In Edo...

Kikyo was standing on a hill that oversaw the whole village. She watched the villagers farming rice and doing their other daily chores. The children were playing some games, like 'tag', which brought back memories for Kikyo. She remembered Inuyasha indulging the children in their games.

~Flashback~

It was just before the so-called monk came into the village. Kikyo was gathering up some healing herbs that they were down in supply. She looked up across a clearing, where she heard Inuyasha yelling...

"Get back here little brats! Give me back my Tessaiga!"

One child giggled, "It's not our fault that you weren't paying attention to your sword!"

Then another child added, "Yeah! It's not our fault!"

"Hey, stop copying me!"

"Huh? Who says I was copying you?!" The child, who had the sword, dropped it and pointed at the other child.

"I just said what you said before you said it, stupid!"

"I am telling mom that you called me, 'stupid'!"

"SO! Tell mom! I just tell her what you did yesterday!"

The accusing child gasped, "You wouldn't!"

"Yes, I will, if you tell mom!"

Both started bicker more until Inuyasha grabbed his Tessaiga and put it in its sheath. He hit both children on their heads; not very hard, yet hard enough to get their attention. In turn, both children yelled, "Ow! What was that for?!"

"Quit your bickering! If you don't stop your stupid bickering, then I won't play with you, numbskulls, again!"

"Ah, but Inuyasha! He called me, 'stupid'!"

"Yeah, so what?! What you did was worst than me calling you, 'stupid!"

"That's it! I don't care what you did or what he said! Just stop your fucking bickering!"

Kikyo came and said, "Inuyasha! Don't use that sort of language around children!"

"Oh! Kikyo... ho- how long were you there?" His voice soften.

"Long enough."

The female child said, "Lady Kikyo! My brother called me stupid!"

Her brother added, "Yeah..., well, she did something bad yesterday!" They were both pointing and glaring at each other.

Kikyo chuckled at their childish antics. "Yugi, calling people stupid isn't very nice. Kimi... whatever you had done will eventually come out. Truth will set you free. No matter the circumstances, you must accept the consequences of your actions and learn from them, then move on."

Kimi hung her head down in shame. "But, what I did was very bad? My momma won't love me anymore, if I told her what I did."

"I don't believe that, Kimi. You know why?' Kimi shook her head. "Mothers love their children despite what they do. Yes, they will be disappointed in you, but your momma will always love you; no matter what."

Kimi sighed. "I guess I should go then."

Yugi piped in, "Ha! I am going too. So that I could witness her being punished!" He said that as he laughed, but Kikyo added, "No, Yugi, you won't."

"And why not," he rudely said.

"Because you are going to help me gather more herbs, that's why."

Yugi groaned. Inuyasha added, "And I will make sure of it, too."

~Flashback Ended by the interruption of an unexpected visitor~

"Kikyo, love. What are you thinking about? You weren't thinking about HIM, were you?"

She gasped in surprise, "Kami, Orochi! You scared me!"

He smirked, "Sorry, I didn't mean to. So answer my question... were you thinking about HIM?"

"No, Orochi, I was thinking about the future, that's all!"

"Hmm, I see. Well, lets return to the village and gather the villagers for announcements."

"Announcements?"

"Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you. I am going to leave to recruit more monks and priestesses. I'll be leaving you in charge here."

"Ho- how long you will be?"

"Only the Kami knows, my love." With that he left and she followed behind him; thinking about things ever since her sister, Miroku, and his family left.

She knew where they went to, too, but she didn't give that information away to her Orochi. Yes, they left, but in their case, it was more like, being exile from Edo. Kikyo missed her sister and the others, especially, the children and Inuyasha even more. Kikyo remembered how her and Kaede talked before she left with Inuhime, Inuyasha, and the others. Inuyasha. She wanted so badly to go and give him a hug. A good-bye hug. However, the way she'd talked to him and Orochi being there, she couldn't have done that.

~Flashback~

Just before Inuhime and the others left to return to the Western Palace. Kikyo arrived in the nick of time.

"Please wait, Kaede! Please I want to speak to you." Kaede looked at her older sister with narrowed eyes.

"What do you want, Kikyo?"

"Please, Kaede. Don't leave."

"I must leave sister Kikyo. I will not stay here with a blasphemous monk and watch you marry him. After all this time, you claimed that you loved Inuyasha and now you're saying that he couldn't help procreate your children. That isn't true and you know it, too. You'd never truly loved him, haven't you?"

Unbeknownst to them, Inuyasha was coming to get Kaede out of the hut, but he heard them talking. He had heard what Kikyo said, "Yes, I know that he can give me children, but I am not in love with him. I really truly wasn't in love with him from the beginning..." That was when Inuyasha stormed in and confronted her.

"So, you had never loved me, Kikyo?" She shook her head.

"Why did you think that I wanted you to use the Jewel to become full human? I can't never be with a youkai or an hanyou! Never could and never will!"

The expression of Inuyasha's face was a brokenhearted one. He just nodded and said to Kaede, "Are you ready?"

"Yes, Inuyasha, I am."

He got on knees and offered his back to her. They left the hut without looking back or utter another word or the name of Kikyo again.

~Flashback Ends~

Yes, Kikyo fell out of love with Inuyasha. Yes, she loved him, but not IN love with him. She can't see him as a lover; not because he was hanyou. No. That wasn't it. When Orochi came to Edo, it was love at first sight. She denied those feelings. In the end, she admitted her feelings to herself. She was alone whenever she admitted her feelings towards the mysterious monk or so she thought... He happened to be there when she said it out loud. She remembered blushing when he repeated what she'd said to herself. She admitted it. She thought he would reject her, but he admitted the same to her. For him, it was love at first sight, too. Yes, at that time, she was still with Inuyasha. She didn't have the heart to break his heart. Since he was a inu-hanyou, he could had smell the scent of another on his intended mate. Kikyo thought about letting him waltz in and caught them making love. However, then she thought about the aftermath of that. It wasn't a pretty sight. Inuyasha would have kill him or Orochi would have purify Inuyasha. Kikyo couldn't live with herself if Inuyasha died because of her. So, she did what she didn't want to do in the first place. To break his heart. She'd expected him to say something. When he did, she told him a lie. That they couldn't have any pups together. Also the second time, what she said was a sure way to make curtain to drive him away. Forever.

She thought, "I hope you'll forgive me someday, Inuyasha." Once Orochi and Kikyo arrived at the village, she began to gather the people for Orochi's announcements.

Akira was excited that her plan was beginning to unfold. Her special guests aren't just enemies of the other Cardinal Lords, but they were also enemies of Sesshomaru. That was a bonus. It would give them more determination to dethrone all of their enemies and take what they believed to be theirs.

Akira was ordering some maids to make last minute accommodations for a new ally. She was certain that she'd never met this one before. She met the others through political gatherings, their court, and so on. So they knew each other, since they were pups. She remembered the time when she first met the current Lord of the West. She knew that she had to be on top of all other female youkai. So she was determined to become the most powerful demoness of the West. She did just that, too. She knew that the Council, along with her family, would support her and Sesshomaru's mating. However, there was a very big problem. The feud between her and Sesshomaru's families seemed never ending. She was hoping to change that whenever she became an established young demoness worthy of being not just any lord's mate, but the Cardinal Lord's mate. Her family, especially her father, decided to end the feud between them by mating Toriko and InuTaisho's daughter, Inuhime together. There was peace between them for a long while til someone discovered that it was a ploy to gain the throne. Then whenever that annual gathering came and the games to prove that one was strong to be a certain someone's mate, Sesshomaru would just deny her over and over again. Everytime, she thought about it, she would get enraged for his idiocy, arrogance, audacity, and stoicism. Those bitter memories were fuel for revenge.

A disguised Zokushi called out to Akira, which brought her out of her thoughts. "Yes."

Zokushi cleared her throat, "I believe there's something wrong with Yamiko. He's always sleeping. He doesn't seemed to do what pups do in his age."

"Take him to the healer, then."

"I have."

"And what did they say?"

"They don't know what's wrong with him."

"Bring me the pup."

"Yes, milady."

A few moments later, Zokushi brought the pup to his mother. Akira looked at him in the nursemaid's arms. "He looks fine to me."

"Yes, be as it may, but there's something the matter with him."

Akira growled in frustration. "I really don't need this right now!"

"I do have a suggestion, milady, if I have the liberty to do so."

Akira narrowed her eyes at Zokushi. "Fine, do as you wish."

The pup's mother turned around and walked to the lair's main room, which is where she will greet her guest whenever they will arrive. Meanwhile, Zokushi smirked from behind her back. She looked at Yamiko with soften eyes. "Don't worry, little one. I know someone who would be able to help, but first..." She went to find Ichiko.

AN: Orochi- meaning 'big snake' in Japanese. In Japanese myth, this was the name of an eight-forked serpent who demanded virgins for sacrifices and was killed by the god-hero Susanoo. Yes, I know that there's a previous chapter that has the same subtitle, however, it's not related to the previous 'Bitter-Sweet Moments'.

Inuyasha (c) Rumiko Takahashi

Fanfiction & OCs (c) ladytari