Sesshomaru and his mother, in their almost identical forms of glowing blue light, travelled into the centre of western Japan. This was at the behest of his mother, who had explained in a clandestine manner that she did not want to be overheard. Sesshomaru had felt this was unnecessary, the battleground they had just left would have surely deterred every demon from miles around from approaching and eavesdropping. But Lady Sora was clearly a suspicious woman, and insisted that they take this precaution and relocate elsewhere to talk.
Sesshomaru had heeded his mother's wishes, leaving the seemingly endless and laborious task of repairing the castle to a weary looking Jaken.
Buzzing like two blue bulbs in the lighening sky, Lady Sora had found a secluded gorge to converse in. The gorge was thick-set with slim trees and overhanging rock walls. Here and there, Sesshomaru spotted old, human-made Japanese monuments, covered in a creeping moss and abandoned. Forgotten in the endless maw of time.
The two orbs whizzed into the gorge like a pair of back to their humanoid forms, Sesshomaru and his mother appeared in the middle of the gorge, startling the nearby animals.
It was mid-morning now, and the sun shone brightly above them. But in the gorge, the air was dank and dark.
Sesshomaru's chest was still a ripped mess, though the bleeding had mercifully stopped at last. Transforming into his blue light form was hard going, it was easier for Sesshomaru to heal in his human form. Changing his form had zapped his demonic energy, and it was an effort for him to appear at ease.
Sora was watching her son with a cold, appraising smile on her face. Her eyes lingered disapprovingly on his wounds, and Sesshomaru grimaced inwardly. His mother had never once seen him injured before.
"Why are you here mother?" Sesshomaru asked suspiciously, keeping a few metres of distance between them.
Unsurprisingly, he had a rather frosty relationship with his mother; for a multitude of reasons. One reason was that as a growing child, she had treated him with a kind of mild neglect, as if she had found him only vaguely interesting. This lack of interest had bred a similar disposition in Sesshomaru. Another reason was that Sesshomaru and his mother were incredibly similar.
Lady Sora, like her son, found it unimaginably difficult to care for others, and acted with indifference to those that she knew. Sesshomaru often wondered if there was anyone in the world she truly cared about more than herself.
Lady Sora shook her head in disappointment. "I come all this way to see you, save your life, and I don't get a thank you?" Sora remarked, sniffing with discontentment.
"Thank you mother," Sesshomaru said loftily and with slight sarcasm. "Now, why are you here?"
Lady Sora's smile returned and widened. "Even a sarcastic thanks is better than no gratitude at all I suppose. Very well, I will get down to business, my impatient son. But first, where has that little girl gone?" she asked, peering at Sesshomaru's knees as if she expected to see a child pop up and start running around Sesshomaru's legs. What did she expect, that Rin could turn herself into a ball-like form and follow them?
"You mean Rin. She is staying in a human village for now." Sesshomaru admitted. He missed Rin's peaceful, happy presence already, especially amidst the traps and violence. But he knew he had made the right decision to send her back to Inuyasha.
"Why?" Lady Sora said curiously.
Sesshomaru huffed inwardly. "To learn the human way of living."
Lady Sora laughed cruelly, like Sesshomaru had told her an amusing joke. "A human learning how to be human? How odd. No doubt this change of circumstances was influenced by your war with Tsumetai and the other one, the eastern lady. Your worried that spider will use the little girl against you, force you to hand over the western lands…a similar strategy that half-demon used on you all those years ago. A demon of Tsumetai's calibre is unlikely to even think about a small human child. Though maybe that spider demon won't be so quick to forget…Am I right?"
Sesshomaru gave his mother a sardonic glance, disbelief etched on his face. "Are you trying to tell me you care about what happens to Rin?"
Lady Sora laughed again, and it sounded like breaking glass. "Gods, no," she said callously, "I was merely pointing out what a mess you've made for yourself."
Sesshomaru glared at his mother. It would not be the first time she had flippantly berated him like this, though she did not usually travel so far to do so.
"Is that what you've come to tell me?" he said, starting to feel angry. He did not need his mother waltzing into his life to tell him how badly things were going.
"No. I want to talk to you about the banquet I'm hosting in a couple of days." Lady Sora said lightly.
Sesshomaru huffed, his temper reaching breaking point. His mother's priorities were completely skewed. She lived with her head literally in the clouds, barely leaving her demon castle in the sky and only concerning herself with the next elaborate event. He and Kikyo had barely escaped the latest trap that had been set for them, and all his mother wanted to talk about was a party? That was all the aristocratic demons cared about, parties and fighting amongst themselves.
When her son did not respond, Lady Sora continued. "You've got yourself into a conundrum indeed," she said with that irritating smile still plastered to her face. Not looking at all concerned about her son's plight. "But I'm prepared to help you out of the hole you've dug yourself into. So far, the southern rulers and the island lords and ladies have refused…or more than likely not been interested enough to get involved with your little spat with the north and east. If they did rally to your side, your enemies would be forced to back down. We can make this happen, if we ask Subarashi for help."
Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. Subarashi was a very ancient water demon from the south, and was older than his father, Toga had been. He, his wife Miyu and his daughter Natsu ruled the two broken off land masses in the south of Japan. The rest of the court was made up of other, smaller rulers, like the Izu island sisters.
With the death of Sesshomaru's father, Subarashi was one of the oldest, most respected demons in Japan. For hundreds of years, Subarashi had sat comfortably amidst the aristocratic throng of high-born demons. If Sesshomaru's mother was the diamond of the demon court, Subarashi was the setting. Toga had never been interested in court life, and Sesshomaru despised socialising, so Subarashi had had no challengers.
In his younger years, a few centuries ago, Sesshomaru had been mildly intrigued by the life of the demons that were active in the court. He had, for a while, attended the parties and banquets. But he had quickly become bored and hostile, attributes that had no doubt made him unpopular with the other demons. He only vaguely remembered meeting Subarashi once and having a short and rather dull conversation with the dragon demon.
Sesshomaru's self-isolation meant he had not kept abreast with the court goings on. Though he was quite certain in recent years, Tsumetai and Mikata had been too busy murdering their way into power to socialise with the court much.
Luckily Jaken, who quite enjoyed nosily finding out about court gossip, had told Sesshomaru some crucial information.
"I heard Subarashi relinquished his land to his daughter Natsu," Sesshoamru remarked with a completely disinterested tone. Lady Sora nodded with raised eyebrows, evidently surprised that her son knew this snippet of information.
"He has...Or he will. Once she has mated and married a suitable demon." Sesshomaru's mother said slyly.
Sesshomaru stared at his mother openly, slowly sussing the situation and what she was proposing.
Lady Sora again waited for her son to make some sort of remark. But again all she received was a silent continuation of his stare.
"Listen to me Sesshomaru, you have estranged yourself most grievously from the court demons, for hundreds of years. This is inexcusable and was foolish on your part. You have no allies in this war except me, obviously I won't bother counting your half-breed brother . But Subarashi, he would be willing to be your ally in this war…If you agree to marry his daughter. It would be the south and the west against the north and east. And no demon on land or in the sea, would dare to challenge the both of you."
So they finally come to the reason for her visit. His mother was offering to ensure his victory by marrying a complete stranger. Perhaps his mother believed him to be so cold and unfeeling, that she thought he would not mind being bartered off like a cow at a human market.
Were they just talking about marriage? Or was he being asked to magically bond his demonic energy with Subarashi's daughter?
Sesshomaru looked out into the stony beauty of the gorge, thinking hard. "So you're telling me that Subarashi wants me to magically bond with his daughter, whom I've never met before?" Sesshomaru asked lowly. The request sounded even more ridiculous if said out loud.
The idea was ludicrous.
His mother scoffed and shook her head. "No of course not, magical binding is forbidden. Something your enemies should have taken heed of, the fools. Bindings are forever, and who loves one other demon for that long? Subarashi wants a strong son to protect his daughter. It would be a worthwhile alliance, especially if you had children. But in offering this alliance…he wants something else in return."
"What? He wants me to marry his daughter AND he wants something else?" Sesshomaru snapped testily. He shook his head in disbelief at his mothers turncoat attitude. He could barely digest the idea of marriage, let alone children. Sesshoamru was a solitary creature and hardly had the temperament to be a husband and a father. He wondered what sense of audacity drove Subarashi?
His mother had a sinister edge to her eyes as she answered.
"He wants a culling of the humans in Japan. Not all the humans, just a select group of military humans. Your little girl will be safe. I'm sure your half-breed brother could be spared, if you want him to be."
Sesshomaru sneered with derision. "Like any of you could harm Rin with me near. Why would Subarashi want this?"
Lady Sora shrugged. "To restore some balance."
Sesshomaru gave his mother a mocking glance. "If there is ever a day that demons are directly threatened by humans, I would wipe out my fair share. But they could never be a danger to us, they are too slow and weak."
His mother considered this view thoughtfully. "Apparently the humans are growing in number and uniting under one, reportedly rather ruthless leader. Subarashi, and quite a few other demons, want them dealt with. And soon."
This fear of rapidly multiplying humans was growing like a weed. An unquenchable terror being realised by demons unconvinced by their own immortality.
Lady Sora gave her son a piercing look. "Mikata and Tsumetai have been slaughtering humans long before they came to Subarashi's attention. If you stand by idly for too long, how long until they are favoured by your peers over you?" Sora asked, as casually as if she was considering the weather.
It was true, Sesshomaru had killed countless humans, but never to satisfy a sense of fun or pleasure. If he had slain humans, it was because they had annoyed him or been unlucky enough to be dawdling in his way. And he detested any demon or human that wasted his time. He had always known himself to be a cruel and callous demon. But the current worries of his demon peers seemed to indicate that he was not cruel enough, not the pinnacle of viciousness he believed himself to be.
His mother, in her own cold-hearted way, was trying to offer him a way out of his current predicament, but she was also giving him a warning. If he went against Subarashi's request, there could be consequences. The old dragon may turn and support his enemies.
Had things been different, he could have married, bedded and then ignored Natsu for an easier life. Though the impertinence of the dragon's offer made this an unlikely action for Sesshomaru to take. No one had ever attempted to seduce him in this way before.
Although Lady Sora was trying to help, his mother had inadvertently sank him further into a pit of trouble he seemed unable to climb out of. He thought of Kikyo, how close he had been to kissing her. How would she feel, if she heard he had married a southern demoness? Or would she remain too enamoured by his younger brother to care?
Taking advantage of her son's prolonged silence, Lady Sora crept closer, the pearl necklace around her neck swinging and clinking. She watched her son's face carefully, as if she could hear his thoughts.
"Word has reached me about your…relationship with this undead woman your brother used to court. I myself saw the affection you had for her right before my eyes, in the way you held her and worried about her safety. Your father was an oddball, viewing a human as a suitable romantic partner…If you felt the same for a living human, I could accept that. It is after all, not completely unheard of…" his mother said. Now she looked more serious, more sincere and more disturbed. "But not a dead one, my son. To like, perhaps love one that is the walking dead…It's an abomination; no matter how life-like she seems."
A sharp twinge of annoyance stoked Sesshomaru's tongue into action. Made all the sharper with the knowledge that his mother's views would be echoed by many. "And how did word reach you I wonder?" Sesshomaru snapped, looking vexed.
Sora gave a wistful smile. "Miru of course. She claimed to have a vision of you." Miru was one of the river demonesses. She claimed to have visions of the future and sometimes warned the court if a calamity was imminent.
"How interesting," Sesshomaru said in a bored voice, looking at the gorge trees. He was remembering Mount Hakurei, when Naraku had struck Kikyo and she had fallen into a river of miasma. Inuyasha had acted desperate, almost deranged in his grief. He had raged at Sesshomaru blindly, accusing him of leaving her to die.
'I don't care to know what your connection to that woman was…' Sesshomaru had said to his brother.
But Sesshomaru did care now, he gnawed on the thought as obsessively as a dog with a bone. Their lingering relationship filled him with a rancid emotion he had rarely felt before he met Kikyo: jealousy. Now he seemed to be constantly jealous.
When had he stopped being his usual detached self? Detachment and disinterest were him, his being, his personality.
Lady Sora circled her son intently like a vulture, watching him internally agonise. It was as if she could perceive every thought flicking through his mind, even when his face betrayed nothing.
"If you don't change your ways, eventually you'll be destroyed. You'll be taken over and die alone with no one to help you. Come to my banquet in two days. You can meet Natsu - she really is quite a beauty- and you can join the fold like you should have done centuries ago, and put this war behind you. Think about it quickly whilst the offer stands. You can have the little girl back at your side again without worry. Obviously the dead woman would have to go."
Without saying goodbye, Sesshomaru's mother transformed herself into a globe-like light, speeding away so quickly she could barely be seen in the tranquil duck egg blue of the sky.
Sesshomaru watched his mother depart with a sour look on his face. His view of his mother had now been illuminated in a completely different light. He had imagined her to be more like him, aloof and above the pettiness of other demons, but it seemed that she had now become embroiled in court affairs, and cared more about their imagined prerogatives than maintaining her own independence.
Though perhaps he was judging her too harshly. Perhaps, like him, she had been given some sort of offer she could not refuse.
With his enemies still at large, how could he refuse the help of the high-born demons he was meant to belong with? And if he did refuse to cooperate, what would the consequences be?
Writers note: Thank you so much for my reviews and favs! Apologies that these latest chapters are the characters talking quite a lot, we are building up to more action soon!
Just a note regarding the last chapter for Akashi- thank you for reviewing! I think Kikyo and Inuyasha will always care about each other. But he made his choice! And I don't think Kikyo or Inuyasha would betray Kagome now that Inuyasha is so fully committed to her.
And for me, I've always thought Kagome and Inuyasha were better suited to each other because of their personalities. Kikyo is a very mature, much more serious character, which is why I've always thought she would be a great match for Sesshomaru.
Warning for upcoming chapters: I've categorised this story as mature for later chapters…those chapters are going to be coming up soon and will contain more sexually explicit descriptions.