A/N: Many apologies for not getting this out on time; I ran out of my atap last Saturday and have had a rough week with hallucinations and nightmares and exhaustion galore, and am only just recovering from withdrawal and being off my meds. Thank you so much for all the feedback! 3
Sesshōmaru had never had a real mother before, one who loved him, was affectionate and sweet, showed she cared, all those things most beast yōkai parents did for their children; things that his father had done for him whilst he was alive, and had rather expected something, well… Well, Kagome was not what he expected of a ningen (although she wasn't really ningen, which did explain some things), first and foremost… But secondly, she somehow managed to be affectionate and kind without either making him feel as if he had to return the affection or being patronising. He had not thought that possible, to be honest. And Sesshōmaru was always honest. It was why he had no family, pack, or friends until Kagome entered his life.
People usually disliked not having those little polite lies to hide behind and make themselves feel better about their lives. Sesshōmaru refused to cater to their whims and they had to learn that he was not his father, clearly, not only due to his personality but also due to the fact that his father had informed him that he was stronger at his age than his father had been at the same age. That had been an incredibly pleasing day for Sesshōmaru, when he found that out, for certain.
His father being around was… Well, interesting, for sure. The older daiyōkai looked exactly as he had when he died, despite being five hundred years older almost exactly. Nobody was truly certain of when Toga had died, since it was currently the same time of year and in their world the old stories of the Inu no Taishō didn't have exact dates, since exact dates did not exist in this era/world; just approximations of seasons and years and the like. Sesshōmaru could see the use of solid, steady dates, to be honest – he would like to know the day that he met Rin, now, although at the time he could have frankly cared less about the filthy ningen child that was making herself a nuisance and bothering him whilst he was recovering from an attack.
But the little girl was as precious to him as Kagome was to his father. And he really ought to stop calling her Kagome in his mind – she was his mother, full stop. That was a fact now. He had two mothers, a biological one who partially raised him, and a stepmother who was more of a mother to him than his "real" one had ever been or would ever be, because she simply did not care to be. Sesshōmaru was not ashamed to admit to himself that Kagome was as precious to him as his father was, and that she had become so in a frighteningly short amount of time.
But she was loyal, steadfast, stubborn, kind, efficient, skilled, proud of her skills, more than willing to be harsh when the situation necessitated it, capable of defending her pack, and frighteningly powerful considering he had learned that her power was mostly sealed and she could still "zap" his father enough for it to actually hurt the insanely powerful daiyōkai (although, admittedly, being raised using earth-ki would do that to someone, so it wasn't actually surprising despite that it was frightening) – no yōkai in existence (the fact that he differentiated that, when once upon a time "no yōkai" would have been "nobody" because despite protecting them because they were his he used to liken ningen to animals, and that it was all Kagome's fault, was no small thing to him) had lived as long as Toga had, they had all died violent deaths or were short-lived and lucky enough to die of natural causes: meaning they died in their sleep.
Because injury, attack, poison, or just ceasing to have a heartbeat any more were the only things that could kill yōkai in this day and age. In the future/world where his mother and father came from there seemed to be plenty more, assuming the yōkai in question was not a daiyōkai and had not existed in this day and age – daiyōkai in their previous world that had been alive in the feudal era tended to be effectively immortal; neither time nor attack could kill them, they were tough enough that even attempting to cut their heads off would simply fail.
Not even something as strong as his acid whip or poison whip could do that to a yōkai who had been alive in the Sengoku Jidai and either been born or developed into a daiyōkai; despite that in their future, as in this time, he regularly ingested new poisons he learned about, and he learned about every last one he could, from many sources, in order to make himself more immune to that form of death. He was overcautious, most likely, but Kagome had fondly told him that both her Sesshōmarus were overcautious and that too much caution was by far better than too little, so she loved them both that way. In this time period it was not over-caution however – his nobles were stupid enough to attempt such a thing if they assumed he was weak; as seen when he visited his shiro and Rin was there for three sennights.
Of course, the attempts had failed, badly, as had the attempts on his little Rin; the latter for two reasons only. Reason number one, Kagome had asked him to pull one of his own fangs and cut both himself and Rin with it, which had appalled him as his fangs held all of his strongest poisons, acids, and venoms in them; not to mention his blood was deadly even to strong yōkai – but all it had taken was a gentle stroke of his hair and a soft, understanding look to make him eventually decide to trust his mother. In her own way she saw Rin as a daughter, after all, even though it was a bit more distantly than she saw himself, Yasha, and Shippō as her sons. Once that was done she had done something to it with a mixture of her reiki and "miko-ki", reshaped it, and put a hole in it, after which it had promptly been strung onto a length of leather.
Then his father stepped up and chanted a familiar spell; whatever the item first touched it would become permanently attached to and no attempts at anything whatsoever could take it away from or off of the object or person that it was put in or on. Kagome had covered her hands in reiki and miko-ki during this chanting – something he had not realised was even possible and had resolved to learn how to do from her so that he could replicate it with his reiki and yōki – and tied the necklace to Rin's neck, loose enough to have room to grow, but not loose enough to be pulled off over her head; Mother had apparently been taking no chances despite the spell's nature, likely because there was always the chance that someone else had a spell that could possibly counter it. Sesshōmaru himself then melted the knotted leather together, just as an extra precaution.
Kagome then informed him that in her previous existence, she had done this as well, only Sesshōmaru himself had asked for the protections and instructed her in how to perform them. At the time she had used her miko-ki to do as he had wanted. It had come about because somehow, despite winning over the entirety of the servants in the shiro with her sweet innocence and deep wisdom, poison had been slipped into her food and not been noticed by the servant bringing it to her. Considering that they had all up and decided that the only servants to serve Rin would have extremely sensitive noses, it was likely that a sorcerer or sorceress had been bought for the purpose of spelling it into her food mid-meal.
Thankfully, Sesshōmaru had scented the change himself before she took another bite, and promptly left the shiro, masked both his presence and Rin's with his yōki, re-entered, and dug in his library with the aid of a few of his most trusted servants and Rin herself. Eventually he found the spell he wanted, and demanded (the mere idea of demanding his mother to do something was… admittedly fairly damn frightening. She must have been vastly different in her base personality; probably not her traits, just how they were parcelled out and the strengths of them) that she do the spell for him. She had complied despite Inuyasha's displeasure and the Sesshōmaru in her world had informed her about it so that the protection from any poison he had ever ingested and would ever ingest could be had far sooner.
Sesshōmaru himself was just more assured of his intelligence at that; clearly time had not lessened his intelligence one whit, and he had been as intelligent in his previous iteration as he was now.
The second reason all poisoning attempts on his Rin (nobody dared attempt to poison Kagome when they found out the extent of her power, which she and his father had cleverly displayed the first day they arrived at the shiro – spiritual powers that strong would simply burn away any poisons and likely lash out and slaughter the persons involved in the attempt) had failed was because, just as had happened the first time around, the servants in the shiro, and the guards as well, all utterly adored Rin, as Sesshōmaru had suspected they would. They adored Kagome just as much – many of the servants in the shiro had been the same ones there when he was a child, and seeing the effect that Kagome and Rin had on Sesshōmaru pleased them incredibly well. He was certain that it had nothing to do with him becoming more like his father, because that simply was not happening. If anything he was growing less like his father, and more into himself.
However, Sesshōmaru knew that he was clearly more settled, happier, and more truly self-assured now, rather than his previous self-assurance, which had been partly a mask to ensure that nobody crossed him – if he seemed like he thought himself invincible, more people took him as if he were.
To be honest, he damn well nearly was invincible, and he was much more positive of that fact now than he had been a mere two and a half moons ago. That was all thanks to Kagome and Rin, and the servants, who were the only ones who could see behind his masks that he wore for the court and people outside of it, could tell that almost immediately.
Sesshōmaru had been aware that Kagome and Rin had thought up some clever plan to get the servants on their side, but it just simply had not been needed. They'd been able to use their plan for the guards, however, and the results had been quite pleasing – especially when it was proven that not only could Kagome fight Sesshōmaru himself to a standstill (although she still lost against Father), but Rin could fight Shippō to a standstill; the kitsune was clearly a born daiyōkai, clearly incredibly powerful, talented, wise, intelligent, and clever for his age, and clearly more experienced in actual fighting. But without his tricks and illusions at his disposal—which weren't allowed in exactly half of the fights he partook in with Rin—this little ningen girl with miko potential (and oh what an amazement and relief it had been to find that out, considering Kagome had never hidden what Rin would become to him – he would be able to have biological children with no fears that they would be unstable like his brother was) but no knowledge of how to use her ability at the moment, was more talented with a sword.
Letting the guards find that out had been a stroke of genius, and Sesshōmaru was under no illusions that his mother was, and always would be, far cleverer than he himself was. Not his birth mother, she was clever, but simply too tricky and self-absorbed to match his intelligence or cleverness, even as far back as when he was merely one hundred years old. It had been clear to him as a child that his father did not love the woman he called mother, and that he never truly would; her little dalliance with another yōkai had merely given him the freedom to seek out someone else, and she hadn't been able to do anything to stop it. Seriously, he supposed he had some fondness for the woman who had drilled his etiquette and court behaviour lessons into him as a child, but emotionally, she was no longer his mother; Kagome had entirely usurped that position and with absolutely no dishonesty, although there had been some manipulation – a fact which he rather appreciated instead off being upset over. Dishonesty was dishonourable; manipulation of a situation or person to gain an advantage was perfectly fine so long as only truths were used.
In fact, he rather respected his mother more for the fact that she had used his at-the-time hatred of his middle brother to her advantage, and without the hanyō even realising it. Of course, his younger brother was not as stupid as he sometimes acted, and was well aware by now that he had been manipulated into the alliance. Similar to Sesshōmaru himself, however, the hanyō appreciated it rather than being upset over it. It had gained him a family that he had been denied even more than Sesshōmaru – at least he had known his father growing up, for the most part. Yes, he had lost him at a young age; merely nine years old, physically, although mentally he was far more mature, yōkai aged faster mentally than physically, it helped them keep alive in a dangerous world. But he had known him for one hundred and eighty years, and had been approaching his first burst of adult maturation, at which point his birth mother left him to rule the Western Lands and kept herself secluded away in her little castle in the sky.
Sesshōmaru was rather looking forwards to her meeting with Kagome, and intended on being there to see it; he had already been to a ningen sorceress (because money mattered little enough to skilled yōkai that they simply would not keep their mouths shut; skilled ningen could be counted on to keep quiet if they were paid more than just the fee for their skills – one of the few ways in which ningen were consistently more intelligent than yōkai, who simply had access to far more resources than the majority of them) to find out how far in the future, to the day, it would happen.
It was going to be a delight, for Sesshōmaru did not try to fool himself into thinking that he in any way forgave his birth mother for abandoning him as soon as his body appeared old enough that he wouldn't be immediately murdered by the court. He would indirectly take his revenge, it would be very sweet, and then he would cease to think about the woman. The fact that he could not even call her by her name in his mind meant more than the fact that he still acknowledged her with the title of mother in any way – she mattered little enough to him that the only thing he cared about was that she birthed him and partially raised him. He cared not about her or her life outside of that fact and she did not deserve to have her name acknowledged, far unlike his father, who he sometimes called by name both out loud and in his mind. Although usually he just called the man Father; partly because it pleased his father, and partly because it pleased him.
Having Toga back in his life was an unalloyed blessing, and he was beyond aware that he owed this occurrence to both Kagome and to his younger brother – in fact, finding out the cause of Kagome's previous iteration's death had only deepened the feelings of brotherhood, which was rather strange for Sesshōmaru, who usually thought that dishonourable actions such as those that ended in his mother's death in her first iteration were despicable. However, one, they had been wed; not mated – to a yōkai that made all the difference in the world. Two, they had never been soul-mated in that manner, which also mattered. But most importantly, those actions had ended up with him having two packs to be a part of, a family of the like he had never had before, and stronger protections for his future mate.
That last overrode everything and made him immensely grateful to his younger brother, despite that the boy (yes, boy; now that his life was in nowhere near as much danger, Yasha had purposely regressed to a much younger mental age, which Sesshōmaru could not find it in him to fault the hanyō for) himself still suffered severe guilt over his previous iteration's actions.
Sesshōmaru felt very thankful to the Kami that his mother's pack's journey had begun in his lands and that, she admitted, they would for a large part stay within his lands, only leaving them a few times. It meant that he could seek out yōkai with tainted shards and present the shards to his other pack, staying with them for a day or two before returning to patrol his lands, then repeating the cycle. Sesshōmaru could not sense the shards themselves – but the taint of that vile thing was clear as day to one who could sense yōki as well as he could. It invaded, took over, and corrupted yōki, actually weakening it in the long run; the more one relied on the Shikon for power, the more power it took from the one using it. He was immensely pleased that his mother had managed to convince the new leader of the Northern and Eastern ōkami tribes bordering his lands that using them would weaken him; if Kōga had used them for more than, oh, two or three moons, he would have had his potential disrupted permanently and never been able to attain a beast form, much less attain a status as high as daiyōkai.
Kōga knew it not, but he had that potential. Sesshōmaru and his parents were keeping this knowledge to themselves because if they told the teenager he would work himself into the ground to achieve it: he had an incredibly strong sense of work ethic for an ōkami; they tended to be more the type to live out their lives in seclusion with their tribes and only work as hard as they could to become powerful enough to survive, as a general rule. His entire pack was different though, probably due to the fact that unlike most greater beast yōkai, ōkami in their natural forms were more powerful than their counterparts that were able to take an almost ningen form. He had an abnormally high amount of that type of ōkami (they far outnumbered the rest of the tribe, what Kagome and the rest of her tachi had seen when they first met the tribe had been only a fraction of the ōkami who considered themselves to be under Kōga, which was incredibly rare) and they had constantly pushed him to better himself so that they had a leader as strong as they were. Sesshōmaru assumed this was because of Kōga's being orphaned and many attempts upon his life as a child.
Whatever the reason, the ōkami yōkai as a whole were benefiting from this, gaining a better work ethic and growing in strength. It was clear that by the time they reached the era in which Kagome had been raised there would be no extinction of either kind of ōkami; either mere animals or yōkai.
His mother was already drastically changing the world and he loved her all the more for it.
It was strange to love anyone other than his father, but his life was much better for it, so it was one more thing to thank the Kami for; Sesshōmaru had never been very conscious of Their presence in his life before this point, most yōkai weren't, and that was something that was changing as well because of his lovely, intelligent, and brutally kind mother.
Yes, having a mother who loved him was a far different experience than he had expected it to be, but yet again; he loved her all the more for it, and always would.
A/N 2: I was a bit worried about Sesshōmaru changing too much to be recognisable, but dayum that line he thinks about his intelligence reassured the fuck out of me. That is arrogance personified. He is clearly still himself, honourable and arrogant and brutally honest, even though he is not above wording his honesty in ways which make it sound different than what he means. Not in his thoughts, however; those are straightforward, clear, and just as brutally honest as his words are.