Alpha by Lyra
Unsettling Revelations
Drabble Collection Alpha
CCXC
Prompt From Mr. Lyra: A Word
Unsettling Revelations
Distracted first by duty and then by foolishness among his guard, hours passed before Sesshomaru made it to the rooms that served as his office, the center of his command - but instead of the servants and messengers who usually waited for him, Sesshomaru found only Yoko. The expression on her face was uneasy and her fingers twisted around each other in her lap, instead of sitting in their usual elegant curl.
“My lord.”
She bowed in his direction, and then sat upright again – waiting, tense, dark edges in her posture and in her face.
“Yoko, why are you here and not with Kagome?”
It was the most important question to him; Yoko was meant to be Kagome's companion, and her teacher, and her guardian....though that last had proved unnecessary, so far.
“My lady is with the young ones – Shippou and Rin.”
“And still, my question is the same.”
“She wanted time alone with them, my lord. Her kit – he is not yet comfortable with the presence of strange youkai.”
Sesshomaru's eyebrows lifted on his forehead.
“An odd kit. Comfortable with a miko but afraid of his own kind -”
“But she is kind, my lord. And that is why he loves her; why she is mother to him, now.”
“Yes. So she told me. Very well; tell me then why you are here and not elsewhere, if Kagome has freed your time?”
Yoko looked up at him, her gaze direct and clear.
“It has occurred to me, my lord, that there are things about human women that you do not know. Important things – not only because of your mate, but because of the girl-child. One day she will have questions, lord, and I have learned many times over that we cannot rely on mortals to linger and give answers, even to their kin.”
Mortals.
His eyes darkened; his words became clipped and short.
“Explain.”
“My lord? What -”
“This important knowledge. Speak; then leave me.”
“Ah...yes, my lord...”
But she remained silent for a long moment – so long that Sesshomaru grew first impatient, and then irritated.
“Yoko! If you have nothing to say -”
“It is not what but how, my lord. I...before the end of your first moon with her, I told myself that I would come to you, enlighten you. It is more difficult than I anticipated to find the right words. My lord, the heat cycle of an Inu passes but once ina century, does it not?”
Sesshomaru's expression did not change but he nodded his response.
“Yes, that is so. What of it?”
“That is not the case for humans; if it were, their species would long ago have died away from the face of the earth. Humans do not live so long. Their females come into season more often.”
“And you think that I should be warned of this, because of Kagome?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“So humans come into heat like the beasts of the wood – what season must I be wary of?”
“My lord...humans do not have such a season. The cycle of a human woman is neither annual, nor seasonal. It is monthly.”
His eyes grew wide and wary; he stared at her.
“Monthly?”
“Yes, my lord. As the moon waxes and wanes, so does the cycle of a woman – though it is not always as exact as that. Still, once in the passage of each month a woman bleeds and begins anew her fertile cycle. Your lady is no exception, my lord, but it has come to my attention that she has not bled since I began my time with her-”
“She has not bled since I first was drawn to her.”
Yoko sat back on her heels and ducked her head to avoid his gaze, but her words slipped out and hung in the air between them.
“Then, my lord, either she is pregnant – or she is barren.”
“No. No, no, she is not barren, not she, the one Orochi's daughter called the mother of a thousand generations.”
It was all explained now, the siren's song, the call of her flesh – its tug in phases, persistent and changeable as the moon...settled, now, into a higher place of desire, protective urges...but...
But I had not yet found a way to keep her with me. I had not yet found a way -
If there would ever be a way -
To make her children something other than hanyou.
“It is too soon, too soon for this – the Great Council has just taken itself from my doorstep, and now this? What do I do with her? What can I possibly...every danger is doubled, trebled. She...”
Yoko was very still, keeping a strong leash on the beat of her heartbeat as it sought to grow rapid and hard in her chest.
“I must be sure of this, Yoko. Go to Kagome, now, and bring her to me. When you have done this leave us alone, and then find Shizuka and send him here. At once – now. Go!”
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A/N: 800 words! ::cackles:: Ahahahaha....I can't even...I don't want...ITS SO MUCH FUN. Onward.
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