I don't own Sesshomaru, Kikyo, or Rin.

This is the final chapter. Enjoy. Thanks to everybody that read and reviewed this.

Chapter 12

Sesshomaru left his home almost as soon as he arrived to go hunting for that filthy weasel lord that had tried to use his beloved against him, kidnapped his family, and then nearly got his beloved assassinated. He wanted to get this done as soon as possible, so his wife could get a peaceful night's sleep. Besides, justice needed to served to that lying bastard for trying to get demon nobles to believe Kikyo was a threat.

"And if Kenryoku believed that nonsense enough to send assassins, who knows what demons of lesser intelligence and experience might do," Sesshomaru growled.

He easily caught Itachi's scent since he knew what direction the weasel demon went in. He could not even think about what he was going to do when he caught that rat of an aristocrat. He could picture himself doing so many terrible things, but when it all came down to it, they were rather deadly things. That meant he would only be able to do one, maybe two things to the bastard before Itachi passed on to the next life. He had to decide on what was the most agonizing thing that he could possibly do to the other lord without killing him quickly.

"Itachi will be my example when I take my revenge against that simpleton," Sesshomaru decided.

No other nobleman would be so foolish as to even think about coming after Kikyo after he got through with Itachi. In fact, the whole demon population would have nightmares if just one person considered touching his mate when he was done with the weasel lord. Perhaps he could send a piece of Itachi to every demon around with a little note attached, just so they knew exactly what happened to the weasel. He doubted there was enough of the pompous jackass to go around, though. Maybe he would be able to just send pieces to demon clans and demon lords. It sounded like something he could do.

"They should get the message then." His wife was off limits.

As Sesshomaru tracked the weasel demon, he realized that more men might be after Kikyo at that very moment. He could not turn around, only hope that she could handle herself, along with the dozens of men that he left orders with that if she was so much as scratched, they should runaway and never look back because he would not tolerate such failure. He still fumed over the fact that his guards had been useless when Itachi broke into the castle. He could only stand so much incompetent, which was really none at all. He would settle those men when he returned.

He believed that Kenryoku would set other lords straight on Kikyo to avoid other demons making attempts on her life. Kenryoku would not want to see so many demons throw their lives away, unless he was going to gain land from it anyway. So, Sesshomaru thought he had some time to stop Itachi from spreading any more lies.

When the dog demon entered the domain of the Lord of the north, he was almost immediately attacked. He had only been in the borders for about five minutes before men assaulted him. He actually expected to be attacked much sooner than that. He wondered if the Lord of the north was going soft.

He and the daimyo of the north detested each other in a very bizarre fashion. It was more of a habit than anything else because he could not recall what they might have done to each other to spark such a strange hatred. Their fathers had despised each other, so it just seemed that the sons inherited the intense loathing with their lands. They tended to avoid and ignore each other more than anything else. War seemed like a pointless matter because neither had anything that the other wanted, not even land. It would only upset the lords in between them as well and those lords were allies of either him or the northern lord.

Sesshomaru made it to the Lord's castle without a real problem. He felt a bit mocked by the forces that he had been sent against him. It was almost like the Lord wanted those men to die. Of course, that was a possibility. He calmly entered the castle and easily made his way straight to the man in charge.

"Sesshomaru," the daimyo said as the dog demon entered the room he was taking his afternoon meal. "Of course you would arrive while I'm eating," he commented with a smile. "Such poor manners on your part."

He appeared to be a bit younger than Sesshomaru, looking like a teenager. He had a complexion close to the color of clay. A white, five-pointed star was centered on his forehead. His head was crowned with shoulder length, curly black hair. His lips were painted crimson and curled into a tiny smile. He wore black hakama, but nothing on his top, showing off a muscular physique. Light marks traced his ribs.

In the corner, three women played string instruments, plucking out a soft, sorrowful tune. The Lord smiled a bit at his "guest" before finishing off the food in his mouth. Sesshomaru looked around, waiting for an ambush that did not come.

"Kemuri," Sesshomaru replied in his usual tone. It did not sound like he detested the other lord at all. Kemuri might as well have been any other person, any other person Sesshomaru really did not want to deal with.

"You got here much faster than I thought. I had hoped to be done dining, so you could get my full attention," the lord, Kemuri commented as if he was amused. He sounded almost like a little boy when he spoke. His voice was also calm like the silver-haired demon in his presence.

Sesshomaru's face did not change. "Those men that met me?" Surely Kemuri did not think those men would hold him off.

The younger lord waved the question off. "Merely criminals who would have been pardoned had they slain you."

"Interesting execution style," Sesshomaru muttered. It was too elaborate for his taste.

"I'm sure it was most interesting to see. I should have come out, but like I said, I had hopes of finishing my food," the younger noble replied with his smile still in place. He took a small bite from his meal.

"I'm here for Itachi," the dog demon stated. He knew if he stood there and actually spoke with Kemuri nothing would get done. The younger lord was good for running his mouth about nothing at all. The sound of his own voice seemed to entertain him just as much as carnage seemed to.

"My uncle told me that you'd be coming for him. He is somewhat of a guest, though, and I couldn't just hand him over to you, even though he has worn out his welcome, as weasels always do. Shall we fight for him?" Kemuri proposed in a very lighthearted tone, pointing his chopsticks at the dog demon. His voice belied the deadly and murderous demon that he was.

Sesshomaru's face did not change. "I don't have time for that." He did not want to fight Kemuri. This was not some game to him as it was to Kemuri.

"Oh, how sad," Kemuri sighed and put his chin in his free hand for a moment, utterly pouting, as if he was disappointed and then suddenly he shot forward.

He charged Sesshomaru while drawing his sword, which was at his side. He was on the dog demon in a flash and he certainly would have cut down most other demons. They clashed swords and the metal on metal sang out. Kemuri smiled wider, revealing his rather long fangs. He let loose a haunting chuckle and Sesshomaru growled.

"Tell me about the woman," the clay-skinned lord demanded. His voice was now more of a snarl than a childish tone, as his blade pressed against the Toukijin.

"She is my mate," Sesshomaru answered while standing his ground. He could feel Kemuri trying to push him back, but he would never give ground. If push came to shove, he would behead Keumri if it meant keeping Kikyo safe.

"Is she such a dangerous priestess?" the younger demon pressed.

"She is a priestess," the dog demon confirmed.

"Will she slaughter us all?"

"I'm sure she would have done that before we wed if she was. Besides, why would she marry a demon if she wished to slay demons?" Sesshomaru pointed out.

"My uncle allowed her in his presence?"

"He did."

Kemuri continued to grin like a delighted devil and then he leaped back just as suddenly as he had come forward. He sheathed his sword as he went back to his seat. Sesshomaru returned Toukijin to his side. Kemuri kept his attention on his unwanted guest, still looking very amused, like a pyromaniac that started a new fire. He picked up another bit of food and ate for a moment.

"Now that you bring it up, why should a human priestess want to marry you of all demons? Is she insane?" Kemuri taunted him.

"Where is Itachi?" Sesshomaru inquired, still not interested in this game.

"I released him into the woods. I thought that it would be fun to see you hunt him down," the younger lord answered with a giggle. His eyes shined brightly at the thought.

"You're a strange boy," Sesshomaru commented. The sooner he got out this boy's presence, the better.

"At least I'm not married to a human priestess," Kemuri countered with a shrug before eating some more.

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes and turned to leave. As much as he disliked Kemuri, he had to admit that the little sadist was as hospitable as to be expected. He was also quite reasonable. Now if only he was a bit saner, they might actually be able to get along. Get along as far as anyone could get along with Sesshomaru anyway.

"Kemuri, did you believe him?" Sesshomaru asked without turning around.

"Does it matter?" Kemuri countered.

Sesshomaru looked over his shoulder at the other lord. "Did you?"

There was another shrug and a giggle. "I had no reason to. I merely entertained him. Besides, would it not be interesting to face a priestess in battle? Or better still, to have her assault me in my bed, especially if she is as beautiful as they say?" The young lord wiggled in his seat as a lecherous smile settled on his face.

"Itachi obviously ran to the wrong place for refuge."

Kemuri only laughed. Sesshomaru left. He was confident that Kemuri had not any assassins after Kikyo without even having to ask. He was not sure if Kemuri even had assassins in his staff. The young demon tended to like to do his own dirty work, out in the open even when it was possible. The concept having ninja seemed lost on him. Sesshomaru could somewhat understand the sentiment.

Sesshomaru exited the castle and sniffed out Itachi, who was wandering in the woods just as the young lord said he was. Sesshomaru truly hated to play Kemuri's game, but Itachi was his quarry and he would be hunted. Sesshomaru just would save the painful things for later, so Kemuri could not get his full entertainment from it.

The weasel demon gasped before he even caught sight of the golden-eyed lord. He smelled Sesshomaru before anything. The trees were too thin and the shrubs were too low to provide Itachi with any kind of cover for when the dog demon came closer. He tried to run as fast as he could, but he knew that he would not escape vengeful platinum-haired demon.

"Itachi," the dog demon snarled. He had no idea how truly angry he was until he saw Itachi. His eyes bled over, even though he did not plan to transform. He was close to charging the weasel and just tearing his head off with his bare claws, but he fought that impulse. He wanted the disgusting weasel to suffer.

"Sesshomaru," Itachi swallowed nervously, tripping over his own feet. He tumbled in the dirt, rolling a few times before a tree stopped him. Groaning, he put a hand to his back and sat up. His eyes went wide as he saw Sesshomaru stalking toward him with a murderous glint in his eyes.

"You wanted my mate to kill me and you were willing to use our daughter to force her hand?" the silver-haired male inquired with a deep growl.

"Please, Sesshomaru," Itachi implored, hands digging into the mud as he tried to crawl backwards. The tree that stopped his roll was in the way.

"You would dare beg me after terrorizing my child and threatening my wife?" The gall of this bastard! Sesshomaru could not believe it.

Itachi cowered, having never seen Sesshomaru completely lose his composure before. He put his hands out, as if that would stop Sesshomaru. The dog demon drew Toukijin and slowly approached Itachi, scaring the weasel demon even more so than he already was. Sesshomaru enjoyed seeing the shorter man quiver with fear. He liked the smell of terror radiating from the onyx-eyed coward. It was a good start to making the fool experience as much terror and pain as possible.

Itachi actually managed to dodge Sesshomaru's first attack, out of sheer panic, falling out of the way of an energy blast. This only served to make the taller lord even more vexed and snarled, showing off sharp fangs. Itachi managed to climb to his feet and make a run for it. Sesshomaru continued to go after the frightened noble, who continued to dodge the energy attacks coming from Toukijin. Sesshomaru gave chase and took one last slash at Itachi, surprising the weasel because it was a regular swipe.

"What the…?" Itachi began to gag. He put his hand to his throat as blood oozed out his neck. Sesshomaru had cut his throat.

"I'm not done with you yet," Sesshomaru declared.

The weasel demon put his hand on his neck to slow the bleeding and tried his best to run off. Before he even made it two steps, Sesshomaru was blocking his path. He gasped and tumbled backwards, blood oozing through his fingers from his wound. He tried to run off again, but ran into the chest of a certain extremely upset demon. Itachi trembled as he attempted to back away, but he did not make it far. Sesshomaru snarled and put his hand through the shorter male's chest. Itachi coughed and gagged.

"Please," the weasel begged one last time.

"No one will ever harm my mate as long as I'm alive," Sesshomaru informed the injured man, putting his hand deeper into the other lord's torso.

Itachi was unable to say anything back. Sesshomaru withdrew his hand, pulling out whatever he could from the coward's chest, and the weasel lord collapsed, gagging as his blood painted the forest floor. Sesshomaru could not wait, like he had wanted. He just needed to end this man, end this whole situation. He needed Kikyo and Rin safe.

The body of the weasel lord began to dissolve because Sesshomaru had used his poisonous touch on the man. He wanted to make a statement he would not be merciful to those that tried anything against his family. He tossed the still dying Itachi near some rocks.

"Die in a ditch like the worthless maggot you are," Sesshomaru said as he turned away.

Sesshomaru walked away from the body, knowing that once Kemuri discovered the corpse, everyone would know because the boy enjoyed talking about death. The young demon liked to discuss agony and torment. The clay-skinned lord would spread the news far and wide as to why and how Sesshomaru killed Itachi because he liked bad news and the more disgusting the bad news, the better to him. He liked to scare people, too, even if was not of him. He might actually make it sound worse than it was, Sesshomaru considered. Maybe killing Itachi here will work out for me.

-8-8-8-8-

When Sesshomaru returned home, it was late at night. He had been gone for a few days, but the castle seemed to be perfect condition. He went to check on Rin first just because something in him wanted to see the little girl. She was out as usual with her little kitten resting at her side. He shook his head. He wished that she had different favorite pet. The cat seriously irked him and it was not because he was a dog demon… or at least that was what he told Kikyo.

Sesshomaru then turned and went to his bedroom. Kikyo was sleeping, as he expected her to be. He sat down next to her and her warm, chocolate eyes flickered open. He figured she would wake up because she probably sensed him even in her sleep. Besides, it was not like she was heavy sleeper. She reached out for him and grabbed him around the waist. She pulled herself over to rest against his legs and he caressed her cheek.

"So, what now?" Kikyo asked.

"What do you mean?" Sesshomaru countered.

"Is noble life always so interesting?"

"Unfortunately."

"If things are like this just from our marriage, what will happen once we have a child?" she wondered aloud.

He shook his head. "It will continue to be none of their business, but the nobles will try to make it their business for whatever reasons they have. Some will make sense and others won't."

"I suppose I'll have to get used to it then," she commented with a sigh.

"Unfortunately, but I'll be here with you all the way," he replied and leaned down to kiss her. She returned the kiss. He could only wonder what other paranoid people would concoct bizarre stories to trouble him and his family, but he knew something would come up because something always did.

-8-8-8-8-

That's it for this. I wasn't too into it. I think I might have to stick to AU. So, see you guys next fic, which will be an AU. I hope you guys enjoyed this one, though. Thanks again for reading.