Chapter Five: Enter Yasuo

Nakia pounded down the stairs and into the kitchen. She was wearing a lacy spaghetti strapped tank top with a pair of torn jeans. She was wearing a red bra that would tease any man looking at her. At the moment it was irritating her father to no end.

"Maruchi!" She called ignoring her father's withering glare. "It's our day!"

Sesshoumaru's attention was momentarily pulled from his daughter's red lined cleavage.

Maruchi looked up at his sister from the noodles he was wolfing down. "Really?"

"Yup! I have a special day planned for us!" She said spreading a map of the city out on the table. "There are several museums here that feature artifacts from the Feudal Era."

"Why bother when there's a relict sitting in our kitchen?" Maruchi asked eying his father.

"Oh, ha ha," Nakia said sarcastically. "You picked out what we did last month, this month is my turn."

"Fine, whatever," Maruchi shrugged focusing his eyes back on his noodles.

"May I accompany you on this outing?" Sesshoumaru asked sure that he wouldn't be allowed.

"Nope, sorry, Pops," Nakia said with a grin. "Me and my brother have a special day every month that we spend doing things together. I have one with Inumaru and Mom too."

"Before you ask the answer is no, I'm not insane," Maruchi said coming up for air.

"It was Nakia who started harping on us all spending quality time together," Saphira said bringing her coffee to the table.

"Does this mean the you and I will have a special day also?" Sesshoumaru asked turning to his daughter.

"If you want," she said shrugging then pulling out her digital planner. "I'm free on Monday."

"That is a week from now," Sesshoumaru protested. "How can you have a whole week booked up already?"

"I'm a busy busy bee," Nakia grinned then proceeded to pound on her brother's arm. "Come on Maruchi! Let's go!"

"Fine! Fine!" He replied stuffing the last bit of his noodles into his already full mouth.

Nakia strolled out of the room and into the hallway to put her shoes on.

"Do you need me to call a cab?" Saphira asked from her place beside Sesshoumaru.

"No! We're walking!" Nakia called back.

"I hope she is wearing decent shoes," Saphira murmured into her coffee.

"I heard that!" Nakia grumbled loudly.

Saphira only smiled. Maruchi in the meantime, had thrown his bowl into the sink and had his head in the refrigerator.

"Maruchi!" Nakia called impatiently.

"Coming, coming!" Maruchi said hurrying out of the kitchen chewing on something.

"My son is a pig and my daughter is a dancer," Sesshoumaru said sadly, shaking his head.

"What's wrong with being a pig?" Inumaru asked sitting down with a bowl of noodles.

Sesshoumaru groaned and Saphira laughed.

"So, Mom, what are your plans for the day?" Inumaru asked politely.

"I have to go see Grand Mama," Saphira said.

"Would you like me to accompany you?" Was his next query.

"Only if you want to," Saphira replied.

"How is Grand Mere taking to the chemo treatments?" Inumaru asked knowing the if he asked his human relatives they would not tell him, instead they would want to spare him any pain by keeping him ignorant.

"As well as can be expected, chemo kills off the bad cells and then starts on the good ones," Saphira replied. "I'm sure she will get worse later on as the chemo proceeds."

"Have they given her a diagnosis?"

"Hodgkin's Disease," Saphira said a tear slipping from her eye.

"Ah."

Inumaru looked at his mother's fallen tear, he remembered the last time she had cried. They were leaving Tokyo, and planning on traveling for a while before the twins were born and then settling in America. She had cried everyday they had spent in Tokyo, and had cried for several days after they had left. He supposed that she had still been mourning the death of their mother, and since the wound was still fresh everything in Tokyo reminded her of Kagome. Inumaru could barely remember his real mother. He had glimpses of a laughing, black haired women with warm eyes. The only memory he had of is father was a man dressed in red with silver hair blowing across his covered face. He supposed that Sesshoumaru looked an awful lot like his father since they were half brothers, but he would never truly know what his father looked like.

"Inu."

The voice of his mother pulled him from his musings. "Yes?"

"Are you coming to the hospital with me?" Saphira asked, her eyes darting between him and Sesshoumaru.

"Of course," Inumaru answered. "Are you coming as well, Sesshoumaru?"

"If that is your mother's wish," Sesshoumaru said catching Saphira's eyes.

"I don't care either way," Saphira declared. "We're leaving in ten minutes, Inu, so finish your noodles."

Inumaru began to shovel food into his mouth, reminding Sesshoumaru of his brother.

Maruchi and Nakia walked quietly side by side down the busy Tokyo street.

"So, where are you taking me?" Maruchi asked breaking the silence between them.

"I'm seeing someone," Nakia said casually. Maruchi stopped in his tracks.

"His name is Jamie," Nakia continued as if Maruchi hadn't reacted at all. "He is twenty one and lives in the States."

"Demon or human?" Maruchi managed to ask.

"Demon, dog demon," Nakia answered. "Actually we're probably distantly related, descended from one of our father's long lost relatives. A cousin or something like that, his family went into hiding after Inutashio took on a human mistress. They're currently in Scotland."

"We don't know if she were a mistress or if she was his mate," Maruchi argued.

"Well, whatever she was, she caused rebellion that our father ended up having to squash himself," Nakia reasoned. "Since Jamie's ancestors couldn't rely on Sesshoumaru's protection they fled to the continent and into hiding."

"Very interesting," Maruchi said. "Where did you meet him?"

"Oh here and there," Nakia answered vaguely.

Maruchi growled a warning.

"Fine, fine, we met at a dance audition a year ago in Manhattan. He's been trying to get into Juilliard since he graduated from high school. Every year he tries out, but gets rejected. Anyhow, he's been going to Yale in the meantime. He's father wants him to become a lawyer, apparently his father admires Mama," Nakia said proudly.

"Hm," Maruchi grunted. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" Nakia asked raising her brows at him. "I don't want you and Inu to go and threaten his life if things aren't going to work out."

"So, things are working out?" Maruchi asked.

"Well, yes, actually he wants to propose," Nakia gushed.

Maruchi cringed at his sister's tone. "You do realize that he'll have to duel with Sesshoumaru in order to formally court you, right?"

"Yes, yes," she said waving her hand dismissively.

"You know what that means? He can't be ready to propose yet! If he is that means that you two have already been courting and Sesshoumaru will know!" Maruchi said with urgency as they climbed the steps to a museum.

"Oh, he probably already knows!" Nakia shot back.

"I doubt it, if he did he would have throttled 'Jamie' a year ago," Maruchi said darkly. "Besides you couldn't have spent too much time with him since neither me or Inu had a clue."

"I guess you're right. We did spend most our time emailing and talking on the phone," Nakia agreed.

"We're students do we get in free?" Maruchi asked the man at the desk in the foyer of the museum.

"No."

"Discounted tickets?" Maruchi prodded.

"No."

"Asshole," Nakia murmured as Maruchi paid the man to get into the museum.

"So, have you met his family yet?" Maruchi asked as they entered the main hallway of the museum.

"Uh."

"Uh?"

"Isn't this a nice piece of artwork?" Nakia asked stopping in front of a huge canvas.

"Nakia."

"What?" She looked at him innocently.

"Tell me."

"Well, his family are purebreds and have this thing about hanyous," Nakia said slowly.

Maruchi groaned. "There is still that sort of prejudice in the world?"

"Apparently it is quite common with full bloods," Nakia. "Don't you remember why Mom took us out of that private school for demon children?"

"Because the food was unhealthy?" Maruchi asked not sure at all why their mother took them out of the first school they ever went to.

"You must have repressed the memories. The kids tried to beat us up all the time and called us 'Mud bloods'. I can't believe you don't remember," Nakia said.

"Hey, what my mind decides to repress is none of my business," Maruchi argued. "Hey look at this!"

He was standing before a rusty old sword from the Feudal Era, that's identification card read 'Tessaiga'.

"Tee-hee! It's a fake!" Maruchi giggled madly.

"I wonder how much they were conned for it," Nakia wondered.

"Actually, the curator bought that from a shrine for cheap," a voice said behind them.

"You still paid money for a fake sword," Maruchi grinned turning to face the voice.

The man, rather demon, regarded them with a questioning gaze. "Just how did you know it was a fake to begin with?"

Nakia cleared her throat. "We have indisputable knowledge to guarantee our assumption."

"Besides, you just admitted it was a cheap replica," Maruchi pointed out. "Therefore, even if our own assumption was under false pretenses, you just confirmed it to be true."

"I would expect no less of a legally garbled answer from the children of Saphira Ryuji," the demon smiled.

Both Nakia and Maruchi smiled in return as the demon's disguise fell away to reveal one of their family's oldest friends. He was also a dragon youkai that had been distantly related to their grandfather. He had actually pursued their mother for many years to no avail. He then graciously accepted the title of 'uncle', knowing that was as close as he would get.

"Uncle Yasuo, why are you just now making an appearance?" Maruchi asked. "How come you didn't show up when Sesshoumaru did?"

Yasuo snorted. "Do you think I'm a fool? You're father would have killed any man sniffing around his mate."

"Uh, what about a few years ago when you and Mom were dating?" Nakia asked slyly.

"Well, he hadn't made his intentions known," Yasuo explained.

"So, Mom was free game until Sesshoumaru showed up?" Maruchi asked.

"Pretty much, you two looking forward to some new siblings?" Yasuo asked wickedly.

"Uh, man! Why did you have to go and ruin my day like that?" Maruchi complained.

"Well, if they do 'renew', as the humans like to say, their mating vows then I don't see how you two aren't going to have more siblings," Yasuo laughed. "I don't think Sesshoumaru is going to be able to keeps his paws off your mother if they do renew their mating."

"I wanted to stay the baby!" Nakia whined.

"Besides, girly, what is this I hear about you having a new play toy?" Yasuo asked raising his brows. "I checked into his family and I don't like what I saw."

"And just what don't you like?" Nakia asked scornfully.

"Well, Jamie's older sister, Ann, is a crazy hoe that has a couple illegitimate pups," Yasuo said ticking off his fingers. "The mother is psychotic, the father is an overbearing pervert, and there are many many siblings. Five in all, I believe."

"So?"

"Yeah, who cares if the sister has illegitimate pups?" Maruchi asked. "Isn't that normal nowadays?"

"Normal for humans, perhaps, but the pups aren't only illegitimate they're also very mixed," Yasuo said darkly.

"We're mixed too," Nakia said defending the pups.

"But you're not mixed with the lowest, human scum on the planet," Yasuo said with disgust.

"I thought you said that his parents aren't crazy about the hanyou stuff?" Maruchi asked.

"They aren't, that's why they disowned the daughter," Yasuo said.

"So why is she a problem?" Maruchi asked clearly confused.

"Bad blood, my boy, she's proof that the family itself has bad blood," Yasuo said. "Probably from inbreeding, they were trying to stay pure blooded and at one point the only time to do that was to inbreed."

"Gross!" Maruchi coughed.

"There is nothing wrong with him!" Nakia argued.

"Nothing that you've discovered yet," Yasuo said. "I wish you would listen to me, but I know you won't. So, I'll give you some advice. If he ever lays a paw on you, leave him even if you heavy with a pup. All is lost if a male begins to beat on his mate."

"Why is that?" Maruchi asked.

"Males are supposed to treat their mates like their own flesh. Whoever beats his mate is beating himself," Yasuo said. "Come on, let's get this show on the road!"

The twins sighed and followed their uncle deeper into the museum.

Saphira fought off the tears as she looked down at her grandmother. The human, fighting for her life, lay in the bed breathing heavily. Every few minutes she would sigh out aloud. Saphira found comfort in the sound, it let her know that the old woman was still alive.

But, her grandmother was much thinner than she remembered. Her shriveled arms and hands made the human look like she already had one foot in the grave

The hospital was unlike the ones Saphira had avoided in her youth. Instead of being sterile and cold, her grandmother's room was bright and warm. On the nightstand beside the bed were photographs of her family. Saphira leaned over to examine the last photograph she had sent her Tokyo family. It was of her and the three kids at their Florida home in the States.

"Hello, Mrs. Higurashi!" Boomed an older man coming through the door after tapping briefly.

Saphira caught the growl in her throat before it erupted.

"You must be the family! Are you the daughter?" He asked turning to look at Saphira.

"No," she said tightly. "I'm her granddaughter, Saphira."

"Ah, the lawyer," the doctor smiled. "And I already know your son, Inumaru. Is this your husband?"

Time stopped for a moment when the doctor asked the question looking at Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru said nothing allowing Saphira to answer as she pleased.

"Yes," Saphira answered after she debated with herself. "Sesshoumaru."

"Nice to meet you, Sesshoumaru," the doctor said. "There's a brain surgeon over in the States with that same name. Are you and he the same person?"

"Yes."

"Well then, Doctor, I will allow you to translate all the medical mambo-jumbo to your wife and son," the doctor smiled. "Mrs. Higurashi is suffering from a type of stage four lymphoma known as Hodgkin's Disease. As soon as her condition stabilizes we're going to give her a sample of medicinerelated to the chemo to see how her body reacts to it. If all goes well, we'll start her in chemo therapy for the next six to seven months. By then the cancer will hopefully be gone."

The doctor then busied himself checking medical charts and with a wave of goodbye left the room.

Saphira turned glassy eyes to Sesshoumaru. "I have no need for you to translate."

Sesshoumaru only nodded and turned his attention back towards the television.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" The woman was wearing too much make up. Her eyes were dark with eyeliner and her lips too red. Her pale skin was plastered in foundation and she smelled of cheap purfume.

"I don't know why you wear that stuff," a male voice wheezed. "Of course this is a good idea. Nakia needs support while her great grandmother is in the hospital."

The woman merely shifted the weight of youngling on her hip. The child was no more than a year old. They were standing on the steps of an old shrine in the middle of the afternoon.

"Why couldn't she just come to Scotland for support?" The woman continued to whine.

The male sighed deciding to ignore her, but stood as he heard voices approaching. "She's here!"

Nakia and Maruchi were making their way up the steps with Yasuo when Nakia caught a familiar scent and looked up.

"Jamie!"She shrieked and sprinted up the stairs to meet him.

They embraced with Nakia asking, "What are you doing here?"

"He wanted to come and give you his support," the female answered with irritation.

"Is this your sister? And her pup?" Nakia asked with excitement. "It's so nice to meet you!"

"The same here," Ann grumbled. "You can hold her if you want."

"What is her name?" Nakia asked as Ann handed over the youngling.

"Nevaeh," the mother answered.

The youngling took an immediate liking to Nakia.

"Oh, Jamie, this is my twin brother, Maruchi and my Uncle Yasuo," Nakia said introducing the two.

"Nice to meet you," Maruchi said politely shaking Jamie's hand. Yasuo followed suite.

"Uh, Nakia? Could I talk to you for a minute?" Maruchi asked smiling at the two visitors.

"Sure," Nakia answered allowing her twin to drag her off.

Once they were a good distance away, Maruchi began whispering. "Are you insane? What if Sesshoumaru comes here and smells Jamie's scent on you?"

"What is he going to do? Demand that Jamie fight him right then and there?" Nakia asked rolling her eyes. "Please, our Dad can't be that psychotic."

"Nakia, sweetheart, who are those people?" Saphira asked approaching her daughter who was holding a strange youngling.

"Uh-oh," Maruchi breathed catching sight of his tall father. "You're done for."

"Well," Nakia began reflecting that telling the truth couldn't bite her in the ass. "The guy is sorta my boyfriend, Jamie, and the girl is his sister, Ann. And this is her pup, Nevaeh."

Her mother looked more upset over the pup's name than the announcement of Nakia's boyfriend. "Nevaeh? Nevaeh as in heaven backwards?"

"Yup," Ann said walking over. Her strange accent made Saphira throw up her guard quickly. The girl was foreign, but that didn't bother her. She talked as if she were trying to be something she wasn't, using a dialect that didn't belong to her kind. "An angel came to me in a dream and told me to her that."

Saphira fought to keep herself from raising her eyebrows. Youkai didn't believe in angels, for this youkai to name her pup after a place that only humans believed in spoke volumes.

"You are aware that according to the human's Bible only two persons were ever named by God through angels," Sesshoumaru said sensing his mate's discomfort. "Jesus himself, and John the Baptizer."

"I know that!" Ann said immediately getting defensive, she snatched the baby out of Nakia's arms. "I can name my child whatever I want!"

"No one is disputing that," Sesshoumaru said smoothly. "What is this I hear about you having a boyfriend, Nakia?"

Maruchi groaned loudly.