DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha, so please don't sue me.

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Notes: Talking about Inutaisho's mother here, not Sesshoumaru's.

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Time slid by.

Weeks turned into months, months slowly began to form years, and life went on in the same wonderful way.

Inutaisho shifted his time between the house and the wilderness, sometimes taking Izayoi with him, sometimes not. He continued to amaze and delight her, and she him. The few problems they had were with the outside world, but for the most part it was all like a fantastic dream. For both of them.

-----

Sometimes Izayoi thought that they had the best times together when they were in the wilderness. Besides being completely alone, it seemed that Inutaisho was almost more of himself. He was more open, perhaps since there was no chance of anyone but herself hearing it. He often volunteered random pieces of personal information, things of his past, that she was sure she couldn't picture him saying under the Kikuchi roof. Many times she believed he did it on purpose, only bringing her out when he wanted to tell her something that he felt he couldn't do otherwise.

Such as earlier this day. They were walking through deserted, rolling hills in a relatively tame place, but still far away from any villages or houses. Izayoi had never been to this particular area before. Many places they routinely visited, ones that were extremely beautiful and private, and had the conditions for staying long periods, like nearby streams and shelter.

But this place was new, though no less beautiful. It was open and green, with small trees scattered about and mountains in the background. It looked like something out of an impossibly ideal ink painting.

Everything was lush and vibrant as they walked, until they came to a spot in a flat area. There was a circle about eight feet across where the grass ended and even no weeds grew. Izayoi got an odd feeling standing next to it.

"What's that?"

"A spot where a great youkai fell," he answered.

"A grave?"

"No, just where one fell. No plants will grow there for centuries--such a great amount of energy was released into the earth."

"Is it cursed?" Izayoi asked.

"No. And there's nothing dangerous about it. The poisonous energy is long gone. It's almost an acknowledgement of the land itself that something great happened here. Many walk over it that don't even know what it means."

He stood for a moment, looking down, and then started to walk again. She though that he would go around the circle, but instead he walked over the grassless land without a sign that it was different from anywhere else. Izayoi couldn't bring herself to do the same. Youkai things were youkai things, but it felt like walking on someone's grave. She quickly skirted it and caught up with him.

The day was still beautiful, but it suddenly seemed all the more somber.

A thought occurred to her, though she decided not to speak it. But she didn't have to; he confirmed it a moment later.

"That's where she fell," he said.

They walked a few more paces.

"How long ago was it?"

"Nearly five hundred years. Powerful enemies and brutal fight. I wasn't there to witness or join it. The dragon would get no son of hers, she said. She forbid me on my honor not to follow her. It was true that there was nothing I could have done then that she could not. 'If I fail, you must still live on.'"

"She was killed," Izayoi said, a statement more than a question.

"Yes."

"What happened to the dragon?"

"It disappeared. He sleeps somewhere of his own accord, or was sealed, perhaps. No one knows. A few times a century there are rumors, but nothing comes of them. Myouga reports them to me. He makes for an excellent collector of information--small and quick, and not easily noticed."

"Could the dragon already be dead?"

"No. Something that powerful doesn't die without it being felt."

Izayoi felt a sudden dread in the pit of her stomach. "You're waiting for him to come back, aren't you? So that you can take revenge?"

"I'm strong now. Few could even be considered my equals. Yes, I will find him, and I will kill him, even if it takes another five hundred years."

The improbability of the thing waking up now, when it hadn't been seen for centuries, didn't even register in her mind. "What if something happens to you?"

He took her hand in his. "It won't. Honestly, I doubt I'll even have the chance. The longer a youkai slumbers, the greater the possibility that it will do so for all eternity."

Izayoi looked back at the ring, which vanished as they went over the next hilltop. She couldn't believe that something so awful had happened in such a tranquil place. She tried to imagine the ground torn up and the trees uprooted as two youkai fought to the death, but she couldn't do it. It seemed almost impossible that such a thing had ever happened, as perfect looking as the hills and valleys were now. But there was the ring, the eerie ring, which looked unnatural even if one didn't know what it meant.

Izayoi shuddered once more, and then concentrated pushing all such morbid thoughts out of her mind and enjoying the rest of the trip.

And really, she succeeded.

There was no point in worrying about the past or the future. One could only live now.

-----

It was a few days later when a different incident occurred that thoroughly shook her.

They were walking through rocky hills, and were along a stream with an intermittent tree line when another youkai approached them. Izayoi couldn't see quite from where he came. One moment he was simply there, bowing before Inutaisho so low that his armor and clothing scraped the ground. However, when he stood up and she saw the look on his dark face, she realized it was all mock. Oh, the youkai was afraid of him, but looked as if he was determined to be just polite enough not to get killed.

"Inutaisho-sama," he greeted him. "What a pleasure to see you again. I knew you were around, and I had to come and see."

They exchanged some fake platitudes, and then the youkai's eyes slid to Izayoi.

"She looks nice," he commented. It was said almost as an innocent, offhand remark, but there was an underlying tone. Suddenly she couldn't stand the piercing look he was giving her. Purposefully unnerving, his eyes wouldn't leave her.

Izayoi slowly turned from Inutaisho's side and stepped behind him in one smooth arc. He gave no sign of movement as she slumped against his back. She didn't hear the rest of what they said. The thoughts whirled in her head.

It wasn't the fact that she didn't know what most youkai did, she did know. However, now she also knew that the majority of youkai were dumb, and even if they weren't, speech wasn't always a sign of real intelligence. If she had encountered one like that while with Inutaisho, she would have paid it no mind, really.

Even now, she wasn't truly afraid, only thoroughly sickened.

This youkai, he looked human. He was obviously a rational, thinking being. So the way that he had stood there, taken her measure, and coolly, intelligently told her that he thought she would make a nice dinner sent absolute shivers up her spine.

Suddenly she felt Inutaisho move from behind her. As he turned, his arm guided her slightly in front of him. After a few steps away, he said, "He's gone."

Izayoi crumpled. She couldn't help it; something just hit her.

She felt his hand on her shoulder, and opened her eyes to find him kneeling beside her.

"There's nothing to be afraid of," he said. "He would not have dared to move. Even if he had, I would have killed him."

"I know, but the way he looked at me." She shuddered. "It's not even the way human men look at you, leering. He looked at me like I was some--some thing, some thing that was only good for him to--"

"Don't say it. Don't think about it anymore. Don't worry about other youkai." He paused and grinned. "I'm the only youkai you need to worry about."

"I don't have to worry about you."

"Exactly."

-----

That evening, after they had been together, Izayoi suddenly rolled over and looked at him.

"You said that you could tell when I...I was...right to have children."

"Yes."

"And we have...been together then?" she asked.

"Sometimes."

"Then why aren't I with child yet?"

"I don't know."

"I just never thought that I would be one of those women who couldn't conceive."

"It is perhaps harder between humans and youkai, though I know of few who could say for sure. Do you want children that badly?"

"No. Yes. I mean, I would like children, but if I couldn't have any, it wouldn't be the end of the world, I suppose. But I don't want to disappoint you," she added.

"I said from the beginning that we didn't have to have children. And you're not disappointing me. I have you. That's enough."

"And I have you."

There was a short silence.

"But if you'd like," he said, "we could try again."

She grinned. "We could at that."

-----

And time slid by.