A Trick of Fate by PristineUngift

Secrets

They made haste back to the Western shiro. Sesshoumaru wanted to meet with his councilors, to see if any other destroyed villages had been reported by his scouts.

“I’ll have Inari-sama examine the scale,” Kagome said, resisting the urge to shout over the wind. Youkai senses were such that she knew Sesshoumaru could hear her, though they rode his youki cloud, streaking through the sky at speeds she didn’t want to contemplate. “She’s a better sorceress than I am. She might be able to tell us something.”

Sesshoumaru clamped his fingers around her wrist. “You will tell no one of the scale, or the spell of illusion. And only Inuyasha shall know about the village at all.”

Confused, Kagome bit her lip, her fangs hooking over the delicate pink flesh. “But why keep secrets – ”

“Recall the story of the Dragon and the Man.”

Kagome blinked, but obediently cast her mind back, trying to remember the tale Sesshoumaru had shared with her and the kits one night, a fable he’d used to teach Rin and Shippou about strategy and the art of subterfuge…

Oh.

“The Dragon pretended to be fooled by the Man’s promises, and the Man thought himself clever. In the end, his arrogance was his downfall, for he came too close, and the Dragon killed him with one snap of mighty jaws,” she recited, artfully capturing Sesshoumaru’s deadpan tone.

Sesshoumaru nodded and rumbled his approval, not noticing Kagome’s gentle mocking.

“We will allow our enemy to think himself clever. And when he draws too close, we will strike, and he shall know why they call this one the Killing Perfection.”

Sesshoumaru’s lips stretched in a rare smile, a feral grin that revealed his bloodlust.

Kagome’s heart skipped several beats, and she found herself smiling back just as ferociously, her fangs itching.

-l-

When Sesshoumaru and Kagome reached the palace, preparations for the Feast of Four Treaties were well underway, Sesshoumaru having sent word ahead of them. Jaken presided over the endless details, beaming with the importance of his task, and directing anyone who argued with him to “take it up with Inuyasha-sama, the wise and great second son of the magnificent Dog General.”

Inuyasha seemed more disgruntled than anything over his new admirer, shrugging when Kagome teased him about it. “Don’t know what to tell you. Kicked him out a window once, and now I can’t get rid of him. Doesn’t take much to make the imp happy.”

Watching Jaken trot along in Inuyasha’s wake, Kagome had to agree.

Despite her worries over who could be trying to incite a war between the North and the West, Kagome soon fell into a routine. She’d learned long ago, in her travels with Inuyasha, to take happiness where she could find it, and when weeks passed with no more reports of fire or blood, it became easy to let the problem rest at the back of her mind.

Especially with the rush of excitement surrounding the feast.

Kagome was spending time with her kits in the gardens, Inari-sama walking with her, when the first guests began to arrive.

“First representatives of the lesser tribes will come from each land, bringing food, gifts for the hosting lord, and preparing for shows of strength and skill. It will be marvelous! I had only seven tails the last time I attended,” Inari said, clapping her hands.

“The ruling youkai will come once everything is ready. And then it will be a month of courting and games and tricks and magic!” She tossed her head back, laughing a fox-laugh so infectious that Kagome and Shippou joined in.

“Will we be seeing your family, Inari-sama?” Kagome asked, pausing to give Shippou a boost into a tree where he’d be better able to see the parade of youkai entering the palace. Rin followed him up with an easy leap.

Inari nodded serenely. “Yes. My uncle, Myobu-sama, is the Lord of the East. He is very anxious to meet you, Kagome-hime.”

“It’s just Kagome. I’m no one’s princess,” Kagome said for what felt like the millionth time. She wasn’t sure when or how, but the title had crept up on her during her time traveling with Sesshoumaru, until every youkai in the palace was greeting her with the honorific and visiting nobles were treating her as a daughter of the house. Shippou too, had become a prince overnight.

Inari’s lips curled into a mischievous grin. “You are Sesshoumaru-sama’s princess, Kagome-hime.”

Kagome felt herself flush, and flapped her hands, trying to divert Inari’s attention before the too observant golden kitsune started interrogating her. Maybe she should copy Yukiko-sama, and start carrying a fan she could use to hide her face…

“Why is your uncle so interested in meeting me?” Kagome blurted, catching on the first topic to enter her mind.

Inari was, thankfully, diverted. She raised one elegant hand to cup a blossom of the sakura tree they were standing under. It was blooming out of season, as everything in Sesshoumaru's gardens did. The youkai gardeners who tended the plants kept the gardens of the West from ever knowing winter.

“Firstly, you are something of a curiosity. Everyone knows the story of The Shikon Wish. You are a human become kitsune. A living legend.” Inari plucked the blossom from the tree and began threading it into her flaxen hair. The pink set off her coloring beautifully.

Kagome blushed again.

“And secondly?”

“My uncle sets great store by bloodlines. He has long sworn that his heir will be sired only on a full-blooded kitsune.” Inari spoke in a hush, her manner suggesting that she found her uncle’s beliefs distasteful. Or at least, that’s what Kagome chose to think. She liked Inari. If Inari agreed with her uncle, Kagome didn’t want to know. “My uncle is only half-kitsune, you see,” Inari continued.

“He’s hanyou?”

“No, no. His mother was youkai. Just not a kitsune. And he believes that his blood is weaker for it.”

Kagome tried not to be annoyed at the way Inari scoffed, as if the very idea of a kitsune hanyou ruling the East was ridiculous. “That still doesn’t explain why he’s interested in me.”

“The East suffered most terribly during the Years of Naraku.” Inari's eyes flashed amber, her fox mask markings seeming darker in the light filtering through the branches of the sakura tree. “The Accursed One hunted many of the kitsune lines to extinction, and absorbed them, for their powers of illusion and transformation.” Inari looked away, unusually somber, and finished, “Now, the only full-blooded vixen who is not too closely related to Myobu-sama to bear him kits is the Fox Princess of the West. It is why he so readily agreed when Sesshoumaru-sama sent for me to teach you.”

Kagome had absolutely no idea how to respond to that. So she said only, "I'm sorry for your loss."

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Thank you guys for all the lovely feedback on the last chapter! :D So glad that you're enjoying the characterizations, and the emerging plotline!

Also, I got a notice that this fic has been Nominated for Best Drama in the Feudal Association Awards. Thank you so much to whoever nominated me, and thank you to everyone reading! I am beyond thrilled!