A/N: To all my fans thank you for your support!
I hope you enjoy the show!
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40.
Both Ladies and Heir of the House of the West watched as their fully armored Lord left the Pagoda, following the house spirit towards the Central Lands. Lady Izayoi, eyes red and bloodshot from her constant tears, wrung her hands as Lady Inukimi stared at the receding sight of her mate.
Sesshōmaru, the eldest son of Inutaisho, merely waited until his father had left the boundaries of the Pagoda before returning inside, his interest returning to the workings of the Lands.
41.
It was the sound of birds greeting the day that woke her. Bleary eyed she groaned, rubbing the back of her head as she sat up. 'What happened? And why does my head hurt? The last thing I remember was…' Kagome froze. Then scrambled in panic searching for any sign of a certain hanyou.
Her search was stalled by the arrival of a house spirit, who brought in a tray of tea and breakfast. Another lifted a set of casual clothes into the air, waiting for her to dress. Kagome rose to her feet, "Where is the child I brought last night?" she demanded firmly.
The sensation of wisps of air tickling her ear, filled with words only she could hear, reassured her. The time misplaced miko relaxed, now content with the knowledge that Inuyasha was with the cranes. Allowing herself to fall into her familiar routine, she could not but brood over the words spoken to her last night.
If it was true, and it was the Inu no Taisho, not Sesshōmaru, who ruled the Western Lands, what did it mean for the future she and Shippo had lived?
Kagome had always assumed that the magic of time had brought Shippo and herself to the past by accident, distorted by the unexpected variance of Shippo's actions.
It had gone without saying that she had been worried about what that meant for the future.
Before learning of her unexpected youth, Kagome had fretted, out of sight, about how she could take care of Shippo and what his mere presence would even mean when he would be born in about a century or so. She knew nothing really of taking care and raising a kitsune, let alone living long enough to make a difference.
With the help of the cranes and her youth that changed, but the basis of distorting time had always been present in the back of her mind, reminding her of all the very bad possibilities of two of the same people existing on the same plain (time paradox anyone?). With the discovery of the Inutaisho however, that changed everything.
Kagome was no expert, but she had read and heard enough anime and manga to know about the basics of alternate realities or timelines. That for every single action in the world a new world was created where that action was not taken or done differently, with this continuing on and on exponentially.
Kagome sat down behind her desk, inhaling the scent of her favorite tea. 'The case may be that I was only half right. Shippo and I did fall into the past, but not the past of our world. We could easily have landed in one of these alternate realities, one where the Inu no Taisho still lived and actually raised Inuyasha in the Western Lands.' She paused in her musings to sip her tea, a calming habit she had come to enjoy in her rather simple life. Once filled with the soothing brew she continued, 'The power that was meant to return me home had been the climax of the Shikon's final breath, more than enough power to be able to create and hold a tunnel that dragged us both through time and space.'
But still…..
What did this mean for history as she had known it?
41.
Kagome giggled at the adorable sight.
Her students had not been adverse to the presence of the inu-hanyou, thanks in part to years studying alongside Shippo and the twins, and had taken to acting as the 'responsible-adults' to his baby-antics.
Keichiro, the second son of the village headman and one of her best students, was currently learning patience by watching over Inuyasha (Inu-chan to the students) as he play with some of the simple baby-level games. Mind you he had help watching over the happy energetic hanyou, the twins had taken to becoming Inu-chan's 'big-sisters' during his stay and followed him everywhere.
Shippo and her only other student, Mei the village's unwanted child, continued their sand-calligraphy but did glance over from time to time; ready to take their turns watching over the cute little hanyou whose puppy expressions could melt even the normally emotionless house spirits.
One of said spirits drifted unseen to her ear and whispered that the message had been received and the messenger was returning with company, just as predicted.
"The Lord of the West, the Inu no Taisho, is a brilliant strategist at the best of times and reckless bordering madness at the worst." Takamaru had told her, leaving Kagome to wonder if that was where the Inus got the defining keys of their personalities.
Kagome's smile faltered at the thought.
'Everything I had ever believed would come to pass no longer is set in stone.
Never the less, the last thing she wanted was her students caught up in the mess in case an angry and worried yokai father went a little too far, therefore…"Keichiro-kun, Mei-chan, lessons for today are over." Keichiro gave her a look both thankful and sad, he had been enjoying his time with the energetic pup, while Mei sighed and began to pack up her tools.
Once the school closed and her students left for the village below with a house spirit, with a message to the headman that a rather powerful yokai would be coming to visit and not to panic, Kagome carried Inuyasha inside the manor for dinner.
Glancing at the clapping pup in her arms she had to admit there was one thing she had been glad about, learning that Inuyasha was old enough to eat semi-solid foods. The prospect of needing a wet nurse had made Koyuki give Kagome an excited look, mumbling about how a few select herbs would 'do the trick'.
Kagome had thanked every kami she knew when Koyuki told her in disappointment that Inuyasha didn't need to be breast feed.
42.
Kagome paused, then headed straight for her dressing room. Breathing an order to the spirits she walked with purpose.
The shoji opened for her as she approached letting her walked without pause into her room. Placing Inuyasha in the arms of one of the visible spirits she stood with her arms outstretched. "Redress me." She ordered.
43.
When she entered the dining hall with Inuyasha in her arms her clan gave a start at the sight of her but did not comment, as the very air around her was one they had come to recognize very well.
When the Lord of the West came, he would be in for a surprise.
44.
Inutaisho landed in his true form, intrigued by the location and energy doting throughout the land. It was a small territory, encompassing only one low mountain that had a split at its southern side creating a wide valley with a river flowing through the middle and ending with a waterfall. (1)
With his yokai eyes it was easy to see that not only was this land well safe from large human armies reaching it, it also had only one rather impressive sized village at the lower portion of the valley with a manor higher up. Even yokai armies would have some trouble bringing supplies or troops enmass up the mountain.
The breezy sound of the house spirit's voice drew back his attention. Transforming into his human form he followed the spirit to the manor.
As they walked through the forest, Inutaisho noted how empty the land was of any youki.
All too soon the Lord exited the forest and his gaze zoomed in on the figures standing in front of the manor.
He ignored the house spirits and the two crane yokai, though all were armed with yari or some form of tool, and focused on the woman standing tall between the two cranes.
In her arms was his pup Inuyasha, whose appearance and scent indicated nothing was wrong with him; merely a little drowsy. Looking to the woman he was mentally taken aback.
The woman was past her sixteenth summer with long blue-black hair braided in a style unknown to him and had grey-blue eyes. A gust of wind to his nose confirmed that she was human and a miko of all things.
However, it was her clothing that interested the Lord. She wore a white kosode over a sunset-orange shitagi (2) and on top of those were a black kataginu with the same crest as before in gold on her shoulders and a black hakama held up by a golden hoso-obi. (3) She also wore a grey uchikake with mint green bamboo (4) around her arms like his mate Inukimi wore her mokomoko, causing it to trail on the ground. To finish her look was a wonderfully crafted bow attached to her back, a stock of arrows at her side, and a gleaming tessen peeking out of her obi.
'She wears the clothes and weapons of a man under and with those of a woman. She is telling me that she is Alpha, to hell with her gender, without even saying a word.' He analyzed.
The woman tilted her head to him and bowed just enough that gave him the proper respect of one lord to a higher ranking one (5), without so much as jostling the pup in her arms.
"Greeting to you Lord Inu no Taisho of the West, I am Higurashi Kagome, Lady of these lands."
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(1) this is a tired waterfall, personally one of my favorite types of waterfall.
(2)-(4): like before, information on the clothes can be found in the Costume Museum mentioned in earlier chapters, and also within the Kamakura period section.
(5): in Japan the act of bowing between individuals is custom, but there is in fact different type of bows. Bows of greeting, apology, or respect to name a few. Depending on the circumstance and what your rank is to the person bowing to, the bow has a varrying deepness and lasts for a period of time. In this situation, Kagome is bowing just enough to show her polite respect to a lord of higher rank than herself.
See you next time!
Next Chapter: Kagome's once simple life becomes complicated.