Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters in this fan fiction are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. The original characters and plot are the property of Chiaztolite, who is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

The Way to Elysium

Chapter 33: Black and Blue

Never once in Kagome's life had she ever thought the Lady Mother, the indomitable Princess Yōhime, the Mistress of the Palace in the Sky, would ever allow anyone — let alone a human miko — to ride on her back while she was in beast form.

But rode her Kagome did. In her beast form, she was a beautiful female too, with soft, silver-tipped furs and long, floppy ears that begged to be touched and petted, although Kagome would never go as far as to indulge in such tomfoolery. Not on her first ride, anyway. Maybe not even her second.

If she was lucky enough to ever score a third?

Perhaps.

The Lady Mother took her far away, passing many forests, mountains, and lakes. In her true form, the inu daiyōkai was incredibly fast, even if she was racing against the wind. Kagome was unsure how many miles they had travelled in the few hours since they left the Palace in the Sky.

But, shortly after the sun reached its zenith, the Lady Mother slowed down. They had been flying above the clouds, and white fluffs and the bright blue of the ether were the only things Kagome could see for a while. When Lady Mother dipped beneath the clouds, starting their descent, Kagome finally caught sight of their destination.

Green treetops were beneath them, as far as the eyes could see. Then, looming ahead of them, was a mountain. Kagome widened her eyes when Princess Yōhime did not dip lower to the ground but floated up to rise above the peak.

And when the inu daiyōkai showed her the view over the top, Kagome gasped aloud.

The mountain was hollow; a massive crater lay in its centre. Not just any crater, but one filled with rock formations — slim, slender, and tall like columns. The pillars of stone stood together in haphazard rows, forming a wall, and one wall joined with other walls in irregular angles and interlocked into a massive maze.

The training ground.

Princess Yōhime flew over the crater, hovering just above the formations, dodging the taller structures and expertly avoiding the sharp, jagged, and protruding rocks.

When they had reached a round clearing in the centre, the inuyōkai landed. Kagome slid off her back, happy to feel the solid ground underneath her feet, even if her surroundings held such intimidation that cold sweat beaded on her back.

With a rush of heat and a strong gust of wind, Princess Yōhime returned to her humanoid form. She slicked her pristinely-styled silver hair back; lacquered, elegantly tapered claws raked through the silken tresses as she ensured her appearance remained tidy after such a long flight.

It was not until now that Kagome realized: the Princess was holding a long black wooden chest. It must have been secured to her side during their travel and was now safely grasped in her hand. The way the daiyōkai held on to the item made Kagome think it contained something vitally important.

"This is an amazing place," Kagome commented breathlessly, still awed as she stood in the center of the clearing, scanning the open-air training ground with her mouth wide open.

Princess Yōhime looked around disinterestedly, as though it was an old, dilapidated home she had once left, to which she never intended to return.

"Oh, well—" She said languidly. "My father took me here a few times when he trained me."

"The King?" Kagome repeated, eyes widening. "King Kaien trained you?"

"Like I was a son," the Princess replied, nodding, a tone of pride in her voice. Then, she touched the sleeve of her kosode to her lips and grinned. "My mother wanted me to learn the art of the fans. Those blasted things. Do you know how irksome they are? I threw every single one into the ocean every chance I got."

"Did King Kaien build this place?" Kagome asked, looking around with even amazement.

"Not my father, but his great grandfather. The inuyōkai royalties of the Southern Isles have been using this training ground for millennia. It is sacred to us."

"But… Sesshōmaru… he never trained here?"

Princess Yōhime's smile turned melancholy at the reminder. This was yet another example where Sesshōmaru was denied his rights and privileges as a royal family member.

"No, he never trained here," she confirmed. "Even though both of his cousins did. But—" Her golden eyes studied Kagome calculatingly. "— it gives me an amount of satisfaction knowing his mate will."

A human-sized opening lay on the east side of the crater — an entrance, of some sort, into the mountain. Princess Yōhime motioned Kagome to follow her. They both entered the darkness of what looked to be a hallway. The dark, narrow passageway led to another spacious open space inside the mountain, a cavern that would protect them from the elements. Someone in the distant past had punched out a few holes in the cave's ceiling and created chimneys that allowed sunlight – and later on, moonlight – to penetrate the interior.

"The sun is going down," the Princess pointed out. "My servants have packed some food you can eat during our stay. So nourish yourself, and have an early night."

Then, her painted lips curled into a hair-rising smile as she gazed upon Kagome.

"Tomorrow, we will truly begin."

—

Every morning during Kagome's training in the mountain, Princess Yohime woke her promptly at first light to begin their routine. As a daiyōkai in her own right, she did not require much sleep, and thus her timing was always punctual.

The mornings were spent on strength, speed, and agility training. When the sky was still the dark purple of dawn, before the sun bathed the mountain in the morning light, Kagome had to travel downhill to a natural spring with two buckets of water and haul them back and forth to fill a dry well inside the cave. It was a perilous trip, as the terrain was highly uneven — even more so in the relative darkness.

Her progress was slow, and her baggage was heavy. After the fifth trip, her blisters broke around the handles just as she was hauling buckets of water up the mountain. Fiery pain shot upwards from her palms to her upper arms. Both her palms bled, and her grips around the bucket handles were slippery. She had to dig the metal wire into her scarred hands to gain a secure hold.

After that first morning, her hands were destroyed, but Kagome wrapped them with a long strip of cloth and moved on. She simply could not wait until those blisters turned to calluses.

In the mid-morning, they went out to the maze and began their actual training. It was a game of hide and seek, as the inu daiyōkai liked to call it. It was a highly unfair game, as the Princess could fly and levitate, while Kagome was stuck on the ground, running and dodging acid whips that chased her all over the haphazard maze of stone pillars.

The tips of the Princess' whip licked at Kagome's clothing and burned her hair, but she was mostly unscathed. Not because of her agility in dodging the attacks, but because her mother-in-law was careful with the ministrations. The whip can do severe, irreparable damage to human skin.

Afternoon practice began with the basics of sword fighting. Because Kagome had nearly zero experience with the weapon, Princess Yōhime started her with a shinai — a sword made of softwood or flexible bamboo, used primarily for practice.

The Princess began teaching her Iaido Kata, which first movements were no more than drawing the sword, delivering a single strike, and then re-sheathing it. Only that in Kagome's case, because she had no sheath, she simply returned her shinai to her side. The movements might seem archaic and mundane, but the daiyōkai had assured her many times that these forms were the fundamentals of many lethal techniques

The first practice consisted of merely those simple movements, the kata, which appeared easy at first, but extremely challenging to accomplish perfectly.

And Princess Yōhime would accept nothing less than perfect.

The daiyōkai made good on her promise to beat her student. She used bokken, a practice sword made of hardwood, for this particular purpose.

After the first afternoon, Kagome's body and limbs were black and blue from the beating her mother-in-law administered whenever her forms slipped, which was often. She limped for the rest of the day. But, Kagome merely shrugged and walked it off.

Night time was the worst, because this was when they went out of the crater and the mountain and into the wilderness, and Kagome had to use everything she got — tooth and nails, broken branches, stones and rocks, or just bare fists — to fight Princess Yōhime in the dark.

And fighting a fierce female demoness in complete darkness in the middle of the woods in a rocky, mountainous region was not an easy feat for anyone.

Especially not for a human miko with minimal physical battle training under her belt.

Sharp branches scratched her cheeks and made her bleed as she ran through the forest as though the hounds of hell were after her. She tripped and skinned her knees, elbows, and palms more than she could count. She nearly hurtled herself over the cliff by accident, only to have Princess Yōhime pull her from the abyss at the last minute.

"Do not just run blindly into the night," Princess Yōhime admonished as soon as she pulled the miko into safety. "Humans have senses too, don't they, albeit much duller? So for once in your life, use them."

Kagome did not quite understand what it meant to use them in an environment where she could hardly see her own hands. The canopy of trees above was so dense that hardly any moonlight could filter through those clusters of leaves. The only thing she could hear was the roaring in her ears. Her heart was galloping so fast it could burst out of her breast at any moment.

She ran blindly. Princess Yōhime's bokken found her waist in the dark, and the force of the hard wooden sword knocked her sideways. Kagome grunted as she fell. Her palms tried to gain some purchase by grabbing onto the ground, only to encounter rocks instead.

She cried out when her hands scraped against the hard ground. The jagged formations tore blistered palms. Her hands felt warm and sticky now. She was so exhausted that she wanted to curl up and cry.

And she did. Kagome fell over, folded herself into a tight ball, and sobbed with frustration.

Sesshōmaru must be training just as hard, if not harder, she told herself. Sesshōmaru would not be defeated by a paltry fall and a scratch on his hands. Sesshōmaru somehow managed to become magnificent despite a rough start in life. Even when he had lost his arm, he did not wither away and disappeared. Despite his missing limb, he picked himself back up and fought even harder.

Kagome wiped her tears, not caring that her bleeding palm smeared sticky red blood all over her face. Yes, she could have stayed broken and defeated on the ground. Yes, she could have given up. But instead, she picked up her shinai and made herself rise to her feet.

She might be a human, but she would channel the energy of her mate, the most powerful daiyōkai in any lands.

Gripping her bamboo sword in both hands, Kagome closed her eyes and forced herself to regulate her respirations. Her pulse slowed, and her shallow breathing gradually deepened as she worked to center herself.

Everything was still; everything was silent. Her human senses were heightened. At one point, she thought she could hear the slight movements of the night insects as they crawled upon the earth, or the slithers of a snake moving across the forest floor somewhere in the distance.

She could not hear Princess Yōhime, as the daiyōkai was an apex predator of the highest level, but she knew the female was near. The air was charged with energy, and she felt it like a thrum or vibrations across her skin.

Kagome sensed the sudden change in the atmosphere, a split second before Princess Yōhime attacked. Then, the daiyōkai's signature aura surged in the air.

There!

Kagome opened her eyes. In the darkness of the forest, she still could not see a thing, but she sensed the hot rush of the daiyōkai's yōki as the attack came for her.

She leapt back, narrowly missing the tip of the Princess' wooden sword. It was pitch black, so Kagome kept her eyes closed. Her human vision was useless in this extreme condition anyway. The change in the current of the wind told her that the daiyōkai had swerved to the right. Another sharp shaft of yōki lurched, and Kagome swirled just in time.

She swung her shinai to meet the Princess' bokken. Her arms immediately burned and ached from the weight of the daiyōkai's power. They trembled. Her muscles screamed from the tension; her bones creaked. Fortunately, her sword broke first before her limbs did. The force of the collision splintered her shinai. Princess Yōhime's yōki slammed against her and hurtled her backwards until she crashed against the rough bark of a tree far behind her.

No more strength left, Kagome slumped against the tree and keeled over. She lay flat on the ground, breathless and aching, unable to move.

The wind blew, shifting some leafy branches out of the way, revealing a little slice of the star-filled sky and a bright crescent moon to shine upon the forest floor. Upon her.

Another crescent moon was in her line of sight, the one belonging to Princess Yōhime. The inu daiyōkai hovered above her, scrutinizing her with a pair of glittering amber eyes. It was difficult to ascertain if the female was pleased or incensed.

"That is enough for tonight," she said before she sauntered back to the cave.

As Kagome lay on the ferny floor to catch a breath, she got the inkling that her mother-in-law was not entirely displeased.

—

That night, after their training, even though Kagome was wearied to the bones, she could not sleep. Instead, she tossed and turned on her bedding as she stared up at the cave ceiling, at the slice of the starry night sky she could see from one of the holes.

She was too restless to make sleep a remote possibility. Finally, she decided to rise and take a walk. Perhaps, a turn around the crater under the moonlight, surrounded by the brisk night air, would clear her mind and help her fall into slumber.

Outside, the moon was low and bright. Kagome had just reached the clearing when she saw the lithe frame of her mother-in-law – a lone figure standing in the clearing, surrounded by the rock formations blanketed in shadows.

Under the moonlight, Princess Yōhime practiced the kata - the same steps she had drilled into Kagome during the day. Over and over, until the sweat beaded along her hairline and made her pale, creamy skin glowed with perspirations.

The grace and agility in which the inu daiyōkai performed her kata were truly inspiring. The movements were precise, yet fluid. Kagome was almost mesmerized as she watched the dance under the moonlight – only the Princess and her sword.

With a little smile, Kagome left her mother-in-law to focus on the training. Then, she slipped back into the cave and returned to her bed.

—

Every day, Princess Yōhime imposed the same gruelling routine on her pupil, but the miko never complained. Kagome suffered injuries. Many, in fact. She seemed to have given up the hopes that the blisters on her scarred hands would heal and now had thrown everything she had into mastering the lessons thrown at her at a rapid pace.

Princess Yōhime knew such training was not easy on anyone — not even yōkai. There were things, such as instincts, muscle memories, sharp senses and the ability to anticipate the opponent's next move, which could not be taught within a few days, but needed to be ingrained in the soul and flesh and bones of the body.

But the little miko would have to learn them all within a matter of weeks.

It was by no means an easy feat for her. She bruised and bled, and she had shed more frustrated tears at her inability to maintain proper forms than she had ever thought. But after the cries, the tears, the fall, and the shouts of pain, the miko always raised herself up and returned to her fighting stance.

Princess Yōhime touched the sleeve of her kosode to her lips and smiled.

The miko's mettle, at the very least, deserved admirations.

—

One night, they were sitting in front of the fire after another full day of rigorous training. It had been a fortnight since the day they began. Yet, even though Kagome understood the road before her was long and paved with obstacles, she knew her strength had exceeded the level when she first arrived at this training ground.

As Kagome stared at the flames, she thought of Sesshōmaru. Last night, she had dreamt of the Southern Isles again, and of the Northern Peak. The sights of the azure blue ocean and the snow-capped mountains shrouded in white mists brought her peace as she slept.

It was almost as though Sesshōmaru was showing her these calming visions in the hopes that they would help her. And he would be right. Those images lulled her into a deep slumber and kept her there until it was time to awaken, fresh and renewed, to start another day of training.

Though Princess Yōhime kept her busy, Kagome missed her mate terribly. She missed his voice and his touch and his presence by her side. Whenever she closed her eyes, she conjured the feel of his lips on her forehead, cheeks, and her neck. Her chest ached for the warmth of his embrace, the knee-weakening effects of his kisses, and the way he swiped his tongue over her sensitive spots. And then, she also missed his… Her face grew hot, and she squirmed, and immediately she forced her erotically-charged brain to think of something else.

"Lady Mother," Kagome spoke up. "You can speak to Inutaisho and hear him through your mating bond, are you not?"

Princess Yōhime looked up at her from across the fire and nodded. "That is correct."

Kagome's heart sank. Her belly filled up with anxiety. "Then, how come Sesshōmaru and I cannot speak to each other?"

Though faint, there was a reassuring smile on her mother-in-law's lips.

"Your bond, though it exists, is new and not yet mature," she explained. "It will strengthen with every year that passes. Be patient. Like any relationship, a bond takes time to grow."

"How much time?" Kagome asked, out of curiosity.

The Princess lightly shrugged. "There is no formula. Some say that the more trials and tribulations a pair goes through and succeeds, the faster the bond matures. It took Tōga and I a couple of hundred years, at least, before we could hear each other's thoughts."

A couple of hundred years? Kagome bit her lips. It still seemed so surreal that her lifespan was now tied to Sesshōmaru, and two centuries might seem a short time for them.

As Kagome continued to stare into the fire, Princess Yōhime brought out the mysterious package she had been keeping with her.

"There is something I would like to give you," Princess Yōhime said, placing her hand atop the chest. Kagome looked up and eyed the female inuyōkai, and the chest, with interest.

Her mother-in-law unlatched the chest and revealed a sword sheathed in a glossy black scabbard. Kagome's heartbeats stuttered. She did not know yet why the Lady Mother brought the sword out, but it stole her attention.

"This sword—" Princess Yōhime said, lifting the sword with both hands to show it to Kagome. "— is the heirloom sword of the Northern inuyōkai. It can only be passed down from a female from one generation to the next. Just as my mother had passed it down to me, today, I am passing it to you. One day, you will pass it down to your daughter so that she may do the same to her daughter, and so on for generations to come."

The Princess took the sword out of its sheath. The smooth, whistling sound of metal against the interior of the scabbard was loud inside the cave.

Then, wordlessly, she handed it over to Kagome, who could not move for the sheer awe at the situation. When the Lady Mother arched her brows and offered the sword again, Kagome finally accepted it with a trembling hand.

The sword was made of a mysterious material that looked like white jade. The most beautiful sword Kagome had ever laid eyes on, it gleamed with ethereal light. Her fingers wrapped themselves around the silver handle, feeling its weight and balance. She was surprised to find how perfect it felt in her hand.

"When you wield this sword, you will hear the voices of its previous wielders, all the female inuyōkai who had the privilege of becoming its master," the Lady Mother. "And when I die, a little piece of my spirit will linger inside this sword and join the others. So will yours, and thus it will be for generations."

This sword had carried all the strengths and the hopes of the inuyōkai females for millennia. Kagome could not tear her eyes from it, knowing the weight and importance of the weapon she held in her hands.

"Lady Mother…" Kagome nearly wept. "For these unskilled hands to wield such a significant heirloom…"

"I feel precisely the same," Princess Yōhime replied gravely. "It is rather a waste. You are not exactly… how should I put it, worthy."

The miko's elation and excitement dimmed considerably as she stared back at the Lady Mother's sombre mien.

"Then, why did you give it to me?!" Kagome snapped, a little annoyed.

Princess Yōhime chuckled silently.

"You are unskilled, and your fighting forms lack convictions," she explained. "Your attacks are lackadaisical, and your speed is laughable. Truly, my Daughter, you have a long way to go."

Even though her cheeks burned with embarrassment, Kagome could not deny those assessments were accurate. Every single one of them.

"But," Princess Yōhime continued. "My only son, and his beast, have chosen you as their one and only true mate. I trust my son. And therefore, I trust you."

She gestured lovingly at the white jade sword. At that moment, Kagome understood the importance of the blade to her mother-in-law, and the inuyōkai in general.

"I trust that one day, you will do this sword justice."

"Then," Kagome said. "I humbly accept this sword, and swear to you I will do everything in my power and beyond to be worthy of it."

The inu daiyōkai seemed satisfied with Kagome's solemn promise. She nodded.

"Now, take this sword," she instructed. "Get to know it intimately, for it will be your constant companion from this point forward."

Carefully, Kagome returned the sword into its sheath and clasped it tightly to her chest, her heartbeats accelerating with excitement and trepidation.

"Tomorrow, we will return to my palace to continue your training there," Princess Yōhime said. "Some of my guards are to be your sparring partners. I want you to gain combat experience with various opponents."

"We are not returning to this training ground?" The thought of leaving this place which had been her home for the past two weeks, the place where she had shed blood and tears, left her feeling somewhat melancholy.

Even if she was happy about the prospect of getting a break from it.

"Hmm, perhaps later," Princess Yōhime replied thoughtfully. "But we are both in need of a good bath. And I would not refuse a warm, soft bed to sleep in for a few nights."

Kagome could not deny she needed a good, long soak. She wanted to hide in embarrassment, knowing her mother-in-law, possessing superior senses, must be able to smell how ripe she was. And a comfortable bed sounded heavenly as well.

"Besides –" Princess Yōhime paused and smiled cunningly. "There is another weapon I would like you to look at."

Kagome stared at her mother-in-law, both amazed and concerned. Another weapon? She could barely master her shinai. She had just been given this beautiful white-jade sword, but she was to take upon yet another weapon?

Would she be able to master both of them?

—

Princess Yōhime told her to rest, but Kagome could not sleep a wink. Though sore and aching from today's gruelling exercises, her body thrummed with excitement.

The white jade sword lay within its sheath beside her. If she moved her hand just a little, her fingertips would graze the smoothness of its scabbard.

Even encased within its sheath, she could feel its latent power. She could feel the sword calling to her, reaching out to her. She could hear the low hum emanating from it, almost like a sheet of metal vibrating. Resonating.

Unable to lay still any longer, Kagome sat up and raised herself to her knees in front of the sword. Resolutely, she grabbed the sheath and pulled the blade out. The white jade gleamed. Under the moonlight, its glow was ethereal.

She placed the unsheathed blade carefully on the ground in front of her.

"I know I am unworthy," Kagome whispered to the sword. "But… please let me borrow your strength to accomplish a quest so important to me. Let me help him so we can help everyone with yōkai blood running through their veins. Help us create a better future where humans and demonkinds can exist side by side."

She was unsure of what to do next. It seemed strange to speak to a sword. Yet, Princess Yōhime had said the spirits of previous generations resided within the blade, so… perhaps they were in there, listening. For good measures, Kagome bowed low, paying her respects by pressing her forehead onto the cave's cold floor.

Perhaps it was only in her imagination, but she fancied the sword's glow brightening just a touch.

Kagome stood and stepped under the round opening at the cave ceiling, where the moonbeams from above flooded into the dark space, illuminating it in an ethereal silver glow. There, under the moonlight, she practiced her kata, going through the forms one by one, over and over.

She learned to let go of all her expectations, her regrets from today's training, and merely focused on this moment, on these movements, on the feel of the sword in her hand. The lightness of it, the balance, and how beautiful it felt to hold it in her grasp.

As she flowed from one move to the next, she thought she could hear something: whispers from generations prior, gone but never forgotten. She listened to those voices, even though they were spoken in a language so ancient that she could not understand the words. But the tone was soothing, encouraging.

So, Kagome concentrated on those voices. She let them surround her, envelop her, and guide her. Then, suddenly, there was no hesitation, no worries. The movements came to her limbs naturally.

Although, deep down, Kagome knew a long road lay ahead of her, something happened then: she and the sword – and all its inhabitants – had made contact.

When Kagome reopened her eyes and realized where she was, the moon had gone, and the sun was rising.

—

The following day, Kagome rode on top of Princess Yōhime's yōkai form back to the palace. A full contingency of her servants and guards gathered on the massive terrace of her palatial dwelling, ready to greet their arrival.

This time, a room had been prepared for Kagome's stay. Princess Yōhime introduced her to a beautiful inuyōkai female wearing a handmaiden uniform.

"Daughter," the Princess said. "This is Chinatsu. I have assigned her to your care during your stay here." Then, smiling a little, her mother-in-law added. "Chinatsu is one of Chikatani's older sisters. She will take good care of you."

Chinatsu ushered her to a set of quarters that looked incredibly familiar. Surprised, Kagome realized the maid had taken her to Sesshōmaru's room. The same room at Lady Izayoi's Elysium where Inutaisho had placed Sesshōmaru while he was unconscious.

The maid was as beautiful in form and manners as Chikatani. She was soft-spoken and exceedingly polite. Though she mostly inclined her head in deference, Kagome could see her face was wreathed with a gentle smile. Chinatsu seemed genuinely happy to be serving at Princess Yohime's palace, and Kagome wondered if it was because her life at the Southern Isles palace had been so rife with severe abuse in comparison.

Kagome also wondered if Chinatsu and her other sister knew what had become of their brother. However, it did not seem the right moment to bring it up, not when she had just arrived, and they had only been introduced.

When Chinatsu left to gather some paraphernalia for the bath, Kagome placed her bundle of meagre belongings on the tatami floor and looked around. The lavishly decorated chamber looked precisely the same way she remembered. The lacquered coffered ceilings with their silk-lined panels were the same, and so was the massive painting of the four-tailed dog demon in the beast form displayed across one side of the room.

Being in this room made Kagome miss her mate even more. Absently, she rubbed her chest before she balled her fingers into a fist, pressing it onto the spot just above where she knew Sesshōmaru's soul resided.

'My mate,' she whispered, tugging at their bond. 'Can you hear me?'

The link did not thrum to life like it usually would whenever he was near. Perhaps because he was far away and in a different realm entirely?

Kagome swallowed the lump that clogged her throat and shrugged off the disappointment of not being able to sense him.

When Chinatsu returned with bathing supplies, Kagome let the friendly, mild-mannered inuyōkai help her undress and showed her the way to her private bath.

After two weeks of training out in the wilderness, the large wooden tub filled with steaming hot water was an absolute luxury. The heat stung Kagome's scrapes and cuts but felt indescribably good on her aching muscles. For a moment, as she submerged herself in the tub and closed her eyes, she forgot her woes.

Much later, Chinatsu returned to dress her. The maid brought a new set of clothing, as Kagome's miko outfit was soiled and stained and required thorough washing.

Kagome fingered the garb that the maid laid out for her. The silk felt smooth under her fingertips as she glided her hand over the fabric.

She stared at the bright vermillion hakama and the white kosode with the six-petal plum blossom designs near the collar and the sleeves. The obi was bright golden with dark purple accents. As she gazed upon the ensemble, she realized it matched Sesshōmaru's clothing.

The yearning returned.

Chinatsu helped to dress her. Then, the maid held out her new sword with both hands and bowed at the waist. Kagome was struck dumb for a moment, for a moment confused as to what she should do with it. Finally, she realized that the sword would accompany her for the rest of her life, much like Tenseiga and Bakusaiga, that never strayed from Sesshomaru's side but for a moment.

She accepted the sword and slipped it underneath her sash.

Finally ready, Kagome went to the courtyard and joined her mother-in-law, who had also changed into her lavender kimono.

Princess Yōhime observed her with a pair of critical eyes before she touched her sleeve to her lips and smiled.

"Very fitting," she commented simply.

Then, they walked together to the palace armoury, which was a separate building at the back of the main hall. A pair of armed guards flanked its entrance, but they bowed respectfully as the Princess and Kagome walked through its doors.

Inside, it was rather dimly lit, though a few windows on two sides of the building allowed some sun to filter into the room.

"What is this mysterious weapon you'd like me to look at, Lady Mother?" Kagome asked as she scanned the dimly-lit room.

All kinds of weapons filled the spacious chamber — each more magnificent than before. There were katana, wakizashi, double-edged knives, battle axes, longbows, and naginata, to name a few.

Kagome had stopped to admire a beautifully crafted spear when Princess Yōhime called out from deeper inside the room.

"It is here. Daughter, come."

Kagome hastened her steps and stopped just behind her mother-in-law, who was observing something kept inside a wooden chest placed in front of her.

"Something that requires excellent aim, and yet not a bow and arrow," Princess Yōhime said as she reached for a weapon from the depth of the shadows and observed it.

She turned around, holding it out with both hands for Kagome to inspect. "What do you think, Daughter?"

Kagome took one look and nearly burst into laughter. At first, she thought her mother-in-law was joking. But the daiyōkai's grave mien remained unchanged.

It was not a jest.

Kagome's eyebrows shot upwards near her hairline, and she gave the daiyōkai a look of half amazement and half amusement.

"Lady Mother," she said. "That — is a rifle."