Poison & Fire by CandIcane

Always Watching

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, although I wish I did :(.

The Guardian came to be when the clan Alpha decided to betray the Western Lord, this was during the rise of the four houses. Thankful for the clan the Western Lord was understanding in that the clan Alpha was young and foolish, but that didn’t mean that he shouldn’t repent for his actions against his Lord. The Western Lord decided that the Alpha would regain the Western house’s favour through penance and he along with his kin would guard the Western house’s heirs until they reached maturity, and if needed in times past maturity; thus resulting in the Western house always being strong. The Alpha of the clan over many a decade became known as the Guardian, and in recent years with peace befalling the Western lands had become a thing of obscurity with the Guardian not really being needed. So inevitably the Guardian turned into a myth to everyone within the land of the four houses, but the Guardian will soon become an actuality no one will be able to deny. 

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As always, Kagome watched the little pup, and as always the little pup, Rin, and whoever was with her were unaware of her, Kagome’s, constant vigil. This was her role and would be until the little pup reached adulthood around Rin’s two hundred and fiftieth birth year. It was hard to believe she’d been the little one’s guardian for almost fifty years. So far, the guarding of the little pup had been rather simple because she had not been allowed to explore outside of the palace walls up until recently, which is custom for pups of high birth, but, now that she was, Kagome had a sneaking suspicion that the little pup was going to keep her very busy for the next two hundred years. Rin was always under constant watch, and she seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to knowing exactly when she wasn’t the focus of their attention. This normally would result in her taking off to explore; while testing her speed and concealing techniques on her poor unsuspecting victim for the day and today it was one of the castle guards.

In all honesty, she was rather proud in an odd sort of way with little Rin, because without any real training, Rin was actually very good at concealing her youki and scent. Most days, when she was able to escape on her little adventures, it took the palace guards and her pack members a few hours to track the little pup down.  Kagome’s pride came from the fact that she knew little Rin was very intelligent, and had good instincts which would aid in protecting the little one as she matured. Kagome would guard the little pup with her life; not just because it was her duty to protect Rin but because she cared for the little pup as if she was her own pup, even though she had only protected her from a far. Kagome could relate to Rin on many different levels: both of their mother’s passed away during their births, and they were the only female members of their packs. Although Rin had her pack consisting of her father Lord Inu noTashio, and her two brother’s Lord Sesshomaru, and Lord Inuyasha; Kagome on the other hand had a pack but she rarely saw them since she replaced her father upon Rin’s birth.

Kagomes pack didn’t really know what to think of her at all. To them, she was an abnormality and they blamed her mother because of it.  Her mother had been an outsider to their pack and thus resulted in the birth of an unworthy pup or so they thought. The first born of the guarding pack, her pack, always replaced them and was always male; until she was born.

This resulted in a challenge placed upon her from her uncles because they had pups around the same age as her and they were all male. The elders in the pack declared that the challenge would be upheld and whoever was the most worthy at the end of training would replace her father as Guardian of the Western house. Her father never doubted her, and she never gave him a reason to. She proved that just because she was born female didn’t make her less than her father, and not capable of replacing him when the time came. Kagome surpassed her father in every aspect of training and ability; so she was the only option for his replacement.

The only reason she would never be the pack Alpha was because they wouldn’t allow a female to lead them. Her father had to find a new mate to continue on his line and produce her replacement; they didn’t want her “bad blood” to further hinder the pack. She would be able to have pups of her own if she left her role as guardian once her father had a male pup to replace her or another pack member produced a male that would challenge her role and surpass her. She did not understand the logic of the elder’s or other members of the pack. She didn’t see her blood as bad at all. In fact, she thought it was great; even the eldest members of their pack said she surpassed all who came before her.  So why wouldn’t they want her own pup to replace her? It just didn’t make sense.  The reason they gave her was completely ridiculous because she wasn’t of full pack blood; which made her mother seem like she was of low breeding and they all knew that was the furthest thing from the truth.  

 Her father refused to take another mate though; because he believed in her. His Kagome was the last thing he had of his mate that he loved and he would not disrespect his mate or daughter by taking another mate. Her father had said her mother was of high birth within the Northern House of Fire. That was all she knew really about her mother’s past other then she was brought to the guardian pack by her nursemaid who knew she would be safe with them when the Northern House fell over five hundred years ago.

Kagome was the last of the fire-line from what her father had told her. She had inherited all of her mother’s youki traits which made her feel special, because she could control fire and produce it at whim just like her mother. As she got older, her powers had developed to impressive levels and she didn’t even know their limit which worried her at some points, but she hoped she would never have to find them while protecting little Rin.

 As she watched Rin over the years, she became a bit envious of the little pup because of her affectionate pack members. Kagome knew her father loved her, but the older she became the less she saw of him. Mainly due to the fact that she resembled her mother almost identically, and she knew he missed her badly. She hadn’t seen anyone from her pack in almost five years. That was when her father came and gave her the sword that had belonged to her mother’s family.  It was the one thing other than her looks that her mother bestowed upon her and she hadn’t seen him or anyone else from the pack since then. She missed the pack dynamic from when she was a pup herself, and hoped that one day she would be able to have it again.

While wrapped up in her thoughts, she was watching Rin, as usual, but became aware the guard assigned to her that day was one she had not seen before. He also did not seem to be enjoying having to watch Rin as he sat leaned up against a tree on the opposite side of the meadow. An uneasy feeling was sinking into her stomach as she watched the guard across the meadow slowly nod off while Rin continued to pick flowers and scamper around the meadow freely. This did not seem right. No guard would fall asleep on watch of anything, and that was when Rin noticed the sleeping guard.

Kagome watched Rin stand and stare at the guard as if wondering if she should go on another adventure. She didn’t hesitate long and all that was left behind her was the little bouquet of wild flowers she had picked. Just before Kagome turned to follow the little trouble maker, she caught movement from where the guard was sitting, and looking there she saw the guard smiling as he looked in the direction Rin left from the meadow. She would have not thought much of it, if the smile he had on his face didn’t make her skin crawl. This was not good, something was about to happen and Kagome had a horrible feeling that Rin was actually in danger for the first time in fifty years.