Author's Notes: Okay, I'm here with a new chapter after nearly missing the deadline I set for myself. Oh, if anyone is interested in the updating dates, they can be found on my profile. Honestly, it took longer than expected, particularly because I had to re-edit parts several times. And apologies if the chapter is shorter than usual. It was originally too lengthy so I decided to cut it into two chapters. Hence, the next one is definitely longer and will cover more content since this one is practically an introductory chapter for the second arc.

That aside, I would like to take a minute to thank those who have provided continuous support for this story. The reviews and feedback I received are helpful and they are what inspire me to write. Please remember your reviews, questions, feedback, opinions, and even criticisms are always welcomed.

8579: I'm pleased to see that you're interested in the story's progress. I've made a progress check on my profile so you can confirm any new updates on this story.

fabelliot: Thank you for your reviews. I'm happy that you think my story is interesting and is therefore keeping track of my updates. I try to update once a month, but I may fall short on occasion. I'm also glad that you liked my comparison between Sesshomaru and Kikyo.

Meech Macko: I understand that it's sometimes difficult to imagine OCs in fanfics, especially if they cannot complement the story. I, however, wanted to challenge myself by implementing OCs instead of just using the canon characters. Of course, I will be careful not to make any a Mary Sue.

I decided to pair Inuyasha with Kotori for two main reasons. First, I want something different than the typical Inuyasha/Kagome or even Inuyasha/Kikyo for a pairing. And secondly, I want Inuyasha's characterization to be more flexible by having him interact with a girl who is very different from Kagome and Kikyo. In canon, we know that Inuyasha behaves differently between the two. With Kagome, he is more playful and innocent while with Kikyo, he tends to be more serious and mature. I want Kotori to help show these differences when it comes to interacting with Inuyasha.

Sesshomaru's relationship with Inuyasha is more complicated than what is outwardly perceived. It isn't something that can be understood by just skimming over the lines. And that's all I'll say about that for now since delving too deep would get us some spoilers.

As I have mentioned in chapter 4, I plan to build up Sesshomaru and Kikyo's relationship slowly, so that it'll be a natural process. This is why I placed stress on their relationship status with each other. I've also been dropping hints as to where their potential relationship is heading and those insightful should be able to pick them up.

Guest: Your question is a very good one, and I implore you to read on to find out what happens next. However, I would like to hint that Sesshomaru's intention isn't to ensnarl Kikyo. Rather, he intends to use her as bait to target someone else.

Please bear with me if I make any mistakes or errors, especially in terms of the language (spelling, grammar, etc.).

Disclaimer: All characters (Kikyo, Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, etc.) from the series Inuyasha that appear in this fanfic rightfully belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I do not own anything regarding their creation; I have Rumiko Takahashi to thank for that.

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Chapter 11-Opening Stage

Inuyasha looked down at the crowded street below him, fascinated. Several weeks had passed since Sesshomaru made an official announcement about a temporary alliance with the north and south, and much had been done in preparation for tonight's gathering. Although Inuyasha couldn't fathom a valid reason for the peace treaty, he didn't question the council's choice. It was far simpler to go with the flow and leave the decision-making to others, especially when said decisions didn't affect him on a personal level.

Squatted down on a tree branch that jutted out at an awkward angle, Inuyasha cast his golden orbs away from the street and towards the night sky. Fireworks splattered and painted a myriad of colors over the dark heaven, giving off a celebrative atmosphere. The continuous explosions vibrated in his sensitive ears, though he ignored them in favor of embracing the stunning visuals.

As his eyes captured the lingering spark of a particular red flower that had shattered in the sky, he felt something climbing up his legs with a speed that put professional hikers to shame. Groaning in annoyance, he immediately snatched up the unwelcome newcomer with his claws. When his index and thumb pinched fabric, there was a startled protest.

"Master Inuyasha, it's I! Myoga the flea!" The speaker occupied approximately one-fifth of his palm. He wore a plain hakama and a dusty brown hitoe specifically designed with four sleeves for the two pairs of arms. Two strands of mustache sprang from the lower half of his face and his mouth was long and drill-like. He was mostly bald save for the two tufts of grey hair on the sides of his head, just above his oddly human-looking ears.

"Yeah, yeah. I know it's you, Myoga. You're the only one who would pull stuff like this." Unimpressed, Inuyasha kept the flea wedged between his fingers.

He had met Myoga centuries ago, back when he was still new to the west. Having been caught off guard during their first encounter, the silver-haired found himself falling victim to Myoga, who gleefully slurped up his blood. Since then, the flea youkai would make numerous attempts to get another serve. More often than not, he would end up getting caught and punished as Inuyasha abhorred the idea of — as Myoga would call it — donating blood to a good cause.

Caught red-handed, the flea youkai's round black eyes gazed straight into Inuyasha's golden ones imploringly. In retrospect, he knew that the half-demon wouldn't hesitate to deal a dose of the usual treatment and squash him. But being the youkai he was, Myoga decided there was no harm in trying the oldest trick in the book, namely to appeal to Inuyasha's sense of goodwill.

"Master Inuyasha, I'm starved. Please spare me some of your delicious blood," Myoga pled, wiping away a large comical teardrop with the back of his hand.

"Go ask someone else for a change. There's plenty to choose from." Not feeling the least sympathetic, Inuyasha flicked his thumb downwards. Crowds of youkai had gathered in the street below, all eager to get a glimpse of the event taking place. Barricaded by guards and kept well away from the open palace doors, their curiosity kept them enthralled.

"But you're the only one I can trust to keep me out of sight."

"Keep you… out of sight?" Inuyasha's eyebrows furrowed for a moment before they returned to their resting position. "Keh! What mess did you get yourself into this time?"

"I am in a grave situation, a very grave situation indeed. One slight slip-up and I would have been dead!" Although Myoga sounded distraught, Inuyasha nearly rolled his eyes at the old demon's antics. He knew the flea to be an exaggerator, fleeing at the first sign of danger.

"Let me guess: it's Shoga again, right? Keh! I don't even know why she bothers with ya. There has to be a better flea out there if she's desperate."

"Don't say that. I'll have you know that I was once a glorified youkai. My charisma must have captivated her back then," Myoga winked seductively, swelling with pride as he attempted to prove the non-existent point, only to deflate moments later. "Though I now wish I had not."

Inuyasha was unsure whether to laugh or cringe, his face distorting with a mixture of disbelief and disgust. Taking a few moments to eradicate the hideous image of the winking flea from his memory, he found his voice once more and allowed a scowl of disapproval to take over his expression. "As if! Perhaps you should go check your reflection somewhere, old man."

"You're being mean, Master Inuyasha." Myoga let out a small whimper of protest, his tiny body wriggling as he continued to pull himself free from Inuyasha's clutches.

"Don't whine! If you want me to play nice, then the least you could do is not treat me like some sort of free diner." Naturally, Inuyasha kept the flea in his grasp, rendering all his struggles futile. Despite seemingly invested in keeping Myoga detained, Inuyasha was actually distracted. A repeatedly used phrase was nagging him. Out of curiosity, he pretended to look serious and demanded, "And why the hell do you keep calling me master?"

"Because you're my master." Myoga was being cryptic. It irritated the hanyou whenever the old flea did that, especially since the elusiveness always surfaced whenever the 'master' title was involved. Inuyasha had hoped he could catch Myoga off guard with the question this time, but still he found no such luck.

Exasperated by his unrewarding endeavor, Inuyasha snorted and decided to drop the subject, albeit with much reluctance. But in his irked state, he pressed his index finger and thumb together, hard. Myoga released a sharp yelp, which prompted his gleeful grin. He let go, then watched as the old youkai drifted down onto the nearest tree branch like a crushed leaf fluttering in the breeze.

Having lost interest in Myoga, Inuyasha pulled his attention back to the streets, where he was just in time to see a carriage approach, pulled by two white stallions and surrounded by what Inuyasha believed was the Lords' entourage. Apart from the typical wolf demons that made his nose wrinkle in disgust, the hanyou also noted with surprise that there were demon slayers amongst the assemblage.

Being a half-demon despised by the public, Inuyasha had to be vigilant for potential threats. While most youkai would sneer but otherwise ignore him, the same could not be said about demon slayers, who were also referred to as the Youkai Taijiya by humans. Many of these trained mortals were exceptionally persistent. They would try to exterminate him whenever he was near a human settlement. As such, Inuyasha had ingrained their get-up deep into his memory and could recognize one immediately. The black skin-tight suit, armor plates of various colors made of demon parts, the red sash around the waist, and the metallic gas mask worn on the lower face were all too familiar for the hanyou that his eyes squinted, as if he was staring directly into the sun.

"So the Lord of the South and the Lord of the North not only decided to come together all buddy-buddy, but they just had to bring along troublesome pests. This is just great," Inuyasha muttered to no one in particular, instinctively keeping his volume low. Although he found the partnership between the Yourou clan and the Yokai Taijiya extremely jarring, he had to grudgingly admit that the combination was a spectacular sight.

"They are just here to defend their lord. I'm sure they won't cause you trouble, so long as you don't do anything to enrage or aggravate them," Myoga chimed in, having recuperated after being flattened. He leaped up, easily climbing altitude that surpassed his height, and found himself a spot on the hanyou's knee. To his utmost relief, Inuyasha made no move to grab him or swat him.

"Whatever." Dismissing Myoga's words with a brusque attitude, Inuyasha continued to survey the scene below.

The silver carriage, shimmering under the lights of nearby torch stands, stopped a few paces away from Sesshomaru and Hibiki, who both emanated a sense of majesty. The door slid open and someone emerged.

He was a man around Inuyasha's height, with sharp blue eyes and long black hair fixed in a high ponytail. His ears were pointed, similar to most other demons with a human physique. Had Inuyasha been a hanyou with less self-esteem, he would have been quite conscious about his triangular ears that protruded from the top of his head. But since he was no stranger to prejudice, the comparison between him and the wolf demon never registered in his mind as he finished his scrutiny.

Even without needing to confer with his sense of smell, the hanyou knew immediately that the newcomer was a wolf demon hailing from the Northern Lands. His style of fashion highlighted that he was part of the Yourou clan; all the members were easily distinguishable, given their tradition to wear their kinsmen's discarded fur. Aside from the silver and black armor on the upper part of his body, he was wearing wolf fur for shorts and had some around his legs that looked identical in color to his bushy tail. Even his headband was made from the same fur.

His eyes traveling downwards, Inuyasha could make out a thin sword tucked away in the wolf's pelt. While he had no intention to brag, the sword looked doleful compared to his Tessaiga, as if its only purpose was being a decoration.

"What a crappy blade," he muttered, his finger running unconsciously along the surface of Tessaiga's hilt.

"Well, the sword is indeed an adornment." In a way that would suggest the existence of a telepathic link between them, Myoga seemed to comprehend what had caught Inuyasha's attention. The flea youkai cleared his throat and added, "That is Lord Koga, ruler of the Northern Lands and chief of the Yourou clan. He is renowned for his swift attacks in close combat, in addition to the prime weapon he controls, Goraishi."

"Gora... what?" Interest piqued, Inuyasha's ears perked up. In an era of such chaos and flux, countless weapons were forged by renowned blacksmiths each day, but many remained unnamed. Only those possessing sufficient might were granted names, and Inuyasha's Tessaiga was such an example. Consequently, if Koga's weapon possessed a name as well, that would probably indicate a special origin and a remarkable rarity.

"Goraishi, as in five thunder fingers," Myoga corrected, then proceeded to offer desirable information. Since the flea would rather flee than fight, he often had to resort to his astuteness. As such, he had accumulated a vast amount of knowledge during his lifetime. "It is an heirloom of the Yourou clan, their most prized possession in the entire north. I have never seen it with my own eyes, but it is rumored to unleash energy blasts equal to that of a fully-powered Kaze no Kizu from the Tessaiga."

"Keh! My Tessaiga would do that scrawny wolf in any day!" Not surprisingly, Inuyasha was aggravated that his signature move was being considered on par with something that he had never even heard of before. As far as he knew, his sword was one of the most powerful weapons in existence. Even Sesshomaru had reinforced that belief by fixing his sights on it. In any case, the daiyoukai would not settle for anything he deemed inferior in strength.

'Let's find out how good this Goraishi really is then.' Determined to prove Myoga wrong, Inuyasha whipped out his blade. Sensing his eagerness, the battered-looking steel pulsed and transformed into its lethal form. But before the hanyou could charge toward Koga to challenge him to a duel, Myoga interceded with an anxious cry.

"Wait, Master Inuyasha! Hold up! This is precisely what I speak of when I mention rash behavior. What do you think would occur if you suddenly intervene?"

Although he was not pleased about it, the rationale part of Inuyasha knew that the flea youkai was correct. A disgruntled huff left his lips as he slid Tessaiga back into its original resting position. He ignored Myoga's delighted and sparkling gaze that made his body all tingly and returned to what he was doing prior, namely observing.

During the time he was distracted by Myoga, it appeared that Koga had briefly greeted both Sesshomaru and Hibiki.

"The name's Koga and I'm the Lord of the North. You're Sesshomaru, right?" Although his words were spoken with an offhand attitude, Koga made an effort to appear somewhat respectful as he took the initiative and greeted the daiyoukai.

"Indeed," Sesshomaru nodded in response, to which Hibiki nudged him urgently with an elbow. While the Lord of the West understood the chancellor's implication, he still supplied no elaboration.

Since Sesshomaru had nothing else to say, Koga seemed to be at a loss for what to do next. So he awkwardly did a few stretches before turning his head back towards the carriage.

"Hey! When you said you'd an easy way of getting us here, I didn't think it'd be something as slow as this. It's so slow that one of our pups can do better," said Koga, clicking his tongue in annoyance. He impatiently prodded the ground with his soles, trying to get rid of the numbness that plagued his bare feet — or otherwise bare if not for the layers of bandages wrapped around both feet.

"Ah. But Lord Koga, surely there's no competition. The Yourou clan is known for their unrivaled agility after all." In response, an unfamiliar voice rang out as another figure slowly climbed out of the carriage. He was a relatively tall man with long wavy black hair tied in a loose ponytail that allowed tresses to run like cascades down his back. Donned in an elegant blue kimono and matching purple vest befitting his status as a ruler, he gave the impression of someone who was studious and composed — nothing like the image that Koga was portraying with his straightforwardness. Upon a thorough inspection, Inuyasha could also see a crest sewed on the right side of his vest that resembled a poisonous spider.

"Well, duh. No one can outrun us, but I was hoping for more when you introduced that piece of crap to me," Koga snorted, apparently not buying the attempt at flattery. Placing both hands on his waist, he pulled his upper torso back until he heard a satisfying sound. "At least we made it on time... So I guess it's alright."

"And who's that?" Inuyasha was no longer focused on Koga and instead diverted his concentration toward the man beside him. With the question directed at Myoga, he jabbed a thumb at the subject of his curiosity.

Myoga didn't disappoint and answered, "That individual is the Lord Kagewaki. He rules over the Southern Lands. Given his young age, roughly in his twenties, it is quite uncommon to bear the title of lord. However, he recently gained the position following his father's untimely passing. If I have my facts correct, it was an illness that claimed the elder man's life."

"He doesn't look very tough, that's for sure." As expected, Inuyasha was honest with his evaluation. 'So that's the guy who wants this treaty thing to work out. Can see why now. He probably doesn't have the guts or skills to fight.'

"Well, Lord Kagewaki is no warrior. His unique skills are centered on negotiation and battle strategies, aspects which you, Master Inuyasha, find difficulty in comprehending. More importantly, he—"

Not in the least fascinated by Kagewaki's endowments after discovering that he was more of a tactician than a fighter, Inuyasha decided he had heard enough of Myoga's introduction and cast his sight elsewhere. It was then he noticed a figure standing amongst a pack of wolf demons.

"Then what about that one? That scrawny wolf over there?" he asked, raising a curious eyebrow. The youkai in question was walking up and introducing himself to Sesshomaru, while bowing low in relevance. After another moment of examination and Inuyasha could recognize the figure as another member of the Yourou clan, though the color of his attire was different from Koga's. For starters, he wore red and blue armor and had white fur draped over his shoulders and waist. Compared to the Lord of the North, his clothing seemed more suitable for winter, with thicker fur covering more of his body.

"Oh! That's Souma-san, the older brother of Lady Ayame and Lord Koga's brother-in-law. He is Lady Ayame's older brother, and therefore Lord Koga's brother-in-law. It is my understanding that he originates from the wolf tribe situated within the northernmost mountains, where he is renowned in those parts. I heard that he is well-known in those parts. And—"

While Myoga continued to elaborate, Inuyasha looked on with a bored expression at the three lords' introduction.

Kagewaki approached Sesshomaru and offered a cordial smile, giving the impression of someone with great benevolence. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance in person, Lord Sesshomaru. I have heard a great many stories about you. I am Kagewaki, the Lord of the South and the one who requested this meeting."

Sesshomaru merely nodded stiffly, much to Hibiki's chagrin. Contrary to the chancellor's expectations, the Lord of the West proceeded to rotate on his heels and made his way toward the palace doors. Try as he might, Hibiki could not suppress the look of exasperation from materializing on his face and mentally disciplined the younger daiyoukai behind his back. Was it really that difficult for Sesshomaru to show some hospitality for once? It was apparent that he was truly different from the late Inu no Taisho in this aspect.

'What happened to the invite, my lord? Surely you did not plan to entrust that to me without forewarning?' Left with no alternative, Hibiki cleared his throat and vocalized a modified version of the scripted lines he had initially prepared for Sesshomaru. "Ahem. On behalf of the west, I would like to extend a warm welcome to you all to the Western Lands. It is a great honor. We have organized a joyous feast to commemorate your arrival. Please allow me to guide you under my lord's direction."

With that invite, the other two lords followed Sesshomaru. That provided Hibiki the opportunity to regard a servant standing nearby. "Please see to it that lords' means of transport are provided with ample care. The horses shall receive feed and lodging."

"Yes, Hibiki-sama," the servant saluted and immediately carried out his orders.

Muttering something about how Sesshomaru was being the typical bastard he was, Inuyasha was completely zoned out from Myoga's monologue by the time the three lords had finished their exchange. The half-demon's eyes drifted surreptitiously toward the two wolf demons as they stepped into the palace gate. Based on the way their youki would spike up with vigor upon interacting with their surroundings, Inuyasha knew that Myoga wasn't exaggerating; they were indeed no pushovers. The thought sent a wave of excitement through his systems as the competitive drive entrenched into his blood stirred. He was itching for a challenge against strong opponents, though he realized the feeling was somewhat alienated. When was the last time he had felt this way? Aside from Kikyo, whose spiritual powers naturally strike fear into youkai's heart, he only recalled being this competitive when around Sesshomaru.

'Heh, heh. I can't wait for all the excitement to start. Soon, I'll be able to bust out my Tessaiga and kick some ass!' As excited as he was, he still didn't voice his thoughts openly, lest Myoga objected and proceeded to ramble about the associated risks and consequences. Instead, he gently grabbed the elderly youkai and sped off for the palace, jumping over the crowd simultaneously. Despite having no solid proof, he instinctively believed that some form of commotion would soon stir up the entire west. And even supposing that Sesshomaru did not assign him a role for the upcoming banquet, he refused to miss out on all the possible action.