Chapter Nine – Family Ties
"He ain't got concubines, you know," Inuyasha grumbled from his place in Kagome's doorway. She looked up and met his eyes in the mirror, nodding as she brushed out her hair.
"I know," she responded, wincing slightly when her brush snagged on a tangle. Placing the instrument on the table, she reached up and carefully pulled at the strands with her fingers, watching Inuyasha as he folded himself to the floor, leaning against the wall. He kept his face turned from her, but his ears twitched at every sound she made.
Deciding to wait and let him talk in his own time, Kagome calmly finished brushing out her hair, and then stood and walked to the shoji screen against the far wall of her room, sliding it back to let in the night air; she stepped out onto the balcony and let her thoughts wander.
It had been two days since the talk with Sesshomaru in the garden, and the fact that the Council would arrive in the morning sent butterflies fluttering in her stomach. Even though she'd studied her butt off and forced herself to pull her attitude together, it was still hard not to let a 'what if' mentality burn her determination to the ground.
"What're you thinkin' about?"
Inuyasha's gruff question startled her out of her thoughts, and she looked to her left, not having heard him cross the room. Folding her arms on the railing, she leaned against them, turning back to the sky and watching the moon make her slow progress across the cloudless expanse. "I'm trying not to let myself freak out," she answered quietly.
"About tomorrow?"
"Yeah." He remained silent, and she sighed. "But I guess worrying about it isn't going to make it any easier for me to stand in front of kami knows how many people and let Sesshomaru declare me the heir to the South."
For a few minutes, they didn't speak. "I was angry," Inuyasha blurted suddenly. She glanced at him to find his gaze locked on his fingers, which he had holding the banister so tightly that his knuckles were white.
"I know," she responded.
"I-I just couldn't believe that that bastard was getting something else I could never have." He shifted on his feet, sighing heavily. "He got to know our father; he got the lands; the shiro; the wealth…all I had was you."
"You'll still have me, Inuyasha," Kagome murmured, feeling a little bad for inadvertently causing her friend pain.
"Yeah, right," the hanyou scoffed, tossing his head back and staring at the stars. "And Sesshomaru will finally pull that stick out of his ass."
Kagome giggled, and then stepped closer and wound her arm around his waist. "I'm not going to stop being your friend, Inuyasha," she said, looking up at him with a smile. "Sesshomaru will just have to get used to you." The hanyou grunted. Kagome grinned, turning her gaze back to the stars. "And I accept your apology."
A quiet huff met her ears, and she knew that things between them would be just fine.
When the sun rose the next morning, Kagome was still standing on the balcony, watching the sky go from midnight blue to rosy peach. Behind her, the shoji screen to her room opened, and she turned around to see one of the maids assigned to her bringing in a tray of fresh fruits and a cool cup of tea.
Going back into the room, but opting to leave the balcony open, Kagome thanked the girl, who smiled warmly before bowing and leaving her alone, stating that someone would be in to help her dress.
Kagome snacked lightly on the fruit, finally realizing that although she didn't get truly hungry but once a month, she could eat whenever she wanted to—it was only when she required a replenishing of protein that fruits and tea wouldn't suffice.
She was just setting her empty tea cup down when a light knock alerted her to the presence of another maid. "Come in," she called, delighted to see one of her favorites, Tsuba, enter with Zenzo trailing after her. "Good morning, Tsuba, Zenzo."
"Good morning, my lady. I trust your night went well?"
Kagome nodded to the older youkai, and then accepted the roll of parchment Zenzo handed to her. "As well as it could without sleep," Kagome responded, standing as Tsuba began directing her helpers into the room. "What is this?" she questioned the kitsune, admiring his decision to have deep blue stitching added to his usually black haori. "You look nice."
The kit smiled. "Thank you, my lady. As for this," he tapped the scroll, "it is a missive from your uncle. It has just arrived."
Any good mood drained from her system, and she sighed. "Has Sesshomaru seen it?" Tsuba motioned for her to come and stand in front of her mirror, and she handed the scroll to Zenzo as the raccoon youkai began the long task of dressing her in an elaborate kimono.
"No, my lady. That is not the letter addressed to Lord Sesshomaru; that one is with him." He cleared his throat. "This one is written to you."
Kagome frowned. Why would her uncle write something specifically to her? "Read it to me," she whispered, something in her gut clenching—this entire situation seemed wrong somehow.
"As you wish." Zenzo broke the wax seal, and then carefully unrolled the letter. Kagome very nearly held her breath.
"'My dearest niece,
It is with great pleasure that I hear of your return, and I hope that you would grant me the honor of seeing you upon my arrival in the Western Lands. My brother would be proud to know that you are ready to accept your birthright, and it is my prayer that you fulfill your destiny.
Until we meet,
—Takuma'"
Turning at Tsuba's urging, Kagome met her advisor's eyes as he looked up, a frown on his face. "What?"
"My lady, there is something at the bottom that I cannot make out."
"What do you mean?"
He lifted the parchment, pointing a clawed finger toward a mark at the bottom of the page. Kagome tilted her head to one side, trying not to disrupt Tsuba's flow as she draped layer after layer of differently hued blue silk over her body. "It just looks like a dot of ink to me," she murmured. "Do you think it's something else?"
Zenzo shook his head in confusion. Brow wrinkled, he wet a thumb and rubbed it over the mark, and when it didn't smudge, his eyes lit up in recognition. "Takuma must have a kitsune in his employ," he said, obviously amused at whatever thought he was having.
"Why do you say that?" Kagome asked, calmly watching him as he went to a low table, knelt, and tore the lower half of the parchment from the full page.
"This is a method that only kitsune use to get important information from one place to another," he responded quietly. Kagome felt his youki gather, and in a burst of fox magic, the parchment caught fire, burning with a sickly yellow color. Biting back the urge to ask the kit if he'd lost his mind, Kagome waited semi-patiently, and then gasped in shock as neat characters began to show in the smoke.
They were backwards, Zenzo having been facing her when he'd burned the parchment, but as the kit's eyes widened, Kagome grew nervous. "Zenzo, what does it say?"
He began reading quietly, obviously shocked.
"'Dearest sister,
You do not know me, but rest assured that the words I write are true, for you only have my word that what I have to say is not a lie—Our mother birthed a child before you, but I did not bear the markings of the heir, and per the Seer's request, my birth was kept a secret from all, even the Council.
To this day, they know nothing of me.
I write, sister, to tell you that I am near. You are not alone in this, and you have but ask it and I shall risk life and limb to see you take your rightful place where our great father once stood.
I have but one selfish request—allow me to see you, for I have not laid eyes on you since you were a pup, and I shall like to see how my sister has grown.
Lovingly,
Your elder brother Ryouichi'"
As Zenzo's voice faded, so did the characters, and before the last disappeared, Kagome felt a slightly familiar youki brush against her cheek, and then a memory jumped to life in her mind's eye.
She was small, and wrapped in what felt like soft, malleable fur. She couldn't see much beyond her own hand, which was reaching out toward a blurry figure in the distance. The figure came closer, and she heard the voice before she saw the face that went with it; a child's voice, soft and full of admiration.
"Hello Kagome!"
A pair of dark eyes filled her vision, and a finger slipped into hers. She smiled.
"My lady? My lady, are you alright?"
Zenzo's voice snatched the memory out of her grasp, and she gasped, feeling her eyes widen. "The courier who—who brought the letter. Is he still here?" Zenzo seemed puzzled, and she felt her belly clench in expectation. "Is he? Bring him to me! Find him and bring him to me!"
Immediately, Zenzo disappeared with a burst of fox magic. Unbidden, Kagome felt her youki expand outward, following the kitsune's signature through the halls. She felt Sesshomaru's interest flare through his aura, and then she followed Zenzo again as he left the shiro. Anticipation built up in her chest, and then, just as Zenzo went out of her range, she felt the same youki that had touched her cheek flare up in recognition.
She barely had the time to gasp before Zenzo was back in the room, a tall, dark haired youkai stumbling into the air beside him in the same instant. He looked up, and Kagome felt tears well up in her eyes.
He took one step, and then another, and then his hands were on her shoulders. "Kagome?"
"Onii-san!"
She was crushed against his chest in the next instant, tears streaming down her face. She knew this youkai; knew his scent; his youki; his warmth. She wrapped her arms around his waist and cried.
She'd expected more resistance, but when Sesshomaru simply agreed to her request and demanded that Ryouichi be brought up to speed on the plan for the day, she simply sat and stared at him. "T-that's it?"
The daiyoukai raised a thin brow. "Yes."
She frowned, looking from Sesshomaru to Zenzo and back again. For a moment, she observed Sesshomaru's bland facial expression, and then tilted her head to the side. "Why?" She knew that she sounded suspicious, but she really couldn't help it. After all, Ryouichi didn't even exist according to youkai court, and the daiyoukai hardly let her walk around the grounds of the shiro by herself; it was almost impossible to believe he would allow a youkai she claimed to be her blood brother to become her bodyguard.
Sesshomaru shifted, pulling her out of her thoughts. "A youkai never forgets his siblings," he responded. "If you say that he is your brother, then he is your brother."
Kagome hummed in response. She supposed it made sense that she recognized the basic things about Ryouichi even though she had probably only seen him a few times as a pup—after all, the dogs people kept for pets always knew their siblings even after they'd been separated for years, so she, as a youkai, had no reason to have forgotten him.
"Did you know about him?"
For a moment, Sesshomaru didn't answer, choosing instead to keep writing whatever he was writing on the parchment in front of him. "This Sesshomaru did not," he responded, finishing his writing and pulling the parchment from the table, handing it to the surprisingly silent Jaken. "If the Seers do not wish for a youkai to be known, then he is not known."
Kagome sighed, leaning forward to place her elbows against the low desk. "Who are these Seers?" she asked, plain curiosity keeping her from reacting to the glare he was giving her for her casual position. "There was nothing about them in any of the scrolls you made me read, and Zenzo claims he doesn't know them."
Sesshomaru pulled a sheet of clean parchment in front of him, dipping his brush into his inkwell before beginning to write. It seemed that he was going to ignore her question, but she sat silently until he finished writing, admiring the neat spacing and clear legibility of his characters. "They have lived in the Nusaki Mountain Range for as long as any youkai can remember. None know where they came from, but since they take up residence in the South, your father, and therefore mine, made great use of them. Other lords soon began requesting their services as well."
"Have you ever been to see them?"
The glance he spared her made her giggle, and since it was answer enough—after all he was Sesshomaru—she dropped the subject and watched him work until a knock on the door and her brother's warm youki distracted her.
Respectfully, she didn't call out for him to enter, as she was tempted, and instead let Sesshomaru tell him he could come in—when she turned, he was dressed in black hakama and a deep blue haori, black armor strapped securely to his chest and a sword hilt peeking over his right shoulder. He smiled and inclined his head to her, and then bowed deeply to Sesshomaru. "My lord, if I may borrow my sister?"
"Hn," Sesshomaru responded. Kagome smiled brightly at him when he glanced up, and he nodded to her as she stood and slid her hand into the crook of Ryouichi's proffered arm.
They left the room, walking in silence until they came to the gardens. Ryouichi found a suitable bench for her to sit on, and then settled himself beside her, turning to her and giving her the opportunity to really look at him for the first time.
His skin, like hers, was slightly tanned, and his eyes were large and colored a gray so dark that it seemed black at first glance. He bore no markings, but his aristocratic features gave him an air of nobility, and his pitch black hair, which fell to the middle of his back, made him incredibly handsome.
"You have grown into a beautiful onna, Kagome," he said lightly, pulling her out of her thoughts. She blushed at the compliment, and he laughed. "And modest as well, I see." He reached up and captured her chin between his thumb and forefinger, turning her head this way and that. "You resemble Mother, yet you have Father's eyes."
At the mention of her birth parents, Kagome nervously nibbled on her bottom lip, twisting her fingers in her lap. "W-what were they like?"
Ryouichi smiled in remembrance, and Kagome envied him for the expression on his face. "Mother was—"
"My lady? Excuse me, but Lord Sesshomaru told me to inform you that the Council is nearing."
Nearly snapping at the young maid who had interrupted them, Kagome nodded and stood, motioning for Ryouichi to follow her.
They headed back into the shiro, and then wound through the halls until they reached the room that had been set aside for the purpose of keeping her safe until she was to be announced. After asking the maid to bring the children, she called down the hall for Zenzo, closing the door as she felt his youki materialize in the room.
"My lady?"
Kagome settled on a cushion, being as careful as she could not to wrinkle the heavy layers of her kimono too much. "Can you change your shape?" He nodded. "Onii-san, could you describe our parents to him? I…I want to see them."
Almost instantly, Ryouichi nodded, and it wasn't long before Kagome was staring at her father as Ryouichi remembered him. The overwhelming urge to run to him was hard to suppress, but Kagome managed to keep herself from getting up, raking her eyes over Zenzo's shifted form.
It wasn't hard to see that Ryouichi took after their father; they shared the same facial structure, and were both tall and broad shouldered. The only difference was the fact that, like Sesshomaru, her father held a mass of fur over his right shoulder, the soft looking pelt colored a black so deep that she could see blue and purple highlights playing along its surface.
"And Mother?"
Zenzo shifted again, and Kagome almost felt as though she were looking into a mirror. She had gotten nearly every feature from her mother, including her diminutive stature, and the only thing that was different was her eyes—instead of the deep gray, Kagome's eyes were a bright, brilliant blue, just like her father's.
She didn't realize she was crying until Zenzo shifted back and murmured an apology; Ryouichi wiped away her tears with gentle fingers, a saddened look in his eyes. He opened his mouth, perhaps to reassure her, but at that moment, the shoji screen slid back and Sesshomaru's massive aura flowed into the room like water, caressing her youki and calming her nerves.
"Come—it is time."
She stamped down the panic that instantly rose in her belly, and then smiled wanly and nodded, taking a deep, soothing breath. "I'm ready."
Sesshomaru nodded once, and then turned and left the room. Kagome followed, noting with interest that the daiyoukai was back in his usual garb, full armor strapped to his chest and swords at his side. His pelt flowed luxuriously over his shoulder, shimmering in the sunlight that came in through the windows.
They walked in silence, but as they neared the great room, where she would be announced, Kagome felt her brother's youki completely disappear. Unprepared for the feeling of losing the familial warmth that she had grown so accustomed to so quickly, she stopped short, spinning around. "Ryouichi, where—"
"I'm here." His voice came from her left, and she looked, only to see him rise up out of her shadow. He grinned at the shock she felt displayed on her face. "I'll teach you how to do this as well," he murmured, sinking back down as Sesshomaru's aura flared. "Right now, there are other matters to attend to."
Filing the knowledge away for another time—and remembering to ask Sesshomaru to train her when this was finished—she nodded and turned back, waiting as Sesshomaru walked into the great room. The light chatter stopped as he entered, and she waited until his aura beckoned her before entering after him.
Despite the instant murmurs, and the louder exclamations as some recognized the family seal she'd ordered be stitched onto the back of her outer kimono, she walked forward, head held high and youki pulled tight against her body.
Sesshomaru awaited her on a raised dais, and she carefully stepped up to it, keeping a respectful distance between them. She bowed deeply, acknowledging him as her superior, and then rose as he indicated, stepping up onto the dais.
Sesshomaru's clawed hand lay in the space between them, and she took it, turning flawlessly beside him to face the small crowd—comprised of the four cardinal lords, their mates, and their advisors, the room was comfortably filled, though still obviously not full to capacity.
"I present the Lady Kagome," Sesshomaru said, "daughter of the late Lord Shinosamu and heir to the Southern Lands."
The shouting came instantly.
Author's Note: And there you are! I hope you enjoyed that little twist, and thanks for reading!
~Aubrey