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Superstar (kiss#7) Superstar (kiss#7)

By kira

Author's note: Live journal inspired kisses featuring Izayoi and Inutaisho...Although, in order to avoid an anachronism, as I see "superstar" as a modern concept, I've had to bring in a few familiar faces...winks

FYI: "Domo arigatou gozaimasu, Waka-sama." means "Thank you very much, young prince."

"Douitashimashite." means "You're welcome."

"Chichi-ue" means "Dear Father"



They sat there, in the soft glow of the campfire, listening to Myouga-jijii tell them yet another story about the great Inutaisho and his human mate Izayoi while they waited for their supper to finish cooking. Inuyasha, however, was not impressed. Half way through the story when Myouga had the girls sighing about how the dog general had taken the lovely Izayoi in his arms and kissed her, Inuyasha stood up and sulked away.

Sesshomaru snorted a little sound midway between disgust and amusement at his brother's departure. "I would have thought that you would be more interested in hearing stories about our father than that," he said quietly.

"Oh really?! I would have thought you would have ripped your ears off rather than sit and listen to tales about him and my mother!" Inuyasha replied angrily.

"Inuyasha! Please don't fight with your brother," Kagome said softly as she came over to them. "Look, I know everyone's tired and hungry and scared..." she trailed off softly.

"Keh!" the brothers replied in unison.

"Hey, I don't know about you," she said as she tried looking them in the eye, and failing miserably when they both refused to look at her. "But I'm scared and Shippo's scared and Rin-chan's scared. So hearing stories about what a superstar your father was is doing a lot to take our minds off the coming battle. And even though she doesn't show it, I know Sango-chan's scared to death her brother's going to wind up dead when Naraku reclaims that jewel shard." She paused and turned to look at her friends before turning back. "So isn't there anything you can tell us, Sesshomaru? Some story about a battle your father won? Something, anything at all that you can think of? It doesn't have to be heroic; I'm sure Rin-chan would love to hear something romantic..."

Sesshomaru let out a heavy sigh, before turning his head to stare at Kagome, who fidgeted under his harsh scrutiny. "Rin-chan is not interested in that nonsense," he deadpanned softly.

"Come on...please?" she wheedled and Sesshomaru quirked an eyebrow at her impertinence.

"Iie. This Sesshomaru is not and never will be a story teller," he said as he looked away.

Rin looked over her shoulder at him. "Sesshomaru-sama, that's not true..." she gently admonished.

"Hai! The girl's right, Sesshomaru-sama, I've heard you tell her stories when you thought I was a asleep," Jaken said as he shot dirty looks at Miroku for the monk had just thrown a rock at his head in order to get him to speak up.

"Hai, and I know for a fact that you used to tell stories to Inuyasha-sama when he little," Myouga added somewhat nervously.

"Fine! This Sesshomaru will tell a story about my father and his human whore..."

"Grrr..."

"Inuyasha," Kagome whispered softly, "Let it go. From his point of view your mother wasn't a nice person for coming between his parents. But we know different." She smiled at him, and when she thought no one was looking, she gave him a little kiss on the cheek.

Inuyasha, his cheeks heating up, looked at her like she had three heads, but kept quiet as everyone waited for Sesshomaru to begin.

Sighing, Sesshomaru started his story, "I was around six when our father brought the human home. He had been away for awhile, visiting his hunting lodge. My parents had been mourning the loss of my younger sister and my mother's grief must have too much for him to bear, so he left. When he had returned a month later, he brought the human with him. I remember hearing him tell my mother he had found her in the woods near the lodge and he had taken her there so she could recover from her injuries. I also remember my mother being upset with him because he had called the human woman his mate. But I never thought much about it as he was also going off fighting this battle or that and there were times when he brought women home with him. It wasn't until I was older that I understood what they meant when they gossiped about him and his ways..." he paused and nodded at Rin who had smiled at him.

"That's just like how you found Rin-chan and made her part of the family," she said, beaming happily at him, thoroughly oblivious to the chuckles that went around the campfire.

"Hai," Sesshomaru said curtly before continuing his story. "It was also around that time when I saw my father kiss her. I remember feeling confused, because that was something he had always done with my mother, but I never bothered him about it for I had my own concerns to worry about. I had wanted to marry my cousin Hitome, but my father told me I couldn't as he had promised her to one of his men as a reward for his bravery in battle. That was when I realized that my father often gave his women away like that as if they were of little or no use to him." He shrugged with a barely perceptible lift of his shoulders.

"You're not going to give Rin-chan away, are you, Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin asked softly.

"Foolish girl! You're not going anywhere unless you don't shut up!" Jaken scolded and he let out a strangled squawk when Sesshomaru threw a rock at him.

"Silence!" he glared at his vassals. "This Sesshomaru won't give you away, Rin," he added softly and she smiled. "But the human woman, who was known in my father's court as Ningen-hime, stayed until my father's death. She left briefly with you, Inuyasha, to live with her own people before coming back. She then remained there until she died."

"It was a very sad time when she had died," Myouga added softly. "So many things had happened and none for the good..."

"Hai..." Sesshomaru said. "But despite his faults, my father was a good leader-"

"Oi, Arsehole-" Inuyasha bristled with anger.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome hissed, "Language!"

"Keh!" he glared at her before softening his look into a frown. "Sesshomaru, he was my father too."

"Hai, that he was..." Sesshomaru said dryly and Inuyasha frowned at him as he was not sure if his brother had just insulted him or not. "Our father, was a good leader with a great head for battle and when he was alive, there were many who sang of his exploits-"

Kagome giggled softly as Sesshomaru droned on. "See? I knew he was a superstar just like you!" she said softly to Inuyasha.

"Keh..."

"But his only failing was in his dealings with his women. He should have made my mother his mate as that would have made her happy, but he chose instead a human. I don't why he did that or what his reasoning was, but I do know you were started with a kiss." He stared at Inuyasha.

"What do you mean by that?" Inuyasha said sullenly.

"You were started with a kiss is what I meant. Apparently my mother was mad at our father for some reason or another and things really came to a head when she caught Chichi-ue kissing your mother." He sighed softly as he sorted through his memories. "Anyway, Chichi-ue decided some time away from my mother was needed and he packed up and left for his lodge, along with your mother." Sesshomaru chuckled bitterly. "Life around the palace was becoming more and more intolerable as my mother had one of her moods. So when he sent word for me to come visit him, I was sent, not so that I could enjoy some time with him, but to spy on him and your mother." He looked up and the ghost of a smile briefly tugged at his lips. "But I had other things to occupy my time, so I basically left them as much to their own devices as I was left to mine. We came back when another one of Chichi-ue's women decided it was time to whelp her pup although she died doing so and once again I lost my chance at a sibling." He paused, staring unto the flames of the campfire and just when everyone was convince he had finished his story, he went on. "It wasn't until later on and another trip to my father's lodge that we knew for certain your mother was with child. We remained there at the lodge for a while until my father decided to come home and let me say this, my mother wasn't pleased to see your mother like that. And then before too long, my mother of all people helped you arrive in this world and you've been pestering the shit out of me ever since... The only good thing to come out of your birth was Chichi-ue was happy...far happier than I ever remembered him being," he said softly.

Rin giggled. "Babies are a good thing, ne?"

Sesshomaru quirked an eyebrow at her. "Hai..." he said softly, feeling strangely flustered by his young vassal.

"Dinner's ready," Sango said softly and Kagome got up to help her dish it out.

"Arigatou," Rin said when Sango handed her a bowl of stew. "Would you like to hear a story about what a superstar Sesshomaru-sama is?" she asked her. "He saved Rin-chan too!"

"Ummm..." Sango said when she felt Sesshomaru glaring at her. "Why don't I tell you a story instead about what a superstar my father was?"

"Hai! Rin-chan would love that! Wouldn't you, Shippo-chan?" Rin said in between mouthfuls of stew.

"Hai..."

"Well I come from a family of taijiya; ummm..." she trailed off softly and then went on. "We only used to hunt the bad demons that ummm... bothered people. Anyway, my father was the headman of our village as well as the leader of the taijiya and he was very good at what he did. In fact he taught me and my brother Kohaku everything he knew..." As she droned on softly while the others ate dinner, Sesshomaru stared off into space, his thoughts weighing heavily on his father and his brother's mother and just what they had meant to each other. If he had understood the strange miko correctly when she spoke of a "superstar," he realized with a start that was exactly how the whelp's mother saw their father. The legendary Inutaisho was every inch a superstar to the two women who had loved him very much. Not only that, he was a superstar to his men that he had led into battle and the people he had governed and looked after throughout his empire. /Chichi-ue was also a superstar to me too.../he thought wryly. Looking into the dark shadows that surrounded their camp, he thought he saw something moving. Sesshomaru idly wondered if Naraku had decided to bring the battle to them while they were at their least readiness, before the shadows melted into his father's form.

"Sesshomaru..." his father's voice called out in the darkness.

"Chichi-ue..."

"Arigatou, I appreciate it very much your joining forces with your brother to battle your fiercest enemy. Had I had such help, things might have been different..." Inutaisho's shade looked off to his right and extending his hand, he held it out the shadows where another hand took it. As soft as a lover's whisper, Izayoi appeared out of the shadows as well.

Bowing to Sesshomaru in greeting, she smiled as she straightened. "Domo arigatou gozaimasu, Waka-sama. Thank you so much for looking after my baby and seeing to it he reached manhood..."

Sesshomaru nodded, puzzled as to why this time his father and the human were only seen by him alone for the others continued eating as if there was no one there. "Douitashimashite..." he said softly.

"He always looked up to you, you know," Izayoi said softly.

"Hai..." He may not have always shown me the proper respect, but I suppose you're right.

"You are, ummm, how did the miko put it? His superstar." Inutaisho smiled at the look on Sesshomaru's face. "Hai...many of us are superstars, my son, some serve in that role for a short amount of time, some longer. And some are superstars to many people for various reasons. It is simply one of life's mysteries..." Inutaisho grinned. "And even though he'd probably die rather than tell you, I can see that Inuyasha appreciated you telling that story. And I also appreciated it, because for a brief instant, Sesshomaru, it was like the time when you were both much younger and it is a precious gift to me. Arigatou..." Inutaisho turned to Izayoi and gathered her in his arms and kissed her.

Sesshomaru sighed and shook his head. "Chichi-ue," he said softly as they vanished in the night.

"Sesshomaru-sama, who are talking to?" Rin asked, her soft voice pulling him back to the moment.

"No one," he said softly and she smiled and there was no mistaking the look in her eyes. She may have only been a girl-child, but Sesshomaru saw her give him the same look Izayoi gave his father and there was no mistaking the fact that she saw him as a superstar too...