Chapter 3

The room Kagome was shown to was fairly large, though the furnishings were sparse. The quality, however, was excellent; the vanity, chest, and small, low table were made of a dark brown wood with gold detailing, while the linens of the room, the futon and cushions, were primarily white with a navy and red pattern around the edges. The fresh tatami and burning incense did not go unnoticed, and Kagome felt… well, she was not sure how she should feel about such attention to detail. As her things had yet to be brought up, she decided to leave the room for the time being.

Kagome walked across the tatami in her socks, slid open the shoji doors, and slipped on her shoes, taking a few steps to cross the engawa. The north side of the hallway, facing toward the inside of the mountain, had all the bedrooms, while the right, where she was now, was open to the South and had a fantastic view of the territory. The sun had almost completely set, the glow of the last rays fading quickly as night fell across the land.

The scene's silence was broken by Jaken's announcement that it was time to go to the dining hall, and Kagome, after gathering the children, followed close behind so as to not get lost in the winding halls.

The first thing that struck Kagome upon entering was that, despite being called a family dining hall, it was far bigger and fancier than any other kitchen she had been in, future or present. The room had stone walls and tatami like the other living areas she had seen, but the polished low table and deep blue cushions, while simple in design, gave a sense of richness to the room. Candles along the walls and upon the table cast a soft, warm glow.

The second thing that struck Kagome was the lord of the castle sitting at the head of the table. Kagome was not sure if she had ever seen him sitting before, let alone sitting almost at ease. While she would have never described Sesshomaru and an energetic or tense being, there was always a sense that he was at attention. Kagome noted his crossed legs and relaxed posture, then realized his characteristic armor was gone, before she came to his eyes and realized he was staring lazily back at her.

She blushed at her rudeness and quickly sat to Sesshomaru's right as directed by a begrudging Jaken. Shippo sat next to her, and Rin sat to Sesshomaru's left. The food was brought out on simple black lacquered trays by two demons with long black hair, and Kagome briefly admired the fine glazed dishes and the food within them before saying her thanks. She was about to dig in but, realizing that she should probably wait for Sesshomaru to start, reached out her right hand to prevent Shippo from grabbing his chopsticks.

Sesshomaru seemed to approve of her manners and picked up his bowl and utensils. The others followed suit. Kagome snuck a peek at the demon lord eating his rice regally, and then almost choked on her laughter. "That is something I didn't expect to see in a million years," she thought to herself.

Dinner was almost a completely silent affair. The children talked a little, but Kagome was not confident enough to start a conversation with the other adult in the room, and she hardly expected him to break the ice. When the dishes were cleared, Kagome stood and softly told the children that she would take them to bathe and get ready for bed. She was about to ask Jaken how to get back to their quarters, when Sesshomaru spoke up.

"I will lead you."

The four simple words startled Kagome, as she assumed he would not speak to her at all unless absolutely necessary. Therefore, she only nodded dumbly as the demon stood gracefully and motioned for the group to follow his lead.

The children fell into step together, chatting quietly the way children do. This left Kagome to fall into step with Sesshomaru. Again, his words caught her off guard.

"Your things will have been brought up by now. You may use one of the rooms near the library for your work, though I expect you will want some time to settle in."

"Ah…" Kagome began with uncertainty. "Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru. Um, if you don't mind, I'd like to meet with you before I begin to iron out some of the details…"

Sesshomaru peered down at her from the corner of his eye. Though the expression was unfamiliar, he understood the gist of her request and nodded his head.

"I retreat to my study after dinner. You may join me there when you are ready."

Kagome nodded, and neither girl nor demon said another word until she thanked him and wished him a good night after they arrived at the children's rooms.

After Sesshomaru left, Kagome quickly got Rin and Shippo bathed and into their night clothes, then read them a story until they were fast asleep. Kagome tucked Rin in and then walked to the next room to do the same to Shippo. Finally, she passed into the next room, her own, and shook her head at the boxes that were neatly stacked all around the room.

"It's gonna be a loooooooong night," she mumbled to herself and set to work unpacking.

Kagome's next week consisted of mornings full of unpacking boxes and moving things around, while her afternoons were spent preparing what and how she was going to teach. All this was done, of course, in between bouts of playing with the children and eating in the dining hall.

Despite the size of the castle, there seemed to be very few demons actually residing there. Of course Sesshomaru and Jaken were there. There also seemed to be a cook and the two black haired demons, brothers by the name of Shin and Shun, who worked in the kitchen. In addition, there were some female servants who took care of the cleaning and some guards in front of the castle. In total, there could not be more than 15 people living within the confines of the stone walls.

Kagome wondered how a castle of this size and a lord as powerful as Sesshomaru could go without a large army and staff. However she set these thoughts aside, along with her previous wonderings about the present state of the castle. She would eventually figure it out.

With most of her things put away, Kagome decided that she should not put off meeting with Sesshomaru any longer than necessary. The sooner she got all this out of the way, the sooner she could officially get to work. She didn't like the feeling of not earning her keep, especially considering the niceness of the accommodations and cuisine.

After dinner that night, Kagome prepared the children for bed as usual. Then she walked back down the hallway to find the stairs that led up to the library and Sesshomaru's study. The study was next to the library and connected to it by a pair of shoji doors, and though she had not seen the prior, she had made many visits to the latter. She decided to enter via the library doors.

Her eyes roved over the shelves as she made her way to the study. Sesshomaru had quite the collection of literature, though to be fair, a far greater number of the scrolls were about wars and demon lineage than about writing for the sake of art. There were a number of scrolls concerning philosophy and history, and even a few in Chinese which Kagome thought to be Buddhist sutras. All in all, it was fairly impressive.

The room now before her, however, was a mystery, and Kagome hesitated a moment before kneeling and softly knocking on the door.

"Enter."

The even-toned voice of the lord came through the door, and Kagome hesitated only a moment longer before sliding the door open. The room was smaller than she expected, though it was just as filled with shelves and scrolls as the library behind her. Sesshomaru sat at a wide, low table with a few scrolls in front of him. His eyes did not leave said scrolls, so Kagome entered, slid the door closed behind her, and sat seiza across the table from him, waiting to be acknowledged. After a few moments, his eyes met hers.

"You are ready to speak?"

The way he said it, it sounded more like a command than a question. She brushed her uncertainty away and tried to sit a little straighter.

"Yes. I wanted to speak to you about what I would be teaching."

"I give you permission to teach whatever you think is best," he said simply.

"But there is so-"

"I will not repeat myself."

Kagome sighed and thought to herself, "Well, that was a short conversation." She was about to stand up and leave when Sesshomaru's words stopped her.

"There are, however, some matters concerning the fox kit I would like to discuss before you retire for the evening. He is at least as old as Rin, yet maintains the form of a toddler. This is unacceptable. In addition, he should begin proper combat training."

"He's only a child!" Kagome said, though a bit more impassioned than she probably should have. But this was her child he was talking about. Her baby. She didn't want to think about him fighting and possibly being hurt.

Sesshomaru gave her a moment to calm herself before continuing. "He is not as young as you may think, and this is not a peaceful time. He needs to be able to defend himself. I was already training at half his age."

The slip of personal information did not go unnoticed by the young miko, and she slouched a little on her cushion. As much as she hated to admit it, Sesshomaru was probably right. This was the Warring States Period after all.

"But I can't teach him how to fight as a demon," she replied with a frown, still not happy with this development.

"You will be training Rin in the miko arts. I can return the favor by training the kit."

This was the point in the conversation where Kagome's brain stopped working. The idea of Lord Sesshomaru – who was infamous for dead conversations and even deader death – having the patience to train a ball of energy like Shippo was causing a computation error in her brain. And he would do it as thanks for training Rin? This was really too much.

"Miko."

"Hm?" she replied distractedly.

"Is this acceptable?"

Again, it was a question that sounded a lot more like a command. Kagome's thoughts were too muddled to continue the conversation, or even reply, so she settled for mumbling her thanks and good nights and retreated to her room as quickly as she could.