The Lord and the Fox
Japanese lingo/names
Sachio: Fortunately born
Michio: Man with strength of three thousand
Gin: silvery
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There once was a forest with an enchanted well. There once was a forest with a miko's village. There once was a forest that housed the Jewel of Four Souls.
They were all the same forest.
Lord Mareo, ruler of the Northeastern Lands, had come across this forest on his travels. He had sat on the edge of the enchanted well, walked the miko's village, and seen the Shikon.
It was just beginning to be fall. Summer still had a say in the weather, but the cool nights had come more frequently. But on this day it was warm and Mareo trod the path in quiet contemplation. He thought of a woman who had captured his attentions recently. A lovely woman; strong, with ebony hair and eyes, pale skinned and tall, human and miko...
Mareo's first wife had been ill for eight weeks before she had finally succumbed to the sickness and died. There were whispers that the Demon's Council had poisoned her, as she had lost her ability to bear children after the birth of Sachio. It was odd, because she had gotten through Michio's entrance onto this plain of living with no problems and no complications. Mareo thought of her with regret rather than sadness. She was a good woman, but not the choice of his heart.
Mareo always tried to follow his heart.
And this time it had led him to this tiny village that should be of no importance. Yet, a small jewel made it one of the most frequented places in the countryside. Many demons sought after this Shikon. Mostly they were weak demons looking for power.
Mareo was not a weak demon.
The miko, called Kikyo, was somewhat hostile to him when he first came through. It hadn't exactly been an accident, but neither had it been intentional. It was...an unconsious force. She had tried to seal him to a tree when they first met, and he joked later on that it was only his good looks that saved him.
Mareo was not a handsome demon.
He liked to talk of how his mother was so ashamed at having an ugly child. She threatened to drown him more often than not. It was thought that perhaps she would drown him with the tears she cried at having a son that was sub-par. Herself being beautiful, she could not understand it.
Mareo loved his mother.
How odd is it that a child gravitates to the parent that shows the most disapproval. And always the child tries and tries to win their approval, sometimes going to such great lengths that they become broken. It was his father that was proud of him. His father saw what his son could be. Saw how hard he worked to make up for the perfection he lacked in his visage.
Mareo disliked his father.
He felt his father was always in the shadows, trying to mold him into something. Always watching, so stoic, so emotionless. It made him so angry, and he didn't know why. His father always looked at his mother in disgust.
Mareo understood.
As he aged and became stronger and stronger, he traveled. It was during these times that he began to recognize his parents for who and what they were. His mother was a child, obsessed with how she looked and immature in the way she dealt with it. She needed the pity of her colleagues to feel worth since she could not have their admiration. She envied Gin, her childhood friend who had gone on to marry into the prestigious Inu-nishi Clan. Gin was always talked about and imitated while she was stuck in the Northeast; married to the most secretive and discrete of the High Families of Japan. His father was a victim of society, trying simply to raise a family and being met with different orders. He could have been a soldier-youkai, he could have been a human for all that mattered, so long as he had a family he could love and take care of, who would be there at the end of the day to greet him. Simple things. Little things.
Mareo was fortunate.
Had he not grasped these facts about his parents and childhood, more than likely his life would have been on a very different track. But, later in life, he knew all this to be true and strived to be like his father in many aspects. And this was how he came to love the miko.
Mareo was charming.
After she had tried to seal him and failed, Kikyo realized she was no match for true love. She fell hard, as a woman of her station was not allowed to do. She went so far as to give the demon lord a shard of the Shikon Jewel. While not being able to grant wishes, is doubled the owner's strength, stamina, and speed. The demon was touched by the gesture of her going to such great lengths to accommodate him, and while he did not believe in using the shard, he kept it with him at all times. It was usually sealed in a container that prevented detection, but it had broken after a particularly nasty fight with a panther demon. To get a new one (and to see his miko) was the reason he was in this part of Japan.
And so, it was on this day in the forest with the well and the miko and the Jewel, that Mareo met Shippou.
The demon came out of the trees as a big pink balloon. Mareo was not sure whether this was to startle and scare him, or make him laugh. The second option was the most fitting for the situation, but as soon as he started to chuckle, the pink balloon spoke.
"Give me your piece of the Shikon Jewel!"
And then the pink balloon bit him in the head.
Mareo was quite stunned at this and grabbed the offending thing. He held it up in front of his face and with a pop! the balloon had turned into a small arctic kitsune. He was covered in auburn fur, in keeping with his kind's trend of changing color with the seasons. The young boy struggled a bit in the older demon's grasp as Mareo tried to figure out why it was attacking him, of all people.
"What are you doing?" It seemed like a good question to start out with.
"I need that shard of the Shikon!" the fox resumed his struggling. "Give it to me now, or I will take it from you!"
"Why so greedy, little demon?" Mareo said gently. "This was a gift to me."
And as abruptly as the encounter had started, the kitsune began to cry. The fox, whose name turned out to be Shippo, told Mareo about a duo of youkai that had killed his family for nothing more than their pelts and how he was going to use the shard to become stronger and avenge their deaths. Mareo agreed that the crime was indeed heinous and agreed to let Shippou borrow the shard if he could accompany him to defeat these lightening demons.
His inner thoughts were filled with turmoil. These borderlands, along the outskirts of the areas patrolled and ruled by the High Families, seemed to be havens for vagrants. This information troubled him and he resolved to have it remedied as soon as possible.
When the pair neared the area of the two murdering youkai, Shippou asked that Mareo stand back while he defeated the youkai. Mareo acceeded, but kept a watchful eye on the 'battle'. It consisted mostly of Shippou using his magic trickery to make the lightening brothers laugh at his desperate attempts to fight.
Mareo decided to step in when it seemed as though Shippou might have been in mortal peril. He drew his tempermental demon sword Sou'unga and dealt chopping blows to the young kitsune's foes. Mareo took Shippou to see Kikyo, who patched up the handful of scrapes the fox had acquired.
Shippou, in his gratitude and shining moment of nobility, pledged his life, and the lives of his children to protecting Mareo's family.
Mareo accepted his pledge on the condition that it would begin on the kitsune's 19th birthday, when he reached adulthood. Shippou agreed and asked Kikyo to witness and they parted ways. Mareo fully expected that was the last time he would see the little fox.
It was when he was mourning the death of Kikyo that Shippou arrived. Mareo was kneeling at her grave, holding back tears. He heard footsteps in the grass that came to a stop about six feet behind him to his left.
"Leave me," he said gruffly, taking the presence as being a servant or general of his. The footsteps continued forward and clawed hands grabbed his upper arms and lifted him to his feet.
"Come, Lord Mareo," the voice was unfamilar and gravely and Mareo turned. The once tiny fox had indeed grown into an adult, with scars littering his body and a hard glint in his eye.
Shippou took him to the library and told him what had happened to him during the time they had been apart. He told Mareo of his travels over the water and to the mountains of a place called Tibet, where he learned to fight with every weapon known to demonkind, and even some that weren't. He told him of his return to Japan and how he had saved the patriarch of the Inu-nishi clan from an assassination attempt and was offered the position of General in their army.
"Why didn't you take it, son?" Mareo asked. His voice still had that hollow sound of grief. Shippou gave him a warm smile and he looked like that little kitsune in the forest that tried to steal his Shikon shard.
"I had a debt to repay."
Shippou stayed as the official Hoshiko Clan bodyguard, signing with blood what he had promised with words in Kikyo's hut. And after he married, each of his three sons pledged their lives to Mareo's family. And then their sons did the same, to each ruling Lord of the clan up to the present. And no matter what, it was always done in the presence of Kikyo's grave, and later Mareo's, who was buried next to his true love.
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There was silence around the table as Jomei finished retelling the story. He left out the most important part of course, Kikyo's child, but no one could know of that...not yet.
"Facinating," Inutaisho began. "That is far more detailed that what I was told as a child."
Jomei was startled in his mind, but outwardly he did not show it. This inuyoukai couldn't know Mareo's secret, could he?
"What was the story you were told?" Kagome inquired.
"I was told that Mareo had come upon the kitsune while he was battling the thunder brothers. There was no mention of a Shikon shard."
Jomei sighed with partial relief. It wasn't bad that outsiders knew about the shard, but neither was it good.
"I suppose it is not well known, but yes, that is what happened."
"Wait a moment," one of the generals, a panda youkai, interjected. "You said that Lord Mareo used Sou'unga to defeat the lightning demons. That sword has been in the West for..."
"Three hundred and fifty years," Kagome interrupted. "Great grandpa gave it to Inutaisho after some of the other High Families complained that he had a powerful sword and Shippou's family. Stupid...and we don't even live as long as you..."
Jomei cleared his throat and tried to get rid of the blush that threatened his cheeks. He tried to undo some of the damage.
"Inutaisho was the only one that could control the spirit of Sou'unga besides Lord Mareo's line. And it was given as a gift for his betrothal." He said the last part slightly louder for Kagome's benefit.
Inutaisho laughed.
"Lord Mareo did have strong-willed ancestors, too bad the physical strength has waned," he was deliberately teasing Kagome and she knew it.
"I'll be glad to show you how little you know about my family, Inutaisho, whenever you wish," she said heatedly.
"Careful, Inutaisho; remember, she scratched Commander Bankotsu today," the panda youkai warned jokingly. Kagome almost screamed in frustration. She tried to rise from the table, but Jomei held her down and whispered in her ear.
"They are joking, Lady Kagome. Why are you getting so defensive?"
"He's doing it on purpose..." she began.
"Of course he is. It is custom, Lady Kagome, nothing more. You were taught this before you were allowed to leave the Northeast. Now calm down!"
She fidgeted for a moment but kept silent.
"One day perhaps, Lady Kagome. I have no doubt you are well-trained, but I have considerably more experience."
"Yes, Lord Inutaisho," she said softly.
Sesshomaru had watched her almost rip through the table to get to his father, then with a few words from that kitsune, she became a perfect lady, accepting the dominance of the male. If she would be that demure about one-hundred percent of the time, Sesshomaru thought that he might consider mating her.
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