Chapter Two: Sushi
The next morning, the girls bundled up in layers of kimonos, clambered onto A-Un, and set off with Sesshoumaru leading the way to the south, Jaken trailing from the end of his fur. Once they reached the coast, they followed it as it turned west, heading into still warmer territory.
It took the better part of a day before the girls started shedding their kimonos and Sesshoumaru determined it warm enough that they would not freeze when getting in the water.
As soon as A-Un alit on the beach, Rin kicked off her sandals and slid down, burying her feet in the sand. "Oh, this is delightful!" She ran to the shore, and when the water ran over her feet, she squeaked. "Ah! That's a little colder than I expected."
"Don't freeze yourself, Mother," Setsuna chided. "Come out, and we'll catch the fish."
"Nonsense. You still haven't mastered the proper technique yet—but I'll teach you. After all, I taught Master Jaken!" Rin answered, hiking up her kimono around her legs.
"She did?" Towa and Setsuna asked, both looking down at the imp.
Jaken huffed and lifted his chin. "I like to let her think that. She was just a child then, you know. As if I, a demon hundreds of years old, could be taught something by a mere human chi—"
Sesshoumaru knelt down and picked up a shell, chucking it at Jaken's head. Jaken yelped and fell face-first in the sand, groaning. Towa and Setsuna blinked down at the imp in surprise, and then looked over at their father with wide eyes.
Sesshoumaru ignored their baffled stares, electing instead to sit down on a boulder and appreciate the view his wife gave him of her bare legs. After Rin had been rescued from Zero's curse and the threat of the Grim Comet and Butterfly were annihilated, fourteen years of pent-up desire erupted within Sesshoumaru, and he had not been able to keep his hands off her. Never before had a mere decade and change seemed so long as it had without Rin awake and at his side. It was inevitable that she would be pupped so quickly.
"Come on, girls! You won't catch anything standing on the beach!" Rin called out.
Towa kicked off her sandals and rushed into the water without a care like her mother. Even her squeal was similar. Setsuna took her time, testing out the water first before slowing stepping in with every pull of the tide.
Rin waded in deeper, searching the water. "Oh, there's a school of fish there! Now, we must be quiet. Lower your hands into the water and keep still," she whispered, bending over with an "oomph."
"Are you sure you can do this, Mother?" Setsuna murmured with concern as she copied Rin's position. Towa was a little more hesitant to put her hands in the water. "Remember the baby."
"I can't exactly forget this little one right now," Rin grunted with a smile. "I feel like I'm about to topple over—and I'm not nearly as big as I was with you two at this time."
Even so, Rin waited with a stillness as preternatural as her half-demon daughters. Then, all at once, she clasped her hands together and lifted them up, a wriggling fish dripping water down her arms and spraying the three with droplets.
"Well done," Setsuna said.
Rin held out the squirming fish to Towa. "Hold this."
Towa flinched. "Erm…."
Rin pierced her daughter with a look. "You'll never learn to catch one if you can't hold one."
Towa's face twisted with queasiness. "But it's just so…squirmy."
Setsuna stared at her sister in blatant disbelief. "You can cut demons in half, but you can't stand the thought of holding a live fish?"
"It's just different, okay?" Towa protested with a pout that was all Rin.
Rin cleared her throat. "Hands, Towa. Look, it's already suffocating. It won't flop nearly as much now."
Towa gritted her teeth and held out her hands. Rin transferred the fish to her, but as soon as she let go, the fish jumped as if it had just been waiting for that moment. Towa shrieked and dropped the catch. It landed in the water with a splash, soaking the girls' hems.
"You let it get away!" Setsuna snapped.
"Sorryyy," Towa whined. "It took me by surprise."
"It's fine, sweetheart. It wasn't the right fish anyway," Rin said, patting Towa's shoulder.
"It wasn't? How could you tell?" Towa asked.
"The baby said it wasn't good enough," Rin replied.
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow. "The baby" was getting downright talkative lately.
"What was wrong with it?" Setsuna asked. "Was it too small?"
"Mmm, perhaps," Rin muttered. "I can't really explain it. It's just a feeling. Come on now. Let's try again."
This time, Rin bent down with Towa, putting her hands around hers as they waited for more fish to swim by. A-Un dozed in the sand, the sun warming his scales, and Jaken meandered over to the water to correct Setsuna's fishing posture, or some such nonsense.
Just then, Sesshoumaru felt a change in the air, and he looked out towards the sea. Small waves continued to roll into the shore, but in the distance, one crested higher and higher.
The girls' heads came up just as Rin pushed Towa's hands together, crying out, "Got it!"
And then a spiked fin as large as an ogre broke through the surface in front of it.
Jaken backpedaled and collapsed in the water. "L-Lord Sesshoumaru!"
Sesshoumaru sprang to his feet and shot over to them, snatching Rin away just as the tsunami crashed down on his daughters and Jaken, carrying the tiny imp away and flinging him straight into A-Un, who awoke with a belch of lightning.
"Towa, Setsuna!" Rin cried out, trying to look over Sesshoumaru's shoulder as he flew her further inland.
"They'll be fine," he answered, setting Rin down where the sand gave way to grass—well away from the tide. He would not have left them if they could not handle themselves. Indeed, when he turned around, he found them jumping to their feet and grabbing their weapons to face a giant, eel that reared out of the ocean, its gleaming yellow eyes trained on his daughters.
"Well, well, well," the eel chuckled through needle-like teeth. "What have we here? The great Sesshoumaru's offspring? A fine meal you'll provide me…." Its eyes then flicked over to Rin. "With a most delicious dessert of human-wrapped half-demon afterwards."
Sesshoumaru put a hand to Bakusaiga's hilt, but before he could move, Towa and Setsuna leapt out of the tide, water streaming from their sodden kimonos, as they struck the demon eel with their weapons.
But the air around the eel's body hummed, and Sesshoumaru's hair stood on end. Suddenly, lightning erupted from the sea demon, striking Setsuna square in the chest and knocking her back into the sand.
"Setsuna!" Rin screamed, making a move to run to her, but Sesshoumaru stopped her.
A whole bolt lit up Towa, but her eyes flashed and her sword glowed as she sucked up its power. The eel screeched, snapping its jaws towards Towa, who was still concentrating on imbuing all its energy into an attack.
But Setsuna had already recovered and used the eel's distraction with Towa to attack it from behind, slicing off a small fin near its jaw. The eel reared back in agony, thrashing about in the water and sending up giant waves. Towa gasped, letting loose her absorbed attack as a tsunami roared towards her and her sister. The slice of energy cut through the wave, parting it before them, but the eel disappeared back into the ocean.
"No, we can't let it get away!" Towa exclaimed, running for A-Un.
But already, Sesshoumaru could sense the eel diving for deeper waters. His daughters would never be able to follow.
The eel had dared to threaten his family. It could not be allowed to live.
He dashed over the waves, and as he flew, the fog of transformation overtook him. He emerged from the cloud in dog demon form, and like a falcon plunging out of the sky, he swooped down towards the sea, diving beneath. The cold water crashed over him, and his vision blurred in the saltwater haze, but his senses hadn't led him astray, and he clamped his mouth over the eel's tail. The demon wriggled in his grasp, and electrocuted him, but Sesshoumaru just clamped down even tighter. When that didn't work, it darted around and tried to bite him. Sesshoumaru batted at it with his claws as he swam back to the surface, and when he broke through and soared into the air, he tossed the giant eel's body towards the sky. It sparked, still alive, but only for the moment, for when Sesshoumaru caught it in his jaws, he shook his head, whacking the eel around until its spine snapped and the lightning fizzled out.
Assured that the eel demon was dead, he flew back to shore with his prize and set it before his wife as an offering. His daughters walked up to him, awe written in their faces.
Of course. They had never seen him take this form before.
"Father…is that really you?" Towa asked, reaching out a hand as if to touch him. She hesitated, looking up into his red eyes.
Sesshoumaru did not like how his child feared to touch him. He might not have been the most affectionate parent, but he welcomed her and Setsuna's touches as he did Rin's. With a huff, he bent down and booped her hand with his nose. She beamed. Then he turned and prodded Setsuna's stomach so she would give him pets too.
"Oh!" Setsuna grunted. But she smiled and petted his snout. Towa joined in with more vigorous rubs. "You're quite majestic, Father. …Even as a wet dog."
"And even though you smell like one," Towa murmured around a smile, delicately trying to hide a cough.
"Bwah!" Jaken screeched, popping up from behind A-Un like an angry mole. He scampered over, finger wagging in lecture mode. "Your honorable father could never smell like any ordinary wet—eugh." Jaken suddenly brought his sleeve over his beak. "Milord, you smell awful. As if you had just rolled around in some mud instead of swimming in the—"
Sesshoumaru snapped at him, sending the imp scampering down the beach, and the girls broke down into uncontrollable laughter. Did he really reek so horribly? He smelled quite pleasant, if he did say so himself.
Meanwhile, Rin walked along the eel's corpse, her hand pressed against her belly as she examined it with wide eyes. Then she nodded. "Yes, this is it. The baby approves."
That shut the twins up quickly. "Wait, you want to make sushi…out of a demon?" Towa asked, shaking her head like a dog to get rid of the water in her hair. Setsuna pushed her away when she got sprayed.
Sesshoumaru rumbled in pleasure. He had not expected this of his wife, but he approved. After all, this creature had wanted to eat her and her children. It was only fitting that they feast on it instead. Weak thing though you were, your power shall nourish my children.
Rin put her hands on her belly. "The baby's been kicking up a fuss ever since it appeared. I believe it can sense demonic energy. And maybe, just like its sister, it can grow stronger by consuming it." Rin smiled, seemingly oblivious to her twins' dumbfounded looks. "Right then, what do we need to do to prepare it for sushi, Towa?"
"Umm…we need to slice the flesh into thin strips. And we need to boil the rice in some vinegar and get some seaweed…."
"Well, I think your father has that all covered," Rin announced, reaching over and plucking a stray bit of kelp off his shoulder.
The thought of other foreign entities being upon his noble form caused Sesshoumaru to shake out his fur.
"Ugh, Father, stop!" Setsuna exclaimed while Towa giggled. "What are you thinking?"
"Milord does not think quite so clearly when he is in this form," Jaken piped up, ringing out his robes. When had he come slinking back?
Sesshoumaru growled in warning, for his retained seemed to have forgotten his place once again. Jaken yelped and dove behind A-Un, who just yawned in the face of Sesshoumaru's ferocious display and went back to sleep.
Rin brushed her wet hair out of her face and said, "Well, you three did the work of catching the fish and getting the seaweed. It's only fair Master Jaken and I start the fire and boil the rice. Master Jaken, you might as well be useful over there and grab the ingredients from the saddlebags. Oh, and don't forget the bottle of vinegar. Towa, how much do we need? And Lord Sesshoumaru?" she asked as he resumed his human shape. "Perhaps you could cut up the eel in the meantime?"
Sesshoumaru had never cooked anything in his entire life. If it were up to him, he would have just eaten this demon raw—scales, bones, and all. Even so, he unsheathed Bakusaiga.
Filleting flesh, after all, was something he could do.
There was more than enough demon eel to go around, and Sesshoumaru was careful in which parts of the eel he gave to Towa to use, using his nose and his senses to determine what was clean and which parts were not overly saturated in demonic energy. While he did not want to deny his growing pup nourishment, Rin was still human, and he did not want her to have an adverse reaction.
But if Rin's moans of delight were anything to go by, she fell in love with this favorite food of Towa's, and since they had come all this way, the family decided to spend the rest of the day at the beach. Sesshoumaru watched in amusement as Towa pressed her sister into making a "sandcastle," while Rin collected shells to bring back home. That night, they ate more sushi around a campfire, and afterwards, Rin curled up in Sesshoumaru's fur while the girls huddled together under the extra kimonos, curled up against A-Un just like their mother had when she was a child.
Sesshoumaru stared up at the stars, a sense of peace washing over him. He had sat outside often enough over the last fourteen years, watching the constellations turn in the sky, trying to bring himself some peace of mind, though it had never worked. But now, with the comforting weight of his wife pressed against his shoulder, the fluttering heartbeat of his unborn child in his ears, and the sight of his twins nestled together as if they had never been apart surrounding him, something shifted within his heart.
At last, he was at ease. Out here under the stars with his whole family, everything felt right again.
This is how it should have always been.
But as morning dawned, Rin grew restless. First an arm poked out of her blanket of fur. Then a foot. Then both feet. Finally, she threw off the entire thing and draped her limbs over her husband, pressing her cheek against his armor.
"Mmm, so cool," she groaned.
"Rin, are you unwell?" Sesshoumaru asked.
"'M fine. Just feeling a bit hot all of the sudden." She grunted. "And the baby keeps kicking me awake." She sighed, looking up at him through bleary eyes. "Actually, I think I'll go soak my feet in the tide."
Sesshoumaru looked over at the others, still fast asleep. "I will join you."
Rin's eyes brightened then. "You will?"
Sesshoumaru removed his boots and walked with Rin to the shore. The moment her foot touched the water, she shuddered, but soon enough, she sighed in relief. Sesshoumaru felt the coolness of the water, but it did not affect him as much. Still, the sensation of it rushing against his bare feet and the sand drawing away, pulling him further into the earth, was quite grounding.
Rin let go of his hand, treading further into the water and spreading her arms wide to embrace the breeze. Her silhouette was a stark void against the pinks and purples of dawn. As the sun crested the horizon, she turned around and reached out a hand to him to share her joy, and her smile was so blissful, it rivaled that of Amaterasu emerging from the cave. So of course he was drawn to it like a moth to the flame.
He claimed her lips with his, salt bursting upon his tongue as he swiped it across her seam. When she opened to him, their tongues danced like mating eels, and the essence of their kill was still evident in her mouth.
In that moment, he too craved the taste of sushi.
