July 2010 Week 1
Title:How It Could Have Been; ch 62, Apology
Author:petalears
Universe:A/U
Rating:PG
Summary: A letter arrives for Inuyasha
Quote:A boy is easier cheated than an old lady.
-Welsh proverb
Apology
A/N I have used the definition of ‘misled’ for the word ‘cheated’ in the quote.
Of course it was not long before Izayoi was acquainted with Inuyasha’s situation; she had recovered from her mild illness and was up and about again, so she was well able to have her son back to stay with her. Sitting on his Mama’s lap was the warmest place he knew in terms of unquestioning love; apart from Shu’s tail, which was warmer physically and his youkai bond with his brother notwithstanding. Being with his Mama was safe, but he didn’t tell her absolutely everything anymore; he hated to see her upset and refused to be the cause of any more of her tears. Inuyasha hadn’t forgotten how they had both cried when he asked her what a hanyou was, at the first visit to Makoto’s mother.
However, Izayoi was far from naive, she not only had children but even a great grandchild now, and she was very aware there was more to Inuyasha’s story than he was telling. But it was Kaoru who eventually gave her more of the details, telling her of Inuyasha’s stand. Mama knew only too well how stubborn her small hanyou could be, just like most other children, he would only become more determined if pushed into a corner. Therefore she didn’t try to persuade him that he should return to school, and risk making it a bigger issue; the time for that would be later when he’d calmed down enough to listen.
Inuyasha gazed up at his mother; his beautiful and huge, golden eyes clear and bright, were full of love for her while at the same time registering concern. Izayoi hugged him very tightly, her love for him as intense as the day she birthed him; she’d never regretted the hanyou’s life, but she regretted the briefness of her own in comparison. Yori was already a grandfather and his older brother was still only a young child; these thoughts were not new though, Izayoi and the Lady had spoken at length regarding Inuyasha’s future, a long time ago.
Izayoi had casually mentioned that it was good that Inuyasha had seemed to accept the almost parental authority of his siblings at times, as he would have more humans to keep him balanced and perhaps ease the loss of his mother somewhat. The Lady was horrified at the thought however, and voiced her dissent forcibly;
"You cannot mean this, Izayoi; we have already agreed that the pup will come to me when you are no longer able to be there for him."
"But My Lady, you will not take him away from his brothers and sisters?"
"No, but he will not view them as parents; they will have no authority over him."
"I have seen how well Inuyasha takes to Yori and Kaoru, not to mention my other children; Chouko is positively maternal when he stays with her."
"How she acts now and how she would be when you are no longer around can be different things."
"You cannot seriously think my children would turn on their brother: I would remind you he is my son and I will decide what to do with him."
"You are forgetting that he is also the son of My Mate, he should be mine by rights and I will be the mother to him in your place; he is already mine in my heart, and has been since his bond with Sesshoumaru made me love him." The Lady showed all the possessive traits of her youkai kind, as she asserted herself to Izayoi, but instead of being afraid for her son, the human mother recognised the instincts in the other woman that would protect him. The Lady scented Izayoi’s tears of capitulation which calmed her youkai and made her ashamed of her outburst.
"Forgive me Izayoi; I did not mean to upset you, but I have another thing for you to consider; how will Inuyasha feel when he realises that age will creep up on not just you, but on any human he considers a parent? He will need the stability of parents who are not going to leave him, not pass him on to the next generation and then the next. You need not fear Inuyasha will be cut off from half his heritage, but it would only work if we don’t confuse him further. His siblings should remain his siblings."
Once Izayoi had had time to get over her righteous indignation at the Lady’s high handedness, she had seen the logic in her words. As Izayoi held her son now and thought on that conversation of long ago she was grateful, especially as her own children were getting older. Although it was hard for her to think on it, the truth was, the still very young Inuyasha would be left again to his nieces and nephews. It would be cruel to do that to him when the Lady could offer him permanency as a youkai mother.
Izayoi was brought once again to the present by a squirming Inuyasha who was being squashed in her embrace. As she apologised in case she’d hurt him, Inuyasha scoffed gently and told her that no human had the power to harm him. So she began to tickle him until he was laughing, and the concerned look had left his eyes. It returned however when she coughed from the exertion and once again, the large eyes were studying her seriously.
"Are you feeling better now Mama; does the cough hurt?" Inuyasha asked and his nose scrunched up, alerting his mother to the fact he could scent that her past illness was not quite gone. She also knew she would have to answer carefully and that he would be able to tell if she was less than truthful.
"The cough still hurts a bit, but I am feeling much better than I did do a few days ago. Soon the cough will be gone." That was near enough the truth to satisfy Inuyasha, Izayoi thought, and as he nodded and smiled again, she felt the hidden deception was worthwhile. She didn’t want him to worry about her for any longer than necessary and if he thought her to be ill, he would be distressed and he had enough to cope with at the moment; besides one day he would have cause to mourn, and she didn’t want that to be sooner than needed.
So to further allay his worries, Izayoi patted her son’s bottom to encourage him to get down from her lap and help her to make the evening dinner. It was not so demanding anymore for her to do; only she, Makoto and Inuyasha were left to share the meal as everyone else had their own homes. Toshi and her husband now lived with their eldest daughter and Inuyasha didn’t see her anymore, he didn’t miss her, and had dismissed her without much thought. Usually Chouko or one of the granddaughters brought a meal around for them, but Izayoi liked to keep her hand in with cooking.
Inuyasha was mainly helpful now in the kitchen, but was a tireless bundle of energy while he was awake; he still dropped like a brick when ready for bed, but otherwise he could run around for hours. After the modest but tasty meal was finished and the pots and crockery washed and put away, Inuyasha had time to play before bed. He sat on the floor in front of the fire while Makoto whittled on a toy for one of the younger grandchildren and Izayoi told stories to both of them. They were enjoying one another’s company when a courier arrived with a letter for Inuyasha that had been sent to the Palace.
This was a real occasion; Inuyasha had never received a letter before and he turned it over in his hands several times before sniffing it and then opening it very carefully, so as to leave the seal as neat as possible. He was slightly nervous too, the scent of the letter identified The Tiger as the one who had written the missive. But after looking to Izayoi and seeing her encouraging smile, Inuyasha read the formal words.
Prince Inuyasha,
If you would see fit to grant me an audience in the presence of your Father and Mother, I would deem it a great honour. I await your answer patiently;
Your tutor,
The Tiger.
Inuyasha re-read the letter with some trepidation and then handed it to Izayoi who nodded in agreement. When Makoto too had seen the letter, he went and got paper and ink for Inuyasha to form his reply.
Teacher,
I would be pleased to see you. Would tomorrow be alright?
Prince Inuyasha.
The following morning saw the small entourage of Inuyasha, Izayoi and Makoto dressed in their finest kimono, enter the Palace accompanied by their individual guards. This was the first time Inuyasha had been back to this home since he’d left school over a week prior, as Inu no Taishou had decided that the farm was the young hanyou’s sanctuary. Therefore no one was to visit him if they were just going to try to persuade him to do something he didn’t want to do; Inuyasha would come to the Palace every now and then and could be seen there.
The boy appreciated the space, he needed to come to terms with things himself and in peace. A lot of the time he was confused in his mind, sometimes torn between his human heart and instinctive youkai heritage. This would likely become more pronounced as time went on, and Inu no Taishou had decreed that the farm should be somewhere the pup could feel safe without someone always looking over his shoulder. It had already been agreed that once Izayoi and Makoto had passed away, the farm would become Inuyasha’s property; Yori and the others already having places of their own as inheritance.
Izayoi and Makoto were made very welcome by both the Lord and Lady of the West, while Inuyasha was not yet allowed to run off and find his brothers and sister. He had to sit still in his finery and wait, something he was not very good at; while the adults talked over his head. After interesting light refreshments and lots of boring talk that made his ears twitch all of the time, even though he could make neither head nor tail out of the ramblings, Inuyasha became aware that silence had fallen and the guard was announcing The Tiger at the door.
This was a meeting he thought he had well prepared for, and yet when he entered and saw his Lord sitting with his Lady on his right hand and the Lady Izayoi on his left with her husband, The Tiger felt intimidated. He also recognised that he was supposed to feel ill at ease with the set up; in a form of retribution for the undeserved public scolding he had given Inuyasha. With that a surge of indignant self pride rose in The Tiger’s breast and he nearly allowed an angry growl to escape at the position he was in.
But the sight of the small hanyou, looking even smaller in his rich kimono calmed him up rapidly; Inuyasha was uncomfortable as well. The boy’s puppy ears were flattened against his head and his eyes were huge with trepidation as he watched his tutor from his own position of sitting on a cushion in front of his parents. The Tiger was immediately the concerned teacher once more, wanting to ease the burden from the child before him, a burden to which he had to admit he personally had contributed.
He had condemned the pup, feeling him over sensitive and forgetting that most small children are sensitive, especially about injustice. So The Tiger tried to ignore the imposing adults in the room and focused his attention solely on his pupil, who looked very like prey as his teacher approached him, keeping eye contact. However as he reached Inuyasha, The Tiger looked away and knelt down in front of the boy, partly in obeisance due to his position of Prince, but also so that he could talk directly to him face to face.
Before he could open his mouth however, Inuyasha who had been on tenterhooks since the letter, and unnerved by his tutors steady approach, jumped up and bowed, apologising for his rude behaviour of shouting at his teacher. And suddenly The Tiger found his task easy; he raised the pup’s head by putting his finger under Inuyasha’s chin and smiled sadly at him. A wave of self loathing coursed through his body as he realised he had made the normally cheerful little boy afraid of him, his teacher.
"No Inuyasha, it is I who must apologise to you. I made the mistake of reprimanding you when I didn’t have all of the facts. I told you off without checking your story or remembering that you were never a spiteful child. I thought you guilty of bad behaviour before I made sure of what had happened, even wondering if your human elements were partly to blame. For this I also ask forgiveness of your mother; I have no experience with humans and should not have judged you."
The Tiger at this point bowed before Izayoi who offered him her hand in forgiveness and allowed him to address the still silent and stunned Inuyasha again. The pup hadn’t understood all of the words entirely, but he knew enough to know his teacher was very sorry for how he had dealt with Inuyasha. It meant a lot to him to have this apology, he could scent the sincerity from The Tiger and it made tears stand in his eyes while his mother was spoken too. But he was unable to form a reply before being talked to again.
"I do have a word of good advice to you, and I shall say this again when school restarts to all the others; never keep anything that frightens or upsets you to yourself. Always tell someone older who you trust, even if the one who tells you it is a secret, says you are a baby if you disclose it. Do not believe them, and tell an adult if you are ever hurt or scared. Nobody knew of the notes you’d received, had we done so, it might have saved your heartache. Will you promise me Inuyasha?"
"I promise." Inuyasha answered in a quiet but firm voice.
"Thank you and I hope that you will come back to school soon, although I do understand why you don’t wish to; but I am sure that like me, your friends would like to be given another chance to show you we are all sorry." After he had finished speaking, The Tiger stood to stand before his Lord and Lady. Inu no Taishou told him he could go now and that his apology had been accepted by Inuyasha’s mother, then he looked to Inuyasha who also nodded and The Tiger left them.
Once he had gone, Inu no Taishou lightened the mood by saying that he was hungry and that he bet Inuyasha was also ready to eat. His son laughed and jumped into his father’s arms to be carried off to the dining hall where a feast had been laid out in honour of their human guests. Izayoi and Makoto followed at a more sedate pace accompanied by the Lady who expressed concern when Izayoi coughed severely and had to stop to gather her breath.
"May I offer you my healer for that cough Izayoi?"
"Thank you My Lady, but I fear there is little to be done; my lungs are no longer as capable as they used to be."
"I am sure that adequate rest will aid you, after dinner I shall send for the physician."
"You are most kind." Izayoi replied, knowing that The Lady wouldn’t be gainsaid. After a happy evening meal, the healer thoroughly examined Izayoi, before going and reporting his findings to his Lady. It was nothing that could be cured; Izayoi’s health was in a slow decline, partly due to her age and partly because her first child had taken a toll on her body. Most humans mothers who bore hanyou, only had the one child due to the bodily strain such a babe took from her; and Izayoi had gone on to have four more, albeit human children.
At the moment there was no immediate cause for concern and The Lady went to visit with Izayoi. She asked what the prognosis was and was told that there was nothing to worry about; the cough would go in time. Izayoi laughed ruefully;
"It will go when I die, this I know; I fear there will not be long to wait." Izayoi said and noticed The Lady take a discreet sniff at the air.
"Nonsense, you will soon feel better."
"Again, I am sure of that, forgive me My Lady, but I am too expert in using truthful evasions around Inuyasha, to not recognise when they are said against me. So far I have fooled his clever seeking nose when explaining my illness but it will not work to mislead me. Do I need to be immediately concerned?" Her serious reply had a hint of worry, even fear, in it and The Lady was very pleased she could answer in all truthfulness.
"Not yet Izayoi, nothing is imminent; the healer is certain of this. Now rest and do not be alarmed, you will not be handing Inuyasha over to my care quite so soon." The Lady then stroked Izayoi’s brow and the human found relief and was able to have a healthy sleep. But sadness crept over the youkai’s face, she had noticed the scent of mortality quite strongly on Izayoi, it was not yet a problem, but it was also not that far away.
The Lady too was a mother, much older than Izayoi in years and experience; she too knew how to tell half truths and use clever wording to ease a burden. What Izayoi had done for Inuyasha and thought could not be done to her, had been, but it was a hollow victory; human life was so short and frail towards the end.
Author:petalears
Universe:A/U
Rating:PG
Summary: A letter arrives for Inuyasha
Quote:A boy is easier cheated than an old lady.
-Welsh proverb
Apology
A/N I have used the definition of ‘misled’ for the word ‘cheated’ in the quote.
Of course it was not long before Izayoi was acquainted with Inuyasha’s situation; she had recovered from her mild illness and was up and about again, so she was well able to have her son back to stay with her. Sitting on his Mama’s lap was the warmest place he knew in terms of unquestioning love; apart from Shu’s tail, which was warmer physically and his youkai bond with his brother notwithstanding. Being with his Mama was safe, but he didn’t tell her absolutely everything anymore; he hated to see her upset and refused to be the cause of any more of her tears. Inuyasha hadn’t forgotten how they had both cried when he asked her what a hanyou was, at the first visit to Makoto’s mother.
However, Izayoi was far from naive, she not only had children but even a great grandchild now, and she was very aware there was more to Inuyasha’s story than he was telling. But it was Kaoru who eventually gave her more of the details, telling her of Inuyasha’s stand. Mama knew only too well how stubborn her small hanyou could be, just like most other children, he would only become more determined if pushed into a corner. Therefore she didn’t try to persuade him that he should return to school, and risk making it a bigger issue; the time for that would be later when he’d calmed down enough to listen.
Inuyasha gazed up at his mother; his beautiful and huge, golden eyes clear and bright, were full of love for her while at the same time registering concern. Izayoi hugged him very tightly, her love for him as intense as the day she birthed him; she’d never regretted the hanyou’s life, but she regretted the briefness of her own in comparison. Yori was already a grandfather and his older brother was still only a young child; these thoughts were not new though, Izayoi and the Lady had spoken at length regarding Inuyasha’s future, a long time ago.
Izayoi had casually mentioned that it was good that Inuyasha had seemed to accept the almost parental authority of his siblings at times, as he would have more humans to keep him balanced and perhaps ease the loss of his mother somewhat. The Lady was horrified at the thought however, and voiced her dissent forcibly;
"You cannot mean this, Izayoi; we have already agreed that the pup will come to me when you are no longer able to be there for him."
"But My Lady, you will not take him away from his brothers and sisters?"
"No, but he will not view them as parents; they will have no authority over him."
"I have seen how well Inuyasha takes to Yori and Kaoru, not to mention my other children; Chouko is positively maternal when he stays with her."
"How she acts now and how she would be when you are no longer around can be different things."
"You cannot seriously think my children would turn on their brother: I would remind you he is my son and I will decide what to do with him."
"You are forgetting that he is also the son of My Mate, he should be mine by rights and I will be the mother to him in your place; he is already mine in my heart, and has been since his bond with Sesshoumaru made me love him." The Lady showed all the possessive traits of her youkai kind, as she asserted herself to Izayoi, but instead of being afraid for her son, the human mother recognised the instincts in the other woman that would protect him. The Lady scented Izayoi’s tears of capitulation which calmed her youkai and made her ashamed of her outburst.
"Forgive me Izayoi; I did not mean to upset you, but I have another thing for you to consider; how will Inuyasha feel when he realises that age will creep up on not just you, but on any human he considers a parent? He will need the stability of parents who are not going to leave him, not pass him on to the next generation and then the next. You need not fear Inuyasha will be cut off from half his heritage, but it would only work if we don’t confuse him further. His siblings should remain his siblings."
Once Izayoi had had time to get over her righteous indignation at the Lady’s high handedness, she had seen the logic in her words. As Izayoi held her son now and thought on that conversation of long ago she was grateful, especially as her own children were getting older. Although it was hard for her to think on it, the truth was, the still very young Inuyasha would be left again to his nieces and nephews. It would be cruel to do that to him when the Lady could offer him permanency as a youkai mother.
Izayoi was brought once again to the present by a squirming Inuyasha who was being squashed in her embrace. As she apologised in case she’d hurt him, Inuyasha scoffed gently and told her that no human had the power to harm him. So she began to tickle him until he was laughing, and the concerned look had left his eyes. It returned however when she coughed from the exertion and once again, the large eyes were studying her seriously.
"Are you feeling better now Mama; does the cough hurt?" Inuyasha asked and his nose scrunched up, alerting his mother to the fact he could scent that her past illness was not quite gone. She also knew she would have to answer carefully and that he would be able to tell if she was less than truthful.
"The cough still hurts a bit, but I am feeling much better than I did do a few days ago. Soon the cough will be gone." That was near enough the truth to satisfy Inuyasha, Izayoi thought, and as he nodded and smiled again, she felt the hidden deception was worthwhile. She didn’t want him to worry about her for any longer than necessary and if he thought her to be ill, he would be distressed and he had enough to cope with at the moment; besides one day he would have cause to mourn, and she didn’t want that to be sooner than needed.
So to further allay his worries, Izayoi patted her son’s bottom to encourage him to get down from her lap and help her to make the evening dinner. It was not so demanding anymore for her to do; only she, Makoto and Inuyasha were left to share the meal as everyone else had their own homes. Toshi and her husband now lived with their eldest daughter and Inuyasha didn’t see her anymore, he didn’t miss her, and had dismissed her without much thought. Usually Chouko or one of the granddaughters brought a meal around for them, but Izayoi liked to keep her hand in with cooking.
Inuyasha was mainly helpful now in the kitchen, but was a tireless bundle of energy while he was awake; he still dropped like a brick when ready for bed, but otherwise he could run around for hours. After the modest but tasty meal was finished and the pots and crockery washed and put away, Inuyasha had time to play before bed. He sat on the floor in front of the fire while Makoto whittled on a toy for one of the younger grandchildren and Izayoi told stories to both of them. They were enjoying one another’s company when a courier arrived with a letter for Inuyasha that had been sent to the Palace.
This was a real occasion; Inuyasha had never received a letter before and he turned it over in his hands several times before sniffing it and then opening it very carefully, so as to leave the seal as neat as possible. He was slightly nervous too, the scent of the letter identified The Tiger as the one who had written the missive. But after looking to Izayoi and seeing her encouraging smile, Inuyasha read the formal words.
Prince Inuyasha,
If you would see fit to grant me an audience in the presence of your Father and Mother, I would deem it a great honour. I await your answer patiently;
Your tutor,
The Tiger.
Inuyasha re-read the letter with some trepidation and then handed it to Izayoi who nodded in agreement. When Makoto too had seen the letter, he went and got paper and ink for Inuyasha to form his reply.
Teacher,
I would be pleased to see you. Would tomorrow be alright?
Prince Inuyasha.
The following morning saw the small entourage of Inuyasha, Izayoi and Makoto dressed in their finest kimono, enter the Palace accompanied by their individual guards. This was the first time Inuyasha had been back to this home since he’d left school over a week prior, as Inu no Taishou had decided that the farm was the young hanyou’s sanctuary. Therefore no one was to visit him if they were just going to try to persuade him to do something he didn’t want to do; Inuyasha would come to the Palace every now and then and could be seen there.
The boy appreciated the space, he needed to come to terms with things himself and in peace. A lot of the time he was confused in his mind, sometimes torn between his human heart and instinctive youkai heritage. This would likely become more pronounced as time went on, and Inu no Taishou had decreed that the farm should be somewhere the pup could feel safe without someone always looking over his shoulder. It had already been agreed that once Izayoi and Makoto had passed away, the farm would become Inuyasha’s property; Yori and the others already having places of their own as inheritance.
Izayoi and Makoto were made very welcome by both the Lord and Lady of the West, while Inuyasha was not yet allowed to run off and find his brothers and sister. He had to sit still in his finery and wait, something he was not very good at; while the adults talked over his head. After interesting light refreshments and lots of boring talk that made his ears twitch all of the time, even though he could make neither head nor tail out of the ramblings, Inuyasha became aware that silence had fallen and the guard was announcing The Tiger at the door.
This was a meeting he thought he had well prepared for, and yet when he entered and saw his Lord sitting with his Lady on his right hand and the Lady Izayoi on his left with her husband, The Tiger felt intimidated. He also recognised that he was supposed to feel ill at ease with the set up; in a form of retribution for the undeserved public scolding he had given Inuyasha. With that a surge of indignant self pride rose in The Tiger’s breast and he nearly allowed an angry growl to escape at the position he was in.
But the sight of the small hanyou, looking even smaller in his rich kimono calmed him up rapidly; Inuyasha was uncomfortable as well. The boy’s puppy ears were flattened against his head and his eyes were huge with trepidation as he watched his tutor from his own position of sitting on a cushion in front of his parents. The Tiger was immediately the concerned teacher once more, wanting to ease the burden from the child before him, a burden to which he had to admit he personally had contributed.
He had condemned the pup, feeling him over sensitive and forgetting that most small children are sensitive, especially about injustice. So The Tiger tried to ignore the imposing adults in the room and focused his attention solely on his pupil, who looked very like prey as his teacher approached him, keeping eye contact. However as he reached Inuyasha, The Tiger looked away and knelt down in front of the boy, partly in obeisance due to his position of Prince, but also so that he could talk directly to him face to face.
Before he could open his mouth however, Inuyasha who had been on tenterhooks since the letter, and unnerved by his tutors steady approach, jumped up and bowed, apologising for his rude behaviour of shouting at his teacher. And suddenly The Tiger found his task easy; he raised the pup’s head by putting his finger under Inuyasha’s chin and smiled sadly at him. A wave of self loathing coursed through his body as he realised he had made the normally cheerful little boy afraid of him, his teacher.
"No Inuyasha, it is I who must apologise to you. I made the mistake of reprimanding you when I didn’t have all of the facts. I told you off without checking your story or remembering that you were never a spiteful child. I thought you guilty of bad behaviour before I made sure of what had happened, even wondering if your human elements were partly to blame. For this I also ask forgiveness of your mother; I have no experience with humans and should not have judged you."
The Tiger at this point bowed before Izayoi who offered him her hand in forgiveness and allowed him to address the still silent and stunned Inuyasha again. The pup hadn’t understood all of the words entirely, but he knew enough to know his teacher was very sorry for how he had dealt with Inuyasha. It meant a lot to him to have this apology, he could scent the sincerity from The Tiger and it made tears stand in his eyes while his mother was spoken too. But he was unable to form a reply before being talked to again.
"I do have a word of good advice to you, and I shall say this again when school restarts to all the others; never keep anything that frightens or upsets you to yourself. Always tell someone older who you trust, even if the one who tells you it is a secret, says you are a baby if you disclose it. Do not believe them, and tell an adult if you are ever hurt or scared. Nobody knew of the notes you’d received, had we done so, it might have saved your heartache. Will you promise me Inuyasha?"
"I promise." Inuyasha answered in a quiet but firm voice.
"Thank you and I hope that you will come back to school soon, although I do understand why you don’t wish to; but I am sure that like me, your friends would like to be given another chance to show you we are all sorry." After he had finished speaking, The Tiger stood to stand before his Lord and Lady. Inu no Taishou told him he could go now and that his apology had been accepted by Inuyasha’s mother, then he looked to Inuyasha who also nodded and The Tiger left them.
Once he had gone, Inu no Taishou lightened the mood by saying that he was hungry and that he bet Inuyasha was also ready to eat. His son laughed and jumped into his father’s arms to be carried off to the dining hall where a feast had been laid out in honour of their human guests. Izayoi and Makoto followed at a more sedate pace accompanied by the Lady who expressed concern when Izayoi coughed severely and had to stop to gather her breath.
"May I offer you my healer for that cough Izayoi?"
"Thank you My Lady, but I fear there is little to be done; my lungs are no longer as capable as they used to be."
"I am sure that adequate rest will aid you, after dinner I shall send for the physician."
"You are most kind." Izayoi replied, knowing that The Lady wouldn’t be gainsaid. After a happy evening meal, the healer thoroughly examined Izayoi, before going and reporting his findings to his Lady. It was nothing that could be cured; Izayoi’s health was in a slow decline, partly due to her age and partly because her first child had taken a toll on her body. Most humans mothers who bore hanyou, only had the one child due to the bodily strain such a babe took from her; and Izayoi had gone on to have four more, albeit human children.
At the moment there was no immediate cause for concern and The Lady went to visit with Izayoi. She asked what the prognosis was and was told that there was nothing to worry about; the cough would go in time. Izayoi laughed ruefully;
"It will go when I die, this I know; I fear there will not be long to wait." Izayoi said and noticed The Lady take a discreet sniff at the air.
"Nonsense, you will soon feel better."
"Again, I am sure of that, forgive me My Lady, but I am too expert in using truthful evasions around Inuyasha, to not recognise when they are said against me. So far I have fooled his clever seeking nose when explaining my illness but it will not work to mislead me. Do I need to be immediately concerned?" Her serious reply had a hint of worry, even fear, in it and The Lady was very pleased she could answer in all truthfulness.
"Not yet Izayoi, nothing is imminent; the healer is certain of this. Now rest and do not be alarmed, you will not be handing Inuyasha over to my care quite so soon." The Lady then stroked Izayoi’s brow and the human found relief and was able to have a healthy sleep. But sadness crept over the youkai’s face, she had noticed the scent of mortality quite strongly on Izayoi, it was not yet a problem, but it was also not that far away.
The Lady too was a mother, much older than Izayoi in years and experience; she too knew how to tell half truths and use clever wording to ease a burden. What Izayoi had done for Inuyasha and thought could not be done to her, had been, but it was a hollow victory; human life was so short and frail towards the end.