes turned towards the small figure that was clutching his mother's leg. The little boy was looking up at him, his large gold eyes (too big for such a small chubby face) confused.

"So it's true." Izayoi began, drawing Sesshoumaru from his thoughts.

"My father is dead." He spoke the words with deliberate coldness maintaining the mask as his father had wanted him to. "This empire is mine now."

"It's true?" She whispered the question, never taking even a second to look towards Inuyasha who was frozen with disbelief. In that moment, she only had eyes for Sesshoumaru, wide brown eyes filled with undeniable pity. "You really killed him?" She asked as if she didn't quite believe it could actually happen.

"Give me Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru spoke bluntly not allowing himself to feel for even a moment, the sting her words had induced. Instead, he continued on with the plan as he stepped forward, prepared to grab his brother so the generals would believe in him even more so.

"No!" Izayoi yelled, playing along perfectly as she yanked Inuyasha closer to her body, the pup whinning. "Why would you even want him?"

"Now that Chichiueis dead," Sesshoumaru moved forward his eyes shifting until he was looking directly at Inuyasha. "He must die too."

Sesshoumaru shot forward moving so fast that Izayoi didn't have to pretend to scream.

"Okaa-san!" The little boy screeched and struggled as tears flooded his eyes.

Unable to stand the look of pain and confusion from the boy, Sesshoumaru grabbed the back of his neck pressing down on pressure points he knew would make the average pup pass out. Sure enough within seconds, the little boy went lip and Izayoi fell to her knees. It was impossible to tell whether she was acting or not but the tears in her eyes had to be real.

"I should teach you a lesson—Okaa-san." Sesshoumaru continued on as the generals snickered despite not understanding. "I should kill this pup in front of your very eyes."

"Please?" She begged as she stared at her step-son, the generals laughing at her shaking voice. "Sesshoumaru—they don't understand us."

"I know." Sesshoumaru responded even as the mask on his face grew hauntingly realistic.

Izayoi looked down at the ground pretending to be filled with horror. "You need to get us to Myoga and Totosai."

"I know." Sesshoumaru repeated as he stared at her wanting her to feel all the hatred that was truly radiating off of him and towards her. "But part of me doesn't want to."

"Sesshoumaru!" She hissed the name and looked between him and the rowdy generals out for blood behind him. "Please—not for me," She looked at him desperately as she tried to contain the shaking in her hands, her ability to see into the future had not shown her this rebellion. "For Inuyasha—this will all be for not if he isn't safe."

"Oh, he'll be safe." Sesshoumaru spoke the words with a well-played snarl that seemed to echo off the streets around them. "I'll keep him safe from you."

"From me?" Izayoi shot back as she glared at her step-son not believing his words. "I'm the last person you need to keep him safe from! I'm his mother."

"Really?" The lord looked back at his generals watching the faces filled with hatred thrown in murky shadows by the lamplight. "My mother is a better mother than you."

The breath hitched in the woman's throat and she found it hard to breathe as the insult permeated her body. "I—I-I-," She stuttered trying to think of the words that she could use to defend herself but they were limited. "You don't understand." She finally settled on as she looked at her small son, unconscious in his brother's grip. "I can't control fate Sesshoumaru!" She began to cry, the tears real as they slid down her face, the sight making the generals laugh. "If I could I would."

"You could at least try!" Sesshoumaru shouted, the sound of his anger echoing off every wall around them, silencing the generals as he bared at his fangs at the woman.

Izayoi hung her head, not able to look at Sesshoumaru as she felt her stomach twist into knots." I can't believe," She finally whispered after severals seconds as her body shook not from fear but from self hatred. "You think—I haven't tried." She raised her head and looked up at the man before her, seeing not a man but a hurting boy. "I tried—I tried." The tears fell down her cheeks in large drops that gathered at her chin. "I would try until the day I died—even after—I would try until my soul was extinguished at the hands of unknown gods!" She pushed herself forward, standing on her tiptoes her eyes blazing with a fury Sesshoumaru had never seen in her before. "But Sesshoumaru no matter how hard I try—I can't stop it—I can't—I can't—no one can stop fate."

"Lies!" Sesshoumaru reached forward with one free hand grabbing the front of her haori and shaking her until the fabric ripped.

"I'm sorry!" Her voice cracked, shattering as she slumped against his hold on her blouse. "But fate won."

He stared at her form, her tears landing on his hand as she sobbed, her body wracked with pain. Licking his lips, he turned towards one of his generals without thought, his hands loosening their grip on her. "Watashi wa kanojo to shōnen o totte iru." He told them as he motioned towards Izayoi and the child still in his hands. "Watashi wa, karera no shi ga osoku, itami o tomonau yō ni shitai.

Izayoi's head snapped upwards as she took in the words. "I'm going to take her and the boy. I want their deaths to be slow and painful." Even though she was almost positive they were said behind a mask they still sounded terrifying.

The generals responded by laughing and cheering him on as he tightened his grip on Izayoi who didn't even pretended to struggle.

"You didn't try hard enough." He told her as he pushed her away from himself forcing her to walk in front of him.

"I—."

"No!" He growled at her, not allowing her to interrupt as she looked at him over her shoulder. "You let fate play out perfectly." He looked down at her, the deadliness in his eyes something Izayoi had never seen. At that moment, the man didn't need a mask anymore to show her hate. "You let fate kill my father—you let fate prevent my brother from ever truly knowing him—," He sneered at her, hating her with every fiber of his being. "And in four hundred years you will let fate make him—."

"He will meet her, he will love her, and he will—."

He glanced down at the boy in his arms, the mask the only thing hiding the insurmountable pain he felt looking at that tiny sleeping face. "—die for some unknown girl." He finished the sentence, a bitter taste forming in his mouth as he turned his eyes towards his step-mother, hate for her burning hot inside his soul. "And you don't care enough to stop it!"

Izayoi fell backwards from the pure force of his words, landing flat on her ass before him. "I do." She whispered as she stared up at him, something in her seeming to break as she spoke. "But that doesn't change the fact that I can do nothing."

Sesshoumaru glared down at her as he pulled his younger brother closer to his body, holding the child tightly in his arms. He heard Myoga and Totosai before he saw them, the two rushing forward to protect their charges: Izayoi and the young demon lord, Inuyasha. His clawed hands held onto the child for just a second more, hugging him to his body in a final goodbye the child would never know. "Can you really not change fate?" He asked himself as he looked down at the boy's little sleeping face.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?" Myoga stepped towards him reaching for the child as Totosai helped Izayoi to her feet behind him.

"Sesshoumaru." She cut in once she was on her feet, her brown eyes staring at him as she tried to control her shaky breath. "I know it's hard to except but,." She glanced around her as if she knew she were about to say too much. "Someone—someone will help you with this."

"What?" He lifted his head towards her just as Myoga pulled Inuyasha from his fingers, the warmth of the small body disappearing from his large cold one.

"She will," She whispered and tried desperately to smile, a look that seemed to beg him to realize it would be okay. "She will help you take—." She looked away, the expression on her face only described as shame. "Take away that mask."

"Why should I believe you?" He asked as Totosai grabbed her arm yanking her towards the habor down below.

"Izayoi-sama." He said her name hastily, knowing they needed to go and go now if they were going to make it out alive.

"Have I ever lied to you, Sesshoumaru?" She asked as she finally looked him directly in the eye, gold meeting honest brown.

-break-

The smell of smoke filled Sesshoumaru's nose as he walked slowly, methodically, down the worn out dirt path. The lord stopped from the scent and narrowed his eyes ever so slightly as he dared to inhale a little deeper. The smell was far too prevalent to simply be from a village's smoke house or even a personal fire. It was too thick to be anything but either a bonfire or a massacre. More than likely it was coming from a hut or even a village burning. Vaguely curious, Sesshoumaru tilted his chin upwards, his bright gold eyes looking subconsciously for a smoke trail in the sky. Oddly enough, he didn't see one but that didn't mean the smell was a phantom either.

"Strange." He told himself, speaking English only out of habit. After nearly two hundred years of being around the soldiers and generals who had overthrown his father's empire, he had learned to always speak in a language they didn't understand. "Even if it is just to myself."

He blinked slightly at the thought and started down the dirt path once more, heading in the direction of the scent of smoke even if he couldn't see where it was coming from. Underneath his feet, a few leaves crunched that shouldn't have been on the ground during summer. The fact that the leaves were on the ground and so dismally dry reminded him of his kingdom's current predicament. A lack of rain had left the area dry and susceptible to fire, which was the main reason he was out traveling instead of staying at home to take care of diplomatic affairs.

He had to insure that, should a fire break out, he could prevent it from spreading to the nearby human villages. It was part of his job to protect the entirety of the kingdom, even if the generals disagreed. "Bastards would sooner see a human die than risk ruining their clothes with soot." He snorted and shook his head, the very thought of such a thing disgusting him. After all, despite everything, Sesshoumaru was his father's son underneath his mask, a mask he hadn't taken off since the day he took his father's life. "Soon," He commented as he turned a corner, going around a bend in the road. "I'll kill—."

Sesshoumaru froze as a scream hit the air, a woman's scream no doubt. It echoed all around him before it was followed by a loud snarl that he knew to be a wolf: a demon wolf. The lord growled low in his throat. If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was demons that attacked innocent people simply because they could. He darted forward without another thought, his feet not even touching the ground as he followed the sound of that scream. Even though it had long since degenerated, it still was reverberating in his soul, telling him exactly where to go.

Within seconds he saw the sure sign of a smoke trail beginning to jump into the air above the trees, signaling him silently towards the now just as silent woman. His ears perked forward a little more on his head as more sounds began to enter the air. He could hear shuffling and cracking and snapping and people whooping and howling in triumph and, underneath all of those sounds, he could hear crying.

Drawing his face into a tight snarl, he sped up until he was moving at the speed of light. Everything around him became a blur—trees, leaves, dirt, birds, animals, all life disappeared from his vision except that one tiny trail of smoke that was growing with each second. It was becoming thicker and darker, more dangerous and the screams were growing with it. He rounded another bend in the road and froze momentarily as he took in the scene before him.

A temple complex, nestled amongst ancient trees was right in front of him; but, where peacefulness normally reigned, chaos had taken over. Goshinboku, covered in burning shimenawa ropes and paper shide, were bowing with the weight of smoke meant to poison them. The main arch leading into the sacred grounds was a lite with fire as well. Large sections of the arch's once beautiful red wood were falling to the ground, charred and blackened by the flames that consumed it.

A shrill scream filled the air and he darted forth through the burning archway instinctively. He didn't notice the burning temples or the large dormitory that was already completely razed to the ground by nothing but ash and a few unlucky bodies of its inhabitance. He didn't even see the monk who, on his knees, was praying to the kami of the temple, begging the creature to rescue them from the tragedy.

All Sesshoumaru truly acknowledged was that scream and the scent of blood that permeated the thick smoky air. Dodging a tree branch as it fell to the ground Sesshoumaru finally saw the force behind the shrine's destruction: a group of wolf demons. They were howling and laughing and speaking in their own tongue, saying things about raping and pillaging of humans that made Sesshoumaru sick. What appeared to be the leader was currently dragging the last of the miko's out of a tree in which she had apparently hidden herself. His sharp blue eyes glistened as he snarled at her and yanked her from the unnatural safety of the tree's burning branches. The sleeve of her white haori tore from the force and she fell, unable to control her body as it was forced from the branches, as the wolves hooted and hollered in triumph.

"Onegai!" She yelled as she kicked and screamed, trying to fight him off but the demon was stronger. The group laughed in her face as their leader tore at her clothes revealing her wrapped breast much to her horror. "Iya!" She screamed, the shrill voice the same one Sesshoumaru had heard almost a mile away.

Her scent hit his nose as he watched and his eyes widened in shock having not expected to ever smell that particular scent again.

"Hanyou." The wolf leader roared with laughter, his men following suit as the conversation shifted to the horrible things they would do to such a baser creature.

Tears sprang to her eyes from the words; even as a half dog demon, she was more than capable of understanding them. "Iya—onegai—iya—iya." She spoke the words slowly as if she were so traumatized that she could no longer scream. The wolf smirked at her in response as he dug his claws into her arm, yanking her up until her body pressed unwillingly against his own.

Unable to stop his feet (not that he would have made them stop) Sesshoumaru launched himself forward without a single world. He had seen enough.

His fist slammed into the wolf leader's face before the man or his brethren even had time to notice his scent on the wind. Within seconds the man's neck was covered with blood as Sesshoumaru's claws dug into his flash, hitting every major artery on either side of his neck. The demon gurgled up blood instantly, the color red staining his yellowish teeth as he dropped the girl. She screeched as she fell to her knees, the mangled body of the full blooded wolf dropping in front of her, dead.

Whipping his head around, Sesshoumaru didn't stop to witness her horror. Instead, he jumped forward and attacked the next closest demon to him. Within seconds the brut fell to the ground, his belly slit opened and his guts hanging out. The screams of the other wolf demons as they tried to escape filled the air as Sesshoumaru took them down one by one, ripping their stomachs or cutting the arteries in their necks and legs, whatever was closet and easiest to hit. The thick substance that drained from their bodies stained the ground, rolling down the slightly slanted stonework of the shrine's grounds.

The young woman, holding her haori closed around her body with shaking hands, looked away as death moans filled the air. She squeezed her eyes shut and began rocking back and forth as her breath came in giant gasps. "Onegai." She whispered to herself over and over again as her hands gradually released her clothes in favor of grasping at her hair, which was wet with the demon leader's blood.

And them, just as quickly as the screams of death had entered the air, they stopped replaced only by the hiss of fire from the shrine burning to the ground. Surprised, her head snapped up and her eyes popped back opened as she bit her lip. She was greeted by the sight of bodies and blood. She fell forward in response, landing on her hands as she looked at the utter carnage.

"Kami-sama." She whispered not knowing who else to actually ask for as she stared into the massacre looking towards the man who stood at its epicenter. His long silver hair wasn't even touched by the blood, although his fingers appeared to be coated with it. He was eyeing the bodies with fierce, terrifying eyes that made her hands shake just a little more.

Carefully, those eyes turned, coming to rest on her much to her own astonishment. "Daijoubu desu ka?" He asked as he lowered his hands towards the side of his once white clothes, which were now strained red.

"Hai." She whispered in return as she slowly pushed herself up to her feet not able to take her eyes off his stern, almost scary face. Part of her wondered if he had smelled her as the wolves had, recognizing what the humans of the temple had not. By the look on his face, she felt it was entirely possible.

He nodded in response and turned away from her as he surveyed the destroyed temple grounds. "There's no use saving it." He told himself as a beam from one of the main shrines fell with a giant influx of ash and cinders. "Better to just keep an eye and make sure the fire doesn't spread."

Not understanding his strange speech in the least, the girl took a step backwards blinking slowly as she dared to question him. "Nani?"

Sesshoumaru turned towards the sound of her voice, almost having forgotten that she was there at all. For the first time since he had entered the shrine, he actually looked at something deeply. She was a delicate thing, the baggy haori and hakama of her trade hiding the willow quality of her body underneath. He could just see it through the rip in her clothes: the etching of her collarbone and the delicate swell of her breast rising and falling as she breathed. She shifted uncomfortably, her long black hair falling in a cascading wave over her shoulder, like silk as the seamstress prepares to cut it. A little hand with short fingers and obviously filed claws reached up to catch it, bringing it behind one human ear as she blinked at him drawing his own golden eyes towards her large dark ones. Her choppy bangs nearly covered the chestnut color of those irises as well as thin eyelashes that were still blurred with the evidence of tears.

She opened her mouth, attracting his eyes towards her thin soft lips and he felt his heart actually contract in his chest. "She's gorgeous." He thought as the mask on his face faltered showing her his every feeling for just one brief, short second.

Her eyes widened as a rush of emotion hit her square in the stomach, his every thought and feeling bombarding her untrained mind. As quickly as the chaotic thoughts had entered her though, she controlled them, collecting them and sorting them until a pleasant calm burrowed its way into her soul.

A slight smile formed on her face and those tears stained eyes softened with understanding as she bowed her head a little. "Arigato." She thanked him and glanced up at him through her lashes, the smile so charming that he forgot to put his mask back on.

He smiled awkwardly and shifted his weight slightly from side to side before clearing his throat and straightening in embarrassment.

She laughed, a little chime of a sound escaping her throat, the sound particularly strange as they stood amongst the remnants of so many deaths. "Ano," Her voice was so delicate and so gentle that it made his heart swell. "Rin desu." She pointed at herself as the short simple name left her mouth.

"Sesshoumaru." He replied back watching as her eyes acknowledged the name without surprise making him wince. Every human and demon of all ages knew who he was once the name left his lips and usually they fell to the ground and graveled in response. This girl, however, only smiled, the expression awakening something within him, deep within his soul.

"You'll take it off one day—I promise you will—someone will help you."

The distant memory of his father's dying words hit him in the stomach and he faltered, unable to speak as he watched her tilt her head to the side in the most adorable way possible. "Was he—did he really mean that?" He asked himself as the girl took a tentative step forward, coming towards him without an ounce of fear in her eyes. "Did he know something I don't—about the mask—did Izayoi know?"

She stopped just inches in front of him her face, despite the dirt and grime that coated it, angelic. "Sesshoumaru—," She spoke his name as if it was the single most precious word in the entire world. "Sama." She laughed as she added the honorific, as if adding it were wrong but not because he wasn't supposed to have power. "Arigato." She repeated her thanks again and bowed her head but nowhere near as low as a commoner should to a lord.

Oddly enough, the action didn't anger Sesshoumaru in the least; instead, it made him feel, for the first time in years, truly alive.

-Present-

A cold breeze made the hair on the back of Inuyasha's neck stand on end as Sesshoumaru's voice faded into the night. He felt dizzy as thoughts jumped in and out of his head. There were so many things to focus on and think of but all he could hear, over and over again in his head, was the prophetic realization that he was going to die. Nothing else in the whole of the conversation mattered after that had been revealed. The very thought rang in the air, consuming him with its pure hostility. It seemed downright unbelievable. Every word his brother had spoken had to be a lie, it just had to be. Slowly, he raised his head and looked at the slightly shorter man who was now sitting on his knees beside the giant tree, his chin held up high and his eyes diverted away from Inuyasha towards some unknown sight.

Beside him, Rin raised a comforting hand towards her husband's back, gently resting it on one of his shoulder blades as she tried to catch his eye but Sesshoumnaru didn't even glance at her, it was almost as if he couldn't. She sighed in response to his inaction and much to Inuyasha's surprise moved her hand away from his back and towards his face. Gingerly, she moved his bangs from his eyes and released a tiny growl that caught Sesshoumaru's attention finally. The man's eyes turned ever so slowly towards her and the mask he wore constantly faded at the sight of her.

Now exposed, Inuyasha could see in Sesshoumaru's face true pain that the man could not hide from Rin. "Just like Otou-san told him—he would find someone to help him remove the mask." Inuyasha shook his head as he realized what he was actually thinking and growled. "If that's true—then—no." He told himself forcing himself not to believe in Sesshoumaru's story. Part of him just couldn't let himself believe it because believing it was just too hard to do. "It's a lie." He pushed the words out of his mouth as he stared at them, still standing because he was not willing to sit in their presence. His words echoed through the clearing loudly and he noticed when Sesshoumaru's ears twitched in response to them.

"Use your nose," The older man told him as he looked at Inuyasha just out of the corner of his haunted eyes. "I know you can smell lies."

Inuyasha's ears went back on his head hating the fact that he knew Sesshoumaru was correct. His father had even been the one to teach him the ability, pointing out how the tiniest fluctuation in the scent of a person's sweat was a good indicator of a lie. Still, Sesshoumaru's own lack of sweat didn't mean that he was telling the truth. Perhaps, Sesshoumaru was particularly good at lying? "I refuse to believe it." He told the man as he stretched his memory trying to find any little shred of remembrance that could contradict his brother. "I mean—some things in your story just didn't happen." He licked his lips as he tried to think of an example not allowing himself time to realize that he was being desperate. "I don't remember there being a man there when you—in the cherry orchard—when you said I wasn't worth the air I breathed—there wasn't a man."

"You were two." Sesshoumaru spoke calmly, his mask in place it seemed, or better yet, the weight of the truth being off his chest making it far easier to maintain calm. "Who remembers things clearly when they're two?"

"Me!" Inuyasha fired back hotly even though he knew Sesshoumaru was right. If he had only been two at the time then there was a pretty good chance he didn't actually remember the incident exactly as it had happened. "And—," He struggled to find more that was flawed about Sesshoumaru's tale. "You said that you knew about Kagome, according to your story you knew nothing!"

"Chichiue left me a few—letters—a jounral," Sesshoumaru explained carefully as he closed his eyes as if asking for patients. "He buried them in secret and instructed me to dig them up once the generals were assassinated." The dog lord opened his eyes slowly, glancing at his younger brother with deep regret hovering over his whole body. "They informed me of everything else—things he didn't want anyone to know for your protection."

Inuyasha shook his head and looked away from his brother, disbelief clouding all judgment he could make. "What the fuck?"

"Inuyasha." Rin began as she dropped her hand to her husband's shoulder giving it a slight almost unnoticeable squeeze. "I know it's hard to take this all in—."

"That's putting it mildly!" Inuyasha actually laughed uncomfortably, the sound unnecessarily loud and almost hysterical. "You just told me that everything I've ever known is a lie and—," He drug out the word as if it was actually physically painful to say. "My mother sentenced me to death."

"Why do you think Myoga and Totosai were trying so hard to keep you away from here?" Sesshoumaru looked at his brother, attempting to maintain firm eye contact but Inuyasha looked away. "I asked them to try to keep you away. I thought if you stayed away fate would be beaten." He growled low in his throat and his hands tightened into fist. "Totosai won't even set foot here because he's so angry that you were drawn back."

"Well that's rich," Inuyasha rolled his eyes sarcastically even as a small voice inside of him began to understand that Sesshoumaru for all intents and pretenses was not lying. "You were trying to prevent it?" The younger dog demon nodded his head almost as if he were willing to accept Sesshoumaru's words as truth. "Last time I checked," He narrowed his eyes and sent his brother a completely crazed smile. "You sent Kagura to bring me," He pointed at the ground and laughed deliberately. "Here."

"I did." Sesshoumaru brought a hand up to his head and rubbed at his temples slightly. "But—that's because of fate—I did what fate wanted and I hoped," He stopped talking for a moment as if he were thinking about how to phrase his sentence diplomatically. "I hoped you would change it, since you knew nothing about it and you hated me—I hoped that hate would save you—that not knowing would help you change fate."

"How can I change something I'm not aware of?" Inuyasha pointed out as he resisted the urge to strangle his older brother. In fact the only thing preventing such an action was Tetsusiaga in his hand. "Only because I'd have to drop it to get both hands around his neck properly." He grumbled to himself and closed his eyes to try to regain control of his homicidal tendencies. "You sentenced me to death." He told his brother, his own mask in place revealing barely concealed anger.

"No Inuyasha—."

"Then who?" The younger brother cut off the older before the man could hope to get a word in. "Okaa-sama and Otou-sama?"

For several seconds Seshsoumaru didn't say anything, looking almost as if he truly believed they had been the ones to arrange this travesty. When he opened his mouth, however, his words didn't confirm that thought. "No, Ototou," He raised his head up, sending Inuyasha an apologetic smile. "Fate did."

The words struck Inuyasha straight in the chest and he felt his heart palpitate in a strange, painful way. Deep down, he knew Sesshoumaru was speaking the truth, he even remembered parts of his childhood a little bit clearer after hearing the story. He remembered asking his father about Sesshoumaru's behavior and he remembered being told that it was 'mask;' although, at the time, he hadn't understood what that meant.

Closing his eyes, the young dog demon felt his legs finally give out from underneath himself. He hit the ground with a thud, landing on his ass with his knees bent in front of him and his toes gripping into the ground. Undaunted, an image of Kagome jumped up onto the back of his eyelids. A green dress with no stay, bright grey eyes, and long multi-colored hair danced in the darkness of his vision. This was the Kagome Dresmont of the past who had known him only as a masquerading character: Captain James Smith. He had shown her a mask and when he had finally taken it off she had accepted it.

"Eventually." He thought to himself as he smiled for no reason other than the beauty of his memories with her. The way she had yelled at him, her cheeks flushed and her breast heaving, she had smelled of fright but she hadn't let her face contain the emotion. "It took a lot of guts to put on that mask—." He laughed, the sound strange to the two people across from him. "We all wear mask—don't we? Every fucking person in the world hides themselves—until nobody knows what anybody really looks like anymore." He looked up, his eyes disguising his own pain, albeit poorly. "You got yours on too Rin?"

"No but I had one once." Rin answered softly, seeing the pain in Inuyasha's eyes even as he tried to cover it up. "I try not to wear one anymore."

"How noble of you." Inuyasha hunched a bit the sarcasm dripping off his tongue as he looked at the ground. A few twigs were sitting at his feet, bowing together as if to form some unknown shape. In his mind, against his very will, they morphed until all he could see was the curve of an eye and the color grey. Shaking his head, he leaned backwards and threw one hand over his eyes as he held back a growl. "What," He pulled his hand away from his face and looked up at the star filled sky. "—what—do we do?" He finally asked as he turned his face away from the twinkling lights and towards Rin, trusting in her to know the answers. "How do we change this shit?"

"You can't." She replied back for her and Sesshoumaru both, her voice an honest apology. "Fate isn't changed—you can't stop it, you can't even slow it—we tried—we tried so hard but you're—you're still here." She looked down at the ground, her eyes landing on a blade of grass that was peeking up from the soil. "Fate will grow and grow like a seed until it becomes a tree that towers over you."

"But you can stop a plant," Inuyasha protested as he refused to believe in the analogy. "You can deny it water and sun—hell you can rip it out of the bloody ground!"

"Not the best metaphor I suppose." Rin tried to smile as she glanced up at the sky looking upwards at the beautiful shinning moon. "A better one would be the moon."

Inuyasha looked up as well, his heart sinking and sinking until he was sure it had fled his body.

"Every day without fail it comes to life when the sun disappears." She reached up a hand forming it into a tight 'C' shape that she used to cup the moon in her hand. "We cannot change that or alter it." She brought up the other hand, completing the circle of the moon even though it was waning and thus half covered in black. "We as mortal creatures do not have that ability." She closed her eyes as she allowed her hands to drop until they touched Sesshoumaru's shoulders again. "We can't stop it from happening—just like we can't stop the moon from disappearing when the sun hits the sky."

"Sometimes you see the moon in daylight." He tried feebly once more, his voice quiet as he stared at the foreboding moon above his head.

"And we can't control that either." She amended as she looked at her husband who had put his mask back on once more, hiding the pain she could feel resting deep within his soul.

Inuyasha took a shaky breath and looked towards Rin, wanting to see the woman's face. Her long hair was draped over her shoulders not tied in any way, shape, or form. Her brown eyes were staring back at him with turbulent softness that made him feel small. There was an odd combination of wildness and gentleness about Rin that reminded him of his mother. Maybe it was the fact that she had the undeniable scent of a mother. He had never really thought of it but any woman he knew with children had a specific addition to their scent. A soft vanilla smell that made you feel calm even when your world was slowly falling apart.

"If we can't control our fate," He asked her before he could stop himself. "Then what can we control?"

She looked down at the ground once more, those chocolate eyes filling with an emotion he was not able to identify. "Only our," She paused and tilted her chin upwards slightly to look at him. "Ability to accept it—to accept fate."

Inuyasha felt like running away from his fate but he had no idea where to run to, only what he was running from. "I need Kagome." He told himself as the sick realization of knowing this truth made him nauseous. "Where are you Kagome?" He looked up at the sky, the stars becoming a little harder to see, daybreak was on its way. "And—," He searched those stars as if searching for an answer to a question he did not know. "How am I going to tell you?"

-break-

Kagome walked behind Izayoi through a giant field some five hundred feet away from Goshinboku and Inutaisho who had been forced to stay behind because of his connection to the tree. Apparently, he could never leave, his soul anchored permanently. At best, he could move between other such barriers throughout both worlds but they were few are far between. The thought of such a thing has struck Kagome as quite unfair but she kept her mouth shut about such things, it wouldn't do to question her mother-in-law.

The wind picked up around them making the stalks of wheat bend to its will. Her grey eyes fluttered downwards from the sight, the endless fields all seeming to bow towards some unknown king as she gazed at them. She closed her eyes against the sight, the wind blowing a little harder until it sounded like the ocean as it pushed its way amongst the long stems, leaves, and seeds. Breathing in the warm scent of fresh, clean air, she smiled reaching out with her fingertips to touch the tips of gold.

They were coarse against her fingers and her eyes flickered open in response. Instantly, her vision was filled with nothing but gold, the sight making her heart stop and her feet as well. It was beautiful, the color of honey and sunsets and fire all at once. "Inuyasha." She barely whispered the name as her lip trembled ever so slightly. "It's the same color as your eyes." She inhaled shakily and pursed her lips as she imagined his intense gaze focused directly on her. A shiver ran up her spin and she closed her eyes pretending that the wheat against her fingers was instead his hand.

In front of her Izayoi stopped and turned to glance just over her shoulder at the younger girl. "Kagome." She spoke firmly, the name as much a call as a command.

Kagome's eyes snapped opened at the forceful nature of the call and she blushed, hating to have been caught thinking about the woman's son in such a way. "Sorry." She apologized carefully and dropped her hands away from the wheat forcing the thought of Inuyasha from her mind. In her heart, however, she still felt a tug, an inevitable loneliness that she could explain all too well. "I miss him. I wonder—how long I've been gone—it's hard to tell." She inhaled deeply and raised her head to the sky, her eyes looking up at the clouds far above her head.

"Izayoi," She shifted uneasily in her stride as she spoke. "How long have I been in this realm?"

The older woman shrugged slightly as she seemed to glide through the field instead of walk. "It's hard to say." Izayoi began to speak as they started walking again. "You'll find that time moves differently within this world."

Hurrying to catch up to her teacher, Kagome pushed through the wheat until she was walking shoulder to shoulder with the other woman. "How so?"

"Miko's control time in this world." Izayoi held up her hand and the light above them instantly dimmed, the sun replaced expertly by the moon. "In this case, I control it."

Kagome froze in her amazement, her jaw practically dropping to her chest.

"I decide when it is day," Izayoi dropped her hands, the light coming back as if someone had simply lite it once more. "When it is night." She looked towards Kagome sending the girl a soft smile. "I also decide how much time will pass in the earthly realm while we are here."

"So you," Kagome looked down at the dirt below her feet, seeing it and yet not at the same time. "You decide how long I'm gone?"

"I can make it where an hour in the earthly realms," Izayoi explained gingerly as she began to walk once more, motioning towards Kagome to follow. "Is an hour here or I can make an hour last a year or even a second—I control it all."

"Okay," Kagome nodded as the wind picked up again, the wheat stalks once more bending to the unseen hand's will. "So, you can make it to where almost no time passes back home?"

"Within reason." Izayoi shrugged trying not to dwell too much on the thought of what waited for Kagome back home.

"So they won't realize I'm gone?"

"I'm sure they'll know," Izayoi felt her heart tighten in her chest at the thought of her son panicking without his mate. "But—I'll make it to where you're not gone too terribly long." She closed her eyes as she imagined his every panicked feature, feeling as if she deserved that pain far more than he. "It will seem long to you but for them—," She opened her eyes and forced the thought out of her head. It wouldn't do her any good anyway, she could not go back to warn them or tell them. "I don't have the strength to train both Kagome and enter that realm. Still—," She bit her lip hating her own weakness in this case. "I'm thinking no more than a night."

"Thank goodness." Kagome sighed as she raised a hand up to her heart and rubbed at the ache that had formed there. Even though it would be hard to stay away from the people she loved, she was glad they wouldn't experience the same pain.

Dropping her hand down, Kagome eyed the path in front of them. The wheat was thinning slightly revealing a trail that seemed to lead towards a clearing. The stalks were bent, almost as if they had been pushed down by some invisible force, broken at the base and trampled until they no longer stood. Izayoi's stride slowed as they entered the clearing, the woman's tranquil eyes appearing ever so slightly distressed as she looked at the large section of beaten plants.

"The world often beats us." She whispered as she bent down and brushed her hand over the top of the crumbled gold. "It pushes us and breaks us—snapping us in half." She continued as she touched one of the stalks at the point where it had been broken. Her hand instantly started to glow as she made contact with it, a soft gentle blue light shimmering from her fingertips. "It is every Miko's gift, at least to some degree, to be able to help those who have fallen," She smiled sweetly as the plant began to straighten, the broken section of its stem healing from her touch. "And pick them back up." She removed her hand from the plant, the lone stalk of wheat tall and proud as it hovered above the other broken ones.

"I can do that?" Kagome whispered, not quite believing what she had just seen was possible outside of this particular place.

"You Kagome," Izayoi pushed herself back up from the ground, wiping her hands on her skirt. "Do this naturally."

Kagome blinked in response to Izayoi's words but didn't say anything, she knew they were true. Kagome had always been able to heal, to purify as it were, just as Izayoi had demonstrated. She merely needed guidance for it to happen. "As long as they were helping me—it was easy—natural."

"What you do not do naturally," Izayoi's voice was tight as she spoke, an almost tortured quality seeming to jump into her throat as she pulled her hand up above the now tall plant. "Is the opposite." Her fingertips glowed once more, a deep purple that didn't look all too deadly just somehow darker.

Her hand widened until each finger was as far apart as it could be from its counterparts. She inhaled deeply as a supernatural wind began to press against her body making her clothes and hair dance. She closed her eyes against that breeze and with one last deep breath drew her hand into a hasty fist that made her knuckles pop. Kagome gasped from the sound as the very life seemed to be sucked out of the plant in an instant. The once golden stalk turned black in front of her grey eyes before disintegrating into nothing but ash.

"I know you are capable," Izayoi dropped her hand not bothering to even comment on the vacant space before them. "You did it to Manten."

Kagome shook her head once up and down acknowledging the truth in Izayoi's words even if she couldn't speak on them.

"I know it killed you to do it," Her voice was apologetic, almost so much so that it seemed she was apologizing for something far greater than simply what she was forcing Kagome to learn. "But this is exactly what you must do to Naraku."

A deep dark feeling built in Kagome's heart at the words and she inhaled sharply. "Are you sure," She spoke quietly as the breeze around them picked up blowing her bangs into her eyes. "This is the only way?"

"I know it is." Izayoi didn't expand on her statement and didn't look Kagome in the eye either. "I will teach you how to control this energy with your bow." She stared at the place on the ground where the ashes of the wheat were now blowing in the wind, disappearing. "I will teach you how to create quicker and better barriers to protect those around." She raised her chin as the last of the ash vanished into the air. "I will teach you to heal better than you ever believed yourself capable." She turned deliberately, sharply towards Kagome. "I will teach you how to block out every thought and every feeling you might here, I will teach you how to hear every thought and every feeling that might pop up around you." She stared at Kagome seeming to reach for her very soul with her eyes. "I will teach you how to make your opponent fall to their knees and beg."

Kagome stepped back at the very suggestion, never having thought that she would ever need to learn such things.

"I will teach you how to turn a man to ash." Izayoi continued as she stared Kagome down, her brown eyes fixed and determined. "I will teach you how to be a complete miko, Kagome: both a healer and a warrior." She punctured the last word as if she wanted Kagome to remember the sound of it. "It will feel like years to you—even though this will only take but hours in the earthly realm." She brought her hands in front of her body, Kagome's bow seeming to materialize in front of her like magic. "Take it."

Kagome heard the command but couldn't help but hesitate as she stared at the red wood with wide doe eyes. It looked exactly as it always had: the curve of red tarnished where her fingers had gripped it often and the lack of string a screaming sign that it was either neglected or purposed in a way only she could understand. Despite its looks, however, Kagome could feel something different from it, a danger that rested just under the surface.

Her gut tightened and for a moment she thought to not extend her hand to take it but a will she couldn't quite control pushed her. Almost against her will she reached out, her fingers extending, pulsing as she felt the power deep inside of her begin to grow. It swirled and jumped in anticipation, as if it realized what touching this object meant.

With a strangled gasp, Kagome's fingers connected with the wood, the power in her stomach exploding through the veins in her arms. Pink and white and blue exploded forth, washing over the bow's wood with a bright blinding luminescence. It wrapped itself around both Izayoi and Kagome, draping them in a blanket of Kagome's power. Both women starred at the bow taking in the sight of energy accumulating until the brightness grew too great to look at blinding them with its brilliance.

"See Kagome." Izayoi spoke even though neither woman could see the other through the energy around them. "With this much power—you can be it all."

Kagome didn't respond as she stared at the energy all around her not believing for a second it was her own, even though it truly was. "Am I really this powerful?" She questioned herself as she closed her eyes against that piercing white blue glow. "What do you even do with power like this?" The thought swirled in her brain, precariously washing over her soul.

Hearing Kagome's thoughts as if they were her own, Izayoi smiled and bluntly provided the truest of answers. "You change the world."

Kagome's eyes widened as she took in Izayoi's answer, her hands shook and her grip on the bow tightened. She looked away from Izayoi and towards the wood in her hand as her power wrapped around them flowing faster and faster until they were practically covered in a vortex of the energy. "Can I really—," She felt her heart tighten dangerously in her chest. "Can I really change it?"

"Kagome," Izayoi reached for her chin grasping it tightly between her fingers. "Don't you see?" She looked deep into those grey eyes as the power warmed her to her very core. "You're the only one who can."

Kagome's power instantly fell away as she was filled with Izayoi's words, the energy coming from the bow halting as if it had been frozen. "I can't be that important." She thought even as she felt her energy swirl within her stomach, the power behind it so great that she knew it had to be undeniably extraordinary. "I can't be the only one, can I?"

"If you don't kill Naraku," Izayoi continued as she dropped her hands from Kagome's face, placing all her faith in the power of her words. "There will be no one who can."

"What about—," Kagome looked at her mother-in-law dead in the eye, searching for a truth she could not see. "Inuyasha?"

The older woman shook her head, pain forming in her chestnuts eyes as she blatantly looked away from Kagome. "He isn't capable." She answered in what seemed to be an honest voice. "He's strong and with Tetsusaiga he'll be near invincible, but—," She closed her eyes and tilted her head to the ground. "The jewel is so deeply intertwined with Naraku's soul that his body can only be destroyed by destroying the jewel within him," Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at Kagome, the obvious height difference between the two women apparent as Izayoi looked up into the taller Kagome's face. "Inuyasha can only destroy his body—which isn't enough."

"So," Kagome bit the inside of her cheek and inhaled slowly. "I have no choice?"

"No." Izayoi spoke the word as if it were a curse, the blunt quality of it making Kagome lift her head quickly in bewilderment. "This is your fate Kagome," She spared nothing in telling Kagome that truth. "You have no choice but to accept it."

"Then," Kagome looked at her, her bright grey eyes shining, prepared. "I guess I have to."

"Excellent," Izayoi smiled at her as if pleased not just with Kagome but with herself. "Then, the first order of business," The older woman told her as turned away from Kagome motioning for the younger girl to follow. "Is to acquaint you with your guide."

"My what?" Kagome raised an eyebrow as she followed, stepping over the trampled wheat without really hearing the telltale crunching of it underneath her bear toes.

"Your guide." Izayoi repeated as they approached the edge of the ring. "Every miko has one, even though most no longer ever meet them."

Kagome shook her head as she tried to comprehend what the woman was saying. "I have a guide?" She motioned towards herself just as she noticed a slight incline in their steps, as if they were now walking up a hill. "I thought you were my guide."

"I," Izayoi spoke without turning around, her eyes focused on their destination. "Am your master; there is a difference."

"Okay?" Kagome lifted an eyebrow as she attempted to wrap her mind around this new concept. "What's the difference?"

Izayoi stopped suddenly in front of her and glanced over her shoulder, sending Kagome a strange thin smile. "See for yourself." She spoke nimbly as she opened her arms up pointing upwards.

Instantly, Kagome's eyes followed looking up at the sky where she saw nothing. "I don't see anything."

"Look closer."

Kagome's lip twitched from the command but she obeyed, squinting as she tried to see what Izayoi wanted her to see. The outline of shapes caught her attention and she froze. "What is that?" She wondered out loud as the fuzzy shapes grew closer and closer.

Beside her Izayoi dropped her hand and looked up as well, studying the fuzzy images herself. "One of those," She explained as the fuzzy shapes began to grow clear, coming close enough that their bodies now had discernible outlines. "Is your guide."

Kagome stepped back in shock as hundreds of gigantic beast finally descended low enough for her to see. They were musing the clouds just above her head. Fur of every color coated their bodies from brown and auburn to black and even pure clean white slashed with grey. Thick double tails twitched and intertwined as they brushed against each other seeming to nuzzle their friends absently as they flew.

Their paws burned with bright flame as they galloped propelling themselves through the sky. They opened their mouths, a tremendous group roar filling the air as their long fangs shone in the sun with epic brilliance. The faces of the beast turned suddenly and looked down towards the two women as their roar died. A strange intelligent certainty gleamed in their eyes and they descended as one, moving just a little closer to the ground as if to get a better look. Kagome felt her heart race at the sight of their glowing eyes, each creature's irises different in color than its brethren.

"What are they?" Kagome managed to whisper as she stared back at them the golds and blues and browns and greens and even reds of their eyes haunting.

"They're called Nekomata in Nihon-go or, in English, the best translation is—well—cat with two tails—kind of." Izayoi explained as the herd suddenly looked away from them as if uninterested. "They are a part of us." She smiled as the cats roared suddenly, the wind picking up in the wheat stalks.

Kagome watched as the creatures all turned their heads upwards as they used the breeze to pull their bodies higher, soaring as high as they possibly could. "How?"

"These creatures are the other half of our souls," Izayoi spoke slowly her words making Kagome knit her eyebrows together. "They are what connect us to our power and this realm." She motioned towards the creatures with the tips of her fingers. "When a miko is born on earth a nekomata is born here." Izayoi continued as she watched the creatures begin to descend a little farther, coming towards the ground. "They will live as long as we live—with our birth they are born and with our death they join with us once more and thus, die." Izayoi nodded her head as she started walking higher up the little incline of a hill, following the creatures towards their final landing point. "But most mikos no longer know about these beasts."

"How come?" Kagome questioned as she followed Izayoi up the slight incline, the nekomata disappearing on the other side of the hill as they most likely landed.

"Less mikos are being born," Izayoi explained calmly as they continued up the hill. "And the ones who are born—well—they're not trained." She shrugged slightly and glanced back at Kagome with a slight smile as she came to stand at the top of the hill Kagome a good five or ten feet behind her. "Just look at the size of the herd."

Hurrying her steps Kagome practically jumped the last few feet towards the top of the hill, her eyes widening as the world beyond the wheat fields came into view. A valley, teeming with flowers and trees and bright green grass and a river with water so clear she could see the fish swimming in it from here, laid below her feet. The giant beasts were perched about the river, playing in the stream as they took in their fill of water. "Wow." Kagome whispered amazed at the beauty of this place and of the creatures that lived within it.

"Long ago, on her eighteenth birthday," Izayoi began as she took looked down the hill, laughing as some of the youngest nekomata began to play fight in the water. "A miko—or priestess—depending on where she was in the world, would be taught to summon her spiritual half by the other mikos of her temple." She laughed as one of the adults seemed to become feed up with the little kittens play, batting at them with a large paw as she grumbled. "But—we've lost that ability." She smiled sadly at Kagome as the girl looked at her with surprise. "In the past two hundred years; I have not seen one nekomata leave this place except in death."

Kagome blinked with surprise as she looked back at the creatures uncertainly. "Not one?"

"Not one." Izayoi shook her head and motioned for Kagome to follow her as she began her descent down the hill. "The herd's even smaller than the last time I saw it." She commented almost to herself as she continued to make her way down the little hill, dodging rocks as they seemed to surface magically from the ground.

Surprised by the comment, Kagome looked out over the herd trying to count them the best she could but it seemed to be an impossible task (mainly because they didn't seem to be able to stand still for more than a few seconds; especially the younger ones). "It seems like there's so many."

"Five-hundred and forty-eight." Izayoi supplied as if it hadn't taken her any thought at all the figure out how many there were.

"How the hell did she do that?" Kagome wondered and then tried to block out the thought so Izayoi wouldn't hear it in her own head. "Probably useless to even try." She thought dryly as Izayoi sent her an obviously amused look.

"If there are only five-hundred and forty-eight of them," She continued on not bothering to answer Kagome's question even if she had heard it. "Then that means there are only five-hundred and forty-eight miko's in the world right now."

"That seems like I lot." Kagome breathed in deeply barely able to comprehend that there were more people like her in the world. "There're more people who understand me—like Rin."

"It seems like a lot." The older miko came to a stop as she spoke, looking out over the field as they stood only two hundred yards or so away from the herd. "When I first died though—there were thousands and thousands." She smiled as one of the beast lifted its head up and looked at them, it bright green eyes filled with pure feline curiosity. "Sad really—but the truth." She looked towards Kagome as she buried her hands in the sleeves of her clothes, hiding them. "They're a part of us, you see Kagome—without them, we would have no power."

"They're the source of our power." Kagome felt humbled knowing that these creatures were the reason she could feel a swirl of energy in her stomach. "Without them—I'd be dead—we'd all be dead."

"And today," Izayoi closed her eyes and smiled so brightly that the expression caught Kagome off guard. "You," She pointed towards Kagome with her eyes still closed. "Will meet the one who was born with you—the other half of your soul."

Kagome's mouth fell opened in amazement as she stared at her mother-in-law. "Seriously?" Her head snapped towards the herd, looking at every beast with complete wonder. "I have one?"

Izayoi raised an eyebrow and watched as realization dawned on Kagome's face as the girl realized what she had just said.

"I mean," Kagome laughed nervously and brought a hand up to rub at the back of her head. "Of course—I—have one—." She laughed again and Izayoi shook her head trying to appear unfazed by Kagome's momentary lose of brain activity.

"Once you find her—we will start the training, both of you together." She spoke as if the little incident had never happened. "If you are trained together you will be far more powerful and—we won't have to worry about you summoning her in the other realm, it should just become natural."

"Okay," Kagome nodded her head once sharply, trying to show her determination as she looked out across the herd with striking eyes. "So how do I find mine?"

Izayoi cleared her throat and closed her eyes, her whole body looking controlled and calm and superior. "I have no idea."

"What?" Kagome lurched forward, nearly falling face first on the ground as she looked towards the woman with her mouth wide opened.

"I was never really trained either." She offered up with a slight cough in her hand. "Being raised by demons and all—miko training wasn't a priority.

"And you're my master because—," The younger girl felt her shoulder hunch at the thought as she stared at the older woman. "That's just my luck." Kagome groaned and covered her face in her hands as Izayoi hummed innocently. "What the hell am I supposed to do?"

"In the words of my father," The older woman shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest in a way that reminded Kagome all too much of Inuyasha. "Figure it out."

"Remind me to thank Eion for making you—," She grumbled and narrowed her eyes at the woman who merely smirked in return, the look mirroring her son as well. "So helpful."

"Glad to be of service." She told Kagome as she bowed almost mockingly making Kagome's eye twitch.

"Best service of my life." Kagome huffed as she tore her eyes away from the woman and looked out towards the herd.

Even though she knew there was less than six hundred of the nekomata, she felt like there were thousands and all of different colors and sizes. There were little ones flying playfully among the older ones. Their little roars were like kitten's mews as they jumped on the backs of their elders, nipping at ears and tails as the older one's growled in a sweet warning sort of way. There were teenagers it seemed, grooming each other or rolling on the ground, their slightly smaller than full grown bodies appearing lazy as they stretched in the sun. There were old ones as well, their fur not quite as brilliant as the older one's but their bodies somehow sturdy as they gently nosed the grass, eating it for perhaps upset stomachs.

Kagome took a deep breath and glanced back at Izayoi who was sitting on the ground now, watching her with reassuring and unworried eyes. "She thinks I can do this." The young miko told herself as she inhaled slightly and nodded her head as if to reassure herself. "So," She lifted her head towards the herd as she tried to steady her irregular heartbeat. "I have to believe I can." She spoke the words out loud, some of the nearby nekomata glancing at her as if she were crazy. "Which I must be—I have to be." She told herself as she stepped forward, towards the herd of sharp fanged beast.

She felt dwarfed by their size as she stepped into the giant mass of them. She was tiny in comparison and, vaguely, she noted even Inuyasha would have been next to these creators as well. The thought of him made her heart twang but she pushed the pain aside as she studied the creatures. Some were brown, a beautiful color in the sun, like a deep dark honey. She saw others that were almost red, their fur appearing to be on fire like their paws. She saw one that even seemed to be blue, its fur shifting between a green and skylark kind of color that made her blink twice as if her eyes couldn't quite believe the color possible.

A soft meow nearly made her jump out of her skin and she turned in complete surprise towards a little beast that had leopard like spots dotting its back. It looked up at her with large amber eyes that seemed filled with mischief. "Hello." She whispered and it meowed in return before its ears suddenly went back without warning.

Kagome stepped back startled by the obvious sign of agitation but before she could feel any fear another small nekomata appeared from out of nowhere. The little creator, covered in what seemed to be albino tiger stripes jumped the leopard spotted kitten and the two tumbled through the grass, clawing and biting as they played. She laughed as they ran into a larger adult that was pure black, the older cat seeming to grumble as it looked at them and sighed. After only a moment though the kittens moved on, playing a game of what appeared to be tag.

The older cat followed their movements with her eyes before turning them towards Kagome unexpectantly. The young girl blinked in surprise as she found herself staring into the creature's brown eyes, the color so familiar that Kagome felt as if she were looking at someone she knew. "They are connected to a miko in the earthly realm—maybe this is a miko I know?" She thought as the large cat yawned and dropped its head back to the ground, its tail curling around its face as it abruptly went to sleep. "You remind me of Rin—." Her eyes became like saucers as the thought filled her. "Could it be?"

A roar from her right made her jump and flinch, her heart racing in her chest as she turned towards another beast. Bright blue eyes, the color of the sea stared back at her and she felt her heart sink into her stomach as she tried to breath. The creature's fur was white, so white that it almost looked silver as it stared at her, seeming to see every part of her. On its forehead a little black star shimmered against the sunlight, the color seeming to sparkle in such an impossible way that Kagome found herself dumbstruck.

"I—," the word barely left her mouth as she felt her heart clench tightly in her chest, her lip wobbling as those blue eyes seemed to turn soft. "I know those eyes." She heard the words in her head as if they were screamed directly in her ear.

The beast blinked slowly and stepped towards her, taking dainty perfect steps that made Kagome feel inadequate and yet, perfectly at home.

"I know you." She whispered as the animal grew closer, those blue eyes shining with love that seemed impossible. "Mama?"

The nekomata growled softly and leaned its large head forehead forward, touching the black star on its temple to the crown of Kagome's head. Tears sprang to Kagome's eyes and she instantly wrapped her arms around the creature as the truth hit her hard.

"I knew it." She whispered as the sudden sound of footsteps hit her ears. "She—Mama was—just like me." Kagome pulled away from the creature slowly, petting its neck as she looked at her master. "She just wasn't trained—and that's—?"

"Mama, Est-ce que Vous aimez la mer?"

Kagome heard the foreign words in her mind and for the first time recognized them for what they were. "I asked her if she loved the sea." She told the beast who looked at her intelligently, seeming to nod. "When I was a little girl—she didn't answer me until—just months ago—a year."

"I never 'ad an answer for you," Elizabeth cut her off as she pulled her eyes away from the picture and looked instead at her daughter. "I do," She finally told her daughter the truth. "I really do love ze sea." She watched as Kagome's eyes knitted with confusion, her daughter's head shaking back and forth, not able to comprehend her mother's admission. "I love it more zan anything."

"It was at that moment that I realized," She looked deeply into the beautiful blue eyes she had always admired. "My mother and I weren't so different—I just wish," She felt a little sob jump up in her throat. "That I had realized how similar we really were before all this happened." She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around the neck of the great cat, hugging her as if she were actually hugging her mother. "I'm sorry—Mama."

"Your mother, Rin—," Izayoi'e voice entered the small world making Kagome's eyes snap open. "So many women whose options are limited," She told Kagome as the girl held onto the other half of her mother's soul (the half that had never come to be). "The directions for their life mapped for them."

"But?" Kagome shook her head, her eyes turning towards the dark nekomata that she was now certain belonged to Rin. "Rin's life isn't mapped?"

Izayoi smiled slightly in Kagome's mind's eye before responding. "It isn't, you're right." She admitted as Kagome's fingers began to slide off the neck of the large cat. "The temple Rin was trained in burned down before she learned to summon—so she lost the ability."

Feeling almost sick to her stomach, Kagome raised a hand up towards her brow where sweat was beginning to collect. "Just like my mother," Kagome looked towards those piercing blue eyes with wonder. "She never had a chance."

"But you do." Izayoi spoke but her voice sounded distant as if she was holding something back. "Don't let this go to waste Kagome; for your mother, for Rin, for the other miko's who will never know—figure it out—be the first in two hundred years to complete their soul."

The words would have sounded confusing to anyone else had they not been Kagome. She dropped her hands from the silvery creature, her heart aching a bit in her chest as she thought of her mother. This wasn't about finding something that wasn't her, this was about finding herself, completing herself so that others might one day be able to do the same.

"I guess—I should start how I always start," She told herself as she allowed her eyes to drift shut, her stomach turning ever so slightly as strange nervousness attacked her. "Calm down—," She coached even as she vaguely wondered if Izayoi was listening in to her personal conversation. "Breathe." She inhaled deeply and allowed her hands to drift to her sides where the hovered unmoving.

Deep inside her stomach, she felt the swell of her energy as it floated and danced in a tight ball she recognized. She could almost see it swirling inside of her, a beautiful ball of white, pink, purple, and blue. The urge to let her power out overwhelmed and without putting too much thought into the reason why she allowed the swirling energy to jump from her stomach to her limbs. It pulsed through her veins before it seemed to seep from her body. Her hair began to pull away from her head, the little strands dancing around her ears as she drew the energy out.

"Come to me," She spoke deep inside her mind, in a region where she was positive even empaths could not reach. "Know me—." She felt her hair fly upwards around her face as her energy reached out into the world, a signal she seemed to just somehow know the creature would follow.

The blades of grass around her ankles that had once been gently guided by the breeze stopped moving. Even the wind around her died down and the sound of even the kittens playing and meowing disappeared. It was as if, in that moment, the world was shutting off around her. She pushed her energy outwards further, allowing it to flow off of her body like a wave. Subconsciously, she reached her hand up in the air, her eyes closed as she allowed warm energy to radiate from her fingertips.

"Please." She whispered and the sound was loud as it flew through the air as if it had substance and could be touched.

Suddenly, a strange sensation filled her body, a tingling that felt unusually pleasant. It brushed against her mind, a flash like a cannon springing up behind her closed eyelids. She inhaled deeply, her fingertips feeling warmer and warmer as the sensation began to wrap around her. She felt as if she were being wrapped by some unseen blanket in the middle of brutal winter storm. Emotions of calm happiness made her cheeks flush and she felt the curve of her lips as the quirked into an unexplainable smile. A wave of relief and contentment and light touched her heart, pressing deep into her soul until the energy in the middle of her stomach caught fire.

She gasped as it seemed to explode, feeling exactly like hot tea when you first take a sip and let it roll down your throat until it hits your gut and warms every part of your stomach. Her ears almost twitched as she heard the telltale sound of the grass being squashed by feet. She tried not to pant as a bit of fear shook her. The sound stopped right in front of her body and she gulped as her power seemed to collide with an unknown source. Hot breath touched her face and she could no longer keep her eyes shut.

They fluttered, her eyelashes blurring her vision as she found herself staring straight into deep lovely grey, identical to her own. She inhaled sharply as the creature blinked, seeming to smile at her as those eyes stared into a matching soul. Kagome couldn't close her mouth as a sweep of pure white fur that seemed to shimmer with the remnants of a million other colors touched just her peripheral vision.

The demon cat growled softly and even though Kagome was not a demon she understood exactly what words had been spoken. "Kagome."

She felt a strange wash of tears wet her eyes at the sound. It was like she was hearing the voice of a long lost friend, which she had never realized was actually lost. A lump formed in her throat but she ignored it as she stepped forward towards the creature, those bright grey eyes making her shiver from their eerie familiarity. Her hands reached out, fingers just barely opening as if to touch the creature before her but stopped when the large cat closed her eyes in anticipation. Something deep within her soul lurched as she inhaled sharply as her mind turned, sounds turning into syllables, and those syllables turning into a name.

"Kilala." The name left her lips like a prophetic whisper as the giant cat opened her eyes and, if it were at all possible, smiled.

End of Chapter

Please Review

Major Formatting issue is dealt with.

A/N: With any luck expect the next chapter next Wednesday. I am going to try my best to get back to my old standards for a little bit and do a chapter of week until the end of the story. Please help me fulfill that goal! On another note, I hope you enjoyed getting into Sesshoumaru's past and learning about who he is as a person as well as the revelation of Inuyasha and what his mother predicted his fate would be in all this! There is also the question of what is up with Izayoi. Why did she bring Kagome to the Miko's world? Why is she personally training Kagome? And, why does Inutaisho seem to not be in agreement with whatever she has planned?

Only time will answer such questions.

Bonus Point: How many children do Miroku and Sango have at the end of "The Final Act?"

Last Chapter's Bonus Point: And—we don't know yet. We will find out next for your participation!

NaNaNa, InuLuna19, RubyRose101, kan78, Sutchine, Luchiia, anime4eva222, Glon Morski, veena, AiydanWarrior, Jelly-Me, Asian Delicacy, SessyLovr, Atem4321

Notes:

Shimenawa – The ropes that are placed around a Goshinboku in the Shinto religion.

Shide – These are the paper streamers (usually triangular) that are placed on the Shimenawa in the Shinto religion.

Both Shimenawa and Shide are placed around a Goshinboku in hopes of helping the sacred tree draw Kami into them. Often times when you see a tree with Shimenawa and Shide, it means the tree is already a Yorishiro or object capable of attracting the kami so they have a physical place to occupy during ceremonies. Yorishiro do not have to be a Goshinboku, however. They come in many forms from people to even rocks.

Next Chapter:

Life and Death

See you then!

UNEDITTED

POSTED

7/8/2014