InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Mating Season ❯ Time Goes By…So Slowly… ( Chapter 95 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: SplendentGoddess 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 09.01.2007 | Updated On: 09.27.2008 | Pages: 5 | Words: 8.8K | Visits: 7.6K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 09.01.2007 | Updated On: 09.27.2008 | Pages: 5 | Words: 8.8K | Visits: 7.6K | Status: Completed
Blanket Disclaimer:
Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.
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Chapter 95 - Time Goes By…So Slowly…
Osaka, Japan - 1710
The silence was deafening; the darkness, blinding. Desperately awaiting a signal, some sign of direction, Natsuki held her breath, until suddenly, the stillness of the moonless night was pierced by the echoing cry of her prey.
“Polo!” Natsuko giggled happily, and with a large grin, Natsuki pounced in the direction of her soon-to-be victim’s laughter.
Rin watched her temporarily mortal grandchildren playing in the gardens from her spot high above on the balcony, a calm expression of tranquility adorning her youthful face. It wasn’t long ago, not long ago at all, in fact, that Hikaru had suddenly declared that he’d found himself a mate.
Nobody had been more surprised than Hikaru himself, when the young vixen-hanyou literally appeared on their doorstep, practically begging for sanctuary from the outside, human, world. Hoshi was less able to properly disguise her kitsune features, an issue which often plagued most younger, weaker foxes, who more often than not, were unable to hide their tails. A problem he himself had experienced for a time, as had his own, full-blooded kitsune father. Hikaru had not hesitated to offer to train the young hanyou with her magics.
What was the most surprising thing about that encounter was not that the hanyou was untrained, though, but simply that there was another kitsune-hanyou in existence at all. Outside of his own siblings, Hikaru had never before encountered any other kitsune-hanyou, not even during his many visits to the “Kitsune Inn” training grounds. He had also never heard rumor of there being any other kitsune-hanyou during his many dealings with other hanyou of different races. Most kitsune were jokesters, after all, and, he had supposed with a shrug, most kitsune probably wouldn’t allow themselves to ever develop genuine feelings for a human mate.
Such was not the case with Hoshi’s mother.
While it seemed to be common practice among male kitsune to adopt a human female appearance, as a more twisted joke against human males, Aina was very female, and very much in love with her Master, Gorou. What had started out as a typical prank had escalated quite quickly. As a means of entertainment, Aina often allowed herself to be captured by traders and sold as a sex slave, promptly scaring the bajeebus out of whatever man had purchased then attempted to rape her. Such was a lesson well learned, she always snickered to herself, feeling sympathy for the mortal women subjected to such a cruel fate. However, her latest endeavor had promptly backfired when her rescuer - that was who he was - showed her nothing but kindness. He had attempted to reassure the presumably frightened woman that he meant her no harm, and it was only a week’s time before Aina could no longer stomach her own deception, completely coming clean to her “owner”…about everything. Obviously, if Hoshi was any indication, Gorou had actually taken the news rather well.
They were a happy family in their cabin in the woods until the day Aina died protecting her mate and child against the attack of a ravenous monster youkai. One of the few still remaining. A band of Taijiya had shown up and aided in the final destruction of the beast, but it was too late. Hoshi and her father were invited to return with the Taijiya to their village, but as true youkai slaying was becoming somewhat of a cult in the eyes of the general population (who no longer believed youkai existed), Hoshi was forced to hide her hanyou features. Her kitsune powers not being up to par, the task was mostly accomplished with concealing, and often uncomfortable, clothing. Upon her father’s eventual death, thankfully caused by old age, Hoshi sought out the rumors she had heard throughout the slayer village regarding a fellow kitsune-hanyou in the West, who created concealment charms.
The rest, as they say, is history, Rin smiled, as she once again followed the movements of her twin granddaughters with her advanced eyesight. Kagome had taught the children many “modern” games from her time, and the activity they were currently engaged in was no different. But it worried Rin somewhat, to see them running blindly through the velvet night. They could get hurt if they weren’t careful, sharing the same night of vulnerability that had once plagued her uncle. That was truly not so remarkable when you took into account that there were only twenty-eight different positions of the moon during any given cycle, vs. how many hundreds of hanyou and quarter-breeds that were surely in existence by that point.
Speaking of quarter-breeds, Miyako’s daughter Sachiko was actually baby-sitting the twins down in the garden, as Rin would obviously be unable to provide any assistance from her position on the balcony, should something suddenly happen.
While Sachiko still had several years left in her, several hundred most likely, it was obvious that her three-quarter human metabolism was aging her faster than were she a hanyou. She and her two brothers were only roughly two hundred years old, but already appeared to be around their mid-thirties by human standards. It wouldn’t be long, from a youkai’s perspective, before their mother would be forced to watch each of them fall by the hands of time, just like their father before them. But then again, there was still a chance. Perhaps if one or more of them took on a full-blooded youkai mate, they could extend their own partially demonic life-spans. Not to mention adding some funky 3/8 human-blood equations to the youkai gene pool.
Thinking about the math involved often gave Rin a headache.
The immortal ningen was pulled from her musings when she felt a strong presence approach her from behind. Though he hadn’t made a sound, and he was downwind, she could still feel her father’s aura.
“It is a beautiful night, is it not?” she asked, assuring him that his presence had been detected.
Sesshoumaru allowed the briefest of smiles to flash across his visage, knowing that Rin would not see the display as her back was still turned, but yet somehow, also knowing that she would sense his mood, nonetheless. It should have surprised him that she had detected his presence so effortlessly. It should have, but it did not. His Rin was truly remarkable…and she was “His” Rin.
“The night is not the only thing that is beautiful.” came his reply, and she had the good graces to blush.
“You flatter me, father.” she answered while turning to face him.
“I speak only the truth.”
Closing the distance between them, he permitted his gaze to veer downward, into the gardens below that had only too recently captured her full attention. Though it was a mirthful sight, indeed, to observe his “great grand-kits” in play, a small furrow marred his brow when he caught glimpse of Sachiko’s weathered appearance. How much time had passed? How unobservant was he that those around him could age without his notice? His two children appeared identical to the day they had first reached adulthood. His three children…he corrected himself…remembering the girl who stood before him. Yes, Rin was his daughter, but were it not for her mating bond, she would have withered and died long ago, like the flowers she used to collect for him in her youth. How spoiled was he that he failed to recognize the miracle that was her continued existence each and every day of his life?
Some things were even beyond Lord Sesshoumaru’s power.
Begrudgingly, he admitted, at least to himself, that he owed his half-breed of a brother a tremendous life-debt. Were it not for Inuyasha and Kagome’s interjection in the kitsune’s life, taking him in and raising him as their own, the fox child would likely have never survived passed cub-hood. But even had he managed to make it on his own, it was beyond obvious that he never would have met, nor developed feelings for, the human girl that had become the Taiyoukai’s eldest daughter. Sesshoumaru was finally a firm believer in the miko’s continued declaration that all things in life were predestined.
Thoughts of his brother, and the miko that was his mate, caused an unfamiliar feeling to stir within his stomach. While it was true that they were aging much slower than their quarter-inu grandchildren, it was still also true that they were aging. Very slowly, the passage of time was grabbing a hold of them with its unyielding talons. He silently gulped as the ultimate realization finally struck him. One day, he would lose his brother. He could see it whenever he looked at him. He could see it in the faintest of wrinkles that appeared at the corners of his eyes whenever he grinned. Gone was the youthful mask of adolescence, replaced by the mature visage of adulthood; much like his own regal appearance, if not even slightly older. What was it like, Sesshoumaru wondered then, to die of old age? Rarely had he ever heard of such a thing among youkai, though it was true that they were not truly immortal. But even Totosai and Myouga, who were both old, even by youkai standards, were still alive and kicking, with at least a millennium to go left in each of them.
In the past, he had believed an inevitable death awaited those with honor at the end of a blade, with only those with the strongest sword (like himself) being able to survive throughout the ages, and still maintain their dignity while doing so. But now Sesshoumaru knew that to avoid meaningless conflict, and truly wish to live in peace, was not cowardice, but rather, showed incredible inner strength. Only those capable of adapting would continue to exist in the ever-changing world around them. Only those who were too weak minded to avoid battle were the ones who had to fight to survive. He had always envisioned that his life would consist solely of combat against either those whom he wished to defeat, or those who wished to defeat him, but now…the Taiyoukai strived only to continue to learn and adapt, and as odd as it sounded, to become the most powerful human the world had ever known, understanding and accepting the undesirable necessity to masquerade as a member of the species. Perhaps, one day, he too would start to show signs of aging. He had thought that he needed to defeat his father in order to surpass him in power, but now the current Inu no Taisho understood that all he had to do to surpass his father, was to acquire for himself a better life than the one his sire had faced. It was certainly not a challenge for his younger sibling, who became more and more like their father every day, even if he didn’t know it. It unnerved Sesshoumaru how much the slightly older Inuyasha even looked like their father these days, especially with those damn stripes on his cheeks.
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Petite fingers brushed across said stripes lovingly, as the man whom they were attached to instinctively leaned his face into the caress. He would never get tired of that. Whenever Kagome played with his stripes, he was met with the same sensation he would invoke in her were he kissing and nipping at her neck. Waves of tingling pleasure washed through his flesh at the points of his youkai crests, and he swiftly found himself wishing that she would tease different crests of his. Ones that resided considerably lower.
Cracking open an amber eye, Inuyasha was instantly met by his mate’s smiling face, a small grin of his own forming as a result.
“Morning…” she cooed
“MmmHmm” he mumbled, confirming that it was in fact past sunrise, but suggesting he was also too distracted to truly notice or care.
Giggling at his sudden excitement, Kagome barely had time to gasp in surprise, before she suddenly found herself on her back, being bombarded by a string of kisses from above. As pleased as she was by the sudden turn of events, her thoughts from earlier were still unable to fully purge themselves from her brain, and it wasn’t long before the hanyou above her picked up on her distraction. Rather than getting upset, however, somehow taking her lack of focus personally, Inuyasha merely pulled himself back, propping his weight on his outstretched arms as he questioned her sincerely “What’s the matter?”
Whereas in the past she may have put on a brave face, attempting (and most likely failing) to assure her husband that everything was all right, that was in the past.
“Nothing specific.” she admitted then, explaining “Just thinking about all the mindless death and destruction that’s yet to come.”
Nodding his understanding, as they had all had their share of death and destruction, nobody desiring to relive those chapters of their lives, Inuyasha scooped his mate up in his arms and rotated himself so that he was once again resting upon his back, the woman he cherished more than anything now being cradled within his tender embrace. Instantly melting into his arms, Kagome snuggled into his warmth, resting her head upon his chest, as he propped his chin against the top of her raven crown.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Kagome had already long ago shared with her mate, as well as his brother, most of the major turning points throughout human history - or future, as the case may be. Upon Sesshoumaru’s insistence that she share whatever foreknowledge she deemed relevant, she had made a brief joke about how odd it seemed to reminisce over events that had not yet happened, but had promptly complied nonetheless. While certain specific details may have eluded her poorly educated mind, such as names, dates narrowed down to the exact day of the month, or any other specific tidbits of information surely to be forgotten after a few hundred years, she had been able to give a fairly accurate briefing of the general events yet to come. So Inuyasha was fully aware of the pending “death and destruction” that had apparently been plaguing his wife’s thoughts.
Upon registering his mate’s noncommittal shrug in answer to his question, the hanyou attempted to lighten the mood by teasing her slightly. He never really was all that good at “serious” talks, despite his current profession as human liaison for the Youkai-Alliance.
“It doesn’t surprise me that they’ll keep thinking of knew ways to kill each other.” he said, “You humans are a very violent species, you know.”
His comments quickly earned him the reaction he’d been hoping for, as she snorted against his chest, before backing away enough to meet his gaze, as she sat up and crossed her arms, pouting childishly while muttering a quiet “Am not.”
“Are too…” he teased, smirking as he fingered the beads around his neck. “If you’re not, then why am I still wearing these?” he pointed out in mock betrayal. Then sobering for a moment, it was as if his own point had just dawned on him, as he said “Hey, yeah…I never wanted you to remove them when there was still a chance I might lose control, but we left them on even after Midoriko granted me control through the jewel.”
Sobering herself, Kagome asked in surprised hurt “You want me to remove them?”
Backpedaling, Inuyasha attempted to explain “I…I didn’t say that…my point was…that is to say…”
Feigning anger, the miko was successful in her deception as she caught sight of her mate noticeably gulping before her. Then, before he could react, the dreaded words “Sit Boy” had already escaped her throat…though they were uttered somewhat more seductively than he had honestly been expecting.
Nearly choking by the force of the enchanted rosary pulling him downward as he had already been lying flatly upon his back, Inuyasha smirked as he caught sight of the gleam in his mate’s eyes, as she took full advantage of his motionless body. His motionless nude body, as it would so happen.
“See…” he managed to rasp out, in a desperate attempt to make his point. “Violent.” he confirmed, as she began teasing the youkai crests adorning his pelvis.
Later that evening at dinner, it was quite a sight to behold, with how large the family had grown in recent years. Though of course, “recent years” was a relative term to youkai.
Sesshoumaru and Kagura were still perfectly happy with their two (biological) children. Perhaps one day, if there finally ceases to be any more new pups from other sources, and Kagura finds that she misses the sounds of children, Sesshoumaru may concede to producing another, but for now, Kagura’s love of children was being more than fulfilled.
While Kagome and Inuyasha’s eldest, Kazuki, was still residing in what was once their old village, with his own mate and child, many of their other children were currently dwelling along side their parents in the castle.
While Minako still loved wandering the countryside, she was home for the time being, wishing to be there for her twin sister, who was still mourning over the loss of her mate. Miyako had not yet remated, nor did she claim she ever would. As for Minako, she had yet to find a mate at all, personally feeling that the human males she’d encountered in her life so far were all too weak for her. Minako was fairly certain that when she did mate, she wanted her chosen to possess fangs and claws. Nothing against her sister’s late chosen, however, as she absolutely adored her quarter-inu niece and nephews. All of whom were also currently unmated.
Kenta was also still unmated, spending most of his time learning all that there was to know…about everything. While everyone residing at the castle knew how to read and write in their time’s current script, Kenta had insisted that his mother teach him the future script of her books that had not yet come to be in their world. Prior to each of her books being purposefully destroyed, he had read through each and every one of them. While Kagome had never brought any “history” books with her, paranoid that vital information could have somehow theoretically ended up in the wrong hands, she’d had a “mythology” book that provided a lot of details regarding youkai history. Several stories she’d grown up believing to be nothing more than mere legend were now known to be fact, her own adventure with the jewel being only one of many tales continuing to be told throughout the generations. She had also brought several medical books, as well as a geography book, cooking book, sewing book, architecture book, math book (which Inuyasha had teased her relentlessly about, considering how strongly she’d loathed the subject in school), as well as several science books, including the astronomy one she’d referenced for the names of the constellations that one summer evening so long ago. As a result of his studies, Kenta was without a doubt the most highly educated individual in all of Japan. He had even begun learning foreign languages, having learned Mandarin Chinese from Wenying long ago, as well as English from his mother, who still remembered the Western language she had learned in school way back when.
Also joining their family for dinner were their two youngest boys, Katsuo and Tarou, both of whom led slightly less interesting lives that revolved around the castle. They had each decided to join the guard after learning how to fight, each possessing swords of the fang, as did every hanyou born into the Taisho clan. What other parents did to seal their hanyou children’s blood was up to them, but both Inuyasha and Shippo always made sure their pups were taken care of. Truthfully, the half human offspring of a weaker youkai wouldn’t much need to worry about transforming in the first place, as it was solely because the late Inu no Taisho was so powerful, that Inuyasha’s youkai blood, and thusly the blood of his children, was so strong.
Both Katsuo and Tarou were mated to resident bitch-youkai who had been under Sesshoumaru’s employment, and were of a different blood clan. It didn’t matter to either of the female full blooded inu that their mates were hanyou, as each brother was still much stronger than most of the full blooded males at the castle. Somewhat of a blow to the ego, for many, but a fundamental truth nonetheless. After all, they were direct descendants of the Great Inu no Taisho, and had been chosen by their mates for that reason, among others. Fortunately, most other inu at the castle accepted that fact, and strived only to strengthen their own powers, to improve upon themselves. Nobody felt animosity towards the hanyou boys for taking their women, or at least, nobody voiced such feelings aloud. Nobody dared disrespect a blood relative of Lord Sesshoumaru, lest they not live long enough to realize the err of their ways.
Michiko was also recently mated, to a neko of all things. Inuyasha had found it comical when he’d wondered what his second youngest was so nervous about, only for her to finally confess the feelings she had developed for one of the few resident neko-youkai at the castle. Nekobi’s elder brother, as it would turn out, who was also a member of the guard. Inuyasha had merely laughed good-naturedly, saying that he hardly had room to talk about species, what with being mated to a human, not to mention being half human, himself. He knew the cat in question, and he was a good man. There weren’t any half-neko, quarter-inu, quarter-humans running around the castle yet, but everyone was sure it was only a matter of time.
Their youngest child, Manami, was also not yet mated, but Kagome had begun suspecting that she had her eyes on one of the local humans. Though she visited her family at the castle often, she had “officially” moved into a small home in Osaka, by herself. She grew a small garden of vegetables, and went into town daily to sell them. Apparently, there was a young man who always purchased something or another from her, and then they would talk for a time. While the beginning of their romantic tale was sounding eerily similar to what Hinata had recently gone through, Kagome prayed that hopefully, things would end better the second time around.
Speaking of Hinata, the vixen was present for dinner, but still somewhat downtrodden in her demeanor as of late. Everyone hoped that one day, she would be able to find love again. She was still the youngest child of her parents, Rin and Shippo not yet producing any others of their own. They had their hands full with the grand-kits for the time being, as Hikaru and Hoshi had wasted no time before bringing about their identical twin daughters.
Noboru was also unmated, and sometimes, Shippo worried that the boy needed to toughen up, if he was ever going to assert himself as a prospective mate. Most youkai females, certain not-quite relatives of inu blood excluded, were naturally submissive, and subconsciously desired dominance from their male partner. However, Rin wasn’t quite as worried about their son’s future as her mate was, having clearly noticed the way his eyes had lit up the last time Lord Kouga and Lady Ayame had been by for a visit. Akiaka had certainly matured into a strikingly beautiful she-wolf, and she had the personality to go with it.
The conversation during dinner was a fairly typical one, ranging from subject to subject, which often redirected itself back towards the second-generation kitsune-hanyou twins, who were currently the only actual children at the castle. Because hanyou were still so rare, generally speaking, it was much more likely that the mate of a hanyou would either be pure youkai, or pure human, even though the term “mate of a hanyou” itself used to be considered ridiculous a few centuries prior. But with no offense meant, many expressed their genuine surprise that two unrelated kitsune-hanyou had been able to find each other. Usually, whenever you did see more than one hanyou, no two seemed to be from the same species, unless siblings, and so then if two hanyou were to get together, as mates, the odds of their youkai halves being from the same race was…
Give Kenta a minute, and he’d calculate the actual percentage of such an occurrence.
“Oh put a tabi in it.” Hikaru interrupted, before his “uncle” could start spouting off equations.
“Hmph.” Kenta grumbled in return, earning a few chuckles from his sisters, to which they each promptly earned themselves the visual of his tongue extending beyond the confines of his mouth.
“Oh real mature.” Suishoukaze snickered, quickly wiping the grin from her face at her father’s disapproving glance.
“So, when are we going to the continent?” Kenta asked his father, in an attempt to change the subject.
“Feh, who said you were going, pup?” was his reply. “Just ‘cause I gotta go meet with that dragon youkai don’t mean you get to flutter off on holiday.”
“Actually, in China, youkai are called yaoguai.” he smirked.
“Smart ass.” Inuyasha mumbled under his breath.
“Better a smart ass than a dumb ass.” Minako chuckled, but quickly quieted at her father’s glare. She and Suishoukaze shared an empathetic look.
“Actually,” Kagome started that time, “It probably wouldn’t hurt to have somebody with us that spoke Chinese.”
Kenta grinned triumphantly as his father’s ire shifted to his mother.
“What’s with all this we stuff? Who said you were going?”
“You don’t actually expect me to sit back and relax while an ocean separates us.” It wasn’t phrased as a question.
“I won’t be gone that long.” he attempted to assure her, “It’s just a boring ol’ treaty signing. Who’d want to go to that?”
“Actually,” Kagome confessed then, “I thought maybe we could stay in China for a while, ya know? Flutter off on holiday?” she repeated, batting her eyelashes dramatically. “Don’t you want to stretch your legs for a bit? Maybe travel the world?”
“I’d love to travel the world!” Kenta chimed in.
Ignoring him, Inuyasha addressed his mate as he pointed out “But what about Japan’s closed-country edict? It could be hard to sneak back in again, and much easier for me to do alone.” Inuyasha had thought he’d made a good point, but she had a way around that.
Shrugging, Kagome informed nonchalantly “Oh, they’ll finally drop that policy in another hundred fifty years or so. We could just stay out till then, if it’s too much of a bother.”
Stay gone for over a century? He hadn’t wanted to be gone for more than a few days! But really...what would be the harm in traveling around for a bit? They used to travel all the time when searching for shards, though granted it was on a much smaller scale, but perhaps she missed it? Missed the adventure? Grumbling to himself, he didn’t comment aloud, which meant Kagome was already on the verge of getting her way. The miko had secretly been longing to travel the world for some time now, but just hadn’t known how to voice her desires. This seemed the perfect opportunity. Kagura, who was aware of the miko’s desire to get out for a while, decided to assist her in that moment.
“You don’t really want to be separated from your mate for too long, do you?” the wind-youkai chimed in, remembering that in the past, it hadn’t taken her mate as long to make the journey to China and back, having merely traveled there as a ball of light. But Inuyasha lacked that ability, and the fasted equivalent that he would have been able to use…
“It’s not as though you can just fly over there and back on Ah-Un, you know.” she pointed out “No unlawful displays of youki, remember?”
Inuyasha grumbled some more. He knew the laws. He helped write the damn things, after all.
“How long will it take to get there by boat?” he asked, addressing nobody in particular.
“Not nearly as long with your loving wife by your side.” Kagome chimed in.
“And your loving translator who’s fluent in Mandarin Chinese.”
“Oh come off it.” The elder hanyou groaned in response to his pestering son, but upon catching sight of those big brownish amber puppy eyes of his, he finally caved.
“Oh all right. They have a translator who speaks Japanese, but I guess it couldn’t hurt to have our own translator, as well.”
“To do so would show unusual intelligence on your part.”
Glaring at his brother, Inuyasha griped “You could have just said so from the beginning, if you thought I should bring him with me.”
Shrugging noncommittally, a display Sesshoumaru of two centuries prior would have instantly decapitated you for having merely suggested him capable of doing, he answered with a bored “It is not my place to dictate your decisions.”
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“It is not my place to dictate your decisions.” Inuyasha grumbled to himself for the umpteenth time. “My ass…it’s his fault we’re here in the first place. He’s the one who always did these things before, not me.”
“I’m sure your brother would have gladly come himself, if they had not specifically asked to meet with you instead.” Kagome reminded her mate quietly, as they approached the gates of a rather large castle.
Unlike back home, the demonic residents of China had been experiencing many more difficulties with dealing with the local humans. There was no treaty. No secret government conspiracy to protect the magical beings that the world at large believed to be merely the workings of folklore. While it was still true that, like in Japan, the general populous had forgotten that their world was once plagued by youkai, and it was true that, like in Japan, the local governments and holy persons were still very much aware of their existence, unlike the uneasy peace that had been forged back home, on the mainland, the races were at war. It was a secret war, but a war nonetheless. The Emperor was determined to rid his world of such beasts once and for all. Many of the lower youkai species had been hunted to extinction, only the strongest of the strong finding ways to survive, by shielding their presence from the eyes of man. The ningen to youkai ratio was about a thousand to one, but what helped to tip the scales back in the youkai’s favor was that China was also home to some of the most powerful of the remaining youkai, or yaoguai, as was the local term.
Why they had requested Inuyasha’s presence for the signing, rather than his brother, was because of the image he represented, being the son of a Taiyoukai and a human. Not to mention the human mate that was also accompanying him, who was a powerful miko, of all things, as well as their translator, who was clearly their son. They were shining beacons of hope for the local yaoguai/human families and their hanyou children, all of whom currently lived in hiding within secret yaoguai territories. Just like in Japan, the native hanyou were not strong enough to hide their demonic appearances by magical means. Unfortunately for them as well, their resident “fox spirits” weren’t quite as ingenious, or powerful, as Hikaru.
At least the yaoguai had stopped fighting amongst themselves, and like the Japanese youkai, there was an Alliance in place among the surviving races. They too could only reveal themselves to humans on a one on one basis, mainly for seeking a mate. Hanyou were no longer despised for being tainted, as pure bloods were becoming so rare, it had become widely accepted that hanyou were the wave of the future. The desire to continue on their bloodline was simply too strong in most yaoguai, and the bottom line was simply that a human mate was better than no mate at all. Their new treaty with Japan would be a win/win situation for everybody. Chinese hanyou would acquire the concealment charms they so desperately needed to blend into mortal society, while the Japanese youkai would earn protection against any possible future threats, by some of the strongest and oldest Chinese dragons known to exist. We’re talking all five claws here, people. The head of the council was well over two thousand years old, and his human disguise was flawless.
Kagome suddenly remembered something her grandfather had once told her long ago, before she had turned fifteen and fell down the well, about being careful when dealing with men of great power. “You never know who may be a dragon in disguise.” he had told her. She wondered now if he hadn’t meant it metaphorically.
“So who all is on the council?” she asked to break the silence.
“Dragons, and tigers, and bears…” Inuyasha began reciting from memory.
“Oh my…” Kagome chuckled to herself, earning a raised eyebrow for her personal inside joke. “Never mind…” she waved off, “Who else?”
Shrugging, he continued to list “A few snakes. A couple of fu-dogs, they’re getting rare. Some pandas, like Wenying, and a boar…like that Chokyuukai guy.”
She shuddered. “I remember him, ick. Hope he’s not still around.”
“Who?” Kenta asked, trying to butt into his parents’ conversation.
“Just some pig who wanted your mother for one of his brides back when she was fifteen. Don’t worry about it, we kicked his ass.”
Shrugging, Kenta accepted that he was probably better off not knowing.
“Inuyasha-sama?” questioned a beautiful woman in a white flowing robe, who was greeting them all at the gate. While all three of them appeared to be human at the moment, the guys’ demonic auras, as well as Kagome’s miko one, were all easily detectable by anyone who possessed a demonic aura of their own, like this woman.
“Hai.” he answered simply, returning her bow. The woman responded in choppy Japanese, making it clear she had crash coursed through a few phrases, but was not fluent in the language.
“I am Bai SuZhen. We are so pleased you could come. I have personal interest in this treaty. My husband is human, and we have a son.”
Responding in Mandarin, Kenta expressed how they were pleased to be there as well, and how on behalf of the Youkai-Alliance of Japan, on that day forth, they all looked forward to countless centuries of brotherhood.
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“Tha t wasn’t so bad.” Kagome chuckled, trying desperately to hide her sniggering behind her hand, while she observed her mate and son both trying to relocate their “land legs”.
“I never want to see another fucking boat for as long as I live!” Inuyasha grumped as he continued to feel disoriented, envying his son, who still possessed his canine ears that were merely made invisible for the time being.
Unlike Kenta, Inuyasha had to actually change himself, and not being able to hone in on the sounds around him wasn’t helping him regain his balance at all. He may have mastered the ability to retain much of his youkai powers while shifting his outward appearance to his human form, but not being able to turn his ears towards incoming noises would be something he would never get used to, no matter how good his hearing was otherwise. He also found it disconcerting that his tongue kept instinctively trying to locate the fangs that were currently not residing within his mouth. He remembered being a pup, and searching out the gaps in his teeth when he had been transitioning from his puppy teeth to his adult ones, and the sensation was eerily similar.
Perhaps he should rethink Hikaru’s offer of making him his own concealment charm, although, he wasn’t about to start wearing two rosaries. He knew Kagome would never agree to remove the subjugation beads, but honestly, that was all right with him. He loved her, and-
“Are you sure?” Kagome muttered while faking a pout, successfully pulling her mate from his thoughts, as he desperately tried to recall what it was he’d just said, that she was now referring to.
“I was hoping that…once they invented them…we could go on a cruise.” she elaborated, and understanding dawned.
Standing there, with her hands clasped behind her back, her eyes downcast as she shuffled her toe in the dirt, Inuyasha couldn’t help but to feel guilty. Kenta, on the other hand, had grown up with a front row seat to such shows, and he couldn’t help but to laugh.
“Come on now, mother, you know perfectly well that father will do anything you ask.”
Giggling again, Inuyasha’s “Feh!” only made Kagome laugh harder, as the people walking passed them gave their group odd glances.
Most of the Asians that came to shore on the trading vessels were serious, straight-faced, and down to business, so it caught the British workers off guard to see what appeared to be a normal, happy family, laughing and bickering amongst themselves.
They had stayed in China for over fifty years, traveling the countryside, and occasionally assisting with local yaoguai matters, which helped to strengthen the bond between their peoples all the more. Kenta had assisted his mother and father with learning Mandarin so that they wouldn’t always have to rely on him to translate, while the younger hanyou enjoyed increasing his vocabulary with other dialects of Chinese, including Cantonese, Wu, Min and Xiang. They had stayed in touch with their family back in Japan via letters, and learned that everyone was doing well in their absence. Inuyasha had grumped at Kagome’s joke that the world did not require his presence in order to keep on turning, but reluctantly, he agreed to oblige her with a prolonged vacation, as apparently, their presence was not required in Osaka for the time being. After finally deciding that they had seen and learned all that they could, or at least, all that they had found interesting, Kagome managed to talk her boys into traveling on a trading ship to England. She spoke fluent English, which she had also thoroughly taught to Kenta long ago, and had assisted Inuyasha with prior to their journey. Granted, it was modern, American English…but she was pretty sure they would still be able to get by. If anything, their slightly choppier understanding of the presumably foreign language would seem more realistic to the locals.
“Feh…” Inuyasha complained to himself as they made their way into town. “Everything’s gonna smell like tea for months.”
“Fermented tea at that, bleh.” Kagome recalled, wrinkling her nose. Much of the tea had turned during transit, but she knew the Brits were going to drink it anyway. It was perfectly all right, just oxidized. That was actually where “black tea” came from, but she was personally never a fan of black tea. Shrugging, the miko finally decided to herself Guess a cup of Earl Grey is better then water…then thinking about what year it was, she amended Once they invent it.
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They stayed in Europe for roughly another fifty years or so, sight seeing, and eventually getting over their detest for boats as they traveled between the local countries. It had irked Inuyasha when somebody had referred to him as a Chinaman, but Kagome had merely giggled at his insulted look, later pointing out to her mate that since the Japanese still didn’t get out all that much, what did they expect the Westerners to think? They had arrived on a Chinese ship, after all. But more importantly than what any of the humans thought about them, what had truly disturbed all three of them during their European vacation was the surprising absence of anything demonic. They had come across a few English witches living in hiding, who had sensed their auras, and expressed surprise to finding foreigners of such power walking among them, but other than that, the English “youkai” population was virtually nonexistent. They came upon the occasional fox-demon, which made Kagome chuckle that apparently foxes were tricksters no matter what country they were from, but they were too afraid of Inuyasha and Kenta to stay and chat, so the question of whether or not the European foxes had developed concealment charms for their fellow demonic beings remained unanswered. Then something struck Kagome in the back of her memory, and suddenly, she wondered if it wasn’t the existence of British fox-demons that had triggered the popularity of fox hunting. What was with humans and wanting to destroy whatever frightened or confused them? It was truly something that all humans had in common, regardless of which country they were from. Apparently, the British youkai truly were beings of legend by that point. Kenta had been looking forward to meeting somebody grand, like a European ‘winged’ dragon, or maybe even a griffin, but apparently youkai that large were all extinct, or hopefully just really good at hiding. Perhaps...relocated? They supposed they’d probably never know.
They got a kick out of meeting a clan of Leprechauns in Ireland, though, as well as several other species of “faerie folk” that were still living among their mortal neighbors in that country. Being smaller, it was much easier for them to stay hidden, and also having a reputation for being mischievous, but not evil, nobody in that country was on a “kill all the faeries” mission. They allowed a few people to see them from time to time, but not many, so that those few who were lucky enough to be blessed by such a visit were merely thought to be rambling mad when they attempted to share their stories with others. Most mortals quickly learned not to speak of such things, and some even sought out chances at catching a glimpse of something magical, with no intention of revealing the secret should such a wondrous affair befall them.
Eventually, while traveling through what they believed to be wilderness, they met and befriended a local Celtic witch, who lived in isolation and claimed to be a servant of the goddess Epona. She could see right through Kenta’s concealment charm, and offered the “dog gods” a place to stay for the upcoming winter. She felt kinship with Kagome, as a fellow White Witch, and understood well the powers flowing through all three of her houseguests. She claimed to have foreseen their arrival in a vision given to her by her goddess, and after spring finally made its appearance, Kagome and her “dog gods” were sent on their way with the parting words that if it was fellow demons that they sought, that they would meet them in the Americas.
Inuyasha did good not to complain during the long trip to America, which was remarkable considering that that ship smelled even worse than the last one. He had mused, however, that it seemed odd that one of the local Irish goddesses would have given a rat’s ass about protecting them through what had turned out to be one doozy of a winter.
“When was the last time you saw a god do a youkai a favor?” he asked disbelievingly…in Japanese so as not to be over heard.
“Well…” Kagome responded, finger on chin as though she were truly pondering. “They did make the Goshinboku, the god tree, which is a tree of ages, and whose wood was used to construct the Bone Eater’s well, enabling me to travel to your time, and release you from the slumber that only suspended you untouched for all time because you were pinned to that very same tree of ages.”
Blinking slowly in response to her long-winded answer, a grin began to appear on his amused visage, revealing blunted human teeth, as he smirked “Okay…one time…”
After what seemed like forever, the shout that land could finally be seen suddenly reached everyone’s ears, and the entire ship rejoiced. Kagome smiled at her overly eager son, who was looking forward to absorbing as much of everything as possible, before taking and squeezing her impatient mate’s hand. He flashed her a reassuring smile, letting her know that he was happy to be by her side, regardless of where they were, or what they were doing. If she wanted to see the whole fucking world, then he’d give her the whole fucking world, damn it. She was his bitch, and he loved her. As if reading his mind, Kagome squeezed his hand once more, before stating “Let’s do this thing.” as all the passengers started to disembark.
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Author’s Note:
For those of you who are wondering if the yaoguia woman Bai SuZhen was really anybody specific, I did indeed pluck her name from the Chinese legend “Madame White Snake”.
British Tea…
In the East, post-fermented tea is actually called “red tea”, in reference to the color of the liquid itself, but because in the West, that term usually refers to a specific type of tea made from a South African plant, I went ahead and used the Western term of “black tea”, which got its name from the color of the fermented leaves. While there was already tea in England during the time of Inu and Kag’s visit, as China had been trading tea with England prior to the 1700s, “Earl Grey” is a specific type of tea, which did not make its debut until the 1830s, when the tea’s namesake, the 2nd Earl Grey, British Prime Minister, invented it. The additional ingredient in Earl Grey tea that makes it unique is oil extracted from the bergamot orange, an Italian citrus fruit.
While these days, the trade of black tea is usually much more common, as its flavor lasts much longer than green tea, that practice hadn’t yet been adopted during the time of their arrival in England, as black tea did not surpass green tea in popularity until the 1800s. Prior to that time, the tea originally imported to Europe was either green, or only semi-oxidized. It’s believed that black tea was originally introduced to Europe on accident, when a shipment of green tea fermented during travel.
Name Translations… (in order of appearance)
Natsuki: Can be derived from na meaning “vegetables, greens” and tsuki meaning “moon”, but can also be constructed, and is the context I’m using here, as natsu meaning “summer” and ki meaning “hope”.
Natsuko: No alternate definition given this time. The name comes from natsu meaning “summer” and ko meaning “child”.
The girls are twins, so I wanted to do another instance where the parents chose asininely similar names for their two children. It’s also safe to presume that they were born during the summer.
Sachiko: From sachi meaning “happiness” and ko meaning “child”.
She was Miyako’s first born, and both she and Yoshi were incredibly happy to have become parents. Especially knowing that their time together was somewhat limited.
Hoshi: Literally means “star”.
I chose this name because perhaps, at the time of her birth, both parents agreed that she was their spot of shining light in the darkness. Awwwww. Incidentally, I found it amusing that this was also the name chosen for the Japanese linguist on Star Trek Enterprise. They had to have done that on purpose.
Aina: From ai meaning “love, affection” and na meaning “vegetables, greens”.
Why would a fox love vegetables? Then again, she loved a human, so she was certainly different. Honestly, I just thought the name Aina was pretty.
Gorou: From go meaning “five” and rou meaning “son”.
Literally means “fifth son”, and was deliberately chosen here as an otherwise meaningless, generic name. Not everyone can have profound names destined to determine their personalities, after all.
Hey, by the way, has anybody else out there ever bothered to look up the main characters’ names before? I know I’ve mentioned for you in the past that Sango means coral and Kohaku means amber, and I know that most people probably know that Kagome means woven bamboo basket, or something like that, and Kaede also means maple, or maple tree…but while doing my searches, I accidentally came upon Souta’s name. I wasn’t even looking him up, I just came upon it while I was searching through the name list for possible choices to the characters I’ve listed above.
Hmmm…
I’m not making this up.
Souta: From sou meaning “suddenly, smoothly” and ta meaning “thick, big”.
Yeah! Go Souta!
*grumbles*
Stupid authors and their stupid hentai minds…
Oh, and speaking of hentai…don’t worry. They’ll be another good lemon before this story ends.
Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.
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Chapter 95 - Time Goes By…So Slowly…
Osaka, Japan - 1710
The silence was deafening; the darkness, blinding. Desperately awaiting a signal, some sign of direction, Natsuki held her breath, until suddenly, the stillness of the moonless night was pierced by the echoing cry of her prey.
“Polo!” Natsuko giggled happily, and with a large grin, Natsuki pounced in the direction of her soon-to-be victim’s laughter.
Rin watched her temporarily mortal grandchildren playing in the gardens from her spot high above on the balcony, a calm expression of tranquility adorning her youthful face. It wasn’t long ago, not long ago at all, in fact, that Hikaru had suddenly declared that he’d found himself a mate.
Nobody had been more surprised than Hikaru himself, when the young vixen-hanyou literally appeared on their doorstep, practically begging for sanctuary from the outside, human, world. Hoshi was less able to properly disguise her kitsune features, an issue which often plagued most younger, weaker foxes, who more often than not, were unable to hide their tails. A problem he himself had experienced for a time, as had his own, full-blooded kitsune father. Hikaru had not hesitated to offer to train the young hanyou with her magics.
What was the most surprising thing about that encounter was not that the hanyou was untrained, though, but simply that there was another kitsune-hanyou in existence at all. Outside of his own siblings, Hikaru had never before encountered any other kitsune-hanyou, not even during his many visits to the “Kitsune Inn” training grounds. He had also never heard rumor of there being any other kitsune-hanyou during his many dealings with other hanyou of different races. Most kitsune were jokesters, after all, and, he had supposed with a shrug, most kitsune probably wouldn’t allow themselves to ever develop genuine feelings for a human mate.
Such was not the case with Hoshi’s mother.
While it seemed to be common practice among male kitsune to adopt a human female appearance, as a more twisted joke against human males, Aina was very female, and very much in love with her Master, Gorou. What had started out as a typical prank had escalated quite quickly. As a means of entertainment, Aina often allowed herself to be captured by traders and sold as a sex slave, promptly scaring the bajeebus out of whatever man had purchased then attempted to rape her. Such was a lesson well learned, she always snickered to herself, feeling sympathy for the mortal women subjected to such a cruel fate. However, her latest endeavor had promptly backfired when her rescuer - that was who he was - showed her nothing but kindness. He had attempted to reassure the presumably frightened woman that he meant her no harm, and it was only a week’s time before Aina could no longer stomach her own deception, completely coming clean to her “owner”…about everything. Obviously, if Hoshi was any indication, Gorou had actually taken the news rather well.
They were a happy family in their cabin in the woods until the day Aina died protecting her mate and child against the attack of a ravenous monster youkai. One of the few still remaining. A band of Taijiya had shown up and aided in the final destruction of the beast, but it was too late. Hoshi and her father were invited to return with the Taijiya to their village, but as true youkai slaying was becoming somewhat of a cult in the eyes of the general population (who no longer believed youkai existed), Hoshi was forced to hide her hanyou features. Her kitsune powers not being up to par, the task was mostly accomplished with concealing, and often uncomfortable, clothing. Upon her father’s eventual death, thankfully caused by old age, Hoshi sought out the rumors she had heard throughout the slayer village regarding a fellow kitsune-hanyou in the West, who created concealment charms.
The rest, as they say, is history, Rin smiled, as she once again followed the movements of her twin granddaughters with her advanced eyesight. Kagome had taught the children many “modern” games from her time, and the activity they were currently engaged in was no different. But it worried Rin somewhat, to see them running blindly through the velvet night. They could get hurt if they weren’t careful, sharing the same night of vulnerability that had once plagued her uncle. That was truly not so remarkable when you took into account that there were only twenty-eight different positions of the moon during any given cycle, vs. how many hundreds of hanyou and quarter-breeds that were surely in existence by that point.
Speaking of quarter-breeds, Miyako’s daughter Sachiko was actually baby-sitting the twins down in the garden, as Rin would obviously be unable to provide any assistance from her position on the balcony, should something suddenly happen.
While Sachiko still had several years left in her, several hundred most likely, it was obvious that her three-quarter human metabolism was aging her faster than were she a hanyou. She and her two brothers were only roughly two hundred years old, but already appeared to be around their mid-thirties by human standards. It wouldn’t be long, from a youkai’s perspective, before their mother would be forced to watch each of them fall by the hands of time, just like their father before them. But then again, there was still a chance. Perhaps if one or more of them took on a full-blooded youkai mate, they could extend their own partially demonic life-spans. Not to mention adding some funky 3/8 human-blood equations to the youkai gene pool.
Thinking about the math involved often gave Rin a headache.
The immortal ningen was pulled from her musings when she felt a strong presence approach her from behind. Though he hadn’t made a sound, and he was downwind, she could still feel her father’s aura.
“It is a beautiful night, is it not?” she asked, assuring him that his presence had been detected.
Sesshoumaru allowed the briefest of smiles to flash across his visage, knowing that Rin would not see the display as her back was still turned, but yet somehow, also knowing that she would sense his mood, nonetheless. It should have surprised him that she had detected his presence so effortlessly. It should have, but it did not. His Rin was truly remarkable…and she was “His” Rin.
“The night is not the only thing that is beautiful.” came his reply, and she had the good graces to blush.
“You flatter me, father.” she answered while turning to face him.
“I speak only the truth.”
Closing the distance between them, he permitted his gaze to veer downward, into the gardens below that had only too recently captured her full attention. Though it was a mirthful sight, indeed, to observe his “great grand-kits” in play, a small furrow marred his brow when he caught glimpse of Sachiko’s weathered appearance. How much time had passed? How unobservant was he that those around him could age without his notice? His two children appeared identical to the day they had first reached adulthood. His three children…he corrected himself…remembering the girl who stood before him. Yes, Rin was his daughter, but were it not for her mating bond, she would have withered and died long ago, like the flowers she used to collect for him in her youth. How spoiled was he that he failed to recognize the miracle that was her continued existence each and every day of his life?
Some things were even beyond Lord Sesshoumaru’s power.
Begrudgingly, he admitted, at least to himself, that he owed his half-breed of a brother a tremendous life-debt. Were it not for Inuyasha and Kagome’s interjection in the kitsune’s life, taking him in and raising him as their own, the fox child would likely have never survived passed cub-hood. But even had he managed to make it on his own, it was beyond obvious that he never would have met, nor developed feelings for, the human girl that had become the Taiyoukai’s eldest daughter. Sesshoumaru was finally a firm believer in the miko’s continued declaration that all things in life were predestined.
Thoughts of his brother, and the miko that was his mate, caused an unfamiliar feeling to stir within his stomach. While it was true that they were aging much slower than their quarter-inu grandchildren, it was still also true that they were aging. Very slowly, the passage of time was grabbing a hold of them with its unyielding talons. He silently gulped as the ultimate realization finally struck him. One day, he would lose his brother. He could see it whenever he looked at him. He could see it in the faintest of wrinkles that appeared at the corners of his eyes whenever he grinned. Gone was the youthful mask of adolescence, replaced by the mature visage of adulthood; much like his own regal appearance, if not even slightly older. What was it like, Sesshoumaru wondered then, to die of old age? Rarely had he ever heard of such a thing among youkai, though it was true that they were not truly immortal. But even Totosai and Myouga, who were both old, even by youkai standards, were still alive and kicking, with at least a millennium to go left in each of them.
In the past, he had believed an inevitable death awaited those with honor at the end of a blade, with only those with the strongest sword (like himself) being able to survive throughout the ages, and still maintain their dignity while doing so. But now Sesshoumaru knew that to avoid meaningless conflict, and truly wish to live in peace, was not cowardice, but rather, showed incredible inner strength. Only those capable of adapting would continue to exist in the ever-changing world around them. Only those who were too weak minded to avoid battle were the ones who had to fight to survive. He had always envisioned that his life would consist solely of combat against either those whom he wished to defeat, or those who wished to defeat him, but now…the Taiyoukai strived only to continue to learn and adapt, and as odd as it sounded, to become the most powerful human the world had ever known, understanding and accepting the undesirable necessity to masquerade as a member of the species. Perhaps, one day, he too would start to show signs of aging. He had thought that he needed to defeat his father in order to surpass him in power, but now the current Inu no Taisho understood that all he had to do to surpass his father, was to acquire for himself a better life than the one his sire had faced. It was certainly not a challenge for his younger sibling, who became more and more like their father every day, even if he didn’t know it. It unnerved Sesshoumaru how much the slightly older Inuyasha even looked like their father these days, especially with those damn stripes on his cheeks.
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Petite fingers brushed across said stripes lovingly, as the man whom they were attached to instinctively leaned his face into the caress. He would never get tired of that. Whenever Kagome played with his stripes, he was met with the same sensation he would invoke in her were he kissing and nipping at her neck. Waves of tingling pleasure washed through his flesh at the points of his youkai crests, and he swiftly found himself wishing that she would tease different crests of his. Ones that resided considerably lower.
Cracking open an amber eye, Inuyasha was instantly met by his mate’s smiling face, a small grin of his own forming as a result.
“Morning…” she cooed
“MmmHmm” he mumbled, confirming that it was in fact past sunrise, but suggesting he was also too distracted to truly notice or care.
Giggling at his sudden excitement, Kagome barely had time to gasp in surprise, before she suddenly found herself on her back, being bombarded by a string of kisses from above. As pleased as she was by the sudden turn of events, her thoughts from earlier were still unable to fully purge themselves from her brain, and it wasn’t long before the hanyou above her picked up on her distraction. Rather than getting upset, however, somehow taking her lack of focus personally, Inuyasha merely pulled himself back, propping his weight on his outstretched arms as he questioned her sincerely “What’s the matter?”
Whereas in the past she may have put on a brave face, attempting (and most likely failing) to assure her husband that everything was all right, that was in the past.
“Nothing specific.” she admitted then, explaining “Just thinking about all the mindless death and destruction that’s yet to come.”
Nodding his understanding, as they had all had their share of death and destruction, nobody desiring to relive those chapters of their lives, Inuyasha scooped his mate up in his arms and rotated himself so that he was once again resting upon his back, the woman he cherished more than anything now being cradled within his tender embrace. Instantly melting into his arms, Kagome snuggled into his warmth, resting her head upon his chest, as he propped his chin against the top of her raven crown.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Kagome had already long ago shared with her mate, as well as his brother, most of the major turning points throughout human history - or future, as the case may be. Upon Sesshoumaru’s insistence that she share whatever foreknowledge she deemed relevant, she had made a brief joke about how odd it seemed to reminisce over events that had not yet happened, but had promptly complied nonetheless. While certain specific details may have eluded her poorly educated mind, such as names, dates narrowed down to the exact day of the month, or any other specific tidbits of information surely to be forgotten after a few hundred years, she had been able to give a fairly accurate briefing of the general events yet to come. So Inuyasha was fully aware of the pending “death and destruction” that had apparently been plaguing his wife’s thoughts.
Upon registering his mate’s noncommittal shrug in answer to his question, the hanyou attempted to lighten the mood by teasing her slightly. He never really was all that good at “serious” talks, despite his current profession as human liaison for the Youkai-Alliance.
“It doesn’t surprise me that they’ll keep thinking of knew ways to kill each other.” he said, “You humans are a very violent species, you know.”
His comments quickly earned him the reaction he’d been hoping for, as she snorted against his chest, before backing away enough to meet his gaze, as she sat up and crossed her arms, pouting childishly while muttering a quiet “Am not.”
“Are too…” he teased, smirking as he fingered the beads around his neck. “If you’re not, then why am I still wearing these?” he pointed out in mock betrayal. Then sobering for a moment, it was as if his own point had just dawned on him, as he said “Hey, yeah…I never wanted you to remove them when there was still a chance I might lose control, but we left them on even after Midoriko granted me control through the jewel.”
Sobering herself, Kagome asked in surprised hurt “You want me to remove them?”
Backpedaling, Inuyasha attempted to explain “I…I didn’t say that…my point was…that is to say…”
Feigning anger, the miko was successful in her deception as she caught sight of her mate noticeably gulping before her. Then, before he could react, the dreaded words “Sit Boy” had already escaped her throat…though they were uttered somewhat more seductively than he had honestly been expecting.
Nearly choking by the force of the enchanted rosary pulling him downward as he had already been lying flatly upon his back, Inuyasha smirked as he caught sight of the gleam in his mate’s eyes, as she took full advantage of his motionless body. His motionless nude body, as it would so happen.
“See…” he managed to rasp out, in a desperate attempt to make his point. “Violent.” he confirmed, as she began teasing the youkai crests adorning his pelvis.
Later that evening at dinner, it was quite a sight to behold, with how large the family had grown in recent years. Though of course, “recent years” was a relative term to youkai.
Sesshoumaru and Kagura were still perfectly happy with their two (biological) children. Perhaps one day, if there finally ceases to be any more new pups from other sources, and Kagura finds that she misses the sounds of children, Sesshoumaru may concede to producing another, but for now, Kagura’s love of children was being more than fulfilled.
While Kagome and Inuyasha’s eldest, Kazuki, was still residing in what was once their old village, with his own mate and child, many of their other children were currently dwelling along side their parents in the castle.
While Minako still loved wandering the countryside, she was home for the time being, wishing to be there for her twin sister, who was still mourning over the loss of her mate. Miyako had not yet remated, nor did she claim she ever would. As for Minako, she had yet to find a mate at all, personally feeling that the human males she’d encountered in her life so far were all too weak for her. Minako was fairly certain that when she did mate, she wanted her chosen to possess fangs and claws. Nothing against her sister’s late chosen, however, as she absolutely adored her quarter-inu niece and nephews. All of whom were also currently unmated.
Kenta was also still unmated, spending most of his time learning all that there was to know…about everything. While everyone residing at the castle knew how to read and write in their time’s current script, Kenta had insisted that his mother teach him the future script of her books that had not yet come to be in their world. Prior to each of her books being purposefully destroyed, he had read through each and every one of them. While Kagome had never brought any “history” books with her, paranoid that vital information could have somehow theoretically ended up in the wrong hands, she’d had a “mythology” book that provided a lot of details regarding youkai history. Several stories she’d grown up believing to be nothing more than mere legend were now known to be fact, her own adventure with the jewel being only one of many tales continuing to be told throughout the generations. She had also brought several medical books, as well as a geography book, cooking book, sewing book, architecture book, math book (which Inuyasha had teased her relentlessly about, considering how strongly she’d loathed the subject in school), as well as several science books, including the astronomy one she’d referenced for the names of the constellations that one summer evening so long ago. As a result of his studies, Kenta was without a doubt the most highly educated individual in all of Japan. He had even begun learning foreign languages, having learned Mandarin Chinese from Wenying long ago, as well as English from his mother, who still remembered the Western language she had learned in school way back when.
Also joining their family for dinner were their two youngest boys, Katsuo and Tarou, both of whom led slightly less interesting lives that revolved around the castle. They had each decided to join the guard after learning how to fight, each possessing swords of the fang, as did every hanyou born into the Taisho clan. What other parents did to seal their hanyou children’s blood was up to them, but both Inuyasha and Shippo always made sure their pups were taken care of. Truthfully, the half human offspring of a weaker youkai wouldn’t much need to worry about transforming in the first place, as it was solely because the late Inu no Taisho was so powerful, that Inuyasha’s youkai blood, and thusly the blood of his children, was so strong.
Both Katsuo and Tarou were mated to resident bitch-youkai who had been under Sesshoumaru’s employment, and were of a different blood clan. It didn’t matter to either of the female full blooded inu that their mates were hanyou, as each brother was still much stronger than most of the full blooded males at the castle. Somewhat of a blow to the ego, for many, but a fundamental truth nonetheless. After all, they were direct descendants of the Great Inu no Taisho, and had been chosen by their mates for that reason, among others. Fortunately, most other inu at the castle accepted that fact, and strived only to strengthen their own powers, to improve upon themselves. Nobody felt animosity towards the hanyou boys for taking their women, or at least, nobody voiced such feelings aloud. Nobody dared disrespect a blood relative of Lord Sesshoumaru, lest they not live long enough to realize the err of their ways.
Michiko was also recently mated, to a neko of all things. Inuyasha had found it comical when he’d wondered what his second youngest was so nervous about, only for her to finally confess the feelings she had developed for one of the few resident neko-youkai at the castle. Nekobi’s elder brother, as it would turn out, who was also a member of the guard. Inuyasha had merely laughed good-naturedly, saying that he hardly had room to talk about species, what with being mated to a human, not to mention being half human, himself. He knew the cat in question, and he was a good man. There weren’t any half-neko, quarter-inu, quarter-humans running around the castle yet, but everyone was sure it was only a matter of time.
Their youngest child, Manami, was also not yet mated, but Kagome had begun suspecting that she had her eyes on one of the local humans. Though she visited her family at the castle often, she had “officially” moved into a small home in Osaka, by herself. She grew a small garden of vegetables, and went into town daily to sell them. Apparently, there was a young man who always purchased something or another from her, and then they would talk for a time. While the beginning of their romantic tale was sounding eerily similar to what Hinata had recently gone through, Kagome prayed that hopefully, things would end better the second time around.
Speaking of Hinata, the vixen was present for dinner, but still somewhat downtrodden in her demeanor as of late. Everyone hoped that one day, she would be able to find love again. She was still the youngest child of her parents, Rin and Shippo not yet producing any others of their own. They had their hands full with the grand-kits for the time being, as Hikaru and Hoshi had wasted no time before bringing about their identical twin daughters.
Noboru was also unmated, and sometimes, Shippo worried that the boy needed to toughen up, if he was ever going to assert himself as a prospective mate. Most youkai females, certain not-quite relatives of inu blood excluded, were naturally submissive, and subconsciously desired dominance from their male partner. However, Rin wasn’t quite as worried about their son’s future as her mate was, having clearly noticed the way his eyes had lit up the last time Lord Kouga and Lady Ayame had been by for a visit. Akiaka had certainly matured into a strikingly beautiful she-wolf, and she had the personality to go with it.
The conversation during dinner was a fairly typical one, ranging from subject to subject, which often redirected itself back towards the second-generation kitsune-hanyou twins, who were currently the only actual children at the castle. Because hanyou were still so rare, generally speaking, it was much more likely that the mate of a hanyou would either be pure youkai, or pure human, even though the term “mate of a hanyou” itself used to be considered ridiculous a few centuries prior. But with no offense meant, many expressed their genuine surprise that two unrelated kitsune-hanyou had been able to find each other. Usually, whenever you did see more than one hanyou, no two seemed to be from the same species, unless siblings, and so then if two hanyou were to get together, as mates, the odds of their youkai halves being from the same race was…
Give Kenta a minute, and he’d calculate the actual percentage of such an occurrence.
“Oh put a tabi in it.” Hikaru interrupted, before his “uncle” could start spouting off equations.
“Hmph.” Kenta grumbled in return, earning a few chuckles from his sisters, to which they each promptly earned themselves the visual of his tongue extending beyond the confines of his mouth.
“Oh real mature.” Suishoukaze snickered, quickly wiping the grin from her face at her father’s disapproving glance.
“So, when are we going to the continent?” Kenta asked his father, in an attempt to change the subject.
“Feh, who said you were going, pup?” was his reply. “Just ‘cause I gotta go meet with that dragon youkai don’t mean you get to flutter off on holiday.”
“Actually, in China, youkai are called yaoguai.” he smirked.
“Smart ass.” Inuyasha mumbled under his breath.
“Better a smart ass than a dumb ass.” Minako chuckled, but quickly quieted at her father’s glare. She and Suishoukaze shared an empathetic look.
“Actually,” Kagome started that time, “It probably wouldn’t hurt to have somebody with us that spoke Chinese.”
Kenta grinned triumphantly as his father’s ire shifted to his mother.
“What’s with all this we stuff? Who said you were going?”
“You don’t actually expect me to sit back and relax while an ocean separates us.” It wasn’t phrased as a question.
“I won’t be gone that long.” he attempted to assure her, “It’s just a boring ol’ treaty signing. Who’d want to go to that?”
“Actually,” Kagome confessed then, “I thought maybe we could stay in China for a while, ya know? Flutter off on holiday?” she repeated, batting her eyelashes dramatically. “Don’t you want to stretch your legs for a bit? Maybe travel the world?”
“I’d love to travel the world!” Kenta chimed in.
Ignoring him, Inuyasha addressed his mate as he pointed out “But what about Japan’s closed-country edict? It could be hard to sneak back in again, and much easier for me to do alone.” Inuyasha had thought he’d made a good point, but she had a way around that.
Shrugging, Kagome informed nonchalantly “Oh, they’ll finally drop that policy in another hundred fifty years or so. We could just stay out till then, if it’s too much of a bother.”
Stay gone for over a century? He hadn’t wanted to be gone for more than a few days! But really...what would be the harm in traveling around for a bit? They used to travel all the time when searching for shards, though granted it was on a much smaller scale, but perhaps she missed it? Missed the adventure? Grumbling to himself, he didn’t comment aloud, which meant Kagome was already on the verge of getting her way. The miko had secretly been longing to travel the world for some time now, but just hadn’t known how to voice her desires. This seemed the perfect opportunity. Kagura, who was aware of the miko’s desire to get out for a while, decided to assist her in that moment.
“You don’t really want to be separated from your mate for too long, do you?” the wind-youkai chimed in, remembering that in the past, it hadn’t taken her mate as long to make the journey to China and back, having merely traveled there as a ball of light. But Inuyasha lacked that ability, and the fasted equivalent that he would have been able to use…
“It’s not as though you can just fly over there and back on Ah-Un, you know.” she pointed out “No unlawful displays of youki, remember?”
Inuyasha grumbled some more. He knew the laws. He helped write the damn things, after all.
“How long will it take to get there by boat?” he asked, addressing nobody in particular.
“Not nearly as long with your loving wife by your side.” Kagome chimed in.
“And your loving translator who’s fluent in Mandarin Chinese.”
“Oh come off it.” The elder hanyou groaned in response to his pestering son, but upon catching sight of those big brownish amber puppy eyes of his, he finally caved.
“Oh all right. They have a translator who speaks Japanese, but I guess it couldn’t hurt to have our own translator, as well.”
“To do so would show unusual intelligence on your part.”
Glaring at his brother, Inuyasha griped “You could have just said so from the beginning, if you thought I should bring him with me.”
Shrugging noncommittally, a display Sesshoumaru of two centuries prior would have instantly decapitated you for having merely suggested him capable of doing, he answered with a bored “It is not my place to dictate your decisions.”
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“It is not my place to dictate your decisions.” Inuyasha grumbled to himself for the umpteenth time. “My ass…it’s his fault we’re here in the first place. He’s the one who always did these things before, not me.”
“I’m sure your brother would have gladly come himself, if they had not specifically asked to meet with you instead.” Kagome reminded her mate quietly, as they approached the gates of a rather large castle.
Unlike back home, the demonic residents of China had been experiencing many more difficulties with dealing with the local humans. There was no treaty. No secret government conspiracy to protect the magical beings that the world at large believed to be merely the workings of folklore. While it was still true that, like in Japan, the general populous had forgotten that their world was once plagued by youkai, and it was true that, like in Japan, the local governments and holy persons were still very much aware of their existence, unlike the uneasy peace that had been forged back home, on the mainland, the races were at war. It was a secret war, but a war nonetheless. The Emperor was determined to rid his world of such beasts once and for all. Many of the lower youkai species had been hunted to extinction, only the strongest of the strong finding ways to survive, by shielding their presence from the eyes of man. The ningen to youkai ratio was about a thousand to one, but what helped to tip the scales back in the youkai’s favor was that China was also home to some of the most powerful of the remaining youkai, or yaoguai, as was the local term.
Why they had requested Inuyasha’s presence for the signing, rather than his brother, was because of the image he represented, being the son of a Taiyoukai and a human. Not to mention the human mate that was also accompanying him, who was a powerful miko, of all things, as well as their translator, who was clearly their son. They were shining beacons of hope for the local yaoguai/human families and their hanyou children, all of whom currently lived in hiding within secret yaoguai territories. Just like in Japan, the native hanyou were not strong enough to hide their demonic appearances by magical means. Unfortunately for them as well, their resident “fox spirits” weren’t quite as ingenious, or powerful, as Hikaru.
At least the yaoguai had stopped fighting amongst themselves, and like the Japanese youkai, there was an Alliance in place among the surviving races. They too could only reveal themselves to humans on a one on one basis, mainly for seeking a mate. Hanyou were no longer despised for being tainted, as pure bloods were becoming so rare, it had become widely accepted that hanyou were the wave of the future. The desire to continue on their bloodline was simply too strong in most yaoguai, and the bottom line was simply that a human mate was better than no mate at all. Their new treaty with Japan would be a win/win situation for everybody. Chinese hanyou would acquire the concealment charms they so desperately needed to blend into mortal society, while the Japanese youkai would earn protection against any possible future threats, by some of the strongest and oldest Chinese dragons known to exist. We’re talking all five claws here, people. The head of the council was well over two thousand years old, and his human disguise was flawless.
Kagome suddenly remembered something her grandfather had once told her long ago, before she had turned fifteen and fell down the well, about being careful when dealing with men of great power. “You never know who may be a dragon in disguise.” he had told her. She wondered now if he hadn’t meant it metaphorically.
“So who all is on the council?” she asked to break the silence.
“Dragons, and tigers, and bears…” Inuyasha began reciting from memory.
“Oh my…” Kagome chuckled to herself, earning a raised eyebrow for her personal inside joke. “Never mind…” she waved off, “Who else?”
Shrugging, he continued to list “A few snakes. A couple of fu-dogs, they’re getting rare. Some pandas, like Wenying, and a boar…like that Chokyuukai guy.”
She shuddered. “I remember him, ick. Hope he’s not still around.”
“Who?” Kenta asked, trying to butt into his parents’ conversation.
“Just some pig who wanted your mother for one of his brides back when she was fifteen. Don’t worry about it, we kicked his ass.”
Shrugging, Kenta accepted that he was probably better off not knowing.
“Inuyasha-sama?” questioned a beautiful woman in a white flowing robe, who was greeting them all at the gate. While all three of them appeared to be human at the moment, the guys’ demonic auras, as well as Kagome’s miko one, were all easily detectable by anyone who possessed a demonic aura of their own, like this woman.
“Hai.” he answered simply, returning her bow. The woman responded in choppy Japanese, making it clear she had crash coursed through a few phrases, but was not fluent in the language.
“I am Bai SuZhen. We are so pleased you could come. I have personal interest in this treaty. My husband is human, and we have a son.”
Responding in Mandarin, Kenta expressed how they were pleased to be there as well, and how on behalf of the Youkai-Alliance of Japan, on that day forth, they all looked forward to countless centuries of brotherhood.
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“Tha t wasn’t so bad.” Kagome chuckled, trying desperately to hide her sniggering behind her hand, while she observed her mate and son both trying to relocate their “land legs”.
“I never want to see another fucking boat for as long as I live!” Inuyasha grumped as he continued to feel disoriented, envying his son, who still possessed his canine ears that were merely made invisible for the time being.
Unlike Kenta, Inuyasha had to actually change himself, and not being able to hone in on the sounds around him wasn’t helping him regain his balance at all. He may have mastered the ability to retain much of his youkai powers while shifting his outward appearance to his human form, but not being able to turn his ears towards incoming noises would be something he would never get used to, no matter how good his hearing was otherwise. He also found it disconcerting that his tongue kept instinctively trying to locate the fangs that were currently not residing within his mouth. He remembered being a pup, and searching out the gaps in his teeth when he had been transitioning from his puppy teeth to his adult ones, and the sensation was eerily similar.
Perhaps he should rethink Hikaru’s offer of making him his own concealment charm, although, he wasn’t about to start wearing two rosaries. He knew Kagome would never agree to remove the subjugation beads, but honestly, that was all right with him. He loved her, and-
“Are you sure?” Kagome muttered while faking a pout, successfully pulling her mate from his thoughts, as he desperately tried to recall what it was he’d just said, that she was now referring to.
“I was hoping that…once they invented them…we could go on a cruise.” she elaborated, and understanding dawned.
Standing there, with her hands clasped behind her back, her eyes downcast as she shuffled her toe in the dirt, Inuyasha couldn’t help but to feel guilty. Kenta, on the other hand, had grown up with a front row seat to such shows, and he couldn’t help but to laugh.
“Come on now, mother, you know perfectly well that father will do anything you ask.”
Giggling again, Inuyasha’s “Feh!” only made Kagome laugh harder, as the people walking passed them gave their group odd glances.
Most of the Asians that came to shore on the trading vessels were serious, straight-faced, and down to business, so it caught the British workers off guard to see what appeared to be a normal, happy family, laughing and bickering amongst themselves.
They had stayed in China for over fifty years, traveling the countryside, and occasionally assisting with local yaoguai matters, which helped to strengthen the bond between their peoples all the more. Kenta had assisted his mother and father with learning Mandarin so that they wouldn’t always have to rely on him to translate, while the younger hanyou enjoyed increasing his vocabulary with other dialects of Chinese, including Cantonese, Wu, Min and Xiang. They had stayed in touch with their family back in Japan via letters, and learned that everyone was doing well in their absence. Inuyasha had grumped at Kagome’s joke that the world did not require his presence in order to keep on turning, but reluctantly, he agreed to oblige her with a prolonged vacation, as apparently, their presence was not required in Osaka for the time being. After finally deciding that they had seen and learned all that they could, or at least, all that they had found interesting, Kagome managed to talk her boys into traveling on a trading ship to England. She spoke fluent English, which she had also thoroughly taught to Kenta long ago, and had assisted Inuyasha with prior to their journey. Granted, it was modern, American English…but she was pretty sure they would still be able to get by. If anything, their slightly choppier understanding of the presumably foreign language would seem more realistic to the locals.
“Feh…” Inuyasha complained to himself as they made their way into town. “Everything’s gonna smell like tea for months.”
“Fermented tea at that, bleh.” Kagome recalled, wrinkling her nose. Much of the tea had turned during transit, but she knew the Brits were going to drink it anyway. It was perfectly all right, just oxidized. That was actually where “black tea” came from, but she was personally never a fan of black tea. Shrugging, the miko finally decided to herself Guess a cup of Earl Grey is better then water…then thinking about what year it was, she amended Once they invent it.
```
They stayed in Europe for roughly another fifty years or so, sight seeing, and eventually getting over their detest for boats as they traveled between the local countries. It had irked Inuyasha when somebody had referred to him as a Chinaman, but Kagome had merely giggled at his insulted look, later pointing out to her mate that since the Japanese still didn’t get out all that much, what did they expect the Westerners to think? They had arrived on a Chinese ship, after all. But more importantly than what any of the humans thought about them, what had truly disturbed all three of them during their European vacation was the surprising absence of anything demonic. They had come across a few English witches living in hiding, who had sensed their auras, and expressed surprise to finding foreigners of such power walking among them, but other than that, the English “youkai” population was virtually nonexistent. They came upon the occasional fox-demon, which made Kagome chuckle that apparently foxes were tricksters no matter what country they were from, but they were too afraid of Inuyasha and Kenta to stay and chat, so the question of whether or not the European foxes had developed concealment charms for their fellow demonic beings remained unanswered. Then something struck Kagome in the back of her memory, and suddenly, she wondered if it wasn’t the existence of British fox-demons that had triggered the popularity of fox hunting. What was with humans and wanting to destroy whatever frightened or confused them? It was truly something that all humans had in common, regardless of which country they were from. Apparently, the British youkai truly were beings of legend by that point. Kenta had been looking forward to meeting somebody grand, like a European ‘winged’ dragon, or maybe even a griffin, but apparently youkai that large were all extinct, or hopefully just really good at hiding. Perhaps...relocated? They supposed they’d probably never know.
They got a kick out of meeting a clan of Leprechauns in Ireland, though, as well as several other species of “faerie folk” that were still living among their mortal neighbors in that country. Being smaller, it was much easier for them to stay hidden, and also having a reputation for being mischievous, but not evil, nobody in that country was on a “kill all the faeries” mission. They allowed a few people to see them from time to time, but not many, so that those few who were lucky enough to be blessed by such a visit were merely thought to be rambling mad when they attempted to share their stories with others. Most mortals quickly learned not to speak of such things, and some even sought out chances at catching a glimpse of something magical, with no intention of revealing the secret should such a wondrous affair befall them.
Eventually, while traveling through what they believed to be wilderness, they met and befriended a local Celtic witch, who lived in isolation and claimed to be a servant of the goddess Epona. She could see right through Kenta’s concealment charm, and offered the “dog gods” a place to stay for the upcoming winter. She felt kinship with Kagome, as a fellow White Witch, and understood well the powers flowing through all three of her houseguests. She claimed to have foreseen their arrival in a vision given to her by her goddess, and after spring finally made its appearance, Kagome and her “dog gods” were sent on their way with the parting words that if it was fellow demons that they sought, that they would meet them in the Americas.
Inuyasha did good not to complain during the long trip to America, which was remarkable considering that that ship smelled even worse than the last one. He had mused, however, that it seemed odd that one of the local Irish goddesses would have given a rat’s ass about protecting them through what had turned out to be one doozy of a winter.
“When was the last time you saw a god do a youkai a favor?” he asked disbelievingly…in Japanese so as not to be over heard.
“Well…” Kagome responded, finger on chin as though she were truly pondering. “They did make the Goshinboku, the god tree, which is a tree of ages, and whose wood was used to construct the Bone Eater’s well, enabling me to travel to your time, and release you from the slumber that only suspended you untouched for all time because you were pinned to that very same tree of ages.”
Blinking slowly in response to her long-winded answer, a grin began to appear on his amused visage, revealing blunted human teeth, as he smirked “Okay…one time…”
After what seemed like forever, the shout that land could finally be seen suddenly reached everyone’s ears, and the entire ship rejoiced. Kagome smiled at her overly eager son, who was looking forward to absorbing as much of everything as possible, before taking and squeezing her impatient mate’s hand. He flashed her a reassuring smile, letting her know that he was happy to be by her side, regardless of where they were, or what they were doing. If she wanted to see the whole fucking world, then he’d give her the whole fucking world, damn it. She was his bitch, and he loved her. As if reading his mind, Kagome squeezed his hand once more, before stating “Let’s do this thing.” as all the passengers started to disembark.
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Author’s Note:
For those of you who are wondering if the yaoguia woman Bai SuZhen was really anybody specific, I did indeed pluck her name from the Chinese legend “Madame White Snake”.
British Tea…
In the East, post-fermented tea is actually called “red tea”, in reference to the color of the liquid itself, but because in the West, that term usually refers to a specific type of tea made from a South African plant, I went ahead and used the Western term of “black tea”, which got its name from the color of the fermented leaves. While there was already tea in England during the time of Inu and Kag’s visit, as China had been trading tea with England prior to the 1700s, “Earl Grey” is a specific type of tea, which did not make its debut until the 1830s, when the tea’s namesake, the 2nd Earl Grey, British Prime Minister, invented it. The additional ingredient in Earl Grey tea that makes it unique is oil extracted from the bergamot orange, an Italian citrus fruit.
While these days, the trade of black tea is usually much more common, as its flavor lasts much longer than green tea, that practice hadn’t yet been adopted during the time of their arrival in England, as black tea did not surpass green tea in popularity until the 1800s. Prior to that time, the tea originally imported to Europe was either green, or only semi-oxidized. It’s believed that black tea was originally introduced to Europe on accident, when a shipment of green tea fermented during travel.
Name Translations… (in order of appearance)
Natsuki: Can be derived from na meaning “vegetables, greens” and tsuki meaning “moon”, but can also be constructed, and is the context I’m using here, as natsu meaning “summer” and ki meaning “hope”.
Natsuko: No alternate definition given this time. The name comes from natsu meaning “summer” and ko meaning “child”.
The girls are twins, so I wanted to do another instance where the parents chose asininely similar names for their two children. It’s also safe to presume that they were born during the summer.
Sachiko: From sachi meaning “happiness” and ko meaning “child”.
She was Miyako’s first born, and both she and Yoshi were incredibly happy to have become parents. Especially knowing that their time together was somewhat limited.
Hoshi: Literally means “star”.
I chose this name because perhaps, at the time of her birth, both parents agreed that she was their spot of shining light in the darkness. Awwwww. Incidentally, I found it amusing that this was also the name chosen for the Japanese linguist on Star Trek Enterprise. They had to have done that on purpose.
Aina: From ai meaning “love, affection” and na meaning “vegetables, greens”.
Why would a fox love vegetables? Then again, she loved a human, so she was certainly different. Honestly, I just thought the name Aina was pretty.
Gorou: From go meaning “five” and rou meaning “son”.
Literally means “fifth son”, and was deliberately chosen here as an otherwise meaningless, generic name. Not everyone can have profound names destined to determine their personalities, after all.
Hey, by the way, has anybody else out there ever bothered to look up the main characters’ names before? I know I’ve mentioned for you in the past that Sango means coral and Kohaku means amber, and I know that most people probably know that Kagome means woven bamboo basket, or something like that, and Kaede also means maple, or maple tree…but while doing my searches, I accidentally came upon Souta’s name. I wasn’t even looking him up, I just came upon it while I was searching through the name list for possible choices to the characters I’ve listed above.
Hmmm…
I’m not making this up.
Souta: From sou meaning “suddenly, smoothly” and ta meaning “thick, big”.
Yeah! Go Souta!
*grumbles*
Stupid authors and their stupid hentai minds…
Oh, and speaking of hentai…don’t worry. They’ll be another good lemon before this story ends.