Light of My Life
Light of My Life
Title: Light of My Life
Author: kazeko
Series: Inuyasha
Rating: R
Archive: Sesshoumaru/Kagome
Characters: Sesshoumaru/Kagome, Inuyasha/Koyama, Sango/Miroku
Summary: A powerful prophecy brings mortal enemies together, but prejudice may well tear them apart and spell the end of all inuyoukai.
Disclaimer: No ownership.
Chapter 22: To Let the Years Pass
"Emiko! Kazuki! Yoshiro! Come get your supper!"
Kagome grinned as Sango's three children rushed in from the yard, covered in dirt and grass, having been playing some game before their mother called. Yuki, her youngest daughter, was too young to play outside with the other children, so she was already inside and clean, ready to eat. Seizukiko had been reading a scroll on inuyoukai while Rin was making her sister a new obi to go with the kimono the coyote sisters had made. Sei's tenth birthday was fast approaching, and Rin's nineteenth would come soon after. The young woman was not eager to marry, but she was past the age that most humans were wed, and many women in the village who were her age already had one or two children. She knew that she would have to marry soon, but she hoped that Kagome would let her put it off a little longer.
Kagome listened to Sango scold the three children and send them down to the stream to wash. Miroku sat in the corner praying, as he did every day before supper, and paid little attention to the antics of his offspring. The two boys took after him; Kazuki at only six already spent far too much time around the village girls. While the other boys his age were avoiding them like the plague, he was eager to be as friendly with as many girls as possible. Yoshiro, at three, did whatever his brother did, but it was clear that he was called to be a houshi, just like his father. Emiko was the leader of the siblings, keeping everyone in line or leading them into trouble, whatever she felt in the mood for. The nine-year old had the temperament to be a tajiya, though there was little call for them these days, and she could well become a fine warrior. Yuki was too young to do much more than eat and sleep.
Kagome turned back to her scroll and sighed. She was twenty-six years old and still had no husband, no family other than Seizukiko. She loved her daughter, but she was lonely. Though she and Sesshoumaru had only slept together three times total, she still dreamed about his touch and missed him every night. In ten years, she hadn't been able to find someone to love or someone who could help her raise a hanyou pup. She understood what Inuyasha's mother had gone through when he was a child, in a world that frowned upon the mixing of youkai and human blood.
"Is Akihiko due to visit soon?"
"Hmm?" Kagome looked up from her reading and smiled, thinking back to the last time she had seen the boy. It had almost been two years, since Yoshiro was a little baby, that the youkai had visited. "I'm not really sure, Sango. He never announces when he'll return. I imagine he'll come for Sei's tenth birthday party, since he tries to show up every year. Last year he couldn't come because of that training in Hokkaidou, but he should be free this time."
"Mama?"
"Yes, Sei?"
"What does Father look like? This scroll says that noble youkai will have a family crest on their forehead that marks them as the Alpha or leader of their family group or Pack, and often they will also have secondary markings. Many of the neko tribes have spots, some kitsune tribes will have no markings, many of the ookami tribes have irregular stripes, and inus tend to have very regular pairs or trios of stripes on their face, wrists, hips and legs. Does my father have stripes? Uncle Inuyasha doesn't, but Aunt Koyama has stripes on her face and hands."
"Your uncle is a hanyou like you, remember. Hanyou will not always have stripes or any markings at all. However, you might have noticed that Inuyasha is developing faint stripes on his cheeks, a pair of maroon lines that will become stronger as he ages. With a pack, a full youkai mate, and youkai pups, his powers are growing and he is merging with what we humans call 'his beast'. Full youkai are already merged with their 'beast' and therefore carry markings. Your father has maroon-colored stripes in pairs, on his face, wrists, hips, and legs. He also has a stripe above each eye and pointed ears."
"Are his eyes gold like Uncle Inuyasha's? And is his hair silver like mine?"
Kagome chuckled and leaned over to ruffle her daughter's silvery blue hair. "You know this already. Yes, his hair is silver, but a pure silver with no other colors in it. And his eyes are a golden color. He has a mark on his forehead, a crescent moon that made him the Alpha of his pack. His daughter has the same mark."
"His other daughter," Sei whispered, turning away. "His heir, his full-blooded youkai daughter. He has no idea that there are two daughters."
"He can't know, Sei. As long as I live, I'm a threat to his pack. I didn't make the curse, but I can't fight it. You will meet him some day, I promise."
Seizukiko nodded, but the darkness remained in her blue eyes. All she wanted was a father, and until she was an adult, it was the one thing she could not have.
"You have been alone far too long. The others of the court think that you put yourself too far above youkai law. They think you do not care about the Western Lands."
"Mother, we have had this conversation before, many times. This Sesshoumaru does not feel like taking a mate at this time. There will be no more discussion."
"That cannot be your answer, son. There are some among your extended family that think you are not right to rule, and they question Kiyokaoriko's mark. They would see her dead and another in her place."
Sesshoumaru growled and whirled on his mother, barely restraining himself from burying his claws in her throat. "Do you threaten my daughter?"
"I do not," she replied imperiously, "but there are some that do. My son, I only want the best for this pack. You must have a mate, if only for appearance sake. I promise to find you one that is pleasing on the eyes, some quiet fourth or fifth daughter with no hope of marrying noble. She will be grateful for your mark and will not demand your seed. She only needs to be here to protect your children. It is all I ask of you."
Sesshoumaru sighed and turned to the window, staring out across his lands. He knew that he would be forced to take a mate eventually, but it had only been ten years and he was not ready to bid Kagome's memory farewell. "It seems I have no choice. Bring me some decent number of candidates and I will examine them. My children will have a say in the choice, and I expect her to come with a sizeable dowry. I cannot have the other lords think that I trivialize the mating process."
Satori grinned and bowed. "It shall be done."
Sesshoumaru sat calmly behind his desk as four young inuyoukai were presented to him. His children sat arranged to one side, dressed in their finest kimono and looking very noble. Akihikomaru had been fidgeting all day, insisting that he would rather keep a play date with Sango's pups than help choose a new mother. Sesshoumaru had no idea why the boy was so eager to go to Edo, but he promised he could go in seven or so days once the entire process was completed. Shippo had asked to be excused from the process since he was not one of Sesshoumaru's biological children and an inuyoukai might be hesitant if she thought she had to raise a kitsune. He was off patrolling along the eastern border with one of the lesser lord's armies, helping them establish better relations with the small kitsune tribe nearby.
The first woman was willowy and pale, seventh daughter of a fine house. Her father was the younger brother of Hitoshi of the Dark Forest Pack, and most of her siblings were mated already. She had resigned herself to an Omega position in her pack, but her pale lavender eyes captivated many inu males who were too low a station for her father to care. Rumors indicated that she had a soft spot for pups but no wish to go through the effort to bear them herself. A union with Sesshoumaru, who already had an Alpha Pup, would be perfect for Fuyumi.
The second woman was dark, her burgundy hair setting off her hazel eyes. She was only a distant cousin of Kumiko, Alpha Female of Green Mist, but she had been raised in court and carried herself well. Her manners were perfect, but her smile was cold, as if she did not welcome any intimacy with another youkai. He imagined that her drop of noble blood had not been enough to earn her favor in court and none of the nobles would let her mate their sons. However, she seemed powerful enough, if unwilling to let her more common blood mingle with the nobility. She wished to be an important part of court life without producing more pups to be scorned for their near-common status. Haruki was cool but she had always been kind to pups born to a purer noble line.
The third youkai seemed disinterested in the entire affair, as if mating and pups were not important to her. She was Tsukiko and Takeshi's fifteenth daughter, so far removed from the Alpha Pup that she was raised purely by the pack and almost never hunted with her parents. She was a fine female, with emerald eyes and golden hair, but she had rejected every mating suit offered her in the past three hundred years. She was supple and lithe, a fine fighter on par with her brothers, but rumors claimed that she spent her nights in the company of commoner females, youkai and humans, and derived her sexual pleasure from them. A female who was not interested in Sesshoumaru because he was male might prick at his pride but suited his needs perfectly. If she demanded a harem of females, as long as she carried out her duty to the pups, she would have them. She would devote her attention to the only female pup for certain, and Kaori would grow into a fine fighter. Yurieko could be a fine mate for Sesshoumaru.
The fourth female was small, short for a youkai but slender with an odd beauty not often found in inuyoukai. She had dark blue hair, nearly black, and her eyes were a blueish gray color. Her stripes were cerulean, and her family was only vaguely related to Chiyoko of Morning Leaf. She had not been raised in the court, but she carried herself with nobility nonetheless. Sesshoumaru glanced at the file on his desk, wondering why his mother had included the girl. She had been raised in a village with humans. She had no interest in youkai because they were arrogant and did not care about the people she called friends. She knew that Sesshoumaru cared for humans, and she had accepted the suit for that exact reason. She would never want to sleep with him, and she would always care for his pups, teaching them to protect the weaker humans in the Western Lands. The female, Irunami, was a strange female, but well-suited for Sesshoumaru's needs.
Sesshoumaru listened to all of the suits, accepted each female as a potential mate, and summoned Jaken to escort them to their guest rooms. He was dreading the next few days, when he would court each one formally, introduce them to the other lords as a potential Lady of the West, and then choose one in the end and mate her. All he could think about as he watched them leave was how much he missed Kagome's warmth, companionship, and love. All he wanted to do was ask her advice, and it was the one thing he could not do. Dismissing his pups, Sesshoumaru stared at the papers his mother had given him, trying to decide which female would be the least intolerable mate.
tbc
