And so it was that all of their hopes had come to pass. Efforts to rid the world of the vile abomination that was the spider hanyou, Naraku, had proven to be effective and successful - requiring that they work together rather than separately in order to see their shared desire come to fruition. No longer did the contemptuous beast befoul the earth with his hate, his malice; all felt the heavy weight that had burdened their weary shoulders lift the moment that Naraku perished, and for a few moments is bewildered every last one of them. Long had they endured the oppressive responsibility of eliminating the spider hanyou from the world they existed in and when said responsibility finally came to an end, all could not help but feel a touch disoriented by it.
Some were overcome by their relief that they shed tears, while some simply stood silent with a faraway look in their eyes. No shouts for joy were uttered, no sounds of jubilant celebration were made – contradicting many a being's past words regarding their plans for the day when their quest ended and Naraku was dead. Oh, there were bound to be such celebrations at some point once word spread of the evil hanyou's demise; that was the same as assured, but at that moment, it had seemed as though such would have been out of place.
It would take time to remove the residual filth that had tainted the world due to Naraku and his corrupt aspirations for total domination, but all were certain that it would come to pass. Much loss had been suffered by all, each struggling to come to terms with said loss in any way that seemed most fitting to them. Inuyasha had been the one who all feared would be the most inconsolable since Kikyo lost her life – having been felled before the final battle even came about. Curiously though, his had proven not the issue that everyone had anticipated; which surprised many a being right to their very core, but caused them to breathe a bit easier at the same time.
As every last soul diligently worked to right the wrongs that the vile hanyou's taint had inflicted upon the lands which they called home, efforts had begun to ensure that such never happened again. Born from the intellectual mind of but one of the beings directly responsible for Naraku's not so untimely demise, the foundation for continued peace and tranquility was laid. Such offered the promise of security like never before, and it started within the very walls of the lord of the western lands him self. Determination drove the Daiyoukai to forming a council of sorts; one that would govern the lands to see that history did not repeat itself, much as it was known to do. There would be no ambitious upstart seeking to obtain rule over all whom he, or she, encountered – just as Naraku had done, for no power would remain unchecked. Laws and regulations would be set into place in order to prevent recurrence of what had been endured for so long.
Reasons for this were indeed as valid as they were sound; many would never survive another such uprising, for all had come precariously close to the exact devastation that the western lord's noble sire had foreseen. He would not allow that to happen, under any circumstances. Of course, the young but experienced Inu, himself, had to allow a great sacrifice to be made in order to secure a future that offered much reward should his intricate plans prove successful. Kagome, the miko whom had captured his heart, had yet another mission in need of completion that required her immediate absence once Naraku had been dispatched from this world. Once her wish had been made, the well disappeared taking her right along with it. No one had considered that such a thing could happen, even though they should have. The girl had been, originally, an unwilling traveler who had been forced into the quest that spanned several years to complete. While it had been her destiny to do so, it did not change the fact that there was another life and another quest waiting for her somewhere else; that quest, too, had to been completed before Kagome could decide just how her life would unfold from there.
At first, when the girl disappeared and the object that was his only link to her vanished as well, Sesshoumaru experienced what could only be described as a complete and total feral hissy fit. Much reparations had to be paid to atone for his less than dignified reaction to having the miko beyond his reach. No one really knew why he acted as he did either, save for the monk who had been sworn to secrecy over the issue some time prior to the event, and Sesshoumaru outright refused to elaborate on his reasons for wreaking such havoc either. It was no one's business but his own why he chose to demolish a fair section of the forest that bore his half- sibling's name; his actions simply made it possible for adequate homes, in which to shelter more than a few families, to be built more quickly than if the humans had to clear the land themselves, so there was no reason for complaint from anyone. If one were to ask the western lord, they should offer him their gratitude for doing their work for them really.
Much research had gone into attempting to discover a way to re-establish a link to the girl; the pain-in-his-royal-ass sorceress saw more of him than even his young ward did, but nothing seemed to offer much promise in the way of getting to the miko whom held his heart. Then, it came to him – the precise reasons why the kami had seen fit to take his reward from him as was explained to his satisfaction; such made it a bit easier for the demon to tolerate, but only a little.
In the time that passed since the miko vanished, the demon had sought council with the very being that was directly responsible for causing all that plagued the young male...his sire. Unfortunately though, the stubborn cur had refused his request for a conference many times, by way of his servant, Kumiko. Not even that crone could offer excuse as to why his father would continue to refuse him time and time again, for not even she could seem to summon her master in order to confer with him either; which only served to prove that his father was just outright ignoring the both of them for some unknown reason. That angered the young western lord greatly. How dare that insufferable dog ignore his own child like that? Sesshoumaru did not give up though, he relentlessly hounded the hag to continue her efforts to summon the former Lord of the West that he, Sesshoumaru, may demand to know whether his sire had any foreknowledge in regard to what had happened. If it was proven that his father did, in fact, know that he would find himself distanced from the miko once their quest ended...
Many long drawn out days had then been spent contemplating what he should do with his time in his wait to receive word from InuTaisho; his determination to see something remotely productive come from it all rose steadily with every setting of the sun. Much unrest amongst the other lords had risen and became widely known – reaching the demon lord's Inu ears by way of those who dwelled upon his own lands. The other lord's incessant prattering about the need to eliminate the future possibility of another attempting to continue where Naraku had left off in his endeavor to rule over every being that walked the earth had swiftly become quite bothersome to the Inu's otherwise preoccupied mind. Hence the need to deliberate on what could be done was birthed, during which the Daiyoukai discovered that what those clucking old hens had been going on so incessantly about was indeed valid cause for concern.
Once he managed to focus his mind on the matter, Sesshoumaru realized that, should such an occurrence arise, it very well could threaten his plans involving the female for whom his entire person - mind, body and soul, longed. If one were to be honest about it, there would always be at least one being out there in the world whom believed him self worthy of being crowned absolute ruler, and set forth to bringing his delusions to reality. That the Lord of the West could not and would not deny.
Time then drew on and Sesshoumaru concentrated on forming a body of beings to govern the lands; such offered the Lord of the West adequate distraction from that which had ailed him. The deep intense rage over being denied his reward was redirected for a time, and focused on ensuring that there would never be another Naraku to terrorize the lands and those who dwelled there. The humans, of course, offered protests to being governed by beings whom shared the same lineage as the one that had come so very close to destroying the world. Despite the dissimilarities, being that Naraku had been but a mere half-demon rather than a pure blood, the humans resisted the idea of a demon council ruling over their lands and lives; which was not all that out of the ordinary, if one were to think about it. Naraku had endeavored to rid himself of his half-breed status, determined in morphing himself to that of full demon; which incidentally would be the very sort of beings that would hold rule over that which said half-breed had been denied.
Now, deductive reasoning demanded that the subject of one of said appointed beings desiring to assume absolute say over how things were to be run be considered. In order for there to be fairness to the matter, it was only logical to assume that said council should be comprised of all beings – demon, human, and hanyou. It made perfect sense, and would offer all a voice in how the lands were ruled. Resistance on the presence of hanyou in the ruling body were then offered as well, and the Lord of the West found himself actually defending the very being's that he had once condemned for even existing at all. Needless to say, many a being were rendered utterly speechless to see that change come about.
Sesshoumaru's newly formed stance on the issue of hanyou had come about due to many contributing factors, but the predominant reason for this shocking change had been quite simple...his younger sibling, Inuyasha. The boy had proven himself above and beyond expectation during the final battle with the spider. Inuyasha had displayed both strength and courage in his valiant fight to rid the world of Naraku's evil – never giving up even when all seemed hopeless and futile. Oh, it wasn't as if the Daiyoukai had somehow developed a familial love for the bastard child of his sire, for nothing could ever cause such an astounding turnabout; there were still far too many issues remaining that went far beyond the parameters of realizing that Inuyasha was not a simple waste of both space and flesh. The western lord had not forgotten all that the hanyou had subjected the temporarily absent miko to during their association; nothing in the world could ever eliminate that, no matter what the boy did.
Still though, in honor of Inuyasha role in the destruction of the malevolent, detestable vermin that all had feared, the decision that hanyou would have a voice on the council had been made. Such only made sense, considering that Inuyasha had been appointed both protector and lord over the area in which he had existed for over a century. The peoples of that small but nonetheless significant area had no qualms about appointing a hanyou to such an important position, and Sesshoumaru deduced that if they had such confidence in the whelp then there had to be a valid reason -even if no one else in the world knew what said reason was.
In addition, the boy was, by all rights, of noble blood...Myoga, one of father's longtime faithful vassals and advisors did not call the whelp lord without just cause, for that was just what the uncouth, ill-mannered, poorly educated, hanyou was, a lord by blood. Aside from being sired by the then reigning western lord, Inyasha's mother had been a princess herself; hence, the title befell the boy no matter what. Besides all of that, whether the western lord liked it or not, the whelp was Inu Taisho's youngest son; as such, Inuyasha should hold some position of influence, lest their family name be lessened by the boy's failure to achieve a respectable status.
All consuming had the task of forming this council become, countless hours of long drawn out meetings, that never failed to morph into heated debates as to who would reside on said council, then ensued. His castle had at one time became home to visiting dignitaries as no definite agreements could be reached in a timely fashion; thereby forcing Sesshoumaru to offer said being's lodging until the time arrived when the shouting and growling subsided. Through it all, the Inu found little to no peace, oftentimes regretting his decision to head the cursed damned efforts to ensure both tranquility and stability to the lives of the same peoples he had at one time disregarded. Oh how he had wished that he could just oust them all from the high walls that surrounded his home that he may find quiet and solitude once more.
Oddly enough, the demon did manage to find a bit of what he sought – and he found it in the most unlikely of places too. Having the hanyou and his monk friend, slash advisor, present did manage to instil more than a small shred of pleasantry to the chaos that surrounded them. Who would have ever believed that Inuyasha could offer him such? Not him, that was for certain. The Daiyoukai had dared to ponder the reason for this many times, and all that he could find to explain it was that the hanyou was a sort of link to that which the Inu lord longed for...the girl.
Each and every time his amber eyes strayed to the string of beads adorning Inuyasha's neck, a calming sort of feeling washed over his stressed person; lessening the anger and the frustration more and more, until the Inu was at as much peace as one such as him could attain. It was so very difficult to adequately explain and, so, the Lord of the West simply gave up trying to – opting to simply enjoy the absence of all the rage and hostility that his role incited. Of course, there was also a fair amount of jealousy involved as well, though he was loath to admit falling victim to such an unsavory thing. Extremely unbecoming and well beneath one of his stature they were.
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