Hanami by dreamcatcher

Written For TangerineDreams´Annual Fanfiction Tournament

Prompt: Purple Silk

Partner: QuothTheDragon

Words: 1982

Rating: T

A/N: Thank you for reading. This was written for TangerineDreams´Annual Fanfiction Tournament. Please make remember also to read QuothTheDragon´s entry as well. If you liked my story, please be so kind and vote for me by sending a message to TangerineDream.

A/N: Done with the help of my wonderful Beta Firehauke, thank you so much!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my plot

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The surface of the large lake rippled as a soft breeze continued over it. The wind rushed further on, playing with the leaves and nearly opened buds of the thousands of sakura surrounding the old, traditional inn. It was famous for two things, a teahouse sitting on a footbridge in the lake and it´s landlady, a human miko who hadn´t aged in centuries.

Leaning his head back, the visitor stared up to the arched, skillfully crafted beams holding up the roof and creating the large entry to the building. So here he was again. Every year around Hanami he came to this town. No matter what business waited for him, how many courts he had to reschedule, he would come here at this time of the year.

A tradition had been established by his late mother, who had been one of the inn´s greatest supporters. She had visited every Hanami and ever since he had been able to walk, he had joined her. After her death, he had somehow found himself taking on both the supporting and the visits.

This was his 314th year of spending Hanami in "Sakuramori" in the old yōkai town of Nara. With a soft sigh he rolled his shoulders to loosen his stance, straightened his back and trained his face to his trademark expressionless mask. Stepping forward he pulled the doors open and stepped inside the old building.

"Welcome back, Sesshōmaru-sama!" Surrounded by her loyal servants stood a petite, dark-haired woman. She bowed low to him, straightened again and then smiled warmly at him. Upon seeing her very familiar figure, he suddenly felt at ease for the first time in a year.

"It is good to see you well, Kagome-chan!"

~~~

Around sundown, the tall inu followed the small human woman who walked in front of him through the seemingly endless labyrinth of sakura. Pictures of them being pup and child crossed his mind. Every year they would vanish inside the unusual forest and seek their special place, a place created for them by the miko´s foster mother.

He nearly smiled in memory of the human as a little girl running eagerly in front of him, leading the way for the first time. So much had changed in their lives since that day, but some things had stayed the same. Like him carrying the huge bento against all her protests. Sure he was her guest, but he found himself seeing them as friends and he was a gentleman.

The figure in front of him vanished between some especially close standing trees and he hurried to catch up. Stepping through the small opening she had just crossed, he entered a large, secluded clearing. The trees surrounding this place stood unusually close, their branches seemingly entwined and formed a thick wall of sakura.

In the middle of the clearing stood a lone, ancient tree. A weathered swing hung from one of it´s thicker branches, slightly moving from a small wind gust that ruffled the trees. The miko turned to him and gave him a radiant smile. Taking the blanket she carried from under her arm, she made a quick movement that spread it over the grass directly before the trunk.

Sesshōmaru stepped forward, placed the bento at the edge of the blanket and sat down, his back against the trunk. After smoothing his white hakama, he leaned back, bent his left knee and lay his arm over it. In comfortable silence he watched as Kagome began to unpack her pack, taking out a bottle, thickly wrapped in fabric to keep the tea inside warm and another one with sake for later.

She placed the items down and took out two teacups and two sake cups. Placing them down onto the blanket, the little miko looked up to meet the golden gaze of the watching male. With a soft laugh she jumped to her feet and made her way over to the swing. She checked her clothes and the tension on the knot of the lilac obi for tightness before sitting down on the swing. She took a few steps back to get it swinging.

The yōkai watched the slender woman swing; her kimono, made from wonderful purple silk with a silvery leaf pattern, swished with the movements. Leaning his head back against the rough bark of the trees he led his thoughts wander through the years they had already spent together.

When he had first met her she just been a little girl of five years. He himself had just reached his eighth year and he remembered clearly how he had stood in front of his mother. He eyed the little, black haired thing curiously as she stood behind the legs of the kitsune female that ran the inn back then.

His mother had introduced them and told him that they had found the little girl with the unusual blue eyes in the middle of a battle field, all alone, badly injured and frightened. In the years to come they had started to play together and soon the other yōkai found out that something was wrong with the human amongst them.

She aged like them and when she reached maturity she stopped, just like their kind. Also she displayed an amazing amount of power, only matched by himself, the strongest of his kind. His mother assured that the miko was schooled and trained to control and use those powers. On the day of Kagome´s 123rd birthday, it would be her rescue.

Bandits assaulted the inn, they killed and hurt the occupants. But when the little miko saw them attack her foster mother. She purified each and every of them. Sadly the kitsune didn´t survive the attack and so Kagome became the next landlady of „Sakuramori“. Later on the Western Lord found out that his human friend was the legendary Shikon no Miko.

He had brought her to his fortress for a while so she could recover and had made sure that she had all the help she needed. Also he ensured heavy protection for this wondrous place that had become his second home. When he had hit his 256th year, his father had done the unforgivable; he had betrayed mate and son by taking a human princess as a lover, siring a bastard son.

As if this wasn´t bad enough his sire, the former Lord, got himself killed in an attempt to protect the female and the unborn pup. After his death, Sesshōmaru found out that the princess had planned and succeeded to seduce his sire and to get pupped to bind him to herself. The only failure in her plan was that his sire had not left his mate for her and died instead.

His mother, unable to stand the shame, had taken her own life, leaving the younger inu Lord all alone. After Sesshōmaru had settled the whole incident and even been generous enough to secure the hanyō´s future, he had fled to the secluded inn and spent, for the first time, three month in a row with his most faithful companion.

Never would he forget how this female had been able to sooth all his pain away. Life had been good to him afterwards. He had come every Hanami to spend it with her and for a long while now nothing had disturbed his blossoming leadership as the Western Lord. He had even managed to strengthen his lands and take care of his people in a way no Western Lord before had been able to.

The only constant bother in his life now were greedy females that wanted the place at his side and foolish advisers trying to force him into the same situation as his parents, an arranged mating, without love and warmth. Never would he allow himself to fall in this trap. He would take a mate of his own choice and not expose himself, his mate or his pups to the cold lack of love he had to endure.

~~~

"Sesshōmaru-sama?" Kagome knelt in perfect seiza down beside her musing, best friend. "Are you well?"

"Hn," his unfocused, golden eyes returned to focus, softened a bit and connected with her dark blue ones. "Everything is fine, miko."

"The moon has risen," she smiled and her small, heart shaped face lit up open seeing his hidden care. "How about some food?"

"That would be acceptable," that male nodded. He reached up and pushed a stray strand of liquid silver hair behind his pointed ear. An ill concealed smirk appeared upon his face, when he saw the human bend to her side to pick up the heavy bento, her clothing forming snugly around her curvy figure in a very pleasant way.

Placing the bento between them the woman began to unpack it. Many delicious treats appeared from inside the box and were spread on clean cloths. At least she took out some sweet rice cakes and poured some hot, green tea into a cup for him. While they ate in companionable silence, the two of them watched the moon rise to its highest point.

But Sesshōmaru was not only watching the moon rise, he also secretly watched the miko beside him. Taking in her every graceful or clumsy movement, her imperfect perfectness and he found that the decision he had made some time ago was right. He watched as she lifted her hand and pushed her slightly unruly obsidian bangs out of her eyes.

Calmly he reached for the sake cups and the bottle and filled both for them. As he placed one in front of her, something small slipped out of his sleeve and with a nearly inaudible splash inside her cup. Bending slightly forward he lifted his own cup in a silent toast to her and watched as she lifted the cup to her lips.

What happened next caused, for the first time in centuries, the usual stoic mask adorning his face to slip. Kagome took the cup, smiled at him and emptied it with a fast, big swig. Her eyes widened and she choked as something solid threatened to slide down her throat with the rice wine. The inu in front of her jumped to her aid as she started coughing.

The thing flew out of her mouth into her hands and she stared at it in complete disbelief. There in her hands was a delicate necklace holding a small crescent shaped sapphire pendant. Lifting her head the woman stared at the so much bigger inu that held her petite body firmly in his lap, pressing her against his chest.

"This is...", she stuttered and he nodded. "Are you... Are you sure?" She whispered wide eyed, hope shimmering ill concealed in them. Again he nodded. "Really?" Another nod and Sesshōmaru took the chain, opened it and placed it around her neck. "But I am human... Why me?"

"You may be human," the inu stroked the silver chain around her neck, straightened the little stone. "But you are so much more than this. I already have nearly all the acceptance I need. You are the only one who understands and stands up for me. You are my better half, in more than words. So will you accept?"

"Who´s acceptance is it you still need?" asked Kagome breathless.

"Your´s," he locked his gaze with her preparing himself for a possible rejection. For a moment they simply looked at each other, then finally after what the Western Lord thought to be hours she smiled radiantly at him. A soft hand was placed on his striped cheek, soft lips lovingly pressed a chaste kiss on his. His eyes fluttered shut for the moment.

"Of course," the miko whispered. "Of course I will be your mate, Sesshōmaru!"

~~~

Translations:

Hanami =  "flower viewing", Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the beauty of flowers, mostly cherry or plum flowers

inu = dog

miko = pristress

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A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. Please read and review, but especially in this case, read also Quoth´s entry and make sure to vote with a message to TangerineDreams. Thank you so much!

 

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