Ever Us -- The Blessing; Keiko

Chap 34

Between the 90th and 120th days

Although happy with his temple job Yori still wanted to be on the castle guard. He worked out in his spare time. He became dedicated to eating properly and doing strength training. During his work at the temple, he made the acquaintance of the local people. Some of them he helped with their heavy labor. Others he offered counsel and common sense. Word of his wise counsel spread and more and more towns people showed up at the temple for a word with the warrior sage. He spotted Usagi there frequently and noticed his devotion to prayer and meditation. Once or twice, he had stopped and chatted briefly with Usagi. They were not friends but they could recognize each other and waved when they passed in the temple grounds. Usagi noticed Yori's increasing popularity as well but did not mention it to his father.

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Inuyasha's monthly check ups with Nana and Jinenji went perfectly. Inuyasha's fear of the white discharge resolved. The experience only further secured Nana's place in his heart. His weight gain was perfect. The baby started kicking close to the 120th day just as Nana had told them. The castle staff loved the hanyou from day one but now that he was expecting the heir to the western lands, they spoiled him. Inuyasha's response to that was to spend his free time in the tree in the garden. He appreciated the acceptance but the attention was somewhat overwhelming.

Sesshomaru helped by taking Inuyasha on patrols. Inuyasha appreciated the opportunity to get away from all the attention. During their outings, they witnessed that the seed had taken and grass and wild flowers were filling in the countryside. When they returned to the castle they made sure they publicly thanked the birds. Several of the demons from the country decided to return to their old homes to see if there was anything to salvage, but the majority stayed in Castle town.

Sesshomaru spent his time in the library or on patrols shadowing human doctors. Advisor meetings had become routine now that the security issues were relaxed. The advisors greeted the town administer job description positively, but no candidate had been selected or identified yet. No individual had the breadth and depth of character the council felt could be trusted with the town's issues. Financial reports continued to be positive. The Western lands were growing and healthy. The fire damage in the town had been cleaned up and the town folk hosted or in new homes. Construction on the clinic resumed. As time closed in on Inuyasha's fourth month of pregnancy, the construction team started putting up the roof of the clinic

The only thing of significance was transformation training and detecting was going very slowly. Sesshomaru knew how to transform already but he listened in while Hiroshi taught the first class to the guards. He had forgotten his training sessions; they were that many years ago. He was sure that they were hard. He remembered being exhausted and falling asleep before dinner several times as a child but he had forgotten how his father taught him. Hiroshi wanted the guards to understand transformation in order to detect tanuki magic.

Jinenji kept checking on chief but he remained in a coma. His wounds had healed completely. His hair had grown and he even had a beard now. Kenichi had made a habit of talking to the chief every night. He just gave him a report of the day's events.

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After Nana had completed dictating one day, Jake and Elwood asked Sesshomaru if he would stay so they could share some information.

Once Jinenji and Nana were gone, Sesshomaru nodded. "What do you have for me?"

"Lord Sesshomaru, I was looking for normal insect activity but Jake suggested I look for abnormal behaviors instead," Elwood cleared his throat to continue. "There are several explanations I have found. Only specific bugs swarm naturally from hormone attractions. Weather affects some groups. When it came to articles discussing things that affecting all bugs, I found an article on mass hypnotism and one on mass drug use. Would either of those possibly explain the infestation?"

"Interesting, Elwood. Drugs or hypnotism. That's the answer I was looking for. You can stop looking now. Well done Head Librarian!"

Sesshomaru swept out of the library, his mokomoko floating behind him. He went in search of Inuyasha and Kenichi immediately to relay this information. He found the two in the dojo working on their katas. Inuyasha had noticed a change in his center of balance and Kenichi was assisting him.

"Gentlemen, I have information I believe you might find interesting."

Inuyasha sat cross-legged on the floor and looked up to his brother. "What is it?"

"I suspect the bugs were hypnotized and that's why they worked together."

Kenichi jumped to his feet and slapped his head. "That's brilliant! Of course! How logical."

He paced as he thought through the idea while Inuyasha studied Sesshomaru's expressionless face.

Kenichi suddenly became very serious. "That means our enemy is capable of transformation, hypnotism, archery, and cunning planning. This is even more dangerous a situation than we realized."

Sesshomaru nodded.

Inuyasha looked back and forth between the other warriors. "I think you are both missing something."

The two standing demons turned to look at him.

"If our enemy can transform into anyone, hypnotize everyone or even just some, they could have anything they wanted. Clearly, that is not control of the country or the castle or they would have done it already. So the question is what do they want?"

Kenichi tapped his finger on his lips. "Good point."

"Yes, Brother. Good point."

"However, I have no idea what. Hey, give me a hand. I would like to stand up now."

Sesshomaru reached out an arm and pulled his brother up to his feet.