XLIII

Ghost Past, Gone Past

The messages went out in the morning, signed in Kinawai's hand and sealed with Kinawai's blood and the sigil of power that had been passed to him when Sesshomaru's father had died. To the five Inu of the west – to the Nine Tails and each of his seven sons, to Togusa and the four bears of the Great Forests, to Kouga and the four Wolf Elders...all of the Council, he summoned, forty messages in total because he and Sesshomaru had no need to be told.

When they were out of his hands, Kinawai relaxed a little and then wandered through the great fortress, seeking Sesshomaru. The Inu was in the eastern garden with his mate, and Kinawai stood for a little while, watching them. If they were talking he couldn't hear it, but it didn't matter – he wasn't spying, just...looking.

He wanted something like what they had. He wanted a mate who would belong to him as much as he belonged to her...someone who was not a desperate thorn, agony at every awkward moment. From a personal standpoint, if Kasuka was killed it wouldn't hurt him any – he would be free of her for the first time in many long years. The other consequences...but then again, what other consequences could there be, now? If Kasuka had roused the desperation of the sleeping Dragons then she was of no further use to him, had instead become a liability because her actions, her betrayal, would taint his name.

He shook his head as he walked forward; it had been the risk he took when he mated her. He saw that Kagome was the one who turned to look at him first, a dark and unpleasant expression on her face. Her greeting was short and almost pained.

"Kinawai, good morning."

"Good morning, Kagome -"

"I'll – just leave you two alone, then -"

Discomfited, Kinawai watched her as she bowed a little bow and then walked away. Sesshomaru's eyes followed her, and then he looked up at Kinawai, the same enigmatic expression as always.

"Kinawai, there's going to be trouble for you and there's nothing I can do about it."

Kinawai shrugged.

"I knew that when I saw Kagome's face."

"Because she knows the truth. That Dragon – Tatsuya. He works on Kasuka's orders. Attacked Rin, attacked me, on Kasuka's orders. Your mate has some vast plot, and Tatsuya says she is the Dragonlord's daughter. The thought that it might be true – that Kasuka is the daughter of the last Dragonlord - Kagome is – disturbed. Kasuka told her when she gave her a mating gift that the two of them were kin; now she thinks she has proof and it bothers her greatly."

Kinawai lifted his eyebrows.

"Kasuka is a manipulative thing; I always knew this. You know that I, personally, have no stake in her plots; regardless, there's trouble for me in anything she's done. Still – if you intend to kill her, I don't see how that should be trouble for your mate. Kagome's relationship to her must be distant; there is...someone else who will have far more reason to be disturbed."

Sesshomaru's face shifted, twisted out of it's impassive, frosted calm and into something feral and terrible.

"To kill Kasuka is the least of what I intend to do to her – to her, and those who supported her. Don't forget, I've kept the Records for many long years. I know exactly who you speak of – and Eldest will do nothing to stand in my way; not if she wishes to escape my anger."

His eyes glittered.

"I do not think she will interfere. I think she has made clear who it is that she supports, among those of her kin still left alive. Didn't you know, Kinawai? Eldest calls Kagome her sister-daughter because that is what she is. How, or why she found this out I have not yet discovered; only that it is so. I made my own test of Eldest's presumption of her claims, and Kagome recognized her mother's face in the Record; Kurakazurahime was her mother. Do you understand, Kinawai? The one who was lost; I know where she went, and how it is that she lives there still...and how it is that Kagome is her daughter."

Kinawai blinked.

"Kagome – she is the daughter of the Lost Princess? She is the daughter of the -"

"Yes."

"I don't – how is that possible?"

"Kagome came to me from very far away, Kinawai – but not in space, in time. The record says that in the days of the Great Hunting, in which the Dragonlord's kin were chased down by the Inu who had rebelled against them, Kurakazurahime was lost after she went to visit her sister in her exile. Something happened between them; when Kurakazurahime left, she was no longer Dragon, but human, and as her youki was suppressed within her so must have been the youki of her unborn child.

"She ran into the forests of the west, and further – into the wood that borders on the village of Edo, where there is a dry well that acts as passage to the future. The last words of the Inu chasing her spoke of how she disappeared; how she fell into a pit in the ground and vanished, leaving not even a body behind."

Kinawai shook his head.

"That was just -"

"The truth. Because not that long ago, the well in the forest that once was claimed by my brother woke again, to make strange channels in time. Kagome came from the distant future, a future to which she and Inuyasha made passage back and forth, many times. In that future, five hundred years ahead of us in time, her mother, Kurakazurahime, still lives – but Kagome doesn't know if her mother is aware of her past. If she is, she has never spoken of it to her daughter."

Kagome is speechless, but he knows Sesshomaru too well to suspect that there is anything but the truth in what he's being told.

"Do you understand, Kinawai? She knows that she is Kasuka's cousin, that Eldest is her Aunt; that if her mother had not been lost she might have lived and died her life a score of centuries ago with Kasuka raised beside her."

Kinawai winced a little, but his eyes were hard.

"Might-have-been's are no use to anyone, Sesshomaru. You realize that Kasuka is likely to have allies in Council – those who have less sentimental reasons than your mate to wish for some lesser penalty than death."

"They can wish what they like."

A deadly blankness spread across Sesshomaru's gaze, and Kinawai shuddered despite himself. There was the glacial cold that had bought Sesshomaru his reputation.

"Listen well, Kinawai. I will not hold back my vengeance from her; I will take everything in my possession, everything under my command and throw it at her. She will die."

"She will defy you -"

Sesshomaru smiled and the smile together with the chill of his eyes was terrible to behold.

"I look forward to it, Kinawai."

That night, the responses began to come back from the lords to whom Kinawai had sent messages – far faster than he had expected. There were promises of attendance from every one, and in the messages from the Inu and Togusa a promise of more than just their word at the Council table. Sesshomaru read them with a certain satisfaction and then paced around the limits of the pavilion in which he had ordered the evening meal served.

The scent of Tatsuya choked him in the fortress; he couldn't breath in there for the thought of killing the smug Dragon – but no. Kinawai was right, Tatsuya was evidence, and could speak further evidence, and that would be necessary.

Sesshomaru had no desire to break the Council, no desire to make more trouble than Kasuka had already caused – but he would take his vengeance regardless of the price, and be damned for it if need be. The messages that had come with answers pleased him only because Kagome was still troubled, and he wanted this nonsense over with as fast as possible.

She ate little, and excused herself early to go read with Rin and Shippou. The children were excited to have her full attention, and Sesshomaru watched them go with mixed feelings. There were things to attend to, yes, and he could be happy that Kagome was there to take care of Rin when he was unable – she was a far better guardian than Jaken had ever been. But he wanted to be with them; to be done with Councils and lords and the problems of the future.

He scowled, and Kinawai laughed and reached for a cup and a flagon of wine. The dark liquid gurgled pleasantly and he gulped a mouthful and grinned.

"There will be time for domesticity later, Sesshomaru. Don't go soft on me now -"

Sesshomaru growled and Kinawai held back a second bout of laughter with difficulty.

"Enough, enough – I know, you haven't the patience for my sense of humor. Well – if that doesn't amuse you, then what about the rumors of your mate making their way across the land? Perhaps they will make you laugh."

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed. Laughter was the furthest thing from his mind.

"Rumors?"

"Yes. Listen – in the dens of all the Houses attached to the Great Council, and even on the winds which carry across the Western Sea, there is word going about your mate, and some of it -"

He leaned back in his chair and took a second, more appreciative sip of the wine.

"This is good. Hmm...yes – so. They say that your mate was raised in the Dreaming Wood by Eldest herself; they say that she has been kept in the secret places of your fortress since your father's youth, a hidden princess to be the mate of his future heir. They say that she was born of an egg kept hidden in the Secret Tomb of the last Dragonlord; they say that she fell from the moon and you found her and claimed her for the west."

Sesshomaru let out a huff of breath, impatient with such nonsense, and Kinawai's grin grew wider.

"There is only one thing all the rumors have in common, Sesshomaru. They call your Kagome Kakureta-hime, the Hidden Princess, and they caller her Shiro no Kimi, the White Lady of the West. Already, she is a legend about whom many stories are told; should I tell them to you, or maybe to her? Do you think she will be pleased?"

Sesshomaru glared at Kinawai with distinct displeasure.

"Do not tell her – no! No mocking nods from you, no false agreement! She must not be told. She has begun a dangerous thing, and I will not even tell you what it is. If I had known before she began what this might entail I would have forbidden it, but at the time...it seemed like a good idea. Besides which once she has made up her mind...she's difficult to dissuade. I knew even in the beginning that I would never be able to control her."

Sesshomaru was thinking about the decision Kagome had made – to befriend Kasuka, to present herself as a potential ally instead of a potential threat. He didn't think it would work, despite the smiles that Kasuka put on in Kagome's presence, but the more reputation Kagome gained, the more influence her name bore, the more interest Kasuka might gain.

Kinawai looked at him shrewdly through slitted eyes.

"A dangerous thing...I see. Something to do with Kasuka – is that why she is so disturbed?"

Sesshomaru stiffened, but said nothing. Kinawai eyed him over the rim of his glass, drained it and then put it down with a heavy click.

"Withholding information, Sesshomaru? That won't do anything good, not for me and not for your mater, either."

"I do not want her to deepen her interest in this thing! I want her to forget about it, not starting thinking about how to use her greater influence – I don't want her to have Kasuka's ear, Kasuka's attention. There's danger in that!"

"There's danger in everything you intend, Sesshomaru, but it's not fair to your mate to keep things from her that might help her to help you...what is it you thought you could do, use Kagome as bait without putting her in danger?"

Sesshomaru's frown grew dark.

"She is the one who wants to be bait!"

Kinawai's mouth opened in a silent O of understanding, and Sesshomaru sank back against his chair.

"Enough, Kinawai. I won't tell you anything that could endanger her; I won't do what she's asking – I won't -"

A slight sound, the merest, quietest whisper of a rustle of silk, alerted Kinawai's ears, and he smiled, stood and turned to look over his shoulder toward the entrance to the pavilion. On the long, pale path of crushed stone Kagome is standing, her expression irritated, her eyes focused. He grinned at her, to let her know that he'd caught her eavesdropping – again - but she only glared at him defiantly and stomped across the stones and up into the pavilion in order to find the most fitting target for her displeasure.

Sesshomaru sat forward, startled; he hadn't expected her to come looking for him again for at least another hour.

"Kagome, Rin and Shippou -"

"Are asleep; I left them in Shippou's room, we can move Rin later. And don't think you can distract my by asking questions about the kids. You – you! I thought we agreed that I would -"

"Kagome! Not now."

Her temper flared and struck out at him with youki, almost a physical blow, and Kinawai leaned well back in his chair, content to watch the fireworks for now.

"Yes, now! No one is here but Kinawai, who you told me to trust – well, this is not how you treat people you trust. You told me you trusted him – as your father had trusted him, you said. Tell me, is that true?"

Sesshomaru stared at her, his irritation fading into surprise.

"I do not lie. It is true."

"Then why won't you let him help us? I might decide to tell him, all by myself, if you don't! He's in a better position to help me figure out Kasuka than anyone else. You tell me all the time to accept my nature – my duty – my position – the dangerous being that I am, so – so let me be dangerous, and stop worry about my safety. You're the one who died, in case you forgot!"

Sesshomaru stared down at Kagome and waited to be sure she was through. Her arms crossed beneath her breasts, and her face rebellious. Sesshomaru let out a long sigh.

"You will tell him if I don't. You will."

She didn't need to say anything to confirm his resigned statement. Sesshomaru swung his gaze from her face to Kinawai.

"When it became obvious to me that Kasuka would attempt to coerce Kagome into working against me, I told her this. Kagome decided it would be best to pretend to cooperate, and thus has set herself to spy upon your mate. She thinks she can discover why it is that Kasuka wants so badly to destroy me, and perhaps stop her, or find out what she is intending. She has been attempting since her Presentation to annoy me into procuring an invitation to visit you, so that she can "get on with it."

Kinawai stared for a moment, his gaze twitching back and forth between the two of them – and then he sank back into his chair, roaring with laughter. After a long couple of minutes, during which he regained control of himself, Kinawai looked up at Kagome, lips twitching.

"Lady, in order that the bond between yourself and the House of your birth not be completely sundered by your acceptance into the House of your mate, I invite you to the Deep Winter Feast to be held in six weeks time, at the full of next month's moon."

Sesshomaru's lips compressed into a thin white line, and then grew dark with blood where he had bitten them. Kagome squared her shoulders and bowed shortly to Kinawai, grinning with triumph.

"I accept, of course! Now, Kinawai – what can you tell me about Kasuka that might be useful? I know she's Dragon – and that she's my cousin – and that she's Eldest's daughter. Do you think I could bond with her by talking about her mother? Or -"

Kinawai sat up sharply and fixed her with a gleaming glare.

"No! No – you won't wake friendly feelings in her that way. No, you don't...want to mention her mother's name. She has no love for Eldest, or at least she doesn't now, if she ever did. The truth of her descent...I suspected, but I had no proof, and now that I do – or rather, now that Sesshomaru does, I can fill in the last piece of the story of her life that I was missing. Kasuka, the daughter of the Eldest of us...one of the terrors of the ancient world reborn."

His lips thinned, and he sank back against his seat again. Kagome crossed the floor of the pavilion and came to sit across from him. It was only after a long silence that Kinawai spoke further, and the tale he told, full of guesses and conjecture as it was, still ventured close to the truth – Kagome could feel it. She could taste it, bitter words to tell the story of a bitter life.

"They – the Dragons I rule over – have never called me the Lord of the House of Fire. They speak of the Tiger who sits on the Dragon's throne – they call me cat and long for the ancient days when they were dominant. The days when any lesser beast seeking to rule over them would have been slain out of hand. It was for that reason that when I decided it was time to seek a mate, I knew that I would need to choose a Dragon female – a female who carried the old, high bloodlines – a female who would reinforce my authority by her mere presence."

Kagome nodded; she understood what he was saying, if not the reasons why it was true.

"I first heard of Kasuka when my mother was killed and the rule of the North passed into my hands. There was anger, and many Challenges, and I am certain that those who attacked me did it less because of me and more because the beast within me, my youkai nature, is that of the Tiger...and not a Dragon. For them it was as if the great defeats of the ancient centuries had come for them again; another beast taking what they had made their own from them.

"My mother was Dragon, one with the Sight – a princess of the great house, a daughter directly descended from the Dragonlords and their kin. She made her future the way she wanted it to be, and chose herself a mate from among her suitors according to her own preference. There was no outcry then. They should have known when she took a Tiger for her mate what the result would be, but said nothing – for long years, nothing, until she died and it was made clear to them that there I alone was successor to the House of Fire. Perhaps they did not expect her to die – I know I didn't – she was old but not ancient, youkai and immortal...to this day I don't know how she died."

Kinawai shook off old memories and the pointless suspicions they carried.

"Despite the fact that I knew her name and that she was regarded as one of those with high blood, I was not the one who went seeking Kasuka. It was she who came looking for me; she who told me that she knew my trouble, that she would offer herself as my mate to ensure that the House of Fire remained glorious. I should have known that such an apparent sacrificewould be trouble, that she would be trouble, but at the time..."

Kinawai paused and shrugged. His eager audience didn't move a muscle; Kagome didn't want to miss a word.

"At that time, I was certain that my options were limited. To increase my hold would require terrible violence or some greater authority than I possessed. Kasuka didn't tell me the name of her parents, didn't make clear to me the source of her high blood – her dangerous lineage. To my lasting regret, I didn't pry when I should; I didn't bother to seek out knowledge that I didn't think I needed. She was Dragon, and powerful, and beautiful – and when she spoke, all her kin listened.

"I should have asked why, of course, but I was young and stupid and too pleased with the calm that had settled over the North to risk disrupting it with too many questions. Kasuka promised to mate me, to give herself up to me – and swore that with her would come the reins with which I could control the House of Fire. Before I ever mated her, before I had done more than hear her words and look at her, the truth of what she was promising was clear. From the moment I was first in her presence until very recently, the attitudes of the Dragons changed – never subservient, but always respectful.

"It was a far cry from what things had been like before she appeared, and so...I took her – but it grew clear to me very soon after that though I sought to use her for my own purposes, though I sought to control her kin through her, so did she seek control over me. Over the House of Fire – over all youkai. Not even a year passed before she began to whisper to me of the Dragonlord and of days gone past...and of the Inu no Taisho, and how he had grown weak.

"I laughed her to silence, and she never spoke of it again, but from that day to this I have never been in her presence with a good feeling in me. I have never stood near her and not felt like I was on the verge of being trapped by some vicious spider. She is my mate – she did everything she promised - and yet...there was that darkness, that feeling...always that feeling like she was hiding something important.

"A little more than eighty years ago, for the first time the sense of peaceful security that had infected me was broken. War broke out between humans; many youkai used the conflict as an excuse to move more freely among men, to take more lives than they might otherwise have done. The Dragons were no different...but the Inu no Taisho was. He took exception to their rampages across his lands, though they were directed against humans; he took exception to the fact that one of the lords of the Silent House thought it wise to insult his people...his power...and the woman he had chosen for himself, in defiance of all custom."

Kagome leaned forward in her chair.

"You mean Inuyasha's mother, don't you?"

Kinawai nodded and poured himself another glass of wine. Sesshomaru only scowled and continued to sit silent, stoic, face closed and gaze turned inward.

"Yes. His woman was not only human, she was a princess – the daughter of a noble house, though not a wealthy one. She was set to marry the son of a wealthy general, but her heart was caught by youkai magnificence and she defied her family and her own nature to be with the Inu no Taisho.

"I do not know, now, if it was because of Kasuka or not; certainly she's proved to hold a grudge long enough. Whatever the case, one day in late autumn, not long before the woman was due to give birth, Ryuukotsusei, the Lord of the Silent House, ignored all my orders and his own duty to common sense and gave deadly insult to the Inu no Taisho. They fought, a battle that lasted for days and nights, a battle like the old days that have come down to us only in myth.

"The strength of the Dragon was a great strength, but the Inu no Taisho was stronger; the Dragon's will great, but the Inu no Taisho's will greater. It was poison that made the difference, poison strong enough to overpower most magnificent youki. It couldn't kill the great Inu – he was too strong for that, and the venom could only weaken him...but that was enough. Sealed with one great, broken fang, Ryuukotsusei was still responsible for the Inu no Taisho's death. Only Dragon venom had weakened him enough that the humans who sought vengeance for their defiled princess could touch him.

"The Inu no Taisho died, and when he was gone Kasuka seemed to exert her control and restrain them. There was Council called, and deaths dealt in judgment, deaths Sesshomaru took with his own hands in payment for what had been stolen. The voices that cried out against it were silenced, but I was not satisfied. I wanted to know why Kasuka could not have restrained Ryuukotsusei before it was too late, when after he was sealed she was able to restrain the fools that called themselves his kin."

Kagome swallowed.

"Did – did she -"

"Didn't I say that I don't know? Yet I suspected, even then – because the influence she wielded had been perfect, and because the Inu no Taisho was always the great enemy of those who claimed descent from the Dragonlords. When I went searching for truth, all I found was missing pieces, none of which assembled properly. A daughter without a house; a duty without a holder; silence, on the lips of anyone who might have answered my questions.

"It was through my search for information that I encountered Eldest for the second time in my life. She turned me in the right direction, though now it appears that she could have told me the story herself -"

Kagome's gasp of indrawn breath cut off Kinawai's words.

"Kinawai – Kinawai I know that story. She did tell it – to me, during the rites of my presentation. She spoke for age and wisdom – she said that she had a daughter who had slain her son – Kinawai that must have been Kasuka, all those years ago -"

"Yes. More than a thousand years ago, Kasuka slew her closest kin and left her mother bereft. Why she did it, and how it benefited her – I don't know. I will never know, because only she knows her own reasons and she does not share herself with anyone. Even her name is not the same as it was. The daughter of Eldest recorded in the ancient records is not Kasuka but Tetsukorikimi. In her youth, she was trained by her father, the next in line for the ancient throne of the Dragonlords – a Dragon lady, she would have been. Other than that name, no deeds of hers are recorded until the days when the Inu no Taisho rose up, and rebelled."

"And then?"

Kinawai's face turned more grim.

"She is listed among the witnesses who saw the Challenge of the Inu no Taisho against the last Dragonlord. It is written that when he died, she swore vengeance for him, and for all Dragons...but she vanished after that, and there is no more written anywhere about Tetsukorikimi."

Kagome licked her lips and pressed her hands flat against the table as Kinawai fell silent and drained the rest of his glass of wine.

"So she...she used to be a Dragonlord's daughter, and then she changed her name...but why?"

Finally, after so many minutes of silence, Sesshomaru spoke.

"Because Tetsukorikimi had made a promise, and Kasuka was nobody. Because Tetsukorikimi would have been slain in the Hunt my father led after the sons and daughters of the Dragons who would not submit to him. Because by the time she had reappeared, only Eldest remembered her face."

"So she could have her revenge and not let anyone know it was her?"

"No. So she could have her revenge and only let it be known what she had done after the fact. Do you see now, Kagome, how dangerous the course you've set yourself on is?"

She nodded.

"I do. But Sesshomaru – you haven't got a better plan, and I don't think there is one. Between the two of you, there's the whole story, or as much of it as a Record can carry. Everything else we need to know – who her allies are, and what she intends to do next, and how she managed to slip her servants into the fortress – only Kasuka herself can say, but she certainly isn't going to talk to either of you."

Kagome closed her eyes for a moment, and then looked toward Sesshomaru.

"And you know, Eldest offered to train me; she said when the full moon came -"

"That's nearly a week away, Kagome."

"Yes, but when I see her I can ask about Kasuka."

Sesshomaru's expression darkened.

"You think that is wise, Kagome?"

She shrugged.

"I think that it's one of the very few options we've got. I won't just sit around waiting while you try to figure out what's going on and then go out to fight, Sesshomaru. I'll help – I'll help anyway I can."

Sesshomaru stared at her, and then, slowly, he nodded.

"All right, Kagome. All right. I won't fight you – but I will do everything in my power to make this unnecessary."

She grinned.

"Of course. You wouldn't be you if you didn't."

His mouth didn't move, but his eyes smiled back at her, and Kinawai looked back and forth between the two of them and felt his earlier jealousy rekindle. If he could only have something like that -

He swore to himself in that moment that when Kasuka was dead, he would find himself a new mate. Someone who wanted him for no reason at all; someone he could love.

A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WICCAN! Teehee. This is a surprise chapter, because it is Wiccan's birthday and why not! And it hasn't been a year, either. Ha! Onward soon, my dears, because now that Sesshomaru and Kagome and Kinawai all know what's been going on – as much as they can know – the Council will arrive. And there's drama and doom aplenty there, I assure you! Coming Soon: promises, platitudes, and war!

Please Review!