Disclaimer: I disclaim. InuYasha, its characters, and all related indicia are sole property of creator Rumiko Takahashi and her affiliates. No monetary profit is sought or gained in the writing of this piece.

 

 

 

Visitation




Laden with a workload of freshly-split, still sap-scented timber, the Hanyou was homeward bound when another scent entirely snagged his attention. He turned his head and paused, considering, before deciding that he really wasn't in a hurry in any case and veering off the path.

The Youkai he sensed had made no effort to mask their presence, and the trail was easy to negotiate, even and in spite of the light dusting of snow the wind had swept into the understory. He hadn't walked five minutes before his quarry hovered into view, clad in rich fur and heavy silk yet so impossibly soundless and still as to fade into the landscape despite it all.

Bemused as ever at the sight, the half demon snorted. 'You again . . .'

A moment of silence passed before the woman turned slightly, pinning him with a cool golden eye. 'Charming as ever, I see,' she observed.

'Keh! You know, if someone sees you out here I'm gonna have hysterical villagers on my case about ghosts in the woods,' he grumbled as he approached. 'Not to mention an angry Taiyoukai.'

'How unfortunate for you.' She turned away again, and Inuyasha scowled at the back of her proud silvery head. Hefting his workload to the opposite shoulder, he stepped to her side to take a look at whatever it was that she found so interesting, although he knew full well what he was going to see. Suspicions confirmed, he snorted and subjected the woman to a rather hairy eyeball. 'More spying?'

'Whatever else,' came the droll rejoinder, and the demoness graced him with a dispassionate glance.

He nodded. 'Thought so.'

Silence fell between them then, interspersed only by the cheerful voices filtering back through the trees from the well meadow. A gaggle of children from the village were chasing each other about the frosted field under the watchful eye of a slight, dark-haired girl of about fourteen or fifteen years. Her clothes were a colorful contrast against the snow in comparison to the muted hempen garb the little ones sported.

'I don't know what you think coming here will get you,' Inuyasha finally stated, his eyes following the young woman as she scooped up one of the smaller children, settling the boy on her hip.

There was a strangely rueful note in the demoness's cultured tones. 'Insight, perhaps . . .'

He furrowed his brow at that. There was no deciphering the woman's expression when he peered sidelong at her pale, aristocratic features . . . but then something else caught his eye.

'Y'know . . . There's been something I keep meaning to ask you.'

'Is that so?'

The Hanyou started slightly when she turned her head, his cheeks flaming as she arched a delicate brow, having caught him eyeing the pendant about her shoulders with great interest. Awkwardly, he looked away, fidgeting slightly as he gathered his thoughts.

'Kohaku told us . . .' he finally began, 'about that time when . . . when Sesshomaru tracked you down about the Meidou.'

'Indeed,' she murmured.

'Well . . . I was just wondering if . . . if what he said was true. About Tenseiga . . .'

' . . . And it's ability to save a specific soul only once?'

'U-Un . . .' the Hanyou nodded, shifting his weight onto his other foot.

'It is truth.'

He looked up sharply, but the woman had already turned back to the meadow, and her profile betrayed nothing. For a long moment there was silence; he followed her eye to the girl and back again. There was nothing hostile in either her expression or her stance or her scent, no sign whatsoever of the resentment or anger he would have expected from one such as Sesshomaru's own mother, of all creatures. In fact, he'd never been able to sense these things even once, and they had encountered each other on at least four or five occasions over the course the past few years. It had made him suspicious in the beginning, but over time, he had actually begun to believe that she might, actually . . .

The words were coming out of his mouth before he even realized he was asking. 'Is that why you don't . . .?'

He trailed off when the demoness looked him in the eye, her countenance cool and austere, but not forbidding.

'I am a mother, Inuyasha. I understand the reasons behind Sesshomaru's fixation with this slip of a girl no more than I understood your father's for your own mortal dam; but what I do understand is that she makes him happy . . . whether he would admit it or no,' she added ruefully. Her gaze fell on the meadow and its unsuspecting occupants once more and the half demon mutely followed suit, watching Rin laughingly wrap the red-nosed little one in her haori. 'Let them have their time together,' the demoness murmured. 'And perhaps she might be able to teach him a lesson his father could not.'

There wasn't much the Hanyou could think to say to that. And so they stood for a little while longer, until the wind began to pick up, until the girl gathered the rugrats together and ushered them back to the village, until the Lady's voice drew him suddenly from his thoughts.

'Take these.'

A small bundle wrapped in folded silk was pressed firmly into his free hand, and he started in surprise. Inuyasha eyed the parcel curiously, frowning as he unfurled the rich fabric with a clawed thumb and found a set of ornately carved combs, ornamented with gold and polished amber.

'What . . . ?'

'I haven't worn them since I was a girl. They will look better against her dark hair in any case.' He abruptly realized that the woman's voice was coming from somewhere behind him, and turned to see her drifting off into the shadows below the trees.

'Wait - What'll I say to Sesshomaru when he sees . . .?' the Hanyou spluttered, awkwardly cupping the delicate combs in his hand.

The demoness looked over her shoulder and smiled. 'Do give him my regards. Good day, Inuyasha.'

She was gone before he could so much as curse.

 


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OWARI

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