It turned out that the first thing that Toga had to do was wait, which was simultaneously annoying and entertaining. He had to view the entirety of the travels of the Inutachi; and of Kagome. That decided him that his soul-mate would have home-schooling rather than public schooling – firstly, so that she could be taught a wider variety of subjects, secondly so that she wouldn't be forced into wearing such indecent clothing, and thirdly because of a more flexible schedule. Her being a shrine maiden would make it much easier to arrange for such things, there was no way that the future would not have concessions made for those who guarded their culture so deeply. Not in Nihon; maybe in other countries, but not here.
There would be no need for regular trips to take tests every couple of weeks, although Toga would still make absolutely sure that she visited her family once a fortnight or once a moon for a few days – not just so she could gather study materials but just so she could relax in a time she would likely feel safer in. Although, with Toga's influence, that time/dimension would not feel like home to Kagome. Not that he knew that – sometimes life just worked out that way.
Not that her original time actually was any safer; he'd followed her there a few times while he knew the Inutachi was staying in Edo doing nothing, and explored; there were all sorts of dangerous weapons that were difficult to defend against… Normally. Upon asking Amaterasu-sama (She told him not to call Her by Her full title, which was, admittedly, somewhat of a relief, what with it being a mouthful) about finding defence there, it was revealed to him that he didn't need to worry about his precious soul-mate experiencing any of that sort of thing.
This was because her aura generally drove humans who would harm her away when she was on her own, and would drive most yōkai with ill intent away as well, until the jewel was pulled from her; the centipede yōkai that did such was an anomaly – one of those "exception to the rules" existences. If he took care of her schooling, Kagome would rarely leave the shrine (excepting possibly to go to other shrines; depending on how such schooling worked), which, She reassured him, by the time Kagome was born had protections that prevented any yōkai who would harm any of the beings within from entering. Since the centipede yōkai was already there it would not be affected, especially as it was sealed and asleep, meaning no harm to anyone until it was awoken and dragged Kagome into the well before the protections could eject it from the premises.
Still, he would make certain that she could defend herself there, as well. Hand-to hand would do; Aikido and kyokushin Karate (just because Toga was waiting and watching in this time right now, did not mean that he had stayed here as soon as he was let free. The very first thing he did was seek out times of power related to the art of self defence, so that he would know what he wanted his precious Kagome to be taught), Karate that was meant for attack and defence, rather than defence alone. It had originally been a war art after all.
And Aikido for defence alone when she did not wish to truly harm her opponent – as well as to learn better how to channel her reiki and spiritual powers (those were not reiryoku, reiryoku was blue – he'd let her decide what she wanted to call them) throughout her body in a ningen way – she would be learning how to do it as yōkai did, but it would be proof of her actually being a real miko if she could do things the ningen way… Just so long as her default was yōkai.
When he asked Amaterasu-sama once again (because They had read his thoughts when he wondered that first time, which was as good as him asking Them aloud) whether his interference would truly make things better – because, despite all the verbal and emotional abuse his son was putting her through, Kagome refused to be intimidated and had such an indomitable, fiery spirit, that he fell in love with her all over again upon seeing it in full rather than in the snatches he had been shown earlier – She let him know that Kagome's spirit would never change… But he could make her use it more properly, more fiercely.
"Show her how to be inu, Toga – imagine how her spirit will be if she has grown up as inu, rather than as ningen."
It only took a spare moment to decide that Amaterasu-sama was definitely correct in that.
Especially when Kagome almost immediately adopted the orphaned kitsune kit as her own – she already had the right kind of instincts necessary; it would be wonderful to see her grown and confident in herself. Toga was inordinately fond of the little fox kit, and resolved then and there to ask Omoikane-sama if he needed to prevent the jewel shattering, or if he could (or even should) allow the beginnings of her journey to happen as they naturally did – until Inuyasha gained the Tessaiga and the tachi was formed, because it would take at least that much time to return from his grave unless he wanted to exit from his son's eye. (He did not, thank you very much, and damn the magic that he'd used to place the pearl there. That magic made it so that if the basic existence inside of it changed drastically—such as Toga absorbing his skeleton, which he would have to do in order to regenerate fully—the convenient exit point would be from where the stupid thing had originally been placed.) It seemed to Toga that every member of the Inutachi needed to meet Kagome, in order to change for the better. And stay alive, too, at that.
In response to his as-yet-unspoken query, the Kami made Himself known and told Toga that he should, once Kagome fell through the well, follow her and wait in his tomb – his presence would be the beginning of the more important changes, such as Kagome allying her pack (Toga was more than willing to let his future mate take charge in her quest; it wasn't his duty, after all – he was only there to be with her) with the Western Lord and the prince of the largest Eastern ōkami tribe. Omoikane-sama refused to tell him how that would happen, but he was looking forward to seeing it.
The encounter with Shiori solidified that yes, they needed to meet some of these people, continue the quest, or innocents would die for no good reason whatsoever. He didn't much care for strengthening Tessaiga, but supposed that the abilities would be useful and were probably necessary for Inuyasha to protect himself; the Kami seemed to have guided the group to where they needed to be and go.
Kaguya had been a riot—and her comment about Kagome had been enlightening – yet not a one of the Inutachi seemed to notice it. The only way that Kagome could die was completely willingly, if, indeed, she was timeless. Which meant that Inuyasha had so destroyed her gentle, kind, brave spirit that once he was gone she felt she had nothing left to live for. If he'd allowed her to continue raising the little kitsune that might have changed, but he had protested to the point that the kit just left to be raised by Sango and Miroku.
The whelp would be getting punished for that even though Toga would make absolutely sure that it wouldn't happen any more; although said punishment would be crouched in terms of "training". And lessons on manners. And lessons on trusting one's instincts.
Seriously, the boy had done well surviving up until this point, but he had so little experience and knowledge about anything that Toga was genuinely surprised that he'd survived. And there was no way that that Kikyō woman had loved him – or that he had loved her. You didn't love someone and want them to change – as evidenced by Toga's repeated reluctance to do as the Kami asked of him. And you especially didn't love someone because they had power you wanted. That was just… wrong.
After all; Toga might be happy that his (hopefully) future mate was incredibly powerful, and he might be changing her in many ways – but not because he wanted her to be different. He was doing it because he wanted her to be happy, loved, and protected. He was bound and determined to keep her as much the same as he could, to encourage her temper (although while teaching her when was best to let it loose and when to let it simmer so that revenge could be planned properly), to nourish her open, loving heart, to enhance her loyalty, to nurture her pride, and to give her confidence in herself that could not be broken by anyone or anything.
And all the while, keeping her humble, sweet, gentle, and deeply kind.
Of course, Toga had a suspicion that all those traits were deeply ingrained into her soul – which was not Kikyō's, no matter what any of those fools thought. Kagome's soul was her own, after many, many incarnations over the past years – not the first incarnation, but the final one, for sure. Kikyō's soul had simply tagged along with the Shikon because she was so stupid as to burn her body with it. As if that would actually destroy the accursed thing or keep it from returning where it damn well pleased. Her tagging along had made Kagome look like her for her youth; once she exited, Kagome began slowly growing into her own appearance. But seriously, those blue eyes of Kagome's were proof that she was not Kikyō, who had brown-black eyes – reincarnations never differed so greatly from their previous incarnation after one life alone. They went through subtle changes – in the case of eyes, brown-black, to dark brown, to medium brown, to light brown, to hazel, to green, to green-blue, to blue.
Toga was inordinately pleased upon finding out that, unlike his youngest son, his firstborn saw the Shikon no Tama for what it was – a false, deceptive, and evil power that used its holder rather than the other way around.
Sure, Sesshōmaru had made mistakes – plenty of them – but so had Toga, and he knew that Kagome's garnering an alliance with his firstborn son would help him keep from making so many mistakes this time around.
About the girl, though…
Well – they would just have to see what happened. Maybe the Kami would interfere and make absolutely certain that that particular soul-bond managed to bloom. So far the rest of the original group was going to end up travelling with his Kagome's tachi; and the alliance would be between her and the tachi in general and Sesshōmaru – not the group in its individual parts and Sesshōmaru. His younger brother would likely still attack him repeatedly, and, no doubt, Kagome would allow it until serious injury happened, because she trusted that Sesshōmaru was stronger.
She was very matter of fact and, when she trusted her instincts, had loads of common sense.
It wasn't very long before she met that ridiculous ōkami prince, whom she promptly befriended in spite of the fact that he was her captor…
Toga sighed – his beloved was a trouble magnet, and it seemed like the easiest way for someone to worm their way into her heart was to try and kill, harm, steal from, or abduct her.
It just endeared her to him all the more, if he was honest with himself – and whilst Toga would lie to others when necessary, he never, ever lied to himself.
He wondered when exactly in her journey this happened – because, since he had seen the most important bits already, her interactions with Inuyasha and the bigger battles against Naraku, he was watching the little things, the daily grind, and jumping between that and the more important events (like Ryūkotsusei, of all fucking yōkai), purposely watching out of order. If Toga didn't know what was going to happen, when, it would make it easier for his beloved to keep the friends she had made during her original journey through the well. He wasn't there to change anything except Higurashi Kagome's direct health – in all ways – during her quest. He wasn't there to take charge, defeat the evil hanyō (which would be a breeze) for the group, or anything else – and if anyone called him out on it he would let them know straight up that he had a different purpose in coming back, and that this was Kagome's quest to finish on her own, with the friends she chose to keep around her.
Of course, he would be affecting a bit more than that by doing his job – he would be educating (and in the process, punishing) Inuyasha in reading and trusting his instincts, as well as the culture he should have grown up knowing – to an extent anyhow. The boy would likely never be suited for the courts, nor would he want to be, although he might very well, depending on his maturity by the time they took over, end up living with them in the Southern court. As well, he would keep the ōkami from annoying and upsetting his Kagome with those ridiculous claims, as was his right with a pack member.
She would know of his intent before she entered the well, even though he would not act on it if she didn't wish it, or until she was ready if she did have the same feelings for him as he did for her. And because he knew for certain that in no world would she appreciate how the ōkami treated her (Kagome was not property!), even if she denied his claim, he would still protect her from unwanted advances – simply as a father-figure or uncle-figure rather than as her betrothed; Kagome was going to be marked as pack when she was young, if he could manage it somehow.
Amaterasu-sama's voice echoed into his mind laughingly, "Oh, dear Toga – that girl knows what she wants and grabs hold of it, never letting go. She will be claiming you as her own before you can even state your intentions to her; mark My words. We all look forwards to seeing that… and now you will forget these words, because half of what We are looking forwards to is the unalloyed surprise that will be on your face when she does so – and how she does so."
Toga blinked and tried to remember what he had been thinking about, then shrugged – it wasn't important. What was more important was watching Kagome "sit" Inuyasha three feet into the earth because he was fighting letting her go home for tests – Toga thought that there were a few reasons why his youngest son reacted in such a way to her leaving.
Firstly, Kagome was much smarter than he was, and for a boy who had been degraded all of his life, her intelligence would be unwanted and unpleasant. Women, in this era, were supposed to be uneducated, so meeting one significantly smarter than him meant she was a threat. Second, he didn't like the future, and even when he went there he was restricted where he could go. Finally, despite being rude, crude, borderline cruel, and pretty much an all around jerk, the hanyō did care about Kagome in his own way, and he missed her whenever she was gone – hence why he almost always went to grab her before her allotted time was up.
If Toga had his way, the boy would never get the chance to follow her down the well – he could go himself, and do a better job at protecting Kagome than Inuyasha was; not, by any means, that she would honestly need protecting by that time.
Well, he'd seen pretty much everything he needed to see when it came to Naraku: all the big enemies, all the incarnations, all the allies and tricks and traps he used. Toga would make sure that Byakuya lived, if he was created and if it was possible, because having someone whose mediocre illusions were that damn good in his debt – but not under his control – would be a damn good thing. Kagura and Kanna might survive as well if Kagome intervened, but they really were of little use to Toga and he knew that being dead would allow them to pass on to their next lives, rapidly, even, because of their terribly short time alive, so he wasn't really bothered about if they did or not.
Admittedly, part of that was because they had both directly harmed his Kagome, for all they had no choice. Byakuya had had the chance, more than once, and simply left instead. Yes, he had attacked Kagome in the final battle – but that was the only time, and Toga knew that it was only so that he could fulfil his purpose in being created and pass on to a better life where he was not born enslaved. Toga appreciated that strongly.
And now it was time to wait again – part of his duty in order for him to gain his reward (being part of Kagome's life, in any way possible) was to wait, watch, and learn, so that he could help change the world; the Kami wanted their creations living together in harmony, not one species covering the world and killing it like a disease, whilst the others were forced into hiding in order to survive, and not one species dominating the others and threatening or forcing them into submission.
Toga grinned – hopefully part of his duty in making that happen was filling the world with adorable little hanyō pups with his mate. And because she had power, these wouldn't be unstable like Inuyasha was.
Yes, that was a delightful idea.