DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha, so please don't sue me.

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"I saw Inutaisho-sama talking to you the other day," Azami said casually, glancing around the gardens as they walked.

"Yes, he told me that he was leaving again," Izayoi said.

"The only one he usually informs of his comings and goings is Father. But then, you've been talking to him a lot, not just the other day. I hardly see you when he's here."

"For which I can only beg your apology," Izayoi said, hoping to change the subject.

"Not at all. Of course, he also seems to have been spending more time here recently. Usually he doesn't stay as long or come back as quickly."

"Oh?"

"You know," Azami said offhandedly, "Inutaisho-sama isn't bad looking, in spite of being youkai. Or because of, if you prefer."

Izayoi stopped dead in her tracks. "I--we're not--people aren't saying anything, are they?"

Azami suddenly laughed. "No, just an observation on my part. You are often with him. And I've heard you call him Inutaisho."

"He told me to."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure, exactly. I think it has something to do with something I said on the night that we met. And he's very interesting, really. He knows so much, and he's easy to talk to."

Azami looked surprised. "Really? I wouldn't have ever called him 'easy to talk to.' Perhaps he chooses to be easy to talk to for you."

Izayoi suddenly remembered something he had said. ...one person who doesn't walk backwards in front of me... She wondered exactly why he thought she was qualified to be that person.

"Or perhaps there's something about you that makes it easy for him to talk to you." Azami eyed Izayoi. "You are different sometimes."

"Different? How?"

"Little things. Some people would call it dreamy, others would call it peculiar. You remind me of my distant cousin, Yasuo. He used to spend all day wandering the gardens, contemplating their beauty and meaning. He joined a monastery. Now he sits all day and writes on meditations and the meaning of life. Nothing wrong with that, but it takes a special sort of person. Takeshi, my late brother, envied him, even though he never said so. He used to tease Yasuo, saying he was crazy or enlightened, to be able to get so much out of so little."

"Inutaisho says that humans philosophize too much. I doubt that that's it."

"I never said you were a philosopher. But you do have...something. I can see it. I wouldn't be surprised if he could, too. But of course, I could be seeing things."

-----

Izayoi didn't think about that conversation until a week later, when she saw Inutaisho again. It was at night, a few hours after the sun had gone down. A soft knock came at her door, the kind that was just loud enough for one to hear, but not loud enough to wake one up. She slid the door open, and found him there. It seemed that he had just returned. A small part of her mind registered that she was the first one that he had announced his arrival to.

She made some offhand comment, which he responded to, and they began talking. Izayoi soon suggested that they go walking instead of just standing in her doorframe. But he pointed out that she had already taken off her day kimono and was only dressed in a night robe. She became suddenly embarrassed, until he shrugged and sensibly said that it was exactly the same length as a kimono, just made out of different material.

They ended up in her room, sitting facing each other on the tatami mats by the window, and continuing their conversation. It was hours later when Izayoi suddenly wondered aloud what time it was.

"It's about two hours after midnight," Inutaisho said. "Are you tired? Do you need to sleep?"

"Not really." She suddenly laughed. "But how inappropriate! Sitting up this late unchaperoned. In my room, no less!"

"Well then, we should talk a few more hours until it's light," he said. "Then it will be perfectly all right again."

Izayoi laughed, but suddenly processed his previous comment. "Do you not need sleep, then?"

"Not every night. Hardly at all, really, certainly not as much as humans."

"How did you know what time it was? The stars?"

"I suppose I could have. But it's easier to smell it, feel it. I don't really think about it. I just know."

She and Inutaisho were spending a lot of time together, she realized. But it felt natural, and easy. Perhaps he chooses to be easy to talk to for you.

"Why are we doing this?" she asked aloud without thinking about it.

"Doing what?"

"It was pointed out to me recently that we're always together."

"You're pleasant company."

Izayoi blinked. Was he just making a statement, or was that supposed to be a compliment? "And no one else is?" she asked carefully.

"I wouldn't know. They all have too many reservations for me to ever find out."

"You mean they're afraid of you?"

Inutaisho looked thoughtful. "Not particularly afraid, but just uneasy. Not only have they made an alliance with a youkai, but a powerful youkai. They're just wary."

"So are you alone a lot?"

"More or less."

"Does that bother you?"

"Sometimes, it used to. But it comes with the territory. And one gets used to it after a while. Humans, even most youkai, would rather keep their distance. And even in the ones that that's not the case in, they're still usually skirting around things." He paused. "But you, are different."

Izayoi thought about it. She really hadn't thought of him as 'the youkai' since the first few moments that she had seen him here. And even when she had realized that he was the youkai that she had heard stories about, beyond a fleeting sort of awe, it didn't really change what she thought. The idea that she was actually talking with him had been fascinating for a moment, but he didn't act any different than he always had. "You're just you," she stammered.

"Very few take the time to see that."

"Are you really that powerful?"

"There are less than a handful of youkai who could be considered my equals. Power is a gift, but a curse as well sometimes."

"Would you trade it?" Izayoi suddenly asked. "For less power, if you had the choice?"

"No," Inutaisho said automatically. "I am who I am. And I'm not complaining. It's just that you've reminded me of it--in a good way." He looked at her again. "You're really not afraid of me at all, are you?"

"Nonsense, you're completely harmless," she said with a smile.

He smirked with an almost hurt look. "I am not completely harmless."

"Well, you're completely harmless to me."

He grinned again. "And whatever made you think that?"

"You wouldn't kill me even when I begged," she said with a bitter laugh. "I think I'm safe. So you always come and go?" she quickly asked, changing the subject.

"Yes, more or less."

"But what do you do?"

"Walk borders, check things, occasionally fight something--save beautiful girls standing on cliffs." Izayoi blushed. That was most definitely a compliment. "My life isn't too demanding, really. I have a few favorite spots that I also spend time at--really beautiful, wild, lonely places. You'd probably like them."

"They sound wonderful."

"Perhaps I could show you one of them sometime."

Izayoi looked down. She certainly hadn't been expecting that. He must have sensed her uneasiness, because before she had a chance to speak, he said, "At least accompany me tomorrow on a walk past the manor lands."

"Certainly," she said, smiling.

He stood up. "And now I'll leave you to sleep." He moved to the door, and before she knew it, he was gone.

She suddenly felt a flustered rush. He had asked her to come somewhere with him. He wouldn't do that if he merely enjoyed her company, would he? Was he interested in her? Was she interested in him? Izayoi remembered how disappointed she had been the two times when he had told her that he was leaving. She had missed their conversations. She had missed being around him. But was it more than that, could it be more than that? Izayoi found that she wasn't totally opposed to the idea. And as Azami had (jokingly) pointed out to her, he certainly wasn't bad looking--far from it, she realized.

-----

Inutaisho slid the door shut, and walked to his own room, wondering how he had managed to spend so long simply talking about nothing. It had only seemed like a few minutes, but half the night was gone.

It was because it had happened. He knew that it had. Each time that he had been gone, he had realized how quiet the silence seemed. He had become used to talking to her, in such a short amount of time. Beyond that, everything he saw or did while he was gone, his mind found some way to connect to her. 'Izayoi would have liked to see this,' or 'I will have to remember to tell Izayoi about that.'

He was falling in love with her.

But it had all been so easy. She was wonderful and beautiful. And she wasn't afraid to talk to him, disagree with him, or even joke with him.

But he didn't know what she felt. He only hoped that he wasn't setting himself up for disappointment. Even if he was, though, he knew that he couldn't do anything about it.

-----

The next morning, they set out on their walk. Izayoi told only Azami that she was leaving, and only because she and Inutaisho happened to pass her in the hall. Being with him made Izayoi feel an odd sort of freedom. Maybe it was because of how he acted (or was treated), but she always felt that she didn't have to explain herself or answer for anything when she was with him if she didn't want to. It was almost a guilty indulgence.

It was wonderful, just being with him in the (albeit nearby) wilderness, and Izayoi wondered again if she felt something other than friendship. They spent the entire afternoon walking and talking, with her occasionally picking flowers along the way.

As the day was growing late, he said, "We should probably turn back soon."

"Yes," Izayoi said, pausing to adjust the bouquet in her hands. "I--what?" she asked as she saw him suddenly stiffen and look behind her.

She turned around, and saw that someone else had unexpectedly appeared there. Someone who looked so like Inutaisho that she almost did a double take.

"Father," the other youkai said as he approached.

Father?

Inutaisho took a step forward. "Sesshoumaru." Then he gestured toward her. "This is Izayoi." Izayoi curiously looked back and forth between the two of them, unsure of how she should react.

The one called Sesshoumaru looked at her for precisely one second before he turned to Inutaisho and began a short exchange, ignoring her completely. Izayoi looked down, feeling like a child who had been turned away from adults' conversation. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even listen to what they were talking about. But after what seemed like only a few moments, Sesshoumaru left, disappearing as quickly and silently as he had come.

"We should head back," she heard her voice saying. Izayoi didn't even look up, she just started walking in the direction that they had come from. She couldn't hear if Inutaisho was following her or not, so she risked a quick glance behind her. He was there, walking just a few feet after her. She wasn't sure what she was so upset about. It wasn't as if they were anything more than friends, really. But now it seemed that perhaps they couldn't be anything more.

After a while, the silence began to wear on her nerves. But she couldn't think of anything to say. Shouldn't he be the one to say something? And was he just going to stay back there and stalk her like some silent cat as she walked back? He wasn't helping.

Dusk began to fall, and they were still walking that way.

"Izayoi," he said, finally breaking the silence.

"What?"

"You're starting to go the wrong way."

She stopped and turned around. "What way, then?"

Inutaisho didn't make a movement one way or the other. "I'm not telling you until you say something."

Izayoi sank down on to the grass, suddenly tired of walking anyway. She saw him sit down as well.

"I can sit here for just as long as you can," he continued. "You know this for a fact."

As confused as she felt, Izayoi suddenly realized that she couldn't be angry with him. He really hadn't done anything wrong. She sighed. "I--would it be wrong to ask--"

"About Sesshoumaru? No."

"I didn't know you had a son."

"I was going to tell you, if it came to that."

"If it came to that?" she repeated.

"What I mean," Inutaisho said, "is that if we became more than we are now, you would have a right to know."

He's been thinking about it as well, she realized. ...became more than we are now... "Do you think, do you think that we are...becoming more?" she asked.

"I think that I would like to," he said slowly. "I like you."

"I like you," Izayoi said, half-surprised to hear the words coming out of her mouth. "I'd like to try, too. You're so...wonderfully unlike anyone I've ever met."

"As are you." Then she saw him smile slightly. "Not afraid of getting involved with a youkai?"

"No more than before. Not afraid of getting involved with a human?" she countered.

"I must admit, it is something that I never considered."

There was a silence. "So what now?" Izayoi asked.

"I suppose I should explain the reason that this conversation began. Sesshoumaru."

"All right then. His mother?"

"We're no longer together," Inutaisho replied. "In any way," he added after a moment. "In the beginning, it-- But it was clear that we simply saw the world differently," he continued, "and disagreed over too many things. We both decided it was better to part ways and be done." He paused, and then added, "You're not a replacement."

"How long ago was it, that it ended?"

"Forty or fifty years."

"Do you see her?"

"We do share a son. Though I've only seen her a couple of times. Sesshoumaru was already grown by then, really."

Izayoi thought for a moment. She didn't think he was misleading her.

"Then why was Sesshoumaru so rude, even to you? Does he resent me being in the place of his mother?"

He was silent for a moment. "Probably not. But Sesshoumaru is proud. He looks down on all that is not like him."

It took Izayoi a few moments to process his words. "He hates me then."

Inutaisho didn't disagree, or even defend. Instead, "Sesshoumaru hates a lot of things."

There was a silence before he continued, "He is my son and I love him. However, we don't always see eye to eye. He has potential to be so much more than he is now. But don't concern yourself about Sesshoumaru. He's not your problem. Actually, I doubt you'll ever see him again. He'll find me alone in the future, I'm certain."

Izayoi was silent. It was a lot to take in at once. A son. A son's mother.

"How old are you?" she suddenly asked.

"I don't know," he finally said. "One stops counting after a while. Seven hundred, eight hundred, probably more."

Izayoi was quiet for a moment. From things that he had said before, she had known that he was older than any human. But she had stopped her guesses at a few centuries--two, maybe three. "Truly?"

He nodded.

"That's...I can't even imagine." Then she smiled. "And to think I spent years dreading the prospect of being married off to an old man."

She suddenly noticed that it had gotten quite dark while they were talking. "We should head back." He nodded, and they stood up.

But returning was easier said than done. Izayoi soon found out that the previously easy to navigate ground was full of rocks to trip over, branches to kick, and holes to stumble into once it got dark. Needless to say, her going was rather slow.

"I could carry you," Inutaisho suddenly said, after she had almost fallen for the fifth time.

"I'm not an invalid," she snapped, frustrated. Then, "I'm sorry."

"Then at least hold on to my arm."

"Fine."

After that, Izayoi found that going along was much easier. He was there to pull her back up if she did slip, but for the most part he seemed to guide her easily around hidden obstacles. She suddenly realized something. "You can completely see in the dark, can't you?"

"Yes, of course."

She smiled at him. "Youkai," she half-accused.

"Human."

They walked back together arm in arm.

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Notes: If you have read this before, you will notice a slight change when they're talking about Sessmom. If you haven't, then it doesn't matter.