The Sickness

Elsie looked around the room with slightly wide eyes. "...This is my room? It's not as stuffy as my old one..." She looked to Sesshomaru, smiling. "I like it...." Her brow furrowed in confusion, then she pointed at something outside of the room. "Is she okay?" Out in the hall, in a wheelchair pushed by Fala, was a tired looking, but smiling, Leila.

"Hey, you guys..." Her voice was a bit strained and raspy, but that would eventually get better. "I woke up earlier than probably expected, yeah? Thought I wouldn't wake up at all when he hit me though..."

Both Sesshomaru and Kanzenabi went over, Shippo was already there of course as he hadn't left Leila's side unless he absolutely had too.

Kanzi hugged Leila and pulled away. "You gave us all a scare there Leila. If that man.." She hissed the word. "Had actually killed you, I would have sent him to a one way ticket to the after life regardless of what those people at the council thing."

"Yes. We can't touch him as of yet, I think Xavier knows his life would have been forfeit regardless if he had actually killed Leila." Sesshomaru shook his head. "But enough of him, he's ruining the mood. This is Leila Elsie. When she recovers, I'm sure she'd be happy to play with you."

Leila grinned weakly, looking to Elsie. "Hey, kid. Call me Aunt Leila, or Aunty if ya like. Either is good to me." Elsie came over, looking her over a bit, seeming a bit sad.

"What happened to you, Aunty?" Leila couldn't help but smile at Elsie already calling her that.

"A very bad man hurt me, but I'll be okay before too long, don't you worry." She then gestured to Fala. "This is Fala. She's the head maid here, and a real sweety. She's taking care of me until I get better. We also had a very interesting conversation...though more that I tricked her into talking about things." Fala seemed to tense a bit, her eyes darting toward Sesshomaru, before looking back to Leila just as quickly. You would have to have been paying attention to notice.

"H-hi, Elsie. It's nice to meet you..." Elsie just smiled sweetly.

Kanzenabi did notice, but she said nothing or showed any signs she saw. It might be something she was going have to talk to Fala and Leila about, but she had an idea of what it was about.

"Hi, my name is Shippo. Nice to meet you." The little fox demon said to Elsie..he was actually a bit shorter then her. He hated being so short even for his age, Inuyasha always teased him about it, too.

"Thank for keeping an eye on her while we were away, you too Fala." Sesshomaru said. "On another note, your uncle Inuyasha should be coming sometime today. When, I'm not sure."

It was as if that was the codeword. At that instant, the door was kicked in, and a moment later, Inuyasha, his sense of 'style' not having changed after all this time, skidded to a stop among the group. He stared at Leila for a moment in shock, then turned to glare at Sesshomaru. "You bastard, why didn't you protect her!? How could you let this...what the...who's the kid? And the...is that an elf?" He looked from Elsie to Ruko, then back, then sniffed the air. He blinked. "...Dragon? And why does the kid smell like you and vampire? The hell am I missing?"

Leila smirked, patting Inuyasha on the arm. "I'm fine, sweety. It happened too fast for anyone to react, and was my fault for doing something stupid. More importantly, Inuyasha, you shouldn't be cussing in front of your neice. Sets a bad example." At this, Elsie came over, tugging on Inuyasha's robe and grinning up at him.

"Your my uncle?" Inuyasha just blinked, obviously confused, then seemed to slump a bit.

"...I guess?"

Sesshomaru closed his eyes once Inuyasha barged in, thinking idly he'd have to see about getting a specially made door so it wasn't broken down so easily. It was good to see his brother even if he wouldn't admit it openly but sometimes he wished he learned something of better control.

"It's something of a long story, I'll explain later." Before Sesshomaru could continue, another voice interrupted.

"Oh, no, not in my lords house! Look at the door!"

Jaken. Both Sesshomaru and Kanzi thought with annoyance.

The little toad demon came running over. "Inuyasha! I knew this had to be your doing and.." He noticed the strange half-breed, sniffing the air. A normal, person might want to take things in and think logically instead of saying the first thing that came to mind:

"Who's the mutt?"

Unfortunately Jaken wasn't one of them. He might as well sign his death certificate at this point.

As soon as the words left Jaken's mouth, something happened. Something simple, that caused several other things to happen. Elsie frowned, looking hurt. That was all it took. Unsurprisingly, Leila and Fala both directed death glares toward the tiny demon. The most surprising reaction was surely Ruko letting out a low, rumbling growl as she looked at Jaken, her canines lengthening into fangs and her eyes narrowing. The least suprising reaction was, of course, Inuyasha's. He'd only just met the young girl, but he knew several things.

One, Elsie was his niece, and she was upset.

Two, he couldn't stand Jaken.

Three, any mention of 'mutt' always set him on edge.

Four, he couldn't stand Jaken!

His reaction was perfectly understandable.

Suddenly, he had the little demon dangling by the ankle in his grip, Tessaiga out and transformed, the tip pressing against the demon's throat. "Give me one good reason not to kill you for insulting my niece, I dare you."

Sesshomaru's expression didn't change, but those who knew him knew that he was upset and proved it as much when he didn't bother lifting a finger to stop him. In fact, he added on. "I'm curious of what you have to say for yourself."

Jaken felt the panic grow, and turned to Lady Kanzenabi who didn't lift a finger either. "You already know I don't like you and you insulted my granddaughter."

"B-but I didn't know she was Lord Sesshomaru's daughter!" He said. "I wouldn't have said anything if I knew! I swear!"

Inuyasha let out a low growl, nudging Tessaiga's edge a bit more against Jaken's throat, drawing a bit of blood. "You think that makes it better?" Fala pushed Leila's wheelchair over, Leila's eyes focused on Jaken.

"It doesn't matter who's daughter she is, you do not say such things about children. If you were not such a snobbish prick, you wouldn't piss everyone off all the time. 'I didn't know' isn't an excuse, Jaken. You should know better." Before anyone could say anything else, Inuyasha felt another tug on his robe. He glanced down, and Elsie was looking up at him.

"Please put toad-face down, Uncle Inu. He's mean, but I don't want you to hurt him." Inuyasha paused for a moment, then sheathed Tessaiga and dropped Jaken onto the floor head first.

"Fine." Elsie smiled, shot a pouting glare toward Jaken, then walked back over to her father. Inuyasha still wanted to hurt Jaken, but he didn't need to. Before anyone could react, he was not-so-subtly kicked in the face by Ruko as she walked past. It wasn't too hard, but it was enough to certainly hurt. Leila, of course, laughed.

Kanzi actually chuckled when Ruko kicked Jaken as she passed him. "You certainly know how to pick them Sesshomaru, just for that your mate just earned more points." Of course, no one Had mentioned Ruko was Sesshomaru's mate just yet so once Inuyasha heard it and it clicked in, he'd probably be wondering just what the hell was going on. The niece being a half vampire probably would throw him into a loop.

Sesshomaru thought of something. "Jaken, I believe you owe my daughter two things. First an apology."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Jaken groveled and Sesshomaru sighed.

"Get up Jaken." The toad demon was being pathetic at the moment. "Secondly, you will be considered Elsie's vassal."

"W-what?"

"Just for a week for now, but really you would just be obeying her commands and going along with what she says then you're off the hook. That's not to say when she's older you'd be exempt from that."

Jaken couldn't believe this, Shippo had to make a comment.

"Shouldn't have said anything huh?"

For once, Jaken didn't tell Shippo to shut up and that he was a brat.

It was around this time that earlier words did indeed click, and Inuyasha looked at Ruko oddly. Then he looked between her and Sesshomaru in confusion. "Mate? But Elsie's a half-vampire..." He paused, the wheels turning in his mind. "...You only just met Elsie, didn't you?" He didn't know the details, but he wasn't an idiot.

"Only a few days ago to be exact." Sesshomaru glanced as his daughter then back to his brother. "Jaken, go make yourself useful and fix the door. I need to talk to Inuyasha."

"Yes my lord." Jaken sighed, then went to try to fix the door, a sight that would no doubt be comical. He told his mother to take Elsie off to the side just for a moment, as there were certain details he didn't want a child to hear. Then when he was sure it was all right, he explained things to Inuyasha, all the way to Ruko, to Elsa and Elsie and the custody battle that wasn't all that long ago.

Inuyasha sighed irritably when Sesshomaru finished. "Seems like trouble follows our family or something. At least it's you this time and not me, but I'm still involved, considering..." He crossed his arms, glaring at nothing. "...Nice to have a niece now, though, I guess."

"We wouldn't be Taisho's if trouble didn't come looking for us." Sesshomaru had noted many times before that his family did seem to attract attention. Sometimes it was good kind of attention, sometimes it was more of the bad kind. "Though, I doubt we were expecting another member of our family like this. It's a surprise, but a good one. For once."

"What have you been up to as of late?"

Inuyasha shrugged a bit. "Not too much. Just doing my job as always. They've changed things up a bit though. I don't have a set parter anymore, after that...incident, where the Tessaiga got away from me. Stupid coward still avoids me. Anyway, they've decided I'll be...I think they said 'supplementary'...anyway, it's basically that whenever a mission requires the removal of barriers or destroying something, they send me with the team."

Kanzenabi had got Elsie to go play with Shippo and let the young Fox Demon show her around so she could talk to both Leila and Fala privately. She got them to an guest room and closed the door.

"All right, I'll just be frank since I'm not one to beat around the bush..just what did you two talk about?" She looked from both the demon to the neko. "And I caught Fala glancing at my son briefly so I know there is something going on that likely involves him." She had a few guesses, but best not to assume first.

Fala, for a moment, had a look on her face as if she'd been cornered by some monster, but it passed quickly as she simply looked away. Leila sighed heavily, irritated. "Damnit, Fala. You're always so outgoing, I don't know why you are suddenly shy like this."

"I'm not being shy, I just don't want to cause issues!" Leila rolled her eyes, and turned to Kanzenabi.

"Fala's heat has been exceedingly worse than it would normally be because her body is already craving someone specific, I'm sure you know who, and she's intentionally denying herself. It's apparently been like this for most of the time that she's worked here, getting progressively worse, which is why she's constantly leaving for 'family reasons'. It's a cover, to hide the fact that she's suffering. She's being a self-sacrificing coward." Fala flinched visibly, then glared at Leila.

"Like you have the right to criticize me about being a coward!" Leila simply looked away.

"I never said I wasn't being hypocritical, Fala, but just because I make mistakes doesn't mean you should."

Kanzenabi was a very intelligent woman, anyone who knew her would know that fact or even people who were more or less just guest. She had a considerable amount of raw power as well, even surpassing that of Sesshomaru but it was her intelligence that made people wary at times; added with the fact she hid it when it served her purpose or people took her less seriously because of her more playful moods.

So it wasn't that much of a surprise when she put two and two together. This whole thing revolved around Sesshomaru and the two before them all liked him more then a friend.

"You two, you both like Sesshomaru don't you? As more then a friend." Kanzenabi sighed, thinking. "I always suspected something strongly but never had anymore direct proof until recently." This was a somewhat tricky situation. Contray to popular belief, your 'heat' got stronger when it craved someone specific. If you liked someone and they were around then it would act up even more. Being a Dog Demon she had..experiences with that, but being older it seldom came anymore.

Fala bowed her head a bit, but nodded slowly. Leila was more vocal. "Yes, we do. Those incidents between me and him when I was drunk...the only reason those occured was because I already had the feelings, just didn't have the courage to admit it. Not telling him is one of the few things I've ever regretted. I was a coward, and so was Fala. Because of our cowardice, we each lost our chance. Nothing good could come of me admitting my feelings now, but Fala...she's suffering and it's not right. I'm thinking he should be told, at least that she's having all these issues, as he might have an idea...though asking only you might be best. Neither of us wants to burden him with this, when he should be happy with his new family."

Kanzenabi gave a tired sigh when she finished; she was starting to feel her age at times. "You two..I can see why you wouldn't come forward with this now..." She seemed to be thinking. "I need to think about this, but ultimately the main problem is Fala and her heat issues. I'd need to talk to Sesshomaru about that.."

She more then likely wasn't going to tell him about their feelings for him, but she agreed something needed to be done about Fala's heat. It would be a conversation between Sesshomaru and Ruko however.

Fala seemed worried, but nodded resignedly. Leila noticed this, and sighed. "I know why you are worried, but Sesshy would never cast you out or something over this. You're a dear friend to him, even if he won't always admit those things. Leave things to them, they'll figure things out. Everything will be fine before long...I'm sure of it..." Fala just nodded again, seeming to have a bit more hope in her eyes.

Kanzenabi added onto this. "Leila is right. My son won't admit it but he's something of a big softy for those he cares about, something like a puppy. A dangerous puppy that can eviscerate someone, but still the analogy works. So you don't have anything to worry about, but I'm not sure how exactly he would respond. Is there anything else you two need to say while we're all laying it out there so to speak?"

Leila seemed to think about that. "Hmm...no, not really. The big thing was the fact myself and Fala's feelings and, more importantly, what Fala is going through. We both regret never taking a chance to be with him, but we're not about to try and steal him away from Ruko. Fala, however..." Here, Fala bit her lip, glancing away.

"It's hard for me, being here...being around him, even when not in heat...but it's still better than leaving." Leila nodded in response, then smiled wryly, unable to resist slipping in some humor.

"Oh, and I'll greatly miss having sex with your son. I may not be able to remember all of it thanks to the alchohol, but I remember the feelings afterwards...and the times when I wasn't quite as drunk as I pretended to be." Fala looked oddly envious when she heard this, but said nothing.

Kanzenabi chuckled. "If it means anything now, I had hoped something would happen between you and my son so you'd eventually become more of a official part of the family someday. It didn't work out as I hoped, still my son seems happy and that's whats important."

She sighed. "I had better get this over with. I'll talk to you two about how things turn out." She excused herself and then went to find Ruko first, then she would find her son and talk to them in private. More then likely Elsie was still with Ruko at the moment.

Indeed, Ruko and Elsie were together, and obviously, they were already getting along quite well. Amusingly, Elsie was riding on Ruko's back like she was a horse. Or more accurately, like a dragon. Ruko also proved to still be able to move around quite quickly on all fours, and Elsie was giggling excitedly, Ruko unable to contain her own laughter. When Kanzenabi showed up, Ruko noticed, shifted, and bucked like a horse, sending Elsie flying, laughing as she did, onto her bed. Ruko stood, and smiled at Elsie. "Time out, sweety, I need to talk to grandma, okay?" Elsie giggled again, and nodded.

"Okay, Mama Ruko!" Ruko grinned a bit at that, then turned to Kanzenabi.

"Hello...um, Mom." She gave an embarrassed smile, but was obviously in a good mood. Partly because Elsie had called her 'Mama', even if it was along with her name, since she wasn't her real mother.