Honoring Tradition II

"Is there room for concern here?" Meioshi asked, being tugged by Ohta fairly lightly. Sesshomaru and Homugi didn't even notice the teen had left to retrieve the doctor. "Where are you taking me, my Ohta? The food's over there."

"Nowhere important," Ohta said mischievously. "Just eyeing Jaken's food!"

"Away, boy! Away!" Jaken argued, pointing a claw at him.

Meioshi smacked her teeth before letting out a chuckle and asking, "Why are you picking on the royal imp? There's plenty of food for the both of you."

"He's got the curry fish. I like that dish!" Ohta cheered, smiling brightly.

"Mine!" Jaken hissed, curling up like an angry cat.

"Jaken, enough," Sesshomaru ordered, silencing the imp.

The boy didn't want to injure his Mama Mei-Mei any further, but he was approaching Lord Sesshomaru and Homugi quite carefully. The little grapple bears scuttled over to swarm on Sesshomaru and share a confetti popper with him. This made his lordship twitch a brow from the contact while Homugi tried to hide her giggling. The expression on his face was quite cute. He looked constipated. Seeing his childhood friend smile at him again made Sesshomaru accept the children's contact and sort of relax into it, and he had a small doubt that Meioshi would let him take to the air with the little parasites again. When Juba popped her cracker out of excitement, he looked down at her to see her dressed in a mostly white yukata and her trademark double buns. She lost another baby tooth, it seems. He wondered if she was going to be marching among the other children with his rival but had a feeling the question was pointless to ask. Of course, the little one would. Seemed like this "village within the village" was all decorated up for the occasion.

"Lord Sesshomaru, eat with us!" Kijiro pleaded, hugging his lordship's leg tightly. "Mommy made sweet biscuits. You'll love those! Not too sweet, not too bitter. Just right!"

These kids and their snacks! Sesshomaru thought. Does this witch just enjoy spoiling people?

"Oh! My flower!" Chiura gasped, floating away rapidly to retrieve a small night-blooming jasmine branch.

She held it up with those sweet, bubbly eyes... that his lordship struggled to resist, and she chuckled when Sesshomaru kneeled down to take it. To say he wouldn't be like his father when he became a man, he was doing a terrible job being stern with women... especially the little ones. How did little girls break him so easily? He knew he wasn't soft, but... looking into Chiura's innocent face made him think about Rin and his own children in the future. He didn't mind having his own children - never did if he had to be quite honest. The harshness of his job just seemed too dangerous for him to have his own brood, especially now that he was considering being the new head of the disbanded assassins within the House of Inu. Even in his past, travelling with Rin was often detrimental to her safety. He couldn't imagine the actual pain he would inevitably feel if an enemy took his biological daughter from him. Yet... the little grapple bears got him thinking about his future with children again. Though noisy and occasionally demanding, a child's needs were simple. He didn't ask for much as a child besides extra cookies at bedtime. If Meioshi was as adventurous as the Green Pheasant said, there's no telling how naughty his rival may have been. She probably demanded the world! But... she demanded something that she eagerly gave to others. There was so much more to learn about the world. So much of the western lord's family history had opened up to him as of late, and... Looking at the families living on the heritage site, or Old Heiwa, Sesshomaru started to think of his newfound rivalry.

Her speech... She grew up with all of these men and women as a child. They might have the simple argument over colors and social gatherings, but... they knew each other, supported each other, built this world together. What would he be able to pass down to his kin? Against his rival, he lived a fairly sheltered life by comparison. His friends had come and gone before he became a man, his parents grew into a separated lifestyle, and his grandfather slowly faded into his role as an elder. He appreciated him watching over him from time to time, however, if what he said was true about his solo missions as the aristocratic assassin. Of all his known relatives, his grandfather could be spared the isolation unlike what he did towards his parents. Other than that, a majority of his life was devoted to school and minor exploring. A sword in the House of Inu was personal to its wielder. It's not something that you could just hand down, according to his father. He had to earn his. Would passing down his Bakusaiga, restored Tokijin, or even Tenseiga be worth anything if his children didn't learn what he had to learn? What could he possibly teach them? He threw away a lot of emotional growth in favor of power. Would he want his children to be on a quest for such a thing? Going so far as to become another version of himself or Naraku? Life was so different for him.

He may have admitted that he didn't want to marry in the traditional way because it took away the valued "choice" in the matter, but marriage was still a very traditional convention. It was still a beloved union of two people... once. Frowning, his lordship thought back on Kita's words. He had forgotten what love sounded like. Love faded away on him... and there was nothing he could about it. He didn't want to pass such a thing onto his children, and he feared his mother's words more than she knew.

"You're just like your father."

Was he doomed to leave his first wife then? Was he destined to leave a decorated lifestyle for the sake of the forbidden? Would his affections inevitably cause his entire family great pains? Would his family just acknowledge his children as simply that? His children but not their grandchildren or great-grandchildren? That's the part that struck fear into him. The idea that he might doom his children to the same fate that he and Inuyasha, by in large, had to endure in their own childhoods. That just wasn't something worth passing down, least of all since he wouldn't know how to stop it. No one knew how his father met Izayoi. They just did. He just changed. Humans don't live like the inu do. That change was practically instant. What was there to fix at that kind of speed? So, for his own sake, Sesshomaru pushed the thought of a future with a family aside and simply appreciated the small caravan he was able to build with a dragon, a sniveling imp, and an optimistic youth. Until he could guarantee a solid future with another, the premise of children and a life thereafter could wait. But, that didn't mean he had to rob himself of the dream. He didn't have to have his own fairytale as effeminate and wistful as it may sound ripped from him. His adventures may not be tales to pass down, but they are lessons he begrudgingly accepted in his quest for power.

He observed the jasmine flower branch for a second, taking note of the ribbons matching Sesshomaru's clothes in color and a small bull of puff to match his Moko Moko, before Meioshi had been brought closer to the group. One enemy to fight... his rival was a scientific one. Did she believe in fairytales? Probably so, being a woman. What if she didn't because of her profession in the sciences and nature? How did she feel about having a family legitimately and not just adopting wards? What would she like to pass down to a daughter or a son?

The little halfling hopped on one foot to cling to the doctor's leg then said, "Mama Mei-Mei."

"Yes, my Chiura? Whatcha got?" Meioshi asked, raising her leg like before at the bathing room of the haven.

"Your sheep got out again," Chiura said, pointing to said animal and earning an 'eh?' from the doctor.

The lamb got caught eating one of the table decorations before hopping away. Meioshi turned to laugh, clicking her tongue to call it, and lowered her body down with the girl still on her leg in a perfectly balanced motion. The creature danced a bit, recognizing her sounds, and leaped over to her. It's little tail shook. She happily pet the silly lamb, letting the grapple bears stroke the little lamb's fur, and kissed it's head when it let out a soft baa.

"Now why is a naughty lamb out of her barn?" the doctor asked, speaking in baby talk to reprimand the sheep. It let out a baa in response. "What? Did you want to play pass your bedtime like a naughty sheep?" The lamb let out another baa like it was whining before jumping fairly high in the air. "Oh! You've gotten better at Hop, Hop, Hitsuji."

"Hop, hitsuji!" Kijiro yelped, jumping in the air to compete with the lamb. She joined in the small play now that someone was actually hopping with her.

"Did you invite Lord Sesshomaru to the parade, Mama Mei-Mei?" Juba asked curiously. "I made special bowls for him since he eats in bits! Daddy helped me."

"I believe so, but his lordship is quite the busy body. You never know who he'll wind up saving or scuffling with next on his adventures," Meioshi replied. "He belongs to the ever-changing winds."

"... I'll be late," Sesshomaru replied, rising to stand. He then turned to Homugi and said, "Continue your practice. I'll speak with my mother about training you on a later date if you wish."

"No! I'll go!" Homugi replied, shaking a hand. "I'll bring my fans with me. I hope you don't mind me leaving earlier. I'm performing with everyone."

Sesshomaru nodded his head before going to Kirameku Ha's home to observe the armor of these warriors. Ohta waited until he was clearly out of earshot before saying, "I think he likes you, Mama Mei-Mei."

"Pfft! Yeah, and the sky's going to be yellow from now on," Meioshi said, blowing off such a horrid notion.

Author's Footnotes: Just in case I don't finish this chapter in time, I'll post this a tad earlier than usual as an incomplete piece. I'll come back to it to add the missing scene with Milady after Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to you and your mothers or the motherly figures in your life! This is definitely not my usual, but I needed something cute for the holiday. Hitsuji just means "sheep" in Japanese.

Oh, I know Tokijin has been discarded, but I'll explain why Sesshomaru got it back. I needed it to make a return for plot. :P