Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and friends. They all belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 3

Last time:

Sesshomaru pulled himself from his musings as they came up to the large building that housed his children's home. They should be expecting Reiku, and while she got settled, he could show Kagome around. He really did hope she did well on her project. She did so much to help others without expecting anything in return. She deserved a little good luck every now and then.

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Kagome was shocked to say the least when they entered the home. It was very well maintained, clean and kid-friendly. Much of the artwork decorating the main entrance had been done by children. But that was not what surprised her so much; it was the constant echo of "Good afternoon, Mr. Daiginkeiko," not from the staff--they seemed properly terrified of him--but from the children they passed in the hallway.

And he acknowledged each greeting. It was usually just a nod of his head or even a casual glance in their direction, but each gesture was appreciated. Kagome had not expected him to have spent so much time among the children of his charity. After all, most people on the street didn't automatically recognize the famously wealthy demon, his name, maybe, but not his face.

After consulting briefly with the girl at the front desk, he escorted Reiku personally to her new living quarters and explained how she was expected to attend to her schooling properly and contribute to the everyday chores and she would be welcome to remain as long as she wished.

That was another thing Kagome wondered about. Did he give all of the children the opportunity to stay or go as they wished, or was he offering this to Reiku because it was what he had offered to Rin? She hoped that her suspicions about Reiku were correct because as much as he had tried to deny it, then hide it; she knew that Sesshomaru had needed Rin as much as Rin had needed him. And with her gone, there was a void in his life that no amount of helping innocents could fill.

Kagome thoroughly enjoyed the tour, more for what it taught her about Sesshomaru than what she had gained for her project. She had never realized, even after the shoe incident, how much he truly liked kids, until she saw him tell them a story.

They had come into a room filled with children waiting for a young lady to begin the usual story time. Unfortunately, a sudden stomach sickness (Kagome found out later was morning sickness) had caught up to her. The poor woman dashed from the room, shoving the book into Sesshomaru's chest as she passed. Thirty pairs of expectant eyes swung towards them, causing Kagome to titter nervously and scoot a little behind Sesshomaru.

Instead of calling out for another worker to take her place, Sesshomaru had handed Kagome the book and stalked to the front of the room with his famous emotionless mask in place.

"Am I to understand that you require a story?" Sesshomaru had asked them in a deadpan voice. To which the children replied in unison, "No, Mr. Daiginkeiko, not just a story. We want an adventure."

"With youkai!" one kid cried out from the back.

"And a miko!" another requested.

"And magic!"

Kagome realized at this point that these story times must not have been such a rare occurrence. Sesshomaru and the children seemed to be following a familiar script, and Sesshomaru's role delighted them.

"Youkai!" he barked in a deep, rumbling voice. His face grew terrible and he used his demon speed to charge into the middle of the group. Children dove out of the way laughing and screaming with false terror. Those that were too slow ended up hanging upside-down from his hands or shoulders.

"Are there children here brave enough to hear the ancient tales of youkai?" he asked in the same rumbling voice.

"And mikos!"

"And magic!" the children shouted in response, before an awed hush fell over the group.

Sesshomaru gently placed the children back in their places and marched up to the front of the room. Every single set of eyes followed him, including Kagome's. Sometime, without her noticing, he had released the tie from his hair and the long black locks hung over his back like a magician's cape. He narrowed his eyes and began in a clear voice:

"Well, long ago, the most powerful youkai lord," Kagome rolled her eyes at this, "wandered all of Japan and conducted many campaigns of conquest. However there was one brave little human girl who, despite his fearsome reputation, traveled with the youkai lord."

"What kind of youkai was the lord?"

"Why did the little girl travel with him?"

"Was she scared?"

Sesshomaru walked into the group as he answered them, "Oh, he was a great and terrible inu youkai. He had killed hundreds of demons and humans without a thought," at this point he lunged at an unsuspecting group who squealed and backed away.

"But this one girl was not scared of him. In fact, when she came with him, she was more afraid of her own kind than youkai. But she was a very brave girl to remain with the youkai lord. Though he never did know why she chose to stay with him, or why he allowed it." Sesshomaru glanced briefly at Kagome at this point. "Some thought it was because he was curious about this little girl who wasn't afraid. Others thought it was because they were both lonely, and in their own way found companionship in one another.

"For whatever reason, this lord kept the girl with him or with his servant, a very strange kappa youkai, who was often loud and annoying."

Kagome giggled at that point, which earned her a wink from Sesshomaru.

"Well, the little girl was out searching for melons to eat one evening with the kappa, when the servant of the evil hanyou Naraku..." All the kids hissed and booed at this point, while Sesshomaru added a low, reverberating growl for effect. "...flew in and kidnapped the girl. She then returned to deliver Naraku's message: that if the demon lord would not kill his half-brother, a hanyou, that the little girl would come to harm."

That drew a number of gasps from the audience.

"What did the lord do? Did he kill his brother to save the girl?"

"Was the girl hurt?"

Sesshomaru moved to the back of the room. "The demon lord refused to do as the hanyou Naraku had ordered, though he would have gladly killed his brother at the time." Sesshomaru bent low and sniffed the air, pausing to sniff more closely at one or two of the children.

"He followed Naraku's scent to confront the evil hanyou for trying to use him. However it was all a plot by the creature to absorb the youkai lord and obtain his power. The little girl was not present, but she was being held prisoner not far from there."

"Oh no!" several of the children whispered, some getting up on their knees so they could see Sesshomaru better.

"The lord drew his sword and lunged at the hanyou, determined to kill him for his audacity." Sesshomaru whirled quickly as though slashing with a sword, and then moved from one side of the room to the other in one effortless leap. The children bounced in their places and clapped.

Kagome heard a small giggle and a pair of hands clapping beside her. Glancing down in surprise, she noticed Reiku standing there, a broad grin on her face and delighted gleam in her eyes.

"Naraku was falling apart in bits and pieces, but this was only part of his plan. When the severed parts surrounded the youkai lord, Naraku planned to engulf the lord and absorb his power. However, he had not planned for the lord's younger brother to show up. The youkai lord, sensing his brother's arrival, allowed Naraku to engulf him and think he had succeeded."

"Ew! Did the younger brother save the lord?"

Kagome snickered at the annoyed flicker in Sesshomaru's eyes at the question.

"Not exactly. The lord waited for his brother to use his special attack before freeing himself of Naraku's body. He had used Naraku's own flesh to protect himself."

"Sounds like an excuse to me," one brave boy called out. "I think the lord just didn't want to admit that his hanyou little brother had saved him."

Kagome choked, trying to force back a laugh. She had to admit the kid had a point.

Sesshomaru blurred and stopped right beside the boy that had spoken. He lifted the boy by his heel and said, "Do you now?" The boy was nose to nose with Sesshomaru, only dangling upside down. He gulped at the proximity and nodded nervously.

"Well, only the youkai lord himself would know the answer to that," Sesshomaru told him. "Would you be able to stand within striking distance of his poisonous claws and deadly sword and ask him if he needed his little brother to save him?"

The little boy shook his head slowly, and Sesshomaru flipped him over and settled him back on the ground. "There are few who would."

"What about the little girl? What did Naraku do to her while the lord was fighting?"

"Did he hurt her?"

"Did she escape?"

Sesshomaru moved away from the boy, and picked his way through the children carefully. "The little girl was being held captive by a young boy that Naraku controlled with a shard of the Shikon jewel. He was a boy with a kind heart, though, and did no unnecessary cruelty to the girl. The little girl spoke with him and, in a way, befriended him.

"And as the brothers fought Naraku, the companions of the lord's half brother--a monk, a youkai slayer, the slayer's neko youkai, a young kitsune orphan and a miko--were investigating the shard Naraku used to control the boy. The lord's little brother was also interested in this boy because he had been the brother of the youkai slayer before being taken by Naraku.

"Well, the lord and his brother finally delivered some devastating blows to Naraku who prepared to escape. The lord started to transform and hunt down the evil hanyou, but that had been why the girl had been abducted . Naraku warned the lord that the little girl was with a boy who had been given orders to kill her, and that the lord could either hunt him down or save the girl."

Sesshomaru's hair billowed around him as he spoke and paced. He just looked at them in silence.

"So did he hunt down Naraku, or save the girl?"

"But the boy became friends with the girl, right? So he wouldn't do what Naraku said, would he? That would mean the lord could go after the hanyou."

"Ah, you see, though, the lord did not know what the boy would do or that his ward had befriended the boy," Sesshomaru pointed out.

There was a murmur of agreement among the children.

"No matter what Kohaku wanted or didn't want, he was being controlled like a puppet by Naraku!" Kagome blurted out suddenly, then clapped a hand over her mouth. All the eyes in the room suddenly settled on her.

"So he killed the girl?" a voice asked. Kagome blinked in surprise that it had been directed at her. She looked at Sesshomaru for help, but he only nodded and encouraged her to go on.

"Well, um, Naraku saw the boy as just some expendable tool, and didn't care if the lord killed him or not, which also meant the lord's younger brother couldn't hunt him down either. The younger brother had to try to keep the lord from killing his friend the youkai slayer's brother.

"But the miko had seen the little girl and the boy take off after Naraku sent his order, and ran after them, hoping to save the boy and the girl if possible. The lord's younger brother picked her up on the way and explained what had happened with Naraku."

Kagome was a little uncertain at first, but her voice grew stronger as she gained a little more confidence.

"And I-the miko told the younger brother about the little girl and the slayer's brother. When they arrived, the little girl was lying on the ground with the boy standing over her with a scythe in his hand. The miko was scared that she was too late, and ran to check on the little girl, while the hanyou went to try to talk his brother out of killing the boy. Both the miko and the hanyou knew how deadly the lord was and knew that the boy had angered the lord by attacking the girl.

"But the girl was fine; she was only unconscious. For some reason the boy had tried to defy Naraku's orders and had not yet delivered the final blow. Angered, Naraku must have altered the orders because the boy turned to attack the lord, an act that was surely a death sentence."

She glanced at Sesshomaru, pleading silently for him to take over. He nodded briefly, then picked up the tale. He moved swiftly, causing the children to tumble backwards in surprise, and said, "The boy hurled his scythe at the lord, but the younger brother knocked it aside, hoping to prevent the lord from killing the boy. But the lord wasn't so easily deterred. With his youkai speed," here Sesshomaru gave another demonstration of said speed, "he caught the boy by the neck and lifted him high. The boy's neck was like a dried twig in the lord's grip, but the boy showed no sign of fear or pain or any emotion. For his mind was not there; Naraku was controlling him, and the lord knew that Naraku must have wanted the boy to die to facilitate his escape."

The room was silent, waiting for Sesshomaru to continue.

"Did he kill the boy?"

"No," Sesshomaru told them, moving back to the front of the room. "He let the boy go, which greatly confused his little brother. But the lord would not do what Naraku wanted. He would not play those games. About that time the girl awoke, overjoyed to see that her lord had come for her. And the lord, though he did not show it, was pleased that the girl was well. He left and the girl followed him. And neither the miko, the lord's younger brother, the girl nor even the lord himself understood why she did, or why the lord allowed it. But they all had a common enemy, now, the filthy hanyou Naraku."

The room burst out in applause and cheers. Sesshomaru did not smile or even seem aware of the praise as he tied his hair back again, his emotionless mask firmly back in place. Kagome clapped along with them and glanced down at little Reiku, who was giggling with delight.

"I don't know when, but I think I've heard that story before. It's all so familiar," Reiku told her as her glowing eyes watched Sesshomaru. "Only in the version I remember, it was Mr. Daiginkeiko, well, in his angel form, that was in it. Not a youkai lord."

Kagome stopped clapping and stared at the little girl, chills running down her spine. Then a smile curled her lips and she thought, Well, looks like you've got a second chance to take care of her, Sesshomaru. Make the most of it.