Betrothal of the Warrior Hime

Two hundred years or more passed again before either the general or his second had another pup. Sesshomaru had to be trained, as did Jin, Mugen, and Souta. Shin’s eldest sons looked like their mother, having their mother’s snow white hair, deep crimson crest marks, and her golden brown eyes, while Souta on the other hand was his father’s son. His hair was onyx colored, eyes were a deep muddy blue, and his crests marks were pale silver blue. Shin’s, and now Souta’s coloring had always stood out among their kind, Inu’s usually had hair and fur that was light in color and nature, usually tan being the darkest hue their race came in. As a pup it had been hard on Shin, other’s in his clan had ridiculed him, calling him a ‘dark mark on their demon heritage.’ It had been one of the reasons he’d been so driven to become as strong as he was today. Now as he awaited the birth of his next pup, he paced the corridor outside the birthing room.



To his left, were his sons looking dejected and uptight waiting for the birth of their sibling, to his right his Lord, the General, with his own mate, Hatsumomo and their two pups, Sesshomaru, and the new infant Inuyasha. Hatsumomo and Sayuri had become friends like their husbands upon realizing they were both with pup for Sesshomaru and Souta’s births, which were no more then a month apart, and now they were like sisters, bonding deeper with the arrival of the next pups, Inuyasha and the new bundle of joy. There was a wretched wailing cry from the room, as Sayuri passed the pup into life, Shin had been on edge at the smell of her blood, and tears, mixed with the sounds of her screams. Taishou came upon him and patted his back heavily. “My old friend? What are you worried about? This is your forth, you two should be pro’s by now.” he said. There was a light cry from the pup, it was strong but, again the Sayuri’s agonizing scream ripped through the night air, and soon quiet filled the walls of Shin’s palace home. Moments later, another cry came from the pup, only it was slightly off from the first, finally after a while the door slid open and Shin was allowed to enter.



To his even greater surprise his mate had not had a son, she had instead birthed two female pups. One had a tuft of snowy white strands on her tiny head, the other had his onyx locks, he knelled next to his tired mate, and cupped her face lovingly. “They are not sons.” she said a bit breathy, his response was a rarely seen smile.



“No they are not. But they are precious to me nonetheless. What will we call them Pretty mate?” she’d closed her eyes and was almost asleep, birthing one pup was a task, birthing more was a drain of all energy. Inu litters were rare, but they did happen, and that night on a full moon, two daughters to the second were born. Rumors flooded the home that a pair of females had been born, but as it was two weeks before Shin would allow the twins to be seen, none knew if it was true or not, but it was common place for this to happen amongst inu’s though. When mates birth pups, they became weak, and the pup itself was weak, until both mother and pup were safe and healthy, the father was usually was truly hell bent on killing anything even family that got to close to his weakened family.



The day finally came when he was to present his darling duo to the world, a small gathering was held, Shin was not the lord of the lands, but he was the highest of the minor lords, and the general’s second. He’d invited the heads of the other minor lords, and their mates to the gathering, as well as the Lord and Lady, and their own pups. It was truly a awe inspiring event. Shin who’d wanted another male, had been won over utterly by the twins, it was at this event that both females finally opened their little eyes. The eldest of the pair, Kikyo, had grown her mothers coloring like her older brother Jin and Mugen, while his baby girl Kagome, had his and Souta’s coloring. At first he’d been a bit upset, she has my coloring, he thought, but when he saw Souta react to the little creature he’d truly fallen in love with her charm.



Souta too had been marked ‘a filthy blemish’ for his coloring, he found it made him unapproachable, which he liked, as well as dark, and moody, brooding even, all traits he liked though. And best of all, it was hard to read, which served him well as Sesshomaru’s second. In fact both males had been unusually stoic, and had like personalities, they could be so cold and unrelenting. And yet the pair always seemed to get along so well, both of their mothers having decided they were more like brothers then with their own siblings. But when Souta got the first good look of his baby sisters, he was taken aback. Kikyo was his mother’s spitting image, even now he knew he and his brothers would be chasing males off with swords, Kagome was the same with looks, but her coloring, was like his own. She melted his cold heart when no other could, for just having looked down at her. It was then at the gala event, when her elder brother was watching her that she opened her eyes. Kikyo had earlier during the evening, and everyone had complemented her on her beauty to their parents. But Kagome’s eyes stole the show that night. Her black lashes finally pealed opened, and revealed a stunning, bright indigo blue, they shined like lit sapphires in the sky.



Souta gasped audibly, Sesshomaru had been near him and had peered into the bassinette. He’d never seen eyes so vividly blue, and her coloring though not desirable, was intriguing, he felt as though he knew she would be trouble if nothing else. Shin had been near the babes all night, Sayuri too found it hard to stay away from the pair of pups. When Souta gasped both parents had loomed over, instantly inspecting for something to be wrong. Shin gasped too, at his jewel eyed daughter, she blinked at him and cooed happily as he picked her up, inspecting her deeper, earning a faint growl from Kikyo who was soon picked up by her mother.



Hatsumomo and Taisho were now interested in the going-on’s, curiosity always having been an odd trait of most if not all inuyoukai, they’d heard the gasps and wondered what it could mean, Hatsumomo clutching her young babe to her breasts as he slept as her eldest pup came over to them to explain as well. When they finally got close enough to view the pair of girls they were amazed to see Kagome’s vividly intense eyes. She cooed happily, waking Kikyo up, who became grumpy which in turn woke Inuyasha up who started crying because Kikyo was beginning to cry. Both Sayuri, and Hatsumomo left the event pups in tow, helped by Sesshomaru and Souta with the bassinettes, and other things.



Hatsumomo cooed her little prince, while Sayuri cooed her little darling Kikyo, going to the nursery, the pair of females had been followed by their older pups, Sesshoumaru and Souta. Kagome had been cooing and giggling the whole time because she’d been picked up by Souta who was making faces at her. Both mothers mused at how he could be so deceptive, to be cold and stoic, moody, and hard to everyone, but this one little pup. She had him wrapped around her little figure, even his friend Sesshomaru seemed to be in awe at the power little Kagome had over Souta.



“She’ll be a heart breaker one day.” Sesshoumaru said quietly to the room.



“Indeed. But this will not matter. Anyone that gets to close to her will feel my blade imbedded into their worthless body.” Souta answered still making his younger sister coo. His mother smiled. Looking at her two pups it seemed amazing, Souta was so closed off to everyone but Shin, and now Kagome, it delighted her to see her pups react so well towards each other, Jin and Mugen were like fire and ice towards one another, only calming when Souta had been born. Souta noticing the smiles on both his own mother and Hatsumomo, quickly halted his attempts to gain Kagome’s favor, which made her start to cry. Both Inuyasha and Kikyo were asleep now, and he was forced to give her back to their mother. Taking this as time to leave, Sesshomaru and Souta left for the gala event, to inform their father’s of their mates and the pups. Nodding to the guards both the Prince and his second made mental notes of whom they’d kill should anything befall their mothers and siblings.



One thing was always clear when it came to both Sesshomaru and Souta, failure was not tolerated, and family was more important then anything. These two were the heirs to their fathers legacies, ‘Death and Destruction’ were what they’d been dubbed, not that either seemed to mind. Returning to the event, young females flocked to them, Sesshomaru seemed to be able to tolerate it where as Souta brushed them off, heading towards his father. When he arrived he noticed the somewhat serious look on the Generals face, as well as his father’s, they had been surrounded by others in their war campaign, non as powerful as his father, but Jin and Mugen had been present at this meeting of minds. Sesshomaru joined him momentarily, as they began to listen to what was going on.



“My Lord General, the dragons are coming to close to your borders. They threaten our very way of life every time they do so, we would do well to rid the lot of them from this world before they have a chance to do so to the West.” Said one of the lower lords who was tall and broad. Taishou’s face grew grim, both Souta and Sesshomaru had trained directly under their fathers, so reading their face had always been easy, and now neither liked where things were going.



“Are you crazy?” begged another lower lord. “You want them to reign fire upon these lands by angering them to a fight.” said a rather fat youkai.



“No! I want to bring the fight to them to save our lands from that!” the other retorted.



“My General.“ said Shin, interrupted the small battle of the lower lords. “I do not think it wise to fight the dragons.”



“And why not?!” bellowed the fat one louder then he’d meant to. A Low growl was heard from Shin warning the fat lord to keep his voice down, or be forced to live life with out it, Taisho gave a small grin.



“As it is, there are very few dragons left in this world, they rule the north restlessly, their pride is greater then that of our own, and have refused to mate with humans, hanyou, or even full youkai that are not dragons. Because of this though, they fight with an unbridled rage that is unlike any. I fear not the battle, or that the west might lose. The idea itself is laughable. But I do fear the situation we might be in if we take them, and are left weakened. It is no small amount to pay to have them gone, and I fear that others would rise against us in our weakened state. I think not of myself or even my family. I think only of the land and its people. A war would be destructive, and nothing the north holds is of enough value to risk that. Even the territory they have is almost worthless, for they have scorched the very earth with death itself.” When Shin finished all the lords looked taken aback, save Taisho. Jin, Mugen, Sesshoumaru, and Souta seemed on the other hand to agree, along with Taisho.



“So you think a try at peace then?” Taishou said finally voicing his opinion.



“Ay. If it can be met then yes. Dragon Youkai are not like ourselves, they all eventually grow old and die. It has been a few hundred years since the last birth, most of their females if not all are unable to bare young for their age. It is as simple as waiting them out. But as always it is your choice to make, and I will stand by it.”



Taishou grinned, “And how would you know these details old friend?”



“You have not settled me near these dangerous borders just so I can protect them my lord. I have my ways, needless to say, I make it my business to know if something could cause a problem to these lands. Or to your self.” He answered confidently earning a nod from his general.



“Father.” sensing now would be a good time, to advise that his and Sesshomaru’s mother had retired for the evening with the pups.



“Hn.”



“Mother, and Lady Hatsumomo, as well as all of the pups have retired for the evening.” Both the general and Shin nodded and he and Sesshomaru were dismissed.



Months later an uneasy peace treaty had been made between Tashiou, and the dragon leader of the northern lands.