A Distant Promise – Mini-Chapter # 20

No. Absolutely not.

Out of the question. Completely unacceptable. An unsuitable, totally inappropriate match.

At least, these were the things that Sesshoumaru wanted to say, as he stared stonily at his son over the top of his desk. Instead, he bit his tongue and tried to remember what it felt like to be young and in love. Young and stupid. Contrary to popular belief, even the great Lord of the West had felt that way once. He was simply old enough now to recognize what a horrible mistake it had been.

Recognizing his Father's dark expression, Satoshi squirmed uneasily. After hearing Shippo's encouragement, he had bravely decided to try telling his Father about the girl he liked, but it wasn't going as well as he had hoped. "What do you have against humans, anyway?" the boy asked rancorously.

The elder dog-demon tapped his nails against the hardwood desk. He thought back to his own childhood. What would his Father have said in this situation? But no, such comparisons did no good. The late Inu-no-Taisho would probably have laughed, that great big, booming, boisterous laugh of his, and then encouraged his son to take as many partners as possible, no matter what species or age. The old youkai had defined 'playboy' before it became a word. So, in the end, he drifted lost and alone in the uncertain waters of parenting.

"I have nothing against humans, in general," the taiyoukai ground out between gritted teeth, lying every step of the way, attempting to sound more reasonable than he really felt. "Just that one."

"You don't even know her!" Satoshi complained, a hint of wildness creeping into his tone.

This, Sesshoumaru supposed, was true. He knew very little of his half-brother's miko. All he knew of her in the past was based on assumption, conjecture, and the words of an immature fox-kit. As it turned out, the kitsune had been right – there was such a thing as time-travel. But that did not make Sesshoumaru feel any better about his current quandary. As usual, his son visited Shippo, over his winter break. But this month, the fox-demon had trailed his long-lost priestess around like a helpless puppy with its tail between its legs. This meant that his son had, in turn, spent a great deal of time with the priestess…

And now, the boy believed he was in love with a human woman. One he had only met recently, who was smart and vivacious and knew all about demons, but treated them like people anyway… Sesshoumaru felt like breaking something. His claws itched with the desire to crush or melt or otherwise mangle something – anything – preferably a priceless treasure that could never be replaced.

For heaven's sake, what made her so special? Did the priestess have some kind of perfume that attracted dog-demons? Perhaps this was revenge. Now that his half-brother was human, and the wicked woman had failed to ensnare Inuyasha in her web, she had turned her greedy eyes on the next available inuyoukai. His son. Satoshi. Who was, all things considered, innocent of any wrongdoing in this matter. Here, the fault lay firmly on that miko's shoulders, Sesshoumaru decided.

"I know her well enough," muttered the older demon. A piece of the desk splintered beneath his claws, and he stared at it for a moment, before liquefying it using his poison. Satoshi fell silent. "We will speak of this further when you return, at the end of your next term," Sesshoumaru continued, staring at the melted corner of his desk in a mesmerized fashion. "In the meantime, focus on your studies. She is not going anywhere."

"Um…" blinked Satoshi, confused by his Father's response, but unwilling to question his good fortune. "Okay?"

As his son quietly left to pack his belongings, Sesshoumaru imagined various scenarios in which he could get rid of an annoying miko, without people being any the wiser. It might upset the kitsune, of course; an unfortunate side-effect. Thoughts of the fox-demon reminded him of a conversation they had held a few days earlier. Shippo had been trying to devise some kind of plan to reunite his half-brother and the hapless miko. At the time, he had ignored it, since devious plotting was par for the course with a fox-demon. Now, he would humor the kitsune.