Not allowing Kagome to sleep had ended up being impossible – largely because right as dawn came he finally forced her into a completion so overwhelming that she just passed out from pleasure and exhaustion. It was rather amusing and an incredible compliment to his skills that he could do that to her. Toga was very smug over this development as he dressed his beloved, removed Raimei and dressed himself, placed the sword in his mate's obi, and laid next to her in a form large enough that she was practically buried in his fur, just like she liked.
When she woke up from her nap, she yawned and nuzzled closer into his fur, murmuring nonsensical repetitions of how much she loved him before she finally truly woke up. Of course, when she woke up she actually just buried herself further into his fur with pleased little growls of happiness and contentment. It truly was astounding how much she adored his true form. He didn't force her to do anything or rush her movements – it was still very early; not for them but he knew damn well the ōkami never did business before lunchtime. They weren't lazy – ōkami were just half-nocturnal, like their less sentient counterparts. And really, Sesshōmaru could care for the pack in their absence, he was intelligent and capable.
Toga rather thought the frequency with which they left their eldest in charge of the pack was severely changing his outlook on any perceived favouritism with his middle brother. Especially when just a few days ago he had asked why he had been given Tenseiga, Kagome had scoffed and asked him why should he even want Tessaiga when it would only weaken him, and he had looked to Toga and found nothing but agreement in his body and expression. Sesshōmaru didn't need Tessaiga, it would just disable him and prevent him from growing stronger. Yasha, however, was a hanyō, he had a natural limit to how much he could grow and plus could not manipulate his yōki the same way a full yōkai could. Not to mention, that sword had been intended to reside inside of his body for his entire life, full stop.
But still, even had he had the same mother as Sesshōmaru and simply a ningen father, Yasha never would have had the acid or poison his elder brother carried, just like he did not have any of the electricity or life-manipulation abilities that Toga had. Some hanyō could carry genetic abilities and manifest them, but only if their parents did not have as enormous a disparity in power as Toga and Izayoi had had, or as Satori would have if she had ever "lowered" herself to have a dalliance with a normal ningen. It was only if both parents had a similar amount of power and strength – it did not have to be ki strength; something as simple as an incredible strength of will would do as well – that the hanyō could manifest blood-given abilities.
Neither of them knew what kind of existence their pups would have – Kagome was not ningen, so their pups honestly might be full yōkai. Or incredibly powerful and balanced hanyō. Or some new kind of being entirely. But that wouldn't happen for a while. Toga had temporarily shifted his body so that his seed was sterile, since they couldn't be having Kagome pupped before things were settled with the Southern Lands, as much as he wanted her to be a mother even now. They had to make the world a safer place for their pups before they could create them.
Toga turned his head as Kagome slowly pulled herself out of his belly fur and sighed, climbing up his leg and burying herself in his ruff with soft, content little growls and whines. Kami, but he loved his Kagome so much. "Enjoying yourself, sweet little one?"
"If I didn't like what you did to me last night so much I would probably genuinely wish that you never had to leave your natural form."
That...
Wow.
Before he could say anything, his koishi spoke up again, her voice demanding and curious, "Tell me true – what do you consider to be your true self? The humanoid mask you wear so that you can function among ningen and defend your lands, or this form, in any size?"
He didn't even have to think to answer her question – almost any yōkai with a form aside from their humanoid forms would answer the exact same way, even if they had not been raised in that form. "This form is my true self, of course. It does not matter what I look like on the outside, I am an inu and always will be. Nothing can change that."
She settled further into his ruff – he thought maybe she was rubbing her cheek against his fur – before responding. "Your humanoid form is beyond pleasing – handsome, strong, charming, wonderful in every way – but I am always, no matter what, constantly aware that it is a mask. It is a cover. The Inu no Taishō is not my Toga. This is my Toga and has always been my Toga. Even when I was unused to sleeping with your furred form, as a child, I was always aware that you were truly an inu, not the humanoid person that everyone else saw. This you is the one that slept with me at nights when I was a babe, the one that taught me how to trust my instincts, the one that taught me it is acceptable to be proud of your skills so long as you do not overestimate them. Yes, the humanoid you has more humour, arrogance, versatility, and can hold Kagome… But the Inu no Taishō is not my Toga's heart. This is my Toga's heart and this is what I love. You are not a ningen and this Kagome loves you more because of that."
Fuck. Toga had always known, logically, that Kagome loved him because he was yōkai; she had always made that incredibly clear. Especially once he came back to as full of a life as he could have without the Shikon being complete – it was a rare time when Kagome was not touching his form in some manner if she did not have something else to be doing, such as practise, hunting, or cooking. Hell, she was instilling the love she had for his true form into their youngest son, telling him that when he was old enough to assume a fully beast form (kitsune, unlike the rest of beast yōkai with dual forms, reached that age at ten if they had the ability) she would let his papa teach him how to move around and hunt and swim. But he hadn't really been able to conceive of the fact that her love for him truly went this deep.
It was essentially that any yōkai who was not ōkami assumed that without their humanoid form, another being with a humanoid form, be they ningen, hanyō, or yōkai, would not be able to love them. Yōkai who could not assume a humanoid form – or who only had a humanoid form – were fairly damn lucky; there was no being torn, knowing that your true self was not the person you showed to everyone else. How was it even possible, yōkai-raised or not, that his beloved Kagome was able to see him for who he truly was and love him for who he truly was and not even care if he ever left his natural form? Say what she might about enjoying the sex; Toga knew damn well his little one was not so shallow. That had been a tease – Kagome would be fully happy in a relationship with him even if he could not assume humanoid form.
It was almost impossible. But yet, he knew, just like she did, that there was never a lie that passed between them. Not even for "surprises" – they just honestly stated they would rather not say what was going on or whatever and left it at that, the other party realising it was none of their damn business unless it was shared with them.
"Did you never realise before, Toga? I've always liked the other you plenty fine, but the being I truly love is the one whose fur is soft and long, whose fangs are over three times larger than I am, who could crush me without a second thought and not even realise it had happened. Regardless of if that being is actually so large at the time. My beloved inu is all mine, and loved for who and what he is, not for the mask he puts on for so-called civilised beings. It is good that I have no inu form myself, or I would say the world could go to hell and run away with you into the mountains, living there forever. Then again, the Kami are likely very aware of this fact, hence why I am not actually inu yōkai; just raised it. I cannot help change the world if I refuse to be a part of it, hah. You know, I am not wholly unique in this. Rin-chan was the one who first pointed out to me the disparity between your forms. We should encourage Sesshōmaru-kun to transform for her – because it would not be fair for one version of our beloved eldest to have a mate who loves him for his true form and another who does not."
Especially not when that wonderful female that would eventually be Sesshōmaru's mate somehow made it so that his little bird loved all of him; not just the part that had a similar shape to her. Correction; not simply loved – was in love with. It was one thing to be fond of and adore the four-legged form of your lover, it was another to love it above and beyond the form that matched your own. It was actually no surprise to Toga that Rin was this way – she had always known that appearances were deceiving and that true monsters did not always look like what they were inside. Ningen killed her family, beat her, starved her, and drove her away, after all. To her opinion, at least yōkai did not bother hiding that they were deadly and merciless. Kagome had never had to learn this lesson, however.
The Kami were truly astounding. He did did not know what either he or Sesshōmaru had done to earn their soul-mates, but it must have been something incredible.
Suddenly a voice echoed into their minds, answering his unspoken wonderings.
"Despite his supposed hatred of ningen, Sesshōmaru has willingly endured severe injuries from protecting ningen villages within his lands. If they live on the earth he deems to be his to protect, he will protect them from malicious or nefarious yōkai. Outside of his lands, he does not care one way or another – and Rin's village had been mistreating her severely so he did not care about them either – but if they live on what is his to protect then they are also his to protect, be they yōkai, hanyō, or ningen.
"Were you not the same way, Toga? Did you not, in your near-millennium of ruling the Western Lands, always protect any being who was living on or in those lands from evil beings, from war, from bandits and lesser yōkai, from greater yōkai demanding sacrifices, and other such things? You may have been brought back solely to aid Kagome, to make certain that her life is better this time around, but that does not mean that your deeds from your previous life will go unrewarded in spite of the machinations of that vile Shikon. Anything that protects the people of Nihon deserves an extraordinary boon for that protection. In the case of yōkai who are already powerful, strong, uncontested, respected, and loved by many – what could be a better boon than a singular love that encompasses their entire beings; even those states which most other yōkai would merely accept as necessary but attempt to ignore?
"This Hachiman thinks nothing else would be a better boon because a love like that is difficult to find even amongst your own kind. Certainly your previous mate, Satori, despised even thinking about her true form; she never accepted it and thus never accepted yours. Kagome deserves you for dealing with Naraku. You deserve Kagome for the way you protected and fought for the people living on those lands you ruled over. Besides, Rin is the last of my living ningen descendants – she deserves an extraordinary mate, and one whom she can love with all her being. Considering her dislike of ningen and preference for beings that she can see their inherent danger immediately, this is the most suitable outcome. I shall leave you now."
Kagome suddenly burst into giggles and rolled around in his fur, scratching his back to a point where he was growling and whining in pure contentment. "Finally, seriously! It's about time the Kami interfered in your life to make it better without someone else pushing for it. And before you ask, because this Kagome knows you are about to be thinking of it – I do not at all mind your humanoid form, or resent it or anything like that. I love it very much too. Especially, as I said earlier, the things you can do to me with it. But if, once we're ruling the Southern Lands and you are fully solid again, you slept in your natural form every night or two… that would provide a good balance between your humanoid form and your natural form, for this Kagome.
"Both every day or two, at different times as needed. Not to mention at least one run and sleeping out under the stars in your natural form as it truly is – full size – every fortnight. Rin-chan and Sesshōmaru-kun won't need such measures because Sesshōmaru-kun really does not feel anywhere near as deeply attached to his natural form as you do – that would be his first mother's influence. He does not dislike it, but he does not feel the need to use it outside of stress relief or fighting. Rin-chan will actually help with that a little, she'll ask for rides or to play with his fur like he – secretly – allows her to play with his hair during baths."
Toga barked out a soft laugh at that – that was so damn adorable. And Kagome truly had eased his fears about her preferring his natural form to the exclusion of his humanoid one – at his deepest this was who he was, but that did not make the mask any less a deep part of who he was, having been using it for over two millennia. He looked up at the sky and sighed – good, they still had plenty of time; their conversations hadn't really taken very long, so he asked his Kagome something important. "Little one, what will you do to celebrate the cementation of your position as backup alpha and, if it is deemed necessary, any formal alliance you might make?"
Oh no. They were in trouble. Kagome was wriggling around and he could almost feel the grin on her face. "Kōga's willpower with his removal of those shards yesterday pushed his yōki to the point where he can now transform into a beast form. And this Kagome knows exactly how to guide him into his first transformation – she will offer to do such and then we shall run all the way to the northern border of Sesshōmaru-kun's lands. He will likely decline the offer at first, but just watch, once he finds out he promised himself to Ayame he'll wish to prove himself and allow this Kagome to guide him. Those who cannot travel so fast can travel on your back and maybe Sesshōmaru-kun's back if the larger ōkami are not numerous enough to carry them all. Not to mention, I fully intend on telling the ōkami about the fact that they can use their reiki just like they do their yōki instead of only using it to augment their yōki – that will give them additional speed, strength, and stamina. I noticed they use their yōki to do it fine but their reiki wasn't acting independently like it should be."
"You do realise you are just pulling the ōkami further into your debt, right, koishi?"
She huffed and… Shook her head? Maybe. It was hard to tell when she was on his back. "No, I'll be fulfilling my duties as their backup alpha. Strengthening the tribe and the alpha I am under. That is my duty to them when I am not being the alpha – so I will do my duty. Now, this Kagome is hungry, let's go get breakfast."
Hmm. Well, Kagome had a point there that Toga couldn't deny, so he just nodded and stood up, padding off into the forest. It was time to hunt, but Kagome needed Rakurai to do so. Within moments they were back and Kagome had Rakurai, his whole being concealed as his mate-to-be was teaching him to do even in his true form – it would be far easier in his humanoid form because the additional yōki used to take that form lessened the amount he had to restrain. They didn't need to hunt for breakfast – this was really more for lunch; since the ōkami had provided a boar for dinner and breakfast, they would, as hosts for the alliance creation, provide the meal for it.
That meal wound up being four sika provided by Rakurai – two of them gotten in one clean strike, which Toga strongly congratulated his sweet one on. She was very talented, indeed.
When they arrived back at camp Kagome and Sango used her daggers – one in her hand and one in Sango's, whom she had gifted it to—Sango had a safe way to clean and cook her meals now—to clean and cut up the meat for convenient cooking for their large group. It was put on, and they had a meal of rice and boar, Sesshōmaru telling Kagome and Toga (Mother and Father – it was great to hear those words escaping his son's mouth affectionately) what passed during the night and that the ōkami were still asleep.
Of course not much had really gone on, but still, he was very thorough. It was appreciated, and shown with Kagome kissing his moon mark as she got up to she turn the meat. Miroku took their dishes and washed them, as they all lay down in a pile – even the ningen – to bond and talk softly about commonplaces.
The morning passed very comfortably, despite Shippō climbing over them demanding attention from everyone in the pile, Kirara included. Kitsune kits were precocious and adorable. Full stop.
Around noontime the ōkami began to near their encampment so they all languidly got up and Kagome checked the meat – rare or fully raw for the ōkami, and so tender it was nearly falling off the sticks for the rest of them. Those pieces were rapidly put into bowls with rice and vegetables, and the rest were gathered and placed on the hides of two sika that had been washed and tanned for such a purpose. Not that it was actually necessary, since yōkai generally didn't sicken or anything unless they ate ningen, but still, it was only polite. And Kagome was all about being polite.
By the time the large tribe arrived, they were all seated with their food, so the furred ōkami and humanoid ōkami all grabbed their chunks of meat and they got ready to begin the meal as was custom in both ningen cultures and yōkai cultures in this era – you ate and then you negotiated. In the other world it was different, you allied and then celebrated with a feast, but here the quality of the meal said something about how seriously the host was taking this alliance. Since one, they were in the wilds, two, the ōkami were solely carnivores, and three, this alliance talk was just a formality, they didn't do much of anything special.
"Kira told one of her broodmates in the Northern Tribes that we're headed that way already allied, so he knows to expect us – and who to expect. And that if he wants to ally he has to promise to keep as many tribes as he has direct control over from eating ningen and told him what you let us know – the old man's always wondered why fewer yōkai feasted upon ningen, so now he knows that and said that even if he didn't take to the alliance he'd make 'em stop doing that. And notify the Southern tribes about it as well – also he's telling 'em that help is on the way if you don't mind; Kira can get to 'em before they contact 'em in about, oh, another shadow change."
Right; Toga and Kagome still used hours, minutes, and seconds, for convenience, but the ōkami at least, he didn't know about other yōkai living in the wilds (ningen and yōkai who lived in built dwellings tended to use candle marks – the length of time it took for one candle to burn down from being freshly lit), used shadow changes – when the shadows lengthened a certain extent from one direction to another. Toga rubbed up against his mate in his impressively large, but still quite small comparatively, form, and the fact that she didn't move despite his shoulder reaching her head spoke of her physical strength as well as the mental fortitude she had shown them so far. "He can tell them; their support would be advantageous. Unlike some daiyōkai I do not feel that you ōkami are below me, although that might be simply because we are related, after all. Thank you for notifying us of this before the negotiations start – after all, everyone loves to enjoy their food, do they not?"
Meaning there was no rush. Toga knew that the whole "wolfing down your food" phrase's origins were not a thing in this world/era – ōkami were plentiful but so were prey creatures, who bred rapidly, grew fast, and were very overpopulous in areas where there were no natural predators, especially because most ningen were too poor to eat much meat beyond rabbits, martens, and fish; things they could catch with string and clever thinking, or string and worms, which were also plentiful. Luckily such areas were few in this era; yōkai were all over the place and most of them were at least omnivorous or only fed on the lesser yōkai that were like unto rabid animals, of which there were, and hopefully always would be, very many. The ōkami had nothing but meat because that was all they ate, but their tachi had rice with flavourful herbs mixed into it, as well as roasted vegetables – daikon, rakkyo, ninjin, and nasu. All prepared accordingly, so they could be eaten with chopsticks, which everyone in the group carried.
Well, more like Kagome carried for everyone in the group, but the tips of the handles had been painted according to the colour the person who had the pair wanted it to be. Of course, there were several sets of them – wood could be broken rather easily, after all. Not the pair that Kagome used for her hair, though. Those were cleverly bladed and could be used for defence, she'd learned how to use those last year.
She was passing the chopsticks out now; the signal to eat, which everyone did immediately excepting for Kagome and Toga – because they prayed before the meal to Amaterasu-sama and the other deities, everyone took their cue from either Miroku, usually, or Sesshōmaru, when he was travelling with them. Kōga obviously seemed a bit nonplussed at this until he wrinkled his nose up and thought, before clearly connecting the action with them thanking Amaterasu-sama, with whom they obviously had intimate contact, for the bounty. Hōjin did not pray over food at each meal in this time, and it was largely a Christian custom, but Toga and Kagome appropriated it because they felt it fit and because they could.
He seemed to approve if his nod in their direction was any indication. Most of the Inutachi did not feel very grateful to the Kami due to the nature of their quest, but Kagome and Toga were incredibly so. For many, many reasons.
When they settled in the court, they would do their prayers before entering the dining room, of course, whenever they were residing in the shiro, which would be several moons at first whilst they reorganised things, after which they would resume the normal way things went, Toga and Kagome going out and clearing the lands regularly and only residing in the shiro part time until she was pupped.
Eating did not take very long, really, and neither did the negotiations. Kagome was this particular tribe's "sister" (ane-san or imōto-san depending on the maturity of the ōkami calling her that) and the backup alpha, at least amongst the non-humanoid ōkami, of every tribe in existence. They would aid each other in battles with Naraku, and an ōkami named Dai would be coming from one of the Southern Tribes, since she would have the most contact with them. He was a cousin of one of Kōga's ōkami, and had resided in every major enclave, actively choosing the Southern one as the one he thought he could be of the most use in due to the new Lord there. They would also support Toga's takeover of the Southern Lands, and after some communication, the Southern Tribes said they would as well.
Tenseiga and Jinrai were to be freely used on the ōkami, as was Toga's ability to bring the dead back to life and as was Raimei, though nobody but him, Sesshōmaru and Kagome were aware of the latter. They had gone to great pains to keep almost everyone in this world unaware of the fact that Raimei was a better version of Tenseiga and would continue to do so for as long as possible. Not because of Sesshōmaru (clearly, since he knew about Raimei); he was already accepting Kagome as his mother, although he had not vocalised it formally with an acceptance attached yet, and she would obviously have a stronger blade than he would because she was physically younger, needed more protections because she looked ningen, and was not a sibling to be jealous of. No, it was because if people knew they would try to take advantage of her abilities.
Kagome might have been raised yōkai but she still had a kind and gentle heart, the only reason she'd been able to be harsh with Yasha was because he'd caused her previous iteration to die. Well, okay, not the only reason – admittedly he had several qualities she found distasteful but those had been lessening much as of late. Yasha bathed more now, was more respectful towards her, and was learning the proper use of the term "bitch", as well as being less brash and abrasive. All this even before he had found out about her true relationship with him, but in the three days since he'd found out his actions he had significantly changed even more.
The boy was finally doing his blood proud, and learning that doing so would get him farther than treating everyone as a suspect would get him, by a noticeable amount.
So the alliance talks were done, and they convinced Sesshōmaru to allow Rin to ride him, rather than Ah-Un, and to send Jaken off to his shiro on an errand – they needed more matcha and his shiro had the best quality that could be gotten in Nihon. When he transformed he was magnificent, just like Toga himself had been at that age, and as he shrunk down (It wouldn't be for another century or two before he'd be able to transform to the size he wanted any time he wanted) Rin was exclaiming constantly how beautiful and wonderful he was, snuggling into his fur even as she climbed onto his back.
He clearly appreciated the adoration.
A few ōkami were left when the larger furred ōkami had been taken, so they rode on Toga, who enlarged himself, and they began the trip, running at speeds that were exhilarating even though Toga and Sesshōmaru could run faster in their forms.
It was time to make an alliance with his old friend.
Translations:
Daikon – Japanese radishes, they are very long and cylindrical. Wholly native to Japan.
Rakkyo – small onions originally native to China but traded to Japan and integrated to the point they are effectively a native plant. Trading was going on between the mainland and Japan even farther back than the Sengoku Jidai so I am assuming they'd have them in this era – especially as, in my headcanon, yōkai are widely travelled and bring in lots of different things that spread to the ningen eventually. Rakkyo are smaller than regular onions, and have a very mild and fresh taste, good for palate cleansing and balancing out foods with a more distinct or strong flavour. They're also just delicious in general.
Ninjin – Japanese carrots; thicker, blunter, and more cylindrical than western carrots. Wholly native.
Nasu – Eggplants! Yummy. Wholly native to Japan. It surprised me when I found out that eggplants were native to Japan. Who'da thunk?