Natsume followed Zokushi to her chambers. When she had gotten near her, she pulled on her robes. Zokushi looked down at the young heiress. "Natsume, why are you here? Shouldn't you be with your parents?"

"Yes, but I know you have a pup with you. Why didn't you show it to them?"

"I will in time. You want to see him." Natsume smiled as she nodded. "Ok, then, here he is." She unwrapped the infant, so that the young heiress could see the pup. When she did, she frowned. Zokushi was puzzled. "What's the matter, Natsume?"

"The wup's aura is wery weak, Woku. He doesn't looked wery well, either." Zokushi was very surprised to hear something like that coming from a toddler. Just then a very worried Kagome came into the room...

"Oh, Zoku, have you seen..." She paused when she was her daughter. She bent down to eye level to her pup. "Natsume, why are you here? I was very worried."

Natsume put her head down as if she was ashamed. "I'm wery sorry, momma, but this wup is wery weak."

"What pup?" Natsume pointed towards Zokushi's mokomoko.

"The pup that Woku has, momma." Kagome stood up and looked at Zokushi.

"You have a pup with you?"

Zokushi sighed. "Yes, the pup was Akira's." Kagome's eyes widened.

"You took her pup! Oh my Kami, Sesshomaru won't like this at all."

Then suddenly a deep voice was heard which startled both Kagome and Zokushi. "Pray tell this Sesshomaru what he won't like, mate? Why do I smell Naraku?" The name 'Naraku' came out as a growl.

Kagome looked at him confused. "You smell Naraku?" Sesshomaru nodded. She turned to face Zokushi, who in turn gulped. She had hoped that Inuhime would be there when she reveal the pup to the couple. She gave a nervous laugh.

"I was going to tell you that I have Akira's and Naraku's pup, eventually."

Sesshomaru was furious. "You brought his spawn into my home!"

On the other side of the palace, Inuhime felt her twin's aura flared ferociously. She immediately went there. When she arrived, her brother... well lets just say he was about to transform into his true form. She noticed that Natsume was cowering down; looking very afraid. She quickly entered the room and yelled, "Sesshomaru, you baka! You are scaring your pup!" Sesshomaru quickly stopped and looked around. Sure enough he saw his daughter cowering behind her mother. His eyes softened. It was the very first time that he displayed a lot of power in front of her.

Once she noticed that her brother calmed down, she said, "What made you have such a reaction, brother?"

Sesshomaru was felt the need to leave the room. He did without saying a word. Inuhime grabbed his arm and looked at him in the face. He looked distraught. So she let him go. She sighed and looked at Zokushi and said, "What made him looked so... so..." Kagome finished her question, "pissed?"

"Yeah."

Zokushi knew she should have told them about the pup beforehand, but there wasn't much time to do so. She said in shame, "I... It's my fault. I should have at least warned you."

"Warned us? About what?"

"I brought home a pup, but not just any pup. It was Akira's and Naraku's." Now that she said that, Inuhime could smell Akira's and Naraku's scents combined together. Inuhime nodded in understanding. She said to Kagome, "I think, you should go to Sesshomaru. He needs you right now. Also I think you should leave Natsume here. I'll watch her."

Kagome nodded. She looked at her daughter. "I'll be right back, Natsume." She hugged her and left.

There was silence. It was too silent for Zokushi. She spoke, "I know I should have said something before, but there wasn't any time. Please, Inuki. Please understand!"

"Why had you taken the pup?"

"Because he's dying, Inuki. Akira wasn't going to do anything. The poor pup needed her. She didn't care about him. I just wanted him to know that he wasn't all alone," Zokushi pleaded.

"Show me the pup." Zokushi nodded and revealed the pup to her. The pup was too overwhelmed by Sesshomaru's power that the pup's aura had weaken significantly.

Zokushi noted, "His aura's weakened." Inuhime nodded. "There's nothing we could do for him, is there?" Inuhime shook her head.

Inuhime noticed how sadden her sister-friend was. She went to comfort her. His body may had been young, but his soul was old. She told her what he was thinking. "He's thankful to you and Ichiko. He'd never felt so loved by anyone. Not even from his own mother had taken the time to love, to take care of him like a mother should had done." That bought more tears from her best friend.

-
Kagome found Sesshomaru in his study looking outside. He was so much in thought he didn't realized that Kagome was there.

"Anata?" At first, he didn't want to look at her. She walked towards him. She embraced him from behind. Sesshomaru was quiet for a long time, but she was patient. He broke the silence by saying, "I made my pup afraid of me. I saw the fear in her eyes. I scared you as well." He paused. "When I smelled Naraku's scent, I thought that somehow he survived and try to take you or Natsume away. When I saw that it was only his pup, I got really mad that Zokushi dare to bring his pup to our home without my knowledge. If I would have known..."

Kagome interrupted, "I know Sesshomaru. She probably has her reasons for not letting us know."

"It better be good because losing my..."

"Sesshomaru, you might have scared the living hell out of her, but you didn't loose her. She probably believe that you were mad at her."

"But I wasn't."

"I know, but she doesn't know that. I scolded her for leaving just before you came."

"She'll probably wouldn't want to be around me."

"Sesshomaru, she adores her daddy. Just give her some space." She turned her mate around. She put her hand on his cheek. He leaned into it. She smiled. She kissed him passionately.

-

Inuhime looked at her niece. She was shivering. She walked towards her and sat down. "Natsume?"

"Dad... daddy's wad at me?"

Inuhime smiled at her and said, "No, he was mad at Zoku for not telling him about the pup."

"So, daddy still woves me."

"Of course, he still does. You are his little princess. You and your mom are his world."

Natsume smiled, then she frowned. "What about the wup?"

Inuhime sighed. "I don't know, Natsume." She paused as she looked at the pup. "Just know that he feels very loved by Zoku and Ichiko." To change the subject. "You want to go see your daddy? I know if you go see him, you will cheer him up."

"Weally?" Inuhime nodded. She didn't waste anytime to leave. Inuhime chuckled as was walking towards the door. She stopped and looked at Zokushi before she left. She saw her sister-like friend holding the pup. She was purring and rubbing his back. Inuhime smiled a little and thought that she'll make a great mother one day. She left the room and followed Natsume to where her mom and dad was.

Sesshomaru and Kagome was just holding each other. His ears suddenly perked because he heard someone running towards them. He turned to see the entrance of his study.

Kagome felt him slightly turned. "What is it?"

Then they heard a voice in the background, faintly at first, but then the voice had gotten louder. "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy," Natsume yelled as she was running towards the room. She repeated 'daddy' until she was in Sesshomaru's arms and cried into his kimono. Sesshomaru was confused by the behavior of his daughter. He looked at Kagome, then he sensed his twin nearby. He looked at her questionably. Inuhime shrugged.

"What wrong my little princess," he asked her as he rubbed her back. Natsume looked up at him. She sniffed and hiccup between words. "The...wup...is...gowing...to...die,...daddy!"

"It's alright, my little princess," he said softly as he rubbed her back and purred soothingly. She pulled back and looked at her father in the eye.

"Father, you wove me, right?" He nodded. "Then, pwease save the wup, daddy!" Sesshomaru looked at Inuhime. She gave him a small, sad smirk.

Inuhime said softly to Natsume, "Natsume, would you be a dear and go find Rin, Shippo, and Hana? It's almost time for dinner."

"Ok, Auntie." With that she left the study. Sesshomaru let out an unexpected breathe. He sat down and asked Inuhime and Kagome, "What do I do?"

"You give her what she wants." Sesshmaru looked at Kagome unbelievably. "You want me to save Naraku's spawn?"

Inuhime sighed. "Sesshomaru, she really thinks that you don't love her. She's very concern about the pup."

Kagome gasped, "Sesshomaru! That's why she wants to come so badly!"

"What? To confirm that I love her?"

Inuhime growled, "No, you baka! She knows that you love her. She felt the need to save him. She knows that she couldn't did it. That's why she's asking you."

"Then why she asked that I love her?"

Kagome sighed. "Sesshomaru, she believed that you were angry with her for disappearing like she did."

"To Natsume, Sesshomaru, that display of power was more confirmation that you were. Kagome, we should leave Sesshomaru to his thoughts." Kagome nodded. She gave him a loving, reassuring hug, then she left with his twin.

Sesshomaru furrowed his brow. "Why is so hard to decide?"

His inner self said, "Because you wish for the pup to die. However, you pardoned Inuhime's son, who was also a spawn of Naraku. Why did you not kill him?"

"That pup was being sincere. He was honest and brave until the end of his life."

"Hn, did you not also did it for our twin?"

"Hn."

"So, why is it so hard to grant our daughter's request?"

"Because she's young."

"Natsume may be young, but there's something about her that's so special. She may be taking after her mother and our twin."

"What does this had to do anything about the fate of the pup?"

"Because you need to show our daughter that you have compassion. Everyone here knows you, but she doesn't. Plus, it kills me seeing her like this. We must rectify the situation."

"How?"

"Isn't it obvious? Save that pup!"

"But what if he turns out to be like his father?"

"You condemned a pup because of it's parent! Shame on you! We both know that pups may or may not take after their parents. It depends on the pup, itself. Akihiko was raised by Naraku. He turned out not to be like his father. Whereas..."

"The pup may or may not be like his vile father."

"Well, we can always kill him if he poses as a threat."

"Hn, perhaps you're right. Should we do it now?"

"NO! We must wait until the pup dies, then and only then we'll revive him."

"Hn, so be it."

Not very long afterwards, there was a mournful cry of the one who has been taking care of him. Sesshomaru sighed as he stood up and went to his twin's best friend and the now deceased pup. The Tenseiga pulsed to let it's wielder know to revive the pup. Sesshomaru unsheathed the sword. He waited for the imps of the underworld to sliced them to half, then he sheathed it again. He turned around, but before he could exit the room Zokushi spoke to him.

"Thank you, milord."

"This Sesshomaru hadn't done it for you. He'd done it for his little princess."

Zokushi smiled. "This Zokushi doesn't care about your motives, but she thanks you, nevertheless."

"Hn." With that said, he left to return to his pup and mate.

Afterwards, Zokushi and the pup were bonded. She adopted him as her son, who she renamed, Kahōmono*. She made Ichiko to become his godmother/nanny.

AN: Sorry for the long wait. This was more of a filler chapter. Kahōmono* means 'lucky dog' in Japanese. I used google translation, so if this isn't the right translation, please comment about it. I will really appreciate it.

Inuyasha (c) Rumiko Takahashi

Fanfiction & OCs (c) ladytari