Kagome could hardly believe what Sesshomaru had just said at dinner that night. "A sword," she repeated slowly, almost certain she must have misheard him. "You want to give Hikaru a sword."

Sesshomaru inclined his head.

"He's a year old, Sesshomaru!" she hissed, horrified by the very idea. Sesshomaru hadn't wanted to give her son a practice blade—though even that, she was sure, would be wholly inappropriate for a toddler just learning to walk and run—but a real metal blade. "You can't give him an actual sword! He's too young; he doesn't even have basic motor skills yet, Sesshomaru. He could hurt himself!"

He calmly set his cup of tea down. "He is young," he agreed soothingly, "but he has already begun to swing around sticks in the garden. Or have you failed to notice this?"

She straightened at the slight. "I haven't failed to notice," she said between gritted teeth, "but there's a big difference between letting a toddler play with a stick and letting him ply with a metal sword, Sesshomaru!"

"Hnn." Sesshomaru allowed her a moment to refill his empty cup before filling hers in turn as he stated, "Bokuseno has agreed to provide the scabbard. Surely you recall the defensive properties InuYasha's own fang carries as a result."

His reassurances meant nothing to her. Giving her haphazard toddler a metal blade was nothing short of outright negligence. "So give him an empty scabbard then."

Sesshomaru gave a quiet sigh. "You are reacting with your human heart," he rebuked her gently as he reached for his cup and took another sip. "Your son is a full-blooded inuyokai and it is our way, our instincts, that demand he learn weaponry as soon as he is able. Hikaru already stalks the shiro, pouncing and biting in imitation of this. If he had siblings, he would already engage in a more tactile version of the game with them. He has also demonstrated that his protective instincts are strong and it is necessary that they be appropriately directed."

His gaze burned into hers. "You cannot raise your son as if he is human, Kagome."

Kagome's knuckles turned white with the force of her grip on her own tea cup. "I know that." At his disbelieving look, she added, "I do! But I don't feel safe with him having a real sword and learning how to use it at this age, Sesshomaru. I'm worried he'll get hurt."

"Do you lack trust in this one?" He lifted his chin but she sensed the offense he kept from showing on his face.

"Lack trust?" she repeated dumbly, not sure how that was even relevant to the discussion. "Of course I trust you, Sesshomaru."

"Yet you question this one's judgment." His expression lacked any emotion at all.

She groaned to herself, all too aware of the tension forming between them. If it became any more poignant, they would disturb Hikaru, who was currently mashing his food as much as he was eating it. "I do trust your judgment," she corrected him, though it seemed to do little to break his faux nonchalance. "I do. But I don't see why we can't wait until he's a little older to give him a real sword. Can't he use a wooden one for now?"

Sesshomaru's lips thinned. "Do you not trust this one to properly instruct your son without injury?"

She gaped at Sesshomaru, even more stunned by that revelation than she had been about his desire to equip her son with a sword. "You're going to teach him?" she asked faintly, losing her train of thought in the argument entirely.

He sniffed. "Who else would be better suited to train him? This one has been learning the path of the sword since he was the age your son is now."

"I didn't think..." Her voice was so faint that if he'd been human, he wouldn't have heard her. She cleared her throat and tried again. "I know he'd be happy to have you teach him and I'm sure you'd do a good job." She paused, sensing that he had no intentions of wavering from his plan and she reached for an appropriate compromise. "What if he just used the blade in the dojo with you and left it there outside of training? I really don't want him running around or sleeping with something sharp."

"Do you not also sleep with this one?" he countered and she flushed, both at the memory and the sinking feeling that she wasn't going to win this argument. "Does he not keep his own swords within reach at all times? Is he not equipped with fangs and claws of his own, just as your son is? Do you intend on filing down all claws and fangs to keep your son coddled and safe?"

She was immediately both affronted and contrite. "Sesshomaru, that's not fair—"

"Would you deny your son his birthright, his heritage," he interrupted her mercilessly, "simply to satisfy your own human sentimentalities?"

"Stop right there, Sesshomaru," she snapped, goaded beyond patience. "I never once denied Hikaru the chance to be who he is. I love him with everything I have and I know that he's different from me, so you don't have to keep pointing it out! I just want to make sure he's safe—any mother would feel the same; I don't care if she's human or not!"

Sesshomaru actually flinched. It was almost imperceptible and she would have missed it if she hadn't been staring right at him.

"Your mother—" she breathed, the realization abruptly coming to her.

"I had thought you would be pleased," Sesshomaru interrupted, so quietly she almost didn't hear him, "to see that I have taken an active role with Hikaru."

She filed away her suspicions about his mother to reflect on later.

"I am happy," she said quietly, not wanting to do anything that might jolt him back to his usual self. "I have nothing against you training him, Sesshomaru. Nothing would make me happier than that. But please understand that it worries me to give him a real sword. He's already injured you by accident with his claws and I couldn't bear it if anything happened to either one of you."

The tension abruptly left his stiff body. "Perhaps it would be best to confine the weaponry to the dojo for now," he conceded after a moment as she gasped at him in delighted surprise, "until he is at least able to wear it himself."

Kagome considered just compromise, acknowledging it for what it was before she nodded. "I think that's fair," she conceded, appreciative of how he had tried to consider both her feelings as well as his own desires to see her son raised well.

He nodded and silently raised his tea cup to his lips. From that, she gathered the topic had been set aside.

She sipped her own tea as she heard Hikaru giggle into his own food and for a few moments, it was quiet.

Yet the quiet felt odd after their heated discussion—she stopped herself just short of calling it an argument—and finally, she reached for something to say.

"So what have you been up to all afternoon, Sesshomaru?" She smiled as he met her gaze once more.

"There was a missive that had been in need of response," he answered her after a moment, setting aside his cup once more.

"Anything important?"

Before Sesshomaru could answer, Hikaru abruptly scrambled into her lap, shoving his fist in his mouth as he chirped, "Toutoutou."

"Your son is in need of a bath," Sesshomaru observed.

Kagome sighed as she looked down at Hikaru. He'd taken full advantage of her distraction to coat his entire body—or what parts of it he could reach—in his food.

Food that was now dripping down onto Kagome as Hikaru sat in her lap and clapped his hands together in delight.

"It would seem that we both do," she replied with a heavy sigh.

Sesshomaru, to his credit, didn't laugh, but she saw the telltale signs of a twitch at his lips and knew he was amused at the sight.

"We'll see you later," she added, getting to her feet with Hikaru in her hands. If she let him down now, there was no telling what else he'd get into.

Sesshomaru raised a brow. "Would you like some assistance?"

She was so surprised that she agreed immediately without thinking. And then the reality of what she'd agreed to sank in and she flushed, but there was no way to take the words back now.

Oh Kami, she thought to herself faintly. I don't know how I'm going to survive this.