Disclaimer: I Don't own InuYasha.
Yuzuki's eyes fluttered around before opening to an unfamiliar room. Her muscles coiled until she remembered the night before and sighed. This was going to be a long month.
She stood quietly and opened the wardrobe. The few articles clothing were monotone colors and looked to be old training gear and sleeping garb. Her fathers, she realized, whom ever was assigned to clean this room must have forgotten them. She reached out and plucked one from its perch, the blue fabric worn and smooth under her fingers.
She peeled off the sweat soaked pants and shirt she had worn through the Vortex. She had seen the strange glances the servants had given her; it must be strange for a woman to wear pants in this time. She slid the clothes on over her bra and underwear and tossed the remainder of her possessions in the corner. She would burn them later. None of her things could remain in this time when she was to leave.
Her fingers gripped the holster at her thigh and pulled a folded photo from its many pockets. It was of a family, a regal man standing tall and holding a child in his arms, her, beside him stood an equally regal woman, though her stance was less royal and more proud. She was facing the man and holding a child in her arms as well as rubbing the back of another at her feet.
"I'll get you two together, mother, I promise." She muttered, folding the picture back up as a knock sounded at the door. She slid it open and startled the little girl looking up at her curiously before her mouth slit into a large lopsided grin. Yuzuki knew this woman from the numerous paintings done of her as a child that were scattered around the Palace.
"You look like my Lord." She sighed, giggling lightly before glancing behind her and into the room. Yuzuki turned sideways and held out her hand, an open invitation for Rin to enter.
"You are Rin." The small child nodded and ran a hand over a solid wooden desk in the far corner of the sprawling room. It looked strange to Yuzuki when not covered in her foreign scrolls and ancient artifacts. When she snapped out of her trance, she noticed the girl had sat on the bed and looked up to the ceiling. "Did you know, this was once my fathers room?"
She shook her head and perked up at the mention of Sesshomaru. Yuzuki moved to the wardrobe and pulled out an old scarf, used for when pups are to young to fight off the cold completely. She walked over to Rin and placed it around her neck. The girl's rosy cheeks turned a deeper scarlet before she laughed and buried her head into the fabric.
"Mi'Lord wants you to come to breakfast with him." Rin said, hopping off of the bed and padding to the door. She glanced back before exiting the room. "Come soon, everyone is waiting. Except InuYasha. He won't wake up."
"Oh dear." She muttered, the reality of the situation making her stomach tighten in fear and her head to pound. Once she promised the girl she would come down, Rin left Yuzuki to panic by herself. "You can do this. It's just like talking to a younger and more volatile father."
"You can do this!" Her pep talk gave her the courage to stand and walk to the door before she raced back to the bed and sat down. "I can't do this. What was father thinking when he sent me here!"
He was thinking you could do this, she thought, standing again, grabbing her swords, and marching to the door and then down the hall. She knew where the dining hall was but got confused a few times by the lack of built hallways. Once she finally found it, she could hear the scrapping of utensils and the sipping of tea.
She stood tall and slid the door open before walking to her place to the side of her father, who eyed her clothing choice with interest but not disapproval. She plucked food from the large plates in the middle before setting them down into her bowl. The others at the table, Kagome, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo, followed her movements. The self-made leader of the group was no where to be found. Kagome, the bravest of the group, sat her bowl down and pointed her inquisitive glance at Yuzuki.
"Did you have trouble finding this place?" She asked, waiting patiently for her answer. When Yuzuki placed her cup of tea back down, she shook her head.
"Oh no, but there are many halls that need constructed before this is the home I am from." She sent a wink in the direction of her father, who promptly ignored it. She wanted to smack her head on the table but resisted, knowing it would only make him more disappointed.
"How did you get here?" Sango asked, her eyes constantly flickering to the demons shadows placed outside the doors. Even when eating, she was on guard. "I did not think such a thing was possible."
"Science. The future holds many things." She chided, taking a bite and answering questions as they were asked. How old was she? 452 years old. Does she have siblings? Yes. What are their names? No comment.
"Does your father love your mother?" The question was almost silent and asked only when she thought it might be overshadowed, but it caught Yuzuki's keen ear and she gazed at the miko with wide eyes. Kagome blushed under the woman scrutiny and muttered to forget it.
"Very much." She whispered. And the whole table seemed to fall into a hush as Yuzuki cast her golden gaze from Kagome to her father who watched her every move. "My father loves my mother very much."
She stood and excused herself, carefully standing as to not jostle the bowls on the table. All eyes followed her trail to the door where she exited quickly before thanking the guards and racing down the hall. Sesshomaru listened to her footsteps as they padded over the wooden halls. She turned a corner and came to a stop before spinning on her heels and racing in a different direction. She finally stopped at the garden.
"Excuse me." He stated and left much the same way as his daughter had, quickly and neatly. While he didn't thank the guards, he did nod his head before moving briskly in his daughters general direction. The hushed shuffling and the loud clank came from the room he had just exited and before he knew it, the miko was trailing him down the hall.
"Just go easy on her." She pleaded, her motherly instincts kicking in even though she was only twenty-two and the girl in question was over four hundred. "Everything she thought she knew was ripped out from under her. Her loving father is...harsher. Her mother is nonexistent and her family is not even born yet. Let me talk to her. You can stand guard."
His face didn't seem to change but after being in his presence for the past two years hunting Naraku, she began to see the numerous nuances in his muscles. His lip would slightly curl when he found something to be distasteful or he would blink more often around those he put more trust in. It was a language she alone seemed to grasp.
He tilted his head and turned, offering him a spot by his side. She hid her gasp of surprise and moved fluidly to fill the slot. It was not often that Sesshomaru thought people to be his equal.
"Does she dislike me? Am I inadequate?" He asked, not looking at her but asking nevertheless. He did this sometimes, when they were alone or he was curious, he would converse with her because she was, to quote, 'more knowledgeable then the rest'. She took it as a compliment.
"I think she is just as thrown off by you as you are of her." She suggested and he was once again, shocked by her insight. He had learned she was widely versed in many things, and wondered how a woman of her standard and status could learn such things. She claimed it was a necessity in her village. "I'll go butter her up, and then you come in."
"You will cover my daughter with churned cream? What point will that serve?" He was once again thrown off by her odd way of speech. Even after the years they spend together, he failed to grasp her modern slang.
"Oh, it means I will make you look good." She explained as they turned the corner and her mouth started flapping. She had yet to see most of the Palace considering she had been half dead when they dragged her carcass into the hospital and got her fixed up. So when she saw the main garden, she was more then pleasantly surprised.
Blooms of every color lined the paths that wound into the large and gnarled cherry blossom trees stationed at select intervals. A large pond swirled at the center of the boxed in Eden and before it, a girl in blue. She had reached a hand in and watched as the ripples swirled outward from her finger tips.
"I am fine." Yuzuki claimed, standing and spinning around to face them. Her hair was pulled to the top of her head in a poorly done ponytail and Sesshomaru noticed how much like his mother she looked. Her cheeks were pink and her claws flexed as is she stood. "I would much rather be in my dojo but it seems it has yet to be built. This is my mothers favorite place, so I came here."
"I can see why." Kagome muttered, stepping off the raised wooden decking surrounding the garden and onto the warm grass. She laughed and Sesshomaru was taken back by the joy it seemed to contain. It was just grass.
"You remind me of her." Yuzuki smiled and laughed. Kagome tore at her shoes until the tight laces came undone and they slid from her feet. She padded to the pond and Sesshomaru mused how she had strayed from the plan. He saw no buttering.
"Of your mother? I think we would just get along splendidly if she invited me to come here!" She giggled and dipped a finger into the water and watched the small colorful minnows flutter about her finger.
"It takes little to amuse you." Sesshomaru commented and both woman shot angry glares his direction. Yuzuki shot back a sassy remark.
"Well unlike men, woman don't always kill things to keep themselves entertained." She chided and Kagome didn't know who was more shocked, herself or Sesshomaru. His daughter went about her business, whistling and humming and completely ignoring they fact she needed to say something.
"What is it Yuzuki?" Kagome asked, standing up and brushing her wet hands on her hospital garb. She didn't notice Sesshomaru glancing at her in confusion.
"I need a sword commissioned." She stuttered out, swinging back and forth on the balls of her feet. "I know we have all the things for it, and the money, but the man that has to make it is...lets say MIA."
Sesshomaru huffed at his lack of knowledge and got defensive when Kagome leaned in and whispered the definition to him. Again, he questioned how she could decipher his daughter's future talk.
"If you have the sword in your time, then you shouldn't have to have them made now." Kagome pondered, thinking over her research into time travel from when she could actually return to her time. Now she was stuck.
"They were gifted to me by an unnamed benefactor on my hundredth birthday. Only now do I realize the person was me. I made myself the perfect pair of swords for myself." She snorted and planted her hands on her hips before promptly letting them drop to her sides when she caught Sesshomaru's eye.
"Ironic."
The voice was stern and cold, and definitely not from the party of three standing in the garden. All but Sesshomaru spun around to greet the woman who had entered the garden.
Sesshomaru's mother was a sight to behold. Her hair was thick and white and her skin was flawless and pure. Her mouth was painted a vibrant red to accentuate her full lips and make her slightly clouded eyes shine. Her hair was placed into an intricate up-do, two braids swirled about her head around the countless clips and pins. The bobbles clinked together as she walked. Two demons trailed after her, one held an umbrella and the other carried a small pouch.
"Not really." Yuzuki commented and the demoness tilted her head to the side, like she was not used to being contradicted and she raised an eyebrow as it inviting her to explain where she had went wrong. Sesshomaru shot a glare in her direction, but his daughter ignored it and answered anyway. "Irony is having the opposite of the expected reaction to happen. This situation would not fit into those parameters."
The woman nodded and moved forward, causing her entourage to shuffle forwards as well. Kimiko grabbed her granddaughters chin and shifted it side to side.
"It really is uncanny how similar you two are." She remarked, a smirk pulling at her perfectly painted lips.
"To Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked and his mother laughed and shook her head. When she said no, her trinkets in her hair made a multitude of small chimes.
"No to-" Her voice was cut off by Yuzuki shaking her head almost violently. Kimiko smirked again before glancing over to her suspicious son. His eyebrows knit together and his eyes showed interest. "Your father."
Her coverup was pathetic and fooled no one, but all who wanted to ask knew they would get no answer. Kimiko nodded and glided slowly over the tiled path and up the wooden steps, her feet making no noise. They party of three was quiet until she left.
"Why can't your father know who his special someone is?" Kagome finally question and was happy when Yuzuki replied.
"Because he will mate her out of his misguided sense of duty and not because he truly loves her!" She explained, huffing and puffing at her again stoic father. "As for my sword, I need to go into dragon territory because my blades are crafted in a dragon's breath. I will be leaving tomorrow."
Her tone left no opinion and Kagome wondered how she ever doubted their relation. She was similar to him in many ways, but different in others. She walked out of the garden and left Kagome and Sesshomaru in an awkward silence. She nodded her head politely and moved to the side to escape down one of the vast halls when a strong hand wrapped around her arm.
"I wish to thank you." He ground out the words like they might bite him but once he said them, he glanced down to make sure she understood just how great a feat that was. She seemed to be completely stunned and nodded blindly.
She blinked her eyes and in a heartbeat, he was gone, leaving only a gust of wind in his wake and a frozen and slightly happy miko. She didn't even get to say you're welcome.