Chapter Two

It had been two hundred and fifty years since he had last seen his brother; fifty of those years being spent blowing his father's castle to smithereens, fifty more having been spent on a small, reclusive island training until he started hallucinating that a particularly ugly boar that wandered around the shoreline was his brother (needless to say the boar was thoroughly ripped to shreds and eaten for dinner), one-hundred more coming back to the North Palace, celebrating his majority (a certain someone didn't even see it fit to attend his little brother's coming of age either!), taking his rightful place as the East's new lord and accommodating and gaining vassals of his own, while the last fifty years he had finally grown up, decided to let bygones be bygones, and put the past behind him.

At least, he had thought that he'd done so.

Apparently it was all a farce forced upon him by the gods because he hadn't been able to get his brother out of his mind since he found out that 'all lords' were to attend his mating ceremony...

He himself wasn't particularly against this match. In fact, he was quite looking forward to it; his soon-to-be mate was stunningly beautiful, cultured yet open-minded, clumsy yet regal, compassionate yet brazen, strong yet fragile. She was indeed a conundrum of epic proportions and would suit him just fine for the remainder of his life.

She was something he knew, someone he knew that knew him, in turn, better than anyone. She understood his reasoning, and when his antics got out of hand she was there to balance his foolishness with a stern kick to his (now) sensitive shins. Strong... beautiful...

He briefly wondered what his clan would think of his mating with a hanyou; the races of both human and demon had been resigned to acknowledge and accept the other many ions ago, but still there were those that never let go of their indifference to a mixed breed, continuing to keep a strong grasp on to their absolute hatred and holding true to what they knew... what they felt comfortable with...

It's wrong though, he thought. It was wrong to stay safe, to not take chances and endeavor new indulgences. He as a walking example of it, though, he supposed. But he really had no alternative.

Scratch that. He had alternatives, many of them in all actuality. Though two of them kept ramming his head against his study's desk continuously, as well as religiously, it seemed. Two paths... One safe... the other remaining, as always, dangerous. As it had during his childhood.

Nay, he would never take that alternative. Ever.

A loud, thick knock was heard rapping against the wood of the sliding door to his study.

"Enter."

"My lord, your first guests are starting to arrive," the servant informed him.

"Good, show them to their quarters, then have servants placed in front of each to lead them to the Dining Hall when the sun sets," he dictated, not looking up, most of his attention having been taken by the ridiculous and congested amount of parchment and scrolls that seemed to litter his desk. He poked a finger here, padded a few with the palm of his hand there, visually dissecting all mounds with loathing scrutiny. Where they had come from he wasn't sure...

"As you wish, my lord."

"Wait."

"Yes, my lord?"

"Where did all of these come from?" he asked, nodding his head to the mess his desk was normally not.

"Her highness said that it would be prudent for you to-"

"-learn about the unjust, low level schooling that the mortals in my domain get, right?" he recited.

"Yes, my lord."

"Send these back to her with my deepest apologies. Tell her I'm in a coma, or dead, or just... make up some believable excuse."

"In a... coma, my lord?"

"Yes, whatever works."

"Yes, my lord," the servant replied warily.

"One more thing. When my... immediate family arrives, send only my father to me," came a definitive command, though even before he could finish his statement he felt that overwhelming presence for the first time in a few decades just outside his doors.

"That won't be necessary," came a deep, rumbling voice from the entryway.

The servant immediately went down to his knees, pressing the undersides of his arms flat against the elegant wood flooring.

"It's been too long, my son," an amused and grinning face stated, eyes smiling warmly at his youngest.

"It has indeed, Father."

The elder of the two inu youkai walked forward swiftly, not being able to contain his emotions as he swooped down on his youngest pup, embracing him in a hold that rivaled a crushing mountain.

"F-Father, I can't breath!"

The Great Demon Lord, the Inu no Taishou, grinned, letting his flailing son go.

"What, your father can't give his youngest, and soon-to-be-mated son a long overdue embrace?"

"No, he can't. How do you think that's going to look to my followers? And, Dosu, not a word to anyone else, you got that?"

The servant, Dosu, nodded quickly. His lord was and had always been somewhat of an enigma; one minute he was regal and serious, the next he was anxious and childish. Though that, he supposed, was what made him such a great ruler; the best this territory had seen from an individual leader, the Inu no Taishou notwithstanding, since before the dark ages.

"Yes, my lord."

And with that the servant took his leave, having already gathered up all the parchments and scrolls that had riddled his master's usually spotless desk.

"So, tell me, Inuyasha. When do I get to meet my new daughter?" the Inu no Taishou asked eagerly.

"Good question. Probably at the banquet tonight. Since the date has been announced and set, she's been running wild throughout my palace and over to her own home quite frequently. It's really annoying, actually."

"I see. I won't lie to you, Inuyasha, I am very anxious to meet her."

"Don't worry, you will, and when you do you'll regret it, trust me. She's a whirlwind of-" Inuyasha had begun teasingly but was cut off by shouts from down the hall and loud crashing sounds.

"What's going on?" Inuyasha wondered aloud as he stood up, and started walking toward the door.

The Inu no Taishou closed his eyes slowly in anticipation, an ache in his head already forming. And so it would begin... "Don't worry about it, Inuyasha," the Great Ruler waved off dismissively.

Inuyasha paused, turning his head to acknowledge his father's words. "This is my castle, Father. Everything that happens within and around it is something I have to worry about."

"What I mean to say is that when you open those doors and look down that hall you will have wished you'd stayed in here with me."

"What do you-?"

A shout from down the hall caught Inuyasha's attention.

"My lord! I apologize profusely, we could not- AH!- stop him!"

"What in the world is going o-?"

The screen door snapped to the side in front of Inuyasha, a face he had yearned and feared to see for over two hundred and fifty years revealed before his very eyes. A stoic, angry expression lining the otherwise perfect visage of his older brother.

He uttered one word...

"Sesshomaru..."


Chapter end.