Chapter Thirty-One:
Reflecting on the Past
Late in the night Gobodō-sama sat in her manor and looked up at the full moon shining brightly in the sky. As she stared at the celestial orb her heart was heavy and her mind troubled. Her beloved son Dai was up to no good yet she still could not get a clear vision. The future is not set in stone and so when one's mind is not made up or changes the future changes with it and is no longer clear.
So long have I lived with his curse and gift.
She thought for that is what it truly was. Her ability to see the future, which had been passed down to every few females in her line, had often saved her mate and children but just as the visions came easy so too did the knowledge of what must be and what must be changed. Katsumi often thought the Kami cruel for giving her the sight but she knew that many lives would have been lost without her powers.
Like InuYasha.
Katsumi's powers were often easy to control unless it was something the Kami need her to see and she had often wondered as she watched Kagome's belly grow with Izayoi if the pup would also have the gift.
I didn't have my first vision until I was pregnant with Ryoichi. The demoness thought. I suppose will see.
As Katsumi sat in the window her mind began to wonder, not to the future but to the past.
Five Hundred and fifty Years Ago
Lady Katsumi of the west stood by her Lord and mate as he growled down at their eldest son. Ryo was angry once more with the opinions and the desire to speak them that their eldest, Ryoichi, had. She hated her mate and despised the way he treated her pups.
"You will mind your tongue boy." The fearsome Demon Lord snarled. Ryo was a handsome demon, though he was as evil as his looks were fair. He had silver hair that he allowed to fall loose to his waist and his bangs were wild. He glared at his son with golden eyes that showed his dark, malevolent soul as he paced before his son, his daughter in law who was currently heavily pregnant with his first grandchild, and a cowering human woman. The rest of his children were a few steps away watching, waiting.
The demon lord glared at the peasant girl that was currently bowed before him with his son hovering over her almost protectively.
"All I am saying father is why must the woman and child die?" Ryoichi asked in a calm, icy voice. He despised his father's way of doing things. Not only did he see it fit to treat the mother of his children as little more then a plaything but he thought it was right to slaughter the innocent as well.
"It was you're warrior that raped her and made her with child, he should be punished not the woman and most certainly no the half demon she now carries!"
Ryo lashed out and backhanded his son. His brothers and sisters watched fearfully as their eldest brother was punished for coming to the woman's defense. Megumi quickly drew Kimi into her embrace to protect her and her brother's unborn heir from the violence that their father was capable of.
"Half breeds are meant to be killed with the whores who bare them. And why should I kill my best warrior because he decided to use a human woman as he saw fit?"
Ryoichi snarled. "BECAUSE SHE HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG!" the demon prince calmed as he glared at his father, the woman behind him cowered fearfully. "And I am done allowing you to harm those who do not deserve it."
Ryo, who had turned his back on his son and was glaring at his mate whom stood stoically in her place, jerked back to face his son and grabbed him by his throat lifting the boy in the air.
"Is that a challenge pup? Do you think I will not kill you?" he growled then his golden eyes jumped to the heavily pregnant Kimi. She met his eyes with nothing but hate and contempt. She had never feared him. His eye went back to his heir.
"I will kill you boy and then I will have a little fun with your woman over there." Ryoichi's eyes widened at the threat to his mate and unborn child and Katsumi stiffened and glared at husband's head. "And maybe I'll even raise your pup, maybe he'll prove more worthy of my throne then you."
Ryoichi snarled as he kicked his father.
"Yes I challenge you and I will defeat you."
Ryoichi advanced on his father, moving him from his mother, family, and the innocent human woman that he was currently fighting for.
The demon glanced to his mother. She had seen what would be and she had given her consent long ago. She had never loved Ryo; theirs had been a political mating where Ryo had demanded her for his mate in exchange for not wiping out the sub pack she belonged to. He had wanted her for her gift and the birth of strong sons.
The demoness nodded then moved to the human woman who was unfortunate enough to have a half demon in her womb.
"Come child, you are safe with us." She said as she led the woman to her children. The only one who glared threatingly at her was Dai and with a growling reprimand to her young son they all looked to the battle.
"Mother?" her youngest daughter in her mid teens whispered. "Big brother will win won't he?"
The mother brushed her child's hair from her eyes. "Yes my darling he will."
Meanwhile Ryoichi stood tall and proud as he transformed ready to defeat his father. Since he was a pup he had witnessed his father do unspeakable things to his land, the people, both human and demon, and to his loving and wonderful mother. His father had never treated his mother the way a mate should be treated and he was finished watching it happen. If it was the last thing he did Ryoichi was going to end it!
The battle lasted two days as the large and brawny Dogs fought in both their forms but finally in a desperate attempt to end the fight Ryoichi bit his father's neck and forced his Yokai into him paralyzing him then the demon transformed to his human form and looked to his mother who threw him a bejeweled spear and he then pierced the dog against a great cliff face and the spell took affect turning his father to stone where he was pinned.
The tired prince, now Inu no Taisho, stumbled to his pack as his mate met him half way. He embraced her and placed his hand where he could feel his son's head in her belly.
It was over, the evil was done, and they were safe.
The tired demon looked to the still frightened woman and for moment she appeared different in his eyes. Where a peasant girl once stood was a princess with long hair as dark as the night sky and eyes the color of Amethyst stones and framed by the pink princess kimono she wore was a belly as large as his mate's.
Then he shook his head and the manifestation was gone replaced once more by the woman he had saved.
Releasing his hold on Kimi, Ryoichi stumbled to the woman. Fearing the worst the village girl dropped to her knees and began to beg.
"Please, let me live!" she cried but all she felt was the demon before her pulling her up.
"You will live and the soldier that raped you will be punished for his crimes. All I ask is that you cherish this child." He placed a hand to her flat belly. "Love it for who it is and remember it is innocent and had nothing to do with its conception."
The girl could see in the demon's golden eyes had important it was to him that he carried out his request and seeing that she bowed.
"As you wish my Lord." She then looked up gratefully. "Thank you." He nodded and then dismissed her.
As he stood his mother came to his side.
"Things will change Ryoichi." She said and her son looked at her with determination.
"Yes mother. I plan on it."
Four and a Half Hundred Years Later
The Inu no Taisho of the Western lands made his way swiftly to his mother's rooms.
The urgency he felt was due to the news that his human mate, Princess Izayoi of the Setsuna clan, had just informed him of when he went to see her at her family's estate that night. He entered his mother's manor without waiting to be invited but the elder demoness didn't seem surprised. She smiled at her son as she sat at the table enjoying a cup of tea as her servants left the room.
"What ails you my Lord son?"
The demon that was still only a pup to her, though he had a nearly grown pup of his own, fell to his knees.
"Mother my second mate, the Lady Izayoi, has informed me that my pup grows in her belly."
Katsumi smiled as she heard of yet another child being born to her family. First had been her beloved Sesshy-chan and then not two years later her darling Emi and now another.
"Why does this trouble you? Do fear Kimi and Sesshomaru's reactions?"
Ryoichi shook his head. "No mother, this son, he will be a half demon. I know his life will not be easy please tell me what you see of his future?"
The ancient demon mother studied her son and could see his worry and fear for his unborn child and so she closed her eyes and called upon the power that she had been born with.
As she focused she began to see a picture in her mind.
She saw a castle, a human castle, surrounded by soldiers at night. The humans looked as if they were prepared for battle. Then she saw her son come rushing in with the mighty Tessiga, which he had forged to guard his mortal lover, drawn and ready to kill.
He used the wind scar and destroyed those in his way to his beloved.
"Izayoi! Izayoi!" he called as another human, a samurai, stepped from the dark of the castle. In the background the sound of an infant's wail could be heard.
"Lady Izayoi is beyond your reach, beast." The samurai said as he glared down at the demon Lord.
Ryoichi snarled. "What!"
"She has gone ahead of you to the netherworld, I sent her there myself."
Fury blazed in Ryoichi's eyes as he charged. "Damn you fool!"
The demon raced past the human after cutting off his arm.
As the demon Lord raced through the castle he came to birthing room and quickly searched for his wife and child. The pup's cries led his father to him and his mother as flames engulfed the room.
Ryoichi removed the curtains that had been set up for the princess's modesty and was met with the sight of his Izayoi covered in her own blood, their son clutched to her bosom even as she lay dead.
The demon Lord drew his sword and ordered it to bring the mother of his son back to life and once she was awake he wrapped them both in the fire rate robe he had had commissioned for the pup.
The father had a moment to gaze upon his boy. The pup had a full head of silver hair and puppy ears and he was sure his son's eyes were the same as his. Golden like the sun.
But then the samurai stepped into the room and the demon rose to protect what was his.
"Name him InuYasha." He said to his mate as he drew his sword.
"My dearest?" Izayoi asked frightened by his words. It almost sounded like he would not be there to name his son.
"Take InuYasha and flee Izayoi. Now!"
The new mother didn't waist time as she ran from the building with her precious cargo held protectively to her chest and as she made it to the outskirts of the castle in the snow the building collapsed killing all inside.
Suddenly the vision changed and she saw a young child, a hanyo. He had his father's looks and was clad in the red robe of the fire rat and on top of his small head were puppy ears. The boy, no more then eight, looked as if he had been beaten and starved as he sat huddled by a grave marker with his mother's name in kanji.
Her heart broke for the boy she saw but she had that feeling, almost an instinct that this was what the boy had to go through.
Then once more the vision changed. The boy was grown and he was fighting beside a human miko. She was beautiful and when her future grandson looked to her the seer saw an emotion in his eyes, not quite love but close enough.
Another change. The hanyo, InuYasha, was pinned to a tree to sleep for eternity and a great evil watched as the miko who betrayed him died.
Then a well crossed her vision and a jewel, the same jewel that her grandson had desired.
Then an infant girl with a glowing star on her small chest. Her mother held her as she cried in a strange room like none the demon had ever seen.
"There, there, its alright. My sweet little Kagome."
Finally the girl, a young woman now, pulled herself from the well and her grandson was released and the faces of others raced passed her, a fox child orphaned and alone, a cursed monk with an easy smile, and a demon slayer with an understanding heart and twin tail on her shoulder. And a last the evil she had sensed watching the hanyo's tragedy was defeated.
The vision ended.
"His life will be brutal. The boy will loose you at birth and his mother in his early childhood. From what I see he will never be brought to the West, he can not be brought to the West."
Ryoichi bowed his head as he thought on this and he wondered if he should kill the pup at birth to spare him that life for it wasn't a life his son deserved.
"But he will be strong and he will meet a woman that will love him." Katsumi put her hand under her son's chin and made him look at her.
"You will name him InuYasha and he and his love will form a pack and this pack will be the first steps of change in our world. Be proud of your son for he has already made me proud."
Seven Months Later
Katsumi was sitting in her garden during the lunar eclipse that foretold the birth of the second son of the Lord Ryoichi. The time had come. The Inu no Taisho would fall and his infant son would be left alone with only his mortal mother to care for him. She knew her grandson, Sesshomaru, would follow her orders and not bring the whelp and his mother to the west and her heart broke even more.
And as a hanyo babe drew his first breath a vision came upon her.
A young woman, a hanyo, sat on the throne of the West, on her right stood Sesshomaru and on her left stood InuYasha.
"I Princess Izayoi do swear to uphold the laws and ways of the Great Inu no Taisho Ryoichi and I will rule the West with a fair and just hand."
Katsumi closed her eyes and smiled as a tear raced down her cheek.
All would be well, even as the future seemed bleak to others, all would be well.
The present.
"Grandmother are you well?"
Gobodō-sama looked behind her to see Sesshomaru and she smiled as her tears sparkled on her face.
"Yes my darling boy. All will be well."
A/N: This chapter is to explain everything from Ryo being sealed to how Katsumi saw InuYasha's birth and his daughter eventually taking the thrown. The visions are kind of choppy and missing details because that is how she sees them. The nearer the future is the more she sees but Ryoichi's death was as clear as it was because that would have happened no matter what.
Gobodō-sama's power is passed down to the females but its not consistent, none of her daughters have the ability.
Review and let me know what you think. I will try to answer any questions.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA!