The Sickness

Sesshomaru and the others finally arrived at Japan where his main home was. However due to information he had gained earlier about the supposed sickness he had been in something of hurry to get Ruko home quickly as possible. Normally he was a lot more patient but in times like these he tended to be less patient then normal.

Jaken, unfortunately made an easy enough target since he basically kept opening himself up for punishment with the things he said. One would think he would learn by now.

When they got to his home, which was a large estate, he ushered Ruko in. Everyone got in before Jaken as he sort of trailed behind the group.

"Make yourself at home Ruko." Sesshomaru said locking the door. "This is going to be your home as well from now on after all."

Ruko was much calmer than she'd been before. SHe'd been very, very happy to be back on the ground when the plane landed, and was even happier to be 'home'. It was nice, calling this new place home. Gave it a sense of finality. It truly was her home now, and she liked that. She was curious about where she'd be sleeping, not sure how Sesshomaru was taking to things yet, but she'd be happy with whatever he wanted.

Sesshomaru decided to take Ruko to the room she'd be sleeping at..which happened to be his room. "This is your room, but its also my room." He said to Ruko. "I hope you don't mind, but since we are mates now, I didn't think you would mind sharing the same room as myself. Jaken may complain about it, but he complains about everything."

Ruko simply shrugged and smiled. "So in short, it's our room now. I certainly don't mind, Master. In fact, I was rather hoping for this. I really don't like sleeping alone, it'll be nice to be able to hold someone as I sleep." She blushed a bit at that, her head bowing a bit in embarrassment.

"That's nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of. We're mates so it makes since to sleep close to each other." Sesshomaru honestly didn't see much issue with it. If anything he found humans with some of their mating rituals a bit odd to him but that was because he had grown up used to doing things a certain way.

"But what did you do before you met your first mate then?" He asked her.

Ruko shrugged slightly. "With my mother when I was young, and when I grew up, I slept alone. I didn't sleep well those years." She didn't mention what went on after Calter's death, or even what she did after being rescued by Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru silently went over and took her hand. "Then, I promise from this day forward you won't have to sleep anymore if you don't want too Ruko. We're mates now, and part of that is looking after one another and making sure the other is comfortable. If you ever need anything, you only but need to ask."

Ruko was silent for a moment, looking at where Sesshomaru held her hand, before looking up to Sesshomaru's face with a bright, warm smile. "...You really do care about me alot, don't you, Master?"

"Or he could be just horny." The tone of the voice was teasing, the comment obviously not serious, but that wasn't the point. The point was that Ruko knew that voice, and she immediately turned, and nearly knocked a certain neko maid over as she hugged the girl tightly.

"Fala, I missed you!" Ruko nuzzled Fala affectionately, and the neko maid returned the gesture, purring softly. While the rest of the staff got to see a good deal of this earlier, when Ruko had been left with Fala for a bit, for some, it was...interesting, to watch the two beautiful women rub against eachother.

"Heh, I missed you to, Ruko. So what's this about you and Master being mate's now?" Ruko quickly explained, not even noticing Fala giving Sesshomaru a rather saucy wink, tongue sticking out cutely.

Sesshomaru knew who it was instantly the moment he heard that voice and the familiar scent entered his nose; it was Fala. The young Neko maid had been working under him for a few years now and while she was far lax then Sesshomaru was, he got along with her just fine. Probably for the same reason he and Leila were such good friends.

Though Ruko and Fala rubbing against each other did..give him a few thoughts about Ruko. On the surface he was calm but he was going have to 'talk' to Ruko in private about something.

"Fala, its good your well. Shippo was asking about you." He walked over. "Is everything well with your family?"

Fala at first seemed confused by Sesshomaru's question, then recognition flashed in her eyes before she smiled. "Oh, everything is fine now. I didn't really need to go, they just overeacted to something, that's all. Unfortunately, she wants me to go home for a few days, twice a month. That's not a problem, is it? If so, that's fine, I could use the excuse to not be dragged away all the time." In all honesty though, she didn't want Sesshomaru to have a problem with it, and yet she did. She wanted to be around, but she also wanted to be away from him on certain days. Visiting her family was not what she was doing these past days. She was in heat, and trying not to bug Sesshomaru with it. She'd hid this fact for several years, but it had recently started getting worse, hence her having to leave.

"Why would that be an problem? You have a right to visit your family." Sesshomaru was honestly a bit confused about that not sure why Fala thought visiting her family twice a month was a big deal. Family was something Sesshomaru considered a lot more important these days, though as far as blood went, Inuyasha and his mother were the only family he had left.

"Unless there's something more to it." He finished.

Fala paused, then answered. "Well, it'd be for six to seven days at a time, generally, so basically, a week. Twice a month means I'd basically only be here every other week. That's not exactly good for your head maid to be gone all that time, so I just need to make sure." She felt rather safe telling him the days like that. All Neko's were different, their heat cycles being varied. Some had it more often, some less often. Fala's happened to coincide with the heat cycle of a normal cats. Six to seven days, and roughly twice a month. Sometimes, however, it was particularly bad and could actually last up to two weeks. However, while Sesshomaru was highly intelligent, Fala doubted he'd looked into what a normal cat's heat cycles were, so she didn't see him figuring things out just from what she'd already said.

Sesshomaru didn't suspect anything, though he did find it a bit odd. If Fala's family wanted her over two times out of the month then so be it. The house wasn't going to fall apart if she was away since there were other maids and as he mentioned family was more important to him these days then it was in the past.

"It'll be fine, even if I preferred you here." Sesshomaru paused. "But if your mother wants you there then I'll allow it."

After that, there was a knock on the door.

Sesshomaru seemed briefly puzzled, but didn't show it on his face as usual--he just wondered who it was this time. He went to check on the door. "Who is it?"

"Why, its your dear mother won't you let me come in?"

The Dog Demon paused, then opened the door as his mother, Kanzenabi. A beautiful woman that looked almost exactly like Sesshomaru would have, if he had switched genders came into the room.

She looked around. "Place still looks the same, but you could do with some brightening up, lucky Fala is around to keep you on your toes. Speaking of which.." She noticed the busty blue-haired maid and brightened up considerably as she went to greet her. "How are you? My son is behaving, I hope." She was teasing, one thing that made her different from Sesshomaru is she was much more playful.

Then she noticed the other maid. "I didn't notice you there, I apologize. And you are?"

"Ruko. She's my mate." Sesshomaru answered.

Kanzenabi seemed briefly surprised, then amused. "We'll, its about time. At the rate things were going I thought I was going have to lock you into a room with someone so I could have grandchildren." She turned to Ruko. "Anyway, sweetie, call me Kanzenabi, we're family now aren't we?"

Ruko seemed startled by the woman, but smiled. "Alright, Kanzenabi. It's an honor to meet you." She yelped a little bit when Fala wrapped her arms around her from behind, the busty neko grinning as she hugged her friend.

"So cute!" Ruko laughed nervously, then let out a little 'eep' as Fala playfully nibbled on her ear. There was nothing except affectionate teasing in the action, but as always, different people might see things in different ways. These sorts of actions, innocent yet appearing to be intimate, were normal for her, and Ruko was already used to them. However, Sesshomaru would know nothing of this, as she'd never acted like this with him, simply because she wasn't sure she could keep things innocent if she did.

Sesshomaru was taken back by what the two women played together, while his mother noticed this and was again, amused once more. But then it began to occur to Sesshomaru about something. "Mother, you do know there's an virus going around that targets people of a certain power. I'm glad you're here, but you shouldn't wander around too much."

She seemed to dismiss it for now. "I'll be fine, besides that I won't have to worry about getting it as long as I have this." It wasn't exactly noticeable, but a necklace she was wearing had a strange crystal--almost similar to the Scarce Jewel Shards. "This protects from illness, its never let me down even once. But I'm not here just for a social call." Her tone had changed slightly and Sesshomaru knew something was wrong.

"If you two would excuse us, I need to talk to my son for a moment." The older demon went to the side where they could talk inside one of the rooms in private. Once done, her demeanor changed. "Do you remember that party you went too that had various high class and important people a few years ago?"

Sesshomaru nodded. "Yes, I remember that even if I didn't want to go at the time."

"And you remember a woman named Elsa?"

"That vampire of the Isshan Clan? Why do you ask?"

"Because that woman is claiming a child with her is yours." She said bluntly. "I do not like that woman or her family for the most part that much. I can't however just dismiss it, the child has dog ears, much like your half brother. I'm honestly surprised you laid with her. Did you drink anything that night?"

"I don't recall.." Sesshomaru seemed to be thinking. "..I actually don't remember a good chunk of that night and I don't drink that much to have so much missing. Especially at some large social gathering."

Kanzenabi's face was blank. "I see. I do hope there's an logical explanation for this. We're suppose to meet her at her families estate. I think me and her family may have some..words once we get there. I have a suspcion about something." She said cooly.

* *

"Fala!" Shippo came, seemingly from nowhere to greet the maid. "Where have you been?!"

Even after Sesshomaru and Kanzenabi stepped out of the room, Fala continued to nibble on Ruko's ear. The dragoness didn't mind at all, though wasn't sure why she felt rather hot. Fala felt the same, but she ignored it. When Shippo ran up, however, Fala stopped what she was doing, simply resting her head on Ruko's shoulder, arms wrapped around Ruko's waist. "Hey, squirt. I had some things to take care of. Anyway, how are ya doing?" Ruko ignored the fact that she still felt rather pleasantly warm, just smiling as the two friends talked, not minding that Fala was still holding her. She had noticed the slightly tense turn Sesshomaru and Kanzenabi's conversation had taken, but she ignored it for now. It probably wasn't any of her business at the moment.

Shippo didn't notice anything was up at all, but he was happy to see Fala. "Oh, okay. I was wondering when you would come back, it was getting boring when you weren't around."

Moments later, Sesshomaru and his mother came back though Sesshomaru seemed troubled by something. It was his mother that did a good job hiding her emotions more. "How are doing Kit?" She asked Shippo as the young fox demon came over to greet her.

"I'm okay. I haven't seen you in a while."

"Hm. That's because I've been..busy. I'll try to fix that though." Kanzebai looked to Ruko. "When you have a moment, I'll have to talk to you alone too." Since she was his mate, she felt she had the right to know about what was going on.

Fala released Ruko at that, pushing her gently toward Kanzenabi. "Well, you can talk now. I'll keep Master entertained until you get done." She didn't mention the fact that she wouldn't stand to close to him. He had a powerful nose, and while she'd covered the lingering scent of her heat with perfume, she had no doubt he'd smell the strong pheromones if he got too close, then likely figure things out from there, so she'd play it safe.

The older woman gave her thanks then motioned for Ruko to follow her in one of the rooms, and closed the door behind them once she came through. "Since you are my son's mate now , I feel its your right to know something. A few years ago, Sesshomaru was at a high class party, it had many people. Many important people from around the world to be exact, it was for an event." She waved it off. "Nothing terribly important, just people who felt the need to make themselves feel important. To make a story short, there was a vampire of the name of Elsa Isshan, a highly prestigious and powerful clan of vampires, though a bit less then..Shuzen."

"Sesshomaru doesn't remember what happened, at least he's missing a chunk of his memory that night. But apparently, this Elsa has a child by him who has dog ears; a clear sign of a half breed dog demon. It's only recently she even bothered showing up, or less someone in our family know Sesshomaru has a daughter. That and her scent, its definitely of ours families. She's asking us to come to her estate, and I agree going there is for the best to get this settled. I will Not have that woman raising my grandchild any further." She said with finality.

Ruko was silent for a long moment, obviously shocked. After a bit, she nodded. "I see. Well, I'd like to come too, and help. If it's Master's daughter, then I'll do what I have to do to protect her, and make her happy. Master too." She seemed to think for a moment. "...Do you think that woman will try and keep Master's daughter away from him? Cause if so, I'll do what I need to do to help."

Kanzenabi frowned a bit to that. "It's possible. The fact she waited this long to reveal this information makes me believe she would and I've known a bit about her and her family for some time. I've..ran into her uncle, good looking but all the charm and grace of a trash bag. They hit on me, I wasn't interested in him or his attitude and turned him down. That upset him and he called me a few names, mostly dog-related jokes. So..I taught him to respect his elders, but after that beating he told those in his circle that I wasn't the one who did it, that he was jumped by multiple people." She rolled her eyes to this.

"Elsa is an arrogant and manipulative piece of trash, but she's also rather intelligent. It won't be as easy, but it shouldn't be no problem getting things settled once I focus on taking her apart--metapohrically speaking. Physically, just tempted at times."

Ruko simply nodded, then bowed to the woman. "I'll do everything I can to help, and to make Master happy." She smiled sweetly as she straightened up, hands folded in her lap. "Is there anything else I can help you with or that you'd like to talk about?"

"No, but we'll be leaving in about as soon as possible, there's no need to prolong it. I'm not going to wait any longer on this and their estate is just in another part of this city." Then she smiled a bit at Ruko. "Just take care of my son for me. He would be useless without us there to check up on him from time to time." She was of course teasing. "I'm assuming you're coming then being his mate and what you said. Though curious about one thing, are you an Akantor? I've met one before but I can't be sure since they're so rare."

Ruko seemed mildly surprised, but nodded. "Yes, I am. I'm surprised you've met one of my kind before, with how rare we are. I hope you weren't given too much trouble, my kind are rather territorial, especially in our dragon forms..." She paused, thinking. "Though, since you are Master's mother, then I doubt you had too much trouble, as Master is very strong, and I'm sure you are even stronger."

"It wasn't an friendly encounter, but I lived to see another day. Have the scars to prove it in my other form." That had at least been a hundred years ago, but she still recalled that encounter like it happened yesterday. "Let's go get that son of mine and get this handled. But I do need to call Leila first before we leave, if she's not busy."

Kanzi pulled out a cell and dialed, unlike most people she didn't bother relying on a address book all the time. It was better in her opinion to memorize it by heart once you got enough numbers on the phone.