Disclaimer: Inuyasha is owned by Rumiko Takahashi. yup. only thing that is mine is Ki-Ki-chan, Takai, Buruusu, Joeru, and the story line.

Hours later would find Takai sporting bruises from his sister. That was the first time he had angered her in nearly a century. He always hated his sisters' wrath and did everything he could to avoid it. But when it came to the subject of her past arrangement with Animaru and why she was locked within the sword, he failed miserably. It was then Sesshoumaru decided to visit with the ancient Inu.

"Sesshoumaru!" Takai cried trying to hide the bruises.

"I know they are there," the stoic lord said in his monotone way of addressing everyone. Takai sighed and looked at Sesshoumaru.

"What do you wish to know Lord of the West?"

"I wish to know about the traditions bound to the sword."

"I am truly sorry, but I cannot..." the stoic lord nodded and walked from the room and to the gardens, where he found a beauty of a demon sitting upon a bench dressed in a stained, but clean servant's yukata. Her white hair, ears, and tail shone in the moonlight as if she were royalty. As soon as she spotted him, her silvery blue eyes widened and she scurried to leave, but Sesshoumaru grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"What do you know of the Tsukikage?" his amber eyes seemed to pierce her gaze and into her soul.

'Not that feeling again...' the silver haired Inu demoness thought. She offered him the following information to the lord. "It is a prison..."

"Prison for who?"

"I cannot tell you Lord Sesshoumaru. Tsukikage will tell you tomorrow." with that she gently pulled her hand away and walked towards the temple. 'Why do I feel as if I will be freed from the sword soon? Wait, was that? Oh no if he remembers things as well as I have heard, then he will know that I am the voice that spoke to him all those years ago.'

Sesshoumaru stared after the Inu demoness as she seemed to scurry out of his sight. He tried to observe her as she hurried toward the temple, but she was moving too quickly for his eyes to track. Or was it something else that made her hard to perceive at this time of the night with the fog rolling in. Sesshoumaru turned to go to his room for the night. He would search the girl out later. He would now know her scent as it was on his hand. He sniffed at his hand to find there was no scent at all. He growled his irritation, but soon was soothed, by the remembrance of those silvery blue eyes under the bangs of silvery-white. He would find out her identity soon enough, without having to seek her out.

It was early when Takai roused the lords from their slumbering states.

"Awaken, the time has come for the tale of the Tsukikage." each grumbled something about the earliness, excepting the western lord as he was used to being roused in the morning much earlier than this by Rin. Takai noted that to tell to Ki-ki-chan later. Once they all were up, they headed towards the temple.

"In the room just before the grand hall, we must put on robes of pure white." Buruusu bristled his feathers and stared at the back of Takai vehemently. Takai stopped them at the doors and gave them each a robe and gestured each to a room to change into the robes. Each exited in the robes as instructed and Joeru looked at the robes uninterestedly, Buruusu balked at the robes, Kouga looked uncomfortable, and Sesshoumaru looked as if he cared less for the silken robe he was wearing. Then Takai lead them into the main hall and called out, "Tsukikage! The candidates have arrived in the central chamber in the white robes per your request!"

"A SWORD DEMANDS I WEAR THIS GAUDY ROBE?.!" Buruusu screamed. Kouga and Joeru rolled their eyes at the pompous bird's words.

"Silence Phoenix of the South. Be seated." the voice seemed to come from around all of them. A set of cushions appeared on the floor before them. The lords each in turn blinked at them, before sitting, Buruusu grumbling about magic from other countries. Once they had settled Takai seated himself on a cushion near the doorway and the Tsukikage began to speak.

"Long ago the lord of the central lands had two children. A son and a daughter..."