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A/Ns:
I know I've stated how much I abhor OCs, but...um, sorry? Hope you don't kill me too much for our new friend. And our old, new friend (Aiko) will be coming back in the next couple of chapters. We just need our lovely heroine to get to a certain local first.

Enjoy! And don't forget to leave me a review. I will love you forever.

*

Chapter Seven;

The men labored long into the night before they were allowed to break. Large, communal tents were set up on the bank across from the island and the exhausted men crowded into them to sleep. Many of the youkai followed suit for lack of anything better to do.

Kin looked over the progress, his superior eyesight allowing him to see what the humans could not. His excellent hearing alerting him of Jiro's approach.

"How goes the progress?"

The bear sighed. The human man had become infinitely helpful when dealing with the other humans. They seemed to work easier when it was one of their own kind ordering them about.

"Our Lord will not be happy," Kin answered. "I wish I had been allowed al full youkai staff."

"Eh? It would seem a more efficient means to me as well."

Kin snorted. He turned to his own tent--luxurious, spacious and plush--and motioned for Jiro to follow. "I am sure you would like not being forced into this, however, one must take the punishment dealt to them for taking the property of our Lord."

He sat down on a bed of pillows. A scantily dressed female bear youkai stood in the corner. Her tiny frame a vast difference from the male's broad expanse.

"Drinks, my dear," Kin said. "For the human and myself."

Said human sat down across from the youkai when motioned to do so. The female came over with a decanter and two cups on a tray. She bent down, expertly balancing the tray in one hand, and poured the sake for each male.

"You may leave the tray," he said. "Go and ready yourself for bed."

She bowed and left the tent for a much smaller one next to his.

"Is she your wife?"

The bear laughed. "No, I have no mate, just a lovely mother who keeps hounding me on that fact."

"Oh, then is she--"

"Will be one of the new servants for the Lady Miko."

Jiro rolled his small cup in his fingers, watching as the clear liquid rippled within. "So it is true?" he spoke quietly. "Lord Sesshomaru's mate will be human?"

The bear took a sip of his sake. His eyes closed in pleasure as the liquid burned down his throat and blanketed his mind in haze. "Not mate, my human friend, not mate."

"But--"

"From what I understand of the situation, which is very little," Kin said before taking another sip of his sake. "Our Lady Miko is only to be mother of his child."

"The little girl?"

"Huh?" The bear asked. "Oh, no. She will bear him a son, an heir. That's why our Lord is being so particular about this structure being built."

Jiro looked to his side. A slight wind had picked up causing the tent to gently osculate. "I'll admit I don't know much about youkai society, especially not that of the courts, but this just seems--"

"Highly unconventional? Yes, it is. I'm not a member of the court myself, not much of anything but a good laborer really, but I do know that this situation, at least with including a human female, has probably never happened before. Normally she would either be taken into his harem or taken as a mate, but--"

A quiet filled the tent after Kin's fading off. His eyes were clouded from alcohol and memory. "I have to say though."

"Hm?"

"This miko must be something special if she was able to capture our Lord's attention."

"On that," Jiro said. "I will have to agree."

The bear youkai's rich laughter filled the tent and spilled over into the clearing. "I will drink to that," he exclaimed, pouring more sake into both their cups.


*


Morning had come and gone without a hint of the time passing. The same gray abyss stood around the mountain cabin with the only sign of life being a patient Ah-Un waiting outside.

The group inside the cabin was quickly growing on each other's nerves, even after only just one night together. Inuyasha was being overbearing and possessive. A lot more so than usual, at least. The tension between he and Kagome had grown expediently since she had read the scroll the night before.

The door flung open, Ah-Un's heads rose in curiosity. The miko stormed out of the cabin, Inuyasha close at her heals. "Stupid wench, you can't just leave without me being with you."

Kagome paused and looked around the area. Her back was towards him. "Really, Inuyasha," she said, her tone exasperated. "You can't follow me everywhere."

"Says who?"

The miko spun around and glared at the hanyou. Her eyes were ablaze and her clenched fists seem to be the only show of the petering control of her anger. "I'm saying you can't follow me everywhere. Some things are too personal to have someone looking over your shoulder."

"Like what?" Inuyasha pursued. "It's not like I haven't seen you bathe before."

Kagome gasped, her eyes wide and face flushed. She turned around and took an involuntary step back at the proclamation. "You what?"

Inuyasha's ears were flattened against his skull, twitching ever so slightly. His awareness that he should have kept his mouth shut very clear. Not willing to back down, however, he put his arms in his sleeves and thrust his nose in the air. "If you go somewhere, I'm going too. I'm not going to let something happen to you just because I'm not around."

"Don't try to change the subject, Inuyasha."

"I'm not, we were talking about you not going places without me and that's how I'm ending this conversation."

"You said you spied on me while I took my baths!"

Her voice broke and she flinched at the high-pitched squeal that escaped her mouth.

"I don't spy on you wench," he defended.

"Then what exactly were you doing then?"

"I don't have to tell you."

Kagome threw her arms in the air. "You pervert! You're just as bad as Miroku," she yelled. "But worse, because you're sly about it."

"H-hey, I'm not a--"

"Inuyasha's a pervert?" Shippo's voice asked.

The remaining group was crowding the door looking at the confrontation before them. Miroku was looking amused, holding up his long sleeves to hide his silent laughter. Sango didn't look as happy.

Neither did Jaken who was standing in front of the whole group with his staff in hand. "Half-breed, leave the miko alone. She is not yours to touch."

"She's not that bastard's either!" The hanyou yelled.

The group silenced at the outburst. Several clumps of snow fell from a nearby tree, landing with muted thumps on the ground.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome's quiet voice said.

He looked at her, his ears drooping. "Leave me alone," he said. "Stay in the cabin with the rest of them. Jaken, follow her if she leaves."

"Inuyasha, I'm sorry. I didn't mean--"

"Yeah, you did."

Kagome looked down at her feet. She scuffed her toes into the thick bank of snow. Tears welled to her eyes before she could help herself. "Inu--"

Before she could finish the hanyou had wrapped his arms around the girl. An echoed squawk came from behind them before the sound of the door shutting.

"Don't cry, Kagome," he whispered. "You know I can't stand it when you cry."

"I really am sorry."

Her voice was quiet against his chest. She tightened her grip on his haori. He in turn wrapped his arms more tightly around her waist.

"You can be so oblivious sometimes," he said.

Kagome pulled back looking at the hanyou as if he had grown another head. "That's the pot calling the kettle black."

"Huh?"

She shook her head, pressing her forehead against his chest again. He had cocked his head to the side in his confusion and he had looked adorable. "Continue," she said. "Why do you think I'm oblivious?"

"You have this odd obsession with taking baths all the time--"

"Hey, excuse me for liking to be clean and not smelling nasty."

"You smell fine anyway, without taking all those baths," he mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Don't interrupt," he said, continuing.

Kagome nodded obediently, urging him on with a tug on his haori.

"Sometimes it's not safe to take a bath. We may be near water, but water draws all sorts of creatures to it, and well...its just not always safe."

Kagome looked up. She smiled at the hanyou and leaned more heavily against him. "So you're trying to say that you were spying on me to keep me safe?"

Inuyasha opened his mouth to say something but instead shut it and just nodded. A pleasant warmth flushed his skin and traveled to his stomach at seeing the smile on the miko's face.

"That's sweet Inuyasha," she said. "And you certainly get points for trying to be sweet."

"Points?"

"But if you so much as use such a stupid, perverse.../Miroku/ sounding excuse again, I'll 'it' you so hard you'll be feeling it for a month."

She pulled away from the hanyou and stomped away into the bushes. Inuyasha just stood watching her, his ears flattened to his head.


*


"Look, Lord Sesshomaru," Rin called.

She ran through the large courtyard towards the room Sesshomaru was sitting in. The outdoor shoji doors were opened wide allowing the Taiyoukai to peer out at his ward on occasion.

The little girl jumped up on the raised platform of the building. She had various flowers gripped in her right hand. She held them out to him to see. Sesshomaru raised his head to see her. He nodded at the haphazard bouquet before returning to his work.

"If you insist on keeping her around, at least teach her proper manners," a regal voice said.

Moments later an inner shoji door slid open and an expensively dressed inuyoukai stepped in. Rin took a step back, dropping the bouquet to the ground.

"Mother," Sesshomaru greeted.

The pale-haired female smiled at her son. She bowed, as per tradition, before moving to sit down in front of the low table. She looked over at Rin briefly before returning her attention to the Taiyoukai.

"Honestly, Sesshomaru," she said. "I know you strive to be as great as your father once was, but does that include following in his mistakes?"

"I am not repeating his mistakes."

"Oh? Then have you cancelled this silly plan on mating with a human female?"

Sesshomaru sighed and put down what he was working on. "I have no plans on making her my mate," he said. "But my choice of her as my heir's mother is still my desire and I will not change that decision."

"Your desire?" His mother said. "Have all the sons of the House of Inu been cursed with this ridiculous fondness for humans? One of our ancestors must have angered some god for such a horrible fate to fall upon this family."

"Always the one for dramatics mother."

Sesshomaru heaved another sigh and sat back from his writing table. In the doorway next to Rin stood another silver-haired inuyoukai. He was dressed in a foreign fashion: brown trousers that tucked into boots at the knee and a light blue, long-sleeved silk shirt that he left untied so that much of his chest could be seen. A pendent, a family heirloom on his father's side, lay against his chest.

"Hello, Rin-chan," he spoke, giving the girl a smile.

She nodded back, edging away from the other male

"Haru, I would ask you to stop frightening my ward."

The male laughed. "You were always the one more likely to frighten off someone. How she came to endear herself to you, I do not know."

"Haru, please, help me convince your brother that this whole plan is insufferable."

"I'm sorry mother, but I'm intrigued to meet this human woman who has captured the attention of both my brothers."

The woman huffed indignant. "Don't relate yourself to that half-breed, darling. You are of no blood relation to such a disgrace."

Sesshomaru looked out towards the horizon. He concentrated on the brief glimpses of trees to help ebb his headache. "Do either of you have any purpose with this Sesshomaru, or are you simply here to annoy me while I have important matters to attend to."

"Dear--"

"Mother leave him alone," Haru said. "After all, neither of us have any real authority over him."

The elegant woman huffed and stood from her spot. She thrust her nose into the air and turned to walk out of the room. "I may only be a Lady," she began. "But I refuse to be treated so lowly. I am not so pitiful that I should be treated like a simple human and I take this behavior as a direct insult as such. I hope in the future I will be treated as my station grants me and if not that, at least as your mother."

Finishing her speech, she left the room. Both men watched her leave with disinterest. "Must she always be so melodramatic?"

Sesshomaru snorted. "You are one to speak. You seem to be quite found of dramatics yourself."

"Well she is my mother, there are bound to be certain aspects I inherit."

"Obviously," Sesshomaru said in a flat tone. "But I would ask of you to be more honorable in the future."

Haru smiled. He sat down on the pillows in front of Sesshomaru. Leaning forward, he put his elbows on the table. "I am always very honorable, brother."

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. On his right was a stack of parchment. He reached out to grab them and held them up for his brother to see. "These are all letters--complaints--from my lesser Lords."

"Oh?" Haru answered, a brow raised.

"They speak of your various indiscretions with the both daughters and servants of these families," the Taiyoukai said.

He flipped through some of the papers until he got to the last three and held them up separately. "And these are complaints that you have been philandering with certain sons of notable families."

"I don't like to discriminate."

"I am certainly now aware of that fact."

A quiet fell between the two brothers. Rin had long ago left to play out in the courtyard again. A few servants, youkai but more tolerant of humans than most, were out playing with her. Her giggles enveloped the area.

"When am I going to meet this miko?"

"You will not."

Sesshomaru's clipped response didn't go unnoticed by his brother. It only furthered his curiosity.

"And why not? Don't I, as your brother, have a right to meet the woman who will bear my nephew?"

"You have absolutely no rights, and you should be keen on that fact. Your are my mother's son, not my father's and any say you have in this household is nonexistent."

Haru leaned back with a sigh. "Always one to bring that up. Do you hate all your brothers because none of us share all the same parental lines?"

Cold golden eyes stared impassively down at Haru. "I hate none of my brothers, nay, I hate none of my family. I, however, do not tolerate stupidity in my family."

"Oh," Haru said. "I'm stupid now."

Sesshomaru didn't reply.

"Fine, this idiot will leave your great presence, Lord Sesshomaru."

"Stop your foolishness, /brother/."

Haru smiled. "Don't worry, I never take anything you say seriously."

Sesshomaru grunted and turned to focus back on his work.

"I'll leave you now, I must find something to entertain myself with."

"Stay away from the nobilities' daughters," he said. "And sons."

Haru snorted. "Yes Lord Sesshomaru."

He gave a low bow, more of a teasing gesture than one of respect. "I may just wander some, get pint up energy out of my system. Shall I help you out in your patrolling?"

Sesshomaru began to shake his head but stopped. "Yes, I'd like you to go to a certain place and check on the status of the buildings that are being constructed."

Haru nodded slowly. "I can do that. I assume this is the place you're erecting for your miko?"

"Yes."

"And you're letting me see it?"

Sesshomaru gave a miniscule smile. "Think it a measure of good faith, one brother to another.

Haru lifted an elegant brow. He lifted his long hair up and tied it in a high ponytail. "You trust me that much?"

"No," he said. "But Kagome will not be there for quite some time and so you pose no threat."

The younger inuyoukai laughed. "I see. Well at least I'll know where to visit her once you have her with child."

"I doubt you'll be allowed anywhere near her at that time," Sesshomaru said. "Now give this to Kin, the bear youkai in charge. And ask for a detailed status report, written please--you are terrible at relaying messages. Once that is done, you may return here at your own leisure as long as you're back by the end of the week."

"Yes, my Lord."

Sesshomaru nodded, dismissing his half-brother. The younger inuyoukai left the way he came. He walked briskly out the palace walls, without saying goodbye to his mother, and quickly headed east towards this new development. He would have to make it soon if he was to track down this miko before the end of the week.


*

Kagome sat against the wall of the cabin, the waning fire sending odd shadows around the room. A blanket was hugged tightly against her. Shippo lay in her lap, sleeping soundly against her stomach. She clutched at him tightly with one arm.

Next to her Jaken sat closely. She had given the small youkai a blanket of his own when his shivers wouldn't cease. As much as she didn't wish any ill will towards the retainer, she couldn't help but notice how awful he smelled. She would have to make sure to give him that blanket, or burn it.

Miroku and Sango were across the way, Kirara in-between them. They had both fallen asleep hours earlier. She had too but had awoken to find the cabin missing one of its occupants. The hanyou had snuck off somewhere while they were asleep, and in this weather, Kagome couldn't help but be afraid for him.

Sticking out of her yellow pack, Sesshomaru's scroll caught her attention. Kagome carefully leaned over and extracting it without bothering Shippo. She opened it carefully and began to reread its content.

"Miko Higurashi Kagome,

I send you word that you're plans to back out of our arrangement have reached my ears and I am thoroughly disappointed. I had thought better of you. I, however, do not think so highly of my brother, whom I'm certain the idea of running and hiding came from.

I have chosen you for a specific reason, miko, and now that you have agreed, your every protection, need, and want, have become mine to fulfill. In my absence, my brother shall do it for me. I have faith that his abilities are of a quality that will put you in no danger, even at risk of his own self. A quality that, I dare say, is one of his noblest, and shows the line of my father whom he descends.

It is unusual for this Sesshomaru to explain himself, and do not expect it to reoccur in the future. I have heard of your doubts over the agreement, and this letter just serves to reassure you. I am not out to hurt my brother. He is very much needed to protect you and our son while I cannot. He is family, half-breed or not, and that fact makes him one of the few that I can trust with the task put before him. Since I know he is reading this with you, I hope he understands everything I am asking of him and throws away this rash thinking that he can somehow hide you from me.

And that means down your well too. I do not know where it leads but the magic that surrounds that area has not escaped my notice, nor has the fact that you disappear into it. I have set some of my most trustworthy guards to protect the site, in case Naraku has noticed this fact as well.

I must close this letter. Hopefully I have reassured you some in order that you may return to the village near Inuyasha's forest. You will need your rest for the night of the new moon. Your part in this agreement is one of great importance to this Sesshomaru, and though this is highly unconventional for both you and I, it is something that must be done. The next leader of the House of Inu must be strong and wise, but it must also be able to possess the ability to wield that which is needed to claim his rightful place.

You should expect a servant to reach you soon, she is an elderly inuyoukai whom has been under the services of my family for generations. Since my thrice-great grandfather, she has been the midwife and advisors to the Ladies of the West. She will begin a process of a couple rather arduous tasks that will need to be done. Cho will explain them in full detail when she arrives.

Take care Kagome, and remember not to let Inuyasha take away the honor that I can see has been engraved into you. You are a pure soul, and I respect that."

He signed it with a flourish of his own name, a wax seal of the House of Inu next to it. His words were direct. He had known they were trying to find a way to get her out of the agreement, and he had not been happy.

Kagome was conflicted. He had hit a nerve. Even if tricked, he hadn't meant to trick her. It was misunderstanding of gigantic proportions and there seemed to be no way out. By the next full moon, she was going to have to lie with Sesshomaru.

Her cheeks flared red and she squeezed Shippo a little too tightly. He mumbled in his sleep but did not stir. She wasn't sure she was ready for such a large step in her life. She had always envisioned her first time being with someone she had loved. Or rather, with Inuyasha.

Even if the two brothers looked quite the same, there was just so much different between the two and it made her frightened all the more. She couldn't deny her attraction to the Taiyoukai. He was quite beautiful and elegant. Minus his random murderous impulses towards their group, he seemed to be a decent guy. But sex with him?

Kagome shook again. Her eyes were drawn to the fire. She simply didn't know what to do.

"Sleep miko, you will need your rest," Jaken said quietly.

His eyes were half-open and he looked ready to fall back asleep. She smiled at him and reached over to tuck his blanket closer to his form.

"You are a natural mother, Kagome," he said. "But you will coddle this child too much, I can already see it."

Kagome giggled. "I suppose that is what you're here for, to keep me from doing that?"

A choked noise came from his throat. It had sounded like he had tried to squash a snort of laughter but hadn't done so all that successfully.

"I wonder what a child of mine and Sesshomaru's would look like?"

"All men of the House of Inu have silver hair and golden eyes?"

"Is it trademark of their family then?"

"More or less, within some of the branch families, a silver-haired boy will show up, but it is rare."

"So he'll probably look completely like Sesshomaru then? Nothing like myself?"

"That remains to be seen," Jaken said. "Your miko powers are the unknown factor, no one knows how they will affect the pregnancy."

Kagome's eyes widened. "My miko powers? Won't they purify any child I conceive by Sesshomaru?"

Jaken shook his head. "Preparations to deal with such manners have already been underway. Do not fear."

"Oh? That woman, Cho?"

"Yes," he said. "I am very happy you have started taking his serious and stop trying to run from your fate. My Lord will be very pleased."

Kagome nodded. The fire cracked and the wind howled outside. Inuyasha had still not returned and she half wondered if someone should go looking for him.

"Go to sleep Kagome," Jaken said. "He will return when he is ready."

The toad had snuggled back down into his blanket, the tip of his hat the only thing showing. Kagome giggled at the sight before moving to lie down. Shippo easily moved and conformed back into her warmth.

"Good night Jaken," she said.

Her only answer was the noises outside.


*

More editing finished. 05-09-07